Preference vs Principle

February 1, 2013 in Bible - NT - James, Holy Spirit, Meditations, Sanctification

James 1:22-25 (NKJV)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
It is imperative for us as the people of God to distinguish between being men and women of preference and being men and women of principle. The text before us today provides the basis for this distinction and so let me explain it briefly.
A man or woman of preference is one who would prefer things to be a certain way but who can’t seem, for one reason or another, to accomplish his objective. He would prefer to be sexually pure, but he just can’t seem to resist looking at pornography. She would prefer to be respectful to her husband, but he’s just so unworthy of respect. He would prefer to succeed in his schoolwork well, but his friends invited him to a party this weekend. She would prefer to live a life characterized by joy and gladness, but what her parents did to her when she was young is just too much to forgive. He would prefer to have obedient children, but the children God has given him are difficult and his wife just doesn’t do a good job with them. She would prefer to be content, but all her friends have so many more clothes than she. He would prefer to make it to church each Lord’s Day, but it’s simply too hard to get the whole family ready ahead of time. She would prefer not to gossip, but she’s just so lonely she needs someone to talk with.
Contrast these scenarios with a man or woman of principle. He knows it is sinful to be sexually impure, and so he does whatever is necessary to shield himself from temptation. She knows that she must respect her husband, and so she begins honoring him with her words and actions, praying that her heart attitude will gradually change. He knows that all hard work, including school work, brings a profit, so he skips the party to study for his exam. She knows that God commands her to be joyful, and so she confesses her sin of bitterness and refuses to listen to her own sob story. He knows he is responsible for the state of his children, and so he asks his wife’s forgiveness for failing to train them and then he sets about to make them obedient. She knows that contentment is not an option, and so she meditates on the Word of God and rejoices that God is her portion in the land of the living. He knows that his family needs to be in worship every Lord’s Day, and so he organizes everything Saturday evening so they can make it. She knows it is a sin to gossip, and so she confides her loneliness to the Lord and looks for ways to praise others with her words.
What kind of man or woman are you? Are you a man or woman of preference or of principle? If the former heed the warning of James –
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Reminded that we often fail to be men and women of principle and that we make excuses for our disobedience, let us kneel and ask our Lord’s forgiveness.

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

January 24, 2013 in Abortion, Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Meditations

Psalm 127:3–5 (NKJV)
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, a day fitting for us to meditate on the gift of life. As men and women made in the image of God, we rejoice in the gift of life and are reminded by the psalmist that the arrival of another child is a reward from God.
But our culture is askew. Rather than view the arrival of another child as a blessing, a gift from God, we frequently view children as a burden, a weight, a shackle. The fruit of the womb is not a blessing but a curse. We have become so consumed with our love of convenience and pleasure and ease that we have come to hate children. We have come to embrace fruitlessness and to reject fruitfulness.
This embrace of fruitlessness is manifest in many of the policies of our current president. He has openly sanctioned the abomination of abortion, has refused to reissue a proclamation for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, has instead used the month of January to advocate his contraceptive mandate, and has officially declared June to be gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered month. And what are all these things but an embrace of fruitlessness and death?
As we consider this national sin, we need to beware lest we as individual believers in Christ give way to the spirit of the age and subtly embrace this love of fruitlessness ourselves. Children are a heritage from the Lord – and we need to receive them and shepherd them and train them as such. Even as a man is called to care for the inheritance he has received from his fathers, so a man is called to care for the inheritance God has given him in the form of his children. We are called to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord – teaching them, training them, instructing them.
So fathers, how are you doing? Don’t just proclaim that children are a blessing – act it out by being engaged with the blessings God has given you. Take time to shepherd them, to correct them, to admonish them, to encourage them – invest in your children so that they can indeed act like a blessing and not a curse – to you and to their neighbors. Your goal is that your children rise up to worship and serve the Living God by loving their neighbors.
In the same fashion, as God’s people generally, we need to beware that we are receiving and welcoming all of God’s people into our congregation – particularly the little ones. For of such is the kingdom of God.
Reminded that we have rejected the blessing of fruitfulness and embraced fruitlessness instead, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

Rescuing Creation

January 7, 2013 in Bible - OT - Malachi, Eschatology, Meditations, Postmillennialism

Malachi 4:5–6 (NKJV)
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
When God created the world, He created it a realm of righteousness and peace – a place of blessing. When human beings rebelled against Him, however, the entire creation became twisted and distorted, it came under judgment. Where once there was only blessing now curses touched the animate and inanimate creation.
This was no surpise. After all, God Himself had announced that were our first parents to reject His Word they would surely come under His judgment. Further, since God Himself is the source of righteousness and peace, to turn away from Him is to sever ourselves from all that is good and right, from that which gives us blessing; even as a lamp depends for its light upon the electrical outlet, we depend for blessing and joy upon the living God. To reject God and imagine that we could preserve righteousness, peace, and joy is foolish – yet this was the sin of our first parents – and it is a sin repeated by countless millions of human beings to this day.
The ultimate end of rebellion is always judgment. Satan’s intention in tempting the man and the woman was to destroy all creation, to destroy that which God had designed and made, by bringing it like himself under God’s wrath and curse. Human beings became his tools, his instruments, to accomplish this objective.
But God had other plans. God intended to rescue the world not abandon it to the folly of our first parents or to the malevolence of the Evil One. He would rescue His creation. And it it this intention that is celebrated every Epiphany Sunday when Jesus was revealed to foreign kings, to the magi. It is also this intention that is announced one final time in the closing verses of the Old Covenant:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
Uniformly the NT interprets the promise of Elijah’s arrival to refer to John the Baptizer. He is Elijah who was to come before the arrival of the Messiah; he was the one commissioned to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers – a worthy theme for discussion in and of itself. But I’d like you to note the reason God gives for sending John. Why send John to restore family relationships and bring people back to the Lord? “Lest,” the Lord declares, “I come and strike the earth with a curse.”God sent John as the forerunner of His plan of salvation, His plan to rescue the entire creation from the bondage in which it was trapped.
And this is precisely what Jesus declares to us. “For God so loved the world, the kosmos, the creation which He had so lovingly and painstakingly crafted, that He sent His only Son that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life…He did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him.” God acted in Christ to rescue the creation from its bondage to decay. And how did He accomplish this?
Remember that the ultimate end of rebellion is always judgment. In justice our rebellion must be judged. And so, wonder of wonders, the eternal Son of God took on human flesh by being born of the Virgin Mary, he lived among us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He bore the judgment that was due to us because we had rebelled against Him. And what’s more, God raised Jesus from the dead. In this way, He broke the power of death, reversing the curse that once enslaved all creation. He came lest the earth be struck with a curse; he came to rescue all creation.
So what of you? The ultimate end of rebellion is always judgment. Either we face that judgment ourselves – the end of which will be our condemnation – or we turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore the judgment for all His people, and so receive blessing from the Lord in Him. None of us can face the Lord in ourselves; we have all rebelled against Him. And so, as we enter into His presence this day, He commands us to seek refuge from judgment through Jesus. Reminded of our need for a Savior, let us kneel and confess our sins to the Lord.

Living for the Glory of God

December 31, 2012 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Meditations, Worship

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV)
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Why do you do what you do? Paul challenges us today to do everything to the glory of God – whether we eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Why?
First, we ought to do all to the glory, honor, and praise of God because God is our Creator. We owe our very existence to Him: our ability to speak, to think, to move, to breathe, to dream, to joy, to sorrow, to reflect – all comes as gifts from His hand, the God who fashioned and molded us in His image and gave us this world in which to live. Therefore, we ought to glorify Him.
Second, we ought to do all to the glory, honor, and praise of God because He is our Preserver. He holds us together and prevents the universe from collapsing all-together. The components of the atom that would split apart left to their own devices are by Him held together in harmony supporting life. He causes the grass to grow, he enables the birds to fly, he gives food to the beasts of the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man. The Lord does all these things; therefore, we ought to glorify Him.
Third, we ought to do all to the glory, honor, and praise of God because God is our Redeemer. Though we rebelled against Him and brought all creation into decay and corruption and separated ourselves from Him, He pursued us. He sought out the lost sheep; he swept the house looking for the lost coin. He called our father Abraham and in Abraham promised that He would bless all the nations of the earth. He called our father Jacob and changed his name to Israel, promising that through him He would bless all the nations of the earth. He called David and anointed him king and promised that He would raise up one of his children to rule and reign forever over all the nations of the earth. These promises God has fulfilled in Christ – He sent Him to bless all the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth by ruling over us and delivering us from our enemies – both earthly and heavenly.
So why ought we to do all we do to the glory of God? Because He is worthy to receive glory. He created us, not we ourselves; He preserves us, not we ourselves; He saves us, not we ourselves. Therefore, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, let us do all to the glory of God.
But rather than live for the glory of God, we frequently do what we do for other reasons. We live for ourselves; we live for other gods; we get distracted by the gifts and miss the Giver. Reminded of our sinful tendency, let us kneel and confess our sin to God.

Do not be Afraid

December 27, 2012 in Bible - NT - Mark, Meditations, Singing Psalms, Worship

Mark 6:45–51 (NKJV)
45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.
This morning we study Zacharias’ song of praise, commonly called the Benedictus. Zacharias meditates on the wonder of our Redeemer – that God acted in fulfillment of His promises to save and deliver us as His people.
The consequence of this action is that we need not be afraid. But we often are afraid. We forget who it is who is on our side and we tremble at the challenges that face us. Like the disciples in the boat, we are thrown into a dither and rather than remember the One who is with us, the One who has promised to protect us and care for us, we grow fearful. It is in such times that Jesus speaks to us and says, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
So as we come into worship this day, I remind you to hear the words of Jesus afresh. He is the Lord. He is our Redeemer. And he says to us, “Do not be afraid!” So hearing his words of assurance and reminded that we often do fear, forgetting who He is, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

God is the Judge

December 20, 2012 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Discipline, Meditations, Sovereignty of God

Psalm 75 (NKJV)
1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near. 2 “When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. 3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly. Selah 4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn. 5 Do not lift up your horn on high; Do not speak with a stiff neck.’ ” 6 For exaltation comes neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south. 7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another. 8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down. 9 But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”
Mary’s song of praise following her visit to Elizabeth centers on the theme of God as Judge. Saturated as she was in the hymnody of the Old Testament, Mary used the words and themes there to shape her praise. And her praise sounds remarkably like Psalm 75.
Psalm 75 celebrates that God is the Judge. God raises up one and casts down another. It is God who is the Lord – who rules in the affairs of men and nations. What then is our duty and responsibility? Our duty and responsibility is to humble ourselves before Him and to honor Him. Why? Because He swears that He will destroy all those who are proud and stiff necked.
This is true both of the rulers of nations and of we simpler folk as well, whether men, women, or children. God takes pride seriously. He hates a haughty countenance, despises him who thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think. Therefore, because God is the Lord and we are not, we are to be humble, open to correction. We are to bow the knee before God lest we be destroyed. We are not to be like the fool who advertised his pride on the billboards of Spokane: “Bow the knee? Not me.” But he will bow the knee – either now willingly or in the future unwillingly. Solomon warns us in Proverbs 29:1, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” So what does this mean?
Men, are you cultivating relationships that provide you with accountability and correction? If you are married, do you listen to the wisdom of your wife and treasure the gift that God has given you in her? Married or unmarried, have you established relationships with other men who can correct you and exhort you? Men to whom you are directly accountable? If not, do so.
Women, are you cultivating relationships that provide you with accountability and correction? If you are married, do you listen when your husband endeavors to fulfill his calling of shepherding and husbanding you, correcting you? Are you willing to humble yourself before him as though he were God Himself and honor your husband for the office he holds? Married or unmarried, have you sought out relationships with other wise women who will speak the Word of God to you and not comfort you in your sin and complaint? If not, do so.
Children, are you listening to the correction and rebuke that you are receiving from your parents? God has put them into your life so that you can learn and grow and develop into godly, mature young men and women. Beware hardening your neck. Beware the hand of pride that would lead you to say, “I know better! My parents are foolish! They just don’t understand.” Listen and cultivate an obedient and humble heart. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Reminded that this is our calling as the people of God – to be humble and open to correction – let us kneel and confess that we have often been proud and froward instead.

The Blessing of Children

December 20, 2012 in Abortion, Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Meditations

Psalm 127:3–5 (NKJV)
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
This morning we meditate in the sermon on the nature of the songs we sing around Christmas – songs that celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. When Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to a Son this was received for what it was – good news, Gospel, glad tidings of great joy. Why? Because children are a blessing from God.
It is this reality that the psalmist sings today. Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Increasingly as a culture we have come to the conclusion that children are a burden more than a blessing. Birth control has, under the Obama administration, become a right as near and dear as life itself. The insurance companies are positively tripping over themselves to assure us all that there is no longer any copay for birth control pills while coverage for maternity costs becomes subject to increasingly high deductibles. The system increasingly highlights the cost of children.
But the psalms focus on the blessing. Does it cost something to have children? Absolutely. Is it at times a struggle to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Absolutely. But the psalms orient us to the blessing. Children are a heritage from the Lord – children are God’s reminder to us that he intends to bless us and to cause us to inherit the earth. The fruit of the womb is his reward – a treasure far greater than second homes, new cars, expensive toys, or undistracted minds.
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember at this time that Mary responded in faith by rejoicing in the news that she would bear a child and let us imitate her by giving thanks for the children that God has given us and anticipating with joy the arrival of others. And let us confess that as a culture we have despised the little ones – let us kneel as we do so.

Obama versus Museveni

December 20, 2012 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Confession, King Jesus, Meditations

“I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who hate him. “But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted. Also I will set his hand over the sea, And his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.” (Psalm 89:20–29, NKJV)
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the time of year when we recall God’s promises to our fathers that one day He would send a Son of David to rescue His people and rule among the nations of men. The words of Psalm 89 remind us that this Son of David, our Lord Jesus, will be victorious over his enemies and is Lord over all the kings of the earth. Listen to God’s promises to Jesus: “I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him…” – He will be victorious. “I will set his hand over the sea and his right hand over the rivers…” – His dominion will encompass all the earth. “Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth…” – He will rule over all other rulers.
Given these promises that God has made to Jesus, what is the obligation of men and nations, what is the obligation of our nation? Our obligation is to worship and serve this One whom God has exalted to His right hand. It is to live in light of His rule. And it is to this that our Advent Call to Worship summons us – because Jesus is Lord those who trust Him can take comfort; because Jesus is Lord those who spurn Him must take warning.
For the fourth year in a row, President Obama has neglected to thank God in his annual Thanksgiving address let alone to request God’s forgiveness for our personal and national sins. This is a travesty of monumental proportions and will bring God’s judgment down on our nation. Jesus is Lord and will beat down his foes.
Contrast our current national pride and impenitence with the recent declaration of the President of Uganda. This last October President Museveni prayed the following:
I stand here today to close the evil past and especially in the last 50 years of our national leadership history and at the threshold of a new dispensation in the life of this nation. I stand here on my own behalf and on behalf of my predecessors to repent. We ask for your forgiveness.
Museveni then listed the various sins which have afflicted Uganda in the last 50 years and requested God’s blessing on their nation, closing his prayer thus:
We want to dedicate this nation to you so that you will be our God and guide. We want Uganda to be known as a nation that fears God and as a nation whose foundations are firmly rooted in righteousness and justice to fulfil what the Bible says in Psalm 33:12: Blessed is the nation, whose God is the Lord. A people you have chosen as your own.
I renounce all the evil foundations and covenants that were laid in idolatry and witchcraft. I renounce all the satanic influence on this nation. And I hereby covenant Uganda to you, to walk in your ways and experience all your blessings forever.
I pray for all these in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This is how men and nations are to honor the Son of the Highest, our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we need to confess that we as a people have elected a man to office who defies God and refuses to thank Him for the manifest blessings He has showered upon us. But the reason Obama refuses to honor God is that we as a people refuse to honor Him as well. We are a stiff-necked people and have rebelled against the Lord. So let us kneel and confess our sins to Him.

Giving Thanks Always

November 27, 2012 in Bible - NT - Ephesians, Meditations, Thankfulness

Ephesians 5:17, 18b, 20
“Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is… be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
This last week we had opportunity as a people to celebrate Thanksgiving – remembering God’s faithfulness in our past and petitioning His grace for the future.
Today I would like us to reflect on why such feasts are fitting – and the reason they are fitting is that they express the will of God for us. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians that we are not to be “unwise” but are to understand the will of the Lord. So what is the Lord’s will? The Lord’s will is that we be filled with the Spirit. And what does it look like to be filled with the Spirit? Part of the answer that Paul gives is that when we are filled with the Spirit we will be giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note carefully Paul’s words.
Paul writes that we are to be giving thanks always. He excludes no times – we are always to give thanks. When the car starts right away in the morning, when the car won’t start at all; when there are six inches of snow on the ground, when it fails to snow at all; when we’re feeling robust and well, when we have the stomach flu; when work is going well, when we have trouble with employees; when our children obey, when they disobey. We are always to give thanks.
How is this possible? Because the One to whom we are giving thanks, God the Father, is Sovereign over all. Nothing happens apart from His will. No one and no thing can say to him, “What have you done? Or why has your hand determined thus?” Our God is in the heavens – he does whatever he pleases. So if there is calamity in the city, will not our Lord have done it? God is the Lord – He raises up and He puts down. And so our calling as the people of God is to render thanks to Him – precisely because this One who is Sovereign, who is God, is also our Father – He cares for us and works on our behalf. So we can give thanks always. Our demeanor should be one of grateful acknowledgment of the wisdom of our Father – not just when it appears wise to usbut when it is in fact wise, namely, always.
But not only are we alwaysto give thanks, we are also to give thanks for all things. All things, we ask? Surely Paul didn’t mean to say it quite that way. But I’m afraid he did. For all things that enter our lives come from the hand of our loving Father who has orchestrated them for our good and for His glory. Thanking Him – for the kind and the hard providences – is the key to glorifying him in the midst of both. And this, to some extent, explains why we are to give thanks “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” – for he too gave thanks to God while suffering. So do we thank the Father for the hard providences, the failure of the crops, the loss of our job, the rebellion of a child, the loneliness of singleness, the frustration of working at a job we don’t enjoy? According to Paul we ought to. Why? Because God is the one who has brought this into our lives for a very good, distinct, and just reason. Therefore, we are to abound in thanksgiving.
And so, reminded that rather than abound in thanksgiving we frequently complain and grumble, let us kneel and confess that we are an unthankful people.

Our Father,

We have failed to be thankful for the gifts and graces which you have freely bestowed upon us. You have treated us much more graciously than we deserve – and yet we grumble and complain at your graces. Not only do we refuse to thank you in hard times, we forget to thank you in good ones. So too our culture. We refuse to give you thanks. We act as though we are entitled to the things we receive; we demand more; insist that what You have given is not enough. Forgive us for the sake of Christ and enable us to abound always in thanksgiving in all things.
AMEN.