Christmas

REJOICE!

Love Himself has become human!
God the Highest has come near to save us!
His name is JESUS.

As the prophet Isaiah said in ancient times,
"For to us a Child is born,
to us a Son is given;
and the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end...."

Merry Christmas!

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Ordination with fasting

In the course of a small study on fasting in the Bible, I realized that the book of Acts has exactly one reference to the ordination of elders (14:21-23) and one to the commissioning of missionaries (13:1-4), and in each of these places prayer with fasting is a prominent part of the ordination ceremonies.

Biblical narrative is not an absolute rule for the Church's practice. But wouldn't it be wise to imitate the apostles' example at least in this momentous act of the Church, by setting aside a period of time for prayer and fasting whenever elders, missionaries, and evangelists are commissioned for their daunting task?

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Baptism and the world (Leithart)

“Baptism is not a merely social event because there is no such thing as a ‘merely social’ event. God is always involved in every act and movement of the creation, and the universe teems with other spiritual beings, beneficent and malevolent, that are also active. The world is not a ‘merely social’ reality because it is dominated by principalities and powers and controlled by sin and death (which are nearly personified in some parts of Paul’s letters). It takes a divine act—a series of divine acts—to extract someone from the world and then plant him in the body of Christ. Baptism is one of those divine acts.”

—Peter Leithart, The Baptized Body, p. 80

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Some thoughts on the PCA's Nine Declarations about the Federal Vision

The post below is an extended response to a question from Grover Gunn, comment #24 on the thread "None of This Is New Under the Sun" on Green Bagginses.

Grover had asked,
Jeff, would you agree that the doctrines which the nine declarations recently adopted by a PCA General Assembly identify as contrary to the fundamentals of the Westminster Standards are indeed contrary to those fundamentals? Would you agree that the nine declarations are not distortions of Westminster theology due to over-reaction?

Grover, I should say that this question is an important one for some to answer, but is not as directly relevant to me. Up to this point, I have not taken vows to uphold any particular set of Reformed doctrinal standards. If and when I am ordained as an elder with teaching responsibility, I would prefer to be held accountable to the Three Forms of Unity than to the Westminster Confession.

Speaking only for myself and not as a reflection on anyone else, I am uncomfortable with the WCF in several ways: generally, for its lack of sensitivity to the historical-narrative character of much of Divine revelation, and specifically, for a few places where the WCF seems to stand in direct opposition to the principles of God's own Word, at least as they appear the Old Testament (e.g., the last line of WCF 21.8, cf. Ex. 31:17; the last sentence of 24.4, cf. Deut. 25:5; the second half of 27.4, cf. Acts 8:38; 9:17-18). If we find something in the Westminster Confession or any other human tradition to run contrary to the Word of God, then shall we make the commandment of God of no effect by our tradition (Matt. 15:6)?

With all that being said, I believe that any true departure by a Reformed pastor from "the fundamentals of the Westminster Standards" is a matter of serious concern. If such a thing is found to have happened, it should be investigated first in the light of Scripture, and then also in light of the Westminster Standards or other confessional documents as appropriate, to the extent that they depend on and accurately represent the teaching of Scripture.

So as for the nine declarations:

1. The view that rejects the bi-covenantal structure of Scripture as represented in the Westminster Standards (i.e., views which do not merely take issue with the terminology, but the essence of the first/second covenant framework) is contrary to those Standards.

First of all, I don't see Scripture as having a bi-covenantal structure. When the Holy Spirit discusses and contrasts the two major covenants among others, they are the "First Covenant" which was enacted through Moses and the "New Covenant" that was mediated by Christ (Hebrews 9:11-22). In the Westminster system, these are merely two different administrations of the "covenant of grace," which also has several other administrations. Meanwhile, the "covenant of works" (the other major covenant according to the WCF), is more often than not described in the Bible with other terms than that of "covenant." So to see the Bible's history as divided up between two great opposing covenants, a covenant of works and a covenant of grace (neither of which is ever called by this name in the Bible) seems quite artificial to me. However, some leaders of the FV including Steve Wilkins have declared that they're happy with the Westminster explanation of the covenants of Scripture (with the caveat, perhaps, that WLC 20's "covenant of life" is a more accurate term than "covenant of works").

To answer your question, then: for declaration #1, the view that the PCA General Assembly pronounced contrary to the Westminster Standards is in fact contrary to those Standards (although not necessarily contrary to Scripture), and in any case Wilkins, Leithart, and Wilson agree with the PCA at this point.

2. The view that an individual is “elect” by virtue of his membership in the visible church; and that this “election” includes justification, adoption and sanctification; but that this individual could lose his “election” if he forsakes the visible church, is contrary to the Westminster Standards.

This declaration adopted by the PCA GA is simply confused, and confusing, in its language. By putting "elect" in quotation marks, it seems to suggest that "elect" may be used here in a different sense than the Westminster Standards use the word. However, the terms justification, adoption, and sanctification appear to be used exclusively in the Westminster sense, and in this sense no FV advocate believes that election can be lost. If the four key terms are defined according to their use in the Standards, then declaration #2 is valid and Steve Wilkins agrees with the PCA in condemning the false teaching of which it speaks. One the other hand, if the four key terms are allowed to be defined differently from how they are used in the Standards, then how can the Standards speak to this usage in one way or the other?

The term "elect" only has meaning, of course, when it is specified to what a person is elected. In one important sense, Jesus Himself says that all of the Twelve were elected (exelexamēn) by Him, including Judas Iscariot who was a devil (John 6:70-71). Other passages speak of a different kind of election which leads unalterably to eternal life. The second declaration adopted by the PCA General Assembly fails to achieve clarity because it does not include definitions of any of the key theological terms it uses -- where the definitions of these terms are precisely the matter in question.

Grover, I could go through all nine declarations in this way, but I think you get the idea by now. If they are taken in one way, every FV advocate would agree with most of them in their condemnation of what is self-evidently false teaching. If taken in another way, what they express appears contrary to how the Bible itself speaks, and of course the FV men would object.

Both Peter Leithart and Steve Wilkins have noted in their responses to the PCA report that declaration #9 actually contradicts WCF 33.1 (which affirms the Biblical teaching that the final judgment will be according to works).

Declaration #9 adopted by the PCA GA: "The view...that the so-called 'final verdict of justification' is based on anything other than the perfect obedience and satisfaction of Christ received through faith alone, is contrary to the Westminster Standards."

WCF 33.1: "God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil."

In closing, let me answer your last question by saying that yes, I believe "the nine declarations are," in part at least, "distortions of Westminster theology due to over-reaction."

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The dangers of reaction

The post below is a comment that I wrote for the thread "None of This Is New Under the Sun" on Green Bagginses. Even if you're not familiar with the "Federal Vision" controversy currently playing itself out in the Reformed and Presbyterian churches of North America, I hope you will find these thoughts to be edifying.

Any movement rooted and grounded in a reaction to something else is subject to great dangers. While modernism was busy rejecting supernaturalism, tradition, and the Sacraments, the nineteenth-century Tractarian movement attempted to save the Church from these ills by emphasizing traditions and rituals. In turn, Bishop Ryle reacted against the excesses of the Tractarians by arguing that "religion is eminently a personal business between yourself and Christ" -- a claim that would have sounded almost bizarre to any of the writers of the New Testament.

My own sympathies lie with the Federal Vision, but I do not see this approach as immune to the dangers that threaten all reactions. The best expressions of "Federal Vision" theology are those that hold tightly to the glorious truths of evangelical and Presbyterian/Reformed theology even while they point out ways in which the Church must continue to be reformed (ecclesia reformata et semper reformanda). To the extent that Federal Vision advocates are doing this, they are following in the footsteps of the original Protestant Reformers. Great men like Luther, Calvin, and Bucer did not reject doctrines or practices merely because they were "Romanist"; rather, they sought to glorify God and build up the Church along the lines of whatever was good, true, and Scriptural. For this, Luther himself and his Wittenberg allies were described as the "new papists" by the likes of Radical Reformer Andreas Karlstadt. (Once again, nothing is new under the sun.)

On the other side, there is great danger in a reaction against the Federal Vision that opposes everything in it except what is already comfortable and familiar. In their fierce opposition to the Federal Vision, some have drifted into what is almost an ecclesiological Docetism. The Docetist heretics taught that the presence of Christ on earth was only an appearance, a phantom, and the real substance of Him was all ethereal and invisible; some are now saying that there is no substance in the visible church, no special benefit in belonging to it -- that this is only a kind of phantom appearance of a church, while the reality is all spiritual, "invisible," and other-worldly.

May all the parties to this discussion seek out the "old paths, the good way," that we may walk in it. And may we all recognize that some of the old paths may be on our opponents' side of the boundary, and be humble enough not to rail at once against their entire position just because we think we see errors at certain points.

On both sides of the Federal Vision debate are disciples of one and the same Lord, members together of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. Let us not denigrate one aspect of the Truth in our zeal to uphold another. Let us not force our brethren and our children to choose between James and Paul, between the Old Testament and the New, between faith and good works, between membership in the visible church and participation in eternal life, between Christ's righteousness imputed to us and His righteousness performed in us, between the Word and the Sacraments. All of these are ours in Christ (1 Cor. 3:21-23) -- all equally and gloriously ours! -- and only a great fool would claim that participation in some of these makes the others unimportant. Is Christ divided?

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Chuck Colson: God sent the drought

Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship writes here about the current drought in the American Southeast--his reasons for believing that this is a judgment from God, and what that means.

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Which church father are you?

Interesting, but I think this little test would be much more meaningful if there were more options...

You’re Origen! You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

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A telling quote

“ ‘Thou shalt not’ might reach the head, but it takes ‘Once upon a time’ to reach the heart.”

—Philip Pullman, atheist and author of the children's novel The Golden Compass, which is being released as a movie tomorrow

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Justification, baptism, and faith

(Below is another comment of mine for Green Bagginses. This is #111 on the same thread as before...under David Gadbois's post Berkhof and Baptismal Efficacy. The bold text is quoted from Jeff Cagle's comment.)

To Jeff Cagle (#89):

(1) What does "objective justification" mean?

It means that Christ is righteous; and if we are included in His Church through baptism, then we are in Him; and if we are in Him, we are both counted righteous for His sake ("justified") and called to live righteously, lest we be cut off.

(2) It seems really clear that baptism is, for the FV position, an instrumental means of securing objective justification. That is to say, all who receive baptism receive OJ, and receive it at the moment of baptism, and receive it *because* they have been baptized.

Not quite. FV people seem to enjoy quoting WCF 28.1 in support of their own position: "Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ..." That is to say, baptism is an instrumental means of solemn admission into the visible Church. As the next logical step, membership in the Church (which is Christ's body) means that the baptized person is incorporated into all that Christ is, including His righteousness. This is what I (somewhat clumsily) described as "objective justification."

This justification is in and through Christ, not in and through baptism. Maybe you think this is a distinction without a difference, but I think it makes all the difference in the world. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Not "in baptism," but "in Christ." "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27).

Baptism is only the door to the house where Christ is the Host. It would be very odd, to say the least, to call a door "the instrumental means of hospitality."

(3) So then, since faith is the instrumental means of receiving the kind of justification that the decretally elect receive, but baptism is the instrumental means of receiving objective justification, it follows that we have two separate kinds of justification going on here. Not one type of justification, which might or might not last, but two types: one, received upon faith; the other, received upon baptism.

Since I've already argued that baptism is NOT the "instrumental means" of receiving justification, even on what I think is a standard FV view, let me answer the rest of this fairly quickly. There are not two kinds of justification, but there are different angles on, and differences of status with regard to, this one reality. What is the difference between baptism and faith, relative to justification? The connection between baptism and justification is indirect: baptism joins us to Christ, and in Him we are righteous. The connection between faith and justification, however, is direct: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness" (Rom. 10:9). Righteousness--complete and lasting justification that transforms first a man's standing before God, and finally his entire spirit, soul, and body--is made available to us through our union with Christ in baptism; but it is truly claimed and owned by our believing response to what God has already done in our baptism. Baptism is God's doing, faith is ours, but both are equally a gift of His grace, so that no man may boast in His presence. To Him be all glory forever and ever! Amen.

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Baptism and faith

(Copied below is a comment I posted on Green Bagginses. It appears as #85 under David Gadbois's post Berkhof and Baptismal Efficacy.)

After reading through the whole list of comments to this post, I think one of the keys to this set of issues (and to the whole Federal Vision debate) has not yet been mentioned here.

David wrote: “…we should conclude that, likewise, baptism cannot be an instrumental means, alongside of faith, by which we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness unto justification.… Such an idea would be directly contrary to the Reformational doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide).” (emphasis mine)

David, I want to ask in all seriousness: Have you ever heard anyone associated with “Federal Vision” theology teach that “baptism [is] an instrumental means, alongside of faith, by which we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness unto justification”? Pastor Wilkins and others say many other things about baptism, but I don’t think you’ll ever find them saying this. Rather, their theological opponents take other things that they say and unsympathetically deduce from them that they must mean this. But it ain’t necessarily so.

It’s just as clear to the FV men as it is to any other Reformed theologian that baptism and faith are two very different things. For you to talk as though even the most ardent FV’er puts them in the same undifferentiated category, as “instrumental means” of justification, is simply misleading.

I understand the FV position to include the following: Baptism joins a person, objectively, to Christ. Since every baptized person is in Christ, then what is true of Christ is true of all baptized people corporately. Christ is righteous, all of Him; thus His body the Church is righteous, with all its members. Christ is holy; thus, Christ’s body is holy, every member of it (in more or less the same way that the children of one believing parent are holy, because they are joined to Christ by covenant, 1 Cor. 7:14). It is for this reason that the Apostles speak to churches as they do–for example, 1 Cor. 1:2, where “the church of God which is at Corinth” equals “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus” (despite the Corinthians’ obvious personal unholiness!). So everyone who is in Christ objectively (i.e., in the Church through baptism) is just as objectively “justified” and “sanctified,” because they are in Christ, and He is perfectly righteous and holy.

BUT at the same time (and who in the FV would deny this?) the righteousness that we have objectively in Christ has to be taken to heart, lived out and made permanent, or it ultimately becomes worthless. Christ’s justification and sanctification become ours in baptism, but we must still make them ours through faith and good works, both of which are gifts of God’s free grace alone in accordance with His eternal decrees. These are the justification and sanctification that bear fruit for eternal life.

To sum up: Baptism brings us into Christ, the Righteous and Holy One. To belong to Him is to be (covenantally?) justified and sanctified. But we also need to believe on Christ. It is this faith in the heart that leads to justification of the sort that is personally owned by the faithful Christian. Baptism grants us a share in Christ’s justification; faith applies His justification to us. Each one allows us to say that we are “justified,” and legitimately so, but from different perspectives and with different results.

In any case, baptism and faith are alike in this: Both are the good work of God within His people. His grace is everything.

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Happy Thanksgiving Day

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (1863-1930)

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Out of the Silent Planet

C. S. Lewis always seems to have amazingly profound things to say and consummate skill in saying them--the two qualities that every good writer needs.

From Out of the Silent Planet, consider this speech by Weston (the interplanetary imperialist) and then Ransom's attempt to translate it for Malacandrian hearers. After reading the second version, how can the ideas of the first seem anything but ludicrous and hypocritical?

Weston: "To you I may seem a vulgar robber, but I bear on my shoulders the destiny of the human race. Your tribal life with its stone-age weapons and bee-hive huts, its primitive coracles and elementary social structure, has nothing to compare with our civilization--with our science, medicine and law, our armies, our architecture, our commerce, and our transport system which is rapidly annihilating space and time. Our right to supersede you is the right of the higher over the lower."

And the "translation" by Ransom: "Among us, Oyarsa, there is a kind of hnau [rational creature] who will take other hnau's food and--and things, when they are not looking. He says he is not an ordinary one of that kind. He says what he does now will make very different things happen to those of our people who are not yet born. He says that, among you, hnau of one kindred all live together and the hrossa have spears like those we used a very long time ago and your huts are small and round and your boats small and light and like our old ones, and you have only one ruler. He says it is different with us. He says we know much. There is a thing happens in our world when the body of a living creature feels pains and becomes weak, and he says we sometimes know how to stop it. He says we have many bent [bad] people and we kill them or shut them in huts and that we have people for settling quarrels between the bent hnau about their huts and mates and things. He says we have many ways for the hnau of one land to kill those of another and some are trained to do it. He says we build very big and strong huts of stones and other things--like the pfifltriggi. And he says we exchange many things among ourselves and can carry heavy weights very quickly a long way. Because of all this, he says it would not be the act of a bent hnau if our people killed all your people."

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Every moment

Let me live every moment
in the light of that Day
when I will see the face of Him
whom my soul loves!

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Food for thought: Two quotes from Charles Williams

“Sir Bernard occasionally alluded to himself as a neo-Christian, ‘meaning,’ he said, ‘like most neos, one who takes the advantages without the disadvantages. As neo-Platonist, neo-Thomist, and neolithic too, for all I know.’”
—Shadows of Ecstasy

“God only gives, and He has only Himself to give, and He, even He, can only give it in those conditions which are Himself.”
—War in Heaven

What, then, is a real (not a "neo-") Christian? What kind of people must we be if we belong to this God?

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Brief poem in Russian and English

Чего ожидал я, не часто бывает,
чего не предвидел, то точно и будет,
от Господа Бога всё это зависит.
-5/30/07

What I thought I expected does not often happen;
what I have not foreseen, it is that which will be;
and all this is the will of the Lord God, my Savior!
-6/11/07

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Vatican deals with homosexuality in its ranks

Newsweek has a story today about allegations of homosexuality among top Roman Catholic officials working in the Vatican. Some conservative leaders who are working to purge the Catholic Church of hypocrisy and hidden sin, particularly in relation to pedophilia and homosexuality, are convinced that these revelations will actually be good for the church. They feel that openness and confrontation in regard to these issues may be just what the church needs, in order to be restored to greater spiritual health.

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Russian Orthodox Church walks out of Catholic-Orthodox talks

Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church walked out of a joint meeting of Catholic and Orthodox theologians being held in Ravenna, Italy, this week. Their protest was not against anything that had been done or said by the Catholics present; instead, it was against some of their fellow Orthodox.

The Russian Orthodox representatives, Bishop Ilarion of Vienna and Austria and Father Igor Vyzhanin, were protesting the inclusion of a representative of the Estonian Apostolic Church at the talks. Although the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople (who claims a "first among equals" relationship with other Orthodox Patriarchs) has given canonical recognition to the Estonian church, the Russian Orthodox Church continues to deny that status and to assert its own authority over the Orthodox Christians of Estonia. Alexy II, the Patriarch of Moscow and spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, is himself Estonian by birth.

Time will tell how well the various Orthodox churches can adjust to the changed realities of post-Soviet Europe. Unity and consensus among themselves would be a good first step.

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Standing for righteousness in the Anglican Communion

Archbishop of Uganda Henry Luke Orombi has added his voice to those of Anglicans around the world who are unwilling to going along with the continued antics of The Episcopal Church (TEC). In a meeting last month, bishops of TEC--the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion--expressed their "passionate desire" to remain full members of the Communion, yet refused to stop outright from consecrating active homosexuals as bishops.

While speaking at Church of the Apostles in Daphne, Alabama, Archbishop Orombi declared that the U.S. bishops had "tossed the faith overboard." In addition, his office issued a statement proclaiming that the Americans "have decided to walk apart" and running through a list of betrayals of the international Anglican body by the U.S. branch.

Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester and a leading member of the Church of England, seems to agree. He suggested that he might boycott next year's Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade worldwide gathering of Anglican bishops, rather than participate in full fellowship with the American bishops who helped ordain practicing homosexual V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Meanwhile, conservative Episcopal bishops representing more than 600 churches met in Pittsburgh at the end of September to plan for a separate Anglican church structure in North America, one that would remain faithful to Scripture and in line with conservative Anglican churches in other parts of the world.

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The coming Chinese Christendom

John Piper has some amazing comments about the growth of the Church in China. Piper emphasizes the beginnings of Protestant Christianity in China two hundred years ago this month with the arrival of Scottish missionary Robert Morrison.

Actually, Morrison was only one in a stream of missionaries who have labored to give the Word of God a foothold in China. Middle Eastern missionaries from the Assyrian Church of the East (sometimes, and misleadingly, called "Nestorians") established the Gospel in China in the seventh century, as commemorated on the "Nestorian Stele" still visible near Xi'an. Franciscan missionaries arrived in the late thirteenth century, and Jesuits in the sixteenth. In the nineteenth century, Robert Morrison's work was continued by the great Hudson Taylor, who (according to one estimate) was responsible for bringing more people to Christ than anyone else in history since the Apostle Paul.

As encouraging as the growth of the Chinese Church was under the oversight of such men, it was nothing to what followed the rise of Communism and expulsion of the missionaries in 1949. At that time there were just under a million Christians in China; now their numbers may surpass a hundred million. In a provocative article in the Asia Times Online, columnist "Spengler" writes that the massive numbers of conversions in China should make us see the future of Christianity as Chinese:

Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day, according to a stunning report by the National Catholic Reporter's veteran correspondent John Allen, and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world's largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history.... Christianity will have become a Sino-centric religion two generations from now. China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East.

Spengler adds that the spread of the Gospel is the one thing that may actually succeed in bringing political freedom to China: "Freedom of worship is the first precondition for democracy, for it makes possible freedom of conscience. The fearless evangelists at the grassroots of China will, in the fullness of time, do more to bring US-style democracy to the world than all the nation-building bluster of President George W Bush and his advisers."

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Refusing money: real integrity?

I noticed something interesting in a story about a political protest by Buddhist monks in Myanmar. Apparently the monks, disgusted with the country's current military government, are threatening to cut off any contact with the military and refuse to accept alms (charitable donations) from them. According to the New York Times, for a monk to refuse the military's charity would be "a humiliating gesture that would embarrass the junta."

How many Christian organizations, ministers, and missionaries have the courage to protest oppression by refusing to accept money from those who perpetrate injustice? At least according to one interpretation, that is what is happening in 3 John 5-7: "Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles."

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The biology of the Kingdom

Some thoughts I had while walking through a harvested field this morning:

The Kingdom of God is not a machine, but a living thing. Understanding it is a matter for biology, not mechanical engineering.

A machine has no life within itself. It cannot grow, cannot heal itself, cannot take the initiative to "feed" itself with the energy sources that will keep it running. It cannot respond to spontaneous influences from outside--sunlight, voices, physical touch--except in a few ways that are tightly limited by how it has been programmed. It never really lasts very long, and when it fails, it leaves nothing to take its place. Someone needs to build a replacement for it that has no organic connection to the original machine.

Living things have their life within them--a life that is God-given, as opposed to the mere man-made functionality of a machine. Living things have built-in redundancy, so that if part of them dies or fails, the rest can carry on and compensate for what is missing. A machine can be manufactured very quickly, but a mature organism--an oak, say, or an elephant--is the result of a long process of gradual change and growth. In a fallen world, all living things have their death within them. But they also carry the seeds of life for future generations, so that their line will continue despite individual deaths and changing environments. Coconuts float to distant shores, take root, and grow into new coconut palms that live on even if their parent trees are cut down; caterpillars grow up to be the next generation of butterflies, like those that came before them and yet never quite the same; and children carry on the physical and mental characteristics of their parents, but no one is ever exactly like any of his ancestors or siblings.

Don't expect the Kingdom of Heaven to be perfected all in a day, as if it was a car that is functional as soon as it comes off the assembly line. Our Lord compared the Kingdom to seed growing in the ground, to leaven working through a batch of dough, to a dragnet that pulls in all kinds of fish, and to a landowner who hires many laborers for his vineyard at different times and under different circumstances. Be patient with the Lord's Kingdom and with the people in it, just as He is patient with you. And as for yourself, don't expect spiritual growth to come through mere force of will, but through consistently and humbly receiving the gifts He gives you daily: His rain and sun, and the minerals that you draw up from the soil where you are planted, and the others around you who break the force of winds and storms, and His own diligence to tend and prune you so that you will be more fruitful.

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Donne: On the beginning and end of Christian life

“The Church is Catholic, universal, so are all her Actions; All that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that Head which is my Head too, and engrafted into that body, whereof I am a member. And when she buries a Man, that action concerns me: All mankind is of one Author, and is one volume; when one Man dies, one Chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every Chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation; and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that Library where every book shall lie open to one another...”

—John Donne (1572-1631), from Meditation XVII (Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, Morieris/"Never send to know for whom the bell tolls")

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Remaining Koreans freed in Afghanistan

At left: The twelve hostages who were released yesterday

Today at 8:30 PM local time, the last three of the 23 South Korean Christians kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan were released to Red Cross representatives. A total of nineteen hostages were finally set free yesterday and today, after two members of the group had been shot and killed--Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu and Shim Sung-min--and two others had been freed on an earlier occasion.

As part of the conditions for the hostages' release, the South Korean government reiterated its promise to withdraw all Korean soldiers from Afghanistan by the end of the year--and also banned South Korean Christians from doing missionary work in Afghanistan.

(Sources include Chosun Ilbo, International Herald Tribune, and The Christian Science Monitor).

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John the Baptizer

One of the more ancient traditional memorials among Christians is the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, which is commemorated on August 29 in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions. This great man of God--the one who, according to Messiah Himself, has never been surpassed among those born of women (Matthew 11:11)--was beheaded at the birthday feast of Herod the tetrarch as the result of petty jealousies and vindictiveness. By convicting a monarch of sin, John lost his head, but gained eternal glory before that Lord whose way he came to prepare.

This John was the man that the archangel Gabriel was talking about when he told Zacharias, "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:14-17).

I was born on this date. If the traditional date of John's beheading is correct, this means that I share a birthday with Herod Antipas. But far better, I was born on the same date that John, the great Forerunner of Messiah, was "reborn" through death into an unending life.

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On divisions in the Church

“I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, ‘Stop! Don’t do it!’
“‘Why shouldn’t I?’ he said.
“I said, ‘Well, there’s so much to live for!’
“He said, ‘Like what?’
“I said, ‘Well...are you religious or atheist?’
“He said, ‘Religious.’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?’
“He said, ‘Christian.’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?’
“He said, ‘Protestant.’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?’
“He said, ‘Baptist!’
“I said, ‘Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?’
“He said, ‘Baptist Church of God!’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?’
“He said, ‘Reformed Baptist Church of God!’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?’
“He said, ‘Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!’
“I said, ‘Die, heretic scum!’, and pushed him off.”
—Emo Philips

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"The LORD Always Before Me"

Notes for another sermon:

"The LORD Always Before Me"
Text: Psalm 16:5-11

Exposition, part 1: David—It doesn’t get any earthier, any more direct, than David’s descriptions of the Lord in this psalm.

- “The portion”: When you divide up food, “here’s your piece”; Yahweh, the Lord, is David’s piece.
- “of my inheritance”: my share, the part that I own, my section, my own possession, what I get, what I choose for myself. David says, “God, You are my section of my land. You are my own portion of my feast.” You are just as much mine as if I didn’t have to share You with anyone else on earth.
- “and my cup”: When you take your cup and fill it up with your drink, and drink it yourself, there’s nothing more yours than that. That is what God is to David—and that is what He becomes for each of you through the symbolized reality of the Lord’s Supper.
- “You [emphatic] maintain my lot”: When it’s time for me to roll the dice to see what happens to me, You, LORD, take them out of my hands and roll them for me. The roll is in Your hands, and so are the results.
- “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart [literally, "kidneys"] also instructs me in the night seasons”: When David couldn’t sleep, it was his God who was telling his mind and his body what to say to him.
- “I have set the LORD always before me”: as this podium is in front of me, as that table is before you, David placed God in front of him, facing him.
- “Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved”: For David, God’s omnipresence was not some abstract doctrine to meditate on; it was as real as the floor he walked on and the food he ate! “God is everywhere” doesn’t just mean “God is in China and in Mexico right now”; it also means, “God is right in front of me, and God is right beside me.” He is at my right hand; I lean on Him. This wall will one day fall or be knocked down. The pillars that Samson leaned on broke apart and took the building down with them. But God is a pillar that will not wobble or fall over—and therefore, neither will David.
- “Therefore my heart is glad”: the part of me that knows, and that makes choices, is happy because it knows what it means to be this close to God!
- “and my glory rejoices”: everything that I have that is worthy anything—money, house, car, skill with my hands, knowledge, the respect my friends have for me, everything in me or around me that is honorable, it all quivers with joy!...because it knows that God is with me.
- “My flesh also will rest in hope”: David’s body feels the gladness of his heart, and it too is comforted and relaxes. It has nothing to be afraid of.

Exposition, part 2: You, and every Christian—So you say, “That was David. He was the king of Israel, he was called a man after God’s own heart, Jesus picked him as one of His ancestors, he got to write half of the biggest book in the Bible! But what about me?”

Do you wonder if any of those things could possibly apply to you? Do you think, “Well, that’s all right for David to say, but I’m just not ‘there’ spiritually?” Are you thinking that right now?

But consider this: David knew these blessings before Jesus came, as a foretaste. But now Jesus is here, and you are in Him, and He is in you—all of Him, the same God whom David knew.

Wherever the Spirit of God is, all of God is. Now David received all these blessings because he had the Spirit, but he was afraid and prayed that God would not take His Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). But on Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit on every member of His Church, and He has never taken His presence away. You are in that Church and belong to it, which means that the Spirit of God is yours too.

So pray this prayer with David—Psalm 51:10-12—and receive God’s answer right here in this worship service. It’s obvious that He has not cast you away from His presence—He’s talking to you! He’s feeding you! He’s giving you His own body to eat and His own blood to drink! He is saving you, right here, today, and tomorrow, and every day until the last day. He has begun a good work in you, and He will complete it.

So the Psalms are not just David’s song—they’re yours too. Everything that David says about his God here is true for you too, because you belong to the same God. If anything, you can have even greater hope in God than David did. He put his faith in the Lord in the early glimmerings of the sunrise, but now the Sun, Christ, has risen on you, and full daylight has come, to give you hope.

Let’s go through these statements again.

v. 5—The LORD is your portion, your inheritance, your feast, yours to possess, even as you belong (body and soul, in life and in death) to Him.

v. 6—He draws your property lines. He watches over your bank account.

v. 7—He gives you counsel in the daytime, and He speaks to you in sleepless nights.

v. 9—He is a plenty good reason for your heart to be glad, everything you have to rejoice, and your fleshy body to relax in hope.

v. 10—He will take care of your future. You may die, but you won’t stay dead. Because Jesus wasn’t left to rot in the grave, you also (chosen in Him) can be sure that your body won’t be left to rot forever.

v. 11—He will point out the path of life to you—the path that starts with life, that is life, and that leads to life that lasts forever. In His presence are unlimited joys, and in His right hand are unending delights.

Everything good that you always wanted, in its best and purest form, is with Him—and much, much more.

Response: Prayer, and being in His presence—What is left out of the list above? The heart of the whole matter, and the best part of all! Here it is in verse 8:

“I have set the LORD
always before me;
Because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”

No matter how true all the blessings in all the rest of this psalm may be, how will you ever truly know them unless you do something about them? He is present—so make Him present to you! He is infinite delight—so delight yourself in the LORD! He is all-sufficient for all needs—so let Him be the fulfillment of all that you need!

But there’s a catch: If you set the LORD before you, He will be always before you. You cannot have Him near you so that you can call on Him in hard times, and then dismiss Him like a slave if you don’t feel like having Him nearby any more. He is the kindest of masters to those who love Him, but the hardest of tyrants to those who are stupid enough to get into a power struggle with Him.

So then, set Him always before you as your delight, and He will truly be a delight to you always! Let these Scriptures guide the way you actually live your daily and hourly life:

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 25:14-15 The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Psalm 42:1-2, 8 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?.... The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me -- A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 63
Psalm 119:147-148, 164 I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word…. Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.
Ephesians 6:17-18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --
Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Let your mind be like a compass that turns toward the north as soon as the needle is released. Every moment that you can, turn your thoughts to your Lord—when you first wake up in the morning, when you are in the shower, while you eat, when you are driving, throughout your day of work, at the moment you finish in the evening, when you are waiting for someone to come or something to happen, during the last moments before you fall asleep at night, and when you wake up during the night. Let God be your mind’s feast at every possible moment. Choose Him, and He will show Himself to be worthy of your choice and more, because He chose you first.

Psalm 16

A Michtam of David.

Preserve me, O God,
for in You I put my trust.
O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
"You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You."
As for the saints who are on the earth,
"They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
nor take up their names on my lips.
O LORD,You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
my flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life;
in Your presence is fullness of joy;
at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

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Sydney closes doors to apostate U.S. bishop

The Anglican archbishop of Sydney (Australia) has banned retired Episcopalian bishop John Shelby Spong from preaching in any of the churches of the Sydney diocese. The Rt. Rev. Peter Jensen gave this order in response to another Australian bishop's invitation for Spong to preach in St. John's Cathedral, and to give a public lecture at St. Aidan's Anglican Girls School (both in Brisbane).

Spong is well known for his denial of almost all the essential truths of the Christian faith--including the existence of a transcendent God, the deity of Christ, the fall of man, the Virgin Birth, the miracles of the New Testament, the atoning power of Christ's death, Christ's physical resurrection and ascension, the moral authority of the Bible, the efficacy of prayer, and the hope of life after death. He has also worked to subvert traditional Biblical gender roles in the Church, by (among other things) agitating for the ordination of women and homosexuals as priests. Despite these things, he was permitted to continue serving as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, until his retirement in 2000. Since then he has maintained an active schedule of speaking and writing and is influential in some Anglican circles.

This latest discord over Spong, between two Australian Anglican archbishops, is the most recent in a series of fractures that have appeared in the Anglican Communion. This denomination numbering almost 80 million members worldwide seems to be headed for a major schism, unless God intervenes to prevent it, over a cluster of disagreements rooted in different views of the authority of Scripture.

(Sources include Christian Post and The Australian.)

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The anti-creation and its aftermath

After the beginning, man deformed the heavens and the earth.

Then the earth was again formless, and void;
and the light became dull over the face of the deep,
because the spirit of man was cowering over the face of the waters.

And man said, "Let there be darkness,"
and there was darkness.
And man saw the darkness, that it was pleasant;
and man loved the darkness rather than the light,
and he separated himself from the light,
and remained in the darkness.
And man called the darkness "Light,"
and the light he called "Darkness."
And the evening and the morning were the first day.

And man said, "Let there be firmaments
between me and the waters,
so that I may gain power over the waters."
And man built his cities
of wood and stone, iron and concrete,
and he seeded the clouds and dammed the rivers,
and took dominion over the waters,
but his heart hated the waters even as he dominated them.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.

And man said, "Let the waters be gathered to serve me,
and let the plants of the earth, and their fruits,
be mine and not another's."
And man fought great wars over earth and water and crops,
and he created great famines,
and many men died in the wars and by the famines,
and yet man when he was victorious thought that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.

And man said, "Let there be light in the darkness,
and darkness in the midst of the day,
and let the signs and the seasons,
the days and the years,
be confused."
And man made little lights
in imitation of the great lights of heaven,
and he set them throughout the night,
so that his toil might never cease,
and with the smog of his cities
he turned the day into darkness.
And man mingled day and night,
and turned them all into dim and cheerless pallor;
and man thought that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

And man said, "Let the waters be polluted with toxic wastes,
and let the open firmament of heaven
be choked with noxious fumes."
And man deadened sea and sky
with oil spills and plumes of smoke,
and with the wreckage of ships and planes from his wars,
and with human corpses;
and man thought that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

And man said, "Let our will be done
upon the living creatures of the earth;
let them exist solely for our pleasure,
and let our hatred be poured out on them."
And man hunted and killed the living creatures
and the beasts of the earth,
not for food, nor for protection,
but only to take away life.
And man cut down forests and made pasturelands barren,
and many animals died for no purpose, and left a void behind,
and man thought that it was good.

Then man said, "Let us make god in our image, after our likeness;
and let god be our servant, and serve us;
and thus let us fulfill our will upon the earth."
So man created god in his own image,
in the image of man he created him;
male and female he created it.
And man cursed the god that he had made, and man said to it,
"Be sterile, and diminish;
and let your name remain in the temples, and on the coins,
and in the mouths of the simple,
but let our will alone have dominion."

And in the name of the god whom man had made,
he turned against the God who had made man,
and nailed Him to a tree stripped of its branches.
Though God took flesh that man might live,
man seized that flesh, that God might die,
and man alone might be exalted in that day!

And man saw everything that he had done,
and behold, though the earth was ruined,
he thought it very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were darkened
by the sinfulness of man.
And on the seventh day man sought rest
from all his work which he had done,
but though he had labored and toiled long,
his soul was not satisfied,
and his heart brooded on in the darkness.

And very early on the eighth day,
which was the first day of the week,
some women who still sought after their crucified God
found the stone rolled away from His tomb,
but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Then two men appeared to them in shining garments,
and said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, He is risen!"

For God Himself stripped gods and men of strength,
and rose on high, to reign and come again.
Before Him all must bow the knee, in heaven and on earth,
for He it is who says, "Behold,
I am making all things new!"

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Early Christian rock

Slate published an article last week looking into some of the most striking Christian rock musicians of the 1960s and '70s, and those who influenced them.

Both "this present age" and the next, both righteousness and wickedness, show themselves unmistakably in these few paragraphs. The Jesus People movement and Christian rock did much to remake American Christendom in the second half of the twentieth century, both for good and for ill. The Lord God does not accomplish His purposes on earth in a vacuum. People like Lonnie Frisbee--an ex-druggie hippie youth minister, instrumental to the growth of both Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement, but who struggled with homosexuality and eventually died of AIDS--are the kind of people we ought to expect to encounter in the Christian Church. We are, after all, a people still stretched out between sin and righteousness, hoping against hope for a salvation that is as certain as God's promise.

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"With All Your Might"

Notes for another sermon that I preached at a small church fellowship:

"With All Your Might"
Text: Ecclesiastes 9:10-18

Introduction: This world is a complicated place to live in. God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over the earth; but since the Fall, the serpent and the earth often seem to have dominion over mankind. Instead of man mastering his work and the circumstances of his life, work and circumstances threaten to master him.

The Preacher (a.k.a. Solomon "son of David, king in Jerusalem"), in his dry and level-headed way, analyzes the situation with all of its ironies...and points the way to a solution.

I. Work while you still can! (v. 10)

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going."

Might is strength, power, ability, efficiency, capability to produce. Pour yourself and your strength into your work, whatever that may be!--a job, school, marriage, remodeling your home, discipling a younger believer, drawing near to God through worship and Scripture and prayer.

Pour out your energy on what comes to your hand, not what is out of your grasp. It is foolish and useless to spend your time and strength dreaming about what is not yours to have. If it is good, and you have a chance at it, go for it! But if you know that it is unattainable, don't waste time daydreaming about it. Work and speak and think for the glory of God, right there in the position where He has placed you, making the forward progress that is possible from that position. 1 Cor. 7:20-24. It is better to be free than to be a slave; but wherever you are, you are God's, and you ought to act like it!

Proverbs 23:6-8--"as he thinks in his heart, so is he." You will become like whatever you dwell on. If your mind is directed by the Spirit of God, your ways will come to resemble the ways of God. (What are those ways? Love; creativity; service; sacrifice; mission.) If you dwell on what you cannot have, you will become bitter and unfruitful. Phil. 4:8-9. Find out who in your life is like Christ, is worthy of imitation, and then follow the good you see in them! Then do, with all your might, whatever your hand can reach. The caves in Hannibal, Missouri, and the true story behind Tom Sawyer: Injun John gave up trying to get out, and died within feet of the open air. Do not give up, but keep working at whatever task is already within your grasp; if you persevere, you will soon break through to the freedom that you long for.

Work your hardest on whatever you can, as long as you still have opportunity. There is a long sleep ahead of you between your death and the resurrection of the body. Phil. 1:21-26. Even Paul, torn between ministry on earth and being with the Lord in heaven, chose to be on earth a while longer for the sake of those Christians whom he could not help any longer if he was taken into heaven. John 9:1-5. As long as you are in the world, you too are the light of the world as disciples of Jesus (Matt. 5:14-16). Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might!

II. The goodness of wisdom in the midst of futility (vv. 11-15)

When you "turn" and take a good look at the world "under the sun," this is what you see: excellence often doesn't pay. Under the sun, it's often true that nice guys finish last. The fast runners lose, the great warriors die, the wise starve, the intelligent are poor, and even those who are in the know don't get the good breaks (v. 11). Under the sun, the death of man (who is made in God's image) looks just as senseless as the death of animals (v. 12). Because of Adam and his sin, we all have been laboring under a curse (quite literally) ever since that bad beginning (Genesis 3:17-19). In spite of the sun’s brightness, the world it looks down on is a very dark one.

Worse, it can look like even wisdom does no good (vv. 13-15). The poor wise man rescued the town from destruction--bravo! But once the thrill of victory passed, no one remembered him. "Under the sun," wisdom itself can look as worthless and vain as all the rest of the world's tiresome activities.

We are tempted to say, "Well, that's just reality! Deal with it." But this life "under the sun" is not the whole story, as Solomon (the author of Ecclesiastes) himself tells us. Proverbs 4:18--The path of the righteous is like the sunrise, becoming brighter and brighter, until the sun itself will disappear and only righteousness will remain; that will be the true daylight, and not just this temporary life "under the sun." Proverbs 15:24--For the wise, the way of life winds upward, ultimately taking him right out of the reach of Sheol (the grave/hell).

The key is to look higher than the sun, to Him who will shine as brightly as ever when the need for the sun’s light has disappeared forever (Revelation 21:22-27). He alone makes wisdom worthwhile, and work, and strength, and intelligence, and all good things. Without Him, these things are dust and ashes. But if you are in Him, you will outlive both prosperity and ruin and come at last into a kingdom that has no end, beyond the reach of all pains and sorrows and disillusionments.

In that place, even that poor but wise man whom no one remembered will have his just reward—not a bit too little, and not a moment too late.

III. A clear-eyed hymn of praise to wisdom (vv. 16-18)

Wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom saved the city when strength could not--
even though the poor man is despised and no longer listened to. (Cf. Winston Churchill's defeat in the British elections of July 1945--and yet his courageous leadership in the war was still worth the cost!)

The quiet words of the wise are better than the shouts of those who rule over fools--
even though the wise often find few to listen to them! (But those few wise disciples are more powerful than all the fools in the world who oppose them. Just think of the victory that the twelve apostles of Christ and their followers won over all the political, military, and religious power in the world!)

Wisdom is better than the weapons of battle--
even though one sinner can wreck many good beginnings! (If wisdom is necessary for victory in open battle, it is even more necessary when your friends betray you.)

Conclusion: In Solomon's words, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14...God's coming judgment of every work and every secret thing, both good and evil, will cause all things in heaven and on earth to come out right. "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small" (Friedrich von Logau, trans. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

John 21:15-22. In the joys and in the moral outrages of life, the Lord Jesus tests and purifies your love for Him, and through it all He calls you to follow Him. So what if your wisdom leads to dishonor in the eyes of the world? So what if your faithfulness ends in frustration and persecution? So what if you die young, and your brother stays alive until Jesus' return? That is not your concern. Your call is to follow Him. Your task is to seek wisdom and live by it, no matter what the consequences, because at the end of all things you will see that the results are truly "very good." And whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

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Life and death: Son Jong Nam in North Korea

On Wednesday of this week, North Korea added its voice to the calls for Taliban forces in Afghanistan to release their 21 remaining South Korean hostages, who were kidnapped while on a Christian charitable mission there. The deputy director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying, "We hope that South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan could return home safely." He added, "It is the consistent stance that our republic is opposed to all kinds of terrorism."

Also on Wednesday, Crosswalk.com reported (on behalf of Voice of the Martyrs) that former North Korean army officer Son Jong Nam is on death row in North Korea, facing public execution by Kim Jong-il's government for his evangelistic activities. Mr. Son was sentenced to death for being a "national traitor" and "receiving Christianity." (A similar report about Mr. Son's case is available here.)

So I ask you, President Kim: do you really value Koreans' lives? Why should you urge the Taliban to spare South Korean Christians, when you sentence your own citizens to death simply for confessing that same Christ?

If you would like to do something tangible to support our brother Son Jong Nam, you can do so by going to Voice of the Martyrs' prisoner advocacy website to find out how to pray for Mr. Son, how to write to him, or how to write to North Korean officials to ask for his release.

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"Put Away the Foreign Gods"

Notes for a sermon that I preached yesterday at Covenant Reformed Fellowship in Greeley, Colorado:

"Put Away the Foreign Gods"
Text: Joshua 24:14-28

Introduction: The historical situation: the people had come out of Egypt, passed through the wilderness, conquered the land under Joshua, and settled in their territories. Here Joshua gives them a farewell address and renews the covenant between the Lord and the people before his death.

In many ways, you are like the people that Joshua addressed. God has redeemed you from this present evil age and set you apart for Himself as a holy people, just as He ransomed His people from Israel and brought them out to be His own. Just as they were led to conquest and settled triumphantly in a promised land under Joshua, you also have been led to victory and prosperity in a new life under One who also bears Joshua's name--Jesus, "The Lord Is Salvation." So Joshua's message is one that applies to you today, as well. That day Israel heard a message from their commander and captain, but you today are gathered to hear the words of the Commander of the Lord's Army, who is Christ Himself.

Joshua's call to the people: serve the Lord, not the gods your fathers served and not the gods of the pagans in the land where you are living (vv. 14-15). It is hard to serve the Lord, but this is your choice and your duty as the people of God; this is your life!

I. The false gods of the fathers: Proud individualism

The conquest and settlement of America: Strong and hardy individuals, alone or in small groups, pioneers and frontiersmen--John Smith in Jamestown; the Pilgrims; Daniel Boone; Davy Crockett; cf. the myths of Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. "The American dream"--self-made men rising out of poverty by their own hard work and determination. This is what we honor and seek to imitate. We like to set out on our own, wanting to make a life for ourselves, and thinking that we are right by belonging to our own little subgroup with our own preferences and characteristics, within the great American market of individual preferences.

Even in the Church, we think of the courageous individuals who stand against the current of their time--Abraham setting forth to go to Canaan, Augustine standing against the heretic Pelagius, Martin Luther opposing the evils of the Roman Catholicism of his day, George Whitefield traveling and preaching. We forget that each of them had a household, a group of companions, or a Church body that surrounded them and gave them much of their strength. And we forget those who served God as united groups, which is normally His way—-the children of Israel setting forth in faith from Egypt, six hundred thousand men on foot; the company of the prophets who surrounded Samuel and prophesied together with him; the twelve apostles standing together to preach Christ in the midst of one hundred twenty assembled brothers, and the thousands who soon joined with them; and the churches that gathered together to listen to the preaching of Paul, of Chrysostom, of Ambrose, of John Calvin and the other Reformers. The Lord works through individual people, but He does so not to exalt them in themselves, but to build them together into a united body.

Romans 14:7-8; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 12:4-5

Modern families think nothing of living far apart and having independent lives; husband and wife each make a career for themselves, and children (if there are any) recede into the background; people choose the church that best suits their own needs and preferences, even if they have to drive past ten other churches to get to it.

Families, churches, and social gatherings are seen (wrongly!) as assemblies of individuals, rather than cohesive bodies with diverse but interdependent "members."

II. The false gods of the fathers: Legalism

Part of the basic orientation of the proud, sinful human heart: self-salvation through conformity to clearly marked-out rules. But eternal life is knowing God, not doing some thing or following a list of do's and don'ts. John 17:3; Mark 10:17—-like the Pharisees, this young man who approached Jesus had good deeds on the surface, but a heart that was in rebellion against God underneath.

Galatians 2:16--justification is not by works of law, but by trusting in a Person. The life that God has established is not mechanical, but personal; not a system that runs smoothly when its laws are obeyed, but a family held together by bonds of love and trust.

The rules that are established as if to keep you from the slavery of sin, only bring you into a new slavery while having no power to take away sin: Colossians 2:20-23.

Rules that often appear in churches: Don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, don't dance, don't play cards, women don't wear pants, etc. Or the "new legalisms": do you have an automatic negative reaction to a married woman having a job (even part-time) outside the home? Christian parents sending their children to school rather than home-schooling them? Children living at a distance from their parents? (Of course, there is a certain wisdom involved as you make your own choices about these things, but don't make them a club to beat others with. Don't take ways to life and turn them into a way of death!)

Critically compare the standards you use to evaluate others, against the ones you use for yourself. You won't get away with being too easy on yourself, having a double standard! Matthew 7:1-3.

III. The false gods of the land: American nationalism

The prophets warned the people repeatedly that merely living in Israel, or Judah, guaranteed nothing. It is bad enough when people merely trust their membership in the Church for salvation despite the open rebellion that appears in their life. How much worse when a dim memory of America as a "Christian nation" justifies everything done by American rulers and citizens! Jeremiah 7:1-15. If Judah, the holy people of God, had no guarantee of physical security, how much less does America have any such guarantee!

A sign of secular political idolatry in the U.S.: George W. Bush's second inaugural address, which has been said to give a "messianic" role to American political/military power around the world. Consider these quotes:

"There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom."
“We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right."
"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul."

Christ's principle (Luke 20:20-25): Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. A penny has an image of Lincoln, and a dollar bill of Washington: presidents of a secular country, in which we still live. But you bear the image of God. Give to Him what is His.

IV. The false gods of the land: Spontaneity

This idol is nourished and built up by the individualism that we have inherited from our fathers. If what matters is myself and my preferences, then my choices at any moment are valid and I do not need to submit myself to any outside discipline.

Hebrews 5:14—-the need to grow to maturity as Christians, not remain infants spiritually!

Jeremiah 6:16—walk in the old paths. In worship, in family life, in theology, in personal holiness, we need to acknowledge the truth that the eternal God builds up good things through the steady growth of many years. Like Jonah's vine, what springs up overnight often withers overnight. Abraham had to wait twenty-five years to receive Isaac, and by then he was justified and renamed, settled in the land, and ready to obtain the long-awaited promise. But he gave in to the temptation to lose patience and bring about the promised good immediately, the result was Ishmael—a plague and a grief to the people of God from that day until the present.

Don't expect yourself, your family, your church, to reach its full glory in a day or a year. Constantly keep building, patiently, in faith, toward the promised outcome.

Conclusion: Serving the Lord (review of Joshua 24:14-28)

It is not easy to serve the Lord. He permits no compromises, no half-hearted efforts. You cannot remain divided between Him and another master.

You have come here today to gather with His people, to confess your sins to Him and receive His pardon, to hear His Word preached, to eat and drink at His table. You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him! And you are witnesses for one another, as well--not to destroy, but to build up, to encourage and to strengthen one another to continue serving the Lord.

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Dead in Afghanistan: Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu (1965-2007)

Korean and other news sources are reporting that the Korean volunteer worker killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday was Bae Hyung-kyu, a pastor and co-founder of Saemmul Presbyterian Church. Rev. Bae was killed on his forty-second birthday.

A friend, Pastor Park Won-hi, recalled, "I still vividly remember Hyung-kyu saving a life by dissuading a young man from attempting suicide while he was doing volunteer work at a library.... As part of his nature, he liked helping others...and he just could not pass by without helping others in need."

Rev. Bae had been the leader of the group of 23 Koreans who traveled to Afghanistan to provide free medical care and were taken hostage by Taliban rebels. He left behind a wife and a nine-year-old daughter, as well as many grieving parishioners.

"When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. " -Revelation 6:9-11

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One Korean hostage murdered, eight released

Earlier today, one of the South Korean Christians being held hostage by the Taliban was found dead with ten bullet holes in his body. Just as throughout much of this ordeal, there were conflicting stories about the reason for his death. Self-proclaimed Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi stated that the man was killed because Taliban demands to release other fighters from prison had not been met. But an anonymous source said the Korean was shot because he was sick and couldn't keep up with the others.

Meanwhile, eight of the hostages--six women and two men--were released to the main U.S. base in Ghazni province. That leaves twelve women and two men still being held captive out of the original group of 23 Koreans kidnapped last Friday.

Pray for courage and peace for these sisters and brothers of ours. They came to Afghanistan to serve the people in the love of Christ, and for this they have been made to suffer. Pray also for a German and five Afghans who are being held hostage in similar circumstances. One German from the original group has already died.

(Source: Bullet-riddled body of S. Korean hostage found [AP/MSNBC].)

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23 Korean Christians held hostage in Afghanistan

Taliban personnel announced on Monday that they will wait until Tuesday evening before they begin killing 23 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan. The Koreans, Christians on a brief visit to Afghanistan to do charitable work, were kidnapped in Ghazni province on Friday.

The hostages are members of Saemmul Community Church in Bundang (just south of Seoul) and had come to Afghanistan intending to volunteer in hospitals and kindergartens from July 13 to July 23. Initial reports said that the Taliban were holding them hostage and would begin killing them if South Korea did not recall the 210 troops it has currently serving in Afghanistan. However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said on Saturday that the hostages themselves were guilty of carrying out illegal "missionary activities." He added, "Afghanistan is an Islamic republic where conversion from Islam or attempting to convert Muslims is regarded as a serious crime in several areas."

The South Korean government is negotiating with the Taliban to free the hostages. Meanwhile, the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo criticized Korean missionary efforts in an editorial, arguing, "It is simply futile for Koreans to engage in missionary or other religious activities in a country like Afghanistan, which has a history of deep hatred toward Christianity and is wracked by gunfights, kidnappings and suicide bombings.... Religious groups should realize once and for all that dangerous missionary and volunteer activities in Islamic countries including Afghanistan not only harm Korea's national objectives, but also put other Koreans under a tremendous amount of duress." But the victims' pastor, Rev. Bang Young-gyun, denied that his parishioners' activities in Afghanistan had been "missionary works." He announced that any of his church's humanitarian projects that were "unwanted" by Afghans would be suspended, and those working in such programs would be returned home to Korea.

Other sources: Taliban extend hostage deadline (Al Jazeera), 18 Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan (AP), South Korean kidnap victims' church halts some volunteer work in Afghanistan (International Herald Tribune).

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The symbols and the Reality

What do the following sentences mean?

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.... That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." -John 1:4, 9

"Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.'" -John 6:32

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." -John 15:1

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her... 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I am speaking concerning Christ and the church." -Ephesians 5:25, 31-32

There are other lights, and there is the true Light. Moses is not the giver of bread from heaven, because the true Bread is the Son of Man, and He is also the true Vine. Becoming one flesh is a great mystery, and the true subject of that mystery is Christ and the church.

He is the true Light; what then, in this world, is light? It is that which is like Him in His brightness.

He is the true Bread. By what right, then, do we call this baked stuff bread? Because it imitates the One who is truly Bread: this comes down from heaven and mingles with that which is on earth, it springs up only to be plucked and crushed, but finally emerges from fire and darkness to become life and strength to the world. (It is "bread" because it always relives the history of the true Bread.)

He is the true Vine. How dare we call these humble plants by His name? Because in their own way they too are His disciples: they pour their own life into fruit and offer it to sustain, to refresh, to make hearts glad.

The "great mystery" of marriage is a mystery about Christ and the church. What do the groom and the bride in each earthbound little wedding have to do with such cosmic glories? He is Christ to her, and she is Church to him. The one true Husband condescends to let this man fill His role, and opposite them both the Church offers Her place to this woman.

Again, He is the true Light. Whatever else is called "light" has its name not of itself, but by His courtesy. To speak of "light" is to use a metaphor--as if the brightness of a lamp, or of the sun, were itself the Eternal! Likewise with bread, vine, husband: we call these things by His names, and it makes sense, because in their various ways they remind us of Him.

But even so, is it really that simple? No! "Light" is not merely a symbol of Him, as we understand symbols. When the sun shines on us, He Himself is shining on us. When we eat and drink, it is His own life in the form of bread and wine that comes into us, that conveys His own strength to our muscles and bones. At the wedding, He (the Head) is Himself in him, and She (the Body) is Herself in her. "In Him all things consist."

All of what we call "light" is nothing other than the shining of the True Light. "Bread," "vine," "marriage": it is He at the center of each of them that makes them what they are.

"Bread" that was not saturated with His presence would not be bread. But then, "bread" that was not saturated with His presence would not even be.

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