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).

Tithes and Offerings

December 5, 2021 in Bible - OT - Malachi, Giving, Meditations

Malachi 3:8, 10 

8“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings… 10Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 

Recently, several people have asked how we collect tithes and offerings at Trinity Church. Apparently we aren’t doing a very good job of advertising! So for those who aren’t aware, we have a box labeled “Tithes and Offerings” that sits out in the foyer and in which you can put your giving – though you can also give online. Some of you may also be unaware that during our Lord’s Day worship, we bring these tithes and offerings forward as part of our worship. Each Sunday we sing a song of praise and thanksgiving for the Lord’s blessings while the man offering our prayer of thanksgiving brings the tithes and offerings forward and places them on the floor in front of the communion table. 

The reason we do this is that the Scriptures have much to say about wealth because true faith reveals itself in the way we handle our wealth. Consider three things the Scriptures teach us about wealth. First, they insist that wealth is a blessing and a gift from God. So in our text today, the Lord promises to pour out His blessing on those who honor Him with their wealth. And Solomon reminds us,“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Pr 10:22). While others may strive to add sorrow to your wealth, God doesn’t. Abraham, Jacob, Job, David, Joseph of Arimethea, Philemon – all these were righteous men who were also wealthy. So Paul instructs Timothy, “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” (1 Tim 6:18). Wealth is a blessing and a gift from God.

Second, while wealth itself is not a problem, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So, in our text, the Israelites’ love of money made them guilty of robbing God. And in our Lord’s parable of the sower, the seed that is sown among thorns and choked out describes those who “hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mk 4:19). Hence, Jesus warned that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mk 10:25). And Paul warned Timothy that “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim 6:9-10). The love of money is a dangerous snare.

Third, the Scriptures teach that a central way we affirm that wealth is a gift from God and that the love of it is a dangerous snare is by being open-handed with our wealth. Such generosity reveals itself in tithes and offerings. First, tithes. Our tithe is ten percent of our increase in wealth that we return to the Lord as tribute. The tithe affirms that God has given us our wealth and that all we have belongs to Him. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,” God commands through Malachi. Bring your tithe into the very house of God, the church of God. Why? To testify that God is your Lord and that He has given you your vocational work as your divine calling. The tithe testifies that your daily labor is not a distraction from God’s service but one of the principal ways that you serve Him. The tithe is part of your worship of God and reveals that you live for love of Him not for love of money.

Above and beyond these tithes are offerings – gifts of generosity that we offer to those in need, to worthy institutions, to family and friends. The righteous man is known for His generosity. As Psalm 112 attests:

1Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. 2His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. 3Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. 4Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 5A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. (Ps 112:1–5)

A good man deals graciously and lends; he is gracious and full of compassion. So what of you? Have you given thanks for the wealth you have received? Have you been careful to shun the love of money? And have you been open-handed with your wealth – faithfully giving your tithes to the Lord and regularly looking for opportunities to bless others with your wealth? Reminded that God has given us richly all things to enjoy and to share, let us confess that we often fail to pay tribute to God with our tithes, that we are often close-fisted rather than open-handed with our wealth, and that our hearts are often tempted by the deceitfulness of riches. And, as you are able, let us kneel together as we confess our sins to the Lord. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

The Living Stone

November 28, 2021 in Bible - NT - 1 Peter, Meditations, Singing

1 Peter 2:4–5 (NKJV) 

4 Coming to [Jesus] as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the time of year when we recall both God’s promise to our fathers that one day He would send a Son of Adam to rescue us from sin and death and God’s promise to us that one day that Son shall return in glory to vindicate all who trust in Him. It is this Son who is the subject of Peter’s epistle. He is the One who was in the beginning with the Father, full of grace and truth; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her; who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; and who rose again from the dead on the third day and ascended up into heaven. Jesus is the object of our faith.

Peter describes Him in our text as a living stone, the foundation stone of God’s Holy City Jerusalem and the cornerstone of God’s Temple. This stone, Peter tells us, was rejected indeed by men – rather than bowing before Him in worship and praise, we crucified Him. So deep is our depravity as human beings that we rejected the One who would deliver us, killed the physician who would heal us, trampled the shepherd who would lead us, and betrayed the king who would rule over us.

Yet it is this stone, Peter tells us, that was chosen by God and precious. The One we crucified rose again from the dead. He is the Living Stone chosen by God to build up a Temple, a spiritual house, to the glory of God’s Name and to establish a universal priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to the Lord. So how does He build this Temple? Establish this priesthood? As the Living Stone, Jesus builds God’s Temple out of living stones; He sends forth His Spirit and imparts His resurrection life to men and women and children who are, by nature, spiritually dead. He causes our hearts of stone to live, to beat again in love of God and neighbor, that we might become living stones, members of a spiritual house, and priests of God Most High.

So why has God enlivened our stony hearts? Why is He constructing a spiritual Temple from us naturally lifeless stones? Why is He establishing a holy priesthood from us sinful men and women? Peter gives us the answer – to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In other words, God has enlivened us that we might worship Him. Listen to the 9th verse of this same chapter:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

God has chosen us in order that we might proclaim His praises, declare His wonders, and extol His excellencies before all nations. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “God is seeking people to worship Him.”

This Advent our sermons focus once again on Jesus in the Psalms. As we consider the psalms, I would remind you why God has given them to us in the first place – they are meant to be sung. God saved you that you might proclaim His praises, that you might offer up spiritual sacrifices, that you might offer up the fruit of your lips to God. Singing praise to God is not optional – it is the reason God delivered you from your sin. So sing; don’t be self-conscious. Sing; don’t make excuses. Sing; don’t deprive the assembly of your voice. Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth!

As we gather in the Lord’s presence to praise Him, therefore, let us lift up our voices with joy remembering that God has saved us so that we might praise Him. Let us not mumble; let us not be silent in coldness of heart; let us not complain or grumble at God’s ordering our affairs. He saved us that we might offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So reminded that we were saved to sing His praises, let us confess that we have often failed to praise the Lord as we ought and that our country has increasingly turned away from God to idols – and let us kneel as we confess our sin together. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

For the Life of the World

November 7, 2021 in Bible - OT - Nehemiah, Meditations

Nehemiah 4:14

14And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” 

Last week our exhortation was derived from a talk I gave at the CREC Council in Monroe, Louisiana. The Presiding Minister of Council Virgil Hurt asked various men to speak on the theme Fight the Good Fight from Paul’s command to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith…” (1 Tim 6:12). As God’s people we are called to fight against the enemies of God and of His people – the world, the flesh, and the devil – throughout our lives. 

I was asked to speak on the topic, “Why to fight?” I derived the heart of my answer from Nehemiah’s exhortation to the people of Israel in our text today. Nehemiah declared, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” Nehemiah’s exhortation helps us answer the question, “Why to fight?” by directing us to the greatest commandment in the law. And what is the greatest commandment? It is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and the second is like it, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Nehemiah exhorts us to fight the good fight for  love of God and love of neighbor.

So today let us consider what it means to fight for love of neighbor. Nehemiah urged our fathers to “fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” We fight because those around us are worth defending – they are ours – our brethren, our sons, our daughters, our wives, our houses. But in fighting for ours, we also ultimately fight for others. 

Perhaps some of you are aware of the Acton Institute, a think-tank devoted to mere Christianity and to the free market. You may recall that some years ago we went through a video series they published entitled, For the Life of the World, which answers the question, “What is our salvation for?” And the answer is, of course, for the life of the world. We fight for the love of neighbor; hence, we fight for the life of the world. The world is lost, enslaved to sin, blinded by Satan. And so, apart from Christ, the world is a dark and doleful place. And “we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Tit 3:3). But God, in His kindness, saved us from our lost estate. When we were His enemies, Christ died for us and gave Himself for us so that He might reconcile us to God. And so “we are now ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). 

Why do we fight? We fight that our neighbors may escape the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will. We fight that we may demonstrate to our neighbors the beauty of the Gospel and the glory of self-sacrifice, the glory of our God who sent His only begotten Son into the world to destroy the works of the devil in order that He might rescue all the nations from sin and death and fear. And we fight because we know that we shall ultimately win. God has promised Jesus the nations as His inheritance and the ends of the earth as His possession. 

So what of you? When you speak truthfully, live uprightly, give generously, pray openly, weep compassionately, work thankfully are you remembering to do it all for love of neighbor and not promotion of self or love of self? Have you remembered what your salvation is for – that God has saved you that you might shine like stars in the world, displaying the glory of our God even as our Lord Jesus did? Reminded of our call to fight the good fight of faith for love of our neighbors, let us confess that we have often failed to love them and have loved ourselves instead. And as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sins to the Lord. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.