INTRODUCTION
The events at Asbury University (Willmore, KY), known as the "Asbury Outpouring", has stirred up no small bit of online discussion. In brief, on February 8, 2023 students attending a worship service refused to leave (citing an experience of God), and the result was a "revival" experience of 13 days of non-stop worship services. The phenomenon has drawn thousands of outsiders to the small town as multitudes seek to personally participate in the alleged movement of God. The massive influx of visitors has overwhelmed the town and disrupted campus life to such an extent that university officials announced a new schedule February 19 to restrict the services moving forward. The on-camps meeting will be closed to the public and limited to those 25 years old and younger, and the "out-pouring" services will be moved off campus. Whether or not the "Asbury Outpouring" is a unique outpouring of the Holy Spirit I do not presume to say, but these events provide an occasion to consider how we should weigh such things. Christians are called to judge not by appearances but with righteous judgment (Jn 7:24), and this requires we employ the standards God has given. It is wrong to grieve or quench the Spirit (Eph 4:30; 1 Thess 5:19), but testing whether or not a particular experience is from God is no such violation. Accepting without question a "unique" experience as being from God also does not constitute childlike faith (Matt 8:3); believing and obeying the Word of God is faith. At the same time, suspicion is not inherently virtuous (remember "doubting" Thomas?). Additionally, limiting what is deemed "of God" to what conforms to personal expectations is also problematic (remember the Pharisees who rejected Jesus because He was not what they, as the self-appointed experts, thought He should be?). There is a needle that must be threaded between being naive and stubborn.
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"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore." Anyone who has done much fishing has likely heard the joke, "There is a reason they call it fishing and not catching." The point of the joke, if it isn't clear, is that many people spend their time baiting, casting, and reeling, but usually not a lot of time actually catching fish. This unfortunate reality flows from the fact fishing involves a combination of things that are controllable as well as things that are not. And while someone can do everything "right" on their end, there are still factors that are outside of any person's control. That being said, there are actual variables that are completely in the would-be-fisherman's control, and any sincere, reasonable effort to catch fish requires doing those things correctly. I cannot go into the woods with my fishing pole and emerge hours later and complain about being empty-handed. Why? Fish are not found in the woods, and if I want fish I need to go where the fish are.
In one respect, we can think of blessings like fish. They are are out there. We can obtain them. God even desires for us to possess them. However, we need to go where God has assigned them to be if we actually want to get them. The complaint that we have no blessings falls flat if we refuse to acknowledge and reckon with the the nature of blessings and where they are found. Introduction
America is a pluralistic society where various beliefs and practices converge and, in theory, the state does not endorse or favor any particular religious viewpoint. In such a society the only mortal sin is to impose personal beliefs on others--at least so we claim. Cars drive around with "co-exist" bumper stickers, people sport the rainbow flag, and everyone insists that "love is love." All of this to drive home one point: there is no objective truth (God) to which all must submit, so the only right thing to do is tolerate everyone else's beliefs. This claim, of course, is impossible to consistently live by, but we will ignore that fact for now. But if religious pluralism is our current experience, how can I claim that everyone believes that God's word must be obeyed? Well, it starts with our definition of "God." Introduction
Our family's practice is for me to read Scripture following dinner, and some months ago we decided that I would just read straight through the Bible. There is nothing fancy in what we do; I read the passage, my kids regularly ask questions as we go, and I provide commentary as I read. At the end, I draw out a few principles to drive home what we just read. This last week we started in 2 King, and it opens with the story of Ahab's son Ahaziah, king of Israel, falling through the lattice of his upper chamber and getting seriously injured. Ahaziah wants to know whether or not he will heal from his injuries and seeks out divine insight. So Ahaziah sends messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron (2 Kgs 1:2). However, the angel of the LORD instructs the prophet Elijah to confront these messengers on their way and ask a very probing question: "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?" Introduction
Christians are encouraged to pray with boldness and confidence, but that assumes the basis of those prayers is rooted in the character and promises of God. Christians are called to persevere in prayer and endure the hardships that inevitably come from following Jesus, trusting that what Jesus promises is worth it. Hebrews 10:36 says, "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." Our endurance will depend on our longing for what is promised, and those who want what God offers keep following Jesus until they obtain it. This kind of boldness will not come easily, and it will often be tested harshly. As such, Christians must carefully consider how to rightly use God's promises. It is not enough to simply parrot what God has said without understanding; the promises of God must be wielded like a sword against sin and Satan (Eph 6:17). If we don't keep God's promises in mind we will miss out on the fullness of what God offers to His children. But if we wrongly interpret and apply what He has promised we can end up cutting ourselves by accident and injure our faith. So how do you rightly use God's promises? First Things Faith is trusting, and it is trusting God and His Word specifically (Rom 10:17). Faith is the conviction of things promised but currently unseen (Heb 11:1), and faith is the confidence God is fully trustworthy and capable of doing exactly as He promised (Rom 4:20-21). Therefore, the first thing to remember is that faith must aim to believe what God has actually said, not settle for what we think He said. And so there are two ditches to avoid in order to remain on the path of faith: unbelief and presumption. Unbelief rejects what God has said, whereas presumption focuses on what God did not explicitly say. Unbelief looks at what God has promised and finds reasons to dismiss it as wrong or irrelevant. Presumption goes beyond what is written, or selectively uses what is, and trusts things differently than how God revealed them to be. Both unbelief and presumption fall short of the command to live by faith. Biblical faith hears what God says, believes it, embraces it as good, and acts on it--and the key part is the acting on it. There is no situation where someone can truly have faith but then fail to act. Jesus points this out plainly in Luke 6:46-49 when He distinguishes between the man who hears Jesus' word and does them from the man who hears His words but does not do them. Jesus commends the man who acts on Jesus' word, and promises safety and security against the floods, as such a man's life is built on trusting and applying Jesus' teaching. Likewise, the author of Hebrews labors vigorously to convince his readers that true faith in Christ works itself out in obedience. Hebrews 2:1-4 urges readers to "pay much closer attention to what we have heard" and not "neglect" salvation. Hebrews 3:1 says we must "consider Jesus" and to "take care, brothers, lest there be in any of [us] an evil, unbelieving heart, leading [us] to fall away from the living God" (Heb 3:12). We are warned not to be "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb 3:13). So what kind of person is the author referring to exactly? Well, he explains there is a precedent for people initially giving evidence of having received God's grace who later prove there is no genuine faith. He mentions those "who heard and yet rebelled" (Heb 3:16). These were the Israelites who saw the saving power of God to deliver Israel from the bondage of Egypt and lead them through the Red Sea, but these same people all died over the next 40 years in the wilderness as judgment because they refused to trust God and enter the Promised Land. We are told "those who were disobedient" (Heb 3:18) were "unable to enter because of unbelief" (Heb 3:19). The author equates disobedience with unbelief and uses them interchangeably. In other words, unbelief is confirmed by disobedience, and belief (faith) is confirmed through obedience. There are, however, numerous examples of those who had great confidence God would do something for them, and they found out the hard way they were wrong because they did not listen to all that God had said. One such example can be found in 1 Samuel 4. In this passage Israel went into battle with the Philistines and someone had the bright idea to bring the ark of the covenant with them into the battle so as to ensure victory. Why would they do that? They were trusting that since God's presence was connected in a meaningful way to the ark (which was true) that meant God could be summoned to fight for Israel whenever they liked (which was not true). We are told Israel believed that if they simply brought the ark into battle that meant God would save them (1 Sam 4:7). However, God's promises to provide for and protect His people were tied to Israel's faithfulness to their covenant with God (Deut 28), and since Israel had been breaking the covenant they had forfeited any right to reasonably expect God to act on their behalf. And what was the result of Israel presuming that God would do what they wanted just because they brought the ark, even though Israel was failing to keep the covenant? They were decisively defeated in battle, their priests were killed, and the ark of God was captured by the Philistines (1 Sam 4:10-11). Trusting God will act will only benefit us if we are trusting Him to do what He actually promised to do, and if we are obedient to all He has revealed to us. Other Considerations Living by faith is a matter of rightly understanding God's Word and responding with our obedience. But what about those who have taken God's promises seriously and have been faithful to His commands (as far as they know), but they have not seen any "results" yet? Again, Hebrews 10:36 says, "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." It seems that there is an element of time that also factors into our seeing the fulfillment of God's promises. The audience reading Hebrews was feeling the cost of their obedience to Jesus, and there were questions as to whether the cost was necessary or worth it. When were they going to see the fullness of the kingdom of God and victory in Jesus? How much longer would they need to suffer? The author's admonition for his readers was to keep going in obedience to Christ, despite the very real personal cost, if they wanted to obtain what was promised. We notice again the close relationship between faith and obedience; the readers could not claim to still believe in Jesus and stop obeying Him at the same time. But the author is also honest about the prerequisite of endurance for seeing the promised blessings. There are some things God has promised that will only be obtained on the other side of long obedience. The question God's people often find themselves asking is how long? The call for and expectation of endurance is odious to many, especially in our day. We are accustomed to instant gratification. We live in a time of fast food, next-day shipping, and instant streaming. We want results, and we expect them now. I am reminded of a meme, playing on a popular commercial, that said, "I do not always exercise, but when I do I expect the results to be immediate and spectacular!" And yet if we import that kind of thinking into the Christian life we will either pervert our understanding of what Christian living is really about, or we will end up growing disillusioned about our promised salvation in Jesus. We need to have a realistic and biblical expectation for what God will do, and we need to have a proper understanding of how and when God might do it. And there is no getting around the fact God operates on His timetable, not ours (2 Peter 3:8-9); and it seems clear from Scripture God often chooses unconventional means of accomplishing His purposes so that we do not become confused about who should get the glory (1 Cor 1:27-31). Back to the Initial Question So this brings us back to the original question: how do we rightly use God's promises without falling into the ditch of presumption or unbelief? First, we should immerse ourselves in the Word of God with other believers to constantly improve our understanding of the Scriptures. You cannot trust promises you do not know, and you will misapply promises that are detached from the rest of Scripture. Clarity about what God has promised gives us boldness and courage to pray expectantly (2 Sam 7:27). Second, we must be convinced that God is infinitely good, sovereign, wise and compassionate towards us. He is a loving Father who gives His children good gifts (Matt 7:11) and satisfies the longing soul with good things (Ps 107:9). If we want to receive what is good, it must always come from God's hand (Ps 16:2). In view of God's perfect love for us displayed in Jesus going to the cross to save His enemies and make them His friends (Rom 5:8), we have every reason to trust God's plan for us. When we go to God with our desires, fears, questions, and petitions, it cannot be with doubt as the backdrop; it must be faith (Jam 1:6-8). Third, we must trust God's timing. All things are ours in Christ (1 Cor 3:21-24), but that does not mean that all things will be obtained by us in this life (Phil 3:12-16). There is an "already-but not yet" aspect to the Christian life. We have received the Holy Spirit as a downpayment of what will be enjoyed in full at the return of Jesus (Eph 1:14; 1 Jn 3:2). There are some graces God grants in this life to assure us of our future inheritance, but there are many (likely the majority) graces that will not be enjoyed until later. I can say that every prayer of a Christian for the blessings offered in Christ will be answered as "yes" (2 Cor 1:20)--some of those will be answered "yes" now, and others God sees fit to answer "yes" at the final resurrection. So that means we should pray for everything the Bible calls good and trust God will answer "yes" at the appropriate time. Faith requires us to trust that "later" does not mean God has failed to hear us or keep His promises, it means that God knows better than we do and has chosen to delay fulfillment for His own good, sovereign reasons. Fourth, let your desperation move you to share your needs with others for their prayers. God will bring His sovereign purposes to pass, but He has also chosen means for how He will do it. Scripture reveals God has ordained fervent prayers of His people to be the means He accomplishes some of His purposes (2 Chron 16:9). Stated differently, there are some things God will not do, but is willing to do, unless His people pray seriously. James 4:2-3 says, "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James teaches us that praying with right motives will result in God doing things that He will not otherwise do. And in the next chapter James instructs those who are sick or dealing with indwelling sin to humble themselves and seek other believers, particularly the elders of the church, to pray for deliverance from their afflictions (James 5:13-16). It seems God intends to deliver His people from physical and spiritual difficulties, but sometimes the way He intends to do it is through the prayers of other believers. The willingness to let others know about our struggles requires humility and trust, and it is often dependent on our desperation because we recognize our own inability to handle the situation alone. And finally, turn your holy dissatisfaction with the yet unfulfilled promises into fuel for personal fervent prayer. The most prominent type of psalm in the Book of Psalms is lament--a holy complaint. These psalms reflect the frustration and wrestling of believers to reconcile the disconnect between what God has promised and what is actually happening in their lives. Psalms 37 and 73 are great examples, where the psalmists must deal with the question of why the wicked seem to prosper despite God's warnings of judgment against sin. In essence, the writers of lament psalms say, "God, You promised ____, but ____ is happening instead. Please do something to fix it!" The prayers we see in Scripture show us that God's people do not let the sovereignty of God be used as an excuse to bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything is fine. Trusting in God does not leave us robotic and stoic; rather biblical faith in God rouses us to passionate and expectant prayer! Admitting that our experience seems incongruent with what God has promised is not doubting God (yet), but it is the fork in the road that will make us choose whether we will hold firmly to what God has said or abandon it for something else. Faithful Christians come to that fork in the road and choose to believe that God is still trustworthy and His promises are still true; therefore we pray in faith for God to act in accordance with what He has promised, and we wait for Him in confidence until He moves. It is an amazing thing that God has invited His creatures to seek Him with our desires and petitions with the promise that He will hear us and respond! Praying biblically is not about a formula, but it is about a relationship with the living God. And just like any healthy relationship requires listening to what the other person actually said, we too must take the time to listen to what God actually said. Our effective praying depends on knowing the character and promises of God. Introduction
Wisdom is practical knowledge, it is is knowing what to do. And true wisdom comes from listening to God's instruction from His word. God has taught us how to live in His joy, He teaches us how to remain spiritually healthy, and He warns us what will interfere with knowing Him. In other words, knowing God--not just knowing about God--is directly tied to our own joy and well-being, and this is by God's design. Jesus taught that eternal life is knowing God (Jn 17:3). Ignorance of God, conversely, robs people of joy, results in pain, and ultimately leads to death. In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians he gives instruction for how to walk with God and truly know Him, but he has also warns of a serious threat to our relationship with God: sexual immorality. God's word is very clear that sexual immorality is incompatible with following Jesus, and in 1 Thessalonians 4:5-8 Paul outlines numerous reasons why. Introduction
When our oldest son was little, a very common question from him was, "What dat doooooo?" Everything was new to him, and when he didn't know what something was he asked what it did. Even as a young child, he was trying to understand the world he lived in, and he intuitively knew that understanding what a thing does is a critical piece of information for understanding what it is. This is a good general principle, because rightly understanding what a thing is requires an accurate grasp of what it is supposed to do. It is wrong to get mad at something for not doing what you want it to do when that desire doesn't agree with that things purpose. It is wrong to criticize a car because it doesn't fly--car aren't supposed to fly. It is wrong to get upset at a spoon because it doesn't cut your chicken--spoons aren't supposed to cut meat. This is why something is called good when it does what it is supposed to do. The car is good when it gets me to point A from point B without difficulty, and the spoon is good when I can scoop food without it falling off. But who decides what something is supposed to do? How do we understand what a thing is and does? We must listen to the one who designed it, and we must listen to the creator's instructions if we want understanding. Pretty much anything that comes in a box comes with instructions. And what do the instructions explain? Usually three broad issues: (1) the intended uses, (2) how to keep the item in working condition, and (3) warnings against inappropriate uses. Paul applies similar thinking for Christians. What is a Christian? What do Christians do? Listening to God's instructions about these things is where understanding about the Christian life comes from, and that is precisely what Paul offers. Introduction
Often there is a perceived conflict between truth and love, as though we are forced to choose between one or the other. A good comparison for how the thinking here goes is the gears of a car. The car can be in park, neutral, drive, reverse, etc--but there is no option to be two at the same time. Likewise, truth and love are often viewed as different gears of operation, and in the opinion of some a good friend cannot do both at the same time. This kind of thinking is not consistent with Scripture and needs to be rejected. Truth and love are not opponents, obstacles, or even inconveniences to one another. If rightly understood, truth and love are partners, and they inseparable partners at that. Scripture says that God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and God is truth (Jn 14:6); God's character is never divided up nor pitted against itself, and He never ceases to be one thing in order to be something else. God doesn't decide to put on the "truth hat" or "love hat" while obligated to leave the other on the hook. Instead, God is constantly true and loving in everything He does, whether that is the judgment of the wicked or in the extension of grace to sinners. As such, Paul's desire for the Thessalonian's faith to increase and their love to abound makes perfect sense. Paul wants the Thessalonians to truly know God, and that is only possible when truth and love work together. Love is never achieved at the expense of truth, and truth is never truly embraced apart from love. Paul helps us understand the cooperative nature of truth and love, and it is beneficial for us to consider this relationship. Introduction
The Christian life is based on faith--but what does that really mean? Is faith a simple matter of affirming statements or ideas? It is about believing something enough, or feeling a certain way? Is faith just doing what you know is right? In biblical usage, faith affects the entire individual. Our thoughts, feelings, and decisions are all entangled, and the object of our faith shapes each of them. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the object of our faith; He is the one we trust. But we trust Jesus to do what He promised to do, not what we want Him to do. Jesus promised to forgive our sins, to be with us, give us His joy, make us holy, and empower us to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do. Faith in Jesus, then, means knowing, loving, trusting, and obeying God. This means faith building is a matter of increasing understanding, affection, confidence, and commitment to God. Faith building is the aim of gospel ministry, and it is the focus of Paul's efforts, as we see in our text. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
-Romans 12:2 All of Scripture reveals the will of God. Every command, prohibition, testimony, and promise gives insight into what God says should, or should not, be in this world. Christians are followers of Christ, and as such the will of God deserves first place in our priorities. As we pray the Lord's Prayer (Matt 6:9-13), we begin by acknowledging God as our Father and our desire to see Him regarded as holy (special). Next, we confess our desire to see God's kingdom come, and His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We treat God as holy when we commit our ways to Him and order our paths according to His revealed will (Ps 50:23). |
AuthorI am follower of Jesus Christ by God's grace, married to Kelsey, father to four children, and pastor of Lighthouse Church (EPC). Archives
November 2022
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