Be Angry, and Do Not Sin

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (Eph 4:26–27)

Those familiar with Ephesians 4:25–32 have likely been instructed, as have I, that St. Paul’s intent here is to warn us of taking anger too far—fester into bitterness or erupt into a rage—with possible consequences from improper thoughts or actions. While I certainly would not discount this idea seeing that the paragraph is a general warning against unrighteousness. That said, I would like to offer a different twist based on my reading of Psalm 4 from which the quoted portion is taken from verse 4.

Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.

The first line has nothing new: St. Paul lifted that portion of the verse directly. The question comes from the second line: what did David intend with meditating and being still? Let’s compare line with the same in the Septuagint (LXX):

Be angry, and do not sin;
Have remorse on your beds
For what you say in your hearts.

Notice how it is expanded to give clarity. The psalmist is not intending that we be angry stopping short of sin, rather he is saying we are to be angry with or because of our sin (i.e., concupiscence in all manifestations), therefore be on guard and refrain from sin. This is nothing new. Consider St. Paul’s appeal to the church in Rome as he recounts the war within himself (Rom 7). Returning to the psalm, David appeals to men to consider their worthless condition apart from God and remember their current standing in Him, leading us to offer the sacrifice of righteousness and hope, which has first been received from our loving Lord. No other offering would be acceptable. David’s point, then, is to note that he can sleep at night knowing that he is clean before the Lord, and it is his desire that we would know the same and relish it.

How does David’s treatment more reflect on the apostle’s instruction to Ephesus? Rather than dwelling on what degree or what appropriate use of anger should be applied in an occasion, Paul appealed to Christians to have the same feelings toward their concupiscence and deal with it, advocating self-control from our position as new men in Christ (Eph 4:24) that we might also rest peacefully in the Savior.

I will both sleep and rest in peace,

For You alone, O Lord, cause me to dwell in hope. (Ps 4:8)

Dirtier Than Dirt

I am currently reading Liturgical Worship by Jordan Cooper, and after finishing only four chapters, my opinion of this work is quite favorable. Consider an observation in the chapter “Confession and Absolution” drawn from Uzzah attempting to steady the ark of the Testimony (2 Samuel 6:6–8).

While the ark began to fall off the cart, Uzzah had two options: either he could let the ark fall onto the dirt, or he could stretch out his hand and catch it. As most of us probably would, Uzzah assumed that his hand was cleaner than the dirt. This assumption was wrong. The dirt, in and of itself, is not unholy. The ground, though affected by sin, is not itself sinful. The earth has not acted against God’s holy will in rebellion against him. The same cannot be said of humanity. Unlike the land, Uzzah was a rebellious creature; he was infected with sin and uncleanness. Spiritually, apart from Christ, we are all, like Uzzah, unclean.

Dirtier than dirt? That hurts, but the assessment is entirely correct. When you and I came into this world, we were born in sin. David made this plain when he said:

For behold, I was conceived in transgressions,
And in sins my mother bore me. (Ps 51:7)

David was not bringing condemnation on his mother but acknowledging that from before birth to now, sin had been his constant companion. The man after God’s own heart came into this world a sinner; Uzzah was no different; neither are we. We cannot assume to lay hold of holy things without consequence. One must be made holy in order to come before a holy God and handle holy things.

Here, we might reply, “But Uzzah did this innocently. Doesn't that mean something?” No, it does not. The ark was only to be moved by those set apart for this work of ministry in a prescribed manner (Nu 4:4–6). Only they were allowed this privilege. David had inappropriately placed the ark on a cart, putting everyone at risk. When we presume to alter or improve on what the Lord has revealed through His Word, even with the best of intentions, we turn the holy and precious into the common and cheap.

We believers are all too prone to cheapen devotion and worship, thinking that our cultural surroundings, modern understanding, or personal preferences should hold more sway. Let’s not fool ourselves. Only He can cause us to stand holy before Him through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). May we conduct ourselves accordingly in pure worship and devotion, handling holy things in a holy manner as we assemble before Him.

Jealous for a Reason

Poussin, “Adoration of the Golden Calf”

For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God. (Ex 20:5 LXX)

Every married woman is either under her husband and subject to the rules of her husband, or she is a whore and uses her freedom to sin. The man who goes in to a prostitute knows that he has gone in to one who lies down and open for all; therefore he cannot become angry with the others. The man who practices a legitimate marriage does not permit his wife to sin but is full of jealousy to preserve the chastity of his marriage so that he can become a legitimate father. Thus every soul is either prostituted to demons and has many lovers to go in to it—sometimes the spirit of fornication, some times the spirit of greed, and after these come the spirit of pride and many others—but one spirit does not envy another nor is it moved to jealousy, but they invite each other to take turns. However, if that soul has been joined to a lawful Husband—that is, to Christ—even if it once was a sinner, He no longer suffers it to sin.

Origen, Homilies on Exodus VIII.5

Addressing the Symptom or the Source?

Recently, I have been pondering the common usage of “broken” and “brokenness.”  I looked for a dictionary definition on-line and found several definitions:

• infringed or violated
• interrupted, disrupted, or disconnected
• weakened in strength, spirit, etc.
• tamed, trained, or reduced to submission
• (of a relationship) split apart; not intact
• (of a family) disunited or divided by the prolonged or permanent absence of a parent
• not smooth; rough or irregular
• ruined; bankrupt

We know the effects are common to the human condition and empathize with those currently enduring them.  Life is difficult and messy.  Desiring to convey understanding and compassion, we use such language to describe stress and hardship in ourselves and others.  As Christians, we know the real problem: all creation is ruined because of sin.  However, a question remains.  In our efforts to address and ease human suffering, do we go too far in softening our language to ease that pain?

One does not need to go far in Christian circles before encountering therapeutic language in response to the pervasiveness of brokenness.  Evangelism has become communicating the aforementioned empathy.  Songs relate how Jesus can fix the hurts and burdens.  Radio stations bill themselves as positive and encouraging.  Pastors preach a relationship with Jesus.  The problem is not the language.  We are called to compassion.  We can walk through Scripture identifying the passages that are the basis for these actions.  Indeed, we should teach and practice the care due to the downtrodden, discouraged, etc.

This is not a new phenomenon.  Decades ago, mainline denominations shifted from preaching God’s Word in truth to appeasing hearers in order to address societal ills.  In an effort to create a level social strata, immediate conditions were salved, even improved, with the desire that those receiving help would then attend church services and be grafted in the to local flock.  As time progressed, those ills became more varied and debauched as culture shifted in nature from communal to personal: “What I need (or think I need) must be honored or met.”  With this shift, the centrality of what kept the denominations grounded has been replaced with affirmations of the individual and personal choice.

Sadly, sections of conservative denominations and independent churches that watched the decline of mainline denominations has begun sinking into the same morass.  Those groups lacking a formal confessional foundation appear to be particularly susceptible to the downward slide, but they are certainly not alone.  Congregations are seeking to be relevant to the culture for the same reasons that mainline denominations tried—expecting different results.  Instead of focusing on collective ills, the congregations have focused on the personal, offering multiple ways to connect with the local assembly.

We are called to help, but there is a serious flaw in the way the above has been practiced: the root cause is minimized.  Dealing with the symptoms, scant attention is given to the source issue of sin.  Considered the new hymnody of western evangelicalism, Praise & Worship (or contemporary Christian) music gives itself over to personal feelings and experience.  Consider the following first verses from two songs written 150 years apart:

Hallelujah! What a Savior	You’re Beautiful
Phil­ip P. Bliss	Phil Wickham
Man of Sorrows! what a name For the Son of God, who came Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior!	|   I see Your face in every sunrise |   The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes |   The world awakens in the light of the day |   I look up to the sky and say |   You're beautiful

The differences between them are ever so subtle—not.  While both claim to glory in the Son, the emphases cannot be further apart: the former in a savior, the second in what exactly?  To be fair, both speak of the need for the cross, though in quite different terms:

Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; “Full atonement!” can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!

|   I see You there hanging on a tree |   You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me |   Now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne |   Soon we will be coming home |   You're beautiful

The former explicitly conveys our desperate condition and need for rescue, while the latter speaks of a sacrificial act and a reunion, both of which I should appreciation, but what they entail is never given.  We are left with a selfless, humanitarian act, but to what end?  In the final analysis, we can appreciate the effort, but why does it matter ultimately?

This is one example among many methods of communication that can be given.  When presenting the Gospel, we have an obligation to make known the whole truth.  While experiences and outcomes are nice to understand, we should not end there.  Comfort and healing of soul does not come from the outward application of biblical principles.  That comes from believing on God’s promises in Christ Jesus.  In trusting the finality of a full atonement, we rest in the work completely accomplished for each of us.  He died for me, therefore all He gives is mine as well.

Many will say that because we believed once in the the saving work of Christ, we are free to pursue the upward life by through our efforts if we but have enough faith.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  While freed from the law of sin and death, believers carry within them the old man that must be put to death daily.  Only by daily reliance on Christ, on the sure Word of God delivered to us, can the walk of faith be taken much less finished.  The endless appeal to relationships and emotions will produce growth that will wither and die, either through lack of depth or the heat of outward pressure.  Rather than settle for the “feels,” long for and cling to the pure milk of the Word by which you grow and might be part of a crop that produces thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.

God's Unfathomable Goodness

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  (Rom 3:22-25)

And here pious Christian hearts justly ought to consider the unspeakable goodness of God, that God does not immediately cast from Himself into hell-fire this corrupt, perverted, sinful material, but forms and makes from it the present human nature, which is lamentably corrupted by sin, in order that He may cleanse it from all sin, sanctify, and save it by His dear Son.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration I.39

Down Deep, We're Good?

[Original sin] is an entire absence or lack of the created state of hereditary righteousness in Paradise, or of God’s image, according to which man was originally created in truth, holiness, and righteousness.  At the same time it is an inability and unfitness for all the things of God, or, as the Latin words read: Desciptio peccati originalis detrahit naturae non renovatae et dona et vim seu facultatem et actus inchoandi et efficiendi spiritualia; that is: The definition of original sin takes away from the unrenewed nature the gifts, the power, and all activity for beginning and effecting anything in spiritual things.

That original sin (in human nature) is not only this entire absence of all good in spiritual, divine things, but that, instead of the lost image of God in man, it is at the same time also a deep, wicked, horrible, fathomless, inscrutable, and unspeakable corruption of the entire nature and all its powers, especially of the highest, principal powers of the soul in the understanding, heart, and will.  So now, since the Fall, man inherits an inborn wicked disposition and inward impurity of heart, evil lust and propensity.  We all by disposition and nature inherit from Adam such a heart, feeling, and thought as are, according to their highest powers and the light of reason, naturally inclined and disposed directly contrary to God and His chief commandments.  Yes, they are hostile toward God, especially as regards divine and spiritual things.  For in other respects, as regards natural, external things which are subject to reason, man still has to a certain degree understanding, power, and ability, although very much weakened, all of which, however, has been so infected and contaminated by original sin that before God it is of no use.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration I.10-12

And When You Fail …

The final chapter of the book of Joshua is rather sad.  The godly leader gave a farewell address in which he recounts God’s hand in leading Israel from past history to that time.  At the end of this, Joshua admonished the people to be faithful in following the Lord to which the people agreed.  Joshua then lowers the boom:

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lᴏʀᴅ, for he is a holy God.  He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.”  (Jos 24:19)

Notice that Joshua did not say that the people would not serve the Lord, he said they could not.  Every good intention to obey the Law was summarily decimated as Joshua makes clear that they did not have the ability to follow through.  I will be the first to admit that every time through the chapter, I assumed that Joshua was following the same speech that Moses had used before entering the Promised Land:

Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.  For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are.  Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lᴏʀᴅ.  How much more after my death!  (Deut 31:26-27)

Both Joshua and Moses had strong rebukes for the people of Israel who went into the land of Canaan.  One wonders if those who entered were any better than their parents who died in the wilderness.

The people did not suffer from a lack of desire.  Just before Joshua gave his pronouncement, they assured Joshua that they knew Who had led them and fought for them.

Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lᴏʀᴅ to serve other gods, for it is the Lᴏʀᴅ our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.  And the Lᴏʀᴅ drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land.  Therefore we also will serve the Lᴏʀᴅ, for he is our God.  (Jos 24:16-18)

They were confident in their ability to be faithful and continue in the way of the Lord, but history tells us that Joshua was correct.  What was the problem?

First, the people were blind to their condition.  Thinking they were standing, they failed to take heed and fell.  We can attempt to write this off as nominal believers gone bad, and we would somehow do better; but most of contemporary Western Christianity also prefers bending to the prevailing culture rather than stand firm on the truth of Scripture.  In other words, we are just as susceptible to corruption as the Israelites of old.  We fail, individually and corporately, in grand scale.  Nobody is beyond the truth that “sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Gen 4:7).  Election does not insulate from transgression.

Second, the children of Israel were ignorant as to the extent of their condition. Joshua is not just identifying a weakness in their resolve, he wanted to move toward the root problem: the bad with which they needed to deal came from within.  Moses recognized this about the people as he continued his discourse (introduced above):

Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.  For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you.  And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lᴏʀᴅ, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.  (Deut 31:28-29)

Much later, God tells the nation through Jeremiah:

The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?  (Jer 17:9)

And finally, the Lord Jesus lays out the issue clearly:

What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.  (Mark 7:20-23)

We are naturally rotten.  We are our own worst enemies.  What we have from conception onward is utterly corrupt (Psa 51:5), being passed from one generation to another because of Adam’s sin.  You were born to fail.

As dismal the inevitability of perpetual failure might be, throughout the warp and woof of history is a thread of redemption and hope.  From the very beginning of sin entering this world, God had promised both a plan and one who would carry it to fruition.  He would set all things right.  A great irony in this grand plan is that the Word of God that the people of Israel, even all mankind since Adam, have spurned became the very thing that won mankind’s redemption and paid the ransom, once for all.  What was revealed to Adam, Noah, Moses, Joshua, etc. was not just a communication from God to man (as wondrous as that might be) but was the living Word of God.  The second person of the godhead, the Son, Logos of God, took on human nature and died at the hand of His creation that He might put to nothing all that Satan accomplished at the Fall and win mankind for Himself.  Not only that, He who is living and active inscripturated became incarnate, walked among us, and explained the Father to us that we might have the revelation that both qualifies us and makes us complete in Him.

What we lacked in ability to perform or tried to over-compensate for has now been accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord, who willingly went to the cross for our sin and made peace between God and man.  What love and grace!  Now, because we still have the old man working in us, there are times when we fail—we sin, but we have access before God to confess our sin and be cleansed of its guilt.  We have an advocate before the Father who ever lives to make intercession for us as our great High Priest before the Father, and His blood on the Mercy Seat speaks better things than all the animal sacrifices could ever perform on our behalf.

We will fail, and when we do, there is a loving God and Savior who bids us come, be cleansed, and rest in the joy of deliverance and peace.

Downward Spirals

When confronted with the consequences of sin, most people react in denial or avoidance—much the same way as when confronted with the actual committal leading to this point.  Regularly, what begins as a rationalization for acceptance of conduct in relation to other societal behavior turns to disbelief and blame when faced with the ultimate ends of the behavior.  When a group has been complicit, the reaction intensifies exponentially, making clear thinking even more problematic.  Over past millennia, governments and nations have fallen insisting that their course of action is proper for the citizenry, when in fact, it is the opposite.  Peer pressure to accept or abide government-sanctioned sin works as an added control of dissident thought—truth.

Illustration by Harry Clarke

Eventually, the national situation becomes dire and extreme measures are required.  In order to avoid the worst, authorities have turned to their great thinkers for counsel: “How can the inevitable be prevented?  What should we do?”  Like the doomed vessel of Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom,” the nation is dragged into a continual downward spiral.  Unwise counsel will say, “Weather the storm.  We have done so before and can again.”  Those folding fast to the ship of state and such counsel for safety are doomed.  The scripturally faithful leader is able to ascertain the true condition and necessary corrective via the more secure, but counter-intuitive, promises.

National leaders with a modicum of spiritual understanding will seek out the biblical counsel, however their intentions may be masked until counsel has been given.  The wise leader will takes heed, acknowledges the national error, and throws himself on God’s mercy.  The vast majority, however, reject the truth, accuse the counselor of lying for personal or political gain, and instead attempt political means, even through foreign relations, to evade the undoubted fallout.  Yet in the midst of this political maneuvering, national leaders keep the godly leader close at hand, as if he might act as a lifeboat or flotation device to whom they might cling in vain effort to pulled into the abyss.  Once again, these measures will fail.

Along the way, people will ask why the calamity has come with no end of analysis on how this could have been averted and where we go from here.  The man of God will make known the truth of how the people abandoned Almighty God for idols of their own making.  The surprising retort comes that the leaders knew full well what they did and are glad of it, because their actions formerly led to prosperity—the very thing the people wanted.  They appeal to the goodness of the conditions that bring about collapse.

Reader, you may be assuming that I have been writing of the current woes in the United States concerning the validation of homosexual marriage by the Supreme Court.  That is not the case, nor is this a look at the economic collapse happening with Greece.  Either would fit, as might any past regime.  Some might even wonder if the U.S. is “too big to fail.”  (Where have we heard that before?  2008 anyone?)  The U.S.S.R. is a stark example of super-power that can fall almost overnight.  My example nation is much older than those from modern history.  It comes from the pages of the Bible through the prophet Jeremiah (42-45).  The vestiges of the small, but mighty, nation of Israel had fallen in ruin because they had forsaken their God.  If any nation could claim Scripture as the basis for their government, this is it.  Their constitution was the Scriptures, yet as a people, they had determined that the “welfare” of the nation superseded their allegiance to the Lord of all Who called them to be a people.  They tried to use their privileged position as a hedge and considered themselves too big to fail.  Regardless of how large or small the nation, when the people do not have a regard for biblical principles in their rule, implosion is inevitable.*

Can national repentance stave off the collapse?  Perhaps, but let us think more locally and pray that those who name the name of Christ in my city or locale will seek the Lord, so that the gospel might go forth in clarity.  The Great Shepherd will gather His flock: He will build His church.


*  Lest you think I am advocating something I have not said, let me state that America is not Israel.  It never has been, nor ever will be.  We are not, nor ever have been, a Christian nation.  The Founding Fathers did have a healthy regard for the Bible, which colored their approach to our governing principles.  Also, 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not a promise for Americans to claim that God will heal the U.S.

Freedom to Sin, or Freedom from Sin?

A friend posted a link on Facebook referencing the following blog post from a Christian father offering four promises if he has a child coming out as homosexual:

1. If I have gay children, you’ll all know it.
2. If I have gay children, I’ll pray for them.
3. If I have gay children, I’ll love them.
4. If I have gay children, most likely I have gay children.

The first and third promises seem appropriate.  The author will acknowledge what is happening and not attempt to hide or deny it; neither will he stop loving them.

Promise two is also appropriate in form, but the intent is incorrect.  The author says that he “won’t pray for them to be made ‘normal,’” nor will he “pray that God will heal or change or fix them.”  He goes on to explain that he will pray that the child be kept from “ignorance and hatred and violence” and ungodly treatment from “His misguided children.”  Every parent I know would seek to prevent bullying, teasing, etc. for his or her child, so that aspect is all well and good, but something is dreadfully wrong.  He does not pray that they might repent from the lifestyle.  That seems a rather odd position to take, but these three promises are built on the fourth, which is the underlying basis for the post: homosexuality is a God-given condition.  If you do not believe my words, consider these from the post:

• God has already created them and wired them, and placed the seed of who they are within them.  Psalm 139 says that He, “stitched them together in their mother’s womb.”  The incredibly intricate stuff that makes them uniquely them; once-in-History souls, has already been uploaded into their very cells.
• Because of that, there isn’t a coming deadline on their sexuality that their mother and I are working feverishly toward.  I don’t believe there’s some magical expiration date approaching, by which time she and I need to somehow do, or say, or pray just the right things to get them to “turn straight,” or forever lose them to the other side. 
• [Emphasis his]

Do you see the problems?  First, this father has chosen to rationalize the sin of the child by blaming it on the Creator.  We have a problem though.  The very Creator being blamed established the heterosexual union of husband and wife as the only valid place for sexual relations.  Every other form is sin.  There is no valid argument to be made that will lessen the truth.  Second, if anyone disagrees, that person or group is misguided.  The natural parent-child relationship trumps all other law—biblical, natural, or otherwise.

About this time, the usual retort is, “There are people who have same-sex attractions but are celibate.  They‘re still ‘gay.’  What about them?”  Lust is a sin regardless of the object.  Whether I might lust after another woman or man, I am an adulterer; if unmarried, I would be a fornicator.  Men and women deal with lust, whether opposite-sex or same-sex attraction.  As with any other sin, the question remains: are we willing to mortify the flesh as the Apostle Paul says?

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  (Co 3:5)

Western society has a way of grouping individuals of aberrant intent or behavior in special classifications.  While in the past these classifications may have been used to assist the individual toward normalcy, we have chosen, rather, to consider any predilection to be normal for that individual and to change the classification in order to protect the right to engage in any resulting behavior, further enslaving the person in their sin, downplaying or dismissing potential effects on others.  Christians are not to condone this mindset whereby sin is coddled and given a free pass.  No, our call is much higher—to live in a new-found life in God won for us by Jesus:

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  (Ro 6:17-18)

Blame and Suffering

Christians are increasingly being marginalized in an attempt to silence the truth of man’s sinfulness and need of the Savior.  How do I know that this is the reason?  First, though I am a sinner saved by grace, my defensive reaction when confronted belies a knowledge to the truth; and second, the general public is surprised that Christians would not at least “live and let live.” while the most virulent attacks come from those who are most aggressive in the promotion of their personal sins.  The apostle Peter warned that the world would be surprised that we do not join in with the same level of “sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry” (1 Pet 4:3-4) for which we are maligned.

We should not be surprised that simply expressing opinions on matters of morality brings out the worst.  The apostle Paul tells us that we are: “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Cor 2:15-16).  Christ-likeness is exuded from the Holy Spirit working through in our activities as ambassadors for Christ.  In a sense, Christians have “grown up” from childish and selfish longing and now “ live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (1 Pet 4:2).

In order to increase the intensity level of the attack, unbelievers have blamed Christians for any number of societal ills.  Over the centuries, the Church has been accused of inciting political upheaval, economic decline, flood, drought, famine, infestation, pestilence, war, and even climate change.  Fourth-century apologist Arnobius of Sicca relates these very arguments from his day: “But pestilences,” say my opponents, “and droughts, wars, famines, locusts, mice, and hailstones, and other hurtful things, by which the property of men is assailed...are brought upon us” (The Case Against the Pagans, I.3).  Who knew we yielded such influence?  Today, the attack is often more nuanced, though no less intentional.  So-called global warming can be considered an indirect assault since the the blame is placed on industrialized nations wherein Christianity has had the greatest influence and created an atmosphere of mankind operating freely for mutual benefit, while acknowledging the necessity of self-imposed biblical moral strictures.

Battles involving Al Qaeda and Islamic State have renewed writers to postulate once again that religion is the cause of war, rather than looking deeper—and Christianity gets blamed.  Arnobius has already retorted, “Wait a minute.  Things are more stable because of us.”

Although you allege that those wars which you speak of were excited through hatred of our religion, it would not be difficult to prove, that after the name of Christ was heard in the world, not only were they not increased, but they were even in great measure diminished by the restraining of furious passions.  For since we, a numerous band of men as we are, have learned from His teaching and His laws that evil ought not to be repaid with evil, that it is better to suffer wrong than to inflict it, that we should rather shed our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with that of another, an ungrateful world is now for a long period enjoying a benefit from Christ, inasmuch as by His means the rage of savage ferocity has been softened, and has begun to withhold hostile hands from the blood of a fellow-creature.

The Case Against the Pagans, I.6

He concludes that if all would turn from their “pride and arrogance of enlightenment” and adhere to God's admonitions life would be more tranquil between nations.  Tertullian, writing to Roman authorities one hundred years prior, agreed and pointed to the true culprit—sinful man:

[A]s the result of their willing ignorance of the Teacher of righteousness, the Judge and Avenger of sin, all vices and crimes grew and flourished.  But had men sought, they would have come to know the glorious object of their seeking; and knowledge would have produced obedience, and obedience would have found a gracious instead of an angry God.  They ought then to see that the very same God is angry with them now as in ancient times, before Christians were so much as spoken of.  It was His blessings they enjoyed—created before they made any of their deities: and why can they not take it in, that their evils come from the Being whose goodness they have failed to recognize?  They suffer at the hands of Him to whom they have been ungrateful.  And, for all that is said, if we compare the calamities of former times, they fall on us more lightly now, since God gave Christians to the world; for from that time virtue put some restraint on the world’s wickedness, and men began to pray for the averting of God’s wrath.

Apology, 40

Fallen people look for any excuse to shift blame for their conduct, thinking that if they would be left alone, everything would work out.  This cannot be either at an individual or societal level.  This world is worsening in the downward slide, and Christians receive both the blame and unjust punishment for pointing out the obvious.  And just as the apostles were promised by Jesus in the Upper Room that they would be killed as an act of divine service (John 16:2), so believers in this country will feel an increasing pressure and attack.

We are at enmity with God because of our sin nature, yet peace and contentment are found in a Savior who willing died to redeem and reconcile us.  In the face of affliction, He is our rest and solace.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  (1 Pet 4:12-14)

Yes, we will assuredly suffer, but we can assuredly rest in our Lord.

Not Because of My Merit or Work

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  (Col 1:13-14)

It is very certain that even though all the gates of hell contradict us, yet the remission of sins cannot be received except by faith alone, which believes that sins are remitted for Christ’s sake, according to Romans 3:25, “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.”  Likewise Romans 5:2, “Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace, etc.”  For a terrified conscience cannot set against God’s wrath our works or our love, but it is at length pacified when it apprehends Christ as Mediator, and believes the promises given for His sake.  For those who dream that without faith in Christ hearts become pacified, do not understand what the remission of sins is, or how it came to us.  1 Peter 2:6, cites from Isaiah 49:23 and 28:16, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”  It is necessary, therefore, that hypocrites be confounded, who are confident that they receive the remission of sins because of their own works, and not because of Christ.  Peter also says in Acts 10:43, “To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”  What he says, through His name, could not be expressed more clearly, and he adds, “everyone who believes in Him.”  Thus, therefore, we receive the remission of sins only through the name of Christ, i.e., for Christ’s sake, and not for the sake of any merits and works of our own.  And this occurs when we believe that sins are remitted to us for Christ’s sake.

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XIIa: Repentance, 63-5

Admitting a Wrong Done

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What does this mean?  Answer: We should fear and love God so that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slender, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, [think and] speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.  (Luther’s Small Catechism, Part I)

On September 16, I posted on my distaste of and disagreement to a capital campaign conducted by our local assembly.  Whether my critique on the procedure was valid or invalid is immaterial here.  I admit that assumptions and perceptions, rather than sound reason, ruled my thinking.  In other words, I assigned an invalid intent on the leadership.  That was sin.

In looking back on the months leading up to the post, I had opportunities to question the program being laid out and enacted.  I did not, first by allowing past experience with elders from other churches cloud how this group might react, and second by rationalizing that a public message after the fact.  The proper choice of action was to raise the concerns when they were presented.  That way I could have been enlightened on the thought processes behind decisions made or enlightened others to blind spots that may have entered through “group think.”

I wish to make a public apology to the leadership for bearing a false witness and have deleted the post in question.  And lest there be anyone who thinks that my actions come through some coercion from the elders, allow me to dispel the notion immediately.  What I do today was precipitated by a conversation with my wife and some providential reading along the same lines forcing a hard look at what I had done.

Lastly, some will think, “It takes a big man to admit he’s wrong.”  It takes a bigger man to avoid it.

My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
Let them not escape from your sight;
    keep them within your heart.
For they are life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for from it flow the springs of life.  (Prov 4:20-23)

God Does Not Abandon Those He Punishes

In a previous post, I relayed that God’s punishment of his elect is a painful but necessary ordeal.  While undergoing such seasons, there are times, sometimes lengthy, when the Lord seems to have abandoned his children.  Read the psalms and notice that more than once a psalmist would cry out in bewilderment, “Where are you?  Why is this happening?”  Juxtaposed to those times is the Babylonian captivity.  For decades the Lord had been warning his people through the prophets to return or be severely punished, and when the final blow was to befall Judah, he gave a fixed time of 70 years they would be forced out of their homeland because of their disobedience (Jer 25:8-14).

The latter occurrence drew Origen’s attention as he considered this first verse of Ezekiel:

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.  (Ezek 1:1)

What is notable about the verse?  To the uninitiated, there are date and location references, and some type of introduction to phenomenological activity, but Origen explains:

Not all those who were led away in captivity to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar went to Babylon because of sins—most of the people because of sins, but the righteous among them did not: such as Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, this Ezekiel, Zechariah, Haggai, and those like them.  (Exegetical Works on Ezekiel, “Fragments,” 1)

We often do not pay attention to the historical setting, which places several God-fearing people in Babylon during the captivity—some who were forcibly taken there, and others born there who later returned.  During the times of adversity and discipline, the Lord has men ministering his word, offering comfort, hope, and encouragement.  The Jews in Babylon could look to those individuals and have a constant reminder that he was still dealing with his people for their good.

God who is good, and who punishes sinners, and hands over into captivity those who are not able to be in the holy land because of their sins—for opposites cannot exist—sends prophets along with them, so that the sinners may not be completely without help, when they have become captives.  For on the assumption that the sinners had been led away to Babylon on the basis of their sin, and there had been no righteous ones among them, there was no healing for the sinners.  Therefore, this was provided by [God’s] ineffable goodness.  For he does not hand over sinners to complete abandonment, but rather watches over them through his holy ones, about whom he said, “You are the light of this world, and the salt of the earth”*—he said this not only about the apostles, but also about those who are like them.  (“Fragments,” 1)

Yes, discipline is painful for a season, but the alternative, no discipline, means that you are not a legitimate child of his (Heb 12:8) being truly abandoned (Rom 1: 24-28) and left to your own destruction both in this life and the next.

God disciplines that we might share in his holiness (Heb 12:10).  We can be encouraged in this to lift drooping hands and strengthen weak knees, and make straight paths for our feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (Heb 12:12-13).

*  Matthew 5:13-14

Broken, but Restorable

The adult daughter of an acquaintance has admitted on her blog that she has not been actively participating in church life for several months now because, in her own words:

The truth is I've been hurt.  Badly.  So, I have some trust issues now.

I do not know the background, nor did I ask, but her experience is not that uncommon.  There are many stories of people walking away from the Church when they finally realize that what had been taught was not the biblical gospel, but a law-driven, rule-based set of standards to which a person must adhere in order to be in good standing and considered “spiritual.”  In spite of best intentions, the effort to maintain the facade wears one down.  After so long, the truth comes to light.  Zeal gives way to disenchantment, then disgust, as self-promoted perfectionism crashes against actual life.  Others, like this lady above, still cling to the Lord Jesus and the truth of scripture, but there are wounds inflicted deliberately or unwittingly by Christians just trying to help but did so in the wrongly.  The blogger goes on to say that it becomes like the emotional upheaval from a romantic breakup.  Healing can occur, but that will take time.

While reading that post, my mind went to Psalm 26:

Vindicate me, O Lᴏʀᴅ,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lᴏʀᴅ without wavering.
Prove me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.
I do not sit with men of falsehood,
    nor do I consort with hypocrites.
I hate the assembly of evildoers,
    and I will not sit with the wicked.
I wash my hands in innocence
    and go around your altar, O Lᴏʀᴅ,
proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
    and telling all your wondrous deeds.
O Lᴏʀᴅ, I love the habitation of your house
    and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
    nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
in whose hands are evil devices,
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.
But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
    redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
    in the great assembly I will bless the Lᴏʀᴅ.

David has been maligned by critics, and he goes before the Lord to lay out his case.  His life, according to his understanding, has been upright before God and man.  This expresses the feelings of any faithful, Bible-believing Christians receiving the brunt of misplaced intentions.  There is a desire to be worshiping where God dwells among his people, yet those people are the reason for separation and loneliness.  Talk about a “Catch 22.”

Restoration will take an individual route, but the psalm gives overall steps the wronged person should take:

1. Take stock of your life against what scripture says.  Are you walking with integrity?
2. Allow the Lord to test your life.  Have go mining to dig up what needs to be brought to light and refined.
3. Keep the Lord before you.  There is a temptation to give up trying and walk away.  Remain steadfast and hold tightly to what God has graciously promised you in his word.
4. Resolve to worship.  Worship is not always a joyful experience.  Most of the psalms detail wrongs, sins, abandonment, and the harshness of life, yet coming around to acknowledge that the Lord Almighty is ever-faithful and will stand by his word.
5. Keep worship with the whole assembly as a goal.  You, as an individual, are meant to be involved as an integral part of the assembly, actively engaged as a member of Christ’s body.  Regardless of how restoration progresses, aim to be where his people gather.  Christians are not hermits.
   

Jesus died on the cross for the person offended and for those who caused the offense.  Restoration is possible through the working of the Holy Spirit in the strength that God supplies.

God's Punishment: Painful, but Necessary

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.  (1 Cor 5:4-5)

For this reason, we too should bear it patiently when we are handed over to vengeance by God.  The apostle [Paul] handed over someone from the assembly of the church to the devil for the destruction of his flesh; and he handed him over for the destruction of his flesh in order to preserve the spirit of the one who was handed over, not in order to destroy the one who was handed over.  Hence, Scripture says, “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”  Moreover the sinner is handed over to torments so that he may receive punishments for the present, and after suffering pain for his sins he may obtain relief in the future, and it may be possible to say about him, “He received his ills in his life.”*  So then, if anyone, after being tormented with punishments in accordance with the curse in which God has placed sinners, prefers to flee from the punishments and to send to Egypt so as to procure help—and to Pharaoh, from whom God liberated his people—then “he does not go straight; he will not be saved.”†  If, however, one patiently endures the curse and punishments … and in torment brings to completion the time [required for] his sins—just as that man did who according to the epistles of the apostle was tormented so that his spirit would be saved in the day of judgment—he will obtain a very good end.

Origen of Alexandria: Exegetical Works on Ezekiel, 12.3.3

*  Cf. Luke 16:25
†  See Ezekiel 17:15.  Origen is saying that the sinner will not be saved from God’s punishment by fleeing to the world for help.

Doing Violence to God

And let us not think that we embitter only the word of the Lord if we sin.  Our transgression goes as far as to wrong God Himself; for it is written that one who sins “dishonors God by violating the Law.”*  It would be little enough if Scripture had only said, “dishonors”; but as things are, it says, “…dishonors God by violating the Law.”  As often as we violate the law of God, so often do we dishonor God.  The greater our transgressions, the greater the injury we inflict on God; the more we sin, the more we dishonor the Father and his Christ, as it is written, “How much more do you think they deserve worse punishments, who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, and have regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant, with which they were sanctified, and have done violence to the Spirit of grace?”†  So then, whoever sins embitters and does violence and dishonors both God’s words, which he has received, and the One who has taught him.

Origen of Alexandria: Exegetical Works on Ezekiel, 12.1.3

*  Romans 2:23, slightly adapted
†  Hebrews 10:29

Making the Sweet Bitter

How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way.  (Psalm 119:103-104)

When believers have received these naturally sweet words, either they live well or they do exactly the opposite. And if indeed they behave in accordance with the divine standards, they preserve God’s words in their original sweetness. In my way of thinking, however, I consider that by the goodness of their way of life they actually increase the pleasantness of God’s words, as they mingle the delightfulness of their lives with the sweetness of the language.

But if, on the other hand, someone should sin and “walk crookedly” outside the commandments of God, that person receives the sweetest words of God but reduces all the pleasantness to a bitter taste, by virtue of the nature of the most bitter sin—for sin, which which drives out the sweetness of the words, is bitter.  Listen to an example, so that you will be able to attend more fully to what I am saying.  The plant which is called “absinthe” is naturally bitter; and if you put it into honey in proportion to the quality and quantity of the honey, it overcomes the honey’s sweetness by means of its own bitterness, and forces what is sweet to become bitter.  Sin has the power of this plant.  If I commit more sins, I introduce more bitterness into the sweetness of God’s words.  If my transgression is great, I turn all the sweetness of the honey into a bitter taste.

Origen of Alexandria: Exegetical Works on Ezekiel, 12.1.1-2

Christ Saves Even the Worst of Sinners

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.  (1 Tim 1:15-16)

That the Only-begotten became man for the sake of sinners, he himself taught in the sacred Gospels, “I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  [Paul’s] claiming to be foremost among all sinners surpasses the very bounds of humility; yet in what follows he develops a further case that is even more extreme:

 

Just as, in a single house where there are many ill at the same time and all despair of recovery, a physician takes one patient suffering from the worst condition, and by offering appropriate remedies and restoring this one to the peak of condition he instills confidence in all the others, so Christ the Lord, the physician of souls, became man for the sake of the salvation of sinners, brought me to notice, most lawless of all, and not only freed me from the former defilements but also plied me with marvelous gifts.  In me he showed all people immeasurable long-suffering so that none of those guilty of transgressions should despair of salvation once they have looked to me.

Theodoret of Cyrus, “The First Letter to Timothy”

God, the Son, Comes as Servant to Suffer for Sin

Surely he has borne our griefs
        and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
        smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
        he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
        and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
        we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
        the iniquity of us all.  (Isa 53:4-6)

Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse the conditions proper to Him as man, since He hungers and toils and thirsts in weariness, and flees in fear, and prays in trouble.  And He who as God has a sleepless nature, slumbers on a pillow.  And He who for this end came into the world, begs off from the cup of suffering.  And in an agony He sweats blood, and is strengthened by an angel, who Himself strengthens those who believe on Him, and taught men to despise death by His work.  And He who knew what manner of man Judas was, is betrayed by Judas.  And He, who formerly was honored by him as God, is contemned by Caiaphas.  And He is set at naught by Herod, who is Himself to judge the whole earth.  And He is scourged by Pilate, who took upon Himself our infirmities.  And by the soldiers He is mocked, at whose behest stand thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of angels and archangels.  And He who fixed the heavens like a vault is fastened to the cross by the Jews.  And He who is inseparable from the Father cries to the Father, and commends to Him His spirit; and bowing His head, He gives up the ghost, who said, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again.”  And because He was not overmastered by death, as being Himself Life, He said this: “I lay it down of myself.”  And He who gives life bountifully to all, has His side pierced with a spear.  And He who raises the dead is wrapped in linen and laid in a sepulcher, and on the third day He is raised again by the Father, though Himself the Resurrection and the Life.  For all these things has He finished for us, who for our sakes was made as we are.  For “Himself has borne our infirmities, and carried our diseases; and for our sakes He was afflicted,” as Isaiah the prophet has said.

This is He who was hymned by the angels, and seen by the shepherds, and waited for by Simeon, and witnessed to by Anna.  This is He who was inquired after by the wise men, and indicated by the star.  He who was engaged in His Father’s house, and pointed to by John, and witnessed to by the Father from above in the voice, “This is my beloved Son; hear Him.”  He is crowned victor against the devil.  This is Jesus of Nazareth, who was invited to the marriage-feast in Cana, and turned the water into wine, and rebuked the sea when agitated by the violence of the winds, and walked on the deep as on dry land, and caused the blind man from birth to see, and raised Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days, and did many mighty works, and forgave sins, and conferred power on the disciples, and had blood and water flowing from His sacred side when pierced with the spear.  For His sake the sun is darkened, the day has no light, the rocks are shattered, the veil is rent, the foundations of the earth are shaken, the graves are opened, and the dead are raised, and the rulers are ashamed when they see the Director of the universe upon the cross closing His eye and giving up the ghost.  Creation saw, and was troubled; and, unable to bear the sight of His exceeding glory, shrouded itself in darkness.  This (is He who) breathes upon the disciples, and gives them the Spirit, and comes in among them when the doors are shut, and is taken up by a cloud into the heavens while the disciples gaze at Him, and is set down on the right hand of the Father, and comes again as the Judge of the living and the dead.  This is the God who for our sakes became man, to whom also the Father has put all things in subjection.  To Him be the glory and the power, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the holy Church both now and ever, and even for evermore.  Amen.

Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of One Noetus

Your Self-Effort Cannot Make You Good Enough

We have all become like one who is unclean,
        and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
        and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name,
        who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
        and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.  (Isaiah 64:6-7)

[W]e have all lost the integrity of our nature through the sin of the first man.  Hence followed mortality, hence the manifold corruption of body and mind, ignorance and difficulty, useless cares, unlawful desires, sacrilegious aberrations, vain fears, harmful love, unholy pleasures, blamable designs, and as great a host of woes as of sins.  With these and other evils assailing human nature, with faith lost, hope abandoned, the intellect blinded, the will enslaved, no one finds in himself the means of a restoration.  Although some tried, guided by their natural reason, to resist vices, the life of decency they led here on earth was sterile.  They did not acquire true virtues and attain eternal happiness.  Without worship of the true God even what has the appearance of virtue is sin.  No one can please God without God.

Prosper of Aquitaine, The Call of All Nations 1.7