Making and Maturing

Gal. 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Make no mistake, we live in a culture that is fundamentally opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, as this NYT article makes clear.

I’m watching a live feed from Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt just hours after president Mohammed Morsi was removed from office by the Egyptian military.

Another kingdom falls.  It is amazing to see the different ways the players in this drama have each tried to control the outcome.  President Morsi relied on his position and constitutional authority.  The general population relied on their collective persuasive power in protests in mass numbers.  The army relied on its physical ability to literally impose their will.  

Over and against all of these wills and strategies, I was reminded of Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 2:20-21, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.  He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding…”

 As our nation celebrates our independence we must realize that even our political structure is not truly independent.  God is the Sovereign.  His authority cannot be subverted, superseded, or sidestepped.  At the end of the day, this is comforting truth.  I am thankful for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States, but most of all I am thankful that the whole planet is ultimately in the hands of the King.

There is only one story. This is the assumption of the authors of the Bible, and the Author of the Bible. This is not a new discovery, or even a remarkable one. Lately it has been remarkable to me.

In my theological education (for which I feel nothing but gratitude and indebtedness) this was not emphasized as a formal part of studying the Bible. It was assumed. But we cannot merely assume the grand truth that all of history is literally an epic, not anymore.

Tragedy and sin cause us to doubt the existence or validity of a grand narrative for history. Better- tragedy and sin give plausibility to Satan’s lie that stuff just happens.

Why do we need to pedantically assert the grand purpose of God in all of life? Because it is our only hope. Note Paul’s language in Eph. 1:11,

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will…”

The assurance of our future inheritance of salvation’s benefits rests not only on God pre-destining it, but on the fact the he has a purpose and works all things according to that purpose. One story.

So I say let time march on. While we acknowledge the difficulty on living in a world broken and tainted by sin, let us look to the future. Every minute that passes brings us one minute closer to the conclusion of the story. It is only at the end where God’s purpose will be completed, and only then will we understand how all the parts of the story fit together.

When it comes to our parts, we need to consciously, verbally remind ourselves that everything around us is part of the story. I have faith in the Author.

We have endured a difficult two weeks at GPBC.  We had no less than six emergency hospitalizations in the last ten days.  These are significant trials and we are hurting.

In such times we think of passages of Scripture that deal with trials.  Inevitably, we will come to James 1:2-4.  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  

Count it all joy?  Really?  The idea is simple.  James tells us that God is working a greater purpose through our trials, namely, our maturing as Christians, and therefore we can rejoice in times of trial.

The hard part about this passage is the phrase “various trials.”  Some translations have “variegated trials” or “trials of many kinds.”  This means that we are called to rejoice over all kinds of trials.  Uh oh.

Trials that result from persecution seem like the “easiest” to bear because in such trials we are testifying of Jesus Christ.  But what about the other kinds?  The sickness kind?  The financial kind?  The emotional kind?  The car accident kind?

This “rejoicing” is not trite, surface level happiness.  It is a deep seeded joy that acknowledges pain but embraces as a hard truth the existence of God’s greater plan.  In fact, the adjective “all” in “Count it all joy” is an intensive of degree.  This joy is “pure joy.”  We do not minimize the pain of these various trials, but we also must not give in to despair.

Many suggest is it wise to avoid passages like James 1:2-4 during times of trial.  I fear that this is motivated by a desire to avoid hard truths.  In times of trial the hard truths are the ones we need the most.  James 1:2-4 was written for times of trial.

I have been greatly encouraged by our church body’s response to our brothers and sisters in trial.  Even more so, I have been encouraged by our brothers and sisters in the trials themselves.  They have modeled to me how to consider these various trials as pure joy.  Let us count these trials as pure joy, because we know God is at work.