Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, YouTube theologians. Pastor Wolfmuller, here with Pastor Andrew Packer. I heard a rumor about you, Pastor Packer, that is that you're about to plow your front yard to plant soybeans.
Is that true?
[00:00:10] Speaker B: No. I mean, I've got a lot I need to do to my yard, but soybeans is not going to be one of them. I don't think the HOA would approve of that.
It might be in some trouble.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: I thought that trade agreement with China that you're trying to capture some of that value. You got some questions for us?
[00:00:25] Speaker B: I sure do.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: All right, let's see what we got.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: The first one involves kids in church.
So there's often, you know, the debate between having some kind of children's church, having kids in the service.
So I guess the first question is, what are your thoughts on children in church versus being sent out of the church for children's service? And part two of that is, how do you. What should parents be aware of? Because oftentimes you get members that are upset in a church, right. Because kids are noisy or they're being loud.
So maybe I think the second part of the question would be, how do we respond to that? And also maybe what should parents be aware of with the noise level of their kids? Because sometimes. Sometimes I think parents are oversensitive. Like they think their kids being loud when they're not. And on the other hand, it seems like from the question I got, which was like an email question, but sometimes kids are. They think their kids are noisy when they're not. And then other times, though, I think sometimes parents don't realize that their kids screaming bloody murder and perhaps they should take them out and that people shouldn't be subjected to that, you know? So I think there is two sides to this. So those are the two parts. Go for it.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: I was talk. I was at a Catholic wedding a couple weeks ago talking to the priest, and he asked if there was kids at church. I said, oh, boy. Yeah. And he says, well, if you're not crying, you're dying.
This is just great.
It's 100%. We have to remember that. That all of us were once babies in church. Well, hopefully. I mean, if not, we lament that we weren't. So we have to thank the Lord for that.
That he gives children and he gives babies to the church and that he, Jesus says, I mean, this is the text that has to govern our thinking about that. That the disciples were trying to forbid the children from coming to Jesus and he got mad about that.
And we do not want to be doing anything that's going to make Jesus angry. So we want the children in church. And really, here's an amazing thing. When you read Luther talking about the liturgy, he talks about how the liturgy is for the children. I think if Luther almost has this idea, it's crazy to us that, like, if we were all very sort of mature, spiritually mature Christians, we would have a Bible study and the Lord's Supper, and that would be our divine service. But we have to have all the liturgy and everything else for the children. We think of it the opposite. Like, the liturgy is for the really, really serious spiritual whatever, and the. And Bible class and all that is for. That's Sunday school. That's for the kids. Luther has that reversed in his mind. So I wonder what would happen if we thought of the liturgy as children's church. We repeat it week after week so the children can learn it. We can carve it into their hearts. We can do it by memory. You come to church and you don't need to know how to read. You know, it's. It's all given to you. I think it's amazing thing that happens when we start thinking of it that way and when we pair the liturgy in Bible class and we think of those as a. As a. As a pair. Also, like anyone who's watching this, any YouTube theologian, you should think to yourself that Sunday is for divine service and Sunday school. It's not like one of the. These are not two different things. They belong together. So we got to do that.
What you said was really true then, that we want the children in the service. And there's really kind of two kinds of parents.
One is that is worried that, like, if the child, like, crinkles a piece of paper that, like, the roof is going to collapse. They're so nervous over the kids that they.
They. They. They make it harder for the kids because the kids are so nervous. And. And. And in fact, they're sort of like, dealing harshly with the children is more disruptive than the kids are. Then there's. On the other.
On the other hand, there's like, the kids that will just stand up and look backwards and just start yelling.
And everyone for like, four pews, ten pews behind him is getting nothing. Like, nothing is getting past that kid. And you, at some point, you're like, you got to calm them down. You know, you got to take them back out to the bank. Carrie did this all. I mean, it was. I suppose it's one of the advantages of being a preacher, is you don't have to try to take care of your kids in the pews. It's like, it's actually a lot easier up here, like conducting the service than it is back there wrestling with all their kids.
So she, she's actually written a couple articles about this.
How to, how to manage the children. Well, for those parents that are too nervous, take it easy. For those parents that are not nervous enough, I pay attention. You have, you love your neighbor, you know, by, by not having a, a wall of disruption blocking the, the service.
And, and, and we're all trying to learn this together.
So one of the things that is really helpful is for those grandparents in the church to pay attention where those, maybe this, those who are tempted to think to themselves, man, that's disruptive to think, how can I help?
How could I be helpful to that family so that, you know, if, if they need an extra set of hands, if they need to be. Have someone there to consent with the other children so that mom can go and take the baby back and nurse or whatever, then that's going to be, that's going to be that change of mindset. Like, how can I, how can I be of service to my neighbor rather than sitting there and getting angry and thinking about how good a parent you were or how good a parent you will be and they're so bad, like, how can I help and serve? And this I think will be, will be just fine because we're all in this together and we want the little children to be there, to be, to be hearing the voice of their good shepherd who loves them and gathers them there.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: I've seen several examples of that, of people helping like this over the years. I've seen, you know, people without kids because their kids are out of the house now or whatever, acting as surrogate grandparents and sitting with families, helping out or even teenagers, right? Like, I've seen especially a lot of young women help out families who need extra hands or whatever. I've seen a lot of great examples of that over the years. I had a very early in my ministry. I think we were at the time our church was averaging like 45, 50 people. And at the time, my kids were like the only kids in church on most Sundays. And my kids were sick that Sunday and we had someone visit from the preschool.
It was like a mom and the child and grandma and they left.
I think even before the sermon, it was like pretty early on. It was. And because they thought the child was being loud and the. I, I couldn't hear anything up front the people who were sitting around them said the child was not being loud, but because they're the only kid there, they felt like their kid was like making a scene and they left and they never came back to church. Like it was super discouraging.
So also sometimes churches struggle with like, how do we get more like kids families in the church? If you have families there, that helps encourage other families to come and bring kids. Right? And if everyone's not stressed out about it and is loving and welcoming, that that helps grow a congregation over time. As far as that mindset, like, then you'll get more kids. If there you see kids, more kids come.
If everyone's relaxed and chill about it rather than staring at them if they make the slightest noise, all of those things help. Just, you know, very practical, loving, hospitable things to do.
There you go. There's article right there.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: I found it at Wolfmother Co Little lambs. Carrie has this like podcast part three part article on it. And so how about this top 10 things to know Come prepared when you leave church, don't put them down. In other words, don't reward the bad behavior that gets them taken out of church. You got to be careful that teach them what sh means because this is you're like. And the kids are like, why are you saying those sounds?
So Carrie always says shh and you have to touch the lips like to like. You got to teach the what it means. Be intentional where you sit. Learn the art of distraction rewards. I've resorted to bribery. This is good. Occupy the kids mouths.
Dried cranberries. Practice whispering. This is good. During the week when the kids begin to talk, practice using the whisper voice.
This is good. Let them shake their sillies out. Run around before church, etc, find a helper. We talked about that adopted grandma. So there's some practical things. It's good. So you could share this article too. Share this is.
We. We give this to the parents. Here's, you know, here's some tips to think about. So it's great.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: That's great.
All right, ready for the next one?
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Ready?
I forgot how good this article was. This is really nice.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really great. I'm gonna. We have a section on our website that we just added that I had on my previous church's website. I just stole it from myself from that website. Put on this and I think I'll add a link to that as well at the bottom so that there's additional information.
All right. Why does Jesus say he's overcome the World.
I wonder if you guys could help me with the meaning of John 16:33. The text says, I've said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. What does Jesus mean by overcome the world? And then second, in a practical sense, how does the knowledge of this overcoming provide solace and comfort in troubling times? How should it be applied?
[00:09:54] Speaker A: This is such a beautiful verse. I mean, Jesus first gives this promise.
It's a promise. It's more of a threat or a warning.
In the world, you will have trouble. We have to recognize that in the Bible, the world is used in a couple of ways. But when Jesus uses this world, it means that kingdom that is set against the kingdom of God.
So the world means the tyranny of death, the tyranny of corruption, the structures around us that are polluted with sin.
All of this is the world. And Jesus, when he talks about it, especially John, gives it to us. He'll say, the world hated me before it hated you. So when Luther lists the enemies of the Christian, he lists these three. The world, the sinful flesh, and the devil. And so that world means all those powers and principalities that are set against the word of God and the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God. That's what's been overcome.
So when Jesus overcomes death, he's overcoming the world. When he overcomes corruption and like the. The dissolvability of this physical nature, he's overcoming the world.
And so. So what Jesus is telling us there is. Look, you still have to live here. I'm not taking you with me. That's the whole point of John 14 to 17. I'm not taking you with me yet. I'm going to prepare a place, and then I'll come and get you. But not yet. You got to stay here in this world where things are falling apart and where tyrants rule and where Christians are persecuted and where sickness abounds. But I've overcome all these things. And in the new heaven and the new earth, you'll realize my victory and my overcoming. But you have me now. You have the overcomer now. And I'll give you the fullness of my overcoming when I return on the last day.
And that's how this gives us comfort.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: It's I.
Where's it, Luther? I think it's bondage of the will, right? Where he talks about how there's the false peace that people want. That is like not arguing over the Bible. Or something, right? Like, if we just all get along, we won't argue over Scripture, and so then we'll have peace.
And he says, well, I don't want that kind of peace. Like, that doesn't do us any good.
But the peace we have, even, like, right, Psalm 46, even if, like, the mountains are falling into the heart of the sea, like, if we have our conscience at peace because we have forgiveness with God, and we know we have forgiveness with God, then it doesn't matter what's going on all around us.
Even like in Psalm 46, right? You see, like, creation, like, falling apart.
And that was always helpful when I live near mountains, to point outside the window and be like, if that mountain right now, like, just, like, crumbled and was gone.
Like the psalm says, it doesn't matter because God's in the midst of you. And so you can have actual peace.
Even when there's warfare and all kinds of things raging all about you, you can have peace because you have peace with God, which then, Lord willing, will lead to peace with others, peace with your neighbor.
But the kind of peace it's talking about here, you can have in the midst of any circumstance. And the Bible is full of examples of that. So one of the reasons it's so comforting, because you can actually have peace, real peace and joy, regardless of your circumstances. It's one of the. I think it's one of those, like you said, one of the most comforting verses we have, because he's just like, look, I've already. I've already won everything for you. I've already done it all. So you can just have peace. It's like in Exodus, right? Moses has the people at the edge of the Red Sea, and he says, you guys just have to be silent, keep your mouths closed. God will fight for you.
And you guys just have to watch. Just sit back and watch it. It'll. It'll happen. Don't worry about it.
You get to watch in silence. In other words, you can. You can be at peace because God's going to do the fighting. So very comforting.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: I wanted to. I. I've thought about this, just having Luther's commentary on this verse as a little booklet.
And it's so. I mean, it's. It's so marvelous. I. I want to show it to you, but it's like. I don't know. It's like 100 pages. I mean, I think that. I mean, I always. I'm. I'm like, this is the best Luther Genesis. And then I'm like, this is the best Luther, Galatians. And then whenever. I mean, it's really whatever I'm reading, like, this is the best Luther. Psalm 51. This is the. Some of the absolute best luther in Genesis 15, 16, 17.
He just is preaching so profoundly the Lord and his comfort and courage here. So. All right, I'll share the screen. Don't worry, Pastor Packer. I can share the screen. It says. I think I can.
Oh, it doesn't want me to.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: You did, like five seconds ago.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: I know, but it's giving me not the right options here. How about this? Can you see?
Yeah, there it is.
Christ would like to inspire us with such courage and teach us to rely and count on him.
For he surely considers and sees that in ourselves we're very weak and that when we take stock of ourselves, we're too greatly frightened and terrified by these great giants. Death, devil, the world.
Christ declares, I'm very well aware of this. Therefore I want to attach you to me and myself and turn to you.
Then you can take comfort in and rely on me.
I've already overcome the world.
Thus the great and the small, the rich and the poor, will join hands and be. Be a match for the great monster behemoth. That's the world. The. The destroyer.
If he tries to swallow and devour you as if you were a little gnat, I'll become a big camel in his throat and tear my way through his belly until he bursts and he has to return you in one piece whether he wants to or not. I'm the one who says this to you. Look at Luther. It's so good.
You must turn your eyes from yourself and from them to. And be sure to consider who I am in order that you may be able to say, listen, Death, devil, Pope, emperor, world.
You're really putting on the heirs. You're showing your long, sharp teeth and opening your jaws wide. Compared with you, I'm a poor little worm, it's true.
But what do you think about him who says, I am the one?
I've overcome the world.
He says this to me and tells me to rely confidently on it so that our confidence is not in ourselves, but in Christ. Oh, how beautiful is that? You should publish that. I gotta write that down.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: You should take a note.
All right.
Ready for the next one?
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: This is a response to something you said. Those are always my favorite ones. Um, why. Why do we pray for healing if death is the true release?
All right. What's then the point of this life?
In one of your recent Q and A's you talked about how death essentially is released from suffering and sin. At a certain sense, we pray for it every day. On the one hand, I agree with this, because after death we'll be in the presence of God. Nothing could be more desirable than to see him face to face in the beatific vision.
But on the other hand, it's made me wonder about something. Why then should we pray for the healing of sick Christians or even protect fellow Christians at all?
I understand why we would do this for unbelievers, but when it comes to believers, I do not understand why we cannot apply the same logic as with praying for deliverance from suffering.
And in that case, what is the meaning of our present life in this world if essentially almost everything we do will be forgotten and destroyed after the resurrection?
In that case, isn't praying for, you know, instance, that my wife and children live long, happy lives actually a manifestation of some kind of selfishness on my part?
After all, I want them to stay with me rather than seeing God as soon as possible.
Does it not follow, then that the only truly important thing in this life is the evangelization, Evangelization of unbelievers while everything else becomes secondary at best?
[00:17:55] Speaker A: So that's a marvelous question. I think we. Maybe. I just saw it on the email. I thought we talked about it before. So let's. If we answer.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: You forwarded this email to me.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Oh, that's why. Okay.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: So that's great. So we have.
Here.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: Here.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: We have to. Let's just.
What is most important is not up to us. In other words, the Lord. We have to receive what the Lord gives. And he gives us life and says, protect it, you shall not murder. It's good. Be fruitful and multiply.
He's the one who gives us this life here below. And he gives it to us because he wants us to have it. If he wanted to have us conceived into heaven or into hell, he could have arranged it that way. So we have to receive this life as a gift from the Lord and to protect it and fight for it. He's the one who says that he'll heal our diseases and that death is a punishment for our sin. So that the Lord himself does not like death. He calls death the enemy. He Himself fights against death and sets us to fight against death.
But because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, when death at last comes to us, it doesn't come to us in the end as an enemy, but as a friend, as the one who brings us from death to life as the portal to the Joys that await for us to live as Christ. To die is gain because of his death. So it's true that the Christian has a strange relationship with death.
It's. If I. It's almost like I always think of it like this. If you had some sort of play and you're in the house and there's a. Like a thief trying to break into the house, and he's on the window, and you lock the window, and he goes to the back door, and you close the door and you're protecting the house, and he tries to break into the wall, and you're. You're fighting him off, and then he rings on the front door and you let him in.
Like, that's how death is. Like we're fighting against it. Fighting against it. We are pro life in all these different ways. But then when, finally, when it's time, we say, God be praised. Here we go.
This is the gift of God for us.
So that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, death has been defeated. And so the separation of body and soul, which is our physical death, which only lasts for a little while, even that is received as a gift.
So there is a way. So the part of. The first part of the question was, why do we pray for people to get better?
We know that sin and death is not God's will for us.
We know that he'll completely straighten things out in the resurrection when there will be no more sin and death.
But we also know that we're not just called to pray for people to get better, but also to receive their illness as a gift from God. This is what Job is teaching us. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Well, should I receive good from the Lord and not evil?
Naked I came from my mother's womb. Naked I shall return.
The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
So in all these things, we don't sin when we even receive sickness and receive death as a gift from the Lord. So this question of what's the greatest priority, the evangelization of the world, it's certainly part of the command of God, be fruitful or go and make disciples of all nations.
But it's not the only command that the Lord has given to us. And he said, love your neighbor.
He says, husbands, love your wives. Wives, honor your husbands. Submit to them.
Preach the word, hear the word, work hard. The one who doesn't work, he shouldn't eat. In other words, the Lord has given us a lot of things to do with this life. So we say, okay, God Be praised. We'll receive them all as a gift.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: It seems like that they're overthinking this, right? Like, we want everything to logically, like, work out on, like a flowchart. Like, if death is. If death isn't for us, the worst thing, because we're gonna go be with Jesus. But even what does Paul say, right? I desire to be with Christ.
To die is gain, but what, it's better for you all if I'm here right now, right? His vocation of apostle was important for him to. To be around for a little bit longer, even though he desired to die and go be with Christ. So even Apostle Paul wrestled with this, right, in some way. Like, he. He wants to go be with Jesus, but he's like, well, I've got things to do. And so I think that's often the way we have to approach this. It's like, yeah, you may get to the point where you do, like Paul, you're just ready to go. You're just like, man, I've. I've done enough. I've seen enough. I've been.
Because of where we're at. In Romans, I read from 2 Corinthians, like, all of Paul's sufferings, right? Like, and five, five times, you know, 40 lashes, minus one, that probably kill most of us. Like most modern pastors, we probably die from it maybe once, let alone five times. And surviving. I mean, the man suffered greatly to get the Gospel out there, and he was ready to go be with Jesus. And he was, even if it meant dying, which ultimately is beheaded for the faith, but he's ready, willing to go be with Jesus. But he says, hey, I still have work to do. It's not my time yet. God will determine that, right? And I think when we try to play, it's almost trying to play God when you then want to say, well, I'm not going to give them any medical treatment or even pray for them, because if it's their time to go, they're just going to die and go, right? Like, well, no, we use the means God has given us. And then if it's their time to go, after we've done our best to, to treat and do all those things, then, yeah, then it's their time to go and we can be content with that. But the meantime, God has given us a lot of things to do here. And now, as you said, he's placed us in all kinds of vocations where he. We have various duties that we're given to, to go and perform and to live our lives for others.
And until that's done, we should be striving for life.
And when it's over, that's fine. But until then, we've. We've got things to do.
Yep.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: It's great.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: All right. Is Balaam a pagan prophet or God's messenger? Oh, I'm not gonna lie.
I know I picked this one because I recently did numbers, and I, I love the answer.
I do. Yes. But that's, that's beside the point. I, I really. It's an interesting question because that, those chapters are very fascinating, but so here's, here's the full question.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: All right, this is. I would love to text.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: I would love to. It is, it's really fascinating. I'd love to hear you go off on the entire narrative of Balak and Balaam. I have never heard it expounded upon from a Lutheran perspective, but every time I come across it while reading the Bible, I'm fascinated by it. I'm unsure how to mentally categorize Balaam. Is he a pagan? Does he know, respect and even speak for the God of Israel? Was he able to prophesy about Jesus, the star and scepter that would come out of Jacob? Things certainly did not end well with Balaam, but I suppose it did not end well Solomon either. Thank you for everything you do.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: Balaam was a true prophet.
He was also a, like, probably demon possessed. And he is the biggest enemy of God in, in the whole, maybe in the whole Bible. I mean, we're still reading about Balaam and, and, and BAAL there. If that's the first time BAAL is mentioned in the Bible, where the BAAL of Peor, where Balaam gets the children of Israel to commit idolatry with the Moabites. I mean, okay, so let me outline the story. You add to it, and, and I'll say that I have one thing to say about it, and then I want to hear everything that you have to say about it. So, so here the people are going. The Lord is leading the people on the what, the east side of the Dead Sea, through Moab. Remember G A M E. So Gilead and Ammon, Moab, Edom. So through. Passed through Edom. Now through Moab and Balak, the king has hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. And three times he, he blesses Israel instead of cursing him. And then Balak's like, what are you doing? So then Balam says, we'll do this. And he sets it up so where the Moabite women are there and the Israelite women, go and marry them and then commit idolatry and worship BAAL at Peor. And then the Lord just lowers the boom on them.
That also has to do with the donkey. So you know, Balaam's going to do this and then the Lord stops him with a donkey. And so Balaam, he has the word of the Lord but he doesn't believe it. And it introduces. Here's the thing that sort of blows my mind is that we normally think, oh, you have people who believe in God and trust in him, or people who don't believe in God and therefore do not trust in him. But there's this third category here where Balaam is going to be a typical example of those who believe in God and do not trust him, do not follow him, do not. Look, they know that Jesus died and rose from the dead, but they don't care or they are fighting against it. This is the demonic faith. They, James says doesn't, doesn't save us.
So, so that's this category that's introduced here by Balaam.
[00:27:14] Speaker B: It's interesting because when he, he comes into the scene, he is very clearly a well respected in the area, like sorcerer. That's what he is. Like he's a pagan sorcerer who's known.
And they're like, hey, we want to give you money so you can curse this people.
And I love that whole scene when he goes and tries to curse the people and he blesses them and he tries a different angle, right? Like he tries, he tries all of these different things to try to curse them and God keeps blessing them and then people get mad and it seems like they're so mad and he wants his money. So then he comes up with plan B which is to get them seduced into idolatry, which does work, right? He can't curse them because God won't let them be cursed.
But the people, God's own people bring about their own destruction by being seduced by his, his other plan, which is horrific on its, on its own, right? The other interesting thing is with the donkey, which I love that entire, the entire section there. But, and right before that he's just, he's such a, he's bragging, he's blasphemous, he's constantly puffing himself up in the sight of these other kings because he wants a big payday and so he's doing all this for money. But then he gets on the, the donkey to leave and go against God's will, do what he wants and he has the angel of the Lord Standing there. And, and the whole point of the whole donkey scene is to show that God can speak through a donkey, right?
And if he can speak through a donkey, he can speak through Balaam here in the following verses, right? That's one of the points of the donkey. If God can speak through him, he can speak through even Balaam. Even really contrary to Balaam's will. It's not what Balaam wants to do. He wants to curse Israel, but God's going to have him open his mouth and speak only blessing because the Lord's in control here. He even says Balaam's way is perverse before him, which is throughout the Book of Numbers a pretty harsh condemnation. There even says, hey, I would have, I would have killed you. I would have put you to death, but you, you didn't do it. And we also see his, some of his paganism. Before his first oracle, he built seven altars and preferred seven bulls and seven rams which was connected to the seven planets.
Lot of people think. By the way, if anyone wants amazing commentary on numbers, Michael Morales, who's a reform guy, but it's the best, one of the best commentaries I've read, period. It's just fantastic. It's a two volume thing on the Book of Numbers. Really, really excellent.
Pastor Gray and I joked after we taught the Book of Numbers that cph if they don't have someone writing one on numbers yet, might just want to put a note out there that says see Michael Morales because it's, it's that good, it's really fantastic.
But then the rest of his whole oracles are all about I'm going to try to curse, I'm looking for ways to corrupt them. And yet time and time again we get God blessing them, including very clear prophecy of Christ coming and what Christ is going to do for them. So the entire thing is just wonderful. It's very long. There's so many things in here.
But there's lots of promises of the Messiah in the messianic age and what that'll be for, for God's people.
And then of course that's followed up by chapter 25, what you talked about the worship of, of Baal at Peor and how he, how he seduced them
[00:30:52] Speaker A: so that here, this is this amazing. So I do think that like if you read through, like just sit down and read like Genesis to Deuteronomy, there's all these messianic promises in Genesis over and over. The seed, the seed, the seed. The, the staff shall not depart from Shiloh till Messiah. The King comes from Judah, etc, all these great promises. And then you get to Exodus and the. And it takes a totally different shape.
The promises are there in the, in the lamb's blood that's being shed. And all this.
The. The two exceptions, like the two verbal promises are in Deuteronomy where the Lord says through Moses, I'll raise up a prophet like you from among your brothers. Deuteronomy 18, 18 or 19. And. But then in the, in the Balaam prophecy of the star, and that's probably the star that Daniel taught the wise men to look for that caused them to come and visit. That's just like.
But here's how about this verse for amazing. So this is Joshua 22, starting in verse 16. So this is way, way, way. This is at the end of the conquest, at the end of the book of Joshua. It says thus, says the whole congregation of the Lord. What treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel to turn away this day from following the Lord and that you have built for yourselves an altar that you might rebel this day against the Lord? This is where there was this confusion and almost a civil war. Look at verse 17.
Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us?
Like the, the shame that this is a, this is like a generation later.
And they're like, wasn't what happened with Balaam bad enough?
And then listen, look at this, I've just looked this up where Balaam shows up later.
Balaam is, is. He's in Numbers 22 to 24, then 31, Deuteronomy 23, where the Lord is reviewing the event.
Joshua 13, Joshua 24 again, Nehemiah 13, Micah 6, and then 2nd Peter 2 Jude Verse 11 and Revelation 3:14.
You know, the apocalyptic texts go back to Balaam as that.
He's a prime. He's almost like a, like an antichrist or a Pontius Pilate figure who is through again, divination. He has access to the spiritual realm in a true way, but he doesn't mix it with faith. And so he's using it against the Lord's people.
It's amazing, really.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: He reminds me a little bit of the sons of Scaeva in the book of Acts, right?
[00:33:42] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: Where they, they try to, in the name of Paul and Jesus come out and the demons are like, Paul we know and Jesus we know, but we don't know you guys, we don't know you. And they come out and beat them up and leave them naked and bruised and running off scared.
He Reminds me kind of them because he.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: He.
[00:33:59] Speaker B: He has this power and he. Apparently he's known for. He's done things like you said, probably some kind of manipulation of demonic beings and stuff. Like, he's. He's well known for these powers, why they're willing to pay him so much money.
And yet when he tries to do with the real, the true God.
And he seems to know that, too. I don't know if he had to run in before, but he seems to know because he had told them, I can only speak what this God says. I can't mess around with him. So he tries to bribe the true God, Right? Let me curse your people, because I want this payday.
I'll do whatever it takes. What do you want from me? And so I can curse your people. And it just keeps backfiring on him, which is also hilarious as you go through it.
He can't do it. And God's just like, nope, I'm in control of blessing and cursing these people. If they're wicked, then I'll curse them. But you don't. You don't get to stand and curse my people. Which is a glorious promise for us, too. Right. If we're baptized that the world, the devil, and no one else can curse us because we're in Christ. And if he says he's going to bless us, he's going to bless us. Like, they can't curse us. So good.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: So good. That's right. I don't know if we got. I don't know if we really explained it. We mostly just talked about how great it is, but it is a great, mysterious text.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Don't let us know.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:35:18] Speaker B: This one. This one is funny, which is why it got moved up so that they're right. It says, Pastor Packer, I heard a rumor that if I submit a second part of the question, it will definitely go to the front of the queue.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: So there you go. Wow.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: So they're trying to win me over with rumors. Okay.
They had a question about parenting, but actually, I didn't even see that one. I just saw this one. So they're getting their second part.
All right.
A parent just posted after her child won. I have to thank God he laid it in her path.
My thought is, all glory to God all the time for all things good and bad.
This also gives me another question to help my kids. Answer is God invested in their hobby, wins and losses?
I think I know the answer, but I need help talking to my kids.
So does God care if your kids win?
Or lose in sports or in any kind of hobby.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: Yeah, he cares about us.
And because of that, there is not a part of our life that is either unknown or uninteresting to the Lord of heaven and earth, which is amazing.
We were wrestling with this a couple years back when we were in Aurora and the Broncos went to the Super Bowl.
And I was trying to figure out who God wanted to win. You know, I mean, obviously it wasn't the Patriots, right? It was so.
But it was like.
This is an interesting question. I mean, this is just, you know, it's a game. Is God. Is God interested in this thing?
And I think the answer is that God is interested in us. And that we play is not accidental to our human nature.
In fact, we just got finished with the Worldwide Bible class, and it was talking about how it was Luther quoting. I mean, this is. This actually incredible passage.
I'm still in some ways reeling from it. He's quoting Proverbs 8 that talks about wisdom. This is the Son of God who delights in the children of men.
And he takes that delight to mean that he plays with us, that he loves to, I suppose, even toy with us. We were trying to figure out what the right translation is because people were somewhat uncomfortable with the.
With the language that Luther was using about how Jesus toys with us, because his toying with us is not at all comfortable to us.
It's particularly painful, but it's how he deals with us. And the example was Joseph with his brothers.
They came to him to get grain, and he spoke to them harshly because he loved them and because he was going to bring them to repentance and give them great gifts. But the very first way that he deals with them is with a harshness. And that's how the Lord deals with us, because he delights to play with us.
And this points to this.
What the old kind of philosophers called the ludic nature of man.
In other words, man was meant to play.
And so it's not a.
It's not an insignificant thing that the Lord has given us recreation, that he's given us hobbies, that he's given us games to play and that we play them with one another.
And I think he cares about that now. Who wins or lose loses. I'm not. I mean, I think the Lord probably every now and again, he'll. He'll give us a loss in order to take us down.
He'll give us a win in order to give us joy. I don't think, in general, he's particularly invested in the wins and losses category only insofar as it's helping us to reach repentance and faith.
But I do think that the Lord cares about every little part of this human life.
[00:39:32] Speaker B: I always tell my kids that sports are for fun and exercise.
Like, those are the main things. And then, hey, if you have a good team and you're doing well, great. But if you have a terrible team and you're not, you're still having fun and exercising, which are like, their main purpose.
Because I think sometimes we forget that, like, the professional sports are there as entertainment. Like, that's what they are. They're entertainers first. First and foremost. There's actually a great line in Carl Truman's new book, the Desecration of Man.
He says, the reason, you know, we people ask all the time, why. Why do entertainers and athletes make more money than teachers or firemen or whatever? He said, well, that's an easy answer. It's because entertainers and athletes distract you from your own mortality. And so that's why you're willing. That's why we pay them so much money, is to keep us distracted so we don't think about death.
So, you know, so for our kids, though, like, right, if they're having fun and they're getting exercise, then that's. That's the main thing. That's what we. That's what we want for them, is to use them in that way. And God, as you said, delights in that, right? He's delighted they're out there using the gifts and talents and abilities he's given them to have fun and to get exercise and to hopefully too, maybe, maybe grow in various virtues through sports as well.
Although you can also grow in various vices through sports. So I just get upset when people act like playing sports automatically means you're going to grow, like in virtue. I'm like, have you not noticed that a lot of professional athletes, like, are abusive or in jail or like, whatever? Like, they. There's all kinds of problems with. Just being in sports itself does not make you virtuous. It can also inflame a lot of vices. So, but if we give it a proper perspective, I think it can be helpful for those, those other things as well.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: I found this Luther quote, which, which doesn't really apply to what we're talking about, but it's so good.
So this is on.
This is how Joseph is a picture of how God deals with us. God plays the same game in the world with his goodness, as Wisdom says. Proverbs 8, 30. I was rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men. In this way the Father's wisdom, the incarnate Son of God speaks and testifies that he is playing with, taking delight in, and living in a winningly, in a winning and kindly manner with men, that this game affords him the greatest pleasure. So the Lord is playing with us and he loves it, but for us it's not so nice.
It's a very sad death, reducing man to nothing, giving him up to death, afflicting him with disasters and troubles without number.
This is not playing, is it? It's a game of a cat with a mouse, with the death of the mouse. Accordingly, these things are written in order that we may understand the counsel, the divine wisdom and this wonderful way in which the saints are led. It appears to be so sad and bitter that the spectators, angels, devils, the world think that we've been devoured and destroyed. Indeed that we ourselves think we've been deserted, despised and cast off.
And yet all of it is the Lord, well, playing with us to teach us repentance and faith. So anyway, it's great ludic nature of man. Hobbies are good. The Lord cares about everything.
Uh, don't be a diva.
Right.
Like it's, it's. Sports are also to teach us how to lose.
That's a good, that's a thing that you have to learn how to suffer. It's great.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Suffer. Well, and you know, the old martyrs. Oh, go ahead.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: The, the old martyrs were called the athletes of Christ.
I think that's really interesting. So Paul talks about, you know, running the race and this is a picture for the Christian life.
Yeah.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Cyprian, is it Cyprian. That has like a whole, I can't remember, like a treatise on, on that idea. Picking up on Paul obviously, but writing a whole thing on Christians as, as athletes. And so I think there's a way in which playing sports can help you think about that. Right. The training, the hard work, all of those things that go into that can be very beneficial to your life as a Christian when used. Well nowadays. My frustration with sports nowadays is just people have elevated them to a place of idolatry, honestly. Right. In so many cases, even our kids sports become that in so many ways. We, we've lost sight of like what they're there for.
So I'm still not sure.
I've tried to look into this, but I don't know. But the rise in select teams and travel sports, which is like a multi billion dollar industry, which means it's going nowhere since the early 2000s. Like it's just skyrocketed. I'm interested to see that with the number of kids in church attendance, I'm sure there's a. I'm sure there's some kind of correlation between that skyrocketing, taking off and then the lack of kids in various churches, especially in those sport, those years playing those sports.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: It's good for us to think. So sometimes we, we just get on this path and we think, here's a goal out there, which, like, I don't know, you're good at soccer. So you're like, well, I'd like to play, keep playing soccer. Okay, great.
It's great. So then what do you think? Well, now I want to be a whatever professional soccer player. But you have to think, is that really where I want to. Is that what I want to go to? Like, even if you.
So first of all, it's probably not going to happen. But even if it does, like, you, if you win, you still lose.
Like, this is the whole thing with like celebrity, when people are pursuing celebrity, it's like, I hope you fail. Fail because success ends up being failure because the goal is so bad. It's like you want to be a, you want to be a rock star. Like, you have a lifespan of 42 years. And this kind of, I mean, like the, the success is a loss.
I mean, you know, I imagine there's people who can handle this sort of thing. But, but, but we have to, we have to sort of reevaluate are the things that we're shooting at because we might accidentally hit the target and then it would be disastrous.
So, so anyway, we just have to be, we have to be careful about what, what goals we set. And the picture that we have of the good life, right, which is the life of leisure and the, and the problem is that the only way to get to leisure is to work.
Like, otherwise you don't know what it is.
It's a parallel to the boomerang paradox, right? You can't hit happiness by aiming for it.
So if I make the goal of life to be happy, I actually, not only I guarantee misery, I guarantee it.
There's no way to get there.
So the same with this kind of, with this picture. The good life that we have is that we, we're actually striving for something which if we get it, will be miserable.
So it's good for us to think about these things.
[00:46:35] Speaker B: There was an article, I can't remember which publication was in. It may have been The Atlantic, but I'm not sure I saw it online. But it was basically an article on how they went to this party with all these influencers for some product or something.
And it basically is about how all of these online influencers in real life were, like, just miserable.
Like, most of them were just miserable, like, with the camera off. And, like, you know, they said they had all these examples in this article of just person after person that, you know, online, they look happy and everything looks great, and they're selling you this or selling you that and showing you how perfect their life is. But when the camera's off, this. This article is like they're. They do not enjoy this. This is not actually fun. But they're making.
They're making money and they're popular.
So like you said, sometimes you chase for what.
You chase for it. You hit that goal. It may not be what you thought it was.
[00:47:30] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, you. It's a funny thing, too. We see it, like, all the celebrities will say this, like, celebrity is terrible.
Or the people who win the lottery, they're like, it's the worst thing that ever happened to me. And for a lot of reasons. And. And we can sort of identify the reasons that this is the case. I mean, like, when you have a extra billion dollars, you can never be sure who. Who your friend is. Right. I mean, everything is tilted. Everything is. And the same with celebrity, too. Like, you. There's no, like, going out in public. I. I thought you were there because.
Because of the wild success of our YouTube channel here. And so you got to meet all the influencers.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I was. I was hanging out there. So we're so well known in the circles.
[00:48:12] Speaker A: They talk. They talk about the. These.
About the YouTube Grind. Right? How it's like this beast that you're always trying to feed and. And the machine you're trying to feed all the time. And. And it. And it kind of wears you down. And look, here's the point. Without the. The solution to the problem, though, like, so the celebrities sit there and they say, celebrity is such a terrible thing. I wish I didn't have. And all the people who are not celebrities say, oh, well, you can say that because you are a celebrity. You know, like, I still want it. Or rich people will say, ah, it's more trouble to have money than to not have money. And the poor people say, well, you can say that because you're rich. You know, you. No, nobody's content with any.
No, there is no contentment apart from Christ and the forgiveness of sins. You be rich and poor, healthy, sick, living, dying, famous, unknown. You could be a king, you could be a tyrant, you could be a emperor of the world. You could be a political slave in prison. It doesn't. You're you there. There's an inherent discontent in every station of man apart from Christ.
It's because it's just pride and despair. That's all there is apart from Christ, pride and despair. And so, so the Christian is able to say, jesus is Lord, which means if he wants to, to give me a known name, he can give it to me. And he can take it away too.
Blessed be the name of the Lord if he wants to give easy days and hard days, health and sickness, abundance and want.
I've learned the secret, says Paul, of being content in all circumstances. And the secret. Well, part of the secret is that the circumstances do not shape our contentment.
There's a disconnect.
When our contentment is connected to the forgiveness of sins won for us in Christ, then they're disconnected from our circumstances.
So we're always looking to change the circumstances to achieve contentment. But the contentment does not come until it's disconnected from the circumstances and connected alone to Christ.
So, yeah, so this is, this is the big picture question of, like, what is the good life and what are we aiming for? Because if we aim for, well, Jesus says it like this, right? Seek first the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. So if we aim for the righteousness of God in Christ, which is faith in God and love for the neighbor according to our vocation, that's the righteousness of the law and the gospel, the gospel and the law, then all the things will be added to us.
But even if they aren't added to us, we don't even notice.
Like, the only way to have the good life is to be held by the death of Jesus.
And if that's the case, then, you know, take it or leave it. It's all great.
[00:51:18] Speaker B: I was thinking maybe as our final point, uh, as you were talking, that people should just read Ecclesiastes, right? Like, apart from Christ, it's all meaningless.
It's. It's pointless. And it doesn't bring you what you think it's going to bring you. So. But if you have Christ, it changes everything, including your eating and drinking and
[00:51:39] Speaker A: you're winning your swimming race.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: That's right. And your sports and your hobbies, so
[00:51:45] Speaker A: that you're like, you win and you're like, jesus is so happy that I won. And then you lose. And you're like, jesus is so happy that I lost.
It's like, it's because he delights in us.
Like this. This is this amazing gospel, right? That it's not even just that the Lord loves us, it's that he likes us, which is amazing.
[00:52:11] Speaker B: That's all our questions for today.
[00:52:14] Speaker A: We did it. Thanks, YouTube theologians, for sending in the. Oh, thanks for the questions. It's really good. Wolfmother co contact.
You can send them all there and we'll get to them. This summer. We're recording a bunch of Q and A, you know, feeding the YouTube beast, living that influencer life.
[00:52:32] Speaker B: I'm often influencer party right now,
[00:52:37] Speaker A: getting the brand deals. You know, they do send emails. They're like, we would like to partner with you. I'm like, we think that our brand is going to be a big fit for you. And I'm like, swim trunks.
[00:52:49] Speaker B: She gets sponsorship by notion. And that's true.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: That'd be our first one. That'd be great.
All right. Thanks for the questions. It's great. God's peace be with you.
