I remain cancer free at this time. I had blood work done on December 18 and a colonoscopy on January 30th, both showed no sign of cancer for which I am grateful. I will have my blood tested every three months. My next one will be March 18. My hands and feet continue to experience a profound neuropathy. I've gotten used to it, though it still does impede my typing somewhat. It is my goal to write one post each week, reflecting on some aspect of the glory of Christ and his saving work from God's word.
I recently was struck by one of Paul's prayers for the Christians in the church located at Thessalonica. In 2 Thess. 3:5 he expresses his prayer: "May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ." Paul often reports his prayers for the people to whom he writes. He does this not simply to encourage his friends with the knowledge that he prays for them and certainly he does not do it to show what a super spiritual person he is. Rather his prayers are meant to teach us what only God can do and thus to teach us what we ought to be asking him to do.
What is Paul asking the Lord to do? First, the verb "direct" is a very strong verb. It means to guide or direct a person or thing to his or its final destination. Paul uses the verb in his first letter tot he Thessalonians when he says, "may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you." Clearly here he means for God to overcome every obstacle and clear the way and impel he and Timothy to travel to Thessalonica. So in our verse Paul is asking God to do all that is necessary to make sure our hearts arrive into the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.
When he mentions our hearts he is thinking of that part of us which determines all that we think, feel, say and do. It is my affections, what I love, trust in, fear, desire, value. Thus Paul is asking God to bring their hearts into a full knowledge and experience of the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. He aims for these Christians to value and trust and rejoice in and desire these two things.
What is the "love of God" and "the steadfastness of Christ"? The love of God is God's love for us in Christ. Paul wants these believers to be fully aware of and consumed with the wonder and glory of being loved by the great Triune God who shows his love for his people by giving his son to die for us. Second he wants Christians to be overcome with the wonder of Christ's patient endurance of all the sufferings he went through. We are to be amazed by and desire and value the patient endurance of Christ; his settled determination to pay whatever cost in order to save us and glorify his Father.
The Thessalonians were in the midst of profound suffering. Paul knows that what they need are hearts taken up with God's love and Christ's steadfast suffering to accomplish God's will. When we know and trust and love the love of God for us we can endure all things because we know nothing can separate us from this amazing love. When we see Christ's joyful endurance of suffering beyond our comprehension it strengthens us to also remain steadfast in the midst of our troubles. In my own experience it is as my heart has rested and rejoiced in these two things that I have found strength to press on, to not give up. Especially as I sat by my son's bed in the early days after his accident I was helped by considering the steadfastness of Christ in his sufferings.
May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Friday, September 28, 2012
Strengthened by Grace
It has been over a month since my last post. Typing is so difficult and I do so much of it in ministry that it is difficult to motivate myself to do more voluntarily :-). The numbness in my hands and feet remains the same. I am riding my bike about 18 miles three times per week but running is not possible. I am back to full strength except for the neuropathy. I had a CT scan earlier in September and I remain cancer free at this time. I will be getting blood work done every three months to watch for some sort of cancer marker. Pray that I will not complain about my numb hands and feet ( Philippians 2:14) but that I will "boast all the more gladly" of this weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Here is a verse I have been thinking about over the past month: "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:1) There are two questions to be answered. For what does Timothy need strength ? How does a person "be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus?"
If you keep reading in 2 Timothy you will discover for what Timothy needs strength . First he needs strength to do the work of ministry, particularly for the work of faithfully passing on the gospel he was taught by Paul to "faithful men who will be able to teach others also." The successful development of faithful teachers of the gospel requires strength that no person naturally possesses. Second, Timothy needs strength to "suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." Because he is a soldier of Jesus there are things which other Christians can do and enjoy but which he must voluntarily deny to himself because they do not fit the lifestyle of a soldier who aims to please the one who enlisted him. He must embrace a life of hard work and self-denial like that of the athlete who aims to win the prize and the farmer who wants an abundant harvest. Third, he needs strength to accept the risks entailed in faithfully preaching the gospel in the midst of a hostile culture, like his mentor Paul who was in prison for his faithfulness. All these things require strength which he does not naturally possess.
What is the grace that is in Christ Jesus and how are we strengthened by it? The grace that is in Christ are all the undeserved and unearned benefits which we receive because of what Christ has done for us. To mention but a few of these gracious benefits: forgiveness of all my sins, eternal life, being declared not guilty but perfectly righteous, adopted as God's child, an heir of God and co-heir with Christ, having Christ as my friend, my brother and my Lord, the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the promise that God is working all things for my good. the certain resurrection from the dead...and many more.
All of this grace strengthens us by means of or through faith. I believe that all these benefits are surely mine on the basis of Christ's person and work and so I believe that I have nothing to fear. There is no loss, no pain, no suffering that can compare with all I have in Christ. I can forgo legitimate earthly pleasures in order to obey Christ's call on my life because all denials will be more than made up for in the new heavens and the new earth. I am able to teach this gospel with complete confidence and passion to others because of all that is mine by it. I am weak and helpless to do and be all that God calls me to be and to do. However all the grace I have in Christ will provide me with all the strength I need to be and do his will for me.
Here is a verse I have been thinking about over the past month: "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:1) There are two questions to be answered. For what does Timothy need strength ? How does a person "be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus?"
If you keep reading in 2 Timothy you will discover for what Timothy needs strength . First he needs strength to do the work of ministry, particularly for the work of faithfully passing on the gospel he was taught by Paul to "faithful men who will be able to teach others also." The successful development of faithful teachers of the gospel requires strength that no person naturally possesses. Second, Timothy needs strength to "suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." Because he is a soldier of Jesus there are things which other Christians can do and enjoy but which he must voluntarily deny to himself because they do not fit the lifestyle of a soldier who aims to please the one who enlisted him. He must embrace a life of hard work and self-denial like that of the athlete who aims to win the prize and the farmer who wants an abundant harvest. Third, he needs strength to accept the risks entailed in faithfully preaching the gospel in the midst of a hostile culture, like his mentor Paul who was in prison for his faithfulness. All these things require strength which he does not naturally possess.
What is the grace that is in Christ Jesus and how are we strengthened by it? The grace that is in Christ are all the undeserved and unearned benefits which we receive because of what Christ has done for us. To mention but a few of these gracious benefits: forgiveness of all my sins, eternal life, being declared not guilty but perfectly righteous, adopted as God's child, an heir of God and co-heir with Christ, having Christ as my friend, my brother and my Lord, the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the promise that God is working all things for my good. the certain resurrection from the dead...and many more.
All of this grace strengthens us by means of or through faith. I believe that all these benefits are surely mine on the basis of Christ's person and work and so I believe that I have nothing to fear. There is no loss, no pain, no suffering that can compare with all I have in Christ. I can forgo legitimate earthly pleasures in order to obey Christ's call on my life because all denials will be more than made up for in the new heavens and the new earth. I am able to teach this gospel with complete confidence and passion to others because of all that is mine by it. I am weak and helpless to do and be all that God calls me to be and to do. However all the grace I have in Christ will provide me with all the strength I need to be and do his will for me.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Disciplined but not dead
We just returned from our annual 2 week vacation in Door County. We normally go in mid July but last year there were so many dead fish on the beach where we stay that it was unusable. So we moved our vacation to late in August to make sure we did not encounter rotting fish again. This worked out perfectly with my chemotherapy as my last treatment was Aug 6 and we left for Door County on Aug 11. Thanks be to God for his arranging this for us. It was a very refreshing time spent with my children and grandchildren, mainly hanging out on the beach. It was also the most spiritually refreshing vacation I've ever had. I was able to do a lot of reading of good books and the Bible. I was strongly encouraged as a Christian and as a pastor by the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as I read a new biography written by Eric Mataxas. I would strongly encourage everyone to read it.
Although I am no longer sick and weak the neuropathy in my hands and feet have gotten worse. They are very numb. I cannot button my buttons or untie knots and typing is very difficult as I do not feel the keys with my finger tips. The doc tells me that it should gradually get better and be gone in 6-8 months. I would appreciate your prayers for God to heal this numbness as I do a lot of writing on the computer.
A passage which the Lord used to encourage me is Psalm 118:18 which reads: "The Lord has disciplined me severely but he has not given me over to death." The psalm is about Jesus as v.22 is quoted numerous times in the NT in reference to Jesus. Thus v.18 is a description of how God the Father treated his Son. He disciplined him severely by subjecting him to the miseries of this life and ultimately to his suffering and death on the cross. However, even though he was severely disciplined by the Father, even to death on the cross, yet the Father did not give him over to the power of death but raised him from the dead. Thus, I am to see my cancer and the hardships associated with its treatment as God's discipline, just like my Savior. And, because of Jesus' living and dying and rising for me I also can say with Jesus that the Father has not given me over to death either. I too will be raised to life, victorious over death by the grace of God.
As I have said before, when we read of God's discipline of his children, including his only Son, we must not think in terms of punishment but of training, instruction. It is the love of God expressed in hardship to train us to prefer Christ and obedience to him above all else. In fact, Hebrews 5:8 says exactly this about Jesus, "Although he was a son he learned obedience through what he suffered." So once again we find this fact stated in the Scripture that all of our hardships are God's loving discipline of us and a sharing with Christ in his sufferings so that we learn that the love of God for us and our love for God, our obedience to God is better than everything this life offers. No matter how severe the discipline God sends it can never compare to the severity of that discipline that our Lord suffered. No matter how severe the suffering God sends to his children he will never give them over to death but will raise us to life with Christ at his return. This is our hope and our confidence in the midst of the trouble.
Although I am no longer sick and weak the neuropathy in my hands and feet have gotten worse. They are very numb. I cannot button my buttons or untie knots and typing is very difficult as I do not feel the keys with my finger tips. The doc tells me that it should gradually get better and be gone in 6-8 months. I would appreciate your prayers for God to heal this numbness as I do a lot of writing on the computer.
A passage which the Lord used to encourage me is Psalm 118:18 which reads: "The Lord has disciplined me severely but he has not given me over to death." The psalm is about Jesus as v.22 is quoted numerous times in the NT in reference to Jesus. Thus v.18 is a description of how God the Father treated his Son. He disciplined him severely by subjecting him to the miseries of this life and ultimately to his suffering and death on the cross. However, even though he was severely disciplined by the Father, even to death on the cross, yet the Father did not give him over to the power of death but raised him from the dead. Thus, I am to see my cancer and the hardships associated with its treatment as God's discipline, just like my Savior. And, because of Jesus' living and dying and rising for me I also can say with Jesus that the Father has not given me over to death either. I too will be raised to life, victorious over death by the grace of God.
As I have said before, when we read of God's discipline of his children, including his only Son, we must not think in terms of punishment but of training, instruction. It is the love of God expressed in hardship to train us to prefer Christ and obedience to him above all else. In fact, Hebrews 5:8 says exactly this about Jesus, "Although he was a son he learned obedience through what he suffered." So once again we find this fact stated in the Scripture that all of our hardships are God's loving discipline of us and a sharing with Christ in his sufferings so that we learn that the love of God for us and our love for God, our obedience to God is better than everything this life offers. No matter how severe the discipline God sends it can never compare to the severity of that discipline that our Lord suffered. No matter how severe the suffering God sends to his children he will never give them over to death but will raise us to life with Christ at his return. This is our hope and our confidence in the midst of the trouble.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Rejoice in hope
I've been meeting with a group of men every Tuesday in the late afternoon for the last 10 years. We gather together to "shoot the breeze", pray and study the Bible together. We've been working our way slowly through Paul's letter to the Romans. By slow I mean we've been in Romans for at least 7 of those 10 years. Personally, I've been helped in my own walk with Jesus enormously by meeting and praying and talking with these men.
As an example, last week we spent 40 minutes reflecting on Paul's command in Romans 12:10, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." Our current facilitator, leader began our discussion by asking this question: "Does God want you to be happy?" After some spirited discussion we turned our attention to the fact that in this verse God commands us to be happy, to commands that we be full of joy. Therefore, it is not simply a desire that God has for us to be happy but he actually requires that we be happy, full joy.
However, then the obvious question follows: in what way does God require us to be happy? In what are we to rejoice? Clearly God does not want us to rejoice in doing evil. In this verse he commands that we be full of joy in hope. What is hope and what is our hope in that is supposed to be the ground of our joy? In the Bible the word hope is never used the way we normally use it in our conversations when we say things like "I hope it rains today" or "I hope the Brewers win today" We use the word as a synonym for "wish". However, the Bible uses the word to mean, "a confident expectation of future good." Biblical hope is a certainty. I know that this is going to happen, without a doubt. The reason biblical hope is not a wish but a certainty is because it is rooted in the finished work of Christ and all that promises that he has secured for all of his people forever.
Paul talks a lot about hope in his letter to the Romans prior to this command. In Romans 5:1-2 we are told: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Here Paul tells us that every person who is trusting in Jesus and thus declared not guilty but perfectly righteous is right now already rejoicing in or being happy in "the hope of the glory of God." What does that mean? All Christians have a confident expectation that one day we will fully experience, in an immediate, present, ongoing way, the wonder and beauty and majesty of the great Tribune God in all of his glory that is able to be perceived by finite creatures like us. We will know his love and grace and holiness and justice and power and creativity and mercy and kindness and every aspect of his glorious being revealed to us in the person of the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus by the mighty work of the Holy Spirit.
But Paul also says that the hope which we have is right now causing us to rejoice. So then, if we are already experiencing it, why does he command us to rejoice in it in 12:10? Before we answer that question let's think for a moment about the relationship between a future hope and present joy. All of us have experienced this connection in our normal lives. Our family takes a two week vacation each summer to Door County. At any point during the year prior to our going all I have to do is think about being in Door County with my family and my heart feels happy. In fact, it is a regular occurrence throughout the year but especially as the vacation approaches that one of our children will remind us that we going to Door County in X number of days and then will say, "I can't wait to go." Thus expressing their hope and the joy they find in that hope. We are not in Door County but we have joy now as we anticipate being there. However, are we always full of joy in the hope of Door County? No because of the reality of sin and suffering in our lives.
It is the same reason for why Paul says we already have joy in the hope of the glory of God and also commands us to rejoice in the hope. He talks like this because of the fact of sin and suffering in this world. Sin is, at its core, putting our faith and hope in created things and the promises of pleasure that created things give us, rather then putting our faith and hope in God and his promises. Thus, the process of Christian growth is the fight to turn away from placing my hope for future good in money or relationships or success or vacations or a new car or sex or health or drugs or successful children or whatever and instead fixing my hope on this one certain thing: one day, by God's grace, I am going to fully experience the glory of God. Thus the experience of present joy is directly related to my consciously and intentionally fixing my mind and heart on that future glory and turning away from the unreliable promises of glory in created things.
However, not only does sin interfere with our hope inspired joy but also the sufferings of this life interfere with it as well. This world is full of trouble and misery that comes to us not as the result or our sin but simply by virtue of the fact that we still live in this world that is under God's curse. Suffering now is always painful and distracting. It is difficult when in the throes of some great trial to look beyond the trouble to our final destiny and find our joy in it. It is difficult to feel the joy when we feel the pain so strongly.
This is why it is so important to recognize how it is that Jesus endured the greatest trouble any human has ever experienced: he a completely perfect and righteous man suffered unjustly at the hands of men and endured the wrath due to us. Yet we are told in Hebrews 12:2 that he endured this greatest of all suffering in joy. This is exactly what Peter says is the experience of the believer when in some trial in 1 Peter 1:3-6, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials."
The experience of the Christian in the midst of some trial is one of grief in the trial and, at the same time, joy in the hope of that coming salvation. This is the normal Christian life. Grief and joy in the same heart at the same time. Weeping and rejoicing is our condition until that final day when Christ returns and then it will be only joy forever. Revelation 21:1-4, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'"
As an example, last week we spent 40 minutes reflecting on Paul's command in Romans 12:10, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." Our current facilitator, leader began our discussion by asking this question: "Does God want you to be happy?" After some spirited discussion we turned our attention to the fact that in this verse God commands us to be happy, to commands that we be full of joy. Therefore, it is not simply a desire that God has for us to be happy but he actually requires that we be happy, full joy.
However, then the obvious question follows: in what way does God require us to be happy? In what are we to rejoice? Clearly God does not want us to rejoice in doing evil. In this verse he commands that we be full of joy in hope. What is hope and what is our hope in that is supposed to be the ground of our joy? In the Bible the word hope is never used the way we normally use it in our conversations when we say things like "I hope it rains today" or "I hope the Brewers win today" We use the word as a synonym for "wish". However, the Bible uses the word to mean, "a confident expectation of future good." Biblical hope is a certainty. I know that this is going to happen, without a doubt. The reason biblical hope is not a wish but a certainty is because it is rooted in the finished work of Christ and all that promises that he has secured for all of his people forever.
Paul talks a lot about hope in his letter to the Romans prior to this command. In Romans 5:1-2 we are told: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Here Paul tells us that every person who is trusting in Jesus and thus declared not guilty but perfectly righteous is right now already rejoicing in or being happy in "the hope of the glory of God." What does that mean? All Christians have a confident expectation that one day we will fully experience, in an immediate, present, ongoing way, the wonder and beauty and majesty of the great Tribune God in all of his glory that is able to be perceived by finite creatures like us. We will know his love and grace and holiness and justice and power and creativity and mercy and kindness and every aspect of his glorious being revealed to us in the person of the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus by the mighty work of the Holy Spirit.
But Paul also says that the hope which we have is right now causing us to rejoice. So then, if we are already experiencing it, why does he command us to rejoice in it in 12:10? Before we answer that question let's think for a moment about the relationship between a future hope and present joy. All of us have experienced this connection in our normal lives. Our family takes a two week vacation each summer to Door County. At any point during the year prior to our going all I have to do is think about being in Door County with my family and my heart feels happy. In fact, it is a regular occurrence throughout the year but especially as the vacation approaches that one of our children will remind us that we going to Door County in X number of days and then will say, "I can't wait to go." Thus expressing their hope and the joy they find in that hope. We are not in Door County but we have joy now as we anticipate being there. However, are we always full of joy in the hope of Door County? No because of the reality of sin and suffering in our lives.
It is the same reason for why Paul says we already have joy in the hope of the glory of God and also commands us to rejoice in the hope. He talks like this because of the fact of sin and suffering in this world. Sin is, at its core, putting our faith and hope in created things and the promises of pleasure that created things give us, rather then putting our faith and hope in God and his promises. Thus, the process of Christian growth is the fight to turn away from placing my hope for future good in money or relationships or success or vacations or a new car or sex or health or drugs or successful children or whatever and instead fixing my hope on this one certain thing: one day, by God's grace, I am going to fully experience the glory of God. Thus the experience of present joy is directly related to my consciously and intentionally fixing my mind and heart on that future glory and turning away from the unreliable promises of glory in created things.
However, not only does sin interfere with our hope inspired joy but also the sufferings of this life interfere with it as well. This world is full of trouble and misery that comes to us not as the result or our sin but simply by virtue of the fact that we still live in this world that is under God's curse. Suffering now is always painful and distracting. It is difficult when in the throes of some great trial to look beyond the trouble to our final destiny and find our joy in it. It is difficult to feel the joy when we feel the pain so strongly.
This is why it is so important to recognize how it is that Jesus endured the greatest trouble any human has ever experienced: he a completely perfect and righteous man suffered unjustly at the hands of men and endured the wrath due to us. Yet we are told in Hebrews 12:2 that he endured this greatest of all suffering in joy. This is exactly what Peter says is the experience of the believer when in some trial in 1 Peter 1:3-6, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials."
The experience of the Christian in the midst of some trial is one of grief in the trial and, at the same time, joy in the hope of that coming salvation. This is the normal Christian life. Grief and joy in the same heart at the same time. Weeping and rejoicing is our condition until that final day when Christ returns and then it will be only joy forever. Revelation 21:1-4, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'"
Friday, July 27, 2012
Men of dust; eternal God
I have not written for the past two weeks as I've either been too sick to think or too busy working when well to take time to write. I did not get the worst of the two chemicals this past Monday and so I was not as sick on Wednesday and Thursday as the previous 10 times but I was not as well as I had hoped. However, today, Friday, I am much stronger than during any previous "chemo" week. I thank the Lord for this mercy and look forward to taking the final treatment on August 6. After that I will be tested for cancer in February of 2013.
I've given very little thought to the fact that I have/had cancer during these treatments. Mostly I've been trying to survive the treatments. However, as I have been contemplating the fact that, at least for the next five years, I will be living with the reality that a tumor could appear at any time, my thoughts have turned to my mortality which led me to a favorite psalm, Psalm 90. As with so many psalms, the first half is not really good news. The psalm is written by Moses and it has the flavor of the wilderness journey waiting for all the people who were 20 years old and up at the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea to die.
The first line asserts two realities: First, all humans, in all generations live in God, that is, we would not exist if God did not exist. He is our dwelling place. In him alone is life to be found. Second, he is eternal; he has no beginning and he has no end. He always is. The mountains and the earth itself are but as babes compared to the eternal God. Then comes the bad news and lots of it. The eternal God is the one who turns humans back to dust when he declares to us: "Return, O children of man." That last phrase is literally, in the Hebrew, "sons of Adam." Clearly Moses is thinking of God's curse given to Adam as a result of his disobedience and which is now our curse as well. Genesis 3:19, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
God is in charge of death. He it is who determines each person's days on this earth. He decrees when we each return to the dust from which we were taken. It is by his word that each human dies and returns to the elements from which we were created. Thus our time on this earth is finite, limited, it has a definite end. However, as v. 4 declares, there is no limit to God's time. 15 lifetimes of men may pass and for God it was if yesterday had passed or the night was gone. There are no limits to this God whereas for us, we are very limited. God sweeps us away as a flood of water wipes all things from its path. We are no more permanent than dreams partially remembered and quickly forgotten. We are like grass that is fresh in the morning but after cut down by the sickle, dried up at night. There is such a great difference between us and the eternal God. Sons of dust, inconsequential and finite beings we are while he is eternal creator and Lord of all.
As if the news is not bad enough, Moses goes on. Our dying is the fruit of God's anger with our sin. As Paul says it so succinctly, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). God's wrath against us which is exhibited in our dying is the cause of much dismay. All our plans and work and ambitions are crushed under this fruit of God's wrath: death. There is no escape from God's gaze. He sees all our sins. He has placed all our iniquities before his face. All of our days are lived under the threat of death, the just curse of God's perfect anger against sin. The span of our life is but trouble and sorrow, these days are soon gone and we fly away like sparks from a campfire that quickly burn out as they float into the night sky.
What shall we do in the face of these awful realities? First, Moses recognizes that most of us pay no attention to the awful reality that we inhabit. Few take serious the power of God's anger or fear God in proportion to his wrath. We live as if our lives will not end, as if tomorrow will be like today, as if wrath will never have to be face. So we should each one ask God to us wise hearts that "number our days", that is, that take serious the fact that God could justly, at any time say "Return to dust". We should live as if we are going to die and we are going to have to face this God who is full of anger due to our sins.
Ah, but also, not only must we take serious who we are dealing with and how brief is our life but we must remember that this eternal God is a gracious God to whom we can go for relief. So before God tells you to return you should tell him to return. Do you see that in v. 13? "Return, O Yahweh! How long? Have pity on your servants." " O promise making God of Israel return to us before we return to dust. Do not wait any longer. Take pity upon poor miserable sinners like us."
What is it that Moses most desperately desires? What would the Lord do if her were to take pity? "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." This is the greatest need of every human heart: to be satisfied with the great, unfailing love of God for sinners made known in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. The only way to find true, everlasting joy is to have God graciously, contrary to what we deserve satisfy our hearts with his unfailing love made known in Jesus. There is no love of God for the sinner apart from Christ because Christ alone has taken up the wrath and anger that all who trust in him deserve. Thus we need God to show us this wonderful love and then satisfy our hearts with this love alone. Nothing can satisfy because all else is temporary pleasure. But with Jesus is eternal pleasures at God's right hand.
Moses continues: Make us glad with this unfailing love for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. We ask the God who sends the trouble to also, graciously, satisfy our hearts with his love for as long as he has troubled us so that the trouble becomes but a dim memory and forgotten in the pleasures of his love for us. Here is a psalm and a prayer for one like me who will be living with more sense, I hope, of the imminence of my death. Might God use this knowledge to give me a heart of wisdom which seeks all the more to be satisfied in the love of God for a miserable sinner like me.
I've given very little thought to the fact that I have/had cancer during these treatments. Mostly I've been trying to survive the treatments. However, as I have been contemplating the fact that, at least for the next five years, I will be living with the reality that a tumor could appear at any time, my thoughts have turned to my mortality which led me to a favorite psalm, Psalm 90. As with so many psalms, the first half is not really good news. The psalm is written by Moses and it has the flavor of the wilderness journey waiting for all the people who were 20 years old and up at the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea to die.
The first line asserts two realities: First, all humans, in all generations live in God, that is, we would not exist if God did not exist. He is our dwelling place. In him alone is life to be found. Second, he is eternal; he has no beginning and he has no end. He always is. The mountains and the earth itself are but as babes compared to the eternal God. Then comes the bad news and lots of it. The eternal God is the one who turns humans back to dust when he declares to us: "Return, O children of man." That last phrase is literally, in the Hebrew, "sons of Adam." Clearly Moses is thinking of God's curse given to Adam as a result of his disobedience and which is now our curse as well. Genesis 3:19, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
God is in charge of death. He it is who determines each person's days on this earth. He decrees when we each return to the dust from which we were taken. It is by his word that each human dies and returns to the elements from which we were created. Thus our time on this earth is finite, limited, it has a definite end. However, as v. 4 declares, there is no limit to God's time. 15 lifetimes of men may pass and for God it was if yesterday had passed or the night was gone. There are no limits to this God whereas for us, we are very limited. God sweeps us away as a flood of water wipes all things from its path. We are no more permanent than dreams partially remembered and quickly forgotten. We are like grass that is fresh in the morning but after cut down by the sickle, dried up at night. There is such a great difference between us and the eternal God. Sons of dust, inconsequential and finite beings we are while he is eternal creator and Lord of all.
As if the news is not bad enough, Moses goes on. Our dying is the fruit of God's anger with our sin. As Paul says it so succinctly, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). God's wrath against us which is exhibited in our dying is the cause of much dismay. All our plans and work and ambitions are crushed under this fruit of God's wrath: death. There is no escape from God's gaze. He sees all our sins. He has placed all our iniquities before his face. All of our days are lived under the threat of death, the just curse of God's perfect anger against sin. The span of our life is but trouble and sorrow, these days are soon gone and we fly away like sparks from a campfire that quickly burn out as they float into the night sky.
What shall we do in the face of these awful realities? First, Moses recognizes that most of us pay no attention to the awful reality that we inhabit. Few take serious the power of God's anger or fear God in proportion to his wrath. We live as if our lives will not end, as if tomorrow will be like today, as if wrath will never have to be face. So we should each one ask God to us wise hearts that "number our days", that is, that take serious the fact that God could justly, at any time say "Return to dust". We should live as if we are going to die and we are going to have to face this God who is full of anger due to our sins.
Ah, but also, not only must we take serious who we are dealing with and how brief is our life but we must remember that this eternal God is a gracious God to whom we can go for relief. So before God tells you to return you should tell him to return. Do you see that in v. 13? "Return, O Yahweh! How long? Have pity on your servants." " O promise making God of Israel return to us before we return to dust. Do not wait any longer. Take pity upon poor miserable sinners like us."
What is it that Moses most desperately desires? What would the Lord do if her were to take pity? "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." This is the greatest need of every human heart: to be satisfied with the great, unfailing love of God for sinners made known in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. The only way to find true, everlasting joy is to have God graciously, contrary to what we deserve satisfy our hearts with his unfailing love made known in Jesus. There is no love of God for the sinner apart from Christ because Christ alone has taken up the wrath and anger that all who trust in him deserve. Thus we need God to show us this wonderful love and then satisfy our hearts with this love alone. Nothing can satisfy because all else is temporary pleasure. But with Jesus is eternal pleasures at God's right hand.
Moses continues: Make us glad with this unfailing love for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. We ask the God who sends the trouble to also, graciously, satisfy our hearts with his love for as long as he has troubled us so that the trouble becomes but a dim memory and forgotten in the pleasures of his love for us. Here is a psalm and a prayer for one like me who will be living with more sense, I hope, of the imminence of my death. Might God use this knowledge to give me a heart of wisdom which seeks all the more to be satisfied in the love of God for a miserable sinner like me.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Responding to grace
How do you respond when you are given a gift you know that you do not deserve? This is an important question because every Christian has been given a gift we do not deserve and thus all of us must be asking, what is the appropriate response for this gift of salvation through Christ which we do not deserve? We have in a brief story in Luke 5 a helpful look at how to respond to grace, to receiving a gift you know you don't deserve.
It is a fairly straightforward story. Jesus has been teaching and healing people near the Sea of Galilee. Enormous crowds have gathered and so he asks one of the fishermen, named Simon, who has been out fishing all night and is cleaning his nets before he goes home to sleep so he can go out fishing tonight--Jesus asks him if he could use his boat to push out from shore and teach the people. Simon obliges him, which means he has to row the boat out and keep it steady while Jesus teaches. This after having fished all night.
After Jesus finishes teaching the people, we are not told what he said, he says to Simon, "Row out a little deeper and let down your nets for a catch of fish." Simon, I'm sure in a somewhat exasperated voice, "We fished all night and caught nothing. But at your word we will let down the nets." So he and his brother Andrew and their dad row out to deeper water and let down the nets. The nets are immediately filled to overflowing with fish. There are so many fish that Simon has to yell to his partners, John and James, who are still on shore to bring the other boat out in order to hold all the fish. You can be sure these seasoned fishermen have never seen such a catch as both the boats began to sink under the weight of the catch.
It is just at this moment that Peter responds to grace, to unmerited favor, to receiving a gift he knew that he did not deserve. He falls at Jesus' feet and declares, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He responds with profound humility. He knows he had a bad attitude. He didn't believe Jesus when he promised they would catch fish. He had heard his teaching and at least knew about his miracles; he knew this was a unique man of God whom he had treated with contempt. Thus he knows, he doesn't deserve the gift and he most certainly does not deserve to be in the presence of such a person. He knows he is a sinner who does not deserve to be treated kindly nor to have a relationship with such a person. That Jesus would have anything to do with him was the most preposterous thing of which Peter could think.
How different his attitude from so much of what passes for Christianity in the USA. We are told that God loving us is the most natural and normal thing in the world. The love of God for humans is the most expected thing in the universe. There is nothing surprising in God wanting to have a relationship with us humans in the modern church. This is not what Peter thinks. He realizes that it is an astonishing thing for God to love a sinner. He would agree with John Newton about God's grace--it is amazing and unexpected and can only be received by the humble, those who know they don't deserve it.
Notice what happens next in the story. Jesus recognizes in Peter the appropriate response of a sinner in the presence of a holy God. He tells him first, "Don't be afraid." Peter was actually responding to Jesus' gracious provision of fish the same way the Israelites responded to God showing up on Mt. Sinai. They said to Moses, if you will remember, that they did not want to hear God speak anymore because if they did, they would surely die. The stood far off and told Moses to talk to God for them. So Jesus, first of all assures Peter that he is not going to die, that God is going to deal with him according to his mercy and not according to Peter's sins. Then next he says to Peter, "From now on you will be catching men." Not only does Jesus assure Peter of his love but he appoints this sinful man to one of his chief spokespersons. From that day on Peter, Andrew, James and John left their old life behind and followed Jesus. They responded to grace with faith. They believed that belonging to Christ and being his follower was better than everything else in the universe and so they left their dad and their business and followed Christ because of his grace.
It is a fairly straightforward story. Jesus has been teaching and healing people near the Sea of Galilee. Enormous crowds have gathered and so he asks one of the fishermen, named Simon, who has been out fishing all night and is cleaning his nets before he goes home to sleep so he can go out fishing tonight--Jesus asks him if he could use his boat to push out from shore and teach the people. Simon obliges him, which means he has to row the boat out and keep it steady while Jesus teaches. This after having fished all night.
After Jesus finishes teaching the people, we are not told what he said, he says to Simon, "Row out a little deeper and let down your nets for a catch of fish." Simon, I'm sure in a somewhat exasperated voice, "We fished all night and caught nothing. But at your word we will let down the nets." So he and his brother Andrew and their dad row out to deeper water and let down the nets. The nets are immediately filled to overflowing with fish. There are so many fish that Simon has to yell to his partners, John and James, who are still on shore to bring the other boat out in order to hold all the fish. You can be sure these seasoned fishermen have never seen such a catch as both the boats began to sink under the weight of the catch.
It is just at this moment that Peter responds to grace, to unmerited favor, to receiving a gift he knew that he did not deserve. He falls at Jesus' feet and declares, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He responds with profound humility. He knows he had a bad attitude. He didn't believe Jesus when he promised they would catch fish. He had heard his teaching and at least knew about his miracles; he knew this was a unique man of God whom he had treated with contempt. Thus he knows, he doesn't deserve the gift and he most certainly does not deserve to be in the presence of such a person. He knows he is a sinner who does not deserve to be treated kindly nor to have a relationship with such a person. That Jesus would have anything to do with him was the most preposterous thing of which Peter could think.
How different his attitude from so much of what passes for Christianity in the USA. We are told that God loving us is the most natural and normal thing in the world. The love of God for humans is the most expected thing in the universe. There is nothing surprising in God wanting to have a relationship with us humans in the modern church. This is not what Peter thinks. He realizes that it is an astonishing thing for God to love a sinner. He would agree with John Newton about God's grace--it is amazing and unexpected and can only be received by the humble, those who know they don't deserve it.
Notice what happens next in the story. Jesus recognizes in Peter the appropriate response of a sinner in the presence of a holy God. He tells him first, "Don't be afraid." Peter was actually responding to Jesus' gracious provision of fish the same way the Israelites responded to God showing up on Mt. Sinai. They said to Moses, if you will remember, that they did not want to hear God speak anymore because if they did, they would surely die. The stood far off and told Moses to talk to God for them. So Jesus, first of all assures Peter that he is not going to die, that God is going to deal with him according to his mercy and not according to Peter's sins. Then next he says to Peter, "From now on you will be catching men." Not only does Jesus assure Peter of his love but he appoints this sinful man to one of his chief spokespersons. From that day on Peter, Andrew, James and John left their old life behind and followed Jesus. They responded to grace with faith. They believed that belonging to Christ and being his follower was better than everything else in the universe and so they left their dad and their business and followed Christ because of his grace.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Enduring to the end
I did not "bounce back" very well from the last chemo treatment on June 25. I did not do well the last two weeks. I think it was a combination of things: the cumulative physical effect of 9 chemo treatments, emotional depletion due to the physical weakness and sickness and thus the radical alteration in my lifestyle and I got a cold last Sunday night. Anyway, I feel pretty good today. Monday will be the final time I have to take the worse of the two chemo drugs. Presumably these next two weeks will be the last two in which I will be really sick. I'm hoping that only getting the one drug the final two treatment cycles will enable me to feel better and be able to do more.
I am in the final lap of the race called chemo-therapy, at least for now. My attention is turned to the letter to the Hebrews and its frequent admonitions to the Hebrew Christians to endure to the end, to run the whole race that God has given to them without quitting. The entire letter is one long encouragement for Christians who are weary of following Christ due to suffering and sin to not give up, to persevere to the end. It gives reason after reason for why enduring all the trouble while remaining faithful to Jesus is better than giving up faith in Christ.
Here is one of those exhortations to endure which I think of as I contemplate enduring to the end of chemo-therapy. In Hebrews 10:35-36 we are told, "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." The greatest motivation for enduring to the end is that at the end God has promised a great reward. The reason to not throw away my confidence in Christ but to endure to the end of life trusting him and living as he commands is because God has promised the greatest of all possible rewards for those who endure.
What is that reward? The author describes it in a variety of ways in his letter. Perhaps my favorite description is in chapter 12:22-24, "...you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." There is a party going on in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The party is being attended by innumerable angels, the spirits of the righteous, God the judge of all and Jesus who shed his blood so I could join that party. It is entry into the heavenly festivities which is the reward promised by God to all who hold fast their confidence in Christ to the end of their lives.
By identifying the final reward with Mt. Zion and Jerusalem the author is connecting to a myriad of rich descriptions of that joyful city from the OT. Using rich language of earthly prosperity to help us understand the glory of the new world God is creating for us Isaiah describes our reward in this way (Isaiah 65:17-25): "'For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,' says the LORD."
Meditating upon that glorious future that belongs to all who trust in Christ is what will enable us to endure through the hardships of this life without abandoning Christ. The word of God, especially the OT descriptions of God's plan for Jerusalem is the fuel for feeding our faith and hope in that future.
I am in the final lap of the race called chemo-therapy, at least for now. My attention is turned to the letter to the Hebrews and its frequent admonitions to the Hebrew Christians to endure to the end, to run the whole race that God has given to them without quitting. The entire letter is one long encouragement for Christians who are weary of following Christ due to suffering and sin to not give up, to persevere to the end. It gives reason after reason for why enduring all the trouble while remaining faithful to Jesus is better than giving up faith in Christ.
Here is one of those exhortations to endure which I think of as I contemplate enduring to the end of chemo-therapy. In Hebrews 10:35-36 we are told, "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." The greatest motivation for enduring to the end is that at the end God has promised a great reward. The reason to not throw away my confidence in Christ but to endure to the end of life trusting him and living as he commands is because God has promised the greatest of all possible rewards for those who endure.
What is that reward? The author describes it in a variety of ways in his letter. Perhaps my favorite description is in chapter 12:22-24, "...you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." There is a party going on in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The party is being attended by innumerable angels, the spirits of the righteous, God the judge of all and Jesus who shed his blood so I could join that party. It is entry into the heavenly festivities which is the reward promised by God to all who hold fast their confidence in Christ to the end of their lives.
By identifying the final reward with Mt. Zion and Jerusalem the author is connecting to a myriad of rich descriptions of that joyful city from the OT. Using rich language of earthly prosperity to help us understand the glory of the new world God is creating for us Isaiah describes our reward in this way (Isaiah 65:17-25): "'For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,' says the LORD."
Meditating upon that glorious future that belongs to all who trust in Christ is what will enable us to endure through the hardships of this life without abandoning Christ. The word of God, especially the OT descriptions of God's plan for Jerusalem is the fuel for feeding our faith and hope in that future.
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