A New Year's Habit

“Let us not forsake meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” –Hebrews 10:25

The time of changing our calendars is upon us, and it is customary to make goals or resolutions for the New Year. What is your goal? Is your desire to lose weight, to make the habit of going to the gym, make the habit reading more and less screen time, to learn a new skill? Is your habit, from the desire of your heart, to go to church?

The Book of Hebrews deals with the human problem of making it a habit to skip church. Higher priorities can be stressed in our lives, placing Christ’s command to gather and be a living part of the local church community as secondary. We could be busy like Martha with things that seem so important, looking down at Mary who surrendered the busyness for the good portion of learning at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:38-42).

This verse warns not to forsake the gathering, which means to abandon the church gathered. We can make a habit of it, and before long we see the merciful benefits of gathering at church as simply not as important as other things. We lose out on being encouraged in the faith and encouraging others. And the great warning is, we find ourselves ill-prepared for the approaching Day of the Lord.

First, there is the old habit of pride. To think I can get along just fine in life without the encouragement of Christ in His church gathered. I don’t need His church just as I don’t need Him. Besides, like Martha, we can say, “there is too much to do in the kitchen.” It isn’t that things which make us busy isn’t important, but that gathering for church to hear God’s Word, to be encouraged, and to encourage others is the “one thing” that is necessary (Luke 10:42).

Second, we can fall prey to the temptation that we are not needed in the church anyways. I can easily let my social anxieties or feelings to be an indicator of whether or not something is worth me being there. However, as a pastor, I cannot count on two hands how many saints I have held hands with as they slowly slipped into death, or what our Savior calls, “only sleeping” (Matthew 9:24). I don’t say much, but I know my mere presence with them in a heart of care for them was the type of fellowship in the bond of peace the Spirit makes us willing and eager to be there for.

We are, as Spirit-filled Christians, commanded to be eager to maintain the bond of peace the Spirit blesses the church gatherings in. Our eagerness fails in our rebellion to this command, seeking out worldly busyness in exchange for that blessed bond of peace in the gathering. To disobey our Lord in a grace habit of gathering in church regularly is a desire to divide that bond of peace.

As a dad and pastor, I want to encourage you to make the habit this year to make church gatherings a priority. I know many distractions come, many pressures pull, but like Mary, I pray your heart sees the good portion of being gathered to worship Christ. For you and your family’s sake. Believe it or not, the church needs to hear babies cry and see parents with their children, even in their struggles. And you need them.

Our Lord did not make worship gatherings to be a place of personal preference, but of worship. Yet, He intends to bless us. He made church gatherings to be a place to encourage our faith and to encourage others in our pursuit to love one another. All this to prepare each other for that eternal Day of the church gathered with Christ forever.

When we get to that eternal Day, all the earth’s busyness and accolades will vanish in the preeminent glory of the presence of Christ. On that Day, we will not look back on our life wishing ourselves too busy for church, wishing to spend more time at work than with family, regretting any moment in church over earthly busyness. No, we will see why Mary chose the good portion of being with Jesus rather than busyness. Beloved, make church attendance a primary habit this year for your benefit and the benefit of others.

Heavenly Father, stir in us a desire for a habit to go to church. Give us wisdom to pursue others in need of encouragement; give us humility to seek encouragement from others in church. Prepare us for the Day of the Lord in our church gatherings in our longing for that eternal Day. How we long for that Day. How long, O Lord? Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Sign of the Manger

“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” –Luke 2:12

The night started like any other night for the shepherds. They had shepherded the flock to a good pasture outside the small village of Bethlehem. Perhaps they had just finished a snack from their scrip and sat on the ground as comfortably as possible for the long night of watching their flock.

God had taken human flesh in the womb of Mary, and the long-awaited Messiah was born this day in the City of David. The city of Bethlehem. The city of the shepherd boy who became king of Israel. These shepherds heard the heavenly host give them a sign. The infant Messiah will be found wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a stone feeding trough.

These shepherds would be all too familiar with outdoor stone troughs for feeding livestock, but jarred to see “this thing that has happened” (Luke 2:15) as the King would be swaddled and lying in a manger! Yet, Mary laid the infant Messiah in the manger because “there was no room for them in the lodging place” (Luke2:7). Why was Mary in Bethlehem? The mighty ruler of the world, Caesar Augustus, decreed a census (Luke 2:1). God’s mighty King of the world was swaddled, lying in a manger outside.

God took on flesh in Christ. He “was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” but became a servant (Philippians 2:6-7). This is the mind of His united church who humbly count others more significant than themselves, looking after one another’s interests in love (Philippians 2:2-4).

The shepherds returned to their flock on what appears an ordinary night, but they returned “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke2:20). They had not seen an earthly royal scene. No palace, not even indoors! No gold or royal garments, just the night sky and swaddling cloths. They rejoiced in God for the sign was just as they had been told.

Reader, the gospel of Jesus Christ is just as we are told in Scripture. He became like us in every way to suffer as the sacrificial lamb and made atonement as the faithful high priest to destroy the devil’s power of death and death’s fear in our short lifetime of slavery (Hebrews 2:14-18). Christ nailed the believer’s record of death and triumphantly disarmed the devil of his power of death and accusation on His cross (Colossians 2:14-15).

Christmas is a yearly reminder of “this thing that has happened” that, like the shepherds, we may go on our ordinary lives glorifying and praising God for fulfilling His promise in His Word sending Christ into the world to save His children. This is good news to believe for yourself, dear reader. To be freed from death and the power of death, to be reconciled to God to enjoy Him forever, all through Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, we glorify and praise You for sending Christ Jesus Your Son into the world to save sinners, that You were pleased to crush Him and give us life. Grant to us, Your church, to have the same mind in Christ. All glory and praise to the name of our God! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

John Newton: The King of Kings is our Friend

18th Century minister John Newton, the former slave trader, author of Cardiphonia, deeply thought about the Christian's future. In exposition of Revelation 19:16, "On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords," Newton compared the Christian's earthly dishonor to the coming glory guaranteed by Christ who is King of kings and the Christian's friend.

"How great is the dignity and privilege of true believers! Is the man congratulated or envied whom the king delights to honor? Believers are more frequently despised than envied in this world. But they may congratulate one another. The King of kings is their Friend. They have honors and pleasures which the world knows nothing of. Their titles are high, they are the "sons and the daughters of the Lord Almighty," (II Corinthians 6:18). Their possessions are great, for "all things are theirs" (I Corinthians 3:21). They are assured of what is best for them in this life, and of life eternal hereafter. They are now nearly related to the King of kings, and shall ere long be acknowledged and owned by him, before assembled worlds. They who now account the proud happy, will be astonished and confounded when they shall see the righteous, whom they once undervalued, 'shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of God.'"

Joy in Capturing Souls

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.” –Proverbs 11:30

I was recently in a grocery store examining hot sauces for the best sauce with the lowest sodium. A stranger approached me in my peripheral without my notice. “Mister,” said the elderly man, “can I give you something?” His right hand outstretched toward me as I held my angle toward the hot sauces. In his hand was a gospel tract. I took the tract and looked him in the eyes. He was smiling as he asked me, “Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?”

Social taboos did not stop him from telling a complete stranger about Jesus. The encounter led my mind to think about the depths of love a Christian has for Christ who should be worshiped by all people, and the depths of love for lost sinners to tell even strangers of Jesus.

This Holy Spirit inspired Proverb tells us that the Christian is a fruit-bearer, not only as a personal blessing, but in the capturing of souls. Souls on the path to death captured by the wise Christian unashamed of the gospel as the power of God to save sinners (Romans 1:16).

The wise fruit-bearing Christian “brings back a sinner from his wandering” and saves “his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). This fruit-bearing is wisdom of love that covers the transgressions of others in the soul-capturing efforts, not stirring divisions in hatred (Proverbs 10:12). Such soul-winners are upright in heart, wise in fruit-bearing.

This elderly stranger had an affection for Christ and for me in the simplicity of handing me a tract and asking me about my relationship with my Lord. An affection that exceeded any social fears or politeness to keep to himself. What an honorable quality.

Christian, you are called by the Father, equipped by the Holy Spirit and His Word, and commissioned by Christ Jesus to be a capturer of souls. For the salvation of lost souls into eternal joy, and for the gladness to our Savior’s heart, be a soul-winner. Spurgeon puts it best:

“What would you give to cause a thrill of pleasure in the heart of the Well-beloved? Recollect the grief you cost Him, and the pangs that shot through Him that He might deliver you from your sin and its consequences; do you not long to make Him glad? When you bring others to His feet, you give Him joy, and no small joy either. Is not that a wonderful text,—'There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth'?” (TheSoul-Winner).

My brothers and sisters in Christ, let us give our Savior joy and do the work of an evangelist. Let us spend ourselves to the saving of souls. May the pains and griefs of a dying world stir our hearts to tell them the good news carried by beautiful feet. Let us love Christ and our neighbors to speak in the name of Jesus to others.

Heavenly Father, increase our love for our Savior and compassion for the lost. Make us wise in Your holy Scripture; make us fishers of men. Make us capturers of souls, bringing the lost to the feet of our Savior. Grant to us the words to say we ought and boldness to speak them. All to glorify the great name of our mighty working God of grace and mercy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Lloyd-Jones on the Plight of the World and the Church

Worried about the condition of the church or the condition of the world? Seeming instability may stir panic in our hearts, homes, and churches. Preaching from Romans 1:2, "God promised beforehand through

his prophets in the holy Scriptures," Martyn Lloyd-Jones reflects on a ministry which spanned Hitler's advance into Europe and bombing of England. The pastor of Westminster Chapel even prayed during service when a bomb struck nearby. Did Lloyd-Jones panic over a man like Hitler? No. Here, he explains:

"Are you troubled about the state of the church, the dwindling congregations, the plight of the world, the might of the world, the organization of the world, and all these things? Oh, I say, go back to the Old Testament and take hold of the comfort and consolation of the Scriptures. Or are you troubled by something that has happened in the world today? Then put it in the context of the Old Testament. I was never worried for a second about a man like Hitler; it was enough for me to read the thirty-seventh Psalm, and there I read of a man like him spreading himself like a green bay tree, a sort of colossus striding the whole earth. But I read on and learned that a day came when a man wanted to go to see him and to speak with him, and he could not find him. He searched everywhere for him; he could not find any trace of him; he had vanished. Why? God had blown upon him. And the Old Testament is full of such examples. In the light, then, of all that, what can we say? I have nothing but this: 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.' He seems to sleep for centuries, but He is still there; His ways are past finding out. 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?...Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him and through him and to him are all things: to whom', and to whom alone, 'be glory for ever. Amen.'" -D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: Exposition of Chapter 1, The Gospel of God (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2022), page 97.

Gurnall and The Christian Shield Bearer

William Gurnall was a 17th Century Puritan scholar in England. He served as an Anglican minister through very momentous events in English history such as the English Civil War, the execution of King Charles I, through the Cromwell Protectorate years, and even the Restoration. 

Gurnall is best known by his work on a large 3-Volume writings on Ephesians 6:10-20 entitled, Christian in Complete Armour. Here is an excerpt on the Christian protected and nourished is able to protect other Christians and help nourish them.

"Not only are active graces necessary for your own protection, but also for the help and comfort of other Christians. Paul had this in mind when he disciplined himself to keep a good conscience so as not to be a scandal to other believers. He knew that the cowardice of one may make others run; that the ignorance of another may do mischief to man. How often has the waywardness of a saint seduced a fellow Christian to leave the narrow path for the broad road that leads to destruction? This is among the gravest of errors for we are commanded to do just the opposite! God told the Reubenites and the Gadites to go before their brethren armed for battle, until the land was conquered. Thus you are to assist your fellow brethren who may not have the same measure of grace or comfort as you. Help such weak ones; be their shield bearer. This you will not be able to do unless your own grace is exercised, your armor buckle on. 

Perhaps you are a parent with a family under your wing. They fare as much as you do. If your heart is feasting on Christ, you will never find yourself in short supply when caring for their spiritual needs. On the other hand, if your own heart is malnourished, they will go hungry for spiritual food."

George Bethune on Christian Gentleness

George Washington Bethune was a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church in New York and Pennsylvania in the 19th Century. In his book, The Fruit of the Spirit, Bethune slowly works through Galatians 5:22-23 on Paul's "fruit of the Spirit." Here, he introduces the spiritual fruit of gentleness:

"Perhaps no grace is less prayed for, or less cultivated, than gentleness. Indeed, it is considered rather as belonging to natural disposition, or external manners—than as a Christian virtue. Seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle, is sin. Yet here we find it among 'the fruits of the Spirit.'
James also, when he describes the wisdom from above, says, "it is first pure, then peaceable, gentle."
Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, when he appeals to them in the name of Him who was the incarnation of that divine wisdom, and the example of Christian character, beseeches "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ."
And David long before, while blessing God for his salvation, had exclaimed, "Your gentleness has made me great." It well befits us, therefore, to meditate upon a quality which bears the impress of divine beauty, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, and proves him who possesses it to have been . . .
born of the Spirit,
taught by the Father, and
transformed into the image of his dear Son.
Gentleness can be defined as a sweet mildness of temperament, manifested in words, address, and general demeanor."