Ezekiel 17:24 “All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.”

Several companies who have leased our church a photocopier have made strong promises about how fast their customer service works. “If your machine breaks down, we guarantee a service tech will show up the same day,” or even “We will have a man on site within the hour.”

I have sometimes wondered, “What happens if you fail to get a repairman out in the time you guarantee? Do we get a new machine? Do we get a month free on our lease?” As it turns out, there is no consequence for them not keeping their promise. It may be their honest intent, and they may keep it most of the time, but otherwise their promise is nothing more than words.

God gives us proof to back up his promises in many places throughout the Scriptures. We have one in words he gave to the prophet Ezekiel. He uses the picture cedar tree. He takes a sprig off the top, plants it, and it grows into a great tree that produces fruit and provides shelter. This is a picture of the Messiah, the Christ, he had been promising for centuries.

Now the Lord makes this application about the thing he has done: “All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.” This is the kind of God he is. He has a way of reversing things, especially when it serves the salvation of his people. He takes those who think they are above the rest–the rich, the powerful, the influential, the intellectual–and he humbles them. He hasn’t limited himself to ancient history. We still see dictators rise to pillage their own people and terrorize their neighbors, only to have their power collapse and their regimes fail. The Lord brings down the tall tree and dries up the green tree. The gospel of Christ often finds new opportunities to expand God’s kingdom in the void they leave behind.

The other side of God’s promise is true as well. He takes those who have nothing going for them– the weak, the poor, the simple, the sorry–and he lifts them up and fills them with new life. He takes a David, the youngest in his family, nothing but a shepherd boy, and he makes him king. He helps him win a small empire, and he gives him a place in family tree of the Savior of the world. He took you and me and adopted us as his own sons and daughters by faith, so that we could be called the children of God.

Since Ezekiel wrote this prophecy his words have been fulfilled. God has planted his Messiah on earth in the person of Jesus. His ministry fulfilled all God’s prophecies and purposes. He purchased forgiveness and secured eternal life. His church has grown and spread to feed and shelter the hearts and souls of people all over the world. “I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it,” God promised. He hasn’t given us empty promises. He has given us proof.

1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 

Was the Apostle Paul crazy when he wrote to the members of this church in Corinth? Or was he simply exaggerating? Consider for a moment the issues in Corinth. This congregation drew up the original blueprint for “cliquiness” in a Christian church. They divided themselves into groups based on their favorite apostle. Divisions separated rich and poor members. Some even took fellow members to court to sue them.

The church in Corinth had trouble rejecting the pagan sexual practices of their culture. Some still visited the Greek temple prostitutes. They were confused about God’s principles for marriage, divorce, and remarriage.  The more gifted members used the spiritual gifts God had given them in a loveless way. Basic Christian doctrines came under attack. A few claimed that there is no resurrection of the dead.

These issues prompted Paul to write his letter. Now he almost seems to be bragging as he writes, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  Didn’t he care about all the division and confusion? Wasn’t it obvious that these people needed solutions? 

Paul understood the situation perfectly. On the pages that follow he convicted the Corinthians of their sins and guided them in God’s will. But he also knew what these people needed more than anything else. The real cure for all their ills was knowing Jesus Christ and him crucified. Without him, nothing else he had to say mattered. With him, these people had God’s single sufficient solution to all life’s problems. 

Knowing Jesus still equips us to deal with our first problem: sin. Like the people in Corinth, we haven’t stopped sinning. But when we do sin, Jesus gives us a place to go with it. We can confess it to him. He takes it from us and disposes it at the cross. Knowing Jesus Christ and him crucified means knowing that Jesus has taken my place, paid for my sin with his blood, reconciled me to God, and carried me up to the very doors of heaven. 

Knowing Jesus is everything we need. His grace gives us access to God’s power and help. It doesn’t merely lecture us about what’s right and what’s wrong. It changes us from within. That doesn’t mean all problems suddenly vanish. In some ways they may even multiply. Remember Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount?  “Blessed are you when men insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” 

Knowing Jesus and his grace at the cross lays the foundation for confronting every false belief and selfish behavior. It may not prevent these problems from ever making an appearance, but it equips us to deal with them they do.

By all means, get to know God’s full message to you in the Scriptures. But above all, know Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Isaiah 56:6-7 “And to foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant–these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.”

The kind of service God’s people offer him is not dull drudgery. It isn’t the go-through-the-motions kind of work of someone merely trying to make a living. This service is special, and Isaiah provides a couple of reasons why this is true.

First, the word translated “serve” doesn’t speak of ordinary service. It is special because of whom you are serving. The task might not be remarkable, but it takes on a unique honor because of the one served. For example, many people work as cooks in a restaurant. It’s hardly a glamorous job. I also have a relative who served as a cook at the White House in Washington D.C. His position was considered prestigious because of the person he served.

Janitors clean buildings all over the world. Salesmen call on millions of clients every day. Teachers teach students in many different languages in many different schools. But the work Christians do to take care of their churches, deliver the gospel, or teach the faith to children has a special honor and privilege. These tasks serve the one and only God, the Savior of the world. He privileges his people to serve him.

The other special feature of this service is the force behind it. Those who serve do so “to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him.”  Service to God is a labor of love. What else could it be when we know how he has first served loved us? Siegbert Becker once wrote, “It is impossible to see ourselves as sinners deserving eternal damnation in hell and then to come to the conviction that the suffering and dying Christ has procured full and free forgiveness for us by taking our guilt upon himself and by giving his own righteousness to us as a free gift of his love, it is impossible to come to that conviction without coming to love him who gave himself into death that we might have everlasting life….To know him is to love him is more applicable to our Savior than to anyone else.” 

For the people who lived in Isaiah’s day, it may have come as a surprise that this service came from “foreigners.” That would mean Gentiles, non-Jews. No one at that time considered Gentiles God’s kind of people. The came from the wrong family background. But in his grace the Lord made no distinctions. He intended to call even those who had not known him to faith and service.

Good things wait for those who serve him: “…these will I bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

The blessing of joy the Lord gives isn’t tied to being well fed, well clothed, or well supplied. We find it especially in his house of prayer. Once that meant the temple in Jerusalem. For us it appears wherever we gather to worship him. Even when life becomes painful, we still find joy in God’s house of prayer. There God solemnly pronounces all our sins forgiven. There Jesus comes really, bodily, to be with us in his supper. There we still meet God today, and he gives his people the promises that make life joyful, even when it doesn’t seem very livable.

2 Corinthians 4:13-14 “It is written: ‘I believed, therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit of faith we also believe, and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.”

Our failure to appreciate the magnitude of the gift presents a major obstacle to our sharing the gospel with others. Many of us have known from childhood that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know that he is my Savior. That’s a wonderful gift from God. 

But we are also tempted to take it for granted when we have known it so long. Martin Luther said it this way: “When we hear that Christ has redeemed us with his blood, we are moved as much as a dunce is moved when he hears that a hen has laid an egg. ‘What kind of marvel is that?’ says he, ‘Indeed, that happens every day.’ There is also no joy, comfort, thanks or wonderment when people hear of Christ’s suffering. ‘Oh, that is nothing new! Who does not know that? I have known it well for a long time.’ And so the dear Christ, with his precious blood and his immeasurable works of wonder, must be considered a trifling matter.”

This very message we take for granted assures us that God forgives us and loves us in spite of our sin. That gives us something to say! Paul says, “We also believe, and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.” As Paul points out, you and I already know that the same God who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us, too. We know the reason people die is that God punishes sin with death and hell. We know that when Jesus died on the cross, he suffered the punishment for every human being, and every human sin. That means God no longer needs to punish us for our sins. Since Jesus took our sin out of the picture, death can no longer maintain its control over him or anyone else. God raised him to show that Jesus’ death on the cross really worked. That demonstrates to us that we are also going to rise from the dead to live with him forever. 

This means we are preparing for a great family reunion. Not only will we be raised, but God will “present us with you in his presence.” We will be reunited with him. We will also be reunited with every other believer. This includes those who died before us and those who will die after us. Our believing grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, children and grandchildren will join us with God to live forever.

You already knew this. But is that not amazing? Is it not worth saying? We know God’s secret to eternal life. Of all the problems people face, one problem confronts everyone without exception: death. People may not like to think about it, but no one gets around this reality. Some try to put it off with better health insurance, better doctors, better living habits, or better law enforcement, but there is only one effective solution. We know what that is. That gives us reason to speak. Everyone needs to hear what we have to say.

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are his own, that you may tell others about the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Peter’s list describes our new status, our “identity” as those who believe in Jesus. Some parts of this involve things for us to use, but he presents most of this list simply for us to appreciate. 

First, the Lord tells us that he has made us his chosen people. That reminds us of the special relationship he once had with the people of Israel. Now that relationship has been opened up. It is no longer the unique possession of one ethnic group. You can’t draw boundaries around it. It applies to all who are part of God’s spiritual house by faith.

Is it hard for us to see the value?  Maybe it was easier for the Gentiles to whom Peter was writing to feel how important that is.  He reminds them in verse 10, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.  Once you had received no mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Peter’s audience knew what it was like to be on the outside looking in. Maybe they weren’t even interested in what the Jewish religion had to say before Jesus was preached to them. But now that they had come to know the Lord, now that they knew the peace and comfort, the power and joy they had been missing, they knew what it means to be God’s chosen people.

Another part of our new status is simply to enjoy is being a holy nation. God doesn’t say you can be a holy nation.  He doesn’t say you will be a holy nation. He says you are one. Even if we don’t act holy, even if we don’t feel holy, God has declared us holy. We are holy because Jesus has washed us clean with his own blood. 

Peter calls us, “a people who are His own.” Once again, what can you do with that? All you can do is bask in it. All you can do is drink it in and know how special God has made you. You are his own. You belong to him.  Ordinarily, the idea of belonging to someone else doesn’t appeal to independent, freedom loving people.  But until we belong to God, we never really know what freedom is. That might sound like a contradiction, but the believer understands. Only after the gospel has captured our hearts, and we understand what it means that Jesus has purchased us from the slavery of sin and death; only after the strangling chains of guilt have been torn away by the cross, do we live our lives in the freedom Jesus promised when he said, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” It’s a freedom that belongs only to those who belong to him.

As living stones in God’s spiritual house, we enjoy this glorious new status. But one feature also provides something to put into action. Peter calls us a “royal priesthood.” Earlier in his letter he explained, “You are holy priests who bring spiritual sacrifices that God gladly accepts through Jesus Christ.”

This forms the foundation for the New Testament teaching of the universal priesthood of all believers. In the Old Testament God established a special class of priests who stood between himself and his people. They offered the prayers and sacrifices on behalf of everyone else. Their presence served as a reminder of the way in which sin separated the people from God.

Today Jesus has become our once-for-all sacrifice for sin. We can come to him directly to offer our prayers and lives of service as a spiritual sacrifice to God.

Sometimes the term “privilege” gets used as criticism of the people the envious perceive to possess unfair advantages. We Christians have a privilege that is purely a matter of God’s grace, one to embrace without shame, in the status or identity he has given by making us his own.

Acts 3:1-7 “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple courts at the time of prayer–at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.” 

There was nothing unusual about going to the temple and finding people begging for money. We find ourselves in similar circumstances today when confronted by panhandlers. Some people who beg for money may be abusing the charity of the generous. This man simply was unable to support himself because of his disability. He genuinely needed help. Since he was lame from birth, there was no reason to think he would ever be cured.

Peter and John wanted to help. They weren’t trying only to quiet the lame man. Nor were they acting from guilt or annoyed into helping. They loved this man from the heart, and they did more than buy him a meal. 

First, they demanded his full attention. “Look at us.” It was important for the man to hear exactly what the apostles had to say, to understand what they were doing. Then came the gift: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”  With those simple words, the man was healed. Peter gave him more than a little bread. He gave him a new way of life. Contained in this gift was a very personal reason to trust in Jesus Christ. The healing was so complete that, though the man had never walked a day in his life, now he was able jump and run. No one could deny a miracle had taken place.

Do we see where Jesus is in all of this? Cowardice had led this same Peter to deny he knew Jesus three times. This same John once so thirsted for power that he tried to manipulate Jesus into promising to make him second in command in his kingdom. On the night Jesus rose from the dead these men had locked themselves in an upper room for fear of the Jews. 

Now they were boldly and publicly healing this man in Jesus’ name. Peter and John were not acting alone. Jesus was working in and through them, using the disciples to heal the crippled man. We see Jesus in the lives of his people, loving others through his power.

Do we find him in the same place today? We haven’t been given the gift to heal people miraculously.  But we do have gifts for serving others. These are no less the work of Jesus. He is still working, still serving others, even in those who clean the church, or make the coffee on Sunday morning. His love moves those who send a sympathy card or visit us when tragedy strikes. He is knocking at the unbeliever’s door when someone from the evangelism team makes a visit, and he is seeking the straying when elders call on those who have stopped attending worship.

We may not see him with our eyes, but Jesus hasn’t disappeared. He still serves us in the love and help of other Christians. He still uses us to be his loving hands and mouths today.

Romans 11:35 “For from him, and through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” 

Everything in creation comes from God. Christians who recite the creeds in church remind themselves of this every Sunday. “I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” the Apostle’s Creed begins. The Nicene creed adds, “and of all things visible and invisible.” His creating hand has been responsible for all we have and enjoy.

Then, we can say that everything in creation is “through him.” The Lord didn’t just wind the universe up and let it go. His loving hands still play a direct role in everything that happens. He not only provides the good gifts we enjoy from him. He is also the One who has brought them to us. He still delivers every possession we have, whether material or spiritual.

This means that all things are “to him.” Perhaps this phrase is the hardest of the trio to understand. What does it mean that all things are “to God”? This is a way of saying that everything finds its purpose, its reason for existing, in God. It all exists for his glory. No thing and no person will be able to escape serving his gracious purpose in the end.

Do you find some peace here? Does it give you some assurance as you grapple with life? All we have and are is the creation of this wise and loving God. He still very much involves himself in our lives. He brings us his gifts and gives us life as he directs every experience and supports the existence of all things through his power and love. We have the confidence that, whatever we may have, or be, or look like now, in some way we exist to him. We are serving his glory, a glory that shines brightest when he is saving us from sin and preparing us for heaven.

The Lord’s works and ways often leave us with the question “Why?” There is a humility that can explore the answer to that question without harm to faith or criticism of God. But there is also a time be content that he has the answer, even if he isn’t sharing it with us. His greatness far exceeds our own. And that is a good thing. “To him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Romans 11:34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?  Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

C.S Lewis once commented about his frustration with people who asked why God had to make religion so complicated, as if the Lord were just making this all up as he went along instead of revealing quite unchangeable facts about who he is and what he has done. Sometimes people want a little god, a god they can put in a box, or one they can set limits on. 

But do we really want a god like that, one so simple we understand everything about him, one so small we can control him? Why not be happy our God is so great?  Isn’t it better to accept our place, and know how much greater he is?

The idea of thinking we are smarter, and giving God advice is appealing. Might we be tempted to raise our hands and volunteer if the position of “Advisor to the Lord” were actually offered?  We can all look back through our lives and find some time when we tried to appoint ourselves the Lord’s counselor. We think we could do a better job of steering, and avoid the bumps along the way, if he would just give us the wheel.

We struggle to appreciate the growth in faith times like that provide for us. We forget that our questioning attitude flows from our failure to love the Lord with heart, soul, and mind.

It is not our place to tell the Lord what to do.  It is his place to tell us what he has done. Who wants to complain when he tells us that he doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve? Who would have suggested that he demand nothing of us, or that he offer his Son to suffer for our sins? That is exactly what he has to say, and he assures us over and over again. 

Paul’s third question also suggests something about knowing our station.  “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”  All that we have ever given to God is grief. All that he should repay to us is death and hell. Nonetheless, he treats us as if he does owe us something. 

Take a moment to consider how much of God’s work for us involves the word “give.”  He gave us his Son. Today he gives us the Holy Spirit. He gives us life. He gives us heaven.  He gives us our daily bread. He gives and he gives and he gives. When we understand our station, as the receiver of his gifts, our reasons to question him begin to disappear. Our reason to trust his greatness becomes so much more clear.

Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out!” 

The depth and the richness of God’s wisdom and knowledge inspired Paul’s trust. God’s knowledge includes that vast store of information that he has about everything he has created. You can take all the information mankind has gathered, double it, triple it, and he still knows more.

Scientists have identified about 800,000 different kinds of insects. They believe there are between 1 million and 10 million left to discover.  They find another seven to ten thousand every year. The Lord knows not only how many kinds of insects there are, or how many insects are alive at any given moment. He personally knows each bug, where it is, and what it is doing. He not only knows the average number of hairs on a human head.  He knows how many are on your head. He knows you and me, and every human being, better than we know ourselves.

“So what!” someone might say. “What good is it?” The Lord’s vast store of information wouldn’t merely make him a good contestant on Jeopardy. Along with the depth of the riches of his knowledge comes the depth of the riches of his wisdom. His wisdom is his capacity to take this knowledge, this intimate understanding of everything he has made, and put it to work for us. Whether we understand it or not, every situation he allows into our lives is tailor made for us at just that moment in time. 

That wisdom accomplished our salvation. The Lord knew that sinful people would never live up to his perfect demands. He sent Jesus to become our brother and fulfill those demands in our place. He knew we had nothing to pay for our sins ourselves. What could we give him? He owns everything, even our very selves. So he took what he knows about us and devised a plan for Jesus to become our substitute. He transferred our guilt to him. He paid what we never could. 

The Lord knew people would never trust his way of salvation on their own. So he sent the Holy Spirit to call us to faith. He took us by the heart and led us to trust that he is our friend. His word convinced us he every sin we commit.

Even a theologian like the Apostle Paul didn’t have all the answers to the theological questions he had. But what he did know about God let him live securely.  He simply trusted in the greatness of God’s saving wisdom.