The Spirit of the Last Age

One of the most common arguments for “family planning” is the lack of resources available to provide for children.  China has been on that train for years, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi isn’t too far behind.

As Denny Burk writes, “Pelosi’s remarks reflect the spirit of the age.  In general, our culture has come to view children as burden rather than as a blessing.  Even among those who are married, children are increasingly viewed as add-ons–an option that may or may not be pursued by the couple.”

The pressure is certainly strong, in a strapped economy, to put off children until the storm passes.  A culture with no unshakeable hope would reasonably look to storing, saving, hoarding as much as possible.  However, is this the attitude that Christians should have?  Is this one of those issues where Paul might desire to “spare you from worldly troubles” (1 Corinthians 7:28)?

The irony in that verse is that Paul did want to spare his people from worldly troubles…by asking them to stay single.  If you’re going to be married, he argues, you’re going to have worldly troubles, and that includes providing for a family. By the time a couple get married, they are past the point of no return for “family planning”.

Now, there is wisdom in a marriage for deciding when to start building a family.  When, not if.  Children are a blessing, and an appropriate outcome of marriage.  For the Christian, it seems that making a decision about whether or not to have children based on economic stability is not prudence, but fear.

Look at this passage from Psalm 113:5-9:

“Who is like the Lord our God,

who is seated on high,

who looks far down

on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes,

with the princes of his people.

He gives the barren woman a home,

making her the joyous mother of children.

Praise the Lord!”

 

Notice that same sovereign God who makes the barren woman joyful with offspring is the same God who provides materially for her as well.

Having children as the family structure of the surrounding culture becomes progressively more dysfunctional shines brightly the strength and stability of Christian familial love.  In the same way, having children in a culture that continues to get progressively more unstable economically, a culture that begins to reveal its true values by pitching the unecessary investments overboard,will demonstrate more clearly the worth and value that God places on human life and the sacrificial service needed to raise the future generations.

If this continues to be the spirit of the age, it will guarantee itself to be the final spirit of the last age.

The Reunion

Friendship forged on battle lines,
Tempered by the blood and steel,
Is Brotherhood becoming real
And familial love now redefined.

My comrades, we are one in will
For we strove as one in darkest lands
And clasped as one these wearied hands
And vowing to continue still

All loves like this have only been
An echo of our Savior’s end
Who laid His life down for his friends-
No greater love was ever seen!

Echoes, yes, but Spirit-wrought,
United hearts, we all proclaim
With voices one, the champion’s name
By which we brothers all were bought

And what company we shall keep
Drawing swords and daring death
Violent love with every breath
As one we laugh, as one we weep

But love like this is not contained-
Love multiplies, it overflows-
Though we hold it close, it ever goes
Out from the Center, unrestrained

This love splits and swells and severs
Like a chrysalis or acorn shells.
Fresh draughts drawn from deepest wells
Are separated from sister rivers.

Now scattered like the men of Acts
To preach the Word and change the world
We see a sovereign plan unfurled
And a promise that we’ll have no lack

With eyes of faith and a company spent
Soldiers sent to foreign fields
What victory will this battle yield?
What triumph is our Lord’s intent?

Oh feeble knees, come find your might
For our Captain, who knows his band,
Sees over the hill the enemies land
And sets his division divided aright.

So now our lack is full once more
As goodness from within this grace
Fills once more an empty space
Thus doubling what was had before

But what becomes of solemn bonds?
Do time and distance dissolve a trust
And grind the rock of love to dust
To remove from us what once was fond?

May it never be! By God, I say,
For a Spirit of immortal strength,
Plungeless depth and endless length
Delivers our communiqué

So be of courage, be of cheer
The chorus of our brethren hymn
Is harbored, anchored fast, with Him
Regardless of what happens here

And though an end is not the end
An end is still a pain to bear
God alone knows when and where
Next we go to meet our friend

If sorrow comes to call on us,
A mournful envoy from above-
It is no sin to weep in love
As elders wept at Ephesus

No promises about the ways
That cross, or meet, or intertwine
Until we break that ribboned line
And enter into endless days.

Dear brothers, we will meet again
On open shores and golden hills
When shadows pass and death is still
And the trumpet calls us all within.

Eddie Smith, March 2009

 

Whose Story Is This, Anyway?

Michael Horton:

“Does Christ come merely to improve our existence in Adam or to end it, sweeping us into his new creation? Is Christianity all about spiritual and moral makeovers or about death and resurrection — radical judgment and radical grace? Is the Word of God a resource for what we have already decided we want and need, or is it God’s living and active criticism of our religion, morality, and pious experience? In other words, is the Bible God’s story, centering on Christ’s redeeming work, that rewrites our stories, or is it something we use to make our stories a little more exciting and interesting?”

(HT: Of First Importance)

“To The Praise of His Glorious Grace”

Leighton Vary, with a simple but powerful breakdown of Ephesians 1:3-14.  Here is how he concludes:

All in all, we can look at this passage in one of three ways: We can see how much we are blessed, we can see how amazing God is, or we can see both. If we look at this from only the first perspective, it puts the focus on us, and we can easily distort this to say that we are the center of God’s attention. If we focus on only the second, then we miss out on the amazing blessings that come from a life given to God. But if we focus on the third, then we see that God blesses us for the purpose of bringing himself glory. God’s main concern is with his own glory, but that is the best thing for us as humans. Even in blessing us, God is still the center of the story, not us.

I am completely in awe about how much God does, and how much he does for me.  There is (gloriously!) not enough time in this life to mine the wealth of wonder and truth out of this passage alone, let alone the vast canvas of reality that God has given to us in His Word.

An Ancient Tradition, A Doctrine of Division

In an effort to continue the trend of traditionalism in the Roman Catholic church, dioceses have begun to reinvigorate the Catholic practice of the offering of indulgences.

An indulgence, according to the catechism of the Catholic church, is “remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church”.  A recent NY Times article explains that, “even after sinners are absolved in the confessional and say their Our Fathers or Hail Marys as penance, they still face punishment after death, in Purgatory, before they can enter heaven. In exchange for certain prayers, devotions or pilgrimages in special years, a Catholic can receive an indulgence, which reduces or erases that punishment instantly, with no formal ceremony or sacrament.”

Though there are different types and varying strengths of indulgences, all of which can be very complicated, as even Catholic priests may admit, the principle of the exchange is very clear.  By meeting prerequisite conditions decided upon by the Church, grace and forgiveness for sin will be meted out to those seeking absolution before God.

It is unlikely that the refreshed presentation of indulgences will provoke the level of religious backlash among devotees as it did in 1517. In response to the Romans Catholic abuse of indulgences, Martin Luther’s writing of the 95 Theses ignited the Protestant Reformation, arguably the greatest church schism in Christian history.

Luther wrote that “Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters” (Thesis 36).  His concern was neither the structure of the Catholic church, nor the Pope, nor even the idea of Purgatory.  Rather, he saw the use of indulgences as contrary to “The true treasure of the church”, which was “the most holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God” (Thesis 62).

He saw from the teachings of the Bible, that salvation was from first to last through faith alone in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for sins once for all (Romans 4:5, 6:10, Hebrews 10:10), as well as the provision of his righteousness alone for all who believe (John 1:12, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:11).  Luther’s response to the use of indulgences was similar to that of Peter towards Simon the magician in Acts 8:20-21: “”May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!  You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.”

Why We Cannot Ignore Social Issues and Still Uphold the Gospel

John Meyer:

John’s perspective must have been this: all of God’s truth hangs together. We cannot ignore some of it as a means to promote other parts of it. If we are to stand with God we must stand wherever God draws a line and the world denies that line. John believed that to proclaim God’s truth on the social moral issues of his day was as important as proclaiming the Messiah Himself. That choice cost John dearly. It cost him his ministry. It cost him his life. But Jesus said of him, “of those born of woman, none is greater than John the Baptist”. He did not err.

God’s Hearty Amen Towards Us

“Whatever God has promised to us–whether by way of covenant stipulation or stated intent, regardlesss of the context or time, no matter how unrealistic or far-fetched it may first appear–will come to pass because of who Christ is and what he has done.  He is the “Amen” to all God has said he will do.  This is true not simply because Jesus adds his personal word of confirmation or stamps it with his seal of approval.  It is true because he actually secures it and effectually brings it to pass by virtue of his death and resurrection. Whatever obstacles may have stood in the way of God’s promises coming true, such as our sin or Satan’s power, have been overcome by the blood of the Lamb.”

–Sam Storms, To the One Who Conquers: 50 Daily Meditations on the Seven Letters of Revelation 2-3

The God Who Remembers…and the God Who Forgets

The Psalms speak of all sorts of remembering, but in general, there are two categories.  There is sort where men remember God, and the other sort, where men ask God to remember them.  It makes sense, of course, that men should need admonition to remember God.  They are distracted, scattered, forgetful, and weak.  Forgetting a transcedant invisible being is not difficult when one is so used to dealing only with what the five senses identify.

But why then do men need to admonish God to remember?  Is He forgetful or distracted?  Will he fail to act because he might not remember?  Why do the psalmists seem so concerned that God might miss something?

A clue to this conundrum can be found in Psalm 25.

“Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

At first glance, the two “remembers” of verse 6 and 7 seem both to be focused on the God’s mercy, but a closer look reveals a difference.  Verse 6 asks God to remember his mercy; verse 7 asks God to remember David.  There are two things being sought out here.  The first is a memory of mercy, and the last is a memory according to mercy. David is taken with fear that God might might bring to mind his thoughts about him that accord, not with mercy, but with judgment.  In fact, he makes it clear in his prayer that an attitude of judgment is exactly what he doesn’t want: “Remember not…my transgressions”. His sins lay before God, exposed and apparent, and yet he tells God to forget about them.

This is certainly an audacious prayer.  And one that we should take up.  ”God, all my sin is before you. There is not one wrong deed I have committed that you have not seen.  I stand here now guilty as charged.  You are just…but…you are also loving.  In order to uphold YOUR goodness, set aside your judgment and look on me with a disposition of mercy.”

Never mind where that judgment ends up. Never mind how ignoring that justice is condusive to His goodness.  When I’m desperately guilty, and the “sins of my youth” pile up against my conscience, that’s the mercy I want.  That’s the rememberance I want. No, God has not forgotten my sin.  It is much more astonishing.  He knows and measures each of them, and then altogether buries my sin underneath the ocean of his mercy.

Stronger Than Gravity

“One day, our complete obedience to gravity will be matched and even outweighed by our joyful obedience in upholding that which is righteous. We will delight in perfectly obeying the new law of glorified human nature to which our submission will be complete and satisfying.”

Great stuff from Nick Rose.

The Trouble With Quiet Times

True, God does not command that we systematically read the Bible for fifteen minutes every morning.

That’s because He shouldn’t have to.

Rather, we ought to be greedy for it:

“In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches” (Psalm 119:14).

“I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (Psalm 119:16).

We ought to be in awe of it:

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).

We ought to be in need of it:

“I am a sojourner on earth; hide not your commandments from me!” (Psalm 119:19).

We ought to be longing for it:

“My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times” (Psalm 119:20).

And these are only a small sampling of many similar verses.  A heart born of God, born to be his child, his friend, his bride, does not force feed itself with the food God provides, but hungers for it.  A “quiet time” should not be seen as a chore to be checked off, but as an appetizer for a greater spiritual meal.  We surely need consistency, but let us approach it as a discipline that stimulates our deadened spiritual taste buds.  If, as a believer, you have trouble seeking out God in His word every day, then it is not because you are merely undisciplined.  More importantly, it is because you are experiencing a misplaced desire and a spiritual anemia towards His word.  Address the seriousness of the sickness, and then deal with the dosage.