God’s Fatherly love in our election

At times when the subject of “election” comes up in discussions, it is the source of conflict, anger, and division. Joel Beeke points us in a different direction in his book, Living for God’s Glory. He highlights, among other things, that election is an expression of God’s personal love for us. Listen to his encouraging words:

“The personal nature of God’s election is warm, paternal, and relational. God treats His millions of children as if each were His only child. The minuteness of His loving, fatherly concern is staggering. The hairs of our heads are all numbered. Our names are engraved on the palms of Jehovah’s hands and carried in the heart of the Savior, the Lord Jesus. He whispers our blood-bought names into the ears of His Father in heaven as He makes intercession for us.

“Personal election is an incredible comfort in today’s impersonal, computerized society. Many people feel lonely and insignificant, like creatures clinging desperately to a little planet in a vast universe. But the believing [Christian] finds his identity in the infinite God of this vast unvierse. He confesses with the psalmist, ‘The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want’ (Ps 23:1). He who has chosen us graciously will never abandon us. All things will work out for our good (Rom 8:28-39).”

May these words encourage you in Christ’s love for you, or provoke a desire to know that love if you do not.

Amen.

Do Christians have enemies? Some thoughts on the imprecatory psalms.

Psalm 137:9 challenges us at many levels: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!”

This is from a psalm that many have called the “imprecatory psalms,” those psalms that call upon God to actually curse and punish a group of people.  As Christians who believe that we are to “forgive our enemies” how are we to understand these passages?  Do we have enemies?  Here are a few thoughts on the subject:

1.    These psalms are religious and not personal.

Their passion does not come from the fact that they lost a football game, or

Books for Christian Teenagers (for discipleship)

This year we assembled a set of books for parents to read through with their teenagers.  Some of these are heavy theologically, others more practical.  It opens with a basic set of recommendations, and then it follows with contributions from a number of our singles.  Their insights and remembrances add a great deal to what is below.  I hope it helps you in the sobering and wonderful task of parenting your children!

Some of the books even include discussion questions in the back, or at the end of the chapters.  For those without questions, one approach is to read a section (either together or apart), talk through the point the author is trying to make, and then apply it.  Application could be asking questions like these:

Not What My Hands Have Done

Recently, our church has been doing a song called, “Not What My Hands Have Done.”  The original hymn is by Horatius Bonar, and Aaron Keyes has added a chorus and some additional lyrics.  It wonderfully captures the work of grace in our lives through the cross of Christ.  The chorus combines the dual identity that we have as sinner and saint: how true it is that when we worship we both raise “these guilty hands,” but also, “these holy hands.”  This is imputed righteousness expressed through poetry.

Here are the lyrics to the song for your edification, and you can hear a full recording of it at Aaron’s website: http://www.aaronkeyes.com/.

Not what my hands have done,
Can save my guilty soul
Not what my toiling flesh has borne,
Can make my spirit whole
Not what I feel or do,
Can give me peace with God
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears,
Can bear my awful load

These guilty hands are raised
Filthy rags are all I bring
And I have come to hide beneath your wings
These holy hands are raised
Washed in the fountain of your grace
And now I wear your righteousness

Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within
Thy love, to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord, to Thee
Can rid me of this dark unrest,
And set my spirit free

Thy grace alone, O God,
To me can pardon speak
Thy power, O Lamb of God,
Can this sore bondage break
No other works save Thine,
No other blood will do
The strength of God which is divine,
Can bear me safely through

These guilty hands are raised
Filthy rags are all I bring
And I have come to hide beneath your wings
These holy hands are raised
Washed in the fountain of your grace

Thanks!

Daniel

The killing of George Tiller

A year ago I wrote a piece on responding to the sin of abortion within our nation.  In light of the killing of George Tiller, a notorious late-term abortion doctor, it seems worth re-printing today.

“Last week’s sermon on abortion provided a great opportunity to remember this issue and to reflect biblically on how we should understand it.  We looked at man made in the image of God, and the seriousness of the sin of murder because of that. This obviously has great relevance when considering the sin of abortion (in the majority of cases, when it is sinful). Yet, there is also the need to carefully articulate the guidelines for a response to this issue. The Bible has much to say about sin, and also about a godly response to sin. These statements can serve as very helpful guidelines in a case like abortion, or any other sin that is occurring on such a grand scale. Our arsenal of reaction does not include responding in kind. Yet, here is some of what the Bible does have to say about our response:

1. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Mat 5:44).
2. Turn the other cheek (Mat 5:39).
3. Overlook an offense (Prov 19:11).
4. Point out the sins of others, allowing for forgiveness, bringing church discipline (Mat 18:15-19; Luk 17:3f).
5. Do not retaliate in kind (1 Pe 2:21-25).
6. Do not seek revenge (Rom 12:17-21).
7. Do not murder (Exo 20:13)
8. Do not get sinfully angry (Mat 5:21-26).
9. Appeal personally to abortion doctors, those supporting that cause, those contemplating abortion, as we would appeal to all those engaged in unrepentant sin (Mat 18:15f; Luk 17:3f; Eph 4:15; Jam 5:19-20).
10. Appeal to heads of state humbly and obediently (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in Daniel; Paul to Jewish and Roman authorities in Acts).
11. Pray and fast (Luk 18:7).
12. Preach and teach—the whole counsel of God, but also related to this topic (2 Tim 3:16-4:2).
13. Practice “pure religion,” helping the helpless: orphans and widows, but also single moms, others wrecked from abortion (Jam 1:27).
14. Affirm that children are an unqualified blessing from God (Ps 127:3).
15. Trust in the sovereignty of God (Mat 10:29-31, where, “not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father”; demonstrated even when Pharaoh killed the Hebrew babies, and Herod the Jewish babies, and when all were commanded to worship idols in Daniel).
16. Trust in the justice of God (Heb 9:27; Rom 3:6).
17. Understand that the state has the power of the sword (Rom 13:1f), the church has the weapons of spiritual warfare (Eph 6:10f).

Whatever our specific, individual response to the cause of abortion, it must be consistent with the above.  Thus, our response could include (at least) the following:

1. Civil disobedience (practices that are humbly, obediently meant to disrupt normal life to force an issue to be recognized).
2. Working to change the laws of the State, and supporting those who do.
3. Writing letters to those in authority, to those who make, and to those who enforce laws.
4. Preaching against the sin of abortion and providing a rationale for opposing it.
5. Prayer, prayer, and prayer.
   

May God give us wisdom to act faithfully, courageously, and biblically in this issue, and all issues that confront us as Christians.”

In Christ,

Daniel Baker

Man ought always to pray – from Liz Latta

“Man Ought Always To Pray”    Luke 18:1

Why?  One might ask.  Because it is plain and simple:  Jesus says so.  We must pray about everything (Philippians 4:8).  Jesus tells us through His inspired written word, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6).  When we pray about everything, we are taking circumstances out of our hands, and turning them over, or better still, casting them on to God.  So He may do what He and only He is capable of doing (Psalm 55:22).  “Cast thy burden upon the LORD and He shall sustain thee” (1Peter 5:7), say casting all your cares upon the Lord, for He careth for you.

Prayer is a tool God has given us to come to Him for our needs to be met.  You may say, well He knows what I need before I pray.  Yes indeed He does, but we must come to God his way and not ours.  “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

My friends, when we cast our cares and burdens on the Lord in prayer, we are causing him to be responsible for us and our needs, as He loves and delights to do.

When going into prayer remember that God commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1Thessalonians 5:17).  He says in Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”   In prayer we hallow his name; we acknowledge that He is the one and only God; that He is wise and able to present us faultless before his presence (Jude 24-25).

Always come to him with a repentant heart and a spirit of humility.  We must come in faith (Hebrews 11:6), believing that He rewards those who seek him.  He has told us to “come boldly before his throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  We must also be confident that what we ask, he will do according to his will, not ours (1John 5:14).

Prayer is also a time for fellowship with God, not just to say give me this or that, but another way to get closer to him and get to really know him as Abba Father.

The next time you think ‘should I pray about this small matter’, yes, you and I should because it is a direct command from the One we love and who loves us.

Last but not least, the enemy, Satan, knows how effective prayer is and can be for him who prays.

Our new song of freedom by Hannah Michels

By Hannah Michels, one of our teenagers:

I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free. I won’t forget the men who died to give this right to me.

To be free is the thing most sought after. Many people wish for it not realizing what they are asking for. True freedom can not be had by unbelievers for only after one believes can one receive true freedom.  Freedom from sin and the devil, freedom from death, free from eternal separation from God and all fear of it.

Once I was dead, now I’m alive. For freedom I’m set free. For in your great love I have found life.

I’m glad to be a Christian for at least I know I’m free. I won’t forget the man who died to give this life to me.

Hannah K. Michels.

How can I change? – A quick thought from Philip Ryken

Thinking again about our union with Christ and what it means for us in our attempts to change, Philip Ryken offers these encouraging words.  His opening couple of lines are citing the Puritan William Perkins.

“We are in mind and meditation to consider Christ crucified: and first, we are to believe that he was crucified for us.  This being done, we must go yet further, and as it were spread ourselves on the cross of Christ, believing and withal beholding ourselves crucified with him….

“Take this one step further: not only were we crucified with Christ, but we were also buried with him….But death is not the end, either for Christ or for us, so Paul goes on to say that Christ was raised from the dead, and that we were raised with him….Spiritual growth is not based on something we think, feel or even do; it begins with something that Christ did for us on a rough piece of wood, in an empty stone tomb, and in the heavenly realms of glory” (Philip Ryken, “The Message of Salvation”).

Christians can change.  Sins we struggle with we can overcome.  Temptations we face we can resist.  There are no shortcuts in this raging battle within our heart.  But there is hope.  Hope for change and power to change begin with recognizing what took place on the cross of Christ.  Not only did Christ die for us, but we died in him.  That death broke the stranglehold of sin and temptation in our lives.  What was formerly inevitable now becomes resistible.  No question, temptations are fierce and we will stumble till the day we die.  In each temptation, though, we should recall that this temptation is resistible, seeing what Christ did “on a rough piece of wood, in an empty tomb, and in the heavenly realms of glory.”  In other words, we look up when we face temptation and we look up when we fail in temptation, beholding that our Savior stands in heaven ready to forgive us for failures, but to fortify us in temptations.

Amen.

–DJB

How can I change? – A quick thought from Sinclair Ferguson

Last week Phil preached on being united to Christ from Romans 6:1-5.  Here is a wonderful quote from Sinclair Ferguson that expounds on the glories of our union with Christ.  More than a point of doctrine, it is life, power, hope, and grace to the believer:

This, then, is the foundation of sanctification in Reformed theology. It is rooted, not in humanity and their achievement of holiness or sanctification, but in what God has done in Christ, and for us in union with him. Rather than view Christians first and foremost in the microcosmic context of their own progress, the Reformed doctrine first of all sets them in the macrocosm of God’s activity in redemptive history. It is seeing oneself in this context that enables the individual Christian to grow in true holiness.”

“Union with Christ in his death and resurrection is the element of union which Paul most extensively expounds…if we are united to Christ, then we are united to him at all points of his activity on our behalf. We share in his death (we were baptized into his death), in his resurrection (we are resurrected with Christ), in his ascension (we have been raised with him), in his heavenly session (we sit with him in heavenly places, so that our life is hidden with Christ in God), and we will share in his promised return (when Christ, who is our life, appears, we also will appear with him in glory) (Rom. 6:14; Col. 2:11-12; 3:1-3). – Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, ‘Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification‘, Ed. Donald Alexander, Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1988.

Yes!

–DJB

Personalizing Psalm 23 – by Rachel Pannell

One of the great ways to approach the Psalms is to personalize them, to take the text and make it real for your own life.  Make the promises, warnings, descriptions, theology into statements you prayerfully speak back to God.  Rachel Pannell has recently done just that with Psalm 23, and has graciously allowed us to “overhear the conversation.”  Be encouraged by the way that the Bible can be used in your own life as well.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. The good shepherd lives with his flock and is everything to it.  Everything.  What they cannot do for themselves, He does for them.  It’s true, I can’t do this, Lord, but you can.  I have to remember that