The Unloveliest Bride Made Lovely by the Love of the Greatest Lover

A dear friend wanted something to include in a congratulatory greeting to a loved one who is getting married. The loved one is in bondage to a legalistic cult, so I suggested that I might write an explanation of the last half of Ephesians 5 that would not only be helpful for the marriage, but might present Christ's love, life, death, and life again--all for the ungodly. Thinking that it might be of help to more than just this one couple, I include the note below.

If we want to be wise (v15) in evil days (v16), not foolish (v17) or out of control (v18a) but rather controlled by the Spirit (v18b), then that which most moves us should be God’s words (v19-20), to which we all submit when addressed by one another with them (v21).

This submission takes on a special form toward husbands (v21-33), parents (6:1-4), and bosses (6:5-9). This note is primarily concerned with what it looks like in marriage.

5:22 tells us the style of the submission and the object of the submission. Wives’ submission to their husbands is to be like their submission to Christ, because it is to be part of their submission to Christ.

This is why when a husband doesn’t turn out to be all you had hoped (1Pet 3:1), you can still submit (1Pet 3:1-4a), because your audience is God Himself (1Pet 3:4b). God never fails to be all you had hoped and more.

Marriage imitates the relationship between Jesus and the church (v23), and the wife must submit to Him who has taken her for His body and saved her.

Just like we don’t submit to Christ only in some areas, and refuse to obey Him in others, so also a husband’s authority over his wife applies to every part of life (v24). Do not withhold yourself from him and so corrupt the image that marriage is intended to be.

But, those who know the Lord Jesus much prefer to think upon Him, and what He is like, which makes studying the husband’s part (v25-33) much more pleasant to us.

Just as the good wife submits in all areas to her husband, the good husband expends his entire self for his wife (v25). He does not do this grudgingly or out of mere duty, but out of love. The command is not “give yourselves up for your wives,” although that is surely a part of it. It is “love your wives, as Christ loved the church”—and for that reason and in that way, give yourself up for her.

What is glorious is when we begin to think about for what kind of wife Christ did this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son (Rom 5:10).

In other words, although the husband of a good wife may expend himself for his wife as v25 commands, it is the husband of the treacherous and unworthy wife who has the best opportunity to fulfill the analogy. This banishes once and for all, all excuses of whether one’s wife “qualifies” for the kind of self-sacrifice that is commanded here.

But this is not a one-day, one-time self-giving merely to deliver His bride from peril. His aim is not merely at saving us from one peril; but rather, that He would make us completely perfect. He gives Himself up (v25) to claim the privilege of sanctifying us (v26a), using His Word constantly to bathe us until we are not just unspotted and wrinkle-free and unblemished (27b) but indeed splendid (27a).

Again, it is not merely the action (nourish) that is in view but the affection (cherish) that drives it (v29a). This is not only a to-do list for the husband, but a how-and-why-to-do list. Husbands shall love their wives (v28).

Why? What is at stake here? v32 lets us in on a startling mystery: Genesis 2:24 (Eph 5:31) is primarily about Christ and the church (cf. 29b-30). This is what is at stake in every husband’s conduct. This is what should be on display in every marriage.

Jesus gave Himself for an unlovely bride, not because she had potential, but because He intended to make Her lovely Himself. A godly husband is an illustration of the glorious gospel. And, having such an eternal husband as Christ enables every Christian wife to submit to her husband, whether he is worthy of it or not.

Delight in the Lord's Day

If you turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. –Isaiah 58:13–14

 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. –Exodus 20:8–11

 

Revelation 1:10 states, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John was speaking of the first day of the week, the day we know as Sunday when we gather in our local churches to worship the Lord just as the apostles did on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). But the Lord’s Day is so much more than going to church. The Lord’s Day is that day when our souls are nourished by the pure milk of the Word of God. Jesus speaks directly to us! 

 

In the twenty-first century, there seems to be widespread thought that the command to keep the Lord’s Day holy is a heavy burden (Ex. 20:8–11). To some it has become the forgotten commandment and is perceived as simply another legalistic regulation. Happily, the Lord created the Lord’s Day to bless man, not to oppress him (Mark 2:27). This day is a blessed day, a happy day, a joyful day, a glad day; not one of oppression but one of freedom in the Lord, for He has said, “Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” If the church and our own souls are to flourish unto holiness, then we must actively learn to delight in the Lord's Day. 

You can find the rest of this article here. 

This article first appeared in Puritan Reformed Journal. Volume 3, Number 2. July 2011. Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Grand Rapids, page 341-350 and is used with their permission.

Hiding From The Lord

In Genesis 3, verse 8 says, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” Adam and Eve have fallen into sin, they are uncomfortable before each other, they have covered themselves up, ashamed of their sin, the devil had deceived them; and then they heard the sound of the Lord walking or another way to interpret the Hebrew is they heard the voice of the Lord God going forth in the garden in the wind or the cool of the day. They heard God, God was present among them, He was coming to fellowship with man, to be with man, the very presence of God. The Lord God who created them was now a threat to them. These loin coverings which in their minds could cover themselves up from being uncomfortable before each other, these won’t work with God. Not to hide the guilt and the shame and the sin for God sees all and knows all.

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” They hid themselves among the trees of the garden, hiding from the presence of the Lord God. They don’t hide from God behind their loin cloths, now they hide behind something a little bigger, some trees. They are hiding from the God who has created all heavens and the earth, the universe. The God who has existed from all eternity, from the smallest particles to the greatest stars; God knows all and sees all. In the time of Noah, He describes all that He sees; for He said, “every intention of the thoughts of man’s heart is evil continually.” He knows and sees not only the material physical things, but even all those things which are immaterial and spiritual; He knows every single thought and intention of every single person at all times. He is a big God, and Adam and Eve are trying to hide from Him.

You see verse 9, “Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” It isn’t as if God didn’t know, but He is speaking down to man like a baby, like a child. Picture the scene, you are playing hide and seek with your child, and they go out into the back yard to hide and they hide behind a tree, and you come out looking for them, and you can see part of the body sticking out from the tree, very easily seen. You call out “Where are you?” That’s sort of the picture here, except God already knew, He didn’t have to look at all, He is infinitely wise. What we need to see here is that Adam and Eve are trying to hide from God. That is the response of sinners to the presence of God. We hide, we want to get away. For us, that doesn’t necessarily happen with a loin covering or with a tree, but in other ways.

For the world, the scientist will look out at the creation, which declares the glory of God and His handiwork, and they attribute it against all their knowledge, against everything that tells them otherwise, even against science itself, and they say it came from a big bang. They hide behind their faulty science, which is still an unproven theory. They hide behind a false theory. What about celebrities, they hide their sin and the truth about themselves behind their success. That despite many moral failures, no one really cares, and they have an easy life because they are a famous actress, musician, businessman, or politician. Hide behind success of a job, possessions, a good position. There are those who hide behind morality. I’m a good person, I am clean, I don’t use bad words, I live a good life, I keep my promises, I go to church, I volunteer at church at a food pantry or homeless shelter, I do good to those around me, my neighbors.

Hiding behind one’s morality. Hiding behind lies, lies about God that He is a God of love and when I mess up and sin, everything is fine, He is Love, there is no punishment for sins. Hiding in church. Hiding behind this crazy notion that if I go to church, then God will be pleased with me, and everything will be alright. That would be a hiding from reality of who God really is. Some know who God is moreso then these people, and so they hide from worship. That’s why we have Hebrews 10, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another (to meet together), and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” We hide from worship, but also we Hide in worship, when we are hearing the preaching of the Word sometimes and it makes us uncomfortable (because God has pointed out our sin), and so you hide behind others.

You think to yourself, my wife, my kids, my husband or that family over there, they really need to hear this don’t they. You hide behind each other, when you should be concerned with your own soul and life. In many of thousands upon thousands of ways we hide from the Lord God. Where are you hiding from the Lord God? Those times in worship, when we hear the voice of the Lord going forth (just like in verse 8), His Word comes and pierces you in your soul and spirit, joints and marrow, His Word discerns the thoughts and intentions of your heart. You can’t hide from Him. No one can, not even the once perfect creatures Adam and Eve, they couldn’t hide from Him. God comes knowing who they are, where they’re from, what they’ve done; all the secrets are laid before the Lord and they want to hide. Before the Lord, our sin is unbearable.

The most popular passage that should come to our minds perhaps when thinking of this is Isaiah before the Lord, “Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” There is great distress, increasing grief and regret over sin. He says literally, I am cut off, I am as good as dead. Why? Because he knew in that moment that God knew every single little spec about him, not just his body but even his thoughts and intentions of his heart God knowing your thoughts and intentions of your heart, think about that, and you’ll realize that Sin Makes the Presence of God Unbearable. Yet, notice that when comes to you, that He comes as a Savior speaking. He presents Himself, who was slain for His people, in their presence. And they don’t die immediately, the mercy and grace of God shine here.

They are not immediately judged to physical death, He gives them time. Time to hear the Gospel in verse 15, time to turn back to Him through His Son. But there is more mercy and grace He speaks not just words of judgment, but at least to Adam and Eve here in verses 7-13, He doesn’t come with the curses that He brings to the devil in verses 14 and 15. He comes and speaks with searching questions? He asks questions, and while Adam tries to hide behind Eve, and Eve tries to hide behind the devil; God is being gracious and merciful. When the Lord brings the Word through His servant, your elder(s), how do you hide? When He is speaking words of mercy and grace to you, where are you hiding from Him? Stop hiding, and turn to Jesus for salvation, for cleansing of sin, so you can go before the presence of God with boldness and confidence, before His very throne. Where and how are you hiding from Him?

The Problem with Pietism

It commends a half-religion, which is another name for idolatry and paganism
The big problem with pietism is simply that it is only a half-faith. It tries to receive God's promises as from the Almighty, and yet it does not receive God's commands as from the Almighty.

So pietism is a half-faith in a half-God that leads to a half-Christian life. The problem with that is that the Bible tells us that half-faith is false religion, and that a half-God is actually and idolatrous caricature and not the true and living God, and half-obedience is disobedience.

It contradicts the most basic Scriptural teaching about the Christian life
When we learn that 1Cor 10:31 intentionally uses the most mundane things--eating and drinking--to instruct us in what the divinely blessed life is, then we are prepared to brush teeth, sweep floors, and yes proclaim the gospel and sing praise... all to the glory of God.

It contradicts the most basic elements of what we confess Scripture to teach
Our catechism's first question and answer encapsulate this well: the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This is not just our "primary purpose" as some contemporary wordings have tried to say it. It is the "controlling purpose"--the chief that commands the purpose--in absolutely everything that we do.

So, God has not given us a single thing to do, except that it must be done unto His glory. And, God has not given us a single thing to do, except that we must do it in enjoyment of Him.

It confuses poor theology students into downplaying the importance of exercises of piety
Now, please be cautious. Do not throw out biblical piety--and a strong devotion to the exercises of piety--as you reject an unbiblical pietism. There is hardly anything that God commands more than the exercises of piety. The first four commandments--and especially the first and the fourth--strongly stress this piety.

Communion with God continually and daily and weekly, in the assembly and family and privately, are everywhere commanded in the Bible. If these are not the life-breath of our existence, and the hinges upon which our days and weeks and lives turn, then we shall not be pious in any activity whatsoever.

On Reconstructing Antinomianism

An Accusation and a Response

Over at the "gospel" coalition, Tullian Tchividjian has written an article called "Deconstructing Moralism." It is the latest salvo in a series of attacks that basically communicate that those who preach the law just don't get grace. This is an astounding accusation, and you can read my comment on that blog post to see my response to it.

Confusing Rhetoric, with Real-Life Consequences

Having responded there to that accusation, I hope to borrow your eyes and mind for a few moments to consider the danger of the theology behind the accusation. I know of at least two truly converted believers who came under such preaching and learned to call themselves "legalists" and tried to "repent" of loving God's law, thinking much about it, or trying hard to keep it. One of them has escaped. The other continues under that preaching and is sadly confused. This is one of the reasons why the Bible pronounces woe upon them who say that what is good is really evil.

A Question of Trusting God

May the Lord grant to us to trust that His law is good, just as is His gospel, and that He uses both.

The law cannot save, and it cannot power sanctification. But it is a false pragmatism to say that since it can do neither of these things, we should be careful not to give it much place in our preaching. God certainly gives it much place in His Word!

Demonstrating that Trusting Our Own Wisdom Doesn't Work

A little reflection will demonstrate that it is pragmatically suicidal to try to preach only gospel and not law:

One of the main problems with the new antinomianism is that genuinely converted Christians don't to know what to do with themselves under such preaching. They hear from the pulpit that thinking upon the law is useless or even dangerous, and that we should just trust that thinking upon the gospel will accomplish everything by itself.

But they find that it is true that it is no longer they who live but Christ who lives in them, and that this Christ, who now lives in them, loves the law--loves to keep it. He loves to exert Himself (and to exert ourselves as His own body) in keeping it. He loves to meditate upon it. He wrote Psalm 119, and He meant it. And now He has written it on believers' hearts.

And of course, the truly unconverted person cannot repent and believe for salvation, if he knows not from what he is repenting, or from what to be saved by believing.

The Conclusion: May God Grant to His Servants to Trust Him and to Preach His Whole Word

So, neither the truly unconverted person nor the truly converted person is really served well by law-less preaching. God's law is marvelously designed to address both. Without the gospel, it can serve neither very well.

But without the law, neither can the gospel.

Let us trust God, when He says that the law is good (night just right, but good).

O for grace to trust Him more!

Such Lessons

"Blessed is the man you chasten, O Lord--the man You teach from your law." Psalm 94:12

All the chastening in the world, without divine teaching--will never make a man blessed. That man who finds correction attended with instruction, and lashing with lessoning--is a happy man.

If God, by the affliction which is upon you, shall teach you:
  how to loathe sin more, and
  how to trample upon the world more, and
  how to walk with God more
--then your afflictions are blessed.

If God shall teach you by afflictions:
  how to die to sin more, and
  how to die to your relations more,
  and how to die to your self more
--then your afflictions are blessed.

If God shall teach you by afflictions:
  how to live to Christ more,
  how to lift up Christ more, and
  how to long for Christ more
--then your afflictions are blessed.

If God shall teach you by afflictions:
  how to mind heaven more,
  how to live in heaven more, and
  how to be fit for heaven more
--then your afflictions are blessed. 

If God by afflictions shall teach:
  your proud heart how to lie more low,
  your hard heart how to grow more tender,
  your censorious heart how to grow more kind,
  your carnal heart how to grow more spiritual,
  your froward heart how to grow more quiet
--then your afflictions are blessed. 

When God teaches your thoughts as well as your brains, your heart as well as your head, any of these lessons--then your afflictions are blessed.

Where God loves--He afflicts in love. And wherever God afflicts in love, there He will, sooner or later, teach His people such lessons as shall do them good to all eternity!

~Thomas Brooks

Loving the Unrepentant

Christians often believe that God has called them to forgive everyone who sins against them, regardless of their repentance. In fact, God never commands us to do such a thing, and God Himself is our example in this regard. God only forgives those with a repentant heart. How then can we love our enemies? How can we love the unrepentant? Let’s begin with the example of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Luke 23:34, Christ prayed for His killers, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” There are several possible ways to interpret these words. Perhaps Jesus was merely asking the Father to withhold His hand from destroying them immediately, since their crucifixion of the Lord of Glory was done in ignorance (1 Cor. 2:7-8). Perhaps Jesus is speaking of actual forgiveness of their sins. If so, then perhaps Jesus is praying generally and conditionally for all, similar to His request in the Garden of Gethsemane that “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He may be saying, in effect “forgive them, but not My will but Yours be done.” Or perhaps Jesus knows that some of those participating in His execution are elect: those for whom He is currently dying. In this case, He would be praying on the basis of the atonement that He is accomplishing at that very moment, that those elect would not be damned. While commentators may disagree on the best option, we can say that any of these three options are plausible, biblical interpretations.

Matthew Henry says concerning Luke 23:34, “This is written also for example to us. First, we must in prayer call God Father, and come to him with reverence and confidence, as children to a father. Secondly, the great thing we must beg of God, both for ourselves and others, is the forgiveness of sins. Thirdly, we must pray for our enemies, and those that hate and persecute us, must extenuate their offences, and not aggravate them as we must our own (They know not what they do; peradventure it was an oversight); and we must be earnest with God in prayer for the forgiveness of their sins, their sins against us. This is Christ's example to his own rule (“Love your enemies,” Mat. 5:44-45); and it very much strengthens the rule, for, if Christ loved and prayed for such enemies, what enemies can we have that we are not obliged to love and pray for?”

When Stephen is put to death in Acts 7 he prays something very similar to Jesus in Luke 23:34, “He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’” As Jesus did, so Stephen prayed for his enemies, even at the point of them putting Stephen to death. This too sets forth a great example that we ought to pray for those who persecute us. His prayer preaches. It shows those who heard the prayer their sin and need of divine mercy and grace. His prayer shows charity to his killers; that he desired not their destruction but their salvation. We could think of Paul in Romans 9:3 as well, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Paul’s love for his Israelite brothers is bold and self-denying. His longing desire is for their salvation, even if it would mean being accursed, himself, if possible. Likewise Paul says in Romans 10:1, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”

Luke 17:3-4 says, “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” There is the simple statement that the Christian forgives those who repent, just as the Lord forgives those who turn from their sin and turn to Him. Does that mean that a Christian can hold a grudge, hate the offender, since they haven’t explicitly repented of their sin? Does God allow Christians to hate unrepentant sinners? The above examples should be sufficient to show that the answer to both of those questions is an emphatic “No!” Luke 6:35 states (just to be clear), “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” God is kind to those who are ungrateful and evil. As God’s own people, Christians are a prime example of that. Christian, you were once separated from God, dead in your trespasses and sins. You were evil. And as God showed mercy to you so you ought to show mercy to others (Matthew 18:21-35). We ought to love the unrepentant. Yet, loving the unrepentant sinner is not the same as forgiving him.

What about the one who professes faith in Christ but is unrepentant? It looks much like Galatians 6:1-2, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” More specifically, it looks like Matthew 18:15-18, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” How do you show this love? First, you seek to restore them by the Word of God, admonishing them with the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If they remain unrepentant through the process of Matthew 18:15ff, then eventually the elders will excommunicate them. Only then should they be treated “as a Gentile and a tax collector”.

As we have seen in our examples of Jesus, Stephen, and Paul, they loved the unrepentant through prayer to the Father: that He would not destroy them, but that they might be saved, if it be the Lord’s will. This is a prayer that those elect would not be damned. They loved the unrepentant by begging God through prayer for Him to forgive the unrepentant of their sins. Thus, they prayed that their enemies who persecuted them would see their sin and repent. Just as Christ loved and prayed for His enemies in this way, so we too must love and pray for our enemies. As Stephen prayed with loud cries before his enemies we too must pray before our enemies pleading that they would see their sin, their need of divine mercy and grace, and for God to save them.

Anthony Blood, Abortion Blood, Abel's Blood, and Another Blood

Are you outraged at the Casey Anthony case? Horrified that we live in a culture where a dad couldn't have gotten away with that, but where we've accepted to an extent that mothers' murdering their children is understandable?

That great ancient dragon (Rev 12) failed, to his utter demise, to catch the only baby that ultimately mattered to him; and, in the fury of his vengeance he is no longer content to wait until they escape the womb--and many who profess Christ are defenders, advocates, accomplices, and perpetrators of this the most Satanic of works. Are we not obligated to employ all lawful means to defend these innocents?

The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any; by just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit; a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreations; by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness; peaceable, mild and courteous speeches and behavior; forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil; comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent. (WLC 135)

As taught throughout the Scriptures, the culpability and heinousness of the sin actually increases with the helplessness or voicelessness of the victim. Abortion is not merely the same thing as Casey Anthony. It is much, much worse. More culpable. More heinous. And more hideously crying out for and calling down of infinite wrath from God, whose white-hot holiness will wreak a continuous vengeance not merely once upon a nation in time, nor in the case of guilty individuals for a few decades, but forever and ever to unending ages with an ever-increasing acuteness and pervasiveness (2Th 1:9 n.b. 'away from' in ESV and NASB is a theologically inaccurate and exegetically unnecessary interpolation).

Now--for those of you who are implicated in this, and that would be almost every last reader of this post, please read also the only hope that is extended to you.

Although the blood of Abel--indeed hundreds of millions of Abels worldwide--cries out in perfect prosecution against our crimes, the blood of Jesus Christ cries better (Heb 12:24). Jesus Christ alone, in the history of our kind, has been innocent of blood (Rom 3:10-26). And yet in one afternoon He endured the fullness of that eternal wrath, multiplied by a multitude beyond counting of those who would believe.

It is an astonishing mystery that He who had perfect rest and delight in His Father would be seized with horror not only in the moment when He cried "My God, My God" but even prospectively, when He cried, "Father... take this cup"! The ever-blessed One, fallen to His knees, sweating as if great drops of blood, crying in anguish that He would be spared, and yet resolutely committing Himself unto whatever His Father willed Him to do (Luk 22:41-44).

He alone had no blood upon His hands. And His blood alone can cleanse your bloody hands. With Jesus, there is forgiveness with Jesus. Yea, glory of glories, with Jesus, there is even repentance. With Jesus, there is holiness. With Jesus, there is useful service unto God even now. With Jesus, there is perfect holiness and perfect happiness forever and ever to unending ages.

Thoughts on General Assemblies

I love General Assembly and Presbytery meetings for that matter.  Why?  Because I am a church polity nut and enjoy learning more and more about parliamentary procedure.  However, I have come to the realization that the Church does not stand or fall on the PCA Book of Church Order (BOC) nor on Parliamentary Procedure.  I'm happy about this because both the PCA BOC and Parliamentary Procedure (Robert's Rules) are flawed.  I'm happy because my Savior is not flawed, He is perfect in every way.  No man made books rule the Church, nor a pope of Rome.  The Head of the Church is Jesus Christ, as King, He rules.  Because King Jesus rules the Church, the gates of Hades cannot overcome or destroy it.   Praise the Lord, that despite sinners and under-shepherds, Jesus Christ will always be Head of the Church and therefore its (the Church) future is glorious! 

Creation vs. Evolution

Recently, as I started out in my new Pastorate, I began the morning sermon series in Genesis.  I have never preached through Genesis, but like most Pastors the desire was there.  What better way to start out a ministry than to begin in the beginning.  I am just now coming to the end of Genesis 1 after two months of searching the riches of the power of God through His spoken Word in this first book of Scripture.  In the midst, I had the daunting task of addressing the topic of evolution.  Rather, God Himself in His own Word rebukes evolution.  I was surprised at how much God actually answers and makes clear those questions we all have being in a society that begs us to question God's creation work.  His Word truly is sufficient.  There was one book that helped me a long greatly to see this, showing how God addresses evolution from His Word.  That book was Doug Kelly's Creation and Change: Genesis 1.1 -2.4 In the Light of Changing Scientific Paradigms.  I recommend it to you for your benefit and growth for the securing and defending of your faith.

The Garment Which The Savior Always Wore" by James Smith

HUMILITY is a most precious grace--it is filled with beauty, loveliness, and glory. This is the garment which the Savior always wore. This is the grace which gave such a charm to all that He did and said. It is one of our best garments, and without it the soul is generally naked. "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." 1 Peter 5:5.

For lack of humility--the Church is rent and torn with divisions. For lack of humility--believers bring many trials and crosses on themselves, and sow the bitter seeds of trouble and remorse.

If I were truly humble, I must be happy, for it is with such Jehovah dwells: "For this is what the high and lofty One says--He who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and humble in spirit." Isaiah 57:15. To such He looks with esteem, love, and delight: "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My Word." Isaiah 66:2.

"I hate pride and arrogance!" Proverbs 8:13. Pride is . . .
most loathsome to God,
injurious to men, and
a stronghold of Satan within us.

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble!" James 4:6. He keeps the proud at a distance, and will not allow them to approach him: "Though the Lord is great, He cares for the humble--but He keeps His distance from the proud!" Psalm 138:6. He threatens them with everlasting destruction. "The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished!" Proverbs 16:5

Lord, give me true humility, and let me be clothed with it from day to day!

To the Person Who Keyed My Car During Tulip Festival

You couldn't have been more wasteful with your energy. And not just because it's a 23 year old rust bucket whose appearance was almost improved by your caper. But because there is probably no one who cares less. It could have been the almost new, very nice SUV, and it wouldn't have mattered.

Because the Lord actively sees to all of my needs in every moment. Because my treasure is where rust cannot destroy and thief cannot steal. Because that car is reserved for fire anyway, and the Lord is about to burn it up.

I doubt that I'll need a vehicle in glory. What I will be has not yet appeared, but I know that when Jesus appears, I will be like Him, because I will see Him as He is. God is preparing for me an imperishable body, because the new earth in which I am going to live is of a substance so foreign to me now that I am literally unable to inherit it in my current body. That body, since it will be like unto Christ's resurrection body, will be able to move through walls and to immediately transport from one place to another.

Even if I do get a vehicle, it is likely to be one of those cherubim-powered, spirit-steered, instant-motion-in-all-three-physical-dimensions vehicles like what we see in Ezekiel. So, I won't be needing my Honda much longer, and there's nothing you can do to deny me it, if God Most High intends to preserve it to me. I'm sorry that you wasted your time. You should also know that vengeance is God's.

I do hope that you will repent of this, and all your other sins, and that you will be found in Christ upon the Great Day. He will be Judge, Jury, and Executioner, then. And He doesn't take kindly to attacks upon His beloved ones. So, be one of those beloved ones; for, He came the first time not to judge but to give Himself as a ransom, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

For further reading: Matthew 5-7; 1John 1-3; 2Peter 3; 1Corinthians 15; Ezekiel 1,10;  John 3

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Being More Biblical Is More Comforting: Applying the Scriptures to Two of the Most Painful Situations That Believers Face

I recently received a note from a Reformed Baptist believer. He has a friend who just lost a baby at almost 8 months, and finding the "age of understanding" and "innocence of babies" explanations biblically unsatisfying, he asked how I would comfort someone in that situation. Since our congregation also has recently gone through this, and since we do have some folk who are working through how the Bible views the children of believers, I thought many might benefit from the answer. May God bless it to you.

[edit: in the absence of a "read more" link on this blog's front page, please click this post's title to read the rest of it]

Upon the death of a young child, we must direct the believer for comfort and hope to the same place that we look for those things in every other circumstance: the grace of God to us in Christ. 

It is remarkable that David, in the midst of a situation in which his child's death was a case of discipline upon him, still had the confidence in God to say, "he will not come back to me, but I will go to him" (2Sam 12:15-23).

His faith surprised his attendants, but it demonstrated sturdy confidence in the eternality of the soul, in the resurrection of the body, and in God's grace toward his child. There is also the passage in 1Cor 7, where Paul says that God treats believer's children different for their attachment to the believing parent. And there are so many encouragements given to us in covenant promises throughout the Bible!

It is, of course, possible to be sinfully presumptive about this.

But it is possible to be sinfully presumptive about any promise of God.

If I think to myself, "here is a guarantee of what will happen, no matter what I do," then I have no grounds for such an idea with respect to any of the promises of God. The unrepenting sinner, who yet says that he has faith, has no legitimate claim to God's promise for himself.

But the possibility of thinking and acting presumptuously does not take a single thing away from the promise: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved!" or "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." So the possibility of presumption doesn't negate or weaken the promise.

This is why, when we bring our children for baptism, we vow that our only hope that our children will be saved is that Jesus Christ will save them in the same way that He has saved us (through faith). This is the hope that the Bible holds out to believers.

But then, we proceed to vow that we will therefore be diligent with all of the means that God has appointed, through which He gives faith. Why? Because the person who genuinely hopes in God will also do whatever God says--we trust that His commands are good, not just that His promises are good.

We don't just hold to the hope that the Bible extends to us; we also obey the directions that the Bible gives us. Both must result from a hearty confidence in God's Word. And if we are missing either one, then something is broken about how we view the Bible.

So, the question about the covenant promises about our children does come down to this: are there any other promises of God that we refuse to believe in, because we are afraid that such belief might turn into a presumption? ... I hope that we're hearing crickets now!

Will our children therefore be saved without faith? 

Absolutely not! For what we hope is the very opposite. And, if they cannot be saved without faith, then we urgently press upon them to believe.

How about the Christian parent, whose child rejects God? 

Would we blame God for this? We cannot, when we have confessed that it is merely His sovereign grace that must save them, and when we ourselves do so much that is blameworthy in the rearing of our children, whereas God is only ever good and merciful to them.

But the parent whose child continues in rebellion against God, can yet continue to hope that God will save his child, and continue to press that child with the gospel. Why? Because such children continue in the same condition in which they have been from birth.

They haven't gone from a state of neutrality toward God to a state of rejecting Him. So the parent also may (and must!) remain where he has been since the child's birth: clinging to God's character, hoping in God's promises, and using God's means.

For the parent whose grown child continues rejecting Christ, this is far sturdier comfort and sounder counsel than what we usually hear. Most of the time, we hear instead an abuse of the text "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." That text speaks of children who have been converted, and says that they will persevere. And of course converted children will! For this is a biblical doctrine.

What the "train up a child" text does not say, is what so many take it to say: that if your child failed to be trained in your home, so that he ended up wild in high school or college, that your pseudo-biblical and sin-stained attempts at rearing him are still some sort of guarantee that he will "come back" in later years.

So, just as with the presumed innocence of babies, the non-covenantal position must rest upon promises that don't exist in the Bible--precisely because it has not embraced those covenant promises that saturate Scripture from cover to cover.

Well, is God able to do this? 

To save babies in the womb? Well, there is the obvious answer: "God can do anything. And this must be our starting point, because otherwise we are implying that adults are more savable because they are more intelligent or more knowledgeable.

But 1 Corinthians 2 teaches us that the "ability" to believe is not a function of the intellect, but a function of the Spirit teaching the person's heart and the Spirit also enabling the person to believe it."  So the ability to know and the ability to believe are both gifts of the Holy Spirit that employ our minds, not abilities of our minds that employ the Spirit. It is no more difficult for the Spirit to do this with the first thought of the new soul, than it is with a seasoned theologian!

And we can go still further than this, because in addition to biblical theory, we also have a biblical example of this very thing. God isn't just hypothetically able to convert in the womb; He has done it before.

John the Baptist, while yet in his mother's womb, was enabled by the Spirit to recognize Jesus Christ in a manner that far exceeded our expectations of his physical (to see through two mothers' wombs?!) or mental capacity, and to respond to Jesus with believing joy.

And this believing joy is what the Bible encourages us to believe is the immediate experience of every child of a believer who dies in the womb--a believing joy that is almost immediately fulfilled, when the first human face that the child ever sees belongs to the resurrected Savior!

Appendix: What about children of unbelievers? 

Well, the Bible doesn't give us nearly as much reason to hope in their case. I should couch this by saying that if I get to glory, and I discover there that every last child who died in the womb or in infancy turned out to be elect, I would not at all be surprised. Imagine how immensely populated glory would then be--and doesn't the Bible teach us that it is immensely populated?

However, there is so much less biblical warrant for this hope in the case of the child of an unbeliever. So although I would not be surprised, I do not think that the Bible anywhere gives me sufficient ground to hold out this hope to an unbelieving parent.

And if my reasoning for that hope had to include the presumed innocence of the child, then it would not just be unbiblical but even antibiblical. And of course, it is impossible for the unbelieving parent lay claim to the wonderful comforts in the first two paragraphs above, even if he could understand them.

A Creational Quibble from a Saved Steward

Kevin, I'd like to quibble with the last paragraph there (of course I would! When do I not enjoy a good quibble)?

Although Christ will most assuredly make a new creation, are you sure that the sentence "Christ died to redeem creation" is entirely biblical?

What Christ Does with Creation v.s. What Christ Does with Christian
It seems to me that what Rom 8:18-23 says is "Christ subjected creation to futility until He is done redeeming--soul and body--those for whom He died. But, when that is complete, He will release the creation by making it to enjoy the glorious freedom of those children of God."  
[edit: in the absence of a "read more" link on this blog, please click this post's title to read the rest of it]

Earth Day 2011--Another Opportunity to Worship the Creation Rather than the Creator

(Kevin) For the record, this post is recycled, which makes me feel all warm and environmental inside.

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If you plan to celebrate Earth Day today, Gentle Reader, consider well before you do. I am not a big fan of Earth Day because of its history and goals.

Celebrated each April 22 since 1970, Earth Day is the brain child of Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI). Nelson, who was also a big advocate of the Zero Population Growth movement, believed that stablilizing population growth was a necessary pre-requisite of enviromentalism. He said, "The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become ...We have to address the population issue."

The outworking of Nelson's vision has been a dramatic spike in radical enviromentalism, explosive growth in the abortion industry, and the creation of a new-Socialism that seeks to promote its wealth redstribution programs behind cute pictures of polar bears or heart wrenching images of starving, crying children.

In their own words, organizers seek to,

"Mobilize public action and support for effective climate policies and a strong global agreement; large scale investments in renewable energy; a comprehensive green jobs program; poverty-alleviation measures that are compatible with sustainability, and other public actions that will support a resolution of the climate crisis." [Epmphases added]

Innocent enough sounding words but their adoption would lead to dramatic loss of freedom and massive increases in taxation, as the highlighted buzz phrases imply.

What is the common denominator in all this? Simply put there are two:

1. 
   

   The Creation, and not the Creator, become the focus. Nowhere is God mentioned in Earth Day literature. Rather the earth is personified in an almost idolatrous fashion, as people everywhere are called upon to help Mother Earth. 
2. Man becomes the greatest enemy of Creation, and not the steward of it. Modern enviromentalism believes that man is the greatest threat to the planet, but not all of us. Reading between the lines demonstrates that it is usually the affluent West (especially the United States) that is the locus of all environmental and social evils in the world.

Both views are unbiblical. Genesis 1-2 clearly teaches that God created everything, out of nothing, by his powerful word, in six days, and all very good. The Creation itself testifies to the existence of God and puts on display indisputable proof of his majesty, glory, and power. (Psalm 19) The problem is that man looks at the evidence and rather than glorifying God in heaven, he turns to worship the Creation rather than the Creator.

The second problem is that the Bible does not cast man as the enemy of Creation, but the steward of it. Genesis 1:28 says:

And God blessed [the man and the woman]. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Far from being the enemy of the world , mankind was created both to use it and to be its protector. Here however, is where Christians need to be careful. In aligning ourselves with Earth Day we align ourselves with a movement headed by idolaters and murderers. That is not the sort of company God's people should keep.

We can, however, by environmental in a redeemed way. Christ died not only to redeem his people but also to redeem Creation. That does lay upon believers, then, an obligation to be careful with what God has given us and to try to leave the Creation in good shape for subsequent generations. But it also reminds us that human efforts will ultimately prove fruitless. In the end, this world and everything in it will pass away. We look for a new heaven and a new earth to appear when Christ returns.

Those Everlasting Arms! by James Smith

"Underneath are the everlasting arms!" Deuteronomy 33:27

That is--underneath every believer.
Those everlasting arms are there . . .
  to bear him up,
  to bear him on, and
  to preserve from all real danger.

The arms of God are . . .
  invisible--no one sees them;
  spiritual--no one feels them;
  careful--no one falls out of them;
  omnipotent--no one overcomes them.

If the everlasting arms of my God are underneath me, then . . .
I may quietly yield myself unto Him;
I may confidently expect divine protection;
I may be certain that He will lift me above my foes;
I may feel assured that He will safely convey me home.

Aged saints may rejoice in this; for to them the Lord says, "I will be your God throughout your lifetime--until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you!" Isaiah 46:4

And weak believers may rejoice in this, for "He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart!" Isaiah 40:11

O to realize this sweet and encouraging truth: underneath me are the everlasting arms!

You Shall Not Surely Die

graphic by www.danspulpit.com (click to enlarge)

The cleverness of his video and the clamor of his defenders give the impression of a newness to Rob Bell's latest folly, but there's nothing really new about it. As Sean Lucas has pointed out, the church has seen this kind of thing before.

And even when it comes to Bell himself, there's nothing new here. Rob Bell's heterodoxy on the Bible and the atonement isn't new. His vague but deadly confusion of the gospel isn't new. Even his technique of teaching his heresy through questions then teflon-coating himself later with more orthodox sounding statements (that never correct the heresy) isn't new.

So, this idea that the jury's out until you read the book, or that you have to speak to him or read it before you can critique the video is bogus. What may surprise you is just how old Bell's view is.

Eve Was Deceived

Most of us have known that for so long that we don't marvel like we should. Unfallen, perfectly created, obedient, wholehearted-for-God Eve was deceived. Adam wasn't, 1 Tim 2:14 tells us, but Eve indeed was. She thought she was doing the right thing when she took the fruit. She thought she was doing the right thing when she gave some to her husband.

Has God Really Said?

You have God's words. But you might not have God's meaning.

That's the idea behind Satan's first clever attack. Here's a being that can talk. Hmm... that's different from the animals.

And it knows the words of God. Maybe it's testing me to see if I will be faithful. Maybe it's sent from God to see if I've been paying attention, and if I'm really following with a whole heart.

I know the words, but maybe I haven't gotten the meaning. Maybe this creature is here to help me.

The Big Lie

You shall not surely die. It seemed a direct contradiction of what her husband said that God had said.

Adam had explained to her about that wonderful tree of life, that sacrament of their covenantal agreement with God, that testified with each bite to the lavish provision and love of God in giving them all of their life, all of their pleasure.  And Adam had explained to her about the one non-negotiable term of the agreement: you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Adam had explained the consequence: in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

The punishment sounded so dreadful! And, we don't know whether it was Adam or Eve who had come up with the idea that God had said not even to touch it. But in Eve's mind--remember, she was deceived, rather than willful here--it must have seemed so inconsistent with everything else that she knew about God. Really? Die? But God is the One who has given us life. God is the One who has given us every tree that is pleasant for the eye. God is the One who has given us every tree that is good for food. God is the One who has given us the very tree of life!

Still, the Word of God is the Word of God, so we must not eat, or else we will die. But, what if this is really a question of hermeneutics? What if "you shall surely die" isn't a statement about what will happen to us, but God's rhetorical attempt to get us to advance spiritually? [if you've listened to Rob Bell, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?]

And what if the one who showed this to you was undeniably impressive, almost as if a messenger [angel] from God with just the light [an angel of light?] to rightly understand God's strange statement that "you shall surely die"? Perhaps he would distinguish himself as unlike the beasts of the garden by being able to talk. Perhaps he would come with some secret knowledge of God that would make all that dying stuff go away.

But in order for her to be deceived into thinking "you shall not surely die" didn't mean that there was such a thing as divine wrath for disobedience, a perfectly intelligent, perfectly righteous woman would have to have a pretty good reason to understand it differently.

The Big Lure

This is where Genesis 3:5 makes Genesis 3:4 plausible for a godly woman to believe. Eve knows that she and Adam exist to image God in the creation. The first words that ever rung in her perfect ears were, "this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Her uniqueness, her purpose in creation was clear: complement and complete your husband as the only creatures in all of creation who bear the very image of God.

So, perfect-hearted Eve would want more than anything--more than anything--to image her God.

For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. What if eating the fruit was a way to fulfill my God-given purpose? What if it was a test? What if the warning about death wasn't because death would actually happen but rather a test to see if I love to image God more than I love even my own life?

Right now, my eyes are closed; I cannot see His purposes. But when I eat, then my eyes will be opened. When I eat, I will be like God. And I will have served Him by attaining, through faith, to a new level of imaging Him in the creation.

Eve was deceived.

Her sin in the fall was not willful, as Adam's had been. She actually thought she was pleasing God. An angel of light had appeared to her and convinced her that God was not as hard as she had supposed Him to be; she had simply misunderstood His words.

You shall not surely die.

The Original Trajectory Theology

So you see, using Vimeo may be new. And the hipster glasses. And the edgy jitter, that creepy motion in the video that attempts to knock you off balance visually, as his questions knock you off balance theologically and spiritually. That stuff might be new.

But the trajectory theology--that wonderful new thing with which Rob Bell is supposedly saving us from our atonement-obsessed selves--that's not at all new.

What's trajectory theology? It's Rob Bell's doctrine of Scripture. It's the idea that truth isn't found in the mere grammatical content of the words of Scripture, but that God was doing something "bigger" with the Bible--that He was using the Bible words to initiate a trajectory in which His dealings with man, and our understanding of Him, would combine with our increasing understanding of what Scripture means (as opposed to what it actually says). There's plenty on the net about Bell's trajectory theology. Google it.

I started this article  by saying that Rob Bell's ideas are older than we think. Any believer who hears someone say, "has God really said?" and then follow it with "you shall not surely die" should be thinking, "hmm... where have I heard that before?" Yes, Bell's ideas are literally as old as sin.

I honestly don't know if Bell is deceived. It seems to me that the most charitable thing is to hope that he is. The greater grief in Genesis 3:1-6 isn't that Eve was deceived; it's that Adam wasn't.

So, whether or not Rob Bell is deceived, I write this article in the hope that you, dear reader, will not be.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV) Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

That, dear Rob, is how to be one of the few innumerable multitude like grains of sand on the ocean shore.

People Who Think They Are Christians but Aren't

I have a young pastor friend from an Arminian background who has been reformed by Scripture (with the help of good books and men) within the last few years. It's very exciting for me to interact with him, because everything is being reexamined under the lens of the Bible now; nothing is off limits. So worship, pastoral care, preaching, discipling--as he discovers these things again for the first (biblical) time, he's bringing me along by making me rethink them all as well.

His most recent question had to do with something he came across in Lloyd-Jones's Preaching and Preachers: people who think they are Christians, but they are not. My friend wanted to know: is there really such a category of person? and how, pastorally do we deal with them? Just what is the reformed (biblical) view of conversion?

The following is my response:

I think that a careful reading of some of the "in vain" passages in Paul's letters does indeed make the point that many who are named saints, and who believe themselves to be converted, have been called such "emptily"--and go to Hell. Also to the point on this are those people who claim to be Christians (note the "in Your Name," stressed by word order, not once but three times), and who do many thinks that they consider works of service and witness unto Christ, and yet who perish. And of course there are the warning passages in Hebrews, and those who do not endure in Revelation, etc., etc.

Probably the easiest, most recent treatment of conversion that I would recommend is Piper's Finally Alive.

The Puritans wrote much on what they called "gospel hypocrites" (someone who understood the gospel, and thought themselves converted, but were self-deceived, and should have known so by their actions and by their attitudes toward sin and the law, among other things).  I think that the best thing I ever read on this topic was The Almost Christian Discovered by Matthew Mead. There was one written about the same time by Thomas Shepard, called The Parable of the Ten Virgins (or something like that).

Pastorally, let me give you this counsel: follow the model of 1 John. It is next to impossible to differentiate between a gospel hypocrite and a struggling believer (as the Heb warning passages demonstrate). So, it is helpful that there is a letter in the New Testament that has as its stated purpose to give the believer assurance (1Jo 5:13). So point them... you know that you are converted because you love God, you love Christians, you love God's commands. And if they say, "but I fail," that is very different than saying "but I don't." The answer to "but I fail," is 1Jo 1:7-10. The answer to "but I don't love..." (any one of those three: God, believers, the law) is 1Jo 1:5-6. That's the person that you then tell to ask God to change his heart and grant him repentance, and you too must pray for such people.

The last of the three (love to law) is the most helpful test, practically, to me, although the first of them (love to God) is the strongest love.  This is because I think it is easier to deceive oneself that we love God, or even that we love our brother (notice the specific examples, however, of what genuine love to the brother looks like--John won't let us off the hook so easily).  However, there is many a sourpuss who thinks that the pool of acid that oozes out of his pantlegs everywhere he goes is the "love of the law." Such a person should be pressed with whether or not he has (or even desires) any fruit of the Spirit.

In addition to the three "loves" that God works in the heart of the converted, 1John refers often to the 1 great doctrine that God convinces the mind of the converted: "that the eternal Son, God Himself, has come in the flesh, died, risen, and is returning in a glorious resurrection body, and that we shall see Him face to face." Everyone that hopes thus purifies himself. So, if there is someone who doesn't love God's law, there may be a doctrinal problem: not that they don't get the "logic" of the gospel, but rather, they are not convinced of the reality of it. Those who are convinced that we are going to see the resurrected Jesus from our own resurrected flesh love the commands of God, both for the opportunity to please Him, and for their usefulness in sanctification, as we pursue glory.

So, I guess this answer isn't entirely comprehensive, but: 

yes, it is a biblical reality that there are many who think themselves Christians now that will curse God forever from the flames. But if you suspect that to be the case with someone in your congregation, I would suggest starting out by trying to minister assurance to them, and allow the tests for assurance to expose them to themselves. (it is generally unhelpful to tell someone that is indistinguishable from a struggling believer: "I don't believe that you're converted." If the elders, collectively, are forced to make such a public statement at the end of a discipline process, so be it)

I hope this helps,

James

So, pastor, do you just ignore that there are congregants whose lives are inconsistent with their professed faith in Christ? And, dear struggling Christian (or self-deceived child of wrath!), won't you please put yourself under the revealing microscope and healing balm of 1John? If you are struggling, you need some gospel therapy. If you are self-deceived, you had better find out now!

Continually Facebook

1Thessalonians 5:17 commands us, "Continually Pray."

At various times in my life, I have puzzled over what that means. Recently, Joel Beeke told the story of a maid who had been waiting upon some pastors/theologians, who were confounded by this very question. When they asked her, she said something to the effect that when she served them bread she prayed that God would nourish her; when serving them drink, that He would give her the water of life; when cleaning, that He would remove all filth from her.

That's a good idea. There's a reason that God has filled His Word with simple everyday illustrations of immense spiritual realities. But as an explanation of 1Thess 5:17, it's just not that satisfying.

Well, Facebook to the rescue. Really? Yes. But not in the way that you might think. Something happened this morning that was a mixture of challenge, inconvenience, and concern. And my first reflex was, "I should post that to Facebook." You see, I have some friends who would be intrigued by the oddness of it, others who would sympathize with me, others who might know something and suggest it, still others who would help me, and even others who would pray for me.*

And it struck me. At the best times in my spiritual life, these were all things that I continually related to my Father, and to my Savior, and to the Spirit... not to Facebook.

I told Him when something odd happened, because it was His providence to me (Eph 1:11), and I enjoyed relating to Him that I recognized His hand in my life (Ps 139:16-18).

I told Him when something was challenging, because I knew that He cared for me (1Pet 5:7), and  that He commands me to let me know about such challenges (Phlp 4:5-7), and even because I know that every demonstration of my inability is a glorious display of His ability, and another lesson in absolute dependence (2Cor 12:7-10).

I asked Him for help first, because I knew that ultimately all help must come from Him (Ps 124:8), and because His is all the help we need (Rom 8:31-32).

I loved to share my life with Him, because it was a constant delight that union and communion with Him was the story of my life (Jn 6:56, Jn 15:4-5, Jn 17:20-26, Gal 2:20, Rom 6:3-8. Rom 8:17).

So, Facebook to the rescue. And I do indeed plan to post this to Facebook! But Father first. And Christ first. Are you in a dry season spiritually? Might it be in part because your life is better characterized by "facebook continually" than by "pray continually"? Is it possible that where experiential union and communion with Christ ought to be, you've been duped into accepting a counterfeit union and communion with 1134 friends (even with believers, with whom we're commanded to fellowship)?

This has, of course, been a temptation and a problem for all Christians. But our "friendships" with others were never meant to be so comprehensive. This level of communication, and interaction, and dependence, and mutual delight ought to be enjoyed with The Friend who sticks closer than a brother, with our Beloved of whose I am and Who is mine. In earthly relationships, the closest analogy is the honeymoon.

Married couples cannot honeymoon forever. Someone has to earn the bread, and someone has to bake it. But that's just it; you can honeymoon forever with Christ. He is never otherwise occupied such that He hasn't the time or attention for you, and He is always with you--you needn't move a muscle or open your mouth to communicate or commune with Him.

With such sweet fellowship so constantly and immediately available to you, dear Christian, why is it that so many of us are better described by "facebook continually" than by "pray continually"? Oh, let us strive for the latter!

I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine!

*not that there's anything wrong with having friends pray for you--but really, if you go to them before you go to Christ, how is the spirit of that any different than the idolatrous praying to saints of the Roman Catholics?