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).

Cultivating Hope

October 7, 2018 in Bible - NT - Romans, Ecclesiology, Lord's Day, Meditations, Postmillennialism, Preaching, Resurrection, Word of God

The following was my exhortation for the worship service which Trinity Church held during the 2018 Knox Presbytery (CREC) Stated Meeting. It was a privilege to host presbytery here in Coeur d’Alene and to worship with old friends and new. May the Lord continue to bless our presbytery and give us men of hope to preach in our pulpits and people of hope to fill our pews.

Romans 15:4 (NKJV)

4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

As ministers of the Gospel and officers in Christ’s Church, our fundamental duty is to give our people the Word of God. The Good Shepherd makes His people lie down in green pastures and leads them beside still waters. So as under-shepherds we are to teach our people to love and cherish the Word of God, to drink deeply of the law and the prophets, to chew regularly on the psalms and the Gospels, and to feast freely on the epistles and Revelation. The Word of God is to be our meat and drink.

Paul’s words to the Romans in our text today remind us how we should teach the Word of God. First, he writes that whatever things were written before were written for our learning. The Scriptures were written for our instruction. As we preach and teach the Word of God, therefore, we must do so in such a way that our people grow in their understanding of the Word. The greatest commandment includes loving the Lord our God with all our minds. Therefore we must instruct God’s people, we must engage their minds with our teaching.

This instruction, however, is never to be merely academic. Jonathan Edwards reminds us, “Our people do not so much need to have their heads stored, as to have their hearts touched; and they stand in greatest need of that sort of preaching which has the greatest tendency to do this.” So Paul reminds us that the Scriptures were written in order that we… might have hope. The end of our instruction is to foster hope in our flocks – hope for God’s work in the world and hope for God’s work in their own lives.

So how do we cultivate this sense of hope among our people? Paul writes that we do this through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures. First, through the patience of the Scriptures. One of the ways that we are to feed the hope of our people is by reminding them of God’s patient and persistent work in history and in their lives. When we fail to perceive immediate change – either in our personal fight against sin or in the advance of the Gospel in history – we can grow discouraged. Is there no hope of victory? One of the glorious things that the Scriptures do is remind us that God is patient. He works slowly over the course of our lives, growing us in holiness and righteousness as we walk by faith. And He works slowly over the course of history, causing the Name of His Son to be exalted in the earth. As Isaiah assures us, God’s Servant will not fail nor grow discouraged until He has established justice in the earth.

Second, we feed the hope of our people through the comfort of the Scriptures. We are to remind them regularly of God’s mercy and grace, to direct their vision again and again to the loveliness of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When discouraged by their sin, we point them to Jesus who died on the cross. When overwhelmed with daily tasks, we point them to Jesus who has poured out His Spirit upon us. When despairing of historical progress, we point them to Jesus who sits enthroned at God’s right hand.

So how are you doing? If you are a minister of the Gospel or the head of a family, have you been teaching your flock the Word in such a way that you are enabling them to have hope? And do you embody that hope in your own life? Or have you become discouraged and overwhelmed with the tasks of the day, forgetting the patience and comfort of the Scriptures?

Reminded that we often lose hope, becoming discouraged by our own indwelling sin or disheartened by setbacks in God’s work in history, let us confess our lack of hope to the Lord. And as you are able let us kneel together as we do so. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Discipline is Purposely Painful

September 30, 2018 in Bible - NT - Hebrews, Discipline, Meditations, Parents

Hebrews 12:11 (NKJV)

11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Discipline should be a lively topic in our homes. We ought frequently to be reminding one another of the reasons for chastening. And as we do so, the text before us today should be on our lips.

Notice that Hebrews tells us two things about discipline. First, discipline is purposely painful. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful… No discipline seems enjoyable at the time it is administered; its intention is to be painful. And so, you children out there, when your parents give you a spanking or when your parents give you a consequence for your disobedience – don’t expect the discipline to be enjoyable. Paul tells us that it is supposed to be painful because it is the pain that trains us and fashions us; the pain that teaches us to avoid disobedience in the future.

Most of us parents are adept at delivering this lesson to our children. But how often do we deliver this message to ourselves? Brothers and sisters, the discipline of the Lord does not seem pleasant at the time. When the Lord puts us through some trial or when the Lord disciplines us for sinning against Him, why is it that we expect things to be jolly? He is sharpening us; disciplining us; chastening us. And no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. We expect our children to learn that; so why do we have such a hard time applying it to ourselves? Discipline is purposely painful.

The second thing Paul teaches us is that while discipline is painful temporarily, it is not intended to end in pain. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The ultimate goal of godly discipline is to cultivate the peaceable fruit of righteousness in our lives. Our Lord is training us, sanctifying us, making us more holy. And that which He uses to accomplish this growth is discipline. And it is this goal that should guide us as parents as well. We ought not to discipline our children to vent our anger or to express our frustration or to cover our embarrassment. Discipline is for their good, to train them in righteousness. Its goal is growth.

But note that this growth is not an automatic biproduct of discipline. If we are to see the fruit of righteousness in our lives then we must, in the words of our text, be trained by the discipline. In other words, we must take the discipline to heart and learn from it. We must not harden ourselves to the discpline; must not complain that we have been treated wrongly; must not kick against the goads. Rather we must take the discipline to heart and learn the lesson.

And so, children, how are you responding to the godly discipline of your parents? Are you taking that discipline to heart? Are you acknowledging God’s authority in your life by receiving your parents’ discipline? Does discipline produce in you the peaceful fruit of righteousness? Do you respond to their discipline with humility? Or are you becoming angry, resentful, bitter, or depressed? And what of you adults? Are you responding to the Lord’s chastisement with humility? Or are you becoming angry, resentful, bitter, or depressed? Does a dark cloud surround you when you’ve been disciplined or does the day shine brighter because of it?

As we come into our Father’s presence this morning let us confess that we often respond to His discipline poorly, grumbling and complaining, growing angry or resentful. And as you are able let us kneel together as we do so. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

The Curse of Laziness

September 23, 2018 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Creation, Meditations, Work

Proverbs 10:26 (NKJV)

26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy man to those who send him.

When God created the world, He spent six days laboring and one day in rest. This rhythm of work and rest He then gave as a pattern to men. This pattern is made explicit in the Fourth Commandment. While we typically focus upon the imperative of rest in the Fourth Commandment, we should note that it also contains the duty of work. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt do no work… We are to imitate our God who worked hard by working hard ourselves. Work, in other words, is not among the curses of the fall. Work is one of the tasks that God gave to us in the garden.

In our sin, however, we often invert the rhythm that God has given to us. We either refuse to rest as we ought on the Lord’s Day or we refuse to work as we ought the remainder of the week. It is this latter sin, the sin of laziness, the refusal to work as we ought, that Solomon confronts in our Scripture today. As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy man to those who send him.

Solomon reminds us that we were not created to be lazy. You were made to work, to labor, to His glory. Ora et labora, the Latin phrase says. Pray and work. God has commissioned you to bring order where there is disorder, to bring beauty where there is ugliness, to bring joy where there is sorrow, to bring truth where there is error, to bring light where there is darkness. God has placed you here as His emissary, to work for His glory, and to advance His kingdom.

When we work thus diligently, we are a blessing to others. The lazy man, however, is a curse to his fellow man. He is, Solomon writes, like vinegar to the teeth, removing the enamel so that one’s teeth rot; he is like smoke to the eyes, causing pain and irritation from whose irritation the rational man flees.

So what of you? Are you lazy? God has placed you here to work not to fritter away your time binge watching Netflix or scrolling endlessly through social media. Men, are you devoting yourself to your work, diligently blessing your employer or your customers? Or are you making excuses for why the tasks entrusted to you just never seem to get done, why the service you perform is always slipshod? Parents, are you diligently training your children, bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Or are you making excuses for why they are ill prepared and ungovernable? Children, are you working faithfully at your studies, striving to expand your knowledge and understanding? Or are you failing to complete your work and doing it poorly?

Reminded that we have been called to bless others and to expand God’s kingdom by working diligently to the glory of His Name, let us confess that we are often lazy instead. And as we confess our sins, and as you are able, let us kneel before the Lord. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.