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).

When Pride Comes Then Comes Shame

March 10, 2019 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Covenantal Living, Depravity, Judgment, Justice, King Jesus, Meditations, Responsibility, Sanctification, Sin, Temptation

Proverbs 11:2 (NKJV)

2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

In Proverbs 6:16-19, Solomon tells us that there are six things that the Lord hates, yes seven which are an abomination to Him. At the head of that list are “proud looking eyes.” God hates pride.

So what is pride? Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines pride as, “Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.” So pride is first an attitude of the heart that then manifests itself in action. The attitude of the heart is an “inordinate” or “unreasonable” self-esteem and conceit. The proud man imagines himself to be more than he is.

We witness this “boastful pride of life”, as the Apostle John calls it in 1 John 2:16, in the fall of Satan and in the temptation of our first parents. Paul warns us not to appoint a new convert to church office “lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Tim 3:6). It was the devil’s pride, his belief that he could be equal to God his Creator, that precipitated his rebellion against God and then ended in his defeat and judgment. Similarly, Satan lured the first woman, Eve, to eat of the forbidden fruit by promising her that if she rebelled against God and partook of the forbidden fruit then she would “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5). Pride plunged the entire human race into sin and misery.

According to Solomon, pride always ends in shame. “When pride comes, then comes shame…” Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden fruit and immediately their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked and were ashamed. The builders of the tower of Babel set out to “make a name” for themselves but ended in mass confusion and dispersion. Miriam rose up in pride against Moses and King Uzziah entered the temple in his pride and both were struck with leprosy, shamed before their peoples. Haman’s pride stretched his neck on the gallows and Herod Agrippa’s pride welcomed the worms that ate his bowels. “When pride comes, then comes shame…”

But Solomon continues our proverb. “When pride comes, then comes shame, But with the humble is wisdom.” “But…” isn’t that a glorious word? We are not sentenced to shame. Shame need not be our lot in life. “But with the humble is wisdom.” The humble man is the one who knows his place and joyfully occupies it to the glory of God. That man shall not be put to shame. “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’” (Rom 10:11). The humble shall possess wisdom and honor. “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Jas 4:6). Abraham possesses the gates of his enemies; Moses dies an old man, greatly esteemed in Israel; Joshua is summoned by God to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land; Ruth tends to her mother-in-law Naomi; Mary welcomes the Lord’s selection of her to serve as the mother of Jesus. “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). But with the humble is wisdom.

So what of you? Do you struggle with shame? One cause may very well be that you have been proud, thinking more of yourself than you ought, imagining yourself more significant than you are. There are, of course, other causes of shame. However, pride – a refusal to worship God as God and to listen to Him and submit to His Word as our source of wisdom and life – is one of the chief causes of shame.

And so reminded that with pride comes shame but with the humble is wisdom, let us confess that we have often given way to pride, thinking ourselves wiser than we are. And as we confess our sin to the Lord, let us kneel in His presence. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Honesty in our Business Dealings

February 24, 2019 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Covenantal Living, Giving, Justice, King Jesus, Meditations, Principles and Methods, Responsibility, Wealth

Proverbs 11:1 (NKJV)

1 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight.

The Proverbs regularly remind us that the Lord is passionately concerned about the marketplace. Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord – He hates them – but a just weight is His delight – an honest transaction causes God to rejoice. Our text reveals that the Living God takes an interest in the food we buy, the gasoline we put into our cars, and the drinks we consume. Unfortunately, however, we often get His interest in such things wrong.

On the one hand, we can get it wrong by imagining that the products we buy or the foods we consume will get us closer to God. If I avoid pig, God will be pleased; if I consume more fruits and nuts, I’ll get closer to God. Nothing, however, is further from the truth. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 8:8, “But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.” Want to avoid gluten or sugars or transfats or squid? Go for it! Want to eat all of those at once? Enjoy. Do you want to put regular unleaded in your car? Go ahead. Premium unleaded? Knock yourself out. In the new covenant, what you use does not matter. None of that will get you closer to God nor distance you from Him.

Second, we can get it wrong because we imagine that these things exist in a little secular part of our life. Since it doesn’t matter what we use, we reason that the way we make use of them must be totally irrelevant to our spiritual life. So we divide the sacred and the secular. Our sacred life is our church life or our prayer life or our Bible reading time; our secular life is our trip to Fred Meyer or our visit to the Exxon station. But there is no such secular/sacred dichotomy. All of life is to be devoted to the service of God. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). All of life is sacred.

So what do the Proverbs teach us about the marketplace? They teach us that, with some notable exceptions, God’s concern is usually the nature of the transaction not the material transacted. God is concerned with the way you are treating your neighbor. He wants honesty in the transaction. He wants sellers who sell what they advertise and buyers who pay with honest money. His interest is in the nature of the transaction – because it is in that transaction that you either love your neighbor or hate him.

So what does our text require? On the one hand, it requires business owners to be honest in their dealings with customers. Don’t claim to sell that which you are not selling. When you have sold a pound of licorice, give a pound. When your pump disperses a gallon of gas, make sure it disperses a gallon. When you bill a certain number of hours on a project, make sure you spent that many hours on it. Be an honest seller.

On the other hand, it requires customers to be honest in their dealings with sellers. Don’t use counterfeit money; don’t buy something so that you can simply use it for 30 days and then return it; don’t rack up debt on a credit card that you cannot repay. When you’ve obtained goods from a supplier or services from a medical professional, don’t perpetually delay payment when you have the ability to pay. Be an honest buyer.

Reminded of our obligation to love others in the way we transact business, let us acknowledge that our culture is awash with injustice and that we ourselves often treat others unjustly – we do those things which the Lord hates. And as we confess, let us kneel together as we are able. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Restoration to Fellowship

February 17, 2019 in Authority, Bible - NT - 2 Corinthians, Confession, Covenantal Living, Discipline, Ecclesiology, Liturgy, Meditations, Responsibility, Sin

2 Corinthians 2:5–11 (NKJV)

5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

For the last couple weeks we have been studying Matthew 18, in part to prepare for today. We have seen that Jesus teaches us to deal with our brother’s sin compassionately and to rejoice over the one lost sheep who is restored to the fold. Today the elders have the privilege of restoring a lost sheep to worship and to the Lord’s Supper. We are pleased to report that after —- sin was exposed, he responded by confessing his sin and professing repentance. For the last few months he has been walking out this repentance and has humbly submitted to the discipline of the church. He has sought the forgiveness of those he has wronged, has developed a plan for accountability and growth, and has striven to reconcile with his wife. Therefore, based on his profession of repentance and the fruit that has accompanied that profession, the elders rejoice to restore him.

Paul provides us guidance for this action in our text today. Paul had written to the Corinthians commanding them to censure a man in their congregation who was committing sexual sin. The Corinthians acted on Paul’s command and inflicted a fitting punishment upon him – they suspended him from the Supper. It appears that after they disciplined him the man was moved to repentance. Consequently, in our text today, Paul urges them to forgive the man and to restore him to fellowship in the body. Paul writes, “you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.”

Jay Adams notes that the “word reaffirm is a specialized term… meaning to officially reinstate.” As part of the restoration process, therefore, the elders want to give you opportunity to reaffirm your love for —— and to assure him that he is forgiven and welcomed back into the congregation. Hence, we have asked him to come up front, to confess his sin to you here in the assembly, and to seek your forgiveness. At the conclusion of his letter, I will invite you to reaffirm your love for him; to declare loudly and thankfully, “You are forgiven. Alleluia!”

Form for Readmission to Fellowship:

Public Confession

Pastor: Brothers and sisters, this sheep that was lost has been found and restored to the fold. So let us reaffirm our love for him.

Congregation: You are forgiven! Alleluia!

Officer Prayer

Family of God, moments such as this remind us how great the Father’s love is for His flock. He forgives us and removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west, He remembers our sins no more. Though our sins be like scarlet, yet, through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ, He makes them white as snow, white as wool. He grants us forgiveness freely and fully so that we can, in turn, forgive one another. And so, reminded of the greatness of His love and the freeness of His forgiveness, let us all together confess our sins to the Lord and seek His face. And as we confess, let us kneel together as we are able. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.