Michelangelo (1503-04), marble statue

My latest installment of Lord’s Day Bible Study materials produced for Reformation Covenant Church is for Galatians, with an Introduction to the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul.

The lessons are available here.

Antichrist by Albercht Durer

I preached today at RCC on 1 John 2:18-29. The text of the sermon can be found here, as well as the sermon outline here.

The audio of the sermon can be heard here.

I preached today from 1 John 2:15-17. The text of the sermon can be read here.

The audio can be heard here.

I had the opportunity to preach today at RCC, continuing my prolonged series in 1 John.  The text of the sermon can be read here.

The audio of the sermon can be heard here.

I’m not normally one to post my thoughts on political and economic issues. Although I do have opinions about these matters, most of the time I think they aren’t worth much because these issues are generally far more complex than my little pea brain can make sense of.  But, because I have been asked so often lately about what I think about the economy, here goes!

I have increasingly been coming to the conclusion that the United States is not really coming out of its economic woes, and may be in for a good deal worse decline than we have seen to date. Unemployment has remained high, foreclosures on houses continue to increase, banks continue to fail or are taken over by the FDIC, money for loans to businesses remain difficult to acquire and, most of all our governmental decisions have continued to, in my view, be unwise. We are not reducing spending – and we now have incredibly high budget deficits, and our debt continues to grow. The Federal government is not renewing a number of tax cuts – which means tax increases in the not too distant future, and tax increases are not only already here but most assuredly are ready to dramatically increase even further. Most States seem to be following the same patterns – refusing to cut expenses and raising taxes (with some notable exceptions and here).

Today in USA Today we read about disturbing trends in the economic transitions in the private and government sectors:

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.

At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

But most of all, I am convinced that the financial implications of the Health Care reform will exacerbate all of these unwise patterns, with unforeseen (to supporters) consequences that will be both surprising and destructive. At the same time that we are moving more self-consciously into the welfare state mentality, European nations are coming to grips with the consequences of their welfare policies over the last 50-60 years. Michael Weissenstein, in an online article, “Fiscal crises threaten Europe’s generous benefits,” provides interesting details of the problems for Europeans. He writes:

The system known as the European welfare state was built after World War II as the keystone of a shared prosperity meant to prevent future conflict. Generous lifelong benefits have since become a defining feature of modern Europe.

Now the welfare state – cherished by many Europeans as an alternative to what they see as dog-eat-dog American capitalism – is coming under its most serious threat in decades: Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

The financial impact of the Health Care reform has not really been felt by the American economy at all yet. When we compound the existing problems we are facing with the undoubtedly heavier burden that will be imposed on the economy by the massively increased taxes, fees, charges and “investments” – I foresee a very different and oppressive economic world than we now see.

The Christian Response: Faith and Singing

Now, of course we can hope to see a repeal of the new Health Care Law. Rasmussen reports that 63% Favor Repeal of National Health Care Plan. No doubt that this would be a good thing.

But, as in the days of Habakkuk (which I encourage all who trust the Lord to read and understand), God’s judgments in the world are confusing and sometimes frustrating. Our response must the same as it was for the faithful Israelites of old: “The righteous will live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). Yes – God brings His judgments in history, and yes the righteous will suffer at times along with the wicked. But the righteous will find life on the other side of judgment if he remains steadfast in faith. Those who trust in themselves, in political leaders, in social programs and international agreements will not either understand what God is doing, and more likely, will neither praise Him for it nor trust Him through it.

Habakkuk came to understand that he must not only trust God in faith, but he also found in this truth a cause to sing (Hab. 3:16-19). When God calls us to worship each Lord’s Day – we sing His praises. In doing so He, by His Word and Spirit, gives us the faith and understanding to trust Him during troubling times.

Here are my Bible lessons on the book of Habakkuk

Our Church provides a worship services for the residents of the McLoughlin Place, a Senior Assisted Living community in Oregon City. I had the opportunity this month to provide the devotional. We are going through the book of James.

McLaughlin Place Devotional -May 23, 2010: James 1:9-11

“Exaltation and Humiliation”

Over the last couple of month Matt Lyons has been speaking to you from the book of James, and we will continue today to see some of the surprising things the Lord has to say to us. Let us pray that God would speak to us from His word today.

Our Father, we often feel as if we do not have the wisdom we need to live as those who are made complete by your grace and Spirit – We ask that you, the Father of lights, would give us your grace to live patiently in our trials, knowing that you are providing all that we need to enable us to say that we lack nothing. You are the generously giving God – Give us now wisdom live for you, in faith, without doubting that you are willing to give your good gifts to us liberally and without reproach. For we pray in the name of our only Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

God works in our lives and in the world generally, in ways that are often a mystery to us. We know that he wants us to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing – and that He has the power to just say the word and we will be perfect and complete, lack in nothing. But he doesn’t do things that way. He has saved us by His grace, through the faith that He has given us. But, in the perfect wisdom of our heavenly Father – He chooses to test our faith and to make things more difficult sometimes than we would like. But if we remain steadfast in our faith that He is a good Father to us, not doubting that He loves us – He will enlarge our faith in Him and give us patience and wisdom in this world. All the various trials we have in life are often confusing and difficult – but if we have in us His perspective on these trials – we can actually rejoice in the fact that on the other side of them we will know Him and His wisdom better.

In the next section of James he gives us an example of how we can have joy in the midst of testing. James 1:9-11

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich [brother] in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

This is certainly an odd passage, and somewhat confusing. What James is saying is that the brother in lowly or humble circumstances is encouraged to see himself from God’s perspective and glory or take pride in his exalted position before the Lord and in the Christian community. God has lifted him up: James 4:6 and 10 says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble…Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Just as we should see trials as a cause for joy (when seen from the perspective of God’s purposes in our lives), so too, the lowly brother should see himself as God sees him: one who is equally a son of God with the rich.

The world views this person as poor (the term ‘humble’ has behind it a Hebrew concept of the humble or oppressed poor) – and somehow less important in the big scheme of things. The poor, those who live in humble circumstances are often despised and neglected, sometimes even by the church and their families. But God has, however, lifted them up – exalted them. God’s view is the truer one and so the person can rejoice in its reality even when their outward circumstances have not yet changed.

If I am not too far wrong – some of you here may feel poor and humbled and less important or significant in the world. God is telling you to glory in the fact that you are loved and cared for by Him – and that he counts you as equal to all the rest of His children.

In contrast, the rich brother should glory in his humiliation. This sounds strange to us, but what we are to learn from this is that those Christians who are rich in this world could be tempted to see themselves are more important than those who are poor. In fact, this sinful attitude is something that James draws attention to later in 2:2-9: But God has shown them that they are not any more exalted before God than any other Christian.

This passage in 1:9-11 teaches that a rich man could properly glory and rejoice in having been humbled by God and brought to associate as an equal with poor Christians. Both poor and rich are exalted by His grace. He opposes the proud – but gives grace to the humble, whether rich or poor.

James is saying that if the rich person looks at the same future as the ‘humble’ brother, he will see that both will fade and die – just as the flower of the field. The glories that accompany riches will fade away – and in the end – only those who are humble before the Lord will be lifted up and exalted in His sight. This is a subject that will get much more attention in the book of James.

This ‘reversal of fortunes’ theme is often found in the scriptures (e.g. 1 Sa. 2:1–10; Lk. 1:46–55). When God acts, the low are raised up and the high are brought down. What God wants us to see is that our exaltation in this world is not about riches – it is a result of God lifting us up by grace and making us exalted as His dear children.

Brothers and sisters – don’t look at your circumstances as the sum of your true standing in Christ Jesus. If you are poor and ill treated in this world – rejoice and be glad that before God you are exalted and dearly loved. If you are rich and well treated – glory and rejoice in the fact that your value to God isn’t reliant on your riches because they will all be gone in the end.

This hailstorm happened last Sunday, May 16th,  in Oklahoma.

Too often when we see something like this we are merely amazed and amused.

How easy it is in our modern world to fail to see that at all times and places God is the one who rules and uses all the universe for His purposes. God sometimes reminds us of His judgments in the world by sending us surprises like this.

Of course the great Exodus story includes THE hailstorm that all others are compared to so as to remind us forever to respond to God’s words with humility and submission to Him.  Notice in the story that there were some that came to fear the word of the Lord and responded accordingly, and others that refused to take seriously God’s word and suffered the consequences. Even when it is over, even when God’s rule and authority are evident to all, the hardhearted are not moved to anything but further hardening.

May God, when he shows forth His glory in such a way as this, grant fear and loving submission to all whom he softens with faith!

Exodus 9:

The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Release my people so that they may serve me! For this time I will send all my plagues on your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth. But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them. I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. So now, send instructions to gather your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person or animal caught in the field and not brought into the house – the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”

Those of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses, but those who did not take the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle in the field.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, and on everything that grows in the field in the land of Egypt.” When Moses extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. Hail fell and fire mingled with the hail; the hail was so severe that there had not been any like it in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. The hail struck everything in the open fields, both people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces. Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. Pray to the Lord, for the mighty thunderings and hail are too much! I will release you and you will stay no longer.”

Moses said to him, “When I leave the city I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God”…

So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: both he and his servants hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John by Peter J. Leithart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As usual – Leithart brings to light what would otherwise remain in obscurity in the scriptures. With his ability to interpret scripture with scripture, and an uncommon sensitivity to how the ancient texts of the Bible are to be made relevant to today – From Behind the Veil is a tremendous resource.

What I particularly like is the way he first addresses textual, structural and linguistic analysis and then uses those insights in applying the text to our contemporary living.

View all my reviews >>

Ephesians by Sinclair B. Ferguson

This is a good and insightful little commentary that is accessible to laymen.

Ferguson has a good grasp on the importance of union with Christ in the gospel message of Paul.

View all my reviews >>

I will be preaching from 1 John 2:15-17 on June 6^th and I have been meditating a little on this text for the last week or so.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

There are those what would tell us that love of God precludes loving anything that is in the world because it would be a replacement of God for any of our affections. Thus, while we can appreciate and be thankful to God for good things in this world, we can never love anything in this world.

Interestingly, John 3:16 tells us that God loves the world. Does this mean that we are not to love what God loves? Peter Leithart in his commentary on the Epistles of John, From Behind The Veil, writes:

“We need to specify what John means both by “love” and “world.” In some places, “world” refers to humanity or creation that is the object of God’s love (John 3:16). In this sense, we are to share in the love of the Father for the world, which expresses itself in self-sacrifice for the salvation of the world…John is not saying that we should despise creation. We should love daffodils and chipmunks and sunsets and waves on the ocean. Our love for the world should extend to cultural products as well. John doesn’t condemn our love for Japanese gardens and the Taj Mahal and Moby Dick and the Goldberg Variations. Even pop culture is not specifically in his sights: we not necessarily loving the world if we love Coca Cola and video games and 24 [Lost???] and U2. In themselves, all these things come from the hand of God and are to be received with thanksgiving and joy.”

Doug Wilson, in a recent blog post entitled, A Full Tank of Gas and Lots of Wyoming Ahead, disagrees a bit with some of the things his friend John Piper wrote in When I Don’t Desire God (a book I have not read). Piper says:

“So the question must be faced: How do we use the created world around us, including our own bodies, to help us fight for joy in God? In God, I say! Not in nature. Not in music. Not in health. Not in food or drink. Not in natural beauty. How can all these good gifts serve joy in God, and not usurp the supreme affections of our hearts” (p. 178).

“Gratitude is occasioned by a gift, but is directed to the giver” (p. 186).

Doug commented:

And this brings us to the heart of the problem — the relationship between Giver and gift.

The temptation we have is that of treating all this as a zero-sum game, assuming that any time spent on the gifts is necessarily time away from the Giver. But though this sometimes happens, it does not need to happen. Rightly handled, a gift is never detached from the one who gave it. Wrongly handled, a gift can be the occasion of selfishness, which is a common problem. But it can also be the occasion of a higher form of selfishness, one which pretends to be above the whole tawdry field of “gifts in themselves.”

Picture a particularly “pious” little child who was impossible to give gifts to, because he would always unwrap it, abandon it immediately, and run up to his parent and say, “But what really counts is my relationship with you!” A selfish child playing with a toy ungratefully is forgetting the giver. This pious form of selfishness is refusing to let the giver even be a giver.

From one perspective – failure to love what God has given to us in the world is a failure to love God properly. How can my loving heavenly Father be displeased with me when I properly love His gifts? I love and joy in God best when I love and take joy in His expressions of love to me.  I love my loving heavenly Father all the more for the gifts that he has given me to love.

Doug & Amy Happily in Central Part

I love my dear wife more than anything in this world – and for the opportunity to love her and be loved by her I praise my loving Father.

I love my children and grand-babies.

I love fishing, and reading wonderful books.

Happy Fishing!

I love entertaining friends and family in my back yard, and listening to music, and great food. Unapologetically I love God’s gifts in this world.

To learn what I think John is saying in 1 John 2:15-17 – you’ll just have to wait!

Knowing that We Know Jesus

1 John 2:3-11

Doug Hayes, February 14, 2010

Sermon Audio

2010-0214hayesa

An Appreciative Critique of the “Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church Joint Statement on Holy Days”

In the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches there is both liberty and warrant to be traditionalist or more innovative (within confessional lines) or some combination thereof.  This is expressed in a number of different ways including liturgical thinking and practices.

On the one hand, there is a wonderful tendency among us to look back historically to what the Spirit has done through the centuries in the Church to form the Bride of Christ liturgically. Consequently, there are some among us that are desirous of learning more about and applying in our churches many Ancient, Medieval and even Magisterial Reformational liturgical practices that most Evangelicals have long forgotten or rejected.

On anther hand, there are some more adventurous among us that want to move beyond the older, historic liturgical forms and practices and begin to consider how they can be transformed along Protestant lines and concerns.

In the best spirit of the CREC’s desire to remain both historically grounded and biblically based in all things, two of our beloved sister churches have released a “Joint statement on holy days, approved by the sessions of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow” Idaho.” It can be found on Doug Wilson’s blog, Blog and Mablog.

I am largely in agreement with this helpful statement, but I would like to interact with some elements of the statement as a means of discussing some of my own thoughts about the Christian concept of time. I will post my thoughts, so much as they are, in multiple postings.

In the first paragraph we read the following:

“We believe that the people of God have been freed from all bondage to observing days, weeks, months, seasons or years (Gal. 4:9-11, Col. 2:16). Those Old Testament laws were shadows of Christ who has come (Col. 2:17). And when Christ died we died with Him, and when He was raised and ascended into heaven, we were raised and seated with Him in the heavenly places (Col. 3:1, Eph. 2). This means that together with Christ, the saints are the rulers of time and space. We have all been established in Him as lords of the Sabbath, to rule time according to the wisdom of the Spirit (Rom. 8:14, Gal. 4:6-7). We are not under days, but now the days are under us. And therefore we confess that all celebration of days is voluntary, freely offered, and no one may judge or be judged on this basis (Rom. 14:5-6, Col. 2:16).”

What does it mean to say that, “We have all been established in Him as lords of the Sabbath, to rule time according to the wisdom of the Spirit (Rom. 8:14, Gal. 4:6-7)?” What do the texts cited have to do with the assertion that we (those who are united to Christ) are lords of the Sabbath?

1)    Presumably, the phrase “lords of the Sabbath” is an allusion to the Gospel texts where the Lord Jesus said that He Himself is the “Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matt. 12:8; Mk. 2:28; Lk. 6:5).

a.     In none of these Gospel passages did Jesus make His assertion to the Pharisees as a way of distinguishing Himself and the New Covenant people of God from Old Covenant Sabbath keeping. He was not saying that the Old Testament Sabbath laws requiring special observance of days, weeks, months, seasons or years were a form of bondage that He came to release them from. He was not, in these passages, making any negative statement about the Sabbath keeping.

b.     Rather, Jesus confronted the Pharisaical misunderstanding and misapplication of the Sabbath law that resulted in them placing heavy burdens on the people of God (Matt. 23:4; Lk. 11:46). Jesus, by declaring that He is Lord/Master over the Sabbath, was asserting that He had come to deliver His people from an unbiblical and unlawful misapplication of the Sabbath law and give us true biblical Sabbath rest (11:28-30).

c.      It may be true to say that because we are untied to Christ we are also rulers with Him over time and space. However, it is not true to say that mankind before Christ was not a ruler of time and space. This was fundamentally man’s vocation on the earth is since creation (Gen. 1:28-30; Ps. 8). Man has always been tasked with ruling over time and space; however, it was not until the Second Adam came and became enthroned as the victorious ruler of time and space that mankind can hope to rule it effectively for God. We are now rulers with the assurance that our works and management over time and space are being effectively use by Jesus to bring the defeat of all of His enemies.

2)    It is interesting that the joint statement says that we are “lords of the Sabbath” in the sense that we are to rule time “according to the wisdom of the Spirit.” Presumably, “according to the wisdom of the Spirit” is contrasted to the Old Testament Sabbath laws regarding time, which we have been freed from.

a.     The phrase “according to the wisdom of the Spirit” in the joint statement is followed by two scripture references; Romans 8:14, Galatians 4:6-7. Try as I may, even with a sympathetic reading, I fail to understand how these texts relate to the proposition that we are to rule time according to the Spirit. Neither of these texts addresses ruling, wisdom or time. They merely assert that we are, by the Spirit, sons and heirs of God.

b.     What troubles me about this is that there appears to be a contrast in the statement between the Old Testament Sabbath law and the Spirit, or wisdom of the Spirit. Law is associated with bondage to days in the statement, which is contrasted with wisdom, the Spirit and New Covenant liberty in which all celebration of days is entirely voluntary and not a matter of biblical requirement or conscience. This is merely, in my estimation, a misunderstanding of what Paul is arguing against in Rom. 14:5-6, Col. 2:16 (which I address briefly below).

c.      The conclusion of the first paragraph, says:

“We are not under days, but now the days are under us. And therefore we confess that all celebration of days is voluntary, freely offered, and no one may judge or be judged on this basis (Rom. 14:5-6, Col. 2:16).”

These are very strong statements: “not under days” and “all celebration of days is voluntary.” However, in the second paragraph the joint statement also asserts that the Lord’s Day (Sunday) is “the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, our weekly Easter, and the only feast day which must be honored and kept.”  Which is it? 1) We are not under days and all celebration of days is voluntary, OR 2) the Lord’s Day, the Old Testament Sabbath transfigured, must be celebrated, honored and kept?

d.     What does the joint statement mean by, “We are not under days?” In what way were the Old Covenant saints under days? And alternately, what does “the days are under us” mean? Do the writers of the joint statement mean that God in the Old Testament determined what days the saints worshipped and celebrated, but now we get to determine what days we worship and celebrate without reference to the Bible or God’s will for us? Doubtful. Especially since we rule time according to the wisdom of the Spirit, whatever that means.

I applaud Christ Church and Trinity Church for attempting to provide a biblical rationale for, 1) the liberty we have in Christ, and the propriety of celebrating various days throughout the years as Christian holidays, and 2) to guard against allowing such celebrations to improperly bind the consciences of Christians, or a become a means of promoting unbiblical pride, prejudice and superstition.  My concern is the arguments that have been used are not as helpful as they could be.

My view of the Sabbath – Lord’s Day issue pastoral-position-paper-sabbath-keeping:

The Bible (Old and New Testaments) is God’s progressive revelation of Himself and His relation to His creation. He created time and space and gave it to man to rule. God set in motion the cycles of seasons, days and years in creation. Adam, by his sin, failed as God’s appointed ruler. Importantly, the created order continued with the same cycles of seasons, days and years in creation. The creation pattern was more clearly explained by God progressively in terms of Sabbath, and other feasts, fasts, and laws. The Sabbath laws (i.e. periods of time set aside from regular time for rest, celebration, feasting and liberation) were given by our gracious Lord of Time, and were holy, just and good. They were liturgical patterns that reflected and were connected to the creation patterns. They were given to man. Man was not made for them. They helped covenant men to learn to regularly worship God, to submit himself to God, and to rule for God in time. Time is a creation of God that man was created live in terms of.

Over time, God’s people perverted God’s good law regulating time so that instead of being a blessing to men, the Sabbath laws became an occasion for spiritual pride and oppression. The Sabbath, for the Pharisees and other Jews, had become a means of demonstrating that they (and they alone) were the recipients of God’s favor. Men became servants of the Sabbath – rather than the Sabbath being a creation of God for man’s wellbeing. Jesus made it clear that they had perverted the true meaning of Sabbath and human lordship over time, making the movement of the days, seasons and times a burden and badge of Israelite exclusivity.

With the finished work of Christ, the whole complex system of Sabbath laws governing days, months, seasons and years was transformed. Much of the Sabbatical system was tied to land of Israel and a centralized worship system. Now, in Christ, the world is the Promised Land for the Church. Worship is no longer associated with the Jewish Tempe in Jerusalem, but is located within the Church wherever she is found. Thus, the Sabbatical ordering of time needed to be transformed and applied in the new context.

From the earliest days of the Church, the first day of the week has become the memorial of the resurrection of Christ, and the Christian Sabbath, the sign of the New Creation, and the full redemption of the sons of God.  The first day of the week became known among the churches as “the Lord’s Day.” Hebrews 3:6-4:13 teaches that there remains a sabatizmos, literally, a “Sabbath-keeping” for the people of God because we have not fully and finally entered into God’s eternal rest (cf. 4:9). Hebrews 10:24-25 commands us, New Covenant believers, not to forsake the assembling (literally: “super-synagogue”) of ourselves together, which has reference to the time of Sabbatical weekly worship.  Failure to do so indicates a person’s status as a covenant breaker through willful sin (10:26).  Thus, Sabbath-breaking (in both covenants) is to be understood as rebellion and unbelief in the promises of God.

The early church struggled over the question of how the Sabbath was to be kept in the New Covenant. Some of these struggles are given to us in Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2. Nowhere in the New Testament or in early church history is there any record of disputation over the question of Christians worshipping on the first day of the week (the day we now call Sunday).  It was indisputably a special day. Therefore, whatever days are being referred to in Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2, they do not refer to the Lord’s Day.

The Word ‘Sabbath’ is nowhere used in the New Testament of the Christian Lord’s Day.  That word was used exclusively to denote the holy days of the Old Covenant.  The point is that during the time before the destruction of Jerusalem, many Christians observed both the seventh day (Saturday) Jewish Sabbath and Sunday Lord’s Day worship. Christians were obligated to observe the Lord’s Day celebrations (Heb. 4 & 10), but were free to decide whether or not to observe the Jewish practice of the Saturday worship. Paul commands that no judgments be made against the latter practice.

Thus, we do have a holy day that is indisputably an obligation for all Christians, in all ages and in all places. It is Sunday, the Lord’s Day! All other days are conditioned by this great holy day. We are free to observe other days as we choose and free to refuse to observe other days. We are free to create other days of Christian celebration and yet we are not required to participate in any days of celebration besides the weekly, Sunday, celebration of the Christian Lord’s Day. It is our high holy day!

Conclusion (of this overly long post):

In light of the above, I agree (with the joint statement) that, in Jesus, we are indeed lords of the Sabbath. We are truly rulers of time, as our ancestors before us were lords of time. The Old Covenant saints were trained to think and act in accordance to the patterns of time established in creation and the law. Because of the resurrection of our Lord, we are assured that we are part of His victorious kingdom that will culminate, on the Last day, with His second coming.

The Lord’s Day confirms to us each week that we are the New Covenant people of God who are continually transformed into new creatures in Christ through His Word, the Sacraments and the life of the Church. As such, we move out of special time on the Lord’s Day with Christ and into the rest of time and history to manifest the Holy City of God on earth.

Today (03/29/09) Dennis Tuuri, Pastor of RCC, in a sermon related to Lent and Christian suffering, mentioned that “fasting is an anticipation of a change in history.” This is a very helpful perspective to keep in mind as people consider the meaning and use of both Lent and fasting generally. Isaiah 58:3, 5 tells us that fasting is an affliction of our souls. Properly understood, fasting, when practiced, should be seen as part of our praying that God would use us to change the world around us. Specifically, in Isaiah 58:6-7 we are told about fasting that pleases the Lord:

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?”

It is the kind of fasting that moves us to action and service. In our service we see the world transformed around us. The future we hope for is brought into the present. Fasting brings us into conformity to the will of God so that we become part of the establishment of His Kingdom.

Hear now the word of the Lord from Rev. 14:13, which Don asked for this verse to be part of the service:

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me,

“Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

What a wonderful text to meditate on with the death of a dearly beloved Christian. To fully understand what the Apostle John wrote, it is important to be aware of the larger context of the book of Revelation.  It was written to Christians that were suffering dramatically in the years just before the destruction of Jerusalem in the 70 AD.  The believers in Jesus, faithful Christians, were being brutally persecuted, primarily, by the Jews that rejected the Lord Jesus. They were being compromised and corrupted by people within the church. They suffered from social discrimination from every corner of the culture.  Most of the Christians lost their livelihoods, homes, social status and were impoverished in almost every way. In short, they struggled with enemies that were mighty and powerful. Jesus, by His Spirit, revealed in this book that He would come to save His people by judging those who had rejected and killed Him and were now seeking to destroy His body, the Church.

Earlier in this same chapter, Jesus is shown to be the Lamb that was slain that now stands as King on His Holy Mountain. With Him are those who had been killed for their testimony for Jesus, and now had God the Father’s name written on their foreheads. Rev. 14:2-5 describes these dear saints as those who enthusiastically sing in heaven with the heavenly army:

And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.  They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. [They are no longer singing songs of sorrow - They have a new song of praise on their lips. Why?] These are the ones who [kept themselves pure]. These are the ones who follow[ed] the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.

While these saints sang in the heavenlies, God sent forth His judgments on the earth to bring salvation to the world. A first Angel “came forth having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people-said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” Salvation comes to God’s people through judgment on His and their enemies. The good news is that God brought His judgment for sin upon His Son, the sacrificial Lamb of God, so that those who believe in Him shall be freed of enemies and have everlasting life. Because Jesus overcame death and was raised from death to sit at the right hand of the Father, He judges the wicked and brings life and salvation to His people, both Jews and Gentiles. What follows is one Angel after another declaring the judgment of God upon those who refuse to fear God and give glory to Him. These judgments were both temporal in time and history, but will extend into the eternal future. Vv. 11-12 says that there will be no rest, day or night, for those who refuse to keep the commandments of God or believe in Jesus.

And then John speaks the words we have already heard:

“Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

From now on, from the time of God’s judgments on His enemies in the first century, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”  Why? Because, by the Spirit of Christ, “they will rest from their labors in the world for Christ – and are assured that their works will follow them.”

Since the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, all men are by nature sinners, and actual committers of sin. We inherited a sinfulness in our nature, and we are sinners in the way we live our lives.  And the penalty for sin is the just judgment of God. One of those judgments is death and dying (we are all, in a sense, dying from the time we are born).  Death is the means that God puts and end to sin. But dying and death do not give us life.  It ends life. Death has been the great enemy to all mankind since the Fall of man.

The only way to have life is for God conquer this enemy. This the Father has done by putting upon Jesus, His Son, all of His just judgment so that He would taste death and judgment for us.  And yet, if Christ remained in death, there would be no life on the other side.  He conquered death and was raised up to life again for our salvation from sin itself, judgment for sin, and to conquer death in us in and for us.  Since the time that Jesus ascended to His throne at the Father’s right hand He has been battling His and our enemies. Is it possible that He should fail? NOT A CHANCE. He will continue to put all of His and our enemies under His feet until the last enemy is defeated – Death.

You see, because of Jesus, for us final salvation comes on the other side of death.  Because believers are in union with Jesus, we can be assured that we too will have life on the other side of death – just as He did.

Life, health and joy are on the other side of dying and death.  Sickness, dying and death are part of the human condition.  But for those who are in Christ, death and dying have lost their sting – lost its power over us. Life is on the other side of death and dying: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” Instead of singing songs characterized by dying and death, they sign new songs of life, health and joy.

We don’t generally struggle with the same enemies that the first century Christians did.  But we do yet fight with enemies don’t we? We fight the good fight against our sin, and the sinfulness of those around us. We still have to battle, Satan, the old Serpent who still wanders about trying to devour us through temptation to unfaithfulness and faithlessness. We still have to do battle with dying and death. But we fight, not like those who have no hope. Rather, we know that Life is on the other side of dying and death.

For almost 4 and a half decades Bonnie was stricken with the enemy of Multiple Sclerosis. She suffered, and many of those around her suffered with her. Is that what characterized her to us all?  Is that all she was to us? No – because for the last 30 or so years, she has been in union with Christ. She, though dying, was alive in Him.  In many ways she rose above herself and her infirmity

Often when people are stricken with suffering it is tempting for them to see the dying and trouble of life as something that marginalizes them – makes us of no consequence – makes us useless – causes us to be less than what we should be.  But in Christ, like Bonnie, we can still live as useful servants of Christ, anticipating that our works, as frail as they are, will be used by Him.  Our works will follow us, both in the lives of the people we leave behind and as the offerings we will present to God throughout eternity

Shortly we will sing about the fact that our God often moves in mysterious ways in our lives. Don tells me that in her last days of suffering and dying God used that time to reunite the family in profound and deeply meaningful ways.  This was a great joy to Bonnie and Don. One ways for the works of Bonnie to follow her in her heavenly rest is for that reestablishment of the family relationships to continue. I want to encourage you all to work hard to stay in relationship, which will continue to honor Bonnie through the rest of your lives.

‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”