Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

INTRODUCTIONSarah only calls Abraham “lord” one time in recorded history. “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (Gen. 18:11-12). This ought to catch our attention. Why use Sarah as the example of submission? And why appeal to her address of Abraham as “lord?” This isn’t exactly Sarah’s shining moment. What is Peter doing with this reference?When God appeared with two angels on the plains of Mamre, He did so to make two announcements: to reiterate that Sarah would have a son (Gen. 18:10) and to tell Abraham what He was about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:16-17). Those two announcements were not unrelated: What God was doing with the womb of Sarah was not unrelated to what He was doing with the nations of Canaan (Gen. 18:19). This is in the background of Peter’s instructions to slaves and wives and husbands. What God is up to with kings and governors is not unrelated to what He is up to in homes and families.THE TEXT“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps… Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands… as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror” (1 Pet. 2:21-3:6).THE TUMULT SURROUNDING ISAAC’S BIRTHThe entire Isaac-birth narrative is sandwiched around two tumultuous political events. First, comes the Sodom and Gomorrah story, beginning with Abraham’s famous appeal to God to make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked (Gen. 18:23), securing His promise not to destroy the cities if there are ten righteous there (Gen. 18:32). This is followed by the revelation of just how wicked Sodom is, and that there are not even four righteous there, but God mercifully delivers Lot and his family before the cities are destroyed (Gen. 19:29). We learn that the nations of Moab and Ammon originate from the fearful incest of Lot’s daughters (Gen. 19:36-38). That story is followed by Abraham’s sojourn into the land of Gerar where Abraham says that Sarah is his sister and King Abimelech takes her into his harem (Gen. 20). When God appears to Abimelech and announces that he is a dead man because he has taken another man’s wife, Abimelech appeals to God’s justice (Gen. 20:5), and the Lord spares Abimelech who restores Sarah to Abraham (Gen. 20:17-18). The next verse says, “And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said… For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age…” (Gen. 21:1-2).The whole context is about cities and nations and politics. It’s about the struggle and destruction and birth of wicked nations, and the punchline is God’s laughter: the birth of a little baby boy named “Isaac” (which means “laughter”) by an elderly couple. While nations rage and churn, God is bringing their plots to nothing and laughter is being born into the world.CHRIST AND POLITICSThis brings us back to Peter’s exhortation to wives and all of us. Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him “lord,” whose children you are as long as you do well and are not afraid of any terror. But Sarah was afraid, and so she lied about her laughter (Gen. 18:13-15). How is that an example of obedience and courage? The answer is: she repented. She says after Isaac’s birth, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (Gen. 21:6). And if Sarah can look back in faith at her laughter as God’s good joke on her, then the same can be said about her incredulous address of her husband as “her lord.” Would she have pleasure with her husband, her lord being so old? The answer was a glorious and hilarious yes – because God is Lord.Now apply this to Christ and politics. It’s easy to read this passage superficially as though Peter is merely saying make sure you obey everything. But remember: Christ suffered at the hands of soldiers, governors, and priests (authorities all) because He would not obey various ordinances of man. Why did Christ suffer? In order to break the back of the greatest tyranny of all, that we being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). Why did Christ suffer? Because in His righteousness, He was in full submission to the will of His Father, committing Himself to the One who judges righteously (1 Pet. 2:23). Why did Christ suffer? Because this righteous obedience to God brought Him into direct conflict with the authorities. But that resistance was not full of cursing and reviling (1 Pet. 2:22-23). The resistance of Christ was full of peace and joy: And this is because the obedience of Christ was an appeal to a higher authority, the Shepherd and Bishop of His soul, and so is ours (1 Pet. 2:25).APPLICATIONSWhat God is up to with kings and governors is not unrelated to what He is up to in homes and families. And God is Lord of the details. He does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. He is busy restoring and healing the righteous, blessing the righteous and making them fruitful, even while He carries out divine bombing runs on the wicked. God’s judgments fall with laser precision, and His mercy is far greater than we can imagine (Lot? Lot’s daughters? Abimelech?). There are more than 7,000 in our land who have not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kgs. 19:18).Do justice in your homes. Obey your husbands. Love your wives. Honor your parents. Bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Repent of all known sin quickly. Forgive quickly. Remove the logs from your eyes so you can see clearly. Have you been living in fear? Repent. Christ is Lord. Has your laughter become cynical and bitter? Or is it the laughter of faith and repentance? You are the children of Abraham and Sarah by faith in the Lord Jesus. We walk through this world as their starry-host descendants. Hold your head up high. “Strength and honor are her clothing; she laughs at the future” (Prov. 31:25).The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel against the Lord, and against His Christ… but He that sits in the heavens laughs… (Ps. 2:2, 4) All authority is from the Lord of Heaven, and therefore, the same standard applies to all authority. Our submission to lawful authority is in the Lord. Do you have to swallow hard at the thought of a wife obeying or disobeying her husband, a parishioner obeying or disobeying a pastor, obeying or disobeying a police officer? But we have only one Lord. He is the Greater Isaac, the Great Laughter of God.

Just like there are different tools for different jobs, there are different ways of speech for different conversations. For one person, you might need to use a rhetorical chainsaw to chop them down a peg, but often for others a rhetorical bandage is required to heal their gaping wounds. And it takes wisdom to know which tool to use.But notice that regardless of the tool, St Paul says our speech is always to be gracious. Even the strongest rebuke should come from a heart that loves the person we are interacting with.Because the evangelical church today is currently stuck in the “nice" ditch, our temptation here as we seek to be faithful will be to overcorrect and become harsh, uncaring, unloving, and lacking grace toward unbelievers.

The NT has a particular warning for husbands. That warning is expressed by Paul in Col. 3:19, when he admonishes, “Husbands, love your wives, & be not bitter against them.” Modern translations render this phrase as “do not be harsh with them,” which is true enough. But translating it that way changes our perception of where the sin lies.In our modern age, a husband telling his wife she may not do “thus and such” could be viewed as harsh, while a husband not objecting to his wife getting an abortion is considered being an understanding husband. But the Apostle is far less concerned in this verse with the actions of the husband than he is with the condition of the husband’s heart.A husband can grow bitter toward his wife, and if he allows that bitterness to fester it can eventually become evident through harsh actions, demeaning words, or violent behavior. He may begin to have a wandering eye, or he might withdraw into a cold shell of indifference, or he might explode with violent anger. Those actions are the poisoned fruits which arise from the bitter root. The bitterness might arise because the husband tried to lead and the wife didn’t follow, or it could arise because he’s an insecure puppy and his wife didn’t like his Facebook post, or it could arise because she gossiped about him to all her friends. Nevertheless, whatever precipitated the bitterness, it’s a husband’s duty to root up that weed as soon as he sees it appear. From that root arises adultery, murder, divorce, and abandoned children.Bitter husbands invert the atmosphere of their home. What should be the warmth of Gospel forgiveness & joy, becomes the harsh winter of stewing frustrations, unrepented sins, and a tangled web of slights, wounds, and broken trust.In an age where we face a profound vacuum of godly masculinity, men in the church have continued to harbor a diseased and deformed perversion of masculinity. Either through pride or insecurity, men withdraw into passivity, refusing to lead their wives and homes because of a bitter heart. Or else they explode with unrighteous wrath for the littlest of grievances. If Christian men would shew forth the glory of the cross and of the Father’s love, our Christian homes must reflect it at all levels, and this begins with husbands and fathers leading their homes in repentance and true faith in Christ.

The consolation section of the second cycle is long, encompassing two whole chapters—chapters four and five. We will therefore be working through this section over the course of a few weeks.Remember that Micah was a younger contemporary of Isaiah, and was probably his disciple or protégé. His dependence on Isaiah can be seen in our text this morning, in the passage about beating swords into plowshares.THE TEXT“But in the last days it shall come to pass, That the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; And people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; And none shall make them afraid: For the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever” (Micah 4:1–5).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSo what will happen in the “last days”? We come now to a word of consolation for the faithful. All the warnings and judgments will fall upon Israel and Judah, but what should the faithful Jews cling to? After all the judgments, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established, above the hills, and people will flow there (v. 1). Many nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord, and they will encourage one another to do so. Let us go there, and learn obedience (v. 2). The elevation of Zion is a figure of speech indicating that the throne of the God of Jacob will be established there. Jehovah will rule, judging many people, governing strong nations, and they will not learn war anymore (v. 3). They will beat their swords into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks (v. 3). No longer will a man lock his house at night, and no longer will men have to lock their cars (v. 4). Men can sit under their own vines and fig trees without fear of danger. The mouth of God has spoken it (v. 4). The next verse looks back over the whole process of this happening. It will not happen all at once—there will be a time when the nations will continue to walk in the names of their gods, but the faithful will walk in the name of their Lord and God forever and ever (v. 5).FULFILLMENT IN THE CHRISTWe know that this consolation is fulfilled in and through the Messiah because later in this section we find the prophecy that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2).We can also ascertain this by comparing Micah with his mentor Isaiah. Our text this morning is basically a verbatim citation from Isaiah 2: 2-4. But what will happen according to Isaiah in these last days, and when are these last days? In Romans, Paul defends his mission to the Gentiles by citing a battery of Old Testament passages (Rom. 15:9-12), the last of which is Isaiah 11:10.But the verse just before it (Is. 11:9) says that the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And then what?“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; To it shall the Gentiles seek: And his rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).In that day, the day when the earth is filling up with the knowledge of the Lord, Paul will be defending his mission to the Gentiles.CONSOLATION FOR THE FAITHFULGod always reserves a remnant for Himself, and when they are done listening to Micah’s fulminations, they might be quite dismayed. And so Micah turns to reassure them that it all has a point—all the drama of the Old Testament era, all these judgments, and the vast expanse of blue ruination have a telos. God is up to something, and what He is up to is the coming of the Christ.HOW IT ENDS, HOW IT GOESThose who love God and His law want Him to come down in one fell swoop, and start taking names.“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence” (Isaiah 64:1).We look at the high impudence of man, and we know how insolent it is, and so we are often exasperated with how patient God is. And so God reminds us that His sovereignty extends over more than just ethics. He is the sovereign of time and of history. He tells us not to steal and commit adultery, but He also tells us to wait patiently as He defers judgment.He defers judgment in His mercy. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8–9). Where would you have been if God had listened to all the saints and ended the world two years before your conversion?As this is developing, the peoples will walk in the name of their gods (v. 5). Let them. The time is coming when they will be jostling each other to get to the mountain of the Lord (v. 2). They will be taught, and will walk in obedience (v. 2), and they will be obedient to the point where the nations will study war no more (v. 3). God has said it (v. 4).THE MOUTH OF THE LORD OF HOSTS HAS SPOKENJehovah has spoken it. This is going to come to pass. But when Yahweh speaks, what does He say? What is the Word of God? The gospel answer is that Christ is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). That Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).The spoken Word that conquers everything is Christ. Christ is the crucified Word, and He is the buried Word. He is the Word that rose from the dead, and who sits at the right hand of the one who speaks a new world into existence. And as He speaks, that new creation takes shape. But only in Him, only in Christ.

It says in Ecclesiastes 7:8 that "the end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." What is it that makes the end of something better than its beginning?

I’d like to aim this exhortation towards the single adults in our congregation. I’m fond of telling singles, “Your days of singleness are numbered. Either you’ll get married, or you’ll die unmarried.” Now, before you singles sigh & say, “Thanks a LOT,” let me explain. Regardless of how your singleness comes to an end, God instructs you to learn to number your days. Time is a form of wealth; as the old adage goes: “time is money.” So, turn a profit on having a less encumbered schedule than a married couple with 5 kids. You may not have many mouths to feed, but become the sort of person who can (and does) feed lots of mouths. For men this means choosing work over sloth, for women it means choosing hospitality over being a busy-body. Single men, get the dilly out of your dally. You aren’t designed to sit around, waiting for the world to come to you. As God once took dust & created man, men should take the dust & create crops, inventions, websites, architecture, and so on. Don’t wait around hoping for something to happen, that’s how you become a slave (Pro. 12:24). Apply yourself to wisdom, and thus learn diligence in whatever trade you set your hand to.Single women, waiting for the Lord to interrupt your plans by bringing a man to pursue you doesn’t equate to idleness. A wise woman builds her house (Pro. 14:1), while a foolish one is a hurricane of idle clamor (Pro. 9:13-14). Sharpen your skills of hospitality and industry. Drink deeply of the pure milk of the Word, while avoiding the fumes of feminism which has successfully poisoned generations of women to despise their feminine glory.Our sons & daughters have been raised to extend indefinitely the folly of their adolescence. Instead of growing into hardy men, and glorious women, we see a generation of timid boys and insecure girls who don’t know the difference between their respective glories. Masculinity has been labelled a toxin, while femininity has been shamed by the lust of porn and transgender madness. We are reaping what we’ve sown, and so we must turn from the cultural folly, and this begins with singles turning to God’s Word and obeying what it says about the strength of young men and the glory of young women.More could be said on all this, but let me simply repeat: your days of singleness are numbered, so make them count.

Since the fall, man’s default setting is to turn glory into shame. David asks in Psalm 4: “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?” Paul speaks of enemies of Christ “whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame (Phi. 3:19).” In other words, unregenerate man’s desires have been so disordered by sin, that what ought to have been a glory has become a shame. This then leads them to glory in what they ought to be ashamed of.Porn shreds the glory of sexual delight to tatters. The anxiety over healthy eating drains food of all its joy, and thus ruins table fellowship. Hard work is replaced by government stimulus checks. Instead of a nation full of industry, music, color, and feasting, we’re beginning to see only the drab grey of totalitarian covetousness. The glory has turned to shame.Desire isn’t your problem, it’s that you’ve turned your desires in on themselves. But desire isn’t nourished by created joys. Desire can’t hold itself up. We’ve tried to prop up our longings like a skyscraper that uses toothpicks instead of bolts. Desire was intended to drive us to delight preeminently in God, and while resting in Him receive all the other joys with gratitude.The reason for which we were made was for our delight to be completely satisfied. It wasn’t so that we’d be always desiring but never possessing. Our chief end is, after all, “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” These desires are our human glory, so long as the desires find themselves first and foremost resting in the Triune God. As we delight in God, our glory is made truly glorious. But if you insist on delighting only in created joys, your glory will turn to shame.Too often, our desires aren’t set on Christ alone. We long for the fleeting joys of earth, willing them to last just a bit longer, but still they slipp through our fingers. Instead of directing all our desires toward Christ, the fount of all Joy, we’ve hewn out broken cisterns which cannot hold water. Unless the Spirit grants us a new heart, our desires will collapse upon themselves like a black hole of selfishness. Our nation grasps for all the pleasures, and is still left vacuously hungry. This generation has forsaken the Living Waters of Christ, and now we’re a parched people. Even in the church we have all too often set our hearts on earthly trinkets, expecting them to bring the gratification that only comes through the death and resurrection of Christ and our union with Him. May we seek God’s forgiveness for, to paraphrase Lewis, settling for puddles, when God is an ocean.

We begin the second cycle of prophetic ministry from the great prophet Micah. Remember that he ministered over the course of forty years or so, and yet was able to summarize his message in these seven short chapters. That is probably one of the reasons why his words are so potent.In this second cycle, the words of warning and the words of judgment are combined, and so the next message will go straight to the words of consolation.THE TEXT“And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; Who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; And they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron . . .” (Micah 3:1–12)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTMicah begins by addressing the civil rulers. Hear, oh you heads and princes. Shouldn’t you understand judgment (v. 1)? But instead you have inverted everything, hating the good and loving evil (v. 2). Instead of feeding your people, you feed on them. You flay them, you pull the flesh off their bones in order to eat it, you break their bones, and chop them up in pieces so that they might fit in your cauldrons (vv. 2-3). When they get in trouble, and cry out to Jehovah, He will be merciless to those who have been merciless (v. 4). He will turn away His face. The prophets who spoke lying words, who would bite with their words while mouthing peace, plotting their war again Jehovah, what will come of them (v. 5)? Instead of a vision, their night will be pitch black. The sun will go down on their prophecies, and they will minister in darkness (v. 6). Their seers and diviners will be abashed, and will have no answer from God (v. 7).But Micah was ready to stand against them all. He was filled of Jehovah’s power, and fully ready to declare the sin and transgression of Jacob and Israel both (v. 8). Hear this word, you princes who twist everything (v. 9). You seek to build your city on the foundation of blood and iniquity (v. 10), which is why it will come to nothing. Your judges look for bribes, your priests are hirelings, and your prophets are willing to see visions for a fee (v. 11). Is it any wonder that everything is corrupted? Even so, your will dare to claim the presence and protection of Jehovah (v. 11b). And this is the reason why Zion will be plowed under. It is the reason why Jerusalem is going to be transformed into heaps of rubble. The mount of the house (i.e. the Temple) will be like the high places of the forest, meaning that trees will grow there (v. 12).Some years later, when Jeremiah prophesied that the Temple of the Lord would be laid flat like Shiloh (Jer. 26:6, 9), the priests and prophets and people gathered against Jeremiah to kill him. The princes of the land refused to kill Jeremiah, and the elders of the land defended him by pointing to this verse from Micah (Jer. 26:18; Mic. 3:12).MORAL INVERSIONIsaiah pronounces a judgment on those who invert all the basic moral categories (Is. 5:20). Micah charges the rulers of both kingdoms with a gross dereliction of their duty—weren’t you supposed to know what justice is (v. 1)? But instead of that, you have decided to hate what is good, and to embrace what is evil.This is an inescapable reality. There is no way for rulers abandon good in order to adopt a studied neutrality. There is no such neutrality. To decide to celebrate wickedness is therefore a decision to persecute those who testify that your deeds are evil.CRUELTY & ITS PRETENSESTheir rhetoric and their stock photos are all about normal, happy people, and the cry goes up that we should coexist, and love everybody, and make no distinctions, no exceptions. You have seen the bumper stickers.But it always ends in blood (v. 10). At the first they keep up the pretense, but a time eventually comes when all the hot bile of their hatred comes pouring out. They flay their victims. They crush their bones. They chop the meat of their people up, and then stuff their stew kettles full. They despise the people they rule over. And as they are shepherds who feed only themselves (Eze. 34:2), the time necessarily comes when they feed on the flocks—instead of feeding the flocks.AVARICE IS WHERE IT BEGINSThe mission of those who love the law of God is to uphold justice, and the only basis for justice, which is the holy character of God. When rulers—whether princes, judges, prophets, priests—decide that the first thing is to “get ahead,” it is not long before they are pursuing mammon instead of justice. The heads judge for reward (v. 11). The priests will teach you about the grace of God for a sum (v. 11). The prophets will give you a word from God if you cross their palms (v. 11). What is the end result of all such mercenary ministry? The end result is that all true justice is abhorred (v. 9), and the meaning of equity is distorted beyond all recognition (v. 9). This should not surprise us. We live in a time when words like justice, and equity, and reconciliation, and love is love is love derive all their definitions from the lexicons of Hell. And it all began with mammon.INEXORABLE JUSTICEBut God is hard to those who are hard. God is merciless to the merciless, and those who love their cruelties drag a host of cruelties down upon their own heads.God put no words in the mouths of these characters (v. 5), so they come up with the word peace all by themselves (v. 5). But while they speak that word with their mouths, they also bite with that same mouth (v. 5), and they war against God. Very well, then. God will return fire (vv. 6-7).THE COURAGE OF MICAHOn one side were arrayed regiments of falsehood and unbelief, and on the other side was Micah. Micah was clothed in power, judgment, and might, and this enabled him to tell both nations what their sin was. He was equipped to do this without a spirit of timidity. His message was not an “it seems to me” message, but rather a “thus saith the Lord” message. And is this not what our diseased generation needs to hear? Hear the Words of God, you sinners.CONSOLATION COMINGIn the text of Micah, we will come to the consolation in our next message. That consolation, that salvation, comes through Christ and only through Christ. But before we come to that point, we need to let the message of this chapter settle down into our bones. We tend to have shallow views of Christ because we have shallow views of our sin. We heal the wound lightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace (Jer. 8:11). We want a slightly damp Jesus-washcloth that we can use to dab around the edge of our wound. But the wound is deep, and gangrenous, and self-inflicted, and we are entirely unconscious, and only the grace of God can admit us into His ICU—a place where He makes all the decisions. Our condition is indeed desperate. In fact, the image of an ICU patient is too weak—we are actually dead (Eph. 2:1-2).But Christ is the resurrection and the life.

In the midst of great civil unrest and tumult in England in the 1600s, Jeremiah Burroughs preached a sermon series on Christian Contentment, which is now published as The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. When your nation is melting down, when the world has gone mad, or even when your family or business are facing challenges, what do Christians need? One of the most important skills you need is Christian contentment. Christian contentment is not apathy or stoicism; it is the Christian virtue that puts you in the very best possible position to do your duty and maximize the good you can do in the world.THE TEXT“… for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strentheneth me” (Phil. 4:11-13).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWhile our text includes one of the most famous Christian calendar verses, we should note that it is not a random “you can do it” verse. It comes in this particular context, where Paul is describing how he has learned contentment in every circumstance (Phil. 4:11). In particular, this strength that Christ gives grows directly out of learning contentment in little and in much, whether full or going hungry, whether abounding or suffering (Phil. 4:12). The word for “content” literally means “self-sufficient” or “self-defense.” The root verb can mean to raise a barrier or to ward off or avail, and the prefix simply means “for oneself.” Clearly Paul does not mean this in a humanistic or egocentric way, as Christ is the one doing the strengthening. But the Christian faith does not teach that we sit around while God works in us. As Paul said earlier in Philippians, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling because God is at work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). And what is one of the most fundamental motions of that work? Contentment.CONTENTMENT AS READINESS FOR CONQUESTWe may define contentment as a steady, quiet, and submissive heart that delights in God’s fatherly disposal of every circumstance. We know from many places in Scripture that the godly also plead with God, wrestle with God, and lay their petitions before Him (e.g. Psalms, Phil. 4:6). But all our pleas, laments, and petitions must be matched with an earnest and joyful “but Thy will be done.” If Christ prayed those words in the garden before His arrest (Mt. 26:42), how much more must we? And the thing to note is the fact Jesus was praying this on the verge of His great mission. It was His willingness to submit to God’s plan that put Him in position to do His duty and accomplish the maximum good for the world. Fussing, complaining, moping, fretting, cursing, anger, and bitterness only complicate the mission, and render you less prepared for what comes next. Rather than facing the problem, you are part of the problem.“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5-6, cf. Ps. 118:6). First, notice that this exhortation comes right on the heels of exhortations to hospitality and sexual purity (Heb. 13:1-4). These are common places for people to give in to temptations to discontentment: houses, food, clothing, furniture, decorations, marriage, physical appearance, sex, etc. God created us to be fruitful, multiply, and take dominion of the world, and this means receiving what God has given and then making it better. But you cannot make it better if you do not receive what has actually been given with joy and gratitude. You have to see the “good” before you can make it “very good.” Bitterness and fussing puts you in the best possible position to miss things, confuse things, and harm things. Think this way about your spouse and kids and parents, and work out from there.CONTENT LIKE JOSHUA & DAVIDThere are two Old Testament passages quoted Hebrews 13:5-6. The first is from Joshua 1:5 on the verge of the conquest of Canaan, when God assures Joshua that He will be with him as He was with Moses. Hebrews was written in the context of significant upheaval, and there was great temptation among Christians to go back to Judaism as a way to try to hide, blend in, or cope with all the turmoil. But going back to Judaism was the way of destruction; it was like going back to Egypt. The Christians in the first century (and every century) are called to press on toward the goal of discipling the nations. Every generation fights from the ground we have been given, but the key is Jesus will never leave us or forsake us (cf. Mt. 28:20). And if Christ is with us, then we can face all things through Him who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).The other texted quoted in Hebrews 13 is from Psalm 118, which is a triumphant war song, and it was the particular psalm quoted and sung by the people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” This is the heart of Christian contentment. It is a rock-solid trust in the living God. The psalmist goes on: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them… The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation… The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly… The stone which the builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. The is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it…”CONCLUSIONSHave all the nations surrounded us with mindless mandates and psychotic lockdowns and sexual confusion and baby bloodlust and economic insanity and global conspiracies? The Lord is on our side; we will not fear: what can man do to us? All nations surround us, but in the name of the Lord we will destroy them. The Lord is our strength and song, and He is our salvation.Paul says that contentment is something he learned. It was something he trained for, practiced, and perfected. But this was not just some stoic virtue, it was training for battle, training for conquest. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6). And this is because our contentment is Christ. When we work out our salvation, all that we are working out is Christ, and He is what God is working in us. He is our peace, our shield and tower – the One who strengthens us for every moment. Fear and frustration distort your vision because all you can see is the enemy, but contentment steels your heart for battle because Christ is our contentment.

One of the reasons we have trouble dealing realistically with evil in this world is that we have drawn mental cartoons of the evil beforehand. When someone says “tyranny,” we think of goose-stepping armies, missile parades, and funny looking helmets. But then, when something genuinely bad happens in our own lives, and we see it with our own eyes, because it doesn’t match the cartoon we treat it as an anomaly, a one-off occurrence... a thing we don’t have a category for. But we need to have a category for something this common.I am a child of the Cold War, and my first glimpse of an actual communist country taught me this lesson. The lesson should be “don’t fight the caricature—fight the real thing.” In the early seventies the submarine I was on was pulling into Guantanamo Bay, and when I came topside I was astonished and taken aback because this commie land was emerald green. Bright green. But all my childhood images of communist countries resembled something like a grainy black and white newspaper photo of Budapest in the rain.