Content with the Word

It seems like there is constantly some issue or controversy challenging the Church to re-think, re-examine, and in some cases entirely re-invent traditional interpretations of the Word of God. The specific questions vary from year to year, but the movement to question, cast doubt, and reimagine the Christian faith and how it is lived out in the believing community continues to move forward. Sometimes this pressure can be a good thing. After all, it was the problem and pressure of false doctrine concerning the Trinity and Incarnation that led our fathers in the early Church to more carefully study Scripture, describe the boundaries of orthodoxy, and confess the original and catholic (universal) faith in the early creeds. It was corruption from human traditions and papal authority that led to the Reformation as men re-examined the Scriptures, re-discovering and recovering ancient doctrines that had been neglected such as the ultimate authority of Scripture and justification by faith alone. Doctrinal challenges, false doctrine, and doubts arising from within the visible Church have always led in time to greater clarity and purity in her faith and confession. We should expect the same to result from doctrinal controversy in our own day.

While the Lord providentially uses such controversy for the sanctification of his Church, we should not be naive about what underlies many of these questions and challenges. It is easy to adopt an air of humility, professing to be only interested in understanding the truth and better enacting that in faith and practice. But many of these questions were settled long ago. Some of the greatest controversies arise over matters that are not unclear in Scripture, only unpopular. That does not mean we should question the motives of conversation partners or assume the worst of those on the other side of certain questions. It does mean we should recognize that many controversies derive from man’s natural discontent with the revealed word of God. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29). We are not to sit in judgment of God’s Word, and we dare not re-interpret it by means of modern (and post- modern) literary and sociological categories. Our duty is to hear it, accept it, believe it, and obey it. Of course, much of what Scriptures says will be unpopular and out of step with the modern world. That was true in Noah’s day as it was in Moses’s, David’s, Jeremiah’s, and Jesus’ lifetimes. It was when Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, Luther, Tyndale, Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, and Machen ministered in the Church. It is true today. The greatest threats have never been from outside the visible Body of Christ. The greatest threats are always from the inside. Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. --JME

Wisdom to Listen and Understand

I was reflecting in my morning reading on three verses from Proverbs 18:

A fool has no delight in understanding,

But in expressing his own heart.

He who answers a matter before he hears it,

It is folly and shame to him.

The first one to plead his cause seems right,

Until his neighbor comes and examines him.

Many people right now are slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to become angry. The rush to judgment in many cases is breath-taking, and as believers, we should know and remember that we are not immune. It is easy to make a quick judgment based on an initial, often incomplete presentation of facts. It is only later that we may learn some of those “facts” may not have been factual at all but hasty and prejudiced misinterpretations of data. In case you’re wondering which news story I am referring to, I’m not. There are plenty of stories in the news right now that might fit, but this morning I was wondering how often I have been guilty of expressing my own heart and opinions rather than seeking understanding, responding to a matter before I really understand it to my folly and shame, and taking sides with an accuser before hearing the defense of the accused. Allegations of wrongdoing are so common given the pervasiveness of social media that we are constantly bombarded with situations where we are expected to make a judgment very quickly based on what purports to be complete but may be very partial and distorted information. These proverbs need to be written on our hearts in bright letters and permanent ink. They are important to remember and apply not only when scrolling through social media feeds and reading blogs but also listening to the news, hearing reports from friends, reading books, evaluating theological arguments, and interacting with our spouse and children. They emphasize the priority of listening and thoroughly understanding before making a rash judgment or offering an uninformed opinion. I cannot imagine how many hundreds (thousands?) of times I have neglected these principles of wisdom, perhaps often without even realizing it. But reading Proverbs each month is a good reminder of them. May the Lord make us doers of the word, and not hearers only. --JME

A Discussion on Racial Reconciliation and Injustice

Holy Excitement in Hard Times

During the 1970s, 80s, and 90s many people served an entire career in the military without ever seeing combat or firing their weapon at someone who wanted to kill them. Few service members saw action in Desert Storm, and although there were military operations in other hot spots around the world and some special operations units were called upon to serve in various crises, many who wore the uniform over a span of twenty-five years spent their entire career preparing for war but never engaging in it. This is not their fault, and there is no shame in it. They answered the call to service, and most of them served faithfully and well. Had they been called into combat, they would have gone. But as it turned out, they served during a time of peace.

September 11, 2001 changed everything. As the world watched terrorists fly planes into the Twin Towers, men and women rushed to recruiting offices and volunteered to serve. Retired service members, reservists, and those whose terms had already ended reached out to the chain of command, many of them begging for an opportunity to come back and go to war. The cowardly attack on September 11th guaranteed that America would fight a battle, and warriors who had never been under fire (and some who had) wanted in on it. Why? Is it because they were blood thirsty, violent people? Perhaps some were, but most of them were not then and are not today. But they did not join the military to spend their entire time in comfort and security. If they wanted a 9-to-5 job, they could have worked anywhere. Many of those who joined the military did so because they wanted something more: to answer a higher calling, to sacrifice for an important mission, to make a difference even if at the risk of their lives.

I have never been to war, but I understand from those who have been there that it is not pleasant. People do not sign up to risk their lives because it is fun. They go because it is important, and no matter how great the sacrifices made, injuries suffered, lifetime disabilities incurred, friends lost, horrors witnessed, many of them say they would do it again. They gladly sacrificed to serve a high and noble purpose, but do we not have a much higher and nobler calling than even this?

Darkness seems to be falling on the world around us. I must be careful as a pastor in speculating about our present circumstances, but it is not unreasonable to see a convergence of forces and opposition preparing to make war against the Church, liberty of all kinds, and western civilization itself. What that will mean for our nation, state, local community, congregations, and families remains to be seen. Whatever the second half of this year may hold, whatever recovery of stability and sanity the Lord may allow, we should expect things have changed permanently, and not for the better. We could be very fearful because of this, worrying about the future and what this will mean for our brethren, our children, and the visible Church. Or we can contact the chain of command and confess to our Commander: “I have been slack in my service and content to serve in peacetime, but now I see the danger and need of the hour, and I commit myself to You to be used as You desire to the very last measure.”

No one wants to experience persecution, not really. We may talk tough, but persecution is unpleasant, even when it does not involve physical danger or shedding blood. I have never been beaten for my faith, but I have been lied about, cursed at, and treated with contempt, and that was by brethren in the church. If professing Christians will act in these ways, what should we expect from unbelievers? But how does Scripture speak to us about such times and experiences?

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt. 5:10-12)

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. (1Pet. 4:12-16)

And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” (Acts 21:10-14)

These passages could be multiplied and supported by numerous quotations and accounts from the Church fathers who applied these instructions in their own experience of persecution, suffering, and death at the hands of their tormentors. Persecution is not a pleasant experience to be enjoyed, but it is a privilege to be embraced. Hardships are not easy for the body and mind, but they are valuable and productive for the sanctifying of the soul. God calls some men to glorify him in seasons of peace and prosperity, but should we flinch or turn aside when duty calls us to endure pain, poverty, public censure, or painful abuse?

The men and women who served in our armed forces in peacetime served no less honorably than those who went into battle and risked their limbs and lives in the chaos of war. But we do not tell stories about peacetime. We tell stories about D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the Ia Drang Valley, Fallujah, and Ramadi. We tell stories about the suffering and sacrifices of our Christian fathers and mothers: Polycarp, Perpetua and Felicity, John Huss, William Tyndale, John Bunyan, and Jim Elliot. Have we forgotten Hugh Latimer’s words to Nicolas Ridley as the fire was lit at the foot of the stakes to which they were chained? “Be of good cheer, Ridley; and play the man. We shall this day, by God's grace, light up such a candle in England, as I trust, will never be put out.”

It may be unlikely that any of us suffer physical harm from the changes sweeping across our nation, but eventually such persecution will come to the Church in the US as it has in every other place where the gospel has gone. In the meantime, we should gird our hearts with an holy excitement. We are living in the midst of historic and remarkable circumstances, and we are called to serve our Lord with faith, humility, and gratitude, even if in uncertainty, danger, and distress. “If you are reproached for the Name of Christ, blessed are you” (1Pet. 4:14). May God give us hearts to believe and embrace the privilege and sacred duty of confessing Christ in dark places. --JME

Pursuing Integrity in the Midst of Insanity

It seems like the world has lost its mind, rage has replaced reason, capitulation has replaced conviction, summary denunciation has replaced sober distinctions and discretion. We might hope at such a time that the visible Church would lead the way in calm, clear, courageous thought and action, but that would be too much to expect. We are not only witnessing a rapid transformation of western civilization and social norms, we are watching the voluntary surrender of much of the visible Church to social theories and movements that are antithetical to Christian faith, a biblical worldview, and scriptural ethics. Some of this surrender is probably well-intentioned. Many believers want to demonstrate to their unbelieving friends that they are among the “good guys,” sympathetic, properly outraged, and ready to stand with and support those who are crying out against injustice. But insofar as this support is communicated in uncritical and misguided endorsement of anti-Christian ideas, it is not only unhelpful, but harmful.

Brothers and sisters, there will be a pendulum reaction on both sides that careful believers must avoid and resist. We can and must hate, oppose, and stand against bigotry, racism, and unjust violence, whether it comes in the guise of white supremacy or virulent anti-racism. We should weep with those who weep when tragic deaths occur as a result of criminal behavior, whether as a result of a cop using excessive force on a person in handcuffs or as a result of violence by angry protestors against law-abiding citizens and law enforcement officers. We should not be drawn into assenting to the simplistic binary many would demand of us at this moment. Some people are racists and bigots, and they come in all colors. Some cops are abusive bullies, and good policing is a necessary and important part of keeping communities safe and preventing the kind of lawlessness we are now seeing in the name “justice.” Chanting slogans does not make a person virtuous, and refusing to recite a slogan does not prove someone is a bigot. These are the kind of lessons in basic morality and civic virtue we might have expected to be well understood in middle school. Evidently, our society needs a refresher course.

What might we expect to see in the visible Church if the current capitulation and concession to shifting cultural values continues? I am not a prophet, and I offer these only as observations, not as authoritative declarations. They seem reasonable probabilities based on the current situation, but given the rapidly changing environment, none of us can confidently predict the immediate future. With those qualifications in mind, I suggest three probable outcomes and a fourth I can only hope to see.

First, we will see a winnowing in the “conservative, evangelical” Church; indeed, we are already seeing it. God will use the broader conflict in our society to bring judgment upon the visible Church. Some will be revealed, some will be removed, and some will be refined. Churches will come under attack of various kinds, and there will be some from within who renounce their association with the Church in a convenient display of solidarity with their accusers. Churches will lose numerical and financial strength and standing within the community. It will be painful and costly, but in the long run it will be for the greater purity and strength of the visible Body of Christ.

Second, we will see a greater distinction between true and false churches and between those that are faithful and those that are compromised. Controversy does not change character; it reveals and confirms it. “For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you” (1Cor. 11:19). Current events are demonstrating who has biblical discernment, and who does not, whose values and vision align with Scripture, and whose do not. Since the “young, restless, and reformed” movement gained momentum in the 1990s, it has not always been easy to see who was robustly committed to the biblical faith and who was attracted by trendy theological momentum but whose core commitments did not rest on biblical foundations. That distinction will become increasingly apparent as current movements continue to redefine our culture and religious landscape.

Third, faithful churches will become smaller, less professional, and more otherworldly. It has been possible for congregations to be both bold in preaching Scripture and culturally acceptable in many areas of the country. That is changing, rapidly so. The result will likely be fewer cool churches--resulting in economic disaster for the pastoral skinny jean market--and more congregations that are smaller, quieter, with a reduced platform for social engagement, but more focused on prayer, corporate worship, pastoral ministry to members, and living in the Name of Christ in their local community. We might hope this will mean fewer celebrity pastors, less fame for faithful men, and a greater engagement in obeying Paul’s exhortation: “we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more [in brotherly love]; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing” (1Thess. 4:10b-12).

Fourth, I hope this will result in a greater sense of the spiritual unity and brotherhood enjoyed among the faithful people of God and fewer foolish divisions over tertiary issues. I will refrain today from giving examples of such foolish controversies lest I inadvertently gore someone’s sacred cow. It may be that persecution, external pressure, and the pain of internal upheaval will lead to less patience and more division, but I hope not. It would be much better if these experiences helped us reset our priorities and realize that as important as some of our differences are, the one who truly trusts in Jesus Christ and seeks to live under the authority of His word is begotten of God, my brother in Christ, and worthy of my love, respect, and service. Could persecution make us more patient, more humble, and more appreciative of our brothers and sisters who endure the same sufferings with us? If we must go through the fire, may God use it to not only refine our faith but also improve our hearts! --JME

Riots and the Restraint of the Law

The Reformed tradition has historically identified three uses of the Law. Although sometimes numbered differently, they are:

1st - Pedagogical: as a mirror to display the perfect righteousness which God requires, convicting the sinner of his sin and driving him (under the influence of grace) to repentance and faith in Christ

2nd - Civil: as a code to restrain the exercise of evil within human society

3rd - Moral/Normative: as a rule of life to reveal what pleases God and how believing persons ought to live in love and gratitude

It is important to recognize these are not three different parts of the Law, only three different functions by which it operates upon the hearts of human beings. The three uses are not in order of sequence or priority. Calvin regarded the third use as the primary function of the Law, but this application is only made in the lives of regenerate persons. Likewise the first use is primarily experienced by elect persons brought under conviction as they are drawn by the Spirit from death to new life in Christ--though reprobates will experience the terror of the first use without any redemptive result. But the second use applies in the same way to everyone, whether the Law is encountered as written on tablets of stone or in the moral consciousness of man where it is written upon the heart (Rom. 2:14-16).

What we see on the news in cities throughout our nation right now is illustrative of what happens when the second use of the Law is abandoned. This is not to say the Law is no longer written upon the hearts of rioters, looters, and violent men. But the conscience can be seared, and when it is, the influence of the moral law written upon the heart is diminished. This is why God appointed governments and gave them the power of the sword: to protect the innocent, uphold justice, and punish evildoers (Rom. 13:1-7). That all human governments do this imperfectly and some do it abusively and wickedly does not change the divine mandate. The same Law that says, “Thou shalt not murder” also says, “Thou shalt not steal.” If civil law enforcers turn a blind eye to violations of the Law, societies should expect to see lawlessness abound.

The Law cannot save anyone. It cannot convert. It cannot atone for or forgive wrongs. It cannot justify. It cannot change the human heart. The Law can only do two things: tell us what the standard is, and define penalties when that standard is violated. Grace is required to accomplish anything more. But that does not mean the Law is powerless or pointless. On the contrary, even if the Law does not convict the conscience of every evildoer and even if it cannot convert anyone, it does serve as a powerful restraint to the expression of greater and greater lawlessness.

If a burglar knows a particular house is guarded by a powerlifting insomniac with a baseball bat, he will probably seek a softer target on which to set his sights. If a criminal knows his actions will likely result in him being caught and incarcerated, there is a chance he will modify his behavior in order to preserve his liberty. The reverse is also true. If a burglar knows I am a diamond merchant and a pacifist who eschews the use of door locks and believes wealth is communal property, I should expect to find my inventory relocated soon. If civil leaders order law enforcement to retreat when windows are smashed, stores are looted, radio cars flipped over, and police stations burned, they can expect to see such incidents increase. The Law is given to restrain sin, to deter sinners from acting on their worst impulses. You can expect to get more of whatever you reward, and make no mistake: refusing to restrain and punish evil is rewarding it and inviting more.

The fact the Law cannot save does not make it unimportant. It confronts us with real and painful consequences for foolish, selfish, self-destructive behavior. We ignore it at peril to our own lives and souls. Any society which discards its usefulness, no matter how well-intentioned, will not long survive.

--JME

Unregenerate Humanity, Unconquerable Hope

‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. 

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. And already, Frodo, our time is beginning to look black.’

--J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, ch.2 “The Shadow of the Past”

As we continue to watch outrage and violence take over the streets of cities across the nation and now in other parts of the world, we might understandably wonder if the entire world has lost its mind. But we will not be surprised if we know the Bible’s description of unregenerate humanity. “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Tit. 3:3). Scripture is speaking self-evident truth when it declares (Rom. 3:10-18):

“There is none righteous, no, not one;

There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open tomb;

With their tongues they have practiced deceit;

The poison of asps is under their lips;

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood;

Destruction and misery are in their ways;

And the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Violent, proud, hateful, slaves to lust, without fear of God. You don’t have to be a religious person to believe the Bible’s depiction--in fact, a number of religious people are making fools of themselves right now by denying the nature and wickedness of current events and outraged evildoers in order to sound “super-spiritual.” But conflict and controversy does not change one’s character and values; it reveals them. We are witnessing the societal consequences of abandoning a biblical view of creation, humanity, sin, and justice. We are also discovering how close unregenerate people are to barbarism and brutality, and how quickly they will become violent and demonic if the restraints imposed by the threat of law and order are withdrawn.

“Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology that can really be proved.” --G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (Whitaker, 2013), 11

The breakdown of social order is not a blow to Christian faith; it is a confirmation of its doctrine and worldview. Our faith should not be rattled by seeing our neighbors acting like madmen; we should be humbled recognizing that, before the grace of God effectually intervened, we too were “by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Eph. 2:3). Of all people in this world, Christians ought to be able to observe events over the last four months with calm, contented composure. After all, we know man as he is, by creation, by sin, and by redemption. We know what man is capable of, and if we forgot, providence has given us an inconvenient reminder.

“After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”

--Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (Beacon, 2006), 134

But we also know the sovereign God who created, sustains, and orders all things according to his secret purpose and ultimate good will.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Rev. 21:1-5)

God’s Spirit uses Scripture to make us wise, experience to make us humble, and the cross to make us hopeful. God’s word is true, even in its description and prediction of dark days and the worst aspects of humanity. But God’s promises are also true.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,

But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:30-31)

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Jos. 1:9)

He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Heb. 13:5b-6)

We do not profit by wishing for what might have been or wondering with anxiety what will be. We fix our eyes on Jesus, our hearts on glory, and our minds on the duty that lies before us. --JME

Learning to Be Still as the Nations Rage