A Call to Prayer (and to Weep!)

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” (Psalm 119:136)


"This is what I am writing for. Not political action, but love for the name of God and compassion for the city of destruction." - John Piper

It is hard to write or to speak against something.  On top of that, there is that old cliche "We should be known for what we are for, not for what we are against." Yet, at what point does one say "Enough"?

John Piper has a thought provoking and, dare I say, spirit provoking blog post today. I would encourage everyone to prayerfully read it here

I feel compelled to highlight this post for a couple of reasons. First and probably foremost, I have a sense that most of the American church is like a frog in a kettle of water. If a frog is dropped into boiling water, it will jump right out. But if it is dropped into cool water and the temperature is slowly raised, the frog will simply swim around until it is dead. Friends, we are in the kettle and we don't even know it!

Second, Piper's post raises the questions of response. Not how should Piper respond. Not how should the church respond. Rather the question is: How should I respond? And this is not a one issue, one concern, one downward trend assessment. No, this is a whole life, entire world view consideration.

Read Piper's post. Then look around, and pray, and weep. Then perhaps the Spirit will guide us to the heart of Mt 9:36 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd ."

To God Alone be the Glory

Justice - Seeking it; Giving it

"The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it." - Oswald Chambers

One of the hardest aspects of walking with Christ is the whole idea of giving up our rights. It is amazing how ingrained it is in us to think the we deserve something, whatever the situation. And perhaps in worldly, earthly terms we do. But in Christ's economy, all of the rights belong to the King. So what's "fair" or what's "just" take on new meanings and have higher, broader goals.On top of that, as we straddle the fence between this fallen world, with all of its short comings, and the coming new world, with all of its perfections, we must not get confused in our expectations. We must not expect perfect justice to be executed here. Strive for it? Yes. Grieve over its lack? Yes. Expect that it will fully and completely present itself? No.

As we operate by Jesus' upside-down, inside-out principles, we must remember we are swimming upstream. Everything in this present age is warring against what Christ has called us to believe and to do. Yet we must believe it and do it. Thus the difficulty. Yet Jesus has promised to be with us and Holy Spirit is with us. And both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are interceding for us right now. So we can believe the unbelievable gospel and live out the un-doable life of a disciple of Christ.

To God Alone be the Glory

Worse Than Broken

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." - Eph 2:1-3

I ran across an excellent post on the Gospel Coalition blog yesterday. Its challenge to me coincides with my working through the book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.  In essence through both the book and the blog, God is strongly reminding me that sin is serious and dealing with it is a here and now expectation of all believers.

Here's an excerpt from the blog:

"For believers, the word [broken] doesn’t go deep enough to move us forward in sanctification. God describes our sin many ways—almost all of which are far worse than “broken.” We’re rebellious, idolatrous, lost, enslaved, disobedient, adulterous, and—in case the point wasn’t pressed far enough—dead. If we see our sin as mere brokenness, our repentance and abhorrence at sin won’t push us in the opposite direction hard enough. And our appreciation of the cross as the only cure will be replaced with self-effort and legalism."

Read the whole thing here.

To God Alone be the Glory

God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

I couldn't state this any better so I won't try. You can read the whole blog at Desiring God.

2. God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

This truth comes from the same phrase in verse 9: "Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We are not by nature smarter or wiser or more courageous than those who remain in darkness. The difference is that God exerted toward us an absolutely undeserved and compelling kindness: he called us. Paul put it like this in1 Corinthians 1:23-24, "We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." It was the omnipotent call of God that wakened us from the spiritual sleep of death and opened our eyes to the power and wisdom of God in Christ. Let us never forget: Free and powerful grace alone is the decisive reason that we are able to see the darkness of our culture and be free in some measure from it.

To God Alone be the Glory

To Serve You With What Little I Have

I ran across this quote from John Bunyan on Justin Taylor's blog as he referenced Tony Reinke. Bunyan's word resonate with me because they put credit where credit is due.

If thou findest me short in things, impute that to my love of brevity.

If thou findest me besides the truth in aught [any respect], impute that to my infirmity.

But if thou findest anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on thee and me.

Yours to serve you with what little I have.

—John Bunyan, Note to Reader, “Saved by Grace,” in The Works of John Bunyan, 1:336.

To God Alone be the Glory

I'm no saint

What follows is a challenging excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. You can read the full devotional here.

I don't know if much commentary is necessary, except to say I find myself oscillating between a kite-like view of sanctification (God will do whatever He wants with me and He knows what's best) and a Pharisaic view of sanctification (I need to do this and this and this and...). The truth is in the middle, but the reality is that there should be movement toward the goal and God, by His grace, will make it happen as we work it out.

"For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one."


To God Alone be the Glory

A Good Hope is a Purifying Thing

The Already and the Not Yet.

Grace and Works

Striving toward Perfection and Being presented Faultless

I could go on in my list of elements of true Christian faith which stand in tension. Of all of these elements, the one that seems to press on me the most is the one best summarized in Phil 2:12-13 "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  We work out our salvation, but God works it out in us...

Recently, I ran across the following from C.H. Spurgeon in his Morning & Evening devotional. His main point is that we are doubly perfected when we arrive in heaven. We are perfected by the blood of Christ, as payment for our sins. We are also perfected by the Holy Spirit as we works in us sanctification. Yet, Spurgeon concludes by saying not to coast, just because God is doing all this work on our behalf. If we are not working, then our claims of God working in use are false.

"Oh, how should we extol the power of the Holy Ghost in thus making us fit to stand before our Father in heaven! Yet let not the hope of perfection hereafter make us content with imperfection now. If it does this, our hope cannot be genuine; for a good hope is a purifying thing, even now. The work of grace must be abiding in us now or it cannot be perfected then. Let us pray to "be filled with the Spirit," that we may bring forth increasingly the fruits of righteousness."

To God Alone be the Glory

Layers and Facets of Prayer

"The smoke of the incense , with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel" Rev 8:5

I am always pursuing a better, fuller, richer understanding of prayer.Some of my previous blog entries have touched on it, but I was compelled to write this post because today I ran across both the intriguing picture of prayer in Rev 8 and devotional on prayer by Oswald Chambers.

The picture from Revelation of our prayers being incense rising before the throne of God has two immediate implications. First, our prayers are delivered directly to God. The angels in this heavily symbol-laden book appear to be delivery agents, not interpreters or intermediaries. Second, our prayers are delivered directly to God. I know this sounds like a repeat, but here the emphasis is on prayers going somewhere no one on heaven or earth or under the earth is allowed to go. Isn't that part of John's weeping in chap 5? No one can take the scroll or open its seals. No one is worthy to even approach God, let alone open the scroll of all of redemptive history. Left in that state, not only our prayers, but our very lives would be lost.

But praise be to God the Lion / Lamb has been slain and has been victorious. He is now worthy to stand in God's presence and open the seals of the scroll. And now, by extension and by inclusion, our prayers also are presented into the very presence of God.

The layer of prayer laid down by Chambers is no less awesome. "Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint." He goes on to ask "Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer?" The challenge / reminder from Chambers is this: prayer is not a wish list from me to God; something for Him to approve or disapprove. And it is not simply a conversation with God (although it is that). Prayer is our very connection with God. Like the nervous system or the circulatory system, prayer keeps us spiritually alive. Is this the source of our life? Absolutely not! Our Sovereign God and Resurrected Savior are the source; the life-blood, as it were. But prayer is our connection, the transport mechanism, and without it we would not have Life. Read My Utmost here.

To God Alone be the Glory

Edwards' Resolutions - week 23

My I intention, by God's grace, to post one of Jonathan Edward's 73 resolutions each Monday. As I read the list, it is convicting to me that I can only handle them in small doses, while Edwards reviewed the whole list each week The entire list of Edward's resolutions can be found here: the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards

To God Alone be the Glory

Preamble:

Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Resolution 23:

Resolved, Frequently to take some deliberate action, which seems most unlikely to be done, for the glory of God, and trace it back to the original intention, designs, and ends of it; and if I find it not to be for God’s glory, to repute it as a breach of the fourth Resolution.

Truth and Promise from Revelation

To often I shy away from the book of Revelation for two man-centered reasons:

1) Its truths, while deep and profound are "locked up" in symbolism and the interpretive debate seems to over shadow the truths to be proclaimed

2) Poor interpretations have often "boxed in" our thinking on the book and truths it contains and overcoming that hurdle seems to be more effort than one can muster.

Yet, with that bagged in tow, as I entered my first reading of Revelation for 2011, I was struck by the repetitive pattern of the letters to the seven churches in Rev 2 & 3. And, as I reflected on the attribute of Christ at the beginning of each letter and the promise to the overcomers at the end of each letter, I thought it would be worthwhile to compile those items into a list to be read in concert with each other.

So for what its worth here are the truths and the promises of Revelation 2 & 3.

Who Christ is:

• The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
• The one who is the first and the last, who died and came to life.
• The one who has the sharp two-edged sword.
• The one who is the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
• The one who has has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
• The one who is the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
• The one who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

What Christ promises to those who overcome:

• To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
• Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
• The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
• To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
• The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. 
• The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
• The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
• The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 

To God Alone be the Glory