Men Without Chests -

“…But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

-Isaiah 66:2b

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

- Colossians 3:12-13

In 1943 C.S. Lewis wrote a small book called, The Abolition of Man. It was meant to be a commentary on the educational climate in England in Lewis’s day, but it was far more a philosophical treatise on the nature of man. In a scant few pages Lewis zeroes in on the lack of charitableness or generosity in 1940’s English educational culture. He was concerned for an educational system that was perpetuating the inculcation of masses with information totally devoid of a ‘fertile and generous emotion’[1]. Lewis called them, ‘men without chests’. They would become men and women with intellectual capacity and drive, but no capacity for civility or magnanimity. In other words, they would become heads bereft of hearts. The thrust of Lewis’s concerns are not limited to early 20th century England. The danger of the Reformed faith is the creation of our own men without chests. These would be men of incredible intellectual prowess, biblical and theological understanding, the ability to wax eloquent about the minutest theological point, but wholly deficient of a ‘fertile and generous emotion’. This is religious Phariseeism at its most offensive apex. The knowledge of the gospel and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, by their very nature, are meant to cultivate love, humility, grace, longsuffering, and a magnanimous spirit. Knowledge, by itself, puffs up and inflates, but a right understanding of gospel truth brings us low. God’s intention is that the Christian is to be known by a largeness of spirit, thereby reflecting the character of God Himself. The work of the Spirit in the truth of the gospel is intended to bring much fruit by making us become men with large minds and large chests and not one without the other.

May God enlarge us with both knowledge and love for Him and for one another.

-DJM

[1] Dorsett, Lyle, ed., The Essential C.S. Lewis, p. 437

Father Abraham -

'...and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"- and he was called a friend of God.'

-James 2:23

'Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.'

-Hebrews 11:1-2

"Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."

-John 8:56

Sarah, take me by my arm

Tomorrow we are Canaan bound

Where westward sails the golden sun

And Hebron's hills are amber crowned

So bid your troubled heart be still

The grass, they say, is soft and green

The trees are tall and honey-filled

So, Sarah, come and walk with me

Like the stars across the heavens flung

Like water in the desert sprung

Like the grains of sand, our many sons

Oh, Sarah, fair and barren one

Come to Canaan, come

I trembled at the voice of God

A voice of love and thunder deep

With love He means to save us all

And Love has chosen you and me

Long after we are dead and gone

A thousand years our tale be sung

How faith compelled and bore us on

How barren Sarah bore a son

So come to Canaan, come

Where westward sails the golden sun

And Hebron's hills are amber crowned

Oh, Sarah, take me by my arm

Tomorrow we are Canaan bound

-Andrew Peterson, Canaan Bound from the album, Love and Thunder

Imagine the life of Abraham. Born into a pagan home. He began married life with a barren wife and every indication was that he would have no son to carry on his name. His answer was to take matters into his own hands. Perhaps you remember that little episode with Hagar? The fact of the matter is that Abraham was no stellar example. He stumbled in many ways. The difference was God's call to him. His faith wavered at times, but Abraham trusted in the unwavering character of God. Even in his weakness and failure he receives the monicker, 'friend of God'. We still talk about Abraham, because we're a lot like him. On our best days we fail miserably, but our hope is in our unwavering God. As the sons and daughters of Abraham we believe God, not we believe in God. Our hope is in the God who makes the barren conceive, who raises the dead, and who makes the foulest clean. We believe God. We believe that Christ was end of Abraham's belief, and that Christ is the end of our belief. Abraham saw dimly, we see with clarity. In Ian Duguid's words, '…we live, like Abraham, by faith - the faith of those who know that the light at the end of the tunnel is the welcoming presence of Jesus, leading us on to our new home.' (The Gospel According to the Old Testament, p. 160) In this life we'll stumble in in many ways, but our hope is not in ourselves… our hope is in the God of Abraham.

-DJM

A Christian Conscience in the Culture of Death -

“…then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

- Genesis 2:7

"You shall not murder.”

- Exodus 20:13

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

-John 10:10

‘The gospel brings mercy to unborn children, of course.’

-John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p. 731

“We love our neighbor because we first love God. In His sovereignty, our Creator has put us within this cultural context in order that we may display His glory by preaching the gospel, confronting persons with God’s truth, and serving as agents of salt and light in a dark and fallen world. In other words, love of God leads us to love our neighbor, and love of neighbor requires our participation in culture and in the political process.”

- Al Mohler, Culture Shift, p. 2

“…the biblical injunctions to submit to the state as God means, in our context, that we must take our obligations toward a participatory democracy seriously. This, combined with the moral obligation to ‘do good to the city,’ involves believers in matters of government at some level (all the way from voting to influencing government to legislating to governing) in ways impossible for Paul and Luke….”

- D.A. Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited, p. 196

I’ve already voted as I typically vote absentee. Can I encourage you to vote also?  If you are able and you meet the legal criteria you must vote. One of our obligations as Christians, at least in the West, is to participate in our democracy. And as we participate in our democracy we must ask the question which candidate(s) best promotes a worldview consonant with biblical values. This is never easy. In a fallen world there are choices to be made that are not ideal, and in this election there is a choice to be made that is not ideal. Mitt Romney was never my first choice, but the contrast between he and President Obama is stark regarding many things, and particularly stark when it comes to the defense of the unborn.  How we treat our most vulnerable citizens matters.  A president nominates judges that effect the direction of the Supreme Court for years to come. And in a nation with a death toll nearing 55 million lives taken by abortion your vote matters.  Again, this election is not about an ideal choice; it is about a Christian conscience in a culture of death. I’ve already voted, and I hope you will vote also.

-DJM

Caught Betwixt and Between -

‘…a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”’

-       Matthew 22:35b-40

In the matter of fact reply to an expert in Old Testament law Jesus provides an answer to a most difficult question.  The question?  Which is the great commandment?  When the importance of the commandments are weighed, which one stands out as the quintessential command?  Which one, if kept, brings the approbation and pleasure of God?  And here Jesus gives an astounding and provocative answer.  The great commandment actually has two parts and it’s really quite simple.  We are to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind.  And then we’re to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Pretty simple, huh?  But truth be known, also pretty impossible.  Anyone that is halfway honest with himself will soon realize that self-love and idolatry are the prevailing interests with every son of Adam.  Me, love God and neighbor?  Forget it.  They always take second place. Witness our lives strewn with the wreckage of relationships gone bad.  The two great commandments are not the way of life for us; rather they are an indictment to us.  In ourselves we are alienated from God and from one another.  We are by nature lawbreakers, not lawkeepers, and we can’t help it.   We will be the kings of our own kingdom surmising that the duty of God and our neighbor is to serve us.  To turn a phrase from the Shorter Catechism, we think that God’s chief end is to glorify us, and for Him to be at our beck and call forever.  Bottom line - we love ourselves too much.

Thankfully, in the wisdom of God the gospel speaks to our greatest need.  Jesus doesn’t simply rehearse a set of rules to help us get by.  He lays bare the desperateness of our condition.  He shows us our complete disregard for the two great commandments in one fell swoop.  We may think we are lawkeepers, but when we see it in its simplest form we fall woefully short.  We desperately need help. 

In the gospel our greatest need has now become our greatest hope.  Where the confluence of the two great commands and my voracious self-love meet the gospel speaks and does.  I need a King powerful enough to dethrone my self-appointed exaltation and put the universe back in its proper order.  I need a Lord that can remove the idol of me and replace it with an unfeigned love of my neighbor.  Where I’m caught betwixt and between the gospel comes with an answer to my tragic and appalling deficiency.  The gospel speaks of One whose life trajectory was not self-interest, but rather a grand mission of obedience and rescue.  The entire focus was not self-love, but other-love.  The one pointing to our law-deficiency has Himself met the unrelenting requirements of the two great commands.  You see, I don’t need a life coach that gives me a little pep talk to do what’s right.  I need an all-powerful Lord that can dethrone my idols of self-interest and self-love.  To love God with even a fraction of my heart and to love my neighbor without self-interest I need to be delivered from the kingdom of me.  Thankfully this is what Jesus has done and what Jesus will do.  In the dethronement of self the two great commandments lose their threatening power and become instead a pathway of life.  What was once an indictment has now come with the promise of help.  Loving God and loving my neighbor becomes a way of life because in the enthronement of the true King He brings me under His reign and power.  In this I have hope for glad obedience to the two great commands.

-DJM

The Importance of Being Earnest -

'And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."'
-Matthew 22:35-40

“This side of heaven, we must resist defining spirituality as anything other than a deep devotion to Christ, the fruit of which is a lifestyle of daily worship of him and active service in his kingdom. We must be keenly aware of the covert danger of a Christless Christianity which passes itself off as something it is not, and in so doing, has the power to deceive and derail many. Christless Christianity gives false assurance of salvation, and when those who possess it “go out from us,” (1 John 2:19) it can fill true believers with doubt and confusion.” 
-Paul David Tripp, Broken Down House, p. 89

"As for those who can belong to the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works."
- The Belgic Confession, Article 29, The Marks of the True Church

The telltale indications of the transforming grace of God in the heart of the Christian is that there is a genuine and earnest heart-love for God and genuine and earnest heart-love for one another. The sure work of the Spirit targets the destruction of the pervasive alienation we have with God and one another. In the redemptive work of Christ we are given new affections for God and new affections for one another. In the incomprehensible glory of the gospel those vital relationships (once obliterated by sin) are being restored, really and truly, and not just theoretically. As evidence of the Spirit's work God inclines our hearts toward Him in love. Once enemies, He counts us now as friends and opens our eyes to see His all-emcompasing loveliness. We now love Him earnestly from redeemed and ever-increasing affections. The same is true for our brothers and sisters. Where at one time alienation existed, we have been brought under the same banner of love together. Our affections for one another become transformed by the grace of God in the gospel. The wall of alienation has been broken down, and now we begin to love one another earnestly as well.

Life in the church consists of honest efforts directed at fostering growth for these new affections.  May God give us grace to pursue them earnestly.

-DJM