Blog - Page 44 of 141 - Christ Church

Exhortation – CCT

Zach Browning on October 9, 2023

Brothers and Sisters of Christ Church Troy, whether you consciously do so or not, you are a representative of the most High God to your neighbors here in Troy. You have the name of God upon you, you are a member of His visible church, and your calling is to be the salt and light to the earth. That’s who you are in the story, and every Christian is to be that salt and light, but I want to impress upon you that God has been telling a specific story here in Troy. There is conflict here, there are lies being told about you and what you believe, and ultimately the lie is being told about who God is. And so, God has called you to a high task here in Troy that no one should take lightly. And you will either you will be a faithful servant pointing others here in Troy toward Christ or you will be an unfaithful servant taking the Lord’s name that is upon you in vain. Clearly there is only one option, the faithful servant, so let me dive deeper.

We are not to do our works in order to be seen by men to get praise from men, but we are to do good works so that others might see Christ through us and glorify God in Heaven. So, what good works should you be focusing on, How are you to be salt and light. In the face of lies, let only goodness and truth come out of your mouth. Don’t gossip about your neighbor, don’t talk bad about what you saw or what heard from your neighbor. Don’t lie about your neighbor. Conversation among kirkers should not center around what so-and-so said on facebook or what you overheard so-and-so say at the gas station. Your words, even about your enemies, should not tear them down. Simply put, you should not talk bad about your enemies. If you have a complaint about them then go to them directly or seek counsel from the elders or other wise men about the situation. But do not spread a bad report among your friends. This increases division where we are to bring peace. Instead dwell on that which is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, if there is any good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, talk about such things.

Zach Browning – October 8, 2023

The Loins of Your Mind – Exhortation – Christ Church

Jared Longshore on October 9, 2023

Since we live in the new covenant era, Peter says we must gird up the loins of our minds. “Gird up your loins” refers to tucking a long robe into the belt in order to be ready for physical activity. But this phrase is not applied to clothing by Peter, but to the mind. So take a moment of honest self-examination: How are the loins of your mind?

You can go wrong in at least two ways. On the one hand, your mind could be hanging loose like some unfurled Israelite brick-layer on the third hour of a 30-minute lunch break. This error means your mind is undisciplined and unsteady. You’d rather go get a tooth pulled than have to face off in one of those Bible sword drill contests. And when the world, the flesh, and the devil run a three-man blitz on you, your mind lacks the training to stay in the pocket, make your reads, and complete the pass.

On the other hand, there is the error of having the loins of your mind wound up like the knotted robe of a Galilean who just finished break dancing in a tornado. You have not hit the mark simply because your mind churns from one anxiety to the next. The goal is a girded mind, not one wound so tight it cuts off circulation to the frontal lobe.

The solution to both of these errors is meditation upon God’s Word. You can possess a sober mind that is ready for the next fiery trial. But there is no other way than this: Hear the Word, Believe the Word, Obey the Word.

Jared Longshore – October 8, 2023

Grace & Peace: Proverbs 21:22

Douglas Wilson on October 4, 2023

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.”
Proverbs 21:22

A certain kind of power, or wealth, or might, is the kind that you can see with your eyes, or rap on with your knuckles. It is evident, physical, and manifest. And for many, this is all the information they need to conduct their calculations. People look at the number of the troops arrayed against them and say, “That settles it. Might as well recognize the inevitable.”

But wisdom knows how to scale a wall. Not only so, but wisdom can scale the walls of a mighty city. What the wise do in this instance is that they cast down the strength of their confidence—which is what they were relying on. Put another way, the hubris that arises from apparent strength is the weakness of perceived strength. This is quite different from the strength of perceived weakness (2 Cor. 12:10).

In 1863, during the American Civil War, before the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville, the Union general Hooker said, “Gentlemen, if I can plant my army there, God Almighty can’t drive me out.” This is the kind of statement that Nebuchadnezzar made upon the walls of Babylon, right before he went into bovine mode. It is the kind of statement attributed to a complacent person before the Titanic disaster—“God Himself couldn’t sink this ship.”

At any rate, when Hooker had his position, not only was he driven out, and defeated, but this was done by Lee’s 60,000 men against Hooker’s 130,000.

Confidence is a mojo thing, and once the mighty are rattled, everything can start to go to pieces. I think of the waning days of the Soviet empire, when they, a nuclear superpower, went up against Boris Yeltsin, holed up in a house. A mighty superpower against one Russian with a drinking problem. But the thing about that mojo is, when it goes, it’s gone.

The wise are those who can see this beforehand, and who know what to do. As Peter Drucker once put it, you should be able to see the future that has already happened.

Grace & Peace: Proverbs 21:16

Douglas Wilson on September 7, 2023

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.”
Proverbs 21:16

“A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.”
Proverbs 21:16 NKJV

“One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead.”
Proverbs 21:16 ESV

I have cited this proverb from three different translations. The overall thrust of the proverb is not hard to understand. The person who wanders off from the path of understanding is going to find himself a full member of the congregation of the dead. He who steps off the sidewalk of good sense is going to get hit by a truck, and he will remain at rest—but he will not be resting in peace.

The way of understanding is the way of life. To wander off from life is to wander into death. As Lady Wisdom says at the end of chapter 8, all who hate her love death. This explains why the secular and atheistic world today is little more than a death cult. This can be seen in their love of sterile sexuality, abortion, and trans-surgeries, and their hatred of teeming populations, productivity and innovation. Death cult about sums it up.

The judgment that falls on those who veer off from good sense is a severe judgment. This is indicated by the word for “dead” here. The word is rephaim or, put another way, giants. The allusion is the devastating judgment that fell on the antediluvian world, and which wiped out all their overweening ambitions.

Those who leave the path of understanding do so in the name of their own understanding. They head off into death, but they would not put it that way to themselves. Their end will be as final and as complete as a world full of drowned giants.

Grace & Peace: Proverbs 20:26

Douglas Wilson on September 1, 2023

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“A wise king sifts out the wicked, and brings the threshing wheel over them”
Proverbs 20:26

The civil magistrate is not supposed to be a neutral umpire. The “teams” that assemble under his oversight will not two baseball teams, or two football teams, with the magistrate needing to not care who prevails.

No. Because the magistrate wields power, and does so in a fallen world, there are two different kinds of people who are interested in how he wields that power. Those two kinds of people are the righteous and the wicked. It is the assigned task of the magistrate, and particularly of the chief magistrate, to take sides. Moreover it is his task to take the right side.

Because of the growth of libertarian assumptions, we have drifted into the idea that the magistrate is just supposed to call balls and strikes, not caring which team wins the game. So if the drag queens want story hour at the library, then they should be treated in exactly the same way as the ladies from the Wholesome Readings for Kids Hour. But this is absurd, and the only way we might wind up not thinking it absurd would be if we were in the grip of a really bad idea.

A good king attacks the wicked. If he refuses to do so, for whatever reason, then the effect this will have is that it will attract the wicked. His court, his circles, his advisors, will soon be populated by wicked men, and by no one else. If the magistrate is not attacking wicked men, then his circles will be safe for wicked men. And as soon as it is determined to be safe, they will start to congregate there.

So there is no neutrality. There can be no neutrality. If a magistrate is not at war with the wicked, then his only other option is to be at war with the saints.