"We shall always be with the Lord"

There are multiple reasons to be excited about your wedding day. One is, perhaps, just the sheer relief of having the weight of all the preparations and stresses finally coming to an end. Another, of course, is the joy of having the people you love most (and who love you most) all together in one place. And then there is simple delight in the beauty of it all … the dresses, the flowers, the table cloths and candles, the culinary fare. But most of all (as I have lately been reminded by listening to a recently married couple!) … most of all, the bride and groom long for and look forward to that day because, finally, they will get to be together! Finally they will wake up, every morning, to each other’s faces! Finally they will live together in the same dwelling!

And we can speak similarly about “the marriage of the Lamb” – about the coming of Christ to receive His bride. There are multiple reasons to long for and look forward to that day! In that day, the weights and stresses of this life will finally, mercifully have come to an end! In that day, there will be a family reunion of family reunions! And the beauty of that banquet? Well, let us just say that the beauty of our earthly weddings is only a foretaste of the beauty on which our eyes will feast in the new earth! And not only these things, but (unlike in our earthly marriages!) sin will have been forever abolished from the earth – “a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

But, as with earthly brides, what Christ's bride longs for the most (it is to be hoped) is the pleasure of finally getting to be with her bridegroom; finally sharing a dwelling together; finally living together ‘happily ever after!’

“The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, emphasis added).

Oh, let us look forward to that day – all the stresses of this life ended, all the family of God gathered together in one place, all the beauty we can imagine (and more), all our sins forever banished, and all of eternity to live in the presence of our Bridegroom, our Redeemer, our King, our Friend!  Praise God, in that day, “we shall always be with the Lord”!

Weddings and Babies!

This spring and summer is shaping up to be the season of weddings and babies! There is a lot to look forward to! And it occurs to me to write a few lines to help us make the most of these days of blessing. May I suggest four activities that we, as a church family, take up during this season (and whenever there is a birth or a wedding amongst us)?

1. Rejoice. “Rejoice with those who rejoice” says Paul in Romans 12:15. And there are few occasions for rejoicing that are on par with a wedding or a birth! And so let’s make sure we are a part of the enjoyment, both in our own hearts, and as we participate publicly in various celebrations. Let’s enjoy these moments!

2. Pray. Joyful as weddings and births are, they are also the launch points for tremendous responsibility! It is no small thing to enter into a relationship in which the goal is to be a living, breathing reminder of the relationship between Christ and His bride! Nor is it a light thing to raise children, and to do so “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). And so these couples need the support of our prayers!  And, not only do marriage and children come with significant responsibility, but they are sometimes just plain hard, too. Marriage is not all roses and beautiful music! And child rearing, we soon realize, can be exhausting. Both are worth it! Both are definitely worth it! But both require great help from the Lord, do they not? And so let’s make sure we pray for these soon-to-be newlyweds! Let’s pray for these moms and dads! And then let’s pray, too, for the health – physical and spiritual – of the newborn children themselves. And let’s pray for all the marriages, all the parents, and all the children here at Pleasant Ridge!

3. Serve. Since these are tall tasks these couples are entering into (marriage and child-rearing), let’s make sure we give them all the hands on help we can, too! Wise counsel and godly example to fledgling couples. Gifts that will help them (newlyweds and parents) get started along their way. Meals after childbirth. Offers to help with laundry, and housework, and other children while mommy re-acclimates to the care of a newborn. And so on!

4. Reflect. Weddings, marriage, childbirth, and children – all of these things are fraught with gospel reminders. God’s eternal kingdom will be a wedding feast – “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9); the celebration of Christ having His bride at His side! Think of that as you enjoy these upcoming weddings and receptions! They are a little portrait of the heavenly glory! And the marriages that are being formed are, themselves, portraits of the ongoing relationship between Christ and His church. A husband giving himself for his wife, as Christ has done for the church; and the wife submitting to and following her husband, as the church does to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32)! Think of these things as you ponder the marriages soon to be formed (and as as you ponder other marriages, too)! And when the children are born, realize that this first birth teaches us something about the second birth! As our parents have brought us into the world by physical conception and birth, so we need God to bring us to life spiritually through a new birth (John 3:1-8)! And when we think of children, in general – and of how much we parents love them – we should reflect on God’s great love for us who, in Christ, are His children (Psalm 103:13)!

So then, four good ways to spend your time this spring and summer – “rejoic[ing] with those who rejoice”; praying for husbands, wives, moms, dads, and babies; serving them; and reflecting on how these various blessings of marriage and family point us to the even higher covenant blessings that are ours in Christ!

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.

Some thoughts on Gay Marriage

I type these words within just a few hours of the Supreme Court’s announcement regarding the legality and recognition of gay marriage in all 50 states. And I find it pastorally necessary to write for my congregation a few lines of what, I hope, are wise and biblical thoughts on this subject. I share them here, also, for anyone else who may benefit.

Preliminarily, let me say that this article is not intended to re-state the biblical case for monogamous marriage between one man and one woman. The facts of that case are quite clear to most who will read this article, and can be readily researched by those who would like more clarity on the Bible’s sexual ethic. And I must also say that I will not attempt, in the lines that follow, to discuss the political or constitutional issues that surround this decision and/or how it was arrived at. I honestly don’t know enough about these questions to offer an educated analysis.

But what I would like to do is offer some brief pastoral thoughts about what we are to think and do in these days, and how we ought to go forward in faith. And I’ll draw them around four headings …

1. God reigns. My Bible teaches me that whatever comes to pass is of the Lord. It is He who makes men blind or seeing, deaf or hearing (Exodus 4:11). It is He who has “determined [our] appointed times and the boundaries of [our] habitation” (Acts 17:26). It is He who holds kings hearts in His hand, and can change their course any time He wishes (Proverbs 21:1). And it is He who controls even the casting of a lot, or the falling of a sparrow. And so, while I know that participation in and approval of homosexual behavior contradicts His moral precepts (Romans 1:18-32), I also know that nothing happens that is beyond His sovereign control – this decision regarding gay marriage included. God still reigns. And He knows what He is doing, even when He permits sin to prevail. We must believe that in these days. The world hasn’t spun out of control because of this (or any other) decision made in Washington. God reigns.

2. Suffering may be ahead. I am well aware that, with these new laws in place, men like myself (and many other Christians whose work intersects with marriage and weddings) might be tested in the near future. What if a gay couple asks me to perform a wedding? I won’t be able to do it – not out of fear, or hatred, or a desire to discriminate – but simply as a matter of conscience. And what happens then? Many gay couples, I am sure, would respect that decision completely. But what if one couple doesn’t? And what if they seek legal redress? And what if the courts tell me that I must either perform a gay marriage, or suffer the consequences of the law? I will choose to suffer – I hope with the same kindness and grace as many of our forefathers who have suffered for faith and conscience. How real is this whole possibility? I do not know. But let us be prepared, brothers and sisters. Long have we avoided the difficulty that our brothers and sisters face in many parts of the world. But it is to be hoped that, when our time comes, we will receive our lashes with peace and patience, rather than with belligerent claims about our rights.

3. Our nation’s morality has not changed overnight. Yes, this decision by the Supreme Court creates a sea-change in terms of legal issues. But it is not as though these things are being forced on a populous in which only a minority support gay marriage. Whatever you think about the fact that it only takes 5 out of 9 unelected justices to make such a sweeping change to the law, the reality is that the percentage of justices on the side of gay marriage approximates to the percentage of the general populace who was already on the same side (according to a recent CBS poll). Now hear me well: I am not saying that majority opinion determines what is right. But what I am saying is that, before the Supreme Court ever made its decision, the horse was already out of the barn. The Supreme Court didn’t open the gates! It simply followed the horse! Which means that, whatever the justices had decided, we’d still have a significant gospel challenge and opportunity before us in these days!

And it is an opportunity! Because, the more Western culture distances itself from its culturally Christian past, the more difficult it is for people to be merely culturally Christian (i.e., to be believers in name only). Now to be sure, fewer cultural Christians makes for societal challenges. But such a situation also makes the distinctiveness of the gospel stand out in all the bolder relief … which makes it easier (on a human level) for us to make real disciples, and not just cultural church-goers. And so the church may actually benefit from these changes, in the long run – with evangelism becoming much more black and white. And that is an opportunity that we should be thankful for, even if the decision itself is morally aberrant, and culturally painful. In the hopeful words of John Wesley, upon his arrival to preach in a particularly degraded village, “This place is ripe for Him who said, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”

4. The gospel of Jesus Christ is our hope. I have no idea of what will happen next, in the legal and political realm. I suspect there will be pushback from political conservatives. I suspect that it will not win the day. And I suspect that the decision of the Supreme Court will be with us into the foreseeable future. The again, maybe things will play out differently than I imagine. But either way, I will not be too alarmed. Because my hope for myself, and my family, and our church, and my neighbors (gay and straight) is not in the laws of the land. For the laws of the land do not have power to change anyone's heart toward God! And so, even in the unlikely event of a reversal of these recent change, people on both sides of the divide would be just as spiritually lost as before.  And so our hope must not be in the law, or the judges, or the political process! Our hope must be in Christ, and in His gospel. And not in the gospel as a pragmatic tool to help us ‘get our nation back.’ It’s not our nation, but God’s. And the goal of the gospel isn’t to create a cultural majority that enables Christians to live comfortably … but to bring individuals back to God for His own glory! And we mustn’t forget these things with all the nationalistic rhetoric swirling around us (and perhaps arising in our own souls)! The law doesn’t change hearts; the gospel does! And the gospel is not about restoring America to its former glory; but about bringing God glory through the salvation of individuals from their sin and His wrath!

And so I say again that our hope is in the gospel of Jesus – in the good news of His sinless life, His substitutionary death, and His resurrection on behalf of sinners – whether their sins be fornication, adultery, homosexuality, gossip, short-temperedness, pride, or whatever! People come to fullness, and to forgiveness, and to Christ-likeness, and to eternal life, and to God, only through Jesus! And the laws of the land have never effected that – neither in days gone by when they were based largely on biblical values, nor today as they change. And so let the gospel be our great theme, and our great peace, and our great commission in the days ahead! Some things may change for us, to be sure. But the main things are still the main things. We still need to love and respect and serve our neighbors (gay and straight) for Jesus’ sake. We still need to share with them the same message of Christ that has been preached for all these centuries up until June 26, 2015. And we still need to believe that this simple message of Jesus “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

I recently listened to a talk by Iain Murray on the mission work of John Geddie and John Paton in what is now Vanuatu – a place that was described by those who visited there as Romans chapter 1 come into its full, rotten fruition. And yet, by the preaching of the gospel, hundreds (perhaps thousands) of cannibals came to Christ! And if the gospel worked there, where our human depravity had fuller reign than our own nation has yet known, then surely the gospel will be “the power of God for salvation” in our own day!

And, before I close, let me remind you that we still need this gospel of salvation in Jesus for ourselves just as much as for our neighbors. Indeed, it would be a grave mistake to allow the current degeneration of sexual ethics all around us to serve as an excuse to get on our moral high horses and to pray like the Pharisee who was so proud of how he was “not like other people.” Yes, heterosexual, monogamous marriage is the only sexual ethic for which the Bible allows. But the ethic is not our hope! For “we all stumble in many ways” – even if not in this particular one. And we all need a Savior, Jesus. And He is the only hope – both for our sinful selves, and for the mass of humanity around us who sin in different ways than we might, but who still need Christ.

In the days ahead, let us speak, and act, and love, and hope like we really believe that.

Fake Love, Fake War

An intriguing article by Russell Moore ... on addiction to porn and internet gaming.

Marriage to the Glory of God