Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Genesis of Sin - September 30 Readings: Isaiah 13-14, Galatians 2, Psalm 109:13–19, Proverbs 24:4–5

Links to September 30 Readings: Isaiah 13-14, Galatians 2, Psalm 109:13–19, Proverbs 24:4–5

One of the great mysteries in life is where sin came from. Why would anyone, created by God and dwelling in glory with him, choose to sin? How did Satan become Satan? Due to some bad translations in the King James Version, people have reached some false assumptions about the Evil One.

Isaiah 14:12-15, tells about the arrogance and pride of the King of Babylon, who raised himself up in his own eyes. He thought himself to be a bright morning star. And so, he lifted up himself and thought he should usurp the throne of God and rule over all. He determined to ascend on high and become like God himself, but for his pride he would be brought down low.
Shining morning star,
how you have fallen from the heavens!
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
You said to yourself:
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.
I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.


 But Babylon's king wasn't the first being to follow that trajectory. In fact, the root of sin, the very first rebellion against God in history followed precisely the pattern defined in Isaiah 14:12-15. A mistaken translation in the King James even gave a name that many applied to Satan (Lucifer). While this passage primarily refers to the Babylonian leader, there is a pattern behind it, confirmed in other Scriptures. 

This is exactly how Satan fell from glory and became the enemy of God. He decided he should be the one worshipped, instead of the worshipper - he should receive glory, not give it. He determined to sit on the throne of heaven and rule. God cast him from heaven and ultimately will destroy him for his hubris. 

This is also the pattern Satan used, in the form of a serpent, in Genesis 3. He was horrified that Adam and Eve might live in obedience to God. He encouraged them to do as he had done - to ascend to the throne of their own lives and refuse to bow before God in worship. 

Ultimately, this is the only real issue of life - who is the boss? Are you going to yield to God and walk in submission to him, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord every day? Or will you follow Satan's pattern and rebel? God is on the throne of heaven. Who is enthroned in your heart? 

Father, may my life be lived in obedience to you. May you receive from me and from my life the glory that you deserve.





Monday, September 29, 2014

Fighting for Grace: September 29 Readings: Isaiah 11-12, Galatians 1, Psalm 109:6–12, Proverbs 24:1–3

Links to September 29 Readings: Isaiah 11-12, Galatians 1, Psalm 109:6–12, Proverbs 24:1–3

Henry Blackaby said that all human beings, even those who have been redeemed, have a natural tendency to depart from God. We are held by God's grace and our salvation is secure in Christ, but we have that inborn tendency to drift from our walk with the Lord back into the ways of the world and into sin.

Paul recognized a similar problem among the Galatians - a tendency to drift away from the gospel of grace and return to some form of works-based, law-focused salvation.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6-7
There is only one gospel that saves, Paul assured them, but they were still turning aside from the grace of Christ to a false gospel, one based on human works, one that could never save.

Deep inside of each of us is the idea that we ought to do something to earn the favor of God, that we need to change to please him, do something to make him love us more, or perform some heroic act to be worthy of God's grace.

But that is why we call it grace. You can't earn it and you will never deserve it. Nothing you can do will make God love you more and your sins do not make him love you less. That is not an excuse for sin, but a great comfort. It is by grace we are saved and it is by grace that we live.

Listen, my friend, your relationship with God is based on who Christ is and what he has done, not on who you are or your merit. You need to always resist that inner voice that says you've got to earn God's love. You ought to walk in holiness because God loves you, not so that he will love you. You need to fight that inner voice that says God must not love you anymore when you have failed. You resist sin out of gratitude for God's unmerited favor not out of a desire to earn it.

Like the Galatians, we have a constant tendency to slip away from grace and fall back into a works-based mentality. Since our salvation and our lives are all of grace, we must fight that tendency every day.

Father, I thank you that you have done for me what I could not do for myself. Help me to revel in your grace and never fall back into the works of the law. 


NOTE: A psalm like Psalm 109, the most forceful of the "Imprecatory Psalms" confuses a lot of Christians. Should I call down God's judgment on those against whom I am upset, as the Psalmist did? I am not planning to write a post on this topic, but if you are bothered by it or interested in the topic, I have copied a post I wrote at SBC Voices in 2011, when an SBC pastor named Wiley Drake was making waves by praying imprecatory prayers against the president. 

On Imprecatory Prayers
SBC Voices
June 25, 2011

Wiley Drake made headlines over the last year, not just in national news when he announced that he was praying for the death of the president of the United States.  He claimed biblical authority for his prayers, based on David’s imprecatory psalms.
“If he (Obama) does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that's correct."
“Imprecatory prayer is agreeing with God, and if people don't like that, they need to talk to God. God said it, I didn't. I was just agreeing with God.”
So, what about his claim that he is just agreeing with God?  Does the Word give justification to those who would pray for the destruction and death of the president.  I have a slightly different view of Obama than some do.  I think he is a decent, family man who has political ideas with which I disagree strongly.  I think his politics are destructive to America.  Others, like Wiley (and quite a few friends of mine) believe that Obama is evil.

Drake and others have appealed to the Imprecatory Psalms for scriptural support for their views.  Are they right?  We conservative Christians need to be careful here.  We believe the Bible in all things, even when it does not say what we would like it to say.  Right now there seems to be an inalterable push for the normalization of homosexual behavior and those who call that sin will be vilified.  But we must call it sin anyway.  If Wiley Drake is right, if his use of such scriptures is justified, then we must follow the scriptures even if it takes us to places we might not want to go.

My thesis in this post is that Wiley Drake is using scripture wrongly, that the Imprecatory Psalms, while inspired, do not support his use of them and that we cannot, in this day, use these psalms to justify public prayers for the death of the president or any other political foe.

Imprecatory Psalms

The Imprecatory Psalms are a sub-class of the most common type of Psalm, the Songs of Lament.  Bernard Anderson in his excellent commentary, “Out of the Depths,” identifies three types of laments.  There are Community laments, which call out to God on behalf of his people Israel.  There are Penitential Laments, such as Psalm 51, which mourn sin and call for repentance.  But the most common form of the laments is the personal lament.  David had many enemies who tried to destroy him and called out to God for protection, for deliverance and for justice.  The laments (like most of the Psalms) are prayers, calling out to God from a place of pain to ask him to act.

The Imprecatory Psalms are personal laments on steroids.  In times of deepest pain, David called out to God for his justice, asking God to avenge him and destroy his enemies.  Psalms 7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137 and 139 are considered at one level or another to be imprecatory.

Here are some choice tidbits from the Imprecatory Psalms.
  • Psalm 55:15 - Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave.
  • Psalm 58:6 - O God, break the teeth in their mouths.
  • Psalm 69:28 - May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.
  • Psalm 109:9 - May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
  • Psalm 137:9 - How blessed will be the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
Psalm 109 is the king of the imprecatory hill.  That a great man such as David would pray these words makes me uncomfortable.  That they are included in the inerrant scriptures is even stranger. But do they support Wiley Drake’s prayers? Look at the words.
Psalm 109: 9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. 10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. 11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. 12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. 13 May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. 14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. 15 May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The problem is that these words seem to be in conflict with the ethics of the NT, the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Apostles.
Jesus said, in Matthew 5:11-12,  “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Instead of calling for our enemies’ children to become wandering beggars, Jesus gave us a different ethic.  In Matthew 5:44, he says,  “But I say to you, ?Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Paul picked up and expanded upon this ethic in Romans 12:20-21.
“To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
In addition, there are specific NT commands about how we are to treat our leaders.  As we read Romans 13, we need to remember that the government that is referenced in that passage was hardly a bastion of righteousness.  

The letter to the Roman church (amazing insight alert) was written to the church at Rome, the seat of a wicked, corrupt and ungodly government.

Don’t miss my point.  No matter how much one dislikes Barack Obama, it is hard to argue that he is more wicked than the rulers of Rome.  They were corrupt and vile.  And yet, Paul told the Romans this:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13:1-2)
We are not authorized to pray for their demise, but are called to be subject to them.  Fortunately, in America, being subject to authorities does not require us to renounce dissent.  But it certainly does not authorize public pronouncements of imprecation.

I would ask Wiley and his ilk to respond to two statements in these verses.  Paul says that those authorities that exist “have been instituted by God.”  Barack Obama was elected not only by the votes of Americans but by the decree of God.  Sometimes, God raises up a leader to bless a people, sometimes to judge them – I will leave my opinion on that to your imagination.  We are called to subject ourselves to the president, to recognize that he serves at the sovereign will of God.  One more thing – verse 2 says that those who resist the authorities resist “what God has appointed” and will incur judgment.

It is hard for me to see how public, imprecatory prayers meet with this ethic.  Titus 3:1 reminds us to “be submissive to rulers and authorities.”  1 Peter 2:13-15 could hardly be more clear.
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
The early church was often accused of rebellion, since they refused to acknowledge any lord but Jesus.  So, Peter wanted them to be sure to be subject to the rulers as much as possible, except where that required disloyalty to Christ.  This would silence the ignorance of the foolish.

Wiley Drake does just the opposite.  By ignoring the NT ethic of submission to governmental authorities, he gives skeptics and the opponents of the gospel the opportunity to ridicule and belittle the church.
Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:1-3, told us that we should pray for our rulers, those in authority over us.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior…
So, concerning ungodly, evil rulers, the clear testimony of the NT is that we are to be subject to them, pray for them, and seek their blessing.  There is absolutely no justification in the NT for imprecatory prayers.

So, we have two facts that are in evidence here.

1)  In the Psalms, David prayed imprecatory prayers against those who persecuted and attempted to destroy him.

2)  There is no evidence in the NT of any kind of imprecation against rulers.  In fact, the opposite is true.  While they were evil men, the rulers of the day were to be prayed for, submitted to and shown respect.

Is this a contradiction?  Does the NT negate the Old?  What is going on here?  I would make the following observations about imprecatory prayers.

Imprecatory Perspectives

1)  The imprecatory prayers of David arose out of a deep sense of hurt and bitterness.  I love the prayers of the OT.  They were not someone affecting a “godly voice” and praying impressive rhetoric.  They are often raw and unfiltered as a man pours out his heart before God.  Job.  Jeremiah.  Habakkuk.  And, of course, David.  They went to God and said, “I don’t get it.”  “It is unfair.”  “You have tricked me.”  And God never zapped any of them.  He allowed them to pour out their hurt and anger to him, and he brought them perspective and healing.

2)  David’s raw prayers were, in essence, an appeal to El-Naqam, the God of Justice and Vengeance – clearly an attribute of God.  He was practicing the principle, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”  David did not seek vengeance against his enemies, he called out to God for it.

The imprecatory prayers of Psalms demonstrate a God-honoring disdain for evil and wickedness.  In Proverbs 8:13 Solomon makes it clear that the fear of the Lord requires us to hate evil.

3)  Here is the main point.  The imprecatory prayers of David are pretty much uniformly personal laments.  David was injured and assaulted by these evil people and he called out to God to protect him and to punish his enemies.  They are personal prayers not political tactics.  They are prayers, not public or political pronouncements.  Even if a imprecatory prayer is justified (and here, I don’t think it is), it is a private act, not a public statement.

4) So, this is not a case of the NT negating the OT.  Certainly, as Jesus told us, the Christian ethic, both builds on and expands on the OT ethic.  “You have heard it said…but I say unto you.” Yes, Jesus fulfilled and built upon the OT law.

But this is not a case of the NT negating the Old.  These are two different situations entirely.  In the Psalms, David is pouring out his heart to God, asking God to act to protect him and to take vengeance against those who would destroy him.  He is not talking about how we treat rulers or authorities, but how we deal with our enemies.

If someone in my church was sowing discord and causing trouble, I would be perfectly justified in pouring out my pain to God.  “Lord, protect me from this evil man.”  But Jesus did expand on this response in the verses I quoted above.  I would be responsible to pray for this man and seek to love and bless him. I could call out to God, but I would also be responsible to love my enemy.

This has nothing to do with politics.  The scripture is clear on how I should treat Barack Obama. Fortunately, as Americans, we have the right to oppose our leaders.  But while he is president, I must be in submission to him, I must pray for him (and not for his death – that seems pretty clear) and I must demonstrate respect for his office.
Fortunately, in 2012, I will have the opportunity to support someone who hopefully will render Barack a one-term president.  That is a blessing.  But in the meantime, I believe it is a sin against God for me to publicly pray for his death.

So, Wiley Drake and his supporters are violating scripture, not upholding it, when they pray for the death of the president.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Enemy of Christian Success - September 28 Readings: Isaiah 10, 2 Corinthians 12–13, Psalm 109:1–5, Proverbs 23:34–35

Links to September 28 Readings: Isaiah 10, 2 Corinthians 12–13, Psalm 109:1–5, Proverbs23:34–35

Armies spend a lot of time doing surveillance on their enemies, trying to figure out who they are, what their resources are and how they can be attacked. If you want to win, you need to know your enemy.

What is my greatest enemy in my Christian life - that one thing that will derail me? The "things that are in the world" are always with us - the lust of the eyes (greed), the lust of the flesh and the pride of of life. I am constantly at danger of each one of them.

But Paul knew what the greatest danger was, that which keeps us from effective ministry and kingdom success. It is pride. In 2 Corinthians 12 he says some things that go directly against our normal way of thinking. Though he had received great promises from God and had even been blessed to be a witness of heavenly glory in a vision, he refused to boast about any of that. Instead, he turned that around and he boasted in his weaknesses.
I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses. 2 Corinthians 12:5
He recognized that the greatest enemy of Christian success is pride. As soon as we become entangled in our own arrogance and self-centeredness, we lose our effectiveness and become spiritually impotent.

To avoid arrogance, God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh (verses 7-8) that would keep him humble. No one knows what this thorn in the flesh was - a physical pain, a constant source of temptation, a person who irritated him - but we know that Paul cried out to God that the thorn might be removed. God refused.

Why? Why would the God who healed so many through Paul not heal Paul of this thorn? Paul explains that. It was "so I would not exalt myself." Paul's thorn reminded him daily that it was all of God and not of him - a lesson we so often forget.

God was willing to allow his beloved servant Paul to experience ongoing, persistent pain and aggravation so that he would remain humble.

In the middle of that pain, that humiliation, Paul learned something wonderful and life-changing, which he expressed in 2 Corinthians 12:9.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 
 In our weakness, we learn of the strength of God. In our pain, we learn of the power of his grace. In our humility, we experience his glory.

And so, we don't need to pretend we are more than we are, or to hide our weaknesses. God's goodness and grace flow to the weak, not to those who pretend to be strong.

Father, my weakness is a reality I often forget. May I boast in your power that resides in me, and nothing else.