Category Archives: Pastoral Reflections
What Must a Christian Believe?
One of the debates that circulates around Christian church circles has to do with what that core body of information happens to be to which all Christians must assent. There are many who would say that the Apostles’ Creed stands as the most basic test of the Christian faith. Yet, I think that we would all agree that there are essentials to the faith that the Apostles’ Creed does not cover: the inspiration of Scripture, the dual nature of Christ, that we are justified by Grace through faith alone, etc… Further, most Mormons that I have interacted with will claim to affirm the Apostles’ Creed, though arguably there are differences by way of definition. So, while the Apostles’ Creed clearly provides a starting point, it is by no means able to stand on its own.
The Heidelberg Catechism addresses this very question prior to launching into a long exposition of the Apostles’ Creed. Question 22 asks: “What then must a Christian believe?” The answer is: “All that is promised to us in the Gospel, which are taught in summary in the articles of the universal Christian faith.” In other words, the Apostles’ Creed is at best a summary that needs clarification, thus questions 23-58 provide that clarification within the Heidelberg Catechism.
But what does it mean when it says, “All that is promised to us in the Gospel”? To answer that question, we must first address the question of what the Gospel is. Certainly, we use the word to refer to a variety of things. Our Bibles contain four books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that are explicitly referred to as “Gospels.” Further, when we speak to others about the “Gospel,” what we usually mean is explaining the basis of the Christian faith — man is a sinner in need of redeeming (and cannot redeem himself); Jesus, who had no sin and is the Son of God, came and died a substitutionary death for all who believe; so, repent and believe and you can share in this eternal promise…
Yet, on the most basic level, the word “Gospel” means “good news.” And where can this good news be found? It can only be found in the Bible. What is the good news? The good news is that though man is rebellious and fallen from the beginning, God had ordained a plan to redeem an elect people for himself through faith in His Son, Jesus. Where is that found? In the Bible. It is found in all of the Bible. The Old Testament lays the foundation for and prefigures the work of Christ in the New Testament, and the New Testament makes little sense unless rooted firmly in the Old. It is one complete book that contains and records the complete revelation of God. It is indispensable to the Christian faith…all of it. And thus, Heidelberg states unambiguously that we must believe all of the promises contained in he Gospel.
I think that it is high time, as a church, that we make a commitment to the doctrine of scriptural inerrancy the test of orthodoxy. Of course, that leaves a lot of people that we know, love, and care about in the cold. Then again, did Jesus not say that it is those who keep his commandments that love him (John 14:21)? Did Jesus not say that all authority in heaven and on earth is his (Matthew 28:18)? Does Moses not say that this Word was our very life (Deuteronomy 32:47) and that man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3)? Every word… And does not Peter point out that all things that pertain to life and godliness come to us through the knowledge of God (2 Peter 1:3)? And how shall we have knowledge of God apart from embracing the Scriptures? Without the Scriptures we could know nothing about the God we worship. And since men are not qualified to give counsel to God (Romans 11:33-36), of which part of Scripture can man say to God, “I do not need this”? No, it is all breathed out by God to equip us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
So, what am I suggesting? I am suggesting that the test of orthodoxy be that the Scriptures are inspired by God in the original manuscripts (every word and letter — what is called “plenary inspiration”) and are thus inerrant (without error and without the possibility of error in what they teach) and are infallible (they will not fail the one who puts their trust in them). It is a commitment to the whole counsel of God that we must look to and our friends in the community who might believe otherwise may very well not be Christians as they are not being Christian as the Bible so presents.
Does this mean that we shut out as heretics everyone who disagrees with us? No. There are certainly areas of disagreement that take place within the orthodox church, areas where believers with a commitment to inerrancy have honest disagreements. Further, there may very well be some genuine believers who are being deluded into error by the false churches they attend. While in the first case, we can discuss and debate and not break fellowship, in the second case, we evangelize, we make an apologetic, and we try and sway those friends attending bad churches to seek out a church that upholds the Bible. It is by this manner that we add light and clarity to the muddled mess of our watered-down and politically correct church environment.
Naming Names
If you spend much time on this blog, you know that one of my concerns is for the Truth of God’s word to be triumphed in a world that throws so much chaff at you that sometimes you feel lost in information overload and don’t know who to believe. As a preacher, this has often led me to naming names from the pulpit of those in our society that are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” as it were. The even more challenging aspect of this is that the word “Christian” has been so misused and abused that society uses it to refer to anything so long as Jesus is mentioned within it…no mind whether it is Biblical or not. Of course, our society today is so Biblically illiterate, most people cannot distinguish between that which is Biblical and that which is preferential.
Sometimes, when names are named, people feel uncomfortable. Many people have perhaps attended an event down at the prosperity gospel megachurch down the street or have read “The Shack” or a Joyce Meyer book. Many people either secretly (or not secretly) prefer listing to Joel Osteen rather than the careful exposition of the Word, and when names are named, that makes people nervous. It forces them to repent of their own sloppy theology or perhaps troubles them because they often have friends who attend churches that teach a false theology and they don’t want ruffle feathers. They also tend to think that the pastor is just on another one of his grouchy tirades against the bigger church down the street (by the way, since when did the number of people in attendance become a measure of a pastor’s ministry?).
The question, then arises, why bother? Isn’t it more polite in today’s society to avoid naming names? Can’t we be nice to the other churches and give them the benefit of the doubt? Of course, “nice” is a word that we ought not apply to any Christian. Why? See here. Here’s the thing, we are not talking about matters of preference or neighborliness. You might not like that your neighbor has planted gum trees along the border of your property line, but you don’t make a ruckus about it because that would not be neighborly. But here we are talking eternal truth and eternal error, life and death, matters of heaven and hell! If your neighbors, your friends, your co-workers, or your family members are blissfully marching down the wide road to hell, it is not a nice thing, a kind thing, or a loving thing to remain silent while they perish. It is wicked and cruel.
And be clear, when I am speaking about naming names, I am not speaking about disagreements within the body of Christ. Some of my closest friends, for example, happen to be baptists and we disagree strongly about whether or not an infant should be baptized and how that baptism should be carried out. Given my German Reformed/Presbyterian background, one would expect no less. Yet, we disagree as brothers in the faith. I have several dear Lutheran friends as well, with whom I would strongly disagree as to what baptism does for the one baptized and over what takes place at the Lord’s Table, but again, these are “in house” debates in the Christian church. We ought to debate these things, yes, and debate them passionately. But we can do so all the while not breaking fellowship.
While modes of baptism, what takes place at the Lord’s Table, the music we sing, the kind of Bible we use, etc… are disagreements, they are secondary things. Differences here (in most cases) do not separate you from the body of Christ. But some differences do. When someone denies the Trinity, they can call themselves many things, but they cannot call themselves, “Christian.” When someone denies the dual nature of Christ, the substitutionary nature of Christ’s work, the authority of the Scriptures, the role of man being submissive to God, justification by grace alone worked through faith alone, the physical Resurrection on the third day, etc… one no longer is able to call oneself a Christian. They may still be an American, they may still be moral in a societal sense, they may still be a good laborer in a volunteer organization, they may still be a good neighbor, but Christian they are not. And, if there are those who are playacting at being Christian and are teaching otherwise, they need to be warned against.
Jesus warns us of false prophets (Matthew 7:15) as does the Apostle John (1 John 2:18-19 — here he calls them “antichrists”). And thus, we are called to test every tree — every spirit — by its fruit. As we look at Biblical tests of orthodoxy, some of that fruit is visible in the way we live — the Apostle Paul’s famed “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23 — but it is also found in the things that are taught. Thus, earlier in Galatians, Paul very clearly warns the Galatians that if anyone, even an angel from heaven, were to teach them “another Gospel” — a Gospel different than the one Paul consistently taught (something preserved in the Word) — then he should be cursed. Notice that Paul does not say, “let the teaching be accursed,” but he says, “let him be accursed.”
In Titus 1:9, Paul even expands on this idea. He says that Elders (by the way, this is one of those passages where Paul speaks of Presbyters and Overseers as one in the same office) must be taught to do two things: 1) give instruction in sound doctrine and 2) rebel those who contradict sound doctrine. Do you notice how there are two sides to the same coin. Not only must there be teaching what is right but there must be a rebuke of that which is not sound teaching (recognizing that the Greek word used here refers to a public oral attack on a person, a thought, or an idea). In other words, calling out the heretic as such and then teaching the people of God how to think Biblically is one of the primary roles of the Elder in the Christian church.
One might then ask, is it really appropriate to name names? Wouldn’t it be easier to teach specifically against a bad idea without naming those who hold to that idea? The problem with that model is, if the pastor has not told you, “Do not read books by T.D. Jakes, he is a prosperity preacher who is part of the Word Faith movement and denies the orthodox understanding of the Trinity — he is a heretic.” How will you know not to buy a book by T.D. Jakes when you see it on the shelves of your local Christian bookstore — a store that has no qualms about selling you anything for their profit, though it will not profit your soul?
Further, the model we have in the Bible is to be very clear about who those are who have denied the faith. For example, Peter singles out Simon Magus and publicly rebukes him for trying to purchase the power of the Apostles (an error later called “Simony” in remembrance of this event — see Acts 8:9-24). Paul tells Timothy how he handed Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan for blasphemy (1 Timothy 1:20), he speaks of Phygelus and Hermogenes who abandoned him when he was arrested (2 Timothy 1:15), he rebukes Demas for being in love with this world (2 Timothy 4:10), and he speaks about the Lord taking out his vengeance on Alexander the Coppersmith for the harm he had done to Paul (2 Timothy 4:14). The Apostle John warns his friend, Gaius, against Diotrephes who is subverting the power of the Apostles and calls his actions evil (3 John 9-11). Finally, even Jesus speaks this way, not just to various Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the Law during his earthly ministry, but also he calls out Jezebel in the city of Thyatira for her immorality (Revelation 2:20). And, while many scholars would suggest that Jezebel is a kind of “nick-name” given to this woman based on the wickedness of her namesake, you can be sure that everyone in that church knew exactly who that woman was.
As a shepherd of Christ’s flock, I am responsible to Christ my King first and foremost, and not to the sensibilities of the culture around me. In addition, in todays pluralistic society, we are surrounded by people of many different religious affiliations as well as those who claim to be Christian but who teach what Paul would call “another gospel.” This last group is the one that I feel poses the greatest threat. I do not expect those who grew up in our congregation to be tempted to practice Wicca or Buddhism, but many are quick to attend churches that claim to be Christian but do not offer a Christian message. We are surrounded by Word of Faith churches, Mormons, Roman Catholics, Prosperity Gospel Churches, and the writings and television programs of many false teachers. The “Pop Christian” culture has embraced ideas from Hillsong, Elevation Church, and others who distort the Word of God. How shall I justify remaining silent?
A final illustration. If the devil wanted to infiltrate your church, how would he do so? Would he don a tail and carry a pitchfork? Or, would he look like everybody else and nuance the truth just enough to lead you astray? It was the latter he did with Eve in the garden and it is the latter that he does through many of these false teachings. On the surface, a lot of what they teach “sounds right,” but if you look deeply, it is subversive. Remember, as Christians, this world is not our home. We are soldiers in an outpost in enemy territory and our command is to take ground and tear down the strongholds of the devil. Shall we not call out the enemy for who he is and pray that by doing so, he or she may repent and believers may not be swayed by their untruths?
Fighting Words
In Calvin’s commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia, he argues that “meaning is a function of use.” Now, we may debate over how that is worked out in Seneca or we may debate on how that gets worked out in the rest of Calvin’s later writings. And, while that might be a valuable conversation, my interest in this is how that idea has developed and been applied (and arguably mis-applied) in our modern context.
In principle, Calvin’s point is that languages grow and change over time based on the usage of the people. Further, many words are defined by their context. For example, the word “slug” has numerous uses from a measure of weight, to a punch, to something that goes in a shotgun shell, to a squishy mollusk that is the bane of most gardeners. In older uses, when printing presses were more common, a slug was a metal bar with letters and words on it and a “sluggard” is a lazy slow-poke. Further, words like nice, awesome, awful, gay, and clue meant something very different than they mean today. So, there is great truth in the matter that meaning is a function of usage.
Yet, we have entered into a society where meaning has become so fluid that almost anyone can redefine terms. This not only enters into how slang is used (in my generation, being “bad” was a good thing and in my son’s generation, if something was “sick” that meant it was a really good thing), but it also being to rob ideas of their objectivity. And this trend is dangerous.
In society, perhaps the most prominent of the changes has been the separation of the idea of gender from that of sex. According to their fundamental definitions, sex deals with biology and gender deals with roles and cultural expectations placed upon a person. Yet, historically, while the notion of “gender roles” has varied from culture to culture, it has always had a distinct connection to the biology of those who practice said roles. In other words, sex has largely been seen as the outward expression of an inward reality. That is, until today’s existentialism has permitted people to arbitrarily define their inward reality.
As someone who deals with people at the very heart of what I do, this shift is curious to me. When the “Women’s Lib” movement really began, it seemed like what they were striving for was a removal of gender roles — or at least to make them flexible enough that there was overlap in every area of society. This mindset would put them at odds with the modern Transsexual movement, which seems to be heightening the distinction between gender roles while also divorcing gender from biological sex. Yet, such does not seem to be the case.
While the aforementioned transformation is taking place in the broader society, the matter that concerns me the most is taking place in the church where ideas and doctrines are being redefined based on the whim and curiosity of the leadership. And, regardless of what you think on the whole gender question, this is infinitely more important because this matter has eternal consequences. While people have always challenged ideas held by the orthodox Christian church, today they are challenging said ideas while still referring to themselves as “Christian.” People reject the doctrine of the Trinity, of Creation, of Justification, the Resurrection, and of the inspiration of Scripture — things that are essential to the Christian faith and still place the name “Christian” in their churches. Furthermore, tolerance and “being respectful” of others has become so ingrained in our society, when pastors warn their congregations against the wolves in sheep’s clothing, he is often criticized as being intolerant, too dogmatic, or just unpleasant.
While words are flexible in terms of their usage, they still have meaning or at least a semantic range within which, based on context, they can be used. If you lose that, then any word can mean anything and “Dog, dog, dog, dog” can mean, “pick me up at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.” Further, if you are defining terms differently than I am and we have not first established a basis of meaning for the words, we can be talking about two radically different things, yet we assume that we are speaking about the same thing. It is the Tower of Babel embraced by men and no longer seen as a mark of God’s judgment. In logic, this is called the fallacy of equivocation…yet, sadly, in common usage, it seems like it has moved from being a fallacy to a virtue. Like the word, “aweful,” which once meant “to be filled with awe,” it has seemingly turned its meaning entirely upside down and inside out to mean precisely the opposite of what it originally meant.
And we return to Calvin who would, I think it fair to say, be entirely disgusted with the games that the church plays in the name of Christ. He would say that while the church is trying to be nice, it is actually being “nice” in the sense of its original root: nescius — to be ignorant or stupid. A sad testimony for many churches in our day and age. Fighting words, indeed.
The Law of God
The longer I live the more things about the mindset of our culture just makes me scratch my head. When I was younger, we used to talk about “Things that make you go, Hmmm…” Today, I wonder if the phrase should be, “Things that make you go, huh?!?” And one of those things that I find a head-scratcher today is the way the Gospel has been redefined into something that it was never meant to be…at least if we have any sense of propriety to the Bible. And while it is true that this is not a new trend, it amazes me just how prevalent the idea is today.
Don’t misunderstand me, I do understand the context in which we live. The world is getting small, churches of pretty much every flavor exist on nearly every corner of America, yet overall, American church attendance is dropping. Buildings, also, are expensive. Old ones cost money to maintain and new ones cost money to build. There are also salaries to pay, activities to finance, and other costs that go along with doing business.
And so, churches behave like businesses, yes, and this is the first step down a path that leads away from fidelity to the Bible. How so? The purpose of a business is to make money and they do so by promoting their brand over the brand of others. So churches often enter into a kind of feeding frenzy, trying to grow by pulling members from one church into their own…typically by the programs and services that they have to offer. In addition, there is a phrase in business that goes: “The customer is always right.” That of course, is not true and few real businesses truly believe that sentiment, but it is still said. And, if you view church members as customers, your goal is to fill their needs and make them feel good about themselves, ready to go about the next week.
To do that, Law must be deemphasized. Why? Law makes us feel bad. It makes us feel guilty for the things we have done over the week. We’ve thought bad thoughts, we’ve coveted things that are not our own, we’ve even taken the Lord’s name in vain and have gone our own way on the Sabbath. People don’t want to be told they are sinners and deserving of the wrath of God. People want to be told that God forgives them anyway and that they should just keep doing their best and he will overlook the other stuff.
What’s wrong with a message like that? Well, apart from being entirely unbiblical, it belittles the Gospel. It’s a form of watered-down universalism. Why? Here’s the thing, if the bad news is that God is not happy with our sin, but that he will tolerate it anyway, do we really need him? No. The Gospel then is only about us feeling better about ourselves. And worship becomes a kind of “spiritual recharge” that kind of earns us the right to receive blessings from God (you never thought of the “prosperity gospel” as a works-righteousness movement, but it is — the more you do, the more you earn from God — that’s essentially their lie).
The problem is that God is not unhappy with us for our sin. God is enraged at our sin. It is outright rebellion and it always has been — going all of the way back to Adam and Eve (remember, they basically accused God of being a liar). The problem is that we stand in rebellion against God and deserve his wrath in the fires of Hell. Yep, that is far more serious than him just being unhappy with us…and no, he tolerates no sin in his presence (Isaiah 65:16; Habakkuk 1:13); he is light and in him is no darkness (1 John 1:5). And, as I have said repeatedly across the twenty-some years that I have been in the pulpit, and as many who have gone before me have said: “Until you come to terms with the greatness of your sin, you will never appreciate grace.”
So how do we come to terms with the greatness of our sin? That is essentially the question that is asked in the third question of the Heidelberg Catechism: “How do you know your misery?” We must indeed recognize that sin, whether small or great on human terms, brings misery to our souls. The answer is short and succinct: “The Law of God tells me.” In other words, until you let the Law weigh down your soul and nurture a sense of godly sorrow for your wicked state, grace will be nothing but a feel-good promise that eludes your life.
What then is the Law of God? Probably the best summary of it is found in the Ten Commandments — one law with ten interwoven parts. Heidelberg reminds us too of Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments, found in the command to Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). Yet, these are summaries (convicting summaries, indeed!), but the outworking and application of this moral law is found throughout the Scripture. Thus, no matter how well we know the summaries, every passage of scripture has the power to approach you and to convict your soul.
So, the message of the Gospel is not, God is displeased but he will forgive you anyway, just come and worship him. That would portray God as a kind of senile grandfather doting on his children. No, the Gospel is much more powerful than that. You are a rebel. You are guilty of breaking the Law of God both knowingly and unknowingly and thus deserve wrath and the eternal torment of the fires of Hell. That is rightfully yours. Yet, in spite of that, God has elected to save some — a remnant from humanity for himself — not because of who we are or because of something we have done, but because he has graciously chosen to do so. And that does not mean that our sins are excused if we are part of that remnant. No, nothing of the sort. Our sins are not excused, but the punishment for our sins was borne by another — God’s own sinless Son. He did for us what we could never have done for ourselves.
This, folks, is grace, but it only makes sense under the conviction of the Law. That means that the message of Sunday morning is not to make you feel better about yourselves. It is not to give you a spiritual recharge during the week. The message of Sunday morning is to convict you of your sins, to show you the mighty nature of our God in contrast to our lowliness, and to reveal the work of Christ that gives us hope, lowly worms that we are. We do not come to invoke God’s blessings on our lives, we come to submit to the Word — to be crushed under its weight even — and to be exhorted to live a life of gratitude on the basis of that knowledge. Anything short of that is another Gospel, and in the words of the Apostle Paul:
“But, even if we or an angel from heaven were to proclaim a gospel incompatible with the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have already told you, now I say again, if someone preaches something incompatible to what you have received, let him be accursed!”
(Galatians 1:8-9)
Christian Delight
Question ninety in the Heidelberg Catechism asks, “What is the birth of the new man?” In other words, it wants to know what it is that distinguishes the believer from the unbeliever…or more personally, what distinguishes your life today as a Christian from the way you lived before as a non-Christian. The answer to this question is both telling and convicting. It is simply that we take a “heartfelt joy” in the Lord. So, beloved, up front, does that describe you when it comes to your church attendance, your devotional time, your family worship, and your prayer? If it doesn’t, then you may need to reevaluate your priorities a bit.
Yet, in case we are unclear as to what “heartfelt joy” looks like in our lives, the question goes further. It describes heartfelt joy as taking delight in two things: living according to the will of God and doing good works. In English, “delight” means that we take pleasure in these things — that they satisfy our hearts.
But do we really “delight” in living according to the will of God? You know, this ties in with Jesus’ statement that “if you love me you will obey my commandments” (John 14:15). Is obedience to God something that satisfies our soul and brings pleasure to our lives or is it something we do out of some sort of legalistic obligation? Do we groan on Sunday morning when it comes to getting out of bed and contemplate whether we really need to go on a given morning? Or to we rejoice that Sunday morning has come and look forward to being in the House of the Lord on this day with God’s own? Do we look forward to our personal Bible reading and devotional time, protecting a block of time so that we can practice it undisturbed? Or is it something we do some of the time so long as the “urgent” matters of the day do not distract us? Does our sin create in us a genuine and heartfelt sorrow? Or, do we just brush off our sin as no big deal, figuring that “God will forgive me anyway.” And, if you fall into this category, you may want to read Deuteronomy 29:18-20 just to refresh your mind as to God’s view of those who think this.
And, do we really delight in good works? Perhaps that is one that weighs easier on our souls because we all enjoy those random acts of kindness that we sometimes do. But, wait, the next question in Heidelberg reminds us that Good Works have three characteristics: they are done in faith, according to the Law of God, and are done for God’s glory alone. If all three of these criteria are not met, a work that someone does, no matter how noble, is not truly “good.” So, if we get the credit for it…or if anyone but God gets the credit for it, it is not good. So, do we truly delight in such works as are defined here?
Psalm 37:4 reads this way:
“Delight in Yahweh and he will give you the petitions of your heart.”
Does this mean that God gives us anything we want when we ask him? No. Does that mean that if our heart is in the right place and we pray in faith, God will give us anything for which we desire? No. What it does say is that if we truly delight in God, then our desire will be for a deeper and deeper relationship with God, and that he will give to us. Our error (and especially the error of the so-called “prosperity gospel” and the “word faith” movements) is that we tend to focus on the outcome and ignore the command. We need to focus on the imperative command that we find at the beginning of the verse: “Delight in Yahweh!”
Think about it this way. If you delight in the Lord then you will desire for your life whatever the Lord desires for your life. And God places into your life what he sovereignly designs for your life because it is designed to conform you into the image of Christ (and is thus, for your good). Sometimes that “good” is hard to see when you are in the middle of the “slough of despond” or the “valley of the shadow of death,” but through your delight in the Lord, these things become your heart’s desire and you can embrace them with thankfulness.
Are You Ready to Go to Church Tomorrow?
Okay, the pastor is just on one of his soapboxes, again. Sure, this is a soapbox…but if you are a Christian, it should be your soapbox as well. So, hear me out.
You see, many people are simply satisfied that you are going to church in the first place — you remember that kind old lady from Sunday School that used to say, “I don’t care where he goes as long as he goes to church somewhere…” She had all of the best intentions, but boy, she couldn’t be more wrong. What good does it do a person to attend worship at a place that plays at church, but does not teach in a way that is faithful to the Bible.
But I’m not talking about that dear old lady with all of her good intentions. And I am not talking about the silly statement that people that don’t want to come to church make…you know the one… “I can worship anywhere and don’t need to go to church to do it.” We could talk about the nature of the body of Christ and how it is to be unified for worship in conformity to God’s command, but my interest is not to go there either. And I’m also not talking about those who tell me, “I prefer to attend that other choice because they have Saturday-Night services…,” as if worship is about our convenience…no, my point is not to go there either.
What I want to address is the mindset that many have who think that their presence in the sanctuary at the prescribed hour is the most important thing. Now, I grant you, it is a better thing to be in church than to not be in church — at the very least you will be exposed to the preaching of the Gospel. But being physically present in church is the easiest part of your worship…and arguably the least important part. God demands that his people be wholly committed to him, not just our bodies, but our minds as well. But to engage mentally in the worship of God’s people, you need to prepare yourselves. So, here are some thoughts in the form of practical advice that you can put into play today to help prepare you for tomorrow’s service of corporate worship.
1) Have you prayed for the Pastor and those leading the service of worship? Are you committed to seeking God’s face that these men may speak the Word of Truth to you in a way that is wholly consistent with the testimony of the Scriptures?
2) Have you prayed for yourself? Are you committed to seeking God’s face that you may be prepared to listen attentively to what the Pastor brings that you may take it to heart and learn from him? Pray that the Holy Spirit would convict you where you need to be convicted and that he will apply the Word of God to your sinful heart.
3) Have you read the text on which the Pastor will preach? Most pastors are more than willing and able to share their sermon texts at least a week in advance. If they are unable to do this one might be tempted to ask about their preparedness or organization.
4) Having read the text, have you made a list of questions you have from the text itself? Take these with you as part of your notes (yes, plan to take notes on the pastor’s sermon…it will allow you to learn and it will keep him accountable — and if he knows you are taking notes, not only will it encourage him in his preparations but it will also encourage him not to take any shortcuts in preparation). Plan to take these notes with you and see how many of your questions the pastor answers. And if he does not answer one of your questions, drop him a note asking him said question, it will encourage him that you were listening and that the text is important enough to understand that you want to know said answers.
5) Do you know the hymns which will be sung or the additional readings that might be present? It may require a phone call to the church secretary to discover this, but if you can learn these things, reading the words ahead will allow you to prepare better to sing them.
6) Have you read through your notes from last week’s sermons? If your pastor preaches in the form of a series or through given texts of the Bible, reading these sermon notes will jog your memory and assist you in engaging with the text.
7) Plan to get a good night’s sleep. A rested mind is a more engaged mind. Be ready to engage fully in the worship of God.
We could likely add other things to this list, but try these things and see how your engagement with worship and the text will change. I also think that if you engage with these things, your personal devotions will improve, but that is a different conversation. Or, let me just say, in the words of the old television commercial, “try it, you’ll like it!”
There’s Something Missing from Our Conversation on the Body
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul makes an impassioned plea for the unity of the body…a unity that can only built up in love, when the body itself is functioning properly (Ephesians 4:16). Love in the body is indeed the “better way” (1 Corinthians 12:31) toward which we should strive. To make his point, Paul reminds us that a body has many parts…there are eyes and hands and ears, etc… Because the body needs all of the parts to be whole, unity is that which must be striven for. Amen. For most of us who have grown up in Christian circles or in churches, this is an idea that is pretty basic to our existence. No matter what our personal gifts and passions may be, we need the whole to live out the Great Commission in this world.
I fear, though, in a society that has become as specialized as ours has become, Paul’s analogy is often misapplied. In today’s world, it seems, that there are specialists in just about every field. Medicine, Law, and Mechanics are all examples of areas where people specialize in a narrow field. Certainly, there is a base of knowledge that all specialists share in common (I’ll come back to that idea), but there are Dermatologists, Hematologists, and Cardiologists; there those who specialize in Criminal Law, Civil Law, and Business Law; and people also specialize in Motorcycle Mechanics, Heavy Machinery Mechanics, and Auto Mechanics — many even specializing only one a particular make of automobiles.
Even in my former trade there were specialists (I installed carpet for 11 years before entering the ministry full-time). My specialty was Residential Flooring and in that, I did a lot of custom work (borders, inlays, etc…). For several months, just after arriving in seminary, I worked for a Commercial Flooring company, laying tile and glue-down floors. While I knew the basics, the guys who did that kind of flooring for a living could work circles around me. At the same time, most of them had never used a carpet kicker before…something that is a mainstay of residential work. We were specialists — we had areas in which we overlapped, but there were things in which we each did particularly well, and it is in those areas that we each tended to stay.
So, how does this apply to the church? Certainly, there are specializations in the church. To some, God has given the gift of administration, and we need those who can wisely manage the resources that God has entrusted to the church. To others, God has given the gift of helping, which extends well past the work of the Deacons to the whole church body, who cares enough to reach out and meet the needs of others (as I write this, we have a team of people traveling home from Houston, who spent the last week doing just that). To others, God gives the gift of teaching, something that is essential in the process of discipling Christians as they grow in faith. Still, to others, God has given a heart for evangelism, and these members are wired by God to look for people with whom they can share the Gospel. All of these are specializations — we share a common basic set of skills (every Christian ought to be able to share the Gospel, but some are that much more zealous for it, etc…). And again, Paul’s analogy carries, we all are not gifted in the same way and so we need one another.
At the same time, there are things in the life of the body that keep the whole body healthy. For example, as I am closing in on 50, my family doctor has insisted that I start taking vitamins and be more intentional about daily exercise. And so, I take my “One-a-Day” and I ride my stationary bike 5 miles (or walk a mile) pretty much every day (pretty much, life gets busy). These actions do not just benefit my stomach or my heart, they benefit every part of my body, helping it to be more healthy overall. Further, I pray and spend time reading and reflecting on God’s Word, every day. This again, benefits my whole being.
Likewise, in the life of the Church, there are things that we do that benefit the whole body — they act like vitamins for our soul. Spending time reading and reflecting on the Bible is not an activity that belongs just to the specialist, every part of the body must engage in this to keep the body well. Some often say that they are not good at prayer. Of course, if you can talk or think, you can pray and it again is an essential part of the Christian life, something not reserved for a specialist. Sometimes people say that they don’t really need Sunday School, but being discipled is again something that is to be a part of every Christian’s life and without a commitment to discipleship (personal and corporate), the body will not be healthy. They are exercises and vitamins for our overall health. True, my ears may not directly benefit from time on a stationary bike, but that time strengthens my heart which circulates blood all over my body, which in turn not only helps the blood flow to the ears, but it improves the health of the body to which my ears are attached. And so, they benefit indirectly, but they benefit nonetheless.
Sometimes Christians think that they don’t need corporate worship. Here, the analogy changes a little bit because our worship is not so much something we do to strengthen our body (though our body is strengthened as a by-product), it is our service to God. Our worship is our drawing near to our Almighty God and Savior according to His Word and giving him the praise and honor for who he is and for what he has done. This is a big part of what the church was created to do.
So, to say that you don’t need to worship as part of the church body is really to say that you are not part of the body at all. You exist, perhaps, in connection with the body for your own reasons, but that is to be like a parasite, not a functioning organ. Jesus speaks of this as well when he describes the church growing like a large tree from a small seed (see Mark 4:30-32). Once the tree (the Kingdom/Church) has grown and developed branches and leaves, the birds of the air (which often represent the unbelieving nations), make their nests in the midst of the tree. The birds benefit from the tree’s presence, but are not part of the tree and are not fed by the root of the tree. And, they will only nest in the branches of the tree for a season. Worship — being fed by the tap-root of the Spirit — drawing near according to the Word — is what distinguishes the tree from the bird in its nest.
Thus, in things like worship, the study of God’s word, and prayer, it is not a matter of specializing. It is a matter of being and being healthy. What is the goal of this healthy living? It is being united and built up in love. How is this love achieved? It is achieved through the growing mature in our doctrine so that we are not blown to and fro by the winds of human cunning and deceit (see Ephesians 4:13-16). This cannot happen apart from the whole body attending to the Word of God. Yes, we specialize, but we are also a part of a whole. To understand Paul’s analogy in 1 Corinthians 12, you need to preserve this balance…how often, though, we miss the second while over-emphasizing the first.
A Brave New World: Ariana Grande, Terror, and God’s War Psalms
I must confess, for me, music pretty much ended in the 80’s. Okay, so I exaggerate, but I am a kid of the era where Styx wasn’t so much a reference to a mythological river, Jethro Tull was not a historic agronomist, and The Boss was not someone you worked for, but all were musicians whose songs formed the soundtrack of my high-school and college years. And, well, yeah, beyond my school years as well.
But this is not so much the case with my children. So when I initially heard about the bombing at the Ariana Grande concert, the event was quickly catalogued along with the many other senseless terror attacks that seem to be more a part of our lives than they should ever be. To me, Ariana Grande sounded like a vacation resort or perhaps a new version of a latte at Starbucks. Not so much to my children. While the “soundrack” of my life is pretty much written, theirs is being written and it seems that an even younger generation is having to be pulled into the conversation about the nature of evil people who live in our midst.
It is a sad truth that terrorism is such a visible part of this world’s reality today. Of course, terrorism is nothing new. There have been wicked men throughout the ages that believed the proper way to express their ideology was to bully, intimidate, and strike terror into the heart of the general populace rather than making a reasoned argument in the world of ideas to advance the ideas or ideals they hold. And before someone accuses me of being an “Islamaphobe,” I do recognize that such actions have been taken in the name of every religious and areligious movement that is known to man, including Christianity. Evil identifies itself under many labels.
Yet, the presence of terrorists in history does not and should not lesson the righteous indignation that one feels whenever one is confronted with such evil. We must never become desensitized to such wicked actions…especially when such actions are perpetrated toward our children. Yet, fear, which is the aim of terrorist actions, should also never be our response. Instead, righteous anger is the response that terrorism should illicit from us.
Through the years, Christians have struggled with the question, “How do I express anger but not fall into sin?” (Ephesians 4:26). Vengeance belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35) yet God has also appointed the sword to be wielded by the governments of the world that they might avenge the innocent and bring the wrongdoers to their knees (Romans 13:4). In addition, God has given us a number of psalms that are designed to be prayers by God’s people against their wicked persecutors. These are psalms of imprecation and militant war psalms, calling on God to crush the wicked and destroy every remnant of their people from the face of the earth. Some examples of such psalms would be found in Psalms 5, 41, 58, 59, 69, 79, 94, 137, and others. How do we express our righteous indignation in a Godly and prayerful way? These psalms guide our prayers and direct our righteous anger in holy ways while trusting that God will bring vengeance in his time and in his way. We ought not shy away from these in our public praying in these times of such evil.
When Huxley spoke of a brave new world, he was describing a world where people were dominated by the things that brought them pleasure and entertainment and one could argue for the prophetic insight that he demonstrated. I am choosing to use the familiar phrase in a different way. While this world seems to be filled with terrors, the answer is for all men and women, young and old, to rise up and bravely stare the wicked in the face, declaring as one people, that we will not accept such behavior in our midst. That those who stand for wicked ideologies will be hunted down and crushed by the powers that God has placed to defend the innocent and that our culture will not cave in to the demands of those who would bully or ad hominem to get their way.
What would this world look like if all matters of difference were settled by reasoned debate and where we were confident enough in our own positions that we were comfortable disagreeing with one another, yet still remain neighbors in the wider community? It seems to me that such a world is far closer to what our American forefathers envisioned than what we have today. And such a world would not stand for Radical Islamic Terrorism…or any other kind of terrorism for that matter.
“Let them be overthrown in their pride by the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips and by the curse and by the lie that they make known. Consume them in wrath! Consume them until they are nothing! Let them know that God rules over Jacob and to the ends of the earth! Selah!
(Psalm 59:13-14 {verses 12-13 in English})
A Theology of Song
“And so Deborah and Baraq, the son of Abinoam, sang on that day, saying:”
(Judges 5:1)
With the defeat of Sisera and Jabin, we find Deborah and Baraq leading the people in singing a song of celebration with just as much text dedicated to the song as is dedicated to recording the historical narrative, demonstrating the significance given to this song of Deborah and Baraq.
In today’s day and age of sound that governs most every hour of the day, we often take music for granted. We often listen to music on the car radio when driving from place to place, there are musical soundtracks that play behind our favorite movies and television shows, we go to concerts and are entertained by musicians, many of our alarm clocks use music to wake us from sleep and some even go to sleep with music on in the background. Today, music is also no longer limited to a bulky stereo system at home or to the radio, but today our music is compressed, digitized, and loaded onto tiny devices which we can take with us anywhere. It’s no wonder we often take the gift of music for granted.
Yet, music is not something to take for granted, nor is it something to be looked down upon as commonplace (though it could be argued that some music is commonplace). Music is part of our human heritage. It transcends culture and language and it draws people together from all walks of life. If we allow it to do so, music can move us, and move us more deeply than most (if not all) other forms of art. In fact, I would argue that music is part of what it means to be human and to be made in the image of God.
The Bible is filled with song. Even Adam, when presented with Eve for the first time, breaks out into song. The house of God’s worship was also a place filled with song while God also saw fit to teach songs to David and to several other psalmists. So, God is intimately involved in the music of his people. He has given us voices to sing and instruments within our bodies (we can whistle, use our bodies as percussion instruments, and keep rhythm with our feet!).
And this is why Deborah and Baraq’s song is so important. It is also why the singing of God’s people in worship is also important. No, it does not take precedence over the preaching of the Word, but it is lifted to a place of prominence. And thus, we ought to sing and sing with a whole heart when the congregation is gathered. We ought to sing of God’s greatness and of his glory, we ought to sing of our thanksgiving to Him for who he is and what he has done, and we ought to sing our laments even — our great sorrow for our fallen state and for our sin. There is a theology of song found within the scriptures, pay attention to it, it will help make you whole.
Mockery in the Service of God
“Thus, Ehud made for himself a dagger (and it had two mouths) a cubit in length. And he bound it to himself under his robe on his right side. And he took the gift to Eglon, the king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man.”
(Judges 3:16-17)
As the elements of this story are laid out, you can almost hear the elders of the family telling the story to the children around a fire or a dinner table, all the while, the children (who have heard the account numerous times), giggling in anticipation for what comes next. You have the making of the 18” long dagger, the tribute or gift mentioned again (and again in the context of the dagger) and that it is hidden under his robes, so there is some intrigue afoot. Further, we are told that the “fattened calf,” Eglon is a fattened man as well. As a storyteller, this is the point in the story where you feign fatigue and tell the children it is time for bed and we will resume the next night. It is also the point where the children cry out, “Noooooo!”
And so, the fun of the story continues. When the dagger is introduced, it is introduced as having “two mouths,” a reference to the double-entendre of this account, though the natural interpretation is that it is two-edged. Its mouth can cut in both directions. Further, Ehud hides it in an inconspicuous spot to avoid detection (perhaps we can equate Ehud with an ancient James Bond…just a thought). Anyway, the story unfolds.
One thing that I think we miss, in our “politically-incorrect-aphobic” society is the value of being able to genuinely mock those who honestly deserve to be mocked. Even God mocks those who raise their puny fists into the air against him (Psalm 2:4). Eglon, though raised up by God to punish the people for their idolatry, has still raised his fist against the people of God and thus against God himself. Similarly, while there are many who aim their wrecking balls at the true church, God assures us that those who take refuge in Him will never be destroyed (Psalm 34:19). And thus, those who target the church with their foolishness deserve to be mocked.
We, of course, need to be wise as to how we go about mocking, for some of those we mock may one day be called “brother” or “sister” in Christ. Yet, where those ideas are raised against the knowledge of God, we should not be shy about tearing them down. And where the ideas of the enemies of God are clearly foolishness, then the only right response is to point out their foolishness, which is mockery. Perhaps even, the embarrassment caused may be the tool that the Holy Spirit uses to illuminate the fool as to his foolishness. Otherwise, it leaves the fool with no excuse.
Mockery should not be spiteful nor should be be arrogant, it is simply the normal response, when one knows the truth, to the incredulous ideas that the fools espouse. And, it is my contention that if Christians paid more attention to what they believed, they would be more apt to recognize foolishness for what it is and respond accordingly.
Help Us Repent and Love You in Deed
“And so the nose of Yahweh burned toward Israel and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathayim, king of Aram Naharayim. And the Sons of Israel served Cushan Rishathayim for eight years. The Sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh and Yahweh raised up a deliverer for Israel who delivered them — Othniel, the son of Qenaz, who was the younger brother of Caleb.”
(Judges 3:8-9)
We now move from matters that are introductory into the actual history of the people during the era of the judges. The first enemy comes from Mesopotamia (the interpretation of MˆyårShÅn — Naharayim from the LXX), to the northeast. The people are oppressed by him for a period of eight years and then they cry out to the Lord and he raises up a deliverer (some translations — “a savior” — same word), who happens to be someone we have already met from the original conquest (see Judges 1:13): Othniel, Caleb’s brother.
This first cycle of sin will serve as a model or paradigm as to what a Judge should be and do and how the people are to respond. The reality is that the people will continue this cycle of sin and the Judges will not ever reach as high as did Othniel before them. This is the best it gets in what becomes a dark time.
What should strike us is the duration of time that God permitted the people to suffer for their sins before he raised up Othniel. To us, eight years must seem like an eternity. Yet, in an eternal perspective, particularly in comparison to the seriousness of the people’s sins, the permission that God gave to Cushan Rishathayim to oppress his people is comparatively short and extraordinarily gracious. Remember, it is Hell that we deserve…it is Hell that we always deserve, yet God shows himself eternally gracious.
What must not be missed regarding these cycles of sin and deliverance is that we (the church) have changed little. We cry out for a deliverer but are all too often unwilling to repent of that sin which placed us under God’s hand of judgment. We neither hate our sin nor view our sin as seriously as God views our sin. And what shall we say for ourselves? Perhaps we should plead to God, “help us to repent and love you in deed as well as word.”
Forgetting the things of God
“And so all of that generation were gathered to their fathers, but following them arose another generation which did not know Yahweh and also the works which he had done in Israel.”
(Judges 2:10)
The Historian, Will Durant, is famously quoted as saying, “From barbarism to civilization takes a century; from civilization to barbarism needs but a day.” In principle, with many things, it takes a lot longer to build than to tear down, and when the fathers do not think it significant enough to pass down their faith and the knowledge of God to their children; society will crumble.
This verse marks the end of the summary overlap between the end of Joshua and the beginning of Judges. Joshua and the generation that remembers the mighty works of God based on firsthand experience passes away. And in passing away, their witness is lost because their children have not been instructed in the things of God. Remember, that while the written word is available at this point in history (Moses penned the Torah), it is not widely distributed as every scroll must be copied by hand still, and thus people would have only had access to parts themselves and only to the whole through the Levites in their midst.
One might be tempted to think that such access to the scriptures would be enough to preserve the history of God’s work in Israel, but if we use our own nation as an example, it is not hard to see how the people would fall away and forget the things of God. In today’s world, we have access to information and writings that is unprecedented in history. There are more books in print and out-of-print books can be acquired in electronic format from free libraries. We know what our American founding fathers thought about and wrote about. But as accessible as these documents are, we do not read them. We tend to be content to learn only as much as we need to get by. In fact, as much access as we have to the written word today, fewer and fewer Americans read, or if they do, they read only short snippets and not whole works.
Further, the riches of the Word of God, as expounded by the saints of the past, is more accessible than ever, yet a broad swath of the church is spiritually and intellectually illiterate, satisfying itself with a feel-good theology that has froth and foam, but no depth of substance. One of the effects of the Fall of Adam is that the things we most need to know, we struggle the most to dig into. Yet, when we fail to dig, when we fail to study the Scriptures deeply, that which has been built and established crumbles because the people walk and wander astray. And if you seek a testimony about the truth of that statement, look at America today…look at the errors that are being taught about history today…look at the errors that are being taught about God today. Look at the foolishness that passes as Christian orthodoxy today. And then we will see the truth of this statement in Judges as well as Durant’s observation.
We will also see the importance of correcting that error…a task that is as pressing today as it was back in the days following Joshua’s death.
Burial or Cremation
“And they buried him within the borders of his inheritance, in Timnath-Cheres, in the mountains of Ephriam — on the north side of mount Ga’ash.”
(Judges 2:9)
In a day and age where the practice of cremation has become both commonplace and acceptable, it is important to be reminded of the Biblical practice of burying the body in the ground or in a cave, leaving it there intact. While burning bodies was a common practice in pagan societies, it was never introduced to the Christian world until the 1800s. In England, cremation was not legalized until 1902, largely as a result of the influence of a self-professed Druid named William Price. While American Indians had practice cremation of the dead in America for generations, the first European to be cremated in the United States was the Baron de Palm, Joseph Henry Louis Charles, who was a member of the cultic universalist group known as the Theosophical Society. When the society originally sought to cremate the body there was such an uproar by the townspeople that the cremation had to be relocated from New York to Western Pennsylvania.
Today, nearly 40 percent of bodies are cremated according to one source that I read; clearly opinions have changed. Certainly, when Jesus returns, he is quite capable of resurrecting a body from their cremated remains, just as he is able to resurrect a body that had no remains to speak of (for example, soldiers killed in bomb blasts in war). The real question is what are you communicating to the world when you incorporate historically pagan practices into the Christian life?
The Biblical practice is clearly that of preserving the body in the ground in the anticipation of a resurrection to glory (for the believer) and destruction (for the unbeliever). As a pastor, I often use the language of “keeping the body in trust” when I speak to people about burial in our church’s cemetery. Every headstone out in that graveyard serves as a reminder to the world of our anticipation of a resurrection and we look forward to that day when our Lord will return and all those graves will be emptied.
So, as we look back to Joshua’s death, we are reminded of our Biblical heritage. My prayer is that everything we do in both life and in death is done for the glory of God and with the hopes of communicating the Gospel to those who are watching you. I believe that one of the reasons that Christianity is in a more or less visible decline in the west is because Christians have oftentimes not offered a consistent and Biblical witness by life and action and have oftentimes been too quick to incorporate pagan practices into their Christian worldview…let’s not travel down that road any further than we have. And, where God gives us influence, let’s use that influence to change the road we have been on and place us on the road that honors God through his Son, Christ Jesus.
Personal Holiness of Church Leaders
“And when Joshua sent the people off, the Sons of Israel each went to his own inheritance to possess the land. And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all of the days of the Elders who lived days beyond Joshua, who had seen all of the great works that Yahweh had done in Israel.”
(Judges 2:6-7)
One of the themes that often puzzles people about the Bible is how often the spirituality of the body’s leadership is reflected in the spirituality (or lack thereof) of the people. Why don’t we see a body of god-fearing people when you have a bad king? Why do the people honor God when there is a revival in the life of the king?
The 19th century Scottish preacher, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, used to say, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.” What he understood is that people normally follow the lead of their shepherd. And whether we see that in the Elders and Kings of Israel or the pastors and councils of churches, the pattern remains unchanged through history. Even in civil life in America, our healthiest times as a nation (when it came to spiritual matters) have always been when we have had godly leaders.
On a more local level, this trend should send a clear message to all of us who serve as ministers of the Gospel and in church leadership. How are we maintaining our souls? Are we being diligent to make our calling and election more sure (2 Peter 1:10)? It is too easy to get caught up in the busyness of the week and of the responsibilities to prepare church budgets and to set in place church guidelines; we need to be reminded to make this our greatest task — how will we care for our souls? For if we do not care for our own souls, how will we care for the souls of others?
And thus, history echoes the lesson we are learning in these verses. And, if we do not want that history repeated in our churches or in our communities, we need to encourage those who shepherd us to feed their souls as well as our own. That takes time, but in the scope of eternity, it is a worthwhile investment.
Influencing the Culture
“Naphtali did not dispossess those who dwell in the House of Shemesh or those who dwelt in the house of Anath; and they dwelled in the midst of the Canaanites who dwelt in the land. Thus, the House of Shemesh and the House of Anath became forced labor for them. And the Emorites tormented the sons of Dan in the mountainous region, thus they did not give them the ability to come down to the lower plains. And the Emorites were prepared to dwell in the mountains of Cheres, in Ayyalon, and in Sha’albiym, but the hand of the house of Joseph was glorious and they became forced labor. And the border of the Emorites was from ascents of Aqrabiym to the cliffs and above.”
(Judges 1:33-36)
We draw the introductory history to a close…again, this is designed to overlap the end of the book of Joshua and to prepare us for the context of the book of Judges that follows. Chapter 2 will shift from looking backwards to looking forwards and in many ways will summarize Judges as a whole. But for now, we must content ourselves with once again reflecting on the consequences of a partial victory. Indeed, there are benefits that can be gained through the forced labor of the pagan peoples, but largely the presence of the idolatry of the pagans has a devastating effect on the people.
But let us pose the question, what if the people were not inclined to stumble at the paganism of the Canaanites. Instead, what if the evangelistic fervor of the people were such that it was the Canaanites that were converting to Judaism? What a different conversation we might be having. Interestingly, while I am not an advocate of slavery in any form and the American manifestation of slavery that took place several centuries ago is not anything that could be described as good, may I at least offer that many Africans, who had grown up in an Animistic religion, were converted to Christianity. We don’t typically think of forced labor and slavery as being redemptive in any way, but shall we not celebrate the thousands of souls that were saved because of this horrible practice? Might we say with Joseph, that “While you intended it for evil, God intended it for good”?
Surely some of these Canaanites that were put to forced labor converted, but mostly the Canaanite practice influenced the Israelites to fall into sin. How about those influences in your life? Are your non-Christian friends influencing you or are you influencing them? At the end of the day, are they more like you or the other way around? A vital and healthy faith ought to influence others without being influenced by the unbelief of others. Though, much like ancient Israel, that doesn’t much happen in our churches. Were that it would. May we strive for it to be so.
Friends
So what makes a friend a friend? And when I speak of friends, I am not thinking of those we might casually refer to in that way, but those with whom you have a close and enduring bond — a bond that is strengthened, not weakened by trials and difficulties and with whom love is the only right word to describe the affection that you have for one another. When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I used to describe this kind of friend as one who you would trust with your car, your girlfriend, and your credit card. Now that I am older, I would describe such a person as the kind of person that I am content simply being with in life together…you know, the kind of person that it doesn’t really matter if you are doing something in particular, but simply being together is enough. It is the kind of person with whom you can disagree and it doesn’t really matter because your relationship is not established on points of common opinion, but instead is built on life together.
It is the kind of relationship that Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as having with John Watson; the mysteries that Doyle wrote about simply provided the backdrop; what made the stories was the relationship between these two men — these two friends. While this is the kind of friendship we ought to have with our spouses, it is often not limited to our spouses. It is the kind of friendship we ought to have with our families, though families often fall short and it is typically not limited to family relationships. And, this is the relationship we ought to strive for with other Christians, though such relationships are often had outside of the church. And, it is a relationship that typically is built over time, while going through the ups and especially through the downs of life together. If our lives are described as part of the tapestry of history, these friends would be the strands that not only are intertwined with our own but also whose color so blends with ours that at a glance, the two threads almost appear to be one.
I have been doing my devotions of late in the scripture passages that deal with the life of Abraham. And what strikes me as remarkable is that despite the messiness of his life and despite his failures and sins, Abraham is not only called the father of the faithful (Romans 4:11-12,16; Galatians 3:7), but Abraham is also called “Friend of God” (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). Scripture tells us that God spoke to Moses face to face as one speaks with a friend (Exodus 33:11; Deuteronomy 34:10) and Jesus says to his disciples at the last supper, “I have called you friends” (John 15:15), but it is Abraham that history has marked off as the one having such a relationship with God that he is called “friend of God.”
So, what marked Abraham’s relationship in this way? Certainly this was God’s design, but what can we learn about this friendship that can be applied to our relationships with each other and to our relationship with God? The first thing that we should note is that while God was always faithful on “his end” of the friendship, Abraham was not. Yet, Abraham’s failures did not compromise the friendship he had with God. We should secondly note that their friendship was not defined by the destination or by the promise. Abraham spent nearly his entire relationship with God as a wanderer in the land of Canaan and Egypt. He knew that God had promised him the land, but he also knew that it would be distant ancestors that would actually inherit the promise after spending more than 400 years in Egypt (Genesis 15:13-14). Abraham would die long before the promise was fulfilled. In fact, Abraham received the initial call from God to leave the land of Ur prior to receiving the promise that God would make his descendants a great nation (Acts 7:2-4). It would only be in connection with the call to leave Haran after his father’s death, that the covenantal promise was given (Genesis 12:1-3). We might suggest that the friendship was strengthened by the covenant and promise of God, but clearly it did not begin with these things.
If I were to speculate, I think that it would also be safe to say that Abraham’s relationship was also not based on common likes and dislikes or on common experiences. Certainly Abraham disliked many of the things that God dislikes and it is true that God enters into our experiences as we are in relationship with him, but this still seems to be a superficial place to ground our understanding of this very special friendship. There is no questions that these things, whether experiences or the covenant, were part of the maturing of this friendship (at least on Abraham’s side), but they do not seem to be the essence of the relationship.
I would suggest that the essence of the friendship that Abraham had with God was not in knowing where they were going or how they would get there, but in knowing that they were going in that direction together. And I think that this principle applies to our friendships with other humans as well. We began not by asking about Abraham’s relationship with God, but with the question of what makes a friend a friend — or, what distinguishes the deep and genuine friendships from the casual (and often superficial) friendships that we have. The answer is that those deep friendships are built not so much upon what we do, but upon doing it together — even when we are not doing anything in particular.
God could have taken Abraham on a trek that extended across the breadth of Africa or into the mountains of Tibet and it would not have mattered so long as they were making the trip together. Sherlock Holmes, apart from John Watson, was depressed and bored with life, even to the extent of experimenting with mainlining cocaine to free him from his boredom. It was Watson who kept Holmes grounded, focused, and (in most cases) clean from his drug use. It was nothing Watson did, it was Watson’s mere presence. Husbands and wives often do many romantic things as they are building their relationship, but ultimately there comes a point (because life otherwise gets in the way and struggles arise), where they are forced to realize that what really matters is not so much those romantic episodes, but that they are living life together, facing trials together, hurting together, and loving together.
Moses said to God that what made God’s people distinct from all of the other nations of the earth was his presence with them (Exodus 33:16). That indeed is true of the church in a corporate sense and of Christians in a personal sense, but that is also true of friendship as well. What makes your friendship with me genuine friendship is your presence with me and vice-versa. The deepest friendships are marked by presence — a presence that is needed, desired, and even yearned for — and as a result of that common presence, our stories become so intertwined together that from a distance they almost seem to be one and inseparable.
Ego Custodiam
The fourth of the relational statements that the early church fathers made reflected God’s relationship to the church. “I will guard them,” says God of his people. At first, we might be inclined to think that this statement could be fuller or more involved. We might expect God to say Ego Redimam (“I will redeem”) or Ego Amabo (“I will love”) or even Ego Sanctificabo (“I will sanctify them” or “I will make them holy”). At the same time, if we explore this idea of guarding something, we can argue that it contains at least an element of each of these statements. One guards those things that they love or hold to be valuable and one must have something in one’s possession to guard it, thus God redeems his people from the sin that once held us captive. Also, those things that we guard and cherish, we choose to refine, removing those imperfections that we can find in the object of our affection. Thus the language of Ego Custodiam includes all of the above comments.
So, why does God choose to guard his church? Certainly it must not be assumed that God places his affections upon us because of who we are or because of what we have done. All of our works, we must affirm like the Apostle Paul, are naught but dung (Philippians 3:8). No, he places his affections upon us because of whose we are—his own—and as a revelation of his glory. What we all deserve is eternal condemnation because of our sins and the guilt of sin we have inherited from our forefathers, yet he has chosen us since before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), before we had done anything good or bad (Romans 9:11), and sent his Son to pay the price to redeem us from our just judgment, substituting himself in our place (2 Corinthians 5:21). As the value of an item is based on the price that one is willing to pay for it, our value to God is without measure, for his Son, Jesus, being eternal God, paid an eternal price for our souls. And because of that price paid, he will never let one of his own slip from between his fingers (John 10:28-30).
Beyond redemption is the idea of his guardianship. God does not save us to leave us saved but to our own devices. No, God preserves us and guides us through life. The Psalmist writes of God’s guardianship:
“For his angels he will command regarding you—
To guard you in all of your ways.”
(Psalm 91:11)
The picture here is self explanatory; God is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 5:9) and he will not share us with any other. We are guarded, kept, and held secure for this great purpose and he will not revoke his calling upon us (Romans 11:29). Indeed, nothing on earth or in heaven can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).
But what does that mean for us? It means that there is no reason for us to despair. How often we go through life and feel as if we are standing as one person against a host of enemies and that the world’s sole goal is to tear apart the things that we have sought to bring together. How often we feel lost, confused, and abandoned when confronted by tragedy in this world. How often we feel as if God is not listening to or responding to our prayers. How often chaos seems to dominate our lives and the world around us. Yet, all of these perceptions miss the mark. Because our hearts are deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9) and from our hearts flow all sorts of vain imaginations and sin (Mark 7:20-23), we miss the glory that God has prepared for us even in the challenges of this world (1 Corinthians 2:8-9).
You see, we often get so wrapped up in the events of the moment that we forget that we do not see the big picture. Indeed, even when we begin to try and focus on the big picture of God’s redemptive history, because we are finite and grounded in this world, we still do not see with the scope and breadth that our Lord sees it. Indeed, compared to the immensity of God’s vision, our vision is minuscule to be generous. The sad thing is how often we take our minuscule vision as the whole of God’s vision and then wonder why God is permitting things to take place, all-the-while questioning his character and his goodness. There is none like our God (Psalm 77:13) who calls us not to be anxious about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), but instead to cast all of our cares before him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
Reflect on what God speaks through the psalmist as Psalm 91 is brought to a close:
“Because he clings to me in devotion, I will save him;
I will make him untouchable because he knows my name.
When he calls me I will answer him,
With him, I will be in times of distress.
I will rescue him and honor him.
With long days I will satisfy him,
I will reveal myself to him in my salvation.”
(Psalm 91:14-16)
Ego Eripiam
The third of our statements deals with the relationship of Satan toward believers—“I will snatch them” or “I will steal them away.” While we would affirm in our theology that the believer is held by Christ and can never be separated from his hand (John 6:37; 10:28; Romans 8:37-39), the reality of Satan’s eventual failure does not dissuade him from this attempt to make us stumble and fall away from our Lord and master. He is a persistent foe. This phrase could be embellished with some of the means that our enemy employs: Ego Territabo (“I will intimidate”) or Ego Onerabo (“I will weary” or “I will oppress”).
In contrast to Jesus, who gives life and life abundant (John 10:10), but the thief, which is Satan, only comes to kill and destroy. He comes to undermine the work of the fellowship and to frustrate our labors. Though he knows he cannot win, he strives toward that end. Peter describes him as a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) seeking someone to devour. Jesus describes him as a wolf, seeking to prey upon the weak sheep (John 10:12). John describes him as a dragon who deceives the world and seeks to lash out and destroy the followers of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:9,17).
So, what is our response to this kind of wild enemy. Peter says that we are to be sober-minded and watchful. Being sober-minded means that one’s mind must be clear from distractions and from all of those things that would flatter us so as to lead us astray. As the man who is drunk acts in a way that is both unwise and unlike his character, so the man who is sober-minded should act in a spirit of wisdom and in a way that is consistent with the Godly character that the Spirit has instilled in us. It is to remain self-controlled even in situations where threat arises.
And to be aware of those threats, we must be watchful. This is a military term reflecting the guard that we must have on the wall to warn us of the temptation of sin (Ezekiel 3:16-21). We are not to be like the ostrich burying its head in the sand. We must not be found asleep at the post. The Apostle Paul even uses this term of watchfulness as an analogy of being alive (1 Thessalonians 5:10), a reminder that life and death are the matters with which we are dealing; a serious reminder indeed, particularly in a world that rarely takes seriously the warnings that scripture sets before us.
Though Harry Houdini may not be a model example of Christian faith (his heritage was Jewish), he is an example of what it means to be sober-minded and watchful as a Christian. Many of his stunts, from the perspective of an outside observer, were death-defying, reckless, and foolish. Yet, when you realize that Houdini never performed a stunt that had not been planned out and rehearsed many times with many safeguards in place, you must confess that reckless is not a term that can be properly applied. From the perspective of a non-Christian, sometimes the work that Christians do seems equally reckless and foolish. Christians regularly go and minister to people in plague infested areas knowing that they too might contract the disease, but doing so for the sake of the Gospel. My favorite missionary, John Paton, went to Tana Island in the New Hebrides which was populated by several cannibal tribes and his life was at constant risk. Yet, he went anyway. I have worked with inner-city drug addicts in a place where at one time the shelter’s director was stabbed by a man staying there. The Christian goes, though, because the Christian understands that the call of God is more important than the risks. At the same time, the Christian goes knowing the risks that are present and does not ever go until one has bathed himself in prayer and sought the prayers of others. Like Houdini, there are risks certainly, but the risks are approached in sober preparation.
The Devil seeks to snatch you out of the hand of God. That cannot be done, but that does not mean that the resultant tug-o-war on your life will always be a pleasant thing. At the same time, in knowing who the victor will be, it enables you to stretch beyond your limits and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Given our fallen and sinful state, there is a great deal of stretching left to be done to prepare us for God’s heaven—what are we waiting for; step into the call that God has placed upon your life.
Ego Decipiam
While the pastor must confess that he will fail his flock, the world makes a different profession. The world says, “I will deceive them” or “I will ensnare them.” How much more sinister is this response than the one that went before, yet how often has this been our experience. The world promises us wealth and success if we just compromise this or that set of morals—which at first seems small, but like a drug, it demands more and more and more. At first it might take the form of justifying a little lie, then it may grow into envy coveting either the wealth or the success of another. Gradually it progresses from there onward. We end up make idols of the things of this world and in doing so, we compromise God’s law as a whole.
Jesus speaks of the cares of the age and the deception of riches as that which chokes the Word of God in our lives (Matthew 13:22). The cares of life often fill our days and rob us of sleep. We pretend that we are just trying to be responsible citizens and parents who provide for our families, but how often those words, while well intentioned, are placed in our mouths not by the Holy Spirit, but by those who are of this world. Yet this world and the things therein are passing away (1 John 2:17). While sounding noble, such cares betray a lack of reliance upon the promises of God to provide for his children.
The world masquerades its temptations as love and care for us, while in reality, the world hates us and the one we serve (John 15:19). Like a treacherous counselor, the world pretends to be our ally, all the while manipulating our thoughts and actions toward sedition against the great King and High Priest, Jesus Christ. Our ego is flattered and our lusts are excused. These are the ways of this world.
How essential it is for a person to keep their guard up against such treachery. The Apostle Paul warns us to be careful that no one takes us captive through vain or empty deceit (Colossians 2:8) and the author of Hebrews warns against the hardening that comes through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). It is likely, though, that Paul offers the strongest warning on this matter to the church in Thessolanica when he warns that with the coming of Satan’s influence and that the reason we are ultimately deceived is because we have refused to love the Truth and in turn, rejected salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). How often we are guilty of desiring the so-called comforts of the world that we choose to allow ourselves to be deceived, yet do not consider this willful deception to be a rejection of God’s Truth!
How do we protect ourselves from this deception? The psalmist sets 8 principles before us in the second stanza of Psalm 119.
-
- We must guard our way according to God’s word (Psalm 119:9)
- We must seek God with our whole heart (Psalm 119:10)
- We must store up God’s word in our heart (Psalm 119:11)
- We must seek to learn God’s statutes (Psalm 119:12)
- We must declare to others the law of God (Psalm 119:13)
- We must delight in the testimony of God and in his ways (Psalm 119:14)
- We must meditate on God’s precepts (Psalm 119:15)
- We must delight in the law of God (Psalm 119:16)
Seek these things, the Psalmist insists, and you will guard the way that is before you. Deception is all around; do not fall prey to the wiles of the devil, but indeed, guard yourself with the whole armor of God which he has given to you (Ephesians 6:11).
Ego Deficiam
“I will fail them.” The early church fathers reflected on the relationships between pastors, the world, satan, and the church flock and developed a series of statements that described each relationship. The first of these statements was that of the pastor with regard to his people: Ego Deficiam (I will fail).
At first, our response might be to think that this is a rather pessimistic view of the relationship between shepherd and flock. How is it that a pastor could go into his role with the assumption that he will fail his people? As churches, do we want to hire a pastor who says up front, “Oh, by the way, I will fail you.” It is food for thought.
There are two aspects of this statement, that we must understand. The first is the “I.” I will fail you. I will fail as your pastor, as your counselor, and as your friend. I will fail as a husband and as a father. I will fail as an employee and as a representative of the church in the community. I will fail. Yet, this is not a pessimistic view, but a realistic view (as well as a Biblical one). For while I will fail you; Christ will not do so. Christ will gloriously succeed not because of my efforts, but in spite of my best efforts. And when I serve not in my own strength, but in the strength of Christ, then glorious things will happen—not for my praise, but for God’s.
This is the reason that a pastor (all Christians really) must be a man of prayer. And not just a prayer in the morning or evening, but a pastor must be a man of constant prayer through the day. One of the reasons that I like Nehemiah is because he exemplifies this. Not only are there formal and structured prayers recorded coming off of his lips, but also he lifts up short little “bullet prayers” throughout the day as he is making decisions. Those of you who know me or who have sat under me teaching on Nehemiah know that I am not overly fond of his model as a manager of people (even though lots of books present him that way); read Nehemiah 13:23-27 and ask yourself if you want a governor or office manager who leads in this fashion☺. I do believe, though, he provides us with a good example of perpetual prayer, seeking God’s wisdom and strength.
The second aspect that we must understand is that the fact that someone fails is not nearly as important as what someone does as a result of that failure. The true humility of a man will always present itself in failures, not in successes. If a person covers up their failures or seeks to shift blame to others, then the person’s character is such that you ought not have him as shepherd. If he is humble, repentant, and takes responsibility for his actions, then that is a man you want to lead you. The Gospel is the good news of God reconciling us poor and spiritually bankrupt sinners to himself; we are all in the same boat together within the church—wretches who have been redeemed by grace. Why should we expect our pastor of not being a sinner and thus a failure in God’s economy?
Sadly, we often create a standard that a pastor cannot hope to live up to and then make him feel like he has to hide his sin to keep up appearances. Yet, if the pastor is living hypocritically, why are we surprised when the members of our congregations live hypocritically? Our goal must be very different. We must endeavor to create a culture of honesty and transparency within our church community that is seasoned with abundant grace. Then, when one fails, the community comes together to work toward grace-filled reconciliation. It must be said, that there are some failures that must, by their very nature, remove a man from the office of shepherd, but not that ought to remove him from the church.
In discussions and counseling sessions with members of my congregation, one of the things that I have said over and over is: “We are going to make mistakes; we are going to mess things up.” The fact is, we are fallen and sinful and despite the grace we have been shown by Christ, we will not always show the grace we ought to show. At the same time, what I have told people is that when we mess up, if you let us know, we will fix it.
Indeed, I will fail you. But in Christ, I will repent and strive to make it right.
Blankets as a Sign of God’s Grace
One of the ways in that my wife and I are different has to do with blankets. My wife is almost always warm when she sleeps, so typically a comforter is all she wants to sleep with. I, on the other hand, am perpetually cold when I sleep, so to me, the more blankets the better. This makes for a rather funny appearance, particularly in the wintertime, as I have stacks of blankets on my side of the bed and she has at most a single blanket on top of her side. We have a picture from when we lived back in Maryland of me with either 19 or 22 layers of blankets on my side of the bed. Some people may consider that a bit excessive; I suppose that they have a right to their opinion. In my opinion, blankets are not only there to keep you snug, but they are also a sign of God’s grace.
One of the Hebrew words that is translated as “atonement” is the term rDpA;k (caphar—ironically, it even sounds a little like the word “cover”), which means to cover over. Atonement, of course, is a gift of God’s grace whereby our sins are covered over by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and thus we have been restored to a right relationship with God and with his Law. The idea of covering also reflects a picture of the righteousness of Christ being draped across us as new garments, not the filthy garments of our own labors.
As Christians, we do more than simply affirm the atonement as a doctrine, it is the source of our hope! The very fact that when we stand before an almighty God and he asks us why he should allow us to enter his heaven, we do not need to appeal to our own messed up works, be can cry out— “It is because of the blood of Christ! He has saved me and brought me to you! He is my righteousness and I am trusting in his promise alone!” It is because of Jesus’ work of atonement that we can find joy in this life because without it, all we would have to look forward to is judgment and eternal destruction.
Now, granted, we may not find hope and joy in the blankets we use on the bed on a cold night (okay, I even put blankets on the bed on a warm night…), but we do draw comfort from out blankets. I imagine Linus, from the Peanuts cartoon, walking along, dragging that blanket and clinging to it for dear life. For Linus, the blanket represents safety from the terrifying things of this world. Ironically, Snoopy (aren’t dogs supposed to be man’s best friend) is always trying to swipe the blanket from him. Isn’t it interesting how our modern, liberal, Bible-doubting, politically-correct society is always trying to reject or fictionalize doctrines like the atonement, thus trying to rob the church of its security blanket.
Oftentimes, in our modern society, we speak of security blankets as things that provide a kind of false comfort. Linus’ blanket can protect him from no real harm. At the same time, that is not the kind of security that a blanket is supposed to bring. It brings security from being left alone and a security from the cold; it is Linus’ assurance that he will find comfort even in the midst of his failures. The blanket of covering from the Atonement does much the same thing for us today. It cannot protect us from someone who will try and take our money or our job, but it is something that reminds us that we will never be abandoned by Christ (he paid too great a price for us than that!) and that will bring us comfort from that cold and calculating world in which we have been called to live and suffer in faith.
When I curl up under my 20 layers of covers on a cold winter night (okay, yes, I live in Florida), I confess to you that my first thought is not always of the Atonement. At the same time, when I think of the atonement, I do think about my covers and how nice it is that I am held by a God who will never leave nor forsake me and no matter what trials I may need to face, I am held secure and in eternal safety. Such is a blanket that can never be taken away.
The Gospel and Brushing Your Teeth
I publicly confess that I am not overly fond of brushing my teeth. I do brush my teeth, mind you, but it is not a part of the day that I look forward to. In fact, after I got married, one of the great sacrifices that I made to please my new bride was that I agreed to brush my teeth at least twice a day. Indeed, such monumental compromises only take place when someone is very much in love. And yes, after nearly 14 years of marriage, I am still scrubbing those teeth morning and evening as a faithful expression of my love for my wife.
Now, as random a piece of information as that may seem, there is a rhyme and reason to my madness. In our theological circles, we often talk about how the Bible is “our only rule for faith and practice” and that God’s word is there to equip us for “every good work.” Now, typically, we apply this as a guide to what we believe in our spiritual life and to what we do in our gathered worship. We also tend to be quite comfortable applying this principle to moral questions and for most, it is not too great a shock for me to say that we should rely on Biblical principles to guide our professional lives and our personal interactions in the community as well. So far, so good…
Yet, if we are going to take this language to its logical end, we ought to be able to apply the Bible and its principles to even the most mundane things that we do…well, like brushing teeth. So, the obvious question is, how does the gospel inform and even transform your teeth brushing?
Most of us will be quick to think of 1 Corinthians 6:19 and cite that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and thus should be cared for. This is a good start, though it does take a passage that is talking about not engaging sexually with cult prostitutes a little out of context. So, where else might we go? Peter reminds us that we are to always be ready to give a defense of the hope of the gospel we have within us (1 Peter 3:15) and Paul teaches us that we should be well thought of amongst the unbelievers in our community (1 Timothy 3:7). One logically might infer from those statements that it might be an impediment to sharing the gospel were we to have bad breath or a little piece of parsley leftover from dinner caught in our teeth. Moreover, if we are to be “winsome” with the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:19-22), we ought to take care of ourselves in such a way that potential converts would want to fellowship with us and not see our presence as something to be dreaded. Yet, is this as far as the application of the gospel can go to the mundane areas of our life?
As Christians, we understand that we are made in the Image of God (Genesis 1:27). The idea that the scripture presents is that when we look at ourselves in the mirror or at others, we are looking at ones who represents God himself. Now, as you are reading this, don’t get a swelled head, the Bible also affirms just how far we are from a perfect representation as Christ is the only one who has done that for us. Yet, even so, it means that we carry within ourselves an inherent dignity and that as Christians, we have a responsibility to see that dignity preserved in others as well as in our own lives. God has given us these bodies and how we treat them with a certain degree of reverence ought to reflect the reverence for the one in whose image we are made. Thus, the abuse of our bodies is sinful because it reflects a lack of respect for God’s image and care for our bodies—even in simple ways like good hygiene—is an aspect of our worship, not of ourselves, but of the one in whose image we are made.
The atheist or non-Christian in our culture will have other reasons for their hygiene, most of which are quite practical, though some border on vanity. They will not, though, understand the fullness of their actions or root those actions in anything or in anyone outside of themselves. As Christians, we are ultimately “People of the Book,” and that book, the Bible, instructs us in not only the most significant things we do, but also in the most mundane aspects of our life. Of course, to be able to apply the book one must first know it, so I encourage you to drink deeply of God’s word and then apply it to things in your life both great and small. And, let the word of God, not practicality or vanity, guide your every action in all of life.
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