Cultivating the Presence of God

I’m working with a group through L. Michael Morales’ excellent Who Shall Ascent theMountain of the Lord? on Tuesday mornings. As I’ve been preparing for tomorrow morning and making some notes, I wanted to take a point of his further so that we can make a very practical application from this rich biblical theology.

On pg. 100, Morales reminds us that “another parallel” between Eden and the tabernacle “is in the terms used to describe the work of the priests within the tabernacle complex and that of Adam within the garden of Eden, ‘to worship and guard/obey’” (pg. 100).

Let's look at those parallels.

Adam in the garden: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate [עָבַד] it and keep it [שָׁמַר]” (Genesis 2:15).[1]

The Levites in the tabernacle:

·         “They shall perform [שָׁמַר] the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do [עָבַד] the service of the tabernacle. They shall also keep [שָׁמַר] all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do [עָבַד] the service of the tabernacle” (Numbers 3:7,8)

·         “…you and your sons with you shall attend [שָׁמַר] to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform [עָבַד] service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service…” (Numbers 18:7).

Here’s the further point I want to make: these same verbs are used together in describing how God’s people, “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6), could maintain fellowship with God (as in the garden and tabernacle, but on a daily, personal level):

·         “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep [שָׁמַר] His commandments, listen to His voice, serve [עָבַד] Him, and cling to Him” (Deuteronomy 13:4).

·         “Only be very careful [שָׁמַר] 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 [שָׁמַר] His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve [עָבַד] Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5).

Just as Adam maintained the place of fellowship with God (the garden) and the Levites maintained the place of fellowship with God (the tabernacle), the old and new covenant people of God, as “a kingdom of priests,” maintain fellowship with God through an obedience-producing faith.

Now, with this in mind, hear afresh Jesus’ words the last night before His death as He walked with the disciples between the upper room and the garden of Gethsemane: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words [Christ’s words are His presence] abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 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 15:4-10).

We cultivate the garden/tent of our fellowship with God in Christ when we lovingly work out our faith by bringing His words into us (hearing, reading, meditation, memorization) and by taking ourselves into His words (obeying them in our thoughts, affections, and actions).

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[1] I haven’t given these Hebrew words as they appear in the text, but in their root forms so you can see the similarities.

The Exalted Fountain of Our Praise and Obedience

“For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.

Hear my cry, O God;

Give heed to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a refuge for me,

A tower of strength against the enemy.

Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.

For You have heard my vows, O God;

You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name” (Psalm 61:1-5).

“You will prolong the king’s life;

His years will be as many generations.

He will abide before God forever;

Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him.

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

That I may pay my vows day by day” (61:6-8).

Verses 6-8 is a choral intercession the Holy Spirit gave the Church through David for the King. We have only one King: the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:31-46; 28:18; Luke 19:38; John 18:37; Ephesians 1:20-22; Revelation 1:5; 11:15; 17:14; 19:16).

The Father lifted up His Son from the grave to the eternal throne (Acts 2:24; 3:15,26; 10:40; 13:30; Romans 4:24; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 2:12; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 1:21). We sing of the Father’s doing this work in His Son the King: “You will prolong the King’s life; His years will be as many generations. He will abide before God forever; appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve Him...”

What is the result of this for our lives as the Church? “So [כן] I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may pay my vows day by day.” The Father’s exalting the throne of His resurrected Son enables us to sing forever of His glory. We cannot, would not sing apart from the Father’s exalting of the Son. We cannot sing forever apart from the enthronement of the resurrected Son.

Out of our union with the resurrected heavenly King we sing forever. And out of this we are further enabled to remain faithfully obedient to Him. It doesn't get more practical than this.

Our praise and obedience are the fruits of the act of God in exalting His Son. It is not of us. We cannot boast in ourselves. It is the divinely gifted “inheritance of those who fear [His] name.”

Sing. Serve. Pray.

Until we’re Home:

“Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.”

Circumstantial Obedience?

The family-clan leaves Jerusalem to head home after the Passover, and twelve year-old Jesus stays behind. Mary and Joseph eventually find Him in the Temple, amazing the teachers with His understanding. “When they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them” (Luke 2:48-51).

God: His Father.

Jesus’ purpose: His Father’s business.

Where He deserves to be: the center the world to the people of the old covenant (Jerusalem), not some backwater nowhere (Nazareth).

Mary (mom) and Joseph (legal father...note how Jesus redirects Mary, reminder her of Who His Father is) didn’t understand Him.

Despite these facts, He completely submits to them in obedience to the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12//Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:1-3).

Christian, obedience is not contingent on circumstances favorable to that obedience. Those who love Him keep His commandments (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9; 11:1; 30:16; Joshua 22:5; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 5:3), even when it’s difficult, even when we aren’t where we want to be, even when nobody understands, even when we have a million reasons our friends all support about why we shouldn’t obey this or that particular command.

One of the most grace-filled words in the New Testament is the conjunction “but”:

• “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16,17).
• “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His 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 of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10).
• “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: ‘And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.’ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:18-24).

On our lips, sadly, it is a word that usually introduces disobedience. “I know what the Bible says, but...”

God the Holy Spirit will be present with us as we purpose to obey the commandments of God:

• “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12,13).
• “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied” (1 Peter 1:1,2).

God the Holy Spirit is present with us through the teaching, preaching, reading, singing, praying, and doing of His Word:

• “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:16-18).
• “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever...this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:22,23,25b).

I’m utterly unsurprised when Bible study groups/Sunday School classes who are more concerned with gossipy cliques or social amusements produce a fruit of disobedience to the Word. I’m profoundly underwhelmed when believers who maybe gather with the saints for a few hours a month follow their heart instead of the Lord of their lips. I can hardly raise an eyebrow to those whose counsel in life-challenges and difficulties are all as practical and worldly-minded as they are, producing a community garden of flesh. It’s not shocking. If you’re not gathering in the Word, you’re going to have a life marked by disobedience to that Word.

We are not called to the popular or easy or comfortable. The path of obedience is not one to a guaranteed earthly/fleshly/temporal blessing or ease. Christ, “in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:7-9). Notice that the root of our obedience-producing faith is a Savior Who, as fully human, “learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” No conjunctions-unto-disobedience for Him. Or us.

Gather together in the Word, and may the Spirit produce in you a passion for holy obedience unto Christ-imitating and Father-glorifying righteousness.

Trust and Obey Has Always Been the Way

“...the law is not of faith...” (Galatians 3:12). The Law of Moses, the Law of the old covenant, is usually placed in stark contradiction with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the new covenant. The old covenant is described as a works-based covenant, which means that it is obedience alone that is the burden on the covenant people. It certainly seems that this description is accurate.

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live...” (Deuteronomy 4:1; cf. Romans 10:5). But was the primary command of the Law of the old covenant truly obedience? For several reasons, I’d like to suggest that this is far too simplistic of a proposition.

First, “the just shall live by faith” is not first found in the New Testament, but the Old Testament – Habakkuk 2:4.

Second, the caricature of an idea that the Law was sheer obedience alone overlooks the fact that in the Law God commanded love from the heart (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 30:6).

Third, when God condemned the people under the Mosaic covenant, it was because of their failure to believe, or have faith, that they were condemned:

• “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?’” (Numbers 14:11).
• “The LORD your God Who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God, Who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go” (Deuteronomy 1:30-32).
• “And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe Him or obey His voice’” (Deuteronomy 9:23).
• “Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by My servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God” (2 Kings 17:13,14).
• “He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God...they did not believe in God and did not trust His saving power...in spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe...their heart was not steadfast toward Him; they were not faithful to His covenant” (Psalm 78:5-8,22,32,37).
• “...they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in His promise” (Psalm 106:24).
• “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:16-19).
• “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, Who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).

Perhaps we should be careful about how we understand Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:12. The Law, after all, is “holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good,” and even “spiritual” (Romans 7:12,14). For this and the reasons above, it would seem wise to consider a carefully nuanced approach to the differences between the old and new covenants. Both require faith. And even the new covenant has strong obedience commands (Matthew 28:20; John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 2:3; 3:22; 5:3; Revelation 12:17; 14:12). There’s even an interesting echo of Deuteronomy 4:1 in Paul’s language: “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

Of course there are differences between the covenants, differences that should not be minimized. But let’s not treat the covenants as if they were night-and-day cartoons, in yin and yang opposition.

God has always required His covenant people to be humbly faithful to Him from the heart, and has always required that faith to bear the fruit of obedience.

Trust and obey.

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.

True Spiritual Warfare: Knowledge and Obedience

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

Spiritual warfare: contending for the truth of the faith (Jude 3) and discipleship (a mutual commitment as a community to obedience to Christ, Matthew 28:19,20). God the Holy Spirit works through the truth of the Scripture that He inspired, and His most potent, profound, and eternally fruitful battle is in the arena of false versus true in our minds and lives (John 4:23,24; 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; Ephesians 1:13; 6:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 4:11-13; 1 John 4:6 – note here that the Spirit of truth speaks through the apostles; 5:6).

It results in deeper submission to the authority of the apostles, the inspired authors of the New Testament (Acts 2:42): “...our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up” (2 Corinthians 10:8; 13:10)

It results in the support of the expansion of Christ-boasting mission: “But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord” (2 Corinthians 10:13-17).

It results in a Church dedicated to being “as a pure virgin” betrothed to Christ, focused on “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:1-3), finding her completion in the Trinity (2 Corinthians 13:14) and a life together as unified as the one-God-in-three-Persons she worships (13:11,12).

This is the battle and fruit of spiritual warfare. May we not be distracted by other things.

An Ancient Song for Today's Church

(1)Give thanks to God, call on His name;

to men His deeds make known.

(2)Sing ye to Him, sing psalms; proclaim

His wondrous works each one.

(3)See that ye in His holy name

to glory do accord;

And let the heart of ev’ry one

rejoice that seeks the Lord.

(4)The Lord Almighty, and His strength,

with steadfast hearts seek ye:

His blessed and His gracious face

seek ye continually.

(5)Think on the works that He hath done,

which admiration breed;

His wonders, and the judgments all

which from His mouth proceed;

(6)O ye that are of Abr’ham’s race,

His servant well approv’n;

And ye that Jacob’s children are,

whom He chose for His own.

(7)Because He, and He only, is

the mighty Lord our God;

And His most righteous judgments are

in all the earth abroad.

(8)His cov’nant He remember’d hath,

that it may ever stand:

To thousand generations

the word He did command.

(9)Which covenant He firmly made

with faithful Abraham,

And unto Isaac, by His oath,

He did renew the same:

(10)And unto Jacob, for a law,

He made it firm and sure,

A covenant to Israel,

which ever should endure.

(42)For on His holy promise He,

and servant Abr’ham, thought.

(43)With joy His people, His elect

with gladness, forth He brought.

(45)That they His statutes might observe

according to His word;

And that they might His laws obey.

Give praise unto the Lord.

- Psalm 105:1-10,42,43,45, Scottish Psalter (1650)

This song, in the day it was inspired and first sung, looked back into ancient history to the miraculous salvation of God and His covenant preservation of His people. However, this song doesn’t just look back. It serves as an arrow pointing forward, Church, pointing forward to the salvation of Christ and your in-grafting into the ancient purpose of God to save you as His people:

• The Gospel promise to Abraham (Galatians 3:8) is fulfilled in the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16).
• The Gospel blessing belongs to those true children of Abraham who have put their faith in Christ alone (Romans 4:12; 9:7,8; Galatians 3:7,29; 4:22-31).
• The Gospel obedience is an expression of love to Christ (John 14:15,21; 15:10; 1 John 5:3) and the true fruit of genuine faith (John 3:36; Romans 1:15; 15:18; 16:26; Acts 6:7).

So sing the song, Church, for it speaks of God’s purpose from long, long ago to save you and preserve you today for His praise and a loving, faith-based obedience.

Obey Instead of Manipulate, Parents

If you were to look through the journal I use to keep prayer requests for the congregations I serve, a common petition would be for children and grandchildren not following the Lord. We are – by practice, not by official polity – family-integrated congregations. Does this guarantee that our children will stay in the Lord? No. In fact, nothing will. Not AWANA. Not family worship. Not the latest program or curriculum. Nothing guarantees that the children of the covenant family will grow up to be faithful confessing members of the covenant family.

From the repeated prayer requests and my own heart’s desire, I can guarantee one thing: we would do anything if we could guarantee their future faith. But we can’t. How can we make sense of this frustrating state of affairs? I’ve been wrestling with it recently, and connected – by the Spirit’s light in His Gospel – the dots yesterday on a 5K struggle of a run (it gets harder when you don’t do it every day - both running and keeping the Gospel front-and-center of everything).

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6, NASB). “See?! See?!” We’re tempted to force the Sovereign’s hand by our consistent efforts to train them in the faith, thereby manipulating Him by our works to keep the next generation in the faith. This is my definition of magic, or witchcraft: doing things in the physical realm to influence the spiritual realm. This does not honor God. Proverbs 22:6 (or the rest of Proverbs, for that matter), is no cause-and-effect contract between God and His people.

“So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both. Then I said to myself, ‘As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?’ So I said to myself, ‘This too is vanity.’ For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind. Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:12-19). Wisdom (as in Proverbs) is better than folly, but it doesn’t make any promises. Despite what pop culture’s wisdom says, our destiny is not up to us. But, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us, wisdom is still better. Why? If the results aren’t guaranteed, what’s the point of being wise in the rearing of future generations? All of our “labor under the sun,” be it in business or child-training, may be passed onto fools who will deny the existence of God. Is it time to hate this grievous life? Well, if we keep pursuing wisdom as a means of a religion of works (witchcraft), then yes, go ahead and start hating. That’s where you’ll end up in your bitter frustration. I know. I have longed to change the hearts and minds of those who leave the faith more times than I can tell. It does hurt.

But that’s not why we train up our children (and grandchildren) in the way they should go (the way of the Lord). We train our children because God has commanded us to, regardless of the results. Before we can expect our children to obey Him by faith, we must obey Him by faith (as opposed to evangelizing them in an effort to manipulate them or God).

"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).

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Beloved, there are promises attached to obeying by faith, but we are not the executors of the estate! We teach them because we have been commanded to do so, not as a part of a religion of self-effort, but as a Gospel obedience to the King Who has saved us and given us commandments.

Back to the prayer-journal I keep for our little congregations (I just remembered getting a question about prodigal children from a mother at a Q&A in the Philippines – this is a universal heart-break). It is right to pray for the lost: “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation” (Romans 10:1). At the same time, we proclaim the Gospel to them; both those who know it already (Romans 1:15) and those who don’t yet (Romans 10:8-15,17). Teach them every day of the Lord, His wise ways, and His gracious Gospel. Pray for them. Worship with them.

And trust that God is in charge, even when things aren’t as we wish they would be (or feel, in the works-religion that we must crucify every day in our hearts, that God must make them be because of our efforts).

Believe and obey, commanding others to do the same, starting with our families and going throughout the world. Train them because you’ve been commanded to by the One Who loves you and has saved you, not because you’re trying to force the King to obey your will. This is the Great Commission. It is built upon faithful obedience to the One Who is King over heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18-20).

Which House?

“And when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land, which He sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to thee, with great and goodly cities which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all manner of goods which thou filledst not, and wells dug which thou dug not, vineyards and olive trees which thou plantedst not, and when thou hast eaten and art full, beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage [עבדים]: thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve [תעבד] Him, and shalt swear by His Name” (Deuteronomy 6:12,13, Geneva Bible).

“Know ye not, that to whomsoever ye give yourselves as servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye have been the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart unto the form of the doctrine, whereunto ye were delivered. Being then made free from sin, ye are made the servants of righteousness...but now being freed from sin, and made servants unto God, ye have your fruit in holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:16-18,22,23).

You serve one house or another. There is no third option.

“This is the word of faith which we preach. For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God raised Him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved...He that is Lord over all, is rich unto all that call on Him. For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved...faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:8,9,12,13,17). Confess Him as Lord, and call upon Him as your Lord, and be saved from the house of slavery into the house of service to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

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).