Blessed Are the Persecuted

In 2004, I traveled to Iran with a delegation of Protestant Christians from the United States to meet with the vice president of the Iranian parliament. While in Iran, I preached at the Garden of Evangelism in Tehran, which was founded by the twentieth-century missionary William M. Miller. Over the following days, dozens of Iranian Christians told me stories of the many ways they had been persecuted. Many who had been converted to Christ from Islam had been disowned by their families, shunned and despised by their neighbors, or fired from their jobs. Some had been imprisoned, and one man’s father had even been executed. Many of my Iranian brothers and sisters expressed how they lived under the constant threat of persecution. Many told me how much they would love to live in the United States of America because it is a free country where Christians are not persecuted.

Although we in America are by no means under the same kind of persecution as Christians in Iran, we are beginning to face persecution in unprecedented ways. Many of the freedoms my father fought to defend in World War II are at risk of being stripped away from my children. America is changing rapidly. Following the path of Europe, we are entering a day in America wherein Bible-believing Christians are viewed as suspect and even as traitors to humanity. Relativistic tolerance has become America’s religion, and its dogma is tolerance for anything except Christian dogma. Someday, our grandchildren might find themselves admitting to foreign missionaries their desire to live in a free country where Christians are not persecuted.

AMERICA IS CHANGING, AND RAPIDLY SO.

As Christians of conviction, we will continue to fight for our constitutional freedoms. Yet, in the final analysis, we must always remember that ultimately we fight not against men but against the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12). Ultimately, we fight on our knees, praying for all who are in authority over us (1 Tim. 2:2). We are citizens of our nations, and we are citizens of Christ’s kingdom. As such, we can pray for national leaders even when we must vote against them. We pray for the persecuted and for our persecutors. We love our enemies while praying for their defeat—their coming to the end of themselves in repentance and faith (Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:13; 1 Cor. 4:12–13).

In the face of persecution, we must not lose hope. We must not fear our enemies but fear the Lord as we stand our ground in the battle ahead. Jesus told us we would be persecuted, but He also told us He has overcome the world (Matt. 5:10–12; John 16:33). Regardless of whether we ever die as martyrs for our faith, we are all witnesses of Christ. Though they may imprison us, shun us, despise us, or kill us, they can never really hurt us. For we conquer by dying—humbly dying to self that we may, under any persecution our Lord sovereignly allows, boldly proclaim Christ and Him crucified. And when we are persecuted for Christ’s sake, not for being obnoxious, we can count ourselves blessed. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Christians are not so much in danger when they are persecuted as when they are admired.”

Burk Parsons is editor of Tabletalk magazine and serves as copastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla. He is editor of the book Assured by God: Living in the Fullness of God’s Grace. You can follow him on Twitter @BurkParsons.

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Tabletalk (usps 009-013) is published monthly by Ligonier Ministries, Inc., 421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771. Annual subscription price (12 issues): $23.00. Periodicals postage paid at Lake Mary, FL, and additional mailing offices. The daily Bible studies are copyright 2013, Ligonier Ministries, Inc. Unless noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Ligonier Ministries, 421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771.

How many people do you know that have made it to the hall of fame in music, art, literature, or sports because of their love? We elevate people to the status of heroes because of their gifts, their talents, and their power, but not because of their love. Yet, from God’s perspective, love is the chief of all virtues. But what is love?

Love is said to make the world go round, and romantic love certainly makes the culture go round in terms of advertising and entertainment. We never seem to tire of stories that focus on romance. But we’re not referring to romantic love when we speak of the Christian virtue of love. We’re talking about a much deeper dimension of love, a virtue so paramount that it is to distinguish Christians from all other people. Moreover, love is so important to the Bible’s teachings that John tells us, “God is love” (1 John 4:7–8). Whatever else we say about the Christian virtue of love, we must be clear that the love God commands is a love that imitates His own. The love of God is utterly perfect. And we are called to reflect and mirror that love to perfection, to be perfect as He is perfect (Matt. 5:48). Now, of course, none of us loves perfectly, which is why we must be covered with the perfect righteousness of Christ by faith in Him alone. Nevertheless, it’s important for us to return time and again to Scripture to find out what love is supposed to look like, for we’re so easily satisfied with a sentimental, maudlin, romantic, or superficial understanding of love.

First Corinthians 13 plumbs the depths of what love really means. It’s a measuring rod by which we can examine ourselves carefully to see whether this love resides in our hearts and is manifested in our lives. Given that truth, I’m surprised that 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most popular passages in all of Scripture instead of being one of the most despised. I can’t think of any chapter in Scripture that more quickly reveals our sins than this chapter. It’s popularity may be due to its being one of the most misunderstood and least applied chapters in the Bible. There’s a sense in which we’re ambivalent toward it. We’re drawn to it because of the grandeur of its theme and the eloquence of its language, yet at the same time we’re repulsed by this chapter because it reveals our shortcomings. We want to keep some safe distance from it because it so clearly demonstrates to us our lack of real love.

Without love, the use of the divine power is a charade.

This chapter is part of an Apostolic admonition to Christians who were torn apart by contentions in the church. They were behaving in an immature, fleshly manner, and at the heart of this ungodly behavior was a manifestation of certain talents, abilities, and gifts without the presence of love in their lives. In the opening verses, Paul speaks of love as the sine qua non of Christian virtue (1 Cor. 13:1–3). He’s speaking with hyperbole, intentionally exaggerating things to make his point. He starts off comparing love to the gift of tongues. Paul says, in effect, “I don’t care if you are fluent in fifty languages or if you have the gift to speak foreign languages miraculously. I don’t care if God has endowed you with the ability to speak the language of the heavenly host. If you don’t have love, the eloquence of your speech becomes noise. It becomes dissonance, an irritating and annoying racket.” He says here that if we speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, we become a sounding brass or a clanging symbol—mere noise. All the beauty of speech is lost when love is absent.

Paul then compares love to the gifts of prophecy and understanding, miraculous endowments that God gave to people during the Apostolic era. These tremendous gifts were nothing compared to love. The Apostle says that you can have a miraculous endowment, you can receive power from God the Holy Spirit, but it is to be used in the context of the grace of love. And without that love, the use of the divine power is a charade. Jesus had to warn even His own disciples about the danger of using a God-given gift without love. Jesus empowered His disciples to participate in His ministry of exorcism, and they went out on their mission and came back clicking their heels. They were so excited at the effectiveness of their ministry that they were rejoicing in the power Christ had given them. But what did Jesus say? Don’t rejoice because you have been given power over Satan, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven (Luke 10:1–20). The disciples were caught up with the power instead of the grace that was underlying that power. They were intoxicated with the gift, and were forgetting the One who gave it.

The bottom line is that the gifts of God can be used without love. When that happens, their value is destroyed. The essence of love, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, is to seek the welfare of others. A person who reflects God’s love is driven to give of himself for others, not to wield his power for his own benefit. But we are people who are more interested in power, in doing rather than being. We’re more concerned to seize the supernatural power that God can give rather than the supernatural love that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). We have misplaced priorities. Thanks be to God that His love for us is greater than our love for Him. May He strengthen us to pursue love above all else, a love that reflects His love for us in Christ (5:8).

Dr. R.C. Sproul is founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and the author of more than ninety books, including God’s Love: How the Infinite God Cares for His Children.

Jesus told His disciples: “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). He promised that if we follow Him, we will be persecuted. But what does that mean? What does the Bible actually teach about this important issue?

Two experiences that I had as a young pastor have helped clarify my understanding of Christian persecution—that is, the kind of which the Bible speaks as inevitably coming against followers of Christ.

The first was with a young professional who was full of love for Jesus and zeal to see the gospel spread. Steve became burdened about an unconverted coworker and saw it as his Christian duty to witness to this man in an effort to persuade him to become a believer. His zeal caused him to spend hours of his time at work talking to his friend about salvation and explaining the gospel to him.

When his boss warned him to stop “pushing his religion while on the clock” Steve took it as an affront to the lordship of Christ and refused. After he was fired, he told me his story in terms of suffering for his faith. Steve saw himself as having been persecuted by his boss.

The other experience involved meeting a pastor who spent twenty years in a Communist prison because he refused to quit preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I met Samuel Lamb while visiting the church that gathered in his home in Guangzhou, China. After two hours of worship in cramped conditions, our group of ten American pastors was invited to talk with Pastor Lamb at length.

I will never forget his response to one of our questions about persecution and the advance of the gospel. “In America,” he said, “the church has experienced prosperity and is growing weaker. In China, the church has experienced persecution and growing stronger. Persecution is much better than prosperity.”

Both of those experiences have helped me frame two important questions involving what constitutes Christian persecution. Steve’s comments raise the question, “Can Christians claim to be persecuted anytime they are treated harshly or are mistreated?” Pastor Lamb’s comments cause me to ask, “Is persecution limited to severe actions like imprisonment or the infliction of physical pain?”

Steve saw himself as a martyr because he was fired for talking to his coworker about Christ. From my vantage point, however, it was not Steve’s faith that provoked his dismissal. It was his failure to put in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay, even after he was warned. Though talking about Christ is a good thing, doing so at the expense of your employer is a bad thing.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10). Steve stole time from his employer and suffered the consequences of his thievery. He did not lose his job for the sake of righteousness, or “doing good” but “for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:17). If the reason a believer experiences opposition is due to anything other than his identity with and devotion to Christ, then what happens to him is not Christian persecution.

Peter specifically forbids Christians from thinking that all suffering is necessarily Christian persecution. “Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler” (1 Peter 4:15; see 2:20). When Christians suffer for doing what God forbids, they are not experiencing Christian persecution and must not twist Scripture in an attempt to comfort themselves with the promises that are designed for those who suffer because of their faith in Christ.

If the reason a believer experiences opposition is due to anything other than his identity with and devotion to Christ, then what happens to him is not Christian persecution.

Pastor Lamb spoke in generalities when he described the church in China as persecuted and the church in America as prosperous. To a certain extent, this generalization is warranted. Who can deny the vast differences between living as a Christian in America versus living as a Christian in China?

It is legitimate to speak of “the persecuted church” when thinking of those places in the world where our brothers and sisters are systematically attacked with harshness and even physical violence because of their faith. However, we must be careful not to limit our understanding of persecution to those extreme situations. The beheadings, mutilations, stonings, and imprisonments that are regularly carried out against Christians simply because they are Christians are examples of severe persecution. But the Bible does not limit its definition of persecution to certain levels of severity.

When we intentionally live according to the way of Christ, we can count on meeting opposition from those who hate Christ.

It is not just physically violent acts that constitute persecution. Lesser forms of opposition to followers of Christ are also included. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matt. 5:11). He mentions three categories of opposition. The first and third are exclusively verbal, and the second includes both verbal and physical assaults. Christian persecution encompasses all of them.

When a believer is spoken to derisively or abusively because of his devotion to Christ, he is at that point experiencing persecution. Granted, it is not as severe as the violence that is carried out against those who are made to suffer physically because of their faith, but it is nonetheless real. The same is true for slanderous accusations that are made about believers because of their devotion to Christ.

When we experience such things, Jesus tells us that we should “rejoice and be glad” for two reasons—first, because our reward will be “great in heaven” and second, because in the same way “they persecuted the prophets who were before [us]” (Matt. 5:12). In Luke’s parallel passage, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man,” again invoking the experience of the prophets who lived long before (6:22–23). With this language, He expands the idea of persecution to include even attitudes and dispositions of hatred.

We must be careful not to limit our understanding of the nature of persecution to those obvious and extreme situations.

So, Christian persecution can include a wide variety of responses to believers—from scorn, hatred, and ridicule to physical violence, imprisonment, and death. But for such opposition, no matter how mild or severe, to be regarded as persecution in the biblical sense, it must be provoked by the believer’s devotion to Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

This helps make sense of Paul’s statement that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12) and Jesus’ promise that His followers will face persecution “for my sake and for the gospel” (Mark 10:29–30). Every Christian should expect to experience persecution, not all in the same way, but all for the same reason—because of uncompromising devotion to Jesus.

Our Lord experienced opposition. Hatred against Him led to His crucifixion. Those who follow Him must realize that by identifying with Jesus, we are inviting into our lives the very opposition that came against Him. He said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

Followers of a persecuted master will themselves be persecuted. When we intentionally live according to the way of Christ, we can count on meeting opposition from those who hate Christ. Whether that opposition comes in severe forms of physical violence, imprisonment, and loss of life or in comparatively benign forms of a low grade on a school paper, loss of position on a sports team, or being mocked by family and friends, if it is provoked by submission to Christ and obedience to His commands, it is Christian persecution.

We must not call every affliction that comes into a Christian’s life persecution. That designation should be reserved for opposition that arises because of devotion to Christ. Neither should we dismiss lesser degrees of persecution because they do not result in bloodshed. Instead, we should remember that the trail that our Savior blazed for us is a path of suffering and death. As we follow Him and refuse to compromise our devotion to Him, when persecution comes—in whatever form it comes—we should be encouraged by this admonition of Peter:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:12–13)

Dr. Tom Ascol is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla. He is executive director of Founders Ministries, an organization committed to reformation and revival in local churches.

The horrific ruthlessness of ISIS, the brazen cruelty of Boko Haram, the obsessive repression of the North Korean Juche, the vicious terrorism of al-Qaeda—I confess that when confronted with the persecution of my Christian brothers and sisters around the world in recent days, I am shocked. But I know I shouldn’t be. Long ago, the Apostle Paul asserted, “All those who desire to live godly lives will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). There is no way around it. Persecution is inevitable.

Throughout church history, believers have suffered persecution and obscurity. They have been beaten, ridiculed, defrocked, and defamed. They have suffered poverty, isolation, betrayal, and disgrace. They have been hounded, harassed, and murdered. The heroes of the faith have always been those who sacrificed their lives, fortunes, and reputations for the sake of the gospel. Indeed, persecution and martyrdom have been among the church’s highest callings and greatest honors.

In the first three centuries of the church, from Nero to Diocletian, Roman imperial and provincial persecutions were fierce. Tradition tells us of gladiators in the Colosseum, lions in the Circus Maximus, and staked pyres in the Forum as threatening the earliest believers. They were forced into a precarious, often secretive existence, living on the margins of society and meeting in catacombs, caverns, and copse (thicket of trees) hideaways. Yet they persevered. As Tertullian quipped, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Despite the spread of the gospel from the fourth to the sixth centuries, the hazards of persecution remained a lamentable feature of everyday life. Whether from marauding barbarian bands along the Germanic frontiers or from doctrinal and ideological rivals at home, faithful men such as Athanasius and Augustine were often forced to stand contra mundum, “against the world.”

The rise of Islam out of the desolate Arabian Peninsula and its subsequent westward expansion posed new threats to Christians throughout Byzantium and across the North African shore. From the seventh to the eleventh centuries, the Christian heartland was crushed under the weight of Islamic invasions. The plunder of churches, the rape of Christian women, the torture of priests and monks, the pilfering of villages and towns, and the occupation of the territories sent shudders of horror throughout the West—eventually prompting the efforts of the Crusaders.

Throughout the medieval age, Islam remained a persistent danger to believers, both in the conquered lands of the old Christian East and along the frontiers of the West. Invading Assassini armies marched to the gates of Vienna; marauding Ottoman armies controlled the eastern Mediterranean. Their policy of enforced servitude for Christians who would not convert to Islam threatened to swallow up the last remnants of the faithful. There were other dangers to Christians as well—from the Teutonic tribes of the north, from the last of the pagan Viking warlords, and even from overzealous inquisitors.

With the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries came a new wave of persecution. Many believers were, in the words of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, “bound to relinquish not only goods and children, but life itself, for the glory of their Redeemer.” A vast host were swept away in the wars that raged across Europe: the German Peasants’ War (1524–25), the Battle of Kappel (1531), the Schmalkaldic War (1546–47), the Huguenot repression (1562–98), the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–51).

The Age of Discovery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries afforded new opportunities for missionary deployment around the world. Plunging into the darkest jungles, trekking across the harshest deserts, and sailing along the deepest seas brought new dangers—for both the missionaries and their first disciples. The story of the great missions movement cannot be told apart from the terrible sacrifices made by faithful followers of Jesus.

The heroes of the faith have always been those who sacrificed their lives, fortunes, and reputations for the sake of the Gospel.

Astonishingly, though, it has been the twentieth century, along with the first decade and a half of the twenty-first, that has seen the greatest increase in persecution. According to ministries such as Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs, more Christians have been killed for their faith in the last century than in all other ages combined. The lethal assault against the church by the minions of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Idi Amin, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro, Kim Il-sung, and Pol Pot unleashed untold horrors. In prison cells, gulags, concentration camps, detention centers, torture chambers, reeducation centers, and labor camps, millions were (and still are) sacrificed on the bloodied secular altars of the proletarian utopia.

Now, with the rise of a new generation of Shiite, Wahhabi, Salafi, and Sunni jihadists, a new tidal wave of persecution threatens devastation and destruction to Christians and non-Christians alike.

None of this should come as a surprise. It seems that the greatest glory, majesty, piety, courage, vision, humility, and grace the world has ever known has always been marred by the “Judas kiss” of disaster and disgrace. Jesus explained this reality to His disciples, saying:

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:18–20)

In light of all this, how should we then live? According to Scripture, it is incumbent upon us to comfort one another (2 Cor. 1:4), “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2), and “encourage one another and build up one another” (1 Thess. 5:11). The mandate to care for one another and all those who suffer—even in the midst of our own travails—rings as clear as a clarion down through the ages (Rom. 12:10–16).

Some of the most inspiring examples of faith in history are invariably those instances when the family of God has actually acted like a family and when the household of faith has actually functioned as a household. They have been when the church served as Christ’s own instrument of mercy, when it became a kind of medicine of immortality to the dying denizens of the world. As E.M. Bounds said, “The easy smile, the temperate deportment, and the contented visage of successful and prosperous Christians can but impress few, but the determined faithfulness, the long-suffering fellowship, and the stalwart compassion of yokefellows in hardship is certain to convey the hope of grace to many.”

It has been the twentieth century, along with the first decade and a half of the twenty-first, that has seen the greatest increase in persecution in all of church history.

Like so many before and after him, Bounds discovered the beauty of fellowship, the strength of communion, and the brilliance of grace at a time when ugliness, weakness, and dullness seemed most certain to prevail in his life. It was only as he witnessed the service of the true church during his bitterest days of adversity that he began to comprehend the place and power of prayer—a comprehension that would in later years bring blessing to generations of readers through his many incisive books.

Merciful service in the face of suffering is “often the glue that holds together the varied fragments of the confessing church,” Romanian pastor Josef Tson says. It affords the church “strong bonds of unity, compassion, and tenderheartedness,” Russian evangelist Georgi Vins says. “In the face of tyranny, oppression, and humiliation, the church has no option but to be the church,” Croatian pastor Josep Kulacik asserts. “Disguised as evil, persecution comes to us as an ultimate manifestation of God’s good providence,” Bosnian Christian leader Frizof Gemielic says, “because it provokes us toward a new-found dependence upon His grace, upon His Word, and upon His people. It is in that sense a paradoxical blessing perhaps even more profound than prosperity.”

Our response to the “fragrance of oppression,” as Herbert Schlossberg has dubbed the sufferings of our world, is perhaps the single most significant indicator of the health of the church. After all, it is in “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleeplessness, and hunger” (2 Cor. 6:4–5) that our mettle is ultimately proven. In a day of heightened awareness of the plight of the persecuted church, may that mettle indeed be proven anew.

Merciful service in the face of suffering is “often the glue that holds together the varied fragments of the confessing church.”

Dr. George Grant is pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Franklin, Tenn., chancellor of New College Franklin, and president of King’s Meadow Study Center. He is author of The Micah Mandate.

Bashir (not his real name) frequented our church gatherings when he was in town. He is a good friend of some of our members, and his faith is a constant encouragement to me. The day after Christmas in 2010, everything changed for Bashir when the police dragged him and sixty other Christians out of their homes. Husbands and wives were separated; moms were taken away from their nursing babies. Our church helped Bashir’s wife and two children flee their country as refugees, but Bashir is still in prison. According to the latest court ruling, he will remain in jail until the end of 2017 (and perhaps indefinitely). Recently, he had a year added to his sentence when he was falsely accused of possessing alcohol. Bashir is enduring emotional and physical abuse. In April 2014, his foot and toes were broken when a guard smashed his boot down on Bashir’s bare foot. Several days passed before he received medical care.

Sadly, Bashir’s story is not an isolated one. The headline of one news article I saw recently read: “200,000 Christians at risk of massacre in Nigeria.” In February, news circulated around the world of twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians who were beheaded in Libya. A family who is new to our church had to leave their home in Central Asia after a bomb exploded across the street and destroyed their house. Three Christians who worked in that same country were recently martyred—they had prayed and sung with us just a few days before their deaths. One woman in our church asked for prayer after her nieces and nephews were killed in an attack in a Pakistani school where more than one hundred children were massacred.

In the West, we notice a subtly increasing form of persecution creeping into the workplace, political square, and even churches. Believers have seen increased restrictions placed upon them as they seek to be faithful to live out what they believe. Christians are losing their livelihoods and reputations.

How should we think about the persecution around us?

THE REALITY OF PERSECUTION

Persecution shouldn’t catch Christians off guard. Jesus told us to expect that difficult days would come because we are not of this world. Jesus says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). Christians are new creations in Christ—we are fundamentally different from the world, so the world detests us. Paul speaks to this same fate for faithful Christians. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). Deliberately, Paul doesn’t say that believers might be persecuted or that godly Christians could very well endure some persecution on occasion. It’s a done deal. A faithful, godly Christian will be persecuted.

The Apostle Peter adds to this symphony of biblical writing on persecution, saying, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). Peter is preparing us for the normative Christian life. Persecution is not for just a few Christians—the Bible tells us persecution will happen to all Christians.

George Whitefield, the great evangelist in the First Great Awakening, knew that trials would be part of his experience, and they came in abundance. He wrote upon graduating from Oxford:

I am now about to take Orders and my degree, and go into the world. What will become of me I know not. All I can say is I look for perpetual conflicts and struggles in that life and hope for no other peace, but only a cross, while on this side of eternity.

Whitefield clearly understood what awaited him—a life of difficulty and opposition.

OUR HOPE IN PERSECUTION

Persecution is neither strange nor surprising. It is also not meaningless. The Apostle Peter goes on to write these words: “Let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). Suffering persecution is not outside the will of God. God is sovereign over all things, including our pain, suffering, and Satan’s attacks. We have every reason to hope in God because He is not surprised, He does not take risks, and He is able to overcome anything. Psalm 135:6 says, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”

An oft-noted result of persecution is that through the Lord’s sovereignty, great movements of the gospel spread across the land. In the book of Acts, Stephen was martyred and the church scattered, preaching the gospel as they went throughout Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth.

God’s blessing comes to those who are persecuted. Jesus preached these words: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10). Peter takes up the same theme:

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (1 Peter 4:13–14)

There is blessing for the persecuted and there is cause for rejoicing.

We have hope in persecution because we are made for another place. We are “citizens” of heaven (Phil. 3:20). We are by nature strangers, foreigners, and even exiles in this world (1 Peter 1:1). Our eternal passport is not Kenyan, Indian, Filipino, or Canadian. In God’s kingdom, we no longer receive our identities from the place we were born, but from the place into which we were born again for all eternity. This is why the world doesn’t feel like home. This is why we face persecution: we’re of another place.

Fellow Christian, a day is coming when there will be no more sickness and death. No more imprisonments and slander. We will not suffer the anxiety of car bombs or kidnappings. The downtrodden and depressed will sing of their never-ending gladness in Jesus. God will dwell among us forever.

The gospel is good news for the persecuted because there is nothing we can do to lose God’s grip on our lives. Peter says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). The gospel is not about getting you to heaven—it’s about getting you to God. The good news of the gospel is that we get God. I’ve often heard R.C. Sproul say that a better way to describe the doctrine of perseverance of the saints is to say the “preservation of the saints.” God won’t stop short of bringing us home. Even though our bodies might be destroyed on this earth, God will keep us to the end. We can entrust our souls to the living God of the universe (1 Peter 4:19). Our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us by God Himself. It is guarded through God’s power (1:3–4).

The gospel is good news for the persecuted because there is nothing we can do to lose God’s grip on our lives.

PRESSING ON

Thankfully, Bashir has stood strong in prison over the past four years. In fact, he is a shining light in a dark place, so much so that a son of one of the country’s leaders (who shared a cell with Bashir) commented on his sweet nature and remarked on video how beloved Bashir is among the inmates. He continues to proclaim the gospel with hope that Jesus is in control and will come back to make all things right. Bashir wrote these words in a letter to his father:

The narrow way that I am passing through I see as a cup that my Beloved has given me, and I will drink it to the end, whatever that end might be. What really matters is that I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine. This possibly is the sweetest truth of my life that I am His and He is mine.

Let us press on in the same way, understanding that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17–18). As a result, “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (v. 16). Blessed are those who are persecuted.

God won’t stop short of bringing us home. Even though our bodies might be destroyed on this earth, God will keep us to the end.

Rev. Dave Furman is senior pastor at Redeemer Church of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must be regarded as the first of their political institutions; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it.”

So wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 travelogue Democracy in America. Religion as observed by the Frenchman enjoyed no prejudicial role in America. The country, unlike many in Europe, recognized no state church. Yet Tocqueville’s observation that religion was “the first of their political institutions” is equally revealing. A thousand denominations and spiritual movements flourished in the country, lending it a unique cast.

Americans have always been an insatiably spiritual people. Religious liberty, acceptance of foreigners, and a thriving parachurch world offering social uplift have left a tremendous mark on this land. All this is now changing. America finds itself in a mortal struggle for its soul. The country, as represented by its founding fathers, came together as a unique alliance of genuinely religious leaders and Enlightenment partisans, as historian George Marsden has shown in The Twilight of the American Enlightenment. John Witherspoon signed the same document as Thomas Jefferson. This coalition has fractured in 2015.

Today, the Judeo-Christian worldview is hotly contested in America, while the leading class of influencers skews skeptical or “progressive” in their views. America has been profoundly shaped by spirituality, and in particular evangelical spirituality. Now, genuine Christians find themselves on the cultural margins. The means of this marginalization? Sexual ethics, primarily. To oppose the enshrinement of same-sex marriage, transgender identity, and polyamorous practices is to mark oneself as an opponent of progress, liberty, and equality.

The Enlightenment, in sum, is engulfing the First Great Awakening. In such a cultural moment, what does the future hold for the followers of Christ?

First, we will face opposition and even persecution for our beliefs. Christians stand with God against the culture. The culture will not take kindly to this. We should expect that it will oppose us, marginalize us, and even persecute us. Christian organizations that hold to a biblical view of marriage and sexuality could lose nonprofit status. Perhaps most sweepingly, Christians who work in secular settings will likely face pressure to conform to the prevailing sexual code or else lose their position.

I believe that this may well constitute the next major push of the “new sexual secularism.” The academy has already introduced biased policies against Christian groups on campus—groups that require leaders to practice biblical ethics. The media has pounded Christians who dare to bring their faith to bear on their work. The state has passed legislation and handed down verdicts to normalize scandalously sinful sexual practices. Now, it is likely that the marketplace will prove the next battleground.

Second, Christian organizations may have to adjust the scale of their operations. It is possible that outcomes in upcoming elections could slow the momentum of the culture. But if current trends continue, churches and organizations doing vital work for Christ’s kingdom should prepare for a season of adjustment, even decreased fiscal capacity.

If we witness the spread of marketplace opposition, then giving to ministries will likely dip. If this is true, then now is the time for every church and parachurch outfit to plan for winter. We trust a great God, but like the industrious ant, we also work while there is day (Prov. 6:6). Financial discipline and gospel exigency must be practiced by all Christians. The church may face serious challenges as a result of political fallout. This does not mean that ministry will cease. Christ’s kingdom never dies; the light of the Word never goes out. But we may be led to minister in situations that challenge us as never before. If so, they call for fresh wisdom and fresh faith.

America finds itself in a mortal struggle for its soul. . . . The coalition between genuinely religious leaders and Enlightenment partisans has fractured.

Third, we will minister to a people who are suffering the effects of rampant sin. There will be profound moral and spiritual consequences of the new sexual secularism. America is in the midst of a spiritual un-awakening. In everyday terms, this means that human suffering in America will increase. Children will be less protected. Families will feel pressure to pull apart. Marriages will prove harder to sustain. Lostness, the chief form of suffering in this world, will spread.

The witness of God on the human heart will be silenced by a culture that approves of what we naturally know is wicked and damaging. To isolate just one issue, as transgender identity spreads and is accepted, little boys and girls who years ago would have received sound counsel to inhabit their God-given bodies will instead be encouraged to undergo drastic surgery. They will experience profound confusion as a result, and will be—by some estimates—twenty times more likely to commit suicide than their peers. This is just one illustration of the baleful effects of the forces that now bully our body politic into conformity to anti-wisdom and anti-truth.

Fourth, we will discover countless gospel opportunities we did not previously notice. Despite these ill portents, we should see the darkening of our context as a gospel opportunity. The church was made for this. The gospel was given for this. The Spirit is ready for this. We might not have wished for these changes, but they have come, and God’s people must recognize that we are ready for them.

We might love the American past, but now is a time to see that our beloved country is, was, and will be fallen. It is not the New Israel. It is a unique place, a grand experiment, but like all the countries and cultures of the world, it needs the gospel desperately. This message is not supposed to make us tame and comfortable. Christ crucified and raised for our justification is intended to unleash us, embolden us, and put us to work. Christianity is much more about serious adventure than sentimentalized safety. It is much more about faith in suffering than ease in prosperity. It is much more about death—death to sin and self—than it is about personal affirmation and precious moments.

We are having the layers of easy-believism stripped away. We are being winnowed and woken up. But we do not flail as a result. We find ourselves in circumstances more like those which past believers faced. It shocks us, but we’re beginning to get a little taste of what Egypt might have felt like, or Babylon, or Rome.

There will be no retreat of the church. We will never stop witnessing unto life. We will never cease to minister the gospel. We will not forget the holy Apostles. We remember how they welcomed the jail cell, the Roman prison ship, the hair-raising tribunal. In any and all settings, they preached Christ. They went so far as to believe that God had not only permitted such moments, but had appointed them for His glory (Acts 5:41). They saw suffering with Christ as a privilege, much as this challenges our material sensibilities. We must not forget that if the church is unsettled, it is not by accident. It is by divine design, and it will be used for divine purposes.

America is in the midst of a spiritual un-awakening. In everyday terms, this means that human suffering in America will increase.

While we live, like the priests of old in fallen Jerusalem, we may weep (Ezra 3:11–13). We cannot forget the millions of babies driven into the afterlife at abortion clinics. We cannot erase the suffering felt in fatherless homes and families detonated by selfish sin and bitter divorce. We cannot help but think back to past days, happy days, that celebrated the good of religious people and did not seek their undoing. All these trends speak to fallenness. All of them deserve our tears.

We will weep. But we will also dry our eyes. We will rise to our feet. Whether in a gated community, a busy city, a tense workroom, a chilly playgroup, or a prison cell, we will never cease to speak and to minister the gospel. The gospel was not made for quiet days and easy questions. It was made for the toughest stuff, the worst of times, the hardest of circumstances.

What does the future hold? The future will bring suffering. The days will be evil, as they have been (Eph. 5:16). But the future is bright, because God is real. The church must take heart. We have a living Lord. When history concludes, we will reign with unbroken bodies in a world of love. We will worship the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the earth. There is no life like this life. There is no hope like this hope. There is no God like our God.

Christianity is much more about serious adventure than sentimentalized safety. It is much more about faith in suffering than ease in prosperity.

Dr. Owen Strachan is assistant professor of Christian theology and church history at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE

RESPONDING TO PERSECUTION

JOHN MACARTHUR

The signers of the American Declaration of Independence were just a few generations removed from the first European settlers, many of whom came to the New World to escape religious persecution. A commitment to freedom of religion was therefore woven into the fabric of American culture and supposedly guaranteed in perpetuity by the Constitution. From our country’s founding until today, Christians in America have faced relatively little persecution.

By the end of World War II, however, American attitudes toward religion had begun to shift. Courts, educational institutions, the entertainment industry, and legislative bodies all seemed to adopt a bias against religion. By the 1960s, small but vocal groups of militant atheists had begun to argue that what the Constitution really warrants is freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion.

We now live in a secular culture, governed by secularists, driven by worldviews that are hostile to biblical principles. Expressions of religious faith are often banned from public discourse—sometimes by societal pressure, sometimes by legal injunctions.

Still, the persecution we face in Western democracies is far milder than what many believers have endured throughout church history. Multitudes have paid for their faith with their lives. Even now in countries under Islamic rule, Christians are being put to death for what they believe. It’s not inconceivable, however, that brutal forms of physical persecution and stricter forms of legal harassment will soon threaten Christians in the West. What are Christians to do?

Many evangelicals seem to think political activism is the best answer. For decades, Western evangelicals have been responding to cultural shifts and legislative setbacks with boycotts, demonstrations, public protests, get-out-the-vote campaigns, and angry rhetoric. That strategy so far has not kept our culture’s spiritual decline from steadily accelerating. More important, such tactics have done little to advance the gospel.

No wonder. There is no biblical mandate for that approach and no such example from the leadership of Christ or the Apostles. Scripture calls for a different kind of response: “Bless those who persecute you” (Rom. 12:14). Notice the imperative. That is not a command to be passive and nonresistant. Quite the contrary, it calls for an active response. We are to bless our persecutors.

That certainly seems counterintuitive. The carnal mind will instantly suggest reasons why it’s a bad idea. But Scripture is consistent. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27–28).

WHAT JESUS CALLS FOR IS NOT MERELY A FEELING OR AN ATTITUDE. HE HAS SOMETHING MORE IN MIND THAN A VERBAL BENEDICTION. HE IS INSTRUCTING US TO RESPOND TO PERSECUTION WITH ACTS OF LOVINGKINDNESS TOWARD THOSE WHO OPPRESS US.

Again, the verbs are active and transitive. What Jesus calls for is not merely a feeling or an attitude. He has something more in mind than a verbal benediction. He is instructing us to respond to persecution with acts of lovingkindness toward those who oppress us (vv. 29–30).

Our Lord goes on to say, in essence, that to “bless” those who persecute us is to treat them as friends—or more specifically, as we ourselves would wish to be treated (vv. 31–38).

These were not mere words. In His dying moments, Christ interceded on behalf of those who crucified Him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Stephen, the first Christian martyr, responded in precisely the same way in behalf of those who stoned him (Acts 7:60).

Ultimately, there is no better way to bless those who persecute us than by showing them the truth of the gospel. As a matter of fact, that is the only appropriate way to respond when suffering for Christ’s sake (1 Peter 2:21–23).

Everything proud and fleshly in us screams against such a strategy. But here’s a reminder: it is a token of divine blessing and a cause for rejoicing when God counts us worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake (Acts 5:41). To suffer on His account, Christ taught, is the very pinnacle of blessing (Matt. 5:10–11). Moreover, Scripture says it is inevitable that believers who truly seek to be faithful will suffer at the hands of those who hate Christ (John 15:18–20).

Some Western Christians, accustomed to a comfortable faith without much threat of persecution, imagine that if the world hates Christians and their message, it can only be our own fault. We must adjust the message, they think. Perhaps we can tone down the offense of the gospel, or make ourselves more winsome by adopting the badges of worldly culture. Be seeker-sensitive, they say.

That, unfortunately, is the course many American evangelical leaders have championed for the past half-century. But frankly, seeker-sensitive religion has been a monumental spiritual failure. The quest for worldly esteem leads to spiritual disaster (James 4:4). That itch for the world’s favor causes people to go to shameful extremes in order to avoid saying or doing anything that might cost them esteem in the eyes of unbelievers—even denying what they know to be true. However, Christ’s charge to us as believers is not to avoid the world’s contempt, but to respond rightly to it, as He Himself gave us the perfect example.

But what if the world’s hatred does reach the point where our very lives are threatened?

Truly following Christ means being willing to die for Him. That principle, after all, is built right into His call to discipleship (Matt. 16:24–26).

Dr. John MacArthur is pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., and president of The Master’s College and Seminary. He is author of dozens of books, including Twelve Ordinary Men and One Perfect Life.

SEEK YE FIRST

ROOM 101

R. C. SPROUL JR.

There is a simple enough test to see if someone has actually read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. All you have to do is utter the words “Room 101” and look to see if the person shudders. Those who have merely heard of the book, or of that particular allusion may recognize it, but will not react viscerally to it. If you read through the account of Winston’s fateful trip to Room 101, its mere mention hits you in the gut.

Throughout Orwell’s novel, we are given a picture of a brutal future, ruled by the virtually omnipresent Big Brother. Every step is prescribed, every action watched, even every thought monitored. Our “hero,” however, out of an inchoate love for the fair Julia, becomes a rebel with a cause—to serve with his beloved against Big Brother in hopes of bringing him down. The two are caught in their revelries and placed under arrest. It turns out their purported contact with the underground was just another agent of Big Brother.

Orwell doesn’t dive right into Room 101. Rather, he leads us there slowly. Winston’s anguish begins first with hunger as he is jailed and given nothing to eat. What follows next is days, perhaps weeks, of interrogation and extreme torture. Over time, Winston confesses to all he has done and not done. He even confesses that the Party is the arbiter of all truth, indeed that 2+2=5. He is broken, beaten, a shell of his former self. All that he has left is peace in knowing that in all his confessing, in all his repenting, he never turned on Julia. There was still a hidden corner of his heart that Big Brother could not penetrate and make his own.

Which is just why Winston was brought to Room 101. There is nothing particularly unique in this room. Rather, each prisoner brought to Room 101 faces his own deepest fear. For Winston, it is rats. There are just two rats, and they are safely caged. The cage, however, has an odd design. It is a special apparatus that could be, indeed would be, strapped around Winston’s head with the door to each cage opening right at his eyes. The rats, having been starved, would escape through Winston. As the cage is brought closer, he does not merely scream in fright and beg for safety but pleads that someone else be given the cage, anyone else—even Julia. “Do it to Julia!” he screams, now fully and finally broken.

Which brings me to my deepest fear—my Room 101 betrayal. Persecution comes in as many sizes and shapes as there are Rooms 101. Some experience the comparatively petty persecution of mild social ostracism, others face death, and still others torture. What history teaches us, however, is that whatever form persecution takes, it is often our brothers who lead us there. That is, those believers who crave acceptance and safety are the first ones to throw their brothers under the bus. By doing so, they prove their loyalty to the regime and their distance from the family.

IT IS, REMEMBER, IN THE SAME SERMON THAT JESUS CALLS US TO SEEK HIS KINGDOM THAT HE TELLS US WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE ARE PERSECUTED FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE. THE QUESTION IS, WILL WE BELIEVE IT? WILL WE ACCEPT HIS SHAME AS OUR HONOR, OR WILL WE HONOR THEM TO OUR SHAME? WILL WE REMEMBER THAT LOVE TOWARD THE WORLD IS HATRED TOWARD GOD? WILL WE BE THE BETRAYERS, OR WILL WE HAVE THE BLESSING OF BEING THE BETRAYED?

Consider two examples, one ancient, the other current. The Roman Empire did not have a careful and sophisticated taxonomy of the people they conquered. To them, the Jews were the Jews. The key reason the Pharisees hated Jesus so much was less that He was popular while they were not, less that He exposed their folly, and more that He was a danger. As the people looked to Jesus to throw off the yoke of Rome, the Pharisees understood that Roman reprisals for such a rebellion wouldn’t be nuanced. They would all be killed. So, they handed Jesus over to Pilate, insisting, “He’s not one of us.”

In our day, the danger is social ostracism, especially regarding the issue of sexual morality. With each passing day, the biblical sexual ethic is looked upon more and more as not merely quaint and old fashioned but oppressive, bigoted, and immoral. Which is why certain wings of the church have been, and will be, so quick to jump on the bandwagon. Which is why every week or so we read about another megachurch pastor coming out in favor of homosexual marriage. Which is why adultery and fornication and the fruit thereof—abortion—are dead issues in our pulpits. “We’re not like them. Hate those bigots down the street from us. We’re loving and accepting. Turn your bile on them, but give us a pass.”

What then do we do? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is, remember, in the same sermon that Jesus calls us to seek His kingdom that He tells us we are blessed when we are persecuted for His name’s sake. The question is, will we believe it? Will we accept His shame as our honor, or will we honor them to our shame? Will we remember that love toward the world is hatred toward God (James 4:4)? Will we be the betrayers, or will we have the blessing of being the betrayed?

Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. is rector and chair of philosophy and theology at Reformation Bible College. He is author of the book and series Believing God and host of the daily podcast Jesus Changes Everything. He is on Twitter @RCSproulJr.

DAILY BIBLE STUDIES AUGUST 2015

GOD-PLEASING WORSHIP

Worship is to be the chief concern of the church of Christ, for it is only in Christian worship that our Creator can be rightly praised. Thus, great care is to be taken in the planning of our worship so that we bring honor to God’s name in a manner that pleases Him.

Among the other topics addressed in the Old Testament Poetical Books, worship has a place of prominence. As we consider our study of these books, also known as the Wisdom Literature, we will look at what they tell us about praising our Creator and King. We will also consider subjects including the kindness of God, final judgment, and how two passages— Psalm 89 and Proverbs 8—point us to the life and ministry of Christ.

Because worship is such an important topic and is addressed from Genesis to Revelation, we will also spend a week looking at what other portions of Scripture say about worship. Dr. R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Into the Sanctuary will guide this study.

“THE TRIUNE GOD IS NOT ONLY THE ONE TO WHOM WORSHIP IS DIRECTED, BUT ALSO THE ONE WHO IS ACTIVE IN THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. THROUGH HIS PUBLIC ORDINANCES, THE COVENANT GOD ACTIVELY WORKS TO ENGAGE HIS PEOPLE IN COMMUNION WITH HIMSELF.”

THE WESTMINSTER DIRECTORY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP

ABIDING IN THE WORD

THESE VERSES PARALLEL THE THEMES OF THE STUDIES EACH WEEK. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO HIDE THEM IN YOUR HEART SO THAT YOU MAY NOT SIN AGAINST THE LORD:

WEEK OF AUGUST 2 • PSALM 150:6

WEEK OF AUGUST 9 • 1 JOHN 5:3

WEEK OF AUGUST 16 • PROVERBS 8:35

WEEK OF AUGUST 23 • PROVERBS 27:2

WEEK OF AUGUST 30 • PHILIPPIANS 1:6

WEEKEND DEVOTIONAL AUGUST 1 + 2

God Doesn’t Need You

J. D. GREEAR

I’ve found that many, if not most, committed Christians spend a lot of their Christian life feeling overwhelmed by guilt over what they are not doing for the kingdom of God. It’s not that they are simply giving Jesus nominal allegiance. No, they live sacrificially; they give to the mission of God; they are intensely busy for the kingdom. And yet, many of these warriors for Christ quickly go from sold out to burned out. After a zealous start, they end up feeling paralyzed by the needs of the world. So they toggle between summers of feverish activity and winters of guilt and fatigue.

I know, because I’ve been there myself. No matter what I gave, there was always more that was needed: one more child to free from the sex trade . . . one more unreached people group to target . . . one more person to tell about Jesus. We read Jesus’ words about His yoke as being easy and His burden light, and we genuinely have no idea what He’s talking about. For many of us, discipleship feels like drudgery.

The burden of such a conviction nearly crushed me. The more I considered the enormous scope of God’s mission in the world, the less I felt motivated to do. It seemed that I had so little to offer in light of such great need—so why even try? Who wants to try to empty the ocean with a thimble?

My despair drove me to the Scriptures, and that despair eventually gave way to one of the most surprising insights I’ve ever had, one that has radically redefined how I see my service to Christ. This discovery turned drudgery and guilt into freedom and joy—and ironically, has led to more generous living than any resolve to “be radical” ever did.

Let me warn you: it is completely counterintuitive. Brace yourself! Here it is: God doesn’t need you! Never has. Never will. For anything. Ever.

It turns out I had vastly overestimated what I had to contribute. I didn’t have “more” I needed to give; I actually had nothing God needed to begin with. Nothing.

God is not looking for “helpers” to assist Him in saving the world. Yes, He still calls us to give ourselves generously to that mission and to be sacrificially generous with our neighbors. But not because He’s short on money, talent, or time. “And if I ever did need anything,” He says, “I wouldn’t tell you!” (see Ps. 50:12).

God has never commanded us to go save the world for Him; He calls us to follow Him as he saves the world through us. So instead of asking the question, “What needs to be done in the world?” we must ask, “What is the Spirit of God leading me to do?” Just as Jesus told His Apostles to wait on the coming of the Holy Spirit before they went out to the world, we are to look to the Holy Spirit for His direction in His Word as to what God would have us do.

Dr. J.D. Greear is pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C. He is author of several books, including his recent release on the Holy Spirit, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You.

WORSHIP FROM THE HEART

MONDAY, AUGUST 3

GENESIS 4:1–5 “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (vv. 3–5a).

Scripture devotes its attention to many topics, and some are dealt with more often than others. Among the subjects that receive the most sustained attention are the character of God, the work of the Messiah, the plight of humanity in sin, and the kind of worship our Lord desires. In the Old Testament Wisdom Literature, worship enjoys a particular focus. The book of Psalms consists of hymns with which the people of God are to praise Him. Proverbs emphasizes the reverent fear that should characterize the believer. Even Ecclesiastes is concerned with matters of worship such as making and keeping vows (Eccl. 5:4–7). Such dedication to worship gives us an opportunity to set the Wisdom Literature’s teaching on worship in a broader biblical context, and Dr. R.C. Sproul will help us do just that as we base our next week of studies on his teaching series Into the Sanctuary.

As we consider the biblical teaching on worship, we must begin by noting that while the form in which worship is conducted matters a great deal to our Creator, it is not the proper form alone that makes for God-pleasing worship but worship that issues from a wholehearted devotion to the Lord. In other words, God is not happy with worship that merely “goes through the motions”—worship that is formally correct but empty of a heart that is eager to love and praise Him. We find this in many places in Scripture. Jesus, for instance, quotes Isaiah’s condemnation of those who honor God with their lips even while they have hearts that are far from Him (Matt. 15:8–9). What the Lord wants are servants whose words evidence the true state of their hearts. He desires authentic heart devotion and reverence, not mere outward conformity to His regulations.

Today’s passage shows how God revealed this truth about worship at the beginning of history. We read of the different sacrifices of Cain and Abel as Abel brought the “firstborn” of his flock while Cain brought his offering of the fruit of the ground (Gen. 4:4). Yet while the Lord rejected Cain’s sacrifice, He accepted Abel’s offering (v. 5a). Such acceptance was not due to Abel’s working a more virtuous profession, since in the ancient world shepherds were often despised. Abel’s offering was accepted because it was the “firstborn”—the first and best of his flock. It represented what was most costly, and he showed his love for God above all else by giving such a costly gift. Cain, on the other hand, did not give of his firstfruits. His heart was not in worshiping God, for he held back the first and best of his vocation.

It is a good thing for corporate worship to become part of the weekly routine of the Christian. However, the fact that worship becomes routine and regular tempts us to be distracted during worship and to go through the motions without putting much thought into it. Therefore, we must work as hard as we can to make sure that our hearts and minds are in our praise. Let us focus entirely on the Lord as we worship Him in spirit and truth.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Deuteronomy 6:5, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Psalm 111:1, John 4:23–24

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 73–74, Romans 6

THE HOUSE OF PRAYER

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4

ISAIAH 56:6–8 “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (v. 7).

As Christians consider what the Bible has to say about worship, it is crucial that we consider what all of Scripture says about how we are to come before God when we offer up our sacrifices of praise. This means that we must look at the Old Testament no less than we consider what the New Testament teaches. In so doing, we have to keep in mind that not everything done in worship under the old covenant carries over into the new covenant. For example, we do not offer up animal sacrifices anymore because Hebrews 9–10 tells us that Jesus is the final sacrifice for sin. Nevertheless, there are principles we can discern from the Old Testament Scriptures that can guide our worship practices.

One emphasis in the Old Testament’s teaching on worship is that the temple was to be a house of prayer for all the nations (Isa. 56:6–8). Prayer’s role as one of the defined purposes of the sanctuary where people would meet for corporate worship points to the critical role of prayer in the life of the church. There is an emphasis on corporate intercession that the Lord desires for His people that we see carried into the new covenant, for we read of the gatherings for prayer that the very first Christians held (Acts 12:12). Of course, the earliest believers did not have dedicated sanctuaries for praise and prayer, often meeting in homes for teaching and worship. Still, the corporate emphasis on prayer indicates that it is appropriate to have sanctuaries that are houses of prayer for God’s people. It is good to have a dedicated space where the people of God can gather to call upon His name and even where individuals can go outside of service times to meet with the Lord in a quiet place.

It is surely a mark of spiritual poverty that we devote little attention to corporate prayer when we gather for worship. In many of our modern churches, there is much focus on the music, the sermon, or both, but corporate prayer often seems like an afterthought. It is proper, of course, to focus on the teaching of God’s Word and on the praises we sing to our Creator, but we must also emphasize the practice of prayer. Whether we kneel, sit, or stand as we pray to our God, we are confessing our absolute dependence upon Him to bless our worship gatherings and to sustain us in our service to Him. Prayer keeps us humble before our Maker and reminds us of our need for His mercy, which is key as only those who rely on God’s mercy alone are declared righteous in His sight (Luke 18:9–14). They understand that they have no merit of their own to offer the Lord but rely only on Him for salvation.

The prayer life of an individual and of the church says a lot about their view of the Lord. If we are careful to develop a precise theology and yet have an anemic prayer life, it may be that we have not really grasped with our hearts the truth that we are fully dependent upon God for all things. Christians must not only be “people of the book” who love and do what the Lord reveals in the Bible; we must also be “people of prayer” who depend on God for every good thing.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Psalm 32:6, Matthew 6:5–15, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Jude 20

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 75–76, Romans 7

FORM VERSUS FORMALISM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5

JEREMIAH 7:1–29 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD’ ” (vv. 3–4).

Worship has always been a contentious subject for the church. Disagreements over worship sparked the Reformation, and they perpetuate church division today. Even in recent years, worship has been a point of contention among believers in the same denomination. Debates between those who advocate a “traditional” worship style and those who advocate “contemporary” worship continue and are unlikely to end soon.

If we were to listen in on these debates or to people describing the different styles of worship that churches practice, we may hear more traditional churches described as having a liturgical style of worship. In most cases, people who speak about a liturgical style of worship are referring, in reality, to a formal order of service with many set elements and a certain fixed nature to what is done in corporate worship. What such individuals may not be aware of is that there is really no such thing as a nonliturgical style of worship. The word liturgy simply means “order of service,” and every worship service has an order that is followed regardless of whether it is outlined in the church bulletin or prayer book.

In any case, when we are thinking about worship, we must not confuse formal worship with formalism. A church can have authentic worship that is quite formal and structured, but a church that engages in formalism has only the outward aspects of worship and not the engagement of the people’s hearts and minds in true praise of God. Formalism is the lack of engagement of heart and mind that we described a few days ago. This is the worship that consists merely of “going through the motions,” and to be fair, it is not a problem only for churches that worship according to a more traditional pattern. A church may have a liturgy that, looking in from the outside, seems quite informal but in which people nevertheless simply go through the motions, passing the time until they can leave and get home.

As we see in today’s passage, formalism has been a perennial problem for God’s people. In Jeremiah’s day, the nation of Judah as a whole trusted in the outward forms of religion such as the temple, believing that the mere presence of these things would guarantee God’s favor. They treated holy things as mere talismans or good luck charms (Jer. 7:1–4). But their hearts were not really engaged in worship, as seen in their mistreatment of those whom the Lord said they had to protect (vv. 5–7). Formalism is a problem of the heart, and only a change of heart can turn those who engage in rote worship into true worshipers of God.

Church leaders cannot change our hearts, but they can help us avoid formalism by explaining what we do in worship and why. When we do not know the reasons and meaning for the different elements in the liturgy, we will easily disengage from it and think on other things. As church leaders explain elements of worship and encourage others to do the same, we are encouraged to be more aware of what we are doing and to put our hearts and souls into our praise of the Lord.

FOR FURTHER STUDY 1 Kings 15:9–24, Amos 5:21–24, Matthew 23:25–26, Romans 12:1

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 77–79, Romans 8

THE ROLE OF BEAUTY

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6

EXODUS 26 “You shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them” (v. 1).

During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Magisterial Reformers not only were concerned with the doctrine of justification and the authority of Scripture, but they also focused on the reform of the church’s worship. John Calvin, in particular, focused much of his efforts on reforming the liturgy in terms of including in worship only what Scripture commands. Calvin was especially concerned to eliminate the idolatrous veneration of the images of Mary and the saints, and this made him something of an iconoclast. Visual imagery was removed from church buildings in an effort to shield people from the temptation to idolatry. Ever since, there has been a strong tendency within some—but not all—streams of the Reformed tradition to build sanctuaries that are very plain in their adornment. Unlike other theological traditions that would use media such as paintings and stained-glass windows to depict biblical themes and stories, Reformed Christians have been more reluctant to adorn their places of worship with images.

Certainly, we can sympathize with the concerns of those who eschew visual images in the worship setting because of the fear that people will be tempted to idolatry. However, it seems that full-on iconoclasm—such that we aim not to depict any people, themes, or events in our church buildings—is going too far. After all, the same Lord who prohibits making and bowing down to images in the second commandment (Ex. 20:4–6) also commanded the Israelites to adorn the tabernacle with beautiful colors and with images of cherubim and other things in creation (chap. 26). Since our God is a consistent being, this indicates that the prohibition of images in the second commandment cannot mean that all artwork and visual imagery is prohibited in the place where we gather to praise and worship our triune Creator. What is forbidden is the veneration of these images and other idolatrous treatments of the created order. There does not seem to be any blanket prohibition of visual imagery in the sanctuary.

God’s desire for beauty in the sanctuary reflects His nature as the beautiful Lord who is Himself the standard of beauty (Ps. 27:4). Beautiful church buildings help communicate this truth about our Maker. In any case, we must be aware that the appearance of our church buildings always communicates something. Even the plainest sanctuaries reveal something of their congregations’ views of the nature of the Lord and the worship He desires.

The propriety of visual imagery in the church building continues to be debated within the Reformed tradition. What we can all agree on, however, is that God is supremely beautiful (Ps. 27:4). In our worship and teaching, we must draw attention to the fact that He is far more lovely than anything we can imagine and that eternity will be spent enjoying His beauty, which alone can satisfy our deepest needs and desires.

FOR FURTHER STUDY 1 Kings 6, Psalm 96:1–6, Song of Solomon 4:7, Matthew 26:6–13

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 80–84, Romans 9:1–10:4

WORSHIP WITH THE SENSES

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7

PSALM 150 “Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! . . . Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”

Today, we conclude our brief study on the principles for worship that we can discern from the Scriptures. We have already discussed the role of liturgy and beauty in worship, and today we need to consider how a liturgy should include elements that reflect the beauty of God as well as His other attributes. Various elements of a church’s liturgy convey truths about the Lord through our senses.

Music remains one of the most powerful forms of communication available to humanity, and it has always been an important part of Christian worship. Whether the music has consisted of a cappella chants, organ-accompanied hymns, or orchestral performance of choir anthems, the church has embraced music as a key feature of Christian worship.

Of course, the primary sense with which music is enjoyed is the aural sense. Music penetrates our hearts and minds via the ear, and it can convey profound truths about the character of God. It can also fail to convey such truths or even present the idea, with ever so much subtlety, that the praise of our Lord is a silly matter or not substantially different from how we might praise another human being whom we love. The tunes we sing in our churches can be a great help to the preaching of God’s Word, setting the stage for us to hear about the Lord and His redemption, or they can be a hindrance. This may be even more true of the words of our hymns and songs. Our theology cannot be separated from our worship, and much bad doctrine has influenced the people of God simply because somebody set it to music. Consequently, we must take great care in the selection of music for worship. The Lord commands us to praise Him with instruments and song (Ps. 150), but let us sing only those songs that are appropriate for worship.

Under the old covenant, our Lord also commanded practices that would appeal to the olfactory sense. Fragrant incense was to be burned on the altar of incense in the tabernacle and temple (Ex. 30:1–10). Today, the burning of incense continues in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and even many Protestant churches, but the practice is rare among the Reformed. We lack the space to consider the propriety of burning incense in new covenant worship, but it is undoubtedly true that the smells of our church buildings will cause people to associate certain ideas with them. Church leaders should be aware of this reality so that they understand what their sanctuaries are communicating to their members.

Human beings process information through the five senses, so all five senses are engaged in all that we do, including worship. Though different traditions may take different views as to how the liturgy should appeal to the five senses, all of us must keep in mind that the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feel of our worship services do send a message to worshipers. Let us endeavor to make sure that it is always a biblical one.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Psalm 33:1–3, Colossians 3:16

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 85–87, Romans 10:5–21

THE WEEKEND Psalms 88–93, Romans 11

WEEKEND DEVOTIONAL AUGUST 8 + 9

Purifying Affliction

GUY M. RICHARD

Sometimes life can be overwhelming. Troubles and afflictions can seem to come in waves. One washes over us only to be replaced with another, and another, in seemingly endless repetition. We fight to catch our breath and stay afloat. But before long, we find ourselves questioning God. “Why are You treating me this way?” we ask. “How long must I go through this?”

Where do we turn for help at times like this? One of my favorite places to turn for help is 1 Peter 1:6–7. Here, Peter reminds us that joy and grief can coexist in the Christian life, because grief is circumstantial but joy is not. Joy, as Peter reminds us, is grounded not upon what happens in our lives but upon all that God has done and even now is doing in and for us through Jesus Christ. He “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” and “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (vv. 3–4). We do not rejoice in our circumstances; we rejoice in God and all that He is for us in Christ.

Interestingly, however, this also affects our circumstances. That is Peter’s whole point in vv. 6–7. The circumstances that bring grief into our lives are intended by God to purify our faith so that it will be genuine to the end. Peter’s reasoning goes like this: if gold is purified through fire, such that all the impurities (the things that are not really gold) are removed and what remains is genuine gold, and if faith is “more precious than gold,” then it only makes sense that faith should be purified through fire as well, so that all the impurities (the things that are not really faith) can be removed. The end result of this process of purification is that nothing but genuine faith remains in the end.

In other words, purification is necessary to ensure that our faith will “result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Just as the fire is necessary to purify the gold—such that genuine gold remains in the end—so the fire is necessary to purify our faith—such that genuine faith remains in the end. And genuine faith is the only thing that will ensure we “obtain . . . the salvation of our souls” (v. 9).

The seventeenth-century Scottish Puritan Samuel Rutherford once summarized the message of 1 Peter 1:6–7 by saying that when we get to heaven and look back over the circumstances of our lives, we will see that God had done only what was necessary in our lives to bring us to heaven and that, had He done anything other than what He did, we would never have come to enjoy the “eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17) that we will then be enjoying.

Hold fast in your affliction, my friends. For by it, God is ensuring your place in glory.

Dr. Guy M. Richard is senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, Miss. He is author of What Is Faith? and The Supremacy of God in the Theology of Samuel Rutherford.

A LAMP TO OUR FEET

MONDAY, AUGUST 10

PSALM 119:105–112 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (v. 105).

Books that are filled with knowledge and sound advice might fill our library shelves, but if we cannot understand what they are saying, this wisdom will do us no good. Whether the problem is that the text is written in a language that we do not know or the prose is too complex, all of the understanding found in a book that promises wisdom is useless to us as long as we cannot actually read and comprehend the work.

That is precisely what we do not find in the case of sacred Scripture. Psalm 119:97–104 praises God’s law for its ability to grant wisdom and understanding to those who will read and meditate upon it. Verse 105, in particular, talks about how this inscripturated revelation is a lamp to our feet. We use lights and lamps to illumine the darkness and help us find our way in a dark room, on a road at night, and in similar settings. Scripture functions in the same way when it comes to spiritual and ethical matters. It shows us the way to go, not because leaders and teachers can make it do so but because the capacity of Scripture to give clear direction is inherent in the text itself. Consequently, the teaching that the Bible is a lamp to our feet contradicts any individual or system that would say that God’s Word is too complicated for the ordinary person to figure out. John Calvin comments, “Were there such obscurity in God’s word . . . the commendation with which the prophet here honors the law would be altogether undeserved. Let us, then, be assured that an unerring light is to be found there, provided we open our eyes to behold it.”

Rightly understanding and applying divine revelation requires a desire to do what Scripture says. Paul makes this point in 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 when he writes that the Lord will blind those who refuse to love the truth. Psalm 119:112 makes essentially the same point. The wisdom-granting capacity of God’s Word is realized only in those whom God has regenerated and given a desire to love and serve Him. After all, the psalmist’s praise of Scripture’s ability to grant him wisdom cannot be separated from his inclination to do what our Creator has said “forever, to the end” (v. 112).

Such a resolve means determining to do what the Word of God teaches even when it is difficult. The psalmist wrote Psalm 119 when he was under great duress, but he would not buckle under his enemies’ demands. He was determined to remain faithful to the Lord (vv. 106–111). May we all do the same.

By the Spirit’s work in our hearts, we should regularly renew our commitment to remain faithful to our Creator. As we seek to understand the Lord’s ways as they are revealed in His Word, He will grant us comprehension as we determine to do what He says. We will not be perfect in this, of course, but we should see a general determination to do all that the Lord has commanded us to do throughout our lives. May God grant us the grace to do what He commands.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Psalm 103:17–18, 1 Corinthians 7:19, 1 John 2:3–4, Revelation 14:12

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 94–95, Romans 12

THE SINGLE-MINDED LAW OF GOD

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11

PSALM 119:113–120 “I hate the double-minded, but I love your law” (v. 113).

Those who take the doctrine of sin seriously understand that wickedness has infected every aspect of our being. Our emotions, our physical constitution, our desires—all of it has been corrupted by our transgression. Moreover, sin has tarnished our very minds. Fallen humanity is subject to intellectual frailty. This does not mean that unregenerate people cannot know the truth, but it does mean that the unregenerate will twist the truth that they do know and use it to serve a lie (Rom. 1:18–32). But even regenerate people have minds that are tainted by sin. Paul, after all, refers to the Christian Galatians as “foolish Galatians” for their failure to understand the gospel and for succumbing to the temptation to make their good works part of the basis for their righteousness before God (Gal. 3:1–9).

Psalm 119 shows us that one of the effects of sin is to make us double-minded. It does this by setting love for God’s law in opposition to double-minded people (v. 113). Thus, we see that the Word of God is single-minded, that is, it does not speak with a forked tongue. The Lord did not talk out of both sides of His mouth when He revealed His commandments; rather, He spoke consistently and coherently. We can hope in His Word because it is consistent, because it tells us only the truth about our Creator and how He is a sure refuge for His people (v. 114).

Our psalmist is also quite realistic about the difficulties of keeping God’s law. When we are surrounded by the enemies of the Lord, we are often distracted from seeking to follow His ways. We are tempted to “stoop to their level,” as it were, and adopt their ways of dealing with conflict. That is why the psalmist prays for deliverance from his enemies so that he might keep the commandments of our Maker (v. 115). We should not pray for deliverance merely for deliverance’s sake. If all that happens is that we are rescued from our foes and our way of living is not affected, then the rescue has not accomplished all that much for us. But if our deliverance from the hands of our enemies results in a greater resolve to keep God’s commandments, if our rescue leads to greater holiness, then our salvation from our foes has been great indeed.

Finally, the psalmist recognizes his utter dependence on the Lord for keeping His law (vv. 116–120). We cannot obey God in our own power. Instead, we require the Lord to sustain us. Let us pray daily that God would grant this sustenance.

John Calvin comments, “If godliness does not increase in us in proportion to the sense and experience we have of God’s grace, we betray base ingratitude.” The greater the ways in which the Lord rescues us from our foes, the more faithful to His commands we should seek to be. Given the incalculably great redemption purchased by Christ, those who have experienced it will feel such a sense of gratitude that they will seek to obey Him and quickly repent when they fall short.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Deuteronomy 11:1, Ezra 7:10, Psalm 119:41–48, 1 John 5:3

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 96–98, Romans 13

PRESUMING UPON GOD’S KINDNESS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12

ECCLESIASTES 8:10–11 “Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.”

"Justice delayed is justice denied.” This famous phrase encapsulates the idea that the ability of a legal system to produce justice is only as good as its ability to move people through the courts as quickly as possible. Until the innocent are acquitted and the guilty are convicted, one cannot say that justice has been done.

When a society’s justice system is known for its inefficiency and for taking far longer than necessary to deal with the criminal element, that criminal element is emboldened. They see that any consequences for their actions will be long delayed, if imposed at all, and they believe that the enjoyment they might get out of a crime is well worth it. After all, if there is not much hope that one will be punished, why not do what one wants to do?

Of course, we are speaking from the perspective of unregenerate people, and in today’s passage, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes considers the effect that the apparent delay of justice has on those who are set on wickedness. First, he looks at the reality that the wicked are afforded a proper burial and even praised by their community (Eccl. 8:10). In Scripture, burial is a great honor and not to be buried is a great dishonor or a significant misfortune (Jer. 16:6). Thus, the Preacher is speaking of the honor that is shown to wicked people. This he presents as something perplexing (“vanity”; Eccl. 8:10). It is indeed strange, from the perspective of a transformed heart, that society would fall at the feet of wicked people such as politicians and actors who lie under oath, engage in all manner of sexual debauchery, and so forth. But if we think about it a bit, it is easier to understand why such figures would be lauded. That these individuals can sin with abandon and escape consequences gives the ordinary sinner hope that he can do the same, or at least that he will not be judged harshly.

Add the delay of justice to the honor that so many evil people receive, and you have a potent combination of factors that encourages many people to think they can sin with impunity. When the sentence is not pronounced quickly, people become more set on their evil, believing they can escape justice at last (v. 11). Yet, that is the wrong lesson to learn from justice’s delay. God often allows earthly justice to be delayed and does not immediately mete out heavenly justice because He is showing kindness meant to lead a sinner to repentance (Rom. 2:4). To presume upon this kindness is a great sin, and it happens whenever people harden their hearts because they think judgment will never come.

Matthew Henry comments on today’s passage: “Sinners herein deceive themselves, for, though the sentence be not executed speedily, it will be executed the more severely at last. Vengeance comes slowly, but it comes surely, and wrath is in the mean time treasured up against the day of wrath.” From our perspective, justice may seem to be delayed, but it always comes at the right time. Our just God will set things right, so we have ample reason to trust in Him.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Job 34:12, Proverbs 21:15, Isaiah 26:10, Luke 18:1–8

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 99–101, Romans 14

THE FINAL END OF THE WICKED

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13

ECCLESIASTES 8:12–13 “A sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”

Waiting for justice to be done is one of the hardest aspects of life in our fallen world. So often, we see the righteous trodden underfoot and the enemies of our Lord ascendant, and this might tempt us to wonder if things will ever be set right. Our innate sense that justice will win in the end, however, keeps us from succumbing to nihilism, and it gives us hope for an afterlife where evil is judged and good triumphs. But this hope is not mere wishful thinking, for it is confirmed in Scripture. As Paul tells us, those who do not “obey the truth” will one day reap what they have sown in the form of divine judgment (Rom. 2:6–11).

Paul is not the only biblical author to speak of the final judgment, for he actually draws from a tradition in the Hebrew Bible that looks forward to the last-day judgment of sin and vindication of God’s children. This tradition, however, is often given implicitly and not presented explicitly in the Old Testament. Today’s passage is one such example of the implicit hope of final resurrection and judgment in the old covenant revelation.

The Preacher has already said that wicked men and women are often honored despite their evil, and this might make us think that evil people will never get their due. In fact, the apparent delay of divine justice seems to make wicked people even worse (Eccl. 8:10–11). Yet in Ecclesiastes 8:12–13, we learn that the success of wicked people is but a temporary thing. The Preacher teaches this by means of a paradox, telling us that the sinner prolongs his life and that he does not prolong his days. What could the Preacher mean? The answer lies in the fact that the Preacher is looking at the world from two different perspectives. From the earthly, limited view of human beings, it does seem that many wicked people live longer than would be due if their evil were taken fully into account. They prolong their lives, not seeming to be set back by their misdeeds. Yet from a heavenly perspective, from the foundation of the fear of God, they do not lengthen their lives at all. Their days are actually “like a shadow.” They come and go quickly (Ps. 102:11). Although the wicked may seem to meet with great success, from the vantage point of eternity, it is only fleeting.

On the other hand, it will go well for those who fear God (Eccl. 8:12). By linking the lack of fearing the Lord with the failure to prolong one’s days (v. 13), the Preacher is pointing us to the fact that the fear of God will lengthen our lives. Thus, we have an implicit reference to heaven, where the redeemed will enjoy life in the Lord’s presence forever.

The fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7); it is also the prerequisite for eternal life. It is not that such fear is a meritorious work that God rewards with eternal life; rather, such fear is born of saving faith that unites us to Christ, whose merit alone will save us. Though fearing the Lord may not bring with it much earthly success, it will bring us to eternal life, where we will see justice win and evil vanquished. Let us fear the Lord as we look for that day.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Deuteronomy 25:17–19, 2 Kings 17:24–28, 1 Peter 2:17, Revelation 14:7

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 102–104, Romans 15:1–21

LADY WISDOM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14

PROVERBS 8:1–11 “All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge” (vv. 8–9).

Proverbs is well known for its short aphorisms that convey much truth despite their brevity. What many people are unfamiliar with, however, is the structure of the book and the way in which it is presented as instruction from a father in the old covenant community to his son. This is evident in Proverbs 1–9, which serves as a prologue to the book and a challenge for the son to steer clear of the foolish ways of violence and adultery. In this section, the adulteress comes to represent these sins and acts of foolishness, but in Proverbs 8, we are introduced to Lady Wisdom, the only companion who can guide a young man in the way he should go. Of course, as the book of Proverbs was written for the entire covenant community, the lessons apply equally well to women—divine wisdom is the means by which we will avoid evil and live righteously.

Having portrayed the adulteress as smooth and seductive in her enticement to sin, our author presents Lady Wisdom as one who also speaks (Prov. 8:1–5). Unlike the evil woman, who speaks in secret and hides her plans from her husband (7:10–20), Lady Wisdom calls out boldly and publicly. She makes her declaration at the gates of the town (8:3). Since the entrance to the town or city was the place where people gathered to do business and engage in commerce, we are to conclude that what the personification of wisdom has to say will touch on all aspects of the life of both individual and community (see Ruth 4). Lady Wisdom is not limited in her discourse to narrowly religious matters, but what she has to say can equip the son for all of life. We cannot help but think of Paul’s teaching on the sufficiency of Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16–17. Scripture—which contains the wisdom of God revealed to His people through the prophets and Apostles—is sufficient to equip us for every good work. No matter what we do or what position we enjoy in life, God has something to say about how we are to serve and glorify Him where He has placed us.

Lady Wisdom’s words are righteous, having nothing crooked in them. They are straight to those with understanding (Prov. 8:8–9). Here we see the close link between righteousness and wisdom in the book of Proverbs. True wisdom always leads to personal righteousness, and personal righteousness enables us to grow in God’s wisdom. Thus, wisdom is far more valuable than any earthly good (vv. 10–11). It teaches us how to please the Lord, the One who holds in His hand everything with which wisdom is concerned.

Western society places a strong focus on education, but we seldom see a corresponding concern for righteousness. Consequently, while we can benefit from education, we must be aware that education in itself cannot produce wise people. We find wise people only where righteousness has been made a part of education. Parents at home and the corporate body of the church must teach the righteousness of God in order to produce wise leaders of His people.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Ecclesiastes 2:26, James 3:13–18

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 105–106, Romans 15:22–33

THE WEEKEND Psalms 107–110, Rom. 16–1 Corinthians 1

WEEKEND DEVOTIONAL AUGUST 15 + 16

Authority and Submission

OWEN STRACHAN

It is common today to talk in generic terms about “relationships” and “parents.” Our softer language regarding marriage and child rearing reflects a softening of belief in biblical categories. Instead of speaking of husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, manhood and womanhood, we use words that conjure up amorphous human beings performing tasks that anyone could do.

This is not how Scripture speaks. The language of the Bible on the home and on our bodily identity is rugged and aesthetic. Nowhere is this truer than in the Word’s capstone text on marriage, Ephesians 5. In vv. 22–24, the Apostle Paul lays out the roles of husbands and wives. This famous text has come under fire in our time.

We cannot lose the authority-submission structure of marriage. In the biblical mind, covenantal union has a definite texture and shape. The man is called to a leadership role. He is the “head” of his wife, indicating that he bears God-given authority to lead. The pattern of headship is not selfish regency as modeled by some wicked king. It is sacrificial leadership as modeled by the God-man Jesus Christ.

Wives are called to joyfully yield to this leadership. They are to respect and build up their husbands. No man is a perfect leader—not even close. But a humble man married to a godly, loving woman will grow over the years as the Spirit works in his heart. His wife’s gentle spirit and trusting heart will play a key role. Her posture of submission puts on display the core attitude of the church to Christ. The church loves Christ. It does not battle or undermine Him. It celebrates His goodness and finds happiness in His devotion.

The interplay of authority and submission extends even to the Godhead. Christ submits to the will of His Father, His head (1 Cor. 11:3). We see from this and other texts that submission is not damaging, problematic, or unkind. It is the just response to proper authority. This is not how we are encouraged to think today. We are told that to rebel is to live, and to cast off all restraints is to thrive. The opposite is true. Christian faith is nothing other than submitting to God, coming under His rulership, and finding our role in His kingdom. This is true for all believers, married or single.

The words relationship, spouses, and parents are by no means evil. But we should see that biblical words carry precious truths. We do not enter into generic partnerships. Each of us is either a man or a woman. If called to marriage, each of us becomes a husband or a wife. If given the gift of children, each of us becomes a father or a mother. In our marriages, we practice authority and submission.

We do so with joy in God and love for one another. This is not an earthly blueprint, after all. No human mind has invented it. It is a divine call, and it opens the world’s eyes to covenantal love that transcends even the wildest hopes of the human heart.

Dr. Owen Strachan is assistant professor of Christian theology and church history at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

FRUIT BETTER THAN GOLD

MONDAY, AUGUST 17

PROVERBS 8:12–21 “Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver” (vv. 18–19).

How valuable are the lessons that Lady Wisdom can teach to her subjects? No one (except the Lord), Lady Wisdom tells us, can calculate the value of what she reveals. Far more valuable than silver, choice gold, or jewels, no inheritance can be greater than divine wisdom (Prov. 8:10–11, 19). In fact, pursuing Lady Wisdom is the only way to be sure of receiving an inheritance. Those who love her have their treasuries filled (vv. 20–21). Living according to the wisdom that God has revealed in Scripture will lead to material prosperity. This is not a crass “name it and claim it” theology that is designed to manipulate the Lord into giving us exactly what we want every time we pray. Instead, it is a recognition that the Creator of the universe is in the best position to reward created human beings. Those who seek to learn and apply God’s principles of wisdom are in the best position to experience material prosperity. However, we must remember that such prosperity is not guaranteed in this life. God is sovereign in the distribution of His blessings, and some wise and righteous people do not prosper greatly on this side of glory. Yet all of God’s people will certainly prosper in the age to come (Rev. 21).

The gift that Lady Wisdom promises to the child of any ordinary family in ancient Israel is the same wisdom by which kings rule (Prov. 8:15–16). Certainly, the point is not that every king or ruler is automatically wise by virtue of holding a position of authority, nor does Lady Wisdom mean that she distributes her gifts to all people and all rulers in equal measure. There are, in fact, foolish kings who spurn God’s gift of wisdom. What Lady Wisdom is saying is that the gift she offers is so useful that good rulers direct their kingdoms by it. Clearly, this points to the need for government to submit to its ultimate Sovereign. Government does not exist to rule in place of Jesus; it exists to fulfill its divinely appointed duty to punish evildoers (Rom. 13:1–7). Our political leaders should be the first to acknowledge their need for divine wisdom and for the Lord to bless them if they are to succeed. Regrettably, our political leaders are often among the last to make such an acknowledgment, if they ever make it at all. Matthew Henry comments, “whatever qualifications for government any kings or princes have they are indebted to the grace of Christ for them; he gives them the spirit of government, and they have nothing, no skill, no principles of justice, but what he endues them with.”

Understanding that our leaders rule well by the wisdom of God helps us to remember whom we should thank when we are blessed with good rulers who look out for their people. Just leaders are a gift from the Lord, and when the state leaves the church to do its work in peace, it is because God has gifted us with government leaders who wisely understand their place in the world. Let us pray that our Creator would grant us such leaders for our nation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Psalm 2:10–12, Proverbs 20:26, Colossians 1:9, 1 Timothy 2:1–2

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 111–112, 1 Corinthians 2

GOD’S GREATER WISDOM

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18

PROVERBS 8:22–36 “For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death” (vv. 35–36).

Lady Wisdom’s call in Proverbs 8 for all who are listening to heed her instruction has inspired generations of Christians to reflect on the wise sayings of the book of Proverbs and apply them diligently to their lives. The text has also been at the center of some of the most important theological debates in church history. First Corinthians 1:30 tells us that Christ Jesus is our “wisdom from God,” so we are not surprised that many people in church history have seen the personification of wisdom in Proverbs 8 as prefiguring the Messiah.

During the Arian crisis of the fourth century, when Arius and his followers were asserting that Jesus was not God but merely the most exalted creature, the Arians often used Proverbs 8 to defend their position. In particular, they would appeal to vv. 22–31, which name wisdom as the first of God’s acts, indicating that Lady Wisdom had a beginning. If indeed the passage is a prophecy of Christ, this would seem to indicate that Jesus was simply another of the Lord’s creatures. The great Athanasius of Alexandria fought against the Arians in defense of the deity of Christ, and he likewise appealed to this text. Athanasius said that the verses in question did not refer to the beginning of the Son’s existence; rather, they were about His incarnation. God the Son is coequal to the Father in essence; in fact, He shares the same essence and according to His deity has no beginning or end. But the humanity of the Savior did not exist until that point in time when the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary and she conceived her firstborn son. According to His human nature, Christ had a beginning, but according to His divine nature and personhood, He does not.

Athanasius won the day, and we are grateful for his stalwart defense of the incarnation of the Son. Yet his interpretation of Proverbs 8 is not any more compelling than Arian’s. That does not mean, however, that Proverbs 8 does not prefigure our Savior and His work. Read in light of the entire canon, Lady Wisdom is indeed a type of Christ, and she points to Him as we compare her limitations to the sufficiency of Christ.

Unlike the Word made flesh, Lady Wisdom does not share God’s eternal nature (John 1:1–14; see Prov. 8:22–31). Earthly rulers reign in justice as they heed the instruction of Lady Wisdom, but the Son of God is Himself the King of kings and Lord of lords (Prov. 8:15–16; 1 Tim. 6:13–16). Those who find Lady Wisdom and heed her will find abundant life today, but those who trust in Jesus alone find eternal life (Prov. 8:35–36; John 3:16).

Even many non-Christians respect the teaching of Jesus and believe that He offers wisdom to live by. Of course, as believers in Christ, we would agree, but we would say that such a view does not go far enough. Divine wisdom is not mere words spoken by great teachers; rather, God’s wisdom is a person. It is the right relationship with this person that secures our entry to heaven, not mere obedience to His ethical pronouncements without looking to His cross for our salvation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Psalm 104:24, Matthew 12:38–42, Luke 7:33–35, Colossians 2:1–5

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 113–115, 1 Corinthians 3

KING DAVID’S MIGHTY GOD

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19

PSALM 89:1–18 “O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?” (v. 8).

No book of the Old Testament is quoted more often in the New Testament than the book of Psalms, and passages such as Psalm 89 help us understand why. This hymn of praise to the Lord for His character and for His everlasting covenant with David has clear messianic import, helping us understand the work that God has done with His people, particularly through the line of David.

Ethan the Ezrahite, who was evidently a man renowned for his wisdom in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 4:31) is the author of this psalm, and he begins by extolling the “steadfast love” of the Creator (Ps. 89:1–2). The term “steadfast love” translates the Hebrew word hesed, which is used in the Old Testament for the unfailingly loyal, persevering love and grace of God. This love is the source of all of the Lord’s good gifts for His children, including His commitment to David and his offspring. According to His steadfast love, God chose David and his line to rule over His people (vv. 3–4). He was the initiator and continues on as the guarantor of David’s throne. David’s office was a gift of love to the family of Jesse (1 Sam. 16:1–13).

Of course, the promise to preserve the throne of David forever can only be as good as the strength of the One who promised the reign. Were Yahweh, the covenant Lord of Israel, just one god among many, His promise would not be something in which His people could put their full confidence. If He were just another deity, then some other power could perhaps thwart His plan. But as we see in Psalm 89:4–18, Yahweh is not just another divine being. Far from being a deity who must compete with others of equal power to claim His spot at the top of a pantheon of gods, Yahweh—the God revealed in Scripture—is the only true and living God. He is the mighty Creator of all, for He founded the heavens and earth (v. 11). They belong to Him and they do His bidding. All of creation is subject to His sovereign rule and fully within His control, so no one can thwart His decree.

No other being can even begin to compare with the Lord revealed in Scripture (vv. 5–7). Because of who God is, the promise that the chosen king and His people are exalted in Him is good news indeed (vv. 16–18). We know that He will perfectly sustain us and protect us. Augustine of Hippo comments that God “is thy taking up, Himself thy illumination: in His light thou art safe, in His light thou walkest, in His righteousness thou art exalted. He took thee up, He guards thy weakness: He gives thee strength of Himself, not of thyself.”

Understanding the character and attributes of God encourages faith in His promises. When we remember that He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good Creator, any fear that He might not fulfill His holy purpose for us is cast aside. We are made confident in His sufficiency when we remember His might. This is why it is so important for us to study the biblical doctrine of God. If we know Him and His attributes, our faith will be strong and our service effective.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 50, Philippians 4:13, 1 Peter 5:6

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 116–119:48, 1 Corinthians 4

GOD’S ETERNAL COVENANT WITH DAVID

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20

PSALM 89:19–37 “My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens” (vv. 28–29).

What set ancient Israel apart from other nations? Not its size, for other nations ruled over geographic areas much larger than ancient Palestine. Not its military might, for though kings such as David were accomplished generals, Israel did not extend its borders by conquest, and it never established an empire of the scope of Assyria, Babylon, or Rome. What set Israel apart was the fact that the nation was the special possession of the one true God (Deut. 7:6). Moreover, God chose one man and his descendants to rule and reign over his people. As we read in today’s passage, this man was David (Ps. 89:19–37).

The Lord put Saul, Israel’s first king, on the throne after the people complained about not having a ruler like those of other nations. In David’s case, God took the initiative. He did not replace Saul with David at the outcry of the nation; rather, He chose David for Israel’s throne solely due to His good pleasure (1 Sam. 8–9; 16:1–13). Thus, we see in Psalm 89:19–37 a special emphasis on David and his line as the choice only of God. Unlike in the case of Saul, when the people sought to establish the king, the Lord established David. His choice was not based on the desires of the people but on His desires for them and His knowledge of their need (vv. 19–21). The Israelites could be confident of success with David’s family because the Lord alone chose to put him on the throne and exalt him before all creation (vv. 22–28).

Of course, since God demands holiness from His people and from those whom He puts in place over them, this hope for Israel’s success could not be separated from the holiness of the king. Thus, the whole nation suffered when David sinned (2 Sam. 11–18). In Saul’s case, his grievous sin resulted in his forfeiting his throne (1 Sam. 15); however, this was not the case with David. In setting David on the throne, the psalmist tells us, God established an everlasting covenant with David and his line (Ps. 89:28–29). This did not give David and his sons a blank check to do what they wanted. Were they to break the law of God, they would be punished. Still, God promised never to remove His love from David’s line (vv. 30–37).

All this foreshadows the work of David’s greater son—Jesus the Messiah. We can be confident of the church’s final success because God put Him there, and because He bore the punishment for the unfaithfulness of David and his line, removing from them the impediment of sin that set them at odds with the Lord. He alone is qualified to rule from David’s throne forever (2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 2:5–11). If we are in Christ, we benefit from this as well.

Christ is worthy to sit on David’s throne forever, which means that all those who reign with Him will reign forever. Thus, Paul’s promise that we will reign with Christ (2 Tim. 2:11–13) is good news indeed. We will share in the reign of One whose kingdom can have no end. No matter the difficulties we face now, we are actually royalty if we are in Christ, and we will rule and reign with Him forever. Let that encourage us as we face adversity.

FOR FURTHER STUDY 2 Samuel 7:1–17, 1 Chronicles 17:1–15, Luke 20:41–44, Acts 2:29–36

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalm 119:49–104, 1 Corinthians 5

HOW LONG, O LORD?

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21

PSALM 89:38–52 “How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?” (v. 46).

Having praised God in Psalm 89:1–37 for His steadfast love and power, particularly as it was manifested in the everlasting covenant He established with David and his line, the psalmist shifts his tone significantly at v. 38. We see that our author has been motivated to pen this hymn by a crisis in the Davidic monarchy. Although we do not know with certainty the historical background of this psalm, it is clear that the psalmist is writing in response to a great tragedy that has befallen the house of David. Destruction of property, looting by the enemies of God’s people, defeat in battle, and much more characterized the situation of Israel and her king at the time this psalm was composed (vv. 38–45).

Note that the Lord has brought these things to pass. His wrath had burned hot against David and his throne (v. 38). This indicates that at the time of writing, David’s line was suffering divine judgment for some kingly failure. After all, God promised to discipline David and his descendants for their sin (vv. 30–32; see 2 Sam. 7:14). Nevertheless, this discipline would not mean the end of the Lord’s favor upon David’s throne (vv. 33–37; see 2 Sam. 7:15–16).

This promise of everlasting love and faithfulness is actually what has motivated the psalmist to write. He cries out to God, asking Him how long His wrath will endure (v. 46). Note that the psalmist does not say that the suffering of the king and kingdom is unjustified. He does not downplay the sin of David’s line. Yet, he understands that the Lord’s everlasting commitment to David means that there must be an end to the suffering, that a point will come when the Creator’s wrath is satisfied. Thus, he can call out for deliverance and ask God to show His steadfast love and rescue the king from his foes (vv. 47–51). Though this portion of the psalm is set in a minor key, it does end on a note of confidence. In the midst of suffering, the author still finds a place to bless the name of the Lord (v. 52). We see here a hint that the psalmist expects God to intervene and rescue the king.

In light of the person and work of Christ, we understand why this psalm belongs to the category of messianic psalms. Our Savior endured God’s wrath in the place of His people, bearing the sins of David’s line and the sins of His chosen ones (Rom. 3:21–26). He was likewise insulted by His enemies (Matt. 27:27–31). In receiving this wrath in our place, Jesus revealed the steadfast love of God for David and for His people, and in raising Jesus from the dead to reign forever, God fulfilled His promise to David (Phil. 2:5–11).

If we want tangible proof that God always keeps His promises, we need look no further than His promises to David regarding the work of Christ. Our Creator has kept His covenant with David, raising Jesus from the dead as proof of His steadfast love to the Davidic line. The resurrection of Jesus proves, among other things, that our Father is always faithful to His Word. May we trust Him to keep all of His promises to us.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Psalm 119:50, 2 Corinthians 1:20

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalm 119:105–176, 1 Corinthians 6

THE WEEKEND Psalms 120–125, 1 Corinthians 7

WEEKEND DEVOTIONAL AUGUST 22 + 23

The Emmaus Road Counseling Technique

DEREK W. H. THOMAS

One Sunday morning, two somewhat forlorn disciples, Cleopas and his companion, were making the seven-mile trek from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:13, 18). Two days earlier (three as the Jews counted days), Roman soldiers had taken Jesus to Calvary outside the city of Jerusalem and crucified Him. The two were in such a state of grief and disappointment that they were unable to think straight. They had hoped that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but now He was dead and buried in a tomb since Friday evening.

Suddenly, the two were joined by a third. Though they did not know it, their companion was the newly risen Jesus. How did He counsel them in their grief and melancholy? Three things stand out.

First, He asked questions. He got them to talk. Little progress can be made if things get bottled up inside. The poison has to be let out—in words and confessions blurted out in rough and (as here) rude ways. Jesus got Cleopas to talk. Sad, confused Christians need to talk.

Second, He took them to Scripture. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and much that is good is discernible in the creation around us. Plundering general revelation may reveal much that is sound and good to help us, but these two on the Emmaus Road had problems with Jesus’ identity, partly because their expectations of the Messiah were skewed. What they needed was a Bible study that corrected their perception and evaluation of what God had promised and what Jesus had delivered. What puzzled them the most was Jesus’ crucifixion. And what Jesus did was to take them on a walking tour through the Old Testament showing how this was prophesied: “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

Third, and only after He had opened up the Scriptures to them, He showed Himself to them. It was at a meal (not the sacrament, as some have suggested) that Jesus suddenly revealed His identity as the risen Lord. Why they had not recognized Him earlier is difficult to explain. In part (but only in part), it may lie in the fact that Jesus’ resurrection face was somewhat different in appearance —the sorrow associated with his preresurrection life leading to death now removed. In part, it was because they did not want to see Him—their affections too darkened by the sorrow to perceive clearly. In part, too, there was something “sovereign” about it —“their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). Only when they were ready—newly informed by a clearer understanding of Scripture —did Jesus reveal His identity.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He counsels discouraged disciples in a similar fashion today. He draws us into conversation, teaches us His Word, and discloses Himself as the risen Savior.

Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas is senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C., and professor of systematic and historical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta.

PRAISE FROM OTHERS

MONDAY, AUGUST 24

PROVERBS 27:2 “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.”

Nobody likes a bragger. The one who is always boasting of his accomplishments, reminding people of his latest successes, never letting us forget his past victories. Such a person dominates every conversation with news of the great things that he has done. He is addicted to praise, and if no one else gives it to him, he will freely praise himself.

Why is it that we stay away from those who are proud? Part of the answer has to be that we are made in the image of God, who commends the virtue of humility (1 Peter 5:5). If we would please the Lord, we must cultivate a humble spirit, and as today’s passage indicates, that involves allowing others to praise us. Wise people do not praise themselves; they let others extol their virtues (Prov. 27:2).

In calling us not to praise ourselves, Proverbs 27:2 is not eschewing all forms of self-promotion. After all, Scripture elsewhere teaches that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought (Rom. 12:3). The qualifier “more highly than we ought” is key. Paul does not say that we cannot think of ourselves highly in any sense of the word; rather, we are to think of ourselves highly insofar as it is appropriate. This is not a commendation of pride but a call for sober self-assessment. In other words, it is not inherently wrong to tell others what our talents and successes are. Some situations—such as a job interview—actually call for us to be forthright about what we are able to do. Isaiah himself even stepped forward when God was looking for a willing and able man to proclaim His truth to the old covenant community (Isa. 6:8). The problem comes when we are the only subject in our conversations with others, when we go out of our way to make sure that everyone knows where we have succeeded regardless of whether they have asked us.

“The LORD lifts up the humble” (Ps. 147:6). He is quick to come to the aid of those who are not proud in spirit but are willing servants of others. If I am devoted to the praise of myself, then I show others who the really important person in my life is. That idolatry will create friction in my interpersonal relationships. More importantly, it will disrupt my relationship with God. Those whom the Lord saves must reject any hint of self-trust and rely only on Him for salvation. Men and women who are devoted to self-exaltation show that they have not really given up their self-trust. They have not really learned what it means to lean only on the Lord for redemption.

Humility and meekness are marks of the true believer in Christ. We dare not confuse these virtues with weakness, for humble believers are strong in Christ. These virtues, instead, reflect an honest appraisal of one’s talents and weaknesses. They lead us to rely on other people when it is necessary, and they encourage us to continually cast all of our cares and needs upon the Lord. Are you humbling yourself before the Lord this day?

FOR FURTHER STUDY Proverbs 15:25, Ecclesiastes 7:8, Jeremiah 50:31, Luke 1:46–55

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 126–127, 1 Corinthians 8

THE GREAT WORKS OF GOD

TUESDAY, AUGUST 25

PSALM 111 “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever” (vv. 2–3).

So great are the works of God that those who know them cannot help but proclaim them publicly. That is how Psalm 111 begins, and indeed, we agree with the psalmist. When we look at the design of the world around us—the grandeur of the mountains, the power of the ocean, the beauty of the fields—we cannot help but praise our Maker. In His works of creation, we see His attributes and come to a clearer understanding of who God is and, if we have been given new hearts by His Holy Spirit, we long to learn as much as we can about Him (Ps. 19; Rom. 1:20). Moreover, we study His works and ways as much as we can, confident that we can know Him truly but never exhaustively, and we do so no matter what the world around us might think. John Calvin comments, “Incomprehensible as is the immensity of the wisdom, equity, justice, power, and mercy of God in his works, the faithful nevertheless acquire as much knowledge of these as qualifies them for manifesting the glory of God; only it becomes us to begin the study of his works with reverence, that we may take delight in them, contemptible though they be in the estimation of the reprobate.”

But the greatness of God’s works is not limited to His works of creation. There is also His work of salvation, which is the focus of Psalm 111:4–9. Commentators suggest that the psalmist has in view the exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan. Verse 5 alludes to the Lord’s provision of manna in the wilderness when it speaks of His feeding those who fear Him (Ex. 16). Verse 6 has the conquest of Canaan in view, while vv. 7–8 refer to the revelation of the Mosaic law at Sinai (Ex. 20; Josh. 1). The redemption spoken of in Psalm 111:9 would be the actual liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery (Ex. 12).

Looking to the generation of the exodus enables the psalmist to conclude his hymn with the statement that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10). This is a lesson to be learned from the Israelites in both a positive and negative sense. Positively, seeing how God provided for His people after rescuing them from Egypt shows us how wise it is to fear our Creator. If we fear Him and are joined to His covenant people, He will meet our needs. Negatively, seeing what happened to that generation when they did not fear the Lord encourages us to fear Him. If we do not continue in the fear of the Lord, we will miss His inheritance just as the Israelites wandering in the wilderness were barred from the Promised Land (Num. 32:13).

Calvin also comments that nothing is more profitable for believers “than to spend their lives in the celebration of the praises of God.” Meditating on the works of the Lord reminds us of His greatness and that wise men and women fear Him, showing Him honor and love. If we forget His mighty acts in history, we may be tempted not to fear Him in the manner He is due, and thus meet destruction. Let us take time daily to think on the greatness of God’s works.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Deuteronomy 3:24, Psalm 92, Matthew 11:20–24, Hebrews 3:7–4:13

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 128–130, 1 Corinthians 9

EMBRACING OUR FINITUDE

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26

ECCLESIASTES 8:16–17 “I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out” (v. 17).

From the very beginning, human beings have not been content to embrace their finitude. Not wanting to operate within the boundaries God set for them in Eden, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit so that they could be like their Creator in His knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:1–7). Whether one reads history books or passes by the shop owned by the neighborhood “psychic,” humanity has displayed an insatiable hunger for the occult because of its desire to know things that only the Lord knows, such as the future and what deceased loved ones are doing right now. The rise of modern technology has brought incalculable benefits to the world, but scientists, out of their desire to know more and more, continue to press ethical limits in cloning , fetal stem cell research, and so forth.

Ecclesiastes 8:16–17 has a key word for our ever-continuing quest to peer into what only God knows—stop. We draw this lesson from what the Preacher says about the pursuit of knowledge, namely, that despite our diligent inquiries, we “cannot find out the work [of God] that is done under the sun.” Try as we might, we will never know things as God knows them, and some mysteries of His providential rule we will never solve.

The Preacher’s point is not to make us think that the quest for knowledge is futile. God did, in fact, create us with a desire to learn about Him and His world. We run into problems only when we want to go beyond what is appropriate for us to know, when we are not content with our finitude but want to master areas that the Lord has said are off limits. When in our quest for knowledge we go past the ethical boundaries God has established in His Word, we are to cease our investigation and heed the divine warning to “go no further.”

Moreover, being discontented with our finitude is foolish because there are some things that we simply cannot know as creatures. The pursuit of knowledge that we are not capable of learning is bound only to lead to frustration. Here the specific example that the Preacher gives is the work of God in creation. He is not speaking about everything our Creator does in His world; rather, he refers specifically to divine providence. Because God often acts in ways that we do not expect, His ways are past finding out (Rom. 11:33). Attempting to read providence when the Lord has not revealed His purpose clearly can be a dangerous thing. That is why all of our decisions should be made according to the principles He has revealed in Scripture.

Scripture does not say it is impossible for us to know anything. Instead, the emphasis is on pursuing knowledge within the boundaries of God’s revelation. Special revelation—sacred Scripture—must guide even our study of “non-religious” matters such as science, philosophy, history, and so forth. Since God is the author of truth and we are made in His image, we can know truth. We just have to be content to stop our pursuit of understanding where He tells us to stop.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Job 11:7–9, Isaiah 55:8–9, Acts 1:7, Romans 11:33–36

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 131–133, 1 Corinthians 10:1–22

GOD’S ETERNAL REIGN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27

PSALM 93 “The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting” (vv. 1–2).

Psalm 19 begins by asserting that the heavens proclaim the glories of God (v. 1), showing that creation’s purpose is to declare the goodness and majesty of its Creator. Yet, the physical world is not alone in being tasked with extolling and revealing the Lord’s glory. As we see throughout Scripture, those whom God has redeemed have the privilege of singing His praises. Those who serve the triune Creator are a chosen people who “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

In today’s passage, we find a model for praising the Lord for His sovereign reign, particularly as it is exemplified in His rule as the Creator. Our Lord is “robed in majesty” and “has put on strength as his belt” (Ps. 93:1). What is the evidence of His kingly office? The creation itself. God’s world has been established and will never be moved (v. 2). This does not mean our universe will continue in its present state forever, as we know that there is a new heaven and earth coming where righteousness reigns (2 Peter 3:13). Instead, the psalmist is speaking of God’s sovereign rule over all. Other ancient Near Eastern religions believed creation was subject to the reign of competing and chaotic powers, but the God revealed in Scripture has no rivals. Since He has established His throne over creation itself, nothing falls outside His sovereign decree. We can trust Him forever because He controls all (Eph. 1:11).

All creation testifies to the Creator’s sovereign reign, but the people of God have the distinct privilege of witnessing to His rule over the universe. After declaring the Lord’s power over the waters, which were symbolic of chaos in the ancient world, the psalmist looks to the decrees of God. The reference is to His revealed commandments, which are the means by which He exercises His rule over His people. Our Lord’s law goes hand in hand with His presence among His people in His house—the Jerusalem temple under the old covenant, the church under the new covenant. As the people of God humble themselves before Him and seek to obey His covenant law in the power of the Spirit, they show forth His just reign in a manner that makes all people take notice. John Calvin comments, “The divine goodness is displayed in every part of the world, but the psalmist justly considers it as of all others the most inestimable blessing, that God should have deposited in his church the covenant of eternal life, and made his glory principally to shine out of it.”

Obeying the law of God is certainly not the means by which we are found righteous in His sight. However, we do grow in holiness as we seek to fulfill His commandments. Moreover, the holiness of the church in its obedience to God is a testimony to the world that He is the just and good King. If the church would have a credible witness to the world, it must obey the Lord and repent whenever it fails to honor Him.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Deuteronomy 4:1–8, Isaiah 42:6–7, Matthew 5:13–16, John 12:46

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 134–137, 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1

LISTENING LIKE SHEEP

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28

PSALM 95 “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand” (vv. 6–7a).

God comforts our souls throughout the pages of Scripture. His promise never to leave or forsake us (Heb. 13:5) assures us that no matter how difficult things seem, He is with us, carrying us through the fire of testing so that we might be purified and refined (Isa. 48:1–10). The Lord’s pledge to glorify everyone whom He justifies (Rom. 8:29–30) confirms that all who truly trust in Christ are kept for Him forever and cannot lose their salvation. However, this is not a passive keeping in which we play no part, as we will soon see.

Our God, today’s passage tells us, is the “great King above all gods,” the One who holds all things in His hand (Ps. 95:1–5). Because of this power, we can trust Him to keep us safe forever, not in that we will never experience danger in this life but in that He will bring us into His kingdom, where we will enjoy perfect happiness forever. The Lord’s sheep, who understand His power and grace, cannot help but bow down and worship Him (vv. 6–7). Yet we know from Scripture that not everyone who professes to be a sheep of our Creator actually belongs to His fold (Matt. 25:31–46; 1 John 2:19). Wolves (or goats) in sheep’s clothing do exist in the covenant community, and while the wheat in the visible church will not be perfectly separated from the tares until the return of Christ, our Savior does separate some out even in this age as we wait for His second coming.

How are the sheep and the goats separated now? Through the hardening of the goats’ hearts. Today’s passage warns hearers not to harden their hearts as an earlier generation did at Meribah (Ps. 95:8–9). The reference here is to the grumbling of the Israelites and complaints about the lack of water (Ex. 17:1–7; Num. 20:2–13). Such episodes evidenced a lack of trust in the One who had proven Himself faithful by redeeming the Israelites from Egypt. Due to the hardening of their hearts, that wilderness generation never entered the Promised Land (Ps. 95:10–11). The application of these episodes to succeeding generations of God’s people is clear—if we harden our hearts against the Lord, we will not enjoy final salvation.

Certainly, this does not mean that those who have truly been saved can lose their salvation, for there is not one person who is justified but never glorified (Rom. 8:29–30). What today’s passage does tell us is that we play a role in our perseverance. We are responsible to continue heeding the Lord, turning from sin, and trusting in Him. God’s elect will do all of those things, and we can know we are elect as we persevere in trusting our Creator.

Augustine of Hippo comments, “Let no man say in his heart, His promise is true; His threat is false: as His promise is true, so is His threat sure.” When we read Scripture, we must take the Lord’s warnings seriously. The elect cannot finally fall away, but all those in whom the Spirit is working heed these warnings. God uses them to keep His elect in the faith. As we are warned not to harden our hearts, may we listen and continue trusting in Christ.

FOR FURTHER STUDY 1 Kings 11:26–40, 2 Corinthians 6:1–2

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 138–141, 1 Corinthians 11:2–16

THE WEEKEND Psalms 142–145, 1 Cor. 11:17–12:11

WEEKEND DEVOTIONAL AUGUST 29 + 30

Earthquakes

THOMAS BREWER

I don’t often question the ground beneath my feet. I take it for granted. This is one reason why, of course, earthquakes are so terrifying. Perhaps you’ve experienced an earthquake, and you know by experience what I describe. Imagine: the very surface upon which you’re standing— along with all of the buildings, trees, cars, and other objects standing on the same surface— suddenly becomes unstable. The world shifts and convulses. Nothing is safe. If you run inside, a portion of a building may collapse on your head. If you run outside, a chasm may open in the earth, causing you to plummet hundreds of feet. Everything that was once “immovable,” you realize, is exactly the opposite. You realize that the most basic, reliable objects of your everyday life are completely pliable, temporary, and unreliable in the face of such power.

Psalm 46:1–3 describes such a movement of the earth.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

The “earth gives way,” the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, and they tremble. Such an earthquake comes with tremendous power. If you’ve ever visited a large mountain range, such as the Rocky Mountains, you know that a mountain is no small object. For the earth to give way, for a mountain to drop into the sea, and for the mountains to tremble— these images call to mind an earthquake of epic proportions. Such a powerful force renders our own powers to cope irrelevant. We stand no chance in the face of such power and chaos.

Maybe you have encountered such a force in your life—your own cancer or the cancer of a loved one. The sudden news of a tragic car accident. The loss of a job. The suicide of a friend or relative. Sudden abandonment. A major mistake. Abuse. Loss. Betrayal. These forces are like epic earthquakes in our hearts.

Psalm 46:2 appends seemingly strange words to its description of what, by all accounts, is an epic earthquake. It says, “Therefore, we will not fear.” How is it possible that we need not fear in the face of such forces? The answer is in v. 1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Therefore, those who trust God need not fear. The Lord is more powerful than the earthquakes and forces of chaos in your life. The Lord is more powerful than your circumstances, your sin, your mistakes, your losses, and your failures—and He uses His power to accomplish salvation for His people despite the sin and miseries of this life. He is our refuge and strength. That is why it says, “we will not fear.”

Christian, take heart, for your God is your refuge and strength. He has not forgotten you, and He never will.

Thomas Brewer is managing editor of Tabletalk. He is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla.

STONES OF REMEMBRANCE

MONDAY, AUGUST 31

JOSHUA 4:1–9 “You shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever” (v. 7).

Psalm 95 is one of the many passages in the Old Testament Wisdom Literature that warn us about the danger of falling away if we do not heed the Lord. Such warnings have caused many Christians to wonder whether it is possible for true believers to fall away finally from the faith. Of course, these warnings are not limited to the Old Testament but are also found throughout the New Testament. Many theological traditions have interpreted these passages as teaching that it is possible for a regenerate person not to die in faith, that an authentic Christian may actually lose his salvation. But is this what these passages are really teaching? We will now pause our studies in the Wisdom Literature to address this question, using Dr. R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Eternal Security as our guide.

Those who believe that true Christians can never lose their salvation often refer to this doctrine as the eternal security of the believer. Interestingly, while the Reformed tradition would agree that believers cannot finally fall away from grace, Reformed Christians have not traditionally talked about eternal security. The preferred term has been perseverance, which has the advantage of taking into account the biblical teaching that the Christian life is marked by warfare against sin and doubt. We must persevere in faith through the assaults of our enemies. Furthermore, the term perseverance seems less susceptible to misunderstanding. Often, those who use the term eternal security hold to some form of “easy-believism,” namely, that we are saved if we have confessed Christ even if we later reject Him or fall into unrepentant sin. Such an idea, however, flies in the face of Jesus’ teaching that if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15).

Yet it would be wrong to reject the term eternal security completely. After all, it reflects the human need for stability. We look for security in this fallen world, particularly when it comes to salvation. We want to know if God will keep us as His children forever. Will He finish His work of salvation in all in whom He starts it? To ask that question is to answer it. We serve a mighty God who is able to save to the uttermost all who trust in Him. We find our security in Him, and as we are reminded of His salvific work in the past, we can be confident that it will continue in the future. Like Joshua and the ancient Israelites who remembered God’s deliverance of the nation (Josh. 4:1–9), we need to remember His work in the past so that we can have confidence in Him in the future.

Ultimately, our Creator is the only One in whom we can fully trust for our security. Although we play a part in our perseverance, if we trust in ourselves alone, we do not possess true faith. We must continually look outside ourselves to what God has done, particularly His work in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing that He has faithfully kept His promises to save His people in the past will give us confidence that He will keep His promise to save us.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Genesis 28:10–22, Judges 6:11–24, 2 Timothy 2:8, Revelation 3:1–6

THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Psalms 146–148, 1 Corinthians 12:12–31

HEART A FLAME

THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE

KEVIN STRUYK

One of the most elite special operations forces in the United States Air Force is the pararescuemen, often referred to as PJs. These men are responsible for going into hostile territory anywhere in the world and rescuing wounded soldiers at a moment’s notice. Their motto is, “That others may live.” This motto is part of a creed that all pararescuemen recite and live by, a reminder of their duty, privilege, and responsibility to save lives even at the expense of their own comfort and safety.

I believe the motto of the PJs provides a helpful illustration for the Christian. First and foremost, both understand their calling or mission as seeking to save those who are perishing. This directive comes from the top. Jesus Himself understood and followed His predetermined role in redeeming a people out of the world. The pactum salutis (covenant of redemption) was an agreement among the members of the Godhead made in eternity past, wherein they agreed that the heavenly Father would send Jesus on a mission to save His people.

In order for Jesus to save His people, He had to enter enemy territory. In doing so, He took the form of a bondservant and came in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:6–7). Both earthly and spiritual powers targeted Him from the moment He was born (Matt. 2:13, 4:3). Despite the opposition, Jesus never failed in accomplishing His objective. As the second person of the Trinity, both fully God and fully man, Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, was obedient where Adam failed (Matt. 4:3–4; Heb. 4:15). In our place, Jesus resisted the temptations of Satan and perfectly fulfilled and kept the law and commandments of God so that His sacrificial death as the spotless Lamb of God would truly atone for the sins of His people (John 1:29).

Sin is a lethal force. The Bible says man in his natural state is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). Apart from the mercy and grace of God, a man left in his natural sinful state will never know abundant life now or eternal life to come. But God is rich in mercy and demonstrated His amazing love by sending Jesus to rescue the helpless and heal the sick. Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Those whom God calls and loves with an everlasting love will be rescued from eternal death and condemnation through faith in Jesus Christ. Such faith is possible only when a new heart is given to a dead man. This new heart is a result of the regenerating work of God’s Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:26; John 3). It’s the Spirit who leads people to repent of their sins and it’s God who justifies, or declares righteous, all who believe and call upon the name of Jesus (Rom 5:1; 10:13). A Christian is thus a new creation who has been freed from the guilt and power of sin to worship, serve, and love God and neighbor.

A TRUE DISCIPLE OF JESUS WILL, BY GOD’S GRACE AND BECAUSE OF HIS NEW NATURE, IMITATE JESUS BY LOVING THE HELPLESS, THE WOUNDED, AND THE LOST. OUR LOVE WILL DEMONSTRATE ITSELF THROUGH WORD AND DEED MINISTRY—PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST AND DISCIPLING HIS PEOPLE BOTH TO KNOW AND LIVE IN THE LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD. OUR DEEDS WILL SHOW OUR WILLINGNESS TO LEAVE BEHIND EARTHLY COMFORTS, MATERIAL GOODS, SAFETY, EVEN OUR VERY LIVES IN ORDER TO SAVE A SOUL FROM HELL.

A true disciple of Jesus will, by God’s grace and because of his new nature, imitate Jesus by loving the helpless, the wounded, and the lost. Our love will demonstrate itself through word-and-deed ministry—proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and discipling His people both to know and live in the light of God’s Word. Our deeds will show our willingness to leave behind earthly comforts, material goods, safety, even our very lives in order to save a soul from hell.

It has been said that the pastor’s life is a throwaway life, in that it is to be given over, body and soul, to the service of God. And in one sense, that’s the case for all true disciples of Jesus. Our lives, our energies, our resources, our time, our gifts ought to be used up or spent with the aim of fulfilling the Great Commission. Thus, when we breathe our last breath, I believe Jesus will welcome His children and individually say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:23).

We live in an increasingly hostile environment toward biblical Christianity where it may be tempting to retreat, circle the wagons, put up walls, and avoid the battle to win souls for Christ. Yet, we need to remember what Jesus prays in John 17, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (v. 18).

Take heart, Christian. We are sent into enemy territory by the One who has all power and authority. He will not let your foot slip. The victory is certain, Satan’s demise is sure, and Jesus is on His throne. We have been entrusted with the gospel; let us therefore faithfully proclaim it—so that others may live.

Rev. Kevin Struyk is an associate pastor at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla.

FOR THE CHURCH

PRAYING FOR PASTORS’ KIDS

BARNABAS PIPER

Why exactly is it that pastors’ kids (PKs) need prayer? What makes them so special? Actually, nothing. They are just like all their peers—the same weaknesses, the same proclivity to sin, and made in the image of God, too. All in all, PKs are a pretty normal bunch.

And there you have it, the reason they need prayer: they’re normal. Yet when you put normal people in uniquely challenging circumstances, things get difficult, and growing up in a family wherein the father’s vocation is full-time ministry is definitely uniquely difficult.

A pastor’s family often functions as the “first family” of the church, setting the bar in all things spiritual and moral. They are the exemplars of ministry and life. They’re always being observed, and with that comes expectations. The church expects certain behaviors and personas from their leaders’ families.

So you can see why it is that a pastor’s kid could use some extra prayer. Growing up is a challenge all by itself —learning, growing, hormones, identity crises, unrequited love, sports heartbreak, relational drama, school, spiritual life, siblings, parents, and more. Now imagine doing all that while a church watches, expecting you to be a good little Christian. Where can a PK hide? Where can she hide her mistakes and her insecurities? More deeply, where can she connect with Jesus deeply and genuinely, not as just another expectation?

Most people in the church love the pastor’s family. They have no intention of adding to the pressure or pain of PKs, so what can they do to ease the burden? More than anything, the church can pray.

THAT THEY WOULD KNOW JESUS

One of the most significant challenges PKs face is a true connection with Jesus Christ. All the knowledge and trivia and Bible memory doesn’t equal a saving relationship with Christ. On the contrary, sometimes knowing all that good stuff actually tricks PKs into thinking they have one. So many PKs know of Jesus, but all the morality, expectations, and knowledge blind them to His heart-transforming reality. Only a miracle of the Holy Spirit revealing Jesus to someone can truly save. Pray this miracle, that Jesus would be visible through all the stuff that happens in His name.

THAT THEY WOULD FIND THEIR IDENTITY IN JESUS

When people grow up under significant expectations, it is natural to gauge themselves by those expectations. Am I what I am supposed to be? Am I pleasing the right people? PKs see themselves as what others want them to be instead of what God made them to be. For PKs, those standards often look very “Christiany,” very moral, very “churchy.” Christian kids know they are not to measure themselves by “worldly” standards but rather by biblical ones, and these churchy standards sure look biblical. But something is amiss. Meeting churchy standards still feels empty. Why? Because it is the wrong place to find one’s identity. A follower of Christ is a new creation in Jesus. With that comes freedom to live a life made full by honoring Jesus instead of a life made harried by meeting expectations.

CHRISTIAN KIDS KNOW THEY ARE NOT TO MEASURE THEMSELVES BY “WORLDLY” STANDARDS BUT RATHER BY BIBLICAL ONES, AND THESE CHURCHY STANDARDS SURE LOOK BIBLICAL. BUT THIS IS THE WRONG PLACE TO FIND ONE’S IDENTITY. A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST IS A NEW CREATION IN JESUS. WITH THAT COMES FREEDOM TO LIVE A LIFE MADE FULL BY HONORING JESUS INSTEAD OF A LIFE MADE HARRIED BY MEETING EXPECTATIONS.

THAT THEY WOULD LOVE THEIR FAMILY

Pressure crushes things, and a cracking family is one of the devil’s favorite ways to undermine a pastor’s ministry. It’s an exploitable weakness and a nerve to be jabbed. When a PK crumbles under the pressure of ministry, she often blames her parents. (Sometimes they even deserve it for heaping that pressure on.) More subtly, the practice of being “just so” for the church can carry over into the home and stilt relationships. Instead of honesty, transparency, trust, and love, there is a void between family members.

THAT THEY WOULD LOVE THE CHURCH

PKs see more of the ugly in a church than anyone but the staff does. They see how ministry can pull apart their families. All the expectations can frustrate and embitter them. That’s why some PKs rebel and abandon church altogether. On the other hand, PKs get to see the best parts of the church too—deep friendships, changed lives, needs meet, souls transformed. Pray that the good would outweigh the bad, that they would recognize that there is bad everywhere humans gather, and that the church provides hope and richness like nowhere else.

FOR GRACE

People who grow up in church hear all about grace but often know very little of it. It is God’s grace that reveals Jesus and connects a PK to Him. It’s grace that overcomes and redeems the failures of family and church. It is God’s grace flowing through the church to the PK and through the PK to the church that enables the relationship to flourish. Grace is the thread that ties each of these needs together and the means by which God can grant them. Pray for the miraculous grace that covers a multitude of sins, restores the fallen and the bruised, and ties God’s people together.

Barnabas Piper is brand manager for Ministry Grid, a speaker, and son of Dr. John Piper. He is author of The Pastor’s Kid and Help My Unbelief.

INTERVIEW

PLANTING CHURCHES IN JAPAN

DAN IVERSON

TT: HOW WERE YOU CALLED TO PLANT CHURCHES IN JAPAN?

DI: My story is “mercenary to missionary.” I was an infantry officer, serving God in the “unreached” people group called the Marines. My wife, Carol, and I had never considered foreign missions, but then God led us to seminary, and at a missions conference in our first year, the speaker demonstrated from Genesis to Revelation (in about ten hours) God’s plan for “all nations.” We were deeply affected in seeing how proclaiming the gospel and starting churches in every people group was central to the Bible. How had we missed this?

In a prayer meeting, I was given a card for Afghanistan, which at the time had fewer than twenty known indigenous Christians. I was moved. Imagine seeing people carrying a telephone pole with ten people lifting at one end and one person at the other. At which end would you help? For many people groups, there are one hundred workers in the United States for every one in the field.

We wrestled with God for two years, worrying about taking our children overseas and raising support. God brought four seminary couples together to pray weekly about missions. We heard that three Japanese pastors from small church plants totaling sixty worshipers near Tokyo needed partners to start a presbytery. We prayed, our denomination’s missionary arm (Mission to the World) confirmed the call, God raised the support, and we came. Our team committed to twelve years, with the goal of starting churches where there were none, in partnership with these Japanese pastors.

TT: WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR BIGGEST JOYS AND STRUGGLES OVER YOUR TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS IN JAPAN?

DI: Learning Japanese was such a struggle. After studying Romans in Bible study, Carol used a new word by mistake. At a restaurant, instead of ordering filet katsu (breaded pork or chicken) she ordered katsu rei (circumcision). But what a great joy it became over time to share “the unsearchable riches of Christ” in Japanese with people who had never heard the gospel.

The fruit was slow; it was four years before we saw the first believer. But what a joy to see Toshiko baptized! Like most Japanese Christians, she was the first in her family line. The following year, thirteen adults believed and were baptized.

We wondered, “How will we ever plant a church, let alone a presbytery?” But Jesus has promised to build His church. First one church was planted, then a daughter church. Elders were finally ordained. Korean missionaries and Japanese pastors, as well as our team, planted more churches, and today there is a presbytery with churches worshiping in nineteen locations.

Family separation is difficult. When my mother was dying, we wrestled with returning home. New Japanese believers in our church gave money on their own to buy tickets so that all of us could be with mom at the end. What a struggle—and a joy.

It was difficult to bring our children to Japan; at first it was our greatest reason not to become missionaries. But God turned that into blessing. The mission team “family” turned out to be better in many ways for raising children. Our kids constantly saw God at work and by His grace, all nine have embraced Christ and His mission. (You can see our kids creatively singing about being “MKs” [missionary kids] at IversonJapan.com.)

I remember the day we finally started public worship in our Tokyo suburb. It was thrilling—in all of history, Jesus Christ had never been worshiped publicly in that town. A big, God-centered reason that we do missions is because worship doesn’t exist in so many places.

TT: HOW IS CHRISTIANITY VIEWED BY THE GENERAL POPULATION?

DI: In America, a twenty-year-old living at home might tell her mom, “I’m going to church,” when she’s really going shopping. But in Japan, she might say, “I’m going shopping,” when she’s really going to church. People aren’t killed for becoming Christian, but there is often opposition. While respect exists for Christian morals and for the now-secular schools started by missionaries long ago, becoming a Christian is still often viewed as being too “different” in a society that values conformity. A Japanese proverb says, “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” Therefore, the rich, educated, secular, nominally Buddhist-Shinto Japanese continue as the world’s second largest unreached people group (see joshuaproject.net).

The 2011 tsunami also helped raise respect for Christianity. While hundreds of thousands of foreigners fled nuclear disaster, thousands of Christians came to serve. Many stayed or returned as missionaries. As God used the persecution in Acts to spread out the Christians and start new churches, He has used the tsunami to bring many to faith and start new churches where there were none.

is country leader in Japan with Mission to the World (PCA), a church-planting organization dedicated to worldwide church growth. A former Marine officer, Dr. Iverson has been serving in Japan for nearly thirty years. He is church-planting pastor of Oyumino Christ Church (PCJ) in Chiba, Japan, and a mission team leader. In connection with Oyumino Christ Church, Dr. Iverson’s wife, Carol, is the headmaster at Covenant Community School International. For information on short-term missions trips or to learn more about the Iversons’ work in Japan, visit IversonJapan.com.

ILLUSTRATION OF DAN IVERSON BY NOLI NOVAK FOR TABLETALK MAGAZINE

TT: HOW DOES JAPAN’S CULTURE AFFECT YOUR MINISTRY?

DI: Many Japanese are interested in English. We offer conversational English classes that end with “Bible time.” Black gospel music is popular here. Our gospel choir has about fifty people singing black gospel music, and thirty-five of them are non-Christians. As a Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation leader supposedly said, “Those Protestants cheat! They sing their doctrines into the people’s hearts.” Also, the “group society” thing is huge. The process of building group consensus takes so long, but, once the decision is made, the execution is the world’s best.

Perhaps the biggest issue is religious/cultural. There is virtually no understanding of “God” with a big G, but only “the gods.” Coming to faith in the true God, seeing one’s sin, and trusting Christ alone for salvation usually takes years.

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“I remember the day we finally started public worship in our Tokyo suburb. Jesus Christ had never been worshiped publicly in that town. A big, God-centered reason that we do missions is because worship doesn’t exist in so many places.”

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TT: WHAT HELPS HAVE BEEN ESSENTIAL TO YOUR SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE AND GROWTH AS YOU’VE SERVED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

DI: I cannot imagine being in this hard place without a team of people with different gifts praying, working together, and encouraging each other, especially in the hard times.

Understanding the gospel in a deeper way has been vital. In the early “fruitless” years, a Tim Keller sermon on Luke 10 really helped me. When the disciples returned celebrating victory, Jesus told them not to rejoice in their fruit, but that their names were written in heaven. Slow fruit in Japan was good for my sanctification, teaching me to rejoice first in Christ, not ministry progress. And, as God gave fruit, the same lesson applied, probably more.

Meditating on Bible promises, reading about the history of world missions, our team’s twelve-year commitment, weekly Sabbath rest, good vacations, and home assignments in the USA have all helped us to persevere.

TT: WHAT CAN CHURCHES OUTSIDE JAPAN LEARN FROM THE JAPANESE CHURCH?

DI: First, the focus on the common good. Living in Japan has given me a new perspective on “American rugged individualism.” A “common grace” virtue of Japanese culture is putting the group’s needs above one’s own, which sounds pretty biblical. Second, moderation. Even wealthy Japanese people often live modestly. Third, perseverance. Kingdom work is difficult and slow. Many well-educated pastors faithfully persevere for decades on small salaries.

TT: HOW CAN SHORT-TERM MISSIONARIES SERVE ON THE MISSION FIELD?

DI: Many ways. Every year for twenty-five years, we have had young “gap-year” interns serve on our team. They teach in our Christian school, use their music gifts in church plants, and disciple missionary children. Short-termers (including retirees) teach conversational English, providing evangelism contacts.

TT: WHAT ARE SOME DISADVANTAGES AND ADVANTAGES OF SHORT-TERM MISSION TRIPS?

DI: We wrote an article some years ago titled “Short-Term Missions: Blessing or Bother?” Career missionaries can get pulled away from ministry to take care of short-term teams. But, while most missions in Japan are shrinking due to high cost and hard soil, our MTW Japan mission has grown from fifteen career missionaries to more than fifty. Almost every new missionary or their spouse was a former short-termer. Short-term teams help with English Bible camps and our Church Planting Institute; teach and give testimonies in churches; repair buildings; and about fifty other things. People are changed on these trips. They return home more committed to praying, giving, sending, and going.

TT: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE CONSIDERING CROSS-CULTURAL MISSIONS WORK?

DI: Pray every day about it, with your spouse if you are married, asking for God’s clear leading. Go with a team that knows God’s grace, practices forgiveness, and models this gospel unity for the emerging indigenous church. And don’t let family concerns stop you. That was our biggest fear and reason not to go. Now twenty-eight years later, our children say with us, “Being missionaries was better.” The best thing for our families is serving in the place where God leads.

CITY ON A HILL

A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS

KELLY M. KAPIC

In February, a terrible beheading of twenty-one Egyptian Christians took place. They were executed because they were identified as “the people of the cross.” We are reminded of the possibility of martyrdom and the reality that this side of glory we are “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11). Consequently, Christians often find themselves in a most difficult position. We are called to love our neighbors—even our neighbors who might better be described as our enemies (Matt. 5:43–45). And we are not to return evil for evil (Rom. 12:17; 1 Thess. 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9). While most believers do not face the imminent threat of death, testifying to Christ is often far from easy. How, then, are we to live faithfully amid challenging circumstances and among difficult people?

As sons and daughters of the One who is both the eternal King and High Priest, we have assurance that we will never be forgotten or abandoned. We do not need to be absorbed with self-preservation or self-promotion; we are free to live lives shaped by mercy and love for others. To appreciate this vision, we must understand that we are chosen as a people to be a blessing, and we carry out that work in a priestly manner.

CHOSEN TO BE A BLESSING

Peter gives his readers some powerful encouragement: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Peter here draws from a long and cherished tradition that is woven throughout the Old Testament.

When God called Abraham, He made it clear that from this man a great nation would arise. What is striking about the idea of election in this context is that the goal was gracious inclusion rather than hard-hearted exclusion. God chose Abraham and his offspring to serve as His representatives in the world. In this way, they functioned like a city on a hill, where others would be drawn to the light of the creator Lord. God’s people are never to forget that they are blessed in order to be a blessing (Gen. 12:1–2). That is at the heart of the biblical movement of election. But Peter reminds us that election and priesthood are meant to go together.

FAITHFUL PRIESTS

Peter appears to draw from Exodus 19:6, where we read of the promise that “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel had specific people set apart to be ordained priests, but the promise was that all of God’s people would serve in some priestly ways.

AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE ONE WHO IS BOTH THE KING AND ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST, WE HAVE ASSURANCE THAT WE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN NOR ABANDONED. WE DO NOT NEED TO BE ABSORBED WITH SELF-PRESERVATION OR SELF-PROMOTION; WE ARE FREE TO LIVE LIVES SHAPED BY MERCY AND LOVE FOR OTHERS.

As Peter draws on the great Old Testament promises to God’s people, he makes it clear that all who now have faith in Christ are part of this “chosen race” that is “a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” We are the true heirs of Abraham. Barriers between Jew and Gentile are meant to be demolished. What unites this people is not their ethnicity or culture, but their worship of Jesus. Even amid their serious diversity they become one in Christ. As those who are connected to the Great High Priest, His people now carry out His work of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18–19). All believers carry out two vital ministries as part of the royal priesthood.

First, in our priestly role, all Christians are to live sacrificially for others. We are people of the cross. Jesus laid down His life for sinners in desperate need of grace and love. As imitators of the crucified Lord, we now offer ourselves to Christ through sacrificial acts of love done in behalf of our neighbors, even the neighbors who consider us their enemies. We can be truly “honorable” through our works of grace and mercy, hoping that these very people may one day “glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12). We do not make atonement for others, but through our lives, we point them to the Lamb of God who alone can bring reconciliation between a holy God and sinful humanity (v. 21).

Second, we are faithful in our priestly role as we offer intercession on behalf of others. Paul makes a similar point when he urges Timothy to offer “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings” for “ all people, for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Tim. 2:1–2a). Part of living as the chosen people and a holy nation is that we are set apart to be instruments of God’s grace and reconciliation in this world. And this begins with prayers. We pray not just for those we love, nor even just for God’s people, but for the world, including dangerous emperors (1 Peter 2:16–17). How do we love our neighbor? We intercede for them, asking for the light of God’s mercy to overcome the looming darkness. Jesus did this even as He hung on the cross (Luke 23:34). You and I cannot change or save our neighbor, but the triune God can.

Jesus is the perfect Mediator who makes intercession on our behalf, offering Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice so that we might enjoy peace with God. We who have received mercy (1 Peter 2: 10) are now His chosen vessels to be instruments of His grace and love to the world. This is what it means to live as part of the royal priesthood.

Dr. Kelly M. Kapic is professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga. He has authored several books, including Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition.