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.

Jeremiah’s Turning #13: the Charge of Self-ism

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

“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away [שוב] and not repent [שוב]? Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away [שוב] in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return [שוב]. I have listened and heard, they have spoken what is not right; no man repented [נחם] of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned [שוב] to his course, like a horse charging into the battle”’” (Jeremiah 8:4-6).

In these verses we English-speakers get an idea just how versatile Hebrew is as a language, and how important context is phrase-to-phrase. The same word, שוב, is used to mean both apostasy (turning away from God) and repentance (turning to God) in verses 4 and 5 – same word, opposite meanings!

Today we’ll focus on verse 6, where the people go boldly forth into wherever they feel like going. The refrain of Judges connects this to a lack of a king: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

The inadequacy is not governmental. Don’t read it this way.

Even without a human king, they had what they needed for a rule of life as God’s covenant people: “He said, ‘The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; at His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. Indeed, He loves the people; all Your holy ones are in Your hand, and they followed in Your steps; everyone receives of Your words. Moses charged us with a law, a possession for the assembly of Jacob. And He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel together’” (Deuteronomy 33:2-5). We are not to understand Judges 17:6; 21:25 to mean that the people had no light, no guidance. They had the royal Word of the Law. The problem isn’t that they were king-less. The problem was that they were sinners. This is the purpose of the Law – to show forth the sinfulness of the people and their need for Christ the King (Romans 7:7; Galatians 3:22-24).

The people’s complaint that they wanted a human king is traced back to a heart that rejected God as Savior and King. Their rejection of God led to the rejection of the prophet-judge appointed by God to mediate the royal Word of the Law to them: “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day - in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods - so they are doing to you also’” (1 Samuel 8:7,8).

Their lack of a king is a surface problem. The heart problem is a people who have the royal Word of the Law, and have a Spirit-gifted leader to lead them in that Word, but would rather do their own thing while a human king preserves their safety and prosperity. The covenant people of God are not following the Word, but are living by the creed of the world, following their hearts. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26). They go forward boldly, as a horse charging into battle, following their hearts further and further away from the rule of their Savior-God and King.

Woe to a people who want a pastor who merely preserves the status quo of institutionalized tradition and closed social cliques.

Woe to a people who ignore the Word as the rule of life and yet seek blessing from God.

Christ is the conquering King (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:5), and He has given the Church the gift of those who will lead His people in the Word: “Therefore it says, ‘WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN [a quote from Psalm 68:18].’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He Who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He 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” (Ephesians 4:8-13).

“The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17).

God has given men to His Church to proclaim His royal Word as rule of life to save us from the tendency to charge forth after our hearts away from Him. Turn away from the charge into self and turn to the royal Word of the King. “And in the sentence of Scripture we are to rest, for it is in Scripture, delivered by the Spirit, that our faith is finally resolved” (1689 Baptist Confession, 1.10).

Jeremiah's Turning #1: Rude Wild Donkey Metaphors

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

“‘How can you say, “I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals”? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel entangling her ways, a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn [שוב] her away? All who seek her will not become weary; in her month they will find her. Keep your feet from being unshod and your throat from thirst; but you said, “It is hopeless! No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will walk.” As the thief is shamed when he is discovered, so the house of Israel is shamed; they, their kings, their princes and their priests and their prophets, who say to a tree, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave me birth.” For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, “Arise and save us.” But where are your gods which you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 2:23-29).

The “young camel” and “wild donkey” metaphors seem crude - certainly not the stuff of nice, polite daily devotions! Yet, this metaphor very accurately describes the popular philosophy of most people (sadly, even many who confess to follow Christ). “Follow your heart,” we’re told. Did you know the Bible calls this foolishness?

“Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way...he who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 23:19; 28:26).

To follow the impulse of the heart is to follow a billion things away from the Lord. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12//16:25).

“For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully” (2 Corinthians 11:2-4). This is a sad commentary on a people who are supposed to “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Wild animals following their base instincts with the tools of manipulation and logic (the fine-tuned product of macro-evolution) or created images of God redeemed and restored to that image? Which is it, Church?

The Song of the Waking Dream

“A Song of Ascents. When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting...the LORD has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalm 126:1-3, New American Standard).

“We were like those who dream.” This phrase has a strong pastoral-emotional impact to me. It reminds me of the many times I have read Scripture to those on the verge of leaving this life, those whose consciousness was not full; for them it truly is “a song of ascents.” Despite my heart’s reaction to this Psalm, I don’t want to lapse into a mystical emotionalism. So we go to other Scripture to see how this home-going Psalm of dreamy wonder fits in with the testimony of “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, Geneva Bible).

This isn’t a pure mysticism that fails to impact our lives. It is a waking dream that moves us homeward in holiness and ever-increasing dedication to both the Law of the Lord and the Good News of His absolute reign over all: “Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city...shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion...therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the One Who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’ How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness [quoted in Romans 10:12-15], who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together; for they will see with their own eyes when the LORD restores Zion. Break forth, shout joyfully together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean; go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves [quoted in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18], you who carry the vessels of the LORD. But you will not go out in haste, nor will you go as fugitives; for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (Isaiah 52:1,2,6-12, NAS).

This isn’t, though, a being spiritually awake that ceases to be mystical or spiritual at all. It comprehends the truth revealed by the Spirit in the Word of God that shows us the Son to the glory of the Father. In the waking dream of pilgrimage home, it sees clearly yet doesn’t lose the wonder of the dream. It knows truth, but marvels at it: “I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Father of glory, might give unto you the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation through the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of your understanding may be lightened, that ye may know what the hope is of His calling, and what the riches of His glorious inheritance is in the Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us, which believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and domination, and every Name, that is named, not in this world only, but also in that that is to come, and hath made all things subject under His feet, and hath given Him over all things to be the head to the Church, which is His body, even the fullness of Him that filleth all in all things” (Ephesians 1:16-23, Geneva Bible). There is no conflict between real intellectual knowledge of spiritual, mystical truth: “...we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hid wisdom, which God had determined before the world, unto our glory. Which none of the princes of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, ‘The things which eye hath not seen, neither ear hath heard, neither came into man’s heart, are, which God hath prepared for them that love Him.’ But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have receiveth not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit, which is of God, that we might know the things that are given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things” (1 Corinthians 2:7-13, Geneva Bible). The way home is definite, according the Word alone. Yet it is wondrous and Spirit-given.

Holy Spirit, open our sleepy eyes wide enough to see the true home to which we journey, but not so wide that we lose our wonder in its truth. “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” (Deuteronomy 6:5,6, NAS). Full love is founded upon the Spirit-inspired Word.

“I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking” (Song of songs 5:2, NAS).

P.S. David Crowder* Band's album A Collision (sixstepsrecords, 2005) was a powerful soundtrack in my ministry through a dark time of death. The song "Come Awake" seems an appropriate postscript to this entry.

The Unavoidable Revelation of My Pride

“We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks, for Your name is near; men declare Your wondrous works. When I select an appointed time, it is I Who judge with equity...‘I said to the boastful, “Do not boast,” And to the wicked, “...do not speak with insolent pride.”’ For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation; but God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another” (Psalm 75:1,2,4-7).

“Jesus said to them...‘You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned’” (Matthew 12:25,34-37).

I’m better at “careless words” than I’d like to be – particularly those woven from threads of “boasting,” “insolent pride,” and self-exaltation. I know the heart from which these words arise. I know the Judge (John 5:19-30; Acts 10:42,43; 17:30,31) – Who is also the Lord and Savior of the confession that will save on the last day (Romans 10:9,10).

Words of “EXALT ME” (no matter how craftily they're disguised) and words thankfully declaring Christ’s wondrous saving, ruling, and judging works don’t belong in the same heart or the same mouth. It is not just enough to be silent; the “evil treasure” is still there down deep. The “good treasure” of God’s truth in His Word needs to be driven deep by the power of the Author of that Word, the Holy Spirit. It is on Him I am desperately leaning more and more these days, prayerfully filling my heart with Christ, Christ alone, Christ crucified and risen and ascended and ruling from on high. Only then will any declaration of His “wondrous works” be more than a shallow echo.

“For consider [often and deeply!] your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world [the reality that counters my prideful self-image] to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world [the reality that counters my prideful self-image] to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised [the reality that counters my prideful self-image] God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD [Jeremiah 9:23,24].’ And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:26-2:2).

Welcome Home

How our Psalmist defines “Israel”: “God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (Psalm 73:1).

I know my heart. Not as well as God, but I know my heart. This would be a definition excluding everyone (especially me), were it not for the message of the Gospel of a God Who gives new hearts to His people.

• “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).
• “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
• “After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the Word of the gospel and believe. And God, Who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are’” (Acts 15:7-11).

So, whereas once I was “separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12), now I hear this promise: “...in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ...for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (2:13,18-22).

The Psalmist’s first line is, for those in Christ, a definition of absolute exclusion made possible only by the grace found by faith in Christ alone. Welcome home.

The Promise of the New Covenant

“Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with their whole heart...I will praise Thee with an upright heart, when I shall learn the judgments of Thy righteousness...with my whole heart have I sought thee: let me not wander from Thy commandments, I have hid Thy promise in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee...mine heart breaketh for the desire to Thy judgments always...I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge mine heart...give me understanding and I will keep Thy Law, yea, I will keep it with my whole heart...incline mine heart unto Thy testimonies: and not to covetousness...I made my supplication in Thy presence with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to Thy promise...the proud have imagined a lie against me: but I will keep Thy precepts with my whole heart...let mine heart be upright in Thy statutes, that I be not ashamed...Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever: for they are the joy of mine heart. I have applied mine heart to fulfill Thy statutes always, even unto the end...I have cried with my whole heart: hear me, O Lord, and I will keep thy statutes...princes have persecuted me without cause: but mine heart stood in awe of Thy words” (Psalm 119:2,7,10,11,20,32,34,36,58,69,80,111,112,145,161, Geneva Bible).

The Word in our hearts: the Promise of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. “‘Behold, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will make a new covenant...I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord”: for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them,’ saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).