Delighting in God: How to Expel your Fear of Thugs and Thieves (Psalm 37 #8)

So in Psalm 37:4 we are told to "delight in God and He will give us the desires of our heart." As mentioned yesterday this is a way of saying that when evildoers seemingly have the upper hand (which is the case in Psalm 37 and today), believers must gaze at God with affection and delight rather than at their surrounding circumstances or the powers that be.

In so doing their fear, fretting, and fuming will dissipate, and their desires (for more of God and grace and joy) will increase. The spiritual formula is really quite simple, even if not always easy to apply. Here it is: In hard times, delight in God. When times grow dark gaze at the Light. When times are tough, turn to the bright, pleasing, satisfying Wonder, whose name is God.

When you do, fear will be expelled and desires satisfied.

One reason why so many Christians today are all hot and bothered to the point of spiritual distraction is because they are spending far more time gazing at problems than at the God above those problems. Time doesn't permit me to expound at length about how to remedy this, but can I suggest a simple piece of advice (which I know you're all smart enough to figure out how to apply)?

For every ten minutes you spend watching the news, evaluating economic and political theory, critiquing politicians, reading the lastest alarms from conservative watchdog groups, or keeping current on the latest scandal in Washington or on Main Street, spend an hour delighting in God.

I'm not exaggerating or kidding. Ten minutes watching the news should be preceded or followed by an hour in the Word of God or prayer or fellowship with believers or reading a book extolling the attributes or gospel or grace or glory or sovereignty of God.

Delight in God and he will give you the desires of your heart. Wallow in the gutter of political thuggery and theory or cultural decay and you will only get mad and afraid.

I heard yesterday (in a conversation) about a local civic leader apparently taken down in an FBI investigation. Guess what: in a total of five minutes of conversation and follow up reading I knew all I needed to know about it. If I spend any more time on it, I lose joy, fuel anger, get weak, start sinning.

I can get all the news I really need daily in a very few minutes of headline reading. More than that and I'm headed for the gutter. Instead I choose to spend my time beholding the One whose glory fills the earth and whose hand rules the nations.

Delighting in God, I get more of God and all the joy he gives, even when the world is upside down with corruption.

Today's thought.

The Lord has Risen Indeed: Luke 24:13-35

The resurrection of Christ is not a mere claim made by Christians to bolster faith. It is a claim rooted in history. We say not only, "He is risen" but "He is risen indeed;" in actual fact and truth (Luke 24:34).

Luke 24:13-35 presents some of the many compelling proofs of the resurrection:

1. He walked with many and talked with them after his death (Luke 24:13-35).
2. He let them touch His actual body (Luke 24:38, 39).
3. He ate meals with them (Luke 24:40-43).
4. He reminded them that His resurrection and glory had been foretold in prophecies (Luke 24:44-49).

If interested in finding out more of the proofs read books like: The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel, or Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh Mcdowell.

What matters my friends is that you know beyond all doubt that Jesus is risen indeed. Mere wishing or hoping Him alive does not mean He is. Does the evidence prove it? Does the evidence give you reason to believe, reason sufficient to support making a decision to follow Him with all your heart for all of life?

Many who profess to be Christians fail to live lives that evidence that they really believe that Jesus is alive. If he's alive, then He is Lord, and everything about us should be convincing testimony that we know it.

You must know that He lives. Then you must live a life that proves that you know it.
Another way of getting at that is this: Would people looking at the character and priorities of your life be convinced that you really believe that Jesus is alive? Something to think about as we echo the words: "He is risen indeed."

Why I Believe the Bible Is the Word of God: It Simply Works

I'm presenting the reasons for my faith in the Bible as God's Word with the conviction that the stronger the foundations for one's faith are, the stronger one's faith will be. And the stronger one's faith is, the more sanctified for and satisfied in God that one will be. My aim is our greater holiness and gladness in God. May God grant me my heart's desire!

The fifth reason I believe the Bible is the Word of God is because the teachings of the Bible work for all of life. Consider with me that the validity of a truth claim is based in part on the workability, liveability, and real-world feasibility of that claim. Does that claim fit into and work in the real world?

Ravi Zacharias loves to sound this note in his defense of the faith, noting how in contrast to pantheism (which is the basic philosophy behind Hinduism, Buddhism, and their various New Age offspring), Christianity (embodied in the teachings and truth claims of the Bible) actually can be lived; it works in the real world.

Part of what pantheism teaches is that the material world really does not exist; that none of what we think we see and touch is real. Everything is illusion. My senses are deceiving me into thinking that there is a real key board in front of me at which my fingers are pecking away. Actually, even my senses are not real. What we think we see and feel and smell and taste is not really there. And the thought that we actually do see and feel and smell and taste is an illusion as well.

The point that Mr. Zacharias so ably articulates is that pantheism cannot possibly be true simply because it cannot possibly be lived in the real world. No pantheist can be a consistent pantheist. It just won't work.

How does Mr. Zacaharias prove this? To paraphrase, he reminds us that every pantheist knows, as he approaches an intersection on his bicycle at the same time as a tractor trailer, that he'd better stop. He knows that, contrary to his faith that that truck is not really there, it really is. And if he should be so fooled as to think it's not really there he will soon find himself to be really dead.

This means that the claims of pantheism/Hinduism, however esoteric and appealing they may be at one level, just don't work at the real life level. Unless a New Ager chooses to let tractor trailers hit him, he simply cannot live what he believes. And if he does so choose, all that results is human road kill.

Folks, it's all well and good to claim that something is true, but if it cannot be lived, and if it simply does not work, it cannot possibly be true.

I would argue that the Bible works. It can be lived consistently (with the help of God), and when it is lived consistently, it works. Its teachings, laws, and various work, health, relationship, and lifestyle paradigms all interface with real life in the real world and lead to real benefits and positive consequences for those who do them.

Those who live by God's precepts in God's Word usually live better and often live longer (Ephesians 6:1-3), simply because they are made wiser by them (Psalm 19:7-11; 119:98-104). Generally speaking, unless God has occasional reasons to make it otherwise, bodies stay healthier, hearts become happier, marriages grow stronger and last longer, pleasures become purer and sweeter, relationships bond deeper, any and all work becomes more satisfying and productive, material needs are more consistently provided, and even deep trials and extreme suffering are more purposeful and peace-filled, when the Bible is learned and practiced in life.

What this suggests strongly is that the Bible has all the marks of being a Creator’s Manual for doing life on planet earth. Whoever wrote this Book gets it. He knows the real world and how to live in it. And even when He tells us things that are counter-intuitive (such as "if you would save your life, lose it"), the advice proves both do-able and true.

So here's another reason for my faith in the Bible. It's a reliable and effective guidebook for life on God's earth. It's an infallible Manual that points to an omniscient Manufacturer.

God has not only made our planet; He's told us how to live on it. And what He has said works.

On the New Year

I have just a few thoughts as we embark on another new year. I have come to value this holiday increasingly as the years have passed. As a child it meant no more than I got to stay up past midnight on New Year's eve. Today it means that I have a chance to pause, to think, to evaluate, to set goals, to take stock of life.

Gayline asked me last evening if I'd be willing to take some time this evening to talk over our personal and family goals for 2010. It was a great idea (she's got lots of them!), so that's part of what we're going to do.

I suspect that this is going to lead us toward a few goals like these:
1. Make sure that we're both going hard and happy after God in 2010.
2. Make sure that we're going hard and happy after personal character and faith in 2010 by mortifying specific sins of which we're aware and bringing to life the fruit of the Spirit.
3. Make sure that we're going hard and happy after Truth in 2010, through daily reading of the Word and extensive reading of the Truth-gold that others have written.
4. Make sure that we're both going hard and happy after each other in 2010.
5. Make sure we're both going hard and happy after our children and grand-children in 2010.
6. Make sure that we're both going hard and happy after our spiritual family in the church in 2010.
7. Make sure that we're going hard and happy after good nutrition and exercise in 2010 that we might seize whatever years we have left with as much energy and good health as it's in our power to develop.
8. Make sure that we're going hard and happy after joy--in all God is, and all God does--in 2010.

Now if we are enabled to apply specifics to all of this, all in the strength which God supplies, it will prove to be a God-filled year.

What are your goals?

Have a blessed new year.

Born on the Run

A curious thing, isn’t it, that when, in Matthew 2:13-18, the child Jesus was threatened by the ruthless King Herod, God left it to that humble dreamer, Joseph, to protect his Son. There may have been any number of other means to the same end. God had already done amazing, miraculous acts in the early stages of the Incarnation story--the pregnancy of old Elizabeth, the conception in the womb of the virgin, the appearance of the star leading the Magi to Bethlehem, all the dreams and angelic appearances. The story of Jesus’ birth and early life was “littered” with the supernatural. And yet...

Yet it pleased God to entrust the safety of his eternal Son to a very ordinary (may we say, pedestrian?) method. “Joseph, get up--now!--and take Jesus and Mary, and run for your life!” Amazingly, Joseph, again demonstrating his obedient spirit, does just that. He collects whatever belongings he and Mary can carry (remember, they’re probably carrying the Christ child as well), and goes--without even waiting for daybreak. It's hard to believe that the Christ Child was born on the run in this fashion. What is also surprising is that on this occasion, it can be truly said that Joseph “saved” the Savior.

The flight to Egypt was both the fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy (“Out of Egypt I called my son.”) and the surest way of escaping Herod’s jurisdiction. For Joseph, it meant a 90 mile trip, possibly on foot (no beasts of burden are mentioned in either Matthew or Luke), constantly looking over his shoulder to see if the soldiers were coming. It meant trusting that God would direct his steps, providing safe passage through an area where robbers and highwaymen were a constant threat. It meant fleeing political persecution, becoming refugees, aliens in a strange land. The little family of three would have presented an easy target, for criminals, or for those who may have harbored hatred against “foreigners.”

Such a relocation, under the best of circumstances, would have posed enormous challenges. What about language barriers? Where would they live? Egypt is a big place, after all. At least, the issue of how their needs would be met had already been addressed. They had treasures--gold, frankincense, myrrh. God, who had provided these valuables, would certainly provide the answers to the other questions. But it must have tested the faith of the family.

We serve a God who uses means to accomplish his purposes. In this case, the means included a dream, an obedient man, a devoted mother, and gifts given by some unexpected visitors from a distant land. What are the means he is using in your life? How might you be the means he would use in the life of another?

Tim Bowditch

A Day of Review

Well I'm back after several days in which I could not blog and others very ably filled in for me. Life is full and as I sit here early Tuesday morning I'm aware that several good blogs have been posted about which I've not commented at all. So I think I will take this post to thank these guys, and to post about what I've read from you guys:
1) Bruce has called us to both a life of vigilance and a life of prayer. The constant danger that our souls are in in this fallen world requires that our souls be in constant prayer and communion with God.

The world will devour us if we are not consumed with God. Hunger for God or you will be stuffed with the trivial and the terrible of this world. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. We simply cannot be guarded enough, for let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. Thank you Bruce; such counsel never, ever, ever grows dated.

2) Peter has called us to a life of earnest witness--citing C.T. Studd in urging us to set up a rescue shop one yard away from hell if need be. Friends, people--image-bearers of the eternal God--are perishing right next door to our lives and we hardly raise a sound of concern. I believe that to have hearts like our Lord's that weep over our Jerusalems today, we need to think more often and more deeply about hell; we have to pray for hearts made tender and grieving; we have to care nothing for self, and about nothing but God's glory and sinners' good.

3) Tim B. has invited husbands winsomely to be instruments of beautifying grace in their wives' lives by being men of character and grace and humility and love. O to be such a man for my bride of 31 years. I want to be a better man and a better husband everyday, that she might become a better and more beautiful wife every day. i agree with Tim fully that my wife's beauty of soul, and even of body is largely the fruit of whether her husband helps her maintain and deepen it by the quality of his life and care.

Guys thank you for the timely and needed words
It sure is good to be partners with others who share a passion for what is good.
We're all debtors, and the better for it.

Take a Prayer Walk

Some helpful practical guidance from Donald Whitney to assist us in prayer (and most of us need all the assistance we can get):

One of the most common struggles in the practice of spirituality is maintaining mental focus in prayer. When I try to pray, I often find myself thinking about my to-do list or daydreaming instead of talking to God. But walking as I pray—either in a large place indoors (such as a church building), or more frequently, outdoors—usually keeps my mind from wandering as easily. In addition, I typically bring a small Bible to prompt my prayer periodically during the walk.

The walking and the weather invigorate my sluggish soul. Looking up into the blue or out to the horizon refreshes my sense of the greatness of God. The sights, smells, and sounds of my Father’s world surround me with reminders of His presence. The cadence of my pace, or occasionally stopping to stare into the distance, often enables me to concentrate in prayer more easily than when I’m still and my eyes are closed.

Abraham’s son, Isaac, is an example from Scripture of walking while thinking on the things of God. Genesis 24:63 reports, “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field.” Four hundred years ago, an English Puritan named Joseph Hall wrote in his influential book, The Art of Divine Meditation, "All our teachers of meditation have commended various positions of the body, according to their own disposition and practice... But of all others, I think that Isaac’s choice was best, who meditated walking."

Perhaps no one in church history is more closely associated with a life of meditative prayer than George Müller. He lived in Bristol, England during the nineteenth century where he founded an orphanage and a literature distribution ministry. Müller recorded more than fifty thousand specific answers to prayer, thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day he prayed. Notice that his normal mode of prayer was a meditative prayer walk:

"I find it very beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast, and... generally take out a New Testament... and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air.

I used to consider the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not only to my body, but also to my soul... For... I speak to my Father... about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word."

Simplify the struggle of staying focused in prayer, and refresh both body and soul with a leisurely walk in conversation with God from His Word" (Simplify Your Spiritual Life, by Donald S. Whitney, NavPress, 2003).

I am also reminded of Jonathan Edwards in this regard, who expressed that he was "often walking alone in the woods, and solitary places, for meditation, soliloquy, and prayer, and converse with God." I have personally found this recommendation to pray while walking to be most helpful in my own experience, particularly while walking in the woods or along the ocean. Perhaps you will too.

Prayer = Helplessness

The truth is I am always in a helpless position before God. The problem is, I don't always seem to realize it. I frequently forget, or act like I forget, that I am always in a position of desperate need of God and His enabling for anything I do--indeed for life and breath and everything. Because I am so helpless, prayer is so critical. Prayer is the means by which a helpless sinner reaches out in dependence upon the all sufficient God. I have recently been reading about prayer in an excellent, very practical new book titled, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, by Paul E. Miller. Here is a brief excerpt--I offer it as an encouragement that it may serve to help us (myself, first of all) pursue helplessness before God, and from that posture of helplessness pursue in prayer the One who is our sufficiency, our all:

Throughout the book of John we see people coming to Jesus because of their helplessness. The Samaritan woman has no water (see John 4). Later in that same chapter, the official's son has no health. The crippled man by the pool of Bethesda has no help to get into the water (see John 5). The crowd has no bread (see John 6). The blind man has no sight (see John 9). And finally, Lazarus has no life (see John 11).

We received Jesus because we were weak, and that's how we follow him. Paul told the Colossians, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him" (2:6). We forget that helplessness is how the Christian life works.

Paul was reminded of this when he prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. It didn't happen. Instead, God reminded Paul of how the gospel works. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The gospel, God's free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don't have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to--our helplessness--is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless. We can't do life on our own.

Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers (pg. 55).

Be Reasonable!

"There are only two classes of persons who can be called reasonable: those who serve God with all their hearts because they know him and those who seek him with all their hearts because they do not know him." (Blaise Pascal)

Sunday morning's preaching-- along with the opening video from John Piper, were strong reminders that unless I, like St. Paul, consider all that seems worthy in my life no more valuable than one big pile of stinking waste (next to knowing Jesus Christ), I cannot hope to live this life in a meaningful and rational way. My profession of faith, and my life, will not match.

I am forced to confront myself again with the question: "Do I know Jesus Christ, or do I only know about him? Do I cling to him as my only worthy possession? Or, are there still a number of "Christ substitutes" in my life that diminish my view of HIM. Do my words and actions indicate that he is supremely important in my life?

Thank you Tim, for putting the question before me again: Why do I still live for the moment, when eternity is before me? Why do I cave in to the crazy and insane ways of this world?

I need to get down to business and decide: will I live rationally, or will I continue making unreasonable and irrational compromises?

Do I know Christ (as St. Paul knew him), or do I know about him only? On the day of judgment many who thought they knew Jesus Christ will say: "But I know you Jesus!" And he will reply: "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Brothers and sisters, we'd best take yesterday's preaching seriously... the consequences of missing the point can be eternal.

Joy Increased (5): A Final Few Thoughts

Here are a few final thoughts on how to increase your joy:
1. See and celebrate the evidences of God's grace in yourself and in others (Acts 11:21-24). Barnabas rejoiced because he saw grace in others. Let's sharpen our vision to see the same, and then open our mouths to celebrate it. Never hold back your praise of God and gratitude to others for the evidence of God's saving and sanctifying grace in life. This will simply make you burst with joy.
2. Contemplate the promises of God. Be a promise-believer, and be filled with joy.
3. Anticipate the life to come. There is joy unspeakable in being a Christian whose eye is on the sky, and what lies beyond.
4. Gaze at God. When God wanted to comfort His people, relieve their sadness, and restore their joy in Isaiah 40:1, 2, He called them to "behold their God" (Isaiah 40:9). Nothing so fills the soul with joy as a steady gazing at God.

This by the way is the joy of heaven over which angels sing and saints dance. In Bible theology we speak of the beatific vision (the happy, joyful, blessed vision) of God in heaven. Seeing God in heaven will be what makes heaven heaven. Seeing God by faith here and now makes heaven touch down on planet earth, and gives us joy today.

I close this series with words from Jonathan Edwards:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean (Works, II, 244).

May grace, peace, and joy abound in us all, in the knowledge of God. Amen.

Joy Increased (4): An Advancing Kingdom

One of the major themes of Acts is the building and advancing of the kingdom through the conversion of souls. I've counted at least 23 church growth texts in the 24 chapters of Acts. I think Luke wants us to get it and feel it.

The early church was filled with joy because it was part of the expanding kingdom of God. People were getting saved, getting changed, getting transformed, leaving Satan's realm and entering God's (Acts 26:16-18). No wonder the church was alive with joy!

I have often said that in a local church's life there may well be no joy greater than a baptism. Baptisms represent the ongoing life-transforming, kingdom-expanding work of God's grace in the gospel. And believers can never tire of being a part of such spreading grace.

If you want joy to increase, think about your conversion in a fresh way, engage in evangelism to lead others to grace, actively reflect with wonder over every new believer that comes through the doors of your church, and do your best never to miss a baptism. These are fuel for the fires of your joy.

Be very, very happy, just as heaven is, every time a sinner repents.

Joy Increased (3): Living the Resurrection Centered Life

Read through Acts and notice all the references to the resurrection, and the fact that the early believers had witnessed that event and/or felt the power and hope of it. No wonder they were full of joy.

I've often thought that C.J. Mahaney's book, Living the Cross Centered Life, needs a companion, Living the Resurrection Centered Life. The early church was a fellowship of the cross and of the empty tomb! Remember that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 that part of the main thing--that which is of first importance--which we need always to keep in focus is the resurrection of Christ.

The cross of Christ gives us peace; the peace of forgiveness. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope; the hope of power over sin, over death, over all! We would do well to fill our days with reflections on both, and to do so until they move our affections and fill us up with joy.

Have you meditated on the empty tomb, the triumph of the Crucified, and the death of death in the death and resurrection of Christ recently? "Christ the Lord is risen today; Hallelujah!"

Try thinking over this great triumph and all it means without at least having a moment when you're tempted to pump your fist in the air with a thrust of victorious joy and hope. That's one temptation I doubt you can avoid or resist.

Joy Increased (2): A Holy Smirk

Reconnecting to the book of Acts where we started in this series on joy, I note that the early believers sang while in prison (Acts 16:25) and rejoiced when they suffered (Acts 5:41). I've wondered why.

I'd guess that it's due in large part to what we read in Acts 4:24-28. The early believers had a strong confidence in the absolute sovereignty of God. They knew Who reigned, Who ruled and Who over-ruled in all the affairs of men. They had no reason to fear and every reason to rejoice, even in the hardest of times because they knew God was fully in control and working out all things for their good (Romans 8:28).

I heard a pastor say one time that God's-sovereignty-believing Christians are those who can walk around with a holy smirk on their faces--not in arrogance toward people, but in confidence toward circumstances. It's a smirk that says to all things that happen: "You cannot touch me, cannot harm me, cannot ruin me, cannot get to my soul. In fact you o trial, o suffering, o persecutor, o affliction are nothing more than a means of grace in the hands of God for the growth and gladness of my soul!"

Friends--hold firmly and deeply and unflinchingly to the reality that God is on the throne ruling over all, and over-ruling all, and you will be out of the reach of all harm and in the reach of all joy.

Take it from a man who's been through some very deep waters and tasted joy in it all.

Joy Increased (1): Contemplating grace

As I wind down this series over the next 4-5 days, I want to suggest ways to increase joy in our lives, joy that will spill over into our worship, our fellowship, our ministry. I'm going to offer six or seven joy-increasing tips for our reflection.

First, I'd suggest that a growing awareness of forgiving grace will increase our joy. Jesus said of the woman who had been forgiven much that it was that very awareness of her great forgiveness that made her affections (love and certainly joy, too) great (Luke 7:47). She loved much because she was forgiven much. Surely she also rejoiced much because she was forgiven much.

Cultivate an awareness of sin and the ruin and sorrow it deserves, and then an even greater awareness of the atoning work of Christ which has purchased not only your forgiveness but also "all things" good (Romans 8:31, 32), and you will feel joy unspeakable and full of glory!

In recent years many of us have become familiar with a phrase--"I'm doing better than I deserve" which has impacted our daily awareness of grace. I have been heard often to say: "If I smile even once today, it is better than I deserve!" That is absolutely and humblingly and joy-givingly true.

And do you know what? It's 11:00AM as I type, and I've already experienced at least 50 smiles today. Tell me that isn't grace. Considering that all I deserve is never- ending tears, one smile is mercy. Considering that I'll experience 1000s of smiles in coming days is astonishing mercy--mercy worth singing and shouting and celebrating.

Think long and deep over forgiveness and all the new-every-morning-mercies of God, and you will be full of joy; have no doubt about it.

A Dose From The Doctor

In view of Tim's recent posts dealing with joy, it seemed that a dose of medicine from "the Doctor"-----Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones that is------- may be beneficial, and serve to reinforce the importance of joy in the Christian life that Tim has been pressing upon us. From the classic book that helps to bring joy by addressing the opposite of joy, "Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure", we find these words from "the Doctor":

In a sense a depressed Christian is a contradiction in terms, and he is a very poor recommendation for the gospel. We are living in a pragmatic age. People today are not primarily interested in Truth but they are interested in results. The one question they ask is: Does it work? They are frantically seeking and searching for something that can help them. Now we believe that God extends His Kingdom partly through His people, and we know that He has oftentimes done some of the most notable things in the history of the Church through the simple Christian living of some quite ordinary people. Nothing is more important, therefore, than that we should be delivered from a condition which gives other people, looking at us, the impression that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid, and that the Christian is one who 'scorns delights and lives laborious days'. There are many indeed who give this as a reason for not being Christian, and for giving up all interest they may ever have had in the Christian faith. They say: look at Christian people, look at the impression they give! And they are very fond of contrasting us with people out in the world, people who seem to be so thrilled by the things they believe in, whatever they may be. They shout at their football matches, they talk about the films they have seen, they are full of excitement and want everybody to know it; but Christian people too often seem to be perpetually in the doldrums and too often give this appearance of unhappiness and of lack of freedom and of absence of joy. There is no question at all but that this the main reason why large numbers of people have ceased to be interested in Christianity. And, let us be quite frank and admit it, there is a sense in which there is some justification for their attitude, and we have to confess that their criticism is a fair one. It behooves us, therefore, not only for or own sakes, but also for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the glory of the Christ in Whom we believe, to represent Him and His cause, His message and His power in such a way that men and women, far from being antagonized, will be drawn and attracted as they observe us, whatever our circumstances or condition. We must so live that they will be compelled to say: Would to God I could be like that, would to God I could live in this world and go through this world as that person does (pgs. 11-12).

I wonder what impression is being given to those who observe my life? Is it implying "that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid, and that the Christian is one who 'scorns delights and lives laborious days'"? Or, is it as described in 1 Peter 1:8 - "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy inexpressible and filled with glory"? I hope it is increasingly the latter.

Joy Expressed and Noticed

I know I said yesterday that I'd not have a post today to give you time to process all the info offered in my last post, but I want to add just a short testimony by way of further reflection, and hopefully inspiration.

A short time ago someone said to me that he has noticed a distinct increase in my joy in recent months, and he feels it has been used of God to increase the joy of the flock I pastor. My example of joy--he suggested--has led others into joy. This was a great blessing and a humbling moment for me. I was overjoyed and grateful!!

Later as I reflected on this brother's observation it hit me that it suggested something very interesting. I have long been a very happy and joyful man in Christ. By grace I have been able to experience joy--real and pronounced--even in the deepest trials of life, and burdens of ministry. Despite much sorrow, I have had very very few days (don't get me wrong: there have been some) in the past 25-30 years when I have not felt a real and deep joy in the Lord, in people, and in ministry.

Despite moments and occasional days of sorrow and burden, I have been a happy man and pastor for a very long time. Now, I will grant that as God has taught me the priority of joy in Him, I have grown in this even more, and I'm thankful to say that my joy has increased. But here would be my read on things: while my joy has increased it is my expressiveness of joy that has increased even more. I have seen the need more and more to express the joy that's within: in song, in tears, in verbalized praise for what God is doing in others and in the church, in clapping, in smiles, in greetings of people expressing my sheer gratitude for their presence and God's grace in their life, in lifting hands, and more.

I believe that what has impacted people,and led them into greater joy is the increase of my joy expressed, at least as much as the increase of my joy. It always confused me when people used to tell me that I was a melancholic, when inwardly I was rejoicing greatly in God and in what He was doing in people's lives. Now I have a better sense of what was going on: I was failing to show what I was tasting within. Inwardly i was singing and smiling, but outwardly I was serious and staid and subdued in emotion.

The more I have let out what is within, the more others have felt it and gained some of it themselves. All this is to say that expressiveness in joy is not only good for my soul; it is good for others'.

A bit more to think about.

Joy Expressed (2): Obeying the Imperatives

As I proceed to some imperatives regarding expressiveness of joy (and other spiritual affections) in worship, I do so mindful of three concerns:

1. Please take a close look at yesterday's 10-comment conversation on this blog; it is loaded with significant interaction. I'm concerned that no one move ahead in this thinking without seeing those matters clearly.

2. I'm concerned that our discussion about joy make no one sad! There's a danger in considering the matter of joy, that those not experiencing or expressing it may feel even less joy, either out of guilt or fear (either of man or of excess), or envy or confusion or despair. I don't want to make the melancholic even more so! Please hear my heart in all this: it is to encourage joy, not quench it. I do not wish to rebuke anyone who is not getting fully what I'm discussing.

I have no desire to imply that if you are not experiencing the fulness of joy to which I've been calling attention, that you are experiencing no joy at all. You may well be rejoicing daily in God--and maybe more than me! Besides, remember the gospel: if there is any way in which you are not experiencing the joy of the Lord in full measure that is no reason to feel condemned, for Christ died even for our failures to rejoice in Him!

3. I am also concerned that as we move to imperatives, there be a spirit of Christian obedience as we do. One thing that has burdened me a bit through the years as I discuss these types of things (as well as commands like: "earnestly desire the spiritual gifts") is that people can be convinced theoretically that they should have more joy or that the Bible commands expressiveness of that joy (or that spiritual gifts are promised for today), but because such do not come easily to them or because they are afraid of excesses, they never actually get around to obeying the command of Scripture to pursue them. Their fears or temperamental struggles regarding such things keep them from actual obedience.

I remember when I first saw the repeated Bible imperatives re expressiveness in worship that my conscience would not let me go, even though temperamentally, culturally, and even theologically, I had been trained and entrenched in an entirely different way. So I had to force my hands up or my hands together or my knees to bend. Obedience required a "beating of my body into submission" to the will of my God.

I say this, not to burden the struggling, but to remind us all that whenever the Bible calls on us to do anything--no matter how hard, no matter how different, no matter how counter-intuitive or cultural, we must yield and do, even if by taking one baby step at a time. My first times lifting hands in worship amounted to a mere action of the wrists. I bent them upward around my waist, lifting my hands at waste height, until I could muster courage and faith to raise them higher!

Obedience starts somewhere, and keeps going from there.

Now that said, it may remain for me to convince that expressiveness is a matter of obedience, rather than temperament or style or culture. To do that let me simply garner a series of texts and stats for you (I'm going to have the following be my post for today and tomorrow, since it includes a lot and many texts you may want to check; I'll pick up on the question of how to grwo in joy next week):

1. Key texts include: Psalms 95, 149, 150 (for that matter, the Psalms are full of commands to worship and to do it with all manner of expressiveness. Being the inspired manual for worship that it is--and one we are commanded to make a part of NT worship in such passages as Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16--I think we can quite safely conclude that the themes, forms, and postures for worship that it commands and commends are ours to follow, unless the NT clearly says they are to cease).

2. Kneeling/Bowing: Genesis 24:52; 1 Kings 8:54; 1 Kings 18:4; 2 Chronicles 6:1; 29:29,30; Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 8:6; Psalm 95; Isaiah 45:23; Daniel 6:10; Luke 22:41; Acts 7:60; 9:40; 20:36; 21:5; Ephesians 3:14; Philippians 2:10; Revelation 5:8,14; 11: 16.

3. Shouting/Joyful Noise (sometimes translated “sing”): Psalm 5:11; 32:11; 33:1-3; 35:27; 47:5; 65:13; 66:1ff; 95:1ff; 98:4(1-9); 100:1; 132:9,16; Ezra 3:11-13; Job 38:7; 2 Samuel 5/2 Chronicles 15.

4. Clapping: Psalm 47:1; 98:8; Isaiah 55:12.

5. Lifting Hands: 1 Timothy 2:8; Genesis 14:22; Leviticus 9:22; Exodus 9:29,33; 2 Chronicles 6:12, 13, 29; Ezra 9:5; Nehemiah 8:6; Psalm 28:2; 63:4; 88:9; 119:48; 134:2; 141:2.

6. Dance: 1 Samuel 6:14,16; 1 Chronicles 15; Exodus 15; Judges 11:34; 1 Samuel 18:6, 21:11; 29:5; Jeremiah 31:4,13; Psalm 30:11; 149:3; 150:4

7. Texts with multiple physical activities in worship: 1 Chronicles 16: 1-42 with 2 Samuel 6 and 2 Chronicles 15.

If one puts all of the Biblical references to standing, kneeling, bowing, clapping, dancing, shouting and enthusiastic singing accompanied by instruments together, one will compile an impressive list indeed. The length of the list should convince any student of the Bible that physical activity and expression in worship is considered natural, normal and praiseworthy by God.

Lord, help us to know and to feel both the majesty of Your being and the magnitude of Your love. So much may we feel these, dear Lord, that we will soon join Ezra on his face and David in the dance!

Joy Expressed (1): Imitating Heaven

I hope you won't mind if I delay the how to gain more joy posts for another day or two so I can connect us first to a few more thoughts regarding joy; thoughts touching on how joy is expressed in God's house in heaven, and in God's house on earth.

One thing I have learned is that joy needs to be expressed, and that often with exuberance, both in order for it to be biblical, and in order for it to be maximized. I think it was C.S. Lewis who observed that joy is not complete until it is expressed. We see this in our irresistable human urge--whenever we experience something happy or joyful--to tell someone about it. Joy is maximized and completed when it is released into the ears and hearts of others. This is worth pondering.

What is even more worth pondering is that biblical joy is consistently visible, outwardly manifested, and talked and sung and danced about. This is true even in God's eternal house, heaven itself. We know that joyful singing is the sound of heaven, joined in by all present, even by God, with a loud voice (Zephaniah 3:17; Hebrews 2:11, 12).

I think a pretty good case can be made that the joyful singing of heaven is attended with dance as well. I would base this case first on the general biblical encouragements we have to include dance in worship (e.g.-David's model in 2 Samuel 6:14, plus Psalm 149:3 and 30:11), and second on two descriptions we have of heaven's joy.

The first is in Luke 15 where in the story of the prodigal son returned home, we see the young man's father (who represents God, the One who welcomes repentant sinners home) throwing a huge party complete with music and dancing. Since Jesus' point in this and the preceding stories of Luke 15, is to show the joy of God and of heaven when sinners repent (see Luke 15:7, 10), there is at least good reason to conclude that every time a sinner comes to Christ, heaven breaks into celebration! The joy of heaven is loud, celebratory and effusive.

This is further supported by another text in Revelation 15:2-4 where we read that the inhabitants of heaven will sing Moses' song. What's instructive about this is that Moses' song which followed the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (found in Exodus 15:1-21) is in fact the Old Testament's most well known dance song (Exodus 15:20, 21)! That's one of the songs chosen for heaven.

If the Israelites could not help but sing and dance when delivered from Egypt into the promised land, how much more will heaven's throngs not help but sing and dance when delivered from hell into God's eternal home! So at the very least the Bible seems to connect joyful singing and dancing to heaven at least these two times.

So I conclude that for joy to be complete it must be expressed, and for joy to be heavenly and heaven-like it must be expressed exuberantly and effusively. We will see that this conclusion matches up with actual imperatives as we move forward tomorrow.

Of course we would be going too far to say that joy must always be effusive, but we would not be going nearly far enough if our joy is never or not very often effusive. Part of God's will that we are to pray is done on earth even as it is in heaven, is that our joy be so strong, so real, and so free, that it gets released in loud singing and celebration on earth, even as heaven's joy is.

And folks, take it from me (a guy who was as conservative and restrained as anyone--I was actually trained and taught not to be expressive because emotion was seen as dangerous and unspiritual): all of us can gain such a level of joy in God that we can learn to sing loud, and do at least a little leaping and dancing for joy.

Are we all ready to aim that high?

Nuancing Joy: Discerning the Paradox of Christian Joy in a Sorrowful World

I've often said that when I'm asked how I'm doing, the answer depends on what aspect of life and ministry one wants me to talk about. This is because there is always much to rejoice in and always much to weep over. In fact, I do not think it's an exaggeration to say that if you were to engage me in deep conversation in either direction, I would probably be weeping within five minutes; weeping for sorrow or weeping for joy; quite possibly for both in the same situations.

As we consider the matter of Christian joy we need to nuance the conversation a bit by pausing to think about the call to Christian sorrow. A call to Christian sorrow?! Surely I'm overstating it. No; not at all. Part of godliness is weeping.

Jesus wept (as the Bible's shortest verse, John 11:35--as well as other texts--tells us). Jesus told us that mourning is blessed (Matthew 5:4). Jesus makes the call to weeping vs. laughing even more stark in Luke 6:21-25. God grieves over our sins (Ephesians 4:30). We are commanded to "weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). Paul experienced "great sorrow and unceasing anguish" over the lost condition of his fellow man (Romans 9:2). In fact Paul, while always rejoicing, was sorrowful (2 Corinthians 6:10). James turns the call to mourning into a stark Old Testament-prophet-like thundering plea (James 4:8-10).

What are we to make of this? We are to make of it that as Christians we must never forget that while we are drinking deeply of the joys of God and the blessings of the age to come, we are still here in a fallen world with remaining sin within and without. We are to weep over our own sins, and we are to grieve the sins of others. We are to mourn over human loss and grief, and we are to grieve the state of a fallen world in which "evil men go from bad to worse" (2 Timothy 3:13). We may rightly grieve bad illness and the terrible enemy called death (Philippians 2:27; Acts 8:2).

There is the now which is a perpetual mix of sorrow and joy, and there is the not yet, the reality that the fulness of our joy is reserved for a time to come when all tears will be wiped away. If a Christian can live in this world without ever crying, indeed, without crying often over the sins and sorrows of a broken world, he is simply either a hard-hearted man, or Pollyanna, a naive child who imagines that everything is happy when it's not.

Christians are called to weep. No believer can be truly a God- and people- and holiness-loving man or woman whose heart never breaks with sorrow. Weeping frequently for sorrow does not make us a melancholic; it may simply mean we are holy.

But this in no way negates my previous calls to joy. It only makes them more mysterious and might I say it, more profound. Ours is not a grief without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), therefore it is a grief with joy! Paul was perplexed, confused, sorrowful, and cast down--but never in despair, and always rejoicing! We are to rejoice in the Lord always and again--I will say it with Paul--rejoice (2 Corinthians 6:10; 4:7-11; Philippians 4:4). We know in experience what the song-writer calls "pleasing grief and mournful joy"; a mystery and a profound paradox to be sure, but true nonetheless.

The joys of having tasted of God and grace and the powers and joys of the age to come need to be so strong in us that every tear of sorrow is mixed with tears of hope, and joy and sheer exhilaration in the glories of our God. This is clearly the experience of the apostle, and of the Savior who went before him.

Will it be ours?

I will write tomorrow of how we may gain more of such joy, even through the tears.

The Doctrine of Sin and the Christian Life

In the recent preaching series at church on the Christian life and the pursuit of holiness, one of the recommended resources that Tim encouraged us to get hold of and read is the classic study of this central Biblical theme entitled simply, Holiness, by J.C. Ryle. This book is indeed one of the most powerful and helpful treatments of this vital subject available. It is Biblically faithful and piercing to the heart, and in the midst of a lot of confusing ideas about sanctification floating around the Christian world these days (and past days for that matter), listening to Ryle teach the Bible (and of course applying to ourselves the truth of God he so effectively explains) will help keep us pressing on along the road to the Celestial City, growing ever more like our Lord along the way.

I find it interesting and significant that he begins this study of holiness with the entire first chapter focusing on the doctrine of sin. How often have we heard the complaints whenever sin is taught or preached, that this is a dreary subject (and I suppose it is) that makes us feel bad. Stop beating us up and making us feel bad--we want to feel good about ourselves, or so it goes. And while, for the follower of Christ, I would be quick to add that for every time we look upon our sin we should look ten times upon the sinless Savior and his righteousness imputed to us in the gospel (now that is a matter for great joy I might add!), nevertheless we will not be faithful to Biblical revelation, and we will not grow spiritually as God intends, if we ignore or avoid the foundational importance for our lives of the doctrine of sin. Certainly Ryle would seem to agree--here's how he starts off:

He who wishes to attain right views about Christian holiness must begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. He must dig down very low if he would build high. A mistake here is most mischievous. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption. I make no apology for beginning this volume of messages about holiness by making some plain statements about sin.

The plain truth is that a right understanding of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification, are "words and names" which convey no meaning to the mind. The first thing, therefore, that God does when He makes anyone a new creature in Christ is to send light into his heart and show him that he is a guilty sinner. The material creation in Genesis began with "light," and so also does the spiritual creation. God "shines into our hearts" by the work of the Holy Spirit and then spiritual life begins (2 Cor. 4:6). Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies and false doctrines of the present day. If a man does not realize the dangerous nature of his soul’s disease, you cannot wonder if he is content with false or imperfect remedies. I believe that one of the chief wants of the contemporary church has been, and is, clearer, fuller teaching about sin. (Holiness, by J.C. Ryle, Fleming H. Revell, pg.1)

One wonders, if what Ryle describes as "one of the chief wants of the contemporary church.... is, clearer, fuller teaching about sin", concerning the 19th century period in which he lived, what would he think of the state of affairs in the contemporary church in our day?

More importantly, what does God think? And how clear is our understanding of this foundational truth? Might I suggest, paradoxically, that the fullness of our joy depends on it.