It's good to see you all. Good to see you all, Metro Crest friends. How have you all been? I've been staying out of trouble. That's good. That's good. There's a group of Ask 29 churches in Fort Worth that has asked me to speak to them in a couple of weeks on the subject of church history from a missional context. So I thought that today we might just do that. to give it a more ceremony title, it's why is it taking so long. So now for something completely different. I enjoy the discovery and the history channels. Anybody in here like those? Yeah, quite a few hands go up, there we go. And I like shows like Dual Survival, American Pickers, Survivorman, How the Earth Began, and stuff like that. I'm a big fan, except when these channels try to do theology with documentaries about the Bible. When that happens, viewers are often presented with a dodgy mixture of historically accurate info and questionable, jacked-up info to where the viewer may not be able to perceive when this line between helpful and distorted is being crossed. So when I see this happening on these shows, it's mildly dismaying to me, and I change the channel. I'll show them. I'll watch Dance Moms. Just kidding. And the issue is when I talk with my friends who do not go to church, like one gentleman at the YMCA that I invited to come here today, who did not come, but a thoughtful, non-Christian man who never darkens the door of a church, I find that these documentaries influence their theological beliefs in one way or another. And when these documentaries talk about Jesus, The bottom line, the subtext, is that although Jesus claimed he would return to earth, and although the early disciples believed that he would return to earth, to finalize his resurrection kingdom here forever, Jesus never did return. He just disappeared. Poof. So the general idea, the assumption is that Jesus never came back, therefore he's not going to. Because clearly no one would ever wait for 2,000 years to execute a plan, would they? I'm coming back in 2,500 years or 3,000 years or whatever. Clearly no one would do that, would they? Well, I believe there are solid biblical reasons to anticipate a very long period of time between Jesus' first and second advent. And here's the big idea for this morning. When God starts something new in his plan to redeem us from sin and certain death, it always takes him far longer to complete the plan than anybody would think. You better bring a sack lunch. Bring a smartphone. Play Angry Birds. Or the one with flying businessmen wearing horn-rimmed glasses, angry nerds. Which actually I would like to write, but I don't know how to write code. This is such a major theme in the Bible that there are lots of texts. God always takes longer than his people will expect. There are lots of texts we could choose. But we'll look at Psalm 126 for starters today. It's a post-exilic psalm. very late in Israel's history. It's a song of ascents. The heading says, when the Lord exiled the Judeans from their homeland for their sin and had them hauled away to Babylon, that was a downhill trip because the Tigris-Euphrates Valley is sort of similar to the elevation of Dallas, kind of a flatland, and the Judeans were highlanders they lived in the Judean highlands so when they were allowed to return in the late 6th century BC the last leg of that trip was an uphill hike hence Psalms of Ascent and here we go Psalm 126 a song of ascent when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion That is a specialized term for return from exile. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy. Then they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us. We are glad. Restore our fortunes, O Lord. like the streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes about weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Please notice something extremely important in understanding what makes this psalm tick. In verse 4, the psalmist asks the Lord to complete what he began in verse 1. you did rescue us from exile now please rescue us from exile the psalmist looks back to 537 BC when they initially returned from exile the psalmist says that was great but we're still under foreign oppression Sin and death are still in charge. The world is still not this glorious place that your big plan promises. We've returned from exile but not fully. We're still in exile. Please finish what you began. Oh Lord, why is it taking so long? Maybe this psalm was written in the Persian period where the exile return began. So maybe it's from the fourth century. It's very hard to date a psalm because they're written like English poetry is written to be old-fashioned. So is Hebrew poetry. It's very hard to date. So maybe this psalm is from the 4th century B.C. where the psalmist is saying, Lord, please finish what you began 150 years ago. When our return from exile began, why is it taking so long? Maybe this psalm was written in the Greek period after Alexander the Great took over the known world in the late 4th century BC, so maybe it's from around 300 BC, in which case the psalmist is saying, Lord, please finish what you began about 230 years ago. Why is it taking so long? But maybe as well, this psalm could come from the Roman period, say mid-1st century BC around numbers, where the psalmist is then saying, Lord, please finish what you started 500 years ago. Why is it taking So long. So my Metro Crestian friends, we are the Metro Crestians, we come in peace. I think that should be your church motto. I've mentioned that. I'm kidding. The main point, when God shifts gears in his grand overall plan to redeem you and your as yet unbelieving friends from sin and certain death, When he shifts gears in that plan, it always takes God far, far longer to let out the clutch than any one of us would think. It's always been that way because God operates on a different schedule. This is why Jesus has waited for 2,000 years or so when the Bible is full of this idea. There are two main reasons why it's taken so long. Let's get there by taking a sidestep over to Abraham. Abraham lived in the Middle Bronze Age, somewhere around 1800 BC, round numbers. In Genesis chapter 12, the Lord plucked Abraham out of pagan obscurity and said, Abraham, I'm going to bless the whole world through you. All the families, all the peoples through you. What kind of blessing did God mean? Well, the opposite of bless is curse. Since this blessing promise in Genesis chapter 12 follows right after the Lord's curse of death that has fallen upon us in Genesis 2-11, the curse of death because of sin, therefore through Abraham in Genesis 12, God's blessing promise is directed at undoing physical death itself. It's ultimately directed at the physical resurrection of Jesus. It is the historically veiled resurrection promise. Through you all the nations shall be blessed and rid of the curse, the root cause of death, the root cause of which is sin. So Mr. Abraham, the Lord said, through you the curse of sin and death will be fixed. Great Lord, I'll put it on my calendar. No, not your calendar, Abraham. It'll take a little longer. Oh, well then, Lord, I'll put it on my son Isaac's calendar. We'll put it on his calendar then. No, Abraham's son, it's not going to go on his calendar. It's going to take a little longer than that. Well then, Abraham, how about my son Jacob's calendar? We'll put it on his calendar. Surely by then you'll carry out the promise. Well, no, not quite, actually. This promise of the reversal of death itself. will be carried out by your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, Why did God wait round numbers 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus? Two reasons why. And actually these are the same two reasons that Jesus has waited at least 2,000 years to return and they're the same two reasons why Metrocrest PCA exists and why you have been left in this evil present age where sin and death reign. Why he hasn't come back yet. The reasons for the long gap between Abraham and Jesus are the same as the two reasons for the long gap between Jesus' resurrection and his return. And it's very important for your world and life view as a Christ follower to understand these reasons, because it's almost as if there could be a higher power involved. The same reasons for Abraham to Jesus are the same two reasons for Jesus to whenever he comes back. The first reason, the sovereign patience of God. God is waiting for people to repent. He's providing time for people to recognize their distance from him and turn to him. In Genesis 15, the Lord told Abraham, in a dream, that his process of promise fulfillment would not even kick into its first tiny phase for several hundred years, the exodus. God said to Abraham, I will give you the land of Palestine, but not yet, because the iniquity of the inhabitants has not yet reached a sufficient level for them to deserve to be ejected from their land. What kind of iniquity? Well, in their case, human sacrifice of children and the mixing of sexual activity with worship in their pagan festivals and whatnot, among other things. So he was giving the Amorites hundreds of years to figure out their distance from God and to get right with him. And the New Testament, 2 Peter chapter 3, gives exactly the same reason why it's taken so long for Jesus to come back. It says, But you, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. So maybe you're one of them, one of these ones that does need to turn. Maybe you're one of the ones for whom he is waiting, maybe the Lord is being patient with you because you're not right with him, you've not yet bowed the knee and placed your faith in the Lord yet. So, what exactly is sin? Christ has died for our sin, what precisely is it? When Christ went to the cross for your sins and mine, then what sins? Well, the first chapter of the Bible gives us a very important explanation of what sin is. Because it says that God has created you and me in His image. Most of us, when we think of sin, we think of stuff that we do. Bad things that we do, and that's only partly right. It's missing the bottom line of what sin is. God has created you and me in His image. What does that mean? Well, in the ancient world, image is a royal idea. If you Google, go to Google Images, and type in Sumerian images. This will give you a glance at third millennium BC images. And what you'll see is images of kings on thrones. Ancient kings, of which God is the king of kings, commissioned images of themselves to honor themselves. to make themselves look great. So God has commissioned you in His image to attract glory to Him as King. He has designed you to be His glory reflector. He has made you so that people would get to know you and they would think, This person's priorities, the words they say, their world and life view, their consistent love and justice brings unalloyed glory to God 24-7. This person is constantly referring my attention to the heavenly King who made them. So sin, in its essence, is a mis-aimed glory reflector where instead of attracting glory and honor and thanks to God, instead our chief motive is to live and attract honor to ourselves, just trying to make ourselves as comfortable and respected as possible before we die, which is God's penalty given to broken glory reflectors. So what is sin? Sin is not first of all things that you do. Sin is first of all an omission of that, of the reason why God placed us here. Sin is a mis-aimed telescope mirror aimed simply at keeping the patient comfortable in this fallen world until we die. Where people who get to know you would really have no clue of the glory of the one who commissioned you as his image. So to become a Christian is to re-aim the mirror and Christians are not Our mirrors are still tilted out of adjustment. I'll suggest to you that missional living in our context right here in Dallas Fort Worth is a place where some of our mirrors need some adjustment. So to become a Christian is to acknowledge that you're a mis-aimed glory reflector device. And like you've seen the pictures of the giant telescopes aiming at something and to turn and focus on the resurrected Christ and his father where he is seated at his right hand. Because Christ has died and risen and will return we live in a worldwide monarchy where the king just happens to be out of town for a while. So the first reason why it's taking so long is the sovereign patience of God waiting And you theologues, it's not an Arminian idea to say that God waits. I ain't no Arminian. It's the sovereign patience of God waiting, sovereignly waiting, giving people time to turn to him. The second reason God's work occupies such a broad span of time, the second reason why it took 2,000 years to get from Abraham to Jesus in at least 2,000 years to get from Jesus' first advent to his return is because Jesus is a king and a king requires a country. Jesus is not the king of nothing. He's not an ethereal king. A king requires some turf. Jesus is an earthly king and a king requires a country. When Jesus preached He announced that the kingdom of God is at hand. And that's the same kingdom that began in the Old Testament with fits and starts because of the sin of its kings. We read the book of 1st and 2nd Kings. These kings stunk up the joint and the whole thing crashed. So God's very kingdom on earth, Jesus said, had drawn near. to us in Him. God's kingdom on earth had reached its finale in the sinless King, Jesus. So throughout the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Son of David, and that's not just a helpful nickname, or it's not just talking about proving His Messiahship, it's acknowledging Him to be the Davidic King that everyone was waiting for. Like the blind man, when He healed them, they called out to Him, Jesus, Son of David, It is King Jesus, have mercy on us. When Jesus returns to earth, he'll be returning to his territory, which is the entire inhabited surface of the planet. Acts chapter 17. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he's fixed a day on which he will judge the world, and that's not the word cosmos, It's a different Greek word that means the empire or the inhabited surface of the globe. The governments of the world which will evaporate in thin air because we live in a monarchy. A growing Christian knows that you live in a worldwide monarchy. You can be a good citizen of whatever country you're in. So the Lord spent 2000 years setting up a tiny prototype kingdom called Old Testament Israel, which Jesus came as king. And now he's spending another 2000 years, at least rolling out the upgraded version of that same kingdom. Not just in Palestine, but all around the world called his church. Those of you who have become believers, the New Testament says you've been transferred into a kingdom. Colossians says he's delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And now this same kingdom is being spread worldwide through his church. So why is it taking so long? These two strands of God patiently providing time for people to turn to him and God patiently building his kingdom are actually two strands of the same rope. So I'll bet there's a few of you who like to read church history. Anybody here? Okay, maybe one or two strange hands went up. No, I love you, I'm just trying to keep you all awake. The reason why church history as a subject exists, because if he came back ten minutes after he ascended, it wouldn't exist. The reason why the field of endeavor called church history exists is the sovereign patience of God. Drawing forgiven sinners into his kingdom, two strands in the same rope, as they bow the knee to him as king, all around the world as they enter his kingdom outposts called the church. So the patience and kingdom building plan of God is the reason, the only reason why church history exists. The reason why there's 2,000 years at least between Jesus' advent and his victorious return. The reason why the history of MetroCrest Presbyterian Church will continue if he doesn't come back before this talk is over is because of his sovereign patience to employ y'all in Dallas and around the world, first in Dallas, in Carrollton. where you work, where you play, where you live. The reason why he has not come back, if he's not back by Tuesday lunch, is to involve you in adding to his kingdom where you live right here. So it's spreading all around the world and that's why it's taken so long. Mark 13 10 says the gospel must first be preached to all the nations Acts chapter 1 Jesus says you shall be my witnesses to the uttermost parts of my territory which is the whole earth so that takes a lot of time and and that's not done yet so the reason why church history exists is because of the sovereign patience of God waiting for people to turn to him and enter his kingdom and bringing them into his kingdom all around the world My paternal relatives hail from Scandinavia. My Danish grandfather, Hans Rasmussen, married the Norwegian beauty, Ida Hopstead. And it took a millennium, a thousand years, for the gospel even to begin to make it to those countries. Christianity began, of course, in Jerusalem. To get from Jerusalem to Norway is a shorter trip than to go from L.A. to New York, yet it took a thousand years for Christ's kingdom to even put a tiny foothold in the Northland. In the 9th century, during the rise of the Viking Age, the abbot of a monastery in northern Germany commissioned a young man named Ansgar to head northward to take the gospel to these fine, gentle folk. my knuckle-dragging Viking ancestors. Although many advised against it, and one openly rebuked him at the idea, Ansgar took off with one assistant, a fellow named Harold, who soon got sick and had to go home, to be replaced by one Rimbert. The irony is that they were bringing the gospel northward while the very folks they were trying to reach attacked southward. So Viking raids ravaging their homeland while they shared the gospel northward. So Viking territory expanded simultaneously while Ansgar sought to increase the gospel territory of the merciful King Jesus Two kingdoms with opposite motives and methods in collision with one another, one using force, the other using the word of God. Two opposing kingdoms intertwined, as it is today, which is why the work is so slow. Hansgar and his sidekick were attacked by pirates, robbed of all their possessions. The few Christians they met were Viking captives who pleaded with them, Ransom me, please. I want to go home. At one point, Rimbert had to use their communion hardware. He had to hawk the communion chalice in order to ransom Christian Catholics. That's a tough day in church life. Right there. So it was very slow progress. If Jesus had come back that day, entire towns, cities, families in Denmark, Norway, Sweden would have not had any exposure to the good news of Christ's death and resurrection. And people in today's culture in Dallas, there are people three doors down from you who have had very little or no legit exposure. So Jesus waited and he's patient today. Slowly within a century or so, the Danes had their first Christian king, Knud, the son of a Polish Christian mother. But even then, with a Christian king, the gospel had barely penetrated that society. So, the story is the same all around the world, while the journey from Jerusalem to Copenhagen is far shorter than the journey to the other side of the earth. So, as we approach our conclusion, why is it taking so long? It seems unreasonable, 2,000 years at least. Why is it taking so long? Because King Jesus is patiently building his kingdom, one soul at a time, using his church, first off, in the culture where you live, play, and work. From Abraham it took 2,000 years to launch the plan, just to launch it, and now it's taken, Our Lord, another 2,000 years or more to fulfill the plan And this time span makes total sense when you look at the magnitude of the task and the patience of God to build his kingdom. When God advances his plan of the ages to redeem you and your neighbor from sin and certain death, it always takes longer than anyone would think. So, to conclude, I will go to the end of the psalm and then I have a true story about me wrestling with a piece of electronic equipment this morning. and practically losing my salvation this morning. So to conclude, notice interesting coincidence that the psalm shifts motifs at the end. Notice that it switches from national history to agriculture, sowing and reaping. That's not an accident. Jesus and the apostles pick up on the sowing and reaping idea constantly. Where did they get it? Well, places like this. So it says in verse 5, those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. So a believer. Why has Jesus not returned? Church history exists because God is employing his church to bring in the harvest. The history of Metro Presbyterian Church will continue yet another week, if the Lord tarries, in order to employ you, his body, to bring in his harvest here first, as well as going to the distant, far-off places with dangerous fish that'll bite the fool out of you, and all of that. But it's mostly, it's first of all here, for all of us, here. Believer, God has left you in this present age where sin and death dominate. He's left you here simply and only to bring in his harvest. To think otherwise is to have your mirror just mistilted just a little bit. Life is filled with complexities, joys and sorrows. But the bottom line, why has Jesus left you in this age of sin and death? Why? To propagate his kingdom. That's why individually, collectively, that's why this church exists. That's why you're here. So a Christian who is on mission, a church who is on mission, and here I'm going to switch from preaching to metal and then I'll tell you the true story. So you all may never ask me back after this, but here I'm going to let fly and relax Renato. They won't throw me out, I don't think. A Christian who's on mission, when you hear the word Super Bowl party, the gears should be clicking. What non-Christian friend from work or from the gym or from Little League sports, what non-Christian friend am I going to invite so we can include, so that them becoming a Christian six months from now will simply be them adopting the viewpoint of their friends that they have. So if you're on mission, that sort of thing should fairly regularly kick in without anyone twisting your arm. If it does not, then you are right now off mission. But you don't have to stay that way. Christ has died and risen to forgive us, to cleanse us, to renew us, and to re-aim the telescope mirror. Okay, concluding story. I have a Blu-ray DVD player. It is too smart by 50 percent. As the lord of the device, you know, the owner, it exists to serve my bidding. I press commands on the remote, simple, clear commands, but the priorities of the machine are different from mine. The DVD player thinks its priorities are wiser than mine, I know it does. But the machine is actually foolhardy and errant and off mission. So this morning I pressed the open close button to remove a DVD. The machine had better ideas. The evil little machine thought, Lord, me, I'll go you one better and turn your TV on for you. Now, surely you must want your TV on. No. Frankly, I didn't want my TV on. I hadn't asked it to turn my TV on, but now my TV was on and I thought surely it will execute my crystal clear request to open the drawer. But no. The very smart yet disobedient machine still had better plans. It thought to itself, my master wants me to open the drawer, but surely he intends for me to scan the disk first. So it spoke to me in writing. It made a request back to its Lord. Wait. But the machine works for me. Not the other way around. Hope you get the metaphor. So there's an organizational structure. There's a reporting arrangement here. I'm in charge. I'm the one who gave the command. I didn't command it to turn on the TV. I didn't command it to search the disk. Yet it was merely whirring away, surely thinking it was doing a good deed for its master. So I pressed the open-close button again. I had now pressed it twice, friends. So that was a huge mistake. because this time the wicked little device took me literally and the drawer opened. False hope. Immediately closed. Good night. This is a Sony. I mean, these people are supposed to be smart. So, just giving me false hope that it would take my desire seriously, but it was not. Having been frustrated this far, I pressed the button repeatedly. Open, close, open, close, open, close, open, close. Surely if I issue the command 63 times, it will get the picture. You wayward, goofy little machine. Machine, you're off mission. At which point the logic circuitry jammed. And it just said, wait, i.e. wait forever. So I became concerned that the sweater I was wearing would go out of style before the drawer opened. My wife would assert that the sweater is already out of style. But that's another talk for another day. So I must confess to you at this point, as we're just about done, at this point I uttered a theological term in an inappropriate context, having to do with the eternal destiny of the machine. I am a sinner, I'm one of the worst in the room. So I decided that more direct dealings with the machine would be suitable. So I set down the remote, placed my face about seven inches from the machine, and found the on-off button and just held it down. waiting for the machine until it succumbed to the brute force of my sovereign will, at which point, I forget exactly how, but I managed to trick the machine into doing what I wanted. And the drawer opened and I took out the DVD. So, believer, your master is pressing the reach out button.