The Place of Tears

Aside from motivation speakers (and the example of us pastors on social media), I wonder where we got the idea that our church leaders must only present a smiling face and an exaggerated optimism concerning the spiritual state of the congregation? It doesn’t seem to be from the Word.

There are times a leader must weep over the congregation.

“And when they had come to him, he said to them, ‘You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ...therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears’” (Acts 20:18-21,31).

“For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4).

“Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness” (2 Corinthians 11:28-30).

There are times a leader must weep over those who are attempting to mislead the congregation.

“For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18,19).

There are times a leader must weep with those who are weeping.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). This is, in part, what it means “to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (12:1).

Speaking of worship, if the Psalms are in any way meant to be informative to our worship as the Spirit-filled people of God in Christ (and the Spirit did inspire them, after all), then our songs and prayers shouldn’t be all optimism and smiles, either. That same Spirit Whose fruit is “joy” (Galatians 5:22) prays from within us “with groanings too deep for words...according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26,27).

This is not an easy scriptural reality to embrace honestly. We can fake Spirit-gifted tears as much as we can counterfeit joy in a practiced smile and expertly-spun assessments of the spiritual maturity of the Church.

There are times a leader must weep over those who are lost.

“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh...” (Romans 9:1-3).

“Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen, tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save...rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save...plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently” (Fanny Crosby, 1869).

In addition, in addressing sinfulness in the culture or in the congregation, it is easy in our own sinfulness to take on a tone of righteous indignation.

Consider the two witnesses of the Revelation: “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire” (11:5,6).

That is impressive power and authority. Imagine the look on their face, the tone (and volume) of their speech, the words they use. Is there anger there? Righteous indignation?

If it were me “prophesying” to the beast and his worshipers with the powers of the two witnesses, I know how I’d look and sound. Threatening. Intimidating. Dark. Loud. Angry. But that’s not what we see in the description of the two witnesses.

“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” (Revelation 11:3).

They prophesy from a place of grief and mourning, even as they administer the curses and plagues of God. The fire comes through weeping, and even in the drought there is water – their tears.

Yes, one day there will be joyful singing over the pit as the smoke of Babylon’s eternal destruction rises (Revelation 19:1-5). However, that will be in the end, when “the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready” with “the righteous acts of the saints” (19:6-8). The celebration over judgment comes after our work is done here. It’s not yet. We still have tears to shed over (and with) the wayward, the lost, the perishing, and the slaves of the devil.

I appreciate a smile, a laugh...I enjoy being around happy people. But I abhor artificiality as much as anyone (except, I suppose, the artificial). There are times to weep (Ecclesiastes 3:4). May God give us discernment, honesty, a willingness to vulnerability, and a unity in His Spirit that enables us to weep together as the Church when it is right to do so.

The Person of the Delight of God

"The happiness of God is first and foremost a happiness in His Son. Thus when we share in the happiness of God, we share in the very pleasure that God has in the Son. Ultimately this is what makes the gospel good news. It opens the way for us to see and savor the glory of Christ [which is the Father's glory perfectly reflected]. And when we reach that ultimate goal we will find ourselves savoring the Son with the very happiness that the Father has in the Son" (John Piper, God is the Gospel, pg. 101).

I think I'd tie in Piper's great influence, Jonathan Edwards. In his unpublished essay on the Trinity, he says this about the delight between the Father and Son as it relates to the Holy Spirit: "The Godhead being thus begotten by God's loving an idea of Himself and shewing forth in a distinct subsistence or person in that idea, there proceeds a most pure act, and an infinitely holy and sacred energy arises between the Father and Son in mutually loving and delighting in each other, for their love and joy is mutual, (Prov. 8:30) 'I was daily His delight rejoicing always before Him.' This is the eternal and most perfect and essential act of the Divine nature, wherein the Godhead acts to an infinite degree and in the most perfect manner possible. The Deity becomes all act, the Divine essence itself flows out and is as it were breathed forth in love and joy. So that the Godhead therein stands forth in yet another manner of subsistence, and there proceeds the third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, viz., the Deity in act, for there is no other act but the act of the will...the Holy Ghost is the deity subsisting in act, or the divine essence flowing out and breathed forth in God's infinite love to and delight in Himself."

While Piper does utilize these Edwards quotes in a footnote (The Pleasures of God, pgs. 44-45), I don't think he makes the application to our lives as he could have. In the one living and true God Who is three Persons, the Holy Spirit is the joy and delight the Father has in the Son (Who is eternally and perfectly reflecting His glory); the Holy Spirit is also the joy and delight the Son has in the Father (Whose glory He eternally and perfectly reflects). The Holy Spirit is the eternal Person of the joy and delight of God. It is not a happiness based on circumstance, but on the unchanging reality of the Father and Son's delight and joy in each other. Nothing in this world or in our lives can change this, for it was the reality before there was space and time. It is eternally unchanging and foundational.

What I wish Piper would have done was make the pastoral application of this truth. This Spirit Who is eternal joy is the same Spirit Who is given to believers. "...the fruit of the Spirit is...joy" (Galatians 5:22). Our reading and consideration of Galatians 5:22 usually leads us to think the Holy Spirit should make us happy - we focus on the emotion opposite depression. This is why I started with the quote I did, though. The Holy Spirit is not a "positive emotion generator" in our lives. He is the joy and delight of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father - a delight based on the Son's perfect reflecting of the Father's glory. The Holy Spirit is given to us to seal us in the Father-glorifying Person of the Son. Jesus said of this relationship: "He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify Me [the Son], for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:14,15).

The joy that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit is not an unfocused joy (a vague, mystical, inexplicable emotion). The joy that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit is not the result of the material, earthly blessings He might bring into our lives. The joy that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the result of Him drawing us into the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son, which is all delight and joy in the glory of the Father in the Person of the Son.

The Spirit uses the means of the Word, prayer, the Lord's Supper, and the Christ-exalting fellowship of the Church to draw us closer to Christ, Who is the object of the Father's eternal delight. In turn, we see the Father in the Son (John 14:9) and experience the eternal joy of the Son in the Father's glory. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith describes the Spirit's use of means to bring us grace: "...[the grace of faith] is...increased and strengthened by the work of the Spirit through the ministry of the Word, and also by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed by God" (14.1). The "grace of faith" is the Spirit's bringing us into the joyous relationship between the Father and the Son. He uses the ordinary (continual, accessible to all believers) means of grace as they are observed in the Church.

The Trinity is eternally joy. In the salvation He has graciously given us, we are brought into His eternally delightful fellowship for His glory and our eternal joy. Do not grieve this Person of joy, but increase your commitment, obedience, and involvement in the Scripture-ordained means He uses to draw you into His joy as He helps you see the Son more and more. "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, 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" (2 Corinthians 3:17,18).

The Church's Joy in All Circumstances

“...they...called the Apostles: and when they had beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the Council, rejoicing, that they were counted worthy to suffer rebuke for His Name. And daily in the Temple, and from house to house they ceased not to teach, and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:40-42, Geneva Bible). “Counted worthy” by whom? Not the Sanhedrin. The sovereign God Who had called them to the ministry of Christ caused their lives to be sermon illustrations of the world’s rejection of the Christ (much like the O.T. prophets!)...and this was the Church’s JOY. Why? First, the un-holiness of the Sanhedrin’s reaction to Christ highlighted the righteousness and holiness of God in Christ. Second, the hatred of unbelief is used of God to make His people more like Himself in their own experience of holiness. “Wherefore, let us also, seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, cast away everything that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth so fast on: let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider therefore Him that endureth such speaking against of sinners, lest ye should be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh unto you as unto children, ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked of Him [Proverbs 3:11].’ For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth: and He scourgeth every son that He receiveth” (Hebrews 12:1-6). The name of Jesus, so rejected by the world, is the Source of the JOY of the Church in all circumstances.

And yes, the catalyst of their persecution and the content of their daily teaching was Jesus Christ, but I want to point out that Peter’s defense (twice!) before the Sanhedrin was Trinitarian:

• “Then Peter full of the holy Ghost, said unto them, ‘Ye rulers of the people, and Elders of Israel, for as much as we this day are examined, of the good deed done to the impotent man, to wit, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth [the Son], Whom ye have crucified, Whom God [the Father] raised again from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you, whole’” (Acts 4:8-10).
• “Then Peter and the Apostles answered, and said, ‘We ought rather to obey God than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus [the Son] Whom ye slew, and hanged on a tree. Him hath God [the Father] lifted up with His right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses concerning these things which we say: yea, and the holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him’” (5:29-32).

Trinitarian Joy

“Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you with great works, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, I say, being delivered by the determinate counsel, and foreknowledge of God, after you had taken, with wicked hands you have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, and loosed the sorrows of death, because it was impossible that He should be holden of it. For David saith concerning Him, ‘I beheld the Lord always before me: for He is at my right hand, that I should not be shaken. Therefore did Mine heart rejoice, and My tongue was glad, and moreover also My flesh shall rest in hope, because Thou wilt not leave My soul in grave, neither wilt suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast showed Me the ways of life, and shalt make Me full of joy with Thy countenance [Psalm 16:8-11].’ Men and brethren, I may boldly speak unto you of the Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher remaineth with us unto this day. Therefore, seeing he was a Prophet, and knew that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would raise up Christ concerning the flesh, to set Him upon his throne. He knowing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul should not be left in grave, neither His flesh should see corruption” (Acts 2:22-31, Geneva Bible).

David, at once king, father, and prophet, gives us, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a glimpse into the worshipful joy of the Son toward the Father, even when facing the grave. For those united with Christ by faith, there is immediate application of this worshipful joy to our lives today: “Wherefore, let us also...cast away everything that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth so fast on: let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1,2). Whatever this day brings, hear the Spirit’s voice in the Scripture guiding you into the Son’s joy in the Father’s presence.

A Loving Plea to Would-Be Sons of Issachar

“...the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32).

With events in the news, Church, there are many who fancy themselves “sons of Issachar.” Let me plea for care with two points:

• Don’t be a Harold Camping (or even a Hal Lindsey). When we link modern events in the world to Scripture and tomorrow the world hasn’t ended, what have we done to the veracity of Scripture in our pronouncements (until recently one of Camping’s damnable billboards was on the Interstate claiming he was right because “the Bible says so”)? You do realize that every generation since Jesus ascended to His throne has thought theirs was the last generation and that things couldn’t get any worse, right?
• The Six-Day War (June, 1967). Things have escalated before in the Middle East (many, many times in the last 2,000 years, but especially in relatively recent history, with which the would-be “sons of Issachar” should familiarize themselves) and will again. I am not proclaiming “peace, peace,” when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11; Ezekiel 13:10,16). I am saying tumult is the way of this Christ-hating world, even when the headlines are not aflame with rockets.

Can we stand as witnesses to the calm fearlessness, peace, hope, and joy found in Christ alone before the storms of the world?

Let me share some of my favorite verses in the Bible with you: “For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ‘You are not to say, “It is a conspiracy!” In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the LORD of hosts Whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary’” (Isaiah 8:11-14).