Thessalonian thankfulness

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

What a wonderful passage to be led to this last day of 2020. This crazy wild ride of a year has brought faith-testing experiences to all Christians globally. We’ve been forced to revisit the basics of our faith amidst upheaval and change.... to find stability in the reality of the gospel and to see if our experience matches that of Paul and the Thessalonian church.

I begin my thoughts on this passage with how Paul prayed: Paul gave thanks for the people that were his ministry. He was grateful to God for the gospel ministry and maturity he saw thriving in Thessalonika. And even as he was distanced from them, Paul prayed for them, filled with a thankful joy for what God was doing in and through them.

There were three things for which Paul thankfully praised God as he remembered them. First was their work of faith. What this group of Christians believed was lived out in action. Faith was not a private intellectual exercise. This church did something with faith in the gospel! As I look back at the challenges of this last year, I am so thankful that God has given me the chance to serve a church that didn’t sit and fret, but instead acted on meeting community needs in this crisis! Faith in action shines the gospel into our world.

The second thing that marked the Thessalonians was their labor of love. What they did, they did with a gracious motive. They loved and supported Paul’s ministry. They loved their city and faithfully proclaimed the gospel. They loved one another and made disciples. Love led them to action and nothing should ever stop that!

And finally, this church was known for being steadfast in hope. The glory of the gospel gave hope to believers. They proclaimed hope to their city. They faithfully believed despite hardship, tenacious in the grip of grace! And that steadfast hope is what Christians must display in these days as well! We may yet have changes and difficulties. I am encouraged to model a Christianity that does good work with faith, works hard out of love for Jesus and the people He died for, and steadfastly holds out hope in a hopeless world!

poured out for you

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Luke 22:20

At the Lord’s Table Christians solemnly remember and celebrate the love of Jesus for the world. Jesus literally gave His life’s blood so that a new way of living at peace with God could be had for any who believe and trust Him. That is the new covenant God has made with us through the God-man Jesus Christ. And by His blood all who believe find their sins forgiven only in Him.

And so as the Lord’s Table continues to be celebrated in obedience to Jesus’ own command to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), we celebrate this new covenant as Christians. We gather together and in our worship we remember His sacrifice for us. We pause and realize that only Jesus can save us and bring hope. We rejoice in the confidence, hope, and life that only His death and resurrection give us.

“There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed church of God

Be saved to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply.

Redeeming love has been my theme

And shall be till I die.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue

Lies silent in the grave,

Then in a nobler, sweeter song

I’ll sing Thy power to save.”

confidence in my shepherd

And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:23

And in the person of Jesus, God set up a Davidic shepherd while simultaneously being the shepherd of His people (this settles the tension found in Ezekiel 24:15). This is the only way both the divine and the human could deliver and lead Israel. Jesus Himself came to be the Good Shepherd to give His life for His sheep (John 10:11-18). Without any doubt the prophecy here points to Jesus Who is both Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd.

Thinking through some of this, I am amazed and humbled. First, I am amazed that the theological complexity of the Incarnation... of God becoming human... of the uniqueness of Jesus as God-Man and Messiah... is so apparent in this prophecy. The only way for God to both be the Shepherd and also to appoint His Davidic shepherd is for the birth of Jesus to take place. God announced His invasion plan to deliver us many centuries before Jesus arrived! 

And I am humbled. I am humbled because this happened to deliver me, a helpless and deliberate sinner.

So I pause for some post-advent praise. This Christmas season in particular has been nearly a blur, with a sense of sadness and longing hanging over it. So much dizzying change is still churning in this messy, pandemic obsessed world and all the aftermath of 2020. Nothing feels certain... except... faith in Christ! That has been unchanging. The reality of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus keep things in proper perspective. I’ve known people sickened by this virus. I’ve lost friends, family, and people I’ve known this year.... some to COVID, some to other events. I’ve sensed death circling my periphery like never before this past year. But a quick look to a prophet shows me this morning that the hope of Israel is here! Jesus is my hope and security now! The Good Shepherd confidently carries me and I am secure. Jesus will feed me. Jesus will keep me. Jesus will be my shepherd!

Wealth won’t make you flourish.

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Proverbs 11:28

Sometimes it seems as if the truth of this proverb is being challenged. In the world, the rich seem to get away with breaking the rules to their advantage, getting more and more of what they want, and frankly, just getting richer. Even during the wild economic downturn of 2020, the worst of economies since the Great Depression, the richest people are just getting richer. They aren’t changing anything really. So what’s going on with this proverb if that is the case?

First, I notice that the proverb places the fate of the one who worships wealth in the future tense. The one who trusts in his riches will fall. There are present realities that look differently, but because God is fair, just, and will not be mocked, the one who trusts in his riches and not in God, will fall! I must by faith trust God will indeed do just as He has said. I have no reason to doubt this based on everything else good and gracious God has done for me.

Notice also the promise that is made to the righteous person who trusts in God: they will flourish like a healthy plant. This has nothing to do with economies or social status. God didn’t say: I will make the righteous rich instead. No. They will grow and get what they need just like the vegetation that covers the earth. This sustenance has nothing to do with economies or social standing. God sees the heart of those who worship Him. God cares for His righteous ones. God will help them to flourish as they trust Him. It has nothing to do with money and everything to do with faithful dependence and love for His people.

So I will trust that it is my faith in Jesus that leads me to any chance of thriving at life. I reject this world’s vision of trusting in wealth, in building my own money management scheme that I put my security into, and in faithful dependence I will trust God to help me thrive, waiting like His green leaf for His water, soil, and weather to build me as I am planted by faith. God will cause me to thrive as He sustains me so that I can steward what He provides so that His kingdom flourishes like a green leaf as I live under God’s great provision!

the beauty of God

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:15

Thinking carefully and deliberately on what this verse describes as the character of God, I cannot help but worship now. What is true about God in this psalm is true for me right now. 

God is merciful. He forgives sinners. He provided not only the mercy to truly forgive us, but always has provided the means for us to receive that great mercy. That is known through Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again to rule our hearts and lives. I am in awe of the much needed mercy of God.

God is gracious. Mercy spares us the punishment our sins deserve, but grace lavishes gifts on us purely from the extravagant love of God’s heart for us. There are daily graces that I know. And even in what has felt like the worst of times in 2020, God’s grace truly keeps me. I am thankful... quite deeply thankful.... for the grace of God.

God is slow to anger. This facet of His mercy gives me time to be convicted by His Spirit, instructed by His Word, moved to repentance by my conscience, all so that I might confess sin, trust the grace of the gospel, repent, believe and find God’s smile on me. God now views me through the redemption provided in the blood of Jesus. I’m quick to rejoice in God’s longsuffering forbearance.

God abounds in steadfast love. His grace is faithful. His heart is for me because He sees me in Christ by the merits of His Son. And that faithful, constant love never leaves me. I may stray. God NEVER loses sight of me or ceases to care for me.

God is always faithful. For half a century now God has been the consistent, unchanging, constant Lord of my life. He has remained faithful to me, even when I have not felt or acted faithfully. And I will trust Him, believe Him, follow my Savior, and worship my God as long as I have breath. And in the day He takes me to the eternal home that Jesus has prepared for me, it will be because He was faithful!

a legacy of bones

So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

2 Kings 13:20-21

This account of the legacy of the prophet Elisha is a record of the power of God in the life, and the death, of His prophet. Elisha’s prophetic ministry was marked by the miraculous. God used Elisha to heal, help, and even to raise the dead, so that God’s Word would be received by God’s people. Even in death, God chose to leave a miraculous legacy in the bones of the man of God. There was still power at work in prophetic ministry. The prophet had power to point of God’s truth in life. And even from the grave God kept getting the glory for His servant’s work among His people.

This is quite humbling as I ponder it. Elisha did not move those bones! He was long gone to his reward. God chose to use the prophet both in life and in death. God chose to keep a miraculous legacy in this last miracle in the story of Elisha. God made the touch of bones brings life. God creates, calls, uses, supports, and gets the glory from the people He shapes to His service. Any legacy they may leave is ONLY and COMPLETELY the Lord’s doing.

And so, I repent of thinking I am in charge of my own legacy... my own ministry... my own life. It is foolishness to fall for this! God uses dead bones if He so desires! I am nothing special. God may choose to use me. I must be yielded to His Lordship for that to happen. I must let my Savior live in me. I mess it all up when I try to do it all. I know this, sadly, on a fairly regular basis when I screw it up. Instead, I choose to be whatever God wants to make of me. I will be dry bones if that is what God wills to use. I will be nothing so God can be everything. Gladly do I trust that a legacy of bones will give God my Savior all the worship and credit only He deserves.

Day of Atonement

For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.

Leviticus 16:30

God made yearly provision for Israel for a unique annual emphasis on repentance, obedience, and atonement for sin. On that day, if all the proper sabbath respect was observed, if the priest offered the prescribed sacrifices, and if all Israel honored the Law, the sins of the nation would be forgiven for that year. This was a temporary atonement. Every fall, in the tenth month of the year, this all had to be observed carefully again. This kept Israel always aware of their need for God to forgive them. It made the sacrificial law a necessary part of their regular obedient worship. A cycle of sin and sacrifice, repentance and worship dominated life in Israel as they kept the covenant, constantly aware that blood had to be shed to forgive their sins.

In one day, sin for a year would be atoned. But then because it was temporary, the cycle would need to keep going. This was the case until one day God sent His Son into the world to be the Lamb of God Who would atone all sin... one time... for the world... forever!

Christmas is the celebration of the monumental gift that redefined human history. God sent His Son into the world to redeem us from sin once and for all! That’s miraculous. No more yearly Day of Atonement was needed. There were no more altars to be built, no more animals to die on them, no more yearly requirements to temporarily put a halt to sin’s disease. Once for all God sent His Son. Once for all the sins of the world would be atoned. Once for all those who love Jesus, trust Jesus, believe Jesus, call out to Him as Savior, and trust Him with their lives obeying Him as Lord have their sins forever forgiven! Jesus brought our Day of Atonement. Praise the Lamb of God!

Live in me

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:16

O word of Jesus live in me!

I want to know You richly.

I want Your words to lead me.

Word of Christ, live in me.

Word of Jesus teach me.

Show me how to live obediently.

I truth Your truth implicitly.

Word of Christ, please teach me.

Word of Jesus admonish me.

Set me straight with clear warning.

Confront my immature complacency.

Word of Christ, admonish me.

Word of Jesus enlighten me.

In Your wisdom set me free.

Save me from sin’s stupidity.

Word of Christ, be wisdom to me.

Word of Jesus sing in me!

May Your truth and joy be why I sing.

I want worship to flow in everything.

Word of Christ, lead me to sing!

Word of Jesus live in me.

With thankfulness set me free

from my own selfish tyranny.

Word of Christ, live in me!

little sinner, big Saviour

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

Luke 19:7

Jesus was perfectly at home with the sinners He came to save. He simply engaged them, as they were, and saved them to be changed by Him. Zacchaeus is just such an example. He was a short man with an intimidating reputation. We know he was a chief tax collector and that he was rich. The locals in Jericho saw him like we might see a modern mob boss. I picture Zacchaeus played by Joe Pesci. He is rough around the edges but relatable. And Jesus reaches out to Zacchaeus, knowing he was interested in what Jesus was doing in Jericho (Luke 19:3-4). Jesus boldly invites Himself over to the notorious Zac’s house (Luke 19:5). And the little dude gladly jumps at the chance to host Jesus.

Jesus knew what the crowd did not know. Jesus knew that underneath the gruff exterior was a heart that was seeking God. It was that seeking that compelled him to climb a tree to get a better look. And despite being labeled a sinner by the public, Zacchaeus received the Lord and publícly repented. By the time lil’ Zac hustled down the tree to be by Jesus’ side, he had already repented. He gave half his wealth in charity to the poor and he promised to repay fourfold all those who felt cheated by the tax system he had enforced his entire life. He meant business with Jesus.

Jesus went into sinners’ homes. And He left saints behind. He wants to similarly transform lives today. Jesus wants His people, Christians, to not be the grumbling crowd that enjoys name calling sinners. Instead, as He lives in us, Christians should walk the gospel to those who need Jesus. We should count them as friends, know their lives, care for their concerns, encourage them to turn to Jesus, and celebrate at their conversion! Christians should not point fingers in blame, but instead we are to offer outstretched hands of neighborly friendship like Jesus did! That’s what Jesus lived to do, so much so, that it became His reputation and the outcry of His critics: friend of sinners. We ought to be the same.

what God will restore for Israel

And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.

Ezekiel 28:26

This is a promise from God for Israel “when I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered” (Ezekiel 28:25). There are four facets of this promise that reveal the gracious restorative power of God to us.

ONE: Israel will dwell secure. These re-gathered Jews will safely enjoy the life that God had always wanted for Israel in the Promised Land. No enemy is a threat. It is twice emphasized that their lives are secure. Since this has not been the case yet, (There are Jews scattered worldwide presently; Israel has had to defend her borders constantly since the modern formation of the state in 1948) this seems to be a promise yet to be fully realized, and not just a description of life after the exile.

TWO: They will build and plant. The nation of Israel will be industrious and productive. God would bless Israel with a prosperity and sufficiency that allows them to thrive. God will give the opportunity by protecting the nation. Israel would work safely and with effort. The nation will enjoy the blessing that their hard work and faith in God will bring to them.

THREE: Israel’s enemies will be judged. And this is the reason the Jews will dwell secure and have a thriving economy. God will put an end to all who have hated them. He will keep covenant with His chosen people. He will bring justice. He will silence and eliminate the threats of the enemy.

FOUR: God will be known by all. He will be known by His people. The world will see Israel thrive and know that it is God’s doing. God’s people will rejoice in Him. Redemptive restoration will bring worship of God among the people of the earth. The God Who calls a people to Himself will keep them, bless them, and show Himself to the world so that the world can worship Him.

mortality reality check

The memory of the righteous is a blessing,

but the name of the wicked will rot.

Proverbs 10:7

Mortality has been a huge consideration in 2020. In less than one year, the US has seen three hundred thousand men and women die from COVID-19. That is more than we lost in the four years of World War II. Right now nearly three thousand are dying each die from this pandemic. We are experiencing a 9/11 event every single day in America. So of course I am finding myself wrestling with thoughts of mortality and legacy. Any person with this realization has to be processing this grimly. Death is real. Life is uncertain.

This proverb provides perspective as we are called to simultaneously grieve, yet trust in God. What legacies will we celebrate? The memory of a righteous person will bless those who see and rejoice in their faith. But a wicked life just rots away like the buried body. What God does in us is what determines the difference between blessing or burial.

So as I think about this, one desire pushes me forward. I want to bless people now, by any means necessary, and when I am gone one day, I want God’s blessing to come to those who have truly known me. I can only hope to do this by letting them know how much Jesus wants to be their strength and comfort as He is mine! I can only see God bless in this way by His great mercies. Only Jesus can be my great Blesser, so that He can form me so God’s love will flow to others. That is my hope in these grim days that are filled with reminders to grieve and to trust... to remember God’s work that is a blessing and to bless others.

dust devils

O my God, make them like whirling dust,

like chaff before the wind.

Psalm 83:13

In this psalm Asaph prays for God to reduce Israel’s oppressors to mere dust in a whirlwind. The poetic imagery is a faith-filled appeal to God to make His power and rule known. It asks for God to rule as final Judge definitively over wicked nations that mock and disobey Him and conspire against His purposes for His people.

Before Asaph makes this request of the Lord, he appeals to God’s faithful deliverance of Israel from evil enemies of their past (Psalm 83:6-13). None of them truly succeeded in eradicating the children of Israel or of taking permanent possession of their land. God faithfully kept His covenant with Israel to be their God, to give them their land, and to save them from their enemies as they faithfully endeavored to keep His laws. Israel was under divine protection. God would hear this prayer.

As I contemplate the fiercely loyal love of God and the fine, slow grind of His justice, I realize that all rebellion against Him shall suffer this same fate at the close of history. All human efforts to rise against God and His redemptive work shall fail. It shall be ground as fine dust under God’s judgment and carried away in the whirling dust devils of history’s oblivion. Only the kingdom of God shall be left.

The wicked are like chaff that God’s wind drives away (Psalm 1:4; 35:5). All the most powerful human nations that rise in defiance of God are just more chaff before His wind (Isaiah 17:13; 29:5). All the schemes of unregenerate humanity are just dust blowing in God’s wind (Isaiah 4:15).

Lord,

From dust I am created and to dust I shall return. All human civilization will blow away before you like so much dust in Your whirlwind at the Day of the Lord. And only You remain... faithful, constant, secure, and beautiful. I rest my soul in Your unchanging, stable, permanent grace, even as all this dust is destined to blow away.

Amen

Nothing Left

So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

2 Kings 10:11

Lord God

Almighty Judge

Your justice is thorough.

There is nowhere we can go...

There is nowhere we can run

to escape the judgment of God.

Righteous King

Heart Examiner

Your knowledge is complete.

Nothing ever is hidden.

Your gaze penetrates our schemes.

We know that You see.

Triumphant Conqueror

Holy Savior

When You judge sin

it is all known to You.

Nothing is left unsettled.

No sinner escapes Your power.

Loving God

Salvation bringer

You Son bore all sin I’ve ever done

or will ever do so that nothing escaped

His sacrifice, and I am remade

so there’s nothing left of my old life.

Jesus over all

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Colossians 1:18

Jesus rules first over all things. Jesus is the head of His church. Human history has tried to place popes, bishops, pastors, or personalities as the major players in the church’s advance, but that is just human pride. We are pawns. Jesus moves His pieces. The real leader of the Christian church is Jesus. He is the head... we are the body. Jesus controls where His church is going and what we are doing and how we should worship Him. No council of theologians.... no human government... no individualistic consumer preference overrides His leadership of His church!

Jesus is the beginning. No one can come to God the Father except by His Son. He is the only way to begin a true relationship with God. He was there at our creation. His heart was broken by our sin. He chose to give His life through the cross according to the will of the Father as led by the Spirit to begin our beautiful redemption!

Jesus is our renewer and the only hope for our future. He is the firstborn from the dead by virtue of His resurrection. A vaccine MIGHT buy us time in a raging pandemic. But only Jesus gives eternal life that never ends! He is the ruler over death, the defeater of Hell, and our eternal securer of abundant, everlasting life!

Jesus stands first over all things. And He must stand first over my heart so that other things in my life are ruled by one affection only: I want Jesus over everything!

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise

Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Thou and thou only first in my heart.

High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won.

May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Son!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall.

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all!

“Where are the nine?”

Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:17-19

Ten lepers were healed all together by Jesus one day between Samaria and Galilee. They cried out for mercy to Him and He simply told them to go show themselves to the priests, which is what the Law commanded for lepers who had been cleansed of disease. Obeying Jesus’ command, all ten were healed of their leprosy. All ten believed the word and were healed of leprosy... visibly cleansed from horrific scars and festering wounds.

Yet of those ten, only one of them quickly returned to fall down at Jesus’ feet in adoring praise and grateful worship. One lone Samaritan actually worshiped the God of his salvation. All ten begged for mercy yet only one was grateful for receiving the blessing Jesus gave.

Jesus was pleased to acknowledge the true faith and worship of the lone Samaritan. But Jesus was also dismayed at the lack of gratefulness from the other nine. Ten lepers cleansed... one was grateful... nine were complacent. And there is a lesson worth pondering as Jesus asks: “where are the nine?”

So... “Where ARE the nine?” Is it possible that a majority of lives touched by the powerful healing Word of Christ barely give Him acknowledgement? Could that happen today? Polls have for decades shown many more people in America “claim” to be evangelical Christians than actually attend church. It is true that in this passage, Jesus did not command the worship of the lepers, but really, shouldn’t a life changed by Jesus naturally well up into adoration and WANT to be with Him? That is the point of the passage... Jesus deserves the worship of changed lives.

But when I look at my own heart, I realize there are times I have too often been content to be in the company of the nine. How quickly I can go my own way healed, but not in awe of my Healer, as if the touch of Jesus in my life is just routine. Oh how the tender Samaritan heart needs to be in me, to remember the leper I was... the outcast, forsaken, and cursed sinner... and to rejoice in and proclaim the wonderful Savior Who has made me whole!

Where ARE the nine? Physically whole, but spiritually broken and distant from Jesus. Instead, I want to be the one... worshiping at the feet of my Lord completely grateful by offering Him my worship both body and soul!

the worst judgment: God letting you have what you want

“As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.”

Ezekiel 20:39

Israel had a history of divided religious loyalty to both God and to idolatry. In this message by God through Ezekiel to the leaders of Israel just before the exile, this history of idolatry is recounted, and God acts with the penultimate penalty.

Even while still slaves in Egypt, Israel worshiped Egyptian gods. But God had mercy on His covenant people. He delivered them from the slave bonds of Egypt and under Moses led them to freedom. They received His law and were taught how to love and worship their gracious and merciful Lord. Yet they still held onto their idols.

In the wilderness, God provided their every need. Moses received the Law and the people agreed through the covenant to worship the Lord. They built a tabernacle, honored a priesthood, and sacrificed gratefully to God. Yet they did not last, and again embraced their idols and grumbled against their gracious and caring God.

The Lord judged that ungrateful generation as they wandered to fall dead in the Sinai sands. And their children committed to His covenant and God gave them the land of Canaan. They settled into cities and farms they did not build, received God’s blessings and then promptly started worshiping the idols of the gentiles around them.

God gave them a king and made of Israel a nation that the world came to visit. They built a temple for God’s worship, sacrificed to the Lord, and still secretly kept a fondness to love their idols at every turn.

Finally, God let them go the way of their idolatry. He told them, through Ezekiel, to just serve all the idolatry their wicked hearts desired. He was done with them. The covenant had been shredded by generations of their detestable idolatry, and now, in the worst judgment that God can deal humanity, God simply let them do what they wanted so much. When God leaves us to our idols, the worst judgment is upon us. And that principle is still true today. I’ve seen in individually. I have had to confront my own idolatry repeatedly. And culturally, I can’t help but believe that this principle hovers over the church right now, in these times, and just may be exactly what we are experiencing right now, lest we repent!

wisdom personified

I have counsel and sound wisdom;

I have insight; I have strength.

By me kings reign,

and rulers decree what is just;

by me princes rule,

and nobles, all who govern justly.

I love those who love me,

and those who seek me diligently find me.

Proverbs 8:14-17

Wisdom makes her appeal to all who would seek to join her side and learn, by her wisdom, to live well. I’ve been reading the book of Proverbs at least once per year for over four decades now. It spoke to the needs of my life as a teenager. It speaks to me now, a member of the generation now frequently targeted with AARP membership appeals! In fact, I would say that seeking wisdom now is more important than ever.

No year of my life has been more humbling of my trust in my own abilities than 2020. It seems to me that this time of complete disruption at every level has shredded any trust in my own faculties for decisions and direction. Worldwide deadly pandemic? I need wisdom to stay healthy. Shifting directives from authorities in my county, state, and nation? I need wisdom to understand the chaos. Cultural upheaval over racial injustice? I need wisdom to demonstrate Christ’s love for ALL people. Complete political chaos that smells like I live in a Banana Republic and not the United States of America? I need wisdom to trust that God will direct our governing authorities despite their divisiveness and what looks like utter constitutional disregard. A church divided over best health practices, responses to racial tensions, and political ugliness? Oh how I need Lady Wisdom to take me by the hand and speak her truth to me and to the believers to whom I am called... now more than ever!

Lord God,

I thank You that You grant wisdom to those who seek her diligently! And I humbly admit I have no resources either from my culture or from within myself to navigate this current mess. I always need Your wisdom. And Jesus, in You are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). I will trust in You, Jesus. I will seek Your wisdom in Your Word. I will wait for Your Spirit’s guidance. I will find peace in Your gracious gift of wisdom!

Amen

He Who tends us

Then we shall not turn back from you;

give us life, and we will call upon your name!

Psalm 80:18

This is part of a psalm written to call to worship a people broken and bitter in their suffering. It is prayer for restoration with the repeated passionate refrain: “Restore us, O God, let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19). It was written as a result of Gentile oppression, mentioning the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin specifically. It appears that all of Israel is identifying with the pain and hardship these tribes had endured.

Psalm 80 opens with the imagery of God being the Shepherd of Israel, Who leads Joseph (the father of Ephraim and Manasseh) like a flock. He is enthroned upon the cherubim (a reference to the ark of the covenant in the temple at Jerusalem) and is called upon to save the three broken and hurting tribes quickly (Psalm 80:2).

The second stanza makes it clear that whatever these three tribes had suffered, God had brought punishment to them out of His righteous anger. It is an acknowledgement of their wrong and a confession that God was right to bring His correction (Psalm 80:4-6).

The bulk of the song before the last refrain recounts God’s deliverance of Israel throughout their history. It begins with the Exodus (Psalm 80:8). And the nation is described by the metaphor of the vineyard planted in the promised land that thrived (Psalm 80:9-11). The vine was then uprooted and savaged by a wild pig (code for Gentiles) (Psalm 80:12-13). The psalmist then makes a passionate appeal for God to look down from heaven and see His tattered vine and then, by His healing hand to tend and restore His vineyard (Psalm 80:14-17). It is only then that His people will be able to re-experience the life that only God could give them as they passionately return to His worship.

A quick gospel perspective comes to me. Jesus is the True Vine and I am grafted in Him as a branch to bear fruit for the glory of God the Father (see John 15:1-11). It is the Father that brings the growth by pruning and tending this vine as I am nourished in my attachment to relationship with Jesus. And when hardships come, I too must trust and call on the Father, through the Son, Who tends His vine in love.

healing word

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

2 Kings 5:8

The story of the life of Elisha the prophet repeatedly teaches about the impact of the Word of God through His prophets. In the story of Naaman, we find that this healing Word of God has reached the Gentile nation of Syria. Naaman was a Syrian official with a debilitating disease. His leprosy was incurable and he had heard from a reliable source that in Israel there was a prophet of God who was known for bringing God’s healing.

So Naaman, powerful military commander of all the Syrian army, a man who had previously warred and raided Israel, enters Israel and delivers a letter from the Syrian king directly to Israel’s king demanding that Naaman be cured of his disease. This caused no small amount of concern for Israel’s king, who felt this all was a pretense for a coming invasion.

But Elisha knew that God could work in this situation to bring about not only deliverance to Israel, but also the healing of Naaman. He confidently trusts that Naaman would continue to learn the value of the powerful Word of God through His prophet. 

Elisha’s confidence is not in himself. It is in God. Elisha never even speaks face to face with Naaman, but instead sends instructions to him to bathe in the Jordan seven times for his healing. After some convincing from his staff, a reluctant Naaman obeys the Word of the Lord and is miraculously made whole.

Similarly, we are healed only by trusting in what God has revealed and not by our own efforts. Had Naaman chosen to bathe in Syria in defiance, he would have remained a leper. But he came to trust the Word of God. And so we must trust in the gospel, that Jesus died for us who were sinners and could do nothing to save ourselves. This humbles us to trust in God’s revealed Word. Only then can we find healing and new life.

Pray first!

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6

Prayer is often the most overlooked of spiritual fortifiers. I may offer prayer as a last resort or an afterthought in a time of struggle. I’ll usually try to do so much to “fix” what I perceive as a problem that I wind up making the situation worse. I’m quick to foul it up and then I am slow to humble myself in prayer. O God, forgive me! I need this reminder today: Pray first, figure it out later!

Anxiety is meant to be a prayer driver. It is a dashboard light telling us to pull over and pay attention to prayer. And prayer that offers all of life to God in request will keep that anxiety from driving us into all kinds of self-created trouble! Prayer that is pleading and thankful, surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, will free us from our fears.

This bizarre and totally outrageous year of 2020 has led me to pray. And I have prayed not only for my own requests, but for others at a distance deficit like never before. But I still haven’t done it quite like this passage states it. And why now, over eight months into this pandemic disruption do I finally realize that this cultural anxiety is a fervent call to serious and heartfelt prayer? I mean I’ve prayed a lot. But I don’t think I’ve kept the wisdom of the prayer we are commanded to practice here in mind. So I pray...

Lord Jesus,

I thank You that You hear me and answer prayer. I want to know Your peace in these anxious times. And so I ask You to guide me, my home, all whom I love, and my church safely through this perilous pandemic. Guide us safely through this awful political turmoil. Deliver us from attempted tyranny and transition us peacefully. May the plans of evil people come to utter frustration! Guide those who care now for our sick and our elderly. Spare us from the worst this pandemic could bring! Oh that fast relief from this virus could graciously arrive by Your providence! And most of all, as only You can by Your mercies, open this entire world to the healing gospel of Jesus Christ, I pray! And embolden Your church to hold out this hope to an anxious world.

Amen

self-justifying fail

And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Luke 16:15

I try to talk up

     my good acts

Yet I am still a sinner

     bound to that fact.

Without Jesus to justify me

     I’m just a failure.

I want to look holy

     so I’ll try to put on a show

But I’m really fooling no one

     because God already knows

Without Jesus to justify me

     I’m just a failure.

So I fall on God’s grace

     I call out to my Lord

I trust in Jesus to save me

     and I believe His Word.

Because Jesus justifies me

     I can be holy.

And I reject all efforts

     of boasting in what I do

I look up to One much better:

     “Jesus... I trust in You!”

Jesus justifies me.

That is what I need.

where idols thrive

Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.

Ezekiel 14:4-5

God wants to have the complete attention of our hearts. That is were we truly worship. That is where we hold to what we consider most dear. That is where our passions and deepest desires reside and flow out to control our actions. The heart is the center from which all of our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions pulse out in all of life. And what resides in our hearts will affect all of how we will live.

Israel’s continuous struggle with idolatry was an individual heart defect spread across an entire culture. God’s diagnosis was that idolatry had infected the hearts of all the people of Israel. They had enshrined their idols in their hearts. And yet they blatantly went through the motions with God by inquiring of His prophet and pretending to care about what God said. But this heart idolatry created an impassible barrier to relationship with and obedience to God.

Heart idols fool us. We can pretend we aren’t worshiping falsely. I mean after all, you will find me in God’s house at all the right times! But inwardly our idols have our full attention. And until we tear down those secret shrines we will not truly know God’s blessing. We must repent of misplaced worship, tear down our heart idols, and worship God from that internal place of passion and commitment!

Lord,

My idols deceive me. Confront them and show me which ones I am worshipping. Help me to topple them so that You alone, in the glory of Your cross and resurrection, are my true worship. And lead me, Jesus, confidently forward in worship of You. I desire no more stumbling. I want Your grace to lead me in worship of only You!

Amen

thankfulness during uncertainty

We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks, for your name is near.

We recount your wondrous deeds.

Psalm 75:1

2020 gives us the chance to know a Thanksgiving holiday like none other in recent memory. The celebration here at the Burch home will be more subdued and sadly the first now of many not to include any members of the generation before mine. They are all gone from our lives now. And so my perspective has changed and I must take a new role to the next generation in my own home.

Our kids are adults and will be “coming home” to us for dinner for the first time as well. After decades of being the ones who “came home” or had dinner with family who lived day to day with us, this feels quite different. And in keeping with all the pandemic strangeness, our family feels it is best to keep Thanksgiving small. And with all the political puzzling and chaos, it feels like a weird time for us to be thankful. But I am seriously considering reading Psalm 75:1-7 around our table before we offer up our thanks. Seriously... it seems to speak to these divisive and uncertain times so well! 2020 stands a chance of being a landmark holiday year.

There are two clues as to how to be thankful in unsettled times right here in the very first verse of Psalm 75. CLUE 1: God is still near. Asaph wrote this psalm in a time when Israel was threatened by boastful, self-centered leaders and enemies (see Psalm 75:4-6 for this insight). Yet God was near and it is He Who steadies us in tottering times (Psalm 75:3). His justice is perfect when injustice seems rampant (Psalm 75:2). CLUE 2: God’s past deeds provide perspective. When the present feel uncertain, trust God, and remember what He has already done! A God-led past steadies our view of an uncertain present and gives assurance for a God-directed future.

Lord Jesus,

You are near. You will never leave us or forsake us. Thank You that You are God Who came near! We are never alone. You have not left us as orphans but forever made a way for us to be in You through Your cross. And You are in control. Your victory over death, Your teaching that gives us life, and Your Holy Spirit in Your Church encourage us in these uncertain days to trust only You!

Amen

a cloak is cast

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.

1 Kings 19:19

When Elijah felt overwhelmed by the pressures of ministry, God called him to develop a leader. The prophet was called to find an apprentice to mentor, to begin training for leadership another person to what he did, And Elijah quickly obeyed the specific call of God to anoint Elisha with this task of a new prophetic ministry.

There are some interesting elements to Elisha’s call. He was a farmboy, but not just any old farmboy. His family was evidently wealthy and farmed a large field. There were twelve yoke of oxen (that’s at least 24 heavy livestock) all pulling plows that day. This means that Elisha was out working with a large group of people, perhaps all the men of his town. This was a very public call that Elijah made of Elisha.

Elisha’s response to this call was equally public. He stopped the plow, sacrificed his yoke of oxen to the Lord, burning their wooden yoke to boil their flesh, in answer to the call. Then he fed the crowd and probably the entire town of Abelmeholah as he officially said goodbye to farming and entered into obeying the call of God to be a prophet under Elijah’s care and training.

Elijah’s strange way of making this call is unique. He threw his cloak over Elisha and walked on. Elijah’s cloak would be an identifying image of his ministry (see 1 Kings 19:3; 2 Kings 2:8, 13-14). It became symbolic of the Lord’s power and presence with him, and to entrust that cloak to Elisha somehow showed how God’s presence and power would pass to him as well.

There is something powerful in the investment of mentoring leaders. And it is part of my own call. The gospel is propelled forward in this fashion from generation to generation. Jesus invested in discipleship and in about three years time left all that would become His church into the hands of His chosen twelve. And I am called as a Christian and as a pastor to be sure to do the same. I need to always be on the lookout for those on whom God calls me to cast my cloak.

consecrated by blood and oil

Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and also on his sons and his sons' garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

Leviticus 8:30

The first priests were consecrated (made holy and pleasing to the Lord’s service) by the blood of a sacrifice and with anointing of oil. This made them holy and set apart to the service of offering sacrifices in the tabernacle in the wilderness. God controlled the process. Moses just obeyed the command that God laid out. The result was that a holy God could be worshiped in a holy place, through a holy way, by a consecrated people.

These priests were cleansed and consecrated by obedience to the means that God had ordained. The nation could come to God, find atonement through sacrifice, and worship in holiness because of the blood and the oil.

And today, because of the final sacrifice, the completed work of Jesus gives me freedom from sin’s curse and defilement. The blood of Jesus has consecrated every believer. And the Holy Spirit, like anointing oil, has indwelt each believer. We are a holy, consecrated people with full access to God, consecrated to His service. We are a people, called to be holy for the Lord.

no matter what

...as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

Philippians 1:20

Paul’s hope rested in Christ no matter what. The apostle believed that the outcome of his imprisonment, whether it was release to preach the gospel, or martyrdom because of the gospel, would bring glory to Jesus Christ. When the end vision is to see Jesus made much of, our circumstances cannot rob us of the joy of our hope and those circumstances help us to worship Jesus at all times.

Of course it is the last six words of this statement of Paul that are the firmest commitment. We all can sign on to the wish to glorify Christ by life when given that option. It is harder to accept that we could do so by death. Will that ever truly be tested? I pray that I would have this kind of confident courage if it ever were.

Lord Jesus,

You are worth living for with all that I have. And like Paul, may I confidently pray to honor you in my body, no matter what.

Amen

What will following Jesus cost me?

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Luke 14:28

Following Jesus is not a hobby or a part-time interest. Being a Christian is not a side interest or just a part of what a person is. Following Jesus requires serious, all the time, lifelong commitment. It isn’t something to do on a whim. What is the cost of discipleship? It is my entire life.

It seems pretty easy to take Christian teaching as an hour on Sunday kind of thing, as long as that sermon gets done before NFL kickoff! But that is not what it means to follow Jesus. Discipleship is a life obsession with loving, knowing, and being changed by Jesus. It started when I trusted in the gospel and then IT NEVER ENDS! Seriously... we give our lives to following Jesus, and then we spend eternity with our Lord! If that sounds like a letdown, then maybe the cost has never been committed to. The cost of discipleship is an investment of my entire life!

I know what you are thinking.

And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.”

Ezekiel 11:5

One reason God is the prefect judge is that He does not need to cross examine us to get to the truth. He knows more than our actions. God knows our minds. He knows our thoughts. What we think is under His scrutiny. That was one reason why Israel’s idolatry brought such severe judgment when it finally came.

God knows my mind and tests my heart. He wants my love for Him and true repentance from sin to be what happens in my heart. That is why Christian faith can’t be about mere external conformance. I need a heart change. I need to think in a new, holy, and transformed way with God’s power changing me.

Praise God that His Word can discern my thoughts (Hebrews 4:12). And His Spirit and Word change my thinking so that I can put off sin and put on holy living (Ephesians 4:22-24). Thank God that He changes my thinking!

light and life

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life...

Proverbs 6:23

This is my goal when reading God’s Word: I want to find light that shows me my way every day so that my life can be lived to please my Lord. I believe that in so doing I will also be happiest. I need the wisdom of God to light my steps. I need the discipline it brings in order to truly find meaningful life.

And so this proverb is a foundation to my day. It sets the tone for how I open the Bible. From God’s Word will come that light, that discipline, and that life. It is worth it to begin each day with an open Bible and a ready heart, asking the Spirit of God to shine the way!

O Lord,

Your Word is my lamp. Show me my path. Teach me Your truth. Discipline where I stray and build the character of Christ in me as You show me how to obey! You give me life in Your Word! May I live it as You give it. 

Amen

only God

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

Psalm 73:25

The heart whose sole affection is God will know constant worship. Look at this expression of worship in this verse! It shows what true, single-minded devotion to God looks like. Nothing in heaven or earth is greater than God, our Creator, our Sustainer, our Father! He is our hope and our future. He is our present help and friend. God is all we should desire.

Yet there are many things, many of them very good things, that can pull me away from this kind of devotion. The big thing that can do this in my life is “busy”ness. And the good time of busy that comes with ministry can strangely become something that I look to more than God. I can almost worship it. I must repent of such misplaced devotion!

O Lord,

I thank You for the privilege of serving You. But I confess that service is not the same as worship of You. Keep my heart focused on You, Lord Jesus. Amen

faithful and safe

And the word of the LORD came to him: “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

1 Kings 17:2-4

No matter how hard things may seem, God takes care of His people. Elijah came to ministry in a difficult cultural climate. Ahab and Jezebel led Israel in continuous, wanton idolatry. It was as if God had been wiped clean of the cultural memory, with no cultural or political interest in the worship of Yahweh at all.

The Lord brought a devastating environmental disaster upon the land with a drought in order to draw His people back in repentance. He used Elijah as His prophet to announce this judgment on Israel’s sin. God confronted the leadership using one man.

Although Elijah was considered an enemy of the state due to his stand for righteousness, he was untouchable in God’s plan! God kept Elijah safe and sound. Camped out by the brook Cherith, Elijah had every need met. The flowing stream and the daily food deliveries from ravens kept God’s truth speaker alive.

The God Who created meal delivery by air certainly knows our need today! And He will care for those faithful to the gospel in dangerous times. Of that we can be sure.

True Guilt

It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the LORD.

Leviticus 5:19

When I sin

     and disobey

          what God commands

or act in a wrong way

     whether I understand 

          or not...

I am guilty.

I have sinned.

I need forgiveness.

I must repent.

True guilt

    is helpful consequence

for what I have done

     in response and repentance

            believing God’s truth...

I need forgiveness.

I trust Jesus.

Guilt is covered.

Sin is forgiven.

one

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6

I write this grieving over what now is. In over thirty years of ministry leadership, I’ve never seen Christ’s church more divided than this contentious year of 2020. Our culture already fights over so many things. It is expected that those without Christ would be that way. But the church is designed to be a place of joyous, worshipful unity! Oh how we need to be reminded that NOTHING in this world defines us. We are to be exclusively and beautifully ONE in Jesus. We are divided and disobedient when we let medical masks, health guidelines, racial injustices, political opinions, and outspoken social media commentary and preferences pull our attention and worship away from Jesus! C’mon Christians! We are called to be much better than this! And I include myself in that plea.

Look at the unity in these three verses that should always be a part of who we are all the time: 1) One Spirit of God indwelling us. 2) One body of Christ, the church. 3) One hope of an abundant and eternal life. 4) One Lord — our Savior Jesus Christ. 5) One faith — the gospel and sound doctrine. 6) One baptism that unites use in Christ as His Church. 7) One God — the Father of us all.

Oh that we would center our actions and our conversations around Christian unity like this again and repent of our sinful, selfish, ugly divisions! Oh Jesus, hold this prayer in my heart and give me grace to love Your Church like You do!

five sparrows

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6-7

God loves people. And the person telling us this truth in this passage is Jesus Himself, God in the flesh, Who would give His life on the cross to show the immeasurable love of God for people. Humans put a price on virtually everything. But the price that God paid to save us is the ultimate cost. We need not fear. Jesus has proven His love for us!

What God treasures at the cost of the life of His Son, we should not trifle with. This is one reason why human actions that devalue life such as murder, abortion, racial hatred, genocide, and war are all evil. When we set our estimation of the value of all people everywhere from God’s perspective, all human life is precious, to be recognized as bought with the blood of Jesus!

Even the most corrupt sinner has been loved by Jesus. He died and rose for all humanity. No life is worthless in the eyes of our Savior, and should not be in ours either. We should treasure that truth!

when God shows up

So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face.

Ezekiel 3:23

There is a weird bit of Christian slang that I sometimes hear friends toss around to describe moments of transcendence: “God showed up”. Usually they are describing some experience of becoming aware of God’s working... a meaningful worship service, a helpful spiritual insight, or perhaps the conversion of someone they know. 

I get the slang because I have used it myself a time or two. But if we read the Old Testament prophets, we might be a lot less casual about tossing the phrase around! For Ezekiel, when God showed up, His glory was manifested visibly. The prophet fell on his face in reverent fear! It was kind of a scary sort of wonderful! Encountering God should lead to a demotion of our personal sense of importance and an exaltation of the Lord through our sincere, humble, and thoughtful worship.

prayer for wisdom and insight

Get wisdom; get insight;

do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

love her, and she will guard you.

Proverbs 4:5-6

O wise God,

I need Your wisdom and Your insight to direct all of my thinking, my attitudes, and my actions today. I am a sinner, grateful, Jesus, that You are my Savior. Yet I am too easily tempted to turn away from Your words and make ruinous choices. I am too easily distracted by false wisdom and alluring patterns of thinking that come from my flesh and this world. Help me to not turn from Your Word!

I need wisdom now for the day that is before me. Give wisdom to discern what Your Word is saying so that I may share Your truth with others. You can make changes in me and in them as Your Spirit works in us through Your Word. I need insight. Please show me where my own heart is astray as I talk with others today. And if You could help direct me through spiritual insight to understand both my heart and theirs, our words together will come to honor You and can have lasting, eternal impact.

Lord, give me wisdom. Lord, give me insight. I will not forget that You alone provide these.

Amen

refuge, rock, and savior

Be to me a rock of refuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

Psalm 71:3

Every person relies on some source of strength, some inner fortitude, some place of solace. You either work it up internally or focus on something or someone externally. David makes it clear in this psalm that God was his source, refuge, and strength-giver. He put himself into God’s care. He sought God as his secure rock and found God’s saving mercy and grace.

God is my rock. He is my higher ground of perspective over all that is around me. God provides the solid ground on which I can stand.

God is my fortress. In Jesus I find my security, my safety, my protection from the storms of life and the onslaught of evil in this world. I am secure.

God is my Savior. God gave the command to save me, and Jesus then willingly gave Himself out of love for all sinners and in obedience to the Father’s will. I am safe by faith in Him!

Chemosh and Molech

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

1 Kings 11:7-8

Solomon’s devotion to God alone was quickly lost when his passion for a sexually polygamous lifestyle overtook his heart. He literally loved THOUSANDS of women. He kept these wives and concubines in a royal harem, and since many of these women were also gentiles who were “given” to him in political treaty, he sought to keep them happy.

He built pagan temples to their false gods and allowed the worship practices of these idols to proliferate in his own household. Chemosh and Molech were particularly loathesome and evil false gods, both of which required human child sacrifice in rites of worship. Solomon’s lust took him way off track. And the gross nature of his idolatry brought God’s discipline. The kingdom never survived this.

The path to any idolatry starts with the heart. That is why I must let scripture examine my wants and motives. The heart and the things I want can easily lead me away from worshiping God.

walls

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility...

Ephesians 2:14

Christians must not be divided when Jesus is our peace. But when Christians fight, fuss, and display divisiveness to those who look to us to see what reconciliation should be, it is solely because they have let something or someone other than Jesus define and lead them. Jesus changes hearts, breaks down barriers, and unifies groups of people. Nothing else can do this reconciling work that Jesus does!

Jesus first did this by erasing the barrier of Jewish law that was destroying the early Christian movement. The Jews did not need to keep the law to be saved by Jesus. The Gentiles did not need to do so either. The temple veil was torn from top to bottom to forever demonstrate that the Lamb of God is Who takes away the sin of the world. And the original “dividing wall” was broken down in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

False saviors do occasionally show up in the church. I am witnessing this now. Politics is an ugly one, causing division in the church when it should not. Cultural issues are another divider. They have combined horribly in 2020 to disaster in the testimony of the church. Why is it that for hundreds of years in America, Sunday morning is the most segregated time? Could it be that we are content in our sinful divisions, unwilling to believe that Jesus has the power to unite all believers of every race and background? “They prefer their own culture” is what all sides think. And the dividing wall of preference is built up when Jesus wants to tear it down so that we all clearly see just Him!

Oh how the church of every culture needs to draw close to the Savior Who has brought both Jew and Gentile together in ONE body! Oh how I need to guard my heart against comfortability with this unbiblical division.

The Christ of God

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

Luke 9:20

Get close to Jesus. Study His words. Follow His teaching. Seek to be the kingdom citizen He described. You will be more than convinced that He is indeed the sent Savior of mankind. You will be sure that He is God. That’s what happened to His disciples. Peter was speaking for all of them when he answered this question with the conviction that Jesus is “The Christ of God”. Proximity to Jesus convinces people of the divinity of Jesus.

I am making a lifetime of knowing Jesus, studying Him, understanding His teaching, and of prioritizing His kingdom. I am His follower. I’m not perfect at this by any means, yet I am convinced Jesus is the only Savior of the world. I know this because He has saved me. I am sure that Jesus is God. Jesus changed my life... forever. And I answer this question the same way Peter did: “You are the Christ of God!”

Who is Jesus? The Christ of God. How do I personally know and explain Jesus? As the Christ of God. What gospel do I speak? Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the One sent from God, to be the Savior of this world and the Lord and Master of all who will believe and follow Him.

a wise God in bad times

Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

Why should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

Lamentations 3:37-39

From God’s perspective there is nothing that humans should complain about circumstantially. Both good experiences and bad experiences that mark our lives will fulfill God’s purposes. No action of any human government anywhere, even when it is oppressive or wrong, happens outside God’s sovereign control or beyond the reach of the gospel! God will use even the wrong that human devise to bring about His purposes. He will even punish sin in some people through the actions of other sinners.

Lamentations was written as an epic poem of suffering. It builds solid worship theology from the worst human experiences possible. But even Jeremiah, the prophet who authored this book, knew that though Babylon was evil, God used pagan rulers to purge from Judah her sin and punish His people who had forsaken Him first. This suffering served a divine purpose: to call them to repentance and pull them back into heartfelt worship. 

Lamentations 3:40-41

Let us test and examine our ways,

and return to the LORD!

Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

And the constant chaos and regular disruption that has been this current landmark year of 2020 causes me to trust God that in this bad time, He will make of it circumstances that serve the purpose of calling many people to turn to God in repentance so that they embrace the love of Christ in the gospel!

God in His Word

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;

bind them around your neck;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3

When God revealed His covenant-keeping character to Moses in Exodus 34:6, He described Himself as abounding in steadfast love (that’s grace) and faithfulness. Here in Proverbs those two phrases quickly are witness to the continual faithfulness and graciousness of our God, calling us to seek and live by His wisdom. People who are serious about knowing and loving God will “bind” themselves to His Word’s wisdom, hiding it in their hearts.

It is a powerful witness to the grace of God that I could open my Bible today. God’s voice spoke clearly in His Word as I read it, as distinctly as He revealed His faithful grace so long ago to Moses. And I am accountable for that encounter. I must take God’s Word quite seriously as I have seen, known, and learned from God in the pages.

O Lord,

May I bind Your wisdom around me like a necklace of truth. Keep speaking to my heart so that Your Word, Your Spirit, and the saving work of Jesus may continue to change me, conforming me to be more like Jesus, as I find Your wisdom in Your pages and thrive!

Amen

worship and prayer

Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalm 66:20

Prayer grows a deep tap root into real worship. I find that when I am honestly, faithfully, and meaningfully praying, my worship of God intensifies. My heart is drawn to God in prayer. And that is the sense I get from this last verse of the sixty-sixth psalm. God’s faithfulness in hearing prayer, and His faithful, gracious love in the answers to prayer ought to spark an inferno of true worship!

You can really see this if you back up in this psalm to see verse 20 in its context (see Psalm 66:16-19). This is a testimony of praise. And the “answers” to prayer in this psalm lean heavily toward soul change and not just to physical needs (Psalm 66:16). There is simultaneous praise and request in the prayer that is offered to God (Psalm 66:17). Sin is confessed to God honestly and straightforwardly (Psalm 66:18). God has heard this worshipful prayer and has responded (Psalm 66:19).

My soul, too, is so very thankful for answered prayer. I don’t think I stop to acknowledge this enough. I am in awe of the power and grace of God at work in my soul as a result of time in worshipful, meaningful, soul-changing fellowship with my Savior in prayer.

bigger than big

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

1 Kings 8:27

God’s immensity cannot really be appreciated outside of a worshipful heart. Solomon stood in a brand new magnificent temple... the pinnacle of his achievement as king in Jerusalem.... one of the seven ancient wonders... and with hands spread heavenward realized that no work of man, not even if it were built across the entire planet, could contain the God that he worshiped.

Beyond that, God exists beyond the universe He created. The universe is too small a temple for God! The Lord God Almighty is bigger than what we can comprehend. He is bigger than the universe. And today astronomers can peer through their telescopes and cannot yet see any end to outer space... it appears to stretch on and on. Still, God is beyond even that!

O Lord,

You are indeed infinite. Your immensity stretches to infinity and yet You dare to reach down in love to us. Jesus, You are my Lord of heaven, Who bound Yourself to Your creation in the Incarnation out of Your infinite love and grace. My soul worships even as all of this is so beyond me!

Amen

Holy Meeting Place

Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy.

Exodus 40:9

In wilderness

Israel made a tent

furnished by God’s intent

in His graciousness

God met with them

It was holy

built at costly price

this place of sacrifice

meant only

to worship God

God met man

sin was forgiven

sacrifices given

so they’d understand

the mercies of God

Finally, Jesus forever

ended this distinction

of holy location

God’s Spirit dwells in whoever

trusts Christ’s sacrifice

Jesus lives in us. Christ dwells in a holy meeting place.

Can’t do it alone

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Galatians 6:2-3

Authentic ministry (and by that I mean gospel-centered love of neighbor that is informed and motivated by the love of Jesus for us) will be the death of self-pride. Bearing and caring for the burden of another human being requires a selfless, Christ-like love. It isn’t a matter of pride. It brings us to simple and necessary humility.

Until you have entered into another person’s suffering or grieved with them over the devastation of a broken world system, or mourned with them over the losses their own sins have dealt them, you cannot possibly have known the “burden” talked about here. Burdens are impossibly heavy. They crush the soul. They cannot be borne alone. Christian love compels us to carry them to Jesus together!

Lord Jesus,

I want to obey Your call to love well in bearing burdens. My schedule for this week has eleven planned “burden bearing” conversations with hurting people. Three of those interactions are happening today. O God, Purge me of self-interest or prideful thinking. I do not have the power to do this on my own! I need you Lord Jesus, to help me see the need, love well, and carry hope to the hurting. Make my pride and self NOTHING so that You can be everything through Your love through me.

Amen

listen well!

Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.

Luke 8:18

The truth of the gospel, especially as we diligently seek to find how all scripture points to Jesus, is a precious treasure. Christians are called to be careful in understanding it. But as we apply ourselves to being people who “hear” with care, we will be rewarded with seeing, knowing, listening to, and loving our Savior even more! And our hearts will cry out: “Give us more Jesus!”

There is also a warning here from Jesus to those who are too casual with His Word. The one who does not pay attention to hearing God’s Word well will find what little they do “have” to be slipping away. I’ve seen this happen in my own heart when I have gotten callous and routine with scripture. Thankfully the Holy Spirit has convicted my sin during those times. But this explains why inevitably theological liberalism leads to an empty faith. It no longer listens to Jesus.

Lord Jesus, Living Word of God! I will listen to You. Give me strength to work hard, long, and well at hearing You! Amen

The Victor

A voice! A cry from Babylon!

The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

For the LORD is laying Babylon waste

and stilling her mighty voice.

Jeremiah 51:54-55a

No one can stand against God and withstand His justice. God used the Babylonian empire to judge His idolatrous people, Israel. But eventually even cruel Babylon was judged by God. They were obliterated from earth... now just a failed empire in history, while God’s people still live on in His care. No amount of human empire-building or military might will be stronger than the arm of the Lord!

Today Babylon is a ruin. It is ancient history. The once mighty power, the terror she struck in her enemies has vanished into the sands of millennia. God has prevailed. Babylon has no voice. Yet God’s Word still speaks in triumph.

O God,

Destroyer of proud empires... Leveler of pride, You bury the strongest human empires in sand to be forgotten, like toys in a sandbox! Your voice rings loudly across the dust of fallen human empires. You have sent Your Son to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords and His kingdom has no end! I bow before You, Jesus, as the Ruler of my life. You are the Victor!

Amen

Beginning My Day

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

You, O Lord, are my beginning

to talk with You

to start my day

is the best way

to begin each day

You, O God, are my knowledge

to seek to know You

is the path to all truth

today I look to You

to direct what I do

You, My Savior, are my wisdom

to look to You

for the steps I take

to serve You first each day

will best enlighten my way

You, Jesus, give me instruction

I will listen to Your Word

so that I may know You

and grow more like You

in what You lead me to do

Why it is good to be “cling-y”.

My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 63:8

Ultimately loving and worshiping God is a matter of the heart. The imagery of clinging is powerful in this worship song. Young children cling to their parents. Why? Because mom and dad love, nourish, protect, and provide for them as nobody else ever will. The world away from home is dangerously unknown. But there is loving safety and security in clinging to a parent. There is powerful, strengthening, life-building security in the strength of their love.

To worship God well, my soul should cling to Christ. He is my security. The gospel nourishes my life daily. Jesus loves me infinitely more than I can every truly comprehend. Jesus provides what my soul needs most.

Those who cling to their God are upheld by the power of His right hand. We don’t let go of Him. He is always there with us, close to us, always acting for our best interests and His great glory. My soul clings to You, Lord Jesus. You uphold me with Your nail-scarred hands!