∞
Say the Same Thing
Usually we use the word “confess” when we speak about admitting our sin. John the Baptist called men to confess their sins (Matthew 3:6). The apostle John wrote that if we confess our sins then Christ forgives us (1 John 1:9). You have probably heard before that the Greek word behind our English translation is ὁμολογέω, a saying (logeo) of the same thing (homo). William Tyndale translated it as “acknowledge” rather than “confess” because the Roman Catholic church turned confession into a sacrament.
∞
Training and Tasting
At least two things keep church discipline from being as understandable and appreciated as it could be. First, too often church discipline is driven by a motivation to punish the disobedient rather than train for obedience. The purpose for disciplining our kids should not be to prove that we are bigger, stronger, or better able to define their sin. We don’t discipline with pain as the end. We discipline to direct them back to the joy of fellowship that comes in obedience.
∞
Comparing Kills
Comparing kills. One sure way to kill joy and stir up envy, jealousy, and bitterness is to compare yourself with another, your lot with your neighbors’. God did not make us equal in all ways, nor does He give gifts to His people to the same degree. When we look over the fence, compare piles, and complain that ours is smaller or stinkier, our first mistake is the pride that expects more.
∞
Defining Gifts
I told the following story for our school assembly last Thursday afternoon.
Once upon time there was a boy named Ben Levite. Ben’s father, Jamin, was a scribe by trade. He worked long before computers or typewriters when every book was written by hand, including God’s Law. Ben’s dad enjoyed his job and took his job seriously because he didn’t want to make any mistakes with Scripture.
Ben loved that his dad had such a uncommon and privileged career.
∞
This Table Is Reserved
God is full of grace. From His fulness He overflows in good things to the undeserving. He gives many good, undeserved things to those who hate Him. Jesus said that His Father makes His sun rise on the evil and sends rain on the unjust. We call this common grace. Do you have food? Do you have sight? Do you have kids? These are all blessings that believers and unbelievers can know.
∞
Cracks in the Sidewalk
Sin separates. Sin divides what should be united. We know that sin isolates men from the holy God. Sin drives a wedge between friends. The good news declares that Christ reconciles. He unites all things together.
These are the grand canyons of separation, but there are also more subtle splits that sin cracks in the sidewalk. Sin makes enemies out of friends. It also fences off arguments from each other that should be back to back fighting as partners.
∞
One Table, Two Bodies
The Lord’s Supper is a meal that acknowledges two bodies and the communion between them.
Our King gave His body, actual flesh and actual blood, to defeat the serpent, to deliver sinners, and to do away with our sorrows. Jesus came from heaven and won the battle of sacrifice in enemy territory. He accomplished His purpose on the cross, rose from the grave three days later, and now the Spirit calls men into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
∞
The Tone of His Table
What flavor should season the meal of communion? Because we know that God is a consuming fire, because our salvation from sin required the sacrifice of His only Son’s blood, because there are still enemies to be subdued as His kingdom comes, what should be our mood? The tone at the Table should be consistent with the tone during the rest of our worship.
That means that this meal should be flavored by awe.
∞
The Disciples Missionaries Made
A disciple-maker should know where he’s going. If he does, then he probably knows his end depends on starting in the right spot. He also won’t be surprised when he arrives at his goal.
John Piper wrote a concentrated post on missions two weeks ago pointing to the January/February cover story in Christianity Today, “The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries”. The CT article describes the findings of sociologist Robert Woodberry who spent a decade researching “the effect of missionaries on the health of the nations.
∞
Before It Gets Worse
Last week marked the passing of 41 years since Roe v. Wade when the Supreme Court of the United States legalized the murder of children in womb. We usually reserve the term anniversary for events worth remembering and celebrating. Wednesday was an anniversary that requires remembering and mourning almost 55 million deaths.
Solomon wrote:
If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
∞
Near the Top of the Lists
Every Lord’s day morning we set aside specific time in our service to confess our sins. I’m no statistician nor do I listen to the confessions, so I have no data from which to make many conclusions. But what sin would you suppose needs to be confessed by the most people any given Sunday? In other words, what sin is most popular? What sin would you suppose needs to be confessed by any given person most frequently?
∞
Blood That Speaks
On the night He was betrayed Jesus told His disciples that they were drinking the cup of the covenant. “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The author of Hebrews described Jesus as “the mediator of a new covenant” with “sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).
∞
Saved from Righteousness
We have many things to confess and God forgives us from them all in Christ. We confess wandering, when we neglect His Word and fail to follow His directions. We confess wickedness, when we know His commands and consciously disobey. We also confess our good works, when we try to please Him with self-produced righteousness.
The writer of Hebrews describes the blood of Christ that secured eternal redemption. Under the old sacrificial system, God used the blood of goats and bulls as part of the purification process.
∞
Why Work?
I recommend this article by Dorothy Sayers, “Why Work?” She wrote it in 1942 in the middle of WWII. She touches on war, economics, advertising, vocation, contentment, dualism, and the church. Though I think she misses the disciple-making opportunities and *obligations* of every Christian worker, she punches much of our selfish and shoddy labor in the throat. She also puts worship at the head of every production line. The end of our work will be decided by our religious outlook: as we *are* so we make.
∞
We Win in Him
Near the end of his first letter the apostle John utilized the overcoming language that he had heard Jesus use.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4–5, ESV)
Verse 4 is one of the first phrases I memorized in Greek: ἡ νίκη ἡ νικήσασα τὸν κόσμον, ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν.
∞
Trimming the Fat
We are at the threshold of a new year, a customary and fitting time to evaluate if we were worshipping any idols over the last twelve months that should be dethroned. Call it resolutions, call it repentance, we should examine if we are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Many new year pledges seek to unseat the gods of gluttony and lethargy. So many July garage sales will be stocked with treadmills and stationary bikes onto which so many January hopes were placed.
∞
Sympathy and Division
Our family advent plate was full the two weeks before Christmas so I didn’t post the last two communion meditations. Here they are, combined into one post-holiday casserole. The previous weeks we considered that God, in Christ, came and manifested. He did not wait for us to get to Him, nor did He wait for us to figure Him out. He took on flesh here among us and He revealed the One who dwells in the heavens.
∞
Passion and Patience
In The Pilgrim’s Progress, not long after having his burden removed, Christian arrived at the Interpreter’s house. While showing Christian around the house, Interpreter introduced him to two little brothers named Passion and Patience. Passion was all a’fuss while Patience was calm, content. Christian asked for an explanation.
Interpreter told Christian that both boys had been promised gifts by their Governor at the beginning of the next year. That was not good enough for Passion who demanded all that was coming to him now.
∞
The Sin of Seasonal Humbug
I hate Christmas for a different reason than I used to. I used to hate Christmas when I thought I was more of a saint. Now I hate it because I know how much more I am a sinner.
Christmas used to provide a great platform for my self-righteousness. My strong seasonal humbug spiced up my holiness. Obviously, I was so serious about Jesus that I couldn’t be dragged down into the fray of shopping and sweaters and wassail.
∞
What shall we call that?
The Scars on Your Forearms:
When shepherds have neglected the flock for so long, and the wolves are ravaging them, and the sheep come up with some kind of strategy to defend themselves, and the shepherds sit up on the ridge, laughing at the tactical inadequacy of what the sheep are attempting, what shall we call that?