Every disciple will acknowledge that to disobey a clear command from the Scriptures is an act of sin. All disobedience is sin. Thus, when the word of God commands us, “to be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6) and we are, nevertheless, anxious and fearful, we are guilty of sin. That statement is not intended to oversimplify fear inside the human breast, but it is intended to identify fear for what it is – sin. “Through the Law comes the knowledge if sin (Romans 3:20),” and when the Lord Jesus Himself and His apostles and the LORD and His prophets in the Old Testament all repeatedly command followers of the Lord not to fear, we must confess our fear as disobedience to the clear commands of Scripture, which is sin.

Fear is sin! This necessary confession orients us rightly to our fear. Our fear is sin, and fear not only disobeys the Lord’s commands, but it also reveals distrust of the Lord, which further calls into question His power and His ability to keep His promises to His children. All fear is sin and is the result of sin and will lead to further sin if not confessed and repented of.

What I want to do with this article is to offer thoughts and Scripture verses to provide the disciple of Jesus with weapons to fight against fear and to put fear to death.

First, then, much of our fear is the product of not taking every thought captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) and instead allowing our thoughts to go where bad habits of thought take them. This leads the mind into places that remind us of past failures and that produce anger and regret and frustration and worry in our mind. The prowling enemy (1 Peter 5:8) finds us as an easy target, because we are already moving toward the pit. What to do? Arrest the trajectory of your thinking! Immediately interrupt your thought pattern and instead drive your mind into a place of biblical obedience. When thoughts head down toward the abyss, have a ready command of Scripture to obey. The Bible is full of commands to obey and it is the disciple’s responsibility to have several paths of obedience to walk to arrest poor thinking. As one simple example, immediately meditate on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “rejoice always! Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.” Force your mind and your will into these three simple steps of obedience. “Rejoice always.” Consider all the places in the Scripture that call us to rejoice. Lift up your voice and cry out with joy to the Lord. “Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 12:6).” “Pray without ceasing.” Focus on praying – NOW! Force out all distractions and pray for the souls of those lost people that you know. Pray for your pastor. Pray for your local church. Pray that God will make you more useful to Him and to others. Pray that God would teach you humility or generosity. Pray that God would vanquish your pride. “In everything give thanks.” Spend time thanking God for all that He has given you that you did not deserve and certainly did not earn by your own efforts. List as many things as you can think of for which to thank the Lord, then spend time thinking Him for these. The point is that the mind must be controlled and the thoughts captured so that energy and thought are directed into obedient channels and prevented from going into dead ends and into an abyss of uselessness.

Second, confess your fear as sin and REPENT! This combination of confession and repentance is a powerful tool in the disciple’s arsenal. CONFESS fear as sin and agree with the Lord that fear is so. Explicitly confess fear as sin. “I have done what the Lord specifically commands me not to do; that is sin!” Agree with the Lord about your sin. You have violated His law and you again need the cleansing of the Savior. Now REPENT of the sin. Turn away from this sin and resolve to not repeat it. Create a strategy for future obedience and then carry out the strategy. Discipline yourself for godliness.

Third, meditate on Scripture and immerse your mind with the word of God. Fill your thoughts so full of the Bible that no stray and vicious thought can insinuate itself into your head and drag you into the abyss or into despair. Have ready at hand the sharpest arrows of the word of God that you know. When the enemy pulls you down or when circumstances threaten to overwhelm and to cause pangs of fear, “Cry aloud with your voice to the LORD; Make supplication with your voice to the LORD (Psalm 142:1).” Bring your favorite passages from the Word to bear on the fear and watch the fear fade and melt away. Indeed, the Word is like a fire and like a hammer that shatters a rock (Jeremiah 23:29). Take the sword of the Spirit out of its sheath and wield it as a potent weapon and you will prevail.

Fourth, I offer a “shotgun” of different ideas that will hopefully take you away from the place of anxiety and worry and fear.

• Are there places you will not allow your mind to go because those thoughts take you into depression? (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) Put up guardrails and stop signs for your thoughts and then obey all traffic laws! When you are going in that direction, do you actively STOP and then replace unhelpful thoughts with positive and obedient and helpful?
• Meditate on Psalm 131 and realize that there are many things that are “great matters” and “things too difficult for me.” Since that is the case, be ready to acknowledge the Lord’s power and allow His might and power to descend upon you as a source of peace and comfort. Pride leads to pressure, but resting in the Lord leads to peace.
• Remember the Bible’s commands and then hunger for righteousness and obedience. Romans 8:28-30; 8:31-39; Phil. 4:6-7; Matthew 6:25-34; Psalm 34:4-6; Isaiah 41:10; 43:1-7.
• Are you actively praying against all your fears? The Lord has promised to vanquish our enemies and to bring us to heaven. Are you living in that light? When you sense that you are growing fearful and you are feeling the tightness in your gut, are you actively and consciously and reflexively beginning to pray to the Lord?

I think that, if you will continually do these simple things, your fears will be driven away.

SDG       rmb       4/18/2018

Recently the Lord has impressed upon me the importance of submitting to my elders. Part of my covenant with my local church is loving and supporting and submitting to my elders “as those who will give an account (Hebrews 13:17).” They have assumed the responsibility for my soul as those who will give an account to the Lord for how well they have shepherded me. They have shouldered the burden of guarding the flock and making sure that wolves and heretics are kept out. And yet they are men, mere mortal men like me, men beset with weakness and sin, just like me. They are men who are prone to discouragement and are men whom the devil would delight to damage. The Bible commands me to support them and to submit to them, not because they are perfect leaders (for how hard would it be to submit to perfect leaders?), but because they need my support and I need to support them for my spiritual growth. How can I best show my love and support to men such as these? Is it not in listening to them and in following their godly leadership? When they show their love for their Savior and their love for us through faithful teaching of the Scripture and through diligent prayer for the sheep, should I not respond to that with  a spirit of submission and respect? May it never be said that I was an accomplice of the devil by being one of those who discouraged my elders and who created discord and disunity in the flock.

The following are some thoughts that I had in this regard that may be worth considering:

“Submitting to elders is a Scriptural commandment and is, therefore, a mark of sanctification. It is also for my spiritual good because it promotes humility. The nature of submission is that it is uncomfortable and hard. The flesh hates submission, which in itself is one great reason to submit.

The unity of the fellowship is a very high value (1 Corinthians 3:17). It is the church for whom Christ died (Ephesians 5:25, etc.). The local church submits to godly leadership.

Submission, even obedient, appropriate submission, is hard and militates against our fleshly pride. Because this is the case, we should SEEK OUT opportunities to submit as a means of vanquishing or at least subduing our persistent pride.

Of the four submission commands in 1 Peter, the one that brings with it the most joy is the submission to our beloved elders. We love these men. They will most gladly spend and be expended for our souls (2 Cor. 12:15). They have voluntarily chosen to love and care for and shepherd us so that we know Jesus and will go to heaven when we die. It is a joy for me to make their work a joy for them.

The responsibility before God for leading the local church falls on the shoulders of the elders. The congregation may give input, and should give input, but at the end of the day they are to submit to the elders, even if they disagree with the elders specific decision or teaching.

Finally, there are several Scriptures that should be considered in this regard. In addition to the ones already mentioned (Hebrews 13:17, 1 Peter 5:5), it is also instructive to study carefully 1 Timothy 5:17-18 (elders are worthy of double honor) and Numbers 12, in which Aaron and Miriam rise up in protest against their brother Moses and are severely rebuked by the LORD. I think there is a lesson here that we should be very cautious when protesting against or rebelling against those who are appointed by the Lord.

I will obey the Bible’s commands to love and submit to godly elders as they lead us and follow Christ.     SDG     rmb     4/11/2018

 

As we examine this verse briefly, there are several other considerations to keep in mind.

This verse should be considered in concert with other biblical teaching on submission to leaders, particularly 1 Peter 5:5. It should also be remembered that SUBMITTING weakens the FLESH, demonstrates obedience and encourages the godly leader. In my own life, I find that my flesh is always in need of weakening. Here is a weapon against the flesh.

On the other hand, OBEDIENCE strengthens the spirit of the disciple and brings great reward.

CLEAR COMMANDS

In my own spiritual growth and study of Scripture, I have been struck recently by the simplicity of the Christian life. Life in Christ is a life of obedience to the clear commands of the word of God. Therefore, when the disciple of Christ discovers clear commands in the word of God, the reflex response should be to obey those commands.

Here in Hebrews 13:17, as in 1 Peter 5:5, we have a clear command to submit to the leaders of the church. It is important to note that this submission is not conditional. It is not conditioned on our assessment of the qualifications of our leaders or on my judgment of their biblical knowledge, nor is my submission based on my agreement with everything that they decide to do or ask me to do. In essence, I do not get a vote about what they do, and I am nevertheless called to do what they instruct me to do. That is what it means to submit.

MEANS TO HUMILITY

One of the rarest and most Christ-like of all spiritual virtues is humility; and submitting leads to humility. Submitting is one of the means God has given us to grow in humility, but it does so only with years of practice. Humility as a lifestyle does not come easily or quickly. Rather, humility is gained over time as the sin of pride is identified, is confessed and is repented of and as the flesh is gradually and consistently weakened. As has been said well, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but it is thinking of yourself less.”

All believers should seek out opportunities to humble themselves and should praise the Lord when He presents to us an opportunity to exercise humility.

IMPERATIVE VERBS

In this verse (Hebrews 13:17), “Obey” and “submit” are both imperatives. Thus these are commands. “Obey” is the action, while “submit” is the attitude. If there are other parts of this verse that are not crystal clear, “obey” and “submit” are clear. In the Scriptures, commands are first to be obeyed and then later to be understood. In fact, the only required action of the disciple is obedience to the command. Because we trust the COMMANDER, then we do not require a justification of the command. In other words, our trust in the Lord makes the question, “Why am I doing this?” unnecessary. I am obeying a command of the Lord because the Lord has commanded me to do so. I obey the commands of Scripture because I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a follower of Jesus obeys the commands of Scripture. My default, then, in this verse is to seek to obey and to submit to my leaders.

Now sometimes in God’s infinite mercy and grace, He will tell me why and give me further explanation. In fact, here is this verse, the author gives several justifications for the action that is commanded, and we will look at those in detail later, but my point here is that whether or not the Scripture adds reasons for a command, the command is to be obeyed. The disciple of Christ obeys the commands given in Scripture . . . period. And here the command is clear. “Obey your leaders and submit (to them).”

ACCOUNTABLE

“. . . for they keep watch as those who will give an account.”

Here we see that leaders in the church are responsible for the decisions they make because they will give an account. The leaders are accountable to God for the way they have shepherded those souls that have been entrusted to them.

“Let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you.”

This has applications for both the leaders and for those who are led by them.

APPLICATIONS:

For the leaders, the application is indeed sobering. The Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) is watching to see if the “under-shepherds” are taking their positions seriously and if they are leading humbly and prayerfully. Are they making their decisions and leading their flock by studying the word of God and by praying without ceasing and by listening to the Holy Spirit?

For those who are led, their obedience and submission are motivated by a love for the leaders that Christ has placed over them and by a desire to see those leaders encouraged and to see those leaders filled with joy. My submission to my leaders strengthens the entire church and causes Christ’s light to shine brighter.

But also note that the verse ends with the phrase, “for this would be unprofitable for you.” So there is profit to be lost by not submitting to my leaders. God’s design is for godly leaders to lead the flock with joy and with humble boldness, guiding the flock into new paths of fruitfulness as God works in His people, and for the flock to follow their leaders, eagerly trusting that their leaders are listening to the Lord and knowing that they will give an account to the Lord for how they have led. When God’s design for the local church is carried out, then there is immense profit and “many will see and fear and trust in the Lord (Psalm 40:3).”

SDG       rmb       4/7/2018

“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

The context of this verse is that it immediately follows instructions that Peter gives to his “fellow elders” (1 Peter 5:1-4), and so it is clear that he is speaking to the elder as an officer of the church (Greek word “presbuteros.” = ‘elder’). This verse under consideration (5:5), then, is in a passage explicitly about biblical elders and how they are to lead and how the congregation is to follow.

The first part of this verse (5:5) is expressly addressed to youth and is rendered “younger men” in the NASB and “you who are younger” in the ESV. The noun is in the masculine plural, but this is not conclusive that it means “men,” since that could apply to all who are younger, both men and women. Nevertheless, “younger men” is the preferred translation, because younger men are the ones who most need to be admonished to be subject to elders. The young men are the ones with fire in their bones. It is the young men who charge into the fiercest battles and it is also the young men who have the strongest opinions. Consequently, it is the young men who must heed this instruction most carefully.

Note that the command to “be subject to your elders” is unqualified; that is, it has no conditions attached to it which might provide some exceptions to the command. This places the weight and the emphasis on obedience to the command, “be subject.” Therefore, when the Scripture calls the disciple to “be subject” or “to submit,” the disciple is to expend their energy in their effort to obey the command, rather than spending their time and energy looking for an exception (a loophole?) that might permit them to not submit. Barring circumstances where your elders are themselves disobedient and have effectively disqualified themselves through unbiblical leadership and mishandling of the word of God, the command to be subject is to be the primary attitude and response of the disciple of Christ.

Be subject to your elders.

Peter goes on in this verse with instructions to the entire flock (“all of you,” not just younger people), that they are to be clothed with humility toward one another. This verse is similar to Ephesians 5:21 (“be subject to one another”) and I think it is conveying not specific responsibilities but is conveying the attitude that is to exist within the body of Christ. It is the attitude of Phil. 2:3-4, the attitude that others have wisdom and they, too, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Humility says that I could be wrong, or at least my view could be the weaker view. I think, however, that the context demands that even if I remain convinced that my view is the correct view, I will concede and submit to others for their sake (their encouragement and the unity of the fellowship) and for my own sanctification, in willingly subjecting myself to others and in actively exercising humility.

Now the statements in the previous paragraph are not to be taken rigidly. It probably doesn’t need to be said, but for the purpose of not being misunderstood, if there are serious errors that need to be refuted or if the gospel is being compromised, then obviously concession and submission would be wrong. This, however, is the exception rather than the rule, as most healthy churches do not have a lot of errant teaching that needs to be refuted. In the “normal” situation, I believe the mindset should be weighted toward grace and love for one another and a willingness to exercise humility and concession.

Humility is usually a mark of years of sanctification and, because our fleshly pride is such an immense obstacle to our holiness, it is always a good idea to seize opportunities to exercise humility. “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I want to be on the side that receives grace from God, so I want to develop humility and repent of pride. And would not the greatest opportunity for gaining humility be in a situation where you were convinced you were right and you chose to acquiesce?

In summing up, the clear command to be subject to my elders and the command to clothe myself with humility combine to give me a clear path to follow when disagreements arise in the local fellowship.

SDG      rmb      4/5/2018

Although to the outside observer there appears to be no real change when a man or woman comes to Christ, within the converted soul there are seismic, foundational changes that alter every part of that person. For just as sin had previously grown and poisoned and infected all of their life, now the new life in Christ will begin to sanctify and purify. Light has shone into darkness, and thus light will begin to shine out of what was darkness. There may be no better pair of verses than 1 Peter 2:9-10 to show what has taken place as the believer has passed from death to life (John 5:24).

NEW KINGDOM: In coming to Christ, the believer has joined the great cloud (Hebrews 12:1) of those who have been captured by the Lord and bought with the price of Jesus’ blood. Regardless of how wretched your past was, you are now part of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” (1 Peter 2:9a). All the stains and shames of your past are cast away (Psalm 103:12) and abolished. The blood of Jesus has made you a citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20-21), a holy king-priest forever, held in God’s righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10; John 10:28-30).

MISSION: Before you came to faith in Christ, you had no real mission in life. Oh, you may have had some goals and some ambitions, but you had no God-given purpose. Since man is made to seek out a purpose, you did the best you could to find some direction or accomplishment that would justify your existence (Harold Abrams, running rival to Eric Liddell: “Ten lonely seconds to justify my entire existence.”), but in the end all man-made purposes, however grand or compelling, remain hauntingly hollow. For the man or woman outside Christ, there is no answer to the “why” question. The more we accomplish down these artificial paths to self-glory, the emptier we feel.

But then Christ invades! Repentance and faith lead to a bowing of the knee to Christ as Lord of my life and with His lordship comes a glorious mission that is context-independent. Now I am an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20) and I am His herald. Now I have been called to Jesus “so that I may proclaim the excellencies” of my great Savior, and I will continue this mission till the end of my earthly pilgrimage and then forever in heaven with the Lord.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT: Prior to our faith in Christ, we were stumbling in the darkness. Our minds and our mouths and our hearts were darkened by sin. Our pleasures were perverse, and our imaginings were stained with lust and wickedness.

But now we walk in the light with Christ. Having been cleansed by the blood of Christ we now joyously live in His holy light. The shameful things we used to do in the darkness have been vanquished by repentance and now we run into the light and pursue righteousness and obedience.

FROM NOT A PEOPLE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD: Before I was an orphan amidst a throng of strangers. Although we shared a common humanity with others, there was nothing that truly bound us together. Where was love to be found? Did anyone care for me? I was completely alone on the earth and any success or even survival was up to me and fell crushingly on my shoulders. Who would share my joy? Who would share my pain? Who would love me and care about me?

“For once you were not a people . . . (1 Peter 2:10a)”

“For my father and my mother have forsaken me . . . (Psalm 27:10)”

“There is no one who regards me; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul.” – Psalm 142:4.

Alone. On my own. Part of a mongrel people. Orphan. Refugee. Alienated from God.

“But now you are the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10).

In Christ I have become part of an elect multitude that will be gathered into heaven from all time and will be gathered from all nations (Revelation 7:9). Jesus Christ is my Brother (Matthew 12:48-50) and God is my Father. I am part of an eternal family that is commanded to love one another. All members of the people of God still on earth have a fellowship with one another that is sealed and enriched by the Spirit of the living God. I am now part of a people beloved by God (Colossians 3:13) and a people who love one another in the Spirit of God as we together glorify Christ and encourage one another in love.

MERCY HAS COME: This is the greatest news and also the most difficult to explain. Before I knew Christ, I was under the judgment and wrath of God because of my sin. God is a holy God and His holiness and justice required my condemnation and I was excluded from mercy. And what is mercy? Mercy is not getting the punishment I deserve. In my case, however, God’s justice, which is expressed in His Law, effectively prevented God from extending mercy to me, for God, by His law has obligated Himself to punish all sin. If He ignored the law and gave me mercy and forgave my sins without exacting the punishment for those sins, then God Himself would violate His own word and would Himself become a transgressor. Legally giving mercy to a sinner and thus removing condemnation and wrath from that sinner necessitates that the sin be removed from that sinner.

But here in 1 Peter 2:10, the Scripture says, “but now you have received mercy.” All followers of Jesus have received mercy. Now it is appropriate to ask the question, “How is that legal?” It is a violation of the Law to forgive those who are guilty, and believers are self-confessed guilty sinners. By His Law, God must punish the guilty or else their sins are without consequence and without recompense. If “the soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4, 20),” then mercy for the sinner is unlawful. So how is this not so? How can it be that God’s mercy is not a transgression of His Law?

Here then is the amazing news of the gospel. God can lawfully grant mercy to the one who has faith in Jesus because Jesus Christ has died on the cross for all repentant sinners who trust in Jesus’ name. There has been a great exchange. When I placed my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, all my sin and unrighteousness was transferred onto Jesus to be nailed to the cross and all of His perfect righteousness was transferred to my account so that I can stand before God on judgment day. (See Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

Thus God can pour out His mercy on me because He has already poured out His wrath on His Son. The wrath I deserved was propitiated by the death of Christ and now I can lawfully receive God’s mercy.

“You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10b

Peter, then, in these two verses speaks of a new kingdom, a new mission, being called from darkness into light, of once being estranged and orphaned and now being the people of God, of once being under wrath and of now receiving God’s mercy. Hallelujah!

SDG       rmb       3/28/2018

This is a writing that I recently found in my “archives.” It was written in 2009, but I think it captures the essence of Psalm 25 and the cry of David’s soul as he calls to YHWH.

Here is another psalm from David that is devoted to the shepherd-king crying out to the Lord in the midst of his affliction and distress. The psalm is divided into five stanzas.

In the first stanza David lifts his soul to the Lord and pleads that the Lord would not let him be ashamed. Then he reminds himself that the Lord will not let those who love Him be ashamed, but it is the treacherous who will be ashamed. David is setting the tone for the psalm by crying out to the Lord. This will be a psalm in which David is asking the Lord to again be gracious to him and to not let him be ashamed.

After the initial cry for help, David turns in the second stanza to seek guidance and direction from the Lord. “Make me know Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me,” David is acknowledging that he needs the Lord’s direction. He is in a place where he must plead for the Lord to be his guide. This is a plea also for wisdom. That plea is coupled with a need for forgiveness of David’s sins. David acknowledges that part of the reason for his distress is his own sin and he needs the Lord’s forgiveness before things can really be put right. The sins of his youth and his transgressions must be wiped away by the Lord’s grace and lovingkindness. I can identify with this completely. Not only do the sins of my youth need to be removed and wiped away, but also the foolishness of my recent past and maybe all of my past must be erased. Yes, Lord, I have been foolish and have made a terrible decision that has resulted in virtually every measurable aspect of my life being worse off than it was before. What will You do, Lord, for Your servant who makes a foolish decision? I suppose You probably won’t do anything except let me reap the consequences of my decision. I come to You, Lord, and ask You to wipe out the regret and the shame of making such a stupid decision. Will You do that, O God?

David begins the third stanza with truths about the Lord and about His amazing goodness. He instructs sinners in the way. Consider that the Holy One, the Lord God actually instructs sinners and leads them into the way. This could easily be understood as a verse about God’s sovereignty in salvation, that He guides sinners into the way of salvation. He leads the humble in justice and teaches the humble His way. Notice that the Lord is drawn to the humble. He ministers to and leads the humble, not the proud and the mighty. And who are the humble? How can we recognize them? We can identify the humble as those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. The humble are those who love the law of the Lord and who obey the Lord’s commandments. Then again David appeals to the Lord’s mercy and grace to pardon his iniquity, which he acknowledges to be great. David so longs to please the Lord and to obey Him and this is reflected in his frequent pleas for pardon.

Stanza four asks, “Who is the man who fears the Lord?” In some of his psalms, David answers this question with a definition in terms of the behavior of the one who fears the Lord. In other words, he answers the question so that you can identify the man who fears the Lord (Psalm 15 for example). Here, however, David assumes that we know the type of man who fears the Lord and instead of a definition, he tells of the blessings that come to the one who fears the Lord. The Lord will instruct him in the way he should choose. When he seeks for direction and guidance and listens, the Lord will make his paths straight. “His soul will abide in prosperity.” The man who fears the Lord will have a sense of prosperity and this will often manifest itself in material terms. There will often be material blessing for those who fear the Lord. David looks to the Lord for his protection and his deliverance, because the Lord has promised to pluck his feet out of the net.

The fifth and final stanza is, in many ways, the climax of the psalm and is the most impactful stanza. David’s cry to the Lord becomes pointed and urgent. In the simple words of the psalm we can sense the psalmist’s deep anguish. He is in distress and needs deliverance. How many of us can identify with David in this hour of distress? How many of us have even very recently experienced this sense of despair and panic as something that we thought was fixed and reliable gives way and launches us into emotional and psychological freefall? “Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted.” O Lord, turn to me and ignore me no longer. Let me know that You are there and that You care about me. Lord, let me see Your hand in motion so that I know that You hear my cry! “Be gracious to me for I am lonely and afflicted.” I feel all alone and so I suffer alone. There is no one who can share or understand my anguish. But Lord, You know! So come to me, Lord, and be my comforter and deliverer! “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses.” In my anxiety and my fear, my troubles grow larger and more ominous. Their malevolence is almost tangible. Lord, protect me, because my troubles threaten to overwhelm me. Come quickly to my aid, O Lord, my deliverer. “Look upon my affliction and my trouble, And forgive all my sins.” As David cries to the Lord, he also remembers that he must have a pure heart and clean hands, and so for the third time in the psalm he asks for forgiveness. Central to the idea of deliverance is the reminder that the Lord rescues the pure and the righteous. He comes to the aid of those who fear Him, and those who fear Him are repentant and long for clean hands and a pure heart and seek the cleansing grace of forgiveness at all times. Lord, because You delight in repentance, I will ask You to cleanse me. Many enemies surround me “And they hate me with violent hatred.” David’s enemies were probably the visible kind, those who held swords in their hands. Mine, on the other hand, are those that attack not my body but my mind. There are the demons of doubt and regret, of despair and loneliness, of fear and worry and anxiety. Those who hate me with a violent hatred are the devils that attack me at night when all is silent or assault me when I think too long about all the obstacles I have to overcome. With merciless violence they demolish my self-confidence and cause me to question the love of my God and thus they render me useless. Lord, defend me from their attacks! Rise up, O Lord, and protect me from these evil and foul thoughts. Give me the courage to trust in You in spite of all the demonic lies and the flaming arrows of affliction. Lord, let me be refined and come forth as gold. If You try me and test me, Lord, give me the grace to persevere and to remain as a testimony to Your amazing grace. “Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in Thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for Thee.” Then David concludes his psalm by asking for the redemption of Israel.

SDG      rmb      3/10/2009

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, our Lord tells a story of a man who is going on a long journey. The master entrusts his slaves with differing amounts of money, “each according to his own ability (25:15).” When the master gets back from his journey, he expects a return on his money. He expects that the slaves will have used the master’s money to make more. There are a number of lessons to learn from this parable.

MEANING OF THE PARABLE: The Lord Jesus tells the parable to show that, just as this master entrusts his money into the hands of these slaves so that they will produce a return while he is gone on his journey, even so the Lord has entrusted the gospel and the joys of the Kingdom into the hands of His saints so that they will spread the fame and the glory of Jesus throughout the earth and so that many will come to faith in Him and will be His worshipers forever. Having been called into the Kingdom, we have the responsibility to proclaim Jesus Christ. The Lord will reward or punish us based on how we have carried out that responsibility.

DIFFERING ABILITIES: The parable makes clear that not all people have the same ABILITY and the same OPPORTUNITY, but all have the same RESPONSIBILITY to use all our time, talents and treasure to glorify the Lord Jesus with all of our lives. It is obvious that people have differing levels of ability. Some have strength and eloquence and power and are able to lead and influence multitudes, while others simply blend in with the crowd and are barely noticed. Some are placed in positions of prominence with many opportunities to impact other people, whereas others live in relative obscurity and have a small network of very ordinary people. But regardless of ABILITY and OPPORTUNITY, we all have the RESPONSIBILITY to proclaim Jesus to the world (1 Peter 2:9). We are called to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8) and we must be intentional in finding out how to do that and in bringing that proclamation to pass.

NO EXCUSE FOR NO RETURN: Observe carefully that the slave who was given one talent returned to the master exactly one talent. The master, who praised the other two slaves for their efforts and their results, severely rebukes the one-talent slave for his lack of return. He calls that slave wicked and lazy, he takes away the one talent that he had, and he throws the one-talent slave into the outer darkness. The symbolism is clear: The human being who is given the gift of life will have no excuse on the day of judgment. The Lord has given life, and on that day we will all give an account for what we have done with our lives to glorify the great King of kings. (Hebrews 9:27) Believer or unbeliever – all will be judged. Where will you stand on that day? Are you using your “talent” to spread the fame and the glory of the Lord of all the earth?

We have differing levels of ability and so we will have different quantity and quality of results, but the Lord will judge us based on what we did with the abilities and opportunities He gave is.

HOW TO HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT: The difference is not how many talents I have, but it is rather how fully yielded I am to the One who has ALL POWER.  A one-talent believer who is fully yielded into the hands of the Lord and fully obedient to the commands of the Lord and fully committed to the service of the Lord will make a mighty impact for the Lord. It is not the power of the instrument, but the power of the One wielding the instrument that makes all the difference.

SDG      rmb      3/20/2018

We are in a series of blogs about Genesis 19, the Old Testament narrative story which tells of the judgment and destruction of Sodom and of the rescue of Abraham’s nephew Lot, who flees to a place of refuge and thus is saved. In this story are all the elements of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and the purpose of these blogs will be to show how this story foreshadows the gospel and how closely this story of Sodom parallels our own place and time.

To review, here are the elements that we can observe in the story in Genesis 19:

• The LORD has determined to judge the city of Sodom because of their sin;
• Before He destroys the city, the LORD sends messengers to warn of the coming judgment and to urge people to flee from the city to a place of refuge;
• Many in the doomed city never hear the message at all and so do not run to the place of refuge; thus, they perish in the judgment;
• Some hear the message, but refuse to believe it and to act upon it and so they do not run to the place of refuge; thus, they perish in the judgment;
• Some hear the message and act upon the message and flee to the place of refuge; thus they are saved from the judgment.

In this blog we will see that some clearly hear the message of coming judgment, but they refuse to respond to the message. Hearing the alarm, they choose to do nothing and thus perish in the fire and brimstone.

Surely it is an astonishing thing to see people who ignore a clear warning of deadly danger and defy all attempts to rescue them. It would be remarkable for someone who lived in a straw house to ignore a fire alarm or for someone who lived in Kansas to laugh at a neighbor or friend who told them that a tornado was closing in on them, but in the case of Sodom we see a response exactly like that. We see those who were warned of the coming destruction of Sodom and who not only ignored that warning, but who also laughed at the one giving the warning.

As we have done previously in this series of blogs, we will take time to review the gospel and see how this refusal to heed the warning fits into it. The gospel declares that judgment and hell await men and women because of their sin. All have sinned (Romans 3:23) and so all are subject to the coming judgment of God. But while God is perfectly holy, He is also merciful, and He has sent Jesus into the world to be the substitute for sinners. Jesus has died on the cross to pay for sins and has risen from the dead to prove that His sacrifice was accepted as payment for sins. Now God has sent out His heralds into the world to proclaim the good news of the gospel, that all who repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be forgiven of their sins and will have eternal life.

We can see that this narrative of Sodom is an illustration of the gospel. For just as Lot went to his sons-in-law and urged them to flee the city (Genesis 19:14) because it was going to be judged because of its sin, so Christian evangelists proclaim the gospel to warn men and women who are subject to God’s judgment and destruction that they must flee to Christ for rescue and salvation. And just as Lot’s sons-in-law mock Lot and laugh at him and believe that he is just joking around, even so many of those who are told of Christ and who hear the gospel clearly proclaimed ignore the warning and continue to live life without any repentance or faith in Christ and mock the very ones who told them about Jesus’ salvation. These hearers continue to live as if nothing will happen, as if the Lord Almighty, the Holy One of Israel will never judge sin and they continue as if that they will never be condemned and as if hell is where “other people” go. As Lot’s sons-in-law perished in the destruction of Sodom because they did not flee to refuge when they heard the voice of warning, even so those who refuse to believe the gospel warning about God’s eternal judgment for sin and who refuse to flee to Jesus Christ for refuge will perish and spend eternity in hell for their sin.

Thus the key for the herald, for the one who would proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, is to announces the coming destruction and to warn that people under condemnation must flee to Jesus, the only place of refuge from God’s judgment, and, in so doing, the herald must fully expect that those he warns may very well scoff at the message and ridicule the messenger because the hearers do not want to hear the message.

APPLICATION:

• The herald must be ready to proclaim the message “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), in friendly groups and in hostile. Potential ridicule cannot deter.
• Since the message is a matter of eternal heaven or eternal hell, the messenger must be serious about their task of proclamation and must communicate with urgent sobriety.
• Lot was ignored and thought to be jesting because he had not set his life apart from the lust of the world. He blended in to the evil life of Sodom. When it came time to be deadly serious about a life or death matter, his sons-in-law thought he was jesting. To avoid this pitfall, build a reputation that is founded on sober truth and eliminates all possibility that you are perceived as trivial or frivolous.

SDG        rmb        3/11/2018

Have you noticed that the psalms are full of passages where the psalmist is crying out to the Lord and they are at least as full of passages where the psalmist is waiting for the Lord? From these two ideas, the cry to the Lord and the waiting for the Lord, comes a strategy for prayer that I want to explore.

There are some prayers that need an immediate answer from the Lord. When Peter cried out to the Lord Jesus to save him as he was slipping under the waves, he needed an immediate answer, and the Lord graciously pulled His bold disciple out of the deep and into the boat. But when Job wrestled with his friends and argued with the Lord out of the midst of his misery and pain and confusion, the Lord waited a long time before even entering the conversation. He allowed Job to seek Him and to not find Him. He allowed Job to cry out and to receive no answer for a long time. Why does the Lord do that?

I do not claim to know with certainty the answer of why the Lord allows us to wait and wrestle and continue to cry out while He delays His answers, but I can offer some thoughts. But first, let’s remind ourselves that waiting on the Lord is the normal pattern for the disciple. Think about how much more time is spent in waiting for the Lord in persistent prayer than is spent in rejoicing in thanksgiving. And the psalms are full of waiting.

“Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14                              “I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He pulled me up out of the desolate pit, out of the miry clay.” Psalm 40:1-2             “I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than the watchman for the morning; indeed, more than the watchman for the morning.” Psalm 130:5-6

The psalmist waits for the LORD because he desires the presence of the LORD. He desires to be in relationship with the LORD. He desires to enjoy the LORD, and for all these pleasures, he is willing to wait. Therefore, one possible reason that the LORD delays His answers and causes us to wait is that He earnestly desires our presence and our attention. He enjoys our company, and to get more of our company, he prolongs our times of earnestly seeking Him.

But there are also many passages where the psalmist is urgently crying out to the LORD for immediate deliverance or relief. Psalm 142:1 says, “I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make supplication with my voice to the LORD.”     Psalm 86:1 says, “Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy.”        There is a demand for an answer that can be made, even between the insignificant creature and the Almighty, because the greater one, who is the Great One, has chosen to enter into intimate relationship with the lowly creature. From the safety and the intimacy of this relationship, the lowly one is allowed to cry out to the Great One with tones that, outside this relationship, would be blasphemous. But because the LORD has drawn us near in Christ and has adopted us as His beloved children, we are allowed to cry out; more than that, we are invited, even commanded to cry out to Him.

Thus our prayer strategy is simple: Cry out to the LORD with reverent urgency, then wait for Him to answer as you persist in prayer. And as you pour out your heart to Him, enjoy Him and enjoy the amazing privilege and pleasure of resting in the Lord our God.

SDG        rmb        3/7/2018

“Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of the time, for the days are evil.” The apostle Paul in the letter to the Ephesians, 5:15-16

Here in this section of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul is giving practical instructions to all believers about how to live out the Christian life, how to walk as followers of Christ. The Apostle is urging us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (4:1), and he is describing that worthy walk with this succession of commands. The specific verses of our attention right now, 5:15-16, serve both as a summary of all the instructions and as a clear exhortation of how the disciple of Jesus Christ is to use his or her time.

Time is the issue. How is the disciple to view time? How is the follower of Jesus to use their time? Since time cannot be saved, but can only be spent, how do we spend it so that we please our Master and son that we are more useful to our Master? Time is very important, for how we use our time determines whether we are walking wisely or unwisely. Let’s examine these verses carefully.

First, Paul tells us to “be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise.” Clearly there are two ways to walk: There is the walk of the unwise and, contrasted with that, there is the walk of the wise. These two walks are intentionally contrasted to each other, for they are opposed to each other. You are either walking wisely or you are walking unwisely, and there is no way to “straddle the fence.”

“Be careful” – Paul commands that the disciple “be careful” because the default behavior is to be careless. The unsaved is careless in how they walk. This is how “the Gentiles also walk” (Eph. 4:17-19) and it is a way of life that is given over to the flesh and to the desires of the flesh. Being still slaves of sin, the unsaved are controlled by their flesh and so exercise little discipline in their lives. Their life is not compelled by any great purpose, so they spend their time in futile and trivial pursuits. This is the unwise walk, the walk of no direction and no self-control.

This is contrasted with the wise walk. The walk of the wise is an obedient walk, being diligent to seek the commands of the Lord and to obey all the commands that are found. Those who walk wisely walk in the fear of the Lord, “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord (Eph. 5:10).” The disciple who would walk wisely does not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness (Eph. 5:11), but in contrast lives a disciplined and self-controlled life. The Lord has called us out of the idleness of wasting away in the marketplace (Matthew 20) and has called us into full time service (Matthew 4:19; Acts 1:8; Luke 9:62) and has given us a purpose for our lives, a purpose worth living for and, if necessary, a purpose worth dying for.

Next, after commanding how we should walk, the Apostle says that we should be “making the most of the time.” As we said before, the issue is time. Once used, time can never be retrieved. Time cannot be saved or slowed down. Since, then, time can only be spent, the wise disciple will “make the most of the time.” The disciple is governed and controlled by a mindset of usefulness and of mission. At its longest, our time here is short. We are but a mist that vanishes away, so we must channel our energies and we must be careful stewards of our choices so that we are using our resources for Kingdom purposes. The task is urgent; the time is short; choices must be made and discipline must be exercised so that we make the most of the time.

Finally, Paul says that the days are evil. This is increasingly obvious in our immediate culture in America, but the Bible makes clear that the entire age between Jesus’ ascension and His soon-coming return is an evil age. These days are evil and they are marked by bitter opposition to Christ and to the kingdom of God. This world has been given over into the hands of the “prince of the power of the air (2:2)” and since that is the case, then our wise walk will be opposed and attacked by the world and the flesh and the devil.

APPLICATION: Examine your life and see if you are being careful how you walk. Are you walking wisely or unwisely? Are you intentionally focusing your energies into Kingdom activities? There is all of eternity to rest; now is the time to proclaim the name of Jesus. Are you being careful how you walk? Are you making the most of the time? Start today to focus your available resources into one small, narrow Kingdom channel.

SDG       rmb        3/5/2018