Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 23

In God’s Hands, Your Trial Is a Tool

Sanctification, the Spirit’s work of setting apart the Church to the love and service of God, is one of the many benefits promised to us in the gospel. Yet, throughout Scripture, the sanctifying work of God is often depicted as an agonising ordeal. In truth, the holiness and happiness of the Church ultimately run together. They are companions. But in practice, this is rarely apparent to the saints, and not altogether comforting.

Refiner’s Fire

 

One of the dominant metaphors used to describe this work of God in the Bible is that of the refinement of precious metals. For example, the prophet Isaiah describes the exile of God’s people from Israel this way:

I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities (Is. 1:25, NIV).

The providence of God is here depicted as a fire. Now, fire can be put to different uses, but the purpose of a refiner’s fire is the purification of some precious metal. If I were to place a lump of metal in your hand, it would probably seem to you like a unified whole. It would have a unity — an identity — that was apparent to you. You would examine its colour, touch its surface, and say to yourself, “Yes, this is metal.” You might be able to guess what kind of metal it was, but you probably could not tell me what other metals might be mixed into it simply by looking at it and feeling it.

However, if a refiner were to take that lump of metal and put it in a refining cup, he could liquify it, separating out the precious metal — silver, gold, platinum — from any impurities or inferior elements alloyed to it — copper, iron, or tin. As any impurities came to the surface, he would be able remove them. In that way, he can strengthen the metal or multiply its value.

Fire, here, is a perfecting instrument. It provides the conditions necessary for separating what is precious from what is worthless. Without it, the impurities cannot even be identified much less removed. But it is down to the wisdom and skill of the refiner to draw out the impurities, to strengthen and form the metal, and to increase its preciousness.

God Intends to Make Us Pure

 

Scripture compares God’s providence to a refining fire. Life’s trials test our metal, so to speak. But the purpose of God’s providence in this is the sanctification of his Church. God aims to set the Church apart as holy. He aims not to destroy, but to perfect us. He intends to enrich the Church’s faith and virtue and to strengthen those gifts with which the Church has been endowed. Sanctification is a fire that heals and perfects us by ridding us of those impure habits of thought, desire, and action that weaken our spiritual resolve and cheapen the dignity of our calling. In short, it purifies the Church by separating us from our sin.

This is a work, of course, that only God is wise enough to do. We cannot do it for ourselves. How could we when sin so determines the whole of our experience that it colours even the way we understand our own desires and intentions, as well as the events which mark our lives? As the prophet Jeremiah asks us, who can know the heart of a man (Jer. 17:9)? We simply are not transparent to ourselves.

Were the judgment left with us to separate-out the gold from the dross of our lives, we would inevitably struggle to do so. Who but the Creator knows our nature — knows who we are and what we were created to be? Who but God could distinguish our virtues from our vices, and draw from the elements of our broken lives witnesses — monuments of grace that bring honour and glory to God?

Only God could order and design the course of our lives to perfect us. This is one of the many benefits that we are promised in the gospel, and it is something that Jesus teaches us to pray for. We ask for sanctification whenever we pray that God might “deliver us from evil.” There is a marvellous promise extended to us here, but it also contains a challenge.

When God’s providence places us in times of trial and testing, how will we respond?

 

Faith

One of the hardest things to do in times of trial, whether personal or corporate, is to respond in faith. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the circumstance or to be paralysed with fear. Yet Scripture teaches us in these moments to trust in God’s purposes because “we know that in everything, God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom. 8:28, RSV).

In times of great hardship, that can be a difficult promise to cling to. It will not remove all the pain, fear, or grief — those feelings are natural, and it is right for us to feel them. But it can provide us a shelter for our souls in the knowledge that God is sovereign, and that he is always working for our good.

Hope

One of the encouragements Scripture consistently gives to us in times of hardship is to take the long view — to look beyond the moment, beyond the temporal, and to contemplate a promise that transcends our circumstances. We need more of this today. So many of our hopes and aspirations are so short-sighted or tied to our material prosperity. But if all our hopes are in things which can be taken from us by time and circumstance, then we will never suffer with hope. We need a vision of something greater.

We should follow the example of Paul. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul tells the church that, in spite of his great suffering, he was not in despair: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (v. 17-18, NKJV).

Hope derives its strength from faith and gives us the power to look beyond the moment. If you want to live with more hope, take time to nurture your faith. Remind yourself of who God is. Remind yourself of his promise. And summon your courage to act in faith.

Love

Finally, times of trial and suffering are times to grow in love — love of God and love of neighbour. These are always connected to one another. That’s why Jesus says they summarise the whole of the law (Mt. 22:35-40). But in times of corporate hardship, the latter is often the gateway to the former.

Do you want to know more of God’s love? Do you want to experience more hope and have the benefit of a life that is lived in faith? Then you can start by serving your neighbour. Neighbour-love is the training ground for the love of God. We come to love God more, and to know more of God’s love, as we show ourselves willing to extend ourselves to those God has placed around us.

In times of trial, we need and should pray for greater faith, hope and love. In fact, God intends to use our trials to refine us. Rather than giving in to selfishness, despondency, and disbelief, may we trust God to use our current circumstances to work in us the precious virtues of faith, hope and love.

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There Is No Peace Without God’s Wrath

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:18-19).

How striking it is that when God calls us to peace, he speaks about his own wrath and vengeance. Notice there are three things that you need to know in order to have peace and to bring peace.

1. There will be retribution.

“Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord (Rom. 12:19).

God has established governing authorities in this world to administer justice. Paul speaks about this just a few verses later. Speaking of one who rules, Paul says, “He is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Rom. 13:4).

God has established authorities in every home, school, workplace, church, community, and nation. Those who are given this authority are responsible for the work of recompensing evil that is necessary to maintaining peace. They “carry out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

The basis of order in any home, community, or nation lies in the wrath of God. God is irreconcilably opposed to all evil. He will bring it to judgment. Therefore, he establishes governing authorities to deal with evil justly.

It is on this basis that parents exercise discipline in the home, and without this there will not be much peace. If parents stop believing in the wrath of God, they will find it difficult to discover another basis for discipline in the home.

The principle for the administration of this justice is clearly given in the well-known words of Scripture, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” There is a quip on this that is often attributed to Ghandi: “An eye for an eye leads to the whole world going blind.”

But this saying is based on a misunderstanding. When God says, “An eye for an eye,” it’s about proportionality. The justice must fit the crime. The proper administration of justice is necessary to the maintenance of peace. Remember this: God never punishes to the full extent of his strength, and neither should a parent.

When God says, “An eye for an eye,” he does not say it to individuals. God gives this directive to judges and others in authority. God does not say, “If someone smashes your window, go and smash theirs.” That would be a formula for anarchy, in which the whole world would soon go blind.

2. You are not to take retribution yourself.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves (Rom. 12:19).

The word ‘beloved’ is significant here. It communicates how deep the pain of evil and injustice is, and how strong the impulse to seek revenge can be. With a great sensitivity of heart to the pain, Paul says, ‘beloved’—or dearly loved ones—never avenge yourselves.

God has given this responsibility to the governing authorities in this world, not to you. This is still true even when governing authorities are far from what God calls them to be. What about crimes that are never solved? Injustices that are never dealt with? Evils that are never brought to light? What about the times when there is a miscarriage of justice?

3. Place the unresolved injustice into the hands of God.

Leave it to the wrath of God (Rom. 12:19).

If people stop believing in the wrath of God, two things will happen. The first is that courts will be overrun with endless disputes, which is where we are in our country now. When people cannot get what they want from the courts, they will feel that they must take the law into their own hands, and there goes their peace.

The Scripture says, “That is never your job! Don’t take it into your own hands. Leave it in the hands of God. Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the Lord, and He will deliver you” (Prov. 20:22).

What evil have you suffered that has never been brought to justice? What injustice do you need to trust into the hands of God today? When you do this, you are following in the path of Jesus.

Jesus knows all about this. There was no justice for Him in this world. He stood before a judge who said, “What is truth?” What chance of justice do you have when the judge isn’t even sure that there is such a thing as truth? Before the chief priests, Jesus was blindfolded, spit on, and struck while he was in what was supposed to be a court of law (Mark 14:65).

What did Christ do when He faced this injustice? He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly (1 Pet. 2:23). “Father, I know that every evil will be dealt with, and it will be dealt with by you. Every wicked deed will be brought to justice. You have said so, and you yourself will do it!”

The truth of God’s wrath is the assurance that one day there will be justice. God Himself will bring it, and this is the basis on which we can exercise restraint, even in the painful situations where we cannot get justice now.

If we lose sight of the wrath of God, believing that the only justice we can get is in this world, then we will feel that we must take matters into our own hands. And then the world will look in vain for peace. As much as it depends on you, live peaceably by leaving vengeance in the Lord’s hands.

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This article is an adaptation of Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Overcoming Evil with Peace”, from his series, Overcoming Evil.

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The Gospel According to Hosea

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God” (Hos. 1:10).

In 1920’s America, everything looked pretty good. America was enjoying a booming economy and social progress, and the landscape of the country was predominantly Christian. People were living lives of luxury and ease. This was the pinnacle of the American dream. However, under the surface was a disaster waiting to strike… and it did. The economy collapsed, the greed of the people was exposed, and the country entered one of its darkest periods.

This picture of American culture is similar to the time in which Hosea lived. Israel and Judah were experiencing great wealth, military safety, and apparent religious devotion to the Lord. Yet, the people’s religion was shallow and devoid of true commitment to God. They had refused to acknowledge God as their one true God, and their land was plagued with murder, cursing, stealing, and lying (Hos. 4:1-2). They also had taken up Canaanite idol worship to Baal (Hos. 2:8). As their prosperity began to fade, they turned to other countries, namely Assyria, for help—an action that was forbidden and adulterous according to Mosaic law.

Into the middle of this mess stepped Hosea, a prophet from the Lord. God directed Hosea in a peculiar way by asking him to marry a woman who would be unfaithful. Why would God call one of his faithful servants to such a painful task?

God would use Hosea and Gomer’s story to convict the people of Israel of their unfaithfulness to the Lord. Sometimes God also calls us to painful situations, not because of sin but in order to use our stories to magnify His glory and sovereign purpose in the world. By faith, Hosea submitted to God, married Gomer, and had three children with her. The lives of Hosea’s children foreshadowed the relationship between Israel and God and teach us important truths about how we relate to the Lord today.

The Bad News

 

1. Jezreel

Jezreel means “scattered.” His life indicates God’s loving-kindness in disciplining those he loves. Israel was unfaithful, and God declared that he would scatter them all over the earth. This should not have come as a surprise to Israel. God’s covenant required them to worship Him alone or be scattered from their land and “utterly destroyed” (Deut. 4:25-27). The application here is important: when we walk in obedience to the Lord, he gathers us and makes straight our path. When we walk away from the Lord, he scatters our plans and shows us how unsatisfying it is to go our own way.

2. Lo-Ruhamah

Lo Ruhamah means “No Pity.” This daughter’s story reflects God’s wrath in declaring that he would no longer pity Israel. In other words, a time would come when God would pull back the daily provisions and mercies that he had extended to his people before (Hos. 1:6). This reminds us that, while God never stops loving his chosen people, there is a consequence for our defiance. He may allow us to feel abandoned and void of him. This may, in time, help us to realize our daily need of God’s mercy.

3. Lo-Ammi

This name means “Not My People.” This son’s life is a profound statement about God’s holiness. Since the people of Israel had forsaken their covenant with him, God now rejected them as his people. Israel had been warned, and Hosea’s prophecy was God’s declaration that he saw and was displeased with their idolatry. “The LORD said, ‘Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God’” (Hos. 1:9). Today, God’s holiness still demands our exclusive worship of him alone.

The Good News

If the first chapter of Hosea ended with the negative consequences of Israel’s disobedience, it would be merely a bleak commentary on human nature. If God cast away his chosen people, what hope would there be for us today? By God’s grace, Hosea 1:10 brings us hope. Here God promises that, one day, Israel will be his children again and more numerous than “the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered” (Gen. 22:17, Hos. 1:10). In Hosea 1:11, he promises that Israel will be gathered together again.

Though God may seem absent for a time, he always returns to his chosen people. The Lord does punish sinful behavior, and he may feel absent when a believer chooses not to walk closely with him. Yet, God is a Redeemer who has promised to faithfully restore his people.

The end of Hosea chapter 1 reveals this beautiful promise. Though God’s people rebelled against him, he would provide a way for them to return to him and be unified in him. This promise has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Through Christ’s atonement for our sins on the cross, we “who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).

Not only do believers live reconciled and brought near to God today, we also know this is but a foretaste of our future. We feel the searing pain of sin in this life, but we have the hope of the gospel because of God’s great love for us. Christ has made our future secure! Though God once said, “You are not my people”, Heaven will be filled with those who are now named children of the living God.

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10 Quotes from Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

Within our various relationships, there is potential to both teach and learn from others. In the workplace, a person eager to build his career might become the protégé of one who has more expertise. In the church, a newer believer might befriend a mature Christian, eager to observe and imitate that person’s tried-and-true faith. In the home, God calls mothers and fathers to be mentors from the moment their child’s heartbeat is heard in the womb.

Mentoring someone, in any context, can be both a privilege and a weighty responsibility. But discipleship with an open Bible is a life-giving ministry. Word-filled mentors point others to life in Christ.

Tim Challies’ short book, Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms, will encourage and inspire as you disciple others. With only 124 small pages, this book is short but not shallow. Each chapter highlights a Christian hero who came to faith through his mother’s discipleship. Though Challies focuses on the mother-son dynamic, there are take-aways for all types of discipleship. Whether you are a pastor or parent, a boss or best friend, Devoted will illuminate the eternal significance of discipleship and give you tools to do it well.

Think of the potential: when you open the Scriptures with someone, you are holding the only book that is able to make a person “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). As Paul intentionally mentored Timothy, he called him “my true child in the faith” (1. Tim. 1:2). Certainly, Timothy was privileged to be Paul’s protégé, learning from what Challies calls “the greatest theological mind since Christ.”

You may not have the greatest theological mind, but you have much to offer as you trust Christ to help you make disciples. Here are ten quotations from Devoted to sustain you in this Word-filled ministry.

1. On limited time

John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace,” lost his mother to tuberculosis when he was a young boy. But she didn’t waste the little time God had given her to teach him.

“She used what strength she had to express the deepest kind of love for her son. She taught him to know God’s existence, God’s holiness, and God’s demands on his life.” 1

2. On prayer

Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, experienced a crisis of rebellion as a young man. His mother intervened by pleading for hours at a time that God would extend mercy to her son.

“She spoke to him, of course, and counseled him, but also became convinced that the best thing she could do for her son was to commit him to prayer.” 2

3. On balancing truth and tenderness

J. Gresham Machen, founder of Westminster Theological Seminary, felt the pull of liberalism during his college years. As his doubts grew, so did his mother’s concern that her son not abandon the truth.

“But because she was rooted in Scripture, she knew better than to panic… Relying instead of the grace of God, she chose to provide him with comfort and steadfast love.” 3

4. On gratitude

Christopher Yuan, professor and international speaker, formerly lived a life of atheism, homosexuality, and dealing drugs. His mother asked God to do whatever it would take to save her son. When he was imprisoned (for six years—during which he encountered Christ!), his mother saw this painful situation as God’s answer to her prayer.

“She decided to begin counting her blessings, to deliberately, prayerfully record reasons to be thankful.” 4

5. On God’s will

William Borden, known for his spiritual zeal, leadership, and plans to become a missionary, died tragically at age 25. His tombstone declares: “Apart from Christ, there is no explanation for such a life.”

“He and his mother had prayed that God’s will would be done. And somehow it was, though not in the way either one had anticipated.” 5

6. On God’s faithfulness

Charles Hodge, a leader in Reformed theology and Presbyterianism, had a strained relationship with his mother, Mary. Though she became overbearing and meddlesome, her efforts still laid the foundation for the spiritual leader her son would later become.

“Learn from Mary that [God] uses every bit of your faithful effort, even if that effort is mingled with sin… God is devoted to your good in Jesus Christ.” 6

7. On being ordinary

John Piper, founder and teacher of desiringGod.org, gained from his mother-mentor a love of hard work and the value of finishing a task.

“Though she did not give him the content of his theology, she shaped the way he approached life. Through her willingness to bear any burden, through her simple but tenacious faith, through her tender empathy, through her ordinary life, she made an immeasurable impact.” 7

8. On encouragement

Charles Spurgeon, known as the Prince of Preachers, was privileged to be mothered by a woman who was not only his teacher but also his evangelist. Spurgeon praised her this way:

“You, my Mother, have been the great means in God’s hand of rendering me what I hope I am… If I have any courage, if I feel prepared to follow my Saviour, not only into the water, but should he call me, even into the fire, I love you as the preacher to my heart of such courage.” 8

9. On patience

Augustine, preacher and writer of early Christian theology, lived a life of hedonism until God used transformed his heart. After decades of patient prayer, his mother was delighted when he, at age 33, asked her to help him understand Psalms. Augustine said:

“She was walking steadily in the path in which I was as yet feeling my way.” 9

10. On trusting the Lord

Dwight L. Moody, world-changing evangelist, grew up in extreme poverty. His widowed mother worked in every possible way to provide for her nine children.

“Through it all, she maintained a trust in God’s provision, and her simple faith was rewarded. ‘Trust in God’ was her creed, and she trusted him even when called upon to sacrifice the little she had for those who had even less.” 10

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1. Tim Challies, Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms (Minneapolis: Cruciform Press, 2018), 14.

2. Ibid., 23.

3. Ibid., 34.

4. Ibid., 46.

5. Ibid., 60.

6. Ibid., 72.

7. Ibid., 82.

8. Ibid., 93.

9. Ibid., 101.

10. Ibid., 108.

Photo: Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

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How Repentance Changed One Man’s View of Scripture

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts” (Isa. 55:7).

There is an intellectual dimension to repentance as well as a moral one. Repentance involves not only a change in our ways but also a change in our thoughts. There are ways of thinking that we must abandon. One of them is the self-sufficiency that says, “I have all the wisdom I need in myself.”

The Testimony of Thomas Oden

 

I want to give you the testimony of a man who, for many years, was wise in his own sight and then experienced a remarkable change of heart. His name is Thomas Oden, and his book, A Change of Heart1, is the very honest confession of a brilliant man, and a widely influential Christian, who has published over fifty books and articles.

I am telling his story because I want you to see the effects of being wise in your own eyes. It shapes your whole approach to Scripture. If you are wise in your own sight, you will evaluate the Bible in the light of your own wisdom. You will take what fits with what you already believe and discard everything else. Instead of listening to the voice of God, you will be listening to an echo of your own voice.

Thomas Oden was born in 1931, and had great influence during the massive cultural changes that took place in the 1960s. He was raised in rural Oklahoma, grew up in a Methodist church, and from early on professed Christian faith.

Oden had a passion for social justice. Describing his student years, he calls himself a “Marxist utopian dreamer”2 and says that he envisioned “a world where all weapons would be banned, opening the way for a world government that would seek social justice and where peace and sanity would prevail.”3

He describes his relationship with Scripture as “a filtering process which permitted those sources to speak to me only insofar as they could meet my conditions, my worldview and my assumptions as a modern person.”4 In college, he “lost the capacity for heartfelt, extemporized prayer.”5

After his college years, Oden went into the ministry to “use the church to elicit political change.”6 At this time, Oden was a “movement theologian”7, continuously shifting from movement to movement toward whatever new idea seemed to be an acceptable modernization of Christianity.8

“For me,” says Oden, “the theos in theology had become little more than a question mark. I could confidently discuss philosophy, psychology, and social change, but God made me uneasy9…. Resurrection and atonement were words I choked on.… The gospel was not about an event of divine salvation but about a human psychological experience of trust and freedom from anxiety, guilt, and boredom. The resurrection was not about something that actually happened but ‘a community’s memory of an unexplained event’, though I could not explain to myself or others how Christianity could be built on an event that never happened.”10

Then Oden makes this confession: “I did not examine my own motives. The biblical words for this are egocentricity, arrogance, and moral blindness. I confess now that I became entrapped with the desire for upward mobility in an academic environment.”11

Here is Oden, a man with a brilliant mind. He feels that he has what he needs in himself, so he doesn’t pray. And when he reads the Bible, he accepts only what fits with his view of the world—what he already thinks, and he disregards the rest. He filters everything else out.

He is a professor of theology, but God is little more than a question mark to him. The resurrection is a community memory of an unexplained event. “Atonement” is a word that he chokes on. And everything he writes is cutting-edge, new, innovative, with his own initials stamped on it, because that is the way to upward mobility in an academic environment.

The turn in Thomas Oden’s life began in 1970 when he was appointed a tenured professor at Drew University. There he met a Jewish scholar named Will Herberg, and they became good friends—close enough for Herberg to have spoken to Oden with unusual directness. “If you are ever going to become a credible theologian instead of a know-it-all pundit, you had better restart your life on firmer ground. You are not a theologian except in name only, even if you are paid to be one.”12

So, Thomas Oden gave himself to reading the church fathers, as Herberg suggested. He discovered that, instead of trying to say something new, innovative and cutting-edge, their great aim was to be faithful to Scripture.

Oden’s “change of heart” was sealed in 1971, when he had a dream in which he saw these words written on his own tombstone: “He made no new contribution to theology.”13 Oden says that he woke up from the dream refreshed and relieved, thinking, “That’s who I want to be. I want to be like the church fathers. I want to be faithful to the Scriptures.”

After that, Oden scrupulously avoided creating any new doctrine. By 1972, he had pledged to “present nothing new or original in basic Christian teaching that would have my initials stamped on it as if it were mine. I have honored that pledge and it has been deeply gratifying to me.”14

In summary of his life, Oden says this: “If my first forty years were spent hungering for meaning in life, the last forty have been spent in being fed.”15 In other words, Oden came back to the Bible and has been nourished by it ever since.

The Promise of Jesus

 

If you are wise in your own eyes, God will be little more than a question mark to you. You won’t feel much desire to pray. If you study the Bible, you will filter what God says through what you already believe. That is what Thomas Oden did, and that is also what the Pharisees did.

Jesus said to them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

But Jesus promises that, if you will open the Scriptures with a humble heart, God will teach you. Jesus said, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (John 6:45).

If you will open the Scriptures with humility, you will hear God’s voice and learn from Him. Jesus says the outcome of this is that the person taught by God “comes to me.” In other words, the result of our hearing God’s voice and learning from Him is that we come to greater faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, abandon the kind of thinking that says, “I already understand everything I need to know about God’s Word.” Instead, come ready to listen, learn, and grow!

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This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Overcoming Evil with Humility”, from his series, Overcoming Evil.

1. Thomas C. Oden, A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014).

2. Ibid., 42.

3. Ibid., p. 47.

4. Ibid., p. 147.

5. Ibid., p. 54.

6. Ibid., p. 50.

7. Ibid., p. 54.

8. Ibid., p. 80, 81.

9. Ibid., p. 77.

10. Ibid., p. 85.

11. Ibid., p. 56.

12. Ibid., p. 145.

13. Ibid., p. 136, 137.

14. Ibid., p. 144, 146.

15. Ibid., p. 57.

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How to Use the Bible on Your Phone

For centuries, only royalty, scholars, or pastors could personally open the Bible. Most people had to go to church in order to hear the Bible read, sung, prayed, and preached. However, the invention of the printing press revolutionized people’s relationship to God’s Word. As the Bible became mass-produced, biblical literacy skyrocketed, and the Reformation began.

The modern digital revolution is similar to what happened 500 years ago. Having access to the Bible digitally is a tremendous blessing for the church, and yet, this resource is often undervalued. Even as there are many reasons why you should open the Bible in print, here are five advantages to reading it on your phone or computer.

1. Accessibility

The early Church cited the Bible so much that, even if God’s Word disappeared, it could still be put back together based on their writings. Today, God’s Word is free and available to more people than ever because of the internet. Through websites and apps, Scripture appears in different translations and languages, and through social media, videos, and other communication. Tablets and phones have the ability to enlarge type and change fonts, so people of all ages can engage with God’s Word. The Bible is more readable, available to more people, and more readily accessible than ever before in the history of the world. When you love the Word of God and carry it with you, you can meditate on it all day long (Ps. 119:97).

2. Devotionals

The Bible promises that, when we are regularly in the Word, it is “able to make [us] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Today, there are a variety of ways you can regularly be in God’s Word. You can listen to audio Bibles during meals or on your commute to work. Setting reminders on your phone or limits on websites can help you remember to open your Bible each day, and if you are goal oriented, some Bible apps track your progress through the year. In an age when we receive more communication than ever, there has never been a more opportune time to hear from God.

3. Search Tools

Many Christians have been in this situation: Someone asks a question, and you know there is a passage of Scripture that speaks to it, but you cannot remember where it is. It is a noble thing to search the Bible for answers. When the Bereans heard the gospel from Paul, “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). The Bible on your phone or tablet has search features which can help you find specific passages and can show you repeated words and phrases across God’s Word. Previously, one needed to look up the occurrence of words in a concordance ––a large dictionary-like book, sometimes abridged in the back of some study Bibles. However, today’s Bible study software can even look up the usage of words and differentiate when they are translated from different words in the original Hebrew or Greek. Overall, digital search tools have made searching, cross-referencing, and understanding words in the context of the rest of the Bible faster than ever.

4. Evangelism

Though the Bible has been around for millennia, many people have yet to open it for the very first time. Evangelism involves opening the Bible with others and showing them how the Bible story is all about Jesus Christ. Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” There are many resources for sharing the gospel with people in the digital age, such as openthebible.org, created by Unlocking the Bible. Many people will be open to learning more about the Bible, but for those who feel intimidated by picking up a large book, encouraging them to take out their phone or tablet may be an easier starting point. Consider using Open, or talk about what you have been reading in your Bible app. Your phone can help you share God’s Word in specific, timely ways with others.

5. Resources

Finally, the Bible on your phone or tablet can be very helpful at church, in your small group, and for communicating with other believers. Many Bible apps allow for you to create an account so you can save highlights, notes, and even mark up the text with a stylus. A Bible app or digital notebook on your phone or tablet can be a great place for you to keep your notes from sermons, devotions, and reflections in the Word. Even when you change devices, your notes will always be there, and you will never run out of pages in a journal. If you are a small group leader, you can share your notes or highlight the text with others by sharing your screen via video chat or by casting your device onto a TV. Leaders can communicate with their small groups and include links to the passages of Scripture being studied, and using a digital Bible can help you to encourage other believers with Scripture through social media.

There are many biblical and helpful ways to use the Bible on your phone. In this age of the internet and smartphones, having a digital Bible can be an incredible tool for evangelism and discipleship. Find out what tools and resources work best for you, then prayerfully consider opportunities in which you can open the Bible with others.

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Looking for the Light in the Tunnel

How often have you heard the phrase “the light at the end of the tunnel” lately? How often have you said it? I have used this phrase when looking forward to the passing of a difficult season, such as this global pandemic, which has created all sorts of frustrations and anxiety. I would just like it to end.

Some seasons are dark. Like a tunnel, they are dim and restrictive with an overwhelming sense of confinement. And some tunnels are long—or, at the very least, they feel long.

I remember driving through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel into Canada on a family vacation when I was a kid. I couldn’t have been more than nine or ten. I don’t recall much of the trip, but the tunnel remains vivid in my memory.

Unlike most tunnels, this one was well-lit. It’s just shy of a mile and not the longest one I’ve ever been in, but it was the first. At the time, I felt trapped. This tunnel, though a major passage between two countries, was just a single lane in each direction. It felt narrow and cramped on a hot summer day. When you’re enclosed like that, you can only see what is in the tunnel with you. My vision was limited to the other cars and pick-up trucks alongside my family’s station wagon.

Lately, the pandemic has me feeling like I’m stuck in another tunnel. I’d like out. I’ve had enough. I’m ready for the open road and the clear, blue sky above. I’d like to worship in person with my church family, work at a real desk, and buy groceries without wearing a mask that fogs my glasses and irritates my allergies. I want my parents to be free from danger when leave their home. I’d like my friends to find jobs so they can pay bills. I feel boxed in, and I long for the Lord to set my feet in a spacious place (Ps. 31:8).

Reading Psalms has helped me to realize how short-sighted my prayers have been. So often, I focus only on asking God to deliver me from the tunnel. Speed up the passage, Lord! Please just spit me out on the other side already!

Longing for a trial to end is not necessarily sinful. The psalmists repeatedly show us how to pour out our hearts to God. I’m grateful for how God has used the psalmists’ prayers to remind me that I, too, can be honest and cry out to him in the darkness. Yet, my prayers don’t need to end there.

Where Should I Look for Light?

Instead of looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, I can ask for more light in the tunnel. In other words, I can ask God to raise my sights—to fix my eyes more on him. I can pray for a clear focus on God’s presence, as one of my favorite hymns instructs:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.1

The question is: how do I see the light when darkness surrounds me?

1. Look to God’s Word

Psalm 112:4 says, “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright.” And Psalm 119 reminds me that God’s word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (v. 105) and that “the unfolding of [God’s] words gives light” (v. 130). There is light in the darkness, and I need only open my Bible to find it. God’s Word is a light.

2. Look to God’s Son

The light is also a person. John talks about Jesus being the light of men that shines in the darkness. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn 1:4). Jesus proclaims about himself, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). As a follower of Jesus, I have the light.

3. Live in the Light

In Psalm 139, when King David wonders where he can possibly go that God’s Spirit would not follow, he acknowledges, “even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” And 1 John 1:5 gives me a similar encouragement: “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

These truths changed me from a person who lived in darkness to one who now lives in the light. When I placed my faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, I received his Spirit. This means the light of Christ is in me, no matter what dark situation I am in. Like King David, there is nowhere I can go and not be in his light. The deepest, longest tunnel cannot dim God’s light because even the darkness is as light to him!

While I believe the truth of God’s Word, it doesn’t always feel true. These long, dark seasons of life have a way of moving my eyes from eternal truth to temporary circumstances. When this happens, I need to rehearse these Bible promises. I also need to respond to them in faith.

Romans 13:12 urges us “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Ephesians 5:8 instructs, “now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” I have been given gear to guard me from despair, and there is a particular manner with which I should now walk. Why? Because I don’t just have the light, I have become a light in this world to those watching. Matthew 5:14-16 declares this amazing truth:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We have not yet reached the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, and we don’t know how long God will keep us going through it. The coronavirus situation is improving in some ways, but the trial hasn’t passed. Like the child in that Detroit-Windsor tunnel, I am tempted to look at only what surrounds me in this passageway. But God’s Word redirects my vision and transforms my prayers. I am now asking less for the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Instead, I can pray, “Lord, give me eyes to see you. Let me be a disciple who beholds and reflects the light I have, even in the midst of darkness.” Praise God for the light found in his Word and in his Son, and for the power of his Spirit to help me act in faith.

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1. Mary E. Byrne (translator), “Be Thou My Vision”, Trinity Psalter Hymnal, #446, 1919.

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Before You Voice Your Opinion, Pursue Humility

It is easy for us to get the idea that pride is not a big deal. What’s wrong with a little bit of swagger? Proverbs 6:16 says, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him,” and the first thing mentioned in this list is “haughty eyes” (6:17).

To be haughty is to think yourself better than others, to look down on other people because you feel superior in your intellect, in your lifestyle, or in your achievements.

Remember, pride is the original sin. It is the root of every other sin. So, do not be haughty. I want to apply this particularly in regard to the way we speak to each other when we disagree.

1. Never look at others with haughty eyes.

There is a fascinating letter by John Newton1, who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.” This letter cautioned a friend who was about to respond, in writing, to someone with whom he strongly disagreed. Newton wrote this letter to warn his friend about the spiritual dangers of engaging in public controversy.

In those days, very few people had a platform and, therefore, an opportunity to engage in public controversy. But social media has changed all that. Now we all have the opportunity to post comments expressing our opinions, either agreeing or disagreeing with others.

All too often, social media is a platform that exposes not only our opinions but also our pride. Even though our opinions are hidden behind a screen name, we must remember that nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. Newton’s words are worth bearing in mind before you post or say anything in public.

Dear Sir,

As you are likely to be engaged in controversy, and your love of truth is joined to a natural warmth of temper, my friendship makes me solicitous on your behalf. You are of the strongest side; for truth is great and must prevail… but I would have you more than a conqueror, and to triumph not only over your adversary, but over yourself.

Consider your opponent.

I wish that before you set pen to paper against him, and during the whole time you are preparing your answer, you may commend him by earnest prayer to the Lord’s teaching and blessing. This practice will have a direct tendency to conciliate your heart to love and pity him; and such disposition will have a good influence on every page you write.

If you count him a believer, though greatly mistaken in the subject of debate between you [remember] the Lord loves him… therefore you must not despise him, or treat him harshly.

But if you look upon him as an unconverted person… he is a more proper object of your compassion than of your anger. Alas! ‘He knows not what he does.’

Consider yourself.

We find very few writers of controversy who have not been manifestly hurt by it. Either they grow in a sense of their own importance, or imbibe an angry contentious spirit, or they withdraw their attention from those things which are the food of a life of faith, and spend their time and strength upon matters which are at most but of secondary value…

What will it profit a man if he gains his cause and silences his adversary, if at the same time he loses that humble, tender frame of spirit in which the Lord delights, and to which the promise of His presence is made?

Scripture makes it very clear what God says about pride. He lives with the humble person “who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15). And He hates pride and will destroy it. A haughty person “shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day (Isa. 2:17).

2. Never be wise in your own sight.

Many of us, by instinct, want to defend our independence. We don’t want to depend on others. We want to stand on our own two feet, and that sense of individual responsibility is surely right and honoring to God.

But listen to what the Scripture is saying to us here: “Never be wise in your own sight” (Rom. 12:16). The man (or woman) who is wise in his own sight feels he has everything he needs within himself. He doesn’t need to listen to others. The way he sees it, he already has all the wisdom he needs.

There are two manifestations of pride that keep us from living in harmony. One is to think that you are better than others. The other is to think that you don’t need others.

Paul speaks about this in his first letter to the church in Corinth. The church is the body of Christ and the body has different parts: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21). The very nature of the body is that God has granted interdependence to all of the parts.

The proud person is the one who thinks in his or her heart, I have all that I need in myself. I make my own decisions. I run my own life. I am a Christian, so why do I need to be a member of the church? That’s the eye saying to the hand, “I don’t need you.”

Before responding to one with whom you disagree, pursue humility. Don’t be haughty or wise in your own sight. And before you post anything on social media or engage in public controversy, prepare with prayer.

God, deliver me from having haughty eyes. May I never look down on another person. Lord, may I never be wise in my own sight. Make me humble, so that I’m in a position to be taught by you and by others.

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1. John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Vol. 1 (Banner of Truth Trust: 2015), 186-187.

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When God Seems Silent: What to Do While You’re Waiting

Waiting is hard. Waiting while God seems silent is even harder.

I’ll be the first to admit that God’s “no’s” are difficult and perplexing, especially when we’re in genuine need of basic provision. Job loss has been one of the many difficult and perplexing seasons that my wife and I have endured. Despite experiencing job loss a few years ago, enduring a long season of unemployment for the second time has carried new challenges with unclear direction and many closed doors. I have prayed for patience, sought counsel, and applied for countless jobs. I have grown restless while waiting and weary of the search. It has seemed that the Lord has “walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths” (Job 19:8).

As difficult as unemployment has been, waiting is nothing new for my family. Over the past thirteen years, we have been in the school of waiting as continued trials have brought us to our knees and broken our pride. In his mercy, the Lord has taught us to depend on him and say, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning” (Ps. 130:5-6).

Have you been praying for God’s leading but met with silence? Have you been pleading for provision, only to find your situation worsening? Are you wrestling with questions as to why God seems distant and uncaring? Do you find yourself wondering if the waiting will ever end? The questions and confusion that waiting brings are common to every believer at one point or another. As we learn to trust God while waiting, here are two things we can do.

1. Lament to God first.

When trials come, our first response is often to ask “Why?”, followed by expressing our pain to another person. While these can be helpful and appropriate actions at the right time, it’s important that we first bring our pain and questions directly to God. Thankfully, Scripture shows us how to lament.

Job wrestled with questions and strong emotions in response to the loss of his livelihood, but he was quick to direct his thoughts to God, the One he knew was sovereign over it all. “Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath” (Job 7:11, 16).

The writers of Psalms and Lamentations also model the process of godly lament. Their bold expression of raw emotion may make us squirm, but it teaches us to come honestly before God with our questions and feelings. In fact, God gives us his ear, longs for us to lament to him, and invites us to entrust our burdens to his care. “Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live” (Ps. 116:2).

Friends, lament is the vehicle that drives our fumbling words to God in order that his Spirit would help us reclaim the promises of his Word. Lamenting is not a sign of weak faith but an avenue to renewed hope. As long as our lament includes the rehearsal of what is true about God’s character, it can provide an exit ramp from the cycle of complaining. “My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:20-23). Lamenting to God lifts our eyes from our circumstances and puts us on the path that leads to praising the Lord, even in our pain.

2. Long for more of Christ.

Too often, we equate the condition of our circumstances with the character of God. When life is comfortable and our hands are busy with work, it’s easy to see God as loving, faithful, and good. But when life turns upside down, our work is thwarted, or our prayers seem to go unanswered, suddenly God seems unkind and distant. Thankfully, Scripture shows us the difference between longing for circumstantial comfort and longing for Christ.

The writer of Lamentations shows us what happens when our joy depends on life’s circumstances. When trials come, we are prone to say, “I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD’” (Lam. 3:17-18). In my own longing for a new job and enduring other difficult trials, hope has indeed seemed far away, and my endurance has wavered. Thankfully, God’s Word reminds us of the blessing found in longing for his presence, for he has “the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68).

In his mercy, “the LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD” (Lam. 3:25-26). Waiting “quietly” calls us to humble ourselves and to pray that he will make us more Christ-like in the process. We may ask, “What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end that I should be patient?” (Job 6:11). But here is the end goal: When God withholds something for which we long, he can give us more of himself instead. While we wait, we can say, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped” (Ps. 28:7).

Brothers and sisters, waiting can teach us to trust, love, and worship God for who he is, rather than for what he does for us. Waiting is fertile ground for faith to grow if we turn to Christ, rather than away from him, in our longing. We can remember the faithfulness of Christ on the cross and his provision for our lives in the past, rather than solely focusing on his removal of the trial from our lives now. When we pray to know more of Christ, our earthly desires will fall into their proper place behind our longing to be more like our Savior.

Unemployment is frustrating, and long seasons of waiting are difficult. But there are two things we can do while we wait for a solution. We can bring our honest lament to God and turn to Christ in our longing. Waiting in faith proves that our ultimate pursuit is God’s glory. We can ask the Lord to help us reflect his character in and through our waiting, knowing that he is listening in love and will answer at the time and in the way that will most glorify his name. And this is always worth the wait.

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Believers Are Better Together

Live in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16).

There could hardly be a simpler verse of Scripture. Harmony, as all the musicians know, is a pleasing arrangement of different parts. You get harmony when different notes are joined together in such a way that one note enriches and complements another.

Harmony is not unison. You don’t get harmony by everyone playing the same note. You get harmony when different notes are brought together. Harmony does not mean that everyone thinks the same, does the same, or is the same. Harmony is not discord either. Discord is when notes are brought together in such a way that one note diminishes and distorts another.

Christians are Called to Harmonious Relationships

 

“Live in harmony with one another” means that believers should live in such a way that we enrich and complement each other. By joining together, we are more than any of us would be on our own. There is a display of beauty that comes from taking what is distinct and different and making it one.

This is at the heart of marriage: God makes the man and the woman. The two are different, but in marriage they become one. There is a beautiful complementarity in which, like two notes in a chord, they are more together than either of them could be on their own.

You see this in the nature of God Himself. There is one God, and He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is one in nature, one in purpose, and one in love. There is a unique beauty, glory, peace, joy, blessing, and harmony that we see in God and that flows from God.

God speaks about the same thing here to His church: “Live in harmony with one another.” Who is the “one another?” We are to live in harmony with our Christian brothers and sisters, redeemed by Christ, and brought together in the family of God. Harmonious living is the distinct calling that we have as Christians.

Is there anything that is more desperately needed in our world and in our country today than harmony? People everywhere are tired of polarization, of division, of conflict over race and religion and money and on and on. The world desperately needs to see something different, and God says, “This is your calling. Let harmony be seen in my church!”

Now here is the question: What stops us? The command of God is crystal clear, so what holds us back? Why do we find it so hard to live in harmony?

There is one answer, and it is right here in the second half of Romans 12:16. PRIDE.

“Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (Rom. 12:16).

Self-focused Pride is the Enemy of Harmony

Thoughtful Christians find themselves wondering what God is doing in this troubling season of our national life. I don’t have the answer to that question.

But one thing is surely clear: we can learn to hate pride. Viewing others with haughty eyes and claiming to be wise in your own sight are being paraded before us day after day to the point where vast numbers of people are saying, “Switch off the TV. I can’t watch anymore.” Perhaps we are now at a moment when we can learn to hate one of our own worst sins.

Perhaps even today God will bring us to a place of saying, “Lord, deliver me from having haughty eyes. May I never look down on another person. Lord, may I never be wise in my own sight. Make me humble, so that I’m in a position to be taught by you and by others.”

Cross-centered Humility is the Friend of Harmony

The gospel cuts pride to shreds, because it casts all of us on the mercy of God. The truth of the gospel is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24). What do you have that you did not receive? Every good gift comes from above.

The gospel moved the apostle Paul from seeing himself as the cream of the crop to the chief of sinners. That’s a big change! He went from saying, “As to righteousness under the law, [I was] blameless” (Phil. 3:6), to saying “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15). If Christ could transform Paul’s pride, then what becomes of our boasting? Do we have anything to brag about?

In the gospel, our proud claims are cancelled (Rom. 3:27) because God destroys all worldly pretentions. He abolishes all earthly distinctions. There is one way to peace with God for those who are far and for those who are near, one hope for those who are rich and poor, one sacrifice for the sins of Jews and Gentiles, and one Savior whose arms are open to all who will humble themselves in faith and repentance and come to Him. Thinking we can have peace with God by our own efforts is eliminated on the basis of faith.

Believer, do not be overtaken by the pride and arrogance around you. And learn to hate the pride within you, which is the enemy of your harmonious relationships with other Christians. Do not be haughty, and never be wise in your own eyes. May we “never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14), so that, in the light of God’s mercy, we may live in harmony with one another. May we sing better, together, of how Christ has changed us at the cross:

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.1

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1. Isaac Watts, from the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” 1707.

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