A Weapon in Each Hand to Fight the Darkness

I got to fill in for one of our Sunday School teachers yesterday morning, and took the opportunity to look at one of the most challenging Psalms – 88. In the English and original Hebrew, the last word of the song is “darkness.” The only positives in the Psalm is the sons’ (of Korah) opening address to “the God of my salvation” and meditation on the perfections of God in 88:10-12 (“wonders,” “lovingkindness,” “faithfulness,” and “righteousness”). Everything else is dark in the Psalm. We spoke about the place of lament and emotional discipleship in the life of the congregation, since the song is titled “for the choir director.” This is in stark contrast to contemporary Christian worship, which is a pep rally, and the suffering of the saints with depression, which is too often alone. The Spirit’s work through the teaching ministry of worship (“be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” Ephesians 5:18,19) is neglected, since these days challenging emotions are not dealt with in the context of corporate discipleship as they would be in a Psalm-based liturgy. Psalm 88 (and similar Psalms), voiced by the congregation as a whole, would teach us a Spirit-inspired way of walking through depression and darkness. This seems like a valuable thing to do. As I pointed out to the Sunday School class, however, we have some Christian cultural expectations to overcome to utilize this Spirit-empowered scriptural tool. I can imagine our worship leader taking us through a Psalm like 88 and the uncomfortable reaction of the congregation. Some would have their brows furrowed as they struggled through the dark lyric, and others would joke their way out of the experience. The worship leader might be quickly questioned for putting such a “downer” of a song in the line-up.

We need this. I know not just from my place as overseer of the souls of the congregation (I know where many places of darkness are), but from my own experience with difficult days and weeks. Corporate lament and emotional discipleship would be an ultimate blessing to the people.

With this fresh on my mind this Monday morning (woke up at 5 a.m. worrying over a few specific souls), I read the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7).

Ah, I’m jealous for this. I want this for dozens that I’m thinking of this very moment as I write this. How, Lord, can I help my fellow brothers and sisters find this? They have the peace with God that comes through being justified by faith in Christ (Romans 5:1). But this peace in Philippians 4:7 is a guarding peace promised to believers as we sometimes walk a very dark path. How, Lord? Then I saw the word, “and” (yes, it’s in the Greek, too). This precious promise is announced in connection with something that comes before it. Commands.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7, the bold marks the specific imperative verbs).

The God-Who-is-present (“The Lord is near.”) works through...

• ...our rejoicing in the Son (Who is called “the Lord” in 1:2; 2:11,19; 3:8,20; 4:23). Which means we are looking to Jesus regularly as He is on abundant display in the Scripture, and rejoicing in what we see.
• ...our cultivated reputation as gentle (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2; James 3:17). “To all men.” Challenging. It’s hard for some to let themselves be seen by others when they’re in the midst of the darkness.
• ...our refusal to anxiousness (Jesus issues similar commands in Matthew 6:25-34//Luke 12:22-26; Matthew 10:16-20//Luke 12:11,12; Luke 10:38-42). Interestingly, the apostle Paul describes anxiousness in a positive way in Philippians 2:20. Apparently, worrying over the spiritual welfare of other believers is acceptable!
• ...our thankful petitions to the Father (“God” is so identified in 1:2; 2:11; 4:20).

The Guardian of souls promises to work a protecting peace over those who pursue these disciplines (remember, they are commands, not suggestions). I’m not saying any of these things are easy to accomplish – especially for someone in a Psalm 88 kind of darkness. But it’s there.

The Spirit has shown me two weapons in two days to help others fight the darkness (Psalm 88 and Philippians 4:4-7). Pray with me, beloved, that He will wield them powerfully through the congregation and through this wholly inadequate overseer.

Psalm 88:9-17 in the ARP Psalter

Marley was as Dead as a Door-Nail

A month ago I was preparing for my Thursday morning Berkhof reading group. The Dutchman was writing about fallen angels, and made this comment: “They are even now chained to hell and pits of darkness, and though not yet limited to one place, yet, as Calvin says, drag their chains with them wherever they go...” (Systematic Theology, pg. 149).

Well, this quote triggered two things in me: the unstoppable desire to hunt down the original quote (always find the source!) and a sudden yearning for the Advent season.

First, the source. John Calvin says what he says about dragging chains around speaking not of the fallen angels (as Berkhof used the imagery), but of the lost: “The lot of the reprobate is doubtless the same as that which Jude assigns to the devils; to be held in chains until they are dragged to the punishment appointed for them” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.25.6). A chilling image. Those who are without Christ in this world are already bound to hell by chains which they drag around everywhere they go. Billions of people going about normal everyday life (Matthew 24:36-42) bound by chains which find their anchor in eternal fire. I just read The Christian Atheist last night – there was a chapter in this book where he describes the person who believes in God but doesn’t share his/her faith. Groeschel does the important job of reminding the reader of the (unpopular) reality of hell in that chapter. And, as Calvin says, they’re already chained to that hell and dragging the rattling fetters about everywhere they go and in everything they do. The bride coming down the aisle, the fan cheering for the game, the soccer mom going about her ceaselessly busy life, the farmer in his tractor, the teacher, the...well, every type of person you can imagine...chained to hell...the noise in the spirit realm must be deafening. Powerful image. May God give the Church ears to hear it.

As I said, Berkhof sent me hunting for the Calvin quote, but it also made me long for the Advent season. Why? Because Charles Dickens once wrote a Christmas ghost story (A Christmas Carol, 1843), and Berkhof’s quote made me think of Jacob Marley (yes, I had to resist call of mental chaos to reggae-jump to Bob Marley): “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that... You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

I’m not a Halloween guy, and have never cared for A Christmas Carol (the line in 1963’s “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” about “scary ghost stories” has always seemed stupid to me), but culture’s a pretty powerful influence. So Berkhof made me think not just of Calvin, but of Dickens. “Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” But still he shows up in Scrooge’s room one night.

“After several turns, [Scrooge] sat down again. As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated for some purpose now forgotten with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound; but soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house. This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine merchant’s cellar. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door. ‘It’s humbug still!’ said Scrooge. ‘I won’t believe it.’ His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried, ‘I know him; Marley’s Ghost!’ and fell again. The same face: the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His body was transparent, so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.”

This is what Berkhof’s quote brought to my mind. Any excuse to be in an Advent frame of mind – even when it’s a stretch like this. But this whole collision of images made me look at the people around me differently. They are walking around right now as I once was. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:1-3).

More Dickens:

“Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands. ‘You are fettered,’ said Scrooge, trembling. ‘Tell me why?’ ‘I wear the chain I forged in life,’ replied the Ghost. ‘I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?’”

“Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. He looked out. The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free.”

“Free will” is not free. We all sin (Romans 3:10-12,23), and sinners are slaves (John 8:34; 2 Peter 2:19). Your “free will” is enslaved and can only choose rebellion against God unless it is freed in Christ. It is the instrument by which you forge your chains to hell (Romans 6:1-23). The air is filled with phantoms. “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Lose the chains. Repent of your rebellion against God’s Law and put your faith in the free gift of salvation He has given in His Son, Jesus Christ. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:4-10).

42 Years, 1 Month, 2 Weeks

I was running the other day and started doing math in my head...the result is tongue-in-cheek and purposefully ridiculous. You have been warned.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), one of the greatest minds America has ever produced, played an important role in the First Great Awakening. But after around 20 years, the church in Northampton voted to bar him from the pulpit...for denying the Lord’s Supper to unbelievers. He was still in great demand as a preacher elsewhere, but his own congregation...

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), called the “Prince of Preachers,” was hugely popular in Britain in the latter half of the 19th century. He pastored the same congregation for 38 years. However, at the height of his influence, he attempted to lead the Baptist Union to adopt a confessional standard to combat the theological “Downgrade” taking over. They rejected any attempt to stand for even the most basic orthodoxy concerning Christ. Spurgeon’s health broke in this failed effort.

These two stories have always weighed heavily on me. How long? A pastor has a faithful, effective preaching/teaching ministry for decades, and ends in heartbreak over basic doctrine. How long must a preacher preach to have a problem-free ministry? I warned you this was a ridiculous line of thought. Just wait. It gets worse.

How long did Paul spend in Corinth? “And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them” (Acts 18:11). Hmmm...obviously not enough. Ever read 1 Corinthians?!

How about Ephesus? Paul’s letter to the Ephesians doesn’t contain any strong rebukes. He covers some basic things like the unity of Jews and Gentiles in the Church and the importance of godly speech to each other. Okay...so, no major problems. How long did he spend there teaching? “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 20:31).

Alright. 3 years. Day and night. Assuming 2 teaching opportunities a day for three years, we’re at 2,190 teaching times. Hmmm...there are some congregants I only see once a week (I’m being generous). To teach them as much as Paul taught the Ephesians, I’d have to teach them for 42 years, 1 month, and 2 weeks. Four decades of Bible teaching, and you’ll surpass both Edwards and Spurgeon...maybe that way you’ll avoid the heartbreak they experienced at the end of their ministries.

Except...I don’t preach like Paul. Or even Edwards or Spurgeon. Not even close. Plus, after 42 years, you have death-birth turnover. After that amount of time you’d be speaking to a very different congregation and might need to start again.

Plus, even though Paul didn’t need to strongly or directly correct the Ephesian congregation, the glorifying Lord Jesus did later (Revelation 2:1-7). Not the perfect Church.

Sigh.

I could hold two services a day for three years...better make that six years, since – again – I am not Paul.

Speaking of Paul, what was his attitude about that problem church in Corinth? Well, even though they broke his heart (I believe the “thorn in the flesh” of 2 Corinthians 12 was messengers about problems in the Corinthian church) he still gave thanks to God for them (1 Corinthians 1:4-8). He prayed for them. He loved them (1 Corinthians 16:24). He corrected them. He continued to teach them.

Well, just as I am not a Paul or Edwards or Spurgeon, neither is the congregation assigned to my care by the Lord a Corinth. Or anything even close. They’re a precious people. There are times looking at them every week over the Lord’s Supper table that my heart feels like it’s going to explode with love for them.

Now I’m reminded of my mentor’s general attitude about church problems: look to the pulpit. Have I prayed for them enough...do I even pray enough, period? Have I invested the time in discipling them I should? The little issues that worry me over them, are those issues found in my own life and heart?

I’ll keep preaching to them from the Word with full reliance on the Holy Spirit to do His work in them. I’ll keep seeking my own growth through prayer and that same Word through the same Holy Spirit. They’ll never mature past my own point of spiritual maturity.

And I’ll trust God with what they’ll be in two or three decades, or even 42 years, 1 month, and 2 weeks.

I am thankful for them, and love them. Especially because they so graciously put up with me.

Phew. At least they can’t hear my idiotic mathematical musings while I’m running! That’d be embarrassing!

Prayer Requests Greater Than Me

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Tap the true riches of eternal, unlimited glory.

Strengthened inside by uncontainable Power.

Indwelt by One greater than the universe.

Measure, with the whole Church, the unfathomable (3:8).

Know what is beyond knowledge.

Filled up with the fullness of the Infinite.

I have yet to learn to pray like this, which means I have not yet come to desire, prize, or treasure these things. I am still focused on anchored feet and not gazing upward and homeward with all that I am.

Father, keep commanding us to pray. Lord Jesus, keep teaching us to pray. Holy Spirit, keep helping us to pray.

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

Covenant Faithfulness: No Greater Lesson

Foundational spiritual truth and commandment: “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:1-9).

Application of this spiritual truth and commandment: “Now then, my sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of [the adulteress’] house” (Proverbs 5:7,8).

Covenant faithfulness to God alone is expressed in covenant faithfulness to our wife alone (Ephesians 5:22-6:4). Both must be unceasingly taught to every generation. It is our highest calling.

Monday Morning Meditation on Psalm 4

“Tremble and sin not: examine your own heart upon your bed, and be still” (Psalm 4:4, Geneva Bible).

Why tremble at all? Why examine your own heart? “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 2:11,12).

How does this affect how we live together as the Church? “If so be ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that is, that ye cast off, concerning the conversation in time past, that old man, which is corrupt through the deceivable lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which after God is created unto righteousness, and true holiness. Wherefore cast off lying, and speak every man truth unto his neighbor: for we are members one of another. Be angry, but sin not [quoting Psalm 4:4]: let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil...let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouths: but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God [quoting Isaiah 63:10], by Whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and anger, and wrath, crying, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all maliciousness. Be ye courteous one to another, and tender hearted, freely forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake, freely forgave you” (Ephesians 4:21-27,30-32).

Thank You, Father, for fulfilling Your promise to the Son in forgiving us in Him, and for predestining us to be conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29). Thank You, Son of God, for being a great God and King above all, alone worthy of our fear, love, and faith. Thank You, Holy Spirit of God, for sealing us for the day of redemption and for being grieved when we resist each other – and in so doing resist Your building of Your Church (Ephesians 2:18-22). Blessed and holy Trinity, help us to tremble before You, realizing that we ourselves as individuals are usually the problem in Your Church. Holy Spirit, remind us always to exalt the Father’s forgiveness through the Son in our membership together in Your Church.

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By the way, I'm not angry at anyone in the Church this groggy Monday morning. This is where the Psalm reading had me as I huddled over a cup of coffee, though, and we come to the Word to be taught...often before we even need the lesson, if we're willing to hear. Coming to the Bible with our "felt needs" and not to be taught sometimes means we walk a lot of spiritual miles on the Way a few steps behind! Learn from the Holy Spirit today as He speaks through His Word to teach us about conformity to the Son. Learn the lesson before the lesson becomes the crisis with your brother or sister!

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Alright: the original title for this post was "Shaking (Not the Harlem Variety)." I've changed it so no one thinks I'm being critical of the "Harlem Shake" fun that's currently going on. I sincerely was not criticizing or making fun of the fun or anyone having the fun...was just participating in it in my own silly way with the pun in the title (Psalm 4:4 on trembling and "Harlem Shake"...get it?!?!?! Can I get a "LOL"?!?!?!). No "Harlem Shaking" was harmed in the making of this post! I have, for the sake of not offending or get labeled a "Harlem Shake hater," given this post the current innocuous and boring re-name. Happy Monday to you!

But you have to admit it: "Shaking (Not the Harlem Variety)" is a much better post-title for a Monday morning meditation on Psalm 4!!

Who Is This God?

“The chariots of God are twenty thousand thousand Angels, and the Lord is among them, as in the Sanctuary of Sinai. Thou art gone up on high: Thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men [see also vs. 29]: yea, even the rebellious hast Thou led, that the Lord God might dwell there. Praised be the Lord, even the God of our salvation, which ladeth us daily with benefits...O God, Thou art terrible out of Thine holy places: the God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto the people: praised be God” (Psalm 68:17-19,35, Geneva Bible). Who is this capturing God Who has taken us captive, Who receives the world in victory to give us benefits, strength, and power? Praise Him, for He is God in three Persons, blessed Trinity...

...He is Spirit, Father, Christ...three Persons and one God: “...walk worthy of the vocation whereunto ye are called, with all humbleness of mind, and meekness, with long suffering, supporting one another through love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your vocation. There is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. One God and Father of all, which is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, ‘When He ascended upon high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men’” (Ephesians 4:1-8, quoting Psalm 68:18).