https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr0ai5i4PCQ
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Review: "Ego is the Enemy" (manuscript)
I have now read the second volume of the trilogy that begins with The Obstacle
is the Way and ends with Stillness is the Key. I am referring to Ryan Holiday’s book,
Ego is the Enemy.
Holiday explains that – for this work – ego means “an
unhealthy belief in our own importance” (2).
And he divides his book into three sections with the
goals that we become:
Humble in our aspirations.
Gracious in our successes.
Resilient in our failures (6).
Holiday explains that we must put aside and through of
entitlement and recognize that we all have a duty. We are owed nothing and should not expect
anything/recognition.
We ought to be the people who do what we should and build
others up along the way. We ought to keep learning from other people and their
lives – and here we see the worth of biographies. We ought to be sober and ready to learn from
any and all people. We ought to cling to
our purpose – the reason for which we exist.
Holiday uses anecdotes from the lives of people who deal
with their ego well and those who do not deal with their ego well to make the
points that one finds in the book.
I am finding his books very readable and instructive to
me. This one is not so much founded on
Stoicism as the first book is, but it fits in well with that philosophy.
I am finding the lessons to be worthwhile in my life –
especially – to begin with – in helping with my depression and anxiety. Check him out.
The book ends with a bibliography and a site to sign up on
for further reading lists.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Review: "Circe" (manuscript)
My sister thought I might like Madeline Miller’s book,
Circe, and she was correct.
Miller
expands and fills out the backstory and connections of the Circe story that we
find in Homer, Ovid, Apollonius of Rhodes, and the epic, Telegony.
Miller
writes the story from Circe’s point of view, so what we have is a captivating
story of Circe telling us who this woman is and why she does the things she
does. Miller draws the reader in quickly
and brings us along effortlessly for the ride.
I
found it a great read – entertaining – and the reasoning makes sense in the
story. I enjoyed it enough that I plan
to read her first novel, The Song of Achilles.
The
novel ends with a glossary of characters, an interview, recommended reading,
and discussion questions.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Sunday, August 02, 2020
Review: "Crucified and Risen" (manuscript)
Crucified and Risen:
Sermons on the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ by John
Calvin is the latest translation of Calvin’s sermons published by Banner of
Truth.
This is a new translation from the 1558 edition of this
work containing nine sermons that moves the reader from the Garden through the
Resurrection and the with a new, appended sermon on the Ascension.
If you have only read Calvin’s commentaries or his
theological works, his sermons are quite different. They are much more pastoral and warmer, with clear
application. These sermons as very readable and well worth your time.
Sit under one of the great reformers and hear him preach
about Holy Week and the Ascension.
The book contains a scripture index, a subject index, and
a list of other Calvin titles from the Banner.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Review: "Catch as Cat Can" (manuscript)
Catch as Cat Can is a Mrs. Murphy mystery by Rita
Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown.
In this volume, the Dogwood festival is about to
commence, and then everyone will go to the reception at Aunt Tally’s.
Sean and Roger O’Bannon were in attendance – brothers running
a salvage yard that they had just expanded to sell all types of building scrap.
What no one expected was for Roger to drop dead during
the event having been poisoned. Then
Wesley, a seemingly petty thief, is murdered, and Harry, Mrs. Murphy, Pewter,
and Tucker sleuth and being to put the pieces together.
Very enjoyable entertainment.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Review: "The Pastor of Kilsyth" (manuscript)
The Pastor of Kilsyth
is the biography of W. H. Burns authored by his son, Islay Burns. Iain Murray reviews the work and says it is
the best Scottish ministerial biography in print.
W. H. Burns served his church for over fifty years. This biography shows a man dedicated to
faithfulness in ministry. He had lean
times and times of blessing from the Holy Spirit, but continued to be faithful
in preaching, the sacraments, prayer, evangelism, and fellowship.
After the biography, there is an essay on revival in
which he argues that these five areas mentioned above are usually the means
through which God works to cause revival, though we can’t force God to act
through doing these things.
After this, there follows four sermons that allow the
reader to get a feel for his preaching – encouraging pastors to continue in
faith and obedience, trusting God for the outcome.
This was an encouraging book to me both in the sense that
a faithful ministry can occur quietly and with little notice from the
world. And, I agree with him about the
means for revival – my study has led me to the same conclusions.
If you care to know what it is to be a biblical preacher –
a faithful preacher – who waits on God, pick up this book.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Review: "Strength for the Weary" (manuscript)
In this series of nine sermons turned into a book, Strength
for the Weary, Derek Thomas looks at selected passages from the second half
of the book of Isaiah to point the weary to strength.
Thomas explains that our weariness is often caused by idolatry
of one kind or another, so the answer is to put away our idols and turn to the
One and Only God.
The remedy to being weary is to look to the Lord, Who He
is, His promises, to have growing faith, hope, and obedience to the moral law.
Thomas covers a great deal of theology in this short
book, giving hope and direction to those who are weary and buffeting our hope
in the physical kingdom and the life to come when the lion and lamb lie down
together and there is no violence in all God’s holy mountain.
If you are weary, you need this book.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Review: "Cat's Eyewitness" (manuscript)
Cat’s Eyewitness is a mystery novel by Rita Mae
Brown and her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown. In
this adventure Harry (Mary Minor Harristeen), her cats, Mrs. Murphy, and
Pewter, her corgi, Tee Tucker, and her friend Susan go to the statue of Mary at
the Greyfriars’s Monastery to pray – among other things – for wisdom about whether
or not Harry should get back together with her ex-husband , Fair.
While
they are praying, the statue of Mary beings to cry blood. This causes all kinds of speculation from the
faithful and skeptics, and when Brother Thomas is found dead, kneeling before
the statue, Harry thinks that nay-sayers might be on to something.
I
have enjoyed most of the book in the Mrs. Murphy series – and I enjoyed this
one very much as well. Can you figure
out what is happening?
I
was also interested in the dialog amongst the characters about Christianity, and
wonder whether these comments and questions of the authors:
In
the opening scene, the Trinity is being discussed, and they say they understand
God and Jesus, but they can’t make heads or tails over Who or what the Holy
Spirit is.
They
discuss that Mary is the most relatable character because she is a sinner like
the rest of us. The problem with Jesus
is that he is sinless, so He is unrelatable.
There
is discussion of pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church.
A
comment is made that Calvinism teaches that riches are a sign of God’s
blessing. This is absolutely
untrue! As a Calvinist, I can say that being
wealthy in no way proves that you are blessed by God. If you are wealthy, God has planned that for
you, but it could be a curse rather than a blessing, depending on why God
ordained you to be wealthy.
Also,
the animals discuss why the Bible says it is wrong to pray to the golden calf, but
alright to pray to a statue of Mary.
Big
subjects are being addressed – and I am fine with that – I am curious as to
what the authors believe.
Pick
up a copy of this book – it is thought-provoking and a good mystery.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
"The Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets" Sermon: Luke 9:28-36 (manuscript)
“The
Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets”
[Luke
9:28-36]
August
2, 2020 YouTube
This week we remember the Transfiguration.
At the end of the Galilean portion of Jesus’ ministry,
the people are talking about Who Jesus might be. (This is about three months before the
crucifixion.) And Jesus asks the disciples Who they believe He is. And Peter jumps forward as he usually does
and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” And Jesus tells him
that God has revealed this truth to him and to not to tell anyone – yet.
It is about a week later that Jesus invites Peter, James,
and John to go up on the mountain to pray with Him. Jesus frequently went off by Himself – or in
a small group – to pray. Although He is
God, He is also human, and He submits to the Father. This is when the Transfiguration occurs.
And we see, first, Jesus reveals a glimpse of His Glory
to the three.
“Now about eight days after these sayings he took with
him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was
praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became
dazzling white.”
The four men go up on the mountain to pray as they have
done many times in the past – and while they are praying – actually, Peter,
James, and John are falling asleep – the appearance of Jesus’ face is altered –
it is transfigured. Matthew and Mark say
that His face is metamorphized. Luke
spells it out more: “the fashion of his countenance
was another thing from what it had been” (https://ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5/mhc5.Luke.x.html).
And His clothing becomes a dazzling white – it has the
brightness of lightning.
What is going on?
We are reminded of what happens when Moses returns from
receiving the Ten Commandments:
“When
Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his
hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his
face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of
Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid
to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of
the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the
people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken
with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put
a veil over his face.
“Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with
him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told
the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the
face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put
the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him” (Exodus
34:29-35, ESV).
Why is Moses’ face shining? Because he sees the reflection of the
backside of the Glory of God while he is on Mount Sinai. And even that slightest glimpse of the Glory
of God is so powerful that it remains on his face for a period of time.
Jesus is God. And
as He reveals something of His Glory as the Transfiguration begins – the Glory
is of such power that it turns even His very clothes into what looks to be lightning.
John tells us his vision of seeing Jesus:
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me,
and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the
lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden
sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like
snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze,
refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his
right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword,
and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:12-16, ESV).
Jesus brings the three up on the mountain to pray with
Him and to see what happens – the Transfiguration. Jesus pulls back the veil – just a little bit
– and shows them a bit of His Majesty – His Eminence – His Worthiness – His
Glory.
Why?
To prepare them for His crucifixion. Jesus pulls back the veil to assure them that
He is God the Promised Savior. He wants
to give them this encouragement – this equipping – for the terrible days to
come when it would seem as though Jesus’ mission failed.
And this testimony is left for us who live two thousand
years later to help us – to assure us – that Jesus is God the Savior and all
the promises He made about sending God the Holy Spirit – about going to prepare
a place for us – about returning to take us to His Kingdom – all of it is true.
The Transfiguration assures us that Jesus’ Word is true.
Second, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the
Prophets.
“And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and
Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with
sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who
stood with him.”
Jesus is transfigured – He is shining as bright as
lightning – and, suddenly, Moses and Elijah appear with Him – and now, Peter,
James, and John, are fully awake!
A few things we should notice:
Moses and Elijah are alive as they speak with Jesus. They are not ghosts. Moses is disembodied – his body is in the
ground – but they are alive.
So, let us understand that death is passing through a
veil from one world into another. Our
bodies and sprit/souls are separated from our bodies until Jesus returns, but in
the moment of our death, we are still alive – conscious, able to communicate,
able to understand.
Jesus says, “But that the dead are raised, even Moses
showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the
living, for all live to him” (Luke 20:37-38, ESV).
When we die, we remain alive, and we wait for the
resurrection of our bodies at the return of Jesus.
Notice, also, that Moses and Elijah are talking with
Jesus about “His departure” – it could be translated, “His exodus.” The Exodus of the people of Israel is a type
– or a foreshadowing – of the exodus of the elect of God – the deliverance of
the people of God from slavery to sin and the devil. Just as God delivered the Israelites by His
Mighty Right Hand, through the work of Jesus, God delivers His people – all
those who will ever believe in the Savior – by His Mighty Right Hand.
So, the question we still may have is, “Why Moses and
Elijah?” Why are these two the ones who meet
with Jesus at the Transfiguration?
The answer comes in understanding what theologians call
“double imputation.”
We very easily talk about how Jesus came to earth to die
for our sins. We understand that Jesus
took on the penalty for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe
savingly in Him. So, every sin a
believer ever commits is forgiven in Jesus.
What we sometimes forget is that being sinless – having been forgiven
for all our sins – is not enough to be saved.
We must not only be sinless; we must be righteous. We must not only be forgiven for all our sin,
but we must keep the Law of God perfectly.
That is why Jesus didn’t drop down out of the sky during Holy Week and
simply die for our sins – He had to also live a real human life under God’s Law
and keep all of it perfectly.
So, there are two “imputations” for us to be saved –
there are two “creditings” for us to be saved:
our sin must be credited – or imputed – to Jesus – so He can pay the
debt for our sin, and Jesus’ righteousness – His perfect keeping of the Law –
has to be imputed to us. Jesus takes on
our sin and we take on His perfect keeping of the Law – that is the surety of
our salvation.
So, back to Moses and Elijah – why does Jesus meet with
those two during the Transfiguration – why does He discuss His work of
salvation with them?
For Jesus to keep the whole Law of God perfectly, He had
to keep and fulfill everything that is written in the Law and the Prophets –
everything that is commanded of humans and prophesied about the Savior.
Moses is the representative of the Law at the
Transfiguration – and that makes sense:
Moses brought the Law from Mount Sinai to the people of God, he wrote
the first five books of the Bible – and they contain the vast majority of the
actual laws of the Old Testament.
Elijah is the representative of the Prophets at the
Transfiguration – and we might scratch our heads at that. Elijah didn’t write a book. We don’t know a huge amount about him –
though we do have several stories about his life and work as a prophet. We might think that someone like Isaiah would
be a more appropriate representative of the Prophets.
But here’s the thing – Elijah is one of two people who we
are told never physically died. There is
something unique in Elijah.
We read the last sentences of the Old Testament:
God says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts
of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest
I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (Malachi 4:5-6, ESV).
And Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of
women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent
take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and
if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears
to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:11-15, ESV).
So, Elijah is the representative of the Prophets.
And they are talking with Jesus about His impending
death. Why?
Jesus is fully God and He is fully human. Moses and Elijah, representing all that Jesus
had to obey in His humanity and all He had to do as the Savior, are encouraging
Him in His humanity that He has done and will accomplish everything necessary
for the saving of the people that God gave to Him.
Secondarily, they are a witness to the three that Jesus
is accomplishing the perfect keeping of the Law and all the prophecies made
about Him. He is securing the salvation
of His people.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, so
we are saved.
Finally, we must listen to and obey Jesus.
“And
as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good that
we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for
Elijah’—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came
and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a
voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to
him!’ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept
silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”
Moses
and Elijah say their goodbyes to Jesus and Peter jumps up and says, “We can
build tents! Don’t leave. We want to talk to you and learn from you.”
Immediately,
a cloud envelopes them.
We
remember that during the day, the people of Israel followed the pillar of smoke
through the wilderness, and the glory cloud of God descended into the Holy of
Holies.
And
God says, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
It
would be fascinating to talk with Moses and Elijah, but that is not the point
of the Transfiguration. The point of the
Transfiguration is that Jesus is God Incarnate, the Promised Savior, Who keeps
all of the Law of God and fulfills all the prophecies of the Savior, so we are sure in knowing that Jesus has saved all the
people that the Father gave Him. We can
be assured of our salvation because of what the Transfiguration teaches us
about what Jesus has done.
Our
response to what Jesus has done in saving us through His life and His death and
resurrection and ascension is to be to show our thanks to Him and our love of
Him by obeying Him – and we remember that Jesus is God – so loving Jesus is obeying
everything we are to obey in the Bible.
Jesus
says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And
he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest
myself to him” (John 14:21, ESV).
So,
let us be a people who are known for obeying all that God requires of us that
others would see how much we love Jesus and be drawn to Him.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank You for the ways in which You assure us of our salvation. We thank You that Jesus lived a perfect and
holy life for us, and He died having taken on the punishment for our sins. Help
us to remember to tell others that our salvation is based both on Jesus keeping
the Law and the Prophets and taking on the Wrath of God for our sin. And may this give us assurance through the
ministry of God the Holy Spirit in us that our salvation is complete. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Sunday, July 05, 2020
"Israel, the Blind" Sermon: Isaiah 42:18-25 (manuscript)
“Israel,
the Blind”
[Isaiah
42:18:25]
July
5, 2020 YouTube
After showing that idols are unworthy of worship and
explaining that all the world will praise God in the end – when He punishes
those who worship idols and never believe in the Servant Savior, God now turns
to Jerusalem’s present condition and her impending conquest and exile into
Babylon.
God tells Jerusalem why she is going into exile.
And we see, first, the Lord made His Law glorious.
“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may
see! Who is blind but my servant, or
deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as
the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his
ears are open, but he does not hear.”
God accuses Israel and Jerusalem of having their eyes
open and not seeing and their ears unblocked and not hearing. And here the servant is obviously Israel,
because the servant is a sinner – one who has sinned against the revealed Word
of God. They hear and see the Word of
God, and they say they understand – that they have taken it in, but then when
it comes time to act on God’s Word, they are completely oblivious – they don’t
know what God or the prophets are talking about.
You may have children and when you explain something to
them – and their eyes are open and their ears are unblocked, but when you
finish speaking and they say they understood, you ask them to say what you
said, and they cannot say a word. They
are blind with seeing eyes and deaf with hearing ears.
If you are a teacher, you may explain certain things to
your students, only to have them say you never explained the thing or never
told them about it at all.
I know I have people tell me I never say on which day of
the week our Christmas Eve service will be – among other things.
Of course, this is more serious, because God gave His
Word to His people and told them to observe and obey it. We are told to know the Word of God and to
obey it – and we don’t.
Understand, all mere humans are sinners, that’s not what
we are saying here. The point is that
they and we tend to ignore the Word of God.
We come to worship and hear the Word of God read, and then we never have
any contact with it during the week, and we forget and do not practice what we
hear in worship.
The answer, of course, if we do believe that the Bible is
the Word of God, is to be in the Word during the week – every day reading
something – meditating on it – discussing it with others, and seeking to live
out whatever God’s Word says to do. We
are a people who believe that right doctrine leads to right action, so if we
are not doing what is right – as a habit – then we don’t understand or haven’t
actually heard the right doctrine that has been put before us.
Israel had the prophets and the priests. Attending worship was a regular part of
life. They memorized God’s Word because
they didn’t have Bibles to carry around.
But it didn’t sink in – it didn’t change them.
In Malachi’s day, Israel was similarly condemned for
their not internalizing and obeying God’s Word:
“For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and
people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the
LORD of hosts” (Malachi 2:7, ESV).
Isaiah continues:
“The
LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it
glorious.“
God’s
Word – His Law – should never be understood to be a heavy burden – to be
onerous. Rather, for the sake of God’s
Righteousness, He made His Law beautiful and revelatory of Who He is.
David
writes about this in Psalm 19:
“The
law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is
sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the
heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening
the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the
LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great
reward” (Psalm 19: 7-11, ESV).
We
should never read God’s Word and come away saying, “Aww! You’re ruining my fun!” If we feel like that, our sin has been
exposed, and we should repent and obey what God has said. God gave us the Law for our good – and, if we
look at it carefully, it all points to the Savior, Jesus.
We
were created to enjoy God – why else would He have created such a pleasurable
world? But we were also created to obey
God. Yet, we do not obey God as slaves,
but as sons and daughters who will inherit the Kingdom at the end of the age.
Paul
explains:
“So
then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are
led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of
slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as
sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God
and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may
also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:12-17, ESV).
God
does not mean that we must perfectly keep the Law to be saved by Jesus – Jesus
came because it is not possible for us to keep the whole Law before He saves
us. No, one of the reasons God gave the
Law is to show us that we are unable to save ourselves. (Those who say that the Jews are saved
through the keeping of the Law have misunderstood the point of the Law and
Original Sin.)
Now,
however, as believers, we are to keep God’s moral Law and we are able to keep
the moral Law, because God the Holy Spirit lives in us and enables us to do the
good works that God requires of us.
And,
as we read God’s Word and obey it, we should be able to see Jesus in it.
We
read: “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should
suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all
the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27, ESV).
Jesus
explains to the men on the road to Emmaus how all of the Scripture – all of
God’s Law – points to Jesus and His work in one way or another. Sometimes it will be obvious. Sometimes it may take some work to understand
how the Scripture relates to Jesus.
As
Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV).
However,
the people did not know God’s Word or keep it – they brought their discipline
and exile upon themselves:
“But
this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with
none to say, ‘Restore!’”
In
and of themselves, Jerusalem had no hope.
But we know their hope and our hope is in Jesus.
So,
let us love the Word of God and see Him in it and rejoice and be filled with
joy as we pray that God the Holy Spirit will enable us to do all that God calls
us to do as His people.
Second,
the Lord disciplines His people.
When something bad or painful happens, we tend to ask
“why?”
And there is a natural tendency to do that – to think of
life as a quid pro quo – a phrase we all now understand. We want to know what we did to deserve this
or that, or why something we do not think we deserve is happening to us. “Why is this happening to me?”
“Why did I get cancer?
Why did I lose my job? Why did I
get mugged?”
But God says that is the wrong question – what we should
be asking is “Who is doing this to me? Who
is ultimately behind what is happening to me?”
“Who
among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?
Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers?”
God
asks Jerusalem if she is willing to listen – to hear the Lord out. And He asks her, Who gave you up to the
looters and plunderers? Who allowed them
to conquer you and destroy the nation and take you into captivity?
God
answers this way, “Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose
ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?”
Who
allowed the Covid virus to travel around the world and kill millions and
destroy economies and business and individual lives?
Ultimately,
God. Why is another question. But as for Who – if we believe that God is
absolutely sovereign, as the Scripture tells us:
“all
the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to
his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and
none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35,
ESV).
So,
looking at everything that happens throughout time and space, we can say that
everything is occurring according to the Plan of God. However, we must hold that in tension with
the fact that God cannot sin or do evil.
So,
when Joseph confronts his brothers, speaking of their selling him into slavery,
he can say, “you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” In other words, God sovereignly ordained that
Joseph would be sold into slavery to achieve the good result of saving millions
of lives. Joseph’s brothers freely chose
to sin against Joseph and do evil, but God used that act to achieve His good
plan.
I
recently listened to a sermon by Dr. Joel Beeke, and in it, he used an example
of an elder in his church who needed to have a knee replacement. After the knee replacement was over, it got
infected, and they had to do surgery again.
And they sent him home, but his knee got infected again, so he went back
into surgery. And they told him if it
got infected again, they would have to take his leg, The knee did get infected and they did take
his leg, and when Dr. Beeke went to visit him, unsure of what to say, he met
the man in good spirits, and the man told him, “My Father must have something
to teach me.”
I
don’t know why that happened to this man, but he got the question right – he
looked beyond his circumstances to God Who is sovereign over everything that
happens. Nothing can happen to us that
God does not do or permit. And that
should be a comfort to us.
Now,
we think of discipline – God is disciplining Jerusalem by allowing the evil
Babylonians to do evil and conquer Jerusalem to achieve the good discipline
that God desires to have happen. And we
all know that no one likes discipline:
“And
have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not
regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he
receives.’
“It
is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For
what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without
discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children
and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and
we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits
and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them,
but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the
moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”
(Hebrews 12:5-11, ESV).
The
question becomes, do we receive the discipline and grow from it – become the
men and women that God wants us to be – or do we become angry and worsen under
the Hand of God?
Jerusalem
worsens.
“So
he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on
fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not
take it to heart.”
God
says He poured out His Wrath on Jerusalem and disciplined her in war and
actually set her on fire, but she still wouldn’t listen. She wouldn’t repent. She wouldn’t take the discipline to heart.
What
is the point of discipline?
Restoration. If there is no
restoration after discipline taken to heart, all you have is abuse. Discipline is given by One Who wants us to
return – to become conformed to the Image of His Son.
That
doesn’t make it easy or enjoyable – the author of Hebrews has already said
that. But once you are spanked or given
your time-out, you should return more obedient and to the arms of those who
love you.
This
is the judgment that hangs over the whole world – God has given His Law for us
to love and to see Jesus in and to obey – and if we do not, He disciplines us
in whatever way He deems best. And if we
do not respond by being repentant and striving to better follow God –
ultimately, if we shake our fist at God and say that Jesus is not the Savior,
He will give us over to the fire for all of eternity.
So,
let us remember that God disciplines His people because He loves us and wants
us to be restored and to progress in the holiness we are called to.
When
we suffer, let us turn to the One Who is Sovereign over all and seek His face
for wisdom and endurance and for growth.
Let
us not resent our discipline but be thankful when we are restored and become
more the man or woman God has called us to be.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, as we look at our text this morning, we find two things that we do not
naturally believe: Your Law is good and
beautiful, and Your discipline is good and for our restoration and growth. Help us to learn and to obey all that You
have said and help us to respond rightly when You Fatherly Hand disciplines
us. Help us to have hope and joy by
knowing that You are Sovereign over all of history – even our very lives –
nothing escapes You, and nothing is out of Your control. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Saturday, July 04, 2020
Review: "How Not to Diet" (manuscript)
How Not to Diet:
The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss is the
sequel to Dr. Michael Greger’s How Not to Die. As you might imagine, Dr.
Greger of NutritionFacts.org looks at the science behind weight loss. One of the differences between Dr. Greger and
other whole-food plant-based diet proponents is the amount of scientific study
that is reference. In this almost 600-page
book, almost 5,000 scientific sites are referenced – and yes, if you want to
read the study yourself, Dr. Greger has links to them for you.
Much in keeping with his previous book, he begins by
arguing against the standard American diet and in favor of a whole-foods
plant-based diet that is “microbiome friendly, rich in fruits and vegetables, rich
in legumes, and satisfying” (table of contents).
After this, he moves into two sections on weight-loss
itself: “weight-loss boosters” and “Dr. Greger’s twenty-one tweaks.”
The twenty-one tweaks were the most exciting part of the
book for me – as someone who needs to lose weight. I am not going to list them all here, because
you should buy the book, but I will say that I have added several of them into
my daily routine, and I have begun to lose weight.
I have added not eating after 7 PM, drinking water before
each meal, adding an amount of ginger and cayenne pepper, and front-loading
calories during the day – having my largest calorie meal first and the least
last. You can read his explanations of
why these and other tweaks can help.
I have been on a whole-foods plant-based diet – for the
most part – for some time, but I am also on medications that cause weight gain,
so I am encouraged that what he recommends is starting to help me. It’s well worth the try.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel,
Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
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