Last Friday there was a march in Washington and in many other places. This coming Saturday there will be another march in Washington - and in many other places. The primary result of both marches will basically be that those who participated in them and supported them will be more committed to their previous stances, will feel good because they participated in them, and probably will change very few minds in the process. There will have been activism on both sides with self-imposed monickers like pro-choice, pro-life - while at the same time calling those who oppose them far less positive names like anti-choice and anti-life. But I am concerned that when it is all over what we will have is two groups who are more focused on the other side than they are on those caught in the middle. Who are those who are caught in the middle? In regard to the question of abortion - it is several groups of people. First of all it is the women who face a pregnancy and what to do now that they know they are pregnant. There is also whatever is in their womb that is at stake. How is this being addressed? Here is where I will begin to make my main point. When Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 that we are to, “Let our light shine in such a way that people might see our good works and glorify our Father Who is in heaven,” I believe he meant something other than participating in a march. Honestly - considering what He said about the “least of these,” I believe He had in mind stuff more like rolling up your sleeves and serving those who are caught in the middle. I’ve moved away, in my latter years, from marching much any more. Looking back over 50 plus years now, I see far more accomplished in addressing the abortion issue by rolling up my sleeves and working WITH the women who are caught in the middle of crisis pregnancies. There are plenty of them who have written and spoken saying how grateful they were for a place where they were loved and helped in the midst of their crisis. There are others who spoke through tears stating their gratefulness in having a place that loved them even after they had an abortion. Their thankfulness was for someone telling them and helping them find forgiveness when they thought it was not possible to be forgiven. At last count I don’t remember any women thanking me for marching - at least women who were caught in the middle. Do I think marching is wrong? No, I cannot say that. The right to express ourselves peacefully in a march - and even for some to carry signs with fairly incendiary messages on them (I’m speaking about both sides of the issue folks) is protected under our system of government. There are also times when a peaceful march is needed. But can I be perfectly candid with you who are reading this. Keeping an accurate count of those at a march - that is hard work - and often debated as soon as the numbers come out. Keeping an accurate count of those rolling up their sleeves and being dedicated over time to those women and whatever is in their womb in the middle? That, my friends is rather easy - because the number plummets to easily manageable numbers. I do attend a rally every year. It is called "Sanctity of Life" day. On this day those of us who come together tend to shy away from street protests and marches. Our celebration of life focuses on God giving each of us, including developing babies in the womb, life. It focuses on the real needs of women who are facing the extremely hard decision of what do to in a crisis pregnancy. We focus on those who are hurting badly because they've had an abortion and wonder if they can be forgiven. We focus on people who have adopted children - and face many hard, day-to-day realities of rearing a child who has everything from reactive-detachment disorder to babies coming off the drugs their mothers were taking while pregnant. We want to encourage them - help them - and be respite families for them when they need a night together as a couple. We do this because we know this will help far more than holding signs with incendiary messages that honestly do far more to infuriate the opposition than win their hearts. It would not be inaccurate to say that these gatherings are about remembering those people who are still in the middle - and celebrating some who have rolled up their sleeves to help. Oh that we would be able to see that being a "light set on a hill" has far more to do with choices to address the problems of our society with hands-on, very hard, action-oriented solutions - than it does with shouting at - and eventually shouting down those who disagree with us. According to our Lord, that light is visible as people see our good deeds. They see them not in light of how awesome we are (which will do little more than cause us to be proud of ourselves for that self-glorifying awesomeness). They see the motive for our works - as well as the works themselves - and glorify our Father Who is in heaven. At the end of such works there are no congratulations in order for us - because we know what our hearts were like before He saved and changed us. No! All congratulation and celebration is focus on such an incredible Father Who has given birth (through salvation) and reared (through teaching, encouragement, and discipline) such good kids. They honor and glory for the works belongs to God! In doing them our hope is that they will know that we are Jesus' disciples by our love for one another, our love for those who oppose us, our love for the "least of these," and even our love for our enemies. May our stand for life be seen far more often in these ways - than in holding a sign, yelling a phrase, and honestly - doing little or nothing to truly change our culture. If we want to make America great again . . . why don't we try rolling up our sleeves, wading into the mess within our culture, and getting our hands dirty serving, loving, and ministering (and I believe this includes sharing the gospel with them), to those who are hurting because of its problems. If you participate in a march - good! But if all you do is march - and there are not regular marching orders to follow to selflessly and sacrificially fix the problems, your march ended far too soon.
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May God work in all of us to give us hearts that are tender and sensitive to His Word and His working in us.
This morning I read about King Josiah in my time alone with the Lord. Josiah was a godly king who decided to follow the Lord like David his many times over great grandfather. What is fascinating about this is that at the time Judah did not have a copy of the Scriptures from which to learn about the Lord. Yet Josiah went about seeking God the best he could at the time. That led him to have the temple restored and repaired. It was during that renovation of the temple area that one of the priests found a copy of God’s revelation of Himself – what we call the Word of God. When this happened it quickly rose up the ranks until Josiah Himself was able to hear God’s Word, maybe for the first time. His reaction to God’s Word was priceless and very instructive for us today. Josiah, according to God’s own rendition of this event, responded with a tender and broken heart as he listened to God’s Word. Scripture tells us that he tore his robes in grief and wept before the Lord. Here is what God sent the prophetess Huldah to say to Josiah concerning that event. But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus you will say to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel regarding the words which you have heard, "Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD. 2 Chronicles 34:26-27 (NASB) Josiah responded to God’s Word with a tender heart. He did not respond with pride or arrogance against God – and neither did he reject God’s Word outright as he heard it. Scripture says that he humbled himself – tore his robes – and wept before God. When Josiah heard the Word he knew that Judah was in serious trouble for their rebellion against the Lord. They had disregarded God’s Law and had chosen horrific levels of disobedience to God. He knew from the words that were read to him that God did not think lightly of this rebellion and sin. In fact his own thoughts were that God’s wrath was upon them. I want to take a few minutes and reflect on Josiah’s tender heart – and how we should aspire to have one much like his. Josiah took God’s Word as a Word from God. That may seem a little redundant at first – but it is one of the signs that someone has a tender heart. Too often today there is not a respect for God’s Word. We’ve seen too much written and heard too much said that denigrates God’s Word. Too many people have the attitude that they can pick and choose what they want to be His Word – be authoritative in their lives – and then set the parts they don’t like to the side. That would have been easy for Josiah to do. He could have thought that it wasn’t his fault that things had deteriorated so badly. That was his father’s and grandfather’s doing. He just inherited this mess. He could have argued that he was just hearing the Word for the first time – and that God shouldn’t hold him accountable for everything he just heard. Josiah did not take any of those routes – because his heart was already tender toward God. He wanted to hear God – and know Him and His will. The moment such things were made known to him – he wanted to submit to it. That is the heart which is tender toward God. He acknowledged that God was the One in authority and that His place was surrender and submission to His will – another mark of those with tender hearts toward God. Josiah also responded with distress and brokenness to what he learned about the Lord. A king’s robe distinguished him from everyone else in the kingdom. This was a royal robe – and yet his first response was to tear that robe and grieve the situation that his and his kingdom’s rebellion had caused. His concern was to embrace humility and a truly broken and repentant heart before the God he and his kingdom had offended. Repentance, instant repentance, and brokenness are a sign of a tender heart before God. David did not care about his position and authority – because he knew that an infinitely more important authority had been scorned. His place was in broken, weeping repentance before God. Finally we see that David was not just concerned about what God had said through His Word – but he wanted desperately to know what God was saying NOW. He immediately sent representatives to the only known ones who could answer that question – Jeremiah and Huldah, who were the only prophets in that area at the time. Neither of these two had that great of a place within the kingdom. Huldah lived in the third quarter of Jerusalem – which was a much poorer section of the city. Her position was a common one – and yet Josiah recognized her heart for God and gift as a prophetess. Josiah wanted to know what he needed to do to remedy this situation. How could he lead Judah to return to God? This is another sign of a tender heart. The tenderhearted man or woman wants to know God right now – and lives to see Him honored and glorified. Huldah did not have a very encouraging message for Josiah. Judgment was coming and Josiah would not be able to stop it. He himself would be gathered to his people in peace – but the kingdom of Judah was going to be judged. What I find fascinating is that even with this diagnosis Josiah still sought God and did what was right and best for Judah. He returned to God with a passion and desire that was unrivaled. He not only turned to God, but endeavored to lead Judah to do the same. His life was a labor to see God’s people repent and return to Him. This is what the tenderhearted live for in their lives. Their greatest longing is for God to work not just in their hearts, but also in the lives of others as they turn to Him as well. The more I read of this tenderhearted man of God, the more I desired that same kind of work in my own heart. The more I thought about the marks of that heart – the more I saw where I lacked it in my own. Oh to be a man of God who is so tender-hearted toward the Word, toward the honor and glory of God, toward any manifestation of sin in myself or among God’s people. Oh to be a man of God who responds with a broken heart, a tear-stained face, and a life turned wholly toward God. Oh to be among a congregation of people who embrace the same things as together we seek God’s face and favor in the midst of a generation that has turned from the Lord so hard and so completely. My prayers, dearest saints, is that this will be true of me as your pastor and of each of us as we walk in these days. Josiah is not just a great example of a tender heart – but is also a wonderful example of how we should respond in a time of darkness to seeing our sins and the sins of our culture in the light of God’s Word. May He grant us that honorable work of broken hearts, tear-stained altars of prayer, and repentant, pliable, surrendered, submissive lives passionately pursuing Him. May we seek Him first, seek to see His favor return to His church, and hopefully see a revival in our church, city, state, and land. Divorce or Conscious Uncoupling? Recently a new way of looking at marriage and how it ends has come boldly upon the scene. This old way of seeing marriages end was called divorce. It was and is a messy exercise as two people who pledged fidelity and a life-long commitment to each other break a covenant made before God and witnesses who came to support their union. Divorce is painful and involves both a sense of loss and a sense of failure. Promises were made – a covenant was made – and now it is being broken. Things seem wrong, because something has gone wrong. Some divorces are due to infidelity and adultery. Some divorces are due to abandonment. Some are due to two people who site irreconcilable differences. Some are simply due to one or both parties just not wanting to be married any longer – and wanting their freedom back to live and do as they want. But, as I said at the beginning of this article, a new wind of doctrine is blowing over the wreckage of couples across the world. This new wind offers us arguments on why this whole, “till death do us part” thing was never a good idea in the first place – especially for those of us who have evolved toward longer lives than our Paleolithic ancestors. This new wind of doctrine is called, “conscious uncoupling.” Conscious uncoupling is a term developed by Dr. Habib Sadeghi and Dr. Sherry Sami. These two postulate that the high divorce rate may be a mile marker in our evolutionary history. The problem may not be us – it may not be selfishness and self-centered thinking and actions. We may be just not responding properly to the evolutionary cycle we are in at this present time. They point us back to the evolutionary theory of the upper Paleolithic period, which supposedly takes us back to roughly 50,000 to 10,000 B.C. Life expectancy was under 50 for both men and women. Today life expectancey is 76 for men and 81 for women. What, you may wonder, does this have to do with the high levels of divorce (0ver 50% of all marriages end in divorce today) in our current day? Everything – according to the good doctors. You see, evolution has advanced greatly since the days of our Paleolithic grandparents. Marriage for a lifetime to them meant, at the most, 20 years. But due to our evolutionary advances in longevity – we are expecting marriages to last anywhere from 25 to 60 years. Sadeghi and Sami want us to see that we’ve not evolved in our view of marriage. Our longevity has evolved way past our marriage stability quotient (have no idea what that means – but it sounded really good didn’t it). That is where Conscious Uncoupling comes in to rescue us from our lack of evolutionary progress in views of marriage and relationships. We need to see that our evolutionary progress calls for a way to be in at least two to three strong relationships in a lifetime. The idea of “till death do us part” must evolve or perish as we move toward the eventual perfection that we seek (Even though there was no conscious force or individual that started evolution – we were just an amoeba that wanted more out of life – but honestly never knew why it did or any way to determine, beyond natural selection, why it even thought there was any morality involved. Actually, in light of this whole marriage mess – it might have been higher evolutionary thought to just embrace asexual reproduction as an amoeba, because you only have to get along with yourself – but I digress). Therefore Conscious Uncoupling is the answer to our lack of evolutionary progress in the area of relationships and marriage. In Conscious Uncoupling there is no blame game – no fault assigned. There is just the realization that we are “uncoupling.” We are now free to move on to meaningful relationship number 2 or 3. Geez, we may find that we are so far behind that we could have 8 to10 and be perfectly fine. This would be laughable if it were not being embraced by so many. Sadeghi and Sami even go so far as to compare our relationship issues to our evolution from being bugs to humans. Bugs have an exoskeleton that is outside its body and is rigid and unflexible. Humans evolved into an edoskeleton that is on the inside, which allows for wonderful flexibility. The lack of flexibility in bugs is why they did not eventually rule the earth – human edoskeletal flexibility is why we have risen above the bugs to rule the world. The leap our two scientists take from there is to postulate that if we become spiritually and relationally inflexible – by – oh, let’s say – holding marriage to be a lifelong covenant between and man and a woman – we too may become relationally extinct (Personally, I'm now terrified about a relationally-rigid comet or asteroid that will cause me and all other "marriage-rigid" people to become relationally extinct - sigh!). Their point is to say that the flexibility of conscious uncoupling will advance us greatly in the area of relationship evolution. In Sadeghi and Sami’s article and writings, the word marriage begins to give way to new terms like coupling and uncoupling (Houston we have a problem – sorry, sounded like NASA trying to dock the Space Shuttle). This is done for a reason. If there is no marriage – there can be no divorce. If we have coupled (which we can now, due to evolutionary extrapolation, do 2 to 3 times in our lifetime), then it is so less traumatic to just consciously uncouple. Sounds nice and neat doesn’t it. Be flexible – don’t be like a bug – you’ll only be left behind by the superior species which leaves inflexibility behind. Here we have radical worldview differences on display for all to see. Worldview begins with things like origins. Our view of origins matters – tremendously! Sadeghi and Sami see our origins coming from an evolutionary viewpoint. There was no creator – and as a result no real purpose for life, marriage, or anything else. There is only the relentless onward march of natural selection to weed out what is weak and reward what is strong. What comes across subtly (maybe not so subtly) in their writings is that traditional, lifelong-covenant oriented marriage is out. It is outmoded, out-dated, and evidently being out-sourced to a much more open view of relationships. Marriage is out and “coupling” is in! We either advance in relationship-evolution – or are left behind and crushed like the rigid marriage bugs we are. Here is the worldview according to God’s revelation of Himself. You and I, and our ancestors, were never Paleolithic – and given to tiny lifespans that are rising due to evolutionary wisdom and wonder. We were and are God’s creation. When God made us, we were innocent and not subject to death. When our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose to rebel against God’s command, we fell – and – we also died. We died spiritually instantly – and later experienced physical death as well. Things have been devolving ever since. As sin increased – things have gotten worse. Life expectancy for our early ancestors was longer than at present. They lived into the hundreds of years. For someone to have died when they were only 75 to 81 years old was tragic. As the years have progressed – our life expectancy has gone down – even if, in the short –term it has gained a little at various points in modern history. Relationships were instituted by God in Genesis 3, and consisted of marriage between one woman and one man. What God put together was never meant to be something man could separate due to convenience or some uncoupling instinct into which we've evolved. God’s intent was for them to selflessly give themselves to each other for life – maturing together and caring for each other in each and every stage of life – until death parted them. Our current mess in the area of marriage and family is not due to our being too rigid. It is due to our being too sinful and selfish. But mankind does not like such terms because they imply that there is an absolute right and wrong (something that also comes from one’s worldview as well) which extends even to relationships and marriage. We do not just couple and consciously uncouple. That would indicate that during the entire process we are still two people. God’s Word reveals that in marriage the two become one. Want to know why divorce hurts so badly? It is because the two, who have become one, are now tearing apart – not back into two, but tearing the one in half. The world may attempt to redefine marriage and divorce into their newest pet terms, Coupling and Conscious Uncoupling; but the reality of God’s sovereignty will remain – as will the fact that in marriage there are no longer two - but one. The pain of divorce will also be just as real as it has always been. We may change the words and even try to alter concepts – but the pain will still be there. The sense of failure in a relationship will still remain. That is because we are the creation of God – we are under the commandments of God – and we will still feel pain when we reject the purposes of God. One bright spot in all this though, is that we also have the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ to put us back together when sin and rebellion have torn us apart. Maybe I’ll start calling that Conscious Redeeming. Last week I shared some about facing the doldrums of life—when not much is going on spiritually—at least not much that we can see. Building on the whole idea of the doldrums of life—I want to offer additional encouragement this week. As review—the doldrums are a wind pattern that exist around the equator. As the winds reach this area they come under tremendous pressure and instead of blowing from side to side, they blow upwards. This creates stagnant winds or no wind at all. What winds that blow are erratic—and come from numerous directions in just a matter of hours. Sailing is difficult when this happens and requires those who do so to constantly set their bearings. If they do not—the wind can take them completely off course. That is what I want to speak of today—maintaining focus and our course heading spiritually when the winds of God begin to die down for a season. One of the difficult things to do in spiritual doldrums is maintain our course and our focus. It is during these times that we feel as if we are drifting aimlessly. For those who sail in the doldrums, this is very difficult. Little winds rise up from multiple directions and often the inexperienced sailor will catch them and use them. But the experienced sailor knows these winds are very deceptive. They are difficult to use and will take the ship off course. It is better to keep ones heading—check it often—and wait for the right winds to return. Oh, how this is true in the spiritual as well. When things seem spiritually stagnant—that is the time to be very careful about the “winds of doctrine” that want to blow us off course. We can get so spiritually desperate that we decide to catch the wind of a questionable doctrine—just so we feel like we’re moving spiritually again. The problem is that these doctrines that tantalize us with more “feelings” and “emotions” come with serious theological baggage that will have to be unpacked later. It is better to wait out our spiritual doldrums, checking our course heading again and again to make sure that we are not getting off course. The way sailors would do this was to look up at the stars and set their course according to the unerring direction that they would give. This is true of the spiritual as well. We do not need to look outward at others during this time. If we do, we will get off course. We need to look up to the Lord and His Word for His unerring guidance to keep us on track until the winds of His Spirit rise to move us again in His directions. Catching any wind that blows by is dangerous—especially if all we want is movement. We need to look up to the Lord—and check our course chart—His Word. If the direction of the wind is contrary to this information—we need to ignore those “false” winds and wait on the Lord till He graciously grants that the winds of truth rise to move us again. May the Lord give you the same attitude He has when it comes to sin and wickedness. For the past couple of weeks we have been looking at the commitments of a godly man. This week we will look at Psalm 101:4. Here we read of a declaration by the godly man. "A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil." Let's take a closer look at this powerful declaration and learn of this commitment of the godly man.
The godly man is committed to watching over his heart, making sure that it is in not becoming perverse. The Hebrew word is "iqqesh" which means to be perverse or crooked. This word speaks of a perverting of religious truth that speaks to our morals. It describes someone who twists truth so as to redefine morals. This downward redefinition makes evil and godlessness far more acceptable. When this kind of perversion of truth happens, a society will be gradually dumbed down concerning biblical moral standards. The godly man departs from this kind of perverse heart. He wants to have such perversity leave, go away, or turn aside from him. This kind of intense statement cannot be toned down - or we will lose the seriousness of it. The godly man wants nothing to do with the kind of perversity and deception that attempts to change godly morals. He sees such a step for the complete evil that it is. Moral degradation abounds in our society - and has been for over 50 years. It has been championed since the fall - with varying degrees of success. We guard against it is by guarding our hearts. Israel tried to keep itself from sin - but it only resulted in the Pharisaic self-righteousness of Jesus' generation. They had ample laws to try to guard the people from sin, but laws alone will not accomplish this feat. There has to be a guarding of the heart on an individual basis for us to be delivered from evil. One must call upon the Lord - and ask Him to protect our hearts from such things. There must be a grace oriented change, not just dedication to stricter laws and rules. The godly man makes a strong commitment. He states that he will know no evil. The word “know” here is the Hebrew word "yada." This word means to know something relationally and experientially. There is no way that we can be free from any influence of evil. That would require us leaving this world. But when evil presents itself, we can refuse to learn more. We can refuse to experience evil or weigh whether we will choose it or not. The mind of the godly man is made up - because the Word of God guides him. He will NOT know any evil experientially. He will not embrace a relationship with evil where he seeks to understand it better. His commitment and his heart is steadfast. He will know no evil - period! Do you have the heart of a godly man? Do you have deep within you a bedrock of commitment NOT to listen to anything that will seek to pervert God's ways and God's Word? Are you standing with a heart and a head that says, "I will know no evil?" This is the heart of a godly man - therefore it is also his commitment too. He will not bend on this - for he knows that compromise with evil is how the truth is perverted - and sin raises its ugly head in his life. He chooses a strong stand here because anything less than a strong stand will most likely become a place where the wicked one will enter and eventually gain a stronghold. As committed as you are to Jesus - so also be committed to departing from perversity that mannifests itself in a twisting of the truth. Do this and you will also, in dependence on the Spirit and the Word, know no evil. |
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