Month: October 2014

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Everything in Subjection

Though David wrote Psalm 8 about man as in mankind, the author of Hebrews also recognized a unique application for the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:5–9)

God gave man dominion on earth, but God gave His Son dominion over the dominion-takers, the history-makers, and even over the nay-sayers. “At present we do not see everything in subjection to him.” Sinners still live and sin and stand against the Son of Man. Men still reject their Creator and suppress the truth they know about Him.

We have not reached the final chapter, but we will see all things in subjection, we will see God’s will on earth as it is in heaven, because Christ’s dominion is not potential. It is established; He is risen from the dead.

All things, including governments and businesses and neighborhoods, will be in service to the Son because He already suffered, died, and rose again. He did it as grace. He did it as a substitute. He did it to redeem “many sons” and bring them to glory through sanctification (Hebrews 2:10).

He is helping the tempted now (Hebrews 2:17-18). He is changing us now. He is identifying with us, unashamed to call us brothers now (Hebrews 2:11), even as He invites us to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

At present we do not see everything subjected to Him. But the world ought to see us in subjection to Him as we gather at His Table.

Categories
A Shot of Encouragement

There Is No Spoon

More from Saving Leonardo about the inevitable results of a man’s defective theology proper:

When artists were persuaded that nature operates by blind, undirected processes—-with no overarching purpose, order, or design—-then consciously or unconsciously they began to express that worldview by refusing to impose any order or design on their starting materials….If the universe does not have an author, if it was not created by a supreme artist, then what basis is there for humans to create works of art? (158)

Categories
Lord's Day Liturgy

Protecting Our Talk

The doctrine of creation does more than provide science with the origins of the universe. Because we know the first cause, in particular, because we know the first Who, we know that we are not alone. We are not alone and we exist for someone else’s purpose. That means that we all exist for Him, each and every one of us, and that means that we should be careful how we talk about His stuff.

Again, Genesis 1 and 2 reveal how we got here, who we are, and what we’re supposed to do. God made us, He made us in His image, and He commanded that we be fruitful and take dominion. There are now over 7 billion people living on the planet. Many of us have cell phones bouncing off of satellites to order our food via voice activation. Yet there’s one area of stewardship that we still struggle with.

[N]o human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (James 3:8–9)

Creation establishes morality, both in terms of to Whom we give an answer and for what we will answer. Morality belongs with how we respond to God and how we relate to one another. We have more means of communication today than at any other time in history, but there is no technology that can protect our talk. Only theology can protect our talk. Whether we text, post, call, or whisper about someone else, only one type of thing should come out.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (James 3:10)

How you think about and talk about your neighbor starts with worship. We should take our talk seriously because God has authority over us and because God has given dignity to those around us.

Categories
A Shot of Encouragement

The Day of Refreshing

The following encouragement came in a letter from Robert Cushman to the William Bradford recorded in Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647 (page 108):

I pray you not be discouraged, but gather up yourself, to go through these difficulties cheerfully and with courage in that place wherein God hath set you, until the day of refreshing come.

Categories
Lord's Day Liturgy

The Son and the Psalter

Psalm 2 sits in a special place in the Psalter. In fact, based on early manuscripts of Acts 13:33 that quoted Psalm 2:7 as being in the “first psalm,” Psalms 1 and 2 were seen as one song, starting in 1:1 with “blessed” and ending in 2:12 with “blessed.” Though they are divided in our copies, Psalm 2 clearly provides another entrance into the entire Book. If Psalm 1 stresses the goodness of singing the Scriptures, Psalm 2 stresses the goodness of singing the Son. Psalm 1 makes men wise and fruitful who delight in the law of Yahweh. Psalm 2 makes men wise and joyful who submit to the rule of Yahweh’s anointed.

Whoever put Psalm 2 in this place put HOPE in the Son’s reign as the a banner over ALL the other songs! While we anticipate the personal blessings of present fruitfulness in the world according to Psalm 1, so we anticipate the global blessing in the future rule of the Messiah over all the world as Psalm 2 describes. He will bring peace among men.

Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
(Psalm 2:11–12)

Serve Him, rejoice before Him, kiss Him, and trust Him. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Refuge is a constant refrain in the Psalms. It implies that we need help, that we are in trouble. It also means that He is the salvation, protection, safety we need. He doesn’t get irritated that we need help. He makes us happy when we run to Him for it.

Psalm 2 doesn’t mention the cross or the resurrection, true, but the Savior and King is the same person, the same chosen and anointed Son. This song reveals the problem: rebellion against the Lord. This song reveals the answer: submission to God’s Son. Psalm 2 also reveals the future as we look forward to the Son’s certain reign. Christ received His throne by going to the cross first, and we celebrate both His sacrifice and His government at the Lord’s Table.

Categories
Lord's Day Liturgy

Three Nots

The blessed man in Psalm 1 is known by three “nots”.

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
(Psalm 1:1)

First, he walks not in the counsel of the wicked. He does not follow advice from the ungodly. He doesn’t listen to their opinions.

Can you imagine what the writer of Psalm 1 would think about talk radio, cable news, podcasts and vodcasts, or the magazine wall at the airport? Then add to those inputs the narrative lessons of so many sitcoms, summer blockbusters, and Pandora playlists. We walk into the road without looking either way and get hit by the media truck that imprints its godless perspective across our face.

The blessed man also does not stand in the way of sinners. Stand is not simply stopping, it means taking up a certain perspective. We could say that he doesn’t join the gang of those who regularly disobey. Standing with rebels on the wrong side of the lines God draws is no good.

And third, he does not sit in the seat of scoffers. The scorner or scoffer is at the boldest stage of disobedience where he mocks righteousness and/or God Himself. Scoffing doesn’t have to be loud or obnoxious. Scoffing in a story looks like laughing at the guy who thinks marriage is only between one man and one woman. The scoffer jokes about holiness. The blessed man avoids the cynics. He’s alright standing out.

Walking, standing, and sitting represent all of life. The unblessed man is immersed in a corrupt culture, tuned in to a particular worldview channel. The blessed man disassociates with the advice, the approach, and the assembly of the wicked. The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord. How much junk have we welcomed into our hearts this last week?