Christ Church

Expositional

Psalm 61: A Rock that is Higher than I

Douglas Wilson on

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Introduction

This is a psalm of David in a time of affliction. Because he is likely king at this time (see v. 6), and because he longs to be restored to the tabernacle (v. 4), it would be safest to locate this psalm as being written during the time of Absalom’s rebellion. So this is not just a matter of danger for David (which he had faced many times before), but of mortal danger from a dearly loved son.

The Text

“Hear my cry, O God; Attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I . . .” (Psalm 61:1-8).

Summary of the Text

First, this is not a dispassionate prayer. David cries out, “Hear my cry, O God” (v. 1). He is in a desperate way. He will cry out to God from the ends of the earth, which indicates some form of exile (v. 2). When he is overwhelmed, when his heart is overwhelmed, he asks that he be led to a rock that is higher than he is (v. 2). God has been a shelter for him in times past, a strong tower against the enemy (v. 3). This indicates that on the top of the rock that is higher than David there is a fortress. Having presented the request, David declares his confidence that he will return to the tabernacle to be there forever, and that he will trust in the covert of God’s wings (v. 4). He then says Selah, which most likely means something like “pause and reflect.”

David has made vows, and God has heard them (v. 5). He is confident that he has been given the heritage of those who fear God (v. 5). The king’s life will be prolonged, and his years will be extended like they were generations (v. 6). He will abide with God forever (v. 7), and mercy and truth will do it. God will be praised forever, and He will be praised forever daily (v. 8).

Attend to My Prayer

Here is a striking difference between the formalist and the true believer. The formalist is content with having prayed. The true believer has a holy discontent until he has an answer. The formalist checks the box that says he has “said his prayers,” but he, along with everybody else knows that prayers are not meant to be answered. God, for some mysterious reason, wants us to say them, but He isn’t listening. Away with all that. The psalmist says “Hear my cry, O God.” He says, “attend to my prayer.”

The Ends of the Earth

It might be the end of the earth, but it is not the end of prayer. It may be far away from the tabernacle, but God is no local baal tied to just one mountain, or to one shrine. David’s distance might be geographical, as a man might pray when lost on a glacier in Greenland. Or David’s distance might be ecclesiastical—where the tabernacle was taken as the very center of all things. Either way, or both, God is immediately there. Wherever God is, there is the true center.

So the end of the earth is not the end of prayer, but the end of prayer is the end of man.

A Rock That is Higher

Not only does David not have a Rock that is higher than he is, he doesn’t know where it is. He knows

there is one, but he can’t find it, and he can’t get up on it. His cry is to the one who can accomplish a full deliverance. The first thing is that he must be led to the Rock; he needs to be shown where it is. And because the Rock is higher than he is, two things follow—if he gets up on it, he will be saved, but because it is higher than he is, he can’t get up on it. He needs to be led there, and he needs to be placed there.

And just being led there is not enough. Picture this great danger along a rocky coast, and you are a mariner whose ship has foundered. The shoreline is a series of rocky cliffs—your salvation from the waves is there, right there. You can see it now. But seeing it and being on it are two entirely different things.

No Expiration Date

God’s past kindnesses do not have an expiration date. Notice how David prays from the past to the future, from “thou hast been a shelter . . . (v. 3)” to “I will abide . . . I will trust” (v. 4), from “God, hast heard . . .” (v. 5) and “hast given” (v. 5) to “Thou wilt prolong . . .” (v. 6).

God’s faithfulness in the past is a sure indication of His faithfulness in the future. God’s hard providences are sometimes hard, sometimes tangled and messy, sometimes inscrutable, but always faithful. The plots twists are often over our heads, but the happy endings never are. The Christian cosmos is a comedy, not a tragedy, and not a farce.

Contentment is a Gift

If contentment is a gift from God, and it is, then it is appropriate for us to plead for it. And when we are pleading for it, it only stands to reason that we know that we do not yet have it. You don’t know where it is, or how it can be, but you know who has it to give.

David wanted to be back at the tabernacle. The shelter of God’s wings might be seen in the Holy of Holies, with the wings (“the covert of thy wings”) of the cherubim extending over the mercy seat.

Jesus is that mercy seat. Jesus is the Rock that is higher, much higher, than we are. Jesus is the tower fortress on top of that Rock. Jesus is the tabernacle. Jesus welcomes you under the covering of His wings. Jesus is your heritage. Jesus is mercy and truth. Jesus is the fulfillment of all our vows.

What do you do, then, when your heart is overwhelmed? You fly, you fly to Jesus. Nothing else makes any sense.

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Grace and Sweat

Douglas Wilson on

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Introduction

I am fond of saying that grace has a backbone, but I think it is time to explain what I mean by that. The context of these remarks is the general and current ongoing discussion about the worrisome trajectories of all those incipient legalists and antinomians out there. The incipient legalists are the ones the incipient antinomians are worried about, and vice versa.

The Text

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).

Summary of the Text

We see that for the apostle Paul, obedience is not a bad word. It does not have negative connotations for him. The Philippians were beloved by him, and he commends them for their obedience (v. 12). This was not just when Paul was present, but also when he was not with them. In particular, he tells them (in his absence) to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling (v. 12). How is it possible for them to do this? God is the one who is at work within them, willing and doing in accordance with His good pleasure (v. 13). This means that the Philippians were to work out what God was working in. The labors of both parties, added up, did not come to 100%. God did everything in them. They did everything that was the result of what God did in them. Salvation is all of grace—even the work.

But what is the relationship of the grace of God to the (seemingly unrelated) world of hard moral effort? If the grace of God is in all and through all, and beneath us all, then why do we still have to sweat bullets? Are those who sweat bullets abandoning the grace of God? Are those who rejoice in free forgiveness forsaking the demands of discipleship? But not all conditions are meritorious.

Reconciled Friends

Spurgeon once said, when asked how he reconciled divine sovereignty with human responsibility, that he did not even try—he never sought to reconcile friends. If we think about it rightly, from the vantage of those jealous for moral probity, we will never try to reconcile grace with works—that would be like trying to reconcile an apple tree with its apples. And, if we think about it rightly, from the vantage of those jealous for the wildness of grace, we will never try to reconcile grace with merit, for the two are mortal enemies and cannot be reconciled.

But those who insist that apple trees must always produce apples will make the friends of free grace nervous, not because they have anything against apples, but rather because they know the human propensity for manufacturing shiny plastic apples, with the little hooks that make it easy to hang them, like so many Christmas tree ornaments, on our doctrinal and liturgical bramble bushes. But on the other hand, those who insist that true grace always messes up the categories of the ecclesiastical fussers make the friends of true moral order nervous—because there are, after all, numerous warnings (from people like Jesus and Paul, who should have a place in these particular discussions, after all) about those who “live this way” not inheriting the kingdom. Kind of cold, according to some people, but the wedding banquet is the kind of event you can get thrown out of.

Rightly Related

So what is the relationship of grace to hard, moral effort? Well, hard, moral effort is a grace. It is not every grace, but it is a true grace. It is a gift of God, lest any should boast. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, and this is a description of someone being saved by grace through faith, and not by works (Eph. 2:8-10). This is the meaning of our text—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”We are called to work out what God works in, and absolutely nothing else. If we don’t work out that salvation (as evidenced by the fruit of it), then that is clear evidence that God is not working anything in.

If we work out some pressboard imitation (a salvation that has the look of real wood!), then that shows that God is not working anything in there either. Moralism is just a three-dollar flashlight to light the pathway to Hell with. And of course, if we are guilty of the opposite error, if our lives are manifesting a lineup of dirty deeds done dirt cheap, the only real sin we are avoiding is that of hypocrisy. Overt immorality is the fifty-dollar flashlight.

All Grace, All the Time

This is why we need a little more of “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Actually, we need a lot more of it. The answer to the grace/works dilemma is high octane Calvinism, and by this, I don’t mean the formulaic kind. If God is the one Paul preached — the one of whom it can be said “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things”—then where in the universe are you going to hide your pitiful merit? If He is Almighty God, and He starts to transform your tawdry little life into something resembling Jesus, who are you to tell Him that He is now wavering on the brink of dangerous legalisms?

The bottom line is that we cannot balance our notions of grace with works or our notions of works with grace. We need to get off that particular teeter totter. We have to balance absolutely everything in our lives with God Himself, who is the font of everlasting grace—real grace. Real grace is the context of everything. If we preach the supremacy of God in Christ, and the absolute lordship of that bleeding Christ, and the efficacious work of the Spirit in us who raised Jesus from the dead, then a number of other things will resolve themselves in a multitude of wonderful ways.

In Jesus, we are the new humanity. Is Jesus grace or works? Jesus lives in the garden of God’s everlasting favor, and we are in Him. In Christ, there are no prohibited trees. Outside Him, they are all prohibited. That means there is only one real question to answer, and it does not involve any grace/works ratios. The question is more basic than that, and has to do with the new birth.

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The Treasuries of Grace (Eph. 6)

Douglas Wilson on

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Introduction

Paul concludes this epistle asking for prayer, a request that he would be as bold as he ought to be. He is not, after decades of ministry, wresting with stage fright, or a bad case of butterflies. He knows what happens to him whenever the gospel is declared with power.

The Text

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord . . .” (Eph. 6:1-24)

Summary of the Text

Children are told to obey their parents. This is the right thing to do (v. 1). Paul then cites the commandment to honor father and mother, and adds the point that this is the first commandment with a promise attached (v. 2). He picks up the promise and expands it to encompass the whole earth (v. 3). Fathers, for their part, are told not to exasperate their kids, but to provide them with a Christian education and upbringing (v. 4).

Slaves are told to obey their earthly masters with fear and trembling, as rendered to Christ (v. 5). They are told not to work for show, but rather with whole-hearted service to Christ (v. 6). The service they offer is for the Lord, not for men (v. 7). They should know that however any man works, free or slave, is reckoned up by the Lord (v. 8). Masters are to have the same mentality. They should not threaten, and they must remember that they have a Master in heaven, one who is not impressed by earthly status (v. 9).

Paul then tells his brothers to be strong in the Lord, in the power of His might (v. 10). They are told to put on the entire armor of God, in order that they might stand against the devil’s wiles (v. 11). Our fight is not primarily an earthly one; we fight against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world’s darkness, and against wickedness in high places (v. 12). This is why it is important to take up the full armor of God, and to stand in the evil day (v. 13). Stand therefore, with belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness (v. 14). Your feet should be shod with gospel boots (v. 15). These boots are the gospel of peace and they are part of our armor. Take the shield of faith, which extinguishes the fiery darts of the wicked (v. 16). Then take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (v. 17), and proceed to the battle, which is the battleground of persevering prayer for all the saints (v. 18). Paul requests prayer for himself in this regard, so that he might unlock the treasuries of the gospel (v. 19). He requests that he might be able to speak boldly, as he ought to (v. 20).

Tychicus is then recommended to them (v. 21), and he will tell the Ephesians how Paul is doing (vv. 21-22). He concludes with a benediction—peace to the brothers, and love proceeding from faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus (v. 23). Grace to all who love Jesus sincerely (v. 24).

Christian Education

Christian children are to be brought up in an environment or culture that his shaped by the Word of God. They are called to obey their parents in the Lord, which is right. They are told to honor their parents, a commandment from the Old Testament which is given to the Christian children of Ephesus. This passage is one of the best illustrations of how we are apply the Old Testament authoritatively to our lives now.

Exasperating Fathers

When Paul warns Christian fathers to not be exasperating to their children, he does this because this is the one of the faults that Christian fathers are prone to. So listen to him. Before you just brush this admonition off, and say that of course you don’t do this, consider that it is possible that this defensive and self-serving attitude is one of the most exasperating things about you. And remember that your children frequently will not be able to explain this to you. First, because they are little and defenseless, and then later because they moved to the East Coast and never call.

Slaves & Masters

God’s methods for societal overhaul are reformational, not revolutionary. This is one of the places where we must insist on a policy of not apologizing for the Bible. Christian slaves are told to be obedient. They are told to work hard, offering it to Christ. Whatever their earthly masters do, He will honor their labors. Work offered to God is the way to true freedom. This is the biblical way of overthrowing unjust social institutions. Christian masters (assuming then that there were some) are told to internalize the same biblical framework. God does not show partiality, and so they should not govern through threats. This being the case, how much more does it apply to employers and employees.

The Armor of Jesus

The Ephesians were told earlier to put on the new man. Here they are told to put on the full armor of God, which amounts to the same thing. Every piece of the armor is the Lord Jesus. He is the truth (John 14:6). He is our righteousness (Jer. 23:6). He is the gospel of peace (Is. 9:6). He is the faithful one in whom we have faith (Rev. 19:11). He is our salvation, which we may wear as a helmet (1 Thess. 5:9). He is the sword of the Spirit (Rev. 19:15), the Word of God (Rev. 19:13; John 1:1-3).

But when you are fitted out in this armor, what do you do? First, you should take note of the enemy. You are called to stand against wiles (v. 11), and since we are fighting wickedness in high places, you should assume the lies are coming down on you from above. Paul then says, three times, that you should be outfitted so that you may withstand in the evil day (v. 13), and having done all to stand (v. 13). Stand therefore (v. 14). How do you do that? Fitted out, what do you do? You pray for all the saints, and particularly for the proclamation of the gospel (v. 19).

Treasuries of Grace

Paul has already spoken of the mystery of the gospel. It is as though, Jerome observes, that Paul now says that God has declared “let the treasuries be opened.” He is standing by the doors of these treasuries (filled beyond our imagination), and is set to fling them open. But there is a fierce battle by those doors. If they get opened all the way, then the wickedness in the high places is completely undone.

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Submission and Sacrifice (Eph. 5)

Douglas Wilson on

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Introduction

In these politically correct days, whenever we come across passages like this one, expositors rush to instruct the faithful on what it does not mean. But we can spend a lot of time learning what things don’t mean. What does it mean? How should we live? Let us at least begin there. If we address that correctly, it should head off the most common misconceptions at least.

The Text

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour . . .” (Eph. 5:1-33)

Summary of the Text

Imitate God, as beloved children would (v. 1)—for that is what you are. Walk in love, the same way Christ loved us and gave Himself for us sacrificially (v. 2). Sexual uncleanness and greed have no place with us (v. 3). The same is true of low jesting and scurrilous talk, but rather thanksgiving (v. 4). For be sure of it, the sexually corrupt and the greedy have no inheritance with Christ (v. 5). Don’t be deceived on this point (v. 6), and we might add that many have been. Do not partake with or stand next to children of disobedience—God’s wrath is coming (v. 7). You used to be darkness, but now you are light. Walk like it (v. 8). The fruit of the Spirit (which is light) is goodness, righteousness and truth (v. 9). Live out and prove what God likes (v. 10). Do not fellowship with unfruitful darkness, but rather reprove it (v. 11). You can reprove without itemizing their deeds, which are shameful even to recount (v. 12). Light is as light does; light makes manifest (v. 13). This is why God tells the sleeper to awake (v. 14; cf. Is. 60:1). Walk intelligently, as though it were daylight (v. 15). Use your time well because the days are evil (v. 16). Understand God’s will (v. 17). Don’t get drunk on wine, but rather be filled with the Spirit (v. 18). The description of that Spirit filling follows—speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and odes, from the heart (v. 19). Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of Jesus (v. 20). Submit to one another in the fear of God (v. 21).

Wives are to take particular care to be submissive to their own husbands (v. 22). This is because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church (v. 23). This means that as the church is subject to Christ, so wives should be subject to their own husbands in everything (v. 24). Paul then tells husbands to sacrifice themselves for their wives in love (v. 25). He tells them Christ sacrificed Himself with a cleansing and sanctifying end in view (v. 26). He did this so that His church would be ultimately purified (v. 27). In this same way, men ought to love their wives (v. 28). Nobody hates his own body, but rather takes care of it (v. 29). We are joined together with Christ, members of His body (v. 30). Paul then cites Genesis—a man will leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife as one flesh with her (v. 31). This is a great mystery, Paul says, but it refers upward to Christ and the church (v. 32). In the meantime, you men make a point of loving your wives, and you wives make a point of reverencing your husbands (v. 33).

A Stark Contrast

Paul continues to contrast for us the characteristics of the regenerate and the unregenerate. It is a stark contrast, and so he urges us not to be deceived with vain words—the wrath of God is falling upon the children of disobedience, and so we should walk as children of light. The children of light should not be partakers together with the children of disobedience (v. 7). The one group is darkness and the other light (v. 8). The one group is fruitless (v. 11) and the other is fruitful (v. 9). The one is foolish and the other wise (v. 15). The difference between the converted and the unconverted is not to be hunted for in a gray twilight. Wake up!

A Belly Full of Wine

The lifestyle of unbelief is lazy, muddy, blurred, indistinct, and full of off-key singing. The lifestyle of the faithful is focused, good, clear, disciplined, and full of light. Paul sees certain things as going together, and he is an apostle, a wise man. Tell me, when you have had too many beers, or too many glasses of wine, do the jokes gradually get cleaner and cleaner? The contrast that the apostle expects us to maintain is a contrast that is impossible to maintain apart from the filling of the Spirit. And we will be filled with something.

When we are filled with the Spirit, we see things clearly. When we are filled with the Spirit, everything comes into focus. When we are filled with the Spirit, we are filled with holy music (v. 19), we are filled with thanksgiving for absolutely everything (v. 20), and we are filled with an attitude of mutual submission (v. 21). These three things will also carry over into our marriages.

Submission and Sacrifice

Submission and sacrifice are the characteristics of Spirit-filled marriage. Apart from the work of the Spirit, this standard for marriage is absolutely impossible. When the Spirit is active, it is impossible not to live this way.

Wives, in the Spirit (full of music, thanksgiving and deference), obey your husband. Honor and respect him. It is striking that when the apostle sets to work in giving direction for all forms of social relations, he starts with the wives. This is not because wives are the worst; I would argue that it is because the wives are the most important. In all social relations, if this stone doesn’t get set properly, nothing else will be straight.

Husband, in the Spirit (full of music, thanksgiving, and deference), sacrifice yourself for you wife. Give yourself away. Take your models from above you (Christ) and from below you (your own body). This is not to be understood as being willing to sacrifice yourselves some hypothetical day in the far distant future, but rather as laying down your life now.

This is a great mystery, Paul says, but it all resolves in Christ and the church. As Eve was taken from the side of Adam, so the church was born when the spear was rammed into the side of Christ. Adam refused to fight the dragon, and Christ did not refuse. Men, as dearly loved children, be imitators of God.

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Putting on the Jesus Coat (Eph. 4)

Douglas Wilson on

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Introduction

Adam was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). After the disastrous fall into sin, mankind retained the image of God (Gen. 9:6), but it was barely recognizable, lying now in ruins. The purpose of Christ coming was to re- establish mankind in the second Adam, and to renew the image of God in us. This is why we are told in this chapter to put off the old man, to be renewed, and to put on the new man. That image is described for us here (v. 24), created in the likeness of God as righteousness and true holiness.

The Text

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace . . .” (Eph. 4:1-32).

Summary of the Text

Paul reminds them again that he is a prisoner, and asks them to walk worthily of the calling he has just been describing for them (v. 1). What does that look like? In a word, it looks like humility (v. 2). Such humility is the foundation for the strenuous labor of church unity (v. 3). That unity is grounded in what God has done—one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God over all, through all, and in you all (vv. 4-6). We all have that in common. All believers, by definition, share that.

But to each Christian a particular grace is given (v. 7). Paul refers to the Ascension, after which Christ bestowed gifts on us (v. 8). Before He ascended He had to first go down (v. 9). The one who descended is the same one who ascended (v. 10). The gifts He gave (as listed here) are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers (v. 11). These gifts were to equip the saints for the work of ministry, not to put on a hired show for the spectators (v. 12). These gifts will be exercised until we all arrive at the unity of the faith, to the perfect man (v. 13). At that time, we will no longer be gullible, the prey of false teachers (v. 14). Rather, we will speak the truth in love, which shows attachment to the head, who is Christ (v. 15). The entire body is connected to Him, and love is what makes it grow (v. 16).

That being the case, Christians ought not to walk according to the Gentile mindset (v. 17). Their problem is intellectual darkness created by heart blindness. When the heart is blind, the head is dark (v. 18). Their intellectual darkness not surprisingly is connected to moral corruption (v. 19). But the Ephesians had not learned Christ in that way (v. 20), at least not if they had heard the real Jesus and been taught by Him (v. 21). They had been taught to seize the old man, the old way of life, and take him off (v. 22). Then they were to be renewed in the spirit of their mind (v. 23), and put on the new man, who is of course Jesus Christ Himself (v. 24).

A cluster of ethical instructions follow. Stop lying, and speak the truth to one another (v. 25). Be angry, but don’t sin, and don’t let it fester (v. 26). Don’t give the devil a place, don’t let him have a foot hold (v. 27). Let the thief work with his hands on something, and share what he has earned (v. 28). Don’t speak in a foul way (v. 29). Do not grieve the Spirit (v. 30). Put away malice and all its companions (v. 31). Be kind to each other, tender-hearted, eager to forgive as you have been forgiven (v. 32). Don’t stand there as a spiritual leper, with little pieces of damnation falling off.

The Already/Not Yet of Unity

There are two kinds of unity in this chapter. The first is a gift from God, and it is a unity that needs to be protected and retained. We are told to keep the unity of the Spirit. In order to keep it, we have to already have it. This is a natural consequence of regeneration. Those who are part of the one true body of Christ have already, as a gift, true unity with one another. This is why a Baptist and a Presbyterian, belonging to different churches, can have true unity with one another. This kind of unity is disrupted by arrogance, by a lack of humility. This is why two Presbyterians, members of the same church, can be at one another’s throats. When this kind of unity is disrupted, it is always because of sin.

The second kind of unity is what we are all growing toward. This unity cannot be preserved because we are not there yet. This is what Paul refers to in v. 13, when he says that we will eventually come to “the unity of the faith,” or, put another way, to “a perfect man.”The lack of this kind of unity is not a sin, and not a problem. God governs human history, not us.

Look at a fertilized egg under a microscope, a person who will be a mature man 35 years from now. What you see is perfect unity. What is the first step toward the higher unity of the perfect man? The answer is division. Look at Adam before he met Eve. What do you see? You see unity. What was the first step in creating the higher unity of a human race of billions of people? The answer is division. Don’t tell God how to govern church history. But you should receive what He tells you about your demeanor in your particular corner of church history.

Knit Together

In verse 30, we are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of the chapter, we are told to keep the unity of the Spirit (v. 3). We are told that there is one body and one Spirit (v. 4). The way we keep the unity of the Spirit is by humility—lowliness, meekness, patience, etc. The way we grieve the Spirit is by bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil-speaking, and malice (v. 31).

Humility and love help the body to grow. Anger, clamor and dissension do not. Keep what God has given. Do not grasp after what He has not yet given. To grasp after the second kind of unity prematurely is to replicate the sin of Adam and Eve at the tree. They wanted what had not been given to them yet. Those who strive for the second kind of unity almost always trample the first kind. Those who cultivate the first kind are being used by God in His glorious eschatological purposes.

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