Spiritual Power Chords (Church Newsletter)

Saints,

Isaiah 40:9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 

May the Lord grant to us the medicine of melody and singing. 

Blessings, 

Mike

Filling up the edges

If we want to be a people with a heart after God – we should look to the man whose heart was after God is whole life. David was a warrior. But in Yahweh’s kingdom things are done differently than they are in the world. Before we see David as a soldier or general or king, we see him as a musician subduing evil spirits. Because, as we read in Ephesians 6:12 “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” 

How? With music. And in this he is like his Lord. Isaiah 30:29–32 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.

Through Spiritual power chords, we are set free from evil spirits, we tear down strongholds, we ambush the enemy, and we delight our God. The weapons of our warfare must include Psalters, Hymnals and instruments. The enemy trembles when we sing and make melody. But are largely blind to the purpose of music and the power of music. We must come to understand and delight in this weapon if we are to reform the church and our country. 

1 Samuel 16:23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the liar and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

Puritan Increase Mather observed, “that music is of great efficacy against melancholy,” and “the sweetness and delightfulness of music has a natural power to overcome melancholy passions.” The secular world is increasingly aware of this common grace. A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. The results of 35 studies from 1995 to October 1, 2012 were compiled into a meta-analysis of the medical efficacy of music. This comprehensive summary of SRs demonstrated that MT treatment improved the following: global and social functioning in schizophrenia and/or serious mental disorders, gait and related activities in Parkinson’s disease, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality. Those who practice music therapy are finding a benefit in using music to help cancer patients… hospitals are beginning to use music and music therapy to help with pain management, to help ward off depression, to promote movement, in speech therapy, to calm patients during and after operation, to ease muscle tension…”  We are discovering that listening to music activates every portion of our brains, from emotion to memory to motor function.

Though David’s musical efforts were effective in providing relief for Saul, the writer understood that David’s success was due to the fact that the Spirit of the Lord was with him in power.  David played Spirit-empowered chords, not just chords. The Power of music over the mind and emptions, as well as over the spiritual realm is why music and song were at the heart of temple worship. 

1 Chronicles 15:15–16 And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD. David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 2 Chronicles 29:25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets.

The spiritual power of chords over the spiritual enemies of Israel, was also why every facet of Israel’s life and every stage of its history were marked by music. Music was present when people greeted each other and said farewell, Laban scolded Jacob in Genesis 31:27 Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? In Israel, when they married they played music. Jeremiah 7:34 And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste. 

Major events in the life of the people, such as the Exodus from Egypt, conquering the Canaanites, recapturing the ark, dedicating the temple crowning the king and returning from exile were celebrated in music and song. This role of music and song was continued in the early church both in everyday life and worship – because worship is warfare. It is believed that quite a few sections of the NT are in fact, hymns; Philippians 2:6-11, Colossians 1:15-20, and John 1:1-17 are only a few examples.  Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Eph 5:15–21 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ

The joy expressed in music and thanksgiving and the benefits of mutual submission, then, are results of the filling of the Spirit—but also what we need to experience in our life together. The singing is a kind of conversation among believers. Verse 19 begins with the word “speaking,” which implies that the content of the songs is a communication “among yourselves.” Singing arises from the heart, implying both that it is sincere and that it is not merely superficially. It is to the Lord, which fortifies the truly spiritual nature of the song—in contrast to the unholy conversation and coarse joking in the Ephesians’ former state. Singers are no longer idolatrous grumblers, as in Romans 1, but are giving thanks to God the Father. The words always and for everything are comprehensive and indicate a way of life, not just the experience of a moment. This amplifies the meaning of being filled with the Spirit. Their thanksgiving is in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, showing that they are now in the kingdom of Christ and of God and that Christ has shone upon them.

Calvin believed that Corporate singing subdued the fallen heart and restrained wayward affections in the way of piety. Like preaching and the sacraments, singing disciplines the heart’s affections in the school of faith, lifting the believer to God. It also amplifies the effect of the word on the heart, multiplying the church’s spiritual energy. 

Calvin wrote, “The Psalms can stimulate us to raise our hearts to God and arouse us to an ardor in invoking as well as in exalting with praises the glory of His name.” St. Augustine, “When we sing these psalms…we are certain that God puts the words into our mouths as if he were singing in us to exalt his glory.” As Douglas Wilson wrote, “The psalter is a battle hymnal. If we are serious about conquering the world with the gospel through biblical worship, we will soon discover that it cannot be done without the psalms. What is a good thing to sing while swinging a battering ram at the gates of the enemy? There are many to choose from, why not psalm 68,” God shall arise and by his might, put all his enemies to flight.” 

That is why, on the night Jesus was betrayed and instituted a new Covenant is his own blood is one of the few occasions when it records singing in Mark 14:26 – and they sang the Hallel Psalms – Psalms 113-118 – of Passover. Zephaniah 3:17 – The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. When the Lord hung dying on the cross, he quoted Psalms 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

The whole Psalm is a plot point outline about the events of Calvary, written by David, but how could David have understood the depths of what he said? Jesus, in his final struggle against his enemies, has his hands raised singing and living out Psalm 22. 

The church militant needs to restore music to its proper place in our armory, if we are to fight properly and build properly. The reformation of the church is always accompanied by the restoration of music. 

2 Chronicles 23:18 And Jehoiada posted watchmen for the house of the LORD under the direction of the Levitical priests and the Levites whom David had organized to be in charge of the house of the LORD, to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David. 2 Chronicles 29:30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped. 2 Chronicles 35:15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them. Ezra 3:10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel. Nehemiah 12:45–46 And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon. For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 

The principalities and powers of the air are running amuck. To subdue them, we need to restore music to its place. We see enemies all around. There are giants and dragons in the land. So as we take up the sword of the spirit, let us drive the evil spirits out of our hearts and minds, out of our homes and communities and the public square by singing and making a joyful noise. They fear it. We have forgotten it. Let us remember. Let us repent. Let us cry out to the great Physician for this medicine. 

Around the Web

An Apple app for learning to sing:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sing-your-part/id1483413949

The following list was compiled by Joel Eby:

KEY PSALMS TO LEARN FROM CANTUS: 

Psalm 2 – Why do the Heathen Nations Vainly Rage (note – this is the one I add a quarter note to, which may throw some people off, but it’s better) 

 Bonus: Metal version

Psalm 22 – Be Not Far Off For Grief Is Near (Redeemer) 
Psalm 22 – To All My Brothers I’ll Declare  (Redeemer) 
Psalm 40 – I Waited For the Lord (Redeemer) 
Psalm 42 – As the Hart, About to Falter (Christ Church) 
Psalm 47 – All Peoples, Clap Your Hands for Joy (Can’t locate yet; we don’t do it often) 
Psalm 98 – O Sing A New Song to the Lord (Christ Church)  
Psalm 128 – Blessed the Man that Fears Jehovah  (Christ Church) 
Psalm 148 – From Heaven O Praise the Lord (Can’t locate yet… we don’t do this one anymore, but other CREC’s know it well) 

KEY NON-PSALMS FROM CANTUS: 

The Son of God Goes Forth To War (Random guy – this is folky and kinda cool) 
At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing 
God Moves in a Mysterious Way (can’t find this one yet… will do it soon and you’ll have a recording) 
Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above 

KEY EASTER HYMNS FROM CANTUS: 

Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended (Cantus) (Chris Thile and Sufjan Stevens) 

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted (Fernando Ortega) 

Devotion

Psalm 126

A Song of Ascents.

            [1] When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

                        we were like those who dream.

            [2] Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

                        and our tongue with shouts of joy;

            then they said among the nations,

                        “The LORD has done great things for them.”

            [3] The LORD has done great things for us;

                        we are glad.

            [4] Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

                        like streams in the Negeb!

            [5] Those who sow in tears

                        shall reap with shouts of joy!

            [6] He who goes out weeping,

                        bearing the seed for sowing,

            shall come home with shouts of joy,

                        bringing his sheaves with him. 

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God’s Grove

Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 

Psalm 1:3–4 [the blessed man] is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 

Psalm 92:12–15 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 

Isaiah 61:3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

Hosea 14:5–7 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 

God’s Harlots

“For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.” (Proverbs 7:6-9).

“Simple,” means lacking sense, unwise, foolish. An empty-headed man heads out in bad company down the path of temptation. Paul says in Ephesians 5:16 (KVJ) “redeem the time.” Spend your time profitably, renewing the mind, mending habits, progressing in sanctification, growing up to mature manhood. 

How valuable are self-discipline, self-control, constant Godly employment and positive pursuit of God? They are the preservatives of God’s blessing from sin and danger. Idleness and habit. Bad company and an empty mind. Courting sin and tempting the tempter. These are dangers that beset us on every side. 

Looking at unholy things will lead to touching unholy things which will lead to tasting unholy things which will lead to consuming unholy things and unchecked the unholy thing – the idol, lie or false comfort will consume you. It will eat away at your friendship with Jesus bite by bite until there is nothing left. 

Repent and believe. Open your eyes and look at your habits and rituals, your daily liturgies. Where are your affections? Where is your comfort? What are you filling up on? Grace? Or the offerings of the world like this young man did with the harlot? Are you walking in the counsel of the wicked? Are you Standing with sinners? Are you sitting with scoffers and mockers of God and His Law?  Is your head empty? Are you tempting temptation? Are you easily taken in by putting yourself in a position to be tempted?

“She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you (Proverbs 7:11-15).” 

The young woman allures her victim with the garb of sanctity. She doesn’t play the harlot with man till she’s played the hypocrite with God. Sin comes closely on the heels of spiritual pride – all act without true belief. The offering the young woman mentions is the Peace-offering, in which, the majority is returned to the offeror, to feast upon with friends. 

This law of charity and generosity is abused as an opportunity for gluttony and excess. It was a pity that the peace-offerings should thus become, in a bad sense, sin-offerings, and that what was designed for the honor of God should become the food and fuel of a base lust. But this is certainly not the only example of this religious hypocrisy. The Israelites, after their miraculous deliverance made a golden calf and gathered around it to worship God in name only, using it as an opportunity to satiate their lusts. 

And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play,” (Exodus 32:6). The Apostle comments on this in 1 Corinthians 10:6–8 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. But we didn’t take the way offered us. We use the grace and feast of God’s blessing for sensual license and self-gratifying sin. We test Jesus. We grumble.  We need to take heed. God says eat and drink, but do it before Him, in His name, to His glory.  

Let us guard our hearts. As we celebrate before the Lord, as we learn to rejoice before Him, as we learn to suck the morrow out of the bones of blessing, let us at the same time be vigilant. We often do not know what spirit we are of and when we rise up to play, if it veers toward self-gratification, fornication, drunkenness, debauchery, etc., then let us remember the twenty-three thousand who fell. 

God calls us to celebrate before Him, but this is to be done in a spirit of Holiness, selflessness and generosity. Let us not use the liberty of God’s Grace as libertines or antinomians – who have no law, no ethical restraint – self-gratifying in every sensual way. 

Let us offer ourselves as sacrifices to the lord, let us heap our idols up here and rise up to play with the same holy, generous, loving spirit of our Lord Jesus and not like the harlot, tempting temptation and relishing licentiousness. 

Let us learn at our father’s table, what true feasting and festivity look like, so that rising up to play we don’t use the feast of God’s blessing as the harlot did, for her own pleasure, but us use the feast of God’s blessing for God’s glory. 

The harlot “seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, (Proverbs 7:13) and “With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him,” (Proverbs 7:21). In this we see that temptation and sin are affectionate. Temptation and sin are patient and kind. Sin prepares for us, lures us in with decadence and excellence. We are deceived to think that sin is always tawdry, low and degraded. Egyptian cotton sheets, roasted lamb and scented candles sound pretty nice. Sin is hard to see as sin when it smells like mulled wine. Sin is rarely repulsive – it’s almost always pleasant in appearance. Think of Eve in Genesis 3:6,

“the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” The fruit that leads to death doesn’t sound so bad.  

The real deception of sin is that it offers real pleasure. It assaults us with kisses and flattering words. It isn’t always cruel and vile, but often is very affectionate. Eve grew in wisdom as she chewed the tasty fruit. The problem is that we are in an abusive relationship with sin. It draws us in with tenderness but always produces death. Its sugar-coated poison. When hemlock tastes like double dark chocolate, it’s hard to why it’s bad. When iniquity is so nice, how could it be bad?

 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy,” (Proverbs 27:6).

The kisses of an enemy are meant to appease the heart in order to hide the hurt that has or is to come. A villain must bring you into intimate fellowship before they can stab you in the heart. Like Judas in the garden, it was a kiss that Judas used to betray His friend Jesus, think of the affection over an extended period – the long toil of deceit necessary to stab Jesus in the back. 

Sin is rarely presented as raunchy and vile. It can be, but more often, especially once you’ve matured a little, raunchy and vile sin is easier to avoid. Sin, most often, deceives us with kisses. It softens our defenses through affection. We all have an ongoing relationship with sin and though it no longer enslaves us, it sure is reliable and willing to comfort us – anytime, anywhere. 

So many of us are not at war with sin, but an abusive relationship with it. It entices us with affection but leaves us with black eyes, shame, brokenness and confusion. But is so ready the next morning with a kind word, a tender look and promises to not hurt us again. And delivers real pleasure, so we forget for a time the real pain. Sin deceives us because the pleasure it offers isn’t illusionary – its real pleasure. But its fleeting. It’s temporary. It costs us so much on the backend. It’s the deal that is always too good to be true. Your abusive sin – what is it? Porn? The bottle? The needle, cigarette, frying pan, soda can or television? Is it your hand-held distraction? 

What sin has enticed you and lured you into an abusive relationship – a cycle of pleasure and pain? What promises you goodness but only delivers brokenness? What offers itself to you freely like the harlot in proverbs but is always a trap of death and shame? But there is another way. The way of the cross, the way of self-denial – not of pleasure but of fleeting pleasure – abusive pleasure, pleasure that draws near with a kiss to stab you in the back.

Moses knew the way, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24–26). But one greater than Moses is here, and He is the way, the truth and the life and at His right hand is pleasure forevermore. The greater prophet Jesus who chose the way of the cross for the Joy set before Him. 

Ours is not a faith of don’t taste, don’t touch, don’t look. It’s a faith in which our chief end is glorifying God by enjoying Him – forever. In the wind and work and food and drink and embrace of loved ones. In fellowship and praise. In confession and restoration. 

Let us enter the way – the narrow gate – let us enter our Father’s presence and taste and see that God is good. Overflowing with yes and amen. Sin, in the beginning was a tree of no in a vast garden of yes. And it is still so. 

“With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death,” (Proverbs 7:21–27). 

We come now to the end of the matter. The simple empty-headed man, like so many of us, has tempted temptation. Sin was all too ready and welcoming. The woman has allured him with a pietistic religious façade – offering the sacrifices of God as self-gratifying sin offerings of iniquity.

Like Judas, the woman has drawn near to the man through affectionate lies and though pleasure was found for a time, the lasting fruit is death and destruction. The young man is hunted. Sin has hunted him down. It has laid a trap for him. Like a sparrow or ox or deer – the empty-headed young man has been lured, and at times – all too willingly. Sin, like a skilled bowman or trapper or rancher – remember ranchers are the most patient and affectionate of hunters – always affectionate, methodical and forbearing hunters. This is what Satan is like. He is a prowling lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Sin is a smooth operator. The skilled hunter, crouching at our door seeking to rule over us (Genesis 4:7).  The lady leads the empty-headed young man down the path of death. Sin hunts us with fine speech and delectable pleasures – promises of delight and but in the end it’s the path of death – her only fruit is a pile of dead bodies – a rotting heap. 

We are prey for sin, Satan and death and sadly, all too often, oh so willingly Don’t be like the empty-headed fool, fill your mind with the truth. You need a rescuer. A defender. A friend and confidant to keep you on the true path. You need a protector and redeemer. Someone who will defend you, keep you from the prowling lion – everyday – who will guard and keep you. He had better be strong – the strongest – he better be good – the goodest. We need another path, another way around the sin, through the traps, out of the eventual grave of sin we’ve so justly earned. 

His name is Jesus. The lion of Judah, the friend of sinners, the beloved son of God, the pure lamb, the victor, the mediator – the God man. Put yourself in the way of sin and you will fall. Go unguarded for one minute and you will be hunted down like a dog. Let sin lure you in, let affection grow between you and sin, cover your idols with pietistic religious hypocrisy and they will drive the knife into your heart with a kiss. We are here to seek another way – to seek the way, the truth and the life. His power, goodness, righteousness and grace. Open before you is the peace of God, the feast of heaven, the living water, the Hightower and fortress of God – Jesus Christ. Our defender and redeemer. So open the gates of your heart to let Him in. 

Church Newsletter 2021-3-10

Saints,

Enjoy the glorious sunshine and this bit of spring amid winter. 

Here is an interesting thought from C.S. Lewis. “Do not be scared by the word authority. Believing things on authority only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine per cent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I have not seen it myself. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place, I believe it because reliable people have told mc so. The ordinary man believes in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and the circulation of the blood on authority—because the scientists say so. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.”^[1]

Digging deeper

Study Questions

1. Do you agree that if God pronounces judgement, we as believers must not quarrel with him but agree with him?

2.  ‘To obey is better than sacrifice.’ This is true, but how superlatively good is that ultimate Sacrifice which is itself perfect obedience (Hebrews 10:9–14)?^[2]

Filling up the edges

The Christian Life requires conforming to the standard of both God’s ethics and God’s emotions. What he condemns, we must condemn. What he curses, we must curse. What he loves we must love. What saddens him, ought to sadden us. 

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 

“But Jesus didn’t hate!” is a common retort. 

Hebrews 1:8–9 But of the Son [the Father] says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” 

Some of us need to stop letting the world define words like love, mercy and compassion. The fruit of the spirit does not negate the Holy War, it frames it. Some of us need to hate sin and grieve over the fall and moral failure of our brothers and sisters and stop letting the world define words like war, enemy and hate for us.  Nightlong lamentation – crying out to God over the failure of church leaders and fellow Christians, this is a prescription for what ails many of us. 

Discipleship and imitation are inseparable. The call of Jesus to “follow me,’ demanded a life-long determination on the part of his disciples to pattern their values, beliefs, and behavior after their Master. For Paul too, imitation had a cruciform character. Saul does not have a heart after God. Samuel does. Reject Saul’s version of the Christian life and imitate Samuel’s. 

So here is how I propose growing in our imitation of the Lord Jesus. These are the areas I think we should all focus on.

Learn to love properly. We must give ourselves to the love of God and the love of our neighbor. Desire to rejoice in the Lord, in the public worship of God, in the commands He has given to us. Eagerly pursue evangelism and mercy work. We must love our husbands, wives, children and grandchildren. We must love our neighbors and co-workers. 

Romans 13:9–10 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The more we are given over to these things, the more difficult it will be for the world to accuse us that our hatreds are just “phobias,” or some other sign of a broken mind. We don’t hate because we love hating. We hate because we love what we are defending. Zeal is a prescription for what ails many of us.

Learn to hate hypocrisy. When we hate the sins of others more than we hate sin in ourselves, we are a couple of miles down the deadly road to hell. When we judge others by their actions and words, while judging ourselves by our motives, we are already in the grip of Satan. When we judge others by a different standard than the one we desire to have applied to ourselves, we are rejecting the Lord’s teaching. Judgment begins with the household of God, and this is why there will never be a restoration of the republic without a reformation in the church.

Learn to hate jargon, buzzwords – any words detached from the objects they are supposed to represent – which is what happens when we deny the correspondence view of truth.

The correspondence theory of truth is that epistemological theory that states that the truth or falsehood of any statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes that world. Our beliefs and statements must correspond to the actual state of affairs. Evolution is a theory that does not correspond to the reality of a fossil record.  Identity politics assert many things about sex and gender that do not correspond to the physical attributes providentially distributed at birth. 

So, learn to love objective truth, and hate all subjectivism. Learn to mean what you say, and say what you mean. Target every form of verbal pretension and postmodern word games and redefining of terms. We must all master precision. Put a scope on the proverbial truth rifle. Sight it in. Go out for target practice in an abandoned garden patch. Get a sight on the pumpkins of postmodernism. Use hollow points. The results will gratify you.

Learn to hate every form of egalitarianism, feminism, metro-sexuality and associated fropperies, pomosexuality, and androgyny. In the image of God He created them, male and female (Gen. 1:27). And every true Christian has since that time said, amen. 

Learn to hate every attempt to turn the Scriptures against itself. No verse trumps any other verse. Dicing up the word of God into mantras and appeals to “simplify,” our interpretation is of the devil. No word from God is at war with any other word from God. The very first thing that “red letter Christians” do in their insistence to go “by the words of Jesus only” is reject the words of Jesus about the rest of Scripture. All you need to grow in this hatred rightly is a special edition of the Bible, which you can get at any Christian bookstore, with the words of the Holy Spirit in black.  All of Scripture and only Scripture — that is the ultimate and infallible rule of faith and practice. Those who seek to divvy up the Word are hostile to the Word, and so we must return that hostility with verve and pep.

Learn to hate every form of coercion that is not mandated by the Almighty God Himself. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Love liberty and love it in every lawful form. Hate every suggestion that would — apart from an explicit requirement from the Creator — bind, restrict, limit, constrain, constrict, curb, inhibit, stifle, bridle, disallow, immure, compel, or deprive the lawful liberty of another person. This is not done for the sake of an abstract idol called “individualism.” It is nothing more complicated than love of neighbor. In this, our statist and despotic age, it is not possible to love your neighbor without also hating an intrusive police state or the Green new deal, Government stimulus or the AOC Squad all wrapped in golden promises of prosperity and freedom. Hatred of coercion also includes every form of unjust warfare — hatred of ungodly compulsion is not limited in any way to domestic politics. We must reject the evangelistic program that spreads democracy with F-18’s and tomahawk missiles and expeditionary forces. 

Learn to hate the suggestion, made by some on our side, that we “take no prisoners.” The strategy outlined by the Lord Jesusvis that we disciple the nations, baptizing them and teaching them obedience. This means that we first recognize that they are undiscipled, unbaptized, and disobedient. The whole point is to persuade them, not to nuke them. As we undertake the endeavor of imitating Christ well, in our midst we will soon enough discover more than a few who do not know what spirit they are of; Luke 9:54–55 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But [Jesus] turned and rebuked them. 

We must learn to listen to the voice of God and obey it. Let the Lord define the terms, not our feelings and not the world. Let us take up the whole counsel of God, bearing the fruit of the spirit, wield the sword of the spirit with faith and wisdom

Around the Web

Pastor Wilson has some encouraging words on being the Prophetic voice. 

When the Dogs Ate Jezebel

Here is a beautifully produced explanation of Psalm 8 

Devotion

Call my wandering heart home

Dear Lord of your people, let every evening toll the bell of recollection to call home my poor wandering heart. And when the tumult of a busy, unsatisfying, and troublesome world is over, oh for grace to do as my Lord did: to send the multitude away, and get up apart into the holy mountain of faith and love in the Lord Jesus, to meditate and pray! 

Amen.

---

^[1] Lewis, C. S.. A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.

^[2] Davis, D. R. (2000). 1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart (p. 164). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

Giving Stew to Esau

“And Saul defeated the Amalekites…But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction” (Chapter 15:7-9).

Saul was given the assignment to carry out the “ban,” against the Amalekites. According to this form of warfare, Israel was to utterly destroy every man, woman, child and animal. The command to ban the Amalekites continued the warfare that the Lord declared on Amalek in Exodus 17:8–16. The Amalekite story is an undercurrent through the rest of the Old Testament, finally coming to resolution in the book of Esther, when Mordecai, a descendant of Saul’s father Kish, overcomes Haman the “Agagite,” a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag.

In the aftermath of the battle, Saul interprets God’s instruction in his own way. Saul makes his own value judgement about those things that God has cursed. He decides what is good and what is worthless, when God said that it was all worthless and must be destroyed.  

God waited over four centuries to fulfill his plan to destroy the Amalekites. Yahweh deemed nothing of the Amalekite nation worthy of being spared. Saul disagrees. Saul shows mercy to Agag, the king and his choicest livestock. Saul doesn’t spare the women and children, but the things Saul deemed worthy of salvation, valuable, profitable. Saul’s judgment is opposed to God’s Judgment.  Saul spares things God commanded him to destroy. 

The word translated as “spared,” means to have or show compassion. It is translated as mercy in Lamentations 2:2. This is difficult ground. Saul is showing mercy where Yahweh commanded him to show no mercy. 

Mercy is one of the most essential qualities of God so it is important to understand what mercy means. “For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them,” (Deuteronomy 4:31). Mercy designates that quality in God by which he faithfully keeps his promises and maintains his covenant relationship with his chosen people, despite their unworthiness and unfaithfulness.

God’s mercy is more than punishment withheld. At the heart of the concept of mercy is the love of God, which is freely manifested in his gracious acts of salvation on behalf of those to whom he has pledged himself in covenant relationship. The Lord says,  “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed,” (Genesis 12:3). If God were to not curse those who dishonor us, then he would not be a merciful, compassionate or a covenant keeping God. To show mercy to the Amalekites would be to withhold it from Israel. 

Christians struggle with these kinds of distinctions. We take words like love and mercy and compassion and miss apply them with our own fallen ethic, like Saul. Christians are called to hate what God hates and love what God loves. Failing to do either is sin. To give and withhold mercy based on God’s command, not our own reason.

Saul has usurped God’s moral judgements; Saul has seized Yahweh’s Lordship as Lawgiver and judge for himself. The scriptures are full of difficult passages that frame our understanding of love, mercy and hate. 

A good example of this confusion is highlighted by Paul. 

“As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills,” (Romans 9:15–18). 

God hated Esau. What is our responsibility then? To be more righteous and loving than God? God forbid such a thought. Should we hate Esau according to the world’s standards? God forbid. But many go back to Genesis hating both Esau and Jacob, treating them both as equally sinful. Or they pity and sympathize with Esau and hate Jacob. I mean, the Christian thing to do would have been to feed the hungry – like Jesus – and just give Esau the stew! And in this we show how far from God’s ethics we truly are. 

Why did God hate Esau while he loved Jacob? Only the perfect and hidden wisdom of God knows. What we have to do is reconcile ourselves to who and what God reveals himself to be and do and imitate Him. 

Remember, “the fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate,” (Proverbs 8:13). Would our Netflix cue demonstrate our hate for evil ways and perverted speech? 

God curses the Amalekites and commands Israel to show them no mercy. Therefore, showing them mercy is sin. God commands us to hate pride, arrogance, evil and perverted speech and to fail to hate them is sin. Is that easy to understand? No. Should we therefore reject it? No. God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways are perfect and righteous. 

This issue plagues us. Christians oppose the death penalty, which God commands in Genesis 9:6. Woke Christianity wants preferential treatment for particular races while and supporting racial unity based on Critical Race Theory, which is contrary to God’s word in Galatians 3:28. Modern Christians send their children to be indoctrinated at atheistic, Marxist, Darwinian, revisionist public schools, justifying it for financial reasons or poorly conceived arguments about the Great commission or the lie that academics are, or can be, neutral. All of these violate God’s command in Ephesians 6:4. 

Christians are always compromising. Showing mercy to own sins, those “respectable sins,’ those “every-body-does-em,” sins in one another, like gluttony, drunkenness, avarice, pride, gossip, apathy and indifference. We flatter ourselves with our holiness, forgiveneness, compassion and love. But what if we are loving things God hates? Or showing mercy when God desires us to show no mercy? Or we create idols out of half-truths, supplanting biblical ethics with the idols of “nice.” As if offending people is the unforgivable sin.

Ashamed of the word of God, and of one another, we compromise with sexual sins, homosexual sins, feminism, Americanism and conservatism. Failing to differentiate between the spirit of the age – progressivism and the spirit of God. We stay home from church justifying our disobedience by ham-fisted arguments about Romans 13.  

We probably all have a favorite verse on love. But what about our favorite verse about hate? Or showing no mercy? Try Deuteronomy 25:11-12. 

“Loving your neighbor,” is used to justify all kinds of disobedience. The fruit of the spirit are used to justify all kinds of disobedience. The great commission is used as justify for all kinds of disobedience. Let the hearer understand. We need to love what God loves and hate what He hates. And must study the word of God until those definitions are down in our bones. Loving and hating the way God loves and hates. 

We need to conform to his Character and command, no matter how hickified or “old-fashioned,” or “unscientific,” the world thinks it is. We need the whole counsel of God. A Love for God and neighbor. The Fruit of the Spirit and the Sword of the Spirit. We need to baptize and teach the nations ALL that Christ commanded from Genesis to revelation. 

Marxism is not the collectivism of Acts 2. Deistic evolution is antithetical to Genesis 1. Romans 13 does not teach absolute obedience to the state. To raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, means there is not neutrality in any academic subject. The Law of God ought to be the Law of the land because it is the law of love. And our society is need of love. Homosexuality, greed, envy, sexual perversity, avarice, apathy and anger are all surefire paths to hellfire. There is no queer treasure that heaven will accept. The gay culture, just like the Scottish culture, American culture, Japanese culture and Portuguese culture – all have to die. They have to be placed under the ban. They must be refined by the fire of baptism. Everything that is Amalekite must be devoted to God in utter destruction, without mercy. 

So that the culture of heaven will prevail. 

Think Local

This was an open letter sent to the saints of Redeemer Church at the start of 2021.

Saints,

One of the things that I have been struck by, through the holiday season, is the source of strength and stability our church has been, when everything else has been turbulent and unpredictable. I am thankful for your faithfulness and fellowship throughout 2020. 

I think we can strengthen it, even as we harness its strengths to be a city on a hill. I want to highlight a theme that I think we should focus on in 2021; local. We should focus as locally as possible. Our own hearts, our own homes, our neighborhoods, our local church (redeemer and the broader church in the Puget Sound), local businesses and local politics. 

The national scene is distracting and overwhelming. Social media and MSM are diluting our local witness, by getting us focused on things well beyond our control and responsibility. 

How is your own heart? How is your spouse? How are the kids? How are your neighbors, next door and in the next pew? 

Get out the church directory. Plug some addresses into google maps. Which redeemer folks are nearest to you? Can you host them? For meals and fellowship, bible/book studies, movie nights, song sings and service projects? 

Who have you never had in your house before? Who hasn’t been there in a while, wherever they may live? 

Who in your neighborhood might be suffering unduly from the lockdowns? Who might be lonely? Even if you have to wear a mask, is there someone who could use a visit? Some prayer? 

Who is the police chief, utilities manager, mayor and local judge? Are you praying for them by name? Are there first responders in your neighborhood who could use some support and encouragement? 

Are there some homeschool moms who could use some help grading? A care package? Some midday babysitting so they can go shopping? A meal? Is there a couple who could use a date night? 

Put away the social media and put down the phones and the distractions and look around your pew, your street, your life. 

This year, I don’t want us to build a ghetto, but we need to strengthen the Christian community through mutually beneficial infrastructure like Christian educational organizations, businesses, church plants, inter-church fellowship, etc. 

Is there a Christian who owns a business you could spend money at? Are there Christians at work who you could meet with for prayer? Is there a neighbor who owns a business you could spend money at? 

Is there a local volunteer position or public office that you could run for? A foodbank, crisis pregnancy center or senior center? 

Now is the time to live like Noah. Noah? Yes. Noah built an ark in which he would save a community and yet was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). Noah knew judgement was coming, built a means to endure it and called people to it. 

Now is the time to be like the Israelites in Nehemiah 4:16–20 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, [17] who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. [18] And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. [19] And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. [20] In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” 

Take up your sword and trowel. Fight for the truth, don’t hide or shy away from the overwhelming odds. Don’t fear men. Remember you were once “a slave in Egypt,” too and your world is full of “Egyptian slaves,” who need salvation. Spread the good news, even as you construct an Ark. Arm yourselves to defend the city, for which you labor. 

Study history, economics, poetry, theology and YOUR BIBLE.  

When the hordes came down from Central Europe to decimate Rome, it was in churches that the pagan people fled and where they were spared, because many of the barbarian Germans were actually Christians, who would not attack churches. This salvation was Augustine’s main argument for the City of God, in which he argued against the pagan accusers, who said that Rome was destroyed for abandoning its paganism.  The church was a place of refuge for many Romans, a refuge prepared by God, who worked through his people to save many. 

The Green Martyrs of Ireland, who lived at places like Glendalough, chose secluded places at the corners of the world to build thriving monastic cities devoted to God and neighbor, spending their days serving one another and copying books. When all Europe was destroyed by Vikings, Huns and Muslims, Western culture was preserved by little monks, who built and protected little Arks, in out of the way places. 

The Church offers community, order, culture and stability in a time when the world goes mad and implodes. For me, Redeemer is such a place. An Ark. A refuge amidst invasions. A city devoted to God.  

A local place from which I can draw stegnth. A place to call others to. Let us strengthen one another and from this overflowing grace and provision, draw what we need to feed and water a dying world. 

Blessings and Happy New year, 

Mike

The Constitution is King

**Guest post from Deacon Jered Leslie.

Saints, we have failed to uphold Paul’s words in romans 13: verse 1. … yes you heard me correctly. 

Saints, we are guilty of failing to obey his command, but not in the way you may be thinking and certainly not in the way the world would have you believe. 

Paul writes to the church in Rome. 

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. – Romans 13:1

The great thing about his verse is that it is clear and simple in its original context. Paul is most likely writing to the Christians in Rome during the reign of Claudius Caesar.  And during the era of the Caesars, the supreme authority of Rome and of the Roman world was what they called the imperium; the law of the Caesar. Under this imperium, Roman governors and officials were vested with authority from Caesar and served at his pleasure. They were appointed by him to rule and govern as the hand of Caesar himself. Therefore, Paul is echoing the same thing that Christ taught to his disciples. Don’t fight Rome, do not fight against your Roman authorities. God has placed them over you as your governing authorities. Pretty clear. 

But we do not live in first century Rome and if we assume our present context is identical to theirs, then we commit eisegesis. 

So how are we failing to obey our governing authorities? 

We must be reminded of who, in fact, is our governing authority as American citizens. The authority, that according to romans 13:1, God has instituted over us. 

Do we have a Caesar? No. 

Is jay Inslee your governing authority? No, he is not. Was Trump or is Biden our governing authority? No.

Who then is our authority? It turns out that we have the same governing authority as they do, the authority that they are sworn to support and defend; the Constitution. 

And the Constitution is very clear that it is the supreme governing authority. 

Article 6 reads;

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

That last phrase means if a state law is contrary to, or violates, the federal Constitution, then that state law is not legitimate. Thus, the U.S. Constitution remains the supreme law of the land .

It continues…

“The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the individual States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.”

Saints, we have forgotten what our real governing authority is, just like our representatives have forgotten what they are sworn to support. 

Now, If Paul is correct, then God has instituted our U.S. Constitution as our governing authority to which we are subject. 

So, how can we be subject to men who are subject to the same thing we are? They are subject to the same authority that we are. 

We have abdicated our true governing authority and let godless men control us as though they wielded power. And By doing this, we have violated Romans 13:1. We are not subject to our true governing authority. Rather we are subjecting ourselves to men who have no authority at all. 

The fact that this is not common knowledge is to our shame. So, saints if you are willing, let us kneel and confess our sins of failure to be subject to our true authority. 

Magistrates Must Be Well-Governed, To Govern Well

“Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home” (1 Samuel 10:25).

In keeping with the stipulations set forth in the books of Moses, Samuel the Levite, makes available to the new king a copy of the law.

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:18–20). 

Israel’s king is not a king like the other nations, from the very beginning. Israel’s king is a vice-regent, under the law of Yahweh, Israel’s true King. Royal submission to God’s law should protect Israel from tyranny and abuse. The Law establishes the longevity of the throne. Saul is under a law, that governs the kingship, not to destroy his kingship but to allow it to function properly.

A constitutional Monarchy was the form of government in Israel from the beginning. This understanding of law and authority was expressed in a theological work called, Lex Rex – The Law is King – by theologian Samuel Rutherford, who helped shape the Christian conception of republican government as a protection against sinful men, who seek absolute authority over their fellow men. Men are sinners and must be governed well by law, to govern well. What kind of tyrant is a father or husband or pastor or boss or government official, if there is not some law to govern their actions?

Men must be governed well to govern well.  

The belief that the magistrate, the person, is the law, is not an uncommon belief throughout history and is the common political view of many evangelicals.  But it is false. Law establishes the authority of men and acts as a final appeal. This is the biblical understanding of government. A man’s government of his home is not above God’s law or state law. Neither is a pastor’s, president’s, governor’s, County Sherriff, etc. The Law of God and the Law of the land establish authority. Like the scriptures amongst Christians, the law is the final arbiter. 

Twice the disciples, under the pagan roman rule and Israelite religious leadership, demonstrated that the laws were above men, no matter the office of the man. Passages like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 exist within a context in which no authority is absolute. 

“And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:27–29).

The apostles owed obedience to God over men, when the magistrate’s orders were contrary to God’s law.

Furthermore, Paul appealed to the Roman Law as a Citizen of Rome. “But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” (Acts 22:25). The centurion’s authority was not absolute. It was subject to Roman law. Paul had a right to due process. No roman magistrate was above the Corpus Juris Civilis, or the twelve tables.  Paul did not say, “well you’re the magistrate so have at my back with that whip.” He appealed beyond the man to the law of the land. 

Texts like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 cannot be isolated from the rest of the Old and New Testament, which teach that no human institution is absolute. Everyone is governed by Law, Christian or Pagan. Israel was a kingdom of laws, not men. The reason for this, is that magistrates must be well-governed to govern well.  

Spiritual Weapons for the Right and and the Left

1 Samuel 11:6–7 And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. [7] He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man. 

Haven’t we all been asking, like those worthless men in 1 Samuel 10:27; “How Can this man save us?”  Haven’t we been overrun by dragons? Internal and external dragons.

God’s answer for us, is the same as it was to Israel, “by the power of the Holy spirit.” The Spirit’s descent was always a prelude to holy war, just as the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost to equip the church to prosecute its holy war against unbelief in the great commission. Salvation comes down out of heaven to rest upon us and equips us to slay dragons. 

We need the whole counsel of God on this subject. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7).  We are used to hearing about the Fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control from Galatians 5. And amen. But these attributes, worked into us through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, prepare us for wielding a mighty sword. Only a well-trained arm can wield a sword effectively. We need the right training to wield the sword of the spirit to slay dragons; “and take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). 

How do we slay dragons? With the word of God. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). This is the prophetic voice. “He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away” (Isaiah 49:2). “Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light” (Hosea 6:5). The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit. This is the weapon of our warfare. “By truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left” (2 Corinthians 6:7).

We are in great need of a sword and a Christ-like character to wield it. The Spirit provides us with both. The mission of the church is confrontation with the dragons of this world – the sons of that ancient serpent, Satan, as he is called in Revelation 20:2. 

Jesus said to the Pharisees; 

“Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. [32] Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. [33] You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? [34] Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town” (Matthew 23:31–34).

Jesus slew the great serpent Satan, but his children still walk the earth. They still lie and devour and steal and cheat and corrupt. “And such were some of you.” Jesus ascended, knowing there were still dragons to be slain. So, He poured out his power on us in the Holy Spirit. He filled his Apostles’ with the words and they delivered His book into our hands. We are sent now – the prophets and wisemen and scribes – even to be killed, crucified, flogged and persecuted, by obeying god’s will unto death. To pour out our lives fighting the dragons in our hearts and in one another’s hearts. To proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection till he returns, teaching the nations the words of Christ. 

In this mission we are not left defenseless. But the sword we wield is held in hands that are shaped by the fruit of the spirit. We are given weapons with which to fight. Swords and arrows, too. We are called by God to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord; to fill our quiver with Gospel arrows. The reason for this is that to fulfill the great commission mission, we must be dragon slayers. One of the things I keep hearing among Christians is a concern over the current of culture, and how it threatens to devour our children. Part of the general fear is a fear over the rise of dragons in the land. But what concern is that to dragon slayers? We need to be and we need to raise broad shouldered swordsmen and mighty shield maidens. 

Jesus told Peter, as the first leader of the Apostles “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Gates are a defensive position. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us. I don’t care what your eyes of flesh show you, we are on the offensive, if we are wielding the Word of God. No matter what you see on the evening news, the Lord has the enemy right where He wants them. Out in the open, no longer hiding in the dark. Take up the sword, Church, for there be dragons in your hearts and in the land. 

And remember that we are raising dragon slayers who must be armed with the sword of the Spirit; weapons for the right hand and the left. The word of God wielded by the sons and daughters of God – who are loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled – because it is not the spirit of the World, but of God that is the seal of our inheritance in Christ. We do not fight like the world. We fight like Christ, in whose scarred hands rests the scepter of the Messiah King, a rod of iron. The Lord equipped Saul by the power of His own spirit and Saul fought with the tactics of his fathers, zealous, wise, forgiving, humble, fierce. And he slew dragons. 

Let us take up the sword, church, and cry to the thrice Holy God – “rend heaven and pour out your spirit again! Give us a deep love and understanding of your word, that we might be strong and well-equipped to slay dragons.” 

Let us attend the Lord’s Service this Sunday and renew our covenant with God – for that is what our worship service is – Covenant renewal. Let us be clothed in Christ’s righteousness and feed at His table.  “For an army marches on its stomach,” Napoleon said.  Let us take up the Sword of the Spirit – weapons enough for both hands – and slay the dragons in our hearts, our homes, our church and our communities. Go. Fight. Win. In the name and power of The Lord Jesus Christ.

And Amen.

A Righteousness That Works

 “We are not to conceive the Christian faith as a bare knowledge of God which rattles around the brain and affects the heart not at all…but it is a firm and solid confidence of the heart by which we securely repose in God’s mercy promised us through the gospel.”

John Calvin wrote these words in his Catechism of 1538. “Ideas” or “information” about God, are not the same thing as faith. Faith is a firm and solid confidence, security and repose. These are not disembodied “ideas.”

Knowledge is nothing, unless it becomes understanding. And understanding is action.

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; (Proverbs 1:8–11).

Parents who instruct their children, are teaching them how to react to the enticement of sinners. Its real-world, right-now, practical – action. Habakuk 2:4 and Romans 1:17 both state it plainly, “the righteous live by faith.” Living is action.

Calvin explains in his Institutes, “The word is not received in faith when it merely flutters in the brain, but when it has taken deep root in the heart, and become an invincible bulwark to withstand and repel all the assaults of temptation.^[1]

Turning away from temptation is an expression of faith. Putting the beer down, before it becomes one too many. Closing your mouth when the opportunity to gossip presents itself. Telling the truth. Confessing sin. Putting a filter on your computer. Reinforcing your children’s good behavior instead of yelling at them for their bad behavior. Complimenting your spouse. Taking out the trash. Putting the phone down, to play with your kids. Folding your hands in prayer. Taking up the bible to read. These are all actions of faith and righteousness.

Trust what the Lord has provided and is providentially doing. Do not seek the desires of your fleshly heart. Deny those desires, instead believe that the good and powerful God of the Old and New Testaments, is your God.

C.S. Lewis wrote that for the saved, “‘Works’ have no ‘merit’, though of course faith, inevitably, even unconsciously, flows out into works of love at once. He is not saved because he does works of love: he does works of love because he is saved. It is faith alone that has saved him: faith bestowed by sheer gift. From this buoyant humility, this farewell to the self with all its good resolutions, anxiety, scruples, and motive-scratchings, all Protestant doctrines originally sprang.”^[2]

We are not talking about works righteousness. We are talking about a righteousness that works. Obedience is what we all need a great deal more of, at the moment. Let us grab hold of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and continual mediation for us before the Father.

And get to work. 

Prayer

Blessed God! I flee to your almighty power.

You see me surrounded with difficulties and dangers, and stretch out your omnipotent arm to save me.

Today I put myself under your protection. Let me make the shadow of your wings my refuge. Let your grace be sufficient for me, and your strength be made perfect in my weakness.

I dare not say, “I will never forsake you, I will never deny you,” but I hope can truly say, “Lord, I resolve not to do it. I would rather die than offend you.”

Root out the corruption from my heart. In an hour of pressing temptation it might sway me to view things in a different light, and so might betray me into the hands of the enemy!

Strengthen my faith, Lord, and encourage my hope! Inspire me to opposing every thing that blocks my way to heaven. And let me set my face against all the assaults of earth and hell.

If sinners entice me, let me say no. If they insult me, let me ignore it. If they threaten me, let me not fear!

Give me instead a holy and ardent yet prudent and well-governed zeal to see others convicted and turn to you.

Let me never be ashamed to plead your cause against those who oppose the faith. As the psalmist says, “Make me to hear joy and gladness in my soul, and I will teach transgressors your ways, that sinners may be converted to you.”

My fears continue, Lord, but there is no one to blame but myself. I join you in blaming me for my folly.

Keep me, O Lord, now and always. Whatever age or place in life I attain, never let me think I am strong enough to maintain the combat without you.

And even in my young faith, never let me imagine myself so weak that you cannot support me.

Wherever you lead me, let me follow. Wherever you take me in life, let me work there faithfully. Let me fight the holy war against the enemies of my salvation. And let me fall fighting rather than abandon my post.

You are my glorious Redeemer, pioneer of my salvation, the great Author and Finisher of my faith. When I am in danger of denying you, as Peter did, look on me with your majesty and tenderness. Keep me from falling, or quickly lift me back up to God and my duty again!

Show me how to learn from my missteps and to humble myself in even greater diligence and caution. 

Amen.^[3]

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^[1] Calvin, J., & Beveridge, H. (1845). Institutes of the Christian religion (Vol. 2, p. 139). Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society.

^[2] Lewis, C. S.. A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.

^[3] Doddridge, P. (2019). I Need Your Protection. In R. Elmer (Ed.), Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans (pp. 84–85). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.