Life as a Church in One Verse

It would be hard to find a better description of what life together in the local church ought to look like than Paul’s imperative in Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” This side of glory, every member of Christ’s church carries a pilgrim’s burdens. Emotionally, physically, and spiritually, we bear the heavy load that is part and parcel of a cosmos under the curse of death. And as we carry these burdens that range from sorrow over a dying family member to loneliness to frustration in the workplace to the perennial problem of our own indwelling sin — oh to have brothers and sisters who pursue this vision with compassionate zeal, who will help us shoulder the load for the journey!

Here’s what Luther had to say about it:

“This is a gentle command with a great commendation attached. “The law of Christ” is the law of love. After Christ had redeemed us, renewed us, and made us his church, he gave us no other law than that of mutual love (John 13:34). To love is not to wish one another well, but to carry one another’s burdens – that is, things that are grievous to us, and that we would not willingly bear. Therefore, Christians must have strong shoulders and mighty bones, so they can carry their brothers’ weaknesses, for Paul says that they have burdens and troubles. Love, therefore, is mild,courteous, and patient, not in receiving but in giving, for it is constrained to wink at many things and to bear them (1 Cor 13:4).

Martin Luther, Galatians. The Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1998), 290.

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I am so grateful for brothers and sisters with strong shoulders and mighty bones, who carry my innumerable weaknesses with such kind forbearance.

A New Hymn on the Priesthood of Christ

I’ll close the week with a new hymn on the priesthood of Christ, written earlier this year by my friend Justin Wainscott. You can find more original and historic hymns, as well as many other thought-provoking quotes and thoughts at his blog, Theology in Verse.

Jesus Christ, Our Priestly Savior

M. Justin Wainscott, © 2009

Jesus Christ, our priestly Savior,

Melchizedek’s true line;

Though on us God looks with favor,

The work was wholly Thine.

The debt of sin required a price

Your blood has fully paid;

In your great priestly sacrifice,

Atonement has been made.

With voices strong we sing these notes,

Of mercy’s cleansing flood;

No more the need for bulls and goats,

Sufficient is your blood!

Your sacrifice was once for all,

Yet lasts forevermore;

Our risen Lamb reversed the fall,

And opened heaven’s door.

And now for us you intercede,

Our great high priest on high;

For ransomed sinners you do plead,

And offer up your cry.

With full assurance we can trust

Your ev’ry plea is heard;

The Father shall, indeed, he must

Accept your ev’ry word.

So give us confidence to know,

Our hope’s secure in Thee;

And let your priestly blessings flow,

Through all eternity.

Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus

As the week draws to a close, I’d like to consider a few hymns of the church that speak to Christ’s heavenly prayer ministry. I found this beautiful song in a 1955 Presbyterian Hymnal that found its way to me at some point. The hymnal holds a special place alongside my Baptist and Methodist hymnals, and I have found great delight as I have made use of its Scriptural and thematic indexes. Notice here that the second verse speaks of the ongoing priestly ministry of Christ in Heaven.

“Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus”

Hail, Thou once despised Jesus, Crowned in mockery a King!
Thou didst suffer to release us; Thou didst free salvation bring.
Hail, thou agonizing Saviour, Bearer of our sin and shame!
By thy merits we find favor; Life is given through Thy name.

Jesus, hail! enthroned in glory, There forever to abide;
All the heavenly hosts adore Thee, Seated at the Father’s side:
There for sinners Thou are pleading; There Thou dost our place prepare:
Ever for us interceding, Till in glory we appear.

Worship, honor, power and blessing Thou art worthy to receive;
Loudest praises, without ceasing, Meet it is for us to give.
Help, ye bright, angelic spirits, Bring your sweetest, noblest lays,
Help to sing our Saviour’s merits; Help to chant Immanuel’s praise.

John Bakewell, 1757

John Bunyan: Christ a Complete Savior

“. . . but to be saved and brought to glory, to be carried through this dangerous world, from my first moving after Christ till I set my foot within the gates of paradise, this is the work of my Mediator, of my high priest and intercessor; it is he that fetches us again when we are run away; it is he that lifteth us up when the devil and sin have thrown us down; it is he that quickeneth us when we grow cold; it is he that comforteth us when we despair; it is he that obtains fresh pardon when we have contracted sin; and he that purges our consciences when they are loaden with guilt.”

John Bunyan, “Christ a Complete Saviour,” in The Works of John Bunyan Vol I (Banner of Truth), p 215.

What would we know about the Holy Spirit if Galatians were our only Bible?

I found this post from Pastor Ray Ortlund to be very thought-provoking earlier this year. He posed the question, “What if Philippians were our only Bible?” He proceeded to give an impressive list of truths about God and the Christian life that we know strictly from this little letter. He closed by saying, “Makes me wonder, how much more is there in this Bible which I hardly know?”

As I have been working through Galatians on Sunday mornings, I have been struck by the prominent teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit in this letter that I usually associate strictly with justification. This lead me to ask myself as I waited for my wife the other day, “What would we know about the Holy Spirit if Galatians was our only Bible?” I’m sure this is not as thorough as it could be, but here is the list I compiled sitting in the car.

We begin the Christian life by the Spirit, through conversion (3:2)

We are to continue on in the Christian life by the Spirit as we began, not by works of the Law (3:2)

God supplies the Spirit to us by hearing with faith, not by our working and earning (3:5, 14)

The Spirit was “promised” in some sense in the Old Testament (3:14)

The Spirit is received as a result of Christ’s redemptive work (3:14)

The Spirit is closely linked with the Father and the Son in the work of our salvation, implying his equality (4:4-6)

The Spirit is rightly called, “The Spirit of God’s Son,” again closely tying his ministry to us with Christ’s (4:6)

The Spirit has been sent into the hearts of believers (4:6)

The Spirit within believers cries out “Abba, Father!”, affirming that we have been adopted as sons (4:6)

Isaac was said to have been born “according to the Spirit” rather than through fleshly human efforts as Ishmael was, and this parallels the believer’s conversion (4:29)

Through the Spirit, we wait for the hope of righteousness (5:5)

In our daily lives, we are commanded to “walk by the Spirit” (5:16)

The Spirit moves us away from gratifying the desires of the flesh (5:16)

The Spirit is in ongoing conflict with the flesh within the believer (5:17)

The Spirit leads the believer (5:18)

There is no law against the Spirit (5:18)

The Spirit produces Christ-like character and virtue in the believer (5:22-23)

The believer lives by the Spirit, and therefore should “keep in step” with the Spirit (5:25)

We are commanded to “sow to the Spirit,” and promised that if we do, we will “reap” from the Spirit eternal life (6:8)

J.P. Boyce on Christ’s Priestly Intercession

Here is another brief entry on Christ’s priestly intercession by a nineteenth-century Southern Baptist theologian. Like Dagg, Boyce does not presume to explain exactly how Christ’s intercession for his people works. He does, however, affirm that it is not simply a metaphor, but a real and vital ministry continually offered up for the church.

“While we are not to suppose that he is engaged in actual spoken prayer before God, we are also not to understand by this a mere influence of his sacrifice continued without further activity on his part, but some real activity corresponding fully to the essence of prayer and petition, to which is due all the blessings to which his people attain.”

James P. Boyce, Abstract of Systematic Theology (1887, reprinted 2006 by Founders Press, Cape Coral, FL), 293.

J.L. Dagg On Christ’s Priestly Intercession

“A part of the priest’s office consisted in making intercession for the people. The high priest did this in a special manner, when he went into the holy of holies. Jesus interceded, when he prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail; and when he poured forth to his Father the beautiful prayer recorded in John 17. But now, in the holy of holies, the immediate presence of God, he ever liveth to make intercession for us. (Heb 7:25) How that intercession is carried on, we cannot undertake to explain. What his mode of asking is, we know not; but in some mode, he asks, and the heathen are given to him for an inheritance, to the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. (Psalm 2:8) In some mode, while he sympathizes with his suffering followers on earth, he asks grace for them, to help them in their trials and sorrows, and his intercession prevails.”

John L. Dagg, Manual of Theology and Church Order (1857, reprinted in 1982 by Gano Books), 220.

Berkhof on Christ’s Intercession for Us

“It is a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life; that he is presenting to the Father those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds and which we often neglect to include in our prayers; and that he prays for our protection against the dangers of which we are not even conscious, and against the enemies which threaten us, though we do not notice it. He is praying that our faith may not cease, and that we may come out victoriously in the end.”

Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 403.

The Heavenly Prayer Ministry of Christ

Enon Baptist, a sister church, is holding a unique series of revival meetings during the month of November. They have set aside forty days to focus on prayer in the life of their church, and have asked several local pastors to come preach on this theme each Sunday night of the month. November really must be a busy month for my fellow pastors around here, because they asked me to preach this Sunday night.

After giving it some thought, I have decided to preach on the prayer ministry of the risen Lord Jesus on behalf of his people. I find myself quickly feeling discouraged when I consider my own prayer life, but my soul takes flight when I consider Christ’s continual prayers for me and for his church. So if the Lord wills, I will take up the text of Hebrews 7:23-25, and do my best to exalt Christ and encourage the saints at Enon. Most of the posts this week will pertain to this theme in some way.

There are a number of theological and practical reasons that lead me in this direction. Here are four:

1) The Trinity

I grew up thinking that the Trinity was a doctrine best left to the “experts.” There is certainly no more profound or glorious mystery in all of Scripture than the Triune nature of God, and no man could ever presume to understand this mystery exhaustively. And yet, it seems that we do not have the option of thinking and speaking about the God of the Bible without thinking and speaking about the Holy Trinity. The minute we mention Jesus we are plunged into Trinitarian theology! The writers of Scripture insist that the work of our salvation is a Trinitarian action: the Father appointing, the Son accomplishing, and the Spirit applying our redemption. Though we cannot fully comprehend the Triune nature of God, we can and should marvel at the mystery and beauty that has been revealed to us in Scripture, and I want to be intentional about doing this in the local church. This passage, in which the Son ministers on our behalf before the Father, gives ample opportunity to glory in the Trinity.

2) The Humanity of Christ

Probably for apologetic purposes, most of us naturally emphasize the deity of Christ, that Jesus is fully God. While this truth is magnificent, it seems that the NT writers seem equally as swept away by the humanity of Christ, that the Son of God became a man! Our very salvation depends upon the fact that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 2:5) By his human death he received the punishment for our sins as a man; by his human life he has achieved a perfect human righteousness for us; in his bodily resurrection he has secured our own resurrection; as a man he alone is qualified to represent us before the Father as our great high priest. I want to be in intentional about worshiping Christ in the totality of his person, as fully God and fully man. Meditating on the priestly ministry of Christ draws our attention to this.

3) The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ

When considering the work of Christ in salvation, it seems fairly common to end the discussion at the cross. Certainly our churches are not denying the fact of the resurrection or ascension, but I think it is easy for us to fail to think through its implications for our salvation as thoroughly as we do the atonement. Yet the resurrection of Christ is pretty close to the center of New Testament theology! Jesus is not still hanging in agony on a crucifix, but is the risen and exalted Lord, who is still ensuring our salvation by his ongoing ministry on our behalf. In my experience, these truths are rarely explored, but they cause the believer’s soul to soar! I want to be intentional about exulting in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ.

4) The Gospel

There is certainly an important place for teaching and exhortation concerning the spiritual disciplines — I have done much of this here, and regularly do as a pastor. But the lurking danger any time we emphasize what we ought to be doing in the Christian life is communicating that being a Christian is essentially a matter of human effort, and the Gospel is the call to make ourselves holy by our own teeth-gritting dedication. Before you know it, the marvelous grace of God and the call to faith in the sufficiency of Christ have been obscured. We simply cannot remind ourselves and our people too much that the Gospel is not a message about what we do for God with our lives, but we he has already done for us in Christ. The Gospel is the glad tidings of the grace of the Triune God seen in the finished work of Christ for his people. The Gospel reminds us that we are all colossal failures in the realm of godliness, and if our salvation depended on our spiritual devotion, we wouldn’t have a chance. But there is One who stands in our place at God’s right hand who did not fail and will not fail. And the more time I spend thinking on this, the more I find myself moved to pray and pursue godliness. I want to be intentional about keeping the Gospel central in the local church.

A Psalm for the Aging Saint

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.
Psalm 71:9

We do not know the author of this psalm, but we know that he is in the twilight of life, after years and years of walking faithfully before the Lord. He tells us as much in verses 5-6, “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, Lord, from my youth. Upon you have I leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.”

Such a saint has undoubtedly voiced countless prayers to the Lord over such a span of time – prayers of exuberant adoration, soul-rending confession, warm-hearted thanksgiving, earnest supplication. Perhaps it could be said of this saint that, like James the brother of Christ, his knees were like a camel’s after so much time in prayer. He says in verse 17, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.”

We can almost picture this faithful brother, growing in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man. First he is with his parents in the Temple, singing out the hallel psalms as he has been instructed, listening dutifully to the Torah being read, one of those olive shoots Psalm 128 describes. Then as a young man, as described in Psalm 119, he keeps his way pure before the Lord by hiding God’s Word in his heart, even as he takes a wife and raises up children in the fear of the Lord. And now, as his hair turns silver with age, he is viewed as a pillar of faithfulness by the believing community. He is the model believer.

And here in this psalm, we are invited to listen in on the private prayer of this grand old man. Imagine an invitation to sit quietly by during Billy Graham’s morning devotional. What spiritual riches might we glean from hearing such a man in prayer before his Lord? What sorts of stirring, tested expressions of faith might pour forth from the lips of this spiritual giant? As we draw near to the door, and lean over to catch what he says, we are surprised to hear the words that are recorded in verse 9, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is gone.”

It seems there is a trace of fear in the voice of the aged saint.

We do not know all the details of his circumstance. It is very likely that he is a king of Israel, whose enemies now see him as weak and vulnerable. We are told at various points in this psalm that he is pursued by those described as “wicked,” “unjust,” and “cruel.” (:4) He reports a plot against him in verses 10-11: “For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, ‘God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.” And as he looks around at the enemies who surround him, and considers his own condition, he is fearful. He is not as strong as he was in the days of his youth. He finds himself often short of breath. Perhaps many of the advisers and friends and family members whom he has leaned upon throughout his life have already died. And on this day, his honest plea is, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is gone.” (:9)

John Calvin once said that the psalms are an anatomy of the human soul. Every conceivable emotion is expressed in some way within these 150 psalms. And here, in psalm 71, we find the cry of the aged saint.

I found this psalm striking after spending part of the afternoon yesterday in a nursing home, going to visit a brother in his eighties who was just admitted that morning. As I weaved my way through the hallways to find the man’s room, I realized that everyone in that place was once youthful and healthy, able to do whatever they wanted to do. And now they are dependent on nurses and attendants to care for their most basic needs. Many are in physical pain. Many are lonely, separated from their families and the life they have always known. Many are depressed because they feel that they have lost their usefulness. This particular brother has lived a full life, serving in the Navy during WWII, driving a truck all over the US, and laying down a legendary bass in a Gospel quartet for decades. And as I took my seat by hi bed, it hit me that many of the men and women there are probably scared. Maybe not necessarily scared of death and facing the judgment seat — though perhaps that — but just scared of the whole process of aging and dying. It is so unfamiliar, so unnatural. And for the first time in my life, I realized that being in that position is probably terrifying.

And then I come to Psalm 71 this afternoon, one of the five psalms of the day, which expresses this very cry. This was such a kind providence, and as I read the text in amazement this afternoon, several important applications leaped out at me:

First, feelings of fear in aging are normal among even the people of God. I know that the context of this psalmist’s prayer is in some ways drastically different from ours, and the fears he feels here are different than ours would be. And yet these psalms were inspired by God in part to to give voice to his people’s experiences at all times and in all places. If the psalter is God’s instruction for how we are to speak to him in various life experiences of life, how can we not make this application for our people today?

Second, the Lord knows these fears and tenderly cares for his aging people in the midst of them. The very existence of this psalm as a record of God’s faithfulness to a needy saint in old age demonstrates as much. He is not aloof in our time of need; he draws near and speaks a specific word of peace and comfort. We should be ready with this word to share at the bedside of our discouraged and frightened older brothers and sisters.

Third, the memory of God’s faithfulness throughout life strengthens the aging saint in his hour of need. We find that throughout the rest of the psalm, as we listen to the old man’s faith strengthen with each additional sentence until he is rejoicing in song. [:10-24] How precious are those past conversations with our people, when they have shared testimonies of salvation, of God’s financial provision during the leanest of years, of his mercy in sparing their life in an accident. Tenderly recounting his faithfulness to them is a sweet and powerful encouragement to hope in him for the days ahead.

Fourth, the aging saint serves the vital role of bearing witness to God’s faithfulness to the coming generation. Hear the words of the psalmist: So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” They can show us how to trust Christ all the way up to the waters of the Jordan, and give us a model to look back upon when we come to the same point in our lives.

Let us love our aging people.

There is something touching in the sight of hair whitened with the snows of many a winter: the old and faithful soldier receives consideration from his king, the venerable servant is beloved by his master. When our infirmities multiply, we may, with confidence, expect enlarged privileges in the world of grace, to make up for our narrowing range in the field of nature. Nothing shall make God forsake those who have not forsaken him. Our fear is lest he should do so; but his promise kisses that fear into silence.

- C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Psalm 71:18

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