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A Lesson in a Dull Chapter

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In Nehemiah 3, we have recorded for us a list of those who began work on repairing the walls of Jerusalem in around 444 BC. The chapter is 32 verses that basically tell who did the repairing and where they repaired. Sounds like dull stuff, and in fact it often is. But there are some things that jump out if we will take note.

For example, in verse 5, we see that a certain group of people worked on a section of the wall, but their nobles “would not stoop to serve their Lord.” Imagine that. In the first 4 verses, we see the priests working on the walls. We see folks from other cities coming to repair. But the nobles of this group were too good to do manual labor for the Lord.

In verse 8, we see two groups repairing the wall who were quite different. These who worked on the wall were, by trade, goldsmiths and perfumers. Thus, working stone was not their forte. However, they saw the work, it needed to be done, and so they jumped in.

In verse 9, we see a ruler of half the district of Jerusalem working on the wall. So, people with power still got into the act.

Similarly, verse 12 tells us, “Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.” This is cool. A man who was important politically went to work. And his daughters joined him.

Verse 17 points out that Levites worked on repairing. Thus, the religious folks were part of the process. They did not wait for others to do the work while they watched.

In verse 23, we see men repairing wall near their own houses.

And as you look through the chapter, you will see places where people seem to have been included in working in other sections as well. So, people finished the work in one area, and then they jumped over to another place to keep it going.

What do we do with a chapter like this? We remember that the Lord uses his people, people of all social ranks and skill levels, to accomplish his task. None of us should ever think we are too good to serve the Lord in a simple way. All of us should be willing to see needs and meet needs when we see them. And we should expect that God does great work through his people all working together.

No, I don’t think we need to over-interpret the walls of Jerusalem. This was a city that God restored to his people and it needed defenses. Some people worked. Some people would not. That is just human behavior at is most normal. But the ones who honored the Lord got to work and saw the work finished. This is to the glory of God.

Where do you see a need for work in your church? I’m not here thinking about building maintenance, though that might be a need. Where do you see people in need of fellowship? Where do you see hurting people in need of comfort? Where do you see people with physical or financial needs? Where do you see people in need of someone to come alongside them and walk them out of a sin issue toward righteousness? Do you see a need for folks to care for children? Do you see a need for someone to disciple a student? Do you see a single person who needs help with basic life skills? Do you see a marriage that could use a mentoring couple? There is work to be done, and we need all hands on deck. May we all be a part of God building his church for his glory.

Do We Worship the Same God?

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How many times have you heard differences between religions shrugged off by people declaring that, after all, we all worship the same God? I recall that phrase being significantly present after 9-11 as anger toward Islam grew. I also recall multiple conversations I have had with Jehovah’s Witnesses in which the person at my door worked to make sure I knew that we might differ on a couple of things, but we worship the same deity.

But do we? Do we really worship the same deity? Do Christians and Muslims or Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christians and adherents of other religions actually worship the same person? No, we do not. Though it is not popular to point out, we do not worship God, the same God, just in different ways. God has revealed himself in Scripture. He has identified himself as the one God, the triune God, the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit—three in one. If someone says that they worship the same God as Christians, but then they redefine God as not triune or define Jesus as a god rather than God in the flesh, we are not worshipping the same God.

Imagine that you and I are talking, and we have a conversation about our favorite movie. You tell me that your favorite film of all time is “Rocky.” I respond to you with a big grin and say that I really like “Rocky” also. Then I go on to tell you that my favorite part of that movie is when the main character has his leg swept, it looks like the bad guys are going to win, and then Mr. Miyagi gets him back out there to win the tournament. Would you agree that we have the same favorite movie?

If you know your movies at all, you will know that I was talking about “The Karate Kid,” not “Rocky.” Yes, both movies have something to do with fighting. Both have an underdog accomplishing something cool against tough opponents. But these are not the same movie. And no matter how much I want to say to you that we are talking about the same movie, we are not.

If that does not ring any bells for you, try this. If you and I talk about our favorite foods, and we both agree that we love burritos, we might think we have something in common. But if you define a burrito as long pasta noodles on a plate with red sauce and meat balls, we are not talking about the same thing. Perhaps we are both talking about food, but not the same food.

I understand that those who claim that Christians and people from other religions worship the same God often do so out of a desire for peace. In many ways I agree with the motivation. There is no room for violence or cruelty to one another because we disagree about religion. I would not at all support people being nasty to their Muslim neighbors because of the actions of other Muslims. There is no justice in punishing your neighbor because someone else of their religion did something evil. Nor is there value in someone punishing a neighboring Christian because of the nasty attitudes of others who claim Christ. But it is dishonest to say that we have no differences of substance.

What made me think of all this? Interestingly—to me at least—it was Ezra chapter 4. As the priest, Ezra, records the history of the people of Judah returning to their land after their exile in Babylon, he tells of the reestablishing of Israelite worship. But Samaritans who had settled the land wanted to participate, claiming to worship the Lord just as did the people of Judah.

Ezra 4:1-6 – 1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” 4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. 6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

When the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they carried off many from the land. Then the king of Assyria returned some from that kingdom and forced them to inter-marry with people of other lands in order to create a new ethnic people. In that process, this mingled people also intermingled religious beliefs and practices. Thus, the people of Judah were correct in saying that these people had nothing to do with the house of the Lord or his worship. Even if the people in the land said they had been sacrificing to the Lord for years, they were wrong, they had not.

Take note, by the way, of the responses of the people who were enemies of the Jews. They did not like being told that they were not worshipping the Lord. They argued. Then they began to try to discourage the worship of the Jews. Finally, the opponents of Israel went to the government to try to put a stop to the religious practices of the Jews. The Samaritans were making it clear that if the Jews would not declare the Samaritan religion the same as the religion of Israel, the king should not allow them to worship at all. The Samaritans saw it as dangerous for a people to have a faith that is exclusive.

Christians, there is something here for us. We worship the God of the Bible. We worship Jesus as God the Son. We worship the one, true, God who is triune—Father, Son, and Spirit. We do not assume that others should be forced to agree that we are correct. But we do agree with the word of God that there is no God other than the Lord. WE agree with Jesus that there is no way for anyone to come to the Lord except through him. We agree with the apostles that there is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved except for the name of Jesus. We agree with the reformers that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as revealed in the Scripture alone.

And because we believe the Bible, we have to say,” No,” when someone claims they worship the same God we do and then defines God differently than does the word. This will not be popular. It may bring persecution. It may lead to the government attempting to prevent us from continuing to worship biblically. But it is true.

Yes, there is room for us to see people as believers who differ on significant issues with you. You might disagree on baptism or church government and be a solid believer in the same God as all genuine Christians. But if you believe that God is not triune, not eternal, not holy, you and I do not worship the same God. If you do not believe Jesus is God, we do not worship the same God. If you believe that the Father is the Son in a different form, we do not worship the same God. If you believe that the God of the Bible is also the deity of some other religion under a different name, we do not worship the same God.

God’s word tells us who God is. We cannot say that a being who is not the Lord as revealed in the word is the same as the Lord who is revealed in the word. Rocky is not Daniel LaRusso. A burrito is not a plate of spaghetti. And a deity that is not the triune God of the Bible is not the same God that I worship.

Church Discipline Has More than One Goal

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It seems that we discuss church discipline more commonly today than we did a few decades ago in the American church. This, of course, is a good thing. After all, it has been said that a true church is a body where the word is preached, the sacraments are administered, and where discipline is applied. And it has also been affirmed that, when discipline departs, so does the church.

If you talk about church discipline, the most common place you will find a person turn in the Bible is Matthew 18, and for good reason. There the Lord Jesus gave us a pattern for discussion inside the church when one member is wronged by another. It is the pattern that most know. WE go talk to the person privately. If they will not repent, we go with witnesses—perhaps church leaders. If they still will not repent, we make their sin known to the body. And if they still will not repent, we treat them as a tax collector or unbeliever. It is a simple and fairly clear process.

But Matthew 18 is not the only passage on church discipline in the Scriptures. A faithful minister will also point the people of God to Galatians 6 which speaks of restoring a wayward brother gently and guarding our own hearts in the process. We will look to 1 Corinthians 5 for an example of strong discipline being affirmed for a man who is unrepentantly sexually immoral. We will turn to 2 Corinthians 2 for a picture of a church being called to forgive and restore a repentant sinner. And, as Paul closes 2 Corinthians, we see a couple of lines that must remind us of the goal of church discipline. Yes, we do all we do for the glory of God. Yes, we battle for the purity of the church and the honor of Christ. But we also do church discipline for the sake of restoring fallen brothers and sisters in Christ.

2 Corinthians 13 :9, 11 – 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for…. 11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

In a letter that includes a strong focus on the issues relating to church discipline among other things, as Paul wraps up, twice he points out that his heart, his aim, his goal is restoration. Paul says that he prays to see the fallen restored, and he wants the church to make restoration her aim as well.

When you consider church discipline, then, remember that restoration is central. We do not take delight in dropping the hammer on somebody who is failing in their Christian walk. Instead, we call on those who are wayward to return. We must call firmly, as continuing in sin may well be a sign that a person is not at all saved. But we call lovingly, because we know that God can bring a sinner back from the brink of destruction. Our goal is not to win a battle. Our goal is to win a brother.

Does He or Doesn’t He?

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Sometimes, when we read something in Scripture, we need to be sure that we are really willing to consider what its truth means. It is one thing to read a psalm and hear the psalmist speak of the need for clean hands and a pure heart if you are to ascend the hill of the Lord, but when sincerely considered, that concept shows us that we cannot approach God without righteousness given to us as a gift. When Jesus says he is the only way to God in John 14:6, that means something significant for the entire human race.

In Psalm 115, we see another claim of the Lord’s that we must consider.

Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

This little verse is not hard to understand or interpret. God is in the heavens. He is not a statue on earth. He is not confined to the borders of any land. He is the God who looks over the whole globe. He is omnipresent.

But the second line is the one we need to think about. The Bible says of the Lord, “He does all that he pleases.” This is the line that I want to ask, “Does he or doesn’t he?” Is this true? If it is—and of course it is—then we must know something about the Lord.

God does all that he pleases. This means that God is never thwarted. God is never defeated. God is never on his throne wishing something would take place but incapable of making it take place. There is no good that God is telling us that he wishes he could pull off were he not confined. There is no evil that God wishes he could prevent if it were not for some power or some restriction he faces. God does all that he pleases.

The question for us is, “Does he, or doesn’t he?” If God does all that he pleases, you and I must grasp that God is truly sovereign. That raises problems for us, of course. It reminds us that we must learn to accept the decisions, judgments, and ways of the Lord. God’s ways are not our ways. He does not run the universe by our standards. He will not do all that we please. And we have no way of knowing what we would do in the Lord’s position, as we lack his power, his knowledge, and his perfection.

But, Christians, if you grasp that God does all that he pleases, then you can submit to him in trust. God is not defeated. He has not lost control of the world. He has not found himself incapable of fixing a government or a broken-down vehicle. God is God. God does what God pleases. God will not be defeated. And this should lead us to hope, to surrender, and to worship.

What We Renounce

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I recently wrote a post on a dangerous pragmatism that tempts believers. Often with good motives—a desire for the glory of God, the salvation of the lost, or the growth of the church—believers will face the temptation to compromise. Some of these compromises feel small. Some are obviously large. But no generation of Christians has ever been without the temptation to change this or that to achieve greater success or an easier life.

So, when I read Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 4, I found myself very glad to see the clear, biblical affirmation of a commitment to avoid things that are easy for us to give in to.

2 Corinthians 4:2-3 – 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

Paul would not practice underhanded ways. Paul would not, ever, allow himself to tamper with Scripture. This must be the attitude and heart of any faithful believer.

Are we tempted to tamper with Scripture? Of course we are. Some are tempted to deny the Bible’s infallibility and inerrancy. Some believe that the Bible is accurate to its day, but no longer applicable in its commands as we live in a more enlightened era. Some agree with Scripture completely, but wish to hide from view certain passages that we find embarrassing in a culture that would be offended by them.

What about practicing cunning? How much of that is going on? I think you need only look from organization to organization with the name “church” to see. There are all sorts of strategies being employed to get people to hear a message. Some strategies are not problems. Churches that attempt to reach out in honesty and kindness in their towns are not compromising anything. But what about those who use bait-and-switch tactics to attempt to sneak a message in on folks? Is there any evidence in Scripture of a Christian surprising someone with an unexpected gospel presentation? Certainly not. Nor is there any biblical pattern of Christians pretending to be interested in one area only to then shift and become gospel focused at a later time. This is just not how honest Christians operate. We need not be underhanded. We most certainly are not asked to be tricky. We are to be clear, plain, bold, and honest.

Like Paul, may we learn to be committed to the open proclamation of the gospel and the word of God. May we commend ourselves and our message with no form of deception whatsoever. May we trust that some will receive that message because of the working of God on the hearts of the elect. May we understand that those who are hostile to the clear gospel are not put off by our lack of trickery, but by their sin nature and the blinding influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil. May we be able to say that we renounce all that is underhanded out of a clear love of and trust in the Lord and his word.

A Key to Fearing God

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Christians, if we have been biblically taught, we know that we are supposed to be God-fearers. But we do struggle to know what that looks like. I have suggested in the past that fearing God for the believer is different than fearing God as a non-believer. We do not desire to run and hide from the Lord. We are not those who cry out to the mountains to fall on us and cover us from the sight of the Lord. While we are in awe of the Lord and we know that we cannot stand before him without his covering of grace, our fear of the Lord leads us to fall to our knees and cry, “Holy!”

What does fearing God look like in a Christian’s daily life? What will it change? I thought of those questions while reading through Psalm 112. Look at the parallel of the first verse, and see what the psalmist equates with fearing God.

Psalm 112:1

Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!

How do we know who fears the Lord? The man fears God who greatly delights in God’s commandments. This is evidence of being a God-fearer.

How do you feel about the commandments of God? Are you one who constantly points out the fact that following God is not about rules and commandments? Are you one who looks for the minimum of what you might call mere Christianity? Or, as you know God, do you delight in his commands, all of them? Are you embarrassed by God’s standards when you talk with the lost? Do you wish you could hide God’s word from them? Or do you see that the word of God is perfect, his laws glorious? No, I’m not talking about any form of legalism here. But I am suggesting that a God-fearer loves even the commands of God.

A true God-fearer delights in God’s commandments. That means that, as we know and love the Lord, as we properly reverence and honor the Lord, we will also love his ways. God commanded nothing in history that was not perfect. If we allow ourselves to be ashamed of the commands of God, we show that we do not yet properly fear God. God’s rules for life are worth more than thousands of gold and silver pieces. God’s word is perfect, reviving our souls. God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. God’s word is precious in every way. And God’s standards, even those most hated and despised by the world around us, should bring us delight.

Christian, fear God. How? Delight in the word of God. Delight in the ways of God. Delight in the commands of God. And any time you feel yourself wanting to shrink back from the word of God, remember that God is holy, and God-fearers delight in his word and his ways.

A Deadly Pragmatism

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What is better, to do what is right or to do what works? Do the ends justify the means? Can we compromise formal righteousness for a result that we think is clearly important?

Such questions have been important questions for years in the church. Many people, well-intentioned people, have led many churches to make decisions that turn their churches subtly away from Scripture for the sake of a good cause. They know that there are several things that God intends for the church to accomplish. And, if they misunderstand God’s top priority, they will compromise in one area for the accomplishment of another.

The rise of modern theological liberalism was tied to a desire to see the church avoid a decline. As the world became more skeptical of the miraculous and more enthralled by scientific explanations for all things, teachers began to downplay the miraculous so as not to turn off the modern thinker. Eventually, such pastors and professors began to deny the authority and accuracy of Scripture so as to attempt to keep the church from declining numerically.

Sometimes we are tempted to compromise for a good cause. Typically, one cause for which Christians are willing to compromise is evangelism. Evangelism, of course, is God’s command for the church. We are to go and make disciples of all nations. We are to see people saved, baptized, and taught to obey the commands of the Lord. But when we find that other issues like doctrine impair our ability to share the gospel with a world that hates biblical doctrine, we can be tempted to hide or even ignore that doctrine for the sake of sharing Jesus. Or we can be tempted to shift the focus of the church away from the glory of God and the word of God to focus our resources more firmly on the spreading of the faith.

In modern times, other categories are arising that might lead us to compromise. The desire to see racism eradicated has led some to stop thinking about people in biblical categories. The desire to show love and kindness toward hurting people has led some believers to embrace falsehoods regarding gender and sexuality. The desire to see the poor protected has led some to turn their backs on biblical definitions of justice. And many a cause has led to Christians in spoken word and writing to compromise in the biblical area of speaking the truth in love.

But, dear friends, we must be a people of solid doctrine and conviction first. God does all he does for the sake of his glory. God’s word is our only infallible revelation of himself and his ways. God has not given us permission to ignore his doctrine for the sake of growing a broader social presence or community influence. God has never called the church to compromise the purity of the worship service to make it more appealing to those who do not know Jesus. While it is wonderful for the church to be kind to our friends and neighbors, it is glorious for us to share the gospel, and it is gracious for us to be sure that we explain things in the worship service so that lost guests can understand what is going on without feeling left out, the church exists for the glory of God in all things. We must obey his word. We must prioritize the honor of God in worship. We must prioritize the clear preaching of and obedience to the Scriptures in all areas of our church life.

I thought of all this while reading through 2 Chronicles. King Ahaz became a pragmatist. He looked at his experience as a king, and he chose to do that which worked. He had seen success for one group and failure for another. And Ahaz chose to do what he saw was successful. And his choice led to the wrath of God.

2 Chronicles 28:22-25 – 22 In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. 23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers.

Ahaz thought that the false gods of Syria had defeated the Lord. So, Ahaz decided to go with what worked. He began to worship those false gods. He broke down items in the temple and shut the doors. Ahaz led people away from the worship of the one true God in order to follow what he thought would be a path for national thriving. But Ahaz was unaware that the success of the Syrians over Israel was caused by the very compromise he was making.

Christians, may we not be like Ahaz. We must obey the word of God fully. That means that we make the glory of God our number one priority. WE make worship of God, genuine and biblical worship of God, what we do on Sunday. Yes, we go and share the gospel with our neighbors and friends and families. Yes, we care for the needy. Yes, we seek to see biblical justice done in our world. But we seek to obey God in all things. WE must choose from the beginning not to allow ourselves to compromise the word of God for what we think might work in a particular situation to bring about a desired conclusion. WE must trust the Lord to grow his church as the people of God remain stuck like glue to the holy word of God for the glory of Almighty God.

Influences Matter

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Who speaks into your life? Whose voice matters? We all need people to counsel us, to challenge us, and to encourage us. But if we make bad choices regarding the voices we will listen to, we can allow ourselves to be led into some serious difficulties.

Toward the end of the book of 2 Chronicles, we see a king whose life perfectly illustrates this point for us. His name is Joash.

2 Chronicles 24:1-2 – 1 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

Joash, as a young man, was advised by Jehoiada the priest. And so long as Jehoiada was helping Joash, he followed the ways of the Lord well. Chapter 24 of 2 Chronicles highlights great reforms that Joash made and a great return of the people to the temple of God.

But, when Jehoiada died, things in the kingdom changed.

2 Chronicles 24:17-18 – 17 Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

After the death of Jehoiada, Joash heard different voices. Like King Rehoboam long before him, Joash was influenced by younger men who flattered him and convinced him to walk a different path than that of wisdom. Joash seems to have been convinced not by Scripture and not by wisdom but by the homage offered to him by these nobles. His hunger to be praised led him to choices that brought the wrath of God upon the land.

What voices do you listen to? Are you able to listen to a wise, older counselor? Are you able to take it when a person questions the wisdom of a choice you want to make? Or are you easily flattered?

The book of Proverbs repeatedly warns us that flattery is a dangerous thing. After all, the one who flatters us is not often out for our best interest. And the one who flatters us is very seldom interested in the glory of God. Flattering lips are those which would seek to manipulate us for another’s gain. Joash fell victim to them. We need to be careful.

How can we be careful here? First, be sure that you surround yourself with a few believers who will honestly speak Scripture to you that is rightly understood and applied. You would be wise to be sure that you do not limit all the voices you hear to your own generation. Jehoiada was a much older, much wiser, and much more experienced person who could offer Joash counsel. Watch out for flattery. Do not let yourself grow to love the sweet words of others so much that you let them lead you with short-lived thrills of praise. And, in all things, be sure that you know the word of God well enough that you do not let any counsel that opposes Scripture slip through.

Justice

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Justice is quite popular in discussions today. People are crying out for all sorts of things they call justice. But when we look at the word in Scripture, how do we know what it means? After all, it seems like people are strongly disagreeing with one another regarding what justice truly is.

For many people, a call for justice is a call for punishment. For them, to ask God to do justice is to ask God to properly punish the guilty. This is, of course, a part of justice, but only a part.

Others consider a call to justice to be a call to take power or privilege away from one group and spread that power around to those who did not previously have it. Thus, these would consider justice to be fairness. If one group has been hurt by another, the strong group should receive equal or even greater hurt in return.

The question is, when the Bible talks about justice, what picture is drawn? Take a peek at this poetic parallelism and see what it tells us.

Psalm 106:3

Blessed are they who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times!

God pronounces a blessing on those who do justice. This is no surprise. But what does that mean. The second line in the verse goes on to explain. Observing justice, in this verse, is equal to doing righteousness. Doing what is right in accord with the law, the word, the standard of God.

So, if we want to see justice done, we must begin with and remain firmly entrenched in the word of God. What does God say is righteous? That is what we must do.

The reason that justice is often connected to crime and punishment is that the word of God shows us God as the righteous final judge. God will properly punish what opposes him and God will rightly and sweetly reward his followers who are under his grace and obedient to his commands. Heaven and hell are displays of God’s justice and his righteous mercy. And, yes, the law of God shows us clear standards for crime and punishment as well.

But there is more. Loving your neighbor as yourself is righteousness, because such is obedience to the command of God when done for the glory of God. Acting to oppose immorality of all sorts, immorality as defined by Scripture, is doing justice because it is biblical righteousness. Protecting life, preserving marriage, punishing crime, all these are justice.

When you hear a call to justice, ask some important questions. Is the action I am being asked to take commanded in Scripture? Can I conclude that the action being championed is the direct result of proper application of biblical principles interpreted by faithful and consistent hermeneutical principles? Is the action that I am being called to champion going to treat others in an unrighteous way in order to achieve what one group is calling justice? Are there biblical examples of the action others want me to take? Would Bible-believing Christians of all cultures, globally and historically, be able to affirm the actions or standards being proposed?

Christians, we want to observe justice. We want to do righteousness at all times. This honors the Lord. And the only possible way for us to do so is for us to so marinate in Scripture that we think and bleed Bible in all our thoughts. Only the sanctifying word of God will lead us to true justice, to truly doing what is right in all things.

Politically Correct or Biblical

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I would love it if my nature had never been corrupted by the modern influence of secular political correctness. The funny thing is, most who are deeply concerned about such things would assume that I have never been influenced by that idea. Perhaps you also think that the unbiblical standards of our society have not influenced you. But I wonder.

When I was reading through Psalm 104, I came across the ending. Like the endings of several psalms, it says some things that do not sound, well, sensitive in a modern context.

The psalm opens with a great deal of praise to God. The author praises God for his power in creation and in how he sustains all of the universe. Such is pretty easy to read and not feel any tension. But then the ending comes.

Psalm 104:33-35

33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!

The praising of God is generally socially acceptable, at least at the time of this writing, generally, perhaps, in some parts of the country, if you do it in a non-offensive way, well…. Either way, what I am saying is that verses 33-34 are not what most are going to notice.

Look at verse 35. It’s ending is all nice too. Bless the Lord is acceptable in our minds and does not cause us any discomfort. But how do you, Christian, deal with the beginning lines of verse 35? God’s word says, in a song, “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more!” That, dear friends, is not socially acceptable.

But stop and ask a pair of questions. The first one is the bigger one. Are you going to sit in judgment of the word of God? God’s word is inspired and profitable. God’s word teaches us, rebukes us, corrects us, and trains us in righteousness. Are you going to dare suggest that his word, his revelation of himself and his ways, is not up to your standard? Be very careful. We are to be conformed to the image of God, not the other way around.

The second question involves the content itself. I think that many cringe at lines that suggest that it would be a good thing for God to wipe out the wicked. But what do you really want? Do you want the Lord to leave the world full of wickedness?

Have you ever considered the basic inconsistency of those who are upset by lines like the ones at the end of this psalm? Is it not interesting that the group which opposes the faith often does so for contradictory reasons? These folks express that they are mad that God allows evil people to do evil things—how can God not jump in and stop such people. They are also mad at the idea that God would ever judge the wicked so as to remove them from this world or to punish them for their deeds—I can’t believe in a God who would judge someone or violate their free will. But you cannot keep both of those objections and be logically consistent.

The world looks at lines like those in verse 35 and decries the hatred and violence of the faith. But this is an unfair criticism. Christians who are biblical do not attempt to spread the faith through physical force. Any who have attempted to use the threat of violence to force a supposed conversion are well beyond the warrant of Scripture. It is not hatred to look at actions that are opposing the standard of the word of God and call said actions sin. That is precisely what we are supposed to do. Jesus certainly did. The psalmist here has no qualms about calling wickedness wicked.

Christians, let’s be careful not to let ourselves be so shaped by the world around us that we try to explain away lines like those at the end of this psalm. Yes, we want to see people turn from sin and be saved. But we also should long for the Lord to do justice, including bringing his judgment on the wicked. This is not us thinking we are better than others. We have been the wicked ourselves. What makes us different is the saving grace of Jesus. So we do not look at anyone as if we are superior. We simply look to the Lord, see his standards, and pray, your kingdom come; your will be done.” And we who know the word know that such a prayer includes a call for his justice as well as his saving grace.