A Renewed Mind

The April issue of Christianity Today had a brief interview with David Plotz, an editor at Slate who is described in the interview as an agnostic, Harvard-educated, Reformed Jew, “with no real religious commitment.” Boredom let Plotz to open a copy of the Torah. Surprised by what he read, Plotz decided to blog through the Old Testament, a process which has brought him closer to becoming an atheist. I am not writing to comment on the interview or Plotz’s blogs (which I haven’t read), but I did find one of his remarks very interesting. In answer to the question, “What were the most surprising stories?”, Plotz responds, “If there is any book of the Bible that is just a pure, visceral pleasure to read, it’s Judges, because it is so crazy, and all kinds of insane stuff happened. It’s intended to be shocking.” 

I recently finished reading the book of Judges again myself and somehow, after so many readings, a “pure, visceral pleasure” is far from what I discover there. I find it instead to be very disturbing. It has its moments when the victorious strains of the orchestra begin to swell (as when God gives Gideon victory over the Midianites), but quite suddenly the low melancholy of a minor key is reintroduced (as when Gideon later leads Israel into idol worship).

I would agree with Plotz that all kinds of crazy and insane things happened there. And, I would agree that some of its content should shock us, though I doubt that either the biblical author or the God who inspired him was counting on shock value. Given the modern 24-hour news cycle with endless stories of the still-deepening effects of man’s depravity, very little seems to shock us anymore. It seems to me that a more fitting description of the “shocking” content would be “tragic”.

Rather than reading like the front page of a scandal sheet, Judges reads more like a Shakespearean tragedy. Anyone who has read carefully through Judges has heard the quiet refrain that closes the book: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Over and over, we find the sad, costly, and painful consequences that result when people turn from following God and the way that He has set before us through His word.

The “shocking” content could cause evangelicals like me to think of the growing immorality in a post-modern (or modern, for that matter) culture and warn the culture of God’s coming judgments. Surely, there are parallels. The post-modern world has rejected the existence of an objective God who exists apart from us and who determines what is true. Therefore, there is no one to hold us accountable for our actions. What would the result of such a world be? Could it be anything less than a world in which “Everyone does what was right in his own eyes”? Look at tonight’s headlines and consider how many stories could aptly carry that phrase as a subtitle. Sadly, God’s judgments for such “enlightened” godlessness are not merely future; they are all to present. There is always a high price to pay for sin.

Nevertheless, there is a greater tragedy and an application that I think has priority for evangelicals. These people who did “what was right in their own eyes” were God’s people. It was the Israelites who rejected God’s rule over them. It was God’s people who abandoned the God who had chosen them, called them, saved them, and given them His word. It was God’s people who decided that they had a right to determine what was good and what was evil. And it was costly to the people and to the kingdom. They stand as a warning to us to be very careful to fear the Lord.

Christians today need to look very carefully at how we live and ask God to show us how we are like Israel in the days of the Judges. How do we determine what is right in our own eyes? Where do we follow the culture and the wisdom of men rather than the word of God? What sets our agendas and priorities? And, what will it take to lead us to repentance, faith and renewal?

The evangelical church—and local churches like ours—need to ask the same questions of our corporate life and witness. How many of our methods are learned from the academy and Main Street and Madison Avenue? How many of our programs are reactions to the political hot-buttons of our day? How eager are we to know and follow the objective truth of God’s word rather than court the subjective spirituality of our culture? With little introspection on these points, I think most honest churches would have much to confess. And, most importantly, together will we repent, seek the Lord, and follow Him?

After his reading through the Old Testament, Plotz found God to be so unmerciful and cruel that he questioned: “Do I want such a God to exist? I don’t know that I do.” (He goes on to note that “As Jews, we don’t have the comfort of the New Testament to fall back on”—very telling comment.) Yet, when I read even the book of Judges, I find a God who is merciful, long-suffering, and eager to restore His people and save them again and again and again. So that even as the book ends with that tragic line, there is the hope that God’s people will return, and God will rebuild.

Let us pray that God will cause His people to return to Him in our day, and that we will see Him restore His people once again according to His grace and mercy.

I had not realized that my last blog entry (3/8/2007) was the link to John Piper’s testimony of his father’s death. One year later on March 9, 2008, I was with my mother when she left this world for the Celestial City. Partly for my church and partly for myself and primarily to testify of God’s marvelous grace, I wrote the following article in the days that followed her death. It seemed appropriate to share it again here.

By the Bedside in the Valley

There are some things we just don’t want to do. Children don’t want to go to bed when the sun is still shining on a mid-summer night. They don’t want to eat Brussels Sprouts (and neither do we). We don’t want to go bankrupt, and we don’t really want to pay taxes. We don’t want to endure difficulty in relationships. We don’t want to confront sin in others (or in ourselves for that matter). And we don’t want to sit by the bed of a precious loved one as he or she lies dying.

But we don’t write the script. God does. And written into the script of each life is a death scene, its day chosen before that life has even begun. Thus, it is likely that each of us at some point will sit or kneel by the bedside of one we love as death approaches. What might we learn there? Were God to be there with us, what might He whisper into our ears as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death?

Probably we will each learn different lessons there, as we come to life’s situations at different times with different needs. Yet God has designed us so that together we—His church—may gain from the lessons of one another, and so I share these in hopes that God may relieve you of the fear of that which we dread the most.

Naturally, the nearness of death will remind us of truths that we already know, yet seem to forget—or try to forget: All we have is today; life can end in a breath; if we want to be ready to die, we better get ready now. Everyone around us needs to hear the gospel—now. Try as we might, we cannot escape suffering in this world; pain is inevitable, and necessary. 

But some lessons are more specific. In our pain, God can speak so clearly, so personally, even so beautifully. 

God is faithful to the end. How hard it seems to persevere in prayer, to continue to call upon God to answer prayers we’ve prayed for ten or twenty years or more. At times we would give up: “It’s too late; the burden is too hard to bear; I must be praying selfishly…” But the Spirit of God intercedes with us and for us “according to the will of God.” He helps us keep praying. When God places a burden in us to pray, we can trust that He is working. God doesn’t promise to fill our selfish desires, but we can trust Him to answer persevering prayer. That’s His work. 

For many years, I had questions about my mother’s eternal security, questions for which I never received any kind of assurance. Then one Sunday afternoon, she was alert. She knew who I was. She could understand me. Quick! The gospel again. Will you repent of your sin and call on Jesus? “Yes.” She responded with her eyes, but there was a firmness in her response. In the coming days, her eyes would be more and more hopeful, even as the end came closer and closer.

God is faithful. Keep praying. Don’t stop. Persevere. Get on your knees. Get help. But don’t give up on God; He doesn’t give up on His children, not one of them.

The compassion of Christ knows no bounds. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” God delights to show mercy to helpless and unworthy souls—like me—so that the fullness of His love and mercy can be known. The compassion of Christ led Him to bear our sin on the cross, and to apply His redemption to all who believe. Surely His compassion will cause me to be more sensitive to opportunities to share that compassion with others, especially my loved ones. Surely I will share gentle words of forgiveness and affirmation often, right? More so now, I trust, than ever before.

More than that, however, our suffering becomes the avenue by which we enjoy the compassion of Christ. In our suffering, God is there in Christ. In our pain God draws near and He sustains us and carries us and speaks to us. And in the suffering we discover the fullness of Christ’s love. There we enter into the fellowship of Christ’s cross and we commune with our risen Lord with a depth that a hundred years of pleasure could never secure.

God meets us in the most unlikely places. Retreat centers, conferences, seminars are all helpful and good. Yet, I found more of the presence of God in the quiet buzz of an ICU room. That ICU room was transformed into a sanctuary. I read so many Scriptures to Mom; I sang so many hymns to her; I prayed with her and for her so many times. She attended more worship services in our last weeks together than she had attended in a long, long time. “Amazing Grace” sounds different when it’s sung a cappella to the rhythm of a ventilator with tears running down your cheeks; it sounds more true, more real. And it is. God seems to be listening to your prayer when your dying mother is trying to squeeze your hand. And He is.

God makes us weak so that He can use us powerfully. The pain of watching a loved one suffer and die is sharp; it cuts out every false hope and causes us to cling to God. All those hymns and Scriptures were for me too, and for others. The first time I saw her in ICU was so incredibly hard, but I only had thirty minutes. I couldn’t cry; I had to be strong; so little time to pray and share. “You have to go now,” the nurse says quietly at the door. Now I can go cry. Wait, not now; a young man in the hall: “I saw you in the ICU room with that lady. Can you talk to me about God?” Crying can wait.

The days are so long; so are the nights; so much sorrow and grief; so many years to remember; so many needs: family to be strengthened, details to be worked out, announcements to be made, a funeral to be preached—your mother’s funeral. So much more than a weak, hurting man can handle. Perfect. Then the people will see the hand of God and hear His voice.

One more prayer beside the lovely pink casket, now closed: Thank you God for the time at her bedside.  

Unfortunately, this blog didn’t last long initially. Credit lack of discipline and lack of commitment. In less comforting terms, credit sin–selfish use of time, talent, and thought.

During the past week, I had the privilege to attend The Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago. One of the things that seemed to be oft repeated was the necessity for pastors to read a lot. One speaker (I’m sorry, but I can’t say for sure which one) said something to the effect of: “There are a lot of pastors who wish they could write books, but they don’t read books.” I probably should read more books, but applying that thought to myself, I was convicted that it could be said: “There are a lot of pastors who wish they could write books, but they don’t write; pastors, like you for example.” I find the discipline of reading books much easier, than the discipline of writing. I have to change in order for that to change. (Isn’t that insightful.) Therefore, I have to write.

The conviction that I need to revive this blog and keep on blogging actually came before the conference, but now I am emboldened by a greater sense of urgency and a greater desire to lay aside slothfulness. Therefore, for the sake of the gospel I commit to blogging. 

To say that I am blogging for the sake of the gospel could sound arrogant to some. We all know that would be a major faux pas in our day, so let me explain briefly. The gospel doesn’t need my blogs. No doubt about that. The gospel is complete and sufficient (and glorious beyond all human words). But the world and I need the gospel. As I revive this blog, I do so with one purpose: that my writing and discipline will improve, so that my preaching and teaching may improve, so that the gospel will go forth to my church with greater clarity and power, so that my church (people, not buildings) will be transformed by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the gospel will go forth from my church to the world with greater clarity and power, so that the kingdom of God will cover the earth, so that Christ will be exalted among all nations to the glory of God.

That’s how I hope to blog for the glory of God. My aim and prayer is that this blog will be a means for both of us to experience thr glorious benefits of the gospel together so that testimonies of the gospel will spread and together we give glory to God.

Here’s my humble plan:

Beginning next week, I will post at least one blog giving some substantial thought to a particular issue. Themes and subjects will vary, but I will attempt to examine current issues and/or biblical truth to help us see more of Christ’s glory. I will try to share more about what I am reading, how I understand current events. give insights from Sunday morning’s text that were left on the editing room floor, etc. I noticed that my early blogs tended to be quite long for the modern blogosphere. I will do my best to be concise, but I can’t promise brevity. (I’m already up to 605 words.)

My primary blog will likely be posted by Wednesday afternoon each week; earlier if possible. On other days I will try to post blogs to link you with other resources, news, blogs, etc.  These will probably have very brief comment by me (and so, you may like them best. : )

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, suggest posts, and edify me. 

May the Lord grant that we may grow together for His glory.