Tonight, 7 eastern, we begin a new 4 week study, Lord, Show Me Your Glory, on the character of God. All are welcome here in our home, or you can tune in on FB Live at RC-Lisa Sproul.
We are all given to projection with our heroes. That is, we see those who have done well, who have made an impact, and assume the person’s effectiveness flowed out of some quality we admire or think we have. Spike Lee used to insist that what made Michael Jordan Michael Jordan was the shoes. It is tempting, therefore, especially among those of us who have a passion for the study of theology to assume that what animated Luther was his brilliant theological mind. Read through his destruction of Erasmus in The Bondage of the Will and you can tell Luther wasn’t one to back down from a theological battle. Nor was he apt to lose one.
That, in turn, might make us believe the power came from his valor. Luther giving his “Here I stand” speech is surely a picture of courage in action. It’s a quality I admire, that I covet, and that Luther had in spades. He was a man with a brilliant mind and with a stout heart.
My position, however, is that Luther’s greatness flowed not from his riches of mental clarity or his boundless bravery. Instead it flowed from his poverty, more specifically, his poverty of spirit. Luther was used of God to do great things precisely because Luther knew just how small, and how sinful he was. We know that Luther went into the monastery to seek to work off his guilt. We know that he was to monkery what Paul was to Judaism. And he learned, just as Paul learned, that all he could amass through his labors was a bigger pile of judgment. Luther was the man who could not look up, who beat his breast, who cried out, “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner.” Because of that he was the man who went home justified and from there was used to change the world. He did not change the world to earn God’s favor. Rather, having not earned but secured by faith God’s favor, he went forth with the message of the gospel.
Which should remind us of the true affront of Rome. The problem with Rome isn’t merely that they claim for themselves an authority equal to the Word of God. It isn’t merely that they have a deficient view of how it is that a man might find favor with God. Their problem is that in making themselves rather than Jesus the mediators between God and men they leave us holding the bag, having to earn our salvation, an endeavor damned to failure. Luther hung on to the gospel that the church had cast away because he understood that without it there was no way of salvation.
It is not theological precision that wins the crown. It is not boldness that seizes eternity. It is instead brokenness. Our failure is the way to gain His victory, our weakness the way to be rescued by His strength. Our poverty is that by which we are given His riches. Luther heard Jesus, and believed Him, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I tend toward a more Eyeore perspective than most. Others have been blessed with the spiritual gift of enthusiasm. These people don’t enjoy movies or prefer restaurants. No, they live in the realm of the superlatives. They want me to watch the greatest movie ever made, or to eat the greatest meal ever served. Their strength is the ability to give hearty thanks. My strength is keeping things in perspective. God blesses us mightily all the time. But sometimes He blesses us more than other times. We don’t want our righteous gratitude for the former to cast a shadow on the objective goodness of the latter.
We must, in the words of Augustine, learn to love ordinately. For those of you who have forgotten more math than you remember, remember that there are at least two kinds of numbers, cardinal and ordinal. The former simply count- one, two three. The latter work in relationship- first, second, third. Saint Augustine told us that all sin is a failure to love ordinately. We love this more than we should, that less than we should, and so find ourselves needing to repent. I love my wife and I love ice cream. That these are both love relationships doesn’t mean I have escaped the problem of sin. If I love ice cream more than my wife, if it is first, and she is second, I cannot wash away my sin with the cultural wash of “love.”
The Bible explains this kind of temptation. Grass is a wonderful thing, flowers even more so. These, however, fade away. It is the Word of the Lord that endures forever. And this is what we need to set before our eyes, what we need to feast upon. Movies and restaurants come and go. What we need, what our children need, is that which will not only outlast the latest these things, but will outlast the mountains and the seas- the Word of God.
The wisdom of this world, because it is objectively foolishness, is always changing. Thus we are told to put our babies to sleep on their backs, no their stomachs, no their backs. Why oatmeal is good for you and now bad for you. When we are tossed to and fro by these changing winds of doctrine we show ourselves fools. No matter how bright green it may be, no matter how helpful for feeding cows, grass withers. No matter how fragrant the scent, no matter its purported healing properties, flowers fade. The Word of our Lord, however, endures forever. When we feed upon it, we feed upon life. When we are instructed in its wisdom, we are building foundations on the Rock.
The world may sniff at our choices. They may fear that we have missed out. If, however, we stand the wisdom of God, His Word, we will stand against whatever comes down the pike, whatever His future holds. The latest and greatest is the next thing on the ash heap. The tried and true Word, that lasts forever. Hang on to that which cannot slip from your hands, the words of life.
Though I have, from time to time been proud to give that most humble answer to a number of sticky issues, when asked my position- I don’t know- I have more than my fair share of convictions. I likely have positions on more issues than most people know there are issues. In fact, one of my unusual positions, on an issue most people don’t even know is an issue is this- I am anti-movement.
Among my less than common views are these- I believe in head coverings at church. I believe children are a blessing from the Lord. I believe children should worship with their families. I believe all children should be protected by law in their mother’s womb. I believe in celebrating the Lord’s Table each and every Lord’s Day. These, among others of course, are issues that matter to me, issues that I write or speak on from time to time when given the opportunity. I have friends who focus much of their energy on each of these things, and for that I am glad. What concerns me, however, is when we speak of these things, or those who believe in these things as a “movement.”
Perhaps I’m just being cranky. I’ll confess that part of my annoyance is this- people have, from time to time, tried to get me on their team. I have inherited a name that garners quite a bit of respect in certain circles. So if RC Sproul’s son is a part of movement x, well then, there you have, well, something.
The deeper issue, however, is exposed, as is so often the case, by CS Lewis. In The Screwtape Letters the senior demon encourages the junior demon to encourage his “patient” to think of himself as a sort of hyphenated Christian. If his self-identity is Christian-vegetarian, or libertarian-Christian, soon enough vegetarian or libertarian is likely to take over. Pretty soon the patient will find himself forgetting the catholicity of the church. We end up thinking our brothers and sisters in Christ are those who agree with us on this secondary issue and that and seeing those who disagree as the enemy.
Thus the only “movement” I’m a part of is the kingdom of God movement. Like all other saints I’m seeking to make manifest the glory of the reign of Christ over all things. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we forget issues like head coverings, babies as blessings, protecting the unborn. I’m not arguing they don’t matter because they are secondary. Rather we do these things, believe these things, precisely because we are a part of the kingdom of God. Jesus is the movement, and these issues are nothing more nor less than seeking to be submissive to His perfect will. The kingdom doesn’t serve these distinctives. Rather the distinctives serve the kingdom.
I’m not ashamed of what I believe. But I pray I will never be proud of it either. May God give me grace to never pray, “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men. I understand the covenant, believe your Word, and my friends are all just like me.” May I always move down to my knees, beating my breast, praying, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
In one of his less gentle moments with a pen, my father once began an article in Tabletalk magazine this way, “Smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Unless your name is Esau.” While it is certainly true that God loves all people it is not true that He loves them all the same. Nor is it true that He hates no one. Romans 9:13 tells us, “Jacob have I loved; Esau have I hated.” Make all the hay you’d like arguing that hate means “love less” or Jacob means Israel and Esau means Gentiles but it doesn’t change the truth that God does not love everyone the same.
That, however, that is the first place we go when hearing that phrase, “Smile, God loves you” shows us just how ungrateful and myopic we can be. Shouldn’t we, believers who have every assurance that our Father loves us infinitely and immutably, not because we are worthy of such love but because we are in union with the One who is worthy, before we get to logic chopping, proof-texting and buffeting our Arminian friends about the head, smile? Shouldn’t we rejoice? Shouldn’t we give thanks? Should we celebrate? Shouldn’t we repent because we are not grateful and joyful as we should be? And shouldn’t we rejoice all the more that even our ingratitude is covered by the blood of Christ?
I have long held that one good hint about the kind of husband a man is is the demeanor of his wife. Chances are that if she is downcast he is struggling in his role. If, however, she beams, he is likely an important part of that. How much more so we who have collectively not just a successful husband, but the perfect husband in Jesus? Has our perfectly loving husband not told us that we are to rejoice in all things?
To embrace our Father’s embrace, however, is not just good for our spirits. It’s honors Him. Adam and Eve sinned not just because they did what God told them not to, but because they believed that He was unkind, that He was trying to keep them from something good. When we move through our days with a grumbling spirit we act as though He does not care, or as though He is not able we disparage His character, besmirch His honor.
Of course we have hardships, what the Puritans called dark providences. Even these, however, are gifts from His hand. These are the tools He uses to reshape us into the image of His Son. We who are His, through no merit of our own, not only can but must smile, because He loves us. And He does indeed have a wonderful plan for our lives, the best plan imaginable. His plan is to wash us, cleanse us, remake us and then present us to His beloved Son as His bride. Let us beam like the glorious bride He is transforming us into, and give thanks.
