As we will see this weekend, in 2 Chronicles 16 when war threatens Judah King Asa chooses to rely not on God for deliverance but upon his own wisdom and the help of foreign armies, namely Syria, with whom he makes a covenant. It may look politically savvy on the surface, but the devil is in the details. To make this happen, Asa plunders the treasure house of the LORD in order to buy Syria’s loyalty. These treasures themselves shined as evidence of the victory God gives when his kings rely on him (v. 2 Chronicles 14:14; 15:18). Now, if anyone in any other circumstance would have plundered the treasure house of the LORD, Asa would likely have their head. These were God’s treasures. And yet because Asa chose to rely on himself, moral confusion sets in. Suddenly what God’s wisdom would condemn, human wisdom permits.

The moral rot continued for Asa even after God via his prophet Hanani admonishes him for his sin. God’s prophet soundly rebukes him for his sin of not relying on God, and Asa, instead of repenting, angrily digs himself deeper by throwing Hanani stock-bound in prison. Then Asa compounds this sin against the prophet by inflicting cruelties upon the people (2 Chronicles 16:7–10). Asa—a king with the right desire to guard and keep the people of his kingdom from her enemies—chose to rely on himself, which led to choosing to rob from God, which led to choosing to silence and persecute God’s prophet, which led to choosing to attack the people of his kingdom. Asa ends up inflicting upon his people the very terror he originally sought to deflect. Such is the insanity of sin. Asa’s single choice to rely on himself rather than God wove a web of moral confusion that Asa found himself trapped like a fly in. He can no longer distinguish good from evil.

Moral confusion is the fallout of spurning God and his wisdom. And judgment awaits the morally confused. Hear Isaiah,

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20).

Again, what leads to such moral confusion that man would call evil good and good evil; darkness light and light darkness; bitter sweet and sweet bitter? Isaiah puts such confusion in parallel with self-reliance,

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:21).

Woe, judgment, proves to be the end game for such self-reliance and moral confusion. But final judgment not only speeds toward the morally confused like a freight train. The moral confusion itself is a judgment from God. Paul makes this clear in Romans 1:28,

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (Romans 1:28).

So when you see moral confusion in your context or in your own life, you not only see a clear sign and symptom that you and humanity have sinfully chosen to rely on self rather than God, you see a clear sign and symptom of divine judgment.

So look around you. What do you see? In our Western context, particularly our American context, you see a society, a people, that cannot distinguish good and evil, light and dark, bitter and sweet. You see a people that cannot distinguish between a man and a woman. You see a people where men cosplay as women, and invite young children into their lust-driven deviance under the guise of “art” and “story hour”…and you see parents willingly bringing their innocent children to such events to use them as props for their social media virtue signaling. You see a people that subjects vulnerable children to evil, irreversible body mutilation while calling it virtuous under the morally-confused category of “gender-affirming care.” You see school systems subvert parental authority by secretly socially transitioning gender-confused children from female to male, and you see the state back up the school by threatening to remove the children from their parents who do not consent or approve. You see the murderous slaughter of over 1 million unborn children (1.126 million in 2025 to be precise) praised as righteous. You see the virtue of compassion twisted and wielded as a weapon to justify evil acts. You see the sin of “pride” and sexual immorality celebrated in parades made up of “women (who) exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and…men (who) likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men” (Romans 1:26–27).

But don’t stop at looking out. Look in. Look into your own heart. What do you see? Do you see moral confusion in your own heart about even some of the above issues? Do you see within yourself a tendency to call good what Scripture calls evil and call evil what Scripture calls good? Do you see within yourself a propensity to look past your personal sin? Do you often justify your own sin? Do you find you overcomplicate moral categories that Scripture makes straightforward? Do you divorce truth from love and justify your anger or hatred toward others in the process? Do you rely on yourself rather than on God?

When you see moral confusion around you and within you, you see not only a sign and symptom of self-reliance, you see a sign and symptom of divine judgment. But God has a purpose in mind for such divine judgment. He intends it to wake you up and lead you back to him (1 Corinthians 5:5). So what do you do, saint, when moral confusion abounds within and around you? The answer is simple. Thank God for his judgment that leads you back to him, repent of your own sin, and rely on God for determining what is evil and what is good.

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil (Proverbs 3:7).

Every saint will enter into eternal life because of Christ’s gospel work. Every saint will receive an imperishable crown of glory, as Scripture says (1 Peter 5:4; James 1:12), but like theologian Sinclair Ferguson says, “these crowns will be different shapes”—different levels or degrees of reward. Paul aims to maximize his reward by his works of faith on earth. Now is this selfish? Does this seem an odd motivation? It’s not selfish and it shouldn’t be odd. If works of faith spring from Christ in you, as Philippians 1:8 makes clear, then all your fruits of righteousness come through Jesus Christ, not ultimately through you. That means any reward you receive ultimately glorifies him! So the bottom line here is this: Paul just has a bigger appetite for God’s glory and beauty in Jesus than you or I do. If you want to do works of faith for God, you have to first desire more of his glory. That’s what Paul really wants. That’s his reward. Us? Our pleasure-o-meters are just broken. We settle for lesser pleasures and glories like, as C.S. Lewis says, children who choose making mud pies over going to spend a vacation by the sea! We settle because we don’t actually know what we’re missing. But Paul says, “I run and discipline my body because I want so much evidence of what Christ did for me to pile up that he shines with such beauty and glory…”—And as Paul beholds that greater glory in eternity, he not only receives eternal life, but a more potent draught, a 100-proof reward compared to others.

That final line, “as Paul beholds that greater glory in eternity, he not only receives eternal life, but a more potent draught, a 100-proof reward compared to others” speaks to the idea of varying degrees of reward in eternity. The idea here is that while everyone enjoys perfection of happiness in their beholding of God’s glory and the King in his beauty in eternity, some will have a greater capacity for that glory. Hear Jonathan Edwards,

For all shall be perfectly happy, every one shall be perfectly satisfied. Every vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there are some vessels far larger than others.

Varying degrees of reward that accord with their deeds on Earth mark the saints’ experiences in eternity. There exists a glory hierarchy of sorts in eternity. Some fly further up and further in, treading ever closer to the throne, able to take in more of the glory of God by virtue of their increased Christlike capacity. The remarkable reality is that because of the absence of sin, namely envy and pride, this varying degree of reward, this glory hierarchy actually works to everyone’s greatest joy in heaven. No one I’ve read articulates this mysteriously beautiful reality better than Jonathan Edwards. I commend the following meditation from his sermon on Romans 2:10, “The Portion of the Righteous” which he preached in December of 1740.

There are different degrees of happiness and glory in heaven. As there are degrees among the angels, viz. thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; so there are degrees among the saints. In heaven are many mansions, and of different degrees of dignity. The glory of the saints above will be in some proportion to their eminency in holiness and good works here. Christ will reward all according to their works. He that gained ten pounds was made ruler over ten cities, and he that gained five pounds over five cities. Luke 19:17; 2 Cor. 9:6, “He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” And the apostle Paul tells us that, as one star differs from another star in glory, so also it shall be in the resurrection of the dead. 1 Cor. 15:41. Christ tells us that he who gives a cup of cold water unto a disciple in the name of a disciple, shall in no wise lose his reward. But this could not be true, if a person should have no greater reward for doing many good works than if he did but few. It will be no damp to the happiness of those who have lower degrees of happiness and glory, that there are others advanced in glory above them. For all shall be perfectly happy, every one shall be perfectly satisfied. Every vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there are some vessels far larger than others. And there shall be no such thing as envy in heaven, but perfect love shall reign through the whole society. Those who are not so high in glory as other, will not envy those that are higher, but they will have so great, and strong, and pure love to them, that they will rejoice in their superior happiness. Their love to them will be such that they will rejoice that they are happier than themselves; so that instead of having a damp to their own happiness, it will add to it. They will see it to be fit that they that have been most eminent in works of righteousness should be most highly exalted in glory. And they will rejoice in having that done, that is fittest to be done. There will be a perfect harmony in that society; those that are most happy will also be most holy, and all will be both perfectly holy and perfectly happy. But yet there will be different degrees of both holiness and happiness according to the measure of each one’s capacity, and therefore those that are lowest in glory will have the greatest love to those that are highest in happiness, because they will see most of the image of God in them. And having the greatest love to them, they will rejoice to see them the most happy and the highest in glory. And so, on the other hand, those that are highest in glory, as they will be the most lovely, so they will be fullest of love. As they will excel in happiness, they will proportionally excel in divine benevolence and love to others, and will have more love to God and to the saints than those that are lower in holiness and happiness. And besides, those that will excel in glory will also excel in humility. Here in this world, those that are above others are the objects of envy, because that others conceive of them as being lifted up with it. But in heaven it will not be so, but those saints in heaven who excel in happiness will also in holiness, and consequently in humility. The saints in heaven are more humble than the saints on earth, and still the higher we go among them the greater humility there is. The highest orders of saints, who know most of God, see most of the distinction between God and them, and consequently are comparatively least in their own eyes, and so are more humble. The exaltation of some in heaven above the rest will be so far from diminishing the perfect happiness and joy of the rest who are inferior, that they will be the happier for it. Such will be the union in their society that they will be partakers of each other’s happiness. Then will be fulfilled in its perfection that which is declared in 1 Cor. 12:26, “If one of the members be honoured all the members rejoice with it.”[1]

[1] Jonathan Edwards, “The Portion of the Righteous” Romans 2:10, December 1740.

we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God… (Ephesians 6:12–13).

You must conquer to eat of the tree of life (Revelation 2:7). That means you must not be cowardly, timid, or passive (Revelation 21:8). You actually have to get in the fight and fight with conviction. Consider Paul’s words to Timothy,

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience (1 Timothy 1:18–19).

And of course there is Ephesians 6:10–18, as alluded to above, makes clear  that putting on the whole armor of God is not just to cosplay in front of the mirror.

So you, saint, must enter into the warfare. But what is the way?

As usual, it proves helpful to first answer what is not the way.

Three Wrong Ways of Warfare
Entering in your own power. The first wrong way of warfare is entering in your own power. There is a version of teaching regarding spiritual warfare that casts it as a mustering up of your own power through quasi faith and new-agey spiritualism. This type of teaching is often unmoored from the anchor of the gospel or robust doctrine regarding the Holy Spirit. This type of teaching amounts to nothing more than self-help or self-improvement endeavors at best and unbiblical spiritualism that syncretizes pagan and demonic practices with watered down Christian practice at worst.

Not entering due to morbid introspection. The second wrong way of warfare is actually not entering due to a bad case of self-pity. This case typically involves the morbidly introspective individual navel gazing to the point that all they consider is their sinful depravity and not the magnanimous beauty of Jesus. This individual sits on the sideline and never enter the fight because of their own unworthiness and liability and ironically see this as a virtuous position.

Not entering due to misapplication of God’s sovereignty and misguided eschatology. One may says, “God is sovereign; therefore, I don’t need to do anything. He’ll take care of it! But this is to misapply God’s sovereignty by neglecting the revealed truth that God sovereignly uses means, namely his people, to accomplish his purposes. Another may say, “Well, things only get worse. We lose down here on earth, but God’s kingdom is not of this world. Therefore, I’m not going to waste my energy for that which will not last.” But this is a misguided eschatology because no matter how one’s specific brand of eschatology understands the trajectory of life on earth, the call to the saint remains to enter into the war, period.

In sum, at the center of each one of these wrong ways is the self. “I will fight with my own power through my own spiritualism.” Or, “I won’t fight because I’m useless.” Or, “I won’t fight because I don’t want to waste energy just to lose down here.”

Those are the wrong ways. What is the right way?

One Way of Warfare
The one way to enter the warfare is to recognize who you are in your King.

Notice, in order to recognize who you are, logically, you first have to recognize who your King is.

Consider the result of that famous showdown between David and Goliath. The Israelites pursue the enemy to victory only after being saved by and beholding who they were made to be in their King.

Or, consider Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians. He instructs the Ephesians to put on the spiritual armor only after he reminds them of who they are in Christ in perhaps the most gospel grace-packed two chapters in the Bible (Ephesians 1–2). The thrust is this: forget about entering the warfare. You will not even put on the armor if you do not know who you are in your king.

There is one way to entering the spiritual warfare all around you: Recognize who you are in your King by first recognizing who your King is.

There are three primary fronts and three primary theaters of this warfare.

Three Fronts of Warfare
Front 1: Sin. The first front of this warfare is the battle against sin. You must fight against and kill sin. Hear Paul,

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13).

Sin is a work of Satan, and your King came to destroy those works. It is not for you to go awol and continue in sin as a soldier in Christ’s army,

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 3:8)

Your King’s mission directive on earth was to destroy the works of the devil, sin. And it continues to be part of your mission directive too. Fight and kill sin.

Front 2: Satan. The second front of this warfare is the battle against Satan. You must resist the devil and his lies. Hear Peter,

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

The ancient dragon has come to make war on the offspring of the woman, you (Revelation 22:17). He has come to earth in his evil wrath desperately trying to take down any he can with him for he knows his time is short (Revelation 22:12). But the mortal blow has been struck. Therefore, heed James encouragement,

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

You are on the offensive. Resist him and his temptations and he will flee, like the Philistines. Hate him and hate evil and pursue it to death. Fight him. How? Here in James 4:7, by submitting to God and opposing Satan. Resisting is active, so actively oppose Satan. This manifests itself privately but also publicly. Consider front three.

Front 3: The Lies of Satan through His Agents. The third front of this warfare is the battle against Satan’s lies that come through his agents. Hear Paul,

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:3–6; cf. 11:4, 13–16).

Without getting into the weeds of how this works out, just notice the three activities we should participate in against Satan’s lies and his human agents, false teachers, who espouse those lies. (1) Destroy their arguments against God; (2) Take their wayward thoughts captive to Christ; and (3) And punish or work justice regarding their disobedience.

The King’s warriors are warriors of the Word. This is the sword in your hand. Use it to combat the lies of Satan through his false teachers and false systems, and pursue all justice against evil doers and false teachers in biblically authorized ways. The big takeaway is this, we must be courageously active with regard to defending the truth and destroying the lies of Satan with the Word. It’s not an option.

There are three theaters in which this warfare takes place.

Three Theaters of Warfare
Here, I just note three primary theaters for this spiritual warfare.

Theater 1: The home.

Theater 2: The church.

Theater 3: The public square

Fight sin, fight Satan, and fight the lies of Satan through his agents in your home, in the church, and in the public square. The specific means of deploying the “weapons of righteousness for the right hand and left” as Paul calls them in 2 Corinthians 6:7, namely the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will look different in each context, but it will not be idle.

Conclusion
Saint, you must engage in the spiritual warfare that rages around you. But to even begin to do this, the main point deserves resounding and it is my concluding exhortation: Recognize your King. Recognize who you are in him. Courageously enter the fight.

• In the late sixties in a best-selling book a Stanford professor predicted widespread starvation by 1980, with India highlighted as a basket case that could not be saved.
• Around the same time after a few decades of cooler-than-normal temperatures, some in the media warned of a new ice age.
• More recently the much more widespread view is that humans have caused significant and increasing global warming, which some contend will destroy the planet as we know it.
• The development of nuclear weapons in the 1940s led some scientists to create the “Doomsday Clock,” a metaphor for how close humanity is to “midnight,” when we destroy ourselves. About twenty years ago climate change issues were included in setting the clock. In these last nearly 70 years, the clock has never been set more than 17 minutes from midnight; at present it is 85 seconds from midnight. Such warnings led several high school students in our church in the early 80s to feel like they couldn’t even plan for a future, for there was not going to be one.
• Numerous politicians have claimed that if their opponent is elected, the American experiment in democracy, or the US constitution, or this republic will come to an end.

We could list many more. The development of the internet and social media, with websites’ profitability depending on generating clicks, has incentivized more and more catastrophism.

Given that this country and this planet are still around after decades of such predictions, it is tempting to dismiss all such warnings.

But that would be wrong. It is wrong from a public policy perspective, in that there are genuine issues behind most of these pronouncements. We can pay attention to the issues while ignoring the sensationalism of the loudest voices.

More importantly, to dismiss all catastrophism would be to ignore numerous biblical warnings.

As we saw in Sunday’s sermon, God warned the people of Israel and Judah for hundreds of years that failing to listen to Him would lead to the destruction of their earthly kingdoms and, indeed, of His own temple. With only a few exceptions, the kings, prophets, priests, and people ignored those warnings in Jeremiah’s day. But God did send the Babylonians to carry out His severe judgment.

Indeed, Peter warns us against ignoring predictions of the catastrophic end of the world when Jesus returns:

scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:3-7)

So the scoffers say, “The prophecy of the return of Jesus and the end of the present world is just like the speculation of a new ice age! All such predictions are just sensationalism! Ignore them all!”

But Peter points out: There have been predictions of catastrophe that came about. He cites the flood; he could have cited also the destruction of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day. We could add the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70AD, so clearly prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 24.

So Peter assures us:

The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:10)

All will pass away. And, as we saw on Sunday, God will sum up everything in Jesus. He will be all in all. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And whatever reflects His glory in this world will be perfected in the one to come – including you, if you are in Him.

So use discernment as one prediction of coming catastrophe follows another. Know that most such predictions are exaggerated. Have confidence that God is in control – and, simultaneously, know that we humans do indeed have a responsibility to shepherd this world wisely.

But know most of all that the biblical prophecies of the end of the present age are not exaggerations. Jesus will return. He will put an end to all rebellion against His authority. The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever.

That is, as Tolkien wrote, a “eucatastrophe” – a thorough upending of everything that leads to a much better result. That is where this world is headed. Be ready. Watch and pray. And know that that final catastrophe is the greatest good imaginable.

We know these things! We believe these things! We’d amen these truths. But just as, “the proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating,” the test of our reliance on our triune God comes from affliction. In 2 Chronicles chapters 13, 14, and 16 we see three different occasions of affliction, and three separate instances of reliance. But one of these cases is not like the others. One of these cases just doesn’t belong. It turns out, it’s not reliance itself, or faith itself, or trust that ultimately matters. It’s what you’re relying in, or better, Whom you’re relying on that makes all the difference.

So let us briefly turn to these passages with affliction to see how the object of reliance was crucial in the outcome being a triumph or a tragedy.

Chapter 13 finds the once united kingdom under David and Solomon now split and in civil war. King Jeroboam and the northern kingdom of Israel were facing off against Solomon’s grandson, King Abijah and the southern kingdom of Judah. The outlook wasn’t good for Judah in the south. Jeroboam and Israel had not only double the soldiers (800,000 for Israel versus 400,000 for Judah), but the text details the chosen soldiers of Israel were “mighty warriors.” Despite Abijah’s bold and courageous speech of trust and obedience to Yahweh, Jeroboam set up an ambush so that the outnumbered, out-skilled soldiers of Judah were surrounded. Here is how the text chronicled the response of Abijah and Judah to this affliction:

“And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. And they cried to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets. Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The men of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand. Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men.”

Did you catch that? The battle was in front and behind. They cried to the LORD. The priests blew the battle horns. The battle shout was raised. You get some reminisces of the battle of Jericho here. And what happens? Just like with pagan Jericho, God defeated idolatrous Jeroboam and Israel. The round, astounding number of 500,000 men of Israel fell slain by God’s power and decree through Judah. This is the largest numerical military defeat by death toll in all the Bible. Why did God work this great and devastating victory for Judah? Verse 18, “…the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers,” (emphasis mine). The word for “relied” in the Hebrew is “shaw-an”. It means to support oneself on, to lean, to rest on/in. It’s complete trust.

If you’ve ever done repelling, there is a point at the top where you lean all the way back and rest all your weight not on your feet, but on the harness and rope. When you are fully horizontal to the wall or ledge and push off, whether you are enjoying it or not, your reliance is no longer on your feet or grip strength, but on the harness, rope, and what the rope is connected to. It is supporting you. All your weight is leaned against it. You are resting, relying on it to hold – completely. This is shaw-an. This is why Judah triumphed over an enemy twice their size. They actively relied on God, and He brought the victory.

Skip forward now a chapter later to 2 Chronicles 14 to Abijah’s son Asa, now sitting on the throne and facing his own incredible affliction. He’s was not quite outnumbered 2 to 1 as his dad was, but his foe, Zerah the Ethiopian amassed an army of a million men, with 300 chariots to boot. What was Asa’s response? It seems he learned something positive from his father, because as he went to meet Zerah and drew up battle lines vv. 11–12 say,

“And Asa cried to the LORD his God, ‘O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.’ So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”

In affliction, against the greatest of earthly armies, the “shaw-na” (reliance) on God is on full display.

Not resting on numbers – Verse 8 of chapter 14 tells us Asa has 580,000 mighty men of valor, yet he’s not resting on his numbers, but on Yahweh. He cries out to Him as the One-of-One, the unique, fully set apart, unrivaled Being to help.

Not leaning on personal strength, skillset, gifting, or courage – His army is described as mighty men, strong. They’re described as men of valor – brave. They likely were both highly trained and highly seasoned warriors. Yet, Asa is not leaning on his army’s fighting pedigree or courage, because he’s calling out to God to help his side, referring to them as weak and needing Him.

Relying on Yahweh’s character – It is in Yahweh’s name – His character, His essence, His glory and strength that he dares come against a million-man army.

Personal reliance on God – The king of Judah is calling out to his people’s God, to his God. His reliance is personal.

Relying on Yahweh’s passion for His glory – How does he end the prayer? He ends it by calling on God to act for His glory and fame. “Let not man prevail against You”. This is no selfish prayer by Asa. This is a prayer recognizing that Judah belongs to Yahweh. A defeat for His people relying on Him is a defeat for Yahweh. He must win the battle because He must be seen as ultimate, as the mightiest, as the eternal creator who takes His weak people and triumphs through them. He must not be defeated by His own creation made of dust! God’s passion for His glory is another reason to rely on Him to fight and win Your battles because in that scenario He always receives the rightful glory and you always experience joy and gladness in Him.

In all of this, Yahweh defeated the Ethiopian horde and sent them fleeing. His people followed, triumphing and taking the spoils.

And then comes 2 Chronicles 16, 36 years into Asa’s reign. A new enemy king is mentioned in Israel (Baasha) and he’s building a city barrier, blocking people from defecting to Judah or having any movement outside of Judah. So what does Asa, the man who knows his father’s great victory over Israel and experienced himself God’s triumph over the Ethiopians do? He goes and buys a victory through a bribe. He breaks up the holy symbols of the beauty, majesty, and worth of God’s presence with His people in the temple by stealing gold and silver from its storehouses (and his own) to covenant with king Ben-hadad of Syria. He took the politically strategic move to befriend the bigger bully and it seems to work. Chapter 16 verses 4-6,

“And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Romah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.”

But the Lord of glory, the God of all creation, our covenant keeping God, knows when we’ve turned to something else beside Him. Verse 7 through 9 read,

“At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ‘Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.”

It seems after many years of faithfully seeking the LORD (2 Chronicles 14:4; 15:12-15), tearing down idols and high places (14:3,5; 15:8), and even removing idolatrous family members from office (15:16), that the affliction of war after years of peace causes Asa to shift his reliance from the King of kings to the king of Syria.

This is a cautionary tale for us as Christ followers and one where the Gospel gives us hope. Asa worked under the promise he once heard from Azariah’s prophecy, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you,” (2 Chronicles 15:2). As chosen sons and daughters of God by His grace through faith in Christ we were once those people who had forsaken God. Yet, the Son of God, did stay true to His Father, always seeking Him and yet took our sin at the cross and experienced the forsakenness of God our wickedness deserved (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46), so that in Christ we can be assured that God says to us, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5c). Yet the warnings throughout Hebrews and even earlier in 13:4-5 are for us as a Gospel means to keep us strong in the faith. We’re to hold marriage in high honor, to flee from any and all sexual sin, to keep our lives free from the love of money, and be content with what we have. These are means to keep us with our hearts and hopes set on God, fully relying on Him, no matter the affliction that comes. Hebrews 13:6 follows up the great promise that God will never leave or forsake us with, “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”

Loved ones, no matter our affliction, let’s continue to meet and remind each other to rely fully on the God who didn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us, so we can trust Him to graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32). Let us rely on the One who will supply our every need according to His riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Who has told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all the things we truly need will be supplied (Matthew 6:33). Who has told us that His eyes run to and fro throughout the earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). May Christ’s blameless heart towards God be more formed in us, as we lean our weight and hopes fully on God.

“Here is one of the marvelous bits of the gospel. In Jesus, being back home with god starts right now,

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23).

By the Holy Spirit God makes his home, his dwelling place with you right now (Ephesians 2:22). Spiritually in Christ you rest your head in the bosom of the Father. You are home.”

In short, to be united to Jesus, to have Jesus dwelling in you by the Holy Spirit, is to be home. Jesus is your home in this sense. And yet, I also pointed out that you still await the fullness of home with God in the new heavens and new earth. I want to marry this reality with another one I recently pointed out in a past Home Series blog post: you are a sojourner.

You are at once home and sojourning onward towards home still. You are home because Jesus is with you. And you are sojourning because this earth is not your final home. You are on pilgrimage to your God and Father’s eschatological home, the new heavens and new earth.

We just learned to sing Psalm 23 in our “Psalms of Summer” class with our elementary children. I was reminded in singing it and teaching it that it is one of the places to see this dual reality of being home with Jesus now while still journeying to our final home most clearly,

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23).

Behold the journey of your life in Psalm 23.[1]

In your sojourn, you will find tranquil havens, like safe, nourishing fields of green where you can enjoy rest for a season. Yes, in your pilgrimage, you will know times of peaceful refreshing like an oasis of still waters. You hunger? You have a blanket of nourishment before you. You thirst? A bracing stream lies close at hand to satisfy you.

At other times in your sojourn, you will walk through valleys of deep darkness. Instead of a nourishing field in which to lie down and rest under the warm sun, you will find yourself in an unfamiliar, lifeless, barren wasteland of shadow where there isn’t so much as a crumb to stave off the pangs. Instead of a calm, crystal stream to cool you, you will know dry and weary paths where every step hazards dangers. In that valley, you will ford fiery rivers of sulfur while the hot breath of death breathes down your neck.

Moreover, there will be times in your sojourn that enemies seem to surround you on all sides. Sleep will elude you because the light from the campfires of the enemy, which flicker against the night air on all sides of the path that lay before you, invade your troubled eyes. The rattle of spears, the clack of blades, the knocking of arrows, the war cries of adversaries greet every step you take.

And yet, in each of these legs of your journey, you will know home. This is because you do not make this journey alone. You are the sheep and your shepherd leads you every step.

It is your shepherd who leads you to the green, nourishing pastures and peaceful refreshing pools and springs. It is your shepherd’s ever-watching, ever-guarding, sleepless eye that ensures your rest and peace in these places. With the nourishment and safety he provides, he restores your soul. He is your home.

And he knows the way to go. He cut the path of righteousness himself because no one else was ever able. So when he leads you, your confidence rests not in your knowledge or sense of direction, but in his. He made this path, and he will lead you in it. He is your home.

It is your shepherd who takes the point in the valley of darkness and death. In him, you find courage and comfort. For he wields his rod and staff to guard and keep you from succumbing to the evils of that valley, which he fends off before you. Again, he has walked through this valley before. He tasted death. And he overcame it. He is your home.

It is your shepherd who, when enemies surround you on every side, provides and serves a sumptuous repast. No scanty, hastily eaten supper with your shepherd. He himself provides refuge enough for a slowly savored banquet. He himself provides and serves a feast that strengthens your weary body. And he himself provides and pours oil upon your head to cleanse and calm your troubled. He himself provides and overflows your cup with rich wine, as if to say, “Sit longer. Enjoy. Your enemies won’t touch you.” He is your home.

Nourishment. Refreshment. Restoration. Direction. Protection. Comfort. Feasting. These are the mile markers you see when you look back on your journey. Indeed, what you see is that because of your Shepherd, goodness and mercy followed you and will follow you (Psalm 23:6). “Follow” here doesn’t quite do the Hebrew word justice. The Hebrew word the ESV renders “follow” conveys the idea of pursuing. Indeed, most often in the Old Testament, it describes an enemy “pursuing” an enemy, and the ESV indeed renders the majority uses of the Hebrew word as “pursue” or “chase.” So David wants you to see something here with his word choice. He wants you to see that in your journey, you don’t just passively happen upon goodness and mercy by accident. Rather, goodness and mercy were chasing you down, hot on your heels every step.[2]

 So, when you look back on your journey, you don’t just see random places of rest you were lucky enough to find. You don’t just see valleys of darkness that came upon you suddenly or that you happened to stumble into—valleys in which you were fortunate enough to find a measure of comfort and an exit. You don’t just see enemy camps that cut you off or that you mistakenly wondered into by a wrong turn. You don’t just see fluky feasts that you managed to sneak in when the enemy wasn’t looking. What you see is that goodness and mercy actively pursued you, caught you, and blessed you with the kindness of God in every leg of your journey. And you know without a doubt that they will continue to follow you all your days, because your Shepherd is with you, and he is your home.

And, important to note here, your journey is not aimless. Your Shepherd does not lead you on this winding pilgrimage full of ups and downs, chased by goodness and mercy, just for the exercise. He leads you somewhere. He has a destination in mind,

[You] shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6).

Your Shepherd who is your mobile home as it were, leads you to your permanent home—the house of the Lord. Ultimately, this home will be the new heavens and new earth, eternity with God.

Author and theologian David Gibson points to the words of Scottish author and minister George MacDonald to illustrate this stunning promise that this world is not our final home. Our final home with God lies on the horizon of this long, often hard journey.

“We are in a house with windows on all sides. On one side the sweet garden is trampled and torn, the beeches blown down, the fountain broken; you sit and look out, and it is all very miserable. Shut the window. I do not mean forget the garden as it was, but do not brood on it as it is. Open the window on the other side, where the great mountains shoot heavenward, and the stars rising and setting, crown their peaks. Down those stairs look for the descending feet of the Son of Man coming to comfort you. This world, if it were alone, would not be worth much—1 should be miserable already; but it is the porch to the Father’s home, and he does not expect us to be quite happy, and knows we must sometimes be very unhappy till we get there: we are getting nearer.”[3]

Your Shepherd who is your home now, who makes it so that goodness and mercy do pursue you even in the dark valleys and enemy fields, leads you to your eternal home with God. With every step now, you get closer and closer.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.[4]

[1] I have not read David Gibson’s The Lord of Psalm 23 though I employ here in this article a quote from Gibson’s book, which (within a larger excerpt) was brought to my attention and proved fitting. Many of the themes and observations of this article may overlap or share similarities with Gibson’s book. This is purely coincidental. See David Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2023).

[2] Gibson provides a discussion on understanding “follow” as the more active “pursue” as well. See, Gibson, “What He Sends” in The Lord of Psalm 23, 121–134. I have not read this chapter or the book.

[3] Cited in Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23, 143. Originally cited in Glenn Edward Sadler, “Defining Death as ‘More Life’: Unpublished Letters by George MacDonald,” North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies 3 (1984): 13–14.

[4] “Gloia Patri” by Anonymous (1179). My use of “Gloria Patri” here was inspired by the larger excerpt from Gibson’s book mentioned in Footnote 1. That excerpt included a prayer from Daily Prayer, ed. Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1959), http://assets.newscriptorium.com/collects-and-prayers/daily_prayer.htm. Which Gibson notes “[build] on the words of John Donne, sermon 146, on Acts 7:60, preached at Whitehall, February 29, 1967. This prayer ends with “in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end.” See Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23, 143–44.

Leading into these verses, Jesus has done many profound and powerful things. He has preached the sermon mount, astonishing many with his unscribelike, authoritative teaching. He has cleansed a leper. He has healed a centurion’s servant by his word alone without even seeing him. He has healed an entire town. Impressive, to say the least. It is safe to say the buzz around Jesus and his ministry abounds at this point. Little wonder, then, when a scribe comes to Jesus in Matthew 8:18 and expresses his desire to “follow [him] wherever [he goes].” Jesus then proceeds to utter some pretty memorable words,

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

In his sermon, Michael rightly pointed out to us that what Jesus says here isn’t so much meant to impress upon us how hard it is to follow Jesus. Rather what we’re meant to see here is the worth of Jesus. This scene should arouse in us the question of whether or not we see Jesus as worth such a life.

Now, Jesus shines in various arrays of multifaceted beauty, like a diamond. One of the breathtaking arrays of Jesus’ beauty that this passage points us to is the fact that in his gospel ministry, Jesus essentially chose a homeless lifestyle. Not only that but as the Son of God, he also chose to leave the bosom of his Father, his heavenly home, to walk the earth to his death as the incarnate man, Jesus Christ. And he did all this for the purpose of bringing us back home to God,

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

This refracted beam of Jesus’ beauty is worth gazing at a bit longer.

In the Beginning, the Son Was Home with the Father
Before time, Jesus Christ, the living, breathing Word of God on earth was with God the Father in perfect harmonious, joyous relationship.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1).

In fact, John describes the closeness that Jesus enjoyed with the Father in the most affectionate of language,

No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (John 1:18).

The relative clause “who is at the Father’s side” is much more intimate in the original Greek. It reads something like this: “who is in the bosom of the Father.” When John reflects on leaning upon Jesus at the table of the last supper meal in John 13, he uses the same language: “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table in the bosom of Jesus” (John 13:22, my translation).

Here is a picture of the Son at home with the Father, resting in the loving bosom of his Father’s embrace. And Jesus would leave that for the sake of the gospel.

The Father Sent the Son
The Father sent the Son from his side, from his heavenly home to earth as the man Jesus. And the Son did not disobey the Father.

John tells us, Jesus the Son of God is from the Father,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Jesus himself says, God the Father gave his only Son,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

And Jesus says that he came from the Father,

I came from the Father and have come into the world (John 16:28).

Furthermore, Jesus says the Father sent him into the world,

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world (John 17:18)

And again, John says the Father sent the Son,

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).

Admittedly, the mystery of the incarnation is thick. Nothing tears the Holy Trinity asunder, not even the incarnation. The persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remain in their subsisting relations. The Son is always with the Father and yet the Father truly sent the Son, and he truly left the Father’s side in the incarnation. And the incarnate Son would again choose to leave home, his earthly home, for the sake of the gospel.

The Incarnate Son Chose Homelessness
Then of course we come to the passage at hand, Matthew 8:20. We see that not only did the Son of God truly leave his heavenly home in the incarnation, but once he began his ministry, Jesus the Son of God chose a lifestyle of homelessness for the sake of the gospel.

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

Jesus left his house. Jesus left his mom, Mary. Jesus left Nazareth. Jesus left the synagogue he knew. Jesus left his business. Jesus left home. And for three years, Jesus slept not in his own bed but wherever his Father gave him to sleep.

Why?

The Son Left Home and Became Homeless in Order to Bring You Back Home
Jesus the Son of God did all of this home leaving in order to bring you back home. Where is that exactly? His home. The home he left. God the Father.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

This is Jesus’ hope and prayer at the end of his earthly life, that you and I might see him and be with him where he was before time begin—in glorious bosom of the Father,

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).

This is your home. And Jesus left his twice to get you back to it. And in him, you have a taste of home right now.

Home with God Starts Now
Here is one of the marvelous bits of the gospel. In Jesus, being back home with God starts right now.

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23).

By the Holy Spirit God makes his home, his dwelling place, with you right now (Ephesians 2:22). Spiritually in Christ right now you rest your head in the bosom of the Father. You are home. But there is more to come.

The Fullness of Home with God Is Coming
Though you are home now, the fullness of your home with God still sits on the horizon. Not idly, though. No, your heavenly home charges ever closer, ever nearer to you. Jesus your King eyes the day when he will pierce the sky and bring your heavenly home down to you here on earth. Then you will dwell in the house of God tasting of the full satisfaction of his goodness forever,

Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple! (Psalm 65:4)

Enjoy your home with God now as a foretaste of the feast to come, and long for that future home,

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah (Psalm 84:1–4).

Make that future home your hearts one desire and request,

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

God is your home. And he will bring you home by bring your home to you: God dwelling with you forever.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (Revelation 21:3).

Jesus the Son of God brought you home and will ultimately bring you home. All this, by leaving his.

Asking such questions can be either positive or negative. Positive, if the unmet desires lead to your working hard to improve yourself, to become a better friend, to grow as a valued worker, to fulfill who God has made you to be.

But often these questions lead us in a negative direction. We develop a sense of entitlement that easily morphs into self-pity: “I should have all these blessings! I’m missing out on so much! Poor me!”

Indeed, our cup can be overflowing with the wine of goodness and mercy, but we are annoyed because it’s not Coca-Cola.

That attitude transforms us into miserable people. For no matter how much good is in our lives, we focus much more on what we lack. And we become adept at coming up with a long list every day.

I’ve often had to fight this tendency in my own life. For example: one day 25 years ago while serving at a seminary in Cameroon, I was scheduled to preach in the morning chapel service. Having finished the manuscript after rising early, I hit “print.” Nothing happened. I fiddled with the printer for a while but couldn’t get it to work. With time to the service rapidly diminishing, I trudged to the office carrying my laptop, hoping the printer there would connect. Along the way I was grumbling, complaining to God: “I’ve worked hard to prepare a good sermon, and now I may not even have a manuscript. How can You expect me to preach well when so much goes wrong right before the service? Why can’t I have a decent and reliable printer?”

Mercifully, God stopped me in my tracks, showing me the foolishness of my attitude. It was as if He said, “Stop and think. In the history of the church, how many preachers have had a printer? How many have had a laptop? And these students to whom you are preaching: How many will ever have a laptop or a printer? I have given you the great privilege of opening up My Word to pastors who are eager to hear. What do you have to grumble about?”

I actually don’t remember whether the office printer worked or not. But by God’s grace I was able to preach to His glory.

Instead of living with that sense of entitlement, Scripture encourages us to consider ourselves as undeserving, and every good we encounter or obtain as a token of grace – from God and from others. With that attitude, we naturally are grateful for each token:

• [Give] thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20).
• Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:18, emphasis added).
• What do you have that you did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Remind yourself of that last question regularly. Where does life and breath and sun and sleep and health and strength and work and love and family and friendship come from? All are among the good and perfect gifts that come down from the Father of lights (James 1:17) – and since He never changes, such goodness and mercy will follow those united to Jesus all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in His house forever (Psalm 23:6).

Rather than being miserable day after day, we then become thankful and joyous. For our eyes are open to see gifts all around us.

Yes, we will continue to have unmet desires. Channel them positively into growing as a person and as a worker. But remind yourself daily: “I deserve nothing but God’s wrath. By God’s good grace, I receive His gifts today and can live to His glory. Thank You, Lord! I praise You!”

Every generation seems to believe it is living through the invention that will permanently reshape humanity. Today, that invention is artificial intelligence and the predictions about how it will impact our world are often very extreme.

On one end are techno-optimists like Elon Musk, who recently predicted that within 10 to 20 years, “work will be optional,” with AI and robotics creating such abundance that working will become more like a hobby than a necessity. Similarly, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, paints a optimistic picture where AI dramatically expands scientific discovery, creativity, and prosperity, making intelligence itself an abundant resource available to everyone. On the other end are voices predicting mass unemployment, economic collapse, and social upheaval. Many fear AI will simply replace people, leaving millions with little purpose or a means to provide for themselves.

More than two centuries ago, the English economist Thomas Robert Malthus looked at the future with equal confidence—but in the opposite direction. In An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), Malthus argued that population would grow faster than food production. His conclusion was grim: famine, poverty, and misery were inevitable because humanity would eventually outrun its resources. In this case Malthus underestimated human innovation. New farming methods, mechanization, fertilizers, irrigation, and later the Green Revolution increased agricultural productivity far beyond what he could imagine at the time.

The creation mandate is not merely that God gives us work, it is that God accomplishes his work through our work.

At first glance the competing visions seem to stand at opposite ends of optimism and history. They both have underlying assumptions that ignore the Gods role in provision and productivity. The ultimate source of provision has never been the soil, and the ultimate purpose of work has never been merely the grain it produces. God is both the source of provision and the purpose of our labor.

Before sin entered the world, God gave Adam the Creation Mandate.“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15). So work is not a consequence of the Fall, instead meaningful labor is part of what it means to bear God’s image. So work is more than earning a paycheck. It is participating in God’s ordering, developing, and stewarding of His world.

Technology has always changed how we fulfill that calling but it does not change the fact that the calling to work comes from God himself. And this is where the optimists get it wrong, changing work is not the same as ending work. Similarly, the pessimistic vision wrongly assumes AI can somehow frustrate God’s purposes for humanity. But if God commissioned mankind to cultivate His creation, no technology can revoke that commission.

Why should we assume God will run out of things for humanity to cultivate? The Creator who designed an entire universe is not going to run out of meaningful work for image bearers to manage for his glory. And because he is an infinite Creator, God is an infinite source of provision and purpose for his creation.

Yet behind every faithful vocation stands the God who gives strength, wisdom, opportunity, rain, sunlight, and increase. The human worker is the visible mask; God is the unseen Provider.

The creation mandate is not merely that God gives us work, it is that God accomplishes his work through our work. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther often described ordinary vocations as the “masks of God.” He did not mean that He is hidden or absent, but because God ordinarily carries out His work through human beings. When a farmer grows wheat, a truck driver transports it, a baker makes bread, and a cashier receive payment, we naturally thank those people for their work. Yet behind every faithful vocation stands the God who gives strength, wisdom, opportunity, rain, sunlight, and the increase. The human worker is the visible mask; God is the unseen Provider.

This perspective transforms how Christians think about technology. AI is not the provider of our daily bread any more than the plow, the tractor, or the computer was. It is simply another instrument that God may choose to use through human hands. The danger is believing that the tool has become the source or to fear the tool more than trusting the tool’s Creator.

Scripture consistently reminds us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). God remains the One who feeds, sustains, and governs His creation, even though He ordinarily does so through countless ordinary vocations. If God works behind the mask of the teacher, engineer, nurse, preacher, and software developer he will also work through (and at times in spite of) technology. Moreover, His primary work is not to provide bread but to reconcile us to himself through the finished work of Christ. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil (1 John 3:8), paid the penalty for the wages of our sin (Romans 6:23), and through his perfect sacrifice restores us to the God who created all things. Only then can work become what it is meant to be — not simply a means to provision or status or identity — an act of worship to one who first worked for us in Christ.

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia…” (Acts 20:18).

The implicit message to the Ephesian elders is, “You know how I lived. How then will you live?” Well how did Paul live? In short, he did not shrink back from testifying to the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:20–21, 24, 26–27). That’s his implicit call to action here. Don’t shrink back from testifying to the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Well, how exactly did Paul not shrink back? What was the manner of this action? If we can identify the manner by which he did not shrink back, then we can identify some helpful applications for ourselves. And yes, you should apply this to yourself even though you are not Paul and even though you may not be an elder. Paul isn’t exhorting the Ephesian elders or us to replicate his apostolic ministry in all its specific, unique, divinely ordained detail. Rather the principle in play here is simply the imitation of Christlike men (1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1),

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

So, Paul’s question to the Ephesians is the same question we must ask ourselves: How, then, will we live? Will we shrink back? And if we won’t, what will a life that does not shrink back look like? To answer that, look at Paul.

Paul did not shrink back from testifying to the gospel in two ways: (1) with his voice and (2) with his life. First he points to how he testified to the gospel with his life,

“You yourselves know how I lived (by) serving the Lord…(Acts 20:18–19).

Second, Paul describes how he testified to the gospel by pointing to how he used his voice,

“You yourselves know how I lived…how I did not shrink from declaring…(Acts 20:18, 20).

And Paul goes on to describes both his use of his life, and his use of his voice, which will consider. Let’s consider first Paul’s voice and apply what we discover to ourselves. Then we will do the same with Paul’s life.

Paul’s Voice and Your Voice

1. Declare and teach the gospel (Acts 20:20–21, 26–27). In vv. 20–21 Paul says that he declared, that is, he told, he proclaimed, he announced the gospel, and he taught the gospel. Christians declare the gospel to one another. This is just what we do. The gospel is our native tongue. Christian, disciple out in the world or in the home or in the proper contexts given your role, declare the gospel and teach it. Fathers and mothers, you must declare and teach the gospel to your children (the highest privilege). Christian man or woman, declare the gospel to your unbelieving friends and neighbors or if God calls you to it, out in the mission field. Men, declare and teach the gospel to your brothers in the church and the younger men, or the church body if the church calls you to it. Women in the church, declare and teach the gospel to the younger women (Titus 2). Christians testify to the gospel with their voices by declaring and teaching it.
2. Testify with your voice in public (Acts 20:20). Paul says he testified to the gospel in public (Acts 20:20). Oh boy, now we’re nervous. The fear of man can hit a little different in public than in the context of the church or your church family. But Peter himself addresses this very reality to the saints,”Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:14–15).You must be ready, Christian. You must anticipate and prepare yourself for testifying to the gospel in public with your voice. Such public declaration and defense of the gospel builds up the church (Acts 18:27–28). Christians testify to the gospel with their voices in public.
3. Testify with your voice in private (Acts 20:20). Paul also says in v. 20 that he went house to house testifying of the gospel. You must also testify to the gospel with your voice in your personal and most intimate relationships. Church member to church member. Believer to believer. Friend to friend. Believer to unbeliever. Husband to wife. Wife to husband. Sibling to sibling. We must practice testifying of the gospel to one another to grow in our gospel fluency. That is, you will find the more you talk about it and ponder it together, the more your affections for the gospel and Jesus increase, and, as a result, the more fluent you are in talking about it. Fan the flame of gospel fluency by speaking of Christ to one another. Christians testify to the gospel with their voices in private.
4. Testify with your voice by warning other believers (Acts: 20:28–31). In Acts 20:28–31, Paul warns the Ephesian elders twice! In verse 28 he says “Pay careful attention!” and in verse 31 he says, “Be Alert!” or “Stay Awake!” And, he tells them to recall that he admonished, that is, he warned or instructively rebuked, every one of them. The rest of the address will make clear that Paul is concerned for their life and doctrine—their personal holiness and their accurate knowledge of the faith. Christians, we should do the same. Christians warn one another regarding our personal holiness and orthodox doctrine. We must give one another license to do this! Christians testify to the gospel with their voices by warning other believers.
5. Testify to the gospel by pointing to promises (Acts 20:32). In Acts 20:32 Paul commends the Ephesian elders to God. That is, he commits them to, he sets them before, he entrusts them to God. And then with his voice, he articulates the promise of the gospel that makes this trust possible: “God and…the word of grace…is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).Christian, you may testify to the gospel with your voice by warning and admonishing but you also must always testify to the gospel by pointing to the promises. God has made you holy—sanctified (Acts 20:32). God and the gospel will build you up into his holy temple, perfectly conformed to the image of the Son (Acts 20:32; Ephesians 2:21; Romans 8:29). And, God by the gospel will give you the inheritance, eternal life and joy with God and your King Jesus together with all the saints (Ephesians 1:18; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:4). That promise is what makes the warning mentioned above so potent. Christians testify to the gospel with their voices by pointing to the promises.

Next, consider how Paul testified to the gospel with his life and how it applies to you.

Paul’s Life and Your Life

1. Testify to the gospel with your life by living as a slave of Jesus (Acts 20:19). Paul began by saying “You know how I lived among you…serving the Lord” (Acts 20:18–19). Paul says he lived as a slave to the Lord (Τhe original Greek is stronger than the ESV render “servant” gets at. δουλεύω: be a slave; δουλος: slave). You will always shrink back from testifying to the gospel with your life (and your voice) if you do not see yourself as a slave to Jesus. The image is meant to be striking. Think of the slave. The master says go here, he goes there. The master says do this task, the slave does it. The master says give this message, the slave gives it. The slave does whatever the master says. Now, what you have to do to ensure the you have the correct image in mind is not import the image of an abusive, unjust, evil master into the illustration. What’s the imagery? Paul says, “being a slave to the Lord.” Put Jesus into the picture. We obey because Jesus is our master and we are his slave. Christian, you must add this mentality into all the images Scripture gives us regarding our relationship with God—God is our Father and we are his adopted children. God is our shepherd, we are his sheep. Jesus is our heroic deliverer, savior, and champion, we are his ransomed and rescued people. Jesus is our King and we are the people of his kingdom. Jesus is our brother. Jesus calls us his friends. Jesus is our husband, and we are his bride…Jesus is our master and we are his slave. And our master says cease this sin, so you cease. He says honor, respect, submit to your husband, so you do so. He says love your wife as I, Christ, loved the church, giving myself up for her. So you do. He says speak here, so you speak. He says be silent here, so you hold your tongue. He says lift your hands in praise, so you lift them. He says kneel before me in repentance so you kneel and repent. He says love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so you love and pray. Trust and obey him because of who he is, and you heart will follow. Testify to the gospel by living as a slave of Jesus.
2. Testify to the gospel with your life by living a life marked by humility (Acts 20:19). Paul says in Acts 20:19 that he served the Lord with all humility. Christian, you don’t testify to the gospel by seeking to gain glory from men. You testify to the gospel by humbling yourself before the Lord to obey him and by humbling yourself before your fellow man to point them to the truth in love. This is reflective of Jesus. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility…” (Ephesians 4:2). God hates pride, but he gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 16:5; Luke 16:15; James 4:6). Testify to the gospel by living a life marked by humility.
3. Testify to the gospel with your life amidst tears and trials (Acts 20:19). Paul says twice, once in Acts 20:19 and again in Acts 20:31, that his ministry among the Ephesians was marked with tears. Living a life that testifies to the gospel will include tears. Christian, you will testify to the gospel to those you love and (1) they may continue to not get it, (2) they may completely reject it, (3) they may walk away from it, or, (4) by God’s grace, they may finally come ’round. Expect to expend many tears no matter what. And know that your tears themselves testify to the gospel. They will be tears that are a sign of judgment on those who reject the gospel and tears that are a sign leading to the salvation of others who accept it. Furthermore, these tears will often be tied to trials. Paul says also in Acts 20:19 that he testified to the gospel with trials. Christian, you testify to the gospel when you walk through trials. The fiery trial is, as Peter says, the crucible that reveals the faith of pure gold that God has placed in you which leads to glory (1 Peter 1:6–7). And, the watching world will see your life in the midst of trials. They will see both your own weakness and yet wonder at the strength the Lord supplies. They will see a life testifying to the worth of the gospel as you cling to Christ and nothing else. And when you suffer through trials for the sake of the gospel itself, you will be a picture of Christ’s suffering for the gospel. Testify to the gospel with your life amidst tears and trials.
4. Testify to the gospel with your life by following the Spirit’s lead (Acts 20:22–23). Paul notes in Acts 20:22–23 that he is constrained by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, who testifies to him that wherever he goes there are afflictions and imprisonment awaiting him. What is astonishing here is not that the Spirit reveals this inevitable affliction to Paul. What is astonishing is that Paul still goes when the Spirit says go, in spite of it. Paul testifies to the gospel by his obedience to the Spirit. And so you. Christian, you testify to the gospel when you follow the Spirit’s lead. Now we read this and automatically our minds ask: “Where’s the Holy Spirit leading me?” in the most broad sense. Okay, but let’s make it simple. The Holy Spirit, Jesus tells us in John, comes (1) to lead you into all truth and thus sanctify you (John 16:13; 17:19), (2) to bear witness about Jesus (John 15:26), (3) to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). This is where the Holy Spirit is leading you, into the truth of Jesus unto your personal holiness. Start there. The Holy Spirit is leading you to Jesus and holiness. The rest are the details that he will work out. Testify to the gospel with your life by following the Spirit’s lead.
5. Testify to the gospel with your life by not taking but by giving (Acts 20:33–35). Look at Paul’s words in Acts 20:33–35. How did Paul live among them? Like this—”I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ” (Acts 20:33–35). Paul did not live among the Ephesians like their hometown silversmiths and priests of Artemus who profited off their worship. Paul lived by Jesus’ economic philosophy in order to testify to the gospel by his hard work and caring for the weak. In so doing, he was a living illustration to the Ephesians of hard gospel work that aims not to take but to give to the weak who cannot provide for themselves. And that’s what the gospel is. Jesus did the hard work of the gospel in order to give to you, the weak, who could do nothing to save yourself. This is the way of the gospel life. Christian, do not live a life of consumption and taking and hoarding. Show Christ by working hard in order to give. Testify to the gospel with your life by not taking but by giving.

Christian, imitate Paul. Do not shrink back from testifying to the gospel with your voice and your life. In doing so, you won’t just imitate Paul, but you will imitate the one who never shrunk from testifying to the gospel with his voice and his life, our King, Jesus. And because he did not shrink back, you live now and will live for eternity. Therefore, in that knowledge, testify to the gospel now with your voice and your life. Imitate Paul as he imitated Christ. Don’t shrink back.