Soli Deo Gloria

Progressivism, Individualism and Covenant Church Membership

2011-01-07T11:44:00.000-05:00

The progressivism of a modern culture produces people, thinking or unthinking, who stand not upon weighty words expressed in covenant but ever progressing ideas and morals that aim at change. This progressivism is married to an individualism in the church today that erodes the foundations of meaning she is built and lives upon. Individualism puts man and his needs at the center of existence, and all reality orbits around the individual to bring him happiness and fulfillment. If individual happiness and fulfillment is not being found then the progressive reality must be altered at whatever the cost for the glory of the individual. As a church looks back at God’s faithfulness to a particular church for five years and ahead to his promises to that church made in his Word, what will keep that church from giving way to this same progressivism and individualism?

The answer is tied to a foundation of and commitment to covenant church membership. Membership carries with it the idea of binding. The church is God’s gathering of his redeemed into a particular people. Those people become the “body” or “living stones” or “a holy nation”. Yet in all these metaphors for his church there must be something that binds them. That which binds his church together is the common confession of the one true God in his triune nature as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore all who have been born again by the Spirit of God for faith in Jesus Christ for salvation have the right to be called the children of God. And a people who gather together in the name of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit calling upon the Father in Brunswick with a same people from another county, state or nation can say they are the church and members of one another. However, there is a bond in that situation that is missing. There is the bond of particular membership or covenant vows.

The bond that is necessary in the church for her to continue in faithfulness toward the future is the bond of covenant membership vows. While our nation continues not fully overthrown by progressivism two people shacking up together cannot call them selves “married”. They have not been joined together through the exchange of vows, they have only said, “I like you”. Therefore they are not bound. And the same is true in the church. A person who confesses faith in Jesus Christ as Lord through the Spirit claiming to be a child of God cannot shack up with his church. He must submit himself to the Lordship and government of his Savior by binding himself together with a particular body of other believers through the taking of vows. This idea is out of vogue and has been and the insistence on this seems antiquated. C.S.Lewis said in The Weight of Glory, “The very word membership is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of all meaning. … I am afraid that when we describe a man as ‘a member of the Church’ we usually mean nothing Pauline; we mean only that he is a unit—that he is one more specimen of some kind of things as X and Y and Z.” Therefore because “membership” has lost its meaning we have no place for it in our progressive minds and lives. But membership is the declaration to the world that we belong to Christ and to a particular church that we are members of one another (Rom.12:5). A groom gathered at the alter to be married would be foolish to stand by making vows to his wife while making googly eyes with someone in the congregation, or at the reception to spend the whole time dancing with another woman. He has just declared to others and to his wife in the vows and the exchanging of rings that he belongs to her and no one else.
When the church considers covenant membership vows she must consider her covenant God. God has revealed himself as the Creating and Redeeming God. And in his creating and redeeming he carries this out in covenant. In relationship to himself he decrees, speaks and acts in perfect accord with the relationship he has to himself in his unchanging eternal nature. When he creates and redeems man he does so by way of a covenant relationship. He binds himself to the creature making promises and keeping them in love. We enter into relationship with him through his covenant of grace where he binds himself to us and us to himself. Therefore our covenant membership vows are a reflection of and are carried out in obedience to his glory. As he keeps covenant with his church so his church keeps covenant with him in living in his church in an accountable manner through member vows. To deny covenant membership vows is to deny the very nature of God and his work in creation and redemption.

Taking and living by vows in his church is necessary for all those professing faith in Jesus Christ. Progressivism tells us to abandon this antiquated way of living by words and “traditions” that are not relevant and necessary today. It says change is needed in the church and we see where these ideas have landed us today. Those words cannot be trusted. They must be changed to fit our changing culture. Individualism tells us that if a person or a group of people are not meeting your needs then leave them and go where you can offer something of yourself and get something from others for the bettering of self. Taking, renewing through repentance and faith, and continuing to live by covenant membership vows is neither progressive nor individualistic. It is faithful covenant keeping proclaiming to the world that you belong to God in Christ because of the work he has done toward you and in you. And it is professing to one another in the church that you belong to one another in love and truth.

Looking in Hope for Rest

2011-01-05T10:52:00.001-05:00

28When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." - Genesis 5:28-29

Lamech looked in hope upon his son as the promised seed through whom the people belonging to God would find rest. Noah was the sons name meaning rest. The whole of creation had been subjected to the futility of the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve. The sin of the first man Adam brought sin and death to all men and the creation in which man lived was subjected to the futility of sin and death (Rom.8:20). Yet Lamech was and the creation is groaning for the seed of the woman to come and bring the earth and her people into a rest from sin and death, misery and destruction. In the garden there were the words of judgment and hope that given down to Lamech enabled him to believe this way. While Satan was being cursed in the garden it was promised to Adam and Eve and threatened to Satan that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent (Gen.3:15). This meant rest. Rest was promised in the life that the seed of the woman would bring as he put the prince of death under his feet. It is this rest that Lamech sought through his son Noah.

Noah was a type of Christ to bring rest to his family for through his line would come the one to give final rest. God saved Noah and his family in the midst of the great flood while all those on the face of the earth were destroyed. But through this sovereign judgment and grace he was working toward the rest for his people that Lamech longed for. Noah was not the final rest but he was one through whom God brought the rest closer and through whom the rest was promised. He and his family rested in the mercies of God upon the ark and when the waters were dried up they rested in his covenant love to them in reestablishing them in the earth with promise. Noah and his family died living in the creation that was exercised to the futility of the fall. Yet Noah lived and died by faith and “became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith.” (Heb.11:7). Noah was given rest by the grace and favor of God and the grace and favor of God that lead to his rest was realized through the fear of God and striving in faith through the grace of God.

Christ has come and he is the rest that Lamech looked for in his own son. His work is not finished. Though his earthly work is done, he continues to labor night and day for his peoples rest as he speaks to us, intercedes for us and rules over us from his session at the right hand of God the Father. There is coming a day when the rest will be complete in Christ. But while he is the rest for his church and we can come to him to find rest (Mt.11:28-30) we must strive to enter his rest through fear, repentance and faithful obedience through his means of grace each day and each week (Heb.4:11-16). The rest the world offers is shadowy, temporal and deceiving. The rest the Son of Man offers in his presence is real, abiding and guaranteed.

Lamech named his son in hope of rest for himself and others. But that son had to be fed, nurtured, taught and labored over and with. Christ is the Son of God who is named for ours and others rest. And when we are named in him as the children of God (Jn.1:12) we have a rest from sin and death. Yet there remains a rest for us to enter in him (Heb.4:9). We have to be fed, nurtured, taught, labored over and with by him that we may enter his rest. His grace is given that we may enter his rest by faith and that faith works through love that others for who he has and does labor may enter his rest. It is time to rest in Christ and it is time to strive to enter the rest promised us in Christ. Lamech received grace to look in hope for rest through his son and in that grace he named and nurtured. Noah received grace for his rest in the salvation of God and in that grace he preached, built and obeyed that others might come with him into the rest he received by grace. Let us strive that we and others may enter his rest.

Reading for Hope, Joy and Obedience in Christ

2010-12-31T14:07:00.001-05:00

What will make the year 2011 a year of hope lived out in obedience to the will of God in the life of the church? A forward looking faith in the stretched out grace of God promised to his children in Christ is the way of obedience. If a people cut off the conduit of God’s grace in hope and promise that builds faith then she will shrink back in her flesh to a love of self and the world.

On the last day of the year, reading through Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s daily Bible reading plan, we come to 2 Chronicles 36. This chapter of Scripture is one of judgment and hope. We see God’s judgment on his people as Jerusalem is besieged by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and her king and some of the vessels of the house of the LORD are carried off to the Babylonian kingdom. Zedekiah is set in place by Babylon to serve as king in Jerusalem and he and all the people continue to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord obeying the abominations of the nations. Yet in the midst of this judgment God sends hope by his Word. The king is given the prophet Jeremiah to speak from the mouth of the LORD but Zedekiah would not humble himself (v.12). And the people of God still living in Jerusalem are cared for by God through the hope of his word yet they rejected his grace. We read, And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy. (v.15-16). In the midst of bringing their enemies upon them in judgment and the grace of hope through his Word, the people of God continued to rebel. Therefore God brought their enemies to destroy the city, burn the house of God and tear down the walls of Jerusalem. Many of the men were killed by the sword and many others carried off from the place of promise into exile in Babylon (v.17-20).

However in the midst of this judgment upon God’s people the writer brings us to the close of this book with hope. He allows us to see God’s purposes fulfilled in the people living until the 70 years were finished as prophesied (v.21). And brings us into the history of Persia where God used King Cyrus to bring his people back into the land as he promised for the rebuilding of the temple (v.22-23). Therefore in the midst of incredibly difficult circumstances in judgment we are given to see hope as the promises of God are being fulfilled. And this is where M’Cheyen’s reading plan is brilliant. We begin on the first day of the year reading again of creation showing us the glory of God as our Creator who fulfills all his decrees and promising salvation in the midst of judgment. We read in Ezra an account of God fulfilling his promises to bring his people back into the land and into his presence in the rebuilding of the temple. We read in Matthew of God sending into the world the re-Creator and Redeemer who is the long awaited Messiah and hope of Israel. And we read in Acts of the account of that redemption and re-creation reaching the peoples of Jerusalem. They had lived long waiting on the promise of life and saw it fulfilled among them in the coming of the Holy Spirit and his kingdom in the New Covenant.

In the reading of God’s Word we are able to see all that God has been for us in goodness, wisdom and power and we have the ability to see his goodness, wisdom and power set before us in promise. This is the open conduit of his grace to his people still living in the midst of a struggling life between the flesh and the Spirit (Gal.5; Rom.7&8), between the kingdom of sin and death and the kingdom of righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit, and between being pilgrims and sojourners on the earth while our final rest lies in the new heavens and new earth. Therefore to live in the coming year for the glory of God in love to him and our neighbors loving his pleasure by his grace, the church cannot cut off the valve of God’s fountain of grace. She must say with the apostle Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (Jn.6:68). The church will struggle in the land as she awaits the promise. Therefore God sends her his prophets and apostles where Christ Jesus is the cornerstone (Eph.2:20) in the Word of God. She must turn to the Word of God, take it up and read, study, meditate and memorize. Then she will hold fast in the storms of life that are sure to blow against her according to God’s will, and live for his pleasure and glory as his children holy and dearly loved.

Take up and read in private and with your family or others in the family of God his Word. M’Cheyen’s reading plan is available in the church foyer or this and other plans are available online at http://www.bibleplan.org/mcheyne.htm. Tolle Lege!

Resolved, To Keep the Lord's Day Holy

2010-12-28T10:25:00.001-05:00

As you approach the coming of the year 2011 it is the time many Americans participate in making resolutions. One American who participated in the making of resolves was Jonathan Edwards. He began to make these resolves early in his life but not upon the New Year. He participated in this practice as a discipline toward a reformation of life. Therefore he made it his practice to go over his resolves once a week prayerfully to walk by faith for a reformation of life. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ it is our aim through his grace to work out our salvation with fear and trembling making our calling and election sure toward a reformation of life that shows forth the glory of Christ. Therefore God has provided for us the Lord’s Day. In the coming year, Lord willing, there will be 52 days God provides for his children to live toward him in his grace in worship unhindered by the affairs of the world. If we lived toward him in love calling the Lord’s Day a delight and not going on in the way of our flesh or in a love of the world what might take place in the reformation of our lives and our churches? Let us be resolved to live as a church calling the Lord’s Day a delight that we may grow each week in his grace through worship, works of necessity and the showing of mercy. Let us live toward the day and out of the day not being hindered in the keeping of the day by worldly employments or anxieties. Let us plan and purpose to gather together in the morning and evening for worship as the body of Christ. Let us be resolved to live as this day is the benefit of the grace of God we have in his salvation through Christ and not as though the keeping of the day merits God’s favor. Let us encourage and exhort one another in the coming year in keeping the Lord’s Day holy.

The following are five helpful directions for observing the Lord’s Day taken from Archibald Alexander’s, A Brief Compend of Bible Truth (1846). I encourage you to read these and seek to put them in practice as we resolve together as the body of Christ in keeping the Lord’s Day holy.

1. Let the whole day be consecrated to the service of God, especially in acts of worship, public and private. This weekly recess from worldly cares and avocations, affords a precious opportunity for the study of God's word, and for the examination of our own hearts. Rise early, and let your first thoughts and aspirations be directed to heaven. Meditate much and profoundly on divine things, and endeavour to acquire a degree of spirituality on this day which will abide with you through the whole week.

2. Consider the Lord's Day an honour and delight. Let your heart be elevated in holy joy, and your lips be employed in the high praises of God. This day more resembles heaven, than any other portion of our time; and we should endeavour to imitate the worship of heaven, according to that petition of the Lord's prayer -- "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Never permit the idea to enter your mind, that the Sabbath is a burden. It is a sad case, when professing Christians are weary of this sacred rest, and say, like some of old, "When will the Sabbath be gone, that we may sell corn, and set forth wheat?" As you improve this day, so probably will you be prospered all the week.

3. Avoid undue rigour, and Pharisaic scrupulosity, for nothing renders the Lord's Day more odious. Still keep in view the great end of its institution; and remember that the Sabbath was instituted for the benefit of man, and not to be a galling yoke. The cessation from worldly business and labour is not for its own sake, as if there was any thing morally good in inaction, but we are called off from secular pursuits on this day, that we may have a portion of our time to devote uninterruptedly to the worship of God. Let every thing then be so arranged in your household, beforehand, that there may be no interruption to religious duties, and to attendance on the means of grace.
As divine knowledge is the richest acquisition within our reach, and as this knowledge is to be found in the word of God, let us value this day, as affording all persons an opportunity of hearing and reading the word. And as the fourth commandment requires the heads of families to cause the Sabbath to be observed by all under their control, or within their gates, it is very important that domestic and culinary arrangements should be so ordered, that no one be deprived of the opportunity of attending on the word and worship of God which this day affords. If we possess any measure of the true spirit of devotion, this sacred day will be most welcome to our hearts; and we will rejoice when they say, "Let us go unto the house of the Lord." To such a soul, the opportunity of enjoying spiritual communion with God will be valued above all price, and be esteemed as the richest privilege which creatures can enjoy on earth.

4. Whilst you conscientiously follow your own sense of duty in the observance of the rest of the Sabbath, be not ready to censure all who may differ from you in regard to minute particulars, which are not prescribed or commended in the word of God. Beware of indulging yourself in any practice which may have the effect of leading others to disregard the rest and sanctity of the Sabbath. Let not your liberty in regard to what you think may be done, be a stumbling block to cause weaker brethren to offend, or unnecessarily to give them pain, or to lead them to entertain an unfavourable opinion of your piety.

5. As, undoubtedly, the celebration of public worship and gaining divine instruction from the divine oracles, is the main object of the institution of the Christian Sabbath, let all be careful to attend on the services of the sanctuary on this day. And let the heart be prepared by previous prayer and meditation for a participation in public worship, and while in the more immediate presence of the Divine Majesty, let all the people fear before him, and with reverence adore and praise his holy name. Let all vanity, and curious gazing, and slothfulness, be banished from the house of God. Let every heart be lifted up on entering the sanctuary, and let the thoughts be carefully restrained from wandering on foolish or worldly objects, and resolutely recalled when they have begun to go astray. Let brotherly love be cherished, when joining with others in the worship of God. The hearts of all the church should be united in worship, as the heart of one man. Thus, will the worship of the sanctuary below, be a preparation for the purer, sublimer worship in the temple above.

A Christmas Meditation, Celebrating Christmas

2010-12-17T23:24:00.001-05:00

Celebrating Christmas in the church and the culture takes many different forms. In the coming week we will gather with church members, family and friends to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ in various ways. Some of these ways will be more a reflection of the church conforming to the world and it’s rebellious culture than it will be a conforming to Scripture. The ancient church is the inventor of celebrating Christmas or the birth of Jesus Christ. God has revealed to us in his Word the incarnation of the Son of God in his birth, but he has not ordained a day to celebrate that truth or regulated what we are to do on that day. Does this mean then that the church should not celebrate Christmas because it is not given to us in the Scriptures? I don’t think so because the incarnation of Jesus Christ is worthy of celebration. But how do we do it without being idolatrous?

The governor of the Plymouth settlement in 1620, William Bradford, struggled with this matter. In his record of the Plymouth settlement he records a Christmas day in 1621. He went to work on that day because it was not a Lord’s Day. Other men who had come from England that year believed it to be against conscience to work on that day. However when William Bradford found them later in that day playing “sport” he denied them that right saying it was against his conscience that they could play on that day while others worked. He commanded them to obey their consciences because “if they made the keeping of that day a matter of devotion, let them remain in their houses; but there should be no gamming and reveling in the streets.” William Bradford and these men were seeking to act as their consciences were ruled by some authority. And this is an important way for the church to act, but the question is what authority governs how we celebrate the birth of Immanuel?

Samuel Davies, an 18th century southern Presbyterian minister stated, “I do not set apart this day (Christmas day) for public worship, as though it had any particular sanctity, or we were under any obligations to keep it religiously. I know no human authority, that has power to make one day more holy than another, or that can bind the conscience in such cases. And as for divine authority, to which alone the sanctifying of the days and things belongs, it has thought it sufficient to consecrate one day in seven to a religious use, for the commemoration both of the birth of this world, and the resurrection of its great Author, or of the works of creation and redemption. This I would religiously observe; and inculcate the religious observance upon all. But as to other days, consecrated by the mistaken piety or superstition of men, and conveyed down to us as holy, through the corrupt medium of human tradition, I think myself free to observe them or not, according to convenience, and the prospect of usefulness; like other common days, on which I may lawfully carry on public worship or not, as circumstances require.” The church must be careful based upon God’s authority to think rightly about our celebration of the Christ of Christmas. The church must consider her Christmas celebrations as “useful” to the end that they allow us to glory in our King and Savior, and not in ourselves, a day, or a feeling produced by nostalgia. With this in mind let me offer the following four considerations from Luke 2:17-20 on how we may celebrate Christmas.

In Luke 2:17-20 we read, 17And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

First, the church can celebrate Christmas by telling others what has been revealed to her about the Christ. We see the shepherds seeing the Christ born in Bethlehem as it had been told them by the angels. And upon their seeing they made known to others what they had been told about him. Celebrating Christmas is an expression of the joy one has in the Christ of Christmas told publically to any who would hear. What the church would tell is not what the church has invented or believed to be true for them. The church tells others what has been revealed by God about the person and work of her Savior and Lord. Let us celebrate Christmas by telling others of the Christ of Christmas as revealed in Scripture.

Second, the church is to celebrate Christmas by being amazed with the truth that has been revealed about the Christ of Christmas. As the shepherds told what had been revealed to them to others those who heard this good news were in wonder, awe or amazement. This is the proper way to respond to the glorious truth of the good news of great joy for all peoples. We should take time not only to listen to the truth about the Christ of Christmas but to be amazed by what has been revealed to us concerning him. Reading this week in Zechariah 3 I stood amazed at the revelation of the Branch (v.8) and his taking away the iniquity of his people in a day (v.9). The Branch came to serve and not be served and give his life as a ransom for many (Mt.20:28). He existed in eternity, came into time and space, lived, died and was raised to be the joy of all peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike. Amazing love how can it be, that the Son of God should live, die and be raised for me as I glory in him.

Third, the church can celebrate Christmas by treasuring in their hearts all that is revealed to them about the Christ of Christmas. It is treasuring truth that allows us to be amazed by truth. Mary treasured up the things that were told to her meaning that she stored them away. She kept them in mind as a continual action of her heart. Treasuring the truth means she loved this truth about the Son. This is an important way for American Christians to celebrate Christmas where we are so apt to treasure the gifts of the Son rather than the truth about the Son of God. Treasuring Christ means that we must meditate study, think on and read about the Christ of Christmas in order to be thinking rightly about Christmas.

The fourth way the church can celebrate Christmas is by completing her joy in God by praising and thanking him for all that he is for her in Christ Jesus. These people returned praising God whom they knew as he revealed himself to them and whom they enjoyed in their knowing. Therefore they glorified him at the coming of the promised Messiah. They praised him for his glorious grace (Eph.1:14) and it was for this that they were made and this is why he revealed his truth to them.

Come let us worship the LORD this Christmas telling others of his wondrous works, standing amazed at his grace, singing and making melody to him in our hearts as we treasure what is true of him, and overflowing with joy in him who has glorified himself to us in the Christ of Christmas.

Works and Promise

2010-12-14T14:03:00.001-05:00

Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts,…6For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:4, 6-7)

When circumstances are dark and it seems hope is lost it is hard to work. God’s people were in the darkness of exile under the rule of a foreign king and the hope of the glory of Israel seemed lost. However, God called on his people to be strong and work hard and founded that calling in promise. He promised he was with them and that he would glorify again the place of his presence among them in the Temple. Their strength was zapped by sadness and brokenness over having experienced judgment at the hands of their enemies. They were defeated and like an athlete with his head in his hands sitting on the bench knowing they were on the low end of the scoreboard they had no strength. Their hope lay in the presence of God among them. But they had denied his presence in their false worship and God had brought destruction on the place, the Temple, where he had promised to dwell among them in power, wisdom and goodness for his glory and their good. Their hope and strength were swallowed up by their own sin, judgment and the power of another nation.

It is in this void of self sufficiency that God calls his people to work in the sight of his promise. The strength is the Lord’s and the promise that secures their hope is from him. It is in this time that God is glorified for his sufficient grace toward his people when she lives in his strength with her eyes upon his promise. As the church is the place of his dwelling, the place of his presence and glory, so he promises to build his household (Mt.16:18). His church is the dwelling place of his presence by the Spirit (Ezek.36:27) and so he promises to finish the work that he has begun in her (Phil.1:6). He will shake all the nations with the power of the gospel to save his children who are perishing (Jn.10: Jn.10:16; Rom.1:16) that his glory will fill all the earth (Hab.2:5, 14).

Therefore his church can be strong in the strength he provides (Eph.6:10) and go to work in his sufficient grace (2Cor.12:9) in the way he builds his church. She can go to work around his word bringing every thought and action captive to his will revealed in his Word (2Cor.10:5; Mt.28:20). She can go to work feeding and being nurtured on his wisdom, power and goodness revealed in his Word. She can feed on her on Head Christ Jesus and commune together around his sacraments (Acts 2:42). She can work together in love singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs together in her heart (Col.3:16). She can fall upon her face in prayer depending upon God for all things. She can swing wide the doors of hospitality to one another to encourage, exhort and bear one another’s burdens (Gal.6:1-2). She can tell others of the reason for the hope that is within her spreading the good news of the gospel (1Pe.3:15). She can teach, preach and counsel to build up the body of Christ to maturity (Eph.4:11-13). She can love kindness and mercy and compassion toward the oppressed, the hungry, the poor, the sick, the sorrowing, and the afflicted (Micah 6:8). She can be strong and go to work for the glory of the Lord rests upon her and lives in her in the Spirit and her union with Christ, and the promise of more and more grace lies before her in all that God promises.

May the church get her head out of her hands and walk in the way of strength and promise that is in Christ Jesus doing the work he has called her to by the grace he provides for every work along the way. 20Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb.13:20-21)

A Christmas Meditation, Christ's Eternal Goodness

2010-12-10T10:13:00.001-05:00

What is Christmas for? Christmas is a good time to meditate and think upon what God reveals to us in the glory of Christ. Christmas is for the continual remembrance that God has loved his own children from everlasting to everlasting. How deep is the Father’s love for us? How vast and unmeasured is his love for us in the Christ of Christmas? God reveals the vastness of his goodness to us in Christ in these words, He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you (1Peter 1:20). When we consider the Christ of Christmas we so often think of his birth or his becoming flesh. As Peter says here, “was made manifest in the last times…”. And when we do we consider his becoming flesh so that he might become sin for us on the cross to purchase our redemption (2Corinthians 5:21). This is important for us to meditate and think upon both in reflection upon our own condition as to why we need a Savior and upon the glory of that Savior who came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). However, it is also important to look at the depth of love that is revealed to us at Christmas in the eternal goodness of God toward us.

How far back must we go to see the Christ of Christmas? Is he only visible in a manger several thousand years ago or must we search further? Peter tells us “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world…” The word “forknown” comes from a Greek word proginosko. It contains a stem pro meaning before and another word ginosko meaning to know. Therefore God planned and purposed in his eternal counsel the Son who would be the lamb to take away sin and be manifest to his people (1Peter 1:19-20). God is proclaiming his grace in an amplified manner by telling us of his everlasting love toward us in his Son. Psalm 103:17 proclaims, The steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting. And when we consider that love from everlasting we see the Son of God who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3) is in the heavens before the foundations of the earth ready to redeem a people yet unborn. The Christ of Christmas is the Word made flesh who, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3). The eternal nature of the Son of God is for the eternal purpose of God to redeem a people who will glorify him for his infinite and eternal goodness.

Christmas is not a new idea on the part of God. Christmas should resound in our ears as not even ancient but eternal. The churches faith at Christmas must not rest on something novel like a God who sees a people in trouble and sends them a nice little baby under a starry sky who would become a great symbol of his love. God did not at last in his workshop come up with a great idea to help man out after several thousand years of existence in misery. The Christ of Christmas is to be trusted in as our eternal salvation, the one who has always been our salvation even before the world began.

But someone may ask, “Why would God employ a Mediator or Redeemer ever before he needed one?” To answer from God’s vantage point, because he foresaw that Adam would not stand long in righteousness. Therefore in his foreknowledge he ordained that Jesus Christ would be the Redeemer of his children whom he loved from everlasting to everlasting. As John Calvin says, “In this there shines forth more clearly the unspeakable goodness of God, in that he anticipated our disease by the remedy of his grace, and provided a restoration to life before the first man had fallen into death.” God shows forth his goodness to his creatures by shinning out of the light of eternity his foreknown Son to be the Redeemer of his own people living as those in the filth and stench of their own wicked sinfulness. He reveals to us this truth not to show us that there was something in us that would merit his coming to us, but to show us that he loved us ever before we thought about or loved him. He loved his own from eternity in the eternal Son of God who is the only Redeemer and Mediator between God and man.

A merry Christmas will be had by those who take up their joy in the God who has loved them from all eternity in the Christ of Christmas. Take time this Christmas to think and meditate upon the everlasting goodness of God in Christ manifest to us and our children. And tell others what Christmas is for, to live in the enjoyment of all that God is for us in the Christ of Christmas.

Celebrating a Christian Calling

2010-11-30T14:09:00.001-05:00

There are numerous callings in the Scriptures. There is the “general call” of God which goes out to all men through the preaching of the gospel. This calls all men to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The general call of God came through the lips of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles. Luke records this general call going out to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost as they heard through the mouth of the apostle Peter, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words…” (Acts 2:14) It was upon these words that the Lord was casting the net broadly and generally to all men gathered there that day. To hear the general call of God is to be highly favored. There are millions of people in the earth who have not heard this general call.

There is also a vocational call in Scripture. This is a call to a particular job, position, or station in life. These callings are most familiar to us in the Old Testament. We read of Adam being called to rule and subdue the earth (Genesis 2:15). We read of Noah being called by God as a leader and savior of his family and caregiver of those animals that God chose to preserve in the earth after the flood. (Genesis 6-9). We read of Moses being called by God to be a deliverer of his people living in Egypt (Exodus 3). We also see this call in the New Testament. We see Peter being called from being a fisher of fish to a fisher of men (Matthew 4:19) or Matthew being called from being a tax collector to a disciple of Christ (Matthew 9:9). Paul speaks of this kind of calling in 1 Corinthians 7:20 when he says, “Each one should remain in the situation which he was when he was called.” The situation is the vocational calling or station which has been assigned (7:17). Therefore a calling may be in regard to your social or positional call in life. It is this calling that people tend to put the most significance or mark their own significance upon. This is the calling that most people are so willing to celebrate if they think it makes them significant or so willing to despair over if they think it does not measure up. But this is not the calling to celebrate. Though we should be thankful and content in the various callings we have in life, these callings are just that, for this life.

The third calling in Scripture that is the most to be celebrated is the effectual calling. It is what Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians 7:20, “Each one should remain in the situation which he was when he was called.” Paul is referring to remaining in a situation or calling that they were in when God effectually called them to salvation in Christ Jesus. It is God who calls his own to salvation in the powerful, able and efficient call. Because man is incapable or unable in himself to come to Christ for salvation God must act toward him in his grace and power.

Jesus speaks of this call in John 6:44 when he says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” This verse speaks both of man’s inability to come and the Father’s effectual call to come unto Christ. Man’s inability is in his sinful condition. In the condition of man’s hard sinful heart there is no righteousness, no seeking after God, no want of blessed affections or right thoughts of God and his salvation. All the heart is in love with is self and for the glory of self it lives to die. Jesus is clear in saying “No one can come…”. There will be those who say it is the preaching of the gospel that will enable them to come. But I would say through the preaching of the gospel there goes forth a general call and man may believe the gospel preached for himself but not in himself. Others may say, “It is in how that gospel is preached. There are not many clear gospel preachers, or relevant gospel preachers, or cultural / missional gospel preachers, and this is why people are not coming.” But if you were to name the greatest preacher of all time who would name? If you named anyone but Christ Jesus himself you stand to condemn your judgment for he is God and the very author of his Word that he preached. Yet when he went throughout Galilee and Judea many heard but did not come. This is so because coming to salvation in Christ rests not on the preaching of the gospel, the one preaching or those hearing, but on the Father’s effectual calling.

The effectual call takes place when God by his free and special grace through his Word and Spirit calls men, women and children out of the condition of sin and death, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. He does this by enlightening the mind spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away the heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh, renewing the will, and by his great power determining the person to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ. And in this the person comes most freely and willingly by grace. (Westminster Confession of Faith Chpt.X.1) God is gloriously gracious to bring us to see the grossness of our sin and the beauty of his righteousness in Christ so that we act against our old will according to the life of the new will made alive by the Spirit. This is the calling to celebrate in life toward life.

It is in God’s effectual call that we have a glorious social standing of being one in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:28) and a magnificent positional standing of having all things in Christ Jesus. This is the calling most of all to be celebrated in a life of love through obedience to his will in whatever social, cultural or positional condition God has assigned to us. It is here that we can learn most to enjoy his presence in love and serve our neighbors in love without fear of losing anything and with humility to not take our position or standing to the love of self.

Confessions at Thanksgiving

2010-11-19T11:37:00.000-05:00

I have a dog named Burton. She is named after a place I grew up in the summers and a place my family returns each year for vacation, Lake Burton. Burton is a Yellow Lab who loves to eat. She can be on the other side of the house as I walk quietly into the kitchen, quietly take out of the cabinet the box of crackers and quietly try to open the jar of peanut butter. But before the lid is out of my hand and laying on the counter and my knife is just beginning to dip into the peanut butter to be applied to my first cracker she is at my feet drooling. She loves to eat. I do not feed Burton dog food. She eats things like fried eggs and toast, left over Sunday dinner and chicken noodle soup. But she has a character flaw. She is an ingrate. She never says thank you. In fact if I have determined that she is need of nothing to eat while I am in the kitchen and I tell her to go lie down on her bed she will obey. However as she lies down she sighs, sometimes moans or just plain growls showing her disapproval of me and my unfeeling command that certainly does not understand her situation. But she never says thank you. She is dependent upon me for every meal, she eats better than any dog on the block, she sleeps inside, gets the run of the house, a bone on Sunday, but she is an ingrate, an ungrateful canine.

I tell you about my dog to tell you about myself. I have a wretched sin problem that is akin to my dog Burton. I am cynical. The word cynic is derived from the Greek word for canine which means dog. Webster defines cynic as “having the qualities of a surly dog.” Some may try to blame this on my melancholy temperament. However, I find in my heart the expressions of being cross, crabby, sour, rough, just plain surly and cynical. But I did not say my dog was cynical, I said she was ungrateful. Exactly, she cannot express her surliness unless she growls or howls, but I can express mine in all kinds of words and when I do it is the expression of being an ingrate, an ungrateful prig, a thankless wretch.

Now that you know about my dog and me, and are thinking that we both belong in a dog house, what about you? We are fast approaching one of our favorite days of the year, Thanksgiving. Burton does not remember last Thanksgiving so she does not know what is in store for her. But when she receives some of the bounty of that day and the day after will she be thankful or will she eat her bowl clean and return to the kitchen for more just as ungrateful as before? On that day we will gather around the table and tell everyone something we are thankful for while the rest of the time we complain about our football team, our job, the state of our country, the faults of our neighbors or family who are not present and the folks at church? That’s my biggest problem with comparing myself to Burton, at least she is consistent. I am just hypocritical.

I don’t want to sit at the children’s table this Thanksgiving, or be out with the dog, but I ought to. I act like an ungrateful child who expects the world to give me everything I want, and when it doesn’t I growl. I want to sit with the mature adults but maturity is thankful from the heart and expresses it in gratitude and praise. C.S. Lewis noted this difference when he observed, ‘The humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious (large), minds praised most while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least.’ Maturity is founded in a recognized dependence on God for all things and is expressed in a humble thankful life and speech. When my mind and heart are balanced and filled with great thoughts of God then the Spirit produces in me humility and a want to give thanks.
Therefore preparing for thanksgiving is not something the Christian is called to do once a year, though he ought to make that a special time, it is a way of life everyday. For me to continue in the sin of ingratitude and a life of cynicism is to live like a dog. Therefore I must flee from this sin and put it to death by thinking great thoughts of God in utter dependence upon him for all things. I must enter the realm of his truth and let my mind and heart reach deeply into his Word. And there I will find great and wonderful things concerning him, his salvation and his will. It is in this realm of greatness and beauty that gratitude is birthed and nurtured. It is in this realm that I can give thanks in all circumstances (1Thes.5:18). I must thank him when times and things are “good” because it is good and I must thank him when things or times are “bad” because he is working in me patience, endurance, humility, and a want for another reality. Preparing for a heart and life of gratitude and the practice of thanksgiving does not happen because Aunt Jane gives you a piece of paper and asks you to write down one thing you are thankful for. My dog could do that with her bowl in her paws if she could write. We must go on our knees into the throne room of God where is displayed in Christ God’s infinite grace and mercy, unending forgiveness, majestic beauty of holiness, extensive power and revealed wisdom. It is here that our hearts are revived and we will magnify him with thanksgiving (Ps.69:30, 32).

Preaching and Writing Fantasy

2010-11-16T17:20:00.001-05:00

While reading one of my son’s posts on writing fantasy I happened upon something that has helped me better to understand preaching and the hearing of the preached word. In his writing on fantasy as “escapist” he says, “Escape is not a flight of reality; it is merely the move from one reality (prison, death, Evil, or darkness- take your pick) to another (life, salvation, Good, or light). Desertion is the rejection of reality and your value for life. While it seems fantasy may be the escape from reality with its common use of dragons, elves, knights, castles, and other such ancient notions, the creators of such beasts or beings do not let them exceed the limits of Reason or reality. While you may create some beast that has hooves and can fly, the beast itself does not try to escape from what it was created to inhabit.” Here he is reflecting on what J.R.R. Tolkien writes when he says, “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!” The beauty and “glory” of fantasy is the weight it has on the mind and the soul to move us from one reality to another or to liberate us through an escape into another realm of reality. But preaching God’s Word and hearing God’s Word is not considered fantasy. However, it shares something in common.

Preaching is escapist and hearing preaching with the ears of faith is escapist. A preacher is given the task of rightly dividing or handling the Word of God. The Word of God contains many different genres of literature. But it is not a book of literature; it is the breathed out Word of God. Therefore, the preacher enters into a prayerful studious process to understand what God is saying in a particular text through the study of its language, context and culture. As he unpacks what it says he then must understand what it means. He must discern by the Spirit what it meant to the original audience and what it means to the contemporary audience who is to hear it in the present. He must then apply this meaning to the present context of hearers and their lives within the Kingdom of God. But as of yet he has only been a student of the Word, he must now preach the Word.

He must preach to the people of God as one faithfully handling God’s Words through the power of the Spirit. He must tell them what it says and what it teaches applying that to their minds and hearts. And it is here that the preacher reaches glory and takes the hearers with him. He leads the hearers by God’s Word like prisoners with their minds and affections from one reality to another, not as deserters rejecting reality and a true value for life, but as escapists into a life they are created and re-created to inhabit. This is where the preacher escapes one reality and his hearers go with him into another reality that is glorious and weighty. It is not the role of the preacher to give three simple points that rhyme so that you can practically remember them for a moral life. The role of the preacher is to carry the Words of God as other worldly to a people in the world and by them lift them out of this world into a great escape in the new heavens and earth.

The listeners must expect this from God each Lord’s Day as they prayerfully gather around the servant of God called out by him to lead them in their escape. They must see him as the slave of God joyfully bound to the God of righteousness sent to them as a vessel spewing forth the Words of life. They must not see him as a communicator but a herald of words that they can light on by the power of the Holy Spirit and ride from one reality to another they were meant for with weight and glory. They must look past the man; his tie, bad hair, and quirky mannerisms, that they may hear Christ, their prophet, speak his escapist words to their mind and heart.

Preaching and hearing the preached word is escapist. And until the preacher longs for this liberty for himself and his hearers and until the hearers long for this movement from one reality to another through Word and by Spirit, the preacher and the hearers will only go to church like robots following a calendar of days.

Preparing for Thanksgiving

2010-11-12T13:59:00.000-05:00

Holidays are special, and the Thanksgiving holiday is special to people in America for many different reasons. Those reasons may include family, country, food, or several days off during the week. But for the church a day of Thanksgiving set aside during the week should be a significant time to recount the wonders of God. But recounting the wonders of God may take some preparation for the average church goers in America.

The reason being is that the average American church goers are not focused on wonders. If you ask most people in the church, who are busy with family, jobs, activities and church, what they are thankful for, the response is, “I am thankful to have made it through the week.” There is not much time to contemplate the wonders of God or there is not much time taken to think on the wonders of God. But taking time at a special time of year like Thanksgiving to think on the wonders of God may do more than provide for a special time of thanksgiving, it may have a transforming affect on average church goers, turning us from ungrateful to thankful.

Let’s consider the wondrous things God does in the first heavens. Elihu says to Job, 11He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.12They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. 13Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. (Job 37:11-13) God is in the heavens doing all his pleasure (Ps.115:3) taking the stores of his own water sources and loading them into thick clouds that are holding tanks. He loads them out of the waters in the earth. He takes the water out of seas by evaporation. The salt stays behind and what was fluid flies off from the waters in vapor that is lighter than the atmosphere so it can go up and load into clouds. The vapors condense through the forming of tiny dust particles forming clouds loaded with water. He then directs them around the heavens at his pleasure while they obey his direction like a company of choreographed dancers in all their glory.

These clouds of water then clash together in the heavens sending forth lighting at his will. Lightening is an atmospheric charge that is explained by various theories. But we do not know how it occurs. However we do know there are more than 16 million lightening storms in the world each year, a lightening bolt can reach temperatures of more than 54,000 degrees and travel at 22,000 mph. Lightening is not a wonder of science it is a display of God’s wondrous work. He brings them out of the clouds like clashing cymbals sending forth majestic light and fearful sounds. They are like a well tuned orchestra displaying a symphony of perfect sounds in the midst of an array of a perfectly engineered light display. And man can only wonder at this display of unfathomable judgments.

He commands them for correction, land and love and they act at his command. If he pours forth an inch of rain on one square mile of land he gives forth 17,377,536 gallons of water weighing 144,735,360 pounds. And when he sends these drops forth sometimes they are big enough to lay down the plants in a field or flood the field and sometimes they are small enough to gently wet the leaves and fall into the ground to nourish the roots. Some rains sweep away land, animals and people and some fill water tanks for drinking and cooking. He pours it how as he wills. Some lightening strikes fear as it claims a life or burns a home, some strikes ignite a forest burning and clearing to purify the land, and some leaves a person in awe and wonder at it’s beauty. As Elihu says to Job after consideration of these wondrous things God does, 14"Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.(Job.37:14).

A church that shows forth a form of godliness but denies it’s power is an ungrateful church (2Tim.3:2,5). But a church that is looking on the wondrous things that God is doing everyday in things like rain and lightening and the orchestration of clouds she will respond with awe and thanksgiving before God who does all his pleasure for his glory and the good of his creatures. Whether it be in God’s general revelation or his special revelation let us not hide from ourselves or one another the wondrous things that God is doing in his creation, providence and redemption. Then we will come into his presence together with thanksgiving. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.(Ps.78:4)

Ready for Good Work

2010-11-06T11:39:00.000-04:00

How is God who is the gospel glorified by his church? How does the church beautify the God who is the gospel? God can not be made more glorious by his church. The church cannot add beauty or glory to God. He is infinitely glorious in the fullness of triune nature. But the church can in knowing and enjoying the glory of God revealed in the gospel show forth that glory in what she wears by her life.

In Titus 3:1b-2 Paul tells the young pastor what should adorn the church as she lives in the beauty of God in the gospel. She should be ready for every good work. The good work that the church is re-created in the image of Jesus for are works that are prepared beforehand (Eph.2:10) that she must be ready concerning. Good work is not avoided. In the church there can be no giving of the eyes to much sleep or folding of the hands for to much rest (Pr.6:4,10). This kind of life will bring the church to poverty not adorning the glorious God of the gospel. The church beautifies the God of the gospel when she is like her Lord who found it his food to be doing the will of the Father who sent him by accomplishing his work (Jn.4:34). That work may be at home, toward his church, or in the community toward her neighbors but it is work we are not seeking to avoid but are ready concerning. And that work is good because God has prepared it for us and in doing it for his glory by depending on his grace and being obedient to his will, it adorns his glory. Good work is not defined culturally but Biblically and providentially. Be ready.

In this text Paul tells us what some of the good work that adorns the gospel of God is as it is exercised toward those around us. First of all he says to speak evil of no one. We are not to blaspheme or slander someone with our words. We are not to speak to others in a false way about someone so as to injure their name or reputation. Therefore the good work is to speak of someone in a manner that upholds their name and reputation truthfully. The church should speak about others not seeking to injure but to have compassion on their person and their life. Secondly, he says to avoid quarrelling. We are not to fight but rather strive for peace with everyone (Heb.12:14). The church should avoid looking for a fight, or being contentious. There are those who will seek to get into foolish arguments with those in the church and the church must be careful not to think that God is glorified by besting someone into the kingdom through a well fought argument. The third work the church must be ready for is to be gentle. It is gentleness that is the beauty of God’s glory in Christ (Mt.11:29), and that gentle forbearing life of Christ through the church is the good work that adorns his beauty. Gentleness is born out of strength. Paul tells Timothy that he has not received a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind (2Tim.1:7). It is through the strength of God in the gospel that we have received power in the Holy Spirit and the same power that raised Christ from the dead is toward us (Eph.1:19), but that power is for the fruit of gentleness (Gal.5:23). Gentleness is necessary where there is so much brokenness. The last work mentioned that the church must be ready for is to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Courtesy is often translated meekness. It is used to describe a quality of life toward others in the midst of difficult circumstances. In this text Paul follows these instructions in verse 3 reminding us of the difficult circumstances we lived in because of sin before we shared in the gospel of God through his mercies, For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another (3:3). Therefore he is telling us that this is the difficult circumstances we should see people living in because of sin and we should be ready to be patient, meek, courteous and mild toward them as we await God’s mercy to reach them. A child will say something they should not say and perfect courtesy will not reprimand them publicly but with meekness and gentleness take them aside and show them God’s mercy through truth toward their sin. In this way the mother adorns the gospel of God.

Therefore the church beautifies the God of the gospel when she is ready for and living in the good works that are prepared for her in Christ and lived through the Spirit. But what does God provide to fuel the faith for these good works? Paul gives us this answer in the explanation of the beautiful God of the gospel and its resulting hope, 4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Tit.3:4-7). Be ready for every good work as you hope in the knowledge and enjoyment of the glorious God of the gospel as he is offered you in life forevermore through Christ Jesus.

Sola Scriptura - Sufficiency of Scripture

2010-10-29T08:50:00.000-04:00

We often wonder if we have enough. I was recently working on a project at home. I made the plans, calculated the materials and made the purchase. But as I was making the purchase I was aware of a constant nagging question in my mind, “Is this going to be enough?” This nagging question was legitimate based upon past experiences. In the past I had projects, made plans, calculated the materials, made the purchase and gone to work on the project only to realize in the middle or at the end I did not have enough to finish. And then there is that time wasting trip back to the store that inevitably lengthens the time of the project. When we wonder if we have enough we are dealing with the issue of sufficiency.

The issue of sufficiency is also a matter of life and death. How do we know we have sufficient authority to live life for the glory of God? And when it comes to death how do we know we have sufficient authority to assure us of eternal life beyond the grave? These are questions that every man, woman and child should be wrestling with because we are all created for the glory of God and we will all face death and an eternal existence of life or death.

The apostle Paul wrote concerning this sufficient authority to his son in the faith Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:15-17. Paul first of all tells him that the Scriptures are the sufficient authority to assure him of eternal life beyond the grave. He says in verse 15 and 16, “and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God…” Timothy had been taught from the “sacred writings”. This phrase refers to the Old Testament Scriptures. He had been taught these by Paul, but also his mother and grandmother. It was the Scripture or the “breathed out” Word of God that was God’s sufficient means to bring Timothy to salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. The Scripture is from God and authoritative and because it is from God it is his sufficient source for the certainty of his children’s salvation. It is able to make them wise and understanding as to the way of God’s salvation for them in Christ. Where there is so much uncertainty inside and outside the church as to how many ways there are to God, in the Scripture we read the only sufficient answer. In Jn.14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The Scripture is from God and sufficient to make us certain of God’s salvation for us in Christ Jesus.

We also see in this text that the Scriptures are the sufficient and final judge in the matter of faith and life. Timothy was living in the midst of ungodliness in the context of the church (2Tim.3:1-9). In that situation God is the judge and he judges according to his sufficient Word. Paul did not command Timothy to think through their lives and his life and try to determine which is best way, so that he may pass judgment on one way of life and live in the other. In the midst of this ungodliness he was to follow Paul’s example of godliness and expect suffering (3:12). And while he did this he was to preach God’s Word (2Tim.4:1-2). It is God’s breathed out word that is the sufficient and final judge in matters of faith and life. The church will be among a form of godliness that denies it’s power (3:5) within the church and God has given her his sufficient word to be the final judge. If there is uncertainty about what you must believe to be a Christian or if there are questions about what we must believe and do as those who are alive in Christ and following him by faith through the Spirit, then God’s Word is the sufficient and final judge. In a church and culture that does not think anyone should judge or be judged we have great uncertainty. But there is great certainty where God’s Word is trusted as the sufficient and final judge in the matter of faith and life.

The last thing Paul tells Timothy about the sufficiency of God’s Word is that it is sufficient for a life of good works that flow out of his salvation for us in Christ Jesus. In verse 16 and 17 he says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” God’s salvation for his children leads to good works or fruit bearing for his glory (Mt.13:23; Jn.15:8). We read in Ephesians 2:10, “10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” But how do we know we have enough for these works or to know what the works and the fruit looks like? The Word of God is “profitable” to this end. It is the sufficient truth of God given to his church to lead her in his pleasure.

The Word of God given us by God through the prophets and apostles is his sufficient Word for faith and life and it is the basis of the churches certainty that we may believe and live for his glory.

Sola Scriptura - Authority of Scripture

2010-10-25T14:09:00.000-04:00

There was an advertisement for a brokerage firm some years ago that said, “When E.F. Hutton speaks people listen.” In those television adds you would see and hear people walking about being busy with their live and a man would speak and everyone would stop and listen. In this way they were showing that E. F. Hutton was the authority on investments. This is how we often think of authority. We say someone is an authority who is an expert in the field. We say a referee is an authority because he enforces the rules of the game. But the Christian concept of authority is different from these views of authority. In both cases their authority is derived from something they represent.

The Christian is met with a superior and sovereign authority in the only true and living God who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And his authority is revealed to us in his expired or breathed out Word. God’s authority is revealed to us because it is given us in his Word. Therefore the Word of God is authoritative because it is God speaking to us. The Scriptures claim this authority in several repeated phrases in Scripture. “It is written” is used 46 times. “Scripture says” is used seven times. “According to the Scriptures” is used three times. And Jesus uses the phrase, “the law and the prophets” 38 times. In the words of Augustine, “What Scripture says, God says.” The Scriptures have their origin in the will of God and not the opinion or rational thinking of man. They have authority that man must submit to. Paul says to the Corinthian church, “What I am writing to you is the Lord’s command” (1Cor.14:37). So the writings of the prophets and apostles are the authoritative foundation stones of the church (Eph.2:20). The authority of the Lord Jesus Christ is given us in the Scriptures. When we say Jesus is our Lord then we must have a belief in and submission to the authority of the Scriptures. As one theologian says, “It (the authority which comes from the Bible) calls for instant and unqualified acceptance of every statement of the Bible on the part of man. To ignore, disregard, or reject any doctrine of the Bible is rebellion against God’s authority, and will not go unpunished.” (Edward W.A. Koehler) The authority of the Scriptures is found in the sovereign God who breathed them out. “The voice of Scripture is the voice of God.” (John Armstrong).

Let me illustrate this way. If a parent commands a child to do something and the child responds by saying, “Why must I do this?”, they are questioning the parents authority. If the parent responds by saying, “Because I said so”, then they have taken the supreme place of authority in the child’s life. The authority of the parent over the child is a derived and temporary authority. Therefore any authority the parent exercises over the child should point the child to their ultimate authority who is God who directs them through his Word. Therefore the proper response of the parent is not, “Because I said so”, but “Because God says so and you need to learn to trust and obey God.” God says, “Children obey your parents” and this is the final authority.

Therefore when Abraham repeatedly said to the rich man in Jesus’ story (Lk.16:19-31), “They have Moses and the prophets”, he was saying what Paul said about the weapons of our spiritual warfare. His and other Jews lives were set against the knowledge of God and his pleasure. Therefore they needed the sword of the Spirit (Eph.6:17) to demolish those strongholds, arguments and pretensions that were set up (2Cor.10:3-6) in that money promised a greater joy than God in Christ. And that walking over your neighbor to pursue that promise was greater than giving one’s neighbor the glory of God in Christ through love. But how does God through his Word take this place of authority in our lives. The kind of authority that is embraced, believed and loved?

The Scripture has a self testimony because it is God breathed and the Holy Spirit operates through that testimony in the life of Christian. Scripture itself bears witness to its own divine authority by the working power of the Holy Spirit. This is what is called the internal witness of the Spirit. The witness of the Spirit is not present in human emotions that cause you to choose God. The Spirit operates through the Word to believe, willfully embrace and act on God’s authoritative Word. This is what Paul says in 1Thessalonians 2:13, “13And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” Notice in this passage that the internal witness of the Spirit is tied to the gospel. The believer must believe in the death of Jesus Christ as a satisfaction for sin and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a justifying life. This must be the inner work of the Spirit that brings the witness of the Word to bear on the life of a true believer. If this is not present then the Word is not working authoritatively in the life. What the Scripture says, God says, and this authoritative Word of God working through the Spirit of God is what enables his church to submit to her Lord.

God has spoken and is speaking through his Word are you listening, trusting, submitting and obeying under his authority?

Faith, Engendered or Hindered

2010-10-15T13:31:00.002-04:00

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
John 5:44

Belief is hindered by seeking glory from man. There is only one glory that is true glory, but there are many false glories. There is the false glory that comes from man. This is a glory that fears man for what glory he may receive from him. It may be in knowing him and being associated with him, even if it be in name only. This is the love of praise and approval from man. This imposter glory posts something on a blog or facebook that makes a person proud of the response they get from others or to know that others are paying attention to them or what they have said. This seeking of glory from mortal, limited, weak and sinful man is a false glory that does not satisfy. It is a false glory because it is not weighty. It is a light weight glory that is like the flower of the field. It blooms and blossoms red but fades quickly into dried up browns that loose their glory. The glory of man is a light weight glory because it is here a moment and then gone, it seems rock solid in promising joy but it quickly returns to the dust. Man was not made to be a vessel for providing the glory we seek. Man was made for a weighty glory that is outside of himself that he needs.

Man’s will must be changed to seek the weight of God’s glory. His will must be changed to seek and delight in what truly gratifies, the only God as he reveals himself. Man is a god we seek glory from in our sin. God is the only God we seek glory from in his grace and truth in Jesus Christ. This is the only true glory we were made for, to be trusting in God in Jesus Christ as he reveals himself in the Scriptures as our only real and lasting treasure and pleasure. This seeking of glory from the immortal, unlimited, powerful and holy triune God is a true glory that satisfies the souls of men. God’s glory is weighty. It is like the sun rising at dawn with all its glorious light to hide the lesser glories of the night sky. The glory of God in Christ is a rock solid eternal glory promising and providing joy for all who seek him. His glory is a true glory that when sought with a true heart of faith engenders greater belief. But how do you seek his glory?

We must come to Christ at the cross repenting of a will that seeks man’s glory and by faith seek his glory through the grace and truth of his revealed person and will in the Scriptures. His glory is known and enjoyed where he is being known and enjoyed in a growing knowledge of who he is and a growing life of doing his pleasure each day. His glory is known through his grace, and we attend to that grace through faith believing his glory is a greater treasure than all that man could ever offer. In this way man becomes one we serve the glory of God to through our lives of faith and repentance, instead of one we try to extract glory out of for ourselves. In this way faith is engendered and not hindered.

Helpful Thoughts from Reading This Week

2010-10-15T07:52:00.001-04:00

John Calvin on the Necessity of Scripture...Institutes Book I. Chapter VI.3; "Without Scripture We Fall Into Error"

"Suppose we ponder how slippery the fall of the human mind into forgetfulness of God, how great the tendency to every kind of error, how great the lust to fashion constantly new and artificial religions. Then we may perceive how necessary was such written proof of the heavenly doctrine, that it should neither perish through forgetfulness nor vanish through error nor be corrupted by the audacity of men. It is therefore clear that God has provided the assistance of the Word for the sake of all those to whom he has pleased to give useful instruction because he foresaw that his likeness imprinted upon the most beautiful form of the universe would be insufficiently effective.... For we should so reason that the splendor of the divine contenance, which even the apostle calls "unapproachable" (1Tim.6:16), is for us like an inexplicable labyrinth unless we are conducted into it by the thread of the Word; so that it is better to limp along this path that to dash with all speed outside of it...For errors can never be uprooted from human hearts until true knowledge of God is planted therein."

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment; Chapter 2 pg.44; "The Mystery of Contentment"

"The peace of God shall keep you, and the God of peace shall be with you (Phil.4:7,9). Here is what I would observe from this text, that the peace of God is not enough to a gracious heart except it may have the God of that peace. A carnal heart could be satisfied if he might but have outward peace, though it is not the peace of God; peace in the state, and in his trading, would satisfy him. But mark how a godly heart goes beyond a carnal. All outward peace is not enough; I must have the peace of God. But suppose you have the peace of God, Will that not quiet you? No, I must have the God of peace; as the peace of God so the God of peace. That is, I must enjoy that God who gives me the peace; I must have the Cause as well as the effect. I must see from when my peace comes, and enjoy the Fountain of my peace, as well as the stream of my peace. And so in other mercies: have I health from God? I must have the God of my health to be my portion, or else I am not satisfied. It is not life, but the God of my life; it is not riches, but the God of those riches, that I must have, the God of my preservation, as well as my preservation."

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Scripture, Necessary or Important

2010-10-13T11:10:00.002-04:00

The Scriptures, are they necessary or merely important? This past Lord’s Day I preached on the necessity of Scripture from Romans 10:12-17. In that sermon we discovered the Scriptures are necessary to make one wise unto salvation, for the churches growth in that salvation, and a continued understanding of and life in the way of God’s pleasure. Therefore the Scriptures are not just important; they are necessary, so necessary that the church cannot exist without them. God is not bound to the Scriptures but he has bound his church to them (Francis Turretin). I encourage you to connect to the link to listen to this first sermon in our series, “Sola Scriptura: The Necessity of Scripture; Why Do We Need the Bible.”

We must reckon with our own minds and hearts in regard to the necessity of Scripture. Do we treat the Bible each day and week of our lives as though it is just important or absolutely necessary to our lives in Christ? In the last words of Moses to the people of Israel God speaks clearly of their need to treat his Word as necessary. He says to them in Deuteronomy 8:3, “3And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” The life of God that keeps the souls of men alive in him is necessarily found in his Word. He gives life and sustains life through the means of his Word. He says much later in the book, "Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess." (Deut.32:46-47). Here God tells us that his Words are not empty. They are full of the grace of life and they are necessary for God’s people to live upon forever. Is your mind and heart fixed by faith on the necessity of sitting at the Lord’s feet to be fed by him through his Word? The church is dying where the necessary Word of God is marginalized into a place of mere importance or unimportance.

Here are 7 reasons from Psalm 119 for you to consider why the Scriptures are necessary:
1. The Word is necessary for our joy or blessedness in God. "Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!" v.1
2. The Word is necessary for a diligent faith in God’s pleasure. "You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently." v.4
3. The Word is necessary to the end for which you were created, to praise God. "I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules." v.7
4. The Word in the heart is necessary to protect the life from sin. "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." v.11
5. The Word is necessary to lift us up out of our flesh to his life. "My soul clings to the dust, give me life according to your word!" v.25
6. The Word is necessary for strength to not be overcome by sorrow, despair and depression. "My soul melts away for sorrow, strengthen me according to your word." v.28
7. The Word is necessary to protect against a self imploding, worldly life. "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain." v.36

These 7 reasons only scratch the surface of the necessity of God’s Word for the churches salvation, growth in that salvation and continued understanding and life in the pleasure of God. There are many more you could list from this Psalm and the rest of Scripture.

The Word of God is more than important, it is necessary. May the church be reforming her life on this formative principle of the Reformation, Sola Scriptura.

Sola Scriptura

2010-10-08T10:53:00.001-04:00

“Unless I am convinced by Sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I will not recant. My conscience is held captive by the Word of God and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe.” These were the words spoken by Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521. He was on trial for his writings and doctrinal positions that put him in the position of being called a demon and a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church. It was Luther’s belief in the authority of the Scriptures that lead him to argue that the Pope and the church councils are able and in fact had erred. Therefore for Luther the church was not infallible in its interpretation of the Scriptures and its traditions set down according to those interpretations. This put him at odds with the church who believed that the Scriptures and the Roman Church were infallible sources of special revelation.

The dispute over sola Scriptura was a dispute over authority. Who had the authority to bind the conscience of believers in the church, was it the church and the Scriptures or the Scriptures alone? The reformers were not averse to recognizing God given authority in the church through her offices, creeds and confessions. But they saw these authorities as subordinate to God’s authority through his Word. And when the churches traditions, creeds, and confessions made demands on her people contrary to the authority of God’s Word then she needed reforming according to the Word. Only God who is infallible has the right to bind the consciences of his children in his church through his infallible Word alone. But even in our day the true doctrine of sola Scriptura is confused.

In our modern culture we have elevated the autonomous or individual reason to the place of an infallible authority. In the church it is common to believe that the Scriptures are the only “basis of authority”. In our “no creeds but Christ” church culture it is the autonomous reason that has taken the place of the Roman Catholic tradition. In the time of the Reformation the Roman Catholic Church believed that the infallible Scriptures and the infallible Pope and Church were the authority. But now the individual reason has taken the place of the church and Pope as an infallible source of authority. It says, “I am my own interpreter, I am my own authority based on what I believe the Scriptures say”. In this present climate change in the church it does not necessarily matter what you believe as long as you do not believe that I have to believe or interpret the Bible in the same way you do or according to a standard. This is why we have churches emerging that do not stress or even have church membership. Church membership infringes upon the individual. It causes the church to have to rule and teach authoritatively from a standard given them by God in subordination to the Scriptures.

In our modern church culture of “solo Scriptura” (the Scripture is the sole basis of authority) any God given authority in the church which is subordinate to the Scriptures is replaced by man’s own reason. In the time of the Reformation were Martin Luther and other reformers only studying the Bible? And were they only studying the Bible through their own thought lenses? When I was in graduate school taking a class in hermeneutics I was taught to come to the Bible with no preconceived notions or thoughts, no presuppositions about the Scripture I was studying. This teaching was borrowed from Lewis Sperry Chafer founder of Dallas Theological Seminary who said, “the very fact that I did not study a prescribed course in theology made it possible for me to approach the subject with an unprejudiced mind and to be concerned only with what the Bible actually teaches.” This is an approach resting on the infallibility of the individual in interpreting Scripture. Keith Mathison says, “Each of us comes to the Scripture with different presuppositions, blind spots, ignorance of important facts, and, most importantly, sinfulness. Because of this we each read things into Scripture that are not there and miss things in Scripture that are there.” Martin Luther and other reformers used by God in the 16th and 17th centuries did not interpret the Scriptures as the sole basis of authority. They recognized that though men and councils in the church could ere nonetheless they depended upon the creeds and confessions and writings of the church in the past. This is why when Charles of Germany handed down his decisions regarding Luther at the Diet of Worms he connected him with the teachings of the pre-reformers John Wycliffe, Jon Hus and the Waldensians. Luther was not original in his understandings and interpretations. In his debate with Johann Eck he quoted as much of Augustine and the church fathers as he did the Scriptures in defending his positions. The modern church must be careful that she does not abandon the ancient paths in the pursuit of the autonomous infallible self.

The modern church needs the authoritative Word that has produced creeds, confessions and writings that still guide her to this day. The Word of God alone can bind the consciences of God’s beloved church, but it is not the sole basis of authority. God has given his church fallible yet authoritative offices, creeds and confessions as subordinate to the Word of God. Yet the Scripture alone is the infallible, expired, special revelation of God which is the formal cause of the churches reformation then, now and forevermore. Ecclesia semper reformanda est.

Beautiful Feet

2010-10-06T12:58:00.001-04:00

Do you have beautiful feet? I am not talking about a nice shaped foot that has been gently cared for and nurtured by all the correct massages and lotions, pedicures and polish. No, I am speaking of the beautiful feet of those who preach the good news of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (Rom.10:15). Here he is quoting from Isaiah 52:7 which reads,
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."

Those with beautiful feet are those who bring the glorious riches of God in the person, works and words of Jesus Christ. Their feet may be blistered and worn, but their news is beautiful and a precious ointment to the souls of those who hear by faith. For there are those who sit in the news of their misery and death, those who know only strife, discord, guilt and condemnation, those who know only tears, sorrow and darkness, and those whose god is the creature or the creation. But the one who comes by their feet to proclaim the sovereign reign and grace of God seen in Jesus Christ is an ambassador of joy and a steward of riches to those who sit in misplaced joy and sorrow.

How beautiful are your feet to those in your family, your neighborhood and your workplaces? How beautiful are your feet to those in your church? Those in the church are the stewards of the good news, the words of peace, the words of joy and happiness and the words of the salvation of her God who reigns.

There are many ways the church can publish the words of Christ to those around her. You can write a letter of this good news to one of your renewed friendships on facebook. You can give a good Christian book to someone in your family who may not know the way of Christ truly from the Scriptures. You can invite a friend, neighbor or work associate to church to hear the good news proclaimed. You can carry the good news of peace with God to your neighbor through a conversation over tea, dessert or supper. You can be used of God to take the good news to a people who have never heard as you walk to your prayer closet or board a plane to cross a culture to publish peace in Jesus Christ. The church must remember that “these boots were made for walkin”, but not like the popular song lyrics say, “for walkin all over you”. No the feet that go in the boots are beautiful when they bring the good news of peace where there is enmity, joy where there is sorrow and good news where there is only bad. The beautiful feet are those who treasure the truth of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ and spread the riches of that treasure to all God’s broken image bearers.

The Need to Read

2010-10-01T13:44:00.000-04:00

There is a need to read. CNN reported this week that the Pew Forum conducted a 32 question religion quiz with 3,400 people living in America. In their findings they discovered that atheists and agnostics scored higher than evangelicals. Those in the “Bible belt” scored the lowest. The poll was certainly not exhaustive in its findings but it does represent what the church knows and those findings are not good. One conclusion is obvious; those who read did better than those who do not.

A 2004 NEA survey found that most adult Americans do not read one book a year. They found that the average 15-24 year old spends less than seven minutes a day reading leisurely. Another study found that 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college. 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book in 2007. Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines. The average American watching 4 hours of TV a week will spend 9 years of their life in front the TV by the age 65. The average American parent spends 3.5 minutes per week in meaning conversation with their children. The average American child watches 1,680 minutes per week watching television. People are reading less and watching more and knowing less.

When I first read George Orwell’s 1984 I feared what most young Americans feared living during the Cold War, Big Brother and oppression from without. But what I missed in that government education by day and TBS education by night was Aldous Huxley’s prophecy in Brave New World. Neil Postman puts it this way, “As he (Huxley) saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think…Orwell feared those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one to read one…Huxley feared that what we love would ruin us.” It appears that Huxley was on the road to right especially if we apply these thoughts to the church.

Does the church know what or how to think in this culture of amusements or is she sliding with the culture into the same ruin of passivity and egoism? I would argue that if you asked the “evangelicals” of those 3,400 polled by the Pew Forum on religious knowledge if they cared about the questions they were being asked the answer would have been, “No, what does it have to do with me.” The church does not know what she is laughing about and why she has stopped thinking. Therefore the following questions are necessary: How many hours a week is the average church member spending reading, hearing, praying and singing the Word of God? How many hours a week is the average church member spending in reading good Christian books and discussing them with other church goers?

David prays in Psalm 119:17, Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Life in the ways of God is through the transforming and renewing of the mind with the knowledge of God and his will (Rom.12:1-2). The turning away from worthless things and worthless thoughts happens in the context of treasuring the knowledge and will of God revealed through his Word. But it also occurs where the truth about God and his will is discovered in good Christian literature. This week I struggled with discouragement and was tempted to shrink back into passivity and egoism. But God through his Word studied, talked about, taught and written on my heart and the use of good Christian literature my mind and affections were renewed and transformed that I might live in his ways.

The apostle Paul uses the phrase, “Do you not know” thirteen times. Jesus is recorded as saying, “Have you not read” seven times, and “have you never read” three times in the gospels. The prophet Isaiah says, “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.40:28) What are you knowing, what are you reading, what are you hearing read and discussing? It is the unsearchable knowledge and understanding of God that is for the shaping and imaging of the church for his glory The church must be attending to every opportunity to read the Scriptures, hear them read, taught, preached and participate in the discussion of them. The church must also be reading good Christian literature. By reading good Christian literature 15 minutes a day each church member could be reading 20 average Christian books a year. Tolle Lege, take up and read. There is a need to read.

Sexuality, Purity and Glory

2010-09-28T11:03:00.001-04:00

Sex in marriage is necessary for purity and glory. In this statement I do not intend to separate purity from glory or glory from purity. The word “and” does not function in this sentence to separate these two ideas but to make them dependent upon one another.

We often focus on the necessity of sex in marriage as a protectorate against sexual immorality or impurity. We read in 1 Corinthians 7:2, “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” To “have” one’s own wife or husband is to be participating in the good gift of sex in the context of marriage. Therefore Paul seems to be saying that God has provided this gift to protect the church from sexual immorality. In other words if the wife and husband are satisfying one another in the joy of giving (1Cor.7:3-4) then the wife and husband will not be going outside of the marriage to satisfy their sexual desires. Paul also says, “ …but then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self control.” (1Cor.7:5). Here again it seems that sex in the context of marriage, “come together again”, is necessary for purity, to protect one another from temptation toward sexual immorality. Therefore based on what Paul is saying here we instruct couples in the church to have sex in their marriage for the purpose of pursuing marital fidelity or purity. As the writer of Hebrews commands, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Heb.13:4) Sexual purity is necessary to see God and not suffer his wrath. Therefore the Scriptures teach us that sex in marriage is necessary for purity.

However, I do not think that the Scriptures are teaching us that sex in marriage is necessary for purity alone. Purity is not the end glory is. When purity is the end it drives sex in marriage out of the realm of heavenly glory into the realm of earthly duty. This thinking on purity without glory lends us toward asking questions like, “How many times a week should we be involved in sexual intimacy?” or “Should I give in every time he / she asks?” I am not against such questions but they tend to focus on sex in marriage as a duty we must fulfill for the husband or wife in order to keep them from impurity. We tend to separate sex in marriage from the glorious when we see purity and protection from impurity as the end. Therefore sex in marriage is necessary for purity and glory.

Glory is the end of purity and purity leads to glory. Why is Paul interested in sexual purity in the church in Corinth? Is he worried about unwanted pregnancies? Is he concerned about sexually transmitted diseases? Is he upset over the breakdown of the traditional family and the effect it will have on coming generations? Is he concerned about the prostitution in Corinth and the degradation that brings to the city and its people? Is he concerned about their reputation? What is Paul’s concern?

Paul is jealous for the glory of God and that the church would know and live in that glory. When Paul speaks against sexual immorality in chapter 6:12-20 he does so around the glory of the gospel. He tells them to flee sexual immorality in the glory of the resurrection (6:12-14), in the certainty of their union with Christ (6:15-17) and in the glory of redemption (6:18-20). Sexual purity is next to the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sexual purity in marriage is a metaphor for the purity and glory of God’s covenantal love to his own people (Ezek.16:1-14, 59-63; Hosea 2:14-20; 3; Song of Solomon; Eph.5:23-33). When a man who is united to Christ is brought together by God (Gen.2:22, 24; Mt.19:8) to a woman who is united to Christ there is a picture of God’s glory in Christ in the gospel. That man and that woman are not only participating in the purity of God but also the glory of God. The husband whose heart is satisfied in all that God is for him through the gospel of Jesus Christ can live in love toward his wife in the joy of giving to her in the purity of their marriage bed and the wife in Christ can give in the same joy and participate in the same purity and glory. It is this purity and glory that protects the husband and wife from all the self seeking glory that leads to impurity and brokenness.

Paul knows that everything, including sex, is from God, and through God and to God for his own glory (Rom.11:36). Paul knows that sex is a gift from God that is for his glory (1Tim.4:3-4). Paul knows that everything we do is to be done for the glory of God (1Cor.10:31). Therefore Paul knows that God’s creatures are created to know and enjoy his glory in everything. And when those creatures exchange the glory of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature and the creation they suffer under God’s wrath and participate in impurity (Rom.1:18ff). Sexual immorality and impurity leads God’s creatures away from the glory they are designed for into a world of lies and shallow dead end pleasures. Sex in marriage is necessary for purity that leads God’s people to glory. The sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God (1Cor.6:9-10), They will not taste and see that God is good (Ps.34:8). They will not know that God is their best portion forever (Ps.73:26). They will not know that in God’s presence is the fullness of joy forevermore (Ps.16:11). They will not know glory and they will not lead their wives and husbands into that same glory through purity in the joy of giving in sex in marriage.

Sex in marriage is necessary for purity and glory. Many in the church are broken by sexual self seeking and sexual impurity. The restoration of sex in marriage for purity and glory is discovered and lived in the knowledge and enjoyment of the glory of God in Christ. The joy of giving in the purity of the marriage bed is a participation in glory.

Sexuality and the Knowledge of God

2010-09-24T16:08:00.001-04:00

In a culture where, “God is dead”, sex is a god that enslaves. In a culture where “god is love”, sex is an expression of one’s freedom for the glory of self. In a culture where god is known but as a god of the churches own making, sex is perfunctory and misused. However in the Kingdom where God is known and loved through the gospel as he reveals himself in his Word, sex is a beautiful gift of God enjoyed in the context of marriage for the knowledge and enjoyment of God.

In the next several weeks in our exposition of 1 Corinthians 6 and 7 we will be faced with the uncomfortable reality of thinking about sex. It is one thing to think about sex in the privacy of your own home, but God brings this topic into the context of corporate worship where he speaks to his own from his Word, and I think this brings the issue of sex into it’s proper perspective, Soli Deo Gloria, for the glory of God. Living in a sex crazed culture the church has lost its ability to think and talk rightly about sex. But the Scriptures are not silent on the subject. Therefore the church should think and speak clearly about this subject in a culture that is in rebellion to God who created sex for the good of his children and the glory of his name.

Sex outside of marriage is a misuse of God’s gift. Sex in the context of marriage is designed for our knowledge and enjoyment of him and the protection of his creatures. Sexual immorality is described in the Scriptures as porneia. To the prophets and apostles this includes using the gift of sex outside of the context of marriage. It is a misuse of sex in adultery, fornication, lust, pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, rape etc.. These kinds of sexual sin are the result of suppressing the knowledge of God. The apostle Paul seeks to lead the Corinthian church out of sexual sin through an understanding of God and his salvation in the doctrines of the resurrection of Christ, union with Christ and redemption in Christ (1Cor.6:12-20). Paul also writes in the book of Romans that it is the suppression of the knowledge of God that leads men and women to a debased mind and the doing of what they should not do (Rom.1:28). He says in the same chapter that the exchanging of the glory of God in worship to worship the glory of the creature and creation leads to the impure sexual life (Rom.1:23-24). In Ephesians 4 we see Paul connect impurity to not knowing God when he says, “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!” (Eph.4:19-20). Sexual immorality is practiced with the mind, the heart or the life where God is not being known, trusted and loved in Christ Jesus.

At this someone may object and say, “Look at all the sexual immorality in the church and by the leaders of the church!” However, because people are in the visible church or leading the visible church does not mean that they are knowing, trusting and loving God in Christ as he reveals himself in his Word. This is why the apostle confronts the sexual immorality in the church not by only telling them to stop doing something (1Cor.6:18), but by founding that command in the knowledge of God in Christ (1Cor.6:14, 15-17, 18-20). Therefore if sexual immorality is the result of suppressing the knowledge of God, then the way to sexual purity is through the knowledge of God in Christ. If we are going to see God turn the tables on a sexual revolution that is destroying culture, then the true knowledge of God in Jesus Christ must necessarily be revealed and applied. Jesus told his disciples that it is the truth that will set them free and it is in abiding in Christ’s word that his disciples know that truth, that setting free truth (Jn.8:31-32). Sexual impurity is not an expression of freedom. It does not matter of the mutual consent of the parties involved or the supposed love between the two people. Sexual impurity is sin. And sin is slavery. Knowing God in Christ truly through his Word revealed by the Spirit is God’s design to guard his own from sexual immorality and guide them in sexual purity in the context of marriage. Growing in the knowledge and enjoyment of God in Christ is very practical right down to our own sexuality.

Ideas Have Consequences

2010-09-10T01:45:00.000-04:00

“Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something.” These are the latest “profound” words from British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. It is in Hawking’s latest work that Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion”, claims, “it finishes off God. Darwin kicked him out of biology, but physics remained more uncertain. Hawking is now administering the coup de grace” But what does this physicist and atheist mean by his theory of “spontaneous creation”?

I will allow the brilliant man speak for himself in these recent words from a British publication. “The universe created itself out of nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going”-Stephen Hawking, The Times. There it is brilliance at the height of Godless science or maybe we should call it foolishness. Richard Dawkins speaks foolishly about it when he says, “I know nothing of the details of physics, but I had always assumed the same thing”. Since Mr. Dawkins is ignorant on the subject of physics he is glad that Mr. Hawking agrees with him. Be careful that you do not question their brilliance and be found among the backward of the world believing God created everything from nothing. Mr. Dawkins is looking for a theory from the school which David Robertson calls ABGism – Anything But Godism, and he has found it in biological theories and now in Mr. Hawking’s physics. Mr. Dawkins chooses aliens as the depositors of matter that evolved into the earth we now inhabit and Mr. Hawking chooses nothing to create the something of the universe.

But how does Mr. Hawking get something from nothing without an agent acting? He explains, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing”. Laws such as gravity or motion are descriptions of the created order being acted upon under certain conditions. The law does not do anything. Sir Isaac Newton can sit under an apple tree all day and wait for the law of gravity to do something but it will do nothing all day because the law is not the agency. The law of gravity is observed under the condition that an apple is acted upon by a force called gravity and it falls from the tree. We can take a baseball and a bat place them on the ground and wait for the law of motion to do something, but we will be waiting all day until a person lifts the bat and ball tosses the ball into the air and swings the bat striking the ball and sending it through the air. The law of motion is observable when there is agency. It is this kind of logic with this kind of science which caused Isaac Newton to believe that the universe must have been designed by God as it could not have sprung out of chaos. But Mr. Hawking prefers chaos and foolishness to God and wisdom. Does all this really matter?

Yes it matters! Scientists like Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins and writers like Phillip Pullman and Christopher Hitchens are motivated by a common radical atheism that is bent on an anti-theistic revolution through science and free thought. Hawking says, “Just as Darwin and Wallace explained how the apparently miraculous design of living forms could appear without intervention by a supreme being, the multiverse concept can explain the fine-tuning of physical law without the need for a benevolent creator who made the Universe for our benefit…this makes us in a sense the lords of creation.” In these theories that Mr. Hawking puts forward the “science” is undergirded by thought that is free from any logic and sound reasoning. But as long as it accomplishes his purpose that does not matter. It matters because ideas have consequences.

The apostle Paul in Romans 1:21-22 says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,” Foolish free thinking scientist ignore the invisible attributes of God in his divine nature and eternal power from what they clearly perceive in all of creation and suffer the wrath of God as they suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom.1:18-20). Ideas have consequences. Adam and Eve believed the lie in the garden and fell into sin, misery and death bringing all creation into that same futility. Ideas have consequences. However, the same God that created all things from nothing and let light shine out of darkness has sent his Son into the world to redeem the world from the futility of sin, misery and death. And it is through faith in the Son that redemption and restoration is secured. Ideas have consequences. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1Jn.5:12). Believing and acting on those ideas have life and death consequences.

Rest

2010-09-04T11:18:00.000-04:00

“Oh, to find rest, sweet repose. Why must we grind out our lives in search of vain glories when all that is wanted is home?” Sadly, these were the thoughts from Stephen Crane that came at the end of a short life of twenty eight years that were wasted in debauchery. His popular moralistic novel, The Red Badge of Courage, was actually a picture of this truth when in the end the idealistic Union soldier, Henry Fleming, finds that a simple life of rest is a virtue rather than a vice. It is this rest that all men were made for.

When we come to the greatest Book in all the world, the Bible, and read the first few chapters of it’s beginning and then rush ahead to read the last few chapters of it’s conclusion we find a life of rest for some. In the beginning we find a wonderfully adorned garden with two characters walking in the cool of the day with the Creator and Sustainer of all of life. In this garden of rest they have a relationship of sweet repose with one another in the perfect rest of love. They have lives that reflect the glory of the Creator in righteousness and holiness with a growing knowledge of his glorious nature that allows them to live in his rest. In the closing chapters of the conclusion of the Book we are brought into the rest of the garden city of God. The Lord of Heaven and Earth is there to dwell with his people and be their light by day and night. He wipes away every tear so that there is no more but only perfection of love and joy in his rest. There is a city in the garden more grand and exquisite than any can imagine with a river of life and a tree of life that brings healing and rest to all the nations that dwell therein. This ancient Book of life which is the Scriptures with it’s book of beginnings, Genesis, and it’s conclusion, Revelation, is where is revealed the promise and fulfillment of rest that we as God’s creatures were made for.

We know we are made for this rest when as children we climb trees to hide or sneak off into a corner to read or cuddle up for a nap. We know we are made for this rest when we find that we actually are enjoying moments of “boring”. We know we are made for this rest when we find ourselves longing for a weekend or a “holiday”. We know we are made for this rest when we plan and save to go to a secluded vacation spot. We know we are made for this rest when we realize we have left our cell phone at home and we smile about it. But greater than all these natural indicators that tell us we were made for rest are the words of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Mt.11:28-30).

Those earlier chapters of rest in Genesis are followed by a chapter (3) of toil and futility brought on by the sin of our first parents. It is here that we find the beginnings of all our unrest in sin which causes us to be those who “labor and are heavy laden” under the load of sin and misery that lead to the condition that is antithetical to rest, death. However in the midst of that chapter is the promise of God for rest in his salvation as he promises one who will come from the seed of the woman to crush death forever (Gen.3:15). Therefore the unfolding of the Book is the fulfillment of this promise to restore his creatures in the rest he made them for in Himself. These words of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew reveal that he is the seed of the woman who is also the “Son of Man who is lord of the Sabbath.” (Mt.12:8). He is the ruler of heaven and earth (Son of Man), the true Son of God who he is the lord and ruler of rest (Sabbath). Therefore he can make this kind of promise to all that come to him to find rest from the weight and penalty of sin through his forgiveness by his death and to find rest in his righteousness through his life and resurrection that is imputed to all sinners who come to him by faith believing that he is God and the rewarder of all who seek him.

The rest that we were made for is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in him that we can find that “sweet repose” and the home in glory that we are created for. It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory (Col.1:28). There are many Stephen Cranes in the world and some of us may find that we are playing out a life like Stephen Crane or Henry Fleming. It is to the Son of Man, the Lord of Glory that we must come and find rest. There is rest in his salvation, rest in sitting at his feet and learning from him, and rest in walking with him as his disciple in obedience to his will, even if he leads us right up to the gates of hell that others may find their rest in him. In coming to him by faith we will receive the promised rest we were made for.

A Pure Church

2010-08-27T14:21:00.002-04:00

The apostle Paul in his address to the Ephesian church promises the churches purity with these words, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Eph.5:25-27). It is through Christ Jesus that his church will become a most pure and spotless bride made ready to dwell with him in his glory forevermore. And if this is the work of Christ toward his church then his church will desire to submit herself to the work of that purity by faith in him.

Recently I wrote concerning “The True Church” as the visible gathered people of God who confess faith in Jesus Christ and their children, and which is marked by the preaching of God’s Word, the right use of God’s ordained sacraments (Communion & Baptism), and the right discipline of her members. The true church is not always a pure church. The pure church is one that is actively pursuing conformity to God’s revealed will in the Scriptures. For example the seven churches addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation were all true churches. The Lord Jesus had some good things to say about them as his bride. However in the midst of affirming their trueness he challenged their purity in the words, “But I have this against you…”. The church will continue to struggle with purity as she struggles with the indwelling sin of her members and her corporate indifference or disobedience to the will of God. As the Westminster divines penned for us, “The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error.” (WCF 25.5). Therefore there is a need for the true church to be pursuing by his grace being a pure church. And it is according to the revealed will of God that the church knows what distinguishes the church’s purity.

There may be many categories and sub categories understood through the Scriptures to define a pure church. Here I present a modified list from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. (pg.874) that biblically defines the pure church:
Biblical Doctrine in Preaching and Teaching (Eph.4:11-16; Col.1:28; ; 1Tim.3:15; 2Tim.4:1-2)
Proper Use of the Sacraments in Worship (1Cor.11:17-34)
Discipline that Aims at Nurture and Restoration (1Cor.5:1-13; Mt.18:15-20; Gal.6:1)
Genuine Worship in Spirit and Truth (Jn.4:24; Col.3:16-17; 1Cor.14:26-40)
Effective Biblical Prayer (Mt.6:7-13; 1Tim.2:1-2; Col.4:12)
Effective Compassionate Witness (Mt.28:19-20; Acts 2:44-47; 1Jn.4:7)
Effective Genuine Fellowship (Acts 2:42-47; Gal.6:2)
Biblical Church Government (1Tim.3:1-13)
Personal Holiness in Members (Heb.12:14)
Mercy to the Poor and Suffering (Rom.15:26; Mt.11:28-30)
Expressed Love for Christ (1Pe.1:8; Rev.2:4)

The purity of the church is the work of God’s grace in his church according to his revealed will therefore like any pursuit of a goal it requires something of those who pursue it. First, the church must pursue unity as we aim at this grace wrought purity. The church must be realistic in understanding that there will remain corruption and impurities that necessitate patience and forbearance as she pursues unity in purity. There are no perfect churches only messy churches. But God has filled those messy churches with people who he has justified and is sanctifying for the purpose of saving and sanctifying the whole. The pursuit of purity in unity requires individual and corporate enduring patience and faithfulness that holds to what God has done and what he promises to do in his true church. Second, the pursuit of this purity requires valued participation in the life of the church. Purity will not be experienced in silence and solitude. Purity is a corporate experience of the body of Christ. Often when members of the corporate body experience impurity and messiness they will pull away thinking they can pursue a relationship with God apart from his church in a more pure manner. But this pursuit is contrary to the purity of God’s church. The church is defined as the called out and called together people of God. And it is this church in covenant with God and one another that God purposes to purify. Third, the pursuit of this purity in the church requires prayer. While Simeon and Anna waited for the “consolation of Israel” in the coming of the One who would make his own pure, they waited in the temple in prayer (2:25-38). While the church waits on her purity through his wisdom. power and grace we wait in prayer. The church must hide in her closets and gather in her assemblies for her purity through prayer. Fourth, the church pursues purity in faithfulness to the person and work Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the effective purifier of his church. Therefore, the church apart from him and his word can do nothing. The pursuit of the goal of church purity requires the responsibility of unity, participation, prayer and faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

An Afternoon Wedding

2010-08-24T15:27:00.000-04:00

I sat all alone on a step in the choir loft of a grand Baptist church this afternoon witnessing “the joining of this man and this woman”. It was from an interesting vantage point that I participated in this wedding. I had been asked to read a portion of Scripture from Colossians 1:15-18 and the microphone I was to use was all alone in the choir loft. I quietly made my way there and sat on a step out of the purview of the rest of those who had come to witness the covenant of marriage. It was from this vantage point that I could see what others could not, the joy of two young people standing before their pastor as he was used of God to finalize what he had long ago ordained for his glory and their joy.

The pastor (Calvin Fowler of Bull Street Baptist Church, Savannah Georgia) exhorted this couple to view their marriage and one another through three lenses that I thought a good reminder for all who have previously taken these vows in covenant love. First, he exhorted them to view their marriage through the lens of God’s sovereignty. He reminded them it is God who has brought them together by his sovereign designs and that he is doing good to them. Therefore they could be confident that their marriage was not their own doing but his and they could trust him as the doer of it in all times of their marriage. Second, he exhorted them to view one another in the marriage through the lens of God’s grace. He reminded them that it is God’s grace in Christ Jesus that has given them the forgiveness of sins and life with him forevermore. Therefore they could through this lens of grace view each other as sinners who have been forgiven, accepted and loved by God. And now they can forgive, accept and love one another in this same grace. Third, he exhorted them to view their marriage through the lens of the power of the Holy Spirit. He reminded them that in the salvation of God they were called to live toward him and one another in the power of the Holy Spirit. In this way the glory of God would be reflected to the world in their marriage.

As I sat and listened and prayed I renewed my own commitment to the Lord and my wife in marriage to view our marriage through these three lenses. I thanked the Lord for faithful ministers of his Word who exhort us and remind us of the way of his glory and our good in the marriages he has ordained. And I thanked him for the small low step and the choir loft in the midst of a grand building where I could escape for a few minutes into his presence and pleasure to see and be reminded of his good and glorious work of marriage.

Assurance

2010-08-24T15:26:00.000-04:00

The life of the Christian is a mixture of smoke and light. The seven churches in the book of Revelation are called the seven golden lampstands (Rev.1:20). The disciples of Jesus are called the light of the world (Mt.5:14). However God’s covenant people are also called a faintly burning wick (Isa.42:3). Often times Christians ask the question, “Why does not God do away with all my corrupt nature when he saves me?” The question comes because the reality of the Christian life persists in the way of the wilderness. In the Christian there is the presence of grace, but it is not the measure of grace that will be known at glorification when all corruption will be swallowed up in the presence of the glory of Christ. There is a certain measure of corruption that remains in the Christian that he must fight with until his soul is made righteous in Christ’s presence or he returns to make all things new. This reality is what causes the apostle Paul to say, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:24). As the fog that rises upon the water in the cool of the morning is eventually swallowed up by the rising sun, so will the smoke of corruption be swallowed up by the glory of the Son in all his grace to make his bride a burning and shinning light for all time.

It is the mixture of the smoke and the light in the life of the Christian that often causes him to struggle with a sense of assurance. It is a joy that lifts the Christian up to heavenly glory when he has assurance of God’s everlasting love in Christ that will bring him into his presence forevermore. But it is the crushing weight of despair that pins the Christian down to the dust when his assurance of God’s grace wanes and he feels the fires of hell in his soul. It is inevitable that every Christian who shares the mixture of grace and a corrupt nature will struggle at times within these two extremes. The English Puritan Richard Sibbes said that this struggle that comes from the mixture of grace and a corrupt nature is meant for our own good. He says, “The end of it is especially to preserve us from those two dangerous rocks which our nature is prone to dash upon, security and pride, and to force us to pitch our rest upon justification, not sanctification, which, besides imperfection, has some stains.” (The Bruised Reed p.19) The Christian is meant to look to grace but so often he looks to the remaining corruption and sees not the grace. But as long as he remains in the earth the corruption will remain. Therefore his assurance does not rest in how much corruption has been dealt a death blow or how much remains. His assurance rests in the grace of God toward him in Christ Jesus. It is he who has the Son who has life (1Jn.5:12). The one who has the Son by faith is the one declared righteous and this is the Christian’s assurance and peace with God (Rom.5:1).

The Christians assurance rests not in himself, a decision he has made to accept Jesus, or even his progress against sin. Assurance for the Christian rests in the grace of being justified before God by faith in Christ alone. The great stalwart of the faith who stood against the tide of liberalism in the early 20th century J. Gresham Machen held confidence and faithfulness to the end of his life. He had traveled from Philadelphia to North Dakota in the dead of winter to preach. He was sick with pneumonia and dying when he sent by telegram his last words to friend back in Philadelphia. In was in those last words that were found an expressed assurance, “Thanks be to God for the active obedience of Christ Jesus.” His assurance as he lay dying was not in his own progress in sanctification, but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ who had lived for him, died for him, was raised for him and who had ascended into heaven to serve at God’s right hand for him with all his righteousness.

From where does your assurance come this day? Some say that our assurance ebbs and flows with our holiness. But as long as the corrupt nature is mixed with the new nature of grace in Christ Jesus our holiness will ebb and flow. At the end of everyday you can stand at the rock of security in self and pat yourself on the back for a job well done or you can stand at the rock of pride as you compare yourself to others. But it is at both these rocks our lives will be dashed to pieces and our souls will shrink in despair unless we look upon the Rock Christ Jesus who is for us righteousness and holiness and our true assurance.

Longing for Revival

2010-08-24T15:25:00.000-04:00

Are you aware that the church is in need of a revival? Are you praying for God to do a powerful work of revival and awakening in his church? Drive through the small towns in the south in the spring and you will notice the numerous church signs advertising “Revival”. According to Noah Webster in his 1828 dictionary a revival is, “Renewed and more active attention to religion; an awakening of men to their spiritual concerns.” According to this definition is it possible to “have” a revival by calling people to church over the course of a week or more to awaken men to greater spiritual concerns and to stir them up to a more active attention to their religion? A more fitting word that should be put on these church signs is “Revivalism”. There is a historical record that shows us the difference between revival and revivalism.

The first Great Awakening took place in America in 1734-35 most notably under the preaching of such men as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. It seemed to die down for a time then the fires of revival began to burn again in 1740-41. Jonathan Edwards describes the beginning of the awakening in December of 1734 with these words, “It was in the later part of December (1734) that the Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in, and wonderfully to work among us; and very suddenly, one after another, five or six persons were to all appearances savingly converted…The news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning upon the hearts of young people all over the town, and upon many others…The one thing in their view was to get the kingdom of heaven, and everyone seemed to be pressing into it.” Notice that Edwards describes this awakening or revival by noting the work of the Spirit of God that set in and wonderfully worked among them. It should be noted that this took place around the preaching of God’s Word and an earnest yearning and pleading with God in prayer. But as noted by Edwards it was “the surprising work of God”, and not a calculated work of man.

In the beginning of the 19th century America experienced its second Great Awakening. This again was a surprising work of God that took place in America through the preaching of God’s Word by mainly Calvinistic Baptists and Presbyterians. However, the influences of Methodism and a brand of Presbyterianism under Charles Finney changed the shape of this awakening in the middle of the century. It was under the influence of Methodism that the roots of revivalism grew. The Methodist movement not only shaped the practice of revival but the theology as well. They encouraged mass meetings, the recording of the number of conversions, and the use of the “alter call” or the invitation to come forward. This is the beginning of human means of producing the spiritual results of purported revival. These methods were “improved upon” by the Presbyterian minister Charles Finney in what came to be known as “new measures”. Finney’s new measures for producing spiritual revival were undergirded by Arminian theology. He believed that man had the ability to spiritually respond to the call of the gospel in himself. Therefore he would use whatever means necessary to stir man up emotionally so that he would use that ability to come to God. This practice and theology spread in the east and began to spread into the “frontier” of America, and became the common understanding of revival. Revival became a work that man could plan and through his own means produce the kind of spiritual results that God was pleased with in his creatures. Revival became revivalism.

The view of revival as a sovereign powerful work of God through his ordinary means of grace became a thing of the past and from this has grown the roots of modern evangelicalism in America. However, from those roots has grown a tree or a church that would acknowledge a need for awakening or revival. But it is not revivalism the church needs but a surprising work of God where he comes down to turn the hearts of the church and the unconverted to himself for his own glory.

Why does the church need this reviving work of God today? Borrowing Richard Owen Roberts words, “The crippled Church, looking more like a dying refugee camp than a militant and victorious army, needs once again the manifest presence of Christ in its midst.” We need the living and glorious Christ in our midst to bring upon us conviction of sin and a powerful release from the chains of our corruption. We need his powerful work through his Word and Spirit to change us deeply and to spread its saving effects all around us among all ages. The church will never have the power in herself to deal rightly with sin, to see deep and lasting change affected in her mind and heart, to pursue holiness, to rescue a dying and sin cursed world. There are thousands of sermons preached every week with seemingly little impact. There are hours of praying with little discernable effect for the church and the world. There are numerous works of personal witnessing in all areas of life each week with little effect seen for the kingdom of God. We need the work of God’s reviving and awakening to come upon us like the celestial tsunami that showered down from the heavens this week. Those in Alaska and parts of the north were able to see its effects. We read about it and hear about it and we long to see that glory. Let us plead with God to bare his mighty arm, and draw near to his people with his glory through his powerful Word and do a surprising work among us. Let us pray and practice his ordinary means of grace and wait in earnest for his reviving work.

Marks of a True Church

2010-08-24T15:24:00.000-04:00

A little boy was sent on his way to a birthday party. As he was getting ready to go on his way he asked, “How will I know the right house where the party is?” He was told by his mother the very house in which the party was held was on a certain street. But how would he know the right house unless it was clearly marked for him? His mother told him it would be marked by three balloons that were hung from the limb of a maple tree in the front yard. His father had taught him to recognize certain hardwood trees both by their bark and by their leaves. Therefore he walked with confidence on this spring day in search of the birthday party. However, what he met along the way was quite unexpected. It seemed that at nearly every house on the particular street of which he walked there was a party. There was at one house balloons on a mailbox and children in the yard playing with a pony and clown. He thought to himself that this surely must be the birthday party to which he was sent, but yet the house did not bear the correct marks so he moved on. At another house there were balloons tied to chairs in the yard and young boys and girls were standing at the streets edge inviting him to come to the party. But he noticed no maple tree and balloons hanging from the limb so again he moved on. After passing several other houses where parties of different markings were being held he finally came to the birthday party he had been invited. There in the front yard was a distinguished maple tree with three balloons hanging from a low limb closest to the ground. He made his way to the front door and was greeted by the mother of the house whom he recognized and with assurance he entered the home being greeted by the other children who had come to the party.

If you are a member or attendee of a church you should be asking the question, “How do I know that this church is a true church?” Most people today choose a church based on its location, style of architecture, form of music, programs, types of people, or what it offers them personally. It is to be sent on a fool’s errand in search of a church with these kinds of criteria. The church must correspond to and be recognized by a standard of truth established for it in the Word of God.

The marks of the true church have arisen like much of the churches biblical and systematized theology because of errors and heresy that arise in the church. The doctrine of the marks of the church has come to be known because of the church going astray from a biblical standard. Therefore the church at different times in her history has had to ask the question, “What are the true marks of the church?” The doctrine of the marks of the church is most pronounced during the history of the reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. During these years the reformers were asking, “How do we know the true church from the false church?” As they wrestled with this question from the Scriptures three primary marks of the church arose. There was not complete consensus among the reformers in answering this question. Some thought there to be only one, the preaching of God’s Word. Others claimed two, the preaching of the Word and the observance of the sacraments, Lord’s Supper and Baptism. And still others named three, preaching of the Word, observance of sacraments and discipline.

John Knox, the Scottish reformer and five other reformers from Scotland penned the Scots Confession in 1560. In chapter 18 of the confession, “The Notes by Which the True Kirk (Church) Is Discerned from The False and Who Shall Be Judge of Doctrine”, they outline the three marks of the church with these words, The notes of the true Kirk, therefore, we believe, confess, and avow to be: first, the true preaching of the word of God, in which God has revealed himself to us, as the writings of the prophets and apostles declare; secondly, the right administration of the sacraments of Christ Jesus, to which must be joined the word and promise of God to seal and confirm them in our hearts; and lastly, ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered, as God's word prescribes, whereby vice is repressed and virtue nourished. Then wherever these notes are seen and continue for any time, be the number complete or not, there, beyond any doubt, is the true kirk of Christ, who, according to his promise, is in the midst of them. This is not that universal kirk of which we have spoken before, but particular kirks, such as were in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, and other places where the ministry was planted by Paul and which he himself called kirks of God. The Westminster Confession written in 1546 also spoke to this doctrine. In Chapter XXV section IV it states, “This catholic Church has been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. And particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them.” It is from this confession and others like it penned during the 16th and 17th centuries that we derive the doctrine of the marks of the church today.

Among most reformed Protestants today the marks of the church are three but yet there is recognized from Scripture other important marks beyond these three that constitute a healthy church. Some would add fellowship, worship, mission and leadership. The ministry of 9 Marks, a ministry of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C., says there are nine marks of a healthy church: preaching, biblical theology, the gospel, conversion, evangelism, membership, discipleship, discipline, and leadership. We as a particular church here in Brunswick recognize 18 core values that this church was planted upon and grows in as a true and healthy church. Yet in the midst of the historical and modern reformed church there is a consensus that the true marks of the church consist in the true preaching of God’s Word, the right administration of the sacraments and the right attention to discipline of her members.

What Ever Happened to Sin

2010-08-24T15:21:00.001-04:00

The famous theologian Barney Fife once said to the visiting preacher who had come to Mayberry, “That’s one subject you just can’t talk enough about: sin.” The subject of sin is out of vogue in our day. The subject of sin is negative and degrading. It is damaging to the human spirit and does not give rise to a positive self image for self salvation. Sin has become “crime”, “sickness”, “syndromes” and “collective irresponsibility.” There is no longer a sense of responsibility for sin and its fruits. Where has sin gone?

The Westminster Assembly found it in the 17th century and wrote about in the Westminster Standards. In the writing of the Shorter Catechism they asked this question, “What is sin?” and gave this answer, “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” Sin has not gone anywhere as long as the Law of God remains, and God says his Law will never pass away (Mt.5:18). As the apostle John wrote, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” (1Jn.3:4). As long as there is lawlessness we will be able to find sin. As long as man fails in regard to loving God and loving his neighbor sin will be evident. Therefore sin is not lost in our culture, it has not gone anywhere. Sin is alive and unlike the creature from the black lagoon and the blob from my science fiction past it is a reality and a true killer. Sin is a misery and a destroyer of life that man cannot escape with his self made salvation. Sin is a getting rid of God rebellion that exalts man in a spirit of god almightiness. Emil Brunner says, “Sin is defiance, arrogance, the desire to be equal with God,… the assertion of human independence over against God,… the constitution of the autonomous reason, morality and culture.” (Man in Revolt). Augustine defines sin as factum vel dictum vel concupitum aliquid contra aeternam legem, every work, word, or wish contrary to the law of God. And Trench in his New Testament Synonyms gathers a "mournfully numerous" group of words out of Holy Scripture, all of which describe sin in one or other of its many aspects. It is the missing of a mark or aim; it is the over-passing or transgression of a line; it is disobedience to a voice; it is falling where one should have stood upright; it is ignorance of what one ought to have known; it is any diminishing of that which should have been rendered in full measure; it is non-observance of a law; it is a discord, and other evil things and ways "almost out of number."(from A Commentary on the Shorter Catechism - Alexander Whyte).

Though sin in our culture is often denied it is not gone but found in the heart of man and the fruit of our lives. It is produces misery and death. Paul says in Romans 3:16, “in their paths are ruin and misery.” Who is the “their”? It is those who are not righteous, those who do not seek God, those who have turned away, those who do not do what is right (3:10-12). It is all of mankind, “For all have sinned” (Rom.3:23). Therefore all sinners are in the estate of misery. Yet in this misery we exalt in the denial of sin or the will power over it. But misery does not always look like misery. Misery can be hidden in smiles, riches, wants satisfied, success and adulation. Wherever sin separates man from God there is misery even when it smiles. Sin not only produces misery but also death (Rom.6:23) and every smile, success, want satisfied and adulation under the sentence of death is misery. What possible usefulness is their in this focus on sin? What possible good could come from thinking on the doctrine of sin? Let me suggest three ways to respond.

First we should be astonished that we can see what a miserable and deadly evil sin is and love it. We would marvel if we saw someone pouring out themselves in affection on something that they knew was bringing misery and destruction to their life.

Second, we should hate sin. “There is more evil in a drop of sin than a sea of affliction.” (Thomas Watson). We see crude oil gushing out of the depths of the sea for three months and cry over this horrible disruption and destruction to the environment. Yet we see sin against the holy God as excusable and permissible with no consequences. When affliction arises in our lives we say, “I hate this!” But when sin shows its ugly head we try to ignore it, we sometimes stroke it and we often feed it. Our hatred of sin is exemplified in our willingness to kill it. “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” (John Owen)

Third, we should run to God at the cross of Christ Jesus with confession, repentance and thanksgiving. It is God who takes sin away in the death of his Son. In Christ he will pardon us of all our sin. It is God who gives us victory over sin and death in the resurrection of his Son. In Christ he will cleanse us of all our sin and make us a holy, spotless bride to be given to the Son. Acknowledge sin don’t deny it. Turn away from sin toward righteousness. And rejoice before God with thanksgiving that in Christ you have been saved from sin

Keith Mathison recommends some helpful reading on the doctrine of man and sin at the Ligonier Ministries website: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/doctrine-man-and-sin-recommended-reading/

Tolle Lege

2010-08-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

One of the major obstacles to growth evangelical Christians face in our current culture is that we watch and listen more than we read. If you were given the choice today to listen or watch someone give a series of lectures or teaching sessions on a particular subject would you choose that over reading a book on the same subject? Most of our reading today is in bits and bites. We read an excerpt from a book or an article and we do it quickly because we have to move on to our next experience in our fast paced existence before it passes us by and we miss something.

In this article I want to not only suggest you take up reading but I want to suggest some books to read that will assist you in your growth as a child of God. When I encounter a person is not reading at all I will suggest that they begin with a small bit of time each day. If a person will set aside twenty minutes per day five days a week they will read around sixty pages a week and could therefore finish a 240 page book in one month. That is only twenty minutes out of twenty four hours each day. And even if you are a slower reader only reading eight to ten pages in twenty minutes you can still read the average book in a month. Just think that gives you the potential to read ten to twelve books a year. But it is not the number of books a year that is the goal. The goal is to grow up into maturity in Christ as a Christian reader. I think Christians should be reading all kinds of good and great books. But in this article I am focusing on books that will particularly assist you as a disciple of Christ in learning how to think biblically about the Christian life.

I first recommend the Bible. I would suggest getting an ESV Study Bible or the Geneva Study Bible in ESV. These two Bibles are helpful not only in there accurate translation of the original texts from which we have the Bible today. But they are also helpful in the use of their study helps. There are many different methods for reading the Bible but I would choose one that allows you to read through the Bible in a year. Use this practice privately and engage your family in it publically. The Bible is the Word of God breathed out to us that we may know him, his salvation and his will for our lives. Make it a regular practice of reading the Scriptures before you read any other book about the Scriptures. “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”

Second there are many books that are helpful in understanding the gospel and the Christian life. I would recommend “The Christian Life” by Sinclair Ferguson. In this book Dr. Ferguson covers in a succinct manner the major doctrines of the Christian life. John Stott’s book, “Basic Christianity” is a very helpful book for understanding the gospel. I would also recommend his work, “The Cross of Christ”. There are not many books written as clearly on the centrality of the cross to all of life as this one. C.J. Mahaney has written a short book that is very helpful entitled, “Living the Cross Centered Life”. In this book he helps the reader live with an understanding of our need for the grace of God through the cross of Christ in all things. Two books that God has used in helping me understand the Christian life as an everyday disciple of Christ are John Piper’s “Desiring God” and “When I Don’t Desire God” . Three classic works that I would mention in understanding the Christian life would be, Jonathan Edwards “Religious Affections”, Richard Sibbes “The Bruised Reed” and Jeremiah Burrows “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.”

Third there are several books I would recommend with more emphasis in theology and history. There are three important books by R.C. Sproul, “The Holiness of God”, “Knowing Scripture” and “Chosen by God”. An important book in understanding God’s work of salvation in our lives is John Murray’s “Redemption, Accomplished and Applied.” This book assist you in seeing the order of God’s salvific work in our lives. The Westminster Confession of Faith and John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion” are helpful in a systematic approach to theology as well as a more contemporary work, “Systematic Theology” by Wayne Grudem. A simple but helpful book on doctrine and theology is “Know the Truth” by Bruce Milne. Two books on church history I would recommend are “Sketches in Church History” by Houghton and “The Story of Christianity” by Gonzalaz.

This is a brief list of some books I think will be helpful as you seek to grow into maturity as a Christian. I hope that we will soon have a page on our church website that is dedicated to recommended books and book reviews. C.S. Lewis said, “We read to know we are not alone.” God has given to his church a community of saints to build her up into maturity in Christ and when we listen to the voices and thoughts of his community we grow into maturity in the context of knowing you are not alone. You can stand on the shoulders of others to be helped in understanding more of the glory God has revealed about himself. Tolle lege. Take up and read.

Vow Church

2010-08-24T15:19:00.000-04:00

"Go where you are sent, stay where you're put, and do what you're asked." Major Ian Thomas

I stood facing my wife 21 years ago with her hands in my hands promising “to love and to cherish her till death do us part.” I was taking a vow to love my wife as Christ loved the church (Eph.5:25), and that vow before God and man was to be expressed in a daily life of the activity of love to Noelle. Now I have the privilege of standing before God and man to lead them through the taking of vows into meaningful loving relationships in the covenant of marriage. But I also have the same privilege in leading those professing faith in Christ through vows into the covenant of church membership.

As those who have professed faith in Christ come before the congregation of saints in the particular church at Redeemer Presbyterian they are charged to assent to the following vows acknowledging that they are making declarations and promises in a solemn covenant before God and his church:

1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?

3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?

4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?

5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?

God by his providence has placed each person and family in this particular congregation of saints, and through these vows is calling them to live in the daily activity of love. It is as though God is saying, “Do you promise to love and cherish my church in the daily activity of your life as I have placed you here by my sovereign will and pleasure?” In the taking of these vows the church member is not merely promising to show up each week to be entertained or soothed by familiar relationships, but to live in the activity of love toward God’s church.

Living as a vow keeping church is our privilege. God has gifted each of his children with money, natural and spiritual gifts, relationships, time, possessions and prayer. It is through all of these that we can actively plan to love his church in the keeping of vows. Jesus teaches us to give. He says, “When you give” (Mt.6:2) not “If you give.” He has ascended into heaven and given gifts to men that the church through the loving use of those gifts we may become mature in Christ (Eph.4:10-16). He has given us one another that we may live in a “one anothering” manner in love. This love may be expressed in encouragement, exhortation, example, correction, rebuke, restoration and confrontation. We are to love in wisdom making the best use of the time (Eph.5:16). We can love with what he has given us through hospitality even when our homes are a mess or our children are young. And we are to love through praying for one another and the church and her ministries. The church is not a mall where there is something for everyone. It is not a theater with 10 different movies showing where we seek our own particular choice of entertainment. The church is the visible body of Christ and his treasured possession expressing love in the keeping of vows. Therefore the church is a visible picture of the cross of Christ. It is at the cross that God demonstrates his love to us while we were sinners justly deserving his wrath and displeasure. It is at the cross that we see God’s covenant keeping love secured and exercised toward all those for whom Christ died. Therefore the church takes her vows before God in the shadow of the cross where they promise to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters in love in the avenues of worship and work for the glory of God in his church.

The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.” (Eccl.5:4) The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and the fool says in his heart there is no God (Pr.1:7; Ps.14:1). Therefore those who take vows must do so before God, with the right knowledge of God and the vow they take lest they be fools in whom God takes no pleasure. A vow keeping church goes where she is sent in his providence, stays where she is put to keep those vows and does what she is asked in a life of love to God and his church.

Word Church

2010-08-24T15:16:00.001-04:00

"Go where you are sent, stay where you're put, and do what you're asked." Major Ian Thomas

We often do not stay where we are put and do what we are asked because of the trials we face where we are sent. We tend to think that we are meant for more glory in the present than the trials allow and we must go searching until we find that glory or escape the trials that are keeping us from a realized glory in the present. Like Israel we groan to be free from slavery in Egypt and after we are set free into trials we groan for the glory of leeks and melons that were found back in bondage. And yet there is nothing wrong with a yearning for glory. It is the reality of being an image bearer of the all glorious God who is himself the essence of glory. But as broken image bearers we are confused how that glory we long for is actually fulfilled to us.

In Deuteronomy 8:3 we are taught that man does not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul tells us that the Word of God is his breathed out word. Therefore that which we are meant to live upon is the Scriptures. But what we often miss in the Deuteronomy passage is what God tells his people precedes finding out that the Word of God is the true food. He tells us there that he humbled them bringing trials upon them so that they would know that we do not live on bread alone. It is the trials that lead God’s people to his Word where they find that in the midst of unattained glory in trial God is the all satisfying and sufficient God who reveals himself to his people as the true food. Therefore trials bring us to God’s means of giving himself to us in all his glory through his word. The glory we long for as the image bearers of God is really the glory of our Creator and Redeemer and he reveals himself to us in his Word in the midst of trials. Therefore if where we are sent and put brings us into trials it is so that we may learn to do what is asked, holding fast to the Word of God and finding the all glorious God feeding us through the means of his Word. But in these days of modernity where relativism and experiencing God through self fulfilled means rules the day we need to be reminded of why we can stay put on the Scriptures.

Steven Lawson addressed this issue at this years Ligonier Conference in Orlando by giving ten reason why he as an evangelical Christian is persuaded the Bible is the Word of God. Here the following ten reasons: The Bible’s Direct Claims, Perfect Unity, Reliable Transmission, Historical Accuracy, Scientific Accuracy, Fulfilled Prophecies, Jesus Christ’s Testimony to the Bible, Amazing Indestructibility, Ethical Superiority, and the Bibles Supernatural Power. You can listen to his excellent message online at ligonier.org.

The Bible is God’s sole source of authority in the life of the church. Christ rules over us through his Word and by the Spirit. Therefore we must hold fast to the Scriptures alone in the midst of the trials of this life as he brings us through a life of redemption until we are glorified with him. Learn to read, study and memorize God’s Word. Prayerfully hear it preached and taught as you draw near to God by faith as he speaks to you in His Word. This is our foundation for going where we are sent, staying where we are put and doing what we are asked. I pray we will be a church of the Word.

Community Church

2010-08-24T15:15:00.000-04:00

"Go where you are sent, stay where you're put, and do what you're asked." Major Ian Thomas

Pastor Alistair Begg was last year preaching in Peru at a Wycliff Bible Translators conference where he heard a gentleman speak who was retiring after spending 56 years in the jungles and mountains of Peru translating the Scriptures for Peruvian tribal peoples. Alistair sought him out to glean what he could from him and it was during this time that this enduring member of God’s kingdom gave him this bit of wisdom that Major Ian Thomas had shared with him many years ago, “Go where you are sent, stay where you’re put, and do what you’re asked.”

I heard this a week ago and have already shared it on numerous occasions with a number of people. It is a truth that needs to resound in the ears of a transient culture that is always looking for more or the next thing that is going to bring more significance to their own personal lives. I would like to use this truth over the next several weeks as it applies to the church in several important areas.

The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to his own as the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and forms them as a particular community. He is the Shepherd who speaks to his sheep and they hear his voice and follow him being kept safe from the enemy. These words come to the Israelites in John 10 and relate to them the relationship of the Father and the Son and the relationship then that they have as his covenant people called into a loving and protected community as his own. And in the midst of these words to Israel he speaks of the Gentiles also saying, “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn.10:16). Here his covenant reach goes beyond Israel to the nations, peoples, and tongues outside of Judah and Galilee and he promises they will hear his voice and come and be one with him. The reach goes out and draws in to make one people as he and the Father are one. His reach is one that forms community. His reach goes out to his treasured possession, a people of his own choosing whom he makes his own royal priesthood and holy nation from Jew and Gentile, slave and free, man and woman, child and adult from all kinds of people. His choosing, his call, his redemption, his keeping is to make for himself one people from many who live in covenant with himself through his triune nature and in community with one another.

The church’s community is a reflection of the nature and character of the Godhead as she learns to live in the reality of redemption toward restoration in relationships of love. The church will manifest that she belongs to the good shepherd when she, as adults and their children, do not lay claim to their own rights, but love one another as we have been and are being loved in Christ Jesus. In community will be a welcoming and unifying love around God’s truth and exercised in the fruits of the Spirit toward one another where we are all being built up and reaching toward the unity and maturity of faith in Christ Jesus.

But where does this occur? This occurs where we are sent and put to do what God asks us to do. If you are presently at RPC God has sent you here and put you here to do what he has asked of you, live in community reflecting his glory in the earth through love. This summer there are a number of ways this kind of community is fostered at RPC. Each Sunday there is Sunday School at 9:00 am. There are classes for children up to 12 years of age and there is one multigenerational class for all others. Following Sunday School is morning worship and evening worship at 10:15 and 5:15. Community is fostered here as we seek to worship God in Spirit and in truth together as his body and not as individuals seeking to be entertained by the music or wowed by a slick communicator. The third Sunday of June, July and August will be a time for us to gather together around a meal following morning worship. After having participated in the bread and wine of communion we will then break bread around the tables together as we seek to love one another in community. Wednesday nights is another time for us to build community this summer. Each Wednesday night you either have the opportunity to join your shepherding group in ministering at Fairhaven Assisted Living Home or in preparing a meal for our Wednesday Night Supper and Bible Study at the church.

All of these are excellent opportunities to participate in the community and the building of community at RPC. I encourage you to go where you are sent, stay where you are put and do what you are asked. If you cave into the culture of individuality where the church is a part of your life to satisfy self and do not participate in the community that you have been sent and put into then the inevitable result will be your own discord, division and disunity with the body at RPC. Therefore you have been sent to RPC and put at RPC and you are being asked by God to live in love in Christ as the community of the triune God at RPC. What a joy to share together as those who are broken in the redemptive and restorative work of grace that takes place through the body of Christ as we love one another. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1Jn.4:7).

I would encourage you to spend 20 – 30 minuets this week reading and studying the Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 26 Of the Communion of Saints. This is a tested doctrinal explanation of what it means to live as God’s church toward one another in community. As you read pray that God would cause his church to live by his Spirit in this way and use this to examine your own heart in regard to how you may need to apply this truth to your own life as you live by faith in Christ through his grace.

Pride, A Public Enemy

2010-08-24T15:14:00.000-04:00

In my current studies in 1 Corinthians I am in the middle of dealing with the first problem Paul addresses in the church at Corinth, division in the body of Christ. In wrestling with the text I believe that the root of the division that Paul is addressing is found in spiritual pride. And it appears that this issue of pride is the root that runs throughout the various problems that the church faces. Without appearing to simplistic I am speaking simplistically in appealing to the present church that spiritual pride is a great enemy to the church founded upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The first and worst cause of errors that abound in our day and age is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.”

Pride was the first enemy to enter the garden and it will be the last enemy to be put under the feet of Jesus. Therefore the remedy to such pride is at the cross of Christ. Pride is displayed as a public enemy at the cross of Christ, and pride is put to death at the cross of Christ. The church sees at the cross our pride on display in the horrific death of Christ as he became a substitutionary atoning sacrifice crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?.” For all his own who would live in pride before the living God Christ became sin for them that they may be redeemed by his blood As the writer of Proverbs says, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (Prov. 16:5). Therefore what do we see at the cross but the punishment of God upon our dying Savior in the place of prideful sinners. For the “apes of Satan” (Thomas Brooks) who follow him as the prince of the power of the air who is at work in the sons of disobedience Jesus bled and died. It is at the cross where we see the horrors of pride. But it is at the cross where all spiritual pride is laid in the dust. Because there in the gospel of God at the cross we find all boasting is laid at his throne where our salvation from him rests in our union with Christ, as Paul tells the Corinthian church, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31) The church is meant for boasting but the boasting is in God who is for them everything they need in Christ Jesus. And it is this certainty that should lay all spiritual pride in the church to rest.

We must beware of all spiritual pride that will destroy the church of God. We must be sensitive to it’s symptoms and quick to remedy it before it’s spreading influence contaminates the whole body. I suggest you follow this link (http://www.bibleteacher.org/jedw_19.htm) to an article from Jonathan Edwards as an important bit of reading on this subject. May God grant us the grace to see spiritual pride being put to death daily in the church at Redeemer and all our boasting to be in God who is everything for us in Jesus Christ.

Humility, An Unnoticed Neighbor

2010-08-24T15:13:00.000-04:00

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” - 1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31

The person who thinks himself humble is the model of pride, and the person that others say of, “He is humble” is the man full of pride wanting to be thought of as humble. The person who is humble is the one who is not thinking of himself at all and therefore not causing you to think of him either unless by envy. The humble person is free for the enjoyment of God and the happiness of his creatures. He sees his life as drop of water flowing from a long mountain spring. He knows apart from that spring he is nothing and the direction of his life is originated and carried by the spring. However he is only an insignificant drop in the stream to reflect the spring’s glory. Those who experience the refreshment of the stream, who see beauty reflected in its properties, who benefit from it abundance, power or gentleness, do not notice or acknowledge the drop or even enjoy the drop. And the drop is okay with that. “Humility is of the essence of the "new creature." (Thomas Brooks)

The way to humility is through the doorway that leads to a house of mirrors where we acknowledge that we really are proud. When we are lead through that doorway and look in the mirrors and only see others sins then we are delusional. But where the grace and mercy of God is given the horrors of our pride are seen in our lives and the effects our prideful hearts have had on others. “We learn humility by a deep discovery of what we are; by an opening up of the corruption, the weakness, the wickedness, of our fallen nature.” (J.C. Philpot) But in his grace he does not leave his own just inside the doorway in a horrific room of mirrors. He leads us beyond the mirrors to the cross, the place of humiliation and our path of humility. Jesus went the way of humility to the place of exaltation that we may go with him in the way of the cross to the realm of glorification. At the cross we see our sin being punished horrifically in the body of Christ as he suffers the wrath of God. And at that cross is made the promise to all who trust in him as a sin bearing Savior, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Yet we remain, put into Christ and he has become to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and glorification that we may take up our cross and follow him as he leads us to paradise. And all our excellencies are in Christ and belong to Christ and so we boast in Christ and him crucified for he has rescued us from the horrors of pride and misery and death. And his mind has become our mind because we are in union with him and have fellowship with him through the Spirit, and the fruit he bears in us is humility. In this we live for the love of God and his creatures as drops in a stream flowing from the Spring.

Listen to John Flavel (1627 – 1691) the English Presbyterian minister as he brings us to humility through Christ, “All our excellencies are borrowed excellencies. Therefore there is no reason to be proud of any of them. What infallible insolence and vanity would it be for a man who wears the rich and costly robe of Christ’s righteousness, in which there is not one thread of his own spinning but all made by free grace and not by free will to jet proudly up and down the world in it, as if he himself had made it and he were beholden to none for it. O man thine excellencies whatever they are, are borrowed from Christ. They oblige thee to him that he can no more be obliged to him who wearest them than the sun is obliged to him that borrows its light or the fountain to him that draws its water for its use and benefit. Well then let the sense of your own emptiness by nature humble and oblige you the more to Christ.” (John Flavel 1627 – 1691). And the Apostle Peter as he commands humility, threatens the proud and encourages the humble, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5) May God grant us grace for the humility of Christ in his body at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

It Takes Two: Justification & Sanctification

2010-08-24T15:12:00.001-04:00

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, - 1Corinthians 1:30

There is often much confusion when talking about justification and sanctification. In this verse Paul is reminding the church at Corinth that there is no room for a self sufficient boasting as they have received in Christ Jesus both justification and sanctification. In telling them in Christ they have received righteousness he is reminding them that there acceptance before God is in the atoning death of Christ for sins and in his perfect righteous life imputed to them in Christ. But Paul goes on to tell them that Christ is their sanctification. He is reminding them that in themselves they are unholy but now in Christ they have been brought to life in the holiness of Jesus for a life of love to God. So often in the church we get these two doctrines, justification and sanctification, confused and begin to believe they are one or our acceptance before God rests in our holiness or because we are accepted by God through faith in Christ righteousness our holiness does not matter.

In thinking through this important matter I was reading John Calvin’s New Testament Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. The following comments he makes on this particular verse in discussing Paul’s calling Christ their sanctification. Beware because what he says in his third sentence is rather startling to those who believe with him that the church stands or falls on the doctrine of justification! Calvin says,

“Paul calls him our Sanctification. He means by that, that we, who are in ourselves unholy by nature, are born again by His Spirit into holiness, that we may serve God. From this we also gather that we cannot be justified freely by faith alone, if we do not at the same time live in holiness. For those gifts of grace go together as if tied by an inseparable bond, so that if any one tries to separate them, he is, in a sense, tearing Christ to pieces. Accordingly, let the man who aims at being justified by God’s free goodness through Christ take note that this cannot possibly be done, unless at the same time he lays hold of Him for sanctification; in other words he must be born anew by His Spirit to blamelessness and purity of life. Men find fault with us, because in preaching the free righteousness of faith, we seem to be calling men away from good works. But his passage clearly refutes them, by showing that faith lays hold of regeneration just as much as forgiveness of sins in Christ. On the other hand notice that while those offices of Christ are united, they are yet distinguishable from each other. Therefore we are not at liberty, indeed it would be wrong, to confuse what Paul expressly separates.”

Therefore let us come near to God by faith in Christ Jesus for his justifying grace, and may that faith work through love in the sanctifying grace of Jesus for his glory. It takes two, justification and sanctification, to walk with Jesus in his redemption.

Daughters in Marriage

2010-08-24T15:11:00.001-04:00

My wife and I sat reading aloud “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin to one another one evening this week. The most famously quoted lines of her book come from the opening paragraph. In this opening we find Mrs. Bennett speaking to Mr. Bennett upon the occasion of a wealthy gentleman who has moved to Netherfield Park, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Their own situation is that of five unmarried daughters and no sons. From one perspective the reader may be frustrated by this anxious, frantic and silly mother who seeks her fortune and that of her daughters among single unmarried men who must be in want of a wife from among her daughters or by the indifference, silence and often lacking leadership on the part of her husband . But on the other hand one may be delighted in the providence of God in the unfolding of the story of relationships and marriage and the joys and sorrows that accompany them. I heartily recommend this book to men and women alike.

But it is not about Pride and Prejudice that I write, rather it is about the thought of unmarried daughters. I have four. And it is about single men in possession of good fortunes that I write in the interest of my daughters and the host of covenant daughters we have being raised up under the roof of our church at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. While reading Numbers 36 this morning I was struck by the liberty given to the daughters of Israel within the confines of the law as it regards to marriage. In that chapter there is a concern over the transfer of inheritance from one tribe to another through marriage. They like Mrs. Bennett were concerned not only for their daughters but it would seem their fortunes as well. And there was the possibility of losing that inheritance through marriage, by the way is another important theme in Pride and Prejudice. But it is in the midst of the judgment that Moses gives in this context that I found this liberty protected by law. In 36:6 Moses says, “This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father.” The liberty is expressed in telling them they can marry whoever they think is best. The Law is expressed in only let that person be in the clan of the tribe of their fathers. The liberty gives them freedom to choose and the law constrains and protects their freedom according to God’s own will. This was good not only for the daughters but for the daughters love expressed to God in trust and their love expressed to their family in doing what would be best for them in the days of the sharing of their inheritance with those yet to come.

Our daughters have the same liberty and law given them in the New Testament under the New Covenant. The context is different in that the inheritance is an eternal life in the Son and all that the Son possesses among the nations, not a particular plot in Israel. And the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of that inheritance not a clan member or a man in possession of a good fortune. The liberty is given in Christ Jesus where everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial (1Cor.6:12; 10:23). The daughters of the New Covenant may marry whom they think best. But the best is in accord with the knowledge, righteousness and holiness that they now have and hope for in Christ. The liberty is not a license to sin so that grace may increase, but the liberty is freedom from the bondage and dominion of sin to live in the freedom and glory of Christ in all things. Therefore the liberty is not given for the triumph of sin and lust, but for the glory of God in lives that treasure Christ more than they treasure single men of good fortune or good looks. This is why law is given with liberty in Christ Jesus commanding our daughters not be unequally yoked (2Cor.6:14). These daughters in the New Covenant have taken the yoke of Jesus upon themselves (Mt.11:29) and have been united together with him in his body. Therefore the law of love to our daughters is not to divide the body of Christ by being united in one flesh with one outside of the body of Christ. This law is obeyed by all who love Christ more than they love a single man of good fortune or good looks (Jn.14:15). And she will exercise her liberty in the confines of this law so that she will demonstrate in the liberty a greater treasuring of her true husbandman who brings her into a true inheritance than the treasuring of a single man with promise.

It is the responsibility of fathers and mothers not to be indifferent and silent or anxious and silly toward our daughters and their potential husbands. Rather we must discipline and nurture them to the love of their Lord that they will delight in his liberty and law as they seek to make a decision about a man who will bring them into their true inheritance as a bride ready for Christ their true husbandman.

What Do You Mean by "Covenantal"?

2010-08-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

I was recently asked the question, “What do you mean by “covenantal”? The text below is my answer to that person and I hope it may prove helpful to many in the church.

I admit the term "covenant" can be misused and over used and perhaps the word "covenantal" is not a word at all but an idea. However J.I. Packer uses it when he writes on the covenant and my use of "covenantal” comes from his idea that in our relationships to one another in the church we are expressing a "biblical ethic" that is a reflection of God's bending himself toward us in his covenant with us. Here is how Packer says it,

"The distance between God and the creature is so great," says the Westminster Confession (VII.I), "that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant." Exactly! So biblical doctrine, first to last, has to do with covenantal relationships between God and man; biblical ethics has to do with expressing God's covenantal relationship to us in covenantal relationships between ourselves and others; and Christian religion has the nature of covenant life, in which God is the direct object of our faith, hope, love, worship, and service, all animated by gratitude for grace."[1]

Therefore when I use covenantal in regards to the life we live as the church it is the life we live out of the new covenant in Christ's blood toward one another as his body not only "animated by gratitude for grace" but exercised by faith in the ongoing grace of God we have in Christ. We are bond together in Christ for love to God and love to one another. Therefore we live in this bond by worshiping around the apostles teaching, prayers, the breaking of bread, sharing one another's burdens and joys. This is very much unlike the world expresses in the suburbs at the block party in the culdesac or in the backyard around the grill and teake torches or unlike the world expresses on the island at the club or unlike the world expresses in the neighborhood under the big oak tree and a grill full of chicken or fajitas. The churches covenatalism is around the cross of Christ where we live by faith in him submitting to his discipline, not forsaking the assembling together, worshiping in our homes and then with homes together in one place, the church building, praying, singing, eating, laughing and crying together, talking about what it means to be a man in the church, home and community with our minds and hearts in the book of the covenant and not the latest Esquire in reflection of Tom Cruises manhood.

Covenantalism is the life of the people of God who have been bought by the blood of the covenant and put by his providence among a particular visible body of his covenant and living bound together in the bonds of love for his glory there until he by his providence, and not a persons passion or wander lust, moves them elsewhere or returns in his fullness.

I am rambling but I hope this is helpful.

An Everlasting Covenant to An Uncertain Culture

2010-08-24T15:07:00.000-04:00

Someone has said, “There is only one thing that is certain and that is that everything is uncertain.” We live in uncertain times, our jobs and livelihoods are uncertain. We live with the uncertainty of our future as a church, a community, a state or a nation. Uncertainty and a struggling sense of security are marks of our culture. What does the church have to offer in a culture of uncertainty and insecurity? The answer comes in God’s everlasting covenant.

God said to Abraham, “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” (Genesis 17:7). This covenant is a relationship that God established with Abraham by his sovereign will and guaranteed it by himself (Genesis 15:17). He made the promise in the relationship in love and promised with an oath to keep it (Deuteronomy 7:8). Therefore God is true and his everlasting covenant is true. This everlasting covenant God makes with his people is further realized in the New Covenant in the blood of Christ (1Corinthians 11:25). God’s grace promised (Genesis 3:15) and realized throughout the covenants of the Old Testament was fully confirmed in the death of Christ on the cross. There on the cross Jesus made full atonement for sins as a righteous substitute for sinners (Romans 3:21-26) satisfying the justice of God and at the same time being the justifier of all who by faith in him come into a relationship with God by his grace through faith. Through Jesus Christ God the Father establishes his relationship with his elect sealing them to a promised life forevermore through his Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-14). God is true, not false and he cannot lie or go back on his promise. Therefore the covenant that he establishes with his people is an everlasting covenant that cannot be undone. And it is in the certainty of this everlasting covenant that the church is secure.

This doctrine of assurance founded in the truth of God is called by some, “The prime error of heretics”. And by the Council of Trent it was said “a believers assurance of the pardon of his sins is a vain and ungodly confidence.” Others would say this assurance is presumption. They argue that having a confident assurance in God’s everlasting covenant and salvation is not a true and spiritual humility and often leads to a passive and apathetic form of Christianity. But all who would denounce this doctrine of assurance on grounds of abuse or untruth must acknowledge the Scriptures clear statements to the contrary. And when the Scripture makes this doctrine clear to our minds and hearts this “grace with assurance is no less than heaven let down into the soul.” Here are a sampling of Scripture passages that may prove helpful in considering God’s eternal grace to all who are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus: Job 19:25-26; Ps.23:4; Isa.43:1-3; 54:10; Jer.32:40; Mt.18:12-14; Jn.3:36; 5:24; 6:35-40, 47; 10:27-30; 17:11,12,15; Rom.5:8-10; 8:1,28-30, 35-39; 1Cor.1:7-9; 10:13; 2Cor.4:14,17; Eph.1:5,13-14; 4:30; Col.3:3-4; 1Thes.5:23-24; 2Tim.4:18; Heb.9:12,15; 10:14; 12:28; 1Pe.1:3-5; 1Jn.2:19,25; 5:4,11-13,20; Jude 1, 24-25. It is the grace of assurance that allows the church to live in God’s kingdom of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and this is what the church can offer to a culture of uncertainty.

A toddler plays happily in the kitchen. He climbs under the cabinets and cleans out the pots and pans making a fort, he bangs the pots and pans in the floor, he digs unidentified objects out from under the refrigerator or from under the table missed by the broom, and unnoticed by Mom, eats them. He is secure in Mom’s kingdom as she works around him, goes back and forth to the laundry caring for the families needs. He does not fear when she disappears around the corner because he knows she’s coming back. So are all who have been brought into God’s kingdom by his grace through faith in Christ and live and rest in his everlasting covenant.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." 15And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf,

. - Hebrews 6:13—20

Covenantalism by J.I.Packer

2010-08-24T15:06:00.001-04:00

"The distance between God and the creature is so great," says the Westminster Confession (VII.I), "that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant." Exactly! So biblical doctrine, first to last, has to do with covenantal relationships between God and man; biblical ethics has to do with expressing God's covenantal relationship to us in covenantal relationships between ourselves and others; and Christian religion has the nature of covenant life, in which God is the direct object of our faith, hope, love, worship, and service, all animated by gratitude for grace.

Our theme is the life-embracing bedrock reality of the covenant relationship between the Creator and Christians, and it is high time we defined exactly what we are talking about. A covenant relationship is a voluntary mutual commitment that binds each party to the other. Whether it is negotiated, like a modern business deal or a marriage contract, or unilaterally imposed, as all God's covenants are, is irrelevant to the commitment itself; the reality of the relationship depends simply on the fact that mutual obligations have been accepted and pledged on both sides. Luther is held to have said that Christianity is a matter of personal pronouns, in the sense that everything depends on knowing that Jesus died for me, to be my Savior, and that his Father is my God and Father, personally committed to love, nurture, uphold, and glorify me. This already is covenant thinking, for this is the essential substance of the covenant relationship: God's covenant is precisely a matter of these personal pronouns, used in this way, as a basis for a life with God of friendship, peace and communicated love. –

From what has been said so far, three things become apparent. First, the gospel of God is not properly understood till it is viewed within a covenantal frame.

Jesus Christ, whose saving ministry is the sum and substance of the gospel, is announced in Hebrews the mediator and guarantor of the covenant relationship (Heb. 7:22, 8:6). The gospel promises, offering Christ and his benefits to sinner, are therefore invitations to enter and enjoy a covenant relationship with God. Faith in Jesus Christ is accordingly the embracing of the covenant, and the Christian life of glorifying God by one's words and works for the greatness of his goodness and grace has at its heart covenant communion between the Savior and the sinner. The church, the fellowship of believers that the gospel creates, is the community of the covenant, and the preaching of the Word, the practice of pastoral care and discipline, the manifold exercises of worship together, and the administration of baptism and the Lord's supper (corresponding to circumcision and Passover in former days) are all signs, tokens, expressions, and instruments of the covenant, through which covenantal enrichments from God constantly flow to those who believe. The hope of glory, as promised in the gospel, is the goal of the covenant relationship (Rev. 21:2 f.), and Christian assurance is the knowledge of the content and stability of that relationship as it applies to oneself (Rom. 5:1-11,8:1-39). The whole Bible is, as it were, presented by Jesus Christ to the whole church and to each Christian as the book of the covenant, and the whole record of the wars of the Word with the church as well as the world in the post-biblical Christian centuries, the record that is ordinarily called church history, is precisely the story of the covenant going on in space and time. As artists and decorators know, the frame is important for setting off the picture, and you do in fact see the picture better when it is appropriately framed. So with the riches of the gospel; the covenant is their proper frame, and you only see them in their full glory when this frame surrounds them, as in Scripture it actually does, and as in theology it always should.

J.I. Packer Covenantalism http://www.gospelpedlar.com/articles/Bible/cov_theo.html

Covenant by the Book

2010-04-23T12:05:00.000-04:00

Covenant by the Book
God is pleased to establish his covenant with his creatures in deed and truth. In the garden of Eden God set his creatures in the midst of all they needed and he spoke to them establishing his covenant and its conditions and in the midst of their sin spoke to them in words of grace (Gen.1-3). In the days of Noah God preserved his favored servant and his family in a floating vessel and secured them again upon dry ground, reiterating his covenant with Noah and his progeny in truth (Gen.6-9). God took the Gentile Abram from his homeland and spoke to him in numerous ways establishing his covenant with him and promised its fulfillment by himself (Gen.12-17). God led Moses out of the desert into Egypt to lead his covenant people out by his might under the cover of blood. He encamped with his people and spoke to them through his prophet words of life and promise (Exodus). David, a man after God’s own heart, preserved and protected by God, was given the throne of Israel by God’s might, and his throne established forever in his word of promise (2Sam.7). And in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son (Heb.1:2) who is the Word (Jn.1:1) and the Lamb of God who was slain for his people’s sin (Jn.1:29; Rev.5:8-10). He did this to demonstrate the love of God toward all those he has chosen to be holy and blameless in the Son forevermore for the praise of his glorious grace (Eph.1:4,6). God establishes his relationship with his people in his own deeds of power, wisdom and goodness through a bond of blood. And he perseveres with them with his eternal Word of power, wisdom and goodness. Covenant begins with God’s deeds and Word and is continually renewed with his people by his gracious deeds and powerful Word.

Covenant Renewal is a time to be reminded of our need of God’s powerful work toward us and his powerful Word with us. In 1968 the 36 year old Philip J. Masters climbed the mountains in Papua in the islands of Indonesia to carry God’s gospel to the Kimyal and Yali peoples. These fierce people had no knowledge of God’s love toward them in Christ and no welcome for this sojourner from another kingdom. They filled him with dozens of arrows shot from their bows and left his body in the river to wash up and be found by his family and friends. This was a tragic end to a fervent servant of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, from this tragedy God would grow a people reflecting his glory through his new covenant in the blood of Christ. In the year of our Lord 2010 God delivered to the Kimyal and Yali peoples his book of the covenant in their own language through the hands of Phyllis Masters, the wife of Philip J. Masters. The hands receiving the Scriptures were those of the people who took her husbands life in hatred 42 years earlier. These hands received the Book of the Covenant with joyful hearts as those who were being saved by God’s grace in the covenant of blood, the blood of his own Son, Jesus Christ as told to them in the Scriptures. The Kimyal and Yali church was founded in the blood of the covenant in the Son as told to them from the book of the covenant, and now this covenant people continue in God’s grace through these Scriptures as they hear them, read them and preach them in their own language. Philip J. Masters laid down his life for his friends as one who had known the love of God through the blood of the Son. The deed and truth of God in the covenant had given him life and in continued renewal of that covenant a life to share with others. As the Son promised to build his church even against the gates of hell (Mt.16:18), so Mr. Masters took the glory of Christ into a kingdom of darkness where Satan dwells and was killed as a faithful witness (Rev.2:13). His wife and others followed standing upon this faithful witness as a seed that had gone into the ground and died and there God has grown his beautiful church. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church and where this seed goes into the ground and dies it grows a beautiful bride of Christ through God’s deed and truth in covenant established and preserved on his book of the covenant.

Love to Our Neighbors, the Doctrine of Vocation

2010-03-12T15:34:00.001-05:00

In the ancient world and the middle ages “calling” or it’s Latin form “vocation” referred to a sacred calling of God toward men serving in the church. Therefore if you were not a priest or a monk you were not “called”. But with the dawn of the reformation and primarily through the work of Martin Luther that thought changed. Vocation began to be referred to as the calling of God upon every one of his creatures to carry out the works of God toward man. In regard to the family Luther suggested that God could populate the earth by creating each generation of people from the dust the earth. However, he ordained that children and generations would be brought up by families carrying out their various vocations as fathers, mothers, husbands, wives and children. It is in these various callings that man and woman become the “the masks of God” or the means by which God cares for all his creatures. As Luther said, “Therefore I advise no one to enter any religious order or the priesthood, indeed, I advise everyone against it – unless he is forearmed with this knowledge and understands that the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone.” (The Babylonian Captivity of the Church 1520). And again he said, “All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government-to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things.” (Exposition of Psalm 147).

When we consider this doctrine of vocation we recognize that through our callings God is showing the blessings of his love upon his creatures. In the gospel we recognize that God demonstrates his love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Rom.5:8). And now those who are alive in Christ have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph.1:3). However, we must also look at how he blesses us and others with his love through us each day in our various vocations. A Swedish theologian, Gustaf Wingren, wrote a book entitled, Luther on Vocations. He summarizes this idea in this way; “In his vocation man does works which effect the well-being of others; for so God has made all offices. Through this work in man's offices, God's creative work goes forward, and that creative work is love, a profusion of good gifts. With persons as his "hands" or "coworkers," God gives his gifts through the earthly vocations, toward man's life on earth (food through farmers, fishermen and hunters; external peace through princes, judges, and orderly powers; knowledge and education through teachers and parents, etc., etc.). Through the preacher's vocation, God gives the forgiveness of sins. Thus love comes from God, flowing down to human beings on earth through all vocations, through both spiritual and earthly governments.” Therefore the love of God is demonstrated to every creature in our dependence upon the Creator and also through his callings in his creatures lives. Gene Edward Veith says, “The picture is of a vast, complex society of human beings with different talents and abilities. Each serves the other; each is served by others. We Americans have an ideal of self-sufficiency and often dream of being able to grow our own food, build our own homes, and live independently of other people. But our proper human condition is dependence. Because of the centrality of love, we are to depend on other human beings and, ultimately and through them, on God. Conversely, other people are to depend on us. In God's earthly kingdom, we are to receive his blessings from other people in their vocations.” (Modern Reformation "By the Sweat of Our Brow" May/June Vol. 8 No. 3 1999 Pages 4-7, “Doctrine of Vocation”). The churches call to love our neighbor in good works so that others may glorify our Father who is in heaven takes place when we change a diaper, empty the dishwasher, arrive to work on time, teach a class, pick up trash or go to the grocery store. The Christians life is based upon grace, but the outworking of that grace is the work of love carried out through various vocations. This does not mean that only when the Christian carries out his vocation with complete unabated love that our neighbors receive the love of God through our work. A person may bake a loaf of bread or love his wife or make laws for purely selfish motives. However, God uses those vocations and the work in them as his means to work his sovereign will in showing love to his creatures. But for the Christian who is being sanctified in Christ it is a great joy to hate sin and love holiness and watch God love our neighbors through the outworking of faith in Christ in our various callings.

The doctrine of vocation allows the Christian to be identified not by “what he or she does” but by whose he or she is and what God is doing everyday though their life for his glory and the good of his creatures. When our joy is in God who made, sustains, and redeems us, then we will be glad in the callings of God in this life. It is the glory of God that brings us joy and dignity in our callings. And in that joy and dignity in him we can take up our crosses and follow him wherever he calls us through whatever vocation toward our neighbors in love.

Singing Hymns to the Glory of God

2010-03-05T17:24:00.000-05:00

Does the Scripture contain hymns that we should sing or are we commanded in Scripture to sing hymns? We would all readily argue that it contains psalms. In the book of Psalms there are 150 songs of prayer divided into 5 different books (Bk.1: 1-41; Bk.2:42 – 72; Bk.3: 73-89; Bk.4: 90 – 106; Bk.5: 107 – 150). These psalms are categorized and are the churches primary source of praise, prayer and lament for God’s worshiping community. However in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians he commands them to sing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph.5:19; Col.3:16). Some have argued that these three words are used to define the canonical psalms. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, uses these three words in psalm subtitles and therefore they would be familiar to the New Testament writers. But there are others who argue that the use of these words suggest that the church encouraged a variety of music and poetry in its song expressions in corporate worship. In studying these verses there are those who hold to the exclusive singing of psalms in worship and there are those who hold to the inclusive singing of psalms in worship. I would argue for the later that we must sing God’s inspired song book, the Psalms, but not to the exclusion of singing biblical and historical hymns. Hughs Oliphant Old comments, “The doxology of the earliest Christians kept psalmody and hymnody in a dynamic balance.” The psalms are a complete song book but not fully realized until they are seen in light of the complete work of salvation for God’s people on Calvary. Therefore in the Scripture we have both Psalms and hymns.

One of the earliest hymns we find in Scripture is the Song of Moses from Exodus 15. This is a hymn of praise expressed in strength and joy (Ex.15:2) by Moses and the Israelites as they were delivered by God from their enemies. In this hymn Moses recounts the attributes and work of God that are revealed in his delivering his people from Egypt that they may worship him. It is a hymn that gives glory to God sung in a spirit of joy. These hymns were written down by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and passed down to the peoples of God for generations. This and other hymns like them would be sung by the people of God who had experienced God’s salvation in a response of joy. We are given other biblical hymns in Judges 5, 2 Samuel 22, Luke 1 and 2. These biblical hymns are called Canticles. This is the plural of the Latin word canticulum meaning a little song. There are other works of hymnody or portions of hymns in the New Testament that we would call “Hymns of Christ.” These passages (John 1:1-5, 9-11; Romans 10:9-13; 1Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 5:14; Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-20; 1Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; 2Timothy 2:11-13; Hebrews 1:3; 1Peter 3:18c-19, 22) are christo-centric poetry that are sometimes portions or whole hymns directly about Christ. Where the Psalms and Canticles point the way to Christ these biblical hymns are directly about Christ. These hymns would be the singing of what the church preaches; God’s salvation or deliverance by sovereign grace through Christ alone. The church must sing the bible. This does not mean that we only sing psalms or only hymns from the scriptures but our singing ought to be biblical, “shot through with the language, categories, and theology of the Bible” with Christ and his redemption at the center.

The church sang the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We also must value and practice the same in our day. Paul Jones says, “We find evangelicals slipping away from biblical worship and justifying their practices on the basis of the Zeitgeist. A hedonistic, narcissistic, relativistic, “me focused” age, though, is hardly one that should inform and define our approach to God. And yet it does. We measure our success by numbers, our relevance by how technologically integrated and up to date we are, and our worship by how good it makes us feel. In the minds of contemporary saints, hymns clash with spontaneity, simplicity, and style that have come to rule in the modern evangelical church.” Psalm and hymn singing must be the churches practice as she studies, prays, teaches, preaches and lives the Scripture. They are avenues of our prayer, praise and proclamation in personal and corporate worship. They speak what we need to hear and believe, they are expressions of what we need to think and feel, and they are a trumpet to a church and a world of the glory of God in Christ. They may be the direct words of the Scripture or a paraphrase, they may unfold a particular doctrine or attribute of God, or they may trace his creative, sustaining or redemptive acts. But they are the truth about God and about his image bearers taken from his Word. Therefore, they make demands on the whole of our being to sing them. They must be engaged with the mind and the heart not only in the words that are sung but in the music or tune that fits the words. They must be drawn out and dusted off from antiquity and they need to be written and sung in the present. Whether we sing the song of Moses or of the Lamb (Rev.15:2-3) the church of the living God will sing to the Lord.

Lust

2010-01-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell".

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Lustful intent in the heart is destructive. The Greek for “looks at a woman lustfully”, pros to epithymēsai autēn, (Mt.5:28) in the teaching of Jesus is literally looking at a woman for the purpose of lusting after her to have her sexually. The Kingdom of God has come as Jesus teaches the law in the hill country of Galilee and to us through his word. As Moses received the Law from God and made it known to the people of Israel he said, “You shall not commit adultery.” (Mt.5:27; Ex.20:14; Deut.5:18). But the teachers of that Law in the days of Jesus had relaxed on the commandments and taught others to do the same (Mt.5:19) or had added their own traditions which outweighed the heart of God’s Law. Therefore Jesus teaches the true nature of the Law of the Kingdom, and in the Law of the Kingdom lustful intent is destructive to the glory of God and his image bearers.

When David looked upon the beauty of Bathsheba (2Sam.11:1-12, 25) he looked for the purpose of lusting after her. The desire for her beauty was in his heart (Pr.4:23; 6:25). The lust dwelt in his heart and he used the instruments of his heart, his eyes and hands to have her for his own pleasure. The rest is a bloody destructive history. Lustful intent is destructive. The wisdom of Proverbs warns the young man against the temptation of sexual lust on three occasions (Pr.5:1-23; 6:20-35; 7:1-23), and in a sexually depraved culture young and old must heed these warnings. Spiritual ruin awaits the lustful heart and the ruinous affects are widespread.

When the church relaxes on the commands of God against lust and teaches others to do the same it places itself as a train on runaway tracks toward destruction. Therefore where the law convicts of sin by taking us to the heart of the commands Jesus calls for repentance. In verses 29 – 30 we read, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Repentance and faith are the brakes of the lust train. It is better to not see than to see and bring destruction, and it is better to not have with our hands than to have and bring ruin. You cannot gouge out eyes or cut off hands in a relaxed atmosphere. There is pain and weeping, blood and loss, but in the end there is the joy of the Lord and his Kingdom of righteousness. Gouging out means that what you see by faith is better in blindness than what you see in the flesh with sight. It is radical but so is hell. Hell is radical punishment against sin in enduring flame, thirst, destruction and sorrow. Being satisfied temporally in the flesh does not compare to the pleasures in the presence of God forevermore (Ps.16:11). Therefore it is better to suffer the destruction of the flesh in the present to live in the pleasure of God now and forevermore. The kingdom of Jesus is one of righteousness. It is founded in his righteousness and lives in his righteousness. Therefore his kingdom is filled with men without eyes and without hands for the sake of the kingdom. It is filled with men who for the sake of his name account their lives in the earth as nothing in order that they may live in his kingdom.

Men must give their hearts the feast of sitting at the banqueting table of God’s glory in Christ through his means of grace everyday. Men must delight in the wife of their youth and if they do not have one prepare for her. Men must fight to put sin to death in their hearts by setting their minds on the things of the Spirit and things above. Men must know their limits and ask their brothers and their wives to hold their eyes and their hands. Men everywhere must repent and call upon the name of the Lord that times of refreshing may come.

The Lord Jesus was righteous and pure in his thoughts toward his image bearers. His heart was not bent to use a woman for his own pleasure. His pleasure was to do the will of the Father who sent him. Therefore he is the perfect Savior for lust filled sinners. The lust of his church was imputed to him at the cross and nailed there stained with his own blood. The need for purity of heart is in the heart of Jesus. And the need for purity of life is in the holy life of Jesus. We come to him by repentance and faith and abide in his Kingdom by repentance and faith.

Today I Wondered

2010-01-25T16:17:00.001-05:00

Today I wondered…
Why does my yellow Lab sit entranced gazing out the glass door at the squirrel searching for a nut in the herb bed? Does she want to eat it? Does she want to chase it? Or, is she content with her place on the other side of the glass?

And then I wondered…
Why does my freshly turned 8 year old daughter have so much delight about the same squirrel? As she sat to do her math at the kitchen table and yet admitted her guilt so easily by telling me with great joy and wonder of the squirrel’s exact patterns of behavior for the last few minutes…why couldn’t she just do her work?

But more importantly I wondered…
Why is it so easy for me to walk away because it’s just a squirrel? After all, I too have work to do. An imago Dei, made in the image of God, and yet I have no wonder about what my Creator displays before my eyes. He is a brilliant playwright, a magnificent screenwriter, a most wise and creative author, a skilled painter, an amazing sculptor, an exact engineer and all as One who does it ex nihilo, out of nothing. What has turned my wonder sensors to mush or is to impenetrable steel? Open my eyes that I may see your wonderful works and delight myself in You.

Dealing with Sin in Biblical Marriages

2010-01-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

When we fail to help our believing spouses deal with sin we fail to help them receive mercy. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” God gives mercy to the humble (Jas.4:6) and to those who turn away from sin to do the Lord’s will he is merciful. Therefore to not assist our spouses in dealing with sin is to forfeit the privilege of leading them to mercy and the responsibility doing good to them. The question is, “How do I help my spouse deal with sin?”.

First we must recognize that our spouses who have been regenerated in Christ by the Spirit are in the process of sanctification. The Westminster Confession defines God’s work in the believer: “They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart, and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them:...” (WCF XIII.1) Sanctification is the work of God in the person who is united to Christ by faith and living in him by the power of the Holy Spirit and by his means of grace. It is not a husband or wife’s role to sanctify their spouse.

Second we must recognize that our spouses who are regenerate and are being sanctified are in the midst of a war. The Westminster Confession describes the war in this way: “This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” (WCF XIII.2). Husbands and wives are given to one another to fight together in war, not against one another in war. In war there is needed a “Band of Brothers” or in this case brothers and sisters who will sacrifice for one another in love to see each other through the war against the enemy.

Third a spouse must acknowledge that God is patient in dealing with his children’s sin. In Psalm 103:8-14 we read, “ 8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” A spouse must look to the patience of the Lord in regard to his own life as he looks to God’s grace and patience toward his spouse. Patience is not the same as excusing sin or overlooking it because you are afraid of a man or a woman. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit that enables a spouse to bear with one another in love (Eph.4:2; Col.3:13-14) or overlook an offense (Pr.17:9; 19:11).

Fourth a spouse will not overlook the good that God is working in the life of their husband or wife in the midst of the sin. When the Lord Jesus is speaking with his church in Ephesus he does not overlook the good that they are doing in the midst of dealing with their sin of losing their love that they had for him at the beginning (Rev.2:1-7). When a husband or wife is praying about helping their spouse with sin they must remember with thanksgiving before God all the good that God is doing in their life. And this must be acknowledged before their spouse as they come to them in love and gentleness to restore them.

Fifth, we must only seek to deal with indisputable sin, that is sin that is clearly prohibited by Scripture and easily recognizable by anyone. We must be careful not to have standard that is higher than Gods. We are not called to seek our own preferences in our spouses. A spouse must be careful to know the difference between sin that God hates and things you do not like or things that irritate them. A spouse we must not presume to know the motives of their spouse’s heart. The Scriptures define sin and a spouse can only bind the conscience of their husband or wife with the Word of God. There is a difference between a husband choosing to watch a football game and refusing to go to work. There is a difference between a wife not having ironed a shirt and staying home all day only to watch soap operas, Oprah and Dr. Phil.

Sixth, a husband and wife must acknowledge their responsibility in helping their spouse deal with sin. The apostle Paul instructs us in Galatians 6:1, “1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” As we walk toward our spouses in this responsibility we must do it in a manner worthy of the Lord “with all humility, and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” (Eph.4:2). A husband or wife who is spiritual or able to do this work of restoration is acknowledging their own sin before the Lord and their spouse. When you see your brothers sin look for your own that you may be poor in spirit and mourning for your sin as well as your spouses. The aim is to bring the husband or wife to the mercies of God, to restore them with gentleness before his presence at his throne of grace to help them in their time of need (Heb.4:16). However we must acknowledge that there is a difference in being “caught in any transgression” and committing sin. Caught in a transgression implies that some sin has a hold on them and committing sin implies that they are not practicing a particular sin but have committed a sin. We should not be eager to rebuke them for this is usually a sign of spiritual pride. We should rather be eager to pray for them diligently asking the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts through the Word of truth to restore them. We should be eager to pray for what would be our responsibility and how to carry that out in a spirit of humility, love, gentleness and patience. We should give them reasonable time. We should ask them how they are doing and if there is anything more we can do to serve them. And then we must be willing to assist them by seeking to gently restore them to the Lord. We must seek to do this as one sinner addressing another sinner in how to receive more mercy and find more grace in time of need. We must give them time to respond.

Christian and biblical marriages need the grace of accountability with one another. Too often Christians opt for their ladies group or their men’s group for this accountability. God glorifying marriages will seek this accountability in the loving relationship they have in God’s covenant of grace in Christ. We must help our husbands and wives deal with sin in the context of the covenant of marriage that it will display the glory of God’s grace in Christ.

Happy Birthday Stonewall Jackson

2010-01-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

A hero came among us, as we slept,
At first he lowly knelt, then rose and wept,
Then gathering up a thousand spears,
He swept across the field of Mars,
Then bowed farewell, and walked among the stars
In the land where we were dreaming.

George L. Christian

It is important that we remember those who have gone before us and especially on their birthdays. Today marks the birthday of one of my heroes, Stonewall Jackson. On January 21, 1824 Thomas J. Jackson was born to Jonathan and Julia Jackson as their third child in Clarksburg Virginia. After being mortally wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville he died at the young age of 39 on May 10, 1863 during the War Between the States. Heroes are marked by their exemplary lives and it is in this way I would like to remember him.

“He was a man of God first, last and always.” (Rev. James Graham). The glory of God in all things was of first importance to Jackson. “God was in all his thoughts” said James Power Smith. S. “His alliance with eternal realities; his foretaste of the power of the world to come; his deep and genuine piety, his adherence to the Bible, the Church, the Lord’s Day, his keeping of his own conscience before God and men, are the outstanding traits of a spiritual prince who was greater than anything he did, and whose deeds took rise in his being.” (S. Parks Cadman) He persevered by the certainty of who God is and the surety of his promises. He wrote, “However dark the night, I am cheered with anticipated glorious and luminous morrow…No earthly calamity can shake my hope in the future so long as God is my friend.”

He was a man of the Word and Prayer. Col. Francis H. Smith said that Jackson, “took the word of God as his guide, and unhesitatingly accepted all therein revealed.” He studied the Scriptures and his two favorite passages came from the New Testament: Revelation 21:4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. and Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. These particular verses tell of the hope he had in God as he struggled with much brokenness in this life. Harvey Hill said of him, “The striking characteristic of his mind was his profound reverence for divine authority” (God’s Word).” This love for and obedience to God’s word was accompanied by faithful prayer. He was always full of prayer to God. On one occasion while in war he spent many hours in council with his officers about plans for battle. After listening to their many opinions and the discussion he told his men he would give them his answer in the morning. The men left the tent and as they were leaving A.P. Hill joked to Gen. Richard S. Ewell, “Well, I suppose Jackson wants to pray over it.” Later that evening realizing he had left his sword in Jackson’s tent Ewell went to retrieve it and found Jackson on his knees by his cot laboring in prayer for wisdom. Ewell later was converted to Christianity.

He was a man who loved his neighbor. The times that Jackson lived in cannot be judged by our own. In 1855 in Lexington Virginia Jackson started a Sunday School class for slave children that met in the Presbyterian church where he was a member. He approached the masters of the slaves and asked permission to teach the children. He then made announcement to parents of the children and the children inviting them to come freely to his class. Each Sunday at 3:00 pm the doors would close to the church where over 100 children had gathered for his class voluntarily. If they were not there when the doors closed they would be locked out and after the first week of being locked out they made certain they were early. He would teach them from the Scriptures and then break them into small groups to learn the catechism where he had appointed young black adult men to lead those groups. The class continued until 1861 when he left Lexington for war. During the War he would send money back home to the church to assist his class. The class ran until 1880. Many of his students were there to mourn his death when he was brought back to Lexington. A number of the students entered the ministry as pastors of black churches in Virginia and beyond. He told them of the cross and cared for their souls with his life, the word and in prayer, even while away at war.

Much more could be said of this hero of our American past but I will allow his contemporaries speak. James Powell Smith said of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, “Outwardly, Jackson was not a stone wall, for it was not in his nature to be stable and defensive, but vigorously active. He was an avalanche from an unexpected quarter. He was a thunderbolt from a clear sky. And yet he was in character and will more like a stone wall than any man I have known.” And one of his students remarked of him in 1886, “His fame is as lasting as the solid stones of his native hills…and yet there is for him, a purer, nobler record- his quiet Christian walk in life, his right words, his faithful manly bearing, his victory over self, his known devotion to the Word of truth. He was indeed a soldier of the cross.” I remember Stonewall Jackson as a man who knew the true God and loved him in praise, thanksgiving, trust and obedience. I pray we have more men like him.

Why the Cross

2010-01-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. - Luke 23:26

Jesus had been delivered up by Pilate to the will of the Jews for his death. He bore in his body the marks of suffering after a Roman flogging. His physical body was weakened and opened as he was brutally despised and rejected by men. It was to be the cursed death by the cross, cursed is everyone who hung on a tree (Gal.3:13). He bore the cross for his inheritance, a people whom the Father loved to be holy and blameless in and through the Son, an inheritance who would worship him forevermore for his glorious grace. This glory was preceded by pain and sorrow, darkness and rejection, and unbelief and hatred because of the suffering and the cross that Jesus bore for the sins of his people. And in the midst of this mystery, the unfolding of God’s sovereign wisdom, power and goodness of putting the Son forward as an atoning substitute in sacrifice, there arrived on the scene an insignificant man from the country, Simon of Cyrene.

Simon arrived from North Africa for the Passover in Jerusalem. Mark tells us that he is the father of Alexander and Rufus (Mk.15:21). These sons may have been known to the early church when Mark wrote the gospel. Rufus is mentioned in Romans 16:13 as chosen in the Lord and his mother who had been a help to Paul in the ministry. However, we do not know if this is the same Rufus. However, as we look to Simon of Cyrene we see that he was seized and compelled by the Roman soldiers to carry the cross of Jesus following behind him as they went to the place of the skull or Golgotha. This insignificant man from the country of North Africa was seeking glory in Jerusalem and instead found the cross.

Carrying the cross behind Jesus is the calling of all the insignificant ones chosen to follow Christ. I do not know if Simon was a follower of Christ or not but on this day he was in a way that all are who are called to follow Christ. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Lk.9:23). The glory that Jesus longed for to be restored to him (Jn.17:5) was restored through the way of the cross. And the glory that we as his image bearers long for will only be given to those who do not seek to save their lives in the earth, but who for the sake of the glory of Christ will lose it in following Jesus by the way of the cross.

Simon was given a particular cross to bear, Jesus’ cross. The followers of Jesus must follow him to his glory through the hill of death under his cross. The crosses we are called to bear are also the crosses of Jesus. They are his as they are given us by him. For everything is from him, through him and to him for his glory (Rom.11:36) and he is using it all for his own glory and our good (Rom.8:28-29). Therefore we must recognize that the crosses we bear are his way of extending more grace to more people. If Jesus sought to preserve his life in this earth we would not receive more grace. It was good for Jesus to take up his cross and do the Father’s will so that by his gift of grace we may know and enjoy him forever. The crosses that the church is called to bear are the extension of more of the sufferings of Christ that others may receive more of his grace. Paul says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings (crosses) for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church, (Col.1:24). We do not die under crosses to pay a ransom or debt for sinners. We cannot add to what Christ has done in redemption upon the cross. But we are called to die under crosses that more and more people may know the grace of the One, Jesus, who did pay their debt and ransom them from captivity to sin through the cross. Therefore, like Simon the crosses the church bears are Jesus’ crosses. The church is the body of Christ and the crosses she is called to carry, she carries in Christ. Christ loved his body through the cross and his body loves his body through the crosses she is called to bear as she follows him through the hill of death as she perseveres to glory.

It is through many tribulations that we must enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), and anyone who wishes to live a life of godliness will suffer (2 Tim.3:12). We are called to proclaim the excellencies of him who has bought us (1Pe.2:9), and if the world hated him when he proclaimed those excellencies in his words and deeds then why should be surprised when that same world hates his body? (Jn.15:18-19;1Pe.4:12-13). Following Jesus for the sake of his name in everything we do means his glory is first and foremost in all that we do, and living in this world that will be costly and crossly. May we be compelled by his grace to take his cross and follow him through the hill of death to his glory that more and more people may know the excellencies of him who is the Creator and Redeemer.

Simon of Cyrene carried the cross of Jesus as he followed Jesus to the hill of death. If he remained on the scene he would hear the words and cries of Jesus as he finished the work he came to do. Maybe he to like the thief was born again that day and lived forevermore in Jesus carrying his cross that his wife, Rufus and Alexander would also know that same grace that saved him. We do not know. But we do know that like him we must take the crosses of Jesus and follow him that we and others may know him.

In the Word in 2010

2010-01-15T10:23:00.002-05:00

Here are twelve reasons you need the Word of God in 2010.

The Word Keeps Us from Sin. "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word." (Ps.119:9) The word of God is a means of grace to guard the way of our lives, to keep us in the paths of righteousness (2Tim.3:16). When we walk according to his word we may live in blamelessness (Ps.119:1) and not shame the name of God or be put to shame in a crooked and depraved culture because of an unrighteous life.

The Word Reveals Wonderful Things About God. "Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." (Ps.119:18) In the word of God is revealed the names and nature of God. The wonder of his majesty, the display of his power and the comfort of his goodness are revealed in his word.

The Word is a Delight to the Soul. "Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors." (Ps.119:24) The word is a delight because it reveals God as our delight.

The Word Gives Life. "My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word." (Ps.119:25) We are born again by the Spirit through the word of God’s truth. We live in the life of repentance and faith by the word of God’s truth. We live by faith toward the promised eternal life through the word of God’s truth.

The Word Gives Strength. "My soul melts away with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!" (Ps.119:28). There are days of sadness, disparity, and pain for which we sink into a weakened state of fear, anxiety and depression. Sorrow, disappointment, and grief are not alien to the life of the church. And when we are overcome by relationships and situations that carry us in the road of sorrow we feel the weakness that seems to leave us by in the gutter or wandering in the waste places far from the road. But the word of God that assures of who he is, what he has done, who he will be and what he will do is the means of our strength. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction (Ps.119:92). It is the treadmill that is in use everyday strengthening the heart to trust God in the sorrow, to be comforted by God that we may comfort others, to know the will of God that we may walk in love.

The Word Reveals the Steadfast Love of God. "Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise." (Ps.119:41) We may know of the love of God when we see it demonstrated for us in his word. Nothing can separate us from it.

The Word Gives Good Judgment and Knowledge. "Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments." (Ps.119:66) In a world of confusion, ignorance and idiocy God is our teacher through his word without government loans.

The Word is Richer Than Gold and Silver. "The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." (Ps.119:72). What would delight you more this year to get a raise, win the lottery or grow in the knowledge and joy of God through his word?

The Word Makes Us Wiser and Understanding. "Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me." (Ps.119:98)…"Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." (Ps.119:104)

The Word is a Lamp and a Light for Life. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Ps.119:106)…"The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." (Ps.119:130).

The Word Keeps Our Steps Steady. "Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me." (Ps.119:133).

The Word Endures Forever. "The sum of your word is truth, and everyone of your righteous rules endures forever." (Ps.119:160).

Therefore I urge you to read it, pray it, meditate on it, memorize it, hear it preached and taught. Gather around it in your closet, with your family, and with your church family. Make a plan for how you are going to value God’s word this year through the activity of your life. God is your life and he has purposed to use his word in giving you that life. It is not a magic book to make you a better you, but it is the book where God reveals the knowledge of himself, his salvation, and his will. Hold fast to God’s word in 2010 and may he give us his Spirit that we will know and delight in him, his salvation and remain steadfast in his salvation doing his will this year.

Haiti

2010-01-14T17:57:00.003-05:00

In Haiti,
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34"For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?"
35"Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?"
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. - Romans 11:33-36

Our progressive American minds search in vain for answers to the terror we have seen in the sea to the south. We trace the history and a contemporary evil culture and we say, “Aha, this is judgment.” We trace the science and our great discoveries and we say, “Aha, I told them a quake would result from this fault.” We trace the political and sociological environment of power and poverty and we say, “Aha, injustice is judged.” But all of our searching and seeming discoveries are in vain. For, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

It is him who we know not his mind, it is him whom we can give no gift, it is him from whom and through whom and to whom are all things, it is the unsearchable God who gags us.

But it is not him who binds us. What binds our emotions in the stale unfeeling heart, what binds our minds from creative thinking toward our neighbors, what binds our hands and feet from running with our crosses to their aid, what binds our purses from opening to those in need? We see the scenes of our neighbor’s horror, pain and sickness even when the screen is blank and yet we are bound to the joys of our health, our comfort, our peace and our safety. It is not him who binds us, it is the fact that we have not really seen him that is what binds us.

It is not the scenes of horror that unbind us or freedom from our unfeeling soul. It is seeing him who rules in the midst of Haiti. It is seeing him who has come to rule in the midst of the horror of our lives. It is seeing him who came and took on the horrors of hell as our substitute. It is seeing him who became poor that we might become rich. It is seeing him who thirsted that we might drink from the streams of life. It is seeing him who was broken that we might be healed. It is seeing him who was buried that we may not taste death. It is seeing him who in infinite power was raised and now rules that we may know his power in pain and weakness. It is seeing the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that unbinds us and fashions us with joy under our cross to go to our neighbors in their weakness.

Haiti needs God who is the gospel. The same God who has slain them in the dust can bind up their brokenness in his redeeming grace. In the streets of Haiti there is wailing and weeping, but in the midst of those cries there are the sounds of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs being sung by those who are making melody in their hearts to the Lord in the midst of their suffering. Hillary Clinton is right in one sense this is “Biblical”. It is Biblical that there are those who count it all joy when they face various trials because they know the God of the gospel. May the God who is the gospel gag us and unbind us in the face of Jesus Christ that we may pray, give, go, cry, and sing for and with our neighbors.

Dear Pastor

2010-01-13T16:35:00.000-05:00

*Editors note: you may not appreciate this if you do not keep up with sports news, so just in case some of our congregation are not sports fans, Lane Kiffin is leaving the University of Tennessee after one season to coach at University of Southern California. This is not unusual in today’s sporting news so here are some thoughts concerning this trend…

Dear Pastor,

Do you sing “Rocky Top” in your Sunday services? How about “Glory to Ole Georgia” or “Orange and Blue”? I am just curious where your loyalties lie. How much did it cost the congregation to get you here? Did you arrive highly acclaimed because of your outgoing personality, recruiting skills, ability to organize a professional and excellent ministry center, and your promise to work hard for the team? Oh, I’m sorry I am confused about who I am writing to. You must understand my confusion though I just received my 2010-11 season tickets and the picture of the coach on the ticket is not going to be the coach on the sideline this year. He apparently loves his alma mater or an old school he used to coach also, or is that himself he loves? By the way that is why I am writing.

I feel betrayed. I heard there was quite a raucous in the meeting room when our beloved coach and answer to all our orange and white woes met with the players to announce his leaving for the crimson and gold, coliseum, and the sandy beaches. If I was there the raucous might have gotten out of hand or I might have claimed a piece of his golden hair in my hand. I am sorry for this rant and my anger, but that is why I am writing. I feel betrayed. He promised us the SEC and the world which we did not care about as much as the SEC, and after one year he has left his multi-year contract in shreds, us with a measly $800,000, and an orange and white tour bus that I guess we can get something for on ebay. I guess it’s my fault that he’s leaving. We probably did not appreciate him enough after his first phenomenal season of 7-6 and the rampant violations he and his players committed on and off the field. Is there a support group for this kind of thing in the church?

But you know this has got me thinking. What about you? Are you a man of integrity? Why do you do what you do? Do you love the Lord and us as your neighbors or do you preach, teach and shepherd because you get paid and you get to live in such a sexy city? Are you committed to being here with us and our own set of peculiarities’? Or, do you have your eye on another congregation and you are just waiting for their present pastor to leave for greener pastures so that you can join yourself to those peculiar people? I am sorry to go on so, but this whole thing with our team has got me to thinking about myself, other people, their integrity and loyalty. It is not that you are my God in whom I trust, but you are called to serve him for his glory as you serve his church, and I’m just wondering if you are going to serve yourself or Him? I guess these are the kinds of questions people who have been betrayed tend to ask. It seems that our Lord came not to do his own will but the will of him who sent him. And he came not be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. This is why I trust in Him who is my Savior and Lord and I am just praying that those who preach his gospel will reflect his glory with loving faithful service toward his church, not for what they can get out of it, but for what He get’s out of it in being praised for his glorious grace. By the way if we don’t sing “Rocky Top” this Sunday, that’s okay, maybe “Amazing Grace” will be more fitting.

Sincerely,

The Betrayed

Nisi Dominus Frustra

2010-01-12T15:39:00.002-05:00

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. – Psalm 127:1

Nisi Dominus Frusta, “Without the Lord, Frustration”, appears on the official documents and the crest of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a sobering reminder that those who live their lives in the family, the church and the civil realm without the Lord God Almighty participate in a meaningless and frustrated existence.

The Scriptures grant us a worldview of society in which we see that the foundational units of any society are the family, the church and the politic. But it also points us to the reality that the Lord must be the builder of each of these units if we are going to experience his rewards. If we abandon this central thinking in our lives and in our society we participate in vanity and a frustrated meaningless existence.

Benjamin Franklin, who was not a Christian, but understood this worldview spoke to those convened for the writing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787:

"In the beginning of the contest with Britain when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence. To that kind Providence we owe this opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived for a long time (81 years), and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs, in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground with out his notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “Except the Lord build the housed, they labor in vain that build it”. I firmly believed this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall proceed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel."

When we live in prosperous times we often forget God thinking that the success of our family, church or political realm rests on ourselves. In these times we think not about God as central and necessary to the building of these units. When we live in peaceful times we often forget God thinking that our beloved peace we have in our families, the church or in the political ranks or society is owing to what we have done. We think of ourselves and our methods as the primary sources of the rewards we experience. We do not know we are in a war and we think we are sufficient. Therefore we do not look to him who neither slumbers nor sleeps and who is our keeper. I fear in our homes, churches and the civil realm we are building a tower to reach the heavens and soon we will be frustrated and find all is vanity.

Unless we come on bended knee acknowledging that everything is from him, through him and to him we will build in our churches, homes and political realms in vain. Unless we come to him on bended knee and plead for understanding from his prescribed Word concerning how we should think and act in the building of our homes, churches and political realms we will build on meaningless and frustrated foundations. Unless the Lord builds the home, the church and the city we all think, feel and labor in vain.

Steadfastly Seeking Rest in God

2010-01-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

Every time I turn on my computer and go to my yahoo page to check mail I met by a distracting barrage of garbage. It comes in the form catchy journalistic (laughable) lines that seek to steal my attention to who’s done what or who’s with who or who’s wearing what. Then as I seek to move on to ‘login’ I have to wade through the slough of despond because I do not have the right education to do what I have always dreamed of doing, ‘be more independent, make more money and be more successful’. And I am assured that I can be helped by a highly overrated and overpriced education in the virtual world. But my favorite is when I finally reach my ‘inbox’. I have to constantly be distracted by the sidebar advertisement boasting the chiseled and buff male models with their shirts off reminding me that without the latest supplement I am wasting away as a washed up forty something. I hate this barrage of garbage as it distracts me from the beauty of resting in who God is. I am like a hungry sheep that longs to look up to be fed, a thirsty soul that longs to be satisfied, and I know that my soul finds it’s greatest joy when I rest at the feet of him who has made me, redeemed me and sustains me. What distracts you from resting in who God is?

Distractions are only as powerful as the weakness of our steadfast pursuit of God. The barrage of garbage can only slow us down from resting in God when we are not steadfast in pursuit of God. Left to our weakness the barrage of garbage will destroy us and leave us in a heap of misery. But God! God has steadfastly sought us while we were groping in the barrage of garbage. He dose a work of grace in the heart of a believer that has sets us on a course of seeking steadfastly after him to find a joyful rest at his feet. Therefore the powers of the distractions have diminished in the light of God’s pursuit of us. He has enlivened and enlightened us to rest in him by his grace. No man can come out of or through the barrage of garbage to rest in him (Matthew 11:28-30) unless the Father who sent the Son draws him (John 6:44). If there is any steadfast pursuit of God it is the outworking of his pursuit of us. “God is always previous.” But when God is previous then there is a longing, a pursuit, a steadfast pursuit that longs for your souls rest in God in the midst of that which you know will not satisfy.

The Christian life is a steadfast pursuit of God. As the Psalmist says, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1 cf. 42:1-2). Is this steadfast pursuit of God only for the spiritually elite who hide themselves away from the distractions and the barrage of garbage? The church is so distracted from the truth of the gospel that she has purported a gospel void of the gospel provision, a glorious relationship with the All Glorious Triune God. As A.W. Tozer said, “The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for him in the soul of the receiver. The man is “saved”, but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is specifically taught to be satisfied and is encouraged to be content with little.” God does not give himself to his own in small portions. He gives himself to his own as their Father, the Son and the Spirit. He is one God in three persons given to his children in the earth that they may know him intimately and deeply for all eternity. Regeneration, conversion, justification and adoption begin this work of God to bring his children near him to know him. Sanctification and glorification are descriptions of the enduring grace of God toward his children to bring them into the deep and abiding relationship with him in the knowledge of his glory forevermore. Therefore in this grace his children are given to the steadfast thirsty and hungry pursuit of God in the midst of distractions.

The apostle Paul says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God that depends on faith – that I may know him…” (Philippians 3:8-10a). Our souls rest in the glory of who God is begins in the salvation he provides in Christ, but it is continued in our steadfast pursuit of him through grace as we count everything else a loss compared with the worth of knowing Christ. “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One…Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.” (A.W. Tozer). Rubbish is rubbish no matter the package it comes in. The barrage of garbage is a distraction but it does not hinder the powerful grace of God toward us to steadfastly seek to know God and the rest he promises our souls in the presence of his glory. Are you steadfastly seeking after God that you may be richly satisfied in Him?

Advent, Seeing His Glory

2009-12-18T11:10:00.001-05:00

Manger scenes abound during the advent season. They are pictorial reminders of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the earth, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn.1:14). These scenes depicted by artists on a print or in forms sculpted, carved or molded show forth the privilege given to a select few who drew near him at his appearing. They depict the lowly shepherds who have been called from their watch to look upon their Savior. They allow us to see sheep and cattle gathered around their Creator and the one who would make all things new. Through them we gather around a father and mother who would see the King of Kings and Prince of peace as they hold him in their arms. In the midst of these scenes is the evident humility of the Lord of glory becoming man so that he may become the blessedness of those who in humility receive him by faith as he has revealed himself as the Word made flesh. The manger scene is an artist rendering of a historical and theological reality of how blessed those are who receive this same Savior and Lord as revealed in his Word.

Jonathan Edwards said, “Tis more blessed to be spiritually related to Jesus Christ – to be his disciples, his brethren and the members – than to stand in the nearest temporal relation, than to be his brother or his mother.” What the manger scene cannot depict is the spiritual reality that it is possible to stand in relation to Jesus but not be in his joy.

When I was a child my mother would decorate our home at Christmas. One central piece of my mothers decorating was a manger scene. It was not a beautiful piece of art but it was detailed as it painted a picture in my mind of an historic reality. As a child I would stand by and look at it. As I looked I stood over a Bible that my mother placed before it each year opened to the account of Jesus’ birth in Luke. I stood in relation to the historic theological reality of Jesus but I was not in his joy. For I did not believe in him as the one sent by the Father as the light of the world (Jn.8:12), nor did I come to him as the bread sent down from heaven to satisfy my hunger and thirst (Jn.6:35). I was one like a bystander at his coming who stood in relation to the reality of revealed glory and could only see a blue background, fake stars, angels hanging from strings, plastic figurines of people and animals, and pages with black and white words. So I sought joy in other shadows of the reality like getting gifts, giving gifts and relationships.

Jonathan Edwards said, “Tis a greater blessedness to have spiritual communion with God and to have a saving intercourse with him by the instances of his Spirit and by the exercise of true devotion than it is to converse with God externally, to see the visible representation and manifestations of his presence and glory, and to hear his voice with the bodily ears as Moses did. For in this spiritual intercourse the soul is nigh unto and hath more a particular portion than in any external intercourse.”

Looking on the manger man cannot see, but when the Spirit lifts out the words of Scripture illuminating the mind and heart then sight of the glory of Christ lights upon his life and is put into his heart that obedience of faith that makes him a joy filled disciple walking after his ways. If we can see the blessed mother of Jesus magnifying the Lord and rejoicing in God her Savior as she carries in her womb the revealed Lord of glory (Lk.1:46-55), then how much more joy is there for those who see his beauty with their minds and hearts and walk after him in his revealed will through the Scripture? In the manger we see a historical and theological reality. But when the Christ of the manger is lifted up by the Holy Spirit as a glorious Savior and Lord and our hearts are illumined by his beauty and excellencies through his Word he becomes our joy and walking in obedience to his will for his glory and others good becomes our joy. May the joy of the Lord be your strength as you await his coming again.

Advent, Waiting at His Word

2009-12-11T08:06:00.000-05:00

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
- Revelation 1:3

Advent is a time of looking back at the certainty of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ while we look forward with expectancy in the certainty of what he promises to do in Christ. And with the apostle John we can be certain that the time is near. But we do not know how near so we wait with eager expectation, but how do we wait? We must wait at his Word.

There is for all who turn to God’s Word as a means of grace a gift of joy from God. You are given the joy of God if you read his Word and you are given the joy of God if you listen to his Word read and purpose in your heart to keep it in trust and obedience. Blessed (happy) is the one who reads…, and blessed (happy) are those who hear. As we open the Revelation from Jesus Christ given us through the apostle John we are promised the joy of God. It is he who stands among his church as her light, whose voice is as mighty waters to his church, and from his mouth comes the doubled edged sword who promises his church joy through his Word (Rev.1:13, 15-16). The church forfeits the grace and joy of the Lord when she turns from his Word.

The apostle Paul begins his letter to the Galatians, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2). Paul ends this same letter to the Galatian church, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. (6:18). Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2). Paul ends the letter to the Ephesian church, Grace be with you all…(6:24). The letters to the Philippian church, the Colossian church, and the church at Thessalonica all begin and end in the same way. His pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus begin and end in the same manner. Is this merely a pattern of greeting and salutation or is there more to this? These letters were written as Paul was moved along by the Holy Spirit as the revelation of God to the church through Jesus Christ (2Tim.3:16; 2Pe.1:20-21; 3:15-16). Therefore when the letter was read publically there was grace to you and when they heeded the letter in trust and obedience by faith there was grace with you. Grace is the gift of God for joy in him and the means he uses to bring it is his Word. When his Word comes among the church where Jesus stands he opens his mouth as the rush of many waters, and his word comes forth from his tongue as a two edged sword to bless all who read it and all who hear it with his grace.

This is the reason we cannot live by bread alone but every word from the mouth of the Lord (Deut.8:3). And the reason the Psalmist can say happy is the man who delights in and meditates on the Word of God day and night (Ps.1:1-2). And the reason Timothy has the joy of the Lord in the knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ in salvation as he listened to the Scriptures read to him from his mother and grandmother (2Tim.1:5; 3:15). The church and her children forfeit true joy when we turn from the living God and his living Word. I pray this advent season is filled with waiting at his feet to listen to his voice from his Word that your joy will be full.

An Open Letter to the Elders at RPC

2009-12-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

This is an open letter to the elders at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. It is open because we must give account for how we shepherd the flock of God, and because the flock of God should heed warnings. In Jude 17-23 we read,

17But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." 19It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22And have mercy on those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Jude longed to write to the church about the joy they have in the gospel (v.3), but he was diverted from this joy to deal with the solemnity of warning them about ungodliness in the church. A warning we to must heed in our day for there are going to be those who follow their ungodly passions leading others away through division into ungodliness and judgment. Therefore as elders we must be building ourselves up as we do the flock of God through his Word and prayer in the Spirit. This requires our attending to his means of grace privately and publically and urging the flock to do the same. This must be primary in our thinking about what we are doing with the time that is given us. Second we must be cultivating our hearts and minds in the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ and the life that is promised to us in him. We must hold to his Word in the Spirit as his love letter to us revealing his eternal and enduring loving kindness toward us in Christ. And we must be boasting of this love to the flock of God calling them to sing with us in the love of God in Christ. Third we must bear with those in the flock who are struggling. We must listen to and help them answer their questions. We must pull them from the flames of hell with urgings, warnings, exhortations, encouragements and prayer. And we must hate their flesh and our own. While we warn them of the flesh that will destroy them we must see in their struggles our own struggles with the flesh and hate their sin and ours with tender mercies, love and a zeal for the holiness of God.

A flock not watched is a flock untended, and a flock untended is a flock destined the misery of their own waywardness and death. We must watch and tend the flock of God for his glory and their good that we may gather together and rejoice in the joy of the gospel of God in Jesus Christ. 1So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1Pe.5:1-4) I love you brothers.

Advent, An Ardent Waiting

2009-12-08T10:32:00.001-05:00

17Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

- Habakkuk 3:17-19

For what are you waiting on this Christmas? While reading through complaints of Habakkuk over the last several days I found myself caught up in similar prayers before the Lord as I long for his appearing. Here are some things I am waiting on this Christmas.

How long will violence come upon the unborn? “Destruction and violence are before me” (1:3). I long for his appearing that violence and unrighteousness will be put under his feet and unborn children will be met with peace and not the sword.

How long will the wicked shed the blood of the righteous saints in the earth? “For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” (1:4). I long for his appearing that my brothers and sisters who are persecuted unjustly throughout the world will see the Son of Righteousness and the Prince of Peace as he triumphs over their enemies.

How long will unrighteous rulers pervert the ways of justice and practice deceit for their own glory? “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” (1:13). I long for his appearing that his kingdom would come and his will be done here on earth as it is in heaven as righteousness and peace reign in the nations.

How long will so many in the “church” believe and live as though their works plus Christ’s work merit salvation? “The righteous shall live by faith” (2:4b). I long for the glory of Christ in all his works of righteousness to shine in the hearts of the church so that she will glory in Christ alone for salvation.

How long will man live for his own glory treating his neighbor with contempt and injustice? “Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you…Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!...Woe to him who builds a town with blood and foundsa city on iniquity” (2:8, 9, 12). I long for the appearing of our Lord when, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (2:14), and man lives in love and humility before God and his neighbor.

How long will man live for the worship of idols which causes those around them to suffer for their unrighteousness? “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image a teacher of lies?” (2:18). I long for his appearing that darkness and lies will be cast out in the light of his glory revealed, and those who trust in him will live in his light seeing him as he is and being light to those around them.

How long will the church lightly worship God? “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (2:20). I long for his appearing in the glory of his holiness before his church that there may be weight and glory to her worship and work.

How long will the church wait for reform and revival where she longs for his appearing in her worship and work? “O Lord, I have heard the report of you; and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” (3:2). I long for God to revive his church in Christ by the Spirit through his Word that worship and work will be for his glory in repentance and faith and the glory of his name spreads through righteousness, joy and peace in the communities of the earth.

When we were children we wore out the pages of the Sear and Roebuck catalogue at Christmas time longing for the appearing of gifts under a tree. But now we must search the pages of the Scriptures waiting in the Spirit in prayer for the appearing of the glorious Savior. While we wait when the seed is in the earth dying and there is no fruit on the vine, “yet I (we) will rejoice in the LORD; I (we) will take joy in the God of my (our) salvation.” (3:18). Why? We know he is in his holy temple and from above the heavens he does whatever he pleases in the earth. Therefore we will wait for his advent, his coming, for he has come and he is coming again.

Getting Perspective on the Season of Advent

2009-12-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

Advent is an English word derived from the Latin advenio meaning to come. It is a noun describing an expected or anticipated arrival. Advent has come to be known as a season of devotion looking back at the coming of the Savior in his incarnation and an anticipation of his return in judgment. Traditionally Advent begins on the feast day of St. Andrew, November 30th, or the Lord’s day that is closest to that day and runs the four Sundays culminating in the feast of Christmas.

American modern tradition has turned this time of year into one of the busiest months of our calendar. We spend a great deal of time hurriedly shopping for clothes, food, and gifts while keeping tabs on our busy calendars marked with days of parties and gatherings. A modern protestant Christmas ethic of the commercial has replaced a historical catholic ethic of a valued Little Pascha – a time of fasting, prayer, confession and reconciliation. In the past this was a time of year when the church slowed down to contemplate their lives in reflection upon the gospel taking stock of the inventory of our hearts and lifting their minds and hearts to the glory of Christ in his incarnation and his promised return. There are many ways to slow down a run away train, and here I would suggest switching tracks. This week we will begin on the track of historical perspective.

The Scriptures are clear. They tell us of the certainty of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ the Son of the Living God. The Old Testament Prophets point the way and the New Testament writers give us the historical reality. It is the clarity of the Old Testament that enabled Simeon to wait with anticipation (Lk.2:25-32) and the clarity of the New Testament that made many wise unto salvation through the preaching of the apostles about the truthfulness of the person and work of Jesus Christ. However, the Scriptures do not give us the exact date of his birth.

The early patristic writers were varied in their views of the exact date of the birth of Jesus. Basil of Caesarea believed that he was born on November 20th in 4 B.C. Clement of Alexandria thought him to be born on November 17th in 3 B.C. John Chrysostom believed that since the shepherds were in the fields at night when Christ was born it must have been in the spring or summer. Athanasius believed similarily and gave the date May 20th. Cyril of Jerusalem dated his birth in Bethlehem as April 19th, and Ambrose of Milan dated it March 25th. Therefore from the writings of those closest to the time of Christ’s life following the apostles there is given us little clarity as to the date of Christ’s birth.

In 354 the leaders of the church in Rome officially began to observe December 25th as the date of Christ’s birth. In pagan Rome there were many feasts days and in December was the feast day of Saturnalia. Saturnalia began on December 17th and was a week long festival commemorating the dedication of the temple to the sun god Saturn. It was a public festival throughout Rome and known for its revelry. The Roman poet Catullus described the feast of Saturnalia as a celebration, time to visit friends and exchange gifts such as wax candles and figurines. Therefore it seems the early Christians in Rome exchanged the worship of the coming of the son god for the worship of the Son of God in his coming. History seems to record that the church was already celebrating the incarnation of Jesus Christ as the Philocalian Calendar (336) marked Christmas Day as a tradition prior to the church in Rome leading in this way in 354.
Though there was no clarity as to the exact date of Christ’s birth the early church was reforming the practices of their pagan ancestors and their own lives by exchanging the worship of the creation for the worship of the Creator and Redeemer. Those pagans who were being converted to Christianity could not celebrate in festivals with a clear conscience the gods they had once worshiped. However, in the midst of that void in the winter the Son of God shown in their hearts that they may replace their old with the new having made all things new. Christ, the Living God, replaced the idols they once worshiped. It is from this early church tradition that Christmas dates and customs came together into a season of Advent. As we now celebrate a period of four weeks beginning in late November leading up the Christmas festival when we celebrate our Lord’s appearing. It is during this season that the church must like Simeon be waiting in the Spirit with anticipation of his coming again to make all things new while we worship in the Spirit taking stock of the reason of his first appearing through sober reflection around his Word and prayer.

Thanksgiving and the Providence of God

2009-11-20T12:59:00.002-05:00

The first paragraph of George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation says,

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

In this proclamation he and the government clearly acknowledge the providence of God both in the use of the word and in the reasoning for the proclamation. Therefore as we approach Thanksgiving I thought a reminder or an introduction to the doctrine of God’s providence would be helpful. The reading below comes from Concise Theology written by J.I. Packer. This is his chapter on Providence.

"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Pro. 16:33).

"God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions" (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.11). If Creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the Creator, according to his own will, (a) keeps all creatures in being, (b) involves himself in all events, and (c) directs all things to their appointed end. The model is of purposive personal management with total "hands-on" control: God is completely in charge of his world. His hand may be hidden, but his rule is absolute.

Some have restricted God's providence to foreknowledge without control, or upholding without intervention, or general oversight without concern for details, but the testimony to providence as formulated above is overwhelming.

The Bible clearly teaches God's providential control (1) over the universe at large, Ps. 103:19; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11; (2) over the physical world, Job 37; Pss. 104:14; 135:6; Matt. 5:45; (3) over the brute creation, Ps. 104:21, 28; Matt. 6:26; 10:29; (4) over the affairs of nations, Job 12:23; Pss. 22:28; 66:7; Acts 17:26; (5) over man's birth and lot in life, 1 Sam. 16:1; Ps. 139:16; Isa. 45:5; Gal. 1:15-16; (6) over the outward successes and failures of men's lives, Ps. 75:6, 7; Luke 1:52; (7) over things seemingly accidental or insignificant, Prov. 16:33; Matt. 10:30; (8) in the protection of the righteous, Pss. 4:8; 5:12; 63:8; 121:3; Rom. 8:28; (9) in supplying the wants of God's people, Gen. 22:8, 14; Deut. 8:3; Phil. 4:19; (10) in giving answers to prayer, 1 Sam. 1:19; Isa. 20:5, 6; 2 Chron. 33:13; Ps. 65:2; Matt. 7:7; Luke 18:7, 8; and (11) in the exposure and punishment of the wicked, Pss. 7:12-13; 11:6. (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 4th ed.)

Clear thinking about God's involvement in the world-process and in the acts of rational creatures requires complementary sets of statements, thus: a person takes action, or an event is triggered by natural causes, or Satan shows his hand - yet God overrules. This is the message of the book of Esther, where God's name nowhere appears. Again: things that are done contravene God's will of command - yet they fulfill his will of events (Eph. 1:11). Again: humans mean what they do for evil - yet God who overrules uses their actions for good (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23). Again: humans, under God's overruling, sin - yet God is not the author of sin (James 1:13-17); rather, he is its judge.

The nature of God's "concurrent" or "confluent" involvement in all that occurs in his world, as - without violating the nature of things, the ongoing causal processes, or human free agency - he makes his will of events come to pass, is mystery to us, but the consistent biblical teaching about God's involvement is as stated above.

Of the evils that infect God's world (moral and spiritual perversity, waste of good, and the physical disorders and disruptions of a spoiled cosmos), it can summarily be said: God permits evil (Acts 14:16); he punishes evil with evil (Ps. 81:11-12; Rom. 1:26-32); he brings good out of evil (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 13:27; 1 Cor. 2:7-8); he uses evil to test and discipline those he loves (Matt. 4:1-11; Heb. 12:4-14); and one day he will redeem his people from the power and presence of evil altogether (Rev. 21:27; 22:14-15).

The doctrine of providence teaches Christians that they are never in the grip of blind forces (fortune, chance, luck, fate); all that happens to them is divinely planned, and each event comes as a new summons to trust, obey, and rejoice, knowing that all is for one's spiritual and eternal good (Rom. 8:28).

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

2009-11-20T12:25:00.000-05:00

The decorations are up, the flyers, mailings and advertisements proclaim it. “It’s Christmas Time!” It is time for covetous hearts to make merry and misery in idolatry. Those who covet your spending are shouting and those who covet in spending and being spent in spending are listening. I am sorry for getting you started in the season with such boorish and Scrooge like thoughts, but ‘tis the season to be jolly’!

But jolly and blessed are two different things. I appreciate what Webster said about Jolly. He says, it is “Merry; gay; lively; full of life and mirth; jovial. It expresses more life and noise than cheerful; It is seldom applied in colloquial usage to respectable company. We rarely say of respectable persons, they are jolly. It is applied to the young and the vulgar.” (Webster’s Dictionary 1828). It is in these last days that we would be ungrateful so that we can be jolly. And it is because we are not blessed that we can leave off Thanksgiving to be jolly in Christmas time.

Blessed describes one who is highly favored by the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer in the knowledge and enjoyment of him. It describes an enduring joy in the midst of pressing circumstances. This is why the Scriptures can say, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord” (Jer.17:7) or “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked , or stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers (all of whom may be jolly); but his delight is in the law of the Lord,” (Ps.1:1-2) or “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” (Mt.5:3-10). The blessed are the joyful who have the knowledge that they have received everything from God and that their joy is in the continual knowledge and enjoyment of his glory in all things. The blessed long for Thanksgiving where they can celebrate a thanksgiving to God for all his beneficence to them as residents and members of a free state under his kind hand of providence and rule of law, and where they can unite with others to confess our personal and national sins against him who has made us and takes care of us and to plead with him to have mercy on the nation and to pour out an undeserved blessing upon us. Thanksgiving is the opposite of idolatry. Thanksgiving is the solemn and joyful expression of an engaged mind and an affectionate heart that everything has been done for you by one true and living God. Blessed are those who can give thanks to the only wise God.

Tis the season to exchange the worship of the creature and the creation for the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, to put off jolly for being blessed by Almighty God who is the Savior of sinners. Tis the season to give thanks and to look with joyful anticipation for the return of the glorious Savior Jesus Christ who will glorify all who confess their sins and put their faith in him and long for his appearing in thanksgiving, trust, and obedience to his will.

Zealous for Sound Doctrine

2009-11-11T16:46:00.001-05:00

8The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These words from Titus 3 were examined last week as we considered being zealous for good works. But it is here I would like to focus on what is the fuel of those good works, namely sound doctrine. Paul is teaching the young pastor Titus to insist on” these things”, which begs the question, “What are these things?” We can identify what these things are in the text by what is here in verse 8 and what precedes this verse. Here we read that Paul wants Titus to insist on these things “so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.” Therefore it is necessary to believe in God to do the works of God. This leads us then to the doctrine about God and his salvation in the verses that precede verse 8. In verses 3-7 Paul says, 3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. These verses are the teaching or doctrine about God, ourselves, and his salvation for us in Christ, and Paul says it is this doctrine that leads to belief in God and the good works of God. Therefore, we may say that where there is no sound doctrine in the church then there will be no good works. The doctrine of God from his word is the fuel that God uses to ignite our minds and hearts for being zealous in doing the works of him.

Paul says something similar to the young pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. He is preparing him for the kinds of people there will be in the church who do not do the works that God is pleased with, then he instructs him how to handle this. He is to handle it with the preaching of God’s Word (4:1-2). The Word of God which was able to make him wise unto salvation (3:15) and “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (3:16). Here Paul says the Scriptures are first of all profitable for teaching or doctrine then they are profitable good works in righteousness. Therefore in the church the horse of doctrine must come before the cart of good works but they must both come together lest the church be full of runaway horses or broken down carts.

In a culture of spiritual relativism where doctrine is sidelined as a persons particular view of truth or reality and spiritual experience and moralism is highlighted on the playing field as “true Christianity” the church must consider the ancient paths of sound doctrine.

Those in the church must pray for and prize sound doctrinal teaching and preaching. The church is flock of God that is cared for by undershepherds who must teach her the truth about God and his will lest they be scattered and devoured by wolves in sheeps clothing. Pray for the Word of sound doctrine to be faithfully delivered to the people of God. It must be explained, proved and applied with all faithfulness and earnestness according to God’s Word. Pray for those who deliver it that they may be free from the love of this world and the fear of man to preach and teach sound doctrine. Pray for yourselves that you will be hungry for sound doctrine. Pray that the church will hunger and thirst for the deep things of God, the sound things of God, the glorious things of God revealed in his Word. And then apply yourselves to the learning of sound doctrine. Attend to it preached and taught on Sundays and during the week. Read it for yourselves in the doctrinal works of the Confessions and Catechisms of our Reformed faith. Read it in books provided by those who have gone before us to teach us the ancient paths. Read it in the Scriptures which tell us what we need to know about God and what duty God requires of us.

The doctrine that comes forth from God’s Word is the fuel for the works of God that issue forth from the lives of those who are growing in the knowledge and enjoyment of God. We as the church must be zealous for sound doctrine in the way we pray, read and act, for then we will be zealous for the good works of God.

Zealous for Good Works

2009-11-11T16:44:00.001-05:00

Martin Luther once said, “God does not need your good works, your neighbor does.” We in the church often find ourselves thinking we can “serve God” and feeling guilty when we are not “serving God.” But God is not served by his creatures (Acts 17:25), he serves his creatures by his power, wisdom and goodness so that they may be his instruments of his works for his glory in the earth.

In Paul’s letter to the pastor Titus he insists that he teach the people in the church to “be ready for every good work.” (Titus 3:1). Yet this command is couched in the truth that they have been served by God in his salvation for them in Christ, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life”.(3:4-7). The work of God in the salvation of his children is an undeniable work of sovereign mercy to recreate for himself a people for his own glory. Therefore Paul can repeat the command that began this section, “The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.” (3:8). God serves his church with the working of his salvation that he may serve others through the good works of his church. As Paul says elsewhere, “For we are his (God’s) workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.” (Eph.2:10). Therefore the works that the church is called to is the work that flows out of recreated vessels who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ so that our neighbors receive the goodness and lovingkindness of God through his church. This truth enabled the apostle Paul to say, “I worked harder than any of them, thought it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1Cor.15:9). And this truth enables us to “serve in the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified in Jesus Christ.“ (1Pe.4:11).

If we are to be devoted to good works then we must first be devoted to him in worship through whom we continually receive grace to do those works he gives us to those whom he has called us. We must continually exalt him as worthy of the whole of our lives with a right apprehension of who he is and a right heart response to that revealed knowledge. It is from this informed loving heart that his works will be done for his glory. It will be the reception of his grace in union with Christ through the Spirit that will enable us more and more to put sin to death and live in the paths of righteousness fulfilling the law of love. Therefore, if God will be glorified in the works of his church then his church must be dependent upon his means of communicating grace. He has ordained the preaching of his Word, the faithful observance of his sacraments and the continual care of his body as the marks of his church. And it is in these works of God toward his church that his church will be marked as his maturing body of Christ laying down their lives in service. However, we must also be devoted to those whom the works of God are directed.

When we love God out of a correct apprehension of his revealed glory in Christ then we will rightly love those who are near. This begins among those who are in his church. As the apostle says, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal.6:10). We must do the good works of God to all but begin within God’s church. Do you know those in the church, do you know their needs, their testimonies, their struggles, their confessions? Do you know whose Shepherding Group you are a part of and those who are in your group? The leadership of the church has organized the body at RPC around Shepherding Groups so that we may carry out our callings as Elders and Deacons faithfully, but also that the body of Christ may minister to one another. But God does not call us only to do good works toward those in the church.

We are called to love our neighbors. Jesus identified our neighbors as those who are near and possibly those who we may have difficulties with (Lk.10:25-37). Are you zealous for letting your neighbors see your good works so that your Father in heaven will be glorified? There are opportunities each Sunday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday night to get involved in being zealous for good works toward our neighbors through RPC. There are opportunities in your home, at school and in workplace everyday. There are also many other ways you can serve the needs of our neighbors in this community from next door to across town. But remember God does not need your good works your neighbor does so that he or she may find her delight in Him.

Soli Deo Gloria

2009-10-17T11:51:00.000-04:00

The historic protestant reformation which began “officially” in the 1500’s was a Theo- centric reformation. The reformers through the reading and studying of the Scriptures were given a view to the glory of God that would cause them to cry with the Psalmist, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,” (Ps.115:1). As God revealed himself in his triune nature to our protestant and reformed forefathers they became entranced with a God centered view of all things so that they could say with the apostle Paul, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom.11:36). This historic pillar of the protestant reformation is founded on the doctrine of God revealed in the Scriptures that he is absolutely sovereign in all of his attributes over all that he has made and sustains. God who is incomprehensible, self sufficient, holy, righteous, wise, powerful, and good as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is in the heavens doing everything that he pleases and there is no one and nothing that can thwart his purposes. (Ps.115:3).

We are not certain when this particular Latin phrase, Soli Deo Gloria, began to be used but it found it’s way into the writing, preaching and living of many in the church. It was found carved into Bach’s organ in the church at Leipzig and penned at the end of his compositions. It is found in the writing of the Shorter Catechism in the first question, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever”. And it is found in the life and death of many of those involved in the reformation. To this day we do not know where John Calvin was buried because he asked to be buried in a pine box in an unmarked grave in the ground so that none would be drawn to him but to the God of glory who was his life. And many who followed in the way of the reformation were put to death for God’s glory not taking any glory to themselves. Patrick Hamilton at the age of 24 returned to Scotland after his education in Germany and having been soundly converted through the work of reformation in the church. He began to preach in Scotland knowing for certain that preaching salvation in Christ alone through grace alone by faith alone from the foundation of the Scriptures would mean a certain death. Six weeks later he was arrested, tried and burned at the stake. The fires on that cold and wet February day burned for six hours before they finally consumed him and he cried out, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” It was not for the glory of Scotland or the reformation that he was consumed in the flames but for the glory of God revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ made known through the Scripture. Soli Deo Gloria was the cry of the reformation because it is was the will of God for all who were made and redeemed for his own glory, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Cor.10:31).

Is this Theocentric reformation what the church needs today? There are some in the protestant church today who would say that we need to be more anthropocentric than Theocentric. This claim is based upon the idea that the gospel of Jesus Christ is man-centered and not God-centered. Some even say that God limits his sovereignty in order that man may by his own will may chose or reject the gospel. The late Robert Schuller believed the Reformation had “erred because it was God-centered rather than man-centered.” It is believed by many evangelicals today that this Theocentric view does not esteem and value man therefore there is no interest in a God who has such a dim view of his own creatures. The evangelical church of today is intoxicated with man, the church of the 16th century was intoxicated with the majesty of God. And remarkably this view of the majesty of God is what brought about a glorious view of man as the imago dei, freeing him to live for God’s glory in all of life through salvation in Christ. The evangelical movement of our day is saturated with a anthropocentric view of God and man and it is seen in our ambitions and practices. Dr. Michael Horton helps us evaluate our time by asking these questions, “Is our happiness and joy found in God or in someone or something else? Is our worship entertainment or worship? Is God's glory or our self-fulfillment the goal of our lives? Do we see God's grace as the only basis for our salvation, or are we still seeking some of the credit for ourselves? These questions reveal a glaring human-centeredness in the evangelical churches and the general witness of our day.”

When man is the measure of all things, the primary concern, the central focus, then we have reached the ultimate form of idolatry. The incomprehensible, self sufficient and holy God of the Scriptures does everything for his own glory. And the church must adjust her gaze to his majesty and glory that she may in her weakness find her greatest joy in the condescension of his grace and mercy and in doing all that she does for the glory of God alone.

7 Reasons to Study 3 Books on Spiritual Warfare

2009-10-02T15:52:00.001-04:00

If I asked the question, “Have you ever heard of spiritual warfare and if so, what do you think about it?” I have the potential of hearing all kinds of responses from evangelicals. As David Powlison says, “A great deal of fiction, superstition, fantasy, nonsense, nuttiness and downright heresy flourishes in the church under the guise of ‘spiritual warfare’ in our time.” It is because of these responses that I write with a sense of urgency on this topic. Therefore, I want to give you seven reasons from David Powlison’s book, Power Encounters; Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare, for the urgent need to study this important topic. I also want to suggest three books to assist you in your study.

1. “We live in a society where the modern agenda has largely failed.” The modern agenda, which grew out of the Enlightment teachings of the 18th and 19th centuries, sought to elevate man and create a better world through reason, science, technology and man’s own moral goodness. In this vision God is replaced by man and a spiritual reality is replaced by a reasonable natural universe. The modern vision sought to create through the enlightened man the true, good and beautiful. But it has produced a postmodern vision that believes in nothing, and where goodness and beauty are relative. In this age the church must reassert a proper worldview which began in the garden where spiritual warfare entered and was promised to continue until that garden is remade into a garden – city where all warfare will cease.
2. “We live in a society that has become increasingly pagan.” The average person in the modern world today would consider themselves “spiritual”. Science and her god, man, did not solve all problems. Therefore all kinds of spiritual ideology and lifestyles have arisen from the depths of the earth. These ideologies affect all realms of peoples lives from their work to their relationships. The practices of these ideologies are often corrupt and of the occult as is seen in their products in the culture. To God these are detestable beliefs and practices. Therefore spiritual warfare must be understood and lived.
3. “Missions, anthropology, and modern communications make us increasingly aware of the practices and beliefs of animistic cultures.” Multiculturalism and the global village are veins through which the world’s religions and occult may flow. The church must know how to minister the Scriptures into such a world and this is better done where spiritual warfare is understood and lived.
4. “We live in a society of high-profile bondage to “addictions”, such as alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, immoral sex, violence, food, work, television, exercise, money, pleasure, sports and so on.” Man living to the bondage of his flesh can walk into an immensity of options through technology, instant gratification and shallow relationships and find a downward spiral into a destructive life. At the bottom of this pit there are no answers to lead them out of the mire and they will continue either in the glitz and glitter or the muck and filth of their slavery. Reclamation of biblical spiritual warfare allows people to see that slavery and slave masters are a reality.
5. “Bizarre or troubled behavior, often related to experiences of extreme abuse, seems to be appearing more frequently.” People are living in extreme distress, confusion, self deception, chaos, disparity, fear and anxiety. What are the components that factor into this devastation of life? Spiritual warfare properly understood will assist us in these times of seemingly hopeless situations.
6. “Many people have sometimes experienced an uncanny, heightened sense of the presence of evil.” Often you may hear people explain a certain place, a work of art or a personal experience with someone as being “dark”. How are we to understand these dark places, people, things we see at work in the culture? In this darkness there may be destruction or chaos, deception or violent manipulation of the truth, or coldness and deadness in things living. Reclaiming spiritual warfare will allow the church to better understand and act.
7. “A growing number of Christians teach and practice “deliverance” ministry in the quest to cast our inhabiting demons.” You may find yourself in a prayer gathering where someone “binding” or “loosing” demons or certain powers. There are churches that will host prayer walks to do warfare against “territorial spirits” around a certain neighborhood or church property. There are those who teach that a Christian can be possessed by a demon. Or you may hear people calling certain demons the cause of certain sins. We need to reclaim a proper biblical view of spiritual warfare in the church.

These seven reasons presented by David Powlison should give the church an urgency concerning reclaiming a biblical view of spiritual warfare so that we may live as the church in the knowledge and enjoyment of God and to our neighbors for the same. It is with this urgency in mind that I would suggest the following books for study.

Power Encounters, Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare. David Powlison. The aim of this book is to assist the Christian church in exploring what the Scriptures say about spiritual warfare to correct her imbalance and error and lead her down a path of truth that will prove helpful to her maturity. It neither minimizes the Enemy nor elevates the demonic spiritual realm to a fantasy plot of good versus evil. It is sound Biblical teaching on this important subject.

The Christian in Complete Armour. William Gurnall. John Newton said, “If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour.” This book written by the 17th century English Puritan is available in a shortened modern English version, the original is 1200 pages, through Banner of Truth Trust. This work is a call to the Christian to live a life of warfare in his union with Christ.

Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices. Thomas Brooks. This English Puritan who lived in the 17th century penned this work to strengthen the church in her spiritual warfare. He says, “We are not ignorant of Satan's devices, or plots, or machinations, or stratagems. He is but a Christian in title only, who has not personal experience of Satan's stratagems, his set and composed machinations, his artificially molded methods, his plots, darts, depths, whereby he outwitted our first parents.” To Brooks it is not enough to understand spiritual warfare but he must engage himself in it for his own life and the life of his neighbor. This work is available free online as a pdf file.

Well, Sick or Dead?

2009-09-23T12:54:00.002-04:00

Is man in his human nature well, sick or dead? This would be an interesting question to ask someone at the office, your children at the dinner table or your neighbor standing with you in the yard. Granted it may be a little deeper question than your neighbor is expecting from you but it is a valid question that explores a persons worldview.

If man in his human condition is morally well then we can expect things to get better. He will make the right decisions for himself and others; he will carry out honorable and exemplary actions; he will maintain a gracious and giving attitude seeking righteousness, justice and love toward all mankind. In this view man may not be at this state of wellness but he is getting there and therefore what he affects in his wake will get better. Therefore there is nothing really wrong with the human race and his relationship to God is one of blessing for God to have such honorable and admirable creatures.

If man in his human condition is morally sick then he is not well and it is obvious by the problems we face in life, however there is hope. Things with man may be bad but not hopeless. There is still some hope and some good in this world. People are still in existence and doing some good things and the sick can be made better by God, themselves and others to do more good things.

If man in his human condition is morally dead in relationship to God then he can do no good thing as God establishes the standard for goodness. He is dead therefore he cannot move toward God in seeking him for his goodness. He is dead therefore he cannot respond to God unless there is someone or something to effect his condition of deadness with the adverse which is life.

A persons response to this question will inevitably lead to what that person then thinks about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The religions of the world and some masquerading as “Christianity” are for the well or the sick but the gospel of Jesus Christ realized at the cross is for the dead. It is said that there are only two kinds of people, “the quick and the dead”. But those who are quick to acknowledge that they are dead will find life outside themselves in the power of the gospel. No one can come to Jesus for salvation unless the Father draws him (Jn.6:44). And as Paul says to those who were dead in their trespasses and their sinful flesh, “God made (you) alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with it’s legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross.” (Col.2:13-14).

The hope for the dead is for one to die in their place and to live in their place. Therefore the hope of the cross is the demonstration that Christ died for those dead in their sins becoming sin for them (2Cor.5:21). But the cross is empty because Christ not only died as a substitute for dead sinners (Rom.3:24-26) he rose from the dead to be their life (Rom.8:11), so that all who died with him are also raised with him to justification (Rom.4:25) and life in his righteous and holy life (Eph.4:24). The gospel of the cross is for the dead. The well may need an example to follow, and the sick may need some help, healing, love or encouragement, but the dead need a God who acts outside themselves to breath life into their deadness that all may be made new.

Some Thoughts on Baptism

2009-09-18T15:24:00.001-04:00

Colossians 2:11-12 tell us three important truths about baptism. These three truths are discovered in the context of Paul seeking to build up the church through their understanding the benefits they have received in union with Christ (2:9-15). Whereas I think the believers union with Christ and the benefits they share in this union are of upmost importance in these verses, there is a connection that Paul makes with the covenant sign of baptism that is also for our benefit. As we look to three truths taught to us here about the sacrament of baptism we can see the important role this doctrine plays in the believers need to look back to his baptism as he guards himself with thanksgiving and faith in union with Christ against a continual host of error and false teaching that will invade this realm until Christ puts all his enemies under his feet. Therefore I will briefly mention three truths about baptism underscored in these two verses.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:11-12

First, there is a connection between circumcision in the Old Testament and baptism in the New Testament. Paul uses two main phrases in verses 11 and 12, In him also you were also circumcised…having been buried with him in baptism, that give us a parallel thought between circumcision and baptism. The false teachers were calling the church to be circumcised but Paul is telling them they have been circumcised by him spiritually in participating in Christ’s death by faith, and the sign of having received this grace of faith is in their obedience to the command to be baptized. Therefore just as Abraham received God’s grace in the covenant by faith (Gen.15) and so received the sign of circumcision for himself and all his posterity (Gen.17), so those in the new covenant in Christ’s blood receive him by faith receive the sign of baptism. There is a distinct relation between the signs signifying the continuity of the covenant.

Second, baptism is a covenant sign. Paul is arguing they have a sign of their effectual union with Christ in God’s ordained sign of baptism. God entered into covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15 making promises to him and guaranteeing those promises by himself. In Genesis 17 God gave Abraham circumcision as the sign of this covenant by it sealing to him and his posterity all the promises made in the covenant. This sign reminded him and all who would come after him of God’s promises. The Colossian and other churches are being reminded that they have the certainty of God’s promises in the covenant of Christ’s blood as they look to their baptism. Baptism is not a sign of mans faith but of God’s faithfulness revealed in his spoken promise.

Third, the meaning of baptism is revealed in these verses. Paul is writing about the church’s union with Christ and the benefits to the church in that union. Therefore baptism is seen a sign that signifies God’s sovereign gracious reach to effectually bless his people in union with Christ. In the baptism of infants we do not see an innocent child who is worthy of God’s blessing. In adult baptism we do not see a faithful man who has chosen God. But in both we see guilty, helpless, dead sinners whom God is bending down to in his means of grace to show forth his promise to them who will walk in his grace by faith.

These verses in Colossians 2:11-15 are not primarily about baptism but they do teach some important truths that are worthy of our searching into. If reading this sparks your interest in reading more on this important doctrine I would suggest the following resources to assist you:

Belgic Confession - Article 34 (1561)

Heidelberg Catechism Q.69-73 (1563)

Westminster Confession of Faith - Chpt.28 (1647)

Christian Baptism, John Murray

Baptism, Three Views, edited by David Wright

Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, edited by Gregg Strawbridge

Baptism, Francis Schaeffer

Institutes of the Christian Religion - Book 4 Chpt.15 & 16, John Calvin

A Vain Reception of Grace

2009-09-17T16:13:00.000-04:00

“...we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time, behold now is the day of salvation…Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” - 2Corinthians 6:1-2; 7:1

God’s grace is effectual and filling. It is so because of the one who originates and gives it and for the purpose of its course. Therefore to receive the grace of God in vain is to deny its giver, its power and mans own condition. In the case of the Corinthians their lives were immoral, their trust in God’s leadership suspect, and their zeal waning. The exhortation to not receive the grace of God in vain was a plea for them to turn into the face of God in Jesus Christ, the giver of grace, trusting the delivered Word that proclaimed the grace and become fallow ground for a harvest of holiness for the glory of God. This required their cleansing in repentance trusting that with God there is grace for sin, and their faithfulness in holiness believing that in Christ there is grace for faith.

Is God’s grace in Christ working that powerful progressive transformation in your life that it is purposed for? As one writer says, “For them to receive the grace of God in vain meant that their practice did not measure up to their profession as Christians, that their lives were so inconsistent as to constitute a denial of the logical implications of the gospel, namely, and in particular, that Christ died for them so that they might no longer live to themselves but to His glory" God’s grace in Christ is effectual and filling and to have it in Christ is to be effected and filled with him in all of life for his glory.

Musings on a Rooster's Crowing

2009-09-15T12:18:00.001-04:00

I woke before dawn and sleepily crawled down the hall to my chair under the light in the living room. I took up the revelation of God, the Scriptures, and turned on the switch. As I began to read and pray Napoleon began to crow. Napoleon is a Yellow Buff rooster living among ten hens in our backyard. He is a proud and beautiful bird among his harem. But what makes him crow and even before the Sun crests the horizon? With my eldest son missing from the home I set upon the quest to answer this question without his ready answers for all our fowl questions.

The answers that I discovered were varied but most all began with some form of “we really do not know”. I appreciate this when scientist admit their limits and allow us non-scientist to continue our musings. One of my favorite explanations came from a scientist of a particular class that would blame all the annoying troubles we face in life upon “testosterone”. This person blames their crowing upon their flaming testosterone levels in the morning as they lay claim to their hens under their watch. This leaves me with not a bit of wonder as to why my seven year old daughter would wake up this morning and with an angry countenance say, “Did you hear Napoleon this morning crowing for an hour?” However, my second favorite reason of uncertainty came from a scientist who said, “Roosters crow whenever they feel like it”. This scientist admits he does not know why they crow but is certain by observation that they do. Therefore it must be because they feel like it. This fits well with a manly worldview. Therefore my imaginary conversation with Napoleon goes something like this. “Napoleon, why are you choosing to crow before the sun has shown itself?” “Well Pastor, because I feel like it.” And with this explanation we can go about our independent autonomous lives doing whatever we feel like doing. After all we do rule the roost! But if you must know the truth I am not buying these reasoning’s. However, my musings ran wild with theological implications when I read another idea from a story told by the Hmong of Southeast Asia.

The story is told something like this: Long, long ago when the world was young, the sky played host to nine suns. The suns scorched the land, dried up the waters, and killed the crops. Therefore the people chose from among their host the most skilled archer to shoot the suns from the sky. The archer rose to his calling shooting arrows from his bow and began to rid the sky of these scorching sons. Finally the archer had rid the sky of eight menacing suns and only one fearful sun remained. This sun in her fright hid herself behind the highest mountain where the archer’s arrows would not reach her. The people were now in darkness and the land grew cold, the seeds did not sprout and the plants would not grow. The people were in dread of what they had done. They began to cry out from the earth in gentle tones hoping the sun would come forth to shine in her glory upon them. But she would not show her face. So they called upon the songbirds of the earth to sing sweet and delightful songs to her, but she would not respond to creations call. At last someone suggested that the brash and beautiful rooster should call to her with his tireless crow. The rooster rose to the occasion and called three times and the sun believing all was safe came forth from the mountain to shine in her glory upon the people and their land. And the sun graciously adorned the head of this gallant and gracious bird with a bit of her glory. Perhaps our scientists could use a dose of imagination like this to assist them in their musings when the answers do not clearly present themselves. But somehow I do not think this story would make it very far in a dissertation on animal behavior in the Poultry Science Department on Ag Hill at the University of Georgia. But for me a non-scientist looking for some enjoyment in the use of God’s revelation and my own musings it was just what I needed.

As I sat this morning under the light of the lamp that shed man made reflections upon the page of God’s revelation, the true light, I read, “the soul who sins shall die.” (Ezek.18:4). And then Napoleon crowed, and I knew I was guilty and justly deserving God’s wrath. And then I considered that Jesus Christ the Lord became sin for me (2Cor.5:21) and died for my sin to take the Fathers just condemnation upon himself to set me free (Rom.2:23-26), that he became a curse in my place that I may be justified before God by faith in Christ (Gal.3:13-14), and I knew and felt mercy, and basked in his grace and truth with my thoughts and affections. And then Napoleon crowed, and I knew that just as the sun crests the horizon every morning, so the mercies of God are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). And I hear Napoleon crow during the day or at dusk and I am reminded that I am continually in need of the mercies of God toward me in Jesus Christ. When the rooster crowd Peter had denied knowing and enjoying the Lord of the universe and he went out of the presence of the people and wept bitterly. Why, because he needed mercy. The rooster’s crow was loud enough for us to hear from the pages of Scripture and so was Peter’s bitter cry.

I do not know why the rooster crows but I know that when he does I am reminded I need mercy. The Hmong people need the light of the sun to shine upon their faces and their land to live, they need the mercy of God who commands the sun, and so the rooster called for mercy. The Hmong people need the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ to shine in their faces because the “soul who sins shall die” and all have sinned falling short of the glory of God by exchanging the glory of the immortal God for the glory of the creation and the creature (Rom.3:23; 1:23). And it is the true story that informs all other stories whether they be in rebellion to that true story or somehow a reflection of the true story. Napoleon crows all the time in my backyard and I am reminded that I am continually in need of God’s abiding mercies in Christ Jesus and I will cry out in repentance and thanks for his mercies as I walk by faith in his grace.

The Pastors Job

2009-09-11T12:35:00.000-04:00

What do you expect from the pastor of the church? If you could write a job description for the pastor what would it contain? Thankfully for the church and her pastors the role of the pastor is not left to the imagination or whims of the church or the pastor himself. Through the sufficient Word of God the church and her pastors can know what the role of the pastor is.

In conservative orthodox churches we often summarize the role of the pastor as that of Word and prayer. He is responsible to the apostolic church to carry on the teaching of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone (Eph.2:20). He also responsible to pray for the church as the apostles and those who followed the apostles did for the church. We see examples of this in the book of Colossians. Paul tells us that he struggles for the church with all the energy that God powerfully works in him through proclamation, admonition and teaching of the Word of God (Col.1:28-29). And in the life of Epaphras, a pastor from the Lycus valley who visited Paul while imprisoned in Rome, and Paul we see that they struggled in prayer for the church at Colossae and I assume Laodicea (Col.1:9; 2:1,5; 4:12). Therefore we may summarize the pastor’s ministry responsibilities as one of Word and prayer.

So in our minds we have a picture of the pastor who sits in his study all day studying and praying, and then once a week standing up in the pulpit to preach. Just as a church sign that tries to tell the truth usually only tells a half truth and a half truth is always a no truth, so the pictures in our minds of summary positions are inaccurate. After all if the pastor is only sitting in his office studying and praying he can certainly afford to take the time to _______________, right? Let’s take a look.

The apostle Paul has given us several Pastoral Epistles in the New Testament. These letters were written to young pastors who were carrying out the apostolic teaching to the churches planted through the gospel of Jesus Christ. These letters are instructive for the church in many respects but especially in regards to the pastoral ministry. In the space that remains I want to give you a portion of the pastoral job description as Paul teaches it to Timothy. I will do this under the two main headings of Prayer and Word.

The pastor is responsible to pray. In 1Timothy 2:1 Paul tells Timothy to pray for all people. It is pleasing to God that his pastors of his churches pray because he desires that all people, Jews and Gentiles, would be saved coming to a knowledge of the truth revealed in Christ (2:4). God’s pleasure is to be praised for his glorious grace (Eph.1:6) revealed in Jesus Christ, and since he is the one who reveals his truth through his grace it stands to reason that God’s pastors should pray that he would do what only he can do. Prayer is a humble act of faith in submission to the sovereign God of all grace who alone can save and build up those he saves. Therefore the pastor who has been saved and is growing in the knowledge of God in Christ by grace must pray that this same grace will come to others. However he not only called to pray himself but he is called to teach and help others to pray (1Tim.2:8). He is the general of an army that advances on their knees. He must lead the charge and be in the front lines of the battle as the first into the field and the last to leave making sure his army is all accounted for. The pastor is responsible to pray and to lead others to pray for a ministry without the grace of God given through his ordained means of prayer is house built without a foundation ready to crumble.

The pastor is responsible to be a minister of the Word. In first and second Timothy we see the pastor’s role in regards to the Word come into clear focus. First, he is to be trained in the Word and the doctrines of the Word so that he can put them before others (1Tim.4:6, 11; 2Tim.2:15). He must study. Second, he is to disciple others with the Word so that they are ready for the work of the gospel and specific offices in the church (2Tim.2:2-7; 1Tim.3:1-13). He must share with the church the Word and his life in love to see them grow to maturity and usefulness in the church. Third, through teaching the word he is to protect the church from participating in foolish controversies, teaching, quarrelings and silly myths (2Tim.14, 22-26; 1Tim.4:7). He is to protect the church from false teaching through the use of the Word of God, exposing error with truth. Fourth, he is to hold to the apostolic teachings of the Scriptures being prepared to suffer for doing so (2Tim.1:8-14; 3:10-12). He is not to budge from the unchanging Word of God in an ever changing culture not being afraid of being alone or hated for righteousness sake. Fifth, he is to continue to live in and learn from the Scriptures that he has been taught (2Tim.3:14-16). He is to continue to return to the old paths and be wary of the “new” paths discovered by great insights. Sixth, he is called to preach and teach the Scriptures in a fallen and wicked world (2Tim.3:1-9; 4:1-2). He is to stand at the gates of hell with the words of heaven and in the mouth of the lion with the sweetest of meats. Seventh, he is called to take the Word into the ministry of evangelism toward those who are not believing (2Tim.4:5). He is called to the church but also to go outside the gate into wild pastures to call other sheep in through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last, he is called through the Word to fulfill the ministry he has been called to (2Tim.4:5). He is called to make the ministry of the Word in the church a complete and effective service of worship to the glory of God.

The pastors primary calling is that of the Word and prayer that the saints of God may become mature and complete in all the riches and treasures of the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.

The Importance of Church Attendance

2009-09-04T13:15:00.000-04:00

A faithful walk in our union with Christ involves our consistent attendance in his particular church in the earth. God delights in his people who delight in serving him or worshiping him (Deut.28:47). As David says, I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" (Ps.122:1). The Lord Jesus Christ has given to his body an example to follow as he was faithful and consistent in attending the places of God’s prescribed order of worship while he walked in righteousness upon the earth (Lk.4:16). Therefore his church should follow him in a glad hearted faith by being in regular attendance in a particular church. I want to give you 10 thoughtful reasons why we as the church should regularly assemble together in his particular church for worship and fellowship.

1. It demonstrates our desire to fellowship with Christ in love (Rev.3:20) who instituted particular churches for his glory (Rev.1:17-20).

2. It demonstrates our desire to follow the apostolic example (Acts 2:41ff) and the commands of Christ in love (Heb.10:25; Jn.14:15, 21).

3. It demonstrates our desire to worship the triune God (Ps.84:1-2).

4. It demonstrates our desire to encourage and bless the body of Christ (Heb.10:24-25).

5. It demonstrates our desire to submit to Christ’s leadership and bring joy to the elders as we follow their teaching and example (Heb.13:7, 17; 1Thes.5:12-13).

6. It demonstrates our trust in God’s promises to build his church (Mt.16:18).

7. It demonstrates our calling the Lord’s Day a delight that we may delight ourselves in him (Isa.58:13-14).

8. It demonstrates our longing to grow in union with Christ and the hope of glory through his feeding us by his Word, Sacraments and fellowship (Dt.8:3; Jn.6:35ff; Col.2:2-3).

9. It demonstrates our desire to struggle against the world, our flesh and the Devil through his public means of grace to reach maturity in Christ and rest in him (Ps.73; Eph.4:11-16; Mt.11:25-30).

10. It demonstrates our desire to live by his grace in the membership vows we have made before him and his church for his glory (Eccl.5:4).

God the Father has demonstrated his love for the church by putting forward the Son of God for her in death, and by sending his Spirit to seal her for a promised inheritance and to help her live for his glory by faith in the Son (Rom.3:23-26; Eph.5:25; 1:3-14). The response of the church is one of loving, faithful and consistent submission to him in those things that he loves. God loves a worshiping church in union with Christ and one another.

Reflections and Resolves for Living Beyond Self

2009-09-03T12:49:00.000-04:00

Reflections and Resolves for Living beyond Self

Christians often say that in redemption they have been given new hearts. This is a correct statement as we read the promise of the New Covenant revealed in Ezekiel 36:26, And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Every man is born with a hard and impenetrable heart of sin that can only be changed by the transplanting of the heart of Jesus Christ in redemption applied by the Holy Spirit. But the redeemed must ask what this new heart affects in themselves as new creatures in Christ Jesus?

In reflection upon our hearts being the well from which the springs of our lives flow (Pr.4:23), I would say that one thing we have been given is new sight. When we are given new hearts in Jesus Christ we are given an ability to see in a way we have not seen before. John Newton speaks of this new sight that we have been given in his most popular hymn Amazing Grace, “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound- that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see”. Therefore, those who are redeemed in Christ Jesus have new eyes to see differently than they have seen before and with this sight to resolve to live beyond self to all that we now are in Christ Jesus.

One of the ways I am seeking to be resolved to live with my new eyes is to fix them upon the glory of God revealed in creation. In Psalm 19:1 we read, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. The glory of God is revealed in creation for the redeemed to find their joy in him who has created and sustains it.

Therefore, I am resolved with my redeemed eyes each day:

1. To see the glory. I shall look into the heavens and the earth once a day and marvel at the beauty, goodness, power, and wisdom reflected from his glory in all that he has created and sustains for his own pleasure.

2. To see the story. I shall look into the heavens and the earth once a day and know that God began this work of creation, he made Christ the Son the centerpiece of its unfolding history, and that it will have an ending that is the beginning of all things new.

3. To see the uniqueness. I shall look to see that every unfolding of God’s providence in the sustaining of his creation, with all “the bad” and “the good”, are the revealing of his plan to bring myself and many sons and daughters to glory.

4. To see the work. I shall look beyond myself or envy of others to see the work that is revealed to me to participate in his creation and new creation.

5. To see and receive. I shall look with my eyes to be a spectator of all existence which is God’s theater with a notion to receive without asking why or what it means. I shall wonder at what I hear, see, smell, taste or touch with that not of a three year that has to ask, “Why?, but of that of an infant who cannot find words and can only stare and be glad it is there.

6. To see with imagination. I shall turn to the good, true and beautiful things that the creature has been allowed and enabled to make or “create”.

7. To see time. I shall live to each moment well as that which God has created and sustained for the now as a bristle applied in his brush strokes to the unveiling of his masterpiece of all time.

Apostasy

2009-09-01T09:57:00.001-04:00

What is Apostasy?

The Webster’s dictionary of 1828 defines Apostasy as, “An abandonment of what one has professed; a total desertion, or departure from one's faith or religion.” Does the Bible teach apostasy? A description of apostasy is given us by the apostle John, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” (1Jn.2:19). John is referring to those who were professing believers but who demonstrated that they did not truly believe by later abandoning the faith of Christ Jesus the Lord. Therefore apostasy, as taught in the Scriptures, does not refer to believers who have been given life by the Spirit in Jesus Christ, who at some point fall away.

The Bible is clear in warning the church in regard to apostasy. Paul’s letters to the churches are full of such warnings. These warnings come in the context of encouragement and exhortation to persevere by faith in the demonstration of a life bearing fruit. In his letter to the Ephesians he commands them to put off the old life in the futility of sin and to put on the new self in Christ Jesus (Eph.4:17-25). It is not enough that they have professed faith in Christ they must live in him bearing fruit in a persevering faith. In his letter to the Colossians he tells them that just as they received Christ Jesus the Lord they are to walk or live in him. They received him by his grace through faith and so they are to continue to live in God’s persevering grace toward them being rooted, built up and established in it through the instrument of faith (Col.2:6, 7). The Bible teaches that it is those who endure through grace by faith bearing fruit for his glory endure for salvation.

Therefore we must warn those in the church against apostasy. We need to urge one another on in faith through the grace of God given in union with Christ by the Spirit. The writer of Hebrews urges us in this way, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” (3:12)

The Bible does teach apostasy but not by true believers. Some hold that Hebrews 6:4-6 is a description of true believers becoming apostate beyond reclamation and losing their salvation. In this text the writer of Hebrews is in the context of explaining Psalm 95 which tells of Israel in the Exodus generation who fell away from the living God in unbelief and disobedience and did not enter the land of promise. They were members of Israel, but not true Israel, not true believers. They had seen the light, eaten the bread of heaven, shared in the work of the Spirit hearing the Word of God, and been delivered from the destruction of the present age. However they were not true believers. The evidence was in their hardness of heart and unbelief. The same is possible today in the church. Therefore we are called to make our calling and election sure (2Pe.1:10-11), to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil.2:12), that we may enter through the narrow gate of faith in Christ, knowing that he who began the work in you by grace will bring it to completion in you by hisgrace (Phil.1:6).

Apostasy is taught in the Bible and we must think clearly about it for our own and others edification, encouragement and perseverance. I close with these important words from A.W. Pink in regard to apostasy and perseverance, “It needs to be remembered that all who had professed to receive the Gospel were not born of God: the parable of the Sower shows that. Intelligence might be informed, conscience searched, natural affections stirred, and yet there be "no root" in them. All is not gold that glitters. There has always been a "mixt multitude" (Ex. 12:38) who accompany the people of God. Moreover, there is in the real Christian the old heart, which is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked", and therefore is he in constant need of faithful warning…Finally, let it be said that while Scripture speaks plainly and positively of the perseverance of the saints, yet it is a perseverance of saints, not unregenerate professors. Divine preservation is not only in a safe state, but also in a holy course of disposition and conduct. We are "kept by the power of God through faith". We are kept by the Spirit working in us a spirit of entire dependency, renouncing our own wisdom and strength. The only place from which we cannot fall is one down in the dust. It is there the Lord brings His own people, weaning them from all confidence in the flesh, and giving them to experience that it is when they are weak they are strong. Such, and such only, are saved and safe forever.”

Teaching Covenant Children

2009-07-31T13:43:00.000-04:00

According to Deuteronomy 6, the covenant family is God’s primary learning community for his people.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deut.6:4-7)

Christian parents have a platform for teaching with their children that cannot be matched by any program or opportunity in life. Our God, the Creator, who rules over all things, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, who reveals himself in his created world and his inspired Word, has called parents to be his primary teachers of his covenant children.

Therefore the Christian family is a functioning learning community. In Judges 2:6-11 we read,

When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. 8And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years… 10And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

When the families obeyed Deuteronomy 6 their children were faithful, but when they failed to teach the children of the covenant the did not know the Lord so they walked in wickedness. God is calling parents to teach, teach, teach. But it is not enough to know that covenant parents are teachers, what must be taught and who is to be taught? It is clear from the above two texts that the true God revealed in Scripture is central to what is taught. He is the true God who has entered into relationship with his people through covenant. Therefore everything that is to be learned is to be understood in the revelation of who God is and what he is doing in relationship to his people. I will seek to build on this idea in a forthcoming article. But in the space remaining here I want to focus on who it is that parents in the covenant are called to teach.

Those who Christian parents are called to teach are covenantal beings. God has entered into a relationship with parents who believe in Christ for salvation and has sealed that relationship with his own blood. These parents do not belong to themselves having been bought with a price. Therefore, the children that are given them are a gift from God to be raised in the promise of the covenant. These children are covenantal beings made for a relationship with God. They are made and put in homes of the covenant to love, serve and obey the triune God. Everything the covenant child does, thinks and says was purposed by God to be done in loving submission to him. These children are covenantal beings made for worship. As one author puts it, “Everything a child does, everything a child desires, every thought he thinks and every choice he makes, every relationship he pursues and every action he takes is somehow an expression of worship…There is a vertical, Godward dimension to every horizontal, interpersonal action.” If they are being taught to live in loving joyful submission to the triune God they are being taught to worship. Their worship will be directed Godward or toward something or someone else. These children are covenantal beings whose lives are shaped and controlled by whatever they worship. In every moment covenant children are living as a creature in worshipful obedience to God or they are exchanging God for some aspect of his world they are living to posses for their own glory. Who and what they worship effects who they are and what they do.

Christian parents are called to teach children in God’s covenant who are made for relationship with God, who will worship and who will be shaped by who or what they worship. When Christian parents sit or walk by the way with their children they must instruct them in the knowledge of God in all areas of life while they continually remember who it is they are teaching.

Lord's Day Obedience

2009-07-28T17:34:00.001-04:00

Loving God by living for his pleasure engages all of life, even life on Sunday. Some may take Jesus' words that man was not made for the sabbath but the sabbath for the man in a way that allows them to go where they wish and do what they will on the Lord's Day. But to do this is to misconstrue his meaning.

The sabbath command is part of the moral law that instructs us what is the pleasure of God. His pleasure is for his people to keep it as they cease from their labors and find their rest and refreshment in the knowledge and enjoyment of who his is. And it is in the context of his peoples covenant keeping that he uses his means of grace to make his people like himself. God delights in himself and in himself being known and enjoyed so he has given us a day in his presence for his own pleasure and our joy in him.

Keeping the Lord's Day Holy is part of keeping all God's commandments. Jesus says if you love me you will keep my commandments. He did not say some of them or just the ones you like or the ones that are not a cultural taboo. No, he said his commandments. And we wonder why we are so weak spiritually as a church and why the church has such little or even an ill effect upon the culture? Maybe the test of whether we have lost our first love is whether we want to be in the presence of the one we say we love. Keeping the Lord's Day is about grace filled lives doing the pleasure of God and calling it a delight.

Phillip Ryken in his commentary on Exodus has a poem written by Seitze Buning that magnifies the truth that keeping the Lord's Day holy is a part of the whole life that Christians live in obedience to their Lord. He grew up in a Dutch reformed home and this poem is reflection on what he learned from his parents about keeping the Lord's Day holy.

Were my parents right or wrong not to mow the ripe oats that Sunday morning with the rainstorm threatening?

I reminded them that the Sabbath was made for man and of the ox fallen into the pit. Without an oats crop, I argued, the cattle would need to survive on town bought oats and then it wouldn't pay to keep them. Isn't selling cattle at a loss like an ox in a pit?

My parents did not argue. We went to church. We sang the usual psalms louder than usual. We, and the others whose harvests were at stake...

For more floods came and more winds blew and beat upon that House than we had figured on, even, more lighting and thunder and hail the size of pullet eggs. Falling branches snapped the electric wires. We sang the closing psalm without the organ and in the dark. Afterward we rode by our oat field flattened.

"We still will mow it," Dad said. "Ten bushels to the acre, maybe, what would have been fifty if I had mowed right after milking and if the whole family had shocked. We could have had it weatherproof before the storm."

Later at dinner Dad said, "God was testing us. I am glad we went. Those psalms never gave me such a lift as this morning." Mother said, "I wouldn't have missed it." And even I thought but did not say. How guilty we would feel now if we had saved the harvest.

The one time Dad asked me why I live in a Black neighborhood. I reminded him of that Sunday morning. Immediately he understood.

What is the connection between keeping the Lord's Day holy and loving your neighbor across racial lines? Keeping one commandment is a part of keeping all the commandments. The whole life of the Christian in obedience by faith in Christ through his grace is pleasing to God and a blessing to his creatures.

Why Johnny Can't Preach

2009-07-07T16:40:00.001-04:00

I picked up T. David Gordon's book, Why Johnny Can't Preach, this week and enjoyed a good kick in the shins on my day off. He writes in a helpful manner addressing the weakness of preaching in the church today. And he helped me understand a little better, Why Jimmy Can't Preach, while at the same time setting me on the faithful path of becoming a better preacher.

However, there are three questions that he mentions using each week in hearing sermons that I thought would be particularly helpful to those in the congregation. Here is a slightly tweeked version of his three questions:

1. What was the point or thrust of the sermon?

2. How was the point adequately established in the text that was read?

3. How were the applications legitimate to the point of the sermon and how do these spur our conversation about other possible applications?

Johnny and Jimmy are ambassadors bringing forth to the subjects of the kingdom the Word of the King. Therefore Billy and Jenny are to worship the King with a faithful ordered approach to hearing Him in His Word. I pray these questions will assist Billy and Jenny to listen by faith in worship and respond by faith to keep the Lord's Day holy in conversation.

Praying the Lord's Prayer

2009-07-04T14:56:00.002-04:00

Martin Luther was asked by his barber, Peter, if he would teach him to pray. Luther responded to this request by writing a 76 page tract, A Simple Way to Pray, dedicated to Peter, the Master Barber. This tract is a wealth of instruction on prayer from a man who took to prayer daily and for hours on end, not because he did not have much to do, but because of all he had been given by his Lord to do. The following is an excerpt from his instructions on how to pray through the Lord’s prayer as given by Christ in the gospels. Pray this way,

“O Heavenly Father, dear God, I am a poor unworthy sinner. I do not deserve to raise my eyes or hands toward thee or to pray. But because thou hast commanded us all to pray and hast promised to hear us and through thy dear Son Jesus Christ hast taught us beth how and what to pray, I come to thee in obedience to thy word, trusting in thy gracious promise. I pray in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ together with all thy saints and Christians on earth as he has taught us: Our Father who art, etc., through the whole prayer, word for word.”

“Then repeat one part or as much as you wish, perhaps the first petition: "Hallowed be thy name," and say: "Yes, Lord God, dear Father, hallowed be thy name, both in us and throughout the whole world. Destroy and root out the abominations, idolatry, and heresy of the Turk, the pope, and all false teachers and fanatics who wrongly use thy name and in scandalous ways take it in vain and horribly blaspheme it. They insistently boast that they teach thy word and the laws of the church, though they really use the devil's deceit and trickery in thy name to wretchedly seduce many poor souls throughout the world, even killing and shedding much innocent blood, and in such persecution they believe that they render thee a divine service.

Dear Lord God, convert and restrain [them]. Convert those who are still to be converted that they with us and we with them may hallow and praise thy name, both with true and pure doctrine and with a good and holy life. Restrain those who are unwilling to be converted so that they be forced to cease from misusing, defiling, and dishonoring thy holy name and from misleading the poor people. Amen."

“The second petition: "Thy kingdom come." Say: "O dear Lord, God and Father, thou seest how worldly wisdom and reason not only profane thy name and ascribe the honor due to thee to lies and to the devil, but how they also take the power, might, wealth and glory which thou hast given them on earth for ruling the world and thus serving thee, and use it in their own ambition to oppose thy kingdom. They are many and mighty; they plague and hinder the tiny flock of thy kingdom who are weak, despised, and few. They will not tolerate thy flock on earth and think that by plaguing them they render a great and godly service to thee. Dear Lord, God and Father, convert them and defend us. Convert those who are still to become children and members of thy kingdom so that they with us and we with them may serve thee in thy kingdom in true faith and unfeigned love and that from thy kingdom which has begun, we may enter into thy eternal kingdom. Defend us against those who will not turn away their might and power from the destruction of thy kingdom so that when they are east down from their thrones and humbled, they will have to cease from their efforts. Amen."

“The third petition. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Say: "O dear Lord, God and Father, thou knowest that the world, if it cannot destroy thy name or root out thy kingdom, is busy day and night with wicked tricks and schemes, strange conspiracies and intrigue, huddling together in secret counsel, giving mutual encouragement and support, raging and threatening and going about with every evil intention to destroy thy name, word, kingdom, and children. Therefore, dear Lord, God and Father, convert them and defend us. Convert those who have yet to acknowledge thy good will that they with us and we with them may obey thy will and for thy sake gladly, patiently, and joyously bear every evil, cross, and adversity, and thereby acknowledge, test, and experience thy benign, gracious, and perfect will. But defend us against those who in their rage, fury, hate, threats, and evil desires do not cease to do us harm. Make their wicked schemes, tricks, and devices to come to nothing so that these may be turned against them, as we sing in Psalm 7 [: 16]."

“The fourth petition. "Give us this day our daily bread." Say: "Dear Lord, God and Father, grant us thy blessing also in this temporal and physical life. Graciously grant us blessed peace. Protect us against war and disorder. Grant to our dear emperor fortune and success against his enemies. Grant him wisdom and understanding to rule over his earthly kingdom in peace and prosperity. Grant to all kings, princes, and rulers good counsel and the will to preserve their domains and their subjects in tranquillity and justice. Especially aid and guide our dear prince N., under whose protection and shelter thou dost maintain us, so that he may be protected against all harm and reign blessedly, secure from evil tongues and disloyal people. Grant to all his subjects grace to serve him loyally and obediently. Grant to every estate-townsman or farmer-to be diligent and to display charity and loyalty toward each other. Give us favorable weather and good harvest. I commend to thee my house and property, wife and child. Grant that I may manage them well, supporting and educating them as a Christian should. Defend us against the Destroyer and all his wicked angels who would do us harm and mischief in this life. Amen."

“The fifth petition. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Say: "O dear Lord, God and Father, enter not into judgment against us because no man living is justified before thee. Do not count it against us as a sin that we are so unthankful for thine ineffable goodness, spiritual and physical, or that we stray into sin many times every day, more often than we can know or recognize, Psalm 19 [:12]. Do not look upon how good or how wicked we have been but only upon the infinite compassion which thou hast bestowed upon us in Christ, thy dear Son. Grant forgiveness also to those who have harmed or wronged us, as we forgive them from our hearts. They inflict the greatest injury upon themselves by arousing thy anger in their actions toward us. We are not helped by their ruin; we would much rather that they be saved with us. Amen." (Anyone who feels unable to forgive, let him ask for grace so that he can forgive; but that belongs in a sermon.)

“The sixth petition. "And lead us not into temptation." Say: "O dear Lord, Father and God, keep us fit and alert, eager and diligent in thy word and service, so that we do not become complacent, lazy, and slothful as though we had already achieved everything. In that way the fearful devil cannot fall upon us, surprise us, and deprive us of thy precious word or stir up strife and factions among us and lead us into other sin and disgrace, both spiritually and physically. Rather grant us wisdom and strength through thy spirit that we may valiantly resist him and gain the victory. Amen."

“The seventh petition. "But deliver us from evil." Say: "O dear Lord, God and Father, this wretched life is so full of misery and calamity, of danger and uncertainty, so full of malice and faithlessness (as St. Paul says, "The days are evil" [Eph. 5:16]) that we might rightfully grow weary of life and long for death. But thou, dear Father, knowest our frailty; therefore help us to pass in safety through so much wickedness and villainy; and, when our last hour comes, in thy mercy grant us a blessed departure from this vale of sorrows so that in the face of death we do not become fearful or despondent but in firm faith commit our souls into thy hands. Amen."
Finally, mark this, that you must always speak the Amen firmly. Never doubt that God in his mercy will surely hear you and say "yes" to your prayers. Never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think that the whole of Christendom, all devout Christians, are standing there beside you and you are standing among them in a common, united petition which God cannot disdain. Do not leave your prayer without having said or thought, "Very well, God has heard my prayer; this I know as a certainty and a truth." That is what Amen means."

Maurice Roberts claims that our weakness in prayer is due to our weakness in God’s Word. I would suggest we learn to pray with the Word of God in our laps, on our dinner tables and desks, so that we will be fervant in prayer in accord with God’s revealed will. Lord teach us to pray and give us the zeal to thirst for you and your will to be done in prayer.

Another Surprising Work of God

2009-07-02T11:23:00.001-04:00

Some things seem to good to be true. When we hear someone speaking of an event in their past we often hear with cynical ears their story thinking they are romanticizing the truth or painting a picture that is unrealistic. This is a plague of our age. We cannot believe what is given us from the past. We must be skeptical and distrusting of the story teller. Therefore when I read Jonathan Edwards, "A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God", among the people and the church of Northampton it seems to good to be true. Read for yourself,

"There was scarcely a single person in the town, old or young, left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world. Those who were wont to be the vainest and loosest, and those who had been disposed to think and speak lightly of vital and experimental religion, were now generally subject to great awakenings. And the work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and increased more and more; souls did as it were come by flocks to Jesus Christ. From day to day for many months together, might be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of darkness into marvellous light, and delivered out of an horrible pit, and from the miry clay, and set upon a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their mouths.

This work of God, as it was carried on, and the number of true saints multiplied, soon made a glorious alteration in the town: so that in the spring and summer following, anno 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought to them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The doings of God were then seen in His sanctuary, God's day was a delight, and His tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God's service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors."

Is it to good to be true? I believe this is why the narrative is entitled "A Surprising Work of God". In our unbelief we do not think that God can do something like this among us, and we only look to the work we can do which is nothing. But the work of God among these people brought about conversions that lead to worship, fellowship and work that was glorifying to God and only explainable by the work of God. This is what God does when he rends the heavens and comes down.

The church must be faithful to her Lord each day while she longs for him to do a work like this among her and in the cities where she is planted. God came in this surprising way among his church while they faithfully worshiped in and around his Word. They sang the Psalms, read the Word in worship, preached long God centered sermons from God's Word and prayed. They did not devise a way for his coming, that would not be surprising but calculated. But they were faithful in seeking to be pleasing to the Lord and not man in their worship and work in accordance with his will. May we be found faithful and longing for his glory to be revealed in his coming upon his church through a surprising work. What you see here in the past is true and is good. Let us pray for it in the present.

The Surprising Work of God

2009-07-01T14:35:00.001-04:00

In 1737 and 1738 Jonathan Edwards manuscript, A Faithful Narrative Of The Surprising Work of God, describing the awakening of 1735 was published in London and America. He wrote the manuscript to give ministers and others who had inquired an accurate description of this profound work of God during his ministry at Northhampton Massachusetts.

I enjoy repeatedly picking up this work to be encouraged by what God has done in the past in his church and to goad my hope and praying for this kind of work of God in the present. While reading an excerpt over lunch today I was struck by these words of Edwards describing the effect he was seeing among the people in their town:

"Presently upon this a great earnest concern about the great things of religion and the eternal world became universal in all parts of the town, and among persons of all degrees and all ages; the noise among the dry bones waxed louder and louder; all other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by; all the conversations in all companies, and upon all occasions, was upon these things only, unless so much as was necessary for people carrying on their ordinary secular business. Other discourse than of the things of religion would scarcely be tolerated in any company. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off from the world; it was treated among us as a thing of very little consequence; they seemed to follow their worldly business more as a part of their duty than from any disposition they had to it; ... But though the people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly business, yet there then was the reverse of what commonly is: religion was with all classes the great concern, and the world was a thing only by the by. The only thing in their view was to get to the kingdom of heaven, and every one appeared pressing into it; the engagedness of their hearts in this great concern could not be hid; it appeared in their countenances. It then was a dreadful thing amongst us to lie out of Christ, in danger everyday of dropping into hell; and what persons minds were intent upon was to escape for their lives, and to fly from the wrath to come."

This work of God that Edwards witnessed was profound in that it made the business of the world as insignificant in comparison to the matters of God's kingdom. During this period of history in America a little over 10% of the population were church members. Their minds, hearts and lives were greatly engaged in their affairs, their business in the world. But when the Holy Spirit fell upon them through the faithful preaching of God's Word and the earnest prayers of the saints, they suddenly became engaged by God and those things associated with his gospel and kingdom.

We scarcely today walk away from the pew before a conversation begins about our business or someone else's business in the world. In our day the opposite is true as that of the awakening in 1735. People do not tolerate talk about the gospel or the kingdom in our towns. That is a private matter that is not to be tolerated in our cities. We must talk about the business of the day and only of God as he benefits our prosperity, power and leisure. Can you imagine living in a town, city or church where the things of the world pale in significance to the things of the kingdom, where peoples greatest concern is their assurance of salvation through God's grace in Christ and their holiness of life lived by faith in Christ?

I respond to this by weeping for my own coldness of heart, the state of the church, and the city I live in where God and his kingdom is treated so trivially. But I turn to the Scriptures to study and pray over them that God's Word may be preached faithfully this coming week, I plead with God to come with power to bring his church to repentance and faith, and I plead with him to come with converting power upon those dead in their sins and suffering under his wrath. I long for a surprising work of God.

Confrontation

2009-07-01T10:30:00.002-04:00

One of the marks of the body of Christ is loving one another through biblical confrontation. Please do not misunderstand me. The mark of loving biblical confrontation does not look anything like a person in the church with the "gift of discernment" who confronts others with a critical spirit. Neither does it resemble the confrontation we see or hear among the news media for the purpose of defending liberty and freedom. Loving biblical confrontation follows the commands of the writer of Hebrews who says, "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:13) The apostle Paul also exhorts the church, "Brothers (brothers and sisters), if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness." (Galatians 6:1) Therefore the church is called to lovingly confront one another when struggling with sin in a biblical manner so that the church may endure and persevere in following Christ for his glory in the way of holiness. Confrontation is necessary between brothers and sisters in the church, between husbands and wives, children and their parents and other relationships within the church.

I was reminded of this while reading a blog post by pastor Thabiti Anyabwile. In his post he summarizes Paul Tripps instruction on confrontation using the acrostic ENCOURAGE from his book War of Words. I encourage you to read the post and order a copy of Paul Tripps book. I think both are helpful during a time when we are not sure how to carry out loving biblical confrontation.

Praying for Kingdom Workers

2009-06-30T10:08:00.000-04:00

In Matthew 9 Jesus heals a paralytic brought to him on a mat and forgives his sins. He calls Matthew and other sick sinners to follow him. His disciples learn to enjoy their fellowship with him, the bridegroom. He heals a woman who is sick and touched his garment, and gives life to a young girl. He gives sight to two blind men and then casts a demon out of a man and gives him the ability to speak. Throughout this passage the workers or leaders of Israel question him as one who can forgive sins, one who eats with tax collectors and sinners, one who does not require his disciples to fast and accuse him of casting out demons by the power of Satan. It is at this point that Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Mt.9:37-38). It appears to me that the workers in Israel are many, in God’s harvest fields among his harvest, but they are few.

How can there be many workers but few? The many workers in this passage are the teachers and leaders of Israel who do not recognize the Lord of the harvest. They question the connection between Jesus’ mercy in healing, his authority to forgive sins and send him forth into life. They question his relationship to the “sinners” in society. They question him about the tradition of fasting and do not see the blessed relationship the disciples have with the Lord of the harvest. They do not see his mercy, justice, wisdom and power toward sinners and those being destroyed by the results of sin and living in a fallen world. These workers of Israel are many but because they do not see their need for Christ and how God is working in his harvest fields to reap his harvest they are few.

Therefore Jesus tells his disciple to pray for workers. But what kinds of workers are needed? First, workers that know God has a certain harvest. Jesus says explicitly here that laborers are needed for his harvest. Jesus went among the people and found those who put their faith in him, crying out to him for mercy. These were those of God’s harvest and they were recognized by their coming unto Jesus by faith. God has a harvest and the workers of that harvest know that certainty and trust in God to bring all who belong to the harvest to Jesus by faith through his grace. Second, workers are needed that know they are sick and dead in sin and that Jesus can heal that sickness. In this passage Jesus heals the sick, calls the sick, the sick call out to him and others call out on behalf of the sick. The sick are those who can do nothing for themselves, and Jesus makes it know that the sick are sinners who he came for. Therefore the workers of his harvest fields must be those who are sick calling upon Jesus for mercy and in finding mercy from him will go to sick sinners proclaiming grace for sin and mercy for misery. The third characteristic of a worker for God’s harvest in this passage is a laborer. In our culture today people aspire to positions where they will be free from labor. The aim is to reach a position where there is rest from hard labor. But Jesus came not to be served but to serve and give his life in that labor. And the rest he promises is a rest that is found in knowing and delighting in him now and in the life to come, but in the now that rest in him is found in the context of labor. Jesus demonstrates in this text that those who work in God’s harvest field must labor among those who are sick and sorrowing, those who are wrestling with sin and the misery of living in the fallen world. Therefore kingdom workers are called to suffering labor resting in Christ.

In Matthew 9 we see the Lord of the harvest working in his harvest field and reaping fruit from his labors. He labors where he knows his Father has sent him to pluck the fruit that his Father has chosen. He labors among the sick that need a physician, among the sorrowing who need mercy, among the dying who need life. He works as a laborer among the people. Those whom God calls to labor by his grace in Christ Jesus will trust the Lord of the harvest that he has a harvest, they will labor as those who have been shown grace and mercy toward those who need grace and mercy, and they will suffer in the way of suffering labor. Let us pray diligently that he will make us his kingdom laborers and that he will raise others up who will go among his harvest for his glory and others good.