Month: December 2017

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Still Bringing People Together

Birth brings people together. One of the seasonal favorite songs, “The First Noel,” celebrates the good news about the birth of the King of Israel whom we know is the King of kings.

The word noel seems to be borrowed from French (nael) which itself is a derivative from Latin (natalis) meaning nativity, “the occasion of a person’s birth.” The first birth was not the first in history but rather the first in preeminence. Jesus is the true “firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (Psalm 98:27). He is the one who brings together.

Consider the group that His birth brought together. There was the unwed, teenage mother, Mary. There was the unheralded but steady Joseph. Then add the dirty “poor shepherds” outside the city, and also the “wise men came from country far.” God used a Caesar to get Mary and Joseph in place, angels to get the shepherds in place, and a star to get the wise men in place. Though all of them weren’t actually together on the same night, they did all come together around Jesus.

As do we. Who are we? We are not many wise according to worldly standards, not many powerful or of noble birth (1 Corinthians 1:26). We are more the previously sexually immoral, idolators, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, greedy, drunken revilers (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). But a baby was born. God by His grace and Spirit has brought a ragtag group together around the baby.

Matthew’s genealogy includes the outcast, scandalous, and foreigner. The family Jesus comes from anticipates the family he has come for. (Sam Allberry)

We who believe in Jesus are a new family, a new humanity in the Second Adam from above. Jesus’ birth, leading to His death and resurrection, is still bringing people together.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Keeping the Incarnation on the Front Burner

For the past three weeks I’ve been reminding us that God came in the flesh. We need reminding about certain things, and the Christmas season is a strategic time to keep the incarnation warming on the mental front burner. The apostle John stated that to deny Christ came in the flesh is the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:2-3). The apostle Peter referred to Christ’s suffering in the flesh as key to our thinking (1 Peter 4:1-2). And the apostle Paul considered the truth of Christ’s incarnation to be the church’s responsibility to protect.

He wrote to Timothy about “the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). The church supports and defends the truth. Then he continued with an amazing hymn of truth.

He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)

Most of these belong with godliness. It suits God to be vindicated and appreciated and believed then received into heaven’s glory. All of those fit. It does not fit, not naturally, that godliness would first be “manifested in the flesh.”

The Old Testament prophesied it. The virgin would bear a son and his name would be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). God would be with us (Matthew 1:23). But it was still a mystery. It still didn’t all make sense. Yet now we know. God, and true godlinesses, was revealed in Jesus.

We are to love and proclaim and believe and support that truth. It is not secondary or optional. Our salvation depends on it. And we also should desire that godliness be manifest—made known, gone public—in our own flesh. The work of the Spirit is a sanctifying work until we are taken up into glory with Jesus.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

The Gluten of Your Family

One of the reasons God gives us fathers is so that we can learn what is good, including what is good to eat. It’s not that God expects every father to be a nutritionist, but He does provide father’s with the opportunity to be examples. Father’s will inescapably teach their children about eating, the question is what lesson they will teach.

What is a balanced meal? Who says what is “balanced” and based on what (verse)? Is that even worth pursuing? How do you handle the food being a bit late to the table? A lot late? Do you ever help to prepare the meal, or clean up from it? How big, or small, are the portions you dish out? Is eating a thing done in silence or amidst confrontation or amidst laughter? How do you handle items on your plate you don’t prefer (I’m looking at you, Brussels sprouts)? Is there more fear about where the food came from or ingredients in the food than there is fear about not giving God appropriate thanks for it? Even if you’re actually allergic to gluten, does your attitude glue the family together?

The lesson here is not as much about what goes into your mouth and more about what comes out of your heart. The Pharisees constantly missed this, and yet they made a lot of converts to their discriminating but dead righteousness. Fathers aren’t paid to follow their kids around and police what goes into their mouths. Father’s are given to children to care for them and show them the ways of Christ. The same is happening at the Lord’s Table. Fathers, I urge you, eat and drink in the way you want your kids to imitate, because they will.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

A Season to Be Made More Sturdy

We believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit God’s Son became incarnate from the virgin Mary. We believe that He is now recognized in two natures, truly God and truly man, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation. There is no one like Him.

We confess that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:2-3). Not only so, we remember that Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). And what did He do in the flesh? Among all the normal human things such as eating and drinking and sleeping and walking and working, He suffered.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2).

Peter’s previous paragraph talked about Christ the righteous suffering for the unrighteous. He was “put to death in the flesh” (1 Peter 3:18) for us. It is amazing that God became man. It is more amazing that God came to suffer.

It is an annual temptation to forget the suffering part, His and ours in imitation of Him. Christmastime is not a time to get out of suffering, it’s a time to remember the God who wrote Himself into the suffering story with us and for us. Christmastime may include sweet things to eat and a sense of security, but those are only possible because others sacrificed, and in some cases died, to give us what we have.

We receive cards that use soft colors to portray calm, warm evenings by a fire with lots of presents under a decorated tree. Such sentimental sketches don’t keep anyone from sin, they often stimulate false expectations and holiday idols. The same is true with so many “seasonal” songs; they are superficial and saccharine and don’t make us more sturdy. But Christ came in the flesh and suffered in the flesh so that we also would live for the will of God, and that includes our sanctified suffering, even on and around Christmas.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

The Goat that Went Away

A scapegoat is a powerful symbol.

In the Bible it comes from Leviticus 16. On the day of atonement the Lord told Aaron to take “two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for [the scapegoat],” at least that’s how the King James Version and the New American Standard Bible translate it. The ESV translates it as “the other lot for Azazel,” unsure of the exact meaning, suggesting maybe it is the name of a place.

Yet the note of commentary in the ESVSB says:

The traditional explanation is that Azazel (Hb. ‘aza’zel) is a compound word, combining “goat” (Hb. ‘ez) with “going away” (Hb. ’azel): the word would then mean “goat that goes away” (hence the conventional “scapegoat”).

The word is used in Leviticus 16:8, 10, and 26.

As I said, the image is powerful. It is a goat, it is a goat that gets sent away into the wilderness, and it is a goat that gets sent away into the wildness carrying the sins of the people. Of the two goats, one is sacrificed and the blood covers the sins. The other goat, the scapegoat, symbolically removes sins. They are taken away.

Cultures seek scapegoats. Whole books are written to explain the motives and the methods. But none of them are effective. Jesus is. He is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The apostle John also wrote, “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins” (1 John 3:5).

Jesus died so that we might reign with Him (see 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 20:6). Who died and made us kings? Actually, Jesus did, and we’ll reign with Him.

And there we’ll find our home
Our life before the throne
We’ll honor Him in perfect song
Where we belong
He’ll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die
The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King
We’ll reign with Him

(“There Is a Higher Throne” verse 2)
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Lord's Day Liturgy

The Spirit of AntiChristmas

Christmas is seven days closer than it was last Lord’s Day. I don’t really care if your shopping is done, or close, or not. I do care if your soul, and body, are in harmony.

We believe that God, in Christ, came in the flesh. This has been debated since Jesus’ birth, and it was an issue the apostles addressed unequivocally even in the first century.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and is now in the world already. (1 John 4:2-3)

It was so important that John repeated it in his second letter.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. (2 John 7)

To deny the truth that Jesus Christ has come “in the flesh” makes one an antichrist. As we are the church assembled for worship in the name of Jesus, I do not suspect there are many among us who deny the teaching. But I do suspect that we may deny the doctrine in our behavior. Let us call it AntiChristmas.

You believe that God took on a body, rubbed elbows with smelly men, ate untasty or cold meals, dealt with unappreciative people. It’s all true plus some. So what do you do when people are late, or make you late, or keep you from doing what you want, or get in your way? Do you want Christmas without getting tired? Then perhaps you want to celebrate the idea of incarnation and not the incarnation itself. This is the spirit of AntiChristmas, and it should be forsaken.

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A Shot of Encouragement

Sing It for Yourself

You might need this today. In the spirit of colossians3:16ing, here’s Psalm 94:19 (NASB):

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations delight my soul.

“Anxious thoughts” translates the Hebrew word sarappim which could be defined as “the processing of information which causes distress and anxiety in one’s mind and heart” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semitic Domains: Hebrew – Old Testament). Synonyms abound here: disquieting thoughts, anxious doubts, fear, angst, worries, stress, unease, internal reactions to an upcoming event or an uncertain outcome. Do you ever have any of those? Are challenges to your calm approaching from more than one front? The language is emphatic, these “cares” (ESV) are “many.”

The second line of the verse uses another plural. The “anxious thoughts” are not swallowed up by a more absorbing anxiety but by more powerful ”consolations.” The Hebrew word is tanchum describing comforts, the easing or alleviating of distress. These are supports and reassurances that “delight” or “cheer” (ESV) our soul.

Ours are the internal cares, His are the soul comforts. His comforts are greater than our cares.

In the context of the song these anxieties are caused by political and cultural concerns more than just psychological or emotional concerns. It’s a big world, and there are a lot of problems. Certainly, though, there is application for whatever factor is multiplying our worries.

And what are the “consolations” that the psalmist had in mind? Just in Psalm 94 itself Yahweh is the judge who will repay the wicked, He hears and sees all, He rebukes entire nations, He teaches men knowledge, He disciplines those He loves for their blessing, He gives rest to those in trouble, He does not forsake His people, He holds up the falling. Of course these do not include any of the New Testament consolations in Christ by the Spirit, which happen to be a lot.

My meditation on this verse has come by singing a version of the Psalm that our church sings. I’d sing it for you here, but this is a blog. The words are:

When my anxious thoughts are many,
how Thy comforts cheer my soul.

Sing it for yourself. Sing it for another.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

To Judge or Not To Judge

In chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians Paul told the believers that he didn’t judge himself (4:3). In chapter 11 he told them to “examine” themselves, and that “if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged” (11:28, 31). Well, to judge or not to judge, which is it?

The two passages address different problems. In chapter 4 the issue concerned the faithfulness of a preacher, in chapter 11 the issue concurred the worthiness of a communion participant. The first involves evaluating a man’s work on the Lord’s building, the latter involves evaluating a man’s sitting at the Lord’s table. It’s not the same situation.

Yet both passages aim at the heart. What is the heart of the steward? What is the heart of the eater? The heart determines if the steward is trust-worthy, the heart determines if the eater is table-worthy.

Which gets back to the question, why did Paul say he didn’t judge himself but that they should judge themselves?

The answer is that his service spoke for itself and he left the final accounting up to God. Likewise, their selfishness spoke for itself and they were not taking God into account. Paul was obeying as best he knew, and he also knew that a deep, introspective dive still wouldn’t get him to the bottom. But the Corinthians were serving themselves first at the excuse of the hungry and were humiliating others in the body (11:21-22). They needed to wait for one another (11:33), and the reason Paul exhorted them to self-examination in context is because they were acting oblivious to their obvious problem.

So are you despising a brother or sister at this table? You should do some judging, it’s not a hard case to decide. But if you are confessed up, having already humbly examined yourself before the Word, then eat and drink and look forward to your communion with the Lord until He returns.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Twenty-Four Whole Days

One of the most important jobs of a pastor is to tell the flock things that they already know. He must remind them of God’s truths regularly. A disciple is a learner, and sometimes we need to learn things again, to learn afresh. Equipping the saints for the work of ministry means furnishing them with staple/basic supplies, not just surprises.

It is also true that we cannot be reminded about everything always. I have a growing list of verses and thoughts that I wish I could keep in the front of my mind every moment. That’s not how God made us to work. So we need reminders that are placed strategically.

The month of December is strategic in that it has twenty-four whole days before the 25th, the day that has been recognized as the day of Jesus’ birth for many centuries. I don’t believe Jesus was born on 12/25/00; I don’t think any of those three numbers work. And I don’t have to in order to see it as a strategic time to remember, and remind my people, that God came in the flesh.

Emmanuel means, “God with us.” John said, “The Word become flesh and dwelt among us.” This is what we mean by the word incarnate: enfleshed. So I want to consider implications of the phrase “in the flesh” these advent Sundays.

As glorious as the idea is that the eternal, almighty Maker of heaven and earth became a man, as joyful and celebratory as this season can be, it is because when Jesus came in the flesh He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Romans 8:3). He didn’t just do it because He had always wanted to visit in person, but because He had to partake of the same things as “the children…in flesh and blood” (Hebrews 2:14) in order to destroy the sinful flesh.

However we plan to celebrate advent and Christmas, let us remember that He came to bid our fleshly envy, strife, and quarrels cease.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

The Lesser of All Things

It is quite a thing for Paul to say that “all things” are ours (1 Corinthians 3:21, 22). It is quite a thing for the psalmist to say, “When my anxious thoughts are many, how Your comforts cheer my soul” (Psalm 94:19). What happens when we consider all the comforts God has given to us in Christ?

Consider these four questions in Romans 8.

  • If God is for us, who can be against us? (verse 31)
  • Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? (verse 33)
  • Who is it to condemn? (verse 34)
  • Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (verse 35)

Among the many consolations that are ours, we have certainty of security in righteousness and fellowship with God. There is no enemy who can successfully accuse us or judge us. There is no wedge that can be driven between us and the love of God in Christ Jesus. There can be those who try, but they cannot conquer.

So Paul makes the argument from the greater to the lesser.

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

As amazing as it is that “all things” are ours, the all things are the lesser. We have been given God’s Son. He is ours and we are His. The Father’s sending and the Son’s sacrificing are the source of everything for us. “What then shall we say to these things?” What then shall we eat and drink to these things?