Tag: Christian Life

From Your Pastor: Thomas Watson on How to Profitably Hear the Word Preached

  1. Prayer- Come with your soul prepared to hear God’s Word by praying for God’s blessing.
  1. Appetite- Come with holy appetite.
  1. Tender Teachable Heart- What will you have me to do? Speak to me.
  1. Be Attentive- Discipline your mind to be attentive with your mind; keep yourself from distractions as much as possible. To be as involved in hearing as the preacher is in preaching (Calvin taught this).
  1. Receive with meekness- Receive with meekness the ingrafted word; this is a submissive frame of heart (Psalm 131). Through meekness the Word gets deeper into our souls and we are more able to receive it.
  1. Faith- Mingle the preached word with faith. The chief ingredient of listening to a sermon must be faith in order to apply the word.
  1. Retain- Retain and pray over what you have heard. Don’t let the sermon go through your mind like water through a sieve. Our memory should be like the chest of the ark where the Law was placed. Go from your knees to the sermon and go from the sermon to your knees.
  1. Practice- Practice what you have heard; live out what God has taught you.
  1. Beg- For the effectual blessing of the Holy Spirit; this is the “swallowing of the medicine to heal you”.
  1. Familiarize- Go home and speak about it to family, friends, others, so that you will become very familiar with the truths.

 

***Remember each sermon as if it was the last you will ever hear, because that just may be the case.***

From Your Pastor: One Thing Necessary in a World of Distractions

ESV Luke 10:38-42: …A woman named Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Beloved, before Jesus tells us to serve, He first calls us to Himself to teach us and to fill us with His grace for service. Before we serve, let us first learn to sit. There are many distractions in each age. How can good and lawful blessings and activities like hospitality, service, jobs, raising our children, and even loving our families potentially become distractions that can be spiritually dangerous to us?! When these things take priority over spending time listening and learning at Jesus’ feet. How are you doing with this?

Martha was serving; she was a Christian woman seeking to honor Jesus. She was taking seriously the Bible’s teaching on hospitality, and the need to feed others. Martha wanted to feed Jesus, but Jesus wanted to feed Mary and her. As Richard Sibbes put it well: “Christ came to feast them, not to feast with them.” There was disorder in Martha’s heart; while her intentions were noble, her affections were confused at this moment. Her “excessive zeal for temporal provisions, made her forget for a time, the things of her soul” (J. C. Ryle), while Mary sought what was good (read: best). We can so easily be tempted to make something good like serving too important, and then we ask the Lord to bless our idolatry. This is not right.

Notice Martha’s self-pity and ungrateful attitude that are common fruits of disordered loves: “Lord, do you not care…tell her…” We are tempted sometimes to tell the Lord what is most important, rather than sitting at His feet and learning what is most important to Him. Our hearts need to be ordered with Christ having the priority; He must be our first love, and our first priority at all times. But notice the Lord Jesus’ tender address to his own: “Martha, Martha…one thing is necessary.” Jesus is not angry, but patient with his own. We are His beloved brothers and sisters; we are His dear ones. He speaks our names tenderly putting a firm and fixed focus on Himself so that we can be reminded what matters most. And what does he promise his beloved? The good portion. Don’t you want that!?

But you ask: “What is this?” It is simply Jesus Christ. Jesus is our good portion (Psa. 16:5; 73:26; Lam. 3:24). Time with Jesus is our good portion. This is the only thing that will ultimately last—the only thing that will ultimately satisfy the longings of our souls—and this good thing will last and satisfy us for all eternity. O, to sit at Jesus’ feet! What a privilege. It is at Jesus’ feet where we get focused on WHO matters most, and this is where our loves are properly ordered and we are made effective, Gospel-driven, and Grace-motivated servants. Are you satisfied with having Jesus as your portion? Can you honestly say with the Psalmist:

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you… But for me it is good to be near God…” (Psalm 73:25, 28b).

Stop what you’re doing today. Ask yourself: What is the one thing that is necessary for me right now? You may have a schedule full of wonderful, God-given and lawful activities, but are you aware that these can potentially be keeping you from what, or WHO you need the most?

How can I keep the focus on the one thing necessary in a world of distractions? Here are some suggestions that often help me:

(1) Order your loves and needs under Christ’s Lordship, following His command to “Seek first the kingdom…” (Matt. 6:33).

(2) Watch becoming too entangled with the “cares of this life” (2 Tim. 2:4). Ask yourself the important question: “What are my main distractions and “time-wasters” (Eph. 5:15-17)? And then rid your life of them . J. C. Ryle wrote: “Except we watch and pray, [cares of this world] will eat up our spirituality, and bring leanness to our souls.”  Excellent advice!

(3) Remind yourself of the most important goals—what is your main intention in each of your activities? Is it to glorify God and enjoy Him forever? Don’t get distracted in your service for Jesus and miss Jesus as your goal.

(4) Every morning consider what is most needful and necessary for the day. Ask such questions as: Have you renewed your covenant with God in Christ with renewed repentance (Lam. 3:22-25)? Have you prayed and reminded yourself of the love of God in Christ for you and your family? Are you being watchful, sober-minded, and preparing yourself for Jesus’ coming (1 Peter 1:13)? Are we prepared for temptations that inevitably will come?

Jesus calls you by name today, having justified you in God’s sight, and has made you an heir with him through His loving sacrifice on the cross, and He speaks truth to us so that we might change and grow. This is the love of Jesus for sinners saved by grace, and grace is good because it makes us good. Now find some time to sit—at His feet. Amen.

 

Love in Christ,

Pastor Biggs

From Your Pastor: Is Time on Your Side?

There was a popular song in the 1960s that boasted: “Time is on my side- -yes, it is!” (We should ask the aging singer now if this is still true). Is time on our side? In our culture today, how easy it is for us to waste time. Yet as Christians we are called as the dearly loved children of God to walk wisely making sure to use our time wisely (Eph. 5:15-17). The gift of technology and our ability to be virtually “everywhere” in so many places at once with mobile networks, handheld devices, iPads, iPods, iPhones, (“i-need another one!”) can actually become temptations for us to waste much time if we are not wise. We can be tempted to live merely awaiting the “next, best thing!” The “next version”- -we long to be “upgraded” “rebooted” and “reconfigured”- -but time is ticking…

We are taught by the Apostle Paul: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17). How can we rightly use wisdom about using our time wisely and in a godly manner as Christians?

Something wise we should remember from C. S. Lewis from ‘The Screwtape Letters” (this is written from Screwtape (the Master demon) to Wormwood (the demon pupil): “In modern Christian writings, though I see much (indeed more than I like) about Mammon, I see few of the old warnings about Worldly Vanities, the Choice of Friends, and the Value of Time.  All that, your patient would probably classify as ‘Puritanism’—and may I remark in passing that the value we have given to that word is one of the really solid triumphs of the last hundred years?” (Screwtape Letters, pgs. 50-51). “The Value of Time”. Interesting.

We should learn to value the time God has given to us. In Christ, we have been graciously given His mind, His wisdom to live for Him (Phil. 2:5; Col. 2:3). Fools do not think about their use of time; fools only waste their time. The wise in Christ seek to use their time wisely. Puritan Richard Baxter wrote: “Time [is] man’s opportunity for all those works for which he lives, and which his Creator does expect from him, and on which his endless life depends, the redeeming or well improving of it must needs be of most high importance to him; and therefore it is well made by holy Paul the great mark to distinguish the wise from fools” (Christian Directory, Part I, Chapter V, ‘A Christian Directory’). Are you wise or foolish with your time? Honestly. Stop right now and think about this.

Let us remember that God is the Giver and Governor of All Time. Time is ultimately a gift from our God. “In the beginning, God…” God created time. God created man to live his time for the glory of God. Man was tempted and fell into sin so his time is also affected by sin, and so we must remember: “…Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We should consider each moment precious as a gift from God, to seek to become more and more like Christ each day. We should consider how by God’s grace to do our best and the greatest good we can do with our gifts and abilities, knowing the time is short. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”( ESV Galatians 6:10).

How can we specifically waste time? What are our “time robbers”? The Notorious BIG Time-Robbers of History (thanks to 16th century Puritan Richard Baxter for this list; there truly is nothing new under the sun).

Sloth and idleness/ Excess of sleep/ Inordinate adorning the body with clothes and health/ Possessions and entertainment/ Needless parties and feastings and gluttony/ Idle talk; “chatting” (what we might call mere “small talk”)/ Bad company; “vain and sinful company”/ Excessive worry about earthly cares and business/ Ungoverned sinful thought-life/ …And the “Master-Robber” award goes to…

 An unsanctified, ungodly heart!

Why is tis unsanctified heart THE master–the BIG ROBBER?! We must remember that wasting time, or acting foolishly in relation to our time reveals deeper problems of our heart (cf. Prov. 4:23). Remember that behavior is merely the fruit (Matt. 7:20: “…You will recognize them by their fruits”); the heart is the actual root of all of our sins (Matt. 15:19: “From out of the heart…”). Are we too busy to seek to know Christ better by His grace? By His abundant grace, He is our Redeemer, Husband, Shepherd, and King. Do we not want to know Him better in the time we have been given? If not, then something deeper is very wrong in our hearts?![1] We need to repent, knowing that Christ is gracious to forgive us and restore us to Himself! (1 Jo. 1:8-2:2). There is truly one thing that is ultimately needful (Psa. 27:4; Matt. 6:33; Luke 10:41-42).

In a dangerously distracted digital age, how can we think better about time? Let us begin by asking these questions: What if you knew you only had one year to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one week to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one day to live? How would you live? What if within the next hour you were dead? How would you want to live your last hour?

How do we “redeem” the time as the Scriptures teach us to do (Eph. 5:15-17)? How do we make the most use of the time? The Apostle Peter says know that “The end is at hand”. Live as if it is your last day; it may just be! The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers (1 Pet. 4:7; see also 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Col. 4:7). Let me say it this way: Jesus has bought us time—literally, through His precious blood!! Time is ours as a gift right now to enjoy in God’s presence and in His good world. We also possess an eternal life in Christ that we await to fully enjoy with Him in a fully renewed and restored world. One way to show forth our redemption in Him now is that we are called to be children who steward our time wisely as we grow in grace and the knowledge of the LORD (2 Pet. 1:3-11). Wise believers desire to be good stewards of this good gift of time.

Let us be reminded of God’s “dream” and goal for our lives: This goal or dream for His dearly loved children is Christ-likeness (Eph. 1:4-5; 5:1-2; 1 Jo. 3:1-3). Don’t waste the time he has graciously given you not getting to know Him better, and becoming like Him more. Know that God has called you to serve him faithfully in this present age. Don’t waste the time he has graciously given you. Know the brevity of your existence and yet the great legacy you can leave behind. Know your end and destination ultimately: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10).

Beloved, God is wonderfully kind and abundantly patient—He is overflowing with grace and mercy for the repentant (1 Tim. 1:12-16)! I could tell you of a young man who has wasted much time and has lived to regret it; who didn’t finish college the first time; who made a lot of rejections of Jesus before He was graciously regenerated by God’s Spirit; who selected and wasted time reading many bad theological books in his early years; one who spent untold hours on himself to try and live for silly and foolish dreams of his own making—just for himself; who was deceived one time by a cult and wasted about a year in it; who had about 5 translations of the scriptures in his home and didn’t study and memorize them as he should; who used to collect books so that people would think he was smart rather than actually taking time to read and digest them—and to ask God to make him wise through them. This person stands before you as a redeemed man whom God has shown mercy to in Jesus Christ, and who Christ is faithful to continue to teach.

We have been redeemed from this evil present age to live for Christ (Gal. 1:4, 4:4-7; 2 Cor. 5:14-15). We have been redeemed to know that we are God’s precious children—and to live like His children! Christ has redeemed us by His blood in order that we might make known the coming salvation and judgment of the world. We are not our own; our time is not our own; time is not on our side, but Jesus is!! How can we best please Christ and show our love for all that He has done for us? We are told clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

By God’s grace, we can be wise in seeking to pray, meditate upon, and memorize God’s Word. This is God’s Word, His voice, our life (John 17:17). What keeps you from it right now? What distracts you from what is most important to you spiritually? UNPLUG to the best of your ability at times. Learn the difference between the needed and the “urgent”: Do not become a slave to the urgent (You’ve heard of the “tyranny of the urgent”?). The urgent is usually a disguised “demon” who is yelling J in your ear that you “MUST” do this or that. The Holy Spirit calls you near, to share with you the gifts and grace of God deep within the quietness of your soul.

Richard Baxter wrote (in a busy 17th century): “However it be now, I can tell you, at death, it will be an unspeakable comfort, to look back on a well-spent life; and to be able to say in humble sincerity, My time was not cast away on worldliness, ambition, idleness, or fleshly vanities or pleasures; but spent in the sincere and laborious service of my God, and making my calling and election sure, and doing all the good to men’s souls and bodies that I could do in the world; it was entirely devoted to God and his church, and the good of others and my soul” (Part I, Chapter V of ‘A Christian Directory’).

Since I was a young man, I have been haunted by the song “The Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin. It has always made me think more about my time. The song is an important reminder that how we live our lives will most likely be our heritage, our legacy left to our children (as well as the example we set for others around us). Are we too busy with our time to invest it as we should in the proper relationships with younger people? Did I show my children the importance of their time with me? Did I pray for them and others in my congregation and family to know the importance of being wise with their time? One line of the song reminds us of the consequences of not being thoughtful about our use of time, especially in our relationships: “You know I’m going to be like you, Dad, You know I’m going to be like you.” [2]

What if you knew you only had one year to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one week to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one day to live? How would you live? What if within the next hour you were dead? How would you live? How would you live? The end is at hand…Christ stands ready to receive, to forgive, to grow you up and mature you. He will return soon. Live for Him.

He has redeemed you; now go in His grace and redeem the time you have left.

The sands of time are sinking, the dawn of Heaven breaks;
The summer morn I’ve sighed for—the fair, sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark hath been the midnight, but dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” – Eph. 5:15-16

Is time on your side?

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

[1] Modern Time Robbers: Biggest time wasters according to website ‘Productivity 501’: Some comments include: Surfing the web. Biggest time waster without knowing it is being chatty. Top ways to waste time (not necessarily sins, but unwise and can be huge time-wasters): BIG 5: TV, TEXTING, GAMES, INTERNET, and OVERSLEEPING. Think about: Watching Television; texting; video games; internet; oversleeping; organization, or not having specific plans for a day; procrastination; worry; being busy but not accomplishing anything ; Not learning from mistakes. Read more: http://www.productivity501.com/interview-biggest-time-waster/257/#ixzz0pc3Zmilx

 

 

[2] The final verse says: “I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away./I called him up just the other day./I said, “I’d like to see you, if you don’t mind.”/He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu,/But it’s sure nice talking to you, Dad./It’s been real nice talking to you.”/And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me,/He’d grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.”

From Your Pastor: Why Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy Is Glorious (Part 4)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8)

Why is keeping the Lord’s Day holy glorious?

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity to please and glorify God in obedience to His commandments.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a privilege and blessing of the Covenant of Grace.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can remind us that the Lord Jesus created it, kept it, and fulfilled it, and gave it to believers as a way of imitating Him.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity for growth and maturity in Christ.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can be a time well spent that helps us not to live overly busy and distracted lives.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a way of joyfully, peacefully, and graciously witnessing publicly to whom it is you belong, and to whom it is you ultimately submit!

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is part of our confessional heritage as particularly Reformed Christians.

 

  1. Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy is glorious because it is an opportunity for growth and maturity in Christ.

The Lord’s Day gives us as God’s people the honored privilege of worshipping and serving God in a special way! The Lord’s Day provides an opportunity (out of our busy schedules!) to respond as believers to invitations and calls to worship from the ordained servants (pastors/elders) in our local church and other faithful, Bible-believing places of worship, to come and worship God, to come and pray, to come and fellowship, to come and partake in the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments. We are called, or invited to enjoy and delight in these important means of grace that the Risen-Ascended Christ promises to use for the growth and maturity of His people (Acts 2:41-47; Eph. 4:7-16).

By keeping the Lord’s Day a separate and special “holy day” or better (perhaps for emphasis to appeal better to American Christians) a “holi-day” we can be more confident of growth and maturity in Jesus.[1] God gives us the day off so that we can attend to growth and maturity in Christ without distraction. What a gracious and loving God! God knows our hearts, and our temptations to unbelief and to harden our hearts (Heb. 3:12-13; 2 Cor. 3:14). Our God knows our selfish tendencies to disregard what He teaches us to do, only to find out later in a hard way that we have played the fools. So, let us be wise in our listening, learning and following our God as His disciples (Ecc. 5:1-7; 1 Cor. 10:1-13).

One of the wonderful privileges on the Lord’s Day is an opportunity through preaching and teaching of the Word by God’s ordained servants to grow up into Christ, and to no longer be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…” but, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” (Eph. 4:11-16). As we learn God’s Word together especially on the Lord’s Day, so we desire to grow up in Christ as Christians, even in better understanding this particular truth. Or, to put it another way, keeping the Lord’s Day can help us to be faithful to God in the obeying of the rest of the commandments in Christ. If we are not using the Lord’s Day primarily for the preaching, reading, meditation, memorization and study of God’s Word, I would be surprised if we are doing this well on any other day.

Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can be a time to further put off self and sin (mortification), and put on Christ (vivification). Another benefit of keeping the Lord’s Day holy is that you have a time set apart, an entire day, to drink deeply of God’s truth and to put on Christ (vivification) by faith, coming to more fully understand who you are in Jesus (Eph. 4:17-32). Also, very importantly, it is a day to commit yourself to mortifying or killing the sin and selfish sinful impulses that so easily hinder you day in and day out.[2] The Lord’s Day is a day that has been given to you as a gift to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and to by the power of the Spirit and through faith to cleanse ourselves in Christ, and to bring holiness to completion in the fear of the Lord. The Apostle Paul writes to Christians who are God’s new holy temple in Christ, His very dwelling place by the Spirit:

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).

If we are not recognizing and mortifying our selfishness and sinfulness on the Lord’s Day, are we really doing it on any other day? If we’re not using the day that God has given to us and set apart for us, then is it possible that we are not really using the other days to do this important and God-glorifying work? Perhaps a first work in mortifying is to kill our sinful tendency to disregard God’s commandments? Perhaps a first work of mortification is repentance for taking lightly the commandments of God, yet gratefully knowing God is faithful and just in Jesus to forgive you when you repent and confess your sins? (1 John 1:8-2:2).

The Lord’s Day has been given for us to take time to learn God’s Word, to grow up in our faith, to pray to seek after Christ as persons, as a people, as families, as a congregation. Do we disregard this privilege as if it were nothing?! If we are using the Lord’s Day for other purposes (even normally good purposes on any other days), it is highly unlikely we are truly growing in God’s word and thus in our faith. Additionally, what we’re doing on the Lord’s Day might teach us what is truly important for us. Perhaps this is one way of getting at idols that refuse to abandon us so that we can enjoy full liberty and joy in Christ? Perhaps this might reveal idols that continue to demand that we serve them rather than Christ? It is something to ponder (if we have time).

Suggested Questions to Ponder and Ask Yourself to Help You to Keep the Lord’s Day Holy:

Is this activity on the Lord’s Day going to glorify God above all things? / Is this activity a work of necessity or mercy that I lovingly desire to do to love God and neighbor? / Is this activity going to hinder me (or others) from publicly worshipping God and attending to any calls to worship that God calls me to through his ordained servants? / Is this activity loving and the best use of my time for myself, my family, my guests, my neighbors, and those who look to me for leadership? / Is this activity going to be consistent with God’s Word, and particularly His clear teaching on how he desires the Lord’s Day to be remembered? / Is this activity work that I normally engage it on other days, and can it wait? / Is this activity a distraction from my taking time to grow up in God’s Word? / Is this activity something that will not be conducive to remembering what I learned in the morning worship sermon and meditating upon it and hiding in my heart so that I won’t sin against God? / Is this activity properly living a godly example before a broken and lost world?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I want to keep the Lord’s Day holy, please help me. Grant me your wisdom and discernment. Amen

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

(Link to full study: From Your Pastor.Why Keeping the Lords Day is Glorious.March 2016)

 

 

[1] One of my favorite things as a Daddy is to announce with joy on Saturday evenings to my girls: “Girls, tomorrow is the Lord’s Day! We have such a glorious holiday and opportunity to rejoice and worship the living God tomorrow!” Then, when the Lord’s Day comes, it is so exciting to see the joy and enthusiasm on their faces (even when they are a bit sleepy!) as they understand to some degree that they get the privilege of keeping the Lord’s Day! This is a true delight and highlight of my week. May God grant us grace to always enjoy this with our families.

[2] Our forefather in the faith John Owen wrote in his classic book The Mortification of Sin: “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you” (Banner of Truth Trust: Puritan Paperbacks, 2004).

From Your Pastor: Phunctional Pharisees?

 

Our Lord Jesus reserves his harshest criticisms for the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a conservative sect in Judaism whose mission statement was to live pure lives before God and to keep Jews separated from the world by their conformity to God’s Law. The problem was that although the Pharisees knew a lot of the Law of God, they were in fact lawless (Matt. 23:28). They merely kept the Laws of God externally, and they sought by their traditional interpretations of God’s Law to make them “do-able”, not realizing that one of the purposes of the Law of God was to reveal to them their need for Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:15-28; Rom. 2:21-29).

And so while they spoke of God and His Word, their hearts were in fact far from God (Matt. 15:7-9). Although these professors claimed to know God’s Word, they actually did not really know it; they were described by Jesus as those who: “preach but do not practice” and those who made “void the Word of God for their traditions” (Matt. 15:3-6). Jesus said to them that they were religious posers—they were hypocrites, and the condemnation of God awaited these Christ-less, religious men if they did not repent and receive the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord (Matt. 23:24-28). Jesus clearly revealed that He was the only righteous person acceptable before a Holy God. Only Jesus Christ had perfectly kept the Law of God that required perfection (Matt. 5:48).

A popular notion today is that those who seek to be holy and live out God’s law are ‘Pharisees’ but this is incorrect and very unfair. Sure, there will always be those who try to live out the Law of God through their own self-righteous efforts, rejecting Christ (Rom. 10:3; Gal. 1:6), and these will be damned (Matt. 7:23). But those in Christ, who seek to uphold the Law of God through obedience because of Christ’s love and grace extended to them (Rom. 6:17), should not be called Pharisees. This is very unfair.

How can we be “phunctional Pharisees” then? We can intentionally and unintentionally “shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces” in our carelessness as Christians (Matt. 23:13). We can send a message to our community that what is most important to us is not the Gospel and seeking and saving the lost, but our need to stay free from contamination, to categorize those we think are safe and unsafe, or those we think might respond to the Gospel and those who will not, and to subtly make our convictions commands that others are to follow.

I think there are three ways that this is revealed in to us in Scripture as we look at the practices of the Pharisees: (1) Thinking unbelievers are “contagious” in their sins; (2) Unfairly categorizing people; and (3) Making our convictions commands for others to follow.

“Sinner: Are you contagious?” The Pharisees would not fellowship and show compassion to folks lost in sin. They thought that folks like tax collectors and prostitutes were “too far gone” to be recipients of God’s grace (with which they themselves were unfamiliar). They thought if they got too close to notorious sinners, then they would be contaminated. One of their interpretations of God’s Word (which was contrary to the mercy and steadfast love of God in Christ) was that if they got too close to sinners, then they would be made unclean before God, so they tried to keep themselves, their family, and their synagogues “sin free” merely in this external way.

Isn’t this how we can behave, too, if we are not careful?! Yes, we must be wise in our interaction with sinful people, and there may be some people and places that would prove too much of a temptation for us, but do our hearts deceive us into thinking that we cannot get near sinful people? Do we not even pray for them? Our commission by our loving and merciful Lord is “Go…making disciples…teaching…” (Matt. 28:18ff). As we learn in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (and throughout Luke 15), we are to imitate Jesus in His grace by “seeking and saving the lost…” by bringing the healing Gospel of the Great Physician to sinners who are sick (Mark 2:17). Have we extended a hand of friendship, or an invitation to table fellowship (Mark 2:13-17), or even an invitation to worship to a notorious sinner in the community lately? Could it be we think that they will contaminate our families, our congregations, etc.? Be honest about this.

We can also unfairly categorize people. We inevitably must use categories, but do our categories that we make of others place them in conditions that we functionally believe they are “too hardened” or “too far gone” for redemption? Remember the parable of the tax collector and Pharisee in Luke 18? The Pharisee refers to, or categorizes other men as “extortioners, prostitutes, adulterers, tax collectors,” etc. He looked on them with “contempt”.  This is sinful man’s way of playing God and seeking to do his own way of “electing” sinners. In other words, he placed the category of his own making as a priority over the power and grace of God in Christ toward men (don’t we do this with the gay and lesbian community particularly?!).  The Pharisees referred to the “unchurched” or those who didn’t live according to their interpretations as “sinners”. We are all sinners, but this was a special category of “sinners” that implied that they were what we might call “hopeless cases”. Do we categorize people and think that we are better merely because of the things we have been enabled by God’s Spirit to do for Christ? Have we forgotten mercy? Don’t we talk like this? Those “Hollywood people” or “those lawyers” or “those ___________” insinuating that these folks are too far gone, and outside any reach of God’s power and grace revealed in Christ.

Making our convictions commands for others to follow. We can make our convictions commands for others, and imply that those who might disagree with us are not welcome, and so we unnecessarily place a stumbling block in the way of sinners who might seek salvation in Christ. Do we shut up the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, too?! (Matt. 23:13). If we make issues of Christian liberty, like ways we school our children, or political parties we belong to, or our conviction about whether one should drink alcohol or not drink alcohol, we can be functional Pharisees. Why? Because we are adding to God’s Law, and adding to God’s Word which is always prohibited. The Pharisees did not keep God’s Word. They make up additional laws (some 613, I understand!) that were to be followed if one wanted to be in fellowship with them.  If we are making our convictions that have been informed by God’s Word (legitimately) and we are implicitly (or explicitly) saying to others that you must be of the same mind as me on this, or sending the message that another is unacceptable to me, my family or my church, this too, can be a way of being a “phunctional Pharisee”.

We must follow our consciences. We must seek God’s wisdom on important issues of schooling our children, how we vote, and whether we are going to drink or not, but our convictions are not to become measures by which we judge others, or boundary lines to keep from fellowship. Think of how subtle this is, and yet how real this can be in a local congregation of God’s people. Rather than acknowledging the liberty God grants to His people, we insist that everyone live by our convictions. The outside world of sinful people can think a particular congregation would not welcome them because they do not live specifically as those inside, and functionally something other than the Gospel becomes what separates those who might have “inquired within”. It is true that people will be offended by Christians if the Gospel is preached. But let those from outside the congregation be offended by the Gospel, and not our “phunctional Pharisaism”.

Let us repent of this “phunctional pharisaism”. Let us beat our breast as former tax collectors and sinners, and ask God to have mercy upon us! Let us be thankful for the completed work of Christ and His perfect law-keeping that has been imputed to us by faith. Let us befriend sinners, like our Lord Jesus has befriended us! Let us live with holy hearts and holy compassion as our Lord Jesus displayed to us.

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Charles R. Biggs

 

From Your Pastor: “Why Are You Angry?”

The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground (ESV Genesis 4:6-10).

Cain’s heart was not right before God. Both Cain and Abel came to bring offerings of worship to God Almighty (Gen. 4:1-5). Both were outwardly worshipping God and bringing the substance of their labors to the LORD for worship and dedication. But Cain’s heart was far from God, even though his lips and actions may have honored Him (cf. Isaiah 29:13).

Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God because his heart was right before God. This reminds all of us of the importance of daily seeking to live before God with tender hearts that are devoted to our loving Savior (cf. Heb. 3:12-13). We must never come to God in our own name, but always in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with a heart resting in His completed work alone. We must remember that the Lord knows our hearts:

“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance,

but the LORD looks on the heart.”- 1 Samuel 16:7

Cain’s sacrifice was a mere show and God knew his heart, and God rejected his offering: “…For Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Gen. 4:5). This made Cain very angry. So God asked Cain: “Why are you angry?”

God asks him the question about his anger to lovingly and patiently bring him to see his sin and to repentance. God warns Cain of the danger of his sin, and sin’s desire to possess and enslave him (Gen. 4:7). Why was Cain angry? On the surface it was because his brother’s sacrifice was acceptable and his was rejected. Deeper in Cain’s heart, he was angry for selfish reasons (cf. James 4:1-4). The anger that was manifesting and coming forth from Cain’s heart was that he didn’t truly love God as he should. Cain thought God owed him something; Cain came in his own name, based on his own merits, or what he thought he deserved from God.

Cain thought selfishly that his works for God were good enough and that God was indebted to accept him. God warns Cain of sin’s ability to enslave and seek to master those who would reject God’s grace, relying on their own works and efforts before God. We too must always keep in mind that we deserve nothing before God because of our sinfulness (Luke 17:10). God is good and faithful, and does amazingly gracious things for us, yet we are undeserving (cf. Luke 11:13). We must keep this in our minds, lest we too become angry and ungrateful. All sinners are accepted only on the basis of the completed work of Jesus Christ.

But Cain does not listen to God’s gracious and merciful warning. What we see here is a man who is seeking to please God for himself. Cain is seeking to self-justify (to “justify himself”, cf. Luke 10:29), rather than trust in the riches of God’s grace by asking God for mercy through faith alone in His promises. Our only hope is that God is pleased to justify (“declare righteous”) the ungodly based on what God has done for sinners in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:23-26); we must repent of our efforts at justifying ourselves before God, it will only lead to more anger at God and others.

Our anger often is an indicator that we somehow think we deserve grace from God. When we’re angry, let us find out if we are perhaps only serving self rather than serving God. Our anger reveals something about our hearts before God. Let us be honest with God and ourselves. Do we truly believe that we are received by God’s grace alone, or do we think that God owes us something, and so we get angry when we estimate that we have gotten less than we think we deserve? Do we understand that anything that we have accomplished has ultimately been because of God’s grace and Spirit? (1 Cor. 4:7).

Honestly, what do we truly deserve before God? When we think of the numerous times we have been angry with God and others from our hearts, the many times we have self-righteously and self-centeredly lived for God only for what we could get from God, let us be reminded of His rich love and grace to us in Jesus Christ. How patient and kind, how gentle and meek God is toward sinners in Christ. How He loves those who will recognize what they truly deserve for their sins, and find grace in God’s promise to forgive and heal and to accept that is found in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God asks us today: “Why are you angry?” Do you think you deserve something from me? Will you not be accepted if you do what is right, simply trusting and believing in God’s promises revealed in Jesus Christ alone? Will you not be accepted if you simply believe that all the righteousness that God requires of you He also provides for you in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ?

Rather than repent, Cain struck in angry murder against his brother Abel who was accepted by faith. If sinners cannot kill God in their anger, they will kill those who please God if they have the opportunity (cf. Acts 7:51-53; 9:4-5). We must remember that anger is potential murder against God and those whom God loves (Matt. 5:21ff). It was the anger of the Pharisees and teachers of Israel that put Jesus to death (Mark 3:6). Yet through this sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, all repentant sinners (including the angriest, and those farthest right now in their hearts before God) can be brought near to God and be accepted by God in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6; 2:14ff) through Jesus’ precious blood that continually cries out for forgiveness rather than vengeance, and speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Heb. 12:24).

With God, there is mercy and forgiveness, and everlasting steadfast, undeserved love because of the precious blood shed by God’s blessed Son for sinners! God poured out His righteous and just anger on His Beloved Son, so that we could be acceptable to Him.

Why are you angry? Repent, believe; repent again, believe again. When you are angry, ask yourself what you truly deserve, and then see what God graciously has given you by His grace in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ! If you’re a believer, Jesus lived for you; now go live for Him! He died for you; now go lose your life so you can truly find it! He was raised and vindicated for you; go and live righteously alive in Him! He was enthroned at God’s right hand; go and be confident in Him! (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

Let us be careful to watch ourselves and our hearts closely, as John Calvin warned us: “Anger is always our near neighbor.”  And as the blessed Apostle James wrote: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires” (James 1:19-20).

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

From Your Pastor: Justification and Sanctification

Justification and Sanctification[1]

Below is a helpful chart to help you to distinguish between justification and sanctification.

A very important truth to keep in mind when thinking about justification and sanctification is that you should always make a distinction between the two, but never separate them (Calvin used the helpful Latin phrase: “distinctio non sed separatio” or “distinct but never separate”). Our confession states the distinction this way in the Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions 70 and 75:

WLC 70 – What is justification? A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners,(1) in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight;(2) not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them,(3) but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them,(4) and received by faith alone.(5) (1)Rom. 3:22,24,25; Rom. 4:5 (2)2 Cor. 5:19,21; Rom. 3:22,24,25,27,28 3)Tit. 3:5,7; Eph. 1:7 (4)Rom. 5:17-19; Rom. 4:6-8 (5)Acts 10:43; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9

WLC 75 – What is sanctification? A. Sanctification is a work of God’s grace, whereby they whom God hath, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit(1) applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them,(2) renewed in their whole man after the image of God;(3) having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts,(4) and those graces so stirred up, increased and strengthened,(5) as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life.(6) (1)Eph. 1:4; 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13 (2)Rom. 6:4-6 (3)Eph. 4:23,24 (4)Acts 11:18; 1 ohn 3:9 (5)Jude 20; Heb. 6:11,12; Eph. 3:16-19; Col. 1:10,11 (6)Rom. 6:4,6,14; Gal. 5:24

These two important aspects of salvation in Christ can be, and often are confused, and so it is important to keep these distinctions in mind without separating them (see Romans 8:29-31 as the Apostle Paul teaches that the grace that has begun in justification will always result and be fully realized in glorification through the sanctifying work of the Spirit).[2] To put it as pointedly as possible, you cannot have one without the other. The saving grace of Christ includes both justification and sanctification.

To be united to Christ by His Spirit means being a participant in the Spirit’s justifying work, as well as His sanctifying work. To make the proper distinctions will keep us from the terrible dangers of both legalism and antinomianism. It could also lead us to joy through the growing in our assurance of our faith.

 

JUSTIFICATION

SANCTIFICATION
Change in relation to God and His law: No longer condemned under the Law of God

 

 Change in nature: I now love the Law of God and desire to keep it sincerely.

 
Judicial act of God acquitting believers Continual building up

 

 
Complete and not of various degrees Growing work of many degrees
   
Perfect at the first moment Not perfect until death
   
Equal in all Not the same in all believers

 
Cannot be lost Degrees may be lost

 
Instantaneous Progressive

 
Removes guilt and liability to penalty Kills the being and power of sin

 
Man accepted and righteousness imputed Grace infused and the Spirit given
   
Gives right to life Gives fitness to share inheritance
   
By faith alone Requires exercise of all graces

 

——————————————-

Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 60. Q. How are you righteous before God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

 

[1] John Brown of Wamphray on Justification and Sanctification.  Source: John Brown, The Life of Justification Opened (N.p.: 1695), 268. See Joel R. Beeke, “John Calvin and John Brown of Wamphray on Justification,” in Reformed Orthodoxy in Scotland: Essays on Scottish Theology, 1560–1775, ed. Aaron Clay Denlinger (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 191–211.

[2] We should also remember to always understand justification as the foundation of our sanctification. Roman Catholicism formally confuses the two and places the sanctifying work of the Spirit through the Church before justification. Rome teaches that a person works in cooperation with the Spirit through the Roman Catholic Church (what they call “sanctification” through the seven sacraments), and this leads to a final justification (after death, and many times through purgatory). This is a terrible heresy. And this teaching is for another day, but it is to emphasize now the importance of getting justification and sanctification correct, and in proper, biblical order (for formal teaching of Romanist doctrine see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1996, Second edition, III:sec.1, chap. 3, article 2, 1987-95).

Repentance before God: Psalm 51

Repentance is not merely a changing of one’s mind toward sin, but a turning completely away from sin with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength, to receive God’s forgiveness in Christ by faith. True repentance is seeing the ugliness of sin, of our particular sins against God and others, and turning away in abhorrence to see the beauty and glory of Christ who receives sinners!

We should remember that faith and repentance are two sides of one coin. You cannot have one without the other. Repentance is always a believing repentance; faith is always a repentant believing. Bringing these two aspects of our walk before God together, our forefather Thomas Watson wrote: “Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.”

As our forefathers, Martin Luther and John Calvin pointed out, repentance and faith are the Christian’s life-long work. As we repent, we learn to grow in our faith; as our faith grows, so deeply do we repent. J. Gresham Machen described Christianity well as the “Religion of the broken heart”. This is true. As we become more aware of the righteousness of God, God’s grace in Christ, we often experience deep brokenness of heart before we enjoy the deep joy that Christ has promised to believers (John 15:9-11). This does not occur one time only, but will be a pattern as we die to sin and live to righteousness by His grace and Spirit. Thomas Watson noted six very important ingredients of true repentance by which we may test ourselves: 1) Sight of sin; 2) Sorrow for sin; 3) Confession of sin; 4) Shame for sin; 5) Hatred for sin; and 6) Turning from sin (His excellent book on repentance bears reading and re-reading. Available as a Banner of Truth Trust Puritan Paperback).

At this time of when many think of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, perhaps it would be good to see a model of repentance in inspired Scripture. Psalm 51 is helpful in this (as well as Psalm 32). Let us note a few things about Psalm 51 that can teach us about growing in repentance, and thus our faith, and especially our joy of the LORD!

Let us read prayerfully together Psalm 51, then I invite you to use this portion of Scripture to repent before God:

Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

  1. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (51:1) The God we approach in repentance is full of steadfast love and abundant mercy, and willing and able alone to blot out our transgressions, or our sins against His holy commands. God’s steadfast love is His covenantal faithfulness to all in Christ Jesus, and so our repentance is particularly in Jesus’s name. We approach as those who have sinned against God’s law and more fully His love revealed to us in Christ. But we approach with great hope (cf. Heb. 4:14-16). Prayer: Father, forgive me for Jesus’s sake.

 

  1. “…Cleanse me from my sin” (51:2): It is particularly “my sin” that is in need of cleasning. God is willing, and able to cleanse us from our sins. We can avoid our sins, we can act as if we do not have sins, but because sin is ultimately a sin against God, only God can cleanse us. But cleanse us He will when we approach Him in Christ’s name! Prayer: Father, I am unclean, make me clean from the heart. Make me like Christ.

 

  1. “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me!” (51:3). True repentance acknowledges openly and honestly before our God that we have sin, and that our transgressions against God’s righteous law are real. Prayer: Father, I have broken your laws, forgive me, and restore me.

 

  1. “Against you, and you only…so that you may be justified in your words and…judgment…” (51:4). This acknowledges our sin as being not first and foremost against others, but offensive against God. All sin is first of all “against God” and God “only”! This helps us to cultivate a true and healthy spiritual fear of God (“The end of the matter: fear God and keep His commandments…” – 12:13). We acknowledge that we have nothing to defend ourselves with before God, no one else to blame; we have really sinned, and against such a holy and kind God! True repentance acknowledges that God is just if He did indeed condemn us for our sins. He would be just. This removes from us any blame on others, or making excuses for our sins before God. Making excuses and blame will never bring out true brokenness and sorrow for sin, and will make us self-righteous before God. It will tempt us to take God’s grace for granted. Prayer: Father, you would be altogether just in judging me, but you have provided a substitutionary sacrifice in Christ on my behalf. He who knew no sin became sin for me so that I might be covered in your righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).

 

  1. “I was brought forth in iniquity…” (51:5). This acknowledges that we are sinners by nature undeserving of God’s mercy and grace. Prayer: In myself there is nothing good, but all good and grace and truth in abundance found in Christ! (John 1:16).

 

  1. “…You delight in truth in the inward being, and teach me wisdom in the secret heart” (51:6). God knows our hearts, and repentance is the ability to be honestly self-aware of one’s own heart. As we grow in the Christian life, we grow in our appreciation of the depths of God’s mercy, His lavish love, and unimaginable grace that He gives to sinners in Christ (Eph. 3:17-19), but we also become more aware of our “inward being”, or our “hearts” and how desperately sinful they are. True repentance is being honest before God and man. God teaches us wisdom in the “secret heart” so that we might have wise hearts, and be watchful over our hearts (cf. Prov. 4:23). Prayer: Father, make me rich with the wisdom and riches of grace found in Christ.

 

  1. “Purge me…wash me…whiter than snow….Create in me a clean heart…” (51:7, 10). Our Heavenly Father purges us from the taint and evils of sin through the precious blood of Christ our Lamb. Jesus Christ died for us on the cross to take away the penalty of sin which was death and hell, to free us from the power and dominion of sin, to heal us from the pollution of sin, and to change our course in life from the imminent punishment of sin. We are complete purged of our sins when we approach God in Christ. By His blood, we are washed, cleansed, made pure, and before God we are “whiter than snow”! From the center of our beings, our persons, “from the heart” we are made clean. Prayer: Thank you for the precious blood of Jesus that makes me pure and clean and holy.

 

  1. “Let me hear joy and gladness….Restore to me the joy of my salvation…” (51:8, 12). True repentance reconciles us back into our fellowship with God. As our sins break our fellowship with God that we enjoy in Christ, true repentance returns us to fellowship, and the joy and spiritual health that comes from that fellowship! Prayer: Father, I want to live in close fellowship with you all of my days: “Whom have I in heaven but you, and who on earth do I desire but you…For me, it is good to be near to God” (Psa. 73:25-28).

 

  1. “Then I will teach transgressors…” (51:13). True repentance displays an example of God’s love and power before the world. Repentance is clearly displayed so that all may undeniably see God’s goodness and power in the sinner saved by grace. Only God can save us—only God can truly sanctify us and heal us from sin. Prayer: Let me be a light to shine before others in a dark world: in my home, my workplace, my neighborhood, let me shine, kind king!

 

  1. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit…” (51:17). A broken and contrite spirit is pleasing to God (cf. 2 Cor. 7:10-11). There is a worldly repentance that leads to death; there is a true repentance that leads to further life, and life more abundantly before God and others. The Christian life is a life of being broken before God, knowing that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Thomas Watson said: “The mourner’s heart is emptied of pride and God fills the empty with His blessing.” The best and most mature Christians are not those who on the one hand merely talk about or feel sorry all the time for their sins, self-centeredly focused on themselves and their problem of sin. Neither are they those who are presumptuous of God’s grace, and live outwardly joyful, but thinly spiritual lives with a mere smile. Rather, the best and most mature Christians are those who most of the time feel broken and humbled by their sins and lack of fruitfulness and prayerlessness, yet their constant need makes them more wisely watchful over their own hearts, and more fully focused and dependent upon Christ and His grace, so that they are at the same time full of joy and wonder of God’s goodness and kindness, and mournfully crying out: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” Prayer: Father, let me live a broken-hearted, yet joyful life remembering always: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Amen, and amen!

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

Is Anything Too Hard for the LORD?

ESV Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Beloved in Christ, this is your question today: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

Sometimes you think there is something too hard in your life that even God cannot help you with. You believe, but sometimes you are inconsistent with what you say you believe. You believe in a sovereign God who rules over the world. You believe in the Almighty God who is maker of heaven and earth. You believe that God was made flesh and lived and died for you. You believe that Jesus has risen from the dead. You believe that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Yet your worry, anxiety and fears betray what you’re hiding, and they reveal a heart that wants to believe, more than actually does believe. As a Christian, you know the truths of God are infallibly true and wonderfully revealed to you in Scripture, but you often live inconsistently with these truths, and you’re easily troubled. But again, let God ask you: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

Abraham and Sarah waited a very long time to hold in their arms the baby that had been long promised to them by God. For twenty-five long years, they waited on the promise of God to be realized in their lives. There were times of strong faith, and also times of failure during their wait. In Genesis 18, God manifested Himself to Abraham and Sarah to assure them that His promises would come to past “next year” (18:10) —and Sarah laughs in unbelief, and then tried to deny that she had indeed laughed:

“So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” …. But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:12, 15).”

Isn’t she a bit like you and me?! Sarah couldn’t see how God could take her state of practical death in that she was too old to have babies, and grant her new life. Sarah could not conceive in her mind how she could ever conceive a child through God’s life-giving power. What God had promised was just a bit beyond her grasp of faith.

God knew also that she had laughed, and He was not angry with her and take away His gracious promises to her as it were. Rather, it was as if God was confronting Sarah with her laughter of unbelief so that she might see her sins, and might behold in Him the One who could do all things!

This is our God, dear congregation of Jesus! God reveals Himself and keeps His promises to us in spite of our lack of faith, and our silly, limited unbelief. God is always going to be faithful to His people even when His people are unfaithful to Him (2 Tim. 2:13). This in itself is a reason to ask yourself: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” God can do all things; even forgive our sins because of His mercy.

Whatever your worries, anxieties, and fears are revealing is wrong deep within your heart, you can go to God, with a mere seed of faith, and find a great and powerful Christ ready to forgive, ready to pardon, ready to receive and ready to give to you above and beyond what you could ever ask or imagine!

What are your worries today? What is it in your life that is too difficult for you? What threatens to overwhelm you in your fears? What is too great– too hard– too difficult for you?!”

But you say: “You don’t understand my situation.” You don’t understand that I have made this problem for myself, and I must get myself out.” “There is no way that you would ever understand the problems at my workplace…in my marriage…with my children…the change that never seems to come with myself!?”

Think on Christ. Jesus loves you, and he has lived and died for you. God permanently took upon Himself a human nature from the substance of the Virgin Mary, to unite God and man together forever in Him. In Christ, God did the unbelievable. The Incarnation is the “enfleshing” of God Almighty with the goal of securing your redemption! When God sent His Son into the world, it was with you and your hard situations in mind! God who is Spirit united Himself to a body; God who is infinite united Himself to finitude; God who is everywhere present, became local in Jesus; God who is all-knowing, became limited and learning. And all for us!

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Think about the Incarnation and how in Christ God reveals what is in our estimation the “impossible”. Remember: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). When the Angel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary in the fullness of the times and told her that Jesus, the Son of God, would be born to her, she didn’t laugh- – but believed. This is how we too come to understand and believe.

We may not fully understand our situation (and many times will not!); we may doubt a bit in the power and grace of God toward us (this is a reality of weak faith in this life); but we are to bow before God in humility with the little faith we have in a great Christ, and say with Mary:

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

We are to simply seek to believe God’s Word to us. What is too hard for you today? This thing you are concerned about is never impossible with God. Believe. Think of the change that God has wrought in your heart by the power of the Spirit. Have you always believed? No! How did you come to believe in Christ in the first place? Was this not a mighty “impossible” display of God’s power in taking a hardened sinner far from God, and making your heart loving and teachable, and full of desire to follow Jesus?

Is this not a hard thing, too? Go back to your conversion, think on how the power of the Spirit came upon you to transfer you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God’s son; how you were raised, like Lazarus, from the spiritual dead, and seated with Christ in the heavenly places; how you were dead in trespasses and sins, enslaved to sin and the devil, and you were raised to new life in Jesus! (Col. 1:13-14; Eph. 2:1-8; Col. 3:14). Truly, I ask you, when you think of the work that has begun in you, “Is there anything too hard for the LORD?”

Think of the work yet to be done because God is committed to you. He who began a good work will complete it in you! (Phil. 1:6). God is committed to changing us. Ask Him for more faith. Don’t keep your doubts from him, but rather confess them. If you laugh at what you find to be unbelievable at the moment, learn from Sarah, and don’t cover it up and lie to God. God knows our hearts, and He kindly deals with us not according to our sins, but he pities us knowing that we are but dust (Psalm 103:11-15). Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on us.

Confess your worries and anxieties and fears to God. Tell him how you are struggling. Go to God in Jesus Christ who wears your nature before the face of God to represent you as your Great and Faithful High Priest, and ask Him for more faith to trust and believe all that He has promised to you.

Then laugh. Laugh with a deep joy, and hearty, belly-like, robust laugh (a real guffaw!), that God is good. Laugh with all your heart knowing that Jesus is for you, and not against you. And if God be for you, who or what could possibly be against you, or harm you?! (Psalm 27:1ff; Romans 8:30ff). Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, so go and flourish in your faith, knowing that nothing can harm you (Romans 8:35-39). In Christ, you’re more than a conqueror over everything that God allows to come into your life!

The hardest, most difficult, trying, exasperating, soul-crushing, and painfully unbearable work that could have been imagined, or done by you or anyone else, has been done for you in the death of Jesus Christ.

What was impossible for us has been done for us. Our sins against God were a constant and permanent reminder that we owed God for every sin in our words, thoughts and our deeds. We owed God not only an infinite payment for the sinful condition and our actual sins, but also we owed him a perfect lifetime of righteous living according to His commands, for His glory alone.

We could never repay such a debt. But God did the impossible; God did what was hard for us. God sent His Beloved Son Jesus to perfectly keep His commands and earn all righteousness before Him for us. God sent Jesus, His Beloved Son to die and provide an infinitely valuable sacrifice for our infinite sin-debt against a Holy and Just God for us. God was satisfied with Jesus’ hard work on our behalf; Jesus was raised and vindicated as a permanent and eternal memorial that all who believe in Him have been forgiven. And this, very hard thing, by grace, because of God’s love, has been done, for us.

Laugh.

Laugh.

Laugh.

God is good and faithful.

Look to Jesus who loves you!

“Is there anything too hard for the LORD?”

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

Where Are You?

“But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” – ESV Genesis 3:9

“Where are you?” is the first question in the Bible. Interestingly, it is the first question that God utters to mankind. The first question in the Bible teaches us that God seeks to ask His people questions. But why?

God is omniscient and that means He knows all things. Why then would He ask us questions? Doesn’t He already know the answer?

The questions that God asks are not so much for His sake as they are for us. God wants to draw us near to Himself, and to search and know us. God delights in His children coming to Him and hearing Him as He speaks by His Spirit through His Word. He wants to speak to us, and for us to learn to listen to Him.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they had gone their own way. They had lived according to their own plans, and done what is right in their own eyes (Much like we often do! Gen. 3:1-7). They had willingly broken fellowship and communion with God. Rather than truly listening and learning from their wonderful Creator and LORD, they chose to do their own will.

Yet God graciously came to our first parents, and sought them out, even when they were not looking for Him! The Bible tells us that God came “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). Rather than join God for fellowship as would have been their normal practice and delight, Adam and Eve actually sought to hide from God because of the fear and shame that sin produces. Sin may cause us to hide from God, but in His mercy God seeks after His own.

Satan, sin and shame may drive us away from God, but God intends to draw His dear children near to Him! (John 6:37, 44; James 4:8).

John Calvin wrote: “No one will dedicate himself to God until he be drawn by His goodness, and embrace Him with all his heart. He must therefore call us to Him before we call upon Him; we can have no access till He first invites us…allured and delighted by the goodness of God.”

What grace we behold in God coming to speak to the hearts of our first parents- -and to our hearts today.

In Genesis 3, God reveals Himself as the God who not only speaks, but the merciful God who asks. Rejoice and let us behold the God who reveals His willingness to hear us, and to listen to our needs, to forgive us our sins when we repent, and this is how God reveals Himself throughout Scripture to His dearly loved children.

God comes to us and asks us the question “Where are you?” so that we can see our need for Him and turn to Him and be restored. God graciously promises His people that if we will turn to Him, He promises that He will have mercy on us and forgive us. God desires to restore His relationship to mankind that was broken by the fall. God desires to restore you to communion with Him right now.

Ultimately, God asks us the question of “Where are you?” so that we will be brought to see our sins and repent of them, finding grace in our time of need (Heb. 4:14-16).

Dearly beloved of God, do you allow God to ask you this question each day? Listen to His voice: “Where are you?” Where are you today? Where are you in your relationship to God? Are you walking with God, acknowledging His presence? Honestly, where are you? Are you hiding from God? Are Satan, sin and shame driving you from God?

Where is your heart? God is everywhere present, but are you acknowledging His presence and living in His strength? When He knocks on the door of your heart do you answer? (Revelation 3:20). Are you near God today?

The question of “Where are you?” put to us by God in the beginning, and then spoken to us every time we seek to read and meditate upon His Word, to hear from Him and to pray, is the same question that was also in the Lord Jesus’ mouth:

Jesus was forsaken on the cross, abandoned as a cursed thing because although He had not committed any sins or transgressions Himself, the LORD had laid our iniquities upon Him.

In our place condemned He stood! This is our Beloved Savior, perfect and sinless as the Lamb of God, and as He who knew no sin because sin for us, so Jesus cries out in dereliction on the cross:

“Where are you?”

Or, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

Or, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus was made to be sin, having our sins imputed to Him, so that we would receive His righteousness by faith alone and boldly draw near to God.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – ESV 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus reconciled us to God, and has given us access to all of our dear Heavenly Father’s questions. Let us hear Him, let us listen, and let us respond with faith and obedience because of what Christ has done for us!

Dear Beloved in Jesus Christ, God asks us ‘Where are you?’ because God desires to search us and examine our hearts by His most Holy Word and Spirit. Do not run Him! Do not run away and be driven from your only hope for joy and salvation! God wants to bring us to the end of ourselves, to show us our sins, and the habits that only bring hurt and harm to ourselves and others, so that we might repent, and find a deeper, closer relationship with our loving Lord Jesus.

Consider this question to you today: “Where are you?” Are you near to God? Draw near to God in Jesus Christ because He died for you, and He promises to draw near to you.

When you read your Bibles, and meditate thoughtfully on Scripture, let God ask you over and over: “Where are you?” And then be honest with Him…and yourself. Let his be your prayer:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” – ESV Psalm 139:23-24

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs