Repent and Return (07/26/26)

We begin with a doubly-stated command:  Repent and return.  And I feel I must begin with a bit of a correction.  It seems most every preacher I have known speaks of repentance as being a matter of active turning, doing a 180 if you will.  While that sense of the matter may be apt, it does not actually fit our first command here.  It comes somewhat nearer to the second.  But this matter of repentance is more inward.  Funny how this connects with Francis Schaeffer’s discussion in True Spirituality, which I have been reading in the evening.  He has been making the point, from a number of different Scriptures, that both sin and sanctification begin with the inward, the thought life of the individual, only afterwards gaining expression in deeds and actions.

Repentance really does address the inward condition.  It is literally a command to think after, to reconsider, feel moral compunction, to change one’s mind for the better.  Strong’s suggests to know after.  The actual term begins with meta with its usual sense of amid, though modified to indicate succession in the accusative case, as we have it here.  So fine, coming afterwards.  It adds noeo, indicating the comprehension which comes of thinking.  You might be put in mind of the scolding parent’s instruction to her child, to go think about what he’s done.  And that is exactly the idea.  Think about what you’ve done.  Reconsider.  Think again, young man!  And when perhaps you begin to sense the enormity of just how awful your actions have been, learn from it.  Grow wiser, in order that next time you may do differently.  But it’s inward.  It’s the thinking upon what has been and what should be.

This leads to the active response, the physical outworking of the deed in the command:  epistrephate.  Again, we have a compound term, beginning with epi, towards, and strepho, to turn around, or reverse.  So, here, yes, we have that 180 idea.  And the first thing I observe is that in this commandment it is not so much the turning away from sin as turning towards God.  Peter is dealing with his devout Jewish countrymen, so it is quite natural to begin at the point of contact, with God the Father.  Return to Him.  How striking to be delivering this command to those who have come in obedience at the time of prayer.  To these, whose outward acts, whose very lifestyle in so many respects, is centered on obedience to Mosaic Law and Temple decree, God says through Peter, “Wrong way!”  All of these outward actions of yours are not in fact drawing you nearer to Him, may in fact be pushing you away!  They are not touching the inward man, and we must fix that before the outward act can conform.   Yes, this definitely fits the framework of Schaeffer’s point, doesn’t it?

So, you, you going to temple to pray, change course and return to God!  And with that message, he is immediately pointing them toward the One through whom – and only through whom – such a course correction can in fact be made.  It comes through Jesus, the Messiah appointed by God for you.  And it comes from the presence of the Lord.

Bear in mind that those to whom he is speaking would naturally associate Lord with Yahweh, or Adonai.  Either way, their thoughts would be in accord with their Jewish upbringing.  So he builds a bridge.  God sent Jesus.  God appointed Him to the Messianic office.  Oh, and for the nonce, He is in heaven with God, awaiting that day to which all the prophets have pointed.  We’ll get to that.  But first, I want to observe something as concerns repenting and turning back.  When we come to the end of the message, Peter observes that God sent Jesus, His Servant, to bless us by turning us from our wicked ways.  Now, instead of turning towards God, the term has changed.  Now, it’s apostrephein.  And there are two distinct differences to be seen here.  First, we are not considering a turning away from, apo, rather than a turning towards.  This is already an important distinction, and it becomes more important as we consider the distinction between sin and iniquity.

Sin is actually the softer term.  It speaks of missing the mark, falling short, or failing of one’s aim.  There’s a target set, and you missed it.  But when we come to iniquity, the picture sharpens and darkens.  Now we are dealing with actively malevolent deeds.  It’s not absentmindedness.  It’s not incapacity.  This is deliberate.  Again:  Thought life moving to action.

Now most of us, considering that deliberate, willful act of ours in the retrospection of repentance, would assume the need to act, to actively divest ourselves of such actions and the thoughts that produce them.  But that would drive us right back to the realm of works righteousness, the failed system Mosaic Law and Pharisaism.  Observe, then, that this turning away from iniquity is the act of Jesus.  It is the result of His blessing us.  He blesses by turning us from our iniquities.  But He is the active agent here.  We are the passive recipients.  That is not to say that we just lie back and wait for it.  There is a place for that mindset that Schaeffer’s been advocating, the ‘active passivity’ of Mary, acceding to that which God is doing.

Consider this commanded repentance in light of Peter’s first sermon.  There, we hear him say, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, each one of you, for the forgiveness of sins.  Thus shall you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Ac 2:38).  Of course, that sermon is coming on the heels of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the shocking impact that had on recipient and observer alike.  You, too, could know this gift.  You have but to repent and acknowledge Messiah’s Lordship of your life.  But it points us to where this capacity to turn away from iniquitous thought and deed lies.  It is in that gift of the Holy Spirit; the other Advocate, come to put is in mind of all that Jesus said and taught, to encourage our surrender to Him and our obedience to His teaching.  I suppose we could go so far as to say it is in His power that we attain the ability to change course.  It is, after all, God who is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Php 2:13).  And it is on the basis of that realization that we are encouraged to wrestle with the pursuit of sanctification.

How are we to do that?  The key is given us in Moses’ prophecy regarding Jesus, the one Peter brings to our attention.  Acknowledge this One whom God has sent, recognize Him for Who He is, and give heed to what He tells you.  This, then, is the second commandment of the sermon.  It is given somewhat indirectly as Peter relays Moses’ own words, but if anything, that just gives it more force in the ears of his listeners.  Moses – that one you are so busily obeying – told you about this Jesus, and told you to give heed in everything He says to you.  And Peter also adds the admonition of Moses as regards failure to do so.  “Anyone who does not heed Him shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”  This was the force of the ban which we both have seen in play during Jesus’ ministry, and shall see again as the Church takes root.  It’s the formula of excommunication, the official sanction of the religious authorities.  And given the nature of Jewish society at that time, it was particularly forceful.  If the High Priest declared you were under the ban, you were effectively expelled from society, at least from polite society.  Excommunication, in the age of the Holy Roman Empire, had much the same force.  There was but the one church, and it defined society in very many ways.  To be expelled from it was as good as being made a non-person.  You may feel I have overstated the case a bit, but I don’t think so.

Think about how that plays out in the instruction we have received as regards church discipline.  It’s the same principle, only the stage has become smaller, because there are so many local churches to choose from.  Add that our definition of local has become much larger.  Used to be one town had one church, and here in New England, if that church was too great a distance from the farm, well, it was time to establish a new town with a new church.  But the church remained front and center in the community.  It may well have served as town hall as well as church.  There was a much closer coupling between civil and spiritual governance.  Indeed, many New England towns were established as covenant relationships between the citizens of that town.  It was a serious matter to be a citizen, rather a devout matter after its fashion.

Still, church discipline may result in the expelling of an unrepentant sinner, and particularly as tolerance of his unrepented sin might well be perceived as acceptance of it.  It would become a poison in the body, spreading and creating worse disorder.  This comes particularly into view with false teachers, those who promote a gospel other than the one once for all received.  But then, the practice of sin by an ostensible brother in Christ is in fact a false teaching, and for many, it’s a false teaching that is taught with greater force than ever it could be from the pulpit.  And we, by our acceptance of such falsity, would be teaching right alongside them, informing the weak among us that it’s perfectly fine to continue in even such malicious and intentional sins.  Far be it from us!

But it will require the Holy Spirit sent forth into our lives, actively at work in our inward man, to turn us from our own wickedness.  And that, I must observe, is ever and always the goal of properly applied church discipline.  It’s not simply to purge the local church of some bad seed.  It is ever and always done in hope that such exclusion from the community of faith will result in restoration, will lead that one to repent and return, the Holy Spirit working with him such that the church has grounds to receive him back when once he has come to his spiritual senses.

So.  For us, the command remains:  Think again!  Turn to God, and listen to His Son.  Don’t just listen passively, nodding along and trying to stay awake.  Listen with comprehension.  Listen with active obedience to what He says.  Believe Him.  If you believe Him, truly believe Him to be Who He has said He is, there can be no other choice, really, but to obey.  God is speaking, and He is all-powerful.  You have heard the warning.  If you will not act upon His instruction, you will be cut off, utterly destroyed.  That is a message that offers no hope of restoration.  You have been excised, a dead branch thrown on the fire to be consumed and got out of the way, that fruitful growth may continue in the rest of the tree.  This is the second death of which John speaks in the Revelation.  This is eternal perishing, apart from God with no hope of parole.

How needful, then, that we continue to hear this command with its full force.  Think again!  Turn back to God.  Listen to this One Whom He has appointed to be your Messiah, your Christ, your Redeemer!  He speaks as He hears from God.  He has walked this life of man.  He knows what it’s like to be you.  And He has had mercy.  He has sent forth the Holy Spirit to abide in you, to instruct you, to urge you towards the Way.  It has often been said that God is a gentleman, and will not force you against your will.  I suppose that seeks to express that same ‘passively active’ cooperation that Schaeffer describes.  But it somehow seems to wind up indicating a far more active role on our part.  It is active, but it is utterly powerless apart from God.  It is a yearning after holiness, but ever accompanied by the frustration of knowing it is beyond our reach.  As Jesus Himself taught us, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).  That hasn’t changed.  That didn’t stop when once we first believed.  It continues to be our situation in the ongoing battle of sanctification.  That battle consists in repentance, in turning towards God as our only hope, and acceding to the Spirit’s guidance and efforts in turning us away from our iniquitous actions.  It consists in holding the ground He has gained for us by the strength of will He supplies us.  It consists in renewing our minds in Christ, in order that our thoughts may be sanctified.  The sanctified life will follow, the natural fruit of the Spirit working within.

Appointed Matters (07/27/26)

I’ve something of a jumble of notes in front of me this morning, loosely grouped under this heading of “Appointed Matters.”  We have that aspect most clearly stated, of course, in verse 20, where Peter speaks of God sending “the Messiah appointed for you.”  Yes, Luke writes it as the Christ, being a Gentile, but Peter is a Jew speaking to Jews, and it is most likely the case that he used the Jewish term.  But more to the point, Jesus is a man who was known to those who were listening.  He wasn’t some idealized concept.  He wasn’t a myth.  He was one who had walked among them, whom they had, as Peter already noted, put to death by the hands of the hated Romans.  That was, I think, a point more to the fore in his first sermon, but it’s still here.  This one you had crucified; He is the Messiah God appointed for you.  And again, if there were any who could hear the veracity of this message, or who even suspected the veracity of this message, this must have stung.  This is a message to leave one in dismay.  My God, what have we done?

But Peter’s not here to condemn.  He is offering the true hope of the Gospel.  This is something of the ultimate, “Think again, child,” coming from Abba Father.  You’ve acted, and that action cannot be undone.  But you can learn from your error.  Think about the enormity of that which you have done!  Think about the depths of your offense against holy God, the One to Whom you came to present your prayers and petitions!  You’ve come to Him, now turn to Him.  Receive that which He appointed for your good.  It’s not yet too late.  And observe, this Jesus whom you killed is yet able to be sent.  He raised Him from death, this Jesus whom you killed.  It didn’t stick.  And neither need your sins, heinous though they are, stick.  Your sins may be wiped away.

Is that not the most shockingly amazing thing?  Who could expect this of a holy God, that He would forgive your slaughter of the very One He sent to rescue you?  His very Son!  And yet, this He is ready and even anxious to do – not that God can undergo anxiety.  And get this:  Those times of refreshing of which Peter speaks have in mind an appointed time.  We have before us the word kairos, which gets to the purpose, the necessity even, of these times.  It’s not just that it makes the attendant action convenient.  It may very well not be convenient.  But it is the right time, the appointed time.  Times of refreshing are appointed for you!  From the very One against you have so grievously offended.  What is required of you?  Recognize what you have done.  Confess your sin for the sin it is, and then turn to Abba Father.  Stop your headlong rush into destruction, and come instead to Him.  Ask His forgiveness.  Receive His Son as you should have in the first place, and all your sins – yes, even that one – may be wiped away by His loving hand, and the appointed times of refreshing may come to you when He sends Jesus Messiah once more.

Now, the NET suggests this notice of Jesus being sent develops the theme introduced by the disciples’ question of Jesus prior to His ascension.  “Is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Ac 1:6).  That’s possible, certainly.  Luke is a rather elegant writer, after all, and is certainly capable of threading his themes through the narrative he presents.  But there’s a twofold aspect to this, surely.  The disciples, even as they asked that question, were still thinking in terms of political Israel, if you will, or dynastic Israel perhaps.  They were still looking at the immediate situation, looking to return the nation to past glories, such as they were.  But Jesus’ return is about so much more than merely the nation of Israel.  And that, certainly, is something that becomes increasingly evident as the book of Acts unfolds.

More to the point, Peter speaks as one who has known the appointed Messiah, and has also witnessed His ascension.  He speaks of it here.  This Jesus, the one you killed, the one who shall be sent, is for now received into heaven, as is necessary until the time God has appointed for the restoration of all things.  Interestingly, as Peter turns to this part of his message, it is no longer kairos, but rather chronos.  There is a real passage of real time involved here.  It suggests that this restoration is not going to be some instantaneous, snap of the finger event, but rather a development, a process.  Arguably, the whole of the church age has been the onset of this process of restoration.  But if that was what Peter had in mind, then we ought to expect that Jesus has already returned, and that is clearly not the case.  So, he is pointing forward to yet a later time.  Yet, it remains a period of time in real history, even as the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry was a period of time in real history.

That time, as this one, remains appointed insomuch as all unfolds as the Father has spoken.  We may not be able to mark it down on our calendars with date certain, but we can be certain it shall come to pass.  He will send Jesus.  Times of refreshing will come.  All things will be restored.

Peter presents us with multiple reasons to be sure of this.  First, there is the unified testimony of the prophets, men whose official sanction as spokesmen for God are firmly settled.  It goes all the way back to Moses, who spoke God’s promise of another prophet like himself to come.  It echoes through Samuel, and through all those other prophets who came after.  We will consider that aspect more in a succeeding portion of this study, Lord willing.  Suffice to observe for the moment that God has spoken, and as He has spoken so it is.  From our perspective, that which is may yet be future, such that we tend to speak of it as what shall be, or may be.  But there is nothing of uncertainty to it, nothing contingent.  Go back to the beginning.  God spoke and it was.  That hasn’t changed.  God speaks and it is.  His word does not fail, and He is not a man that He should repent of His word and change course.

It’s not quite the passage I had in mind, but it will serve the purpose.  “I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance” (Isa 45:23).  I’m following the NASB with that rendering.  And isn’t it something that we should see this assurance of His permanent word in conjunction with that declaration that is so central to the Apostolic understanding of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh?  As to the other half, it is interesting that this declaration in regards to God’s utter certainty comes from Balaam.  Yet, its passage through his mouth does not render it any less true.  “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent.  Has He said, and He will not do it?  Has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Nu 23:19).  It does make his sin all the more incomprehensible, given he knew this, but it does not damage the truth that it was spoken by him, any more than those blessings which he declared over Israel, however reluctantly, were less applicable for his having spoken them.  These were not his words, after all, but God’s.  And God cannot lie.

Bear that in mind.  God said there would be another to whom all must listen on penalty of utter perishing.  This wasn’t Moses setting up a dynasty into which Joshua could step, and another after him.  Joshua doesn’t enter the picture, really.  He was not another prophet, let alone one like Moses.  He would command, but it did not fall to him to institute.  He had not the authority to proclaim new doctrines, establish new forms of worship, and indeed, had he done so, he would have been roundly rejected by God, whatever man might have made of him.  But he knew better.  He had been in the presence of God, witness to those meetings Moses and God had together.  I still debate whether he heard any of it, but that’s beside the point.  He was in the presence of holy God and knew it.  And he knew himself, knew his place.

Peter adds another assurance of God’s intentions in observing that his listeners are sons of the covenant, the covenant God made with their forebears, in making covenant with Abraham.  That covenant, of course, includes us in its scope, though Israel failed to recognize it.  I mean, the wording is rather blatant, is it not?  “In your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  The original, in Genesis 22:18 speaks of nations rather than families, at least in translation.  What have we got there?  Goyem.  I suspect that term is sufficiently familiar, even to us.  It is a reference to foreign nations.  It is a reference to all nations.  None are to be excluded on that basis.  That is not to say that every last individual of all nations shall be saved, shall be sons of this covenant.  No more did God’s covenant with Abraham assure that every last Jew would be proven a son of the covenant, circumcision notwithstanding.  What is assured is that God upholds His promise.  The nations shall be blessed, all of them.

One suspects that this was still something of a dawning realization for Peter, never mind those to whom he is speaking.  It gives further evidence that his message is not strictly his own, but that he is speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  For, he closes with this notice that Messiah was sent, “for you first.”  And that “first” makes all the difference.  He is not for you exclusively, but you have first access, right of first refusal if you will.  I’m tempted to think of it rather like the access that streaming services urge upon you for premium service.  You can see the show before everybody else gets access!  Or not.  But then, those offers come with an additional fee.  This first-in-order presentation to the Jews in Jerusalem carried no such fee.  The cost was the same for them as it is for us, and as it is for any individual who comes to faith in Christ.  It is at once free and costly beyond measure.  It won’t put a dent in your bank account, but it will cost you everything.  For to confess His lordship and receive Him who was appointed, is to turn over the course of your life to His direction.

I want to touch briefly on two matters before I move on from this section.  The first concerns the nature of covenant.  The second concerns the nature of blessing.  Both, in light of Peter’s message here, I wish to consider as pertain to God as the one covenanting and blessing.  As concerns the matter of covenants, Zhodiates observes that when God establishes these with man, He is not opening the matter for discussion.  There is no place here for negotiated terms.  He and Moses did not, for example, debate the obligations laid upon man in the commandments etched on those tablets.  Abraham did not argue for a better benefits package before being put to sleep while God completed the signing ceremony.  God does not negotiate.  He declares.  His covenant is, as Zhodiates puts it, His “unconditional disposition.”  We do well to recognize this, even as we are entered into the covenant of grace.  We are in no greater a position to barter with God, to petition for better terms, or for release from this or that obligation.

Go back to that firm declaration about His appointed Messiah.  Every knee shall bow.  Every tongue shall confess that He is Lord.  If He is Lord, as you have confessed, then His word is Law.  His command is not a suggestion, and your obedience is not optional.  Recall that centurion who came to Jesus seeking healing for his child.  “I tell a soldier to go, and he goes.  I tell another to come, and he comes.  I tell them to do, and they do” (Lk 7:8-9).  He said this, of course, in recognition of the authority that resided in Jesus.  This was as good as bending the knee.  And this one was but a commander of troops, not a governor, not an emperor.  Here, we are considering Jesus, the appointed Messiah, the Lord of lords, above whom there is none greater.  His word is absolute, His command inviolable.  To refuse, or even to delay is criminal, and worthy of whatever punishment He may deem to assign.  One does not negotiate with the King of kings.  One bows and complies.

We are in a unique place, as sons of God by adoption.  He is our Brother, our Husband, and as such, we are in a particularly close and loving relationship with Him.  Yet, He remains Lord, and we are most explicitly not.  Love does not excuse disobedience, does not permit license.  But it does, I think, alter the nature and the tone of our compliance.  Perfect love, the perfect love of God for us, casts out all fear of punishment (1Jn 4:18).  We reverence, but we do not fear, for we are well established in His love, confident of His care, and clear on His Lordship.

Okay, let me turn briefly to the topic of blessing.  To bless is to speak well of.  That is the literal basis of the word.  We would be familiar with it from funeral services, where one delivers a eulogy for the deceased.  We speak well of the dead, and most often, whether they are deserving of it or not.  After all, whatever our sins, we would prefer to be remembered kindly when it is our time to die.  If one thinks about this, and considers their feelings on the matter, it really does suggest that whatever we may say about our faith or unbelief, there is that within us that knows; that recognizes that life continues past the grave.  What cause have I got, after all, to care about legacy if I am gone to oblivion?  That is the nihilist’s great disconnect, I think.  If all is ultimately meaningless, then what point in living at all?  Why pursue it?  Why cling to it?  Better to pass swiftly through this realm of pain and sorrow and be done.  But there is something in us that knows better, whatever our soaring intellects may say to the contrary.  It does matter, this life.  There is more to it than simply having fun, eating, procreating, and then leaving the scene.  So we bless the dead, and we hope that those left behind when we are gone will bless our memory.

But the picture changes when God blesses.  With us, there’s little more we can do than say a good word, offer a kind sentiment, hope for the best.  With God, however, (and again, I turn to Zhodiates for an apt phrasing), “His speaking is His action.”  I go back again to Genesis, with the declaration that He spoke and it was.  With His blessing, He speaks and it is.  With His blessing, He speaks good over us, and His speaking is His doing.  He doesn’t just hope for good things to come our way.  Neither does His speaking good over us indicate assured material riches for us.  Neither does it demand material poverty of us.  These really have nothing to do with good as God defines goodness.  We, as finite, physical beings, tend to measure by what the senses can perceive, and by what will give us pleasure in the moment.  For we are not really equipped to contemplate eternity with any great perception of it.  Try as we might, we really cannot conceive of eternal reward except we see some evidence of it in the physical present.

But God’s good is measured not by comfort and convenience, but by true good.  Goodness, in His view (and He is Good, so His view is necessarily the correct view), is a thing measured according to our true need, not according to our passing desire.  We may desire good health.  Indeed, it’s hard to imagine we wouldn’t.  But God may find that some besetting illness or handicap is more to the purpose in our instance, at least for the present.  We would likely prefer it if we were financially well off and free of any concern as to our provision.  As I draw ever nearer retirement, I feel that changing somewhat.  It’s easy to feel no concern when income is steady and bills are fairly consistent.  Yes, yes, all is well.  We can handle anything that might come up.  But when that spigot of income gets turned off, what then?  Is there enough set aside?  Can I count on being able to deal with costs of healthcare, house maintenance and the like?  I don’t need conspiratorial rumors of nefarious agents of government intent on raiding my retirement funds, emptying my bank accounts, or shifting to some social capitol approach such as China has implemented.  It would take far less to produce debilitating losses.  And what then?  Won’t be that many years, really, before any thought of meaningful employment would become bitterly amusing anyway.  Shall I go bag groceries for minimum wage?  And will that keep up with grocery cost, let alone medical bills?  I rather doubt it.

But these have next to nothing to do with goodness.  They have to do with comfort and convenience.  It would be most convenient to continue to have my pay but no longer be required to give of my time and energy to earn it.  One might question how much energy it takes to sit at a computer all day.  I know I used to question why my father was always so tired at day’s end when all he did was sit at his desk most days.  Okay.  I get it now.  Mental activity as every bit as exhausting as physical, even if it does so by different means.  And I find, even with two weeks of vacation laying ahead of me, that working up the energy to actually do something with it is proving shockingly, dismayingly difficult.  Where is the urge to create?  It used to be all but unstoppable.  Now, I can barely be bothered to practice, let alone drive toward finished product.

But God is Good, and He acts for my good.  These present sorrows and trials; the concerns for my wife’s health, the concern for my daughter’s spiritual wellbeing, the disappointment of foregoing this year’s ministry in Africa, the frustration at how slowly things are going with guitar, and how little time and energy I have to pursue my musical pursuits, concerns over the direction of the church, and all the rest of those things that weigh upon me – all of them are present because God sees it serving some good and necessary purpose in my growth.  It’s harder, I suppose, to think of growing as one gets older.  But it doesn’t stop.  Maturation doesn’t stop.  Gaining in wisdom doesn’t stop, unless we stunt its growth by our own hardness of heart.  And even then, God is faithful, and fully able to chisel out that stony heart to be replaced by a heart of flesh that loves as He loves.

I stand amazed.  Well, truth be told, I sit amazed.  But the amazement is no less.  Who I have become, by His hand, amazes me.  To consider what I could have been, likely would have been apart from His intervention!  How marvelously He has directed the course of my life, even when I would have nothing to do with Him.  Who could imagine?  I, who was ready to just lounge through life, who thought thirty to forty years of existence unlikely, and seemingly undertook to do my best to make certain of that, and now going on seventy years, and rather wishing for more, if only my body and mind and spirit are up to the task.  But God knows the number of my days, for He has numbered them.  And the number He has determined is the right number, the best number for me.  May I be found content and resting in Him however long or short they may be.  And may I be found thankful, whatever providences He has arranged for my good.  Because they are for my good.  He has declared it, and whether or not I can rightly perceive it, so it is.  I will do my utmost to rest in that realization, and pray His forgiveness when I fail to do so.

Lord, You know well enough the unrest that is in me, even considering what should be a restful few days ahead.  I am full of cares, trying to carry all these loads.  And they are not mine to carry, are they?  Help me, then, to leave things to You.  I don’t know why it seemed right to arrange this time.  Certainly, with Jan’s health at present, it doesn’t seem particularly right.  Even the restlessness of last night – I am up early, I know Jan’s been up and down all night – do not bode particularly well for fun and adventure.  But perhaps fun and adventure aren’t the point, only my flesh pining for my youth.  Who knows?  Well, You do, obviously.  Me?  Not so much.  I am just anticipating negatively.  Remind me to rest in You, to trust You with even these few days away.  Bless us according to Your goodness, and it will be enough.  Let love be refreshed and restored between us, and I would beg of You that You grant my beloved – Your beloved – a reprieve from the aches and pains and seemingly endless concerns that age and health have inflicted upon her.  Let this be truly a time of refreshing, both for us individually, and for us as a couple who represent You in our marriage.  Let love be.

The Manifold Nature of Sin (07/28/26)

Not that the subject of sin isn’t deserving of considering at length, but I have only a few brief observations to make in regard to that topic at present, so this ought to be a short subsection.  There are three terms often used by Scripture to speak of sin, of which two are present in our passage.  The first is the word sin itself.  Curiously, this word seems to have association with archery, at least in some sense.  It is concerned with a failure to hit the mark.  It may be that our effort has fallen short of the goal.  It may be that the arrow flew wide.  Both of these aspects come into play.  What I don’t recall ever seeing associated with sin is the idea of having overshot the mark, which always seemed to be an issue in my schooldays.  Of course, at that age, there was amusement in overshooting, the unauthorized competition to see who could make the arrow fly farthest.  But I think we could add that to our picture of sin.  After all, overshooting the mark has this tendency of resulting from unauthorized pursuit.  We become overzealous, perhaps, in our pursuit of what we account to be piety.  Perhaps we lay more importance on our particular outward expressions of faith than they ought to have.  Perhaps we account our contribution to ministry, our position, as being more critical to God’s success than it is.  In which case, best we remember that apart from Him we can do nothing.  Apart from Him we are nothing.

But all of these matters of aim and effort converge on one central fact.  You missed.  Whether it be through lack of exertion, through failure to follow instruction, through overstepping your proper bounds, or through utter disregard for instruction and simply doing as you please and calling it piety, you missed.  It may seem trivial to you.  Perhaps you see it only as that gym class, a little bullseye target down range, which to hit or not is of no particular consequence.  Fate does not hinge upon your success.  Failure will not result in death and destruction on all sides.  At worst it might lead to a bit of ribbing over your lack of skill, but that can be played off pretty easily.

Sin, by way of comparison, is always a matter of consequence, primarily because sin is ever and always acting against, or failure to act with, a perfectly holy God.  He defines what is right, and you have done wrong.  He defines what is good and instructs His children to pursue the good course.  Failure to hit the mark is, then, a failure to pursue the good course, failing to achieve those good works which God prepared beforehand that you might do them (Eph 2:10).  And if we have not pursued the good way which God indicated, what possibility remains but that the way we have gone is bad?  There is no neutral in this.  We are either obeying God or we obey some other master, and if we obey another master rather than God, then we must conclude that we are pursuing evil.  We may possibly be able to honestly claim we were unaware of our deeds.  And isn’t that exactly what Jesus offered in defense of those very ones who stood jeering at Him while He was on the cross?  Indeed, that prayer of forgiveness extended even so far as the Sadducees who had stirred the crowd to call for His crucifixion.  “Forgive them.  They know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).  And hasn’t that been echoed in Peter’s message here?  “I know you acted in ignorance, and your rulers, too” (Ac 3:17).

Of course, ignorance in regard to the sinfulness of one’s actions, or of one’s lack of action, will do nothing to minimize said sinfulness.  The criminality of the act remains the same, whether done unthinkingly or done deliberately.  And I would add a further note here, that our failure to pursue those good works God prepare beforehand for us to do does not in any way hinder God’s purpose.  He didn’t need us to do those things.  He graciously granted us a part in the doing.  But His will is done.  His word does not fail.  His purpose is achieved, whether it be with our happy compliance and cooperation or without.  What changes is not the outcome of that good purpose, but our reward in heaven.  Oh, we are not in danger of being excluded from that place, if in fact God has called us to Himself.  Forgiveness is yet ours in Christ Jesus.  But there is a wide range of reception, it seems to me.  On the one end of the range there are those to whom Jesus declares, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:21).  On the other are those whom Jude perceives as making it as if snatched out of the fire (Jd 23).  That echoes Paul’s concern.  He writes to the Corinthians of how each man’s works will be tested by fire, and many will see what they thought to be good works burned up.  “And he will suffer loss, but will yet be saved, even though it be as through fire” (1Co 3:15).

How does this comport with the promise of every tear wiped away and sorrow fleeing in heaven?  I can hardly speak with certainty to that question, for I’ve not been there, nor has any other.  But it does seem to imply variation in reward or honor amongst the redeemed, and why should there not be?  Yet, I suspect the magnificence, the glory of beholding our Lord and Savior in the fullness of His true being will suffice to drive off any dismay.  There will be no place for competitive piety here.  There will be no envy of those whose rewards were greater, no belittling of those whose rewards were lesser.  All will be subsumed in the joy of being in the presence of most holy God.  All will be preoccupied, if you will, with choruses of, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.  Worthy is He to receive all honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen!”

With that, let me turn to consideration of the second term we have present in this passage:  iniquity.  I have tended to just slide past this variation of terms and settle on the ‘sin is sin’ mindset.  But there is in fact a rather significant distinction to be made here.  When we come to iniquity, we come to the active evil of malevolence.  Malevolence removes the wildcard of awareness.  It removes the impotent excuse of ignorance.  Malevolence implies intent.  We have moved on from such failures as might result from incompetence, laziness, or distraction and into deeds of open rebellion.  We have gone from disregard to sticking our thumb in the eye of God.  It ought to be unthinkable that the child of God could act in such fashion.  And yet, I suspect that if we give earnest attention to our sinful deeds subsequent to coming to know our God as Lord, we must find that in many cases, if not all, such active rebellion must apply.  We know better now.  How could we, then, do what we have done, except it be in open rebellion against His Lordship?  I suppose we can still point to things done in ignorance.  But even that ignorance at some point becomes sinful, willful refusal to learn as we ought to have learned.

I think of that gentle complaint leveled by the author of Hebrews. By now you should be teachers, but instead you need someone to refresh your knowledge of the basics!  You should be on solid food, but you’re still in need of milk (Heb 5:12).  Does this not become sin on our part at some point?  Failure to mature is surely falling short of the mark.  At some point, it seems to me, it becomes willful refusal.  It shows a character shaped more by Toys ‘R’ Us than by God.  “I don’t want to grow up.”  And it metastasizes into “I refuse to mature.”  Look around you.  We have ample evidence that such a mindset doesn’t settle for the lazy, passive aggressive deed of sinfulness, but moves on to the malevolent pursuits of iniquity.

Now, let me observe the response.  Sins can be forgiven, the guilt of them wiped from the record.  It requires but that response of rethinking our decisions, choosing a wiser course forward towards the God Who Is.  And He, having been sought for forgiveness with honest confession of the error of our ways, is faithful and just to forgive (1Jn 1:9).  It does nothing to damage or diminish His righteousness, for the penalty has been paid by Christ on our behalf.  The requirements of Justice have been satisfied.  Iniquity, on the other hand, requires something a bit more.  Here, there is need of turning away, a cessation of that pursuit.  That action, is presented to us as a present active participle.  It is a state of being, a continual turning from.  Now, I mention that it is in the active voice, the subject performing this act of turning.  But we must ask, who is the subject here, and who the object?  We are caught up in Jesus, the Servant of God, sent to bless us.  Assuredly, He is the active party in this blessing.  The matter of turning is presented to us as a descriptive statement as to what that blessing is.  He blesses us by turning us away from these things.

Beloved, understand this.  You and I are powerless to turn away from those things by our own exercise of will.  It’s there in Jesus’ observation of his three chief disciples.  “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41).  We might even find cause to wonder just how willing our spirit is at times.  Our thought life, in this regard, must be lumped with the flesh, I fear.  It is weak.  It cannot maintain the premise, and will instead wander off after iniquitous thoughts.  But God.  Our theme returns.  In spite of it, God was and is with us.  He is acting to shift our thinking.  He is renewing our minds  He is speaking in our conscience through the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is God Himself.  We are able to think better of our hungers.  We are made able to choose not to sin.  We don’t always manage it, but at least now there is the possibility, where before we were slaves in a very real sense, incapable of resistance and compelled to follow our lustful nose.  To be able to perceive goodness and pursue it?  This is blessing indeed!  To know that where we fail (and know that we will), there remains the open door of forgiveness, and the potential to grow more wise?  That is hope for the hopeless.  And believe me, left to our own devices, we are hopeless; painfully, utterly hopeless.

So repent of your sins.  Confess them to God for what they are.  As Schaeffer has urged.  Be explicit.  Name them.  Don’t settle for gauzy generalities.  And then seek forgiveness and know that you have it.  Know that God has sent Jesus with this blessing of empowering you to turn from your wicked, rebellious pursuit of your own way and walk instead in accordance with His Way.  And let your praises ring, that it is so!  Undertake to walk in the glorious freedom of the children of God; not freedom to do as you please without repercussions, but the liberty to walk holy even in the midst of this vale of temptations.  For God is with us.

The Unified Testimony of Scripture (07/29/26)

Much like the later example of Paul, Peter speaks in such terms as his hearers will understand, in hopes that they will indeed receive what he is saying.  He does not insist on their acceptance based on his having performed a miracle.  Indeed, he has rejected any such credit, assigning the working of that miracle to its rightful source in Jesus of Nazareth.  Neither does he lean on any claim he might make of speaking on the authority of this Jesus, though he urges faith in His authority, His name.  Rather, he builds his case upon their current understanding.  He starts with them where they are.

He, as they, stands in the temple complex, the central expression of the Mosaic order, and of the Jewish identity.  I’m sure there were plenty of Jews for whom religious observance was more a matter of societal expectation than real devotion to God or to the pursuit of holiness.  They are not so unique a people as all that, nor were they so very different in this historical era from what we are in our own.  But those who were coming for the hour of prayer, we might suppose, constituted a more devoted bunch.  It would be rather like the way I used to view those who came for Wednesday night services.  These were the truly devoted.  These were the ones seriously in pursuit of God.  Of course, that was as much a prideful assessment on my part as anything, since I was firmly that number.  And now?  I don’t know as I could take the honest measure of my present mindset.  But I don’t attend Wednesday night services for whatever reason, be it the fact that I’m there Thursday nights, and involved in other related activities on Tuesdays, be it because of challenges presenting on the home front, whatever it may be.  But I don’t feel less holy for it.  Not saying my feelings are right.  Just saying that’s what they are at present.

Anyway, let us suppose that those present on this occasion were, like so many, firmly committed to upholding the image of Moses, retaining a sense of his unique place in the history of God’s people.  This was, after all, the one!  He heard from God.  He spoke for God.  He was the one who led the Israelites out of Egypt, through the Wilderness of Sin, and up to the borders of the Promised Land.  And those who made the trek with him had seen him move with God’s power, speak with God’s authority, even if it was in the exercise of his delegated office.  The people understood, were compelled to understand as events unfolded, that this Moses heard from God, and this Moses spoke for God.  His word was Law because it was God’s word.  This still persists in the unique place that Torah holds in Jewish practice.  Those first five books, the ones Moses wrote:  They are non-negotiable.  The later prophets could, on some level, claim the same authorization, and thus we hear the repeated appeal to the Law and the Prophets.  But those later prophets only spoke as reinforcing what Moses had already laid out.  They came not to promote new modes of worship, or new understandings of Scripture, but to remind God’s people of what had already been declared, what they had agreed to with the full solemnity of covenant.

That foundational, irrefutable authority of Moses is the basis for Peter’s appeal here.  This Moses, the one whose word is Law to you, on which basis you have come to temple today – he spoke of the one to come, a prophet like himself, to whom all Israel should give heed.  Peter’s not making things up out of whole cloth, he is simply directing your attention to that which is written.  Okay.  Be careful here.  We know, given the record of Christ’s own temptations, that the devil is perfectly adept at directing attention to what is written, but in order to deceive.  The written word alone is not the point, nor even the human source of that word.  It’s the meaning that matters far more than the syntactical construct, far more than memorization of some particular translation.  If we don’t understand the point, the recitation is pointless.  But Peter isn’t merely reciting rote memorization of the passage.  He is driving at intent.

Additionally, we must recognize, he is not speaking from the basis of opinion.  He’s not mining the text for a verse here or there that might appear to back his thesis.  He’s actually speaking from experience as well as from Scripture.  Add that he is also speaking from the direct teaching of the One of whom Moses spoke, though that aspect can hardly come to bear just yet.  But we start with Moses, the foundation of Jewish religious life and practice such as it was intended to be.  Here was the authoritative voice, the one whom no Israelite could deny.  And what had he said?  Another is coming, and when He comes, you are to give heed to everything He says.  Not just give it a listen and form an opinion.  Here it as at least equally authoritative.  In point of fact, Moses was pointing to one far in excess of his own status and authority.  Did he know it?  I suspect so.  After all, what he spoke, he heard from God.

He was, then, a type of Christ in his own right.  He was the Lawgiver, the declarer of God’s message and God’s intentions.  He guided.  He interceded.  He judged.  He led.  All the authority of heaven was focused on his person, even when he had assigned elders under him.  And, I might observe, that authority was quite separate from the religious order of the priests.  He answered to that authority as well, but then, he also authorized that authority.  It’s a difficult intertwining of powers to properly understand.  But we see that it continued.  Temple and palace when the time came for kings and buildings.  Prophets formed another independent wing of governance, at once submitted to the king, and required to speak God’s truth to them when necessary.  And not just to them, but to the people; and not just to the people, but to the nations.

And so we have the condensed quote from Deuteronomy 18:15-19.  We have its promise and its warning.  One is coming to whom you owe full submission in all that He may say.  And the warning:  That call for obedience is absolute.  If you fail to heed His instruction, you shall be utterly destroyed, eliminated from among the people.  Why?  Because this One is in “immediate communion with God.”  That is a phrase Zhodiates applies to the prophetic office, and if ever it applied to that office, it assuredly did so in the case of the Word made flesh.  If Moses, a mere man, was to be obeyed without question, far more this One who is God Incarnate.  If rebellion and questioning the authority of Moses was punishable by death, as happened with the sons of Korah, then assuredly, to question to the authority of this One Who reigns forevermore is deserving of equally eternal perishing.

This Jesus, this one whom we nailed to the cross, was and is God’s authorized agent, declaring God’s message to God’s people.  You were warned from of old.  To dismiss His word is to be put out of the covenant, out of life.  It seems to me that we need to feel the full force of this Mosaic prophecy when we come to the Mount of Transfiguration.  There, as Moses stood beside the One he had foreseen, now with the more complete knowledge of one awaiting His day in heaven, the true Promised Land, we hear the Father speak.  “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to Him!” (Mt 17:5).  Same terms, I’m quite sure.  Don’t just listen to Him like you do the Sunday sermon, which you sat through, perhaps even took notes, but will have forgotten completely before the week is out.  No.  Heed His word.  Here it as the word of your God and King, for that is exactly what it is.  To hear Him is to hear God, in His case, quite literally.  To disregard Him is to disregard God, again quite literally.  And what can result of that?  It won’t be the freedom you so eagerly pursue.  It won’t be the goal of self-rule.

Interestingly, Peter turns from Moses to Samuel.  To me, it feels like a misstep.  But that is in part because I do not share the full cultural context, nor the understanding that comes of that context.  If I were looking for another foundational prophet, I might consider Elijah, or perhaps Isaiah.  But historically, Samuel certainly comes earlier, and also stands as the prophetic authorizer of Israel’s king.  As I said, the lines of authority that apply between king and prophet are tangled.  The prophet authorized the king, and yet, the prophet submitted to the rule of the king, at least insofar as that kingly authority did not conflict God’s rule.

I appreciated this observation from Smith’s Bible Dictionary, for it helps put in perspective Samuel’s place in Peter’s argument.  He writes, “Samuel represents the independence of the moral law, of the divine will, as distinct from legal or sacerdotal enactments, which is so remarkable a characteristic of all the later prophets.”  As Jesus would observe, “Something greater than Solomon has come” (Mt 12:42).  And note well that this came in rebuke of their failure to recognize that one whom Moses had foretold.  He stood there before them, and they dismissed Him.  And this, too, had been declared by the prophets.  “He didn’t look like a king, that we should recognize and follow Him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.  He was one from whom all turned away, thinking Him contemptible” (Isa 53:2-3). Peter alluded to this in the previous part of this sermon.  What you did was the fulfillment of what God had said through His prophets, that Messiah would suffer (Ac 3:18).  It doesn’t excuse the means by which this was fulfilled, but it does demonstrate that God’s plan and purpose has not been disrupted in the least.  You were accounted for.

Interestingly, Peter doesn’t range forward from here, iterating through the prophets to build his case.  Rather he goes backward.  He moves from the prophetic to the covenantal.  “You are sons of the prophets, and sons of the covenant.”  But it’s not the Mosaic covenant that is in view here, but rather, the covenant with Abraham; a covenant, we might observe, established not on ritual, legalistic compliance, but on faith believing.  Had Peter yet arrived at this full an understanding of all the implications of Messiah?  That’s not entirely clear, but I suspect so.  He may not have been able to articulate it as Paul would, but he had been taught by the Best.  Who, after all, had spent the last month or so explaining to His disciples the very connections which Peter has been establishing, opening their minds to recognize how all of Scripture – Law, Prophets, and Wisdom alike – spoke of Him.  The Truth had been there in its pages from the outset, but somewhere, for some reason, the full understanding of it had failed.

And he pushes back farther still, to that earliest notice of the coming Messiah as Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise.  There the promise was made, of the Seed who would restore all things.  Even in that first and darkest moment of man’s fall, God was already assuring the fallen that He was able to make them stand.  He is faithful, and really, that’s what matters.  That is what has always mattered.  Behold!  First to last the Bible attests to it.  He has said it and He will do it.  He has said it and He has done it.  It is finished.  And by His doing, we too are now sons of the prophets and sons of His covenant, a covenant established in His eternal blood which, like that covenant with Abraham, God undertook by Himself.

We are sons.  As sons, may we grow in maturity, demonstrating a character that testifies to our God and king.  May His image, His nature be seen in us, in spite of ourselves.

Lord help me.  I am not feeling at all mature at present, or particularly godly.  I want to be, but I am at wit’s end.  You know.  Help me to trust You, to walk in Your light, to hold forth Your compassion.  I confess, the doing is not in me just now.  But it is more needful than ever.  Come to my aid.  Let me be Your son.

Bringing it Home (07/30/26-07/31/26)

I want us to see those who had gathered around Peter and were listening to this message.  We have done so to some degree already, but consider why they are here.  How is it that they have been witness to this healing?  They, like Peter and John, were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer (Ac 3:1).  That would be to us about mid-afternoon.  If we were to carry such a practice into our own day it would seem exceedingly disruptive, wouldn’t it?  What employer would just let his employees go off for the two hours or so every day to pursue such actions?  What businesses would close up shop for those hours to do the same?  Of course, life in Jerusalem circa 40 AD is not life in the West circa 2026.  The flow of daily life differed, and this was part of it, at least here in the ancient city.

Was participation 100%?  Probably not.  I would expect that even for those participating, participation was not 100%.  What do I mean by that?  Well, there is no reason to believe the population of temple attendees was any much different than the population of the church today.  Some come out of true devotion to God.  Some come because it’s expected of them.  Some come because they feel they have no choice in the matter.  Some come to be seen.  Some come, sadly, to deceive.  But that’s not on our radar this morning.  As I think I mentioned yesterday, perhaps the day before, this might equate to attending Wednesday night services in addition to Sunday.  You tend to shed certain factions of the church populace.  That’s not to say that all who are truly come to worship God will necessarily attend on Wednesday nights.  All who loved God did not necessarily come to temple at 3 in the afternoon without fail, day in and day out.  But those who did come were, perhaps, more likely to be drawn from the truly devout ranks.  Perhaps not, though.  This was, after all, a very visible and public display of devotion.

Consider that young man who was healed.  Was he brought here every day for love of God?  We cannot say, really, can we?  But it would seem the primary purpose was to be in position to perhaps make a bit of an income from the kindness, or sense of pious obligation in those who had come for more fully devoted purposes.  That needn’t suggest that he had come to prey upon the pieties of his fellow man.  But he knew almsgiving was called for by his faith, and he would have known his faith well enough, whatever his level of personal adherence.  Of course, if my memory of things is correct, he could not have attended in his condition, could not have entered into that inner court of the temple.

But let us suppose that most of those going by, those who had witnessed this healing and were now crowding in around the man they had seen perform that healing, have come this way as a result of being true adherents to the ancient faith.  They believed God.  They believed Moses.  And they sought as best they could to obey what Moses taught, what God spoke through him.  But they, like many of us, had become comfortable with their faith.  They made sure to do those things they were supposed to do, and perhaps arrived at the point of supposing that this was enough.  God must be pleased with them, for they fulfilled all their obligations.  They came every day to pray to Him.  Surely that must count.  They no doubt dropped their offerings in the coffer, perhaps with the care of the Pharisee to ensure that the full tithe of anything that might be accounted income was covered.  They no doubt gave alms as opportunity and income permitted.  Perhaps they had even given aid to this very man that now stood, nay, leaped about before them in, as Peter had described it, perfect health.

They probably thought they were doing pretty well in their religious pursuits.  They probably thought of themselves as basically good men and women.  They may have come to the point of more or less assuming their acceptance by God.  Knowing my own nature, they may have come to the point of giving it very little thought, really.  Rote action.  Things become rote action to us, muscle memory, if you will.  I can think of a few times when driving the car had become so much a matter of auto-pilot that I had lost track of where I was.  Still on course, but no clear recollection of having made this turn or that, or which highway I was on at the moment.  Shoot, I remember driving in Austin, and finding myself on course for the place I used to live, not because I had any reason to be going there, but simply because muscle memory was so strong, and my attention to what I was doing so minimal.  And we can get that way with our religious activities.

Why do we go to church of a Sunday?  I suspect that we, like the crowd here, have mixed motives.  Yes, there is that part of us that comes out of devotion to God.  But surely, that part would be just as devoted at home the other six days of the week, right?  Of course, devotion to God necessarily encompasses obedience to God.  And we reasonably conclude that such obedience certainly includes participation in the gathered worship of the local body of the church.  “Do not forsake our assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another all the more as the day draws near” (Heb 10:25).  No, I don’t think for a moment that ‘attending’ by viewing the service over some streaming service counts.  How are you serving to encourage another by sitting in your room in front of a computer screen?  I don’t think virtual gatherings via Zoom count, either.  These may have their place for those who are physically incapable of joining the local body.  And I do believe we should stress the local aspect.

This isn’t a contest to see who can have the broadest reach, be heard in the most countries.  It’s well and good, I suppose, to have our services accessible in such places.  But perhaps it’s not, really.  Does this truly fit the prescribed nature of gathered worship?  The evangelist or missionary that we find in the record of the early church didn’t just drop a message and run.  He stayed, at least for a season.  He became part of that local community, got to know those to whom he was preaching, joined the life of the local church.  This, even if he knew he must, in due course, depart for other shores.  Even Paul, whose duties you might think would keep him somewhat detached from any specific congregation, chose instead to devote chunks of time to each place he ministered.  Three years in Corinth.  Three years in Ephesus.  Stops were more brief, clearly, in Macedonia, but not because he would have it so.  And even where the time he desired to spend could not be had, he maintained contact with them, maintained fellowship with them.  It wasn’t about his ministry, after all.  It was about their faith.  More, it was about God.

So have we become too comfortable with our religion?  Let’s not be afraid to call it what it is.  It is our religion.  Religion is not a dirty word.  It is not automatically to be considered as befouled by human invention.  Religion is not synonymous, for example, with legalism or ceremonial ritual.  It is, at base, a system of doctrine.  And doctrine is not a four letter word, either; not literally, not figuratively.  Doctrine is needful.  God is True and speaks Truth, and desires us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.  How shall we go about doing that if we refuse the very idea that truth can be taught, or that some things are true and others aren’t?  If all religions are equal, then they are equally false and of no value.  And that, obviously, I do not hold to be the case.  I do not hold it to be the case because, first and foremost, I have been met by God Most High.  It may be too mystical a matter for many.  It was too mystical for me.  Yet it happened and could not be denied.  It may be doubted by others, for they did not witness what was happening in my head, did not experience the experiences of those days which followed as I did.  But I cannot deny what I know to have happened.  He is real.  Case closed.  And if He is real, and He has spoken, I have reason to believe what He has spoken.  That being the case, I must conclude that He meant what He said when He said that there is no path to the Father except through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

We’re back at the Mount of Transfiguration.  “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Listen to Him.”  And what does this beloved Son have to say?  “No one comes to the Father, but through Me” (Jn 14:6).  It’s the immediate follow-on to one of His most well-known proclamations.  “I AM the Way.  And the Truth.  And the Life.”  Pardon my punctuation, but I find myself wondering if He didn’t employ what might be called the dramatic pause between those clauses.  Each one hits with force.  He is the Way.  There is no other.  He is the Truth.  All else is a lie.  He is the Life.  Hear that in connection with Peter’s message here in Acts, Moses’ message.  “The soul that does not heed Him shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”  That’s not just an eviction notice.  That’s not mere exclusion from polite society.  That is the eternal perishing of the soul in hell, what John refers to as the second death.

For many of those who still attend church in the West today, the practice has come to have little to do with faith, and even less to do with Truth.  Faith, if it is disconnected from Truth, is delusion.  We see it all around us.  It’s there in the denial of basic biological realities, insisting that gender is some fluid state of mind, the result of our own choice rather than the result of our DNA.  It’s there in the belief that all ways lead to heaven, that God will save each and every individual in the end, that He didn’t really mean that certain behaviors would preclude one’s welcome in heaven.  The propensity to accept heaven but refuse to believe there’s a hell, that angels are perhaps real, but demons are not, or more, the insistent claim that there is no god whatsoever, and we ourselves are the final arbiters of truth and justice:  All of these come down to delusion.  Those positions may be held with ever so much faith and conviction.  But faith and conviction won’t render them true.

Faith, to be of any value whatsoever, must be established upon what is True.  And what is True is found in Jesus Christ, in God the Father, in the Holy Spirit.  These are One.  Yes, that is a mathematical nonsense statement.  But we’re not dealing in mathematics.  We’re dealing in Truth.  “Our God, HE is One” (Mk 12:32).  But observe where that goes.  The scribe with whom Jesus is talking is quoting Deuteronomy 4:35, with overtones of Deuteronomy 6:4.  “Hear, O Israel!  The LORD is our God.  The LORD is One!”  Now connect back.  “There is no other besides Him.”

It’s worth observing that term ‘one’ at this point.  It is not specifically a matter of number.  It’s a declaration of primacy and unity.  He is first.  He has no equal.  Yes, in that famous declaration we ought to hear it as expressing a singularity of deity.  There is no other besides Him.  It will not suffice to say, oh, there are other gods, but He’s the chief deity.  We’re not dealing in polytheism akin to Greek and Roman mythology.  He is not to be equated with Zeus.  But the term speaks also to unity, to integrity.  There is nothing in that True declaration of Scripture which necessarily excludes the Triune nature of the Godhead.  Father, Son, and Spirit, He is One.  And back to our point.  There is no other besides Him.  It’s not merely saying all other gods are a step down.  It’s saying they don’t exist.  Period.

Back to our day.  It’s all well and good to be polite towards adherents of other religions, I suppose.  But we must, in the end, conclude that they are no better off than the pagans to whom Peter and Paul and others brought the Gospel.  They are in no better place than those worshipers of Artemis in Ephesus.  I still come back to that concern expressed by the artisans who made their living by fashioning idols of their idol.  “If people stop believing in her, she might cease to exist!”  What sort of deity is that?  It is not.  It is a figment of faith misplaced, misguided by demonic efforts to draw man away from his true Creator.  As I say.  There is no call to be offensive in addressing those who believe differently.  Neither ought it to be a matter of indifference to us.  It will not do to say, “Oh well, I’m saved.  Sucks to be them.”  It may come to something like that.  There is that point where one must shake off the dust of them from one’s heels and move on.  But that surely ought not to be our starting point.  That comes far too near to the great error of Israel, the sons of the covenant of Abraham through whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.  How was that going to work if they insisted that this God and His Torah were for Israel exclusively, perhaps grudgingly made available to those goyem who undertook to adopt their culture in full.  But even then, they would never be true Israel.

Well!  I’ve managed to wander so many trails in my thinking this morning that I’ve barely touched upon the points I came here to make.  We’ll try again tomorrow.

Where I have been attempting to arrive is at this point.  Those who are gathered around Peter may have been comfortable in their religious practices.  They may have been confident in their adherence to the dictates of Mosaic Law, as then promulgated by the Pharisees and Sadducees.  They may, like the rich young ruler, have thought themselves quite thoroughly in compliance.  And yet, perhaps they, like that rich young ruler, sensed that something was missing.  Perhaps.  Obviously, we can only speculate because Scripture has not seen fit to present us with analysis of their state of mind.  What it has inclined to comment on, if obliquely, is their state of soul.  “Repent and return.”  Your obedience, such as it is, is become disobedience.  Perhaps it’s back to that issue raised with the Samaritan woman by Jesus.  God seeks those who worship in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24).  That is the only worship that matters.  Thus, He sends to the Church the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13) – not to the Church as an institution, to be meted out as seems wise to those in charge, but to the Church as the body of Christ, to the individual believer.  And that Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit – God Himself – comes to guide into all truth.  Let me take care here.  It is into all the truth; the whole of it, full knowledge.  And I dare say, His guidance leads to more than mere awareness of truth, but includes the practice of truth.

I’m diverting again.  Let me come back.  Repent and return.  That call is not merely a historical event recorded for the curious to learn about.  These things are written for our benefit, not our amusement.  We must consider, then, that this command rings down through the ages, coming to us with the same full force.  Repent and return.  Turn back to God.  Return to Him.  Beware of your state!  We, too, are almost certainly too comfortable with our religion.  We have our routine.  We have a schedule.  We come, find our seat – quite probably the same seat we occupied last week and the week before and on back through time immemorial.  It is mildly amusing to me to see a couple having come back to the church for a season after having been part of our sister church for some years.  And lo!  They return to the exact same seats they occupied before.  What can I say?  We are creatures of habit.  And that’s the problem.  At least it can be.  We become comfortable.  We learn to stand at the right time, say the right words, look the part, remain awake through the sermon, greet and chat, and then back out the door and home.  And within hours, I expect, the whole thing is all but forgotten.  Application doesn’t seem to happen.  I can only imagine the frustration the typical pastor feels.  For he knows full well how this goes.  He knows he could pull the same sermon out in a year, maybe five, and nobody would recall having heard it before.  Nothing would have appeared to change in the least, at least on the surface.

Now, I trust God to be working His purpose in spite of our frailties.  I trust Him to lodge those things that need to lodge, to quicken our spirits to respond where response is needful.  But I also know we can be thickheaded and thick skinned.  We are every bit as headstrong and proud as ever the Israelites were.  We need this same call, this same blessing to turn us from our wicked ways.  And we need the work of God in us to render us willing to change, willing to give up our dead habits and come to Him afresh.

This is not, absolutely not, a call to toss aside all the normal stuff of Church.  It’s not a call to tear it all down and reconstruct it after our image or after our new misconceptions.  It’s not our Church to design, after all.  It’s His Church, of which we have been graciously made a part.  We are not called to blind devotion to leadership, but we are called to accept His place as Lord, and to follow Him as Lord.  He is not a genie to be cajoled into granting our wishes.  Neither is He some cruel ogre anxious to crush us for the least mistake.  Again, He is no micro-manager, hovering over our shoulder to issue instructions on the minutia of every least act and decision.  He’s not seeking to raise up a nation of adult children.  Look around you!  That’s pretty much what we’ve made of the West, or allowed to be made of it.  We don’t even want it.  Why would we suppose He does?  No!  He is raising up sons, huioi, offspring who share his character, if not in whole, then in sufficient quantity and quality as to be identifiably His.  That includes maturity.  That includes a capacity to, as the theologians like to say, think His thoughts after Him.  We don’t need to wait for dreams and visions.  We don’t even need to struggle after hearing His still, small voice, nor to seek out teachers, erstwhile gurus, to show us the way.  He IS the Way!  His sheep do hear His voice.  That’s not a struggle statement.  That’s a simple declaration of how it is.

With all that said, the question remains:  When His voice says, “repent and return,” will we do so?  And will we do so on His terms, rather than demanding our own course and schedule?  Each moment of the day (or as seems to be the case presently, each moment of the night) we face this choice.  Whose way will I pursue?  His or mine?  It is the constant call of “choose you this day.”  The Reformers spoke often of the need for constant reform.  It was not to be a one-time corrective action, but a constant inspection, a testing of our ways, our habits, our mindset, our practice, to see if it still aligns with the Word of God.  That Word, while it speaks of the nation perishing for lack of vision, and reveals His Truth in visions to those authorized to present it on His behalf, also declares against seers, fortune tellers, and those who lay claim to knowing the future.  He Who speaks through prophets also warns of false prophets.  He Who attests the validity of His representatives by signs and wonders also prepares us to realize that our adversary, the devil, also comes with signs and wonders fit to deceive those inclined to give too much credence to such things. 

The Word of God, the express intelligence of the Triune Godhead, come in the flesh, saw to it that His Church, the Church of which He is the Head and we the members of His body, would have the written Word of God, a firm foundation, a verifiable, examinable reference point by which to test all else that might be said, every claim of every ostensible prophet, pastor, or teacher.  “He said he’s a prophet” is not enough.  “He performs signs, predicts events, and speaks ever so powerfully,” is not enough.  God is Truth.  The Word of God is Truth, and will not declare true today what it decried as false yesterday.  God does not contradict Himself.  He cannot.  Test the spirits, says John (1Jn 4:1-2).  Not all of them are from God.  Not every spirit is to be believed and received.  He offers one test.  Does that spirit confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?  Be careful!  John is addressing the specific heresy of that time and place.  And lying spirits are assuredly able to lie.  I have no doubt but that the vilest spirit could yet make such a declaration.  It’s not the words.  It’s not some magic formula by which to establish validity.  The larger point is that the true spirit, the true prophet, will ever and always accord with the express, authorized declarations of Scripture.  That doesn’t require turning to the KJV.  It does require undertaking to know God as fully as we are capable of knowing Him, becoming intimately familiar with Him through that which He has revealed of Himself.

Does that require visions in the night?  Every dream significant?  Voices in the head?  No.  It doesn’t preclude them, but it doesn’t require them.  The plea of God with His people is not to shut off the mind and just believe.  It is, “Come, let us reason together” (Isa 1:18).  Faith has reason to believe.  Faith has reason on its side.  And what does this God who reasons with us require?  That we walk humbly with Him, walk as best we may like Him, loving goodness and exercising justice (Mic 6:8).  He requires that we love Him and love one another.  He requires active love, compassionate love from us because that is the love He expresses towards us.  “Love one another.  By this they will know that you are Mine” (Jn 13:34-35).  Love obeys.  “For this is the love of God:  That we keep His commandments, and don’t find them burdensome” (1Jn 5:3).  And what does He command?  “Believe.”  Not, believe anything.  Believe Him.  Believe God sent Him.  Believe, “It is finished.”  Believe God loves you.  He does.

Trust in God (08/01/26)

At last, as Peter concludes his message, we arrive at the great good news of the Gospel.  God has raised up His Servant and sent Him.  He has sent Him to bless us by turning each one of us from our sinful ways.  He has done it.  That is not to say that there remains nothing that we must do on our part.  His turning us from still leaves us to turn to.  He has opened our eyes to the wickedness of our ways.  It remains for us to repent, to think again and go forward in greater wisdom.  This is incredible!  Think about it as one standing there to hear this.  That whole message has laid bare the enormity of your sins against holy God, and yet the message is not that you are condemned beyond all hope of pardon.  The message is not, “Wait until Messiah returns.  Boy are you going to get it.”  It might yet come to that, but it is not the necessary result.

Go back to that little word dei.  It is dei, necessary, that heaven receive this Christ until the time of restoration.  It is not dei, not necessary, that said time result in your punishment, which would be your perishing.  It is a time of restoration of all things!  Not to say that there is going to be a universal redemption where everybody from the most violent and unrepentant murderer through the most pious and devoted priest of God winds up with the same result.  That would, I dare say, utterly destroy Justice in a fashion that our most wondrous redemption does not.  Justice with mercy must, I think, remain a matter of exception to be merciful.  If it’s just the expected result (or even the unexpected result) for one and all, it doesn’t show mercy, but rather, it shows utter disregard for justice.  It makes a farce of the whole deal.  Why set up these laws, why demand this impossible pursuit of holiness, if in the end it turns out not to matter in the least?  No.  It remains exceptional.  There will be a remnant, as there has ever been but a remnant.

Not every child with a lineage traced back to Abraham was accounted true Israel.  Not even every child circumcised on the eighth day could be assured of inclusion.  There is a remnant.  There is a distinct minority from among the Jews who have in fact recognized Messiah and professed faith in His name.  This group we are looking at, this nascent Church, was but a remnant, a drop in the bucket of the Jewish population.  We marvel at the three thousand added in one day.  Such a big number.  But what were three thousand measured against the population of Jerusalem, let alone of all Israel?  What were those churches Paul planted throughout the empire compared to the full population of that empire?  Not even a drop in the bucket.  Barely a mote of dust on the deck rail of the ship of state.

So, too, for us (for God does not change).  Mere attendance at church does not assure inclusion.  Baptism, and I would say especially infant baptism, does not assure inclusion.  But honestly, believer’s baptism is only marginally more reliable as an indicator.  The sinner’s prayer recited before a crowd of strangers does not assure inclusion.  All of these may serve as means of grace, but God remains the single instrumental cause of grace.  It’s His call.  And His call is made long before ever we become actively involved in the process by needing to decide that we shall follow.  And honestly, I would have to say that even that decision is more to Him than to us, though as moral agents it must remain true that we have responsibility and capability to decide in true fashion.

I need to expand on that a bit.  Go back to Adam there at the start.  He was created a moral agent.  He was responsible to adhere to the terms of covenant with God.  That would be a meaningless consideration except there were the potential for non-compliance built in.  At the same time, it was utterly inevitable that he would choose as he did, that Eve would act as she did, that the serpent would lie and deceive as he did.  All proceeds in accord with God’s perfect and infallible plan.  And yet, all who play their role in that plan (which is the single most inclusive all one could ever expect to find) remain moral agents, acting according to their own wills, choosing to do as they do, and therefore responsible for those choices.  Adam could not but have fallen, for the whole work of redemption required that there would be need of redemption.  The appointed time at which the appointed Messiah came could not have transpired except for that need, and that moment, that most critical point in the historical record both in heaven and on earth, could not have arisen had not mankind fallen in Adam.  Yet, Adam chose.  He was not forced to follow Eve’s lead.  He was not forced to neglect his care of her in allowing her to be thus deceived.  Likewise, Eve was not forced against her will to take that fruit from the one tree that had been placed off limits to them.  She willed it, acting upon her own will.  Blaming the serpent would not do as defense.  She knew the terms.  Adam had not failed that badly in his duty towards her as to leave her uninformed.

We are in a similar place.  We must needs make our own choices and accept responsibility for our choices.  And yet, God acts.  And yet, it is supremely to be hoped, God is with us.  Moses made the message of hope clear.  God will raise up a prophet to be heeded on penalty of death.  Now, you put that penalty on the and perhaps it doesn’t sound so much like hope.  But it is!  God will do it!  There is no greater hope to be had.  Here is the answer to our weak flesh!  God will do it.  And not only will He do it.  He has done it!  God has raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you.  In spite of who you are; in spite of your total disregard for the matter.

That term raised up is perhaps familiar to those with a more Catholic upbringing, though it becomes a bit more familiar to the Protestants as well, given some of our more recent worship songs.  Anastasia.  It is something, really, to consider how this word has been reduced to a pretty sounding name for one’s daughter.  I don’t know as its necessarily inappropriate, but I do wonder how many parents have considered the significance of the name.  At root, it speaks of one rising from the dead.  It’s a word for resurrection.  That is not its sole signification, but it is its primary usage.  Perhaps there has been something about the birth of that daughter that resembles a resurrection in some fashion.  Perhaps she came as restoring a dead marriage to life again with the need to raise and cherish this daughter.  Perhaps the pregnancy had been difficult.  Perhaps the mother died in childbirth, such that said birth was as if coming up from the dead.  I don’t know.  I suspect in more cases it just sounded pretty, and could be shortened to Anna, and little more thought given to it.

At any rate, we have this word.  It points us to the reality of resurrection, and most importantly, to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the appointed Messiah sent to bless us.  It can also take on a less marvelous sense, simply indicating that that which has been raised up has appeared, or caused to appear.  Anastesei: Here, of course, it is in the future tense, but only because Peter is taking us back to Moses as he spoke of what would be for him and those hearing him a future event.  But it is indicative.  It is still a fact statement.  It being an act of God, though it remains future it is no less certain.  It is as good as done.  God will raise up, said Moses.  God has raised up says Peter.  Promise fulfilled.  It’s now an aorist participle, the climactic action.  And still, God remains the actor.  He has done it!

And in doing so, He has begun that promised process of restoring all things.  Here is the rebirth, the seed of restored humanity.  Where Adam acted as federal head and brought all under the dominion of sin, the promised Seed has arisen, has been raised from death, once more acting as federal head, but over a people reborn, delivered from sin’s dominion into His own marvelous light and life.  All can yet be made new!  All is being made new.  And here is the marvelous, most alarmingly wonderful news:  It’s been made available to you!  You, who put Him to death are not placed beyond redemption.  Indeed, God Who raised this Jesus from death and caused hope to appear sent Him to you first!  Not exclusively, but let us say with first right of refusal.

Go back to the events covered in Ruth.  Here was the widow come to Israel.  She is poor.  She is an outcast, being a daughter of Moab.  Honestly, she has no reason to hope for anything in that land other than a life of abject poverty.  Her only chance at a decent life is a kinsman of her dead husband taking upon himself the duty to father a son to inherit his dead brother’s portion; a kinsman redeemer.  But she found more in Boaz.  He was kin, and did in fact redeem her, but not as having had that first right of refusal.  Others had greater claim, and the opportunity must pass to them first.  They could have chosen to accept their responsibility to their brother, but did not.  Boaz chose to do so himself, and gladly.  He recognized the rich blessing that had been given him in this woman.

All of this serves as yet another type for the event to which Peter directs our attention.  This Jesus, the appointed Messiah, was sent to you first, you here being those Jews gathered at temple, and the Jewish people more generally.  But it was first, not exclusively.  They had right of first refusal.  And for many, most notably those Sadducees, and the bulk of the Pharisees, said no.  That will play out over and over again as we follow the progress of the Gospel through these early years.  It plays out over and over again as the Church continues its mission.  The news of the Gospel is for all.  This proffer of hope is for all.  All can yet be made new, declares the Lord!  You can be made new.  He was sent for you, you the individual, you the people, you the world.  None can be found who are excluded from the scope of this good news, except they choose to exclude themselves, refusing that which is offered.

And now, we are back at that base conundrum.  All proceeds according to God’s perfect, infallible purpose.  And yet this Gospel, freely offered to all does not result in the salvation of all.  How can that be?  Can the puny, fleshly will of man disrupt the work of God after all?  Can the devil indeed prevent one whom God has chosen from choosing in response?  If God has redeemed, can it really be the case that anything has the power to thwart that redemption?  I tell you with utmost certainty that no.  Nothing has that power.  I can say it with utmost certainty because Scripture declares it with utmost certainty.  Paul writes it out boldly.  “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, nothing present, nothing to come, no power, height, depth, or any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 8:39).  That any is almost as expansive as that all which is to be restored.  I’ll return to my favorite, or at least one of my favorites.  “Do not fear!  I have redeemed you.  I have called you – by name.  You are Mine!” (Isa 43:1).  What God has claimed, who shall deny Him?  What God has made His own, who shall take it from Him?

The devil no doubt thought he had achieved that very thing when he convinced Eve to break covenant, and thus got at Adam as well.  Millenia passed.  Mankind proved so utterly corrupt that God saw fit to destroy all life from the earth and start again, leaving only that seedstock of Noah’s floating zoo.  And in short order, corruption flourished again.  Surely, the devil was winning.  Come to that point which was recent history to those listening to Peter.  The very Son of God, the appointed Messiah, had been nailed to the cross, confirmed dead, buried in a tomb.  Now the devil could crow over his victory, surely.  But no!  Death could not hold Him.  He is Life!  The darkness cannot comprehend the Light (Jn 1:5).  Light always penetrates darkness.  Life always triumphs over death.  God’s purpose proceeds unchanged, unaltered, undelayed.  All is unfolding exactly as planned.  And that plan was established, covenanted between the Persons of the Godhead long before ever that first moment of Creation which Moses presents to us, “In the beginning” (Ge 1:1).  In the beginning God.  God is the beginning.  And the end.  And everything in between.  We’re not talking pantheism here.  We are talking the author and upholder of all that is.  The creation is not God, but the creation would not, could not be apart from God.

And hear Him!  “I – yes, Me! – I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isa 43:25).  Observe two things.  First, HE is the one who acts.  He wipes out, utterly erases the record of your transgressions.  Here we are facing the third word of sin, indicative of revolt against the rightful ruler.  But He has eradicated the record of that revolt.  Second, note the reason.  Not for you, though you benefit greatly from the deed.  No!  It is “For My own sake.”  For His own purpose, motivated solely by Himself.  You didn’t earn it.  How could you earn forgiveness by rebelling?  Where is merit in lawlessness?  What reward could you expect except the full application of Justice?  But, “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud.  I have wiped out your sins like a heavy mist.  Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Isa 44:22).  The record is obliterated.  No charges can be brought, for the court has no record of any crime.  The accuser may yet come and parade about before the King, but he can land no accusation.  The record is clean.

This is the power of the Gospel.  It is salvation to all who believe.  The power of the Gospel is the power of God (Ro 1:16).  It’s not the skill of the preacher.  It’s not the cleverness of any human author or authority.  It is not the forcefulness of the delivery, and it is not the desperation of the seeker.  It is God first to last.  “I AM the one who does it.”  And in accord with His name as He proclaimed it to Moses, “I have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Ex 33:19).  Not because of merit, but for His own sake, for His own reasons in pursuit of His own purposes; to the glory of His own name – exclusively.

It came to the Jews first.  But even as Jesus ministered, it was made abundantly clear that this was not to be exclusively theirs.  Think back to the Syrophoenician woman.  She came to Jesus seeking to have the demon cast out of her daughter, she a Gentile woman from among nations historically hostile to Israel.  And how does Jesus respond to her request?  “Let the children be satisfied first” (Mk 7:27).  He proceeds to add, “For it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  Now, we know that dogs were not held in the sort of esteem in the Middle East of that day in the same way we esteem them in the West now.  They still aren’t.  In many parts of the world it remains so.  A dog may be tolerated as a working animal, but as a house pet, or an object of affection?  It’s not even a consideration!  And it’s not just a Muslim thing, though their objections may cause the most friction, for it reaches the fever pitch of religious conviction there.  But even in most of Africa, you will not find dogs as pets, only as guard animals, mostly left to fend for themselves in the streets and fields.  They are best avoided.

We know, as well, that to the pious Jew, the Gentile was little better than a dog, spoken of as such, and to be treated as such.  And so, perhaps we hear Jesus speaking with the prejudices of His nation and upbringing.  But I think not.  He was raised in Galilee of the Gentiles, after all.  He was friend, and quite possibly cousin to Andrew as well as Peter, Andrew whose name is very much Greek.  If ever there was a region of Israel with a more tolerant view of the Gentiles, this would be it, I should think.  And, of course, He includes that critical word, first.  Let them be satisfied first.  Your turn will come.  The dogs will not be left to starve.  But there is that right of first refusal again.  And she takes no offense, merely offers her understanding that, “even the dogs eat what the children drop on the floor” (Mk 7:28).  And Jesus answered her prayers.

Marvelous.  All that God asks of us is that we believe.  He does not insist on some blind leap of faith, but He does insist that we, having reasoned with Him, accede to the evidence and trust Him.  He does not compel worship, but so interacts with us that we can worship Him in spirit and in truth.  He comes to make covenant with us!  Why?  He has no reason to do so; certainly nothing that’s to be found in us.  Does He need our companionship?  Hardly.  He has perfect companionship in Himself.  Does He need our worship in order to continue to exist, like those followers of Artemis posited about their goddess?  By no means!  HE is the the self-existent One.  He has no dependencies.  He is who He is.  End of discussion.  Let all disbelieve and yet He remains Who He Is.

And He has made covenant with us in the blood of His Son, Who died for our sins, and was raised to life for our redemption.  He made covenant.  Like Abraham before us, we had no part in that act except to receive what was promised.  What a wonder!  What cause for endless praise!

Lord, I will conclude with this adoring thanksgiving for Your incredible goodness towards me and my beloved wife.  You know well just how difficult a stretch we are going through, how easily despair settles in.  But I know that You are with us.  I know You are still keeping covenant with us – in spite of our damage, in spite of our fluctuating, weak faith.  It’s not about the strength of our faith.  It’s about the strength You provide.  It’s not about our managing somehow to keep our noses clean.  We’ve never yet managed that, and we never will; not in this life.  But You are faithful.  You are strong.  And You have called us – by name – claiming us as Your own in spite of this mess.  Thank You, thank You, thank You!  Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing the glories of Your being!  But let it pour out today into our hearts and from our hearts, that we are Yours, and You are a good, good Father to us.  You have never failed us yet, and You never will.  You never failed us when yet we were Your enemies.  You will not disregard us now that we have come to love You, now that we have come to Your love.  Hear it, O my heart!  The LORD bless you and keep you.  The LORD does bless you and keep you.  Be not downcast, but only believe. He has proven Himself over and over again.  And nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of our God.  Holy is His name.  Righteous and True is He.  Come now, soul, and enter into His rest, your birthright in Him.  Amen and amen.