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“Do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
[Romans 2:4 HCSB]
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Repentance
Recently I taught on repentance, spending time in the greatest repentant song ever penned – Psalm 51. Two of my friends have done a great job summarizing both the Old and New Testament terms mainly used to capture the idea of repentance. Their insights were very helpful to me, and will no doubt bless you as well.
Shub
While teaching at Frisco Bible Church, Doug Greenwold of Preserving Bible Times spoke about the Old Testament term שׁוּב shub (shoob):
The Hebrew view of repentance involved a complete change in worldview. Shub is not just resolving to abstain from a particular sin, but abandoning everything you thought you knew about God and sin and embracing the covenant YHWH.
Metanoia
On bible.org, Bob Wilkin of Grace Evangelical Society described the context and use of μετάνοια metanoia – the Greek term that means to change one’s mind and think completely differently:
There are only three passages in the Epistles, and none in the Book of Revelation, which condition eternal salvation upon repentance. In those three passages repentance refers to a change of mind about Christ and the Gospel. Thus, repentance in those contexts is used as a synonym for faith.
There are a number of passages in the Epistles and Revelation which condition temporal salvation from God’s discipline or judgment upon repentance. In those passages repentance refers to a change of mind about one’s sinful behavior. People, both believers and unbelievers, must turn from their sins in order to escape the negative consequences which sin brings. The passing pleasures of sin (Heb 11:25) are far outweighed by the pain which is its constant companion (Heb 12:3-11; Jas 1:15).
My prayer is that God’s grace leads us to daily repentance, taking our sinful thoughts and actions captive so they can be traded for joyful abandonment to our Savior. As Robert Robinson wrote in 1757:
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin, Yet from what I do inherit, Here Thy praises I’ll begin; Here I raise my Ebenezer; Here by Thy great help I’ve come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood; How His kindness yet pursues me Mortal tongue can never tell, Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me I cannot proclaim it well. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above. O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothèd then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
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March 23, 2017 | Repentance
March 9, 2017 | Imprecation
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“Cover their faces with shame
so that they will seek Your name Yahweh.” [Psalm 83:16 HCSB]
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Imprecation
The word “imprecation” is a Latin term invented to describe a type of prayer in the Bible. It combines the Latin “in” and a Latin word for “pray” that emphasizes truth. Thus, imprecation is a prayer that God reveals truth in a situation. Scripture uses imprecation as an important curse voiced when evil is triumphant or right and wrong are badly confused.
Imprecatory prayers and speeches (Jesus gave many) are found throughout the Bible, yet they are especially emphasized in the psalms. Concerned with truth, imprecatory psalms call down judgment on the enemies of YHWH and His people.
Imprecation does not mean cussing or posting rants on one’s Facebook wall. Such are shallow pretenses that fall far short of God’s calling to imprecatory expression. In scripture, imprecation involves 5 aspects:
To our detriment, modern Christians don’t often pray according to God’s guide in the imprecatory Psalms. Because we won’t think and pray according to God’s justice, we are especially feeble helping those who are in the wrong (including ourselves) repent and find peace in God. And when we do pray imprecations, we tend to do it poorly.
William Gurnall’s wisdom
About 400 years ago, a wonderful British pastor named William Gurnall wrote The Christian in Complete Armor. This insightful book contains a long section on praying the biblical imprecatory psalms. Given that Rev. Gurnall lived through the English Civil War and the contentious Restoration – time periods that make our current divisiveness pale in comparison – his remarks on imprecation are astoundingly reserved. In fact, his biblical balance in edifying for all ages.
To save us from reading all of Gurnall’s chapter (though I do recommend you read it later) one of our church Elders, Randall Satchell, wrote this summary of our forefather’s teaching on imprecation:
When praying for God’s justice against the wicked, keep these points in mind in order to not go off the scriptural rails:
1. Don’t confuse your enemies for God’s enemies.
2. Pray, “Thy will be done. Their will be undone.”
3. Don’t name names – especially around other people. God perfectly knows who’s who, and who’s whose, but you don’t.
4. As with all else, the aim is God’s glory being known and magnified on the earth. Pray with that in mind.
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March 2, 2017 | The Lord Holds My Hand
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“A man’s steps are established by the LORD,
and He takes pleasure in his way. Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, because the LORD holds his hand.” [Psalm 37:23-24 HCSB]
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The Helper
The Lord holds my hand. Just think on that amazing image for a moment. In Psalm 37, we learn that the person who trusts in YHWH and yields to God’s leadership is established. God delights in that person, even when he or she stumbles. God rescues them and never forsakes them. Wow.
I was chatting with a friend about this psalm and he shared this moving summation:
The Lord is most capable of helping us. He knows us: our needs, our desires. He hears our prayers. He desires the best for us. He is able and most willing to establish the blessedness of His children.
Her best friend
This past week, two wonderful saints – married to each other for 71 years – passed into glory within hours of each other. Their daughter-in-law is my friend, and she wrote this tribute about her mother-in-law:
Maude loved Bill, her kids and grandkids. She told me once that her best friend was Jesus. She would talk to Him like He was sitting in the room with her…Well, today she really is sitting across from Jesus.
In other words, Maude agreed with Psalm 37. In fact, she lived it out. Neither she nor Bill was ever overwhelmed, because the Lord held their hands.
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February 23, 2017 | Exceptional For Others
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“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
[Matthew 28:19-20 HCSB]
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Exceptional
The congregation I lead is in the midst of a wonderful campaign designed to reform the church in preparation for massive growth coming to our area. I have been blessed to attend dozens of meetings within our church family, where I have heard a few versions of this excellent question:
I adore our church and think it is exceptional! Are you concerned that if we keep growing we will possibly lose what makes the church so exceptional?
I answer that the scriptures call us to live in tune with God’s Word and in touch with God’s world. So long as the church draws its marching orders from scripture alone, the tone never changes despite any shifts in scale. Conversely, if we stop resonating exclusively with God’s Word, we will become unexceptional – and that quickly – no matter our size.
In the same way, we will lose any Christ-like distinctiveness the moment we stop reaching out to touch God’s world. This is especially important where I live, as most of our newcomers are relocating from dramatically unchurched parts of America. Our situation is very similar to what Eric Metaxas describes in his new book If You Can Keep It:
There’s a paradox at the center of what’s been called American exceptionalism. It’s that a significant part of what makes us exceptional is that in some sense we are nation with a mission beyond ourselves and beyond our borders. We are a nation with a mission to the rest of the world. The idea is startling but inescapable. If we are to keep the republic, then, our keeping it is not merely for our own sake. This is a big idea, not often heard. And it can be stretched in the wrong direction. But at its core it is true and extremely important.
Substitute “church” for “American” and “body” for “nation” and this becomes a pretty good commentary on Jesus’ great commission. By the way, Metaxas goes on to point out that America learned that exceptionalism from her churches. He also stresses the import of laws for the country even as we would stress the significance of a church staying in tune with God’s Word. The goal is never to lose what makes us great – by inviting and training others to participate in it.
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February 16, 2017 | Family Reform
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“Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.”
[Luke 12:48 HCSB]
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Family reform
Recently I led a study of familial reform, especially emphasizing the need to continually keep re-forming our relationships in our families. When we rely on the Lord, it shows in our commitment to do the hard work required to keep family relationships ever fresh.
The responses were very edifying, and two in particular struck me as likely helpful to many of us:
The scriptures about family sparked me to keep influencing all our “weird” relatives. That’s what I wrote down as my commitment, and whether it actually helps those black holes in our extended family or not, I know the effort will help reform me. Of course, I won’t violate healthy boundaries…but I do need to show God’s love instead of pretending those people don’t exist. – a lady
Wayne, the need to stay ever fresh doesn’t require me to learn new things. At least much of the time, I know what to do. I just need reminded to actually do it…to approach my family with new zeal for the tried and true things I know but still neglect to implement. After church Sunday, we signed up to attend the Weekend to Remember coming in March [to Frisco, where we live]. You might want to encourage others to do so as well. – a man
He’s right! Family Life’s Weekend to Remember is a fantastic way to receive motivation as well as information. Here’s a link to their upcoming conferences: www.familylife.com/weekendtoremember
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February 2, 2017 | Tell New People Old Things
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“Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.”
[Luke 12:48 HCSB]
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Blessed to be a blessing
It is important to consider the implications of Jesus’ revelation in Luke 12 – a passage Randy Alcorn neatly summarizes as “blessed to be a blessing.” The inescapable conclusion is that we are endowed not merely for ourselves, but to fulfill Jesus’ great commission.
I recently began chewing the idea over with some fellow leaders. We were particularly applying this to our own area, to which hundreds of thousands of new people keep moving. This continuous influx necessitates change in our lives and our churches if we are going to fulfill Jesus’ commission in such a different environment. Below are some of our considerations…
We are here to tell new people old things, not merely new things to old people. One of the concerns everyone has in the back of the mind when responding to the Great Commission is a shift to being only outward-focused and no longer emphasizing discipleship. While I agree with the concern, it’s a false argument since serious discipleship always leads to a heart for others. Mere believers don’t lead the unsaved to the Lord; disciples do.
– Thomas Campbell
We should always be expecting growth, but even much more right now given the current circumstances of our area. Assuming that there are souls in our area who are being saved and added to the church every day and every week as we are sharing and living the gospel, we will be growing with new believers. As we are being effective at discipleship, we will be growing with existing believers who need our community. And as God is bringing tens of thousands of new residents to our area over the next few years, both types of growth will only increase and accelerate! We are in a historically rare position to know that this is coming, and to prepare ourselves for it both prayerfully and logistically.
– Randall Satchell
The world is changing, rapidly. Families, individual relationships, and churches are all facing massive obstacles – and anyone who says otherwise is pretending. Yet instead of despair we should rejoice, because these challenges represent a grand opportunity. The local churches that respond to change and lead through it will fulfill their ministry for this season and prepare wisely for the chapters yet to come. The way to respond is to live out a bold commitment to being in tune with God’s Word while in touch with God’s world. (Such was my contribution to the conversation)
Of course, I don’t know where you live. You may be in a place that is currently in decline. Nonetheless, the principles still apply since every environment on earth is always changing. You and I are blessed to be a blessing no matter what. We must sacrifice to bless others. We must reach out to fulfill the commission, taking the never-changing Message to an ever-changing people.
Doing so truly does make all the difference.
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