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).

Mothers in History

May 12, 2009 in Church History, Meditations

Psalm 113:4-6,9 (NKJV)
4 The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, 6 Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth? … 9 He grants the barren woman a home, Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Hagar and her son Ishmael were cast out of Abraham’s tent, forced into the wilderness. Wandering in the wilderness with no more water in her waterskin, Hagar placed Ishmael under a shrub to die and herself fell on the ground and cried out to God. God heard her. He appeared to her, showed her a stream of water, and promised that he would be a protector for the boy, raise him up, and make him a great nation.

Hannah was childless and grieving. Meanwhile her husband’s other wife had many children and was mocking her. She knelt, she wept, she cried out to God – and was accused of drunkenness by the priest. Nevertheless, God heard her. She gave birth to Samuel and presented him to the Lord as a prophet in Israel.

Naomi grieved for the loss of her husband and her sons. She called herself Mara, Bitterness, and groaned for her children. Nevertheless, she found comfort in the presence of Ruth. And when Ruth found the fields of Boaz, it was Naomi who cried out to God and encouraged Ruth to seek out Boaz’s protection. God heard her. Boaz married Ruth and prepared the way for the coming of Messiah.

A widow of one of the prophets of Israel, who had been a righteous man, was facing destitution, anticipating the day her sons would be sold into slavery. She cried out to God and petitioned his servant Elisha to help her. God heard her. Elisha multiplied her oil, she paid her creditors and she and her sons lived on the rest.

The Shunammite woman was full of faith but empty of children. Her husband was old and they had no child. She had given up crying out to God – but God heard her and gave her a son by the word of Elisha. But then her son died. In faith she cried out to God and sought out Elisha His prophet. God heard her. Elisha raised her son from the dead and gave him new life.

Mary was a righteous young woman, pregnant by God’s own power and facing the prospect of a betrothed who was determined to divorce her. She cried out to God and God heard her. He visited Joseph in a dream and Joseph remained with her becoming the human father of our Lord.

The widow of Nain was grieved, shattered, broken by the death of her only son. The funeral procession moved through the town toward the graveyard. She wept, no longer crying for help, crying in sorrow. God heard her. He came to the procession, raised the boy, and gave him back to his mother.

Monica was grieved for her son. He was profligate like his father, determined to scorn the God she served. But she cried out to God. God heard her. He broke through the darkness of her son’s blindness and Augustine became one of the greatest thinkers the Church would ever know.

Brothers and sisters, the love of mothers has prompted God to move and to act from the earliest days of biblical history to today. So mothers – love your children and pray for them. God will hear you. Others – love your mothers and give thanks to God for them. Reminded that we have taken our mothers for granted, let us kneel and seek God’s forgiveness.

Marriage & Trinitiarian Life

May 5, 2009 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Marriage, Trinity

On Sunday delivered a message on marriage and Trinitarian life. It is available here. Since it contained a diagram that I can’t get on the sermon site, decided to put it here. In answering the question how does Trinitarian life relate to marriage, Paul makes a connection for us in 1 Corinthians 11, where he is addressing the issue of a covering of authority for the women in Corinth. In verses 3 and 7 Paul makes two independent but related assertions, assertions which unfold for us how we as husbands and wives can appropriate Jesus’ prayer for Trinitarian fellowship John 17:20-23.

1 Corinthians 11:3,7 (NKJV)
3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God…7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

I have endeavored to visualize the point that Paul is making in these verses with the diagram below. In verse 3, Paul outlines various lines of submission and authority that exist in the world (this is not an exhaustive list – Paul is merely trying to outline why it is fitting for a woman to have a covering). The “head” – the authority – over every man is Christ, over the woman is a man, and over Christ is the Father. In v. 7, Paul then explains why it would be inappropriate for a man to wear a symbol of authority on his head. Why? Because he is the image and glory of the Father: in his calling as head of his home, he images the authority of the Father. But for a woman, a symbol of authority is fitting. Why? Because she is the image and glory of her man: in her submission to her husband, she images the submission of the man to the authority of Christ.
Hopefully the diagram will help as we ask some questions of the text. First, how can a man learn what his headship, his authority is to look like? He can look at two things – he can look at the way in which Christ treats him as a disciple. But he can also look at the way in which the Father relates to the Son – he can observe the Father’s role in the Godhead and grow to be a faithful head.

Second, how can a woman learn what her submission, her subjection is to look like? She can look at two things – she can look at the way in which her husband responds to the authority of Christ over him – note the burden this places upon husbands to be modeling submission. But she can also look at the way in which the Son relates to the Father and honors Him – she can observe the Son’s role in the Godhead and grow to be a faithful subject.

Notice also that the man is in a unique position. The man is not only the image and glory of the Father in his capacity as head, he is also the image and glory of Christ in his capacity as subject. What does this mean? It means, as we said above, that the man too needs to learn to submit. And where can he learn this lesson? He can learn by observing the way in which the Son submits to the Father and the way in which his wife submits to him.

On a human level, therefore, the mutuality among the persons of the Godhead is a lesson for both men and women. Men don’t look just to the Father, but also to the Son. And, we might add, women don’t look just to the Son, but to the Father. For, in certain circumstances, as for example within the home with children, the woman is an authority and so needs to know what the exercise of that authority looks like. This is why, incidentally, Paul begins his exhortations to husbands and wives in Ephesians 5 with the general admonition, “be submitting to one another in the fear of God” (5:21). God is our Father, he is our Lord, He is our authority, and so as disciples of Christ husbands and wives should be mutually learning from one another the meaning of their separate roles.

Necessary Holiness

May 5, 2009 in Bible - NT - Hebrews, Meditations, Sanctification

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14

Back when I was in college a nefarious idea was spreading itself through Christian circles. The idea was that one could receive Jesus as their personal savior while refusing to submit to His Lordship; that one could be delivered from eternal destruction and yet have no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in his life.

The text today belies such a notion and informs us in no uncertain terms that the pursuit of holiness is not optional. We are to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

Notice first that we are to pursue it. “To pursue” means to strive to do something with an intense effort to a goal, to press forward, to follow in haste. In other contexts this same word is used to describe persecution – to hound someone so that they cannot escape your clutches. And so, Hebrews tells us, this is to be our approach to holiness. We are to hunt it down, seek it out, press forward.

But what is the goal? What is it we are hunting down? What is this holiness? Holiness is dedication to the Lord and, hence, to moral purity. In other places, it is called sanctification, the state of being set apart. In this sense, holiness means to be separated to the Lord’s service. And so the temple in the OT was called holy – a sanctuary, a place set apart for the worship of God. So what is our goal? To be living sacrifices, set apart for the worship of the Lord.

Hebrews tells us we are to pursue this sanctification. We are to hunt it down. Bring out the blood hounds and find it. And he appends a warning to his admonition to prod us in the posterior lest we become complacent – without this holiness, we won’t see the Lord.

So, how are we doing? Are we hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Are we seeking first the kingdom of God? Are we selling everything to buy the pearl of great price? Are we scouring the house to find the coin?

None of us, of course, are adequate for such things. And this is why we stand in such need of the Spirit of grace who creates within us this very holiness, who cultivates within us the desire to pursue.

And so, as we come into the presence of our Lord this day, let us confess that we have not pursued sanctification as we ought and let us kneel and call upon His mercy to receive us and forgive us for the sake of Christ.