Hebrews 13:17-19 & Treating Authority Like Bad Socks

When some things are abused you throw them away. Toys and socks work that way. I am in dire need of some new socks right now.  A couple of pairs have holes in the heel and many of them have holes which my long toe (my long toe is not my big toe) loves to play peek-a-boo out of.  My big toenail grows radically more than my other toe nails.  Apparently I don’t clip it often enough and then cuts though my socks? My toenail neglect is sock abuse.

Anyway, just because socks are abused you don’t find people running around saying that socks are inherently evil or faulty. You may throw a pair of socks away, but not socks altogether. Authority can be, and is often abused, but that is no reason to throw it out. In our society sex is equally abused, why aren’t we so passionate to ban sex?  Toys are abused by children, should we ban toys?

God gives leaders to his church. All their authority is a derived authority, not intrinsic to themselves. Obey and submit to them for your own souls.  Find elders who are faithful to God’s Word and then be faithful to those elders. Put yourself in a position where your relationship to your elder will be a reflection of your relationship to God.

If you have authority issues with your elder most of the time I would advise one of two actions:

  1. Repent.  If you believe your elder is faithful to the Word of God, your issues with him are issues with God.
  2. Move.  If your elder is not faithful to God’s word find one who is and for the benefit of your soul and his joy in ministry submit to him in the Lord.

The Doctor: Disproportional Singing

I am no opponent to singing, we are to sing God’s praises in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.  Yes, but again there is a sense of proportion even here.  Have you not noticed how singing is becoming more and more prominent?  People, Christian people, meet together to sing only.  ‘Oh,’ they say, ‘we do get a word in.’ But the singing is the big thing.  At a time like this, at an appalling time like this, with crime and violence, and sin, and perversions, God’s name desecrated and the sanctities being spat upon, the whole state of the world surely says this is not a time for singing, this is a time for preaching.  I am reminded of the words of Wordsworth about Milton, ‘Plain living, and high thinking are no more.’  It is almost as true of us to say plain speaking and high thinking are no more.  We are just singing.  We are wafting ourselves into some happy atmosphere.  We sing together.  Dear friends, this is no time for singing.  ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ (Ps. 137:4).  How can we take down our harps when Zion is as she is?  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival, p. 63

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn As a Child (8)

Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare by John Newton

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare:
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay;
Therefore will not say thee nay.

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much.

With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt;
Set my conscience free from guilt.

Lord, I come to Thee for rest,
Take possession of my breast;
There Thy blood bought right maintain,
And without a rival reign;
And without a rival reign.

As the image in the glass
Answers the beholder’s face;
Thus unto my heart appear,
Print Thine own resemblance there,
Print Thine own resemblance there.

While I am a pilgrim here,
Let Thy love my spirit cheer;
As my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
Lead me to my journey’s end;
Lead me to my journey’s end.

Show me what I have to do,
Every hour my strength renew:
Let me live a life of faith,
Let me die Thy people’s death;
Let me die Thy people’s death.

The Doctor: No Autopilot for Turbulent Tribulation

We can glory in tribulations because our faith enables us to view them in such a way as to realize that, far from working against our hope, they actually promote it, and, indeed, further it.  In other words the reaction of the Christian to tribulations is not an automatic one.  It is not a case of ‘Come what may, I’m always happy’.  He is enabled to glory in them as the result of the application of his faith.  Because he is a man of faith he is able to do certain things.  Trials and tribulations come, and at first he is troubled, he is made unhappy.  But he does not stop at that; he proceeds to deal with them.  How does he do this?  The Apostle gives us the answer.  ‘Not only so but we glory in tribulations also.” How?  “Knowing”: it is because of something we know.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Volume 4, p. 66

Hebrews 13:7-16 & Vintage vs. Novel

Vintage does not mean dead, novel does.  Coca-Cola is classic, it is vintage; that is it is old, but has enduring value.  It has not aged.  Crystal Pepsi was novel and it died.  Novel often means faddish.

Jesus is vintage.  He is ancient, eternal, and immutable.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This does not limit our exploration of the divine; rather it speaks to the infiniteness of that which is explored.  What must the magnitude of Jesus’ glory be if he is immutable, yet never monotonous or boring?

The dead teachers of the past heralded this Jesus (Hebrews 13:7).  In contrast the false teachers so perverted and distorted Him that their teaching was strange, and diverse (Hebrews 13:9).

The vintage Jesus will live on and prevail, for He is the living one.  The pseudo-novel Jesus will die, for He does not exist.

Spiritually, regarding Jesus, I hope to see you all driving a red ’52 Chevy rather than a modern hybrid with GPS, DVD player, and seat warmers.  Don’t fall prey to the new – it is faddish, it will die, and you will find the quality exceptionally less.

Parents, Polish The Sword

Your relation obligeth you to take care of their precious souls.  It is the soul [that] is the child, rather than the body; and therefore in Scripture put forth for the whole man. … The body is but the sheath; and if one should leave his sword with you to be kept safely for him, would you throw away the blade, and only preserve the scabbard?  – William Gurnall in The Christian in Complete Armour

How sad the lengths that parents go to today to preserve the scabbard?  They exhaust themselves to provide the best education, the nicest accommodations, and the best of gifts while the sword rusts.  What good is it if they gain the whole world but lose their souls (Matthew 16:26)?  Parents, polish the sword!

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn As a Child (7)

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat by John Newton

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat,
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before His feet,
For none can perish there.

Thy promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh;
Thou callest burdened souls to Thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed,
By war without and fears within,
I come to Thee for rest.

Be Thou my Shield and hiding Place,
That, sheltered by Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died!

O wondrous love! to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead Thy gracious Name.

“Poor tempest-tossèd soul, be still;
My promised grace receive”;
’Tis Jesus speaks—I must, I will,
I can, I do believe.

The Doctor: Dangerous Doctrine

Regarding the doctrine of sola fide (justification by faith alone) ‘But’, you may say, ‘what a dangerous doctrine!’  Every doctrine is dangerous, and can be, and has been, abused.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Volume 4, p. 22

Hebrews 13:1-6 & Orthodoxy to Orthopraxy

Don’t divorce the ethics of Hebrews 13:1-6 from the theology that has preceded it.  Orthodoxy fuels orthopraxy.  Orthopraxy flows from orthodoxy.  If my actions are not done in faith, they are sin (Romans 14:23).  Belief in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love for our brother come to us as a singular command (1 John 3:23).  I can gauge if I truly get doctrine by looking for the practical fruit of love for my brothers and hospitality toward strangers.  I can know if I have the proper motivations in loving my fellow man by seeking out the theological underpinnings that motivate it.

* * *

I am extremely romantic one night.  I have sent her away for a spa treatment all day (she loves the spa).  Surprisingly I pick her up at the spa with a gift she has been hinting at (no flowers, she hates it when I buy flowers).  I take her to her favorite restaurant, she can tell all my attention is on her, I have eyes for no other, no one else exists.  We go for a walk in the park afterwards.  Everything is perfect… I am saying the most poetic of compliments.  I am sincere, I am in love, yet she is repulsed.  Whenever I begin talk of her naturally curly hair (it’s straight), and her blue eyes (they are brown) the evening changes its hue.  All my right doing, however sincere, has been undone by wrong knowing.  When I call my precious Bethany by a foreign name, the name of an ex, all is lost.  Light has turned to darkness.

Orthopraxy is essential.  So is the orthodoxy it must flow from (Hebrews 11:6).

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.  – A.W. Tozer