Worship Worth Receiving - Ron

My family went camping over the first few days of Thanksgiving week. As happens, very little went to plan. We got rained out our last night and a few people left early due to sickness. But that is how it goes sometimes. I took my oldest son with me on Saturday morning, and it was our job to set up the campsite and prepare for the arrival of everyone else. We had a job to do and there were plenty of decisions to think through. 

First, we had to pick a good campsite. We camp in tents and have a large family, so we like to be away from other campers. We also like having lots of trees around us for exploring, finding wood, and hanging hammocks. One must also consider that it might rain, and the location of one's tent becomes more important as the chances of rain increase.

Once you have the campsite picked out, it is just a matter of unpacking the truck, setting up the tents, chairs, tables, hammocks, cots, etc. Tents can be tricky and some are fairly complex, so they come with instructions. In my experience, the instructions are not typically fantastic, but they do the job. I do have a confession, though. I never keep those instruction books. I didn't think it mattered.

We needed to replace one of our tents before this last trip. The first tent our family ever purchased had been to several states and seen some severe weather. Not to mention that our kids grew up in it. It was time. We bought an exact replica of the tent that we had purchased a few years ago for my wife and I to use. When I opened this brand new package and saw the instructions, I flipped through a few pages. I was shocked when I discovered that there were parts to our tent that I was not using because I didn't understand the function. And I didn't understand the function because I threw away the instructions. And I threw away the instructions because I didn't think they were necessary. After all, the tent functioned as at tent. How was I to know I was missing out on even more functionality!

But many of us live our lives this way. We think we are functioning just fine. We look like we are serving the function of a believer. For all outward intents and purposes, things are great. But are they, really? 

God's people found themselves in this situation in the book of Haggai.

The second part of the book finds that the people were well underway working on the temple, and were no doubt eagerly awaiting the day that it would be finished. After all, God had promised them that this temple, although less beautiful, would boast more glory than Solomon’s temple!

But Haggai’s message in this section is one of caution. You see, the work in which they were engaged was a good work. It was needful work. It was commanded work. God told them to do it. But the caution here is that they make sure to do it in a right manner. You see, nothing that we do, no matter how great or how noble it may seem, if done with impure motives or an improper spirit, will be accepted by God. And the same is true here. 

There are those involved in the building of the temple with impure hearts and hands. If we are honest, there are many times that we run around attempting to build the temple of our heart and life while hiding impurities.

It is interesting that God specifically tells Haggai to ask the priests about the law (2:11). Although a prophet, Haggai was not a priest. And so the instruction was to go to the priests for direction concerning the law. God has given different jobs to different people, and in this case, it was needful for the priests to have input. After all, what God had to say to the people went for the priests as well. And so, from their own mouths they would be condemned. 

The apostle Paul tells us of the importance of different gifts in the church in the book of Romans (12:4-8). Paul specifically mentions each of us has something to do for God, and each of us has an office in which to use our gifts. So, let each of us use our own gifts to serve in the way that God has given us. And in this case, Haggai was in the office of a prophet, and the priests were in the business of interpreting the law. 

Part of that law is seen in Leviticus 10:10-11. Here, in the King James, it says, "And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses."

So we see that it was the job of the priests to know and declare the difference between that which was holy and that which was not holy, and they were to teach the Israelites and put them in remembrance of what God had said.

Now the rules of the law, in this case are,

• That one cannot transmit holiness (Haggai 2:12).
• That one can transmit uncleanness. The law is express on this issue (Numbers 19:22). 

Simply put, the truth that Haggai was trying to get them to recognize is that holiness is not communicable, but wickedness is. Many people think that they are somehow improved by rubbing shoulders with men and women who are spiritual, or by keeping company with those who walk close with the Lord. Understand this: there may be benefit in those things in regards to learning from them and being exhorted and encouraged by them, but we dare not think that a right standing with God and righteousness in thought and deed can be somehow spread to us automatically by contact.

Maybe it will help us to consider it this way: when a healthy person walks into a hospital room, their health does not spread to the diseased person in the bed. However, depending on the disease, sickness can and will spread to a healthy person. 

Do not think that living by good people, or working with good people, or going to church with good people will make you pleasing to God if you are not right with him yourself. Rather, we each need to fear that touching anything unclean will defile us, and we must keep our distance from it (2 Cor. 6:17). 

It may be good for us to peruse Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 5:1-12. If this passage steps on our toes, it is likely because our feet are planted in the wrong spot. The message to the people was that wickedness and uncleanness and unrighteousness spreads like a virus. Paul says that it is a shame for the children of God to even speak of the things that are done in secret by those reveling in their sin and debauchery. But we speak about those things. We read about them. We watch those things on television and in movies. In the worst cases, we seek them out on purpose and actively participate in them ourselves.

The main problem here for the Israelites was this: the whole time that they had been neglecting the temple, worrying about making their own houses look glorious, they were still offering sacrifices. They didn’t even recognize that God was rejecting all of their worship. They thought that their ritualistic worship would make their offerings acceptable to God, but their disobedience and neglect polluted their worship. 

Does that describe your life - or mine - today? Do we assume that our holiday busy-ness and church parties and jovial spirits automatically equate a right relationship with God? Do we assume that God is forced to accept what we offer Him in worship?

One of my former pastors preached a series of messages called: Celebrate Worship. During one of these messages, he explained how worship is two parts: our giving it and God accepting it. And God was not accepting their worship in Haggai. I wonder…does He accept yours? Does He accept mine? Many people all over this country go to church regularly. Many of them probably had very similar thoughts to what we see in Haggai: no thought for God in their life, but certain that their attendance in church would count for something good. 

I love the way Matthew Henry puts it in his commentary on the passage: “No,” says God to the Israelites, “your holy flesh and your altar will be so far from sanctifying your meat and drink, your wine and oil, to you, that your contempt of God's temple will bring a pollution, not only on your common enjoyments, but even on your sacrifices too; so that while you continued in that neglect all was unclean to you, nay, and so is this people still; and so they will be; on these terms they will still stand with me, and on no other - that if they be profane, and sensual, and morally impure, if they have wicked hearts, and live wicked lives, though they work ever so hard at the temple while it is building, and though they offer ever so many and costly sacrifices there when it is built, yet that shall not serve to sanctify their meat and drink to them, and to give them a comfortable use of them; nay, the impurity of their hearts and lives shall make even that work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean, and an abomination to God.” 

And the case is the same with us. If your devotions seem reasonable, but your lifestyle is wicked, you will find that your devotions are unable to purify your enjoyments and entertainment, but your wickedness will be able to pollute them. 

May He be satisfied to receive our worship both during the holidays and all year long!

The Peace of Jesus | Ben Hyrne

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” 

John 14:27

The Greek world (not unlike our own) spoke about peace as nothing more than the absence of conflict.[1] But taking history into consideration, this means that world peace is, at best, fleeting or, at worst, a myth.  It is fleeting in the sense that it never lasts forever.  And it is a myth in the sense that when we say we're "at peace," all we're actually saying is that the major world powers aren’t at war.  Even if there’s no large-scale conflict, is there not some conflict somewhere at the ground level?  We haven’t stopped killing each other since Cain killed Abel. 

So, when the Lord takes his peace and compares it with the kind offered by the world, he is distinguishing it in two key ways:

First, Jesus is saying that his peace is permanent.  Far from being fleeting, it is eternal.   It is not like the enforced but tenuous peace brought about by some military occupation (e.g., Pax Romana).[2] That sort of peace wanes as the power that established it begins to diminish.  On the other hand, Christ's kingdom is a dominion without end (cf. Dan. 7:14).  The peace agreement Jesus brokered for humanity transcends the mortal plain and reaches the very throne room of heaven, where it is secure forever.  Though nations may rise against one another, Christians will never again be at war with God (cf. Eph. 2:11-22). 

Second, Jesus is saying that his peace is legitimate.  Far from being a myth, it is the crowning characteristic of the messianic age (cf. Isa. 9:6-7; 52:7; 54:13; 57:19; Ezek. 37:26; Hag. 2:9).[3]  This is not the false peace of the false prophets (cf. Jer. 6:13-15).  It is the hard-won triumph of Jesus Christ.  God and man are genuinely reconciled through the shed blood of God's only Son (cf. Col. 1:20).  No enemy can overwhelm those who are said to "overcome” the world (cf. 1 Jn. 5:5).  The Christian is genuinely triumphant through Christ whereas this world is “passing away” right before our eyes (1 Jn. 2:17). 

But make no mistake, the kind of peace Jesus offers is not the absence of conflict but a "resolve in the midst of discomfiting circumstances…the composure to be faithful in the face of adversity."[4]  In fact, later, the Lord will say, “In the world, you will have tribulation…” (16:44).[5]  So, it is not a matter of "if" his followers will have trouble but "when."  Thus, Jesus' peace means experiencing tranquility even though one may be surrounded by danger.  For Christians, even the worst trial is "temporal" (2 Cor. 4:17-18).  That, no matter what comes our way, we can say, "This too shall pass."  

What’s more, this peace was supposed to immediately affect the disciples' hearts.  Right after talking about peace, Jesus said, " Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (cf. 14:1).  The verbs Jesus uses are in the present tense, so it is a choice we have to make every day.  

If we allow it, fear will run away with our peace.  We must choose to trust in the Lord.  In doing so, we will no longer be held captive by our fears.  This is why the old prophet can say, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." (Isa. 26:3).  And this is why Paul says to the persecuted church in Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice….do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:4-7; cf. Col. 3:15).  Peace in hardship is the peace of Christ.  But it is a peace we must choose to take hold of.  

Fear is the only option for the world.  But for the Christian, Jesus offers us peace.  We do not have to fear what is happening around us.  We can face an unknown future boldly because we know that, no matter what happens, we are followers of the Prince of Peace.  What do we have to fear when Jesus goes with us wherever we go? 

Endnotes

[1] Morris (1995), p. 584; Köstenberger (2008), p. 443.

[2] Kruse (2017), p. 359; Köstenberger (2008), p. 443, “The famous Ara Pacis (“altar of peace”), erected by Augustus to celebrate his inauguration of the age of peace, still stands in Rome as a testimony to the world’s empty messianic pretensions.”

[3] Carson (1991), p. 505.

[4] Köstenberger (2008), p. 444.

[5] Klink (2016), p. 641, explains that the peace of Christ “is an unbroken union with the Father, even in a world filled with continuous strife, persecution, humiliation, and even death.”

"Trying to Spell Good without G-O-D" - Stephen

 “We are not good people who make the odd mistake. We are not wonderful individuals with a few flaws that can be blamed on our upbringing, our environment, or our lack of sleep last night. We are sinners with deceitful hearts, who fall short of God’s glorious standards…”

[Alistair Begg]

Whether you know it or not, we struggle spelling “good” in today’s society. Not in the way that grabbing your spelling-bee trophy from 2^nd grade would do you any favors. (A trophy I failed to earn myself when I didn’t put an “e” at the end of the word “biome.”) But in the way that we long for what is good yet find the bad always getting in the way.

We want “good” politicians but always seem to end up with presidents fluctuating somewhere between a 30-40% approval rating on even the best days of a 4-year term. Terms that frequently end in collusions, corruptions, or, at the very least, controversy.

We want “good” teachers in our schools while many parents find themselves blaming the teacher for their child’s lack of education. Or, worse, seeing teachers convicted of unspeakable crimes during their employment.

We want “good” food, “good” movies, and “good” spouses while we end up with a hair in our tacos, boredom in our theatres, and disappointment with our marriages. And, let’s be honest, for some in our lives it is identifying the good in the only one of these three with a human heart to be the most difficult for them to wrangle. 

What’s the problem underneath it all in finding one that’s “good?” Could it be that we are simply trying to spell “good” without G-O-D? In case you think I am just trying to be witty on an endless journey of no real point, let me explain. 

When we try to spell “good” without G-O-D, we actually lose something as a result. Besides a proper standard of good, our designation of what is “bad” is also in danger of being mislabeled because it is based upon a faulty standard altogether. 

You know why many around us can’t seem to find “good” politicians, teachers, or spouses? Because the standard we are using to define the term is skewed—it’s us. How do I know this? Because without God, we can’t help but become the standard of good ourselves and who among us is absent of fault? And, because of this, our standard of what is “bad” is not only skewed but shifting as quick as the faults that lie beneath the very crust of our earth.

As we change as individuals, our standard of what is acceptable or not changes with us so that we can always remain on the positive side of our own judgments. And like the cracks left behind from a quake, these shifts within our own selves hold potential dangers as well. 

Like many things in our modern society, we tend to think we can recognize the standard of “good” like we can recognize a color. A child is taught what the color red is, not by reading a book about it, but by seeing a clear example of it in contrast with other colors in a box of crayons. 

But what we don’t consider is the family who chooses instead to teach their child the same color based on a totally different, less-pure standard of a more-pink version of the uncooked meat they are eating for dinner. When the standard changes, the idea of what was once objective is now fading into subjective territory. 

No harm, no foul, it’s just a color, right? Right. But what we must realize is that, like colors, one’s idea of good can fade over time if we don’t consciously have the same standard for what it is in its purest form to look back at when challenged or sought changed.  

When you or I can’t properly define “good,” one “good” political candidate this November leads to another that we have judged from hours of personal research and our own critical eye but with the same results—disappointment and unmet expectations of those who deemed their character worthy. This has led to many withdrawing from voting altogether because, well, “what’s the point?”

When you or I can’t properly define “good,” one teacher with a sparkling resume leads to another with the same results once again—shock and surprise when that news headline contains their name. This leads to a shortage of teachers and an exhausting cycle of firing and hiring from those who have no answers, only hoping they can hold on to their position just long enough to reach retirement. 

And the list goes from one category to the next without ever finding satisfaction on this endless road that our t-shirt says is “The Good Life” but, in reality, is something that is fading faster than the shirt’s graphic of a stickman sipping a pina colada every time we wash it. 

Maybe it’s time we seek a better standard to begin with—something or someone that is better than ourselves. A standard of good at such a level that it is only when we emulate this one that we can accurately say, “I resemble that remark.” For when we have a proper spelling of what is “good,” we can begin to have a proper understanding of what the opposite looks like as well. The problem with such an understanding is that the former begins to look less like us and more like God, and the latter the very opposite. 

So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one [is] good but One, [that is], God.”

[Mark 10:18]

Is that an understanding we are willing to admit, or would we rather continue spelling “good” without “G-O-D?” If spelling “good” absent of these is what you choose, look at the only letter you’re left with. It’s a letter eerily similar to the number of times the expectations of our world are met in its journey to finding what is lasting and forever “G-O-O-D.” An ending, ironically enough, very much like the one the man had leaving Jesus that day. 

But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful…

[Mark 10:22]

Church: The Reason You (Should) Remain - Stephen

No one buys a home in a neighborhood simply because of the cookies the neighbor might welcome them with. 

No one makes their child go to school because of how well the Math teacher relates to their culture. 

And no one goes to a sporting event only because the stadium might be full of other fans on that given day. 

Needless to say, no one chooses any other community based upon the same reasoning many choose their churches. 

 

 

Many Christians today seem to believe that the problem with our modern world is their lack of concern for the church. You’ve probably seen the articles, the social media posts, or maybe even the unfortunate rant from a pulpit. But I disagree. I don’t believe the problem of people leaving the church is simply too little concern for the church but sometimes too much. 

 

Here’s what I mean—I think many people, Christians included, are too concerned with their church and what they offer them. Too concerned with the ministries provided. Too concerned with the size of the crowd. Too concerned with the budget for big and entertaining events so that their family never becomes so bored on a Friday night that the dreaded board games get dusted off and dad cheats his way to a Monopoly win just like old times. (Pardon the personal illustration.)  

 

These things are not wrong in-and-of-themselves (besides the cheating, of course), but they are things given very little concern in Scripture. Our community of believers has no Scriptural example if the things listed above are what we find ourselves primarily seeking. An inability to pinpoint the true purpose of the church has led many to misunderstand where contentment in one should be found. 

 

So, what is it that we should make the priority? The same things the disciples of Jesus did. 

 

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

[John 6:67-69]

 

Some of our neighbors and friends who attend church might be shocked by the fact that Jesus would even ask this question. “Don’t mention leaving,” they might say, “because our schedule of events is packed so full that that thought never crosses their mind.” 

 

But I don’t want you to read these verses to focus on Christ’s question that day about the disciples leaving. I want your focus instead on the reasoning Peter gave about why he was staying. 

 

It is interesting to note that Peter did not choose to remain with Jesus because he might lose out on a miraculous event. He doesn’t stick around because he would miss out on time spent with the other disciples who had become his closest friends. And he doesn’t even say he is staying because he likes how popular Jesus has become with the people. He simply gives two answers that can be summarized like this: (1) Jesus’ words bring eternal life and (2) He is the promised Messiah, the Son of God. 

 

“But,” you might say, “Peter is speaking of being faithful to Jesus here. What does that have to do with you or I and our concern for other things within our church communities?” Good question. Let me answer it with another question—does your church community faithfully proclaim the words of Christ and is Christ faithfully exalted as the true and living Son of God there?

 

If your answer is in the affirmative to both of these, your response to leaving that church should be similar to that of Peter before Jesus that day— “Where else can we go? This community proclaims the words of eternal life and declares Jesus as the Son of the Living God.” And if you’re wanting to add anything else to your answer let it be this: “What more do I need?” 

 

In pre-marital counseling, one of the things we discuss is the most common reasons for divorce. Among those reasons is financial debt.[1] This causes me to pose the question to every couple I counsel, “Do you know the difference between a need and a want?” The answer to this is important because many times debt will mount up when we get those two things confused and the lines between them blurred. 

 

Anything beyond Peter’s answer that day must be categorized as “wants” in a church, not “needs.” Peter remained. He remained faithful to Christ. He remained faithful to the calling upon him. Sure, he stumbled at times, but he never completely walked away. Why? Because he knew and was clear on why he was staying. Are you?

 

May it not be the programs no matter how helpful they seem. 

May it not be the people no matter how close they have become. 

May it not be the popularity no matter how exciting it makes you feel. 

For all these things are liable to change.

 

But may it be the One who is supposed to be exalted in and through all of those. 

May He be enough. 

May He be the reason you remain. 

And, if He is, He will also become the only reason you ever choose to leave. 

 

Let us hold fast the confession of [our] hope without wavering, for He who promised [is] faithful …. not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another], and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

[Hebrews 10:23, 25]

---

[1] “Reasons for Divorce: Top 10 Reasons Marriages End,” https://www.couplescounselingchicago.net/reasons-for-divorce-top-10-reasons-marriages-end/

 

For All These Things - Ron

We haven’t done themes on The Middlings in a while, but last month all of our posts dealt in some way with identity. Last week, Ben’s post dealt with Christ being the Way, Truth, and the Life. This post points to that same ultimate truth. 

 

For the wind and the winter of our discontent,

For the race and the runner and the dark places we went.

For the loved and the left out and for all those between,

For those stuck in victimhood who refuse to be weaned.

For a world brokenhearted lashing out and zealously reckless,

For those tearing down values while erecting numb sadness.

For the spaces where hope used to shine free and bright

For the corners and alleys where the law is called vice.

For the parents whose minds are full of decay

For the children who are stuck being raised in this day.

For the politician whose lies meet frenzied applause,

For the leaders feigning concern while sharpening claws.

For modern cities ridden with violence and crime so copious,

For the skylines that portend these nightmarish dystopias.

For the awakened left wondering where we went wrong,

For the blind who ignore truth and follow along.

For the hearts that are torn, and the families destroyed,

For the confusion that reigns in our young girls and boys.

For the vociferous crowd triggered by gender distinction,

For the evil who prosper off of gender revision.

For the trans guy or girl and the terms we make up,

For the millions of people worshipping the corrupt.

For the darkness that’s spreading, For the light that’s retreating,

For the mind-numbing stupidity and the sheep who are sleeping.

For the conservatives whose answers involve shifting the blame,

For the Christians who are simply just playing the game.

For the hoodwinked enraged and alarmed at the climate,

For the influencer spitting fear because he knows people buy it.

For the charlatan pastor specializing in scratching our ears,

For the pastor faithfully preaching though nobody hears.

For those who sit in the pew with a hardening heart,

For the millions of people falling apart.

For the teachers indoctrinating with a godless theology,

For the misguided attempting to bring about a theonomy.

For the worn out and wounded and those losing their faith,

For the ones stood against the onslaught of zealous hate.

For the racists and supremacists who divide us to conquer,

For the ones who take advantage and abuse those two monikers.

For all those held captive by a flawed judicial system,

For the few who are searching for actual wisdom.

For all who are asking, “Am I alone? Am I all right?”

For those left wondering “Am I insane? Am I alive?”

For the ones in the know about the real question:

“What does it take to stop waging war with
“All I thought I wanted,” and “All I thought I needed?”

The answer is in the Word, but it largely goes unheeded.

The truth of the matter is humanity is enslaved,

And we can’t on our own “fight the war that we made.”

 

The quotations at the end of this poem – or whatever it could be called – come from the song, “The War We Made,” by the band Red. As I finish typing this post this morning, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are experiencing real-time ramifications of this constant war. But it isn’t truly a war of Hamas, or Iran, against Israel. That’s how it is expressing itself this morning. It is the story of man’s battle against God and to overthrow His power and authority in our lives and world. The true evil behind the world is “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

 

But we cannot fight this war of our own making.

 

Christ has provided, and is, the means to stop the war waging in and around us. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). And Isaiah 25:8 says, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.”

 

For all this and more, Christ is the answer, as He’s always been.