Hardening our Hearts

October 21, 2010 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Meditations, Word of God

Psalm 95:7-11 (NKJV)
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

When we hear the Word of God week by week the danger always arises that it begin to seem humdrum – just one more voice in the mass of noise. This is particularly true in our day – technology has made it nigh impossible to escape the drone of voices. Just yesterday I was at Killarney Lake, in the midst of God’s beauty, hearing the musica mundi –the music of the world – when a speed boat came by blasting the latest sounds from its speakers. The voice of God begins to sound like just one more voice in the crowd.

This morning we are warned against this very type of problem, against hardening our hearts to the Word of God. Today if you hear His voice – which we all do in the reading and preaching of His Word – do not harden your hearts. Cultivate an ear to hear and heed what God has to say.

What does it mean to harden our hearts? Notice the parallel that we are given to define hardening our hearts. We are reminded of a story – the story of our fathers at Meribah in the desert. What happened on this occasion? How can this help us to understand what it means to harden the heart? Notice that our Lord makes the story particularly clear by noting that “your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work.”

What then was the sin of our fathers? You know the story. God rescued them from Egypt by an outstretched arm. He sent plagues on Egypt, granted our fathers favor with the Egyptians in the midst of these plagues, and then brought them out of the land. When they were in danger of destruction at the hand of Pharaoh’s army, God parted the waters of the Red Sea and let our fathers pass through on dry land while swallowing up Pharaoh’s chariots in the sea. An astounding act of God’s power and mercy! And yet, and yet, within a short time the people of Israel began to grumble, began to complain, began to long to return to Egypt. Why? Because the harsh reality of wandering through the wilderness drove from their minds a consideration of what God had already done for them and of what God had promised to do for them yet. Here then is our definition. To harden the heart to God’s Word is, in the midst of life, to forget what God has done for us already and what God promises to do for us in the future.

So what about you? What trial are you passing through in the wilderness? And how are you responding to it? Are you clinging in faith to the Father who rescued you from your sin and sorrow by sending His own Son to take on human flesh and to die on the cross? Are you remembering that the same Father who sent His Son also sent the Spirit upon our hearts that we might cry out Abba, Father? The Spirit who promises to work in us that which is good and well-pleasing in His sight?

Or are you instead hardening your heart? Have you forgotten the way in which our Lord rescued you? Forgotten the promises He has made to you? Drowned them out in a sea of noise and voices such that His Word is no longer clear? I fear that each of us finds ourself too frequently longing to return to Egypt. And so let us confess our sin to the Lord. Let us kneel and ask his forgiveness for hardening our hearts.

Remember Jesus Christ

October 21, 2010 in Bible - NT - 2 Timothy, King Jesus, Meditations

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.” 2 Tim 2:8,9

The text before us today issues a very clear imperative to the people of God; we are to “remember Jesus Christ.” So what does it mean to remember Him?

First, we are to remember who the Lord Jesus Christ is. To remember Christ is not simply to worship some figure named Jesus but to worship the Jesus who actually manifested himself in history and revealed himself to the Apostles. The Jesus we are to remember is “risen from the dead, [a] descendant of David, according to my Gospel.” We are to remember the Apostolic, the historical Jesus.

To remember Jesus in this way requires not only that we embrace the Christ revealed to us by the Apostles, but that we repudiate every notion of Christ which does not harmonize with the real Jesus. We do not have the freedom to worship a Jesus of our own imagining. So we are called upon to repudiate the Jesus of liberalism—who is no more than a jaded image of the liberals themselves rather than the eternal Son of God. We are to castigate the Jesus of Arianism (the Jehovah’s Witnesses), who is the first creation of God, not God Himself clothed in human flesh. We are to reject the Jesus of Mormonism—who is the illegitimate offspring of a philandering father, not the High and Holy One of Scriptural revelation.

It is to remember Jesus Christ, declaring our trust in the historical Jesus and renouncing heretical ones, that we corporately confess the creeds every Lord’s Day. The Nicene Creed, which we are currently reciting, was composed to exalt the Christ of the Apostles and to repudiate other notions. With it we declare our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ of history—manifested for us, crucified for us, risen for us, ascended for us, coming in judgment for us. Every Lord’s Day we have the immense privilege to remember Jesus Christ as we recite these words.

So, how are we remembering Him? Are we reciting the creed with joy, gladness and confidence or are we mumbling the words, caring little for the truths encapsulated in them? Are we giving our attention to understanding the words written or are we content to think about the weather outside in the midst of our recital? For to remember Jesus Christ is not simply to know who He is but to worship, serve, love, and adore Him. It is to follow Him no matter the cost.

Paul’s exhortation, therefore, reminds us that we often fail to remember our Lord Jesus Christ as we ought. So let us kneel and let us confess our sin to the Lord.

Women of Beauty

October 21, 2010 in Ecclesiology, Marriage, Meditations

Ezekiel 16:9-14 (NKJV)
9 “Then I [the Lord] washed you [O Israel] in water … and I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

The passage before us today describes the significance of God’s redemption of Israel. Though he found her helpless and unclean, He rescued her, protected her, drew her to Himself, washed her, and decked her with beauty. Following the Exodus from Egypt, He gradually raised Israel up to glory. He brought her through the period of the Judges; He gave her the Davidic and Solomonic ages; He gave her wealth, splendor, beauty – for she was His beloved, His bride.

A couple weeks ago we remarked that one of the lessons we as the people of God learn from the young women in our midst is the manner in which we are to long for the wedding day – the day when Christ shall return in glory to be admired among His saints. Today we learn a related lesson. For it is as a girl is transformed by God into a woman that her beauty begins to shine – and this beauty, God tells us today, is something He put there to teach us about the Church.

While the typical spectacle presented before our eyes in the animal kingdom is that the male species is endowed with color and beauty and awe, in humanity it is the beauty of the female that is routinely praised in Scripture. Men are strong; men are courageous; men are wise. But women are beauteous and fair. And this beauty that young women begin to manifest serves to picture for us what God is doing with His bride, the Church.

After all, the picture of God’s work among Israel is reframed by the apostle Paul in his admonition to the Ephesians, an admonition we have already considered. The Lord Jesus is sanctifying and purifying His bride, the Church, intending gradually to raise her up to greatness and glory – why? “that he might present her to Himself a glorious [radiant, beautiful] church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” In other words, the beauty which young women possess and which they endeavor to accentuate with perfumes, jewelry, special diet, and clothes is to remind us of the beauty of the Church for which we are to be laboring.

As we have seen in the book of Nehemiah, our calling as the people of God is to remove the reproach of Jerusalem, to make her more lovely and glorious, beautiful, as a bride adorned for her husband. Reminded that we have failed to do so, let us kneel and let us confess our sins to God.

Longing for the Wedding Day

July 9, 2010 in Bible - OT - Song of Solomon, Children, Meditations

Song of Solomon 3:9-11 (NKJV)
9 Of the wood of Lebanon Solomon the King Made himself a palanquin: 10 He made its pillars of silver, Its support of gold, Its seat of purple, Its interior paved with love By the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 Go forth, O daughters of Zion, And see King Solomon with the crown With which his mother crowned him On the day of his wedding, The day of the gladness of his heart.

Young women love weddings – from serving as bridesmaids to walking as the bride, from enjoying others’ weddings to anticipating their own, from designing wedding dresses to choosing out just the right one for their wedding. Weddings are the transition point for many young women – the transition from being young women to being married women – and so many years are spent in anticipation.

Knowing this hunger, the daughters of Jerusalem are invited in our text today to witness the wedding procession of King Solomon:

Go forth, O daughters of Zion, And see King Solomon with the crown With which his mother crowned him On the day of his wedding, The day of the gladness of his heart.


This hunger that young women display for weddings is to teach us something as the people of God. For God in His wisdom describes the ultimate consummation of the Messianic Kingdom as the final enjoyment of the wedding feast – the day when the Church will be presented to her Groom a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. King Solomon is a mere type of the Greater King Jesus. And the day of His wedding will be the day of the gladness of His heart.

Consequently, we are to anticipate that day and strive for it with all our might. We are to make the bride – the Church – more lovely, more beautiful, more glorious. We are, as we shall see this morning, to remove her reproach, and prepare her to wed the Groom.

There are many who think that this loveliness will just happen: the wedding day arrives and – poof! – a beautiful bride magically appears. But any man who is married and any woman who has been married and any young woman who dreams of being married knows that this is a farce. It takes an immense amount of labor, invested for months and even years, to reach the day on which the bride is adorned and beautiful. Months of preparation go into a mere hour or two of ceremony. Preparing for weddings is hard work.

The bride must consider what she shall be wearing, what the attendants shall be wearing, the jewelry that shall adorn her, and how she can best honor the Groom. All these details and thousands more have to come together. And this is the picture given to us of the ultimate destiny of Christ and the Church. We are to be planning for that Wedding Day in the same way in which a young woman prepares for hers. We are to meditate upon the glory that will be ours, consider the joy that shall be ours, and give attention to the garments of holiness in which we shall be arrayed. The anticipation of this great day will demand an incredible amount of labor on our part as we make the Church more glorious by making ourselves more holy.

So reminded that we are called to labor for the beauty of the New Jerusalem and that that beauty is amplified by our own holiness, let us kneel and confess that we have failed to pursue that holiness with passion.

Centrality of the Psalms

July 9, 2010 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Singing Psalms

James 5:13 (NKJV)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

What are we to do when facing the ups and downs of life? When we are suffering and weighed down, heavy of spirit – what are we to do? On the other hand, when cheerful, full of joy and wonder at the world in which we live – what are we to do? Today James tells us. “Is anyone among you suffering – feeling poorly, enduring trouble? Let him (an imperative, a command – this isn’t simply good advice) Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him (again, an imperative, a command), Let him sing psalms.”

James tells us that when we are suffering we are to pray. We are to take our troubles straight to the Lord. “Lord, I don’t understand; God help me; Father, lift me up; My God, my god, why have you forsaken me, why are you so far from my groaning?” When we are suffering it is not simply a good idea to take our pain to the throne of God, we are commanded to do so. Cry out to God; He wants to hear; He wants to be the one to whom you direct your cries. And where do we find examples of what faithful cries to God in sorrow look like? In the psalms.

Balancing this imperative comes James’ imperative for times of joy. When we are cheerful, we are to sing psalms. Why? Because singing enables us to funnel the joy that we are experiencing in the right direction – in praise and thankfulness to our Creator and Redeemer. When we are joyful there is only one proper response in James’ mind: praise. And where do we find examples of what faithful praise to God in joy looks like? In the psalms.

Notice then the priority that James places upon the psalter for the life of God’s people. What are we to do when suffering? We are to pray the psalms. What are we to do when joyful? We are to sing the psalms.

So here’s the question for us – do we know our psalter well enough to fulfill James’ exhortation? How well do you know your psalms? Do the psalms, when you are burdened and weighed down, come to your mind and fill your soul with cries to God? Do the psalms, when you are cheerful and lifted up, come to your mind and fill your home with praise and thanksgiving?

I dare say that if you are like me there is some lack in this regard. Not many of us grew up singing the psalter. This is a new experience for us. Many of the psalms may be strange and foreign to us. Some of the tunes that we have in our English psalters are hard to learn. Some of the words of the psalms are difficult to understand and believe. But is the problem with the psalter? Hardly. It is with us. We need to grow in our ability to sing and to understand the psalms.

Consequently, one of the things we are committed to do as a congregation is to become more excellent in our ability to sing the psalms and more knowledgeable of their content. We have psalm sings every month so that we can learn them, we sing the psalms in our corporate worship together so they become intwined with our corporate life, and we are hosting again our Savoring the Psalms BBQs this summer to revel in them. All these things are specifically geared to help us fulfill the exhortations given to us by James – is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

Reminded that in our suffering and in our joy God expects us to cry out to Him with the psalms and to praise Him with the psalms, let us kneel and confess that we have neglected to do so.

Family Camp 2010

June 17, 2010 in Uncategorized

I will be speaking Labor Day weekend at our 2010 Family Camp. The camp is going to be held on Lake Coeur d’Alene at Camp Lutherhaven. Christ Church in Spokane, Holy Trinity Church in Colville, and Trinity Church here in Coeur d’Alene are sponsoring the event. If you would like more information, call the Christ Church office at 509-329-0314.

Leadership & Self-Deception

June 16, 2010 in Book Reviews

Just finished reading Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the box by The Arbinger Institute. Its analysis of self-deception and the way in which interpersonal conflicts are fostered and intensified was excellent. Very helpful analysis of anger, bitterness, resentment, and the way in which we use others’ faults to excuse our own.

The major philosophical idolatry of the book is its focus entirely upon self-betrayal rather than the betrayal of God. This idolatry is also evident in its assumption of the basic “goodness” of man – assuming that we basically want to treat others well and simply deceive ourselves into doing different. Further, the emphasis upon our instinct or feelings as a reliable source of action is naive. These instincts are formed by the culture in which we live which itself is saturated with religous assumptions. Given different cultures, different things will be instinctual – strike us as truly “humane.” Hence, it is imperative that we have some ethical standard which guides and directs our instincts else we may do something inhumane in the name of humanity. “The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” (Prov 12:10b).

Despite these underlying flaws, the book’s usefulness far outweighs its faults. It is engaging, informative, and easy to understand.

Pillars Sculpted in Palace Style

June 14, 2010 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Meditations

Psalm 144:11-15 (NKJV)
11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, Whose mouth speaks lying words, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood— 12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; That our daughters may be as pillars, Sculptured in palace style; 13 That our barns may be full, Supplying all kinds of produce; That our sheep may bring forth thousands And ten thousands in our fields; 14 That our oxen may be well laden; That there be no breaking in or going out; That there be no outcry in our streets. 15 Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Here in our text today, our Lord Jesus identifies why it is that he prays for God to rescue Him and His people from His enemies, from those not in covenant with Him, who are prone to deceit and falsehood. And the first thing that He identifies, the main reason why He wants God to protect and guard us, is for you young folks out there. He prays so that the sons and daughters of Zion may grow into maturity in the midst of their youth. “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daugthers may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style.”

Jesus’ prayer reveals to us not only his desire for our protection from enemies but also His vision for young adulthood. Our Lord hungers for you young adults, young men and young women alike, to grow into maturity. He wants young men to be like plants grown up – fruitful, strong, resistant to disease – in your youth. He doesn’t want you to wait until your twenties or thirties like so many. He wants you to be mature now – so how are you doing striving for it?

Likewise, he prays for the daughters of Zion that they may be as pillars, sculpted in palace style. Since we have been doing a series of exhortations on the lessons young women teach us, it is fitting that we get a sense of Jesus’ vision for young womanhood here. First, note that he wants you to be pillars. And what is the purpose of a pillar? Pillars hold things up. They are strong, steady, stable. Notice in this young ladies, that Jesus’ vision for your calling in the Church is to be a source of stability, strength, wisdom, and gravitas. Young women – at one level because of your sensitivity to art, beauty, and spirituality, at another because of your immense influence upon young men – Jesus’ has put you in our midst to hold us up in your labors, in your prayers, and in your purity.

But beware that as a pillar you truly are what you portray yourself to be. Our word sincere comes from two Latin words, sine – which means without – and cera – which means wax. A sincere person is a person without wax. For you see ancient Rome, just like modern America, had her unscrupulous contractors. And these builders were often contracted to make marble columns. But it was quite a task to find the right kind of marble and craft and polish it to perfection. So some builders would take shortcuts. They would fill the gaps and cracks in their piece of marble with wax. Only when the column collapsed would the trickery be revealed – and it might be a few years out. So make sure that you are a sincere pillar.

But not only does Jesus pray that you would be pillars, he also prays that you would be one sculpted in palace style. Jesus knows that pillars come in various designs. A rough yewn log pole can be a pillar. Not very lovely but it does the job. That’s not the kind of pillar for which the Lord prays. He doesn’t want just a sturdy pole, he wants a beautiful column, one whose beauty makes all those around stand in awe. That pole barn you saw on your way to worship may be just as sturdy as the Acropolis in Athens – but who would dare claim it is just as lovely? I remember Douglas Wilson telling the story of the atheist Edward Tabash’s visit to Moscow when Tabash remarked at dinner, “I’ve never met so many beautiful, confident women.”

So what does this beauty look like? Peter tells us, “Do not let your adornment [your beauty] be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” This is the beauty that our Lord Jesus desires for you – a beauty which shall be a source of strength, stability, and glory for the Church of God.
Reminded that our Lord Jesus prays for us, that he prays for our young men and young women to be mature even in their youth, let us seek the Lord’s forgiveness for failing to value maturity. Let us kneel together.

The Virtue of Scorn

June 6, 2010 in Bible - OT - Isaiah, Children, Meditations

Isaiah 37:22 (NKJV)
This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning [Sennacherib, the King of Assyria]: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!”

Sometimes Christian girls are far too nice. We have become hesistant to hurt others’ feelings; hesitant to tell men what we really think of their scandalous behavior; hesitant to shower scorn on those who deserve it. So let me speak this morning on the biblical virtue of scorn.

One of the things most evident in the relationship among the sexes is that men frequently overestimate their charms while women underestimate theirs. I recall a cartoon with two frames. The first showed a decidedly corpulent fellow, midsection protruding between shorts and dirty t-shirt, with unkempt facial hair who looked as though he hadn’t showered in a week. As he gazed at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Go get ‘em tiger! You handsome devil!” Meanwhile the other frame showed a woman of stunning beauty, all dressed up, having meticulously groomed herself – hair, makeup, and all. As she gazed at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh, I look so terrible!”

In our text today Isaiah pictures Sennacherib as a typical man – puffed up with himself, imagining that he is God’s gift to the female sex, sure that all the ladies will be swooning at his feet. For Sennacherib was treating the people of God this way. He was sure that Jerusalem would fall under his sway and so he tells them to acknowledge his greatness before he has to prove it. But here is the Word of the Lord to him: You are such a buffoon that the daughter of Jerusalem is laughing you to scorn! You are God’s gift to women – a gift to cause them to laugh. The virgin daughter of Israel is shaking her beautiful head of hair at your foolishness. For what was God preparing to do? He was going to crush Sennacherib’s pride, killing his army in a single night and sending him packing back to Assyria.

Here’s what I want you young ladies to see this morning. One of the lessons which you are to teach us as the people of God is how to scorn those who are full of themselves and rabidly opposed to God. Consequently, there are times when a young woman should scorn a man. Mr. Collins deserves your derision. Gaston is fool despite his three fauning admirers. Willoughby is a cad. When a fool presents himself before you, longing for your approval, longing for your admiration, sure that you will fall at his feet and acknowledge his charms, disappoint him. Scorn his advances.

And here’s a word of encouragement – your scorn can be a means of salvation. Nothing is more likely to cause a man to examine himself closely and evaluate himself than the scorn of a woman. Nothing is more likely to inspire a man to greatness than the prospect of earning a woman’s admiration. So young women – cultivate the biblical virtue of scorn and use it well. Do not be captivated by a fool.

And we as the people of God are called to learn this lesson from the young women in our midst. When the enemies of God vaunt over us, when they are swollen with pride and imagine that we shall soon fall under their sway, yes – even when they mock us and persecute us and kill us – we are to shake our heads in scorn knowing that God is on our side. Need we fear Sennacherib with his mighty host? No! Our God who sits in the heavens laughs, “As for me, I have installed My King on Mount Zion.” So we too can laugh, “As for us, our King is installed on Mount Zion. He is the King of Kings and Lord of lords and you shall have to answer to Him.”

Reminded that we have failed to cultivate the biblical virtue of scorn, that we have feared our enemies, showed pity where we ought not, indulged fools and answered them in accordance with their folly, let us kneel and confess our sins to God.