What Will the New Year Bring?

As we approach the end of 2018 and look forward to 2019, we have to wonder about what the future holds. Many of you will by excited about what is to come, while others - myself included - tend to worry about the unknown. In this devotional by David Powlison, he gives a perspective on the future based on a reading of Psalm 23:

Whatever your future, you are called to live by faith today. Jesus says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). Jesus wants you to depend on him one day at a time. Learn not to worry about tomorrow. To do this you must meditate on who Jesus is.

More than any other passage, Psalm 23 brought Jesus to life for me in my struggles with fatigue. The psalm is full of promises - he provides, he restores my soul, he is with me, his goodness and mercy pursue me all my days. Make this psalm your own. Jesus, your good Shepherd, will fill you with confidence. God doesn't meet us the way we want, but he does restore us. No matter what you are facing, you have a Shepherd who is with you, restoring you, and bringing good things - himself - into your life. Learn to trust him, and you truly have something worth living and dying for.

Sin in its Essence

This is a devotional from Heart of the Matter by Paul David Tripp.

Sin in its essence is self-focused. Sin causes my heart to be ruled by personal desire and felt need. Sin makes me want to set my own rules for me and others. Sin will even cause me to co-opt the grace of God for the purposes of my own agenda. Sin makes me want to write my own story and to have God endorse it. Sin makes me demanding and impatient. Sin causes me to wrap both of my hands around my life and do anything I can to preserve it for my own purpose.

Christ, on the other hand, not only calls us to be willing participants in our own death, but he also lays out the logic behind his call. It is found in this one profound big kingdom principle: Try to save you life and you will lose it, but lose your life for Christ's sake and you will find it. To jealously hold on to my dream of what I want to accomplish, experience, and enjoy is to guarantee that I will never ever experience true life. Instead, I will experience the slow and progressive shrinking of my soul until there is no life left. Our life cannot be found outside of our relationship to the Lord. If I am seeking life outside of the One who is life, I am effectively committing spiritual suicide.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I'll be taking a break from the blog for about a week. Be back in a few days. Enjoy your holiday!

I'll leave you with this Christmas poem. The other night we went to see "The King's Singers," an accapella group from England. They sang a number of Christmas songs, including the modern one below. The text - written by one of the former King's Singers, Philip Lawson - is a beautiful tribute to our Lord and Savior.

You are the new day.
Meekness, love, humility
Come down to us this day:
Christ your birth has proved to me
You are the new day.

Quiet in a stall you lie,
Angels watching in the sky
Whisper to you from on high
'You are the new day':

When our life is darkest night
Hope has burned away;
Love, your ray of guiding light,
Show us the new day.

Love of all things great and small
Leaving none, embracing all,
Fold around me where I fall,
Bring in the new day.

This new day will be
A turning point for everyone.
If we let the Christ-child in, and
Reach for the new day.

Christ the Way, the Truth, the Life;
Healing sadness ending strife;
You are welcome, Lord of life,
Born on a new day.
You are the new day.

Christmas Story - VI

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. - Matthew 2:7-12

Christmas Story - V

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’” - Matthew 2:1-6

Christmas Story - IV

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. - Luke 2:15-20

Christmas Story - III

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” - Luke 2:8-14

The Christmas Story - II

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. - Luke 2:4-7

The Christmas Story - I

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. - Luke 2:1-3

The Inheritance of the Soul: Character

The purpose of John Watson's book, The Homely Virtues, is to help his readers understand the importance of character. In the future, I hope to write a few posts on his thoughts on this topic.

For now, we'll finish this series with some final thoughts from Watson:

When all has been said, it remains that the one thing we are called upon to do, the one thing for which we shall be judged, is our duty. There is some particular work which lies to every one's hand which he can do better than any other person. What we ought to be concerned about is not whether it be on a large scale or a small—about which we can never be quite certain—nor whether it is going to bring us fame or leave us in obscurity—an issue which is in the hands of God — but that we do it, and that we do it with all our might. Having done that, there is no cause to fret ourselves or ask questions which cannot be answered. We may rest with a quiet conscience and a contented heart, for we have filled our place and done what we could. The battle of life extends over a vast area, and it is vain for us to inquire about the other wings of the army; it is enough that we have received our orders, and that we have held the few feet of ground committed to our charge. There let us fight and there let us die, and so fighting and so dying in the place of duty we cannot be condemned, we must be justified. Brilliant qualities may never be ours, but the homely virtues are within our reach, and character is built up not out of great intellectual gifts and splendid public achievements, but out of honesty, industry, thrift, kindness, courtesy, and gratitude, resting upon faith in God and love towards man. And the inheritance of the soul which ranks highest and lasts for ever is character.

Fame May Not Always Mean Value

Towards the end of chapter 1 in The Homely Virtues, John Watson discusses the fleeting value of fame:

Can any one be sure who is doing the most valuable and lasting work, or how the accounts are to be struck at the close of the day? Does it follow of necessity that a woman who makes clever speeches on the platform is rendering greater service to her generation than the house mother, who has guided her household well, and secured the peace and comfort of home to her husband and children? Can the minister who preaches to thousands in the great city be certain that he deserves more of the Church than his country colleague who is quietly building up the character of young men who shall by-and-by make the strength of the city? Is a brilliant writer a greater gain to the commonwealth than a silent merchant who has extended its commerce to the ends of the earth and filled a thousand homes with plenty? It is impossible to say; it is not necessary to make comparison; it is sufficient to remember that fame may not always mean value, and that the soundest work in the world may be done by obscure people.

A Tale of Work Everyday

We continue with John Watson's words about the contributions of ordinary people:

The prosperity of a country depends on the millions of people who are doing their tale of work every day, bringing up their children in respectability and religion, and discharging humble household duties and resisting every-day temptations; the trend of national life depends upon what a multitude of people are thinking and feeling and wishing and striving; and the goodness of the commonwealth is made up of the character of an innumerable number of undistinguished folk. We may not be philosophers, nor travellers, nor statesmen, nor conquerors, yet we ordinaries have our own sphere. We are the soldiers in the army which won the battle; we are the multitude to whom the thinkers spoke; we are the voters by whom the statesmen legislate; we are the force of which historians write. There are thousands of volumes containing the record of births in the archives of the registrar-general, and the keeper is accustomed to show a celebrated entry here and there. But all the pages of all the volumes are filled with names, and each name represents a person who has been born into the world, and, in many a case, has lived to old age and has done his piece of work. Without this nameless and in numerable multitude there had been no work and no race.

Standing on the Shoulders of Ordinary Men

John Watson continues with his narrative on the ordinary man:

Bunyan gave us the Pilgrims Progress, but we do not know the names of the good old women whom he heard talking about religion as they sat in the sun, and whose words gave a new direction to his life. Lord Shaftesbury will long be held in honour in England for the social reformation that he wrought; but place, if you please, Lord Shaftesbury's nurse, who taught the lonely child the principles of godliness. The hall rings with applause when a distinguished scholar obtains his degree, but what of the country school master who first inspired him with the passion for learning? The multitude talk of a distinguished career; they do not think of the man's father, who toiled and saved and sacrificed himself that the lad might have his opportunity.

What of the great man's mother, whose name is not buzzed about in the market place? A very ordinary woman, yet she was the mother of this distinguished man. She nursed him, she trained him, she comforted him, she inspired him; it is possible that this ordinary woman, as you judge her, gave him his brains. He stands upon her shoulder, and is seen of all men, while she is unseen. Every famous life is raised upon the lives of others, as a Venetian palace rests upon the piles beneath the water. What, also, one may ask, could the extraordinary people do without the ordinary? It is the enthusiasm of a nation which places a statesman in power and enables him to carry out beneficent laws.

Fleeting Fame

Continuing with some words from John Watson, here he recounts how ordinary people do not experience fame, but so very few people do. Watson notes that fame very often does not last:

It is a consolation for an ordinary person to remember that he belongs to the vast majority of his race, and that if he be outdistanced in talk, he will succeed in the vote. Out of a hundred thousand inhabitants in a city only a handful would be recognized upon a public platform, and out of that handful some were not known yesterday, and will be forgotten to-morrow. The great man of one town may never have been heard of in the next town; his fame does not extend stations along the line. A few men have a national reputation, but it is always a question of argument whether this or that great name will survive its generation. A century in history only adds some score of names to the immortal roll of the ages. When the generations pass across the stage of time, we only identify a face here and there — a Moses, an Alexander, a Paul, a Luther, a Cromwell, a Napoleon, a Washington, a Newton, a Darwin, a Faraday — and the others, perhaps great in their day and doers of great marvels, are now reduced to shadows, to the level of the unknown.

Watson continues: "Perhaps an ordinary person may find comfort in the fact that, after all, nameless people have done some of the great works of human history."

We'll look at these people tomorrow.

Ordinary People

A few days ago, I provided a post based on the writings of John Watson, a 19th century Scottish pastor. I've done more reading on him since then. An interesting man and a heck of a good writer. He's not as orthodox as I would like: he seems to have been caught up in the higher criticism of the day, dissecting the scriptures for passages that may be truer than others. However, he seemed to be committed to Christ - his divinity and humanity - and seemed to genuine love him as Lord and savior of men.

In the first chapter of his book, The Homely Virtues, he writes an excellent chapter on the nobility of the ordinary. For many people - Christian and non-believers - nobility and greatness are achieved through public notoriety and extraordinary personal achievements. People become great when they do great things. The ordinary life is not something to be celebrated. I've never agreed with that position and I have tried to find a writer who could express that position's anti-thesis clearly and with compassion. I think John Watson is that person.

I'm going to take a few posts to share with you some of what he wrote in The Homely Virtues. At a later date, I will share the homely virtues with you along with Watson's descriptions of each. For now, I just want to focus on this aspect of his thought: the nobility of the ordinary.

Here's a brief introduction:

It sometimes occurs to one that as there are so many philanthropic societies in our day and another would make no great difference, it might be useful, as well as kindly, to establish a society for the protection of ordinary people. Its subjects would be all persons above the age of twenty-one who had never written a book, nor a magazine article, nor a pamphlet, nor a letter to The Times; who had never stood for Parliament, nor addressed a political meeting, nor taken the chair at a charitable gathering, nor moved a vote of thanks to a speaker; who do not hold any view entirely their own on the doctrine of the Christian Church, or the origin of the Bible, or the relation of the sexes, or the division of property; who are not distinguished players at anything, nor brilliant conversationalists, nor wickedly sarcastic, nor unprinted poets—persons, in fact, who do their daily duty, and pay their debts, and act a neighbour's part, and speak about the weather, and go to Church; persons who are not original nor brilliant nor erratic, who are neither inventors nor reformers nor cranks, nor anything else except law-abiding, tax-paying, housekeeping, kind-hearted citizens - commonplace people.

Sound like anybody you know?

Law and Gospel - Part 6

Previously, we discussed how during the sanctification process, God may discipline us to bring us closer to him. In these cases, the law is the standard for our behavior and the Lord works to make us become more righteous, to become more and more like Jesus in our lives. Jonty Rhodes writes:

If this [God's discipline] does happen, I'll need to remember I'm not back under the covenant of works again, and that Christ alone is my righteousness. I'll therefore respond first and foremost by repenting and believing the gospel promises again, rather than simply trying to sort myself out. Only after I've gone to God for forgiveness, can I, through his strength and encouraged by his love, begin to make progress in my holiness battles.

Being under the covenant of grace, not works, means that every single action God takes towards me, without exception, will ultimately be an act of love [Romans 8:28]. Yes, even discipline: God disciplines those whom he loves (Hebrews 12:6).

If I forget the legal, justification side of union with Christ, I'll find myself falling into a kind of sub-Christian karma - be good and God will bless you; be bad and he'll get you. If I forget the organic, sanctification side of union with Christ, I'll end up thinking how I live is completely irrelevant, and fail to listen to the many different passages in the Bible that tell me otherwise. Legal bond and organic bond, justification and sanctification: all inseparable fruits of union with Christ.

There is much more that could be discussed on this topic, but I hope these few posts were helpful to you in understanding how law and gospel interact with your life.

Law and Gospel - Part 5

Does God's opinion of us change as we live our lives? Does God only view us through the lens of our justification? How does sanctification fit into this discussion? Jonty Rhodes continues to offer his insights:

But when I remember that God also sees my sanctification, suddenly things make sense. God will assess how serious I have been about trying to be faithful to his covenant: repenting, believing, battling sin, walking in holiness. If I start to ignore him, then has every right to come and discipline. Equally, if I'm faithful, I can genuinely please him and he will reward me - most likely in eternity, but possibly in the short term as well. These rewards differ between believers, a sure sign that God will take account of how faithfully we have walked. Sure, every Christian ends up in heaven, but our experiences of heaven will differ. We'll all be happy and satisfied, yet some even more so than others. It's a bit like filling an eggcup, a wine glass, and a bucket with water. They're all full, but the bucket is also in a sense fuller than the others.

To put it another way, it is possible to be a covenant-keeper in the primary sense, a person of faith who it going to heaven, while at a secondary level be wandering off-course into paths of covenant disobedience. As we saw earlier with the Israelites and Solomon, God often intervenes in his people's lives to discipline them long before judgment day. If he sees us wandering from covenant faithfulness, he might give us a little taste of what complete disobedience would bring, in order to bring us back to our senses. Many of the seven churches in the book of Revelation experience just such warnings. If I or my church begin to suffer these kinds of warning signs, we need to wake up and return to God.

We'll conclude this series on law and gospel tomorrow.

Law and Gospel - Part 4

Continuing with Jonty Rhodes discussion of laws and gospel, he addresses how we should live in light of the doctrines of justification and sanctification:

So, does God care or not when I disobey the law? Have you ever heard the illustration where a preacher describes two days in the life of a typical Christian? On Monday, Jeff springs out of bed, brings his beautiful wife Caroline breakfast, has an hour of prayer, nips next door to feed Seamus the neighbor's cat, evangelizes his fellow passengers on the bus, works hard all day, gives some of his bonus earnings to a mission organization, and gets home just in time to lead an inspiring Bible study on Isaiah. The next day, he gets up late, ignores his Bible, swears at his neighbor, is rude to his boss, and skips the prayer meeting to stay in and watch a dodgy movie. "On which day is God more pleased with Jeff?" asks the preacher. "They're both the same!" he answers. "God's love is unconditional! He sees us in Christ! We are justified! Our works no longer matter!" Is he right?

Well, yes and no. This is where recovering a more covenantal way of thinking, with its emphasis on union with Christ, will help us stay balanced. On the one hand, when I remember that I now share Jesus' status, justified and fully pleasing in God's sight, I can rejoice that, no matter how bad I've been today, God still loves me as his child and will accept me into heaven. My justification is unchangeable, unspoilable - and, for that matter, unimprovable.

But if this is my only understanding of how God views me, then I'm likely to get in a muddle when I come across passages in the Bible that suggest God reacts to how I live. There are those passages that talk about God rewarding people who live holy lives, passages that speak of certain actions pleasing him. Conversely, who disobey, and even some where he causes believers to get ill and die because of their unholy lives (1 Cor. 11:17-34). None of these will make any sense if I only ever think of justification; after all, if God sees Jesus and not me, surely it's impossible for his opinion of me to change for better or for worse?

Is this true? We'll take a look at this in more depth in the next post.

Law and Gospel - Part 3

In this part of his thoughts on the law and gospel, Jonty Rhodes explores the relationship between obedience and salvation:

Equally, time after time, we are told to obey God and warned that, if we don't, we will not receive salvation. This is not because obeying the law is earning our salvation, but because it is the route those filled with the Spirit will walk on their way to heaven, just as Noah's route was to build an ark. Or, we might say that one of the signs of a true disciple is that they will love the law. David sang that the law was sweeter than honey, more precious than gold, and that keeping it would bring reward (Psalm 19). Jesus taught that "if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love" (John 15:10). Neither Jesus nor David are legalists; both know that obedience is the path to salvation. And this law is not a burden, but a gift. It's not so much that we have to obey, as that now, filled with the Spirit of Jesus, we get to obey. Holiness is not a curse, but a reward.

Holiness is not a curse, but a reward. And the law helps us realize that reward!

I was going to stop here on this topic, but I think I'm going to continue for a few more posts. The next section continues with a discussion of law and gospel, focusing on relating to God through covenant. I hope you find it worthwhile.

Law and Gospel - Part 2

Continuing our discussion on law and gospel from Jonty Rhodes, we'll see how this applies to sanctification and justification:

Now, grace and works are enemies. But sanctification and justification are not; both are blessings of union with Christ. Think back to Noah. What saved him? God's gracious "gospel," of course. But what path did that grace send Noah down in order to reach the end goal of salvation? He had to obey God's commands - very specifically, to build an ark. Would he have been saved if he had ignored the command and just sat back reveling in the fact that God loved him and had chosen him? No, he'd have drowned. In that sense, "law" and gospel worked together to save Noah - but as one who was in union with Christ, he was saved by grace alone, through faith alone. This grace moved Noah to believe, and then to obey.

Similarly, with us. We are commanded to repent and believe - itself a sort of "law," we might even say. Is that legalistic? No, it's no different from saying the covenant of grace (or the gospel) has conditions. The gospel contains "law" in this very narrow sense. And yet, it remains a gospel of salvation by grace alone. Why? Because, as we saw in the covenant of redemption, Christ alone supplies the power to repent and believe.

Even the "condition" of the gospel is met by Christ! Our capacity to repent and believe - conditions or rules of the covenant of grace - comes from Christ.

I hope this is helpful, so far. Tomorrow we'll wrap this up.

Law and Gospel - Part 1

I'm reading a book, Covenants Made Simple: Understanding God's Unfolding Promises to His People, by Jonty Rhodes. As a Reformed believer, I understand the importance of covenants, but some of nuances are still not clear to me. I bought this book to hopefully give me some more clarity. I've learned a lot about law and gospel over the years, but I like to return to it often to solidify my understanding. Rhodes provides a good summary, which I want to share with you. I'll chunk it into three or four posts.

Here is the first part; this comes from the last chapter of the book:

So, the law (as straight commands) cannot save us, but it does show us the kind of people God wants us to be. It convicts us of our own sin, and then, after we've applied the gospel, teaches us how to live. If you think about it, these two functions must go together. When I read: "Do not gossip" and am convicted, I should move to the gospel, repenting of my sin and rejoicing in God's forgiveness. But what to do when I get up from my knees to carry on with life? Well, God still doesn't want me to gossip, so I should take that command and obey it. Law and gospel are not enemies, but friends, when understood rightly. Law without gospel is powerless; gospel without law is pointless. Christ came to save us from sin, not for sin.

The bolded passage is key, I think. The law is our guidebook, our "user manual," for our lives. The law shows us what is right and wrong. As humans, we need that. It shows us what we need to do to lead lives that are pleasing to God. Without faith, we try to obey the law for our own benefit. Through faith, we obey out of gratitude and through the gospel we realize that our obedience comes only through Him who strengthens us. Why would we not want to please our God who gave us so much?

More tomorrow.

Watching Daredevil

I was watching season 3 of Daredevil the other night when I heard an interesting quote from the priest as he spoke to Karen. He noticed her sadness and she was surprised how transparent her feelings were. The priest said, to her,"Someone once said, 'Everyone is fighting a battle of their own, that you can't see, but sometimes you can see it.'" The quote caught my attention. I agree with that statement; we never know what other people are struggling with and if we find out, we should not minimize that struggle.

I was curious as to the source of that quote. A search on the web revealed that the source is somewhat disputed. Most quotation website attribute the quote to Plato, but that attribution doesn't seem right. After a little more digging, I found that the quote belongs to Ian MacLaren, the pen name for John Watson, a Scottish Presbyterian minister (1850-1907). A more accurate quote (but still somewhat disputed) is, "Be pitiful [compassionate], for everyone is fighting a hard battle."

The sentiment behind the quote comes from a book, The Homely Virtues, published by Watson in 1903. I found the book on Google Books. After reading a couple of chapters, I found it to be a great book. The book focuses on what it means to be a good man. In our culture, as in others in the past, we tend to focus on people who have achieved public notoriety as being great. Watson argues that we need to see greatness in the ordinary. I have believed this for years, but haven't found a writer who has expressed this as well as Watson. I plan to explore his writings in this blog.

To conclude this post, here is a quote from the book that expresses the sentiment from Daredevil:

The man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavoring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him no help his lower self.