Who Will We Wed, Frankenstein or Jesus?

 

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” – John 2:5

 

 

The setting for Jesus’ first miraculous sign was a wedding. Weddings and marriage are God’s creation. They are important to Him. They are important to His Son Jesus. Weddings are times of great joy. Jesus spoke of abundant life and what better place to introduce the prospect of abundant life than a wedding? But weddings and marriages as a conduit of abundant life are being stopped up. Weddings today are known more for debauchery and drunkenness than holy unions. The presence of Jesus and outpouring of His joy are nowhere to be found in them.

 

The pure white gown of weddings and marriage are being dragged through mud. That which is holy is being desecrated. Marriage is being redefined so broadly that it is being robbed of meaning. Same-sex “marriage” unions and no doubt soon to be legislated polygamous marriage arrangements are creating a mutation. Like Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein opponents of traditional marriage are trying to replicate a creation of God. Body parts of immoral lifestyles are being sewn together. The lightening of unrepresentative legislation is giving this mutation life. And, . . . “It is alive!” The question we face now is, who will we wed, Frankenstein or Jesus?

 

Yes, “It is alive!” But like Dr. Frankenstein those playing with God’s creation fail to see the ramifications of what they are fabricating. This concoction of dead parts can’t produce new life. The parts don’t fit right. They can be sewn together like a patchwork quilt but they’ll never be as smooth and beautiful and intricately glorious as the original of God. Same-sex proponents and others can look at the statistically supposed mess heterosexuals have made of traditional marriage and claim, “We can’t do any worse!” But the truth is that things can get a lot worse. Marriage is being destroyed. When humans try to make something from dead cadaver parts of our modern day “new morality” it’s not pretty. Only Jesus can raise the dead. Fallen human efforts to create life lead to death. Mutations cannot reproduce. That “death” may walk and it may talk, but it is dead. Like the Frankenstein monster, it can think but it has no spirit.  Death produces death.

 

Yes, “It is alive!” Something new is being introduced. It seems to have life. But like another grotesque image, the psychopath in Silence of the Lambs, who murders victims, flays them and sews their skin to fit him with a perverse alternate gender body image, you can’t cover up the wicked reality. You can murder marriage, skin it, and try to cover yourself with it, but you won’t hide what you are underneath. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin. He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray” (Proverbs 5:21-23).

 

Yes, “It is alive!” But it’s a poor piecemeal human alteration of a beautiful gift of God. Like Frankenstein’s monster, this new mutant marriage will roam the earth looking for fulfillment and meaning and all it will find is emptiness. It’s separate from and devoid of God’s presence and joy. The travesty of this marriage mutation is that this ugly product of human engineering is being stamped with Jesus’ approval by false teaching clergy. A warped “love” has been kidnapped from scripture and reprogrammed to condone something the God of love never intended. It’s a human tragedy all around.   In the end Jesus will say something similar to what He said to the church in Sardis, “I know your works, . . . you are alive, but you are dead” (Rev. 3:1).

 

It’s questionable if we will ever be able to get this mutated horse back in the barn. We are at the point where there really is only one hope. If we respond on merely an earthly level through reason and politics we will continue down the road of despair. Our only pure hope is a heaven sent revival; a revival of God that gets to the core of the problem, the human heart. “Repent, and turn from all your transgression, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die . . . ?” (Ezek. 18:30-31). So I ask you, who will you wed, Frankenstein or Jesus?

 

Jesus waits at His altar, looking down to us, calling to us, inviting us, outstretched arms, love in His eyes, yearning for us to join the bride of Christ. He says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezek. 36:26-27). Jesus offers a new heart and new beginning; true life change.

 

The Holy Spirit regularly and in various ways convicts people about their sin. God graciously reaches out to those living in darkness. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). God hasn’t given up on the lost . . . yet. There’s still time to choose Jesus.

 

Each time the conviction of the Spirit is resisted or ignored the resistant heart gets a little harder; people drift and drive further from the Lord. There is a limit; a point of no return; a state of heart that people reach through persistent rejection of God where they are no longer able to respond to God (cf. John 12:39). The Spirit will not always strive with those who rebel against God (Gen. 6:3). I believe we are fast approaching that final state of darkness. Our only hope is one last holy wave of the Spirit that washes upon us like a giant tsunami of holy reality, truth and grace. God still desires none perish (2 Pet. 3:9). But a time of His judgment will eventually come. Will you walk the aisle with Frankenstein, really?

 

We live in a world addicted to pleasure. People are searching for happiness, fulfillment, meaning, and purpose. Their search implies they are at a loss for these things. They are empty. If they ever had a modicum of these things they have now run out of them. There’s no joy in life. The counterfeit “joy” they have settled for is as tasteless as water. What’s the solution? Jesus is the solution.

 

Come with me to that wedding in Cana where Jesus performed His first sign. The wedding was going as planned, until something changed. They ran out of wine. No more wine meant no more joy. It meant the wedding would likely end; it wouldn’t get where it needed to go; it would be anticlimactic. Wine is a type, a symbol of joy in the Bible. What could be done? How could the joy be replenished, refreshed?

And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” (John 2:3). Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew exactly what to do and where to go when there was a need. That’s a good example to follow. Whenever there is something missing, go to Jesus. Whenever we are at a loss, go to Jesus. Whenever we don’t measure up or we run out of whatever we need, go to Jesus. When you run out of God’s best, don’t try and substitute a watered down alternative, go to Him. Will you take His hand and walk the aisle with Jesus?

The presence of wine at the wedding should not be taken to endorse drunkenness or debauchery. Nowadays the wedding ceremony is brief and the reception long. People are married in the church and then indulge in wild reckless worldly partying that is anything but welcoming to Jesus. (Just listen to the lyrics of the music played at some wedding receptions; yes, “Christian” weddings too!). Wine was simply an acceptable beverage to consume at weddings. The wine had run out. You can walk the aisle with “another Jesus,” a counterfeit that cares little of holiness (2 Cor. 11:3-4). That leads to emptiness too. They needed more. We need more, more of Jesus.

 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4). Jesus gently rebukes His mother and tells her His hour had not yet come. What did He mean? Maybe Jesus was alluding to Mary’s motive not being pure. Maybe she wanted her Son Jesus to finally lay to rest any thought that He was the product of fornication. Since His birth whispers of illegitimacy were likely circulated by cynics of the incarnation account of Mary. Illegitimacy is not such a big deal in our day. It’s a pretty common practice for people to have children outside of marriage in our day. It was a big deal in Jesus day. It was a sin, a disgrace. It still is a sin. It’s no big deal in our day because society is moving away from God and His word and restraints on passion have been thrown off. What God thinks or whether or not a sin is being committed is not that important.

 

The dark shadow of illegitimacy appears to have been the accusation of those who rejected Mary’s incarnation account. Over thirty years after His birth the specter of immoral beginnings were being brought up to Jesus Himself by His detractors (John 8:41). Maybe Mary had had enough of such shameful allegations. Maybe she thought this was the perfect public setting to show by a miraculous sign of her Son that there really was something to His holy beginnings. But Jesus wasn’t concerned with what people thought about Him. We shouldn’t  walk the aisle with Jesus just to justify ourselves.

 

The “hour” of Jesus is the time of glorifying fulfillment of His redemptive mission. Jesus came to be the sacrificial Lamb; our substitute on the cross to pay our death-debt for sin (John 1:29). He came to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He’s a perfect example of what marriage is meant to illustrate. Loving selfless sacrifice and service is what keeps marriages together. He came to provide a death blow to sin and death by His atoning death on the cross and victorious resurrection from the dead. He came to give new life, abundant life (John 10:10). He came to complete His mission and be able to say, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). When we walk the aisle with Jesus, following in His steps, we learn from fellowship with Him and with each other in marriage, just what true love is.

 

There’s no evidence that Mary took offense at anything Jesus said or the way He said it. She simply received His words and then gave some direction to those serving at the wedding. His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5). Good advice to be gleaned from Mary’s words here – “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Obedience and following the instructions of Jesus always lead to blessing. These are the last recorded words of Mary in the New Testament. Last words are always significant, they are culminating, climaxing, concluding. The last words of Mary, her conclusion to who she was and what she would be remembered by, were, “Whatever He [my Son Jesus] says to you, do it.” There aren’t many better last words! It’s as though Mary asks, “Who will you wed Frankenstein or my Son Jesus?”

 

Later in John’s gospel Jesus will connect love with obedience (John 14:15 and 21). He says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. . . . He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” It’s not enough to pay lip service to our love of the Lord. It’s not enough to merely say we love Jesus. Our love needs to be validated in action; it needs to be real. If we say we love Jesus, and disobey Him, we are liars (e.g. Mat. 7:21-24). Love and God’s word are wed. We speak God’s truth in love (Eph. 4:15). Love and disobedience are a divorce from God (1 John 3). And yet that is the new “love” that the world has created and that unfortunately parts of the church have adopted. Love always implies accountability and responsibility. Love obeys. Don’t settle for walking the aisle with a cardboard cutout of Jesus that silently approves your every whim and sinful way. If you love Jesus, you will obey Jesus. To wed Jesus is to obey Him.

 

If we say we love Jesus and want Him to come to our wedding and yet we indulge in sex before marriage (i.e. fornication) then our “love” isn’t worth too much. If we say we love Jesus and want Him to be central in our marriage and yet we are unfaithful to our spouse and commit  adultery in mind or actual act our love isn’t worth too much. If we say we love Jesus and want Him to attend our same-sex wedding and bless our same-sex marriage even though His word calls such relationships sinful, what does that really say about our “love”? The Bible defines such sexually related sins very clearly and calls believers out of it (e.g. 1 Cor. 6:9-11). Really, who are you going to wed, who will you walk the aisle with, Frankenstein’s mutation or Jesus?

 

If we say we love Jesus and disregard His word and don’t do, “Whatever He says,” then we are hypocrites, the truth is not in us, and we are living a lie. When we deny the sin that the Spirit points out to us, we are self-deceived and in reality call God a liar (1 John 1:8, 10). That’s of the enemy. In the end and in every life situation the solution is really quite simple yet profound. It boils down to, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Just do it! Just do what Jesus tells you to do.  In the power of the Spirit, do it! Walk the aisle with Jesus!

 

⁶ Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. ⁷ Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. (John 2:6-8). Those used by Jesus to work this miraculous sign demonstrate three characteristics which those who want to be used by Jesus to do great things should also follow. We need a great work of God in our day. Saving marriage and seeing revival requires some heavy lifting. We must make ourselves available to Jesus. We need to stop saying one thing and living another. Our marriages must become example of God’s best. We need to get right with Jesus. We need to walk the aisle with Jesus and make Him the center of our weddings and our marriages. If we truly want to experience and help others to share in the greatness of Jesus joy, happiness, fulfillment, meaning, and purpose, we need to start serving our Lord. 

 

If you want to be used by Jesus to do great things obey Him don’t argue with Him. Jesus told the servants to fill the waterpots and they obediently filled the waterpots. They didn’t argue with Jesus. They didn’t ask, “Why do we have to fill the waterpots with water, aren’t we looking for more wine?” They simply trusted and obeyed Jesus command. We have to submit our will and even our understanding or lack thereof to Jesus. Yes, we have to prepare a reasoned and revelatory response to the purveyors of the corruption of marriage. But we shouldn’t try to argue and persuade Jesus to accept or condone their alterations of marriage. There really isn’t room for compromise with corruption. “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Their argument is not with us, it is with Jesus. They have to decide whether or not they will walk the aisle with Jesus. They have to choose to wed either Frankenstein or Jesus. We need only to point these people to Jesus. He can handle the questions. Our duty is to simply obey Him. Then He will use us to work His work.

 

If you want to be used by Jesus to do great things obey Him to the full extent. “They filled them up to the brim.” They filled the waterpots as full as they could. They didn’t understand what Jesus would do, but they did as much as He asked them to do and to the fullest extent of what He asked them to do. We have to be wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus if He is going to use us. When the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of God raises up a standard against that enemy (Isaiah 59:19). We are that standard, that banner, that line of defense in the hand of the Holy Spirit. Let’s commit fully to our Commander in Chief. Let’s walk the aisle with Jesus with all our heart! We wed Jesus for life. We throw the little black book of alternative loves away.

 

In the Book of Acts Jesus speaks of an infilling of the Spirit, the baptism with the Holy Spirit that goes beyond mere filling to the brim. He speaks of an overflowing experience with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8 Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples. He said when this happened they would be empowered to serve and witness for Jesus. That word “upon” is a translation of the Greek preposition epi and refers to an overflowing, a flowing over of something. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is that superabundant overflowing relationship with the Spirit where we have more than enough of Him and He has all of us to use as He pleases. Does Jesus have all of you? Are you filled to the brim and overflowing with Jesus? If so, get ready to be greatly used by Him.

 

If you want to be used by Jesus to do great things you have to trust Jesus one step at a time. Jesus didn’t lay out a detailed plan or strategy for the servants. Jesus simply told them step by step what to do: see those waterpots; fill those waterpots with water; draw out some of the liquid out and give it to the master of the feast. They simply obeyed each step of the way until the miracle happened. A wedding marks a beginning. Marriage is a lifetime of ups and downs, good days and bade days, growth and persevering, of growing in true love. The state of marriage today is not going to revert to what it should be overnight. It is going to take a persistent, persevering step by step obedience to the Lord. Walking the aisle with Jesus is only the beginning. We need to go on with Jesus.

 

The miracle of Jesus happened when the servants fully obeyed and did their best entrusting the rest to Jesus.  It’s going to take a miracle of God to change our world. It’s going to take a revival from heaven. God is willing, I believe, and He is looking for people through whom He can work. He is scanning the earth looking for those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chron. 16:9). He’s looking for those willing to obey Him without argument, obey Him fully, and to obey Him one step at a time by faith. God still wants to do great things. Our part is, “Just do what Jesus tells us to do.” Who will you wed, Frankenstein or Jesus? Come walk the aisle with Jesus.

PRAYER AND CHARACTER AND CONDUCT

The following is a chapter from E.M. Bound's book The Necessity of Prayer chapter 8 "Prayer and Character and Conduct." It is immensely practical, . . . and convicting. I encourage you to take a moment to prayerfully read it. This is rich and refreshing. How many sinful habits external as well as internal could be dealt a death blow if only we prayed more and with all our heart? I think we and our world could be changed for the better and for the glory of God if we simply took this chapter from Bound's to heart. God bless you with holy character and holy conduct as you do.

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“General Charles James Gordon, the hero of Khartum, was a truly Christian soldier. Shut up in the Sudanese town he gallantly held out for one year, but, finally, was overcome and slain. On his memorial in Westminster Abbey are these words, ‘He gave his money to the poor; his sympathy to the sorrowing; his life to his country and his soul to God.’” — HOMER W. HODGE.

PRAYER governs conduct and conduct makes character. Conduct, is what we do; character, is what we are. Conduct is the outward life. Character is the life unseen, hidden within, yet evidenced by that which is seen. Conduct is external, seen from without; character is internal — operating within. In the economy of grace conduct is the offspring of character. Character is the state of the heart, conduct its outward expression. Character is the root of the tree, conduct, the fruit it bears.

Prayer is related to all the gifts of grace. To character and conduct its relation is that of a helper. Prayer helps to establish character and fashion conduct, and both for their successful continuance depend on prayer. There may be a certain degree of moral character and conduct independent of prayer, but there cannot be anything like distinctive religious character and Christian conduct without it. Prayer helps, where all other aids fail. The more we pray, the better we are, the purer and better our lives.

The very end and purpose of the atoning work of Christ is to create religious character and to make Christian conduct.

“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

In Christ’s teaching, it is not simply works of charity and deeds of mercy upon which He insists, but inward spiritual character. This much is demanded, and nothing short of it, will suffice.

In the study of Paul’s Epistles, there is one thing which stands out, clearly and unmistakably — the insistence on holiness of heart, and righteousness of life. Paul does not seek, so much, to promote what is termed “personal work,” nor is the leading theme of his letters deeds of charity. It is the condition of the human heart and the blamelessness of the personal life, which form the burden of the writings of St. Paul.

Elsewhere in the Scriptures, too, it is character and conduct which are made preeminent. The Christian religion deals with men who are devoid of spiritual character, and unholy in life, and aims so to change them, that they become holy in heart and righteous in life. It aims to change bad men into good men; it deals with inward badness, and works to change it into inward goodness. And it is just here where prayer enters and demonstrates its wonderful efficacy and fruit. Prayer drives toward this specific end. In fact, without prayer, no such supernatural change in moral character, can ever be effected. For the change from badness to goodness is not wrought “by works of righteousness which we have done,” but according to God’s mercy, which saves us “by the washing of regeneration.” And this marvellous change is brought to pass through earnest, persistent, faithful prayer. Any alleged form of Christianity, which does not effect this change in the hearts of men, is a delusion and a snare.

The office of prayer is to change the character and conduct of men, and in countless instances, has been wrought by prayer. At this point, prayer, by its credentials, has proved its divinity. And just as it is the office of prayer to effect this, so it is the prime work of the Church to take hold of evil men and make them good. Its mission is to change human nature, to change character, influence behaviour, to revolutionize conduct. The Church is presumed to be righteous, and should be engaged in turning men to righteousness. The Church is God’s manufactory on earth, and its primary duty is to create and foster righteousness of character. This is its very first business. Primarily, its work is not to acquire members, nor amass numbers, nor aim at money-getting, nor engage in deeds of charity and works of mercy, but to produce righteousness of character, and purity of the outward life.

A product reflects and partakes of the character of the manufactory which makes it. A righteous Church with a righteous purpose makes righteous men. Prayer produces cleanliness of heart and purity of life. It can produce nothing else. Unrighteous conduct is born of prayerlessness; the two go hand-in-hand. Prayer and sinning cannot keep company with each other. One, or the other, must, of necessity, stop. Get men to pray, and they will quit sinning, because prayer creates a distaste for sinning, and so works upon the heart, that evil-doing becomes repugnant, and the entire nature lifted to a reverent contemplation of high and holy things.

Prayer is based on character. What we are with God gauges our influence with Him. It was the inner character, not the outward seeming, of such men as Abraham, Job, David, Moses and all others, who had such great influence with God in the days of old. And, today, it is not so much our words, as what we really are, which weighs with God. Conduct affects character, of course, and counts for much in our praying. At the same time, character affects conduct to a far greater extent, and has a superior influence over prayer. Our inner life not only gives colour to our praying, but body, as well. Bad living means bad praying and, in the end, no praying at all. We pray feebly because we live feebly. The stream of prayer cannot rise higher than the fountain of living. The force of the inner chamber is made up of the energy which flows from the confluent streams of living. And the weakness of living grows out of the shallowness and shoddiness of character.

Feebleness of living reflects its debility and langour in the praying hours. We simply cannot talk to God, strongly, intimately, and confidently unless we are living for Him, faithfully and truly. The prayer-closet cannot become sanctified unto God, when the life is alien to His precepts and purpose. We must learn this lesson well — that righteous character and Christlike conduct give us a peculiar and preferential standing in prayer before God. His holy Word gives special emphasis to the part conduct has in imparting value to our praying when it declares:

“Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am; if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth the finger, and speaking vanity.”

The wickedness of Israel and their heinous practices were definitely cited by Isaiah, as the reason why God would turn His ears away from their prayers:

“And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”

The same sad truth was declared by the Lord through the mouth of Jeremiah:

“Therefore, pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble.”

Here, it is plainly stated, that unholy conduct is a bar to successful praying, just as it is clearly intimated that, in order to have full access to God in prayer, there must be a total abandonment of conscious and premeditated sin.

We are enjoined to pray, “lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting,” and must pass the time of our sojourning here, in a rigorous abstaining from evil if we are to retain our privilege of calling upon the Father. We cannot, by any process, divorce praying from conduct.

“Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.”

And James declares roundly that men ask and receive not, because they ask amiss, and seek only the gratification of selfish desires.

Our Lord’s injunction, “Watch ye, and pray always,” is to cover and guard all our conduct, so that we may come to our inner chamber with all its force secured by a vigilant guard kept over our lives.

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”

Quite often, Christian experience founders on the rock of conduct. Beautiful theories are marred by ugly lives. The most difficult thing about piety, as it is the most impressive, is to be able to live it. It is the life which counts, and our praying suffers, as do other phases of our religious experience, from bad living.

In primitive times preachers were charged to preach by their lives, or not to preach at all. So, today, Christians, everywhere, ought to be charged to pray by their lives, or not to pray at all. The most effective preaching, is not that which is heard from the pulpit, but that which is proclaimed quietly, humbly and consistently; which exhibits its excellencies in the home, and in the community. Example preaches a far more effective sermon than precept. The best preaching, even in the pulpit, is that which is fortified by godly living, in the preacher, himself. The most effective work done by the pew is preceded by, and accompanied with, holiness of life, separation from the world, severance from sin. Some of the strongest appeals are made with mute lips — by godly fathers and saintly mothers who, around the fireside, feared God, loved His cause, and daily exhibited to their children and others about them, the beauties and excellencies of Christian life and conduct.

The best-prepared, most eloquent sermon can be marred and rendered ineffective, by questionable practices in the preacher. The most active church worker can have the labour of his hands vitiated by worldliness of spirit and inconsistency of life. Men preach by their lives, not by their words, and sermons are delivered, not so much in, and from a pulpit, as in tempers, actions, and the thousand and one incidents which crowd the pathway of daily life.

Of course, the prayer of repentance is acceptable to God. He delights in hearing the cries of penitent sinners. But repentance involves not only sorrow for sin, but the turning away from wrong-doing, and the learning to do well. A repentance which does not produce a change in character and conduct, is a mere sham, which should deceive nobody. Old things must pass away, all things must become new.

Praying, which does not result in right thinking and right living, is a farce. We have missed the whole office of prayer if it fail to purge character and rectify conduct. We have failed entirely to apprehend the virtue of prayer, if it bring not about the revolutionizing of the life. In the very nature of things, we must quit praying, or our bad conduct. Cold, formal praying may exist side by side, with bad conduct, but such praying, in the estimation of God, is no praying at all. Our praying advances in power, just in so far as it rectifies the life. Growing in purity and devotion to God will be a more prayerful life.

The character of the inner life is a condition of effectual praying. As is the life, so will the praying be. An inconsistent life obstructs praying and neutralizes what little praying we may do. Always, it is “the prayer of the righteous man which availeth much.” Indeed, one may go further and assert, that it is only the prayer of the righteous which avails anything at all — at any time. To have an eye to God’s glory; to be possessed by an earnest desire to please Him in all our ways; to possess hands busy in His service; to have feet swift to run in the way of His commandments — these give weight and influence and power to prayer, and secure an audience with God. The incubus of our lives often breaks the force of our praying, and, not unfrequently, are as doors of brass, in the face of prayer.

Praying must come out of a cleansed heart and be presented and urged with the “lifting up of holy hands.” It must be fortified by a life aiming, unceasingly, to obey God, to attain conformity to the Divine law, and to come into submission to the Divine will.

Let it not be forgotten, that, while life is a condition of prayer, prayer is also the condition of righteous living. Prayer promotes righteous living, and is the one great aid to uprightness of heart and life. The fruit of real praying is right living. Praying sets him who prays to the great business of “working out his salvation with fear and trembling;” puts him to watching his temper, conversation and conduct; causes him to “walk circumspectly, redeeming the time;” enables him to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called, with all lowliness and meekness;” gives him a high incentive to pursue his pilgrimage consistently by “shunning every evil way, and walking in the good.”

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^[1]Bounds, Edward M.: The Necessity of Prayer. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1999

We Expect to Be Christians without Study from A Practical View of Christianity, by William Wilberforce

“[I]f, when summoned to give an account of our stewardship, we shall be called upon to answer for the use which we have made of our bodily organs, and of the means of relieving the wants and necessities of our fellow-creatures; how much more for the exercise of the nobler and more exalted faculties of our nature, of invention, and judgment, and memory, and for our employment of all the instruments and opportunities of diligent application, and serious reflection, and honest decision. And to what subject might we in all reason be expected to apply more earnestly, than to that wherein our eternal interests are at issue? When God has of his goodness vouchsafed [deigned] to grant us such abundant means of instruction in that which we are most concerned to know, how great must be the guilt, and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance! And why, it may be asked, are we in this pursuit alone to expect knowledge without inquiry, and success without endeavor? The whole analogy of nature inculcates on us a different lesson, and our own judgments in matters of temporal interest and worldly policy confirm the truth of her suggestions. Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion; and no one expects to attain to the height of learning, or arts, or power, or wealth, or military glory, without vigorous resolution, and strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labor, study, or inquiry. This is the more preposterous, because Christianity, being a revelation from God, and not the invention of man, discovering to us new relations, with their correspondent duties; containing also doctrines, and motives, and practical principles, and rules, peculiar to itself, and almost as new in their nature as supreme in their excellence, we cannot reasonably expect to become proficient in it by the accidental intercourses of life, as one might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy, or a scheme of mere morals.” [1]

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[1] See more at: http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2013/12/we-expect-to-be-christians-without-study.html#sthash.oR4egZXw.dpuf

 

The Giver and His Gifts

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. – James 1:17

 

Of all the holidays celebrated Christmas generates the greatest economic boost. (Halloween is second.) It seems each year stores push for an earlier beginning for this holiday. We used to see Christmas decorations go up around Thanksgiving. Now it is not uncommon to see Christmas decorations go up around Halloween. The day after Thanksgiving is called “Black Friday” because some companies get out of the red and into the black in their accounting records solely based on sales from this day. Some companies succeed or fail based on the income generated in connection with Christmas. It’s a big money maker. Merry Christmas!

Gifts are the topic of conversation at Christmas. What did you get? How many did you get? How much is it worth? How much did it cost? How big is it? What feature does it have? Can it do this? Can it do that? Does it fit? Can I exchange it? Can I return it? There’s a whirl of questions and thoughts and they focus on the gifts. We have been deceived and distracted from what Christmas is truly all about.

Christmas is about giving. And it is about a very special Gift. But we have drifted far from the root meaning of Christmas. We have gotten far away from the Giver and His original gift of Jesus the Christ at Christmas. We have put first things last and last things first. We have cluttered and covered what is eternally important with the wrappings of material things that will not last.

That’s sad. It shouldn’t happen. It doesn’t have to happen. In fact, why don’t we seek the LORD to help us get back on track? Lord help us get back to the proper and more valuable eternal perspective of You our Giver and Your gifts? This Christmas let’s challenge ourselves to reconnect with the Giver and His gifts. Let’s get back to that original Gift.

A gift is something given by one person to another without compensation. It is something freely given, freely received, not earned. At least that is what a gift is supposed to be. On the human horizontal plane gifts are often instruments of manipulation. We soften people up with a gift. That is not entirely unscriptural (cf. Prov. 18:16). But I think the sinful nature has taken this to an entirely lower level. We have perverted gift giving.

I want to state a bold and too often forgotten Biblical truth. Every good gift is from God. Look around you,  think about it, every good gift is from God. Every good thing we receive that we don’t deserve or that requires no compensation, is from God. The Bible states, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ¹⁸ Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” (James 1:16-18). Those are words that should fill us with thanks to God.

James says, “do not be deceived.” These words imply there is some sort of deception about the Giver and His gifts (v. 16). He writes to people he cares about. We see that in the words, “my beloved brethren.” He cares that those he writes to know the truth. He doesn’t want his beloved readers to be deceived about gifts and the true Giver, God. What might the nature of the deception he is concerned about be? It could be a deception that disregards or neglects to pay homage or thanks to God as the Source of all good gifts. It might be a deflecting deception that “every good and perfect gift” comes from a source other than God. Or it may be the focusing on gifts to the neglect of the Giver. The aim of the enemy is always to deceive us and deflect glory from God.

When we focus so much on gifts that we forget about the Giver, we are deceived. Distraction from God is the work of deception. Anything that distracts us from the true meaning of Christmas, from the Giver, is a part of deception. Santa Claus, therefore, would be considered a deception because the story distracts us from God the Giver and Jesus the Gift. You may see that as a bit Scrooge-like, but it is true. Think about it.  

The word “every” (Greek pas) is an adjective that means every, all, any. The word, “good” (Greek agathŏs) is an adjective that means good,  upright, kind, benevolent, useful, acceptable, wholesome, beneficial, goods, good deeds. The word  “perfect” (Greek teleios) is an adjective that means complete, perfect, whole, full grown, mature, or adult. That which is perfect is made up of good that comes to full bloom or full maturity. Good gifts are things on the horizontal plane of life that point us to the vertical realm of God. They become perfect when we see them from an eternal perspective.

A “gift of God” is an act of His grace. James is inspired to write that good and perfect gifts are, “from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” God the Father  is described as the “Father of lights.” He is the Creator of the universe with its entire starry host. As Father of lights He is of a holy pure character. There is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5).

That “there is no variation or shadow of turning” with Him refers to His unchanging stable dependable nature. The moon for instance is not always full; its reflective light is blocked by the earth as it orbits. But God is never blocked out, diluted or diminished in any way. His truth and faithfulness are steady and sure. He isn’t wishy-washy or capricious. He is dependable and true. And He bestows every good and perfect gift upon us all.

Verse 18 states, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” This points us to His great eternal gift of salvation. He brought us forth by His will and word of truth. He planted His word in us and caused it to grow in us by prevenient grace and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.   

Some gifts are unappreciated. When we think of gifts and what are in particular good gifts, we are frequently further deceived. We don’t always appreciate some of the things God allows into our lives. We don’t see certain things as gifts from God or good. The context of James 1:16-18 sheds light on the things God allows into our lives. What are some gifts God allows into our lives that we often do not appreciate?

First, trials are unappreciated gifts from God (James 1:1-8). Trials are allowed by God into our lives to build faith through patience and then character so that we will reach a point of perfection or spiritual maturity (1:1-4). Trials move us to pray (1:5a) and teach us how to add faith to our prayers (1:5b-8). There is a precious fellowship of suffering that God gives (Phil. 3:9-11).

Second, lowliness and loss are unappreciated gifts from God (1:9-11). God allows us to be in need so that it will draw us to Him for provision. When we lose the temporal it demonstrates that we ought to invest in eternal things that cannot be stolen or destroyed (Mat. 6).

Third, temptations are unappreciated gifts from God (1:12-15, 19-21). While temptations are not from God but from our sinful nature (1:12-15), God allows them so that we are put in a situation where we have opportunity to choose to follow Him. Without the potential for defeat there could be no victory (1:19-21). Without the possibility to disobey, we wouldn’t be able to know what true love is (John 14:21).

Fourth, God’s word is an unappreciated gift from God (1:22-25). We don’t realize how great a gift God’s word is. We can choose to listen to it being taught or read it with no effect on us. But only when we apply it to our lives do we discover its full value. Too often we do not appreciate God’s gift of the Bible.

Fifth, hardship in others is an unappreciated gift from God (1:26-27). Religion is a human attempt to reach God. It is ineffective in changing people. True religion is to help those in need such as widows and orphans; those who are unable to help themselves. But it is helping not to attain favor with God, but because we already have favor with God through faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t help others to attain righteousness. We help others to show our appreciation to God for the righteousness He provides in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). We serve God by serving others. We love God supremely and so love others sacrificially. Such situations are unappreciated opportunities to be God’s ambassadors. As we help others bear burdens we fulfill one of the most important aspects of what it means to be a Christian (Gal. 6:2).

So the challenge has been made. Will you put the Giver and His gifts in their proper place this Christmas? Will you exalt the God the Giver for His most precious gift of salvation through Jesus the Christ?

 

THE PREACHER’S PRIVATE PRAYER By Charles Haddon Spurgeon

THE PREACHER’S PRIVATE PRAYER

Helpful Articles: Ministry Issues

This was passed on to me by a friend in ministry. I pray God uses it to enrich and edify you; especially those in ministry. God bless you all.

Editor’s Note: This week, we bring you a classic message from the great 19^th century preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Among his many impressive ministries, Spurgeon spent much time training up his fellow pastors. This piece is an excerpt encouraging his students – above all – to be frequent in private prayer.

I take it that as a minister he is always praying. Whenever his mind turns to his work, whether he is in it or out of it, he ejaculates a petition, sending up his holy desires as well-directed arrows to the skies. He is not always in the act of prayer, but he lives in the spirit of it. If his heart be in his work, he cannot eat or drink, or take recreation, or go to his bed, or rise in the morning, without evermore feeling a fervency of desire, a weight of anxiety, and a simplicity of dependence upon God; thus, in one form or other he continues in prayer. If there be any man under heaven, who is compelled to carry out the precept “Pray without ceasing,” surely it is the Christian minister. He has peculiar temptations, special trials, singular difficulties, and remarkable duties; he therefore needs much more grace than common men, and as he knows this, he is led constantly to cry to the strong for strength, and say, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

It may scarcely be needful to commend to you the sweet uses of private devotion, and yet I cannot forbear. To you, as the ambassadors of God, the mercy-seat has a virtue beyond all estimate; the more familiar you are with the court of heaven the better shall you discharge your heavenly trust. Among all the formative influences which go to make up a man honoured of God in the ministry, I know of none more mighty than his own familiarity with the mercy-seat. All that a college course can do for a student is coarse and external compared with the spiritual and delicate refinement obtained by communion with God. While the unformed minister is revolving upon the wheel of preparation, prayer is the tool of the great potter by which he moulds the vessel. All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our closets. We grow, we wax mighty, we prevail in private prayer.

Your prayers will be your ablest assistants while your discourses are yet upon the anvil. While other men, like Esau, are hunting for their portion, you, by the aid of prayer, will find the savoury meat near at home, and may say in truth what Jacob said so falsely, “The Lord brought it to me.” If you can dip your pens into your hearts, appealing in earnestness to the Lord, you will write well; and if you can gather your matter on your knees at the gate of heaven, you will not fail to speak well. Prayer, as a mental exercise, will bring many subjects before the mind, and so help in the selection of a topic, while as a high spiritual engagement it will cleanse your inner eye that you may see truth in the light of God. Texts will often refuse to reveal their treasures till you open them with the key of prayer. How wonderfully were the books opened to Daniel when he was in supplication! How much Peter learned upon the housetop! The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors, but the Author himself is far better, and prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in our cause. It is a great thing to pray one’s self into the spirit and marrow of a text; working into it by sacred feeding thereon. Prayer supplies a leverage for the uplifting of ponderous truths. One marvels how the stones of Stonehenge could have been set in their places; it is even more to be enquired after whence some men obtained such admirable knowledge of mysterious doctrines: was not prayer the potent machinery which wrought the wonder? Waiting upon God often turns darkness into light. A certain Puritan divine at a debate was observed frequently to write upon the paper before him, “More light, Lord,” “More light, Lord,” repeated scores of times: a most suitable prayer for the student of the Word when preparing his discourse.

You will frequently find fresh streams of thought leaping up from the passage before you, as if the rock had been struck by Moses’ rod; new veins of precious ore will be revealed to your astonished gaze as you quarry God’s Word and use diligently the hammer of prayer. You will sometimes feel as if you were entirely shut up, and then suddenly a new road will open before you.

The best and holiest men have ever made prayer the most important part of pulpit preparation. It is said of [Robert Murray M'Cheyne]:

“Anxious to give his people on the Sabbath what had cost him somewhat, he never, without an urgent reason, went before them without much previous meditation and prayer. His principle on this subject was embodied in a remark he made to some of us who were conversing on the matter. Being asked his view of diligent preparation for the pulpit, he reminded us of Exodus 27:20, ‘Beaten oil–beaten oil for the lamps of the sanctuary.’ And yet his prayerfulness was greater still. Indeed, he could not neglect fellowship with God before entering the congregation. He needed to be bathed in the love of God. His ministry was so much a bringing out of views that had first sanctified his own soul, that the healthiness of his soul was absolutely needful to the vigour and power of his ministrations. With him the commencement of all labour invariably consisted in the preparation of his own soul. The walls of his chamber were witnesses of his prayerfulness and of his tears, as well as of his cries.”

Prayer will singularly assist you in the delivery of your sermon; in fact, nothing can so gloriously fit you to preach as descending fresh from the mount of communion with God to speak with men. None are so able to plead with men as those who have been wrestling with God on their behalf. It is said of [Joseph Alleine], “He poured out his very heart in prayer and preaching. His supplications and his exhortations were so affectionate, so full of holy zeal, life and vigour, that they quite overcame his hearers; he melted over them, so that he thawed and mollified, and sometimes dissolved the hardest hearts.” There could have been none of this sacred dissolving of heart if his mind had not been previously exposed to the tropical rays of the Sun of Righteousness by private fellowship with the risen Lord.

As fresh springs of thought will frequently break up during preparation in answer to prayer, so will it be in the delivery of the sermon. Most preachers who depend upon God’s Spirit will tell you that their freshest and best thoughts are not those which were premeditated, but ideas which come to them, flying as on the wings of angels; unexpected treasures brought on a sudden by celestial hands, seeds of the flowers of paradise, wafted from the mountains of myrrh. Often and often when I have felt hampered, both in thought and expression, my secret groaning of heart has brought me relief, and I have enjoyed more than usual liberty. But how dare we pray in the battle if we have never cried to the Lord while buckling on the harness! The remembrance of his wrestlings at home comforts the fettered preacher when in the pulpit: God will not desert us unless we have deserted him. You, brethren, will find that prayer will ensure you strength equal to your day.

There is a distinct connection between importunate agonising and true success, even as between the travail and the birth, the sowing in tears and the reaping in joy. “How is it that your seed comes up so soon?” said one gardener to another. “Because I steep it,” was the reply. We must steep all our teachings in tears, “when none but God is nigh,” and their growth will surprise and delight us. Could anyone wonder at [David Brainerd's] success, when his diary contains such notes as this: “Lord’s Day, April 25th–This morning spent about two hours in sacred duties, and was enabled, more than ordinarily, to agonize for immortal souls; though it was early in the morning, and the sun scarcely shone at all, yet my body was quite wet with sweat.” The secret of Luther’s power lay in the same direction. Theodorus said of him: “I overheard him in prayer, but, good God, with what life and spirit did he pray! It was with so much reverence, as if he were speaking to God, yet with so much confidence as if he were speaking to his friend.” My brethren, let me beseech you to be men of prayer. Great talents you may never have, but you will do well enough without them if you abound in intercession.

When we have done with preaching, we shall not, if we are true ministers of God, have done with praying, because the whole church, with many tongues, will be crying, in the language of the Macedonian, “Come over and help us” in prayer. If you are enabled to prevail in prayer you will have many requests to offer for others who will flock to you, and beg a share in your intercessions, and so you will find yourselves commissioned with errands to the mercy-seat for friends and hearers. Such is always my lot, and I feel it a pleasure to have such requests to present before my Lord. Never can you be short of themes for prayer, even if no one should suggest them to you. Look at your congregation. There are always sick folk among them, and many more who are soul-sick. Some are unsaved, others are seeking and cannot find. Many are desponding, and not a few believers are backsliding or mourning. There are widows’ tears and orphans’ sighs to be put into our bottle, and poured out before the Lord. If you are a genuine minister of God you will stand as a priest before the Lord, spiritually wearing the ephod and the breast-plate whereon you bear the names of the children of Israel, pleading for them within the veil. I have known brethren who have kept a list of persons for whom they felt bound especially to pray, and I doubt not such a record often reminded them of what might otherwise have slipped their memory.

The minister who does not earnestly pray over his work must surely be a vain and conceited man. He acts as if he thought himself sufficient of himself, and therefore needed not to appeal to God. Yet what a baseless pride to conceive that our preaching can ever be in itself so powerful that it can turn men from their sins, and bring them to God without the working of the Holy Ghost. If we are truly humble-minded we shall not venture down to the fight until the Lord of Hosts has clothed us with all power, and said to us, “Go in this thy might.” The preacher who neglects to pray much must be very careless about his ministry. He cannot have comprehended his calling. He cannot have computed the value of a soul, or estimated the meaning of eternity. He must be a mere official, tempted into a pulpit because the piece of bread which belongs to the priest’s office is very necessary to him, or a detestable hypocrite who loves the praise of men, and cares not for the praise of God. He will surely become a mere superficial talker, best approved where grace is least valued and a vain show most admired. He cannot be one of those who plough deep and reap abundant harvests. He is a mere loiterer, not a labourer. As a preacher he has a name to live and is dead. He limps in his life like the lame man in the Proverbs, whose legs were not equal, for his praying is shorter than his preaching.

How few of us could compare ourselves with Mr. Joseph Alleine, whose character I have mentioned before? “At the time of his health,” writes his wife, “he did rise constantly at or before four of the clock, and would be much troubled if he heard smiths or other craftsmen at their trades before he was at communion with God; saying to me often, ‘How this noise shames me. Does not my Master deserve more than theirs?’ From four till eight he spent in prayer, holy contemplation, and singing of psalms, in which he much delighted and did daily practise alone, as well as in the family. Sometimes he would suspend the routine of parochial engagements, and devote whole days to these secret exercises, in order to which, he would contrive to be alone in some void house, or else in some sequestered spot in the open valley. Here there would be much prayer and meditation on God and heaven.” Could we read Jonathan Edwards, description of David Brainerd and not blush? “His life,” says Edwards, “shows the right way to success in the works of the ministry. He sought it as a resolute soldier seeks victory in a siege or battle; or as a man that runs a race for a great prize. Animated with love to Christ and souls, how did he labour always fervently, not only in word and doctrine, in public and private, but in prayers day and night, ‘wrestling with God’ in secret, and ‘travailing in birth,’ with unutterable groans and agonies! ‘until Christ were formed’ in the hearts of the people to whom he was sent! How did he thirst for a blessing upon his ministry, ‘and watch for souls as one that must give account!’ How did he ‘go forth in the strength of the Lord God,’ seeking and depending on the special influence of the Spirit to assist and succeed him! And what was the happy fruit at last, after long waiting and many dark and discouraging appearances: like a true son of Jacob, he persevered in wrestling through all the darkness of the night, until the breaking of the day.”

How much of blessing we may have missed through remissness in supplication we can scarcely guess, and none of us can know how poor we are in comparison with what we might have been if we had lived habitually nearer to God in prayer. Vain regrets and surmises are useless, but an earnest determination to amend will be far more useful. We not only ought to pray more, but we must. The fact is the secret of all ministerial success lies in prevalence at the mercy-seat.

SOURCE: Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, pp. 43-54. [First published 1875-94]