God is worthy of praise

Some days I am convinced that the single most important shift in thinking that a Christian can undergo is to glorify and praise God for who he is, and not merely for how he has dealt with us. In other words, God in all of his attributes and perfections, ought to be always before our eyes and exalted in our prayers. Yes our covenant God's “steadfast love endures forever” and we are the prime beneficiaries. But this is praiseworthy not just because we benefit, but because of this perfection in itself. There is rarely space to talk about it but it genuinely irks me when people ascribe all kinds of praise to God for something that works out to their liking (read earthly benefit), saying “it was a God thing,” as if they are the central reason that certain things have come to pass in God’s providence.

 

And yet, we know so little of God’s purposes, except for his promise that he does, in fact, order all things to certain ends, which includes the good of his children. Yet, we only have a passing, surface-level understanding of what is good for us! None of our epiphanies about God’s providence and provision for us are comparable to what shall finally be plain once the fog of this world has lifted and our faith is sight. But I digress. My point is that our praises should be big enough to acknowledge that ALL of him is praiseworthy, not just his works, much less the works that we understand, much less the works that we understand and are happy about in the moment. What better way to keep this in mind than to meditate first and foremost on who God is, not just a small sliver of what he does?

In light of this, it’s shocking that sinful therapeutically-minded humans demand unconditional love “for who I am,” while somehow demanding that God — in all his perfections and excellencies — first give us a reason to love him.

A death worth remembering

Every time our fallen veterans are honored in our land of peace and plenty, it strikes me that we aren’t just blessed to have had them fight for our earthly peace. We are also blessed to still be here to remember them. We all instinctively want our lives to matter, so we honor those who died serving our nation and fighting our enemies as we would want to be honored and remembered ourselves. 

But it’s safe to say that this remembering isn’t normative to the human experience. For one thing, the victors are the only soldiers guaranteed that space and opportunity. The conquered face extinction of their earthly identity — the framework out of which that privilege would have arisen. It’s safe to say that more soldiers have died in defeat than in victory, and shrewd conquerors know that allowing a people to honor those that died fighting them is only to foment discontent and rebellion.

 

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Bring out your idols

The last month of progressive restrictions on life due to COVID-19 has produced an anguish that can  succinctly be described as mourning. Every day our expectations in every sphere of life are dashed upon the rocks of difficult new circumstances. The most frustrated among us feel like we are behind a slow-moving vehicle at a yellow light -- impatient and ready to lash out. We feel righteous if we are able to keep up a facade of calm in public, but inwardly we seethe and seek to lay blame at the feet of some enemy. That enemy often takes a predictable face, depending on our ideological predisposition: a political party, the CDC, a president, a congress, a governor, the media, the Chinese, the bureaucracy, the deep state, big pharma -- it's an endless list of convenient enemies from which to choose!

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A test of our zeal

Now that we are forced to stay home due to an outbreak, I've seen a few people asking questions along these lines: What is the worth of the instituted church? Unfortunately some don't understand the implications of what they are asking and how drastically the earth may be shifting under our feet at this very moment. 

Answering this question will be a culling for Christians. If we already understand how fundamental the instituted church is to our kingdom identity, then this time of "distance" will induce fervent yearnings to be gathered and physically numbered with fellow saints. Indeed, zeal for God's house is consuming us at this very moment. If we don't understand or apprehend the church, then this time is a two-edged sword: It will normalize and seal our habit of neglecting God's house and the means of grace, leading to greater working ignorance, selfishness, and idolatry. However, it may be that some will have their eyes opened and they will begin to treasure what they have lost.

We've all heard the numbers -- Church attendance is down, generation over generation. Each successive decade features an even steeper drop than the last.
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An observed vanity

There are processes at work in your body right now that will, in time, claim your life. If the only purpose you have is to use your breath to achieve some fleeting success or pleasure, how empty that success will be when your chest rises and falls for the last time on this earth.

This truth, when acknowledged, leads inexorably to either hope or despair, with nothing in between. It is unsurprising that when the least blind among the blind realize how little control they have over their destiny, they often choose to end their own lives as both an act of final rebellion and a futile exercise in control. They can’t abide the thought of having terms dictated to them by death, so they choose the “best” death they can dream up — never dreaming, as they should, that despair is completely unnecessary, given we were created to bear God’s image and to bring glory to him; that, in Christ, each and every one of our limited supply of breaths are sanctified to bring glory to Him; that, in Christ, all of the sting and pain of death has itself become empty and vain.

On Christmas, Scrooge, and various scrooges

I grew up with a few lovely sets of grandparents who made sure we were supplied with Christmas gifts. Yes, even though my father died when I was 3 years old, my mother and older siblings made sure that Christmas was especially distinct and happy -- dare I say "holy."

My memories include a lot of unique experiences: cutting a live tree and the inevitable disagreements over what type (Blue Spruce, Douglas, Grand, or Noble firs all had different appeal) of tree, how big, where to place it, and how to decorate it. We had a tradition for a while of decorating the tree together and bargaining over who got to put what ornaments up. There was always a special ornament with my dad's picture to place. Somehow there were never tears over who would place it, but it had meaning. Decorating the tree sometimes got "emotional" for me when I would argue with my older sisters. There was the one year they thought it would be fun to do a "Victorian" tree, which basically meant a Noble Fir, only white lights and a few less of the oddball musical ornaments. As an aside, I don't know where we got so many musical ornaments. There were SO MANY! Some played the same "midi" version of jingle bells and others had unique tunes. They were either little red pianos or gold or silver gifts-shaped boxes with switches on the bottom. Then there were the ones you could squeeze to activate. For a while, we had a game where everyone would grab a music ornament (needed all hands) and activate them simultaneously and laugh at the resulting ridiculous cacophony.
Other traditions were not so silly: We were all choir kids. Christmas meant somewhere between one and three choir obligations for which to prepare. Sometimes it was church family night. Sometimes the local city choral group singing the advent portion of Handel's Messiah. And gifts... About those gifts.
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Gospel teamwork

I often find myself being sucked into work culture and leadership articles. For some reason, leadership studies and workplace culture-building are important to me. Some of that is formed by my teen years in Civil Air Patrol, in which I discovered how difficult it is to transform children into serious, mission-minded adults. So when someone claims to understand what it takes to motivate and lead their colleagues to success, I pay attention. When someone goes on about emotional intelligence and the need for leaders to be trust-worthy and servant-like, I nod along vigorously.

But I keep having a nagging thought: Why are "team culture," "company culture," and "leadership" such studied disciplines by well-paid consultants in our day? Is this because we've always put up with horrible leaders and coworkers in the past and just now we've decided to study it for the sake of our mental health and productivity?

No. The reason we study this and pay money to consultants is because the need has grown.

Frankly, we are spending a lot of money studying and attempting to learn basic virtues. Except that in a culture without shared values or a law of kindness, we are now learning them as adults, and only as tools to get ahead. Put more bluntly, we are dealing with the fallout of the loss of law and love.
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The Law of Thankfulness

The law and will of God is so remarkably absent from the consciousness of this age. But as absent as it is in the world, so complete is its centrality to the Christian. We see this first and foremost in the law of love: the summary of every command being to love God and our neighbor. This means that every time we are called to love God or our neighbor, by faith we simultaneously see HOW this is to be accomplished when Christ himself says “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

But this dichotomy between the unbeliever and Christian doesn’t end with how we love. It also extends to our gratitude. The Heidelberg Catechism helpfully organizes its third and final section under the heading of "Our Gratitude" – which is to say that our response to our salvation from sin and misery is to show true thankfulness by keeping God’s law. This connection is critical to our perseverance in the faith, as is so often illustrated throughout scripture. Moses warned the old testament people of God in Deuteronomy 8:17 to “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” This is a consistent theme. Consider the writer of Proverbs 30:8, who wishes away riches “lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’” For a Christian, thanksgiving is intimately connected to our service to God and sanctification – a far cry from the indulgence and increasing decadence of our cultural celebrations.

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On cowardice, crime, and conscience

"And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." Matthew 24:12

It's one of greatest blessings and curses we have as humans: The ability to be shocked.

On the one hand, there is an outrage that has a temporal cleansing effect on civil society. We were, after all, outraged that terrorists killed so many on Sept. 11, 2001. Faceless cowards we called them. Coward, mind you, is a pretty silly thing to call a terrorist who is willing to die for a cause, especially when we call our soldiers heroes for their willingness to put their life on the line. But I digress.

On the other hand, shock value is simply the measure of our consternation when something breaches our comfort zone. Like our conscience, our ability to be shocked is meaningless if it isn't stiffened by a real standard of morality. Never is this better illustrated than in this fantastic quote from the 1961 film "Judgment at Nuremberg." I haven't been able to confirm whether the quote has any basis in the real court record. I just know that the movie version of Judge Dan Haywood, played so ably by Spencer Tracy, issues a compelling call for introspection.

"(Ernst) Janning’s record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial: If he and all of the other defendants had been degraded perverts, if all of the leaders of the Third Reich had been sadistic monsters and maniacs, then these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake, or any other natural catastrophe. But this trial has shown that under a national crisis, ordinary — even able and extraordinary — men can delude themselves into the commission of crimes so vast and heinous that they beggar the imagination."

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Super Sunday

What? You have never watched the super bowl? It's the super bowl. Who doesn't watch it?

That would be the inevitably question were more people aware of my current status as a super bowl virgin. Am I just anti-social or contrary? Actually I'm not always very good at sharing these thoughts with people face to face. I even have trouble when its with otherwise like-minded folk because I don't want to trample on their conscience.

So, I guess it's in that spirit of caution and temperance that I would like to talk about it now.

Let just clear the air. These are NOT the reasons I don't watch the SB:

• It's not my sport. — Actually, I grew up playing backyard football and rooting for my 49ers. My brother and I were an arrogant pair that would take on the entire neighborhood with run patterns of our own making. I was the Jerry Rice to his Joe Montana.
• It's not your team — Well, actually, this year it is. If there was ever a year for me to break down and watch, it's when my beloved San Francisco team is in the big game. Even in other years, you will still find me catching up on Monday to see how it all went.
• I think I'm better than everyone else — No... Just no. Hence my apprehension regarding this topic lest I be misinterpreted. This is a very typical assumption, so there are only a few people I've shared this with. Most of them are fellow believers who I suspect still didn't fully understand my position.

I'm sure there are more false reasons to debunk, but let's get to the point.
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Sunday morning

So Tim Tebow is continuing his preaching tour this Easter Sunday in Georgetown. It's starting to get on this Christian's nerves. Check out this quote from the pastor of Celebration Church, where he will spend 20 minutes speaking:

“There will be the sacredness of Easter. It's not a Tim Tebow show. It's not about a celebrity. There's really only one celebrity that we are going to honor and highlight,” added Pastor Champion.

How do we politely tell Pastor Champion that we don't believe him?

Also--and I'm not trying to be petty--he called Easter sacred, and that is, frankly, wrong.

EVERY Sunday, God's people are supposed to be celebrating Christ's victory over death by keeping the day "holy" (you know, set apart). Instead, many only spend an average of 2 days out of the year pretending to remember His existence, much less all of His attributes, work and authority. So bringing Tebow in really isn't a surprise, even on Easter. Afterall, the rest of the year, most mainstream evangelical churches are just self-help clubs with a clever business model.

'The Game of Death'

The wise of this world will never understand.

A while ago, I heard about this and fully intended to post about it. Considering the months that have intervened, perhaps its old news to some. This french "game show" was a new twist on an old experiment which was designed to test the limits of human decency.

(Unsuspecting contestants) were urged on by a baying studio audience and a well-known TV hostess to give electric shocks, up to fatal levels, to an unseen, screaming contestant if he gave the wrong answer to a question.

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'Though one rise from the dead'

Once upon a time I was fascinated with stories of those who have conducted extensive searches of the Ararat mountains in Turkey, looking for clues to what might have become of the great ark of deliverance. I guess I've still retained that interest. Who wouldn't.


As it turns out, the search has been continued longer than I thought and now someone claims to have found hard evidence.

But I remember once, when I was probably just 8 years old, speaking to my grandpa, a pastor, about the stories and books I had read by some of the explorers. He asked me an important question when I was done with my show and tell:
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Lest we over-react

As a matter of untrained, meager observation, it's somewhat safe to say that the sacrament of the Lord's supper is receiving some long-over due attention in orthodox reformed churches. Perhaps it is due to a strengthening of John Calvin's influence, versus his reformed predecessor Ulrich Zwingli, whose legacy is a bit more narrow to our faith.

Zwingli seems to have been a bit of a reactionary -- being so adamant in his opposition to Rome that he preached a mere symbolic presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, becoming an arch rival of both Rome and Luther. A lesser known fact is his influence on frequency of celebration.
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The American Patriot's WHAT?

I'm trying really hard to understand how this could possibly be a beneficial publication. What was Thomas Nelson publishing thinking by creating an American Patriot's Bible?

Since when is there a version of the bible best suited to a particular group of people? I thought the Word was the Word, the gospel is the gospel, and that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. Best explanation I guess is this quote from the Web site:

The American Patriot's Bible intersects the teachings of the Bible with the history of the Unites States while applying it to today's culture.

This kind of thing irks me in the same way that "conservative" pastors do when they complain that they can't make political endorsements under their nonprofit status. Frankly, I think every minister of the word, regardless of his political affiliation, should be too in love with the gospel to preach anything else.

Pacific Northwest Reformation Conference

If I could convince one or two people by this post to come to the conference this weekend at the Lynden United Reformed Church, I would be a very happy man.

The conference theme "Chrst-centered Christianity in an age of spiritual chaos" promises to be extremely applicable. Never more than now were there so many false gospels that need to be dethroned from the church as a whole.

See the church website for details.

Just remember, its FREE! No excuse to not come. If you are on the fence and even semi-local, jump right in and come! Your faith and zeal for the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ will thank you -- and I'm sure you will enjoy yourself.

Friday, October 9, 2009
7 p.m. -- Dr. W. Robert Godfrey Christ at the Center of the Church

Saturday, October 10, 2009

9 a.m. -- Dr. W Robert Godfrey on Christ at the Center of Worship
10:30 a.m. -- Rev. Christopher J Gordon on Christ at the Center of Preaching
1:00 p.m. -- Dr. W Robert Godfrey on Christ at the Center of Salvation

Is it nothing to you

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the LORD inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger."

Lamentations 1:12

Such a passionate appeal from the prophet to look on the suffering servant and to take heed -- no matter who you are!

If you have walked past Him all your life, take heed and see this grace which is given. The call to repent is universal and compels us all to place our faith in the suffering servant who fulfilled all love in our place.

Do you already profess Christ with your lips? Take heed that you do so in your heart. Let nothing supersede that precious and glorious grace in your life. Not intellectual or philosophical musings. Not doctrinal argument or dissension. Not your "good" name. Look around you and ask yourself if you are willing to be of no reputation among those whose good opinion you value. Are you willing to be the least of these your brethren for the sake of Christ? Are you willing to be despised in the world for His sake. If not, you are an idolator. If you value even your relationship to the brethren, as precious as that is to your growth and nourishment in the spirit, above the grace of Christ, you have despised his grace.

He was willing to be despised by His eternal Father and die for your sake.

Can you truly leave all for His sake? Or is it nothing to you?

Bring out your dead

Detroit...in happier times.

Can someone tell me something hopeful about this city? I agree it may seem like this reporter is sensationalizing it, but this story actually seems quite measured in its approach to the issue and the particular incident.

The incident was a dead man which stayed in the bottom of an elevator shaft in an abandoned building, even though people know he was there for some time.

"Why didn't your friend call the police?"

"He was trespassing and didn't want to get in trouble," the caller replied. As it happens, the caller's friend is an urban explorer who gets thrills rummaging through and photographing the ruins of Detroit. It turns out that this explorer last week was playing hockey with a group of other explorers on the frozen waters that had collected in the basement of the building. None of the men called the police, the explorer said. They, in fact, continued their hockey game.

Later we find, many of the homeless people living in the building just assumed someone else would call the authorities.

A colony of homeless men live in the warehouse. Wednesday morning a few fires were burning inside oil drums. Scott Ruben, 38, huddled under filthy blankets not 20 paces from the elevator shaft.

"Yeah, I seen him," Ruben said. The snow outside howled. The heat from the can warped the landscape of rotting buildings and razor wire.
...
His shack mate, Kenneth Williams, 47, returned at that point with an armload of wood.

"Yeah, he's been down there since last month at least."

I have heard similar stories about New York City and how people just assume someone else will deal with it, even if there is a dead man in their path -- and that from the same person who had interesting stories about Detroit.

Why does evil exist?

Sorry for the long absence. I'm afraid the holiday's have taken their toll on my mental productivity.

I was busy looking for a good devotional for use at a church function when I stopped in to read one of R.C. Sproul's latest works on the "Problem of Evil." Naturally, it's a bit too lecturish to use as a devotional, but I thought I could bookmark it by posting it here for your benefit.

Except:

...Though He does not do evil and does not create evil, He does ordain that evil exists. If it does exist, and if God is sovereign, then obviously He must have been able to prevent its existence. If He allowed evil to enter into this universe, it could only be by His sovereign decision. Since His sovereign decisions always follow the perfection of His being, we must conclude that His decision to allow evil to exist is a good decision.

Again, we must be careful here. We must never say that evil is good, or that good is evil. But that is not the same thing as saying, “It is good that there is evil.” Again, I repeat, it is good that there is evil, else evil could not exist...

Genesis and the Word

There have been a number of times in the past where the issue of the creation account has come up in reformed circles. Most, from what I can gather, don't really have a problem with taking the text at face-value with regard to the meaning of "day" and such (I'm one of them). However, the more people press me on the issue, the more I find myself pushing back and trying to refocus on something that gets completely lost: the gospel of Genesis.

I believe it is very important that we don't forget to preach the gospel from this crucial book. I am very much thankful that my pastor has taken on this task. I had a discussion once with him to express my frustration that the book is not often preached from a reformed, redemptive-historical perspective. In other words, if the only way we read Genesis is as a historical account (which I believe is appropriate), we would stop being Reformed in our reading of scripture -- we would not be exegetical if that is where we stopped in our "preaching."

Let me use a little logic:

Premise 1:
"In the beginning was the Word..."
i.e. Christ and the gospel are present in the beginning.

Premise 2:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
i.e. All of scripture has meaning and implications for our life and walk and what we understand concerning God and his attributes.

Premise 3:
Genesis is a part of scripture (last time I checked)

Conclusion:
Christ and the gospel must be preached from the book of Genesis.