Drawing Near with Boldness

Pastor Tim's message on Sunday held up the early Christians before us as an example of true, fervent worshipers. Jerome, a believer in the 4th century, looked back at those early believers and said, "The blood of Christ was yet warm in their veins."

The need for passionate reverence (or reverent passion) is an interesting one. Most of the time when we see passionate people, they aren't reverent (picture football fans). And many times reverence comes without passion--I distinctly remember being 4 or 5 years old at my great-aunt Peg's funeral. I was terrified into reverence by the open casket, but I had never even met my great-aunt and felt no emotion toward her at all.

The seraphim in the throneroom of heaven have need to cover their faces, even as they cry, "Holy, holy, holy!" That is how great God is. As C.S. Lewis put it and Pastor Tim quoted, "He's not a tame lion, you know." He's not safe. He's not under our thumbs. He is the sovereign Lord who created the universe. So why should we sing and dance and clap before such a fearsome being?

Because of Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins. That is why we can not only dare to approach him--Hebrews 4 says that we can confidently and boldly draw near. The Spirit is the seal of our adoption, and we can now call God our Father. This is no longer a mere creature-Creator relationship wherein our proper response is fear and reverence. We are now daughters of God, people called by his name. That inspires joy and glee in his presence. How can we not forget ourselves and love on him?

The Gospel is not just for now--whatever fears or insecurities or inhibitions we have that would keep us from dancing before the Lord will all be removed when we enter eternity. There we will not be hindered by anything, but our love for him will finally be what it ought. For now, because of Jesus, let us boldly draw near to the throne, where we can ask him for the grace to become true, impassioned worshipers.

What would an unbeliever think about your relationship with God if she saw you worshiping? What is the fear that would keep you from worshiping as you want to, and what can you do to overcome it?

Pole Sitting

There was a very holy man in the 5th century, remembered in the church as Saint Simeon Stylites. He gained extensive fame as a holy man by spending thirty-three years living on top of a ten-foot pole. He was up there by himself until the day he died. He had a few other kooky ideas, too.

People flocked to see him, seeking a few words of wisdom from the man so holy he would live on a pole. I'm not sure I make the connection. Chances are, you're smiling at the idea, which just proves Pastor Steve's message on Sunday: fellowship is what Christians do.

Remember: True devotion to Christ must be evidenced by consistent devotion to Christians!. It's a supernatural fellowship, drawing its source from the Gospel. Fellowship with God is the fuel for fellowship with one another.

The Gospel defines our fellowship--it's sharing with our fellow-believers the things that God has made known to us about himself. In fellowship we are dependent on Jesus and on the grace that comes to us through one another. Fellowship is giving and receiving, the way that the eye serves the hand and the hand serves the eye.

The Gospel determines fellowship's goals: obedience, sanctification, and unity. Our first goal is obedience to the commands of God, which includes the 'one anothering' commands. In sanctification God uses other people to conform us into the image of Christ. We need to be unified the way that individual stones come together and fit to form one building.

So what do you think about these points? Are we as women committed to this kind of fellowship? Or do we have our own personal poles that we're sitting on, separating ourselves from each other in a pretense of holiness? Or perhaps we are the ones at the bottom of the pole, looking up in admiration at the holy one sitting up there, not daring to approach, not hoping to measure up. Let's not be so silly.

The Hiding Place (3)

One of my favorite lessons in the Hiding Place is when Betsie determines to thank God in obedience to 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you..

They have just arrived at a concentration camp in the heart of Germany. Conditions are brutal. If it were me, I might choose to forget that 1 Thess. 5:18 existed and go with an impreccatory Psalm, calling down divine fire on my enemies. But they offer thanksgiving, and at first they really do find legitimate things to be grateful for--they are together and they have a Bible. Under the circumstances, those things are miraculous.

Then Betsie thanks God for the fleas in the dorm. Can you imagine? Fleas were no more appealing then than they are today. And for months they suffer because of the fleas, until Betsie discovers that those disgusting fleas are the sole reason why she can hold a Bible study undisturbed. No guard would set foot in the dorm because of the fleas. Suddenly Corrie finds that she too, with a whole heart, can thank God for the fleas. God didn't change the fleas; he changed her heart to see the fleas as God's servants divinely placed to bring about Gospel-good.

God is sovereign over the big things. He's also sovereign over the tiny little things. In any situation, his word remains unchanged: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

God the Sovereign Potter

Pastor Scott in his message on Sunday urged that if we take any one nugget away from his message, it would be the understanding that God is the Potter, free to do whatever he desires with whatever he created, which includes you and me. We are not ruled by chance, whim, or circumstance, but by the God who is so powerful that he created the universe. Since he is the creator of all, he has the right to do with any part of his creation whatever he desires.

We read on Sunday from Jeremiah 18 that God does not just reserve the right to intervene when he chooses, but that he is in total and complete control over all creation at all times. He is good and glorious, and the reverence that we owe him is not what an mere earthly tyrant demands. If we were not so blinded by sin and depraved in heart, mankind would find him irresistibly delightful. It is for our good that he reveals himself to us as Sovereign Lord.

Saturday night I finished reading a book by Philip Ryken called Courage to Stand (P&R, 2009). It is a walk through Jeremiah, and there are two passages from it that came to my mind when Pastor Scott preached on God the Potter. The first is a warning about the Potter, and the second is the comfort found in the Potter.

Jeremiah's message is about judgment. The picture of the pot on the potter's wheel is not meant to be comforting. Like much modern art, it is meant to be disturbing. Jeremiah's message is about clay in the hands of an agry Potter. If God can do whatever he wants, then he has the right to destroy you for your sins. God is the one who brought you into this world, and he can take you out of it. Until you recognize this, you have not fully reckoned with the sovereignty of God. (p. 101)


"No one has ever been able to make a clay pot that is just a clay pot. Every pot is also an art form. Pottery is always changing its shape as potters find new proportions, different ways to shape the pot in pleasing combinations of curves. There is no pottery that besides being useful does not also show evidence of beauty.... It is one of the most functional items in life; it is also one of the most beautiful." It takes a patient artist to make a pot that is beautiful as well as useful. It takes the kind of potter Jeremiah watched, one who refuses to give up on his work. When there was a flaw in the clay, he did not throw it away; he worked it into something else. (p. 107)

God's sovereignty cannot be treated lightly. Are you willing to submit to his complete control? Do you trust him to do his work well?

This question is rhetorical: who has the better point of view when looking at your life--you or God? Who therefore, of the two of you, is the only one qualified to direct your path?

The Hiding Place (2)

It's quite possible I'm the only person who's never read The Hiding Place.

I heard about it enough to figure that I pretty much knew the story already, but even a few pages in I realized I had no idea.

For some reason it was my understanding that the war took place while Corrie Ten Boom was a girl. I always thought that made for a pretty amazing story--a young girl being willing to risk her life when she had so much ahead of her. And then I found out that Corrie was actually around 50 when she first got involved with the Dutch underground. And I actually think that makes it even more compelling.

It's often said that when we're young, there's not a care in the world. As we age, we tend to get more stuck in our ways, more comfortable with how things are right now, and sometimes even really wrapped up in ourselves. Life isn't so much about play dates and friends and sleepovers and birthday parties anymore. So I feel like it's pretty commendable that in her older years, when it would have been easy for her to make the excuse that she needed to tend to her family, keep up with her father's watch business, etc., instead she stuck her neck out.

But I think Corrie might have been the first to say that her story didn't really reveal anything remarkable about her. Rather, it served to reveal the character of our remarkable God.

In the midst of at least twice giving her a vision of her fate (a cart carrying her and her family being drawn by four black horses), God also gave her the ingenuity, the strength, the perseverance, the will, and the selflessness to essentially run Haarlem's underground operation, and most importantly the faith to trust Him in all things.

May we not shrink back from the things we are called to do, whatever and whenever they might be, but instead embrace them under the covering of our loving, sovereign God.