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.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Reflections and Resolves for Living Beyond Self
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Apostasy
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.”
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.”
Friday, July 31, 2009
Teaching Covenant Children
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.
"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.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Lord's Day Obedience
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Why Johnny Can't Preach
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.
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.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Praying the Lord's Prayer
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.
“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.
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