Christ Church

Ben Zornes

Thirst for God (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

This is a beloved Psalm which demonstrates the maturing faith of David in his later years and trials. This Psalm is vivid. Surprising. It is memorable, and it is a wonderfully balm to the aching heart.

THE TEXT

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
Psalm 63:1-11

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This is a Psalm for the wilderness. Despite physical deprivation, David longs for God with both his soul & body (v1). His longing centers on seeing God’s power & glory as displayed in the sanctuary (v2). Because God’s lovingkindness is superior to life itself, praise will arise from David’s parched lips (v3). Though physically feeble, his arms will be raised in praise (v4).
His inner man will be strengthened, as with hearty victuals, and his lips will break forth in praise as after a delicious covenant meal (v5); this all will be the case even when upon his desert bed during the midnight watch (v6). Meditating upon God’s past deliverances secures a present peace to rest under the shadow of Jehovah’s wings (v7, Cf. Rt. 2:12).
Despite being hunted by his enemies, David hunts after God and he sees that even in this it is God’s right hand which holds him up (v8). Then David turns to his companions and rouses them to courage & loyalty. Those pursuing him for destruction would themselves be destroyed (v9). Either the sword or the desert scavengers would be their demise (v10). King David would remain joyful in God, and those who would share in that glory must renew their vows of fealty to David (v11). However, any traitors will meet with a sudden end, their lying lips will be stopped (v11).

IN FAMINE OR FEAST

David provides a sharp contrast to his ancestors here. Whereas Israel’s wilderness wanderings were marked by complaining, fear of foes, compromise with idolaters, pining for Egypts leeks & onions. Here David longs for “my God.” This is the beating heart of the evangelical faith. To call God your God is the sum of true piety.
Notice the orientation of David’s longing. He longs for God, as a night-watcher for the dawn, like a desert plant sends forth its tendrils to reach the smallest droplet of moisture, like a parched & famished man searches for food & drink. But this longing has a reference point: the power and glory of God. But David is more specific than that, it is God’s power & glory as displayed in the Sanctuary of saints which fills David’s mind.
God, of course, is not confined to the tabernacle. So, although there is great glory in the congregation of saints, true piety is sustained even in times of dryness, exile, and misery. It is false piety which deludes itself into thinking it can sustain spiritual life apart from the glory of God in the midst of His people, or if it thinks that mere emotional enthusiasm is enough to sustain Christian vibrancy. Individualism and mere enthusiasm are insufficient to sustain the spiritual life of the saint.

DELIGHTING IN GOD

In our emotionally stunted age, in many respects we must relearn how to feel. On one hand there is a tendency towards embracing emotional expressiveness as emotional maturity. But it is the one who has their emotions well in hand who truly has maturity. On the other hand, the stoic approach treats any emotional feeling with suspicion.

This and many other Psalms are full of godly emotions. This sets before us how to feel rightly about God. Many well-meaning Christians try to manufacture what they perceive to be vibrant “holy feelings”. Conferences. Summer camps. The right combination of books. Trying to obtain the right posture during their morning devotionals so that the Angel Choirs are forced to break forth in the Hallelujah Chorus. All of this is missing the focal point of our piety: God is your God.

You don’t have to persuade a starving man of his hunger. Nor do you awake each morning panicked with concern that maybe you’re not hungry enough for breakfast. By being human, you are in need of God. You need Him in your rising, sleeping, in the glory of the congregation, in the sorrow of the desert. You need Him more than life, more than breath, more than food, or water, or sunshine.

This is just the way things are. Spiritually maturity does not mean the deadening of emotions, it means the ripening of them. It means to aim for the object of those desires not the feeling of desire itself. Immature emotions are like a toddler trying to the hold fourteen leashes of untrained Great Danes after a cat runs by. By delighting in God for His own sake, and despite your circumstances, your emotions are brought to heel.

MORE THAN LIFE

But God is your God because His lovingkindness has been great towards you. Indeed, until you see that God’s hesed has been great towards you, you will chase after this life as if it is the point. But David says otherwise.

The Lord’s lovingkindness is better than “lives”. In other words, group together all variety of lives which could be lived––monarchs, drunkards, business tycoons, desert monks, those who live to a ripe old age and those who are cut off in childhood. The Lord’s tender mercy to you is better than any of them whether individually or in totality. His lovingkindness is like a strong hand beneath you. You seek hard after God, all to discover that God’s lovingkindness holds steadfast to you.

LET LIARS DIE

A striking thing about the Psalms is that they don’t follow the grooves of our nice and tidy sensibilities of what “godly emotions” should look like. This is particularly evident in this Psalm. Here is glorious lines of David rejoicing in the Lord. Here are glorious metaphors. And then, instead of a sweet ending, we have the clamor of threats and the swearing of oaths.

True longing for God fits us for battle with our enemies. While you remain on earth, your worship of the Living God is not intended to end with the sweet sighings of romantics. Rather, setting your affections of Christ above (Col. 3:1-5) is how you bring about the downfall of those hunting you down.

They shall fall by the sword. They shall be left to be devoured by desert beasts. Because God is your God. David resolves, as the lawful head of Israel, to rejoice in God. He then summons those with him to either join the cause or fall in silence.

You are beset with enemies. Both inward and outward. What is that to you? God is your God. Have you been feeling parched spiritually? Go to your God, both here amongst His people and in the solitary night watches. Seek after God, and find, that all along, at every turn, it is He who has sought after you, and will deliver you from all your enemies.

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The Glory of Being (Biblical Sexuality Sunday 2023)

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INTRODUCTION

Last year Canada passed the C4 bill. It put churches and pastors in the crosshairs by penalizing attempts to confront or contest the GQBLT dogma. Similar legislation is being considered throughout the US and elsewhere. A group of Canadian pastors invited churches around the world to join them in setting aside this Sunday as both a formal protest of these rebellious laws, and an affirmation of Biblical Sexuality. Some might object and say that the pulpit isn’t the appropriate place for such a political topic. But the answer to that is that the pulpit is the battleground for all politics. For it’s here where we declare that Christ is King, His Word is truth, and we are summon all men everywhere to faith, repentance, and obedience.

THE TEXT

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Act 17:28-31).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Apostle Paul, in his sermon to the Athenians on Mars’ Hill, has provoked them with rebuking their idolatry and superstition. He goes on to proclaim to them the Unknown God which they sought to appease. While their conscience bore witness to this God, Paul sets forth, in the plain words of the Gospel, the God they knew was there.

From this God we receive our life, live our life, and sustain our life (v28). Even the pagan poet Aratus could tell you that (v28). God has made us, not we ourselves (Ps. 100:3). This should make it plain that God isn’t found in our carvings. Whether those carvings were, like in ancient times, in the form of gold, marble, or wood, or in our own time in the form of plastic surgery, hormone treatments, and Instagram filters (v29).

Those who worship the creation are ignorant (literally agnostics). But God, in His patience, bore with mankind until the day His redeeming purposes had fully come; we now live in dawning of that day and all men are summoned to repentance (v30). The reason for this repentance is that God has appointed a day of worldwide judgement. God has appointed a man to sit as judge, presiding over this global judgement. The man ordained as God’s judge is the man who once died but God raised from the dead: Jesus (v31).

THE BODILY RESURRECTION

Notice Paul’s tactic. Rampant idolatry is confronted with the bodily resurrection of the Incarnate God. We live in a world which is governed by a man, a resurrected & glorified man. Christ is bodily at the Father’s right hand. This confronts modern idolaters with (at least) two problems.

First, it rebukes the escapist fantasies brought to us by the digital age (but whose taproot reaches further back into ancient mystery religions). Second, it reaffirms God’s creational decree that all He made was good, not icky as the gnostics imagined.

God declared His creation good; even after the first man shipwrecked the world by sin, God set about to rescue man & all creation from the wreckage. God saw all He’d made and it was very good. The resurrection is God repossessing His creation from Satan’s dominion, and restoring it to the creational good.

Idolaters want the world to be other than it is. They want a god of convenience. A god which holds up a mirror so man can admire himself. A world that is infinitely malleable to whatever whim or vice predominates. Modern ideas of sexuality & gender are nothing less than a reanimation of the corpse of ancient idolatries. The gods still lust for blood. The worshippers of sexual fulfillment as the greatest good carve themselves (and their unborn offspring) to appease these gods. Meanwhile, the priests of the pharmaceutical companies gladly line their pockets with the tribute of the devout.

The resurrection is the gavel summoning all mankind to live in the good world God made, and live in it as He made it.

THE WONDER OF MUNDANE

While the symptoms of our cultural idolatry are plain to see, underneath the skin the central corruption is that of ingratitude. Sheer, willful ingratitude.

The heavens declare God’s glory. The trees applaud their maker. The hills stand aside out of reverence for the approach of their Lord. Rocks would break forth in praise. The lightning & thunder provide the stage lights and the soundtrack for the divine drama, while the clouds are a celestial fog machine creating a show beyond anything Broadway can produce.

For all this, mankind has opted to not only complain that he wasn’t made some other way, but he has refused to note that his very being is a gift. This is what Paul is getting at in the text. God made us, and all things, and this should lead us to humble reverence before our Maker and Judge. It should lead us to see glory in patterns of the wood-grain & the galaxies, the wonder of microwaves, and the miracle of music.

The “there-ness” of creation is intended to lead us to bend the knee in worship, forsaking all idols, forsaking all manner of remaking the world according to our grasping lusts. Modern sexuality identity dogma insists on defiantly asking, “Why am I thus?” As Isaiah points out there is immense silliness in pots poising themselves as critics of the potters.

THE REBELLION RUNS DEEP

One avenue where Christians can make incursions against the gender madness which has possessed our culture is an appeal to the fifth commandment. Here is Paul’s recitation of it in Eph. 6:2 “Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise.”

The fifth commandment poses a real hurdle for those who would set about to redefine gender & sexuality while also trying to maintain any semblance of fidelity to Scripture. Notice what is presupposed in this commandment: male & female, covenantal union, and hierarchical duty.

These are the precise things which men, given over to their lusts, have laid siege to. Rebelling against the 1st & 2nd commandment will lead to breaking the 5th commandment. This commandment not only presupposes these vital creational truths, it forces us to either affirm that God’s law is holy, good, and wise and thus submit to both the explicit command and the implicit creational good, or else adopt the serpent’s line of questioning: did God really say?

This is why faith in the resurrected Christ, followed by Spirit-born obedience is a potent refutation of the lies which surround us. Faithful fathers and mothers, nurturing their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, are a shield-wall against the madness. God made fathers, and mothers, and this is how we each came into being, by God’s decree. You didn’t come into being outside of the story, but as part of a long line of stories. Trying to live outside this story is to live in the madness of nightmares.

GOD MADE YOU

The application is this. God made you. And God made all things. Combat the lies by looking to the cross. There is a man. A male human. There He is bleeding. There He is enduring the wrath of God for all your damned idolatries, all your lusts, your puffed up pride, every bitter gripe, every sexual kink. He did it all to redeem the world. Including you. All of you.

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State of the Church 2023 (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

It is our custom to have this first sermon of the new year be a “State of the Church” address. To riff off of the Apostle Paul’s word to Timothy, “This is a good idea and worthy of all acceptation.”

THE TEXT

A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.  It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by thesadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house ofmirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is thelaughter of the fool: this also is vanity. Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this (Ecclesiastes 7:1-10).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Preacher gives us a diamond-mine of wisdom here. The main thrust of this passage is that we must live out our days with eternity in view. A good name isn’t established overnight, which is why you should live so that your eulogy will be full of faithfulness not just polite clichés (v1). This is why going to a funeral is better than going to the carnival; for wise men will be instructed to keep their own mortality in view (vv2-4). Godly sorrow is good for the heart (v3). Stern rebukes from the wise will do more for you than a Disney Musical, or a trending TikTok dance (v5).

Solomon offers a striking metaphor for the cackling laughter of fools, it is like burning up weeds; gone in a flash with no lasting warmth (v6). But in the heat of the moment, the wise might be tempted to forsake wisdom and “go mad” by playing by the rules of the fools; which is seen particularly in the practice of “bribery” (v7).

Thus, we are cautioned to keep the end in mind, not just the beginning, and this demands patience and long-suffering humility (v8). If follies prevail around us, we must not give way to a shrill anger or resentment, otherwise you’re setting out on a fool’s errand (v9). Pining nostalgia is not the course of the wise (v10). Instead, we must see that “God draws straight with crooked lines” (v13), and we must live like dying men (v14). Or as Sproul used to say, “Right now counts forever.”

BEGINNING WELL

In many respects we are a group marked by new beginnings. There are many new marriages, with (by the sound of things) a lot of new babies. Many of you are students just beginning your studies and preparing to establish careers and homes in the near future. This service is a new work of our church. And more broadly, our church community has a lot of new folks. There are new businesses and ventures all around us. New friendships. And new temptations in all these arenas.

The instruction from Solomon is that we should begin well by considering what it means to end well. You raise your children not to hold onto them well into adulthood, but to shoot them out like arrows to cut down the ranks of darkness. The parent who tries to grasp at their adult children will likely find the adult children less and less fond of coming around. The image of an aged miser comes to mind, counting his coins as a death-fit of coughing takes hold of him. He departs but all his accumulated wealth remains for his embittered inheritors to squabble over.

Too often, time turns people bitter and miserly, resentful over an accumulated horde of slights. The warning of Solomon here is to refrain from being hasty to anger. A parent can grow quick to blow up at a child when they aren’t obeying the command to clean up the legos, even after being told seventeen times. A new husband or wife can grow prickly because their spouse forgot to take out the garbage, or neglected some duty.

A church can grow full of spitefulness. He was asked to pray more times than me. She got thanked by the pastor for baking the treats, and I didn’t. Others got invited over to dinner, but we didn’t.

NOT A NOSTALGIA PROJECT

The other aspect is that God’s people, who are to walk in the Wisdom of the Word, can fall into the trap of laboring to recover some nostalgic version of their culture. But our task is not a backward looking project of simply being more “based” than our degenerate culture. Our task is that of Gospel dominion across nations, tribes, and tongues. Our task is bigger than recovering an American Golden Age. It is bringing America out its fever dream, and up into greater glories than the 1950s could have ever envisioned.

We live in a culture which is tangled up with all manner of godless doctrines. If we would establish a lasting work, we must begin by renewing our minds according to Scripture. Carl Trueman helpfully paints a picture of the maddened thinking we are confronting in our culture:

“Nietzsche’s thinking is reflected in current social attitudes: living for the present. When teleology is dead and self-creation is the name ofthe game, then the present moment and the pleasure it can contain become the keys to eternal life.”

“By Marx’s account, the family and the church exist to cultivate, reinforce, and perpetuate bourgeois values. In today’s world, this thinking helps explain why everything–from the Boy Scouts to Hollywood movies to cake baking–has become politicized. And one does not need to be an ideological Marxist to be pulled into this tussle, for once one side gives a particular issue or Organization political significance, then all sides, left, right, and center, have to do the same.”

A DOSE CHESTERTON

GK Chesterton can help us out on this point in particular. He points out that “progressivism” (even in his day) was really just a project in futility. This is because there was no fixed point which society was progressing towards. To quote the man himself: “Here comes in the whole collapse and huge blunder of our age. We have mixed up two different things, two opposite things. Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision. Progress does mean (just now) that we are always changing the vision.”

The commission of the Church is this, in Chesterton’s words: “We see a certain thing out of shape, and we mean to put it into shape. And we know what shape.” That shape is that the things of Old, the truths of eternity, the mystery hid for ages and generations has been made manifest.

Our end goal is to tell the world the Old, Old Story about how all things will be made New in Christ. The duty of the Church is that Christ is King, and we must summon the World to get with the program. Not with the simmering anger of partisan fools, but, as the hymn puts it, “with deeds of love and mercy.”

NOW FOR US

We have had a wonderful beginning here at CCD. God has blessed us with a great facility. There is a zeal for good works in this group ofsaints. The saints here could be given high marks for hospitality and joyful fellowship.

These sort of virtues are the mortar which should bind together the living stones built on the Chief Cornerstone. But remember, our goal is to establish a work that will outlast any of us here, and remain faithful for generations by God’s grace.

To do that, we must heed Solomon’s wisdom. Do not let small gripes become big ones. Do not grow discouraged at the folly all around us in our culture. Don’t get flustered or shrill or  exasperated if the progress towards Christ’s total dominion on earth seems slow in coming. Do not measure success from a quick start, but from deep roots. It takes time for the leaven to cause the dough to rise.

This all must be done by being rooted and grounded in Christ. All of Christ for All of Life. That is the shape we are bending things to. It starts in you. Is Christ all to you? What about your home? How about here in the congregation of saints? The end of the matter is better than it’s beginning. And the end of it all will be Christ all in all.

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Jesus (Profiles in Christmas #4)

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INTRODUCTION

We’ve looked at Joseph & Mary the embodiment of the best of Faithful Israel’s longing for God to bring salvation. We’ve looked at the Wicked Dynasty of Herod which the text of Scripture intends to be viewed as the incarnation of Man’s Satanic Rebellion. But now, we must look at the babe which was born a child, and yet a King. The Lord Jesus.

THE TEXT

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb (Luke 2:21)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The one by Whom all things were called into being is here given a name. He who separated the Light from Darkness, is here separated from the unclean world by the sign of circumcision. He who established the covenant with Abraham, receives the sign of that covenant (Gen. 17:12). He who ordained the Laws of Moses, is here submitted to the Laws of Moses (Lev. 12:3).

The eternal Christ was not ashamed to count us His brothers (Heb. 2:11), and so received an earthly name. The Omnipotent, and eternally begotten Son of God, who, by His God-hood, only ever knew true freedom, here becomes a debtor to all of Moses Law. And we might ask why did God determine to do all this. The answer is found in the explanation for this name which the Angel declared to Joseph: “thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Mt. 1:21).”

JEHOVAH WAS, IS, & SHALL BE SALVATION

Jesus would have been a common enough name in Israel. It is effectively the same name as Joshua. If we drill down into what the name means, we find it means Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah had always been the salvation of His people. The Ark in Noah’s day revealed that Jehovah is Salvation. The Ram in the thicket, upon Mt. Moriah, revealed to Abraham & Isaac that Jehovah is Salvation. At Penuel, Jacob wrestled with God Incarnate, only to find that Jehovah is Salvation. Genesis closes with Joseph delivering not only his own family, but the “entire world” by God’s grace, letting all peoples know Jehovah is Salvation.

Moses led the people out of Pharaoh’s bondage, and the Red Sea was cleft in two, and thus the great host of delivered Hebrews saw the Right Hand of the Lord bared, and could rightly sing, “Jehovah is Salvation.” Of course, Joshua leads the covenant people on a conquering romp in judgement of the Canaanite sins, and certainly in this we see Jehovah is Salvation. The Judges were continually raised up to summon the people to return unto the Lord, and wrought mighty deeds which left it without question: Jehovah is Salvation.

David beheaded a mighty Giant, expanded the border of the Promised Land to its fullest extent, established a house of worship on Mount Zion, and filled it with melodic Psalms which proclaimed, “Jehovah is Salvation.” His son Solomon built a resplendent temple for all people everywhere to come and worship the true and living God, inviting all to come and behold that Jehovah is Salvation. The Prophets called the people to repent from their sins, warned of exile, and insisted that in Jehovah alone is Salvation. And then Nehemiah & Ezra rebuilt Jerusalem, renewed the covenant so that it might be indisputable that Jehovah is Salvation. All of Israel’s history declared that Jehovah is Salvation, but now Jehovah was Salvation.

WHAT IS IN THIS NAME

The New Testament goes on to tell us all that is contained in the name, person, and work of this child we celebrate today. If you would be saved, you must call upon this name (Acts 4:12). One day every knee will bow before this name, and every tongue confess this name, Jesus, as the Lord King of the earth (Phi. 2:11-12). Indeed as Solomon the Wise once taught, this name of the Lord is a strong tower, which the righteous run into and are saved (Pro. 18:10). By this name the Apostles summoned lame to leap and commanded demons to flee.

By faith, you bear this name. The saints are often reproached for bearing His name, but Peter tells us to rejoice when we partake of the scorn which the world holds for Jesus (1 Pt. 4:14). Wicked politicians and corrupted priests sought to restrict the teaching of the Apostles in the authority of the name of Jesus (Act 4:18). If you receive this name, you bring down all manner of accusation and scorn upon you. The enemies of God in history have hurled all manner of slander upon Christians: cannibals, atheists, rabble-rousers, trouble-makers, disturbers of the peace, devils. In our own time, holding fast to Jesus and His teaching makes you a hater, someone who needs to check their privilege, a Right-Wing Extremist, Domestic Terrorists.

But the Good News of Great Joy, which the Angels declare, and which the Apostles spread out in the world to herald, and which the church militant has faithfully taught the nations is this: “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment (1Jo 3:23).” Here is God’s command to you: believe on the name Jesus.

ALL THINGS ARE HIS

Jesus grew up in despised Nazareth. Jesus ministry was plagued by legal problems, assassination attempts, he was betrayed by a close friend, traded for a murderer, crucified and numbered among the transgressors. Jesus’ name was brought to utter ignominy. Jesus name was brought low in the grave, by the raging of wicked rulers and envious rivals. And yet, despite it all, through it all, by the power of God, Jesus is the Name above all names. Today we rejoice in this great salvation which Jehovah brought to us.

As we exchange gifts, spread our feasts, enjoy our new toys & tools & ties, we are celebrating a Name. A Name who has the only lawful claim on all things. When you hand a gift to another, or pass around the cheese & bacon-topped potato-skins, you’re simply passing around the lawful possession of Christ the King.

He has, in His kindness, given us all things to freely enjoy. It’s like when you are visiting some enormous Ice Cream shop with dozens and dozens of flavors. You might try a flavor and say, “Oh you’ve got to try this one.” As created beings, that is all we can do. All of our giving is derivative giving.

It is imitative giving. It is tasting and seeing that the Lord is good and then handing around goodness to those around us and saying, “Have you seen this shadow-glory yet? Have you tasted this appetizer of eternal joy yet? Can you believe that this too is our birthright in Christ? This fudge is glorious, but is light as a feather compared to the eternal weight of glory which shall cascade upon us right around the corner.”

All these joys are enjoyable, because God made peace with you by the blood of Jesus. We must not overlook that the central message of Christmas is that Jesus (Jehovah is Salvation) is coupled with Emmanuel (God with Us). God’s deliverance of His people was by God taking the place of His people. You are saved by Jehovah because Jehovah is with you.

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Mary (Profiles in Christmas #3)

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INTRODUCTION

The godliness & virtue of Mary coupled with the profound significance of the task appointed to her of bearing God in the flesh in her womb, has led some to revere Mary in her own rite. But, when we look at her life, we must resist two temptations. One would be to overly reverence her (the Roman Catholic error), the other to disrespect her (the error of our irreverent age). She ought not be venerated, but rather, emulated.

THE TEXT

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:26-33).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Angel Gabriel comes as one of God’s “mighty ones” to a virgin from Nazareth in Galilee. Two important descriptions are noteworthy: first, she is an espoused virgin; second, that she (as we saw with Joseph) was of the house of David (vv26-27). Gabriel’s greeting is packed with regal honorifics: she is hailed as with royal (not divine) honor, she is highly favored, the Lord is with her, and she is blessed among women (v28). While she is quite flummoxed by this greeting (v29), the Angel goes on to unfurl the most important tidings any Angelic messenger had ever given. Mary had found favor in God’s sight (like Noah, Abraham, and Moses); like all moments of redemption, this was God’s free grace at work (v30).

This Incarnation of God in the flesh was the crowning jewel of all of God’s grace towards man. Mary is told that she would conceive & give birth to a son, who should be named Jesus (v31). So far, nothing that abnormal. Human mothers had birthed human sons before. Angels had come with these sorts of messages before. Prophets had made these sort of predictions before.

But then the Angel sets forth the towering glories of this Son. In Mary’s Son all the Messianic glories are brought into full flower. Her Son would also be divine. He would be great, the Son of the Highest, the fulfillment of God’s messianic promise to seat an eternal heir on David’s throne (v32), He was the prophesied Star which would arise out of Jacob to reign unto endless eons (v33, Cf. Num. 24:17).

THEOTOKOS

As you recite the Definition of Chalcedon at Christmastime each year, you shouldn’t forget that almost every phrase in it was the topic of long debate. One of the principle debates was whether it was right to call Mary the “God-bearer”. The Greek word is theotokos. This debate centered on who Jesus was. Was He a Son of Man which God used? Was he the eternal Christ, but more of an apparition than a true human?

A few other suggestions were proposed: theotokos should be combined with anthropotokos, or Christokos. But by landing on calling Mary the God-bearer, the theologians of Chalcedon said more with less. It forced the Church to affirm the unity of the human & divine nature of Jesus Christ.

This isn’t just theological hair splitting; there are important practical implications, even if it gives us a bit of a headache in trying to get it pinned down. God the Son was manifested in the flesh. The Son never resigned His divinity while taking unto Himself true humanity.

If you erroneously split that theological atom, you end up with either a Christ who can’t suffer in our stead, or a mere man who can’t bring us up to glory. One is a ladder that isn’t tall enough, the other is a ladder that floats just out of reach. But theotokos puts both together. Jesus is God. Jesus is man. Mary bore God in her womb. Yes, this is mind-blowing. This was the most impossible thing to ever happen, and Mary herself knew it (Lk. 1:37).

GOD MY SAVIOR

One of the central errors of Mariolatry is that it neglects to reckon with Mary’s own words. This is seen particularly in her Magnificat. She describes there her wonder and worship at all that had befallen her in terms of fulfillment of OT types.

All the Psalmists’ pleas for God’s swift deliverance of His people (including Mary) are now answered. Mary sees Hannah’s exultation over her adversary (satan) played out once again in her own story, but cosmically, the woman’s seed overcoming the serpent’s seed. She sees that her Son is the Seed of Abraham, and this was the blessing for all the earth, for all generations.

She rejoices in “God my Savior.” She does not set herself above all others, but sets herself as the first blessed amongst all others who would receive this great blessing of the Savior. Mary needed a Savior. Later on in Jesus’ ministry, we also get a bit of a sense that Mary was pushing Jesus forward into being the sort of Savior she (as well as the other disciples) envisioned the Messiah would be. Simon surely prophesied well when he told Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul.

Mary was there when God first took on flesh, and she beheld when that flesh was hung––mangled and tortured–– upon a the accursed Roman tree. She understood, imperfectly at first, and then on Calvary she came to see more clearly, that her Son was also her Savior.

RECEIVING AS A CHRISTMAS VIRTUE

Generosity requires two parties: the giver & the receiver. One is active, the other is passive. Every gift we give is play-acting God’s creative power. It is He who made us and not we ourselves. Can the pot say to the Potter, “What gives?” Our modern world thinks that being can be taken for granted. Your existence isn’t your possession for you to do with however you please; it is a gift to be received and rightly used. All the modern jargon about “self-expression” & “finding your true self” is continuing the root rebellion of mankind.

Mary’s response is that of true faith: “Be it unto me according to your word.” Mary receives the unearned favor of God with humble faith. She doesn’t resist or object in doubt. She receives the gift. This sort of faith insults our modern egotistical age, and confronts it as a putrid rebellion against God.

What do you have that you did not first receive? Man wants to try to clean himself up to please God, before he receives God’s gift of cleansing. Man tries to reform himself, before receiving the reforming grace that God gives. Man tries to find rebirth in himself, before receiving the New Birth in Christ. The order matters, immensely. God casts His favor upon you, through no merit of your own, and calls you to receive it. Only then can you be remade.

ANOTHER REBELLIOUS MIRIAM

Mary’s namesake was Miriam, Moses’ sister. Her name meant resistant/obstinance. Miriam notoriously resisted Moses’ authority (Cf. Num. 12). Here we have a profound contrast between two Miriams. Mary the resistant, says, “let it be.” Mary receives grace, and so resists the proud.

By God’s grace, the rebellious become the receivers. This is how Mary, and all true believers, overcome the world. We receive in order to overcome our adversary. We who were once rebels of God, when we receive His gracious favor, we are made more than conquerors through Christ, the Son of Mary. The overthrow of Satan had begun, because Christ was born of Mary.

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