2020 Kingdom Perspective
Invitation to CRC Christmas Eve
December 24, 2020 • Don Willeman
Hello! I’m Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church, and I want to let you know about something very exciting coming up for you on Christmas Eve at the downtown Lebanon Green. The pandemic has been a challenge for all of us, and we desperately need two things: Community and Hope. Isolation and despair are serious problems. Normally, we’d be gathering to celebrate the holidays. But COVID is making congregating indoors very difficult! But, at CRC we believe that God is charge, and that times of challenge are times of opportunity. So, in lieu of our normal indoor Christmas Eve services, we are planning something very special—an outdoor Candlelight Christmas Eve Service on the Lebanon Green. This will be a socially-distanced, mask-required event, following all the recommended health protocols. We will gather, sing and celebrate not only our shared community, but also the hope of Christmas—that God sent His only Son into our world darkness, in order that He might give us the light of His love. So, make plans for you and your family to join us on Christmas Eve, December 24th at 4:30pm. And please invite your friends and neighbors. All are welcome! And don’t forget to click on the link below for more important details. I look forward to seeing you! And on behalf of our congregation: Merry Christmas!
Our Debt. His Riches.
December 18, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. The Bible tells us that because of sin, we have a debt that none of us can repay. In our sin we have offended an infinite God, and so we have an infinite debt to overcome. This means that the only hope we could possibly have is for an infinite being to step in and satisfy that debt. But, this is exactly what God did for us in Christ Jesus. In Christ we have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sin”, that is to say we have been bought out of our debt through His life lavishly given to us and for us (Ephesians 1:7). In Christ’s great love for us, He has assumed every penny of our great debt. Allow me to illustrate it this way, imagine you are a young woman from a poor family. As a matter of fact, you are in deep debt, a debt so deep that it would be impossible ever to overcome. But one day, out of the blue, a very wealthy man shows up at your door and offers to marry you. You are suspicious at first, even though you’ve known about this man from afar, as he is something of a celebrity. You’ve even dreamed of someday marrying him. But, of course, this is crazy, because of who you are. He doesn’t know you, and besides, you have nothing to bring to the table, but your poverty. But, alas, this crazy dream does come true. And the moment you both say, “I do”, legally all his wealth becomes yours and all your poverty becomes his. And because of His great wealth, you suddenly find yourself not only loved, but financially secure beyond your wildest imagination. So it is with our sin. God’s righteousness has swallowed up our debt of justice through our surprise bridegroom Jesus Christ. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” ~ Ephesians 1:7-10 (ESV) Thank you for listening to and supporting The Kingdom Perspective! The Kingdom Perspective is a ministry of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. To hear more episodes you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. To donate click here or to find out more about the ministry and resources offered by Christ Redeemer Church visit http://www.christredeemerchurch.org.
Shame and Personal Growth
December 17, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Fear has the power to constrain. Bad fear, that is fear not rooted in the fear of God, will constrain you from growing as a person. It will stunt your emotional, spiritual and relational development. Actually, depending on the nature of the fear, it may even stunt other aspects of your development. For example, some studies suggest that an obsessive fear of allergens, such as avoiding peanuts, can actually leave you more susceptible to developing a peanut allergy. Succumbing to shame will stunt your personal growth. In order to overcome our fear of shame, we have to face it. The only way to overcome shame is to carefully walk into it and through it—to face the vulnerability of shame. But how can we do that, when our fear of shame so cripples us? The popular academic sociologist Brené Brown has made a career out of addressing this troublesome issue of shame. She says: “Shame cannot survive being spoken. It cannot tolerate having words wrapped around it. What it craves is secrecy, silence, and judgment. If you stay quiet, you stay in a lot of self-judgment.” This is precisely why God comes to us in the gospel, the “good word”. God does not keep quiet in the face of our shame. He speaks to us tenderly, but truthfully. In Christ God confronts our shame by placing it on Himself on the cross for all to see, and thus condemning it to the grave. He wraps our shame in the Good Word of His Son Jesus Christ. Listen to prophet Isaiah: He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief [Yet] Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. …and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3, 4 and 5) “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away” our sin and shame (John 1:29)! Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” ~ Genesis 2:18-25 (ESV) Thank you for listening to and supporting The Kingdom Perspective! The Kingdom Perspective is a ministry of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. To hear more episodes you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. To donate click here or to find out more about the ministry and resources offered by Christ Redeemer Church visit http://www.christredeemerchurch.org.
The Fear of Shame
December 16, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Fear is very powerful and controlling. Bad fear, that is fear not rooted in the fear of God, will constrain you and keep you from growing as a person. It will stunt your spiritual, emotional and relational development. Now, one of the most powerful controlling emotions is that of shame, and it is very much related to fear. When we are tempted towards shame, we are being driven by a particular kind of fear—a fear of relational connection, or maybe better said, disconnection. Shame says, “I am fearful of being vulnerable, because I don’t want to be seen as inadequate. I don’t want to be uncovered in the nakedness of my soul. I’m fearful of being rejected and despised?” We all experience this sense of shame at times. The Bible suggests that this fear is deeply rooted in our human psyche, precisely because it is deeply rooted in the history of the human race. When our first parents Adam and Eve sinned, their initial experience was that of fear and shame. Listen to Genesis 3. Adam says to God: “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10). Now, here’s the good news. Adam would have never had this conversation with God, were it not for God pursuing Adam in his shame. Adam had swallowed the lie of sin and shame. But God’s pursued Adam, still. And in this we see the foreshadowing of the gospel of Jesus. In the gospel, God comes after us. In our shame we do not seek God; but in His grace He seeks us. Jesus put it this way, “The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”” ~ Genesis 3:1-13 (ESV) Thank you for listening to and supporting The Kingdom Perspective! The Kingdom Perspective is a ministry of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. To hear more episodes you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. To donate click here or to find out more about the ministry and resources offered by Christ Redeemer Church visit http://www.christredeemerchurch.org.
All the Riches of His Love
December 10, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. The problem with the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it brings us both the worst news we could ever receive and the best. First the bad news. The apostle Paul sums it up this way: We are dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1). By “dead” he does not mean that we are inactive. No. Rather, in the context he means that we are born into a human race that is cut off from the life of God. Therefore, our manner of life is an offense to God. We follow the path of the devil, pleasing ourselves and not God (Ephesians 2:2-3). We are “by nature deserving of [God’s] wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Now, what could possibly be worse than to be told you are on the wrong side of ultimate and eternal justice? This is the unbelievably bad news. But, the gospel doesn’t stop there. Secondly, the gospel then tells us unbelievably good news. Allow me to quote from Ephesians 2. No one has ever said it better: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV) This is an amazing truth! But the gospel doesn’t stop there. It is not enough for God to spare us from eternal judgment. He then pours out upon us His own eternal riches. Listen: And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [Why? In order to remind us forever of our failure? No!] in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. My friend, the problem with the gospel of Jesus is not that it is too negative. The problem is that is too good to be true. But it is true! Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” ~ Ephesians 2:1-10 (NASB) Thank you for listening to and supporting The Kingdom Perspective! The Kingdom Perspective is a ministry of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. To hear more episodes you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. To donate click here or to find out more about the ministry and resources offered by Christ Redeemer Church visit http://www.christredeemerchurch.org.
Your Sin vs. God’s Grace
December 9, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Your sin is no match for the riches of God’s grace. Where sin abounds, grace super-abounds! You may be overwhelmed by the seriousness of your sin and the debt you owe God’s justice. You may be filled with shame at the spiritual and moral crimes you’ve committed. You may be embarrassed for your continued struggle against sin and its effects in your life. But at the very moment that you put your faith in Jesus’s work for you on the cross, at that very moment, all the riches of heaven were transferred into your account. In the words of St. Paul, God blessed you “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). In yourself you were a pauper in the kingdom of sin, but in Christ you’ve become a prince in the kingdom of heaven, with all the riches of your Savior now at your disposal. God in His grace spared absolutely no expense when He chose to redeem you. He was under no obligation to redeem you. But when He freely chose to do so He broke the bank. He did not redeem us with the leftovers of His love. He did not redeem us with the hand-me-downs of heaven. Rather, He found the most valuable thing that He had, His beloved Son in whom His soul delights, and He gave Him freely, fully and gladly for us. This is why we sing of “amazing grace” and “amazing love”. Though we see echoes of such love in this world, they are but echoes, dim reflections of a love that is essentially foreign to this world, but overflowing from the throne of Christ. Christian, God demonstrates His own unique love for you in that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8). Something to think about from The Kingdom of Heaven. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” ~ Ephesians 1:3-6 (ESV) Thank you for listening to and supporting The Kingdom Perspective! The Kingdom Perspective is a ministry of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. To hear more episodes you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. To donate click here or to find out more about the ministry and resources offered by Christ Redeemer Church visit http://www.christredeemerchurch.org.
Gospel Hospitality
December 8, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. One of the marks of a church ought to be “loving hospitality.” Listen to what Paul says in his letter to the Romans. In chapter 12 he is beginning to lay out how the gospel of Jesus transforms the way we live. What does it look like when Jesus gets a hold of one’s life? He says: Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13 NASB) This “hospitality” is not what we think. It is not impressing others with your well-kept home or your fine selection of food and wine. If that were the case, very few of us could do it. Rather, it is sharing your life and stuff with one another. It is making others feel as at home in your home and with your stuff, as you do. It is letting others, particularly your fellow Christians, into and beyond the margins of your life. It is welcoming them and caring for them, so that the body of Christ grows in love (Ephesians 4:16). Now, this is exactly what you see in the description of the early church in the book of Acts: And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. (Acts 2:44-45) And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. (Acts 4:32) Such radical hospitality grows naturally in those who’ve experienced Jesus’s radical hospitality for themselves. But more often than not, this radical hospitality grows as a process. Therefore, be patient with yourself, and certainly with others! Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” ~ Romans 12:9-21 (NASB) Thank you for listening to and supporting The Kingdom Perspective! The Kingdom Perspective is a ministry of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. To hear more episodes you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. To donate click here or to find out more about the ministry and resources offered by Christ Redeemer Church visit http://www.christredeemerchurch.org.
Watson’s Wonderful Savior
December 1, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Sometimes we misunderstand the shorthand formula of our salvation, namely that we are “saved by faith.” The truth is we are not saved “by faith.” Rather we are saved by grace…on account of Christ…through faith. Faith is but the instrument that God uses to attach us to Himself and all His riches for us in Christ Jesus. Faith is what God uses to connect us to the thing that saves us. And so, it is not the strength of our faith that saves us but the strength of God’s grace in Christ. It is not the quantity of our faith that saves us but the fact of it. The old Puritan pastor Thomas Watson put it this way: “The promises are not made to strong faith, but to true. The promise does not say, he who has a giant faith, who can believe God’s love through a frown, who can rejoice in affliction, who can work wonders, remove mountains, stop the mouth of lions, shall be saved, but whosoever believes, be his faith never so small. A reed is but weak, especially when it is bruised; yet a promise is made to it. ‘A bruised reed shall he not break.’ Matt 12: 20.” ~Thomas Watson (1620-1686), Cambridge (Emmanuel College) graduate and Puritan pastor in his work The Ten Commandments You may feel that your faith is weak. You may feel that your faith is not strong enough to save you. Nonsense! Look, my friend, not to your faith but to your faithful Savior. He is not weak. He is strong. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” ~ Ephesians 2:4-10 (ESV)
A Weak Faith in the Face of Fear
November 30, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Your faith in Christ is ultimately more determinative than your fears. Just because you are terrified when you ride in an airplane, doesn’t mean that you’ll fail to get to your destination. Your fear has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on your objective safety or the certainty of your arrival. Your safety and the certainty of your arrival are totally dependent upon the competence of the pilot and the sturdiness of the aircraft. It is not your courage or faith that will land you safely at Boston Logan or LAX, but the pilot. So it is with our faith in Christ. You may be overwhelmed with all kinds of fear and terror, and you may think “How can I ever be saved? I am such a fearful and pathetic Christian. How will I ever become the stalwart faithful Christian I’m called to be?” Well, the question is not how fearful you are. Even the best Christian is regularly plagued with all kinds of fears. Nor is the question how strong is my faith? Even the strongest in faith can be plagued by doubt. The question is, what is your faith in? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you placed your life in Him? You see, it doesn’t matter how absolutely terrified you may be on an airplane. Your faith and confidence in the plane may be ever so small compared to your overwhelming sense of fear. Yet, your fear will not in any way prohibit you from arriving safely at your final destination. Why? Because you are on the plane. You’ve submitted yourself to the safe keeping of the pilot. My friend, if you’ve entered the vessel of Jesus Christ, then you can be confident, in spite of fear or failing that you will land safely in heaven, completely conformed to the image of Christ. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit…. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” ~ Romans 8:1-4, 28-30 (ESV)
Fear and Trust
November 25, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Fear is a very interesting emotion. Unlike other emotions it actually grows larger the farther we run from it, but smaller the closer we move towards it. But how are we as believers to move towards our fear? Well, we must do so with faith in the God who is bigger than any of our fears. Listen to David in Psalm 27: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. David did not avoid his fears; rather he confronted them by bringing them before the face of God. Such courage or lack thereof is very contagious. Indeed, we should be very careful about the vibe we give off with our children. Certainly, we want to be gentle and empathetic with their fears. Certainly, we want to teach them not to be foolish in the choices they make. But above all, we want them to walk in faith, trusting in God. We want them to learn how to take calculated risks, to move beyond their fears and towards obedience to God and love of others. This requires us to model such faith in front of our children. It requires us not only to empathize with their experience of fear, but also to nudge them out of the nest. We need to direct them to trust in God for themselves, so that they might find Him faithful in their own experience. Confronting our fears builds confidence, but not confronting them kills it. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident. One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.” ~ Psalm 27:1-6 (NASB)
Chesterton on Fear of God
November 24, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Fear is a mutually exclusive principle. To the degree that you fear one thing, to that same degree you tend not to fear another. In other words, you may be fearful of being late for an important appointment, but you are more fearful of getting a ticket. And so, you don’t speed…or at least not too much. A teenage boy may be fearful of jumping off a river bride with his buddies, but he is more fearful of being perceived as a coward by them. And so, he jumps into the river. A college student may be fearful of getting a low grade in a class, but she is more fearful of getting expelled from school for cheating. And so, she plays by the rules, taking the C grade, instead of risking her college career to get an A. You may be fearful of a bad outcome for your child, but you are more fearful of them never learning to take responsibility for themselves. And so, you step back and let them face the consequences. Someone else may be fearful of being lonely and isolated, but they have a greater fear of engaging in public. And so, they isolate more and more until they become a total recluse. You get the point. Fear is a mutually exclusive principle. That means that the best way to combat fear is not by stopping your fear, but by directing your fear to something and someone else. One fear drives out another. And the fear you fixate on the most will control the outcome of your life. The English writer and thinker, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) nails this principle, as it relates our relationship with God. “We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another. When man’s terror scares you, turn your thoughts to the wrath of God.” (G.K. Chesterton) As you can see, Chesterton had a way of cutting to the heart of the matter! The fear of God doesn’t ruin your life, rather it keeps you from falling prey to thousand little lesser fears. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” ~ Psalm 111:9-10 (ESV)
Freedom and Fetters
November 23, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. As modern Western people, we tend to define freedom as the ability to do what we please—what is right in our own eyes. However, I’d like to suggest that true freedom is not as easy as getting what we want. Sometimes what we want is not good for us—even destructive. Anyone who has ever dealt with a child can testify to that truth. And sadly, many of our adult desires never escape our childhood foolishness. The great Edmund Burke (1729-1797) even questioned how well such a definition would work in the civil realm. “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites. … Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (Edmund Burke) Indeed, the Bible seems to suggest the same thing. For example, in the book of Judges, the children of Israel are in a mess. Having just come into the Promised Land, they did not put “moral chains upon their own appetites” but pursued and subjected themselves to the false gods of the Canaanites. Moral and civil chaos ensued. The children of Israel became slaves of their own desires. Their false gods became their own fetters. The book ends with the haunting line, in what we might call today a “mic-drop-moment: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.
Tertullian’s Defense of the Gospel
November 20, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. The early church was distinctive for many reasons, but one of the most powerful was the quality of loving community found in it. Tertullian, the 3rd century church leader, wrote a number of works defending the gospel in the face of persecution (see, To the Gentiles and Apology). In one of his more famous statements, he directs his pagan detractors to look at the quality of love among Christians, as compared to its lack among non-Christian pagans. He writes: “Look . . . how they love one another (for they themselves [pagans] hate one another); and how they are ready to die for each other (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).” Tertullian knew that the love of Christians for one another was incredibly powerful and persuasive. Not surprising, since this is exactly what Jesus taught. In His famous prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus not once but twice says that it is this unifying love among Christians, in spite of their many differences, that shows to the world the truthfulness of the gospel. Jesus prays: …that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. [And again a few verses later, Jesus prays…] The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. (John 17:21-23 NASB, emphasis added) The quality of our relationships as followers of Jesus Christ is our strongest and clearest witness. Twentieth century thinker Francis Schaeffer called this love, “the final apologetic”—that is, the final proof of the veracity of the gospel. The kindness, mercy and grace of genuine love may be in short supply in the world, but it must not be in the church. Is your life dripping with love toward your fellow Christians? Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” ~ John 17:17-26 (NASB)
God’s Care and Our Troubles
November 18, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. We tend to be fearful of difficult circumstances and trouble. It has been my experience that underneath this fear is not merely a revulsion to hard things, but a faulty belief system that equates suffering/pain with God’s lack of care or concern. Nothing could be further from the truth. Trouble and trial in your life doesn’t mean that God does not care about you; it doesn’t mean that God is upset and is trying to punish you. My friends, the Bible teaches almost the exact opposite. “Those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines” (Hebrews 12) or we might say “trains” or “disciples”. Trials are not contrary to God’s love but are the means by which He works that love in us. You have to ask yourself the question, what is the goal of life? What is God trying to produce in me? Well, God’s goal is that we might share in His character, and so share in His joy. We are to become like Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2). Thus, we are not saved from trouble in this life; we are saved through it. We are not saved from suffering; we are saved through suffering. We need only look to Jesus’s suffering for us on the cross to see that. After all, it was by His suffering that He saved us. Jesus put it this way, “…in Me you may have peace. Here on earth, you will have trials and troubles. But take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). You see, our fear makes us run from suffering. Looking at Jesus drives us to embrace it. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” ~ 1 Peter 1:6-9 (NASB)
Hope in the Midst of Trial
November 16, 2020 • Don Willeman
Transcript: Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. Remember that great line from that classic 1980’s film The Princess Bride? “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Now, we can be assured that the Bible is not trying to sell you something. It is “straight up.” It tells us that fear, pain and suffering are real. Trouble and danger are unavoidable. In Romans, the Apostle Paul reminds us that it is only through suffering that we are able to share in Christ’s glory (Romans 8:17). The cross precedes the crown. The path to the throne is through the thorns. It fully acknowledges suffering, but it does so in hope, telling us “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Now, you may feel that your disappointments are too deep, your suffering too intense. You may feel you can no longer hang on. Let me remind you… the Bible gets it. It totally understands your experience. And it offers hope in the midst of your very real storm. It promises that regardless of whether you can hang on, the Love of God in Christ always hangs on to you. Listen to its promise: …in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39 NASB) You may lose your grip on God; God’s never loses His grip on you. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~ Romans 8:35-39 (NASB)