Reflections
Today's sermon was preached by Pastor Wade on Acts 10, which covers Peter's vision and Cornelius' conversion. The focal point was the Gospel reaching the Gentiles, and the sermon echoed Pastor Wes' sermon on January 25th.
I've already shared my thoughts on the overabundance of support for missions and lack of support for equipping the local congregation in that day's reflections so I won't rehash that here.
What I will do is share some reflections on the closing song, "Send Me" by Bethel Music.
I have a great disdain for Bethel, which will probably come as no surprise to anyone that knows me. Let me point out a few things in the lyrics for this song.
Verse 1
Verse 1 If it’s bandaging the broken Or washing filthy feet Here I am Lord, send me If it’s loving one another Even when we don’t agree Here I am Lord, send me
On it's face, there's nothing wrong with this first verse per-se. What irks me is that I know the same people that wrote and sing this won't sign up for the other things God calls us to do. For example, this song is (I assume to be) taken from Isaiah 6:
Isaiah 6:8 (NET 2nd ed.)
8 I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!”
Most people would hear or read this and say yes and amen. I'll go love on people. I'll go pay it forward in the drive through. I'll hand off my cart at Aldi without asking for a quarter in return. I'll give to the missions fund. I'll fill the Christmas shoe box each year for a child in Africa.
What happens when that's not what God asks us to do? What happens when he asks much more of us? What happens when he asks of us what he asked of Isaiah?
Isaiah 6:9–13 (NET 2nd ed.)
9 He said, “Go and tell these people:
‘Listen continually, but don’t understand. Look continually, but don’t perceive.’ 10 Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” 11 I replied, “How long, Lord?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated, 12 and the LORD has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. 13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.”
What happens when we are called to sing of God's judgment on the unrepentant pagans? Will we continue to sing "Send Me" or will we turn and run the opposite direction like Jonah? Unfortunately, I think the majority will choose the latter. Most Christians are eager to provide physical comfort for the poor and needy, but not spiritual comfort for the lost and broken.
Verse 3
Verse 3 If the truth cuts like an arrow I will say it anyway ‘Cause here I am Lord, send me If it’s means that they’ll reject me Lord I will still obey ‘Cause here I am Lord, send me
I had to laugh at this one. I see so many more people attacking, denouncing, and silencing the truth tellers than I do the people preaching to the lost and advancing the kingdom. Our churches are led by Amaziahs who fancy themselves to be Amos. Tobiahs that think they are Nehemiahs. Caiaphas who really believe they are John the Baptist.
Verse 4
Verse 4 When I’m standing in Your glory I’ll be glad I chose to say Here I am Lord, send me Well done good and faithful I live to hear You say Here I am Lord, send me Here I am Lord, send me Here I am Lord, send me
This one irked me the most. Throughout the Bible, both the Old and New Testament echo that we didn't choose God, He chose us. This is especially apparent in the book of John.
John 15:16–17 (NET 2nd ed.)
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 17 This I command you—to love one another.
John 6:37–40 (NET 2nd ed.)
37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39 Now this is the will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:44 (NET 2nd ed.)
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:63–65 (NET 2nd ed.)
63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 So Jesus added, “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.”
John 10:27–30 (NET 2nd ed.)
27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
We also see this in the book of Acts:
Acts 13:44–52 (NET 2nd ed.)
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they began to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him. 46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed. 49 So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region. 50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region. 51 So after they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, they went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
The last of the five solas, "Soli Deo Gloria" means "For the glory of God alone." Our salvation, from start to finish, is by God and for God's glory.
I'll leave you with this quote from Charles Spurgeon:
I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.
- Charles Spurgeon