You Are God’s Two-Year-Old: The Authority of Scripture, Part 1

Over three blog posts, we’ll consider our position before God’s revelation in Scripture. This post may not seem to have much to do with scriptural authority, but be patient; we’ll get there.

How do you picture your relationship to God? What images do you use?

  • Perhaps you use a business image: He’s the boss, you’re His right hand man.
  • Or a political image: He’s President, you’re His Secretary of State.
  • Or a sports image: He’s the head coach, you’re His quarterback.
  • Or a military image: He’s a general, you’re a colonel.
  • Or a family image: He’s a big older brother – stronger, wiser, more experienced than you, while you are His faithful and loyal younger brother.

Does something disturb you about all those images? I hope so.

Surely the difference between God and me is far greater than the difference between Barack Obama and John Kerry.

So to get this right, do we just need to diminish our role in these images?

  • Business: He’s the boss, you run a local branch.
  • Politics: He’s the President, you’re a congressman in His party.
  • Sports: He’s the coach, you’re the second string defensive tackle.
  • Military: He’s a general, you’re an inexperienced lieutenant.  
  • Family: He’s the father, you’re His teenage son.

Do those changes solve the problem?

Or do these images still make you too smart, too important, too able compared to God?

How should you picture your relationship to God?

How do you picture your relationship to God?

Consider Psalm 8:3-4:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

As soon as we consider the heavens, the moon, the billions and trillions of stars, the extent of the galaxies, we have to conclude that if they have a Creator, we are indeed minuscule in comparison to Him. I can’t possibly be His advisor. I can’t possibly be his quarterback, or even His branch manager.

But if these images make us appear as too close to God, what image should we use?

Consider yourself God’s two-year-old.

This is one way to understand Psalm 131:

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

The psalmist thinks of himself as a child – perhaps a two-year-old. Whether or not this child is still nursing, at the moment pictured he has finished eating. He is well satisfied. He is clean. He is secure. He is caressed. He is loved. Surrounded by all of Mommy’s welcome smells, embraced by her warmth, he is completely secure. Completely at rest. Completely content. All he wants is right there: He has his Mommy. He has his Daddy. They provide. He trusts them. He is confident in them.

That is how Scripture says we should be before God.

That’s the picture of Psalm 131. What else do we know about two-year-olds from our own experience?

I have six children. We thus spent six years with a two-year-old in the house (and more than thirteen years with at least one child two or under). Here are five characteristics of two-year-olds I have observed:

  • They are completely dependent; they will die apart from the attention of their parents or other adults.
  • They assert themselves, they test their limits, pushing those in authority over them to define what they really mean.
  • They are perfectly able to think, and make surprising connections and observations; nevertheless, they have many misunderstandings and misapprehensions.
  • They simply are not able to understand many things that their parents say; in order to communicate effectively, their parents have to talk in a way the two-year-old can derstand.
  • They also cannot understand many things about the world around them that their parents know; thus, they have to learn to listen to their parents, to trust them, to obey them.

With those characteristics in mind, let’s turn from two-year-olds to John Calvin. He writes:

The majesty of God is . . . far above the reach of mortals who are like worms crawling upon the earth (Institutes 2.6.4).

So how can a worm have any relationship to such a God? That doesn’t seem possible.

Calvin continues:

The Father, who is infinite in himself, becomes finite in the Son because he has accommodated himself to our capacity, that he may not overwhelm our minds with the infinity of his glory. (emphasis added)

We can have a relationship to God because God chooses to make that possible. We are nothing before Him. We are insignificant – unless He gives us significance. But He has chosen to reveal Himself through redemptive history; through His living Word, Jesus Christ; through His written Word, the Bible.

He  accommodates “Himself to our capacity.” He speaks to us in language we can understand. He uses images from everyday life so that we can know all we need to know of Him and His work.

Commenting on this passage of the Institutes, Derek Thomas links this idea with the image of us as toddlers:

What we know of God we know only in part, only to the extent to which he has revealed himself. And even that revelation is just so much “baby-talk” and we must always remember that it is so. (emphasis added)

“Just so much baby talk.”

When God speaks to us, He speaks like we speak to toddlers.

Consider: When you speak to a two-year-old, how do you talk?

From Beth’s first pregnancy, we decided we weren’t going to speak what’s often called baby talk – “wad dus da widdle bebee wunt do do?” We were going to enunciate clearly, just as when we would speak to each other. For we wanted to communicate clearly to our children, and to teach them how to speak clearly.

That’s what God does for us. “Baby talk” in this sense is not a distortion of speech. Rather, it is speaking in terms and in words that can be understood by the little one.

Now, in our home we explicitly pushed our children to grow in their understanding. One way we did this was by reading them books that challenged them. But at two-years-old, we didn’t read them War and Peace; rather, we read The Narnian Chronicles.

That’s how God speaks to us.

We are two-year-olds before Him. There are many things we cannot understand. If He explained to us the intricacies of His creation, of His thoughts, of His plans, it would be like our reading War and Peace to a two-year-old. Nothing would get through. We wouldn’t learn a thing. Instead, He accommodates Himself to our capacity. He speaks to us true words, in helpful images, in the Bible. He tells us of His workings throughout history. He shows us what He is like through God incarnate, Jesus Christ. And so we get an incomplete, but a true picture of who He is, and what our relationship to Him can be.

God is beyond us. We can never comprehend him on our own. If left to our own reason, we will never figure out who He is – just as a two-year-old who never grew up could never understand his parents. But God has chosen to reveal who He is to us – through His Word.

Next: The Noetic Effects of Sin

(Several years ago I preached two sermons on Psalm 131: first, second. Part of this post is based on the first of those sermons).

(For printing, download this pdf file.)

Traveling on God’s Road

Whose road are you on?

Scripture often compares life to traveling:

  • We are to take care how we walk (Ephesians 5:15), not walking in the counsel of wicked (Psalm 1:1);
  • men often judge a particular road to be right, but it leads instead to death (Proverbs 14:12);
  • when God’s people turn off of His road, He will call to them, “This is the way, walk in it!” (Isaiah 30:21).

Among the many other comparisons of life to a journey is Psalm 25:8-10. To help us in our American context to capture the sense, I’ll change all instances of “way” or “path” to “road:”

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the road. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his road.  All the roads of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Consider this image: You are driving down the highway of life. You think you know the right directions. You think you know the most desirable destination. You’ve packed your bags; you’ve filled up the tank; you’re on your way. But God’s GPS – that is, the Scriptures – instruct you: “You’re on the wrong road! Your directions are wrong; even your destination is wrong! This is not the road to life; this is not the road to joy; this is the road to everlasting pain and sorrow, to lack of fulfillment and lack of purpose, to eternal rebellion and loss.”

  • Will you say, “Oh, that old GPS! It’s outdated! It’s unaware of recent road improvements!”
  • Will you say, “Ha! Never rely on a GPS when you’ve got a brain! I know shortcuts no one else has even discovered!”
  • Will you say, “I know what destination will really give me joy, and no one else can possibly know better!”

Or will you humble yourself before God’s GPS?

How do we do that?

Isaiah 66:2 uses the same Hebrew word for “humble:”

This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

To be humble is to confess that we do not and cannot know the right road apart from God’s GPS, God’s Word, God’s Scripture. To be humble is to acknowledge that all His directions lead us on roads of lovingkindness, roads of covenant faithfulness, roads of joy, roads of life – even when they lead initially to hardship and persecution. To be humble is not to be “overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance” (as a major lectionary defines the Greek translation of the Hebrew word in Psalm 25).

In commenting on verse 9, Charles Spurgeon writes:

[The humble] know their need of guidance, and are willing to submit their own understandings to the divine will, and therefore the Lord condescends to be their guide. . . . Proud of their own wisdom, fools will not learn, and therefore miss their road to heaven.

So: Whose road are you on? Whose directions are you following?

God has given us His GPS. He tells us to drive on His roads. He knows what is around the corner, what is past the next town. The road may be potholed; the pavement may be cracked. But He promises that, whatever their appearance, all His roads are steadfast love and faithfulness.

Will you then humble yourself, and travel on His roads?

 

Will You Love Jahar Tsarnaev?

On Monday, they were just terrorists.

I ran Boston in 1979. I lived in Massachusetts for 12 years. For me, Boston, rather than the Masters, is “a tradition like no other.”

Monday I watched the last hour of the elite race online. I enjoyed it, but turned off the computer after the top 10 finished.

So when a friend called me at 4 and said, offhandedly, “I guess you know about the bombs in Boston,” I was floored. Bombs? At the marathon? Who would do something like this?

Terrorists. Only terrorists.

Friday morning, I wrote about the bombing for the blog. By that time, we knew something about the terrorists. They now had names. A nationality. They were brothers. They were athletes. The younger brother was an excellent student.

We also got a glimpse of the alienation of the older brother, Tamerlan. Several years ago, he wrote: “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.”

That resonated with me. Three weeks ago, the Saturday before Easter, I met a Nepali man who had been in the US for almost four years. During that time he had only cursory interactions with Americans. He had never been in an American’s home. I asked him if he knew why he had Good Friday off of work. He said, “I think it has something to do with eggs and rabbits.” The name “Jesus” was vaguely familiar, but he didn’t know who He was. He had no inkling about the Gospel – until that day.

It sounds like Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s experience was similar.

At lunchtime on Friday I turned on the radio, and heard program host and Boston resident Robin Young say, “Some of us have found out that we know these boys.” I was intrigued, and kept listening. It turns out the younger brother, called Jahar by his friends, wrestled on a high school team with Robin Young’s nephew. They were good friends. Jahar had been the life of a party that Robin held for her nephew in her home.

As information streamed in over the internet, I noticed their birthdays. Jahar is 11 months younger than my son Matthew. Sixteen months older than Joel. Tamerlan was a few months younger than my son Jonathan.

That Friday afternoon something clicked in my head. These two were no longer defined by the word “terrorist.” They were no longer abstractions. They were people. They were individuals. They were persons with birthdays and high school friends. They were the life of the party or the quiet kid in the corner.

All that – yet of greater importance:

Tamerlan and Jahar Tsarnaev were made in the image of God.

And: they murdered and maimed others made in the image of God. They committed an act of terrorism. By so doing they had made themselves my enemies, your enemies, our country’s enemies.

Enemies, yes.

And Jesus said:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:43-45)

Yesterday evening, I was praying about whether to preach this sermon or the one I had planned. Driving home from a meeting about 8, flipping through radio stations, I heard a host reading emails from listeners. Each was suggesting what should be done to Jahar when he is convicted. One wrote: “Remember the end of Braveheart, when Mel Gibson is disemboweled?” I can’t even repeat some of the others.

We need to hear God’s Word on this issue.

How do we wrap our minds around this?

How do we love those who have committed such heinous acts?

What is the relationship between such love and love for the victims of their crimes?

What is the relationship between such love and a longing for justice?

Loving Your Enemy: Eight Propositions

1) If we are to love our enemies, surely we are to love those who are NOT our enemies but resemble our enemies.

In this case: Who resembles Tamerlan and Jahar?

The foreigners around us. International students. Refugees. Especially: The Muslims around us.

  • No one is your enemy BECAUSE HE IS A MUSLIM
  • No one is your enemy BECAUSE HE IS A FOREIGNER
  • No one is your enemy because of language or ethnicity or dress or skin color

We must never treat anyone as an enemy because he looks like or talks like someone who is our enemy.

Rather: Can we love and care for and show hospitality to those who resemble our enemies?

Scripture is quite clear on this:

You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.  (Leviticus 19:34)

Love those who resemble your enemies.

2) To love your enemies is not to deny that they are your enemies

Jesus does NOT say: “No one is your enemy. We’re all just one big happy family.”

Jesus had enemies. They tortured Him. They killed Him.

We have enemies. Indeed, Jesus prophesied:

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. (Matthew 24:9)

Once Tamerlan and Jahar decided to commit an act of terror, they became our enemies. Nothing is accomplished by denying that.

More broadly: A small number of Muslims from around the world has become radicalized. These few want to do all they can to wreak murder and mayhem. Those who are taking steps in this direction are our enemies.

Government is charged with helping us to live peaceful and quiet lives, and thus to protect us from enemies. We are charged to pray for government leaders and officials as they take on this difficult task.

We do have enemies.

3) To love your enemies is not to hope against justice

We must long for justice. We must long for every sin to be paid for, for every wrong to be righted.

God is a just God. He is the moral authority in the universe. He guarantees that the right punishment will be rendered for every sin.

In Revelation 6:9-10, John sees “under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.  They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

God doesn’t tell them: “O, don’t long for justice; love your enemies!”

They are right to long for justice – EVEN as they love their enemies.

So in Jahar’s case, love does not imply that we must hope for a lenient sentence, or no sentence at all. We hope for justice – not against it.

4) To love your enemies is perfectly consistent with loving your enemies’ victims

Sometimes in our politics we become advocates, on the one hand, of victims rights, and advocates, on the other hand, of rights of the accused.

Jesus tells us to be advocates for both.

We are to love our enemies AND we are to love EVERY neighbor as we love ourselves. That surely includes our neighbors who are victims.

And so: pray for the families and friends of Lu Lingzi, Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Sean Collier. Pray for the seriously wounded, including Richard Donohue, the officer critically injured in the Thursday night shootout.

Love the victims.

In propositions five to eight, we turn to how we should see our enemies – in particular, how we see Jahar Tsarnaev today.

5) To love your enemies is to see them as fundamentally like yourself.

What is true of you fundamentally?

What is true of Jahar Tsarnaev fundamentally?

What does Scripture say?

  • You and Jahar are made in the image of God
  • You and Jahar are made to glorify Him
  • You and Jahar have rebelled against God
  • You and Jahar deserve His judgment
  • You and Jahar can do NOTHING to make up for your sins, to pay the penalty for your sins
  • And God so loved you and Jahar – that He sent His one and only Son to die so that you might be forgiven by grace through faith

If you have not turned to God in repentance, with faith in Christ, you stand before God in exactly the same way as Jahar Tsarnaev. For as James tells us, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10).

Should Jahar turn to Christ, he will stand before God FULLY cleansed – just as clean as anyone in this room, despite the enormity of His sins. For the blood of Jesus is able to wash clean even the vilest of sins.

And if that should happen – JUSTICE WILL HAVE BEEN DONE. For the penalty that Jesus paid – the beatings and whippings and overwhelming flood of God’s wrath that Jesus endured on the cross – is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of justice.

At root, Jahar and you stand before God in exactly the same way:

  • Apart from the blood of Christ: Without hope
  • Covered with the blood of Christ: Completely forgiven

6) To love your enemies is to be like God in showing mercy and kindness to the undeserving, because God showed mercy and kindness to you, the undeserving

Jahar does not deserve mercy. He certainly showed no mercy to his victims.

And our government, our court system, is under no obligation to show mercy. Rather, government is set up by God as His “servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4).

But what about you and me?

Acts like the bombing can lead to righteous anger on our part: An anger at the undermining of what is right and good; a steady, certain, deliberate intention to exercise justice. Such anger is consistent with loving our enemies.

But when that anger morphs into hatred, into a desire for personal vengeance, into the sorts of expressions I heard on the radio last night, we have sinned. We are not loving our enemies.

To love is to desire what is good AND TO DO GOOD for our enemies.

Remember what Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:45, immediately after telling us to love our enemies, and thus to be sons of our heavenly Father:  “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Consider: God gives sun and rain and life and breath every minute of every day to people who hate Him!

God gave YOU sun and rain and life and breath every minute of every day to YOU WHILE you were under His condemnation – when you deserved death!

We are to be LIKE GOD in DOING AND DESIRING GOOD for our enemies.

Specifically, we are to desire the good Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 2:25-26: We are to pray that God might “grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,  and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

You have received God’s undeserved mercy and kindness when you were His enemy.

Be like Him!

Show undeserved mercy and kindness to your enemies

We’ll consider the last two propositions together:

7) To love your enemies is to see them as potential kings, potential heirs of the earth

8) To love your enemies is to see them as a potential part of the bride of Christ

Jahar Tsarnaev is made in the image of God. He has polluted that image by his sin and rebellion. By God’s grace, that image can shine forth in majesty and beauty.

Jahar Tsarnaev is potentially an heir of the earth (Matthew 5:5).

Jahar Tsarnaev is potentially part of the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27), dearly loved by Him, indeed, dearly loved by YOU.  As John Newton writes, those who are our enemies now who truly follow Christ will one day be, “Dearer to you than the nearest friend you have upon earth is to you now.”

Could that be true of Jahar?

Love Your enemies.

Pray for Those Who Persecute You

As we’ve said, we must pray for justice.

But also: Pray for Jahar.

  • Pray that God would grant him repentance
  • Pray that God would shatter the walls he has built to shield himself from the Gospel
  • Pray that God would protect him from the even greater hardening that could easily occur in custody
  • Pray that our Lord might open His eyes

And who else hates you? Who persecutes you? “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”

Remember our text Matthew 5:43-48: If we claim to be followers of Christ, if we say to Him “Lord, Lord,” we are to be different. We are to do more than others. We are to take on a family resemblance to Christ. Indeed, we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We are to be agents of God’s mercy.

So: List your enemies.

Some might be abstractions, anonymous groups. But be sure to include individuals: Those who would do you harm if they could. List them. Pray for them.

As for the Boston Bombings:

  • Pray for justice. By all means.
  • Pray for information about contacts with foreign terrorists, if any.
  • Pray for those whom they so cruelly injured.
  • Pray for the families who have lost loved ones
  • And pray for Jahar.

That You May Be Sons of Your Father

God in His mercy has invited you to be His child

  • He has covered your guilt with the blood of Jesus
  • He has invited you into His Family
  • He will wipe every tear from your eyes
  • He will love you with an everlasting love
  • You can call Him Daddy
  • He will never leave you nor forsake you

And He enables you to look like Him. He empowers you to display His image. Indeed, He commands you by His power to treat your enemies as He treated you when you were His enemy.

He loved you when you were His enemy.

Will you love your enemies?

Will you love Jahar Tsarnaev?

By a process that we do not yet understand, he became your enemy. He became our enemy.

By a process that God has revealed to us, he can become your brother. May he become our brother.

Love Jahar. Love Your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you.

So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

(This is a shortened version of a sermon preached 4/21/13. The audio of the sermon is available here.)

The Boston Marathon Horror: A Response

As I write, one alleged Boston Marathon bomber is dead; the other is on the run. Both, apparently, are Muslim; both have been in the US for more than a decade. The younger brother was an excellent, scholarship-winning student and captain of his high school’s wrestling team. The older brother was a boxer.

These young men grew up in schools and in communities like those around Charlotte. They played sports, they hung out with friends, they worked hard in school.

And then they attempted to commit mass murder.

How should we respond to this shocking tragedy?

Here are four biblical guidelines:

First: We all rightly long for justice. Our God is the moral authority in the universe. He will see to it that all sin are paid for, all wrongs duly punished. Vengeance is not in our hands as individuals (Romans 12:19). Our anger and bitterness and vitriol will not effect justice (James 1:20). In the present age, however, God has provided the government to act as His “servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:4)

Second: Your prayers matter. In light of government’s heavy responsibility, the Apostle Paul instructs us:

I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

So may we thank God for the hundreds of police who, right now, are tracking down the fugitive – many risking their lives. May we lift up civil servants and political leaders who make decisions about lockdowns and public transport and school closures. May we pray for judges and attorneys should the fugitive be captured and tried. And may this episode end with increased confidence throughout our nation that our authorities will act bravely and professionally to enable us to live peaceful and quiet lives.

Third: Life is fleeting. Lu Lingzi, Martin Richard, and Krystle Campbell woke up this Monday excited to watch friends and loved ones run the Marathon. They had plans for that evening, this weekend, and years into the future. And in a flash, murderers snuffed out their lives.

How long do I have in this world? How long do you? We have no idea. As James tells us:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16).

James is not telling us to forget about plans for the future. Rather, we must live knowing that we are dependent, fragile creatures, living and breathing today by the mercy of God. Thus, we should live humbly before the eyes of our all-knowing, all-seeing, all-sovereign Lord, confessing that He knows best, and gladly subjecting ourselves to Him, for His glory.

Finally: Your light matters. The deceased alleged bomber wrote, “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.” Note that he came to the US more than ten years ago. Yet Scripture instructs us:

When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him.  You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.  (Leviticus 19:33-34)

What might have happened if a follower of Christ had done unto Tamerlan Tsarnaev as he would that others do to him? How might lives have been changed if followers of Christ had been salt and light in this young man’s life?

And what might happen if you and I love the foreigners among us? If you and I reach out to those who have come to study, to those who have come because of war and chaos, to those who have come because of political oppression?

Our response to this tragedy must not be to shrink back into a fear of foreigners. Our Lord calls us to go, to be light and salt – so that others may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, we are heirs of eternal life, entrusted with the message of God’s abundant mercy, to be proclaimed to all. May the horror of Boston compel us all the more to be His ambassadors, His heralds, holding out the word of life with love and compassion to all the peoples God has brought to Charlotte.

 

Seeking His Kingdom First and Nurturing Discipleship

In Sunday’s sermon, we considered Matthew 6:33: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

In closing, I asked each of us to consider the question: “How do I need to restructure my life so that I am seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness more than all else?”

We need food, drink, clothing, and shelter. Our Lord acknowledges that. But He assures us that “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

But we who have come to faith in Christ are not to be like “the Gentiles” – that is, the unbelievers, those who do not know God as Father. Such people logically seek first such necessities. Not so us. If our Father loves us, if He is the sovereign Creator, if He governs the world and feeds the birds and clothes the flowers – these necessities should not be our focus. Much less should the provision of food, clothing, housing, and cars far beyond the level of necessity be our focus. Instead, we must focus on becoming what He intends us to be, on fulfilling His plan for this world.

Over the past year we have developed resources to help us do just that. We desire each person to grow as a disciple; these resources are intended to help us nurture such growth.

Seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness is growing as a disciple. Such growth has three dimensions, which we can summarize as knowing, being, and doing:

  • Knowing: God, His Word, and His plan for all nations
  • Being: Conformed to the image of His Son
  • Doing: Glorifying God through life and ministry

We encourage all to read the details of these dimensions here, and to identify components to focus on in the months ahead. We encourage you to spur one another on through partnering with others at DGCC or at likeminded area churches through focusing together on certain components: Reading and discussing a book together, sharing the Gospel together, discipling a new believer together. We pray that in this way we may fulfill Ephesians 4:15-16:

We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

This does take a commitment of time. No question. Knowing God, being conformed to His Son’s image, and glorifying God in our lives, of necessity require time and energy.

But Jesus says: This is what is most important. This is what is most rewarding. This is what will bring you the greatest joy and the deepest fulfillment. This is what will bring about the greatest accomplishment of all time.

So may we have the wisdom, the courage, and the determination to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first, and to trust Him to give us whatever we need to fulfill His purposes.

What Was Purchased on Good Friday

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.

‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’
Love said, ‘You shall be he.’
‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.’
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
‘Who made the eyes but I?’

‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.’
‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’
‘My dear, then I will serve.’
‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’
So I did sit and eat.

George Herbert (1593-1633)

They All Left Him and Fled

And they all left him and fled (Mark 14:50).

Jesus fed thousands. So many gathered to hear Him, He had to leave the lakeshore and get in a boat to teach. A multitude welcomed Him to Jerusalem, shouting “Hosanna,” proclaiming Him as the fulfillment of the promise of a coming Son of David.

But now, after a show of force by the authorities, Jesus is alone. “They all left Him and fled.” All abandon Him. Not just the crowds. Not just those who saw miracles. But even those who have spent years at his side. Even those who have shared His bread. Even those He loved to the end. Even Peter, who only hours before proclaimed his faithfulness to Jesus until death. That faithfulness lasts only until a servant girl says she saw him with Jesus.

Only Jesus is faithful until death.

Something in us desires to be the hero. We all are tempted to say with Peter and the other disciples, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you” (Mark 14:31).

And whenever we try to be the hero, we fall flat on our faces – months or years later, if not (like Peter) that very day.

Only Jesus is the hero.

The Gospel is not the story of great men who do great deeds for God. The Gospel is not the story of heros of the Christian religion who, through tenacity, boldness, and strength conquer kingdoms and overcome evil. The Gospel is not the story of women of great insight and cleverness who outsmart evil oppressors.

The Gospel is the story of a holy and loving and faithful Trinitarian God: The Gospel is the story of God the Father planning and orchestrating all affairs of this world to display His character, His glory. The Gospel is the story of God the Son leaving His throne to become incarnate as Man, living the life God always intended for mankind, and then suffering and dying on the cross so that He might rise to be the first among many brothers. The Gospel is the story of God the Holy Spirit making alive hell-deserving sinners, opening their eyes to treasure God the Son, and empowering them to accomplish good works by faith for God’s glory.

By faith. That is, by looking away from their own abilities and limitations, by looking away from their strengths and their weaknesses, by looking away from themselves and their organizations, and leaning on God and His power to accomplish His purposes.

The Gospel is the story of man’s dependence and God’s independence, of man’s failures and God’s successes, of man’s moral bankruptcy and God’s moral integrity. The Gospel is about Jesus, not us; He must increase, and we must decrease.

Yet as we decrease in our egotistical self-confidence, something marvelous happens. His increase does not result in our fading into obscurity. As we walk by faith and not by sight, He increases, while we revel in our dependence. As we become poor in spirit and meek, we become heirs of the Kingdom; as we delight in His greatness and our weakness, we become the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

So as we consider over the next several days Jesus’ triumphal entry, His arrest, trial, beatings, and crucifixion, and as we rejoice in His resurrection, remember: The Gospel is all about Him. He is the center. Faith is a looking away from ourselves and what we have to offer. He paid the penalty. He rose from the dead. He is at the right hand of the Father. He always lives to make intercession for us. He sent the Holy Spirit to empower us. The Gospel is all about Him.

We must decrease. Praise God! We are dependent. Praise Jesus! We are children. Praise the Spirit! We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Amazing grace! Amazing love!

 

“We Want God!”

What are people longing for?

Consider the attention paid this week to the conclave of cardinals in Vatican City. Roman Catholics, of course, followed events closely. But interest in the selection of a new pope crosses Catholic/Protestant divisions, crosses secular/religious divisions. NPR, the New York Times, and the Washington Post highlighted the news from Rome; the Times of London and the Times of India headlined Pope Francis.

Why such interest?

Peggy Noonan, writing in the Wall Street Journal this week, suggests this interest reflects a longing:

After all the strains and scandals they still came running. A pope was being picked. The smoke came out and the crowd was there in St Peter’s Square. They stood in the darkness, cold and damp, and they waited and cheered and the square filled up. As the cameras panned the crowd there was joy on their faces, and the joy felt like renewal.

People come for many reasons. To show love and loyalty, to be part of something, to see history. But maybe we don’t fully know why they run, or why we turn when the first reports come of white smoke, and put on the TV or the computer. Maybe it comes down to this: “We want God.” Which is what millions of people shouted when John Paul II first went home to Poland. This is something in the human heart, and no strains or scandals will prevail against it.

“We want God.” Yes, and more: “We want to see people who have a real relationship with God. We want to encounter those who are not going through life amassing the greatest number of toys. We want to know that there are those who are neither hypocritical nor power-hungry. We want God – and we want to know those who truly follow Him.”

That longing exists among those around you: in Charlotte, in Concord, in Matthews, in Fort Mill, in Cornelius, in Davidson. That longing exists among your relatives, your friends, your colleagues.

So: When those with such a longing look at you, what do they see?

Do you look like you are pursuing comfort and ease? Do you look like someone who just goes through the motions of some religion to make good contacts and assuage your conscience?

Or do you look like – rather, are you truly – poor in spirit, mourning over sin and its effects, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, and pure in heart?

Jesus says those who follow Him are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Again and again He says, “You must not be like the hypocrites.” Rather, those around us are to see our good works, and give glory to our Father – for they see Him in and through us.

This longing – “We want God!” – is all around us. In many it is suppressed and hidden. In some it is on the surface and obvious. In others it may not be present at all. But as our Lord told the Apostle Paul about Corinth: “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10).

He has many people in this city also. They have the longing. They don’t know the Savior. They have abandoned what they saw as a hypocritical church; or they have been hurt by overbearing pastors. They have seen that money and success don’t lead to joy; or they have seen that alcohol and drugs destroy their joy. They find their relationships crumbling; or they have spent decades in loneliness and isolation. They have seen the dead end of amusing themselves to death; or they have found that even good health and a big family and close friends don’t ultimately satisfy. From deep within they cry out, “We want God!” – but they don’t know where to find Him. They don’t know how to know Him.

So will you be salt and light? You have the answer! Jesus says the harvest is plentiful. Do you believe it?

Ask those around you about Good Friday, about Easter; ask about the selection of the new pope – if they were interested, and if so, why?  Ask if God were to do a miracle in their life, what would they like it to be? Offer to open up God’s Word in their home. Take the church to them – and see what God does.

Will you be rejected? Surely yes, by some. Will you be mocked, or even reviled? Our Savior says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11).

Will you see the longing? Will you witness tears of repentance? Will you be present as God’s Spirit works to bring another into His Kingdom?

Step out. God will work. “We want God!” May they find Him through you.

 

Howard Hendricks, 1924-2013

Howard Hendricks, for 60 years a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, is now with his beloved Lord, seeing Him face to face.  As stated in this portrait at the Dallas Seminary site, Hendricks “directly or indirectly touched millions of lives in the evangelical community and beyond.” I am one of those.

A master storyteller and illustrator, here is the Hendricks story that has stuck with me more than any other (I used this story to open a sermon from Leviticus in 1998:

Early this year a long-time friend phoned Howard Hendricks, Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. It seems that this friend was moving to the Dallas area and wanted Howard’s recommendation for a church to attend. “Well, tell me, what kind of church are you looking for?” asked Howard. The friend laid out a long series of requirements, including the theological position of the church, the quality of personal relationships, and the absence of cliques and groups. Howard responded, “Friend, you’re looking for a perfect church. I don’t know of a church like that, but if you find one . . . don’t join it. You’ll ruin it!” Howard went on to tell his friend, “Do you have people in your church? Well, if you’ve got people, you’ve got problems.”

But Hendricks’ primary impact on me was indirect. He and Ray Stedman were at Dallas Seminary together and became lifelong friends, hammering out together theological issues and, particularly, philosophy of ministry issues. Ray was my pastor at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto at a particularly formative time, and one of the most influential pastors and preachers in my life. You can read about the relationship of Stedman and Hendricks at these links (first, second).

So please join me in thanking God:

Father God, thank You for the faithful ministry of Howard Hendricks. Thank You that You take ordinary men and use them to accomplish extraordinary tasks. May Your work through him continue to multiply to Your glory, in Charlotte and throughout the world.

Questions for Elders

(We will install Karl Dauber as an elder this Sunday, following the unanimous vote in his favor at our members meeting of  20 January. These are the questions we will ask him, and two questions we will ask the congregation. Over the years, we have edited and added to the questions used by our friends at Capitol Hill Baptist Church.)

Do you reaffirm that the God of the Bible is the one and only true God, eternally existent in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

(In a time of much doubt about the reality and character of God, we must stand firm on this most central point.)

Do you reaffirm your faith in Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, the Head of the Church as your Lord, Savior, and Treasure?

(That is: Do you believe in Jesus as your Master, who has a right to control your entire life? Do you believe in Him as your Savior, the only One who can pay the penalty for your sin and grant you entrance into God the Father’s presence? Do you see Jesus as your Treasure, worth more than all the world has to offer?)

Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, totally trustworthy, completely sufficient, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, the supreme, final, and only infallible rule of faith and practice?

(We as elders acknowledge that we thus have no authority over what we as a church believe – faith – and what we as a church do – practice – except as we guide this congregation to follow God’s Word. We also admit that to put any other authority on an equal standing with Scripture is effectively to put that other authority over Scripture.)

Do you sincerely believe that the covenant and the Statements of Faith of this church contain the truth taught in the Holy Scriptures?

(Similarly, our covenant and Statements of Faith have derivative authority: we as elders affirm that we believe they are useful summaries of the truths of Scripture. But they have no authority apart from Scripture.)

Do you promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with anything in the Statements of Faith or covenant, you will on your own initiative make known to all the other elders the change which has taken place in your views since your assumption of this vow?

(Churches have frequently gone astray when following leaders who have gone astray. And many leaders have not been open concerning their doubts about the truths of Scripture. Elders here affirm that should their beliefs change, they will make that known – and therefore resign, unless the other elders and the church as a whole agree that the truths of Scripture are better stated in a different way.)

Do you promise to submit to your fellow elders in the Lord?

(Hebrews 13:17 holds for elders as well as for the rest of the congregation. This doesn’t mean that one elder always gives in to what the other elders desire. But elders should have an inclination to work as a team, a desire to be unified, a willingness to hear from others and to be persuaded by them. We don’t come together each representing part of the congregation and fight it out for our private subset of the congregation; each of us is working for the good of the entire body.)

Is it your desire, as far as you know your own heart, to serve in the office of elder from love of God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son?

(That is, are you serving in this position for your own glory or for God’s glory?)

Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in promoting the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace of the Church, whatever persecution, criticisms, opposition or discouragement may arise?

(All elders will face opposition – sometimes from outside the church, sometimes from loved ones within the church. An elder must be aware of the certainty of future opposition, and he must be prepared to continue to serve faithfully despite opposition. Similarly, discouraging circumstances and events will happen to every elder, and he must be prepared to continue the labor despite the discouragement.)

Will you pursue and strive for unity of this church, committing yourself humbly to a ministry of biblical peacemaking and reconciliation?

(An elder must be humble, gentle, bold and resolute in pursuing confession and repentance in himself and the flock. Restoration and reconciliation of fellowship with God and fellow believers within the flock must be an essential priority.)

In dependence upon Jesus Christ’s redemptive work in your life and by the power of the Holy Spirit, will you strive to love your wife as Christ has loved you and gave Himself for you?

(Elders are to be examples in all aspects of their lives; marriage is the area Satan is most prone to attack, and where, conversely, God can be most glorified by our faithful example.)

Will you be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as elder, whether private or public, and will you endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, walking with exemplary piety before the congregation?

(That is: Are you going to walk the walk and not just talk the talk? “Piety” is not a word we use frequently these days; it refers to a godward orientation of one’s life, a respect for God that pervades all of one’s thoughts and actions. Who is equal to this? None of us, except by the grace of God.)

Are you now willing to take personal responsibility as an elder by God’s grace to oversee the ministry and resources of the church, and to devote yourself to prayer, the ministry of the Word, and the shepherding of God’s flock, in such a way that Desiring God Community Church and the entire Church of Jesus Christ will be blessed, built up, and protected against false teaching and division?

(Here we lay out the responsibilities of the elders: Prayer, the Word, and shepherding/pastoring the flock. As elders fulfill these three responsibilities, the entire Church is blessed.)

Questions to the Congregation:

Do you, the members of Desiring God Community Church, acknowledge and publicly receive this man as an elder – a gift of Christ to this church?

(Who is the Giver of this gift? God Himself! He is the One who raises up elders, not the existing elders and not the church. God equips men and raises them up to serve in this capacity. So praise God for your elders!)

Will you love him and pray for him in his ministry, and work together with him humbly and cheerfully, submitting to him and giving him all due honor and support in the leadership to which the Lord has called him, that by the grace of God you may accomplish the mission of the church, to the glory and honor of God?

(This is a wonderful summary of the responsibility of the congregation to the elders. How we need your prayers; how we covet your love. And note what happens when the congregation rightly loves, prays for, and submits to her elders: The church fulfills its purpose – glorifying God. May God be pleased to glorify Himself through this church as the elders and the congregation work together by His grace.)