Re-forming Halloween

We need to be re-formed in God’s presence, not removed FROM His presence. So it is with our holidays. While the reformation rightly removed many saints’ days, several of our holidays need to be reformed, and not removed.

The church began to celebrate All saints day in the 300s, celebrating the victorious saints at rest with Christ. Over time, superstition and error came in. All Hallow’s Eve turned into Halloween. Like Mardi Gras revelry before Lent’s piety, Halloween became the devil’s last stand before the celebration of the holy ones in glory.

 

So let’s get the big picture here on the Christian church year.  It begins Dec 1 with advent and Xmas, when we celebrate the coming of the light of the world at our coldest and darkest hour. We then celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection in the spring, the time of new life. We celebrate Pentecost at the beginning of summer, when God cultivates our new life in the Spirit. Summer is the time of growth. Fall is when the harvest comes in, and we have All Saints Day to remember those who have entered their rest, and thanksgiving for the harvest. Meanwhile Satan makes one last grab at the end of history. This is Halloween. All of history is dramatized in the church year, and it is all pointing to the vindication of Christ’s saints, as they appear with Christ, when He comes again. We need to reform and recover All Saints day. Let us return thanks to God for fruitful saints now at rest with Christ, and look with hope to our joining them in the immediate presence of Christ one day.

10/31/22

Prayer as Training to Know What We Need

Romans 8:26-28

"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

In our confession reading, we are going back to finish up the Westminster Catechism.  The last section focuses on prayer, and on the Lord’s Prayer, which we sing here every week.

 

Prayer is offering up our desires to God for things agreeable to His will.  Notice our desires need shaping to His will.  Prayer is one way God does this.  It’s meant to change us, not Him.  Our desire may be, “I want to relax!  I want a vacation!”  But God has given you 1 day in 7 to relax, the other 6 are to work.   We want peace when God calls us to fight.  Or we want to fight, when God calls us to peace!  We want comfort, but God gives us hardship.

 

We don’t know what to pray for.  We often do not know what we want or need.  But God knows what is best for us, and He is working that out in our lives somehow.  This is hard to accept.  Sometimes we know exactly what we want and we’re convinced God must give it to us, or life will be over.  No, it won’t.  We have to die to ourselves, but that is not the end.  New life in Jesus is the glorious result.

 

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

10/23/22

Gentle Correction

2 Timothy 2:24-26

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."

Social media and talking heads have trained us to perfect the art of quarrelling, when Scripture calls us to teach gently and patiently.  

Yesterday I was at a conference in Hartland that in part addressed proposal 3 on our ballot Nov.  I asked the speaker what we can do to fight it, and his answer was this:  Talk to people you know who are in the middle on this.  Extended family members who might be against abortion themselves, but want to give others “freedom of choice.”  

Really?  Freedom to kill babies?  With no restrictions, no need for parental approval, whatever the age?  You see, gentleness doesn’t mean mincing words.  

But we should not berate or insult.  In one sense, people swear because they don’t have a better vocabulary.  We insult others in our thoughts, we are just repulsed by the Left, say, because we aren’t ready with an answer for the hope that is within us.  Gentleness means loving our enemies as we seek to persuade them of the truth.  The temptation to frustration and ungodly wrath is strong, but we must not be overcome by evil.  Rather, overcome evil with good.

10/9/22

Honor Your Elders

You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD (Lev 19:32).

 

Thus says the LORD:  “Stand in the ways and see,    And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,    And walk in it;    Then you will find rest for your souls.    But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Je 6:16)

 

God calls us to honor our elders.  Not just officers in the church, but those older than us.  They have seen more, and tend to have more wisdom.  This is convicting.  30 year olds tend to look down on boomers, as messing life up for them.  Those living in our country now, tend to deride our founders for basing our nation on slavery and other faults.  Teenagers tend to see only the faults in their parents, and not honor them for all they have done well.  Let us be a people that respects what Chesterton called, the democracy of the dead – the traditions of our forebears.  We are not hide-bound to that, they certainly made mistakes.  But God’s people have been thinking about how to live the most godly life possible for 1000s of years, and their thoughts and attempts should be a significant factor as we discern how to apply God’s word to our lives.

10/2/22

Parenting with the Rod and Hug

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.  Pr 22:15 

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall. Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.  Pr 29:15–17

 

We’ll be considering parenting and the family today.  These proverbs focus on corrective discipline.  But notice that last one. Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.  The goal when parents discipline children, is rest, delight, reconciliation, peace restored.

 

But that means you need to be willing to bear the rod first.  Children need to suffer consequences for their sins.  If parents hold back from discipline, out of a misguided feeling that they need to be kind instead, then children will come to expect to get their way all the time.  If parents use only words with little ones, and spare the rod, that too will spoil the child.

 

Children also need to hear from their parents, that their parents and their God love and forgive them.  It is good when children feel guilty for their wrongdoing, but it is easy for them to slip into feeling forsaken and despairing.  Receiving children back with a hug and a comforting word is just as important as bringing the rod to bear first.

 

Children, you need to honor your parents all the time, even when you feel like they are being mean or cruel.  They are doing their best to teach you God’s ways.

9/25/22

Point to Him. Not to You.

 John 3:26-30

"And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” "

We tend to judge success by size.  John’s disciples were worried that “all are going to Him,” leaving John.  But John was happy about it.  That was his goal.  He wasn’t the light of the world; he wasn’t the Christ.  He pointed TO the lamb of God, and men went where He pointed.  That was success.  And that is our goal, too.  As parents, friends, co-workers, use anything God has given you to point to Jesus.  He is the man of the house, who has the bride.  We are doorkeepers and friends who love Him, talk about Him, and announce His arrival.

 

In the movie of life, We are side actors, not starring the main role.  Our job is not to draw attention to ourselves, but to make the main character look good.

 

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

9/11/22

In the Body, Away from the Lord

2 Corinthians 5:1-10
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The message today is on last things, and this text sets before us our death and judgment, which is part of that.

 

The main point of this text is one that feels too gnostic to some of us.  Gnosticism is the idea that the body – physical things – are bad, or inherently less spiritual.  But verse 1 tells us, this earthly body is a temporary tent.  Vs 2 - While we are in the body, we groan and long to be with the Lord.  It is better to be with the Lord apart from the body, vs 8.  

This is a good corrective, when we think we are correcting past errors, gnostic or pietist.  Don’t try to reinterpret this text into your anti-gnostic lens.  Just believe what the verse in front of you says: 

Being in the body on earth brings burdens, vs 4, but we should remain of good courage, vs 6.  This courage is not a stoic, “I’ll muscle through this, even with my bad back.”  No, vs 8 says this courage is looking ahead to the future when we will be home with the Lord, with the bodily problems of pain, disease and death all gone.

 

So, today, you may need to confess putting too much stock and worry into your physical condition and situation.  God can bless you, even when (especially when) you are frustrated with your body or job or house.

Or you may need to confess giving your physical situation too little thought, to how it impacts your spiritual life, which it certainly does.

  

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

9/4/22

Ordinary Fuel

Romans 6:1-5

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."

Today we’re looking at the church, and the outward means of grace: the Word, sacraments, and prayer.

 

As we prepare to confess our sins, let us remember this.  We tend to rely on emotions or on opinions, to fuel our spiritual growth.  But God points us to ordinary things that we often find rather boring.  Read His book.  Go to church.  Take the Lord’s Supper.  Pray with God’s people.  This is where God usually works.

 

It’s like a rocket launching into space.  There will be spectacular visual moments when one section detaches from the rest, or when it arrives at the space station.  But it took a whole lot of fuel burning constantly to get to those points.  Like the 5 wise bridesmaids, who prepared to have enough oil to keep their lamps burning, keep those ordinary things going.

 

So don’t despise the ordinary things.  See God at work every time we stand and read His word, or pour a little water on a covenant child of His.  He is feeding our souls.

 

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

8/28/22

Drastic Change in Christ

Acts 2:36-38

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

In the message this morning, we will consider what happens to us when God saves us.  Peter's audience was cut to the heart, and they asked, “What shall we do?”, and he says, “Repent.”  And many of them do.  This involved a drastic change of direction for them, into a relationship with JC and fellowship in His church.  Some of us have experienced that drastic change.  

For others raised in the church, remember that God calls for course corrections in everyone, b/c we all get off track in various ways.  We have to keep trusting that Jesus is the way, not our own opinions.

 

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

8/14/22

Jesus Redeems, Helps Us

Hebrews 2:14-17

Jesus helps humans.  He releases the children of Ab from death and guilt.  He satisfies God’s wrath against us.  He makes us one of His own people.  As we confess our sins, God treats us like He treats Jesus – as a beloved, begotten child.  Take comfort.  You are part of the family of God.  B/c Jesus became like you.  So come to Him and admit your faults freely.  He will forgive. 

8/7/22

Refuge and Assurance, for When We Confess

 Psalm 9:9-14

    "The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
    A refuge in times of trouble.
    10      And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
    For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
    11      Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion!
    Declare His deeds among the people.
    12      When He avenges blood, He remembers them;
    He does not forget the cry of the humble.
    13      Have mercy on me, O LORD!
    Consider my trouble from those who hate me,
    You who lift me up from the gates of death,
    14      That I may tell of all Your praise
    In the gates of the daughter of Zion.

    I will rejoice in Your salvation."

When we prepare to confess our sins, we usually set some aspect of our sinfulness out there and think about it.  We need to remember how we are sinful.  That’s good to do.  But Another important way to prepare to confess our sins is here in Ps 9: we need to remember that God is our refuge, vs 9.  When you confess your fault to someone, you are confiding in them, opening yourself up to them.  We can do that to God, and He will take care of us.  He will lift us up from the gates of death, vs 13.  It’s almost as if we need to start with the assurance of pardon, to be okay confessing our sins.

 

We don’t realize how much we need assurance.  Our children need to hear from us, that it’s going to be okay.  Your spouse needs to hear and see that you still love her or him.  God is constantly assuring us in His Word of His love for us.

 

So David asks God to consider his trouble, vs 13.  He asks this a lot.  But trouble can come at you, through no fault of your own.  Or you can cause your own trouble.  When you cause your own trouble, it’s time to set it before God, admit your fault.  Forgiveness will follow.  Vs 14, Rejoicing and telling God’s praise comes after, too.

Call to confession - 07/24/22

The Sins of the Mothers

Deut 5:16 - "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."

Today is Mother’s Day, and a happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  Three things:

1. Scripture tells us straight up to honor our mothers.  Our culture parades before us ungrateful children who blame all their problems on their parents.  There is a better way, even if your parents were monsters.  Jim Wilson on Bitterness.  Relationship with Parents.  So confess any resentment or bitterness that arises when you think of your parents.  Some of us struggle mightily with this.

2. “That your days may be long, and that it may go well with you.”  This reminds me of a favorite line of mine from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie: "come with me, if you want to live."  Honor your parents, if you want to live!  There is a definite connection between a long, happy life, and a good relationship with your parents.  As Romans says, “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men.”  This includes our parents.

3. And to be a faithful pastor, I need to say, mothers sin in particular ways, too.

• Impatience with children who are slow to learn.
• Resentment with ungrateful family, that take her for granted.
• Giving up on responsibilities halfway through raising children, and just coasting.
• Giving in to discouragement and despair.

There are more, but I’m already on thin ice!

 

This is a day to commend mothers, and we should.  Let us also renew our commitment to God’s intent for moms, and reorient our lives accordingly.

5/8/22

Only One Approach to God

Isaiah 6:1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said:
    “Woe is me, for I am undone!
    Because I am a man of unclean lips,
    And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
    For my eyes have seen the King,
    The LORD of hosts.”

What does it mean for God to be holy?  He is completely pure, such that we cannot approach Him.  Too often in our minds, we try to pretend that we are pure enough to draw near to God.

But we aren’t.  

Our zealous intentions, our good behavior, do not atone for our sins.

There is only one reason why we can gather before Him, seeking God’s presence and blessing, and that is Jesus Christ.  No one, nothing else can bridge the holiness gap between us and God.

But Jesus has done it, so

 

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

How the Kingdom Comes

Matthew 6:9-15

"Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Two things about this:

One, the kingdom of God comes when we do God’s will.  When we don’t do what God wants, we expand Satan’s kingdom.  We tend to think we have our own kingdom, but that’s a pipe dream.  As Bob Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody.  Do God’s will, and you usher in God’s kingdom another inch at a time.

Second,  JC emphasizes after giving us the Lord’s Prayer, that forgiving others is a huge piece of doing God’s will.  It’s the only line of the prayer He comments on, and it’s the most convicting one, when we really think about it.  When we think of obeying God, we tend to think about self-denial, and Lent-y kinds of things.  Don’t swear, be more reverent, more serious, don’t eat or drink too much.  

But a key piece of self-denial is how we treat others: admitting when we are wrong, and forgiving others for their offenses against us.  That is key to true spiritual self-denial.  It’s like Jonah waiting for God to punish Nineveh.  If you are demanding vindication and justice against your enemies, if you are indulging your anger or grievance, if you are obsessed with how others have offended you, instead of wishing them to change and be blessed by God, you are far from the kingdom of God.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

3/21/22

40 Days to Remember His Humbling

1 Kings 19:1-8

Elijah did the right thing on Mount Carmel, and suffered the wrath of Jezebel for it.  God provided for Him, but he had to flee into the wilderness for 40 days.
 
Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all fasted for 40 days in service of God.
 
The church developed the practice of Lent, 40 days before Easter, to focus on the earthly ministry of Jesus, His suffering, denial, and state of humiliation for us.  Over the years it was corrupted into some simplistic and self-righteous practices.  The reformers mostly rejected this season because of those corruptions.  But we do also see some wisdom in focusing on the life of Christ in the calendar year:

 - His Incarnation at Christmas.  
 - His ministry and self-denial during Lent.  
 - His suffering and death at Good Friday.  
 - His resurrection at Easter.  

The key is to stay focused on Jesus Christ, more than on our own works of self-denial in this time.  We look to what He did centrally, and then ask ourselves:
Are we taking up our cross, denying ourselves, and following JC, as He calls us to do?
 
This reminds us of our need to confess our sins...

3/6/22

Helping before Criticizing

Hebrews 4:15 - "We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."

We'll be looking at the Incarnation in the Catechism reading today (WSC 20).  Part of the comfort of the Incarnation is that Jesus Christ can sympathize with our weakness, and our temptations.

Not only CAN He, sympathize with us.  He DOES.

The point of conviction for us today: do we sympathize with the struggles of our neighbors?

So often we are looking out for our own troubles, and all we see in our children, or our spouses, is how they aren’t measuring up.  We are quick to criticize, to condemn others, not noticing the struggle going on in them.  But our Savior doesn’t break a bruised reed (Isaiah 42:3), He doesn’t snuff out a smoldering candle.  Let us help the weak wherever we can.

2/27/22

Trusting the wrong things

Psalm 20:7 - "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of Yahweh our God."

God’s people have always been tempted to trust in horses and chariots.  In Augustine’s day the barbarians were invading Rome bit by bit.  The Roman Christians were freaking out that their earthly security was vanishing before their eyes.  Augustine wrote the City of God to remind them – their hope in the Roman empire was built on a pagan foundation bound to crumble.  But the city of God would outlast every earthly power.

 

As C.S. Lewis wrote somewhere, we need to beware of "Christianity And."

Christianity And America’s greatness

Christianity And Homeschooling

Christianity And Liturgy

Christianity And my favorite podcast

Christianity And consistent parenting

Many of these are good things Jesus wants us to do or value.  But they aren’t our ultimate redeemer, as the Shorter Catechism speaks of Jesus Christ as our only redeemer in Q&A 21.  God calls us to use them, but we don’t trust methods or teachers, or any earthly thing, ultimately.  Keep your trust and faith only in Jesus Christ.

Q21. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect? 
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one Person, forever.

2/20/22

What Is Our Misery?

In a moment we’ll read the catechism (Westminster Shorter, 17-19), which reminds us that our situation is one of sinfulness, and one of misery.  We are guilty, and we lack the righteousness we need to be accepted by the holy God.  Our misery is that we have lost communion with God.  That’s the biggest one, and why communion on the Lord’s Day is such a big deal – our relationship with God has been restored in Christ, thank God.  But it is important to recall that apart from Christ, all men remain under God’s wrath, and under His curse.  We are consigned fairly to death and hell forever.

Romans 1:18-21 tells us that we deserve this, since He makes Himself known well enough for us to be guilty when we turn from Him.  We refuse to glorify Him or thank Him, for our life and all His gifts.  And this is a damnable offense.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

2/13/22

Romans 1:18-21

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Q17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

A17. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

 

Q18.  Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto

         man fell?

A18.  The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell consists in

the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all transgressions which proceed from it.

 

Q19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

A19. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are

under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Epiphany - light to fix things

 John 3:19-21

When you have to fix or clean something in your home, you want to get some light on it to see what you’re doing.  When God comes to restore the human race in Christ, He shines a light on us.  In our unbelief, we scurry away back into the shadows.  It’s like refusing to go to the doctor when you know you’re sick.  You just hope it’ll go away.  But the best thing to do is submit yourself to the bright lights of the operating room.  Let them put you under; let the doc do His work while you are passed out.  Come to the light; expose your situation to the great physician so He can operate.

Call to confession

1/16/22

Inward Heart over Outward Appearance

1 Samuel 16:7:
"Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

God doesn’t just check you off as okay because you are physically here in worship.  He looks on your heart and knows whether you really want Him or not.  Where do you go to satisfy your life desires?  What table has the menu that suits you, the Lord’s table, or the world’s?  Re-acquire a taste for the Lord’s food, and renounce the world’s dishes, whenever they lead you away from Him.

        Isa 55:1-3 - “Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
                                 And your wages for what does not satisfy?
                              Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
                           And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
                                               Incline your ear, and come to Me.
                                                      Hear, and your soul shall live;
               And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
                                                            The sure mercies of David.

6/6/21