“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Job 1:21

Job responds with this statement of worship at the loss of his children and all his worldly goods.  Given God’s commendation in Job 1:1 that Job was “was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil,” we can with assurance look to Job for an example, especially given the conclusion of chapter 1 that in all this “Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” 

So, what is it that we want to imitate? One of our struggles is the natural temptation to assume that everything that happens is some sort of quid pro quo, or some sort of cosmic action/reaction.  On one level this is Biblical.  Consider Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” For example, if you break the law, you are at some point going to be held accountable.  Proverbs is full of warnings about the consequences of our actions — consider the truism from chapter 1 that bad friends corrupt good morals.  So, thinking about consequences for how we live makes sense and usually dominates the framing of our experiences.

But, how does this match with events that don’t seem to be connected to any of our actions?  Why did the tornado or range fire destroy my house but not my neighbors?  Why did my child get bone cancer and none of our other relatives?  Why did this person die prematurely but this other fellow live to be one hundred.  

David wrestles with something similar in Psalm 73 making comparisons between the fates of the wicked and the righteous.  The former appearing to have it better in this life than the righteous.  Still, David concludes in verse 17 “till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”  The God of justice will make all things right.

At least initially, Job reaches the same conclusion.  God is sovereign.  How can I complain if the potter remakes me by either giving or taking away?  Later Job’s friends can’t see beyond their assumed connection between Job’s calamity and some unconfessed sin.  Our lesson is to foster through worship that deep understanding that God is both sovereign and good.  He loves us and delights in us, and in Job’s case boasts.  So, as we process difficult circumstance we can confess with Job that God gives and God takes away but in all of this, He is just and good.

Matt Meyer – June 23, 2024

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Raising children is not a duty which can be put on autopilot. This is especially true in a Christian community like ours. While there’s a great deal of likemindedness and similar standards, it is your calling as moms and dads to remain vigilant in the two-fold calling of training up your children in the way they should go and in driving out the folly that is bound up in their heart.

Parenting is like pouring a concrete slab for a new building. Without forms, you’ll end up with a useless and hardened blob. Think of the Word and the Body of Christ as the forms which give shape and boundary to the foundation you’re pouring with each child you are raising. But the forms will do no good if you do not pour the concrete of faithful nurture and instruction of your children. 

Many Christian parents assume that someone else will eventually pour the concrete of godly character into the forms. Then, as their children enter adulthood, parents are jarred to find that only a few uneven patches of gravel are in place.

So then, parents, be vigilant. Don’t assume that dropping your kids off for a playdate with another Christian family will have no potential pitfalls for your kids. Don’t assume that the neighbor kids will be wholesome influences on your kids. Don’t assume that others have the same entertainment standards you have. Even amongst your own children, don’t assume there are no follies which they can fall into. Coach them up before various life-events, and then review the game film. Always let them know that they can talk with you about anything that happens.

This then is the summons for parents. Vigilance is required, not paranoia. Responsibility is required, not communalism. Loving discipline is required, not absentminded indifference.

Ben Zornes – June 23, 2024

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“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Christ gives a qualification here. Facing persecution for the sake of your ideology or your pet theological position or political activism or even because of a simple foolish decision—facing persecution for the sake of such things does not bring blessing in and of itself. It is only those persecuted for righteousness sake that are blessed. This reality ought to cause us to step back and think. Remember, Peter warns Christians, “Let none of you suffer as an evildoer (1 Peter 4:15). 

Many are deceived in this regard. Many believe they are on the “right side of history,” that their cause is righteous, that they even have God on their side. And in their self-deception, they believe that any persecution or pushback, is a sign of this fact. 

So, how do we know? How do we know that it is truly “for righteousness’ sake” that we suffer, that we face persecution?

The great Puritan Thomas Watson says that the “man who would suffer ‘for righteousness sake’ must himself be righteous.” And he gives three tests for how we might know that we are righteous and prepared to suffer for righteousness’ sake.

[1] A righteous person breathes after holiness. Do you desire and delight in holiness? Do you long for purity of mind and soul? Do you daily trample on the bellies of your lusts and put to death the misdeeds of your body that you might present yourself holy to God? 

[2] A righteous person is one who makes God’s grace his center. Can you say together with Paul that you are willing to suffer the loss of all things and count them as refuse if only you could gain Christ and be found in him? —That you might know him and the power of his resurrection, and share in his sufferings? Is Christ more valuable to you than all this world has to offer?

[3] A righteous person is one who values the jewel of a good conscience at a high rate. What value do you place on having a good or clean conscience? Does unconfessed sin eat away at your soul? Do you feel the heavy hand of God upon you when you are slow to confess? Do you value having nothing on your mind hindering your fellowship with God and neighbor? 

Are you ready to suffer persecution for righteousness sake? Are you prepared to face the fiery trials that await all true followers of Christ? 

Let us not be deceived. Let us look to our inheritance, an eternal kingdom for our own possession as coheirs with Christ and resolve today that we would be a righteous people—that we might be counted worthy to suffer for the sake of righteousness.

Zach Wilke – June 23, 2024

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Man has long been in search of the philosopher’s stone, that instrument with which you could turn base metals into gold. With a flick of the wrist, you’re a wealthy man. That may sound like falling into chocolate pie. But, let’s face it. If we were to lay hold on such a device, we would go full Smeagol before you could say my precious.

Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: But he that gathereth by labour shall increase.” You may, indeed, gain something through being shallow, hollow, and vacuous. After all, people paid money for Taylor Swift’s last album. But whatever gains you receive from empty sorcery will turn to ashes. Judas got his thirty pieces of silver for his worthless plan. But he didn’t hold on to them very long.

If you would flourish like the green tree, then you must renounce all attempts at alchemy. You may think that alchemy is long gone. But this witchcraft is still with us. There’s parental alchemy, homemaking alchemy, educational alchemy, financial growth alchemy, physical fitness alchemy. This voodoo has many applications. In principle, it is any attempt to raise a crop, be it a crop of children, widgets, or straight A’s, apart from the Son of God who is life and gives life.

The Proverbs text says that the man who gathers by labor will increase, and the Hebrew word for “labor” is literally hand. The point is not that technology is out and you have to build everything manually. The point is that, whatever your particular plow, you do have to put your hand to it. You have to be in the game, in the saddle, tending to the matters at hand.

When you do so, you will be the one who increases. You will be substantial, sturdy like the oak and full of sap.

Jared Longshore – June 23, 2024

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The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honor and performing the duties belonging to everyone, so says the WSC, whether they be our superior, inferior, or equal. Our envious age is violently opposed to the idea of superiors, and we have endured decades of stories and sitcoms where fathers are ridiculed and smart alecks are the heroes. But this was always just a way of flattening the world.

But the real world contains hierarchy and obligations and duty and honor. Our individualistic age would have every man and woman an island, bound to no one. But the word of God says to honor your father and your mother, to give them reverence and to exercise the duties they are owed. God could have made us emerge full grown out of holes in the ground. He could have had us delivered by storks or raised by wolves or dropped unceremoniously from the sky onto something soft. But He didn’t. He ordained it such that every single person comes into the world enmeshed in relationships. We are not free, we are bound, from the very beginning.

Our age wants to have the right to murder unwanted children and ignore or euthanize unwanted parents, but the word of God requires us to joyfully and faithfully accept the bonds of covenantal love.

So children, obey your parents from the heart. Guard their honor. Consider how you speak to your parents, how you speak of your parents, how you are entrusted with your parent’s honor. And you are supposed to guard it, maybe even more than they guard it.

And parents, you have obligations to your children, to nurture and teach and protect and provide and snuggle and to read stories and make forts and feed them and sing with them. And to guard their honor. What does that look like? How do you guard your five year old’s honor? Consider that.

Time fails us to look at the obligations we have to uncles and nephews and younger siblings and grandmothers and third cousins and, zooming out, what we owe to our civil leaders and pastors and to the fathers and mothers in the church. But the point remains: we are bound by God’s good design in a complex tapestry of duties and obligations. Our envious and individualistic age wants to ignore that truth. So don’t.

Joshua Edgren – June 16, 2024

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