Tag: Confession

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Flock Cameras Don’t Even Know

The doctrine of justification by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone must constantly peeve the seed of the serpent. The rebel angels have to hate it.

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.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Anger Options

Jet pilots describe how the body responds when the force of gravity increases as mach speed increases. Not only does the chest feel more and more pressure, the field of vision gets narrower and narrower. At some point only a pinhole of light is left, and either you slow down or you black out.

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.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Choked by a Shirt-Sleeve Cuff

Have you ever seen a man who only does bicep curls, and only with his right arm? He exercises one muscle on one side. While he may be able to show off that no short-sleeve shirt cuff can match his flex, it’s not really helpful, certainly not balanced.

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).

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Keeping Your Kids Stupid

The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom, wisdom for those who need to get wisdom, and wisdom for those who need to give it. Solomon helps the one who already understands obtain guidance and then also give guidance to others.

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.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Anchor of the Soul

Ridē fidē is a ride of faith for life. Ride or die, ride till the rapture, ride until the ride comes to a stop, which might not be for a while. But, we like our faith like we like our WiFi: invisible and fast so that we can get back to living by what we see. Living by faith really requires the right frame of reference when it comes to expectations for harvest.

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.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Across Columns

Jesus came for losers. The gospel is good for the outcast, the broken, the sinners, the “others.”

But let us add three more qualifications.

First, this does not mean that men in positions of power cannot be saved. Jesus said it is harder for rich men to be saved (Luke 18:25), but not because He has to do more for them. It’s because, from a circumstantial point of view, they are less likely to realize their need.

Second, this does not mean that all men in loser positions can easily be saved. Resentment and envy have destroyed the souls of as many Have Nots as have greed and pride destroyed the souls of the Haves.

Third, this does not mean that men who are saved will necessarily remain in their loser position. I have been reading a new book called Loser Theology. It has some good observations. It does address the superficial ways Christians have defined godliness, as in, always the loser in the world’s eyes.

But remember how the Word of Christ refers to Christians. We are saved sinners, that’s always true, but typically called “saints.” Even the Corinthians got this label (1 Corinthians 1:2). We are called the redeemed. By God’s grace we move across columns:

  • from lost to found
  • from sick to sound, unhealthy to healthy
  • from sinners to saints
  • from unrighteous to pursuing the obedience of faith
  • from humble to glory

This humble dependence on God through faith really adds up. He came because we were far away, but now we’ve been brought near. He saw us dead in our sin, and chose us to make us alive and make us His handiwork.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Ridē Fidē

Whatever human agency we have only works because God is sovereign. We work hard, but only by God’s grace (1 Corinthians 15:10). The mind of a man plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps (Proverbs 19:21). Work heartily for the Lord (Colossians 3:23), by all means, for it is the Lord who works and wills in you (Philippians 2:13).

Earlier this year Philip talked about vive fide (here). It means: live by faith. Faith acknowledges that we can’t actually see all things, let alone be sovereign over all the things that happen in our lives. We must live by “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

As we are at the starting line of another school year, I would like to modify vive fide just a bit.

There’s a word I’ve heard a few times recently that is an appropriate analogy for our lives on this terrestrial ball: ride. We are on a ride, like it or not. Again this is no argument against yielded hustle, and also our steps are sovereignly ordained. So let us ride by faith.

Call it: ridē fidē.

That’s not accurate Latin. The Latin word in proper form would be equitā, as in, ride a horse (equus). Our English word “ride” has more Germanic connection. Whatever.

Here we go. Make sure the lap belt of Scripture is secure. Raise your hands in the air (if you want). And ride by faith.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Against Sowing Discord

Drawe one waye. Pull in the same direction. Be likeminded. These are all ways to think about Philippians 2:2.

We want to finish this focus before frustration sets up, but here are a few final thoughts for this round of reminders.

Melody and harmony. We need the sopranos to kick butt and hit the high notes, we don’t need everyone to sing soprano. We don’t even need everyone to hit their harmony pitch precisely; get close. In other words, there’s some variety and even misses that won’t mess us up. But we do have to follow the lyrics, keep the same tempo, and be on the same page.

Seeds of discord. Proverbs 6 says a vile man “spreads contentions” (verse 14, LSB). A few verses later it lists six things that the Lord hates, even seven that are an abomination to Him. The last one is “one who spreads strife among brothers” (verse 19, LSB). Or another translation, “one who sows discord” (ESV). These seeds will take root. Be careful what you sow.

Trinitarian unity. Jesus prayed that His disciples would be one, even as He and His Father are one (John 17:22). This is not only part of our joy, it’s part of the way the world knows we’re loved by the Father (John 17:23).

As we have the mind of Christ and don’t grumble or dispute with each other, we shine as lights in a crooked and twisted generation (Philippians 2:14-15).

Let us drawe one waye.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Drawe One Waye

Be likeminded. That’s Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2:2, and it’s been the theme of these recent exhortations. Christians, and Christians in a local church, should think the same way.

In Paul’s original letter he used a form of the verb think both at the beginning and end of the verse, and this type of thinking has an emphasis on attitude, disposition, leaning.

There is another word, an adjective, in Philippians 2:20 that means equal-souled, or same-minded. William Tyndale not only translated that word as “lyke mynded,” the Oxford English Dictionary attributes the English word to Tyndale in his 1526 translation of the New Testament.

Though Tyndale invented the word likeminded, and while the KJV did later use likeminded in Philippians 2:2, Tyndale saw a different way to express the exhortation. Here’s his unique, but vivid, image:

fulfyll my love that ye drawe one waye

This wasn’t just his rough draft. He kept it this way through his final revision in 1534.

Drawe one waye. It is the picture of pulling together, of pulling in the same direction. Imagine a team of horses pulling a carriage, or oxen yoked together pulling the plow.

Likeminded is great, though perhaps a static place. Drawe one waye is dynamic, a moving and active pursuit.

Drawe one waye was the theme of our L2L leaders retreat, and it’s going to be a theme for a while in TEC communication.

A stallion running beside the team may be fast and beautiful, but no help. A workhorse harnessed in but always dragging his stiff neck elsewhere makes the whole thing harder.

Beloved, drawe one waye.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

An Oar to the Head

I am giving a short series of exhortations related to being likeminded. In Philippians 2:2 Paul urges the believers to think the same way, to be thinking on one purpose.

Likemindedness isn’t blind. Likemindedness can distinguish friends from enemies, and can distinguish friends who are doing great and friends who aren’t. There is a difference between someone shooting a cannon trying to sink our boat from another boat, and someone on our boat not rowing their oar as fast as we want them to. We share the same purpose with the guy a couple seats up, even when we’re tempted to smack in the head with our oar.

Likemindedness and maturity should be in balance. Likemindedness is both a sign of maturity and a strategy for getting more mature. As a believer in the body matures, he will be able:

  • to see more of what’s wrong
  • to see more of what could be wrong that isn’t, and be thankful
  • to speak clearly to the person(s) that can actually do something about what’s wrong, and not just spread grumbling
  • to do the first three FOR everyone’s increase in blessing, and not just for the fleeting cathartic feeling of scapegoating

Other examples: teenagers with their parents, employees with their boss, citizens with their government when it’s pursuing righteousness.

In our recent study through the temptations of Jesus, remember that Satan tried to divide Persons of the Trinity. He didn’t succeed, but the church is another target. Of course he knows that if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand (Mark 3:25).