Guess What? We Get To Enjoy Things

Ecclesiastes is a comforting book for the Christian, or should be. It can seem different from other books of the Bible (and of course it is) but its message is the same as the whole message of the whole Bible. Like Proverbs, it offers unique insights for gaining true skill in godly living and thinking. For it is a God-breathed collection of Solomon's observations concerning those things in life that are futile, vain and a "striving after wind"; on those things in life that are meaningful and eternal; and on the blessings God has given us in this difficult and fallen world (honest work, the ability to trust and know God, peaceful sleep and freedom from worry). The conclusion of all these observations is to "remember your Creator in the days of your youth... fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). We need this book. It is as necessary for our training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16-17) as any other book of the Bible.

I love it in part because being inclined to want to worry about tomorrow and miss the blessings of today, it corrects and reproves me in a unique way for doing that. One of my favorite passages:

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart (5:18-20).

These verses come to me as "good news from a far country" (Proverbs 25:25). They are refreshment to my soul, because I have also tended to struggle against accepting my "lot". Even though I profess to believe strongly in the doctrine of a good and wise Creator's providential guidance of my life, my worry and dissatisfaction have often given the lie to the claim of my lips. In addition, I've kept myself so often from the simple enjoyments God so kindly provides.

There are many problems, vexations, sorrows and difficulties in life. There are problems in society and problems in the Church. We should do all the good we can while we have opportunity. Yet these problems always have been, always will be, until the King returns to at last subdue this planet's mad uprising against his good Rule and to take up his throne on a New Earth. Until then, the good news from the far country, the gospel of Christ, gives me rest. It means that because he has given me the gift of knowing God, fearing God, being made right with God and believing God, I can find enjoyment in all the toil with which I shall toil (and I must toil!) under the sun the few days of life he has given me. I won't much remember the evils of life because God keeps me occupied with joy in my heart--if I take this good news seriously.


Yes, Ecclesiastes is a rich book. It describes the reality that is, both the weary futility of a life lived pursuing vain things and the great potential of life when one closely follows the true words of the Preacher. Its truths, when embraced, give rest in the present and hope for eternity to come. Live a faithful life now in the humble fear of the Lord; don't miss and disdain the comforts and joys of the lot in life he has provided you; and wait patiently for the great things to come, for "better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit" (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

Three Leaps For Joy

"An evil man is snared in his own transgressions, but a righteous man sings and rejoices" (Proverbs 29:6). 


I am musing on this verse from my morning's reading in Proverbs. First of all (I muse), it should be noted that the righteousness of this righteous man is not his own but is a gift. This man's righteousness was received; in the Old Testament and today, this imputed righteousness is the free gift of God, bestowed because of his lavish mercy, on un-righteous former transgressors! The righteous man of Proverbs 29:6 has been declared right with God through faith in Christ's atoning work. He is a humble man, grateful and astonished at the grace given to him in Christ.

So this happy man, though beset by many afflictions and trials, goes singing and rejoicing on his way. The evil man, in the meantime, is the one who loves and clings to his sin. He believes that to give it up and put his trust in this Jesus would be the ultimate folly. Ironically and tragically, the very sin he clings to constantly proves to be a snare and a trap to him. He becomes entangled and ensnared. There is no song in his mouth and no rejoicing in his heart. Declaring in his heart that for him "there is no God," he sadly becomes the ultimate fool (Psalm 14:1).

Reading of the other man, the righteous man, I was reminded of Christian in Pilgrim's Progress. Though afflicted by temptations and trials on his journey to the Celestial City, Christian and his companions could often be heard singing and rejoicing as they went. Here John Bunyan describes the way Christian came to be relieved of his heavy burden of sin, declared clean and right before God, and the glad song he sang about it:

    Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a Wall, and that Wall is called Salvation. Up this way therefore did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back.


    He ran thus until he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below in the bottom, a Sepulcher. So I saw in my Dream, that just as Christian came up to the Cross his burden loosed from off his Shoulders, and fell from off his back; and began to tumble; and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the Sepulcher, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.


    Then was Christian glad and lightsom, and said with a merry heart, He hath given me rest, by his sorrow; and life, by his death. Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprizing to him, that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks.

    Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold three shining ones came to him, and saluted him with Peace be to thee: so the first said to him, Thy sins be forgiven. The second stript him of his Rags, and clothed him with change of Raiment. The third also set a mark in his forehead, and gave him a Roll with a Seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it at the Celestial Gate: so they went on their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing. 

Thus far did I come loaden with my sin, 

Nor could ought ease the grief I was in, 

Till I came hither: What a place is this! 

Must here be the beginnning of my bliss? 

Must here the burden fall from off my back? 

Must here the strings that bound it to me, crack? 

Blest Cross! Blest Sepulcher! blest rather be 

The Man that there was put to shame for me.

Three leaps for joy!

(Text from Oxford World's Classics 2003 The Pilgrim's Progress)

Reading In Matthew

I love the gospel according to Matthew. It's my favorite of the gospels (because it's the one I'm reading right now!). In it, as in all of the gospels, the mighty deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ are recorded. In Matthew, a very long discourse of the wise words of the Lord Jesus are also recorded. It begins in Chapter 5, verse 2, "And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying...".

He opened his mouth! The fountain of life was opened up to those disciples up on the mountain. His words came out, instructing them, surprising them. "You have heard it said... but I say...", and such things as that. He had come to set them straight about what makes men right with God. The traditions they'd been taught had obscured God's true plan. Those disciples' world was beginning to get turned upside down, as happens when Christ's words and deeds are comprehended by faith in the human heart.

The sweetest thing I got from my reading in Matthew this morning was really two things: the comfort, hope and reward of heaven for these temporary sorrows and suffering we endure (Matthew 5:3-11); and the great way our Lord gets across the fact that the righteousness that pleases God is not based on anything done "before other people" (Matthew 5:20-6:16). All human pride is laid low here, for who can manifest such genuine humility and sincerity as Jesus commands? Only someone to whom another's righteousness has been given as a gift--the free gift of  God through his Son.

"You therefore must be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect," Jesus said (Matthew 5:48). Thanks be to our heavenly Father, then, that he sent this perfectly righteous One to do what we are not able to do. He perfectly fullfilled all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17) on behalf of all those who will believe in him and thus receive the free gift of his very own righteousness, procured for helpless sinners through his death on the cross.

What a wonderful Savior.

 

Sermon On The Mount wordle (click for a bigger image)

A Change

I changed the name of my blog. It comes from Psalm 71:20-21:

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
 will revive me again;
 from the depths of the earth
 you will bring me up again.
 You will increase my greatness
        and comfort me again.

Psalm 71 speaks to me of God's sovereignty and goodness in both making us see many troubles and in reviving us again. It speaks to me of our great hope in the coming of Christ and in the resurrection from the dead, comforted then forevermore! It speaks to me of God's great faithfulness to his pilgrim people as we sojourn on through a difficult landscape, and of the hope I have that even though I'm growing older, God isn't through with me yet! Until the last breath I can speak with is done, I hope I am still praying, trusting, and proclaiming this way:

 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
 So even to old age and gray hairs,
    O God, do not forsake me,
    until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come. Psalm 71:17-18

Spurgeon's Fifth

"A Call to Prayer and Testimony" was preached by C.H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London on February 8th, 1891. His text that morning was Isaiah 62:6-7: "On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth". Here from that sermon is Spurgeon's fifth reason not to rest:

Above all, let us never rest out of despair. The feeling does come over you sometimes—"What is the use of our labor? So little comes of it. What is the use of protesting for the truth? The churches will not hear you. You only earn ill-will, and are ridiculed as an old fogy. What is the use of being earnest about winning souls? Men are indifferent. The present engrosses thought—social questions are pressing. Everybody pines for sensationalism or amusement. What profit is there in keeping to the old way?"

That spirit creeps over the child of God like the cold of the Arctic regions, numbing him and tending to send him into the sleep of despair. The evidence of this evil power is found in the tendency to restrain prayer before God. From this may our God rescue us! Come, my brothers, I do not know who among you is going to sleep; but I would like to shake the man who is so benumbed, and wake him up; and I hope that, in your turn, when you see me benumbed, you will shake me also, and wake me up to diligence in prayer. Let us awake this morning, and begin again.

We must not, will not, yield to slumber. There is small cause for fear, and no cause for despair. Our cause defeated? Not a bit of it! All will come right yet. God waits; but he waits that he may be gracious unto us. His time to favor Zion will come, and the good old cause will win the victory. The work of the Lord is in a greater hand than ours. He will not fail nor be discouraged. "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint"; and when they feel that they are fainting, they should resolve to pray with double earnestness, and faintness will yield to joy.

(You can read the whole wonderful thing here.)

Christian Braggarts

Peace and mercy to Christian braggarts:

"But far be if from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:14-16).

Peace and mercy only to those whose boast is in what God has done through his Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

Spilled Milk/ Freely Justified

Our small world was not secure, disturbed by unhappiness at home, and finally divorce. My older sister and I had our maternal grandmother, our Granny, who for a few years was saddled with the daily care of us (and didn't really seem to mind). One day, waiting at her house for our mother to pick us up after her workday, a fiendish plot developed in my mind. As the time grew near for her to arrive, I asked Granny for a cup of milk. She poured one for me. I held it til my mother arrived. Then with impeccable timing, the moment she walked into the house and into the kitchen where I stood waiting, I turned the cup upside down and deliberately dumped that cold, white milk all over my Granny's clean kitchen floor.

I remembered that maneuver recently as I am trying to think, more deeply, maybe, than before, what it means that I've been justified before God by one act of righteousness, that act of the one Man, Jesus Christ: namely, his death on the Cross for sinners. Grace reigned through that righteous accomplishment, a grace that leads to eternal life. When he acted for me in this way, I didn't know him... I didn't even care about him. Yet he died for me and through that sacrifice, has reconciled me to God. No goodness of mine could have accomplished this right standing with God, for all my goodness was no better than filthy rags in his sight. He has attached no strings to this gift of complete and utter reconciliation with himself. I don't have to perform, I cannot perform... he did all the performing, all the accomplishing. I've been justified, made right with God, by his sheer grace, alone. And that same grace has removed every shred of condemnation for every misdeed, now and forever.

Maybe a child's act of dumping milk on the floor before a poor mom's tired, astonished face illustrates the need for such grace. Maybe I was being bad to see if someone else's good could overcome the wickedness I was hatching in my heart. (Maybe I was just being bad!) In any case, moms and Grannies are only human, and imperfect. But perfect God came in the flesh, that one Man, and did what no one else could do.

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life" (Romans 5:6-10).

I need to understand this grace much better, for there is still the immature girl in me, lacking a grasp on the hugeness, the implications of God's one-sided, unilateral act through his Son of rescuing and justifying me, a real sinner; reconciling me, truly and forever, to his good and holy Self. I still want to dabble in guilt over spilled milk. But reading slowly and thoughtfully through Romans 4-8 (with help and encouragement from the good Doctor) is making me think better of it.