Marking Iniquities

“If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” –Psalm 130:3

Painful human conflict is a fruit of sin God lists for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Our enmity with God in our sin commits spiritual adultery in our enmity with one another. No matter how healthy a marriage is, there is a threat of keeping a record of wrongs by both the husband and wife which feeds conflict. Good friendships formed over time can grow cold and distant over an angry word.

The temptation is to think we can fix conflict in our relationships by only talking with one another. “Against You and You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,” cried David after adultery and murder (Psalm 51:4). The conflict which rages in our hearts is not made clean by talking about it to each other, but is only cleansed by the power of God.

Pleading to God for mercy “out of the depths” (vs 1) forces me to look upon God as holy and my standing before Him.  If God should mark my iniquities, watching and marking down each sin of thought, word, and action, how could I stand His wrath? “But with You there is forgiveness,” trusts the one pleading for mercy (vs 4).

When I go to God harboring any enmity with others in a prideful unforgiving heart, I am not met with practical tools to smooth over my relationships. I encounter a God of tremendous holiness demanding perfection from a pitiful little creature like me. The Psalmist makes a great point: how could I stand against the fury of God’s anger if God kept a record of all my wrongs? God has every right to mark my iniquities. He is perfectly and eternally holy.

Yet, with God there is forgiveness. I look to the cruelty Christ suffered on the cross. There God displayed His intense hatred of sin; yet, also His love for me. In Christ who died this sinner’s death, I am not treated by God as my sins deserve. If God should mark my iniquities, I could not stand His fury. Since in God there is forgiveness, I enjoy His peace.

Though I had offended God’s holiness, I can stand before Him forgiven in peace. How then, pitiful, sinful creature, could I plead for mercy from God and mark others’ iniquities against me? Like the unforgiving servant, would I dare leave the King’s courtroom forgiven of an unforgivable debt only to be unforgiving toward others?

Having received mercy, the Christian is a student of the mercies of Christ. What causes conflicts and quarrels amongst us? Desires at war within us, says James 4:1. The peace between us as humans is tied to the desires in our hearts. If you notice tension, fits of rage, words said in anger in your relationships, go before God and you will study His holiness and your own wickedness. What is the desires of your heart you want so badly that you fight others to get it? God’s holiness will show you.

From the depths cry out to God for mercy, encounter God whose wrath you could not stand if He should mark your iniquities, find forgiveness in Him, and have your desires in your heart changed by mercy.

Heavenly Father, against You and You only do we sin. Our conflicts You see, angry words You hear, wicked thoughts You know. If You should mark our iniquities, we could not stand. In Christ whom You sent to endure the cross for us, we have forgiveness. O Lord, may Your mercies be a teacher for Your people to be merciful. We praise You for Your forgiveness and power to save. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Unity by Divine Supply

 

“…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” -Ephesians 4:2

I have been meditating Psalm 27, praying to be made useful as an instrument in the Lord’s hands in the surroundings He has sovereignly placed me. It seems people have been increasingly angry and anxious recently. Factor in COVID-19 and a presidential election year, the problems in the human hearts around me have simply escalated.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to meet the problems of the human hearts head on with the good news of Jesus Christ. We work and toil in this very same angry and anxious world, which affects us far more than we truly realize. We grow wearing in doing good. Our humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance have limits in the flesh.

We need to hear of Christ’s mercies. We need reminding of Christ’s mercies. We need to receive Christ’s mercies. We each have need of Christ’s mercies in His beloved church to handle us with humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with us in love from a heart eager to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Christ’s given peace.

These characteristics do not come naturally; rather, they must be supernaturally given. Do not fall into the temptation that these attributes well up from sheer willpower or misused to accuse others in the church of falling short of our expectations. Christ who loves His bride gifts us with a heart to gently bear in love those in fellowship weakened and wounded by an increasingly angry and anxious world. Within the safety of fellowship, free to confess where we have failed obedience, pray for strength to persevere, and encourage one another to be Christ-like in view of an evil, dark world.

Our love and care for one another will not and cannot depend simply on our love for one another, but upon our love for Christ. I can only be humbly gentle, forbearing with patience with the supply I receive from Christ. Jesus said, “I will build My church.” The church’s membership and giftings are from Christ lovingly fulfilling this promise.

Church unity, as a consequence, is more than mere tolerance of each other. Rather, we share a united effort to battle ungodly desires in our hearts and strive together to conform to Christ, being a light in a dark world, fighting together for one another’s repentance and joy in spiritual healthiness.

We need a place, a people, safe to enter in with our troubled hearts to be reminded of Christ’s mercies. You and your neighbor are in need of Christ’s mercies in His church. Church family, let us prioritize one another’s spiritual health by obeying Ephesians 4:2 and invite others into such fellowship with His good news. All to the glory of our gracious, merciful God.

Heavenly Father, how I am in constant need of Your mercies. My restless heart is affected by an angry, anxious world. I am in need of Your peace. Those I love in this church family are in need of Your peace. Grant me Your peace that surpasses understanding that I may be humble, gently patient, to bear the burdens of Your church in Your holy and steadfast love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Love One Another

In the upper room on the night Jesus was betrayed, our Lord shockingly put on the form of a servant and washed His disciples' feet. Soon after, Judas Iscariot leaves the Passover Meal and makes his way to members of the Sanhedrin to receive payment in exchange for betraying Jesus.When Judas leaves, Jesus tells the remaining disciples God is about to glorify Him. Our Lord gently calls them "little children," telling them He is to be with them only a little while longer, and where He is going they cannot come.

"A new commandment I give you," Jesus proclaimed (John 13:34). Think about this. Jesus, Lord and Judge of the universe proclaims a command to His followers. Jesus, who is described in Revelation as having "eyes like a flame of fire" and a "voice like the roar of many waters" and "from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength" (Revelation 1:12-16). He is commanding you and me as Judge and Ruler with an expectation to obey.

"Love one another," the Lord ordered. How?

Jesus continued His mandate, "As I have loved you, you also are to love one another." How have You loved us, Lord, that we may love one another in the same way?

Love is patient and kind
Love does not envy or boast
Love is not arrogant or rude. 
Love does not insist on its own way
Love is not irritable or resentful
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  
Love bears all things
Love believes all things
Love hopes all things
Love endures all things.
                                (I Corinthians 13:4-7)

The church is the bride of Christ, and as our Lord took on the form of a servant and washed His disciples' feet, He washes His bride whom He died for with the water of His Word (Ephesians 5:25-26). When our Lord had finished washing His disciples' feet, He said, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." Our Lord has given us an example of loving service He is commanding you and I to obey in His church.

This is what a church is to look like who is "bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:1-7). To disobey the love one another command in rebellion to the Head of the Church is to disrupt her Spirit-given unity and peace.

As described in I Corinthians 13, love in the church bought by Jesus Christ who loves His church is a patient, long-suffering love brimming with kindness towards one another. There is no air of arrogance or rudeness. No voice of boasting how much better we perform our Christian duties than others. Love does not demand from each other to accomplish our preferences and get our own way. Love dispels any and all tension of irritability or resentful desire to injure others. Love rejoices in the truth, not at wrongdoing.

Charles Spurgeon comments, "This love both covers and bears all things. It never proclaims the errors of others. It refuses to see faults unless it may kindly help in their removal. It stands in the presence of a fault with a finger on its lips. It does not attempt to make a catalog of provocations."

Spurgeon said in reference to "believing all things," 

To our fellow Christians, love always believes the best of them. I wish we had more of this faith abroad in all the churches, for a horrid blight falls upon some communities through suspicion and mistrust. Though everything may be pure and right, yet certain weak minds are suddenly fevered with anxiety through the notion that all is wrong and rotten. This unholy mis-trust is in the air, a blight upon all peace: it is a sort of fusty mildew of the soul by which all sweet perfume of confidence is killed. (Source)

 Instead, this love which believes all things

believes good of others as long as it can, and when it is forced to fear that wrong has been done, love will not readily yield to evidence but will give the accused brother or sister the benefit of many doubts. Some persons habitually believe everything that is bad about others; they are not the children of love.

The Apostle Paul concludes this thought in his letter to the local church in Corinth with this, "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

In his book, Charity and its Fruits, the Great Awakening preacher Jonathan Edwards writes,

Do not make an excuse that you have not opportunities to do anything for the glory of God, for the interest of the Redeemer's kingdom, and for the spiritual benefit of your neighbors. If your heart is full of love, it will find vent; you will find or make ways enough to express your love in deeds. When a fountain abounds in water it will send forth streams.

Let God's love which is poured out into our hearts send forth streams of love for Christ's church. Brothers and sisters, let our love be genuine and love one another in obedience to Christ, our loving Bridegroom. For our Lord's love for us bears all things, is patient and kind with us. He is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Psalm 86:15). We love because He first loved us (I John 4:19). Praise be to God for His great love and amazing grace for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Comfort from a Church's Faith

“…for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.” -I Thessalonians 3:7

The Apostle Paul reflected upon the toils and troubles of gospel ministry. Jesus told us we are not above our Teacher, whom the world persecuted and therefore will persecute us (John 15:20). We suffer in the footsteps of He who suffered for us (I Peter 2:21) and we shouldn’t be surprised to suffer (I Peter 4:12). In the sharing of our Lord’s afflictions, we are blessed (Matthew 5:10-12).

In his letter to the church family in Thessalonica, Paul said that the stress of his ministry was comforted from the report from pastor Timothy regarding their faith. John echoes this when he said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (III John 1:4). 

Pastoral ministry involves real lives, real sins, real marriages and families. There is much pain involved, including accusations and injury from words from those who delight in inflicting pain and division. Yet, I have discovered the joy of all joys: to see a strong church family who truly loves one another and delights in Christ together! 

And this is my plea to you, my beloved flock: delight in the Lord. Come and assemble on Sunday mornings yearning to delight in Him together. Come and be encouraged in the faith, then encourage each other in the faith. This brings comfort and joy to the pastors, which makes this difficult calling of watch care for your soul a joyful duty to our Lord, which is a benefit to the church (Hebrews 13:17). This love is God’s means of grace of delight and comfort for the whole church. This love displays the power and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church.

Heavenly Father, with gratitude we praise You for the unity of our church family. We thank You for the love we share. We pray that Jesus may increase, and we may decrease, that You would be glorified in Your people. We ask for Your mercy to treasure You more. In Jesus’ name. Amen.