Crown him the Lord of life
Who triumphed o’er the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife
For those he came to save;
His glories now we sing
Who died, and rose on high.
Who died, eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die.
– Godfrey Thring (1851)
The Apostle Paul stated,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24).
As we commemorate Good Friday today, let us reflect on the character of God underlying the crucifixion:
“As a merciful God, he pitied us; but as a holy God, he could not but hate our transgression; as a God of truth, he could not but fulfill his own threatening; as a God of justice, he must avenge himself for the offence against him. He gave Christ as a God of mercy, and required satisfaction as a God of justice.” – 17th century theologian Puritan Stephen Charnock
Remember, “It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming!”
The author of Psalm 12 describes a scenario that should resonate with contemporary evangelicals:
A once God-fearing society, previously built upon the moral absolutes of God’s law, is eroding from within. In its place, a culture built on pagan beliefs and secular humanism has become the prevailing worldview, with godly individuals finding themselves in the minority (Lawson, 2003).
Contrasting the profane words of arrogant sinners who considered themselves accountable to no one (Ps. 12:4) and Satan who cunningly laces truth with error (2 Cor. 11:3), the Psalmist declares,
The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. (Psalm 12:6)
Reassured by the purity of God’s promises established in the purity of His person, Lawson describes how the godly should live in a godless society, amid moral erosion where the righteous remnant is diminishing, society is disintegrating, truth is crumbling, and sin is flourishing:
Psalm 12 makes clear that believers should not look to the majority to formulate the direction of their lives. Truth will always be in the minority. Instead, they must fix their gaze upon God, who alone is truth. The Christian must be willing to stand alone, if need be, always looking to God to show the way. God plus one always makes a majority. In looking to God, the believer must study the Scripture, knowing that when the Bible speaks, God speaks. In the midst of increasing apostasy, all Christians must be rooted and grounded in the Scripture. Only God’s Word can make us strong in the faith and enable us to live holy lives in the midst of a godless culture. We must obey God’s commands and put into practice what he requires. The Christian must live for God, walking daily in personal obedience and holiness of a godless culture. We must obey God’s commands and put into practice what he requires. The Christian must live for God, walking daily in personal obedience and holiness.
Reference:
Lawson, S. J. (2003b). Holman Old Testament commentary: Psalms 1–75 (Vol. 11; M. Anders, Ed.). Holman Reference.
Almost a century ago, theologian J. Gresham Machen cautioned regarding the powerful force of modern culture, which is either subservient to or adversary of the gospel. Machen declared that subjugating culture necessitates not simply religious emotion but neglected intellectual labor, stating that the Church is battling for her life because she has turned to easier tasks in her indolence. Paul’s instruction to Titus in responding to false teachers remains the same as the call for church under-shepherds today: they “must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain” (Titus 1:10–11). This silencing is accomplished not through force but refutation and rebuke by qualified elders who are skilled in the Scriptures (Titus 1:8) and therefore equipped to teach, reproof, correct, and train (2 Tim. 3:16–17) in a patient, gentle manner (2 Tim. 2:24–26).
Pastor Steven Cole further cautioned regarding the danger of tolerating the presence of obstinate church members propagating false teaching, stating,
During World War Two, Neville Chamberlain of Britain tried to keep the peace by appeasing Adolf Hitler. After giving Poland to Hitler, Chamberlain went back to England proclaiming “peace in our times.” But Winston Churchill wisely observed, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” Sure enough, Hitler later tried to eat Britain, too.
If we compromise truth to appease a heretic or to keep him in the church, it will lead to our ultimate spiritual demise. To avoid spiritual deception, be discerning of people, especially of religious people who claim to have some new truth. Be discerning of sound doctrine. Know your Bible well. Study systematic theology. Study church history. Most errors today have been around for centuries.
Paul writes to the church in Philippi,
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:5)
James Montgomery Boice asserts that we do not know much about this church, but it would seem that there was little to bind them together by worldly standards. However, it was the fellowship of the gospel that unified them.
Boice states,
This must always be the bond between Christians. If you unite with other Christians on the basis of affluence, you will exclude the poor. If you unite along social issues, you will exclude those outside your own level of society, be it high or low. If you unite intellectually, you will exclude either the simple or the intelligent. However, you do it, the witness of the church will suffer. How thankful we must be that God did not establish the fellowship of his children along these lines. Our fellowship is in the gospel of God.
This is a timely reminder as the toxic, divisive ideology of the world has crept into Christ’s church, professing to offer unity that is counter to Scripture.
Our fellowship is in the gospel.
The gospel that Paul so clearly defined for us,
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you–unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:1-4)
I was reading this past week through the book of Colossians where Paul described the Preeminence of Christ (Col 1:15-23), in response to a heresy threatening the church by denying the deity of Christ.
In the forefront of my mind were two things: the seemingly increasingly chaotic world around us, and the impending, emotional departure of our oldest child Audrey for college.
In studying the passage I ran across this quote from 19th century theologian Octavius Winslow, which I found extremely encouraging:
Living in a world of imperfection and change, we must expect nothing perfect, nothing stable, in what we are, in what we do, or in what we enjoy. But amid the dissolving views of the world that “passes away,” let us take firm hold of the unchangeableness of God. The wheels may revolve, but the axle on which they turn is immoveable. Such is our covenant God. Events may vary, providences may change, friends may die, feelings may fluctuate, but God in Christ will know “no variableness, neither the shadow of a turning.”
So amid the chaos and instability of our lives, look to Christ who is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, before all things, and in whom all things hold together” and who will “reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
We covet your continued prayers for our EA ministry family, as well as the Husted family during this time of transition and growth.
Just a quick update on Carlos and Raydel’s trip last week to Guatemala.
The apostle Paul asked the Colossian church to pray that God would open the door to them for the ministry of the Word (Col. 4:3).
Paul used the same image of “open doors for effective work” elsewhere when writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 2:12).
Similarly, I’m happy to inform you that the Lord used the recent visit with our friends at Precept Ministries to open doors for ongoing partnership in Guatemala, as well as similar future exploratory trips to Mexico and Nicaragua, to share the multiplication strategy that the Lord has graciously been using in our church network development ministry, K2:42.
We appreciate your prayers in that regard and will keep you updated.
As a closing thought: It is striking that Paul, imprisoned under Roman authority as he wrote those words above, was more concerned about “getting out” the message of Christ than about “getting out” of prison!
Thanks again for your ongoing support that enables our ministry of the Word!
PS: For further encouragement amid the current cultural chaos and quest to eliminate the family, check out our recent blog on the Genesis Family Ministry, equipping church leaders on what Scripture teaches about the family and how to put those principles into practice.
In Matthew 19:5 Jesus, in emphasizing the permanence and sanctity of marriage, quoted from the Genesis narrative where God established the family, stating, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Amid the current cultural chaos of America and quest to eliminate the family, find encouragement that the Genesis Family Ministry is hard at work equipping Dominican church leaders on what Scripture teaches about the family, and how to put those principles into practice in our homes.
The Family: God’s Gift to All People
God’s common grace to all humanity is evidenced in the establishment of various structures He has instituted within society, most notably the family unit. God ordained marriage between a man and a woman in creation BEFORE the fall; therefore, it is foundational to healthy, flourishing societies.
The Family: Cornerstone of Civilization
The family was God’s first earthly institution. Before there was a government, and long before God instituted the church, marriage and the family were initiated as the basic building block of society. Therefore the destruction of the family should serve as an ominous forewarning of the ultimate collapse of civilization.
In 1947 Harvard sociologist Carle Zimmerman examined the rise and fall of empires throughout the centuries. He concluded that deteriorating civilizations follow a definable pattern with the loss of the sacredness of marriage and acceptance of alternative forms of marriage at the top of the list.
Dr. Chuck Swindoll commented on the study, stated,
“Zimmerman’s conclusions are so current, they’re frightening. He appears to have observed the United States in the twenty-first century and then summarized his findings. In fact, he wrote them at the dawn of what many would consider the golden age of the traditional, nuclear family…Depravity is a universal problem. Left unchecked, the evil within humanity will cause us to self-destruct within one generation, possibly sooner.”
Amid Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 is the story of Moses, which presents a stark contrast of Moses’ plan and God’s plan for his life:
“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. (Acts 7:23-29)
At age 40, Moses had a plan, fully aware of the cruel oppression of his people; he believed that, given his lineage, access, training and knowledge, he was prepared to deliver his people at that moment.
God’s plan was different and included an additional 40 years of preparation in the wilderness for Moses working as a shepherd in obscurity, and continued enslavement and work on the lives of the Hebrews to prepare them for their emancipation and exodus.
There is a great phrase in verse 25: “He supposed that…but…”
Even his rejection (perceived failure) was part of God’s plan, as many commentators believe the incident to only further position Moses as a type of the ultimate deliverer, Jesus Christ:
Life is full of trouble. Expect it.
Job 14:1 says, “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”
Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
However, all failures are not equal.
In fact some failures are the inevitable result of faithfulness (John 15:20).
Consider Jesus’ reaction to two perceived failures of the part of the disciples:
Luke 9:1-5 when Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the gospel and perform miracles. Knowing that not everyone would receive the truth about him (John 15:18), he taught the disciples how to handle positive inevitable failure. “If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.”
In Matthew 17:14–20 Christ’s disciples were unable to exorcise a demon from a young boy, even though Jesus had previously given them the authority to do that very thing (Matthew 10:1). Jesus addresses the reason for their failure: lack of faith.
These two events represent different kinds of failure.
In the first Jesus encouraged them to be faithful, stay the course and move forward.
In the second event, however, Jesus gave them pause for reflection on why they had failed in order to equip them for future success.
