Tag: Providence Reformed Church

Loving Worship

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Would it seem strange to you to hear me say that God wants you to love worship? Do not think that I’m talking about some sort of showy, theatrical, high-energy concert of Christian music when I say that. I am simply meaning the regular, week-to-week, simple gathering of the people of God in the presence of God for the glory of God. I’m talking about the ordinary, often broken, weak, struggling, growing people of God gathering to hear the word, to pray, to sing, to participate in ceremony like Lord’s Supper, and to encourage one another.

If you look at the way many churches shape the services of worship or at the way many Christians look at the week-to-week services, I think you would find that it is a surprise to consider that God wants us to love that gathering. God wants us to love worship.

Look at what David said in Psalm 26.

Psalm 26:8

O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.

David said he loves the place of God’s habitation. He was speaking in context about the place where God was worshipped. He was talking about the altar and acts of formal worship. David said to God that he loved being where God is biblically worshipped.

And I think that concept is often lost. Some churches shape their entire services for entertainment, trying to spin up a feeling among the people so they feel like they got something out of the gathering. Others try to put on a show so that lost people will think that Christians are doing something cool and worth seeing another time. I fear that many who are believers look at the services as obligations to check off their list from Sunday to Sunday.

But when David wrote this Psalm, in a section where David was trying to express his genuine devotion to God, he simply declared that he loves the habitation of God’s house, the place of God’s worship. David loved to be where God was actually honored in accord with his commands. It did not require extra technology. It did not require a type of creativity that God did not command. It was not focused on enticing the lost outsider to enter in. It was simply glorifying God for the purpose of glorifying God. It was rejoicing in the forgiveness of God.

So, Christian, do you love the habitation of God? Do you love the glory of God? Are you able to rejoice at the opportunity that you have from Sunday to Sunday to gather together with the people of God for the purpose of displaying the glory of God? Do you love hearing God’s word proclaimed? Do you love glorifying God in song, simple and true song? It is good to love the worship of the Lord.

Differences that Matter

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It is a common, modern mistake to make the assumption that all religions are essentially the same. But one is foolish to call a set of things the same that clearly contain a dramatic and significant set of differences. And one clear difference between biblical Christianity and all other world religions is the understanding that the Bible has of the identity of Jesus. Every world religion out there assumes that Jesus is one among many religious leaders. Perhaps, they will suggest, Jesus is a prophet like Moses or another religious leader.

But the Bible is utterly clear that Christians cannot see Jesus as the same as other religious leaders.

Hebrews 3:3-6 – 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Look at the illustration used by the author of the letter to the Hebrews. He compares Jesus to Moses. And in that comparison, he shows that there is a significant, qualitative difference between the two. Jesus is worthy of an entirely greater and different glory than is Moses. The difference is similar to the difference in glory owed to the builder of a house and the house itself.

Tie that illustration to the world, and you see a significant difference. Moses, like a house, is worthy of honor. Moses is a solid example of the craft of the builder, demonstrating the builder’s wisdom and skill. And If Jesus is on the same level as Moses, a man and not God himself, then Jesus would be like a house too. Perhaps he could be argued to be a better house, but still another house.

But what do we see the book of Hebrews tell us? Jesus is greater than Moses in the same way that the builder of a house is greater than the house itself. Jesus is not an expression of the craftsmanship of the Lord. Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus is the builder, not the house.

If I were illustrating differently, I might take a painting as an example. In a painting, we do not marvel at the canvas and the paints. We marvel at the finished work of art as a demonstration of the skill of the artist. But no person would ever suggest that the blue paint in a portrait is anything like the same as the artist who made the painting. They are significantly different, even if one is used by the other to express the skill of the artist. Even the finished painting is not in itself anything like the artist who produced it. That painting is merely an expression of the talent of the artist.

If Moses is to Jesus as a house is to the builder, then Moses is a tool in the hand of God while Jesus is God himself. And if that is understood, no thoughtful person can suggest that Christianity is the same as other world religions. The Bible claims that Jesus is unlike Moses and thus unlike all other prophets. The Bible often shows that Moses was among the greatest of Old Testament figures. But the Bible also tells us that Jesus is not only superior to Moses, but of a different kind than is Moses. It is the difference between Creator and creation that is at stake here.

A Quick Response to an Accusation of Contradiction in the Gospels

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In my preparation for a message on Matthew 26:17-30, the text that includes the Lord’s Supper, I was reminded that there are those who would suggest that there is a discrepancy between John’s gospel and the synoptics—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—regarding exactly when Jesus ate the Last Supper and on what day Jesus died. The synoptics are clear that Jesus celebrated the Passover on Thursday and then died on Friday. John seems to indicate that the death of Jesus took place on the Passover, perhaps even at the very moment when the Passover lambs were being killed. And some would use this seeming discrepancy to suggest that the Bible contains an error, a contradiction. How, after all, could Jesus both eat the Passover meal one day and then die on the next day when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered?

All we need, however, to deal with this is a single, plausible, explanation for what we see in Matthew and John. I have read a few that would work. John tells us that the chief priests did not go into Pilate’s house because they wanted to be ceremonially clean so they could eat the Passover. Perhaps they were delayed in eating that meal on Thursday evening, but still planned to do so before sunset of Friday. Or, more likely in my opinion, they were not referencing the formal Passover meal only but the entirety of the sacred events of the combined Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. They wanted to be ceremonially clean for the week to follow with all its celebrations. Thus, when John calls the day of the crucifixion “the day of preparation of the Passover,” he could be telling us that, while Thursday evening was the Passover meal, Friday was the day of preparation for the special Sabbath observance that fell in the week that included Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Another explanation is that there was a bit of variation in how different Jews understood their yearly calendar. We are aware that the sect at Qumran used a calendar that was a day off from that used by the priests. So, if Matthew and John were speaking from different calendars, there would be no discrepancy.

A third explanation comes not from the calendar but from the reckoning of when a day began and ended. John MacArthur explains it this way:

***

The answer lies in a difference among the Jews in the way they reckoned the beginning and ending of days. From Josephus, the Mishna, and other ancient Jewish sources we learn that the Jews in northern Palestine calculated days from sunrise to sunrise. That area included the region of Galilee, where Jesus and all the disciples except Judas had grown up. Apparently most, if not all, of the Pharisees used that system of reckoning. But Jews in the southern part, which centered in Jerusalem, calculated days from sunset to sunset. Because all the priests necessarily lived in or near Jerusalem, as did most of the Sadducees, those groups followed the southern scheme.

That variation doubtlessly caused confusion at times, but it also had some practical benefits. During Passover time, for instance, it allowed for the feast to be celebrated legitimately on two adjoining days, thereby permitting the Temple sacrifices to be made over a total period of four hours rather than two. That separation of days may also have had the effect of reducing both regional and religious clashes between the two groups.

On that basis the seeming contradictions in the gospel accounts are easily explained. Being Galileans, Jesus and the disciples considered Passover day to have started at sunrise on Thursday and to end at sunrise on Friday. The Jewish leaders who arrested and tried Jesus, being mostly priests and Sadducees, considered Passover day to begin at sunset on Thursday and end at sunset on Friday. By that variation, predetermined by God’s sovereign provision, Jesus could thereby legitimately celebrate the last Passover meal with His disciples and yet still be sacrificed on Passover day (MacArthur, Matthew 26:17-19).

***

There are, of course, other potential explanations out there for how Matthew and John could both be speaking the truth and not actually contradicting each other. And a thorough argument regarding those points is well beyond the purpose of this post. I simply want to make you aware that, if you hear someone suggest that this is a contradiction in the Bible, you know that people have done the work and the thinking to show us how it is not. And I would guess that the right answer is either the first or last ones mentioned above.

You Need a 100% Savior

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The good news of the gospel is only the good news of the gospel because we know the bad news of our situation outside of the gospel. One problem in our society today is that many people do not have a clear understanding of the depth of our sin or the state in which we stand before our Lord. Many have a mistaken understanding of what is required to make it to heaven and how far short of that standard we all fall.

So, take a peek at this text in Psalm 24. (As a side note, I find it neat that this came up in my daily reading only a day or so after I had this very conversation with a friend.)

Psalm 24:3-5

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

The poetry here asks a simple question: Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? More simply put, who can make it into God’s presence, or who can go to heaven? That is a good question, a reasonable question, and important question.

The answer to the question is a tough one to swallow. To make it into the presence of the Lord, one must have clean hands and a pure heart. One must be free from acting out our sinful desires—clean hands. And one must be free even from those corrupting desires—a pure heart.

Stop and measure yourself. Are your hands clean? Have you always done and said all that is right? Have you always physically avoided all that God calls sin? Have you lived out an absolute outward perfection? An honest answer here is no.

What about your heart? Even if you have been a pretty nice person, has your heart been perfect? Have you not only refused to act on evil desires, but have you also never had such desires? If your heart has ever shown a sign of corruption, you lack total purity of heart. And we see ourselves as twice guilty.

If we are measured by the standards of verses 3-4, we have no hope. None of us are clean and pure enough on our own. We have all failed. We have all had evil desires. Not one of us is pure enough to walk into heaven. WE must have something outside of us to give us the righteousness, the perfection, the goodness we lack.

Then notice verse 5, “He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Who can go to heaven? That perfect person with clean hands and a pure heart can go, but not me. But then the psalmist tells us that the one who can go to heaven receives blessing and righteousness from God. Receiving righteousness indicates to us that God gives us righteousness as a gift. So the person who can go, the one with the clean hands and the pure heart, that person has those things because he has received those things from the Lord as a gift.

So, here is the truth. We are totally incapable of making it to heaven based on our own goodness. WE have nothing to bring to the table. Our hands are not clean. Our hearts are not pure. WE must receive cleanness and purity, righteousness, as a gift from the Lord. We need a Savior. We do not need a Savior who does a little work to make us a little better so that we can pull ourselves up to the throne of God. No, we need a 100% Savior who does 100% of the work to grant us 100% of the forgiveness and 100% of the righteousness we need. If we only have a 50% savior, we are damned. If we have a 99% savior, we are lost forever. Only a 100% Savior, one who gives us full forgiveness and perfect, God-level righteousness credited to our accounts can save us.

This is, of course the beauty of biblical Christianity. Jesus lived perfect righteousness as God the Son in human flesh. And Jesus will credit us with his purity, not because we have lived it out, but because he gives it to us as a gift. This is salvation by grace through faith in Christ and his finished work. And this is our only way to heaven. Jesus is the 100% Savior we must have to enter the presence of the Lord.

A Truth That Changes Everything

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There are some statements that, if they are true, change everything. Some sentences, if we understand them as true, should have such an impact on our being that we are never ever the same. I read one such sentence about Jesus recently in Hebrews 1.

Hebrews 1:3a — He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Here is what grabs me. If Jesus is who this verse says he is, then we can only have one wise response to him. If this is true, all other social and ethical arguments, all other apologetic arguments, all other political arguments fade away. The gravity of this statement being true is incalculable.

Interestingly, what caught me was not the first clause. Yes, Jesus is God. Yes, Jesus is the exact imprint of the glory of God made flesh for humanity to see. And that is more important than anything you have seen on the news in your entire life.

But what really got me is the phrase, “and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Stop and think what it means if this is true. Jesus, by the word of his power, his own personal power, his God power, holds the universe together. Jesus keeps the stars in the sky. Jesus keeps the earth spinning. Jesus makes gravity work. Jesus holds your atoms together so they do not fly apart.

How does that truth change everything? We live in a world of people who believe that they have the right to assess the fitness of Jesus for their worship or faith. People consider Jesus as one among many options. They may like Jesus; they may like another world religion. They may decide that scientific naturalism or pagan nature worship better fits what they want. But if it is really true that Jesus is the one who holds the universe together, then there is nothing left to argue.

Consider the concept of standing before God. Imagine that you are suddenly in the presence of Jesus. And realize that he has been holding the universe together since creation. What excuse would you offer him for not obeying his commands? How could you say to him that you preferred another option? What thing would you tell him is more important than him to you? How could you expect to be evaluated by a standard other than that of the one who created and who sustains the entirety of reality? How could you be foolish enough to tell him that you think he has been doing it wrong the whole time?

Friends, if that little sentence is wrong, then none of our lives and none of our faith matters. But if that little sentence is true—and it is—then we are created by Jesus, sustained by Jesus, and obligated to Jesus. We owe him our lives and our worship. And he has every right to tell us exactly what he wants of us. He has the right to save us or to leave us alone to our own folly. He has the right to treat us gently or to refine us with the fires of trials. He has the right to tell us what life is, what gender is, what marriage is, what worship is, what truth is, what our purpose is, what church is. If it is indeed true that he upholds the universe by the word of his power, then our role as part of creation is to respond to him exactly as he commands.

Golden Silence

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Some things have been clearly seen as true for a very long time. You may have heard the old quote, “Silence is golden.” Or, perhaps you have heard the more clever, “It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” These thoughts actually have a biblical backing from the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 17:28

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

While this verse will make us grin, it also should bring us some wise conviction. It is foolish to open your mouth and weigh in on topics you know nothing about. That should be obvious. Yet, it is a strong temptation for some of us to do just that.

A dear friend of mine often used to label himself as “often wrong, but never in doubt.” He was recognizing his own weakness in a propensity to have a strong opinion on everything, even things about which he was not really informed. And my friend was not alone there. I think that it is common for people to be tempted to feel we should weigh in and have something to say about everything.

The key here is to recognize what is our motivation for speaking. In many cases, I believe that my own failure here is to want to speak so that people will see me speaking on a topic. I want people to think I’m as smart as everybody else. If I keep my mouth shut, what if they think I don’t know as much as them? Thus, speaking into a situation where I have no knowledge is often an evidence of ungodly pride. I want the approval of men, and I’m willing to pretend to know what I do not know in order to be seen as having something to say.

Friends, let’s guard against the temptation of this pride. Let’s be honest enough to ask questions about things we do not understand rather than weighing in with opinions we cannot support. Let’s be willing to be silent and learn when there is something to learn. No, we need not be afraid to have strong opinions, even unpopular opinions in society. Nor should we fear asking hard questions. Nor do we want to allow someone to silence us just because they consider themselves an expert and they think we lack credentials—that is not at all my point. But let’s not allow ourselves to fall prey to the temptation to talk just so others will think we know something. In truth, if we speak without knowledge, we will often prove ourselves foolish.

Perverting Justice Is Not Complicated

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Sometimes the simplicity of the book of Proverbs is what we need to straighten us out. Life feels so hard and so complicated. But the wisdom of the word of God speaks quite plainly.

Consider this thought on justice, especially in the light of the social confusion about justice today.

Proverbs 17:15

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

Here we see two things put together about genuine, biblical justice. We see two things that are deeply wrong, an abomination before the Lord. One is to justify the wicked. The other is to condemn the righteous. God hates both of these things.

Now, consider where we have gone in our society. Justifying the wicked is a popular thing. How can I say that?” First, our society has rejected God’s word and his ways. Thus, as a people, our nation has willfully rejected God’s definition of what is wicked. Therefore, when wicked people do wicked things, as a society, it is celebrated. Hollywood and politicians see things happen that God has called absolutely abominable, and these folks applaud it and demand that all others join them in that applause.

Of course, the primary focus in the proverb is one of legal justice. If a person commits a crime, it is an abomination to the Lord to pretend it did not happen. Sadly, in our society, we are hearing a regular call to allow criminals to be justified. If a person commits a crime, but they have been somehow socially oppressed, we want to ignore their wrong in order to continue to push forward a political narrative.

How about the idea of condemning the righteous? Do we do that too? You bet. A person might be doing things that are absolutely right in accord with the word of God or even the law of the land. But we are seeing them condemned in society today. Perhaps we see them condemned because they are of the wrong class, the descendants of privileged oppressors. Perhaps we see them oppressed because they refuse to applaud the actions that God has declared to be wicked.

Again, allow biblical justice to speak to us. It is evil to look at a person who has done evil—evil as defined by the word of God—and say to them that they are OK. It is also evil to look at a person who has not done evil—evil as defined by the word of God—and declare them guilty because of their ethnicity, their wealth, or their refusal to applaud that which God condemns. May God save us from our twisting of justice to call good evil and evil good.

Guarding Against Our Own Blindness

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I once heard Paul Tripp say in a message that mankind is often most blind to our own spiritual blindness. His point was that, as we examine reality around us, we have the hardest time seeing our own flaws. In our own assessment, we have a very difficult time assessing whether we personally have gone off track.

Proverbs 16:2

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Solomon saw the same thing. A man, left to himself, will assume all of his own ways to be right. He will give himself credit for good motives. He will assume that his reasoning is sound. And he will be blind to data that could challenge his position.

But Solomon also shows us that the Lord is the one who truly tests the heart. You see, it is not the confidence of the man that his position is sound that makes his position sound. Instead, it is the measure of God that determines whether a person’s view or actions are OK.

Christians, this is why you need three things in your life. First, you need a genuine relationship with God. You need to be prayerful. You need to be participating in formal acts of worship that shift your perspective.

Second, you need a relationship with the local church. If you are not actively committed to your local church, you are missing out on one of the most important ways that the Lord will use to help you see the flaws in your own self-confidence. God uses other believers to sharpen us. God uses wise believers to force us to rethink positions that seemed obvious to us. God uses godly people to show us how we are not living up to a godly standard. God uses the practices of the church to force us to think with an eternal perspective.

And thirdly, though not any less importantly, you need submission to the word of God. It is the Scripture that measures you and me to show us where our views are actually those of the Lord. Scripture tells us how to think about things like justice and righteousness. Scripture shows us how to handle accusations against others. Scripture teaches us about the hard issues related to gender, sexuality, the home, the church, the government, drunkenness, marriage, and the like. Scripture teaches us what pleases and what dishonors the Lord.

If left to ourselves, it will be natural for you and me to assume our ways are right. After all, if an idea comes into our heads, and we measure them by our own standards, we are going to typically approve of our own wisdom. But the Lord tests our hearts. He uses the Holy Spirit, the church, and his word to show us when our ideas match his and when they do not. And if we fail to love the Lord, participate in the church, and study the word, we will have ideas and ways that displease the Lord. And what is worse, we will not even know it.

The Heart of the Worshipper Matters

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In many religions in the world, the acts of worship that are performed are ceremony or ritual. And in those religions, the performance of the ritual itself is the significant point. A person might be sprinkled with sacred water, drink of a ceremonial wine, eat of a ceremonial meal, or speak certain ritualistic words, and, when they do such things, the performance of the religious action is assumed to be what is important. But this has never been the case with biblical faith whether true Old Testament Judaism or Christianity.

Proverbs 15:8

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.

Note the opposing parallel statements in this proverb. God is deeply offended by the sacrifice of the wicked. God welcomes the prayer of the upright. What is the difference? In both lines, a person participates in religious ritual. One makes an offering. One says a prayer. And the differentiation between acceptable and abominable is the heart and life of the one performing the religious act.

Take something simple today, perhaps the singing of a song as an act of worship. What pleases God? Is God pleased when a person with a great voice sings a great song that she actually does not mean? Or is God more pleased when a person who lacks in talent sings a song of truth with deep sincerity? It is the sincere-hearted, faithful believer who pleases the Lord.

Or, go further. Both a genuine Christian and a person who does not know the Lord can participate in religious ceremonies like baptism or Lord’s Supper. A lost person can convince church leaders that he should be allowed to join in the ceremony. But God’s word is clear that such participation is an abomination to God. The Lord is not pleased with the religious ceremonial acts of an unconverted person, one who opposes the Lord in his heart.

Christians, we should not allow this to make us assume that ceremony does not matter. Nor should we let ourselves think that any religious action we come up with will please God if we are simply sincere. We need to worship the Lord in accord with his commands. And the Lord has commanded formal and informal acts of worship. But as we obey those commands, we should also recognize that the worship that pleases the Lord is worship from a sincere, forgiven believer who comes to the Lord with a genuine heart.

Mocking Guilt

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How is the word sin used in modern vernacular? If you think about it, you seldom hear the word sin used in public these days. And, if by chance you hear a person using that word, it is used as a joke or as something sarcastic.

Proverbs 14:9

Fools mock at the guilt offering,
but the upright enjoy acceptance.

While it may seem new to us that people would laugh at the concept of being guilty of sin, this is apparently not new. Solomon knew that fools mock at the guilt offering. Fools laugh at the concept of being guilty. Fools convince themselves that they face no judgment, that they face no eternity, and that the concept of sin is irrelevant or outdated.

Perhaps one of our clear messages to our society needs to be the fact that we understand that sin still exists. Not the sort of sin where a person, with a grin, might ask, “Oooh, do you think I’m a sinner?” No, we need to, with all seriousness, help our culture grasp that there is a God who made us and who has himself set the standard of righteousness. The God who made us is not at all lenient toward rebellion against his standard. Sin destroys. Sin brings death. Sin earns hell. God requires payment for sin.

Only if we understand that sin exists and sin is serious will we be a people who do not mock the guilt offering. You see, only when you realize that you are guilty and in danger of judgment will you love what the Lord has done to cover your sin with the blood of Jesus.