To have the honor of bearing the name “Christian” and to live in the perpetual knowledge of having God’s favor – is to be treasured above anything and everything the world can give. Think upon it Christian – God has put His name upon you as a child of the Father. And He loves you as He does The Son.
Favor – grace. If we know we have the favor of God, then why is it we fret about anything in all the world? Oh how faithless, how unbelieving we are to count His favor such a small thing in comparison the world’s riches. Father, let me value your favor as I ought.
This abiding sense of blessedness in Christ, God as our loving sovereign Father and the indwelling Spirit – is the very essence of what it means to live in joy. Not all is happy, fun and pleasant. But I am His and He is mine and the warmth of His smile attends me at all times and in all places – because of Christ.
Troubled by leadership – civil or ecclesiastical? Pray. It is not an idle exercise like complaining is. Go to where something can actually be done. Pray.
I fear that many Christians in our day, think of prayer more as a formality than practical. We know we should do it. Scripture both commands and models it. But how many of us truly believe God is hearing and answering? How many of us truly believe that there are practical, tangible results from our prayers? And especially as regards matters like either ecclesiastical or civil leadership?
Sadly, many in our day imagine the greatest changes in society must be produced by activism and the voting booth. Our prayers are more akin to wishful thinking. We do them but we do not consider them true agents of change. We disregard the reality that in prayer, we have been granted an audience with the only One who can truly effect righteous and lasting change.
Beloved, do not relegate prayer to the mere performance of religious exercise. Pray as though God hears. For He does! Pray as though God cares. For He does! Pray for the ends you believe are best, committing the concern into His hands for the wisest and best disposal – and believe that He will answer accordingly. For He does!
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Rom. 8:32 It is true that He might not answer in the precise manner we would have preferred. But He can be trusted to answer more wisely, lovingly and carefully that we can pray. He is about more things than only those which we perceive by our narrow understanding. But He is never deaf to our petitions.
That said – pray. No leader’s heart is any less in the Father’s hand than any other. In the Church or in the World. No person or institution is outside of His watchful eye. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Prov. 15:3)
It takes no skill to get into arguments. Any idiot can bicker, fight argue and quarrel. This is the domain of fools. To avoid these or end them once they’ve begun, this takes wisdom, courage, self-control and uprightness. It is sad to see how many who bear the name of Christian are noted almost exclusively for their ability to enter into one conflict after another. They seem to be on endless crusades against others. Oh that we would expend the same energy fighting our own sinfulness.
Heavenly Father, make it so in my life.
Seeking debate is not an honorable pursuit. Preach the Gospel? Yes. Whenever and wherever we can. But deliberately go seeking debate? No. Jesus went about preaching, not looking for debates. When issues were brought to Him, He did not dodge them. But He didn’t try to be an agitator either.
The weapons of our war are spiritual, not carnal. And it is in preaching the truth and the Gospel of Christ that we best “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.” Logic is good and right. God is rational and rational thought is honoring to Him. But the soul is not argued into Christ’s Kingdom – it is instead the power of the Gospel in producing faith by the Spirit that does so.
I fear many today have given up on the simple Gospel as though it is not sufficient to meet the need of the day. Preaching Christ and Him crucified, proclaiming the Gospel – this is God’s appointed means. We cannot improve upon it.
Yes, we are to give an answer to everyone who asks for the reason behind the hope in which we live. Rationally and soundly. But our best tactic is not to curse the darkness. You cannot end darkness by denouncing it as dark. You can only bring light instead. And Christ alone is the Light of the World. Preach Christ!
Fear can be a terrible and tormenting thing. It can also be very liberating. If, that is, we fear the right things. Right fears keep us from other fears. That is the point of this text. If one fears the God who gives and rules life, one need not fear what life may bring. Such fear brings peace and satisfaction.
When I was a young man, I feared the jeers and rejection of my peers. When one is young and unsure, fear of not fitting in can be a tremendous burden. Fear of certain groups like those I labored to make my friends, soon brought with it pressures to participate in their activities. Activities that were certain not to be approved of by my parents, and in some cases by the police either. In fact, fear of being excluded, laughed at, rejected, etc. even allowed me to overcome fear (in some circumstances) of getting caught and/or punished.
The day came, when yielding to such pressures and fears found me entering into actions that soon brought me face to face with the police and the courts. Even the threat of those things was not as great as the fear of not participating in what I knew was dead wrong. Then, up to my neck in trouble, I finally had to break down and tell my Dad what I had done. He did not respond with rage, or threats or punishments or anything else of the like. But Oh! The hurt and disappointment that filled his eyes that day. I would rather had gone to jail and suffered physical harm than to see what that produced in him. In his crushing, I was crushed. And, I never did the like again. I feared ever to be responsible for doing such a thing to him again.
Time and maturity work together to make us more afraid of things like the law and the dangers we once risked so carelessly in our youth. But The Cross, brings us face to face with the horrors of our betrayal against our holy, perfect, Heavenly Father. Metaphorically, if we could have seen the eyes of God in our fall in Eden, and glimpsed the hurt and disappointment that we His image-bearers brought to Him – I dare say we would fear to bring such reproach upon Him once more. And such fear, that fear borne of true love, would keep us from a host of evils, culminating in a rest and satisfaction that the world cannot disturb by its parade of worthless enticements.
Sweetness of speech is not flattery, lying or failing to deal in complete truthfulness. Nor is it to be a tactic for manipulation. It is rather the attitude in which our communication is carried out.
The question is – would we persuade others on a given point or topic, or do we simply want to hammer our view home?
Would we win or keep a friend, or are we simply after stating the case? Making sure we are heard. Shouting down our opponent. Winning the argument.
Jesus never shrunk back from delivering the whole truth – but He was no man’s enemy, even though they were His.
Father, teach me this holy skill. How I would rather thunder out my opinions, than persuade by a heart set on blessing the other. How I want to be right, more than righteous.
Deliver me.
Your Gospel is “honey out of the rock” (Deut. 32:13; Ps. 81:16) Firm, solid and unmovable. But infinitely sweet.
As our text here says: “The prayer of the upright is his delight.”
What pleases God most? It is that God is believed in all that He has said, done and revealed, and trusted accordingly.
Let me repeat that – God wants above all else – to be believed, in all that He has said, done and revealed – and then trusted accordingly.
This is the faith He desires, and that pleases Him. And He would rather be looked to in and trusted with our concerns, than sacrificed to by religious, unrepentant and unbelieving hearts.
And this is basis of all prayer. That as we look to him in everything, he is delighted.
Would you delight your God today Christian? Look to him with your every need. And you will dwell in the warmth of his glorious smile.
Believe him. Trust him. Pray. This is ours, because of Christ Jesus, and owing to Him only. Heb. 10:19-22 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Many wish for an impossibility – to be fully known by some other human being. The term usually applied here is “soul mate.” Someone you connect with and resonate with so deeply, that you almost think, feel and function as one. And there is an analog of that between some people, rare as it might be. But in truth, that domain does not belong to another human – only God can and DOES know us that way. Do not demand from men or women what only God can give. If you do, you will live forever dissatisfied and longing. And longing for the impossible is a fool’s game.
If we would be known that way – truly and absolutely known – we must find our satisfaction in our God knowing us so. He truly knows our individual sorrows and bitterness. Every doubt, fear, troubling thought and desire. He alone truly knows our most inward joys. He knows our deepest, unspoken feelings.
In truth, and perhaps this is even more to the real longing of our souls – He not only knows us better than we know ourselves – He loves us! And nothing He knows of us or in us diminishes His love for us in any way. Every foible, quirk and eccentricity. Every failing, wicked bent and sinful impulse. Everything. We need never put on airs. We cannot fool Him, we cannot dress ourselves up and make ourselves more attractive to Him. For He loves us out of Himself. He has set His love upon His redeemed ones. And nothing in us can scare Him off or repulse Him. He knows us – REALLY knows us. And loves us with a love that Ephesians (3:14-19) says requires supernatural strengthening in order to begin to comprehend.
In the first instance, if hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life – then change your hope! Seek after those desires God delights to fill – and you will know true life. Continue to hope after what may never be yours, and you will sink in a bottomless abyss of disappointment and aching unfulfillment. Set your desire on the good things in Christ, and you will be satisfied beyond your desires.
We can see how this has undermined many in the faith, when the hope of Jesus’ return has been impacted over and over by failed predictions. When people get their hopes up over and over because some errantly set dates, or point to specific events, it isn’t long before their heart wearies of it, and perhaps even stops hoping altogether. This is one reason why date setting and sign watching is so destructive.
But in the 2nd, even if our hope is the return of Christ, it is not fitting to be sick in waiting. It is something the Believer needs to reckon with. Just because the hope tarries, is no reason to give up. For when it is fulfilled at last, the resulting tree of life will more than overshadow and displace the temporary dis-ease of waiting period. Be content with this “sickness”. It has a glorious end.
David Croteau’s Urban Legends of the New Testament is an easy book to recommend. And that, for anyone wishing to study, understand and apply their Bible better.
I don’t know that “Urban Legends” is the best description of what Croteau is addressing. Perhaps “common misconceptions” would be more accurate. Either way, it is a worthy read.
Starting with ideas like: Jesus probably wasn’t born in a stable as we might conceive it; that we have no idea how many “wise men” showed up (3 is an arbitrary number associated with the 3 gifts); on to – did the Philippian Jailor just “believe”? – the Gospel is “Dynamite” – Good works are optional for Christians – is tithing a New Testament command? Etc.. The author treats 40 such issues in all.
As someone who has taught and preached for over 50 years, the need to be sure I do my own homework, both in the original languages, the context of any given passage, and the historical and cultural contexts of passages, was refreshingly reiterated. No matter how long we have been in Christ, we must be constant (and growing) students of the Word, using all the tools at our disposal. It is all too easy to hear some idea about a portion of Scripture, whether a nuance of Greek or Hebrew, or an idea like whether or not Shepherds in Jesus’ day were really considered unreliable witnesses. It is important to search out details, and think through passages logically and carefully.
Now, if you are not a preacher or teacher, I can recommend this volume even more. The reason for that is – assuming you’ve not had the benefit of some solid seminary or Bible School training, this book becomes a really helpful “how to” guide for your own study. As you watch how Croteau handles each short study, you get an education in cultivating your own sound study and interpretive habits. You don’t have to be a scholar to dive in with greater accuracy and profit. But you CAN be a good student. And while there is labor involved, so is there great reward. And, the bonus of not being led down goofy side-trails by those who might attract admirers by virtue of novel interpretations and applications of The Word.
Each of the 40 chapters is pretty short. He begins with the common conception (or misconception), looks more deeply at the language, the larger Biblical context, the historical and cultural factors, and suggests a better understanding. Then, he tops off each unit with a lesson in application.
So whether you are a preacher/teacher wanting to sharpen your own skills in prep, or Joe or Jane Average Christian wanting to study, understand and apply your Bible better – buy the book.
You won’t be sorry.
You may get a preconceived bubble or two burst. That’s OK. It’s painless. And has a great pay-off.
Yeah, I re-wrote the sub-title. But it’s OK. I know Moe. And he won’t ding me for it.
A wonderful thing has been happening in Reformed/Calvinistic circles. In the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in a nearly lost segment of Puritan writing and studies. There has been a realization that many of us in the R/C camps have actually earned the moniker “Frozen Chosen.” That, much like what Jesus addresses in the Church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7), there is the realization that doctrinal precision and orthodoxy in faith and practice (alone) are no replacement for a heart bound up in vibrant love for and robustly experiential – communion with Christ. That sanctification can easily morph into mere behavior modification rather than actually taking on the character of Christ by the presence and power of The Holy Spirit. That orthodoxy and walking in constant, conscious deliberate dependence upon the indwelling Spirit are two inseparable faces of the same coin. Or at least they are supposd to be.
Enter books like Mathew Bingham’s A Heart Aflame for God – and now, Moe Bergeron’s Beholding Christ: Transformation Through Abiding.
Desperately needed. Timely. And soul nourishing.
THANK YOU MOE!
Beholding Christ is not voluminous. But do not let its slender profile fool you. It is packed full of rich, rich counsel. It will lead you to good places. It will make you set your eyes on Christ afresh. It will bid you to take up its title over and over. And what can be better for the Believer than to fill our vision with the crown Jewel of Heaven? If the words of old John Flavel are true – and they are – how can we do ourselves more good than to Behold Christ more fully, accurately and all-encompassingly. So Flavel wrote: “It is a special consideration to enhance the love of God in giving Christ, that in giving him he gave the richest jewel in his cabinet; a mercy of the greatest worth, and most inestimable value, Heaven itself is not so valuable and precious as Christ is: He is the better half of heaven; and so the saints account him, Psal. 73:25. “Whom have I in heaven but thee?” Ten thousand thousand worlds, saith one,* as many worlds as angels can number, and then as a new world of angels can multiply, would not all be the bulk of a balance, to weigh Christ’s excellency, love, and sweetness. O what a fair One! what an only One! what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One, is Christ! Put the beauty of ten thousand paradises, like the garden of Eden, into one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colours, all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness in one; O what a fair and excellent thing would that be? And yet it should be less to that fair and dearest well-beloved Christ, than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths. Christ is heaven’s wonder, and earth’s wonder.” John Flavel, The Whole Works of the Reverend John Flavel (London; Edinburgh; Dublin: W. Baynes and Son; Waugh and Innes; M. Keene, 1820), 67–68.
And what is Moe after? He is advocating the transformative nature of beholding the Christ whose portrait Flavel articulates. A call to fill ourselves up with constant visions of what Flavel calls: “O what a fair One! what an only One! what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One, is Christ!” This, Moe argues, over and over to great effect – is the only way to be conformed to His image. The very thing Paul tells us in Rom. 8:29 Believers were foreknown and predestined for.
In what I hope is not an over-reductionistic summary – I would describe this book as an extended exposition, exhortation and application of but one seminal passage: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Co 3:18.
You see, “because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Co 1:30–31. (ESV)
Christ Himself IS our sanctification, not only the sum of God’s wisdom, our righteousness and our redemption. And how does He set us apart more and more and more for Himself? Only as we immerse ourselves in His glories.
We cannot truly love someone we do not know, and not just know about. We must become preoccupied with Him. Enamored with Him. Transfixed by Him. And this, is the Gospel mechanism by which we are then transformed into His image. This, is the very foundation of true spiritual growth. Not by gritting our teeth. Not by striving after obeying the Law in mere behavior. But being found in and knowing – Him.
We were never led to Mount Calvary only to look back at Mount Sinai.
As the blessed Ryle once wrote: ““It would be well if professing Christians in modern days studied the four Gospels more than they do. No doubt all Scripture is profitable. It is not wise to exalt one part of the Bible at the expense of another. But I think it would be good for some who are very familiar with the Epistles, if they knew a little more about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…I say it because I want professing Christians to know more about Christ. It is well to be acquainted with all the doctrines and principles of Christianity. It is better to be acquainted with Christ Himself. It is well to be familiar with faith, and grace, and justification, and sanctification…” But it is far better to be familiar with Jesus Himself, to see the King’s own face, and to behold His beauty…the Gospels were written to make us acquainted with Christ. The Holy Ghost has told us the story of His life and death,—His sayings and His doings, four times over. Four different inspired hands have drawn the picture of the Saviour. His ways, His manners, His feelings, His wisdom, His grace, His patience, His love, His power, are graciously unfolded to us by four different witnesses…The Gospels were written to make men familiar with Christ.” Ryle, J. C. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots. William Hunt and Company, 1889, pp. 278–79.
This is the vital principle this sweet and encouraging book lays bare before us with passion, compassion and clarity. It is a love letter to Moe’s brothers and sisters in Christ
If you would grow in grace. If you would find ever increasing power to live in joy, holiness, contentment, peace and love – it is to be found in Beholding Christ.
This is the missing element that in its absence, finds so many genuine Believers living in spiritual poverty, frustration and coolness. And this, is what blessed Moe Bergeron strives so carefully to bring back to the fore.
Buy it. Read it. Set your heart to be about its central massage. You’ll be blessed. Again and again.
