On Conviction (01/30/25)

The first item I want to touch on in this passage is this matter of being convinced.  I touch on it primarily because it is one of those points where I find the commentaries offering confirmation of what I was seeing in my first exploration of these verses.  There is conviction, to be sure, but not the certainty of revelation, or “God told me.”  We might put it down to simple reasoning on his part, and he’s shown us the course of his reasoning.  Of course, reason alone, or what passes for reason with us, might well leave us firmly convinced of things that just aren’t so.  There’s plenty enough of that in the world today, and most of it, if it is observed more closely, comes down to not having reasoned at all, only felt, only reacted from visceral emotion.  That’s not the way.  Paul’s perspective is not so reactionary.  It’s not just nerve impulse responding to stimuli.  It’s been thought through, and in thinking it through, it seems clear enough that he has been entirely prayerful, for his reasoning is done in pursuit of understanding the wider implications of the course ahead.  Further, it is understanding those implications not from his limited, personal perspective, but from a heavenly perspective, with an eye to heavenly purpose.

So, then, it is some comfort, I suppose, to find that various of the commentaries arrive at a similar conclusion, or make a similar point.  We are not looking at some sort of revelatory knowledge here.  Paul is not expressing a certitude based on some word from Jesus, nor on some word from the palace, indicative of official perspective as to his case.  We do see that there is some evidence of opinion.  He has noted how his imprisonment has in fact been cause for gospel progress, his beliefs becoming, ‘well known throughout the whole praetorian guard, and everyone else’ (Php 1:12-13).  So, it’s not as though he has no sense of events, certainly.  Of course, the guard convinced of his innocence is still no guarantee of outcome.  There are those in the court who, if we are to believe Fausset, were not particularly positive on Paul.  Even Nero’s wife, being Jewish, might be speaking against him, depending on her own convictions.  Of course, the fact that she married this Gentile emperor suggest that those convictions weren’t particularly strong.  But then, one might well have said the same of Esther, and one would have been quite wrong.

No, Paul’s certainty is not the stuff of prophetic certitude, of “Thus sayeth the Lord.”  It is, rather the confidence of having reached a reasonable and reasoned conclusion.  No snap decision, this, nor wish casting.  As he has observed, the options before him both have, if not equal goodness to them, then more than sufficient goodness.  His desires really don’t offer a clear answer, thus the sense of being hard-pressed by the decision, to the degree it could be called a decision (Php 1:23).  And it’s not really a decision, on his part.  For all intents and purposes, he has no say in the matter.  Things will fall out as they will.  But he knows this:  How they will fall out is in God’s hands, not Nero’s.  And so, as he looks beyond the trial, he looks, as best he can, from God’s perspective.  What is He likely to do here?  And that leads him to the reasoned, reasonable conclusion that he has reached.  As Barnes puts it, “He believed his life to be necessary for them, and that therefore God would preserve it.”  It came down to this:  Not what’s best for Paul, but what’s best for God.

If we would have firm conviction as to our own actions, our own decisions, we have need of developing this same perspective.  We have too much which comes to influence our thinking towards being entirely self-centered.  Life becomes a matter of seeking our own pleasures, pursuing our own pursuits.  It’s insidious, and it’s being fed to us every moment of every day.  Our inboxes are filled with encouragements to buy this, buy that.  Look at this new shiny object that could be yours!  C’mon.  You deserve it.  Buy some more.  This next thing will surely increase your bliss.  And we buy and buy and buy, and inevitably, we find ourselves disappointed once more.  Give it a week, a day even, and the thrill is gone.  We must find something else, apparently.  Well, yes, we must.  But the thing we seek, the thing we need, is not going to be procured from any shop.  Money cannot buy it.  What we need is to get our eyes on Jesus, to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, knowing that as concerns our earthly needs – and yes, our earthly enjoyments – our God shall supply them in full.  But ours is to seek His kingdom.  Ours is to seek that we might, like Paul, view life through the lens of the Gospel, looking for those good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do, looking for what we may do to greatest profit for His kingdom, His people.  There is satisfaction.  There is cause for confidence.  There is a basis for real and lasting joy.

Progress and Joy (01/31/25)

Let’s pick up on the thought that completed yesterday’s considerations.  There is a basis for real and lasting joy.  There are several, I suppose.  Chief among them must be our firm and well-reasoned conviction as to our own salvation.  I expect most, if not all of us, have our moments of doubt, times when the sad wonder of our capitulation to sin may have us wondering if perhaps we were only fooling ourselves.  But we have a Counselor!  We have an Advisor, and He will soon enough confirm to our conscience that yes, in spite of this, we remain loved by God.  We have but to confess and repent, seeking His forgiveness, and here, too, we have firm and well-reasoned conviction:  That He will forgive.  I could give my usual litany of verses to back this point, but by now, I should think they are tacitly understood to be there in the background.  We have cause for confidence in Christ, and that in and of itself is cause for joy.

But it moves beyond just this state of assurance that is ours.  Though the promises of God are many and certain, they are not the sole foundation upon which joy builds.  There is the factor of our making progress.  Now, if any of you have ever tried to begin a new hobby, or develop a new skill, you know the challenges that come with it, especially if you are seeking to do so without benefit of any proper training.  Coming to the Bible is rather like that, isn’t it?  Most of us are not trained in languages and interpretation.  Most of us are probably a bit light on tools for the task, just working with what we have to hand.  And yet, we make progress.  Why?  You have a Counselor!  You have a Tutor!  And you also have the benefit of churches wherein the truth of the Gospel is proclaimed, within whose walls (and without those walls) real discipleship is happening.  You have the fellowship of faith, a family of fellow believers with whom to share this experience, and from whom to gain insights that might otherwise have eluded you.  And as we progress, there is joy, isn’t there?

I am in early days in the process of trying to learn to play guitar.  My fingers may yet rebel at the idea of sitting on strings with sufficient force when the hand is at such an angle.  I may not yet grasp how the guitar should fit my body.  It feels incredibly awkward.  And the idea of getting fingers in position without eyes on the fretboard, well, that’s going to be awhile, I expect.  But new info comes in.  Hey!  You don’t have to press down that hard.  Understand the physics and the reason for positioning close behind those fret bars.  And with a bit of effort, I begin to perceive the relationship between various strings, to have a sense of where I can find a major, where a minor, perhaps not across the whole guitar, but at least, the three requisite strings.  Ah!  And I begin, in some cases, to see how moving the same fingering up one string often supplies the V of the I below.  Oh!  And then, the idea that the thumb needs attention.  It must be thus positioned, not on the tip, on the pad, here in this relationship to the hand, and mobile on the neck.  Oh, okay.  Progress is slow, but it’s there.  And as each bit becomes a little clearer, a little more attainable, there is joy that progress is in fact being made.  Sure, and I’d prefer to become expert, but that’s not real life.

I toss that in first because it illustrates my point, and second because the joy of that progress has been sufficient to have me quite restless last night, reviewing some of these things as I would prefer to have been contemplating nothing and sleeping soundly.  So it goes.  The same happens with pursuit of Christ and His reign over our being.  Progress is made.  New understanding floods in, and we may well find ourselves tossed in thought on the bed, as we mull over implications, see the need for change, and pray for the wisdom and strength to implement that change.  And it’s okay.  God is as much in control of our night times and our rest as He is of our days and the events thereof.

But there is a vast difference remaining between the progress we make in some hobby, or even in our employments or education, and that progress we are making in matters of the kingdom of God.  Paul is firmly focused on this latter aspect.  His conviction in regard to his eventual release hinges on this matter of progress and joy.  But observe!  It’s not his progress and joy.  It’s theirs.  Does this suggest that it is somehow inappropriate to rejoice in our own maturation?  By no means!  But maturation in our own faith will tend to produce this increased outwardness in perspective.  There is, or at least, there should be joy in seeing our brother growing more fruitful in the Lord.  This is so for us who are but members of his family, of the local body that has been the soil and sustenance for that growth.  We see one among us doing great things for Christ, and it gives us cause to rejoice.  God is doing something here!  It might even give us an increased hunger to be more fruitful in our own turn.  Be that as it may, this is no competition we are in, but rather a cooperative.  We each have somewhat to give.  We each have somewhat of need for what another can give.  And this is most definitely by design.

I see this dynamic often in our little men’s group.  We have each of us been reading the text according to our varied lights during the course of the week, and when we come together of a Tuesday, each has something to add to the discussion.  And it is a beautiful thing.  We may see it as well when certain opportunities to serve come about.  Of course, there’s the usual cadre of constant volunteers, who are seemingly everywhere in the operation of the church.  But then, there will be those who step up, maybe for just this one small thing, but they step up.  And we rejoice.  I would have to confess that’s been lacking somewhat in my own practice of late.  I have my reasons, or at least my excuses.  Can’t really say whether they’re valid, nor can I see clear to shifting just yet.  But there are those occasions when God calls, and, somewhat against my expectations, I answer.  This African ministry comes to mind.  I don’t as anyone was more surprised than myself when I agreed to be a part.  And I am quite certain no one was more surprised than myself at the joyous desire to find further opportunity to serve in this effort arising.  There is something in knowing that God is using you to a useful end, that indeed, there is fruit of this doing, and you are, as Paul described it in the previous verses, contributing fruitful labor to your Lord, and building up a gift, a thank offering, if you will, to lay before Him when once you come home.  Is it enough?  Could it ever be?  But it’s not nothing!  And it is a source of great joy.  It is perhaps the more so as one must come to grips with the reality that the fruitfulness of that work came of God’s directing and empowering, and not some self-driven, self-motivated attempt to show everybody how smart you are.  Glory!

And perhaps that begins to shift me round the other side of this picture.  There is absolutely joy to be experienced in our own progress.  Most of our commentaries seem to lock onto this aspect, and it’s certainly worth contemplating.  I would note that my own musings on this passage from my last trip through follow the same trajectory.  I wrote, “Greater conviction comes of greater knowledge, greater understanding, and it produces in the man of faith a greater trust.”  Now, let me append Matthew Henry’s observation.  “The more faith the more joy.”  Do you see the chain of events here?  Knowledge and understanding as to the things of God, the revelations of Scripture, lead to greater conviction as to the God revealed.  And that conviction comes of trust and reliance on Him, knowing His steadfast love and goodness.  That greater trust, as I observed arises in the man of faith, and it is because faith is trusting.  It’s not some mystical power we have to tap into.  It’s not some ethereal flow of which we lay hold by the right muttered formulae.  It’s the inevitable result of gaining deeper, more thoroughly experienced and internalized knowledge of the God Who Is.  And what transpires?  Joy increases.  Joy increases because the more we know Him, the more we realize that we have nothing to prove, nor could we prove anything were it necessary.  We are utterly reliant upon Him, and here’s the really good news:  He is utterly reliable.  Honestly.  We can’t lose!  We can’t but make progress, bear fruit, grow daily more near to Him in thought, in word, in practice.  It’s not a constant upward trajectory, no.  We have our dips and turns.  But the trendline doesn’t waiver.  It leads towards home.

I really liked this from Mr. Clarke.  “The further a man proceeds in the way of truth, the stronger his faith will be; and the stronger his faith the greater his joy or happiness.”  There’s a linkage here, may I say, a necessary linkage.  If there is the former, the latter must follow.  And as one called by the Father, granted the gift of the Spirit so as to come to the Son, the former must follow as well.  This is a lottery in which you cannot lose.  It’s a stock market that never goes down, only up. 

But I would recall to our minds as well that joy is itself of the fruit of the Spirit, indeed, second only to love, if we account that well-known passage an ordered list.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23a).  Interesting, then, to read the JFB, with it’s comment that, “Joy is the active emanation of love and thankfulness.” Love must surely produce joy.  One will hardly find the true object of true love a cause of grief.  Oh, our loved ones here may well disappoint us.  Sadly, they may even abandon us entirely, or we them.  We may well find ourselves wounded by a brother, whether we consider earthly family, or spiritual.  And we may well find it very hard to see how these wounds of a friend or brother are faithful (Pr 27:6).  Yet, time will tell, won’t it?  We may not fully perceive the purpose of God in that failure, but chances are very good that we will come to a point of reconciliation, perhaps of recognition that as much as the thing hurt at the time, it produced growth in one or both parties.

So, then, whether it is in ourselves or in our brothers that we find progress being made, both are to us a reason for joy, a cause for calm delight.  In their progress as well as our own, we have opportunity to discover more about our Savior.  In their progress as well as our own, we find ourselves being matured a bit more.  We see God at work, and when we see God at work, what can there be but rejoicing?  Oh, you will say, not when it is God’s judgment at work.  I mean, we see fires raging in California, planes crashing in Washington, disasters looming on every side.  And we can become obsessed with those, as much as with any hobby.  To which I would say, “Stop it!”  Honestly, in so many ways, news casts and news sites are become the stuff of antichrist.  They are certainly not doing anything to bolster reliance on Christ.  Yes, death has come to visit many families, and yes, it hurts.  And yet, what is our calling as believers?  “We do not want you uninformed, dear brothers, as to those who are asleep, in order that you may not grieve as do those who have no hope” (1Th 4:13).  Yes, mourning is right and proper.  Jesus spoke of it.  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mt 5:4). That is our hope.  That is our God, comforting us in our temporary loss, giving us hope in that those who have gone to their sleep will arise alongside the rest of us, come the day of His consummated kingdom.  We shall not all sleep, for some will live to see that day, but we shall all be changed, the dead now raised imperishable, clothed in immortal bodies, whether in the grave or walking the land (1Co 15:51-53).  Oh, glorious day!  Oh, day most certain!  Oh, wondrous day of our Savior’s full victory over sin and death, when this fruitfulness we have known in life will be laid before Him, a gift for our King, and we; we shall enter into our glory, into His glory, to shine with Him ever more.  Oh yes, there is more than sufficient cause for joy, even in the departure of a brother to his rest, even in the loss of child, parent, spouse, sibling, so be it that they are in fact in the Lord.

As for those things more purely in the category of God’s judgment, there too is cause for joy, for in judgment as in mercy, the full glory of God is displayed, upheld, magnified for all to see.  We have trouble with that, I think.  May reject the idea outright, determined that God’s mercy must surely trump judgment.  But God is perfect in all His ways, in all His characteristics.  As such, judgment, when it must be exercised, is exercised in goodness and love, even as it displays jealous wrath.  Whether, then, mercy, or punishment, God is glorified, for His essential goodness is upheld in both, and His will and purpose are furthered in both.  Ergo, in both, praise His name, and praise His name with the joyfulness of knowing His majesty displayed, as well as knowing that to whatever degree these things touch on your personal experience, they are being turned to the purpose of your best good by Him Who Is Good.

The Church of Christ (02/01/25-02/02/25)

There is an aspect to Paul’s deliberations that we must not miss, and that is how his decisions are shaped by the concerns of the church.  Put differently, the interests of the church are the interests of the kingdom.  Or, love for Christ must result in love for His church, and care for her best health.  That is what has Paul convinced.  This will best serve the church, and as such, is what I fully expect God will choose to bring about in my situation.

This is not to suggest that we should elevate the church to equal standing with Christ, nor raise mere tradition to the same authority as Scripture.  But Jesus loves the church, and gave Himself for her.  He established the church as His chosen, primary instrument for feeding His sheep and for reaching the lost.  He has taken great pains to ensure she has the Scriptures unmarred and unaltered for her guidance, having seen to its composition and its preservation through long ages of human history, and against every attempt of man and devil to eradicate its message.  The point is simply that if we love our Jesus, we must surely love that which he loves, and to borrow an old Charlie Peacock song title, Jesus loves the church.  This is great comfort for the church.  It is also something of an imperative for our own perspective.

But before we get to that, we have this rather confounding note of proud confidence, put here as a good thing, and I know we all react immediately to any note of pride.  Pride is the root of sin, so why is Paul encouraging it?  And in himself, of all things!  Or so it seems in most of our translations.  The NASB, for example, speaks of “proud confidence in me [which] may abound in Christ Jesus.”  That may actually be the most troublesome translation of the passage in this instance.  The KJV takes a much different course, as do many others.  It offers, “That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me.”  This actually well reflects Calvin’s conclusion on the matter, as well as that which I reached in my earlier considerations of it.  As I noted then, the emphasis remains on Christ.  It’s there in the layout of the sentence.  Christ gets first mention, the position of emphasis, only then followed by notice of Paul.  En Christo Iesou en emoi.  The obvious challenge is that we have the same preposition in both cases, as well as the same dative case.  But the call is not for them to glory in Paul through Christ.  It is to glory in Christ for Paul, or we might say, because of Paul.

Paul is not seeking to be found impressive by them, to be lifted up and celebrated as if he were somehow the author and finisher of their faith.  He is not, and he won’t have it.  No, it centers back on the reason for all this:  On their progress in the faith.  Their cause to rejoice, their cause for pride, lies in their progress.  They shall be rejoicing for the doctrine they have received, not for the person through whom they learned it.  Paul isn’t interested in being impressive.  Arguably, from what we know of him, particularly from his defense of his ministry to the Corinthians, he isn’t even capable of being impressive.  Being impressive isn’t the point.  Being correct is.  And let me emphasize further.  It’s not being thought correct.  It’s about being correct.  It’s about delivering true doctrine accurately and effectively, which again leaves the focus and the efficacy on Christ alone.

As before, I am drawn to the idea of instrumentality that is often to be found in that little preposition, en.  It’s an imagery that appeals to me, this idea of instrumentality.  It’s set forth in terms of causes, as indicating the instrumental cause, the means by which a thing comes to pass.  These philosophical distinctions of causality can be a bit of a challenge to keep sorted.  But as concerns instrumental cause, I find it helpful to consider the nature of an instrument.  An instrument can be well crafted or poorly so.  It can be masterfully made, such that playing it is a joy, requiring nothing extra of the player, or it may be, shall we say, a student model, capable enough, but lacking in certain ways.  Put in terms of the saxophone, perhaps things are worn a bit, and the pads are leaky.  It takes a bit more wind and focus to control.  Or, perhaps it needs a bit more attention because the intonation is not quite there, and the notes wander a bit sharp or flat for certain notes.  One must be mindful of that, and compensate accordingly.  But then there are those instruments that are in good working order, in tune up and down the register.  I remember shifting from my first tenor, an old Winchester knock-off, bought for the lordly sum of, if I recall, about $200, and worth almost as much.  My, but I had to work to play that thing to any good effect.  When I was able to obtain my Martin, it was like a bit of revelation.  Really?  It was supposed to be this easy?  My!  It was as if I’d doubled my wind capacity, and the sound was so much sweeter.

Okay, that’s a longer digression that I intended, but as I say, it’s rather a favorite analogy for me.  Let me try and get back on course.  We have two instrumental causes here, the first in order and in primacy being Christ Jesus.  Here is the cause for proud confidence, the only legitimate cause.  You know Christ Jesus, and far more importantly, are known by Him.  He has fed you of His truth.  He has seen to your progress and joy in the faith.  Indeed, it is only in Christ that you have faith to begin with.  It rests on Him.  It is also His gift to you, imparted in the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell you and give you counsel.  Apart from Him, there is no faith.  There is only baseless opinion.  Apart from His tutelage, we may be ever so confident of our views and still be entirely wrong.  No.  Jesus Christ is the sole instrumental cause for any confidence, proud or otherwise.  In Him is certainty.   In man?  Everything changes.

So, then, if He is the instrumental cause, where does this place Paul?  Paul, I dare say, is the instrument.  But no instrument ever sounded one note without there being a player.  And if that player knows not the instrument, well!  Nobody’s going to want to hear the noise that results.  So, perhaps we can view it thusly.  Paul is the instrument, and Christ the musician.  And as such, Christ remains the primary, ultimate cause of proud confidence.  He has been playing, and through His playing, He is playing upon the instrument of the listener as well, bringing about a harmony of thought, a harmony of belief, a harmony of practice.  It’s not just one instrument He plays, but an orchestra!  Okay, I have probably explored that analogy as far as it can reasonably be worked.

But let me just bring this to personal application.  None of us can do anything of value of ourselves.  We are all instruments.  What we can do, which exceeds the bounds of my analogy, is see to our craftsmanship and maintenance.  We can seek to be the most well-crafted instruments we can be.  Of course, this too depends wholly upon Christ Who sees to our crafting.  As I say, the analogy reaches its limits and must, I suppose be abandoned.  It does, though, describe my desire, and I expect it describes well enough Paul’s desire as well:  To be such an instrument as makes Christ’s playing of His song upon us easy, and the result beautiful.  But it’s not about our artfulness.  It’s about our fitness.  Fitness, in presentation of God’s truth, consists in determined truthfulness.  We declare His truth, no more and no less.  We do not couch our message to avoid offense.  Neither do we embellish the truth with our own ideas.  That may seem a bit rich, coming off the back end of this analogy of music.  But the point holds.  It’s not the oratory artfulness of the presenter that matters, though there is nothing inherently wrong with skillful speaking.  It’s the truth, though, that counts.  And more, it’s the power of God, filling the word of His Scriptures, and filling the words of His preacher, that accomplishes anything of value.

Okay.  Let me circle back to this matter of the church which Jesus so loves.  It is love for the church that ought to undergird the work of the pastor or the teacher in His church.  That love is first and foremost for Christ, but it cannot help but overflow to love for the church which is the apple of His eye.  As such, the man of God comes to this perspective, I think, which I borrow from Matthew Henry.  “Whatsoever is best for the church, we may be sure God will do.”  This is the assurance that leads to Paul’s conviction that he will be released.  It is best for the church.  It’s not a matter of personal convenience.  As he has observed, on the personal front, nothing could be of greater value than his homecoming.  He’s old.  His body’s been battered by the challenges of ministry.  If he said, “Enough’s enough,” who could blame him?  But he doesn’t say this.  He says, “Let’s get back to work.”  What is best for the church is what matters to him.  It ought to be so for us, as well, for what is best for the church is, by definition, best for us who are of the church.  And what is best for the church surely best glorifies Christ who is her head.

This drives me to one further point, which concerns shaping our view of the function and fitness of the church.  It was interesting to see Mr. Henry making this point that ministry needs to go beyond conversion to discipleship.  We have seen the effects of failure in this regard over in Africa, and they have seen it for themselves.  Their own church leaders have spoken to us of how evangelism in Africa has been widespread, but shallow.  There has been spreading of the Gospel, but no discipleship, nothing put in place to see to the edification, the building up of these young believers.  It’s as if the farmer went out, sowed his seed, and then headed off to other fields, leaving the crop to wither or grow as it may.  And as may be expected, weed and drought devastate the fields.  Some may yet grow and even flourish, but it could have been so much greater.

We can suffer from somewhat the same issue here at home.  We get our evangelistic fervor going, do our outreaches, have our altar calls, and enjoy the excitement of new believers come to faith, our attendance numbers growing, perhaps.  And we praise God, and feel certain that He is indeed doing something here.  And we are right.  He is.  He was before that as well.  But here’s the thing:  What becomes of this new believer?  Who is seeing to his growth?  Who is tending to his development in sound faith?  After all, we are in an era when anybody with a few spare bucks and a cellphone can find avenues to espouse his pet doctrines.  The airwaves, the internet, the bookstores; they’re all filled with peddlers of various worldviews, various purportedly Christian teachings that prove to have little to no foundation in Scripture.  We have book after book of fevered expositions on dreams and visions.  We have every false doctrine encountered by the early church, those very same corruptions of truth which we find the Apostles countering in their fledgling flocks, brushed off and brought forward for a new generation to consume to their great peril.  Give it a new name, perhaps.  That’s a popular game.  Or, maybe don’t even bother, since so few have any awareness of church history anyway.  Why disguise it?  They’ll eat it up anyway.  After all, the false doctrine is almost always going to be more convenient for us to follow than the true.  Or maybe it bolsters our sense of worth, of purpose, to go about pronouncing woes and doom.  Dress it up how you like, but if you’re pushing dreams and visions and calling it doctrine, sorry.  You’re wrong.  The means Jesus has set forth for reaching the world is the Gospel.  Yes, the Gospel calls us to repent.  Yes, it declares that all things in this current order are coming to an end.  But it does not insist that we should be looking to discern the schedule.  It informs us that we ought to live every day as we would were it the last day.

Okay.  I am adrift again, moving from my passage to general contemplation of stuff that happens to be in the wind of late.  Let me come back.  Joy in progress, not only our own, but that of our brothers and sisters:  This is what we have in view here.  Progress produces in us confidence, as we trust more fully in this Christ we have come to know and love more fully.  And that confidence is in fact cause for pride, but not in our progress, rather in Him through whom progress has been made.  Always, our pride is in Christ Jesus.  That does not preclude us acknowledging those who have been instruments in His hands, used to our benefit.  Neither does it preclude accepting such acknowledgements.  It simply sets perspective, and defines our goals.  Let us be about edifying our brothers and sisters, about being edified ourselves, built up in holy faith.  Let us see to our growth in Christ and our usefulness to Christ.  Let us be concerned for the church He loves, and let us set ourselves to be part of the life of that church.  It is His plan for us.  He has made it sufficiently clear.  Any propensity in the current age to denounce the church as no longer fit for purpose falls flat, I’m afraid.  Yes, there are plenty of so-called churches that are nothing of the sort.  But that doesn’t alter the reality that Jesus loves the church, and sees to it that in every age, there remains a remnant, a true church which truly has Him as her head and insists on following His direction.

Back some years ago, there was a song that made the rounds in the church.  You may still hear it occasionally.  It asked the retrospective question, “When it’s all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters:  Did I do my best to live for truth?  Did I live my life for You?”  I will grant that, given my own rather Reformed views on doctrine, that this dances too close to works-based salvation, but only as close, to be fair, as Scripture itself.  Salvation is indeed by faith alone, not by works lest any should boast (Ro 3:26-27, Eph 2:8-9).  Even the reality of faith held within us does not qualify as grounds for boasting, it having come to us as a gift of God.  So, by all means rest in the assurance that our Lord does not lose sheep, He who declared quite bluntly that no power in heaven, on earth, or even within the man, can pry us from His hands (Jn 10:29).  Who is it, after all, who could have power to oppose God with any chance of success?  There is no one.

And yet, we have all these passages in Scripture encouraging us to our work.  We shall have it soon enough in this very epistle.  “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling” (Php 2:12).  Folks look at that and say, “Aha!  Where now your salvation by faith alone?”  But it proceeds, Paul’s thought there, doesn’t it?  “For it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work” (Php 2:13).  These are not works of merit done in hopes of attaining.  These are works of response, indeed, works done of God Himself, in which we gladly, if strenuously participate with thankful heart.  These are, if you will, works of privilege, as we have the inordinate, undeserved, and quite unexpected pleasure of walking and working alongside our God, the God of all Creation!  This is cause indeed for awe and wonder.  God has chosen to have my company, and to grant me His!

So, come back to that question Robin Mark posed to himself in song.  “Did I live my life for You?”  This, it seems, does push somewhat beyond merely being glad to walk alongside our Father.  But it’s a reasonable question to ask ourselves.  Did I live out my love for God?  We know that the day comes when we shall be called to stand before God and give account of ourselves, for our every action; indeed, for our every stray thought, whether for good or for ill.  For the best of us, that thought has to produce a little dread, doesn’t it?  None of us will come before Him free of any negative marks on our scorecard.  And so, it’s reasonable to ask of ourselves while life remains and gives opportunity for a better report, what will we have to show for this gift of life that has been given us?  If we are children of the kingdom of God, sons of the King, what have we profited our Lord?  Have we lived for Him?  Have we cared for His concerns?  Have we done any sort of service that will have contributed to the growth of His kingdom and the building up of His people, which, I suppose, amount to one and the same thing?

In light of the heading of this part of my study, I will simply observe that if we live for Him, then we are concerned for His church.  If we would see His kingdom grow, then we must look to the health and soundness of the Church.  That is not to suggest we take up a mindset of, “my church, right or wrong.”  No.  That’s no good on the civil level, and it’s certainly got no place in the kingdom of Truth.  How can we have a celebration of God Who is True, if we are proclaiming and nodding along to what is false?  It will not work.  It cannot stand.  God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7).  What a man sows, such shall he reap.  Individually and collectively, this holds true.  That church which sows a false gospel will reap a false salvation, discovering in that day, if not already fully aware of it, that all that lies ahead for them is condemnation, full and unrelenting.

But what of us?  What of those who are of a body true to the Lord, and yet, are of that sort that Bishop Justin was so displeased?  They’ve sat the pew for years on end, yet shown no signs of every doing anything with what they have been fed.  Now, his perspective would insist this must go to evangelizing, to church planting.  That seems to me an over-simplified reduction of the nature of body ministry.  As we have observed, there is ever the need for evangelism, yes, but it brings the accompanying need of discipling, and one could reasonably argue that the need for disciplers will always exceed that of evangelists.  For the evangelist may reach myriad souls in the course of one event.  But then, he’s gone to the next event, and those souls remain.  Shall they be left to grow wild, or ought this new planting of God’s work be tended by skilled and careful gardeners?  It will take many to properly see to the field that was planted by this one.  And those many are no less needful than the one who planted, if there is to be such harvest as will please the Master of that field.

What will we have to show for ourselves, come that day?  It is not a thing to terrorize our thoughts by night, at least it shouldn’t be.  But it is something to ask, and to ask with an eye to how we might improve that accounting.  We might turn it around a bit, so that it becomes part of our thinking, part of our approach to planning, to choosing the course of our day.  What can I do today that will have value to my Lord?  What can I do to be fruitful in my faith?  Who can I build up?  How can I contribute to the life of my church?  To whom can I introduce this gospel that has so gripped my life and made it worth living?  To whom can I simply provide a quiet example of my Lord’s character by having like character myself?  It gets harder, doesn’t it, as life becomes more isolated?  And one has to think that maybe that’s been the devil’s game all along, these last several years.  If everybody’s pushed apart into their own private spaces, there’s far less opportunity for witness, isn’t there?

Oh, we can maybe text our prayers, or post some inspirational quote on our Facebook feed or what have you.  But where’s the opportunity for lived faith supplying its quiet example?  Words, after all, can be dismissed, and never so easily as on the web.  You don’t like what was said?  You’ve got options.  Change the website.  That’s easy enough.  Mute the conversation, or whatever the equivalent is.  No more notices from this individual.  Their faith talk is annoying.  Or take to angry denouncements and ridicule.  That’s a popular choice, isn’t it?  And sure to get lots of others piling on.  It’s the modern equivalent of attending the games at the Colosseum.  We get to watch the poor sod get eviscerated, and nary the risk of a scratch to us.  What fun.

But the life lived before their eyes?  That can’t be so readily dismissed, nor does it really offer opportunity for offense.  There’s no intrusion of unsought opinion to it.  It’s just you being you, and perhaps a willingness to accept that they are being them.  Yes, that can be difficult, can’t it?  Aren’t we coddling sin by doing so?  No more than Jesus was coddling sin by dining with sinners, no.  I’m not suggesting we take to heading out to the local bar and getting drunk with the crowd there, but we might do better than to stand outside, waiting to point them out and shame them as they exit.  Sounds a tad extreme, doesn’t it?  Yet, I recall a church down in North Carolina doing something quite similar outside some local strip club.  Post the pictures of the clientele, it’ll close soon enough.  The goal may have been laudable enough, but I am not at all certain we should account the chosen means as likewise laudable.

Live as godly men and women.  Lead quiet lives of faithfulness.  Where have I heard this advice before?  Hmm.  “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you” (1Th 4:11).  Okay, think of Thessalonica, and we may think of those who were simply idling away their days in expectation of the soon return of their Savior.  But that’s not what’s in view here.  No, it’s “love of the brethren” (1Th 4:9).  It’s in order that “you may behave properly toward outsiders” (1Th 4:12). 

We could take the message to the married in 1Corinthians 7.  Consider that in these earliest of days in the church, it was quite likely that faith had come to those already married, and equally likely that it had come to one partner and not the other.  What to do?  If we’re to have no further commerce with unbelievers, should I then seek divorce?  But God hates divorce?  Am I, then, caught in a dilemma that has no viable solution?  Paul gives answer.  By no means should you seek divorce, though if your unbelieving partner should do so, it is no sin for you to comply with your partner’s wishes.  But don’t you think to send your partner away for their unbelief.  “For how do you know whether you might be the means of salvation to your partner?  Just commit to walking out the life the Lord has assigned to you in godly fashion” (1Co 7:16-17).  And lest we think this was some one-off message to the Corinthian church in its mess, he appends, “And thus I direct in all the churches.”

There is much that follows on that point, but let me stick to mine.  We are called to live what we believe, and we are empowered to do so, having been granted everything needful for life and godliness (2Pe 1:3).  We have become partakers of God’s own divine nature, living in the grip and flow of His own divine power (2Pe 2:4).  So, do we just sit back and enjoy?  Yes, but no.  We find in this place of assurance and power that we have cause to be diligent, to be growing, to be “neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Pe 4:8).  We’re right back at it.  What can I do to bear fruit for God?  How can I serve to expound and exemplify my faith before a watching world?  How can I serve to edify my brothers in the Christ?  How can I help tend the garden of His Church, which is, after all, the embassy of His kingdom here in the realms of the current order.

Lord, I confess, I feel somewhat better about my answers to such questions now than I did even a year ago.  And as I look to the class which I will be teaching next week, I can but pray that You will again guide my preparations, such as they are, and guide my presentation of what is prepared, in order that Your will may be done, Your people be fed, and Your truth be told.  Don’t let it become about me.  Don’t let me fall into comparing this group to that, this experience to that, but let me be an instrument in Your hands, played skillfully for Your best purposes.  Use me as You please, my Lord, and let Your people benefit from what You provide.  It will be enough.

Prayer and Expectation (02/03/25)

We have looked somewhat at the causal aspect of things as regards reasons for joy in the faith, noting that while Paul, in particular his release from prison and his coming to minister to them again, is the more immediately experienced cause, it is Christ Who remains the true cause of joy.  But let us take a step back and understand why joy was come.  And there, we are moved back to the notice Paul had given of their praying for him.  His earnest expectation is that “this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:19).  For them to see Paul, then, would be a most tangible answer to prayer, wouldn’t it?  And seeing our prayers answered is assuredly reason to glorify Him Who answers.  Our Lord, Jesus Christ has heard our prayers, conveyed to the Father, and He has heard the Father’s answer, conveyed to us by the Spirit Himself.

It strikes me that one or more of the reasons our prayer life grows tepid may lie in this formula.  Let me try and expand on that.  There is a first case where we simply haven’t been praying for any specific thing.  Maybe we offer our thanks at meal, pray over what we have read together, said our little blessings before bed, but nothing particularly specific.  The great needs of the day, those things coming in from the prayer chain, or needs made known to us by a brother, or even those needs most pressing on our own hearts; these we haven’t really taken to prayer.  Why?  The reasons may be manifold.  Perhaps we think them too small a thing to trouble our Lord with.  Perhaps we’re not convinced He will answer as we should prefer, and so we don’t ask.  Or, perhaps we are asking, but not with any real conviction that He will answer in accord with our asking.  And we know our Scriptures well enough.  The one who doubts has no cause to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, right (Jas 1:6-7)?  “You don’t have because you don’t ask, or you ask without receiving because you ask with wrong motive, looking only to spend on your pleasures” (Jas 4:2-3).  And isn’t that a matter for concern in our age of material wealth?

So, yes, it may be that how we ask, or what we ask of God is such that we have no good cause to expect answer, and then, the lack of answer discourages us.  Or perhaps the issue is that we have shaped our expectations so firmly upon our desires as to leave no room for God’s answer to take any other form.  That is to say, perhaps He has been answering all along, but we simply fail to see it because we’re too busy looking for our desire.  I have felt this in some sense during these last several weeks with our stepson in the hospital.  Long story, and I don’t intend to go into it here, but given his lifelong suffering, accept that it is not as black and white a thing as one might desire, to know how to pray for his situation.  His father prays for one outcome, his mother for another.  And frankly, it’s a case where those outcomes must be recognized as mutually exclusive.  And each is wholly convinced that they pray after God’s own heart, seek only His will, but with foreknowledge of what His will must be.  Well, clearly, one at least must be wrong, right?  Yet both are praying, and both are, so far as can be discerned by the eyes of man, earnest in their faith.  Whether that faith is firmly established on the God Who Is may be in question, but not faith itself.  (Another space where I could wish things were more a case of black and white.)

So, what’s going to come of this?  There shall be one outcome or the other.  I suppose, it can be argued that it shall be one outcome followed, at some juncture by the other, and given that at least one outcome is inevitable, I suppose that could be held out as God’s will until such time as it comes to pass.  But at that point, it’s rather a case of why bother praying?  May as well be praying for the sun to come up tomorrow.  I mean, you’ll get an answer to your prayer, but it’s not much of an ask, is it?  It’s already something of a certainty.  Now, asking that the Lord might return tomorrow instead, and heavens and earth be rolled up like a scroll?  That would take some conviction, and did it come to pass that indeed this was God’s will and God’s schedule, I dare say, answer to that prayer would truly astound even the most expecting of praying believers.  In practice, though, it seems those who pray after this fashion tend to be those who have some preconceived sense that they know the schedule, and perhaps more of the details than the average believer.  To which I am inclined to respond, “Nonsense.”  If Jesus was not given to know, on what basis do you suppose you are in position to require answer of God on the subject?  Honestly, it’s hubris to match that of the builders of Babel.  But keep predicting the Last Day, and should you live long enough, it’s bound to be right eventually, at least in part.

But what comes of it?  You set a date certain, and it passes, and the old world is still here.  You insist you know God’s answer, but a different answer comes, and things are not as you expected.  Is faith stronger or weaker for it?  I suppose that depends somewhat on whether it was faith to begin with.  But this, to me, is the worst impact of the array of false prophets that have plagued the church pretty much from the outset.  They set their dates certain, and weaker saints take that to heart as coming from the voice of experience.  Then, things don’t happen as advertised, and now, it’s not doubt of the prophet that arises, sadly, but doubt of God’s ability to answer.  Such is the working of the flesh bound mind.  It is more inclined to trust the one it sees, and supposes it knows, than the one it cannot see.

I watch this all the time, here in my own household.  My wife, for all that I love her dearly and account her a marvelous sister in the Lord, inclines to these voices, to these intimations of hidden knowledge as to God’s plans and schedules.  She is fully convinced that yes, God must indeed reveal His plans to His prophets.  But where she falls short is in properly identifying God’s prophets.  Anyone with a vision will do, it seems.  Add a pinch of Judaism, or a dash of David, and boom!  It’s got to be true.  And somehow, no matter how many times it inevitably isn’t, these convictions persist.  No matter how clearly Scripture teaches us what to do with that prophet whose words do not come to pass, it’s just off to the next prediction, the next date certain.  And yes, this concerns me deeply.  And no, I do not address it directly.  Why?  Because I know too well that any attempted correction with me as its source would simply be dismissed.  She knows I don’t buy this stuff, and so, anything I might say about it must come from ignorance.  After all, I haven’t watched all the videos.  I haven’t “done the research.”  Of course, I would incline to say much the same, that she hasn’t done the research at all, which would require earnest engagement with the Scriptures rather than the latest book of pet theories.  And so, I must leave it to God to sort out.  And yet, if I’m honest, here in this place most needing prayer, I tend to be rather prayerless.  I think on it.  I may write about it on occasion, not that anybody reads my musings.  But pray about it?  Well, yes, that would be wise, but I suppose at some level I feel it would also prove futile.  And that is a false feeling, one I must combat in myself as my Lord gives me strength to do so.

So, Father, no time like the present.  You know that I consider these study times to be in some sense a time of prayer, but they aren’t so direct, are they?  Let me, then, ask of You that You might in fact bring about whatever correction is needful in the faith of us both.  If my beloved is too enamored of dreamers and visionaries, as it seems to me, too preoccupied with exciting herself with predictions of doom, then I pray that You would find some way to get hold of her thoughts, to bring her back into a clear and unblemished faith, a faith founded in You alone, on Your Word alone.  If I have become too analytical, too clinical in my beliefs, or if I have been rejecting things I ought to receive in some kneejerk reaction to the source, then open my eyes, soften my heart, and let my mind be engaged with what You would have me hear.  All I know is that I don’t have the answers.  But I know You do.  And I know, as much as I can know, that You love us both as Your own.  I know she often prays for a unity to minister together, and I would, I think, love nothing more.  But not as things stand.  There is no place for unity that I can see.  We would drive each other crazy, and present You as a schizophrenic by our divided views.  Help us, Lord.  And let my eyes be open enough to see Your help when it comes.  Let my faith be strong enough to trust that it will come.

If I might continue on, there is a thought that’s been shaping my course through this last part of this particular study, and yes, it hinges on prayers and prayer’s answer.  Let me, then, posit a third reason why we don’t see answers.  I suppose I’ve already been gnawing on it somewhat.  But a large part of our failure to see God answer is that we don’t set our expectations based on God’s word.  We have a tendency to presume promises that He has not promised.  And then, when things don’t come about, we’re like whiny little children.  “But You promised.”  No.  You heard what you wanted to hear, and tried to make it a promise you could hold Him to.  But it doesn’t work that way.  But You said if I ask, You will answer.  Yes, child.  If you ask according to My will, with a heart for My heart, answer will come.  Nowhere was it promised that God would be like a genie to grant your wishes, or an ATM with access to a bottomless account to be accessed with no accountability.

This is no cause to hold back from praying for big answers, seeking big things for the kingdom.  “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, the ends of the earth as Thy possession” (Ps 2:8).  Could there be a bigger prayer one could offer?  Of course, that is a promise given Messiah, not you and me.  We may, however, ask on His behalf, I should think, and do so without violating God’s desire or our own conscience.  Indeed, what else is that early cry of the Church, “Maranatha!” but a seeking of that very end?  But if we will regulate our expectations by the Word, and let me stress, by a sound and correct understanding of the Word, and I dare say we shall see prayers answered.

Let our eyes be open to see them.  Let us leave room for God to answer according to His perfect knowledge.  That, after all, shall prove to be for our greatest good.  And so, it’s not that our eyes are opened as eagerly straining forward towards the goal.  It’s that our eyes are open to perceive His answer as it comes, whatever the form it may take.  Let us take note of those prayers that have been answered, are answered, will be answered.  And let us indeed glorify God for the answer, whether it looks like we imagined, or even if it runs entirely contrary to our expectations.

This is one thing these second pass tours of study afford me, an opportunity to see what was on my list of concerns, my prayers back a year or so, and to perceive how God has been answering.  Of course, it also gives rise to note those things for which I have prayed, it seems, for years on end, and still I wait.  But there is enough there, enough evidence of God hearing and answering, to establish full confidence in Him.  There is also enough to reduce to rubble whatever confidence I had in me.  And that is as it should be.  I think I shall again wrap up this study as I have a few others of late, by echoing a prayer that echoed through my earlier notes.

I cannot grow except You are my water, my light, my entire nourishment.  Nourish me, then, my God, that I may bear more fruit for You.  Lord Jesus, I see the opportunity coming again next week to do something that might just bear fruit for You, as I once again take up the task of teaching.  And I know how readily I could spoil the work.  Let me not make it a matter of comparing response here to response there.  I’ve seen what comes of that.  Let me not make it a matter of gaging response at all, for that, too, smacks of self and reputation.  No, but let me hold to those things You taught me last November, leaning not on my own preparations, though they are made, such as they are, but rather, leaning wholly on Your strength, Your wisdom, Your direction as to what needs to be taught to this people in this place at this time.  And let me see, as well, that which I have need to learn.  Speak through me.  Speak to me.  Use me for Your glory, and I shall rejoice in it.  Help me to grow in those places where I am weak.  Help me to flourish in those places where I am healthy and strong.  Grant me patience and love, that I may speak as You would have me do, and let all tiredness, frustration, and temper be far removed from me, that I may do nothing to tarnish the glory of Your Word.