“What Do You Have for My Children?”
As a pastor, that is a question I have often heard over the years. In most cases, what is being asked by parents is whether there are programs and opportunities at the church for their children to get involved. They want to know if there are youth groups, Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible Schools, and other things that are geared specifically to their kids. It is a fair question to ask and for the most part, activities such as youth groups or vacation Bible schools have their place (though I am very much in disagreement with “children’s church,” but I digress).
Coming out of seminary, I served a little congregation that had an older membership. They were wonderful Christian people, but they had made some unwise choices over the years and thus, for a season, my children were the only children in the church. That did change, though, over time. From there, I served a larger congregation with a full-time youth pastor. They had lots of kids in the life of the church and more programs for kids than could easily be counted. My point is that I have seen both spectrums, from very few organized activities for children and youth to quite a few things. Now, as a church-planter, I am re-thinking a lot of things as we start a new congregation pretty much “from scratch.”
Now, don’t take what I am about to say as a condemnation of vacation Bible schools, youth activities, or Sunday School programs, but can we put down our defenses of these programs for a moment and just talk? Can we ask an even more basic question that ought to govern how we approach all that we do? Can we ask what children and youth need most in the life of the church? And can we do so in light of a reality? The reality is that for close to a generation, churches have bent over backwards to offer bigger and more vigorous youth programs. Families, in turn, often jump from church to church based on the activities that said church has (or does not have) for the youth. Vast amounts of the budget for many churches gets directed to youth activities and to tailoring music and worship services toward the youth. Yet, the youth in our society are drifting further and further from the church and from Christ.
What is it that youth most need in the life of the church? They need to be discipled in the ways of the Christian, just like adults do. They need to be taught how to “give a reason for the hope they have,” just like adults do. They need to be engaged in destroying “every argument raised against the knowledge of God and to take every thought captive to obey Christ,” just like adults do. They need to learn to be “pillars and buttresses of the Truth,” just like adults do. They need to learn to love God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love their neighbor as themself, just like adults do.
So, Groseclose, are you saying that children should be treated like adults? No, not at all. I’m not even saying that children do not learn differently than adults learn, because they do. So, what is the difference? Children learn a great deal from their parents. And thus, if parents attend closely to the Word of God and children observe their parents doing so in church and in life, then children will learn these things as they learn by imitating their parents.
And folks, that is the most important thing that a church can offer children. Seeing their parents pay attention to the Word of God as it is read and preached, seeing their parents intentionally seeking to learn what the Bible says as part of a community of faith that takes the Bible seriously, seeing their parents study the Bible at home and share those studies with their family and in application, these are the things that children most need in a church.
So, should children start ditching all of their youth programs? No; insofar as the youth program encourages and supplements the children’s participation in worship, they are great. If these programs take children away from the gathered body (yes, my objection to “children’s church”), then they ought to be jettisoned. Children need to see their parents engaged in the worship of God’s people from an early age. Children need to learn from their parents how to look up a passage in the Bible, sing along with a group of people in worship, and follow a preacher’s sermons from their earliest years. Generations were raised in such a matter and those generations tended to make faith a much higher priority than does the generation that has grown up on youth programs of every flavor.
So, how do I answer the question above today? In politely and cheerfully say, “We offer a context where their faith and growth in faith will be taken seriously and where they can see you (as mom or dad) seriously engaged in the same. Is there anything more valuable?”
Hourly Wages
At this stage in my life, I have pretty much worked under just about every form of remuneration that is out there. As with many, I began work collecting an hourly wage. As a manager for Domino’s Pizza, I was paid salary plus commission, where my salary was modest, but I was able to earn an additional commission based on the profitability of the store I operated. When I was a mechanic’s apprentice, I was paid by “flat-rate,” which meant every job was assigned to it an “hourly value” and thus, if I was efficient, I could be paid for 60 hours of work in a 40 hour week. Then again, I had to be present for those 40 hours whether there was work or not. When I installed carpet, I was paid piece-rate, which meant that I was paid for every square yard of carpet I installed, no matter how much time it took, and, when the work was done, I went home. Then, as a teacher and a pastor, I have been paid a salary. About the only way I have not been paid has been on straight-commission.
The reality is that most of us don’t have a choice in how we get paid. If we want to go to work for so-in-so company, we will accept whatever arrangement of payment that they offer. At the same time, I must be forthright that the way I have most preferred to be paid has been via piece-rate. In this model, you get paid for what you produce, so there is a clear correlation between the paycheck and the work you have done. Also, if you happen to have extra expenses or financial needs, you can simply do more work (assuming that it is available) to earn the extra pay. It is the closest thing you will get to being self-employed…and in fact, for much of the time I spent being paid piece-rate, I was self-employed.
My least favorite forms of payment have either been salary or hourly wages. The benefit, of course, with salary is that you always know what your paycheck will be — week in and week out — and thus, it is easy to budget. The drawback is that your time is never truly your own and you never really have the opportunity to make extra money by working more hours (unless you go to work for someone else!). It is assumed that busy weeks and slow weeks will balance themselves out and thus there is no “over-time” for busy weeks and there are no lean weeks.
My problem with hourly wages is that it causes me to watch the clock. I recognize that this is my own weakness, but I have known many who have shared similar experiences. Yes, you do get paid over-time for additional work done and thus there are avenues to make more money when you need it in the family budget (assuming there is work to justify it), but when it is slow, especially, my attention is regularly drawn to wondering, “what time is it?” or “how much longer before I can go home.” And, frankly, I don’t like thinking like that. We should thrive in the work we do and we should view it as a God-given task by which we are commissioned to build Christ’s Kingdom. And, it’s on this aspect of the hourly wage that I want to build my analogy.
It is my fear that too many Christians have become “clock-watchers,” just biding their time until Jesus comes again. If you have spent any time reading these missives, you know that one of my complaints about the “pop-theology” of our culture is that people have a defeatist attitude and assume that the only thing that will right the wrongs of this world is the return of Jesus and the best we can hope to do is to hold onto our faith and survive until that day. People are essentially “watching the clock,” waiting for Jesus’ return, so they can go home and be done the work that makes them miserable.
Yet, Jesus says that we are to “engage in business until I come” (Luke 19:13). The King James, more famously, translates this phrase as “occupy until I come,” emphasizing the Dominion Mandate that is continued in the Great Commission. In fact, repeatedly in Jesus’ parables, the faithful servant is described as working to build the Kingdom while the lazy and wicked servant is simply biding his time. The thing is, we are not supposed to just watch the clock or bide our time; we are called to work, to do business, to take dominion of the world by making disciples of the nations.
One of the devastating effects of the Evangelical sub-culture which has retreated from society is that the world is not being subdued and the strongholds of hell are growing rather than being torn down. Every thought is not being taken captive and the fools, who reject the knowledge of God, are rising to power. It is not our job to simply “survive with our faith in tact” until Jesus comes again to defeat his enemies, it is our job to destroy those strongholds with the weapons of our warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4-6). Do we not believe that we will be given victory in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57)? Do we not believe that our faith is the victory that has overcome the world (1 John 5:4)? Do we not believe that Jesus has disarmed the rulers and powers of this world so we may triumph over them in faith (Colossians 2:15)?
Where is the triumphant faith that turned the world upside down in the first centuries AD? Where is the bold and victorious faith that reshaped the mind and worship of Europe and then the world during the Reformation? Yes, it remains present in segments, but so much of the church has fallen into the trap of seeking an hourly wage and nothing more. Instead of living bold and triumphant, transforming the culture, too much of the church is subsistence-living, seeking entertainment that dulls the senses of one’s faith. How long will the Lord allow his church to sleep and what will he say to her when he stands in judgment and she returns but one “talent” of faith that she has kept hidden underground?
His Grace
“In Him we have deliverance through His blood — liberation from trespasses — according to the riches of His grace, which abounds to us in all wisdom and understanding,”
(Ephesians 1:7-8)
A dozen times in this Epistle, Paul speaks of grace. We have already defined it here as “unmerited favor,” but it is worth noting that in these verses, Paul is very clear that this grace is “His grace.” Indeed, this seems to be an obvious connection, but it is important for us to clarify that when it comes to grace, there is nothing in it that is generated by or originates within us. It is unqualified, unreserved, unlimited, and unambiguous. God knows to whom he has extended his grace (election) and the extension of grace is mediated by the work of the Son. For God’s elect it is unalienable and for the eternally reprobate it is unattainable. It is God’s grace and his grace alone to give and he chooses to give it through his Son and in no other ways. It cannot be requested by us and it cannot be either accepted or rejected on our part. For it to be grace it must be sovereignly given.
How often people fall into the error that they think that they can accept or reject the grace of God. How often, the picture is painted of God universally offering grace and waiting upon man to accept it. Yet, beloved, if grace is contingent on our desire for it or upon our willingness to receive it, then it is not truly grace (Romans 11:6). It is something else entirely. Grace is not based on our human will nor is it based on the works we might do; it is based fully and entirely upon God and his mercy towards a fallen people in need of his grace (Romans 9:16). Woe to us when we demean the grace of God with notions of our choosing or of our acceptance. It is His grace and His alone to give. And that which is sovereignly given cannot be rejected on our part…it has been sovereignly given.
Six times in his epistles, Paul makes a point in referring to grace as “His” grace. How important it is for us to pay attention to those little pronouns if we are going to purge ourselves of the ideas of men that so proliferate the churches of our culture. The question is not really one of whether “you have received Jesus in your heart” (notice how that makes it something you do), but whether God has driven you to your knees, broken you of your pride, and brought you to repentance before the saving work of Jesus as an expression of his eternal and sovereign grace. It is not about what you want or do, dear friends, it is about God and what he is doing — whether you want it or not.
The Abundance of Grace
“In Him we have deliverance through His blood — liberation from trespasses — according to the riches of His grace, which abounds to us in all wisdom and understanding,”
(Ephesians 1:7-8)
While we talk a lot about grace in the Christian world (and rightly so!), before we do so in this context, it seems appropriate to first ask the question as to why Paul refers to this grace as “rich” or “abundant.” It certainly sounds nice and many of the hymns that are sung speak of God’s amazing grace, but why is Paul making such a big deal of the notion here? Is this just flowery language to create a nice flow and rhythm for the Ephesian Christians? Or, is there something more.
The word in question is the Greek word, πλοῦτος (ploutos), which is the word we get “plutocrat” (someone whose power comes from their wealth) and “plutocracy” (rule by the wealthy). On the most basic level, in Greek, it translates as wealth, abundance, and as plenty — implying that it will not and cannot run dry. It is like the oil and flour of the widow of Zerephath (1 Kings 17:8-16) whose water and oil did not run out. So too is God’s grace, Paul is saying, the implication of his words are this: that no matter how grievous your sin may be, grace is plentiful — it can fill the gap.
Sometimes people ask the question, “can God forgive even me?” The answer is, “yes!” The reason that the answer is an affirmative is because Grace is abundant…it is πλοῦτος, to borrow Paul’s language. Just as the oil and flour did not run out, no matter how many times the widow dipped into it, God’s grace for his people will not wear out no matter how badly or how often we have sinned.
Is that a license, then, to sin all the more? To use Paul’s language again, “Shall we sin all the more so that grace shall abound?” That almost sounds like a reasonable answer. It might be reasonable if we did not also understand the notion of being liberated from our trespasses, of which Paul speaks in the previous verse. We are the slaves who have been bought at a tremendous price, to go back to our sin would be to go back into the wretchedness of our slavery. And since, our slavery bound us to death (Romans 6:23), then we are binding ourselves to the tomb once again. And thus, we again say with the Apostle Paul, “May it never be! How can we who have died to sin still live in it?” Indeed, it would be like those Israelites in the book of Numbers who constantly wanted to go back into bondage in Egypt. How harshly God dealt with those who despised his grace like that! They were swallowed into the earth, burned by fire, bitten by poisonous serpents, and plagued by diseases that took their lives and sent them into judgment. They tasted the goodness of the manna in the wilderness (which points to Christ!) and they spat it out, preferring the slop of the Egyptian gruel. Even the prodigal son came to his senses when he had to eat with pigs.
Until you really come to terms with the depth of your sin and depravity, you will never come to terms with the depth of God’s grace, which is deeper still. Unless the Law is preached and we truly come to terms with who we are and with our wretched state before God, grace will just be one more word that is thrown around in the church and sung about in the hymns. It should be noted that God’s grace is not reserved for those who will understand or appreciate it — that’s not how grace works. At the same time, it is my conviction that those who genuinely receive it will appreciate it and seek to understand its implications all the more in their lives.
What Do I Look For in a Church?
That tends to be the question that we ask, isn’t it? This question drives the person who is “church shopping,” but it also drives the person who has chosen to remain in a church despite disagreements with the pastor or with the church’s leadership. Many surveys and polls that I have seen suggest that the main reason people stay in a church is because of friendships there. If such is the case, then that indicates what a person is looking for in a church — a place where friendships hold a person fast. The same could be said about family in the church or about having attended the church since childhood (or for generations) and the same could be said about influence — often people look for a church where their voice will be heard…and listened to.
Now, mind you, none of these things are necessarily bad to have in a church that you attend. It is a wonderful thing when children go to church with their parents and grandparents, when people have friendships in a church, or when they feel as if they have a voice in the life of the church. Indeed, these are all good things that makes being part of the church more pleasurable and meaningful. Yet, these are secondary reasons.
What is the primary thing that one ought to look for in a church? It is Biblical fidelity. Here’s the thing folks, if the life and practice of the church is not first and foremost aligned with the Word of God, of what will it avail you? If the life of the church is geared toward pleasing anyone other than God, then it will avail you nothing…in fact, it will lead you into a form of man-centered idolatry. Yes, you may have friends there. But being part of a church of friends will avail you nothing before the judgment seat of Christ. Yes, you may have family there, but family will avail you nothing before Christ’s judgment seat. And indeed, you may have the ear of the church leadership, but that will only mean you will be doubly accountable before Christ on judgment day.
Biblical fidelity is everything in the life of a church. It must do what is commanded by the Scriptures, it must believe what the Scriptures teach, it must love what God shows us he loves in the Scriptures, and it must hate that which God hates as is related in the Scriptures. And where there is disagreement and uncertainty as to how to apply a passage of Scripture to a new situation or setting, it must look back to the Creeds and Confessions of the church to understand how Biblically faithful people have understood and practiced the principles through the ages.
Seeking a Biblically faithful church may force you to leave behind friends. But you can still remain friendly outside of church. Seeking a Biblically faithful church may cause you to leave behind family, but family will remain family outside of church. Seeking a Biblically faithful church may mean that the leadership does not give you the ear that you are used to, but if they are being Biblically faithful, that suggests that the ideas you are trying to bring to the table ought not be brought. And so it places us in the position that we need to conform to the faithful practice of the Scriptures, not try and draw a Biblically faithful church away from their Scriptural moorings. In reality, leaving behind a church of family and friends for a Biblically faithful church costs you nothing — maybe it will cost a little bit of pride — but it will cost you nothing in the eternal sense and gain you everything.
Does that mean you can’t go to heaven unless you attend a Biblically faithful church? Not really. I expect that many will be in glory in spite of the errors and man-centered ways that their churches have embraced. In fact, I relish the notion that such will be the case as none of us get things completely right. But the question shouldn’t be, “will I go to heaven if I stay in this church?” The question should be, “will my spiritual life thrive in this church?” And, if you are not in a Biblically faithful church, your spiritual life will not thrive as it could. And isn’t a thriving spiritual life what we all should most desire as we live out our faith in this world? Something to think about…
Liberation
“In Him we have deliverance through His blood — liberation from trespasses — according to the riches of His grace, which abounds to us in all wisdom and understanding,”
(Ephesians 1:7-8)
Do we really think of our deliverance from sins as “liberation”? Sadly, I fear that we do not. In America today, we don’t have much personal experience with slavery in a formal sense and we are accustomed to having freedoms to move and go where we wish. During my years in seminary, I worked with homeless men, many of whom were drug addicts and former drug addicts. Particularly amongst the latter group, I got a taste for the gratitude that comes along with being delivered from this horrible addiction. Today, there are many that are addicted to other sorts of sins — pornography, for example, and gambling. Therein, we can also get a sense of what it means to be delivered from something oppressive. And the most basic response to real deliverance is gratitude.
Genuine gratitude is easy to see. It shows in the way people live and in their change of thinking. It shows in their desire to please the one who has delivered them. Think of how people often respond (and rightly so) to first responders who deliver them from the jaws of death, whether it be from a fire or an accident somewhere. People go to great lengths to honor those first responders as a demonstration of their gratitude. And again, it is right and proper to do so. Yet, what does our gratitude toward God look like with respect to this great salvation that is offered in Jesus Christ? How do we show our gratitude for His delivering us? Sadly, we often don’t.
Our gratitude or ingratitude toward God for this deliverance is proportional to how seriously we take our sin and its consequences. If we really recognize that our sins (even the “little” ones) are outward rebellion against God and are worthy of the fires of eternal hell, then we will show much gratitude. But, if we look at our sins as nothing more than bad habits that need to be addressed and corrected through therapy or will-power, then our lives will hardly be marked by the gratitude we are called to give. They will be marked by an obedience to God that is pragmatic (this seems to work for me) and that is is not fundamental to one’s very existence. We will never see this deliverance as something that truly comes from the “riches” of God’s grace until we really come to terms with this notion of being delivered from our bondage to sin and death.
Deliverance!
“In Him we have deliverance through His blood — liberation from trespasses — according to the riches of His grace, which abounds to us in all wisdom and understanding,”
(Ephesians 1:7-8)
To start with, let’s talk about the idea of deliverance. In context, Paul parallels the idea with the phrase, “liberation from trespasses,” giving us a degree of additional clarity as to specifically the kind of deliverance that the Apostle has in mind. The word in question is ἀπολύτρωσις (apolutrosis), which most commonly refers to paying a ransom to free someone from slavery or bondage. The next logical answer to ask, then, is “what kind of bondage are believers delivered from?” The answer is found in Paul’s clarification — from our bondage to sin.
One of the errors that crept into medieval theology was the notion that the ransom payment for believers was paid to the devil. Yet, we are not bound by the devil, we are bound by our sin. Further, the devil has no rightful or legitimate claim upon us as if he were some sort of equal power with God (that would be Manicheanism). No, we are bound by our sin and it is the Law that reveals our sin (Romans 7:7) and thus, any ransom that is made is ransom to the Law. In turn, then, given that the remission of sin requires the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22), then the ransom paid is not one of gold or silver or other forms of wealth, the ransom was made in blood…namely the blood of the one who has ransomed us from the bondage of sin before the Law.
The real issue that Christians too often struggle with today is that they do not see their sin as a form of bondage. Worse, some even see grace as a license to sin! Paul is very clear that such is not the view of the believer (Romans 6:1-2). Sin, all too sadly, is soft-pedaled in churches. It is seen as “not that bad” because there are others who are far more sinful than they. Thus, church discipline, too, has been put to the side. If sin is not that big of a deal, why take it so seriously as that? And the circle of cause and effect spirals downward.
Sin, even the smallest and most “insignificant” of sins, is bondage to us according to the Biblical text. Even the most minor “little white lie” would have cost Jesus his life upon that cross on Golgotha. Woe to those who will not treat it as such. Woe to the ones who excuse and justify their pet sins and an abundance of woes to the ones who look upon sin and call it by any other name. When one justifies sin, one justifies remaining in bondage and even celebrates the bondage of others.
Loved ones, do you not see that your sin binds you? Do you not recognize the toll it takes on your life? Do you not realize that obedience to the Law in Christ is a blessed freedom, not something that robs us of all our fun. You must realize that in heaven we will be unable to sin — unable! Yet, shall we be any more free than when we are in glory? Most certainly not! How sin has so muddled our brains that we would think of bondage as good and of freedom as unstimulating and tedious.
In Christ we have been redeemed from our bondage to sin just as the Israelites who followed Moses were redeemed from their bondage to the toil of Pharaoh’s work details. Sadly, just as there were complainers under Moses, people constantly nostalgic for the stewpots of Egypt, there are Christians in the body of Christ who likewise pine for their pet chains and shackles of sin. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free from our slavery (Galatians 5:1), shall we not enjoy and rejoice in the freedom that Christ has sacrificed to provide for us?
Rights and Privileges
In America, it is not an uncommon thing to hear discussions about rights and privileges. As a young man, I remember my father instructing me that I ought always to honor those who have sacrificed to protect the rights I had because even those rights that we believe to be unalienable can be lost if wicked people come into power. I also remember him instructing me that it was my duty to live in such a way so as to not squander the privileges that those rights afforded me — and further to never confuse the two.
In America, we go as far as to distinguish between those rights that are moral and those which are legal. Moral rights are considered “unalienable” as they cannot be lost, sacrificed, or even willfully forsaken except in certain extreme cases. This is famously summarized in the Declaration of Independence which states that we have been endowed by our creator with the right “to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” All of this is founded in the principle that we are made in God’s image and such rights properly belong to image bearers. Legal rights are fleshed out what we call our “Bill of Rights” found in the first ten amendments to the Constitution — principles like freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, freedom to worship as we so choose, freedom to own and bear arms, the right to a speedy trial made up of a jury of our peers, etc…
Privileges, then, are those things that flow out of our rights. I have the privilege of driving an automobile as it enables me to pursue and exercise my rights. Yet, privileges can be lost if we abuse said things. And examples of said privileges (as well as rights) can fill pages and books, and that is not my purpose here.
My purpose is to challenge you to think of rights and privileges outside of the American Constitutional and legal context. That is important, but most of us are well versed in these matters. Some of you reading this may be better versed in them than me. What concerns me is that while most Americans are quick to talk about their rights as citizens of America, they are want to talk about their rights as citizens of heaven in the church. In fact, what should be said is that most professing Christians are completely oblivious to their rights and privileges as citizens of heaven as if said rights had no bearing on the way they live their lives.
What are said rights and privileges? The most fundamental right that citizens of Heaven have is that of access to the church. Just as an American citizen has the right to flee to an American embassy when he is traveling through a foreign land, so too does the Christian have the right to flee to the church in this foreign lands where we live and travel. How people take access to the church for granted. How people treat the church as a social organization rather than as the living and breathing assembly of the people of God. How people see church as a comfortable and welcoming place that demands nothing rather than as the schoolroom of Christ which instructs us how to live. And how rarely, when people travel, do they seek out a Biblical church to which they can flee for worship on Sunday mornings — let alone, on Sunday evenings. Membership may be a privilege granted to those willfully covenanting together, but access to the church is our right.
Yet, let us not stop there. For as Christians, we also have the right to be instructed in the things of God by the church. Indeed, this does not mean that we do not have the responsibility to read and study on our own, but what a remarkable gift it is that God has given us a place wherein we can be taught the Word of God and how to think rightly about it. I fear that instruction in our land has been so undervalued that many Christians would not recognize it if they actually experienced it — they would simply see it as teaching that was over their heads and too high to understand. What is worse, as many no longer value such instruction, even many seminaries downplay its importance. Why train men to teach the deep truths of God’s Word if their future congregations are more interested in practical advice from the pulpit and services that entertain rather than instruct?
Yet, instruction is our God-given right and we ought to demand it. Can you imagine what it would look like if people took to the street and rioted because the church was not instructing them in the Word of God well enough? Can you imagine what it would look like if there was a group like the National Rifle Association that was dedicated to the defense of the right of Biblical and Theological instruction? Can you imagine the character of our community if every church was a seminary unto itself and every member was actively committed as a student in the classroom of Christ?
And, note well, Christian instruction must not be limited to children and those preparing for confirmation into church membership. It is a fundamental right that the Christian has. You don’t lose unalienable rights once you get to a certain age and you do not cease to pursue and protect those rights when you get to a certain level in your life. No, as we grow older and more mature, those rights become more dear to us and the exercise thereof becomes more consequential. How it should be with citizens of Heaven as well. The more we learn, the more we should wish to learn more. The challenge for the preacher should not be to bring God’s word down to our level, but it should be to rise to a high enough level to satisfy our hunger to learn. In the days of the Reformation, instruction in the Bible and theology was available every day of the week; what a transformation it would bring to our communities if such instruction were still available, where people from the congregation would gather in the church at various times during the day to be instructed in the Word of God before they head off to their daily vocations.
Along with instruction comes church discipline. Many fear its practice because they only see church discipline as something that offends people out of the church. We ought to be offended by a church that does not or will not practice church discipline because that means there is no desire to grow and mature in the practice of Biblical godliness. While instruction is designed to teach our minds how to think right about the things of God, discipline teaches our hearts how to live right as people of God. One goes hand in hand with the other. If people in a church desire to live faithfully, they should desire the sagely counsel from the Word of God when they err in the practice of their faith. And, when a church witnesses utter unrepentant within its midst, it is a sign that such a person is most clearly not a part of the body and should be removed from the privileges of the church for the sake of the health of the body. People often charge that such behavior is malicious and “mean,” yet is it malicious and mean to have a tumor removed from your body when it is threatening the health of the whole?
Can you imagine what it would look like in our communities if professing Christians went to the church Elders with civil and family disputes rather than to the courts? That may sound strange to us in modern times, but this is how the Apostle Paul said that the church should function. Why trust a pagan to rule rightly in a lawsuit when you can go to one who understands the Word of God for justice? Of course, that presumes that the church leaders do understand the Word of God and are trained in doing so. Do you see how our apathy for Christian instruction has deleterious effects on all areas of our life? Do you see how our abandonment of our Christian right to be instructed by the church has secularized not just the community but the church itself? Do you see how this right protects the other rights you enjoy in your civil realm?
Indeed, the moral rights guaranteed to Americans make no sense whatsoever unless you understand that you are made in the image of God — but folks, that part comes from Biblical and theological instruction. Do you see that as we move further and further away from such instruction in the church, society becomes more and more godless. And, as society departs into what the psalmist would categorize as the thinking of the fool, we forfeit both our moral and civil rights as Americans. As my father would say, we need to honor those who sacrificed to bring us such rights — and the one who sacrificed the most, of course, was Jesus the Son of God himself.
Beloved in the Beloved
“to the praise of His glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved One.”
(Ephesians 1:6)
In the absolute sense, who is the beloved of God? Jesus. Does that mean that Christians are not beloved by God? Not at all; we are regularly called God’s beloved within the Scriptures (e.g. Romans 9:25; Ephesians 5:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Jude 1). Yet, why is it that Christians are beloved of God? It is because believers are in his Son, Jesus. From beginning to end, the love of God is intimately tied and bound to Christ and to His glory alone.
As a result of this notion of us being beloved because we are in the one who is ultimately Beloved in the most absolute sense of the term, the word “beloved” has taken on rich meaning within the Christian church. Repeatedly, the New Testament authors refer to their audience or to their fellow Christian workers as being “beloved.” In fact, the New Testament authors address the church or individual Christians as “beloved” about 50 times, which is about a third as often as the term “brothers” is used in the epistles to speak of fellow believers.
As a result of this frequency, we must recognize that this term is more than just a phrase that we use; it ought to also guide us in the way we relate toward one another. Yes, the true church is beloved of God, but within the true church, true Christians ought to be beloved of one another. Sadly, how often that is not the case. How often sects and rivalries develop within a church body where people vie for influence rather than treating one another as beloved. How often the body gathers, beloved is anything but the term that they would use to describe one another or that the pastor would use to describe them.
And in cases where there is so much dissension and division within a given church body, Paul’s language here ought to call us to terms. Why have we been blessed in the beloved one? Paul writes that it is to the praise of God’s glorious grace. In other words, the aim of God pouring out his love upon us has nothing to do with us and has everything to do with his Son and driving us to worship. And so, perhaps the next time you are inclined to begrudge the beloved in your midst the love and affection that ought to be shown to them, ask yourself, “is God being praised by my attitude?” If not, then repent; you, who are beloved of God, repent.
The Pleasure of His Will
“Predestining us for adoption through Jesus Christ into Him, according to the pleasure of His will,”
(Ephesians 1:5)
The Pleasure of His will… I wonder whether we really take time to think about this phrase very often. God does this work of adoption through Christ not primarily for our good (though it is very much to our good); he does it for His pleasure. His pleasure that is, not our pleasure. How shocking that revelation must be to many people who simply view God as being a senile father in the sky who desperately wishes to give away good gifts but has to wait for us to desire them enough to ask for them. While dominant in much of Christianity, such a view is inconsistent with the Biblical revelation and is shameful at best.
The Greek word that we translate as “pleasure” is εὐδοκία (eudokia). Literally, this word is a noun that refers to a state of being — one that is well disposed toward the actions being taken — actions that are both desired and desirable. Yet, we must make it clear that the one to whom this action is desirable is God. He is not acting out of some sense of need within himself nor is he acting out of some vague beneficence toward mankind. No, he is acting because such an action brings pleasure to his person.
What other things are described in a similar way? Jesus described the veiling of the Gospel from the worldly wise as a work of God’s pleasure (Matthew 11:26; Luke 10:21), revealing his will to the elect in Christ (Ephesians 1:9), and that in conforming us to His will, we will labor to God’s glory (Philippians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). Perhaps, though, the best statement on the this idea of God’s good pleasure (εὐδοκία) is found in the Greek translation of 1 Chronicles 16:10, which reads, “Utter praise in His holy name! The heart that seeks His pleasure will rejoice!”
Family
“And his mother and brothers came and standing outside they sent for him and called him. And there was a crowd sitting around him and they said to him, ‘Look, your mother and your brothers, they are looking for you.’ And he answered them saying, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking around toward those who were sitting about him he said, ‘Look! These are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’”
(Mark 3:31-35)
The notion of family is one of the few things that all people have in common — that is we have one. At the same time, every family is unique. Some are large and others are small. Some are healthy and tight-knit and others are unhealthy and rather dysfunctional. Others still, it is sad to say, are toxic. Some are ever-present and some are essentially non-existent, abandoning their responsibilities. Nevertheless, as babies still need a mother and a father to be born into this world, that notion of family still is a common thread that we share.
There are other kinds of families as well. Some are adoptive, for example, where adults choose to ingraft into their home a child or children that is not biologically theirs but who will become spiritually theirs. There are also brotherhoods that form (or sisterhoods) where people find themselves connected closely as a kind of family. This often can be seen in military groups or in the life of people who share a time of distress. It also takes place in churches, where you are surrounded by people who will walk alongside of you during both the joys and crises of life. At times, these relationships will be closer and more intimate than ones held between biological connections, and rightly so.
This is the kind of family of which Jesus is speaking above. The funny thing, if you look at the broader context, is that his natural family has begun thinking that Jesus is out of his mind (Mark 3:21). He is teaching so much and preaching so much that he wasn’t eating right (Mark 3:20). How fun it is to imagine Jesus’ mother in an ordinary, average way — worrying that her son wasn’t eating enough. That certainly would have described my own mother to a tee. And so, they come to take him home, invariably to make sure that he gets some sleep and a good meal.
If you know the story, you know what happens next — Jesus rebukes his natural family and embraces those who are following him as his family — once again, a picture of the church. How often it is that Christians have to leave homes and natural families behind for the Gospel. How often the Gospel functions as a sword and divides families down the middle. How comforting it is to be reminded that when families are left behind for the Gospel, God will give you spiritual families in abundance.
Yet, there is one nuance about Jesus’ statement that is often overlooked. Jesus defines what it means to be in his family — to be in the church, the spiritual family of believers. He says, “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother, sister, and mother.” Did you catch that? “Whoever does the will of God…” The mistake that people sometimes make in the life of a church is that they assume that the persons sitting around them are their spiritual family yet they do not also ask the question, “Is this fellow church member trying to do the will of God?” To borrow from Paul’s words it in Romans 12:2, with a renewed mind are they trying to discern what is the will of God so that they can do what is good and acceptable and perfect?
There is a saying that goes: “Blood is thicker than water.” That simply means that our blood relationships will be closer and more indelible than the other relationships we have. The response to this saying is that Christ’s blood is thicker than human blood. And thus, the bond we have to Christ and to His Church will be tighter even than the bond we have to our family relations, this is a reality to which my own life can attest. Yet, we must never leave out doing the will of God because there are those in the local church who will purport to be a part of the body but who are not. They are impostors and antichrists whether they realize it or not. Just as Christians should never choose loyalty to family lines over loyalty to Christ, they also must not choose loyalty to local churches, denominations, or traditions over their loyalty to Christ. For, in doing so, they will often be aligning with those who are not obeying the will of God.
Pursue God in His fullness and you will quickly find who is truly the family of Christ.
Adoption through Jesus Christ
“Predestining us for adoption through Jesus Christ into Him, according to the pleasure of His will,”
(Ephesians 1:5)
The doctrine of adoption is a blessed doctrine, indeed. Think about it this way, God’s work in Christ is not simply a matter of delivering us from eternal judgment, which indeed would be a blessed thing, yet God goes further. Indeed, he goes much further and adopts us in Christ Jesus. It is in this context that we can cry out, “Abba! Father!” to our God (Romans 8:15). It permits us to pray, “Our Father,” as we begin the Lord’s prayer and it enables us to be called children of God, assured of our Father’s love (1 John 3:1).
Yet, it must be noted that this adoption, while assured by the completed work of Christ and is granted to us in our justification, is something that will only be fully realized in the resurrection (Romans 8:23). It is as if the adoption papers have been signed and sealed, yet we, while in our earthly bodies and then have those bodies laid in the tomb, yet wait until we might enjoy the full measure of being in the presence of our glorious Father and King.
And, once more, this adoption is given “in Christ.” All the blessings of God are ultimately mediated to us through Christ; he is the amen of all of the promises of God (2 Corinthians 1:20). How often Christians fall into the trap of thinking that God loves them just the way they are, that they are special in and of themselves in God’s eyes, and that their salvation is because God has some sort of need to be in relationship with them. How far from the truth these notions are! God enters into relationship with believers precisely because we are in his Son. And since the Father has a relationship with the Son, he has a relationship with us as believers. Furthermore, he is not content with the way we are, but only seeks to perfect us into the image of his glorious Son so that we might stand as the church as the pure and eternal bride of Christ. Because of Christ and His work, we are adopted as children of God — we are not children of God by the virtue of our being image-bearers.
Predestination and Man’s Distorted View of Freedom
“Predestining us for adoption through Jesus Christ into Him, according to the pleasure of His will,”
(Ephesians 1:5)
Predestination is one of those words that often causes people to recoil. The funny thing is that the Bible uses the term six times in the New Testament, so somewhere along the way, people need to wrestle through the word, what it means, and how it relates to God and mankind. The Greek word in question is προορίζω (proorizo), which very literally means, “to decide upon something beforehand.”
One might contest that you and I also decide to do things beforehand. We plan out road trips and vacations weeks or months in advance, deciding that on such and such a day we will go to this place or eat dinner at that restaurant. Yet, we already know from the context of this passage that the choosing, or electing, work of God is something that took place before the foundation of the earth. Thus, the context of this deciding also must be understood as a pre-creation decision. So, before anyone existed, before anyone could do anything good or bad, before the Fall of Adam took place, God had decided to adopt his chosen elect through Jesus Christ and His work.
Some have suggested that perhaps this pre-deciding is something that took place on the basis of God’s foreknowledge. Given that God knew all things that would or could happen (in philosophical terms, that is what we call God’s knowledge of all “eventualities”), they suggest that God, on the basis of that knowledge, just chose those who would eventually choose him. The nature of God that such a response presents is as unsatisfying as it is unBiblical. It presents God as responding to our actions like a human would respond to the actions of others and it strips God of any claim of sovereignty over history, let alone, over human salvation. He merely knows the things we will do and responds accordingly. It is only the illusion of sovereignty that such a view attributes to God. If you or I could somehow look into the future and discover who won the World Series, would that knowledge imply that we had any control over the victor of those games? No, it would not.
Others have suggested that as God is outside of time, he looks on all time and space simultaneously and similarly elects those who come to faith. While it is true that God is outside of time, this view presents the time and space continuum, as it were, as something that exists in its own right and is thus eternal as God is eternal. That would ultimately be a view propounded by gnostics over the years and is entirely unbiblical once again. The creation owes its very existence to God (Colossians 1:16), so how could it ever be said that it is co-eternal with God? Some would grant the error of Gnosticism, but would say that once God created all things, he took a step back as a passive observer, allowing the creation to run along on its own. This would be the error of Deism and is in contradiction to the very next verse which I cited just above, for Colossians 1:17 speaks of Christ holding all things together — actively engaging in the maintenance of the creation, not passively watching to see what it is that we will do.
Not only is such an idea contrary to the plain reading of Scripture, who would wish to worship such a God, if he could ever truly claim the title of being God at all? Here, he is portrayed as an all-knowing God, but one who is impotent to do anything or ordain anything in history. He is a slave, as it were, to what he knows to take place. In some senses, it makes God subservient to creation and not the Author, Keeper, and Lord of it. Woe to those who present God in ways that are so contrary to the way that God presents himself in Scripture and woe to those who settle for such a lowly God to worship.
Instead, the Scriptures present God as a God who knows all things because he has predestined and preordained all things to take place. The Scriptures present a God who is indeed not bound by time and space, but who has created it for His purposes and who governs it through his works and providence. The Scriptures presents us with a God who is absolutely and unapologetically sovereign over all things that take place, both great and small and who is surprised by nothing not simply because he has perfect foresight, but because he has ordained all things that come to pass (Ephesians 1:11). While many feel uncomfortable with such a depiction of God, that it constrains their free will, they need to recognize that this is the way God has presented himself and the wills that they so celebrate are bent and warped and twisted by sin, constraining them not just to bad behavior but to bad thoughts about their creator. While God may indeed conform our wills to His, his doing so is not a matter of constraint in a negative way, it is a matter of helping us conform to what is True and good for us in the first place.
Think about it in this manner — it is in heaven that we will be most free, yet we will be unable to sin in heaven and we will only be able to do what is right and good and pleasing to God. So where is your glorious human “free will” in that context? I present to you that what most people champion as a “free will” is nothing short of a will in bondage to sin. A truly free will is not one that can make any choice in any situation, but one that makes a choice in conformity to God’s will in all situations.
The Unnecessary Member
In many biology textbooks, especially older ones, they speak about “vestigial organs.” The belief was that, as the human body “evolved,” there were left behind remains of previous stages of evolution and we are thus chock full of parts that are no longer needed. Examples if parts that are or were considered vestigial are things like the coccyx (better known as the tail-bone), the eyebrows, the appendix, and the thymus (a gland just under your breast-bone). In many cases, these organs are routinely removed as one can live without them.
Of course, from a Christian worldview, evolution is simply a bunch of rhetoric designed to explain the remarkable design all around us (and in us) without having to bow down to an almighty God who created all things. Further, vestigial organs aren’t. The coccyx exists not because we used to have a tail; it exists because it is a point of attachment for ligaments which connect and support the pelvis. The eyebrows protect and shade the eyes, the appendix is part of the immune system as is the thymus. For a more in-depth discussion of how vestigial organs aren’t vestigial, might I commend the book by Dr. Jerry Bergman and Dr. George Howe, entitled “Vestigial Organs” Are Fully Functional.
The idea of vestigial organs, though, struck me in the terms of how some people approach the church and its membership. The Apostle Paul used the analogy of the church being the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. Like a human body, Paul writes, the body of Christ has many parts. No single part is more significant than the other, there are no vestigial parts, and each part needs the function worked by the other parts of the body. True, the body can live without some of the parts, but the body was designed by God to have each part to be whole.
The real question that needs to be asked is not so much whether the parts are necessary; all of the parts of the body are necessary for the body to be whole. Instead, we should be asking first, whether certain members really are true members of the body and second, if they are members of the body, are they diseased in such a way that treatment (minor or serious) needs to be applied.
Think about the effect that a foreign body has when it is trapped as part of the human body. It hurts, it causes infection, and it typically does more damage than good. When my wife and I first got married, we bought an old farmhouse with hardwood floors. As a whole the floors were in pretty good shape but they were in need of refinishing, though that was a low priority given the renovations we needed to make. In the summers, I pretty much live in bare feet and one day caught a two-inch-long splinter from the floor into my foot. It was so heavily embedded that my wife had to get me a pair of pliers to pull it out. But, that is the point, I pulled it out. I don’t know which was more painful, getting stabbed by it or removing it, but nevertheless, leaving it in was not an option. It did not belong in my foot, it was not part of my natural body, and even though my body would have likely built up scar tissue around it over time, leaving it in was an invitation for future disease and problems.
The Scriptures are filled with references to anti-christs in our mist. These are people that become part of the visible church for a season but then leave behind the teachings of the one true church and begin making their own way. Sometimes they leave the church but often they remain (especially in our culture where most churches take an “anything goes” approach to membership). Like that splinter, they are a foreign body in the midst of the true body and that does not belong.
The Scriptures are also filled with references as to what a true Christian is to look like. Jesus tells us to judge a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20) and that we should be careful lest we be led astray (Luke 21:8). John tells us to examine every spirit to see if they are from God (1 John 4:1). Peter reminds us to beware of false prophets that bring in heresies that destroy (2 Peter 2:1). Paul tells us to “test everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:1) and that the children of light seek to discern what is pleasing to God (Ephesians 5:8-10). Solomon warns that those who are prudent examine that which they are told (Proverbs 14:15). Even Moses commands that if there are dreamers and prophets telling the people that they need not fear God or obey his commands, that they should not be listed to, but should be put to death so as that they will not mislead any in the body (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).
It is true that only God knows the heart of man (1 Samuel 16:7), but God gives us many indications as to how a true believer is to live. Shall we not examine the life of someone before we acknowledge them as a true believer? Shall we not take time to instruct rather than rushing people onto the rolls of our church just so that we can brag about numbers? Shall we not intentionally look at the fruit of a person’s life and ask the question as to whether someone walks in the Fruit of the Spirit or in the Works of the Flesh (Galatians 5:16-26)? Shall we not take pains to examine the body before we approach the Sacrament of the Lord’s Table so that harm may not come to both individual and congregation (1 Corinthians 11:27-32)?
But what of a diseased body part? Indeed, in many cases, parts of the human body are removed due to infection and disease. And, in some ways, the Christian church works that through the process of church discipline. Jesus lays out very clearly the manner in which the church is to discipline its members (Matthew 18:15-20). At times, this is more minor. One person goes to speak with someone engaged in a sinful practice, the person repents, and fellowship is restored. The loving admonition of a faithful brother or sister in faith is the penicillin of the church body.
Sometimes, though, the disease of sin is more persistent and is not constrained to a localized area. When the first admonition is rejected, another admonition is given (again in love and seeking repentance and reconciliation), and this time with one or two witnesses. Here is the presence of a stronger dose of antibiotics or perhaps the hands of a skilled surgeon working to restore function in a body part. And, if the person repents, the disease can be either killed or driven into permanent remission.
Yet, sometimes the disease is more deeply rooted still like a stubborn cancer that is seeking to spread. Thus, the appeal is made to the church. In the case of most Reformed circles, that is understood to be an outworking of the role of the Pastor and Elders. Where again the sin is confronted with the authority of the Word of God and the authority of the Overseers of the congregation. If sin (again) is not repented of, the person is to be put out of the body, just as one would remove a cancerous tumor. It would be hoped that the absence of the body will drive a person to repent, though very often, because it needed to go this far in the process, it became clear that the person was never a true member of the body — one who genuinely feared the Lord and sought to be obedient to the Word. Here is the dreaded word, “excommunication,” which is simply the pronouncement by the authorities of the church that a person is not a genuine believer and thus is not in communion with the body.
Yet, even still, such members are not truly “vestigial.” To be vestigial, they would have to have once been a part of the body. Yet, they weren’t truly ever a part of the body (1 John 2:19). They might have departed from the visible church, but they were never part of the invisible church — they were never actually a part of the body.
Love of God in Christ
“Blessed is God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; blessing us with every spiritual heavenly blessing in Christ, just as he elected us in Him before the foundation of the cosmos to be holy and blameless before Him in love.”
(Ephesians 1:3-4)
The last clause in these verses is one that might go by us quickly were we not looking carefully at the text. Depending on the English translation you happen to be using, sometimes “in love” is considered the beginning of a new sentence, thus tying it to verse 5 rather than to verse 4. The argument there is that verse numbers were assigned much later than the text was written and are not part of the inspired text, and so it is not unheard of to suggest that the scholars might have placed verse numbers slightly differently.
The real question has to do with which part of the phrasing that “in love” applies to on a conceptual level. The English Standard Version, along with several other translations, connects the “in love” with verse 5, understanding the “in love” as a description of how God predestines believers for adoption. In contrast, the King James, along with other (mostly older) translations, prefers to connect the “in love” clause with verse 4, understanding the clause to refer to the way that God elected a people to be holy and blameless.
Does it really make a difference? In the big picture, no. God is a God who elects and is a God who is loving. All he does, he does in a way that is perfectly consistent with his character, so both election and adoption are an outworking of God’s love. Indeed, connecting the clause with verse 5 has the advantage of emphasizing that this adoption of God’s elect is an act of God’s divine love. At the same time, God’s predestining and adoption are the natural outworking of his electing work.
Perhaps one may approach the question more clearly by first asking the question as to who is the object of this love? If one weds the phrase “in love” one is presuming that the object of the love happens to be those who God has adopted. If one connects this clause with verse 4, one might instead argue that God’s electing work (and setting apart a people to be holy and blameless) is an outworking of God’s love for us in Christ. Thus, this makes Christ the object of God’s love and the election of God a refection of God’s love for his Son.
Yet, is this not what is taught in the New Testament? Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39:
“For I have been persuaded that neither death nor life, angels nor powers, neither that which has been nor that which will be, neither powers nor heights, neither depths nor any other creature is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Or in the words of Jesus from John 14:23:
“Jesus answered them and said, ‘If anyone loves me, he keeps my word and my Father will love him; we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Approaching the text in this matter does not deny the many places where the Bible clearly states that God loves us (e.g. 1 John 3:1 and 4:9), but it does affirm that the reason for God’s love is not arbitrary. God loves us because we are elected in His Son. Or, one might word it this way: because God loves his Son with an infinite and indescribable love, we who are part of Christ’s body are recipients of that love — the love of God is mediated, as it were, in Christ.
Elected to Holiness
“Blessed is God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; blessing us with every spiritual heavenly blessing in Christ, just as he elected us in Him before the foundation of the cosmos to be holy and blameless before Him in love.”
(Ephesians 1:3-4)
It is worthwhile to dwell on this notion that God has elected his people for a purpose. And that purpose is that we be “holy and blameless before Him in love.” In Christian circles, the word “holiness” is one that is used heavily but often misunderstood. People usually think that a “holy” person is a person who is exceptionally godly and spiritual. And while that ought to be the case, such is not what the word actually means.
Holiness refers to be set apart for God’s use and for his purposes. For instance, the clothing that Aaron and his sons would wear in their official capacity was set apart as holy (Exodus 28:2). These garments were for Aaron’s work in the temple. They were not to be worn casually or in his daily routine as it were, but he was to use them for God’s work and for God’s purposes. The same thing can be said of the other items in the Tabernacle and around the altar. They were set apart for God’s use alone and not for common usage.
Yet, not only were the things of the Tabernacle and then the Temple set apart as holy, so too was Aaron (Exodus 28:36-38) and further, the people of God were also referred to as “Holy to the Lord” (Deuteronomy 7:6). And, if one would be tempted to suggest that this is only an Old Testament statement, the Apostle Peter cites the language from Leviticus 11:44 about the people of God being “holy as God is holy” and applies that to Christians (1 Peter 1:14-16). That means, as Christians, we have been set apart as holy to God — chosen by God and set apart for his purposes. The world may seek worldly pleasures but that does not belong to our being — we are called to pursue the blessedness of God (as Paul already mentioned) which is far greater than anything this earth can afford us.
How often Christians get their minds and priorities turned upside down. How often they forsake their calling to be holy and how often we slip into sinful ways and practices instead of pursuing the blessedness of God. And, how often the “godliness” that we often associate with holiness is seen as something for someone else to strive toward and not for us. Every word, every action, every thought that fills your life and your days is something that should be seen as being used for the glory of God.
This does not mean that every Christian is called to be a pastor, a missionary, or a street evangelist. What it does mean is that every Christian is called upon to point others toward Christ in their daily activities. This does mean that every Christian is called to live their lives deliberately that we may seek to please God in all we do, that we may seek opportunities to point others to faith and repentance in all we do, and that we are to seek to live and act in such a way that the name of Christ is not besmirched by our actions.
How remarkably sad it is when Christians compromise their holiness for worldly things. How remarkably sad it is that many Christians are willing to strive for excellence in worldly things yet compromise eternal things. As Americans, we often celebrate those Christians who are professional athletes in our midst. Yet, how many of them break the Sabbath because it happens to be “game day.” And no, there is no amount of argument that you can give that will convince me that watching or playing football on Sundays is “doxological” in nature. We are called to set apart the day as holy, not the hour. And holy is God’s use alone.
The Christian doctrine of holiness is not a convenient one nor is it an easy one in our day and age. Yet, it is meant to further set Christians apart to a different kind of lifestyle than is the world. Yes, the world may pursue earthly pleasures. Yes, the world might treat the Lord’s Day as the second day of the weekend — a chance to get things done, go shopping, and be busy with things of personal interest. True, it may be relaxing to go to eat on a Sunday, but you are breaking the Sabbath by employing others to provide for your leisure. These are things that Christians rarely ever contemplate.
God did not elect a people so that people could spend their time however they wanted and then enjoy eternity. May that never be said. God elected a people to be set apart for his use and to find our pleasure in His blessedness, not in worldly things. That does not make us ascetics, but it does mean that we distinguish between worldly and divine and that even when we might enjoy a worldly pleasure, like a good meal or good fellowship, we recognize it as a good gift from God. If you are a Christian, you have been called to holiness; pursue it without reservation, it is what you have been set apart to do.
Chameleons in the Pulpit
I am not a biologist by training, but I am amazed at the ability of a chameleon to mimic the colors of its surroundings, creating a form of natural camouflage. I’m sure that someone who specializes in the biology of lizards could give an answer as to how the animal does that, but I am content to marvel not only at the remarkable little creature but also at the God who would design and create this creature to do such a wonderful thing…mutations and random chance my foot.
There is another kind of chameleon, though, that is far less marvelous and needs almost no scientific explanation. This kind of chameleon is the person who essentially tells people whatever they want to hear and who takes no firm positions on anything that matters. This is sometimes done to win supporters and “friends” and sometimes it is done to avoid conflict. Nevertheless, it is a form of camouflage that many people practice in our society.
I suppose that we most commonly associate this behavior with politicians. This is not an insult against all politicians, I have known a number of them over the years who have had a great deal of integrity and who will stand against popular opinion if it is the right thing to do. At the same time, there is often a reason behind the development of a stereotype. My son and I have been watching the various presidential debates over this past year and sadly it seems that these folks largely fit the stereotype to a tee. It is sad to me that politics in America has more to do with rhetoric and campaign finances than with real ideas about real issues. Our nation is poorer because of it.
Yet, though I grieve over the death of politics in America, what grieves me even more deeply is the death of the pulpit in our nation (and beyond!). If there is someone who is not called to be a chameleon, it is the preacher. His calling is to pronounce absolute right from absolute wrong to the people, reproving them in their sins, and teaching them the way they should go. My grandfather, who was a Methodist minister, used to say, “If you aren’t stepping on toes, you aren’t preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Sadly, preachers in our country rarely step on toes and have sought to be liked rather than to be respected as a man set apart to proclaim the truth.
I am no Wesleyan in my theology, but I do heartily concur with his statement that we are to be men “of one book.” That does not mean we do not read widely and study well; we are to be pastor-scholars as both Calvin and Wesley would have agreed. We are called, though to lift one book high above all of the others. It is the source of all truth and is the absolute guide for our lives. Telling stories may be interesting and telling the occasional joke may endear a congregation to their pastor, but the Bible convicts. And preaching is to be about convicting the heart, not entertaining it.
But, as politicians who do not wish to ruffle the feathers of their political base, so too, pastors often seek not to ruffle the feathers of their churches as well — and in fearing offense or seeking to avoid conflict, they fail to do what they have been called to do. Let the entertainer entertain, but let the man of God proclaim. He who is called to preach must do so even at the expense of offending those closest to him for Truth compromises for no one and God will hold those called to teach it doubly accountable.
Be warned, ye chameleons who stand in pulpits, you are nothing to marvel at.
Thanksgiving and Ordering our Way
“You shall understand this, ones who forget God, lest I tear you and there be nothing to deliver: he glorifies me who makes a sacrifice of thanksgiving and who orders his way; I will show him the salvation of God.
(Psalm 50:22-23)
It comes across as a broken record, but lest we forget the significance of this psalm for us today, recall that these words are spoken to God’s covenant people — not to the pagans. Yet, God calls his own, “those who forget God.” How have they forgotten God? As we have seen, they are going through the motions of sacrifice and ritual but their hearts and their lives to not reflect their devotion to the one they claim to serve and their actions look like the actions of the pagans.
How appropriate these words are for the church as well. How often the church behaves as if they do not believe that God exists. How often non-believers in our communities act with more compassion and morality than folks in the church? How often the old axiom is true that the Church kills its wounded rather than caring for them. How often it is that the conservative church rightly protects its doctrine and utterly neglects living that doctrine out in life. How often the people of God behave more like goats than sheep.
And so, God issues a warning in these final verses of the psalm. Do this, he says, lest you be torn to shreds and there be nothing left of you to redeem — fearful words spoken by God on high. They are a reminder of the unfaithful prophet who was not to eat or drink in Israel yet disobeyed (see 1 Kings 13) or of the young boys who mocked Elisha (see 2 Kings 2:23-25) and it is also a reminder of the punishment for failing to fulfill the covenant (Genesis 15:7-11) — that is, one’s life be forfeit. God is saying that if your life does not reflect these two things that you are an imposter amongst the people of God’s grace and are thus deserving of death for your wickedness. Ought then we not pay close attention to what these two things are?
What are those two things? We are called to make a sacrifice of thanksgiving and to order our ways. The latter command is the more obvious of the two. How do we order our ways but than by obedience to the law of God. Of what is our sacrifice of thanksgiving? While the book of Leviticus does prescribe thanksgiving offerings (see Leviticus 7:12-15; 22:29), more often than not, especially once we are in the New Testament context where altar sacrifices have been abolished by the sacrifice of Christ, you find the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the context of giving God praise. And thus, twice in this psalm we are called to praise God with thanksgiving as well as in Psalm 107:22 and in Psalm 116:17. Jonah too, speaks of making a sacrifice of thanksgiving with his voice (Jonah 2:9) and thus the author of Hebrews instructs us that we are to offer a sacrifice of praise as the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15).
The question with which we are left then, is, “Are we doing those two things?” And recognize that this is a question to be posed to the church as a whole. Are we doing that both individually and corporately. And if not, then shall we repent? If we are the true church, we will.
Not a Manmade Deity
“These things you have done and I was silent; you compared me with yourself. I rebuke you! And I lay it before you.”
(Psalm 50:21)
I am grateful that God does not punish me for every sin that I commit. Were he to have done so, I would have been dead long ago…we all would be. Our problem is not that God does not punish every sin immediately upon us (that is a grace), but instead, our problem is we take his restraint as lenience. Just because God does not immediately discipline his own for sins committed does not mean the sins are not sins and outright rebellion against God — they are. It just means that God has chosen to exercise forbearance in these cases.
Our tendency, like the people of old, is to take this restraint for granted and to assume that God’s character is more like ours and is not as the Bible presents him. Man has a tendency of making gods in his own image — the term for these little gods is “idol.” They are puny and impotent and the God of the heavens will not stoop down to even be placed in the same category as these false gods. Yet, when we take God’s forbearance as lenience, then we essentially do just that — place the one true God in and amongst the gods of our own creation. And this God holds against us — he “lays it on the table” as it is part of the prosecution’s case against God’s own.
There is no question that Jesus died for our sins if we are born again believers in Jesus Christ. Yet, that does not mean we ought to live like those under condemnation. Let us live in the joyful obedience of those who submit to the mighty design of God. Let us not assume that He is like us but recognize that God’s ways are not man’s ways and stand in awe of Him.
What do You do with Sin in the Church?
“If you see a thief, you are accepting of him and you have a portion with adulterers. You address your mouth to evil and your tongue joins in deceit. You sit to speak against your brother and your mother’s son you slander.”
(Psalm 50:18-20)
Remember once again, God is not rebuking the pagan unbeliever here, he is speaking to his own covenant people. Indeed, these words should convict us at just how greatly we tolerate sin in the life of the church. We accept thieves. No, perhaps not the masked bandits who climb into the open windows of people’s homes, but how often are the people of God guilty of cheating on their taxes, stealing from a government to which God calls us to pay our taxes (Romans 13:6). How often God’s people are guilty of borrowing from one another or from the church with no intention of repaying? And how often do the people of God work to steal the joy of blessings from one another when things are going poorly! And when this happens, where are the Elders when it comes to disciplining the body? No, they are accepting of the sin.
Similarly the same can be said with adultery. And likewise, while there may not be active adultery taking place on a physical level, Jesus reminds us that if we even think with lust in our hearts about a man or a woman, then we are guilty of the sin even if we never act upon it (Matthew 5:27-30). And thus sin is committed in thought as well as deed and it applies to things that our culture considers of no consequence, things like pornography and flirtatious behavior. And again, if one turns a blind eye toward the sin, one is guilty of having a portion with them.
And then, what shall we say about the tongue? For the Christian, the tongue is for blessing, for speaking truth, and for singing praises to God with thanksgiving. We are not to be given to lies (big or small), half-truths, fowl language, slander, gossip, back-biting, or any other sort of language that tears people down — even if we say, “Bless his heart…” afterwards. That which comes out of the mouth of a person is what defiles and reveals the sinfulness of their heart (Mark 7:18-23). To adapt a phrase from a popular movie of the 1990’s, “Evil is as Evil does.”
The question is not whether sins like this will show themselves in the Christian church but instead, what is done with them when they do show themselves. Do the guilty repent and seek to amend their ways? If so, good. If not, do the Elders act with loving discipline to call on the body to amend their ways? If so, good. If not, be wary, you may not be in a true church. There will be ample times where there is a want of discipline; there ought never be a neglect of discipline in the church of Jesus Christ.
Reciting the Catechism
“Yet, to the wicked, God says, ‘What is it to you to recite my statutes or to take up my covenant on your lips? For you hate training and you throw away my words after you.”
(Psalm 50:16-17)
When you remember that God is speaking to his covenant people, these words ought to make you shiver. Indeed, is it not true that unbelieving people sometimes recite the laws of God? Is it not true that many in the church can quote chapter and verse from the Bible or a Confessional statement but never put it to practice in life? Indeed, there are many who actively participate in the churches of God’s people who are reprobate and destined to the fires of hell for they take up the covenant without the slightest intent to fulfill the vows they are taking.
The second verse in this couplet drives the point even closer to home for Christians in traditions like my own, which actively catechize our children in the things of the faith. Some of our English translations will read “you hate discipline,” but in this context, “training” seems to be the better translation of מוּסָר (musar). It’s the idea of which Paul speaks when he instructs Christians to raise their children up in the “fear and admonition” of the Lord. This does not mean that God is chastising the youth for not liking their parent’s instruction or catechizing — all discipline seems harsh when you are undergoing it (though it is appreciated later — Hebrews 12:7-11). No, this word of rebuke is for those parents who themselves hate the discipline of their own children both in the home and in the church — who will not instruct their children in the ways of God because they themselves do not love the ways of God nor do they see a value of maintaining their own understanding of the catechism.
Indeed, how much of the confessing church this does describe even today. How sad it is that we again and again fall into the trap of living for ourselves rather than living for God and for His glory. Woe to those of whom these words describe.
A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
“Do I eat the flesh of the mighty? Do I drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice to God thanksgiving and make peace with the Most High with your vows. Call to me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you shall honor me.”
(Psalm 50:13-15)
And thus, the desire of God has more to do with the heart behind the sacrifice, not the ritual itself. Yet, we should ask, what is a “sacrifice of thanksgiving”? That might sound like an odd question, but given that it is handled in so many ways in Christ’s church today, perhaps it would be wise for us to see how the Bible defines such a thing.
Typically, in levitical law, sacrifices of thanksgivings were understood as grain offerings or bread offerings (see Leviticus 7:12). Yet, as we move through Jewish history, by the time of David there is an emphasis on singing thanksgiving in the worship of God (see 1 Chronicles 16:7 and 2 Chronicles 5:13). In fact, in the latter verse, the idea of praise and thanksgiving are wed together. Likewise, in the reestablishment of the Temple, Nehemiah establishes a body of Levites in charge of songs of thanksgiving (Nehemiah 12:8).
In fact, while the old food offerings are not totally forgotten in the latter parts of the Old Testament, for instance, we still see Amos joining the food offering with praises (Amos 4:5), the singing of praise becomes the dominant way in which God’s people express their thanksgiving. Psalm 26:7 speaks of telling of the wondrous deeds of God as thanksgiving, Psalm 69:30 speaks of magnifying God’s name with thanksgiving, Psalm 95:2 equates songs of praise with thanksgiving as does Psalm 100:4. Psalms 107:22 and 116:17 speak of a “sacrifice of thanksgiving” in the context of singing praises and Psalm 147 speaks of singing to the Lord with thanksgiving accompanied to the sound of the lyre.
Probably the most profound statement, though, on this matter, comes from the prophet Jonah. Being supernaturally preserved in the depths of the sea, held in the belly of the great fish, Jonah cries out to God in repentance and states: “with a voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you.” There is no other way to interpret this passage but that of a song of praise. His very context precludes anything but a song (or most likely a psalm) of praise.
When we combine this Old Testament context with the language of the New Testament, the idea is only reinforced. The author of Hebrews writes that the fruit of our lips is a sacrifice of praise. What a contrast that is to the mouth of the wicked, which breathes out lies and venom (Romans 3:13). Indeed, how naturally this language fits with what we are commanded by Paul in Colossians 3:16 that we are to come together with singing and thankfulness in our hearts.
Vows too, play an important role in the worship of God’s people and are often mentioned. Note that Jonah, in the passage above, also promises to fulfill the vows that he made and Hosea speaks about returning to the Lord not only with sacrifice but with a commitment to fulfilling the vows of our lips (Hosea 14:2). If we look at the language of the thanksgiving in the Old Testament psalms, you will notice that vows are repeatedly incorporated into them — vows to obedience and vows to tell others of the goodness of God. Shall we not do the same.
And, when we cry out to God in our time of distress, should we expect anything else but to honor him as our response to his deliverance? How often, professing Christians have a view of God as a celestial power that exists to meet their personal needs. The Bible, in contrast, presents mankind as persons designed to submit to the Almighty God and to worship him. A God that exists to serve us is not worthy of worship and thanksgiving, but a God who is sovereign and demands our praise and thanksgiving is a God that can also demand our obedience. You are either submitting to the whole of God’s revealed will or you are bowing down to an idol of your own making; we cannot have it both ways.
Sacrifices Acceptable to God
“It is not over your sacrifices that I reprove you; your offerings are before me continually. I will not take a bull from your house or from the folds of your goats. For all of the animals of the forest belong to me along with the beasts on a thousand mountains. I know all of the birds of the mountains and the things that move in the fields are mine. Were I hungry, would I not say that to you? The world and its fullness is mine.”
(Psalm 50:8-12)
Oftentimes people will ask, “Why does God command blood sacrifices if in places like this (as well as in the prophets) God turns around and reproves the people for their sacrifices. Cannot God make up his mind? Of course, God’s mind is made up and it was made up before the eternities shifted into creation and began to be measured by time. What we find is a contrast between the way the offerings were being made and the way our God expects them to be made.
You see, the people were clearly obeying the letter of the law with regard to sacrifices, but their hearts were far from him. God is not interested in obedience unless that obedience is given with a heart of thanksgiving and praise. Indeed, there is sacrifice needed to come before God, for their is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Yet, those sacrifices were not meant to simply be a matter of mechanical obedience; the obedience must stem from a desire to show gratitude to God for his deliverance and mercy to us.
And so God reminds us of one additional great truth. Those things that we give to God, whether it was the sacrifices of the Old Testament era or it is the tithes and offerings we bring into the church today, God already owns it all. Thus, it is truly not our “gift” to God, but only a sign of our gratitude for permitting us to have and enjoy some of His good things. I heard a preacher once say, “It is not what percentage of your wealth that you give God that is most important, it is what percentage of God’s wealth that you keep for yourself that indicates where your heart happens to be. There is great truth in this statement and the Psalmist will develop that idea further.
For us, it is important to grapple with our own service to the church. Often service can be confused with piety and people assume that because they are involved with event “x” or activity “y” that they are a “good Christian.” That is not true at all. Our works avail us nothing when it comes to satisfying God’s eternal demands. Works should flow out of a heart of gratitude, but they don’t always do so. In turn, we must be wary of our own motives to serve. Service acceptable to God is only that service which flows from a gratitude and submission to God’s Law through faith in Christ Jesus. We cannot generate that in ourselves; that must be generated in us by the work of the Holy Spirit. Will you pray for that sort of heart so that your offering of thanksgiving may truly be an offering of thanksgiving that is acceptable to God.
Judgment, Justification, and a Witness against Us
“Listen to me, my people, and I will speak — Israel, and I will witness against you; I am God, your God.”
(Psalm 50:7)
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:33: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” Indeed! Who can do so? Only God himself! And this is exactly what we find God doing here. His people have been disobedient in their actions and with their words and God is bringing them to task within this psalm. In particular, the verses that follow will chastise the people for bringing offerings out of habit and routine rather than out of a desire to offer thanksgiving. Secondly, God will chastise them for using the words of liturgy without submitting to their authority. These things God hates.
How often churches fall into habits and patterns of going through the motions and doing things just because that is the way people always remember doing them (of course, memories are always fallible). How often spiritual disciplines become routine and are not done from a spirit of thanksgiving to our God. How regularly God’s people do not know (or really care to know) the God they profess to worship. How often the people of God read the Scriptures but never apply those scriptures to themselves or seek understanding therein. Woe to the church today, for the condemnation that God brings in this psalm is as applicable to the church today as it was to ancient Israel in the days of David.
And thus God comes in judgment…and he has the right to stand in judgment over his people. Why? Because He is God and he has elected his people for himself. One might ask, if the people were not part of the covenant, would they not be under God’s judgment? The answer is no, for God is the creator of all that is and the standard of all that is good, thus He is the judge of all creation. Further, we don’t get a say in the matter. God has chosen us; we did not choose him. It doesn’t matter what we think we might want, God elected a people for himself from before the foundations of the earth and he will effectively bring his people to himself through his Son, Jesus Christ. And he will do so if he has to bring us to faith kicking and screaming. He is God; He has the right to do so. Praise the Lord that in the process, he changes our hearts so that we can see the wonder and beauty of his Son. Yet, when we rebel against the Covenant that God has graciously brought us into, he stands over us in judgment, which is a frightful thing.
And so, where are we left? As believers we are left with the rest of Romans 8:33. Yes, none but God can bring charges against God’s elect, but Paul also tells us why this is the case. “It is God who justifies.” Because of the completed work of Christ, God declares us to be righteous as to the Law, not because we have done it, but because Jesus has done it on our behalf, redeeming us from our condemnation. Does that mean we can live however we like? No, most certainly not! What it means is that we have been delivered from the morass of sin by the sacrificial and substitutionary work of Jesus and praise be to God, we are called to live like it.
The Heavens Announce God’s Righteousness
“The heavens announce His righteousness — for God, He is the judge! Selah!”
(Psalm 50:6)
As the courtroom scene develops, the heavens now find themselves in a double roll. Not only are they contending with the people of God as a witness to man’s wickedness, but now they stand as a kind of bailiff, announcing to the courtroom the presence of the divine Judge. You can almost envision the heavens announcing, “All Rise! The Righteous Lord Yahweh presiding!”
God is the judge over all mankind and he holds this position for many reasons. He is a creator, sovereign, and author of the Covenant. Yet, only one reason is uttered in this verse — He is righteous. In fact, not only is God righteous, but he is the very definition of righteousness. He is the standard by which righteousness can be measured. There is an old hymn that begins with the words, “Whatever my God ordains is right…,” and indeed, no truer statement could be uttered.
And so, with witnesses and a bailiff, God begins his pronouncement, one that follows a simple, but all too familiar theme: God’s faithfulness in spite of man’s unfaithfulness. And, what ought to cause our knees to tremble, is the great truth that we (the church) are no less guilty of condemnation than was ancient Israel. Woe to we poor sinners.
As a note, “selah” is one of those phrases that many scholars debate as to its meaning. Most seem to argue that it is a liturgical term, but there is little consensus as to exactly what that term means or does. Some suggest it is a break in the words where instruments play, some suggest a kind of musical bridge begins there, others suggest that it is a kind of crescendo in the musical tune, and the speculations go on. What we do know is that it is part of the Biblical text and should recognize it as such. Further, it can be argued that it is some sort of a break in thought. In any case, as it is part of the Biblically inspired text preserved for us by the Holy Spirit, we ought to preserve such words in the text where they present themselves. Beyond that, we can let the folks with too much time on their hands speculate until the cows come home.
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