Reading and Self-Education

More on Lynne and my visit to Mount Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington. My favorite room at Mount Vernon was the study. I must admit that it’s my favorite room in every historic home. The tour guide informed us that in Washington’s day a man with forty books in his library was considered affluent; Washington had more than 900. Washington’s formal education ended at age eleven with the death of his father. Yet his learning was only beginning. Washington was largely self-educated. If he desired to learn a subject, he bought a book and mastered it. We read the lives of autodidacts like Washington and Lincoln, and marvel at their capacity to teach themselves. But study their times a bit more carefully and you learn quickly that this commitment to self-instruction was unexceptional. Lack of schools and money meant people who loved learning had to assume responsibility for their own education, and no small part of that process involved saving money to purchase books accompanied with the disciplined and deliberate focus required to read and master them. Throughout my life I have had people remind me that there is far more to learning than books. Fair enough. But that does not diminish their importance. Early Americans could not imagine a world in which books are so easily available as they are to us in our own day. Sadly, we can find endless reasons not to read. Time, commitment, and passion are often lacking. We need to cultivate the same devotion to books that marked the life of George Washington. He was a life-long student and we should be, too. We must identify the areas of life that demand our serious study, and read carefully and deeply to acquire understanding. Learning is more than books, I readily admit. But they are nonetheless vital to our personal growth. Identify the areas of interest that are crucial to your life and work. Develop a list of books that are must reading, and read them with disciplined focus. Like Washington, we are responsible for our own education. His habits of learning are worthy of our imitation.

Conversation as Entertainment

Lynne and I spent our December 27th anniversary at Mount Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington. America’s first President was its greatest leader. He excelled in each of his major life endeavors – as husband, soldier, businessman, and statesman. I am embarrassed that it took me so long to get to Mount Vernon. During my life I have spent very little time in northern Virginia. In my only extended stay, my sight-seeing was confined to War Between the States’ battlefields. Fortunately, my historical interests have broadened. The weather was beautiful; and after the fog melted away, a bright sun warmed the temperature to over 60°F. We arrived early, and lines were short. We waited only about 15 minutes to tour the home. By the time we left, the wait was ninety minutes. I recommend arriving before the gates open, buying your tickets, skipping the welcome center and movie, and proceeding directly to the house tour. The movie in the welcome center was well worth watching, and I recommend returning to it later. Two rooms on the home’s first floor were devoted to conversation, the primary form of entertainment in colonial America. Both rooms were needed – the Washingtons hosted over 600 overnight guests at Mount Vernon during his first year as President. Washington wrote: "I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of state and the representatives of every power in Europe." I was struck by how important conversation was to George and Martha Washington. No televisions, cell phones, computers, and PDAs to distract. And that’s the way it should be. Conversation is at the heart of all deep friendships. Space and time must be set apart. E-mail and text messaging – whatever benefits they may have – are not conversation. Conversation requires physical presence; facial expressions and tone of voice are as important as the words spoken. Hours of undistracted conversation are requisite for understanding and the forging of enduring friendships. Without time and space conversation is impossible. Meaningful conversation compels us to put aside technological devices that interrupt. They cause us, in the words of one writer, to disincarnate the person before us in favor of those who are physically absent, and who we may not even know. Two things I love about my home is that it provides a quiet space for reading and an environment that lends itself to conversation when guests gather. Of course our home is no Mount Vernon, but Lynne and I have set apart space for conversation. The far greater challenge is setting apart the time to enjoy in our home the wonderful people God has placed in our lives. Conversation as the foremost form of entertainment – we do well to rediscover what the Washingtons knew to be true.

Roberta Maclagan Wingard (September 4, 1926 – December 19, 2008)

My Mother was not given to self-disclosure. Health updates, news about her activities, and reminiscences on her long life came only by my persistent personal inquiry. She was a quiet, godly woman, and conversations with her quickly turned away from herself and to her desire to know how Lynne, her grandsons, and I were doing.

I never heard my Mother brag. Pride never marred anything she did. She came to womanhood during the Great Depression and World War II, and was never at home with the moral climate and self-absorption of much of the Baby Boomer generation. When she prayed aloud, it was with the language and cadences of the King James Bible. She was the child of another era. As far as I know, she never sat in front of a computer screen. If she could see what I was writing now, she would be uneasy. After all, family matters, good or bad, don’t belong in public.

So, I'm in a bit of a bind. Like all sons of devout Christian women, I have many things I could share about how my Mother provided for me materially and spiritually. But I wouldn’t honor her memory if I turned this post into a litany of the blessings she brought to me; a public recollection of her virtues would have embarrassed her, something she would not want.

Since her death on December 19th, I’ve asked myself what is the one thing my Mother did that had the most far-reaching consequences in my life. As I’ve mulled over that question, one decision has stood out. It was made before I was born. That was her and my Dad’s choice more than five decades ago to adopt, and then later to take me home from an orphanage in Conway, Arkansas in 1958.

Nothing is more important to me than my Christian faith, and the knowledge that I belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Of all the things my Mother and Dad communicated to me, the truths of the gospel are by far the most precious. They chose to take me into their family, and give me the priceless treasure of the gospel.

Once, when I was a teenager, my Mother told me that I should tell my Dad how proud of him I was. I’ve long forgotten why. But the Mother who never bragged knew that bragging a bit about my Dad to his face would encourage him.

Perhaps, then, my Mother would be pleased with this post if I conclude with a word about her and my Heavenly Father. Roberta Wingard was my Mother. She was also my sister in Christ; we were both adopted into God’s eternal family. From before the foundation of the world, God determined to take us into his family and bestow upon us “a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, answer 34). He graciously granted us the gifts of faith and repentance, and we both rested in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. His righteousness is our righteousness, his blood an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Forever we are God’s adopted children. I think my Mother would be pleased if I boasted in the great love of God and in his Son, who loved my Mother and me, and gave himself for us. Thank you, Momma, for adopting me into your family. Your faith has become my faith. In God’s good providence, your choice to take me into your family became the pathway to my coming to know the adopting love of God.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).
_________________

I have very few pictures of my Mother from the 1950s. This picture was taken on the occasion of my Aunt Martha’s receiving her Master’s Degree in Education at Ole Miss in the early 1950s. (R-L: Dad, Mother, Aunt Lena, Grandmother Wingard, and Aunt Martha) Even adopted children try to run away from home. Fortunately, Momma never let me get far.

Prayer for the First Sunday after Christmas

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen. - 1928 Book of Common Prayer

2008 Favorite Reads

My favorite reads during 2008: 1. Favorite Christian: The Courage to Be Protestant by David F. Wells. My review. 2. Favorite Non-Fiction: The Blind Traveler by Jason Roberts. My review. 3. Favorite Military History: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer. My review. 4. Favorite Business: The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. My review. 5. Favorite fiction: A Certain Justice by P.D. James.

The Three Pillars of Learning

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning. - Benjamin Disraeli

(Source: A recent sample of the work on Damien's Fingerpost. Visit and enjoy this wonderfully creative blog! I check it regularly because it's so well done.)

John Piper on Why Pastors Should Blog

John Piper argues that pastor should blog . . . 1. . . . to write. 2. . . . to teach. 3. . . . to recommend. 4. . . . to interact. 5. . . . to develop an eye for what is meaningful. 6. . . . to be known. (And he's not talking about publicity!) Read the entire post. For many years I have found the Desiring God website a helpful resource for sermons, books, and teaching materials. It's mission: "Everything we do aims to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ."

Luke 1:26-38 - The Never Ending Kingdom

(A sermon from the Gospel of Luke, preached December 21, 2008, the fourth Sunday in Advent.) Luke 1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. The first thing that strikes me about this scripture lesson is its setting. It’s quite mundane, even dull. Mary is in Nazareth. It’s hard to imagine a more obscure city. Located in lower Galilee about 70 miles northeast of Jerusalem, it is nestled in the hill country between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee. Two millennia ago only a few thousand people lived there. So obscure is the city that Luke, who writes to many readers unfamiliar with the area, has to mention that Nazareth is “a city of Galilee.” (Luke 1:26) None of his Gentile readers in other areas of the Roman Empire would have known the city’s whereabouts; I imagine more than a few in Palestine would have been clueless too. After all, the city is not even mentioned in the Old Testament. If Nazareth was obscure, Palestine was only a bit less so. Read any major newspaper today and you will find some article about Palestine. Conflict, violence, and bloodshed mar a region that is strategically crucial to the interests of world powers. But if Rome had newspapers in its day, very little copy would have been devoted to Palestine. Certainly, an occasional article about a Jewish uprising or trouble with the marauding Nabataeans along the frontier border; perhaps updates on the status of Roman servicemen stationed there. Otherwise, the area was of no immediate significance to most Romans. Life in Nazareth was unexceptional. Workers tended the olive groves, vineyards and presses. Its citizens passed their days in arduous labor, training their children to work, generation after generation. Some urban dwellers long for the simplicity and purity of the countryside. Please don’t succumb to nostalgia and treat Nazareth as some ideal rustic community; it wasn’t. If such places exist, Nazareth wasn’t one of them. Life was hard. And we’re not sure why, but it’s name was tarnished, it’s reputation marred by decadence and immorality (John 1:46). Roman armies disturbed the routines of life as they passed through the village on their way to the armory at Sepphoris. Once a band of Jewish rebels led an unsuccessful raid there. Two thousand of them were rounded up and crucified. Their crosses were planted along the roadsides of lower Galilee, a stern warning to potential insurgents that rebellion would not be tolerated. I’ve often wondered what impression the sight of hundreds of men dying horrifically cruel deaths left upon the young boy Jesus. But I’m getting ahead of myself. There is nothing extraordinary about Nazareth, nor is there anything distinctive about this story’s two human characters. We are told that Mary was a “virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph” (Luke 1:27). Here we enter a world alien to our own. A betrothal is a formal agreement to marry. Don’t think of modern engagements where a man pops the question, she says yes, he slides the ring on her hand, and they mutually pledge undying love. The wedding date is set. Then they descend from the clouds and real life sets in. They begin to quarrel, lose interest in one another, and end up calling the whole thing off. She hands back the ring and they go their separate ways. An ancient betrothal was far more serious than a modern engagement. Although the couple could not live together, in every other way they were counted married. Sexual infidelity during the betrothal period was condemned as adultery. Only a formal divorce could break a betrothal. Strange to us, but promises to marry were very, very serious. The only thing that at first might appear distinctive about this couple is Joseph’s ancestry. Verse 27 tells us that Joseph was “of the house of David.” That Joseph’s and Mary’s son is a descendant of David is vital to the biblical history. But at the time of these events it hardly seemed significant. Gone were the glory days of Israel. No longer would her powerful army enter fields of battle. Even her political independence was gone; David’s throne was empty. Being a descendant of David in Joseph’s day is like being a descendant of a Russian czar today. Interesting and maybe impressive to some, but hardly important. Yet an astonishing thing happened to two ordinary people in this obscure city of Nazareth. In this city, we are moved to the center of human history. The angel of the Lord appeared. Let’s think a bit about angels. Unfortunately, Christian artists, for the most part, have done a great disservice in their renderings of angelic visitations. They frequently depict a lovely being, with a sweetly feminine, even girlish, face, wearing a delicate dress. So harmless is such a creature, that you can be forgiven for thinking it will be the tender, adolescent angel, not Mary, who is filled with fear. But the Bible portrays angels quite differently. Angels are agents of God, and often their mission is to bear the sword of judgment. If you’re going to imagine an angelic visitation, think of a fierce warrior appearing in battle array. He is the angel of the Lord. Whether he comes on a mission of peace or judgment is not immediately known. His very appearance frightens Mary, and later terrifies the shepherds. The angel’s name is Gabriel, and he speaks to Mary: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28). His words reassure. Mary has found God’s favor; the Lord is with her. His words soothe, but his presence frightens. We are told Mary “was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29). Gabriel speaks again: “Do not be afraid, Mary” (Luke 1:30). The gospel always subdues the fear of frightened sinners. And, make no mistake, Mary is a sinner. She is a member of Adam’s fallen human race. She becomes a recipient both of God’s saving and sanctifying grace. She has “found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). It is here that I believe our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters have erred badly. The Roman Catholic doctrine of the “Immaculate Conception” teaches that Mary was sinless from her conception, untainted by original sin, full of God’s grace and sinless from that time forward. Don’t become confused: when Roman Catholics speak of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception they refer to Mary’s conception, not Jesus’. I don’t have the time this morning to explain why I think this doctrine rests on an errant interpretation of scripture and faulty theological reasoning. Much has been written on the matter, and I can point you to some resources if you’re interested. But I will assert that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary leads to an inappropriate veneration of the mother of Jesus. Her allegedly flawless life leads her to becoming the heavenly recipient of prayer and a dispenser of grace. In the desire to exalt Mary, the passage we read loses its simplicity, beauty, and power. Mary’s response to the angelic visitation is startling not because she’s so extraordinary, but because she’s so ordinary. She’s a poor sinner, a frightened teenager, confused by the angelic message and messenger. Yet, by God’s grace, she believes his word, acknowledges his power, and submits herself to his word. God in his transcendent grace comes to do extraordinary things in the life of this young lady. Perhaps Protestants don’t sufficiently honor Mary, the mother of Jesus. If so, the corrective is not to ascribe to her things she was not, namely sinless, nor to pray to her as a mediator and giver of grace. We honor Mary by imitating her faith – by believing God’s gospel announcement, by entrusting ourselves to his care in tumultuous times, and by submitting to his word. We also honor Mary by imitating her humility and reverence. The angel comes clothed in the glory and majesty of God. In his presence Mary cannot hide from her weakness and sin. She is fearful. We are in danger of losing our sense of God’s glory and majesty. Too many Christians hurry into places of worship, maybe with coffee cups in hand. They sing light, breezy, and uplifting songs, hear an inspirational message, greet friends and then head back home for an afternoon in front of the TV. There’s so little of God’s all-transcending glory - little to impress upon us his infinitude and our finiteness - little to stamp upon us God’s holiness and our sinfulness - little to leave us contemplating God’s dignity and our unworthiness. We need Mary’s humility and reverence in the presence of God. The angel continues, unfolding his message of salvation: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33) We must read this passage in the light of God’s full revelation in the Bible. There’s the human nature of Jesus – conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and given the name “Jesus,” which means in Hebrew, “the Lord is salvation.” He will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). There’s the human nature of Jesus. And there is his divine nature. He is “the Son of the Most High.” The Son of God has existed from all eternity as the second person of the Trinity, equal with his Father and the Holy Spirit in dignity, glory, and power. It was this Son that God the Father sent into the world for us and our salvation. The mystery of the incarnation is this: The eternal and divine Son of God added to himself a human nature when he was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary. The Jesus we meet the scriptures is both God and man, fully human and fully divine, his divine and human natures united in one person, forever. God sets his incarnate Son Jesus on “the throne of his father David . . . and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33) Note that Christ’s kingdom is never-ending; nothing can destroy his kingdom. Sin cannot destroy his kingdom. Many of Israel’s kings were thoroughly corrupt. Sin marred the best of their lives and reigns. How different is Christ’s unending kingdom! The sinless Son of God will reign in perfect righteousness. His kingdom will triumph over sin. Sin cannot destroy Christ’s kingdom. Nor can death. The wages of sin is death – not just bodily death but spiritual death, separation from God’s loving presence forever. But King Jesus is a self-sacrificing king. In his cross work, he takes upon himself the sin debt of his people. He completely satisfies the demands of God’s justice. Sin and death cannot destroy Christ’s kingdom. Nor can decay. Human bodies die and decay in the grave. But Christ’s death and resurrection become the pattern for his people. Paul writes that the body that “is sown [in the grave] is perishable; what is raised is imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:42). Christ’s kingdom of righteousness is without end. What humility and majesty are bound up in Gabriel’s announcement to Mary! When I think of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God I am astonished by both the humility and majesty of God. The God, who fills the heavens, dwells in humility with his people. If God is for us, then who can be against us? We think humility and majesty are as far apart as the North and South Poles. Yet, in Jesus Christ there is infinite majesty combined with the lowest humility. He dispenses infinite justice with boundless grace. He has sovereignty and dominion, yet demonstrates perfect submission and obedience. He combines transcendent self-sufficiency with an entire trust and reliance upon his Father. (from Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “The Excellency of Christ”) Mary’s response to Gabriel’s announcement is full of faith. She asks, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34) These are not words of doubt and skepticism; they are words of faith. And the angel answers, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:35-37). Here unfolds the doctrine of Christ’s virgin conception. It’s a miracle. Some Christians are embarrassed by the doctrine, and feel it dispensable, or not mentioned in polite company. How sad! The Bible is filled with supernatural events, not the least of which is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Why believe any of the Bible’s miraculous events, if we cannot believe this one? From beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is the supernatural book of the supernatural acts of the supernatural God who announces that he is with his people, removing their sins and rescuing them from their enemies. The virgin conception of Jesus is critical to our salvation. The virgin birth makes possible Christ’s true humanity without original sin. Original sin does not mean the first sin; it does not refer to Adam’s sin. Rather, original sin refers to the results of that first sin – death and condemnation. Adam sinned and we sinned in him; sin, death, and condemnation spread to all men, as Paul tells us in Romans 5. All men are from the time of their personal origin – their conception – sinners. We do not sin and then become sinners. We are born sinners; therefore, we sin. We are not born innocent, and then corrupted by our environment. We are born guilty, members of a fallen human race. Christ our Savior comes from outside the natural descendants of Adam. He is holy, pure, and sinless, ready to meet the law’s demands as our representative and to offer himself as our substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. The virgin birth assures us of the incarnate Christ’s complete sympathy. Like us, his life began at conception and ended in death. Therefore, the experiences we face he faced. This is why God did not send Jesus into the world as a fully mature human being. In every stage of life, he suffered the same trials and temptations we do, yet without sin. Mary responds in faith to the announcement of Jesus’ virgin conception. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) May our response to Gabriel’s announcement be one of faith as we joyfully join our voices this Christmas with those of countless Christians across the centuries by confessing our faith in him who was “conceived by the Holy Ghost” and “born of the Virgin Mary.”

Prayer for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

"O LORD, raise up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, world without end. Amen." - 1928 Book of Common Prayer

John 1:6-8,19-28 - A Man Sent from God

(A sermon preached on December 14, 2008, the third Sunday in Advent.) John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. We Presbyterians can be a suspicious bunch. I know of a Presbyterian church that experienced remarkable growth, far surpassing that of any other churches in its Presbytery. Many rejoiced - but not all. Some Presbyterians were suspicious. The church must be cutting corners. You know what I mean, dropping its doctrinal standards, diluting the gospel, and devising gimmicks to increase attendance. So the Presbytery sent a group to investigate the growth. I hope they were delighted to discover that nothing untoward was taking place. The Lord was blessing the work of caring, gifted, and faithful leaders. In John 1:19 we discover that a man named John was creating a stir. Multitudes flocked to hear him preach. Don’t confuse this John with the Apostle John, who wrote the gospel we read from moments ago. To distinguish the two gentlemen, this John is called John the Baptist. Israel’s religious leaders were becoming increasingly suspicious of John. That multitudes came to hear John preach was sufficient to send up red flags. The number of people was all the more impressive because of the John’s venue, the wilderness. Imagine telling your family that they were going to church in the wilderness – and that you all would be making the journey on foot! But crowds made the arduous trek into the wilderness to hear John. Much more troubling to the religious leaders was how the people responded to John’s preaching. They were not passive. They did not sit back and enjoy John’s oratory for oratory’s sake. Rather, they did something. They repented of their sins and submitted to John’s baptism. It’s one thing to attract large crowds; it’s quite another to change lives. The first is no small feat; the second is immeasurably more difficult. It’s one thing to speak fluently; it’s another to inspire your audience to action. I remember reading of a comparison between two ancient Athenian orators, Demosthenes and Achenes. Both were accomplished wordsmiths and dynamic speakers. But what a difference between the two! "When Achenes spoke, the Greeks said, 'How beautiful he speaks.' But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let's march against Philip.'" And armies marched in response to Demosthenes’ words. There’s all the difference in the world between inspiring words and words that inspire men to action. John spoke and people marched to the Jordan to be baptized. And that troubled Israel’s leaders. So the Pharisees sent a delegation of priests and Levites into the wilderness to see what was happening. From their visit we learn three important truths about John: his identity, his message, and his humility. First, John’s identity. The delegation is blunt. They probe John: “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” (John 1:19). “John, identify yourself to us.” John’s identity was a mystery to them; it needn’t be to us. Our scripture lesson this morning reveals John’s identity – who he is and, just as importantly, who he isn’t. Some words about who John isn’t. John isn’t the light (John 1:4). Look at verse 4. The gospel says of the Savior, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” To a world in the grip of spiritual death, our Savior is life. To a world shrouded in moral darkness, our Savior’s light brings truth and moral purity to men. Undoubtedly, John is a great man, but he is only a man. He’s no Savior. He’s not the light of the world. John isn’t the Christ (John 1:20). “Christ” is the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew word “Messiah.” Both words mean “anointed.” For a thousand years, faithful Israel longed for a descendant of David to come and rule as God’s anointed King, overthrowing all evil and establishing Israel in safety and holiness. John was a great man, but he was only a man. He could herald the coming of the great King, but he was not the king. He was not the promised Christ. Nor was John the prophet Elijah (John 1:21). The great Old Testament prophet Elijah never died, but was taken up into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). Many centuries later God spoke through his prophet Malachi: “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5). Some Jews misunderstood this verse to mean that there would be a literal return of the prophet prior to the coming of the Messiah. But John denies that he is Elijah. The angelic announcement in Luke 1:17 clarifies John’s role: John comes “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” John is a great man. He is Elijah-like. But he is not Elijah. Nor was John the Prophet (John 1:22). For more than a thousand years, faithful Israel had looked eagerly awaited the coming of “the Prophet,” (Deuteronomy 18:15-18) who like Moses would speak as the Prophet. John was a prophet, the last of Old Testament prophets (Matthew 11:13), but he was not the Prophet. That’s who John isn’t. He isn’t the light of the world, he isn’t the Christ, he isn’t Elijah, and he isn’t the Prophet. Who, then, is he? John is a man sent from God. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John” (John 1:6). Like the other Old Testament prophets – like Jesus, the Son of God – John was sent from God. That’s John’s fundamental identity. Say whatever else you want to about him, this one truth remains constant: John was a man sent from God. I don’t know for sure, but I imagine at some point as a young man John began to think about his future. I doubt he considered the wilderness as the ideal place to live. I do know that faithfulness to his message of repentance got him in big trouble with Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias. John condemned their relationship. They were adulterers; they had defied God’s law and broken their marriage covenants. What is the reward for John’s faithfulness? Prison and execution (see Mark 6:14-29) John was able to persevere in his walk down an incredibly painful path solely because he knew who he was: He was a man sent from God. Wherever his faithfulness took him, he knew he was there by God’s will. He knew who he was when he went into the wilderness. He knew his identity when he stood before Herod and Herodias. He was God’s man when he lay bound in prison. The sword may have been in his executioner’s hand, but John knew that his life was in God’s hands. He was sent from God. Are you a Christian? Then God sends you into the world, and by word and deed you must bear witness to his truth. Often he sends you to places you’d rather not go. None of us dreams and longs for troubled marriages, rebellious children, failed business ventures, and poor health. But if we keep sight of our identity, every hard and confining place we find ourselves can become an arena to live by faith and testify of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Our life circumstances are not an accident; we are people sent by God. John is a man sent from God, and, next, John bears witness to the light. John does not bear witness to himself but to Jesus. Last week Lynne and I attended a service of advent lessons and carols at All Saints’ Chapel in Sewanee, Tennessee. The chapel is magnificent with its medieval design, beautiful stonework, vaulted ceilings, bell tower, and stained glass windows. Thousands of photographs and postcards testify to the chapel’s architectural magnificence, and never does the chapel look more magnificent than in the evening when carefully placed spotlights illumine it. I suppose that tens of thousands of people have passed by those spotlights without a single person saying a word about them. They perform their task, and no more. They call attention to All Saints’ Chapel, not to themselves. They wear out and are replaced. But as long as they are in position their sole duty is to throw light on the chapel, or, if you will, to bear witness to its magnificence. And that’s what John does. He bears witness. He is not the light, but he bears witness to it. He does not call attention to himself, but to the one who sent him. John knows his place. Do we know ours? When all is said and done, the church’s mission in the world is to bear witness to the Son of God – by the words we speak, by the character we cultivate, by the grace we demonstrate, and by the compassion we give. Who is John? He is a man sent from God, he bears witness to the light, and, next, John is a voice crying in the wilderness. John is a voice crying in the wilderness. His prophetic ministry was predicted seven centuries earlier when Isaiah foretold: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’” (Isaiah 40:3-5) But the message he cries out is not his own, but of the one who sent him. John’s message is not about himself. We need to listen carefully to ourselves. Does our speech consist mostly about highlighting our successes, our dreams, our preoccupations, our trials, or are we heralding the good news of God’s salvation in Christ, and the suffering and glory that accompanies life in his kingdom? When I sold real estate, I saw a lot of “I love me walls” – walls adorned with artifacts testifying to the personal achievements of the homeowner. Think about your words. Are your words “I love me words,” or are they words that celebrate our grace and gratitude to the Lord for all he has achieved for us by his perfect life, death on the cross, and reign in heaven. That’s John’s identity: he is sent from God, he bears witness to the light, and cries the message of the one who sent him. Now, briefly, John’s message. John preached repentance. God’s Messiah is coming, he announced. “’Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23). God’s Messiah is coming and with him God’s judgment. Prepare yourself. “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8) Believe God and repent of your sin. John anticipated the coming of the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John lived on one side of the cross; we live on the other. John looked forward to the cross; we look back to it. But whichever side of the cross God’s messengers are on, they call men and women to cease trusting in their own works for salvation, and to trust fully in Christ’s sacrificial death that paid for the sins of everyone who believes. And wherever faith in Christ is preached, repentance is preached too. To turn to Christ means to turn from sin. Recently we completed a series of studies in the Ten Commandments. One of the functions of the commandments is to show us what repentance demands. Repentance demands that we have no god but God, that we worship him only as he commands, that we cherish his name and his day, that we honor our parents, and that our behavior and thoughts be marked by purity. God’s grace in Christ obligates us to a life of repentance. To proclaim a gospel without repentance is to forsake the pathway of God’s prophets and apostles. We’ve looked at John’s identity and John’s message. Now, finally, look at John’s humility. Those sent by the Pharisees ask Johh, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” (John 1:25) John’s response is remarkable: “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:26-27).” John’s baptism of repentance prepares men and women for the coming Christ. He baptizes by the authority of God. But the authority of the coming One is immeasurably greater and his person vastly superior to him. So glorious is this Christ, John declares, that he is not worthy to untie even a strap of his sandal. And it is this statement I find so remarkable. In the ancient world a student did for his teacher everything a slave would do except for one thing: he would not take off his teacher’s shoes. That was too demeaning. [D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Eerdmans, 1991), p.146] John says not only is he not worthy to take of Jesus’ shoes; he is not worthy to unloose even a strap of one of his sandals. That’s extraordinary humility. And John meant what he said. A few chapters later these words of John are recorded: “I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him…He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:28,30). And John’s visibility and following decrease sharply and rapidly. The crowds begin to fade away. John 4:1-2 tells us that Jesus’ disciples were soon baptizing more disciples than John the Baptist. Soon after that John had no following. Unjustly imprisoned; his beheading brought his rapidly contracting ministry to an end. John prepared the way for Christ’s first coming; today his church prepares the world for his second coming. Each of us has personal stories to tell – stories of God’s faithfulness and goodness to us. Let’s recount them with thanksgiving, but make sure we put them in the context of God’s great story – his work in Christ to reconcile the world to himself. That’s the big story we dare not forget. Our descendants will soon forget our personal histories. That’s okay. What we don’t want them to lose is the message of God’s work in history to save repentant sinners, and the certainty of his Son’s return in glory to judge the world. We are not center stage in history; Christ is, and we fulfill our purpose as we bear witness to him. No small part of our life is preparing to exit from the world’s stage. God gives us a certain amount of days, and no more. If we are to use our time wisely, then John’s attitude must be ours. Only his understanding of what it means to be sent from God will make us effective servants, preparing the world for our Lord’s second advent. Christ must increase; we must decrease.

Confidence in the Lord

Today I am thinking about the confidence we have in Lord. Isaiah declares, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). Isaiah’s words are spoken prophetically to God’s people in exile. All props have been removed. They have no powerful king to protect them – no army to rely on – no powerful nations with whom they can form an alliance – no land to serve as a natural buffer against enemies. They can only lean on the Lord. Isn’t this God’s ordinary way of working with his people? He places them in positions where they are helpless, and then displays his mighty power to save. Handed over to slavery in Egypt – led by judges who fail to uphold righteousness – taken into captivity in Babylon, which is the very time that Isaiah looks forward to. Crisis after crisis. God’s people must not only intellectually learn, but feel their absolute dependence upon the Lord. When calamity strikes and our props crumble – it is often at that moment we come to lean most heavily on the Lord. Florence Lubega is a former member of Uganda’s parliament. During the reign of Idi Amin, her husband was murdered. She fled the country to London. Here’s what she wrote her pastor: "Ever since my conversion, I have been praying that God would dispose of Amin. I have wished him dead and when I see his picture in the news I feel sick. Now, I don’t know how to pray. After fleeing from Uganda I had nothing. Everything I owned was taken by Amin’s soldiers. I lived in Nairobi for almost a year, and I slept in a garage with only newspapers between my body and the cold cement floor. I had nothing to eat. It was then I learned what I had not learned sleeping on a mattress with a full stomach. I learned to love Jesus Christ, the suffering Savior. Since then, I have come to London and still have been praying for the death of Amin. But should I instead be praising God for raising a man so evil that he took everything I owned and caused me to see the Lord? . . . It is when everything is uncertain that God’s face becomes clear." (K. Sempangi, A Distant Grief, 187-188) Is our confidence in the Lord?

The Virgin Birth of Christ

Seven centuries before the birth of Jesus, God speaks through his prophet Isaiah the words found in Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” And just in case our Hebrew is a little rusty, Matthew reminds us that the name Immanuel means “God with us.” Two thousand years ago, the faithful remnant of Israel despairs. Weighed down with their personal sins, and terrorized by wicked men who oppress their country and malign their faith. At the birth of Jesus, God announces, “I am with you in Jesus Christ.” To believing men and women today, God’s announcement remains the same: “I am with you in Jesus Christ.” Let’s take a closer look at verse 23. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” Many professing Christians have expressed skepticism about the virgin birth. One writes: “[The virgin birth of Christ] is a doctrine which presents us with many difficulties; and our church does not compel us to accept it in the literal and physical sense. This is one of the doctrines on which the Church says that we have full liberty to come to our own conclusion.” Sadly, this is nothing more than the language of unbelief. Thankfully, it is a skepticism that our own Presbyterian Church in America will not tolerate in its ministers. Could Matthew be any clearer? Three times he refers to the supernatural character of Jesus’ conception (Matthew 1:18, 20, 23). Matthew, along with Luke, undoubtedly presents the virginal conception of Jesus as an historical fact. And why should this surprise us? The Bible is filled with supernatural events, not the least of which is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Why believe any of the Bible’s miraculous events, if we cannot believe this one? From beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is the supernatural book of the supernatural acts of the supernatural God who announces that he is with his people, removing their sins and rescuing them from their enemies. Six brief truths about the Virgin Birth: 1. The virgin birth demonstrates the humiliation of the Lord. The eternal Son of God lays aside the insignia of glory. He impoverishes himself as he clothes himself in humanity, being born in a dirty stable in a remote, filthy, and impoverished outpost of the Roman world. My mind turns to 2 Corinthians 8:9: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." His poverty is our riches; his suffering, our salvation; his humiliation, our exaltation. 2. The virgin birth explains how the eternal Son of God, the second person of the blessed Trinity, became human. He did not change from God to man, nor did he become a new kind of creature, a hybrid being, half God and half man. Rather, at the incarnation, the One who is fully God remains fully God, and takes to himself a human nature, becoming fully man. A fully divine nature and a fully human nature, united in one person, forever. 3. The virgin birth assures us of the incarnate Christ’s complete sympathy. Like us, his life began at conception and ended in death. Therefore, the experiences we face he faced. This is why God did not send Jesus into the world as a fully mature human being. In every stage of life, he suffered the same trials and temptations we do, yet without sin. 4. The virgin birth makes possible Christ’s true humanity without original sin. Original sin does not mean the first sin; it does not refer to Adam’s sin. Rather, original sin refers to the results of that first sin – death and condemnation. Adam sinned and we sinned in him; sin, death, and condemnation spread to all men, as Paul tells us in Romans 5. All men are from the time of their personal origin – their conception – sinners. We do not sin and then become sinners. We are born sinners; therefore, we sin. We are not born innocent, and then corrupted by our environment. We are born guilty, members of a fallen human race. Christ our Savior comes from outside the natural descendants of Adam. He is holy, pure, and sinless, ready to meet the law’s demands as our representative and to offer himself as our substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. 5. The virgin birth points to the missionary Spirit of Christ. Christmas is a rescue mission. "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). To love missions is to be near the heartbeat of Christ. 6. The virgin birth is further confirmation that abortion is evil. Ethicist John Jefferson Davis writes, “The personal history of the Son of God on earth begins not when he was ‘born of the Virgin Mary,’ but when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.’ His history, like ours began at conception.” It is with great joy this Christmas that we join our voices with those of countless Christians across the centuries by confessing our faith in him who was “born of the Virgin Mary."

2008 Huntsville Marathon

Saturday I finished the 32nd annual Rocket City Marathon. The weather was perfect, and, as always, the fine folks of the Huntsville Track Club, Fleet Feet Sports, and the City of Huntsville managed the event flawlessly. I did a little better than last year. A year ago I was 8th from last place, this year I moved up to 11th from the end of the field. This was my first race on the backside of 50. I set my goal for 5 hours and 58 minutes. If you don’t follow marathon running, that is about as bad as you can get. Most courses shut down at 6 hours. I finished in 6:03. I was on pace through mile 20, faltered badly between miles 20-23, and then finished up on pace from miles 23-26. But I couldn’t make up the 5 minutes I lost. Lynne is both my life and marathon coach, the best ever. I do pretty much what she says. A few years ago, for example, I wanted to do a triathlon, but she put the smack down on that plan. It’s just as well. I’m a poor swimmer, and probably would have drowned before I got to the cycling and running. Lynne’s first concern is that I don’t overdo it on my long runs; I have yet to disappoint. This year when runs go over 13 miles, I run six minutes and walk one minute. It keeps me free from pains and injury, which is much more important to me than my finishing time. Running is fun, and I want to keep it that way as long as I can. As you can tell from my marathon time, I’m not much of an athlete. Never have been. When I was a boy, I failed to make several of the teams I tried out for. On the ones I did make, the biggest challenge I faced was finding a comfortable spot on the bench to keep warm. Still, I enjoyed being part of a team and even competition on the practice field satisfied me. Track was different. Everyone made it that tried out for the track team at Warren County High School in McMinnville, Tennessee. I ran the half-mile, mile, and two mile, and the two mile relay. In my two years on the team, I only placed once, and with my worst time ever in the mile. At a meet at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, I managed to take third place with an abysmal 5:55. However, it was freezing cold and winds were gusting over 40 miles an hour. The winning time was only 5:30, so everyone was pathetic. My Dad was the only parent at the meet, which made it a special day for me. The only other time I ever placed was in a Huntsville road race in 1975. I still have my third place ribbon for my division. However, only four people ran in my age group, so that takes some of the luster off the bronze. While I’m recounting my days of athletic glory, I might as well add that the only athletic trophy I ever won was fourth place in an intra-club karate tournament. Needless to say, our home does not contain a trophy case. My proudest athletic achievement came in 1978 when I finished the Tudor Long Walk. The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee used to have an annual event called the Tudor Long Walk. As I recall, Tudor Long was a Sewanee professor who loved to walk. In keeping with his name, he loved to walk a long, long way. He made walks to Sewanee from Chattanooga and Nashville, and from other distant places. So, in his memory, there was the Tudor Long Walk from Chattanooga to Sewanee (55 miles). Part of the walk consisted of going up the mountain to Monteagle on the east bound side of I-24. It’s a bit scary watching the semis and cars whiz by. Recently I asked someone if the school still sponsored the walk. She said no. I don’t know what happened. Maybe folks are no longer interested in walking 55 miles. The year I did it, 26 people tried and only six finished, including Dr. Hugh Caldwell, a philosophy professor. Or, maybe the University’s lawyers said that walking up a mountain on an interstate was stupid - a lawsuit waiting to happen. I don’t know. In any case, I finished number four in 13 hours. I alternated between walking and running. I should have finished in 12 hours, but I failed to make a turn and tacked on an extra three miles. I lost additional time trying to figure out where I was. Fortunately, I saw I a sign that said, “Welcome to Alabama,” and knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. If I hadn’t seen the sign, I would have lost more time heading in the wrong direction. But I finished the Tudor Long Walk with a sense of accomplishment. Not many folks cover that distance on foot. I didn’t train for the event, but I was young and had just finished the soccer season, so I was in pretty good shape. Distance running is very enjoyable. I recommend it if you want to get out, be alone with your thoughts, and do something good for your health. The most important thing is getting the right shoes, and for that, I highly recommend Fleet Feet Sports in Huntsville. The service is first class. I buy all my running gear there. I love running. It’s been a big part of my life, even if my achievements are undistinguished. I hope the Lord will continue for a time to grant me the health to keep enjoying it.

A Prayer for the Third Sunday in Advent

O Lord Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen. - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer

The Lord's Patience

(A sermon preached December 7, 2008, the second Sunday in Advent.) 2 Peter 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation. Lynne and I have a friend. Her name is Sue. Her daughter was born with a rare disease that affects her mentally and physically. She suffered terrible seizures, and slept only a few hours a day. The doctors told Sue that even if her child lived a longer life, it would be fraught with problems. Children with her condition can’t learn, and are almost impossible to toilet train. She might never learn to walk. She would have to be tended to constantly by family, and may need to be placed in a long-term care facility. She would be alert at times, but never cognizant of what was going around her. The little girl is not so little any more – she’s twelve. It’s fun to watch her walk and play now. We were sent a newspaper article about Kayleen and her t-ball team. Her mother found a t-ball league that would accept a child with special needs. We never thought Kayleen would walk, much less play on a sports team. You wonder: Were the doctors’ wrong in their diagnosis? No. Was their prognosis mistaken? No – it was consistent with Kayleen’s condition. Then why this remarkable outcome? What no one counted on was Sue’s extraordinary patience – up with her child every few hours at home, day after day, year-after-year, investing her life in her, not giving up when others saw no reason for hope. A mother’s patience saved this child’s life. Our president-elect has talked about the audacity of hope. But what about the audacity of patience? True, hope is a marvelous thing; it sustains people in the most wretched circumstances. But hope will not survive without patience. Patience is the fuel that keeps hope burning. Without patience, hope is like a pleasant dream that comforts in the night but is quickly forgotten during the toil of the day. Our friend’s patience has meant life for her daughter. It’s a story repeated in different forms over and over again. I’ve known children that everyone has written off – but their parents. Turbulent teen years, horrendous life choices as young adults, and now model Christians and leaders in the church. Their parents never stopped praying, never stopped loving, never stopped hoping. In a word they were patient. I’ve known couples whose marriages are very painful. Things don’t click and haven’t for a long, long time. Tension fills the home, and the couple despairs of change. But they won’t give up, and wonder of wonders, love and respect begin to flourish in extraordinary ways. Patience should mark our lives. When Christians show virtuous patience they are imitating their Father in heaven. 2 Peter 3:8-15 is all about patience – the Lord’s patience. “The Lord…is patient toward you” (2 Peter 3:9). And, “count the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Peter 3:15). The Lord is patient with us, and his patience means our salvation. Why dos the Lord’s patience mean our salvation? You find the answer in verses 10 and 12. Verse 10 refers to the “day of the Lord” and verse 12 to “the coming of the day of God.” As we confess in the Apostles’ Creed: there is a day coming – a day promised by God - when Christ will return to “judge the living and the dead.” And it will be a fierce and terrible day for everyone who has not turned to the Lord in repentance. With few exceptions, most Americans live insulated from terror and oppression. September 11 is conspicuous in recent American history by its rarity. We live in relative safety and security. Twenty-first century Americans are the exception. This morning faithful Christians awaken to oppression and hostility. Think China, North Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the southern Sudan. Mumbai is just one more example of the volatility of life in the shadow of militant Islam. Your brothers and sisters suffer unimaginably painfl trials. So it is not surprising that they pray fervently for the Lord to come and deliver his suffering people. But since the first century the years, decades, centuries, and now two millennia have gone by, and his people continue to face oppression. Why? Has God made a promise he will not or cannot keep? Peter sets things in the right perspective, the Lord’s perspective: “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9) What is the Lord’s perspective? “[W]ith the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). So, from the Lord’s perspective, Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension occurred the day before yesterday. “[W]ith the Lord . . . a thousand years [is] as one day.” In reality, time itself is God’s creation – and his view of time is not ours. He will not be rushed. Why? It is his will that all of his chosen people, all of those for whom Christ died, be brought to repentance. Every one of them. Not one lost. Not one predestined son or daughter of God falling short of eternal glory. Remember the golden chain of Romans 8:30: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Were the Lord to act precipitously and come prematurely (the very act is unthinkable!), then many of those predestined and for whom Christ died would fail to come to repentance. Don’t you see that? Loving patience is behind the apparent delay in the Lord’s return. And that patience means our salvation. On this second Sunday in Advent, there are three things I want you to remember about the Lord’s patience. First, the Lord’s patience is easy to overlook. Peter exhorts: “But do not overlook…The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9) We overlook the Lord’s patience in fulfilling his promise to come again in several ways. We overlook the Lord’s patience when we give up on his promise to return, treat it like a broken promise, and move on in our lives without the Lord. That’s one way to overlook the Lord’s patience. Still another way to overlook the Lord’s patience is to despair. We keep believing, which is a good thing. But our immediate circumstances leave us without expectant hope. We determine to hang on but little in the way of joy distinguishes our lives. Yet another way to overlook the Lord’s patience is indifference. We confess with our lips his return, but can’t for the life of us see how that has any affect on our life right now. We become morally careless; after all, there’s nothing that would make us think that his coming is on the immediate horizon. So, what’s the big deal about truth telling, sexual purity, and industrious kingdom service? There’s time to straighten all that out later. A final way to overlook the Lord’s patience is to take things into our own hand. Sadly, the church has done this from time to time. On occasion, it has solicited the state’s power to executing heretics and notorious unbelievers. That’s always wrong; we’re to work patiently in the mission field, not kill it off. But we can act precipitously, too. We take final judgment into our own hands when we write people off – “He’ll never become a Christian.” “She’ll never change, and make something of herself.” We overlook the Lord’s patience when we refuse to show to others the same patience the Lord has shown to us. Three things about the Lord’s patience. First, it’s easy to overlook. Second, what the Lord promises is worth waiting for. Look at verse 10: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” And, verse 12: we are to wait patiently for “the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” Now, at first blush, it’s easy to read these verses and think annihilation: God is just going to wipe out the earth and start all over again. Burning… dissolution…fire…all words that sound like annihilation. But as we read the scriptures it doesn’t take long to figure out that God is not about the business of annihilating his creation. Rather, he is transforming it, making it new. Burning not only consumes; it purifies. It dissolves impurities. Only what is of enduring worth is left. In the Lord’s coming the wicked and their wickedness will be consumed in God’s purifying fire. And that’s what God’s is up to in the coming day of the Lord: he will expose all evil, purge it, and make all things new. The new earth will be a place where “righteousness dwells.” In the new earth God will dwell with people and they will experience his love unhindered by human sin. God promises that “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.” (Revelation 21:4) What the Lord promises is worth waiting for! The Lord’s patience: first, it’s easily overlooked; second, what the Lord promises is worth waiting for; and third, the Lord’s patience generates activity, not complacency. We’re not to be twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the Lord to come back. Rather, the Lord’s promise stirs us to pursue holiness, godliness, and righteousness. Because “the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10), we must be ready for his appearing every day, 365 days a year, year after year after year. Look at verse 11. Since the world’s evil will be dissolved, we ought to “lives of holiness and godliness.” Look also at verse 14. Since we are waiting for a new earth wherein righteousness dwells, we must “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” Holiness…godliness…without spot or blemish…at peace: these are the fruits of a life lived in expectation of Christ’s return. And don’t miss that word peace: the pursuit of holiness individually and collectively produces a congregation that is at peace with one another. If your pursuit of holiness makes you angry, harsh, and judgmental, you are not pursuing the holiness that pleases the Lord. So important are repentant believers that it can be said that they hasten “the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:18). (“Hastening the coming of the day of God” in the ESV, and “speed its coming” in the NIV.) In his sovereignty God has established that the prayers of believers as they pray “thy kingdom come” and the repentant lives of believers hasten or speed up the day of his coming. Everything about the Lord’s teaching calls us to the active pursuit of repentance and its fruits. Knowing that the Lord is coming again shouldn’t set you off trying to figure the time of his return. It can’t be done. He will come like a thief. What knowledge of his coming again should do is set you on a passion quest for holiness and godliness and peace. Advent rejoices in God’s patience. Old Covenant believers patiently awaited Christ’s first coming. We patiently await his second coming. Patiently, deliberately, carefully God is bringing his people to faith and repentance. Now if God is so patient with us, ought we not too be patient with one another. The power of patience is near miraculous. A mother’s patience can save a child’s life. A couple’s patience can save a marriage. A missionary’s patience can transform a community. The power of patience must always govern our thoughts and behaviors. How can it be otherwise? For God has patiently worked for us and in us, leading us to repentance. The Lord’s patience means salvation.

Our Greatest Need

"If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior." - D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Baker, 1992), 109.

The Nature of Freedom

“The idea that freedom is merely the ability to act upon one’s whims is surely very thin and hardly begins to capture the complexities of human existence; a man whose appetite is his law strikes us not as liberated but enslaved. And when such a narrowly conceived freedom is made the touchstone of public policy, a dissolution of society is bound to follow. No culture that makes publicly sanctioned self-indulgence its highest good can long survive: a radical egotism is bound to ensue, in which any limitations upon personal behavior are experienced as infringements of basic rights. Distinctions between the important and the trivial, between the freedom to criticize received ideas and the freedom to take LSD, are precisely the standards that keep societies from barbarism.” Theodore Dalrymple Our Culture, What’s Left Of It (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005), 224.

A Prayer for the Second Sunday of Advent

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. - 1928 Book of Common Prayer

Walls of Jericho - November 2008

The Westminster Hiking Club returned to the Walls of Jericho last Friday. The water level was low, but the absence of leaves on the trees left us with spectacular views of the cliffs and rock formations. Members of our church regularly visit the Walls of Jericho. If you would like to go with a group, then let me know.

Advent Gifts

(A sermon on 1 Corinthians, preached November 30th, 2008, the first Sunday in Advent.) 1 Corinthians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you —7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Today is the first Sunday in Advent. For many centuries much of the Western Church has celebrated Advent. The Sundays in Advent are the four Sundays prior to December 25th, the date we mark to celebrate the birth of Jesus for our salvation. Advent is not a word we use often. What does it mean? Advent derives from a Latin word that means, “coming.” For example, our gracious hosts here at University Church are Seventh-Day Adventists. The name of their fellowship indicates that they come to worship on the seventh day of the week, Saturday, instead of the first day of the week, Sunday. So, Advent has to do with a coming, or, more precisely, two comings. There is the first advent or coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born in Bethlehem two millennia ago. He comes to save us by living a life of perfect obedience as our covenant-keeping representative and by dying a substitutionary death on the cross as he received the just wages of our covenant-breaking disobedience. By his life and death the demands of God’s justice are satisfied, and we are saved. As we listen to the Old Testament and Gospel readings for Advent, we enter into the anticipation that gripped God’s faithful people as they eagerly awaited the birth of the Messiah. As New Covenant believers we look back to his coming as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s Christ’s first coming. But there is a second coming: the crucified Jesus did not remain in the grave. Death’s chains did not hold him. He emerged victorious from the tomb, appeared to hundreds, and ascended into heaven. As certainly as he came once so he will come again at the end of the age to judge the living and the dead. At his second advent he will overthrow all remaining evil, and bring his church into the security of his triumphant kingdom. 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 celebrates the gifts that come to us from Christ’s first advent – both the gift of salvation and the sanctifying gifts which prepare us for his coming again. First, the saving gifts of Christ’s first advent. In Christ, two gifts - grace and peace - are ours. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:3). Grace is sometimes defined as “unmerited favor.” This is correct, but only to a point. True, you and I can do nothing to place God in our debt. He owes us nothing. But grace means more than “unmerited favor.” Grace is God’s unmerited favor to those who deserve his wrath. Our sins provoke his righteous anger, but that anger is turned from us through Christ’s saving work. How does grace work? Paul tells us in his second letter to the Corinthians: “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Why is he not counting our sins against us? Because he has already counted ours against Christ! “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21) A profoundly moving exchange has taken place: Our sins counted against Christ, the innocent one. And his righteousness counted for us, poor sinners. My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. God accepts us as his righteous sons and daughters as our faith rests in Christ. So, grace is yours in Christ. And so is peace. Peace is more than absence of conflict. When two fighters are in their corners between rounds, they are not at the moment beating each other to a pulp. But no one would say they are at peace. You and your wife may never raise your voice at home, never argue . . . and do everything you possibly can to avoid each other because you don’t want a confrontation. Don’t expect a Nobel Prize. Your home may be quiet, but you and your spouse are not at peace, nor is your home a place of peace. Peace with God flows from grace, and always brings with it more than just a cessation of hostilities. The gift of peace means you are in a right relationship with God – you know him as Father, you submit to his word, you trust his Son, you love his worship, you obey his commandments, and you are loyal to his people. This is the life of peace. Paul greets the church in Corinth: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:3). God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have bestowed the gift of salvation on the church at Corinth and on us. First, there are the saving gifts of Christ’s first advent. Next, there are the sanctifying gifts of Christ’s first advent. Christ lived, he died, he rose from the dead, and he ascended into heaven. From heaven he has given sanctifying gifts to his church to purify them of sin and to prepare them for his second coming. As he turns to these gifts, Paul begins with a word of thanksgiving for the Corinthian believers: “I give thanks to my God always for you” (1 Corinthians 1:4). Wait a minute! If you know anything about the church at Corinth then this is the last thing you expect. Thanksgiving? . . . Always? . . . For the church at Corinth? No way! This was a church rocked by immorality, soiled by scandal, puffed up with pride, torn by conflict, and weakened by bad doctrine. You couldn’t make up some of the misbehaviors of this church. A son is having an affair with his father’s wife, and other members are suing each other in court. The church bickers as members align with one or the other of the several factions in the church. The turmoil in Corinth is marked thoroughly by spiritual immaturity. At verse four I half-expect Paul to say: “I give thanks to you for the headache and heartache you give me each day.” But he doesn’t. Rather, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 4:1). Here’s a good place to pause and think about why we thank God for our fellow believers. We don’t thank God because they are perfect, or even near perfect. Sometimes someone will tell me that they wished they lived in the days of the early church. Times were simpler then. The earthly life of Jesus was fresh on everyone’s mind. The Spirit seemed to work more mightily than he ordinarily does now. The church fared better. The bluebirds of happiness chirped around the sanctuary windows, and a rainbow arced over every believing home. My advice: Snap out of it! There was no “golden age” of the early church. Corinth looks little different from the church today. Just look at Corinth and her problems: besetting sins, spiritual failure, and moral carelessness. The Corinthian church fluctuated between spiritual lethargy and fanaticism, and was dangerously close to being just like the world around it. Sound familiar? The problems at Corinth are our problems. Which is why Paul’s prayer is so helpful: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 4:1). We don’t thank God because his people are always filled with wisdom, good works, and love. Sometimes we are, many times we are not. No, we thank God because we possess his saving grace, and his sanctifying grace is at work in our lives. Not one of us is a finished product. God’s grace is at work in us. We have many miles to go before we are made perfect in body and soul at Christ’s second advent. Look closely at yourself and you will see your nasty habits, your petty attitudes, and your spiritual defeats. Many more of them you won’t see because we judge ourselves far more charitably than we judge others. Your sins are there, no doubt. But immeasurably more important is the reality that God’s grace is at work in you. You are his and he’s about the arduous work of reshaping you in Christ’s image. And you thank him for his work in you. And you thank him that the work he is doing in you, he is also doing in your brothers and sisters. No matter how hard we find it to live with a Christian brother, we can thank God for him. Even if we think the spiritual progress is much too slow in a sister’s life, we know that God is patiently at work in her, showing her the same patience he extends to us and which we take for granted. In Christ God has given himself to our brothers and sisters, and is at work in them, as he is in us. God shapes us, growing us and making us more mature in Christ as the members of Christ’s body employ their sanctifying gifts. The number of gifts is many. Later in the letter we discover that they include administration, helps, mercy, healing, miracles, discernment, and others. But in these opening verses Paul focuses on two gifts associated with the ministry of God’s word, namely, speech and knowledge. “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge” (1 Corinthians 1:4,5). A more through explanation of the words “speech” and “knowledge” must await a careful study of 1 Corinthians, but right now it is enough to say that speech and knowledge are the spiritual gifts that some believers have that enable them to both declare the words of God’s revelation and apply them to the lives of God’s people in a fruitful way. God’s people are enriched – they are made more mature, as the word of Christ is at work in them. In fact, these spiritual gifts are evidence that the gospel has come to them in power: “in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ (i.e., the gospel) was confirmed among you” (1 Corinthians 1:5-6). These gifts are only present because the Corinthians believed the gospel. Where the gospel is not present the gifts are absent. Therefore, the gifts confirm that the gospel is at work in their midst. Advent is just one more occasion to thank God for his church, for our brothers and sisters in Christ. The gospel of salvation has been established in our hearts, and the gifts of Christ are at work sanctifying us. This morning we have looked at the saving and sanctifying gifts of Christ’s first advent. Now let’s look at the purpose of Christ’s advent gifts. These gifts are to prepare us for his second advent. The gifts are given “so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:7-9). Christ’s saving gifts made us guiltless and ready for the day of Christ’s coming (v.8): Christ bore our guilt, our penalty, on the cross. God’s sanctifying gifts prepare us for eternal fellowship with his Son (v.9). An unholy person will never desire fellowship with a holy Christ. An immoral person will not seek the presence of the perfectly pure Son of God. Because of the convicting power of integrity, a person who is hardened in his sin will be repelled by the perfect righteousness of Christ. We would all run from Christ were it not for the sanctifying gifts of God at work in us, transforming us, causing us to seek the character that distinguishes the Son of God and to await eagerly his return from heaven. Now it is all too easy, especially when our spiritual progress appears slow, to despair. In our weakness and sin we are tempted to conclude that all our efforts are for nothing, and that our spiritual life is doomed to fail. But verse nine sets the record straight. God is faithful! He has called us. He has removed our guilt. He will establish us in righteous fellowship with his Son. God is faithful! Those are the key words to the Christian life. Who is a Christian? A Christian is one to whom God has been faithful in keeping his promises of salvation and sanctification. It is God who predestined you to salvation. It is God who provided you a Savior. It is God who providentially ordered your life to place you in a position to hear the gospel. It is God who opened your heart to the gospel. It is God who granted you the gifts of faith and repentance. And, it is God who will bring his saving work to completion. In Paul’s words from another letter: “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). God is faithful! We are faithful to him only because he is faithful to us. We persevere until Christ’s second advent only because God is persevering for us and in us. The Old Testament prophet Jonah said it best: “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). God in Christ gives us sanctifying gifts that prepare us for his second coming. Those gifts have been at work in God’s church for two millennia, preparing God’s people for what one writer calls “a long obedience in the same direction.” And we need to be aware that God is patiently at work in us preparing us for a long obedience. Not temporary remedies or quick fixes, but fundamental redirections of our lives. I believe it was James Boice who observed that the church tends to overestimate what it can accomplish in a few years and underestimate what it can accomplish in twenty years. Ordinarily (because there are exceptions) substantial changes require substantial commitments over a substantial amount of time as God purifies our hearts, sanctifies our minds, and strengthens our wills. We must patiently receive the ministry of his word and receive from our fellow believers the benefits of their spiritual gifts exercised in our behalf. God is faithful. Over the long haul he is preparing us for Christ’s coming again. So, during this Advent, let us receive our King and our King’s gifts. Thank the Lord: we are not the people we once were. Paraphrasing the old hymn: we once were lost, but now are found, were blind, but now we see.” We are not what we once were because of Christ’s saving grace. And we are not what we once were because of his sanctifying work in our lives. We are growing in Christian character. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly – but we are growing. We are not the men and women we once were. But we are not the people we will one day be when we are made perfect in holiness at Christ’s return. Immeasurably greater changes lie ahead for us, and it should thrill our hearts as we await them. So, patiently and expectantly wait for our King’s return. Use your gifts for the benefit of God’s church, and gratefully receive the gifts of others as they serve you. Of all people, our thanksgiving this Advent should know no bounds. We thank God for our brothers and sisters in the Lord because we know God is faithful.