Loving the Saints

1Cor. 13:13   So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

This is a much quoted passage from Corinthians and it should be. In our circles, we put a high value on truth, the study of doctrine and the power of faith. And we should. But we run the danger of speaking the truth in truth, or speaking the truth in faith, conviction, convincingly, or speaking the truth with technical precision. But the Bible says to speak the truth in love and that is not quite the same.

How do we do that?

1Cor. 13:4   Love is patient- When you speak to your brothers, are you patient or do you expect them to get what you are saying, RIGHT NOW, because it so logical, precise and well, so true?

and kind;- What is your demeanor in speaking? One who knows that what he is saying is right or true, is tempted to be condescending. That form of speaking can be very belittling and that is not kindness. Kindness comes from a patient heart and is not easily offended or defensive. Since you do not have to WIN the conversation right now, you are kind. The Bible says that God's kindness leads us to repentance and yours just might, too.

love does not envy- How do you do when your less deserving brother (at least in your eyes) is blessed? Do you rejoice? Or do you grumble and wish that he had not been blessed in this way?

or boast- Boasting is almost always done to boost up insecurities. God calls us to edify others, to build them up, not squash them down as we use them to push ourselves higher.

it is not arrogant- This reveals a lack of empathy as well as personal pride. Arrogance does not appreciate others because it assumes they have nothing substantial to offer. Hmmm.

or rude- Well, the arrogant are rude. Some humility will make them kinder.

It does not insist on its own way; - The arrogant and rude usually do get their own way because kind and loving people do not want to fight with them. But the arrogant also find themselves friendless.

it is not irritable or resentful-These two faults are often played as virtues. In the guise of being 'concerned' about a situation or friend, one gets repeatedly frustrated and irritated. If the one you are irritated about does not change, you begin to resent them. When someone's behavior is very frustrating to you, you either need to confront them or just not worry about it. You may need to do both. Confront them and then just not worry about it. Let the Lord do the work. It is easier for Him when you stop being frustrated and resentful.

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing- There are multiple ways to rejoice at wrongdoing. You can enjoy the sins of others in a perverse, voyeuristic sort of way. Or, you can rejoice when the one you are frustrated with does wrong and pays the price. The Christian thing to do is to grieve when others do wrong and pay the price, even if we believe the Lord's justice is being paid out. We should desire that the hard knocks of sin lead them to repentance.

but rejoices with the truth- We should always find great joy in whatever is true and beautiful and good.

Love bears all things- but not if you are irritable and resentful. If that is you, then you can bear very little, maybe not even someone changing lanes without signaling.

believes all things- This does not mean that you are foolish and believe everything you are told. This means that you believe that God is capable of doing great and mighty things. He can deal with those that frustrate you, or heal your frustration, or right the wrongdoer, or forgive your envious heart.

hopes all things- And God fixing things is exactly what you are hoping for. This sort of hope encourages but it also gives peace. If your hope really is in the Lord, then you do not have to be anxious. You can rest that God will fulfill His promises in His way at just the right time.

endures all things- Until He does so, you persevere by His Spirit. Because you love God and know that He loves you and expects you to love others, you are empowered to deal with all sorts of tribulation: life trouble, false accusations, personal hardships, misunderstandings, financial disaster, death of loved ones, job changes, moves, whatever the Lord brings. Your rest is truly in the Lord and you can endure towards others in a way that reveals wherein your hope lies.

True Saint

What does it mean to be a saint? We often use this word simply meaning our brothers and sisters in the church. We are referring simply to Christians. I think that is a good use of the word. It is not really a qualified term but refers broadly to God’s people.

         However, the word is derived from the Greek Hagios, which means sacred, something that is physically sacred, pure, morally blameless or religious, used ceremonially in a religious context, or consecrated, something that is (most) holy (one, thing), a saint.

         Think about that for a moment. To be a saint, a true saint, is to be set apart by God, one who belongs to God and such a one that is holy. As soon as we hear that, we become fearful, knowing our own thoughts, hearts, words and actions. We often are not holy, not set apart from the world around us.

         First, acknowledge this and turn from unholiness to the holy God. Second, embrace God’s forgiveness and justification in Christ, which does, in fact, make you holy. Third, believe that God has done this work in you so that you can come to Him without fear of condemnation or judgment. And fourth, by grace, walk in the power of the Holy Spirit in true holiness.

Apart with Jesus

God’s saints are gathered here to partake of His Son. In fact, you have all already done so, confessing that Jesus is the Savior and Ruler of the Cosmos.

He now offers you the meal of peace. But you should keep in mind that this is a special meal. It is not a meal for everyone. This is the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. In order to eat here, you must have the proper wedding clothes on. I do not mean a Sunday dress or a suit and tie. You must have on much fancier clothing than that. You must be fully clothed in Christ, having put off the old self and having put on Christ. This means dying to self, taking up the life of Jesus and walking with Jesus and His body from this day and forever more. 

Only those who are in Christ receive the peaceful blessing of this meal. This means each one of you who have been baptized into His name and are walking with Jesus. So, come apart with Jesus in this holy place and find peace and rest for your souls.

Twelve Unlikely Heroes-John Macarthur****

Just finished Twelve Unlikely Heroes by John MacArthur. As usual, MacArthur does an excellent job of telling stories from the Bible.

The Unlikely Heroes are ones we all recognize and think of as pillars in the faith; Encoh, Joseph, Miriam, Gideon, Samson, Jonathan, Jonah, Esther, John the Baptist, James, Mark and Onesimus. Of course, these men and women are a Who's Who of the Bible but MacArthur helps us see that none of them excelled out of natural graces. All of them were reliant upon the Spirit of God to become who they were and thus play their roles as Biblical Heroes.

MacArthur is a good story teller. He is a preeminent  Bible scholar and does a terrific job of putting us on the scene in these stories. We get a sense of the times and of the possibility that these heroes could easily have been failures. In fact, some of them did fail, initially, and only by God's grace were they restored and used by Him to great glory.

While I am always pleased with MacArthur's teaching from the Bible, I often find myself wanting just a bit more, not so much from what MacArthur says but from what he could dig out of Scripture if he had a more cohesive view. He talks about God's covenants and gives us great encouragement and hope in God's promises. That part is very encouraging. But his dispensational views keep him from seeing even more, deeper and glorious connections. I, and many other Reformed Christians, owe a great debt to MacArthur, who got us going down this path many years ago, but wish he would have come along with us in the glories of a full-orbed covenantal view of Scripture.

This book has the feel of a high school level Sunday school class. Most of the stories are familiar and he takes a fair amount of space to retell the Bible story before proceeding on to why the particular hero was unlikely. But I have been studying the Bible for many years and did not at all mind the Bible review. I also know that in much of our modern Bible illiterate culture, many folks will find these stories new and fresh.

A similar or follow-up book could be written with these and other heroes all shown to be types of Christ. The death and resurrection story is clearly a strong theme in the lives of these ancient saints but is not developed in this book. I would have like to have seen this developed in this book in order to reveal the comprehensive story of God.

Finally, MacArthur reveals that God is the true hero. He takes all of these men and women and uses both their talents and even their failings to do His glorious will on the Earth. That is a center piece in the story of God.

I recommend this book.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my Lord Jesus, for truly in Him we live and move and have our being. From Him flow all good things and I am blessed to have much, more than much, a great abundance, a veritable shower of blessings.

God has given me a good wife, a wife of my youth, one in whom my heart is still satisfied.

God has given us wonderful children. In them, I am blessed many fold. He has taken my wife and me, made us one, and from that union, produced many. We see the Trinity in action, creating an immense diversity, still working in a glorious unity. That is the Godhead and by His grace is wonderfully reflected in our family.

So, I thank God for Rebecca, Elizabeth, Zachary, Anna, Leah and Calvin.

Our family is growing and Becca now has a husband, Simon, and I am thankful for him.

I am thankful for my mother, my brothers and my sisters.

I have been blessed to be the Pastor of Providence Church for 12 years. Through these saints, the Lord has constantly showered His love and grace on us. I am thankful for every one of them.

I am thankful to live in this city, Lynchburg, VA, where the Word of God is a beacon  of light where many thousands consistently revert for illumination and life.

I am thankful for God's grace, without which, I would be forever lost.

The Peaceful Meal

The Lord's discipline should bring us to the place of restoration, peace with God and with men. This peace is presented to you here, in the body and blood of Jesus. Have you partaken of Him? If so, then you have no right to be at odds with any man. As you have been freely forgiven, so forgive. Let us fully walk in this, declaring our love and unity now with these brothers and sisters gathered here. And from this day forth, doing all in our power to be right with God and men. And when we fail, to gladly admit it so that we can be fully restored to the beautiful fellowship of this peaceful meal.

Peace with God and Man

I mentioned in the exhortation last week that you either have to overlook sins or confront and forgive them. These are your only two Biblical choices and all other options lead to death. 

So, how did you do this week? Did you let it go? Did you address what needed addressed? If you have taken care of business, then today you are at peace with God and man. But if not, there is still unrest in your heart and the need to move into the forgiveness of God and extend it to every man, husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter or friend, for He is our peace and has broken down every wall.

Free MacArthur Book Contest!!!

Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of John MacArthur's new book, Twelve Unlikely Heroes, to review and make a blog post. I have done that. They also sent me six copies to give away on my blog.

One is  gone. Good job Rick Davis. Still have five to give away.

You can make comments here: http://vhurt.blogspot.com/

I would like to make a bit of a contest out of it. It's easy.

In a one paragraph comment, tell us who you think the most unlikely hero of the Bible is and why.

It cannot be a hero that MacArthur has already listed, see my previous post. I'll pick the top six based upon the unlikeliness of their hero status compared to the ultimate level of that status. Murky? Got it?

I'll need your name and address in order to mail you the book.

Good luck.

Wisdom over Knowledge

James 1:5   If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

In this passage from James, he calls us to ask God for wisdom and then trust that God will grant it. I have run into many Christians that talk about 'finding' the will of God. They seem to think that there is some perfectly created will of God out there and that it is their duty to seek God in order to find that will.

But I would call such finding, knowledge. They have a yearning to know what God knows and often desire this before they make a decision. Many times, they say something like, "I am in prayer, seeking the Lord's will." My take on this is that they are trying to discover what the Lord knows, that is, they want knowledge.

But James is saying something different. He is saying that we should ask the Lord for wisdom and then we should trust that He grants it. If we ask and if we trust, then we can move forward in our decisions trusting they are from the Lord. We  do not wait to act until we know. We act believing the Lord will fulfill His promise of giving us wisdom.

My argument is that the one who seeks to know before he acts is like  the man who is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. He is afraid to act because he is afraid that the Lord has not clearly revealed His will. But the Lord wants us to act in faith, not in complete knowledge. And when we refuse to act, or hedge our acting with a lack of faith, the Bible tells us that such a man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Providence Church 100 Year Anniversary

Providence Church just had its 100 Year Anniversary. Not bad for only being in existence for 12 years! That's what happens when Rachel has a baby.

Our son Calvin said, "Dad, when the Weizeneckers throw a baptism party, it's not a party, it's a 100 Year Anniversary!"

I agree. So, we have to wait another 88 years for the real 100 Year Anniversary. I think we will have a hard time outdoing the shindig we just had. Maybe my great grandson will baptize the Weizenecker's great, great granddaughter. That might do it.

Goode Virgil

I wanted to make a bit of a qualification on my previous post. I was disappointed along with the rest of you that Romney was not elected. I much preferred him over the alternative. However, I voted for Virgil because he is Goode.

Election Bias

It seems to me that you are biased. You expect a certain outcome and expecting it begin to interpret data based upon your expectation. Well, maybe not you, but that is the case for me and, I think, for countless others. We did not believe the polls or the O campaign's take on things because we did not want to. But there it is, people voted just like the media was saying they would and just like most of the polls showed they would and our wishful thinking on the unstated or jaded assumptions in those polls was simply wrong.

What can we take away from this? One thing is that we should understand that it is really difficult to be objective when thinking about things or discussing things you have strong opinions about. This is, of course, true. We all know it but then we insist upon some level of real objectivity as we prop up our bad position with good arguments. I suppose I am simply calling for some real humility in your life when it is related to things that are not absolutely clear.

We can and ought to take a solid stand on biblical issues. When the Lord has clearly said then we should be bold enough to declare that truth. But when we express strong opinions about things where we could easily be mistaken, we need to be willing to hear reasonable arguments that are opposed to us. James 3:16-17 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. At the least, after the fact, we should readily admit that we just jumped the gun and allowed ourselves to get carried away for the sake of winning an argument, not for the glory of the real truth.

Strength at the Lord's Table

In today’s sermon, we have heard what it means to be closer than a brother, that is to be a true friend. No doubt, if we are honest, we have all been called up short to some degree. But we ought not despair. The Lord Jesus is that friend that sticks closer than a brother and He is with us here now to comfort and love us, granting us close fellowship with Him and enabling us by His Holy Spirit to be conformed into His image so that we can be the best kind of friend. As we eat and drink of the Lord, we will be changed into the sort of friend that will always stick closer than a brother.

No Offense or Forgive

We are all sinners and yet Christ died for us. The love of the Father towards us was revealed in that He sent His Son to bear our sins. We should think of this as we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, letting love cover a multitude of sins.

         We have taught this often in this church. If your brother sins and you can simply overlook his faults and love him anyway, then you should do so. But if he sins against you and you cannot simply overlook the sin, then the Bible requires that you go to him, confront him so that he repents and then forgive him.

         But you do not get to harbor bitterness against him for the sin that he has committed. You must simply overlook it and take no offense, at all, or you must confront him so that the sin can be confessed and forgiven. To the extent that you are bitter or angry at your brother, sister, mother, father, husband, wife or friend, you must now simply drop it altogether and leave no bitterness at all against them, OR you must now commit to confronting them with their sin for the express purpose of granting them full forgiveness. But the Lord does not allow you to hold onto the wrongs committed against you. Let that sink in. The Lord does not allow you to hold on to the wrongs committed against you. You may not be fully able to deal with this right now in this moment but you do need to take care of it today.

Little Saints at The Lord's Table

Today, we have received three children into Christ’s Church. These children belong to the Lord every bit as much as they belong to their own parents. And, in the Lord, we all have kinship in these children, as well. We have a new little brother and new little sisters. They are part of our community, our communion in the Lord. So, it is fitting that we gather here, with them, to eat and drink of the goodness of the Lord. They cannot yet eat bread or drink wine but, in time, they will grow to be able to eat and drink with us and they will learn of the Lord’s promises and they will trust Him, tasting that the Lord is good.

         So, all of you have an obligation, along with their parents and brothers and sisters, to reveal truth to them, in the way that you live, and speak and even in the way that you eat at this Table. Look upon the bread and the wine and know that God, the Father is doing the same. He sees the blood of Jesus and knows that His people are cleansed from their sins. And through this, He accepts each of you, and Beatrice, and Noah and Charlotte, our newest saints. Agree with the Father. Rejoice in His goodness to you and to the least among us. Walk in this forgiveness and newness and so prove the grace and blessing of the Lord.

Presumptuous Sins

We are not to live presumptuous lives, trampling under foot the blood of the covenant. We do this when we make light of sin, thinking, perhaps even before we commit sins, that the gracious and merciful Lord will forgive us. He is most gracious and merciful. He is long-suffering and quick to forgive and such characteristics should call us to love and serve Him ever more faithfully. 

           But if His kindness and graciousness tempt you to take advantage of Him, then you are not growing in His grace and mercy. In fact, it is just the opposite. You are growing cold and eventually His mercy towards you will also grow cold.

It is true that the Lord is patient and quick to forgive but it is also true that there is a limit to His patience. We see this time and again in Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments. When there is continual, willful rebellion, the Lord will eventually act in judgment. And the way to get to continual, willful rebellion is through tolerating and justifying your small acts of sin on a daily basis. Eventually, the heart grows cold and indifferent and festers into full-blown and open rebellion. So, what must we do to be saved? Repent of sins and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in newness of life through Jesus.

Lower Seats

The disciples of our Lord talked about who was the greatest among them. When Jesus found out, He rebuked them. They were vying for position in the Kingdom of God but Jesus told them about and showed them a more excellent way. Those who vie for position in the Kingdom of God will always be asked to move down into the less honorable seats but those who seek to honor their brothers by sitting in the lower seats will always be asked to move up into the place of honor.

         When it finally dawned on the disciples that Jesus died for them, for their sins, to save them from judgment, I have no doubt that they felt a great remorse for their efforts to get ahead of one another.  As we commemorate the death of Jesus for us, for our sins, to save us from judgment, we must also feel remorse at our attempts to vie with our brothers. Like Jesus, let us serve one another and rejoice in His goodness to each one called by the name of disciple of Jesus.

Good Providence

As I mentioned last week, understanding the doctrine of God’s Sovereignty over all things, or at least accepting it as a fact, is a central key in finding peace with God and peace with your brothers. Ongoing anger, bitterness and resentment are all sinful responses to the reality of God’s Providence.

         It is true that we have to deal with the various difficulties that life brings us. But when we say it that way, it does not take us long to come to the conclusion that life bringing us something is about the same as chance bringing us something. Life, in the abstract, does not bring us anything. But, our God, who is our life, does bring us circumstances. And He is a good God and a loving heavenly Father. It is sometimes easier to think that life or chance brought us a bad deal than to think that God brought it. Or maybe better said, that God sent it. The difficulty may actually be brought by some sinful deliverer but God, who is over all, is the One who directs and guides all things. Since He is all powerful, He can always prevent any evil from coming our way. But the fact is that He does not do so. We have to deal with this straight up with a stout heart. And in this dealing, learn that God is watching over us for good and then try to find it in every circumstance. The best way to do this is through thankfulness to God for His watchcare over us.

         So, if there is anger, resentment or bitterness still lurking for your lot in life, the Providence that God has delivered to you, it is time to confess your unrest and find rest for your soul.

Blood Brothers

Dear Saints, we are gathered together here as brothers and sisters in Christ. If are in Christ, then we are His brothers and sisters. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ and nothing ought to be able to separate us from the love of one another. That is true of all our brothers and sisters in Christ in the broader Church throughout the Earth but it ought to be especially true of this expression of Christ’s Church, the local church, this church seated here.

         These tokens identify us as Christ’s brothers and sisters, the children of the Lord. And thus, they also identify us as brothers and sisters of one another in Christ. Many of us know that the kinship that we possess here is even closer than some of our kin by blood. But this kinship in Christ is also by blood. The blood of Christ has made us His kin and so the blood of Christ courses in the veins of all who gather in His name. This blood of the new birth is even thicker than the blood of the first birth. I pray that God will help us to see this and truly draw us together by an inseparable bond in Christ Jesus as we learn to love one another and express that unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Honor not Honored

As we have made our way through these sermons on the family, it is becoming increasingly clear that God uses family to teach us His ways and we find that His ways, while good, are not necessarily the way we would choose. In our families, we learn to serve one another, to put others first, to honor father and mother, to view our brothers and sisters of more worthy of praise than ourselves. And we do not have to feel like little despised worms in order to think or feel this way.

In fact, all we really have to do is to learn to love, to love God, to love our parents, to love our brothers and sisters. We do not have to annihilate ourselves in order to build up others.

Some great men have this gift. They can be truly great but when they speak to lowly ones, they seem to have a true sense of love for their fellow. They do not patronize them or belittle themselves. They simply choose to love the one they are speaking to and their love towards their lowly fellow honors him and lifts him up.

So, in your homes, you do not have to grovel to put yourself below others. You simply have to love them in a way that truly seeks their good. You become less concerned with yourself, how you look, what others think of you, how honored you are, and more concerned with what you can do to encourage, please, and honor them.

This sort of message calls us all up short, not because we are so bad but because we have not loved as fully as we should, seeking to lift up and honor instead of seeking to be lifted up and honored.

Immediate Grace

Pastor Wilson helps us out.

http://www.dougwils.com/Life-in-the-Regeneration/the-immediacy-of-the-effectual-call.html

Communion Blessings

Are you happy about other people being blessed here? This is one big reason why we do not view or practice communion as a private moment. Of course, if you know and trust Jesus, you are personally blessed. That is great. Thank God for that blessing and seek to get as much of His blessing as you can.

         But can you really enter into the blessing of others? This is one place to see it. We know about a lot of sin, a lot of struggles, many bumps and bruises through the years among and with our brothers and sisters gathered here. 

         Are you looking at your brothers and sisters gathered here and thinking, “Oh, I am so glad things are good for you, now. I hope they get better and better.” I hope you are thinking that. And I hope they are thinking that about you and me. 

         God’s grace is revealed to us here in the love that He has given us towards one another. May that grace and peace continue to grow among us as we are thankful for His graciousness towards each of us personally and as we rejoice in His abundant blessing of each one gathered here with us.

Holy Peace

Dear Saints, it is a joy to be in the presence of God and His people. You must not forget that He is a Holy God. That might cause you to sit up and pay attention but it ought not to cause you to shrink from His presence. He is holy and He calls you to be holy. And as you are in Christ, you are made worthy to be in the presence of a holy God.

         You may protest, “But I don’t feel holy. I know my thoughts. I know what I have done.” 

 Stop, dear one. The accuser is defeated. 

Jesus says, “My peace I give unto you.” Do you hear Him? Jesus, says, “Peace, friends.” Do you hear Him? This is most certainly a holy place but it is also a tranquil place, a place of peace in the love of God. Enter into that peace.

Brother Cain

What kind of brother are you?

Do you envy your brother? Are you jealous of him? Do you think, “Why does he get all the breaks? Why did he get the better job? Since he is not a better Christian than I am, then why does God bless him so much?”

Maybe you think or have thought, “I’ll bet his blessings are really curses, anyway.” That thought runs the course of you hoping that he is being fattened up for the slaughter. 

Maybe you think, “Life just is not fair or I would be doing much better. I guess my lot is just the luck of the draw or what we spiritual people call Providence. It is clear that it is not fair because if it was fair, I would get the blessing and my brother’s situation would better represent his heart.” You may think this while not at all thinking that your comparatively poor situation does represent your heart. But even then, it is likely that God is still being extremely gracious and merciful to you.

Ever had any of these thoughts? Maybe? Just a little bit? Are any of these thoughts current in your thinking? If so, then they have to go. These are the thoughts of Cain. These are thoughts of Joseph’s brothers. These are the thoughts of Esau. These are the thoughts of Judas. These are the thoughts of the mother of James and John. Without sounding too far over the top, these are the thoughts of the devil. It is just these sorts of thoughts that lead one to all sorts of desperate actions, even to betrayal, denial and murder. So, do not downplay these thoughts, make excuses for them or allow them to circulate in your head any longer. Nail them to the cross and let them die the penalty of death.

New Beginnings

One of the glories of our faith in Christ is new beginnings.  Jesus commanded us to forgive seventy times seven because of the great depth of His forgiveness towards us. God is abundantly full of grace. Where sin abounds grace abounds much more. And we should not fear that this abundant grace would give rise to libertine deeds. If we are born of God then we will do the works of God.

         We still struggle in the flesh and there are often sins and the regret and guilt of current or even past sins. Sometimes there are huge consequences for our sins that stay with us even beyond receiving God’s forgiveness. But until we receive God’s forgiveness and the peace of that forgiveness we are stuck and cannot move forward.

         Today is a new beginning. We are in a new location and we are eager to know what God will do in our midst. What we have done before, for good or for ill, is past and the future is ahead of us, full of hope in the power and joy of the Lord.

         So, in your own personal lives, you need to look to the future in hope, trusting that God will use You to His glory in this life, in this place, among these people. The only way to do this, is to confess any sins, real sins of disobedience as well as the false sins, lies from the devil, about your ongoing guilt and shame for those sins you have already been forgiven for. That is all in the past, Jesus has paid it all. Receive the forgiveness of the Lord and look to the future in hope.

The Toes of Christ

Dear Saints, what a pleasure it is to be in the family of God. We are gathered here with our sisters and brothers and God has given each one as an important part of the body of Christ. Some are eyes, some hands, some feet, some mouths. These seem vital, other body parts may seem less so.

What if you are a little toe? You might think, can they do without me? Well, maybe. But you can do without an eye, too, can’t you? sort of? 

I once broke my little toe right before a football game and believe me, it seemed vital then. I could not get my shoe on because it was so swollen and I missed the first three quarters of the game trying to get the swelling to go down enough to get my shoe on. I made it in to fourth quarter but my use was greatly diminished.

We ought to give great honor to the toes, or the spleens as well as to the hands and the mouths. We are all one body, striving together for the unity of the faith in the bond of peace. We are gathered here as the body of Christ, each one an important part of His body and you may not understand how vital your role is in keeping the body healthy. But look around, rejoice in the eyes, the ears, the fingers and the toes of Christ.

Wise Sisters

Today we hearing from the Scriptures again about sisters and making some specific applications to our sisters at Providence Church. Some of you have a tender conscience and will assume I am aiming my words directly at you. But if you think this, you will be mistaken. If what I say today really does apply to you, then by all means, hear the Spirit and seek to walk in the Spirit. But some of what I say today has to do with wisdom, judgment calls, and are not the sorts of things we can apply cart blanche to everybody. That was the point in thinking about the differences of Mary and Martha. I may be able to guess if you are more like Mary or Martha but there is at least a little bit of both of them in every one of you sisters, as well as you brothers.

         In the specific Providence Church lady activities I will discuss today in the sermon, I want you to think about them, pray about them and talk to your husband about them before you make any big changes. These are wisdom issues and need to be applied differently in every home

         For now, sisters and brothers, if you have known sins against a sister, if you are harboring anger, jealousy or envy, if you spend your time comparing yourself to others, either to keep yourself ahead or to wear yourself down, then now is the time to let that go, confess and repent so that you can get the log out of your own eye to see clear enough to apply wisdom in the other areas of your life.

Marys and Marthas

Here we are again at the Lord’s Table. I hope the joy and wonder of this moment of our service never escapes you. You can easily take the Lord’s goodness for granted but you should not do so. Work hard to cultivate joy and thanksgiving at this place.

         As you look around, think about all the different sorts of people that the Lord has gathered here. No doubt, some of them are worker bees like Martha. You may be one. Others are content to sit and contemplate the goodness of the Lord, like Mary. That might be you. If you are a Martha, don’t make the mistake of thinking Mary is lazy and spacey. If you are a Mary, don’t make the mistake of thinking Martha is just full of anxiety and missing out on Jesus. Appreciate each other. Seek to exalt one another. Give of your own talents to your sisters and brothers, to some extent making them more like you and you becoming more like them. If you do this, perhaps you will both see each other better and what is the better part, by far, see Jesus more clearly and be in the presence of Jesus more devotedly.

We Know How to Behave

God is kind to us. We should see that in this series on the Family. We have looked at so many different family relationships and maybe learned something about how to behave as fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters or sisters.

         The reality, though, is that most of us already know how to behave. We are to behave as Christians. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought. Think of your brothers and sisters of more value than yourself. We know these things. But God gives us a wealth of information in the Scriptures so that we can see these truths from a hundred different angles. That is His kindness and as a result, we are left utterly without excuse if we fail to heed Him.

He desires that we do see these truths, that we hear Him, that we humble ourselves in obedience, that we receive the tremendous blessings of that obedience and that we reject every way that seeks to put self ahead of everybody else.

         And He knows that the only way that we can do this is to confess our own failings, turn away from them in repentance and embrace the enabling grace of His Holy Spirit, so that we can be a good brother, sister, mother or father.

Providential Timing

About 30 years ago, I was playing football as a running back in Twin Falls, Idaho. My senior year we had a really good team and played in the Idaho State Football Championship on our home field. Unfortunately, the other team, Couer d'Alene, was much better and we took a drubbing in front of the home crowd. The final score was 55-13.

One of the backup quarterbacks on their team was John Friesz, who went on to legedary status at Universtiy of Idaho and played in the NFL for ten years or so. From Wikepedia, "Friesz grew up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and attended Coeur d'Alene High School, graduating in 1985. He was a year behind Scott Wellman, a two-time all-state quarterback who led the Vikings to the A-1 state finals in 1982 and 1983, winning the first. Friesz spent those seasons as a back-up and became the starter in his senior season in the fall of 1984." Okay, so these guys were so good that a future NFL quarterback did not start on their team as a sophomore. Scott Wellman did.

Ya, that Scott Wellman. He smoked us. Between him and number 44, Mike Cox, they really gave it to us. I remember 44 in that championship game. He ran for a touchdown, threw for a touchdown, kicked a field goal and kicked off a lot, considering how many touchdowns they scored. In addition to that, he was their main force at middle linebacker but also lined up as a down lineman and met me, regularly, at or behind the line of scrimmage. The backs of both of my hands were black and blue for weeks from being smashed by 44 and landing on the frozen and by that late in the year, the week before Thanksgiving, mostly grassless field.  Cox also went on to be a force at linebacker at University of Idaho and is to this day one of the All-time tackles leaders at U of I. It was a long day.

Those are all just reminisces brought back to me in a providential way today. This morning I took my 10 year old son, Calvin, our youngest, to soccer practice. After practice, we had a talk about hustle, paying attention and taking initiative. It is his first year playing and he is one of the younger players on the middle school team. I reminded him that he may not be one of the better players this year but that he can still have a huge positive effect on the team through hustle, directed desire and being a team player.

I told him about an award that I won my senior year of football. It was the Paul Austin award and was given to the athlete with 'the greatest hustle and most desire to win.' I have probably only spoken of this award a few times in the last 30 years. Obviously, the import of the award has stuck with me and so has that same tenacity, the desire to work hard, the need to be a team player, hustle and teaching the importance of hustle. I would much rather see a kid hustle at every level than watch a hugely talented kid lazily outperform him. I'll take the hustle kid every time.

When I arrived home from soccer practice today, I had an email in my inbox from one of my old high school friends and fellow football players with an interesting request. He is assisting the football team and the current coach of Twin Falls High is interested in bringing former winners of the Paul Austin award to serve as honorary captains of the team and give a pep talk to the players before a game.

Very odd, providential, a God thing, as my friend Bruce would say. So, I guess I'll talk to the coach and maybe make a trip out to Bruin Stadium and, if they'll let me, give the kids a rousing pep talk. At the least, I've had a good memory and reminded myself of things to reiterate to my own kids and the various kids that I have the privilege to coach and mentor.

Wonderful Disbelief

Why do we look around at church during communion? Because we are pleased to be in the presence of God with our family. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are also favored to sit in the presence of the Lord. We are rejoicing in their bounty as well as ours. In fact, if we think of this rightly, we are shaking our heads in happy disbelief. We look at our brothers and sisters and we can hardly believe we are here to rejoice with them because we cannot believe that we are here.

         We might believe that God’s blessing could rest on them but we know ourselves and are surprised that God’s blessing is resting on us. As we look from side to side, it is almost like we are shaking our heads with a smile, like the humble 10K, Olympian, Mo Farah, who simply cannot believe he just pulled off what he had hoped for, victory, the gold medal, the acclaim of his countrymen, the favor of Prince William and Lady Kate.

         We are like that here, blessed, but also greatly rejoicing that our countrymen, our brothers and sisters, are all here to witness this goodness and receive the blessing of God.

Overroasted Bitterness

Bitterness is a root that grows wide. It will grow deep as well, if it can but it does not need a lot of soil. Any little reason will let bitterness take root. You can grow bitter because you were truly treated poorly by your parents, or your brother was a better athlete, or your sister has a better voice, or a fellow employee got the promotion, or someone younger than you tried to teach you something, or a sister in the church who looked at you with a funny look on her face that you took to be a haughty glance at you. It turns out she was squinting at the clock wondering if she had remembered to set the automatic timer for the Sunday roast.

         She did, in fact, remember to set the timer, and the roast cooked for several hours and grew juicy and tender and was consumed by all with great joy for a Sunday feast.

And you nursed that little squint for five years and your heart grew hard and sinewy at her blessings and you were consumed with envy culminating in misery and sorrow and Sundays were never a feast.

Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but it can and does happen. Envy and bitterness do not need much room to grow. So, don’t let them. Think of others more highly than you think of yourself. Rejoice in the bounty of your brothers and sisters in your own family and in the family of God.

Let the Little Children Come Unto Me

Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto me.”  He said this not only when little ones came to Jesus of their own accord but even when the little ones, the infants in arms, were brought to Jesus. It is striking that in the Scriptures some of the sharpest rebukes from Jesus to His disciples were about this very thing, keeping the children from the Lord.

         I thank God that He has revealed this to us and we emphatically do not keep the little ones from Jesus. We bring them to Him and He blesses them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

         Dear saints, we are all little children in God’s sight, babes in arms. It is imperative that we approach our Father with that kind of humility, trusting Him as a little nursing daughter fully trusts her doting mother.

         We have a new saint among us, a sister, Louisa Marie, saved by grace, blessed by Jesus and received as our fellow heir of the kingdom. Let us rejoice in God’s goodness to us as His children and also rejoice in our growing family.

                   

The Grace of Holiness

We will once again speak about daughters and the Holy Daughter of Zion. The Lord requires holiness and purity. Today, we will also baptize a young daughter, placing the name of Christ upon her.

         As we do this and as we speak about the need for our daughters to be holy and pure, we do not want to get the wrong idea. No daughter is totally pure, not even the smallest one among us, little Louisa, who will soon be named Christian.

         Even Louisa is tainted by sin. If that were not true, she would not be in need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. But Louisa is fallen from grace with her father, Adam. She sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression. And the only One that can fix the fact that she is by nature an object of God’s wrath is the righteous Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

         So, when I speak of purity, I do not mean that our daughters, even our baby daughters are pure and sinless. They are not. I do mean that there are certain sins that should not even be named among God’s people. They should be put aside and we should enable ourselves of the grace of God to walk in holiness.

And where there is remaining sin and the struggles with particular sins, we seek the grace of God to bring us to repentance and to empower us to live holy lives. But it is all by grace through faith, not of our selves, lest any man, woman, son or daughter should boast.

Pure Hearts at Communion

Some of what has been said today is disconcerting. God requires that we be pure and chaste and yet we find in ourselves defilement and the wanton pangs of remaining sin. What are we to do? How can we be as pure as God desires us to be? The answer, of course, is Jesus. He takes us in our mess and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  He presents us to His Father as those who have been purified by His forgiveness.

         He then gives us His Holy Spirit so that we are enabled to die to those things that unlawfully attract us and to live towards those things that are true and lovely in God’s eyes.

         All of us have sinned and sinful thoughts still assail us, some, no doubt, more than others. But God has cleansed us. God has called us to life. God has given us His Holy Spirit. God has called us friends. God has called us sons and daughters, children in whom He is well pleased.

         At this place, let us believe God. Through Jesus He has made us pure and we come to Him with pure hearts full of thanksgiving.

Holy Daughters

One of the defining attributes of a godly daughter is her purity. God desires daughters to be unstained by the world. This requires that they have hearts that are pure so that what flows from their hearts; their words, glances, the clothes they wear, their hairstyle, the respect they give, all reveal a deep inner purity.

As we think about our daughters, it is easy for us to grasp the truth that God requires chastity. We can all understand that God desires our daughters to be virgins and to have carnal knowledge of only one man, their own husband. We fathers particularly understand this as we seek to protect the honor and purity of our daughters, saving them for that one man.

But we need to understand that this is not only true of our daughters. God requires our sons, our wives and ourselves to possess this deep inner purity and beauty. He desires that we have chaste hearts and minds and therefore live faithful chaste lives.

We got a restart when we came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. God forgave us, making us pure and blameless. Like the woman at the well who had five husbands or the woman caught in adultery, Jesus forgave us and told us to go and sin no more. 

We should grasp these two things. One, Jesus forgives us so that we can be pure in heart and body once again. And two, we must put aside those sins which so easily entangle us, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.

Whose Your Daddy?

Today, at the Table, I want you to think about who your daddy is. For some of you, that is a good thought or memory. For others, not so much, especially at this Table. Because of your family resemblance to your father, you may feel unworthy to be here at God’s Table. The reality is that all of us by nature, are, sons of Adam the First. He was a failure and got us kicked out of our homeland in disgrace. But by grace, we are all now sons of Adam the Second, Jesus Christ the Savior, who has brought us back from exile and established us in the garden of God, having cleansed us from our former sins, even our former bad name in Adam the First.

         This is a great truth. You were bad sons in Adam. But you are sons brought home in Jesus. He is your Father as well as Jesus’s Father. Thus, this is your Table as well as the Table of God, the Father. Jesus calls him Father and He encourages us to see the family resemblance so that we have the courage to also call God, Father, Abba, Daddy. Be at peace at this Table. You are home.

Derecho-Breath of God

The power of God is revealed to us in many ways. We recently saw what He can do with a simple breath. He conjured a super Derecho and it knocked down thousands of trees and revealed our weakness in the presence of God’s great power. Our seeming strength is an illusion and if we are not careful we get caught up in the illusion thinking we are safe and protected from calamity. We may think this because we have fine homes, good jobs, a decent bank account or a good retirement fund. But the fact of the matter is that we are dependent upon God at every little turn of our lives. Were He to remove His blessing and protection for even a moment, we would find ourselves utterly helpless.

         I, for one, am thankful that He has graciously revealed this to us and that He has protected us Providence saints in the midst of this storm. Let us confess our tendency for self-reliance and once again cast ourselves into the caring hands of God, our Savior.

Communion with a pleased Father

Sons and daughters are known for striving to please their parents. There are many middle-aged men and women still struggling to please their parents. Sometimes the parents are dead and gone and the opportunity to please them has completely vanished and yet the living child is still unsatisfied, a gnawing lack of assurance that they were pleasing to their father.

         This is an all too common and sad state of affairs in families at every level. Some of the blame goes on the fathers, no doubt, who simply refuse to be pleased with their children.  Men, we need to learn to take pleasure in those God has put in our charge. The first step to getting there is for you to rest, knowing that your Father is pleased with you.

         If you are here at this Table, invited by and seated with Jesus, then rest assured, the Father is pleased. 

But my sin, but my failures, but my own earthly father’s displeasure! 

Stop all that. Now is rest, now is assurance, now is peace, now we are God’s children, in whom He is well pleased. Can you rest in this? Can your receive it? Can you be at peace? God, our Father is pleased with Jesus and His choice of friends. Don’t argue with Him. Thus, you are friends of God and have even become His children through Jesus. You are His beloved sons and daughters in whom He is well pleased.

Exhortation- True Sons

Jesus is the Son of God. The Father is pleased with Him. The Father is particularly pleased because Jesus laid down His life for those the Father loved and desired to draw to Himself. Thus, Jesus did exactly what the Father would have Him do, that is, deny Himself and reveal the Father’s will on the Earth among men.

         In that little paragraph is a lot of room for our own condemnation. We know that we have not always been faithful sons and daughters. We have sought to establish our own wills and ways, sometimes even in opposition to our own earthly fathers, or even in opposition to our Heavenly Father. We are not surprised that God is pleased with Jesus and the comparison of ourselves to Jesus only makes our guilt and shame increase. What are we to do?

         First, be honest. It is true that you are not the perfect son, like Jesus. But God has looked upon you in your condition, taken pity upon you and brought you to Himself through Jesus, adopted you and called you son. You were by nature the very object of wrath that causes you to shrink from His presence. But God, the Father, by grace, has picked you out, named you Christian, a friend and brother of Jesus, and written you into His own divine will.

         Second, forsake those things that make you an odious son. And Third, come up out of the slop and your squandered inheritance. Return home to your Father and be received back into the family as a full joint heir of all the promises of God. All such sons will put on the royal robe and feast on the fatted calf.

Communion Meditation- Quiet Souls

Are you quiet? Are you meek? That is, are you subdued to God, the Father, His will, His ways, His Savior, His Providence? And having humbled yourself to Him, has this produced a quietness of soul in you? This quietness of soul is what we call the peace that passes understanding. Why does it pass understanding? Because on the outside, there remains no reason for peace. There is trouble in the world, trouble in your own life, trouble in the lives of the ones you love. Like Peter on the water, we look at the waves and are tossed about with all manner of doubt. But Jesus bids us come, look at Him, walk, even in the waves of the storm, without fear.

         We can only do this, with peace, with a quietness of spirit, if we have our eyes on Jesus.  This meal is all about that. We focus on Jesus, what He did on the cross, how He rose from the dead, the fact He sent His Spirit to dwell with us forever and that He calls us to this table to dine with Him in perfect peace. Jesus said, These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

Meek and Quiet

Our sermon today is on living with a meek and quiet spirit. That sounds easy, especially if the husbands are asking their wives to do this while they themselves thrash around like a bull moose, neither meek nor quiet. But the great Moses, the man who stood up to Pharoah, is described as the meekest man on the Earth.

         At the core, I believe a meek and quiet spirit is learning to submit to God in all things and relinquish control to God’s will and providence of those things that you really cannot control anyway. This amounts to a host of things, your husband’s behavior, your children’s affection, your wife’s respect or lack thereof, the hard providences of God in our lives, the government leaders that you live under, your boss and his demands, your teachers and their peculiar ways.

         God gives us many opportunities to display a meek and quiet spirit. When we do so, it reveals to ourselves and others that we truly believe that God is ultimately in control of all things. Phil. 4:6 Be careful (full of care, worry, anxiety) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

         So, to the extent that you are unwilling for God to be in control, you need to, as the old saying goes, let go and let God. This letting go is confession and repentance, the letting God, is to be meek and quiet, concerned for nothing, resting in the Lord.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 25th Anniversary. I guess you might think that is a long time. Perhaps, but the years have rolled by, troubles and all, filled with God's grace and great joy.

My dear bride is still the love of my life. We have now been married for 25 wonderful years but we got started as sweethearts long before that. I put a green sucker in her desk in Mrs. Hellewell's class in fifth grade. Seems she went for the sweet bribe. That was about 35 years ago and she has held my heart ever since.

We look forward to another 25 years!

I love you, my sweet Kate. Happy Anniversary!

Communion- Humble Compliance

Our sermon today talked about submission but it was not an admonition to submit with our arms crossed in a huff and our faced creased with steely resolve. That really is not submission at all. The place where we learn godly submission is right here at this Table.

First of all, Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. He did so with blood-sweat and tears. But He also did it for the joy that was set before Him.  Herein is that joy realized. He did it to bring us to the Table of Fellowship.

At this place, you must take your guard down. Uncross your arms, remove the creased brow, lay down your burdens, come in humble compliance to Jesus, and for this joy, this realized joy of fellowship, come and eat with Jesus. You see, the fruit of honorable submission is what we are doing now, peaceful fellowship.

Exhortation- Tap Out

Today, we look at a couple of passages of Scripture that speak of the relationship of wives to their own husbands. Keep in mind that this is also the relationship of the Church to Christ. And, as such, is the relationship of all under authority to all those in authority. This means that these passages speak to everyone of us and not simply to our women or to our wives.

         This mean that we all have to learn to respond properly to authority. It also means that we are going to see that we have all failed in our responses to authority and in doing so have caused harm both to ourselves and to the authorities that we have resisted.

         The purpose of saying this is not to beat you up. This is not done simply to make you feel bad. But to some extent the beating is necessary.  An honorable fight always gives room for the weaker opponent to submit. He can call uncle, tap out, admit he is beat, that is, he can submit. Or, he can resist, unimpressed by the beating and thus declare that he is willing to take more.

         When the opponent is the Word and Spirit of God, there is no chance of victory, so the only thing that remains to be seen is how strong is your resistance and thus, how much of a beating is necessary in order to get you to tap out? I would exhort you to always tap out early as soon as you realize that you are fighting the Word of God.