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.