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Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Approximately 1.37 million children are killed each year in America, sacrificed at the altars of privacy and convenience. This is not a political issue. This is not just a drum for Republicans to beat. This is a matter of religion and the holiness of God.
Here is George Grant's short reflection.
Justin Taylor shares a rightly disturbing video.
Some thoughts, if I may. It would be good for each of us, personally, and each church to spend time in prayer this week. This prayer should include praise to God, who is the giver of life; it should include repentance for our nation's many sins; it should include a prayer for deliverance; it should also include a call for our Priest-King to go to war for the cause of truth and meekness and right (Psalm 45:4).
Lest we sink into despair, consider during your prayers Jeramiah 31:38-40 -
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever.
The context is the truly astounding promise of the new covenant (see v. 33 - I will be their God and they shall be my people). In that context, God promises the expansion of His children's territory, despite the current state of His people in Babylonian exile. This rebuilding and expansion will include the tower gates and the corner gates. But it's more than just the city - God promises to send His measuring line to the hill Gareb and Goah, covering the valley of dead bodies and ashes.
We don't know the details about Gareb and Goah, but we do know this: the valley of dead bodies and ashes was where the Israelites killed their children, sacrificing them to Molech and other pagan gods. What a horrible thing to even consider. But note what God promises: not only will He reclaim the ground where they sacrificed their children, but it will be a place "sacred to the Lord."
This is the greatness of the new covenant - not only does God save us from sins, but He goes right to the place of our greatest sins and makes it His greatest glory. Those who are sinfully angry glorify God when He makes them gentle and peaceful. Those who are full of lust God glorifies by making them pure in heart and body. And so we can rightly pray that God would go to the source of our nation's greatest sins, till up the ground, plant a new garden and make it sacred to the Lord. In other words, don't just pray that God would help us stop killing our babies, but that He would make us a people who love life, who love children. Pray that our greatest sins would become the place of His greatest glory. This is how He promised to work in the new covenant.
This weekend is the annual CYA (covenanter young adult, i.e., college) Winter Conference. And by "winter", we apparently mean four degrees below zero. Real winter. Anyhow, my friend David Hanson (pastor of Grace RPC in State College, PA) is coming to speak to the students; he'll be speaking on triumph and tragedy in the book of Job. On my latest read through the book of Job, I was convicted of the quality - or lack thereof - of my friendship toward others. Here are the lessons I took away from Eliphaz, Bildad & Zophar on what not to do. - Just "being there" does not qualify me as a good friend
- Just "being there" does not give me enough capital/sufficient right to say anything I want
- I will constantly be tempted to rush to judgment without all the facts; and when I do rush to judgment, I'll usually be wrong
- Theology isn't enough...theology without love kills. Theology without wisdom kills. Wrong theology kills.
- True sympathy is often impossible (who can really sympathize with Job??) - I can't assume I know what my friends are feeling or enduring
- Singing the same song sixteen different ways doesn't make it true - Job's friends really didn't say all that much, they just said it a lot.
- Just because someone's in pain doesn't mean they're wrong
Luke says that when Jesus returned to Galilee and began teaching in the synagogues, he was "glorified by all" (4:15). But then they tried to kill him. What gives?Turns out Jesus' so-called glorification was the same type of glory he suffers from so many of us. We appreciate Jesus as a great teacher, we admire Jesus as an upright person, we even adorn him by saying nice things about him. And so we think we've glorified him. But the real test is when the devastation of the gospel comes home: when Jesus claims to have fulfilled all Scripture, when he points out our sin, when he claims divinity - this is when the world tries to push him off the cliff. Thus as we seek to glorify our Savior, we must not settle for the "glory" this world gives him. We cannot be silent when people seek to relegate him to the category of Ghandi and Confucius and any other admirable religious-type folk they can remember. Jesus doesn't let himself be "admired" and we shouldn't either, whether in our hearts or in the minds and lives of our neighbors. You either worship him or you hate him. Any middle ground is pure fantasy. p.s. - One possible reading of Luke 4:14-15 is that Jesus was glorified in the greater area of Galilee, but not in Nazareth. The problems with this are (1) the people's initial reaction to Jesus in Nazareth was one of supposed "glory" as well and (2) the people of Galilee didn't uniformly exalt Jesus as Lord in their hearts.
#2 - Proverbs is here because I'm not wise
Why did God see fit to put this book in the Bible? On the surface, so much seems so plain, pedestrian, ordinary. Even commonsensical. Well, that's kind of the point. This is ordinary and common-sense stuff - but it's here because I'm not so full of common sense or wisdom as I'd like to think. God put Proverbs in the Bible and He jammed it full of ordinary wisdom because I need it. Especially me. And especially others included in the Biblical category of young men. This is our book, but don't cheer and pat yourselves on the back. It's ours because of the inherent, automatic foolishness born and bred into us.
Sometimes, because we forget what Christ told us about the law of God, we tend to think we're doing all right. "I haven't killed anyone today and my Sabbath-keeping is above par." And here comes Proverbs, slowly and methodically revealing how the law of God can be, indeed must be, applied, pressed into every corner of life. The mere presence of this book in Scripture is humiliating. Humiliating in a good way. It gets our heads out of the theological clouds and forces us to reconcile Christ's life in us with things like sleeping and eating and speaking. We who would much rather discuss theology and culture and philosophy, Proverbs grounds us in Christ in the most practical of ways.
Other times, like the Hawkeyes looking over the helmets of the Hoosiers, we neglect to take the enemy seriously. We keep our eyes on the big temptations, we memorize the ten commandments and know answers to the false cults of our day. And foolishness slips in the door unnoticed. Proverbs is in the Bible because I need help against the temptation of foolishness. I need Jesus all the time. Proverbs tells me that.
But Proverbs, by its lonesome, isn't enough. John Bunyan said "It is possible to learn all about the mysteries of the Bible and never be affected by it in one’s soul. Great knowledge is not enough." Proverbs is part of how the Spirit masters foolishness in my mind and life. But apart from the Spirit, regardless of how many Proverbs I have in my mental rolodex, I will achieve nothing but superficial smarminess. This is why James calls real wisdom "the wisdom from above" (Jas. 3:17); it has to come from God, it has to be given because it can never be merely earned or procured by hard work.
So the presence of the book of Proverbs is humiliating. But how sweet it is to be humiliated unto Christ, to be reminded that I need Him and His Spirit to speak the right way, to vacuum a carpet the right way. And to be driven to prayer, pleading with the Father to grant the wisdom that sin has driven so far from me.
Over the next couple weeks, I hope to record here seven or eight big lessons that God has taught me during two years of preaching through Proverbs. (For those of you in our church, some of this will be repetition; it's okay - it's good for you.) Clearly, I would hope these would edifying to you; additionally, I would appreciate any sharpening or refutation of these ideas where you see they need it.
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#1 - Proverbs shows me that we need the whole Bible
Perhaps Proverbs itself, as a book, can serve as a metaphor. There it sits, right in the middle of our Bible. It's not the first thing you notice about Scripture. It's not the beginning or the end of our religion. Its place seems rather humble at first. But just because something's in the middle doesn't make it unimportant; to the contrary, it might make it especially important. Like my large intestine - it's right in the middle of me, but it would be hard to function without it. So the life of wisdom may not be the beginning or end of Christianity, but it makes up a whole big bunch of the meat of it.
Proverbs has good neighbors, too. It follows so many great stories of God's power for and against His people in the Old Testament, giving us good paradigms and examples for understanding wisdom. It follows the Psalms, giving us that vital balance of heart and life religion. It's followed by those perturbing prophets, keeping us grounded on this practical earth while the prophets wax divine about promises and judgments and so forth. What a better dad I would be if I could learn this from Proverbs - it's not enough just to give my kids a little snippet of wisdom or instruction here and there. They need stories to back it up - the stories of the saints, the stories of the gospels. They need the theology of Paul and the revelation of John. Without the whole Bible, Proverbs rings hollow and kids can see through it.
We might also find the value of Proverbs by asking, "What would Scripture be missing without it?" If Proverbs wasn't in this book, what would be lacking in our faith? More than anything, I believe now we would be a complete loss to see how the law of God ought to be applied to every area of life. Sure, we would have the ten commandments memorized, but would we really know how to live for God's glory when we eat and sleep and work and talk and listen? Proverbs is the meat of the Christian life. You and I don't spend most of our day contemplating theology or praying for the return of Christ. We spend it reading and thinking and laboring and talking - where to turn in Scripture for help with all that?
We could also guage the value of Proverbs by asking, "What would our religion be like if we only had Proverbs?" If we only had this book of Proverbs, we could so very easily veer into the realm of legalism and salvation by works - especially because so many proverbs connect our actions with God's blessing or curse. If we only had this book of Proverbs, we would never know the name Jesus; of course, Proverbs 8 talks about wisdom in a personal sense and we know now that it's Jesus who was with the Father at creation. But if we didn't have the apostle John telling us that Jesus was God with God in the beginning and if we didn't have Paul telling us that God made Jesus our wisdom and righteousness, would we recognize wisdom in Proverbs 8 as the Son of God? In other words, Proverbs is great, but it's not enough.
What is enough is what God's given us. The Bible is enough - or, in theological language, the Bible is sufficient. Put it all together, inject the power of the Holy Spirit, and you have everything you need for life and godliness. This means, though, that we have to treat it like a whole. I must consciously read every passage of Scripture in light of the whole, interpreting less clear passages by those that are more clear, judging doctrines and applications against all of Scripture and not just the passage in front of me.
I need the whole Bible. Each book of the Bible needs the whole Bible (ask those same questions above about any book and see what you get). And God, because He is good and great and gracious, has given us the fullness of His revelation in the Word and in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Things I need to remember about preaching, from Jeremiah 23.
First off, the context of this almost-discouraging chapter is the astounding promise of the Branch of the Lord (v. 5-6). It is only through the first and second comings of Christ that Israel will find safety and Judah will be saved. It is only through the confession "Yahweh Tsidkanu" (the Lord is our righteousness) that souls will find life and salvation. So from the very beginning, this isn't about you, it's about Christ. Please take note, mr. preacher-man.
Next, God really, really hates it when you mess this up. Every idle thought, time wasted in the study, every time you preach with impure or prideful motives, every time you pass your own thoughts off as God's, every time the deceit of your own heart seeps out (v. 26) He sees it. It stirs His holy hatred. Jeremiah was so shocked by the vehemence of God against those prophets that he said, "I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the Lord and because of His holy words" - and he wasn't even on the receiving end! God won't (can't!) sit idly by while His preachers lead His people to forgetfulness. (v. 23) His hatred of unfaithful preaching is not because He's mean, but because He is loving. Remember that every inch and ounce of love you have for Christ's bride is a drop in an eternal ocean compared to Christ's love for her.
On top of that, God sees and takes notes. Really. He knows what is said from every pulpit, every Sunday, by every mouth purporting to be the mouthpiece of God. He fills heaven and earth (v. 24) and has heard every word you said (v. 25). More than just your words, though. "But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hand of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorroah." (v. 14) You know James' claim, that "we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" (Jas. 3:1) - he probably got that here, where God promises these unfaithful prophets, "I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten." (v. 40) Your sin can overpower the most passionate, Biblically accurate sermon. The Lord is not just after exegetical prowess in His preachers. He's after holiness. As the church goes, so goes the nation. As the preacher walks, so walks the church.
Perhaps it's time to learn to tremble again. To look at the pulpit in holy fear. And then you'll be ready to preach, ready to remember the good and great promises of God. Remember that as much as God is against false prophets, He is with and for you (v. 23). As vicious as He is against His enemies, so powerfully loving is He for His children and their undershepherds. And you have the Word! That word that is like a fire, like a hammer pulverizing rocks (v. 29) - you don't need to add to it. Just swing it. And if you stand in the council of God and proclaim His words to His people, they will turn away from theri sin, from the evil of their deeds (v. 22) and bring much glory to our Savior.
