Jared Longshore's Blog

Death Is . . .

Death is that black stripe above my head on the measuring board. When I’ve reached it, well, then I can go on the gnarly rides.

N. D. Wilson

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For Whatever Comes

At this table, the LORD feeds His army. You must remember that this food is for the good fight that is out in front of you. It has always been this way. When our LORD instituted Passover, He told Israel to eat it with their loins girded, shoes on their feet, and staff in their hand. They would soon be on the move, facing giants, trials, and a host of unfriendly characters both inside and outside of God’s covenant people.

The Passover looked backward and forward. It was a testimony to God’s slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt. But it was also a testimony to the LORD’s provision for the enemies ahead, Sihon, Og, Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, etc. Israel would not face any of them without a Passover Lamb.

And so it is with you. There really is no telling what is coming. And that is what makes the story you are living so interesting. Nothing libel against fiction. But the truth is stranger and far more thrilling when you determine to live it, to walk in God’s providence rather than simply reason about it. Eat this meal with the sense of readiness that marked the Passover’s institution and with confidence that whatever comes, Christ is your meat and drink. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

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Feet in the Jordan

As Israel entered into the Promised Land to conquer God’s enemies, the LORD told the Levites to stand in the Jordan River and the waters would subsequently be parted. As Israel went through the waters, they came out on the other side to newness of life, a new life that had to be lived by the same faith that led them through the waters in the first place. Those waters were a sign to Israel that God’s promises were true. These waters are a sign today that God’s promises are true. And as it has always been, His promise of salvation is yes and amen in Christ.

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Champagne Stampede

In several places, Scripture tells us to hold fast. But we can often miss the wonder of the exhortation because we forget what we are holding on to. We naturally think about the holding and a fair bit about the strain. But we must learn to look away to the One we are clasping, the One who certainly has a better grip on us than we have on Him.

Hebrews 3:6 says we must hold fast to the rejoicing of hope. That is an entirely different thing than saying you need to cheer up. Now, the latter might be true. But you could never cheer up if cheer Himself wasn’t out in front tugging you along. That Happy King, your Savior, is a bubbling, rollicking, champagne stampede. Because of Him, Christendom bounds. It always has. You have been made His house, and His house is a festive place. So when those temptations to gloom, bitterness, anxiety, and worry arise, temptations to those sins fundamentally at odds with the rejoicing of hope, remember your Father doesn’t look at you and say, “Take your bad mood somewhere else until you can learn to be happy.” He does, however, look at you with a twinkle in His eye to say, “Hold on tight.”

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Worldly Stuff Gone With a Puff

This Indian weed now wither’d quite,
Though green at noon, cut down at night
Shows thy decay;
All flesh is hay.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The pipe so lily-like and weak,
Does thus thy mortal state bespeak.
Thou art ev’n such,
Gone with a touch.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the smoke ascends on high,
Then thou behold’st the vanity
Of worldly stuff,
Gone with a puff. 
Thus think, and smoke tobacco. 

And when the pipe grows foul within,
Think on thy soul defil’d with sin;
For then the fire
It does require.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And seest the ashes cast away;
Then to thyself thou may say,
That to the dust
Return thou must.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Was this small plant for thee cut down?
So was the Plant of great renown;
Which mercy sends
For nobler ends.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Doth juice medicinal proceed
From such a naughty foreign weed?
Then what’s the power
Of Jesse’s flow’r?
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The promise, like the pipe, inlays,
And by the mouth of Faith conveys
What virtue flows
From Sharon’s Rose. 
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

In vain th’ unlighted pipe you blow;
Your pains in outward means are so,
Till heav’nly fire
Your heart inspire.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The smoke, like burning incense, tow’rs;
So should a praying heart of yours
With ardent cries
Surmount the skies.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Maybe Ralph Erskine

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No Food for Doubts

This table is a reminder of God’s abundant provision. But we must remember what it is that He provides for at this table. Here He supplies your faith, and this bread and wine will nourish that faith, causing it to swell to proportions you cannot imagine. However, he does not provide for your doubt at this table. If your doubts come to this table and insist on being satiated, they will go from this table insisting that the meal is hollow because they are just as hungry after attending it as they were before.  

These doubts can be identified by their “But what if” nature. “But what if he flakes out three years after I marry him?” “I don’t know,” says the faithful friend, “that would be a very bad day I guess.” “What if I take that job and then botch it?” “I guess then you will have learned something new about yourself.” “What kind of counsel is that?” comes the rejoinder. It is the only kind of counsel you get when you ask questions based on doubt. The only food our Lord supplies is food for your faith. Questions about the facts on the ground are most welcome. Questions about what God’s promises mean, what to believe and do, are most welcome. Those are answered here. But your doubts, the only way they can come with you to this table is if you have brought them here to starve them. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

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Through the Sign

Baptism is a sign and seal of God’s covenant with us that He is our God and we are His people. But God’s covenant is not an abstract concept, it is not a secret thing that belongs to God. His covenant is His word of promise guaranteed in Christ’s blood and signed here with water. His covenant is revealed before our ears and eyes. But to merely hear with the ears or see with the eyes is not enough. We must believe with the heart as we look through this sign to the Father who has given it, to the Father who is speaking to us: His Word through water is: You are clean, you are mine through Christ. 

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He Heard

In the 22nd Psalm, David says he will declare the LORD’s name to his brothers, in the midst of the congregation he will praise God. And the reason given is because God has not despised the affliction of the afflicted, neither hid his face from him. He adds, “when the afflicted cried unto Lord, God heard” (v. 24). But David said this in the very same psalm where he prayed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me . . . I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear” (v. 2).  

The sensation that the LORD has left you or does not hear you is a strong one. And though you may know better, you will undoubtedly have such moments in your afflictions. The exhortation is that you follow our Lord. He spoke the words of Psalm 22 on the cross and the Father was not displeased with Him. What the Father would be displeased with is you going dark on Him in your troubles, refusing to say anything to Him because in your pride you know the things you want to say are not perfect. Note this carefully, they never are. But if you speak to your Father, and speak to Him in Jesus’ name, then you have this guarantee underwritten by the blood of Christ, “He hears.”

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Jesus is the Metaphor

Jesus is the Poem, He is the Noun, He is the everlasting Verb. Jesus is the Metaphor; He is God and He is with God at the same time. Jesus is the Proposition of God. I am not going to abandon my propositions . . . How could I abandon them? I worship a Proposition.

Doug Wilson

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Death’s Table

The man who makes it his life mission to avoid death is a lonely seed. He’s a grain of wheat insisting to stay on the sidewalk. He won’t take the death plunge into the dirt and therefore he will never know abundance. He will never know what it is like to come up with plenty of friends and food surrounding. Jesus said that if a grain of wheat does not fall to the ground, then it remains alone, but if it falls to the ground and dies it brings forth much fruit (John 12:24). This is a table of death for at it every week we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. This is a table of breaking, of crushing and fermentation. Because the seed of the woman fell to the ground, this table now feeds the many seeds of that woman. 

But to partake at the table of death is partake of Christ’s death. And that death is the only death before you. But it is still a death before you. You must die daily and you will one day die physically. But in both cases, that death you are dying is Christ’s death. You do not live but Christ lives in you (Galatians 2:20). And by the same measure, it is Christ in you all the way to the grave and all the way through the grave. So come to death’s table in peace. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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