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).

Taking Responsibility

November 25, 2010 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Responsibility

1 Corinthians 4:14-16 (NKJV)
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

For the last several weeks we have insisted that one of the lessons which the men in the congregation have been given to teach the Church is stability. As the fathers of Israel, they are to be a source of consistency from one generation to the next, not blown about emotionally or doctrinally but holding fast to the traditions just as they have been taught in the Word of God.

Today Paul identifies another dimension of fatherhood – he was the father of the Corinthian congregation, the one who had started this congregation in Gentile territory. Consequently, he had a unique relationship with them. Because he was their father, not merely their teacher, he takes responsibility for them in a particular way. Consequently, we have two letters – both of considerable length – which Paul sent to this congregation, endeavoring to help them to grow in Christ.

So what principle of manhood is revealed here? What do fathers do? Quite simply, they take responsibility for those under their charge. While boys make excuses, men take responsibility. And this is precisely what Paul does for the Corinthians. He writes these extensive letters to them to warn them, to instruct them, to correct them because he bore responsibility for them.

So, men, how are we doing taking responsibility for those under our charge? Have we taken responsibility for the problems in our marriage? While not all the sins in the marriage may be ours, the responsibility for the state of the marriage is – and so we need to take responsibility and, like Paul, move our marriage toward greater Christ likeness. Have we taken responsibility for the problems in our children? While their sins are not our own, their growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ is our responsibility – we are to be shepherding them, directing them, correcting them, warning them, counseling them – the very thing that Paul is doing in our text, “as my beloved children, I warn you.”

And what of you others? Have you considered the weight that is upon the shoulders of your husband or your parents? And have you made that weight a joy or a burden? Wives, are you a crown of glory or a ball and chain?
• Better to dwell in the wilderness, Than with a contentious and angry woman. (Pr 21:19)
• Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain. (Pr 31:10-11)

Children, are you a joy and delight, or are you a heartbreak and sorrow?
• He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy. (Pr 17:21)
• The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him. (Pr 23:24)

Reminded of the call that is upon us as men to take responsibility and as wives and children to make that responsibility a delight, let us kneel and confess that we have failed in our callings.

Let them ask their Husbands at home

November 15, 2010 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Ecclesiology, Meditations

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (NKJV)
34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.

For the last two weeks we have observed that one of the lessons men teach the body of Christ is stability. Men provide a sense of continuity from one generation to the next, enable families, churches and communities to weather storms by holding to what is most important, and provide others with a firm sense of identity.

Our text today, in a way, emphasizes this same point and so I want to touch upon it for just a moment. While its message about the women in the congregation is one we will consider in the future, for now I would like you to note what this passage requires of the men in the congregation. In the context of delivering prophetic oracles and judging the oracles that are delivered, Paul urges the women to keep silent in the churches. They were not to exercise judgment over the other prophets since that would be exercising teaching authority over men in the Church – a thing that was contrary to God’s law. So what were these women to do? First, they were to keep silent – since the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets, they were to control their tongues and wait to speak. Second, when they got back home, they were to ask their husbands about the matter – or, presumably, if they were unmarried or widowed, to ask one of the elders outside the church assembly.

And what were their husbands to do? Their husbands were to teach them. And this, of course, assumes what? That their husbands were able to teach them – that they either knew the answer or were capable of getting the answer by asking someone who would know. Notice, therefore, the calling that Paul is placing upon the men in the congregation: we men need to be prepared to teach our families the Word of God. While we may not be the best theologian in town, we are called to be the resident theologian in our home. So we need to learn as best as we are able.

In last week’s sermon we read Ephesians 4 where Paul describes the function of leaders in the Church. Jesus has given leaders to the Church “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting…” (Eph 4:11,13). For an analogous purpose, our text today reveals that God has given men to families – men to provide a sense of stability and ballast not only emotionally but doctrinally as well. Our goal as men is that our families not be blown about by every wind of doctrine but stable, able to hold fast to Christ in the midst of the storm.

So, men, what of us? Are we prepared? If not, then what do we need to do to get there? The high and holy calling of manhood is set here before us today. What a privilege to be entrusted with such a calling! Let us rise to it by the grace of God.

And the rest of us, have we given honor and respect to the men in our homes by listening to them, learning from them, and seeking their wisdom? Wives, in particular, have you sought your husband’s counsel? Few things will motivate him to grow more than a wife who loves, trusts, and honors him.

Knowing that we all have failed in this regard – we men have failed to be the resident theologians in our home, we have been lazy with the Word of God; we others have failed to respect the men in our homes and have instead nagged them, or bullied them, or ignored them; let us kneel and confess our sins to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Men and Stability

November 12, 2010 in Bible - NT - 1 John, Ecclesiology, Meditations

1 John 2:13 (NKJV)
13 I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

What is it that separates the men from the boys? This was the question we began to answer last week. What are the lessons that the men in the congregation have to teach us as the people of God?

Last week I remarked on the stability that men provide for family, for church, and for society at large. Men are to be the source of ballast so that come what may – come trials, come hardship, come joy, come sorrow – men provide a clear sense of direction, identity, being.

Today I would like to expand upon this by noting the title that John uses to identify men – “fathers.” The men in the congregation are the “fathers” of the Church. And note that this is not a new designation for the men among God’s people. After all, throughout the Old Testament God was in the business of fulfilling the promises He made to whom? To the “fathers” – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And it is on the basis of the covenants that God made with “the fathers” – the covenants with Abraham, with our fathers under Moses, and with David – that our Lord Jesus Christ took on human flesh for us. And so notice that throughout the many genealogical registers in Scripture – both Old Testament and New – the lists include successive generations of “fathers” who paved the way for the coming of Christ. While including special women here and there, the individuals that provide the sense of stability and continuity with the past are the men.

In other words, as important and indispensible as mothers are, it is through fathers that the history of Israel passed; it was to the fathers that God was faithful; and it is men whom God now calls “fathers” in the Church – fathers whom we are to respect and honor as the source of stability and strength for the Church.

So men have you reckoned with your high calling? Whether or not you are an earthly father, you are a father in Israel. God has called you to be a source of stability and strength in Israel and by means of you is going to pass the faith on to future generations who will look back and number you among “their fathers.” And so, as any good father, our obligation is to lead the way in devotion to the Lord and to His bride, the Church. We should be enthusiastic for worship, zealous for singing the psalms, eager to hear the Word of God, hungry to come to the Supper each week. But if your experience growing up was like mine then it was just the opposite. The women were the spiritual ones; the men abdicated. This ought not to be. We have an obligation to exemplify before the congregation what truly matters, what is worthy of all acceptance. We are to be examples to the flock, to so exemplify the love of Christ for His bride, the Church, that all God’s people be zealous for Her glory and growth to the praise of Christ Himself.

Others – including children, young men, young women, older women – have you shown the fathers in the faith due honor and respect? Our God calls us to “honor our father and our mother” and this includes respecting the men in the congregation generally by expecting of them all that God does. Remind them of God’s calling on them and be encouraged by them to pass the faith on to future generations.

Reminded that we have often despised our fathers in the faith, that we have considered their wisdom passé, that we have rejected their counsel in favor of our own, that we have scorned the gift God has given us in men, let us kneel and confess our sins to the Lord.