New Thoughts (8/10/03-8/20/03)
For… Clearly, Paul is summing up a point, but where shall we trace that point back to? I think it should probably be referred back to the opening of this chapter (this paragraph, really). "But as for you…" Paul started out with the instruction to instruct, and to instruct only what fits with sound doctrine. The remainder of the paragraph has been taken up with specific examples and applications, and throughout, there has been the restatement of the same underlying reason: To adorn God's doctrine, to do nothing that could cause anybody to speak against either His doctrine, or His person. Therein is the reason for the specific message, therein is the focus of all Christian teaching: that we might live in ways which advertise the goodness of the God we serve, and the life He brings.
Now, Paul provides the incentive for teaching this doctrine, the reason that we ought to put up with whatever we must to bring that message forward. Teach sound doctrine because God's grace has appeared, because God has made salvation available to all men, and because the salvation He makes available is to be found in the doctrine you are to teach! God has made Himself available. He has made His purposes clear and comprehensible, yet the message must be declared if it is to be understood. So teach! Teach wherever and whenever opportunity arises! Teach without fail! Not all will accept the message, but make certain all have the opportunity to.
Teach, also, because what you are teaching is what He has taught you. His grace came not only to save, but also to train us up to the holiness of life by which we can dwell in the presence of God. In Paul's quick summary of God's training, he clearly shows that the training God gives to His own is exactly what he has been telling Titus to teach to the church. Here is the general doctrinal principle behind the specific applications Paul has been giving.
In making this connection clear, Paul accomplishes two purposes: first he strengthens Titus' hand in teaching, by clearly displaying the authority behind the teaching. He does not stop at showing that what Titus teaches is what he, himself would teach, but shows that it is indeed what God teaches. Showing the God-given nature of the message, he also makes the hearers of Titus' teaching more amenable to the message, more inclined to be attentive. If the teacher is delivering the very words of God to us, are we not far more inclined to heed the message? In this, the example of our Teacher, Jesus the Christ, is being continued. He declared that nothing He taught by word or example was done of His own volition, but all was done as He had learned from the Father. Paul now established the continuous linkage from Father to Son to apostle to pastor.
We would do well to bear that continuity in mind in our churches today. If we cannot accept that our pastors function, as Titus did, in a clear line of authority, teaching the same Gospel message that Jesus taught, then our course ought to be reasonably clear. It begins with checking our own heart in the light of God's Word, a painful but necessary process. Indeed, this should not be the first occasion, or even a rare occasion for such checking. Just like a physical, or periodic maintenance on a car, our spiritual condition needs to have a check up, and there's only One who can perform the needed service. If, after we have examined ourselves, we find ourselves reconciled to our pastor, heaven rejoices, and we are the more prepared to hear our teacher's message with a heart and will to obey. If our examination leaves us convinced of our original concern, the time has come to depart that fold. As I was reading yesterday in the writings of one of the Plymouth Plantation founders, 'follow no man further than he follows Christ.'
What follows, is the foundation of Christian living. It begins with a negative, an opposition to the way of life we learn from the world. What is not always clear in translation is the cause and effect relationship being given here. Young's literal translation makes it a bit more evident for us: "12 teaching us, that denying the impiety and the worldly desires, soberly and righteously and piously we may live in the present age." Do you see the sequence in this? It is in refusing to participate in the negative that we are empowered to pursue the positive, not only to pursue it, but to actually achieve it! As we learn to refuse all that is ungodly, as we learn to ignore the desires with which the world seeks to entangle us, we will discover that we have not simply arrived at some neutral position, for there is no neutral position in this matter. No, but in rejecting the temptations of the devil, we will find we have already begun walking in the ways of righteousness! Paul put it this way, in his letter to Rome. "Consider yourselves to be dead to sin" (Ro 6:11a)! Dead men don't react. Dead men have no lusts to pursue. This is the power of Christian death. It frees us from such attractions, allows us to deny ungodliness, because our senses have become dead to their attraction.
Does this mean we have become lifeless? Not at all! All our senses are intact, indeed more than intact. All that has occurred is that our senses have been restored to their full and proper operating conditions. The washing of the blood of Christ has cleanses them of their impurities, has repaired the damages of sin upon our senses, leaving them to find satisfaction only n their original design. The attraction of the negative has been destroyed in us, that we may pursue the truly attractive positive.
Notice one other thing in that verse: It says we can do it. It says we can do it in this life. The instruction is given for the here and now. The command is to obedience here and now. We dare not put off our pursuit of righteousness and holiness until the day of His coming. I grant you that the work will not be complete until He comes, but that is no excuse for being a lazy servant in this life. Is this not exactly the issue Paul takes with the Cretans? They are evil and lazy. The two are connected traits, and Paul is hardly the first to make that connection. Proverbs is filled with warnings for the sluggard to awake and take life in hand. The Gospels are filled with warnings against those who are not busy about the Father's work when the King returns. Be alert, be ready, be industrious: these are the words of Christ to His people.
So, how is it that the rejection of the negative empowers the positive? The reason is simply this: the lusts of the world, being products of the Devil's influence cannot but be in total opposition to the pursuit of God's ways. He has set himself against God, and opposes God in every fashion he can. Included in his efforts are all the ways in which the world seeks to get us to focus on ourselves, on this life, and to take our eyes off of eternal matters. What is that but ungodliness? Adam Clarke tells us that ungodliness consists in everything which is contrary to God. If any action or statement denies but one attribute of His essence, it is ungodliness. It is for this very reason that sin is sinful. Sin cannot but deny God's essence. He is holy, omniscient, and omnipotent. When we sin, He being omniscient cannot but know of it. He being holy, He cannot but be disgusted by it. He being omnipotent, He cannot but take action against those who would so offend their Creator. We all know these attributes of God, yet if we sin, we must deny at least one of these to ourselves, else we would never be willing to act contrary to such a One. If all we recognize in God are His grace, His love, and His mercy, we will find no cause there to cease from sin. It is only when we confess and uphold all of His attributes that we have sufficient reverence for Him who is also omnipresent.
We are ever in His presence, and we would do well to walk in that recognition. I know that this is a hard task to set ourselves, perhaps even impossible for us, yet it is the key to our walking in the righteousness He requires of us. If we will remember more about God than His love for us, if we will recognize that along with His forgiveness, He remains the same jealous and vengeful God revealed in Scripture, if we will remember that in God perfect mercy and perfect justice are united; then we will know not only the joy of knowing our sins are forgiven, but we will have the holy fear to guard us from repeating our offense.
The Devil would be happy for us to focus on only those reassuring attributes of God, those attributes that tell us that He loves us in spite of ourselves. It's playing out before us in the Episcopal church today. God loves every man, they tell us. Thus, they feel they can justify the homosexual not only in the pulpit, but as an overseer of the church! Satan has convinced them to look at only a portion of God. "Surely you will not die!" His methods haven't really changed much. He will deceive even the elect, if they allow the possibility. True, God's love is such that it pursues every man living, but His love is not blind or stupid. His love does not indicate His blessing on the condition in which He finds us. No, His love is tempered with holiness, His love is not the love men know, especially in this age of permissiveness, where anything goes, and woe to him who says otherwise. His holy love cannot suffer to see us continue in our dead ways, and so reaches out to us, takes us from our sins, and sets us on the paths of righteousness. These false shepherds seem to think that they will enter into the wedding feast having refused to put on the garments He has provided. They refuse to walk in His righteousness, yet would insist that He accept them as they are. Unwilling to change, yet they would claim to be changed, would claim to be walking in newness of life, when the stench of the old life permeates their being.
Are we any different? Surely, every solid Christian must cringe to hear what is happening in the church at large today, what is being played out before the hungry audience of the media. But, are our own actions any better? Sin is sin, in the final analysis. He who is guilty of breaking the least commandment of God is guilty of the whole of God's law, has earned the whole penalty which is due. If we walk on, insisting that God accept us as we are, convinced that He is duty-bound to overlook our sins and continue to bless us, we are no better than those who so pervert the order of God's creation.
If any word or deed causes us to doubt His word, His Truth, then it is ungodliness. This is another part of Clarke's definition of ungodliness. Paul put it this way: 'whatever is not of faith is sin.' Faith is belief, conviction of His Truth. Doubt is the opposite. It is the first step back down into unbelief. What happens, when the things we have tried to hide away are made evident? What happens to those believers who know us, if we take a faith nosedive? What is happening when the officials of the church are being displayed in the media, in a constant daily barrage, as being not only perverted in their course, but apparently unrepentant of their habits, as well? Who will turn to a church that puts such men in charge as their guide to righteous living? How can this not promote doubt that God is indeed God?
Again, I must take up the example of the Episcopal crisis today. This would be shepherd, this blind guide of a blinded congregation, would have us to know that God wants pretty much everybody and anybody to be a leader in the church. He would have us to understand that the requirements for the pastorate are lax enough that no unrepented sin, no habitual rejection of God's rule, is reason enough to prevent a man from the pulpit! It makes me wonder what book he's been reading, because it certainly must not have had Paul's writings in it! This dangerous imposter would have us doubt the clear word of Scripture, so that we might accept his place as a leader. Oh, he will doubtless lead many, but they will be led into the bondage of the master he truly serves. Fully deceived in himself, he has already deceived many. He has fitted the blinders over the eyes of the congregation he claims to serve, and they are now ready, willing, and fully able to follow this one who declares by his very presence that God could care less what they do. Thereby, he shows himself a son of the Devil, striving to make his followers ten times moreso than he.
That which claims to be worship, yet is not true worship as ordained by the One worshiped, is also ungodliness. In the days of the prophets, we saw this play out. Over and over again, God told His people that their rituals, their sacrifices, their days of feasting or fasting, were no longer pleasing in His sight. Why? Because, they had removed their hearts from the act. They had become rigid in pursuing the outward forms, but lax in pursuing the inward. They were worshiping in ways which no longer followed the God-ordained order. How much of our worship today is in the same dangerous place? How often do we stand before God with our hearts impure and unrepentant, and sing out the songs of worship? How often do we shout our 'amen' to something we have no intention of acting in agreement with? How often do we shout our 'amen' without actually considering what it is we give our seal to? How often do we even consider what it is God wants us to be doing in our service of worship?
For some churches, it's become a matter of conformance to established liturgy. The form has become of more concern than the purpose. The Jews sought the security of established liturgy, as well. This was exactly what Jesus fought in the Pharisees. They had their rulebook, and their order of daily living, and this mattered more, in their sight, than what God said. In fairness, their motives may well have been honorable. By all their system, their goal was to protect righteousness. Unfortunately, they lost sight of that purpose, and began to consider their own rules as more important, and more binding than God's. Woe to us if we allow ourselves to get caught up in the same foolishness!
Other churches have become more concerned with being accessible, with being attractive, professional, and slick. What this has to do with worshiping God, I'm not sure. It seems to worship the headcount. All unwittingly, it sets up the sinner as more important than God! Perhaps we have forgotten what the service of worship is about. Is it intended to be the primary platform for evangelism to the unsaved? Is it intended to be a training session for Christian workers? Or, is it intended to be a gathering of the saved to exalt their God?
While evangelism is indeed the task of every Christian, I'm not convinced that the church is the place in which it is supposed to be pursued, at least not during the service of worship. Worship is about glorifying God. Yes, He is glorified by every sinner who repents and returns to Him, absolutely! Certainly, if one comes to repentance in the midst of a service of worship, God is to be praised all the more. But is this the correct focus?
Training up the workers is also an admirable pursuit for the Church at large, indeed, a God instituted purpose. But, during a service of worship? In Jewish culture, there was the Temple, and then there were the synagogues. Each had its unique purpose. The Temple was the house of God, where one went to worship and honor the Master of the house. The synagogue was for teaching and training. There is a difference between a pastor in pastoral ministry, and a teacher in a teaching ministry. While the offices are similar, they are not the same. So, also, services of worship, and sessions for training. They are similar, but not the same. Both are very necessary, and we ought to be attentive in pursuit of both, but we ought not to confuse the two along the way.
So, are we to turn every worship service into a 'Holy Ghost party,' as some like to term it? I doubt we'll find the answer in that direction either. We must recover the model God has set before His people, the pattern of worship that He desires. Nothing else will suffice. Indeed, all else puts us in danger. Obedience, rather than sacrifice, a contrite heart of repentance, rather than 'happy face' denials of our condition, the earnest gift of ourselves, rather than the dutiful offering of tithes or voices; these are the desire of God. It may display itself in a party-like atmosphere. It may just as likely display itself with tears and groaning. It is not all that likely to be attractive to the unbeliever who may wander in, but then, it's not really our job to attract them. God will do the attracting. Our task is to feed them and clothe them when they come. That's what training services are for, to prepare us for the task. We must go to the lost sheep. That's what evangelism is for. But, how shall we bring them into the fold of earnest worship if they are still lost?
Let us reserve to God His rightful worship! Let us restore to Him our time and attention in those services. Let us listen for His leading, learn from the instruction He has long since given us in His word. Let us put His house and ours in order, His order! When the call is for evangelism, evangelize! When the call is for preparation, prepare! Teach! Learn! But, when the call is for the worship and honor of our God and Savior, let that, and that alone, be our focus, and our purpose. Let us come before our Lord with honesty and openness. Let us stand in His presence and praise Him for who He is, for all that He is to us, and for the hope His promises have brought to us. Let us glorify Him, for He alone is worthy. Let us, for that time, forget mission, and remember only He who as given us a mission.
Let us not, however, neglect that mission. God has not neglected it from the beginning. How can we who serve Him do otherwise than to pursue His great work? Consider what Scripture says of His own attentiveness to the work of salvation. In Acts 17:26-27, we are told that God made every nation of the earth from on man. We are also told that it is He who determined what, where, and when each nation would be. He numbers the days of a nation even as He numbers the days of each person living. He has decided the extent of their lands and influence. As much as the leaders of these nations may take credit for the state of their unions, it is not they who make the nation what it is, it is God. Yes, and God is not frivolous in His determinations. All that He establishes in the kingdoms of the earth, He does with a purpose, with a design in mind. His reasons are clearly stated in this passage. All that He establishes amongst the governments of mankind, He does for the sole purpose of encouraging mankind to seek Him in hope. Nations may be bound up in darkness, yet in the deepest darkness, man can still seek the light of the Lord. Their eyes may be blinded, yet He is never far from the one who will seek Him out.
In His grace towards man, He has established Providential means to inform man of His presence and His love. Into every hopeless heart, He seeks ways to whisper words of the hope He has laid up for mankind. Indeed, we could reduce that passage to this simple statement: All that God does on the earth, He does with the design that the inhabitants of the earth would seek Him. That is the record and the message of Scripture. All of His promises to His people are aimed at bringing them to repentance for their sinful rebellion, at turning them back from their deadly path onto the ways of righteousness. Every work of God throughout history (and what of history is not His work) has been done in pursuit of man's salvation. Every revelation of God to His creatures has been aimed at this very same thing: repentance unto salvation.
In times past, most every nation was enveloped in darkness when it came to understanding His message to them. Israel had been given the task of informing the world, but had chosen to keep the news to themselves. Rather than take up the work of God, they chose to pursue a prideful course. They misunderstood the import of being God's chosen people, and determined that it was a position and privilege to be jealously guarded. The message of the Gospel, however, makes it plain that God's chosen are not to choose this course. In that message, God has graciously made the incomprehensible clear to man. He has bowed down in His ineffable glory to speak to us in our own terms, to reach out to man as man. Through the Gospel, He speaks to every man right in the place they are. Whatever our condition may be at present, whether oppressed or prospering, whether ill or in good health, however sinful we may be, yet the Gospel can make His message clear to us. Through the Word, and the unceasing work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the man He has called, the real possibility of repentance, of liberation from our sins, of salvation are laid before us in a fashion we can understand. In the midst of hopelessness, He indeed comes with the light of hope.
We who call ourselves Christians have been entrusted with that light. We have received our instructions to bring that same light to the lost world around us. One does turn on their light only to shutter it so thoroughly that no hint of it can be seen (Lk 8:16). No! He puts the light on, and makes certain it is positioned to shed as much light as it can. This was to be Israel's purpose. They were lit with the knowledge of the One true God. They were providentially placed at what may be the most strategic point on globe, that no nation could possibly miss them, nor miss the holy message they bore. But they chose to hide the light from men. They chose to suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Ro 1:18). Even in their greatest devotion to the course of life declared in the pages of Scripture, yet, in refusing the knowledge of God to the surrounding nations, they were guilty of suppressing the truth.
God chose another path. As His people would not make plain the truth that His kingdom was for all the peoples of the earth, He took matters into His own hands. He gave the message to those who were in darkness, that they, rejoicing in the light they had received, would gladly bear news of this marvelous light to one and all. The mission hasn't changed. His purpose hasn't changed. We, the chosen, have been entrusted with the same mission: to spread His light, to bear His light in the most conspicuous possible fashion. We are faced with the same choice Israel faced, and we are in danger of making the same mistake. If all we do is pursue our walk of righteousness, while keeping to ourselves the reason for the hope that is in us, we have fallen into the same prideful sin that plagued Israel before us. The Gospel is designed to reach man, and in God's design, we are called to declare that Gospel to one and all. He desires that all men should be saved, and He has given us a tool uniquely capable of liberating men from their blind slavery to sin. Will He find us faithful in pursuing the task He has laid out for us when He comes?
Of course, there's another consideration to keep in mind. If we who bear the message live lives that show no signs that we've taken heed to the message ourselves, who will listen? Failure to 'walk the talk' is perhaps the greatest reason that world around us rejects the very notion of godliness today. Thus, the same grace of God which providentially calls us to repentance and salvation also disciplines us to live lives of repentance, lives prepared for the great Day of Salvation. God ordains the nations. God ordained the coming of His Son, and He ordained the death of His Son on our behalf. He ordained the authors of Scripture, and has ordained men throughout history to ensure that His Scripture remains for man to hear and to heed.
He also ordains the conditions and situations of our daily life. Whether we will acknowledge Him or not, He remains Lord of all. It is His to determine the pattern of our days, and He has so determined them as to try our faith. He has not chosen, in His sovereign will, to take us out of this darkened world, but has determined to leave us in it. Therein, we are tested and tried, as Israel was tried in the desert, that we might know our own hearts. We are surrounded by all the pride of life, but we are reminded in the midst of this great display that everything our eyes might delight in will be destroyed in time. All of it will pass away. Why the reminder? So that we will consider how our lives out to be lived (2Pe 3:11).
Our repentance came because God showed us who we really were. We saw the evil in our own hearts, how fully corrupt were our ways, and knew that we were powerless to change. He came with a message of hope, with the power to bring the change we could not accomplish, and we rejoiced, laying hold of His promises. But we remain in the world, we remain in the flesh. Though our spirits are renewed, yet they remain in a corrupting influence. Our hearts are ever in danger of falling into delusion once more. It is terrifyingly easy for us to fall into complacency, to recognize that our salvation rests on the unchangeable Rock of Christ, and so, to stop being concerned about our daily choices. It is terrifyingly easy for the chosen sons of God to live like sons of the Devil, and our hearts will cheerfully tell us that we're alright. His forgiveness is for all sins, after all! What reason to worry?
But, such messengers cannot be effective in bearing the message. To one in bondage, what use is word of liberty from one who has chosen to remain in slavery? Who will listen? The things of the world are surely enticing, but we are given a weapon to resist their enticements. That weapon is the simple reminder that all these things will be destroyed, but there is an eternity in our soul which will survive their passing. How we live reflects how we will live in that eternity. If we insist on continuing on as sons of the Devil, then with the Devil we will spend days unending. If we have truly grasped the message of God, if our belief that we are indeed His chosen ones is founded in truth and not fantasy, then how ought we to live?
If His grace has been shown to us, if He has signed our adoption papers and declared us His own children, surely we must accept the rules of His household! If He is our Father, surely, His love for us requires that He discipline us when we reject His rules. This, too, is an act of His grace. Were He not gracious with us, if His love for us were not so great, He might allow us to walk away from Him, to return to the sins which entangled us before He called us into His light. But, His love is great, and His gracious mercy for us unending. Therefore, He brings chastisements upon us, to correct our errors. Therefore, He disciplines us, that we might return to the paths of righteousness in which He commands us to walk. Therefore, He takes corrective action, that we might dwell in the presence of Him who can tolerate no sin.
There, God willing, we will dwell for eternity. In that day, there can be no further rebellion in us, there can be no remaining trace of sinfulness, for He cannot abide the presence of sin. If we insist on holding onto our sins in this life, then we must understand that we are also insisting on eternal separation from Him in the coming age. Therefore, count it all joy when you face trials, because these trials are but the testing of your faith to produce enduring faith (Jas 1:2-3)! Accept the loving correction of your heavenly Father, and rejoice in knowing that He has never given up on you. Be enthralled by His grace, and remain in a life that bears the fruits of His grace!
One of the primary fruits of that grace is in the doing of good. Salvation by grace is not a reason to cease from our good works, it is a corrective to our motivation, though. Once, we did our good deeds in hopes of man's approval, or in hopes of earning God's approval. Either way, the good we sought to do was being corrupted by the doing, because our heart was after glorification of self, not glorification of God. With salvation by grace, we've set aside these vain efforts to impress. All that remains is a deep and abiding gratitude for what God ahs done for us, and doing the tasks He sets before us with gladness and thanksgiving is the best possible way we can show our gratitude. Indeed, as Matthew Henry points out, if faith is truly alive in us, it must have its effect. Real faith cannot help but show in action.
However, if we are still caught up in the enticements of the world, faith is being strangled in us by these other desires, just as the weeds will inevitable choke off the proper residents of the garden. It is but seed falling among weeds, and if we mistake this for real and saving faith, we are deluding ourselves. The importance of this issue of works is so strong that both Calvin, upon whose teachings Calvinism developed, and Matthew Henry, equally firm in his beliefs in the permanence of salvation, declare this as a danger sufficient to cause the loss of the unlosable! Mr. Henry tells us that grace which doesn't lead to good works is grace received in vain. How can this be? God's word does not return to Him void, but accomplishes all its purpose. If grace was sent to such an one, is it really possible that God's purpose has failed in this person? I would have to contend that His word has not gone forth in this case. What we are discussing is one to whom the call of salvation has not truly come. We are discussing one whose heart has deceived him, who may perhaps think of himself as saved, and who puts up his best image of a saved man when he is among the truly saved. Yet salvation is still far from him, and being deceived of heart, he does not even know to seek it further.
Calvin writes, "The fruit of redemption is lost, if we are still entangled by the sinful desires of the world." Again, I would have to think that the seed was never really planted. If we consider Jesus' parable of the sower, we are shown an image of one casting seed to fall where it may. What occurs with that seed thereafter is a function of the preparedness of the soil to receive it. Where the soil is stony, it cannot so much as put down a root. Where the soil is shallow, it may appear to take root, but the shortest of hard times will show that it has not really done so. Where the soil is good, there can still be problems, for other, less desirable plants may be competing for that soil, and may actually win out in the long run. Only where the soil is good, and also well tended, will the seed take proper root.
Is this not a parable of the Gospel and the Church? The planting of the Gospel seed is not the orderly and efficient seed plugging of the modern farm. Certainly, this is a more efficient model, but it is not the model that fits the circumstance. Instead, we are given to plant by casting our seed every which way, allowing it to fall where it will. The word of the Gospel must go forth to all nations. All must have the opportunity of hearing the good news of Salvation and Life. Yet, like the parable, not all will receive the seed, and not all who appear to have received it will have done so in truth. The ranks of the church may swell with these seedlings, but their true estate may not be known until the day of harvest. If it does become known, it will be through outward evidence, for only God can see the heart of a man to know it. Where there is persecution against the church, the evidence may be quicker in coming. Some will be found glad to associate with a church that still has the respect of the community around it, perhaps even to associate with a church which does not have their respect, so long as that association doesn't result in personal risk. But where the body is being actively persecuted, only those truly planted will stay.
In the west, we do not yet have the benefit of such rapid proofs of grace. Yet, we are not devoid of the opportunity to know that the grace within us is in earnest, that the call we feel we have upon us is indeed the call of Christ. That proof lies in our actions. Do we pursue the doing of good, or are we still busy pursuing the goods of the world? Here is test number one, and many will fail the test right there, if they are honest in answering. Yet, even if we can honestly say that our focus is on the works He prepares for us to do, there remains the question of motive. Why are we doing it? Are we still trying to earn His respect, His favor? If so, then our works are tainted and spoiled. Are we doing it so that others will think well of us? If so, then our works are tainted and spoiled. Only when our doing is a simple, loving reaction to the One who has given us so much, only where we pursue the good He prepares for us to do out of a loving, thankful recognition of the favor He has already shown us, and of the total lack of anything within us which deserved such favor, when we realize that if there is any good in us, or in the things we are doing, it is from Him and Him alone, then our good works are indeed good, and are indeed the fruits of redemption and grace.
By grace we have been saved, and by grace we are chastised for our good. By grace, we are also commanded as to how to proceed. The command is for us to live a holy life, to live in recognition that we stand before God moment by moment. That recognition is also a strong encouragement in our attempt to live such a holy life. In this day and age it seems particularly prevalent that people's obedience is largely limited to those occasions where failure to obey is clearly a risky choice. We obey speed limits if we have reason to believe there's a cruiser in the area, but otherwise feel free to ignore that particular law. Many feel free to sample the produce at the local grocery store before buying, because, after all, who's going to prosecute them over that? Never mind whether it's right or wrong. The question has become will I get punished? This is the cultural mindset in our day. But God's mindset has not changed. He has laid out the image of a holy life for us. He has written down in simple terms what a holy and righteous man, a man seeking to please God, will do, and what he won't do. He sends the Holy Spirit to help us, to train us, to tutor us as we seek to walk in His ways. All this He does so that we can do what we have been commanded to do.
By His own authority, He makes it clear that we cannot stop at rejecting evil. It is not possible to just stop sinning and leave it at that. There is no middle ground here. In stopping our evil ways, we must proceed to doing good. This is the ascetic error. We are not permitted to withdraw from the world, to hide ourselves away so as to preserve our sinless state. That in itself is sin, for part of our holy charter is to proclaim the gospel to the nations. Part of our faith is shown by helping the helpless, healing the sick, and providing for the poor. God has prepared these good works beforehand for us to do, and it is this same God who both wills and works within us. How can we think ourselves sinless, if we refuse to put our effort into the task He has prepared, the task He has turned our will towards, and the task He is waiting to work at through us? It is open rebellion to refuse.
Instead, we ought to subscribe to God's version of the 'name it, claim it,' doctrine. There are many out there telling us that if we believe, we will receive. Sinful hearts eagerly lay hold of this tempting message, and begin doing their best to believe for a new car, a trophy wife, a life of wealth and ease. The Deceiver would love nothing more than to keep them distracted by these pursuits, for these are the very worldly lusts from which we are warned away. They are the great impediments to holy life, and here are the men in the pulpit encouraging us to pursue them! God wants this for you, they will say. 'Peace, peace,' they will say, but there is no peace. God is not interested in encouraging us to the pursuit of temporary pleasures that will pass with the using. He's interested in encouraging us towards real life, towards a life worthy of being called life. He does indeed ask us to believe and receive, but not in that order. Rather He calls us to receive His word and command, and having believed, to receive His command. To this, He adds one more thing: to walk out His command as we have received it He calls us to receive the gracious gift of salvation which He has freely given us, to believe that gracious gift of righteousness which accompanies our salvation, and to go forth walking in a manner worthy of those who have been blessed by such great blessings.
Don't fall for the partial and twisted message! Lay hold of the full blessing of God! Recognize that the things of this world, though not sinful for our use (for all things are permissible) are by no means the point and the purpose of God's labors in and towards us. When eternity is laid before us, how can we get all excited over the momentary pleasures of our brief stint in this life? Look, I'm not about to suggest that we are all called to live in voluntary poverty. That's not the point. If God has chosen to set us in a place of plenty, it would be sinful not to accept His gift. If we allow His gift to turn us away from Him, though, we have made what was a good thing sinful. If, on the other hand, God has chosen to set us in a place of little, it would be equally sinful not to accept His gift. It cuts both ways. If we are focused on our present estate, we are not focused on the Kingdom. If all our concern and energy is involved in the mundane issues of life, we are no longer waiting eagerly for the coming of our King. We have lost the anxious longing for His appearing.
We wait for the blessed hope established within our hearts by His calling. We wait for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior, worshiped unseen and from afar for all these years. We wait for the final victory over our flesh, the end of temptations, the dawning of the day of our own perfection. With all that laid out before us, with all that stored up in our future, how can we help but be eager for the coming of that day! Is it any wonder that all of creation waits with a kindred anxious longing for the day when we will step forth in the fullness of our heritage as sons of God (Ro 8:19)!
There are times when I feel that sensation, the building excitement that comes of relishing the enjoyment of something not far off. It's not unlike the expectation that fills us as a long awaited vacation approaches. I must also admit that there have been plenty of times when such expectancy was far from me, when it seems to me like all must continue along as it always has. It ought, I suppose, to be a barometer of our present progress in the life He has called us to. If we have said our 'no' to worldly ways, if we have committed ourselves to the daily struggle to live upright and godly amidst this present darkness, surely the thought of His coming, of the end of struggle, and the victory of having achieved the fulfillment of our calling, must bring a thrill to us. If, however, we have been putting off our own responsibilities to our Lord, if we have been working under the assumption that it will be a long while before He returns, and we have time to fulfill our own pursuits before we worry about getting on after His assigned labors, our hope can only be that He will indeed be long delayed while we play.
We have the slogan placed before us, "where do you want to go today?" This is the call of the world to us. "How may I satisfy your senses." The question for us really ought to be "where am I today? How's my barometer reading?" For myself, I see that in my first pass through this section, I left record of that rising barometer. I experienced that building joy within as I considered what the Holy Spirit is saying through Paul's words here. In the long course of this second pass through, I have felt that same rising up of joy within. I have also felt its absence. In the busyness of our day to day, it's very easy for us to swing from that rising joy to a mundane complacency without really noticing the slide. Indeed, even when the swing is more rapid, switching from joy to boredom like one switches off the lights, we are incredibly willing and able to keep ourselves from sensing the loss. It's just the way it is, right? But, how keenly we sense the loss when we are reminded of what we had!
This morning, I find that the reminder of that building joy I knew back in February in perusing these words has that effect on me. Recognizing that even a week ago, I had felt that same rising thrill that just isn't there at the moment, I am spurred on to seek out why this is so, and how I might be restored.
Lord, if I've become entangled in the weeds of worldliness, I ask that You come and tend to my garden. Guard this seedling, my King, lest the life You have planted here wither away! Father, I know I have allowed many concerns to crowd my thoughts. There is the distraction of moving closer to church, the anxiousness of wondering when this house will sell. Forgive me my anxiousness, Lord. You are my Provider, the same God who showed me Your providential care so long ago, to convince me of Your very real presence. You are the same God who saw fit to provide employment for me through this slow time, when friends and acquaintances of mine have remained unemployed for the better part of a year. You have not failed in Your care for me before, and I know You will not fail me now. But, oh! How the mind of man wants to be in control of his situation!
I have added to this, my God, the worry and burden of such ministry as I give to Your church. Oh, God! Don't let this become a dead and sinful work in Your sight! Keep me ever mindful that it's not about the weekly labor of setting up and taking down. It's not about the late nights in hot rooms. It's about the joy of serving You. Remind me, my Lord, of the awesome privilege of serving in Your house, the honor You give to me in calling me to be a Levite in Your courts. Far better, Holy One, to be a servant in Your courts than to be master of a household where You are .not
I know, I hear Your reminder, that I have taken too much upon myself in recent times. I have allowed myself to be busied to the point of distraction, and my family with me. I have crowded myself in with things that cry out for my attention and time. Help me, Lord, to simplify. Surely, this move will soon be resolved, and the excitement of a new place will wear off. Just as surely, I see You moving to ease the labor of setting up for worship. Move upon the rabbi's heart, my Lord, give us favor in her sight, that she will not impede the easing You bring.
But, Lord, more than anything, I long to feel that joy building up in me again. Keep my eyes upon the hope You have set before me. Enough of distractions, and worldly desires! Let this heart be fully focused on Your kingdom. Show me the good You would have me to do. Keep my eyes clear to see what You are showing me! Soften this heart to Your leading and training. Bring the discipline that's needful, Lord. What will it take, my King, for me to set aside once and for all the ungodliness that still mars my days? What will it take for me to learn self-control, to live self-control? Do what You must, my God, for I would be Your good and faithful servant.
As with so much of Christianity, this expectancy is a process, isn't it. We have our moments of epiphany, moments when the Truth of God bursts forth upon us like the sun from amidst clouds. Perhaps that is part of the power of this passage to restore us to our spiritual senses. Paul approaches doxology here, as he gets to the roots of his doctrine. Twice in a very short span he speaks of that sunburst of recognition, of the wonderful breaking through of God's Truth into our lives. In verse 11, it is the bursting forth of grace which is held up to our sight. Salvation wasn't whispered into the world. It didn't sneak in while nobody was looking, and curl up out of the way in the corner. It burst forth like the sun, incapable of being hidden! It appeared to all men, though many hid their eyes lest they see it. One can hardly look at the rise of the Church from such humble beginnings as we see in the disciples, without sensing just how much of a bursting forth this was! From eleven scattered and despondent sheep, to a faith that has filled innumerable millions across the centuries! Truly, this is a bursting floodlight! Truly, His grace has poured out upon the earth!
In verse 13, we are reminded of the Sonburst yet to come. We are not left with only the echoes of past glory to sustain us. Grace has come, and in that we have every reason necessary to be thankful, we have every reason necessary to spend an eternity singing the praises of Him who is grace. But, we have more. We have the certain, assured, sealed promise of God that there will be a day when His glory bursts forth even as His grace already has. Moses was allowed a glimpse of that as it passed beyond him, and that glimpse was enough to leave him glowing in its echo. Indeed, so great was that brief glimpse that the people feared to look at its residual effect upon Moses' face. Peter, James, and John were given a glimpse of that glory, and were at a loss how to react. All they could think of at that moment was to put up tents to contain it!
Funny, this. We look at Peter's reaction, "Hey, we should put up some tents!" and we think of monuments. I wonder, though, if that's what Peter was thinking. It's entirely possible that he was simply thinking that these three great men who stood before him ought to have proper shelter for the night. He may as easily have been concerned that such glory as was bursting forth atop the mountain could not help but cause a sensation. People were bound to notice. After all, hadn't Jesus himself pointed out that a light upon the hilltop is not easily hid? Or was he simply hoping that by providing for these heavenly witnesses, their stay might be the longer? Was it simply the longing for such a wonder to last?
Isn't that how it is with us? We have those moments when we truly sense the worth of this God we serve, we have those moments when heaven just bursts forth into our thoughts and our hearts, and we want so very much for those moments to last! Oh! If only we could hold onto that closeness, how easy would be our walk! How easy it would be to shake off all temptations and focus solely upon our heavenly calling! I think perhaps this is exactly what God wants of us, too. It's for this that He tells us over and over again to keep His words before us. Keep reminders about so that throughout the day, even if you aren't sensing that breakthrough presence, you are at least able to dwell upon memories of that presence. Remembering those mountaintop moments will keep strong the desire to return to that place. It builds expectancy, because we know those times will return, and we know that someday, they'll return to stay. We won't have to live with only memories any longer. We'll have the non-stop epiphany!
In the meantime, allow the works of His hands to have their effect on you. All around us, we are given daily reminders of His majesty. No, we never see it in full, just the merest glimpse of all He is, yet He has given us the eyes of faith. We can look at the little which is revealed to us in what He has created, and think upon the full wonder of such a One. We are uniquely designed by our Creator to take such small pieces of data and infer the bigger picture from them. We have tools of both reason and imagination, by which we can gather up the clues left to us and come to an understanding of the larger issue. Consider the work of the archaeologist, digging up the merest fragments of a common plate or jug, yet from that, able to come to an understanding of civilizations long gone from the earth. So it is with the majesty of God in creation. We can unearth these little bits, these little glimpses into His essence, and being endowed by Him with such faculties as are apparently unique to man, we are able to put the pieces together and begin to understand at least the borders of His greatness. We are able to gain a sense of the infinite, and what excitement it must bring us to know that one day the infinite will be revealed to us in full!
We await that day with anxious longing, so often as we are mindful of our Lord and Savior. All creation also longs for that day, for the day when His sons and daughters come into their own, for in that day, not only will the children of God be restored in full, so also the other works of His hands. While we continue towards that time, we are not left without encouragement. Chief among these is the historical fact of the atonement. The record of His death, and of His resurrection stands. In spite of the endless attacks brought against the veracity of Scripture, it has been vindicated on every account. Oh, how the Devil wants that record to be questioned! Oh, how he seeks to convince us that Truth is untrue! But God will always be the victor, and His record shall remain.
The record shows that Jesus died at the hands of men who had no just cause against Him. In spite of recent attempts to portray Him as no more than a man (yet another attempt to discredit the Truth), He truly walked through life in total victory over temptation, free of every sin common to man. He experienced every trial and hunger known to us, yet walked through it without succumbing. Only in this fashion could He stand as our surrogate in the courtroom of God. Only in this fashion could He pay the price of our redemption.
What is this redemption, anyway? It's the price paid to bring a slave into freedom. Jewish law established that one enslaved could be redeemed for a price. R.C. Sproul was commenting on this month's tape that this was particularly established for the man who had been wed during his slavery, that he might be restored to his wife upon his own freeing. A man must be freed from slavery when the terms of his enslavement were satisfied, but any bride he might have taken in that period remained with the owner until the freedman could come up with the price of her redemption. What a glorious picture for the Church! This is precisely the work of Christ in His death.
We were enslaved to sin, mastered by it. The bonds of sin upon us could only be taken from us at the cost of our death. That was the price set for our redemption. See, death was both the just penalty for our sins, and the price of our freedom from them. Christ came and paid our legal debt, the death we owed the court. Only then could there be discussion of our redemption. But, He didn't simply pay the price to turn us loose in total freedom. Had He done so, we would inevitably have returned to the same slave pits He had just drawn us out of. No, He was purchasing the freedom of His bride. She, being freed from her slavery, does not run off on her own, she is restored to her proper place in the order of the house of her husband.
Recall that Israeli culture held the woman to be almost wholly subservient to the man. There was a bride price to be paid for a reason - a couple of reasons, really. First, as Mr. Sproul's message noted, it was an assurance to the parents of the bride that the would-be groom could support the woman he sought to make his wife. Secondly, there is that element of purchase present. The wife was, to a large extent, the property of the husband.
In Jesus' atoning death, there is that same overarching sense of purchase. It's not just that He paid for our freedom, He paid for us. Wycliffe's commentary says, "Purchase is stressed in the atonement." We tend to remain focused on the liberty aspect, on the freedom from sin, but that's really just the preparatory step. It's more a cleansing done before we can go into service with our new owner. The true focus of redemption is on ownership. We are no longer the property of the Devil, sons of the Devil. We are now sons of God, purchased by His own blood. We are His property, and no one else's. You are not your own, Paul reminds us. You have been bought with a price (1Co 6:19-20). You were bought with a price, so don't become slaves of men (2Co 7:23). You already have a Master, who paid dearly to make you His. He will not suffer you to be shared with another. And consider the service for which He bought you! Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit! That's the purpose of your purchase. He bought you to be built up as His temple, to stand as the pillars of His holy abode!
We are His and His alone. As slaves, we have relinquished any rights we may have had to our own time and services. We have lain command and control of our lives at His feet. Like Joseph in Egypt, God has entrusted the greater part of His kingdom into our hands. He has determined that those in need in the land should come to us for resolution. He has made us His emissaries, His spokesmen before the people. Though slaves, we are also sons. Though powerless in ourselves, wholly submitted to our Master, yet we are powerful through the power He vests in us, through the authority He gives us to manage the affairs of His kingdom. Indeed, it is a glorious labor He has set us to, and how joyfully we should work at it, knowing that we will hear our beloved Master's voice telling us we have done well, when He returns to take up His throne in full.
He is our Lord and Master. He has set before us a labor of good works. He has established us as His own living temple - living temples to the living God! What else would be fitting to such a living God! He has made us emissaries to declare His goodness. We are sent to exemplify His ways before the people, to show them the greatness of His kingdom, as we wander in these foreign lands. We do this by doing those works He has prepared for us. A generation seeks for signs and wonders. What greater wonder will there be than God's people doing those things God has prepared for them to do? "Good works are the seal of God's ownership," says the Wycliffe commentary. They are the proof of our citizenship, the picture on our passport, the stamp of our authenticity.
We must be about our Father's business, and what a sign and a wonder that shall be to those around us! How these good works shine out in a dark and selfish world! How much more astounding when they are done without thought for reward! We don't do them to earn man's praise for ourselves. Far from it! We don't do them to earn God's praise for ourselves. We know we already have it! We don't do it to gain acceptance, nor to gain entrance into His realm. We are already children fully accepted, full-blooded citizens of that Kingdom. No, our reasons for doing these things are simply our love for our Father, and our purpose in declaring the goodness of His kingdom to all who will listen. We have tasted of the Father's ways, and seen how good they are. Now, our desire is that those who have yet to experience the wonderful wealth of His kingdom might also taste and see, and know that He who has created these good things, who has decreed these good things for His own, is Himself good.
We are His beacon in the dark, the light which declares safe harbor in the great storm of this wicked age. We are left to mark the way in a strange land, yet we never stand alone. Just as Israel was led in the wilderness by the cloud of His glory, the flaming pillar of His presence, so we are led by the very real presence of God. The JFB commentary goes so far as to say it is the very same Person of the Holy Trinity which stands as the guide to His church now, who led Israel in the wilderness then. Perhaps so. He is, after all, evermore the same. This I know: like Moses before me, I am not willing that the Church should proceed where He does not go with us. It is certain death for those who would wander this dangerous land without Him. Too many churches have shown themselves willing to strike out on their own, leaving their god behind them. They have set themselves up as gods in His stead, and He will not be so mocked.
These towers of falsehood will fall, but what sorrow to consider how many are blinded by their dangerous lies in the meantime. Oh, that eyes might be opened! Oh, that men would flee from these slave traders! Oh, that we would learn the wisdom of our forebears in Plymouth, and 'follow no man further than he follows God.' He is evermore the same. Beware the voice that declares that He has charted a new course. His course is ever homeward, ever towards the heavenly throne. "He is My beloved Son. Hear Him." (Mk 9:7) Hear Him. Obey Him. Follow Him. You are His and His alone. Heed no other voice.
