October 2015

October 27, 2015  by

Meditations toward Purity – #1 – Psalm 119:9

What shall I do when I am in the fire? How do I prepare for those times of sexual temptation that are so compelling, so magnetic, and so seductive that I feel my strength ebbing away and my will to resist melting like a spoonful of butter in a frying pan? How can I endure? Where is the way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13)?

God has granted only one offensive weapon in the Christian’s armor; it is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). The other weapons enable me to resist the blows of Satan and his gang, but only the sword of the Word of God is given to me so I may hack and hew my way out of the spiritual combat.

But how do I wield this sword, the Word of God? Surely not by glibly reciting the words of the Bible as if they were a magical incantation. Rather it is by meditating upon portions of Scripture relevant to the particular temptations at hand and allowing their nutrients to soak into my spiritual bloodstream so that I will be strong for these intense spiritual conflicts. As my mind dwells on spiritual realities, I find that earthly attractions and their seducing power grow dimmer. As I think on eternal truth, the lies of Satan’s proffered pleasures are exposed. As I contemplate the warnings and promises of my Savior, my desire to please Him and my motivation to holiness surges stronger.

So we will blog occasionally on the topic “Meditations toward Purity,” offering thoughts on various Scripture texts that, when meditated upon, should help us all in our fight for purity.

Q. How can a young man keep his way pure (Psalm 119:9)?
A. By keeping it according to your word.

Purity is the issue. What is purity? It is sexual purity. An absence of moral defilement, whether in action, word or thought. This is the challenge, of course. Just one dead fly in my glass of milk defiles it. I will toss the milk out and pour a new glass of milk because of that one little dead fly. So with sexual purity, God is looking for purity, a total absence of defiling actions, thoughts and motives.

Young men are the focus. The Psalmist asks this question on behalf of young men, for who more than young men feel violent desires propelling them toward immoral thoughts, words and actions? How can a young man successfully battle these raging impulses?

Keeping pure is the name of the game. The writer emphasizes keeping pure, stating it twice in the passage. It is one thing to respond to a crisis, when my sin gets me in trouble, by turning away from sin and living clean for a while. A screaming conscience, the shame of being exposed, and the consequent guilt secrete spiritual adrenaline and accelerate my pace of fighting impurity. But keeping it up for the long term? Not so easy. Yet that is exactly what is in view in this verse. How can a young man keep pure, for the long run?

The Word of God is the key. “According to Your Word.” In fact, the Word of God provides the template, the model, the prescription, and the blueprint for a life of purity.

  • What does purity look like? A simplistic “Thou shalt not,” true as it is, does not tell me all I need to know. What does purity mean? How do I live it out in various situations and seasons of life? What are the attitudes, behaviors and habits that are the necessary building blocks of purity? The Bible tells me.
  • How will I recognize impurity? The culture, my flesh, and the father of lies team up to provide a thousand disguises for sin to masquerade as something quite acceptable. Plus I always tend to believe the best about myself. The Bible shines a light where I have trouble seeing clearly (Hebrews 4:12) so that I can distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and sin from righteousness.
  • How can I learn to walk in purity? The Bible tells me stories and gives me examples of victories and defeats and struggles and growth in the battle for purity. The gospel gives me hope and the new beginnings of forgiveness of sin through Jesus. The Holy Spirit uses the Word that He Himself wrote to help me when I falter and to strengthen me where I am weak.

Lord, I acknowledge my sins of impurity. I have sinned against You, first of all and most of all, in my sexual sins. I acknowledge my weakness, my tragic inability to keep my ways pure on my own. I need You, Your Word, and Your Spirit to change me and to purify me. But I hear Your promise of forgiveness in the gospel, and I believe in Your power and faithfulness, and I will meditate on Your Word.

in Meditations toward Purity 0 comments
October 12, 2015  by

Psalm 46

1. A Psalm for God’s People Together

When the Psalmist writes this Psalm, he does not say “I,” “me” or “my.” Rather the personal references are to “our” (v. 1), “we” (v. 2) and “us/our” (v. 7, 11). The Christian life is most certainly a relationship between the individual and God, but it is expected to be lived in community. We are in this together; this identification of himself with a larger body of God’s people was on the Psalmist’s mind, and so this is what comes out of his mouth.

God puts us together with other people, rather than in solitude, for many reasons. One is that it exposes our sins, our vulnerabilities and our need for grace. When I live all by myself, I don’t annoy myself or exasperate myself, so I conclude that I am pretty patient and self-controlled. But when I live with a roommate, a spouse, my children or my brothers and sisters in Christ, I begin to realize that I am not nearly as patient as I thought I was. Living together exposes who I really am, and I begin to see my need for grace and help from God. Or I think I am content, until I come into contact with people who are what I wish I was or who have some things I have an itch for, and then my discontent starts to rev up. I think I am loving and generous when I live in my own world, but when I am called to go out of my way and take my precious time to listen to or to help others, I can be annoyed with the inconvenience.

Another reason that God puts us together with other people is because it gives help and encouragement. On my own, I may be down and low, but then a brother comes along and gives a mere word or a hand upon my shoulder or an ear to my concerns. The result of his connection with me with an expression of concern is that I have a whole new outlook on life!

2. A Psalm for God’s People in Trouble

What’s going on in this Psalm? Very clearly, according to verse 1 (“a very present help in trouble”), the Psalmist is in trouble.

What kind of trouble? All kinds.

His world is experiencing physical upheaval. Verses 2 and 3 speak of geological cataclysms, the earth changing, mountains slipping into the sea, along with seas roaring and foaming. The Psalmist is in the midst of earthquakes and tsunamis!

Further, the Psalmist’s world is experiencing political upheaval. Verse 6 speaks of the nations (not just one nation) in an uproar. The political equilibrium and balance of power is threatened. Kingdoms totter. There is global insecurity and instability.

What does God offer and promise in such times of trouble?
God offers a place of safety and security. Where can I go in times of trouble? To God Himself; He is the refuge and strength we seek. God offers a place of unassailable security. Even if we are in jail, in a war, in an ambulance, in ICU, God is still accessible. You cannot take Him from me, or me from Him.

God also offers freedom from fear.

Now this is a radical statement. Remember the physical and political upheaval that is happening all around him. These are real threats, not computer-generated visual effects. What could be more calculated to induce fear? Yet the Psalmist says in verse 2, “Therefore we will not fear.” Why no fear? Therefore… Strictly because God is our refuge and strength.

Perhaps you struggle with fear, anxiety, or panic. I offer you an antidote. “We will not fear.” God Himself as your fortress, refuge and place of security. This theme pervades the Psalm.

God is in the midst of her (verse 5). God will help her when morning dawns. The help does not come immediately, though I might wish for that. Not now. Not yet. Now it is night, but dawn is coming; it always does. The sun will come up tomorrow. Wait for God.

See what God will do (verse 8). God can destroy what man builds. God can even make wars to cease. God breaks the bow, cuts spears and burns chariots. Wars and their widespread threat of destruction are completely under the power of God.

Relax (verse 10). Cease striving. Know that God is God. I am not my own Savior. I am too little, too weak to rescue much of anything or even escape my troubles. But God is God. He will be exalted in the earth as He exercises His strength and power.

This God is with us (verse 11). Therefore we experience freedom from fear.

in Uncategorized 0 comments
October 1, 2015  by

A Very Big Task

Matthew 28:16-20
On the brink of leaving this earth, Jesus approaches the eleven disciples to give them, and through them to all the church in all ages, this Great Commission. Jesus gives no ordinary task; it is clearly a very big task, as evidenced by the four “all’s” in Jesus’ mandate.

1. All Authority

Here is the impetus and the enablement for the task. It is the Why and How of the Great Commission.

But first, how did Jesus get this authority, for Jesus says it was been given to Him. It is clear from Ephesians 1:19-23 and Philippians 2:6-10, that it is God the Father who gave Him this authority. It was given as a consequence of His humiliation and obedience to God to the ultimate point of His death on the cross. Because of this, God the Father raised him from the dead and exalted Him above every authority or power you can even conceive of, whether in the present or in the future. All things have now been put in subjection to Jesus. Jesus reigns over all things, and this authority will inure to the benefit of His church. This means that sin, Satan, the penalty of the Law and even death are under the sway of Jesus Christ.

Now back to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 20:18. Jesus’ all-encompassing authority provides the impetus for His commission to His Church. If the authoritative Jesus speaks, surely we should listen carefully and respond.

Jesus’ authority also provides the enablement for us to carry out this very big task. Jesus leaves the scene, because His work is done. We, the disciples and succeeding generations of disciples, have a role to play in Jesus’ plan for his church. Jesus will shortly send His Spirit to enable us to do our part in this task. Jesus will gather a people, His church, who will demonstrate by their weakness His power, by their love His love, and by their changed lives His transforming grace. He has the power and the authority to accomplish all this. No one can resist Him, thwart Him, or derail His plan.

2. All Nations

Here is the scope of Jesus’ commission to his church. Jesus says, “Go,” for His intention is to reach to world, not just the Jews, historically speaking, his favored people. God always had His eyes on a great diversity of peoples. This message kept coming through, from the God’s covenant with Abraham (“all peoples”) to Israel’s prophets.

Jesus tells us “Go,” not “Stay.” He does not direct us to stay in our comfort zones, but to reach out and touch the lives of others. For some this will involve a move to somewhere else, because someone has to go to wherever people are, worldwide. But for all of Jesus’ disciples it means that we are not to keep warm in our comfortable cocoons, but we are to get involved in the lives of others.

Jesus commands, “Make disciples.” Disciples are followers, and Jesus tells us to make people into followers of Jesus. Everyone follows someone or something, even if it is just the ephemeral image of independence or being myself (in this case, following my self-focused desires). God has designed us to be more than slaves to self; He has designed us to follow Jesus who will teach us how to live, how to maximize happiness in the present, how to prepare for all that lies beyond death, and how to deal definitively with the reality of guilt. Jesus will change us from what we unhappily are to become all we can be.

Jesus tells us to baptize these disciples, to demonstrate visibly the change that occurs when we repent and believe.

3. All I Commanded

This is the demonstration of the extent of the change that Jesus works in us when we follow Him. Jesus tells us to teach these disciples to obey all He commands us. We are to teach these new followers of Jesus from the Scriptures how to live out what God is working in us by putting into practice all of Jesus’ commands, not just the convenient ones.

God gives us a remarkably clear template for what we are to change into (the goal) as well as how we are to go about pursuing this goal (the process). It’s all in the Bible; the challenge is to take what’s in the Bible and get it into us, changing how we act and think. Teaching is the process Jesus prescribes to fulfill this challenge. Yes, there are other means as well, such as modeling (“example” in the NT) and counseling (Rom. 15:14), but predominantly it is teaching the Bible to disciples so that they would conform their thinking and their behaving to the commands of Jesus that will accomplish His purposes in His disciples.

4. Lo, I Am with You Always

Yes, it is a very big task. Indeed, it is an overwhelming task. All the nations, and it’s not like everyone is just searching for the answers. And superficial changes will not do in people; God wants us to change radically, from the inside out.

In tackling this very big task, we face many obstacles, we are often bewildered, and we are sometimes discouraged. And this is exactly why Jesus tells us He is with us. Always. Here we rest and here we place our hope, in Jesus, who promised always to be with us.

in Redeemer Ann Arbor 0 comments