Zinger: “Every man is in tension until until he finds a satisfactory answer to the problem of who he himself is” (Francis Schaeffer).

Schaeffer remains a hero to me. He connected dots masterfully. He saw where ideas led. He was a master of pattern recognition. In that, I track with him profoundly.

Segue: I know it’s dangerous to say what we all know viscerally, namely, that we’re fallen creatures. Not some of us. All of us. “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10) because ” . . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Each morning when I shave and have to look myself in the mirror, I’m keenly aware that I’m looking at a man in need of work. Just as I have to train in order to meet certain physical fitness levels required in my line of work, I likewise must train my nature, my character.

Why? Because there’s lots of room for improvement. But the only way that sinner staring me back in the face each morning when I shave will ever meet God’s standard is to be holy. And I most definitely fall short there. I am embarrassed at times when I’ve spoken when I should have remained silent, and embarrassed when I let myself go when I should have said no, and refrained. Maybe you, too, can relate.

In sum, I need grace. I need mercy. Otherwise, I’m a failure. That’s what the cross of Christ is all about, dear ones. It’s God’s righteousness imputed to His people. But the way that transaction works is when we are broken by our sin and look to Christ alone for atonement. That’s the Christian’s hope.

God’s righteousness is imputed to all who repent and believe. We’re to look away from ourselves and to Christ.

Encouragement: If you’re perhaps like I am (a sinner broken by the lingering sin he sees in his life, and by the graciousness of the cross of Christ, that he would come for such as I), that’s the greatest possible brokenness. You’re broken but beautiful because an alien righteousness, that righteousness of God in Christ, clothes you in His robes, because our filthy rags were worn by Him in His substitutionary atonement. Let us look to Him in repentance and faith, knowing that He will not lose any who are His.

Introduction: An abiding favorite writer of mine is Flannery O’Connor. In her book Mystery and Manners, she wrote many zingers. This is one of them: “To know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around. The first product of self-knowledge is humility.”

Teaching: “To measure oneself against Truth” drives the honest man to his knees. Why? Because the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Pr 9:10). The proper fear of the Lord is one of reverence. It is not that God gets His jollies by mean-spiritedness. Just the opposite, in fact. God is patient with us. He suffers long for sinners. The Cross of Christ is His ultimate demonstration of that—that the triune God came on a mission of rescue of sinners.

We just celebrated another Christmas, a holy day (that’s the English word origin for “holiday”) that commemorates the incarnation of God the Son. But it’s shortsighted to not think through the incarnation of the Cross of Christ. It is Calvary, not Bethlehem, we’re to be thinking about, because the Cross of Christ demonstrates God’s patience and longsuffering towards us sinners. If we fail in the area of humility, we thumb our noses at the holiness of God. If we think we outsmart or outmaneuver God, we are fools. Nothing escapes God’s sight—nothing. This should lead us to humility and gratitude and selfless service.

Encouragement: As in many things, O’Connor was spot-on. We need to seek the approval of God rather than the approval of man. It’s come down in our day to be a cliché, but we should ultimately be serving an audience of One, because it is to God Himself that we will answer. Press on, dear ones, in the truth, knowing whom you serve, and work hard at it so that you may one day hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Text: “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked” (Pr 29:27).

Textual Analysis:

• Parallelism is the term for the literary technique used in the above verse. All that means is that the first part of the phrase reveals a pattern, a type of person, and the reaction he gets from another type of person. The unjust, wicked man is hated by the good man. Why? Because he is wicked. Because he should be shunned because he is just that–unjust. The good man is to hate that which is evil. Otherwise, you’re failing to take a stand for what is good and right. We are commanded to hate evil in Scripture: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Rom 12:9).

Reactions to Good and Evil:

• The good man or woman, in other words, is characterized as one who discerns justice from injustice, good from evil, transparency versus secretiveness.
• But did you notice the power of the second part of the verse where the poet writes, “but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked”? In other words, the good man is hated by the wicked man. Why? Because he won’t go along with wickedness. He will not cave. He will not give in. Why? Because his allegiance is to the Lord and to what is right, true, and good.

Encouragement: Folks, if you take a stand for the truth, for the light, for the Lord, for transparency, you can count on persecution. Jesus told us that up front:

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ (Jn 15:18-25)

But be of good courage, dear ones. God sees. And the truth will triumph. You can try to bury it, even in a tomb in Jerusalem, but the truth will rise again.

Text: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12).

Context: A.D. 62-63. Peter, an intimate friend of Jesus, though clearly a fallen man, but also a repentant man and disciple of the Lord Jesus, wrote from Rome, Italy (called “Bablylon” by Peter), wrote to “elect exiles”/Christians with one overarching message: the truth-telling prophet, the truth-living Christian will suffer, but it will all be worth it in the end. Therefore, press on in the truth.

Questions for Consideration:

• What is the office of the prophetic truth-teller?
• Are there not costs involved in telling the truth?
• What are some examples of the prophetic truth-teller in the Old Testament?
• What happened to them?
• Did they quit?
• Why does God raise up prophetic truth-tellers?
• Why is there a need for prophetic truth-tellers?
• Whom does Peter hold up as the model and apotheosis of prophetic truth-telling?
• What happened to the Christ?
• Should Christ’s prophetic truth-tellers expect anything unlike what Christ experienced?
• Whom does Peter say the prophetic truth-tellers served? Was it themselves?
• Do you see the authentic prophetic truth-tellers cave to the world’s system and the world’s way of doing business?

Encouragement: Always, always, always keep the main thing the main thing. Why? Because it’s so very easy to get sucked into comfort. It’s a hook buried inside the worm. It is trick bait for the undiscerning. The fish bites the worm and gets hooked. Then it’s too late. He is caught and landed and slaughtered for the appetite of the angler. The Christian, dear ones, is to recognize the prophetic truth-tellers when God sends them. Why? Because the prophetic truth-teller is God’s man. He is not serving self but you, God’s sheep. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying.