Reckoning with Death

A singer whose inimitable voice was very much a part of the soundtrack of my youth; two babies and a grandfather, loved by folks in our congregation; a long-serving deacon in a sister church; a gospel minister whose story of perseverance, hope, and love for his daughter has been greatly moving to me – each one of them departed from this life in recent days.

Monday was the ten year anniversary of the death of a dear friend; a death which – both for the pain that it brought, and for the backdrop for God's kindness that it proved to be – left a deep imprint on my life. And then it was one year ago this coming Sunday that a man died whom I, from a distance, had come to consider as, in some ways, my pastor.

Some of them died tragically; others more ‘naturally’. Some are gone, as we say, ‘too soon’; others had lived full lives. But they are all gone, leaving gaps that cannot be humanly filled in the lives of those who loved them.

It’s a strange thing, death. So unnatural (when seen in the light of Genesis 1), and yet so inevitable in this now-fallen world. So certain, and yet still always so painful. So wrong, and yet so filled with significance:

Death should make us hate sin for having called down such a curse upon the world. Death should urge us to love others more deeply, who are with us only for a short while, in this life. Death should motivate us to be all the more urgent about making ready (and helping others make ready) for the life that is to come. And death should move us to love Christ who, out of love for His own, entered into death on their behalf, and defeated it for all who will call upon His name.

Let Him be our hope in the face of death – the hope we share with those around us who are facing death; our hope when we grieve the loss of our loved ones; our hope when we wade, with Bunyan’s pilgrim, through the river of death ourselves (knowing, in the words of Samuel Rutherford, that Jesus “knoweth all the fords”); and our hope for life beyond death, since He has died and risen on behalf of His people!

Let us reckon rightly with the reality of death, which is ever present all around us. Let us understand and accept its inevitability. Let us learn and apply its lessons. And let us look to Jesus in its face.

"He Himself is our peace"

I’m from the American South. The place where racial tensions have often been at their height. The place where slavery, Jim Crow, and ‘separate but equal’ had their heyday. But also the place where I saw the gospel of Jesus Christ, in stunningly beautiful ways, quietly transcend the ethnic divide which is so much on the forefront of current cultural dialogue.

The place was Tunica County, Mississippi – in the northern tip of that beautifully unique region known as the Mississippi Delta. This is a region where cotton was once king; where huge-scale agriculture is still the order of the day; where magnificent yellow crop-dusters buzz like giant dragonflies overhead; and where, in many localities, the majority population is African-American. It’s also the place where, eager to get my feet wet in pastoral ministry, I was called as a mission pastor (in the little crossroads of Robinsonville, in the northern part of Tunica County) during the summer before my second year of seminary.

Robinsonville, once a sleepy collection of mammoth cotton, rice, and soybean fields, was in a state of flux in the early 2000's.  Nine large casinos had recently been built along the Mississippi River, and both African-Americans from elsewhere in the county, as well as out-of-the-area transplants of various backgrounds and ethnicities, were moving into the area to work at the casinos (and at the hotels, restaurants, and so on that follow, like hungry seagulls, in the casinos' wake).  And the idea behind my coming was that this burgeoning population in northern Tunica County needed to be reached with the gospel. And, indeed, it did (and still does!).

In the two years we were there, we were able to touch a few of the out-of-the-area transplants with the message of Christ. But it turned out that most of those we touched with the good news were from among the African-American folks who had lived most of their lives in Tunica County. And it was glorious! Gathered together around Jesus Christ, the congregation there became, truly, a family!  And within the church family, if my assessment is correct, there was little to-do made over the oddity of a white, suburban preacher-boy and his wife serving, and immensely loved and welcomed by, a congregation of mostly rural-background African-Americans.  For, in the midst of studying the Bible together, and considering the gospel of Christ together, and singing hymns together, and caring for each other, and just doing life together, I don’t think any of us thought too much about whether we were white, or black, or rural, or suburban. And we certainly didn’t experience any racial tension within the congregation. Were we different in some ways? Absolutely! Did we realize that fact? Of course (sometimes comically!). But it never became a point of contention, or even really much of a point of discussion. We had other, more pressing, things to be doing and discussing! Jesus was bringing us together around Himself!

This was not a part of any strategy or master plan for racial harmony. I was too wet-behind-the-ears to have had any ideas for tackling something like that (and, honestly, too naïve to know that it could even have been an issue). But Christ and His gospel really do make a difference when it comes to questions of ethnicity, heritage, culture, and so on! Writing about gospel unity among Jews and Gentiles, Paul said something that, I think, also applies to all sorts of other differences and potential divisions in the church: “He Himself [Jesus] is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Ephesians 2:14). “He Himself is our peace” (emphasis added)! And how true we found that to be! Where people truly gather around Christ, and know Christ, and worship Christ … no matter how different from one another they may be in many respects, they will, by a new spiritual instinct, genuinely love each other! And their differences will seem fairly small in light of what they have in common in Jesus.

So, brothers and sisters, in this day of ethnic tension and dialogue, let us lift up Christ above all else. “He Himself is our peace.”

The Sky is not Falling

When Wednesday morning comes, a good many of our co-workers, neighbors, and friends will be speaking as though the sky were falling. Whichever way the presidential election turns out, there will be millions upon millions of Americans with serious concerns about our country’s future. And rightly so. We are in a sad time as a nation, make no mistake. The American experiment, barring a revival of true religion, has been heading toward its sunset for some time now – well before Election 2016. The present state of political affairs is a reflection of America’s soul, not an intrusion upon it. And so maybe the America sky is indeed going to fall, or just slowly continue morphing into a much darker shade of blue. May God help us.

But having said all of that, I remind you that, if we are in Christ, we do not live under the American sky only. Yes, the decline of our national morals, civility, government, and sanity will profoundly affect us. But even if the American sky should fall, isn’t it true that we are citizens of an entirely other kingdom – “a kingdom which cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28); the kingdom of Christ? This kingdom was flourishing with great glory well before the words Plymouth, and Washington, and Lincoln were woven into the tapestry of world history. And this kingdom will still be advancing long after Clinton and Trump have finished writing their part of the American epic. Indeed, the kingdom of Jesus will thrive even if America as we know it should someday cease to exist. “His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:33).

And so, for the Christian, a sky may be falling … but not the sky! Christ is still on His throne. As Handel reminds us every Christmas (from Revelation 19:6, KJV), “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

Let that be your anchor, no matter how disappointed you wake up on Wednesday morning. And let it be your ballast, even when you are elated with political victories or turnabouts.

And just to remind you of who is ultimately on the throne, have a look, on Wednesday morning, at the burnt orange reminders of God’s faithfulness dangling from the tree branches against the backdrop of the American sky. God promised, six millennia ago, that the earth would always cycle through its seasons (Genesis 8:22):

“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

And the autumn leaves, on Wednesday, will remind you that God is keeping that covenant! And that is enough, brothers and sisters. That is enough. God is still God. God is still faithful. God still reigns. And the future is secure in Christ. So pray for America; cast your vote for the good of America; “seek the welfare of” America. But put your trust in Christ!

The Cure for What Ails Us

Nearly every other day, lately, seems to bring some painful news. Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, Dallas, France, Turkey, Baton Rouge again, and all sorts of ‘lesser’ bad news sprinkled liberally in between. And none of that includes the frustration and disappointment that many Americans feel connected to the presidential election. Nor does it include whatever awful news stories may come across the ticker between the time I write this (Tuesday afternoon) and the time you read it. It really is a bad news world, this planet earth. And, while the outbreak of dark clouds seems to have increased in recent weeks, it always has been a bad news world, ever since Genesis 3:1-19.

And, ever since that day when the darkness fell in the Garden of Eden, the solution to man’s bad news has always, always (and, ultimately, only) been God’s good news – the news of a Savior who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:12), and right all that has gone wrong in the fall of mankind. And I submit to you that this idea – that the only ultimate hope in the midst of the world’s bad news is the good news about god’s Son – I submit to you that this idea is not just pie in the sky, nor is it merely somehow just generically true that the gospel would help the world. But it is specifically true in each of the specific situations that grieve us as they come marching, one after the other, across the daily newswire.

What is the hope in the cities of this nation that are torn by racial violence and fear? Better policing techniques would be a good thing! And so would the caution of citizens to avoid painting all police with a broad brush. But do you know what ultimately brings races together (and makes people really care about the above)? The news about Jesus, which breaks down the barrier between races, and makes black, white, Asian, Latino, and everyone else who is in Christ one (Ephesians 2:14, Galatians 3:28).

And what of the radical Islamic violence that continues to rear its ugly head on multiple continents? What is the solution for Orlando, Nice, and so many bombings in Africa and the Middle East.? It is the spread of the gospel, which turns militants into missionaries, and angry young men into lovers of peace (Acts 9:1-20). Are there important discussions to be had about immigration and border patrols? Certainly. But the ultimate solution for radical Islam, the thing that has the power to root it out altogether is not only figuring out how to keep radical Islam out, but (more importantly) sending merciful Christians in to Muslim regions and neighborhoods, proclaiming “liberty to the captives” in Jesus Christ!

And the same good news that has the power to convert the militants also has the power to comfort those (Muslim, European, Floridian, and so on) who are left to grieve in their wake; and those who grieve any and every other loss in this world. Because news of Jesus tells us that He is coming again, to right all that is wrong in this world, to make “all things new” and to “wipe away every tear” from the eyes of His people (Revelation 21:1-7).

And what of American Politics, and the future of our land? What is it that can make our nation what she should be? Not first of all jobs, or a good economy, or campaign reform, or what-have-you. What “exalts a nation”, according to the Scriptures, is “righteousness” (Proverbs 14:34). And how does an unrighteous nation – which America certainly is, on so many levels (abortion, sexual promiscuity, pornography, idolatry, etc.) – how does an unrighteous nation begin to be bend its collective will toward the ways of righteousness? Not first of all by enacting new laws (which sinful men will always find a way to skirt), nor even primarily by electing new politicians (who are sinners themselves, and work for a sinful constituency). No! Laws and leaders are important, no doubt. But the way a nation begins to adopt stances of righteousness is not first of all through new laws and new leaders, but as more and more of its individual citizens become new creatures in Christ. The laws and leaders will follow the transformation of the populous! And the populous is changed, one person at a time, through the proclamation of the message of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)!

And so do you see? What our broken, cracked, decaying nation and world need most is not only better laws, better politicians, safer borders, better policing, understanding of one another, and so on. All those things are true. But none of them change the human heart. Only the gospel does that. And so the solution for bad news is not just better ways of doing things, but altogether good news – the news about Christ!

When the Guardrails Come Down

I read Psalm 2 recently, and it struck me how much it sounds as though it could have been written in the United States, some time in the last year or so. Just notice the first three verses:

“Why are the nations in an uproar

And the peoples devising a vain thing?

The kings of the earth take their stand

And the rulers take counsel together

Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

‘Let us tear their fetters apart

And cast away their cords from us!’”

Doesn’t that sound like what we have been reading about, and hearing in the news, in recent months? From the common folks, right on up to the rulers, what we have in this nation is a meeting of the various minds, and a conferring as to which of God’s laws we can cast aside next. The common man wants this breaking of God’s yoke. State, local, and federal authorities are often in agreement. And the money and power brokers of our culture are forcing the hands of the government officials whose feet aren’t quite so quick to spread the revolution. And so the nation is “in an uproar.” The peoples are “devising a vain thing.” And the rulers are “tak[ing] counsel together” as to how to make it all law.

And all of it is against, not only good morality and historic precedent and often just plain good sense … but these things are being devised, even more seriously, “against the LORD and against His Anointed.” And so it is all utter folly. And self-destruction. Because what does the psalmist say in vv.4-5?

“He who sits in the heavens laughs,

The Lord scoffs at them.

Then He will speak to them in His anger

And terrify them in His fury …”

God is not in heaven, with His head spinning, His hands wringing, and His finger on the panic button. He laughs at those people who think they can overthrow His moral law with the stroke of a legislative pen, or with the power of the media and the cultural establishment. Picture the smile on an NBA player’s face when he is challenged to a game of one-on-one by a gangly high school sophomore. God laughs at us small-timers when we think we have cast off His yoke. And we are foolish if we do not realize it. “He will speak to [us] in His anger."

And not only is our nation taking counsel against the Lord foolish because God can crush us like so many ants in His garden, but because the yoke which our culture is so quick to throw off is an easy yoke (Matthew 11:28-30). Or, as the apostle John put it, “His commandments are not burdensome.” They are actually good for us (and even for non-believers who live in a culture that accepts them as the moral norm) … like the guardrails that keep wayward cars from veering into oncoming traffic.

When I was in college, I remember driving home one Friday afternoon and seeing an old beat-up truck, barreling down the left-hand lane of interstate 65 and, perhaps in a moment of dozing, sideswiping the concrete barrier that lay between the north and south-bound lanes. Sparks flew. And the driver bounced off the barrier, kept control, and kept driving (the blessing of already having a beat-up truck, I suppose). But what would have happened if the barrier had not been there? Both that man, and perhaps a few other people, would have been dead in the melee.

This is what is happening in our culture. The guardrails have been coming down for some time now. And it’s no surprise we have the drug addiction, the fatherless children, the abandoned elderly, and so on with which our government is constantly trying to keep up. And yet the same government (which is, of course, “of the people” – so that we are responsible, too) keeps tearing the guardrails even further down to the ground. Indeed, the barriers are nearly all the way gone. And so life in this country will only become more debauched. And the have-nots and the ne’er-do-wells and the abused will become even worse off than they are now. And the sword that hangs over our national head is only getting sharper and sharper.

And what is the solution, according to Psalm 2? Not that the godly people murmur, or go into hiding. And not that we simply rely on the political system to try and enact better laws (though that is necessary). But that those in the system (which includes “we the people”) “take warning” (v.10), and tremble before the Lord (v.11), and “kiss the Son” (v.12, KJV).

In essence, the solution for a culture that has thrown off God’s yoke is good old fashioned repentance (vv.10-11) and faith in Jesus Christ (v.12)! What our culture needs is the gospel – which proclaims God’s judgment upon sinners, and his mercy upon those who will kiss His Son, and entrust themselves to Him in faith!

And so will you go forth, bearing this good seed in the spheres of your influence? And will you pray for those who have access to the nation’s power brokers – that someone will have the courage of the preachers of old, and will call these men and women to account before a holy God, no matter how much the culture may deride them for doing so? Pray that God would raise up a series of John the Baptists, to preach truth to all the Herods in Washington, and a whole host of John’s, also, in the Columbuses, Frankforts, and city halls of our land – proclaiming God’s righteous judgment, and issuing the invitation to kiss God’s Son, to the “nations … peoples … kings … rulers” who “take counsel together against the LORD.” And would you be something of a John the Baptist in your own sphere … having the courage to sound the alarm, and offer the Son, to your neighbors and family who are veering over the center line in a culture with no guardrails?

Sermons from Nahum

Listen in to our recent series from the book of Nahum:

Nahum 1:1-8 - The LORD! - mp3
Nahum 1:8-3:19 - "Woe to the bloody city" - mp3
Nahum 1:15, 2:2 - "Good news" - mp3

Calling God in as Backup?

The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. 1 Samuel 4:2-4, 10-11

God’s people had been overrun. Four thousand of them lay slain on the field of battle. And they were asking why. So would we. But it doesn’t appear, from the text above, like they waited for God’s answer. They had already conjured up a solution. ‘Let’s bring the ark out with us next time, and the ark will grant us the victory.’

Perhaps this was a case of gross superstition – relying on the presence of the ark more than on the God who was enthroned above it. Or perhaps the Israelites believed that if they took the ark into battle, God would surely come with them. And if God went with them, He would surely be on their side. After all, they were His people!

But, as I say, it does not appear that they ever paused to wait on God’s answer to their original question: ‘Why did God allow us to be defeated in the first place?’ I suspect that if they’d waited on the answer, they’d have discovered that God had left them on their own against the Philistines because they had long since forgotten Him in ways far more significant than a request that He follow them onto the battlefield. That’s the picture that we get in the book of Judges (just prior to 1 Samuel). It’s also the picture we get if we read about Israel’s priests in the first three chapters of 1 Samuel. Israel was a people adrift from their God. And, though the author of our text doesn’t make it explicit, I suspect that this is why they had been defeated in battle.

But they didn’t take time to ponder that. They just thought to themselves: ‘Well, if the Philistines defeated us last time, we’re going to have to bring in the really big guns this time. Someone send for the ark of the covenant.’

And they remind me of a large section professing Christian church in America, adrift from God for so many years: more concerned for numbers than for true conversions; obsessed with being entertained; doctrinally shallow; lacking discipline; pandering to goats rather than feeding sheep; so much like the world in choices of entertainment, in financial decisions, in child-rearing, in integrity, in their marriages, and so on.

And now these ‘evangelicals’ are being overrun by the Philistines. Marriage has been redefined. Gender is a matter of feeling rather than fact. Our children and grandchildren will be told (as advertised on a billboard here in town) that it’s normal for boys to dress like girls (and vice versa). So should evangelicals now begin to bring in ‘the big guns’? Should we now begin to petition God to overthrow the Philistine view of marriage, and gender, and childhood? Many corners of evangelicalism have spent the last half-century watering down the biblical teachings about marriage and family, and allowing their children to be raised by these very Philistines. So will God answer if they now ask him to overthrow the ungodly people whom they have spent a lifetime imitating? Will it work to parade the name of God, like the ark of the covenant, into these national debates? God is merciful, and so He may yet answer in spite of the poor track record of the American church. But He may leave us to our own devices, and to the might of the Philistines. Because it is not enough to haul God out of the holy of holies when the going gets tough. It is not sufficient to call Him in as backup when we’ve run out of our own solutions. He is Lord of all, not a superhero to be called in when Gotham has run out of solutions; not a talisman pulled out of our pocket to add a little magic to our formula.

Here was the problem in Israel. And here is the problem for so many professing Christians in our own day. We run to God when the going gets tough. But do we walk with Him; do we give Him thanks; do we honor His word on all the other days, and in all the ‘little things’? Let us begin there. Let us truly be the people of God. And, if we are, we’ll never have need to worry whether God will show up to fight our battles.

Logic On Fire

Just got my pre-ordered copy of the  #LOGICONFIRE film ... the documentary of the late, great Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  Check it out for yourself at www.logiconfire.org.  Great job, Matthew Robinson and friends!

The Luck of the Irish? - The Real-Life Story of St. Patrick

Do you ever ask yourself the really difficult questions? You know, those deep philosophical queries that take you all the way to the core of the meaning of life? Questions like: Why does everybody wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? And why do I get pinched if I don’t? And why are the Irish so lucky, anyway? Well, this little leaflet may not fully answer those questions. But I can say this: there is no such thing as luck! God is orchestrating everything in this universe—from the orbit of the planets (Isaiah 40.22) to the exact time when a sparrow falls out of a tree (Matthew 10.29). He controls it all! And the story of St. Patrick is an example of this truth—a great illustration of God’s loving hand designing our days for good …

Contrary to our childhood imaginations, Patrick of Ireland was not a quirky little Irishman who went around pinching people and searching for four-leafed clovers! It is also highly unlikely that he wore a funny green suit. In fact, Patrick wasn’t even Irish! So who was this man who has a holiday named for him?*

Patrick was a modestly educated boy who lived in late 4th century Britain. Though his father was a deacon, and his grandfather a pastor in the local church, Patrick was unimpressed with Christianity, unconcerned with eternity, and unacquainted with Jesus Christ. That is, until he was sixteen. That was when he was captured by pirates and ferried across the Irish Sea to become a slave of those ‘barbarian’ people called the Irish.

For six years Patrick served as an enslaved farm-hand. But there on the Irish hillsides, desperate and alone, he began to call out to the living Christ whom his grandfather had preached. There, in the midst of harsh slavery in a pagan land, Patrick became a committed follower of Jesus! Gone were the trappings of mere outward religion; and in their place came a genuine trust in the life and death of the historical God-man, Jesus Christ. God allowed this young man to hit rock bottom, so that he might finally turn his eyes heavenward!

Isn’t that a wonderful illustration of how “God causes all things”—even the lowest moments of suffering—“to work together for good to those who love God” and are “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8.28**)?

And God’s goodness did not end with Patrick’s conversion to Christ …

After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped and was eventually reunited with his family in Britain. It must have been a glorious reunion! His parents must surely have thought that neither they nor their son would ever have to think of those pagan, unchristian Irishmen again. But God made them think again! Patrick began to sense that God was summoning him to return to the land of his captivity … this time, not as a slave of the Irish, but as a servant of Jesus Christ—a missionary!

And that is exactly what Patrick did! He went and gave himself to the people who had so demeaned and abused him, and laid out his life in missionary labors among them—just like his Lord had done four centuries before! Within decades, under Patrick’s preaching, Ireland began to glow for Jesus! Thousands of people became followers of Jesus, and little congregations began to be planted here and there among the Irish hills!

To this day, many thousands of Irish believers can trace their history to God’s grace in sending such a man to their island. Talk about ‘the luck of the Irish’!

But what did this ancient saint teach? What message did Patrick bring to Ireland? And has it any relevance for today? Well, quite simply, Patrick taught the Bible! Indeed, his writings are chocked full of Bible quotes! Let me mention just a few of Patrick’s biblical quotations,^  expounding myself on the meaning of each verse as I go along:

• “There is no other” God (Isaiah 45, v.5) – only one true God … who reveals Himself (as Patrick was eager to point out) in the persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
• “He who sins is a slave” (John 8, v.34). And I hasten to add that all of us are, by nature, thus enslaved—knowing what we ought to do and so often failing to do so; knowing that there is a God (who made us, owns us, and loves us), and yet failing to honor and obey Him as we know we should.
• “Those who do evil … are to be damned” (Romans 1, v.32). Simple and sobering. We deserve to die for our dishonoring of God.
• And yet, Jesus Christ “gave his own soul for [us]” on the cross (1 John, 3, v.16)—taking the death penalty that we deserve, so that we might be rescued from it ourselves; so that we might be forgiven, and granted “everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6, v.23).

Now that last point is really good news, isn’t it? Yes, we have sinned our way out of God’s good graces … but we do not have to earn our way back in! Jesus has done that for us – by “[laying] down His life for us”! And so forgiveness and heaven are a gift! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6.23). That is the good news young Patrick discovered as he sat enslaved and alone on those ancient Irish hills! That is the good news he preached to the Irish in the fifth century AD. This is the good news that Jesus and the apostles preached in the first century. And this is the same good news that will rescue 21st century men and women, too!

So let me ask you: Have you recognized your Maker? Have you realized that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59.2)? And have you turned from those sins and placed your eternal hope squarely into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus? This is what Patrick, all those centuries ago, urged the Irish to do! And this is what I urge you to do today: stop running from God; stop hiding from God; stop ignoring God; stop defying God … and, like young Patrick so long ago, turn to Jesus for mercy. And when you do, He will forgive all your running, hiding, ignoring, and defying!

And (for us religious types), let us lay aside the idea that we must earn our way back to God with all our religious activity (penance, mass, confession, good works, etc.). And let us believe, rather, that salvation really is a “free gift”! And if we will; if we will simply trust that, by His sinless life and sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has earned our way back to God for us – then God will forgive our sins, too! For “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16)!

_________________________________

*My sources for the life of St. Patrick are his own The Confession of Saint Patrick. Translated by John Skinner. (New York, NY: Image Books, 1998); and Philip Freeman’s Patrick of Ireland. (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2005).

**Aside from those scriptures quoted directly out of Patrick’s own writings (and placed in bold print), all other Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Italicized emphasis within scriptural quotations is inserted by the tract’s author.

^These scripture quotations are drawn from Skinner’s The Confession of Saint Patrick (which includes both Patrick’s actual Confession, as well as a letter of rebuke he wrote to a group of barbarous soldiers).

The Importance of Truth in our Proclamation of the Truth

Some of you are aware of the recent dust-up regarding NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. He recently presented a significantly inaccurate recounting of his own personal involvement in a dramatic and potentially perilous helicopter event which took place in 2003 while he was on a news assignment in the Middle East. He has since recanted the inaccuracies, stating that he conflated the actual facts of the event with his own, more distant, involvement in it. I do not presume to judge either Mr. Williams’ explanation of his inaccuracies, or his motives. I hope he rebounds from all this, and does well. But I do understand why he has come under such scrutiny and critique. He is a teller of the news. And people want their news from someone whom they can trust to tell ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’

And I want to say to you that this is just as necessary a quality – and even more so, I would think – in those of us who are called to share the news of Jesus. And that brings me to my own Brian Williams sort of moment … which was called to my attention this week by the request from a friend for access to my gospel tract based on the story of St. Valentine. Some of you will remember that we used to make hardcopies of it available at this time of year, and that it was also posted on the blog. But I had to explain to my friend that I have taken it down. And one of the main reasons was that I had presented Valentine’s story inaccurately.

The basic facts I shared were indeed, based in the historic traditions of St. Valentine. But, in the interest of writing a good story, and of making Valentine come across as heroic and gospel-centered as possible, I am afraid I embellished the story a bit ... assigning Ephesians 5.32 kinds of motives to Valentine's stand for marriage which are simply not in the historical record, as far as I can tell. I also may have overstated the cruelty of the emperor with which Valentine was at odds, which I guess made for a more exciting story, too.

I did all of this, not out of an intentional purpose to bend the facts and be misleading, but I think because I got carried away with telling a good story, and spinning it for the gospel. But much of it was my story -- which is, I am afraid, why I got carried away in the telling of it. So the pride of telling a good story, not so much a desire to mislead, was my downfall. But either way, it was sin ... and it led to an embellished account of Valentine which, after review, I did not think worthy of the Lord.

So, whether or not Brian Williams’s inaccuracies came to pass in the same way as mine, I sympathize with him. At least for my part, the desire for a good story trumped the mandate for a completely accurate one. And for that, I apologize to you who read and used that Valentine’s story. I ask your forgiveness, and your prayers that I will learn from such a failure.

And I also encourage you to turn the mirror of Brian Williams and myself upon yourself, too. Is it possible that, in our desires to tell good stories … we may sometimes be embellishers of the truth? And if so, will people trust us when we are speaking of the Truth, namely Jesus? And is it possible that we could even embellish our own stories of conversion to Him … to make our pasts appear just a little more bleak, and thus our salvation just a little more dramatic? Beware of that! God doesn’t need our good stories! The truth, taken into the hand of the Holy Spirit, is powerful enough to capture the attention and change the heart of even our dullest hearers! So let’s focus on telling it! 

Yes, let us look for stories, like that of St. Valentine, that may help us illustrate the truth. But in our great desire to tell of the Truth, let’s not fail to tell the truth.

"Je ne suis pas Charlie, Je suis Charlene"

David Robertson: Je ne suis pas Charlie, Je suis Charlene http://t.co/ooE15P19rg
— David Robertson (@theweeflea) January 17, 2015

The Hobbit, the iPhone, and the Gospel

One of the pleasures of our family holiday time was working our way through all three cinematic volumes of J.R.R. Tolkien's (and now also Peter Jackson's) The Hobbit – the third and final one in the theater. But I finished the series feeling a little out of sorts. ‘There’s no adventure anymore,’ I said to Tobey. Most of our lives are just pretty routine, aren’t they? No quests or battles, no great stories to tell. Just day-by-day stuff. But ‘I need some adventure’ I said to my wife after the third movie was complete.

Well, little did I know that adventure was waiting for me the very next morning! I was on my way home from the gas station on New Year’s Eve morning when I realized that my phone was not in my pocket. Perhaps I hadn’t taken it, I thought. But I got home as quickly as I could just to make sure. It was nowhere to be found. So I sped back over to the gas station to see if it had turned up there. ‘I’m sorry … but I haven’t seen a phone’ the girl said. So back home I went … to pull up the phone’s location on Apple’s handy-dandy Find My iPhone feature. You punch in your password and voila, up comes a map, complete with street names, satellite imagery … and a little green dot hovering right where your phone happens to be!

And here is where the adventure really begins. The little green dot was not hovering over our house, nor over the gas station property which had been my only stop that morning. It was several blocks away from the station, outside a fast food restaurant … and resting still. Stolen! So I snatched up Tobey’s phone (so I would have email capability while on the go), stationed her in front of the Find My iPhone page on the laptop, and gave her instructions to send me emails updating me on any movements. And off down the road I went again … this time into the restaurant parking lot where I began to look in garbage cans and along the street outside. Nothing. But then an email from Tobey … the phone was moving! ‘Heading down this direction on such-and-such a street, toward so-and-so avenue. Now turning left … left on X street … four houses down from the corner of X street and Y … now five.’ I tracked down the address (now several blocks away from the restaurant), got out of the car, and knocked on the door in question. No answer. Then more emails. ‘The phone is moving again … this time apparently on foot … across the street and a few houses down. Now it looks like the assailant is in the backyards, moving back and forth between X and Z streets.’ I made way toward the new location, and began stopping pedestrians to ask if they’d seen a lost phone (really, to see if any of them began acting nervously when I asked them about it!). No one claimed to have seen anything. Eventually I began making my way through three backyards that were unfenced and bordering a little cut-through between streets. I dialed my number, and heard the phone ringing! And there it was, resting on a little tuft of grass at the base of a tree trunk in someone’s backyard. I snatched it up, very happy, and headed home … thanking the Lord for His mercy in restoring my phone.

I had asked for adventure, and now I had gotten it! A little miniature private investigation (or a quest, as I like to think of it!) … with me playing the part of Tolkien and Jackson’s heroic characters, and taking back what had been stolen!

I was satisfied.

But I got to thinking about what spiritual lesson there might be in this quest; in my ardor to regain my phone. And first I thought about how, if I can pursue something so trivial as a phone so avidly (even to the place where it could have gotten dangerous … for a thief may also be a ruffian!); if I was willing to pursue a cellular telephone with such gusto, what about perishing souls? And what about God Himself? And those are good lessons!

But then it occurred to me that the better parallel might be the connection between my little quest, and the parables in Luke 15 – the shepherd looking here and there for his lost sheep, and rejoicing when it is found; and the woman turning the living room inside out until she finds her lost coin. And the lesson behind those stories of Jesus? That this is what God is like – dogged in His quest “to seek and to save that which was lost.” And that is the lesson of my New Year’s Eve adventure. My little quest gave me just a tad more insight into the parables in Luke 15, and thus into the passion of our heavenly Father to track down lost souls.

And mine was, I say, a little quest. For I only had to drive a few miles to track down the missing phone. But Christ left heaven itself, and came all the way down to this creaking old planet of ours, in order that He might track down lost sinners and bring them home. I spent maybe an hour altogether, looking for that phone … but Christ spent 33 years living without sin that He might save me, and the Father has been at work in this grand plan since Genesis chapter 3! And, of course, though the assailant may have been a ruffian (and I contemplated very briefly that getting the phone back might lead to a scuffle), Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost” knowing that it would cost Him His very life’s blood! And He did it! 

His was the great quest … the one that makes all others, in life and in fantasy, pale in comparison. May God give us grace to love Him for it!

Ice Bucket UPDATE!

A friend of mine brought to my attention another concern that should be mentioned as we think about the "ice bucket challenge" (which supports ALS research).  It should be noted that not all medical research is created ethically equal. The Family Research Council points out that money being donated to ALS research raises a concern because some ALS researchers use embryonic stem cells (derived from aborted fetuses) in their work. For a word about this, and links to groups that are researching ALS using adult stem cells, click here.

The Ice Bucket Challenge (Living Water Style)

Are you into social media? If so, then you are surely well aware of the “ice bucket challenge” that is sweeping the nation. Have you seen it? All sorts of people – celebrities and mere mortals alike – are filming themselves getting a bucket full of ice water dumped over their heads, and then posting the videos on Twitter, Facebook, and so on. It’s a good thing it’s all happening in summer, huh?

The point? To raise awareness of and money toward the research of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The deal is you dump the ice water on yourself, send out the footage via social media … and, at the end of your video, you challenge someone else in your circle to do the same. The person challenged can either dump the ice water over their own head, or make a monetary donation to ALS research (or, in the ideal scenario, do both!).

So have you done it? Has anyone challenged you yet? Alas, I am not on Facebook or Twitter … and so I’ve not been put to the test! And I must confess that I have mixed feelings about it. Raising money to help those with a disease like ALS fits quite well with the Christian command to love our neighbors, and to care for their needs (although see my cautionary footnote* re: embryonic stem cell research). And having fun with it is not necessarily a bad thing either. One article I saw, though, called the whole thing “self-promotion.” And that got me thinking. I am sure that, in some cases, the accusation is true. In others, it may be a little bit of a harsh generalization. But it reminded me to remember well Jesus’ command not to toot our own horns when we give charitably (Matthew 6.1-4). You’ll have to think it out for yourself. Maybe there is a way to do the ice bucket challenge and still obey Jesus’ command about giving discretely. But if you can’t figure one out, there’s certainly nothing wrong with giving to charity without participating in the social media aspect of it!

But, as I think about the ice bucket challenge, it also makes me want to issue another challenge, along similar lines. Isn’t it amazing how so many people will go out of their way to promote something like ALS research? I have no doubt that the number includes Christians and Atheists, Jews and Muslims, Hindus and Mormons, and every stripe of person in between. And I’m glad for this! But I must also say to my Christian brothers and sisters that, if the world can be so intentional about ALS research … shouldn’t we who know the Great Physician of souls be even more intentional about making people aware of Him? And if we are on social media – and have dozens (some of us maybe hundreds) of people looking at our various posts – shouldn’t we take advantage?

So here’s my challenge to all of you who are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on: Will you make the effort, at least once a week, to put some clear gospel testimony out for all your friends and followers to see? Maybe it will be a poignant verse of scripture. Maybe a link to a particularly helpful online sermon or article. Maybe a great quote from a Christian book you are reading. Maybe even a video of you speaking for 2-3 minutes about why you love and trust Jesus! After all, if people will spend 45 seconds watching someone get a bucket of ice poured over their head … maybe they’ll watch you as you speak passionately about what matters to you most!

So there’s my challenge. Get on social media and make much of the living water … which is the cure for what ails mankind the most!

(And if you’re not on social media, old fashioned cards, letters, tracts, books, and personal conversations are still acceptable forms of gospel witness, too!)

__________
*It should be noted that not all medical research is created ethically equal.  The Family Research Council points out that money being donated to ALS research raises a concern because some ALS researchers use embryonic stem cells (derived from aborted fetuses) in their work.  For a word about this, and links to groups that are researching ALS using adult stem cells, click here.

"Brethren, pray for us"

“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3.1

Traditionally, our church has held a Vacation Bible School for a week in the summer – an opportunity to reach out to our neighborhood children (and their parents) with the good news of our good Lord Jesus. We have found, however, that we have not succeeded at getting as many families onto our campus as we would like. The minivans just haven’t streamed into the parking lot for VBS like we would wish them to. And we’re not in the kind of neighborhood where many children would just show up on foot, looking for something to do on a summer’s eve. And yet we still need to reach families with the gospel, right?

So, trying to adapt with our circumstances, we’re taking our VBS on the road this year – in the form of 3-4 Backyard Bible Clubs. We’ll be teaching the same curriculum that we have taught before, only over the course of just two days. The most important difference, though, is that we’re heading out to where the kids are! We have one club lined up that will be, literally, in the backyard of one of our church members. We’re also trying to line up one or two more in a large apartment complex nearby. And still another is being efforted in an open space in the next community over from the church. And I am writing these few lines to solicit your prayers in these endeavors.

Would you pray for:

Logistics. That dates, locations, snacks, supplies, restrooms, and so on would all come together so as to make our efforts successful.

Weather. At least 2 of the Clubs are being planned as outdoor events. Would you pray for clear (and maybe also relatively cool!) weather … and for suitable contingency plans if the Lord sees fit to give us rain?

Children. Ask the Lord for lots of them … as many as we can adequately handle! And ask, more importantly, that their hearts will be open, and that the good seed would begin to take root through the biblical teaching they’ll be receiving.

Parents. We always want to influence, not only the children, but the parents who raise them … and who each need the Savior, too. So pray for meaningful connections with moms and dads (and grandparents). Pray also as we try and briefly share the content of the Bible Club (and thus, the gospel) with the parents during a pizza lunch at the end of the Club.

Workers. Ask the Lord to prepare their hearts, too! And their minds! Pray that the truth would come forth clearly, powerfully, and winsomely; and that the love of Christ would show through their every action and word to children, parents, and one another. 

So "brethren, pray for us”, as the apostle Paul requested of the Thessalonians, “that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.”

"The Games"

I admit it. I absolutely love the Winter Olympics. Like, to the point where I try and schedule my life around these couple of weeks – making sure I get to see the downhill skiing, the speed-skating, the luge and skeleton, and pretty much any other sport that is performed on a cold, white surface (and which I don’t follow in the least during the rest of the four year cycle between winter games!). Somehow nostalgia from my childhood, and my affinity for geography, and the joy these cozy evenings bring our children has me all aflutter inside (and humming the Olympic theme music!) during these two weeks in February. In a few days, when it is all over, I will feel palpably melancholy at the thought that we must now wait another four years to enjoy it all again.

But in the meantime, I get to roll out the obligatory ‘lessons from the Olympics’ blog post. And, though predictable, maybe it will still also prove helpful! So here goes. A few lessons from “the games”:

The first is simply this (from 1 Corinthians 9.25): “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” Listen to the athlete’s stories to which NBC sometimes breaks away – the years of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, lifestyle choices, etc. It’s convicting isn’t it? Shouldn’t we be all the more serious about striving for spiritual victories and eternal rewards? O that we Christians, like these athletes, would “run in such a way that [we] may win” (1 Corinthians 9.24)!

The second lesson from the Olympic Games comes from 2 Timothy 2.5 – “If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” Watch the Olympics enough through the years, and you will find this true. Occasionally an athlete is disqualified from an event, or stripped of his or her medals, for breaking certain rules. And so these Olympians must be scrupulous about compliance – even when it is difficult and the short cuts are tempting! And again, as those seeking eternal reward, ought we not be all the more so – careful and thorough in our obedience to the laws of our God, even when doing so brings about “hardship” (2 Timothy 2.3)?

Finally, the Olympics – and especially the opening ceremonies – remind me, just a little bit, of the throng that will be gathered someday in heaven, “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Revelation 7.9). Just look at all the colors and flags and skin tones and cultures parading into the Olympic Stadium … and you will see a tiny glimpse of what heaven will be. God is a global God! He is gathering Kazakhs, and Dutch, and Japanese, and Swiss, and Norwegian, and Jamaican, and people of every other stripe into His kingdom – so that the church of Jesus Christ, even now, is far more diverse than the Olympic village! And in heaven we’ll finally see them all in one place, under one great banner of Jesus Christ! What a parade of nations that will be!

Until then, we have the privilege of going out and gathering these varied nations and cultures together by means of the gospel. And that is a task that deserves Olympic-level effort, discipline, hard work, and obedience to God’s command. Let’s go out there and give it!

Donald Miller, Worship, and Learning Style

There is a good discussion taking place over at Reformation 21.  Both Todd Pruitt and Aimee Byrd have responded helpfully to Donald Miller's recent article in which he says that he doesn't often attend church because "it's not how I learn" and "I don't connect with God by singing to Him."

Pruitt responds by pointing out, among other things, that the worship of the church is not simply about our own learning.  Nor is it about our own "connecting with God".  Rather, Pruitt says, "Worship is about my giving God his due in the ways that he has prescribed in his Word."  Amen, Todd.

Pruitt also make some good observations as to how Miller's reasons for not often attending church are centered around me, myself, and I.  What is my learning style.  How do I connect with God?  As though I were the chief concern when determining whether I will go to church.  Preach it, Todd.

Aimee Byrd follows up with a short and helpful piece -- not only de-bunking our culture's over-emphasis on "learning styles," but also by pointing out that God Himself has actually "determined that all of us share in a particular so-called learning style when it comes to spiritual growth. He has prescribed a means to bless his people in Christ, the preached Word and the sacraments."  You go, girl!

And, maybe most central of all ... they both point out, in Pruitt's words, that "in Christ we do not have to find ways to connect with God. God has connected to us through Christ!"

Go read all three articles (Miller, Pruitt, Byrd), and you will be helped to think about the nature of church, and worship, and your place in both.

Lessons from a Sickbed

A week ago at this time, I was in the throes of a horrendous bout with some sort of flu-like funk. I honestly think it was the worst I have ever felt in my life. Tobey tells me I say that every time I’m sick ... but this time I mean it! And I’ve heard of two others, who seem to have had the same bug, speaking similarly. It really was a worst-ever kind of virus! And so for the better part of four days, I did very little besides lay under the covers, read a few things here and there, and generally feel wretched. Some of you have been there in the last two weeks, too!

But in the moments of clarity (which were often brief), a few spiritual lessons began to imprint themselves, ever so gently, on my mind and heart. In these few lines, I have a little time and space to try and press them even more indelibly into the memory – both mine and yours. So here are three lessons that occurred to me because of my sickness.

1. Compassion. Somewhere along the line, it occurred to me that, as awful as I felt … there are people in the world who feel physically shot and in significant pain day after day, and week after week, and year after year of their lives. The symptoms may be different. And, without the fever, maybe some of them can, in some minor way, be ‘gotten used to.’ And yet what must it be to wake up every day and know that you’ll have almost no energy to do anything; or that you’ll be in pain from morning until night. What must it be like to go to bed, night after night, knowing (like I did last week) how long the night was going to be? Being as sick as I was gave me, I hope, just a little more sympathy for those who walk in such uncomfortable shoes every day.

2. Provision. I’m a type-A. Surprise, right? I like to get my stuff done, be responsible, not have to slough things off on other people, check off everything on my list, and generally feel like I’ve done my duty. Not necessarily bad things … except that people like me don’t often know when to stop. But this past week, I simply had to stop. I couldn’t do otherwise, and I knew it. And so I called a handful of people to fill in here and there for me, and God made provision. And one example of that provision was remarkable. When I heard about Justin’s sermon (delivered in my place), I realized that it fit very snugly into the scripture and songs that had already been selected for Sunday’s service – even more so, I think, than the message I was planning! And on top of that, I heard very good feedback about the message! And I rejoiced that our congregation hadn’t missed a beat with me being gone … and had perhaps had a better Sunday meal than if things had gone according to plan! And isn’t that just like our Romans 8.28 God?

3. Glorification. Simply put, suffering helps the believer long for eternity. And in that way, it is a faithful messenger to us. Because we can be so easily intoxicated with the sights and smells and pleasures and agendas of this life … and forget that the very air we breathe is under a curse; that this world is not our home; that “here we do not have a lasting city” (Hebrews 13.14). But sickness and suffering have a way of bringing us back to earth a bit … and (if we know the Lord) of making us long for “a new heaven and a new earth” where “there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (see Revelation 21.1-4). When you’re well, and life is moving apace, that sounds pretty nice. When you’re laid up in bed, absolutely miserable, it might even make your mouth water!

So praise God for sickness. 

Or … well … praise Him, at least, for the lessons that it can teach us!

"Earthen vessels" - Hope for the Mentally Ill

One of God’s great gifts to the English-speaking world has been the Christian publishing trust known as The Banner of Truth. For over fifty years, they have been achieving their goal of “Biblical Christianity through literature.” One of their trademarks has been the attractive re-issue of old, otherwise hard-to-find books by men that the contemporary world has largely forgotten (but shouldn’t have!). Because of the Banner’s hard work and commitment to the wisdom of the former ages, modern readers can bathe in the wisdom of the Puritans, benefit from the beautiful simplicity of J.C. Ryle, read the sermons of Whitefield and M’Cheyne, get to know Spurgeon, set sail with John Newton, and so on!

One of Banner’s recent re-issues is a classic book called The Atonement, originally published in 1870 by a Scotsman called Hugh Martin. In the foreward (written by John and Sinclair Ferguson, and printed as a separate article in the October 2013 issue of The Banner of Truth magazine), one can read about Martin as “a thinker of extraordinary penetration and great power”; one “whose works … every Christian should possess and read carefully.” His writing is described as “a powerful, original, compelling, sometimes blazing light and gospel logic.” He is lauded for the interpretive freshness with which he approached the Bible, never leaving his readers bored! I wish those things were said of my preaching and writing!

In short, Hugh Martin was a great man, a gifted thinker, and a tremendous blessing to the Christian church!

But then, in the midst of the Fergusons’ foreward, one also reads this startling fact: Some time in his late 30’s (just maybe 2-3 years older than me), Martin “became mentally incapacitated for the duties of his office.”* We then learn that, in 1865 (only in his early 40’s), Martin’s struggles finally necessitated permanent retirement from his pastorate … and that he died 20 years later, having spent his final two years in an asylum.

O, how sad it made me to read of this marvelous man being so mentally debilitated! My heart aches to think of the great theologian, bent double by fears, or delusions, or anxieties, or whatever it may have been that he just could not fully overcome. But Martin’s story also gives me hope! Because Martin published his classic book on The Atonement in 1870 – five years after he had to retire from his pulpit due to mental illness! I suspect that he was probably, in many ways, still a broken man. Perhaps the clouds had cleared for a season, but the mental struggles evidently weren’t completely gone (since he didn’t go back to a pastorate, and eventually died in an asylum). But in the midst of whatever it was that plagued his mind so heavily, Hugh Martin was yet able, by God’s grace, to be useful in the Lord’s work … and even to continue writing “powerful, original, compelling, sometimes blazing light” kinds of words about his Lord Jesus! And that gives me great hope that God can use me, with all my foibles and quirks.

I’ve recently had occasion to hear the stories of several Christian men (a few of them in the ministry) who have suffered significant mental or emotional breakdowns. And it seems (and is!) so tragic in so many ways. The world, and mankind in God’s image, were not intended for this kind of suffering. And yet, fallen and cursed as we and our planet are, there will always be Hugh Martin’s in this life, even among God’s elect – those who struggle mightily to keep their sanity together. And yet God can use them! Through the brokenness of the “earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4.7), the light of Christ can and does still shine through! And therefore our modern-day Hugh Martins are not finished yet! And, if you are reading this, having struggled with mental or emotional breakdown, you are not finished yet!

Incapacitated for his work as a gospel minister, Hugh Martin was still ministering the gospel; still sitting in his study, glorying in Christ … and writing gloriously about Him! I don’t know the details of his struggle, but I wonder if there may have been many days when Martin was fretful, paranoid, or just incredibly fearful of the kinds of who-knows-what that plagues many people in his shoes. But he still reveled in Jesus! In fact, maybe it was the reveling in (and writing about) Jesus which kept him sane enough to keep doing so! But whatever the case, God was not finished with Mr. Martin, even when he came to the end of his own rope!

In 2005, John Piper wrote an excellent piece on Alexander Cruden, another mentally sick man whom God used extraordinarily. And here is what Piper says by way of lesson from Cruden’s life:

What encourages me about this is to realize that God’s ways are strange. And in this strangeness, sinful and sick and broken people fit into God’s designs. He has purposes for the mentally ill and for the emotionally unstable and for the socially maladjusted. And he has purposes for you.^

So take heart, you who cannot seem to hold yourself together. And take heart, you who love those who can’t. As the Fergusons remind us, “The glory of the gospel is indeed contained in jars of clay.”#

____________________________

*Quoted by the Fergusons from the Proceedings and debates of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland (1881), p.46, under the heading ‘Dr Hugh Martin.’
^From the “The Good, Insane Concordance Maker” at desiringgod.org.
#For "jars of clay" see 2 Corinthians 4.7 (ESV).

"Remember the prisoners"

As I noted in last Sunday’s sermon, one recurring theme in the book of Acts is that of persecution. The early church – both leaders and lay people alike – suffered difficulty, imprisonment, and sometimes even death for the sake of Christ. And the book of Acts draws our attention to these things on several occasions, surely so that we might learn from them. So that we might learn, I think, that difficulty for the sake of Jesus is not to be thought of as rare and exceptional (see also 2 Timothy 3.12). And also that we might learn to pray for our brothers and sisters who find themselves in such difficulty today.

On this latter count, I have been convicted more than once in my studies and preaching in Acts – convicted that I do not pray for my suffering brothers and sisters as I ought. Perhaps you have been convicted as well (or should be, even as you read these lines!). That we should pray for the persecuted church is both exampled in the book of Acts, and commanded in the book of Hebrews! Consider the following two verses:

“So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Acts 12.5

“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body” Hebrews 13.3

In that latter verse, I believe that “the prisoners … and those who are ill-treated” are those who are imprisoned and suffering for their faith in Christ. And the way we are to “remember” them, it seems to me, is by means of prayer; by doing for modern-day sufferers what the Jerusalem church did for Peter in Acts 12.5!

“Remember the prisoners … and those who are ill-treated.” And the best way that I know how to do that, as I have said before, is through the ministry of The Voice of the Martyrs, ‘a non-profit, inter-denominational Christian organization dedicated to assisting the persecuted church worldwide.’ One of the great ways they achieve this goal is by telling the stories of modern-day sufferers for Jesus – making folks like us alert to these precious people and their needs by means of their monthly newsletter. It is free of charge, and relatively easy to subscribe to. And, O, how I would urge you to do so! Subscribe. And read. And pray. And give to the various projects of mercy that VOM regularly undertakes. And then pray some more!

‘How do I subscribe?’ you ask. Call, write, or click the following:

877.337.0302

Voice of the Martyrs

P.O. Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005-0443

VOM Newsletter

This is not the only way to put Hebrews 13.3 and Acts 12.5 into practice. But it is, as I said, the best way that I have found. So subscribe. And read. And give. And, especially … pray!