Marriage as Reformation

Rich Bledsoe just wrote a marvelous post over at Biblical Horizons on how the coming reformation of the Church will occur through the very thing most young people believe impossible; marriage. It is an interesting notion and worth considering. Here is the link.

The Image of God

Paul says in Ephesians 5:1 that we are to be imitators of God as dear children. Psalm 111 and 112 give us a beautiful picture of how this works.

These two psalms are intimately tied together. There are three ways we see this. First, they are both acrostics. That means the lines in the Psalms begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (line 1 begins A, line 2 begins with b, etc.) Second, Psalm 112 begins where Psalm 111 ends. Psalm 111 ends with "the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom and a great understanding have all those who do his commandments." Psalm 112 picks up on this theme stating that the "man who fears Yahweh will be blessed, who delights greatly in His commandments." The third way these two psalms are tied together is the numerous phrases repeated in both psalms. Here is a list with the same Hebrew words being underlined.

Psalm 111:2: The works of the Yahweh are…studied by all who take pleasure in them.
Psalm 112:1: Who [the righteous man] delights greatly in His commandments

Psalm 111:3 His (Yahweh) righteousness stand forever
Psalm 112:3 & 9: His [the righteous man] righteousness stands forever

Psalm 111:4: Yahweh is gracious and full of compassion (merciful)
Psalm 112:4: [The righteous man] is gracious and full of compassion (merciful)

Psalm 111:4: Yahweh has made wonderful works to be remembered
Psalm 112:6: The righteous will be an everlasting remembrance

Psalm 111:5: Yahweh has given food to those who fear Him
Psalm 112:9: He [the righteous man] has given to the poor

Psalm 111:5,9: Yahweh will be forever mindful of his covenant/He has commanded his covenant forever
Psalm 112:6: Surely he [the righteous man] will never be shaken (Literally, “forever, not be shaken/moved)

Psalm 111:7: The works of Yahweh's hands are verity and justice
Psalm 112:5: He [the righteous man] will guide his affairs with justice

Psalm 111:8: They [God’s works and precepts] stand forever and ever.
Psalm 112:8: His [the righteous man] heart is established

There are several interesting items of note in these comparisons. First, the works of the Lord and the commandments of the Lord are delighted in by the righteous. (111:2 and 112:1)

Second, a comparison of 111:4 and 112:6 shows that man is one of the great works of God that will be remembered. The righteous man is a memorial to the Lord.

Third, the man of God is as unmovable as the covenant of the Lord. Just as the covenant will not be forgotten, so the man of God will not be forgotten. (111:5, 9 and 112:6)

But what is most striking about this comparison between Psalm 111 and 112 is that attributes that are the Lord's in Psalm 111 are then attributed to the man who fears the Lord in Psalm 112. The man who fears God becomes like God.

Most stunning out of all these is verses 3-4 of both psalms. Psalm 111:3-4 makes perfect sense to us. Of course, God's righteousness endures forever. Of course, God is gracious and full of compassion. But when we get to Psalm 112 we see that the man who fears the Lord is God's image bearer. He looks like God. His righteousness endures forever and he is gracious and full of compassion. In other words those who believe in God and worship Him rightly begin to slowly take on His character.

Here we should pause and think about how we speak of Christians, including ourselves. Would any of us ever say that our righteousness endures forever? Would any of us ever say that we are gracious and full of compassion? My guess is that we would not. We fear that we may sound proud or that we are trusting in our works. This could be the case. But it could also be the case that we are finally beginning to see ourselves as God sees us. We are finally beginning to talk like the Bible talks. Because of the work of Christ we are a people who fear the Lord and delight in His commands. By His Spirit and His Word we are a people whose righteousness will endure forever. We are clothed in Christ and thus we are a righteous people who are being shaped into the image of Christ. Let us believe and not doubt this great truth.

Children in the Covenant

"Baptism has no significance for Calvin if it does not mean admission to the visible church on th ground of the covenant promise, which includes presumptive regeneration of the children in the covenant. Calvin looks upon the child in the covenant as God's child, forgiven of sin and regenerated, with the new life as a latent seed, already at work in its heart. The child then opens its eyes redeemed on a world in which by careful nuture it is expected to grow and develop in the Christian ideal of life and character. The important point is that this child is presumptively a Christian. That Calvin so meant we see clearly from this passage:

'The offspring of believers are born holy, because their children, while yet in the womb, before they breathe the vital air, have been adopted into the covenant of eternal life. Nor are they brought into the church by baptism on any other ground than because they belonged to the body of the Church before they were born. How who admits aliens to baptism profanes it...For how can it be lawful to confer the badge of Christ on aliens from Christ. Baptism must, therefore, be preceded by the gift of adoption, which is not the cause of half salvation merely, buy gives salvation entire; and this salvation is afterwards ratified by Baptism.'"

(Lewis Bevens Schenck, The Presbyterian Doctrine of Children in the Covenant, p. 13)

Joyful Martyrs: Part II

Last week I wrote how we are to embrace difficultes with joy that we might follow in the footsteps of our Lord. While the truth of this applies to all, there are particular groups prone to thinking things really should be easier. Here is some advice to those groups.

1. Parents need to carefully examine their attitude toward their children. It is very easy to approach young ones (or teenagers!) as a necessary duty, but not a joy. Children and all the difficulties associated with them can quickly become a burden. Instead of recognizing that raising children is the essence of building the Kingdom of Christ, we see our duties at home as obstacles to "the real work." We will bear little fruit if we see children as a burden and do not raise them in joy.

2. Pastors are frequently guilty of this approach to their flocks. They imagine that Paul never had things as bad as they do. The apathy, the immorality, the pettiness can create a perspective on God's people that is unbibical. A pastor can find himself looking on the flock as a great drain on his time and energy. He sees what God has given to other men and assumes that he deserves those things and that the path God has given these other men is easier than his. Both of these are carcinogens to the soul. The minute a man believes things are better somewhere else is the minute he begins to lose his passion for those in front of him. He is not called to be a Piper or MacArthur. He is called to embrace with joy the flock in front of him.

3. Finally, with the church in America in such disarray, we should expect God to raise up reformers whom God will use to call His people back. Young reformers in particular tend to think this type of thing is easy, a quick fix. The persecution, hatred, back-biting, and general animosity that often accompanies attempts at reform are forgotten. A good dose of church history will cure that. Reformers always pay a dear price for their attempts. From Jeremiah to Paul to Wycliffe to Bonhoefer the cost is heavy. All is rosy at the beginning, but the long, hot road of reform can discourage many a man. We are fools if we believe the recovery of the Gospel in our age will leave us or our loved ones unscarred.

In 1544 John Calvin published a book calling the German princes to support the Reformation in Europe. Calvin anticipates that many princes will not take up the mantle of the Reformation believing the work to be too difficult. Here is what he says, "However, considering, according to the well-known sentiment of an old proverb, that there is nothing illustrious which is not also difficult and arduous, can we wonder, that in the greatest and most excellent of all causes we must fight our way through many difficulties." How quickly we forget that all good things come at a great cost. Die with joy knowing that the Lord loves to raise the dead.

Civil Disobedience

The Times Online has an article about the chair of the Sustainable Development Commission over in the motherland, England. This article states that, "Couples who have more than two children are being 'irresponsible' by creating an unbearable burden on the environment." He also says that "curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming." Here is the entire article here.

This is not that shocking. Our world hates life because it hates God. Children and the weak are the first to suffer. As Christians we can practice political incorrectness by having many children and raising them to love children and care for the weak. However, one day we may not just be politically incorrect. One day we may be an enemy of the state. HT: The Bayly Brothers

Children in the Covenant

If anyone wants to understand on a historical level where we have come since the Reformation, in particular with regard to baptism, then I would greatly encourage the reading of Lewis Bevens Schenck's book The Presbyterian Doctrine of Children in the Covenant. Schenck does a historical study beginning at the Reformation and ending in the early 1900s showing the devolution of the biblical doctrine of children in covenant. Reading it one can easily see that many presbyterians, and of course all baptists, have abandoned the reformers' view of children in the covenant. Much of the current Federal Vision controversy is explained by this book. Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting some of the quotes I liked. Here is the first.

"To John Calvin then 'baptism' signifies the forgivness of sins. This means in the legal language of theology that those baptized presumably stand in the sight of God as justified, that is, with the guilt and punishment of sin removed by the mercy of God. He accepts them no longer as sinners, but as heirs, 'heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.' And this adoptive act of God finds expression in the second meaning of baptism, 'regeneration.' (p. 8 )

Joyful Martyrs: Part I

A great tendency of human nature is the expectation that things really should be easier than they are. This leaning of our hearts is only made worse by the constant bombardment from the media telling us that our lives are hard and if we buy what they are selling then our lives will be easier. The current economic crisis gives a case study in this perspective. Every news story has as it's basic presupposition that we all deserve to be wealthy, well-fed, and happy. This assumption is so ingrained in our thinking that it is rarely challenged.

Christians should know better. Our Teacher's life was most certainly not easy. We are called to a daily death. (Luke 9:23) We are to embrace this death as our Lord embraced His for our sakes, that is we are to embrace this death with joy. (Hebrews 12:2) We are to pour ourselves out for others, whether that is children, spouses, flocks, or neighbors. As believers we should expect things to be hard. But this is not enough. If we look at the difficult things as burdens that we are supposed to bear, like melancholy martyrs led to the stake, then we have missed the Gospel. The Gospel says that to die is to live and to be poured out is to be gathered back up again. This means the difficulties of life are not burdens, but rather treasures to be relished with gladness. Therefore, when Christ calls us to our daily stake let us go with singing and joy remembering that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. (I Cor. 15:58)