Reasons to encourage youth to pursue the Lord

Esther 2:5-7 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

A Quick Introduction to the Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is an interesting book in that we're not told who wrote it.  Furthermore, the name of God is never mentioned once.  Regardless of those two traits, the Book of Esther bears the marks of Divine inspiration and the presence and providence of God is clearly operating through all of its pages.  The heroes of the story are Mordecai and his much younger cousin Hadassah (Esther).  The villain attempting to destroy the Jewish people is Haman.  The plot unfolds around the antagonism that Haman has towards Mordecai and his plot to destroy the Jews.  The King who falls in love with Esther is Ahashuerus (identified in history as Xerxes I).  Through the efforts of Esther and Mordecai God Providentially foils the plot of Haman, with Haman being hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai.  

With that brief introduction to Esther, we now will turn specifically to one of the key elements of the account: Mordecai's Godly encouragement of Esther.  Why must you and I, dear Christian, offer Godly encouragement to our young people to pursue the Lord? Note the two thoughts below:

1. Call of God
From what we saw already in Esther 2:5-7, Mordecai was raising up Esther.  As the plot of the book unfolds, we read these words in Esther 3:8 "Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain."  Haman's words would soon become an edict sent by the King in Esther 3:13 "Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder."

The plot was underway, however God providentially had arranged Esther to have favor with the king.  As events were unfolding, she had come to have the ability to gain an audience with the King.  The only issue was that she was a Jewess keeping her identity secret from the King.  Mordecai informs her that she needs to plead with the King on behalf of the people to stop the horrible plot, lest the whole nation perish.  Esther's famous response is recorded in Esther 4:16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

We must encourage the next generation to pursue the Lord because we never know whom he is calling to serve Him.  God used Esther in a mighty way to save her people.  So encourage young people to follow the Lord because of God's calling and secondly...

2. The Cause of the Kingdom
As we already mentioned, Haman's plot to destroy the Jews had been providentially overturned, resulting in Haman's death.  In Esther 9:28-29 we read these words about Esther - "So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants.

29 Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim."

This young lady was called by God to advance the cause of His Kingdom.  Because of God's work through Esther's courage and grace driven motivation that the Jewish people were saved.  It was to be through the Jews that God would send His Son into the world to be the Savior.  

Conclusion

We never know how God is going to advance His kingdom, nor at times the people He will choose to use.  However whenever those two things come together, the surprise is always pleasant and God gets the glory.  Encouraging our young people to pursue the Lord is worth it, due to the calling He may be having on their lives and the cause of the Kingdom purposes He wants to accomplish.  

P3 How Divine Aseity is core to God and relates to Christian identity

Isaiah 48:11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

Review

For the past couple of days we have been exploring that unique trait of God that is called "Aseity" (A-say-i-tee). To grasp once again this core trait of God's Aseity, I quote from the great Christian scholar and defender of Biblical Christianity, Dr. William Lane Craig: "When we come to the subject of God’s self-existence that we’ve been looking at, we can say that the Scripture clearly teaches that God is uncreated and independent of anything else. Everything other than God depends upon God for its existence, whereas God depends upon nothing." We have explored Isaiah 43-47 thus far in understanding the reasons for celebrating God's Divine Aseity. In today's post I want to wrap up our study of this essential characteristic of God by seeing how central it is in understanding God's identity and its relationship to Christian identity.

How Divine Aseity is core to God's Identity

Isaiah 48 and 49 are among some of the greatest chapters in the Old Testament to get a glimpse into the Triune identity of God. Isaiah 48:1-11 has the Lord affirming the Oneness of His being, namely that He and he alone is God, and that He does not share His glory with another. In fact as we have been noticing the past couple of days, the phrase "I am the first, and I am the last" and other phrases like it affirm the Oneness and uniqueness of God in His Aseity (a-say-i-tee). To remind the reader again, God's Aseity refers to how He is independent and His own source of life and existence. All things, whether people, angels, rocks or stars depend on God for their existence or life. God however is different and is the only Being who is self-sufficient, meaning then that He alone can Create, Perform Salvation and reign over all things. This trait is important in Isaiah's overall argument against idolatry and the worldliness that was stealing away the hearts of his people and which still attempts to grab hold of our hearts today.

This One God then identifies Himself in a plural way in Isaiah 48:16 as the One who was sent by the Lord God, along with the Spirit of God. Though only brief, the passage gives us a glimpse into the three-fold identity of God that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact the remainder of Isaiah 48 and into 49 makes some predictions about the Son coming into the world to assume humanity and to function as "Servant of the Lord". Philippians 2:5-11 reminds us of the fact the Son humbled Himself and was found in the form of a servant and was obedient unto death, even death on the cross. However death was not to be the final chapter in the humanity of Jesus, for in being also Divine, He possesses the quality of "Aseity" like the Father and the Spirit. This meant He could take up His life as God at will and raise from the dead in His humanity. (John 10:17) Jesus then ascended into heaven and as Philippians 2 describes. He was exalted and given a name that is above every other name.

Divine Aseity and the Christian identity

Thus when you turn to Colossians 4, you discover that this exalted Jesus is "The Master" in heaven to Whom every child of God is accountable. Knowing that we are accountable to Him in both this life and the one to come ought to affect how we treat fellow Christians, those outside the faith and prompt us to encourage everyone for Jesus sake. Divine Aseity reminds me that Jesus is All-sufficient and that you and I by ourselves are insufficient. The Lord and His word is the norm by which we live in an otherwise abnormal world that is dying and in need of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, though sharing fully in the One Divine nature with the Spirit and the Father, still shares in our humanity. He by His Spirit urges us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to love His Father with all our hearts, souls mind and strength. (Matthew 22:37) May we ever depend upon our Master in heaven, upon whom we depend for everything that pertains unto life and to godliness through His word. (compare 2 Peter 1:4-11)

P2 More reasons to celebrate God's Aseity

Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 

That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other."

Review from yesterday

In yesterday's post we began focusing upon the quality of God's Aseity (a-say-i-tee).  Aseity (from the Latin term ase meaning "from oneself") refers to God being the source of His own life and existence and being non-dependent on His creation.  We noted four reasons as to why God's Aseity is to be celebrated:

1. Worship

2. His Self-revelation in the Word of God

3. War against worldliness

4. Work of salvation

This trait is crucial, since God alone is the source of salvation as Savior, authority as King and life as Creator.  Today we look again at this core feature of Divine Aseity to note how God alone knows the future.

God's Aseity is to be celebrate because He alone knows what tomorrow holds 

In considering the songs we sing, we could regard the application of God's Aseity to the Christian life by the following hymn: "many things about tomorrow, I don't need to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand."   The phrase: "I the Lord am God alone, there is no other" refers to God's Aseity.  We know that this trait of God is the main theme throughout Isaiah 45-46 in how it is repeated several times throughout those chapters (45:5-7; 45:12; 45:15-17; 45:19; 45:21; 46:8-11.  

So why is God's core quality of Aseity important to you and me as Christians? In these chapters we see God as having Sovereign control over times and seasons. God had not only predicted the future coming of the Persian empire  that was not even a kingdom in Isaiah's day, but even the king by name (Cyrus) who would not be born for another 200 or so years after Isaiah's day!   God alone could make such accurate predictions because He is the source of all history and is Sovereign over all things.  Now we must hasten to add that God's Aseity as sole and ultimate authority over time does not exclude the freedom man has to act and choose certain courses of action.  However man's freedom is dependent on circumstances and acts within the boundaries of God's unlimited freedom. (Acts 17:25-27)  

Isaiah's point in all of this is to contrast God with the idols and false deities that Israel had grown to depend upon over time.  These idols that were unable to save, create or reign because of the fact they neither exist nor do they have aseity.  On an even more practical level, God's Aseity in relationship to the future means He holds the future of your salvation in His hands.  

Aseity is to be celebrated because the Christian life depends upon Jesus Christ

Whenever you turn to Colossians 3, you find the command to seek not the things here below, but the things which are above, where Christ is situated.  Jesus Christ shares this quality of Aseity with the Father and the Spirit, meaning He is the source of your salvation from beginning to end.  You and I are not independent, but always dependent on Jesus Christ for our every need.  Sin and this world cannot deliver on their claims of happiness and peace, however Christ can.  He is the source of true happiness and true peace.  Only the One who has this quality of Aseity can deliver good on what He says.  

P1 Celebrating the The Aseity of God

Isaiah 43:10-11 “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. 11 “I, even I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me.

Introducing God's Aseity (A-say-i-tee)

When you read through Isaiah 43-44, you find celebrated a characteristic of God that is unique to Himself - a trait that Bible teachers call "aseity" (a-say-itee).  Theologian Dr. R.C Sproul writes concerning God's aseity: "When we affirm that God is eternal, we are also saying that He possesses the attribute of aseity, or self-existence. This means that God eternally has existed of Himself and in Himself."   God's Aseity (from a Latin word ase meaning "from oneself") refers to God's uniqueness and independence from the rest of creation as well as He being the own source of His own life.  All other beings, whether angels, people or animals, are dependent on God for their life.  The universe itself is dependent on God, since it was He who spoke it into existence. (Genesis 1:1-2; Psalm 33:6).    

Why God's Aseity is so important 

1. Aseity is the essential starting place for the worship of God

To begin, Divine Aseity is important for the worship songs we commonly sing.  One of my favorite hymns that celebrates the Aseity of God is the song "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."  The lyrics of the hymn begin as follows: "Come thou fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise". How do great songs of worship like this hymn rely on God's Aseity? The fact that God is described as a fountain means that He is His own source of blessing.  We are dependent on God for everything and celebrate the Triune God of scripture that alone is our source of life and eternal life.  Just as a fountain of water feeds itself in producing a beautiful stream of water to be enjoyed by all who look upon it, God's Aseity means all that we see of Him flows inwardly from the kind of God he is: eternal and independent of His creation.  The Apostle Paul's burst of worship in Romans 11:36 assumes God's Aseity: "For from Him and to Him and through Him are all things.  To Him be the glory for ever and ever, amen."

2. Aseity is essential to understanding God in His word

Another reason we could cite as to why God's Aseity is so important is in how the revelation of Himself to us in His Word requires Him to possess this quality.  Isaiah brings out three main titles of God: Savior (Isaiah 43:3), Creator (43:15) and King of Israel (43:15).  As you read these chapters, you find a repeated phrase that speaks of God's Aseity - namely that God is the only Lord, and there is no other, neither before nor after Him. (Isaiah 43:10-11; 44:6-8)  God's Aseity insures that God is the sole source of salvation, the sole source of all things as Creator and the Sole King over His people.  

3. Aseity is essential to waging war on worldliness

Isaiah then contrasts God who is Aseity to that of man made idols that are not gods at all. (Isaiah 44:9-20)  Quite the opposite of Aseity is the fact that idolatry is foolishness, since men take blocks of wood or stone and take half for firewood and half to make an image.  Those false gods cannot save, only condemn.  Furthermore, idols  cannot create but only destroy and they cannot reign but only be worthless.  The idols that we combat are those idols that come up in our hearts. Whenever we begin to think that God or Christ is not enough, and that we need to "supplement" He and His word, we have drifted into the realm of idolatry or worldliness. (1 John 2:15-17) Only when we see God in His Aseity do we realize the lie of sin, that nothing can fully complete except God alone. 

4. Aseity is essential for the work of salvation

Only the God that is Aseity, the God that is His own Source of life and eternal power, can redeem and forgive. (Isaiah 43:10-11;44:21-28)  For example, when you turn to Colossians 2, you discover two essential truths about Jesus Christ: He being fully Divine and fully man.  Take everything you just learned about God in Isaiah 43-44 and apply it to the Son, Jesus Christ.  The Lord Jesus Christ, touching His Divinity, shares the same exact qualities with the Father, being the "fulness of Deity in bodily form". (Colossians 2:9) The Son shares in the same nature of aseity as the Father, meaning  He can be regarded as the Savior, Creator and King. (Colossians 2:10-11) Equally important is the fact that the Son came to begin sharing in our humanity, meaning He could now die for our sins and raise from the dead. (Colossians 2:11-15) By being both fully God and fully man, Jesus Christ's saving work carries with it infinite value and is effectively applied to all who by grace through faith believe on Him. (Colossians 2:1-7) 

Celebrate God's Aseity.  Praise Christ today for His Aseity - the quality that makes Him an equal sharer with the Father and the Spirit and thus the source of your salvation.  Also praise Him that He came to share in your humanity so that He could shed His blood for you.   

Importance of Imitating a Good Testimony - 3 John 11-15

3 John 11-12 "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true."

Introduction:
Over the past month I have written two posts that draw material directly from the book of 3 John.  We have noted that John's main purpose in writing this shortest of all the Bible books is to detail the healthy Christian walk. John's little letter is addressed to Gaius and features two other men: Diotrophes and Demetrius.  The first post (7/20/13) was entitled "Marks of a Healthy Christian faith" and listed out three traits that we find of a healthy Christian faith from 3 John 1-8:
1. Sound Faith.                        3 John 1-2
2. Strongly Committed Faith.   3 John 3-4
3. Sharing Faith.                      3 John 5-8
In that first post we focused attention upon Gaius and noted how he emulated all three traits.  

In contrast to Gaius we looked at the life of Diotrophes in a post (7/30/13) entitled "Marks of an unhealthy Christianity, and how to cure it."  Diotrophes is the villain of John's short epistle and evidences three traits of unhealthy Christian faith in 3 John 9-11:
1. Resistance.             3 John 9
2. Rebellion.                3 John 10
3. Rottenness.             3 John 11

Gaius shows us the qualities necessary for a healthy Christian faith, whereas Diotrophes shows us what not to have.  We concluded that last post with a prescription from 2 Peter 1:4-10 for curing an unhealthy Christian faith.

The importance of imitating a Good Testimony
In today's post we aim to close out our study of 3 John by looking at the third man in John's little letter: Demetrius.  If Gaius shows us the internal qualities to have in a healthy Christian faith, then Demetrius' life illustrates a good testimony that flows from such faith.  Gaius' life illustrates the roots of healthy faith and Demetrius' life highlights the fruits of healthy faith. Therefore in today's post we will consider the topic: "The importance of imitating a good testimony." Note the following imitable qualities of a good testimony from 3 John 11-15, with the main focus on verse 12:

1. A Good Testimony should be imitated.   
3 John 11-12
John exhorts Gaius in 3 John 11 to "imitate what is good. The one who does good is of God." Diotrophes is the illustration of what not to imitate.  John mentions Demetrius to illustrate by example what a good testimony is to both Gaius and us. John is actually exhorting Gaius to consider and imitate Demetrius' testimony.  In 3 John 12 we read the following about Demetrius, namely that he "had received a good testimony from everyone." The one verb in the original language translated "had received a good testimony" is in the perfect tense, meaning that Demetrius' testimony was good from the moment he got saved and is still a good testimony even to John's present day.  Demetrius is the type of Christian whom you can rely upon and who has been consistent from the beginning of faith up until now.  

Testimonies by nature are to be of such a quality as to be imitated.  The Apostle Paul encourages this practice in Philippians 3:16-17 "however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us."  Why is it good to imitate a good testimony? Not because of the person so much as the fact of what the person is imitating.  Demetrius had a good testimony that was worthy of imitation due to the fact that he imitated scripture.   

2. A Good Testimony should imitate scripture. 3 John 12
John writes in 3 John 12 "Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself....".  Three times in this one verse is the word "testimony" mentioned.  The Apostle John himself undoubtedly would had been imitated by Demetrius, since out of all the New Testament authors, no one wrote more on the subject of testimony than John (nearly 50 times in all of his writings).  A good testimony will pattern itself after what it sees in scripture, and build its elements from the Bible.  The Bible Knowledge Commentary draws out this interesting observation about 3 John 12:
"In accordance with the Jewish law of witnesses (Deut. 19:15), the apostle adduced a threefold testimony to the character of Demetrius. (1) He was well spoken of by everyone who new him. (2) He was also vouched for by the truth itself. Here the truth is personified as a "witness" and John no doubt meant that Demetrius' character and doctrine were in such conformity with that truth that the truth itself virtually spoke on his behalf. (3) As a third line of testimony, John wrote, we also speak well of him, and you know our testimony is true." Think of how often the Bible itself instructs us to pattern our lives around its words. (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17) So if a good testimony is to be imitated and if it is marked by how it imitates scripture, then why imitate scripture? Because when you imitate scripture in your testimony, you are imitating Jesus Christ.

3. A Good Testimony should imitate Jesus Christ. 3 John 12-15 
Demetrius' testimony imitated scripture and was worthy of imitation because of the fact He aimed to imitate Jesus Christ.  How do we know that? Other scripture speaks about the imitation of Jesus Christ as being the chief mark of a good Christian testimony.  John writes the main purpose of his Gospel in John 20:31 "but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."  Later on John writes in John 21:24 "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true."

Or consider these words about imitating Jesus in 1 John 2:6 "the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."  The Apostle Peter mentions Jesus' example as the basis of our Christian testimony in 1 Peter 2:21 "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps." Then finally, consider these thoughts in Hebrews 12:2-3 "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Conclusion
John urges Gaius and us to imitate Demetrius because a good testimony should be imitated, due to the fact it imitates scripture, and thus in doing so it imitates Jesus.  This is why a good Christian testimony is so important to imitate.