“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.” Philippians 4:4 ESV
The apostle Paul is calling us to the delightful duty of finding our true joy in the Lord. He is calling us to the single most important goal of the Christian life: the pursuit of our happiness in God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism in its very first line spells it out: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy (by enjoying) Him forever.” God is most greatly glorified when we find our eternal happiness in Him! The reason that I say this is because there is no greater way to glorify God than to root in Him the happiness that my soul so desperately craves.
This joy is so important to Paul and so important to what it means to be a Christian that in our text Paul repeats himself, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.” That’s two commands: rejoice, rejoice. Do you know of any other place in Scripture where a command is repeated back to back like this? I don’t. Spurgeon said, “We are to joy, and then we are to re-joy. Joy is a delightful thing. You cannot be too happy, brother! ”
When Paul tells us to rejoice he is not giving us a suggestion or recommendation. He says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." This command is similar to 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Be joyful always.” This is a command sent down from the throne of God Almighty to us. Do you see how radical this is? It is a present, keep on rejoicing. It is all encompassing, always. This little word “always” takes this command to a whole new level: at all times, in all circumstances, even when we are suffering or afflicted. It is active, you are to do this; it is imperative, this isn’t an option for God’s people; it is in the 2nd person, you, not someone else; and plural, all of us! We don’t have to pray about this. Lord, should I rejoice today?
How can we rejoice at all times and in everything? First we need to see that…
Commands to Rejoice Are All Over the Bible-
Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord.”
Matthew 5:12, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven."
1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice always!"
1 Peter 4;13, "Rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings."
Romans 12:12,15, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer…Rejoice with those who rejoice”
C.S. Lewis understood these commands to be happy in God and said, "It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can."
How can we possibly do this?
The command to rejoice has reasons behind it.
1. First, because we ought to have it.
God is infinitely worthy of our delight. God made us to be joyful, to find our joy in Him. Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” The root of joy is the presence of God. It is the supreme pleasure for which you were created.
Jonathan Edwards wrote: ‘How good is God, that he has created man for this very end, to make him happy in the enjoyment of himself, the Almighty
2.Secondly, because the only thing standing between the command of God to rejoice and our experience of that joy is a sinful heart, a bored heart, a heart that delights more in the things of the world than in God Himself.
This demand that we rejoice is not marginal or superfluous. It is a shocking wake up call to all who find their happiness in the wrong places. Paul’s solution to low level, superficial joy is that we be mastered by joy in a new reality: the Lord! Paul says the root of joy is in the Lord. My joy isn’t in me, it isn’t in things, people, or this world, nor is it in my efforts to be joyful, my joy is in Him! Paul is not preaching a health, wealth, and prosperity. It is joy in the Lord—who He is, His love, His power, His wisdom, His grace, mercy, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. So immerse yourself in His blessings. Bathe yourself in His presence. Posture yourself to hear His voice and see His face and hear His word and taste His goodness and feel His presence. Relocate your joy in Jesus Christ and satiate yourself in all God has for you in Him! Rejoice in the Lord!
The only way to overcome our enjoyment of sin is with our enjoyment of God. We minimize our delight in the pleasures of the flesh by maximizing our delight in the pleasures of our creator! Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! The joyful life that Paul demands is for us to be glued to the Lord.
3. Thirdly, because we can obey this command. Joy is a duty and a privilege, but joy is also a gift! As we saw earlier, it is supernatural not natural. It is doable. It our duty to be happy in Him and we can be happy in Him! If joy is supernatural not natural, if joy is a demand of God and our duty is to rejoice in Him, then the Lord will give us grace of joy to rejoice in Him! “You have put gladness in my heart.” (Psalm 4:7) “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
Here is how it works: We are commanded to rejoice in the Lord, and we cannot obey it because of our sin rooted willful, foolish, misplaced, and corrupted joy. So we have a serious problem. We must delight in the Lord. We must rejoice in the Lord always. And we can’t. This is a heart that loves and delights in God! This is where a huge disconnect happens with many Christians. We need a new heart that only Jesus Christ can give. We are thrown back utterly to Jesus. Jesus said that he wanted to have his joy fulfilled in his disciples "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11; read also 17:13).
Jesus told us that he wanted our joy to be full. In other words, he has not come to take away our joy, but rather to give us joy. Holy joy is the joy of heaven, and that, you can be sure, is the very finest of joy. Joy in Jesus Christ! It is His grace, because the best thing he has to give us is His joy. Christ not only offers himself as the divine object of my joy, but pours His capacity for joy into me, so that I can enjoy Him with the very joy of God.
May His joy abide in us, that our joy may be full. If that happens than we will experience what Habakkuk experienced in Habakkuk 3:17-18,
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail, And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold, And there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult (jump for joy) in the LORD, I will rejoice (gheel – spin around, be joyful) in the God of my salvation.”
PRAYER
Oh Jesus, how our hearts soar with inexpressible joy and full of glory. Thank You that You offer a happiness that can come in the midst of our tears, our failures, our inadequacies, and our brokenness. Oh God let us know and experience in a deeper sense the promises of happiness that You can offer. Please make the feast of happiness flourish in our lives. Cause us to stop seeking happiness from this world and the things of this world. Waken us from the lies, the deceptions, and the illusions, that we can find heaven on earth. Instead, let Your precious Kingdom come down from heaven into our hearts and minds and let Your Word be fulfilled “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” Let those who have not tasted Your happiness see Your light of joy in us and may that joy drive them to You the Happy God, full of inexpressible joy and glory. May You dwell in our hearts so that we may experience from glory to glory the promises You offer us on earth and may we savor the future hope that someday we will see You and enjoy them in their fullness forever and ever. Amen
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A DESIRE TO PLEASE SUCH A WONDERFUL FATHER IN HEAVEN
"So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him..."For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
2 Corinthians 5:9,14-15 ESV
What is the most God-honoring reason not to sin? Is it fear of consequences? Is it fear of punishment? John Calvin says, "the truly pious mind restrains itself from sinning, not out of dread of punishment alone; but, because it-loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores him as Lord. Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone"
I am so very moved by this statement! Listen carefully again: "Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone." This thought compels me to ask: What accounts for my obedience to God? Why do I fear sinning? Is it merely because I know that discipline awaits me if I don't obey but rather persist in sin? Is there nothing in God besides his wrath that awakens me to holiness? Am I more concerned about negative consequences and bad feelings than pleasing Him? Am I motivated to seek righteousness for purely personal gain? Is self-interest at the core of my decision to heed his commands?
On one level there is nothing wrong with seeking to avoid judgment and the pains of hell. But should that by itself account for how we live? I think that the root of holiness is being in love with Jesus! Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
For Paul the love of Christ evokes self-restraint and service and reverence and worship and adoration. Calvin asks, "Were there no hell, he says, should we still not find him worthy of our devotion?" Is there not something beyond the prospect of judgment alone that energizes our hearts to adore him and our wills to obey him and our affections to delight in him?
Yes, says Calvin! The truly pious soul "loves and reveres God as Father" and "worships and adores him as Lord" irrespective of all other factors." God's intrinsic and inherent beauty, his glory as Father, and his power as Lord ought to be sufficient to stir our hearts to love and admire and worship him as it did for Paul."
N.P. Williams said, "The ordinary man may feel ashamed of doing wrong: but the saint, endowed with a superior refinement of moral sensibility, and keener powers of introspection, is ashamed of being the kind of man who is liable to do wrong" That is what happens when we love God.
I think an excellent illustration of this is recorded in the autobiography of the great missionary to Vanuatu in the South Pacific, John Paton. He records of the day of his parting from his beloved father to go off on the mission field.
My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsel and tears on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been yesterday. Tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then. For the last half mile we walked in almost unbroken silence, my father, as was often his custom, carrying his hat in hand, his long, flowing yellow hair streaming down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me, and his tears fell fast when our eyes met. We halted upon reaching the appointed parting place. He grasped my hand firmly for .a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said, "God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"
Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer. In tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could. When about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him. Waving my hat goodbye, I was 'round the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to-carry me farther, so I darted to the side of the road and wept for a time. Rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left him. Just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while, he got down, turned his face toward home, and began to return. I watched through blinding tears till his form faded from my gaze.
Now listen to and feel the emotion of John Paton as he reflected on this precious and most moving moment. It graphically and poignantly illustrates what I am trying to say:
Hastening on my way, I vowed deeply and often to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as God had given me.
What a father John Paton had! The feelings Paton had for his father were a deep reflection of his fathers greatness as a father. I never had the privilege of having a loving father like this. But oh does this story evoke in me feelings and thoughts that I have a precious and most wonderful Father in heaven! Ought this response that Paton felt be not all the more to be true of our relationship with God? Is he not infinitely deserving of glory and praise and honor and obedience for who he is, in himself, even before we consider what he will do should we fail to respond as we ought? Do you "shudder at offending him"? Oh that we would vow deeply and often to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father like our Father in heaven!
Seeking to bring God nothing but glory and to live a life pleasing to Him,
Pastor Bill
2 Corinthians 5:9,14-15 ESV
What is the most God-honoring reason not to sin? Is it fear of consequences? Is it fear of punishment? John Calvin says, "the truly pious mind restrains itself from sinning, not out of dread of punishment alone; but, because it-loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores him as Lord. Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone"
I am so very moved by this statement! Listen carefully again: "Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone." This thought compels me to ask: What accounts for my obedience to God? Why do I fear sinning? Is it merely because I know that discipline awaits me if I don't obey but rather persist in sin? Is there nothing in God besides his wrath that awakens me to holiness? Am I more concerned about negative consequences and bad feelings than pleasing Him? Am I motivated to seek righteousness for purely personal gain? Is self-interest at the core of my decision to heed his commands?
On one level there is nothing wrong with seeking to avoid judgment and the pains of hell. But should that by itself account for how we live? I think that the root of holiness is being in love with Jesus! Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
For Paul the love of Christ evokes self-restraint and service and reverence and worship and adoration. Calvin asks, "Were there no hell, he says, should we still not find him worthy of our devotion?" Is there not something beyond the prospect of judgment alone that energizes our hearts to adore him and our wills to obey him and our affections to delight in him?
Yes, says Calvin! The truly pious soul "loves and reveres God as Father" and "worships and adores him as Lord" irrespective of all other factors." God's intrinsic and inherent beauty, his glory as Father, and his power as Lord ought to be sufficient to stir our hearts to love and admire and worship him as it did for Paul."
N.P. Williams said, "The ordinary man may feel ashamed of doing wrong: but the saint, endowed with a superior refinement of moral sensibility, and keener powers of introspection, is ashamed of being the kind of man who is liable to do wrong" That is what happens when we love God.
I think an excellent illustration of this is recorded in the autobiography of the great missionary to Vanuatu in the South Pacific, John Paton. He records of the day of his parting from his beloved father to go off on the mission field.
My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsel and tears on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been yesterday. Tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then. For the last half mile we walked in almost unbroken silence, my father, as was often his custom, carrying his hat in hand, his long, flowing yellow hair streaming down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me, and his tears fell fast when our eyes met. We halted upon reaching the appointed parting place. He grasped my hand firmly for .a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said, "God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"
Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer. In tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could. When about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him. Waving my hat goodbye, I was 'round the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to-carry me farther, so I darted to the side of the road and wept for a time. Rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left him. Just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while, he got down, turned his face toward home, and began to return. I watched through blinding tears till his form faded from my gaze.
Now listen to and feel the emotion of John Paton as he reflected on this precious and most moving moment. It graphically and poignantly illustrates what I am trying to say:
Hastening on my way, I vowed deeply and often to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as God had given me.
What a father John Paton had! The feelings Paton had for his father were a deep reflection of his fathers greatness as a father. I never had the privilege of having a loving father like this. But oh does this story evoke in me feelings and thoughts that I have a precious and most wonderful Father in heaven! Ought this response that Paton felt be not all the more to be true of our relationship with God? Is he not infinitely deserving of glory and praise and honor and obedience for who he is, in himself, even before we consider what he will do should we fail to respond as we ought? Do you "shudder at offending him"? Oh that we would vow deeply and often to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father like our Father in heaven!
Seeking to bring God nothing but glory and to live a life pleasing to Him,
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
LIVING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT IN ORDER TO SEE AND HEAR WHAT IS REALLY THERE
"Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." Genesis 28:16
So often in my life I have found myself blind to stupendous realities. Blind because I didn't know how to see. Blind because I was too busy and hurried. Blind because my mind was caught up in myself. Blind because of living in the world I call "someday". Have you ever lived in the world of "someday"? To live in "someday" is to be so busy trying to get to where you want to be that you forget where you are and what is being offered by the kind grace of God at this present moment. Living for someday has often caused me to miss a lot of "today's".
How much have I missed because I have been so blind? Have much have I missed because I was just too busy to look? In my case it has been both. That is why in my spiritual journey, I have needed so much help. I am eternally indebted to C.S Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, Ken Gire, and John Piper who have opened my eyes to see more of life than I ever knew could be seen.
I have felt often like Jacob after awaking from his dream in Genesis 28:16-17, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Have you ever felt like this before?
B.B. Warfield in thinking about what the scriptures teach on predestination wrote,
"A glass window is before us. We raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality, and observe its defects; we speculate it's composition. Or we look straight through it on the great prospect of land and sea and beyond."
Ken Gire writes that the most rigorous of disciplines is the discipline of awareness. We must always be looking beyond what we see if we are going to truly see and listening beyond what we hear in order to truly hear. The sinfulness of man blinds him to the most wondrous and stupendous of realities! Our Lord spoke often of spiritual blindness and deafness. That is why the scriptures say that salvation is the gift of sight from God by the Holy Spirit that enables us to be able for the first time to see Jesus for who He is and to savor Him for all that He is worth.
"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" ( 2 Corinthians 4:4-6).
We now have been graced with the capacity to see but are we looking and listening? Jesus always has something to say to us and always shows us something we need to see and always offers something we need to receive. But even with this gift of sight, we have to cultivate awareness. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "And we all, with unveiled face, (as we continue to be in the word of God) beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (My translation)
We have to cultivate awareness in our life. The poet Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote,
"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."
Have you ever passed a bush plucking raspberries and thinking raspberries were all that was there? How many times have we failed to see the heavenly blaze in earthly bushes we brush by on our way to somewhere else?
John Piper spoke of being around Clyde Kilby who he described in this way: “When he spoke of a tree he saw on the way to class in the morning, you wondered why you had been so blind all of your life…I sat there and for the first time I saw things. I felt. I was drawn into the bright day of wakefulness out of my self-preoccupied, adolescent slumbers”.
Oh to see things! oh to be awake and alive to God, to people, to nature, to culture, to the present moment! Brother Lawrence called it "Practicing the Presence of God" and in that light Mike Mason added a second practice that he called "Practicing the Presence of People".
There is no time, no place, no moment, no event, that God is not there and is not speaking something for me to hear and showing me something for me to see. Our lives are full of stupendous realities aren't they? But these moments will go unnoticed if we do not take the time to stop, look, and listen. C.S. Lewis wrote,
"To see what is in thee moments we first have to stop, and then we must look and go on looking until we see exactly what is there."
It means we must learn to "be still and know that I AM God" (Psalm 46:10). Anne Morrow Lindbergh called it striving to be the still axis within the revolving wheel of relationships, obligations and activities. the still axis. It is to be able to maintain its center no matter how fast our lives are turning. Ask God to give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive this day beyond what you see, hear, and receive. Ask Him to help you to stop plucking blackberries and to take off your shoes for this moment is holy ground!
Longing for eyes to see more of life than I ever knew could be seen!
Pastor Bill
So often in my life I have found myself blind to stupendous realities. Blind because I didn't know how to see. Blind because I was too busy and hurried. Blind because my mind was caught up in myself. Blind because of living in the world I call "someday". Have you ever lived in the world of "someday"? To live in "someday" is to be so busy trying to get to where you want to be that you forget where you are and what is being offered by the kind grace of God at this present moment. Living for someday has often caused me to miss a lot of "today's".
How much have I missed because I have been so blind? Have much have I missed because I was just too busy to look? In my case it has been both. That is why in my spiritual journey, I have needed so much help. I am eternally indebted to C.S Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, Ken Gire, and John Piper who have opened my eyes to see more of life than I ever knew could be seen.
I have felt often like Jacob after awaking from his dream in Genesis 28:16-17, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Have you ever felt like this before?
B.B. Warfield in thinking about what the scriptures teach on predestination wrote,
"A glass window is before us. We raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality, and observe its defects; we speculate it's composition. Or we look straight through it on the great prospect of land and sea and beyond."
Ken Gire writes that the most rigorous of disciplines is the discipline of awareness. We must always be looking beyond what we see if we are going to truly see and listening beyond what we hear in order to truly hear. The sinfulness of man blinds him to the most wondrous and stupendous of realities! Our Lord spoke often of spiritual blindness and deafness. That is why the scriptures say that salvation is the gift of sight from God by the Holy Spirit that enables us to be able for the first time to see Jesus for who He is and to savor Him for all that He is worth.
"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" ( 2 Corinthians 4:4-6).
We now have been graced with the capacity to see but are we looking and listening? Jesus always has something to say to us and always shows us something we need to see and always offers something we need to receive. But even with this gift of sight, we have to cultivate awareness. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "And we all, with unveiled face, (as we continue to be in the word of God) beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (My translation)
We have to cultivate awareness in our life. The poet Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote,
"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."
Have you ever passed a bush plucking raspberries and thinking raspberries were all that was there? How many times have we failed to see the heavenly blaze in earthly bushes we brush by on our way to somewhere else?
John Piper spoke of being around Clyde Kilby who he described in this way: “When he spoke of a tree he saw on the way to class in the morning, you wondered why you had been so blind all of your life…I sat there and for the first time I saw things. I felt. I was drawn into the bright day of wakefulness out of my self-preoccupied, adolescent slumbers”.
Oh to see things! oh to be awake and alive to God, to people, to nature, to culture, to the present moment! Brother Lawrence called it "Practicing the Presence of God" and in that light Mike Mason added a second practice that he called "Practicing the Presence of People".
There is no time, no place, no moment, no event, that God is not there and is not speaking something for me to hear and showing me something for me to see. Our lives are full of stupendous realities aren't they? But these moments will go unnoticed if we do not take the time to stop, look, and listen. C.S. Lewis wrote,
"To see what is in thee moments we first have to stop, and then we must look and go on looking until we see exactly what is there."
It means we must learn to "be still and know that I AM God" (Psalm 46:10). Anne Morrow Lindbergh called it striving to be the still axis within the revolving wheel of relationships, obligations and activities. the still axis. It is to be able to maintain its center no matter how fast our lives are turning. Ask God to give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive this day beyond what you see, hear, and receive. Ask Him to help you to stop plucking blackberries and to take off your shoes for this moment is holy ground!
Longing for eyes to see more of life than I ever knew could be seen!
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
REFORMING OUR WORSHIP: LEAVING CULTURE AND MOVING TO THE SCRIPTURES
"Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." John 4:21-23 ESV
Over the years I have heard many statements that reveal most Christians view of worship. For example: "The worship was so good today." "I love the worship at that church". "That was the best worship I have ever experienced!" "My wife and I want to find a church where there is good worship?" "I didn't get much out of the worship today." "I am not really that into worship, I like good teaching." "I go to church for the worship not the preaching." "I really look forward to the worship time on Sunday mornings."
I could go on and on in what I have heard over the past thirty two years I have been a pastor. Most Christians seem to confine worship to a place, or a day, or an event and worship to singing. What does the New Testament say about worship? To be more specific, what does Jesus say about worship?
In John 4:24 Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans viewed worship in terms of outward forms and geographical locations. Jesus says an astonishing thing when He addresses the woman: "The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father...the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." Here Jesus takes the word proskuneo - that dominant Old Testament word for worship - and transforms it into a concept that is mainly inward rather than outward, and mainly pervasive rather than localized. Instead of being in this mountain or in Jerusalem, it is "in spirit and in truth."
What Jesus is doing is giving us the true view of authentic worship. Not that it will be wrong for worship to be in a place like a church building or a mountain top or that it will be wrong for it to use outward forms; but rather he is making explicit and central that this is not what makes worship worship. What makes worship worship is what happens "in spirit and in truth" - with or without a place and with or without outward forms.
True Authentic Worship is worship "in spirit" and "in truth". What does this mean? I believe that "in spirit" means that true worship is enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit and happens first as an inward, spiritual event, not mainly as an outward bodily event. And I believe that "in truth" means that this true worship is a response to true views of God and is shaped and guided by true views of God.
Romans 12:1-2 portrays all of life as worship. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). All of life is the outshining of what you truly value and cherish and treasure. Therefore all of life is worship.
Over the years I have heard many statements that reveal most Christians view of worship. For example: "The worship was so good today." "I love the worship at that church". "That was the best worship I have ever experienced!" "My wife and I want to find a church where there is good worship?" "I didn't get much out of the worship today." "I am not really that into worship, I like good teaching." "I go to church for the worship not the preaching." "I really look forward to the worship time on Sunday mornings."
I could go on and on in what I have heard over the past thirty two years I have been a pastor. Most Christians seem to confine worship to a place, or a day, or an event and worship to singing. What does the New Testament say about worship? To be more specific, what does Jesus say about worship?
In John 4:24 Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans viewed worship in terms of outward forms and geographical locations. Jesus says an astonishing thing when He addresses the woman: "The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father...the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." Here Jesus takes the word proskuneo - that dominant Old Testament word for worship - and transforms it into a concept that is mainly inward rather than outward, and mainly pervasive rather than localized. Instead of being in this mountain or in Jerusalem, it is "in spirit and in truth."
What Jesus is doing is giving us the true view of authentic worship. Not that it will be wrong for worship to be in a place like a church building or a mountain top or that it will be wrong for it to use outward forms; but rather he is making explicit and central that this is not what makes worship worship. What makes worship worship is what happens "in spirit and in truth" - with or without a place and with or without outward forms.
True Authentic Worship is worship "in spirit" and "in truth". What does this mean? I believe that "in spirit" means that true worship is enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit and happens first as an inward, spiritual event, not mainly as an outward bodily event. And I believe that "in truth" means that this true worship is a response to true views of God and is shaped and guided by true views of God.
Jesus radically redefines worship as being significantly de-institutionalized, de-localized, de-ritualized. The whole thrust is being taken off of ceremony and seasons and places and forms; and is being shifted to what is happening in the heart - not just on Sunday, but every day and all the time in all of life.
This is what it means when we read things like, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). And "whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father" (Colossians 3:17). This is the form of worship commanded in the New Testament: to act in a way that reflects the value of the glory of God. The inner essence of worship is the treasuring of God as infinitely valuable above everything. When we worship God will be duly praised, because he is duly prized. -So worship is not about place, form, event, or environment. Worship is about God and lived out and expressed from the heart in life.Romans 12:1-2 portrays all of life as worship. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). All of life is the outshining of what you truly value and cherish and treasure. Therefore all of life is worship.
I think that there is no group in church history that better understood the teaching of Jesus on worship than the Puritans. Patrick Collinson summarizes Puritan theory and practice by saying, the life of the Puritan was in one sense a continuous act of worship, pursued under an unremitting and lively sense of God's providential purposes and constantly refreshed by religious activity, personal, domestic and public.
Inner spiritual reality is the key to true and authentic worship. We see it in Matthew 15:8-9 when Jesus says, "This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me." Worship that does not come from the heart is vain, empty. It is not authentic worship. It is no worship. Matt Redmond says, “No one can speak of things they have not seen…worship starts with seeing, our hearts respond to your revelation.” Worship is our response to seeing and savoring the preciousness and greatness of God from our hearts. Therefore, the essence of our worship is prizing Christ, being satisfied in Christ, cherishing Christ, and treasuring Christ in our hearts.
So everything we do alone, during the week, and when we gather together as the people of God is meant to outwardly express the loving, cherishing, and treasuring of Christ that is in our hearts. The outer forms of worship on Sunday mornings when the people of God gather together are all of the acts that show how much we treasure God. And the forms of worship they take are in singing, in the offering, in the preaching and hearing God’s word, in serving and encouraging one another, and the partaking of the Lord's Supper.
Nothing makes God more supreme and more central than when a people are utterly persuaded that nothing - not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends - nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their aching hearts besides God. This conviction breeds a people who worship in spirit and truth. Authentic worship means that all during the week and with God's people on Sunday morning what we do is to go hard after God: we are going hard after satisfaction in God, and going hard after God as our prize, and going hard after God as our treasure, our soul-food, our heart-delight, our spirit's pleasure.
During the Reformation a slogan was cried out, "semper reformanda", meaning “always reformed, always reforming.” The Puritans held onto this and so do I. The the point of the slogan is that the church is always to be reforming its doctrine and practice according to the Scriptures.
To be reformed means to be “always reforming” by shaping what I know about God against what He has revealed about Himself. May we listen to Jesus and the apostles and "reform" our cultural views of worship and become true worshippers in "spirit" and "in truth" every day and together on Sunday.
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
THE GRAVITY OF SIN FROM A SINNERS PERSPECTIVE
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit."
Psalm 51:1-11ESV
People don't like to talk much about sin these days and sadly neither do church's or Christians. In the 60's the psychiatrist Karl Memminger wrote a book titled "Whatever Happened to Sin". We could ask the same question today? But the writers of scripture had a strong sense of the gravity of sin. Paul Tripp has inspired me in his book Whiter Than Snow. Parts of this blog are taken from his book.
The Bible doesn't pull any punches as it describes the scary reality of sin. You have the powerful words of Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time". Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time! Could there be a more forceful way of characterizing the pervasive influence of sin on everything we do?
Or you have Paul building his case for the sinfulness of everyone, which reaches this crescendo: "All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Romans 3:12).
Along with this, the Bible very clearly unpacks the underlying spiritual dynamics of sin. Passages like Luke 6:43-45 and Mark 7:20-23 teach us that sin is first a matter of the heart before it is ever a matter of behavior. Romans 1:25 alerts us to the fact that sin, in its essence, is idolatrous. It is when God is replaced as the ruler of our hearts that we give ourselves to doing what pleases us rather than what pleases him.
Psalm 51 is also one of the definitional passages when it comes to sin. On the other side of lust, adultery, and murder, David is filled with the sense of the enormity of his sin. The weight of what he's carrying isn't just about how he used his God-given position to take a woman who wasn't his and use her for his pleasure. The weight on him wasn't just about how he plotted the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. The weight had to do with his understanding of the extent of his problem with sin.
David employs three words for sin that really define the nature of what our struggle with it is all about. The first definitional word he uses is the word transgression. To transgress means to acknowledge the boundaries and to step willingly over them. I transgress when I knowingly do what I am not supposed to do. The speed limit is 65 mph and I drive 8o. I know I'm not supposed to drive that fast but because I am in a hurry and need to get somewhere I drive faster than the speed limit. Often our sin is just like this. We know that God has forbidden what
we're about to do, but for personal success, comfort, or pleasure we step over God's prohibition and do exactly what we want to do. When we transgress, we not only rebel against God's authority, but we convince ourselves that we're a better authority with a better system of law than the one God gave us. Propelled by the laws of personal wants, personal feelings, and personal need, we consciously step over God's boundaries and do what we want to do.
But not all of our sin is conscious, high-handed rebellion. So David uses a second word, iniquity. Iniquity is best described as moral uncleanness. This word points to the comprehensive nature of the effect of sin on us. We call it total depravity or radical corruption. Sin is a moral infection that stains everything we desire, think, speak, and do. We sin because we are such depraved sinners! Sadly, no infant since the fall of the world into sin has been born morally clean. We all entered this world dirty and there's nothing we can do to clean ourselves up. David acknowledges the fact that he came into the world with this profound moral problem (Psalm 51:5). He scans back across his life and can't recognize a point where sin wasn't with him. Iniquity is like inadvertently putting a pair of bright red socks into the wash with a load of whites. There will be nothing that escapes the red stain and remains completely white. In the same way, sin is pervasive. It really does alter everything we do in some way.
But there's a third word that David uses that gets at another aspect of sin's damage. It's the word sin. Sin is best defined as falling short of a standard. In our moments of best intention and best effort we still fall short. We're simply unable to reach the level of the standards that God has set for us in His word. Sin has simply removed our ability to keep God's law. So, we fall short of his standard again and again and again. In your thoughts you fall short. In your desires you fall short. In your marriage or family you fall short. In your communication you fall short. At your job you fall short. With your friends you fall short. We simply are not able to meet God's requirements.
This "terrible trinity" of words for sin really does capture with power and clarity the nature of the war that rages inside each one of us. Sometimes I do not do exactly what God requires, but I don't care because I want what I want, and so I step over his wise boundaries. Sometimes I look back on what I've done, having thought that I'd done pretty well, only to see ways in which my words and behavior were once more stained with sin. And over and over again I'm confronted with my weakness and inability. I fall short of God's standard even in moments of good intention.
All this sin can do is what it did to David. Drive me to the place of grace, cleansing, removal of my guilt and shame, forgiveness, and mercy and pardon, empowerment to change, and deliverance. Even though it was hundreds of years away, the cross was what David was pleading for. The cross provides our covering. The cross provides our cleansing. The cross makes it possible for God to accept us fully without compromising his holiness. The cross allows us to be accepted, not based on what we've done but based on what Christ has done. The cross allows sinners to be declared righteous! Christ covers us, so that as God looks on us he sees the perfect righteousness of Christ that's been given to our account.
Jesus Christ has answered David's prayer and He will answer every sinners contrite and brokenhearted prayer. We don't have to face the horrible consequences of sin, iniquity, and transgression because we have been rescued by the greatest love of all, Calvary love.Planned by the Father, paid for by the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
In awe, reverence, and profound gratitude,
Pastor Bill (A rescued sinner)
Psalm 51:1-11ESV
People don't like to talk much about sin these days and sadly neither do church's or Christians. In the 60's the psychiatrist Karl Memminger wrote a book titled "Whatever Happened to Sin". We could ask the same question today? But the writers of scripture had a strong sense of the gravity of sin. Paul Tripp has inspired me in his book Whiter Than Snow. Parts of this blog are taken from his book.
The Bible doesn't pull any punches as it describes the scary reality of sin. You have the powerful words of Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time". Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time! Could there be a more forceful way of characterizing the pervasive influence of sin on everything we do?
Or you have Paul building his case for the sinfulness of everyone, which reaches this crescendo: "All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Romans 3:12).
Along with this, the Bible very clearly unpacks the underlying spiritual dynamics of sin. Passages like Luke 6:43-45 and Mark 7:20-23 teach us that sin is first a matter of the heart before it is ever a matter of behavior. Romans 1:25 alerts us to the fact that sin, in its essence, is idolatrous. It is when God is replaced as the ruler of our hearts that we give ourselves to doing what pleases us rather than what pleases him.
Psalm 51 is also one of the definitional passages when it comes to sin. On the other side of lust, adultery, and murder, David is filled with the sense of the enormity of his sin. The weight of what he's carrying isn't just about how he used his God-given position to take a woman who wasn't his and use her for his pleasure. The weight on him wasn't just about how he plotted the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. The weight had to do with his understanding of the extent of his problem with sin.
David employs three words for sin that really define the nature of what our struggle with it is all about. The first definitional word he uses is the word transgression. To transgress means to acknowledge the boundaries and to step willingly over them. I transgress when I knowingly do what I am not supposed to do. The speed limit is 65 mph and I drive 8o. I know I'm not supposed to drive that fast but because I am in a hurry and need to get somewhere I drive faster than the speed limit. Often our sin is just like this. We know that God has forbidden what
we're about to do, but for personal success, comfort, or pleasure we step over God's prohibition and do exactly what we want to do. When we transgress, we not only rebel against God's authority, but we convince ourselves that we're a better authority with a better system of law than the one God gave us. Propelled by the laws of personal wants, personal feelings, and personal need, we consciously step over God's boundaries and do what we want to do.
But not all of our sin is conscious, high-handed rebellion. So David uses a second word, iniquity. Iniquity is best described as moral uncleanness. This word points to the comprehensive nature of the effect of sin on us. We call it total depravity or radical corruption. Sin is a moral infection that stains everything we desire, think, speak, and do. We sin because we are such depraved sinners! Sadly, no infant since the fall of the world into sin has been born morally clean. We all entered this world dirty and there's nothing we can do to clean ourselves up. David acknowledges the fact that he came into the world with this profound moral problem (Psalm 51:5). He scans back across his life and can't recognize a point where sin wasn't with him. Iniquity is like inadvertently putting a pair of bright red socks into the wash with a load of whites. There will be nothing that escapes the red stain and remains completely white. In the same way, sin is pervasive. It really does alter everything we do in some way.
But there's a third word that David uses that gets at another aspect of sin's damage. It's the word sin. Sin is best defined as falling short of a standard. In our moments of best intention and best effort we still fall short. We're simply unable to reach the level of the standards that God has set for us in His word. Sin has simply removed our ability to keep God's law. So, we fall short of his standard again and again and again. In your thoughts you fall short. In your desires you fall short. In your marriage or family you fall short. In your communication you fall short. At your job you fall short. With your friends you fall short. We simply are not able to meet God's requirements.
This "terrible trinity" of words for sin really does capture with power and clarity the nature of the war that rages inside each one of us. Sometimes I do not do exactly what God requires, but I don't care because I want what I want, and so I step over his wise boundaries. Sometimes I look back on what I've done, having thought that I'd done pretty well, only to see ways in which my words and behavior were once more stained with sin. And over and over again I'm confronted with my weakness and inability. I fall short of God's standard even in moments of good intention.
All this sin can do is what it did to David. Drive me to the place of grace, cleansing, removal of my guilt and shame, forgiveness, and mercy and pardon, empowerment to change, and deliverance. Even though it was hundreds of years away, the cross was what David was pleading for. The cross provides our covering. The cross provides our cleansing. The cross makes it possible for God to accept us fully without compromising his holiness. The cross allows us to be accepted, not based on what we've done but based on what Christ has done. The cross allows sinners to be declared righteous! Christ covers us, so that as God looks on us he sees the perfect righteousness of Christ that's been given to our account.
Jesus Christ has answered David's prayer and He will answer every sinners contrite and brokenhearted prayer. We don't have to face the horrible consequences of sin, iniquity, and transgression because we have been rescued by the greatest love of all, Calvary love.Planned by the Father, paid for by the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
In awe, reverence, and profound gratitude,
Pastor Bill (A rescued sinner)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
LIVING BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT, YET LONGING FOR THE END OF FAITH TO LIVE BY SIGHT
The apostle Paul tells us that we live here on this earth "by faith, and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5: 7). In this life we are not able to see with our physical eyes this God we trust and believe in. The writer of Hebrews defines faith as being "the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen" (Hebrews 11:1).Our whole life on this earth is a life of living by faith and in faith. But faith is the way of seeing Jesus on this earth. Paul speaks of it being the "eyes of our understanding being enlightened" in Ephesians 1:18. We read that the Holy Spirit opens our blind eyes to be able to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus in our hearts in 2 Corinthians 4:6. the hearers of 1 Peter were told by the apostle that though they had not seen Jesus with their physical eyes that they "Believed Him, loved Him, and their hearts were filled with inexpressible joy and glory." In short, they saw Him here through the eyes of faith, not sight. So there is a way of seeing Jesus here on earth that God has both blessed us with but in another sense Paul says "for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known"(1 Corinthians 13:12).
John Owen in his profound work The Glory of Christ, puts it this way. The view which we have of the glory of Christ by faith in this world is obscure, dark, inevident, and reflexive. He interprets the idea of a glass being more like a mirror. A mirror gives an image of something but it is imperfect in the sense that it is still an image or reflection, it is not actually the real thing. Owen writes., "The shadow or image of this glory of Christ is drawn in the gospel, and in it we behold it as the likeness of a man to us in a glass; and although it be obscure and i comparison of his own real, substantial glory, which is the object of vision in heaven, yet is it the only image and representation of himself which he has left, and given to us in this world...by this figurative expression of seeing in a glass declares the comparative imperfection of our present view of the glory of Christ.".
We see Jesus dimly but brightly through the gospels and the scripture. Here Jesus is set forth to our sight of faith crucified, exalted, glorified and graces us with the ability to understand and savor these truths about Jesus. Owen writes: "This is our faith, which, as it is in us, being weak and imperfect, we comprehend the representation that is made to us of the glory of Christ as men do the sense of a dark saying, a riddle, a parable; that is, imperfectly, and with difficulty.On the account of this we may say at present, how little a portion is it that we know of him! As Job speaks of God (Job 26: 14). How imperfect are our conceptions of him! How weak are our minds in their management! There is no part of his glory that we can fully comprehend. And what we do comprehend, as there is a comprehension in faith (Ephesians 3: 18), we cannot abide in the steady contemplation of ."For ever blessed be that sovereign grace, whence it is that He who 'commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ', and in it of the glory of Christ himself; that he has so revealed him to us, that we may love him, admire him, and obey him: but constantly, steadily, and clearly to behold his glory in this life we are not able; 'for we walk by faith, and not by sight."
So this is the sight that we have in this world by the grace and means of faith in this world. in that vision Owen says "are represented to us desirable beauties and glories of Christ. How precious, how amiable is he, as represented in them! How are believers ravished with the views of them! Yet is this discovery of Him also but as through a lattice. We see him but by parts unsteadily and unevenly.Such, I say, is the sight of the glory of Christ which we have in this world by faith."
So we will never see the glory and the fullness of the glory of Jesus with our physical eyes in this life. That is reserved for the life to come. Jesus prayed for it in John 17:24, "'Father, I will that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me." Owen describes this vision in this way:
"Christ himself, in his own person, with all his glory, shall be continually with us, before us, proposed to us. We shall no longer have an image, a representation of him, such as is the delineation of his glory in the Gospel. We 'shall see him', says the apostle, 'face to face' (1 Cor. 13: 12); which he opposes to our seeing him darkly as in a glass, which is the utmost that faith can attain to. 'We shall see him as he is' (1 John 3: 2); not as now, in an imperfect description of him. As a man sees his neighbour when they stand and converse together face to face, so shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory; and not as Moses, who had only a transient sight of some parts of the glory of God, when he caused it to pass by him...this I know, that in the immediate beholding of the person of Christ, we shall see a glory in it a thousand times above what here we can conceive. The excellencies of infinite wisdom, love, and power in it, will be continually before us. And all the glories of the person of Christ which we have before weakly and faintly inquired into, will be in our sight for evermore.Hence the ground and cause of our blessedness is, that 'we shall ever be with the Lord' (1 Thessalonians 4: 17), as himself prays, 'that we may be with him where he is, to behold his glory."
I liken the two different ways of seeing Jesus by faith in this life and sight in heaven as being the difference between reading about and seeing pictures of Kauai and actually being there. Kauai is one of my favorite places on this earth. Before I had ever been to Kauai I had seen slide shows, photo montages, and heard eloquent descriptions of Kauai from my friends. I found joy and momentary pleasure in seeing and hearing about this tropical island. It would also cause my mind to wonder and dream of what Kauai would be like.. But the ultimate joy was to be there and seeing Kauai firsthand in all of its splendour and beauty.
Owen writes, ". For, whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven, it is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.".
For many like me, seeing pictures of Kauai is the very means that creates in many a longing and a vision to go to Kauai! So people save, plan, talk, dream, and look ahead to that day they will land in Lihue airport and get off of that plane and smell the plumeria flowers. There is a tremendous sense of joy and expectation in all of the thinking,planning, and preparing for such a trip but that joy is but a foreshadow of the greater joy of being there.
Remember Jesus prayer in John 17:24, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."?
Owen writes: "Our Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood in what the eternal blessedness of them that believe in him consists. And this is the sum of what he prays for with respect to that end, namely, that we may be where he is, to behold his glory. And is it not our duty to live in a continual desire of that which he prayed so earnestly that we might attain? If in ourselves we as yet apprehend but little of the glory, the excellency, the blessedness of it, yet ought we to repose that confidence in the wisdom and love of Christ, that it is our best, infinitely better than any thing we can enjoy here below.whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven, it is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.".
Living by faith yet longing for the day of sight,
Pastor Bill
John Owen in his profound work The Glory of Christ, puts it this way. The view which we have of the glory of Christ by faith in this world is obscure, dark, inevident, and reflexive. He interprets the idea of a glass being more like a mirror. A mirror gives an image of something but it is imperfect in the sense that it is still an image or reflection, it is not actually the real thing. Owen writes., "The shadow or image of this glory of Christ is drawn in the gospel, and in it we behold it as the likeness of a man to us in a glass; and although it be obscure and i comparison of his own real, substantial glory, which is the object of vision in heaven, yet is it the only image and representation of himself which he has left, and given to us in this world...by this figurative expression of seeing in a glass declares the comparative imperfection of our present view of the glory of Christ.".
We see Jesus dimly but brightly through the gospels and the scripture. Here Jesus is set forth to our sight of faith crucified, exalted, glorified and graces us with the ability to understand and savor these truths about Jesus. Owen writes: "This is our faith, which, as it is in us, being weak and imperfect, we comprehend the representation that is made to us of the glory of Christ as men do the sense of a dark saying, a riddle, a parable; that is, imperfectly, and with difficulty.On the account of this we may say at present, how little a portion is it that we know of him! As Job speaks of God (Job 26: 14). How imperfect are our conceptions of him! How weak are our minds in their management! There is no part of his glory that we can fully comprehend. And what we do comprehend, as there is a comprehension in faith (Ephesians 3: 18), we cannot abide in the steady contemplation of ."For ever blessed be that sovereign grace, whence it is that He who 'commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ', and in it of the glory of Christ himself; that he has so revealed him to us, that we may love him, admire him, and obey him: but constantly, steadily, and clearly to behold his glory in this life we are not able; 'for we walk by faith, and not by sight."
So this is the sight that we have in this world by the grace and means of faith in this world. in that vision Owen says "are represented to us desirable beauties and glories of Christ. How precious, how amiable is he, as represented in them! How are believers ravished with the views of them! Yet is this discovery of Him also but as through a lattice. We see him but by parts unsteadily and unevenly.Such, I say, is the sight of the glory of Christ which we have in this world by faith."
So we will never see the glory and the fullness of the glory of Jesus with our physical eyes in this life. That is reserved for the life to come. Jesus prayed for it in John 17:24, "'Father, I will that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me." Owen describes this vision in this way:
"Christ himself, in his own person, with all his glory, shall be continually with us, before us, proposed to us. We shall no longer have an image, a representation of him, such as is the delineation of his glory in the Gospel. We 'shall see him', says the apostle, 'face to face' (1 Cor. 13: 12); which he opposes to our seeing him darkly as in a glass, which is the utmost that faith can attain to. 'We shall see him as he is' (1 John 3: 2); not as now, in an imperfect description of him. As a man sees his neighbour when they stand and converse together face to face, so shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory; and not as Moses, who had only a transient sight of some parts of the glory of God, when he caused it to pass by him...this I know, that in the immediate beholding of the person of Christ, we shall see a glory in it a thousand times above what here we can conceive. The excellencies of infinite wisdom, love, and power in it, will be continually before us. And all the glories of the person of Christ which we have before weakly and faintly inquired into, will be in our sight for evermore.Hence the ground and cause of our blessedness is, that 'we shall ever be with the Lord' (1 Thessalonians 4: 17), as himself prays, 'that we may be with him where he is, to behold his glory."
I liken the two different ways of seeing Jesus by faith in this life and sight in heaven as being the difference between reading about and seeing pictures of Kauai and actually being there. Kauai is one of my favorite places on this earth. Before I had ever been to Kauai I had seen slide shows, photo montages, and heard eloquent descriptions of Kauai from my friends. I found joy and momentary pleasure in seeing and hearing about this tropical island. It would also cause my mind to wonder and dream of what Kauai would be like.. But the ultimate joy was to be there and seeing Kauai firsthand in all of its splendour and beauty.
Owen writes, ". For, whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven, it is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.".
For many like me, seeing pictures of Kauai is the very means that creates in many a longing and a vision to go to Kauai! So people save, plan, talk, dream, and look ahead to that day they will land in Lihue airport and get off of that plane and smell the plumeria flowers. There is a tremendous sense of joy and expectation in all of the thinking,planning, and preparing for such a trip but that joy is but a foreshadow of the greater joy of being there.
Remember Jesus prayer in John 17:24, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."?
Owen writes: "Our Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood in what the eternal blessedness of them that believe in him consists. And this is the sum of what he prays for with respect to that end, namely, that we may be where he is, to behold his glory. And is it not our duty to live in a continual desire of that which he prayed so earnestly that we might attain? If in ourselves we as yet apprehend but little of the glory, the excellency, the blessedness of it, yet ought we to repose that confidence in the wisdom and love of Christ, that it is our best, infinitely better than any thing we can enjoy here below.whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven, it is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.".
Living by faith yet longing for the day of sight,
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
RESOLVED!
Throughout scriptures we see the examples of men of God who resolved to live for God in a particular manner. I think of Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” The phrase “I resolved” means he made a conscious choice to do things a certain way. He didn’t fall into it by chance or by force of habit. For Paul the choice was clear: “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
I think of Barnabbas who went to Antioch and we read, “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast resolve” (Acts 11:23). The Greek word translated "resolved" means to plan or will or purpose to do something. So to resolve or purpose to remain true to the Lord means that we set our heart on remaining true to the Lord.
I think of Daniel who when tested to eat the kings food and drink the kings wine we read, "But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank…" (Daniel 1:8). That’s the mindset and posture that I am pleading with you, challenging you, and exhorting you to have as we enter into a year of many uncertainties. Be resolved to be resolved!
This is the crucial event of his life. Although it might not have appeared important at the time, what Daniel did shaped the next 60 years. Why do you think Daniel did what he did? Daniel's reluctance to eat the emperor's food was religious in origin, because the writer uses the word "defile" (1:8). This word strongly implies that he saw the issue as one of moral or spiritual pollution. It was not just that he was vegetarian or that he had trouble adjusting to a foreign diet. This was an issue of religious conscience for him. To eat of the king's food would have been, for Daniel, to compromise his personal holiness in some way.
Verse 8 says that he "resolved" That is, he made up his own mind. The Hebrew phrase suggests an inner wrestling with conscience that resulted in personal determination to make a stand of principle on the matter. He couldn't decide for anyone else, but he decided for himself what he would and would not do. And that changed everything. Daniels commitment preceded his achievement. Daniel made up his mind, and his three closest friends decided to join him.
What do we learn from Daniel about being resolved?
1. Being resolved is the result of choice not conditions or environment He made up his own mind. He didn’t ask anyone else what he or she thought. I am not, I will not period. He did it immediately. That was a great moment. “People don’t make commitments because the conditions are right; they make commitments to do right in spite of the conditions.”
2. Being resolved means our commitment must be settled before the moment arises Daniel didn’t get caught up in the emotion of the moment. He made the decision before the food was ever brought to him. there are two key principles that i have learned in this regard: First, The battle is won before the battle is begun. Second, The most important decision you ever make is the decision you make before you ever have to make a decision.
The key phrase here is "before." Some decisions can't be made on the spur of the moment. You have to decide in advance your commitments and that you will not compromise in the things that matter. For Daniel, that meant not eating the king's food at the king's table. It doesn't matter that we today don't fully understand his decision. What's important is that Daniel drew a line in the sand, planted his flag, and said, "This far, and no farther." Your line may be different from mine and mine from yours. But if you don't draw a line somewhere, sometime, you end up being just like the Babylonians all around you. Stand for something or you will fall for everything! Think ahead. Decide what you won't do. Then don't do it! Daniel decided what to do in advance and when it came time to do it, he did it! Get resolved! Get committed! Get settled! I look at people who are still trying to settle issues they should have settled years ago.
I read about a 400-year-old redwood that suddenly and without warning toppled to the forest floor. What caused the death of such a majestic giant? Was it fire? Lightning? A strong wind? A post-mortem examination revealed a startling cause. Tiny beetles had crawled under the bark and literally eaten the fibers away from the inside. Although it looked healthy on the outside, on the inside it was virtually hollow and one day finally collapsed. The same thing happens when we refuse to stand our ground for Christ. Every time we compromise something bad happens in our soul. Eventually the little decisions add up and we become hollow on the inside even though we may look great on the outside.
3. Our resolves will be tested by action Its one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to do it. Nothing is easier than saying words; nothing is more difficult then living them day by day. Your commitments will be tested! Have seen more people cave in on this matter.
4. Being resolved begins with little things in our lives By standing his ground; he was risking everything over an issue that made sense to no one but him and his three friends. To the Babylonians it was just nutty, peripheral, and insignificant. But Daniel saw through the food to the bigger issues underneath and he knew that for him to eat that food at that table would be an act of disloyalty to God, and that was a line he would not cross period. "It's such a small area," you say. True and not true. Yes, it seemed small, but as we have seen, the outcome of Daniel's act of courage was huge. It changed his whole life. In the end it wasn't small at all. Jesus said in Luke 16:10 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. “
Little commitments are the foundations for bigger ones.” No one ever makes big commitments without first making little ones. Before Daniel said no to the king’s idol, he said no to the king’s food. When Daniel saw God helping on the food issue, it gave him courage for the idol issue. It works the opposite as well. Compromise once; it’s easier to do it the next time. Take stand once, it’s easier as well. We need to take stands at the front end of our lives not in the middle and I guarantee, you won’t on the back end.
Daniel Resolved! Are you? Have you made decisions and commitments or are you regularly wavering living by expediency, convenient, compromise, playing it safe, keeping your options open, impulse, and listening to and negotiating with the devil? Are your resolves full of conditions, qualifications, and reservations in the "fine print" of our "commitment?" Are you preoccupied with "exceptions" and "extenuating circumstances?"
Like Daniel, in 2009, you will find yourself from time to time in a crisis of your resolves. How will you know it's a crisis? You'll know it when you get there, and often you won't see it coming in advance. So make up your mind right now that by God's grace, when those moments come, you will purpose in your heart not to defile yourself. There is no limit to what God can do through a man or woman who is fully committed to him.
Today you need new resolve! I will be committed to Christ, His cause, His people, and His purposes. Make up your mind now! Right now become a part of the band of the resolved like Paul, Barnabbas, Daniel, and Joshua who stood alone and said in Joshua 24:15, “choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
John Maxwell says, The greatest days of your life are the days you sense your commitment to its highest degree. Your greatest days are not your days of leisure. Your greatest days are not even the times when you have your closest friends around you. When something has seized you and has caused you to have a high level of commitment to it, those are your greatest days. They may be your days of struggle, they may be your days of suffering, and they may be your days of your greatest battles in life, but they will be your greatest days.”
Resolved in 2009,
Pastor Bill
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