Yearly Archives: 2014

About Jots and Tittles (Matthew 5:17-20)

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What are the differences between these sets of words: I’LL REST and ILL PEST?  There is quite a difference in meaning, but honestly not that much in form and the use of letters. The apostrophe makes the difference between I’LL and ILL, while the little descending line in the letter “R” makes the difference between REST and PEST.  jot_and_tittle

Tiny marks and strokes in written languages can make a big difference between words. And when Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount spoke of (in the language of the King James Version) jots and tittles, he was speaking of little marks in the Hebrew language that were like apostrophes, and of small dashes that distinguished one letter from another.

Not only was Jesus saying that the content of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures was true, it was fully reliable down to the very smallest portion of the letters of the words. There can be no doubt from the entire record of Christ’s statements that he saw the Scriptures as God’s perfect revelation to mankind.

The religious leaders at the time of Jesus, particularly the Pharisees, did not see Jesus as a model for anything but an upsetting of the apple cart of tradition and truth. They viewed him as a rival. And Jesus says that he did not come to compete with the Law (the Old Testament), but to complete it and fulfill it in a way the Pharisees could not. (See, in English that letter “L” made all the difference in meaning between “compete” and “complete.”)

If we call someone today a “Pharisee” we have debased them and criticized them for being arrogant and pompous in belief, speech and action. It is a negative. But at the time of Christ, the Pharisees were respected and generally held in high regard for their precise observance of Scripture. Along the way, they had also codified thousands of actions that were precise (and often ridiculous) requirements to fulfill the Law. And they worked very hard and very publically at being the very best.

But here is the problem: nobody can be perfect about everything, not even a blue-chip Pharisee batting clean-up on the Pharisaic all-star team. Jesus is pitching a new set of fast balls right past them – upping the standard… such as not just avoiding adultery, but being guilty because of lust.

Throughout the chapter, Jesus burns them over and over with their platitudes (“You have heard it said…”), and the chapter ends with the statement that they need to be perfect as God is perfect. And again, there is the problem.

The purpose of the Law was to set a perfect standard of God’s righteousness, showing that it could not be met … that it could only be covered (atoned for) in blood. And Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling the Law and paying the price of sin on behalf of those who could not do it themselves. Christ offers his righteousness for those who will trust and receive it.

This fulfillment of the Law down to its finest and smallest points is what Christ came to do, and it is indeed the good news – the gospel of salvation from the grind of works and deeds that could never really make the standard.

All of this points to the precision of Scripture – from dozens of writers over hundreds of years. And it all ties together in one great message and theme of God’s salvation in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Using Time in the Time We Live (2 Peter 3:1-18)

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I think about time a lot – about the span of life and the budgetary use of the time any of us believe we have available in what we assume will be the years of our lives. And I am actually writing this devotional exactly one year – to the very hour – from going to the hospital with what was diagnosed as pulmonary emboli.

I did not realize until the situation had passed, that it was a potentially life-threatening episode. So at this very moment I am profoundly struck by God’s grace in giving me the time of an extended year of life; and I would trust for many more, even if I do have to limp through them with my gimpy knees.

In this final chapter of Peter’s New Testament writings, the idea of time comes up – a perspective on end times, the relative value of time to the Lord, and how to live in a certain time or age. So, I’m going to have some fun with the word “time” as we go through this chapter.

But first, the reason this text is in our Framework series has to do with just one verse in the chapter: verse 16. Here, Peter speaks of the Apostle Paul’s writings by saying, “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

The significance of this is that Peter categorizes Paul’s writings as “Scripture.” This is, of course, not that terribly long after the time of Christ’s death and resurrection, so it is quite early in the church age. Paul’s epistles were circulated among the churches and had gained an authoritative status as Scripture = God’s revelation and truth. That is quite an assertion, and it helps us understand how the books of the New Testament came to be accepted as authoritative.

But now, let’s talk about “time” in several ways …

3:1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

I began the sermon yesterday by quoting one of the cultural icons of our age – a TV comedian who scoffed greatly at the notion of believing the Bible or in a God of judgment. It is not rare. Peter anticipated that people would scoff, particularly at the belief that Christ would come again and that a day of judgment would eventuate. “So, where is it?” is the attitude the world may have. “If it has been this long, well, can it really be true?”

But Peter says to expect this skeptical viewpoint… that these people choose to forget that God created it all, and that it was done by his word a long, long time ago. The one who made it will also end it. It will happen, and people will scoff.

A Perspective on Time

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

As finite creatures, we are locked within time. God has no such encumbrance. A day and a millennium are the same to him; he won’t forget something just because a couple of thousand years go by.

I remember all the people I met yesterday, but don’t ask me to recall the names or faces of people I only knew briefly like 10 years ago. But for God, his memory of a thousand years ago is superior to our memory of 24 hours past. God will keep his appointments on his time schedule.

A Perspective on the Time to Come

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

When God does keep his promise of coming again and bringing a final judgment upon a sinful earth, it is going to happen quickly. Nobody expects a thief to show up; he does it without warning, and so will the day of God’s judgment be. We just passed a 9/11 anniversary. Were you expecting the sort of thing as the Twin Towers falling and the Pentagon being attacked to happen when you got up on 9/11/01?

The very practical question arising from this is related to what kind of lives we should live in the pending expectation as to how things could quickly end. Holy and godly – that’s the answer. And the final day is nothing to fear for those who are aligned with God’s promises, because on the other side is a new heaven and a new earth, where life is of a decidedly different character.

A Perspective on How to Use Time

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

The way to live until such time as the Lord returns is to be growing in greater understanding of God’s grace to us in all things, along with growing in our knowledge of Christ and our eternal life in the Lord.

How do you do that? I don’t know of any other way than to grow by a greater knowledge of and obedience to the Scriptures. There is no other way than the academic, hard-working pursuit of reading, studying, praying, applying, and obeying what God has written for us in the Scriptures. To simply sort of like it and dabble in it is certainly not what a passage like this, and dozens of others, picture about the Christian life.

So to you who took the time to read this… that is commendable. You are working at it and committing to it, as are many others around you in our family of faith. Even so, too many others choose not to … choosing to compartmentalize their faith into a narrow window or segment of their schedules so as to have larger chunks of time for the pursuit of personal interests.

But in Peter’s words … “Make every effort… Bear in mind… Be on your guard… Grow in grace.” Yep – you need a Bible to have a FRAMEWORK for that!

From God’s Mouth to Our Ears (2 Peter 1:12-21)

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This coming Sunday at Tri-State Fellowship will include a time of communion and remembrance of the Lord’s death for us. As an orienting thought at the end of the sermon, I am going to use a Civil War illustration – one that I’ve thought of using in the past, but had never previously researched the details.

Stimulating my thought on this was an occasion last week where I was at a political gathering with former gubernatorial candidate and Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey. It was at Antietam, and she was telling me that she had an ancestor was buried there, though not really, that the name was on the grave but that he had not actually died in the War … that was the family story.

I knew there was a story like this about a grave in the National Cemetery and went to research it. Actually, the man’s name was Henry Struble, or was it Strubble?

In any event, this fellow had lent his canteen to a wounded soldier during the conflict and had not retrieved it. Some accounts said South Mountain (September 14th), some Antietam (September 17th).

In any event, the wounded fellow did not survive, and he was buried under the name inscribed upon the canteen in his possession – Henry Struble. Some accounts said the deceased man was a fellow Union soldier as Struble (who was from Pennsylvania), while others said he was Confederate – odd, because Rebels were not buried in the Antietam Cemetery.

In any event, Struble survived the War and learned later that his gravestone was at Antietam. Some accounts said he discovered this when he came to the cemetery when it was dedicated soon after the War was over, others said that an acquaintance saw it and told him about it.

In any event, it is true that he visited the grave every year to put flowers on it. Some said on the anniversary of the battle, others that he did it on Memorial Day.

In any event, that story is only 152 years old. The Bible takes us back 2,000 years to Jesus Christ, and to 1,500 years of biblical writings collected before that time. How can we believe in the accuracy of such an old book? Would not the stories have similar twists and turns as the Henry Struble account?

Remember the child’s game in elementary school called “Whisper Down the Line?”  The teacher would write a sentence on a paper and whisper it to the first person in a circle. All around the circle the sentence would be repeated to the next person and so on, until the last person would write on the board what they heard. Finally, the teacher would read her beginning words; and the two sentences were never, ever even remotely similar.

That is what a lot of people naturally feel is what happened with the Bible … that the written version today is not at all like what really happened, and thus cannot be seen as reliable.

In our passage for today, Peter has encouraged his readers to remain true to the truths they had been taught. He knew his time was short, and his desire was for the truth to be firmly entrenched in the hearts and minds of Christ’s followers.

12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

But why should they believe and put their lives on the line for this teaching? Peter gives two answers – speaking of the incarnate Word of Christ and the written Word of God.

Verses 16-18 speak about the Mount of Transfiguration, which was an incredible experience for the three disciples who got to see and HEAR just a bit behind the curtain of Glory itself. In Matthew 17 is the scene …

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

That would be impressive! And Peter, while reflecting on that, wrote about why he should be believed …

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

But it was even more than just an experience. All of the experiences the disciples were witnesses of were events that squared with Scripture and the writings of prophets from years before.

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

These final two verses are of greatest interest for our theme in this Framework series. None of the writers of the Bible made up anything on their own. They were rather inspired by the Holy Spirit and “carried along” to pen what they wrote. The Greek words here are from the nautical world of sailing, and they speak of a wind that fills the sails and moves the boat across the water. The Holy Spirit (the word for which is pneumatos in Greek – like ‘pneumatic’) was the wind in the sails … through the pens … of the human authors to write with divine accuracy the very words that God desired for mankind to possess, even within the unique writing style of each author.

The end result is that we have a good and complete record of God’s truth, through human authors, to depend upon as God’s revelation to us as to how we may know Him and serve and live for Him effectively even in a dark and sinful world.

A Framework in a World Gone Crazy (2 Timothy 3:1-17)

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On this day that I write these words, I found myself in a very melancholy mood at the weekly pastoral staff prayer gathering. Conversation around the table featured a couple of items of behavior in the current culture that I simply cannot relate to at all – items that struck me as antithetical to the Christian life and leaking across appropriate lines that separate the markings of a follower of Christ versus the mere stuff of this world.

I find myself more and more out of touch with the ebb and flow of what is popular and valued – things esteemed often for reasons I simply cannot imagine. I fear being old and disconnected, especially in an era that seems to more quickly than ever disregard loyalties to the tried and true, turning rather with an A.D.D. sort of bored disinterest in favor of anything that is young and new. Exterior excitement certainly trumps internal substance.

I feel like a Rolex in a world where the iWatch unveiling has essentially doomed me and my Scriptural substance values system to the back corner of the old socks drawer in the bedroom dresser … good for memories, but not exciting enough for where life is going.

In some fraction, I helped to change the Christian church world by jumping from the traditional structures of my youth and being part of the leading edge toward “contemporary” modalities. The preaching and teaching component at that time did not change regarding the value, authority, and perfection of God’s Word … though it is true that my generation of communicators pressed to not just teach what the Bible said to the original audience and the theology inherent with it, but to go the next step and flesh out the practical applications for a modern world.

But after us came a new wave of exciting communicators who used the Scriptures as a launching point to talk about applications that were not necessarily always supported by the original teaching and intent. It is like laying a foundation for a three-bedroom ranch house, but then building a larger contemporary structure with multiple levels of stone walls, heavy timbers, and glass atriums and overhanging balconies. It was beautiful to look at for a while, but eventually the foundation gave way, and great was the fall thereof!

In the last month, several prominent faces of externally successful church ministry around the country have had more than a few structural faults exposed. It was inevitable when the foundation – the framework – was not appropriately valued.

It may seem like this is new and unique to our times, but it is not. It has been a recurrent problem dating back to the early church, to the days of Paul, and even to the challenges faced by Moses in Israel. And so the Apostle Paul wrote to encourage and instruct his younger disciple in the faith – Randy … ah, oops … no, it was Timothy – yeah, that’s the ticket …

3:1  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Wow, those first five verses really do sound like a description of our present age – self-centered and self-focused people who cunningly build empires around themselves, looking like something, claiming to be something. It was like two characters named Jannes and Jambres – who are not biblical names, but rather referred to a very common and well-known Jewish legend about two of Pharaoh’s magicians who opposed Moses. They looked really good for a while, but eventually the smoke and mirrors caught up with them, as they did not possess substance.

Paul instructs Timothy to not go in this direction, but to remember and follow a different model – one that was given to him by Paul – a model of enduring faithfulness built upon the framework of Scripture …

10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The fact is that the faithful life of serving Christ is not going to be easy. Paul suffered greatly and was even stoned and presumed dead, but he recovered and walked back into Lystra to finish his sermon! There is going to be opposition both from those who hate the faith, and difficulties from others who are impostors within the walls. The need is to stay faithful to the Scriptures. God’s Word is the foundation that will stand. It is perfect in every detail and timelessly profitable in any situation.

The Scriptures fully equip a person who knows what they teach to address any and all contingencies. But to be equipped, one has to know what they say. One has to make the Bible and the study of it to be a lifelong passion and pursuit. It is not enough to get some general ideas and run with them toward your own desired application.

The Bible is a framework in a world gone crazy, and truly we live in such a world.

Itching ears, greedy stomach (2 Timothy 4:1-8)

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Your average preacher is the spiritual equivalent of the TV weatherman.  He pays enormously for an academic education, then he gets put in front of an audience that expects him to be entertaining—and gets furious when he tells them something they don’t want to hear. 

Paul understood this.  This is why he tells the young pastor Timothy to press in, because times are tough and there will always be rivals.  In his letter to this young pastor, Paul writes:

 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

What was the danger?  Paul knew that Timothy would face an era where people turned from God’s truth to instead embrace a seductive lie.  Itching ears?  By that he meant that sometimes our “felt” needs outstrip our deeper, spiritual needs. 

I hope you recognize that this danger is no less real today.  Go into any bookstore—even the Christian bookstore—and you’ll be confronted by a wall of self-help teachers that offer advice on finance, dating, weight loss, and anything else you can conceivably think of as leading to personal happiness and fulfillment.  With itching ears and greedy stomachs, modern day Christians have unrepentantly devoted themselves to a curious blend of spiritual platitudes and consumerist delight. 

Why is this so dangerous?  Doesn’t God want me to be happy?  But that question only assumes that my deepest problem is unhappiness.  If my deepest problem is financial, then financial planning is my surest savior.  If my problem is singleness, then dating advice becomes my gospel.  If my deepest problem is low self-esteem, then a self-help manual works wonders.  But the gospel says that my deepest problem isn’t a lack of personal fulfillment, but the excess of personal fulfillment.  What the Bible calls “sin” is a form of self-indulgence, self-interest, self-absorption.  And the only true remedy for that is the gospel. 

You see, the greatest problem within the walls of today’s church is that we’ve assumed the gospel to be elementary when it should be elemental.  We’ve assumed that the God has saved us from hell, but fail to recognize the ways he has saved us for new life.  And when we minimize that, we’re left to thrive on the petty dalliances of consumerist religion.  What today’s church needs is not a change in her substance, but a return to it.  To refocus our eyes on the beauty of Jesus and his message of forgiveness and transformation.   To realize that when—not if—we fully understand the exhilarating, electrifying joy that comes from knowing Christ, that our so-called needs and “itching ears” will seem trivial by comparison. 

Paul’s letter to Timothy was the last that would appear in the New Testament—and most likely his final before being killed in Rome.   Paul faced this inevitability with courage, with conviction, and with words of encouragement for the rough road ahead:

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

If we care deeply about others, it naturally means caring less about self.  Often people struggle to find a church that “meets my needs.”  But such an approach treats faith as if it were a series of projects, self-improvement schemes with Jesus as the means and self as the end.  But Christianity says that religion isn’t something that you can master; religion is something that must master you.  And so if the gospel is true, I find hope and purpose and joy in Christ alone—and not the cares of my earthly appetite and itching ears. 

 

Loving the Same Old Thing (Jude 17-25)

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We inhabit a world drunk on its own sense of progress.  We believe that the latest is—almost by necessity—superior to what came before.  The line for the latest iPhone or technological gadget testifies not merely to our desire to ride the wave of the latest trends, but also our fears of being left in the lurch when the wave passes us by.  And the same applies to questions of morality.  Our world is on an unending quest to remain on the cutting edge of moral debate.  After all, our modern-day prophets insist, no one wants to be left on the “wrong side of history.” 

The argument, of course, is that when Christians cling to Biblical values, they do so at the expense of the forward march of human progress.  Christian values are sneered at as “behind the times”—outdated, unrealistic, unnecessary. 

In Jude’s day, the church was confronted—nay, surrounded—by those who insisted that the latest ideas were the right ones.  Something called Gnosticism was on the rise—a belief system that stressed personal spirituality while downplaying the significance of life in the here and now.  To focus on the world around us…well, that must have seemed crude and backward to a people that was increasingly infatuated with elevated, spiritual language. 

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 

Jude reminds his readers that while they have good reason to be sad, they’ve no reason to be surprised.  There will always be those who live in ways that contradict Biblical values.  And in today’s world, we see this in the continual march of progress. 

In his book called Heresy, Oxford professor Alister McGrath writes that when he surveys all of the false teachings within Christianity, he finds as a common thread the desire for novelty, a yearning to break free from what came before.  C.S.  Lewis alludes to this same principle in his novel The Screwtape Letters, wherein he satirizes the ways that Satan tries to control God’s people:

“What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity And’…If they must be Christians let them be Christians with a difference.  Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian coloring.  Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing. 

The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart – an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship.” (C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters p. 135)

In other words, the myth of progress is really nothing more than curiosity run amuck.  For what are we really saying?  Are we really willing to say that our understanding of morality is evolving?  Because such an evolutionary view would mean that our culture today is superior to our culture of yesterday—and are we really so willing to say that one culture is superior to another?  Wouldn’t that simply smack of the same arrogance that Christians are allegedly guilty of?  But of course, such arguments dissipate into the ether of a world where feeling has become believing, and discourse has been relegated to the level of emotion rather than reason.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Jude focuses on encouraging his readers to remain strong.

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh  24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,  be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

If we follow Jesus, we need to expect that things will go badly.  We follow a man who divided more than he united.  He eventually died—through God’s plan, yes, but instrumentally through the hands of a people who’d had enough.  His closest followers would share in these sufferings.  Martyrdom became the seeds by which the early church would flourish.  And if we follow Jesus today, we do so by cultivating a deep and abiding passion for the “same old thing.”  I love the old hymn writer who sang,

“I love to tell the story
for those who know it best
seem  hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.” 

What else is there apart from the gospel?  May we never get bored with the message of God’s love, of Christ’s sacrifice, of the Spirit’s guidance. 

On Whose Authority? (Jude 1-16)

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Bible readingIt’s become almost cliché to say that we live in a post-Christian culture.  Though western society has never embraced a single religion, our arts and laws have nonetheless been shaped by values traceable to Christianity.  But now, religion is seen as the problem, not the solution.  Christianity in particular seems a throwback to a set of outdated laws right up there with racial segregation, sexual repression, and moral regression.  So in today’s world, morality is in the eye of the beholder.  There are no absolutes, only personal perspectives. 

In his carefully-research Souls In Transition, sociologist Christian Smith sat down to interview a variety of young adults to gain a better understanding of their religious and moral beliefs.  What he found was striking:

“…when we interviewers tried to get respondents to talk about whether what they take to be substantive moral beliefs reflect some objective or universal quality or standard are simply relative human inventions, many – if not most – could not understand what we interviewers were trying to get at.  They had difficulty seeing the possible distinction between, in this case, objective moral truth and relative human invention.  This is not because they are dumb.  It seems to be because they simply cannot, for whatever reason, believe in – or sometimes even conceive of – a given, objective truth, fact, reality or nature of the world that is independent of their subjective self-experience and that in relation to which they and others might learn or be persuaded to change.” (Christian Smith, Souls in Transition, pp. 45-6)

In other words, it’s not that these young people are saying, “There’s no absolute truth.”  They lack even the category to understand the nature of truth.  If we were to attach a technical word to this, we’d say that they lack an understanding of authority.  What is “authority?”  Authority asks and answers the question: “How do I know this is true?”  It’s the reason we trust sources like CNN or Fox News over Wikipedia, or the reason we filter our friend’s social media posts through sites like Snopes. 

Think of it this way: if I post an article on social media claiming that…I don’t know, eating more bacon will help you lose weight, will that change your lifestyle?  Your answer should be, “That depends.”  If you click on the article and see that it links to something like baconlovers.com, you might suspect a hidden agenda.  You don’t trust the authority of the claim.  But if the link takes you to a site that documents data from the American Medical and American Heart associations, you might be more inclined to buy a pound or two of bacon from the store (bad news: I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure this is untrue).  So authority will have a drastic impact on the way I live my life.

Christianity’s most radical claim is not merely that God exists; it’s that he communicates.  Christianity insists that the Bible is the revealed Word of God.  To obey the Bible is to obey God.  Therefore, the Bible has authority over my life like no one else can. 

The book of Jude was named for its author, who also happened to be the half-brother of Jesus.  Jude never believed that Jesus was the Messiah—at least not until after Jesus was resurrected.  In his commentary on Jude, Thomas Schreiner suggests that perhaps James—one of Jesus’ other siblings—was instrumental in Jude’s conversion (cf. 1 Cor 15:7).  The point is, Jude’s belief was anchored in the historical claim that Jesus rose from the dead:

 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude had a very specific purpose in writing.  His concern was for false teachers who might infiltrate the Christian community and steer the people away from the truth of the gospel.  The first half of his letter is devoted to this central crisis:

 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved3 a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds,  swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead,  uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame;  wandering stars,  for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires;  they are loud-mouthed boasters,  showing favoritism to gain advantage.

Again, in his commentary on Jude, Thomas Schreiner suggests that even though we can’t perfectly identify the people Jude speaks of, we can create something of a “composite sketch:”

  • reject authority (“despise dominion,” v. 8)
  • deny the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 4)
  • criticize the angels (“speak evil of dignities,” v. 8),
  • rely on dreams and/or visions (“filthy dreamers,” v. 8),
  • turn grace into license (“turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness,” v. 4)
  • are ungodly (v. 4)
  • commit and promote sexual immorality (“defile the flesh,” v. 8),
  • are ultimately said to be subject to future judgment (“their judgment was spoken of long ago,” v. 4).

(Thomas Schreiner, 1,2 Peter, Jude, p 437). 

I don’t know about you, but I find this oddly reassuring.  Why?  Because it means that men like this don’t simply occupy the halls of academia, but in our classrooms, workplaces, and neighborhoods.  And this also means that regardless of how challenging it seems to be to reach a post-Christian world with the gospel, it’s not a new challenge—nor an insurmountable one.  Instead we can be thankful that God’s truth does not depend on our belief, but solely because he spoke it into reality.  And it also means that if we follow Jesus, we are continually called to live and believe under a system whose authority is radically different from our own—or from others.   Over the next few days, we’ll look at the ways that Christianity’s authority—namely, the Bible—calls us to live in holiness, in purity, and in joy.

 

Life is Better in God’s Hands (Psalm 130)

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A lot of people look at God as simply angry and judgmental – a sort of cranky jurist ready to pronounce a punishment upon any and every offender. And it is true that God is righteous and just, and that he will judge sin.

But God is along with everything else the very model of grace and forgiveness. That forgiveness is granted of course based upon a just payment – ultimately in the blood of Christ.

God’s desire is to be gracious, even as the bulk of mankind refuses to trust in him and receive the gift of life in Jesus Christ.

This short Psalm 130 today speaks of God’s heart of forgiveness. He didn’t have to be this way; he could have justly held mankind’s sins against them. But he made the ultimate provision.

There is forgiveness with God, and with that secured we can “reverently” (verse 4) serve him and find a life of satisfaction.

This is a great truth for use to remember during those times of waiting … and there are lots of times of waiting in the Christian life. There are some long and dark nights; you know the daytime is going to come, but the night seems like it will never end.

I could quickly identify for you several items in life that I have waited for, and continue to wait for, now for years. I don’t know why the night is so long, but I know that God is in control and that on the other side of it I will be able to look back with thanksgiving for God’s perfect timing… again!

The final two verses call upon the original singers of this song – Israelite pilgrims – to put their hope in the Lord because of his “unfailing love.” This references that big idea of God’s special covenant love for the nation. And we have such a covenant of grace through Jesus Christ.

So, whatever you’re dealing with, hope in the Lord – there is nothing better.

As we end with this devotional – the 65th in the God’s Playlist series – on Sunday we begin with a new four-week sermon series on the Scriptures. Along with it will be a total of 15 days of devotional readings, beginning this coming Monday.

If you have been getting these devotionals automatically sent to you, it will be there for you on Monday morning, though under the name of “Framework.” The page will have a different look and graphics, but it is all the same webpage – and you can look back through all the 340 devotionals written in the past two years that accompany eight different sermon series. Actually, reading all of them would take you approximately one-third of the way through the Bible.

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

The Boringly Successful and Happy Life (Psalm 128)

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It seems that every day I hear of another story, either in the news or within the relatively small circle of people with whom I’ve been familiar over six decades, of someone who has given up on life – even done something desperate.

What is the secret to a happy and contented life?

Most people seem to believe this to be an elusive goal that can only be achieved through extraordinary accomplishment and accumulation of worldly gain. Such gain could possibly accompany happiness as a byproduct, but it is never the source of the contentment.

Though the old hymn “Trust and Obey” is a trite little ditty, it actually does sum up the essence of what it takes to experience a successive life of contentment – and that is to trust and obey, for there’s no other way.

That is essentially what this Psalm taught – to the adults who would sing it on the pilgrimage roads toward Jerusalem, within the ears of younger generations travelling along.

Here is a quick summary of Psalm 128 today:  Even in an imperfect world, the general pattern of life is that those who trust in God and keep his commandments find the Lord’s provision to be sufficient through their work; and their home life is largely blessed through several generations that in turn are a blessing to the nation and others around them.

Though there have been a few Buchman renegades over the years, this general truth has proven itself for as many generations as I can trace it back to the Swiss Reformation, and I believe I am living to see it pass on to grandchildren – who are a great blessing and lots of joy.

But let me talk about another family of my lifelong acquaintance. Among my parents’ best friends was a couple who were about the same age. The husband was an insurance agent and the wife the mother of six children. They were faithful in serving in the church on a weekly basis and shared their faith with their children. Though there were a few circuitous routes of life of the six kids (the youngest being my age), they all eventually (and continue each one to this day) to live lives of service: a pastor, a Christian college president, directors of several ministries including World Vision, Christian school educators, etc. At the time of the deaths of this couple a few years ago, every last child, grand child and beyond … they all knew the Lord.

There are no guarantees that this will work perfectly for every family, but there is a principle that a long, long, consistent life of trust and obedience largely yields personal and family fruit of this sort. It’s not complicated actually. It just requires the work of yielding to the Spirit rather than the flesh. No tricks. No gimmicks, no hidden secrets for success. Just do it!

The blessing at the end of a “boring” life of faithfulness is worth it all. Let’s make generations of people like this at TSF! That is our church vision.

Psalm 128

A song of ascents.

1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.

5 May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children—peace be on Israel.

The Dew and Oil Bucket Challenge (Psalm 133)

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The big craze that has swept the country like few things I’ve ever seen is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Along with the fund-raising component, it serves to bring awareness to the awful Lou Gehrig’s disease. People essentially baptize themselves in identification with this worthy cause of researching for a cure.

In today’s brief little Psalm of only three verses, there is a statement of the blessing of God’s people living in unity, with two illustrations that may seem to us in our modern age as rather unusual … of a downward flow of oil and water.

Psalm 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

This final week of studying Psalms: God’s Playlist we are looking at a category of psalms known as Songs of Ascent. This is helpful in understanding the meaning. Again, these are pilgrim songs – sung by the Jewish people on their travels in “going up” to Jerusalem for the three big feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

These feasts were a time when all of the nation came together before God in worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. We’re speaking of the 12 Tribes of Israel … and what are the tribes? They are the families of the 12 brothers who were the sons of Jacob (Israel). Many translations use the term “brethren” in verse one to translate the Hebrew שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד (that was fun to put that in there)… like the American Standard Version “how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

Diana and I always liked it when the “brethren” of our five boys dwelled together in unity! They really do like to get together and do things with each other now, but it wasn’t always that way!

So when the nation came together for these feasts, the assembled pilgrims were essentially a gigantic family reunion. It was an opportunity for them to have a renewal of their unique relationship with each other and with God through the Covenant made together.

But families don’t always get along, and bitterness from past wrongs and conflicts get in the way of unity. Over my years of preaching there is one sermon that I have given now three separate  times at the Christmas season called, “Dealing with the turkey at your table and the sap in your family tree” … and is about a godly model of dealing with the crazy relatives at the holidays. Without any doubt, this is by far, far, far, far the most commented-upon sermon I’ve ever done!

There were some bad feelings here and there in the family of Jacob (Israel). It went all of the way back to that time the brothers threw Joseph into a pit and sold him to slave traders. Though he would save the family from destruction and all would be reconciled, it was far from the last time there would be national/family strife.

The picture in verse two of the oil flowing over Aaron’s head looked back to his consecration as the high priest at the outset of the sacrificial system. In Leviticus 8:10-12 it says, “Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.”

So the picture in Ps. 133 is of this oil running down and off his beard and onto the priestly garments that included the breastplate – which represented the 12 tribes. In Exodus 28:29, this article of clothing is spoken of, “Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord.” Putting this all together it pictures the unity of the nation in covenant relationship with the Lord.

In verse three is another sort of “running down” picture of water coming off Mount Herman in the north of Israel. Heavy dews bring the life-giving water for the otherwise arid areas of Palestine.

The idea of “brethren” was a part of the earliest days of the church. For example, it says this in Acts 16:40, “After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them.” And then Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

Unity is a big deal; it is important. Discord should not be an acceptable pattern of behavior in the church community. One of the ideas involved with communion is that of a coming together of the family to be reconnected and restored to one another in the body of Christ – to put away divisions and conflicts … because it is good for brothers to dwell in unity.