A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me – Psalm 50:23

In October of 1621 God provided the Plymouth colony with an abundant harvest from the seeds planted earlier in the spring. William Bradford, the leader of the colony after the death of John Carver, declared that those living in the settlement should hold a festival of thanksgiving for the praise and glory of God due to his past mercies upon them. They decided to invite the Massasoit and other Indians whom God had allowed them favor and peaceable relations. The men gathered adequate supplies for three days of feasting, and all who gathered participated in cooking, eating, drinking, contests and the spiritual leaders of the settlement offered prayers of thanksgiving to God for his abundant blessings. God had abundantly blessed them and acknowledging this in their hearts and minds they offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving. However, it must not be forgotten that in the midst of this thanksgiving in all their memories was the loss of over fifty percent of those living in the settlement that first year before. Yet in the midst of this great loss there eyes were upon God and their hearts broke free for thanksgiving.

Soon after this first thanksgiving more colonists arrived in a ship from England. Their stores of corn for the coming winter were not enough to sustain those who had survived the first winter in addition to those recently arriving without supplies. All the families began to ration the corn they had and yet no one died in the winter of 1621-22 of starvation. The spring of 1623 came and they planted, continued their relations with the Indians, continued to explore new lands but it was a difficult year. William Bradford wrote, “the welcome time of harvest approached, but it arose but to a little. So it well appeared the famine must still ensue the next year also.” There is no record of a thanksgiving festival that fall. However, the fall of 1623 would be a different matter.

In the spring of 1623 the colonists planted a common field of corn but also each family planted and worked family plots of their own. They were seeking to increase their production of corn in preparation for the coming winter to avoid another “starving time”. Their diligence in planting and tilling the soil was met with a twelve week draught. The colonists realized that their crops were failing and so they knew starvation in the coming year was inevitable. William Bradford and the leaders of the families began to pray until Mr. Bradford called a special day of prayer and fasting. As they humbled themselves before God in prayer and fasting one colonist described what took place: “But, O the mercy of our God, who was as ready to hear, as we were to ask! For though in the morning, when we assembled together, the heavens were clear and the drought as like to continue as it ever was, yet…before our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides. On the next morning distilled such soft, sweet and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days…such was the bounty and goodness of our God!” William Bradford described it this way, “It came, without either wind or thunder, or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith. Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits, as was wonderful to see and made the Indians astonished to behold.” The harvest was plentiful that fall and their abundance was so great that they were able to put up enough for winter and use some for trading with the Indians. William Bradford and the people planned another festival of thanksgiving that September and again invited their Indian friends to join them. It was again a time to rejoice in God with gratitude for his faithful display of goodness toward them. Edward Winslow wrote these words of the celebration, “having these may signs of God’s favor and acceptance, we thought it would be a great ingratitude if secretly we should content ourselves with private thanksgiving for that which by private prayer could not be obtained. And therefore another solemn day was set apart and appointed for that end; wherein we returned glory, honor, and praise with all thankfulness to our God who dealt so graciously with us.” They again turned from themselves to God from whom all blessings flow and gave a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

God is pleased when his creatures take their eyes off of themselves and fix them upon him with a heart and mind resounding in a voice of thanksgiving. We are abundantly blessed through the incredible hardship of those who have walked in faithfulness before us with their eyes fixed toward God and his promises in Christ in faith and their hearts resounding with gratitude for all God’s passed mercies. These who went before to this land were as those going to Macedonia to carry the gospel as a great cloud of witnesses. Let us learn to follow them in faith upon the promises of God made sure in Jesus Christ and learn in plenty or in want to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving for his glory.

Community

“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
1 John 3:11

Community
It is said that the apostle John could be heard living among the first century church with these words constantly upon his tongue, love one another. According to John this is a true test of one’s Christian faith, the presence of love for God’s church. Jesus had told his disciples they would be known as his followers by their love for one another (John 13:35). The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in regard to their living and worshiping as the church. In his first letter to them he dealt with the gifts God would give them by His Spirit and their usefulness to the unity of the body. Yet he did not elevate any of those gifts that God would give above the gift of love (1 Corinthians 13). The actions of love given and animated by the Spirit of God is the manifestation of Christ’s presence in the church. And this love in the church is manifested in community.

Love that is Biblical is love toward one another. Therefore, love takes place in the context of people living among one another in community. The command to love one another in the Scriptures is far from individualistic. A Christian cannot continue with God as his Father and have no use for the expression of the work of the Spirit in his life from his mother, the church. The church is a place of community where the love of God is manifest and expressed in actions.

This community where the love of God is manifest and expressed is larger than ourselves. We may desire community as a benefit God gives to us. We want to be in relationship with a loving community because it benefits me. Therefore the community we are a part of on Sunday morning tends to be larger than the community we spend the rest of our time with. We will whittle our community life down to a few people that we are comfortable with, have things in common with, who think like we do, and look and dress like we do. But this reveals that our “love for one another” is really a man centered love for ourselves. We are getting out of these relationships what we think we need, that is, to make more of ourselves.

If community is the place in the church where the love of God is manifest and expressed. What gifts has God given that you can manifest and express His love and be used of God to turn the hearts of His people in a Godward direction? We have all be given time, money, we live in houses with refrigerators and stoves, we have transportation, phones, computers, mailboxes, shoes for walking, books to read, movies to watch, games to play, tables to eat on, and beautiful places to enjoy. How are we using these gifts through the spiritual gifts and talents that God has given us to love others in community?

In the field of residential construction there is a movement in America to develop neighborhoods that create community. The houses are close together, the front porches are close to the sidewalk and the street, and the streets are narrow. There are parks in the neighborhood with playgrounds, basketball goals, and trails for walking, and some have developed grocery stores, shops and business offices in the middle of the development. But does this careful planning and developing create community? Community, that is for the glory of God, is developed in the eternal counsel of God. It is given through His love, manifest and expressed by His Spirit and expressed through the lives of a people who have died with Christ to sin and now live to God and one another in a community of love.

Confounded by the Glory of God?

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. (Ps.19:1-2).

The infrared instruments upon NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have discovered a planetary aurora over Saturn that is unlike any yet to be seen. This blueish green aurora is similar to the Earth’s northern lights, yet it is completely different and unexplainable. The scientist who are receiving this data through the instruments upon the spacecraft are “confounded” because it “it behaves unlike any other planetary aurora known in our solar system.” One scientist studying the phenomena said, “Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurora predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright aurora here is a fantastic surprise.” There are other auroras observed on other planets where they are caused by the magnetic fields of particles trapped on those planets or solar winds but what they are observing on Saturn is unexplainable and does not relate to what they have previously discovered about other auroras. It is constantly changing and sometimes disappears within a 45 minute period of time. The scientists are confounded and mystified.

To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing…Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (Isa.40:25-26, 28)

Man’s telescope is blocked from view and his discoveries and explanations cannot apply understanding. He is confounded, mystified and surprised for a time until God allows a window into his ways. The heavens declare the glory of God and he speaks of his eternal power and divine nature so that we may see his creative and sustained works and marvel at his might and beauty in worship and trust. Whatever you may be confounded by, mystified or surprised by God is not and just as he creates and governs the beauty of the heavens so he has created you and governs all things in the heavens and the earth to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes (Rom.8:28). Therefore wait for the LORD by looking up and out in wonder and with repentance and faith and walk in his strength in Christ by his Spirit.

The Prudent Acts with Knowledge

I have made it a discipline to read a chapter in Proverbs each day according to the day of the month. In doing this I hold fast to God’s promise in Proverbs 13:13 “Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.” I long for the reward of knowing God and his will so that my soul is satisfied in him in all that he is for me in Jesus Christ. But as I have considered this promise, will be rewarded, with the condition, revering the commandment, I am struck with the necessity of not only reading, meditating and studying the word, but acting upon it.

The writer of Proverbs confers with this when he says, “In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.”(Pr.13:16) To revere the commandment is to treasure it and act upon it, doing what it says. And so those who are wise, fearing God as he reveals himself in his word, act by applying wisdom to life. Therefore the Christian must act and when he acts he will either flaunt his folly because he is not growing in the knowledge of God through his word, or he will reflect the glory of God in his acting because he is being renewed in his whole being by the knowledge of God through his word. By the grace of God we must not only be hearers of God’s word but doers (Jas.1:22).

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Recently I watched a two part DVD, “Long Way Round” featuring the motorcycle travels of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman as they traversed from the U.K. across Europe through Russia and ending in New York. The adventure was rigorous and to a risk taking adventurous spirit like mine, challenging. However, the language of Charlie Boorman was quite often offensive and especially coming out of the most difficult times of their journey through Mongolia and Russia.

What does this have to do with “Thoughts on Thanksgiving”? As I reflected on their journey and the increased amounts of stress they were under in the most difficult circumstances I wondered what made these travelers more debased in their use of language as they came out of these times of stress having accomplished something difficult. It seemed that the more stress they were under and the more difficult things became it would humble them and cause them to be more gentle, thoughtful and solemn but when they would make it through those times their exaltation was expressed in obscene and foolish talk. Why?

The conclusion I have come to is in the heart of pride. Pride is self exalting not self forgetting and others exalting. Pride is self focused and God forgetting refusing dependence on the only worthy exalted God. Paul speaking to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:2 says, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful…”. Paul is telling us that not having gratitude is reflective of a heart of pride. And in Ephesians 5:4 Paul says, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” Here he says that the ugliness of language is in contrast to the language of gratitude. If a person does not have a clear sense that all the difficulties they have come through are owing to God’s mercies, and rather look to themselves as one who has traversed the trials and come out on the other side then there is not gratitude but pride expressing itself in the ugliness of self exaltation.

Therefore humility before God and His sovereign mercies is necessary to fill our hearts with gratitude expressed in songs, prayers and words of praise and thanksgiving. The heart of the Christian must look back with clear thoughts of all the mercies of God as Creator, Sustainer, Provider and Redeemer to express in affections and words gratitude. If we fail to remember all that God has been and done for us to exalt Himself as our greatest treasure then the storehouses of gratitude will be bankrupt. If we fail to follow the rivers of His mercies back to the headwaters, springs and falls of His glorious mercies then fresh cool streams of gratitude will run dry in our hearts. And in those bankrupt and dry hearts will grow the ugliness of pride that exalts self and forgets God. The life of God in the soul of man is reflected in magnifying God with thanksgiving when the soul rises to the heights of God dependence for all that He has been for him in His triune nature.

God is carrying His church the “Long Way Round” through deep valleys and grand vistas, down rough roads and up smooth roads, through deep waters and along gentle streams, among hard people and gentle people, among different people and like minded people. But in all the circumstances, situations and relationships He carries her through “his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning.”(Eccl.3:22-23) Therefore in the stresses and strains of trials, affliction and suffering the church can come forth in humility with hearts overflowing in thanksgiving. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col.3:16-17)

Reformation Heritage IV: John Owen, Pursuing Holiness

The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). The apostle Paul says that the church has been chosen before the foundations of the earth to be holy and blameless in the Son (Ephesians 1:3). Therefore holiness that displays the glory of God in Jesus Christ is the aim of God in the life of His church, and the aim of the church is the pursuit of that holiness in the grace of God. When we look to the reformation of God’s church in history we see God pursuing this aim in His servant John Owen, and His servant pursuing this aim in His and our God.

John Owen was not a magisterial reformer of the 16^th century but an English puritan of the 17^th century. The puritan era lasted from1560 to1660 and Owen was born into the heart of this movement in 1616, the same year Shakespeare died, and died at its end in 1683. J.I.Packer says, “Puritanism was at heart a spiritual movement, passionately concerned with God and godliness. It began in England with William Tyndale the Bible translator, Luther's contemporary, a generation before the word "Puritan" was coined, and it continued till the latter years of the seventeenth century, some decades after "Puritan" had fallen out of use ... Puritanism was essentially a movement for church reform, pastoral renewal and evangelism, and spiritual revival.” (Quest for Godliness). Owen was a puritan theologian, statesman, Oxford leader, pastor, husband and father. He was married to Mary Rooke for 31 years and fathered eleven children all of whom died before he died. Mary died in 1675 and ten of the eleven children she bore died in childhood and one died at 23 years of age. He was a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, Dean and Vice Chancellor to Christ Church Oxford until Charles II came to power and then he spent 23 years as a fugitive pastor and leader of the independent Congregationalist in England. He wrote extensively beginning with his first work against Arminianism and continued writing many other works until a month before he died in 1683. But his afflictions and accomplishments are not what highlight his life. It is the life of holiness he pursued in the midst of those afflictions and accomplishments.

David Clakson, who spoke at John Owens funeral, said, “A great light is fallen; one of eminency for holiness, learning, parts and abilities; a pastor, a scholar, a divine of the first magnitude; holiness gave a divine lustre to his other accomplishments, it shined in his whole course, and was diffused through his whole conversation.” God’s aim in his life was holiness, and Owens aim in his life in God through Christ and by the Spirit was holiness: “I hope I may own in sincerity that my heart's desire unto God, and the chief design of my life ... are, that mortification and universal holiness may be promoted in my own and in the hearts and ways of others, to the glory of God, that so the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be adorned in all things.” The aim of holiness for Owen was not his own glory which is pursued through legalism, but a grace filled life that adorns the gospel of God in Jesus Christ. He pursued holiness in communion with God in the Son and by the fellowship of the Spirit. He had not the ability or desire for holiness in himself. Therefore the luster of his life was holiness that came from God in Christ. He says, “To suppose that whatever God requireth of us [holiness] that we have the power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect.” The man who dies to sin in the death of Christ is the man who lives to holiness in the life of Christ. This was the pace and aim that Owen sets for us in the certainty of who Christians are as the redeemed yet indwelt with sin, and who God is for us in Christ toward holiness. He says, “It is our duty to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2Cor.7:1); to be “growing in grace” everyday (1Pe.2:2; 2Pe.3:18); to be “renewing our inward man day by day” (2Cor.4:16). Now, this cannot be done without the daily mortifying of sin. Sin sets its strength against every act of holiness and against every degree we grow to. Let not the man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks over the belly of his lusts. He who does not kill sin in his way takes no steps toward his journey’s end…sin does so remain, so act and work in the best believers, while they live in this world, that the constant daily mortification of it is all their days incumbent on them.” He did not wait for holiness through grace, he pursued holiness through grace and he exhorts us to the same, “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” We must hear Owen echoing out of the depths of God’s glorious promise to his church, “If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live.”(Romans 8:13).

John Owen lived toward holiness in communion with God by His grace. May God give His church grace for holiness through the Son and by the Spirit, and may His church live in communion with Him through the Son and by the Spirit in pursuit of God’s delights, His own glory in holiness.

Sola Christus

All men are sons of Adam banished from the garden and the kingdom by God’s flaming wrath taking up residence as sons of disobedience in our father’s kingdom of sin and death. In this kingdom we obey the flesh and it’s lusts, we are enslaved to passions leading to eternal death, we follow the prince of this world in his pride and rebellion, and our inheritance is one of fire, gloom and the worm. And then a dying man in his weakness proclaims a foolish message of the man Christ Jesus who can sympathize with our weaknesses, who suffered the very pangs of hell in his body suffering and dying as the Prince of Peace. And not by might or power of the dying man, but by the Power of the Spirit, this foolish message becomes a sweet savor unto life. We here his cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, as our cry, the cry of those who deserve eternal death and judgment from the God whom we have shunned and rebelled against. And we know that His judgment has been poured out upon him, that he has taken our chastisement, bore our grief and sorrows, taken our blows and suffered our death, and that somehow in the wisdom of God, by his wounds we are healed. We see his hands and his side and we see our life is in him who died in our place rescuing us from the kingdom of darkness and death bringing us, in himself, out to eternal life in the salvation of our God. And suddenly, not because of anything that we have done, there is peace with God. We have the gift of life eternal as children of the living God and a promised inheritance in the kingdom of his beloved Son. What have we done? Nothing! It is free grace, salvation in the Son, the Mediator of a new covenant where there is life, righteousness and holiness in Christ, and the knowledge of the truth. Is there faith? Yes! Is their repentance? Yes! It is there as a gifted expression of joyful submission to the God of glorious holy grace.

Ms. Smith, The Lord is Her Shepherd

The Lord's Day is His for our delightful rest in His presence in the context of worship, rest and mercy. It is a blessing to call the Lord's Day a delight when He comes near and speaks to us from His throne of grace by His Word, and what a delight it was to hear His word spoken from the mouth of Ms. Smith on this Lord's Day.

Ms. Smith is in her late forties or early fifties living in an assisted living home since suffering a severe stroke. She is no longer able to carry out her vocation as a nurse and is now confined to living in her hometown under someone else's nurse care. Each week we visit with her and the other residents and hold a worship service with them in the living room of their assisted living home. Ms. Smith is a regular to the worship services. She cannot speak many words but her countenance glows as we sing hymns together and she smiles or is sometimes expressive of sorrow when the Word is read and preached. We often ask her questions hoping to get information from her so that we can better understand her life and minister to her, but we are usually met with a shake of her head because of her inability to communicate. She will nod in agreement, shake her head in disagreement or say, "I tell you man", but this is usually the limits of her communication. However, that all changed on this Lord's Day.

We were turning in our hymnals to "Great is Thy Faithfulness" as our musician was readying herself to lead us in singing when I asked, "Who can tell me of a Psalm from the Scriptures that proclaims to us the faithfulness of God?" No one spoke up, so I continued, "I have one in mind I am sure some of you know. Do you know Psalm 23?" As I looked up Ms. Smith was beaming. Then I began, "The Lord is my..." and I was interrupted by a booming, "Shepherd" from Ms. Smith. And with that she and I continued through the Psalm word for word from the beginning to the end. She was beaming with joy and bouncing in her chair like a child before her father as though she knew she was going to receive a great reward. She has not spoken but a few words and has been unable to remember and bring to speech what she thinks in her mind up to this point. But the Word of God that is written on her heart and is her life came bursting forth. Needless to say I rejoiced in the Lord with her.

I had gone to the assisted living center to preach the gospel and be a conduit of God's grace and mercy to those residents. And the Lord of the Sabbath who made this day for man to find his rest in the presence of His glory shinned the light of His glory in my face in Christ. I visited with a lady who has suffered the loss of many things in this earth but who possesses an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ and God is satisfying her heart with Himself revealed to her in His Word of Truth. The Word is her life and I shared in the joy of her life in Christ through His Word. She did not say anything else the rest of our time with her. She was unable, but her joy was full and so was mine.

Reformation Heritage III: John Calvin, Man of God's Word

If you were to paint a picture of John Calvin in your mind and he was holding a book in his lap what would that book be? If you have learned about Calvin through a public system of education it may be a book many are sure he wrote, but none can find “Predestination; Crushing Man’s Freedom”. If you have been taught some church history by the media or read an encyclopedic entry on Calvin it may be a book many are sure he wrote but none can find, “The Church’s Guide to the Burning of Heretics”. Or if you are reformed you may picture him with his “I Am a Calvinist and Your Not” t-shirt on holding the “Institutes of the Christian Religion” in his lap which he did write and many can find. My examples may be narrow but so are many of our views of the humble 16^th century French pastor – theologian.

Though his reading was extensive, I would picture John Calvin holding a Bible in his lap. Everything that John Calvin wrote that we have in our hands today to read bleeds the Bible as his primary source. He said, “We owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God, because it proceeded from Him alone, and has nothing of man mixed with it.” He believed that the great proof of the Scripture lay in the fact that God Himself speaks in it. Therefore Calvin would teach us to know and enjoy God we must seek Him where He has revealed Himself primarily in His Word.

He began his studies of the Scriptures while a student in France. His father first employed him as a student of the church but soon his father insisted he study law. But it was during this time that the teachings of the reformers began to reach France and God called Calvin to himself. He said of this time in his life, “My father had intended me for theology from my early childhood…then, changing his mind, he sent me to learning law…until God at last turned my course in another direction by the secret rein of his providence. By a sudden conversion he tamed to teachableness a mind too stubborn for its years, for I was so strongly devoted to the superstitions of the papacy that nothing less could draw me from such depths of mire.” God had brought about his conversion while still in France but because of persecution he fled France for Switzerland. Upon his coming to Basel in 1534 he assisted Peter Robert in his French translation of the Scriptures, studied Hebrew and finished his first edition of the Institutes or the Instruction in the Christian Religion. This work was written to instruct the persecuted French church and also as a defense of the protestant Christians before the King of France. He then sought to go to Strasbourg as a place of peace where he could study and write, but by God’s providence he was routed southward on his journey and passed through Geneva. There in Geneva he was confronted by William Farel, whom Calvin said was “a Frenchman who burned with an extraordinary zeal to advance the gospel”. He pressed Calvin to stay in Geneva and even insisted that if Calvin went on to Strasbourg for peace and study that “God would curse [his] retirement and the peace of study that [he] sought.” At the age of 27 Calvin began his ministry in Geneva as a professor, preacher and theologian. After only a year and a half in Geneva Calvin and Farel were run out of town by the city fathers and they fled to Strasbourg. There Calvin became a pastor to French refugees and a teacher of New Testament for three years. It was during this time he met his wife Idellete. They later had three children all whom died shortly after birth. Idellete became ill after the birth of her children and died in 1549, Calvin never remarried. Calvin returned to Geneva in September of 1541 and remained there serving until his death in 1564.

John Calvin devoted his life to the study, teaching and preaching of God’s Word. His Institutes have over 7,000 references to Scripture. He wrote a commentary on most every book of the Old and New Testaments. He was writing a commentary on Ezekiel when he died. He preached expositional sermons from the Scriptures ten times every two weeks. He was exiled from Geneva on Easter Sunday, 1538 after preaching at St. Peter’s, he returned in September 1541 and began preaching on the very next verse he had left off at three years before. He studied and taught Hebrew and Greek and taught many others who became pastors preaching the Word of God. Why was John Calvin so devoted to the spread of God’s Word?

He was devoted to God’s Word because God is devoted to the spread of the glory of His name in the earth through His Spirit and by His Word. He lived in a time where God’s glory in Christ had slipped from the center of the churches teaching and he knew the only way to recover was in the reclamation of the Word of God. The glory of God in Christ was being extinguished by false doctrines and the Word of God preached and taught would reform doctrine and lead men to perceive the glory of God in Christ. He said, “Thy Word, which ought to have shone on all thy people like a lamp, was taken away, or at least suppressed as to us.” Today man is at the center of the church and the glory of God in Christ is supplanted by man’s desire to make a god of his own liking and experienc. But God is not interested in man being titillated by His existence, He is interested in man being overcome by His majesty. God is not interested in being an addendum to man’s life, He is interested in His glory in Christ being savored at the center and spreading out through all of man’s life. God is not interested in being man’s lover who satisfies him for a breathless moment, He is interested in being his covenantal Head who is praised, thanked, trusted and obeyed. Let us return and do all according to God’s Word. Semper Reformanda…Always Reforming let us be.

Reformation Heritage II: Ulrich Zwingli, The Reforming Patriot

Religious, political and cultural change is necessary; however, we do not always like change. Though God is unchanging the unfolding of His providence brings about change. All that he has created has been subjected to the futility of the fall and is being restored through His work of redemption by the reigning Son. Therefore God’s government and preservation of all creation in the process of restoration necessitates change. Change is something we all experience everyday as the sun rises and sets, the stock market rises and falls, newly elected officials of the civil realm take office, new technology breaks into the marketplace, or Johnny goes off to school. The question is, “How do we handle the unfolding of God’s providence in the context of change?”

Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther were contemporaries. Zwingli was born several weeks after Luther on January 1, 1484, and lived in his shadow in the German speaking cantons of Switzerland. While Luther was raised up by God for the reforming of the church in Germany, Zwingli was used of God in Switzerland as a pastor, theologian and patriot in the context of change.

Switzerland was technically a part of the Holy Roman Empire but in the 16^th century had become a confederacy of independent states. These independent states or cantons were continually struggling in the times of the reformation with their identity as Catholics or Protestants. We have a hard time understanding this in our nation of religious pluralism. We have a Catholic church on one corner and a Baptist church on the opposite and neither one of them have seemingly anything to do with the “state”. But in the days of Zwingli the civil and ecclesiastical realms were very closely related. The state was ordered by the Holy Roman Empire and her ecclesiastical officials. Therefore, the “protestors” or those disagreeing with the doctrines of the church were often brought into direct conflict with the leaders of the state as they lead the people of the Empire with their reformed teachings. This was the changing times in which Ulrich Zwingli lived as a reforming pastor, theologian and patriot.

He came to Zurich at the age of 35 and began preaching in the great Grossmunster. There he took up preaching the New Testament in the gospel and it was his practice until he died 12 years later. This was an unusual experience for a preacher to teach the people through the Bible verse by verse. As Zwingli studied and preached Biblical theology it shaped and influenced all of life. He was an accomplished musician but he did not practice music in worship because he believed the Bible did not command music to be used in worship. He was a pastor that remained in Zurich during a plague to shepherd the people of God in death, while all other clergy left the city for health. He wrote an important work concerning the authority of the Scripture. He stood against the Romish teachings of the Mass. But his Biblical reforming principles not only affected his thoughts and practices in regard to preaching, worship, the sacraments, and pastoral ministry they affected his thought and life in the civil realm.

In the 16^th century the Swiss people lost 200,000 men in mercenary service for the sake of the Holy Roman Empire. Zwingli believed in a just war, but he did not believe that the men of Switzerland should have been paid to leave their land and fight in battles in France in the service of the Pope. This brought him in sharp dispute against the empire. The city fathers in the canton of Zurich were pressed whether they would be Catholic or Protestant. The catholic clergy thought this not a matter for the city fathers to decide, but Zwingli thought it was proper. In 1523 Zwingli wrote his 77 articles for a disputation that would lead to their decision. In those articles he clearly articulated the Biblical reformed faith that affected life and clearly renounced Catholic abuses in the church and state. On the day of the disputation no one showed up to debate with Zwingli, and Zurich became a protestant canton. Zwingli said, “Custom must yield to truth”. He was a man reformed in his thought and life by God’s Word and he believed the truth of God revealed in His Word should affect all of life.

Zwingli is remembered in Switzerland by a statue. In that statue he has a Bible under one arm and a sword in his hand. And for this many in the history of the church have been critical of him. Zwingli died at the age of 46 in a battle defending Zurich’s freedom. He went into battle as a chaplain bearing a sword and was killed there. He fought for his country’s freedom for he believed that through that freedom the gospel of Jesus Christ would go freely to reform all of Switzerland. Zwingli believed Christ was the transformer of culture. Therefore he involved himself in political, economic and military affairs in his short tenure as a pastor-teacher-theologian. He was once asked what economics had to do with the gospel, and his reply was, “Much in every way.”. Ulrich Zwingli lived in the midst of change, and he did not respond to that change with indifference, but with faith in an unchanging God whose steadfast truth reformed and directed his thought and life so that he could live responsibly for the glory of God in his several vocations.

A Reformation Heritage

Reformation is a reclamation, “a rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course”. The 16^th century Protestant Reformation was God’s rescuing of his church from error by the power of the Holy Spirit through the instrument of His Word and sinful yet redeemed grace filled servants of the gospel. Each year as a church we desire to remember, learn from and respond to what God has accomplished in our reformation heritage. Our church is Reformed in that we are connected to the teachings of the historical church and doctrinal beliefs recovered by the Protestant Reformation. Therefore it is important that we remain connected, but not for the purpose of becoming what these people or churches once were, but so that we are vigilant and diligent to be always reforming, semper reformanda, to the rightful course set down for us by the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

This week we will look back at Martin Luther and his theology of the cross. To get to his theology of the cross we must first step into his understanding of the gospel. Martin Luther wrote, “By the one solid rock we call the doctrine of justification by faith alone, we mean that we are redeemed from sin, death and the devil, and are made partakers of life eternal, not by self-help but by outside help, namely by the work of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ alone.” He arrived at this truth through his illumined study of the Scriptures. And, this doctrine of justification by faith alone, that salvation is not man’s achievement but a gift from God, is the bedrock of the church and the centerpiece of her proclamation. Therefore, the reclamation of this truth was for Luther and others a joy and a standard that would mark them as the protestors in their day. Through not only the understanding of this truth but living in this truth Martin Luther would discover the theology of the cross.

The grace of God in Jesus Christ seen at the cross was at the center of all that Luther thought, preached, wrote and acted upon. God lead him to understand all things as they were revealed to him at the cross. This idea brought him into conflict with the scholastic method of theology he had been taught. The scholastics of the middle ages were proud philosophical and speculative thinkers about God and reality. They studied God in light of their own understanding and speculated about his revelation on the basis of their own human categories. Luther called their theology a theology of glory. He said, “That theology which seeks for God in His glory and majesty is to be replaced by a theology of the cross, which is satisfied with knowing God as He has given Himself to us in His shame and humiliation.”. The theologians of glory were building their theology upon what they expected God to be like, themselves. But Luther’s theology of the cross was built upon the revelation of God in Christ hanging on the cross. Luther wrote, “It is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good, to recognize God in His glory and majesty unless he recognizes Him in the humility and shame of the cross.”

Therefore when Luther practiced the theology of the cross in thought he put all revealed knowledge of God through the sieve of the cross. When he thought about the power of God he did not think of some great power of man and multiply it infinitely to reach an understanding of God’s power. Rather he understood God’s power as revealed in weakness at the cross. There power is hidden in the form of weakness where Christ suffers under the power of sin and death and then displays his power in rising from the dead and putting all his enemies under his feet. So, for Luther power is hidden in the appearance of weakness. When Luther practiced the theology of the cross in conduct he lived in the light of the cross. If Christ came to earth as the King and acted as a suffering servant to all then Luther lived in his callings as a servant of the gospel of grace in suffering that he may one day be exalted with Christ in glory. The theology of the cross teaches us that the way to glory is the way of the cross, so serving and suffering by grace is glory. For Luther the theology of the cross directed his thought and his life as it should the church today.

May the light of the glory of God in Christ shine in the face of the church so that she may know and delight in him in worship with greater knowledge and affection and suffer as servants of the gospel of grace toward all in the earth by the grace that God gives.

Debt

As our country experiences the pain and brokenness of being in debt where are the “gifts” to soothe the pain and mend the brokenness? There was a time when we took the stairs into the basement to take few mason jars off the shelf or something carefully packed away in the freezer to add to the sale priced meat that adorned our plates. But the basement together with its dampness, mold and the sound of the de-humidifier represents not the diligence and forethought to provide for a lean day, but the darkness and noise of greedy spending and the noise of modernity attempting to drown it out.

Bi-partisan politics and all night meetings are not the scenes of an emergency but the scenes of a reality. They are the scenes of men and women in plenty worshiping the creation and the creature rather than the Creator. They are the scenes of an adulterous people who turn their ears away from the wise and good words of their husband to listen to that which tickles but goes away into emptiness. Where is the wise man and woman in these days of emergency and crisis? They are at both ends of the table and on both sides of the aisle crying with convincing words to apply band-aids of all shapes and sizes. Is there a cry for swallowing our pride in repentance and faith? No, the cries are, “Do something quick before I loose my house, 401k or retirement.” The scenes are temporal because the desires of our hearts and the passions of our flesh are satisfied and filled by the creation. They are the cries at George Bailey’s ole building and loan teller window, “I’ll take my $242, now my accounts closed!” And they are the cries that it is the George Bailey’s of the world that have gotten us into this mess.

It is in such times that the brokenness of living in a fallen world as fallen people screams the loudest. These are the time historians live for because when they tell the stories of civilizations and their imaginative religions they can point to such crises as those that made the peoples look heavenward or earthward, depending on your version of god and sexual preference. But what about the church, are these the times she lives for? She is the redeemed bride of Christ, the jewel bought at a great price, those living in the kingdom of the beloved Son, those broken by the fall yet graced with the gift of redemption and restoration, those who can tell the story clearly in the midst of the brokenness that will give hope to those who have not money to buy bread and wine. The church are those who know the healing balm of Gilead that has lead them to repent from worshiping the creation and the creature to find joy in the beauty of God’s glory revealed in Christ. The church is a debtor to mercy alone with nothing to repay, those who have been bought with a great price. The church knows the darkness of the pit of despair where their bones wasted away where there is groaning all day long, and yet have found the blessedness of being those against whom the Lord counts no iniquity. The church knows what it is to acknowledge sin and lay their souls before the gracious Creator and Redeemer and find him to be faithful and true to forgive. The church knows what it is to envy those who with ease, but who have been brought into the sanctuary where there is true understanding and where they have found the Lord to be their best portion forever unrivaled by anything in all creation. The church may not have all the answers to the financial crises and in fact may find herself right in the midst of it, but she can speak clearly in this scene of brokenness that the Lord delights in those who look not to man but whose eyes are upon Him who creates, sustains and redeems.

All of Grace

I am enjoying my study of Ruth for preaching on Sunday evenings. In the second chapter Ruth begs a very important question before Boaz, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" (2:10). Boaz answers her and it seems that he is setting her up as an employee of God who has gotten her due, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay you for what you have done,” (2:11-12a). However, at the end of his answer grace comes pouring out to explain why she has done what she has and why she has found favor, “ and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" (2:12b). The gods of Moab are not like the true and living God. God has stretched out his wings to this woman whom he has called so that she can find grace as one who is humble and in need (1:16). And because by grace He is her refuge and strength she not only experiences grace she can be a conduit of grace to others in need. God does not repay anyone for anything they have done, but only makes it known that grace begins the relationship and grace extends the relationship and grace makes for God glorifying relationships. A God glorifying relationship with Him in love is by His grace, and a God glorifying extension of that love toward our neighbors is by His grace.

But it does not matter how beautiful and true this picture is of God’s grace is there will always be those who offer themselves to God and expect to get their due. Tracy Altman recently led me to an article in First Things that makes this point clear. In the article the question is asked, "Is Mormonism Christian?". A Mormon and a Christian respond with opposite answers to the question. The Mormon spends most of his time trying to ward off the charge that Mormons believe in salvation by works, not grace, and then he says this,

"Nonetheless, salvation in our view is not obtained without effort on the part of the sinner. 'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven' (Matt. 7:21). Grace requires a price to be paid and that price is the heart of the sinner."

It does not seem to matter what cloak works righteousness dresses in it cannot admit the obvious, grace, all of grace. Whether the cloak is red with a gold RC, a black cloak bearing the white P from later 19th century revivalism that gave rise to the white cloak worn under the black tie with the letter M, the cloak will always seek to exalt itself over the towel that bears the muddied letter G and that gets hung on a cross each night.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:8-10

God’s Authoritative and Profitable Word

“Put that down. We do not need that in this situation.” These words were spoken to me by a gentleman in my living room recently when I reached for some authority on the matter with which we were discussing. I was reaching for the Bible.

This gentleman was a confessing evangelical worshiping each week in an evangelical church in our community. In his view the Bible has authority when it comes to certain subjects, but it is actually a human book not a divine revelation. It is a guide to a religious experience but on this occasion its authority was displaced by an opposing authority, his opinion that the matter we were discussing was not in the realm of the Bible’s authority. His view is not only in contradiction to his confessing evangelicalism but it is leading him and others away from the good and true beauty of God.

Are you traversing the road that offers breathtaking views of the glory and majesty of God, the road that provides the richest delights from his table of goodness, and the road that bends and winds its way through truth and righteousness? Those who hold to the Bible as authoritative believe that God is its author and that he has given it to direct the belief and behavior of his people. And it is these who will traverse through this world to behold his beauty, goodness and truth and their voices will resound in shouts of praise and their lives will reflect his glory as they trust and obey by his grace. We all long for this truth, goodness and beauty, but how do we know that God can provide it, and how do we know it will really benefit us in this life?

We all live in the midst of revelation. Everyday we see and hear the world around us and its inhabitants. We long for this revelation to shed some truth, goodness and beauty upon us, and in this theater of the natural revelation of God it does. However, we do not clearly see it. We see it in a distorted way like a middle aged man trying to read tiny print under a dim light. Therefore God expired his special revelation to us in the Scriptures. As Paul tells Timothy, All Scripture is breathed out by God.(2Tim.3:16). God is the source, the ultimate author of the Bible. He used human authors to write, but he is the authoritative source. Therefore the Bible is distinguished from all other writings as authoritative. It is true in all its parts. It is sufficient to lead us to God’s goodness in salvation and eternal life. It is clear so that anyone can be lead to the beauty of God in all of life. God has provided for us his authoritative word to lead us into truth, goodness and beauty. But is not the Bible outdated and unable to really benefit us in this life?

God’s word is profitable (2Tim.3:16). I often hear that as Presbyterians we are to ‘theological’ or ‘doctrinal’. It is interesting to note what God’s expired word is first of all profitable for in Paul’s list to Timothy. He says, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching…that is doctrine. It is profitable because it teaches us what to believe about God, man and this world in which we live. But what profit is that doctrine? It reproves, corrects and trains us for life in a Godward direction. In the reformed church there have been three main focuses, doctrine, piety and culture. When God’s people profit from the Word of God it affects what they believe (doctrine) and when they have a true apprehension of that beauty it affects their hearts (piety), and when they have tasted and seen that God is good it affects what they do toward their neighbor (culture). But where the Word is not treasured as profitable the church is dysfunctional and does not benefit itself or others in this life.

Are you reaching for God’s authoritative profitable word and discovering Him who reveals himself so that you can know and enjoy him in all his truth, goodness and beauty. Reach and read it, reach and meditate on it, reach and memorize it, reach and pray it, reach and sing it, reach and worship around it, reach and speak it to others for his glory, your good and the good of those around you.

In Praise of God Through the Liberal Arts

There is a popular phrase in public education today which states, “Math + Science = Success”. Success is the god of our culture that promises wealth, ease, comfort, popularity and the attainment of all that the “American Dream” typifies, so we bow down and worship. And when we practice our worship, because we are pragmatic worshipers, we believe that formulas are necessary to success. Therefore we apply our formulas and then we stand next to one another (people, nations, churches, businesses, families, etc.) and measure our success by what we have gained for ourselves or our organizations. Therefore to train our children in math and science is the wisdom of the age that leads to the benefits the god of success bestows. But Godly people should ask if success is our aim, and is the end of learning math and science success?

The true and living God reveals himself in creation and providence, and man is wise who spends his entire life seeking to know him truly. He also gives us the Scriptures to know him and his salvation truly, but for this moment let’s think about the natural revelation of God in creation and providence. Math and Science are two disciplines within the modern liberal arts that reveal the nature of the living and true God. “Liberal Arts” is a term that describes a study with the purpose of imparting knowledge and increasing intellectual capacities. In the ancient world it was the free man and not the slave who was able to embark upon a study of the liberal arts. It was a discipline of seven studies, three in the Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and four in the Quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music). In the modern world the liberal arts include art, literature, philosophy, history, languages, mathematics and science and are available to all. Man is not limited from seeing God’s workmanship in creation and providence if he does not study the liberal arts. But those who will study them will “penetrate with their aid far more deeply into the secrets of the divine wisdom.” (John Calvin, Institutes I.V.2). All men everywhere are able to see the glory of God’s invisible attributes, namely his divine power and divine nature (Rom.1:20) as God thrusts them upon him in what he has made, sustains and governs. And those who will give themselves to learning and increasing intellectual capacities in the liberal arts will have even more thrust upon them for the knowledge and enjoyment of the true and living God.

The aim in the study of the liberal arts, which math and science are a part, is not success but wisdom. John Calvin says in the opening sentence of his “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and ourselves.”. The study of the Liberal Arts cannot supplant our study of God’s Word. However, the church must recognize that God has given us a general revelation of himself, and through a study of the liberal arts he can impart to us knowledge and increase our intellectual capacities that we might see more truth, goodness and beauty, and in seeing them see him who fills the earth.

The true and living God is infinite and eternal and beyond tracing out. Therefore he offers all who seek the knowledge and wisdom of him an infinite supply of truth, goodness and beauty. All men, but especially the godly, have a wonderful privilege and a tremendous responsibility to see and savor the glory of God in all that he has made and sustains for his glory. Sit down and read a “Great Book”, study history, study the vastness of the heavens, enjoy music and art, learn to do equations, learn a language, or enjoy Pascal as he reasons with the philosophers of his day. The aim is not “success”. It is to know more of him who has made, sustains and governs the heavens and the earth and all that they contain.

Receiving the Preached Word

The young Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne said he, “preached as a dying man to dying men.” The picture, of another Scottish preacher, in the picture below, tells the story of a preacher with this attitude. But what does a “dying man” look like that comes to hear from a dying preacher? We get a glimpse of this when the apostle Paul came to Berea in Acts 17. There he met a noble people who received the Word of God that was preached to them with eagerness, examination, and response (Acts 17:11-12).

First, we need to receive the preached Word with eagerness. We are eager for many things and we exemplify this by our anticipation and preparation. We must come to the reception of God’s word with an even eager anticipation. There are many temporal and eternal reasons for this, but here is one from the Psalmist, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; (Ps.19:7-8). Since this is true about the word of God then we must in our anticipation prepare ourselves for an eager reception on the Lord’s Day. We may do this by turning our hearts on Saturday evening to him in prayer for the church, those teaching and leading worship, the one who preaches and for the Holy Spirit to come down upon his church. We may also prepare for an eager reception by arriving to worship early with a quieted heart and a ready mind.

Second, we need to receive the Word by examination. The Bereans heard the word on the Sabbath and they examined what they heard each day during the week. Examination requires deeper thought beyond the sermon. The apostle Paul required this of Timothy when he said, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2Tim.2:7). It requires the discipline of checking out what has been preached with the rest of Scripture. It requires asking questions of the text and the points that were made from the text. It requires talking about it with others.

Third, we need to receive the Word with a proper response. We are called to be eager receivers and examiners of God’s Word, so that we may give a proper response. James says, “the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (Jas 1:25). A proper response to God’s word is trust, belief, thanksgiving, praise and varied obedience depending on the prescribed will of God.

We are called to receive the word of God preached by dying men with eagerness, examination and response for the glory God and the furthering of his kingdom.

Will Our Church Survive?

Pasotring a small church you sometimes are tempted to ask, "Will this church survive through these changing times?". The answer to that question lies in the sovereign will of God, but also in the responsibility of the leadership of this church. According to John Wesley if Methodism was to survive beyond his life he said,

"The Methodists must take heed of their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their disciplines. If they attend their doctrine only, they will make people antinomians; if to the experiential part of religion only, they will make them enthusiasts (mindless fanatics); if to the practical part only, they will make them Pharisees; and if they do not attend to their discipline, they will be like persons who bestow much pains in cultivating their gardens, and put no fence round it to save it from wild boars of the forest."

The Presbyterian and Reformed churches must also take heed to his words. The doctrine of God is adorned with the righteousness of God, the experience or the enjoyment of God is guarded by the knowledge of God, the application of God's Word is expressed only through the grace God gives, and the gift of disciplines is a training ground for the display of God's glory in grace toward the nations through the church, but also a rampart to keep God's church from being overrun by the culture. We will survive if the leaders of our church keep a watch over their lives and their doctrine, and give themselves to keeping watch over the church whom they serve as under-shephards.

Sunday Evening Worship

Why should we as a church continue to worship God in the evening as well as the morning on the Lord’s Day? Why should we continue to practice something that so many churches have abandoned for small groups and mid-week programs to meet the needs of families? “Why should you participate in Sunday evening worship?”

1. Evening Worship is Biblical. No, the Bible does not say, “You shall worship me in the evening at 6:00 PM”, but neither does it say we shall worship God in the morning at 11:00 AM. However, God did provide for his people Israel morning and evening sacrifice (Exodus 29:38-41; Numbers 28:1-10). There was to be burnt offerings before the Lord in the morning and in the evening and there the Lord would meet with his people and speak to them. David, the King of Israel and writer of many Psalms penned a Sabbath psalm that reads, It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, (Psalm 92:1-2). David’s life of devotion was based upon God’s design in the sacrificial system. In the sacrifice there was a victim in the place of the sinner bearing the wrath of God for sin, but this substitute did not fully appease the wrath of God. So they were aware of God’s judgment and looked forward by faith through the offering of sacrifice to a Messiah that would save them. And now that sacrifice has been made by Christ the Messiah and God’s wrath is appeased in him as he is accepted by the Father night and day. Now we can offer to him a sacrifice of praise…the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15), morning and evening. We also see the apostle Paul gathered with believers on the first day of the week preaching to them even unto midnight (Acts 20:7), indicating that he had begun earlier in the evening. Therefore, we should seek to worship the Lord from the rising of the sun to it’s setting on the Lord’s Day because evening worship is Biblical.

2. Evening Worship is a Means of Grace. How does God sanctify the hearts of his church? He does this primarily by his word and sacraments. He has meant for us to be holy and blameless in the Son and he has ordained that listening and responding to him by the means of his word, and being nurtured and strengthened through communion and baptism is his primary means. Whenever we choose not to participate in the public gathering for worship we are neglecting God’s ordained means of grace. This is why we as elders are calling upon the congregation to worship twice on the Lord’s Day. We have to give account for the souls whom God has given us to serve and so we believe calling God’s people to worship around his means of grace is the primary means he has given us to keep watch over the souls of his church (Hebrews 13:17). When the apostle Paul outlined the culture and problems that Timothy faced in the first century (which are no different than those we face today) (2Timothy3:1-9), he told him to preach the Word (2Timothy 4:2). Today we are told that things have changed, people are not able to endure preaching and teaching, we need more programs, small groups and other inventive ways to meet the felt needs of those in our culture. But when God has wanted to address the needs of his people he has given them his word and the signs and seals of their covenant relationship to him, the sacraments. We must not be shrinking away from the means of grace into modernity where it seems we find rest in our chosen recreation. We must hold fast to God’s grace in the means he has ordained to communicate it to us, and that happens in the context of morning and evening worship.

3. Evening Worship Helps Us Keep the Lord’s Day Holy. Everyday is the day that the Lord has made and we can rejoice and be glad in it. But the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day that he set apart by defeating sin and death and winning our salvation in his resurrection. Sunday is the Lord’s Day, and ‘Day’ indicates a whole day. It is a day ordained in creation and by redemption that God is jealous over. He has commanded us in the fourth commandment to keep it holy, and we must not treat this command of God with contempt. We have the opportunity on the Lord’s Day to sanctify it, set it apart as holy unto the Lord for worship, rest, doing works of mercy and fellowshipping with God’s people. Morning and evening worship is necessary to us in our weak state. We are created with a need to find our rest one day in seven in God’s presence where he is worshiped, trusted and obeyed. Therefore participating in evening worship is provided for us so that we may carry out the will of God in the earth for his glory and our good.

4. Evening Worship Helps to Propagate an Effective Christian Culture. In our country the church is camouflaged by being patterned more after our culture than biblical precepts. If we want to see God’s glory spreading throughout our community, country and earth, then God’s people must come together for worship morning and evening. Paul Alexander, a pastor of one church for more than 37 years, says, “Those who regularly participate in morning and evening worship over a period of years are the most stable and productive Christians. They are furthermore the most joyful and effective.” (Let’s Keep Our Sunday Evening Worship). We long to see one another built up and strengthened in the faith, equipped for every work of ministry, strong in the faith so as not to be blown and tossed by every wave of doctrine and modernity. We long to see a church full of worshipers and workers who are joyful and effective in our culture for God’s glory. But this will not happen where God’s people are not patterning their lives after God’s designs in corporate worship morning and evening.

On a drive around our community this past Wednesday night I noticed how full the parking lots of the churches were. People had come out for primarily children and youth programs at those churches. But a drive around our community on Sunday night will not afford us with the same picture. On Sunday evening less than a third of the churches in our community will have cars in their parking lots. People are not gathered to hear the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, participate in prayers, the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, the sacraments and fellowship with God’s people. Where have all the people gone on Sunday evening, where has the church gone, and where has the culture gone? Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25).

Longing for God's Work of Revival?

As a pastor in the American church I long for God to do a work of reformation and revival in his church. On each Sunday evening as I have said my last words from the sermon I take my seat in silence and the few members who have gathered to worship God from the rising of the sun to its setting begin to pray. We pray together as a congregation for God to bring about reformation and revival in our churches. In the article below written by Rev. Al Baker my hope is that you to will be encouraged to pray for reformation and revival in God's church.

Men Whom God Uses In Revival: Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Written by Rev. Al Baker

Robert Murray M’Cheyne, the well-known and powerful preacher of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was born outside Edinburgh in May, 1813, and reared in a Christian home, being taught the Westminster Shorter Catechism from an early age. He came to sincere and converting faith in Christ as a college student at the University of Edinburgh. Shortly thereafter he entered the theological college at St. Andrews and studied under the great preacher and theologian Thomas Chalmers. Upon his graduation at the age of twenty-two, M’Cheyne took the pastoral position at the St. Peter’s Presbyterian Church in Dundee, not far from St. Andrews. In 19th-century Scotland nearly everyone, whether true believers or not, attended both morning and evening Lord’s Day services. Dundee was no exception. M’Cheyne, following the lead of other Scottish Presbyterians preachers--men such as William Burns, Robert Bruce, Thomas Boston, Thomas Chalmers, and Andrew and Horatio Bonar--preached the lectio continua method, preaching verse by verse through various books of the Bible.

Within a few years the people of Dundee were responding with great joy and solemnity to the preaching of M’Cheyne. It is said that some would begin weeping before M’Cheyne opened his mouth to preach, knowing that he had just come from the presence of Christ, and this presence was so obvious to everyone who saw him. M’Cheyne long had a burden for the Jews in Palestine and, after only three years in Dundee, accepted a call to engage in missionary work. He was absent for nearly two years while he engaged Jewish people with the gospel. While he was away in Palestine William Burns filled the pulpit for him, and God visited the Dundee congregation with revival and awakening. The people were severely wounded in conscience, deeply concerned about their sin and impending judgment. Burns and other pastors were busy answering the questions of the awakened, granting them counsel on how to find peace with God. Instead of feeling jealous over Burns’ success, M’Cheyne, who returned to Dundee in the midst of the revival, picked up where Burns left off and also saw a remarkable harvest of souls. M’Cheyne continued in Dundee, preaching in nearby towns as well, for another three years until he became ill and died suddenly, just short of his 30th birthday. Believer and unbeliever alike were stunned and mourned his death, for all knew he preached Christ winsomely and with solemnity.

What was it that made M’Cheyne such a powerful preacher of the gospel of grace? He wrote to a seminary student in 1840, three years before his death, saying, “Remember, you are now forming the character of your future ministry in great measure, if God spare you. If you acquire slovenly or sleepy habits of study now, you will never get the better of it. Do everything in its own time. Do everything in earnest--if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, keep much in the presence of God. Never see the face of man till you have seen His face who is our life, our all. Pray for others, pray for your teachers, fellow students.”

We see from this that M’Cheyne was a man of great discipline and earnestness in all aspects of ministry. There never has been a man powerfully used of God who was lazy and undisciplined. Such is quite impossible. M’Cheyne yearned for, was jealous in keeping, a felt sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit. He was quite sensitive to His leading, being quick to repent and make restitution when he had offended or grieved Him. Are you disciplined in your personal devotional times, in scripture memory and meditation? Are you given to regular and earnest times of prayer? Is prayer and personal devotional time with God a driving force in your life?

To another student, M’Cheyne wrote, “Beware of the atmosphere of the classics [by this he meant the tendency in his day for preachers to spend inordinate time in reading the writers of Greek and Roman antiquity]. It is pernicious indeed; and you need much of the south wind breathing over the Scriptures to counteract it. True, we ought to know them; but only as chemists handled poisons--to discover their qualities, not to infect their blood with them.” So M’Cheyne guarded his mind and heart against scholastic or theological pride, embracing the Puritan notion that a preacher ought to be well read and well prepared when preaching, but his learnedness must be hidden behind the Christ he is exalting. Are you a student of theology? Are you continuing to read, to grow in the knowledge of Christ; while at the same time resisting the temptation to theological pride?

To another student M’Cheyne said, “Pray that the Holy Spirit would not only make you a believing and holy man, but make you wise in your studies also...The smile of God calms the spirit, and the left hand of Jesus holds up the fainting head, and the Holy Spirit quickens the affection; so that even natural studies go on a million times more easily and comfortably.” Following in the wake of Calvin and the 17th-century Puritans and 18th-century Old School Presbyterians, M’Cheyne lived in the presence of the Holy Spirit, knowing His vital ministry in his preaching and pastoral work. A common thread runs through the powerful preachers of the past. They were all men of prayer. They approached their task on their knees, as it were. They resisted the tendency toward professionalism. They had the unction of the Holy Spirit upon them, and this comes only through sincere, heartfelt prayer.

We preachers can sometimes be guilty of speaking the gospel in harshness, especially when we know there are those listening who are against us, who make life terribly difficult. M’Cheyne was very careful to guard against what he called bitterness in preaching. A preacher, even when speaking of God’s judgment on sinners, must preach with compassion and solemnity. Andrew Bonar remembered M’Cheyne’s asking him about his (Bonar’s) previous sermon. When Bonar said that he had preached on the wrath of God, M’Cheyne asked if he were able to preach it with tenderness. M’Cheyne said that the sharpest point of the two-edged sword is not death but life, and even against the self-righteous it ought to be used more than the message of death. To proclaim that faith in Christ removes immediately the judgment and wrath of God strikes more powerfully in the heart of the lost than any word of judgment. M’Cheyne is not saying we should avoid the hard sayings of Jesus, but he is saying the gospel of grace is to have pre-immanence. Would your people and visitors say you preach with tenderness and compassion?

M’Cheyne’s pulpit presence evoked awe from people, for they knew he had come from the presence of God. His reading, study, and meditation on God’s word were so thorough that the word of God oozed from him as he preached. He was quick to tell people to read the Scriptures and to feel them. His manner of preaching was from the Puritan school of expounding the text, showing its context, then putting forth doctrine derived from the text, finally applying the text practically in numerous ways in each sermon. He was very careful to draw out the meaning of the text in his preaching. Clearly M’Cheyne’s sermon preparation was not limited to the hours he spent in his study. It was an ongoing reality throughout the day, beginning in his private times with God and carrying him throughout the day with pastoral work. Perhaps we would do well to turn off the radio while driving to an appointment and meditate of the mysteries of the gospel, using any spare moment of the day for meditation on Scripture, feeding ourselves deeply from the well of Scripture so that we may draw deeply, pouring out our own experience of God’s word to our people in preaching and one-on-one ministry.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne once said that the presence of his beloved Christ was everything, and His absence was death to him. I wonder if we are really conscious of the Spirit’s presence. I wonder if our people can discern anything unusual, supernatural in our preaching. Could it be that we have preached for so many years, having our theology nailed down, that we lack Holy Ghost power in our ministries? Does anything unusual ever happen in your worship services? Are people ever converted, convicted, broken under your preaching? I dare say that we know little of this in our denomination. What do I mean by the presence of God in our preaching? It is difficult to define but we all know it when we see it. It is an unmistakable awareness that God is speaking directly through the preacher, in that very moment to the congregants. It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. It comes with life-changing power.

After experiencing revival at Dundee, M’Cheyne was grieved by the paltry response his ministry was then receiving. He wrote Bonar, saying, “O that my soul. . .was made a full vessel of the Spirit, to tell only of Jesus and His love. . The same Jesus reigns. . The same Spirit is able. Why is He restrained? Is the sin ours? Are we the bottle-stoppers of these heavenly dews?” Would you not agree that the Holy Spirit is restrained in our denomination? Are we not a tame denomination? Why do we see so few conversions? Why do we have such strife and division in our churches? Why do Session members refuse to speak with one another? Why do congregations not trust their Sessions? Why are we merely seeing a “shuffling of the deck” concerning church membership? Can we blame this simply on the post-modern disinclination to truth? Should we not look deeply into our own hearts, minds, and consciences, asking ourselves the hard questions? Is it not possible that we are consumed with pride? At our G.A. seminar in June, 2008, we discussed our sin of theological pride and arrogance. One participant observed that when we are accused of being unloving that does not bother us, but when anyone says we are stupid or unlearned, then we are deeply offended. Is it possible that we are grieving, driving away the Holy Spirit by our trust in our planning, programs, and personalities? Are we not guilty of the sin of unbelief? It seems to me that we have blinked, that we are not very confident in the simple preaching of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit to do its converting and sanctifying work. And I suggest we examine our hearts concerning our evangelism, or lack of it. Church history clearly notes that any church, college, or seminary that forfeits evangelism as its driving force will surely die. And could it be that in our evangelism are we forgetting the total depravity of man, tending instead to embrace semi-Pelagianism? We vehemently deny such a charge, but could we be saying one thing and doing another? Our failure boldly but compassionately to use the S(in) and H(ell) words reveal a vestige of semi-Pelagianism. We still think man holds the last card, that he has the last say, and we must therefore go easy on the doctrine of sin and hell. May God have mercy, drawing us to repentance!

M’Cheyne was also very quick to maintain a clear conscience before God, seeking always to be washed in the blood of Jesus, seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit at all times. He sought to maintain a conscience void of offense to anyone. I too often wait until the end of the day or Saturday night, asking God to show me my sin, before the Lord’s Day preaching. What a dangerous practice! By doing this am I not saying that I can pretty much carry on the day-to-day activities of ministry, that I really need the Spirit only when I am preaching? Not only are we in danger of grieving the Spirit in such a practice, but we also are prone to hardness of heart that fuels our brazenness to sin horribly, bringing shame to the One who bought us with His own blood.

M’Cheyne said, “I ought to meditate often on heaven as a world of holiness. . .I ought to avoid the appearance of evil.” May I suggest you memorize and meditate on such passages as Revelation 4, 5, 19-21? May God so work in us that heaven is as real to us and our people as living in this world! Be careful to guard yourself from every appearance of evil. We all know friends in the ministry who have made shipwreck of their faith, ministries, and families by carelessness with women and money. Are you too close with a woman who is not your wife? Are you dabbling in pornography, even sensual television programs, movies, or magazines? Are you materialistic, careless, or dishonest with money? Do you have anyone in your life who will ask you the hard questions? Are you honest with that person?

In summary, the one thing that sets Robert Murray M’Cheyne apart as a man greatly used of God in revival is his desire to be as holy as any sinner can be. In a day when Reformed pastors champion grace to the point of denying the third use of the Law; in a day when we sin so casually, rarely grieving deeply over our sin; in a day when we say we believe in man’s total inability but live as though man makes the decision to believe or not believe on Christ; it is vital that we return to a balanced view of gospel ministry. We glory in the doctrine of election, knowing that God has chosen a people for Himself; but we need also to remember our responsibility to walk in holiness, to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness, to fight the good fight of faith, to be sober, to fulfill our ministries, to do the work of an evangelist, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices for Christ, to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel.

Are you praying earnestly with others for revival and the power of the Holy Spirit upon your preaching and other aspects of ministry? Are you urging your church officers and people to pray earnestly for these things? Are you conscious, really conscious of your frailty and inability to affect change in your culture? Are you a true Calvinist or are you a de facto Arminian?

Can we put away the silver bullets that promise to make us successful in ministry? Can we build on holiness of life, sufficiency of Scripture and the crucified Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit? I suggest this Biblical approach is wonderfully liberating to those of us who have tried all the latest gimmicks meant to make us successful, promising large congregations. We are tired, discouraged, and perhaps disillusioned.

Most of us reading this are not greatly gifted or talented, but this does not matter. Most of us pastor smaller congregations and this will probably never change. But if we are truly faithful to Christ, if we are walking in holiness, if we are men of earnest prayer, if we long for the presence of the Spirit, then we will bear fruit in ministry--some thirty fold, some sixty fold, some one hundred fold. The amount does not matter, for our God is sovereign in salvation, as in all things. As you seek to live godly in Christ Jesus you will experience the joy of ministry. God will rekindle that which you had in the early days of your gospel work.

Take Up and Read

As the summer months ebb away I want to issue a challenge to all in the household of God, take up and read. But my challenge does not embrace the latest blockbusters that enable you talk with relevance at the coffee shop. In fact my challenge may make you irrelevant at the coffee shop, texting with your friends or on my space. I am challenging you to take a book of the Bible and take up and read. Here is how it goes:

- Choose a book of the Bible. (tip: don’t choose Ezekiel or Revelation if you have never read through the whole Bible once, choose 1 John instead.)

- Choose a time to sit and read the book through one time silently. (tip: time is God’s gift given to you to steward.)

- Choose a time to sit and read the book through out loud. (tip: time is created and sustained by God for his glory and your good)

- Choose a time to sit and read the book through prayerfully. (tip: talk with God about his word in thoughts of praise, thanksgiving, confession and supplication; talk about what you understand and what you don’t understand.)

- Write down the main thought of the book, each chapter and each section within those chapters.

- Take the Bible Book Test: tell someone who wrote the book and the main thought of each chapter. (tip: do this in person and give them an opportunity to talk with you about what you are learning.)

- Choose a time to read a good online commentary on the book. (tip: use free commentaries at http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Commentaries/; read one chapter of the book and then the corresponding section of the commentary at a sitting and write your own thoughts in reflection upon reading.

- Send me an email telling me what difference God has made in your life by teaching, reproving, correcting and training you in righteousness with his profitable word. (tip: you can email me at redeemerpres@bellsouth.net

I hope you will take up and read with some time given you this summer. God is concerned with how we conduct our lives as the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth (1Tim.3:15). May God grant you the grace of faith to read with a hunger and thirst for tasting and seeing that the Lord is good (Ps.34:8), may he grant you his grace through his Spirit to understand his word that is spiritually discerned (1Cor.2:14), and may he grant you grace to be changed by his word for his glory and yours and your neighbors good.

A Pastors Plea to His Congregation

Monday is my usual day off and on this particular day reading C.H.Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional, I read my weary hearts plea to my congregation. I have reprinted it below for your encouragement to follow God's word given us through the apostle Paul...

“Brethren, pray for us.”
1 Thessalonians 5:25
This one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the reader’s memory upon the subject of prayer for ministers, and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren, our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe to thousands; we treat with souls for God on eternal business, and our word is either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christ’s army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils; they watch for our halting, and labour to take us by the heels. Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt, above all it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many knotty cases, and our wits are at a non plus; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We wish to profit you by our preaching; we desire to be blest to your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners; therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God. Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has He given those blessings through His ministers; ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel. We, the whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you
“Brethren, pray for us.”

Serving Our City Day 6

The sixth day, the ministry “project” is over, but ministry was not. I was tired and rushed and wondered if it really mattered that the boys and I attend this funeral. Four of the boys from the Palmetto Square area had an uncle that passed away and I thought it would be good to attend the funeral Saturday afternoon. But after a week of non stop ministry in the city I was tired and rethinking the idea. But with a word of encouragement from my wife the boys and I made it in time for the 2:00 pm funeral at the church whose name was so long I cannot remember it. We were the only white people present in the church building. After the funeral was over we left the building and waited outside to see the boys and their mothers. As the boys came out one of them came over to me with tears streaming down his face and I took him in my arms. He is a 15 year old young man who I have been building a relationship with around the gospel for a year. He allowed me to hold him while he wept for well over two minutes. And as I looked around I realized that this scene was a rare one on Stonewall Street in downtown Brunswick. I with my boys were the only white people in sight and yet there was the evidence of God’s grace in our relationship. He was broken and he let me comfort him in his brokenness as I wept with him and encouraged him from the truth of God’s Word.

Ministry projects, weeks and trips come to an end, but the ministry of the gospel never ends. I went to bed tired Saturday night and woke early Sunday morning to ready myself to preach. One of the boys who participated in our sports camp and arts academy showed up at church this morning. We took him home for dinner after church and he stayed the day and came back with us for evening church along with four other young men including the one I wept with yesterday. Everyday is a day for the display of the glory of God shinning brightly in his grace through the Son. And the lives of his children who are alive in the Son are his to be conduits of that grace.

Serving Our City Day 5

Ronnie Spicer rides his bike everywhere he goes. He does odd jobs for businesses and homeowners downtown making enough cash to get by on. He has worked on a yard across the street from our church building and so he and I have built a relationship over the last several years. I invite him to church but he has never taken me up on the offer, but he has let me take him to lunch or sit with him and talk about the Scriptures and pray with him. Yesterday as I was the last vehicle leaving Palmetto Square loaded up with all our picnic supplies Ronnie came riding up on his bicycle. We talked for a few moments and though I had not seen him all week he had been watching us ministering in his neighborhood. He thanked me for what we were doing there and we talked about why we were doing what we were, giving me an opportunity to share the reason for the hope that we have in Christ and how it compels us in love toward our neighbors. But not all in the neighborhood are so thankful.

The day before as I was standing in the park with my children talking with some kids who were there from the neighborhood a car drove by with two men, the car slowed and they yelled several expletives directed at me along with some hand gestures displaying their disapproval of our being in their neighborhood. That evening as I was driving down the streets looking for some of the students for the Arts Academy I ventured to one of those dark houses where one of the boys stays. I got out of the truck and inquired of the whereabouts of the young man, and I was not even acknowledged. It was as if I was speaking in a foreign tongue they did not understand or as if I was invisible to them. Their rejection of me was quite obvious. I continued to inquire, but the best I got was he was not there. Some have been thankful for this work we have done and some are hostile to this work. There is nothing new under the sun.

Friday’s ministry started later giving everyone a little more rest before we began. We gathered our supplies at the church for the cookout in the park. We looked together at God’s word how he came near to us to take on our brokenness in the brokenness of his Son in his death, and how he calls his followers to follow him toward their neighbors in that same way by taking up their crosses and coming after him. We then prayed together and set off for the park. Some of us cooked hamburgers and hotdogs while others served them. Others helped children get their plates and eat and some lead the children in games or playing at the playground. This was our opportunity to set the table for our neighbors and invite them him to eat with us. This was the final event of our week of ministry to our neighbors in the city. It afforded great opportunities to share the love of God in Christ with our friends young and old. It was a joy to watch an intergenerational ministry taking place.

While our week of ministry has come to a close, our serving our neighbors in the city will continue throughout the year. New relationships have been built through the week that need to be followed up with prayer, Bible study and the sharing of our lives. Previous relationships have been strengthened, and new opportunities for ministry have to be developed and carried out. We will be praying to the Lord of the harvest to raise up workers for the harvest field, workers that work from worship to work. We will be gathering for prayer and planning to ask the Lord to lead us in our next steps of ministry in the city as our Director of Mercy and Evangelism, Ryan West, moves on to Louisville Kentucky to pursue further education. And we will give thanks for the work he is doning in our lives to enable us by his grace to extend a passion for knowing and delighting in the glory of God in the place he has planted us.