Tag: Travis Peterson

What should we pray for our nation? How should we feel toward our nation? This is and will remain for years to come a difficult question for many.

There is so much to be grateful for as a citizen of the U.S. We have been given, at least until now, the freedom to worship the Lord without hindrance. The government does not attempt to establish for us a state church or a required set of doctrines we must adhere to. This is good. Many men and women have sacrificed their lives and given of themselves to protect the freedoms we have in our nation and to protect other nations around the world from the attacks of others. So, in very many ways, we are children of a rich heritage.

Proverbs 14:34 – Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

The proverb reminds us, however, that what defines a nation is not necessarily its freedom or its past. Instead, what makes a nation great or what makes it a reproach is simply this: righteousness. If a nation can be defined as clinging to God’s righteousness, it is a nation that will be exalted. If it is a nation that embraces sin, it is reproached by the Lord.

With all of the great things that our nation has to offer, we still must ask ourselves the question as to which category in the above proverb our nation falls into. I do not believe that this is always going to be the same for all people across this great land. Nor do I think that this question would be answered the same way all throughout our history. But, for now, where you live, is our nation a nation of righteousness or a nation that embraces sin? What is valued by the people? What is promoted and embraced by the government? What do you see as the direction of the local leadership? What do you see in our national government?

No, I’m not going to go political here. Nor am I going to start sin-listing. What I am going to do is simply say, without qualification, our nation needs repentance. We, as a nation, embrace thoughts and activities that the Lord forbids. We as a people are given to the celebration of things that the Lord tells us we should turn from. We as a nation need grace from God in order to avoid his reproach and his judgment.

So, dear friends, let us add to our prayers today a cry that the Lord have mercy on our people and our land. We should not, however, simply ask for God to ignore our sin. Instead, we should ask him to help us, as a people, to see his kingdom come and his will be done right where we live. We should ask him to help our nation change her policies toward righteousness as defined by Scripture. No, we do not wish to establish a national religion—such has never changed human hearts. But we want to be a people defined as a nation embracing righteousness for the blessing of the Lord.

What things are to be present in the church? What has God commanded us to do? What has God told us is of utmost importance?

It’s funny, but if you compare Scripture to what many of us do, you will find that we are not always on the same page. Many of us fill our lives and our churches with activities so that we have no time for stillness. Many of our churches are so full of things that just have to be done that our workers are actually giving up time in worship, in silence, in study, or in meditation for the sake of the activities we feel are required to keep our churches growing.

Without going on a big rant about this topic, let me simply point us to a passage that I read in my daily reading that speaks to the concept.

Luke 10:38-42 – 38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary and Martha were sisters who loved the Lord Jesus. They both wanted to honor him ,and in this instance, they both tried to honor him in different ways. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. Her desire was to worship and learn from Jesus. Martha was busy. She had work to do. She had things that just needed to be done.

Martha, frustrated at her sister’s stillness, called on Jesus to tell her to get up and start working. But Jesus responded in a way that surprised Martha. Jesus said that Mary had chosen what was better, and he would not take it from her. Mary had done what pleased Jesus far more than had Martha, even though Martha was working harder and accomplishing more.

I wonder, are you too busy for worship? Are you so busy trying to change the world for the Lord that you are failing to sit still in his presence? Are you too busy trying to make your church grow to actually focus your own life on the worship of the Savior? Jesus is not glorified if we develop big churches that are so rushed, so programmed, so intent on success that we forget to magnify the Savior in our own lives. God commands worship. God delights in his people focusing on his glory and enjoying his majesty. And if we miss this, we miss what church is about regardless of how big we grow or how big our impact is on our communities.

Of course the Lord is not telling us here to be lazy. This passage is not supposed to make us go monastic. But the Lord wants us to remember that he is not honored if we shape our lives and ministries so that we are too busy to worship. 

Some Bible stories have been told, and even mis-told, so that it is hard to learn from them what is true or what the biblical point is. One such story is the account of David dancing before the Lord. I have heard false facts and false applications from this passage, and we want to do better. God has something for us to learn, and we will not get it if we are focused on something God is not trying to tell us.

If you recall, the ark of the covenant was being moved into the city of Jerusalem. David had experienced a tragedy when Uzzah died during the move because of the people’s failure to obey the commands of God about how to move the ark. That disobedience put Uzzah in a dangerous place, he touched the ark, and he died.

Once the people began again to move the ark, this time in the way God told them to, there was a tremendous celebration. David and the people were overjoyed that God was finally allowing the ark to return to Jerusalem, as they knew this pointed to the favor of God.

2 Samuel 6:14 – And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.

1 Chronicles 15:27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers. And David wore a linen ephod. 

Now, think of what you have heard about the scene as the ark was moved. David danced before the Lord with all his might. And how was he dressed? If you have heard the story told  before, you have probably heard it at least hinted at that David was undressed, naked as he danced. But such is not at all what the Scripture says.

Where did people get this false idea?

2 Samuel 16:20-22 – 20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” 21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will make merry before the Lord. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.”

David’s wife was ashamed of how David was acting and how he was dressed. David dressed down, like a commoner, so as to celebrate and dance for joy. David’s wife, King Saul’s daughter, did not think David was being kingly enough. She thought that a king should not lower himself to celebrate like the common people, even in celebration of the kindness of God.

So, let’s fix a couple of wrong statements. First, David was not naked. He did not dance unclothed. He danced in linen. He danced looking like a commoner and not a  king. But he was not at all inappropriately garbed. He was not immodest.

Second, the dancing David did was as part of a joy-filled celebration. It was like a national holiday. David danced over the return of the ark in a way that might remind us of a city having a parade when their football team wins the Super Bowl. The people shout, dance, and basically go nuts with happiness. But, what David did was not a part of a formal and orderly worship service. Neither is dancing like David part of the biblical command for regular, weekly, New testament worship.

When David said to his wife that he was willing to be even more contemptable or undignified, he was not suggesting that being undignified , silly, or chaotic should mark Christian worship. He was telling his wife that he was willing to celebrate the victory of the Lord just like the common people no matter how much it bugged her to see him go nuts with happiness.

It is wise for us not to let ourselves go too far with a passage like David’s dancing. We need to see that he was dressed and he was celebrating a great happening with all his heart. But he was not giving us a model for New Testament worship that calls us to lack reverence or dignity when we serve the Lord. May we think clearly and interpret faithfully when we are inspired by biblical stories. And may we not allow ourselves to believe false things from the Scriptures just because they sound fascinating. 

The grace of God is a marvelous thing. To be under the grace of Christ is to be free to enter the presence of the Lord in safety, knowing that the perfection of the Son of God and the  full work of his sacrifice is there to protect you and to bring you into God’s family. We must rejoice in that grace. We should feel free and confident if we are in Christ.

But, I fear that we so often talk about the freedoms of grace that some forget the significance of the holiness of God. We must not forget that what makes grace so amazing is not just the benefit of joy but also the terror of the judgment we deserve for offending the holiness of God.

I thought of this while reading through 1 Chronicles 13. This chapter tells the account of David and the men of Israel moving the ark of the covenant of God. The ark, if you remember, is a gold-covered box that represented the presence and holiness of the Lord. In the process, a man named Uzzah saw that the ark was in danger of falling off the cart it was sitting on, and he reached out to keep the ark from crashing to the ground.

1 Chronicles 13:9-10 9 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.

That, my friends, is a frightening holiness. Uzzah had good intentions. Uzzah was trying to help. But, Uzzah came into contact with the holiness of God without proper protection. And when he did so, Uzzah’s life was forfeit.

Holiness is deadly. We cannot be in the presence of holiness while we are in our sin without our lives being destroyed. God is pure, and he cannot and will not allow his purity to be compromised by ignoring or accepting sin. He must punish sin properly, and that punishment is an infinite wrath which matches god’s infinite perfection. Even our good intentions leave us short of God’s perfection, guilty, and judged. This is why Uzzah died.

It is only if you grasp the significance of god’s holiness that you will grasp the significance of the grace of God in Christ. Jesus is our propitiation. That word means that Jesus is the sacrifice who can both cover our sins and reconcile us to God. The anger of God over our sins against him is fully satisfied in Christ’s offering and he can now look upon his children, those in Christ, with only favor that fits the perfect life that Christ lived.

So, holiness should terrify us. And holiness should make us unbelievably happy about the grace of God in Christ. Only in Christ can we enter the presence of God without being immediately destroyed as Uzzah was. Only in Christ can we live in the presence of God. Only in Christ can we survive for eternity in the joy of the Lord.

#END

Sometimes in my daily reading, I catch myself wanting to be sure that I’m “going deep.” I want to find those big and hidden truths that make me feel like I’ve really spiritually gotten somewhere. I want to feel smart. I want to feel like I have discovered something.

But, if I am really going to be a faithful reader of Scripture and a wise believer, I have to learn to let the simple truths of Scripture, especially the ones that God clearly has made prominent, stand out to me. I must not let the quest for depth cause me to miss the incredible significance of the simple and yet eternal points of the text. And one of those hit me as I was reading through Luke 9.

Luke 9:23-25 – 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Jesus calls on those who would follow him to do so with a cross. Following Jesus has never promised to be an easy life. Jesus repeatedly tells believers that this is a hard path, a road through suffering and death to glory. Jesus promised his followers persecutions, hardships, betrayals, and eternal life.

But, the big point, the big truth behind it all for me this reading was the simple, obvious, we’ve-seen-it-a-thousand-times-question: For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? This is a pretty binary, on or off, kind of question. Where do you want your life to be? Do you want to fight for comfort and ease in the here and now, or do you want life that lasts forever? Do you want a moment of peace with an eternity of pain? Or can you handle a moment of pain with an eternity of joy to follow?

Like I said, that is so obvious. But, it is also the actual point of the Savior. He wants us to think like this. He wants us to realize that our lives are either about this temporary life or the eternity to come.

How differently does this all make us think about our present circumstances? We are not made to try to get the most out of this short, shallow, sin-filled life. That does not mean that life here is irrelevant. It does not mean that we are not allowed great pleasures and tremendous joys. What it means is that, if you make this world during this lifetime your focus, you will miss the point. We are created for eternity.

Also, recognize that you will exist eternally no matter what choices you make. However, your eternal condition is determined by whether or not you are under the grace of God. If you want life and peace forever, you must be reconciled to God. We have rebelled against our Creator, and we must be forgiven and made clean before him or we will face his eternal wrath. The way to be cleansed and forgiven is to trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus and to turn your life over to him. Jesus has perfection to cleanse us and he made himself a sacrifice to forgive us. He is our only hope.

Following Jesus contains joys. But following Jesus can also lead us through hardships in a godless world. But, in the end, following Jesus is about our eternal lives. We want to be forgiven. We want the grace of God. We want eternal joy. And that is found in Jesus, not in the petty pleasures this world has to offer.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 – 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

The call to fan into flame the gift of God is for all Christians, you and me too, because the same Spirit of God who gave Timothy his gift for ministry is the Spirit of God who lives within all of us. Every last one of us has the Spirit in us that Timothy has in him if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:9 – You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Ephesians 1:13-14 – 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

1 John 3:24 – Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Stop and truly let this truth sink in. If you are a Christian, God has made his Holy Spirit to come and live in you. You have access to the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-sufficient, all-perfect Holy Spirit of God. God lives in you if you are his.

If you are a Christian, you have a Spirit given to you by God that is not a Spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

When you feel the grip of fear coming on, trying to prevent you from doing what God wants you to do, as a Christian, the first thing that you should remember is that your fear is not from God. God has given you a Spirit that is not one of fear. In fact, the perfect love of God drives out fear. So when you feel fear, stop, pray, and say both to God and to yourself, “Lord, I know that the fear that I am feeling is not coming from you. When I fear man instead of obeying you, I dishonor you and I dishonor the Spirit you have sent to dwell in me. Please forgive me for this fear, and drive out that fear with your perfect love.”

What does Paul mean in the book of Colossians when he uses the word “firstborn” to refer to Jesus? That is an important theological question. Is Paul suggesting that Jesus is created by the Father? Is Paul suggesting that a time in eternity exists when the Son of God did not exist?

Colossians 1:15-16 – 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

That phrase, “firstborn of all creation,” is a tough one if it is lifted out of context without biblical light shined upon it. If a person from a religious cult lifts that phrase out on its own, they make an argument that the Son of God does not exist in eternity past. But there are many reasons not to think that the phrase means that Jesus was created.

Simplest among the reasons not to be confused by “firstborn of all creation” is the fact that the next lines from Paul’s pen indicate that all things that have been created are created by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. If Jesus created all things, if nothing was created that he did not create (c.f. John 1:1-3), it makes no sense to call Jesus created. If he created all, he cannot himself be created.

The other argument comes from the differing uses of the word “firstborn,” and it was this thought that came to my mind during my daily reading. You see, I was reading through Psalm 89, and was reminded of another biblical use of the word.

Consider the fact that the same word or phrase can mean multiple things in our language. What does the word “run” mean? It might be how you move quickly. It might mean to try to be elected to an office. It might mean what your nose does when you have a cold. It might mean that your car’s engine is on or your refrigerator is working properly. It might mean how you oversee your business. It might be what a river does. It might mean a number of different things, though it is actually only one word.

If we can easily understand that a word can have more than one meaning, we can be content not to let the word “firstborn” throw us for a loop. Yes, in my family, when I think of my 3 children, I know who the firstborn is. And, in my family context, that means that my firstborn is the first child to enter our family. But there is another biblical use of that phrase that has nothing at all to do with coming into existence. An alternative biblical use of the phrase firstborn means to be of the highest rank.

Psalm 89:27And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

In Psalm 89, God speaks of David. He says that he will make David his firstborn. He says this, though David had clearly already been born. What does he mean? He means that David will be given the highest rank among the kings of the earth. David will be given a special rank in the relationship between God and national Israel. It has nothing to do with David coming into existence. It has everything to do with the position that God will allow David to occupy.

Similarly, when Jesus is called firstborn of all creation, it has nothing to do with Jesus beginning to exist. Jesus is eternal, the Creator God. But Jesus is also the firstborn, the highest ranking human ever. Jesus is the number 1 human even as he is eternally God. Jesus is not a creation of the Father. Jesus is, however, granted by the Father to be the one who rules over all creation too. That is what it means that Jesus is “firstborn of all creation.”

The parable of the sewer is one of those parables that I have heard well-meaning Christians debate fervently while both sides of the debate missed the point entirely.

Luke 8:5-8 – 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

This is a pretty familiar passage to believers. It is easy to remember because of the simple imagery. We can all imagine a farmer planting seed. WE can easily imagine some seed growing and some not making it. And we can see that Jesus makes multiple parallels to real life.

The argument that I have heard that misses the point has to do with what this parable may or may not say about salvation and eternal security. If you have been around believers for a while, you may have heard them discuss which groups of the seeds represent saved people. Should we assume that the seeds that were scorched and choked by thorns are saved people who did not grow? Or should we assume they were lost? Or, even theologically worse, do those two categories hint at a loss of salvation (they do not, as the Bible is clear that saved people remain saved and grow)?

It is at this point that I want to call on us to stop asking the wrong question. Jesus did not present this parable to share with us highly nuanced categories of believers, non-growing believers, and the lost. Nor did Jesus offer this as a way to teach on the truth of eternal security, perseverance of the saints—at least not in the way that many bring it up. Jesus had a simple point he wanted to make. And if we miss it because of our questions, we do not help ourselves or anybody else.

The point is simple: true Christians grow. That is it. There are lots of people who will claim to believe in God. Good for them. True Christians grow. There are lots who will claim religion so long as religion costs them nothing. I’m not worried about that. True Christians grow. True Christians learn to obey Jesus. True Christians repent of sin, worship the Lord, and share his message with the world. The point of the parable is that true Christians grow.

So, reading that parable, stop trying to make every little part speak to a theological concept of salvation. Why would you worry about whether the thorn-choked seeds represented saved people? Instead, why not point out that our goal is not to be those folks? Our goal is to grow in Christ. Our goal is to bear fruit. Our goal is to not let the cares of this life or a fading initial joy wipe us out. We are to be in it for the long haul. We are to be committed with our entire lives through any circumstances, joys, pains, poverty, etc.

The point of this parable is to teach us that true Christians grow. Are you growing? Are you sticking with your commitment even when the initial joy is a distant memory? Are you sticking with the faith even when it hurts your prospects for worldly success? Are you sticking with the faith even when it is hard? Are you communicating the faith to the next generation? Are you setting down deep roots in the word of God and in obedience to the Savior? Those are the questions we should be asking when we read the parable of the sewer. 

Why do Christians talk about sin all the time? Isn’t that just discouraging? Isn’t it negative? Someone from outside the faith might think such things. Of course, the world makes fun of us for talking so much about what is wrong with us (see Ned Flanders).

But have you ever stopped to consider how understanding our sinfulness helps us? There is actually a tremendous joy in grasping just how messed up we are. Without it, we cannot grasp grace.

In Luke 7, a woman came to Jesus in great sorrow over her sin. A religious leader looked down on Jesus for allowing himself to be in the presence of such a sinner, but Christ rebuked the man. Jesus pointed out that the woman was loving God much because of how great was her forgiveness.

Luke 7:47 – Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

So, the question is: How much have you been forgiven? That will help you to know how much joy you should have over grace. If you have not come to Christ for forgiveness, you have no reason to rejoice over grace with the exception of being grateful to God that you are still alive, and thus forgiveness is still available.

But if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, consider how great is your forgiveness. At this point, you may be tempted to go over your life and think of the worst sins you have committed—a very unpleasant task. Or, it is even possible that, if you have nothing major in your past, you will wonder if you are bad enough to love much as Jesus said. But both of those are the wrong direction for thinking of how great is your forgiveness.

Start your thinking with the Lord. God is perfect. God is endlessly, eternally, infinitely perfect. It is not that my goodness is a 2 and God’s is a 10. God’s goodness is infinity times infinity as the kids like to say. So, regardless of how good or bad I have ever been, the difference in measure between my goodness and God’s goodness is infinity. Now, sin is to fail to live up to God’s level of righteousness. So, my sin is equal to the gap between my goodness and God’s: infinite. Regardless of whether I am a former murderer or a lovely little church kid, my sin before God is an infinite gap.

Now, add in the justice of God. WE all know that the proper punishment must fit the crime. But our crime against the Lord is infinite, as we have fallen infinitely short of God’s perfection. Ponder that, let it sink in, and you will start to understand some majorly important things. Because of my sin, I deserve infinite punishment. No matter how big or little my sin is, my failure to live up to God’s perfection merits infinite wrath from God. This, of course, is why hell is a forever punishment for sin.

With that understood, I can now go back and reflect on how much I have been forgiven. Jesus, God the Son, the infinitely perfect one, came to earth to pay for my sin. Jesus took upon himself the proper penalty for my wrong. Jesus, because he is God in flesh, could successfully bear the wrath of God on my behalf, a wrath that would have cost me forever in hell. Jesus died and rose from the grave to prove that he fully paid the price for my sins and now I am forgiven by God’s grace alone through faith alone in the finished work and person of Christ alone.

When I recognize that my sin merited hell, no matter how bad it was or was not, and when I recognize that Jesus took a penalty I could have never finished paying for all eternity, I have reason to love much. I have been forgiven much. I have been forgiven just as much as any human being with any past. I have had an infinite judgment lifted from my record because of the grace and mercy and love of Jesus. And that should make me respond to Jesus with incredible, life-changing, soul-rejoicing gratitude.