Cultural Shifts

With all the ChickfilA/homosexuality hubbub, I read a Wall Street Journal article saying the company probably made a tactical mistake coming out on one side of the cultural war, when they are trying to expand out of their Bible belt region, where homosexuality is less opposed. Whatever you think of that, a stat was given that 15 years ago 65% of the public opposed gay marriage, but now that has gone down to 44%, with 47% in favor.

Yikes.

Here is a short and helpful statement, which my denomination has adopted as our position.

The Phoenix Declaration

God's approved images for worship

Sermon on the 2nd commandment - no graven images

The Father made us in His image. When we defaced it with sin, He regave the image, in His Son, the second Adam. At the end of Christ’s ministry, He gave us pictures to continue the restoration project. Sacraments are the outward images God has given us to relate to Him as a people. Not to bow down to or reverence in themselves, but for us to see and ponder what God has already done for us, and what we are to do for each other. God has cleansed, forgiven and fed us in Christ. We are to include and forgive, feed one another.

1/22/12

They will die like men

Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, and Psalm 82 is a fitting call to confession. God stands among the gods, or the mighty ones, the ones with power. He judges the powerful leaders for judging unjustly, for letting the wicked consume the poor and defenseless, the fatherless and the afflicted. Abortion fits this description. It is so abhorrent, all the foundations of the earth are unstable. God acknowledges the power our leaders have – He gave it to them. But they have overstepped their bounds and think they can give people rights that God does not give them. God is judging us as a nation for our sin by confounding the wise and pulling us to moral and legal decay. We deprive the unborn of life, so God is depriving us of spiritual vitality. We are strong as a nation, but we will die like men. God alone (His Son and Christ, actually) will judge the earth, and inherit the nations.

1/22/12

Psalm 82

    "God stands in the congregation of the mighty; 

          He judges among the gods. 

    2      How long will you judge unjustly, 

          And show partiality to the wicked?       Selah

    3      Defend the poor and fatherless; 

          Do justice to the afflicted and needy. 

    4      Deliver the poor and needy; 

          Free them from the hand of the wicked. 

    5      They do not know, nor do they understand; 

          They walk about in darkness; 

          All the foundations of the earth are unstable. 

    6      I said, “You are gods, 

          And all of you are children of the Most High. 

    7      But you shall die like men, 

          And fall like one of the princes.” 

    8      Arise, O God, judge the earth; 

          For You shall inherit all nations."

Calling David Barton fans...

Please read this article with an open mind. The authors are NOT liberals trying to revise our country's history. Consider that there is a real danger of over-stating things, when you set out to defend the truth. This damages the cause more than helping it.

http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/19820

Don't Wander Off

Proverbs 3:1-4
"    My son, do not forget my law, 
          But let your heart keep my commands; 
    2      For length of days and long life 
          And peace they will add to you. 
    3      Let not mercy and truth forsake you; 
          Bind them around your neck, 
          Write them on the tablet of your heart, 
    4      And so find favor and high esteem 
          In the sight of God and man."

This is a rather strange way of telling us to stay faithful to God. Poetic, really. As if mercy and truth were like sheep or pets that could wander off and leave you. You don’t want that to happen. You need mercy and truth as close companions in your life, so keep them close, and take the trouble to make sure they stay close. In our sinful nature, we actually keep driving mercy and truth away from us. We get hard-edged toward people after a while. We continually deceive ourselves about the truth of our situation. Without truth we minimize our sin. And without mercy we magnify the sin of others. So bind them around your neck. The only other thing Scripture tells us to bind around our neck is God’s Word. This is because God’s Word defines mercy and truth. Write them on the tablet of your heart, like God wrote the 10 Words on tablets. Set these down firmly in your heart. As you do, you will find favor and esteem before God and man. That is something we deeply need: God to accept and love us. Mercy and truth is the pathway, leading past the cross of Christ, where we accept the truth of God’s law and our sinfulness. Where we accept the mercy of Christ and extend it to others.

1/15/12

Wedding meditation

Our world is starved for love. We talk about love, sing about it, watch movies about it, we are obsessed with love. But we are still starved for it, because we usually deal in cheap imitations of love. People are friendly to us, have children our age, everything fits us just right, so then we hang out. They invite us out, so we invite them out. We share the same hobbies and schedules, so we must love them. But Jesus said, do not even the tax collectors do the same? Our world is starved for love. Or we are caught up with our own feelings. We mistake the feeling we get when we are with someone for true love. Getting pleasure isn’t the same as getting love, or loving someone. Our world is starved for love. We are dealing with imitations most of the time, so we hardly recognize the real thing.

What is love? Nathaniel loves Christa. Christa loves Nathaniel. That’s why we are here today. What is love? Of course, we should go to God’s Word, the Bible to answer this. And there are many places we could go. Song of Solomon is very appropriate on this day, and often overlooked in the Biblical description of love. “Your love is better than wine.” “You are beautiful, my love.” “I am sick with love.” “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.” “Love is strong as death.” “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” “You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes, With one link of your necklace.” Part of real love is a flood of emotions. We tend to say that love isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice and a sacrifice. That’s partly true, but too simplistic. The feelings are right there in Song of Solomon, put on display and celebrated. Now, feelings can be put to selfish uses. We can sin against God and hurt others pursuing our own feelings and pleasure. But the feelings aren’t the problem, the selfishness is. Sex isn’t the problem in our culture. Selfish hedonism is the problem. And the song of Solomon shows us how to channel feelings in ways that encourage and admire the one we love. So, according to the Bible, love is desire for the one loved.

We can go other places in the Bible to know about love. One more before our text.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is a Christian wedding. Not so much because we sang a hymn, or because we are in a church, not even because Nathaniel and Christa are Christians, or because a Christian minister is officiating. This is a Christian wedding because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is present and proclaimed. And here it is. The good news is that God so loved us, that He sent Jesus to us, to die to remove God’s wrath against our sins, to rise to glory and reward, so that whoever believes He did that for them will live, forgiven forever. If you want to know what love is, you’re going to have to meet Jesus. He is the paragon of love. What He did and does for us is the defining act of love. He came to destroy our destroyer, rob the robber, take us from the tyrant’s dungeon. That was love. He washes us with living water, heals us with power, feeds us with living bread, makes us fruitful in His vine, brings us to the Father. This is love. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. And that is what Jesus did. God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Why did God love us like this? He didn’t have to, you know. His grace and love were freely given, not owed to us. He loved us, back to the first point, because this was His desire. Jesus tells us what His heart’s desire was, when He prayed to the Father in John 17, “I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.” This is the desire of all lovers, to be together. So the strong desire of the Song of Solomon led to the sacrifice of the cross for the beloved, for the church, those given to Jesus by the Father.

Now we come to 1 Cor 13. Scripture says “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts,” and we see that love described in 1 Cor 13.  The Corinthians were proud of their spiritual gifts, but they didn’t love each other. That’s a waste. If you offer the duty of love without the heart, you’re missing it. If you repent with sacrifices but your spirit remains stubborn, it’s worthless. If you work yourself to exhaustion, but hold it over someone’s head to get what you want, it is the opposite of love. And we’ve seen where that love comes from, from God giving us Jesus. We need to be receiving God’s love if we are going to be able to love like 1 Cor 13 says. We don’t just work harder to get this love. We have to surrender and accept mercy from Jesus Christ.

So, where does love take us? What does it do? Here we come to those well known words: love is patient, kind, not envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, irritable, resentful, or wrong-loving. It rejoices in truth. Love bears all, believes all, hopes all, endures all. Notice that these are not virtues we practice in isolation, to improve our own character without regard to other people. No, love requires a beloved. Love does all this for the sake of the one loved. We aren’t patient just to be better people. We are patient because we love the one trying our patience. Nathaniel will have to be patient with Christa. And he will, b/c he loves her. Christa will have to endures things with Nathaniel. And she will, b/c she loves him. Love does these things, or avoids these things, for the sake of the one loved. The one in the list that sums them all up, Love does not seek its own. Nathaniel’s love seeks Christa’s best interests.  Jesus stayed on the cross because He gave up what He wanted and sought our best interest.  He loved His Father, and He loved His bride, the church, so He stayed on the cross to the end. Love seeks not its own, and so we give sacrificially, it will lead to crosses and losses, for the one we love.

God has set it up so men and women in marriage love a bit differently. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, and gave Himself for her. So Nathaniel will lead and represent Christa, as a head does for the whole person. Christa receives his love with respect, submission and gratitude, and gives it back, multiplied into fruitful beauty, whether it’s groceries, a paycheck, or children. Notice I’m not telling you to do this, I’m just saying it’s going to happen. Nathaniel will lead and set the tone, even if he isn’t trying at all. People get all worked up about wives submitting to husbands these days. Today I’ll leave Shakespeare to do the talking about submission. Portia, the wise and noble widow loves Bassanio and accepts his offer of marriage like this as she speaks of herself:

You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,… / Happy in this, she is not yet so old / But she may learn;…. Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit / Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king. / Myself and what is mine to you and yours
Is now converted.

Here is a beautiful thing: glad and complete submission of all of you, to another. Jesus submits to the Father. The church does to Jesus. Christa does to Nathaniel. Each of us does to each other. Love does not seek its own.

Nathaniel, search out Christa’s heart. Pursue and cherish her, body, mind and soul. What is Christa thinking? What is she desiring and pursuing? Make sure her concerns are dealt with completely. Your life slogan might be, “What could go wrong?” Well, Christa may have a list for you. Your call is to love Christa by providing for her and protecting her. But those are general abstract ideas. Does she need protection from distraction, or from anxiety?  If you are going to fulfill your wedding vows, you need to study Christa. What does Christa need?

Christa, find your main calling in Nathaniel’s calling. God gave Adam the job of tending and keeping the garden, filling and subduing the earth. Then God gave Eve to Adam to help him. Work alongside your husband. Keep his agenda in mind, as you help and advise him. Talk it out with him. God hears us when we pray, and He wants us to pray to Him. Your relationship with your husband is supposed to be like that.  We listen to our spouse, and we want them to talk to us. Sin can get in the way of both of those, but This is what 1 Cor 13 love looks like.

And last: Where this love is headed. I read to the end of 1 Cor 13 because marriage should be shaped by the future more than by the past. We know in part here. At the great consummation of all things we will know fully. In this life, the heart of others is a deep mystery – you don’t and can’t know your partner completely. There’s potential danger in that. And there’s a great deal of delight, too. When things go haywire in your marriage, as they will from time to time, one way to bear all things is to remember that we know each other only partly here, and to embrace that limitation, that mystery.

But at the consummation faith and hope will not be needed. They will fade away. We will know as we are already fully known. Marriage itself will be left behind for some unknown greater delight. But love will remain. We will be glorified, we will be like Christ. God gives you this Marriage for that goal. To help you grow into Christ-like-ness. There is more to marriage than getting to be together by yourselves all the time. Marriage is a school of sanctification, leading you to glory. You stand before God now. And when you stand before Him in glory, God will have used your marriage to make you more like Christ than you are now.

Jesus Christ’s love is a desire for His bride to be with Him, a desire for her to see His glory, a desire for her to be without spot. Desire led to sacrifice, and so He loved us all the way to death on the cross. God so loved us that He gave His Son, and by His death we have everlasting life. Let us follow Him to the cross and so find life in Him, loving one another sacrificially, not insisting on our own way or seeking our own, but seeking the glory of God and the good of those we love. In the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Redemption into Covenant Relationship

Exodus 24:1-12

When God redeemed Israel from Egypt He established a covenant with them, inviting their elders to eat and drink with Him through His mediator Moses. When Jesus redeemed His Church from their sins He established a better covenant with them, inviting His apostles to eat and drink with Him, the better mediator. You are brought into that covenant through faith in Him. Covenants have promises and obligations attached to them. Promises to believe and obligations to perform. They are all summarized in God’s Word which He has magnified. Seek the Lord Jesus in the ways He has set up: His Word, His sacraments, His people. Commune with Christ now.

1/8/12 

Remember the Signs

An exhortation for the children especially from these two proverbs, these 4 lines: first line: my son, do not forget my law. God teaches us, kids, where we most need it. We easily forget our duties. Your parents give you a task and you find something fun to do on the way and forget all about it. Part of growing is learning what things to call to mind regularly. In the Silver Chair, Aslan warned Jill to remember the signs, but she still forgot. Second line: let your heart keep my commands. It is very easy when given rules or jobs we don’t like, to obey on the outside, but grump and resist inside. Pouting and sulking while you clean your room is not really obeying from the heart, and that is what God looks at. You may have a perfect room, neat school papers, but a horrible mess of sin in your heart. A girl was told to sit in her chair when she wanted to stand. She sighed, sat down, and said, “I’m sitting on the outside, but I’m standing inside.” Children, pay attention to your heart and make sure you are doing the right thing on the inside.

Third line: long life and peace they will bring. You may think now, kids, that a long life is as natural as the sun coming up every day. No, great blessings come with remembering and obeying God’s laws. Remember in the Silver Chair how much harder things went, when Jill forgot the signs.

To all those who grieve and repent of their sins, striving for a new obedience, I declare as a minister of the Gospel the total forgiveness of all your sins, for Jesus has paid for them all on the cross. We know His account had sufficient funds, and His check cleared the bank, b/c we have heard of the resurrection of Jesus to new life. So in the power of that new life, your sins are forgiven through Christ.

1/8/12

On Head Coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16

This came up in conversation recently, and I thought I’d address it systematically.

1. Paul is dealing in 1 Corinthians 11 with the church’s conduct in corporate worship being orderly. Part of this involves living out the distinctions between male and female, which even nature shows us.

2. One argument put forth by James Jordan is that the prophesying going on among women, predicted by Joel 2:32, ceased with the passing of the apostolic age (around the time of the destruction of the temple). So this whole discussion is not directly relevant. This is partially convincing. Women (or men!) spontaneously prophesying in church was unique to the apostolic age, in my view. But this assumes a position on a separate controversial issue I don’t have time for! And it doesn’t really deal with women praying in church, or how the natural distinction applies today. The context seems to be more than just prophecy. (Check out the Jordan article for other good thoughts, though.)

3. So the passage is relevant to us, and cannot be explained away with the old “that was their culture” line. We need to figure out how to obey this text. But as we do, cultural custom does come into play.

4. Can women obey this passage by wearing their hair long, as verse 15 seems to say? I believe so. There is no other explanation of verse 15 that makes sense. Its meaning is plain and a principle, along with verses 3, 7, and 10.

Objection 1: long hair and a covering seem to be different things in verses 6-14. A woman with long hair could pray uncovered, it seems.

Response: this is because of the cultural practice in Corinth (all of Greco-Roman world, really) of women wearing a veil or shawl of some sort at a religious service. Verse 15 actually gives more freedom to the church from that cultural practice, while maintaining the gender distinction principle.

Objection 2: This position makes verse 6 a tautology. Verse 6 says if she won’t cover her head she might as well (and should) have short hair. If long hair IS the covering, this would be a given, not a command.

Response: Paul’s point is that a woman uncovered in dress or behavior should be shown such by cutting her hair short. If she is speaking, praying, or prophesying in a way that shows lack of submission to her husband, she might as well dress unsubmissively, too.

Objection 2: what about older women who cannot or do not grow their hair long?

Response: as long as a distinction from men is being made in her dress and behavior, there isn’t a real problem. Length of hair is a factor in this principle, but not the only one. Verses 3 and 10 are broader and more controlling than verses 14-15.

Objection 3: there is really no way to disobey this text, if a woman simply needs to wear her hair in a feminine way.

Response: yes there is. For one thing, Sinead O’Connor comes to mind. And a woman can do her hair with a mind to being sexy and catching a man. Even at church. Hm… The principle is that a wife should do something to her hair (or other apparel?) to show she is bound to her husband. Culturally, we don’t have a category for how specifically to do this today, besides wedding rings. Almost all other cultures did. This is where the confusion comes in. I’m uncertain that the hair itself must be adjusted, if the rest of her dress and behavior is ordered. The hair requirement might be a culturally adjustable thing, here, but the principle of maintaining gender distinctions in corporate worship is not. Each family can work through this themselves and come up with something. It is an area for future Christian culture building.

Bibliography

James Jordan

http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/biblical-horizons/no-54-the-womans-head-covering-in-1-corinthians-11-2-16/

Ben Merkle

http://www.credenda.org/archive/issues/12-3recipio.php

Daniel Wallace

http://bible.org/article/what-head-covering-1-cor-112-16-and-does-it-apply-us-today

Review: Two Williams

Two Williams by Douglas Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Solid historical fiction treatment of revolutionary war.
The first chapter takes place in a Jamestown loyalist tavern, and in a few short clear paragraphs, he gives the argument for why fighting against the crown was legitimate. Wilson also considers the two contradictory sorts of revolution sought on the same American side. I especially liked the argument that one need not be either a hothead extremist or a compromiser. A well-thought through position leads to confident fighting on your side, but also realizing there are honorable opponents. Many politically engaged people today need to learn this lesson.

Besides this great history lesson, it is a descriptive portrayal of military action on land and sea, and a primer on how to fight honorably, treat a lady, and choose your loyalties. Covers a lot in 120 small pages.

There is some violence. A lot of military action happens and twice it gets specific and gruesome, but only briefly. Probably best for 10-12 years old and up, given that and the issues covered above.



View all my reviews

Kicking against Goads - huh?

I preached on the conversion of Saul last Sunday.

Chris Schlect* points out the phrase, "kick against the goads" has a Greek literature reference. Prometheus was punished by Zeus for giving man fire. He was bound to a rock and an eagle tore out his liver, and every night it would grow back, and be torn out again the next day.

Prometheus does not repent, and is rebuked by Oceanus: "Thou hast not learned humility... Take me for thy teacher, and kick not against the goads, for there rules in heaven an austere monarch who is responsible to none.

Interesting to consider that the well-educated Saul could well have known this story, and that Jesus may have used it to make this point.


*Credenda/Agenda, Vol 7, No. 6, pg. 27

Faithful in Gibeon

I have a correction to make. I have several times over the years taught that Solomon was worshiping out of accord with God's Word the day before he asks for wisdom.

1 Kings 3:2-4
"Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. 4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar."

Well, it turns out that the tabernacle was there (see earlier post on Joshua 9), so it made sense to worship God there. David had established worship there, so it seems it was the approved place at the time.

So I've had this wrong, I think. What's tricky is how other passages (even 1 Kings 3:1!) show Solomon compromising. But in this matter, Solomon was right where he was supposed to be.

Set THAT down, and drink THIS

2 Peter 3:8-9

"But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

Jesus means for this Table to bring us to repentance. He patiently waits for thousands of years, for the world to come to repentance. This is not stalling for time, like He is scrambling trying to keep His promise against such an evil world. God has no power struggle with the world at all. Men either come to Him in repentance or they don’t. This Table is meant to bring about repentance. We celebrate this Lord’s Supper every week, and every week we are to do so in a worthy manner, not clinging to any sin, but confessing. Resolving conflicts weekly, putting besetting sins away weekly.

The woman at the well put down her water jar and went to tell her town about Jesus. You are now at the well. You have experienced the convicting and forgiving power of Christ. It is time to set your sins down, and go tell your town about Him. But first, let us drink of the living water, turned to the wine of joy.

1/1/12

Confessing together

Our order of worship is meant to include all the many facets of our relationship with God. Adoring worship, reading the Bible, praying to God, times of silent meditation. And at this point, repentance and broken-heartedness over our sin. Corporate worship where we all do these things together, needs to be mindful of one another. When we are alone and repenting, we may sob, shout, cry and take a long time crying out to God.


In this corporate worship service, we don’t do the same individual things only all in the same room. We can’t call up intense emotions on the spot, and we don’t need to. This doesn’t mean we aren’t turning to God with all our heart, fasting and weeping. It means we can’t all be emotional at the same time together. This has the illusion of looking cold and formal, but what’s really going on is that we are trying to repent and worship together as the church, not just individuals who happen to be in the same room. That said, repentance before God does need to be heart-rending, not outward only. We say words and go through motions of repenting every week, and every week you are here you do this with us. But it is up you to rend your heart and grieve for your sins. This morning we will take a moment of silent confession first, and then sing our prayer of confession from Psalter 51 D.


1/1/12

Joshua 9

The Gibeonites' deception of Joshua.

Israel is deceived because they do not consult with God.

Gibeon is like Rahab: Gentiles who believe what they hear about God, and so they seek protection in unusual (immoral?) ways. They are the only ones who receive mercy from God in Canaan.

Later, Gibeon is still part of Israel. Israel is punished when Saul kills many Gibeonites, against this oath of protection (2 Samuel 21:1). The tabernacle is put in Gibeon later, since that is where the water and wood carriers are (1 Chron. 16:39; 21:29). David has a Gibeonite as a mighty man. Gibeonites are listed returning with Israel from exile, counted among Israel's number (Neh 7:25). They are not despised and hated down the generations for their deception in Joshua 9, but received as God's people (2 Sam 21; 1 Chron. 8:32).

Psalm 15:4 - He who swears to his own hurt can stand before God. Joshua keeps his oath in God's name. Their loyalty to their oath, and obedience to God (Joshua 10:6-8), redeems their mistake and solidifies Gibeon as included in Israel.

We have an oath from God Himself on which to rely for our protection. The Gibeonites were saved, though they deceived Israel, and though they depended on a human oath. How much more are we saved when we trust God's oath to us. Read Hebrews 6:13-20!