Respondeo

At Least Weekly: Part 3 of 8

On June 24, 2020

A call to restore the Lord’s Table to our weekly worship

God has given us the essential elements of worship. God has demonstrated a pattern for our worship. Through the scriptures, he allows us to dig deep into the meaning of those elements. The goal of worship is to enjoy the presence of God. The presence of God also gives us a foundation for regularly celebrating the Supper of our Lord with him.

An argument from presence.

Who speaks in our worship? Ultimately it’s not the minister; ultimately, it’s not the congregation; it is our Lord Jesus who is speaking through his word. Here is one of the main differences between a historical and biblical understanding of worship and many modern understandings of worship. Worship is God coming to his people and speaking to them. It is a conversation between God, through the minister and the congregation.

When God is present among his people, he serves them a meal. We see this clearly in the Old Testament sacrificial system. God is present in a powerful way in the temple. The people of God bring many offerings to the Lord. For many of the offerings, the Lord gives a portion back to his people. We find another wonderful example of this in Exodus 24, where the seventy elders of Israel join Moses on the mountain to eat and drink with God.

God is Israel’s king, and kings give out good gifts to their subjects. We can think of Melchizedek bringing out bread and wine to serve to Abraham after Abraham has defeated Cherdolaomer of the Chaldeans. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham (demonstrated by the tithe Abraham gives to Melchizedek according to the book of Hebrews), so he is also the one who offers Abraham a feast in the book of Genesis (Genesis 14). Another example of this is the feasts that we find in the book of Esther. The great King Ahasuerus welcomes the peoples of the Empire of Persia to a banquet where there is plenty of meat, bread, and wine for all. He demonstrates the goodness of the peace that he brings in this way.

God, the great king of Israel, does the same for Israel. This truth comes out beautifully in the book of Deuteronomy, especially chapters 14 through 16. There the people of God are commanded to bring the tithe to God and are warned not to come before God empty-handed. What are they to do with those gifts? They are to feast before the Lord (Deuteronomy 14: 22-29). When they are in the presence of God, he hands out gifts.

Jesus ascends on high and is also a gift-giver. In Acts 2, we see the signs that the Spirit is with the church in a new way. God will no longer give his special presence to his people in the temple. Through Christ’s work and the Holy Spirit, He promises to be present in a unique way in and among the men and women of the congregation. Just as the Spirit dwelt in Christ so he lives in us. That means when the congregation gathers together, the Lord is there breaking the bread.

In his last days on earth, Jesus demonstrated this. Almost every time he meets with his disciples after his resurrection, it is connected with a meal. Literally speaking it is a supper served by our Lord, although I wouldn’t argue that it is necessarily the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Even before his death and resurrection, we see a Lord who is always eating. The Evangelists tell us in the gospels that the Jews accused our Lord of gluttony and overindulging in wine. The number of meals found in the gospel bear witness to the fact that our Lord comes as a bridegroom offering a festival.

The point of the Lord’s Supper is spiritual nourishment. The Spirit uses bread and wine to lift our hearts to heaven. The Lord is there. The king, who has ascended, wants to pour out his gifts. Why are we so miserly in giving out those gifts?

Do we believe that the Lord is there leading us in worship? Then we will enjoy the Supper he offers us.

At Least Weekly: Part 2 of 8

By James

On June 24, 2020

In Church, sacraments

A call to restore the Lord’s Table to our weekly worship

Part 1

Here I continue to present my argument that our churches should adopt the practice of participating in communion at least weekly. I have given a case from precedent or the pattern that God has laid down in Scripture. Here I present an argument from the meaning of the Lord’s Supper.

An argument from meaning

The Lord’s Supper pictures Christ’s gift of himself to us for the sake of our life in him. It’s helpful here to see the connection between the two sacraments, one applied externally (I speak physically here) and the other applied internally. In Baptism, Christ washes us, declaring us clean before God. The sign is applied externally because it demonstrates the promise of Christ’s covering. It is the declaration of the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is an initiatory rite. It marks the beginning of our relationship with God. The Lord’s Supper keeps the bonds of that union tight. Through the Lord’s Supper, God continues to confirm our faith in our hearts through the promise of union with Christ.

The Lord’s Supper pictures a taking in of Christ. An image that, through the Spirit, becomes a reality. In the Lord’s Supper, we internalize the promises of Christ. It declares to us that Christ is our only spiritual sustenance. In the words of Belgic Confession Art. 35, we receive nothing less than Christ himself in the Lord’s Supper, “who nourishes, and sustains the spiritual life of the believers, when he is eaten by them, that is, spiritually appropriated and received by faith.” All our salvation is from Christ. We cannot justify ourselves, and we cannot sanctify ourselves. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that everything we have comes from God’s grace. We receive grace through the constant application of the Spirit in crucifying the old man and bringing the new man to life. God declares to us that he is transforming us into the image of Christ.

This work of transformation happens over the entire life of the Christians. We are not presumptive about this work of salvation, but seek to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We need that constant reminder that this is not of our strength, but it is the Spirit who is working in us so that we have the strength, the energy, and the freedom to work this out. It is the Spirit who works in us to work and to will. The Christian life is a working out of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Weekly communion is a constant reminder that of the central truths of the gospel. It is not I who live, but Christ, who lives in me. I must put my flesh to death on the cross of Christ. I must find life in Jesus. Of course, we hear that in the word, but we also need that confirmed to our hearts every week. The breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine are integral to the life of the church because they so clearly demonstrate our union with Christ and his righteousness. Through faith, The Lord’s Supper is effectual in bringing that union about. We want to be fat with the gospel of Jesus, not always on a diet.

The whole point is assurance. I learn through the word. God assures me of the truth of that word through the sacrament. All Christians struggle with the assurance of their new reality in Christ. God gives us the gift of the Lord’s Supper to strengthen that assurance. Use it! I now taste and see that the Lord is good.

The question remains how do we avoid the mistake of the Roman church and turn our focus on the earthly elements rather than heavenly sustenance? The gospel that we have a living king in the flesh at the right hand of God must continue to come out clearly in all our teaching. We must also emphasize that that king is accomplishing our transformation through the Spirit, who comes from his side. If we continue to set our participation in the Supper in the context of a risen Christ and a mighty Spirit, we will avoid looking to the earthly elements in the Supper for sustenance. Regardless of our practice, that realization is what we need for a healthy church. It is our union with the once dead and risen Christ that is fundamental to living out our salvation.

I sometimes wonder if the reason our churches struggle working through the connection between justification and sanctification is found in that we do not live out those doctrines in weekly communion. We know that sanctification flows from justification in our minds, but do we have a “from the gut” understanding of this truth. The connection, of course, flows from our union with Christ. The Lord’s Supper is all about union with Christ. In Christ, we no longer belong to this world, but we are citizens of heaven.

What greater way to live that out, than to physically live out that union with Christ? That is what the Lord’s Supper is. We boldly come before the throne of grace, clean in Christ, and there we find what we need to live in Christ. Christ is the seed that is taken into ourselves so that good works flow from our hearts as naturally as from a spring. Both our status as Christians who may eat with Jesus and our need to receive spiritual sustenance are deeply entwined together in this holy meal.

We can flesh this out with the doctrine of Christ’s three-fold office. As a priest, I eat with Christ, and so I demonstrate that I share in his death and resurrection. Therefore, I declare in the Lord’s Supper my willingness to offer myself as a living sacrifice to him. I am a priest offering myself to God in gratitude for what Christ has done. We also see our kingly office. We declare the righteousness of God that is found on the cross and offer the reconciliation of God to all men through the body of Christ. God is righting the wrongs of history at this table.

Finally, we see our prophetic office. We follow Christ in declaring the coming of the kingdom of God. We declare the forgiveness of sins, equally and freely offered to all. So we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Here is the table! Come and see that the Lord is good!

We might object: weekly communion isn’t necessary for a positive Christian life. Neither are churches who practice weekly communion shining examples of God’s goodness. Of course not. On the one hand, churches without weekly communion have lived out the gospel. On the other hand, churches with weekly communion have not. In these, communion was used for its own sake and was not used to point the congregation to Christ.

Weekly communion does not magically make us better Christians, but then again, neither does the practice of having two services every Sunday. The point is that weekly communion will strengthen those churches who do have the gospel. In the same way, churches are more greatly edified by having both a morning and an afternoon service.

We can also bring up the example of those churches that lack infant baptism. Many Baptist churches do have the gospel, but if we believe that the practice of infant baptism is good, we must also say that they weaken themselves through withholding the gift of infant baptism to their children. Even though a given church that baptizes their infants may be weaker than a given church, that does not make the practice itself unhealthy. Like the Baptist, who chooses not to baptize their infant, we choose spiritual weakness by offering Christ’s self-gift in communion so infrequently.

At Least Weekly: Part 1 of 8

By James

On June 22, 2020

In Church, sacraments

A call to restore the Lord’s Table to our weekly worship

(This article will hopefully be published (a much shorter version) in the Clarion, the magazine associated with the Canadian Reformed Churches). I write to my federation, but all faithful churches should hear the call to restore to the communion table to its proper place in the life of the congregation.)

The churches ought to receive the nourishment of Christ at the Lord’s Table at least weekly. Calvin wrote, later in life, of the practice of celebrating the Lord’s Supper four times a year, “I have taken care to record publicly that our custom is defective so that those who come after me may correct it the more freely and easily.” In my experience, though Scripture is clear on this question, the correction of this defect has not been as free and easy as one would hope.

As Canadian Reformed Churches, we have an opportunity to correct this oversight on the part of our fathers. Within our tradition, we have, from the past, the voice of Van Rongen, who has called on us to reconsider the frequency of communion among ourselves.

I am arguing that the church ought to celebrate communion at least weekly. At least: there is room to do it more often. Preaching was never limited to Sundays in the history of the church. Neither should communion. We may celebrate the Lord’s Supper at any assembly of the saints.

In the same way, that we desire to preach at least once a week, so we ought to want communion at least once a week. The word and sacrament belong together. Weekly preaching without the supper should be as inconceivable to us as a weekly celebration of the supper with monthly preaching.

I do not intend to make an argument from the history of weekly communion. There are many excellent resources out there that demonstrate the respectability of this practice. A simple google search of “Michael Horton, weekly communion,” will bring you to an excellent article on the history of it, which he wrote for the Mid-America Reformed Journal. Robert Godfrey has also done excellent work on the history of weekly communion. I can also recommend Paul Aasman and Theo Lodder’s works. Each of those men wrote a short series of articles for the Clarion. Paul Aasman in 1997 and Theo Lodder in 2008-9. These also form a good historical and theological background for what I will argue in this series.

I would like to focus on the argument from Scripture. I will give seven arguments: “an argument from precedent, an argument from meaning, an argument from presence, an argument from order, an argument from the week, an argument from Holy War, and an argument from the call of the gospel. In my first article, I take up the first argument.

The argument from precedent

The New Testament church practiced weekly communion. We can note three places in the New Testament, where we see this practice implied. We see it most clearly in Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. 1 Corinthians 11-14 contains Paul’s warnings about how the Corinthians meet with each other for worship. In 1 Corinthians 11: 20, Paul assumes that the Corinthians celebrate communion whenever they come together. If the pattern of weekly gatherings holds, they also had weekly communion.

We see weekly communion in Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers.” The breaking of bread here is a reference to the Lord’s Supper. In his article, defending more frequent communion, Paul Aasman (Clarion, March 7, 1997) argues that this is not a sound argument for weekly communion because of the regular use of the phrase “breaking of bread” for a fellowship meal. He fails to fully see how the whole story of Luke-Acts presents the development of the fellowship meal into a sacramental meal. The connection of the breaking of bread to the worship of the church in Acts 2:42 underscores that point.

This is the way things develop in Scripture. Common phrases take on new meaning in light of new events. The Lord’s Table is closely tied with and is a transformation of the fellowship meals that Christ has with his disciples in the gospel. Now the kingdom has come and the Promised Spirit, which allows the disciples to eat with Christ. What better way to do that than through the way of the breaking of bread. This breaking of bread, the pattern Christ established on the day of his death.

In verse 46 of the same chapter, we see a daily breaking of bread, which I understand again as a reference to communion. God tells us this to demonstrate the devotion of the early Christians. They are excited about the new kingdom that God has established and wish to celebrate it daily. We can also gather from this that the Lord’s Supper is certainly not limited to Sunday celebration.

As time went on for the New Testament church, it seems that communion was more closely tied to the first day of the week. In Acts 20:7, we see this beginning to take shape: “On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread.” We see an implication that the practice of gathering together had become a weekly practice. There was a natural connection between coming together and breaking bread.

Like the practice of infant baptism, the frequency of communion is implied rather than directly commanded. We infer infant baptism from the continuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It is the same with weekly communion. This is not surprising when we consider Old Testament worship. Eating was part of one’s worship before God in the temple. We can particularly think of something like the peace offering, where worshippers would partake of the animal that they had offered to God. To worship God was to participate in the festival of God.

To early believers, the gathering of believers is temple worship. We can think of Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4. Christ says that a day is coming where all men will worship in Spirit and Truth. Through the Holy Spirit, God now permits sacramental worship wherever one lives. We see this in Hebrews 11, where the people of God approach Mt. Zion to hear the word of Christ. In Deuteronomy 16:16, Moses tells the Israelites that when they come to worship God in the temple, they should not come empty-handed. Neither should we. Now that churches can have temple worship wherever they worship God, eating becomes a part of that worship. Weekly communion naturally flows from the new order that Christ has established.

Now we may respond by noting that we do not have a direct command in the New Testament to practice communion weekly. We only have the phrase “as often as you do it.” We need to be careful with such an argument. As we know well from our Baptist brothers, there is no direct command to baptize babies either. We imply that.

We can also note that the New Testament does not directly command the weekly preaching of the word. It does not give commands regarding the frequency of either the Lord’s Supper or the Preaching of the Word, other than the call do it regularly. Strictly speaking, even the call to meet together in Hebrews 10 is not a warning against neglect of preaching and the Lord’s Supper, but the neglect of meeting together. I do not agree with this interpretation. I merely note that we should be consistent in the way we follow God’s teaching for worship.

In terms of worship, the church has always worked from the assumption that the pattern laid down in Scripture is there for our benefit. We should have an excellent reason to depart from that pattern. And there are exceptions to every rule. The recent lockdown is a good example. It kept the church from gathering together to worship God, which is never ideal. Apart from these exceptions, there is no good reason to depart from the pattern of weekly communion.

Besides, these are the means of grace. These are the primary ways in which our Lord has ordained to show his love to us, to comfort us, and to assure us in our faith. When we, in our pride, make excuse after excuse, and so allow ourselves to depart from the pattern laid down for us, we are undermining God’s self-revelation to us.

In the matter of proclaiming the gospel, we rightly follow the example that the Spirit laid down for us in the New Testament. We are suspicious of those who try to minimize the importance of this example. Whether they argue for one service a week, sermons that do not find their primary source in Scripture, or those who promote the ten-minute sermon.

Why do we question the presented patterns of communion? If we bring this kind of suspicion to the text of Scripture, we may lose the strength of the argument for a weekly half-hour sermon, much less two half-hour sermons. To argue that the frequency of communion is an example we can take or leave is a self-defeating argument. We should approach the scriptures with a desire for maximal obedience, not minimal obedience.

Devotional Insights #9

By James

On June 10, 2020

In Devotional, Hermeneutics

Matthew 13: 52: “ Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Jesus has just been teaching about the nature of the kingdom of heaven. He has recently compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed and to leaven. The kingdom of heaven is already in Israel in seed form. The kingdom of heaven is something that Israel ought to desire much, like buried treasure or a pearl without price. In these parables, Jesus suggests that Israel possesses the kingdom of heaven in a hidden form. But she does not recognize it’s true value. She may even be willing to sell it off to those who truly desire it. The kingdom of heaven is Israel’s birthright, her natural inheritance. Like the Old Testament Esau, she is willing to sell that birthright.

The reason they don’t understand the value of the kingdom of heaven is that they do not recognize Jesus.

Jesus ends this discussion of the kingdom of heaven with instruction to his disciples on how they are to understand the kingdom of heaven. They are to bring out of the treasure of the house what is new and what is old. If we’ve been listening, we know that that treasure has something to do with the kingdom of heaven.

This parable is a fascinating little vignette into Jesus’ teaching about how we are told to understand the Old Testament in the light of Jesus. We find a similar lesson in Matthew 5, “I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.” Jesus’ words in Matthew 13 help narrow down what that means. Jesus is bringing in a new world into the old world of Judaism. He is bringing in a new administration of the covenant to replace the old administration. The scribes of this new world are going to pull out the treasure of scripture and find new treasure and old treasure.

The disciples of Jesus will be the first scribes of the kingdom of heaven. Through the Spirit, they will provide a foundation for the church to apply the works of the old dispensation to the new dispensation. We see this all over the gospels and all over the letters. The apostles are demonstrating explicitly and implicitly how we may fulfill the law in Christ.

Interestingly, Christ puts the new here first. To find the treasure of scripture, we need to begin with the fulfillment of scripture Jesus Christ. We begin with the new, with the new Adam, the new Israel, the new living and reigning King David. We use his words and acts to apply the old to our lives. As the Belgic confessions, Art. 25, says, the law of the Old Testament helps us to order our lives well before God. The Old Covenant presents a spiritual order that the scribes of the New Covenant apply to the people of the New Covenant.

The Jews could not know the treasure they had because they did not know Christ. It was only in accepting Christ that they could find the true value of the law. Even today, Christians and Jews might both recognize the Old Testament as the word of God, but only Christians can truly understand and apply the Old Testament.

And the old treasure follows the new. As we come into the new situation, the new kingdom, where the new Adam is seated at the right hand of God, the old treasures of scripture continue to form us. We find value in the case-law of the Old Testament. There are truths here about how we ought to live with one another. We see value in the stories of the Old Testament. In these God shows us how he works in forming his church both corporately and as individuals within that church. We find value in the instruction God gives us about temple, sacrifices, and the Jewish calendar. These last cultic or sacramental practices find an end in the cross of Christ. However, they continue to teach us about the holiness of God and the pattern in which he desires to be worshipped.

As Christians, we want to hear every word that comes from the mouth of God. Let us not give up on finding those new and old treasures in the Word of God. And so we will grow in faith, in knowledge, and good works.

Devotional Insights #8

By James

On June 1, 2020

In Devotional

Ps. 25: 3. “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”

“None who wait for you shall be put to shame.” We are so afraid of shame. Shame is a diminution of statues before others. We fight on Facebook or Twitter because we don’t want to look stupid in front of other people who are commenting. It’s that fear of shame that often makes Facebook conversations so negative. Another example: one of the things that North Americans fear the most is public speaking. Again, that is connected to the fear of looking foolish in front of other people. We avoid the shame of possible loss.

Now David is speaking in a very different context. He is speaking as a political leader in Israel. He is speaking as a warrior in a culture that is even more focussed on honor and shame than we are. David specifically, has shame because his son has slept with his concubines. He has shame because of the friction between his sons and the fact that his beloved son Absolom rebelled against him. He also fears the shame that people bring through the lies and half-truth that they tell one another about him. The enemies of David, within the kingdom of Israel and without, are looking for a way to shame him, to bring him down. But David declares, “If I wait for you, O Lord, I will not be put to shame.

What is fascinating about this Psalm is the continual plea for forgiveness of sins throughout the Psalm. “Remember no the sins of my youth or my transgressions,” “ For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great,” and “consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.” David is in conflict with his enemies. He knows that those who wait on the Lord will not be put to shame. That statement of confidence is followed by a continual recognition of sin before the Lord.

David’s sins are shameful and ultimately they are what bring shame upon him. It was his action in sleeping with the wife of one of his generals that brought a great deal of the shame he experienced in his life. Yet he recognizes that if he turns to the Lord, the Lord will cover his sins. Ultimately, he will not be put to shame.

He recognizes the sins that weigh him down, that affect, even infect, the work that he does before the Lord, the sins of his youth, and the sins that he continues to struggle with. His enemies can use those sins against him and so he seeks to be right with God in that struggle. He knows that unless he is right with God he cannot avoid being put to shame.

As we enter into struggle, as we seek to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ to live well before God, as we engage in the war that God calls us to, the war where we use the word of God as our sword; as we do that, we too can be weighed down by sin. The Apostle Paul calls us to lay off every weight that besets us. That takes a continual coming to God in prayer. As Luther once said, “the Christian life is repentance.”

And when we are right with God, when we wait for God, we can be confident that we will not be put to shame. Certainly in the case of those who are clearly enemies of God. Christians may be called haters and bigots, but before God, we know that we dwell in the true light, true love, and true communion. Why? Because in all our lives we continue to humble ourselves before God, recognizing our sin and seeking transformation in his righteousness.

Especially as a Pastor I am called to preach the word and to teach the word. I wrestle with the lies that prevail in our culture today. I also hear and encourage other church rulers in overseeing the church according to all that Christ has taught in the gospel. In this whole work, I still struggle with my remaining sin. I cry out to God, “Forgive me.”

Particularly, in my disagreements with other pastors. I know that sin affects my understanding. Even when I know that I am right, I know that my sin, and my weakness in communication, affect my discussions with these brothers. They are not enemies in the sense the Psalmists writes, but the Psalmist’s words certainly apply even to this… and to all Christians, as they seek to live in communion with one another.

So, I like David, am confident that I shall not be put to shame. In that confidence, I continually seek God’s forgiveness. I know the way in which my pride, my envy, my anger, and my lust are always finding ways to undermine the good works I seek to do for my Lord.

But I — we are in Christ. In him, we all can know that we shall not be put to shame. If we hold to the good forgiveness of Christ, we need to fear shame. We might lose status before others, but we cannot lose status before Christ.

Devotional Insights #7

By James

On May 25, 2020

In Devotional

Ps. 23: 1, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

If we think for a moment about the context of Ps. 23, it is about the warrior taking rest. David is the warrior king, called to defeat God’s enemies. The valley of the shadow of death that David speaks of here is the battlefield, a place of death and carnage. He knows that God protects him and that is what gives him confidence in the battlefield. In some ways that can make the song less relatable because few of those who will read this post are warriors. Yet let us remind ourselves that if God is with the warrior who is constantly confronted with death, he certainly can and will protect me.

At the very center of the Psalm are the words, “you are with me.” The Hebrew structure is fascinating because there are 26 words before these words and 26 words after these words. 26 is a way of numerically symbolizing the name Yahweh, the name of God. This Psalm is all about God’s closeness to the Christian. Particularly, as the Christian enters dangerous and hard situations.

God is our shepherd. That is another way of saying that God is our king. Kings and shepherds are closely linked in the scriptures. God is with the Christian as he rests and God is with the Christian as he approaches his field of battle, whether it is with his own sin or the various conflicts and trials that God brings into our lives. We may always say, “God is with me.”

This is why the Psalmist can say “I shall not want.” It’s not that he or any other Christian never wants anything. Christians go hungry. Christians get sick and die. We die on battlefields. The reason we shall not want is that God is with us. And in having God with me I have everything.

Even though most Christians no longer fight on a literal battlefield, the words of this Psalm remain very real for the Christian. Every Christian knows the fight of internal sin. The Psalm talks about the valley of the shadow of death, for David the battlefield, for the Christian depression, fear, and anxiety, which the devil uses to turn the Christian against his God. For the Christian we can add to the attacks of the world, whether it be mockery or lies. These two can tempt the Christian. But then he remembers who his shepherd is.

But the Christian knows, “my God is for me.” And that’s the beauty of this Psalm. It’s a picture of promised rest. David the warrior may take rest in green pastures. The Christian may take rest from his sin in coming to worship God. David the warrior received a table in front of his enemies. The Christian eats at the Lord’s Table where he announces God’s triumph over sin death and hell. The Christians announces the ultimate triumph over his enemies before that has actually happened.

Remember God is my shepherd. That means that there will come a day where I will find satisfaction in him. My cross will become a crown.

Devotional Insights #6

By James

On May 18, 2020

In Covenant, Devotional

Psalm 22:9-11. “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you I was cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb, you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.”

Here is a beautiful expression of the covenant love of God. God’s love from generation to generation of those who seek him. God is working in David from birth so that David recognizes that he has trusted in God from his birth. How did David know that? We don’t need to guess at any extraordinary reason David may have believed in God from birth. Some almost magical working of God that we no longer experience in the regular life of covenantal generations today. David knew from the practice of circumcision that God had incorporated him into his people from birth. His mother had taught him the words of God from an early age.

Here is a mother who faithfully fulfills her calling before God in training up her child in the fear of the Lord. So even though he likely does not remember a particular moment in which he put his trust in God at this time, he sees the trajectory of his faith in God forming as he learns about God in the first years of his life. “You made me trust at my mother’s breasts.”

This early faith doesn’t mean there was no wandering or time to make the word of God his own. We shouldn’t imagine that David’s spiritual journey was radically different than that of the average Christian who is born into the faith. Follow David in the book of 1^st and 2^nd Samuel, and we see the ups and downs. Throughout his life, David had to continue to say “Yes” and “Amen” to the promises of God so that more and more they might become his beliefs, not just his parents’ beliefs.

Behind all this is the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. God is forming that initial faith as David receives the word of God from an early age. God is watching over David from the very beginning of his life because he will ensure that the elect David remains in him to the end. For David, that relationship began right from the time when he drank from his mother’s breasts. Ultimately, because God brought him into the world through a covenant family. God used that covenant bond to create faith in David from a very early age.

We pluck these words of Psalm 22 out of the midst of a lament and a plea to God. The Psalm begins with the words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?” Throughout the Psalm, he speaks of the trouble that he is in, “they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” “Many Bulls encompass me,” “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint,” and “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me.”

Even in his lament, his recognition that God has rejected him, he knows that God has caused him to trust him from his mother’s breasts. That gives him a profound certainty during his trouble. When we look back at our lives and we see those little moments of faith, it strengthens our confidence that God is working in our lives. Further, we see how God has ordained the shape of our lives and we rightly rejoice in the work he is doing.

David’s lament foretells Christ’s lament on the cross. Christ takes up the words of David on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And it tells us that even as he experienced the wrath of God on the cross, he knew that the fact that he was cast on God from the day of his birth, encouraged him as he suffered for our sake. His entire life of obedience pointed toward this moment on the cross.

The Heidelberg Catechism is striking in the way it draws out the benefits we receive from the fact that Christ was born. “He is our Mediator, and with his innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, in which I was conceived and born.” The first faith of David as a child on his mother’s breast is counted to him as righteousness on the basis of Christ’s work. It is Christ’s work that creates even the possibility of David’s relationship with God. Christ’s entire life of righteousness belongs to me.

How much more for us who are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. Those who grew up in covenant households can look back at a life of ups and downs, and they may despair. But if they remember that they were cast on God from birth, they will marvel at his grace. When they approach the bulls of Bashan in their life, the dogs that surround the children of God, they may look back at the words that God pronounced over them in their baptism. They may remember: my God is a God who keeps his word. He has given me his word and sealed it with water so that the suffering and death of Jesus belongs to me. That gives me strength in my distress.

Where then is the comfort for those whom God brings into Christ at a later age? That is not what Psalm 22 emphasizes, but these words are a comfort to all Christians. We understand that when God baptizes us into Christ, his death covers the sins of my whole life. That covering includes my failure to trust God in the first part of my life. More than that, even though at birth we were cast upon God, God in his infinite mercy has chosen me before my birth so that he might cast me upon himself in the appointed time. My whole life now belongs to God even though in the first part of my life, the Lord was not my God. The whole work of Christ, including his birth, belongs to me.

In all this, whatever advantages to those in the covenant, we must remember the sovereignty of God. “Will the molded say to it’s molder, “Why have you made me like this? (Romans 9:20)” Not all those who call me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. What God ultimately wants is a true child-like faith, which will depend on him even in the hard times. David’s child-like faith, while at his mother’s breast, is prototypical for all faith that begins in complete dependence upon God.

Whenever God brings me into his kingdom, I may look at the way he has manifested himself in my life and my faith. I may continue to find comfort that, yes, God is near, even when there is no-one else to help. So that “I will tell of God’s name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation, I will praise you;” (Ps. 22:22).

Devotional Insights #5

By James

On April 27, 2020

In Devotional

Ps. 73: 16-17, “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.”

Today, we might say that the Psalmist is dealing with mental health issues. He is processing a lopsided world. He looks around and sees that the wicked are rewarded for their wickedness. Their bellies are fat, and they die in peace. They find power and riches through their oppression of the righteous. The Psalmist, in turn, feels that his faithfulness is vanity. He will not speak that way because that would betray the saints. Yet, he still does not understand what the Lord is doing. It is a wearisome task.

The plight of the Psalmist is often in the face of the success of the wicked. The wicked conspire against the righteous, or the anointed one of God, or the poor, or those who are free. The Psalmist’s distress often comes from the success of their conspiracy.

It’s, for this reason, I believe that today there are conspiracies against the church, the poor, and the freedom of the people in general. Men gather together an make plans to crush the poor, take power for themselves, and, especially, to attack the church. They attack the church because the message of the church, the declaration in the gospel that Christ is king, is an insult to their power. A careful study of history will reveal various conspiracies throughout history. It’s hard to imagine that these types of things do not happen today. It’s for this reason that I do not write off so-called “conspiracy theories,” even though I remain skeptical of any particular theory.

At the same time, I am not afraid. In the short term, a conspiracy may be successful, but God remains in charge.

Like the Psalmist, however, fear remains a temptation. I am tempted to focus on the power and the wealth of the wicked. I wonder at what wickedness they will accomplish. What suffering will they cause? In this way, I am like the Psalmist. In facing the evil of men who hold positions of power in our society, my feet almost slip. I grow envious of the arrogant and the prosperity of the wicked. The problem: I am caught focussing on what is earthly, rather than what is heavenly.

But then: I approach the house of God, I approach the word of God, I come into the courts of Mt. Zion by the power of the Spirit. And there, I see who is really in charge; Jesus Christ. He reigns. We can worry about micro-chips, forced vaccinations, new tyrannical powers in the time of Covid-19. The specter of technocracy or the rule of science is an imminent threat. These are legitimate worries, but these fears should not rule us. God is King. God has exalted Jesus Christ over all powers and principalities. Because he is a righteous king, we know that he will punish the wicked for their evil deeds. Even if they die with “no pangs in their death,” according to the Psalmist, their final end is certain.

God sets the wicked in slippery places; both physically and spiritually. Power and money easily slip away. Power and money that are taken by the sword or by fraud are susceptible to being taken by the sword or by fraud. The Psalms remind us that wicked men turn on each other. Evil men grow suspicious and envious of one another. According to Psalm 9: 15, the nations sink into their own pit; they are snared in their own net. The destruction of the wicked is not necessarily due to smart resistance of the righteous, but the self-destructive nature of wickedness. The nations may rage, but Christ is king.

And in all this, I am confident of my end. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

(A further note on conspiracy: with the attitude of distrust in our society today toward other groups and toward the elite, we must be very careful about bringing false witness against particular individuals. That is what I mean when I say that I am fairly confident that conspiracies exist against the church and against freedom in general, but I am much more skeptical of particular theories. A look at various quotes from prominent individuals in influential organizations should warn us that men are actively warring against the righteousness of Christ. Over the years I’ve seen statements from UN officials, from the WHO, and from members of the government of Canada that display an unhealthy attitude toward freedom and righteousness.

However, to jump from that to accusing individuals, in the civil government or otherwise, of wrongdoing with insufficient proof is highly offensive to our God in whom there is no lie. We must also remember the call of God to be patient with the weaknesses of those who rule over us. So let’s not be quick to accuse individuals of conspiracy.

It is also a big leap to go from that to a thorough condemnation of the whole government. The government is made up of a huge variety of different people with a variety of influences coming from every direction. Nobody can really control what “the government” does. Often a big part of their decision making relies on “the people” in general. For a great deal of “the government’s” foolishness, we only have ourselves to blame. Let us be very careful and thoughtful in dealing with things we know very little about. Particularly, as Christians who are called to value the truth)

Devotional Insights #4

By James

On April 18, 2020

In Devotional, education

Job 38-41: “Do you know?” “Where you there?” “Have you searched out?” “Look at Behemoth!” “Can you draw out Leviathan?”

God is demonstrating his incomprehensibility. Even as Job cannot fully grasp the answers to the questions that God gives him, so he cannot fully understand God.

In Job 38-39, God goes through the various aspects of his creation and asks Job: “How does the world hold together?” “How does wind work?” “How do the animals get their food?” “Hasn’t God given the things of this world, wisdom to live upon the earth?”

In Job 40 and 41, God goes into a detailed description of two mighty creatures that used to roam the earth in the days of Job, the Behemoth and the Leviathan. We don’t know what these are. Some guess they may have been dinosaurs, but ultimately they may not be animals we are aware of today. God invites Job to study these things to understand how great God is. The God who created such creatures is far beyond the mind of Job.

Job recognizes the challenge that God has given him in chapter 42 and admits that he has forgotten how far the ways of God are beyond him. God used to speak to Job from a distance. No, God has given Job the privilege of talking to himself face to face. In knowing God in this new way, Job recognizes all the more that he is lacking in his understanding of God. He repents in dust and ashes.

But there is something more here as well. Job is, after all a wisdom book. Job is invited to look into the questions that God gives. Why? Because all of these things point to the wisdom and almighty power of God. Paul may be thinking of this section of Job when he says the wisdom and the almighty power of God are clearly known to all men. God’s invitation to Job to ponder on these thing is more than merely saying that he is incomprehensible.

It is by pondering on these things that Job may grow in understanding the incomprehensibility of God. God’s words to Job are an invitation to what we call science. And many Christian scientists have heard the call of God to wonder at his creation in these passages. But this is science, which is done in a particular mode. This science never claims comprehensive knowledge of who God is or even of what creation is. We may discover that “Gravity” determines that things fall at a specific rate, but we cannot understand the forces behind it. Even if someday we do have a better understanding of that, we still will lack understanding of what is going on. God invites Job to science that delights in its limitations.

It is the same with the “science” of theology. Job’s friends think they have God figured out. Job doesn’t necessarily think he has God figured out, but he forgets that truth in his self-defense. The study of scripture and theology is a gradual realization of what we don’t know, which is the wisdom of humility.

The more we learn, the less we know. Wisdom is not merely the knowledge of things, but it is discovering the limits of our knowledge. We become like the Psalmist in Psalm 131 before God. “I do not occupy myself with things too great and marvelous for me. 0But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” So God invites Job to be the scientist so that he may grow in wonder and awe at the creator of all things. And in growing in knowledge, Job also becomes humble before his God.

God desires that we delight in his creation. He wants us to take delight in the good that he has given us. On the other hand, pain and suffering often come from the thought that we are somehow in control of our lives. Too often we look to knowledge as a way to control other people. God wants us to discover the knowledge of him and the things he has made through a joyful humility. We should approach creation and wisdom with a child-like joy in discovery; without frustration over what we are unable to discover. God wants us to learn patience in uncovering the mysteries of the universe.

We should have the same approach to God and his word. We are children in God’s garden and we patiently wait upon to him to reveal himself more and more in the pages of scripture.

Finally, as Job had to learn, God calls us to be patient as we discern what he is doing in my experience. Whatever God brings is from his hand and is meant for my good. This is something we take on faith, not by sight. Our suffering can look meaningless but we trust that God has a purpose. And God invites us to discern that purpose.

This process of discovery is not so easy in a world where our fleshly pride is constantly creeping into what we do so that even the righteous Job must repent in dust and ashes. But in Jesus Christ, we have the Spirit of God, and that gives us the patience we need as we seek to grow in the knowledge of our Father.

Devotional Insights #3

By James

On April 14, 2020

In Devotional, eschatology

Revelation 22:7: “Behold I am coming soon: Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Understanding the text

Christ says, “I am coming soon.” But it’s been two thousand years since John wrote down the things he saw on a particular Sunday in the first century. The final day of judgement has not come. Unless… is Christ talking about the final day of judgment here?

One of the major failures in conservative interpretation of the apocalyptic sections in scripture is ignoring the time markers in the text. They use passages like “to the Lord, a day is like a thousand years,” to supplement their view that these God gave these passages from his time-perspective rather than speaking with man’s notion of time. Or they lift these time markers out of their original contexts and argue that God’s people have to have the attitude that Christ’s coming is always near. They, then, are guilty of abstracting the time markers from their original context.

On the other hand, Liberal text-critics have long argued that the early church believed in an imminent coming. Christ’s final judgment was coming within the 1^st or 2^nd generation of Christians. Christ himself says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34). We can think of a passage like Romans 13, “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Also, 1^st Thessalonians 5, where Paul encourages the Thessalonians to watch out for the Day of the Lord.

Of course, the problem with the liberal interpretation is their belief that the church was wrong to believe that Christ was coming soon. If Paul and Christ were mistaken about the coming of Christ, how are we to trust in the other promises of God?

There is a third option: Christ did come soon, but not in the way we think of the coming of Christ. We are reading the final coming of Christ into this text. The truth is a lot of the apocalyptic sections in scripture refer to the imminent judgment of God upon the city of Jerusalem. Christ came to call his own to himself, but his own did not receive him. Many continued to reject God, when through his church, God called upon them to repent of their hard hearts and believe in the one they had crucified (Acts 2:36). Further, they persecuted the church of Christ. God is now coming in judgment. In Revelation, God prepares the church for the trials that are coming.

Christ’s coming in 70 A. D. in no way undermines the truth that he is finally coming again to judge the living and the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 20:11-15, Christ promises that the final judgment is still coming. The judgment upon Jerusalem is a foretaste of that judgment.

This view doesn’t answer every question we might have, but it is by far more satisfactory than any other view. The scripture proves its own integrity. It is hard to argue that there is no sense in the New Testament of the coming of Christ. Here we have confirmation that the scripture means what it says. Just as day means day in Genesis 1, so soon means soon in Revelation 22:7.

However, those who are used to the view that we ought to expect Christ’s final return tomorrow are often left wondering how to apply Christ’s words here to their own lives. How is it a comfort to us today that Christ came upon the clouds to judge Jerusalem in 70 A.D?

The comfort of the text

Christ proved his Lordship by fulfilling his promise to judge Jerusalem. Just as God provides proofs of the cross and the resurrection, so he provides proof of the ascension of Christ. God vindicates those who believe in his name, by destroying the temple, the other institution that claims God’s name. Christ also proves that he continues to be with the church. He preserves her through the terrible persecutions of the Jews and the Romans. Even though she experienced great tribulation, Christ proved that he would protect her to the end. God comforts the church today with the knowledge that he has vindicated his church. He will vindicate her again, even until the final day.

God gives us a perspective on how he works through the church in history. “In history” is the important word here. We are not merely a small group of elect travelling through this world in order to get to heaven, we are on the mission of Christ to reconcile the world to himself. If we abstract the words “I am coming soon” from the text and see this as a reference to final judgment instead of Christ’ active coming in history, we can lose the importance of the work Christ is doing through the church to reconcile the nations to himself.

Through the fall of the Roman Empire, God demonstrated that his church was bigger than the Roman Empire. In the Reformation, God proved that he could save a church that had forgotten the centrality of Christ. Through the modern age, God has expanded his church, despite the predictions of the death of Christianity. God is using the war on terror. God is using failing governments. And God is using the Covid-19 crisis for the sake of his church. God does not wait until the last day to vindicate his church, but he is actively at work in history.

We can think of the vision in Daniel 2. The stone, Christ, that God uses to tumble over the nations of this world, becomes the foundation for a mighty mountain. God is working in history through the suffering of his saints to vindicate his saints. God in Christ is convicting the world of sin and calling all men to repentance.

Revelation reveals a cycle of contraction and expansion. Through the generations Christ brings the saints into various tribulations. At the same time, Christ uses those tribulations to purify his church, but more, to witness to his work. Christ brings his saints through tribulation so he might vindicate them. Once God has vindicated the saints, there is a new outpouring of blessing. This new blessing is followed by a new desire among the nations to serve God. We can think of the vindication of the Jews in the book of Esther. Many convert to Judaism at that moment.

In this way, God comforts us that he is using our suffering to strengthen his church. We reflect Christ, in that through the cross, through tribulation, we point to the salvation of God. We re-affirm here, as well, that this is not through our strength. It is, rather, an application fo the salvation won on the cross of Christ.

That is how we are to understand the current viral crisis. God is doing this for the sake of his church. He will vindicate the righteous one who continues to do righteousness, the holy one who continues to be holy. “Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree fo life and can enter into the city by the gates.” Wash your robes by placing your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord, who lives and reigns with the great Father of all, with the Holy Spirit, calls you to “Come, and drink of the water of life.”