King of Righteousness and then also King of Peace

Yesterday, I preached on Hebrews 7:1-2, and as I was studying, ran across a wonderful sermon by Charles Spurgeon (are there any other kinds of Spurgeon sermons?).  Here is a snippet - 

"All over the world, and everywhere, this is God’s way of dealing with men. Do not imagine that God will ever lay aside his righteousness for the sake of saving a sinner — that he will ever deal with men unrighteously in order that they may escape the penalty due to their transgression. He has never done so, and he never will. Glorious in holiness is he for ever and ever. That blazing throne must consume iniquity, transgression cannot stand before it; there can be no exception to this rule. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Whatever things may change, the law of God cannot alter, and the character of God cannot deteriorate. High as the great mountains, deep as the abyss, eternal as his being, is the righteousness of the Most High. Peace can never come to men from the Lord God Almighty except by righteousness. The two can never be separated without the most fearful consequences. Peace without righteousness is like the smooth surface of the stream ere it takes its awful Niagara plunge. If there is to be peace between God and man, God must still be a righteous God, and by some means or other the transgression of man must be justly put away, for God cannot wink at it, or permit it to go unpunished. Salvation must first of all provide for righteousness, or peace will never lodge within its chambers. The Lord of heaven is first King of righteousness, and then King of peace, so that Melchisedec was such a king as God is."

A Well-Differentiated Leader

"If the leader did not have to be in direct contact with every member in order to influence them, then it should follow that if a leader could learn to be a well-differentiated presence, by the very nature of his or her being he or she could promote differentiation and support creative imagination throughout the system." - Friedman, Failure of Nerve, p18.

Leaders lead by who they are and not just by their message.  "Stonewall" Jackson got his name not by what he said, but by an incident in battle that displayed who he was.  His followers rallied.

He Is Able

(From the end of my sermon of the same title)

The Scripture reference is Ephesians 3:20-21 –
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Application – How should this change my Monday?

No One Is Beyond the Power of God – Do you doubt that God can save that loved one who has steadfastly resisted your prayers and witness? Remember your own salvation; remember it in light of the story of Ephesians 1-3.

No Struggle is Beyond the Power of God – Do you doubt that God is able to make good out of your struggle, your affliction, your circumstance? Can’t imagine it? God’s Word says otherwise (Paul says otherwise while sitting in prison). Every time you come to the Table you are to see that of course He can – and will.

No Era is Beyond the Power of God – The nations will flow to the mountain of God. There are no “footnote” eras where God was not at work – where nothing happened. Often, the dark days of volume 2 in a trilogy are the necessary setup for the great eucatastrophe. Always pray this prayer watchfully.

If Imaginatively Stuck

"It certainly has not been my experience in working with imaginatively stuck marriages, families, corporations, or other institutions that an increase in information will necessarily enable a system to get unstuck.  And the risk-averse are rarely emboldened by data" - Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve, p31.

Discipleship is not primarily a work of data-transfer.  It is primarily the work reviving godly imagination.

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.