What Do You Need to Suffer Well?
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by Jason Park
Unity: The First Fruit of Biblical Truth
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by Jon Buck
“…being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” ~ Eph. 4:3
Paul’s letters often reflect a similar flow of thought.
He spends a lengthy part of the beginning of each letter describing the theological points he wants to communicate to the recipients. He then applies that theological grid to practical situations, calling for a change of life in response to the truths he has shared.
The most clear example of this type of literary structure is in Ephesians. Paul there spends three chapters explaining truth (the ‘indicatives’ of chapters 1-3), and three chapters applying truth (the ‘imperatives’ of charts 4-6).
This structure is important because it puts a spotlight on the truths that Paul saw as most important. In Ephesians, that truth is the unity of the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
In Eph 4:2, Paul tells the church about the heart attitudes that should flow from the blessings of life with Christ. These are humility, gentleness, patience, and love.
But these heart attitudes should produce a diligence in maintaining the unity of the body of Christ! The first fruit of a heart that is changed by Christ is a life that seeks to maintain unity.
Unity is hard, but central
The reason Paul says to be ‘diligent’ should be painfully obvious. Unity requires labor because we are prone to polarization and division.
There are a host of things to divide over. We can disagree over politics, church practice, individual decisions, conscience choices, and much much more. Many a church has split over the color of the carpet in the new sanctuary.
However, no matter how hard, unity is the first and critical component for all true believers. This is why Christ taught the disciples to have love for one another as the first fruit of the upper room discourse (John 13:34-35). This is why the Apostle John repeated this truth as the central command of his letter (1 John 3:11), and Peter did as well (1 Peter 1:22). This is why Paul’s letters always mention unity and love as central realities (Gal 5:4, 1 Thess 4:9, others).
The writers of the New Testament had learned from Christ Himself that unity and love for the brothers was hard. But they saw it as the central component in our Gospel witness.
We live in an age of polarization. Opinions on a massive variety of topics vary greatly within even small local congregations. However, we need to be careful with our pet doctrines, tribalism, or personal beliefs.
The Gospel, embraced by true faith, must produce a genuine love and care for those who also trust the Gospel. If it doesn’t, the witness of church will collapse, even as we seek to support it through our personal theological perspectives.
Nothing Lasts
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by Jason Park
Nothing lasts. Have you noticed that? You buy a new car and a week later you get a scratch or a tiny crack in the windshield.
Your favorite team lands that coveted free agent. A year later, he wants out.
You start a new job. You’re excited for the change. Then COVID-19 hits, and you’re working remotely for a supervisor you met once and co-workers you can only see online.
Beyond that, there are more serious realities of aging and death.
Nothing lasts. The world, and all it contains, is impermanent. And as creatures of this world, so are we.
Moses says in Psa 90:10 that our life is but 70 years, 80 if we have strength. Better hygiene, nutrition, and medicine has prolonged that to even 90 or 100 (in blue zones like Loma Linda!). But in the end, the pride of man “is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away” (v. 10).
In the midst of all this transitoriness, all this fading away, how should we see our lives? Moses tells us in v. 12: we need to ask God to teach us to number our days so that we may present to Him a heart of wisdom. In light of the brevity of life and the eternity that awaits us in God’s presence, we need to see and evaluate our lives appropriately. We need to let eternity remind us what’s actually valuable, what actually should be our treasure. It should be God. It should be Christ. It should be the Holy Spirit.
Apart from Him, nothing we do or gain here on earth lasts; nothing matters. Everything will be swept away (Psa 90:5). But in Christ, our good works are not in vain, so we should abound in them (1 Cor 15:58).
And we should go to God and say, “You are the everlasting God, who doesn’t change, and You are my dwlling place” (Psa 90:1). When we believe that, we’re safe; we’re not anxious; we’re at peace. We know who is in control over all this flux. And we know where we’re headed – straight into His presence, where His lovingkindness will wash over us for all eternity.
John Newton’s Advice During Times of Controversy
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by Jon Buck
“Controversies, for the most part, are so managed as to indulge rather than to repress his wrong disposition; and therefore, generally speaking, they are productive of little good. They provoke those whom they should convince, and puff up those whom they should edify.”
There have been times of controversy in the church since the book of Acts (see Acts 15, for example). When controversy comes, how should we handle those who may take a different side of an issue than ourselves?
The answer can be found in a host of places, of course, but the words of the English pastor John Newton in a letter to a friend ring very true.
If you have the time, read it. It’s worth a careful read in times like these.
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/john-newton-on-controversy/
Do You Have to ‘Feel Like’ Reading Your Bible?
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by Jon Buck
“What should I do if I don’t feel like reading my Bible?”
This is a common question among many Christians. You might have even felt this yourself at various points in your Christian life. Sometimes, when we feel cold to God’s Word, this can cause guilt, doubt, and concerns over our assurance.
Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering, “If I’m really saved, why don’t I feel like reading my Bible more?”
Feelings BEFORE Faith?
The answer to this dilemma is to recognize the danger of lumping all feelings together into a single mass. Not all feelings are good feelings, and not all feelings are bad feelings.
The problem is the order of things.
Feelings that come before faith in God’s word aren’t generally good feelings. Feelings of doubt, lack of desire to read, and anxiety are actually sinful feelings!
So how do we change those feelings? The answer, very simply, is faith. We need to believe in order to deal with those sinful feelings. But the problem, of course, is where to find faith in moments when we feel cold, apathetic, and doubtful.
The Bible tells us to find faith in the Word.
“Now, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word about Christ.” ~ Romans 10:17
When we find ourselves with sinful feelings, we are in danger. The very worst thing we can do is allow that guilt to keep us from reading our Bibles! Instead, we need to respond to those guilty feelings by opening the Bible and READING! Faith comes to us by hearing the word about Christ—the word that Jesus loves us, and gave himself up for us.
So what should you do if you don’t feel like reading your Bible? Read it. Read it again. Keep reading it. And as you read, ask God to increase your faith in His love for you.
Faith-fueled Feelings!
But let’s not make feelings a bad thing either. The Bible is full of emotions! Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, etc., are all emotional things. But those feelings flow from the Spirit of God.
When we believe the love of Christ for us, we find ourselves producing feelings that are good, right, and God-honoring. These feelings are good, and are the direct result of the work of God.
In fact, amazingly, Paul tells us that a love for our neighbor is the fulfillment of the whole law! That internal affection for a neighbor will produce holiness in the life…nothing else will! (1 Cor. 13:1-3)
So, fight false feelings with faith (through disciplined Bible reading!), and let faith fuel your Spiritual feelings!
In the Darkness (Psalm 88)
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by Jason Park
The Lord is near (Phil 4:5). He is intimate with His children. His love is inseparable from us (Rom 8:37-39). It doesn’t increase with our practical holiness. And it doesn’t decrease when we sin. His nearness, His abiding in us, His presence…it’s always so near.
So, when we feel, “how long, O Lord,” in a trial, the truth is God has not rejected us or hidden His face from us (cf. Psa 88:14). He’s already given us Christ; His Spirit dwells within us; and He has poured out His love into our hearts through the Spirit (Rom 5:5).
But, if you’re in darkness right now – for whatever reason except for unconfessed sin – what can you do? What should you do? If the nearness of the Lord is true, and it is, here are some helps from a psalm all about feeling shut out by God (Psalm 88):
1) Cry out to Him…relentlessly (vv. 1, 9, 13). Be honest with God. Don’t fuss about prim and proper prayers. Spread out your hands to Him with moans and sobs if you have to (v. 9).
2) Cry out to Him. Take your doubts, fears, and frustrations to the Lord (vv. 1, 2). Process them in prayer, which is always before the throne of His grace (cf. Heb 4:16). Bring up your questions to Him; you won’t surprise or dismay Him (vv. 10-12, 14). He loves you. The worst thing we can do in a season of darkness is to deal with it on our own. So, let your prayers come before God (v. 13), even if they are weak and confused. A season of darkness is designed, at the very minimum, to make us desperate for God.
3) Acknowledge truths about God as you cry out to Him. The psalmist calls the Lord, “the God of my salvation” (v. 1). He’s saved already; he’s secure eternally. But he feels like he’s going to die. But the circumstances and those dark feelings don’t change who God is for Him. He also attributes the darkness to God Himself, not to chance or fate (vv. 7, 8, 15, 16). It’s remarkable that the psalmist is able to recognize the sovereign providence of God in all things in the midst of His afflictions. But that’s what a child of God does. Even when terrors surround you like floodwaters all day long (v. 17), your new heart will believe in God, in His truth, and in His gospel. Eventually, you will. God made the heart in Christ to work that way.
Now, of course, it’s better if you can believe in Him sooner rather than later. Yet, at times, we just have to be taken through the divine ringer to really see God as our one and only help (cf. v. 13). Even then, He hasn’t cast us off.
His love for us is just as near and as intense as it ever was or will be. And maybe, just maybe, He wants us to taste the juicy marrow of His love in a way we couldn’t have…before going through the darkness.
For God’s Sake, Submit
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by Jon Buck
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution…” ~ 1 Peter 2:13
Christianity is a profoundly submissive religion. As Christians seeking to obey God’s word, we must submit to a host of authorities all around us.
We are to submit to governing authorities (Rom 13:1-5)
We are called to submit to church leaders (Heb. 13:17)
Children are called to submit to parents (Eph. 6:4)
Wives are called to submit to husbands (1 Peter 3:1-6)
Employees must submit to their employers (Eph. 6:5)
We are called to submit to every human institution! (1 Peter 2:13)
What is so fascinating about these many calls to submission is that they rarely deal with the character of the authority. There simply are no caveats or ‘escape clauses’ to these calls for submission.
Paul doesn’t tell wives to submit to only perfect husbands.
He doesn’t call children to submit to only the ‘good’ decisions parents make.
He doesn’t call employees to submit to only Christian employers.
He doesn’t tell us to submit only to Christian kings, or righteous governors.
Of course, when an authority calls us to sin, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29), but we must have a chapter and verse to rest on. A violation of our first amendment rights does not meet that standard.
So then why is submission so widespread in the Bible?
The answer is found in nearly every text on submission, but you have to look carefully for it. Every time we are called to submit, the call is based on the reputation of God.
Peter tells us we should submit ‘for the Lord’s sake’.
Paul tells Titus that submission is so that the word of God would not be ‘dishonored’.
Paul calls employees to submit ‘as to Christ’.
Submission to authorities brings glory and praise to God! When we willingly humble ourselves under authorities (especially those that are ‘tyrannical’), we show our confident trust that God is sovereign, and that He loves us.
A submissive Christian is willing to part with every right, every desire, every comfort for the sake of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hard as submission may be, a submissive Christians is not weak, but strong.
At the end of the day, our submission is not to any earthly authority at all. As Christians, we submit to a sovereign God who turns the hearts of kings wherever He wishes (Prov. 21:1).
Finding Weaknesses, Filling Holes in the Church
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by Jon Buck
“But now there are many members, but one body.” ~ 1 Corinthians 12:20
It can often be easy to diagnose weakness or flaw. We all, by nature, tend to be able to see the places where things are broken. We can find the holes and brokenness rather quickly. We notice the typo. We note the chipped paint. We think about the unsightly scratches.
This is also true in the church. It can be very simple to diagnose weakness in the body of Christ. We can observe the church, and say, “We are weak in this or that area.” And, to be fair, our diagnosis is generally correct. It isn’t hard to find flaws, point out weaknesses, and identify where holes exist.
However, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, describes the church as the body of Christ. He carries the analogy through the chapter, explaining that the body has many members with different functions. Each of those members is incredibly valuable. Imagine not having eyes, hands, feet…each member of the body is crucial for the full functioning of the body of Christ.
When we (rightly) diagnose a weakness in the body, I think Paul would encourage us to consider if God is calling US to fill that hole, patch that flaw, or heal that weakness. More often than not, the one who can best diagnose the problems is the very one whom God has gifted to FIX the problems.
Of course, without question, there are weaknesses in our church. And, as we all see them, what a blessing to consider how God might be calling us to fix the very problems we have observed! No two people are made exactly the same. When weaknesses show up, we can happily and joyfully consider whether God has gifted us to be the helping agent in causing the body to be healthy.
Gospel Liberation
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by Jason Park
4 magic little words...they unlock our hearts from fear, from cover-up, from hiding, from shame…these words are, I am a sinner.
Paul says it and then some in 1 Tim 1:15 – “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
David says it and then some in Psalms 32 and 51. In 51:3-4, he says that his sin “is ever before” him. Then in v. 4, he cries out, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” He even goes on in v. 5 to trace his sinful lineage to his conception.
These are both godly men, upright in right. But they found as believers the freedom that comes with confessing one’s sins. When David stopped hiding his sin from God, he immediately found forgiveness (Psa 32:5). He rediscovered that God was his “hiding place” that preserves him from trouble (32:7).
The only way to truly open up your heart is to know that God does not count your sins against you (Psa 32:2). God unilaterally and completely gives grace in forgiveness and covering to the worst of the worst (Psa 32:1; 1 Tim 1:13-14).
When you know the freedom from guilt, shame, and condemnation that Christ provides through His blood, you can and want to be honest about who you really are. Usually, we present the best versions of ourselves to others because we’re afraid of what they’ll think. But when we’re believing in the forgiveness of Christ, we can say, “Who cares?” and be vulnerable about our sins. Why? Because in Christ, we’re justified. We’re adopted. We’re royal priests. It doesn’t matter what others think; I’m a perfectly righteous child of the King. And that status will never ever change.
The gospel liberates my soul to be the real me in front of others – my family, my church, my neighbors, and my God. Of course, this doesn’t mean liberation to sin or stagnation. But when we know the freedom from sin that Christ gives us, we don’t want to abuse it; we want to exploit it for His glory and for the good of others in love.
So, let the gospel of grace soak into your soul deeper still…until it fills your heart with confidence in Christ and joyful transparency before others.
When God Says ‘No’
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by Jon Buck
Yea more, with His own hand He seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all the fair designs I schemed, humbled my heart, and laid me low. "Lord, why is this?" I, trembling, cried; "Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?" "Tis in this way," the Lord replied, "I answer prayer for grace and faith.” "These inward trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free, and break thy schemes of earthly joy that thou may’st find thy all in me."
John Newton’s old hymn ‘I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow’ (his other title was ‘Prayer Answered by Crosses’) tells the story of his growth as a Christian. He comes to the Lord seeking to grow in grace and faith, confident that God’s answer would be to simply grant the request in some miraculous way.
Instead, the song explains that the Lord continued to block every well-laid plan. Everything seemed to go wrong, and Newton found himself humbled to the dust, broken and helpless.
God’s answer seemed to always be ‘No’.
In his anguish, Newton cries out to God and asks why all his best dreams were broken.
In a profound reply, the Lord explains that His purpose is to break Newton’s pride. If those prayers for grace and faith were simply answered arbitrarily, Newton would have been tempted to take credit for his spiritual achievements. His pride would have quickly inflated.
But when he had been crushed, and found no where else to turn but to Christ, Newton found true humility. He no longer could rely on himself or on his prayers, and was left to rely on Christ alone. This, and only this, is the path to true humility.
The Apostle Paul understood this in the exact same way. He told the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 12:1-10 that he pleaded with God to remove the thorn in his flesh. God’s answer was to say no in order that Paul would learn to rely on God’s grace.
God loves His children. When He says no to us, it isn’t to hurt us and destroy us, but to break us, and help us to truly grow in grace and faith. We cannot understand the power of grace until we are left with nothing else to rely on. And yet, as both Paul and John Newton discovered, this was the best place for them both!
Thoughts about God from Psalm 81, Part 3
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by Jason Park
Our third thought about God from this psalm is this: God desires to satisfy us.
As this psalm was written to commemorate the Feast of Tabernacles (at the grape harvest), the promise that God would “fill” Israel’s mouth carries a lot of weight (v. 10). God promises to physically sustain Israel in lavish and delightful ways. Verse 16 conveys these promises in greater detail, promises which are originally found in Deut 32:13-14.
And the key to receiving this blessing is true, spiritual obedience – obedience that says “No” to idols and “Yes” to faith in and love for God, who saved them and loves them. Obedience that’s not “pretend” but faith-grounded, love-fueled obedience in light of His grace.
Through such obedience, God promised to fill Israel’s mouths. He would feed His people “with the finest of the wheat” and satisfy all of them “with honey from the rock” (v. 16). Now, Christian saints aren’t promised physical blessings like these. But we are promised eternal physical blessings – preeminently, the blessing of a new body (1 Cor 15; Phil 3:21). In that new body, we will be perfectly outfitted to be and do what we were always meant to be and do: sinless children of God who are filled, fed, and satisfied by our God and Savior alone and who perfectly do all things for the glory of God.
So, God desires to satisfy His people comprehensively, to fill our hearts with joy and to keep us safe from idols because they hinder us from enjoying the intimacy that God wants with us.
No other god could fill our hearts. They all promise satisfaction but prove dead in the end. But God promises and delivers satisfaction on a scale and to a depth impossible to fully comprehend. That’s how much God loves us.
And it’s through Christ that we have the privilege of experiencing full satisfaction in God alone. By His death and resurrection, we are brought near to God to be satisfied in Him – spiritually now in tasting His gospel-goodness (1 Pet 2:3) and spiritually and physically then, as we taste heaven’s banquet (Rev 19:9) in new bodies, satisfied in all His glory and goodness, worshiping Him in everything we do.
So right now, be satisfied in God, not in idols. How though? By believing in who He is and the wonders of his past, present, and future grace. Then let all those truths one by one melt your heart with love that constrains you to genuine obedience. And then you will be satisfied with honey sweeter than you can imagine.
Our Union with God
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by Jon Buck
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” - 2 Cor. 13:14
As a follow up to yesterday’s sermon, I thought it might be helpful to consider another trinitarian text that shows our fellowship with the fullness of God.
As Paul closes one of his final letters, he speaks about the union that believers share with God. The sentence shows Paul’s understanding of each of the members of the Trinity in their relation to God’s people.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is an expression that Paul uses in Romans 16:20, and earlier in this book in 2 Cor. 8:9. Jesus shows grace to His people by offering Himself as a substitute for their sins, and caring for them.
The love of God is spoken of in many places in the NT. Paul speaks about the love of God being poured out in our hearts through the Spirit in Romans 5:5, and Jude appeals to his readers to remain in that love.
The fellowship of the Spirit is spoken of by Paul in Phil. 2:1, and expresses our awareness and enjoyment of the Spirit’s presence in our hearts.
All of these are offered freely to those who are God’s people. But what does it mean that Paul prays that these blessings would be ‘with you all’? If they’re freely offered, isn't that a foregone conclusion?
On the contrary, while Christ is always gracious toward His people, and God always loves His people, and the Spirit is always pursuing fellowship with His people, these things aren’t always experienced by us!
The issue, of course, is faith. These blessings are always flowing to us from God, but our experience of them (them being ‘with’ us) is contingent on our faith. We must believe these things, if we are to walk in them.
So - ask yourself: do I believe in the grace that Jesus has for me today? Do I trust that God loves me today? Am I conscience of the fellowship that the Spirit desires to have with me today?
Paul prays this, knowing that faith in these truths is the path to freedom, joy, and holiness.
Thoughts about God from Psalm 81, Part 2
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by Jason Park
The majority of Psalm 81 is God’s speaking to Israel, “My people” (vv. 8, 11, 13). His people had gone astray from the Law. His people had stopped listening to God and worshiped strange or foreign gods (v. 9). Israel had broken the first two commandments of the Decalogue.
And in breaking God’s law, they had also broken God’s heart. Whenever God’s people – whether Israel or the church – sin, it grieves Him. Psalm 78:41 says that Israel’s disobedience in the wilderness “pained” the Lord. Eph 4:30 says that our sins grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit. It pains Him so for many reasons – His holiness being one of them – but the language of pain and grief, lament-language, tells us how deeply God loves His people. So that when we sin against His goodness revealed in His Word, it hurts Him as a husband would be hurt if His wife betrayed Him. And that marital reality is the deeper truth behind our relationship to God. That’s why verses like Jeremiah 3:8-9 and Ezekiel 23 call sin, especially the sin of idolatry, “adultery.”
The God of the universe, eternal, self-existent, infinitely perfect in His character…this God sees us as His bride. Christ, of course, picks this up throughout the Gospels (cf. Matt 9:15; 25:1ff). And in Revelation 19:7-9, the heavenly assembly with the Lamb and all the saints (called “the bride”) is called a “marriage supper.”
Consider how deeply and intimately Christ loves us, identifies with us, and invests in us that we would be called His bride. The marital intimate love of the Father and the Son applied to our hearts by the Spirit secures us in joy, peace, and confidence before our Triune God forever.
So, this is why our disobedience stings His heart so. This is why in Psalm 81:8, 13, God pleads with His people to listen to His voice and obey Him, to hear His admonition (lit. “testimony”) against them and believingly obey Him. And this is God’s same heart sounding forth through the NT commands today: calling the Lamb’s bride, His beloved people, to not be stubborn in heart but to believe in Him and humbly and gladly walk in His ways.
It is our pleasure to do that for our Bridegroom. Christ has married us to Himself by dying for us on the cross so that we might be a purified bride beautiful in His sight and zealous for good deeds. Let this gospel-truth fill our hearts till we can’t help but do whatever it takes to not grieve His heart but to please Him.
Thoughts about God from Psalm 81, Part 1
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by Jason Park
Puritan pastor Thomas Wilcox has a wonderful, gospel-rich sermon on v. 16 of this psalm. You can find it here: https://www.chapellibrary.org:8443/pdf/books/hoot.pdf
For my next few posts I want to focus on what Psalm 81 has to teach us about God and our relationship with Him. Why this Psalm? Because I just read it for my quiet time. And second, because it deals with idolatry, listening and obedience, and satisfaction in God – all of which seem so much more apt to our current season than ever before as we’re all being tested in our faith. Will we draw strength from Christ in our weakness or seek refuge in false substitutes? Psalm 81 points us to our Savior, especially when we find it hard to point ourselves.
So, the first thought about God that Psalm 81 offers us is this: It is only fitting and right to joyfully sing to God (vv. 1-3).
Asaph begins with a string of commands to praise God – to praise Him joyfully and with musical instruments (vv. 1-3). He specifically points to the trumpet-blowing statute for a feast day (vv. 3-5). Most likely, this was the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Lev 23:33-36, 39-43; Deut 16:13-15).
The Feast of Tabernacles was associated with the grape harvest and marked the end of summer and the beginning of the rains. It was the last of the three great harvest festivals. It involved giving thanks not only for the harvest but for God’s delivering Israel out of Egypt. In commemorating God’s strength for them, it also reminded the Jews of how they were sustained by God in the wilderness.
So, in response to God being “our strength,” Israel was called to “shout joyfully to the God of Jacob” (v. 1). It’s a statute established by God as a testimony of God’s faithful power exercised graciously on Israel’s behalf (vv. 4-5). A command, yes. But one that was eagerly carried out by all who savingly trusted in God and remembered all He had done for them.
He delivered them, He sustained them…through countless trials and recurring sins. He was always their strength. What else could they, should they, do but out of glad love in their hearts, sing for joy to God? Not just sing about Him, but worship Him, love Him, enjoy Him? Praise befits such a God. And we know that because we’ve been delivered out of our sins and sustained in our salvation. Christ sanctified us, His people, through His own blood so that we might dwell with Him forever (Heb 13:12, 14)!
So then, what is the fitting and right response. It is this: “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that. Give thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15). It’s a command. But when you know Christ as your strength, it’s effortless to obey.
God’s Glorious Provision
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by Jon Buck
“He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.” ~ Psalm 104:13
Yesterday I drove from California to Denver, CO. It was a beautiful trip, filled with a wide variety of landscapes.
The desert across much of California and Utah is filled with beauty—steep bluffs, distant views, and Joshua trees. This gives way to the western slope of Colorado, with beautiful views and steep canyons cut through by the Colorado river. Then come the Rockies, covered with pine forests with rocky peaks jutting out into the sky.
And beyond all this, in every location there is wildlife. Bugs, small reptiles, small mammals, larger predators. The earth is teeming with life—often life that no one will ever see.
The entire trip—all 1000 miles—is truly lovely. I spent the time admiring the views, and being stunned by God’s glory on display in creation. From massive panoramic views, down to the smallest bugs on tiny plants, He is majestically creative.
But these are not still images! The most marvelous thing is that He is constantly providing for all His creation. The earth finds its sustenance from His hand. This is, of course, clearly seen in the mountains, where the snow provides the moisture for so much plant life. David says that God waters the mountains from His chambers.
But even in the desserts, He is providing for the life He has created there. In fact, David tells us the earth and all that is in it is satisfied by His works. There are places that no human eye will ever see, but the Lord is providing for them every day.
God’s stunning provision all around us should remind us that the Lord will provide for us. Jesus reminded His followers of the same—God’s goodness and provision for the flowers and the birds are displaying His care for us as well. If He can do these majestic things with ease, how much more meet our needs day by day?
A Brief Theology of Work
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by Jon Buck
“…and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you…” ~ 1 Thess. 4:11
We are trained by our culture that we work in order to get something else. We work for the purpose of being able to afford rest.
This view of the world is incredibly broken, and it leads to a culture that idolizes rest. Vacations, breaks, time off, and maintaining are all important and good things. But the culture around us has made these things something to be pursued, and even at times, demanded.
In fact, the great ambition of our culture is to work hard enough, or earn enough to stop working.
Paul, on the other hand, appealed to the church in Thessalonica with a very different ambition. He instructed the church to aim at a quiet and humble life that was filled with work. The work was the ambition, so that there would be no needs.
Paul wasn’t condemning retirement or rest. He was showing the blessing of work.
Man was designed by God to work—Adam had responsibilities in the Garden of Eden. The pollution of sin tainted work, and made it hard, but didn’t remove the blessing of God upon it.
While rest, relaxation, and breaks are important, we need to guard our hearts against idolizing these things. God has designed us to be working beings, and we can aim to rejoice in our work for His glory!
God’s blessing and smiles are upon our vocation just as much as they are upon our vacation.
Unchanging
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by Jason Park
I can’t stand change. I like things “the way they are.” So, my idol is control, and God has been exposing just how deep my idolatry runs.
It seems as though nearly every week during this Covid-19 season there have been changes; changes to schooling, to dining out, to shopping, to church…changes abound. And it can be so taxing to the soul to have to navigate through all of them.
But it’s to my shame that I can be so burdened by change because God never guaranteed a change-free life. In fact, in a fallen world, I should expect change. Yet, I so easily believe that things will remain static, that once life is set a certain way, it’ll stay that way. And life may stay a certain way for a while, but inevitably, change comes. Decay happens. Death ensues.
In such a world, it can be deeply troubling to plant a spiritual flag in this life and build my little kingdom here. That just leads to disappointment at best, despair at worst. And this all surges in my heart when I forget that God is in control of all things and that He doesn’t change. In Psa 77, Asaph, in despair during a season of suffering, wondered if God had withdrawn His love and compassion. And when he thought that way, he says in v. 10 that it was his grief to believe that “the hand of the Most High has changed.”
What steadied his heart was to go back into personal and national history and remember God’s “wonders of old.” The holy God had worked wonders for His people: He redeemed them from Egypt, and He led them like flock through the seabed.
And so, Asaph teaches us that when changes interrupt your life and you’re tempted to fear, take a moment to consider the power and love of God for you. The same power and love that conspired to redeem your life from sin. The same power and love that always sustains us, moment by moment. God is unchanging. When you consider His promises to work all things together for our good, to never forsake us, and to love us, consider that these are unchanging. Rest your heart in them and experience His peace.
God’s gracious promises are the only sure things in an unsure world.
Paul’s Morning Routine
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by Jon Buck
“…the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” ~ Gal 2:20
Have you ever wondered what Paul’s life must have been like on a day to day basis? I sometimes find myself thinking about his morning routine, and what life on the road must have been like for him.
The New Testament doesn’t tell us much about what Paul did on a day to day basis. We know quite a bit about his travels. We also know that he preached long sermons (Acts 20:7-12). We know that he worked as a tent maker. But we don’t know much about his daily routine.
However, there’s one place where we hear something important about what protected Paul’s heart on a day to day basis.
In Gal 2:20, Paul talks about the life he lived ‘in the flesh’. In this context, Paul is referring to his daily life in his body.
Paul describes his daily physical life in spiritual terms. For him, what happened in his heart was the groundwork for his daily life. We know that because he says that every day was lived ‘by faith in the Son of God’.
He lived his daily life trusting in the Son of God and walking closely with Him.
And what was Paul specifically believing moment by moment of his earthly life? Two things—that Jesus loved him, and that Jesus died on the cross for him. Those two realities anchored Paul’s heart day by day.
We may not know what Paul’s daily external life was like, but we do know Paul’s daily internal life. He lived reminding himself every day of His Savior’s love, displayed through His death on the cross.
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
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by Jon Buck
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
~ Gal 6:14
We live in an age of substantial drama. Issues come at us 100 miles per hour, whether on social media, the news, or sound bites on the radio. We’re forced to consider and deal with a host of complex moral and societal realities in quick time succession. Often, we’re left with little time to process the event that has just flown by, before another one confronts us.
As we navigate these turbulent times, we may often find ourselves standing firmly on opinions we’ve formed on various issues. While this can be helpful, and is certainly important, Paul makes a remarkable point in Gal. 6:14.
He tells the Galatian church that, on the cross, he was crucified to the world, and the world to him. What’s his point here?
Paul is describing how he views the world around him. There were certainly political opinions in Paul’s day. There were riots. There were racial tensions. There were false ideologies swirling all around.
But Paul saw himself as dead to all those things. Nothing affects a dead man, and a dead man has little or no effect on the world. In other words, Paul saw himself as severed forever from all the intrigue of his day.
He wasn’t overly concerned about who the next Caesar would be. He wasn’t extremely concerned about the events that were around him, generally. Instead, Paul lived his life with a central aim—to proclaim and live out the cross of Christ.
For Paul, everything else took a FAR distant second place. Of course, he probably had a host of opinions about many topics. But those things were almost entirely unimportant in his eyes compared to the Gospel, the Church, and the Glory of Christ.
So…as we wade through the muck of our time, we need to ask ourselves, “Is the main thing still the main thing FOR ME?” If not, let’s look back to the realities of the cross, and remind ourselves that the world is dead to us, and we to it!
Remembering Their End
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by Jon Buck