God’s Word teaches capital punishment for certain crimes, especially for murder (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12-14). In fact many of the specifics of criminal law required the congregation to participate (in the stoning to death), not merely observe it. 

God gives the government the sword (Romans 13:4), and part of what this means is that they have the authority to kill. We pray that justice is done, not mocked. We know that this power is not always used with God’s approval, but it is always according to His purposes.

Our Lord was executed in public, nailed to a cross by the Roman government as pushed by the Jewish leaders. He was mocked, tortured, put on display, and killed in cruelty. 

Of course we remember two vital distinctions. One, Jesus was innocent of all charges against Him, and so God accepted the death of His Son in place of us who believe. As God Jesus died for us, He did not kill us in the name of His God. Two, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and we will be raised up with Him. 

Every week as we eat the bread and drink the cup we proclaim His public execution until He comes.

Jesus spent an entire night in prayer before selecting men to be His apostles (Luke 6:12). Is there any significance in that?

The answer to that is as obvious as the apostle James teaching that: you have not because you ask not (James 4:2).

It is easy not to pray. It is easy not to live by faith and instead to live by the flesh. The fundamentals of sanctification are almost too basic: meditating on the Word and praying. Even pastors who are to be devoted to the ministry of the Word and prayer know that prayer is easy to neglect. It is wrong.

We make plans, but we do not say, “if the Lord wills” (James 4:15). We are weak because we are not dependent. We are unwise because we do not ask for wisdom from God. We believe, but we still have unbelief, and some of that is because we have not asked for help.

If you would cast your bread on the waters and find it after many days, you must wait by faith in prayer. If you would sow seeds and wait for the harvest, you must work and pray.

What causes fights and quarrels is that we do not pray (James 4:1-2). Whoever boasts that he will do whatever he wants whenever he wants is arrogant; he knows what is right but sins when he fails to do it (James 4:15-16). Let us not seek answers and strength according to what we can see first, but rather seek the Lord first in prayer that He might provide for us in ways we can see.

Imagine our spiritual enemies in the unseen realm constantly encamped at the entryway. They have more information about us than all the flock cameras possibly could. They know our faces, and many of our sins. They know why we’re coming in here, what we’ll be doing, and even that we’ll get to this point at the communion table.

They know that Jesus will show us mercy again just like Jonah knew the Lord would show in Nineveh. They know that Jesus will call us to join Him just like He called the withered hand man forward. We get to eat and drink, and we do not deserve it at all.

What accusations they must make, not just against us, but against Jesus.

Jesus has “forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14). We are welcome with Him. His resurrection has triumphed over their hypocrisy and false righteousness and lies (Colossians 2:15).

God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have chosen and atoned and regenerated. He was pierced for our transgressions and with His wounds we are healed though we deserved to be destroyed (Isaiah 53:5). Let them look at us in disgust, we have been saved.

Anger also works like this. As your anger increases your options decrease. As anger swells your ability to see clearly gets smaller.

Solomon says that anger dwells in the bosom of fools.

Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
(Ecclesiastes 7:9 ESV)

Madness means a loss of mind. A man who’s gone mad may just be crazy, he may be destructive.

The Pharisees were angry with Jesus. When they saw the man with the withered hand they were not touched with pity or mercy (Luke 6:6-7). When they watched Jesus heal they were not persuaded by Jesus’s power. When they heard Jesus’s question about healing or harming, saving or destroying his life—which is about as basic as it could be—they were not able to see themselves in the story.

They were “filled with fury” (ESV), “filled with rage” (LSB), “filled with madness” (KJV) and it is because they were without mind (ἀνοίας) (Luke 6:11). They discussed their options for dealing with Jesus but all they could come up with was one: harm Him.

Anger narrows your life. Brothers and sisters, mortify your anger before it makes you mad.

Jesus taught that a day was coming when the presence of God’s blessing would not be limited to entering one set of doors (John 4:21), and that day was defined by Him. When He sent His Spirit, and then sent His men to the ends of the earth with the gospel, believers are able to know the Lord without a quest to one holy address.

This is because Jesus is better. He is the Son of God and Son of Man. He is the true and better Adam, the firstborn of creation, the firstborn from the dead. He is preeminent, the one from whom and through whom and to whom are all things.

Better is Jesus than anything. And with Jesus, all are ours.

The only ongoing and repeated ordinance for His disciples is communion. Baptism is important, but the Supper should be frequent. Eating the bread and drinking the wine in Jesus’ name proclaims His death until He comes. Here we are, around one table in Jesus’ name. Jesus is better.

Usually you need some compound movements, and strengthening some overlapping muscles.

It is a sign of maturity to hold on to more than one thing at a time. There are at least four overlapping metaphorical muscle groups for this kind of strength.

Love good things. Maybe this is coffee, maybe tea. Maybe it’s salty or sweet. Maybe it’s sprinting or long distance. Maybe it’s a Bible reading plan of six verses a day, or six chapters. All are yours, and a mature person has more than surface-level cares.

Recognize that there are multiple good things to love. This starts to stretch some people. We need to grow as our categories grow, or, we need more categories than one-size-fits-all.

Acknowledge that you can love something different and more intensely than someone else. Now it becomes inter-personal. It’s not just what books belong in the library, but it’s the other patrons who never pick a book from your preferred list. You think, “What is he doing?” He might be wanting to ask you the same question.

Enjoy (and promote) what you love without polarizing another person who loves a different thing more intensely than you. We tend to get defensive about the things we care more about to the persons we care more about, who tend to be closer. So we tend to have more conflict about different good things with friends, not enemies. Enemies aren’t loving good things in the first place.

One relevant example among us: How should fathers best take responsibility to educate their children? To homeschool or private school?

What is better? What is right? Should we avoid the discussion to avoid possible conflict? Or can we recognize that there are multiple good options, and that we can love and promote what we think is great, without turning friends who choose a different good option into enemies?

Of course this relates to our responsibility to drawe one waye (Philippians 2:2).

Usually we reason from heaven to earth. We consider our Heavenly Father and try to reflect Him, and that’s good. But a couple times the Bible argues the other way, with a “how much more.” If the lesser is true, how much more true is the greater.

Even earthly fathers discipline for the good of their kids, how much more when the Father disciplines us unto holiness?

we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (Hebrews 12:9 ESV)

And even earthly fathers don’t give rocks when their kids ask for bread, how much greater our Father in heaven?

which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9–11 ESV)

The greatest “good thing” the Father gave is His Son.

Confession and communion. Rebuke and rejoicing. Discipline and delight. Forgiveness and fellowship. How much more does our Heavenly Father give to us?!

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32 ESV)

One of the proverbs most quoted in our house over the years has been Solomon’s lesson on the unteachable.

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates reproof is stupid.
(Proverbs 12:1 ESV)

The word “stupid” (translated as such in the ESV, NAS, NIV) usually referred to an animal that lacks sense. To hate correction is “brutish” (KJV), “senseless” (LSB). Lots of times parents are up against the worst sort of willful stupidity. Some other times parents are the worst at keeping their kids dumb.

Imagine your house was on fire and you saw one of your kids inside, apparently unaware of the danger. You call out for your son to GET OUT, and he either can’t hear or doesn’t care. Would you just watch and wait? Would you try again with a whisper?

Who is more “stupid,” the child in the burning house or the dad who sees the child in the burning house and acts as if it’s no big deal? He who hates reproof is stupid. And he who hates giving reproof when it is necessary sponsors stupidity, and death (Proverbs 19:18). Maybe the most ironic response is hating correction so much that you get fired up to correct the ones urging your kids to get out of the burning house because you don’t like their tone. We should be wiser than that.

Grape juice is like liturgical crust on much modern Christian communion practice. Grape juice is a comfortable tradition that fits more with the rules than with rejoicing. It is not bad, it is also not as fitting.

Let us not pressure consciences, rather, let us release consciences. Even more, let us eat and drink at the Lord’s Table not like the groom is still in the grave.

The problem that Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 11 is not that the Corinthians were enjoying their bread and wine, the problem is that some were excluding others from bread and wine. The “unworthy” part was selfishness and dividing the body, it was not unworthy that it was tasty.

Remember that Dr. Thomas Welch applied pasteurization science to gut the fruit of the vine in order to guard against Christians abusing wine at communion. More than the contents of the cup have been watered down.

God Himself causes:

the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth fruit
from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man
(Psalm 104:14-15)

We offer juice as a concession, and without judgment. And also, the gift and history and goodness of wine remind us that communion is not only not a time for fasting, it is a feast by faith.

He is risen, raise your glass!

We are tempted to think that sowing seeds today will let us taste strawberries tomorrow. If tomorrow comes, and the strawberries aren’t ripe, did God even notice our effort? Ah, here is the need for faith. The author of Hebrews wrote,

“For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake” (Hebrews 6:10)

Why is that helpful? Because enough time goes by and we start to think that He is overlooking. Believe that God knows and is faithful, and keep on believing:

“so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:11-12)

Faith is not sluggish or dull or lazy. Faith pursues, and persists, in patience until the work is done, and the promises come.

Abraham illustrates this for us. God swore by Himself (6:13) an unconditional covenant to bless Abraham (6:14), and Abraham believed and “patiently waited” (6:15). Trust God and His purpose, He is “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19).

Don’t put the cart before the horse, the fruit before the faith.