How to Contemplate Calamity

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . . This God — his way is perfect.” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31)

After the loss of his ten children owing to a natural disaster (Job 1:19), Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). At the end of the book, the inspired writer confirms Job’s understanding of what happened. He says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11).

This has several crucial implications for us — lessons for us here at the dawn of a new year — as we think about calamities in the world and in our lives — like the massive disaster that occurred December 26, 2004, in the Indian Ocean — one of the deadliest natural disasters on record with 1.7 million people made homeless, half a million injured, and over 230,000 killed.

Lesson #1. Satan is not ultimate; God is.

Satan had a hand in Job’s misery, but not the decisive hand. God gave Satan permission to afflict Job (Job 1:12; 2:6). But Job and the writer of this book treat God as the decisive cause. When Satan afflicts Job with sores, Job says to his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10), and the writer calls these satanic sores “the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). So, Satan is real. Satan brings misery. But Satan is not ultimate or decisive. He is on a leash. He goes no farther than God decisively permits.

Lesson #2. Even if Satan caused that tsunami in the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas, 2004, he is not the decisive cause of over 200,000 deaths; God is.

God claims power over tsunamis in Job 38:8 and 11 when he asks Job rhetorically, “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb . . . and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Psalm 89:8–9 says, “O Lord . . . you rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” And Jesus himself has the same control today as he once did over the deadly threats of waves: “He . . . rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24). In other words, even if Satan caused the earthquake, God could have stopped the waves. But he didn’t.

Lesson #3. Destructive calamities in this world mingle judgment and mercy.

God’s purposes are not simple. Job was a godly man and his miseries were not God’s punishment (Job 1:1, 8). Their design was purifying, not punishment (Job 42:6). James 5:11 says, “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

But we do not know the spiritual condition of Job’s children who died. Job was certainly concerned about them (Job 1:5). God may have taken their life in judgment. We don’t know.

If that is true, then the same calamity proved in the end to be mercy for Job and judgment on his children. This double purpose is true of all calamities. They mingle judgment and mercy. They are both punishment and purification. Suffering, and even death, can be both judgment and mercy at the same time.

The clearest illustration of this is the death of Jesus. It was both judgment and mercy. It was judgment on Jesus because he bore our sins (not his own), and it was mercy toward us who trust him to bear our punishment (Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) and be our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Another example is the curse and miseries that have come on this earth because of the fall of Adam and Eve. Those who never believe in Christ experience it as judgment, but believers experience it as merciful, though painful — a preparation for glory. “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope” (Romans 8:20). This is God’s subjection. This is why there are tsunamis. But this subjection to futility is “in hope.”

Lesson #4. The heart that Christ gives to his people feels compassion for those who suffer, no matter what their faith is.

When the Bible says, “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), it does not add, “unless God caused the weeping.” Job’s comforters would have done better to weep with Job than talk so much. That does not change when we discover that Job’s suffering was ultimately from God. No, it is right to weep with those who suffer. Pain is pain, no matter who causes it. We are all sinners. Empathy flows not from the causes of pain, but from the company of pain. And we are all in it together.

Lesson #5. Finally, Christ calls us to show mercy to those who suffer, even if they do not deserve it.

That is the meaning of mercy — undeserved help. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). This is how Christ treated us (Romans 5:10), dying for us when we were his enemies. By that power, and with that example, we do the same.

John Piper 

Simplifying Service

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

PHILIPPIANS 2:9–11

Confessing the Lordship of Christ also simplifies our service. We hear a lot these days about cutting back, trimming our schedules, and simplifying our lives. If you want to simplify your life, just ask the two questions Paul asked on the road to Damascus when he met Jesus: “Who are You, Lord?” (Acts 9:5) and “Lord, what do You want me to do?” (v. 6). 

Consider also the advice that Mary herself gave to the servants at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. When the wine gave out, Mary said to the servants concerning her son Jesus, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5). Can you see how following Jesus simplifies your service? You simply say, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then do whatever He tells you. 

A young preacher was called to a church known for its divisions. One of the women in the church came to him and said, “You’re going to have a very difficult job here, trying to please several hundred of us.” The preacher said, “I shall not be trying to please several hundred of you. I shall be trying to please one Person only. If I please my Lord, that ought to be good enough for you.” 

That young preacher gave a wise answer. It doesn’t matter whom we displease so long as we please the Lord. And if we displease the Lord, it doesn’t matter how many others we please. Philippians 2:9–11 reminds us that someday every knee shall bow before Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord. For many, however, it will be too late. This Christmas, we need to go boldly to those who have not yet bowed their knee to Jesus and tell them the greatest news anyone could ever hear: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Three Christmas Presents

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. . . . My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 3:7–8; 2:1–2)

Ponder this remarkable situation with me. If the Son of God came to help you stop sinning — to destroy the works of the devil — and if he also came to die so that, when you do sin, there is a propitiation, a removal of God’s wrath, then what does this imply for living your life?

Three things. And they are wonderful to have. I give them to you briefly as Christmas presents.

Gift #1. A Clear Purpose for Living

It implies that you have a clear purpose for living. Negatively, it is simply this: don’t sin — don’t do what dishonors God. “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (1 John 2:1). “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

If you ask, “Can you give us that positively, instead of negatively?” the answer is: Yes, it’s all summed up in 1 John 3:23. It’s a great summary of what John’s whole letter requires. Notice the singular “commandment” — “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” These two things are so closely connected for John he calls them one commandment: believe Jesus and love others. That is your purpose. That is the sum of the Christian life. Trusting Jesus, loving people the way Jesus and his apostles taught us to love. Trust Jesus, love people. There’s the first gift: a purpose to live.

Gift #2. Hope That Our Failures Will Be Forgiven

The second implication of the twofold truth that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to forgive our sins is this: We make progress in overcoming our sin when we have hope that our failures will be forgiven. If you don’t have hope that God will forgive your failures, when you start fighting sin, you give up.

Many of you are pondering some changes in the new year, because you have fallen into sinful patterns and want out. You want some new patterns of eating. New patterns for entertainment. New patterns of giving. New patterns of relating to your spouse. New patterns of family devotions. New patterns of sleep and exercise. New patterns of courage in witness. But you are struggling, wondering whether it’s any use. Well, here’s your second Christmas present: Christ not only came to destroy the works of the devil — our sinning — he also came to be an advocate for us because of experiences of failure in our fight.

So, I plead with you, let the fact that failure will not have the last word give you the hope to fight. But beware! If you turn the grace of God into license, and say, “Well, if I can fail, and it doesn’t matter, then why bother fighting sin?” — if you say that, and mean it, and go on acting on it, you are probably not born again and should tremble.

But that is not where most of you are. Most of you want to fight sinful patterns in your life. And what God is saying to you is this: Let Christ’s covering of your failure give hope to fight. “I write this to you that you might not sin, but if you sin you have an advocate, Jesus Christ.”

Gift #3. Christ Will Help Us

Finally, the third implication of the double truth that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to forgive our sins is this: Christ will really help us in our fight. He really will help you. He is on your side. He didn’t come to destroy sin because sin is fun. He came to destroy sin because sin is fatal. It is a deceptive work of the devil, and it will destroy us if we don’t fight it. He came to help us, not hurt us.

So here’s your third Christmas present: Christ will help overcome sin in you. First John 4:4 says, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Jesus is alive, Jesus is almighty, Jesus lives in us by faith. And Jesus is for us, not against us. He will help you in your fight with sin in the new year. Trust him.

John Piper 

O Come, Let Us Adore Him, Christ, the Lord

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

PSALM 95:6

. . . where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. MATTHEW 2:2

The long-awaited day is here. For weeks we have all been preparing for this great day of celebration. The Christmas programs are over. The cookies are baked. The tree is trimmed. The shopping is done. And the gifts are ready, just waiting to be given—and gotten. I am sure that in the last few days you checked your Christmas list many times so that you didn’t miss anyone. Double checked it to make sure you had bought each and every present for those on your list. And now it is over. If you missed someone or were not able to get that one special gift, now it’s too late. So tell me, did you get anything for Jesus this year? Was He on your Christmas list? You know it is His birthday we are celebrating. What could we give Him? We all seem to struggle with this at Christmas and end up overlooking Jesus on the very day we celebrate His coming. We get busy at church or in the kitchen or under the tree, and we fail to consider our Lord and Savior. We don’t mean to or choose to or want to. But we get so busy with the celebration itself that we sometimes forget whom we are celebrating. This year, what can we give Jesus? What would He want? 

A Gift for Him: Read Matthew 2:1–12 

This wonderful account recorded by Matthew helps us understand exactly what Jesus wants for Christmas. What is it that the wise men gave Him? Many would say frankincense, myrrh, and gold. But look carefully. Why is it they came? That’s right. It was to worship the King of the Jews. That’s what our Lord wants from us this Christmas—our worship. The Magi traveled all those miles to see, not a child, but a King. And their response was to worship Him. They understood the truth of the Christmas hymn, “Though an infant now we view him, / he will share his Father’s throne, / gather all the nations to him; / every knee shall then bow down. / Come and worship, come and worship, / worship Christ, the newborn King.” This Christmas, our great Lord and Savior wants our worship— that’s all. Just like the wise men knelt before Him so long ago, we need to come today and bow before Him. The three gifts the Magi brought help us understand exactly Who it is we worship this Christmas.

We Worship the Son of God: Read John 1:1–3

The little child the Magi worshiped, and the Jesus we worship today, is not just another man who walked on this earth two thousand years ago. He is the incarnate Son of God, the One Who created us and everything we see and smell and touch. He is very God of very God. The Magi’s gift of frankincense to the young child Jesus pointed to Him as the Son of God. This costly, fragrant perfume was used only on the most special of occasions and for worship. Throughout Scripture, the burning of incense represents the offering up of prayers and praise to Almighty God. So the Magi’s gift demonstrated that Jesus was worthy of worship because of Who He was—the Son of God. Today we must stop and reflect on all that means to us. Because of the marvelous truth that “. . . in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), those who know Him as Lord and Savior have a sure salvation, power over sin, a glorious message, and much, much more. I believe Michael Card said it well when he wrote these lyrics, “Immanuel, our God is with us. And if God is with us who can stand against us? Our God is with us, Immanuel.” This is the One we worship today—Jesus, Immanuel, the Son of God. 

We Worship the Son of Man: Read Isaiah 53:4–5 

It is true that when the Magi came to Bethlehem, they bowed before the very Son of God. But just as true is that they came and bowed before a child who would one day become a man. And this Jesus, the Son of Man, was beaten and punished, suffered, and eventually died on the cross for our sins. The gift of myrrh brought by the Magi to the young Jesus demonstrated His humanity. Myrrh is a bitter spice used in Jesus’ day to prepare a body for burial. Their gift of myrrh looked forward to the day the Son of Man would suffer and die as a man for your sins and mine. On this Christmas Day, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus as a baby, we must never forget what He suffered as the Son of Man on our behalf, the pain and sorrow He went through to provide for us so great a salvation. If it were not for the Son of Man, we would never know salvation, because “. . . without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). So today let us worship Him as the Son of Man Who purchased our redemption through His suffering and death.

We Worship the King of Kings: Read Philippians 2:5–11 

There is no doubt that the baby whose birth we celebrate was no ordinary child. He came as the Son of God and Son of Man, but there is more. The words from “What Child Is This?” say it so well. So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh; / come peasant, king to own him. / The King of kings salvation brings; / let loving hearts enthrone him.” He is the King of kings. It is clear that when the Magi came to Jerusalem, they were seeking a king. Their gift of gold, the most precious of metals, indicated that they understood the one they would find was royalty. But what they may not have realized is that the child king they bowed before was none other than the King of all kings. This Christmas as we celebrate Jesus’ virgin birth, His sinless life, His sacrificial death, and His triumphant resurrection, may we keep in mind that one day He will return as King of kings. On that day “. . . every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those in earth, and of those under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). And we will reign with Him forevermore. This year, let us remember to give Jesus a very special gift. Let us worship before Him today as the Son of God, the Son of Man, and the King of kings. It is the only thing He wants. And it is a gift He richly deserves!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Saving Sinners

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

ACTS 16:31

Confessing the Christ of Christmas as Lord also saves sinners. Acts 16:31 is one of the most powerful and crystal-clear verses in all the New Testament. The jailer at Philippi didn’t want a theological treatise. He was trembling. It was the middle of the night. His life was on the line. All he wanted to know was how to be saved. Paul cut through all the jargon to give him the essence of the gospel. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

We can’t all be preachers like Paul, but we can all be reachers. We can all be testifiers. As we are rubbing elbows with so many people this Christmas season, wouldn’t it be wonderful if every believer would share the “good tidings of great joy” with at least one other person? When believers are bold in their witness for Christ, history can be changed. The apostle Paul is the best example of that. He not only shook things up in Philippi, but he and his fellow servants also turned the whole Roman world on its head.

 Do you remember the revolution in the country of Romania when the Iron Curtain of communism fell? As the truth came out, we learned that what happened in Romania was not really a political revolution. It was a spiritual revival. It started with a pastor who had been told he couldn’t freely preach the message of Jesus. One day this pastor got on his knees, and God told him to be bold. He called a few other believers around him, and they agreed that whether they lived or died, they were going to stand for God. The Communist soldiers came to this pastor’s house to arrest him. But he stood there, unflinching, and his church members came and stood between the soldiers and their pastor. Then more and more people came, until there were thousands shouting, “There is a God! There is a God!” And a brutal Communist regime eventually fell. 

Let’s not be intimidated into silence! Let’s be bold in making the glad Christmas confession, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Two Purposes for Christmas

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:7–8)

When 1 John 3:8 says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil,” what are “the works of the devil” that he has in mind? The answer is clear from the context.

First, 1 John 3:5 is a clear parallel: “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins.” The phrase he appeared to occurs in verse 5 and verse 8. So most likely the “works of the devil” that Jesus came to destroy are sins. The first part of verse 8 makes this virtually certain: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”

The issue in this context is sinning, not sickness or broken cars or messed up schedules. Jesus came into the world to enable us to stop sinning.

We see this even more clearly if we put this truth alongside the truth of 1 John 2:1: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” This is one of the great purposes of Christmas — one of the great purposes of the incarnation (1 John 3:8).

But there is another purpose which John adds in 1 John 2:1–2, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

But now look what this means: It means that Jesus appeared in the world for two reasons. He came that we might not go on sinning — that is, he came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8); and he came so that there would be a propitiation for our sins, if we do sin. He came to be a substitutionary sacrifice that takes away the wrath of God for our sins.

The upshot of this second purpose is not to defeat the first purpose. Forgiveness is not for the purpose of permitting sin. The aim of the death of Christ for our sins is not that we relax our battle against sin. The upshot of these two purposes of Christmas, rather, is that the payment once made for all our sins is the freedom and power that enables us to fight sin not as legalists, earning our salvation, and not as fearful of losing our salvation, but as victors who throw ourselves into the battle against sin with confidence and joy, even if it costs us our lives.

John Piper 

God’s Indescribable Gift

If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10–11)

How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in God? We do it through Jesus Christ. Which means, at least, that we make the portrait of Jesus in the Bible — that is, the work and the words of Jesus portrayed in the New Testament — we make that portrait the essential content of our exultation over God. Exulting in God without the content of Christ does not honor Christ. And where Christ is not honored, God is not honored.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, Paul describes conversion in two ways. In verse 4, he says it is seeing “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And in verse 6, he says it is seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In either case you see the point. We have Christ, the image of God, and we have God in the face of Christ.

To exult in God, we exult in what we see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as Romans 5:5 says. And that sweet, Spirit-given experience of the love of God is mediated to us as we ponder the historical reality of verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

So here’s the Christmas point. Not only did God purchase our reconciliation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:10), and not only did God enable us to receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ, but even now we exult in God himself, by the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11).

Jesus purchased our reconciliation. Jesus enabled us to receive reconciliation and open the gift. And Jesus himself shines forth as himself the indescribable gift — God in the flesh — and stirs up all our exultation in God.

Look to Jesus this Christmas. Receive the reconciliation that he purchased. Don’t put the gift on the shelf unopened. And when you open it, remember God himself is the gift of reconciliation with God.

Exult in him. Experience him as your pleasure. Know him as your treasure.

John Piper