The devil is introduced to us first as being more crafty than any of the beasts of the field (Genesis 3:1). We are reminded in II Corinthians 11:14 that he transforms himself into an angel of light. It is however, because of his craftiness that we forget to look for him as an angel of light. Do we not tend to think the devil shows up when we are overcome with some kind of illicit desire? We think when he begins to influence us we begin to grow fangs, our eyes turn to fire, our muscles go all Hulk-like, and then we pursue our madness like a bull in a china shop. When we fear the devil’s influence on us, this is what we watch for, what we guard against. If we can, by grace keep our more base desires in check, well, we must be fighting the good fight.
The devil usually shows up, however, not with illicit desires but with a “better” plan than God’s plan. Adam and Eve did rightly want to mature, to become more like God. God’s plan to get there was to trust Him, to not eat of the tree. The devil explained they could get there faster if they would just eat. Adam and Eve didn’t begin slobbering and lusting. Instead they simply thought they knew better than God. They thought they could find a better strategy than His.
This pattern is even more clearly revealed at Caesarea Philippi. There, you will remember, Peter wisely confessed the glorious truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus praises Peter for that Spirit wrought insight, and then proceeded to talk about His future, and His deliverance to be put to death. Now while Jesus is explaining what must needs come to pass Peter did not run to his secret lab and chug down a pint of Dr. Jekyll’s special recipe. Instead, out of his love for Jesus, he sincerely, gingerly expressed his conviction that Jesus’ plan wasn’t the wisest course. And Jesus replies, “Get thee behind me Satan.”
Wow. Many a sermon has been built on how this reveals the critical importance of Jesus’ mission to atone for our sins. And rightly so. But I’m afraid too often we miss what this account tells us about our sins. When Jesus tells us what needs to happen, and we contradict Him, no matter how good our intentions, we become Satan, and a hindrance to the kingdom. In like manner when we sweetly, gently encourage the pastor to lay off preaching those sins that make visitors uncomfortable, we are being the devil. When we insist that the session be “reasonable,” “realistic” in dealing with the deep-pocketed man’s unbiblical divorce, because of all the good that can be done as long as he continues to tithe, we are being the devil. When we, with all due concern and compassion, pass along, in the guise of seeking prayer, our brother’s struggle, we are being the devil. When the Word of God commands anything, and we reply in all innocence, “Well, yes, but…” we are the devil.
Our calling, always and everywhere is to affirm our Amen to all that God has spoken. We don’t nuance it, shift it, redirect it, squelch it; we affirm it. We confess that His plan is not only better than ours, but the only plan. Or else we are being the devil, disguised as a well-meaning believer. Which is why when He calls all men everywhere to repent, we say, “Amen.”
What worries you most about your ideological friends? The same thing that worries me most about me.
We are overrun by the cowardice of paper prophets. These thundering heroes build a following and a reputation by denouncing with great vigor and panache the errors of those who are not their audience. They are preaching against Ninevah in Jerusalem, pronouncing woe against Jerusalem in Cleveland. When we do this we get credit, an unearned reputation for courage when all we are really doing is tickling ears
Now I have friends, plenty of them, at varying distances from my ideological sweet spot. And I have plenty of concerns over them, usually their distance from my ideological sweet spot. But what really concerns me is the weaknesses evident among those who are just like me, who believe what I believe.
Of course all sin, sooner or later, traces its origins back to the father of sins the devil, and the mother of sin in him, pride. Check the tag on any given sin and it is apt to declare, “Brought to you by pride.” Pride, however, has numerous nuances, and we are not safe if we avoid their kind of pride, while embracing our own.
We are sinful enough, in fact, that we can be proud of our humility, parading it around so that others will think well of us. We boast that we are the ones good enough to believe in total depravity. We can take our shame and turn it into pride, turning our scarlet A into an adornment. We, people like me, all along the way, we reject the worldliness of a gaudy pride, while nurturing the worldliness of a smug pride. We look down our noses at the world, our brothers and sisters in other wings of the evangelical church, the respectable people in our own wing of the evangelical church, all for looking down their noses at us. We are Smug-ol, alone in our dark cave, caressing our precious ring of orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
It is smugness that worries me, that quite, unassuming assumption that I am not only better than other men, but disdainful of them, beyond them, in possession of the one truth to unite them all.
The solution, of course, is not to deny the power of the truth we have learned. Insofar as our convictions flow out of the Bible, they are indeed eternally precious. Instead the solution, as is so often the case, is gratitude and humility. God did not reveal His truth to us so that we could stroke it in some dark cave. He gave it to us that we might let His light shine before men, and that we might give thanks to the praise of His glory.
Whether one, like the world, is proud of one’s sin, or if one, like me, is proud of one’s right thinking and right doing, one is still caught in the web of pride. What we must cast into the fires is not the righteousness but the pride. What we must do is repent and believe the gospel, giving thanks. People like me need to learn this wisdom from The prophet, that blessed are the poor in spirit, for ours is His kingdom.
Thesis 47 We must always seek to be Christ.
Because we are the heirs of the moderns, metaphors tend to slip right by us. To be sure, we know how to recognize a metaphor. Jesus tells us that He is the door, and we puzzle for a moment trying to imagine Him with hinges. When it doesn’t add up, we conclude, “Must be a metaphor” and happily move on. We think the object of the game is to recognize the metaphor, rather than to enter into it. Paul tells us, for instance, that we are the body of Christ. Recognizing that this isn’t literally the case, we pat Paul on the head for the clever metaphor, and again, move on. We don’t stop to ask what the metaphor is seeking to tell us, what it means, for instance, that the church is the body of Christ.
We note that we, as the body of Christ certainly need to get along with each other. It doesn’t make sense for eyes and ears to be at war with each other. What we miss, however, is that it is the church by which the reality that Christ is with us always is made manifest, or visible. We miss our calling.
Years ago I was preaching through the 10 Commandments. We came to the seventh commandment, the one calling us to not commit adultery. I highlighted all the usual fallout that seems to follow adultery around. I noted the destruction of families, the broken hearts and disrupted lives of little children. I spoke on the shame it brings to the church. But I argued that the greatest problem with breaking the seventh commandment is how it breaks the third commandment. A philandering husband is not just blowing up his own family, but is lying to the whole world about who Jesus is. When Paul draws the analogy between husbands and Jesus, wives and the church in Ephesians 5, he isn’t merely saying what husbands are supposed to be like. Instead he argues that the connection is always there. Unfaithful husbands who claim the name of Christ are “showing” Jesus to be unfaithful.
The same is true more broadly speaking of the church. Just as the wife reflects the glory of her husband (I Corinthians 11) so we the church and the Christians therein are called to show forth the glory of our Husband, Jesus. We’re supposed to show each other and the watching world what and who He is. We are His apostles, His sent ones. This does not mean that we must by all means seek to put our best face forward, according to the watching world. It does mean, however, that we must always seek to show forth His glory. This will be to those who are His a pleasing aroma. To those who are moving from death to death, it will be a stench, and a rock of offense. We must not only do what Jesus would do, but must strive to be what Jesus is.
We are His body, His visible presence in the very world over which He rules. That is a tremendous responsibility, as daunting as it is exciting.
Once again friends we’re going to need to postpone restarting our studies. Hopefully next week we’ll begin The Second Eve, a study on the church.
No, it’s not my birthday. The anniversary of my annual trips around the sun falls on July 1. Today, however, is the anniversary of a birth day that gives me greater joy than my own- the birth of my dear wife. Had it not been the will of God, she would not have been born. Or she might have been born in another era, another place, and He might not have brought us together. But she wasn’t, and He did. For that I give Him thanks.
Truth be told one of the hardships that comes from marrying later in life is, when you love one another as Lisa and I do, you struggle with regrets that you didn’t marry sooner. What if the blessings I’ve received from Lisa had started to bless me decades earlier? This, however, wasn’t God’s plan. And at the end of the day don’t we have to acknowledge that if we are given the choice between choosing our own days and living the life God has planned for us, that He is altogether more trustworthy than we are?
Which is why, though I did not know her when she was born, nor when she was in grade school, nor junior high or high school, though I did not know her when she was in college, or for decades after that, I can celebrate all those benchmarks with her. The things that I missed out on are the very things that have shaped her into what she has become, my deepest earthly blessing. They were the tools in His hand shaping her into who she is.
In this infamous year of 2020 not only have we faced what all of you have faced, a pandemic, riots in our streets, virtual house arrest, but have faced also the loss of Lisa’s mother, strained relationships, five kidney stones, four for me and one for her, multiple surgeries, financial hardship and uncertainty about our future. What does my bride do? She prays with and for me. She, with me, lovingly raises our two boys that are still with us. She risks rejection daily from those she seeks to love and serve. She covers me with blessing and patiently, gently speaks wisdom into my life. In short, she carries on being who she is, carries on being a blessing to all that she touches. She carries on pouring out God’s blessings.
All of which makes today a special day. Lisa’s mother, who loved Lisa as well as she was able, now loves her perfectly, from the other side of the veil. Lisa’s husband, who loves Lisa as well as I am able, walks toward the perfection that awaits me, becoming more like our mutual Husband who loves His bride fully, perfectly and immutably.
My prayer is that He will bless us with many more trips around the sun together, that our adventure in faith will continue, that we will walk into eternity hand in hand. My prayer is that she will be blessed this day and all her days, as she blesses me, our family, her friends and more. Happiest of birthdays my love. Your husband loves you.
