Sep. 13, 2007 - The Bizarre-O World Of My Police Department

In a city where everything seems either twenty years behind the times or just plain backwards I found this story to be an exemplary sample of the bizarre.  A goodly and concerned citizen noticed that somebody in the neighborhood had a small fire burning in their backyard. As this fire posed a potentially dangerous threat to the area homes but was not actually an emergency, the concerned citizen opted (to his credit) not to call 911, but rather to make the more prudent decision to go to the phone book, find the nearest fire station, and call them to report the situation. I must say it is rare that someone has the calm repose to not call 911 and clog up the lines with non-emergency traffic…Literally 80% of the 911 calls go something like this:

 Operator: “ 911 what’s your emergency?”

 Citizen: “Well it’s really not an emergency….but, uh, my neighbor’s dog has been barking for an hour or so and I can’t sleep….” Or “my neigbor’s rooster is crowing again . . .”

 You can add whatever you want to after the “but,” in the preceding sentence, but I digress…back to the story at hand. Well, what did our Fire Department do, you might ask? Well, they called the Police Department to have us go and reslove it. The officer who was assigned this call sat and stared, bewildered, at the screen for a moment before responding. On his way to the call he had to drive by the fire station that the citizen had initially called. He said he wanted to check it out just to see if perhaps the firemen had removed the “fire” portion of the sign from the side of the building, so that it just said “department” instead…..it didn’t.  He even noticed that they still had “fire” written on the side of all their vehicles too….huh.

 Needless to say he brought this to our supervisors attention, just in case there was a change of job description that we were not aware of such as: “Police Officers will now respond to fires first and make sure it’s safe for the firemen to uh…..fight…fires?” Anyway, there was no change of policy. In fact we did still have a policy that stated: “The fire department will be dispatched to handle all open fires within the city limits and they will assume “incident command” of the situation. Police will only respond if there is criminal activity suspected.” Now, you may notice how odd this was, on so many different levels. If you haven’t I will point some out for you.

 1. A police officer was dispatched to fight the fire.

2. The police officer was sent to handle the fire at the request of the local fire department by a dispatcher (who dispatches both fire and police calls).

3. This was apparently not even considered odd by the dispatcher who sent the Officer to the call.

4. The Police Officer had to drive past the fire department on the way to the call - meaning the fire guys were closer to the fire than the Officer was.

5. Sending a Police Officer to handle the fire was a violation of a written policy.

6. There was someone who anticipated that there would actually be some confusion as to who should respond to a fire (the police or the fire department) and decided to draft a policy determining jurisdiction.

Hmmmmmmm…..

So good citizens, rest assured knowing that somebody will come to fight your fires. Maybe it will be the Police, maybe the Street Department, maybe Animal Control, or maybe even the Fire Department. We’ll get it all sorted out somehow and I’m sure there will be a written policy outlining just what to do in case of a fire. Well, at least we’ve always got a little something to chuckle at . . .

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Dec. 11, 2006 - Part Three: Kind And Faithful Correction

Last one from Evers and Matt:

Evers: Related question, since I’ve got you going. :-) One of our current challenges is motivating/teaching our oldest (4yo) to work. Do you have any ideas? This has become a source of increasing frustration. We don’t expect him to significantly contribute, but we want him to learn to contribute with tasks he is capable of.

Matt: Well, I’m certainly glad to know we aren’t the only ones who have sinful children *wink*. I would say after reading your blog article that you are on the right track and that we daily struggle with the same thing with our girls. DON’T give up. Be consistent, be loving, be patient. Continue to make him work contributing as much as he can to the family and be diligent and joyful while he is working…not just “doing the job”. Grumbling about doing work is not much better than doing no work at all.

Also, I would suggest that this is a proper time for discipline for a few reasons set forth in scripture:
1. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction SHALL drive it far from him. Found in the wisdom literature of Proverbs, this provides the general way of God's working in our children. While we shouldn't just be complacent viewing this as a *guarantee* of success, we can certainly rest in this as God's wisdom for how we ought to raise our children up in His ways, and trust Him to bring about His promised fruit in them.

2. a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fools back.

3. when the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise; but when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

4. a wise son makes a glad father but a foolish man despises his mother.
We see in the bible that a lazy man is a fool or, if nothing else, is acting foolish. We see the contrast of a wise person and a fool and the differing outcomes of their respective behaviors. By faithful, patient, calm, loving, discipline (rod) in this area, God has promised effective results. The biblical principle is that the rod shall drive the folly far from the heart of a child. It does not say, “may drive”, or “is capable of driving”, but rather, will drive….that is God's word. When we seek to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord we are miserable failures in and of ourselves, but we stand fast upon the promises of God’s faithfulness in our discipline set before us in scripture. We don’t *try* spanking for a while just to “give it a shot”. It is an authorized way (not the only way, but one that is emphasized especially in regards to youthful foolishness) to effectively remove folly. Discipline is corrective in nature. That being said, explaining the foolishness of laziness to your child is the abstract portion of the lesson, and the spanking brings home the “hands on application” to the “abstract” in the minds of our children.

I, as well as Melissa, have often been too short-sighted in our discipline sessions. We need to understand that this is a long-term goal. We get caught up in the never-ending, small, daily battles and lose sight of the overarching war we are in. “Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season you will reap if you faint not.” Maintaining a long term vision helps in the short term struggles. We, as husbands, must encourage our wives as they are in the thick of it. We must show them and point out the successes that they have accomplished while in the trenches. We *get away from it all* for a while by going to the workplace, but it is a continuous work/struggle throughout the day for our wives. We also must maintain consistency, not only in the application of the rod for those types of violations, but also in our patience in the administration of the discipline. It will not be effective if we ourselves are being sinful in the process. If we are easily angered and impatient with our children during discipline, then we are only compounding our sin onto their sin. This is a very difficult thing to grasp when you’re in the thick of it for, say, the 20th time today…..grrrr.

Therein lies our problem. I tell my daughters that they are forgiven of their respective trespasses when they seek reconciliation at the end of a discipline session. Once I have said that, I have no right to throw it back in their teeth by bringing it up again. This happens when we get upset over repeat spankings for the same offense. That really shows that I did not truly forgive them and I am still holding it against them. Even if the same trespass occurs 30 seconds after they just sought forgiveness and I gave it to them. We need to smile and calmly start the process over, not bringing the recently forgiven trespass up, but rather dealing with the new one. How many times have we approached our Heavenly Father seeking His forgiveness and then almost immediately after receiving forgiveness, flub it up again? What if God said something like, “Didn’t I just deal with this sin with you?” or “I’ll forgive you if this is your first offense today, but any more than that and you’re gong to get it.” or “I’m really getting tired of having to deal with your laziness….etc.”

The funny thing is is that you keep bringing up the same issues that we struggle with in our children. It is a season, I guess. We just need to remember to keep plugging away and standing fast upon the promises set forth in scripture regarding our children. It is of paramount importance to show love and grace to our children by calmly administering discipline and not disqualify ourselves from disciplining them by being angry, yelling, getting frustrated etc… I have an easy time understanding all these things in theory and, consequently, have no excuse. However, I fail to be patient, I get frustrated, I get angry, I get sinful and disqualify myself from being able to properly administer discipline. So as I write this down, I merely convict myself. But, at the same time it gives God a chance to organize my thoughts and to set my mind straight so that I may succeed in raising Godly children before the Lord.

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Dec. 6, 2006 - Part Two: Loving The Standard

More from Matt and Evers:

Evers: I had a question regarding this point: “If your children don’t love the standard, lower your standards until they love them, THEN wade into the deep end.” How does this play out in practice? Let them go wild cuz they love that standard? :-) And what do we do to help our children “love” the standards, and not just “obey” them? Just looking for a little more “flesh” to the theory. . . On another note, our church isn’t family-integrated. They have “children’s church,” but are open to parents keeping children with them during service… that gives us a little less freedom than if were in a church whose philosophy were family-integrated worship as the norm.

Matt: Well, I figured you would ask me to expound on what I meant…..as if I know what I’m doing…DOH!

I will preface this by letting you know that I am in need of hearing this myself and we often feel like we are flying by the seat of our pants here. We do happen to be very blessed in our church situation where we are immersed in a community of about 1500 reformed folk who are very consciously aware of raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the LORD. We have a TON of resources to glean knowledge from. So, that being said, I will attempt to provide a little more clarification.

By “lowering” the standard, I am in no way trying to say that we should “glory” in that or stay at a low standard. What happens often is that we forget that we need to teach our children the “perfect law of LIBERTY” and that Christ’s yoke is truly “easy”. We should start, fundamentally, with the foundational issues in our children before attempting to build the house. Totalitarian governments like to “anticipate” violations and make a myriad of rules that only a lawyer can figure out. The common people are left unawares of the law and the government can at any point find a technical violation to “nab” you on. Conversely, case law allows for liberty and freedom with fewer laws so that the people may understand the spirit of the law or law giver. We want to establish the case laws and principles in our children. Once the foundational principles are firmly established and understood by our children, we can move on to some more detailed law. We should be trying to train them to think something like, “I know mom and dad didn’t specifically SAY I couldn’t do that, but I know them (and the general principles of the law) well enough to know that I shouldn’t do that.” My girls love to “get out” on technicalities. Boys I hear are much more directly rebellious, but I wouldn’t know yet…..

Practically speaking, this may mean simplifying some things. Try not to be annoyed at minor fidgeting in church. Is it really that important in God’s eyes if the kids have their hands folded throughout the entire service? If they sing the ABC’s during worship instead of the song that they don’t know, is it so bad? Are we being too fussy to smile at our children during service or tickle their ear? Do we show affection towards them in the service? My tendency in the past has been to be the “fussy tidy minded little Christian that wants perfect little angel children who have had a thorough baptism in lemon juice prior to entering the Lords house…..” I am really trying to break that habit because I don’t want to have my kids think joy is some abstract term on Sundays. I want my kids to think Sunday is the best day of the week…full of practical, hands on, tangible, JOY.

I guess I’m trying to say, “pick your battles”. Watch how many you get into. Example….when you are leaving a guest’s house and you call your children to you, you have created a battle that you MUST win. Instead, if you know your children are tired and this may provoke a battle you don’t want to have in front of your friends, just go over and pick the child up. You could also provide a warning…We have had success with this.. “Isabelle and Hannah, we have five minutes before we’re leaving…” It helps prepare them for the departure.

Family Worship can be a battle. If your kids constantly struggle through it, try to shorten it. (In theory) I’d rather have 5-10 min of joyful worship than 30-45 min of doctrinally correct lessons with lengthy prayers (I really struggle with this one). Do you have a hard time getting the little ones through the great, lengthy, classic hymns? Shorten them up, at least for now. Do a verse or two at a time, or even do a fast paced modern song that quotes scripture. Do some fun, silly songs that you know they’ll enjoy. I want to pack so much “good reformed stuff” in that I usually make it too long for my kids. This makes them restless and squirmy so much so that it distracts me and them and then they miss the actual “depth” of what I’m saying anyway. I need to learn to give it to them a little at a time and really let them enjoy it at their level. They are small children and I often forget that. It is really ironic that I am typing all of this, because tonight was a particularly hard Family Worship night (for me, mostly). The kids didn’t seem to be bothered, but daddy was a grouch. I am rambling more to give myself some pointers for the next few weeks….so I apologize if this doesn’t help. We try to structure our worship time with a liturgical feel. I start off by saying “Give thanks to the LORD for He is good”……and everyone responds…. “His mercies endure forever! Blessed be the name of our God!” This gives our children a chance to be directly involved with worship. We also do catechism questions…The children’s catechism is their FAVORITE part of Family Worship. It has been a wonderful “game” for them to play every night.

Pharisees exercised authority over and upon the people in an oppressive way by binding them under heavy loads and burdens (high standards) and lacked the love and grace, which was the more fundamental principle. They inverted the law. Christ spoke out against them for lacking love and grace (foundation), not for having high standards (tithing mint and cumin for example….”for this you ought to have done”). Psalm 119 is replete with sayings like: “Your testimonies are wonderful…How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey in my mouth….. But I delight in Your law…Oh how I love Your law…..etc” learning to love Gods law (rules) is fundamental. Love is fundamental. If we are teaching our kids to obey without love then we are raising Pharisees, not children that honor God. The children’s catechism says “How do you glorify God? ….By LOVING Him and obeying His commands”.

The best way of teaching our kids how to love the standards and not just outwardly obey them is by imitation. Do we love the standards? Do we love God’s law or are we just outwardly giving obeisance? Are we joyful or baptized in lemon juice? Is the overarching theme in our home characterized with joy and gladness (not cheesy chipperness, but true joy and thanksgiving)? Do we sing Psalms and spiritual songs because we want to? Are we expecting our children to love things that we don’t truly love? As our children grow older and mature they will pick up on our sincerity or our hypocrisy. They learn from imitation. Don’t let your children get away with complaining. They must learn to obey and obey joyfully. No stomping of the feet when they clean up their toys….No back-chat when told to do something….no fussing over food that has been given….Complaining and grumbling is a deadly sin that can easily creep into a home and bring it to ruin. We must “count it all joy when we encounter various trials….do all things without complaining…..rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” Sadly, I have many times caught myself grumpily telling my children to be joyful and not complain. Oh don’t worry I always had the pathetic excuse that “If they would only be joyful it sure would be a heck of a lot easier for me to be joyful….who can I bring this complaint to?….because, I was perfectly joyful until these little disobedient, grouchy, complaining, munchkins irked me.”…..sigh. Obviously I have issues.

But as God has bestowed love and grace to me, so I am learning to do the same to my children. They are God’s property, not mine. I have been given the arduous and rewarding task of being God’s steward over His children. God has entrusted me with the high calling of imitating Him to my children. My actions/reactions speak much louder about God than my words do. I wonder what my children would think their heavenly Father was like if all they had to base their knowledge off of was the actions of their earthly father. It is a rather sobering thought. Each day we tell our children that they have a heavenly father that loves them and takes care of them and the only context they have of a father is us. If God were standing there during our discipline sessions, would He be satisfied with how we, as stewards, are disciplining them? Every day we either speak the truth about Jesus to our family or we speak slander……

By God’s grace alone I pray I don’t slander God’s true Fatherhood. By God’s grace alone I pray that my children know His love displayed through me. By God’s grace alone I pray that my marriage is an accurate and worthy representation of God’s marriage to His Church. By God’s grace alone can we ever hope to not screw up our children’s eternal souls. The comfort in all of this is that God obviously thought we could do this….you and I are both in a similar situation (child-wise). I thank God that “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

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Dec. 4, 2006 - Part One: Happy Children In Church

Matt was recently having an email conversation with another blogger about a few facets of child-training.  He and Evers both really enjoyed the conversation and decided to post it as well. This first part is about helping our children to enjoy worshiping with us in church, and to call the Sabbath a delight! Here you go:

Matt: We can honestly sympathize with you in regards to the struggles of worshiping together as a family. Since our first daughter was 9 days old we have consistantly been attenting a "family integrated" church. Our services are liturgical and average about an hour and a half to two hours. It is funny that you mention this struggle because we just finished hearing a wonderful lecture about worshiping as a family in church. The teacher has 7 children and he was sharing with us the wisdom which he has accrued over the years. There were three main points that I came away with:
1. We should train our children to LOVE the standard, not just obey the standard.
2. If your children don't love the standard, lower your standards until they love them, THEN wade into the deep end.
3. Our children should LOVE the Lord's day. It should be the best day of the week and we should seek to make our children look forward to it. Give them a little something extra: hot cocoa, juice instead of water, play or park time, candy, extra book reading, special dishes at dinner, movie night...etc.
4. Give your children extra love on the Lord's day, especially during church. This could be done by giving frequent smiles and kisses throughout the sermon. Heck. . . tickle an earlobe. Encourage any age-appropriate joyful noise in the younger ones during singing or other noise-making liturgical sections of worship. This sort of transitions as they learn the words to songs. Pass out a small candy, mint or other fun treat in the middle of service to help encourage them. Let them QUIETLY wiggle *a bit* in their chairs (obviously if they are making noise or are being inappropriate then discipline accordingly but......leave a little wiggle room) *Note from Melissa: this is hard for me, as I'm NOT a fidgeter and one or two of my girls are; I try to follow Matt's more relaxed lead here, or have him sit by those little ones so I won't be as distracted.  They still sit quietly, but I am trying to relax better about a wiggly foot, leg, etc*.

We need to avoid both extreme ends of the spectrum. We are in God's presence, rendering worship to Him and He is renewing covenant with us. We don't want to be the kid in the corner untucking our shirt to be rebellious any more than we want to be the little brat that tattles on the kid untucking his shirt in Gods presence.

Melissa uses the time that she is cooking dinner to practice for church, we call it "chair time". Melissa sets up 4 chairs in the kitchen while she is preparing dinner. During that time talking is kept to a minimum. Melissa will usually put on songs, scripture or a story cd. They are allowed one book or other non-noise-making toy to play with. If they drop it they lose it. Isabelle is reaching the age where she "takes notes" in church, so Melissa may start doing this in chair time as well. The girls practice chair time for about 20- 30 min and then Melissa transitions to "standing time" where they stand quietly with their hands at their sides for about 5-10 min watching mom cook. This provides wonderful practice for church and it still allows them to observe mom doing her dilligent work in the kitchen. We try not to make Sunday our training day. It can lead to horrible frustration.

By God's grace we have been able to enjoy our worship on Sundays with all four of our children. We have come to the point where we truly love worshiping as a family, and wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes it still is difficult, but we are able to walk away having been fed by the Lord through covenant renewal worship. I hope this makes sense and helps a bit. Have a blessed week!
Blessings, Matt
 

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Oct. 25, 2006 - From Matt: Reading the Whole Bible

Matt wrote this as a comment recently, but I wanted to post it as a blog since I thought he talked about such great points.  I know for awhile I wondered about reading the more graphic Biblical scenes to little children, and I loved the points Matt made.  Here you go:

We definitely have a verse by verse Pastor. Our church is very liturgical which is nice for the girls because they love to learn the parts to say every week. We read one chapter of the Old Testament (This week was in Leviticus where in which there was a lot of discussion of uncovering nakedness and animals), One chapter from an Epistle, a Gospel passage and then then sermon text. Our pastor, Dr. Peter Leithart is a theologian "par excel'ance". He has taken us through 1st and 2nd Kings for the last 2 or so years. He had just recently finished writing his commentary on Kings which made for easy Sunday adaptation. Having  one of "those" pastors that teach through the entire bible is a wondrous blessing (hard verses and all). I have gained such a richness and deeper understanding of "new testament truth" by being guided with wisdom through the Old Testament.

In "A House for My Name" My pastor makes the comment " A man kisses a sleeping woman in a wood and she awakes. That's a nice ending to a story, but if we dont know the woman is Sleeping Beauty and the man is Prince Phillip, then we don't know the story well. A beginning is nothing without an ending, but an ending without a beginning is not worth much either. To tell the story of Jesus we must start in Genesis."

God made the Bible, names and all. God thought seedy stories, genealogies and explicit sexual content mixed with gore and violence was proper for teaching us to be holy as He is holy. I mean, God topped it off by saying that "All Scripture is profitable....."  and it's for kids too.......That doesn't mean that it is all "equally" profitable, but it is profitable. It takes great men of understanding to draw out wisdom from the OT. God could have written His holy word without genealogies and the like, but He opted to include those things for His glory and our benefit.

The bible is the foundation for all of living. If we cut and paste the bible we are not honoring God's holy writ. Who are we to edit out graphic scenes or not read the Song of Solomon to our kids because we feel that its inappropriate for our kids....the bible inappropriate?? It was made for kids. They were there at the giving of the law-they saw the plagues- they saw what happened when God was thought a trifle. The bible is there to teach and admonish all ages.

I hope I was not too dogmatic about the topic. I have just learned so much from men who have not been willing to compromise by avoiding the hard portions of the bible. It is difficult, but well worth it. After all ALL of the new testament writers saw GRACE and more GRACE in the Old Testament. They called it the "perfect law of liberty." We must not look at the Old Testament through the eyes of most modern day Evangelicals and see only a legalistic, sour, dour, prune juice, God. We need to see that the Old Testament is all about grace even in the law. It sets us free. The NT writers read the OT in light of Christ and His sacrifice for us, they didn't discard the OT.

Blessings,

Matt

PS this is the first Blog I've read or commented on in about 2 months. I have been working on my wife's-soon to be completed-bathroom. Hope this finds you well. Also if you have not read "A House for My Name" it is a great book and "fairly" easy to read. It is available at www.canonpress.org

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Aug. 28, 2006 - From Matt: Mild Musings....

Why does life seem so difficult sometimes? Why does God tell us to run a mile and, after we start running, He authorizes someone to poke us with a sharp stick while trying to trip us every few feet?

We have our doctrines. We can tell people what we believe. We have a tendency to tuck our beliefs in our head and understand them "abstractly".

"It's adversity, it's hostility, it's crisis that enables us to put into practice the things that we claim that we know." Doug Wilson.

Trials are where the rubber meets the road. God likes them and sends them our way so that we have to rely upon His grace. Trials keep us honest and they put us in our place. Not only that, but God being the complex, suspenseful, Divine Author, likes to vindicate/save His people at the last minute.....But be of good cheer, on His mountain, "the LORD will provide" whether it is a ram instead of Isaac or it is our Beloved Savior hanging on a cross....it was the same mountain, and it was the same God providing grace to His people for our benifit and His glory.

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Aug. 23, 2006 - From Matt: A Tribute To The Poetic Beauty Of Ladies

Here is my attempt - in a masculine way - of trying to articulate the poetic love we men should have for our ladies. I hope I don’t offend.

Our modern day culture is fixated upon science and scientific deduction. I am not opposed to science by any stretch of the imagination, but it has come to a point in our culture that we have idolatrously fixated on that which is “scientific”. This is evident from our secular educators’ extreme emphasis on “scientific theories”, to our scientific medical treatments *better living through chemistry*, and it has even gone so far as to influence how we (as men) look at women. We modern men seem lack the ability to look at women in the light of poetic beauty.

I think that this scientific emphasis is a contributor to why men are so caught up in pornography. This also contributes to the very odd and disturbing trend in our culture where we men feel the urge to cheat on our wives with younger, more “attractive” women. It is rather odd that a man married for 10,15, 30 or even 40 years would want to leave his covenant companion for some younger floozy. But this happens in the “secular” culture (and even, sadly, in the “Christian” realm) on a fairly regular basis. (In fact there seem to be many ways in which the overall modern Christian culture acts more like a “diet” secular culture….all the same great faults of the world, just a little less; stuffed with a filling of gooey niceness, and sprinkled with the condiments of Christian-isms.)

How is it possible for a man to leave his covenant companion of ____ years? It is because the man does not know how to look at his wife poetically. The man scientifically compares his wife to the other women that he sees on a daily basis. The man does a thorough job of calculating weight, height, hair and eye color. He compares the sizes of one’s private area with that of another. He sees that his wife’s tummy is not as flat, there may be a stretch mark here or a bit of cellulite there that this other 20 year old doesn’t have. In the end, the man comes to the scientific conclusion (based on “logical” facts) that his current wife does not meet up with the scientific standards of beauty that our culture (or more accurately his personal lusts) have deemed desirable. This other girl that he is lusting after is scientifically more beautiful. Therefore, he must discard his current wife and run off with the other woman. What a shame and WHAT A FOOL.

We men need to look at our ladies with a poetic eye. What do I mean? I will attempt to explain. In looking at my wife I see our relationship of ___ years. I see her personality in how she does the dishes, cleans the house, reads to our children, makes my coffee, sits at the computer, talks on the phone to friends and family, sews without patterns, researches tenaciously looking for good deals, tidies up, makes lists, leaves lunch box love notes, garage sales, talks in general, disciplines, cooks, helps water the lawn, comforts our children, sings songs and dances in the most unique way I have ever seen. I look at my wife and I see our history together. I see all the nuances in Melissa (from being elegantly graceful to a full fledged klutz) that have gone into our relationship which have made it absolutely unique. I see God’s gift of fertility when I see a tummy that is not as flat as the models found in the magazines. I see God’s natural gift of physical change and diversity during pregnancy and breast feeding through the growth and shrinkage of various parts. I see the love and sacrifice that she has bestowed to our children though her tired eyes. I see her weak, I see her strong. She has been my greatest help, and my greatest challenge.  She has bestowed respect when I am not respectable.  We have loved, we have laughed, cried, slept, ate meals together, counted freckles, taken Communion, traveled, snuggled…we have done it all and we have done it together as one flesh joined by God Himself. The relationship with my wife cannot be replaced, ever…..even if she were to die and I needed to remarry, the prior relationship that I shared with Melissa would not be replaced because everything that goes into our marriage is organic and uniquely relational. It is………Poetic.

Is my wife physically beautiful?….oh yes! Should I expect her to physically look like a 20 year old when she is 50 and has had 10 children?….absolutely not. Will she still look more beautiful in my eyes than that 20 year old when she is 50?…..absolutely, as long as I look at her poetically and relationally. Would I expect anybody else to see what I see in my wife?  I hope not, for they have not shared the poetic beauty of our relationship. It is absolutely UNFAIR for men to make their wives compete with the physical beauty of a 20 year old girl. It is also foolish for men to expect the 20 year old to fulfill anything but a base lust in their lives, because the 20 year old lacks the overarching beauty and relational wisdom that the wife of their youth shares with them. The signs of “age” should be looked at with a compassionate love in light of all the hard work and effort that has been put into the relationship.

Beauty is not skin deep. Scientific lust is skin deep. True beauty flows from the heart. It is found in the complex woven tapestry of a relationship established in courtship and marriage. Physical beauty is ONE aspect of the overall beauty to be found in our wives. Thinking only of physical beauty is like looking at a diamond from only one angle. You would miss out on so much of the beauty of that diamond if you didn’t study and look at it in different lights and from different perspectives. It is important to maintain physical beauty to be sure, but a woman who has had the blessings of children, age and wisdom should not be held to the physical standard of an immature youth that has never bore children. Men are called to love and enjoy the season of life that their wives are in just as the wives are called to do to them.

This is how each and every man can be completely satisfied with the wife of his youth-even when age, ill health, weight gain, wrinkles, cellulite, stretch marks, etc are to be found. I can say without lying or laughing that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world. She is mine. She is beautiful because of our relationship together. Her physical beauty is enhanced by her poetic beauty so that I can say in all honesty she is the most beautiful woman I know, and she will continue to be even when she is 90 years old and standing next to the “world’s most beautiful” supermodel. That supermodel will have nothing on my wife, even at 90…..

So men…by God’s grace love your wives and look at them with poetic eyes. Ladies….be encouraged and by God’s grace be the most beautiful wives you can be to your own husbands in and through your relationship with them.

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Aug. 17, 2006 - From Matt: Worship is Warfare Part 1 (sub-section A)

This is a quasi sub-section of my Worship is Warfare series and there is a point of comparison between the two. I wanted to discuss a few symbolic meanings behind king Ahaz’s “remodel” of the temple found in 2 Kings 16. I feel that a little foundational work must be laid prior to my attempt at symbolic interpretation. In order to do this I would like to discuss a few examples of this style of interpretation in other areas of biblical narrative (rather than immediately jumping into 2 Kings 16) where it may be a little bit easier to show what I am talking about.

We cannot escape symbolism.  As James B. Jordan says “symbol is reality”.  Modern Christians look askance at symbolism in scripture thinking it a dangerous road to travel (and indeed it can be).  We tend to only look at the abuses taken by the medieval church in their symbolic interpretations of scripture.  I am specifically referring to the abuses of the Quadriga – a four-fold interpretation of scripture (literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical).  I am not saying that we return to forcing the Quadriga into scripture where it is inappropriate, but the principles behind it are legitimate and sound.  We cannot think that Grammatico-Historical interpretation is the “be all and end all” of interpretation Grammatico-Historical interpretation is taking the literary style, grammatical meaning and historical context of the text to interpret the “literal” meaning of what is said.  In the reformation, the Grammatico-Historical interpretation recovered much needed lost ground in interpretation and provided a solid foundation up which to build.  However, in modern times, the pendulum has swung to the other side and I think that we have a tendency to abuse the Grammatico-Historical approach to scripture in much the same way that the medieval Church abused the Quadriga.  The modern Christian world wants nice, tidy, wooden block definition of terms and abstract propositions. We have great difficulty looking toward symbolism and typology in scripture as a legitimate interpretative enterprise.  I am not saying that clear definitions are not important for a basis and foundation, but realize they are a foundation upon which to build. I also know that most of us do not think in these two interpretative categories “formally” but we do it unconsciously.

To those of you that think I am absolutely crazy, or have no clue as to what I am talking about I will ask you to think on the following point for a moment.  The book of Proverbs was written to teach and instruct young children (a majority of it directly written for young boys, but very applicable for young ladies) in the ways of righteousness.  How was it written?  It was written in symbol and story.  We are so far removed from teaching our children this way that we have great difficulty in explaining how it follows that “as a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion”. This paints for us a rather vivid picture. Conversely, how do we teach our children the “doctrines of God”? We catechize them; we define terms. We ask, “What is God?”  They respond, “God is a Spirit Who’s being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.” I agree 100% with this definition of God and I want to teach my children its profound truths. But I also ask, “How does God describe God?” God is a Rock, a Fortress, a Strong Arm and a Strong Tower. God is a Cloud of Thick Darkness, a Warrior, and an All Consuming Fire.  When God speaks He splinters the cedars of Lebanon, His voice thunders and divides the flames. Our God Speaks and it causes the calf to skip and the deer is brought into sudden labor.

Please understand that I am in no way trying to pit these interpretive styles against each other; that is a false dichotomy. Rather, I would argue that they complement each other. We have a tendency to think in “either/or” categories. We must learn that there is a “both/and” (ie: I am covenantally responsible for the spiritual well-being of my wife and children and they are individually responsible before God for their sins and actions.)  This same principle is laid out in my job. I can be sued for my actions at work and my Police Chief can be sued for my actions even if he was never there, didn’t see it, and may never have condoned it had he been there. We can both be held to account for my actions.

Symbolism and typology add an aesthetic dimension to an otherwise dry palate of abstract definitions and terminology. God obviously likes symbol and story. God could have easily chosen to define Himself in a manner similar to that found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, but He chose to use symbol and imagery instead.

We look for symbol and imagery in classical literature, yet we shy away from it in the biblical narratives. By only looking at the literary type of text, historical context and systematic interpretation we miss out on the richness and beauty woven in and through sacred scripture. A building’s foundation is necessary, right and proper. If the foundation is off then the whole of the building will be askew. We should not stop at the foundation; we need to build atop it. Symbol and typology are the materials used to build the beautiful stained glass cathedral upon the solid foundation of the Grammatico-Historical method.

I will attempt to provide an adequate example in the next post.

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Jul. 28, 2006 - From Matt: Worship Is Warfare Part 1

In 2 Kings 16 we find twenty-year old Ahaz taking over the reign of Judah. In verse 2 we see the description of his reign set by these foreboding words: "and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done". The text says that he walked in the way of the Kings of Israel. How so? He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He also made his sons pass through the fire "according to the abominations of the nations." Notice that the quality of the kingship of Ahaz has to do with how the public worship of Yahweh is conducted. When Yahweh is worshiped "according to the abominations of the nations" bad things happen. Ahaz’s focus was off. He was ignoring the God-given statues and regulations dictating how God wanted to be worshiped and was set on mimicking the pagan worship that surrounded him. The text does not say there was a full scale abandonment of the worship of Yahweh; they were not worshiping Baal. It says that the worship rendered to Yahweh, in the name of Yahweh and for "glory" of Yahweh was not done as Yahweh had instructed, but according to the dictates of the modern pagan culture surrounding Judah (More on this in part 2).

We don’t see outright tyranny with King Ahaz, but we see a series of "small" compromises given firstly in worship (vs 3-4) and secondly in his trust and alliances (vs7) *this is a necessary consequence of false worship**. This is how Ahaz "walked in the way of the Kings of Israel" –the Northern Kingdom. We see them as small compromises, but God sees them as being of the utmost priority. Who we worship, and how we worship is central to our living obediently before our God.

This is an Old Testament text of course, but we need to remember that all of these things were given for our example so that we may learn by them. We cannot dismiss this as being "old covenant" and therefore irrelevant to our lives and how we conduct worship in the new covenant. The New Testament cannot be divorced from the old, as it would make no sense without it. With this in mind, I would challenge us to look at how we conducting our worship to Yahweh-through Christ-in our modern church. Is it God centered, focused on glorifying Him, or is it full of emotional me-isms? Are we attempting to glorify God as God, or are we trying to make God relevant and relatable to the pagan culture around us? Gods word says in Hebrews 12:28 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." This verse infers that if we are called to serve God acceptably (worship is service rendered to God in obedience) then conversely we can serve Him unacceptably. Are we worshiping God with reverence and godly fear, or are we focused on everyone feeling comfortable and having God "meet us where we are"? We must remember that He is Holy and God is not to be publicly worshiped for our convenience and our comfort but for His glory and His Glory alone.

Worship is central. Worship is obedience. If our worship is off, then our focus and our entire lives will be off. It is our foundation, it is our battering ram used to fight the high and lofty things set against our God in this world. Worship is not something that we dictate; it is God’s prerogative to dictate how we will worship Him. We do not arrogantly determine in what way we approach God. He has given us the instructions in the bible (Old and New Testaments). Are we obeying those instructions or are we mimicking the culture to make God "relevant"?

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Jul. 23, 2006 - More From Matt: The Big 3 Part 3

If you are joining this series in the middle (or now rather the end) I would invite you to visit the first post in this series to set the context of the articles.
A third verse that I feel is misused by modern evangelicals as a “proof text” of man’s free will being able to “frustrate” God’s overarching will in salvation is 1 Timothy 2:3-4 3 "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Does God really desire every single person in the world to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth? If God is Omnipotent (all-powerful) and His desire is truly for all men to be saved, then why is it that some men are condemned for all eternity? Most modern evangelicals would say, “That’s easy, silly. God would never violate man’s free will and therefore, man is the one that rejects God - even above and against God’s desire for all men to be saved. God’s higher desire is to allow man to have a free will choice in the matter. After all, God doesn’t want puppets.”….. and then they quote this verse as a proof text of the inference. Given the context that this verse is in I don’t think that this can be used to make any such statement.
This stands in STARK contrast to the whole of scripture that places almighty God in control of everything. Conversely, this puts God in the position of “doing everything He can” to make salvation “possible” for everyone, but not actually effecting salvation for anyone. Pure potential is (actually) nothing. Did Christ die to actually save sinners (effectually and completely) or did Christ die to make it possible for sinners to be saved? I understand the Bible as saying that Christ completed a work and He did, in fact, save those He came to save (individually/personal salvation, and corporately/the church as a whole - lest we think only of our individual selves).
Let’s look at the beginning of the Chapter. "1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
The first thing that is said is that Paul wants Christian believers to be praying for “all men” and then specifies that to mean “for kings and all who are in authority”. This was quite a task for the 1st century Christian for many reasons. First, there were corrupt pagans running the Roman government. Second, the kings and authorities were the very ones that were persecuting the new Christians (Paul infers this by stating that by praying for the kings and authorities the desired result would be that they could “ lead a quiet an peaceable life”.)
How hard it must have been for first century Christians to pray for the people that thought them lowly and despised. How difficult it was to pray for the salvation of the king that orders your execution and torture. How humbling it must be to be exhorted to pray for the salvation of your executioner. They may have been tempted to say, “Paul, I know God doesn’t want me to pray for their salvation. Christ died for us and yet they hate us. God called us and yet the kings and rulers hate the things of God.” Paul kindly answered them by saying,  “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth". King, nobleman, slave or free, man woman, Jew or Gentile, it doesn’t matter. God doesn’t care about social status or ethnic status. Pray for them all because Christ does not discriminate between rich and poor slave or free. That, I believe, is what this passage is referring to. I don’t believe the Bible means every last person in the world, but all kinds of men regardless of social status - even the kings and authorities.
I hope these posts have helped. If you have any questions please feel free to ask via e-mail or “post a comment” and I will try to answer them.
I must confess that I stole the title (The Big 3) for the series out of a chapter in a book by James R. White. This topic was dealt with in a much more comprehensive manner by one much more thoroughly equipped than I. I am indebted to Mr. White for his insights and handling of this vast topic and these three scripture passages specifically. The book is called “The Potter’s Freedom” and it is a rebuttal to Norman Geisler’s book “Chosen but Free”.  The Potter’s Freedom is very readable and I highly recommend it for anyone who is struggling through this topic. 

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Jul. 19, 2006 - More From Matt: The Big 3 Part 2

 From Matt: The Big 3 Part 2

If you have not done so, prior to reading this entry, please scroll down to part 1 of this series so as to set the context of this post. Again, I would like to clarify that I am not a theologian and this is a blog, not a full scale treatise on the subject so please bear with me in patience.
A second verse that I feel is commonly misconstrued by modern evangelicals is found in 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
I think it is important to note who Peter is talking to in this verse. Peter is grouping himself in with those to whom he is writing this particular verse by stating that the Lord is “longsuffering toward us”.
Peter opens his epistle in Chapter 1 by addressing it to those “who have obtained like precious faith with us”. Also in verses 3 and 4 he states, “3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” It is clear that this epistle was written to the saints that God had called to life unto salvation. Peter is grouping himself in with these same people. Peter describes these people as those who have received “like precious faith”, great and precious promises and states that they are now partakers of the divine nature.
In chapter 2 Peter turns his attention to “false prophets.. false teachers among you…those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority…. They are presumptuous, self-willed….and are, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed” There is a significant difference to be made between the “us” and “them” in Peter’s epistle. These false teachers and prophets were not idle in the church, they were busy. Peter says that they “secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them” and that “they will exploit you with deceptive words”. Peter also says, “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls”
Peter is pretty clear that these people were mingled in the church among the elect believers of God. They were busy trying to exploit with deceptive words and entice the unstable soul away from Christ.
I think the crux of the point is found in verses 18-21: “18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them”
These false teachers were alluring the saints in the church away back into bondage “after they had escaped….through the knowledge of…Christ”. Peter was giving a warning to the elect, telling them that the false teachers and prophets were convincing and that they will be successful in duping some of them into error and entangling them with their slick lies and spins. But there is hope. “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God is reserving judgment for those ungodly men. The saints, I’m sure, were ready to see these godless seducers get their just desserts. Peter warns them to be patient and not to be too anxious thinking that God was slack or slow. Peter reminds them that God shows longsuffering toward His elect, who have been fooled and ensnared once again by the lies and deceptions of these very false prophets and teachers among them. Peter says that God wants all of them (the elect) to come to repentance. Peter states clearly that God is not willing that any of His elect should perish for the sake of a quick judgment of the non-elect, godless men.
God accomplishes His will and purposes. If God was willing that all (every single person in the world) should come to repentance and that none should perish, then every single person in the world would repent and be saved. We have to face the fact that God makes some vessels for wrath and destruction (Romans 9).We are fallen creatures who have a hard time grappling with the thought of someone being condemned for all eternity. We do not have God’s glory in mind when we think this way. We relate much better with fellow sinners *no matter how evil* than we do with a Holy God. It is for God’s glory that some are saved and it is for God’s glory that some are condemned to the other place (the opposite of heaven) **I can’t put “that” word on the post without it getting edited off…sorry**
But always remember in all of this God LOVES to save sinners. We are all sinners saved by grace (and that not of ourselves - it is the gift of God). God is not a grinch sitting in the heavens waiting to smite all humanity because He hates us. “For God so LOVED the world”……It is a great mystery to be sure, but we need to acknowledge that God is God and affirm with gladness when He says “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

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Jul. 18, 2006 - From Matt: The Big 3 Part 1

I stated in an earlier blog that I would expound on a few verses that I feel are commonly misrepresented in the modern evangelical community in regard to man’s free will thwarting God's effectual working of our salvation. These verses are Matthew 23:37, 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:3-4. These verses are often quoted out of context, and then used as the foundation for the argument that God really wants everyone to be saved but lacks the ability to override man’s “free will” if they don’t “want to” be saved. If we think that we are capable of trumping God’s will with our “free will” then we must ask ourselves some serious questions:  Can we truly and effectually thwart God’s desires for all men to be saved? May it never be! Is God wringing His hands in the heavens hoping that people will accept His offer of salvation, but not really able to effectually cause salvation to come to pass? May it never be! Is our God all-powerful or is He unable to bring to pass His holy will? 

I would like to start by saying that God is gracious. He is loving and He loves to save wretched, miserable sinners. He is not chomping at the bit waiting to smite us and cast everyone into hell (if He was, we’d already be there). He doesn’t just save a token few random, remnant “elect” because He is forced to justify His claim to be loving and gracious. God is love. God will vindicate His holy character, to be sure, through the condemnation of those vessels of wrath, but we always need to remember the depth from which we came…we need to have reverence and godly fear because we are those wretched and miserable sinners that He saved, who wholeheartedly deserve condemnation. Yet our kind, loving and gracious God loves to save us.
***The following is full of Post Millennial Eschatology***
God’s gospel conquers and will (I believe) ultimately spread throughout the entire world, overtaking and destroying the secular culture. It is my hope and belief that God will not allow His gospel to be defeated and that there will be a greater future Christendom (a fully functioning Christian culture**including government**) that is far more glorious that we have yet seen in history. I believe that at the end of all things Christ will return for His bride that has no spot or blemish. I believe in ONE holy catholic and apostolic church. Since there is one true church (not denomination) and that church will be spotless (not sinless but full of elect members) at the second coming of Christ, we have a LOT of work to do in reformation and repentance. God’s world will be redeemed effectually by God but it will take time and work. Don’t worry I’m sure we’ve got a few more thousand years for God to work with us. But I digress….

Due to the length of this post I will handle this topic one verse per post. I will attempt to have these out in a timely manner, but please bear with me in patience as I have quite a few projects going on around the house.

Matthew 23:37 says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
This comes at the end of at the end of a lengthy rebuke of the Pharisees starting at chapter 23. I would like to point out a few highlights in this rebuke that may shed some light on the concluding summary comment by our Lord.
Verse 13 says, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation." What group of people was responsible for shutting up the kingdom of heaven and “not allowing people to enter? Christ specifically charges the Pharisees with this.
Verses 29-35 say: 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth." Who was Christ saying killed the prophets and decorated their tombs (and inwardly rejoiced over the fact that they were dead)? Christ specifically charged the Pharisees with the guilt of their fathers in the killing of the prophets, in addition to the blood of the prophets that will be sent.
In verse 37 (the verse we're discussing) there is no textual indication whatsoever that Christ is now talking about someone or something else. This is a concluding remark in Christ’s condemnation of the Pharisees. It was the Pharisees that represented “Jerusalem”. Additionally, the text states that Christ wanted to “gather your children”. He was saying that he wanted to gather “Jerusalem’s” children but “Jerusalem” was not willing. The Pharisees (representing religious Jerusalem) were shutting out the people (children) from the kingdom of heaven by their gross misrepresentation of God and His holy law. This verse is not about people rejecting salvation (by being unwilling); this was a condemnation of the hard-heartedness of the hypocritical Pharisees. Christ specifically says that they (the Pharisees) “neither go in (the kingdom of heaven) themselves, or allow those who are entering to go in”. The Pharisees were the ones that were unwilling to allow God to gather in His children like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Also note that though the Pharisee’s were unwilling to allow them to enter, the children were still “entering” the kingdom. The Pharisees could not keep people who were hungry for the truth of God from entering into the kingdom.
Thanks be to God that the “free will” of the Pharisees did not stop our Lord and Savior from accomplishing His purpose in Salvation! God did gather His children under His protective wings and He crushed the head of the serpent that was trying to devour the “chicks”. God’s Holy will will always come to pass no matter what man tries to do to stop it (Psalm 2:1-6)

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Jul. 1, 2006 - What About John 3:16?

Ah, the vexing question of John 3:16 – actually, I don’t think it is too vexing at all.  My first thought is that John 3:16 doesn’t really speak about predestination directly. It states that God loves his creation (world) and that whosoever believes in Him will be saved. Of course, this is so true! God’s graciousness was sent to every tribe, tongue and nation. It was sent to all manner of people from kings to slaves.  There is no more Jew, Greek, freeman, nor slave. The message of salvation extends to the world.

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Jun. 30, 2006 - Short Answer To A Long Calvinist Question.

The question was: Where in the bible do people find the doctrines of free will?

To start I want to qualify that this is a blog.  It's not a treatise and therefore it is not a comprehensive argument. This is a short answer to a very involved topic. I am aware of what the Bible teaches on this and can defend it well, but that would take pages upon pages of defense.

I would say that the doctrines of Pelagianism and Arminianism have their basis and foundation in the human heart, not the Bible. Obviously this was an issue even during the forming of the new testament church - otherwise there would have been little need for the epistle to  the Romans (specifically chapter 9). Humans have always wanted autonomy (complete control of their destiny, being a law unto themself, etc) - hence the fall of man. In the last hundred and fifty years the church has blurred the distinction between autonomy and free will- I would argue that most of the followers of Pelagian-related thinking have always blurred that distinction. We have always had free will, but never autonomy. When I say free will, I mean a limited free will, but free nonetheless. The bible describes us as dead in trespasses and sins (not sick or dying, but dead) It also uses terms such as "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace" "the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so." "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." We have free will to sin (and only sin, since the fall of man), and we do sin when we are outside of God. But as Christians, He has chosen us, made us alive, given us a new heart (not a refurbished old one) made us a new creature, etc.  God has given us the ability to not sin…to please Him as it were. So our free will has been expanded. It is the same struggle that man has been in since the fall: he wants to be autonomous, to be in control, to be God. But man is not God. So the doctrines of Arminianism are in our hearts, not really in the Bible. Pelagianism/Arminianism uses the premise that God would never give us a command that we were unable to fulfill. Everyone in the Bible is commanded to repent and so it is assumed (with Pelagian-ism and Arminian-ism) that everyone can if they so "choose". The Bible says that everyone is commanded to repent, but is expressly clear throughout that you can’t repent unless God enables you to do so - we only love God because He has loved us first. God is sovereign, He is in control of everything-expressly in our salvation. If it were not so, he would not be God. If God’s will could be trumped by man’s will (and He is not ultimately in control) then how could we believe and trust that His promises will come to pass?

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Jun. 24, 2006 - In Regards To Music.....

Here are a couple of quick clarifications I thought I would make in regards to my posts on music, and also answers to a couple of questions people have asked, about Christian music we do like, and such.

I am not trying to say that there are no good Christian artists out there. Please understand that I am making a broad generalization when I am critiquing the industry and the music that they put out. Therefore, I don't think the particularized examples negate the majority. I am aware that there are "diamonds in the rough" in the modern Christian music industry.  I will even grant that most folks in the Christian music industry are quite talented to some degree or another-(good guitar players, jazz musicians, classical musicians, vocalist etc)-1,000 times more talented than myself. But unfortunately they are ensnared by shallow, feel-good theology and their music expresses that very clearly. Instead of honoring God by revealing who He really is, they (broad brush strokes and generalization here) play trite cheesy music. I'm not even saying that the cheesy ones are doing it with malice. I know there are many talented people out there trying to glorify God, I wanted to emphasize that we should not have to filter through a bucket of stones to find a few grains of sand. This post was mainly to point out that there needs to be change. It won’t happen quickly (as most Americans want a quick 12 step fix to a problem) and it won't happen without hard work. We are training our children. I am asking us to repent of our modern churches sin of abdication and teach our children to glorify God in music by revealing His glorious nature and put Him in the place of preeminence. Lets knock the secularists out of their seats by honoring the God of Scripture and revealing who He really is.

In the modern evangelical mindset we so desperately want to be like the world, but with the condiment of God added to our lives like salt or pepper is to corn. This should not be! We are a new creature in Christ. Christianity is not something to be added to an already existing life; it is a new life. By thinking like the world we imitate the world in a second rate way, making a vain attempt to win the world over to Christ on their terms and by their standards. If the world has Worlds Gym tee shirts, we have to have Gods Gym tee shirts....If the world has immodest tight clothes that say "hottie" across the area of a young girl that we need not be focusing on, we have to have the same thing with "God's princess" across it.....and somehow that makes all the difference. Instead of teaching our children that our God is Holy (and that can be very dangerous to sinful people) we cartoon Him up and make Him nice and friendly like a big puffy ball of cotton to everyone. We blur the distinction between Christianity and secular culture and end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We need a DISTINCTLY Christian culture to SHOW the secularist that there is something to repent from. We demonstrate to them how to repent by owning our sins and repenting ourselves.

This is how the majority of modern day Christians think. If it were not the case you would not see the FLOOD of that type of marketing in Christian bookstores. I am calling for a repentance, an owning of the sin as it were. Recognize that the majority of what we are doing is not pleasing to God. We just need to say, these are MY people too and I am grieved that WE are doing this.  Lord help us to repent and to teach our children how to glorify you in music, clothes, books, marriage, daily living, diaper changing, disciplining, playing, mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, eating dinner, learning to read etc. Let us show the secularists how to repent and live before our God.

We live in a community where there are hundreds of young children who are being brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  By God’s grace there is going to be a resurgence of placing Christ in preeminence where He belongs.

I thank all of you for taking the time to write me and post various comments. I enjoy talking with people and expressing similar as well as differing views. This is how we grow. This is how we learn.....iron sharpens iron. I am not the authority on music or Christendom by any stretch of the imagination and I admit that I have plenty to learn. I am struggling through all this myself.

FYI:

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Jun. 22, 2006 - Truth Beauty and Goodness In Music Part two

Our culture has a fascination with that which is ugly. It permeates every aspect- from the cold hard lines of stainless steel modern art and architectural design to grotesque violence in movies. Our culture paints pale faces with dark and dreary stories to tell. Being disordered, disheveled and unkempt is considered a virtue and a way to be “real”. Morbid fascination engrafted with intense anger finds its nadir in our culture’s music.  The love of truth beauty and goodness is a long forgotten concept.

How do we as Christians respond to this? We abdicated our role in the arts (specifically music) by calling it a secular endeavor and fleeing as far away in the other direction as possible. We attempted to make a counter culture, a separate little Christian culture, while allowing the secularists to take the reigns of the mainstream. While we were busy entertaining ourselves the secular culture slipped right on by. They not only grabbed the reigns, but kicked us off the wagon all-together. We retreated from our dominion mandate and we are trying desperately to catch up. The stakes are high; we are fighting a war and we can either continue trying to plead with the secular culture to let us back on the wagon on their terms or we can knock them off the cart. I can guarantee that will not happen if we keep pumping out the trite garbage that we have been.

In the area of music we, as Christians, are pathetic. Trite sentimentalism packed full of emotional me-isms wrapped in a soft outer shell of shallow theology fills our music “industry”. We are full of self-focused praise songs that do not honor God as God nor do they in any way reflect His being. Oh to hear songs singing the glory of our Creator all the while demonstrating the beauty of His triune being. Who besides modern evangelicals really likes and listens to Christian music? What if that was all that was available to listen to? I shudder at that thought with the majority of current mainstream Christian music industry. We have lost our perspective. We cater to OURSELVES all the while hoping that our second rate music will win over pagans to the Lord. We need to be the FORE-runners in music, not second rate slackers that are desperate for some kind of attention. By the grace of God our children will take over the MAINSTREAM music industry by becoming the best in the industry (this assumes a distinctly Christian mainstream culture which we also should be striving for). There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON that we should be second best. Lucifer may have been in charge of music, but OUR GOD CREATED MUSIC. We should be trumping satan and in the name of, and for the glory of our God loose satan’s grasp on what he has no right to be holding.

There was a day when people would tell of God’s beauty and triune nature in music without saying a word. When we did sing it was much more a selfless glorification of God and was full of His truths and attributes. Emotions, passions and profound theological concepts were expressed in a way that honored God as God and was of such a high quality that even the pagans were impressed. They were drawn in by the expression of God through our creative imitation of His truth beauty and goodness. Pagans were attracted to it and could not deny it.  It was a true witness. That which is truly beautiful stands in stark contrast to that which is ugly and it is POWERFUL. Let us not just settle for singing and playing the old great hymns and scores of the past, but let us once again regain our ability to write, play and perform NEW hymns and scores.

Bach was not interested in coming up with some witty quip about the “rapture”, or his “personal encounter with God” in his music. He was not rhyming with and repeating key “Christian” words such as praise, glory, honor, worship or even the big one “HOLY” in his music. In fact, he did a better job expressing the nature of our triune God with no words at all. This is not to say that music without words is better, after all Jesus is the eternal Word of God. I am just saying that Bach could express the truths of God’s nature better without words than most modern Christians seem to be able to with words.

We need to teach our children what our God is like. We need to teach our children to sing and to play music that expresses the nature of our God. Our God is the fullness and complete foundation and basis for ALL beauty. There is beauty in harmonies as it expresses God’s triune nature. Realize that our God’s triune nature is the foundation for harmony itself.  Without a triune God harmony would not exist.

Whole congregations should sing not just a choir (or even worse a worship band). Teach yourself, your wife, your children, your congregation to sing harmony, read music and reflect the glory of God. It is work, hard work, but we will enter into God’s rest AFTER we die. Our job here is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. He called us to take dominion of this world, not sit back and watch the pagans do it. We cannot settle for second best. Our God deserves all honors and to be placed ABOVE all other things for He is already there-we just don’t seem to act like it.

I am preaching to myself as well. I need to work on this desperately. This is a goal and aspiration that we as a family have not even begun to realize. Recognizing our weakness in this area of dominion is a good first step. I fully admit that I am an unintelligent, woefully ingnorant layman in the area of music and I don't claim to be otherwise. I am hoping by the grace of God to teach my children NOT to be this way and to learn myself during the process. By the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we will regain His deserved position of preeminence in the world of music.

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Jun. 21, 2006 - Truth, Beauty, And Goodness In Music - Part One

Every day that I go to work I prepare myself to face the ugliness of the day and the ugliness of the  lifestyles of the people that I see. I know this sounds odd, and I’m sure most of the people who are on this blog-sphere can’t relate. But nonethless, I do have to prepare myself.  My job as a police officer focuses on those people that can’t seem to control their passions, lusts, and desires, and they want me to fix their problems in the 10 or so minutes that I have contact with them.  So I prepare.

This is not necessarily about prayer time or quiet time before the Lord – if by that you mean reading His word and praying on bended knee.  It is my quiet time, though it is much less “officially” religious. It functions in practically the same way and I think that we as modern day evangelicals get too caught up in the methods and really don’t understand the principals.  I climb up into my Expedition, roll up the windows and listen to a piece such as Pachelbel’s Kanon in D (my wife refers to this as the wedding song, although I have no wedding context to place it in) drowning out all other noises surrounding me. In this few minute drive to work I think upon the glories of the Trinity. I see the beauty of the Trinity revealed in the complex weaving and orchestrating of the harmonies found therein.   I hear beauty expressed in music and think of my Creator.  My God IS pure beauty, pure truth, contains all that is good and He harmonizes perfectly within Himself. There is no cacophony, there is no disunity found within the Godhead. This is my way of contemplating the great vastness and glory found in our Triune God.  This is my calm before the storm. It is also my respite AFTER the storm. God comforts, God nourishes, God takes tender care of His children.  This may not hold up to some standards held by modern day evangelicals about “how much time I’m supposed to spend before the Lord”, and I am NOT saying that this is all you have to do (nor is it the extent of what I do). This is a piece, a part of a greater whole. It is one way of worshiping God IN ALL things that we do.  We need to look for His truth, beauty and goodness in every nook and cranny in our lives.

As our culture rapidly flees from the presence of God, we find that Satan’s deceptions are being revealed for what they are: ugly.  When we were in the height of Christendom and when Christ and the Bible were CENTRAL to the world’s view, Satan had to disguise himself more as an angel of light in order to deceive the peoples. As the whole culture has become “enlightened” and we now live in a post-Christian era, we find that Satan is far less subtle. This is explicitly clear in music. It is hard to differentiate between a secular and Christian composer, say in the 16^th -17^th  century. Pagans/Satan have always robbed from God and the more the culture was Christ-centered, the more Satan had to steal, rob and deceive. Therefore it was harder to tell the difference between the two paths.  There are only two paths; always have been, and there never will be any more. Now as our culture becomes more and more accustomed to Satan’s lies, flees from God, and is ignorant to all things beautiful we see that Satan reveals his absolute ugliness. This is poignantly true in music. Anger is the big trend in rock and roll. Depressing music is played and is all the rage, singing the woes of broken relationships, the richness of infidelity and betrayal, sick sexual acts, criminal activity and occultic practices.  Sadly we in our modern Christian music can’t even offer something better (I’d more often rather listen to secular music than Christian music written in the last 75 years). We are musically ignorant as it were. The pagans at least know the god they serve, and are very upfront about it.  Most modern Christians write music describing God as some fluffy cotton candy god in the sky that only thinks nice thoughts. Our God is Holy. Our God is Triune. Let us study our God, know Him as he is revealed in scripture. Let us write music that is faithful to the God we serve, the all powerful preeminent God of our salvation.

Let us enjoy the beauty of our God as He reveals Himself in the beauty of music and harmonies. Let us find His beauty in music. Let us return to the classic music and write more music that is faithful to reveal the all powerful God of our salvation. More importantly, let us honor our God, not by emotional based worship songs, but by faithfully REVEALING God in our new-modern music.

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Jun. 15, 2006 - More Of Matt's Musings

Did God become a Grinch at Pentecost?

Why of course not, why ever would one say that? Unfortunately, this is often our unspoken mindset. We look at the New Testament with the sacraments that were instituted as being completely unique, dropping out of the ethereal sky as it were, having no link to the Old Testament.  In the New Testament apparently  God is now stingy and only allows  big or mature people to enter into the community of Bible believing saints (through baptism) and to partake of His Body and Blood (in Communion).

1 Cor 10: 1-4 outlines a direct parallel to drinking spiritual drink and eating spiritual food which is Christ and specifically states that this (their partaking accompanied with GROSS sin) was given for “our example”.  This is just as Christ says that we eat and drink His Body and shed Blood at communion. You may argue that verse 5 states that God was not well pleased with that generation. 1^st we ask why was God not well pleased, was it for partaking of the Spritual Rock that is Christ, or was it for being immoral, idolaters, grumblers and complainers? 2^nd If God were not well pleased with that generation, who was it that he was not well pleased with -the adults, or children?  Who entered into the Promised Land, the adults who ate and drank the spiritual food, or the children who were right there with them eating and drinking as well? It was those same children who ate and drank Christ in the wilderness who entered into the Promised Land.

Children in the Old Testament were invited to eat with the parents every day for every meal. During the Passover Feast (which by the way is when our Lord instituted the Rite of Communion) children sat at the table and partook of the elements of the feast. Some of them could talk. Others, I’m sure, couldn’t. Do you think that the Hebrew father or mother would have denied their 12, 16, 18 (etc) month old baby who was reaching for food at the table the meal because they couldn’t “examine” themselves first (there will be more on. 1Cor 11:28-29 on another blog)? Or would they deny the meal because it was a holy remembrance and “really, really” important in Gods eyes?

Additionally, did the 8 day old baby need to make a confession of faith prior to being circumcised into the covenant? Did the circumcision automatically guarantee that they were of the remnant/ elect (washing away original sin)? May it never be! It did, however bring them into the covenant community so that they could experience the blessings/grace of Yahweh. One of those blessings was partaking in the “memorial feasts” such as the Passover -*Holy Communion*.  This was a reminder to the parents to teach and train their children of God’s graciousness and provision and to tell them the story of their redemption -even before they could talk.

During Pentecost God did not become a grinch or miser. He OUTPOURED His Spirit in power.  We partaking of the Testament in which God has greatly expanded His covenant blessings to a larger church. If God was gracious in the Old Testament with children why do we think He has changed His mind and become miserly with His blessings towards them?  

By grace we have been saved and we deserve NOTHING from God. If we have been given Christ, then let us all eat and drink and feast before Him with joy and gladness. Let us stand fast on His promises that they are for our children and our children’s children for a thousand generations.  These promises to are children are to all unto whom God will call unto Himself. Let us believe God when He tells us He loves our children. He is no grinch, He is gracious.

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Jun. 13, 2006 - Matt's Musings On God's Children

Here's a post from my husband, Matt:

The Kingdom of God is like a ride at Disneyland…you must be as tall as the largest dwarf to partake in any means of grace such as baptism and communion. Suffer the little children to come unto me, if of course they can recite the creedal formulations, understand the five points of Calvinism, God’s covenants of grace, and “truly really and for certain” understand the ramifications of what baptism and communion really do.  When God said for you and your household to be baptized, he REALLY only meant those who also had the same mature knowledge as the head of the household. And Of course there were absolutely NO children in those households (whew). God most certainly wants only the most mature believers who really grasp all of His word and what He did for us to be part of His kingdom .

I hope that this all sounds absurd to you too.  At what point do we say we have arrived and understand all of what God has really done for us?  Well NOW we can say with assurance that we, because of our knowledge should be allowed to partake in communion, or even be baptized into the covenant. When are we really ready? Was it at the Billy Graham crusade? Or rather was it after years of searching the scriptures? How many years do you need to study before you can confess your faith with knowledge?

God loves stupid, foolish, ignorant people who will ALWAYS and in ALL THINGS rely on His grace. I am proud to say that I, along with my wife and ALL of my children are stupid, foolish and ignorant Christians, who rely upon the grace of God to keep His covenant promises. He is faithful, not me or my family. And while there are people who keep their kids (for spiritual safety’s sake of course-we don’t want too much of Christendom in their lives- it could be dangerous) away from the community of the covenant and have an “adults only” table for communion, I will be feasting with joy and gladness with my entire family at the gracious table set before us in OUR Lord Jesus Christ.

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