Tag: Travis Peterson

Love and Justice in Parallel

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What is the longest book in the Bible? Psalms. What is the longest chapter in the Bible? OK, Psalms are not chapters, but individual units; however, Psalm 119 has 176 verses. With such a long Psalm right in the middle of the Bible, there are many things to notice, far more than I grasp in any single reading. Here is a thought that hit me today from late in the Psalm

Psalm 119:149

Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
O Lord, according to your justice give me life.

Verse 149 catches me for the poetic parallelism. This is a chiastic structure, the four parts of the verse arranged as A, B, B’, A’. “Hear my voice” is a parallel with “give me life.” Clearly David thinks that, as God hears his voice, the result will be life for him.

The center parallels, the B part, are what grabbed me. “According to your steadfast love” is parallel with “according to your justice.” Do you think of those two as synonymous parallel thoughts? Do you attach the justice and the love of God as if they say anything like the same thing? Biblically you should.

In our culture, we love the love of God. We sometimes cringe at the justice of God. WE boldly proclaim the love of God, but we try to hide the justice of God behind our backs like a kid hiding something he does not want mom to see. And when we do this, we are missing the truth of God. The Love of God is a depiction of the perfectly good character of God. Similarly, the justice of God is a depiction of the perfectly good character of God. A God who is not interested in justice is not loving. A God who is not loving will not do justice. May we pray that God will help us see that his justice, his judgment, his proper punishment of sin and his love, his kindness, and his mercy are all part of the same holiness that make us love the Lord.

More Than Such a Time as This

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The Book of Esther is a glorious drama of the sovereign working of God. And many who have read Esther have a single verse in mind, the Sunday School memory verse that we all learn when we first study the book. We walk away from Esther wondering what it might mean for us to be where we are, “for such a time as this.”

Something else in the context of that verse, however, is significant to me as I read through the book again.

Esther 4:12-14 – 12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Here’s the context. Haman has plotted to destroy the Jews. Mordecai, Esther’s near relative, has learned of this and is sending Esther word. He urges her to approach the king and to seek relief. But Esther is afraid, understandably, for the Persians have a law that says that any person who approaches the king uninvited and is not immediately forgiven by the king must be put to death.

It is true that Esther is a wife of the king. But it has been some time since he has called her to himself. Maybe he is not so into her as he was before. Maybe she offended him. For sure, to go to the throne room with a complaint is taking her life into her own hands.

Mordecai reminds her that, if she does not go into the throne room to ask for help, her life is forfeit anyway. Esther is Jewish. The decree would cost her her own life as well. And Mordecai speaks that famous phrase, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Maybe, dear queen, you have come to power to do this very thing.

I love all of that story. But I notice that we often, when thinking of it, miss something else Mordecai says with complete confidence. In his message to Esther, Mordecai also says, “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.” Mordecai does not even begin to give Esther the notion that her action or her inaction has anything to do with the question of whether or not the Jews will be delivered from destruction. All Esther’s actions have to do with is whether or not she takes part in that deliverance or her life is just as at risk as the Jew on the street. It is not that her actions are the ultimate decision-maker for the fate of the Jews. But her actions will matter to her, and can be a part of God’s plan.

And here is what first struck me. Mordecai knew, without question, that God would not allow the Jews to be wiped out by the evil scheme of Haman. How? I believe Mordecai knew the promises of God in Scripture. Mordecai knew that God had promised that the descendants of Abraham would survive and bring into the world the promised one who would bless all nations. That promised one had not yet come, and so God would in no way allow the nation to be cut off. In the promise of a Savior to come, a promise that cannot fail, God also wrapped that promise up in a promise of protecting physical Israel as well. God would keep the nation of Israel alive in order to preserve his promise of Messiah.

The second piece that strikes me is that the motivation for Esther to join in the mission had nothing to do with whether the mission would be accomplished without her. Esther was to join the mission for her own good and for the glory of the Lord who had raised her up. I think of that in parallel to evangelism. Those who believe in God’s sovereign predestination realize that we are not the ultimate factor in the salvation of others. Others will be saved without us. But, for the good of our souls and for the glory of god, we join in the work of taking the gospel to friends, family members, coworkers, classmates, and the nations. If it puts you off to think that God could save somebody without you, you are very confused as to who is God and who is not. But if you grasp that the Lord allows your participation in the process, you should be honored and overjoyed to join in for such a time as this.

A political Plot

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The Book of Esther is an amazing account of the sovereignty of God preserving the line of promise in some incredible ways. A major part of what happens involves a political plot by an evil man to attempt to destroy the Jews. And, if we watch carefully, we will see some modern-day parallels.

Haman was a wicked and powerful political official. IN the opening paragraph of Esther 3, Haman is offended by Mordecai the Jew, because Mordecai would not bow to Haman in the way that Haman wanted. Haman’s selfishness, pride, and bitterness led him to find out what was Mordecai’s nationality, and then to seek the destruction of all Jews. Note, this was all about Haman’s personal offense.

Here is Haman’s plot hatched.

Esther 3:8-9 – 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.”

Haman approaches the king with two factors to attempt to sway the king against the Jews. First, Haman argues that there is a people who do not benefit the king because they are different. Haman highlights that a people group with different values, different morality, from the king are dangerous and unhelpful. Haman also falsely accuses the Jews of not keeping the law of the land. This was a lie, but it piggy-backed nicely with what he had already done to accuse the Jews. Note, Haman says these people are dangers because they are different and then he lied about them to make them look even worse.

Third, Haman then offered the king straight cash. If the king would let Haman take care of this pesky problem, Haman would see to it that a lot of gold would find its way into the treasury. Note, Haman tried to buy influence, and succeeded.

Are there modern-day parallels? IF you pay attention to politics, yes. In the U.S., Canada, and Britain, we have seen stories of people rising up against Christians in various ways. What is interesting is that the rationale and tactics are nearly identical. People are opposing the people of God because they are offended by us. We will not bow to things they want us to bow to, we will not celebrate what they demand we applaud, and they are furious—just like Haman. So they attempt to sway the governments and courts—just like Haman. Some will tell society that we are dangerous because we are different, we do not value what others value, we are on the wrong side of history—just like Haman. Some will say that we are refusing to obey the laws of the nation, an accusation that is not true but which is costly to defend against—just like Haman. And many of the most outspoken against Christians and our values are those who are dumping massive amounts of funds into political campaigns—just like Haman.

But if we see those parallels, we should also see the major parallel that goes with them: God is in control as much today as yesterday. God moved in Esther’s day to preserve his people. His moves were amazing. His moves were unexpected by many. But his moves kept his people alive, keeping his promise alive. And we have no reason to believe that God is unable to do the same today.

God does not promise us a peaceful political future. He may indeed allow us to glorify him by living in a nation where it is very hard to be a believer in society. But, and this is important, God is just as much in control of the world today as he has ever been. So we need not lose hope or lose heart. God will, in the end, show that his name is glorious and his ways are right. God will set all right, Christ will reign, and we, the people of God, will find our blessing in eternity with the Savior.

A Prayer We Often Miss

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When you pray, do you pray for governmental leaders? When you pray for them, do you pray biblically?

In 1 Timothy 2, God calls us to pray for political leaders, but the rationale he gives us might surprise you.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 – 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Paul says to pray in all sorts of ways for all sorts of people. He includes rulers, which is fascinating since Nero was the Emperor of Rome at that time. Part of a Christian’s prayer life is to include requests regarding kings, presidents, etc.

But note the why. I think that is fascinating. We pray for our leaders, because we want to live peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified. This is not praying for the leaders that we be massively impactful in the community. It is not praying for the leaders that we get special favor to become the church of the state. It is not praying for our leaders that we get to put up a nativity scene in the town square or a monument to the Ten Commandments on the courthouse lawn. It is a prayer for our leaders that we be allowed to live out our faith in peace.

Christians, be praying for leadership. Be praying for government. But this is no call to think that government is the solution to the problems of the land. We pray so that we can be free to serve the Lord. WE pray, because we want to see leaders saved, which pleases God just as much as it pleases God when non-leaders are saved (cf. verses 3-ff). And with that prayer is our commitment to live out peaceful, quiet, godly, dignified lives as Christians.

May we be people who pray for our leaders and pray biblically. And then may we be a people who live as the Lord has called us, peacefully, quietly, with dignity, in godliness, in accord with the Lord’s commands, to the glory of God.

Two Prayers We need

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It’s easy to be that person who speaks out slamming all of the things we have in our culture. It is easy to write the post about how messed up we are because of smart phones, selfies, and social media. It is easy to take shots at the 30-year-old gamer and his friend, the social justice political Tweeter-, both of whom are still living in their parents’ basements. Goodness, yesterday I saw a tweet from a man linking to his article about how he needed to step away from social media—he tweeted it instead of just doing it.

So, I don’t want to take the easy road of declaring that everything modern stinks. That has all been done. But reading God’s word, I am reminded of a couple of prayers we need to have on our lips if we are going to try to live in this odd culture that has become ours in the 21st century.

Psalm 119:36-37

36 Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.

These two verses are a great check on us today. They are not hard to understand, but they need to be central to us. David wants God to direct his heart, not toward selfish gain, but toward God’s testimonies. David wants God to focus him, not on getting ahead, but first on the word of God. Because David knows that a focus on the word of the Lord, the testimonies of who God is and what he has done, that will change his personality, values, and worldview.

David also prays that God keep him from focusing his eyes on worthless things. There are so many to choose from, and David did not even have the Internet. Yet David knew that focusing on worthless things would be a way to have his heart turned away from the Lord. David knew that life is found in the ways and commands of the Lord, not in the foolish time-wasters of his day.

If David needed these prayers, how much more do we? On the negative side, let us pray that God would keep us from seeking selfish gain and looking at worthless things. I’m not here aimed at legalism. I will not define for you what is and is not worthless. You, if you will talk to the Lord and study his word, will have the Spirit of God help you to know what is worthless. You, if you will be honest, will know when you are frittering away your time and focusing yourself on yourself and not on the things of God. Pray for God’s protection here.

And do not think that the positive sides of these commands are not important. They are where we find life instead of just turning from wrong. Ask God to incline your heart toward his testimonies and give you life in his ways. That, dear friends, is a heart focused on and leaning toward the words, the proclamations, the commands of holy Scripture. That is asking God to make you a strongly biblical person, a person who loves and obeys his word. You need this to battles selfishness and foolishness in this generation.

Where Is Your Delight?

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Think about your life, Christian, and ask the question, “Where is my delight?” In What do you find the deepest joy, the greatest fulfillment? Where is your heart full? What can you not live without?

We have become, in so many cases, a people who have replaced what should be our delight with something far less. Hear that, and think it through. This is not a preacher beating you up and just calling you bad. No, this is a fellow believer calling you to not lose the thing that can, if you will go there, fill your heart with delight. You want this. You want joy. You want delight. But it does not come from where many think.

Psalm 119:20, 24

20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your rules at all times.
24 Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counselors.

David writes of his delight, his deep longing, in a way that does not fit many of us today. David delights in God’s rules and his testimonies. What is that? David delights in the word of God. If we wish to please the Lord, we too will delight in God’s word as David did.

What I want us to note, however, is not merely that David delighted in Scripture, but in what kind of things overjoy his soul. David delights in the rules of God. David delights in the law of God. Do you? Think about this with honesty. Many today delight in promises of blessing and sweet words of comfort. Good, and well we should. But do we also delight when God tells us his rules, his standards, his ways.

The modern tendency is to be embarrassed by the rules of God. We think we are being grace-oriented or gospel-centered, but really, we hide from the laws and commands of God because such is not popular in our world. When God has a law about marriage, gender, or sexuality, we do not let the world know we delight in God’s law. Instead, many either attempt to explain it away, or accept it with a blush the way that many of us wink and shrug at a friend when an uncle does something odd an unexplainable. Yeah, he’s part of the family, but you know, we’re not all really like that.

But, dear Christian friends, we are to delight in the law of God. We are to rejoice in his ways and his standards. We are to be overwhelmed by the fact that God would tell us who he is and what pleases him. We are to be thrilled to get under his lordship and submit to his word.

Perhaps you and I need to pray and ask God to make us delight in his word. We need to ask him to help us love, not only the promise of heaven or the sweetness of grace. We need to love his standards of purity, his structure for the church, his call for morality. We need to find our hearts thrilled when we see what God is like as we watch his salvation and his justice demonstrated in the word. Let us learn to love God by loving, delighting in, rejoicing in his law, his testimony, his rules, his word.

Immediate Obedience

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When you read a command in the word of God, something that perhaps you have not been obeying well in your past, what do you do? What do I do? I think, if we are honest, we often will spend some time squirming and trying to figure out how not to have to obey the command. Or perhaps we think about the command, think about the inconvenience that repentance will cause, and then we determine what to do.

But let me be clear with myself, and with anyone who reads this: To wait to obey is to disobey. When we see the word of God clearly call us to turn from sin and follow him, we need to move right now. WE must be, as believers in the Lord Jesus, yielded to the word of God.

Look at this example from the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 8:13-18 – 13 On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. 14 And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” 16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

When the people heard Ezra and the other leaders teaching the word of God, they repented as a people. Suddenly, some of them, reading the law of God, saw that God commanded the people to celebrate the Festival of Booths. Part of that feast, as is obvious by the name, is that the people build little branch shelters and camp out for the week as a reminder of the wilderness wanderings of the nation of Israel.

Now, here is what is cool to me. When they saw this law, and when they saw they had not obeyed this law, the people just moved. All at once, as a people, they went out, got branches, and camped out. They stopped what they were doing, obeyed the word of God, and followed his commands as best they could. This was the first time in a long time that the people had obeyed this command, and I am sure it was inconvenient and a little weird, but they did what they were told.

Obviously, some commands require that we interpret them and understand them. Some are hard, and they take us some time to get to the point. But the real point is that, if you know that the word of God is telling you to do a certain thing, do it now. If you know that the word of God is telling you to stop a certain thing, stop it now. If obedience to the command of God is going to inconvenience you or embarrass you, obey anyway. People of God love the Lord and love his word. And obedience to the Lord should be as immediate as we can make it.

Only Eternity Helps

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There are many promises made in Scripture, promises of the great care and kindness of God. We see promises that the Lord makes that his people will have life and good days. We see promises of healing and preservation.

But, what about the world we live in? We do not, in our world, always see the rescue that the Scripture promises. What then do we do?

If the Scripture promises us a rescue from God, but then we do not seem to experience that rescue, we have a couple of choices. Primarily, we can choose to believe that something is wrong with the Scripture, or something is wrong with our understanding. Since Scripture is the revelation of the Holy God, inspired, inerrant, true in all it intends to teach us, we ought not assume that the problem is in the word. And that leads us to measure our understanding of and interpretation of that word.

Take the words of David here as an example. Consider what appears to be said. And then consider what we really must take from the text.

Psalm 34:19-22

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Take this first on the surface without attempting to consider context or reality. It looks like the Psalm is promising us safety in all circumstances. God will not let the bad guys get us. God will not let our bones be broken. God will judge the wicked and rescue the children of God.

But, is that the experience of folks living in a fallen world? No, it is not. Pain crosses the path of the evil and of those who seem to follow the Lord. In many countries, Christians are brutally persecuted. Their bones are surely broken, and often their lives are forfeit. And it looks like the bad guys are getting away with everything.

One side note on the interpretation of this text, by the way, is that it prophesies Jesus. He had none of his bones broken. John noticed this and highlighted it for us in John 20:36. But we cannot say that Jesus did not suffer. What we find out is that, though Jesus died as a sacrifice for the sins of others, Jesus rose from the grave and lives eternally. His eternity of glory is the rescue that the Psalmist was writing of.

And for Christians living in a hard world, the concept of rescue in eternity is the key to dealing with these promises. If we do not have forever, if this life is all there is, then it looks like something is untrue in the promises of Scripture. But if we have forever, if we will live again after we die, if there is an eternity on the other side of this life, we can see the promises intact. How are we redeemed and kept from harm? In Christ, we are preserved. None of Christ’s bones were broken. In Christ, when we are raised from the dead, we will apply that text to ourselves, knowing that we live because of Christ. WE will see that, even if we die at the hands of evil men bent on persecution, we were not eternally harmed.

Christians, the Lord delivers us out of all afflictions. That does not mean that he keeps us from harm or death. Instead, it means something far better. He preserves us eternally. In Christ, he forgives us, keeps us, and brings us a resurrection. That resurrection will be to perfection, an eternity of joy without any sort of failing or sin. How can we know this will be ours? The fact that God raised Jesus from the dead is one piece of evidence. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is another evidence. Our hope is not in comfort and protection in this life. Our hope is in the promise of eternity. That is Christian hope. And that hope helps us to see that all of God’s promises in his word will come to pass, even if this world is hard.

A Powerful Reaction to Sin

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Once the temple is completed in the book of Ezra, we watch as the continuing sin of Judah is exposed. The people of God have chosen to directly disobey the commands of the Lord. They have intermarried with the people of other religions, not caring about the fact that such actions violate the law of God.

When Ezra discovers what has happened, his response to the sin of the people is strong.

Ezra 9:3 – As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.

The remainder of chapter 9 of Ezra is his prayer of confession. Ezra sees that the nation has just returned from exile for their sin. Yet, the nation has returned, almost immediately to the same kind of sin as earned them their exile in the first place. And Ezra confesses to the Lord that they deserve his judgment.

What strikes me as I read through this is not the overall story, but the passionate reaction of Ezra to the sin of the people of God. Ezra cared. Ezra was mortified that the people who claim to be followers of God would flat refuse to obey a clear and simple command of the Lord. And the command they violated was one of great personal danger. This was not making themselves unclean by a bad food choice. This was the people making permanent changes to their families in opposition to the Lord.

What I wonder for us is when is the last time we have hated sin with that kind of passion? When is the last time that we looked at our own choices and wanted to tear our clothes and pull out our hair. No, I’m not interested in an odd monastic flagellation. What I simply wonder is when is the last time we really cared, emotionally, deeply, gut-wrenchingly cared about the fact that our sin is a direct rebellion against the commands of a gracious God.

I love gospel. I love grace. I want us to live as people under grace. But we cannot live well under grace without recognizing that sin is significant. We cannot love God well without caring about his law. Jesus said that the one who has and obeys his commands is the one who loves him (John 14:15). WE cannot love God without obedience.

No, I do not want you to beat yourself or others for failing. But I do want us all to care about the Lord, about his holiness, and about the word. I want us, like Ezra, to see that God has given us grace upon grace. I want us to love that grace, but to never belittle that grace in presumptuous sin. May we be a people who repent well, including being a people who hurt when we sin so that our turning from sin will last.

A Biblical Refusal to Compromise

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Who are the people of God and who are not? Who worships the Lord and who does not? In our culture, those questions are dangerous. Answering them with any sort of biblical exclusivity will put you in a bad cultural light.

But our culture is not the only one where claiming that not all people are OK with God can make trouble. It caused a problem for the people in the book of Ezra, the people who were rebuilding the temple. But they did not compromise, and that was to the glory of God.

Ezra 4:1-3 – 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.”

The story is actually very cool. God had the Persian ruler to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and again build the temple of the Lord. That is a miracle. When the work began, a group of people who were not for the Jews, a group not really wanting to follow the Lord, came and asked to be allowed to participate in the temple-building work.

The men who wanted to join in the building project were not true followers of the Lord. They were people who thought they could include sacrificing to the God of the Bible along with serving other deities. They were the folks in the early years of the mixed up religion of the Samaritans so far as I can tell.

But the people of God simply told these people no. They let these men know that their religion was not in accord with that of the people of God. They let them know that you don’t just declare yourself to be OK with God and that be true. And the people of God did not compromise, even though that lack of compromise would most certainly hinder their work going forward. IN fact, the lack of compromise caused the king to shut down the building process for a bit before it could start up again.

Here in the 21st century, people would read this story with a few different responses. To some, the thought would be, “How dare you not let someone practice your religion with you? How dare you say that they are not part of the people of God?” That would be the response of a goodly number of those who do not understand the word of God. It would be the response of our age in which we believe that personal autonomy is superior to the word and the ways of God. But the Lord has always been clear in his word that he, not mankind, will determine the way to come to know him and to please him.

Another response would be, “Well, if these folks are useful, they can help you build, keep the government off your back, and maybe they will join up with the true religion. Let’s give them a shot.” This is what I would guess would be the response of many religious folks today. Many who claim to represent the Lord would have no problem compromising in order to see growth. And many would have no problem compromising in the hope that those they let come in and join them in the work would eventually be saved.

But the response of the men of God was an exclusive response. They understood that there was only one way to God, and that way could not be compromised. They understood that no religious act of worship was to be compromised for the pragmatic success of getting a building built or looking good to the local government. They understood that the worship of the Lord is a sacred thing that is only acceptable from the genuine people of God.

Now, consider our age and consider the word of God. There is only one way to God, by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:6). Thus, Christians who love the word of God are just as exclusive as were Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses. And our worship today should not be compromised to impress the local government. We exist to first honor the Lord before we exist to change anything in the community. And we will not honor the Lord by compromising to change the community. Instead, we worship the Lord as he has commanded, we declare that Jesus is the only way to be right with God, and we lovingly urge people, not to join us in our activities in general, but to turn from sin and become part of the people of God by grace through faith in Christ. No, we are not going to be mean to anybody. But we will make it clear that the true worship of the Lord and a true relationship with the Lord is only found in genuine faith in Christ. And we must not give any sort of false picture that would allow others to believe that we believe otherwise.