Special Message from Preaching Conference

The Mustard Seed Grows

Mark 4.32

It might surprise you to know that Jesus enjoyed great popularity with the common people of His time. It was the religious leaders who were jealous and wanted Jesus dead. But the regular people heard Him gladly and followed Him in droves. Unfortunately, they did not always follow Him for the right reasons, with the desire to actually become devoted disciples, and they usually did not understand what He was doing. This text was during the early days of Jesus’ ministry when He was just becoming known by the people and many were following Him to see the signs He was doing. The signs were pointing the people to the coming of the Kingdom of God. And the people thought they knew what that meant and what the coming of the Kingdom would bring.

Jesus took every opportunity to teach the crowds about the Kingdom of God. In fact, this was Jesus’ favorite subject. He knew the people were expecting the Kingdom to come and they were hoping that He would be the one to bring it. But Jesus also knew that the people did not really understand the true nature of the Kingdom of God. So He taught them about the nature of the Kingdom. He taught the crowds in parables because He knew that the crowds did not have an interest in the truth but had other things on their minds. Parables were not simply sermon illustrations. They actually required an explanation to be understood, something which Jesus was willing to give to His disciples when they came to Him and asked. But most of the crowds were not interested enough to stick around and get any explanations. So most of the people probably went away scratching their heads.

The parable of the mustard seed is about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Specifically, it is about how the Kingdom would come. By comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed Jesus is explaining how the Kingdom of God would grow and increase in the world. It might not seem so to us, but what Jesus was saying here was controversial. This is not what the people were expecting. The crowds had something in their minds about the Kingdom of God that they expected Jesus, if He really was to be their Messiah, to conform to. The Romans had to go, first of all. And that would obviously involve some kind of fighting or perhaps a miraculous display of power. God had done things like that for Israel in the past. The Messiah would be the Son of David, and David had been a great military hero. God had been with David when he went to war and so He would be with the Son of David when the Kingdom was restored to Israel and they were once again a powerful and independent nation. Such were their expectations. And it was all wrong.

Remember that these were religious people who were listening to Jesus. And they were Israelites, not pagan Gentiles. They had the Scriptures that prophesied about the coming of an anointed one who would rule and reign. And they knew that God had made those promises to them. The Messiah would come to be their king. And Jesus was a King. He did come to bring in the Kingdom of God. But it was the nature of this Kingdom and how it would be established in the world that would be surprising and revolutionary. God’s Kingdom would be bigger and better than their small thinking would allow for. Their conception of the Kingdom had more to do with their own hopes and dreams than the actual purpose of God. But there is still this tendency, especially among religious people, to think that God’s agenda is the same as their own and that He will underwrite what they want to do and accomplish.

The Kingdom of God

The parable of the mustard seed is about the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom is something that many modern people are not familiar with or even supportive of, especially in the United States. American’s don’t like Kings and we don’t like authority. At least, we don’t like people who have too much of it. And we don’t like anyone telling us what to do, and that is really what a Kingdom is all about. From the perspective of the people a kingdom has to do with authority or power. A kingdom is literally the rule of a king. We are talking about one person with absolute, sovereign power over his subjects. From the perspective of the Ruler, the King, the kingdom has to do with what the Ruler wants to do. If a King cannot get his way, then he does not really have a kingdom and is nothing more than a symbol instead of a reality. So the Kingdom of God is the authority and rule of God.

Now it should be obvious that God is a ruler with absolute authority. This authority is what makes Him God. If there were some authority higher than God, then that authority would be God. The Throne of God is the highest authority. And God has always ruled and reigned, even before the world or any human being was created by Him. Before the world was made God had other subjects that we know as angels. The eternal reign of God has always been a reality in heaven. But that is not what Jesus is talking about in this parable. Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God being manifested on the earth. The Kingdom of God in this context is not God’s eternal reign, but His reign on earth which is really His purpose of redemption or salvation.

The Kingdom of God needs to come to earth because the world has been in rebellion against God, which has been facilitated by Satan who is also a Ruler and is in rebellion against God from before the creation of the world. God’s reign has been challenged in heaven by Satan and his angels, who were cast out of heaven to the lower regions of the earth. Here Satan has set up his own kingdom on earth and has caused the whole world to go astray. But Satan is not going to have the last word! And God is not going to let this challenge to His Kingdom go unanswered. There is no plan of salvation for Satan and his demons. But there is a plan to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and rescue men from Satan’s power. As one black preacher named Gardner Taylor said: “The Bible is about a God who is out to get back what rightfully belongs to Him!” That is what the growth and increase of the Kingdom of God is all about: God is reclaiming His fallen, rebellious creation. And you and I are a part of that purpose!

The Power in a Seed

How will this reclamation project work? Is God going to do it all at once in some awesome display of power? God could do that. He made the world in only six days. He could certainly remake the world in that short of a time span, or even faster. But the New Creation is not going to come in like the Old. To illustrate how it will happen, Jesus uses a metaphor from nature and agriculture. Jesus liked to use these kinds of comparisons. In this context He has already compared the preaching of the Kingdom of God to a sower who went out to sow his seed. In this parable Jesus uses another kind of seed with a slightly different purpose behind the comparison. But the comparison of the Kingdom to a seed is used to emphasize powerful potential. A seed has power in it. It is power that is ready to burst forth once the seed is planted.

The Kingdom of God has great power in it and this power has now been planted in the world and is beginning to take root and to grow! That is the message of Jesus. The purpose of the well-known parable of the Sower is to illustrate the impact of the Kingdom in the hearts of individuals. The parable of the mustard seed is about the growth of the Kingdom overall. This parable is the macro-view of the Kingdom of God in the world. The Kingdom of God in the world will grow like a seed grows when it is planted. A seed is something that is actually alive and will produce something. The Kingdom of God is going to grow and produce something in the world, which is something God wants to do.

A kingdom has to do with power. But there are different kinds of power and this kind of power is not a violent or destructive power. The Kingdoms of men grow and spread through violence and oppression. What men want to do has to be achieved by force. But the Kingdom of God is not being compared to a violent power. Jesus did not compare the Kingdom of God to an earthquake or a storm! Those are powerful, but for destruction. The Kingdom of God is like the power in a seed in that there is a new creation coming from it, not destruction. The Kingdom of God has creative power to produce something new in the world. When the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the nation of Japan, there was a tremendous display of power that the world had never seen. When it was over, it was clear which kingdom was the most powerful. But the A-bomb was a destructive power that unleashed a whole new era of fear and hostility that survives to this day. That is not the kind of power that would be unleashed when the Kingdom of God was planted in the world. The kingdoms of men tend to destroy in order to establish themselves. But the Kingdom of God would move and grow according to a creative power. This Kingdom would redeem and restore instead of destroy.

How will the Kingdom Come?

The Kingdom of God would come like a growing seed, not like a violent explosion. In other words, the Kingdom of God would not come instantly with a visible, violent cataclysm, which is what people at that time were expecting to see, but with the silence of a growing seed. (Remember we are talking about the growth and expansion of the Kingdom in the earth, not the end of the Age. There will be a fiery cataclysm in which the present heavens and the earth will pass away. After that, the only thing that will be left will be the Kingdom of God, which is growing in the earth now.)

It had all started one silent night in Bethlehem and the thing was continuing to grow and develop, even though most of the people did not know what was happening under their very noses! Sometimes the work of God is like that. It happens while men are sleeping or doing other things and not taking notice of what is really happening in the world. While people get up every day and go about their daily business, thinking that what they are doing is so important, the Kingdom of God is quietly growing under their busy feet. The Kingdom will come slowly and be almost imperceptible to men who are not seeking for it. Of course, if we seek the Kingdom of God, we will find it. But many people do not see it, even though it is here now, and they pass by it on their way to doing their own things and pursuing their own hopes and dreams. Sometimes we really don’t know what is growing in the ground until the first green shoots break the surface in the Spring. Where all was once dead and barren there may suddenly be something growing! God planted His Kingdom is what had previously been a barren wasteland. But that is just like something God would do! God seems to specialize in growing things where nothing would grow before and bringing life up from death.

This old world does not seem like good ground for the Kingdom of God to grow in. It is not uncommon to see plants growing up even through rock or concrete and breaking through all kinds of barriers. The Prophet said that the Messiah would be like a “shoot out of dry ground” (Isa. 53.2). And who would have thought that anything good and godly could spring up in our lives? But with God all things shall be possible!

All by Itself

The seed that is planted in the ground appears to grow on its own, all by itself, without any human assistance (Mk. 4.28). And this is the very principle Jesus is illustrating. The Kingdom grows all by itself, or without human assistance. Nothing actually happens all by itself, but it does appear to from a human perspective which is the intended contrast between a mysterious, Divine power and human power. God makes the seed grow. A gardener or farmer who plants the seed then must leave it alone and wait for it to grow mysteriously on its own.

Nature’s power is really the word of God, who is upholding the world and giving it order. Without the word of God, the whole world would go back into its original state of darkness, chaos, and emptiness. What happens in the world happens by the power of God and that is also true of the growth of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps the only reason for the natural order was to illustrate this truth and help us understand what would otherwise be completely spiritual and therefore invisible.

The point Jesus is making is that the Kingdom will not come because of what human beings do but because of what God does. We know this is true of the various cycles and seasons of nature. And nature is just a symbol that allows us to enter into the reality of the Kingdom of God. This does not mean that human beings are not involved in the Kingdom and its growth but that the Kingdom does not DEPEND on human beings for its growth and success. The farmer who sows a seed does not make it grow. The sowing or the planting of the seed and the growth of the seed are two different works. Human beings may be involved in sowing and planting, but when that work is done it is up to God to bring forth the fruit. To us the seed appears to just grow on its own. But we know that God gives the increase. It is not up to us to make sure the Kingdom grows. That is God’s business. We may play the part of the sower and the planter, perhaps even watering and fertilizing, but it is God that causes the growth.

The Church has been unwilling to accept this principle. Especially in Western culture, the Church has believed that it can engineer the growth of the Kingdom of God. All of the infrastructure of the institutional Church is built on the belief that through our efforts and our organization we can cause the Kingdom of God to advance on earth. But what has been built is a human institution and not the Kingdom. God does not underwrite human agendas, not even religious agendas. God has something that He has planted in the world and He is committed to its growth. We can either join in what He is doing or get out of the way! The main reason I had to quit paid ministry and the institutional Church is because I soon discovered that what many people in Churches want is not in line with what God is doing in the world.

Strangely enough, the very people who claim to be working for God are often not interested in working for God but they have their own plans and objectives. But this has always been a problem for religious people.

The Jews had their own agenda and when Jesus did not fit that agenda, they had Him crucified. So we should not be surprised when religious people in our time have their own agenda and are really building their own kingdoms instead of the Kingdom of God. I am interested in the Kingdom of God and its growth and development in the world. I am only interested in the Church as a means to that end, not as an end of itself. One of the best definitions of the Church I have ever heard came from a veteran missionary named Dr. Charles Taber. He said that “the Church is a project to enlist people in a project.” That project is the Kingdom of God. The Church is not the Kingdom but exists as a sign pointing people to the Kingdom. I am not primarily interested in Church growth, as it has been popularly defined, but in Kingdom growth. But the growth of the Kingdom is not something that the Church can accomplish. The mustard seed grows, but not by the hands of men.

I am not at all opposed to honest efforts to preach the Gospel to lost people and see them turn to Christ for salvation. The Gospel must be preached just as the seed must be sown and planted. But God causes the growth. God converts people. I have never converted a single sinner to Christ. I can’t cause the increase, not matter how hard I try. There is no methodology that can cause the growth of the Kingdom of God. It is not our job to discover an effective method. It is our job to preach the message. The Gospel contains Divine power to accomplish the work of God.

Sometimes the results will surprise you and are so far beyond our expectations that we must give all the glory to God for giving the increase! If man caused the growth, then man would get the glory. But God causes the growth of the mustard seed and that means He must receive all the glory for this work.

Small to Large

A mustard seed is not an impressive thing. At least, not at first. It is a very small seed. But we should not despise the day of small things! Even something very large might start out small. The size at the beginning is not the point. The point is the end result! The point of the mustard seed is that something small becomes something large in the end. I remember a little plaque my dad used to have in his Church office. It said something like this: “Don’t worry if your work is small and your rewards are few. Remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you!” How true that is! Jesus is teaching us through this parable that His work in the world is going to sometimes seem small and even insignificant. But we must see what God is doing in terms of the end result.

This is also an antidote for our discouragement. At times we feel like we are insignificant and that what we are doing in the world as we try to serve the Kingdom of God goes unnoticed and does not matter for much. But we must begin to think in terms of the end result and factor in what God has planned to do in His time and in His way. We want everything right now. God has His own calendar and will bring results in His own good time.

We must find our significance in being a part of the plan of God and not in our individual contribution to that plan. This can save us from thinking that we are more important than we really are or, conversely, save us from thinking that we are nothing at all. We should not be deceived by appearances because something small may have great potential in it and may not be small in the end. So we should be encouraged that we are part of something really big and really important, though it might not seem to be so now.

On the other hand, there are many things that seem large and successful now that will actually decrease and pass away which is the opposite of the development of the Kingdom of God. When Jesus spoke about the mustard seed in this parable, Rome ruled the world and seemed to be the eternal city that would keep on ruling the world forever. Rome fell. But the Kingdom of God endures. And the Kingdom of God will still endure when all the Kingdoms of men have fallen into dust. In fact, most of the things that men deem important and significant must pass away. But we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken! This Kingdom may have started out like a mustard seed. But in the end it will be a mountain filling the whole earth. That almost seems impossible, just as it seems impossible for a large plant to come from a little mustard seed. But we live by faith and wait in hope.

The harvest is coming and what is coming from that little mustard seed will be something beyond our imaginations. A whole new world is coming from that little mustard seed! Jesus came into the world to plant that little mustard seed. It seems like a foolish waste of time to plant a little seed in the ground and then leave it there. Every farmer and every gardener who has ever lived has lived in hope. Our faith and hope are in God. This is the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not into being.

God and the Nations

God’s Mercy to the Nations

Acts 14.16-17; Rom. 2.4

Nations rise and then fall because of God’s will. God is governing the nations of the world. But we need to have a balanced view of God’s dealing with the world. We should not think that God is harsh and looking for any reason to judge people. And so in this installment in the series we turn to another aspect of God’s nature that is being revealed to the nations of the world.

We turn to two passages. The first is in the book of Acts where we join Paul and Barnabas on the very first missionary journey. This is the first time the Gospel will be preached to completely Gentile regions. The key to this entire context is found in the summation, when Paul and Barnabas return to the Church in Antioch, and tell “all the God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14.27). Paul usually went first to the Jews and the Synagogue. But when the Jews rejected the message and began to even get violent, Paul turned exclusively to the Gentiles. When they came to the city of Lystra Paul healed a crippled man there. The people, who were used to worshiping the old Greek gods, thought that Paul was Zeus and Barnabas was Hermes! The local pagan priest was even preparing a sacrifice! The text for this message is what Paul and Barnabas said to the people to stop them from making a sacrifice to them and worshiping them. First, they affirm that they are only men and not gods, but that they do have a message of good news from the true God. Secondly, they tell the people to stop worshiping vain idols and turn to the one, true God who created everything. This living God, though they did not know Him, had been the source of everything good in their lives. In the past, Paul and Barnabas say, God had let these nations go their own way, and worship their own gods, but now God was turning His attention to the Gentile nations and offering them some good news. But actually, God had always been good to these pagan Gentiles.

The second text is from Romans. In the first chapter, Paul speaks about the idolatry of the Gentile nations who had long ago turned from worshiping the true God. God’s wrath is being revealed against the unrighteousness of these pagan nations. In Acts Paul and Barnabas said that God had let the nations go their own way. In Romans Paul says the same thing, but affirms that this is an aspect of God’s wrath. But that is not the whole story of God’s dealings with the pagan nations of the world. Like the speech in Acts, Paul also affirms in Romans that God had mercy on the world as well. In case the Jews became proud, Paul reminds them that God has been merciful to all men and is the impartial judge of both Jews and Gentiles. Final judgement is coming. But in the meantime, God has been merciful to all men, including the pagan Gentiles.

The Reality of God’s Mercy

What is Mercy?

First of all, let’s simply affirm the reality of mercy. God is merciful to the human race! And we should attempt to define mercy. What is mercy? It is also called lovingkindness in Scripture. It is impossible to be merciful without being loving or caring. But this is not sentimentality or romantic notions. Mercy is love in action. This is something that must be practiced and not just felt. Mercy may be motivated by a feeling, but it is always expressed by actions. But in a negative sense, mercy is withholding or suspending judgement or vengeance. Even though there might be a just cause, mercy forbears and waits patiently. In contrast to a desire for swift justice or vengeance, mercy turns the other cheek and absorbs the blow without striking back in wrath.

But withholding something is not the only aspect of mercy. There is also a positive action of mercy. Mercy meets the need of the other and helps where there is a lack. Mercy is not concerned about who deserves help. The best kind of mercy is shown even to an enemy. When we think of showing mercy we cannot help but associate it with words like kindness, tenderness, and gentleness. Mercy alleviates pain and does not inflict more of it. There is a desire in mercy to do good and to provide what is best for others in need, even when there is a cost involved. In this way, mercy is a kind of humility or condescension. One must often kneel and get down low to show mercy. Mercy is moved by compassion and pity for those who are knocked down and hurting. It is no wonder that the medical profession is often associated with mercy.

Mercy is illustrated by Jesus in a couple of His most beloved parables. The Good Samaritan was merciful to the man who fell among thieves, while others walked on by and failed to show mercy. And this Samaritan was merciful even to someone who would have regarded him as an enemy. The Prodigal Son received mercy from his father upon his return home. Instead of punishment the young man who had wasted all his father’s inheritance was welcomes with a hug, a kiss, and a party. All of this was not much to the liking of the elder brother, who had no mercy on the returning Prodigal. We all need mercy at some point, though we do not always hope or expect to receive it, even from God the Father! But at some point we all need help and we are dependent on someone else. Mercy does not only require humility in the giving, but also in the receiving. Proud people will have trouble both showing OR receiving mercy from another.

Mercy is in the Nature of God

Mercy is a Divine attribute. It is God withholding His righteousness indignation and judgment from people who really only deserve wrath. Wrath is actually the ONLY thing we deserve from God! We have sinned against Him repeatedly and offended His holiness. We deserve nothing from God, certainly nothing good, yet in His mercy, God does not treat us as our sins deserve. God is not obligated to show us mercy, or give us any consideration, yet He does so anyway. An atheist was arguing with a Christian. The atheist said, “I can prove that God does not exist!” He then pointed his finger to the sky and cried, “strike me dead right now!” Nothing happened. “You see that God does not exist,” said the Atheist smugly. The Christian man was not intimidated. “You have not proven that God does not exist,” he replied calmly. “You have only proven that God is merciful.” And so He is merciful, even to those who shake their fists at the sky in open rebellion and blasphemy.

Mercy means that God is long-suffering or tolerant of sinners. This does not mean that God is infinitely tolerant, but that He does not have a short fuse with sinners. God can and does overlook sin, at least for a time. In fact, there was a period of history in which God overlooked or winked at the sin of humanity until the time came for Jesus to make atonement for sin (See Rom. 3.25). This meant that God had forbearance where He did not demand a payment for sins from humanity because He planned to make that payment Himself at the Cross of Christ. In the same way, God is putting off the time of final judgement on the world and giving a time of mercy. This does not mean that God condones sin or is soft on justice. Eventually, all sin will have to be paid for, either by the sinner himself, or through the application of the atonement accomplished by Christ on the Cross. When I decided to go back to school for another degree, my student loans were put in a state of “forbearance.” This meant that I did not have to make payments while I was in school. The debt was still there and would have to be paid. But there was a time of mercy when no payment was required and there was no penalty. Up until Christ came to put away sin, the world was kept in a state of forbearance by God. Until the final judgement comes, the world is once again in a kind of forbearance where God is not exacting payment for sin.

We must understand that if God were not like this then there would be no human life at all. If God were only just then humanity would have been wiped out a long time ago! Perhaps we fail to appreciate how patient God has been with humanity and how much He has endured. God Himself has been afflicted in His dealings with humanity. He has made Himself vulnerable. God has actually allowed people to rebel against Him, and even to abuse Him, without taking immediate steps against these sinners. Even angels are amazed by God’s mercy to humanity! In showing this mercy to humanity, God has had to lower Himself to some degree. He has had to come down in order to be merciful. Any revelation of God to men involves some kind of Divine condescension. Moses asked to see the glory of God. And God agreed to let Moses see the afterglow, while hidden in the cleft of a rock. This was merciful of God to even allow Moses a little glimpse of His glory. And as the Lord passed by He said, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7 ESV). If there were no mercy, then there would be no revelation of God at all. Perhaps the whole human enterprise is for this very purpose: to allow God the opportunity to be merciful and reveal this aspect of Himself and His glory. Apparently, there are “vessels of mercy,” or people whom God created in order to show His mercy to them and through them (Rom. 9.23). We must understand that God is free to be merciful to whom He will. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Ex. 33.19; Romans 9:15 ESV). Sometimes we are surprised by God’s mercy, like Jonah was when he was sent to preach to Nineveh. We have no claim to the mercy of God and we should be thankful if we have received it!

Mercy is the Theme of History

And so, in many ways, the mercy of God has been the theme of humanity history. We can see example after example of God’s mercy in Scripture. It is a theme seen on almost every page of the Bible! Even when God did react in wrath, it was almost always mixed with mercy. Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, but they were not instantly exterminated. Even as they were being cast out of Paradise, there was the hope of the promise that the seed of the woman would eventually bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3.15). In His mercy, God Himself promised to root evil out of the world. When Cain had killed his brother, God confronted him, but did not remove him from the earth, and even put a mark on him to keep others from harming him.When the world became so wicked that God was sorry He had made man, Noah still found grace in the eyes of God and was saved along with his family. When they came together to build the tower of Babel God was displeased and He confused their language and scattered the nations. But He did not make an end of the nations.

Even when His chosen nation, the people of Israel, sinned against Him and broke the covenant, He did not destroy them completely but had compassion on them. And God let the nations go their own way, in spite of their idolatry, and did not destroy them in His wrath. God is managing the history of the world according to mercy, not according to wrath. When people fixate on all of the tragedies of human life and then ask why God allows such things to happen, they are forgetting all of God’s merciful dealings with our Race. God is certainly more merciful to us than we are to each other! If we were in God’s place, and had to deal with all of the offenses and rebellion of sinners like ourselves, we would have kicked the world to pieces long ago and been done with the human race! No parents would tolerate the kind of rebellious children that the heavenly Father has tolerated for so long.

The Revelation of Mercy

Creation is a Witness

God has revealed His mercy to all people, though not in the same ways. The creation itself is a witness to the mercy of God and this revelation is available to everyone equally because it is all around us every day. In a previous installment we touched on the fact that God has given both general and special revelation. General, or natural revelation is given to all nations through the created world. Special revelation, which is also recorded in Scripture, was given specifically to the Jewish nation. Any revelation that God give to men is really a merciful act. If God wanted to remain hidden from men, He could do so and no one could find Him out. God must make Himself known for us to know Him and He has mercifully done so. The fact that God did not make Himself known to everyone all at once is because there had to be a period of preparation before the fuller revelation of God was made in Jesus and the Gospel. And even this revelation is only preparatory for the New Creation.

Creation has a limited vocabulary about God. The natural world can tell us something of God’s existence and His Divine power (See Rom. 1.20). Man should be able to conclude from the world that someone or at least some powerful force that is not a part of the world caused the world to exist. Man must either choose to believe that matter itself is eternal, having no point of origin, or that all material things in the universe have an origin that is itself non-material. In other words, we must choose between a materialist worldview or a supernatural worldview. Most men have chosen to believe in something supernatural, or something that is above or beyond nature. The modern, materialistic atheist is a relatively new thing in the history of human thought. Even the ancient pagans believed in the spiritual or supernatural. What is completely illogical and inexcusable is for men to worship the creation rather than the Creator. Unfortunately, mankind has a long history of idolatry, even up to modern times. To worship the creation is to fixate on the gifts of life rather than on the Divine Giver of those gifts.

Creation is a sign pointing beyond itself to something else. God made the world as a kind of stage where He is making Himself known to His creatures. Parents give good gifts to their children as an expression of love and care. And good children are grateful for those gifts and acknowledge the source. Only bad, spoiled children take the gifts and turn their backs on their parents to play alone with their toys. But humanity has been very much like spoiled, ungrateful children in our relationship to our heavenly Father!

Even though God is giving a witness to all men through the created order, this does not mean that men are listening to that witness. It is possible for us to close our ears and our minds to God. And this is what sinful mankind has in fact done. But it is possible to seek and find God, even for the pagan nations who had received no special revelation, as Israel did (See Acts 17.26-27). God has given all people an opportunity to seek and to find Him, if they want to. Even the pagans, who did not know the God of Israel, still had an opportunity to seek the true God. God gave humanity good dreams (C.S. Lewis), and filled the hearts of all people with a longing or a desire for something that is beyond this world. In the end, everyone will get what they want. Those who seek will find. To prove this, the Bible gives many examples of pagan people outside the covenant of Israel who did find the true God. There were people like Rahab, Naaman, Ruth, the Queen of Sheba, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and all those God-fearing Gentiles the Apostle Paul found in the Jewish synagogues, who found out about the one, true, living God who made the world.

Many people are concerned these days about whether or not pagan people who have never read the Bible or heard of Jesus can be saved. This is a difficult question which the Bible does not directly answer. But we need not have any concern about God not being fair or giving everyone an opportunity. God has been more than fair. He has been merciful. He has revealed Himself to all men, though not with the same amount of light. And in the end, God will only hold each man responsible for the light that was given to him. You can be sure that if a person does not respond to the lesser light of general revelation, he will not respond to the greater light of Christ, who is the Light of the World.

Life is Good

God’s mercy has been revealed to all men through what God has made. The world is a good place for man. Life is good. God’s original thought about His creation was that it was very good. God has blessed creation. Yes, there is also a curse because of sin. But even the curse does not completely cancel the blessing of God on creation and the basic goodness of human life on earth. Sin brought pain and death into the world, along with frustration and futility. This means that man never gets everything he wants out of life in the world.

God has made it this way because of sin. But there are still many good things for man to enjoy in life. Human life is not completely bad. Life is actually a mixture of both pain and pleasure, and both come from the hand of God and are designed to cause us to seek Him. We should think of this world as the front porch of a house. The porch is inviting and we like to be there. But we don’t live on the porch. God has designed the world to cause man to desire something more because God has more to give than what is in this world. The curse of sin and death means that this world is a temporary place for us. And we must consider the finite nature of life on earth when we are in pain or enjoying ourselves. Neither state will last. The pain need not make us bitter. The pleasure should not intoxicate us and make us too easily satisfied in this world.

God is the source of everything good in life. It is God who keeps the created order in order so that the earth continue to support human life. God sends the rains on the earth so that man can produce the crops needed for his food. “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart” (Psalm 104:14-15). When we sit down to eat and we pause to give thanks to God we are acknowledging this basic truth that God is the source of everything good in our lives. He gives us our daily bread and we depend on Him for it. Being thankful means acknowledging God as the source of every blessing. We must realize that God is good to all men, even the wicked who are not thankful to Him. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Life is our opportunity to become familiar with the goodness of God and learn to prefer or desire God Himself. Those who reject God have no reason to expect anything good when their lives in this world have ended.

God is not simply good to mankind He is generously good. This principle is illustrated by the abundance and richness of the creation itself. Creation contains a vast variety of things for man to experience and enjoy. God has not just provided enough for us to barely subsist but has given us a rich bounty or resources to use and to enjoy. The richness and abundance of creation is a picture of the nature of God. God is not a skinflint or a miser but is generous with His creatures. Jesus taught us to remember this when we pray to God for what we need. When a child asks her parent for something like a piece of bread, no caring parent is going to give her a stone. And God is much more generous than even the most loving parent. This is not to encourage avarice. We are still to ask for our daily bread, but realize that God is already willing to give us what we need and even more.

It was God who made it possible for man to enjoy life in the world. Pleasure is a gift from God. God is not some kind of harsh taskmaster who treats us like prisoners or slaves. And being a spiritual person does not mean that we must be ascetics. Asceticism is the harsh treatment of the body and the denial of all physical pleasures. But pleasure itself is not a sin. Everything in this life that is within the will of God can be lawfully enjoyed. Nothing is sinful if glorifying God is at the center of everything we do. In fact, enjoying all of God’s good gifts is the very essence of spirituality. He gives us all things in this life to enjoy (1 Tim. 6.17). Of course, we can pursue pleasure and not God. But the idea that anything pleasurable must be sinful is not a Biblical idea.

More Revelation was Necessary

It is necessary to point out that, as much as God has revealed to man in the created world, the creation is itself only a partial revelation of God. There are certain things we can know about God through creation. First of all, we can know that God exists. We must start with that affirmation before we can move to anything else. But we can also conclude from creation that God is both wise and powerful. However, there are things we cannot know about God from creation. We cannot know that God is personal. That is, God might just be a kind of force rather than a personality. And then we cannot know from creation that God has any kind of purpose for human life. God made the world and made us to inhabit the world. But the creation does not tell us why God did these things. Creation cannot tell us that there is only one God. Perhaps the world was the result of several Divine beings working together. Creation cannot give us any hope of anything beyond death. In fact, death seems to just be the normal course of creation. If there is any hope of some kind of life beyond death, this must come from somewhere outside nature. Creation cannot bestow eternal life.

Creation is also an impersonal revelation. We often personify creation as if the world could speak to us. But it doesn’t really speak to us. The creation is not like mankind in that respect. We were made to rule the creation and to have fellowship with God. We cannot have the kind of fellowship with the creation that our hearts are longing for, though many people try. But what happens when we try to get close to nature? The first thing that often happens is that the vastness of creation makes us feel small. This is something God probably intends (See Psalm 8.3-4). But humility is one thing. Insignificance is another thing. Creation does not care for us. It is not looking at us at all. That is why we often feel alone and alienated when we get close to nature. Creation is to God what a painting is to an artist. The painting can tell us a little about the artist, but the painting is just a thing and is not itself the real person who made it.

The only way God could really make Himself known is by inserting Himself into the world. And this is exactly what the Gospel declares concerning the incarnation of the Son of God. God Himself has come into creation as a man in order to redeem, regenerate, and glorify creation. The incarnation of the Son of God was the first stage in the New Creation which will culminate in the resurrection of the dead and the New Heavens and Earth. We learn from the incarnation that the material world God made is not inherently evil or unspiritual. God Himself took on a body. Even in the resurrection we will still have bodies in which we will inhabit a real earth. The curse that is presently on creation must be lifted in the end and the creation must be saved just as we will be saved. The world in this present form will have to pass away. It was really just a starting point anyway, like the scaffolding that surrounds a new structure while it is being completed. God means for us to share in the glory of that New World when it finally comes in its fullness.

The Reason for Mercy

A Space to Repent

We now turn to the reason for God’s mercy. Mercy is never just a feeling but is always something actual and something helpful. When God has mercy it is not just that He has warm affections for us but it is a real action that comes to our aid in a time of need. But what is our true need? This is not a simple question. The Bible goes to great lengths to illustrate the human condition. The Scriptures clearly teach that man is fallen and alienated from God because of sin. Sin is the ultimate problem for humanity. The Bible also teaches salvation from sin. That is, a man can be changed from being a fallen, alienated sinner to being something entirely new and different. What makes this change possible? The mercy of God is what makes the salvation of sinners possible. On a larger scale, it is mercy that makes it possible for a nation to change. This change is also called repentance in Scripture and it is only made possible through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and the mercy of God. If God were not merciful to the nations of the world, then no change would be possible and we would all die in our sins and be forever separated from God. But God shows His mercy to men by enabling them to repent, to change, and to then be acceptable to Him instead of coming under His wrath and judgement. We cannot change ourselves, or transform our basic nature, but we can move in a certain direction and make ourselves open to receiving the grace and mercy of God.

This turning to God, or repentance, is absolutely necessary for every nation and every individual person because, by nature, we are alienated from God. We are naturally turned away from God and we must turn around and walk in another direction that is toward God. We know that in Adam we are dead to God and are already rejected and condemned (See Rom. 5.12-14). Something has to change. But it is not God who must change. We must change if we are to become acceptable to God. It is God’s mercy that makes this change possible and it is our realization of our true condition, or our need for change, that makes us turn to God for His help. And God wants to help us. He wants all men to repent and come to know Him (1 Tim 2.4).

It should be obvious then that when we turn to God there are other things from which we are turning away. We cannot embrace God and also embrace that which is opposed to God. So turning to God means turning away from sin. Repentance means that the former state of alienation, or separation, between us and God is gone. There is peace between man and God instead of hostility and enmity. Repentance is the end of our rebellion against God and the acceptance of His will. The whole point of repentance is to actually turn to God and to begin to know Him as a friend rather than as an enemy. Repentance is more than behavior modification or morality, which can be achieved without God. However, it is not possible to turn to God without also turning toward a life of holiness, or separation from ungodliness.

So God’s mercy must be seen against the dark backdrop of His wrath. Wrath is God’s response and opposition to everything that is unlike Himself. The wrath of God is a controversial subject today. Many people simply reject the notion that God is capable of wrath. The Bible is very clear that God is capable of wrath. There is a part of us that wants God’s wrath because we want justice and we want to see evil successfully overcome in the world. But no one wants to think that he is himself under the wrath of God. We must remember that God is not a man. God’s wrath is a perfect expression of His perfect righteousness and holiness. God’s wrath is never petty or overblown like a man who selfishly loses his temper because he does not get his way. God is the true God and has a right to express His opposition to evil in His world. God is also merciful. Wrath and mercy perfectly coexist in God’s nature. Mercy does not cancel out God’s wrath, it delays it for a time and gives us a chance to turn to God. But eventually all opposition to God must be overcome. When the time comes we want to find ourselves at peace with God rather than being His enemies and opposed to Him.

Every person is on a collision-course with God. We will all stand before the presence of God one day in full realization of His person and presence. There is coming a day of judgement and accountability for every man and every nation on the earth. The ultimate measurement for any nation or individual man is in either being in agreement with God or being in opposition to Him and His will. Before that day of accountability comes, it is the mercy of God that gives us a chance to be ready for that Divine inspection. In the end, it will only be what God thinks of us that counts. The mercy of God can make us into something that will be both glorious and pleasing to God.

A Motivation to Turn to God

The mercy of God is what motivates us to turn to God and come to Him for help. If we did not know God was merciful and kind, then we would not come to God. In fact, there are many people who do not think God is merciful and they spend their lives trying to hide from God, just as Adam and Eve did in Eden. We should fear God. But we should also come to God for help. But there are many people who are ashamed to come to God and do not believe that He would receive them or forgive them for their sin. But this is a failure to understand the true nature of God. God is always ready to receive those who come to Him. Unfortunately, the view of God as a harsh taskmaster who is just waiting to find fault and to punish His servants is still alive and well in the minds of many people today.

That being said, we should not misconstrue the mercy of God as an excuse to keep on living in sin and alienation. The purpose of God’s mercy is to lead us back to Him, not further away into alienation. Mercy is help, not a license to continue in sin. God is really interested in us being with Him, not just that we keep the rules and tow the mark. God is a loving Father who wants to give generously to His children. But we must be in a position to receive from God’s hand. But if we leave the Father’s house, like the prodigal in Jesus’ famous parable, we will find ourselves in need with nowhere else to turn. But there are also people who remain alienated from God even while going about their religious duties and being outwardly moral. This is why we all need the mercy of God. The irreligious, immoral person needs mercy as well as the religious and outwardly moral.

But the message of the Bible is that we must come to God while His mercy is available. We must not delay because the days of mercy are limited. If we do not take advantage of God’s mercy, then we will only be storing up wrath for the Day of Judgement (Rom. 2.5). Every nation and each person individually is either storing up wrath or looking forward to salvation. The good news is that the mercy of God has come to us through Jesus Christ and has offered us a way to escape God’s wrath. That is why the Gospel is good news! There is both a warning about the wrath to come in the Gospel as well as a promise of salvation. But today is the Day of Salvation! We must heed the warning and make our escape, like Lot from Sodom, while we have the opportunity. Unfortunately, there are many people who do not believe they have anything to fear and therefore are not motivated to take advantage of God’s mercy. There is a false Gospel being preached today that gives a false peace and tells people they have nothing to fear, even if they do not repent and turn to God. Satan’s original lie was “you will not die.”

Satan’s lie has always been that we cannot really trust God. Satan wants us to believe that God is something like a cosmic kill-joy who delights in keeping us from really enjoying ourselves. But if we are going to come to God we must trust Him and believe that He is good and has our best interests in mind. Trust is fundamental to any relationship. Alienation, on the other hand, is always the result of a lack of trust. But many people continue to believe that they are better off without God. Adam and Eve made that choice in Eden and every nation along with every individual has repeated that choice to have a life apart from God. But what looks like glorious freedom and autonomy only turns out to be death in the end. There simply is nothing good apart from God. We cannot be happy without God. God did not make us to be apart from Him. The mercy of God says we can come home and be eternally happy.

A Crucial Practice

We rely on the mercy of God. But being merciful to others is a difficult practice. We tend to want mercy from God for ourselves, while we also routinely deny mercy to others. In fact, we tend to want mercy for ourselves and justice for those who offend us. We fail to remember that we have offended God and though we deserve justice, He has shown mercy. Being merciful does imply some kind of cost, even pain. The person being merciful is absorbing the cost himself, which is exactly what God did for us in the Cross of Christ. We can afford to be merciful even to our enemies because we are leaving the burden of justice to God. But we continue to struggle with this balance of justice and mercy.

God treats His enemies with mercy and kindness and He expects His people in the world to do likewise. Those who are not merciful will not receive mercy themselves. This does not mean that we must tolerate and subject ourselves to any and every kind of treatment or behavior. But it is particularly important that the people of God show mercy when being persecuted. We bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us. In this way we show ourselves to be sons of our Father in heaven, who basically does the same thing to humanity. In a world of anger, violence, resentment, and vengeance, God’s people are salt and light.

We have already seen that the Gospel is good news about the mercy and kindness of God to the nations of the world. The people of God who are representing God among the nations must act in a way that is in harmony with this message. We must be merciful. Many people avoid the Church and Christians because they do not perceive mercy but only judgement and rejection. What many people do not understand is that being merciful and encouraging repentance are not mutually exclusive activities. What many Christians do not understand is that we must be merciful and kind to those who are far from God, but without being unequally yoked up with them. Above all, Christians must remember the mercy of God to us when we are out there in a world that is far from God and in desperate need of His mercy.