Christ Church

Immovable Christians (CC Troy)

Joshua Edgren on

INTRODUCTION

How can man stand solid and immovable, like a stone wall? How can a young man go off to college and not get sidetracked from his mission by loose friends, pretty girls, and beer? How can a young mother roll up her sleeves and accomplish her to do list for the day without getting distracted by a million different needs? Paul tells the Corinthians in 1 Cor 15:58 to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” We must understand how to obey this command to become a rock, like Christ is a rock.

TEXT

 1 Chron 21:1-20: “Now Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.” And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?” Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab….

SURVEY OF THE TEXT

In verse one we see Satan scheming a deceitful plan to move David to number the Israelite armies. David is deceived, verse two, and in his pride tells Joab to go and number all of Israel. Joab is wise enough to know that this is a bad idea and tries to persuade David not to do it, verse three. But in verse four we see that David does not listen. Joab gives way and counts the people and reports back to David in verse five, but he only puts in half effort because he knew the command was wicked.

In verse seven the text tells us plainly that this was displeasing to God and He strikes Israel. David recognizes the judgement from God, and he immediately repents in verse eight.

In verse nine God speaks through Gad the seer and tells David he has three choices. God will send either three years of famine, three months of defeat in battle or three days of plague with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout the land of Israel. David chooses the third option, for he would rather be judged directly by God then fall into the hands of his enemies.

So, in verse 14 we see the Lord sends a plague on Israel and seventy-thousand men of Israel fall. God sends His angel to destroy Jerusalem. But it was then that the Lord relented and ended the plague. The angel stops at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David can see the angel of the Lord, and he and the other elders fall down in sackcloth and pray for mercy. David takes full responsibility for the great evil and supplicates on behalf of his nation. In humility David prays for God to strike him, and not his people.

The angel of the lord commanded Gad, the seer, to tell David to get up and erect an altar to the Lord there on the threshing floor of Ornan where the Angel had stopped. David obeys in verse 19. And in verse 20 we are introduced to Ornan the Jebusite. We are told that Ornan turned and there in front of him was the angel of the Lord, the angel of death. His sons do the natural thing and get out of there as fast as the can and go hide. But remarkably Ornan turns continues with his work threshing wheat.

That is when David shows up. David asks for the threshing floor for a place to build an altar. And in verse 23 Ornan offers it all to him free of charge, his oxen for the sacrifice, his threshing tools for the fire, and his wheat for the grain offering. He gives it all.

David takes it for the sacrifice but insists that he pays for it all rather than offer something that costs him nothing.

MOVEABLE DAVID AND IMMOVABLE ORNAN

At the start of this passage David was moved by Satan to do a wicked deed. He is blinded by his pride and falls easy prey to Satan’s temptation. We don’t see any pushback from David to the initial temptation, and even when Joab tries to speak reason to him, David is already set in his sin and will not listen. Joab knows it is wrong, but nevertheless he also gives in. Both David and then Joab were moved wickedness. The Lord’s anointed and his right-hand man, and they fell easily.

Fast-forward in the story to Ornan. Ornan is a Jebusite. The Jebusites were a tribe in the land of Canaan that Joshua couldn’t quite wipe out. Their capital city was Jebus, which was a fortress city with high ground and strong walls. David finally defeats the remaining Jebusites by taking Jebus (1 Chron 11:4-9), which becomes the city of David. So Ornan, from a pagan nation, appears in our story and he is the first person to not be moved. He stands firm in the face of almost certain death. In fact, he does more than stand, he get’s back to work.

BUILDING ON THE ROCK

Everybody knows the story at the end of the sermon on the mount in Matt 7:24-27. There were two men, one wise and one foolish. The wise man built his house on the rock, and when the storms came, his house stood firm. The foolish man built his house on the sand, and when the storms came, his house fell. What is the moral of this parable? Verse 24: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock….But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” The difference is in what you do with God’s words.

LEARNING TO DIE

Paul tells the Corinthians to be steadfast and immovable in 1 Cor 15:58. But that command starts with a “Therefore”. Paul is finishing off an argument about death in Christ. Christ really died and Christ really rose again (1 Cor 15 1-11). If Christ didn’t rise then there is no hope, you might as well go any way the wind moves you, “eat drink and be merry” for you have no hope in life and life has no point. But Christ really did rise, and when He did, He changed everything. For now, death is not the end, death is the beginning. You and I will rise with Christ. So how can you fear death any longer. In fact, so far from fearing death, Paul says that he dies every single day (v 31). “Foolish ones”, don’t you know you have to die in order to be raised? Death was defeated by Christ’s death, but it is not yet fully destroyed, it will be the final enemy (v 26). But every time a Christian dies on this earth, death is destroyed further. For when you die, death loses all power. Death has no power over those raised in Christ.

ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD

1 Cor 15:58b “…always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”. A man does not stand immovable by holding really still.  God has called each one of us to a mission. You have daily missions, short term missions, and a life mission. God gave you this life, and He will take it away from you. That is not your worry. Focus your attention on what work He has put before you. You are not doing this on your own or without example. Christ too had a mission. He set his face steadfast, like flint. He saw the joy before Him and He got after it, enabling you to do the same.

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Seven Keys to Becoming a Spiritual Prepper (CCT)

Joshua Edgren on

INTRODUCTION

As we consider the state of our culture around us, it is manifestly clear that things are not normal. We all see trouble on the horizon, but some qualifications must be made. We know that many terrible things are coming—most of which are not going to happen.

Worry agonizes over a thousand things, most of which do not materialize, and all that expended energy doesn’t do anything much except tighten up all the muscles in your shoulders and neck, and give you problems with sleeping. So each day has enough trouble without you bringing in your imaginary supplements (Matt. 6:34).

At the same time, some of these difficulties are obviously going to materialize. What should we do to prepare for them?

THE TEXTS

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: But the simple pass on, and are punished”
(Prov. 22:3).
“The simple believeth every word: But the prudent man looketh well to his going” (Prov. 14:15).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXTS

Anxiety just spins your wheels pointlessly. But sharply distinct from sinful worry, we do find in Scripture the virtue of prudence. A prudent man sees possible trouble coming and prepares accordingly. The first proverb above commends the wisdom of such preparation, and warns us that the simpleton goes on blithely unaware and catches it in the neck (Prov. 22:3). The second proverb condemns the practice of reading every hysterical thing on the web you can find, and getting yourself into all of a doodah. That is a simpleton’s way also—giving way to doomscrolling, which is a hindrance to wise preparation.

What pending trouble does is remind us of our duties, but these are not just our duties in times of pending trouble, but rather are our constant duties, as pending trouble so kindly reminds us. So what follows are seven key principles to remember as you seek to get you and your family into fighting trim. You could call these pastoral exhortations, or perhaps pastoral exhortations from a Dutch uncle. This is how you should strive to become a wise spiritual prepper.

WORSHIP GOD REGULARLY

One of the early fathers said lex orandi lex credendi—the law of prayer is the law of faith. Liturgy shapes us. The way we worship shapes us.

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to
be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:13).

“Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men” (1 Cor. 14:20).

Come to worship prepared for the time to help you gird up the loins of your mind. Prepare for the worship to mature your understanding. This is the way.

DEAL WITH PERSONAL SIN

Learn to confess your sins to God, honestly and forthrightly. He sees down to the sludge layers at the bottom of your heart anyway, so there is no sense trying to blow sunshine at Him. Simply acknowledge it. Ask Him to deal with it as only He can deal with it. You know He wants to.

Confess your sins (1 John 1:9). Forsake them (Prov. 28:13). Just as Achan was for all intents and purposes fighting for the Canaanites, so you also are on the other side if you are nurturing and hiding some misbegotten sin in your life. You cannot prepare to withstand the enemy when you have made your own secret alliances with the enemy. And this means that, to take one common example, if you have a secret porn habit, regardless of your ostensible politics, you are cheering the progressives on. Stop rationalizing, and just deal with it. All of the lunacy that we are currently dealing with is downstream from the sexual revolution, and could not have happened apart from that sexual revolution. Reformation in the church—which is most necessary—is not going to happen apart from full and complete repentance on this issue.

MINIMIZE ENCUMBRANCES

When we are told to run the race in Hebrews, we are told to prepare ourselves to do so by setting aside the weight that so easily entangles us. We are beset by sin, the passage tells us, which was my first point, but there are also weights that get in the way.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1).

In ordinary times, it is good and proper to use up all your available bandwidth with various projects, challenges, commitments, and so on. But now may be the time to streamline. This is not because the coming crisis is a time to be lazy, but rather because you are freeing up available bandwidth so that you can protect your family more effectively. Those of you who have a lot of projects going are doing it so that you might provide for your family, which is a good thing. But your other central duty is that of protecting your family, and we may be moving into an era where protection takes priority over provision.

Streamline your affairs, wherever possible. The riches of this world and the cares of this world are not sinful in themselves (Matt. 13:22), but they do have the capacity to choke out the Word.

STOCK UP ON THE WORD

Now is the time to become serious about storing up the Scriptures in your heart and mind. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Prov. 119:11)

You worship God in a church that is logocentric. You can’t turn around in the liturgy without bumping into Scripture. You have the kind of service that enables you to memorize multiple passages of Scripture simply because you have heard them read or declared so often. In addition, you should be a regular, diligent, focused Bible reader. And sing the Word. Learn the psalms. Sing the psalms also (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19).

DO NOTHING THAT FEEDS YOUR FEARS

It would be better to go into a time of trouble with a true evangelical confidence and no freeze-dried food, than to have a generator and lots of gas that represented, in a rather tangible way, the sum total of all your fears.

Do not prepare for trouble in any way that paralyzes you. Hoarders and preppers are often susceptible to the temptation that says, “There is no conceivable way that we will ever be on the offense.” But you can’t score points unless you have the ball.

We need a new brand of preppers—postmill preppers, prepping for actual victory, which leads to the last point.

ASSUME THE POSTURE OF VICTORS

We should be preparing in our hearts for that glorious moment—after fierce fighting—when we raise our flag on the top of a spiritual Iwo Jima. As Chesterton once put it, there is one taste of paradise on earth, which is to fight in a losing battle, and then not lose. Or as Aragorn put it, “Men are better than gates.”

“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

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How to Survive a Coup

Grace Sensing on

INTRODUCTION

We have had no little political tumult as of late and the sense that God is writing quite a story is inescapable. One gets the sense that He is not dictating this story, but writing it with His own hand. It seems like a pen and pad situation, up close and personal, with the Triune author saying something like, “Do you hear me now?” As I saw one commentator recently say after observing our festive news cycles, “Boy, this America: Season Finale really is something.” Given our riveting times we should prepare to stay riveted; and these rivets should be fastening into something with more staying power than the Breaking News. Lucky for us, our text is more dramatic than our recent happenings, and that is really saying something.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

2 Kings 11:1-21

Athaliah was the wife of Jehoram king of Judah. She was a worshipper of Baal like her father Ahab, king of Israel, and his wife Jezebel. Athaliah’s husband died and her son Ahaziah took the throne of Judah only to die himself. Upon hearing of the death of her son and king, Ahaziah, the wicked Athaliah murdered her grandsons—all the seed royal—and claimed the throne of Judah in Jerusalem. But, Jehoiada the High Priest and his wife, Jehosheba, protected one of those grandsons named Jehoash by hiding him in the temple. After raising Jehoash secretly for about six years in the temple, Jehoiada gathered five rulers over hundreds to show them the rightful seven year old king and made a covenant with them to overthrow Athaliah. These gathered Levites and chiefs of the fathers throughout all Judea to Jerusalem. Orderly arrangements were made as they declared Jehoash king, including dividing up the guards and Levites to man certain stations. The guard shielded young King Jehoash as he stood between the temple and the altar. 

Jehoiada put the crown upon King Jehoash’s head, gave him the testimony, and anointed him, as the crowd clapped their hands and cried out, “God save the king.” Athaliah, hearing the commotion, hurried to the temple. When she saw the young, crowned king, she cried, “Treason! Treason!” I envision Jehosheba looking on as she leans against a temple pillar with a smirk, eating a biscuit that she baked that morning (alas, this is not in the text). Jehoiada commanded the captains to obtain Athaliah, kill any who assisted her, and escort her out of the temple lest she be killed in it. Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people. The people broke down the house of Baal in Jerusalem, along with his altar and images, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal. Jehoiada appointed officers over the house of the LORD. With all the people and rulers, they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and he sat on the throne of the kings. The people rejoiced, the city was quiet, and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house.

COUP AND COVENANT

The key question to answer is, “How many coups do you count?” Are we dealing with an Athaliah coup and a Jehoiada coup? The answer to that is, no. We have one coup. Grasping this point is most essential.

Athaliah had no right to the throne so her actions are a text book coup, a violent and unlawful seizure of the throne. Jehoiada’s business was lawful and righteous. In other words, when Athaliah cried, “Treason!” she was quite mistaken. The key is the covenant God made with David, which promised that a son of David would sit upon the throne.

“Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” (2 Samuel 7:11-13)

This is the prophet Jeremiah’s understanding: “For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 33:17)

It is Solomon’s as well: “Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel.” (1 Kings 8:25)

Athaliah was married to a son of David, Jehoram. Her son was a son of David, Ahaziah. But she was a daughter of Ahab, a worshiper of Baal and no son of David. She set herself to slaughter the sons of David and thereby extinguish God’s covenant with him.

AN ATHALIAH AUTOPSY

It is not without reason that the Kings of Israel jingle says “Queen Athaliah was a cat.” She followed in the footsteps of her mother Jezebel. We can learn several things from an Athaliah autopsy. She was the only human to usurp the throne of Judah from the sons of David. It is sons of David all the way down, from Rehoboam to Zedekiah and the Babylonian exile. The covenant promise to David was hanging on by a snotty nosed Jehoash in the temple and Athaliah was doing her best Cruella de Vil to snuff out that divine oath. Her root problem was unbelief and that root problem gave birth to many others . . .

JEHOIADA AND JEHOSHEBA

Jehoiada and Jehosheba are one of the most loveable couples in the Bible. They lived in a nasty time. King Jehoram, Athaliah’s husband, was wicked. His son, Ahaziah was also wicked. Now they had to deal with the wretched cat Athaliah. A house of Baal stood in Jerusalem, likely on Mount Moriah itself. The temple in Jerusalem at which Jehoiada served was falling apart from neglect (2 Kings 12:5). And yet they remained faithful. Athaliah went to slaughter her son’s sons, and Jehosheba, who was Athaliah’s brother and thus aunt to the baby Jehoash essentially says, “Oh no you don’t. I know the promises made to the sons of David.” They are a witness to how one survives a coup . . .

FROM THE TEMPLE TO THE THRONE

The arc of this particular story runs from the temple to the throne. Darkness had descended upon Jerusalem and Judea. But a son of David was in the temple. Many years later another son of David would be in the temple shocking the teachers with his wisdom. As Jehoash stood, crown upon his head between the temple and the altar, it is as if he told that daughter of Ahab, “You seek me? Didn’t you know I must be about my father’s business?”

And this the Greater Jehoash has said (Luke 2:49).

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Lessons for the Limelight (Joint Outdoor Worship Service Part #2)

Grace Sensing on

INTRODUCTION

Even given the tumultuous time we have had over the last few years, and the attention that it has brought us, it would still be too much for us to say that “all eyes are on Moscow.” That is simply not true. But it would be accurate for us to say that more eyes are on us than used to be the case, and that more eyes are on us than we are accustomed to. On the assumption that you have taken to heart the exhortation you have heard from Pastor Toby today, which is that you need to be faithful within your radius, within your reach here locally, you are still going to be affected by what is going on nationally and even internationally. What should all of us be doing about that?

THE TEXT

“So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work” (Nehemiah 4:6). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

We can take note of three distinct things about this passage. The first is that a spirit of willingness to work had come upon the people. The “people had a mind to work” (v. 6). The second is that they were competent in their work. Their willingness did not result in the kind of haste that requires you to tear it up and start over. “If you don’t have time to do it right, how will you have time to do it over?” It says that they built the wall, and it shows that the wall was successfully joined together. This was competent work. And third, if you look at the preceding verses, they were working diligently and competently in the presence of hostile outsiders (vv. 1-3). This becomes very evident in the next verse also. “But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it” (Nehemiah 4:7–8). 

MIND TO WORK

When Scripture speaks on certain principles, we need to remember that they apply as much to communities as they do to individuals. On this point, individuals can be lazy, but so can cultures be. For example, Paul chided the Cretans— “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (Titus 1:12). When this takes root in a culture, the same kind of destructive consequences start to unfold as well.  

“The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Proverbs 13:4). 

“The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason” (Proverbs 26:16). 

CREAM RISES

But hustle is not sufficient. There are people who work hard, and they are very confident, but their level of expertise and level of self-awareness are not even in the same room. 

“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men” (Proverbs 22:29, NKJV). 

OPPOSITION IS A DETAIL BUT…

We are accustomed to the opposition, and know how to process it. We have gotten to the point where opposition is baked in. But what shall we do when the dam breaks and everybody wants to team up? What kind of help do we receive? What do we reject? What do we cooperate with cautiously?

Ezra and Nehemiah certainly received help from a pagan king. 

“And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me” (Nehemiah 2:8).

At the same time, there was help that it would have been foolish to accept (Ezra 8:22).

“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 10–11). 

ALL OF CHRIST FOR ALL OF LIFE

You are no doubt aware of the very visible place that various Moscow institutions have come to occupy—from Canon+ to Logos School, from Logos School to New St. Andrews College, and from NSA to our network of churches. There has been a torrent of books, documentaries, graduates, joint projects and more. In all of this, and for all of this, we must give glory to God. In addition to such things, you might also guess that this has opened some doors that are not so visible, and that there is significant influence that is not visible. If you guessed this, you would be correct.  

Now a lot of this treasury of teaching and information was accumulated and stockpiled back when we were being ostracized. In fact, there were seasons when we would get beat like a rented mule. As it happens, this is starting to shift, for which we are most grateful. At the same time, we must remember that the devil has two major tactics that he uses on the church. The first is harassment and persecution, in which he tries to get the church to fail by failing. When that doesn’t work, and the church perseveres through those dangers intact, he moves on to his second strategy, which is to get the church to fail by succeeding. 

“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44). 

“But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation” (Deuteronomy 32:15).

To which we must respond as Christians—Christians in the beginning, Christians in the middle, and Christians to the end. 

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