Real Cultural Engagement

"...So we should be in the market for young Christian men and women who are willing to be trained in genuine cultural engagement. They won’t be embarrassed by old-fashioned virtues, like hard work and discipline. They will respect authority and defy the authorities. They won’t get fired from jobs because of laziness, and they will get fired from them because of something they said about homosexuality. They won’t resent money and success, and they won’t be dazzled by money and success. They will laugh at the hipsters, and they will laugh at themselves laughing at the hipsters. They will loathe the enticements of corrupt entertainment, and they will love a true story. They would rather die than become one of the cool kids. They will be cool." - Douglas Wilson

Should We Ask God to Destroy our Enemies?

A friend wrote to me about my recent sermons on the Psalms (I have been preaching through Psalm 31-40).  She is struggling with the idea of praying for the destruction of her enemies.  Are we supposed to do that?  Didn’t Jesus pray for the forgiveness of those who were putting Him to death?  She had many questions surrounding this topic.  Here was my “stab” at answering, briefly…

Destruction.  Death.  Why does God do that?  Why was there a flood over the whole world and everyone, everyone died (some estimate the world was more greatly populated than the 7 billion on earth today)?  Except for Noah and his family.  And was Noah really that much nicer than everyone else?  Start there when you are wondering about God dealing out destruction.  It’s tough. 

The chasm between God’s holiness (not niceness) and our fallenness is infinite.  The only way we even have life at all is Grace – all Grace.  The only way we are redeemed is Grace, all Grace.  I have no right to think that in comparison to anyone else, I deserve to live and they deserve to die – and that is what comes through so clear as you read the Psalms – all the Psalms.  One day, you should take a weekend and just make yourself read all 150 Psalms and see what you come away with – in total.  It is awesome, it is complex, it is unruly, God is not tame – but He is good.

So, am I to pray for the destruction of my enemies?  Well, as a follower of Christ and a member of His kingdom – yes.  But what do I mean by their “destruction?”  I mean to turn them over to God’s holy wrath that will glorify His name (to Whom I am ultimately loyal).  It is His full right and position to decide if He would “destroy” them in their sin by leaving them in that sin and place them under His good and righteous judgment or whether He “destroys” their “old man” by placing them in Christ where we die in His death and are raised to new life by faith in Him and His perfect work accomplished for us.  It certainly is a question “why does God not save everyone?” – and it is not easily answered.  It is just as much a wonderful question:  “why does God create and then redeem, save, and bring to Himself anyone?  Why does God save anyone?”  When God is revealed in all His glory, it doesn’t make sense, it is not easily answered.

Part of the reason, frankly, that these are questions which are so hard to answer is because our god is too small.  Where were we when He placed Jupiter where He desired?  How did He do that?  He tells us that we have to understand that (creation out of nothing, full and complete sovereignty over the stars and galaxies and over every sub-atomic particle) before we can understand the purpose of evil, the nature of fallen man and the salvation of God in full.  The point is that we have to take it in faith, bow and worship and receive His good gifts – and rest in a good Father’s wisdom that goes far beyond anything we could comprehend (Rom 11:33-36).

Our desire is for the world to be saved, for that “bad” destruction to not come upon our enemies, God’s enemies.  Bur read the story in the Bible – that is EXACTLY where this story is going.  Hallelujah!  The world will be as full of the glory of God (and the knowledge of the glory of God) as the waters cover the sea.  And as far as I can tell, the waters completely cover the sea.  The descendants of Abraham (those with the faith of Abraham) will not be able to be numbered (and we can still count to 7 billion and more) – they will be more numerous than the sand on the beach.  You can’t count that high.  Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

In the meantime, we are at war.  We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and our weapons are not carnal but spiritual for pulling down all strongholds.  Faith – that is what overcomes the world (1 John 5).  Sing the Psalms with that faith or they will be a bummer.  Sing the Psalm with that faith and they will be used by God to bring His salvation and the praise to the glory of His grace from the river to the ends of the earth.

 

Bold Sinners

One thing a penitential Psalm like Psalm 38 should do for us, should cause us to remember, is that we are not to come to the Lord’s Table and turn towards some kind of morbid introspection because we are such sinners and could never really be holy enough to come to this meal.  We should come to this Table as repentant and repenting sinners, as forgiven sinners, as bold sinners, bold to come for mercy because this is a feast of mercy – just what we need – just what we were summoned to come and receive.

 

Jesus is our salvation.  Jesus is our holiness.  Jesus is our sanctification.  We did not purchase ourselves and now we are presenting our purchased selves to Him.  He purchased us and so He has the right, not us, to bring us to this Table, to bring us to Himself.  And here is the good news – He wants to.  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

When It's Time to be Quiet

Thoughts as I study Psalm 39.  Just the first three verses -

 

I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.” ² I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; And my sorrow was stirred up. ³ My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

 

There is a time when it is best, as right as you may be, to just be quiet.  The Psalm-singer understood this.  Certainly Jesus did as well.  It is not that you don't have a good answer, a correction to the falsehoods being declared and lived out, even against you (and maybe especially in those times when it is against you).

 

There are times when you should not speak to men about it.  However, it is important to notice then the Psalm-singer is letting God know.  He is speaking to God about it.  Interestingly, the Psalm seems to end (v13) with the Psalm-singer even saying that he will cease from speaking to God about it.  Even here, it may be that he is ceasing to argue with the Lord and instead hoping in God and resting in that hope - resting in such a way that there is no need to speak about it anymore.

 

Helpful Cross-References:

 

V1 – “…while the wicked are before me”

Colossians 4:5 (NKJV)
⁵ Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

V2 – “I was mute with silence”

Isaiah 53:7 (NKJV)
⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.

Matthew 27:12-14 (NKJV)
¹² And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. ¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” ¹⁴ But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

“I held my peace even from good”

Matthew 7:6 (NKJV)
⁶ “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Hunger for Jesus

In the Garden, Adam was free to eat from all the trees but one.  But he was free to eat from all the other trees.  Hunger and eating things were part of the creation order and will be part of life in the resurrection.  But hunger always teaches us that we need something – something from outside ourselves – in order to be truly satisfied, truly full.  And of course, at this Table, we are always partaking by faith of that which truly satisfies and nourishes our souls – and that is the body and blood of our Perfect Sacrifice, our Savior and Lord.

 

And so, to be hungry for bread, to be thirsty for wine – these are good things.  But they teach us that to hunger for Jesus, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to hunger to be filled with the Spirit – these are the marks of the disciples of God, the followers of Jesus.  Come and welcome – come and partake of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Bread of Heaven

Hungry for God

If we have this right and Covenant Renewal leads to an end – here – at the Lord’s Table – then the work of the Word preached and sung and heard and spoken and sung more – leads us to a particular hunger – a hunger for the Word.

When our hearts are renewed by the Spirit, it is not that desire is eliminated.  Instead it is rightly directed, so that our desire for fellowship leads to the eternal communion of the Trinity – and for us to enjoy that communion with the Trinity – here at the Table.

 

Our hopes – all of them – are directed for the honor to go to the glory of God; our search for knowledge is directed for that knowledge to be revealed to the glory of God; our hunger for food is directed for food that is from heaven and that is enjoyed to the glory of God.  This is the communion table.  This is the fellowship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit – and it is a renewal – a renewal of our, the body of Christ, a renewal of our faith, hope and love – and of desires satisfied again – only at one place, here – with the Word of God.

Have Kids and Save the World

 Let me begin by stating what appears to be well understood in our congregation already – and yet bears repeating again and again.  It is a blessing, a great blessing, for a married couple to have children.

Let me also make a statement that is probably also well understood in our midst.  The reformation of our culture is not going to take place over the course of a couple rounds of national and local elections.  It is going to take generations.  It has taken us many generations to get ourselves into this mess as deep as we are in it – and it is going to take many generations to undo the mess – and even the undoing of the mess will be messy

            Let me make one more statement that I think we need to cultivate more and more in our midst.  God commands us to have an optimistic view of the evangelization of the world, the discipling of the nations by the church, and the future growth and sanctification of the church and the world which Christ purchased – over generations.

We are not in the middle of a story, the end of which no one knows – even God.  We are not in the middle of a cosmic crap-shoot – God’s betting on us but who knows how it will all go.  We are the militant church, we are the mighty seed of the woman who has and will crush the serpent’s head.  We are that mustard seed that grows up to be the greatest tree in the garden.

            Having children, and then in the grace of God and according to His promises, caring for, loving the little ones, including missing much of the sermon because you have to take care of all the squirrels sitting in your row, educating them in the fear of God in all things, training and equipping them with knowledge, wisdom, and skill according to their frames and giftednesses, bringing them up in the fear and admonition of the LORD, laughing around your tables and heading off to the room in your home where spankings are administered when necessary – these are THE MEANS God will use to bring about the changes we are praying for in our country.

            And so this is the army of God meeting around His throne and at His Table.  Parents – and especially moms of little ones – you need to hear this and you need to hear this with faith – the faith which Jesus gives by means of His Holy Spirit.  What you are doing, that mundane work that most of the world tells you is worthless and a waste of a real career you could be pursuing – is some of the most important work of world transformation and God-glorifying missions you could ever do.  So come, let us worship our God – with the kids!