A Christ of Our Own Inventions

November 17, 2009 at 8:30 PM (Church History, Grace, The Holy Scriptures)

Lucy Hutchinson (1620-1680) was the widow of Colonel John Hutchinson, who was the Parliamentary Governor of Nottingham Castle during the English Civil Wars of the 1640s. He was actually one of the judges who signed the death warrant for Charles I, but left public life when he became distrustful of Cromwell’s desire for power. After the restoration of the monarchy, he spent time in the Tower of London and later died in Sandown Castle still under arrest for regicide.

Mrs. Hutchinson, after the death of her husband, wrote a book entitled On the Principles of the Christian Religion, primarily to ground her daughter in the fundamentals of the Christian religion during that time of great political and spiritual unrest. One sentence particularly caught my attention, “Christ is, in the Gospel, held forth to men to be received as their life and salvation, and they that seek a Christ anywhere but where God exhibits Him, that is, His own authorized Word, may find Christ of their own inventions, but shall never find the Christ of God, the alone Saviour of men.”

How very true! Many follow a Christ, but it is not the Christ of Scripture. It may be the Christ of a Thomas Jefferson (nothing more than a great philosopher devoid of deity), or the Christ of a civil religionist (a generic Christ to whom all religions can draw near in a National Cathedral), or a therapeutic Christ who wants everyone to “just get along.” Mrs. Hutchinson reminded us that  the Christ of Scripture is the “alone Saviour of men.”

Who is the Christ of Scripture? He is fully God, since Peter calls Him “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:1) He is fully man, since the Bible tells us that He ate, drank, slept, was tempted, and was eventually crucified on a cruel Roman cross (and raised to life again). He is the one who lived His life according to the Law of God and provides His righteousness as a gift for all of those who believe, as Paul says in Romans 5:17: “For if by the transgression of the one [Adam], death reigned athrough the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” He is the one who died as a sacrifice for the elect of God, taking the wrath of God upon Himself that should have fallen on them since “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7) He is also the one who will one day judge the living and the dead:

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)

Therefore, I, along with Lucy Hutchinson, would encourage everyone reading my words not to look to the “Christ of [your] own inventions” but to the Christ of the Scriptures as your only hope in life and death.

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Tuesday Hymns: “God, Be Merciful to Me”

November 17, 2009 at 11:16 AM (Church History, Grace, Hymns, Psalms)

By the end of the nineteenth century the congregational singing of the Psalms in corporate worship was in a state of decline in American churches. The United Presbyterians attempted to reverse that trend in 1871 by publishing its Book of Psalms. According to Terry Johnson, “It [The Book of Psalms] provided the foundation for The Psalter of 1912, largely the 1871 book, but a collaborative work of nine churches of the Presbyterian-Reformed family in the United States and Canada, who after 50 years of decline were beginning again to see the value of singing Psalms.” (For an excellent short history of the singing of Psalms click here.)

Our Tuesday Hymn is a collation of the 51st Psalm from The Psalter, 1912, entitled, God, Be Merciful to Me. In a world which wallows in “I’m okay, you’re okay” thought, this hymn presents a Biblical understanding of man’s sin, and our need for the manifold mercy of God in our lives. It is sung to the tune READHEAD 76 (no, not Lucille Ball, but Richard Redhead, an organist and writer of hymn tunes in the nineteenth century).

God, be merciful to me, on Thy grace I rest my plea; plenteous in compassion Thou, blot out my transgressions now; wash me, make me pure within, cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.

My transgressions I confess, grief and guilt my soul oppress; I have sinned against Thy grace and provoked Thee to Thy face; I confess Thy judgment just, speechless, I Thy mercy trust.

I am evil, born in sin; Thou desirest truth within. Thou alone my Savior art, teach Thy wisdom to my heart; make me pure, Thy grace bestow, wash me whiter than the snow.

Broken, humbled to the dust by Thy wrath and judgment just, let my contrite heart rejoice and in gladness hear Thy voice; from my sins O hide Thy face, blot them out in boundless grace.

Gracious God, my heart renew, make my spirit right and true; cast me not away from Thee, let Thy Spirit dwell in me; Thy salvation’s joy impart, steadfast make my willing heart.

Sinners then shall learn from me and return O God, to Thee; Savior, all my guilt remove, and my tongue shall sing Thy love; touch my silent lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall praise accord.

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Tuesday Hymns: “All People That on Earth Do Dwell”

November 10, 2009 at 10:53 AM (Church History, Hymns, Psalms)

William Kethe was a Scottish pastor (at least most believe he was a Scot) who fled the persecution of Queen Mary I (daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon) of England during the 1550s. He was involved in the translation of the Geneva Bible in 1560 and contributed twenty-five psalms to the 1561 Genevan Psalter, one of which is our Tuesday Hymn, All People That on Earth Do Dwell. Loys “Louis” Bourgeois, a French music teacher, who was responsible for many of the tunes in that early Psalter, wrote this tune which has become one of the most well known tunes in all of Christendom: Old Hundredth. This hymn is a paraphrase of the 100th Psalm, calling upon everyone on the earth to offer the worship due their Creator, Sustainer, and, for His elect, their Redeemer.

All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him serve with mirth; His praise forth tell; Come ye before Him and rejoice.

Know that the Lord is God indeed; Without our aid He did us make. We are His folk; He doth us feed, and for His sheep He doth us take.

O enter then His gates with praise; Within His courts your thanks proclaim; With grateful hearts your voices raise to bless and magnify His name.

Because the Lord our God is good, His mercy is forever sure; His truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure.

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Never Give In!

November 6, 2009 at 1:18 PM (Grace, Sanctification, Sovereignty of God)

In my preparation to preach at the Federal Prison this week, I came across Winston Churchill’s speech to the Harrow School in 1941 during some of the darkest days that Great Britain had faced in her long and storied history. One phrase from that speech has been quoted (and misquoted) often during the last seventy years:

Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

While Churchill’s call to duty and sacrifice helped rally that nation to victory during the Second World War, we as Christians are called to duty and sacrifice because of the grace that has been given to us through Christ. Paul commands us to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Rom. 12:12) No matter what devices the world, the flesh, and the devil may use to tempt us to give up the “fight of faith,” we must not turn our hand away from the plow. God is building His kingdom and will succeed with a high hand, even though from our perspective all may seem lost.

Make the words of the prophet Habakkuk your theme during any dark days that may come your way and trust that God will be faithful to all of His promises:

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,  18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

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The Danger of Following One’s Heart

November 4, 2009 at 11:01 AM (Doctrine, The Holy Scriptures)

In conservative Christendom, many know the answer to the first query of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” However, it is sad to realize that most do not know the second question and answer of the catechism, because it tells us how to accomplish the first: “What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? The word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.”

Where do we find direction in glorifying and enjoying God? We find that direction in the Word of God. We do not find it in subjective holy hunches, or in asking “What would Jesus do?” or in quivers in our livers; we can only discover God’s will in His Holy Word. We live in a world which puts much stock in “following one’s heart” yet the Bible tells us that a man’s “heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9)

Don’t follow your heart! It may advise you to leave your wife (or husband) and run off with your “soul mate.” It may tell you that no harm comes from gazing at seductive images on the internet. It may tell you that going to worship with God’s people is not really important since you are “spiritual” but not “religious.” Or, it may tell you that if you try really hard, and are sincere, that you can attain eternal life.

God’s Word tells us not to follow our heart, but to look to Christ. The crowds asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” And Jesus answered them by saying, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6:28-29) We are able to glorify God and enjoy Him only by resting in what Christ has done on our behalf. Now is the time to stop trusting in your heart, and start trusting in His grace. He is the One who has made provision for our justification, and He has given us His Word and Spirit in order to make possible our sanctification. Therefore, find the guidance for your life in the only place you can trust, in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, [for it] is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.”

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Tuesday Hymns: “Come, Thou Almighty King”

November 3, 2009 at 10:08 AM (Hymns)

We Presbyterians are often chided because we like to sing all the verses of the hymns during corporate worship. Growing up as a Baptist it was not unusual to leave out a verse of a hymn, usually the third, prompting comedian Grady Nutt to once remark, “I am as lonely as the third verse in a Baptist hymnbook.”

Our Tuesday Hymn is a prime example of why leaving out a verse is not necessarily a good idea. Come, Thou Almighty King is a great hymn of praise to the Triune God. Verse one praises the “Father, all glorious,” verse two praises “Thou Incarnate Word,” verse three praises the “Holy Comforter,” and the last verse praises the “Great One in Three.” How many times in our churches has the Holy Spirit been left out of this great hymn of praise to save an extra 30 seconds?

We do not know who wrote this hymn (no, it was probably not Charles Wesley) but I will be forever grateful for his succinct and direct hymn praising the Triune God. It is sung to the tune, TRINITY.

Come, Thou Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing, help us to praise. Father, all glorious, o’er all victorious, come and reign over us, Ancient of Days.

Come, Thou Incarnate Word, gird on Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend. Come, and Thy people bless, and give Thy Word success; Spirit of holiness, on us descend.

Come, Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour. Thou who almighty art, now rule in every heart, and ne’er from us depart, Spirit of pow’r.

To the great One in Three eternal praises be, hence evermore. His sovereign majesty may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore.

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Happy Reformation Day!

October 31, 2009 at 9:48 AM (Church History, Humor)

492 years ago today Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church, unknowingly becoming the catalyst for the Reformation. Robert Gebel has written this song to commemorate that pivotal event in history. A special thanks to Mark Gibson for finding this in cyberspace.

The Reformation Polka
by Robert Gebel

[Sung to the tune of "Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious"]

When I was just ein junger Mann I studied canon law;
While Erfurt was a challenge, it was just to please my Pa.
Then came the storm, the lightning struck, I called upon Saint Anne,
I shaved my head, I took my vows, an Augustinian! Oh…

Chorus:
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St. Peter’s profits soared,
I wrote a little notice for the All Saints’ Bull’tin board:
“You cannot purchase merits, for we’re justified by grace!
Here’s 95 more reasons, Brother Tetzel, in your face!” Oh…

Chorus:
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

They loved my tracts, adored my wit, all were exempleror;
The Pope, however, hauled me up before the Emperor.
“Are these your books? Do you recant?” King Charles did demand,
“I will not change my Diet, Sir, God help me here I stand!” Oh…

Chorus:
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation -
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

Duke Frederick took the Wise approach, responding to my words,
By knighting “George” as hostage in the Kingdom of the Birds.
Use Brother Martin’s model if the languages you seek,
Stay locked inside a castle with your Hebrew and your Greek! Oh…

Chorus:
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation -
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

Let’s raise our steins and Concord Books while gathered in this place,
And spread the word that ‘catholic’ is spelled with lower case;
The Word remains unfettered when the Spirit gets his chance,
So come on, Katy, drop your lute, and join us in our dance! Oh…

Chorus:
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation -
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

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Mid-life Crisis?

October 28, 2009 at 10:52 AM (Personal)

A man was at a party and jokingly said that he was going through a “mid-life crisis” and his wife quickly retorted, “Mid-life crisis! Who do you know that lived to be 110?” I now relate to that old story since yesterday I turned fifty-five (for those of you who went to public school as I, that’s one-half of 110).

I realize that statistically speaking I will never become a centenarian (unless the Lord should will it) so I have come to grips with the fact that my life on earth is more than half over. I am not complaining, for if I have learned anything in my fifty-five years on earth, it is that every day that I live is a gracious gift from God.

The challenge is to learn to appreciate every day that one has been given and live it to the glory of God. And, not only live it to the glory of God by desiring to do all that God has commanded in His Word, but to take the time to enjoy Him as you do so. May give us all the grace to live to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

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Tuesday Hymns: “Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness”

October 27, 2009 at 9:26 AM (Church History, Hymns)

I spent last week in central Texas with the family on vacation; thus, there was no Tuesday Hymn on my humble blog to peruse. Now, however, I am back in the saddle again, ready to get back into my daily routine of ministry. Sunday, I stayed home with the boys from corporate worship (see earlier post) because of bronchitis (theirs, not mine) and the hymn we sang as we gathered to worship in our living room was Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness, which is our Tuesday Hymn for this week.

Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a Lutheran pietist from Germany, wrote the words to this hymn in 1739. He was a nobleman who allowed a group of Moravians to settle on his land, building a village called, Hernnhut, meaning “the Lord’s watch.” He spent his life ministering, not only to those settlers, but to others, by sending missionaries out into the world from Greenland to South Africa. A later missionary, William Carey, admitted using Zinzendorf’s model in the founding of his English Baptist Missionary Society which sent him to India in 1793.

The hymn speaks of the Christian’s hope in the finished work of Christ for his eternal salvation. It is Christ’s keeping of the Law of God on our behalf that provides for the forgiveness of our sins, and our being declared righteous in God’s sight through faith in Him. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism states (Q. 33): “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”

As J. Gresham Machen telegraphed to his friend, Professor John Murray, right before his death, “So thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.” The hymn is normally sung to the tune GERMANY. 

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress; ’midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day; for who aught to my charge shall lay? Fully absolved through these I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

When from the dust of death I rise to claim my mansion in the skies, ev’n then this shall be all my plea, Jesus hath lived, hath died, for me.

Jesus, be endless praise to Thee, whose boundless mercy hath for me—for me a full atonement made, an everlasting ransom paid.

O let the dead now hear Thy voice; now bid Thy banished ones rejoice; their beauty this, their glorious dress, Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness.

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Musings from Home on the Lord’s Day

October 25, 2009 at 10:56 AM (Culture, Gospel Worship, Ordinary Means of Grace, The Church, The Fourth Commandment)

Here I am sitting at home on the Lord’s Day instead of worshipping with God’s people. It seems so strange, and I confess quickly that I do not like hate it. We were on vacation and our youngest son came down with acute bronchitis in Austin (everyone should spend a couple of hours at an urgent care facility in a city far from home), so we packed up and headed for Pine Ridge. Since I am technically still on “vacation” and was not expected to be at worship anyway, I volunteered to stay home with the sick boys (the other one has a red throat and is coughing now) and let Dixie (my wife) go to church (since she is the one who always has to miss when someone is sick).

In a few minutes the boys and I will stop and spend some time reading God’s Word, maybe sing a hymn or two, work on catechism questions, and pray. It will do, and is necessary in our present condition, but it can never substitute for the time spent worshipping a holy God with God’s people.

It is amazing to me that some people do this on purpose (stay at home on the Lord’s Day) simply to sleep in, go to a soccer or softball tournament, watch football (and I love football), or any number of other earthly pursuits. One misses out on so much to gain so little. God has given us one day in seven to gather with God’s people, to hear His Word read and proclaimed, to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, to pray, and to take advantage of the sorely needed sanctifying means of grace in our lives. The writer of Hebrews spoke well when he wrote, 

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;  24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,  25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25)

God actually gave us two reasons why remembering His Day is so important for our spiritual well-being. The first is that God set this “one day in seven” pattern at His creation of the heavens and the earth: 

8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.  11 “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)

Secondly, this day has been set aside because we have been delivered from our life of sin under the wrath of God:

12 ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.  13 ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.  15 ‘And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

So, when sickness or some other providential hindrance strikes, do the best you can to “remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy,” but if at all possible, take advantage of the means of grace that God has provided for your sanctification on this day of “rest and gladness.”

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