I'm Believing God That... This Phrase Is a Rather Anti-biblical Way to Describe Prayer

I've noticed a trend, lately, of professing believers saying that they're "believing God that" He will do something that they want Him to do. I assume that what they mean is that they are praying--pleading with Him, crying out to Him, making known their requests to Him. These are Scriptural ways of describing what it means to pray for something. And then there's the entire issue of having such requests formed by the mind of the Lord Himself in the Scriptures.

I'm not sure where the other way of speaking is coming from. While I try to stay abreast of the latest inventions of men that are passing themselves off as "Christianity," there must be some new book(let), or preaching personality, or radio ditty of which I'm not aware.

But I am aware that it is harmful. One of the chief delights of the believer is to know that God is God, and we are not. It is to view Christ in the Bible by Spirit-wrought faith, and behold His glory as the only-begotten of the Father. It is to realize continually that He is wise, and I am not. He is powerful, and I am not. He is righteous, and I am not. He is holy, and I am not. He is good, and I am not. He is perfectly faithful and true, and I am not.

We see an ocean of glory in God the Son, incarnate--full of steadfast love and faithfulness. We see in Jesus Christ all that God is, all that we ought to have been, all that is credited to us through faith in Him, all that will be done in us as He makes us like Himself. Why would we want to feel like we ourselves are something? Such a feeling can only hide from our view the glory of Christ. Why would we want to speak of our desire, and our confidence in that desire, as if it has in itself some kind of spiritual power?

When I hear someone say, "I'm believing God that..." what I hear is the opposite of prayer and of faith. Prayer involves a submission to the wisdom of God, but this statement seems to impose upon Him my wisdom. Faith binds itself to believe God's words, but this statement seems to bind God to believe and obey our words.

So, I think we might find it more helpful (and certainly more honest) to use one of those Bible phrases to describe the fact that we are asking God for something. It is a wonder that the Lord God listens to the voices of men. And a mercy that He responds by His grace which is sufficient for us, as His power is perfect in our weakness. Often, this mercy comes in the form of a resolute, divine, "No!"

And let us reserve "believing God" for reference to believing not what we are telling Him, but rather for what God has perfectly told us in the Scriptures--best of all, all about Himself in Jesus Christ.

2019.04.30 Timeless Tuesday - Letters of Samuel Rutherford, pp108-128

I've picked this one back up after a long hiatus. Rather than do a write-up each day, which discourages my posting, I'll just throw in a snap of whatever I've scribbled about the section, along with one of my favorite quote from the day.

On these "Timeless Tuesdays," we are reading through the full Banner of Truth edition of Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Today, we covered pp108-128, with the following scribbled notes:

And this gem from p127 was my second-favorite quote, but my first (from p128) was providentially quoted by Greenville Seminary today on social media. Here, SR is writing to a noblewoman who is being severely persecuted for faithfulness to Christ in His church:

2019.04.29 Ministry Monday - An Able and Faithful Ministry (Garretson), pp159-172

I've picked this one back up after a long hiatus. Rather than do a write-up each day, which discourages my posting, I'll just throw in a snap of whatever I've scribbled about the section, along with one of my favorite quote from the day.

Samuel Garretson's An Able and Faithful Ministry: Samuel Miller and the Pastoral Office. pp159-172.

And from p169:

190430FW Romans 11:33-12:33 - Gifts from God for His Church to His Glory

Family worship teaching time, following up upon Romans 11:33-12:13 from the Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Confession of Sin in the Lord's Day morning worship service. We need the Lord to renew our minds by His Word, so that we can offer our whole selves for the service of His church, unto the praise of His glory!

Notre Dame Burned to the Ground

Notre Dame burned to the ground. As far as the building goes, it was just the roof and spire that burned this week. The rest may have to wait until Jesus burns even the elements of heaven and earth in the process of refashioning them for the new creation.

But the whole thing burned all the way to the ground some 200 years after the building was "consecrated," when Trent took Roman Catholicism over the threshold from "decaying church" into "synagogue of Satan" by anathematizing the gospel.

It's far more dreadful for the church, as a living and spiritual organism, to burn than for even the most significant of buildings to be lost. When Solomon's temple was razed, it was a smaller tragedy than the previous 400 years of Judah's spiritual collapse.

"But Notre Dame is a symbol." Stop right there. Christ brought us out of the shadows. Post-ascension, religious symbols beyond the two sacraments are indicative of a church that's burning.

I grieve for France, and Paris, and even beautiful buildings. I wish I grieved more, but my heart is never so soft as it should be. I fall even further short when grieving for churches. I keep hearing that it's holy week. Who says? Men? Certainly not God.

I'm not just hearing this from Roman Catholics. Not just from Evangelicals. Not just from so-called "Continental Reformed" (though we should change the euphemism to "Continental 2/3 Reformed," since the preacta and postacta of the Synod of Dordt would thoroughly shock them).

I hear it from ministers in my own Church. I am subjected to their Facebook ads for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services. I am amazed at their articles that throw the word 'catholic' around as if it has anything to do with the organization headquartered in the Vatican. I am dismayed at their dismay at the possible "loss" of dead images, which we confess together are offensive to the living God.

It's not that I'm ungrateful that the Lord has been turning our Church back around to its former, more biblical, doctrine and practice. Rather, I'm alarmed that there's not still alarm, when the fire is not yet out.

To be sure, the heat is diminished. The soundness of the structure as a whole is no longer in question. But the last of the fire still smolders in fairly obvious ways. It needs to be put out. And then the rebuilding and refurbishing can begin and should proceed in earnest.

To be honest, most of the time, I forget altogether to see this reality. Sometimes it takes an historic event to put the rest of our everyday experience into historical (or even biblical) perspective.

O, for a heart that would grieve as it ought for the spiritual state of the Church! O, for a Church that is so enraptured with the reigning, returning Christ who sits on the Throne, that it would shrug at the weightlessness (and grieve at the offensiveness) of all human embellishments that dare go by the name "Christ"ianity.

A First-Day Sabbath Primer

Again and again, I encounter sincere but misguided believers, who think that the church has made some grave error in observing the first day of the week as the Lord's holy day of worship. For some of them, this is because the Spirit's stirring up of their hearts unto love of the Lord and His law has not been met with sound instruction or clear biblical thinking.

Here is a very basic primer, intended to help such as these. I have no delusions that it will satisfy those who are vociferously hostile to the Christian Sabbath. 

Hebrews 4:9 says that there remains a Sabbatismon for the people of God. But the day of observance is established by the Lord Himself as the first day of the week. 

Between the resurrection and the ascension, the disciples literally gathered w/Christ whenever He walked through the wall or appeared out of thin air. Scripture tells us of this happening only on the first day of the week. 

During the apostolic period, 1Cor 14 tells us that corporate worship was dependent upon immediate revelation of the Spirit not only for preaching but also for prayers and even songs. 1Cor and 2Cor both tell us that the Spirit chose to do this on the first day of the week. 

When Paul was racing to Jerusalem so speedily that he wouldn't even take time to go inland from Miletus, he still took an entire day to worship at Troas. On the first day of the week. 

By the time John writes Revelation, he can write "the Lord's Day," and all the churches know what he is talking about. The first day of the week. 

There is still a weekly Sabbath, and God Himself has blessed and hallowed it as the first day of the week. 

Incidentally, the new creation hearkens back to the unfallen creation. Adam's first full day was a Sabbath!

What would you like our Lord's Day keeping to look like?

Obviously, even Calvin had not achieved everything for which he had a strongly biblical desire, such as weekly Supper, by the time he died. And this is exactly right, because no congregation should ever be directed by the whims of an individual (and certainly never by the whims of a congregation!), but always by the Scripture-convicted decisions of a body of elders.

But I've been asked, so here it is. I'm very grateful to God for the growth and maturation over the last year and half--especially among the group that generally tries to keep the bulk of the day well in fellowship with the Lord together.

9:00 a.m. breakfast starts

9:15 a.m. class starts (breakfast continues)

10:15 a.m. class ends

10:45 a.m. announcements and catechism recitations

[11a.m. standing]

Call to Worship

Pastoral Invocation/Adoration/Confession/Thanksgiving (prayer)

     (elder-led, and study-prepared, but still extemporaneous, not a prescripted form prayer)

Scripture Song 

     (metrical psalm/paraphrase/etc--from the passage that called to worship)

Serial Reading

     (extended reading from just one book, with couple sentence elder summary of the teaching)

Psalm

Lord's Prayer

Reading out of sermon text

[11:30a.m.--12:15p.m. sermon]

[12:15p.m.--standing again]

Song of response, singing that which was just opened from Scripture

Benediction

[12:20p.m. congregation files out, meditating upon Word and Sacrament, observing silence until arrival in the Fellowship Hall]

12:30 p.m. lunch begins

    (concerted effort at intergenerational interaction, with adults leading children in

    sermon review, and other Lord's-Day-intentional conversation)

1:15 p.m. catechism class (1/2 hour)

1:15 p.m. concurrent class (communicants/new-members/Q&A/whatever)

[2p.m. standing]

Call to Worship

Pastoral Invocation

Scripture Song 

Second Serial Reading

     (extended reading from just one book, with couple sentence elder summary of the teaching)

Psalm

Reading out of sermon text

[2:15p.m. - 2:45p.m sermon]

All come to the front, where the long tables are prepared with the elements

     Those who have difficulty standing sit along front row

     Others stand at angle, on either side of the tables, permitting as many as possible to be at table

     Non-communicant children stand with their parents

     Non-communicant adults sit in 2nd, 3rd row, etc.

Pastoral prayer 

    (again, elder-led, extemporaneous, asking for application of the sermon 

    and other pressing spiritual needs, including the conversion/obedience of the state,

    the welfare of the church around the world, and spiritual good to be done in current earthly trials,

    concluding with prayer for benefit from the sacrament)

Lord's Supper

    (immediately following the prayer of thanks/blessing: simply read out the words of institution 

    and announce the sacramental benefit in a sentence or two, followed by immediate partaking

    in response to and laying hold of the benefit by faith, without additional mystic quietness,

    first for the bread, and again for the wine)

Benediction at the Table

[AFTERPARTY--party/feast hosted by different congregation household each week, including early supper, a few hours of fellowship, and dispersal to homes so that each household can conclude the day with family review/thanksgiving/prayer and retire to bed in good season to have extra sleep and/or early start on the Monday morning]

===

--"Offering" moved out of the service, since there's no real Bible mandate for it as part of worship

--Creed/confession recitation moved out for same reason

--Supper weekly, in the afternoon service, but swapping the services once each month for those providentially hindered from afternoon attendance

--All form prayers removed

A pastor can dream

190209FW Prov 9:1-6 - Feasting at Wisdom's House

Family worship lesson from the "Proverb of the day"--Proverbs 9:1-6. Wisdom invites us to feast in hear spacious, strong house at hear richly supplied table of strength, health, and joy. This word picture of a life shaped by wonder at the Lord and worship of the Lord reminds us of how silly and foolish we would be to live any other way.

190209FW Genesis 4:6-24 - Getting Killed by Sin or Killing Sin by Grace?

Family worship teaching time from Genesis 4:6-24, preparing for the coming Lord's Day morning sermon. Cain was challenged to be killing his sin, or it would kill him. Alas, he indulged his sin, which turned out to be not so much against his brother as it was against the God of glory and grace. Sadly, we find that we are able to consider ourselves quite glorious while descending into ever more heinous depths of sin.

190208FW John 8:31-59 - Knowing Our Slavery to Know Our Savior

Family worship teaching time from John 8:31-59, the gospel reading in Lord's Day morning's worship. Jesus is talking to people who agreed with certain facts about Him... UNTIL He began to point out that they need Him to be almighty God and their only deliverance from slavery and escape from death. Suddenly, they would rather curse Him and kill Him than continue to agree with Him. Oh how dangerous is spiritual pride, that would keep us from the only Savior!

190207FW 2Cor 1:23-2:11 - Christ's Stops Satan through Our Fellowship

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the epistle reading from 2Corinthians 1:23-2:11 in Lord's Day morning worship. The Lord Jesus has given church members and officers the privilege of being gladdened by one another, as He uses us in one another's lives for good. Satan's attacks on us include both keeping us from doing the hard work of grieving one another when necessary for confrontation or rebuke, and the sometimes harder work of restoring relationship and demonstrating affection once repentance has occurred. In this passage, we learn the kind of fellowship by which Christ designs to defeat the devil in our churches!

190205FW Hebrews 12:22-13:4 - Heaven-and-Earth-Shaking Worship

Family worship teaching time, following up upon Hebrews 12:22-13:4 from the Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Confession of Sin in the Lord's Day morning worship service. In corporate worship, the Lord brings us by faith into the great worship assembly in glory. From there, He speaks to us by His living Word in the preaching, preparing us to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken!

190204FW 2Timothy 2:19 - Assurance's Firm Foundation from God: Election and Sanctification

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning sermon from 2Timothy 2:19. The Church and true believers will be preserved--a truth that is sealed to us by election and sanctification. Since the Lord has chosen His people in Christ from all eternity, they cannot ultimately fall. And, the fact that He is sanctifying them (causing them, by His Spirit, to use the means of grace and find them fruitful for departing from sin) demonstrates that He is surely saving them.

190128FW Genesis 4:1-5 - The Difference between a Cain and an Abel

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning sermon from Genesis 4:1-5. Children of parents who express faith in Christ have so much promise--and so much promised concerning them. But since some do turn out to be of the evil one, what is it that makes the difference? It is faith in Christ, which also produces fruit in the life.

190125FW John 8:12-20 - Jesus Is the Only Light by Which We May Know God

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning gospel reading from John 8:12-20. Having identified Himself as the manna from heaven, and the rock to which we can come for living water, Jesus now takes it a step further: He Himself is the One who appeared as a glory cloud and a pillar of fire. Now, He declares Himself to be not only the light of the Hebrews, but the light of the entire world. If we are to know God truly at all, then we must know Him as God who has revealed Himself in Christ!

190124FW 2Cor 1:8-14 - God WILL Give You More Than You Can Handle

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Lord's Day morning epistle reading from 2Corinthians 1:8-14. God gives us troubles that are above our strength, so that we will not trust in ourselves. He gives us troubles that make us despair of life, so that we will trust in Him who alone can deliver from death. Since what we all need is what only the miraculous power of God can accomplish, He makes it utter foolishness to try to accomplish it by worldly wisdom. Instead, He gives us the privilege of praying and obeying--so that when HE has accomplished His good will, we will have enjoyed the privilege of being used, but HE will get ALL the praise!

190116FW Josh 13:1-6 - Our Fleeting Labor Established and Employed by Our Faithful Lord

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Old Testament reading from Joshua 13:1-6 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Already we have come from the beginning of Joshua's administration to its winding down. Lord, teach us to number our days! Just as in Moses's life, so now in Joshua's, the Lord has faithfully accomplished all that He set out to do. The land is conquered and ready for marking out each tribe's inheritance. Yes, there is more driving out/possessing to do, but the Lord will be faithful in future generations as well. Whatever part He has assigned to our lives, He will surely be faithful to keep all of His promises in bringing about the effects of Christ's finished work and victory. So,let us trust in Him, and do whatever is our part with zeal, confidence, and joy.

190111FW John 7:37-53 - Humble Thirst for the Rock that Is Christ

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the gospel reading from John 7:37-53 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus identifies Himself as the true and eternal Rock from whom our hearts can be filled with streams of living water, by His Holy Spirit. He calls to the thirsty to come to Him and drink. But, as with the Pharisees, if we think that we are made righteous by knowing the law or that we are better than others, we will not be thirsty. Such pride will keep us from coming to Jesus and send us to unquenchable fire!

190110FW Prov 10:1-3 - Christ Defeats the Curse, Death, and Fallenness in Our Lives

Family Worship teaching time in Proverbs 10:1-3, the "Proverb of the day." The curse was that children would bring agony, but children who trust in Christ and belong to Him can be a joy to their parents by His grace and His Spirit. Death laid claim to us spiritually and physically, but when Christ is our righteousness, sin is no longer our master, and death cannot hold us forever. As the Spirit makes those who belong to Jesus more and more like Him, they grow in right desires and find themselves content in the Lord.

190110FW 1Cor 16:13-24 - Battling That Loves and Loving That Battles

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the epistle reading from 1Corinthians 16:13-24 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Christian theology and practice is a battle in which both strength and love are essential. Christ's grace alone empowers this battle, and one of His appointed means for that power is the ministry of the particular elders whom He has given us in our particular congregation.
 

190107FW Gen 3:16-19 - Thy Kingdom Come: the Curses that Christ Reverses

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the sermon from Genesis 3:16-19 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Parenting. Marriage. Work. Central place in the fall. Central place in display of Christ's victorious redemption of His people. We deserve to be a display of death and the devil; but Jesus, who is HIMSELF the image of God, remakes us into His own image!

190104FW John 7:14-36 - God's Truth, Righteousness, and Power for Us in Jesus

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Gospel reading from John 7:14-36 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Jesus's teaching at the feast is so obviously true that the people are astonished. He explains that He does Bible study and theology different than everyone else, because He came from God. Therefore all His teaching is inherently true, and He is completely righteous. When the argument with the Pharisees and priests heats up, He notifies them that they cannot succeed against Him, because His power is heavenly, and He is returning there. In Jesus Christ, God has provided us with His own truth, His own righteousness, and His own power!

190103FW 1Cor 16:1-12 - Ways that Jesus Ministers to Our Bodies and Souls

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Epistle reading from 1Corinthians 6:1-12 in corporate worship, this past Lord's Day morning. Jesus ministers to His people's material needs through all of His people through giving on the Lord's Day and through hospitality. And Jesus's plan for ministering to our souls is elders who, literally, "do the Lord's work." Scripture teaches us to submit to and encourage our elders so that they will shepherd us both with joy (Heb 13:17) and without fear (v10).

190102FW Josh 11:16-23 - Our Infinitely Faithful, Just, Merciful, and Generous Covenant God

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Old Testament reading from Joshua 11:16-23 in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. God gave His people victory over ALL whom He said He would. He satisfied ALL His justice. And showed great mercy even to those who weren't His, and ALL mercy to His own. And He brought them into ALL their inheritance!

181231FW Gen 3:12-15 - Gospel of Serpent-Crushing Grace

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the sermon from Genesis 3:12-15 in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. Before God says a single word of penalty to the woman or man, He announces His grace that will work in sinners whom He is saving, His grace that will keep the church separate from the world, and His grace that will send His Son as the Seed of the woman to crush the serpent's head. Praise the God of gospel grace!

181229FW Prov 29:6-9 - Fruitful Faith, Wisdom's Foundation

From the Proverb of the day (29), we saw how confidence in God's goodness to us in Christ is the foundation of wise living. If we are confident that God seeks our pleasure, we will not be snared by trying to find pleasure in disobedience (v6). If we are confident that God attends to all our needs, we will not be closed-fisted but rejoice to imitate His generosity (v7). If we are confident that God defends our interests, we will be freed from contentiousness to pursue peace (v8). And, if we are confident both that we are still sinful and that everything that we encounter is designed by God to fit us for heaven, then we will be poised to take correction seriously and benefit from it (v9).

181229FW Gen 3:12-15 - Good, Serpent-Crushing, News

Family Worship teaching time, anticipating the sermon from Genesis 3:12-15 in corporate worship, tomorrow morning. God elicits a horrifying response from Adam, a disappointing response from the woman, but no response at all from the serpent. Why? Because He asks the serpent no question--simply declares a curse! He promises His own sovereign work in regeneration, and that He will maintain a covenant line of those who belong to Him, over-against those who belong to the serpent. Ultimately, the only way that this can be effective is because He Himself will come, born of a woman, to destroy the devil and his works! ... And God promises all of this before He has even declared the consequences of Adam and his wife's sin! The first time that the bad news of the curse was announced, it was already in the context of the good news of the gospel!!

181228FW Prov 28:10-12 - In Relationships, Reliance, and Rule, We Reap What We Sow

Family Worship teaching lesson from Proverbs 28:10-12. In relationships, we reap what we sow. If we cause others to stumble, we fall. If we build others up, we enjoy good from God's hand. In reliance, we reap what we sow. If we are self-reliant, then we will end up in that utter folly of being wise in our own eyes. If we fear the Lord and rely upon Him, we will be in a position to instruct even those who seem great. In rule, we reap what we sow. When those who rule are godly, there is joy; when they are wicked, there is fear.

181228FW John 7:1-13 - Jesus, Bringer of Sword and Division

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon John 7:1-13 from the Old Testament reading in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. Jesus highlights for his brothers that they are still of the world--hateful and murderous toward Him. Marvelously, He does so in the midst of reminding us that He has come to suffer and die as a sacrifice for those whose deeds are evil! All mankind is divided by Christ into those who hate Him, and those who trust in and love and follow and obey Him--and who are therefore hated with Him. There is no middle ground.

Incomplete Reformation

The year is winding down, which brings me once again toward the end of 2Chronicles. The evil of Manasseh is never surprising. The repentance of Manasseh always is. Something else caught my eye today, however.

He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God. (2 Chr 33:15–17)

It's that last verse there. "Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to Yahweh their God" (emphasis mine). The way that the Holy Spirit notes this is instructive for believers such as we are, who are always in an a state of incomplete reformation.

Recently someone dear to me, who is just now at a very late point in life coming 'round to delighting in the Lord's Day and rejecting man-made holy days, expressed grief over someone else whom he loves. That individual had been talking about praying to this and that saint, and visiting this and that holy site, as a way to enhance the effectiveness of his own intercession before God.

I pointed out to my dear one that, so long as we are coming by genuine faith in Christ, we are coming in union with Christ. I say 'genuine', rather than 'only', because if we tell the truth, then the fact is that we never have perfect faith in Christ. Even if we intend to believe in Christ alone as the God-man, our Mediator, all of our faith is imperfect. Of course, willfully trusting in others as well is not genuine faith in Christ, but every one of our hearts is a tangled web of excuses by which we explain away all of our false trustings.

Well, if we are coming in union with Christ, then the Lord is receiving us according to Christ's righteousness. And, if we are coming in union with Christ, then His blood puts away all of the guilt of all of the sin and error in how we come.

Does that mean that we should be satisfied with imperfect reformation? No, not at all. As we read through Chronicles (or Kings), we find that the Lord cares very much about every detail of reformation, and does "grade" varying degrees of reformation differently. Here, in 2Chr 33:17, there is obvious divine dissatisfaction with the people's sacrificing on the high places.

However, we also learn here not to treat a smaller degree of reformation as if it is worthless for being smaller. The Lord mentions the sincerity of their flawed (idolatrous!) worship: but only to Yahweh their God. Does this take away the guild of the idolatrous portion? Of course not. The Lord was still about to destroy Israel for their man-invented way of holding a feast to Yahweh in Exodus 32:5. Only the Mediator (Christ!!--though, in that section of Exodus, Moses is a type/foreshadowing of Christ) can take away the guilt that belongs to the flaws in our worship.

That is what frees us to celebrate the removal of some flaws--even if there are others that we can still see. Imperfect reformation is not the same as no reformation at all. In fact, covered in Christ's blood and made sincere by His Spirit, every well-intended reformation is something to be celebrated, even if fraught with glaring blindspots of imperfection!

181227FW 1Cor 15:50-58 - Victory in Jesus

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon 1Corinthians 15:50-58 from the Old Testament reading in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. We need glorified bodies to inherit the kingdom. The kingdom is not something that Christians bring in or build. It is something that we pray to come, because we inherit it when it comes. We receive it as a gift, to which we have a right through our relationship to God as His children.

At the resurrection, when death and the grave are exposed not as victorious opponents but as defeated servants, death is swallowed up in victory!

But, as we learn from Romans 6-7, we enjoy already the resurrection victory of Jesus as we walk in newness of life. Death and sin lost their claim upon us when we died in Jesus Christ. The one that belonged to them died in Christ; the one that we are now is a slave of Christ.

This is why we must be steadfast in the work of the Lord Jesus--we are His slaves, so let us stick with His work! This is why we must be immovable in the work of the Lord Jesus--we are His slaves, so let us not depart from His work! This is why we must be abundant in the work of the Lord Jesus--we are His slaves, so let us be overflowing with His work!

Jesus frees us--not to be slaves to ourselves and our desires, but to be slaves to Him. Every time we say no to sin, no to self, and yes to Jesus, we are already now enjoying resurrection victory!

181226FW Josh 11:1-15 - Shocking Grace

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon Joshua 11:1-15 from the Old Testament reading in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. Readers and hearers are often shocked at how complete and hard the destruction of the Canaanite tribes/cities/kings is. However, this passage emphasizes over and again that this is the Lord's work, and that the manner in which Joshua and Israel carried it out was according to the Lord's Word. This leaves us to face the fact that we are not shocked enough by sin. If we were, then what we would find truly shocking in this passage is God's grace to Israel!
 

181221FW Prov 21:9-11 - Contentiousness, Conduct, Correction, and the Heart

Proverb of the day (21), vv9-11. Avoiding becoming (or marrying) a contentious woman; keeping the heart, and receiving correction.

181221FW Jn 6:60-71 - Christ Alone Gives Spirit and Life by His Word

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon John 6:60-71 from the gospel reading in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. The people were offended that Jesus said that they had no spiritual life from themselves, and could only ever have any from Him. Jesus told them that they would be even more offended when they see Him sitting on the throne of heaven. Yes, His Words are the Words of eternal life, but He alone can apply them to us and give us life by them. So, let us not presume that just because we are part of His church, or even know and agree with true Christian teaching, that we are thereby saved and safe. These are unreliable things to cling to. Instead, let us cling only to Him Himself! And, if we find it difficult, we are not without recourse. We may come and ask Him who is the only One who can give this faith.

181220FW 1Corinthians 15:35-49 - What Kind of Body We'll Be Raised With

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon 1Corinthians 15:35-49 from the epistle reading in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. In the resurrection, we don't get our old bodies back. Rather, from the humble, corruptible, weak seed of our corpse, the Lord makes something glorious, incorruptible, and strong after the pattern of Christ. He is the last Adam, the heavenly Man, and we receive according to what He is like and what He deserves as our federal Head!

2018.12.19 Worship Wednesday - The Day of Worship, Chapter 7-9

On these Worship Wednesdays, we are reading The Day of Worship: Reassessing the Christian Life in Light of the Sabbath by Ryan McGraw. 

In chapter 7, McGraw demonstrated that Jesus's own exposition of the 6th commandment establishes for us how to understand and apply any of the ten commandments, and specifically the 4th commandment.

Just as Jesus demonstrates that the 6th commandment includes the positive commandment to love our neighbor, so also the 4th commandment includes not just the prohibition ("do no work") but especially focuses upon the positive commandment, "Remember the Sabbath to consecrate it."

Just as the 6th commandment forbids hatred in the heart and requires love in the heart, so also the 4th commandment requires delighting in the day.

Just as the 6th commandment forbids speech of hatred and requires speech of love toward our neighbor, so also the 4th commandment requires that our speech on the Lord's Day be consecrated speech.

Just as the 6th commandment required consideration of others' ability to worship ("don't sacrifice unreconciled"), so also most obviously the 4th commandment requires consideration of others (which keeps us from justifying employing others).

In chapter 8, McGraw moves onto some practical considerations. He is diligent to point out that this is a book of principles, not details--that proactively attending to what the day is for will be the process by which we arrive at our particular habit of keeping God's holy day. He had made illustrative applications throughout the book, to show how this would work in practice.

Here, he adds a couple areas of pastoral advice, including the necessity of preparing in advance, the preference of corporate worship over private, and the need to answer all detail questions from the standpoint of "what best helps me keep the day according to the purpose for the day?"

Finally, in chapter 9, McGraw tackles the question of whether or not this approach to the 4th commandment is legalistic. Happily, he works to define terms first. Legalism is not either carefulness about or emphasis upon obeying God's commandments. If this were true, then the Holy Spirit would be a legalist!

Rather, legalism is altering (whether by addition or subtraction) God's commandments with our own, or believing that we can be righteous in God's sight by how well we do, or that we can grow in holiness by virtue of how hard we work. In fact,  the person who wants to subtract some part of consecrating the Lord's Day is a legalist, and the one who looks down upon others who aren't as enlightened about it as he is to do whatever he wishes on the Lord's Day is a legalist.

The solution to legalism is to love God's law because we love Him Himself, the God of the law, and to be grateful that part of what Jesus has won for us is that we shall surely be made like Him by His Spirit. Thus, without subtracting in the least from God's law, we come to it from a joyful standpoint of love and liberty.

If our view of any part of God's law is sound, then we will be viewing it as pervasive and comprehensive and something that is impossible to perfectly do in this life--but also as something in which we delight and to which we look forward to being perfectly conformed in glory. Is this how we view Lord's Day keeping? Or are we legalists?

2018.11.28 Worship Wednesday - The Day of Worship, Chapters 3-6

On these Worship Wednesdays, we are reading The Day of Worship: Reassessing the Christian Life in Light of the Sabbath by Ryan McGraw. 

In chapters 3-6, I've most appreciated how McGraw highlights what the day is for. He rightly points out that this was true from the moment the Sabbath was sanctified, not a new teaching in Isaiah 58, since what is necessarily implied is as binding and true as what is implicit.

The chapter on worldliness is especially helpful as it searches out the reason that so many resist even the idea of an Isaiah 58 type Sabbath--and how some who at first attempt to keep it do not find it joyous.

Count Your Blessings? You Can't.

When faith counts its blessings, it begins with a score of infinity (thanks be to God for His indescribable gift) to zero (not once has the Lord treated me with even the slightest injustice or unkindness) and only improves from there.

Any other kind of blessing-counting is a recipe for the brutish pit of pre-worship Asaph in Psalm 73

Theology Thursday: Christ the Great Display of God's Glory

"In him do we behold the wisdom, goodness, love, grace, mercy, and power of God, acting themselves in the contrivance, constitution, and efficacious accomplishment of the great work of our redemption and salvation."

John Owen's The Glory of Christ, location 777

I Can Help You Plan for That (Family Worship)

Man... sitting here writing the devotional for the congregation. Had a bunch of things (again) that got in the way (again) of finishing it by a reasonable time, and now I'm maybe grumbling in my spirit just a little bit (ok, a lot--there's a lot of fleshliness left...).

But I've got Utah-Stanford running in the other computer to my left, and this commercial keeps coming on, and every time it comes on, it just about makes me cry.

There's so much here--the dad having spent time building with and teaching his son, the son coming to the conclusion that he owes his dad dignity and wants his dad to live with him. If at all humanly possible, this is how to do it. Thank God for in-home health, hospice, etc.

And then I remember that this is one of the primary reasons behind grinding out this devotional every week. There is a spending of time that is more important than hanging out outside.

There is a teaching that is more important than teaching how to spend a hammer. There is an investment of fathers in their children that is infinitely greater than building clubhouses together. There is a spiritual investment of fathers in their children that is God's primary, daily plan for the care of His covenant children's eternal souls.

And this devotional is my opportunity as a shepherd to say--and really not just say but make good on it--"I can help you plan for that." And suddenly, it's not a deflating grind, but a joy again.

Thank-you, Lord!

Is there a proper, Christian use of the memory of my (repented-of) sin?

I received this very important question from a dear brother, who often finds himself mulling over his past sin, grieving over how he cannot appreciate the infinite weightiness of it. As is often the case, it's a question whose answer would be useful to many, even though it is the first time I can remember having been asked. Here's the beginning of an answer:

I'd be delighted for this to be a face to face conversation, but am also glad to give enough synopsis to provide a little relief. 

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.Romans 8:1

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13-14 (admittedly, contextually, talking especially about any 'good' in our past)

We certainly must never dwell upon repented-of sin in any self-condemning way! If God "forgets" our sins in that manner, and we decide that we will continue to remember them, not only do we harm one of His dear children, but we make ourselves out to be wiser or holier than God!! I​n the face of such texts, we need biblical warrant to dwell upon the past at all. And we do have it.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1Timothy 1:15-17

Here is an especially helpful passage, because it gives not only warrant for remembering the past but also a biblical aim for doing so. I often hear v15 quoted, but without highlighting its relationship to vv16-17! We may make a right use of the memory of the greatness of our sin: 

(a) as a trophy of Jesus' patience with us, in order to encourage us about how He might save others; i.e. not so that we would have woeful thoughts of ourselves, but that in the face of the infinite gravity of others' sin, we would be yet more impressed with the mercy of Christ and not consider anyone else hopeless, and certainly not look down upon anyone.

(b) to be driven to great eruptions of praise to God

After all, our lives are all about God's glory--and particularly that glory as displayed in Jesus.

This has been the Holy Spirit's great work in all of creation and redemption: literally to shine light upon the glory of Jesus as God's chosen display of His glory for all time and into eternity [Shameless plug for listening to the morning sermon from the 23rd if you haven't yet--one of the best sermons (I think) that the Lord has enabled me to preach upon the Holy Spirit]. Whatever is good in us is by and from the Holy Spirit. And so we can expect that all "good" remembering of our sin will have this as its aim: shining light upon the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

Now, taking that doctrine into the realm of more directly answering the question of "how much" or "how heavily" we should remember our past sin: just as much as is conducive to and actually producing of overflowing effusions of praise of the glory of the grace of Christ!

The force that must be applied by these memories is not a weight that makes our heads to hang, but an upward pull that lifts our faces in praise.

Personally, without the aid of sins already committed, I continually produce enough new sin to end up confessing it, rejoicing in God's redeeming me in Christ, and praising His ongoing mercy and patience. 

So, the only reason I would make intentional reference to my former sin would be when working on humility toward an unbeliever who appears particularly hard, or working on encouragement about the possibility of his salvation, or working on gratitude and praise to God for His entire redeeming work from election to atonement to justification to sanctification and glorification.

And however unintentional memories of former sins arise in my mind--whether by the Holy Spirit or an angel or an accusing devil/demon or Satan himself--I seek (though imperfectly so) to employ that memory unto such biblical ends as above.

Not having made recent study of this, I would guess that there are other texts that present us with other biblical uses for remembering repented-of sin. But we can continue that conversation face to face. 2Jn v12.

Grace and peace,

Pastor

Why Christian Women Did NOT Want To Vote

It's pretty amazing to think that even the title to this little post may be seen by some as provocative or controversial.

1903 may not be that long ago chronologically, but it seems like light-years, culturally.

Check out this article (it's not too long): https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/306616/

Just 115 years ago, as appeared in an article in The Atlantic, the women of Massachusetts overwhelmingly rejected the "right" to vote, because they were too busy doing the more important work of training up the future of the state, the church, businesses, and the army.

They had not yet been bullied and belittled into viewing the most important task in our nation as something insignificant and better left to state-industrial child-farms. They saw the family, the household, as the fundamental unit of every important institution in society. Such thinking is more biblically sound than much of the church in 2018.

Today, The Atlantic and Massachusetts are almost synonymous with a form of progressivism so obscene that it would make their great-grandparents' hair rise on the backs of their necks.

Worship Wednesday

"Worldly recreations on the Sabbath are no more appropriate than if a groom paused in the middle of his wedding ceremony to check the scores of a football game. Recreation would be a perfectly appropriate pleasure on a day of rest from labor, but an entirely inappropriate one on a day devoted to taking pleasure in worship."

Location 930 of The Day of Worship by Ryan McGraw

Do you know the gift of God?

(John 4:10) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Most of those who care to read anything that I write can easily answer both questions--even without looking down to v14. There, Jesus makes clear that the "gift of God" is eternal life. And, He does so while repeating twice that He Himself is the One who gives this gift--that God Himself is the One who has come as a man and is speaking to the woman at the well.

What we might miss is the way that Jesus seems to be using the word "know" here. It is not merely mental assent, but a conviction that evokes a response.

If we are not actively looking to Him for our eternal life, that's a pretty good indication that we don't "know" as we ought to. Knowledge of Christ is not a mere theological calculus. It is a recognition that produces a response.

Getting Back to the Apostolic Church

It is always moving, and sometimes deeply frustrating, to hear or see someone talking about "getting back to the apostolic church."

But not so much because we've somehow lost our way for a couple thousand years. Rather, I am moved and sometimes frustrated by the fact that there are such apostolic churches right around most corners in the U.S.--and even, as I am increasingly learning, in many places around the world where the gospel is only recently penetrating.

Where are they? Reformed, Presbyterian churches. That was the entire point of the Reformation--back to the Bible. But here we are in a biblically illiterate age, in which it is assumed that all expressions of the church are equally man-made, and therefore this idea of "the apostolic" church is floated as something without creed, confession, or organization. 

Really, I cannot think of a more efficient way of ensuring that you will have nothing but a man-made expression of the church than to leave it up to every man to make his own expression.

The most recent reminder of this for me was in response to a Presbyterian social media meme which humorously pointed out the great danger in being without formal church membership, being without creeds and confessions, and being without church discipline.

Predictably, one commentator complained, "I don't think the disciples had any of this."

If we knew our Bibles better, such rubbish would be rather easily dismissed as the ravings of unbelievers. But I actually hear this kind of reasoning from Reformed church officers. 

Alas! Alas! God grant us a rediscovery of His Word as in the days of Josiah, where we realize that we need not make it up as we go along and, mourning over our past confusion and rebellion, eagerly put into place all that His Word calls for in His church.

So, is it true that the disciples had no formal church membership, no creeds or confessions, and no church discipline?

2Tim 1:13 refers to some kind of confession or catechism that Paul had given Timothy. Remarkable that, as far as we know, it doesn't appear in Scripture--just reinforces that uninspired arrangements of doctrine are a biblical response to Scriptural teaching.

Luke 1:4 ... Theophilus's instruction is literally referred to as catechizing

And of course they definitely had formal church membership and church discipline, otherwise what's with keeping a record of their number (Ac 2-4, etc), and how could someone be put out of the church if there was not a formal identification of who is in the church (1Cor 5-6, etc), and with all of the duties of believers to "one another" and of elders to their flock and the flock to their elders (Eph 4, 1Cor 12, Heb 13, 1Pet 5, all the pastoral epistles, etc), it would be impossible to know whether you are doing that without some formal recognition of who is a member and who is an elder. From whom could delegates to the Acts 15 assembly be selected? Etc. etc.

The canard of an unorganized apostolic hippie community is a figment of the imagination of an anti-authority age.

"Let's get back to the apostolic church" is just contemporary speak for "let me be rid of submission and commitment." But look at how Christ talks about being a disciple. It's all about submission and commitment. So, not at all surprising that there is plain evidence of all of these things in the New Testament.

Authority and orderliness have been instituted by Christ, through the Holy Spirit, since the very beginning.

Want to "get back to the apostolic church"? If you live in America, that's not difficult to do. Join a NAPARC (or similar) church.

If these thoughts are new to you, or you find yourself unconvinced, you may wish to read Witherow's Apostolic Church.

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight - Pastoral Letter from the 9/14/18 Hopewell Herald

Dear Congregation,

Reflecting on last Lord’s Day morning’s sermon has been a cause of much frustration for me. I know that the eternal God, the Creator, holds Himself out unto me repeatedly as Jesus Christ, the God-man, who humbled Himself and suffered much and literally bore Hell for my sake.

So why am I frustrated? Because my wonder and adoration at the greatness of His being, and my thankfulness and love for what He’s done for me, are so pathetically small. As I think back over the week, there have been so many times where I was quite forgetful of Him—even while laboring in this holy calling!

I know that He is worthy of so much more, and I grope at affections and responses that correspond. It is tempting to me to take a shortcut—figure out what kind of things bypass my ungrateful heart and stir me up into a froth of emotions and irrational, unrealistic vows to do works that feel more impressive than ordinary faithfulness and obedience in the daily callings of my life.

But, as I prepare for the Lord’s Day, I am reminded of something else that the Holy Spirit presented to us in those New Testament passages about the eternal plan of God that He put into motion in the creation: He is going to finish the work He has begun.

He didn’t predestine us merely to forgiveness, but wholly unto perfect glory—that we would be conformed to the image of His Son, and that unto the praise of the glory of His grace.

So what shall we do? Keep the Lord’s Day, which He uses to make us to delight in Him (Isaiah 58:13-14), reading and hearing preached His Word which sanctifies us and equips us and makes us wise for salvation (John 17:17, 2Timothy 3:14-17), singing by which we are filled with His Spirit and His Word dwells richly in us (Ephesians 5:15-21, Colossians 3:14-16), and celebrating that Supper by which we have fellowship in Jesus’ own body and blood (1Corinthians 10:15-18).

You see—Christianity really is about going to church and participating well in worship. But not at all because that’s some kind of work by which we earn anything or show what good Christians we are. Rather, it is because Jesus Himself is all our hope and all our need, and these are His appointed means by which He does His work, as He keeps all His promises and carries out all His plans.

Let’s walk by faith, not by sight. Rather than do what makes us “feel” like it’s working for a few moments, let us come to Him and trust His Word that He is doing a work that will be perfect forever and ever.

Looking forward to worship with you!

Pastor

180813FW Romans 13:1-4 - Submitting to God's Authority

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon Romans 13:1-4 from the sermon in corporate worship, Lord's Day morning. Because God is the ultimate authority in our home, in the church, and in the society, we are to submit and obey in doing good in each of these spheres. For, God is always doing us good now, and at the day of judgment, He will punish those found outside of Christ, and reward all good that was done in Christ.

180702FW Hebrews 13:5 - God Himself Exemplifies and Empowers Christian Love

Family Worship teaching time from Hebrews 13:5, following up upon the morning sermon from the Lord's Day. If we are to love God in the Heb 12:28-29 way, and love others in the Heb 13:1-4 way, then we cannot have hearts full of the love of stuff. God exemplifies Christian love by giving Himself for us (Jn 3:16, 1Jn 3:16, 1Jn 4:10) as we are to give ourselves for others. God empowers Christian love by giving us a possession that dwarfs everything else we could possibly have: Himself.

180629FW Mark 15:40-16:8 - God Helps His Feeble Servants Be Faithful

Family Worship teaching time from Mark 15:40-16:8, following up upon the gospel reading from the Lord's Day morning worship service. Even in the midst of the Resurrection, which is the great action in the text, the Lord was pleased to use the women who served however they could, despite their weakness--going ahead of them to supply what was needed to equip them

180628FW 1Corinthians 3:9-17 - God's Workers, Doing God's Work, God's Way

Family Worship teaching time from 1Corinthians 3:9-17 on how ministers belong to the Lord, not the church. And the church itself belongs to the Lord, rather than to itself, so ministry must be done according to the Word of God, not the ideas of men.

180627FW Genesis 25:19-28 - Praying and Listening to Our Always-Good God

Family Worship teaching time from Genesis 25:19-28, following up upon the Old Testament reading from Lord's Day morning worship. We see how the Lord, in His goodness, was bringing the Savior into the world--even through the prolonged trial of Rebekah's barrenness and the intense trial of her pregnancy. And, we see how faith, because it is sure of God's goodness, responds to such trials by prayer and seeking God's Word.

180626FW Psalm 87 - Rejoicing Over the New Birth

Family Worship teaching time, reviewing Psalm 87 from the Lord's Day morning service, and the Lord calling His people to be led by Jesus, their Forever-Priest, as they rejoice and sing over the new birth in their corporate worship

180625FW Hebrews 13:1-4

Family Worship teaching time from Hebrews 13:1-4, following up upon the morning sermon from the Lord's Day morning worship

180623FW Hebrews 12:29

Family Worship teaching time from Hebrews 12:29, following up upon the sermon from last Lord's Day's morning worship

180622FW Mark 15:16-39

Family Worship teaching time from Mark 15:16-39, following up upon the gospel reading from Lord's Day morning's worship service

180621FW 1Corinthians 3:1-8

Family Worship teaching time from 1Corinthians 3:1-8, following up upon the epistle reading from the Lord's Day morning worship service

180620FW Genesis 25:1-18

Family Worship teaching time from Genesis 25:1-18, on the surprising goodness, abundant goodness, and eternal goodness of God, following up upon the Old Testament reading from the Lord's Day morning worship service

180619FW Proverbs 19:1-10

Family Worship teaching time on wisdom, wealth, and words from the "Proverb of the day"

180619FW Colossians 1:9-22

Family Worship teaching time in Colossians 1:9-22, following up upon the call to worship, prayer for help, confession of sin, and assurance of the gospel from the Lord's Day morning worship service

180618FW Proverbs 18:9-13

Family Worship teaching time on Proverbs 18:9-13 from the "Proverb of the Day"

180618FW Hebrews 12:28

Family Worship teaching time from Hebrews 12:28, following up upon the Lord's Day morning sermon

180616FW Hebrews 12:28-29

Family Worship teaching time from Hebrews 12:28-29, following up upon the Lord's Day morning sermon

Two wise pastors from yesteryear, and their concern for souls on Christmas

Truly, we do not wish to trouble or alienate anyone more than is necessary for the care of souls. This, perhaps, is why Spurgeon in his younger years accommodated the "Christian" co-opting of Saturnalia. And, it may have something to do with why Calvin, upon his return to Geneva, accepted the will of the people of that city-state regarding the day.

However, these men still loved the souls of those entrusted to their care, as I hope that the Judgment will vindicate me of having done, and so even in the observance of the day, they raised the alarm against man-made fantasies in spiritual things, and pointed people instead to the true and living Lord Jesus Christ, whom we may only know insofar as--and by those means by which--He has given Himself to us.

Rather than attempt to navigate this thorny path on my own, I leave my beloved readers in the capable hands of these faithful ministers, by words that they carefully selected in later years of ministry, having a wisdom to which I do not in this life expect to attain.

Calvin, excerpt from 1551 Christmas sermon while preaching through Micah (https://goo.gl/pESSwM):

Now, I see here today more people than I am accustomed to having at the sermon. Why is that? It is Christmas day. And who told you this? You poor beasts. That is a fitting euphemism for all of you who have come here today to honor Noel. Did you think you would be honoring God?

Consider what sort of obedience to God your coming displays. In your mind, you are celebrating a holiday for God, or turning today into one but so much for that. In truth, as you have often been admonished, it is good to set aside one day out of the year in which we are reminded of all the good that has occurred because of Christ’s birth in the world, and in which we hear the story of his birth retold, which will be done Sunday.

But if you think that Jesus Christ was born today, you are as crazed as wild beasts. For when you elevate one day alone for the purpose of worshiping God, you have just turned it into an idol. True, you insist that you have done so for the honor of God, but it is more for the honor of the devil.

Let us consider what our Lord has to say on the matter. Was it not Saul’s intention to worship God when he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, along with the best spoils and cattle? He says as much: ‘I want to worship God.’ Saul’s tongue was full of devotion and good intention. But what was the response he received? ‘You soothsayer! You heretic! You apostate! You claim to be honoring God, but God rejects you and disavows all that you have done.’

Consequently, the same is true of our actions. For no day is superior to another. It matters not whether we recall our Lord’s nativity on a Wednesday, Thursday, or some other day. But when we insist on establishing a service of worship based on our whim, we blaspheme God, and create an idol, though we have done it all in the name of God. And when you worship God in the idleness of a holiday spirit, that is a heavy sin to bear, and one which attracts others about it, until we reach the height of iniquity.

Therefore, let us pay attention to what Micah is saying here, that God must not only strip away things that are bad in themselves, but must also eliminate anything that might foster superstition. Once we have understood that, we will no longer find it strange that Noel is not being observed today, but that on Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and recite the story of the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But all those who barely know Jesus Christ, or that we must be subject to him, and that God removes all those impediments that prevent us from coming to him, these folk, I say, will at best grit their teeth. They came here in anticipation of celebrating a wrong intention, but will leave with it wholly unfulfilled.

Spurgeon, in the introduction to his Christmas sermon in 1871, disavowing the superstition of the season and the day, and explaining that he is preaching upon the incarnation because it is a correct thing for any day of the year:

We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and, consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority.

Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour’s birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. Fabricius gives a catalogue of 136 different learned opinions upon the matter; and various divines invent weighty arguments for advocating a date in every month in the year.

It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it.

Because the day is not known, therefore superstition has fixed it; while, since the day of the death of our Saviour might be determined with much certainty, therefore superstition shifts the date of its observance every year. Where is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably the fact is that the holy days were arranged to fit in with heathen festivals.

We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Saviour was born, it is the twenty-fifth of December. Nevertheless since, the current of men’s thoughts is led this way just now, and I see no evil in the current itself, I shall launch the bark of our discourse upon that stream, and make use of the fact, which I shall neither justify nor condemn, by endeavoring to lead your thoughts in the same direction.

Since it is lawful, and even laudable, to meditate upon the incarnation of the Lord upon any day in the year, it cannot be in the power of other men’s superstitions to render such a meditation improper for to-day. Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of his dear son.

2018.06.15 Family Friday - William Gouge's "Building a Godly Home v1 - a Holy Vision for Family Life": chapter 1 (continued), Serving Each Other in the Fear of the Lord

On Family Fridays, I'm reading William Gouge's Building a Godly Home vol 1, A Holy Vision for Family Life.

Chapter 1, part 3: the Fear of God Moving Us to Do Service to Men
Gouge proceeds to show that the fear of God is what moves a good conscience to submit to other men. He uses examples of David, Joseph, and Christ in Scripture submitting to lawful authority out of reverence for the Lord.

If it's not fear of God moving us to submit to authority, then our submission will be forced and selfish or slavish instead of free, willing, and cheerful. This is because the fear of God makes care more for what God wants than for the impulses of our heart.

This means that those in authority have a duty to teach those under them first to fear the Lord, or else their submission will do them ill. And inferiors must pray that their superiors also will fear the Lord.

Chapter 1, part 4: Limiting All Duty to Man, within the compass of the fear of God
It also means that we must only submit to those commands that can be done in fear of the Lord (meaning that we must not submit if commanded to sin).

For superiors, it means that instead of indulging their inferiors' whims, they should give such commands as will lead those beneath them in the fear of the Lord. Both must be seeking to please God rather than men.

180615FW Mark 15:1-15

Family worship teaching time, following up upon the gospel reading in Mark 15:1-15 from the Lord's Day morning worship

180614FW 1Corinthians 2:6-16

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Epistle reading from Lord's Day morning worship

In Support of Simplicity in Worship

In preaching through the book of Hebrews, I've been struck again with how the Lord intentionally planned to glorify His Son by the transition that would take place in worship from something attached to a particular place and nation on earth to something that can happen among any place and nation because it now takes place primarily in Heaven.

Take especially chapters 2 and 12 together. We come to Mount Zion, God's heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, the congregation of the Firstborn, the souls of the just made perfect, God the Judge of all, Christ Jesus the (better) Mediator of the New (everlasting) Covenant. And it is there that He presents us (Behold I and the children whom You have given me) upon the basis of His own faith ("I will put my trust in Him") and proceeds to declare His Father's Name to us and sing His Father's praise in the midst of our assembly.

This transition from worship that was tied to a specific place/nation to worship that instead exults in the Person of the Christ is exactly the substance of one the most important conversations ever had in worship: Jesus, with the woman at the well. She wants to know, "where is the right place to worship?" He answers, "Well, it used to be the temple, but you actually can't walk to the right place anymore. God is Spirit, and the only transportation to the right 'place' of worship is the activity of the Holy Spirit by the instrumentality of the Scriptures." Amazingly, that woman rightly understood that this amazing transition was bound up with the coming of the Christ and the identity of the Christ! When we try to "culturally contextualize" worship, we are chafing precisely against the point that Christ was making there in John 4.

It is simply impossible to emphasize or add any earthly activity without diverting attention from the glory of the heavenly reality of Christian congregational worship.

When God has determined to glorify something by its simplicity, then whatever man adds must necessarily subtract from that glory.

2018.06.14 Theology Thursday - John Owen's "The Glory of Christ": Chapter 1, The explication of the text

On Theology Thursdays, I've am reading John Owen's The Glory of Christ. Today, after a long break from blogging through extracurricular reading, I pick up again with chapter 1.

Owen is opening the text, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given me." John 17:24

Generous Self-Glorification
For Christ, it is not selfish that He would seek to be glorified and have that glory observed. Rather, He desires it for us precisely because beholding His glory is to our great, "advantage, benefit, satisfaction, and blessedness" (Kindle location 329).

Heaven Begun on Earth
Owen concludes that "beholding of the glory of Christ is one of the greatest privileges and advancements that believers are capable of in this world, or that which is to come" (loc 365). He notes that what will be enjoyed by sight in the next life can only be enjoyed by faith in this one (loc 372).

These two are tied together, because only those who are saved by grace now will see Christ later. So, those who claim to have a desire to see Christ's glory in heaven are self-deceived if they have no view of Christ's glory by faith already in this world (loc 387).

Christ's Glory Our only Vision of God's Glory
He then notes from John chapter 1 that, when the Word became flesh, the disciples "beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." What did they behold? Not a physically glorious man. Not the essential glory of the divine nature. But the glory of that aspect of the God-man's described as His being "full of grace and truth" (loc 393-403).

Since our only access to heavenly things is not the conjectures and imaginations of our minds, but only that which is specifically recorded in Scripture, we must restrict our consideration of the glory of Christ to what Scripture specifies that glory to be (loc 411, 429).

Christ's Glory Presently Apprehended by Scripture Alone
This believing of Scripture, and Scripture alone, is of the essence of faith. It is a great act of the life and power of faith to behold presently, through the lens of Scripture, the glory of Christ (loc 431).

Developing the habit of beholding the glory of Christ prepares us for our primary vocation in heaven. Those who are not already regenerated by the Spirit and desirous of Christ's glory now would not later find any advantage to heaven itself (loc 447).

Scripture says that "to be spiritually minded is life and peace" precisely because having this vision of the glory of Christ places all other things in perspective. There is an aspect to God's glory that will always be by faith. Since the divine nature cannot be seen, our vision of it will always be in the face of Jesus Christ (loc 466-8).

Owen's Plan for the Study
Owen purposes to cover the following questions:
1. What is that glory of Christ which we do or may behold by faith?
2. How do we behold it?
3. Wherein our doing so differs from immediate vision in heaven?
(loc 478)

My Reflex Reaction to the Livestream of PCAGA Report of the Ad-Interim Committee on Racial Reconciliation

Something we'll never stop addressing? Fair enough
Watching the livestream of the PCA committee on racial reconciliation. Basic message is, "this is a sanctification issue, so it's something to always be growing in, and we will never stop talking about this." So, so much more to say about specific statements that really just need to be challenged, pushed back on, or even exposed. But, I would accept that much: it's a sanctification issue.

But let's not forget to give much praise to God for what He's already done
Ok then... dismiss the committee with thanks. Is there anyone who actually doesn't believe that PCA congregations are growing in loving their neighbor--and that everyone knows that this needs to continue? I would suggest that failing to acknowledge God's merciful work in this area the last thirty plus years is actually a wicked ingratitude.

And there are a bunch of other things that need more addressing, since we're talking about things that we should never stop addressing
I transferred into the PCA in seminary, and pastored in it for a decade. I came into it in the deep south. Loving neighbors of other cultures was nowhere NEAR the top of the list of areas of sanctification that were most being ignored.

The PCA needs a Lord's Day committee. A committee on the second commandment, the regulative principle, and the current worship chaos of diversity. A committee on the imbibing of wicked entertainment. A committee on reverence in speech with the name of God and those ways in which He reveals His name. A committee on the genuine honoring of parents and other authorities. A committee on the 8th commandment and American economics. A committee on what love to neighbor in an abortion-legal culture demands of our churches and congregants. A committee on the nature of proper ministry to the poorest in our communities.

I've never had to convince someone in the PCA that racism was wrong and something that they needed to take action to fight against wherever it exists. But I have wept before God to shake us up and accelerate our sanctification in these areas, and pleaded with men just to acknowledge that something HAS to be done in these areas. Where are their study committees?

I'm not PCA anymore, but I still have a significant measure of love for and interest in the church for which the Lord had me weep and work for more than a decade. May He graciously protect, preserve, and prosper her!

180613FW Genesis 24:50-67

Family Worship teaching time, following up upon the Old Testament reading from corporate worship on the Lord's Day morning

180612FW Proverbs 12:8-9

Family Worship from the "Proverb of the day" (for the 12th day of the month)

180612FW 1Peter2:4-10

Family Worship, following up upon the Epistle reading from morning worship on the Lord's Day

180611FW Proverbs 11:1-6

Family Worship from the "Proverb of the day"

180611FW Hebrews 12:25-27

Family Worship, following up upon the morning sermon from the Lord's Day

180609FW Hebrews 12:22-24

Family Worship, following up upon the previous morning sermon and preparing for the next day's

180608FW Mark 14:66-72

Family Worship, following up upon the Gospel reading from morning worship on the Lord's Day

180602FW Hebrews 12:14-17

Family Worship, following up upon the previous week's morning sermon, and preparing for the next day's

180601FW Mark 14:52-65

Family worship, following up upon the Gospel reading in worship Lord's Day morning

Don't Reject Jesus!

That, of course, is exactly what the US Episcopal Church has done by changing the wedding vows in their church order from "union of husband and wife" to "union of two people."

This rebellion against God is so pervasive in entertainment and culture that some believers are susceptible to the idea that it is a small issue that we need to flex upon in order to have influence with others.

But, for those who are genuine Christians, there is no room to flex.

Matthew 19:4-6 And [Jesus] answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

If we can't trust that Jesus is right about the basis of marriage in the creation, the purpose of marriage in joining one man to one woman, and the nature of marriage as a covenantal joining conducted by God Himself...

...then why would we trust that Jesus is right about the basis, purpose and nature of His cross?

We trust Him about our eternal salvation and blessing. Let us also trust Him about this great earthly blessing of marriage.