Listen to the Wondrous Story

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:8-11, KJV).

How many times have you heard that story? How many times have you heard Linus recite those exact lines at the end of Charlie Brown Christmas? How many times have you actually listened to it?

There is a wonder to the Christmas story that we often miss because it's familiar. It's captured in so many Christmas songs: "I wonder as I wander out under the sky why Jesus the Savior did come for to die." "What Child is this who laid to rest on Mary's lap is sleeping?" "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." "How many kings stepped down from their thrones?"

Christmas is about the Incarnation. God Himself taking on human flesh, human weakness, human emotions, human temptation, human suffering. That should floor us. That, in and of itself, should utterly destroy us. I started crying as I typed that and considered the implications of it. Based purely on the miracle of the Incarnation alone, we should be in awe of the wonder of the God we serve.

But Christmas isn't just about the Incarnation. It's so much more than that. We can't fully appreciate the wonder of Christmas without looking ahead. First, we look ahead to the ministry of Jesus on earth, as He walked this earth and brought healing and hope to His people. Then, we look ahead to the suffering and death of Christ on the cross as He shed His blood to forgive us and free us from the sins that we so often cling to. And then we look ahead to the resurrection and the new creation and eternal life with our Savior. All of that is contained in a little baby boy lying in a manger. When was the last time that you listened closely enough to the Christmas story to catch all of that?

This hymn, Listen to the Wondrous Story, was written in 1867 by Ellin Isabelle Tupper, and it is set to the tune Amara, by William O. Perkins.

Listen to the Wondrous Story

 Listen to the wondrous story,

How upon the Christmas morn

Jesus left the realms of glory,

As a little babe was born;

Left those bright and happy regions

Of His Father's home above,

And the glorious angel legions,

In His great and boundless love!

Came into a lowly manger,

Dwelt beneath a humble shed,

And among His own a stranger

Knew not where to lay His head;

Went from city unto city,

All His life was doing good,

Weeping o'er His friend with pity,

When beside the grave He stood.

Love all human love exceeding

Brought Him to a cruel death,

Even then, though hanging, bleeding

On the cross, His latest breath

Spent He for His murderers, praying

To His Father to forgive;

To the thief repentant saying,

"Thou in paradise shalt live!"

Oh! What love in God the Father

To  bestow His only Son;

Oh! What love in Christ, who rather

Than the world should be undone,

Came Himself to seek and save us,

Came to claim us for His own;

Freely all our sins forgave us,

Raised us to His glorious throne!

(Public Domain)

Did You Think to Pray?

When was the last time you prayed? What were the circumstances? What did you pray about? Where were you? Who were you with? Why did you pray? What about the time before that? Would you say that you pray too often or not often enough?

When you face difficult circumstances, what is the first thing you do? When you are grieving, where do you seek comfort?

When things are going well, how often is your first instinct to go to God in prayer and thank Him? I don't mean publicly stating "Thank you, God!" or pointing to heaven as you round the bases after hitting a home run. How often do you go in private prayer to God, when no one else is around, and spend time thanking Him?

I will confess that I don't pray nearly often enough. When I face difficult circumstances, I want to be comforted by friends and family. When life is great, I don't instinctively go to God in prayer and praise Him. This is something I am seeking to change. I want to develop a habit of going to God in prayer in everything. I want to build a relationship with Him so intimate that I can't wait to talk to Him about what I'm struggling with, celebrating, and grieving.

Here is one thing that Thomas a Kempis had to say on behalf of the Lord about prayer:

My son, I am the Lord who sends comfort in time of tribulation. Come, therefore, to Me when it is not well with you. What hinders you most is that you turn yourself to Me too slowly; before you pray heartily to Me you seek many other comforts, and refresh your spirit in outward things. And so it comes about that all that you do helps little, until you can behold and see that I am He who sends comfort to all who faithfully call to Me, and that without Me there can be no profitable counsel or perfect remedy.

How often I seek many other comforts before I pray heartily to God. How often I seek to refresh my spirit in outward things. How often I do so even knowing how empty those things are and how little they will avail me.

This hymn by Mary A. Kidder, with music by William O. Perkins, was written in 1876 and it helps me to remember how many circumstances there are in which I fail to pray. It helps me to see the ways in which I can insert prayer into those situations. And the simple question, oft repeated in these verses, cuts to the heart of the issue: "Did you think to pray?"

Not "Did you pray?" Not "Did you feel like praying?" But "Did you think to pray?" Did the thought of taking this to God even cross my mind? As I look back over my day, I can ask this question about every circumstance. Every moment of my day in which I had an opportunity to pray. Every moment of temptation. Every moment of anger. Every moment of trials and sorrow. Did the presence of God loom large in my mind such that I thought to pray?

I want to live a life in which the question is "When didn't I think to pray?" I want to live a life where my first thought in any circumstance is to go to God to converse about it. I hope that you are interested in seeking that kind of relationship with Him as well.

Did You Think to Pray?

Ere you left your room this morning,

Did you think to pray?

In the name of Christ our Savior,

Did you sue for loving favor,

As a shield today?

O how praying rests the weary!

Prayer will change the night to day;

So when life seems dark and dreary,

Don't forget to pray.

When you met with great temptation,

Did you think to pray?

By His dying love and merit,

Did you claim the Holy Spirit

As your guide and stay?

When your heart was filled with anger,

Did you think to pray?

Did you plead for grace, my brother,

That you might forgive another

Who had crossed your way?

When sore trials came upon you,

Did you think to pray?

When your soul was bowed in sorrow,

Balm of Gilead did you borrow

At the gates of day?

(Public Domain)

More Holiness Give Me

In 1873, Philip P. Bliss wrote a hymn that he simply entitled "My Prayer." How deeply each of us needs to pray this prayer that Mr. Bliss wrote 143 years ago. I know that I struggle to pray this hymn. I struggle to ask God for some of these things, and I know that this struggle is with my own sinful heart. Why don't I want to pray some of these things? Because I want to keep myself on the throne of my heart. I pray pointless prayers because I don't want to pray purposeful ones. I pray easy prayers because I don't want to pray difficult ones. I pray worthless prayers because I don't want to pray sanctifying ones.

I don't want to pray for God to put me through suffering. I don't want to pray for God to give me gratitude in my suffering. When I am in the midst of suffering, the last thing I want to pray for is that God would make me grateful for it. I suspect that I'm not alone in that. I suspect that the first inclination of your heart is like mine. We want to say to God, "Why?" We want to, as Paul Tripp likes to say, "Bring God into the court of our judgment, and judge Him as less than good." But that's not what scripture tells us to do:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7, NASB)

We sing a lot of hymns and other songs without thinking about the words we are singing. We get emotionally tied up in the music and we forget that these words are being lifted up to God. When we sing "Holiness is what I long for," do we really mean that? When we cry out to God, "Be Thou my vision," do we truly long for Him to take away everything else important to us if it means that we will be nearer to Him? When we pray "Thy will be done," do we live out our week as instruments of His will being done here on earth as it is in heaven? When we sing "and You tell me that You're pleased," do we consider whether our thoughts, words, and actions in the past week have actually pleased God? When we sing "I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord," do we live and think on a moment-by-moment basis as though Jesus Christ is Lord of our hearts?

I know I don't. I know that my heart is sinful, selfish, and rotten to the core. I know that I can't sing some of those songs in good faith sometimes. Sometimes I get so busy bringing God into the court of my judgment that I forget that I am already standing in His. I am standing in His courtroom and I have already been found guilty. And yet, this same God, whom I have been so hasty to condemn in my own heart at times, has not condemned me. Instead, He has adopted me as His son and promised me an inheritance as a co-heir with Christ. And He loves me too much to leave me in this sinful, selfish, rotten state in which he has found me. He is transforming me into the likeness of His Son, and that means cutting out my evil heart, refining me from my impurities, imparting to me His holiness. Just as he said to the woman caught in adultery, He tells me, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." (Jn 8:11, NKJV)

Will you join with me in praying this hymn to God this week, this month, this year? What about this minute? Will you? It's not a question of whether we can or not. In fact, while even in the midst of the hardest difficulties, there is nothing that can ever make it impossible to say no to sin, here there isn't even anything that can make it difficult, other than our own sinful hearts. It is merely a question of making a decision to align our will with that of our Father.

As you pray this prayer, meditate on the requests. Consider what each of these requests will look like in your own life, recognizing that God will do far more than we could ever imagine to transform us and sanctify us. I have included after each request a scripture reference that you might meditate on. Maybe print out the words and scripture references and pray and meditate on one each day for the next 24 days. However you pray this prayer, please also pray for me as I pray this prayer. And feel free to email me and ask me (and challenge me) to pray for you as you pray this prayer. God is calling us higher than we want to go, but He does not call us alone. He is with us, and He has given us a community to walk alongside on this journey.

More Holiness Give Me

More holiness give me (1 Th 3:11-13), more strivings within (Heb 12:4-5).
More patience in suffering (Jas 1:2-4), more sorrow for sin (2 Cor 7:10-11).
More faith in my Savior (Mt 14:30-31), more sense of His care (Lk 12:22-28).
More joy in His service (Acts 5:40-42), more purpose in prayer (Mt 6:5-15).

More gratitude give me (Phil 4:6-7), more trust in the Lord (Pr 3:5-7).
More zeal for His glory (1 Pet 4:7-11), more hope in His Word (Ps 130).
More tears for His sorrows (Is 53:3-4), more pain at His grief (Eph 4:30-32).
More meekness in trial (1 Pet 2:21-24), more praise for relief (2 Sa 22:2-7).

More purity give me (1 Jn 3:1-3), more strength to o’ercome (Is 40:28-31),
More freedom from earth-stains (1 Jn 1:5-10), more longings for home (Rom 8:18-25).
More fit for the kingdom (Lk 9:57-62), more useful I’d be (2 Ti 2:19-23),
More blessèd and holy (Rev 20:5-6), more, Savior, like Thee (Phil 2:1-11).

(Public Domain)

Soldiers of Christ, Arise!

When we think about spiritual warfare, our primary problem is that we think too little of spiritual warfare. We think too infrequently of spiritual warfare. We think too trivially of spiritual warfare. We think too casually about spiritual warfare.

Paul thought a lot about spiritual warfare. He thought about it often. He thought about it seriously. He thought about it strategically. He thought especially about it when He wasn't facing direct attacks from Satan:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." -Ephesians 6:10-12 (NASB)

Paul starts his discussion of spiritual warfare by pointing to the reality behind it all. Our enemy is Satan, the Devil, the Adversary (1 Pet 5:8), the Serpent of old and the great deceiver (Rev 12:9), the Tempter (Matt 4:3), the Father of Lies (Jn 8:44) who disguises himself as an Angel of Light (2 Cor 11:14). Arrayed against us are all of his forces, the demonic powers that rule this present world of darkness.

But we are also fighting against flesh and blood: our own. Our sinful, evil hearts desire to join the very forces arrayed against us. (The more I see how depraved I am in the depths of my heart, the more clearly I understand and identify with Paul's exclamations of his (and my) own unworthiness.) But thanks be to God that that it is not our flesh by which we resist the devil.

Paul points to the source of our strength to stand firm against him. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm. He then proceeds to tell us how to do so:

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." -Ephesians 6:13 (NASB)

You will be able to resist in the evil day. That is not just a statement about the fact that these days are evil (which they certainly are). It is also a statement of when you must take up the full armor of God. You cannot wait until the evil day, when the evil one is attacking you, to take up the full armor of God. The armor of God must be put on and kept on at all times. As Oswald Chambers put it so well, "You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual."

"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" -Ephesians 6:14-15 (NASB)

The first three pieces of the full armor of God. Keeping in mind that we are called to put on the full armor of God, not individual pieces, it is important to understand not only the connections between the attributes mentioned and the pieces of armor, but how those pieces of armor connect together. Many have written about the importance of understanding the composition of Roman armor to understanding this passage, so I will not go into terribly detailed descriptions of that here, with only brief mentions of things that I think are important about them. Instead, I will focus on how I have seen these pieces of armor fit and work together in my own life and my own struggles against sin.

Gird your loins with truth. Often translated the "belt of truth," the important thing to consider is that Paul places truth at the absolute center of resisting the attacks of the devil. This makes even more sense when you consider his teaching two chapters earlier in the second half of Ephesians 4, where he points to ignorance vs. truth as the starting point of the paths to a life of sin vs. a life of holiness. It's important to understand what Paul means when he talks about truth. "Truth is in Jesus," he tells us in Ephesians 4:21. Truth is what anchors our lives and the armor of God. We act based on what we have chosen to believe is true. If we sin, it is because we have let go of the truth that God hates sin. It is because we have "forgotten [our] purification from [our] former sins." (2 Pet 1:9).

What do I choose to believe is true? There are many layers to this. Each different temptation that we face requires a different truth to hold to, but truth is still "in Jesus." With regard to the sin of distrusting God, of worrying, of doubting Him, we must choose to believe that it is true that God is good, and that, if we give Him the freedom to define what is good rather than trying to limit him to what we see as good, He causes all things to work together for good, and that any thought that does not fit within that is sinful and to be rejected. With regard to the sin of sexual immorality, we must choose to believe that God has created sex for a particular purpose in a particular context with a particular attitude, and that any thought or action that does not fit within that is sinful and to be rejected.

What about when I don't feel like it's true? I don't. Oftentimes, I don't feel that the things I have chosen to believe are true. Oftentimes, I feel that God is not good, or that He is denying me something I deserve (He is, but it's not something I should be complaining about, considering what I deserve is eternal punishment), or that I will never feel fulfilled in Him. So what do I do in those times? I "gird up my loins with truth" and hold fast to what I have chosen to believe. But I have to do that in advance. It's hard to hold fast to what you've chosen to believe when you face temptations and hardships, even when you've studied and memorized and practiced holding fast to it. It's much harder to do so when you haven't put in the prep work.

Put on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate guards the heart. The breastplate of God's armor is righteousness. We have no righteousness of our own. Our righteousness comes from God alone. But God gives us righteousness in two different ways. The one that almost all evangelicals grow up learning about is "imputed" righteousness. Just as Adam's sin is imputed to us, so also Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, therefore we are righteous in God's eyes because he looks at us and sees Christ. That's true. But it's incomplete.

About the same time that we in American evangelical Christianity started pushing the modern idea of "eternal security" and "once-saved-always-saved" notions that saying a prayer once results in salvation no matter what happens after that, we started pushing out of our theology the other theory of righteousness, "imparted" or "impressed" righteousness. This is the concept that not only does God cover us with His righteousness, He also gives us His righteousness so that we can live righteously. The holy, righteous lives we live are proof that God has given us His righteousness, and they are the proof that we are relying on that imputed righteousness.

Different theological backgrounds express this different ways. The Catholics talk about the purification in Purgatory; the Calvinists talk about the perseverance of the saints; the Arminians talk about losing your salvation. These all are human (and therefore imperfect) ways to try to get at this seeming paradox between the two forms of righteousness, between the fact that we must rely wholly on God for salvation because our actions deserve only eternal damnation and the fact that God tells us to be holy in this life and keep His commandments and so prove that we are His disciples.

Just as letting corrosion sit alongside metal will corrode the metal, our evil hearts corrode the righteousness that God gives us. Only by continually seeking renewal at the source of righteousness and participating in cutting out and destroying the evil hearts within us does the breastplate of righteousness protect us. This is a moment by moment, day by day exercise.

Shoe your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Why must our feet be shod, and why with the preparation of the gospel of peace? And what does Paul mean by "the gospel of peace," anyway? For that, we have to look back at Ephesians 2, where Paul talks about the way in which Christ, in his flesh, destroyed the dividing wall and brought peace to the division between Jew and Gentile and between God and man. The gospel of peace is that we are now one body in Christ Jesus.

So again, what on earth does that have to do with our feet? Certainly, it means that we stand firm on the gospel of peace, that we are ready to stand firm on that, but it's still not entirely clear what exactly Paul means. The fact that sandals are necessary for the process of walking and we are called to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling" (Ephesians 4:1) in accordance with the gospel of peace seems relevant. Paul elsewhere talks of fleeing immorality and pursuing "faith, love, hope, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Tim 2:22). Being ready to do so mandates that we prepare ourselves to move quickly (not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense) away from temptation and into the pursuit of God.

"in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." -Ephesians 6:16

 Take up the shield of faith. This is one of those times that I do want to talk a little bit about the Roman armor, simply because I think Paul's imagery makes little sense unless you understand how the Roman shield worked. The shield was a large, curved rectangle made of wood and covered with stretched leather. Between battles, the soldier would have to treat the leather regularly with oil to keep it soft and supple so that it would not dry and crack and provide combustible materials for flaming arrows to strike. The soldier would also dip the shield in water immediately before battle to wet the leather so that it would extinguish the flaming arrows that hit the shield. So we see clearly that this shield of faith must be cared for and prepared for battle if it is to be of use against the "flaming arrows of the evil one."

But what is faith? Hebrews tells us in very flowery language what faith is, but for the purposes of this blog post, I'm going to define faith more straightforwardly: "Trusting that something we have chosen to believe is true no matter what our circumstances might be." This ties right back to the first part of the armor of God. If we have chosen to believe that something is true, then we gird up our loins with that truth and we stand firm with the shield of faith to extinguish the attacks of the devil.

I have chosen to believe that God is good. What are the darts of the devil in that battle? He will send flaming arrows that say "God isn't really good," "Where is God now?," and "Does God really care for you?" Only if I trust that what I have chosen to believe is true will I stop those attacks cold knowing that they are false, catching them and extinguishing them with the shield of faith. If I do not, if I allow them to pierce into me and set me on fire, then it is far more difficult to eradicate the sin. This applies in every area of sin. Letting one dart past that shield of faith brings pain and suffering, but it also makes it harder to block the next dart.

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." -Ephesians 6:17

 Take the helmet of salvation. There is of course an element of this which fits with the gut instinct on reading this: the hope of salvation through faith in Christ protects our minds from falsehoods. That is true. When we receive salvation from God it covers us and speaks to our weakness to grow us and help us to "keep our heads" in the day of battle. (Consider that we are called to no longer walk as the pagans do, in the futility of their minds and darkened in their understanding).

But this also points even more readily to what Paul talks about earlier in Ephesians. "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body." (Eph 1:22-23). "But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body . . . causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Eph 4:16). The head of me is Christ. Christ is my salvation. Do I live in constant acknowledgement of His headship over me? If I take this truth and hold fast to it, then I will.

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. After we have stood firm against the barrage of Satan's attacks, what do we do? The sword is the only offensive weapon mentioned in this passage which we control. How do we respond to Satan? We respond with the word of God. This again takes preparation. Just as a sword must be sharpened, and a swordsman must practice with his sword in order to be effective, we must prepare to use Scripture in this way. We must memorize it. We must practice using it. We must mentally prepare, thinking through how we will be tempted and how we will use scripture to respond to it.

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." -Ephesians 6:18

Pray at all times in the Spirit. The armor is what we put on. It is armor that must constantly be maintained and renewed, and that is only done by staying in fellowship with the source of that armor. We must constantly be in prayer. Prayer to prepare for temptation. Prayer to resist temptation. Prayer to confess our sins. Prayer to know more of God and more of ourselves. Just as we must walk clad in the armor of God, we must walk in a constant state of prayer.

So now that I've gone through a ridiculously long explanation of what it looks like in my understanding to put on the armor of God, I do want to share a hymn with you. This hymn, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, was written by Charles Wesley around 1741. It has been set to a lot of different hymns, but I first discovered it set to Diademata, by George J. Elvey, the same tune as Crown Him With Many Crowns.

The hymn walks through putting on the armor of God, but it does so in rich, beautiful poetry. I won't comment too much on the hymn itself beyond what I've already said about the scripture, but a few thoughts:

• In the second verse, we take to arm ourselves for the fight "the panoply of God." This is not a word we commonly use anymore. A panoply is a complete set of armor (or a complete set of something else). We cannot pick and choose which pieces we take. We must take all of the armor of God or we will not be effective.

• In the third verse, Wesley tells us to "mock their vain design" when we meet the demonic forces. Armed with the armor of God, holding fast to Him, we can join in his response to the plans and designs of the evil force who oppose us. "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them." (Ps 2:4). After all, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)

• In the fourth verse, Wesley reminds us of the potential for rot that I mentioned in talking about the breastplate of righteousness. If there is any unguarded place, any weakness of the soul, any place where we are not surrendering every fiber of our being to God, any sin that we want to hold onto "just a little bit" of, we are destroying ourselves from inside. (On a completely unrelated and musical note, the best way I could come up with to sing the "indissolubly joined" part was to speed through the first half of the word and then hold out the "olubly" syllables to match the music. Obviously the words were not written with a tune written a century later in mind.)

• In the sixth verse, Wesley talks of putting the "Gospel greaves" on. Greaves were essentially a shin guard. The preparation of the gospel not only prepares us to run, but to run even through snares and traps.

• In the tenth verse, "Tis written" is the word to apply in using the Sword of the Spirit. Just as Christ responded to Satan's temptations by citing Scripture, so must we. We must learn from Christ's example, memorize those passages that respond to the peculiar temptations that we face, and practice responding to them.

• In the final verse, we are reminded that this is a battle that we must continue to fight, every day, treading every power of darkness down, until Christ returns.

Soldiers of Christ, Arise

Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put your armor on,

Strong in the strength which God supplies Through His eternal Son.

Strong in the Lord of hosts, and in His mighty power,

Who in the strength of Jesus trusts Is more than conqueror.

Stand then in His great might, With all His strength endued,

And take, to arm you for the fight, the panoply of God;

That, having all things done, And all your conflicts past,

Ye may o'ercome through Christ alone And stand entire at last.

Stand then against your foes, In close and firm array;

Legions of wily fiends oppose Throughout the evil day;

But meet the sons of night, And mock their vain design,

Armed in the arms of heavenly light, Of righteousness divine.

Leave no unguarded place, No weakness of the soul,

Take every virtue, every grace, And fortify the whole;

Indissolubly joined, To battle all proceed;

But arm yourselves with all the mind That was in Christ, your head.

Let truth the girdle be, That binds your armor on,

In faithful, firm sincerity To Jesus cleave alone.

Let faith and love combine To guard your valiant breast:

The plate be righteousness divine, Imputed, and impressed.

Still let your feet be shod, Ready His will to do,

Ready in all the ways of God His glory to pursue:

Ruin is spread beneath, The Gospel greaves put on,

And safe through all the snares of death To life eternal run.

But above all, lay hold On faith's victorious shield;

Armed with that adamant and gold, Be sure to win the field:

If faith surround your heart, Satan shall be subdued,

Repelled his every fiery dart, And quenched with Jesus' blood.

Jesus hath died for you! What can His love withstand?

Hold fast your shield, and who Shall pluck you from His hand?

Believe that Jesus reigns, All pow'r to Him is giv'n:

Believe, till freed from sin's remains; Believe yourselves to Heaven.

Your Rock can never shake: "Hither," He saith, "come up!"

The helmet of salvation take, The confidence of hope:

Hope for His perfect love, Hope for His people's rest,

Hope to sit down with Christ above, And share the marriage feast.

Brandish in faith till then The Spirit's two-edged sword,

Hew all the snares of fiends and men in pieces with the Word;

'Tis written; this applied Baffles their strength and art;

Spirit and soul with this divide, And joints and marrow part.

To keep your armor bright, Attend with constant care,

Still walking in your captain's sight, And watching unto prayer.

Ready for all alarms, Steadfastly set your face,

And always exercise your arms, and use your every grace.

Pray without ceasing, pray, Your captain gives the word;

His summons cheerfully obey And call upon the Lord;

To God your every want In instant prayer display,

Pray always; pray and never faint, Pray, without ceasing, pray!

In fellowship; alone, To God with faith draw near;

Approach His courts, besiege His throne With all the pow'rs of prayer:

Go to His temple go, Nor from His altar move;

Let every house His worship know, And every heart His love.

To God your spirits dart, Your souls in words declare,

Or groad, to Him who reads the heart, Th'unutterable prayer.

His mercy now implore, And now show forth His praise,

In shouts, or silent awe, adore His miracles of grace.

Pour out your souls to God, And bow them with your knees,

And spread your hearts and hands abroad, and pray for Zion's peace;

Your guides, and brethren, bear For ever on your mind;

Extend the arms of mighty prayer, In grasping all mankind.

From strength to strength go on, Wrestle, and fight, and pray,

Tread all the pow'rs of darkness down, And win the well-fought day;

Still let the Spirit cry In all His soldiers, "Come!"

Till Christ the Lord descends from high And takes the conquerors home.

(Public Domain)

Go to Dark Gethsemane

We often want to skip past the time of expectation, Advent, to get to the joy of Christmas. Similarly, we often want to skip past the horror, grief, and dismay of Good Friday to celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. But when we do so, we deprive ourselves of a greater joy. The joy of the light of the Resurrection can only be truly appreciated in the context of the darkness of the preceding days.

But beyond that, there is another reason that skipping Good Friday is a problem. When we face trials, tribulations, and temptations, we have the example of our Lord and Savior to look to. "For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin." (Hebrews 12:3-4, NASB).

This hymn, Go to Dark Gethsemane, was written by James Montgomery in 1820, and has been sung to two alternative tunes, Redhead (1853) and Gethsemane (Monk), written in 1861 and adapted from a 1553 tune by Christopher Tye.

The video below is to the tune written by William Monk in 1861. If you choose to meditate on this hymn this weekend, I would encourage you to not sing the fourth verse until Easter Sunday. Spend the next two days meditating on the verses about Christ's suffering and sacrifice. If you do so, then singing the fourth verse on Sunday will be all the more joyful.

Go to Dark Gethsemane

Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power

Your Redeemer's conflict see, watch with Him one bitter hour,

Turn not from His griefs away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

See Him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;

O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained!

Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; learn of Christ to bear the cross.

Calvary's mournful mountain climb; there, adoring at His feet,

Mark that miracle of time, God's own sacrifice complete.

"It is finished!" hear Him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb where they laid His breathless clay;

All is solitude and gloom. Who has taken Him away?

Christ is risen! He meets our eyes; Savior, teach us so to rise.

(Public Domain)

The Olive, Without Crushing, Yields No Oil

As Americans, it is easy to complain about the things that make life difficult for believers here. We throw around the term “persecution” as if it has no meaning. But it does have a meaning. It means “to pursue in such a way as to injure or afflict; especially to cause to suffer because of belief.” (Thank you, Merriam-Webster Dictionary.) The neighbor down the street from you who doesn’t wish you a Merry Christmas (for whatever reason) is not persecuting you. The Muslim worshipping Allah at the mosque down the street is not persecuting you. The Supreme Court deciding that it knows what marriage is and is not and that the philosophical pronouncements of one Supreme Court Justice are on par with the Constitution in enforceability in the United States is wrong, foolish, and arrogant, but it is not persecution. (Although it does seem increasingly likely that this ruling will lead to persecution, as we have already seen business owners in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico who are being taken to court and sued for their life savings and forced out of business because of their beliefs about marriage, and it seems inevitable that someone will call for anyone who believes marriage is only between one man and one woman to be thrown in jail for it. (Oh, wait, I already know of at least one law professor who holds that opinion.))

Our brothers and sisters around the world know what persecution looks like. It looks like the Islamic State beheading Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya. It looks like the North Korean regime jailing Christians for their faith. It looks like Pastor Saeed Abedini spending years in an Iranian prison for his witness. It looks like the Church in China, where the true Church is underground, meeting in secret and getting bibles smuggled into the country to learn about God.

The church in China has been blessed with many great examples of faith and endurance over its years of suffering persecution. Watchman Nee, who was eventually martyred after 22 years in a communist prison, wrote a beautiful hymn that has been translated into English as The Olive, Without Crushing, Yields No Oil. The hymn beautifully captures the proper response to suffering: “Lord, Thy afflictions are true gain to me; what Thou removest, Lord, replace with Thee.”

We are not suffering the degree of persecution here in the United States that our brothers and sisters are in other parts of the world, but we can still learn from the powerful words of this hymn. In my life, God has bruised and crushed me emotionally in many ways, not because he desired to hurt me, but because He had to do so to prepare me for His purposes. A friend recently reminded me that beautiful cathedral windows can only be made out of glass that has been broken and stained. This hymn reminds me that olive oil only comes from olives that have been crushed. The wonderful aromas of herbs come from the plant only when its leaves are bruised. Wine only comes from grapes put through the winepress. I can only properly play God’s song that He has set forth for me if He has stretched and tuned the strings of my life as I present the members of my body as instruments of righteousness to God. (Romans 6:13).

If I am not surrendering everything to Christ in a life of relative ease compared to my brothers and sisters in the world, then why should I believe that I would do so when faced with the persecution to which they are subject? We should be ashamed that we hold back anything from our Father who has given us everything. We must follow Jesus, and His road was not an easy one. He faced hate, rejection, and death on a cross, and we are called to follow Him there so that we, like Him, can be raised to new life. Nothing on earth can compare to the glorious riches of Christ, yet we so often choose the things of this earth. But when God calls us to be broken, stretched, bruised, and crushed for Him (whether in a physical sense in persecution or in a spiritual and emotional sense as He sanctifies us), may our prayer truly be, “May I decrease. May Thou increase in me. Lord, Thy afflictions are true gain to me; what Thou removest, Lord, replace with Thee.”

The Olive, Without Crushing, Yields No Oil

The olive, without crushing, yields no oil;

The precious herb, unbruised, no fragrance frees;

No wine from grapes without the winepress toil;

Must I be bruised and crushed, Lord, such as these?

Lord, Thy afflictions are true grain to me;

What Thou removest, Lord, replace with Thee.

For sacred Love to find the melody

Must my heart’s strings be stretched and tuned by Thee?

Must I be smitten, Lord, to know Thy love?

I fear no loss, if Thou draw close to me.

Oh, how ashamed I feel for holding back!

You sculpted me, yet I myself retain.

According to Thy pleasure, dear Lord, act!

Mind not my feelings, Thy delight is gain.

Lord, should my joy and pain not match Thine own,

I’ll welcome, bear Thy yoke at any cost;

I’ll take the suff’rings for Thy joy alone;

If you are pleased, I’ll gladly bear Thy cross!

I want to praise Thee with the sweetest praise.

On earth there is none fairer, Lord, than Thee.

Tears cloud my eyes, yet sweetness fills my heart.

May I decrease. May Thou increase in me!

 (Public Domain)

The God of Abraham Praise

"Be still, and know that I am God. 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth!" 

-Psalm 46:10 (ESV) 

Some days God has to remind us to "be still" or "cease striving" (as it says in the NASB) and simply know that He is God. There are so many hymns of adoration, hymns that declare the glory of who God is and praise Him for it. For this blog post, I chose The God of Abraham Praise, which was paraphrased by Thomas Olivers around 1765 from The Yigdal of Daniel ben Judah, a Jewish judge in Rome in the 15th Century. Obviously, Olivers changed it significantly as he incorporated the revelations of the gospel into the Jewish text. It is set to the tune Leoni, which is a Hebrew melody.

I don't really want to say much more, but would rather have you just soak in the words of the hymn itself and adore God for who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. This is our God, who reigns above.

The God of Abraham Praise 

The God of Abraham praise, who reigns enthroned above, 

Ancient of everlasting days, and God of love. 

Jehovah! Great I AM, by earth and heav’n confessed! 

I bow and bless the sacred Name for ever blest. 

The God of Abraham Praise, at whose supreme command 

From earth I rise-- and seek the joys at His right hand; 

I all on earth forsake, its wisdom fame and power; 

And Him my only portion make, my shield and tower 

The God of Abraham praise, whose all sufficient grace 

Shall guide me all my happy days, in all my ways.

He calls a worm His friend, He calls Himself my God! 

And He shall save me to the end thro’ Jesus’ blood. 

 He by Himself has sworn; I on His oath depend, 

I shall, on eagle wings upborne, to Heav’n ascend. 

I shall behold His face; I shall His power adore, 

And sing the wonders of His grace forevermore. 

 Tho’ nature’s strength decay, and earth and hell withstand, 

 To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way, at His command. 

The watery deep I pass, with Jesus in my view; 

And thro’ the howling wilderness my way pursue. 

The goodly land I see, with peace and plenty blessed; 

A land of sacred liberty and endless rest. 

There milk and honey flow, and oil and wine abound, 

And trees of life forever grow with mercy crowned. 

There dwells the Lord our king, the Lord our righteousness, 

Triumphant o’er the world and sin, the Prince of Peace; 

On Zion’s sacred height His kingdom still maintains, 

And glorious with His saints in light forever reigns. 

He keeps His own secure, He guards them by His side, 

Arrays in garments, white and pure, His spotless bride: 

With streams of sacred bliss, with groves of living joys-- 

With all the fruits of paradise He still supplies. 

Before the great Three-One they all exulting stand; 

And tell the wonders He hath done thro’ all their land; 

The list’ning spheres attend, and swell the growing fame; 

And sing in songs which never end, the wondrous name. 

The God who reigns on high the great archangels sing, 

And “Holy, holy, holy!” cry, “Almighty King! 

Who was, and is, the same, and evermore shall be: 

Jehovah--Father--great I AM, we worship Thee!” 

Before the Savior’s face, the ransomed nations bow; 

O’erwhelmed at His almight grace, forever new: 

He shows His prints of love--they kindle to a flame! 

And sound thro’ all the worlds above the slaughtered Lamb. 

The whole triumphant host give thanks to God on high; 

“Hail Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” they ever cry. 

Hail, Abraham’s God and mine! I join the heav’nly lays, 

All might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.

(Public Domain)

The Way of the Cross Means Sacrifice

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." - Luke 9:23, NASB

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. - 1 Corinthians 4:10, NIV

 This is what we are called to. This is not a comfortable life, nor is it an enviable one by the world's standards. This is not to say that the wealthy/comfortable/well-off are not faithful followers of Jesus Christ (there are and have been faithful followers of Christ who have had great wealth), but it is to say that while Christ promises us many things if we follow Him, earthly wealth is not one of them. Christ does promise us that we will be hated and persecuted for the sake of the gospel (John 15:18-16:4). Paul reminds us that we will be persecuted for living godly lives (2 Timothy 3:12). But Paul also reminds us that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed (Romans 8:18). Christ promises that our sacrifices here are not in vain, but that we will have riches in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). But most importantly, Christ promises us that He will be with us (Matthew 28:20).

This hymn, The Way of the Cross Means Sacrifice, was written sometime in the late 19th century by a woman identified as Mary E. Maxwell. It is unclear exactly who she is, though there was a famous author, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, who married John Maxwell, who might be the author of the hymn. The music for the hymn was written by Ada Rose Gibbs.

This hymn is powerful. It challenges me (and hopefully you) to consider how I am living my life. Have I placed on the altar everything I have? Am I wholly true to the One who has claimed my entire being as His own possession?

Christ's sacrifice was as a sin offering for the sins of the entire world. Christ made atonement for our sin and cleansed us by His blood. So why are we called to take up our cross and follow? Why are we called to lay ourselves on the altar as well, if Christ's sacrifice is indeed all-sufficient?

This is an interesting question, best understood by looking back to the sacrificial system. Most people read about the various sacrifices in the Old Testament and completely ignore the different types of sacrifices. Christ's sacrifice was a sin offering. The sin offering was offered in different contexts, but the most famous one was the annual sin offering for the entire people on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), in which the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial lamb over the Ark of the Covenant. Christ's sacrifice was all-sufficient in that it does not need to be (and never will be) repeated. Christ opened up the way for all of us in to the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God. Christ is, even now, standing as our High Priest in the Father's presence to mediate between us and the Father.

So what is it that we are called to do? We are called to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1). We are called to make a burnt offering of ourselves, not in the literal sense, but in a spiritual sense. The burnt offering (along with the grain offering and peace offering) were offerings of worship to God in response to what God had already done and was doing. This differed from the sin offering, which was given in response to a person's failure to measure up to God's standard of holiness. However, the gifts for a burnt offering (or grain offering, or peace offering) were required to be without blemish. We are called to lay ourselves on the altar, knowing that Christ's sacrifice has covered our sins, and knowing that we are called to live holy lives in responsive gratitude.

Just as Ananias and Sapphira were judged by the Holy Spirit for trying to give only a portion and claim it was all they had received (Acts 5:1-11), we must not pretend to give ourselves to God and hold anything back. We must lay it all on the altar, knowing that God can do with it what He will. When those of us who are single hold back our desire to be married, we are not giving Him all that we are. We have to give it to Him, knowing that it may be burned and never given back to us. We may be called to live our entire lives in obedience as single people. That doesn't mean we're alone. We live in community with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The gifts given as burnt offerings were not things that the Israelites wanted to give away. They were the best lambs from the flock, the best grain, the firstfruits. We have to give God everything, especially the things we want most to keep.

The Way of the Cross Means Sacrifice

The way of the cross means sacrifice

As to God you yield your all

To be laid on the altar, the place of death,

Where fire will surely fall.

'Tis the way of the cross, are you willing for this?

What does bearing the cross mean to you?

You who've given yourself, your all to God,

To God are you wholly true?

As a voice of song and prayer we raise,

How easy to say, "We give all,"

Till some rougher cross lies just before,

And sterner is duty's call.

 Refrain

Do you falter then, or true to death,

Just die on the cross in the way?

Till the fullness of life from the living one

Is filling you day by day.

 Refrain

'Tis the plan of life, for you die to live

One with Jesus crucified,

With the life alone to be lived through you

Of the risen, the glorified.

Refrain

(Public Domain)