Roman Newsletter - July 2008

It has been too long since our last update.  We are immensely grateful for your interest in us and our ministry as well as your financial and prayer support on our behalf.  We’ve come to a major milestone in our ministry.  You can read about this milestone and other ministry and family news in our most recent newsletter here.

Ten Benevolent Commands for the People of God

In Psalm 105:6, there is a reference to the offspring of Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.  It is a reference to the people of God in the OT.  I would like to extend this text us, as the people of God in the NT. 

 

There are NT references to Christians that parallel the titles given to Israel in Psalm 105:6:

·         “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).

·         “Even as he chose us in him before of the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

·         “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you” (1 Thessalonians 1:4; cf. Colossians 3:12).

 

From this it would be wrong however to infer that we, the Church, are Israel.  The NT simply does not allow it.  The Church is identified as a “new man.”   Paul expresses this in Ephesians 2:15 “that he [Christ] might create in himself one new man in place of the two [contextually a reference to Jews and Gentiles].”  However, it is appropriate to make some application to us since these verse are about God’s people making God great.  These benevolent commands will hopefully serve as springboards to meditate upon throughout the week.  So as we recall these verses, we can make God great to those around us.

 

In Psalm 105:1-6 there is a string of ten benevolent commands for the people of God.  The first fifteen verses of Psalm 105 are cited in 1 Chronicles 16:8-22.  Thus we find that this psalm was intended to joyously give thanks to the Lord according to 1 Chronicles 16:7. Derek Kidner, an excellent commentator on the psalms states “like a jewel turned this way and that, the worship of God displays some of its many facets here” (Kidner, Psalms 73-150, 374).  The theme is grand and overarching as the psalmist recounts God’s greatness and faithful in dealing with the nation of Israel.  Following this section, the psalm recounts various episodes in the nation’s history.  So then, here are the ten benevolent commands for the people of God:

 

1.        Give thanks (v. 1a) (hdy) (praise*).  We receive all from Him, therefore He is worthy of all our thanks.  “He who gives food to all flesh” (Psalm 136:25).

2.       Call (v. 1b) (arq) (call, proclaim).  “Proclaim His titles; thereby fill the world with His renown” (Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 2:336). 

3.       Make known (v. 1c) (edy) (declare).  Let the nations, all those around us hear of the greatness of our God and how He satisfies above all else.  God’s works transcend race and tongue and are intended to be shared with all.  Testify of the Lord’s work, both small and great in your life.

4.       Sing (v. 2a) (ryv) (sing).  “Bring your best thoughts and express the in the best language to the sweetest sounds” (Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 2:336).   Do it for an audience of One.

5.       Sing (v. 2b) (rmc) (make music). Our music should exalt an honor God.   Just as our words and deeds should make God great so should the music that we offer up to Him.

6.       Tell (v. 2c) (jyc) (muse, complain).   How quickly we share new and exciting stories that we come across.  “I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done” (Psalm 143:5, NIV).  When we consider all the works of God, we have much to share, don’t we?

7.       Glory (v. 3a) (llh) (glory).  This means we make God our boast.  We are not ashamed of Him and we find our greatest pleasure and satisfaction in Him. 

8.       Seek (v. 4a) (crd) (resort to, seek).   “Put yourselves under His protection” (Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 2:337).  Run to Him at all times. 

9.       Seek (v. 4b) (vqb) (seek).  This is a different word in the Hebrew but a very similar idea.  Our desire for God causes us to pursue Him, to seek Him.  The greater the affection, the more the object of one’s affection is sought after.   

10.    Remember (v. 5a) (rkz) (remember). “If we would keep these in remembrance our faith would be stronger, our gratitude warmer, our devotion more fervent, and our love more intense” (Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 2:337).  Let us recall God’s grace and mercy.

 

In short, when God is great in our hearts, He will be great in our thoughts, words, and deeds.  Let us make God great this week.

 

*All words in parantheses are common English meanings of the Hebrew words as found in Todd S. Beall, William A. Banks, Colin Smith, Old Testament Parsing Guide (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000).

The Duty and Dependence of Christian Parents

I was engaged in a mini-study of the word “know” (KJV) or ”chosen” (ESV) in Genesis 18:19: “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised.”

The ESV’s decision seems to be an interpretative rendering of the Hebrew word ed2y1 (yada) which often means simply “to know” (in different ways, including socially and sexually).  The LXX uses the common Greek word oida (oida), which normally means “to know”.  A literal translation is along the lines of “know” or “known” as found in the KJV and NKJV respectively.  Interestingly, the usually literal NASB also reads “chosen” as do the NIV, RSV, and HCSB.  Even the paraphrases bear out the idea of “chosen” rather than “known” (cf. the CEV).  So the NLT: “I have singled him out.”  In doing this research, I came across two noteworthy citations which address both the duty and dependence of Christian parents to fulfill their God-given obligation.  Finally, I realize this is an OT text directed towards Abraham.  However, this is one of many such passages that highlight parental responsibility to be the primary spiritual nurturers of their children.  The instructions transcend the old and new dispensations. 

First, the duty of Christian parents . . .

Wherefore, it is the duty of parents to apply themselves diligently to the work of communicating what they have learned from the Lord to their children (John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries, 1:481).

Second, the dependence of Christians parents on God’s grace for parenting and the results . . .

Lo! Lord, I sit in thy wide space,

My child upon my knee;

She looketh up into my face,

And I look up to thee

(George MacDonald, “The Father’s Hymn for the Mother to Sing,” cited by Walter Russell Bowie, “Genesis” in The Interpreter’s Bible, ed. George Arthur Buttrick, 12 vols., 1:622).

There are Purposes for Suffering

I ran across this blog post by John Piper on Desiring God.  He provides five ways affliction helps us understand God’s word and keep it.  You can read this brief yet insightful article here. 

Need a New Study Bible?

The ESV is the Bible version that we normally use in our church for teaching, preaching, Scripture Reading, and memorization.  I personally use and recommend the ESV because of its beauty, accuracy, readability, and the translators commitment to “an essentially literal” approach to translation (no translation is entirely literal expect for an interlinear.  If it were, it would be an extremely awkward read.  The NASB likely comes closest to a woodenly literal translation in English).  

I am very impressed with the quality of the forthcoming ESV Study Bible, not to mention the number and caliber of the contributors.  In addition to the hard copy of the Bible, you will also have an electronic version to use.  If you pre-order this study Bible by June 15, you will receive a 33% discount.  Check it out here.

What Can We Learn from an Octogenarian on Love and Marraige?

I listened to a seminar by Steve Shank titled “Watch Your Marriage” delivered at the Leadership Conference 2007, Sovereign Grace Ministries.  You can find all of the seminars from the conference here and link to this session here.

 

Steve closes his session by sharing the final birthday card his grandfather gave to his grandmother.  Shortly after his grandfather passed away, Steve and his father found a shoe box which contained letters and correspondence from his grandfather to his grandmother, who died two years before her husband.  When he penned this brief note, he was 80 years old and had been married to “mom” for 55 years.  

Hi Mom,

 

So you have another birthday?  Yes, they keep coming.  Yes, we have traveled a long way together; over rough places and smooth; over mountain tops and deep valleys.  Yes, we have experienced heat and cold; we have seen dark clouds and bright sunshine but through it all we have weathered the storms together.  And were it my lot to cease life as it is and start all over again and had I had a hundred from which to choose, I would bypass 99 and choose the one I chose 55 years ago.

 

Sincerely, with love,

 

Dad

Will I write these kinds of notes to my wife when I’m 80, if the Lord tarries and he gives me breath?  Am I writing them now?  If not, today would be a great time for me to start.  Paul says “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV).

Augustine and Sexual Sin

The classics have so much to teach us.  They are so labeled because they have transcended time as quality literature, and have intellectually and often spirtually shaped generations upon generations.  It is unfortunate that in our age of “novelolatry” (the worship of that which is new), such classics are set aside.  The Confessions of St. Augustine are the musings of a man who came to himself through a work of grace in his heart.  It is essentially Augustine’s spiritual autobiography.  While Augustine was a man who shaped the theology of the Church, he is also a man who struggled greatly with sexual sin.   Therefore, we can learn much from Augustine’s great mind, but also from his struggle as a man “in the clutches of sex.”   In this way, he still speaks to so many of us Christian men who strive to live sexually pure lives in a sex saturated culture.  From his writings we discover sexual sin and its life dominating nature, its power, and its deception.* 

Sexual Sin as Life Dominating:

For my will had been perverted and had manufactured lust; the more I gave in to lust, the more it developed in to a habit, and when I failed to check the habit it became a necessity.  These were all the links in the chain that had me enslaved (Confessions, Book 8, Chapter 5)

Sexual Sin and Its Power:

You had me under conviction so that I could give no reply except a lazy and drowsy, ‘Yes, Lord, yes, I’ll get to it right away, just don’t bother me for a little while.’  But ‘right away’ didn’t happen right away; and ‘a little while’ turned out to be a very long while.  In my inmost self I delighted  the law of God, but I perceived that there was in my bodily members a different law fighting against the law that my reason approved and making me a prisoner under the law that was in my members, the law of sin (Confessions, Book 8, Chapter 5).

Sexual Sin and Its Deception:

But as an adolescent I prayed a pitiful prayer for a clean life saying, ‘Give me chastity and give me control over myself, but not yet.’  I was afraid you might answer me too quickly and straighten me out before I wa ready; for what I really wanted was not to be cured but to be fulfilled” (Confessions, Book 8, Chapter 7).

Interestingly, Augustine established what is now known as the Augustinian order of monks.  He gave his life to study, poverty, and celibacy—a reminder that sexual addiction is not a permanent, unbreakable fetter!   We can find freedom by God’s grace in this area.  One of his best known phrases presents us with how to obtain what our inner man yearns for: rest.  Let us give heed to Augustine’s famous words,

You have thrilled us by causing us to delight in your praise.  You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you (Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 1).

Finally, our prayer may also be Augustine’s when he prayed

And in this way also Thou commandest us continence. Give what Thou enjoinest, and enjoin what Thou wilt. Thou knowest on this matter the groans of my heart, and the floods of mine eyes (Confessions, Book 10, Chapter 38, cited from The Confessions of St. Augustine, translated by Edward B. Pusey).

 

Two recommended works on dealing Biblically with sexual sin are:

Joshua Harris, Not Even A Hint (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2003).

Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2003). 

*All citations are taken from The Confessions of St. Augustine in Modern English, edited and abridged by Sherwood E. Wirt (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977) unless otherwise noted.

Come On, Seriously?

No comment necessary except to say read this . . . where does one begin?

“The act of this age is to love the whole Earth” (Rev. Peggy Chemberlin).

I guess environmentalism is spelled i-d-o-l-a-t-r-y.

Roman Newsletter - April 2008

We continue to plug away at ministry.  It’s a joy to serve our God.  You can find our April newsletter here.  We’d love to hear how you are doing.

What is Christianity Like Around the World?

It is natural for us to think that life in America is representative of the rest of the world.  However, we are often reminded through images and news stories that life in America is an exception rather than the norm.  This is also true of American Christianity.  The freedoms and priveleges that we have in our great country to worship God and live out our faith are nearly unprecendeted around the world, particulaly when compared to Muslim nations.  There are two resources that I would like to commend to you to keep a pulse on what Christians are facing around the world and how vast and untouched the mission field really is.

First, I subscribe to the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter. It is free, easy, and you can register online.  You will be stunned by how many Christians are valiantly living out their faith in the face of moderate to severe persecuction.  It is a remider for us to pray for and live like them (cf. Hebrews 13:3).

Second, the Joshua Project provides a resource to view the incredible number of unreached people groups.  It is simply astounding to consider the sheer number of souls who have yet to be made aware of their sinful condition and the salvation God provided for them in Jesus Christ.  We must not lose sight of the local need (and it is great!), but we should be also be equipping believers in our churches to meet the global need.  Maybe it’s you or me who will be sent to these regions to have a small part in bring the message of John 12:32 and 1 John 2:2 culminatng in Revelation 7:9-11.