Tag: Providence Reformed Church

When you think joy, what book of the Bible do you think of? New Testament Christians are pretty much preprogrammed to think of the book of Philippians and the call to rejoice in the Lord always. But, where do we see the first major rejoicing in the Scriptures?

 

Would it surprise you to see that the first major shout for joy in the Bible occurs in the book of Leviticus? Now, I know, there has been joy before Leviticus. I also know that there has been singing and dancing before Leviticus, so I realize that there is more to joy than what I’m about to say. But, I want to simply point out something that I found fascinating while studying Leviticus 9.

 

In chapter 9 of Leviticus, Moses and Aaron work through the process of the final ordination of the priests and the beginning of the Old Testament religious system. When all is completed, when the sin offerings are made along with all the rest, God shows up. God displays his glory in fire, just as he displayed his glory in fire at Mount Sinai.

 

Leviticus 9:23-24 – 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

 

In verse 24, we see that God sent forth fire to consume the offerings on the altar. When the people saw this, they “shouted and fell on their faces.” It is the word behind shout that got my attention. That word is not a cry of fear or terror, though such surely would have made sense here. No, it is a shout for joy. It is the kind of shout for joy that God repeatedly commands his people to cry out as part of worship in the Old Testament system. And this is the first time that word is used in Scripture. So, in a sense, this is the first, major, religious shout for joy.

 

When did it happen? When sin had been atoned for and when the presence of God was manifest, the people of God were overjoyed. When the people saw the power and the glory of God, there was such a joy that they could not contain it. They shouted for joy and fell to the ground in worship.

 

When we think Leviticus, therefore, we should think joy and worship. As Mark Rooker points out in his commentary on Leviticus:

 

“When the glory of the Lord appeared, the people responded with joy and bowed down to worship the Lord. It is significant that the first occurrence of the word “joy” in the Bible is in this context. The combination of worship with joy on this preeminent occasion and the frequent employment of the root rānan (“give a ringing cry”) in response to God indicates that the highest mood of the Old Testament religion was one of joy.”¹

 

The mood of worship—yes, the worship in Leviticus—is joy. Why? Worship resulted in two great sources of joy. Worship brought about the forgiveness of our sins through sacrificial substitutes. And, worship brought people to a place where they could experience the glory of God. Nothing in this universe, nothing at all, can give us a greater joy than to know the Lord, be forgiven by the Lord, and experience the glory of the Lord.  

   

So, as you work through a read through Leviticus, let joy spring forth. Every time you read that, after an offering, a person will be forgiven, rejoice. Consider what the hopelessness of life would be like if being forgiven were not an option then or now. When you see the meticulous laws about foods, garments, and cleanness, let your heart sing as you recognize hints of the absolute perfection of God. He cares about every small detail. And, as you see the blood and fire and sacrifice, let it always remind you that this is the shadow of what the Lord Jesus accomplished on behalf of his chosen ones to allow us to enter the presence of the Lord and live in fellowship with him forever. 

 

1 Mark F. Rooker, vol. 3A, Leviticus, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c2000), 155.

How do you feel when your read through the Bible plan hits Leviticus? My guess is that, for many of us, that can be met with a sigh. If we are not careful, we feel that reading Leviticus is a duty. It’s like eating some sort of vegetable that is not your favorite; it’s good for you, but you’d prefer to skip it—all things being equal.

 

How I wish these thoughts were not the way that we often feel as Christians. Our lack of understanding of the offerings and our lack of imagination regarding the look and feel and smell of what was going on prevents us from seeing the glory of God, the seriousness of sin, the uniqueness of biblical faith, and so much more.

 

I recently read through Leviticus 1-3 in my daily reading. Those three chapters of Leviticus give us the rules for 3 kinds of offerings: the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the peace offering (chapters 1, 2, and 3 respectively). In our culture, 3 chapters on 3 offerings feels like a big list of rules, things to do and to avoid that have nothing to do with us. And we fail to see the difference in the offerings.

 

So, let’s think together for a moment about those offerings to see just a few glories. First, consider how gracious it is that God gave these rules. Would you have been able to guess how the right way would be to make a burnt offering? Would you have known that it was your job to lay your hands on the animal’s head while the priests held it still, and then it was your job to cut the animal’s throat? Would you have known that it was your job to wash the animal while it was only the priests’ jobs to apply the animal’s blood to the altar? Would you have known how to rightly divide the animal and burn its parts? Would you have known what animals were acceptable and what animals would dishonor the Lord?

 

It is gracious of God to tell you the rules. He did not have to. The Lord did not have to tell people how to please him. He did not have to show us how to be forgiven. He could have left us to flounder about on our own, failing and never knowing it. He could have not allowed any sacrifices. He could have just cut us off for our sin. Leviticus 1 is full of grace.

 

Another consideration is the import of the 3 offerings. In chapter 1, the burnt offering has to do with our sin. In chapter 2, the grain offering is an offering of gratitude to God for his provision. In chapter 3, the peace offering, again an animal offering, was an offering of fellowship with the Lord. The offering in chapter 3 was one that the offeror would share in. People would make the sacrifice, and burn the select portions of the animal on the altar, but they would also keep parts of the animal to eat. Thus, the peace offering was symbolically sharing a meal with the Lord. See the progression: Once sin was covered, grace was evident, and we could rejoice in a new, loving and kind relationship with our God.

 

There is also a polemical element to these 3 chapters. Much of the offerings parallel the kinds of offerings made in pagan religions. But, The Israelites were not borrowing from those religions. Instead, the offerings are intentionally different to show the difference in the Israelite understanding of the Lord and of sin. The Israelites did not use honey or Levin in their grain offerings, contrasting with Canaanite religions. The Israelites never believed that their offerings fed their deity. But, realize that the neighboring nations believed that their gods were relying on the offerings for sustenance. Leviticus, quite subtly, shows us that the worship of the Lord is unlike anything in the neighboring nations.

 

And, as one last thing to mention this morning, how much does this remind us of Jesus? The animals sacrificed for sin had to be perfect, unblemished. Jesus had to be our perfect offering. The one making the offering had to lay his hands on the animal’s head, symbolically transferring his guilt to the animal. Jesus took our guilt upon himself. The sinner had to cause the death of the animal, spilling its blood as if it were guilty of his own sin. Jesus shed his blood as a sin offering for all he would ever forgive. The smoke of the burnt animal was a pleasing aroma to the Lord. That was not about physical smell, but it was about the Lord being satisfied by the offering so that he could again look upon the one making the sacrifice with favor. Only through Jesus’ sacrifice can the Lord look at us with favor. The burnt offering was totally consumed with fire. That would have looked like hell. But Jesus went through the wrath of God on our behalf so as to prevent our going to hell.

 

Or how about seeing Jesus in the fellowship offering. The offering was made, and it centered, at the end, around a meal. In a symbolic way, the people were eating with God. They ate the flesh of the sacrifice as a way to commune with the Lord. And what did the Lord Jesus institute on the night he was betrayed? The Lord Jesus called on his disciples and the church to follow to regularly participate in a ceremony in which we symbolically consume his flesh as an act of fellowship with him and with one another.

 

Friends, Leviticus is beautiful. May we learn not to turn our noses up at the repetition or at the unfamiliarity. God’s word has great value if we will but look and let ourselves see. Yes, it may cost us some study and some discipline. But the reward is very much worth it.

Have you ever had one of those moments where someone said something that you simply cannot believe came out of their mouth? You know what I mean. A person lets fall from their lips a nasty, unthinking, brutal insult all the while acting as if they are perfectly fine in their behavior. It’s the kind of thing that brings out of you the response, “O no you didn’t!”

 

I had one of those moments in this year’s read through Exodus 32. It’s a story that is moderately familiar. While Moses is up on the mountain, the people of Israel grow confused and restless. So, Moses’ brother Aaron fashions for the people a golden calf to worship instead of worshipping the God who led them out of Egypt and who commanded them, quite clearly in their hearing, never to fashion an idol to worship.

 

Exodus 32:4-6  – 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

 

The disobedience to God is one thing, stunning in itself. But the words that come out of the people’s mouths is something altogether more amazing. Israel’s leaders said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” Do you feel the insult? They shaped a cow from their melted down jewelry, and they say that this cow is who led them out of the land of Egypt.

 

Now, remember, this is a generation that is not even a half of a year removed from seeing the Red Sea parted as they walked through and then seeing it crash down on the Egyptian army. This is the people only a few months removed from painting blood on their door frames to tell the angel of God to pass over their homes and spare their firstborn. This is a people that, over the past year, saw God perform ten plagues that devastated a powerful nation and brought about their deliverance. And, this is a people who, only a month before, heard the voice of God tell them that they were never to fashion an idol and bow down to it.

 

Those people looked at a golden calf, nodded, and said, “Yep, that’s our god alright. That’s the one that led us up out of Egypt.” How should the Lord respond? Do you not hear in your soul the divine, “O no you didn’t!”

 

Then, Aaron actually adds to the mess. He builds an altar, proclaims a celebration, and says to the people in reference to the calf he just had fashioned out of melted jewelry, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” Do you see that last phrase? He said “to the Lord.” Aaron is taking a thing that God has strictly forbidden. This is something made #2 on his all-time top ten don’t do this list, a list God just spoke in the people’s hearing. Aaron is deciding that he can ignore and change the rules to worship in whatever fashion and by whatever definition he wants. He says this is a celebration to the Lord, the very Lord he is defying. And, again, I hear, “O no you didn’t!”

 

As you might imagine, this incident displeased the Lord, and it leads to the judgment of God on the people. It most certainly should have. How dare a people give something credit for doing what the Lord has done? How dare the people hear the requirements of God, shake them off, do the opposite, and then pretend that such must be acceptable to God? How dare they dance around a golden statue that they knew was forbidden to them and act as though they were performing an act of service to God?

 

And it is at this point that I have to ask myself where I do the same things. No, I don’t fashion statues and dance around them. But, are there times in my life where I hear the commands of God, know his standards, and flat turn against them to do things in my own way? Are there places where I know what God has done, and somehow I give credit for those things to myself or to someone or something else? How dare I ever give credit to a creation that only belongs to the Creator? How dare I value anything, any object, any possession, or any person above the One who made me and sent his Son to rescue me? How dare I sin to get something I want or sin if I do not have things the way that I want? I’m so easily tempted to act just like the people of Israel, just without the gold and the party.

 

May we examine ourselves closely today. May we remember that the Lord is our Creator, and he has every right to own our lives and our souls. May we obey his word for his glory. May we not think even for a minute that anything is as valuable as he is. May we not ever do the opposite of his commands and pretend we are honoring him in the process. May we not ever deserve a divine “O no you didn’t!” 

If I had a house to sell you, but that house had a faulty foundation, you would be unwise to buy it. At least, you would not buy it without knowing that you could fix the problem. And, you certainly would not buy it at the same price you would pay for a house with a solid foundation. The reason why is obvious: the foundation is very important. Even those of us who are not handy know that.

 

It is funny, then, how easily we miss an important and foundational truth that Scripture presents to us. God is Creator. Are you already starting to get ready to skip to something else to read? Are you already thinking, “I know all that.” Stop for a second, if you would, and consider the words of these 2 verses.

Psalm 24:1-2

 

1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

2 for he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

 

What is the conclusion that David draws because of the fact that God is our Creator? Because God has founded the world, the world is his. The earth belongs to God, and all things in it belong to him.

 

Again, if we are not careful, we will give this that little nod that says we all know this and we are really not that interested. But, just consider what all must be true if this is true? If God really is the Creator, if he really owns the earth, then everything we say as we communicate truth to the world must be foundationally connected to that fact.

 

Consider many people’s gospel presentation. Among the modern church, too often the message we present is one of offering people a better option than the others out there. If you will come to Jesus, you’ll have a happier marriage, a more moral life, a greater sense of fulfillment. If you come to Jesus, you will be part of our loving community, you’ll grow in ways you never imagined before, and you’ll do good, real good, for the world around you. If you come to Jesus, you can have a reward and hope at the end of your days on earth. And, sometimes, the more bold among us might also tell somebody that, if they don’t come to Jesus, there is a judgment that they will face.

 

In general, all of those things in that previous paragraph are true, or at least most of them are. But the foundation of the house, the starting point if you will, is faulty. We present the faith as an option, as the best option for sure, but as something that people can take or leave. We try to sell Christianity as if it is a really great deal on a 60″ 4K HDR Smart LED HDTV. You don’t want to pass this one up! But, what if we started somewhere stronger than being good salespeople?

 

The Bible starts with Creation. Genesis 1:1 stakes God’s claim on the universe. Psalm 24 echoes it. The earth is the Lord’s. Everything in the earth and on the earth and around the earth is God’s. Why? He made it. It belongs to him. He holds the right of ownership over it.

 

Consider what it means if the claim of creation is true. If God made us, he does not have to offer us a deal. He is, in fact, not one option among many. If God created, God is the only option. Our only choice is to either acknowledge him and be under his care or to rebel against him and face his judgment. And, if creation is true, then God is the only one who has rights in this matter. We are creations. We have no rights—none. We are God’s to do with as he pleases. The Lord has every right to bless us, care for us, or crush us as he desires. We are his property, whether we like it or not.

 

Thankfully, the same God who created us and owns us also offers us the greatest kindness and fullest joy. God will give those he rescues his grace, his mercy, his love, his joy, and his peace. God will grant those who come to him life and purpose and hope and heaven forever. God proves his character of perfection by perfectly giving grace to all who come to him and perfectly judging in wrath those who oppose him. And every bit of this is completely proper because of the fact that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

 

So, perhaps we need to shift our thinking and not forget the foundation. Sometimes the house we build in our Christian presentation is lovely looking on the outside. We highlight the curb appeal, but maybe it would be good for us to let others know of the strong foundation on which the house is built. We are standing on God’s earth. We are breathing God’s air. We are fashioned out of God’s material. And we have only 2 options, not many: love God or reject him. 

Living out our Christianity can be an interesting challenge. We are called to be obedient to the Lord. We are call to be thoughtful and wise. We are called to be good stewards of what we are given. At the same time, the call upon our lives and our families is not always practical, not always sensible, not always agreeable to all.

 

Even on the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, there was a conflict between practicality and beauty, between stewardship and symbolism. The story is pretty familiar to those who have been in church. A woman, carrying an expensive container of perfume, broke it and poured its contents over Jesus. The woman, in taking this action, made an extravagant gesture of worship toward the Savior. At the same time, that woman poured out what would be worth thousands of dollars. In some ways, it might be like dropping a year’s wages on a single act of worship.

 

Notice, from the passage, the different responses of Jesus and his disciples.  

 

Matthew 26:8-10  – 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.

 

The disciples have a response, that, I believe, would mirror our own most often. They saw what the woman gave, and they declared it to be too much. They especially thought it to be wasteful when they thought of all the other good things that could have been done with that money. They saw that the woman’s gesture was a one-time thing, something that could not be repeated and could not last. And it simply did not make any practical sense.

 

But, the Savior rebukes his disciples for their narrow thinking. The woman did something beautiful. Her gesture would prepare his body for its burial. Her story would be told and retold and retold throughout the ages. In so many ways, what the woman did would become the picture of devotion to Jesus, pouring out one’s treasures for the glory of the Savior.

 

Here we sit, nearly 21 centuries later, and we still struggle with the very conflict that the disciples had. When are we to be practical? When are we to throw caution to the wind, obey the word of God, and follow the Savior to places where it does not make sense? When do we give with no thought for the future? When must we be wise stewards who provide for the years to come?

 

Take this concept beyond the idea of monetary giving. What is the practical level of commitment that can be expected of any one family to the cause of Christ? How many of us, if we actually shape our lives toward the glory and honor of Christ, are thought of, even by fellow Christians, as wasting our opportunities? Is it a waste for a family to give up a larger house for the sake of the cause of Christ? Is it a waste for a family to schedule their time so that mom, dad, or children lack opportunities because of their commitment to worship? Is it a waste for a dad not to take a promotion in his company because he does not want to move to a new town and away from the solid church where he serves? Is it a waste for a mom to give up a career in order to serve the Lord by home schooling her kids? Is it a waste for the kids to give up athletics because they conflict with the family’s commitments to worship services and mission trips? Or, do such sacrifices look like the woman pouring out her perfume on the Savior?

 

Here is the lovely thing, I cannot tell you what perfume to pour out. But, neither should you tell me which I should not. I know that, if I have the opportunity, I would rather be like the woman giving her all to the glory of the Savior than like the disciples counting where the money could have gone. Do you give and love and serve freely? Do you risk greatly? Or, are you like the disciples who ask, “Why all this waste?”

One modern human failing is the belief that we have something to give to God. I know, that sentence sounds really terrible, but think it over. Do you and I have anything good to offer to the Lord? Can we improve his day? Have we the power to withhold goodness from the Creator? Can we make him miserable if we attack him?

 

`Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Lord does not care about us. Neither am I saying that God is not honored as we obey him. But we do not make him bigger, stronger, or more glorious. We do not have the power to manipulate his mood the way that we can for others. Neither do we have, in ourselves, a level of personal goodness that we can offer him a gift to impress him.

 

Ponder the words of God to the people of Israel in one of the commands just after the delivery of the Ten Commandments.

 

Exodus 20:25 – If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

As the nation of Israel camped near Mt. Sinai, they were not to shape altars for the Lord. Later, the Lord would show the people exactly what kind of altar to build, and he would empower skilled craftsmen to build it. But, originally, the Lord has something important to say to the people about what they must do. They were to build altars of earth or stone. And, notice, if they built a stone altar, they were to stack it by hand. They could not shape it with tools. And, if they did use a tool on it, God said they profaned it.

 

That concept of profaning the altar is what grabbed my attention and reminded me that, in myself, I do not have something to give to God to impress him. Because, you see, shaping the altar with a tool would be exactly the kind of thing I would think to do. If I were building a stone altar for the Lord, it would cross my mind to put a little of myself into it. I could shape this thing. I could make it better. I could make it nice for God. I’ll bring a little pizzazz to it.

 

But God is quite frank with the people. If they try to shape the altar, if they try to put a little of themselves in its design, they do not make it better. Instead, they profane it. They take stones that the Lord shaped through creation, they touch them, and they turn them common, ordinary. If the people used their tools, shaping worship in their way, they took the holiness away and left only that which made things ordinary and unacceptable to the Lord.

 

What is the application? God is holy. He defines what worship is acceptable to him. We are sinful. We have nothing to bring to the table on our own. We do not impress God. God does not look at us and ask us to come up with new, creative, personally fashioned methods of worshipping him that he did not think of. We do not have the power to improve on the commands and ways of the Lord. And, when we touch those commands, reshaping them to our creativity, we profane them.

 

I do not believe that this forbids human artistic expression or creativity. We write songs that express truth about God. Some write poetry to declare the glories of God. Pastors preach sermons, communication that we creatively shape, to help the body of Christ to know the Lord and obey his commands. So, I do not think creativity is forbidden any more than I think it was wrong for God to later have artisans shape stones for the temple or to craft the bronze altar of sacrifice.

 

Instead, what I see is that God, before he allows creativity in any form, first showed us that our creativity does not improve on him or his ways. We cannot reshape God or his worship for ourselves. We cannot impress God with the skills we bring to the table. He is greater than us. He is a better artist than us. He is a greater poet than us. He is a greater builder than us. He is holy while we are sinners. We cannot improve him in any way.

 

So, our right response is humble obedience. Sure, we continue to sing his praises. We will continue to write new songs and speak the word of God in truth. But, we should never make the mistake of thinking that God needs us or is impressed by us. He is gracious to us to allow us to worship him. He is merciful to us to include us in his plans to build his kingdom for his glory. May we humbly obey, and love every minute of the joy of the glory of God. And, may we never think we have really helped out the one who is infinitely more glorious than we could ever imagine.

One of the greatest blessings that I have in my life in the ministry that I am in is the sweetness of serving along with a team of elders. Our church, unlike any I have ever served in, recognizes that God has called the body to be spiritually led by a team of men who all work together to accomplish the task of ministry. The elders in our church are not my underlings or servants, they are my partners and friends. Our elders are godly men who bring different gifts and perspectives to the table.

 

Sadly, in so many churches, the model of ministry is that of a single pastor wielding all the authority and owning the work. The model is more that of an American corporate CEO and his company. Perhaps there are assistants on staff. Perhaps there are deacons who act as a board to either help or check the pastor. But in so many cases, the pastor plays the role of the solo leader.

 

Moses, as he led the nation of Israel through the wilderness, made the mistake of trying to be the solo leader. Moses acted as though every decision needed to be his. He burdened himself and the nation by owning responsibility for all the things that the people did.

 

But, one day, Moses’ father-in-law came to him, saw what he was doing, and offered him both rebuke and advice. Now, this is not a picture of the New Testament church. But it is a great example of the principle of how elders ought to work, or at least how they ought to start to work.

 

Exodus 18:13-23 – 13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

 

Jethro saw something that many churches do not see in their structure. To fail to surround a pastor with other leaders who can take responsibility for ministry is not wise. It will wear a pastor out. It will prevent a people from growth. It will not honor the Lord.

 

Moses had a major role to still play. He, as a prophet, had the responsibility to communicate the word of God to the people. Remember, the Scriptures had not been written yet, so Moses carried direct revelation to the people. In fact, this is also why Moses should have decided the hard cases, because he had a direct line to God that was not there for every other person in the nation.

 

How is what Jethro told Moses like and unlike elders in the modern church? Jethro saw that no moderately large group of people in a spiritual context is wise to be led by only one man. It is a task that is beyond us. Notice that Jethro brought the leadership down to groups of tens. There was a hierarchy in the nation, there had to be, but no person would have been responsible to individually oversee any more than ten people in Jethro’s plan of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. One can assume that this would have been properly expanded so that people were called to serve and oversee a manageable group.

 

I would also argue that Jethro’s plan is unlike elders in the modern church in the role that Moses played. Moses served the role of Old Testament prophet. He spoke to God for the people and spoke direct words from God back to the people. Praise God, we are not in such a world. In a solid church structure, the elders, all of the elders, have access to the completed word of God and can communicate it to the people. In the church, the burden of teaching should not fall on the shoulders of one man as if he, like Moses, is the only one with access to God’s words.

 

Of course, I am not saying that, among a group of elders, there may not be one or two who teach more often. It may be that a church particularly pays one of the elders to be the primary preacher. But it is not healthy for a church to see only that elder in the pulpit while all the others play what appear to be secondary roles. This is why I love the fact that, in our church, other elders regularly preach and I sit in the congregation, hearing the word of God and being challenged and encouraged like the rest of God’s people. It would paint a poor picture for our congregation if they never saw me sit under the authoritative teaching of the word of God done by one of our elders. 

 

Also, I would suggest that the New Testament congregation has a role to play in their own leadership in a way that simply could not work in the political situation of the nation of Israel. The only congregational business meetings Israel had led to disaster. But, in the New Testament, there appears to be a call for the congregation to take part in affirming the leadership of elders. We see this clearly in how Paul writes regarding church discipline in 1 and 2 Corinthians. The congregation in the New Testament church also had the requirement to rebuke elders in sin, though such a thing was only to be done under very controlled circumstances and with the greatest seriousness.  

 

Of course, this passage is not the primary argument for biblical eldership. But, as I said, this passage is a great example of the basics of why elders are proper and needed. If your church has only one teacher, only one wielder of authority, your church may well not be doing things in a wise and loving way for the congregation or for the pastor. If your church only sees someone else in the pulpit when your pastor is on vacation, you may well not be functioning in a healthy way. In the New Testament, writers constantly write about the “elders” in the local church and not about the individual pastor. God knew what he was doing, and he showed us in various ways why it is so very good for us to have a plurality of elders to lead the congregation by the word of God and for the glory of God.

One of our most common logical reasoning mistakes is the fallacy of the false dilemma. Whether it is in the 24-hour news cycle or in our living rooms, we often fail to reason rightly by demanding that someone do either this or that, believe either this or that. But, sometimes, if we are not careful, we will miss the fact that people need to do or believe both things, that they are not mutually exclusive.

 

An example that comes to my mind is the person who decides that, because their heart is not in it today, they will not attend worship service. They will assume that God wants them to get their heart right before they go to church. They will know that God does not want them to be hypocritical when they attend worship. So, they decide, either God wants me to deal with my heart or to go to church. And they fail to consider that there is a better option.

 

When the Lord Jesus was putting the Jewish religious teachers of his day in their place, he showed us that God is not always about the either/or choices.

 

Matthew 23:23 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

 

Jesus says that the religious folks of his day are hypocrites. They were willing to give God a tenth of everything they own. They would tithe from their spice rack, which would have been a bigger deal to them than it sounds like for us. Spices were valuable. But, the religious folks ignored what Jesus said are the weightier parts of God’s law. They treated people badly, with injustice and cruelty, which violates the heart of all the laws of God relating to others, to love our neighbor as ourselves.

 

A person from the either/or false dilemma school of thought would say to the scribes and Pharisees that they need to stop tithing their spices and start loving others. Jesus does not do so. Jesus tells them that they did what they should have done with their tithes. But, they should have added love of neighbor to their lives if they really wanted to please God. Failure in one area did not give the religious teachers the right to disobey in another.

 

Now, go back to my illustration of the person who isn’t going to church today because his heart is not right. He is a fool. Why add to the guilt of a dark heart the disobedience of separating himself from the commanded gathering of God’s people. And, make no mistake, God’s people are supposed to gather and not give that up (cf. Heb 10:24-25). The solution for this man is not to hide until his heart is better. The man should do what he knows is biblically right, go and gather with God’s people, and he should ask the people of god to help him battle against the darkness of his heart. The man should both go to church and fight his sinful heart, not either one or the other and definitely not neither.

 

What about the false battle that some wage between living under grace or living lives of obedience? Some Christians pretend that grace almost excludes a call to righteousness and obedience. Others assume that a battle to obey the commands of God must make them less gracious toward themselves or others. What would God say? There is no false choice to be made here. God commands both of us. We obey his word. We live under his grace. There is no conflict.

 

Where else in your life do you put yourself into the either/or mentality when it is not merited? Where do you say to God that you will either obey him here or there? Where might the Savior say to you to keep up the right behavior in one area while adding to it proper and weightier behavior in another?

How do you think of your Christian leaders? How do you think of your Christian friends? When you hear from your pastor, your teachers, or those with whom you are in fellowship, what happens to the burden on your spiritual shoulders? Is your load lightened? Or, does your burden get heavier as you listen and interact? How about when people talk with you? Do you lighten loads or load down others?

 

One of the criticisms that the Lord Jesus raised against the Pharisees and teachers of the law had to do with how they made life far harder, far more difficult, more heavy, for the people. The teachers of Jesus’ day had no problem loading people down with commands, rules, and expectations that were well beyond the Scriptures. And, I am sure that they also used the Scriptures as a solid weight from time-to-time.

 

But Jesus was not impressed with the way that the teachers squashed people in their lives. Jesus said in Matthew 23:4, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” Something about the religious guys of Jesus’ day burdened people, even sometimes with the truth, but in a way that only crushed and never healed.

 

I wonder for myself and for others if such a thing ought to be said of us. I surely hope not. We want to be faithful to Scripture. We will be a people of truth and of Scripture in our local church. But, I wonder if there is a way that, if we are not careful, we will take even that commitment and make it more burden than blessing, more weight than wonder, more grinding than gracious. How can we be sure to be people of truth without being people of crushing regulations and expectations?

 

There is a difference we must grasp between ways of communicating the ways of the Lord. We call people to righteousness. We call people to sanctification. But we must be sure that our calls, that the steps we demand people follow, that the burdens we ask people to bear are biblical. And, we also must be a people who, when a hard burden is on a fellow believer’s shoulders, we are the first to get under that load with them and help them lift it.

 

Imagine, for example, some possible problems. A believer is wrestling with a sin they need to let go. Maybe they are treasuring a dream for their future at a level that it has become a heart idol. Of course we must help them to see that treasuring the Lord is the call and that heart idols must not be in our lives. But, is that all we do? Do we tell them how wrong they are, prove our point, say a prayer over them, and then walk away? What a burden we have placed on their shoulders without helping them move it. Could we not help more? Do we call them the next day? Do we show them love in other areas? Do we help them to know that we are their friends, whether or not they defeat their sin this instant?  We can do better. Yes, the burden is one of truth in this instance, but our relationship can help lift it.

 

Or perhaps we have something we want a person to believe. Perhaps there is a doctrinal area in which we disagree. How do we approach them? Do we come in, guns blazing, and tear them to shreds? How burdensome this is without any attempt to help them. If your goal is winning an argument and not in healing and growing a believer, I wonder how pleased the Lord really is with your debating skill.

 

And, from time-to-time, the burdens we tie up on people’s shoulders are not even biblical. Sometimes we weigh people down with our preferences and expectations. Sometimes we will pour onto others, not a biblical call to discipleship, but our own personal way of growth that we demand they follow too. This is a burden that, if we are wise, we will lift off their shoulders for them by helping others to see that they must meet the Lord’s expectations, not ours.

 

Consider, Christians, what God says to us in Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” How often do we feel the call to correct? How seldom do we attempt to correct in a spirit of gentleness? We must do both. We must call for changes in our fellow believers. But our calls must be biblical and gentle. Our calls must be met with our lives connecting to theirs to walk the hard road with them. We should not be known as people who pop into others’ lives, drop a bomb of truth on their heads, and walk away never to help. May we learn to love with life, to love with friendship, to love in fellowship, to love for the long haul, to love with truth, and to love with genuine, gentle grace.

How many times have you heard that God judges the heart, not the actions, of a person? Is that statement true? “God judges the heart” is one of those statements that has truth in it, but which is easily misused, misunderstood, and misapplied. That statement is a true statement to a point, but can easily become a platitude that people apply where it does not belong.

 

Where is it true? Throughout the Scriptures, God has said strong things to those who have performed right religious deeds with cold and cruel hearts. Consider that, in Amos 5:21-24, God told the people that he hated their religious ceremonies, because they performed those duties with hearts that were full of evil. So, in that case, God looks at the heart more than the actions.

 

But, does it go the other way? When somebody has a zeal for God, but is wrong about the facts, does God look at the heart more? Are those who say they want to serve God, but who are wrong about how to know God, OK before God?

 

Look at what Paul wrote about his Jewish kinsmen in Romans 10 to see something about heart and knowledge.

 

  Romans 10:1-3 – 1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

 

Paul writes of the Jews of his day that they had, indeed, a zeal for God. There were people among the Jews who really wanted to do right things with God. Was that zeal enough?

 

No, the zeal for God in the hearts of Paul’s people was not enough to bring them salvation. In verse 1, Paul said that his heart’s desire for them is that they would be “saved.” To desire their salvation implies that they are currently unsaved, lost, in grave danger. Thus, we can only logically conclude that, though God looks at the heart, God does not give a pass to a person whose heart is passionate but who does not know him. The people were trying to establish a righteousness of their own. Establishing righteousness is good. But, to attempt to establish righteousness not in the way of God is not enough to make a person right with God.

 

May this text remind us, then, that God is our ultimate judge and master. Yes, he sees into our hearts. He is never fooled by our outward religious practices as if those can mask a darkened, godless heart. At the same time, God is also holy, and his standard is firm. He is not going to allow zeal to make him violate his way of righteousness. People are not OK with God just because they are passionate about God, or what they think to be divine. No, God has made a way of salvation, one way, the way of Christ. When Jesus declared that no person comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6), he meant it.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong, it is always better to do right than to do wrong. It is better to obey God, even when your heart is cold, than to have a cold heart and add to that coldness more disobedience. And, we love all who live in this world who desire to please God, and we love those who do not desire to please God. We want to see people come to life in Christ, to be forgiven by God, and to be saved. But we must grasp that being a sweet hearted person is not the way of salvation. To be right with God is to come to him in his way, with a genuine heart that trusts in Christ and finds mercy by grace alone through faith alone.