Cultural Idolatry (05/17/25-05/18/25)

We are still on the subject of humble obedience that has been at the forefront of this entire chapter thus far.  Don’t lose sight of that.  I break these exercises into small groupings of verses, but they remain part of a larger thread of discussion.  This call to do all things without grumbling and disputing, then, applies both to that prior call to count others as more important than ourselves, and to what was just said of God working in us.  But I would add a third component to this.  It’s a call to leave behind our cultural baggage and to take care lest we pick it back up again.

There are some societal aspects to this instruction that I had not been aware of which make it more compelling to hear the command with a sense of the setting.  First, there is the Aristotelian influence to consider.  This was much the same issue Paul had faced in Athens when he sought to preach there.  Aristotelian approaches to philosophy abound in argument.  That does not necessitate that such arguments were angry matters, only that the disputing of ideas, questioning everything, if you will, was their style.  It was deemed a means of arriving at truth, or of gaining deeper insight.  It need not even indicate doubts on the part of the one arguing.  It was just how one interacted with one’s fellows.  You have heard of one who is playing the devil’s advocate, raising possible counterpoints, offering alternative explanations.  It’s not necessarily that they actually hold these views.  They’re just putting them out there to hear how you will respond, to see if you can defend your point against that line of argument. 

This, more than anything, seems to be the mindset that Paul so often addresses when he talks of not getting bogged down in pointless debate.  These are not men interested in the truth.  They are interested in the debate.  They don’t intend to change a single thing about their belief or character as a result of this debate, no matter who wins.  Such debating may have had valid purpose in the roots of Aristotle’s teaching, but somewhere along the way, it seems debate had become the point rather than the means.  It’s rather the same trajectory that Pharisaism took.  What started as a means to the end of obeying the Law of Moses came to be the end itself, the Law of Moses as good as forgotten.

Now, I would have to say that to my thinking, at least, Aristotelian philosophy has little to do with active concern for any god.  It may be concerned with character, and it certainly intends to advise a certain set of beliefs, but they are pretty well centered on man and perhaps nature, not so much on matters of spirit or deity.  All the same, they present an alternate world-view, a distinctive set of beliefs which, in the end, wind up opposed to God.  And the hallmark of that mindset lies in disputing.  So, in its way, Paul’s call to be done with disputing is little different from his call for women to pray with heads covered in Corinth.  It’s a call to cast off any appearance of participation in the idolatry of the culture around you.  The same issues largely drove Jewish concerns about buying certain foods at market.  Oh!  It may have been from some idolatrous sacrifice.  Far be it from me to partake!

Today, you might find it in an unwillingness to shop at this or that store because you don’t wish to be seen as supporting the things they support.  But at some juncture, you run out of places to purchase, because most any company is likely supporting something you would not, something we would likely agree is ungodly.  I think the same advice given Corinth would well apply here.  If somebody is offering you this product on the basis of its support for such things, then reject it for the sake of their conscience, not because it might have some negative consequence on your own conscience.  But as to your own provision?  You know, or ought to, that whatever idols they may fancy have no real power, certainly not over against the God Who Is.  As Jesus observed, it’s not what you put in your mouth that defiles you, it’s what comes out of it.  Neither is it what you wear, or what you drive that defiles you.  It’s what’s inside.  But I am once again rather off the trail of this passage, aren’t I?

Now, I repeat myself, I suppose, but it’s so true.  We live in a culture devoted to grievance.  It’s no longer the cleverness of Aristotelian debate.  It’s just grievance.  If you’re doing well, then it must somehow be at my expense.  If I’m doing well, mind you, it’s because I deserve it, as recompense for all those former times when you somehow victimized me.  It’s as though nothing is permitted to be seen as inherently good anymore except being angry.  Call it grievance culture.  Call it victim culture.  Call it what you will.  But call it what it is:  Idolatry.  At minimum, it is the popular idolatry of self.  I am my god.  I am what matters, and nothing else compares.  That is much of modern man’s mindset, and has been for centuries now.  It just grows worse, and I dare say, more stupid in its arrogant display.  But it’s hideously infectious.  There may be no more virulent disease among men.

In light of this, I found it interesting to read in Matthew Henry’s notes, of this Greek god Momus.  It comes up because he is, linguistically, the source of the word for rebuke.  We will come up against that term in the negative, as we consider being above reproach.  That idea of reproach is associated with this particular false god, whose characteristic trait was carping.  As Mr. Henry explains, he did nothing himself, but found fault with everything others did.  No doubt, you can think of examples of such types in your own life.  Perhaps you can even see traces of it in yourself.  Murmuring and complaining, grumbling and disputing.  How much of your day does this describe?  How much of it is directed at you?  And how much of it is coming out of your own mouth?  That’s where we run into trouble.  That’s where we run right up against cultural idolatry.  We may not pay notice to any idol, be it Momus or another.  And yet, we undertake these acts of his worship as we grumble and complain.  I don’t know about you, but that really draws me up short.  I’ve got work to do!  I am far from what I should be.  God knows this, certainly, and so do I.  I have observed it often enough, prayed about it often enough.  Perhaps, just perhaps, this is the time God is choosing to work in me to do something about it, and if so, may I be with Him in that work, not ignoring what He is doing, and not resisting.

It is by turns beneficial and terrifying to be reading Numbers alongside pursuing this passage.  The number of occasions where we find the people of Israel grumbling and complaining against Moses and Aaron, and by extension, against God are far too many, and God’s response gives evidence of how thoroughly He stands opposed to such behavior.  It also makes clear the source of this behavior.  It stems from unwarranted pride.  Hey!  We’re all God’s chosen as well, so don’t you go telling us what to do or how to be.  How often, I wonder have you passed judgment on a sermon, or on how a church is run?  Now, in the setting of a Congregational church, or a Baptist church, there may be occasion to assess, although I cannot recall ever being in a setting where it was decided the pastor must go.  I’ve seen the aftermath of one such case, and there, the moral failure was of sufficient magnitude to justify the response, I believe.  We can argue forgiveness another time.  But I take, for example, the case of the sons of Korah that we read about last night (Nu 16).  What came of their questioning authority?  The Levite contingent consumed by fire, the rest by sinkhole.

And let us be mindful that Paul’s instruction here does not come as addressing mundane matters of household chores.  We are in the midst of discussion as to the life and character of the church.  Yes, this necessarily involves the individual life and character of each member, but it is also, like it or not, a group effort.  It is God at work in all of you (Php 2:13).  It is His Son, our Lord, whom we are to emulate by humble obedience to all that God commands.  It is His command that we look out for one another, even going so far as to correct one another with loving correction, even when doing so seems certain to bring about rejection in response.  Nowhere does Scripture give license for murmurings against our brothers.  Nowhere is permit given for secret complaints.  Backbiting and gossip are to be expunged from the house and household of God.  Does that mean we cannot assess, cannot speak out against obvious, or not so obvious failure on the part of another?  No.  Such judgment calls for utmost care, but should it prove needful, it should be pursued.  But observe!  The instruction we are given for such cases still does not offer space for secret complaint.  Go first to your brother whom you would correct.  Only if that fails do we take the matter up with others, and then, it is the elders, the appointed officers of the church, not our best friend in the assembly, not our spouse, not whatever sympathetic ear we might find.  That is poisonous behavior.

That is, as the JFB points out, a most selfish act.  For one, it seeks to let oneself off the hook for actually addressing the issue.  For another, it’s a prideful thing, this gossiping, critiquing, backbiting habit.  What is the point, after all, of tearing at the reputation of another except one hopes to make himself look better by comparison.  There’s a stark warning for us in Galatians if this is our state.  “If you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another” (Gal 5:15).  It’s one thing to apply church discipline where it must be applied.  It’s quite another to allow a spirit of infighting to infect the body of the Church.  Where is love in this?  It cannot be found.  Where is godliness?  It has long since fled the scene.  Indeed, though we do not live under the curse of the Law, it yet remains the clear command of God for our life and character.  And what do we find in it?  “You shall not murder…  You shall not steal.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s possessions” (Ex 20:13-17).

Gossip, rightly assessed, violates all these laws.  Jesus addressed it under the head of murder.  If you so much as call your brother a fool, you’re already guilty.  If you are speaking about your brother behind his back, are you not stealing his reputation?  Inasmuch as you are unlikely to have any accurate view of his motive or character, are you not bearing false witness against him by your carping?  And how much of it is jealous coveting of his reputation?  How much of it, I wonder, is fear, lest our own shortcomings become too well known?  And yet, in the very act, we advertise those shortcomings with neon-lit brilliance.  Considering the call later in this passage to be as lights in the world, this is terrible indeed.  Too often we are lights of the most lurid sort, not the truth-exposing pure lights that we are intended to be.

Murmurings, secret complaints:  Be shot of them!  Let them not be found among us.  Oh, how I need to take this to heart.  How easy it is, over dinner, to discuss this or that one and their foibles.  How easy to fall into informing one and all how much better we would run the show, were it up to us.  The truth is far different.  Were it up to us, the show would be a disastrous ruin, and these sorts of bull sessions only make it all too clear that this is the case.  Where is the learning from our Master?  Where is the following of His example, Who offered no complaint, even as He was heaped with abuse by the representatives of Roman authority, ridiculed and reviled by the representatives of religious authority, led away to die the excruciating death of the most vile criminal when He alone, among all mankind past, present, and future, was in fact entirely free of any guilt?  “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth.  Like a lamb led to slaughter, He was silent.  He did not open His mouth” (Isa 53:7).  This is our example.  And in all this, the Son emulated the Father, sought to make His glory evident, and did so.

Calvin observes that our adoption into this family, as sons and daughters of God Most High, ought to lead us to desire that we would resemble Father God to such degree as we are able.  We should be seeking such an end, for it is the end He Himself is seeking.  He is at work in you and in me, rendering us willing to the work of renewal that He is doing, empowering us to walk in the renewal that He has done.  That is the immediate precedent to this call to uncomplaining obedience.  “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”  Those all things are primarily concerned with the things God is doing as He works within.  And again, within each of us individually, within all of us corporately.  The direction of His church is not a matter for us to debate and challenge.  His command is certainly not something with which we are granted to negotiate.  I think of the Centurion whom Jesus encountered.  “I say to this one, ‘Go!” and he goes; to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes.  I say ‘Do this!’ and the one commanded does so” (Mt 8:9).  That is the way of authority, and the right response to authority.  And as authority goes, none is so authoritative as our Father.  If He says, “Go!” then go.  If He says, “Come!” then don’t hesitate, but come in all haste.  If He says, “Do!” get to it.  If He says, “Stop it!” well, it’s time to knock it off.

So, this call.  Don’t try and negotiate the terms down.  Don’t play like Moses at the burning bush, and suggest maybe God’s got the wrong guy for the job.  No!  God does not err.  He chooses and He commands.  We may wonder at the command.  We may reasonably ask how we are to achieve what is commanded, but not as questioning the rightness of that command, and not as questioning the sanity of our Commander.  Look.  You have a call upon your life.  It is the call of God Himself, and by all means, He is quite thoroughly within His rights to make that call.  Well, then, if He has called you, if He has declared you His own, then act like it!

It’s all well and good to profess oneself a Christian, and many do, even in this day and age.  But it’s quite another thing to offer the proof of it by living according to what Christianity teaches.  We are in an age, I would observe, when many are shouting their ideals, but few are living them.  I hear it from my daughter often enough.  Oh, we were so happy to be part of the scene with this band, this movement.  But then, we found the band, for all that they talked this high moral stance, were all talk and hypocrisy.  But we don’t need our young to tell us of such events.  We are seeing hypocrisy exposed at every level, it seems, at least to the degree we can receive an honest report.  Our preening news media proves to be utterly dishonest, wearing the badge of impartiality while all the while promoting their own cause.  We see supposed experts exposed as unqualified hacks.  We see a judiciary that cares nothing for justice.  We see politicians giving clear evidence that they care nothing for the country they lead, only for the wealth, the power, the prestige, such as it is, that they can gain.  We see that our much-vaunted education system is not inclined to educate anymore, only to encourage the worst in their students.  We find a medical system that promotes self-destructive behavior, facilitating permanent harm in those that in other circumstances, they would insist are too young to make much lesser decisions about their lives.

We are called to be different.  We are called to stand out.  We are called to live as we profess to believe, to give evidence of who we are and Whose we are by how we are.  God, it should be clear from His dealings with the Pharisees and Sadducees, has no tolerance for hypocrites.  Don’t let Him find you in their number.  Don’t join in with the idolatry of this society in which we live.  Don’t be led into worshiping Momus by your carping.  Be shot of grumbling and complaining, and comport yourself as sons of heaven.  You and I are ambassadors on a mission, have been since the day we were called to salvation.  The thing is, if our walk is no different from those around us, if our ways are their ways rather than the way of our Father, then honestly, what cause have they got to listen to anything we have to say?  How many a Christian has rightly heard the assessment, “Oh, you’re no different than anybody else”?  And if you have heard that charge, and recognized that there is far too much of truth in it, what to do?  Repent.  Seek God and His forgiveness, but also His power to truly change course, to truly take up the life He has given.  A clear first step away from the spirit of this age would surely be to heed this instruction: No grumbling.  No disputing.  As God commands, so do.  Prove who you are by living as you should.  Give evidence of what He has made you by doing what befits what He has made you.  Show your love by obedience.

Faith and Character (05/19/25-05/21/25)

Matthew Henry says that the adornment of faith is character.  That is a most compelling point, and it reminds us of the purpose Paul has in his instruction here.  It’s not just about keeping things comfortable in our gathered worship.  It’s about character.  It’s about glorifying God by our evident presentation of the change He has wrought within us.  Don’t lose sight of this!  As we saw in the previous verses of this chapter, we’re not dealing with matters of proving ourselves, or earning our way into the salvation He supplies.  Remember the lesson from the last section.  You can’t work out what is not already in you.  Faith is in you.  This call to being free of grumbling and disputing, of being blameless, unmixed, pure children of God giving no cause to anybody for reproach – it’s not about becoming.  It’s about being.

Look again at the instruction.  Prove yourself to be.  Okay.  I may be leaning too hard on the NASB translation for that take.  The underlying verb is genesthe, be generated, become.  Now, we’re here in the Middle Voice, so we have that aspect to consider.  It’s not make yourself, actively become.  It’s not entirely passive, as if being made.  Perhaps I can apply the fourth meaning from the Word Study Dictionary.  We have a change of state, a becoming something other than what we were, but as having received a new character or a new form.  I note their first example is from the temptation of Christ, when Satan requested that He cause the stones about Him to become bread (Mt 4:3).  If we take that approach, I must note that the stones would have no say in the matter had He undertaken to make such a change, and I would argue that the same holds for us.  I’ve discussed this before in regard to the nature of rebirth being, like physical birth, a function in which we who are born have no real say.  But the middle voice suggests either a cooperative work or something we allow to be done to or for us.  There is, then, an act of the will involved even though we consider the irresistible grace of God.

Let me offer it from this perspective.  Cheerful obedience, as Matthew Henry also observes, is at the root of faith.  Obedience, I would observe, can be compelled.  The will must still opt to comply, but it may be the sort of compliance as sees no real choice but to do so.  But cheerful obedience – that’s an active choice on our part.  Yes, Lord, I gladly undertake to pursue that which You command of me.  Yes, Lord, I know Your goodness and Your love for me, and knowing this, I would be pleased to do as You say.  And by all means, let it be done by the means You indicate, not of myself, but by Your power and as You direct. 

That’s what we’re being called to here.  And as I have observed before, to pursue such a cheerful obedience must involve us being in the place of resting in Him.  We have entered into His rest, even as we perceive a greater rest to come.  Now, I’m not making sufficient study of this passage I am about to quote to insist that it points us in this very direction, but consider.  “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience” (Heb 4:9-11).  Now, being Hebrews, we are seeing a sharp contrast between the Old Covenant and the New, between the rather forced compliance of Israel of old and the cheerful obedience called for in light of being reborn.  And I will repeat.  While this greater rest remains future, we have entered into His rest already.  It is our inheritance and our heritage.  But in that rest, we remain diligent in pursuit of what lies before us.  Paul makes that very point in regard to himself later in this letter. “I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but I forget what lies behind, and stretch myself out towards what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal, towards the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:13-14).  I seek to adorn my faith with godly character, with a mindset, a worldview, and a habit reflective of God Who is my Father, Who has made Himself my Father.

Add in the call to be His witness to the world, to live as ambassadors of His kingdom, and we have every reason to be such as give no grounds for accusation against us.  That, to return to my previous point on this passage, includes giving no grounds for charges of being worshipers of Momus, dallying with the god of grumbling.  Oh, but how we love to carp!  I felt it in the extreme yesterday.  Even in discussing the issue with a dear brother of mine, what comes, but carping about the very thing I am informing him I know I need to cease carping.  And honestly, yesterday, for a variety of reasons, left me surly, which is surely not as it should be on the Lord’s Day, nor any other.  But a combination of things conspired, it seems, to leave me in a state of unrest, of dissatisfaction.  I need to address these things somehow.  I need to address the propensity for being brought to such a state.  I need, I think, the very reminder I have left myself in these preparatory notes, which is no small evidence of God’s guidance in choosing those things as points to comment upon.

What transpired yesterday, whatever I may think of its various components, was by His intentions.  I may not perceive His intentions.  I may not agree with His intentions.  But honestly, that’s neither here nor there.  If I know Who He Is and if I know who I am, then where am I to find reasonable cause for complaint?  Oh, yes, it hurts to see a tear in the fabric of fellowship.  It hurts to see someone in the family moved to tears by their circumstance, and to know oneself powerless to do anything about it.  And it hurts the more because I recognize somewhat of my own circumstance in what this one is facing.  And yet, comes this gift, a gift which ought, reasonably, to bless my wife as it plays to her favorite pastime (apart from praying), of bringing life in the garden.  I might even call it a gift of life, if I wanted to get particularly spiritual about it.  And that gift faced a most vehement rejection.  Now, on the face of it, this is no skin off my back.  Toss the thing, and I am none the better or none the worse, but knowing where it was coming from, or what it was coming through in spite of pain, it just hit differently.  This is a gift that, to my mind, needs honoring, and so, I suppose I shall be learning how to properly plant and tend to this thing.  Who knows but what God is, by this action, undertaking to knit me a bit closer to my wife by joining her in her pursuit?  But yesterday, it felt a near to insufferable wedge.

So, yes, I need reminding:  Whatever the motivations of the giver, and whatever the attitude of the receiver, this gift comes as an act of God’s intention.  And honestly, in the grand scheme of things, this is a most minor matter.  But I must needs ask, what is God up to in this?  How am I to respond?  I know I have felt the urge of necessity to send along a note, both of gratitude for the gift, and of sympathetic comfort for the dilemma the giver faces; to offer reminder of God’s grace in the time of need.  And perhaps, just perhaps, I need that reminder myself.  Whatever is to come of this, let it be free of grumbling and complaining, and instead filled with compassion and understanding, with grace.  Let it serve, then, as a reminder of grace.  And may God be pleased to guide me to such as is needful to preserve this living memory.

Now, I have observed already how there are issues of societal idolatry involved here, how disputing is reflective of the prevailing philosophy of the regions of Philippi with its propensity for Aristotelian debate, how grumbling and murmuring reflect this minor deity Momus, clearly no true deity, but like the others, a demon in the guise of deity.  We have our own societal deities to recognize in order that we might put from us any least resemblance to their practices.  I’m not entirely certain in what direction we should look, for it seems there are many idols in the world of our day.  Certainly, the current atmosphere if, “everything is political,” smacks of such an idol, and it assuredly infects us who are the Church.  The god of tolerance, insisting we accept every errant belief as valid, is also present and accounted for.  We could look to the ancient idols of sexual libertinism and materialism.  And, if we open our eyes, I expect we shall find all these and more represented in our congregation.  If we open them even wider, chances are we will find their practices and their mindset infiltrating even our own perspectives.  Oh, you and I might well say that we have avoided the siren call of sexual freedom, but have we?  Have we really?  In full?

We know the influences, in that regard.  We know how saturated every form of media has become with the urge to accept this liberty, which ever comes with the invitation to consider becoming a part of the action.  And we know the instruction of our Lord, that even if it has just been in the exercise of our imagination, yet it is as vile as if we had undertaken to act.  The act is inherent in the thought, and so, we do well to take Paul’s advice to take every thought captive, and seek to destroy every vain imagination.  As to some of those other idols, well!  Materialism is practically the lifeblood of our generation.  It’s all about the creature comforts.  He who dies with the most toys wins.  You think you’re immune?  Think again, and then, if you still can’t see hints of that influence, pray.  Pray hard.  Pray that God might open your eyes to the truth about yourself.  And then, by all means, pray for the grace to accept what is revealed as true, and the strength to do something about it.

We are, as Calvin observed, and as I echo here in these notes often enough, idol factories.  We no sooner rid ourselves of one than we are busily erecting five more.  And through it all, here is the call of our Savior:  Become, be made blameless and innocent.  Show yourselves to be the children of God that you have become by His grace.  Set yourself to live beyond reproach, giving no man and no demon grounds to bring charge against you.  Remain free, in particular, of any charge of harlotry, for having followed after these other gods, for having adopted these other worldviews.  We are reasonably adept at defending ourselves against the draw of other, competing religions.  We recognize those for what they are, idolatrous worship of what are, in the end demons.  We might be inclined to make exception for Judaism, given that their heritage intersects with that of our Lord.  But then, I have to observe, that God Himself made no such exception, did He?  The destruction of Jerusalem, while historically credited to Titus, was in fact, an act of God, foretold by Jesus, and explained by Him as coming in response to their rejection of their own Messiah.  As John put it, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn 1:11).  So He removed them from His vineyard, and give it to others to tend, to you and I.  But hear the warning in this.  “If God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you” (Ro 11:21).

Do I suddenly shift course, and advise that salvation is not secure I Christ?  By no means!  But I would observe that we are terribly adept at deluding ourselves.  Look around you at those who have convinced themselves of the most absurd things.  You see men supposing they can gestate.  You see adults fully convinced that they do their children a service by leading them to chemical and physical mutilation because they (or maybe just their parents) were convinced they were the wrong sex at birth.  You see doctors convinced that this is health care.  And I dare say, you likely reject such thinking outright, and rightly so.  This is not sane.  This is utterly perverse, and yet we have every lever of public persuasion seeking to convince us that we should agree.  But take the warning from this.  See how readily we can become convinced in our own thoughts that truth is false and falsity true.  Now, ask yourself, to what have I blinded myself?  What worldviews have I allowed entrance, that now act as blinders upon my conscience, preventing me from even seeing their influence?  And pray.  Pray hard.

But do not despair.  Do not allow despair, which is its own sort of idolatry.  Understand well that God has fit us for this time and place.  We are who we are by His determined will.  The circumstances that gave rise to our birth were of His choosing.  The development of our individual character has come under His guidance.  That is not to say that we should just chill out and be ourselves.  Far from it.   If we were to be ourselves, we’d be right back at grumbling and complaining about ever least inconvenience.  We would remain like the children we are, ready to throw a fit any time our foolish wills are the least bit countermanded.  We need training.  We need discipline.  This has not stopped just because we grew to what counts for maturity in this life.  It hasn’t stopped because we’ve become parents, or grandparents, or retirees, or elders, or anything else.  It hasn’t stopped because we’re still here, still maturing into the fulness of the image of God.  And we all of us have a long ways to go yet.  If it were not so, we would be home now.

So, have no complaint about the circumstances of life.  Are they hard?  Yeah, probably so.  Some of us face harder challenges than others, and some of us face them better than others.  But we all face our own challenges.  For some, it may be the comfortable nature of our lives that proves the greatest challenge.  We become too enamored of our stuff, and lose sight of our true need.  We are, after all, spiritual Israel, and they faced the same danger when they entered the Promised Land.  You will have all you need, and you will forget Me.  They were warned and yet.  We are warned.  And yet?  We have no grounds for complaint.  We have every ground to contemplate what it is God is seeking to achieve in us by way of these things that come our way.  Let us stop carping about the what, and start seeking to understand the why.  Let us be keenly aware that we cannot complain of our situation without it being the case that we are fundamentally complaining to God about the insufficiency of His provision.  We can’t do so without asserting that we should be in charge rather than Him.  And therein, we arrive right back at the original sin of our forefather Adam.

Don’t do it!  Give no cause for justified rebuke.  I thank Mr. Clarke for tossing in that word justified.  Offense will come.  If anything, the better we are doing at walking after the manner commanded us, the more we shall offend.  But let it not be because we seek to be offended.  Let us be free of any inclination to look upon such offensiveness as some badge of honor.  It’s not.  Too many Christians, or at least claimants to being such, have undertaken to make their faith offensive, to go out and stir up rejection and anger so that they can preen in their deluded sense of superiority.  And that was never the Way.  That is, frankly, never going to convince a single soul of its need for Christ.  If anything, it drives a wedge between the soul and its only hope of salvation.  Give no cause, but take no offense if, in spite of there being no cause, yet you are rebuked.  You but receive the treatment that was given your Lord, as He told you that you would.  They hate you because they have hated Me.  The servant is not greater than his Master, nor the disciple than his Teacher.  At risk of being rude, get over yourself!  Give no cause for justified rebuke, even in how you respond to unwarranted rebuke.

Be amomos.  Here, oddly, we are most nearly at mention of this idol Momus.  But it is preceded with the negative particle, a.  Be not-Momus.  Be utterly free of carping and complaining.  But it goes farther.  It’s intriguing, really, that this term is primarily used in Scripture to describe the animal selected and prepared for sacrifice.  Be unblemished, nothing marring your quality, free of any defect.  Now, in the lamb or the ox, that would tend to indicate no disease, no injury of limb such that you were not offering your best, but something that was of little worth to you.  I think of those who account it a generous donation to give their junk to some mission effort.  I think particularly of the example Pastor Sanford spoke of from his days in India; the woman who stripped the buttons off all the clothing she sent as donation because, hey, they’re poor.  They don’t need buttons.  You don’t offer God your cast offs.  You offer Him the first fruits.  And in this New Covenant engagement, it is the first fruits of yourself, not your goods, not your provisions.  It is you, called to be a living sacrifice, holy and set apart, rendered acceptable to God by the work of the Holy Spirit in you, and by your concerted, determined effort to walk holy and humbly before the Lord your God (Ro 12:1, Mic 6:8).  Be amomos, not like Momus, free of all grumbling and complaining, and free of any grounds for others to grumble and complain about you.  As one commentary put it, live such that even Momus, were he real, could find nothing of which to complain.

Be so constant in rejoicing in the Lord your God that whatever He may choose to bring your way, still your joy shines through.  Be so consistent in your choice to live out the faith you hold dear, that any slip on your part is seen by others as wholly out of character for you.  Let your godliness be the same at work as it is at church.  Let it be that you are the same man at home that you are in the pew.  This, of course, assumes a positive, godly character shows in church in the first place.  But be what God has made you to be, and be so joyfully, gladly pursuing the call He has placed upon your life.  Seek to be approved of Him, to bring joy to your Father by your joyful obedience to Him here.  And in so doing, you will find that you do indeed recommend Him to those around you.  Seek, then, to live in such a fashion as will give cause for honest questions, will give cause for others to want what you have.  And then, when they ask, be ready, in season and out, to give answer for the joy that is in you.  And should they, even at that juncture, reject your explanation?  Be at peace.  The result is not yours to dictate nor to bring about.  It is the work of the Spirit if it is to be at all.  You just be diligent to do your part, and leave the result in His hands.

We talk often about how we would present our testimony or what we would say given two minutes to speak to someone about faith in Christ.  But the reality of the case lies with the well-worn adage that actions speak louder than words.  That is, perhaps, of a piece with the command we have in these verses.  We saw how arguments were a centerpiece of philosophical pursuit, and at least in this passage, this is not what we are called to, but rather, what we are called away from.  Don’t do that!  Don’t get drawn in to mind games, as if this were no more than your high school debate club.  I am mindful that the presence of any such club has become far less likely.  I don’t know as it was all that familiar a thing in my youth, but we knew about them.  At any rate, that’s not your calling.  Your calling is to live a characterful life.  Your calling is to present a contrast not of ideas, but of character.  Show by how you live, how you speak, how you treat others, how you approach difficulties, how you address disagreements, that you have in fact found a better way.  Don’t just talk about it, live it!

Now, so far as that goes, I don’t have to qualify this by saying, at least in this passage, we have this point.  No, that’s a universal.  Take up your cross daily isn’t a matter of debating skills.  It’s a matter of character.  Love your neighbor as yourself isn’t an invitation to explore alternative lifestyles together.  It’s a matter of demonstrated character, of giving visible, visceral evidence of this God we serve, who causes His goodness to benefit saint and sinner alike.  It’s about being a signpost for the kingdom of God.  A signpost is of no use if it doesn’t point somewhere.  Nor is it of benefit if it hides itself away, blending into its surroundings. 

Calvin rightly insists that our separateness from the world around us ought to make us conspicuous by our differences.  Now, there are plenty of other religions out there whose adherents are readily identified by some conspicuous difference.  Nobody mistakes a roving pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses for anything else.  We may not be informed enough to distinguish Jain from Hindu from Sikh, but we can certainly observe that they are something distinct from society at large.  A Muslim woman, at least in certain countries, would be observably distinct.  A Hasidic Jew is clearly so.  You get my point.  We ought also to be recognizably distinct, but not due to some choice of garb or due to some mark we place upon ourselves.  It’s not about wearing a necklace with a cross on it.  Face it, such things are little more than a fashion accessory to many who wear them.  It’s not about having a WWJD bracelet on your arm.  It’s not even about having a ready stack of tracts to hand out, or a clipboard questionnaire asking about your sense of what happens when you die.  It’s about living according to this faith we have, about being of renewed character as God does His work in us.

Now, the conspicuous aspect of our separateness must surely inform us that this is no monastic call.  It’s not a call to separate completely, else to whom would we testify?  Who would see our example?  It is the life lived in pursuit of godliness that demonstrates a uniquely good character.  I do not deny that many an unbeliever can be, by our estimates, of good character, and even be of better character than many believers.  But some of that is because our estimates are off.  Our definition of goodness may need tuning.  Or, it may very well be that in spite of their unbelief, the character of their Creator yet comes through, however distorted.  After all, it is not our good character that gains us status as being redeemed, but rather our being redeemed, being the recipients of God’s inward work, that renders us of truly good character.  Not perfect character, no.  We are fully capable of sinful failures.  One trusts that, being indwelt by the Spirit of the Living God Himself, we are just as fully capable of owning up to our failures, and seeking to make recompense for their impact as we make every effort to rectify our ways in accordance with the Way of our God.

Live it!  Show it!  Confess it as opportunity arises.  But live truly.  I cannot over-emphasize how critical that is.  I come back to that idea of truth where outward form reflects inward reality.  Okay, the truth is that try though you might to put on your Sunday best, outward form will, in due course, reflect inward reality.  Like me, you have no doubt know some very few whose reputation at large in the community is no different than the person you see them to be at church.  It strikes me as rather rare.  Or, maybe I merely project my own weaknesses upon others.  But I can think of one or two, at least, for whom the inadvertent testimony of workmates, students, or what have you has shown them to be just the same in that worldly setting as they are in the sanctuary.  No, I don’t suppose they go about the workplace belting out hymns and songs of praise at top volume.  But that’s not the point.  They show consistent character, and they show an open willingness to confess the God they serve.  They do so not as in your face, but as glad expression of that which matters most to them.  And I have to say, where confession and character are consistent in this fashion, the impact can be great.  Here is a life lived so as to encourage questions.

You know, I could think of counter examples.  I could think of the one I once worked for who boldly set forth a bible on his desk to promote questions by coworkers.  To be sure, if questions came, he would find opportunity for discussion, and in such fashion as would not amount to stealing company time.  But then I also hear the assessment of others who dealt with him in other settings and discovered a certain dishonesty, at least in competitive settings.  And how did such an inconstancy displace any opportunity for the Gospel?  Now, I can’t point to this example without asking the same in regard to myself.  How many opportunities for the Gospel have I blasted away by failure to live as I believe?

And I know how this plays with later generations.  There are so many among our young adults who are looking for some authentic belief to join themselves to.  They may have already discounted Christianity, whether due to some poor experience of false belief, or due to the pressure of societal perspective.  I see them join with all manner of idealistic groups and causes only to discover the leader of this or that group is not even holding to whatever it is he teaches.  No real surprise, given that most of these supposed movements are just atheistic or paganistic variations on the theme of televangelist.  But they sounded so real!  They had so many followers!  It felt so good while it lasted.  But it let them down again, and such is their hurt that forgiveness is pretty well out of the question.  The same likely holds, as I suggested, in their rejection of Christianity.  Some observed inconsistency proved for them an unforgivable failure.  Forgiveness, after all, is a rare commodity, and not one that really comes naturally to us in our fallen state.  But all of this comes down to the simple question:  Who’s going to bother listening to your attempt to talk about God if your example gives evidence against your words?  Who’s going to be interested in what you have to offer if, by all appearances, you are no different than everybody else?

It's not enough to accost folks in an evangelical frenzy.  Neither is it enough to live quiet lives behind our doors.  You can’t present a contrast with the surrounding culture where there isn’t any real contrast, and you can’t do so if you’re not present.  Show yourself.  Live as you are being called to be, as you are being made to be.  Be authentic.  Even if you screw up, do so authentically, and recover authentically.  The reality is that we bear the words of life.  We are indwelt by the Word of Life.  If we keep it hid within, how are we of any benefit to this world around us?  If all we have are fine ideas that have no bearing on who we are, how are we of any benefit to anybody including ourselves?  No!  We have this trove of most valuable wisdom, and it is sufficient to supply as many as will take from that trove.  It costs us nothing of significance to share it.  It does not threaten our personal stash.  We can’t spend our inheritance by giving out from it.  This salvation which has been wrought in us, this ongoing work of sanctification as God works in us to reshape our character to be in keeping with His own; this is a rich vein, endlessly deep.  This is a gift given us, but a gift given that we might in turn give that same gift to others.  No, we cannot impart salvation.  That remains the work of Christ alone.  But we can make Him known as more than an idea.  We can show by our lives just how transformative His presence is.  And we should.

Submit, then, to this Word we have been given.  Be after doing the work that has been entrusted to us, after the manner of Him Who entrusted it to us.  You have faith.  Let it show.  Let it show by your character, a character that has been formed by your submission to the truth of God.  You have been saved.  That should be settled ground for you.  But if you have been saved, let it be demonstrably evident in your manner of living.  Share the hope that is in you, that certain hope that comes of knowing the love of God that has been shed forth in your hearts in Christ Jesus.

Evidenct Faith (05/22/25)

The last image Paul presents us with is one more familiar from John’s gospel.  Shine as lights in the world.  This accentuates the contrast that is to be found between our manner of life and that of the ‘crooked and twisted generation’ among whom we live, and of which we were once a part.  This dark world needs the light of Christ, and that light is borne by us, within us, as a lamp bears the burning wick.  The light in us is Christ, and yet we may still say that as we go about our days, we are the light.  We are the light of Christ present in the darkness of a fallen world.  This is not a point of pride.  This is a matter of duty.

A couple of the commentaries noted the origins of the term Paul is using here, or the source of his choice of imagery.  Philippi, like many of the places Paul sought to establish churches, was a port city.  Out by the entry to that port were lights kept burning through the night, lighthouses of a sort, to guide those ships still out to sea towards safe port.  The image could be extended to the sort of lighthouses we continue to use to this very day.  Why are they there?  It may not be so much to guide into port as to ward of some danger, a rocky shore, or shoals such as could easily rip the hull off a ship that came too close.   Here is danger!  Stay clear.  The image does not serve quite so well in describing the Christian amidst society, except inasmuch as by warning of the danger, we may serve to guide those who encounter us towards the safety of our Savior.

This light, then, has two purposes.  First, it guides.  It serves to mark out a course to those trying to navigate their way.  Second, it reveals.  Where the light shines, things that might have lain hidden are made evident.  I could take the example of my daughter’s cat, with its penchant for lying across the doorway early in the morning.  For one barely awake, walking through a darkened house to make his way to this place where I do my studies, that’s a risky position to take.  I don’t share his capacity for seeing in such dim surroundings, and the odds of stepping on him are not odds I would care to take.  But once the light is on, he is clearly visible and can be avoided.

Here, we come to that instruction to hold fast the word, with its possible rendering as holding forth the word.  By holding fast, we persist in living according to the sound teaching and example of our Lord.  We mark the course we travel, allowing others to see this better Way.  By holding forth, we offer them hope of becoming as we are.  We share the light we have within us, knowing that however much we may give out of that light, the light is undiminished in us.  Now, science informs us that even the greatest star must, in due course, expend its energies and cease to shine.  Its light is not infinite, though it may seem so to us in our finitude.  But this light we bear is not as that of sun and star.  It is the Light of eternal God, truly infinite and everlasting, and sufficient to supply its illumination to all who will come to Him.  In the new Jerusalem towards which we make our way, and towards which we guide others, it is His light which gives light to the city, a light so refulgent, so magnificent, so all-encompassing, that there is no need of sun, moon, or star.  I would rather expect we shall find no need, even, of lamp or candle within whatever dwellings it is we shall have there.

And here we are, ambassadors of that joyous city, ambassadors of the Lord Who Is the Light.  We are sent forth equipped with the armor of light, His righteousness our shield.  And we, in our turn, ought to be seeing to it that our armor remains polished and clean, so as to reflect His light most fully.  Our lives are to be lived so as to let no former practice, no besetting sin, interfere with the light which shines within, that it may be clearly seen to one and all.  Don’t put your lamp under a bushel, no.  Live your faith openly, gladly, freely.  That doesn’t require belligerence.  Indeed, I don’t suppose it can be done in belligerence.  That is not how one shows forth the Prince of Peace.  It may require stern and earnest opposition to sin, but even that can be done without belligerence.  I don’t suppose John the Baptist came to Herod with belligerence. But he spoke the unvarnished truth, warned that ruler of the deadly peril in which he was putting himself by his sinful deeds.  Now, we may tend to think of John rather more like one of those street-corner preachers of whom we have the stereotypical idea that they just shower down curses upon the passing sinners, all anger and no forgiveness.  But I don’t think that was our man.  I rather expect that even as he decried the sins of the king, yet it was done with loving hope for repentance in his king.

It comes to this.  You and I, we have the word of truth.  You and I, as best we may, are seeking to live in light of that truth, not allowing the false views of the worldly to shift us from what we know is true, and yes, being careful lest such influences should be found to be working secretly in us, so secretly that we fail to note their influence until it’s too late and the damage is done.  But we have the Light!  If we remain prayerful, and if we remain in such a state as we are availing ourselves of every means of grace He so richly supplies, considering His word, seeking His guidance, sitting under sound teaching, singing His praises, and so on, He is faithful to guide our steps, to reveal our wandering soul to us, that we might repent and return to the Way.

Those around us in the dark night of this world have not this benefit.  They stumble around with blinders on, unable to see the surrounding dangers, unable to see even the cliff towards which they are racing headlong.  You are the light!  You are the beacon set to warn them of that danger.  Live your lives in such a fashion as will give warning not by angry denouncement of their choices, but by demonstrating an alternative.  Let your example serve to destroy the blinders that the enemy has bound to their eyes.  Know, of course, that the power is not in you inherently, but in Him whom you serve and represent.  And He is with you.  Whom shall you fear?  He is with you, in you, every step of the way.  So, shine!  Show them what’s possible in Christ.  Show them that they don’t have to plunge themselves over that cliff.  They can turn.  The reins of sin can be cut away.  Live it!  Show it!  And when and if they ask questions about why you’re so different, how you can be at peace in the turmoil, why you have this joy in you, give answer.  Speak the Word that is in you.  I suppose I should have to add, if they don’t see that difference, if they don’t see you at peace and joyful, perhaps it would be well to seek the Word yourself, and ask that He might shine His light upon you to expose the problem, that He might lend His power in order that you may address that which is exposed and shine the better.

Live such a life as directs those we encounter away from the dangers of sin and into the safe harbor of that eternal security which is ours in Christ.  I borrow strongly from Clarke in that advice, advice which I think comes surprisingly close to what one might expect from Calvin.  Eternal security?  By all means, but I would have expected rather a call to urgent striving lest you fall coming from that quarter.  But observe, as we seek to be such imitators of God as we ought to be as His beloved children (Eph 5:1), let us recall what our Father is like.  He causes His sun to rise on both evil and good, sends His rains on both righteous and unrighteous (Mt 5:45).  And we, His children are to be as He is to the degree finite man can be as infinite God.  We, too, ought to be willing to do good both to those of the household of faith and those without.  Love your neighbor as yourself, we are commanded, and Jesus takes pains to make clear that there is nobody outside the scope of neighbor.

This is going to get hard.  Those adherents of some other religion, whose facilities are down the street; they are not to be reviled and cursed for their incursion.  Love them as you love yourself.  Let not the lethal sensibilities of the jihadist prevent you from loving your peaceable Muslim neighbor, nor cause you to revile his beliefs.  Yes, he is wrong, and following a false god.  Yes, love ought to seek that he turn away from this false god to follow a true and living Hope.  But you’ll not entice him to the Light by cursing him in the dark.  I think again of that detail of Paul’s time in Ephesus.  As the city was stirred to near riot by those whose livelihoods were being threatened as people turned from idolatry to Christ, who came to his aid?  The ethnarchs.  They accounted him a friend, though they remained, so far as we can tell, adherents to the worship of Artemis.  Indeed, that adherence is inherent in their title.  Yet, they found no offense in Paul, nor in his proclaiming of true God, because Paul wasn’t being offensive about it.  He wasn’t railing against Artemis.  He was simply proclaiming truth.  And honestly, if Artemis was truly god, she did not need the riotous support of her followers to remain so, did she?  If she might fade from the knowledge of men because somebody comes speaking of another, then maybe, just maybe, she’s not really a god after all.  Now, I don’t know as that line of thought crossed their minds.  It certainly wasn’t coming from their lips.  But that’s the reality of it.

Shine by your example, and let your example give evidence of the God Who Is.  You believe God is Love.  And you are right.  So, love.  You believe God is Good.  And you are right.  So, to whatever degree it lies in your power to do so, do good to others.  You believe the Scriptures.  And you are right to do so.  So, live it.  Shine!  “Behold!  Darkness will cover the earth, its peoples plunged into deep darkness.  But the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.  Nations will come to your light, kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isa 60:2-3).  The nations won’t come to your light if it can’t be seen.  Nobody is going to be drawn to Christ if you live like a heathen.  Too many Christians live, as has often been said, as practical atheists.  They may speak of their religion, or perhaps not.  But either way, by their practice, none can spot a difference.  They talk the same talk, pursue the same pursuits, live the same lifestyle.  And who is going to look upon that without coming away asking themselves, “Well, what’s the point?”

We are left here for a reason.  We are that sun which God causes to shine on good and evil alike.  God is Life, and He seeks always to support and encourage life.  The sun, we know, is core to the continuance of all life.  Watch your naturalists and they will tell you.  Take away the sun, and photosynthesis ceases to function.  Plankton die off, and plants cease to live so as to filter the air.  And as they die off, so does all that higher life that their existence supports.  It all comes back to sunshine.  Kind of makes you wonder about the sanity of these so-called scientists who want to alter our atmosphere to reduce how much sun we receive.  Stop and think, guys.  And may God be so merciful as to put a stop to such arrogant dreams of controlling the weather.  As if man, even in his collective advance, has the wisdom to undertake such things without being overwhelmed by the unintended consequences.  The builders of the tower of Babel have nothing on us when it comes to hubris!

So, shine.  Shine by your example.  Shine by undertaking to proclaim the gospel where it hasn’t yet been heard, doing so not as lording it over those to whom we would speak it, not by noising about our arrogant superiority.  But, where there are ears to hear, let them hear.  Where there are those willing to listen, speak.  Where there can be earnest, honest discussion, speak the truth.  Where there is sin, present holiness, and yes, rebuke sin, but rebuke in love.  And if you cannot rebuke in love, then perhaps it would be best to remain silent and pray that another who can might come to the work.  But even in silence, be a living rebuke.  Insist on walking in righteousness even when all around you encourages compromise.  God has entrusted you with this mission.  He has left you here for this express purpose.  You are assured of passage home in due course.  Your future is certain.  But in the meantime, there’s work to do.  How do we do the work of God?  We believe.  Belief must, by its very nature, lead to practice.   Orthodoxy must result in orthopraxy.  If it does not, we must conclude there has never been belief in the first place, only mental head games, only philosophical debate.  But if you are His, if He has called you, let it show.

We don’t need to be obnoxious about it.  I don’t suppose we even have particular need of a program or a training course.  We just need to live what we believe.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  I think perhaps it’s much easier than we make it out to be.  Perfection is hard.  Impossible, really.  But that’s not what we’re talking about.  Even with real belief in real truth, we understand that the capacity for error is too much in us.  Honestly, that’s part of what we’re called to believe.  “There is none righteous.  No, not one.”  This is the confession of Scripture, and we who believe know all too well the presence of the old man of sin within us.  But we know, too, the real and abiding presence of the very Holy Spirit of God.  We know the reality of God working in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  And we know God wins.  Because He wins, we can work from this place of rest.  We can strive without anxiety.  We can continue in spite of failure, knowing that He’s got us and He who began this work in us is absolutely faithful to complete it.  There’s cause for joy and peace!

Lord, help me to take this to heart, to shine with a joy and peace unspeakable.  Still, I am too much in the way of complaining and carping and stressing.  I know not how to end it, and seem powerless to change it.  I am powerless to change it.  But You are not.  So, I pray that, rather like that old habit of smoking that I tried so hard to address on my own, You might step in and do that which I cannot, that I may begin to do that which I cannot.  Show me the steps to take, and train my feet to take them.  For I would shine better than I do, that You might be seen more clearly.