Notes of Faith July 23, 2024

Notes of Faith July 23, 2024

War Your Way to Heaven

Article by Greg Morse

Staff writer, desiringGod.org

I don’t have any tattoos, but if I did, one would picture a man charging a group of soldiers, with this caption: “Set down my name, Sir.” John Bunyan shows us the scene in his classic allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress (33–34). I hope Bunyan will tattoo the phrase on your mind as well.

Before Christian stood a palace, “a stately palace, beautiful to behold.” Atop this citadel, the inhabitants walked, clad in gold. How did anyone enter that palace? A little distance from the door sat a scribe, ready to write down anyone’s name who would attempt to enter. But Christian saw that none dared to give their name and approach the door. Outside the palace doors, in fact, stood a great company of men who desired to enter but didn’t. Not one of these many men would give their names and advance.

Why not? In the doorway of that palace stood a small army of soldiers, ready to batter and bludgeon any who drew near. These were “resolved to do the men that would enter what hurt and mischief they could.” The palace itself, any sane man would enter; the palace protected by a small army, only a madman would attempt. And then we see it:

At last, when every man started back for fear of the armed men, Christian saw a man of a very stout countenance come up to the man that sat there to write, saying, “Set down my name, Sir.”

Among his shrinking, retreating peers, one man among them seeks glory, honor, and immortality (Romans 2:6–7). He’ll go forth against the foe, come what may. He tells the scribe, “Write down my name, Sir. Sign me up.”

Once his name was recorded, Christian “saw the man draw his sword, and put a helmet upon his head, and rush toward the door upon the armed men, who laid upon him with deadly force: but the man, not at all discouraged, fell to cutting and hacking most fiercely.” Opposed but undiscouraged, he cuts and hacks most fiercely.

After he had received and given many wounds to those that attempted to keep him out, he cut his way through them all, and pressed forward into the palace, at which there was a pleasant voice heard from those that were within, even of those that walked upon the top of the palace, saying —

“Come in, come in;

Eternal glory thou shalt win.”

So he went in, and was clothed with such garments as they.

At this episode, Christian simply smiles and asks for no further explanation of the Interpreter; he knows the meaning already.

Unused Weapons

This man of stout countenance captures a Christian’s holy warfare. This is a reprise of Jonathan storming the Philistines with only his armor-bearer, Samson picking up his jawbone against a thousand men, David requesting to fight the blaspheming giant, Paul foretelling that persecution awaits him yet declaring, “none of these things move me” (Acts 20:24 NKJV), and our Lord Jesus, facing an army in the garden of Gethsemane, and, “knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’” (John 18:4).

“Church Militant, she has been called in ages past; what is her name now?”

In Christian’s smile, we see Bunyan’s — the man who himself wrote this scene from prison for refusing to cease preaching. For many today, Christianity is conceived of solely as a soft affair, a gentle boat ride, a walk through the meadow. We tour ancient strongholds, but do not mount them. Few mistake our discipline, zeal, or witness as having to do with a militant, advancing faith. Few would depict the way to heaven as fighting through a group of soldiers.

Surely, the factors for this are many. Perhaps our swords have turned prematurely into plowshares, our arrows to bonfire sticks, because we have not faced the persecution that sent our forefathers to the front lines. Or perhaps the “muscular Christianity” movement was onto something, and the feminization of our faith has come on the heels (or in the heels) of the Industrial Revolution. Maybe David Wells is right to say we have been blunted by a pluralistic society, leaving behind a democratized faith — polite, not prophetic. Church Militant, she has been called in ages past; what is her name now?

Take Heaven by Force

Yet for all of that, the Christian life is inescapably one of war. He who would set down his name and lay siege to heaven must know he charges upon real enemies who possess real hatred, and take up real weapons. The enemy undertakes to be your undertaker. At baptism, the Christian renounces the devil, and pledges total allegiance to King Jesus. That is, he declares war. You must “cut your way through them all,” giving and receiving many wounds, to enter the real glory. In the words of Thomas Watson,

Heaven is inherited by the violent. Our life is military. Christ is our Captain, the gospel is the banner, the graces are our spiritual artillery, and heaven is only taken in a forcible way. (Heaven Taken by Storm, 3)

Heaven must be fought for. Both men and women must learn the masculine instinct to persevere to heaven. Paul does not simply suggest it; he commands it: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). The whole church — full of men, women, and children — must act like men and be strong.

Be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might, Christian. Resist the devil, and he will flee. Smother temptation in its crib. Whet your sword. Awaken the hunt for souls. Prepare your mind for action. Quit playing footsie with the world. Death remains for the flippant. Don’t look so perplexed at tribulation as if something strange were happening — but rebut, renounce, defy, fight back, following the risen Christ who split the sepulcher asunder. Here, unceasing warfare; there, unceasing rest. Here, under siege; there, overjoyed. Here, cutting and hacking; there, a crown and homeland.

Taking Names

The true Christ tells us to take up our crosses, cut off limbs, die daily, that we might rise and reign with him in a new world. Those who would dress in gold and walk atop this palace enter through the doorway of many tribulations (Acts 14:22). “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). If they hated him, they will hate us. Jesus tells us to count the cost — of going and of not going.

We follow no squeamish soldier. Christ, in the truest sense, said, “Father, set down my name. I will charge the fray of devils, the furnace of wrath, for them.” His name was the only that could be set down for sinners: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Watch him ride forth — alone. Down, down, down into an animal’s stable. Down, down, down into the muck of his ruined world. There, see him take off his helmet, lay down his sword, and charge forth into that great hoard. Oh, with what deadly force did they assail him! How they beat him beyond human semblance, how they mocked him who gave them tongues, how they chopped mercilessly at the stump of Jesse. Down, down, down into the grave.

But see how he cut and hacked his way through. He slashed the throat of death, crushed the serpent’s skull, and returned with the head of that Goliath who mocked his Israel. He won a gold robe for himself and for others — all who would take up their swords, wear his armor, and follow after him.

The world needs this Christ, not the pretend one of low expectations and groveling suggestions.

Men are ready for a Leader who will unhesitatingly claim the last ounce of his followers’ courage and fidelity. . . . This is no time to be offering a reduced, milk-and-water religion. Far too often the world has been presented with a mild and undemanding half-Christianity. The Gospel has been emasculated long enough. Preach Christ today in the total challenge of His high, imperious claim. Some will be scared, and some offended: but some, and they the most worth winning, will kneel in homage at His feet. (James Stewart, Heralds of God, 26–27)

Enter the Fray

Men and women and children, resolve now, God helping you: “Set down my name, sir!” Knowing the outcome of the conflict, and that we will live to partake of the spoils, how valiant should we be? Hear the song in this day of grace:

Come in, come in;

Eternal glory thou shalt win.

Then, live as you would if you could travel back to earth from heaven. Thomas Watson again:

Consider then, seriously, the more violent we are for heaven and the more work we do for God, the greater will be our reward. The hotter our zeal, the brighter our crown. Could we hear the blessed souls departed speaking to us from heaven, sure thus they would say, “Were we to leave heaven a while and to dwell on the earth again, we would do God a thousand times more service than ever we have done. We would pray with more life, act with more zeal; for now we see, the more hath been our labor, the more astonishing is our joy and the more flourishing our crown. (78–79)

Heaven’s palace, any sane man would enter; heaven’s palace surrounded by an army of tribulations, only a madman would attempt — apart from grace. But all who fight and die faithfully behind Christ will outlive the conflict, and be exalted to high towers to shine with immortality in the kingdom of their Father. And such will sing the more joyfully because we knew what sorrow was. Brighter will be the Day, sweeter the rest, higher the joy because we fell and fought and cried. The soldier’s warfare gives way to the soldier’s triumph. Brother and sister, set down your name.

If you have never read “Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan, I highly recommend that you do.

Eph 6:10-17

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We are in a spiritual battle, a life-long battle. On one side is Satan and his minions, seeking to deceive, distract, lie, and kill us, to keep us from fellowship and intimacy with God who created and provides all life. On the other side is God the Father, His Son, Jesus the Christ, God’s Spirit who lives inside those who believe in Jesus and the work He accomplished by coming to earth, dying for the sins of mankind, rising from the dead on the third day, and coming again to receive those that belong to Him. There is an offer of believe truth and come to God, be forgiven, saved, redeemed, by work that you could never accomplish. Only God could pay the price we owe for sin. Come to Jesus. Confess your sin. Worship your Lord and Savior. Give thanks for His love for you. Then fight every day of this life to live holy for you are beloved by a holy God! Live for Him as He lived and died for you. Give your all for the glory of God. Your reward is waiting for you in heaven.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 22, 2024

Notes of Faith July 22, 2024

Life Eternal

Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11:25-26

In Mark 2 we find Jesus performing a physical miracle (healing) in order to prove His authority to perform a spiritual miracle (forgiveness). Healing is visible while forgiveness is invisible. So He performed a visible healing to convince His doubters that His invisible act of forgiveness was just as genuine (verses 1-12). He did something similar when His friend Lazarus died.

Before raising Lazarus from the dead—a physical miracle—Jesus told Lazarus’s sister Martha a spiritual truth: Even though one dies physically, he will live forever spiritually through faith in Christ. Jesus’ authority to make such a claim could have been questioned before He brought Lazarus back to life—but not after. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, His authority to say that the one who believes in Him shall never die was established.

Eventually, Lazarus died again physically but not spiritually. And Jesus’ own resurrection ensures that all who believe in Him shall live eternally. Thank Him today for His resurrection that authorizes your resurrection and eternal life.

Eternal life does not begin with death; it begins with faith.

Samuel Shoemaker

1 Cor 15:50-57

50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eternal life is not some ghostly spiritual existence but just like the resurrected Christ Jesus, we who believe in Him will be physically resurrected to eternal life, never to die again, healthy and capable of many things that we cannot understand in this earthly life. Eternal life is a gift that God has planned for those who belong to Him. Let us live a life pleasing to God for His many gifts to us…salvation, redemption, glorification, eternal life, and many more!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 21, 2024

Notes of Faith July 21, 2024

Be with Me Forever

The Sweetness of Life in the Vine

Article by Clive Bowsher

Provost, Union School of Theology

My son loves photography. He knows how to frame the shot just so, using the right amount of zoom to bring out the subject. Looking at original paintings displayed in a gallery, in a similar way, allows you to move yourself both closer and farther away. Your perspective on the whole picture and its detail changes as you move in and out.

Reading Scripture is similar — we need to zoom in and out to understand properly what God is saying. For example, how do you respond to the picture of the vine and branches that Jesus paints in John 15? Is it reassuring or confusing? Stabilizing or destabilizing?

Worryingly, is Jesus saying that we can be truly one with him but then lose our place? Does he intend to leave us feeling shaky and insecure? Thankfully, as we zoom in and out, we see that the answer is no. Jesus teaches us about the vine and branches so that we might know his joy and our joy might be full (John 15:11).

You-in-Me and Me-in-You

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus paints a picture here of a living vine — green, full of fruit, and flourishing. Jesus is together with those he loves, made one. This is real you-in-me and me-in-you connection and relationship with Jesus.

Zoom in closer and you’ll see something else: dead, fruitless branches (15:2), not vitally united by the Spirit to the person of Jesus and his life. They’re on the vine, hanging around Jesus. They might claim to be Christians, but they probably wouldn’t even be comfortable saying to Jesus, “Lord, you’re in me, and I’m in you.” Some people are existing like that lifeless wood. They’re not united to the source of life, not “grafted in.” It’s a precarious position, to say the least (15:2, 6).

Zoom out to the big picture, however, and you’ll find the friendship formula of you-in-me and me-in-you in John 14 and 17 too. It’s how Jesus, in John’s Gospel, describes life as opposed to death. It’s union with him as opposed to being apart from him — or vitally connected, fruit-bearing branches as opposed to empty ones (15:5–6).

That friendship formula of mutual indwelling stands out in John 15 as well. The Greek word for “abide” means staying put. Here’s a good translation of verse 5: “Whoever is lastingly in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” You in Christ and him in you, for keeps. No single translation is perfect, but “lives” or “dwells” also captures the thrust. This is unbreakable friendship and, wonderfully, friendship where he loved us first.

Forever Secure

Zoom out even further and you’ll find the same friendship formula of mutual indwelling in John 6 (and throughout 1 John), describing what it means to be vitally united to Jesus — one with him.

John 6 explains, in effect, how someone becomes “grafted into” the living vine. Changing the metaphor, they’re hungry and thirsty. They come to Jesus (6:35). They trust him, person-to-person, looking to him now for life. They put themselves in Jesus’s hands. It’s decidedly relational. At the same time, from God’s side, the Father is giving the person into Jesus’s hands (6:37). This is so beautiful. Think about it: the Father and the Son agreeing to hold someone, in eternal life, forevermore.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. . . . For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (6:37, 40; my translation)

You actively believe and trust Jesus; his arms embrace and hold you securely, tenderly, within the vine. On that last day, those same arms will be sure to raise you up into glory. Jesus promises here that he doesn’t cast out; he doesn’t abandon. You can’t lose your place in the living vine. It just can’t happen.

Keep the focus on John 6 for a moment longer. You see that if you’re trusting Jesus and his death for you, the eternal life you already have is, at its heart, you-in-me and me-in-you relationship with Jesus (6:54, 56). It’s spiritual and real — the difference between life in the vine and death.

“As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me” (6:57). It is no more possible for his people to fall out of loving relationship with Jesus than it is for him to fall out of you-in-me and me-in-you relationship with the Father. It just can’t happen!

Sweet Invitation

Let’s take our cameras and zoom back in now on John 15. “Abide [live] in me, and I in you,” Jesus says (15:4). It’s the same two-way formula that describes vital union with Jesus. But here, Jesus is urging, even commanding, us to find life in him, in the vine.

For someone who doesn’t know Jesus, this is a sweet invitation to come to him. For those already in real relationship with him, here is the voice of Jesus reminding us what salvation and life are all about. Jesus’s sheep know (and are known by) him, and so they listen to his voice (10:15–16). They need his words, they desire his words, and they listen to him. They ask for the fruit he has promised to produce in and through them (15:7–8), and they step out in love for one another.

Whoever we are, this is a sweet, sweet invitation from the Lord of everything to keep on receiving and returning his love. Paul also urges believers to keep doing what believers do: “Continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23).

This hope of the gospel flows from the love of the Father and the Son. And Jesus loves his own as the Father loves him (15:9). So lean in! It’s no burden to rest in the vine and in that love, any more than it’s a burden to drink when we’re thirsty. If you’re somehow fearing Jesus’s rejection, then verse 4 is very good news — someone’s command to dwell or live in him, and him in us, cannot be withholding. Jesus’s command here is the sweetest and most generous of invitations.

To “abide,” then, is not some special spiritual technique, but instead the posture of trust in Jesus, resting in his love (15:9), lived out in glad obedience to him (15:10). It’s joy-full (15:11). And every branch united to him in two-way friendship is guaranteed fruit that will stand the test of time.

Share and Participate

It’s possible to hang around Jesus (and Christianity) and not actually be relating to Jesus. Someone can subscribe to doctrines, but not actually trust and lean into the one who is love and life. Someone can show up, but not love and worship Christ — and so misunderstand the very nature of the Christian life.

What should worry us? Independence, being determined to go it alone, apart from Jesus (15:5). Peril consists in refusing to come and be cleansed, pruned, and beautified by the Father (15:2–3); refusing to lean into Christ’s love; refusing to be vitally united to him. Do you see obedience as a burden rather than the chance to share and participate in everything that Jesus and the Father love (15:10)?

When someone you really want to be with says, “Marry me!” you know it’s not just a sweet invitation for that day or year, but one that anticipates living and dwelling together as one, every day into the future. It’s a statement of commitment, each to the other — to keep inviting the other person in relationally, and to keep making oneself available. It anticipates being reciprocated. And there’s the joy of a beautiful, ongoing dynamic.

“Abide in me, and I in you,” Jesus says. Eternally.

That’s got to be stabilizing, to say the least!

I would encourage you to read chapter 15 of the gospel of John and spend some time thinking about what is said in those verses. Do I respond to God in the way these verses speak? Am I present at church or some activity without a deep and devoted intimacy with God in Christ Jesus? Do I read or listen on my phone to the Word of God (your Bible), for God to speak directly to me, love me, teach me, guide and direct me? Abiding is a great English word. We should discern the deep truth of what it means to abide in Christ and live a life pleasing to God, excitedly waiting for our reward when we see Him face to face, for living abiding in Him!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 20, 2024

Notes of Faith July 20, 2024

Look-Alikes: The Sacrifice of Barnabas

And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 4:36-37

The disciple John called Jesus, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Every Jew knew exactly how a lamb could atone for sin: by sacrifice (Isaiah 53:7). So calling Jesus the “Lamb of God” was another way of acknowledging His mission of sacrifice.

Disciples of Jesus are called—by Jesus Himself—to live lives of sacrifice: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). But sacrifice doesn’t always involve laying down one’s life. It can easily involve laying down a part of one’s life—time, resources, possessions. Barnabas, a leader in the Early Church, did that when he sold some of his land and gave the money to meet the needs of fellow believers in Jerusalem. He didn’t have to sacrifice his property (assets) for others but did so willingly, following the example of Christ.

Look for ways today to be a “living sacrifice” for the sake of another

(Romans 12:1).

The only life that counts is the life that costs.

Frederick P. Wood

The people of the local church that I serve have always been sacrificial. They have given of themselves for one another, for our missionaries all over the world, and for the lost that God has placed around all of us. They sacrifice because of the sacrifice of Jesus for them and they sincerely desire to follow in His footsteps of pleasing our Father in heaven. May we continue to give with the sacrifice of our time, talents, and resources until we are with our Lord and Savior, face to face!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 19, 2024

Notes of Faith July 19, 2024

Exhilaration

Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.

John 11:11

Alexander Polli, a skydiver and base jumper, was asked why he risked his life. “To be quite honest,” he said, “I an extremely scared of dying.” Sadly, Polli perished in 2016 while trying to soar through the French Alps in a flying suit. He was 31.1

John 11:1-12

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep."

When we know Christ as Savior, we can soar in life with no fear of dying. Yes, we want to challenge ourselves and occasionally pump our adrenaline. We like adventure. But we also know Jesus Christ is able to satisfy our inner craving for significance and excitement. We can say with Paul, “But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:22-23).

When Jesus healed His friend Lazarus, He demonstrated His power over death. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). There’s no exhilaration like knowing Him, and no security like knowing that He will certainly awaken all those who fall asleep in Christ.

Even death holds no terror because he is the Living One who has conquered death and holds it in his power.

Robert Mounce

John 11:25-26

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.

In believing in Jesus and in His death, burial, and resurrection, we are promised eternal life! Eternal life is in Jesus, the giver and sustainer of life. May we each draw closer to the giver of life and strive to live as originally intended in the garden of Eden before the first sin…

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 18, 2024

Notes of Faith July 18, 2024

No Comparison

Sovereign God,

Help me to lead the life that You have assigned to me — and to be content. I need to beware of comparing my situation with someone else’s, feeling dissatisfied because of the comparison. I realize it’s also hurtful to compare my current circumstances with how things used to be or with fantasies that bear little resemblance to reality. Instead, I must make every effort to accept as my calling the life You have assigned to me. This perspective takes the sting out of painful, difficult circumstances. If You have called me to a situation, I know You’ll give me everything I need to endure it — and even to find some Joy in the midst of it.

Please train my mind to trust Your sovereign ways with me — bowing before Your mysterious, infinite intelligence. I need to search for You in the details of my day, all the while looking expectantly for good to emerge from trouble. I’m learning to accept things the way they are, without losing hope for a better future. And I rejoice in the hope of Heaven, knowing that indescribably joyful Life is my ultimate calling!

In Your supremely wise Name, Jesus, Amen

Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. — 1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. — Philippians 4:12

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” — Romans 11:33–34

*

Beloved Jesus,

Your Word tells me to sing to You because You have dealt bountifully with me. I confess that sometimes singing praises is the last thing I feel like doing, but that’s when I need it the most. You have indeed dealt bountifully with me — even when it doesn’t seem that way. I’ve been on an uphill journey with You, and I’m growing weary. I yearn for some easy days, for a path that is not so steep. But I realize it is the strenuous climbs that take me ever upward — closer and closer to the summit.

Help me remember that the difficulty of my circumstances is not a mistake. It’s a matter of Your sovereign will and — to some extent — my own goals. I desire to live close to You and to grow more fully into the one You created me to be. Pursuing these goals has put me on an adventurous trail where difficulties and dangers abound.

Sometimes I compare my life-path with those of people whose lives seem easier than mine. But I don’t fully comprehend the problems they face, nor do I know what the future holds for them. Instead of comparing my circumstances with those of others, I need to turn to You and listen as You instruct me, “You follow Me!”

In Your bountiful Name, Amen

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. — Psalm 13:6 NKJV

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect... He enables me to stand on the heights. — 2 Samuel 22:33–34

Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” — John 21:22 NASB

Excerpted from Jesus Listens Notetaking by Sarah Young, copyright Sarah Young.

People who often compare their lives to others are people that are not content, whining about what someone else has that they do not. They never compare themselves to those who have less than they do and many of those seem to be content and satisfied with what they have. Is this part of our fallen nature, to always want more, to “keep up with the Joneses”, to covet what another has? The Apostle Paul said that he LEARNED to be content in all circumstances, having much, having little, through it all learning to be content. Of course this is not easy, but we are called to live for Christ in and through all circumstances, trusting in His provision for our every need. He has always been faithful. Let’s try to stop comparing and live a life following in the footsteps of Jesus, listening to Him through prayer and His Word, being obedient to what He calls us to be and do.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 17, 2024

Notes of Faith July 17, 2024

Let It Be Done to Me According to Your Will

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” — Luke 1:46–47

Let us imagine that Mary, at twelve years old, was living in the temple area. Perhaps she would occasionally journey home to visit her parents. After one such visit, it was time for her to head back to Jerusalem with her traveling companions. As she approached the Holy City, the Temple Mount appeared on the horizon like a gleaming mountain of snow, its white stones standing out against the dusky brown color of the hillsides.

Mary entered the gates of Jerusalem. After climbing a staircase from the city streets, she emerged onto the wide plaza that surrounded the temple. A military tower loomed to one side—the Antonia fortress that Herod had named after his former colleague, Mark Antony. A long colonnade called the Porch of Solomon ran along one side of the plaza. Adjoining it at the corner was the Royal Stoa, a three-aisled hall formed by four rows of massive columns.

Mary mingled with Gentiles who were allowed to be in the outer plaza. But then she passed a low wall beyond which Gentiles couldn’t go. Now Mary proceeded through an imposing gate and entered the Court of the Women, the closest she could get to the Most Holy Place.

Taking leave of her companions for a time of spiritual reflection, Mary walked across the courtyard and ascended a staircase. From there she peered through the Nicanor Gate into the Court of Israel where purified Jewish men could enter but she could not. Beyond that was the Court of the Priests. Mary could see the enormous altar where the priests were sacrificing animals as burnt offerings to God. Beside it was an immense bronze basin to provide water for ritual washings. And behind all of this was the brilliant facade of the temple, completely covered by golden plates.

Though Mary had never entered the temple building itself, she knew well what was inside. The Holy Place, also called the Sanctuary, contained a lampstand and table for the Bread of Presence, as well as a small altar for burning incense. A heavy veil of multicolored fabric hung at the rear of the room, screening the Most Holy Place where only the high priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. The ark of the covenant had once been situated in there, but now the space was empty and the ark’s foundation stone was unoccupied. Yet Mary wasn’t disturbed by the absence of any objects in the inner sanctum. She knew what all Jews understood: that Yahweh wasn’t represented by idols like the false gods of the Gentiles. He was the Lord of heaven and earth, so no man-made image could capture or contain him.

Yes, Lord. Let it be done to me according to Your will.

As Mary contemplated the sacrifices that gave access to God’s presence, a sadness came to her heart. She had recently been told by the priests that because she was now twelve years old, the imminent onset of her menstrual flow would make her ritually unclean. It was time for her to leave the temple precincts and eventually be united to a husband. The thought saddened her, for the glorious temple of God was the only home she could remember.

Yet as Mary considered the impurity that her emerging womanhood would bring, as well as the religious restrictions that barred women from full entry to the temple, an even deeper sadness descended. Will this ever change? she wondered. Will there ever come a time when I can be one with God, and he with me?

Though Mary didn’t know it then, the baby she would one day bear would bring these changes to the human race. As an adult man, he would promise his disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive . . . but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17, emphasis added).

Not long after Jesus spoke those words, Mary saw her Son’s glorious promise come to pass. She was in the upper room when the Holy Spirit made the human heart—not the golden constructions of men like Herod—his new temple of spiritual residence. The book of Acts describes how the eleven faithful disciples gathered for worship after Jesus ascended to heaven. “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (Acts 1:14).

What happened next? “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1–4).

From that moment on, everything would be different. No longer would God have to be accessed through repeated sacrifices in front of a restricted temple. No longer would a veil obscure the dwelling place of God. No longer would Mount Moriah alone be the lighthouse of the world. After the descent of the Spirit, each believer in Jesus—whether a woman or a man—would serve as a temple of God’s presence. The once-for-all sacrifice had been made.

Although Mary’s twelve-year-old mind couldn’t have comprehended such ideas, all of these wonders lay ahead in her future. Her only job was to be faithful and say, “Yes, Lord. Let it be done to me according to your will.”

Adapted from Herod and Mary by Kathie Lee Gifford and Bryan M. Litfin, PHD.

Our faith needs to be the decision maker to say, “Thy will be done.” I have not met anyone who has heard from heaven about what is to take place in their life, but I have heard of many faithful that respond to God each day, before anything unfolds, “Thy will be done”, ready to meet the day as God has planned. As a temple for the living God, the Holy Spirit, yield your earthly selfishness, and trust the God who loves, who saves, who sanctifies, redeems you, and claims you as His child, to live with Him forever. Indeed, “Thy will be done!”

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 16, 2024

Notes of Faith July 16, 2024

Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John 10:11

When a teenage David offered to fight the Philistine giant Goliath, King Saul doubted his ability—until David provided evidence from his life as a shepherd. Whenever a lion or bear attacked his flock, David would fight and kill the attacking beast and rescue his sheep from its claws and teeth. David said he would do the same to Goliath, and Saul acquiesced (1 Samuel 17:32-37).

As a shepherd, David fulfilled his two most important tasks: provide for his flock and protect his flock. He saw God fulfilling those same two responsibilities for His people and for him personally and wrote a song illustrating God’s role as the Shepherd: Psalm 23. God provides green pastures for His flock and protects them in the valley of the shadow of death. The role of the Good Shepherd is one Jesus took upon Himself as Israel’s Messiah—a Shepherd who “gives His life for the sheep.”

Jesus is still the Good Shepherd. He can defeat any giant that stands in your way. You can trust Him for provision and protection every day until He comes to gather His flock to Himself.

Before an emergency arises, God in his providence has made adequately and perfectly timed provision to meet it.

J. Oswald Sanders

Ps 23

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

3 He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Good Shepherd knows His sheep. He provides for them. He cares for them. They listen to Him and follow Him. We are His sheep. Let us listen to and follow Him into the perfect pastures of His care.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 15, 2024

Notes of Faith July 15, 2024

Guardian of the Sheep

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:9

In the ancient Near East, kings were often referred to as shepherds. In the Old Testament, God was referred to as the “Shepherd of Israel” (Psalm 80:1), the One who would do what Israel’s failed earthly shepherds would not do: care for the people of Israel (Ezekiel 34:11-16). Ezekiel 34 contains one of the harshest rebukes in the Old Testament: God’s rebuke of the leaders of Israel who were not caring for His people.

Against this background, Jesus not only declared Himself to be the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14), but He also said He was the Door of the sheepfold. That meant anyone coming in or out of the sheepfold had to go through Him. He was not the guardian of the door; He was the Door itself! Those who enter His sheepfold “will be saved” and can go “in and out [to] find pasture” (John 10:9). This is reminiscent of His words in John 14:6: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Thank God today that Jesus is your way to salvation and the One who protects you as part of His flock.

Salvation comes through a cross and a crucified Christ.

Andrew Murray

Many seemingly nice, peaceful people have said that there are various paths to God. God, Himself, Jesus, said, “No one”, that means not one, comes to God but through Him, the door of the sheepfold. Come to Jesus. Learn of Him and from Him. Begin or strengthen your relationship with Him. He is life and that eternal. Please listen to your inner most being, come to Jesus, that you might be saved!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 14, 2024

Notes of Faith July 14, 2024

What Makes God Happiest?

Enjoying His Signature Joy

Article by David Mathis

Executive Editor, desiringGod.org

I was wondering if I had discovered a new world.

Home from college after my freshman year, I was pondering what makes God happy. That spring I had read Desiring God and had my soul turned upside down for good. The book exposed how duty-oriented my approach toward God had been, and in the exposure, God’s Spirit opened the floodgates to delight in him, on the rock-solid foundation of the glory of God — since God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

After a few weeks of catching my breath, now I dared to take up what seemed to be the sequel, called The Pleasures of God (but found it more like the prequel). To that point, I had hardly thought deeply about human happiness. Now I found myself captivated by a theme I had not previously considered: what makes God happy. And I was finding that few things satisfy a human soul like meditating on the satisfactions of God.

Now, it’s one thing to ask, What makes God happy? It’s another to say, What makes him happiest?

Search through Scripture for the pleasures of God, and you’ll find many solid joys. He delights in his created world, and in all he does, and in his own renown. He delights in his people and in choosing them and in doing them good. He also delights in their prayers, and in their personal obedience and in their public acts of justice.

But lay those many divine delights side by side, and ask, What does God enjoy most? What makes him happiest? What is his signature joy? One clear answer emerges.

Ground Zero for God’s Joy

For starters, he is a God who was and is infinitely happy apart from his creation. His created world, and its history, is not the cause of his infinite bliss but its overflow.

At one level, the answer to our question of what makes him happiest is simply, Himself. God is not an idolater; he has no greater joy than God. He is supreme being — infinitely highest in value, glory, beauty, and blessedness (that is, happiness). And before anything else existed through his creative mind and hands, he was fully satisfied in himself. We rightly affirm, in simple terms, that God’s greatest happiness is God himself.

Yet Scripture unfolds even more. God is not only one but three. So, at another level, the answer to our question is, His Son. The eternal Son is ground zero for God’s pleasure, his first and foremost joy. No thing and no one makes the divine Father happy like his divine Son. This Son — eternally begotten, perfectly reflecting all divine excellencies, the full panorama of the Father’s perfections — has fully pleased and delighted his Father from all eternity. And he also entered into history to “add to,” as it were, his Father’s already infinite delight.

Delight in His Eternal Son

Before tracking God’s delight in his Son in time and space, consider God’s first and foremost delight in the eternal Son. Jesus’s baptism, at the outset of his ministry, is a stunning introduction to the world of the Father’s greatest joy. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the language of pleasure and delight (Greek eudokeō, “to be well pleased, to take delight”), as in Matthew 3:17:

Behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (also Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22)

At this point, no doubt, the Father is well-pleased with the human life of his divine Son, but here at the inauguration of Jesus’s public ministry, we see back through three decades of sinless humanity, to endless ages of divine perfection. The voice sounds from heaven, echoing the timeless Wisdom personified in Proverbs 8, lines the church has long connected to her Lord:

When he established the heavens, I was there; . . .

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

then I was beside him, like a master workman,

and I was daily his delight. (Proverbs 8:27–30)

There has never been a time when the Son was not, nor when the Son was not his Father’s delight. “God’s pleasure in his Son,” writes John Piper, “is the pleasure he has in the breathtaking panorama of his own perfections reflected back to him in the countenance of Christ” (The Pleasures of God, 174). And long before the Son came as the long-anticipated Messiah, and long before there were even earthly days, the Son was daily his Father’s great joy.

In fact, it was this very delight — Father in his Son, and Son in his Father — that spilled over in the creation of the world and history, with the Father, overflowing with joy in his Son, appointing him heir of all things, and creating the world to give it to him (Hebrews 1:2).

Delight in His Incarnate Son

The Father’s eternal delight in his Son led not only to the gift of creation but also to its glory. That is, the world and its history glorify the Son as both rightful owner and rescuing hero. The Father sent his Son into the created world to be its Lord and Savior. And it pleased him to do this: “In [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things”

(Colossians 1:19–20).

Having sounded the Father’s pleasure at Jesus’s baptism, Matthew also mentions God’s delight in his “servant” as Jesus goes about his ministry of teaching and healing.

Many followed [Jesus], and he healed them all. . . . This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.” (Matthew 12:15–18)

Now the connection with Isaiah is explicit. Jesus also is the long-awaited “servant” of Isaiah 42, the one “in whom [God’s] soul delights” (Isaiah 42:1–4). In fully human flesh and blood, and anointed with the fullness of God’s Spirit, the Son’s human life and ministry make his Father smile with delight. And Jesus knows it, and himself delights in it. He says in John 8:29,

He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

Few joys rival the delight of a son in knowing that he pleases his father. And this Father is God. Such a life as Christ’s is ultimate freedom: delighting to do what delights God.

“Few things satisfy a human soul like meditating on the satisfactions of God.”

Also, the transfiguration underscores the Father’s delight in his incarnate Son. On the mountain with Peter, James, and John, Jesus is transfigured before them: “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Moses and Elijah appear and are talking with him. Then the voice of God’s delight in his Son again rings out, clarifying who is Lord of, not peer to, Israel’s greatest prophets:

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. (Matthew 17:5)

Peter himself would write in his second epistle of being eyewitness to this majesty. His telling also centers on the Father’s declaration of delight in his Son (2 Peter 1:17–18).

Delight in His Crucified Son

Given this signature divine pleasure — the Father in his Son, infinite in greatness and depth for all eternity, and extended into the world in the incarnate life of Christ — how jarring is it to rehearse the prophecy of Isaiah that “it was the will of the Lord to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10)? And God’s willing here is typically under-translated in our English. Twelve times in Isaiah and throughout the Old Testament, this Hebrew word (ḥā·p̄êṣ) is rendered “delight in” or “take pleasure in.” The unnerving claim in Isaiah 53:10 is that the Father delighted to crush his Son.

How could this be so? How could the Father, whose signature joy is the life of his Son, not only permit but delight in the death of his Son and the horrors of the cross? Elsewhere I’ve answered at greater length, but here let’s capture a few key aspects of this surprising and revealing delight.

For one, the Father does not only delight in the Son’s death. He wills it, yes, and delights in it, yes, but he also looks in righteous anger on his Son’s mistreatment and murder. This is history’s worst miscarriage of justice. No man ever deserved death less than the sinless Son of God. The cross is history’s greatest sin, a violent and horrendous affront by sinners on God himself. In one sense, the Father indeed is righteously furious. Yet still, in it all, he sees his Son’s faith and obedience, and he rejoices. Why?

MANY SAVED

Surely one pleasure he had in view was the rescue, and God-glorifying pleasure, of the “many” whom the Son saves (Isaiah 53:11–12). The cross is good news to the sinner who hears in it the invitation of God’s rescue from eternal misery. At bottom, the good the gospel offers to sinners is the ultimate good of having God himself and sharing in God’s own joy. Such a Father rescues his children not reluctantly but gladly. He delights to save his people.

GLORY VINDICATED

Surely another pleasure God had at the cross was his Son’s love for his Father and his glory. As Piper writes,

The depth of the Son’s suffering was the measure of his love for the Father’s glory. It was the Father’s righteous allegiance to his own name that made recompense for sin necessary. So when the Son willfully took the suffering of that recompense on himself, every footfall on the way to Calvary echoed through the universe with this message: The glory of God is of infinite value! The glory of God is of infinite value! (Pleasures of God, 176)

REDEMPTION ACHIEVED

So too, the Father delighted in the magnitude of his Son’s achievement at the cross. Make no mistake, the cross is an achievement — the single greatest achievement in the history of the world, and one whose full magnitude we have only begun to grasp. We will celebrate it forever in our praises. When God delights in the death of his Son for sinners, he delights in his Son achieving the single greatest feat in history, making the worst Friday to be Good, making the horrible cross to be wonderful.

Which leads, finally, to the pleasure of the Son in being crushed.

SON SATISFIED

Jesus did not go to Golgotha against his will. Certainly, just about everything human in him recoiled from what lay ahead, and yet in the garden, he looked the horror and humiliation in the face, and looked through it to the reward — and “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). Even Isaiah foresaw this seven centuries before: “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). The Son himself delighted to see his people saved, he delighted to see his Father honored, and, knowing his Father would raise him, he delighted to have his Father reward his achievement with the seat in heaven at his right hand.

So, the Father’s delight in the cross of his Son is not apart from his Son’s own delight in it, nor is it apart from the certainty of his Son’s resurrection.

Our Delight in Jesus

What difference does God’s signature happiness make for us? I close with just two of the many.

First, what greater confirmation could there be for our own signature delight than that of God himself? If the Son — eternal, incarnate, crucified, glorified — is the first and foremost delight of his Father, why would we not train our own best thoughts and longings on him? If Jesus is the focus of God’s foremost delight, how could we dare treat him as worthy of anything less than ours? And how hopeful might we be for truly finding what our souls long for as we take our cues from God himself?

Second, if the Father’s delight in his Son undergirds and leads to the extension of grace to sinners, then how secure might we be in this gospel? God didn’t only accomplish the gospel through his Son, but it pleased him to do so. God delights in the gospel. It makes him happy. In fact, it is an extension of his signature happiness. The happy God is securely happy about his Son dying (and rising) to save us. How secure, then, can we be in this gospel!

Salvation in Christ is not based on a whim or accident. The gospel is not a divine concession. It is a divine delight. God designed it, ordained it, arranged it, and it pleased him to do it. And neither Satan nor sinful man can change that.

David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org.

Jesus always did what pleased the Father…The pursuit of our lives should be to always do what pleases God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May we know the blessing of God through all we do to please Him!

Pastor Dale