Flee from Gossip!

A gossip betrays a confidence;
so avoid anyone who talks too much. (Proverbs 20:19)

One the surface, one should notice that the bible does not call the gossip, a gossiper. The gossip inculcates the act of gossiping into his or her whole nature. They are by their nature a *gossip*. These people go about their daily lives seeking to spread rumors, lies, innuendo, and deceit. They readily acknowledge the alleged sins and character flaws of those they would seek to impugn. The gossip does not edify, they assault. The gossip does not consider the other as greater than themselves rather they consider themselves as the right and proper arbiter of a truth that may be devoid of reality. How quickly even the Christian finds himself or herself engaged in such malicious and devilish tale bearing! Worse still, is when the Christian confronted with the foul nugget of gossip does not reprove its messenger and instead joins together himself and by extension Christ with the malice. Our Lord was silent before his accusers and yet his children rush headlong into accusation by enjoining our dear Lord with an unrestrained and odious breach of confidentiality and degradation of those whom God has created.

Wisdom resides in the restraint of the tongue. As it is written where words are many, sin abounds! Christians who are given to many words must guard against the sin implicit with verbosity. Words not weighed are found wanting, a loose tongue is much like the rattle of the snake so named, once the rattle begins the poison laden bite of gossip is not far behind. In the same way we avoid the snake by hearing its rattle so to we avoid the forked tongue of the gossip by moving away from those who talk too much. Our confession should be thus, though we are goaded often into gossip we flee from it by stilling our lips.

 

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Knowing Him

I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 Timothy 1:12

To be shamed is to feel that one’s humanity has come into question. Our human nature does not like to feel shame, great pains will be undertaken to avoid this feeling. We hide from all that will shame us whether that is our behavior or a sinful act exposed. The apostle says that he is not ashamed, no matter how the world would scoff or mock, in Christ we can have great boldness that our sins will never haunt us with the specter of shame.

Conjoined to his boldness, he mentions the hallmark of the Christian life. We must truly know him who we have believed. To know Christ is to know that he is trustworthy and he has canceled our sin debt. Our sins will never shame us by being exposed, as they are removed from us and his righteousness is imputed to the believer. If you are truly persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, then he must be able to keep that which we have committed to him, our very lives. To stop here is to truncate our Savior’s job, he has promised us that we will not feel shame, and that we will not stand judgment rather he is faithful to remove our sins and present us to the Father. Knowing him is trusting him.

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You will receive power

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 But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Act 1:8)

 Many Christians treat witnessing in the same manner that they treat buying a car. They have in mind the make, model, color, and style and yet are going to pick and choose the options they want. The assumption is that evangelism and witnessing is just like the options on a car. Just as the new owner of a car selects whether he wants a cassette deck over a CD player many Christians believe (falsely) that we are able to select “hospitality” or “service” over “witnessing”.   

 Even more interesting is the Christian who says: “witnessing is not my gift”.  I often wonder how they mean this expression. I would agree with them that witnessing is not their gift to distribute but this verse makes plain the fact that it is everyone’s gift to receive. Christian this gift belongs to the Holy Spirit; it is properly speaking His gift. He provides the unction and the power.  He testifies of the Son, he regenerates, he empowers, and he convicts of sin.

 The power does not reside in you; the power is from on high.  All of us are called to be witnesses (Matt 28:19). Do not be unduly influenced by the cowards and defectors who by dereliction rob you of the joy that attends witnessing for Christ. The pitiful excuses dreamed up by those who are not obedient to the bible should never trump the very plain word of God. You and I are admonished by this verse to be a witness. Are some called to be evangelists and some pastors? Yes. But you are called to be a witness. You are in the grocery store, the post office, the beauty parlor, the gym. If by God’s grace you believe the good news then by the same power God calls you to share it.

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You must love the Son

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(Joh 15:23)

 

He who hates Me hates My Father also.  

For the child of God there is no question, to love God is to love his Son. We can easily assent to so much. In our passage however the Lord says without ambiguity that if you hate him you hate God. How many times will a non-Christian admit that they believe in God and yet deny Christ? These people hate God. To hate Christ is to hate his word. He says that he alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Those who deny the exclusive message of Christ (cf. Jn.14:6) hate God.

 Beloved be not fooled, those who say that they believe in God but claim that Jesus Christ was a mere man are nothing more than haters of God. He, who hates me, hates my Father. The Son is beloved of the Father and therefore is the apple of his eye. The Lord Jesus has eternal fellowship as co-equally ultimate with God the Father. To deny one is to display abhorrence for the other.

The meaning of the text is plain. The love of the Son is necessary if one is to truly love the Father. The object of God’s affection is his only begotten. In human terms those who love our children the most are those for whom we have the most affinity. The same is true of God but more so, as implicitly we are aware that to fail to love is to hate.

 The Son brings glory to the Father and those who will have no part of Jesus will have no part of God either. Christ is to have the preeminence in all things and he alone is our advocate with the Father. If you love Jesus then you can rest assured you also love the Father who sent him.

  

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Sheep with names

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To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3

Beginning in verse 1 of John 10, the Lord Jesus contrasts the difference between himself and the Pharisees. The ministry of Jesus is likened to a Shepherd. The sheep have been led in and they are being cared for during the night by the Porter. A.W. Pink’s excellent commentary on John provides us with the background of this parable.  In verse 1 Jesus speaks of the “sheepfold”.  Pink says that the sheepfold is properly speaking “Judaism”. 

Judaism is the door whereby God’s elect were gathered. The Messiah  comes through the “door” which is right, proper, and holy. He does not enter the sheepfold through some other way.  The Good Shepherd goes into the sheepfold because the porter or doorkeeper has allowed him entrance.

In this parable the porter is the Holy Spirit. Much of the symbolism is lost on us ‘moderns’.  The porter offered protection for the sheep during the night. The Shepherd would leave his sheep under the care of the porter so that he could secure lodging for the night. The porter would keep thieves and predators from attacking the sheep while the shepherd was away.

When the shepherd returned he would enter the sheepfold and gather his own sheep by calling them by name.  The shepherd in this parable is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls his own sheep by name and they will follow him. Notice the call is not for all sheep. If from our passage we understand that the sheepfold is this case was Judaism, the Lord is calling his elect out of Judaism and unto himself. The elect “lost sheep” of Israel hear the voice of the Messiah and they follow him.

The effectual call of Jesus for his elect is both specific and by name. The Lamb’s book contains the names of those whom Christ has known since before the foundation of the Lord. Many are called but few are chosen, and the chosen ones of God are known to the Good Shepherd by name!

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Garbage Theology

But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count themto be dung, so that I may win Christ Philippians 3:8

 

The apostle acknowledges two things about the Lord Jesus. The knowledge of him exceeds in worth the value of all things “in the world”. There is nothing that can compare to Jesus Christ. He is all together worthy of praise and honor and he alone is excellent.

Secondly and perhaps just as important the Apostle tells us that all other things are dung. We should be careful to avoid superimposing our own presuppositions on the term dung. This word does not carry the same vulgarity that similar vernacular expressions in English would carry. In Ancient Greece the usage of the word was found in medical literature as opposed to being slang. The meaning of the term then pertained to that which through the natural course of digestion was removed from the body.

Thinking about this from the perspective of the Christian life we can clearly see the implication. Where Christ resides the residual toxins of the natural man are removed as we are moved by the Holy Spirit to count all things but Christ as loss.

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I pray not for the World

 

 

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John 17:9 I am praying for them, I pray not for the world….

Jesus Christ the unique Son of God offers a prayer for his elect. Beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ this was no generic prayer that our Lord offered.  As the Son of God he intimately knows those for whom his atoning death will be effecacious. Our Arminian friends would have us believe that this prayer of our Lord was sent out for all men however the Word of God is clear; this prayer is not for the world.

The Lord offers a prayer for all of those who belong to the Father. The Father has given them to the Son and here we see the Son offering a prayer for the elect. He prays for them, he loves them, and shortly from the perspective of scripture he goes to his death on the cross that he might atone for all of their sin for all times.  This prayer exists are a testimony to the plan of God that was decreed before the world began. God knows his elect, he loves them in Christ and Christ prays for them.

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You who were dead

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And you who were dead in trespasses and sins..(Ephesians 2:1)

Just as Jesus stood at the opening of the tomb of Lazarus, so also you dear Christian were called from death to life.  The exclamation of Martha only increases the vivid picture of our complete and utter ruin, for she exclaimes: Lord, the body stinketh. 

How often we miss the real meaning of Martha’s previous words. She said to our Lord; If you  had been here, my brother would not have died. Martha’s words could not have been more true and yet this passage is often overshadowed by the miracle that is about to happen.  Death came because Adam was here and not Christ.  Had Jesus come the first time, he would have passed his probation and secured for us salvation. In this story of death our Lord allows us to see a glimpse of why he came, that we might glorify the Son of God (Jn. 11:14).

As Jesus stands before the sepulchre of Lazarus he calls him forth. Jesus raises a dead sinner to new life. The bindings of death are released from those that God has quickened.  Lazarus had no choice but to come forth when the Master bid. Beloved in Christ, our Lord has stood at your sepulchre and has bidden you to Arise. How Great is our Lord that he speaks and that which was dead is come alive!

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