Illustration: I’ve listened to Billy Joel’s music most of my life. When I was a boy, I was fortunate to see him live in concert at least once. One of his tunes from the 1980s is titled “A Matter of Trust.” Below are some of the lyrics:
Some love is just a lie of the soul A constant battle for the ultimate state of control After you’ve heard lie upon lie There can hardly be a question of why
Some love is just a lie of the heart The cold remains of what began with a passionate start But that can’t happen to us ‘Cause it’s always been a matter of trust
It’s a matter of trust It’s always been a matter of trust It’s a matter of trust ‘Cause it’s always been a matter of trust
Connection:
Like many of Joel’s songs, this one is about relationships–their joys, mysteries, sorrows, and dramas. The theme of this particular tune is trust. Scripture, too, speaks to this issue of trust. The locus of the wise person’s trust is crucial. Upon whom should the wise person rely? Self? A spouse? A friend? A politician? A fellow soldier? A grandparent? God?
Per Scripture, the wise person will trust the Lord. Why? Because God is the one person who cannot lie. That is one of the most comforting truths in the world–that God cannot lie. Why? Because to lie would mean being less than holy, less than perfectly righteous. And that would violate God’s nature.
Encouragement: In Psalm 20, David writes the following:
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright (Ps 20:7-8).
I long to rise and stand upright. But that hinges upon the locus of our faith. The wise person’s trust should be in the one who is ultimately and wholly trustworthy, the Lord himself.
Intro: Regardless of when I read Psalm 2, it’s as if it is ripped from that day’s headlines.
Verse 1 portrays the nations as raging and people plotting in vain.
Verse 2 describes how the earth’s leaders set themselves against God and his Anointed/messiah.
Verse 3 personifies the world’s powers as wanting to cast off all restraint and oppose God.
You don’t have to be paying too much attention to world events to possibly think to yourself, “Hmmm? Why does this sound so familiar?”
Regardless of our worldview or our political leanings, surely we can all admit that we’re living through a civilizational shift:
Artificial Intelligence seems to pop up in almost every article or story.
The Middle East is a powder keg.
Religious iconography is being profaned and/or completely perverted.
Some politicians continue to be revealed as being bought and paid for by wealthy lobbies.
The list goes on and on.
Questions: What does the Lord, according to Scripture, think of all this? Is he taken aback? Is he befuddled? Just let Scripture speak for itself:
4He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Ps 2:4-9)
It’s almost as if God knows his creatures’ proclivities and natures through and through–almost as if he is sovereign, almost as if he’s letting people learn lessons. Meanwhile, the drama continues. It all plays out.
Introduction: Ever known a gossip? Ever known someone who has to share his/her opinion about seemingly everything and everyone? Ever known someone who seemed incapable of just being quiet? Ever known someone who assumes his/her view is so important that we’d all do well to just pull up a seat and imbibe his/her take on things?
I would wager we all know that guy and that gal. Some folks just don’t seem to have a mute button. They’re babblers. They just talk and talk and talk. They seem incapable of just doing something quietly. Sometimes when such people are around I’ll afterwards tell my wife, “She needs to get a hobby–something besides gossip.”
Scripture: “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler” (Pr 20:19). The Bible has a great deal to say about the tongue. God warns his people what not to be like.
“Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered” (Pr 11:13).
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Pr 18:21).
James 3:5-8 is crystal-clear: So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (Jas 3:5-8)
Scripture instructs God’s people to not be babblers and idle talkers. We’re not to be gossips or busybodies. When Paul wrote to Timothy, for example, he told him that women in the church were not to be “gossips and busybodies” (1 Tim 5:13).
Why was that so important that God inspired it in the canon? Because restless talk, gossip, nosiness, and busybodies destroy unity. They undermine the team. They sabotage the mission.
Encouragement: Does this mean we’re to always be reticent and uncommunicative? No, of course not. But we’re to use our speech wisely. The Bible instructs us in what not to be like but also what to inculcate as a habit of godliness. In the imperative section of the Book of Ephesians, Paul wrote, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Yes and amen.
When the second chapter of Job opens, we are met with a couple of profound realities. First, there is the phrase “sons of God.” “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD” (Job 2:1). This is a divine council. There are spiritual realities taking place in the heavenlies that precede events in the lives of men. That’s crucial for us to understand.
Spiritual warfare is a reality. There are forces at war in the divine and angelic realm. If and when we minimize that, it’s to our detriment. God included these phrases in Scripture for our instruction (Romans 15:4).
Second, God pays Job a huge compliment: And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me agains him to destroy him without reason” (Job 2:3).
Encouragement: God holds forth Job as a model of a trusting disciple and believer. Is Job going to put in the crucible of suffering? Absolutely. Will Job ask the most existential and agonizing questions of God and his (Job’s) three friends? Absolutely. But will Job emerge victorious and blessed by God? Absolutely.
But that’s getting ahead. For now, just remember this: God uses suffering to draw us to himself and to reveal the genuine. He purifies. He puts his people in the crucible of suffering in order to refine us, to purge us of impurities, to sanctify us–but with one overarching goal: to show us that he is God, that we are not, and that he is good and a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Text: 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:20-21)
Questions: Have you ever experienced immense suffering? Have you ever been mad at God? Have you ever blamed God? Have you ever shaken your fist at the heavens, even if only internally, and cursed God? Have you ever implied that it was God’s fault that you suffered? If we are honest, I think we’ve all been there. We may have articulated our anger in different ways. But if we’re honest, I would wager that most folks have “been there and done that.”
Context, Context, Context: The verses preceding the ones I quoted above recount how God allowed Satan to take Job’s property and children. Just let that sink in. Job’s sons and daughters were killed by the Sabeans (Job 1:15). Job’s servants and sheep were destroyed (Job 1:16). Also, the Chaldeans murdered Job’s servants (Job 1:17). You think we have it bad some days? Just read Job’s life.
Encouragement: But here’s what you must remember as you study the 42 chapters of Job: Job trusted God and in the ultimate goodness of God. Goodness cannot be separated from God himself. It is one of his immutable attributes. And God doesn’t change. Does God allow suffering? Yes, that should be obvious. But God is still good and God is still present through the valley of the shadow of death, in order that he might bring his people through that valley. Satan’s only good at destruction and division, not at construction or unity in truth. Please don’t miss that.
Introduction: I’m currently reading through the Book of Job. It is one of the masterpieces of world literature and of course sacred Scripture. The reason for Job’s prominence in the canon is straightforward: the Book of Job deals with “undeserved suffering.” Another way of phrasing it is, “If God exists, and God is good, then why suffering? Wouldn’t a ‘good’ God intervene?”
Those are great questions. And not to get too far ahead but, yes, God exists. And suffering exists. Yet God has intervened, continues to intervene, and is sovereign in and through suffering. Christianity alone deals with suffering in a way that no other worldview does—namely, by explaining why suffering exists and what God has done as the suffering servant to redeem and restore a people to himself through the gospel.
But in the first installment I wish only to focus on one particular topic, and that is God’s initiationof Job’s education. When the Book of Job opens, verses 8-12 of chapter 1 are crucial to understand:
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Job 1:8-12)
Teaching: If you don’t pay attention, you might think that Satan is running the show in the Book of Job. But it was God who summoned Satan, a created angel, to the court of heaven. It wasn’t Satan who initiated all of that was going to unfold. That’s so important. Why? Because God is the one who’s in control. God is the sovereign. Satan is a contingent, created, fallen being. God is not contingent, is uncreated, and holy. Again, pay attention to the text: “Have you considered my servant Job . . .?” was a question from God to Satan about Job. God was the initiator in all this. And God, if you’ll stick with me through Job, you will see is there at the end.
Encouragement: For now, however, just remember this: Satan’s not sovereign; God is. God is the hero of the Book of Job. Those who follow hellish counsel will be humiliated by the end of this history, and Job, the righteous sufferer, will be rewarded. But we’ll get there.
Text:12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14)
Context, Context, Context: Always keep the big picture in mind. The big picture is that God’s people are strangers and exiles in the world system. We’re to be salt and light in a world of rot and darkness. In the Book of Esther, set in Persia in the 470s B.C., Mordecai and Esther embodied and personified God’s people under Ahasuerus the Persian king. (Ancient Persia was a world power then. And here we are in our day once again dealing with the same region, but that’s another topic.) At any rate, Mordecai and Esther were Jews. And a holocaust had been decreed against them by wicked Haman and Ahasuerus (Esther 3:11).
Teaching: Mordecai was God’s man. He maintained short accounts with God. He prayed fervently. He interceded on behalf of his people against the wicked schemes of Haman, a yes man and utterly self-absorbed opportunist. Mordecai spoke to his adopted niece the words you read above in verses 13-14. “For such a time as this” has become one of the most cited verses in all of Scripture. Why? Because the wise person understands the times and what God’s people are to do. And what was Esther to do? Have courage. Be humble but act with courage. Trust the Lord and act with courage.
Encouragement: Courage is not the same thing as bravado. We all know people who inculcate bravado. Wicked Haman was such a person. And Haman is truly one of the most despicable people in history. He was self-absorbed, a flagrant self-promoter, shameless, and a liar. But God was going to use the courage of Mordecai and Esther, exiles and sojourners, to overturn an empire. Haman would get what was coming to him. But before that, it took one crucial element: the courage of God’s people. Nothing has changed, dear ones. Nothing has changed.
There is no paucity of zeal surrounding the understanding of “the temple” from myriad spheres–Christian, Muslim, political, etc. But what is the Bibe’s own testimony regarding the temple? Is it a building that is to be the focus? Is it a place of real estate that is to be the focus? How should Christians understand “the temple”? How do our understandings of the temple affect the person and work of Christ?
Text:
18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, 20 that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (2 Chronicles 6:18-21)
Context, Context, Context: In the passage above, King Solomon was dedicating the temple in Jerusalem. Notice the question asked up front: “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth?” (2 Chr 6:18a). Will God be amongst his people? Will God manifest himself? Will God take on flesh?
The second half of verse 18 answers the question. The answers? No, heaven cannot “contain” God, much less any house or temple. Folks, that’s crucial to understand. Yes, God will be amongst his people. Yes, God will manifest himself. Yes, God took on flesh. That’s the very definition of incarnation.
Christianity is not about a building, a piece of real estate, a political identity, or any such thing. It’s about God. It’s about Christ. Jesus is the temple.
All of the Bible coheres; it all tells one coherent, interconnected, unified story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. If we misunderstand the temple, we misunderstand the Christian worldview.
Revelation 21:22 reads, “And I [John] sawno temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” How clear is that? Crystal.
Encouragement: The temple was God tabernacling among his people. It was a picture of what God would do in the Son’s incarnation–dwell among us. What happened in the incarnation of the Christ? John 1:14 reads, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
As part of the church I serve as a teaching elder/pastor, we have begun sending out 60-second reels on social media entitled “Truth Through Theology.” The goals are simple: depth and brevity simultaneously. It’s no use decrying the fact that we live in a culture plagued by short attention spans. Most folks will not suffer through legthy, weighty, deep discussions or lectures or books. I could whine about that. But as the cliche goes, it is what it is. This is simply where most folks are. To gain a hearing, we almost always have to keep it pithy and easily digestible. Hence, our efforts via “Truth Through Theology.”
So what, right? Why should you care? Well, I’m glad you asked. The reason is that theology is unavoidable. Everyone has a worldview. No exceptions. Some folks are atheists. Some are materialists. Some are pantheists. Some are polytheists. Some are monotheists. Some are nihilists. Others, still, claim to be agnostic. The list could continue.
Regardless of the camp, however, everyone has a worldview. And theology is unavoidable. Everyone has a worldview, coherent or not, consciously held or not, regarding basic questions/issues like the following:
Where did everything come from?
Does God exist?
If God doesn’t exist, on what basis should creatures complain about categories regarding ‘justice’? Rocks don’t complain.
If God does not exist, are we not by definition just matter in motion, molecules in motion, hairy apes without freedom?
Why is there such evil in the world?
Where do we get categories of right and wrong, good and evil?
Where did mind come from?
How do you explain irreducible complexity?
Why is there so much suffering in the world?
How do we explain language?
What happens when we die?
What’s wrong with the world and is it fixable?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
This list of questions could go on and on. But each worldview has to grapple with these and other foundational questions. Regardless of one’s worldview, you have to grapple with these issues. Hence, “Truth Through Theology.”
In the Christian worldview, we have answers to these profound questions. God does exist. He has spoken. He has revealed himself in creation, in conscience, in the incarnation of Christ the Son, and in Scripture. For example, David wrote in Psalm 19 the following:
19 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voicemgoes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. (Psalm 19:1-6)
This is what’s known as general revelation. God’s creation attests to and manifests his existence.
Illustration: As I sit in my library each night and study, my desk and tables and chairs are littered with books. (My wife lets me know the stacks often grow out of control and that I need to give more of them away. Pray for me!) But here’s where I’m going. As I look at the book on my table beside my chair right now that I’ve put down in order to type this out, I could pose some basic questions about the book: 1) Did it just come into existence on its own? No, of course not. That would mean that it had to exist before it acually existed. Self-creation is utterly illogical. One does not birth oneself; 2) Did not the book have an author? Of course. It had an author. And it had an editor. And it was typed. And it was bound. And it was marketed; 3) And did the book not have a mind behind it, a mind that communicates with my mind through the media of language and culture and ideas?
Takeaway:Theology is unavoidable. Everything that has been created has a creator. Each worldview has to deal with the matter of origins. God is the Author of life (Acts 3:15). That’s enough for this installment, but I hope it encourages you to explore foundational/worldview questions. Thanks for sticking with me. More to follow.
Questions: What comes to mind when you hear the word prophet? One who predicts future events? Bravery? Truth-teller? Forth-teller?
In Scripture, all of those attributes are true. Think of Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John the Baptist, as just some examples. Each man was used by God to tell the truth forthrightly; each man was brave; each man did speak of future events that would and did take place, etc.
Now think of the text below from 2 Kings:
10They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, 12 and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. (2 Kings 17:10-18)
Teaching: Israel once again fell into idolatry and apostasy. They failed to believe God and follow his revealed covenantal promises. They sinned, and they grew increasingly callous. They sacrificed their children by burning them atop idols. The list is long of their abominations. And yet, God sent his servants the prophets. And what was their duty? To call the people back to God, to holiness, to restoration.
Encouragement: As I’ve said countless times to our people, “Soft preaching makes hard people; hard preaching makes soft people.” That is undisputable. If you tickle ears and pimp people sentimentally, you’re a hireling and coward. God hates such shenanigans. God calls his servants the prophets to tell the truth, to serve the Lord, to fear God and love the sheep of his pasture. The fear of man is a snare. If we’re God’s shepherds, we’re to fear the Lord and serve the Lord. And that baseline will shape the trajectory of our ministries because that’s the solemn office to which some of us are called. The crux comes in having people with enough discernment to distinguish between hirelings out for their own fame and fortune and the true men of God who are laboring to please the Lord Jesus and to serve his bride, the true church.
MIND & MATTERS 