March 28, 2004 God’s Kingdom Stands and Falls on His Reputation
I. The need for a good reputation
In the 1980’s a young lady dressed in leather by the name of Joan Jett sang a song singing in more vulgar language than this - “I don’t really care about my bad reputation.” She and her “blackhearts” had a heavy influence on the attitude of several of my classmates. They wanted to emulate her song. It wasn’t that they didn’t care about their bad reputation - it was worse than that - they wanted to have a reputation that said to people, “I don’t care what you think of me.” It’s the same attitude you can read in many people who are into body piercing today. They are trying to say to society, “I’m different and I’m not going to succumb to your norms.” They may not want a bad reputation, but they don’t exactly want a good one either.
God wants you to have a good reputation. He is so concerned about your reputation that he even attached a commandment to it when he said, “you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” One of the worst crimes you can commit against someone is not to take their car, their money, or their clothing - but their reputation. In the story of Naboth, he had done nothing to harm his own reputation. He was simply a faithful farmer taking care of his inherited vineyard. However, when Ahab the King coveted the vineyard, his wife Jezebel set up two scoundrels to ruin Naboth’s reputation. 1 Kings 21 says that, They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. When Naboth lost his reputation, he also lost his life. Reputations are important.
The presidential candidates understand this very well. In order to win they are both going on smear campaigns in an attempt to ruin the reputation of the other. President Bush has accused John Kerry of being two sided. John Kerry has accused President Bush of lying about weapons of mass destruction and not doing anything about September 11th. Both of them are both vigorously trying to ruin the reputations of the other while defending their own. That’s the way the world works. They realize that reputations are all important if you want to move up in this world.
When we look beyond ourselves and our presidential campaigns and politics, and focus our eyes on the heavenly things - we can see the same struggle occurring in the spiritual realm. In order to convert and rule the world, God doesn’t use guns, spears, money, or armies to gain control of hearts. The kingdom of God rises and falls based on one main thing - and that is His REPUTATION. If He has the right reputation - then people will naturally be drawn to Him and want Him to rule their hearts and lives. There are several key verses in the Scriptures that I believe demonstrate God’s character in the most concise way. The first one is when Moses begged to see God. As God revealed His “back side”, He also revealed to Moses who He was with these words in Exodus 34 -
“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
Here we see God vividly describe two things about Himself - that He is compassionate, gracious, and forgiving. But He is also just and punishes those who hate him. (Exodus 20) All of this is clearly seen when we look at the cross of Christ. There God punished sin. There God showed his hatred of sinners. But there God also showed His unconditional love for the sinner. The other passage that eloquently describes God in Christ then is found in Romans 5,
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Here you see that our God is far more compassionate and gracious toward us than we deserve. On the cross He maintains His justice, but He also displays His love and forgiveness - which overtakes His justice. God’s grace is so great that He would send His only Son to die for us. So God wants to be known as a God who doesn’t wink at sin, accept sin, or excuse sin. He is a just God who punishes sin. But He is also a God who punished sin in His Son. He wants the world to know that He is a forgiving God - one who wants ALL men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This can only be found at the cross. That’s the reputation He wants. Just and forgiving. If people can see this reputation of God - the Holy Spirit will naturally work through it so that they want to say, “Jesus is my Lord.”
II. The attack on his reputation
The devil knows this - that the conversion of souls rests on God’s reputation. Therefore, he does what he does best - in living up to his reputation as the diabolos. Did you know that “devil” actually means - the slanderer, the false accuser. In his hatred toward God and his thirst for power, the devil has been on a smear campaign ever since the creation of the world. Think about the garden of Eden. In his temptation of Eve and Adam, what did he say to them? “Did God really say you couldn’t eat from ANY tree in the Garden? He knows that when you eat from the Tree of Knowledge you will be LIKE HIM.” He was trying to give God the reputation as one who WITHHOLDS blessings from his people - one who doesn’t want what is BEST for His children. With the slanderous accusation against God, Satan was able to bring mankind down. The same tactics are used throughout the ages. He tries to ruin God’s reputation with false doctrine, false accusations, and by getting God’s children to live immoral lives.
How is the devil doing? How would you rate his job performance? Look at what he has done with the reputation of Christianity in today’s society. Consider what has made the major news on the religious front just within the last month. An openly gay priest was ordained in the Episcopal church and an openly gay female minister was “ok’d” in her lesbian lifestyle in the Methodist church. So the debate rages on TV. The conservatives quote the Bible and show how God clearly says homosexuality is wrong. Then the liberals try and talk about “love” and “commitment” and use God’s Word to condone their sin. They go so far as to accuse the conservatives of being “unloving” and “inconsiderate” of the way that they claim God made them. The same kind of debate is occurring over the Laci Peterson case. Those who are trying to protect the life of the unborn are trying to make it a crime against the child in the womb when something happens to him or her. Bible passages are being used. These Christians are then being accused of being unloving for wanting children to live in poverty and not caring for a woman’s body. Then something positive seems to happen for Christianity. A pretty accurate movie of the suffering and death of Christ comes out, but then the whole focus of the movie is over whether it is anti-Semitic or not. Instead of focusing on the MESSAGE of forgiveness in the movie - it becomes a debate over how it portrays the Jews.
In all of these things, what is happening to the reputation of Christ and Christianity? Even though many of these Christians are well intentioned in trying to get Americans to behave according to God’s law - what kind of a reputation is God getting? When sins are condemned, God is accused of being unloving and uncaring - an archaic God that is out of step with the times. In trying to enforce God’s law, the Christian coalition and evangelicals are unfortunately giving God a reputation as primarily a “do” and “don’t” God. Instead of being known as “compassionate” and “loving”, He is being accused of being “judgmental” and “hateful.” This is coming from people who call themselves Christians nonetheless. We’re being accused of forcing religion on America by putting “under God” in our pledge and wanting the Ten Commandments to remain in our courtrooms. On the one hand, God is being given the reputation as mainly a lawgiver. On the other hand, in religion, God is being given the reputation that sin is not sin, that black is white, and that there is no “thus says the Lord.” The devil is doing his job unfortunately very well.
The sad part is that we are partly responsible for this travesty as well. We aren’t standing up for the LORD in our own households and in our own workplaces. We aren’t defending the reputation and word of the LORD - debating those who falsely accuse our LORD of crimes He hasn’t committed. We aren’t living lives that are models for society to say, “who is your Father?” By our own lives and words we have made our LORD’s reputation much less attractive. When we are afraid to speak up, we make a coward of God. When we only we speak the law to people, we make a judge of Him. When we live an immoral life, we make a devil of Him. When we don’t know what He has to say, we make an idiot of Him.
III. The defense of his reputation
The LORD very clearly told Moses and us in the Ten Commandments - The LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (Ex 20:7) God will not allow blasphemy. It’s one thing if you ruin your own reputation, or your neighbor’s reputation. But when God’s reputation is on the line - He will rise in defense. You may be able to live for a time misusing his money, the body He gave you, or even the family you live with - but God will not allow his reputation to be ruined. You can’t see a clearer example of this than when you look at the story of Sennacherib and David. Sennacherib - king of the Assyrians - had torn a path through the Northern Kingdom with reckless abandon. With a huge army of over 180,000 men he was pounding on the walls of Jerusalem ready to absolutely destroy them. But before He went to war, he decided to try a little mental warfare with Hezekiah, the king of Judah. He said to the people at the wall -
“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ 33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (2 Ki 18:32-35).
Notice what Sennacherib did. He equated the LORD to the gods of wood and stone from the other countries he had conquered. He also questioned the LORD’s strength - clearly stating that the LORD had NO POWER to deliver Hezekiah and the Southern Kingdom from his hand.
Hezekiah, being a man of God, took this letter before the LORD. He laid it in the temple, and prayed for the LORD’s assistance. The LORD said to Hezekiah - Because you rage against me and your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.’ (2 Ki 19:28) He told Hezekiah, I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.” (2 Ki 19:34) What happened? That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. But God wasn’t done with Sennacherib. He allowed him to return. Perhaps Sennacherib would repent of his arrogance and turn to the true God! But what does vs. 37 say? One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch. . . . Sennacherib went back to worship the worthless Nisroch - the eagle / man god that was defeated by the LORD. And so God’s Word says that - his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king. (2 Ki 19:35-37) In defense of his reputation, God flexed His muscles. He was not some weakling who allows Himself to be blasphemed - who allows sin to go unpunished.
But there’s more to this story than just death. The key to this destruction is laid out in the answer that God gave to Hezekiah’s prayer. He told Hezekiah, Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (2 Ki 19:30-31) God tore down the kingdom of Sennacherib in order to build up the kingdom of Christ. The only way Christ would be born was if a remnant of Jews survived. If Sennacherib had destroyed God’s people, that promise could not have come true. God had to keep his reputation and his promise as a God who would SAVE His people through a Savior. He destroyed in order to save.
That, my friends, is the message of Christianity - it shows the reputation of the LORD. Worse than the angel of death, the wrath of God came crashing down on His Son on the cross. God absolutely destroyed His Son as He put Him through not only a terrible whipping and crucifixion, but through hell on the cross. God is just. He couldn’t look at sin. He had to destroy it - by putting it on His Son and crucifying it. But there’s more to the message of the cross and Christianity than death. With that destruction there is life. For Christ left the sins of the world in the grave. In his destruction of sin, God was building a new kingdom - a kingdom of love, forgiveness, and faith. Through faith, God gives you a new freedom to know that God does love you and He wants nothing but the best for you. He wants you to be free from sin. He wanted them to enjoy life - which includes not being a slave to alcohol, homosexuality, adultery, and the many other sins that just help to destroy man. God’s reputation and his kingdom stands and falls on this message of the cross and the empty grave.
So how are you going to approach God? Several years ago Katie Couric was interviewing a gal and had had a real nice conversation with her. After the interview was about over she honestly and surprisingly said something like, “I didn’t want to like you when I started this interview,” but then grew to like her the more she got to know her. Her reputation must have been one that made Katie hesitant to really open up to. But in response the girl said, “well I wanted to like you.” Unfortunately, everybody in this world approaches the LORD in the same way. Thanks to the devil, they assume he’s just a God of laws - or an unfair God - or an unloving God who wants to take their fun away. Like Sennacherib, they shake their fists at God and try to destroy him and ruin his reputation for getting in their way for what they want. If they don’t stop, they’ll be destroyed.
If - like Sennacherib - you’ve been pounding on God’s wall - questioning his authority, not wanting to like him, thinking that He’s getting in your way to greatness - pound no longer. See the true LORD for the way He is. He’s a just God, but He’s also a loving and forgiving God.. His kingdom is not one standing in your way to a fulfilling life, His kingdom is your key to everlasting life. Instead of going back to your Nisroch, kneel at the temple outside of Jerusalem - at Mt. Golgotha. Put your sins at the wooden throne of the cross. Say to God, “crucify me with Christ. Kill me. Damn me to hell with your Son. Bury me in your grave.” Then listen to the Holy Spirit say to you, “I have done that for you. I have destroyed your kingdom of pride. I have crucified your arrogant old man. I did this in order to give you a new kingdom. I have given you a new spirit. I have put a new kingdom in your heart - a kingdom of forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. I have given you the reputation of being a holy saint - in Christ.” When you find God in Christ you’ll see a God who is just and forgiving. Loving and compassionate. Slow to anger and abounding in love. That’s who the LORD is. That’s the way He works and builds kingdoms - not with guns, swords, and armies, but with nails and wood at the cross, by crucifying you and raising you up through faith. Amen.
