A couple follow-up notes

In a follow-up to my previous post, first here are three quotes...

"He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake." (Augustine)

"...every moment in every circumstance we stand on the brink between the lure of idolatry and the delight of seeing and knowing God." (John Piper)

"Tolerate nothing in your life that might diminish your hunger for God's Word." (Sam Storms)

Also, an excellent article by Douglass Moo from Ligonier Ministries' daily devotional, "Tabletalk" Magazine, has been posted at Desiring God, entitled "The Key to Christian Living". It speaks of the Christian's "new relationship to sin."

Read, reflect, and "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. 3:18)

We Have Too Small a View of Sin

"Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight." (Psalm 51:4)

The following is perhaps the best analysis of sin and exposition of David's confession in Psalm 51:4 that I have read. It effectively gets deeper to the root of sin than most people usually go. Sin is so much more than just doing or thinking things I shouldn't that displease God ("sins of commission") or not doing or thinking things I should ("sins of omission"). I commend to you this excerpt of a sermon by Rick Gamache entitled "Whiter Than Snow" for your thoughtful, prayerful meditation.

I believe what David is saying in verse 4 is that all sin is a preference for the fleeting pleasures of the world and the flesh over the everlasting joy of God’s fellowship. This is why the Christian life is a life of repentance (like Martin Luther said), not because every time we sin we lose our status as God’s children and have to get saved all over again. Our status never changes. We are always God’s children, we are still declared to be holy even when we sin, we are still the heirs of his Kingdom.

But our sin affects our relationship with God. Our sin breaks our fellowship with God. David realizes that before he ever committed adultery with Bathsheba, he committed spiritual adultery against God. Why did he need her? Why was he willing to murder his own friend for her? It is because before David ever sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, he lost the joy of his salvation. That is why he asks for the joy to be restored [Psalm 51:12].

We sin because we forget God’s steadfast love and abundant mercy. When we are not ravished by him, we forget the superior pleasures that there are in God and give ourselves to the inferior pleasures of sin. And this is why David says, “Against you God, you only have I sinned.” He goes deep with his confession because he knows repentance is the way back to fellowship with God.

I think it is absolutely amazing and very telling, given what we know about the situation, that David never mentions sexual sin in Psalm 51. He’s not mainly praying that the Lord would provide him with good accountability. He’s not mainly praying that God would give him self-control and protect his eyes and his mind. Those are all good things. But David does not mention them here because his sexual sin — and every sexual sin — is the symptom of the disease not the disease. Sexual sin is a symptom of lack of fullness of joy and gladness in Jesus. It’s a symptom of a lack of being ravished by the love and kindness and mercy and goodness and beauty and excellence and majesty and glory and honor and power of God.

Are you willing to admit with me that multiple times on any given day we lose our joy in God and His salvation? We are so easily distracted and lose the "fullness of joy and gladness in Jesus" and fail to be enthralled with the greatest Treasure of the universe who should be at all times our Supreme Joy.

When we view it this way, sin becomes the hideous monster that it is. "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom. 7:24,25a)

Dear reader, when we truly see our sin for what it is and the offense that it is to a holy and loving God, we will recognize our need to become abandoned to our glorious Savior and to His Spirit-empowered Word which alone transforms our calloused hearts to embrace new and holy affections!

"God came through"

"The Lord does whatever pleases Him..." (Psalm 135:6)

"Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases." (Psalm 115:3)

"I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2) 

The other day I was watching a short promotional video online for some new church ministry resource. I honestly don't even remember what it was for, but one thing did catch my attention - hence this blog post today... The speaker painted the picture of some bleak situation and as he set up the resolution for how God intervened, he said, "God came through."

I'd like to invite us to think carefully and critically about that expression, as it's one that probably crops up from time to time, and of course used in innocent ways by people who want to honor the Lord and His sovereign intervention in our lives to help those in need. But think about what that expression implies. Doesn't it subtly suggest that things were really out of control (even God's?!) until God finally figured things out and got the upper hand? Doesn't it likewise carry with it the idea that we are wiser than God and are the ones who really should be calling the shots and that we are glad that God finally came around to our point of view and finally did what we always knew needed to be done?

We also need to think about what we're implying if God did NOT "come through" in the prescribed manner. Did God fail to "come through" for Stephen as he breathed his last with his eyes beholding the glory of Christ at the right hand of the Father (Acts 7)? Is God failing to "come through" for our many Christian brothers and sisters who face another year of imprisonment and/or persecution for their enduring faith? And did God fail to "come through" for our own Savior, who asked that He might be spared from having to drink the cup of God's wrath for our sin?

Friends, God's back is never up against a wall. He is never wringing His hands, trying to figure out a way to help us out of our predicaments. If you are prone to using this expression, may I urge you - I hope lovingly! - to stop, and to instead allow God to test and refine your faith as you endure in Your delight in Him, regardless of what He may or may not do according to your expectations!

Tolerance Based on What?

Once upon a time "tolerance" was based on truth. Specifically the truth that if I am able to coerce you (by manipulation or force) to adopt my position/belief/faith, I have not truly converted you; I have simply driven your convictions below the surface because of my superior force or intellect or threat of retribution. Conversion by force is no true conversion. This kind of "truth-based tolerance" used to be "the power that kept lovers of competing faiths from killing each other" (Piper). When practiced (and of course it was not always practiced!), such tolerance allowed those with competing truth claims to live peaceably, but also encouraged healthy dialogue regarding those truth claims.

Of course, "once upon a time" seems oh so long ago, for the prevailing sense of tolerance is no longer based on truth, but (I would argue) on "peace." Especially when it comes to matters of religious faith, the prevalent view is that the various faiths do not compete with one another, but rather complement each other. It takes the "truth-based tolerance" beyond the truth that we cannot seek to bring about conversions by force, adding the idea that attempts to convert others should not be practiced, since they are unnecessary because there are no superior truth claims with all being equally valid. This is (supposedly) the path to peace. This is the solution to, "Why can't we all just get along?!"

I am compelled to ask:  How can it not be readily seen that truth claims that are mutually exclusive do not and can not "complement" each other? How is it that all it takes for someone's beliefs to be "true for them" is their level of sincerity of those beliefs (or perhaps how widely held or respected those beliefs are by others)?

Much can be/needs to be/has been written about this, so I will simply - for now! - conclude with this longing for the Church of Jesus Christ. I hope followers of Jesus will quickly see that such "peace-based tolerance" is no tolerance at all, but rather a strategy of our enemy to silence the Church! Peace (or "love," or "unity," etc. - or the world's view of these things) cannot and will not come at the expense of Truth! Truth trumps this kind of peace all the time.

Speak the Truth, friends! But do so in love!

"Foolish and Dangerous"

In his preface to his book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals ("A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry"), John Piper writes, "More and more, true Christianity is becoming what it was at the beginning: foolish and dangerous.

The Gospel and "true Christianity" is "foolish" to the world because until the Spirit of God enables blind eyes to see and corrupt hearts to desire the truth and beauty of the glorious Gospel, it remains incomprehensible (1 Cor. 1:18-23). God actually became a Man? Most people did not recognize this Man to be God-sent? He was rejected by the very rulers of His own people who knew their religious system better than anyone else? He was crucified along with other common criminals? And then He supposedly came to life again?! And His followers claim that trusting this crucified, risen-again God-Man is the ONLY way to know God or enter heaven with your sins forgiven and wiped clean, without any contribution of your own? I will endure the eternal wrath of God for my "sin" if I continue on my own way without this Jesus? ~ Scandalous! Incredulous! "Foolish"!

Those whose eyes have been opened and hearts have been changed to turn to embrace the glorious Gospel will then likewise be seen as "foolish." And therefore - for many - the "way of the Cross" will also become "dangerous". "Dangerous" because those who daily take up their crosses to follow their Master will live lives and hold values that are in stark contrast to everyone else. And as they do so - living as "the light of the world" - the world will run from the light (John 3:19-20), as the cockroaches used to do in our home in South Carolina! The result will be that some will think they are doing good by doing harm to Christians (John 16:2).

In this context, the temptation for individual Christians and churches alike will be to try to find ways to make the Gospel more attractive and less confrontational. Against this tendency we must reinforce our resolve to proclaim the scandal of the Cross. To this point Piper writes, "the center of Christianity...is the dishonorable, foolish, gruesome, and utterly glorious reality of the tortured God-Man, Jesus Christ. More and more, He must become the issue. Not a vague, comfortable, pleasant Jesus that everybody likes but the one who is a "stumbling block" to Jews and "foolishness" to Gentiles. The closer you get to what makes Christianity ghastly, the closer you get to what makes it glorious." (Emphasis added.)

Dear Christian, are you willing to endure hardship for our Captain? Are you prepared to sacrifice whatever it takes to make the glorious Gospel of our Jesus known to those for whom Christ died? You are the aroma of Jesus to the world around you - perhaps the only source of that for some. We all want to be the fragrance of eternal life, but for some we may be the stench of death! (2 Cor. 2:15-16) March into the fray today, dear friend, with your eyes on Jesus and let Him lay out the course you are to run (Heb. 12:1-3)... then run as a "fool for Jesus"!**

(**Two businessmen once approached a man walking the streets of New York wearing a sandwich board over his shoulders. They snickered in mockery as they read the front: "I'm a fool for Jesus Christ." Their sneers turned into thoughtful contemplation as they read the back: "Whose fool are you?")