Song of the Drunkards

JESUS FACED A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF OPPOSITION FOR HIS HARD WORDS AND UNFLINCHING DEVOTION TO YAHWEH. NO SURPRISE THEN IF WE FIND OUR NAME FESTOONED IN BARROOM BALLADS (CF. PS 69:12).

The Good Life

May 7, 2023 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Meditations

Proverbs 12:28 (NKJV) 

28In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death. 

Paul writes in Romans 8:29 that God has predestined His people to be conformed to the image of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Proverbs assist us in that process, directing us in the way of wisdom and teaching us what it is to imitate our Lord’s character. Today we are instructed to walk in the way of righteousness.

What is the good life? And who has the capacity to define it? Is it a can of Michelob beer on a camping trip? Is it a good cigar? Is it fast cars and fast women? Massive biceps? A full head of hair? Smoking dope? The cheer of the crowd? What is the good life?

Among no class of men are these questions more urgently and ardently asked than among those who are young. Children and young adults are gifted by God with an appetite to have their questions answered, a desire to find and secure the good life. As they gaze out over the future, they want to know, “What will bring me joy and pleasure in the course of my life? What is the pathway to life?”

Unfortunately, at no time in history have the brokers of the good life been more prolific and skilled in their marketing, leading generations of men and women in the way of death. Professing to be wise, we have become fools, exchanging the glory of God for idols made in the likeness of men. Hence, though we go on one craze after another, we finite creatures are unable to identify what is genuinely good for us. How do we know, infallibly, that some trend we have jumped on today will bring joy and happiness tomorrow? As Solomon reminds us elsewhere,“There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it is the way of death.” We are not omniscient and so we are unable, as humans, to identify the good life. 

The most that we can identify on our own is what brings momentary happiness or pleasure. But we can never be sure that these momentary pleasures won’t bring devastating consequences in the future. One thinks of the radical reversal that has come in the last century over smoking cigarretes. Once admired as the mark of the debutant, the rich and famous, the discovery of its ill effects has relegated it to the down and out. So how do you know that that microwave popcorn you’ve been sneaking after the kids go to bed won’t prove your undoing? 

Do we then have no hope in the world? Must we live our lives in constant uncertainty, blown about by every scheme for the good life? Are you youth unable to answer the questions which you most hunger to know? Are we left without a sure foundation? May it never be! For God has defined the good life for us: “In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.” And because our Lord is omniscient, He knows all the end roads, all the results of various actions. He knows that homosexuality is destructive; knows that sexual immorality saps one of character and strength; knows that life is more than the multitude of one’s possessions; knows that humans can have no greater pleasure than when we find our satisfaction in Him. And the glorious thing is that He has revealed all of this to us in His Word. We can know what the good life is – for the Creator of all has revealed it to us and makes life understandable and meaningful as a result.

Despite the clarity of God’s revelation, however, we often spurn His revelation. Attempting to run our lives on our own sense of what is good and right, we find ourselves repeating the sin of our First Mother who, judging for herself, saw that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was pleasant to the eyes and desireable to make one wise. She spurned God’s Word in favor of her own judgment. So what of you? Are you walking in the way of righteousness and reveling in the abundant life that Jesus gives? Or are you walking in your own way and careening toward death or perhaps tasting it even now?

Reminded of our failure to walk in the way of righteousness and our tendency to trust in our own wisdom and wit rather than God’s Word, let us confess our sins together. And as we confess, let us kneel before the Lord.

The Strong City of Wealth

April 30, 2023 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Meditations

Proverbs 10:15 (NKJV)

15 The rich man’s wealth is his strong city; The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

In the text before us today, Solomon highlights the blessing of wealth and the danger of poverty. On the one hand, we have the blessing of wealth. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city… In the ancient world, a strong city was a place of refuge and protection from the ravages of war. Walled cities, or strong cities as Solomon calls them, were havens of security in an insecure world. Like the walls of these strong cities is the wealth of the rich man. His wealth enables him to hide himself, his family, and his friends in times of hardship or difficulty. His wealth is a source of security and protection. It is a blessing from God.

On the other hand, we have the danger of poverty. The destruction of the poor is their poverty. Whereas marauders, thieves, and foreign armies often left strong cities alone, they frequently laid waste small villages and unwalled cities, plundering property, slaying the populace, and devastating the surrounding countryside. These unwalled cities were constantly exposed to danger and oppression. Likewise, the poor man. When hardship arrives, the poor man has no resources to protect himself or his family. His poverty is his destruction.

Solomon’s words remind us, first, of the blessings of material wealth. Living hand to mouth is sometimes necessary but rarely wise. It is always better to save for a rainy day and to build one’s wealth so that in times of hardship you have a strong city to which you can flee. In Scripture, it is commendable to acquire wealth. While it is sinful to have a lust for wealth, or to use your wealth to promote wickedness, or to steal from others to gain wealth, it is not sinful to acquire wealth. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city… and is, therefore, a blessing from God.

Solomon’s words also remind us, second, of the blessings of spiritual wealth. It is the man or woman who knows the character and promises of God who will be able to endure times of hardship and suffering in faith. And this type of wealth, spiritual wealth, is a wealth that any child of God can acquire whether he be materially rich or poor. So Paul writes of the rich: “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim 6:17-19). And James writes of the poor, “Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (2:5) Spiritual wealth is a strong city which any child of God may acquire by the grace of God.

So what of you? On the one hand, are you endeavoring to store up material wealth in order that you may have a strong city in times of trouble? Are you avoiding debt and endeavoring to save or are you perpetually living hand to mouth? On the other hand, are you endeavoring to store up spiritual wealth? Are you growing in your knowledge of God’s character and promises so that you may be able to weather the tribulations that will come your way in this life? Remember the words of Solomon: “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city; The destruction of the poor is their poverty.”

Reminded of our calling to think of tomorrow and to store up wealth for times of trouble, let us acknowledge that we often fail to do so. And as we confess, let us kneel before the Lord.

Death, Our Conquered Foe

April 16, 2023 in Meditations, Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:51–57 

51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

We are in Eastertide, the period when the Church has historically continued to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is too momentous an event to celebrate only one Sunday – for it is Jesus’ resurrection that eliminates for us the fear of death and assures us that the bodies of all those who believe in Him shall likewise be raised from their graves.

And it is this theme upon which Paul dwells in our text today. This corruptible body must pass through the furnace of death and be raised incorruptible; this mortal body must pass through the furnace of death and be raised immortal. And when this has happened, when at the Last Day Christ has returned in glory and raised all those who believe in Him from their graves, when He has transformed our lowly bodies into the likeness of His glorious body – righteous, incorruptible, and immortal – then shall come to pass the promise of Scripture, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

In other words, brothers and sisters, we have immense hope. Death is not the final word. As horrible as death is, as devastating as it is, death is a conquered foe. Jesus rose from the dead; Jesus dealt death a death blow. We now live in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead. Therefore, because Christ has risen, we can have immense confidence in the face of death itself and in the face of all death’s minions – sickness, pain, torture, persecution, hardship, trial. None of these things have the last word – the last word belongs to Jesus and to life. And this is what Psalm 27:13 articulates. “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.” Or as Paul writes in our text today, “Oh death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So how are we to treat death? With contempt. As John Donne would teach us to say, “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so…” Why? Because Christ is risen and has broken death’s power. Even as Christ rose from the dead, we too shall rise. This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So what should characterize our lives? Fearless and unshrinking zeal to maintain the truth of God against all opposition – whether from our own flesh or from the world or from the devil himself. Congregation of the Lord, Christ is Risen!

So reminded of the power of Christ’s resurrection but no doubt reminded also that we frequently are fearful and shrinking rather than fearless and hopeful, let us confess our lack of faith to the Lord and petition Him for renewed boldness. And, as you are able, let us kneel together as we confess our sin.