God's Self-Identification and His Love

“Then God spoke all these words, saying,

‘I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments’” (Exodus 20:1-6).

We’ve been in Heidelberg Catechism, questions 92-95, these last two weeks in our family devotion. Q.95 in particular has had my attention because of a conversation I had this week:

“95. Q. What is idolatry? A. Idolatry is having or inventing something in which to put our trust instead of, or in addition to, the only true God Who has revealed Himself in His Word.”

A church member asked me what Scripture I’d read to an unbeliever if I had a chance. My initial response was John 3 (verse 16 in particular). Her husband had suggested the same verse, but she was concerned that there was no clear call to repentance in the verse (repentance being the command of the Gospel, Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; 6:12; Luke 13:3,5; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20). Further, she had an unbelieving co-worker who used the first phrase of the verse (“God so loved the world”) to claim she was loved of God and was good enough to go to heaven because of her works.

I advised her to ask one question about John 3:16. We must ask why God had to give His Son. The scriptural answer is, of course, because there had to be a sacrifice in our place so that those who believe could inherit eternal life. Quite the opposite of affirming our worth or goodness, John 3:16 logically requires we realize just how sinful we are – it took God the Father punishing His willing Son in our place to save us. Only the most extreme, radical act could save us. That’s how dire our situation is outside of repentant trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.

The first two commandments and Heidelberg Catechism Q.95 identify the problem: authority. This unbeliever’s misuse of John 3:16 makes her guilty of violating the first two commandments. It’s ironic that, in this age where individuals all think themselves gods who speak reality into being, we ignore God’s own self-revelation. We think God is as we imagine and speak Him to be, regardless of what He has said about Himself. Our society would not tolerate that in any other context. Only God loses His right to self-identify.

Heidelberg Catechism Q.95 ends with the all-important phrase “the only true God Who has revealed Himself in His Word.” It doesn’t matter what you think or imagine Him to be. He has explicitly told us Who He is “to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways [the Old Testament], in these last days has spoken to us in His Son [revealed in the apostolic witness of the New Testament], Whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

We imagine a god who looks just like us, thinks just like us, and is in whatever image we speak him to be. We make ourselves authority over his being. This is a violation of the first commandments, and this transgression is enough to make us guilty forever.

Unbelievers know this to be true, and I can prove they know it. A twisting of this reality is manifesting itself in a culture where the greatest sin is to not accept what someone says about themselves in their self-identifying. Unbelievers, as part of creation, inherently have knowledge of the Creator. In their sin and rebellion, however, they take this knowledge and twist it, replacing God with their own fantasy: “…since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Romans 1:20-23). It doesn’t matter how “good” a person is, they are violating the first two commandments. It is impossible to have a right relationship with God (or to enter into His eternal presence of bliss) if you are ignoring His self-identification and have replaced Him with a god of your own imagination. He has identified Himself, His character, His works, and His will clearly in His Word. What gives you the right to ignore Him and reimagine Him in your own image?

In this day, it is a cultural sin to deny someone’s self-identification – you become rejected, labelled, and often unemployable. The first commands, given by God concerning Himself, have been reallocated by our society to its preferred god: the absolute individual.

“…You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes” (Psalm 50:21).

Repent of this, dear friends. His mercy is unending and free to those who turn from their rebellion against His Word and come to Him through faith in His Son. Yes, “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). Why did this necessitate Him giving “His only-begotten Son”? I suggested to the church member that she share from Romans 5 with this unbeliever if she got the chance: “…while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:6-11). Of course, there are a lot of other places to further explain the love of God rightly (I’m always stunned by the title “Him Who justifies the ungodly,” Romans 4:5); each passage about God’s love, when read in context, requires us to see our own unloveliness. His love toward us is all of grace, grace, God’s sweet grace. A view of the love of God that ignores your sins and centrally posits your beauty or worth will always ignore God’s revelation of Himself and ultimately be a religion whereby you cheat Him of the glory and thanks He alone deserves.

He has revealed Himself to us; believe this revelation for His glory and your eternal joy. He alone is worthy.

Love Songs of Nature and Architecture

I’ve been teaching through Revelation 21-22 on Wednesday evenings for several months. The “holy city, new Jerusalem,” is compared to “a bride adorned for her husband” (21:2). An angel tells the apostle, “Come here, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (21:9). It is the Church that alone is “the wife of the Lamb” in the New Testament (Matthew 9:15//Mark 2:19,20//Luke 5:34,35; John 3:29; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-33), but we are immediately shown “the holy city, Jerusalem” (21:10), along with an elaborate and incredible architectural description (21:11-22:5). It seems odd when you think about it; how many of you men wooed your sweetheart by comparing her to a well-designed structure with exalted aesthetics? Probably not many. Yet the New Testament often uses the language of temple to describe God’s people in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:16,17; 6:19,20; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5). Christian men, we probably shouldn’t start a trend of using architectural language to describe our beloved, but hear me out – when, at the close of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, a description of His Bride is given using this sort of language, she is more majestic, beautiful, and other-worldly than anything in this world (either Herod’s grand Temple in Jerusalem or the many incredible structures of other religions, whose grand remains are still tourist visiting points)! It may not be Shakespeare, but God the Son is saying to His Bride, “I’m preparing you by My Spirit like a master builder; no one in this world can construct anything close to you, My Beloved.”

Now, with this elaborate love-speech in mind, let’s read something that came earlier in the Bible:

“How beautiful you are, my darling,
How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil;
Your hair is like a flock of goats
That have descended from Mount Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes
Which have come up from their washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.
Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
And your mouth is lovely.
Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate
Behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
Built with rows of stones
On which are hung a thousand shields,
All the round shields of the mighty men.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle
Which feed among the lilies…

…how beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your hips are like jewels,
The work of the hands of an artist.
Your navel is like a round goblet
Which never lacks mixed wine;
Your belly is like a heap of wheat
Fenced about with lilies.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like a tower of ivory,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath-rabbim;
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
Which faces toward Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Carmel,
And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads;
The king is captivated by your tresses.
How beautiful and how delightful you are,
My love, with all your charms!
Your stature is like a palm tree,
And your breasts are like its clusters” (Song of songs, 4:1-5; 7:1-7).

We wouldn’t use this language (well, much of it) to describe our wives, would we, men? Do you notice the similarity in principle, though, between the Song of songs’ description of the King’s Beloved and the Revelation’s description of the Bride? One says, “you are more beautiful than the most breath-taking natural wonders and wealth of our land.” The other says, “all the man-made wonders of the world are poorly-made sand castles compared to you.”

Both of these extended metaphors, odd as they are to our cultural expressions, say one thing: the King loves His Bride, and thinks her more beautiful than anything in this world.

Remember that today, Church.

And if you’re not part of His Church, hear me: all of us, as descendants of that first man Adam, share in both his rebellious nature against God and the penalty for that rebellion. We are born in this world fighting the purpose for which we were created, which is to give God glory in our worshipful obedience and reflection of His image. This is the only true love, peace, and joy for the human being. We spend our brief lives here trying to fulfill that purpose with counterfeits in vain, and leave this world to spend an eternity separated from the only One Who can satisfy. But He, in His infinite love and mercy, came to earth as one of us to do what we could not: live a human life of perfect obedience to God (the condition for spending an eternity with God in bliss) and to take the just punishment for our disobedience upon Himself in death. He lived and died in His Bride’s place, and rose again on the third day. He ascended into heaven, where He reigns over all heaven and earth until the time comes for the defeat of all rebels to come to an end. The Bible tells us to confess Jesus as Lord, and that in Him we find forgiveness for our sin, adoption into the family of God, and we are granted access to our Creator (the Source of all we’ve ever needed and desired) forever and ever. The Bible uses the bridegroom and bride metaphor to describe Jesus’ relationship to His people, the Church. He loves His Church, and treasures Her above all else in Creation. Repent of your sins, trust Jesus alone for your right standing before God now and forever, and be added by Jesus to those whom He considers His Beloved.

Do this, and the love song’s for you.

Late Wake-Up to Whole Sanctification

Last week I had opportunity to be in Portland, Oregon, for the CanvasConference there. It was a wonderful event, the best kind – the last sort of thing I’d have chosen myself, but divine Providence worked beautifully through others to get me there. The final message was from the event organizer, Thomas Terry, who spoke on the topic, “Practical Design: A Call for Creative Orthodoxy/Orthodox Creativity.” He testified to coming to Christ and experiencing a shift in his life from heart-creativity to an exclusively mind-oriented doctrine. The verse he had been so passionate about writing prior to conversion dried up as he learned truth. We are created, and certainly re-created, to be whole, though. These aren’t his words, but we are to love our God with both “mind” and “heart” (Matthew 22:37//Mark 12:30//Luke 10:27). Some of us have been so turned off by the unfettered excess of “heart” people who seem to shun loving with the “mind” that we’ve become heartless in so much of our loving of the Lord. For Thomas Terry, this meant losing an important part of himself instead of redeeming that part for the glory of Christ. He rediscovered and redeemed this left-behind aspect of creativity from the heart while embracing a passionate mind-love of God’s truth. This was a message I needed.

I used to write poetry. I’m not claiming to have been any good at it. I won $100 once at university for a poem submitted on a whim. I loved reading it, constantly wrote it. Then I felt God’s call to ministry. It was a powerful call, a good call, a call that is my very being and identity in Christ for His glory and my joy. But I never wrote another poem again after the moment of that call. Thomas Terry’s talk has not so much awakened a question like “maybe?” or “what if?” as much as just leaving a curious “?” in me. Maybe, I thought as he concluded his message, I should try again. Scary, for some reason. Rusty old heart-strings of creativity moving again in verse. Why not?

Piper writes poetry. Seems like good exercise for a pastor-teacher to cross-train his wordsmithing-workout by stretching language in different ways. I have a friend who’s spent years versifying Scripture. I’ve enjoyed his rhythm-rhyme worship. Sometimes I pull the George Herbert volume off the shelves for a secret moment. R.W. Hampton's The Last Cowboy: His Journey (℗ 1999 Cimarron Sounds) is one of my favorite albums ever. I enjoy Tolkien's poetry ("Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West, for your King shall come again, and he shall dwell among you all the days of your life"), Peterson's troll poetry ("Oog, wacklesnodspadgenoggy"), Kline's biblical theology that plays with language like a poet, and the redeemed hip-hop that has become the main musical style of my listening.

Maybe it's time for the poet to join the rest of me in this journey of sanctification.

This is a blog. A place for the inner to become carefully, tentatively outer. It’s not like poetry night at the coffee house where no snapping fingers could scare the would-be poet back into decades-long retirement. Here we go.

And so, the first poem I’ve tried to write in over twenty years: a meditation on Numbers 11, Joel 2, Acts 2, and my pastoral longing for God’s people to live up to what the Spirit has promised to do through them.

*******

In the desert

Gray-heads a wind tunnel

For the voice of the Spirit

Instead of the people’s complaints

Grace of a merciful Deliverer

Seventy the mouth of One

Word of heaven

In the desert

In the camp

Unexpected gust

For the voice of the Spirit

Works His grace where He will

Shadow of future fullness

Two the mouth of One

Word of heaven

In the camp

In the heart

Conqueror-in-training

Jealous to wall the Spirit-voice

But the servant of the house

Longs for a distant grace

All the mouth of One

Word of heaven

In the heart

In the swarm

Ground and hearts barren

Consuming clouds answer idolatry

But the wind promises tomorrow-harvest

Vats overflow, hearts pour prophecy

All the mouth of One

Word of heaven

In the swarm

In that day

Servant-desire come

Locust-eclipse dawned

Gracious Deliverer, subject of song

Wind unstoppable consuming earth

All the mouth of One

Word of heaven

In that day

In this prayer

Servant straining ear

Listening for the Voice

“Make them Your hurricane” plea

Sound heard, breath felt, still moved

All the mouth of One

Word of heaven

In this prayer

*******

Hmm...we'll get there. Waking up is the only thing that never gets easier with practice, I've heard.

The Nothing of the Gospel

“Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, ‘This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ So he said, ‘Teacher, say it.’ ‘There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more.’ And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged.’ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’ Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace’” (Luke 7:36-50, N.K.J.V.).

Oh, be careful how you read, hear, and meditate on this narrative, beloved! The easiest thing in the world is to miss the Gospel in it. That doesn’t seem possible, right? There is a woman who is a notorious sinner, broken and adoring Jesus at His feet. Jesus praises her above the religious leader and announces her forgiven. Gospel, right? Not if you miss the most important point.

You see, we’re tempted to give too much value to the woman’s actions (7:38,39,44-46). There is a tendency to see her humble, even humiliating actions as the merit by which she receives her forgiveness. She’s worthy of forgiveness, we all-too-easily consider, because she has abased herself in front of the people in Simon’s house and even Jesus Himself. If we come to that conclusion, though, we miss the Gospel entirely. The woman’s tears, kisses, hair, and perfumed oil do not merit her forgiveness. Not even a little bit. Don’t make bad theology because of the powerful emotional tug of the moment. I fear – given our emphasis on musical/emotional experience in worship and the most popular books Christians are apparently reading – that the dear woman’s actions can be misunderstood as being the ladder on which she is able to climb from the pit of sin up to an intimate relationship with the great Lover of souls, and that’s just not true. In fact, if this is our assumption, we miss the Gospel, and, no matter how sweet the situation is, missing the Gospel is an eternally deadly error.

Merely using our imaginative senses to dwell in the woman’s actions isn’t enough. This will lead to an anti-gospel in which emotional is the new law and spiritual sensuality is the new legalism. Just as in every gathering of the people of God in Christ for worship, the actions of adoration are capable of damning us unless there is doctrinal explanation in the preaching. We have that in this text, too. The guiding principle by which we understand the woman’s actions and the grace Jesus grants her must be His explanatory parable in 7:41,42.

“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

What did the debtors offer to get out of debt? Nothing. “...they had nothing with which to repay.”

As far as the woman’s infinite, eternal debt to God for her sins (her sins before God are unendingly more serious than her reputation in her community for those sins), her tears, hair, kisses, and perfumed oil are “nothing.” Does that seem harsh? If it does, we’ve cleansed the story of the Gospel in our reading of it.

This woman’s actions, no matter how sweet and tender they are, do nothing to gain her forgiveness before the divine Creditor she has offended in her sin. In the same way, there is nothing any of us can do, no matter how good-intentioned or sincerely sentimental or religiously disciplined, to “repay” the debt we owe because of our sin. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

It is the great grace of the creditor, when he “freely forgave them both,” that is the Gospel in this story. They had “nothing with which to repay,” and he “freely forgave them both.” Anything else is not the Gospel, and will not save.

In response to the graceful forgiveness of the Gospel, which she believed by faith (7:50), she lives out a response by weeping, drying, kissing, and anointing – she “loved much.” Her actions are beautiful, touching, and appropriate to what she has received in the grace of the Gospel.

It is not our adoration that is the saving power of the Gospel, but His kindness on behalf of those who have “nothing with which to repay.”

“...when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

This is Good News, and merits our own humble acts of love forever and ever. May we love much, for we have been graciously given forgiveness for much.

"The Anointing with Oil and Tears," by Sadao Watanabe (1979)

Holiness and High Places

• “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places” (2 Kings 12:1-3).
• “In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places” (2 Kings 14:1-4).
• “In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places” (2 Kings 15:1-4).
• “In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. He did what was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places” (2 Kings 15:32-35).

Hear the refrain: “Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” Doing right but still loving the world is never enough.

“Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. For he clung to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses” (2 Kings 18:1-6). For the people of God, a love unto obedience (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9; 11:1,22; 30:6; Joshua 22:5; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; John 14:15,23; 1 John 5:3) must be joined with a holy refusal to love the things of the world (2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1; 1 John 2:15-17).

A people passionate for obeying God from His Word and remaining faithful to Him alone says, "I love you" louder to our Lord than a hundred thousand crying and singing the latest worship tune in a stadium.

Jeremiah's Turning #2: Love without Holiness

Following the word “turn” (שוב) through Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“In vain I have struck your sons; they accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. O generation, heed the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; We will no longer come to You’? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore even the wicked women you have taught your ways. Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor; you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, yet you said, ‘I am innocent; surely His anger is turned [שוב] away from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you go around so much changing your way? Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. From this place also you will go out with your hands on your head; for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper with them” (Jeremiah 2:30-37).

“Surely.” In 2:35 the people assume that God’s mercy and love trump His holiness and justice. The fiery serpents (seraphs) around the throne of God don’t eternally, unceasingly cry, “love, love, love,” or “mercy, mercy, mercy.” They cry, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). I would get in trouble from classic systematic theologians for saying this, but it is from His holiness that all other divine attributes flow. We cannot understand His love apart from His holiness. It is His consistent command to His people: be holy as I am holy (Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:14-16). Have mercy on us, Lord, for assuming that the incarnation and closeness of the God-with-us Immanuel means that You are no longer holy. Forgive us, Lord, for blaspheming You in our understanding and worship by thinking the King of kings, the eternal Son of God, is anything less than absolute holiness.

Jesus, the risen and glorified King over all, is holy. He has anger and hatred over sin.

“But of the Son He says, ‘YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM. YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS’” (Hebrews 1:8,9; quoting from Psalm 45:6,7).

“Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place - unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Revelation 2:5,6).

The people of God should never assume that His gracious love in Christ is a license to live however we “feel led” to live (read Romans 6!!). The Lord Jesus, through Whom the love of God comes to the Church, is also the “Holy One” (Mark 1:24; Luke 1:35; 4:34; John 6:69; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:27,30; 13:35; Hebrews 7:26; Revelation 3:7). The Spirit Who is the very love of God in Christ poured out freely upon is Himself the “Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22).

May we become careful students and practitioners of the holiness of the Trinity, not daring to wash away His holiness in an attempt to make Him more like us, but instead grasping fearfully and hungrily for His holiness that it may be the power of our lives for His glory. And, through His holiness, we will begin to truly understand His love.

His goal and purpose for His Bride, the Church, is holiness (Ephesians 1:4; 5:26,27). This is the Bridegroom's love.

"Seraph," in the Matrix Trilogy

Attendance and the Proclamation of Truth

“People are far more interested in what works than what's true. I hate to burst your bubble, but virtually nobody in your church is on a truth quest. Including your spouse. They are on happiness quests. As long as you are dishing out truth with no ‘here's the difference it will make’ tacked on the end, you will be perceived as irrelevant by most of the people in your church, student ministry, or home Bible study. You may be spot-on theologically, like the teachers of the law in Jesus' day, but you will not be perceived as one who teaches with authority. Worse, nobody is going to want to listen to you. Now, that may be discouraging. Especially the fact that you are one of the few who is actually on a quest for truth. And, yes, it is unfortunate that people aren't more like you in that regard. But that's the way it is. It's pointless to resist. If you try, you will end up with a little congregation of truth seekers who consider themselves superior to all the other Christians in the community. But at the end of the day, you won't make an iota of difference in this world...culture is like the wind. You can't stop it. You shouldn't spit in it. But, if like a good sailor you will adjust your sails, you can harness the winds of culture to take your audience where they need to go. If people are more interested in being happy, then play to that...Jesus did...”

- Andy Stanley, Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend (Zondervan, 2012)

Consider Paul’s teaching on the proclamation of truth in love in the gathered Church:

• “If I have the gift of prophecy...but do not have love, I am nothing...love...rejoices with the truth...love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away...” (1 Corinthians 13:2,4,6,8).
• “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy...one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation...one who prophesies edifies the church” (1 Corinthians 14:1,3,4).
• “...if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:24-26).

The goal isn’t to make people comfortable, or to give them what they want. The goal is a Spirit-empowered explanation and application of Scripture alone (a definition of biblical prophecy), motivated by a cross-inspired love that recognizes our sin and God’s absolute holiness (1 John 4:1-21). We have been gracefully loved by God through Christ, and so love others with the Spirit of truth (John 4:23,24; 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; Ephesians 1:13; 1 John 5:6) by proclaiming the saving truth to them.

The problem with “playing to” people’s desire to be happy is that people think being their own god and being worshiped as that god will make them happy (Genesis 3:1-6; 1 John 2:15-17). This is the primordial sin of every human being, and I’ve never seen any evidence to counter that scriptural conviction. Another problem: lost people do not love the truth. If I do not speak truth since no one else is on a “truth quest,” I have left them in their truth-hating pit. It’s a very large pit; its capacity can more than handle very large congregations that people love to attend. “...those who perish...did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved...in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10,12). Catering to their desire for happiness is problematic, since their desire is radically misplaced through their hatred (or apathy) of the truth. They must be saved through proclamation of the truth before their desires can even begin to be corrected. The reason catering to a desire for happiness cannot work is that wickedness (and rebellion against truth) makes them happy. There is a way of happiness that man seeks, for it seems right, but it’ll lead them to an eternity apart from God every time (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).

I always tell our congregation that if we don’t speak the truth, no one will. It’s why we exist as the Church. “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14,15).

If we want to get even more basic than this, the proclamation of truth is why Jesus came (not primarily to “love” apart from this proclamation, as most contemporary pop preachers would have us believe): “...the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth...grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ...Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me...when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak.’ ...Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’” (John 1:14,17; 14:6; 16:13; 18:37).

I reject the proposal that a commitment to truth means we will become “a little congregation of truth seekers who consider themselves superior to all the other Christians in the community.” The proclamation of truth, when done in the power of the Holy Spirit, will be loving. The risen and exalted Christ “gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him Who is the head, even Christ, from Whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16). In fact, I reject the idea that a body that does not live for the truth can be truly loving – since true love is revealed in propositions of truth counter-intuitive to our truth-hating natures (Romans 5:1-10; 1 John 4:8-10)!

Be commissioned, Church: “These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates...so love truth and peace” (Zechariah 8:16,19). Preach the truth, love the truth.

Remember the God Who has created you, Church: “You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth...I trust in the LORD. I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness” (Psalm 31:5-7). Be the Church the God of truth loves to attend.

A Prayer for Dissatisfaction in Half a Son

“Even I have set My King upon Zion Mine holy mountain. I will declare the decree: that is, the Lord hath said unto Me, ‘Thou art My son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt crush them with a scepter of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ Be wise now therefore, ye kings: be learned ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, when His wrath shall suddenly burn. Blessed are all that trust in Him” (Psalm 2:6-12, Geneva Bible).

The Son is the sole expression of the Father’s love (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Titus 3:4; 1 John 4:10) and yet the Judge/Warrior-King expressing the Father’s wrath at the same time (John 5:19-30; Acts 10:42,43; 17:30,31; Hebrews 1:8,9; Revelation 19:11-21), without contradiction, tension, or confusion.

Holy Spirit, teach us from Your Word to worship the Father through the Son in the perfect fullness of Your revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make us wholly dissatisfied with anything less!

Don't Blame Love

• "...put on love, which is the bond of perfectness" (Colossians 3:14, Geneva Bible).
• "...let us which are of the day...[be] putting on...love" (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

True love is an act of the will, and is not to be blamed for the self-will that breaks covenant.We do not helplessly fall in or out, but either put it on in covenant commitment or unrepentantly masquerade for temporary convenience.

I recognize that all humans (even Christians and especially myself) sin, but there is no biblical justification for an appeal to God's mercy, forgiveness, and love apart from a repentant confession of sin (as defined by the Scripture). The entry-point for the eternal enjoyment and consolation of the benefits of Christ is humbly and freely confessing that sin is sin as defined by the Scripture.

So, breaking covenant in the name of love and then - either in open or tacit unrepentant rebellion - appealing to the fact that "God is love," "forgiving," or "merciful" is further evidence from your own lips that you want the benefits of ideas like love, forgiveness, or mercy without committing to the covenant in which they are solely found.

Don't blame love.

Find the Fount of Love

“For Thy lovingkindness [חסד, or covenantal love] is before mine eyes: therefore have I walked in Thy truth” (Psalm 26:3, Geneva Bible). His motivating power for walking in the truth of God’s Word is a blood-bound relationship secure in the unbreakable promise of God’s love. The love is expressed in its cost and oath, not primarily in momentary moods – as Rich Mullins once said, “there’s a loyalty that’s deeper than mere sentiment.” Loyal-love, covenant-love, love of the unbreakable promise...that’s what motivates the Psalmist to walk in the truth of God’s Word, a love alien to our commitment-allergic age. “Herein was that love of God made manifest amongst us, because God sent that His only begotten Son into this world, that we might live through Him. Herein is that love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a reconciliation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10). If that covenant-love doesn’t move you to a continual desire to walk in the truth of His Word, return to the gathering where that place of love – the Cross – is the theme of the songs, the promise of the Table, and the only thing the man in the pulpit knows (1 Corinthians 2:2). It’s love that strips you down to the soul to reveal every sin and then covers you in blood-bought perfect white, fills you with the very Presence of love (Romans 5:5), and never lets you go. It’s love that sets you on the Way – not the cheap imitation passed off as love from the feelings and flesh of self-centered humanity. Find the Fount.

“I will...compass Thine altar, that I may declare with the voice of thanksgiving, and set forth all Thy wondrous works...I will praise Thee, O Lord, in the Congregations” (26:6,7,12).

The Lord Loveth Righteousness

“For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness: His countenance doth behold the just” (Psalm 11:7, Geneva Bible).

Who can He love among us? “But we have all been as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy cloths, and we all do fade like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

How the righteous become righteous, how the just become just: “Surely, He hath born our infirmities, and carried our sorrows, yet we did judge Him as plagued and smitten of God, and humbled. But He was wounded for our transgressions: He was broken for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes are we healed. All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet did He not open his mouth: He is brought as a sheep to the slaughter...yet the Lord would break Him and make Him subject to infirmities: when He shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed and shall prolong His days, and the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied; by His knowledge shall My Righteous [צדיק] Servant justify [צדק] many: for He shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:4-11).

“For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness: His countenance doth behold the just” (Psalm 11:7, Geneva Bible). Through the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world may we see the face of the Father and worship with confessions of astounding truth and unfathomable love.

Gospel Love & the Covering of Sin

“He who conceals [מכסהֿפשע] a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends” (Proverbs 17:9). What does it mean to cover a transgression of another with love as a goal?

We do not cover our own trangressions; that is the work and right of God upon our humble confession of sin: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered [כסוי]! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide [כסיתי]; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’; and You forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:1-5). It is not our place to hide, or cover, our own sin. We must humbly confess it to God, Who conceals the sin of His covenant people under atoning blood: “You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered [כסית] all their sin” (Psalm 85:2). This was true in the Old Testament, and is true today in the New Testament: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:5-10). The goal of God’s sin-covering in Christ is also love, love that is an inseparable part of His character and being, as described in our Proverb for today. In fact, biblical love as attributed to God must be understood in connection with our sin and the Father’s covering of that sin in Christ: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11).

It is a sin before God for us to cover our own transgression. We saw the consequences of this in the confession of the Psalmist above (32:3,4). Job, in appealing to God, protests that he has not concealed his sins before God: “Have I covered [כסיתי] my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, and kept silent and did not go out of doors? Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written, surely I would carry it on my shoulder, I would bind it to myself like a crown. I would declare to Him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach Him” (Job 31:33-37). The wisdom of God also testifies to this: “He who conceals [מכסה] his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion” (Proverbs 28:13).

We humbly confess our sins with repentant attitudes before God and He is faithful to cover those sins in Christ, the Person of the Trinity Who manifests the Father’s love to us. As we saw above (1 John 4:7-11), this sin-covering love then becomes the pattern of our loving relationships with each other in the covenant people of God. We imitate God’s love when we cover the transgressions of others: “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers [תכסה] all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). Paul makes this connection, as well: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Colossians 3:12,13).

“He who conceals [מכסהֿפשע] a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends” (Proverbs 17:9). Let God and the love of those in the covenant community of God with us be the coverers of our humbly confessed sin. In this is Christ-exalting, God-centered love. True love.

What It Means to Love Jesus

Obedience - what it means to love our Jesus Who is God, Lord, and King:

• “...I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:5,6//Deuteronomy 5:9,10).
• “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9)
• “You shall therefore love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments...listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul...keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him” (Deuteronomy 11:1,13,22).
• “...observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in His ways always” (Deuteronomy 19:9).
• “...I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments” (Deuteronomy 30:16).
• “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5).
• “I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, Who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Nehemiah 1:5).
• “O Lord, the great and awesome God, Who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Daniel 9:4).
• “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
• “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:10).
• “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2,3).

The Dividing Line: Unending Covenant Love

“Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The lovingkindness [חסד, covenant love] of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right...you love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living” (Psalm 52:1-5). What stands against tyranny of wicked, twisted, lying words both whispered and shouted? The unwavering eternal covenant-love of God for His people. Because of His love they will forever endure in the place of covenant, “the land of the living.” Those boasters outside the covenant will not.


“The righteous will see and fear...as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones” (Psalm 52:6,8,9). Judgment of those outside the covenant grows those inside in their “fear” of the LORD, their trust in the unending love of His covenant with His people, their thankfulness, and their waiting on His good name. The “land of the living,” the place of the covenant, is seen in greater beauty as the “house of God” and “the presence of [His] godly ones.”

The covenant love of God. In it is all. Outside of it is death. Boast not in yourself for your salvation this day, but “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and...be saved” (Romans 10:9). Church, consider His love and judgment and draw nearer to Him (and each other) in your meditation on both.

What God Has Joined Together...

I listened to Psalm 119 during my run yesterday. Reading Scripture out loud and/or hearing it is always an especially illuminating experience. Listening to the Psalm, I heard some words placed together that, in our typical understanding, do not belong together in apposition, but opposition. Scripture, the inspired Word of God the Holy Spirit, once again shows us that God’s ways are not our ways!

• “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day...from Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (119:97,104). You may think that these two verses are so far apart that I shouldn't have included them in this list, but they are the first and last lines of this sub-poem (מ) in Psalm 119.
• “I hate those who are double-minded, but I love Your law” (119:113).
• “Therefore I love Your commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way” (119:127,128).
• “I hate and despise falsehood, but I love Your law” (119:163).

This is the Word of God, the perfect revelation of His heart, mind, and will. Spirit, teach us to love what You love and, yes, hate what You hate (Psalm 11:5; Proverbs 6:16; Isaiah 1:14; 61:8; Jeremiah 44:4; Amos 5:21; Zechariah 8:17; Malachi 2:16; Hebrews 1:9; Revelation 2:6). Lord, give us Your wisdom in this as we meditate on these far-apart words brought together in Your Word.