We are beggars

We have absolutely nothing to offer to God. It seems to me, that often we are so close to committing the Galatian heresy (Gal 3:1-5) thinking that our sanctification is wrought in the flesh, even though we know and affirm that our justification was by grace through faith. We plead with God to justify us in Christ Jesus, yet in our sanctification we do not come before the Word as beggars, eager for a few crumbs of God's wisdom. We do not enter into prayer with an attitude of desperation, knowing that we are spiritually bankrupt apart from the grace of God. We have lost a begging mentality in prayer and there is no sense of our bankrupty in reading.

Martin Luther, at the end of his life said, "We are beggers. This is true." If in church history (after Paul), there was a man who could more boast most his ahcievements, his knowledge of Scripture, his boldness against opposition--it would be Luther. Yet he said at his death, "We are beggars." That is the way he lived, the way he prayed, and the way he studied the Scriptures to shatter the man-centered salvation of the Catholic Church.

Luther had nothing to give to God and we certainly have nothing to give to God for we are beggars, and as such, we come before His Word trembling and asking for the illumination of the Spirit. In the Word, we get a sense of God's fullness and majesty and our emptiness and depravity, which compels us to beg earnestly for God's grace and mercy. And he is in no way obliged to answer us--think of how you responded to the last beggar you met, and think of how God responds to the desperate plea of a humble man, lavishing him with grace and all the riches in Christ Jesus.

Reading, then, is the reminder that we are beggars and prayer is the very act of begging, pleading, crawling to the throne of grace.

Have we forgotten that we are beggars? Are we unconvinced that we are poor and destitute? Then read the Word until His Spirit softens your heart to realize that you are nothing, then beg and beg and beg in prayer that perhaps God might spare some change, and then watch as the treasuries of heaven come pouring out upon you, for that is the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is beggars who receive it and believe in it.

To be a "believer" and yet not a beggar is a contradiction in terms. May the Lord be pleased to raise up a generation of beggars who live and pray and read in utter desperation.

A Passion for the Word of God

It is often the case that we can judge the quality of our endeavors by the nature of its effects. For example, think about exercising at the gym—if your body is not sore and sweaty, than you were probably not exercising right. Or consider cooking a meal, if it does not satisfy your hunger and taste good, than you were probably not cooking right. Or even think about snowboarding or surfing; if it is not fun and thrilling and exciting, than you were probably not snowboarding or surfing right.

Is it any different with the study of God’s Word? If you read and study God’s Word and it does not increase your passion for truth and set your heart on fire with love for God, then you are probably not doing it right. God Himself said, “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jer 23:29) Like fire! Like a hammer!

Consider the testimony of Scripture about this: In Luke 24 we read about the risen Lord appearing before two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus drew near to them, “but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” Speaking about the resurrection, their hopes about Jesus of Nazareth were dashed and they were confused. Jesus said to them “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (v. 25-27) Then when they reached the village Jesus finally revealed Himself to them.

But what was the effect of Jesus’ “interpreting the Scriptures” for them?

Verse 32 tells us that “they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?’” Christ burned away their unbelief concerning a crucified Messiah and seared into their hearts a passion for the truth and a love for God. And this response is not much different than on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 where Peter preached Christ and “when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” (v. 37)

What shall we do!? What shall we do…

Discipleship: Part I

“As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, ‘I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’” (Luke 9:57-58)

There is a fearful lack of understanding concerning discipleship (meaning following after Christ); and it is troubling because Christ taught so plainly and so intensely about it (Luke 9:23-26, 14:25-35, Matt 10:32-39). In our advertisement-filled, entertainment-centered, consumer-driven culture, we like to make everything easy and fun, and sadly even the church buys into this heresy. Jesus never taught that the path to eternal life was easy or fun. If you desire eternal life, if you wish to be counted among the redeemed, then it will require you to surrender your entire life to Christ, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” (Luke 9:24) And if you desire the fellowship of the Godhead, it will require you to be pure in heart and to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:6, 8). Easy and fun are hardly the words to describe eternal life—more like painfully difficult but deeply soul-satisfying!

Now what does discipleship look like? Thankfully, God gives us a number of examples in His Word. The first comes from Luke 9:57-58. What is absolutely foreign to our culture is the fact that Jesus put so many stumbling blocks in the way of those who wanted to follow Him. He makes it hard. He makes its difficult for them; he does not water it down or pander to their felt needs. Does that man describes us, have we said, “I will follow You wherever You go!” If so, Jesus says to us, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” In other words, “You want to follow Me? Are you sure about that? Foxes have holes to stay in and the birds have their nests—I have nowhere even to sleep and if you want to follow Me you won’t have a place to sleep either. You’re going to have to suffer and endure difficulty and forfeit many of your comforts, are you sure you want to follow Me?”

Are we ready to follow Christ under these circumstances? If this is too difficult, if you like your comforts too much, then I would suggest you follow the foxes into their holes because you won’t fit into a bird’s nest to sleep. My brothers and sisters, it is a fearful saying but I implore you to “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 13:23-24)

DO NOT be deceived. Many, many, many people will seek to enter into eternal life and will not be able. Many will strive, many will try, and few will enter. Therefore rest your souls in Christ and submit to His lordship, lose your life for His sake, and perhaps you might save it. Perhaps God might show mercy and draw you to Himself by grace. Yet I fear many of you will still be counted among “the many” on that last day…

Thoughts on John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

By the true preaching of the gospel, “Christ is depicted before our eyes as crucified,” (see Gal 3:1), and thus those who turn aside to idols rather than the ministry of the Word do so because they themselves cannot see Christ in the pages of Scripture. (Book I: 11.7)

It is clearly evident to me that the Scriptures (and the study of it) is absolutely crucial not only to maintaining our salvation (by the seeing of Christ), but also unto the glory of God—that we may stop turning to gliterring idols and may find deep contentment and satisfaction in the majesty of Christ found within the pages of Scripture. Indeed the general doctrine may be made that we turn aside to idols (viz. visible objects used for comfort or satisfaction) because we are blind to Christ crucified as is claimed in Galatians 3:1, that by the true preaching of the gospel, the Galatians had before their eyes Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified. Thus much of the Christian life is simply a fight to see Christ crucified within the inspired word of the living God (under the illumination of the Spirit). The alternative is for us to sit blind of Christ, for man’s nature is a perpetual factory of idols and we will never see His glory until the Spirit be breathed into our hearts and our eyes opened to the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6).

This is further aided by “the example of the Israelites,” which “shows the origin of idolatry to be that men do not believe God is with them unless he shows himself physically present.” (I: 11.8) And so it is the wilderness sin of unbelief that leads to the call for a golden calf, which the man-pleasers of our day gladly construct for the pleasure of the masses. It is the foolish call for tangible, finite comforts and pleasures to appease the hunger in our souls for the intangible, infinite God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, “daily experience teaches that the flesh is always uneasy until it has obtained some figment like itself in which it may fondly find solace as in an image of God.” (I: 11.8) Let this then stir us to be watchful, for there is much gold in our midst, and God forbid that any one of us be the Aaron who casts its glittering sparks into the mold of the calf.

Old Testament Prophets: Samuel

What great inspiration and encouragement we might gain from the exemplary lives of the Old Testament saints. Their love for God, their love for the people they served, and their determination to serve God are but a few things we might gain for our instruction.

First, consider Samuel’s instructions to the sons of Israel after they chose Saul as their king: “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.” (1 Sam 12:20-22)

Follow the Lord! Serve Him with all your heart! Do not turn aside to futile things! And do not worry for the Lord will not abandon you for the sake of His own glory. Beautiful!

Second, consider Samuel’s resolutions in His service to God: “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.” (1 Sam 12:23-25)

I will pray for you lest I sin against God! I will instruct you in the good and right way! Oh if that would be the resolutions of pastors today, how much healthier and vibrant would the people of God be—that pastors would commit themselves wholly unto the ministry of prayer and of the Word, as the apostles did in Acts 6:4, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word,” and appoint others to handle the logistical matters.

Indeed, immediately Samuel prayed for them and taught them three weighty principles for living unto the glory of God:

1. Fear the Lord. “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matt 10:28) “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil 2:12) “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (Eccl 12:13-14)

2. Serve Him in truth with all your heart. “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” (Josh 24:14) “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Rom 1:25) “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deut 10:12-13)

3. Consider what great things He has done for you. “Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; but they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands. Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.” (Is 5:12-13) “Because they do not regard the works of the LORD nor the deeds of His hands, He will tear them down and not build them up.” (Ps 28:5) “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Heb 12:3)

Father, may I be a man like Samuel who will fear you and follow you and serve you with all my heart, a man who will be resolved to pray for your people and a man who is devoted to the ministry of your Word so that I may instruct in the good and right way of eternal life.

Old Testament Kings: Saul

Oh there are crucial lessons to be learned from the people of the Old Testament. The Old Testament was written for our benefit, not to bore us: "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Rom 15:4) And ultimately, that we might have examples to follow and examples to avoid, that we might persevere in doing what is good and hating what is evil.

Saul was Israel's first king who was anointed by Samuel upon the choosing of the Lord. He was "a choice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people." (1 Sam 9:2) Despite that, he admitted that he was little in his own eyes, "Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me in this way?" (1 Sam 9:21)

False humility perhaps, for there was no fear of God in his eyes, no trembling before the word of the Lord, no fear of disobeying the clear commands of God.

1. The war against the Philistines (1 Sam 13)
Israel was in a desperate situation, under the oppression of the Philistines and at war with them. Saul's small army of 3,000 men was up against a massive army of 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and foot soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Yet we know that "God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong," (1 Cor 1:27) so that He might glorify Himself in displaying His awesome power. Saul had no such faith in the Lord of hosts.

He waited the appointed seven days for Samuel to come and make sacrifices on behalf of the nation, but Samuel did not come. And so Saul decided to make an offering to the Lord himself. Rather than trusting in the Lord's provision, he took matters into his own hands. When Samuel arrived, he said, "What have you done? You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you." (1 Sam 13:11, 13-14)

2. The destruction of the Amalekites (1 Sam 15)
The Lord used Balaam to prophesy the destruction of the Amalekites in Numbers 24:20, "Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end shall be destruction." Moses reminds us of what Amalek did to Israel: "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget." (Deut 25:17-19) Apparently Saul had forgotten, or perhaps he never even read the Scriptures for himself.

Yet God was going to use Saul to wipe out Amalek and God clearly commanded Saul to "go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." (1 Sam 15:3) In clear disobedience, Saul spared King Agag and the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, for he was only willing to destroy what was despised and worthless (1 Sam 15:9)

Saul's trifling with spiritual things and lack of fear for God are apparent when Samuel confronts him for he responds, "I have carried out the command of the Lord. I did obey the voice of the Lord." (v. 13, 20) The command was clear, yet he disobeyed and arrogantly acted as if he did what he was told. Later we discover the reason why he transgressed the Lord�s command, "because [he] feared the people and listened to their voice." (1 Sam 15:24)

It is clear then that Saul was a man-pleaser. He had no fear of God before his eyes. He trifled with the Word of God, played with it as if it were some toy. He had no respect for the sacrificial system, using it as a good luck charm in his battles.

APPLICATION

What then might we learn from Saul�s example?

First, to trust in the Lord with all of our lives. Brothers and sisters, there are so many promises in Scripture that God will take care of us, that He will preserve us, that He will provide for us. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." (1 Pet 5:6-7) "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matt 6:25, 33) "Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will act." (Ps 37:5)

Do we believe His Word to be true? Then why do we worry and furiously plan out our lives centered around work and school? Why is doing well in school so overly important, why is getting a good job the highest priority, why have we not denied ourselves and sought Him first? The words of the Psalmist ought to make you tremble at your unbelief: "trust in Him, and He will act." Think of that! Trust in Him, and He will act! Commit your way to the Lord's purposes, and the Almighty God of this universe who is Lord and King over all will act on your behalf. If He must move mountains, He will move mountains, if He must calm storms, He will calm storms, if He must give you wings to fly, He will give you wings to fly. If we truly believe the Bible to be the Word of God then we must start acting like it in our lives, as we learn to trust in Him, for "there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him," not for ourselves (1 Cor 8:6).

Second, to fear His Word. Your eternal fate rests upon your view and response to the word of the living God. If you will toss it aside, if you will treat it as any other book, if you will persist in neglecting it and letting it sit idle, then the fate of Saul may be upon you. How will you obey that which you are ignorant of? How will you live if you have not been taught? How will you know a God that you have never encountered? Moses wrote down the Law of God regarding kings and their proper conduct and said that the scrolls of the Law "shall be with [the king] and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes." (Deut 17:19) Saul did not do this and so he was removed. Let us then act in obedience, reading the Word all the days of our lives, learning to fear the Lord our God, and then being careful to observe all that He has commanded us, unto the glory of His name. Amen.