This Entertaining Truth, Part 1: I'll Have My Spiritual Steak Medium-Well, Please.

As a Christian who listens to and reads from some of the most truthful Bible preachers and teachers available today - such as Paul Washer, John Piper, Voddie Baucham, Eric Mason, John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, and the list goes on - sometimes I tend to sit back, taking more security than I should in the fact that much of my spiritual food comes from these teachers. Thoughts of, "This guy can really bring truth", start going through my head.

But, as Pastor Begg calls his radio show, it is "Truth for Life".

In high school or college, I memorized all of James 1. I probably cannot recite it word for word anymore, but verses 22-25 stay with me to this day:

" ²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, andcontinues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it— he will be blessed in what he does."

Listening to the truth of God can, quite wrongfully, become a form of entertainment. Perhaps that is is part of my motivation for why I tend to prefer to listen to very theoretical preaching that emphasizes the otherness of God, His holiness, His justice, His grace, and His other attributes. Often I think, "We have a song in church where we sing, 'I will worship You for who You are'; and it doesn't say much more than that. It doesn't actually tell us who God is or explain His characteristics. So how can I 'worship God for who He is' unless I study Him and find out who He is?" So it leads me into high-flown thought after high-flown thought, which leads to great worship if I am given a doctrinally sound enough song to sing. This can be a good thing. Or it can turn me into a theological elitist or someone who is merely entertained by good preaching.

Ok; that's a good thought. But why do Christians like me shy away from practical messages? Is it merely because we don't hear much more than that in most modern churches and we are looking for the real meat?

Or is it because we find the meat entertaining and because only listening to the meat can sometimes get us thinking about God's nature so much that it lets us off the hook of practical obedience?

Don't misunderstand me. We do need to listen to the meat and not live on only the milk of the Word forever. We need to listen to, and/or read, the preachers and writers who can really chop up a text of Scripture and mine it like gold. Listening to John Piper or Eric Mason preach for an hour or so on just one verse, like John 1:1, or even just "In the beginning was the Word...", gives great depth to our knowledge of God; it can greatly help our spiritual growth and enhance our worship of God. And we need to study Scripture to get as much out of it as we can and then live it out and share it in times of fellowship with each other. We need all of that.

But sometimes I get to a point where I start to say things like, "Whoa, that's convicting!" And then at the end of the message, I listen to some music or Tagalog lessons and forget what I have heard.

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"11. Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances don't hinder.

"12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by."

- from the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards.

On Wisdom

^{(I am still working on the next two series of posts. They will be pretty involved. Here is some Scripture on which I have recently meditated. Let us listen to these words of our all-knowing and -wise God. A link to a helpful article on godly wisdom from Desiring God follows the Scripture.)}

^"12 But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
¹³ No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, “It is not in me”;
the sea says, “It is not with me.”
¹⁵ It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
¹⁶ It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
¹⁸ Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
¹⁹ The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.

²⁰ Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.
²² Destruction and Death say,
“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
²³ God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
²⁴ for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
²⁷ then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
²⁸ And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.”
- Job 28:12-28.

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Pastor Paul Tripp writes,

"Here is what all of us must face, sin really does reduce us all to fools, but happily the story doesn't end there. The One who is the ultimate source of everything that's good, true, trustworthy, right, and wise is also a God of amazing grace.

"You don't get freed from your foolishness by education or experience. You don't get wisdom by research and analysis. You get wisdom by means of a relationship with the One who is Wisdom."

- "You're Fooling Yourself".

To Chase Him Down

Died He for me,

Whose life disappears like vapor

Who once chased a stack of paper

Instead of my sovereign Maker?

He's one Holy God in three,

His ways know no limitations,

His purpose sees no frustrations,

His Spirit - Regenerator.

His will? To make me holy,

Like Him, who became lowly,

The Son, who suffered slowly

And was once not seen as Son.

Fulfilled? Each prophet's story

By Christ, who left His glory

Who made it auditory:

The redemptive work was done!

My long-gone brother said it well,

I once dangled over hell

Only mercy did sustain me - kept on this earth to tell

That until that final bell

Repentance makes a sinner well

And believing in the spotless, perfect Lamb Who never fell.

It glorified my King to throw off my every chain,

To cleanse great and minor stains,

To test my growing faith with pains.

Let my life song's each refrain

Scream that He my life maintains

And that He by grace sustains

My chase of Him and not the vain.

I read and I write to encounter the divine,

To worship with heart and mind

To speak the truth that I find.

Lord, entrance Your chosen saints

In a state of faithful praise,

Amazed by Your sovereign grace.

Transfix my gaze,

Transform my ways,

To become what befits one who lives in endless day.

Rewrite each phrase,

Ignite my praise,

Set my passion on Your glory. May I never stray.

Many days I have a faraway look in my eyes,

Thinking of my future home where the pleasure never dies.

Considering His perfections, I do well to surmise

That His grace for today makes me able to live wise.

Seek His face, and chase it down,

In your house and in your town

Cling to the gracious Savior whose love and grace abound

Your life cannot be rewound.

Let it send a worthy sound.

Not knowing you were lost, by His mercy you were found.

As a lost sheep, lost coin, lost son, now found -

you can grasp parables now - thoughts unbound.

The Spirit shed light and made your mind renewed:

The Good Shepherd left ninety-nine for you!

On Obedience to Civil Government, Part 3: "God and..."?

When sentiment and political allegiances drive the Christian's response to government, and they relegate Scripture to a secondary shaper of their beliefs or ignore it completely, God can easily leave the center of their lives and can easily stop being the focus of their meditations. Any sayings of "God and _______" are problematic, because they set God on the same level of importance as (or only symbolically higher than) the other item, usually "country". And it results in a divided loyalty, a divided heart.

Yet, at the same time, God has not called us to ignore country either. We do well to pray for everyone that we can, in any sphere of life:

"1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. ...

"8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing."

- 1 Timothy 2:1-6, 8.

The "lift up holy hands" in verse 8 implies that these prayers for leaders are not half-hearted and passionless! It is an impassioned plea before God for Him to save our leaders, for Him to keep them following Him, and for His name to be glorified to the utmost in our countries and among His people - regardless of what that means for us. And the "holy hands" posture is not intended as a gesture to look pious, but to indicate an ultimate dependence on God, a committing of our way to the Lord. As A.W. Pink writes, "Nothing is too great and nothing is too small to commit into the hands of the Lord." Let us also fast, if we have any question of our passion for Christ or have sensed that we have made any idol that God must smash.

So, as a responsible (earthly) citizen of the United States, I exercise my right to vote, and will vote for the best candidates on the ballot based on my conscience. Yet never does God call me to yell at Him over the results of an election. Whether the people who I vote for win or not, I am still going to praise God for who He has always been, the work that He has done, the work that He is doing, and the work that He will do. I will give an account to God over how I receive the leadership of these officials. And He has said to obey them, according to His perfect will, wherever it does not cause me to disobey Him. This obedience magnifies the glory of God and increases the joy of those whom I obey.

"15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you."

- Hebrews 13:15-17