Spring is in the air
I took all of these photos yesterday. These flowers are among the many flowers that are blooming all around our house.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Golden Key of Prayer
As spring scatters flowers, so supplication ensures mercies.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Practice of Praise
Praise means this, that you and I are appointed to tell forth the goodness of God. Just as the birds of spring wake up before the sun and begin singing—and all of them singing with all their might—so become the choristers of God. Praise the Lord evermore, even as they do who, with songs and choral symphonies. Day and night, circle His throne rejoicing. This is your holy and privileged office.
Martin Luther
A man who could make one rose . . . would be accounted most wonderful; yet God scatters countless such flowers around us! His gifts are so infinite that we do not see them.
Dorothy Parker — Flowers are heaven’s masterpieces.
Anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today is the anniversary of the assissination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is good for us to remember the positive impact of individuals who fight for what’s right. It is particularly good to see the vision of such people come to fruition in the society we live in.
William Wilberforce dedicated his life to improving the morals of English society and to the total and complete abolition of the slave trade. We can read his writings and look at the world around us and realize that his dreams have been fulfilled. We can celebrate the life of William Wilbeforce, rejoicing in the knowledge that what he worked so hard to accomplish has become a reality today.
But what of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream? We all know what his dream was—he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in our nation’s capitol and told us what that dream was. Dr. King said that he had a dream that one day all men “will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Has Dr. King’s dream become a reality?
In a day when the majority of people in our society proclaim that we are making personal attacks against anyone whose character we call into question, I think the answer must be “no.” In a day when a Barack Obama can run for the presidency of our nation and although he seldom speaks of race, we hear non-stop reports (both favorable and negative) about him being “the first black man to run for the presidency,” and we hear about folks even from Obama’s political party stating that he could never have made it this far had he been a white man, implying that he is succeeding only because of the color of his skin and not because of any excellence on his part.
These attitudes are not what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., fought and died for. May we all commit ourselves to viewing and judging those around us not by the color of their skin or the nation of their origin, but by the content of their character. And I would add to that the need to judge them also by their understanding and belief in the death and resurrection of the Son of God who came to save people from every tribe, tongue, and nation—not because of the color of their skin, or because of the content of their character, but because of their great need of a Savior. I don’t recommend judging them to disenfranchise them, but to target them for the proclamation of the gospel because if they do not yet believe in Jesus Christ, this is their greatest need.
Avoiding Rash Judgment
So often I jump into the emotional fray, relying on my perception of the situation my past experiences to determine my present actions—when I should be waiting peacefully on God and relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This passage from My Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis admonishes us in these matters. I think it is good advice and worthy of consideration:
Avoiding Rash Judgment
Turn your attention upon yourself and beware of judging the deeds of other men, for in judging others a man labors vainly, often makes mistakes, and easily sins; whereas, in judging and taking stock of himself he does something that is always profitable.
We frequently judge that things are as we wish them to be, for through personal feeling true perspective is easily lost.
If God were the sole object of our desire, we should not be disturbed so easily by opposition to our opinions. But often something lurks within or happens from without to draw us along with it.
Many, unawares, seek themselves in the things they do. They seem even to enjoy peace of mind when things happen according to their wish and liking, but if otherwise than they desire, they are soon disturbed and saddened. Differences of feeling and opinion often divide friends and acquaintances, even those who are religious and devout.
An old habit is hard to break, and no one is willing to be led farther than he can see.
If you rely more upon your intelligence or industry than upon the virtue of submission to Jesus Christ, you will hardly, and in any case slowly, become an enlightened man. God wants us to be completely subject to Him and, through ardent love, to rise above all human wisdom.
Boisterous praise
© Richard D. Gelina
Nehemiah 12:43 And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
I enjoy this verse so much. Even with our electronic sound reinforcement, our churches don’t typically praise God at a volume level that may be “heard far away.” Imagine how great this must have been.
I can’t wait to hear what it’s going to sound like in heaven!
Answering felt needs or real needs?
My father writes one of the best blogs I’ve seen for simple exegetical, devotional discussions, complete with thought-provoking questions and application. The most recent two posts on his blog are particularly outstanding.
Navigators: How God Looks Upon a Distorted Gospel deals with our need to stick to the Word of God, not adding or subtracting according to our own agenda or whim.
Navigators: People-Pleasing Preachers discusses directly the common current problem of adjusting the church’s message to suit the “itching ears” of the congregation. This post is particularly important during these days of “Seeker Sensitivity,” Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, and the other fad-driven church-growth people and programs.
Take a read, comment on the thoughts, join the discussion.
But I didn’t mean to do it…
I have always loved Bill Cosby’s video “Himself.” He discusses children’s disobedience and their common defense when asked why they did something: “I don’t know.” I try not to ask why, although I don’t often succeed and the why question just seems to pop out. But when I talk to my son about something he’s done wrong, he often says, “But I didn’t mean to do it,” as if this changes the fact that he has done something wrong.
Today as I was reading my Bible I came across an interesting passage:
Leviticus 5:14-16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.
Apparently God does not accept the defense, “But I didn’t know…” or “But I didn’t mean to…” God accepts only total perfection—total obedience—or else we are guilty of the whole law (James 2:10). It’s a bit overwhelming.
After a few posts regarding our need to reject man’s rules and regulations (if they are not directly derived from scripture), I thought it might be a good idea to remind ourselves that God demands absolute obedience to His commands. And we have our hands full enough trying to reach that level of obedience. In fact the level of obedience is impossible, as we can see by looking at the 5,000 or so years of man’s inability to live by the Mosaic law.
But, praise God, there is forgiveness in Jesus’ name. Without that forgiveness, we would remain forever separated from God with no chance of redemption.
Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Do as I say!!
The topic of legalism has come up a lot recently and I thought it would be good to address some of the things my wife and I have discussed. So here it is: my semi-treatise on legalism.
What is legalism?
Theology
- the doctrine that salvation is gained through good works.
- the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws
legalism. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved March 31, 2008, from Dictionary.com
For our purposes we will be discussing the second definition given above: “the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws.” So then legalists, in the world of Christianity, are those who hold to a list of behaviors that are not directly scripture-derived. These would be personal standards that they hold up as societal standards. In other words, the legalist is convinced that he should live in a certain way, so he demands that others live in that way also.
Legalism is seen in such things as strict dress codes, restrictions on certain foods and beverages, rules about styles of music that may be listened to in the church and at home, rules about how men’s hair must be cut, strict rules demanding which Bible version is or is not to be used.
What if the legalists are right about how we should act?
First let me say that those given to legalism do not often end up with rules of behavior that I think parallel scriptural requirements. But let’s, for the sake of the argument, consider a theoretic scenario: What if the legalists were right about all of the standards they set for others? Would legalism still be wrong? I say, YES – Legalism is wrong even if it leads to a proper conclusion.
The crux of this issue is the motivation behind our obedience. If someone sets a standard of dress that they think everyone should live by, and if they are right that everyone should actually dress that way, why would it be wrong for them to demand that others dress in this manner?
Galatians 4:1-7
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Are we obeying God out of duty or out of love?
The reason legalism is wrong, even if the end result is right, is because it focuses on the wrong thing and because it does not teach others how to determine what is right and what is wrong. If we follow legalistic standards, we portray ourselves as slaves and not as legitimate heirs, which in Galatians 4 (above) we are told is wrong. We Christians have been made heirs with Christ and should no longer live as slaves. Following legalistic codes of behavior is shown as acting like a slave. We may ultimately act in exactly the same way, but as an heir our motivation for living this way is completely different from that that of the slave.
As Christians, we are to focus our attention on Christ. If our gaze is on Christ and if we are seeking God’s will by reading His Word, we will be convicted by the Holy Spirit about how we should live. Scripture clearly presents the proper focus for our attention. Psalms 37:4 says: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 42:1-2 shows the depth of this delight in the Lord: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for thee, O God, for the living God” and in Psalm 63:1: “My soul thirsts for thee, my flesh yearns for thee, in a dry and weary land where there is no water”
The scriptures clearly show that our desire for God and our obedience to God should spring from delight in God, not from duty. And that this focus is rewarded, as in Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
On the other hand—if we obey out of duty, isn’t that good enough? No, it is not! Obeying out of duty is nullifying grace in the blood of Christ—disrespecting the sacrifice Christ made that gives us freedom from the demands of the law. Paul told the Galatians: “But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:17-21).
So when we try to live to a particular standard that is extrabiblical, we are focusing on manmade rules and codes of conduct, not on Christ. This is idolatry.
But the second problem I see with legalism is that it fails to teach those whom we hold to the legalistic standard proper biblical judgment. To give legalists the benefit of the doubt, they may be attempting to enforce the extra-biblical standard as a short-cut to behavior. They simply want the people to live, dress and act a certain way, and rather than take the time to teach the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of the hearers, they cut to the chase and just tell everyone, “This is the standard of holiness.”
The generation of children who are raised with these rules grow up with no understanding of why they should do these things. They have simply been told that this particular behavior will make them more holy, implicitly, more acceptable to God. So this generation is easy prey for those who would like to enforce more extrabiblical standards.
Another problem with legalism is that the Holy Spirit does not convict each of us equally. The truths of scripture are always the same, but the applications may be very different for each individual person. Something I have noticed as I have observed many legalistic folks is that their particular points of emphasis tend to be areas in which they have felt great conviction to change their own behavior. The particular brand of legalism seems to be tied directly to areas of weakness within the legalist’s life. Those who take a particularly strong stand against alcohol, for example, quite often have had troubles with over-indulgence in their own past. Or many times they have been close to someone who abused alcohol. Those who hold others to a particularly conservative manner of dress have often had issues with premarital sex, divorce, or been involved in inappropriate flirtatious or provocative activities. In fact, many of those who demand conservative dress from others have been caught in ongoing sexual indiscretions and have caused great scandal to the Church.
What motivates legalism?
Earlier, I gave the legalists the benefit of the doubt by saying that they may simply be looking for a shortcut to quickly get folks around them into behavioral nirvana. But I don’t think that legalists typically deserve the benefit of the doubt. My experience with those who are legalistic (research Independent Fundamental Baptists if you’re curious about my background) is that they seem to set these rules in order to control those around them.
Of course, I can’t know their hearts. But over and over I have heard and seen legalists twist scriptures and redefine terms in order to make the hearers think that their legalism has biblical support. We’ve discussed the redefinition of the term “modesty” in recent posts. This redefinition allows the legalists to demand the manner of dress that feels most comfortable to them, considering their own past experiences and possible indiscretions. The total-abstinence from alcohol crowd selectively chooses their scriptures, using such verses as Proverbs 23:31-35:
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”
But they fail to mention that verse 30 (the verse just prior to the passage they just quoted) says: “Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.” This passage is obviously warning against overindulgence in wine, not prohibiting any use of alcohol at all.
How then shall we conduct ourselves?
A friend of mine recently ran a series of posts about the topic of “modesty.” Although my friend and I come to different conclusions about what is appropriate dress in some circumstances, How then shall we dress? was, I believe, a fairly balanced treatment of this subject. Christians will need to rely on the conviction of the Holy Spirit to guide them as to what they should or should not wear, and none of us should ever attempt to hold others to the standard the Holy Spirit has convicted us of. We must allow the Holy Spirit to do His job, we can’t allow ourselves the self-indulgence of thinking we can do the Holy Spirit’s job for Him.
Handling God’s Holy Word
Phil Johnson, one of my favorite bloggers, has once again posted something that hit me like a ton of bricks [Pyromaniacs: Some Certainties for These Uncertain Times]. This time it was one of his weekly snippets from C.H. Spurgeon and this quote dealt with the tremendous gravity of handling God’s holy and inspired Word. We are not called to present our viewpoints or our formulas or our programs; we are called to present Jesus Christ and him crucified—the very essence of scripture, without additions or subtractions.
Here’s a quote to whet your appetite. Then go over to Pyromaniacs: Some Certainties for These Uncertain Times for the whole thing.
“Those are my views, but other people’s views may be correct.” We ought to preach the gospel, not as our views at all, but as the mind of God—the testimony of Jehovah concerning his own Son, and in reference to salvation for lost men. If we had been entrusted with the making of the gospel, we might have altered it to suit the taste of this modest century, but never having been employed to originate the good news, but merely to repeat it, we dare not stir beyond the record. What we have been taught of God we teach. If we do not do this, we are not fit for our position.
If I have a servant in my house, and I send a message by her to the door, and she amends it, on her own authority, she may take away the very soul of the message by so doing, and she will be responsible for what she has done. She will not long remain in my employ, for I need a servant who will repeat what I say, as nearly as possible, word for word; and if she does so, I am responsible for the message, she is not. If any one should be angry with her on account of what she said, they would be very unjust; their quarrel lies with me, and not with the person whom I employ to act as mouth for me. He that hath God’s Word, let him speak it faithfully, and he will have no need to answer gainsayers, except with a “Thus saith the Lord.”
Literary escapism
From the beginning of the human race stories have been used—by priests, by bards, by medicine men—as magic instruments of healing, of teaching, as a means of helping people come to terms with the fact that they continually have to face insoluble problems and unbearable realities.
Joan Aiken
A man’s grill
Ok – I see that the “Mommy” blogs get to post recipes and decorating tips and stuff like that. So if I’m writing a “Daddy” blog, do I get to do something similar? Maybe I could showcase my favorite wheel cleaning supplies or do a review of an XBox 360 game. But I want to deal with food-related things too. After all, I like to eat. So here it is—I’m going to tell you about my backyard grill.
I told my wife that I needed a new outdoor grill. I told her that I didn’t want a gas grill—I wanted a manly grill, so that would have to involve real flames. So my wife headed out to the store and returned with the Big Daddy of all grills. It’s a real wood, open flame grill. That’s real wood, not charcoal—wood, like the kind you would put in your fireplace. It’s awesome.
My son and I get to go pyro and stack up big chunks of wood, stuff leaves under the pieces of wood, and set fire to the pile. It makes a tremendous amount of smoke and fire and the flames last for a good long time, so you could cook a couple of meals on it if you happened to need to do two or more courses on the outdoor grill.
It also handles the special wood chips like mesquite better than any other grill I have ever used. Because of the serious amount of smoke this grill can produce, you can do a fantastic job smoking burgers and steaks and introducing flavors that just aren’t possible on a gas grill, and aren’t very easy to produce from charcoal grills. But on this grill its simple.
It may be a bit of overkill for the typical outdoor grilling adventure. But it sure is fun. And it also cooks a great steak! Really. It cooks better than any grill I’ve ever head. We cooked red snapper on it today—and that was incredible too.
So husbands, let your wives know that you need a MAN’S grill. Tell her it needs to take fireplace wood. Remind her that it’s now springtime and you need this visceral connection with the land. Okay, that might be overdoing it. Maybe you should just head down to Lowes on your own and pick up one of these grills. Even if you’re an accountant, you’re going to look manly flipping burgers on this thing.
The wounds of a friend
Proverbs 27:5-6
Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Mulch man
Some days are easier than others. After four days of outstanding behavior and lots of fun together as a family, my son decided to show he was in charge. Needless to say, he lost the gambit.
In the photo here, he is showing he’s in charge by doing the mulching that my wife had planned to do for the past few weeks. We finally got the mulch today when our friend Dan was mulching the church playground and offered to take my wife to the mulch place and carry the mulch to our house in his trailer. This happened just after my son “volunteered” to do this back-breaking task.
It’s just so great when punishments get to come with the added benefit of less work for Mom or Dad.
By His grace - For His glory 