Friday, May 30, 2008

Raising Children for Wisdom in a Foolish Realm

Wisdom is knowing and taking the right course of action in every situation. It is popular in our culture today to believe that what is right for one person is not necessarily right for another. Therefore, one course of action for one man may not be the “right” course of action for another. Here is a recent example. One man believes it is wise, after scoring a touchdown, to give the ball to the referee and run to the sideline to be congratulated by his teammates. However, this does not mean that it is foolish for another man, after scoring a touchdown, to pretend to pull his pants down in front of a crowd and then wipe his derriere upon the opposing teams goal post. Furthermore, with this thinking, for a broadcaster to clamor over and be appalled by the action of the later of these men would be to elevate his piety and self righteousness, or to put his standards of right and wrong above another. And in today’s culture this is not wisdom but foolishness. However, with this cultural standard of individualistic knowing right and doing right we have turned wisdom on it’s head. What is wise is foolish and what is foolish is wise. How has the culture and peoples thinking spiraled to this place of darkness?

Wisdom is possessed by God and he grants it to his creatures. The primary means of this granting of wisdom is through the revelation of himself in creation and the Word of God. The creation reveals to his creatures what can be known about God in a general manner. But the Word of God is his special revelation. In his special revelation he teaches about his nature, his salvation for man in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the way his creatures should live. Our thinking and culture have spiraled into this foolish realm of darkness through a foolish exchange. We have the knowledge of God through his general revelation and special revelation. Yet we have not turned to him in worship and for wisdom. We have exchanged the worship of the Creator for worship of the creature, and exchanged the truth about God and life for a lie. Therefore our foolish hearts are darkened and we have been given over to the foolishness of our hearts with a continual want for more foolishness. When this exchange takes place in the hearts of men it effects life and culture. And when man spirals to this place of darkness the culture follows in darkness. And what once would have been foolish, may seem foolish to some, but they dare not say anything about it as foolish, for that is not wise.

How then do parents raise children of wisdom in such a realm of foolishness? Wisdom is attained through a course of life that begins and ends with the fear of God, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. First, parents must begin by sitting their children at the feet of God everyday through his Word. It will be at this place of submission and by faith that they will see the glory of God revealed in his manifold perfections, the salvation of God in the person and work of Christ Jesus, and the ways of God for their lives in the words of wisdom that flow from the fountain of Infinite Wisdom. Second, parents must place their children within the hearing of God speaking through his Word. God speaks to his people today through his Word preached by faith and received by faith. We need to be certain that our children are hearing the whole counsel of God’s Word preached every week from a pulpit on Sundays. The steady diet of God centered expository preaching through the books of the Bible will enable children to hear from God in his ordained means of speaking wisdom to their hearts. Third parents must assume the responsibility of teaching the wisdom of God to their children in daily life. The writer of Proverbs says to children, Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,. Parents live with their children in the culture of life. Children go to school, watch television, socialize, and walk the sidewalks of life. And there lives are sponges in this culture of life. Parents are given the primary responsibility to teach their children in the culture of life to fear and love God and to walk in his ways. Parents can assist their children to understand the culture of life through the wisdom of God. And in this manner teach their children what is right and what is the right course of action in every situation.

In a realm of foolishness there is not a way of instant wisdom. And in a realm of foolishness there is not a way of wisdom by osmosis. Wisdom begins and ends with a fear of God, and God has ordained that children would learn to fear him and learn wisdom through parents who will lay down their lives to rescue their children’s hearts to God in the midst of a realm of foolishness.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Spending a Summer Saturated in Time

The bell is about to toll. For whom does it toll? It tolls for the children, teachers, administrators and parents who’s lives change for several months as they leave the daily school hours for summer days. How will those days be spent when there are no teachers, administrators and staff to lead the children and teach?

The summer months offer a saturation of time for families. In the summer months parents have an additional seven hours a day to spend with their children. This is an additional 35 hours a week and a total of 350 hours in the ten week summer. Therefore as the bell tolls for families this summer how will this 350 hours be used?

The Apostle Paul states, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16) In these verses the apostle Paul is speaking to the church about redeeming the time. He literally means here to buy up the time at the marketplace, or to buy back the present time which may now be being used for evil and godless purposes. He knows that every creature is given time to be exchanged in the market of life. The time given is exchanged for occupations and activities that may or may not be worthy or productive for God glorifying gain.

Time is a precious gift that must be measured by days (Psalm 90:12) knowing that the years will care for themselves under the Lord of time. Believing this truth causes the Christian to be careful about opportunities and responsibilities that occur in a day. If a person takes eight hours a day for sleep, three hours for meals and conversation, ten hours for work on five days, that person is still left with thirty-five hours each week to exchange in the market of opportunities and responsibilities. How are your days being spent in the time of five hours a day for opportunities and responsibilities in callings God has given you? Granted, sometimes we sleep four hours, work fourteen, eat for thirty minuets. But however you do the math or whatever chaos may rule your schedule we are still left with the fact that time is given to redeem.

God is sovereign over the Christian’s time, and the Christian is responsible for the time that God gives. The Christian must seek to manage the time given in his range of control as a responsible steward of the gift. In this management of time he must be careful about many dangers. Three of these dangers are procrastination, “urgent needs,” and leisure. Procrastination is the thief of time. We must make decisions and act on them, set deadlines and do not miss one or postpone one. The Christian who wants to read more does not get more time for it. He takes time for it. He makes a decision with the time he has been given and redeems it for the opportunity to read more. We must also be aware of the danger of “urgent needs” and interruptions when managing our time. Every call for help is not necessarily a call from God. However, we cannot say to every interruption or urgent need that interrupts our schedule, “Get behind me Satan!”. We must take interruptions and urgent needs into our schedules, because our schedules are God’s gifts to us to arrange at His pleasure. If we treat our schedule with this Godward focus then we will be looking for reasons why God has brought this interruption or urgent need. This allows us to get to the point of why God has sent this situation our way, and we will be more efficient in handling it in time. Last, in our practical responsibility of the management of the time God gives, we must be careful with leisure. Leisure is not a bad thing, but in these evil days we are taught it is something we deserve and something to be used to satisfy the pleasures of our flesh. Leisure is a gift from God to be enjoyed for the glory of God, under the authority of His revealed will. The Christian should seek to be wise and redeem the time given in the market of leisure in a planned and purposeful mode for his good and the good of others. However, in the management of time leisure should never supplant responsibility. When we “owe it to ourselves,” we can count on someone else paying for our indulgence in leisure. And when we redeem a little time here or there in the market of leisure opportunities, when our lives are in the market of responsibility, we can count on an unwise use of the gift given and someone else paying the cost. Leisure is a good thing when managed under the control of the Holy Spirit according to the revealed will of God.

God is the giver of good gifts. He has given to His people the gift of time to be used for the glory of His name in all things, and He is concerned that we spend the time he gives wisely. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)” We must fear the Lord in the planning and use of the time he gives us and our children this summer under the direction of His revealed will in the Scriptures and by prayer. To do any less is to live as if we have no Lord.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Provoking Children

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,..”
- Ephesians 6:4a

Children are the fruit of a mother’s womb and the vineyard of a father’s loving leadership. The father, who by God’s grace in Christ, walks in the paths of righteousness seeking first the kingdom of God will yield not a vineyard over run with weeds but the sweet fruit of righteousness in the hearts of his children. For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Gal.5:22-23). And this fruit of the Spirit produced in the hearts of his children that overflows in springs of life comes by God’s grace as the father is careful not to provoke his children to a heart of anger. But what are some ways that a father by the grace of God may not provoke his child to anger, but rather bring him up in the fear, instruction and discipline of the Lord so that his life becomes a vineyard of righteousness for the straight ways of the Lord?

There is a righteous anger that fathers must train their children toward. As Richard Baxter says, “Righteous anger is given by God to stir us up to a vigorous resistance of those things, which, within us or without us do oppose his glory or our salvation, or our own or our neighbors real good.”. In this way we are training our children to obey our Lord’s command, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” (Eph.4:26; Ps.4:4). However, the anger that Paul warns fathers of in Ephesians 6 is an unrighteous anger that does not accomplish the righteousness of God (James 1:19-20). Unrighteous anger expresses itself in blowing up or claming up when a person sets up his own standards and reacts with unholy anger when someone or something violates his desires, will, rights or person. Therefore, when we are thinking about how to lead our children lovingly not provoking them to anger we must keep our thoughts biblical concerning anger.

What are some ways we can keep from provoking our children to unrighteous anger? First, let the fruit of your lips be sweet. In your relationship to God and his image bearers he has called us to praise. God is worthy of all our praise, but so is he glorified when our words toward his image bearers are beneficial for building them up and encouraging them (Eph.4:29). We cannot praise God with our lips and curse our children with our hearts, for then our hearts are far from God. If God is the delight of our souls then we will praise him, and if our children are his image bearers for his glory we will not curse them but encourage and exhort with great patience, kindness, gentleness and love. Second, do not allow sinful anger to explode upon your children in physical punishment that is without cause or does not fit the offense. I believe that parents are called to discipline their children with the rod (Prov.23:13-14). However, to physically hit a child out of anger and to do so severely when their sin is not a great offense, but has hit your last nerve or is an embarrassment to you as a parent, will surely lead your children toward wrath. Discipline by our heavenly Father is done in love for our eternal redemption and so must an earthly fathers discipline be in love leading his child to the redeeming grace of God in Christ. Third, provide for your children what they need. There are certain necessities which every child needs: the right knowledge and enjoyment of God, godly and good relationships, food, clothing and shelter. And these a father must plan and work toward with all his heart to provide for his child so that they are drawn to their heavenly Father who provides. There are also those things which each individual child needs to grow up in the gifts that God has given them. There is then a necessity to know your children so that you know what it is they need. But we must be careful to measure what they need by God’s standards and not by cultural standards. One need our children have is to see us give and serve as good stewards of what God has given us to store up treasures in heaven rather than toys in the earth for our children’s entertainment. Fourth, we must be careful not to show partiality to certain of our children (Jas.2:1). Your children will have different gifts and some greater measures of grace than another, but we must in the same way love, lead and provide for them as the image bearers of God who are created and are to be redeemed for his glory. Fathers must be careful not to do all for a son and leave a daughter out of his time and leadership. She will need to be loved, lead and provided for in different ways but not to a lesser degree. Ask your husband or your wife to help you see if you are showing partiality to one of your children. If you are an unmarried mother or father ask someone in your church. Fifth, do not be a stumbling block to your children by commanding them to do that which is against God’s will. Be constantly renewing your minds in the word of God that you may know what the pleasure of God is so that you can lead your children in his pleasure rather than that of your flesh. Sixth, set before them a godly life that finds it’s rest in God with Christ continually at the cross. Fathers and mothers are broken by sin and God’s redemption in Christ meets us continually in our brokenness. Let your children see and hear you going continually to God in repentance and faith and seeking to live by his grace for his glory in all areas of your life.

Parents do not know what God will do with our children for his own glory. But we do have his promises toward us and our children and we do know that we have a privilege and responsibility to raise them to fear and love him through godly discipline and instruction that leads them not to anger but to taste and see that he is good and a delight to their souls. May he be their best portion forever (Ps.73:25-26).

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Preaching, What Should We Expect?

“What then is preaching?...There is a man standing in the pulpit and speaking, and there, are people sitting in the pews or seats listening. What is happening?...Why does the man stand in that pulpit? What is his object? Why does the church put him there to do this? Why do these people come to listen?...What is this man doing there?....Any true definition of preaching must say that that man is there to deliver the message of God, a message from God to those people...he is ‘an ambassador for Christ.’ That is what he is. He has been sent, he is a commissioned person, and he is standing there as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address these people. In other words he is not merely there to talk to them, he is not there to entertain them. He is there to do something to those people; he is there to produce results of various kinds, he is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them; he is not only to influence their minds, or only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person; and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the center of life. Preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again....Preaching is that which deals with the total person, the hearer becomes involved and knows that he has been dealt wiith and addressed by God through this preacher. Something has taken place in him and in his experience, and it is going to affect the whole of his life.”

Martin Lloyd-Jones, "Preaching and Preachers"

Monday, May 19, 2008

Honoring the Grey Haired

I want to be an advocate for the love and honor of our grey haired fathers and mothers. Moses tells us that we are to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Ex.20:12). Thomas Watson, in his work on the Ten Commandments, tells us that this includes honoring those who are our grey haired fathers. He says, “There is the grave ancient father, who is venerable for old age; whose grey hairs are resembled to the white flowers of the almond-tree. There are fathers for seniority, on whose wrinkled brows, and in the furrows of whose cheeks is pictured the map of old age. These fathers are to be honoured.” (Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity). In a culture that worships youth we need to be encouraged to not only honor our own grey haired fathers but those who are our neighbors.

I have been ministering with my family and others in our church in an assisted living home for over six years. We gather the residents for a half hour of worship every Sunday, praying, singing, reading God’s Word and preaching. At the close of this time we leave for our evening worship at our own church. But more times than not I am late to our worship service at our church. I often struggle with my late arrival, but it is always due to the fact that I cannot walk away from grey haired fathers and mothers too quickly. I enjoy staying with them after worship to talk, listen, encourage, exhort, and be encouraged and exhorted in a spirit of love and gentleness. They have lived long lives and have so much to share with a foolish middle aged man like myself and my family. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:5). My family has been greatly blessed by our grey haired neighbors who are a forgotten people in our culture. May the church be a city on a hill that honors our grey haired fathers and mothers while the rest of the world runs down hill to the fountain of youth and foolishness.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Teach Me to Pray...

Jesus says to believers and those we are called to love, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” (Jn.14:15). And David says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” (Ps.119:9). So how should we pray and teach our loved ones to pray? We must pray to God coming to him with our whole heart in love (Ps.119:10a) and praising his name (Ps.119:12a), but pleading with him that we may “not wander from (his) commandments”(Ps.119:10b), and asking him that he may “teach me (us) your statutes.” (Ps.119:12b).

We need to be taught by God who is infinite in wisdom and goodness, and we need to be shepherded in the way of what he teaches by God who is infinite in power and goodness. When you come to the Word of God or bring others to the Word of God ask God to teach you and keep you from wandering from his commands that yours and their way may be pure and full of love toward God. We need to be taught everything that he commands. We cannot presume to know or have understanding. We are foolish and ignorant, without understanding, and our understanding is turned upside down by our deceitful hearts. We must be taught and our minds must be renewed (Rom.12:2) so that we will know what the pleasure of God is and walk in union with Christ who came not to do his own will but the will of him who sent him. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1Peter 2:24). We who are free from sin and death must “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1Pe.2:16). But to know how to live in this freedom and to be kept from wandering out of this freedom back into slavery we must be taught his will and kept from wandering out of the way of his commandments.

When we come to his Word we must pray and teach others to pray that he would teach us his pleasure and keep us from wandering from the way of his pleasure that he teaches.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

What's a Home For?

Women in our American culture face tremendous pressure to make their homes places to display the latest designs and fashions in decorating. They face the pressure to have the latest look and colors, the nicest furniture and the latest craze in accessories. They face the pressure of spotless floors and carpets, pristine kitchens, sparkling sinks and the latest in washing and drying technology.

Women in American Christian culture face these same pressures with the added pressure that the home with all these niceties and cleanliness makes for a more hospitable home to bring your church friends into. Excuse my ethnocentricity, but is it Southern Living we are trying to impress or is it the pleasure of God we seek? I am holding men and church leaders responsible to help the ladies in our churches in the midst of these pressures, but I am also seeking to stir the ladies up to think about what are our homes for. These thoughts came from studying Acts 12:1-25.

Mary, the mother of John Mark, opened her home to some in the church in Jerusalem to pray for Peter who was imprisoned after James the brother of John had been put to death (Acts 12:1-12). After Peter was released he went to her home and it is here that I see four things her home was used for.

First, her home was for hospitality. She opened her home to the church at Jerusalem. All the church was praying for Peter (12:5) and a representative group of that church is meeting at the home of Mary for prayer (v.12). I do not know how many are there or who is there beside Mary, Rhoda, John Mark and Peter, but it had to be more than a few. It could be that Barnabas and Paul are there having come with the relief from Antioch, since John Mark did go back with them (v.25). I do not know what made her home the choice, but I do know she opened her home in love to God’s church. Hospitality is commanded in 1 Peter 4:9, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” It is the fruit of love, “Keep loving one another earnestly…” (1Pe.4:8). And in fact in the etymology of the word, philoxenia, we find it’s root, philos, which means love. In it’s literal form hospitality is loving strangers. Hospitality is what we do when the Holy Spirit is producing in us the fruit of love to God and our neighbors. . But we do not have to wait for a stranger to come to town to open our homes. The church is made up of strangers and aliens, pilgrims traversing in this life needing a place of love that covers and binds up sin and brokenness, fear and despair, a place that shares in gladness and rejoicing, a place that understands sorrow and pain. And to love in this way does not require clean floors, washing machines that don’t use much water, brilliant color schemes, couches that match your chairs, and weedless flower beds.

Second, her home was for prayer. It was in her home that people cried out at the throne of grace in a well timed need of help (Heb.4:16). They were not planning his escape, re-working church planning in the threat of his absence, or discussing how it all happened. They were praying and I think even some of them in unbelief (Acts 12:15-16). Men and women, sons and daughters we need to make our homes places of prayer. Places that cry out, “We are helpless, powerless, impotent, and cannot do anything without God’s power, wisdom and goodness.” Places that cry out in praise, thanksgiving, confession and faith through the Word of God, our prayer book. Men and women, sons and daughters, church members make your homes places where you gather for prayer.

Third, her home was for the display of the great works of God. Peter’s release and freedom was the evidence that God is who he says he is and does what he says he will do. His release and freedom was the evidence of the glory of God made manifest before their lives. God was not absent when James was killed, and nothing separated him from the love of God in Christ. But in the work to set Peter free from prison is the certainty that he will never leave or forsake his people, that they will have tribulation in the world but that he has overcome the world, and that he will be with them to the very end of the age. Our homes are places where the glory of God can be displayed in the lives of those whom God has worked and is working. Open your homes where the stories of God’s wisdom, power and goodness can be told. Tell the stories from the Word of God and history so that the display of the glorious and true God can come near to those who darken your doors. Those who live and come into our homes will not be satisfied by the shadows or in the light and fleeting pleasures. They must hear and see and savor the all glorious God who comes near and abides to display his glory so that he is known and enjoyed.

Fourth, her home was for sending. John Mark was Mary’s son and was among the first missionaries sent from Antioch with Paul and Barnabas (12:25; 13:4). Granted he did have his troubles (13:13) and was a point of contention for Paul and Barnabas (15:36-40), but was in the course of time a help to Paul and the church (Col.4:10; 2Tim.4:11). The gospel went from Jerusalem to Antioch and into the Gentile world through her son. The place of hospitality, prayer, and the display of the great works of God was a home where God called her son to trust him and display his worth in the world by following his call to go into the world with the gospel. A home is a nurturing place for those who will come forth to follow God in the way he leads them. One thing we can be doing in our homes is making them a place that teaches and gives others a vision for following after God where he leads for his own glory. Do not view your home as a display of the glory of the world, but as a place that displays the glory of God by showing others the truth about who God is so that he will be praised, trusted and obeyed by those coming forth from them.

The homes of believers are for hospitality, prayer, the display of the great works of God, and sending. Let us make our homes places where God is glorified in a world that has exchanged the worship of the Creator for that of the creation by bending toward his will and outward toward a broken world.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

How Will You Spend It?

How Will You Spend It?

April showers bring May flowers, and April taxes filed bring May “economic stimulus payments”. Which is more beneficial, the flowers or the cash? The flowers display the glory of God as a beautiful Creator and faithful Sustainer.

“And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field: how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
- Matthew 6:28b-33

The “economic stimulus payment” tries display the benevolence of an inflated government hiding its three trillion dollar debt while encouraging you toward promise through spending on things that satisfy.

“…we have come together on a single mission — and that is to put the people’s interests first.”
- President George Bush

“The bipartisan plan the president signed today will help millions of Americans who are struggling in an uncertain economy,” Reid said. “Congress promised to act quickly and effectively to help those who need it most, and this law represents a promise kept to the American people.”
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bush-signs-stimulus-bill-2008-02-13.html

We must be careful about the thoughts of our hearts towards what is most beneficial and what holds promise. We should respond with thanksgiving to God for what he gives, but we must trust in God who displays his glory as the truly satisfying faithful Redeemer, Creator and Sustainer of our lives when we steward what he gives. When we steward what he gives we can treasure him or we can treasure what he gives and this worship in one direction or the other will guide our stewardship of an “economic stimulus payment”. May God give his church a heart to treasure him and wisdom to steward what he gives for his glory in the earth.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
- Ecclesiastes 5:10