“Let Her Works Praise Her”

May 10, 2013

It may be announced with morning sickness, that odd juxtaposition of joy and suffering which characterizes so much of motherhood. The expectant mother’s body changes as this new life grows inside her. The girlish figure becomes matronly (this word’s etymology has “mother” in it by the way). “Do I look fat?” she may ask. There may be cravings and eating for two. But there is also the first kick, the sound of another’s heartbeat, and the modern first baby picture — a sonogram.

The current word is labor; the archaic word is travail. Both could be used of ordinary work emphasizing the difficulty and pain of such activities. Both are apt for describing the process of giving birth. Hours of contractions are indeed labor and travail. But the pain gives way to great joy when a child enters the world and is laid in a mother’s arms.

“Bundle of joy” is frequently the way we refer to a newborn. As in, John and Jane took their bundle of joy home from the hospital. It is a much catchier phrase than “bundle of work” or “bundle of sleepless nights” or “bundle of frequent diaper changes” or “bundle of every four hour feedings.” And yet, a cooing baby snuggled in your arms is more precious than much labor and missed sleep. Bundle of joy is the right phrase.

Childhood is filled with wonder — the first word, the first steps, and oh so many other firsts. What a joy to see the world through a child’s eyes. Yet, there is also a battle of wills. Francis Xavier said, “Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them afterwards.” The quote reflects that a child learns morality at a very early age, and modern research has confirmed Xavier’s intuition. We often learn our first and best lessons about right and wrong from our mothers. She may teach us about God and prayer. The training and disciplining of a child is not an easy task, but to the consistent and diligent there is great reward.

We bring this bundle of joy so close to our hearts to raise and to let go. It is not surprising to see a mother shed tears as she drives away from the first dorm room, apartment, or deployment. She may cry at your wedding. Because no matter what else may be true, you will always be her baby.

Motherhood is a labor intensive task. Children cannot be mass produced into moral, productive adults. If you had a loving mother, you are blessed; if you also had a godly mother, you received the greatest blessing of all. The work of mothers deserves our thanks and our praise (Proverbs 31:28-31). “… and let her works praise her in the gates.”

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Posted by Russell Holden

Rich, Riches, Richly

May 3, 2013

Paul uses the root word “rich” three times in 1 Timothy 6:17 — rich, riches, and richly. Examining these three occurrences will help us think through Paul’s teaching about material things (1 Timothy 6:6-10, 6:17-19).

God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. God is the creator of wealth. He has provided an abundant, fruitful world rather than one of mere subsistence. These blessings are for our enjoyment. This rich provision makes riches a possibility, but Paul provides us with some legitimate cautions. The desire for riches and the love of money can lead to temptations and spiritual ruin. People may through hard work, good stewardship, ingenuity, and inheritance find themselves with abundance. But the proper response should be thanksgiving to God.

The uncertainty of riches is a reality. The financial news may report the stock market is down, and billions of dollars of value is wiped out. Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast and property loss is estimated at $75 billion. Proverbs warns of this: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:5, NIV). Therefore, our hope should be on God and not on riches.

Paul is warning us of the danger of worshipping the creation rather than the creator. That is why greed can be classified as idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Jesus had also warned, “You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24, ESV).

Paul gives a charge for the rich in this present age. The phrase invites a contrast with the age to come. If rich now, what will be the status then? Jesus, after all, told a story of the rich man and Lazarus in which there was a great reversal. The rich man of this present age ignored the beggar Lazarus. He became the beggar whose pleas were by necessity ignored, while Lazarus enjoyed the riches of being at Abraham’s side (Luke 16:19-31).

So how does Paul want the rich of this present age to prepare for the age to come? We must worship and put our hope in God. We must learn contentment when our basic needs are met (1 Timothy 6:6-8). In other words, more things will not necessarily make us happier. We must be humble (not haughty) towards others. We must not think that material possessions make us better than others. All are created in the image of God; all are precious in his sight. We must learn to be rich in good works and be generous. The only treasure we take out of this world is the treasure we lay up in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). We must take hold of that which is truly life, which is the life lived as a follower of Jesus Christ. We must all deal with material things. Paul’s instructions help us to live properly in this age and to have hope for the age to come.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Imagining Heaven

April 27, 2013

Imagining heaven is not easy for us. I suspect trying to describe it to us is like describing New York City to an aborigine. You might say a skyscraper is like a giant hut one hundred huts high, but the reality of a skyscraper is still greater than the description.

Bill Clapper in an article entitled “Beyond Imagination” [Gospel Advocate (June 1997):15-16] pictures the difficulty this way. Picture going back to 1866 and visiting a wagon train going west just after the close of the Civil War. You attempt to explain jet airplanes that can carry hundreds of passengers from the east coast to the west coast in five or six hours. To this group huddled around a campfire, you describe electric lights, hot water coming from a faucet, automobiles, and television. Clapper writes: “We have told them about how we live, and it was beyond their imagination…I can only say that God has prepared a place for us so great that we cannot imagine the wonders of it—any more than people of 1866 could understand the wonders of our time.”

Joseph Bayly captures some of this dilemma in his book, The Last Things We Talk About. He shares a parable:

I accept [heaven’s] reality by faith, on the authority of Jesus Christ: “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

For that matter, if I were a twin in the womb, I doubt that I could prove the existence of earth to my mate. He would probably object that the idea of an earth beyond the womb was ridiculous, that the womb was the only earth we’d ever know.

If I tried to explain that earthlings live in a greatly expanded environment and breathe air, he would only be skeptical. After all, a fetus lives in water; who could imagine its being able to live in a universe of air? To him such a transition would seem impossible.

It would take birth to prove the earth’s existence to a fetus. A little pain, a dark tunnel, a gasp of air–and then the world outside! Green grass, laps, lakes, the ocean, horses (could a fetus imagine a horse?), rainbows, walking, running, surfing, ice-skating. With enough room that you don’t have to shove, and a universe beyond.

Despite our difficulties in imagining it, heaven is real. In some ways, more real than the world in which we live because it will be eternal, while this world is temporary. Paul reminds us of this: “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). Let us keep our eyes on the goal.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Glance of the Lord

April 19, 2013

Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, recorded his invasion of Judah on a prism. It reads: “As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke…. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.”* The Bible’s account of this incident is found in 2 Kings 18:13-19:37, 2 Chronicles 32:1-22, and Isaiah 36:1-37:36.

The mighty Sennacherib claimed to have laid siege to 46 of Judah’s strong cities and countless villages according to his own account. But in laying siege to Jerusalem, Sennacherib’s officer boasted of being stronger than Jehovah. Lord Byron’s poem recounts the outcome of this boast.

The Destruction of Sennacherib

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay wither’d and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass’d;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll’d not the breath of his pride:
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentiles, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

God’s decisive battle was fought at Calvary. In the remaining time are the mopping up skirmishes between good and evil. We have been left to pray and to work: “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But make no mistake: God is in control. At times, I need to be reminded that the mere glance of the Lord is stronger than all of God’s enemies.

____________________

*Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 288.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Danger! Danger!

April 12, 2013

We live in an information overloaded culture, and part of that information overload is warnings. We have so many warnings that it is hard to pay attention to them. We have so many warnings that we may fail to notice the ones that really count.

Lawsuits are to blame for our warning overload. Disposable coffee cups now warn us that coffee is hot. Everyone knows that coffee can be hot, but the infamous lawsuit against McDonald’s strikes fear in the hearts of everyone who sells coffee. So, we must be warned that coffee may be hot. Companies can no longer assume common sense.

Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch ran a contest for the wackiest warning labels over a number of years. Here are some of their winners.*

  • A label on a baby stroller warns: “Remove child before folding.”
  • A popular scooter for children warns: “This product moves when used.”
  • A household iron warns users: “Never iron clothes while they are being worn.”
  • A warning on an electric drill made for carpenters cautions: “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.”
  • Warning label on a flushable toilet brush: “Do not use for personal hygiene.”

Like villagers in the story of the boy who called, “Wolf,” we may have trouble distinguishing the warnings that matter from the ones that don’t.

But the most important warnings have to do with our spiritual life. They are the warnings of scripture. Don’t let information overload and the rush of modern living keep you from considering and heeding the Bible’s warnings.

  • Luke 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
  • Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
  • Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Spiritual danger exists unless the warnings are heeded.

_____________________

*http://www.mlaw.org/wwl/pastwinners.html

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Posted by Russell Holden

Rules for Good Communication

April 5, 2013

Good family relationships require good emotional and spiritual health coupled with the ability to communicate and solve problems. Unhappy families report either a lack of communication or bad communication. Dr. Nick Stinnett spent twenty-five years studying successful families. His research found six rules for good communication.*

  • Rule #1 – Allow Enough Time. Talking may be spontaneous as chores are done or it may be planned. Time is needed to talk about the pleasant things of the day. Even when talking about a problem, what starts the conversation may not be the real issue, but it will be reached as the conversation proceeds.
    Rule
  • #2 – Listen. All of us have probably heard the old adage God gave us two ears but only one mouth. James warns us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1:19). Listening should be active and not passive. You shouldn’t be racing in your thoughts about what you will say next—listen to the person who is talking and also watch for the nonverbal cues, facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice.
    Rule
  • #3 – Check It Out. Sometimes we need to check out what the other person means by their words, moods, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. We can’t read minds, and we may miss something communicated indirectly unless we check it out.
  • Rule #4 – Get Inside the Other Person’s World. Each of us has his own unique experiences. These experiences are a lens through which we view the world. Successful communication requires empathy – understanding the other person’s perspective.
  • Rule #5 – Keep the Monsters In Late-night Movies. Successful families with good communication avoid communication killers. They keep the “monsters” of communication locked up. The “monsters” are disrespectful judgments. Critical and demeaning behaviors are caustic to relationships.
  • Rule #6 – Keep It Honest. Strong families have openness and honesty. They also avoid manipulation. Honesty occurs in an atmosphere of kindness and love. Courtesy and consideration are practiced with openness. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ… Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:15, 25, ESV).

____________________

*Dr. Nick & Nancy Stinnett and Joe & Alice Beam, Fantastic Families, pp. 77-88

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Posted by Russell Holden

What Will You Do With Jesus?

March 29, 2013

The scene was DeVos Hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The occasion was a public discussion on the resurrection of Jesus. The participants were N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg. Borg is a member of the Jesus Seminar, which questions whether many of the gospel sayings are actually from Jesus. He stated during the presentation that he believes Jesus of Nazareth is mouldering in the grave, but he still believes in the Christ of faith. Wright is known for his massive three volumes: The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God. Wright believes that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and his work emphasizes the importance of world view in the study of Jesus.

Borg is educated and eloquent. He passionately believes that his approach to Jesus salvages the church for the modern world. He doesn’t believe that the modern mind can believe in miracles. How can people today believe in someone rising from the dead? Borg believes that the dead simply do not rise.

Borg has adopted the world view of naturalism. Such a world view says the physical world is a closed system. There is no possibility that God can intervene in human affairs, so miracles are ruled out by definition. But we have to back up and ask whether this world view is true. Naturalism tends to be reductionistic to everything human. Are my emotions, thoughts, and morals simply biochemical reactions? Even for the person who would say yes to this question, it is a difficult proposition to live with consistently. We tend to behave in such a way that these very human traits are viewed as of a different order from indigestion.

Science does not necessarily lead to naturalism. Science developed within the Christian world view, and today, many scientists hold a Christian or theist world view. It is not logically inconsistent to say the natural world operates in an orderly and understandable way (that we can discover by the scientific method), and the creator of the natural order can intervene when he desires.

The scientific method is also not the only way of evaluating truth. You can’t put historical evidence in a test tube or replicate an experiment with it. In both philosophy and history, we must reason correctly and weigh the evidence. We must look for consistency of thought and preponderance of evidence. We may never arrive at absolute certitude, but we also can’t remain neutral.

So what will we do with Jesus? As C.F.D. Moule has said, “If the coming into existence of the Nazarenes, a phenomenon undeniably attested by the New Testament, rips a great hole in history, a hole of the size and shape of Resurrection, what does the secular historian propose to stop it up with?”

Listening to Borg made me wish the audience could have stood up and recited, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:17–20, ESV).

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Posted by Russell Holden

Sent Not to Baptize?

March 22, 2013

I’ve had people object to the importance of baptism by saying, “Paul wasn’t sent to baptize.” Are we really supposed to understand baptism as optional by this quotation from Paul in 1 Corinthians 1? We must investigate the immediate and broader contexts to answer our question.

Paul is dealing with a worldly, party spirit within the church at Corinth. Some are saying, “I am of Paul.” Others are saying, “I am of Apollos.” And others still are saying, “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” For this reason, Paul is glad that he hasn’t baptized many of them, for fear they would have claimed to be baptized into the name of Paul. He had, however, baptized Crispus, Gaius, the household of Stephanas, and he wasn’t certain who all else. Baptism is clearly a part of the ministry of Paul. It is within this context that Paul states, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17).

First, we need to examine what Paul says about baptism. Within 1 Corinthians, Paul teaches, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13, ESV). Baptism is linked to one’s incorporation into the body, that is the church, and regeneration (that’s what the language of “made to drink of one Spirit” is about). We cannot imagine a Christian not in the church or not having the Spirit. Baptism does not appear from this teaching to be optional. But consider also the following passages from Paul.

  • Romans 6:3-4 — union with Christ and regeneration.
  • Galatians 3:27-29 — put on Christ and become heirs
  • Ephesians 4:5-6 — one of the important ones of Christianity.
  • Colossians 2:12 — buried and raised with Christ

If baptism is important in Paul’s teaching, what explains his statement in 1 Corinthians 1:17. The answer to that question also is found in 1 Corinthians. It is Paul’s view of ministry: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone (1 Corinthians 12:4–6, ESV).

Clearly Paul sees his function within the church as to preach and teach the gospel. If we take seriously what Paul writes, this teaching will result in baptisms. But Paul’s view of ministry is such that he doesn’t have to be the one who actually performs the baptism. He does at times, but others do too. Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 1:17 doesn’t make baptism optional. It reflects the fact there may be a division of labor between the one who does the teaching and the one who administers the baptism.

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Posted by Russell Holden

More Than Animals?

March 15, 2013

The Copenhagen Zoo’s exhibit of homo sapiens lasted only a few weeks in 1996. In a glass-walled cage located in the primate house, a pair of homo sapiens were on display. The zookeeper touted the exhibit as a way of forcing people to “confront their origins” and accept that “we are all primates.”

Humans and apes share 98.5 percent of the same chromosomes. Are we merely animals—the end of an evolutionary chain that began in the primordial soup and is merely the product of chance? Or are humans created in the image of God—are we more than animals?

The test of any worldview is how does it work in the real world, which brings us back to the homo sapien exhibit. The other inhabitants of the primate house, swung from bars, eliminated waste, and mated in full view of visitors. The homo sapiens needed privacy, and when asked if they would engage in intimate behavior in public, protested “That’s not interesting.” As the monkeys picked lice off each other’s pelts, the homo sapiens read books, checked their email, and worked on a motorcycle. They could adjust the air conditioning in their quarters or go out for a movie and dinner.1

Did the exhibit prove the zookeepers contention that we should just accept that we are merely primates, or did the exhibit’s failure suggest that homo sapiens are more than animals?

Genesis chapter one gives an explanation of why we are like the animals yet different. We are like the animals because we have the same Designer and are made from the same kind of material. We are different because “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27, NASB). Millard Erickson observes, “The image is the powers of personality which make man, like God, a being capable of interacting with other persons, of thinking and reflecting, and of willing freely.”2

This view sanctifies human life. It rules as out of bounds abortion and euthanasia. It also teaches that all people should be treated with dignity. Properly understood, it eliminates all forms of elitism because we are all subject to the same Lord. It also suggests that there is meaning beyond the material world. Our greatest purpose is to be in a relationship with our Creator. As Augustine observed centuries ago, “You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” Humanity’s freedom of will grants the capacity for great nobility and extreme cruelty. The result often depends on whether we think we are “merely animals” or “created in the image of God.”

____________

1Steve Weizman, “Copenhagen Zoo Displays the Most Dangerous Animals,” 12 September 1996, on-line Reuters North American Wire as cited in Chuck Colson, How Now Shall We Live?, pp. 129-130.

2Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, p. 513.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Three Killers

March 8, 2013

He thought no one was around—no one would see. No doubt he felt anger over the injustice of the situation. Maybe that was justification for killing the man. He had lashed out at an oppressive system, but that didn’t stop him from hiding the body. Prosecutors would label that as an indication of guilt. When it became clear that other people knew, he fled the country as a wanted man.

It was a wartime indiscretion, yet the unwanted pregnancy was about to make his dirty little secret public. He had too much to loose—too much at stake. Her husband was a soldier under his command. If he could just order him to the right place at the wrong time, her husband would be a casualty of war. It wouldn’t really be murder, would it? The enemy would solve the problem.

The mention of his name caused fear among many. He had acquired power and authority to deal with this problem, and he had the courage of his convictions to wield it. If that meant some martyrs along the way, so be it. His nation and its way of life were threatened.

Have you guessed the identity of the three killers? They were Moses, David, and Paul. Of course that is not the way we are accustomed to labeling them. They were men of faith—men that God used in a powerful way. Yet each needed grace—needed forgiveness.

Moses heard God proclaim: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” (Exodus 34:6, ESV). David exclaimed: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity…” (Psalm 32:1-2a, ESV). And Paul confessed: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15, ESV).

If Moses, David, and Paul needed to claim God’s mercy, how much more do we. If each of these men had their character flaws, it’s no surprise that we do too. We must claim God’s forgiveness, and at times, we must also humble ourselves before others and ask their forgiveness too. We are works in progress. God is not through with us yet.

God took three killers and did great works. These three men found mercy and the transformation of walking with God. In the final analysis the great accomplishments were not because of who they were, but because of whose they were.*

_____________

*Thanks to Duane Stuart for sharing this sermon idea.

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Posted by Russell Holden

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