Anytime Wood County declares a Level 2

snow emergency,  Sunday service and or all

Wednesday night activities are canceled.

Bible reference: Hebrews 13: 5-8

Phil. 2:5-11

Isaiah 42:1-9

Those of us in pastoral ministry who are serious about piercing this present post-modern darkness would do well to mind Dr. Wells’ trenchant observations regarding on the state of the evangelical church in America. One observation in particular which I have underlined, and has found its way into more than one sermon, is the following: “It is very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate; it is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship,” (Above All Earthly Powers, page 119, italics mine).

One way in which biblical faith can mature into genuine discipleship is through worship. Seekers tend to congregate in churches where contemporary worship is the rule. More often than not this format employs a musical style in which just about any instrument is permissible except an organ. And just as typically the songs which are sung tend to be theologically shallow, embarrassingly self-centered and borderline Gnostic. Now, before you do think this is turning into a Reformed rant, I am the pastor of a church in which contemporary worship is the predominant style. Therefore this is a subject about which I am both acutely familiar as well as particularly sensitive. No pastor, including me—especially me—wants to preside over a congregation in which biblical faith fails to mature into genuine discipleship. No pastor wants to preside over a congregation with a faith that is “a mile wide and an inch deep.”

Good worship needs to be supported by good preaching. For now I will leave the discussion about good preaching for another post. For this post I want to exhort us to consider the importance of worship as it pertains to biblical faith maturing into genuine discipleship. Covenant is not a church in which seekers congregate. While we are a friendly bunch and welcome seekers, we do not tailor our services to seekers. Yet we are growing. I attribute our growth to the fact that as serious students of the Word every member is seeking to walk by the Spirit so as to be led by the Spirit in the fervent hope that our biblical faith will mature into genuine discipleship. We are also a worshiping church. While we do not have an organ, we are blessed to have a growing guild of talented musicians, songwriters, singers and worship leaders. More importantly they are worshipers. They lead us in singing old hymns—some updated, some as originally written. They lead us in singing contemporary songs but ones with lyrics like liquid bread. They inspire me to listen actively to worship music, to read lyrics and highlight artists with the same tenacity with which I highlight and underline the books I read.

There is a guild of Christian artists which has developed a style of worship that builds biblical faith so that it can mature into genuine discipleship. They are called Indelible Grace Music and they first came to my attention as “bumper” music which I heard coming out of commercial break while listening to Dr. Michael Horton’s program The White Horse Inn (www.whitehorseinn.org). Indelible Grace Music has a website, www.igracemusic.com which is worth visiting and when you do be sure to click on the “Listen to the Sound Clips” link. I further recommend you listen to Indelible Grace V, Wake Thy Slumbering Children, but all five CDs are worth your attention. The song that compelled me to go to their website is Hear Our Prayer (track 8 on IG V). You have to listen to it.

Imagine my delight, therefore, when I discovered that the lyrics to Hear Our Prayer are adapted from an old hymn written by Robert Grant, circa 1815. The lyrics of the hymn are below. They are updated, as is the music in the recording by Indelible Grace, but the power is there just the same.

Savior, When in Dust to Thee
by Robert Grant

Savior, when in dust to Thee
Low we bow the adoring knee,
When, repentant, to the skies
Scarce we lift our weeping eyes,
O by all the pains and woes
Suffered once for man below,
Bending from Thy throne on high,
Hear our solemn litany.

By Thy helpless infant years,
By Thy life of want and tears,
By Thy days of sore distress
In the savage wilderness,
By the dread mysterious hour
Of the insulting tempter’s power,
Turn, O turn a favoring eye,
Hear our solemn litany.

By the sacred griefs that wept
O’er the grave where Lazarus slept,
By the boding tears that flowed
Over Salem’s loved abode,
By the anguished sigh that told
Treachery lurked within Thy fold,
From Thy seat above the sky,
Hear our solemn litany.

By Thine hour of dire despair,
By Thine agony of prayer,
By the cross, the nail, the thorn,
Piercing spear, and torturing scorn,
By the gloom that veiled the skies
O’er the dreadful sacrifice,
Listen to our humble cry,
Hear our solemn litany.

By Thy deep expiring groan,
By the sad sepulchral stone,
By the vault whose dark abode
Held in vain the rising God,
O from earth to heaven restored,
Mighty, re-ascended Lord,
Listen, listen to the cry
Of our solemn litany.

Here is an excerpt for our Membership Handbook which explains why church membership is important.  The membership class starts this Sunday after our regular church service. We have plenty of handbooks, so if you have been undecided about becoming a member of BG Covenant Church, you can still stop by Sunday and see what it is all about.  Pastor Malanga will be happy to talk with you.  Childcare will be available and lunch will be served.

Why is Church Membership Important?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”—Acts 2.42

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Ephesians 3.10,11

At Bowling Green Covenant Church (BGCC) we welcome people who attend our church. We encourage those who attend to worship, share the Lord’s Supper and hear the preaching of God’s Word with us. We also believe it is biblical to ask people who attend our church to consider making the commitment to become members of our church.

The Scriptures cited above illustrate the wisdom of making the commitment for membership in a local church. Acts 2.42 teaches that church membership connects us with a community of people focused on trying their best to follow Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3.10,11 tells us that church membership connects us to a mission that is larger than ourselves, as well as helping to define our purpose as followers of Jesus Christ. It is through the church that God has chosen to display His manifold (literally, multicolored) wisdom. Thus the diversity of the church’s membership is the grace of God in action.

We invite people to become members of our church because we are convinced from Scripture that the church is a community of people through whom and in whom God the Holy Spirit is working to build the kingdom of God by telling people about Jesus Christ.

The New Testament teaches that when a man or a woman made a faith commitment to follow Jesus Christ they did so in the context of a community of other men and women. The Bible makes it clear that membership in the church needs to be based on more than just a solid record of attendance at Sunday services. Before a man or a woman makes the commitment to become a member of the church, he or she must first make the commitment to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Jesus defined the requirements for becoming His follower, or what the Bible calls a “disciple” (literally, learner) in a nighttime conversation with a man named Nicodemus, a prominent Jewish religious leader. In the conversation, Jesus challenged the way Nicodemus understood what it meant to be a follower of God. As you read the following passage from the Gospel of John, put yourself in Nicodemus’ sandals and imagine hearing Jesus’ words the way he might have heard them.

The Holy Spirit is sent to help us believe everything Jesus said about Himself.
1. The Holy Spirit is sent to instruct us in Jesus’ absence, 25-26
2. The Holy Spirit is sent to encourage us with the peace of Christ, 27
3. The Holy Spirit helps us understand the significance of why Jesus had to die, 28-31

Great was the joy of Israel’s sons,
when Egypt died upon the shore,
Far greater the joy when the Redeemer’s foe
lay crushed in the dust.

Jesus strides forth as the victor,
conqueror of death, hell,
and all opposing might;
He bursts the bands of death,
tramples the powers of darkness down,
and lives forever.

He, my gracious surety,
apprehended for payment of my debt,
comes forth from the prison house of the grave free,
and triumphant over sin, Satan,
and death.

Show me herein
the proof that His vicarious offering is accepted,
that the claims of justice are satisfied,
that the devil’s scepter is shivered,
that his wrongful throne is leveled.

Give me the assurance that
in Christ I died,
in Him I rose,
in His life I live,
in His victory I triumph,
in His ascension I shall be glorified.

Adorable Redeemer,
Thou who wast lifted up upon a cross
art ascended to highest heaven.
Thou, who as Man of sorrows
wast crowned with thorns,
art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.

Once,
no shame more deep than Thine,
no agony more bitter,
no death more cruel.

Now,
no exaltation more high,
no life more glorious,
no advocate more effective.

Thou art in the triumph car
leading captive Thine enemies behind Thee.

What more could be done than Thou hast done!

Thy death is my life,
Thy resurrection my peace,
Thy ascension my hope,
Thy prayers my comfort.

–from The Valley of Vision

Thou hast led me singing to the cross
where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish,
where my mountains of guilt are leveled to a plain,
where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist,
and are more in number than the grains of fine sand;

For there is power in the blood of Calvary
to destroy sins more than can be counted
even by one from the choir of heaven.
Thou hast given me a hillside spring
that washes clear and white,
and I go as a sinner to its waters,
bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.

At the cross there is free forgiveness
for poor and meek ones,
and ample blessings that last forever;
The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace
with never any diminishing of its fullness
as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

O lord, for ever will Thy free forgiveness live
that was gained on the mount of blood;
In the midst of a world of pain
it is a subject for praise in every place,
a song on earth, an anthem in heaven,
its love and virtue knowing no end.

I have a longing for the world above
where multitudes sing the great song,
for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth.

Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor,
I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.

May I always know
that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily,
that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day,
that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary.

–from The Valley of Vision

I bless Thee for the means of grace;
teach me to see in them Thy loving purposes
and the joy and strength of my soul.
Thou has t prepared for me a feast;
and though I am unworthy to sit down as guest,
I wholly rest on the merits of Jesus,
and hide myself beneath His righteousness;
When I hear His tender invitation
and see His wondrous grace,
I cannot hesitate,
but must come to Thee in love.

By Thy Spirit enliven my faith rightly to discern
and spiritually to apprehend the Savior.
While I gaze upon the emblems of my Savior’s death,
may I ponder why He died, and hear Him say,
‘I gave My life to purchase yours,
presented Myself an offering to expiate your sin,
shed My blood to blot out your guilt,
opened my side to make you clean,
endured your curses to set you free,
bore your condemnation to satisfy divine justice.’

O may I rightly grasp
the breadth and length of this design,
draw near, obey , extend the hand,
take the bread, receive the cup, eat and drink,
testify before all men that I do for myself,
gladly, in faith, reverence and love, receive my Lord,
to be my life, strength, nourishment, joy, delight.

In the supper I remember His eternal love,
boundless grace, infinite compassion, agony cross, redemption,
and receive assurance of pardon, adoption, life, glory.

As the outward elements nourish my body,
so may Thy indwelling Spirit invigorate my soul,
until that day when I hunger and thirst no more,
and sit with Jesus at His heavenly feast.

–from The Valley of Vision

I adore Thee and abase myself.
I approach Thee mindful that I am less than nothing,
a creature worse than nothing.

My thoughts are not screened from Thy gaze.
My secret sins blaze in the light of Thy countenance.
Enable me
to remember that blood which cleanseth all sin,
to believe in that grace which subdues all iniquities,
to resign myself to that agency which can deliver me
from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

Thou hast begun a good work in me and canst alone continue and complete it.

Give me an increasing conviction of my tendency to err,
and of my exposure to sin.

Help me to feel more of the purifying,
softening influence of religion,
its compassion, love, pity, courtesy,
and employ me as Thy instrument in blessing others.

Give me to distinguish
between the mere form of godliness and its power,
between life and a name to live, between guile and truth,
between hypocrisy and a religion that will bear Thy eye.

If I am not right,
set me right,
keep me right;

And may I at least come to Thy house in peace.

Armed with only a limited knowledge of familiar hymns with familiar tunes my only other means of choosing hymns was to read the lyrics. Hymns with lyrics like liquid bread immediately attracted my attention. The problem with this method of hymn selection soon became painfully obvious as more often than not the tune of the hymn did not always match the grandeur of the lyrics.

Hymns I thought would sound triumphant and majestic had tunes ponderous and dirge-like.

Hymns I thought would be contemplative and meditative, had tunes so jolly and sugary-sweet I found it difficult to keep from chuckling as I tried to sing it.

Eventually, I humbled myself and sought the counsel of the more musically inclined talents of my wife and daughter, but until then most Sundays were an adventure in hymnody which, I believe, remains unrivaled in the history of the church in America—or close to it.

Today I serve a church where a talented team of creative, skilled, and dedicated musicians choose our worship songs. I give them the Scripture text I will be preaching on and they select songs appropriate to the text. Still, old habits die hard and I still like hymns with lyrics like liquid bread. So for this week’s post I have selected a hymn with lyrics that are as challenging to read as they are sobering to the soul. I do not know the tune. However, that may be irrelevant in view of the stoutness of the lyrics.

The hymn is “Adore and Tremble, for Our God is a Consuming Fire,” written by Isaac Watts. Watts (1674-1748) was a prolific writer of hymns such as “Come, We That Love the Lord,” “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” to name just three.

Arguably, any hymn that begins with the words, “Adore and tremble, for our God is a consuming fire,” is quickly revealed as a seeker-unfriendly hymn. Nor is such a hymn likely to be found in our modern hymnals. Pity. The scene painted by Watts’ lyrics is that of the ordered chaos of God’s vengeance—His divine justice poured out in consummate and perfecting judgment. Here there is no image of Jesus calling to us softy and tenderly. Here we see the Jesus of Revelation 19—the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Here also, we see the power of grace on behalf of those who worship Jesus who is called Faithful and True. Here we see the promise of future grace extended to those who take refuge in Him for where grace abounds refuge is found. The hymn exhorts the faithful to worship God with holy fear and Spirit-inspired hope. He will not always suffer His foes to succeed. I am reminded of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4, that for as long as we live in the body “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies,” (2 Corinthians 4.8-10).

Further into the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews expresses our hope this way, “Therefore let us be grateful for we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire,” (Hebrews 12.28-29).

In describing God’s triumph over His foes using multicolored imagery Watts’ point is not that we should delight in the defeat of our enemies as much as to rejoice, finally, in the triumph of God’s holiness over all that is evil. The vengeance of God is the vindication of His glory, His honor, and His holiness. We rejoice because, at last, the whole world sees God as we, the faithful, have only beheld Him by faith—as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, “the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,” to whom is due honor and glory forever and ever, (1 Timothy 1.17).

So the hymn rightly exhorts us to adore and tremble for our God is a consuming fire! I leave Watts to occupy the stage.

Adore and tremble, for our God
Is a consuming fire!
His jealous eyes His wrath inflame,
And raise His vengeance higher.

Almighty vengeance, how it burns!
How bright His fury glows!
Vast magazines of plagues and storms
Lie treasured for his foes.

Those heaps of wrath, by slow degrees,
Are forced into a flame;
But kindled, oh! how fierce they blaze!
And rend all nature’s frame.

At His approach the mountains flee,
And seek a watery grave:
The frighted sea makes haste away,
And shrinks up every wave.

Through the wide air the mighty rocks
Are swift as hailstones hurled;
Who dares engage His fiery rage
That shakes the solid world?

Yet, mighty God, Thy sovereign grace
Sits regent on the throne;
The refuge of Thy chosen race
When wrath comes rushing down.

Thy hand shall on rebellious kings
A fiery tempest pour,
While we beneath Thy sheltering wings
Thy just revenge adore.

Our only response can be simply this, “Our Lord, come!”

I take shame to myself for open violations to thy law, for
my secret faults,
my omissions of duty,
my unprofitable attendance upon means of grace,
my carnality in worshiping thee,
and all the sins of my holy things.

My iniquities are increased over my head:
My trespasses are known in the heavens,
and there Christ is gone also,
my Advocate with the Father,
my propitiation for sins,
and I hear his word of peace.

At present it is a day of small things with me,
I have light enough to see my darkness,
sensibility enough to feel the hardness of my heart,
spirituality enough to mourn my want of a heavenly mind;
but I might have had more,
I ought to have more,
I have never been straitened in thee,
thou hast always placed before me an infinite fullness,
and I have not taken it.

I confess and bewail my deficiencies and backsliding:
I mourn my numberless failures,
my incorrigibility under rebukes,
my want of profiting under ordinances of mercy,
my neglect of opportunities for usefulness.

It is not with me as in months past;
O recall me to thyself, and enable me to feel my first love.

May my improvements correspond with my privileges.

May my will accept the decisions of my judgment,
my choice be that which conscience approves,
and may I never condemn myself in the things I allow!

John Blok is joined by Bowling Green State University’s Dr. Bruce Edwards who has served as a C. S. Lewis Foundation Fellow at the Kilns in Oxford, England.

Dr. Edwards explains how he first discovered C. S. Lewis (listen).

When clouds of darkness, atheism, and unbelief come to me,
I see thy purpose of love in withdrawing the Spirit
that I might prize Him more,
in chastening me for my confidence in past successes,
that my wound of secret godlessness might be cured.

Help me to humble myself before Thee
by seeing the vanity of honor
as a conceit of men’s minds,
as standing between me and Thee;
by seeing that Thy will must alone be done,
as much in denying
as in giving spiritual enjoyments;
by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil,
mind, mouth, life void of Thee;
by seeing that sin and Satan are allowed power in me
that I might know my sin,
be humbled, and gain strength thereby;
by seeing that unbelief shuts Thee from me,
so that I sense not Thy majesty, power, mercy, or love.

Then possess me, for Thou only art good and worthy.

Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin,
Satan did not play in tempting me to it,
I do not play when I sink in deep mire,
for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble;
Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin
lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed,
as in the greatness of the Person sinned against.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me,
by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,
but that in Christ
I am reconciled, made alive, and satisfied;
that I am feeble and unable to do any good,
but that in Him
I can do all things;
that what I now have in Christ is mine in part,
but shortly I shall have it perfectly in heaven.

—From The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

No, give me the hymns of Watts and Wesley, Cowper and Toplady, and just about any hymn written by John Newton. Their hymns were the lyrical equivalent of how I once heard Germans describe their beer— as liquid bread. Stout stuff those old hymns. Lyrical bread that feeds the soul, encourages the heart and inspires the imagination to ponder the glories of our great God and King.

It is not that I am an anti-sentimentalist, but hymns in which Jesus is depicted as a sandal-shod, robe-wearing, soft-treading Savior who knocks gently on the door of my heart, calling me softly and tenderly as He waits helplessly for me to answer is not the kind of Savior who inspires faith, hope and love. Is that the kind of Savior portrayed in the Scripture? Thank God, the answer is no. And our hymns should reflect that.

One such hymn is “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder,” written in 1774 by John Newton. Newton was born in London, England on July 24, 1725. He died in London on December 21, 1807. As far as the dash in between his birth and his death, Newton, who also penned the hymn “Amazing Grace,” was a sailor, a slave-trader, and a preacher. It is a checkered resume to be sure, but it is one salted with the amazing grace of God. Whereas “Amazing Grace” is an autobiography of salvation by grace, “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” expresses how we should then live as those whose lives have been transformed by grace. Since any exposition will not suffice I will simply let Newton’s words speak for themselves.

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s Name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord Who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies,
Called us by His grace, and taught us,
Gave us ears and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temptation
Threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong Salvation,
Holds in view the conqueror’s crown:
He Who washed us with His blood
Soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder; grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is,
Justice smiles and asks no more:
He Who washed us with His blood
Has secured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him before us,
Now their praises fill the sky:
“Thou hast washed us with Your blood;
Thou art worthy, Lamb of God!”

Hark! the Name of Jesus, sounded
Loud, from golden harps above!
Lord, we blush, and are confounded,
Faint our praises, cold our love!
Wash our souls and songs with blood,
For by Thee we come to God.

Now that is a hymn.

You think about that.

It becomes me to be low in thy presence.
I am nothing compared with thee;
I possess not the rank and power of angels,
but thou hast made me what I am,
and placed me where I am;
help me to acquiesce in thy sovereign pleasure.
I thank thee that in the embryo state
of my endless being
I am capable by grace of improvement;
that I can bear thy image,
not by submissiveness, but by design,
and can work with thee and advance thy cause and glory.

But, alas, the crown has fallen from my head:
I have sinned;
I am alien to thee;
my head is deceitful and wicked,
my mind an enemy to thy law.

Yet, in my lostness thou hast laid help
on the Mighty One
and he comes between to put his hands on us both,
my Umpire, Daysman, Mediator,
whose blood is my peace,
whose righteousness is my strength,
whose condemnation is my freedom,
whose Spirit is my power,
whose heaven is my heritage.

Grant that I may feel more the strength of thy grace
in subduing the evil of my nature,
in loosing me from the present evil world,
in supporting me under the trials of life,
in enabling me to abide with thee in my valleys,
in exercising me to have a conscience void
of offence before thee and before men.

In all my affairs may I distinguish between
duty and anxiety,
and may my character
and not my circumstances
chiefly engage me.

—From The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

I have sinned times without number,
and been guilty of pride and unbelief,
of failure to find thy mind in they Word,
of neglect to seek thee in my daily life.

My transgressions and short-comings
present me with a list of accusations,
But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,
for all have been laid on Christ;
Go on to subdue my corruptions,
and grant me grace to live above them.
Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings
of the mind bring my spirit into subjection,
but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank thee that many of my prayers have been refused –
I have asked amiss and do not have,
I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,
I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness,
Go on with thy patient work,
answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers,
and fitting me to accept it.

Purge me from every false desire,
every base aspiration,
everything contrary to thy rule.
I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,
for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,
for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.
If thou shouldst give me choice to live
in pleasure and keep my sins,
or to have them burnt away with trial,
give me sanctified affliction.
Deliver me from every evil habit,
every accretion of former sins,
everything that dims the brightness of thy grace in me,
everything that prevents me taking delight in thee.

Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun,
for helping me to be upright.

—From The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s working in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

—From The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Over the past several days I have received several inquiries as to BGCC’s position regarding the upcoming release on December 7 of the motion picture The Golden Compass, based on the book by the same name by Philip Pullman. Mr. Pullman is an atheist and his Dark Materials series, of which TGC is the first installment, is often referred to as the anti-Narnia, atheist alternative to C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.

For the record BGCC has no “official” position on whether or anyone should or should not see The Golden Compass. It is our conviction that as grace saved, Spirit-filled believers you, the members of our church family, are mature enough to make wise choices about the movies you and/or your children watch. We are convinced that it is wise to speak clearly where Scripture speaks clearly and to be silent where Scripture is silent. Where the Scripture is silent we believe it is wise for the individual believer to trust the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

We arrive at this conviction based, in part, on Paul’s words in Romans 14.17, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking [and not a matter of movies and television programs either] but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” [See also Paul's argument about not eating meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8].

In the next paragraph, Romans 14.20-23, Paul writes,

“Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Although taken out of the context of Paul’s larger argument, the general principle arising from the text is this: grace gives individual believers a wide-berth with respect to matters of conscience. At the same time, however, it is not good to use the freedom grace permits to make others stumble. It is assumed that those who have a clear conscience will not abuse the grace of God, that is, they will not sin that grace may abound. On the contrary, they will practice their freedom with due diligence out of obedience to Christ and from a desire to glorify Him with their lives as well as behave with charity toward their brothers and sisters in Christ.

To some, the decision whether or not to attend a movie based on a book written by an atheist, or with an anti-Christian message, is very clear cut. To others, it is merely a movie–a work of fiction regardless of the message therein. Following Paul’s counsel in Romans 14 then, the question is what your conscience will bear. If your conscience cannot bear watching TGC then do not see it. You are free to boycott the movie, to protest its message and to discourage others from attending its being shown.

However, if your conscience is strong enough to see TGC please abide by this counsel from the apostle Paul, “take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak,” [1 Corinthians 8.9]. If you choose to watch the movie it is best to keep to this stipulation: do not let your freedom become a stumbling block to those who choose not to see it.

I cannot help but think we have been here before and we will be here again. Are we really surprised by the discovery that our culture is hostile toward God and that it, too, is under the curse of Adam’s sin? Let us also remember that in her long and storied history the church has survived far worse than a movie based on a book written by an atheist [e.g., the Roman persecution, the Islamic invasion of Europe during the Middle Ages & the Holocaust of Nazi Germany in which several million Christians were killed along with 6 million Jews].

Many of us are old enough to remember the furor created by the release of The Last Temptation of Christ. That movie failed at the box office but not because Christians protested its release or its message. It failed because it was a bad movie. And what of The Golden Compass? Do we really believe a movie based on a book written by an atheist is going to destroy that which God has made?

In conclusion, while it may be permissible to be outraged by the release of a movie with an anti-Christian message, it may, in the end, prove more beneficial to put our time and energy into fulfilling the Great Commission, and to look for ways to show people about the love of God and tell them about Jesus Christ than to boycott and protest a potential box-office flop.

You think about that.

Michael

P.S. To learn more about the movie and Philip Pullman check the websites listed below. The knowledge gained from reading what is written there will help you make an informed decision either to see the movie or not.

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/cultureclips2/a0003495.cfm

http://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000005667.cfm

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.” – John 19.30

“This remarkable expression, in the Greek, is one single word in a perfect tense, ‘It has been completed.’ It stands here in majestic simplicity, without note or comment from St. John, and we are left entirely to conjecture what the full meaning of it is….No one single meaning, we may be sure, exhausts the whole phrase. It is rich, full, and replete with deep truths.” –J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, IV.322

What is left unfinished, since Jesus has announced with eternal finality, “It is finished,”?

The answer is nothing. There is not one thing Jesus Christ left undone. Everything He came to do, everything He needed to do, and everything He had to do He did. And once He fulfilled His mission He punctuated His achievement with triumphant declaration, “It is finished.” That simple statement is Jesus’ way of saying, “Mission accomplished.” And it is said for our benefit to the glory of God.

Let it be understood with crystal clarity. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He declared victory over sin, judgment and condemnation. Death appeared to have won, but three days later He would defeat death—an event summarized in the simple yet profound declaration, “He is risen!” But that is getting ahead of the present point. In his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul explains the totality of Jesus’ victory at the cross. He writes:

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him,” (Colossians 2.13-16).

At Calvary, God performed a miracle through the death of His One and Only Son. Whereas an angel was dispatched to prevent Abraham from slaying Isaac, his son, his only son, God the Father sent no angelic messenger with a stay of execution for His One and Only Son. He permitted His Son to be nailed to the cross. He ordained Christ’s crucifixion yet, in His perfect wisdom, He also ordained that horrible death to become for us what J.R.R. Tolkien has termed a eucatastrophe— (literally, a good catastrophe), a tragedy leading to a good end. For on the cross of Christ is nailed all our trespasses. And how encompassing is “all”? What sins have been left out if “all” our trespasses (ours as individuals and ours as a collective humanity, depraved and rebellious) have been nailed to the cross and covered by the blood of Jesus? The answer is none. (Now lest my Reformed friends believe me to have embraced universalism, let me assure them I remain convinced that while the blood of Christ is sufficient for all, it is efficient only for the elect.)

The cross of Christ’s crucifixion is where God put to open shame the very rulers and authorities who crucified His One and Only Son. To paraphrase an old professor, the wisdom of God may be foolishness to the rulers and authorities of this age, but then how much more foolish are they, who in their “wisdom” carried out the will of God by crucifying Jesus on the very cross by which He would put them to open shame?

J.C. Ryle is right. When we ponder Jesus’ declaration, “It is finished,” “no one single meaning exhausts the whole phrase. It is rich, full, and replete with deep truths.” Perhaps no one single meaning exhausts the whole phrase because in choosing those who will follow His Son, God has created a body (the church) as diverse as His manifold wisdom, and as numberless as the sands on the shore and the stars in the sky.

Before He was arrested Jesus declared, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You the Only True God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent,” (John 17.3). As those who have been graced with eternal life, let us commit to the eternal exploration of the “rich, full and replete” glory of this truth: “It is finished.”

You think about that.

MM

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.” – John 19.30

The Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers written by the Puritans. One prayer titled, The Spirit’s Work is especially powerful. Midway through the prayer, the petitioner makes a request for the Spirit to do the following:

Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds,

the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;

May I there see my sins as

the nails that transfixed him,

the cords that bound him,

the thorns that tore him,

the sword that pierced him.

Help me to find in his death the reality

and immensity of his love.

Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth

in his, “It is finished”.

It would be worthwhile to ponder all the requests listed in the prayer, yet it is the last one that completely captures my attention, “Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in his, ‘It is finished.’”

What is finished? Perhaps the writer of Hebrews can enlighten us;

“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” (Hebrews 9.24-26).

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he was referring to his ministry as the perfect high priest who presents himself to God the Father as the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins—forever! Once again the writer of Hebrews explains, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified,” (Hebrews 10.14).

“It is finished” means no sin is left unatoned for by the single offering by which Christ “has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” And those who are being sanctified (made holy) are those who rejoice to “find in his death the reality and immensity of his love.”

“It is finished” means we can expect grace where once we feared judgment.

“It is finished” means we can become a new creation in Christ, the old is passed and He who makes all things new has made us new—from the inside out.

“It is finished” means that we are no longer orphans, but that we are made part of a community. It is through Christ we “receive the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ It means the Holy Spirit, “himself bears witness with out spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him,” (Romans 8.15, 16-17).

There is more, of course. So I encourage you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to discover the as yet unopened volumes of truth in the last words of Jesus Christ on the cross, “It is finished.”

You think about that.

MM

I begin this post the same way I ended my last—with a quote by Dr. Gordon Fee: “the goal (of salvation) was not simply to fit individuals for heaven but to create a people who by the power of the Spirit lived out the life of the future (the life of God Himself) in the present age. The goal is not the populating of heaven with individuals. The goal is God’s creating a people who in their life together are His people living out His rule, His character,” (Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, p. ix).

Salvation may be a personal matter, but once we are saved, we are to seek out the fellowship of like-minded believers. Once again, Dr. Fee, “To get saved means to be joined to the people of God by the Spirit; and to be saved means to live the life of the saved person,” (Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, page 97). Just as God declared it was not good for Adam to be alone, so too, it is not good for me to try to live the life of a saved person alone. I cannot work out my own salvation alone, in isolation from other believers. I need the church. I need the company of other saved persons with whom I can work out my own salvation “with fear and trembling.”

As Americans we spend the vast majority of our time, energy and money convincing people to get saved. Of late, and hopefully it’s not too late, we have come to understand the importance of what it means to be saved—of belonging to a community of people created by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Since to be saved is to be called to live the life of the saved person, this forms the core of Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2.12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Fear and trembling are terms borrowed from the Old Testament. They remind us we live the life of a saved person by working out our own salvation coram Deo (before the face of God). Additional motivation for our obedience is provided by the fact “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” “You” is plural. We work out our own salvation by living the life of a saved person as part of the community of saved persons—the church. Paul has little patience for those who insist on practicing a private faith isolated from the assembly of the faithful. Those who are led by the Spirit will seek the fellowship of like-minded believers in order to live the life of a saved person in the grace, obedience and humility of Jesus Christ.

It is worth noting that prior to his exhortation in verses 12-13, Paul quotes from what many scholars believe to be an early Christian hymn proclaiming the grace, obedience love and humility of Jesus Christ. Paul introduces the hymn in Philippians 2.5, appropriately, with an exhortation, “Have this mind (or, attitude) among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Who, though He was in the form of God,

did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him

and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.”

As we contemplate the humility of Jesus Christ, upon whom God has bestowed the name that is above every name, and before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, what further motivation do we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling?

You think about that.

MM

The prayer is titled, The Grace of the Cross.

O my Saviour,

I thank Thee from the depths of my being

for Thy wondrous grace and love

in bearing my sin in Thine own body on the tree.

May Thy cross be to me as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs,

as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty,

as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.

By Thy cross crucify my every sin;

Use it to increase my intimacy with Thyself;

Make it the ground of all my comfort,

the liveliness of all my duties,

the sum of all my afflictions,

the vigour of my love, thankfulness, graces,

the very essence of my religion;

And by it give me that rest without rest,

the rest of ceaseless praise.

O my Lord and Saviour,

Thou hast also appointed a cross for me

to take up and carry

a cross before Thou givest me a crown.

Thou hast appointed it to be my portion,

but self-love hates it,

carnal reason is unreconciled to it;

without the grace of patience I cannot bear it,

walk with it, profit by it.

O blessed cross, what mercies dost thou bring with thee!

Thou art only esteemed hateful by my rebel will,

heavy because I shirk thy load.

Teach me gracious Lord and Savior,

that with my cross Thou sendest promised grace

so that I may bear it patiently,

that my cross is Thy yoke which is easy,

and Thy burden which is light.

I began my last post with the following observation from David F. Wells’, book, Above All Earthly Powers: “It is very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate; it is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.” I mentioned there that the key ingredient necessary to building churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship is obedience to the gospel. Followers of Jesus should practice a lifestyle in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.

This brings us back to Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2.12-13; “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Paul is neither exhorting us to work in order to earn our salvation, nor is he exhorting us to work in order to keep our salvation. We misunderstand his meaning primarily because of how our English Bibles translate the Greek verb “work out.” The basic sense of the Greek verb katergázesthe [kat-er-gá-zes-the] is to “accomplish” something, not in the sense of “fulfillment,” but of “carrying out” a matter.

Although imperfect, try this thought experiment. Imagine a young woman who has received a full academic scholarship to a very prestigious university. She has been granted four years at no cost with the guarantee that she can pursue further study (for as long as she wants) beyond her bachelor’s degree also at no cost. The only condition is that she carry out her scholarship to obtain her bachelor’s degree. Now let us suppose that after two years of hard work she is wavering in her commitment. Having written a letter to her father expressing her weakening resolve, he concludes his letter to her with this exhortation: “Therefore, my beloved daughter, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, carry out your scholarship with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

What does this young woman need to do to carry out her scholarship? She has to stay in school. She has to attend class. She has to study. She has to take exams. She has to participate in the community life of the university. She has to commit to practicing the lifestyle of a fulltime university student and all that being a student requires of her and from her.

My analogy is imperfect to this degree. It is about one person carrying out a university scholarship. Paul’s exhortation is directed to the entire membership, men and women, of the church in Philippi. He exhorts them to carry out their salvation not just as individual believers, but as active participants in a community of believers.

Salvation is a matter of individual men and women being saved one-by-one, however, the reason we are saved is so we may become part of a larger community of people called by God to display His glory by the way we live. All who come to Jesus do so in response to the Gospel. Additionally, all who come to Jesus having been called to faith are also called to assemble as part of His new covenant community. Thus, the church is where our biblical faith matures into genuine discipleship. So part of our gospel obedience is active participation in the life of the church. Our faith-relationship with Jesus Christ is to be carried out through our relationships with those inside the church.

According to Gordon Fee, the goal of the gospel “was not simply to fit individuals for heaven but to create a people who by the power of the Spirit lived out the life of the future (the life of God Himself) in the present age. The goal is not the populating of heaven with individuals. The goal is God’s creating a people who in their life together are His people living out His rule, His character,” (Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, p. ix).

In the second part of Paul’s exhortation we are exhorted to work out our own salvation “with fear and trembling,” because the power to work it out, the power to carry it to completion is not ours. It is God’s power—the power of His Holy Spirit.

That we will take up in our next visit.

Until then, you think about that.

MM

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” – Paul the Apostle, Letter to the Philippians 2.12-13

David F. Wells, in his book, Above All Earthly Powers makes this trenchant observation about the Church as she lurches forward into the 21^st century: “It is very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate; it is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.”

It is an intentionally provocative analysis. And if true, as I believe it is, the question that must be asked is— Why is it “very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate,” yet “very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship”?

According to Dr. Wells, churches in which seekers congregate do not produce people “in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.” The point is not whether people are hearing the gospel in such churches. Despite the complaint made by some, namely, that what is heard in churches in which seekers congregate is not THE gospel; let us, for the sake of argument, assume people are hearing THE gospel. Thus, hearing is not the problem. Obedience is the problem. It is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship because genuine discipleship requires rigorous and ongoing obedience to the gospel.

The concern over lax obedience to the gospel, then, is at the heart of Dr. Wells’ observation. It is also at the heart of Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The reason their obedience is necessary is stated clearly in the next clause, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” As the apostle to the Gentiles (people who were not Jewish), Paul knew the key to building churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship is for each member of the body of Christ to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

But what did Paul mean? The context tells us Paul’s exhortation is not for the Philippians to “get saved,” nor is he exhorting them to “persevere” as saved people. His meaning is actually very simple: biblical faith matures into genuine discipleship when people who say they follow Jesus actually behave as people who follow Jesus. In other words, people who say they are followers of Jesus should live like people who are followers of Jesus. Our actions should prove our words. To paraphrase Dr. Wells, followers of Jesus should practice a lifestyle in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.

Paul’s exhortation to work out our own salvation requires us to practice what Jesus preaches. We are to obey the gospel, not only among those who do not follow Him, but, and just as importantly, we are to practice what Jesus preaches among those who do. In his commentary on this text, Gordon Fee writes, “At issue is ‘obedience,’ pure and simple, which in this case is defined as their ‘working, or carrying out in their corporate life the salvation that God has graciously given them,” (Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Wm. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, © 1995; page 235).

It is worth noting that Paul expects the Philippians to do what he says, “as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence.” Their obedience is assumed. He expects them to work out their salvation because it is God who will give them the ability and the energy to do so.

This is not working to earn our salvation. This is not working to keep our salvation. This is working toward a lifestyle in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. However, God lavishes His grace upon us so as to catalyze our faith toward maturity into genuine discipleship. Once again, we are saved by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, but the grace that gives birth to faith is given by God so that it may bear fruit for His glory over a lifetime of obedience practicing what Jesus preaches. There is a fine line between gospel obedience and gospel legalism. Paul exhorts us to work out our own salvation to achieve the former.

Over the next several weeks we will look at what it means to work out what God, by His grace, gives us the power to do for His glory.

You think about that.

MM

If you cannot remember the last time you read the prophet Habakkuk (H?-bak -??k), or if you have never read him, it’s likely you are good company. To find him you must venture deep into the Old Testament. He is ensconced between Nahum and Zephaniah (two other lesser read minor prophets – minor only terms of the number of words used to communicate God’s message). Habakkuk begins with typical prophetic abruptness.

“This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received from the Lord in a vision. How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.” – Habakkuk 1.1-4 [NLT]

Habakkuk uttered these words some time between 640 and 615BC (approximately 2600 years ago). Since the word of God is eternal, Habakkuk’s words are as relevant today as the day he first spoke them. His words have a familiar ring do they not?

Many of us have either thought or spoken similar words to the Lord in our lifetime. The wicked violence that occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech, the continued strife in Iraq, the mortal tragedy of a recent murder in our community reminds us evil still wields the power to kill in world still groaning under the curse of sin – our sin.

How long, O LORD?

Flash forward 600 years from Habakkuk to the Book of Revelation. There, in Revelation 6.9,10, John the Beloved Disciple saw

“the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their witness. They called loudly to the Lord and said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge the people who belong to this world for what they have done to us? When will you avenge our blood against these people.’”

How long, O LORD?

The question shouts our desire for justice. The question pleads with God to act, to vindicate His name and His people. The question voices our heart’s cry for vengeance – a judgment that belongs to God and God alone. We know in the end the Lord will punish with vengeance those who do violence, commit evil and destroy life. But in our frustration, in our impatience, in our humanity we lament through tears and gritted teeth.

How long, O LORD?

The irony in Habakkuk’s lament is that when the LORD answers him the response is not what the prophet expected. Habakkuk expected the LORD to wreak vengeance on those in his own culture who broke the covenant with apparent impunity. The LORD assures the prophet such is not the case. He will exact vengeance on those who do violence. The surprise is the unexpected means and the manner by which the LORD will exact His vengeance.

So what is the LORD’s unexpected answer to Habakkuk’s lament? Judgment will come in the form of invasion by a dreaded foreign enemy – the Babylonians.

“The Lord replied, “Look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. I am raising up the Babylonians to be a new power on the world scene. They are a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer it. They are notorious for their cruelty. They do as they like, and no one can stop them. Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are a fierce people, more fierce than wolves at dusk. Their horsemen race forward from distant places. Like eagles they swoop down to pounce on their prey.” – Habakkuk 1.5-8 [NLT]

Surely, this is not a case of “Be careful what you pray for.” To the contrary, this is an example of how in His sovereignty the LORD controls the destiny of nations and peoples in order to bring glory to His name. How this can be is beyond our ability to comprehend. This much is certain, and this we know because the Lord spoke it through the prophet Isaiah,

“’My thoughts are completely different than yours,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts,’” (Isaiah 55.8,9).

Nor is the LORD taunting Habakkuk in his grief. He is making very clear there is a plan, an order to the apparent chaos – a justice that is invisible to all those except the righteous who live by faith. But that is not how Habakkuk sees it. And that is not how we see it, not when the mainstream media all too willingly broadcasts the vindictive rant of a young man determined to kill, or of a terrorist gloating in his cleverness. There may be a plan but we do not see it, we do not have the faith to see it and so like Habakkuk we lament,

“O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—is your plan in all of this to wipe us out? Surely not! O Lord our Rock, you have decreed the rise of these Babylonians to punish and correct us for our terrible sins. You are perfectly just in this. But will you, who cannot allow sin in any form, stand idly by while they swallow us up? Should you be silent while the wicked destroy people who are more righteous than they? Are we but fish to be caught and killed? Are we but creeping things that have no leader to defend them from their enemies? Must we be strung up on their hooks and dragged out in their nets while they rejoice? Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim. Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?” – Habakkuk 1.12-17 [NLT]

And having launched our complaint we, like Habakkuk, wait in smug silence for the Lord to answer certain we have argued an airtight case.

“I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the Lord will say to me and how he will answer my complaint.” – Habakkuk 2.1 [NLT]

However, when the answer comes we are reminded that there is plan after all and the working out of it is best left to God.

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Write my answer in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else. But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.

“Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by their faith. Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They range far and wide, with their mouths opened as wide as death, but they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and peoples. But the time is coming when all their captives will taunt them, saying, ‘You thieves! At last justice has caught up with you! Now you will get what you deserve for your oppression and extortion!’ Suddenly, your debtors will rise up in anger. They will turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. You have plundered many nations; now they will plunder you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with violence and all the cities, too.

“How terrible it will be for you who get rich by unjust means! You believe your wealth will buy security, putting your families beyond the reach of danger. But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. The very stones in the walls of your houses cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.

“How terrible it will be for you who build cities with money gained by murder and corruption! 13Has not the Lord Almighty promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain! For the time will come when all the earth will be filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.

“How terrible it will be for you who make your neighbors drunk! You force your cup on them so that you can gloat over their nakedness and shame. But soon it will be your turn! Come, drink and be exposed! “Drink from the cup of the Lord’s judgment, and all your glory will be turned to shame. You cut down the forests of Lebanon. Now you will be cut down! You terrified the wild animals you caught in your traps. Now terror will strike you because of your murder and violence in cities everywhere!

“What have you gained by worshiping all your man-made idols? How foolish to trust in something made by your own hands! What fools you are to believe such lies! How terrible it will be for you who beg lifeless wooden idols to save you. You ask speechless stone images to tell you what to do. Can an idol speak for God? They may be overlaid with gold and silver, but they are lifeless inside. But the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.” – Habakkuk 2.2-20 [NLT]

A time is coming when God will punish with vengeance all those who do violence and cause destruction. But it will not happen quickly. “These things I plan won’t happen right away,” is God’s way of assuring us that while the wheels of His justice grind slowly they grind exceedingly fine. We mistake His tardiness for unconcern. It is grace that causes the wheels of His justice to grind slowly. It is His wrath that causes them to grind exceedingly fine. The LORD punishes the violent, the evildoers, and the criminal, but He does so in His time, in His way and in His inescapable sovereignty. Lest we forget while evil seems to have won the day,

“…the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.”

The prophet Isaiah speaks a similar word when he says,

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless:

Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?

Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” – Isaiah 33.14 [ESV]

In the end Habakkuk sees. He gets it. It is not the plan he would have chosen. It is not the strategy he would have implemented. It is, however, the LORD’s plan. The strategy of the Almighty God is a perfect tapestry although when looked at from our side of the tapestry all seems chaos.

The proud trust in themselves. They gloat in atheistic ecstasy. They trumpet the greatness of gods which are not gods at all. The arrogant ignore the reality of the Almighty and because of their arrogance they will die.

“But the righteous will live by their faith.”

And ours is not an empty faith. Nor is the word of the LORD spoken in vain. Judgment approaches. Vengeance awaits. His is judgment is holy and just, His vengeance timely and thorough. Thus we live by faith. We persevere with hope.

“This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk:

“I have heard all about you, Lord, and I am filled with awe by the amazing things you have done. In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. And in your anger, remember your mercy.

“I see God, the Holy One, moving across the deserts from Edom and Mount Paran. His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise! What a wonderful God he is! Rays of brilliant light flash from his hands. He rejoices in his awesome power. Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind. When he stops, the earth shakes. When he looks, the nations tremble. He shatters the everlasting mountains and levels the eternal hills. But his power is not diminished in the least! I see the peoples of Cushan and Midian trembling in terror.

“Was it in anger, Lord, that you struck the rivers and parted the sea? Were you displeased with them? No, you were sending your chariots of salvation! You were commanding your weapons of power! You split open the earth with flowing rivers! The mountains watched and trembled. Onward swept the raging waters. The mighty deep cried out, lifting its hands to the Lord. The lofty sun and moon began to fade, obscured by brilliance from your arrows and the flashing of your glittering spear.

“You marched across the land in awesome anger and trampled the nations in your fury. You went out to rescue your chosen people, to save your anointed ones. You crushed the heads of the wicked and laid bare their bones from head to toe. With their own weapons, you destroyed those who rushed out like a whirlwind, thinking Israel would be easy prey. You trampled the sea with your horses, and the mighty waters piled high.

“I trembled inside when I heard all this; my lips quivered with fear. My legs gave way beneath me, and I shook in terror. I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us. Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.

(For the choir director: This prayer is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)” – Habakkuk 3.1-19 [NLT]

Habakkuk’s faith and patience originate from one source, “I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.”

For as long as we walk this earth we will live in slippery times, uncertain and violent days—days of injustice. Even so, let us live by faith. Let us persevere with hope in the LORD the Almighty. He will make us surefooted. He will help us keep our balance lest we fall away while wait for the vision to be fulfilled.

In our impatience for vengeance, we ask “How long, O LORD?”

And the LORD, who has infinite patience, is gracious enough to answer.

“Soon.”

You think about that.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve…Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to also to me.” – 1 Corinthians 15.3-5, 8

Alfred Lord Tennyson once met Salvation Army founder General William Booth while out for a morning walk. “General,” said Tennyson, “What is the news this morning?” “The news, sir,” replied Booth, “is that Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification!” “Ah!” replied Tennyson, “That is old news and new news, and good news.”

Each year at Easter we hold this truth to be self-evident: the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, was crucified for our sins, that He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. To quote Tennyson, “That is old news and new news, and good news.” In fact, it is the good news.

Christ is risen! That’s fact not fiction. He died but now He is alive. His resurrection means death is defeated. That’s old news and new news. What makes it good news is that His resurrection makes our resurrection inevitable. The resurrection of Christ is neither myth nor fantasy, neither legend nor fable. It is the truth – a reality so obvious to the apostle Paul he makes no attempt either to prove or to defend it. To him the fact Christ is risen is as obvious as the sun in the sky.

Further evidence of the resurrection is provided by the existence of the church throughout the centuries. What other explanation can there be for the persevering existence of such a diverse group of people? The church continues to thrive because, in the aftershock of Christ’s resurrection, we have experienced the live-giving warmth of His truth, love, mercy and grace.

Were we to reject the resurrection, we would deny the gospel. If we were to deny the gospel our faith would be like a balloon let loose so the air can escape. We would go zooming to and fro in an aimless zigzag through life until we are deflated. And once deflated our souls would be as shrunken, shriveled and useless as a deflated balloon.

If there is no resurrection, if Jesus is not raised from the dead, our faith, to quote an old Rich Mullins song, is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine – worthless. If Christ is not raised from the dead, if He is not alive then everything we believe is a lie and nothing we do in life matters.

But Jesus is alive! He is risen! What we do does matter. How we live does matter. Every believer is a witness to the truth that Christ is risen. Every believer is a living testimony to the obvious truth of Christ having been raised from the dead. Every believer is a letter of hope written by the Spirit of God – hope that is rooted in the truth that Jesus Christ is alive.

When Winston Churchill planned his funeral, which took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral, he included many of the great hymns of the church as part of the Anglican liturgy. After the benediction, Churchill left instructions for a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s, to play Taps, the universal signal that says the day is over.

But then came the dramatic turn. Following Churchill’s instructions, after the bugler finished Taps, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of Reveille – “It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning.”

Churchill wanted his funeral to verify his conviction that at the end of history, the last note will not be Taps. It will be Reveille.

What Winston Churchill did with bugles, the apostle Paul did with grammar. He verified the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15.3-4). Paul wrote his letter in Greek, and the Greek verb raised is a perfect passive, meaning we should read verse 4 as follows: “He (Jesus) was raised on the third day and is still alive.”

On Crucifixion Friday, the devil and his demonic horde played Taps, but on Resurrection morning, the Father and His angels played Reveille. The empty tomb is a silent witness – a permanently open mouth preaching Christ was raised from the dead and is still alive. And after He was raised Jesus was seen. Paul tells us, “He (Christ) appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve (the immediate group of apostles). After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom,” says Paul, “are still living,” at the time his letter was written, “though some have fallen asleep (meaning they have died),” (1 Corinthians 15.6-8)

Paul continues, “Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

Jesus did not have to appear to Paul. He did not have to bring him into the kingdom. He did not have to call him to preach the gospel, plant churches and equip the saints. Jesus did not have to do any of that, but He did. Paul described himself as “one abnormally born.” It is a reference to the fact that he did not come by his apostleship in the usual way. Christ appeared to Paul while he was on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus. Paul understood his calling to be a living parable of God’s grace. A grace that the Corinthians, and we, have come to share because of the gospel of the resurrection.

Resurrection Sunday is a congregational as well as a personal experience. None of us would be here if Jesus did not appear to us in some way. We may not have been knocked down from our high horse as was Paul, but we have seen Jesus in the lives of those who know Him. We have heard Him in the preaching of the word. We have felt His presence at the Lord’s Table. We have tasted His grace through eating the bread and drinking from the cup of the New Covenant. We have reached out to Him by faith at the foot of the cross. We have smelled the aroma of life where we expected the stench of death.

The cross is empty.

The tomb is empty.

But the church is full.

The church is full because Christ was raised from the dead and He is still alive!

He is alive so there is hope of knowing Him if we have not known Him before. He is alive so there is certainty in believing that our preaching and our faith is not worthless. He is alive so we are encouraged that our labor is not in vain. He is alive so we have reason to remain steadfast in the truth that we have received and on which we are building our eternal destiny.

He is alive, who tore in two the veil between heaven and earth, to show us His glory so that we will declare His glory to an unbelieving culture. He is alive and because He lives we live. He is alive to strengthen our grip on the plow of our faith. He is alive in the power of the Spirit so that we might fortify our souls with the old news that is the new news, which is the good news: “Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification.”

In John Masefield’s drama, The Trial of Jesus, there is a striking passage in which the Roman Centurion in command of the soldiers at the cross comes back to Pilate to hand in his report of the day’s work. After the report is given, Pilate’s wife beckons to the centurion and begs him to tell her how the prisoner died. When the Centurion is finished, she asks, “Do you think he is dead?”

“No, lady,” answers the centurion, “I don’t.”

“Then where is he?” asks an astonished Pilate’s wife.

“Let loose in the world, lady, where neither Roman nor Jew can stop his truth.”

What is the news this Eastertide? “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

And He is still alive!

He is let loose in the world where no one can stop His truth.

That is old news, new news, and good news. It is also true news and being true neither it nor Jesus can be stopped.

You think about that.

MMalanga

An Invocation for Palm Sunday

Humble and riding on a donkey,

we greet You;

acclaimed by crowds and caroled by children,

we cheer You;

moving from the peace of the countryside

to the corridors of power,

we salute you:

CHRIST OUR LORD.

You are giving the beast of burden

a new dignity;

You are giving majesty

a new face;

You are giving those who long for redemption

a new song to sing.

With them, with heart and voice

we shout:

“HOSANNA!”

The word paradox can make us uncomfortable until we realize that the Bible, and the New Testament in particular, is full of paradox. Our contemporary culture defines paradox as a riddle without an answer; a problem without a solution; a tension that cannot be relieved. The New Testament, originally written in Greek, uses paradox to illustrate something that is contrary to opinion or expectation; something that is strange, wonderful or remarkable. For those of you keeping score at home, the word paradox appears only once in the New Testament, in Luke 5.26.

There Jesus heals a paralyzed man whose friends lowered him through the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching. Luke tells us “Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’” When Jesus healed the paralyzed man, the people declared that they had seen something contrary to opinion or expectation. They had seen a paradox!

The best example of a paradox in the New Testament is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. His death is the source of our eternal life. His defeat at the cross is His ultimate triumph over the rulers and authorities. His humiliation in being lifted up on the cross is the exact means whereby He is exalted so that He can draw all men unto Himself.

The crucifixion is one example of a paradox. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday is another. In fact, Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem is an event stuffed full of paradox. It overflows with irony, but I’ll leave that for another blog entry. For now let’s consider several things that make up the Palm Sunday paradox.

Paradox: Jesus entered Jerusalem to die yet His entrance is considered triumphal. Jesus entered Jerusalem through the main gate seated on a donkey and exalted with praise. However, in less than six days He will leave through the back gate carrying a cross and be lifted up to scorn at His crucifixion.

Paradox: Jesus inspires passionate devotion among His followers, yet they all ran away when He was arrested. The disciples obeyed His command to fetch a donkey finding everything just as He said. Yet they cannot find the courage to stand with Him in most trying hour.

Paradox: As Jesus enters Jerusalem He is hailed as the son of David, yet He will leave Jerusalem to be crucified as a son of Satan.

Paradox: On Sunday the crowd greets His approach with applause and shouts of “Hosanna!” (which means, “He saves!”). Friday, that same crowd, will maliciously mock Him at His crucifixion, “Let Him save Himself!”

The paradox of Palm Sunday is no reason to doubt its reliability. It is an opportunity to marvel at the sovereignty of God, the humility of Jesus and the depravity of a humanity blinded by its sin. Jerusalem was set abuzz by the arrival of Jesus, but He said nothing. He just rode that donkey into the coming maelstrom of mayhem in which He would be betrayed, arrested, tried, rejected, and crucified.

Perhaps the ultimate paradox of Palm Sunday is this: As Jesus enters Jerusalem He is the only person who knows what is going to happen. I wonder if at that moment the serpent whispered a slithery temptation in Jesus’ ear. “They love you, you know. You have them in the palm of Your hand. They will do anything You say. I will make sure of that. Worship me, do what I say and I will deliver the crowd and the Romans into your hands.”

Jesus heard the Tempter. He heard the crowd. But He listened to His Father’s voice. His obeyed His Father’s will. It was a moment, like all moments in Jesus’ life when His words and His works came together in perfect obedience to His Father’s will.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem it was one of those rare times when a nation’s faith, destiny and history converged to meet at one place at one time in one person. The air must have been electric with the aroma of anticipation. Some hailed Jesus as “the Son of David.” Others held their breath (and their judgment) before deciding if He was their last, best hope of salvation and deliverance from foreign domination. Still others may have come to see if the carpenter turned rabbi would turn more water into wine, feed thousands and heal more sick people. Yet amid all the buzz and tumult, amid all the people and paparazzi Jesus didn’t say a word.

We’re not used to silence from celebrities who cause a media event. Reporters shout questions at them from the crowd. They ask mundane questions like, “What do you think about this turnout?” Or, if they want to appear concerned about ‘hard news’ they’ll ask, “What do you hope to accomplish by your coming here today?”

The religious mainstream of Jesus’ time had other questions for Jesus. They were suspicious of Him. They feared Him. He posed a threat to their power over the people. They conspired to kill Him so that they could keep their grip on the masses. They questioned Jesus’ character and credentials. Who is He? Where did He come from? Who are His parents? What school did He go to? What’s His agenda? Who’s financing His campaign? Is He His own man, or is He fronting for someone else? Does He really ‘feel our pain’ or is He all style and no substance?

In Matthew 21.11, the people proclaimed, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” They were right, but they were also wrong. Jesus is a prophet. But He is also more than a prophet. You see, as just a prophet Jesus is manageable. If Jesus is manageable then we are the arbiter of how much truth is contained in His words. If Jesus is just a prophet He is still human like us. That means we can become excited by His charisma, we can cheer His championing the cause of the oppressed, we can downright get giddy over His ability to “stick it” to the establishment, but when He turns his tongue toward us and His words burn the edges of our comfort zone, we can turn a deaf ear. After all, He’s just a man. Who is He to judge us? Who is He to tell me what to do? It’s my life!

Behold another Palm Sunday paradox! Jesus is more than a prophet. He is the Son of God; the Lord Who is our Savior. Our pride attempts to manage Jesus by insisting He is just a prophet. Sin leads us to the deceptive conclusion we can believe one way and act another. It’s our unwillingness to be congruent that prevents us from fully following Him as the Son of God, the Lord who is our Savior.

For those of us old enough to remember, or who have seen the grainy film record of it, Jesus entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday has the feel of President John F. Kennedy’s drive though Dealy Plaza in downtown Dallas on a sunny November 22, 1963. JFK had no idea Lee Harvey Oswald was waiting to assassinate him as he drove through Dealy Plaza. Had he known his motorcade would never have taken that route through Dallas. What JFK did not know, Jesus did. And yet rather than taking another route into Jerusalem, or by-passing Jerusalem altogether, Jesus rode on. He chose to hide in plain sight. He entered Jerusalem through the main gate.

Jesus entered Jerusalem to die because only His death could make atonement for our sins. Only His death could save us from God’s wrath against us for our sin. His entrance into Jerusalem is a triumph because it marks the victory of God’s will over Satan’s work. Jesus’ march to the cross could not be stopped; not by the disciples’ devotion nor the peoples’ praise nor the Pharisees’ persecution. By Maundy Thursday, the disciples will learn that faith in Jesus means confronting our own fallibility. By Crucifixion Friday, the people will learn that the One they praised as Savior is also God’s Suffering Servant. By Resurrection Sunday, the Pharisees will learn that “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone; (for) the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

The 20-20 hindsight of history tells us Jesus did not enter Jerusalem to claim a throne, but to be crucified on a cross. We know that a week that began with the crowd singing His praises ended with them demanding His death. We also know that the agony that filled Jesus’ heart in Golgotha will be overmatched by the joyous news that will accompany the glorious emptiness of the garden tomb.

But before the betrayal and the cross, before the burial and the resurrection there is Palm Sunday. There was a day when Jesus came to Jerusalem to be welcomed not for His sake, but for ours.

And still He came.

You think about.

P.S. I will leave you with the following prayer for this Passion week.

O Lord Jesus, in this sacred and solemn week when we see again the depth and mystery of your redeeming love, help us to follow where You go, to stop where You stumble, to listen when You cry, to hurt as You suffer, to bow our heads in sorrow as You die so that when You are raised to life again we may share in Your endless joy. Amen.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8.12

Mordecai, merchant in Jerusalem

To Bartholomew, my beloved brother and merchant in Bethsaida,

Greetings in the Name of the He who is blessed forever, the LORD, the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth. I hope you and your family is well. We are blessed, despite the hard times. The LORD, blessed be His Name, is good and His steadfast love endures forever.

Since I received your letter about your experience in Capernaum, I have been paying close attention for any news about Jesus the son of Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth, who claims to be the bread of life.

Well, my brother, Jesus has been in Jerusalem and he caused no small disturbance by his presence here. For days rumors buzzed like flies as to whether or not Jesus would show his face during the Feast of the Tabernacles. Some were saying he is a good man. Others said he is a deceiver. I had read your letter, but I kept my thoughts to myself and said nothing. As you know it is not good to take sides in such matters—it’s bad for business.

About halfway through the Feast Jesus came to Jerusalem. He went up to the Temple courts and began to teach. You are right, Bartholomew, the man speaks with an authority that compels you to listen. And some of the things he says are hard to understand. Still, when he spoke and it was as if time stopped. “My teaching is not my own,” he said, “It comes from him who sent me.” On and on he taught until someone asked, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?” This was news I had not heard. But he kept right on teaching. It was as if he knew the people who wanted to kill him could not touch him.

“I am with you for only a short time,” he continued, “and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” This was a hard saying. No one had any idea what Jesus meant when he said, “You will look for me, but you will not find me,” and “Where I am, you cannot come.”

Then on the last day of the Feast, Jesus said something that left us completely dumbfounded. “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Do you have any idea what that means, Bartholomew? This statement ignited another round of discussion about Jesus. Some said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others went even further and said, “He is the Messiah.”

You should have seen the faces of the Pharisees, Bartholomew. They were as red as the sun setting in the west. Meanwhile the people’s faces shone with hope. Their hope burst into sunrise when Jesus spoke again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So not only does Jesus claim to be the bread of life, he also claims to be the light of the world. What do you think of that, my brother?

Here is what I think and this I will confide to you, my brother. When a man says “I am the bread of life,” and “I am the light of the world,” he is either a deceiver, or he is possessed by a demon, or he is telling the truth. I know some believe he is a deceiver. Certainly the Pharisees believe he is possessed by a demon, but what if Jesus is telling the truth? Suppose he is the bread of life and the light of the world? Why would Jesus say he is the bread of life if it were not true? Can a deceiver be the Messiah? Would not Jesus know people would think him a madman for saying such a thing? Can a madman be the Messiah? I have heard he even casts out demons. Can a man possessed by demons cast out demons? And then there is the incident you describe at the end of your letter where one of his men called him the Holy One of God. Bartholomew, what if Jesus truly is the Holy One of God?

If by such talk I surprise you, my brother, let me remind you Bethsaida is a long way from Jerusalem. Do you know how the Romans despise us? Have you been bitten by the wolf-like greed of the tax collectors—our own people—who eagerly join the Romans in stealing our livelihood through taxes? We are Jews, Bartholomew, but God has promised we shall not always suffer at the hands of the Gentiles. We will be delivered. Messiah will come.

If Jesus is telling the truth then Messiah may already be here. The days are not so strange that with faith we may see our hope fulfilled. For without faith, my brother, we are lost. Without hope we cannot endure. I have not yet made up my mind about this Jesus. He is not the first man whom our people have hailed as Messiah. However, who knows, with the help of the LORD who is blessed forever, he may be the last. He may be the Messiah.

We shall see.

Write when you have occasion. And I will do the same.

Shalom.

Friday 9 March 2007

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” – John 6.51

Bartholomew, merchant in Bethsaida,

To Mordecai, my beloved brother in Jerusalem.

Greetings in the Name of He who is blessed forever, the LORD, the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth.

As you know, my brother, because of the recent famine, all the Jews around here are desperately hungry. However, what they seem most hungry for is not so much food as freedom from Rome.  Ever since the arrival of John the Baptist, the prophetic pump has been primed.  The people are edgy. The air is thick with talk about the Messiah. If talk was bread the famine would be over.

In recent days, there has been a great deal of talk about the man from Nazareth, the one they call Jesus. Have you heard about Him? Some from our village believe he is the Messiah. They are even saying this carpenter’s son will deliver us from iron grip of Roman oppression.

I know you scoff at such talk, but my dear brother, the word is spreading like wildfire. It is fueled by news of miracles Jesus is said to have performed. Why just a few days ago, Jesus did something right here in Bethsaida that I can only describe as a miracle.

Jesus had crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee and as soon as everyone found out where He was, naturally they flocked to see Him. When I saw the dust rising I went down to look for myself what the commotion was all about.

Mordecai, I am not exaggerating, there must have been five thousand people there. When I arrived Jesus had just begun to speak. I made my way through the crowd to find a good place to sit on the mountainside and listen. They say with some preachers one hour can seem like twenty-minutes while others can make twenty minutes seem like one hour. Jesus was the first kind of preacher. He speaks with an authority that compels you to listen. But some of the things he says are hard to understand.

Anyway, he talked and the time passed.  Before any of us knew it, it was dinnertime, but no one had brought anything to eat.  We didn’t expect to be out that long, but there we were: far from home, with no food and no money in our purse to buy any.

When I stood up to go home I saw Jesus.  His men surrounded him. They were huddled around him. It was a very lively discussion. His men were pointing at the crowd and holding up their money pouches – they looked empty. Jesus was as calm as the Sea of Galilee at dusk. Whatever he said to his men must have shocked them. You should have seen the looks on their faces. They had just finished talking when one of Jesus’ men brought a little boy to him. Jesus talked with the boy then said something to his men. Next thing I know, Jesus’ men are making their way through the crowd telling us to all sit down.

So we sat down. Do you know how long it takes to get 5,000 people to sit down, Mordecai? Too long. Especially when you’re hungry. Anyway, after we were all seated, Jesus stepped forward. He carried a basket out of which He took five loaves and two fish. I know because I counted them (and you know how good I am at counting inventory). Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and then he and his men handed out the loaves and the fish.

At first, we all thought it was some kind of joke. Who would try to feed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish? Jesus! That’s who.

He did it, Mordecai! I am telling you the truth, brother, Jesus really fed all five thousand of us with five loaves and two fish. It was a miracle just like the miracle of Elisha and the widow’s oil.  Do you remember when Papa would tell us that story, Mordecai? It was one of his favorites, mine too (O, the money I could make if my inventory would never run out, but that’s beside the point).

You remember the story, don’t you? The widow was about to lose her sons to slavery because she didn’t have the money to pay off her husband’s debts.  All she had was a little bit of oil, so Elisha told her to ask her neighbors for all their empty jars.  Then she poured the oil into all the jars until they were all full. Then the oil stop flowing.  The woman sold the oil and paid off her debt.  That’s what it was like when Jesus fed all five thousand of us.  As soon as our bellies were full the food stopped. It was as if he made the food come out of nowhere.  I tell you, brother, the crowd went into frenzy. In their excitement the crowd began to shout “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”  Some shouted that we should make him king right there on the spot.  Somehow, Jesus made his men get into a boat while he disappeared up the mountain.

The next day, he appeared over in Capernaum, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  Someone said that he would have had to walk on water to get there so fast.  I don’t know about that, but as soon as we found Jesus, he started preaching again.

Everyone, including me, was ready to hear a rousing speech – a call to arms in fact.  Jesus had the crowd in the palm of His hand and they were ready to do whatever he said. By now we were pretty much convinced Jesus was sent from God, but as soon as he started talking something was different. He began talking about working for food that endures to eternal life instead of spending our whole life working for food that spoils.

Honestly, I didn’t really care about that. I just wanted Jesus to perform another miracle, one more amazing thing like he did the day before. Somebody in the crowd asked him to do another miracle. Could he give us bread from heaven just like Moses did for our ancestors during the Exodus?

Jesus said, “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” the people said, “from now on give us the bread,”

I’ll never forget his answer.

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

He said it again. “I am the bread of life.” But it was what he said after this that turned the crowd against him. He said, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Well, Jesus had hardly finishing speaking when people began walking away. They were not happy. “This is a hard saying,” they grumbled, “how can anyone accept it?” Some even wondered whether Jesus was possessed by a demon. Who else but a madman says such things, Mordecai? Who else but a madman says, “This bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world”? Tell me, Mordecai, would such words come from the lips of the Messiah of our people?

Too stunned to go home and too upset to go back to work, I stayed behind, but stood out of sight. I saw Jesus talking with His men after everyone else had gone away.  And I mean everyone. The only people left were the twelve men who followed Jesus.

He said, “Are you also going to leave me?”

“What kind of question is that?” I asked myself. Suddenly, I heard one of Jesus’ men, the one they call Simon Peter, say in a loud clear voice, as if he wanted everyone who left to hear him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

The Holy One of God, Mordecai! That’s what he called Jesus. The Holy One of God! Could he really be the Holy One of God? Could he really be the bread of life come down from heaven? Ah, but how can a man claim to come from heaven, to come from God? But since the time of Moses, when has there ever been a man who can do the things Jesus has done?

These are strange days, Mordecai, strange days indeed.

I will write again when I have more news. Until then…

Shalom.

Friday 2 March 2007

“As the time drew near for his return to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” – Luke 9.51 [NLT]

“And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.[1] He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven.” – The Letter to the Hebrews 12.1b-2 [NLT]

One of the more powerful the characteristics regarding God’s word for which we can be especially thankful is what the Reformers called Scriptura ex Scriptura explicanda est (Scripture is explained and must be explained by Scripture). For a case in point we need only look at the two texts above.

When Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem” He was at the pinnacle of popularity. The events recorded in Luke 9 underscore this. Jesus sent out the apostles giving them “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases…and to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal,” (vv. 1-2). He fed the five thousand, (vv. 10-17). In verse 20, Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Christ of God.” In verses 28-36, Peter, James and John witness the transfiguration of Jesus and hear the voice of God the Father declare, “This is My Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him.” Immediately after He is transfigured, Jesus heals a boy filled with an unclean spirit (vv.37-43). Jesus is so popular His disciples are convinced He will usher in a new monarchal dynasty in Israel. They are so convinced that when the people of a Samaritan village refuse to welcome Jesus they ask if He would like them “to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” Luke tells us Jesus “turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village,” (vv. 54-56).

Jesus had come to rule and to reign. But the path to the throne led through the cross. Jesus determined to go to Jerusalem because that is where prophets go to die. He was determined to gain the crown by enduring the cross. Jesus knew that popularity, like the wind, would eventually change direction. There was only One opinion that mattered, only One voice He had to obey, only One Person He had to impress – His Father. He came to die in Jerusalem and to Jerusalem He would go. Nothing would stop Him. He was determined to keep His obligation to fulfill the eternal covenant existing between Him and His Father (John 12.27-28).

Scriptura ex Scriptura explicanda est. Luke 9.51 is explained by Hebrews 12.1b-2. Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem” knowing He would die the cruelest form of death—and as criminal. But He endured the cross, says the writer of Hebrews, “scorning its shame,” and He did so “because of the joy he knew would be his afterward.” This is a fact in which we need to marinate our soul.

Scriptura ex Scriptura explicanda est. Hebrews 12.1b-2 is explained by 1 John 4.10, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins,” [NLT].

The time before Easter is traditionally given to thoughts of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We like the resurrection, but avoid deep thinking about the cross. However, without the cross there is no resurrection. Without the cross our sins are not taken away and we cannot be forgiven. Without the cross there is no crown, no being seated with Christ in heavenly places, no promise of life in this life with the hope of life beyond this life. Without the cross there is no Gospel—no good news.

But there is a cross. There is a sacrifice to take away sins. There is life in this life with hope for life beyond this life. There is also, therefore, strength to run with endurance the race God has set before us. It is a strength that comes from One determined to scorn the cross for the joy of wearing the crown and for the greater joy of being seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne.

You think about that.

MM

[1] Or, Jesus, the Originator and Perfecter of our faith.

O LORD,

I  bless Thee that the issue of the battle

between Thyself and Satan

has never been uncertain,

and will end in victory.

Calvary broke the dragon’s head,

and I contend with a vanquished foe,

who with all his subtlety and strength

has already been overcome.

When I feel the serpent at my heel

may I remember Him whose head was bruised,

but who, when bruised, broke the devil’s head.

My soul with inward joy extols

the Mighty Conqueror.

Heal me of any wounds received

in the great conflict;

if I have gathered defilement,

if my faith has suffered damage,

if my hope is less than bright,

if my love is not fervent,

if some creature comfort occupies my heart,

if my soul sinks under pressure of the fight.

O Thou whose every promise is balm,

every touch life,

draw near to They weary warrior,

refresh me, that I may rise again

to wage the strife,

and never tire until my enemy is trodden down.

Give me such fellowship with Thee

that I may defy Satan,

unbelief, the flesh, the world,

with delight that comes not from a creature,

and which a creature cannot mar.

Give me a draught of the eternal fountain

that lieth in Thy immutable, everlasting love,

and decree.

Then shall my hand never weaken,

my feet never stumble,

my sword never rest,

my shield never rust,

my helmet never shatter,

my breastplate never fall,

as my strength rests in the power

of Thy might.

–The Valley of Vision,

A Collection Puritan Prayers and Devotions,

Arthur Bennet, ed.,

The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA, © 1975

A Sermon Series for the Season of Lent – Sermon 1: Luke 4.1-13

~Jesus stood up to the devil’s every temptation by standing firm on the word of God ~

“As Jesus turned down Satan and consciously chose to follow God down the hard road of His ministry, so too we must be prepared to walk into events under His leading, even where the outcome is not clear.”

—Darrell L. Bock, Luke, The NIV Application Commentary

Jesus stood up to the devil by trusting God to take care of Him— Luke 4.1-4

¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

1. Read Luke 3.21-22.
   1. What event preceded the temptation of Jesus?
   2. How did what happened in Luke 3.21-22 prepare Jesus for what happened in Luke 4.1-13?
   3. What is the significance of Jesus’ being “full of the Holy Spirit”?
2. Why did God the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to suffer temptation?

(Cf. Genesis 3.1-13; Deuteronomy 8.2-6; Hebrews 5.7-10)

1. Discuss how the devil addressed Jesus when he tempted Him.
2. Although Jesus was hungry, why would it have been wrong for Him to take matters into His own hands and “command this stone to become bread”?
3. How did Jesus respond to the devil’s temptation? (Cf. Deuteronomy 8.3)
   1. What does “Man shall not live by bread alone,” mean?
   2. What are some ways in which we are tempted to take matters into our own hands rather than live by faith?

Jesus stood up to the devil by worshiping God and God alone— Luke 4.5-8

⁵And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘”You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’” [Cf. Deuteronomy 6.13; 10.17-20]

1. What did the devil promise Jesus in exchange for His worship?
   1. How true was the devil’s offer?
   2. Given God’s sovereignty, did the devil really have it in his power to confer “all this authority,” etc. upon Jesus?
2. Why would it have been wrong for Jesus to give in to this temptation?
   1. Who, ultimately, has the power to confer “all authority,” etc. upon Jesus? (Cf. Matthew 28.18-20; John 5.26-27; Acts 2.29-36; Hebrews 1.8-9)
   2. How was Jesus to receive this “all authority”? (Cf. Philippians 2.5-11; Hebrews 12.2)
3. Read Deuteronomy 8.11-20 and Matthew 6.25-34.
   1. What are some ways in which we are tempted either to worship other gods, or to trust in ourselves?

Jesus stood up to the devil by refusing to put God to the test — Luke 4.9-12

⁹And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, “’He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ ¹¹and “’On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ¹²And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” [Deuteronomy 6.16; cf. Exodus 17.2-7]

1. Here the devil quotes Psalm 91.11-12. Read Psalm 91.11-12.
   1. Did the devil quote the text accurately?
   2. What does your answer tell you about how the devil uses Scripture in his temptation?
2. Why would it have been wrong for Jesus to give in to this temptation?
3. What are some ways we are tempted to God to the test?

Jesus stood up to the devil knowing He would be tempted again— Luke 4.13

¹³And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

1. Why was it important that Jesus not give in to the devil’s every temptation?
2. Given that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, how real were the temptations He suffered?
3. What other “opportune time(s)” did the devil tempt Jesus?

Friday 23 February 2007

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”–Paul the Apostle, First Epistle to the Thessalonians 5.16-18

There were no better keepers of Paul’s exhortation than the Puritans. Their enthusiasm for prayer is captured in a collection of prayers known as The Valley of Vision. In one section of this most helpful book (Approach to God) I found the following prayer expressed my own recently renewed desire to pursue deeper intimacy with the Lord in prayer. In keeping with the Puritans’ straightforward faith, the prayer bears the simple title, Living By Prayer.

O God of the open ear,

Teach me to live by prayer as well as by Providence, for myself, soul, body, children, family, church;

Give me a heart frameable to Thy will; so I might live in prayer, and honor Thee, being kept from evil, known and unknown.

Help me to see the sin that accompanies all I do, and the good I can distil from everything.

Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring my will to Thine, and that without this it is folly to pray;

When I try to bring Thy will to mine it is to command Christ, to be above Him, and wiser than He; this is my sin and pride,

I can only succeed when I pray according to Thy precept and promise, and to be done with as it pleases Thee, according to Thy will.

When Thou commandest me to pray for pardon, peace, brokenness, it is because Thou wilt give me the thing promised, for Thy glory, as well as for my good.

Help me not only to desire small things but with holy boldness to desire great things for Thy people, for myself, that they and I might live to show Thy glory.

Teach me that it is wisdom for me to pray for all I have, out of love, willingly, not of necessity; that I may come to Thee at any time, to lay open my needs acceptably to Thee; that my great sin lies in my not keeping the savor of Thy ways; that the remembrance of this truth is one way to the sense of Thy presence; that there is no wrath like the wrath of being governed by my own lusts for my own ends.

The Puritans knew the secret to obeying Paul’s exhortation to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances is that such things are the will of God in Christ Jesus for His people. To live by prayer as well as by Providence requires a firm grasp on the realization that “the work of prayer” is to bring our will to the Lord. Sometimes the “the work of prayer” is hard work. At such times it is good to consider such work to be a labor of love done in obedience according to God’s will. Sometimes “the work of prayer” amounts to little more than raising the sails of our souls to allow the wind of the Spirit to carry us along. Whether the work is laborious or joyous, tedious or exhilarating, the aim is the same, to live by prayer as well as by Providence.

To live by prayer is to resolve always to be in communication with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is to build an ever-increasing bond of fellowship with the Trinity as well as with our brothers and sisters in Christ. To live by prayer is to cultivate the soul continually so that its soil remains fertile to produce the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of repentance as well as the evidence we are furnishing our faith with the qualities of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love.

During the season of Lent it is customary we give up something. So let me suggest we resolve to give up being governed by our own lusts for our own ends. Let us resolve to do the work of prayer and so bring our will to the God of the open ear. Let us resolve to live by prayer as well as by Providence.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 16 February 2007

“Consider how I love Your precepts! Give me life according to Your steadfast love.

The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”

— Psalm 119.159-160

They are two of my favorite Hebrew words. That they appear in consecutive verses of the longest psalm is a bonus. The Hebrew words to which I refer are hesed and emeth. In the verses above hesed is translated steadfast love and emeth is translated truth.

In some ways, hesed is deliciously difficult to define. On the one hand, in addition to steadfast love, it carries the sense of mercy, kindness, and lovingkindness. On the other hand, when it is used of God in His dealings toward humanity, hesed describes the covenant loyalty or covenant-keeping faithfulness of God’s character. Some translators find the phrase unfailing love to be an apt definition of this word.

Thus when the psalmist prays, “Give me life (or, Revive me) according to Your steadfast love,” he is trusting God to answer his plea based on the character of God as the God who maintains covenant-keeping faithfulness toward His children. We must keep God’s word because, as the covenant-keeping, covenant-faithful God, He keeps His word, His covenant with us. Those who keep God’s word out of love for Him can expect Him to give them life when they ask for it.

An additional reason for keeping God’s word is, “The sum of Your word is truth (emeth), and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”

Emeth carries the underlying sense of certainty, dependability, and faithfulness. When something is emeth it is as sure as the sunrise and as dependable as the ground beneath our feet. In the Old Testament (OT) emeth is used in several contexts, all of which relate to God either directly or indirectly, and is often applied to God as an attribute of His character, especially that which makes up His goodness.

As an attribute of God that is revealed to humanity, emeth is the means by which we come to know and serve God as our Savior. Because it is an attribute of God, which is revealed in our salvation, and life of service as God’s children, emeth is often used in association with hesed. Very often, since God’s truth and steadfast love lead to God’s peace toward sinful humanity, saved by His grace, emeth is often joined with “peace” (shalom).

In verse quoted above the psalmist speaks in absolute terms, “The sum of Your word is truth.” His meaning is as a clear as the blue sky of a crisp winter morning—there is no truth, in the biblical sense, outside God. All truth, all valid truth, comes from God because truth is connected to God. It is interesting to note that the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the OT, translates the Hebrew word emeth into the Greek word for truth, aletheia. This is the same Greek word used in the New Testament (written in Greek) by Jesus to describe Himself as “the Way, the Truth (aletheia), and the Life,” in John 14.6.

Thus in the NT, we encounter the sum of God’s word in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He is the Truth. He is the Word. In the OT truth was mediated to humanity through the word of God, which included His righteous rules. Under the OT, those who kept God’s word out of love for Him could expect Him to give them life when they asked for it. Under the NT, those who keep God’s word out of love for Jesus can expect Him to grace them with eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ who kept God’s word perfectly.

Thus the prayer of the psalmist is fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He it is who is the epitome of God’s hesed and He it is who is the sum of God’s emeth.

You think about that.

MM

“…I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” — Paul the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 2.3-5

Preachers are like golfers. We are always looking for ways to improve how we communicate the Gospel. Much of the recent literature about preaching focuses on meeting the felt needs of the audience. Additionally, there is the added pressure to learn how to communicate the meta-narrative of Truth to a post-modern generation dubious of meta-narrative, as well as any attempt to use definite language regarding Truth.

Helpful as such books are, they place the erstwhile preacher in a querulous double bind. On the one hand, we exegete the ancient text responsibly as we attempt, literally, “to get into the head” of the author even as we attempt to understand the sitz im leben (the situation in life) of his audience. On the other hand, once we have accomplished this task we must “walk the ancient text across the hermeneutical bridge” into the 21^st century. Whereas purchasing car insurance may be so easy a caveman can do it, (as one insurance company suggests), walking the ancient text across that bridge requires considerably more skill. When done well there is illumination “in demonstration of the Spirit and power.” When done poorly, the result is best captured by this quote from Haddon Robinson, “A mist in the pulpit becomes a fog in the pew.”

So you can imagine my joy in discovering a book recently that defines the exegetical task in a manner both refreshing and challenging. The book is Listening to the Spirit in the Text by Gordon D. Fee (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI © 2000). Here is the statement that caught my attention:

“I want to say with great vigor that even though the first task of the exegete is the historical one (= to determine the biblical author’s intended meaning), this is not the ultimate one. The ultimate task…is the Spiritual one, to hear the text in such a way that it leads the reader/hearer into the worship of God and into conformity to God and his ways … My point is that true exegesis attempts to engage in the author’s Spirituality, not just in his words,” (p. 11; italics his, bold my emphasis).

True exegesis should lead to true preaching. True preaching attempts to communicate the biblical author’s Spirituality so as to engage the hearer’s Spirituality. It is Spirituality with a capital “S” since Fee defines Spirituality as “nothing less than life by the (Holy) Spirit,” (p. 6). Fee asserts:

“Hence the aim of exegesis: to produce in our lives and the lives of others true Spirituality, in which God’s people live in fellowship with the eternal and living God, and thus in keeping with God’s own purposes in the world. But in order to do that effectively, true “Spirituality” must precede exegesis as well as flow from it,” (p.6).

So here is my challenge to us all. Let us who preach do our best to have our Spirituality, our life by the Spirit, “precede exegesis as well as flow from it.” Let our preaching be Spiritual as our exegesis is Spiritual. Let us who hear the word preached do our best to have our Spirituality, our life by the Spirit, precede the hearing of the word, knowing that the speech and the message proclaimed “is not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Let us together be Spiritual, let us live by the Spirit so that we might more closely follow Jesus with a faith resting in the power of God the Father.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 2 February 2007

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” — Paul the Apostle, Philippians 3.13-14

One morning last Fall Joe Bieger, 59, walked out of his house in Dallas, Texas to take his two dogs for a walk. He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather and assistant high school athletic director. By the time Joe Bieger reached the end of his street his memory was gone. He spent the next 25 days wandering the streets of Dallas unable to remember his name, what he did for a living, even where he lived. His ordeal ended when a local contractor who was building a house for Mr. Bieger, recognized him.

By the time he was found, Mr. Bieger had wandered 20-miles from his home, lost 25 pounds and a full, white beard covered his once clean-shaven face. Doctors diagnosed Mr. Bieger as suffering from psychogenic fugue, an extremely rare form of amnesia. He is now back at home, has returned to work and is under the care of a physician specializing in his form of amnesia. And should he wander off again, his cell phone is equipped with a GPS tracking device (from an Associated Press story that appeared in The Toledo Blade January 27, 2007.)

When most people think about forgetting what lies behind, Joe Bieger’s rare form of amnesia is usually not on their short list. It was definitely not the kind of amnesia Paul referred to near the end of his letter to Philippians.

For those who have been born-again through faith in Christ, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus requires a deliberate amnesia. We must choose to forget what lies behind. We must refuse to carry the baggage of past failures. We must choose to resist the temptation to wrap ourselves in the glory of past victories. If pressing on is hard work, forgetting what lies behind is even harder work. But let’s face it, compared to the anxiety of not knowing what tomorrow will bring, sometimes the past is just a more comfortable place to live.

But we were not made to live in the past. We were made to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We were made to finish the race. We were made for eternity. And that means we must live with a God-given discontent for the things of this world. It is instructive to see that Paul says he forgets what lies behind by straining forward to what lies ahead. And what lies ahead is the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Scholars tell us Paul is here using an image borrowed from the Olympic games. Having won the race, the champion awaits to hear the upward call of the official to the top step of the podium and receive the gold medal. During the race the runner had to have a deliberate amnesia. He had to forget what lies behind by straining forward to what lies ahead. Perhaps he had to ignore a bad start. Or perhaps he had to ignore a nagging injury with which his body tried to persuade him to quit. Perhaps he had to ignore his place in the field and fight to focus on finishing the race. This much is certain: he strained forward to what lies ahead by pressing on in order to finish the race and reach the goal for the prize of the upward call.

And so must we.

We must forget what lies behind by straining forward to what lies ahead. With God’s help we can overcome a bad start. With His help we can overcome an addiction, a bad relationship, an emotional setback, even an illness tempting us to just give up and give in. We must practice a deliberate amnesia. We must not allow past success to predict or influence current devotion. We forget what lies behind by straining forward to what lies ahead. We must press on. We must finish the race.

Where we finish is not important. It is only important that we finish. It is only important that we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So let us forget what lies behind by straining forward to what lies ahead.

Oswald Chambers distills Paul’s exhortation into this mm, “Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.”

You think about that.

MM

I recently discovered an old hymn titled By Christ Redeemed, In Christ Restored. It was written over 150 years ago by George Rawson, with music by John B. Dykes. It is a sacramental hymn to be sung whenever the Lord’s Supper is celebrated.

By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored,
We keep the memory adored,
And show the death of our dear Lord,
Until He come.

His body broken in our stead
Is here in this memorial bread,
And so our feeble love is fed
Until He come.

The streams of His dread agony,
His life blood shed for us, we see;
The wine shall tell the mystery
Until He come.

And thus that dark betrayal night
With the last advent we unite
By one blest chain of loving rite
Until He come.

Until the trump of God be heard,
Until the ancient graves be stirred,
And, with the great commanding word,
The Lord shall come.

O blessed hope! with this elate
Let not our hearts be desolate,
But, strong in faith, in patience wait
Until He come.

The last words of each stanza point us toward the hope we have in Christ. Were we not by Christ redeemed, His return would terrify us rather than cause us to rejoice. Were we not in Christ restored, His second coming would cause us to flee His presence rather than fall at His feet in worship. Rawson’s words may not be inspired in the same way Scripture is inspired, but they contain a weightiness sorely lacking in much of our contemporary worship.

The hymn preaches a Biblical anthropology, a sound Christology, an orthodox theology and a hope-filled eschatology. The Biblical anthropology of the hymn declares that by Christ alone we are redeemed from God’s wrath against us for our sin. In Christ alone we are restored to a state of righteousness, holiness and purity before God. The Christology of the hymn is found in such lyrics as His body broken in our stead/Is here our memorial bread and The streams of His dread agony/His life blood shed for us we see. When Christ broke the bread and blessed the cup He established the New Covenant. The very moment He said the words of institution, “This is my body,…This is my blood…,” the Old Covenant was fulfilled the culmination of which was His crucifixion the next day. Thus the wine shall tell the mystery that we are redeemed and restored by His active obedience (He lived a sinless life) as well as His passive obedience (He laid down His life as a voluntary sacrifice). An orthodox theology permeates the entire hymn summarized by the words of another songwriter/theologian, Michael Card, We in our helpless thought we were strong/He became helpless to show we were wrong/We in our foolishness thought we were wise/He played the fool to open our eyes.

The eschatology of the hymn is captured in the refrain, Until He come. Now there is much debate in Evangelical circles as to when Christ will return. And the hymn gives no indication as to what Rawson thought about the timing of Christ’s second coming. That said, I do not believe the Church is a parenthesis in the plan of God, nor do I believe that God has one plan for the Church and another for the present-day nation of Israel. Nor do I believe the Church must be removed from this world in order for God’s plan of salvation to be fulfilled. I do believe the Church, comprised of Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, is the Israel of God. I believe that all people, regardless of their ethnicity, race or gender are by Christ redeemed, in Christ restored. I believe that for anyone to have the hope of eternal life with Christ they must confess their hope in in His body broken in our stead; in His life blood shed for us.

Then and only then can any of us say with confidence — O blessed hope! with this elate/Let not our hearts be desolate/But, strong in faith, in patience wait/Until He come.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 12 January 2007

When Rick Warren began his best-selling book, The Purpose Life with the statement, “It’s not about you,” he simply put in popular language what Augustine wrote circa 400 A.D., “You made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” The same idea is expressed in the first question and answer in The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith:

What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Still, Augustine’s statement remains the preeminent expression of why we are here. God made us for Himself. We have been made to worship God. And it is He who awakens us to delight in His praise—to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. And yet it is the last part of Augustine’s statement that remains most memorable, “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”

Now, we Reformed types will debate whether or not unregenerate humanity wants to praise God. However, when we examine his statement from the perspective that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God, Augustine’s point becomes clear. At the heart of Adam and Eve’s rebellion was the desire to replace the worship of God with the worship of self. In believing the lie that they would become like God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Garden couple became enslaved by that which they were created to rule. Instead of giving their hearts rest, their self-rule and its new religion of self placed them and us in a cauldron of rebellious restlessness, anxiety, and despair. Once the truth that God made us for Himself is forgotten, the lie that it is all about us becomes infinitely more attractive and, unfortunately for us, infinitely more deadly.

God has made us for Himself. We have been made to worship God. And it is He who awakens us to delight in His praise. Augustine is correct. Humanity wants to praise God, but since sin has so twisted our nature and skewed our perspective, we do not worship Him. Rather, we worship what He has created. We worship ourselves. We worship nature. We make idols of created things rather than worshiping the God who created them and us.

God must awaken us to delight in His praise. His Holy Spirit must arrest us from the frantic restlessness caused by an idolatrous heart (Romans 8.15-17; Ephesians 1.13-14). It is only as God the Father draws us to Himself (John 6.44) that we will find the rest our hearts so desperately long for. And once we are drawn to the Father we find rest for our hearts as well as for our souls (Matthew 11.27-30).

So may you find rest for your heart this New Year. May you freely surrender that which makes you restless. May you joyfully let go of the delusion that it is all about you, that temporary, terminal things can satisfy the eternal, everlasting desire for rest God has planted in your heart. May you discover the joy of a God-awakened delight in His praise. May you discover the peace that accompanies those who resolve to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. May you explore what it means to know He made us for Himself and our hearts are truly restless until they find their true rest in Him. You think about that. MM

Friday 5 January 2007

They say, “Truth is stranger than fiction.” If so, the following Associated Press headline is further evidence in support of that axiom – “Saved By the Word” (This Associated Press story appeared on page 17 of The Sentinel-Tribune (Bowling Green, Ohio), Monday, November 20, 2006.)

The headline refers to an incident that took place near Jacksonville, Florida in November 2006. An unnamed a 54-year-old man, was ambushed by two attackers as he carried bags of garbage to a trash bin. Frustrated by the man’s resistance one of his attackers shot him in the chest at point blank range.

To the amazement of all three men, the 54-year-old man did not die. Yes, the bullet hit him, but he did not go down. Take another look at the headline and you can guess why. That’s right. Two small Bibles in his shirt pocket kept the bullet from penetrating into his chest. He was saved by the Word.

According to the police (who took the Bibles as evidence), the man had put the two New Testament Bibles in his shirt pocket to give to friends. Little did he know they would (or, could ) stop a bullet. Other than a red mark where the bullet would have been and a pain in his chest the man was not injured. As the headline reveals, he was saved by the Word.

Skeptics may dismiss this is as the stuff of urban legend. Yet as incredible as the story sounds, there is enough evidence to suggest the story is true. Even so, no one is advocating the use of New Testament Bibles as bulletproof vests. What ought not be overlooked is the fact that the Word of God is meant to save us from a fate far worse than being shot with a bullet from a gun at point-blank range.

The Word of God is meant to save us from the wrath of God aimed at us because of our sin. Now, strictly speaking we are not saved by the Word. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is through the preaching and the hearing of the Word that the Holy Spirit makes us aware of our sin thereby revealing our need for salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Without this work of the Spirit the Word is powerless to produce the faith we need to be saved. However, when the Spirit is at work He makes the Word effective for salvation.

In his letter to the Christians in Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power,” (1 Corinthians 2.4-5, NIV). And again in his letter to the Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote this about the Word of God, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…,” (Romans 1.16, NIV).

Had the bullet penetrated those two New Testament Bibles in that man’s shirt pocket the AP headline may have been written with different words. However, the original headline would still be true. To be “Saved By the Word” is to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is to know that no matter how our life ends here on earth, it continues in heaven with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And “to be in heaven is not to cease to be human but to become perfectly human…perfectly obedient to God himself in every circumstance as we join him in exercising dominion over his creation,” (Scott J. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL © 2001, page 104).

So as this New Year begins may you know what it means to be saved by the Word. May you know the “demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”

And, like the apostle Paul, may we be “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

You think about that.

MM

Friday 26 October 2006

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” —Romans 15.5-6

Several years ago, our family was returning to our home in Canada after visiting family in Northern Virginia. It was the middle of March and we were trying to outrun a snowstorm. Despite the fact that we would share the driving, neither Jill nor I were looking forward to an intense fourteen-hour ride home in bad weather.

By the eleventh hour we had reached St. Catherine’s, Ontario. We had three hours to go and the snow was increasing in intensity. Hungry, tired and in need of a break we pulled off the highway and into a Tim Horton’s coffee shop. We each had a bowl of soup with a sandwich. An hour later, with our bellies full and hope renewed we set off for home.

As we made our way back to our van we noticed the snow had stopped. By the time we were an hour from home, the sky had cleared so much we could see the stars. Obviously, our stop at the Tim Horton’s did not cause the snow to stop. However, by stopping there to eat and refresh ourselves we all noticed an improvement in our attitude and in our behavior the rest of the way home. Before we stopped we were tired, hungry and short of patience. After the stop we were in a much better frame of mind.

Our rest stop at that Tim Horton’s was the benediction we needed to encourage us to continue. Weary travelers need the benediction of rest stops. Weary travelers need the blessing of places where they can refresh themselves. Weary travelers need the encouragement of places where they can become reenergized so they can continue and complete their journey.

People who follow Jesus need rest stops, too. They need the benediction of rest that comes from God’s word. We all need the encouragement to endure as we follow Jesus through sunshine and storms. The apostle Paul often included benedictions in his letters—sometimes more than one. For example, Romans 15.5-6 is the first of three benedictions Paul writes in the chapter (cf., 15.13; 15.33).

For Christ-followers, a benediction is like a well-placed rest stop along a well-traveled road. It refreshes and encourages because it feeds the soul and reenergizes the spirit. A benediction renews our hope so we can continue and complete our journey. A benediction gives us the assurance that if we endure the journey will end happily.

Thus when Paul writes, “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” his goal is to inspire his readers to keep following Christ by reminding them of their (and our) ultimate responsibility and privilege, to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The benediction is also a reminder that since we do not travel alone we must try our best to live in harmony as we make our way toward our eternal home. We are reminded that the God we serve is THE God of endurance and encouragement. When we need endurance He is our source. When we need encouragement He is our supply. When we need to learn how to live in harmony He is our teacher and our example. Compared to eternity we spend a brief time on this earth. Still, from our perspective life can be a very long, very lonely, and very tiring journey.

We all need rest stops at which we can revive our endurance and renew our encouragement. How good it is to know that the God we serve is THE God who gives both without limit to those who trust in His Son.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 29 September 2006

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” — Psalm 51.10-12 [ESV]

The Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers expressing the passionate spirituality of the Puritans. The Puritan movement swept through the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries producing giants of the faith such as Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, Isaac Watts, composer of hymns such as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and John Owen. If you have not read Baxter, Bunyan, or Owen you owe it to yourself to do so. Ditto for singing Watts’ hymns. It is not hyperbole to say that to ignore them is to worship God with an impoverished faith and limited view of His glory.

The Americanized caricature of the Puritans depicts them as funny looking people with oddly shaped hats, big-buckled shoes, carrying blunderbusses and with a strong dislike for anything that might be fun. It is a false image. The Puritans of 17th/18th century England including those who settled in Massachusetts were passionate people. They lived with a passion to bring all of life under the authority of Jesus Christ. They lived with a passion for the sovereignty of God in all things. One outlet for this passion was prayer. You can read this passion in the opening lines of a prayer titled Morning Needs:

O God, the Author of all Good,
I come to Thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events.
I step out into a wicked world,
I carry about within me an evil heart,
I know that without Thee
I can do nothing that everything with which I shall be concerned,
however harmless in itself,
may prove an occasion of sin or folly
unless I am kept by Thy power.

The first two lines express worship to God as the Author of all Good as well as declaring our dependence upon Him as the giver of all grace. The third line is an honest assessment of the world into which the saints of God live and move and have their being. The fourth line reveals the honest humility of the Puritan conscience: “I carry about within me an evil heart.”

This confession is what prompted David to cry out, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” (Psalm 51.10). That he carried about with him an evil heart kindled David’s burning request for God to create in him a clean heart. The LORD declared David to be a man after His own heart, and we see here the proof of that. After confessing his sin of adultery, the Shepherd-King cries out to the Author of all Good to create within him a clean heart.

The apostle Paul expressed his need for a clean heart when he wrote, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me,” (Romans 7.19-20). We do not do the good we want for one simple reason: we carry about within us an evil heart. Unless the Lord changes our heart by creating a new heart in us not only can we not do the good works God has prepared for us, we cannot know the joy of His salvation.

A clean heart will seek God’s guidance in all our endeavors. A clean heart will keep us from sin or folly. A clean heart will direct our worship to its true Creator—God, the Author of all Good. Best of all, a God-given clean heart will keep us from the slow death of a self-righteous spirit. The last lines of Morning Needs express this desire for a clean heart to direct our behavior with typical Puritan passion:

May every creature be made good to me by prayer and Thy will; Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness toward those within, to do good to all men, and especially my fellow Christians. And to Thee be the glory.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 22 September 2006

“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save.’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” —Matthew 14.30-31 [ESV]

Before I saw the film Apollo 13 I had never heard the phrase “a successful failure.” NASA considered the mission of Apollo 13 “a successful failure” in that while the mission failed in its main objective: to land on the moon; the mission succeeded in that all three men were safely returned to earth despite spending several days in a damaged spacecraft.

In an article that appeared in the August 2002 issue of the Harvard Business Review IBM exec Thomas Watson, Sr. was quoted as saying, “the fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” The article went on to say that failure-tolerant leaders know that while success is good, failure is not necessarily all that bad. Failure-tolerant leaders regard failure as a necessary prerequisite of invention, which requires risk taking. Failure also provides insights that cannot normally be gained from success. Failure encourages creativity and innovation.

Some of the greatest people in the Bible have been successful failures. Abraham listened to Sarah and slept with Hagar, when he should have trusted God’s promise that Sarah would give birth to a son. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer. Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed the word of the Lord for 40 years with little to show for his effort. All these experienced extraordinary failures, but because God is a failure-tolerant leader His grace helped them become “successful failures.”

In the NT Jesus emerges as the perfect failure-tolerant leader. And the NT has its share of people who experienced extraordinary failure. One of my favorite stories about a successful failure is Peter’s attempt to walk on water to Jesus from Matthew 14.22-33.

When Jesus called Peter out of the boat He gave the fishermen permission to put his passion into practice. He gave Peter permission not only to try the impossible, but also to do the impossible. Jesus gave Peter permission to succeed. He also gave him permission to fail. The good news is that Peter’s failure, as embarrassing as it was is, in retrospect, a successful failure. There is no doubt Peter was passionate in his desire to follow Jesus. However, Peter was about to learn a very important lesson. Passion for Jesus may get you out of the boat, but it is faith in Jesus that gets you all the way to where He is. A successful failure teaches us to put more faith in Christ than in our passion for following Him.

Peter’s failure taught him it was more important to put his faith in Christ than in his passion for Christ. Passion for Jesus may get you out of the boat, but it is faith in Jesus that gets you all the way to Him. Passion for following Jesus is good. However, our faith should always be in Jesus not in our passion for following Him. There is a difference.

When did Peter realize his passion for following Jesus was not enough? The answer is unknown. Perhaps it was when Peter reached the point of no return (PNR). Once Peter reached the PNR he couldn’t turn back. That would be embarrassing. You don’t want to fail in front of your peers. Additionally, Peter doesn’t want to disappoint Jesus. That would be even more embarrassing especially since the whole “walk on water” thing was his idea.

What if Peter succeeded? What if he made it to Jesus and then continued on with Jesus to the other side? Given Peter’s passion and his pride, it is likely success would have ruined him. But he failed and it was the failure that humbled him. It was failure that taught him the put more faith in Jesus than in his passion for following Jesus. Despite his failure, he did not die nor did Christ reject him. To the contrary, Jesus “saved” him. Even Jesus’ question has a more pastoral than judgmental tone.

The success in Peter’s failure comes after he and Jesus get into the boat. It is found in the confession made after the wind and the waves cease. The apostles worship Jesus making this confession, “Truly, You are the Son of God.” Peter’s failure opened his and their eyes to the reality of Jesus—He is the Son of God and our faith is in Him not in our passion for following Him.

May it always be so.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 15 September 2006

“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”—Joshua 1.7[ESV]

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”—Galatians 3.23-24 [ESV]

I was six-years-old when I learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels. My father gave me one cardinal word of counsel before my solo flight, “Keep your head up, Mike.” Then he gave me a push and sent me pedaling down the street toward a future of adventure and discovery. It was a wobbly start, but remembering my father’s counsel I lifted my chin to keep my head up. Instantly, the wobbling stopped and I rode straight down the middle of the street.

I obeyed my father’s counsel for about half a block. At the halfway point, with him jogging beside me, I gave in to temptation and looked down at the front tire. The instant I dropped my head I swerved to the right hit the curb and fell. My maiden voyage, albeit thrilling was brief. I asked my father to put the training wheels back on. He refused. He told me I was too old for training wheels. He told me he believed I could ride without them. “All you have to do, Mike, is keep your head up. No matter what, if you keep your head up, you won’t fall.”

Several falls later, but determined not to give up, the tumblers all fell into place and the combination to my liberation from training wheels was complete. Trusting my father’s advice, I kept my head up and my balance improved. The training wheels gave me confidence to ride a “two-wheeler,” but in the end they were an intermediate step to help with the transition from riding with them to riding without them.

With Israel on the verge of entering the Promised Land, the LORD exhorted Joshua “be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.” Additionally, the LORD exhorted Joshua, ”Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” For Joshua to be obedient he had to keep his head up. The Law would act as “training wheels” insuring he would not swerve to the right or to the left.

Careful observance of the Law will keep you on the straight and narrow. The LORD exhorted Joshua to be meticulous about being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, the servant of the LORD commanded him. Ultimately, however, the chief ministry of the Law consists in constantly reminding all who try to keep it that they are following God with training wheels on their heart, their mind and their soul.

Enter Jesus as author and pioneer of the New Covenant. His sinless perfection as the Son of God guaranteed His perfect obedience to the Law. His perfect obedience to the Law guaranteed the perfection of His death as the propitiation for our sin. His obedience to the Law is the basis for our justification by faith (see Ephesians 2.8-10). His resurrection removed the training wheels from our heart, mind and soul. Before Jesus came we were captive to the Law. Now that Jesus has come and fulfilled the Law, keeping it when we could not, He has given us a new law to follow—a new commandment wherein we are to love one another as He has loved us (John 13.34).

In acting as our guardian the Law functioned in a manner similar to the way training wheels work on a bicycle. It is there to keep us balanced. The Law reminds us that we need to keep our head up. Once Jesus comes the training wheels are removed. The risk of failure may be greater than under the Law, but the freedom to discover the depth and the riches of God’s glory make the risk eminently worthwhile. In truth there is no risk since the perfection of Jesus guarantees that our faith will be rewarded. All that we must do can be summed up in the counsel my father gave me, “Keep your head up.”

Keep your head up. Look to Jesus. Pedal hard and ride straight knowing that should we fall His Grace is there to pick us up.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 8 September 2006

“Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.” —Exodus 19.18-19 [NIV]

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” —Hebrews 12.26-28 [NIV]

The earth trembles when the LORD speaks. And human hearts are not immune to the fear induced by His glorious presence and thunderous voice. Someday not only the earth but also the heavens will be shaken. Hence all that is not eternal is not only eternally out of date, but also eternally unreliable. According to the writer of Hebrews the only thing that will survive this second shaking is the kingdom of God.

Lest Israel fell prey to the idolatrous notion that Yahweh, the I AM, was simply a late arrival into the pantheon of tribal or national gods the LORD did two things at once; two things as majestic as they were terrifying: He calls Moses up while at the same time He descends visibly, audibly, and physically to Sinai. He who is eternal holiness invites Moses and the people of Israel to an audience with His glory.

The advent of the LORD at Sinai is unlike the advent of Jesus in Bethlehem. On the night of His Son’s advent, the only light that shone was the star that led the Wise Men to Bethlehem. There was no smoke, no thunder, no quaking of the earth. Few there are who fear the birth of a baby. And few there may have been who stood at the foot of Sinai and feared the LORD even though He had delivered them from Egypt and they passed through the Red Sea on dry land.

In all likelihood the advent of the LORD at Sinai did indeed put the “fear of God” into those present. How could it not? The absence of fear was not the case at Sinai. The air was thick with it. The smoke, fire and trumpet were not intended for theatrical effect. The LORD of all creation is not like the Wizard of Oz. He need not stand behind a curtain to declare His glory. He need only descend and in descending He brings with Him smoke, fire and trumpet. These are the accoutrements of royalty. These are the heralds of intrinsic authority. These are the harbingers of an eternal glory. These are the footmen of the Almighty King.

And yet when the LORD descends to Sinai it is to teach. It is to commune with His people by His word. What the “sermon on Sinai” lacked in beatitude it more than compensated for in sheer majesty and glory. His advent there told Israel that here is a God who is above all gods. Did any of the gods of Egypt so appear? Did any of the gods of the Canaanites so appear? No. Only the LORD descends with smoke, fire, and trumpet. By shaking the earth at His advent on Sinai the LORD intended to convince Israel of His reality by magnifying His transcendence. He is not like the other gods. He is above all gods. In truth, there are no other gods. The LORD, Yahweh, I AM, He alone is God.

The next time the earth will shake with an equivalent force will be when “the desired of all nations will come,” (Haggai 2.6-7). This is the verse from which the writer of Hebrews draws his inspiration.

When God became flesh and Jesus lived for a while among us the glory of God was tempered, but not so tempered that glory was diminished in any way. It was glory that shook the earth with a different kind of otherness. Not different in that God had changed, but different in the way He chose to express His glory.

When the LORD once more shakes the earth all that is not eternal—the consuming fire of His majestic glory will consume including the nations of the earth. Only that which is eternal will stand—the kingdom of God including those who have taken refuge in it.

Let us fear the Lord that we may worship Him in spirit and in truth. For by so doing we will be among those who have made their refuge in that which cannot be shaken.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 1 September 2006

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” — 1 Corinthians 15.58 [ESV]

“We ought not merely to labor in the Lord but to do so abundantly, to overflowing. The labor of man after his expulsion from paradise was punishment for his transgressions, but this labor [enabled only by grace] is the basis for the rewards which are to come.” – John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistles of Paul

In the beginning God created us to work. Genesis 2.15 says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Ephesians 2.10 recapitulates this from the perspective of the New Covenant and spiritual rebirth through faith in Christ, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” The Old and New Covenants teach that work, before and after the Fall, is part of our calling as men and women created in God’s image.

So then, work is good. By working we support ourselves, our families and, just as importantly, work enables us to build the kingdom of God. Relax. You are not going to be asked to write a check (although if you want to, that’s fine). Work is good because God created us to work. When we work we fulfill God’s calling for our lives.

The Reformation recaptured more than our understanding of salvation. In addition to recapturing the doctrine of justification by faith, the Reformation also recaptured the definition of work as spiritual vocation. Our culture separates work into the categories of spiritual and secular. This is a false dichotomy. For followers of Jesus Christ all work is spiritual work. All work; be it in the Church, in the home, the office or factory, is a spiritual vocation. “Our callings in life, from husband to wife, father to mother, from son to daughter, form farmer to statesman to minister to housewife, flow from God’s call and love for us in Christ. And mysteriously, our work somehow plans a part in the drama of that final day when the entire creation will be set free from its bondage (Romans 8.18ff.),” (Chris Donato, Tabletalk, September 2006, page 18).
It is with that final day in mind that Paul exhorted the Corinthian church “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” As those who know God’s call and have tasted His love for us in Christ, our work, the work He has given us to do, be it inside or outside the Church is an act of worship grounded in hope. Work is an expression of hope—the steadfast, immovable confidence that our labor, as well as our faith, in the Lord is not in vain.

The key, of course, is to know for Whom you are working and why. Addressing this matter elsewhere Paul wrote, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him,” and again, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Colossians 3.17, 23). Paul’s words, and those of Chrysostom, remind us that when we work for the Lord the pay may not be great, but the benefits are outstanding!

There is more to life because Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. There is more to work for the same reason and especially because He is coming again bringing His reward with Him. Remember that the next time your boss asks you to work overtime, or a client drops your business, or your child vomits in the middle of the night, or you have to deal with ornery co-workers. Work is hard. But God is good.

To work is to worship. To work is to have hope. Our labor is not in vain. All work is an opportunity to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

You think about that.

MM

Friday 25 August 2006

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.” — 1 Peter 2.12 [NIV]

Recently, Christianity Today asked the following question of subscribers to its Internet newsletter: How do you most often respond when friends voice their skepticism of Christianity? Of the choices offered, the majority (36%) of those who responded selected, “I answer each challenge point by point.” Second place (28%) went to, “I try to win them through my actions.”

Sometimes you cannot answer each challenge point by point. You may not have the time, the knowledge or the skills needed to enter that debate. Sometimes the best way to respond to people who voice their skepticism of Christianity is to win them through your actions. That is Peter’s counsel in the verse quoted above.

However, the concept of winning over skeptics through our actions is not original to Peter. Like any preacher he borrowed his idea from another, more skilled preacher, but not just any preacher. Peter borrowed his idea from Jesus. In Matthew 5.16, Jesus said, “So let your light shine before others, so that they may see you good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

What Jesus taught to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Peter and they passed on to us: God receives glory when His people act like Jesus. When words are lacking we can always resort to what we do as a means of telling people about Jesus. When we practice what Jesus preaches we can change the way people think. If we can change the way people think we can change the way they live. If we can change the way they live we can change our culture. But it starts by God’s people behaving like God’s people—behaving like Jesus. God is glorified when we try our best to win people to Christ through our actions.

We are called to practice an unchanging truth in a twenty-minute world. We do this by living according to values rooted and grounded in the unchanging, eternal character of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is not as though people who do not know Jesus lack values. They do. The problem is this: the values of people who do not know Jesus are not based on the absolute and unchanging foundation of Truth.

And what is Truth?

The Bible teaches that Truth is a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14.6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The definite article is in italics since by its use Jesus defines Himself as the ONLY way and the ONLY truth and the ONLY life. He is not a way and a truth and a life. He is THE way and THE truth and THE life. More importantly, since Hebrews 13.8 tells us “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, yes and forever,” it is possible to say that since Jesus never changes then we can say the truth never changes. And the truth is no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. People will come to the Father when His people behave like His Son. God is glorified when His people practice what Jesus preaches as they try to win people to Christ through their actions.

Even people who do not follow Jesus value the truth. And they value people who tell the truth and practice the truth. They value people who treat others with honor, respect, mercy and grace. They notice husbands who love their wives the way Christ loved the church. They notice wives who respect their husbands by submitting to them as the church submits to Christ. They notice children who obey their parents and parents who do not exasperate their children. They notice employers who treat their employees with dignity. They notice workers who show respect for their boss as well as their co-workers.

The truth is pagans like it when we treat them with respect. They like it when we behave like Jesus. They may not understand it, but they like it.

And if they do not?

Ignore them and keep on behaving like Jesus because God receives glory when His people behave like His Son.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 18 August 2006

“A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.’” —Isaiah 40.6-8 [NIV]

The first time I read these words was on the title page of the first Bible I ever owned—a paperback New American Standard Bible. I was a very young Christian at the time, having confessed faith in Christ a mere two weeks prior to the purchase. They are arresting words. They are sobering words. They are encouraging words. The arresting part of Isaiah’s words is not that you and I are like grass. The sobering news of his text is not that we are like flowers that fall. To the contrary, the arresting, sobering and encouraging news is that “the word of our God stands forever.” It requires no faith at all to believe in the mortality of humankind. The evidence is all around us. Witness Iraq, Lebanon, even Bowling Green. Have you read the obituary section in the newspaper? Driven by a cemetery? Our mortality is undeniable. Ah, but equally undeniable is the eternity, the “foreverness,” of God.

We may not enjoy being compared to grass that withers, or flowers that fall, however the fact is we are only on this earth a very short time. We grow, we blossom, we fade, we wither and we die. The bad news is we are temporary. The good news is God is forever.

It’s like the song that says, “We are a moment, You are eternal.” Our hope for eternal life rests securely in the eternity of God. Specifically, our hope for the present and the future rests securely in the eternity of God’s word. In his commentary on Isaiah, John N. Oswalt observes,

“The Spirit that breathes destruction for all human pride is the same Spirit who speaks the eternal Word of life over all withered and faded human hopes. Here is the paradox introduced at the beginning of the book: if I insist I am permanent, then I become nothing; if I admit that God alone is permanent, then He breathes His permanence on me.”

The cry of Isaiah 40 is an open call to confess faith in the permanence of God. It is a declaration that we only have some many breaths to take in this life before we wither and fall—a limited time before we pass into eternity. Unless the Spirit breathes His permanence into our being, we have no hope for life beyond this life.

The message of Isaiah 40 culminates in verse 31, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint.”

Sometimes we must state the obvious before we see the obvious in a new light. We will wither, fade and die. But if our hope is in the permanence of God and His Word, the Spirit breathes eternity into our being. And so filled with His presence we have assurance that even though we die; yet we shall live.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 11 August 2006

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” “’This is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me…This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” —1 Corinthians 10.16; 11.26 [ESV]

There is something comfortable about familiarity. There is also an element of danger. Familiarity with Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, can lead to neglect with respect to its importance and purpose. We eat the bread and we drink the cup because we are commanded by the Lord to do so in remembrance of His sacrifice.

As followers of Jesus Christ in the Reformed tradition we acknowledge two sacraments: Communion and Baptism. We recognize these as sacraments because (1) the Lord Jesus commanded us to baptize all those who confess faith in Him and become His disciples (Matthew 28.19-20); and (2) Jesus commanded us to eat and drink the Communion meal in remembrance of Him (Luke 22.19). Baptism and Communion encourage our faith because, as sacraments, they are means of grace. When we, by faith, participate in these two sacraments the Lord Jesus Christ communicates His grace to us.

As a sacrament, Communion is a sign and seal of Christ’s work on our behalf. As a sign, Communion symbolically represents the death of Christ. Jesus’ words, “My body” and “My blood” make it plain that His was a sacrificial death. It also symbolizes our participation in Christ the crucified Messiah. We do not merely look at the bread and the cup. We eat and drink. By so doing we partake of the blessings and benefits secured for us by Christ’s death for us. And following Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10, Communion symbolizes our “communion” with one another as believers in Jesus Christ.
As we receive the elements of Communion we enter into fellowship with Christ and with one another. As a seal, Communion reminds us that we have been sealed by great love of Jesus Christ. We know this from His words, “This is My body which is for you.” Inasmuch as Christ died to redeem the elect—those predestined to be His from the foundation of the world, He died for individual believers; for you and for me.

Furthermore, Communion comforts us with the assurance that all the blessings of salvation are available to us through faith in Christ because it was for us He gave His body to the Cross and His blood to be shed.

When we receive Communion we confess again our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and pledge our loyalty to Him as our Lord. We renew our commitment to follow Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is worth noting that when we celebrate Communion Jesus Christ is spiritually present among us. Throughout Communion the bread remains bread; the wine remains wine.

However, whereas the elements remain unchanged we should not. “The body and blood of Christ, though absent and locally present only in heaven, communicate a life-giving influence to the believer when he is in the act of receiving the elements,” (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 653-654). We believe it is the Holy Spirit who communicates this influence and that our experience of Christ’s presence depends upon our faith as we eat and drink. As a result, we should leave the Communion table changed people.

A friend once said, “The Communion table is tailor-made for people who walk with a limp.” Those who come in faith to eat and to drink experience the presence of Christ so that when they leave His table they are not as they were before they ate and drank.

We may walk away from the table with a limp, but let us not walk away as those who have no hope.

You think about that.

MM

21 July 2006

“For God made two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun, presides during the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night. He also made the stars.”—Genesis 1.16 [NLT]

What happened July 20, 1969? Do the words, “Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed,” jog your memory? On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first human beings from earth to land a spacecraft on the moon. Later that day, they became the first human beings to walk on the lunar surface. Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the lunar surface, is remembered for saying, “That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

The landing was an anxious adventure. Armstrong had landed the lunar module, the Eagle, manually, but just barely, with only 15 seconds of fuel left. Soon after landing, the two astronauts prepared for their excursion on the lunar surface. Before doing so, Buzz Aldrin did something many people neither know about nor remember.

What Aldrin did might be dismissed as the stuff of urban legend and myth. It is not. It happened. The event is described in his book Men From Earth, and is included as part of a review of the book by Fred Howard that appeared in the NY Times, July 2, 1989:

“After the two astronauts in the lunar module Eagle had landed on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility, but before taking those first uncertain steps on the moon’s surface, they broadcast back to Earth. Mr. Aldrin, a religious man, was bent on giving thanks for a safe moon landing but he had been forbidden to do so. Complaints had been received when a former Apollo crew had read on the air passages from Genesis the previous Christmas Eve while orbiting the moon, and NASA wanted no more confrontations with antireligious groups. After requesting silence, Mr. Aldrin opened a miniature Communion kit prepared by his Presbyterian pastor and poured out sacramental wine from a vial ‘about the size of the tip of my little finger’ into a tiny chalice, observing that in the moon’s light gravity the liquid swirled about the miniature chalice more like syrup than wine. Before going back on the air, he ate a tiny Host and swallowed the wine and silently ‘gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility.’

Aldrin’s celebration of Communion on the moon adds depth to Genesis 1.16. It also enriches the texture of Scriptures such as Psalm 19.1, “The heavens tell the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship,” and Psalm 24, “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.”

As long as there are people on earth, and on the moon, God will be worshiped. He is to be worshiped because He created the earth, the moon and the universe. He also created humankind. And He gave men and women the intelligence, creativity and courage to dream big dreams and risk it all on big dares. Thus it is a melancholic moment when an anniversary of such importance passes unnoticed—not because it fails to celebrate human achievement, but because by forgetting such an achievement we forget to honor God who made it possible.

Ah, but there is Communion. And we are brought full circle to remembering an event of even far greater importance and meaning than men landing on the moon. And perhaps that is what Buzz Aldrin also gave thanks for that July day on the moon thirty-seven years ago. Perhaps it is what we should be thankful for as well, now and always until the Lord comes back.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 14 July 2006

“When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.” —1 Corinthians 2.13 [NLT]

There is a hidden danger in becoming too familiar with what the Bible says about the words we use to communicate truth. The comfort with which we read these words from the apostle Paul can detract from the awe with which we should regard them as well as the power woven into them. Let us remember that the Gospel is not a human invention. We did not create it. The Gospel is God’s work. The Gospel is God’s Word. It is, in fact, the Word. Those who hearken to its message and believe what it says confess faith in Jesus Christ.

Now think for a moment of the great condescension of God in all this. How are we saved? How is faith created within us? It is not by force. God does not inflict salvation upon us. He does not “twist our arm” to believe in His Son. Faith does not originate in the human heart, neither is it conceived by our own decision. To the contrary, “Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News (i.e., the Gospel) about Christ,” (Romans 10.17). Faith—saving faith—is an act of God. It is conceived by the Holy Spirit as we hear the Word—the Good News. We are saved by grace through faith—faith that comes by hearing the words of Jesus recorded in the word of God.

By misusing words, the serpentine Satan tempted Adam and Eve and convinced them to disobey God. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the Devil did not make them do it. It was Adam and Eve who sinned. They sinned because they believed words that appealed to human wisdom. Satan does not force us to disobey. He simply presents us with the option. He dresses sin in the tempting garment of what is natural and reasonable. He appeals to common sense and personal convenience. But there is a razor in that apple. There is poison in that logic. There is death in the act.

Life, specifically, eternal life comes from hearing (and believing) the Word of God. The Gospel of John tells us Jesus Christ is the Word made Flesh. His death paid the penalty for our sin. His resurrection is the assurance God accepted His death as the satisfactory sacrifice for our sin. This is what Paul and the apostles, as well as the early Church preached as the Good News. It is still the Good News.

To preach the Good News is to use of words correctly. It is to use “words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths,” to communicate the Truth. And the Truth once known cannot be un-known. The Truth is sin is the most natural thing we do. In contrast, faith in Jesus is unnatural because in order to come to faith we must experience spiritual rebirth; hence the need to use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

The power of our words lies less in the presentation, than in the Person of Whom we speak and in the Spirit who gives (inspires) them. To preach the Good News is to tell the truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus did. It is not that we invite people to receive Christ as much as we challenge them to believe in Him. How the Spirit gives us the words to say, as well as the words we use are part and parcel of the mystery connected with how He works. You will find it easier to harness the wind than to harness, diagram, chart and program how the Spirit works.

One thing is certain—the Holy Spirit is more likely to be at work when we eschew words of human wisdom and choose instead to speak with “words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.” That is the only way to insure that our words are relevant, powerful and real.

You think about that.

MM

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”—1 Corinthians 2.12 [ESV]

Over the past two weeks I have been watching the play downs to the final match of this year’s World Cup of Soccer, er, Football, as it is called in Europe. Most Americans don’t get Soccer (to call it Football is to really confuse the issue). It’s too slow. There is not enough scoring. We don’t know any of the players (maybe that’s why the great ones use only one name). Add to this our unfamiliarity with the rules and Soccer is not only a game we don’t get, it’s a game we don’t watch.

So why is all of Europe and most of the world, for that matter, so caught up in World Cup fever? Could it be they know something we do not? Can it be they get it? Yes. And we don’t. Furthermore we are proud of our ignorance.

As Americans we take pride in the fact we don’t get Soccer. And our pride is evidenced by the fact that we insist on calling it Soccer when the rest of the world calls the game by its proper name, Football. No, we insist, Football is a game played by two teams of eleven men wearing shoulder pads, helmets and cleats. It is played on field 100-yards long with two goal posts, we call them uprights, at the back of each end zone. If, as Americans, we are to enjoy Football (Soccer) we must be converted and become Football fans. For this conversion to occur, we must, if such a thing existed, receive the spirit of Football.

And now you can see where I am headed. There is a great similarity between the world’s attitude toward the Bible and the Church and our American attitude toward Football. People who know Jesus get what the Bible says because they have been converted. They have received the Spirit of God. They are given insight into the Bible and the nature of the Church.

How this conversion takes place is a mystery. How the Spirit of God is given to us and dwells in us is also a mystery. But it must take place or we will not understand the things freely given to us by God. Chief among the things God freely gives us is salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

It is the Holy Spirit of God who explains most clearly to us what it means to have redemption through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins. It is the Holy Spirit of God who empowers us to forgive others as we have been forgiven by God through Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us a fan of the Church. It is He who converts us from those who don’t get it to those who do.

So the only question now remaining is do you get it or not? Football is a game. It will always remain so, national and international passion notwithstanding. Eternal life and the things freely given to us by God along with the power for insight and practice of the mysteries of our faith come to us only in this life.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, there is a Football match to watch. Viva Italia! Andiamo!

You think about that.

MM

30 June 2006

“Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever. “Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. “Give thanks to the LORD of lords. His love endures forever.”—Psalm 136.1-3 [ESV]

I am a baseball fan. My favorite pastimes when I watch America’s pastime is keeping score. For this I use a scorecard. The scorecard identifies the players of both teams. From the first pitch to the last out, the scorecard helps me keep track of the game. Keeping score helps me stay involved with the flow of the game. When the game is over, I have a record of the game’s progress and outcome. I know more than who won and who lost. I know how the game was won or lost. During the game the scorecard helps me follow the action. After the game it becomes a reference to help me remember what took place.

I cannot prove it, but were the person who composed Psalm 136 alive today, he would be a baseball fan. And he would love using a scorecard. This man knew the something about recording history and noting how it fit into the context of God’s dealings with Israel. Scholars believe Psalm 136 was likely written after the Babylonian Exile—a period of 70 years in which most of the Jews had been relocated from Israel to Babylon. Therefore, nearly two generations had grown up outside the Promised Land with no temple and no landmarks (ballparks?) in which to get a sense of the history of God’s dealings with His people.

Psalm 136 is a psalm of thanksgiving. It teaches that there is a parallel between Israel’s return to the Promised Land from Babylon and their ancestors’ journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.

The psalm is a series of statements about who God is and what He has done. Each statement is a reason why we should give thanks to God. Punctuating each statement is the refrain “His love endures forever.” This refrain is woven into the Psalm to remind Israel of the LORD’s hesed.

The exact meaning of the Hebrew word hesed is difficult to capture in English. Words and phrases such as lovingkindness, steadfast love, mercy, and covenant faithfulness come close, but the exact meaning is elusive. However we translate it the word, the psalmist uses it to remind us God keeps His promises because He is loyal, faithful, full of mercy and lovingkindness. Life will challenge our trust in God’s hesed. Knowing this may be the reason the psalmist punctuates every reminder of God’s actions in Psalm 136 with the refrain, “His hesed endures forever.”

When life spins out of control it is important to remember God is in control and that His love endures forever. There will be times when circumstances beyond our control will give us the sense that our lives are totally without order. Chaos reigns and we wonder how we will cope or whether we will survive. Worse yet is the feeling that God has abandoned us. The temptation is to wrest control. We must do something, but what?

The psalmist would say, “Stop what you are doing and give thanks to God. Remember what He has done. He is good. And His love endures forever.” Is this easier said than done? You bet, but consider the alternative: panic, anxiety, doubt, fear, anger, ulcers and headaches.

Psalm 136 celebrates the truth that God delivers His people from dire and desperate circumstances. He rescues them from their enemies. He feeds them when they are hungry. He brings them safely into the land He has promised (He makes sure to get us safely “home”). He created the universe and everything in it—including us. And He is faithful to keep His promise. And for that we must be thankful. Sometimes, however, it helps to have a scorecard to remind us the ways in which His love endures forever.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 23 June 2006

“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”—Ecclesiastes 7.10 [ESV]

“Don’t long for ‘the good old days,’ for you don’t know whether they were any better than today.”—Ecclesiastes 7.10 [NLT]

Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, warns us that it is unwise to pine with nostalgia for “the good old days.” The New Living Translation [NLT] captures the essence of his warning—“you don’t know whether they were any better than today.”
My parents grew up during the Great Depression (c. 1929-1939). Whenever I asked my dad if he missed “the good old days” his answer was always the same. “No. The only ‘good’ thing about ‘the good old days’ is that they’re gone. Between the good old days and the future, I’ll take the future.”

My father’s comment reminds me of the saying that it is all right to remember the past, but it is not wise to live there. For some people, however, it is likely that the former days were better than the present days. Our bodies have broken down; memories fail. Relationships have come apart. Careers have stalled out. Hopes for brighter days are now overshadowed by the gloominess of a present reality. The Preacher knows life is hard. Yet he warns that it is unwise to be homesick for the good old days. He is not being cruel just realistic.

When it comes to aging there is a difference between getting old and growing old. Everyone will get old, but few people learn the art of growing old—an art learned by practicing the wisdom of God’s word. The past can give us perspective. And that seems to be the Preacher’s point. When we find ourselves trying to escape the unpleasant present by retreating into the dreamy sweetness of the good old days we need to rouse ourselves and look to God for help. The right use of memory will provoke to seek the wisdom of God’s counsel through reading His word, praying for His direction, and asking for the help of other believers. Rather than ask, “What have I done?” the wise person asks, “What must I do?”

In short the wise person lives in the present but looks to the future and puts his or her hope in God. The past is the past. My family will tell you I am a sentimental old goat. I can wax nostalgic just from seeing the rooster on a box of Kellogg’s Corn flakes. But experience has taught me that I have selective memory when it comes to the past. All too often I dress the good old days in better clothing than it wore at the time. The honest truth is when I look back at the past I see it through a soft-focus lens. How about you?

Several years ago a good friend shared the following quote with me from the Pensées written by French philosopher Blaise Pascal. “We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching. “Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”

You think about that.

MM

Friday 16 June 2006

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose matter under heaven.”—Ecclesiastes 3.1 [ESV]

Before my wedding day my father offered me some sage advice. “Mike,” he said trying to hide a grin, “never buy Jill a household appliance for her birthday, your wedding anniversary or Christmas.” What my father’s counsel lacked in eloquence it made up for with folksy charm. Still it was no “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

The first time I heard these words from Ecclesiastes was not in church. They crackled from a beat-up AM radio my brother brought to the beach. A folk-rock group called “The Byrds” released a single titled “Turn, Turn, Turn,” (If you don’t know what an AM radio is or what a single is, ask anyone born in the 1950s—they’ll know.) “Turn, Turn, Turn,” used the words of Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 to score a Top 40 hit.

Ecclesiastes is more than a good source for folk wisdom and folk music. Even so, that does not tell us what Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher as he is also known, meant by them. While the answer should be obvious, sometimes the obvious is like buying your wife a blender for her birthday, or a microwave for her anniversary—useful but not necessarily appropriate.

Ecclesiastes words tell us there is an inevitability to life, to time. This inevitability came home to me when I lived in North Dakota where I heard a man say this to a widow at her husband’s funeral: “Floyd was a good man. But you know, we’re born, we live…and then we die. And that’s the way it goes.” That man read Ecclesiastes. What he said lacked tact, yet tactless as it was his statement was still true. His words would have met with solemn agreement from the Preacher.

Scholars tell us Ecclesiastes contains the reflections of an old man. Many believe this man to be King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. To read Ecclesiastes is to see life through the tear-filled, aging eyes of a once wise man who has realized too late that life is short, that we are born, we live and then we die. Ecclesiastes is written by a man who now regrets not appreciating the fact that for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

Ecclesiastes contains the journal of a man who knows what matters is not how long a person lives, but how well one lived during their lifetime. As the songwriter says, life is not about the dates on your tombstone, but the dash in between. During his lifetime the Preacher squeezed in as much as he could into the dash in between.

He availed himself of the best life had to offer—wealth, women, philanthropy, pleasure, and knowledge. At the end of his life, he called it all vanity, emptiness, a meaningless exercise, futility. He lived a full life, yet his soul was empty. It is a curious thing that in his list of things for which there is a time, there is no mention of a time to act and a time to reflect. The closest he comes is when he says there is “a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” The truth is we are born, we live and someday we all will die. That is the way it goes. But is that really the way it goes, or did the Preacher finally learn how to keep his life from being meaningless?

Maybe.

His last words are these—“Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or bad,” (Ecclesiastes 12.13, 14).

You think about that.

MM

Friday 9 June 2006

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” —John 14.23

In John 14, Jesus begins His farewell discourse—His last will and testament given to the apostles before His arrest and crucifixion. He speaks with an urgency as poignant as it is purposeful. Every sentence, every phrase, every word is chosen with loving care because when He is gone, all the apostles will have left will be His words.

On that night, the apostle Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “… Lord, why do You intend to show Yourself to us and not to the world.” Jesus’ answer is puzzling, “If anyone loves Me, He will obey My teaching.” What does our obedience to what Jesus teaches have to do with His showing Himself to the apostles and not to the world? The answer is found by remembering the fundamentals of what Jesus taught. Once He was gone, the only thing that would fortify the apostles’ faith would His teaching—His words.

So what did Jesus teach? What words did Jesus leave behind for us to obey? And how would our obedience prove our love for Him? The words He left behind is the Gospel. In John 14.23, Jesus clearly states there is a direct relationship between our obedience to His words and our love for Him. If we love Jesus we will practice the words He taught us through His Gospel. We will only obey Jesus to the extent that we love Him.

Conversely, we will only love Jesus to the extent that we obey Him. Jesus says the reward for our obedience will be to have the Father and the Son make their home in us. How this happens is a mystery, perhaps the mystery of our faith. Why this happens is clear: it is as we obey the words of Jesus that He and the Father make their home in us. It is not that we become gods, but that God the Father and God the Son choose to make their home in us.

The imagery of Jesus’ words comes from the Old Testament—specifically to the time of the Exodus when God dwelt in the midst of the people of Israel in the tabernacle—a kind of movable worship center. Under the New Testament, God chooses to dwell in His people by means of His Holy Spirit as we obey the words of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As followers of Jesus we are under divine obligation to live in obedience to the words of Jesus. And that’s the question isn’t it? Do we live like natives of the kingdom of God, or do we live like permanent residents of that same kingdom? Permanent residents have the option of returning to their country of origin. Natives have no other country to go to; unless they reject their citizenship to become citizens of another kingdom.

If you and I are born-again followers of Jesus then we have become citizens of the kingdom of God. That is a privilege granted to us by God’s grace. It is also a great responsibility for now we must live in obedience to Jesus’ teaching. No matter how difficult His words are to obey they must be kept.

And to the extent that His people obey His words, Jesus will show Himself to the world. More than that He will find other men and women in Him He and the Father can make their home until the day He will come back and bring us all to our eternal home.

You think about that.

MM

Friday 2 June 2006

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”—Psalm 1.1

What does it take to make you happy? We live in a culture is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. In fact, the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, states that “all men have been endowed by God with certain inalienable rights and that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Pick up any newspaper, scan any magazine cover, watch TV, listen to the radio, surf the Web and you will soon discover that the pursuit of happiness is big business. People will pay anything, do anything, and try anything that promises to make them happy. So I ask again: What does it take to make you happy?

Before you answer, I must warn you that my question is flawed. It makes a false assumption. The assumption is that happiness is an emotional state of mind that can only be attained when certain conditions are met. For instance, complete the following statement: “I will be happy when…” (e.g., I graduate, get a job, live on my own, get married, get out of debt, lose weight, buy a new car, my kids move out of the house, am no longer in pain, etc.,). We live in a culture that believes in the pursuit of happiness. We believe happiness to be our primary purpose in life.

Happiness, we are told, is when things go our way, when we get what we want. According the Bible, that definition of happiness is a lie. Happiness is not having things go our way. Happiness is not dependent on our circumstances. Happiness is not always getting what we want, or when all our circumstances fall into perfect alignment. Never has been, never will be. The truth is, happiness is defined by having a relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace. I am talking here of lasting, enduring, permanent happiness. People cannot offer us this kind of happiness. Things will not bring us this kind of happiness. Even good circumstances cannot bring us lasting happiness. Enduring happiness is the result of pursuing an enduring relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace. Lifelong happiness is the result of a lifelong obedience to the eternal God and His word.

When the psalmist writes “Blessed is the man…” it is his declaration of independence from the cultural belief that happiness is when things go our way. The Hebrew word translated blessed can also be translated happy. This elevates happiness above dependence on people, possessions and perfect circumstances. No matter what happens to me, no matter who disappoints me, or how little or how much I have, nothing can separate me from the happiness of having a faith relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace. Happiness is more permanent than our circumstances. It is more reliable than people. It is more enduring than possessions. Happiness is the pursuit of an enduring relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace.

In Romans 8.31-39, the apostle Paul declares that no matter how unhappy our circumstances are nothing can separate us from the happiness that comes from the eternal God through faith in Jesus Christ. The pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of an enduring relationship grounded in the unchanging character of the eternal God, not the shifting and slippery sands of time and space.

You think about that.

MM

In his book, The Life God Blesses, Gordon MacDonald discusses what he calls disruptive moments and how they affect us. The first disruptive moment is crisis—the thing we cannot control. Next is the disruptive moment is that of wonderment—the thing we cannot explain. There is the disruptive moment of aging—the thing we cannot avoid. Lastly, he talks about the disruptive moment of spiritual discipline.

Spiritual discipline exercises the soul so as to “enlarge its capacity to hear God speak and, as a result, to generate spiritual energy that will guide and empower one’s mind and outer life.”[1] Given this definition it is no wonder that MacDonald describes spiritual discipline as something most of us would rather not do.

And yet, MacDonald is quick to point out that of the four disruptive moments we will face “spiritual discipline is the one we can bring under daily control…The choice lies in the decision to set aside the necessary time, embrace the habits of the masters, and engage with a waiting on God who seeks our communion.”[2]

MacDonald’s exhortation reminds me of something my preaching mentor, Haddon Robinson, once said, “Thinking is hard work,” he told us, “but thinking about thinking is even harder work. And good preaching requires thinking about thinking.” The same can be said for handling the disruptive moment of spiritual discipline.

With that in mind that we should pay close attention to Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4.8 to think about “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Thinking about these things will help to enlarge the soul’s “capacity to hear God speak and generate spiritual energy that will guide and empower one’s mind and outer life.”

To be a follower of Jesus means taking responsibility for what we think about as well as what we do. Right belief leads to right behavior. A good thought life is the result of doing the hard work of thinking about the virtues listed in Philippians 4.8. The more we carefully reflect on these virtues, the more they will be integrated into our faith-walk following Jesus.

The practice of hard thinking about these virtues requires that we linger over them the way we linger at the dinner table with a cup of coffee after a delicious meal. We should not be in a hurry when we choose to think hard about whatever is true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, is excellent or praiseworthy.[3]

A complaining mind does not think—it reacts. It is undisciplined. A disciplined mind thinks. It does the hard work required to enlarge the soul’s capacity to hear God speak and generate spiritual energy that will guide and empower one’s mind and outer life.

You think about that.

MM

[1] Gordon MacDonald, The Life God Blesses, (Thom. Nelson, Nashville, TN ©1994), page 41.

[2] Ibid. Page 42.

[3] True is that which is dependable or real. Noble is whatever is worthy of respect or honor. Right refers to whatever is just. Pure refers to whatever is holy. Lovely is that which calls forth love or is attractive. Admirable is that which is well spoken of. Excellent is whatever is morally excellent. Praiseworthy means whatever is worthy of giving God praise for.

When Cheryl finished, Maggie invited her into the kitchen for a cup of tea. As she stood near the teakettle, Maggie asked Cheryl, “What am I holding in my hand?”

“A tea cup and a tea bag, “ answered Cheryl.

“That’s right, “ said Maggie, “What’s missing?”

“That’s easy,” replied Cheryl, “the hot water.”

“So what you’re saying is that without the hot water I can’t make tea, right?”

“Obviously,” said Cheryl, “but what’s that got to do with what I’m going through?”

“Cheryl,” Maggie smiled at her, “Don’t you see it? The teacup is the world. You are the teabag. Do you know what the hot water is?”

“Let me guess,” said Cheryl as she let the answer slowly escape from her mouth, “Trials?”

“Yes! Trials,” said Maggie. “Cheryl, everyone who follows Jesus will face trials. Trials are one of the undeniable truths of the Christian life. I have followed Jesus for 45 years, been married for 30 years, had four kids, two miscarriages, and one bout with breast cancer. And do you what to know what I’ve learned? I have learned that trials are the hot water God uses to brew our faith.”

Cheryl smiled politely. Maggie could tell she wasn’t convinced. “Cheryl, listen to me. I know what you are going through is difficult. You’re stuck in the middle and you can’t see the end. God knows that, dear. But it’s like I said, trials are the hot water God uses to brew our faith. God doesn’t put us in hot water to scald us. He puts us into hot water to release what He has already put into us by His Holy Spirit. He does not test our faith so we can fail. He tests our faith so we can work out what He has put in. Hand me that Bible near the telephone, will you? Thanks, dear. I want to read your something.”

And with that Maggie opened her Bible to the New Testament, the Letter of

James. She read:
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when you endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” —James 1.2, 3 [NLT]

“Now, let’s have some tea.”

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

—1 Corinthians 10.6 [ESV]

A wise man once said, “Complain little and praise much and you will have friends in abundance. Complain much and praise little and you will die alone.” That may not be eloquent, but it captures the essence of what was at stake when the people of Israel complained against God and against Moses in the wilderness.

There are at least six occasions when the people of Israel complained to Moses asking why he brought them up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness.[1] What is especially striking about their complaint in Numbers is their moaning about the food, the manna, God provided for them while they wandered through the desert for forty years. In very plain language they said; “And we loathe (detest) this worthless (vile, miserable) food.”

Every time I read Numbers I marvel at the Israelites’ capacity to be shortsighted, ungrateful, and childish. Lately, however, I have marveled at my own capacity to be just like them. The comment by the apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 10 reminds me it is not wise to spit at God or despise His gifts. Still, I have had my moments when I have been a champion complainer when I should have been a steadfast believer in God’s provision, faithfulness and mercy.

I know people who find it easier to complain about God than thank Him. I try, politely, to avoid such people. Even so, we all suffer from a version of spiritual Alzheimer’s disease when it comes to remembering the goodness and mercy of God: the same goodness and mercy that He promises will follow us all the days of our lives—even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death!

Over the years I have compiled a grocery list of reasons why I complain—uncomfortable circumstances, illness, fatigue, financial stress, lack of vision (a failure to see the big picture) and immaturity. And just as slowly I have compiled a grocery list of reasons why I should praise Him—God is gracious (Israel didn’t die in the wilderness through His neglect); God is faithful (every morning the manna was there with enough to carry them through the Sabbath when no manna fell from heaven); God provides (He gives me what I need as He defines my need, not what I want and I continue to learn the difference) and finally, God sees the end from the beginning (so I must trust that since He is leading me He will never lead me where the danger is so great I will be separated from Him.

Neither list is exhaustive, yet both remind me of the maxim: complain little and praise much. It is not eloquent, but it is effective.

You think about that.

MM

Ed. Note: I need to begin with a correction. In last week’s edition I wrote:

“The evidence for the resurrection comes from eyewitness accounts, first by the three women who went to Jesus’ tomb on the first day of the week. Under OT law women were considered to be unreliable as witnesses,” (italics added).

I should have said “under Jewish law.” There is no reference in the OT regarding the unreliability of a woman’s testimony. The law referred to is found in Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, IV.8.15, “But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex…” I apologize for the error.

Now let us “reach out for the highest gifts of Heaven, where Christ reigns in power.”

The power of the resurrection is such that by confessing faith in Jesus, we not only part ways with the way we used to live—we become dead to the way we used to think. Most, if not all, behavior begins with a thought. There is a saying: orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy. Translated this means right belief leads to right behavior. Right belief is a necessary consequence of the resurrection. Every believer must be of a sound mind theologically and doctrinally. When we are raised to new life through faith in Christ, we are also raised to a new of thinking about the life we now live by faith in Christ. Right belief starts the moment we concern ourselves with “the heavenly things, not the things of earth.”

Before we confessed faith in Christ, we were spiritually dead and unconcerned with anything having to do with the heavenly things. If there were any “heavenly things” that did concern us, they were tainted by the faulty concept of what “religious” people did to prove they were religious. However, the instant we confessed in Christ we experienced a reversal. Once made alive in Jesus, we died to the values and worldview of the prevailing culture. Once in Christ our delight became the meditation on and the practice of the truth.

Such authentic living takes hard work, discipline, humility, honesty and grace unlimited. Yet as God provides opportunities for us to reach out for the highest gifts of Heaven and to be concerned with the heavenly things we can, in fact, learn how to do these things. It starts by learning how to think and act like Christ. The more we learn to think rightly, the more we will behave rightly. We do not need to do right in order to be raised up with Christ. We need to do right because we are raised up with Christ.

True life is to know Jesus Christ. True life is to know the power of His resurrection and how it transforms how we think and live. True life is to follow Christ—to do what He says and to go where He leads. True life is to be deaf to the Sirens and attentive to the Spirit. True life is to be concerned with the heavenly things, not with the things of earth. True life is to be hidden in God through faith in Christ.

To be hidden in God does not mean that we hide from this world. On the contrary, we are called to confront it with truth. We are called to dare it to believe in the power of grace that comes to us through the life-changing power of Christ’s resurrection.

You think about that.

MM

—1 Corinthians 15.14-17 [ESV]

Before we let pass the remembrance and celebration of Christ’s resurrection we would do well to reflect on the profit that accrues to us as the result of His rising from the dead.

Question and answer 45 of the Heidelberg Catechism addresses that very matter:

“What does the resurrection of Christ profit us?

“First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, that he might make us partakers of that righteousness which he had purchased for us by his death; secondly, we are also by his power raised up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.”—The Heidelberg Catechism, Question 45

It is worth noting that belief in the resurrection is neither adherence to myth nor legend. We believe that when the creed says, “on the third day He rose again,” it is asserting historical fact not religious fiction. Some attempt to separate the Jesus of history from the Jesus of faith, but to make that severance is to make our faith futile and destroy the foundation of our salvation. If the Christ of history is not the Christ of faith, we are fools. Worse yet we are sinful fools with no hope of forgiveness ever.

The evidence for the resurrection comes from eyewitness accounts, first by the three women who went to Jesus’ tomb on the first day of the week. Under OT law women were considered to be unreliable as witnesses. Next, we have the testimony of the apostles. The apostle Paul writes that in addition to appearing to the apostles, Jesus also appeared to some 500 of the brothers at one time, (1 Cor. 15.6). To these Luke adds that Jesus was with His followers for forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1.3). Finally, there is this: no body has ever been produced. The truth is (and permit me to be cheeky) more people have seen Jesus after His resurrection than have seen Elvis!

The resurrection is what makes the gospel the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Unless Jesus is risen we cannot partake of His righteousness. If Jesus is still dead it means God rejected His death on the cross as the once for all sacrifice for our sins. Unless Jesus is risen we cannot be born again by grace through faith in Him. Unless Jesus is risen we are prisoners of a finite world, captives to a limited existence that ends when we exhale our last breath. Unless Jesus is risen death has the final word.

But Christ is risen. He is alive. Our faith is not futile. Our hope is not empty. And life has meaning—the pursuit of the One who gives meaning to everything we experience. It is on the cross that the Jesus of faith—the Son of God, and the Jesus of history—the Son of Man intersect as He dies as the once for all sacrifice for our salvation. Three days later He emerged from the tomb to declare His victory over death—and His vindication by God.

This Jesus who was crucified God made both Lord and Christ.

You think about that.

MM

When Forbes magazine celebrated its 75th anniversary, it published a special issue focused on the theme “Why Do We Feel So Bad When We Have It So Good?” The editors invited authors, philosophers, psychologists and poets to write an essay in response to that challenging theme. One contributor was Peggy Noonan, a former CBS News correspondent and speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The premise of her essay was simple: our culture has forgotten that we live between two worlds. She wrote,

“Our ancestors believed in two worlds, and understood this to be the solitary, poor, brutish and short one. We are the first generation of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth, and our search for it has caused much unhappiness. The reason: if you do not believe in another, higher world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you and if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness—if that is what you believe, then you are not disappointed when the world does not give you a good measure of its riches. You are despairing.”[i]

The women who went to Jesus’ tomb believed in two worlds. Whether or not their disappointment had fermented to despair is uncertain. Certainly they were sad. Through bitter tears they watched Jesus die. With grief-filled hearts they watched Him be buried. Jesus was dead. Their hearts were broken by the disappointment of His crucifixion. Had they abandoned hope?

Hope is a fragile thing if we do not believe in two worlds. In fact hope is pointless if not fixed on something reliable. The women and the apostles fixed their hope for happiness on Jesus. They hoped He would be the Messiah who would rescue Israel. That hope died when Jesus died. But had they not heard when He said, “It is finished”? Such is the power of disappointment that it deafens us to what can give us hope. And hope is found in what Jesus said. The women understood “It is finished” to mean the hope of Israel is dead. However, by saying “It is finished,” Jesus meant something far different. “It is finished” is the declaration of triumph. It is the mournful prelude to an even greater overture, “He is risen!”

If the death of Jesus introduces the possibility that we live in two worlds, then His resurrection is the proof. Let those who scoff believe the resurrection to be nonsense. For all their scorn they have failed to answer a simple question: where is the body?

There has been no body produced because we live between two worlds. The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope beyond this life. The resurrection fortifies our hope in the reality of an eternity we see now only through a glass darkly.

Hope is the courage God gives us to believe that we can endure and overcome whatever life throws up at us. The source of this courage is the Lord Jesus Christ, Savior, Messiah, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

We believe in two worlds. We do not believe our happiness comes from what this world has to offer. Our hope for happiness comes by grace through faith in the One who left the real world to wear our flesh to die on the cross and forever redeem our “solitary, poor, brutish and short one.” You think about that and proclaim with all joy and boldness, He is risen!

MM

As a kid blue jeans and grass stains were as natural a combination as milk and Oreo cookies. Grass stains were the bane of my mother’s existence come laundry day. Forty years ago there was only way to get grass stains out—soak the jeans in detergent overnight followed by a vigorous scrubbing before being put in the washing machine. More often than not, thanks to mom’s hard work, the grass stains came out.

Grass stains are stubborn, but they can be removed. The stains left on the heart made by our sin are not so easily removed. In fact, they are impossible to remove. Hence, David’s request (plea is more like it), “Create in me a clean heart, O God,…” Above all else what we need most is a clean heart.

Lent, the time leading up to the passion, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus, is the appropriate time to consider David’s petition in Psalm 51. The particular sin that prompted David to ask God for a clean heart was his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12). At first, David tried to cover up his sin. And for a brief time the cover-up succeeded. Then one day the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin. Nathan’s act took courage when you consider that David was the king and he had arranged the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, as part of his cover-up.

Psalm 51 is David’s response to Nathan’s courageous act. It is a genuine confession of sin. Most notably, it is an authentic assessment by David of the real cause for his sin. His sin was not caused by poor parenting, not the result of his environment, not the result of his station in life, and certainly not the result of Bathsheba’s taking a bath on her roof in plain sight of the King. No, the cause of David’s sin was congenital. He, like you and me, was born with a cheating heart. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me,” (v. 5). David is not blaming his parents. He is simply pointing out that the offspring of two people who themselves have cheating hearts is going to be a boy with a cheating heart. Stated plainly, David was a natural born sinner.

And so are we. We are all in need of a heart transplant from the moment we are conceived.

But I have good news (and it is a heck of a lot better than saving money on car insurance). God has promised to answer David’s prayer. In Ezekiel 36.26, 27 the LORD God says this, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey all My rules.” This new heart is what Jesus meant when He spoke of His coming so that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10.10).

Psalm 51 reminds us that God has promised to give a new heart and a fresh start to anyone who confesses faith in Jesus Christ. Sin has stained us permanently. God’s solution is not only to remove the stain by cleansing it with Jesus’ blood, but to give us a new heart and a new spirit.

That is good news worth celebrating, preferably with a glass of milk and Oreo cookies.

You think about that.

MM

I have been considering a question I recently asked of a young man who had just returned from a mission trip to the southwestern U.S. “So,” I posed the question, “what did you learn about yourself from this experience?” Upon deeper reflection that is a perfectly inane question, and I am a blockhead for asking it!

A better question would have focused attention heavenward: what did you learn about God from this experience? I am not trying to sound “spiritual.” I am far too much a son of the earth for that. To ask what did you learn about yourself is to place the emphasis on the wrong subject. What did you learn about God, specifically, what did you learn about God’s passion for His glory is the proper question.

The older I grow in my walk with Christ the more I am convinced that, apart from God, I can learn nothing about myself. It is, after all, He who made me. He alone has the power to search me and know my heart. He alone can expose the grievous schemes that lurk in the musty darkness of my cheating heart. Jeremiah had it right when he said,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind,[3]

to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Since only the LORD can search the heart and test the mind it is arrogance to assume that every experience I have is designed to help me learn more about me. What if every experience I have is intended to help me know more about God? What if life is all about learning about God’s passion for His glory? What if the things I need to learn, the really important things, start by answering the question: So, what did I learn about God from this experience?

Good heavens! The things I might learn—about God, that is. Could it be the more I learn about God’s passion for His glory the more I will learn about who I am, why I am here and, yes, why God made me the way I am? In a word—yes. That seems to be the point of Psalm 139.

Now I know the Bible well enough to know that God uses life experience to shape me so that I am “conformed to the image of His Son.”[4] However, this shaping is not ultimately for my sake. It is “in order that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers.”[5] The more I learn about God the more I learn that I cannot live without Him. The more my life is given to the pursuit of His glory the more I will ask Him to search me and know my heart; to try me and know my anxious thoughts; to see if there be any grievous way in me and to pray with all earnestness for Him to lead me in the way everlasting.

You think about that.

MM

In his book, Biblical Preaching, Haddon Robinson warned preachers to avoid sermons spoken in a stained-glass voice. Such sermons may be scholarly accurate, impeccably organized and flawlessly delivered, but they are “dead and powerless because they ignore the life-wrenching problems and questions of our hearers.”[1]

The same can be said of inauthentic prayers spoken in a stained-glass voice. According to Jesus such prayers may impress the hearer, but they fail miserably to gain a hearing from God the Father. Prayers prayed simply to gain attention from the public are “dead and powerless” not only because they “ignore the life-wrenching problems and questions” of those who hear, but because they lack any true substance. The reward comes not by means of answered prayer, but by means of whatever fleeting rush of fame that comes upon the one offering prayer.

Stained-glass prayers, like stained-glass sermons, are stuffed with “code language never heard in the marketplace.”[2] But they sound good. They sound impressive. The lips are full, but the heart is empty and the head is pre-occupied with thoughts distant from being set on heavenly things. Stained-glass prayers are prayed by men and women fascinated more about being seated at the best table than about being seated in heavenly places with the risen Christ.

We’ve all prayed stained-glass prayers. Hopefully, we have grown-up enough in our relationship with Jesus to know that He takes greater delight in prayers spoken in a broken-glass voice than prayers spoken with perfect grammar and syntax. Lest we forget, it was the simple prayer of the tax collector, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18.13), that Jesus said enabled the man to go home justified. Authentic prayer aims to impress God not the public.

Jesus is not ruling out all public prayer. He is ruling out public prayer aimed more at gaining the public’s ear and approval more about the hearing and approval of God the Father. The reward of having God hear and answer is far more lasting and satisfactory than anything the public can offer. Public approval is lighter than a breath. The reward of God is full of weight and eternal.

The essential aim of prayer is to seek communion with God. By exhorting us to private prayer Jesus would have us sift our motives for going to God out in prayer. Authentic prayer seeks the applause of God not the public. Authentic prayer is motivated by the desire to our joy in God. Authentic prayer is “authentic” because it is the overflow of an authentic relationship with God the Father through a faith-relationship with God the Son brought about by the life-giving work of God the Holy Spirit.

You think about that.

MM

“Live life, then, with a due sense of
responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning of
life, but as those who do. Make the best use of your time,
despite all the evils of these days.”-Ephesians 5.15-16
[J.B. Phillips, NT in Modern English]

I have been blessed and challenged this week by a DVD series
by John Piper called, When I Don’t Desire God-How to Fight
for Joy, based on a book written by him. I have not read the
book, but I have enjoyed his exhortation. My best attempt to
summarize the teaching would be to read the title and
ruminate upon what it says. My preaching mentor, Haddon
Robinson, was fond of saying, “Preaching is not for wimps.”
Well, be warned, When I Don’t Desire God-How to Fight for
Joy, is not for wimps either.

Following Jesus is hard work. It is not for wimps. Carrying
“a due sense of responsibility” may work when you’re asking
for Aunt Maxine to please pass the potatoes; it’s another to
ask Aunt Maxine to forgive you for the unkind words spoken
to her in anger. Asking for the potatoes is just good
manners. No great effort to humble oneself is required to do
that. However, to form the words, “I was wrong,” (and to
carry the metaphor fully around the table) “Please pass me
your forgiveness,” now we’re talking “a due sense of
responsibility.” And sometimes sense of responsibility rips
through our soul like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Dr. Piper could have titled his series When I Don’t Desire
to Do Anything Good for God and it would work just as well.
Being careful how we live means knowing what to do when we
do not desire God and/or anything we know will bring Him
joy. J.B. Phillips captures Paul’s intent for the word
“wise” by translating the verse, “Live life…not as men who
do not know the meaning of life, but as those who do.” Well,
this just takes the whole thing to a brand new level doesn’t
it?

Me? You? Live like we know the meaning of life? Are you
kidding? Two plus two I can handle. Making coffee I can
handle. I can even handle doing my own taxes (if I have to),
but living like a man who knows the meaning of life teeters
on the edge of making me certifiable.

Some might say it is the height of arrogance to live like
someone who knows the meaning of life. The only response is
to think about how Jesus lived. It seems to me He lived most
definitely like a man who knew the meaning of life. He lived
life very much by carrying a due sense of responsibility. He
lived life like a wise man. He found His joy in doing His
Father’s will. That is wisdom. That is the meaning of
life-to find our joy, our heart’s deepest satisfaction in
God.

People who know the meaning of life know God is most
satisfied with us when we are most satisfied in Him. They
understand the fight required to live life by carrying a due
sense of responsibility. And they do not shrink from it. It
is hard to ask for forgiveness when I don’t feel like asking
for it, or that I am worthy of it. It is hard to pray when I
don’t feel like praying. It is hard to do all sorts of
things required to follow Jesus. But difficult or not,
wisdom demands they be done. Not because it is the wise
thing to do, but because by doing them we declare our joy in
Him who created us to do them. That’s living life with a due
sense of responsibility. That’s living life like men and
women who know the meaning of life.

You think about that.
MM

I am a hockey fan. This explains why this past Wednesday I
rose at 5:45 a.m. to watch Team Sweden play Team Kazakhstan
in Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey. It was a first round game, but
it was hockey. More than that-it was Olympic Hockey. It was
men playing a children’s game for love of the game and love
of country. It was patriotism on ice; chauvinism with sticks
and pucks replacing rifles and bullets. It was competition
all aimed at one goal-to receive the upward call of an
Olympic champion.

Kazakhstan does not have a good team. In an era where
professional athletes compete in a once “amateur”
tournament, Team K. has just one bona fide pro player. In
contrast, Team Sweden is laden with pros from the National
Hockey League-and All-Stars at that. The game was no
contest. The Kazakhstanis played valiantly, but despite
their courage Sweden won handily. Yesterday Team K. lost to
the United States. Another loss and they are done. But
regardless of where they finish they will play all five
games of the preliminary round. Defeat may discourage and
disappoint, but when you are playing for your country you
lace up your skates, take to the ice, and try your best to
win-to receive that upward call of an Olympic champion.

There are times when life feels as if we are on Team
Kazakhstan. Everyone else is more talented, more skilled,
better looking, better organized, and you know, just plain
together. And there we are -frazzled by frustration and
bedraggled by discouragement. The easy thing is to give up.
The hard thing is to keep trying-to keep skating even when
you are overmatched by life.

Paul the apostle did not play ice hockey. However, he knew
what it was to be frazzled by frustration and bedraggled by
discouragement. He knew despair. But he also knew hope. He
knew disappointment. But he also knew joy. He knew poverty.
But he also knew abundance. He knew sickness. But he also
knew health. He knew anxiety. But he also knew the peace of
God that passes all understanding. He knew the temptation to
give up. But he also knew the energizing power of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus. It is the Olympic call to rise
above our circumstances-not by force of will, or strength of
inner courage, but by obedience to the call of God.

Compared to the Roman Empire the early church was Team
Kazakhstan. It was overmatched ten times ten thousand. But
where is Rome today? The Church will triumph but not because
we are strong. The Church will triumph because God is strong
and we are obedient to His Call. He has called us to press
on despite being overmatched. We have received and will
receive something of far more lasting value than a
perishable wreath, or even an Olympic Gold Medal. Ours is
the cross before the crown. Ours is a name despised before
receiving Name from the One who is above all names who has
named us from the foundation of the world.

The call has gone out. Let us press on until that day when
we shall ultimately receive the prize for which God has
called us upward in Christ Jesus.

You think about that.

MM

Said mouse was discovered-dead-at approximately 5:18 a.m. on
Wednesday morning February 8, 2006. The time of death is
estimated to have been between midnight and 5 a.m. The cause
of death was the result of the primitive ingenuity of the
Victor mousetrap company (69 N. Locust St., Lititz,
PA/www.victorpest.com).

I shall not mourn said mouse, nor shall I regret my action,
which hastened its demise. A man must defend his home
against vermin after all. My Jill can now sleep peacefully
at night. Her man got his man, or mouse as in this case.

Would that my tendency to sin were so easily trapped and
killed. This business of the mortification of the flesh
often finds me caught in traps a more prudent man (or mouse)
might otherwise avoid. But then the bait is so enticing-the
Sirens’ song an alluring one be it lust, greed, gluttony,
anger, pride, envy, or sloth. For the mouse it was peanut
butter.

It is the nature of bait to blind the tempted to the
seriousness of the trap. The trap is not unseen merely
ignored. It may well spring but it won’t catch me. I am too
clever. I am too fast to be caught. I am invincible. The
truth is otherwise. I am stupid. I am slow. I am mortal. I
am caught in the trap not because I cannot avoid it. I sin
because my desire for the bait is greater than the fear that
I might get caught.

The mouse must have sensed the danger. Did the mouse treat
it as a game? If so, the game ended most unfavorably for the
mouse. The creature’s position on the trap indicated that
the bar almost missed-almost. The mouse is (after all) dead.
The force of the bar’s swift snapping jaw caught enough of
it’s snout to kill it. The same trap that painfully pinched
my fumbling fingers when I set it killed the reckless
vermin.

The bait used by sin to tempt creates the same sense of
danger/adventure. The game is on. How close may I approach?
How near the edge? How far may I go? I am aware of the trap,
but the longer I eye the bait, the more I inhale its
seductive aroma, the longer I listen to its siren song, the
less I care about the sudden snap at the end. And when it
snaps I am hurt. I am remorseful. I mourn my stupidity. I
moan a prayer for mercy. I plead contritely for grace. I cry
for help.

And God is gracious. He opens the trap with hands that bear
the marks of another trap. He forgives. “I, too, once felt
the snap of sin’s deadly trap,” He says. “My death is the
reason I can rescue you now. I was sinless, but I became sin
for your sake so you might become My righteousness. I died
so you may live.”

We would think a man insane were he to die for a mouse.
Moreover, we would consider him beyond recovery in his
madness were he to insist on becoming a mouse. And yet Jesus
was in His right mind when He died for us stupid, slow,
fumbling mortals down here. Jesus is not insane. He is
infinitely gracious; endlessly merciful; eternally loving.
Jesus, the Eternal Son of God stepped into our flesh for the
very purpose of stepping into sin’s trap. He gave Himself
the cross. Each clang of hammer on nail, pealed like a bell
tolling the good news of His conquest and our liberation.
Sin is paid for. Death is beaten. Christ has died and in
dying He triumphs over His foes. In rising His glory is
displayed as the Lord of Life.

So while I will not mourn mouse’s demise I will be thank for
its having entered my life. Through its death God opened a
window into His character and my soul to remind me that when
I am weak He is strong. When I am afraid He is courage. When
I am tempted He is able to deliver. When I am trapped He is
willing to forgive.

And set me free.

You think about that.

MM

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the
things revealed belong to us and to our children forever,
that we may follow all the words of the law.”-Deuteronomy
29.29

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted.”-Matthew 5.4

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for
I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is
light.”-Matthew 11.28-30

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who
comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort
those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have
received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow
over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort
overflows.”-2 Corinthians 1.3-5

Some events land in our lives like a boulder thrown into a
pond. They send out ripples that affect us for years to
come.

This past Tuesday, a boulder landed in the lives of the
lives of the students, faculty, and administration of
Bowling Green High School. The ripples from Jeff Laskey’s
suicide spread out from the school to the Wood County
Hospital ER eventually affecting the entire community of
Bowling Green, including here at Bowling Green Covenant
Church.

Death is a painful reality always hard to come to terms
with. Death by suicide makes dealing with that pain even
more difficult. Why Jeff took his own life will likely never
be known. The secret things do indeed belong to the LORD our
God. Ours is to carry on trusting God to make things known
in His perfect time. Ours is to hold firmly to the faith
once delivered to the saints-a faith that believes God is
merciful and just and that what the Enemy intends for evil
God intends for good in order to accomplish that which we in
our nearsightedness cannot now see, but trust He will
perform. Until then we must seek the comfort He has promised
to those who mourn as well reach out to comfort those with
the same comfort we ourselves receive from Him.

And so our prayers are with the Laskey family. We pray God
will comfort them. We pray the Holy Spirit will ease their
infinite pain with an even more infinite grace and mercy.
We pray that He who is Sovereign will, in His time, bring
life from this tragedy. Our prayers are with the students,
faculty and administration of BGHS. One suicide is hard to
deal with, but three suicides in three years leave an
indelible mark on the soul. We pray God will comfort them.
Our prayers are for the students who knew Jeff and who will
wrestle with why they have been exposed to so much death at
so young an age. We pray that the Holy Spirit would cover
them with the comfort promised to us all by Jesus-that all
who come to Him will find rest for their souls for His yoke
is easy and His burden light. May they seek not the false
rest promised by suicide, but the true rest of a life lived
to the full through faith in Christ.

Let we who are parents pray for the courage and the wisdom
to talk with our children about a subject that cannot be
ignored. Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in
the U.S. claiming 30,000 lives each year (approximately 1
every 18 minutes). More than 4,000 of those who commit
suicide annually are under 25. For people between 15 and 24
years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death. The
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates
that between 500 and 1,500 people seek care in emergency
rooms every day for suicide attempts. Research indicates
that in any given year 20 percent of all high school
students seriously consider suicide.

The surest deterrent to teenage suicide is for parents to
spend time listening to their children. Each minute we spend
with our kids is a pebble thrown into the pond of their
lives. Pebbles may make smaller ripples than boulders, but
throw enough pebbles into the water and it’s amazing how far
the ripples will go.

With confidence that we will receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need,

Pastor Michael Malanga

An old friend from my days in Brooklyn once said, “The thing about Jesus is He don’t let nobody off the hook.” Bad grammar. Good theology. The “thing” that prompted my friend to make his streetwise observation was Jesus’ words from Matthew 5.43-48.

The Pharisees were skilled at reducing God’s commands to black and white, us v. them declarations. They practiced good grammar. They lived by bad theology. For the record, Jesus is referring to Leviticus 19.18 where God said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” God never said, “And hate your enemy.” The Pharisees added that last bit. Apparently, they used an odd form of theological logic whereby they concluded that since God commanded us to love our neighbors (people like us) the reverse must also be true. Therefore God commands us to hate our enemies. However, to paraphrase Yogi Berra (himself known to fracture the King’s English on occasion), God didn’t’ say everything He said.

By adding to what God said the Pharisees hoped to let themselves off the hook when it came to having compassion for their enemies. But as my Brooklyn friend keenly observed, “Jesus don’t let nobody off the hook.” He demands the humanly impossible because His provision is supernatural.

Rather than hate our enemies we are to choose the way of the cross—the way of humility and the way of obedience. We are to love our enemies just as God loved us when we were His enemies. Paul knew this love and he wrote about it in Romans 5.10, “For is while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” We are to love our enemies by praying for them—not that God would annihilate them, but that He would bless them (see also Romans 12.14-21).

Remember, it was while the cross was being lifted into place—with the nails in His hands and through His feet—that Jesus prayed for His enemies, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23.34).

Jesus don’t let nobody off the hook. There are times when I wish He would, but He don’t, er, doesn’t. He commands me to be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect—a variation of the command God gave to Israel in Leviticus 19.2, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Jesus demands the humanly impossible because His provision is supernatural. The call to perfection is here put in terms of loving both my neighbor and our enemy.

In this pursuit I, we, will never be perfect. We will never reach full maturity. However, we will come much closer to the mark by following Jesus’ command than by searching for ways to let ourselves off the hook. Then again, why should we try since as my Brooklyn friend observed, “The thing about Jesus is He don’t let nobody off the hook.”

You think about that.

MM

The numbers stagger the mind’s ability to think in numbers
so large: 40 million! That is the number of babies estimated
to have been aborted since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion on
demand in 1973. To put that number in perspective, the
population of Canada is roughly 32 million people. According
to a 2004 census the population of California is almost 36
million and the entire population of the six New England
states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Vermont) is just over 14 million. There
are other numbers that could be used for comparison, other
statistics to give perspective but the point is clear. Forty
million deaths is forty million too many.

For us as Pro-life people, living as citizens of heaven
means reaching out to women in a crisis pregnancy. The
appropriate response to women in such situations is
compassion and truth. If we are to conduct ourselves in a
manner worthy of the Good News, we are wise to pattern our
behavior after that of Jesus rather than the Pharisees.

The history of Bowling Green Covenant Church is one of
positive activism in this area. If you visit our website,
www.bgcovenant.org you will find a link to the Bowling Green
Pregnancy Center. Go to the BGPC site, click on the history
link and there you will read the following synopsis provided
by Nancy Hollister, a former BGPC Board Member:

“…in the fall of 1985 the First Hope Pregnancy
Center was opened in its present location…A Board of
Directors was formed from some members of the research
committee and other concerned citizens…Financial support
came largely from the monthly donations of individuals,
churches and a few local businesses. Volunteers went through
a training seminar and our doors opened in October 1985.
“Since that time we have helped over 10,000 clients.
The center has seen many changes along the way including
changing the name to Bowling Green Pregnancy Center and the
addition of support groups to the original services offered.
At the same time, some things have remained the same such as
the need for our services and the support of the local
community.”

To take such a courageous stand is not an easy thing to do
in a culture that exalts personal choice over personal
responsibility, but the founders, supporters, and staff of
BGPC chose (and continue to choose) not to be intimidated by
their opponents. On the contrary they continue to live as
citizens of heaven by extending the Good News of Jesus
Christ to women facing one of the most, if not the most,
personal and difficult choices of their lives.

This Sunday, January 22, we will recall with sad hearts a
momentous decision that continues to divide our culture
while taking life away from the most vulnerable. Thus, I
encourage us all to continue to support the BGPC with our
prayers, our finances, and even our time. It is a good work.
It is a hard work. It is a work to be done as part of our
responsibility to conduct ourselves like citizens of heaven.

You think about that.

MMalanga-
Pastor of BGCC & BGPC Board Member

There is a sense in which a New Year’s resolution is just another way of saying we want to redecorate our life. Similarly, New Year’s resolutions, like room redecoration, require time and effort to achieve. It took us over a month to finish Liz’s room. For as much as Liz was committed to having her room redecorated she need help and she had to wait. The walls in her room needed touching up before they could be painted and papered. Holes had to be filled, the last, stubborn bits of old wallpaper had to be removed. The drywall compound had to be sanded. It was tedious, time-consuming work, but without that preparation the finished product would not have looked as nice as it did.

The verse above is from a prayer in Paul’s letter to believers in Ephesus. The full text of the prayer is this:

16“I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. 17And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. 18And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. 19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” [NLT]

There is a lot to unpack from this marvelous prayer. And there is much that could be said. However, let’s focus on the three “May” statements from the New Living Translation:
? 3.17May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.
? 3.18And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.
? 3.19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.

I am not in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions, however after reading Paul’s words in Ephesians 3.17-19, I think it’s time I broke that habit.

And that is one resolution I am very sure I can keep.

You think about that.

MM

Everybody has regrets about their past.

Even the apostle Paul had regrets. As a Pharisee and a Hebrew of Hebrews his knowledge of Scripture gave him tremendous insight into the person and work Jesus the Messiah. However, there were some things Paul did as a Pharisee that haunted him with regret. As Saul, the Pharisee, he gave his approval to the death of Stephen. As a Pharisee, he breathed out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. As a Pharisee, he persecuted the church and tried to destroy it. You want to talk about regrets? Paul had a ton of them.

We all have regrets. It’s part of being human. How we handle our regrets is the issue. Paul chose to forget his, not because he thought it was a good idea, but because the blood of Jesus Christ dissolved their hold on him. Whenever Paul was tempted to wallow in his regrets God reminded him that what is past is the past. He was forgiven—as far as the east is from the west so far had the Lord God removed his sins from him.

I like what Steve Brown says about regrets. He says, “It would be nice not to have any regrets. But, then, if I had no regrets, I would never grow. Regret is a sign of two things. First, it is a sign of God’s working in my life and secondly, it is a sign that God wants me to do it different next time.” Brown suggests that we deal with our regrets by asking the following four questions:

1) What makes you think that if you did it again you would do it any better?
2) Do you think God made a mistake?
3) If things were different and you had fewer regrets, would God love you more?
4) Where do you learn? In the places where you do it right, or in the places where you do it wrong?

God intends our past to be a tutor to help us grow not a prison from which we cannot escape. Press on. The surest way to grow in our knowledge of Christ is to forget the past at the same time we press on toward the future. Some things that have happened to us in the past may simply hurt too much to just say, “Forget it and move on.” Yet even they must be let go if we hope to press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. The prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus is the final achievement of our faith. It is the moment when God calls us by name to stand before Him and be welcomed into His eternal presence with the words: “Well done, you good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

We can press on toward the prize and reach for the glory of what God has in store for those who love Him and follow Him in faith, or we can wallow in the regrets of past failures. Here is good news: what God commands us to do He empowers us to achieve. He calls us to forget what lies behind so we can press on toward what lies ahead. We can press on toward our future in Christ because God has made it possible for us to know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection.
God is sovereign. His grace can erase our regret. Our future is secure in Christ. By the power of His resurrection we have the freedom to confess our failures well as the courage, to press on in spite of them.

You think about that.

MM

In a past issue of the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, the
two companions are walking in the snow.
“Are you making any resolutions for the New Year?” asks
Hobbes.
“Resolutions? Me?” Calvin snaps back. “Just what are you
implying? That I need to change? Well, buddy, as far as I’m
concerned I’m perfect the way I am. For your information,
I’m staying like this, and everyone else can just get used
to it! If people don’t like me the way I am, well, tough
beans! It’s a free country! I don’t need anyone’s permission
to be the way I want! This is how I am-take it or leave it!
By golly life’s too darn short to waste time trying to
please every meddlesome moron who’s got an idea how I ought
to be!”
Calvin is about to go on when he notices that Hobbes has
left, leaving him to rant by himself. “Humph!” grunts
Calvin, “He should resolve to be more attentive when someone
is speaking!”
Despite Calvin’s humbug attitude toward New Year’s
resolutions, many people still make them. New Year’s
resolutions represent the hope a fresh start. Calendars are
clean. Goals are set. Plans are made. Diets will be kept.
The irksome thing about New Year’s resolutions is they are
more easily made than kept. The spirit is willing but the
flesh is weak. The old adage “Wishin’ don’t make it so,”
must have been uttered by someone who made then broke their
New Year’s resolution.
With apologies to Calvin, I propose we make the following
New Year’s resolution: let us resolve that in 2006 we will
seek the Lord’s help to be wise by practicing what Jesus
preaches. Practicing what Jesus preaches is not complicated,
but it does require hard work-digging down deep always does.
“All hard work brings a profit,” says Solomon in Proverbs
14.23, “but mere talk leads to poverty.” In 2006 let us
resolve to talk less and do more.
Let us be joyful in our worship. Let us be humble in
confessing of our sins. Let us be grateful for our
participation at the Communion table. Let us be fervent in
prayer. Let us be diligent in reading and studying the
Bible. Let us be gracious to forgive others as Christ has
forgiven us. Let us be courageous in telling people about
Jesus. Let us be compassionate to those who have neither
received nor shown any knowledge of mercy and grace. Let us
prove that we love Jesus by doing what He says.
Jesus said there are many who call Him ‘Lord’ but few do
what He says. It takes a God-given faith to call Jesus
‘Lord’ and practice what He preaches. It is a faith that
believes it’s better to keep digging than toss in the
shovel. Only fools toss in the shovel. Once they stop
digging all they have to show for their effort is a hole in
the ground and speculation as to what might have been.
So build well.
People who practice what Jesus preaches know that the
ultimate building inspection does not take place in this
life. Death comes to us all and on that day when we stand
before Jesus He will ask us whether or not we put His words
into practice. There is no cheating then. He knows the
answer before we speak. He knows whether we have built well
or built cheap.
So build well.
The reward may not come in this life, but it will most
certainly come in the next. Even more importantly, the test
of your life’s quality may not come in this life, but it
will come in the next.
So build well.

Happy New Year.

MM

“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon
grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth
were realized through Jesus Christ.”-John 1.16-17 [NASB]

One of my favorite stories to tell at Christmas is about a
man jockeying his way through holiday traffic in New York
City. As he weaved his way through the city’s streets, he
could not shake the feeling that he’d forgotten something at
home.

Once past the city limits he pulled to side of the highway.
He checked to see if he had his wallet. He did. He checked
the trunk. Yes, he remembered to pack the presents. He
resumed the drive home, but he just could not shake the
feeling he had forgotten something. Whatever it was he had
forgotten was right on the tip of his tongue, like when you
see a familiar face but cannot find the name to go with it.
Try as he might, he just couldn’t remember. So he drove on.

Two hours later he was still trying to remember when he
pulled into the driveway of his son’s home. Only when his
grandson greeted him did the man remember what he’d left at
home. “Hi, Grandpa!” said the young lad, “Hey! Where’s
Grandma?”

As you careen from store to store during the Christmas
season are you nagged by the sense you have forgotten
something? You have made your list. You have checked it
twice. And yet you are hounded by a foreboding awareness
that you have left something behind. Well, before you drag
yourself into the Mall for “one more thing” let me ask you,
“Where’s Jesus?”

Sometimes we can focus so much on task completion and gift
selection, holiday preparation and home presentation we
forget Who is at the center of the holiday. Okay, so maybe
we do not totally forget Jesus, but you have to admit that
He does tend to get buried beneath the tinsel, twinkle
lights and lighted animated reindeer!

If you have stopped long enough to read this, the apostle
John tells us what, make that Who, Christmas is about.
Christmas is about Jesus being born to give us grace upon
grace. Christmas is Jesus born to save us from God’s wrath
against our sins. Christmas is Jesus born to give those who
believe in Him the right to become children of God.
Christmas is Jesus born to give us grace and truth so that
we might be adopted as God’s sons and daughters. Christmas
is Jesus born to teach us all there is to know about getting
into heaven. Christmas is Jesus born to show us the way of
salvation. Christmas is Jesus born to tell us how we can
have eternal life. Christmas is Jesus born to teach us all
there is to know about getting into heaven.

When Jesus the Word, put on human flesh that was an act of
grace. When Jesus the Son was born to take our place on the
cross that was an act of grace. When Jesus the Savior calls
us to follow Him that is an act of grace. The Law reminds we
are weak. Jesus fulfilled the Law by absorbing our weakness,
taking it to the cross and in its place He gives us grace
and truth that lead to eternal life.

Think about that the next time you are dodging through
traffic to find that perfect gift and, oh, do not forget
Grandma.

Merry Christmas.

MM

Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet
Isaiah said that Jesus the Messiah would be called by
certain names. He wanted us to know that these names would
belong to Jesus and Him alone. He wanted us to know that
there is a lot more to the name of Jesus than the name of
Jesus.
From eternity Jesus is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He did not earn
these names because He is, was, and always will be Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of
Peace.
Jesus is Wonderful Counselor (literally, a wonder of a
counselor)-Jesus is a wonder by virtue of His virgin birth.
He surpasses all human thought and power. Jesus is a wonder
because He is God in human flesh. As Counselor Jesus is
anointed by the Holy Spirit with all the wisdom and
knowledge necessary to establish and command His kingdom as
well as the power, authority, and skill to direct our lives
because He possesses the same nature as the Lord Almighty.
As Wonderful Counselor, Jesus is the wisdom of God come down
from heaven to earth. According to James 3.17: “the wisdom
that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then
peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and
good fruit, impartial, and sincere. ”
Jesus is Mighty God-As the Mighty God, Jesus is a hero whose
chief characteristic is that He is God. A Hero gives his
life for another. A Hero is not afraid to lay down his or
her life to save someone else. Jesus is that kind of Hero.
He volunteered to step into our time in order to die in our
place so that we could live forever with Him in God’s
eternal presence.
As the Mighty God Jesus lived the sinless life that we are
not capable of living to please God. The writer of the
letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus was “tempted in
every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.” Since this
is true, the writer of Hebrews encourages us “to approach
the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need,”
(Hebrews 4.16).
If Jesus had not lived a sinless life we would have no hope
of receiving mercy or finding grace from God in our time of
need. But the Mighty God, the Hero of our salvation did live
the life we could not live so that we could have hope,
receive mercy and find grace to help us.
Jesus is Everlasting Father-Everlasting Father describes
Jesus’ ministry as the pioneer of our salvation. Like a
father, Jesus protects us against the attacks by the enemy.
He comforts us with the assurance of our salvation. He
counsels us with His holy wisdom. He forgives our mistakes.
He disciplines us when we disobey. He loves us without
condition. He covets our prayers. He enjoys our company.
Sometimes God allows circumstances to cast a shadow on the
truth of His mercy and grace. Sometimes our circumstances
test our faith in His love. It is during this dark moments
when we must trust in Jesus’ character as Everlasting
Father. He loves us. He loves you, too.
Jesus is Prince of Peace-Jesus came to establish peace
between God and us. He died as our substitute to suffer the
full punishment of God’s wrath against us “so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need.” It may seem inappropriate to speak about Jesus’ death
in a season when we celebrate His birth, but the fact is
Jesus was born to die. His death is our peace.
The peace Jesus gives is the Hebrew word shalom (a state of
wholeness and well-being usually brought about through a
restored relationship). Shalom is the feeling a mother gets
when her son pulls into the driveway after a night out with
his friends. Shalom is the feeling a father has when all his
children are safely home for Christmas. Shalom is the
knowledge that a loved one is going home to be with Jesus.
Shalom is the joy of knowing that God is not angry with us
because we know Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
This Christmas let us once again worship Jesus for who He
is-Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and
Prince of Peace. Let us praise Him who gives us access to
receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.
Let us bow down before the One to whom all authority is
given: Jesus of Nazareth who is Christ the Lord, the Son of
God, Savior.
You think about that.
MM

When our daughter was three-years-old every sunset brought a
crisis of faith. Each evening Liz would fearfully announce,
“The sun is going away! The sun is going away!” And every
evening at sunset, Jill and I would reassure her, “It’s all
right. The sun is going away, but it will come back. You’ll
see. When you wake up tomorrow morning the sun will be right
here to say ‘Hello!’ You’ll see tomorrow the sun will come
back.” This conversation was repeated many times until Liz
learned that every sunset is followed by a sunrise.

There are sunsets that you can see. They take place in the
sky every night. Some sunsets take place in the human heart.
You don’t see those sunsets. You feel them. When my
grandmother passed away in July 1984 that was a sunset. The
darkness grew deeper three weeks later when my dad died
after a ten-year battle with cancer. The sun rose when
Matthew was born a year later. It rose higher when I
graduated from seminary with my mother there to see it. In
June 1987 the sun set again when my mother died from
pancreatic cancer. Six months later the sun rose again when
Liz was born. The sun set again in 1989 when Jill’s dad
passed away only to rise again when Jeffrey was born later
that year. Since then the sun has risen and set many more
times, but through it all God has been faithful. He has seen
to it that for every sunset there has been a sunrise.
.
For some people, Christmas is more about the sunset than the
sunrise. Some of us struggle with loneliness even as we are
surrounded by friends and family. Some of us nervously
scribble figures on the bottom line wondering if the flow of
red ink will ever stop. Parents struggle to balance the
desire to buy gifts for their children against the need to
watch every penny. Unmarried people awkwardly celebrate the
holiday amid questions from well-meaning relatives and
friends who ask when they will settle down. For a lot of
people, Christmas is not about the sunrise. It’s about the
sunset.

If that describes you then Isaiah the prophet has good news
for you; “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the
glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Christmas is the time
when God reminds us that for every sunset there is a
sunrise. The birth of Jesus is the celebration of our hope
that the darkness is always broken by the dawn. At Christmas
God we rejoice in the truth that weeping may last for a
night, but joy comes in the morning. Christmas is the time
when God reminds us that for every sunset there is a
sunrise.

At Christmas God commands us to arise. Since we cannot arise
by our own power, God must help us to obey. His help comes
to us through Jesus Christ, the Word of God. At Christmas,
Jesus put on our flesh and lived among us. At Christmas God
became Man in Jesus Christ. This same Jesus is also the
Light of the world. As the light of the world Jesus breaks
into our darkness like the sunrise. Where His light touches
He draws us out of the darkness to arise and follow Him.

You think about that.
MM

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known
among the nations what He has done.” -Psalm 105.1 [NIV]

Archie Erickson was 85-years-old when I met him. As far as I
know he never traveled more than 250 miles from his farm in
north central North Dakota. He was a short man with a barrel
chest. He had salt and pepper hair cut short and he wore
thick, black-rimmed glasses. He’d been a farmer all his
life, but his glasses reminded me of my eleventh grade
trigonometry teacher.

I visited him shortly after his wife, Emma, passed away. We
drink weak coffee and ate stale sugar cookies. I was a young
pastor from Long Island, New York by way of Boston,
Massachusetts adjusting to life on the North Dakota prairie.
He was a life-long farmer adjusting to life without the
woman who’d been by side for more than 60 years. I did my
best to ask the right questions-especially when it came to
farming and livestock.

As we walked to the door at the end of my visit, I noticed a
large set of horns hanging above the door. They looked like
they’d been taken from a longhorn cattle. I asked Archie
where the horns came from and his face lit up with the
excitement of a middle-aged man talking about his first hot
rod. “Ja,” he said in a thick German accent, “that was a
good bull. He was around a long time. He gave my cows plenty
of calves. But then he got old and I had to shoot him. Emma
helped me with the butchering. We got enough meat off him to
last us almost three years. Ja,” he said again, “He was a
good bull. And them are his horns. When I see them I
remember him. And I remember Emma. And I thank the Lord for
giving me such a wonderful woman.”

God works in mysterious ways to stir His people to remember
Him and to give Him thanks. Sometimes it’s a pair of bull’s
horns. Sometimes it’s looking back through the family
calendar that hangs in the kitchen. We remember birthdays,
anniversaries, and trips to fun places. Sometimes, as with
Archie, God prompts us to give thanks by remembering loved
ones who’ve left us. However, even as God causes us to give
Him thanks the psalmist reminds us that thanksgiving is not
an option. It’s a command that is expressed through personal
connection with God as well as interpersonal declaration of
what He has done.
“Give thanks to the LORD,
(1) call on His name;
(2) make known among the nations what He has done.”

When we call on the name of the LORD, we make a personal
connection with Him. The LORD is the I AM who delights in
the well-being of His children (Psalm 35.27). He is the I AM
who has done great things in all the earth (Genesis 1.1,3).
He is the I AM who gives seed for the sower and bread for
the eater (Isaiah 55.10). When we “make known among the
nations what He has done” we preach “His power throughout
the universe displayed.” We preach His power made personal
in the Person of His Son. We preach His power made even more
personal through the Father and the Son making in their home
in the heart of those who prepare them room in it.

I don’t have a set of long horns hanging over my back door.
I do have a wife and three great kids. I have a ministry
that enables me to serve people like Archie Erickson, who
are changed by the God the Father through the work of God
the Holy Spirit through faith in God the Son, Jesus Christ.
So for these and other blessings I will give thanks to the
LORD.

How about you?

May the LORD who is the I AM help you give thanks to Him.
May the LORD who is the I AM help you call on His name. May
the LORD who is the I AM help you make known among those
around you what He has done.

You think about that.
MM