Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age

[In Wil’s January 28 sermon, he referred to Rosaria Butterfield’s 2023 book, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. The lies are: Homosexuality is Normal, Being a Spiritual Person is Kinder than being a Biblical Christian, Feminism is Good for the World and for the Church, Transgenderism is Normal, and Modesty is an Outdated Burden that Serves Male Dominance and Holds Women Back. Here are some excerpts to ponder. I found especially helpful her discussion of the difference between acceptance and approval (p. 279 and following). Page numbers are in brackets.]

What exactly does it mean to be made in God’s image? An image of yourself is what you see when you stand in front of a mirror. God is the object in the biblical creation account, and we are the reflection. Therefore, to reflect God’s image accurately, we need to look at him through the mirror of the word of God illuminated through the Holy Spirit. [28]

Homosexual orientation, a nineteenth-century Freudian invention (Sigmund Freud, 1856–1939), is an unbiblical category of personhood and an antagonist to the creation ordinance because it redefines sinful desire as something that defines who you are rather than how you feel. Lie #1 claims that the word of God doesn’t apply to homosexual orientation because homosexual orientation represents a person’s core truth…. We must ponder why God’s attribute of immutability has been embraced by the LGBTQ+ movement as an attribute of homosexual orientation…. When we hear “homosexual orientation is fixed and immutable—it never changes,” this is only imaginable in a world that has already exchanged the worship of the Creator for the worship of the creature, of God for an idol. “Gay Christians” … teach that you can’t repent of who you are, how you feel, or even what you desire. They believe that homosexual orientation is morally neutral, separate from one’s sin nature, cannot be repented of, and rarely changes over a person’s lifetime. This is a lie. [32]

“Coming out of the closet” and describing yourself by sin will never help you to repent from it, flee from it, and be delivered from it…. The idea that you should always “come out” and share with everyone your sinful desires happened because homosexual desire was transformed from sin (which demands repentance) to a morally neutral category of personhood (LGBTQ+), which demands affirmation and celebration…. All atheistic paradigms of personhood hate the very people they claim to love by denying them soul care. [44]

[After telling of how a pastor’s family invited her to dinner and shared Psalm 113 in evening devotions] And so it was that Psalm 113 changed my life. I looked into its mirror, and I saw how short I had fallen from God’s will. God used the offense of God’s word for the good of my soul…. Instead of lesbianism being who I was, I now understood it as both a lack of righteousness and a willful transgressive action. I was no victim. I was no “sexual minority” needing a voice in the church. I needed to grow in sanctification—just like everyone else in the church. I learned that we repent of sin by hating it, killing it, turning from it. But we also “add” the virtue of God’s word. It is light that changes darkness. The Bible calls us to mortify (kill) and vivify (enliven). I realized that Christians are given a new nature, yet we have sin patterns that we need to kill, to be sure. [63-64]

[In interacting with the pastor’s family, Butterfield realized that she did not know any women who were homemakers] Mothering was a fascinating job, not terribly unlike being a research professor: you must do one thing at a time well, and you must have flexibility and good humor as you carry on. [65]

[Puritan pastor] Thomas Watson say[s] that in the life of a true Christian, while we cannot “see” faith (and therefore we cannot see into the heart of others), we can see repentance. And if we don’t see repentance, we have no reason to believe that there is faith. [89]

When I sin or desire to sin, as a new creation in Christ I am now acting against my new nature. Sexual sin is a bear because of the body memories that it leaves in its wake, but body memories are part of my biography, not my new nature in Christ…. It exerts the same kind of temptation that the Israelites experienced in wanting to return to Egypt in the wilderness. [91-92]

Psalm 51 reveals that the Christian must fight even unchosen sin. [96]

Genuine Christians repent of all sin (including the sin that feels natural and good) because they trust Jesus more than they trust themselves. [104]

(Wil quoted this passage) It all comes down to this: Do you trust your feelings, or do you trust the word of God? Do you perceive your feelings through the word of God, or do you perceive the word of God through your feelings? Do your feelings know you best, or does the God who made you? [106]

[Jesus asks an invalid,] “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6). Let that linger for a moment. Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be made well on Jesus’s terms or your own? Does the Christian who calls himself gay want to be made well on God’s terms?… For the man to be healed, he needed to embrace the terms that Jesus was going to set. [111]

The mature Christian life is one of constant fleeing to the throne of grace for mercy, grace, and forgiveness of our sins. [114]

If the Bible is false, flawed, semitrue, or just true in the red letters, then none of it is true. If you aren’t convinced of that, then the minute the Bible crosses you, that part you will declare an ancient bias and no longer binding. [116]

[When biblical truth first appealed to her] At this point in my life, there was no room to believe it, because I already believed other things, and those other things left no room for Jesus. My complex belief system was important to me. I wasn’t a blank slate open to God’s word. I was filled to the brim with chaos and sin and anxiety and people who looked up to me…. I realized that my own feminist worldview was more than just a set of ideas. It was a religion. [147-149]

We must deal with sin at its first occurrence because the second will always be worse. [155]

[Calvin’s Institutes 1.1.2] “Because nothing appears within or around us that has not been contaminated by great immorality, what is a little less vile pleases us as a thing most pure—so long as we confine our minds within the limits of human corruption.” [157]

When feminism is the interpretative tool for reading Scripture, the powerful, supernatural word of God shrinks into an easily manipulated tool of sociology, revealing power plays and oppressors and offering no hope beyond its creation of new possibilities and new words to express one’s never-ending hurt. [178]

We need to ask the question, If the biblical account of creation cannot be trusted to teach us about what makes women distinct, where ought we to go for this insight? This is where the usefulness of feminism as a gospel frame crumbles in the foolishness that it is. It wants an essential and distinct women’s voice at the same time that it rejects a biblical origin for what makes a woman distinct. [187]

Transgenderism will be the final nail in the coffin of feminism. Why? Because you cannot defend the civil rights of a woman if you don’t know what she is. [191]

Real love confronts the lie that suffering people can’t help but envy others. Real love does not envy (1 Cor. 13:4). [202]

We live in a culture that ascribes truth to feelings and perceptions, and it fears hurting people’s feelings more than encouraging them to permanently mutilate their bodies. [213]

[Puritan pastor Jeremiah Burroughs in The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment] reminds us that the real question is not “What do I need?” but rather, “What is my duty?” Burroughs asks it like this: “What is the duty of the circumstances that God has put me in?” [244]

[Reflecting again on her first experience of sharing a meal in a Christian home] This night became for me a mirror. I looked into it and saw ugly things in myself and lovely things in God’s family. The first had to do with diversity—an important word in my lesbian community. While I proclaimed the value of diversity, the reality was that I had spent the past decade around people just like me—white, thirty-something, humanities PhDs in lesbian relationships. The mirror of this night was dramatic irony at its best. It was at my first experience of a Christian family feast, held at the straight, white, male pastor’s house, where I found myself in the most diverse crowd I had inhabited in years, maybe a lifetime. Men, women, children of every age. [251]

Our social media–saturated world encourages Christian women to replace modesty with exhibitionism.  [258]

The difference between acceptance and approval: Acceptance means living in reality and not fantasy. If your daughter calls herself a lesbian, you need to accept that. If your son Rex calls himself Mathilda, you need to accept this. He really is living in such a dangerous state of delusion and deception. That is reality right now. Acceptance is an important step in seeing the person you love in the sin pattern in which he is trapped. Acceptance, however, does not include believing his interpretation of how he got here or what it means. Acceptance does not include believing that Rex really is Mathilda. Acceptance does not include being manipulated by the therapist who asks, “Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?” Acceptance does not lose sight of Jesus and the cross he calls us to bear. Approval means that you give the whole situation a blessing. Approval means more than loving your daughter in her sin. It means calling her sin by another name (“grace,” “blessing,” or “illness”) and compartmentalizing and shrinking your Christian life in the process. [279]

While acceptance is not approval, acceptance is a great kindness. Acceptance means dealing protectively and gently with the person who is lost. [283]

Don’t give your prodigal reasons to run. And don’t take responsibility for your prodigal’s decision if she does run. [283]

[Speaking to parents of a prodigal child] You must get to a faithful church for the sake of your own soul. You need more help than you think. You are more vulnerable than you believe. Church is not a social club; it’s training for war. Like it or not, the theater of this spiritual war is your home and your heart and your family. [284]

Have you read Christopher Yuan and Angela Yuan (son and mother cowriting team) in their memoir of faith, Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God. A Broken Mother’s Search for Hope? If not, please do. This book is our most faithful trail guide for accepting and loving, but not approving of, your beloved prodigal. [285]

Going boldly to the throne of grace requires daily repentance of your own sin, but this means not taking on your prodigal’s sin as your own. It means repenting of the sin of self-pity. Satan wants you to feel responsible that you have a prodigal child. He wants you to think that it is all your fault, and that God is punishing you. He wants you to look at other families and covet what they have. Nothing that comes from Satan is helpful or true—even half-truths are lies. If you have fallen into sins of covetousness, repent and ask God to help you love your calling as a prayer warrior for a prodigal. [285]

It is the church that holds the keys to the kingdom, not the HR department enforcing transgender pronouns. Things have changed—and we need to discern how those changes impact our lives. But the gospel hasn’t changed. God hasn’t changed. Here at the Butterfields’, the gospel still comes with a house key. [She then tells a story of a frank but gracious interaction with her gay neighbors about the Bible, vaccines, and spheres of authority.] [293]

The Right Path

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25).

In my 14 January sermon, we spoke of this way that seems right to us as the way of taking – taking rather than giving. God is a Giver – when we display His image, we too are givers rather than takers.

Let’s now think more broadly about the image in this proverb:

You are on a lengthy walk. You come to a point where numerous paths come together. How can you choose the right one?

Jesus tells us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

That is: “The right path is ME! Every other path has its attractions – but they all lead AWAY from the Father and thus TOWARDS death!”

Note that our Lord tells us to choose the right GOAL, and then to choose the right PATH TO REACH THE GOAL.

The right goal is the Father – our Creator, our Redeemer, who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). He is the source of “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17); in the end He will wipe every tear from your eyes (Revelation 21:4) and will provide you with fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11).

Other goals tempt us. We pursue instead recognition or approval or money or accomplishment or security or friendship and joy in this life. None of those are bad in and of themselves; all can be among the good gifts that God grants. But when we choose a path because it seems to lead to one or more of these goals, we end up on the path to death.

So we must pursue the right GOAL: The Father.

That’s a necessary requirement for choosing the right path.

But many have the right goal in mind but still are on the wrong path – because they choose a path other than Jesus:

  • Some choose the path of self-improvement: “I can make myself acceptable to God! I’ll live a better life than most people!”
  • Others choose the path of appeasement: “If I sacrifice this or that, if I worship Him in this way, if I perform that ritual, then God will accept me!”
  • Others choose a path that sort of looks like Jesus but isn’t: “I made a profession of faith when I was 15;” “I attend a Bible-believing church every Sunday;” “I read my Bible daily;” “I accepted Jesus into my heart.”

Again, none of these are bad in and of themselves – many are often part of a genuine Christian life. But they cannot be THE PATH; they cannot be WHAT WE DEPEND ON.

Jesus says there is no path to the Father other than Himself. He is not ONE source of truth or ONE alternative way to pursue life. He ALONE is the source of Truth; He ALONE is the source of Life. Every other path that seems right to us leads not to Life, not to the Father, but to death and destruction.

Furthermore, note one vital difference between Jesus as the path and those alternatives that just look a bit like Jesus. The alternatives depend either on a ritual – church attendance, Bible reading – or on a past act. In contrast, when Jesus is the path, WE PUT OUR WEIGHT ON HIM EVERY STEP. That is, we are tempted, and turn quickly to Him asking for grace to help in time of need. We sin, and we seek forgiveness from the Father through Jesus. We have a decision to make – and we ask for wisdom and grace through Jesus. To be on Jesus as the path is to live a life of active dependence on Him.

So the Father is THE ONLY GOAL WORTH PURSUING. And Jesus is THE WAY. There is no other path to the Father. Every other path leads to death.

Take Jesus as the path – and thereby find the truth and the life.

Advent: Of the Father’s Love Begotten

“Jesus is born!”

Every December we raise our voices in song proclaiming this event. We sing together carols written in the last few centuries; we rightly compose and sing new songs of praise.

But what songs did our brothers and sisters in Christ sing 1500 years ago?

In his introduction to a 1946 translation of Athanasius’ On the Incarnation of the Word of God,  C.S. Lewis writes:

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.

As with books, so with carols. We do well to interact with hymn texts not only from our century, not only from the previous three centuries, but also from the early years of the church. Such texts may state biblical truths in a different form from what we are used to; they may emphasize truths that we ignore; they may err in ways that are obvious to us – and so remind us that we most likely err in ways that would be obvious to believers of that era.

In our Advent services this year we have sung a carol written in Greek in the fourth century, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.”  Here is another text of that era that is well worth your contemplation: “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” written by the poet Aurelius Prudentius and translated in the 19th century by John Mason Neale and Henry Baker. Emphasizing the eternal nature of God’s plan of redemption through His Son, each verse ends with the line, “Evermore and evermore” (saeculorum saeculis in Latin). Let’s consider the nine verses one by one, highlighting how each spurs our praise.

Stanza 1:

Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

The second person of the Trinity is begotten of the Father’s love. While we today do not often speak in those terms, consider that first line in light of Luke 3:22 and John 3:16. The author goes on to call Jesus both the source of all creation and the end for which all exists, including all humanity (Colossians 1:16).

Stanza 2:

At His Word the worlds were framèd;
He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean
In their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun,
Evermore and evermore!

He speaks – and, as at the tomb of Lazarus, His word has instant life-giving power. Furthermore, He gives not only life but order, with all parts of creation harmoniously working to praise Him, as pictured in Psalm 104.

Stanza 3:

He is found in human fashion,
Death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children
Doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below,
Evermore and evermore!

The author of life becomes man to know death experientially so that we the redeemed might not face death evermore and evermore! See Hebrews 2:14-15 as well as – once again – John 3:16.

Stanza 4:

O that birth forever blessèd,
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bore the Saviour of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face,
evermore and evermore!

The birth of Jesus – “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary” as stated in the Apostles’ Creed – is both a historical event, indeed, the hinge of history, and the eternal truth through which we must understand and interpret all that we see.

Stanza 5:

O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing,
Evermore and evermore!

Given what we have seen, all must praise Him – heavens, angels, powers, and all humans. Understand “concert” not as a performance, but rather as every voice perfectly harmonizing with every other. We all must praise “in concert” for Jesus to receive the praise He deserves.

Stanza 6:

This is He Whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord,
Evermore and evermore!

Just as in the previous stanza we sing His praises differently yet harmoniously, just so the prophets foretold His coming differently yet “with one accord.” The promise to Abraham, the promise to David, the promise “unto you a child is born, unto you a son is given,” the promise “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” – each brings out a different facet of the person and work of Jesus, yet all are in accord, and together they describe in significant detail the coming Messiah. And now, says the poet, He shines with glory, as He fulfills all those prophecies.

Stanza 7:

Righteous Judge of souls departed,
Righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted
None in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive,
Evermore and evermore!

The Creator of all things, the Baby in the manger, the dying Redeemer on the cross, will return as the almighty King and Judge, against Whom no power can stand. He will overwhelm and rightly condemn all who oppose Him. See Revelation 11:15, 19:11-21, and 20:7-10.

Stanza 8:

Thee let old men, Thee let young men,
Thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens,
With glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring,
Evermore and evermore!

The poet here expands on Stanza 5: Every person of whatever earthly status has a role to play in praising Jesus from the heart, so that He gets all the glory He deserves. Consider Mark 11:14, John 4:23-24, and Revelation 7:9-12 in this regard.

Stanza 9:

Christ, to Thee with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be:
Honour, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory,
Evermore and evermore!

The hymn closes with “unwearied” praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why “unwearied”? The four living creatures in Revelation 4:8 “day and night … never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy!’” We too in the eternal state will never weary of worshiping our God in spirit and truth – and thus will fulfill the purpose of our creation, the purpose of our redemption.

Thank you, Father God, for preserving such ancient texts to help us worship You this Christmas season. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you this season – then evermore and evermore.

(The Latin text and a second English translation of this hymn are available here. I encourage you to listen to a lovely a cappella recording of five of these verses here.)

As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem So the Lord Surrounds His People

Consider three texts:

  • Psalm 125:1-2: Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.
  • Jude 24: [God] is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy
  • Luke 22:32 (Jesus is speaking to Peter after prophesying his denial): “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

To whom do these texts refer? Who can count on such promises?

We 21st-century Americans tend to see in these texts promises to ourselves and other individuals:

  • “Since I trust in the Lord, He surrounds me and protects me.”
  • “God will keep me from stumbling and present me blameless before Him.”
  • “Jesus prays for me, strengthening and securing my faith.”

Praise God – these precious promises do indeed apply to us as individuals who trust in Jesus.

But Psalm 125:2 closes with the phrase, “from this time forth and forevermore.” When is “this time”? Well, the psalm was written more than 2500 years ago.

For all these years, God has been surrounding His people, advancing His purposes, building His church, keeping her from stumbling, seeing to it that the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) does not fail. We today stand at the end of a long line of faithful believers, all witnesses to God’s surrounding love. Through the dangers of persecution and the dangers of acceptance, despite indwelling sin and the enticements of the world, through times of renewal and times of apostasy, God has preserved, established, and spread His church century after century, continent after continent, culture after culture.

These promises apply not only to believers as individuals but also to God’s people as a whole.

Beth and I glimpsed this truth last month while in Turkey with Matthew and Kailie. We visited Cappadocia, a region of great importance in the history of the church. Three hundred years after the resurrection, theologians from this area known as the “Cappadocian Fathers” were instrumental in combatting heresy by clarifying the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. In subsequent centuries, believers created amazing churches and homes by digging through the volcanic rock. We were able to visit a number 1200-year-old cave-churches, some complete with frescoes of biblical characters. The most well-preserved of these churches are in the Goreme Open Air Museum. The Dark Church is particularly striking, with frescoes of Jesus and John the Baptist, among others.

But most stirring for us was a church far away from the tourists. We hiked down steep slopes into an ancient valley, past old grape vines and apple trees, approaching a rock face pocketed with holes – were they windows? We climbed through an opening, up some stairs carved into the rock – and came out into a massive interior space, with large columns from floor to ceiling.

No one else was there – just our family and the seeming presence of these believers from ages ago. I felt such a sense of oneness, of shared family with those who for the glory of the name of Jesus chipped away at the rock centuries ago, hour after hour, day after day, year after year.

There was a continued Christian presence in this area for centuries – until 1923 when many Christians were expelled from Turkey to Greece, and Muslims expelled from Greece to Turkey. So for the last century there has been no worship of Jesus in these rock churches.

Since our return home, I have learned more about the genuine faith of many in this era through reading The Reformation as Renewal by Matthew Barrett, who argues that the Reformation built on much of the theology and piety of the medieval church, including the writings of Anselm, Thomas, and Lombard – even when the Reformers themselves did not perceive their influence –  and that the Reformers’ arguments were focused much more against the positions taken by later Scholastics such as Ockham and Duns Scotus.

Be that as it may, as we celebrate twenty years of God’s faithfulness through Desiring God Community Church, let us also look back over twenty decades, over twenty centuries, and praise God that as empires rise and fall, as economies thrive and crash, as Christians are exiled and welcomed, God is always building His Church, spurring His people on to acts of devotion and witness, showing in Cappadocia and in Charlotte, in cave churches and in modern buildings, that Jesus is worthy of all our efforts and the source of all our joy. God’s Church is like Mt Zion – the Lord surrounds that Church, and He will present Her blameless before His presence with great joy – all of us, those who carved the Cave Churches, we who are part of Desiring God Community Church, followers of Jesus from every tribe and tongue and people and nation – and century.

Who Receives the Commendation, “Well Done”?

“Well done, good and faithful servant…. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

In Jesus’ story, so says the master to his servants who double the money he entrusted to them.  

The Apostle Paul tells us that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). 

So at that judgment seat, to whom will Jesus say, “Well done!” 

  • To those who see many come to faith through their witness? 
  • To those who plant churches and preach good sermons? 
  • To those who raise children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4)? 
  • To those who work faithfully at their jobs, not just giving eye-service, knowing they are serving Jesus (Ephesians 6:5-8)? 
  • To missionaries who go to unreached peoples and spur on others to go to the unreached? 

That last category includes Elisabeth Elliot (1927-2015). Lucy Austen’s new biography details her Christian upbringing, her call to missions, her brief marriage to Jim Elliot and his death at the hands of the people group he was trying to reach, her subsequent return with their little daughter to that people group, her many books, radio broadcasts, and speaking engagements. 

Beth and I read a number of her books in the first decades of our marriage, and Beth listened regularly to Elliot’s daily radio broadcast when we had a house full of young children. Beth and our daughter Erin were privileged to hear her speak in person at Gordon College in 2002. 

In God’s providence, that was one of Elisabeth Elliot’s last speaking engagements. Surprisingly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1998 at age 71, she ended all public speaking in 2004. She lived her final eleven years with increasingly severe dementia. 

So when Elisabeth Elliot stood before the judgment seat of Jesus, what did our Lord say? “Well done”? If so, was He referring only to her life through 2004? What about those last years with Alzheimer’s?

We can only answer the question rightly if we remember what Jesus calls us to.  He calls us to be like Him, to be like the Father. He calls us to be conformed to His character (Romans 8:29). He calls us to follow Him (as Jacob will explain this Sunday). All our works are to be done in the strength that He supplies, so that He gets all the glory (1 Peter 4:11). Indeed, apart from Him we can accomplish nothing – just as a branch of a grapevine cannot produce fruit unless it stays connected to the vine (John 15:4-5). The Apostle Paul details what this conformity to the character of Jesus looks like in Galatians 5:22-23, and calls it the “fruit of the Spirit” – what God produces in His people. 

Clearly then Jesus commends at His judgment seat not our accomplishments, not our activities, not our work life, not even our family life. He proclaims, “Excellent!” (a possible translation of the Greek word – there is no word for “done”) over our active dependence on Him to become what He intends, to become like Him. 

Necessarily, for those of normal physical and mental health, this includes activities such as those listed above that are done by His power for His glory, as an outgrowth of His work inside us.  But the emphasis is not on what we do; the emphasis is on who God has made us to be. 

And who did God make Elisabeth Elliot to be? A chosen, holy, beloved child (Colossians 3:12). An unworthy servant whom He used in marvelous ways through periods of trial, periods of intense work, and a lengthy final period of suffering from Alzheimer’s. He chose those last eleven years for her. She had displayed Jesus through diligent service for decades. In her last decade, she displayed Jesus through patience in suffering, through the enduring of affliction, in some ways following Him in His final hours. And Jesus pronounced, “Excellent!” over the entirety of that divine work. 

In concluding a biography Elliot wrote in 1968, she asks whether her subject will have been:

welcomed home with a “Well done, good and faithful servant,” or will he simply have been welcomed home? The son who delights the father is not first commended for what he has done. He is loved. (From Who Shall Ascend? as quoted in Austen, p. 525)

In Jesus, you too are chosen and holy and loved. Live by faith in Jesus – as we proclaim at the end of our services, “remembering who you are and to Whom you belong.” Our God will complete the good work He has begun in you, His beloved, enabling you to fulfill the purpose for which He made you and redeemed you. And on that final day, He will proclaim over you, “Excellent! Enter into My joy!” 

An Undesirable Blessing

In part of the July 23 sermon, we considered the strange blessing pronounced in Psalm 137:8-9:

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

We saw that God is bringing about justice – the Babylonians will suffer the same pains they inflicted on others, as prophesied in Isaiah’s oracle against Babylon written a century earlier (Isaiah 13:16-19).

We also saw that the use of the word “blessing” in Psalm 137 is the mirror image of the blessing given in Isaiah 30:18, “blessed are all those who wait for him.” The latter blessing is not immediate, but rather a promise of a future benefit after enduring God’s judgment on His disobedient people (see Isaiah 30:9-26). The mirror image in Psalm 137: A temporary blessing followed by eventual judgment. Those who do such terrible deeds against the Babylonians will be implementing justice and will benefit – but they too eventually will suffer just recompense for their atrocities.

We see this pattern in numerous places in Scripture. Let’s consider the example of the first three rulers of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Recall that after Solomon’s death, the kingdom splits. In the north, Jeroboam becomes king, fulfilling God’s prophecy:

I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. (1 Kings 11:37-38)

This is a blessing. Jeroboam reigns over Israel. He has power and majesty.

Yet Jeroboam does not walk in God’s ways, and so the blessing is temporary. God calls down judgment on the king, speaking through the prophet Ahijah:

Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David … but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone…. The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. (From 1 Kings 14:7-14)

The judgment comes after Jeroboam’s death. His son Nadab reigns in his place and follows in his father’s footsteps. Baasha assassinates Nadab, makes himself king, and then:

He killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel. (1 Kings 15:29-30)

So Baasha, like Jeroboam, executes God’s judgment and receives a temporary blessing – he has power and glory as king of Israel, reigning for 24 years. But he too does evil, so God pronounces the sentence of judgment on him and his house.

Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. (1 Kings 16:2-3)

God fulfills the prophecy. Baasha’s son Elah becomes king upon the death of his father, but has reigned only two years when Zimri, one of his army commanders, assassinates him and kills all males among his relatives and friends (1 Kings 16:11-13).

The pattern is obvious: A king turns his back on God. God raises up someone else to exercise judgment. This new king then is blessed with power and authority. Yet he turns his back on God, and the cycle continues.

1 Kings 16:7 speaks specifically of Baasha but highlights the nature of the cycle:

The word of the LORD came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it. (1 Kings 16:7, emphasis added)

So here we have the same type of “blessing” as in Psalm 137:8-9. Baasha is blessed in being God’s agent, implementing God’s justice against Jeroboam and Elah – but in implementing that justice he himself commits evil. God then calls on another agent, Zimri, to bring about judgment on Baasha. And Zimri too receives a blessing – for seven days! Then he himself receives the judgment (1 Kings 16:15-19).

Thus, not all blessings are desirable! We don’t want temporary blessings followed by eternal judgment! We want the eternal blessings that come to those “whose transgression is forgiven” (Psalm 32:1), “who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 2:12), “whose strength is in You” (Psalm 84:5), and who “are poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). We want those eternal blessings, even if we have to wait, trusting God through trials and judgments and persecutions before we receive them (Matthew 5:10-12). We want the eternal blessings of those who know Jesus, abide in Him, have saving faith in Him, and are being conformed to His likeness.

Therefore, set your hope fully not on any temporary blessing, but on “the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). That inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4). Loving Jesus though you do not now see Him, rejoice in Him “with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). That’s the eternal blessing. May we all receive it.

 

Doing and Blessing

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:17

Jesus says this to His disciples the night He is betrayed.

What is He saying?

Is He saying, “Here are my commandments. Know them. Then, discipline yourself! Do them! Show that you have the ability and the gumption and the wherewithal to be My disciple! Once you have done that, I will bless you”?

Jesus has just acted like a menial servant, washing His disciples’ feet. He then says, “You also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:14b-15).

Taken by itself, this sounds as if Jesus is laying a burden on His disciples, assigning them a task to do. So is the interpretation above correct?

No. Indeed, later this evening Jesus will tell these same men, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

In addition, John 13 itself shows that Jesus must be saying something different.

Consider His interaction with Peter, who protests, saying Jesus will never wash his feet. Our Lord replies: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8).

So once Jesus pays the penalty for Peter’s sins (as pictured by washing his feet), he has a share with Jesus! He is “completely clean” (John 13:10). He is already identified with Jesus! He is an insider!

Peter does not need to obey Jesus’ commands to earn His favor – He already has that favor! He needs to obey Jesus’ commands to display Jesus, to represent Jesus as one sent by Him, to proclaim the message entrusted to him. Then he is so identified with Jesus that the one who receives Peter receives Jesus (John 13:20).

But a question remains: What is the blessing Jesus speaks of in verse 17? If it is not His acceptance, His favor – what is it?

The blessing is being like Jesus! The blessing is displaying the image of God! The blessing is fulfilling the purpose of our creation, becoming what we were created to be!

Can we – sinners that we are, dead in those trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) – become like Jesus through self-discipline? The answer should be obvious. The only way we can become like Jesus is through His working in us.

Our task then is to actively depend on Him, on His Spirit. Yes, we then obey Jesus’ commands. But we obey as beloved children who know their Daddy and depend on him, not as slaves trying to avoid a whipping from an evil master, nor as employees striving to earn a raise from a tough boss.

We must always remember: Obedience to a set of rules is not our objective. If it were, we rightly could think that we could reach that objective with a little more effort, a little more discipline, a little more practice, or a little more accountability.

Our objective is to be like Jesus, to display Jesus, to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Jesus demands such conformity – and Scripture promises that God will bring it about (Philippians 1:6).

So if we are in Jesus, the work is as good as done. Saved by His grace, we can bask in His love and delight in His grace, knowing we are “completely clean” – even when we sin. But we hate that sin. We hate that lack of conformity to Jesus’ character. Knowing that our greatest joy comes from being like Him, we turn to Him once again in repentance, confessing the sin, knowing that Jesus is the propitiation for our sin (1 John 2:2). God thus continues as our loving Father, delighting in us, as he uses even such failures to complete the good work in us He has begun.

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” Know Jesus commands. Know Jesus’ character. Know the grace and mercy and power of the Gospel. Then step out in confidence, in confession, in repentance, showing Jesus to those you love and to the wider world. This is the path of blessing. This is the path of joy.

Do You Know the Scriptures and the Power of God?

Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God?

Matthew 22 records Jesus’ interaction with the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. These opponents speak of a woman who had been married successively to seven brothers, each of whom died, then ask: “In the resurrection … of the seven, whose wife will she be?” (Matthew 22:28) Through this story, they suppose they have shown the resurrection of the dead to be absurd: A woman can’t be married to seven men simultaneously, as she would be if they all were resurrected!

Jesus responds: “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). He goes on to show that the Old Testament Scriptures teach the resurrection of the dead, and thus God has power over death.

Let’s consider Jesus’ statement more broadly: Why do we need to know both the Scriptures and the power of God?

Consider first those who know the Scriptures but not the power of God. That is, they have studied Scripture, they may have memorized much Scripture, they may know the original languages, they may be familiar with commentaries and grammar and the history of interpretation – but they do not know God’s power. They do not believe that He is sovereign, that He is a Redeemer, that He is the Judge.

The Sadducees were somewhat like that, as Jesus brings out Matthew 22:31. He says: “Have you not read what was said to you by God,” and then quotes Exodus 3:6, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God originally spoke those words to Moses – but Jesus says God spoke them also “to you,” to the Sadducees.

The point: God spoke all Scripture to you! He spoke all Scripture to me! And unless we read the Scriptures that way, we do not know them – even if we can quote the entire Bible from memory.

So when you read Scripture:

  • If you primarily think, “That sheds light on the customs and beliefs of Jews two thousand years ago,” you haven’t heard Scripture correctly.
  • If you primarily think, “That’s a key statement in the historical development of worldwide religious thought,” you haven’t heard Scripture correctly.
  • Even if you primarily think, “Boy, my friend really needs to hear and apply that truth,” you haven’t heard Scripture correctly.

Now, all those statements may be true. But God speaks the words of Scripture to you! So hear them that way! Plead for insight into them. Conform your mind to them. Submit your actions to them.

Second, consider those who know the power of God but not the Scriptures. They may be impressed by the majesty of creation and ascribe that to a Creator. They may have prayed for the healing of a loved one – and it happened! They may witness natural disasters and believe that a god controls them.

Such knowledge, however, often results in thinking of God as a genie in the bottle (I rub the bottle, make my three wishes, and – voila! – I get what I want!), or as a random, dangerous force I need to bargain with and appease (“Here, I’ll offer you this worship and this contribution if you’ll refrain from harming me”).

Only from Scripture can we know of both God’s power and His redeeming love, of both His justice and His saving grace, of both the power of temptation and the greater power of His life-giving Spirit, of both the dangers of this present age and the security we have in Jesus, of both death as the last enemy and Jesus’ victory over death.

So, once again: Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God? Commit yourself to knowing both. Only in this way can we be “imitators of God, as beloved children, … walk[ing] in love” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Loving Jesus Through Poetry

I spent last week with my 96-year-old mother. In the midst of fading memory, she remembers Jesus, she remembers the Gospel – and she remembers poems and hymns that speak of Him and His Gospel. I tried to encourage those memories through singing with her, through listening to hymns and spiritual songs with her – and, for the first time in years, reading poetry with her. My main resource for poetry was A Sacrifice of Praise, edited by James Trott (2nd Edition, Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

Here are two public domain poems from that collection. The first is related to our present Wednesday morning online study, Love Jesus’ Return. I vaguely recall singing this hymn on occasion growing up. The second – by Joseph Hart, author of “Come Ye Sinners” – is a dialogue between a Gospel-speaking believer and his distressed “soul.” Note the structure: The speaker in the first seven verses rotates between the believer and his soul. In the eighth verse, the distressed soul speaks the first four lines, the believer the last four. In the ninth verse, the speakers alternate every two lines, while in the final verse, the speakers alternate every line.

Read these – and, like my mother, delight in Jesus and His Gospel!

The Second Advent by Thomas Kelly (1809)

Look, ye saints! the sight is glorious:
See the Man of Sorrows now;
From the fight returned victorious,
Every knee to Him shall bow;
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crowns become the Victor’s brow,
Crowns become the Victor’s brow.

Crown the Savior! angels, crown Him;
Rich the trophies Jesus brings;
In the seat of power enthrone Him,
While the vault of heaven rings;
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown the Savior King of kings,
Crown the Savior King of kings.

Sinners in derision scorned Him,
Mocking thus the Savior’s claim;
Saints and angels crowd around Him,
Own His title, praise His name;
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown Him, crown Him,
Spread abroad the Victor’s fame,
Spread abroad the Victor’s fame.

Hark, those bursts of acclamation!
Hark, those loud triumphant chords!
Jesus takes the highest station;
O what joy the sight affords!
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown Him, crown Him,
King of kings and Lord of lords!
King of kings and Lord of lords!

A Dialogue Between a Believer and His Soul by Joseph Hart (1759)  

1 Come, my soul, and let us try,
For a little season,
Every burden to lay by;
Come, and let us reason.
What is this that casts thee down?
Who are those that grieve thee?
Speak, and let the worst be known;
Speaking may relieve thee.

2 O I sink beneath the load
Of my nature’s evil!
Full of enmity to God;
Captived by the devil;
Restless as the troubled seas;
Feeble, faint, and fearful;
Plagued with every sore disease;
How can I be cheerful?

3 Think on what thy Saviour bore
In the gloomy garden,
Sweating blood at every pore,
To procure thy pardon!
See him stretched upon the wood,
Bleeding, grieving, crying,
Suffering all the wrath of God,
Groaning, gasping, dying!

4 This by faith I sometimes view,
And those views relieve me;
But my sins return anew;
These are they that grieve me.
Oh! I’m leprous, stinking, foul,
Quite throughout infected;
Have not I, if any soul,
Cause to be dejected?

5 Think how loud thy dying Lord
Cried out, “It is finished!”
Treasure up that sacred word,
Whole and undiminished;
Doubt not he will carry on,
To its full perfection,
That good work he has begun;
Why, then, this dejection?

6 Faith when void of works is dead;
This the Scriptures witness;
And what works have I to plead,
Who am all unfitness?
All my powers are depraved,
Blind, perverse, and filthy;
If from death I’m fully saved,
Why am I not healthy?

7 Pore not on thyself too long,
Lest it sink thee lower;
Look to Jesus, kind as strong –
Mercy joined with power;
Every work that thou must do,
Will thy gracious Saviour
For thee work, and in thee too,
Of his special favour.

8 Jesus’ precious blood, once spilt,
I depend on solely,
To release and clear my guilt;
But I would be holy.
He that bought thee on the cross
Can control thy nature;
Fully purge away thy dross;
Make thee a new creature.

9 That he can I nothing doubt,
Be it but his pleasure.
Though it be not done throughout,
May it not in measure?
When that measure, far from great,
Still shall seem decreasing?
Faint not then, but pray and wait,
Never, never ceasing.

10 What when prayer meets no regard?
Still repeat it often.
But I feel myself so hard.
Jesus will thee soften.
But my enemies make head.
Let them closer drive thee.
But I’m cold, I’m dark, I’m dead.
Jesus will revive thee.

Where is This World Headed?

Within the last week:

  • A former student breaks into a school and murders little children and adults.
  • A former president running to regain the office is indicted.
  • A foreign leader threatens the use of nuclear weapons.

Where is this world headed?

Revelation 13 describes a world in which evil powers rage. A beast rises out of the sea with ten horns, and a crown on each horn (thus indicative of the power of the state). “The whole earth marveled” at the beast (Revelation 13:3), thinking that its power is greater than any other. Indeed, it exercises authority “over every tribe and people and language and nation” (Revelation 13:7); many respond by worshiping it. The beast blasphemes God and makes war on any who don’t worship it, on God’s people, conquering them.

A second beast then arises out of the earth, performing miracles such as calling down fire from heaven, deceiving people (thus indicative of the power of false religion). It instructs them to make an image of the first beast – and then gives breath to that image, causing it to speak and even to kill those who don’t worship it. Then people are given a mark identifying them as belonging to these beasts – and only people with this mark can buy or sell.

Consider that world of Revelation 13. There are parallels with at least the trajectory of our world – but that world is far worse!

Where is God in such a setting?

The author of Revelation, John, lets us know in four subtle ways that God is very much in control, even as these evil forces seem all-powerful:

  • In verses 5, 7, and 15, John uses “divine passives” to show God’s sovereign control over these evil forces. In Revelation 13:5, the first beast “was allowed to exercise authority 42 months.” Was allowed by whom? By God. Similarly, in Revelation 13:7, the first beast “was allowed to make war on the saints.” Was allowed by whom? By God. Yet again, in Revelation 13:15 the second beast “was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast.” Was allowed by whom? By God
  • The beasts’ time is limited, according to Revelation 13:5. As Jesus says to those coming to arrest Him, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). But Jesus rose from the dead in just a few days, and that hour ended. Just so, God limits the time that these beasts have power.
  • The beasts come out of the sea and the earth. In Revelation 10:2, a mighty angel “set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land.” God is in control of the origin of both beasts.
  • God’s people are not led astray by the beasts. Yes, they suffer – they are attacked and conquered. But Revelation 13:8 tells us, “All who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.” If their names are in the book of life of the Lamb, they are secure.

Thus Revelation 13:10 tells us, “Here is a call for the endurance and the faith of the saints.”

The world may appear to be under the control of evil forces – and those forces do indeed have much power. There will be persecution and murders; government authority and religious influence will be used against those following Jesus.

But God is in control. His people are secure. So we must endure, whatever the chaos, whatever the trials, whatever the tragedies – endure in faith, endure in joy, and endure in confidence that, however things may appear, there is One Who reigns. For the seventh angel will blow his trumpet, and then loud voices in heaven will declare, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

He is in control now, and He will return to right all wrongs and to bring in His eternal Kingdom.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

[For more on Revelation 13, see the sermon “Tribulation, Endurance, and Faith,” preached July 3, 2005: text, audio.]