Golden Calves

I wonder how many golden calves I have made to placate people (Exodus 32)? The people couldn’t see Moses, he was up on the mountain, and they couldn’t see God – they wanted something they could see.

How many pastors, priests, elders, deacons, trustees make calves to placate the people? How many have I made? Have I become an artisan of calves?

Did I make one yesterday? Did I affirm an already-existing calf?

Am I like the Alec Guinness character in The Bridge Over the River Kwai, who as he is dying asks, “What have I done?” Have I given the people what they want?

Have I proclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

What have I done?

Temptation - A Triad (2)

Continuing to contemplate a triad of Scripture passages that may help us to better understand temptation; 1 Corinthians 10:1 – 22; James 1:2 – 8; 2 Peter 2:4 – 10:

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials [temptations], knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2 – 3 NASB.

James begins his letter by addressing the dynamics of the trial of temptations; this introductory focus (1:2 – 1:18) is the setup for the balance of the epistle. He begins by pointing out that the Divine purpose in temptation is that we “may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing,” and later makes the point that on the other side of temptation is “the crown of life” (James 1:12).

The trial which temptation brings is the “testing” of our faith. This testing should produce “endurance” (steadfastness, perseverance). Consider Peter’s words (1 Peter 1:6 – 7 NASB):

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof [genuineness] of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…”

Temptation is an opportunity for us to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, being made perfect and complete in Him, as our faith is tested to the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. We can either primarily view temptation as a struggle against potential sin, or we can view temptation primarily as an opportunity to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ as our faith in Him is being purged of impurities and strengthened. Temptation and trials have a purpose¸ and when we understand that purpose to be our transformation into the image of Jesus Christ we have a Biblical context within which to negotiate the trials of life.

We’ve all heard that “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28), but most of us hear it and read it out of context. Paul is not writing of some nebulous indefinable “good”; consider what follows in 8:29:

“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (NASB).

The ”good” of verse 28 is the transformation into the image of Jesus Christ in verse 29. This in turn means that during temptations that we ought to “fix our minds on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1) and that we should be “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Why then does James write that we are to “count it (consider it) all joy” when we face temptations? It is because Christ is working in us for His glory, to conform us to His very own image.

This suggests that our first response to temptation ought to be thanksgiving and rejoicing. At any rate, it should be part of the fabric of our attitude when we are in trials, and yes, it does have a sacrificial nature to it (Hebrews 13:15).

James teaches that we are to “let (allow) endurance have its perfect result.” The thought that we are to “allow” endurance to work in us means that we are to cooperate with it, and even submit to its working – for it is indeed the working of God “to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We are to live in obedience to Jesus Christ and we are to submit to the Holy Spirit and God’s Word working in us and through us. We resist temptation as we submit to Jesus Christ.

Notice James 1:5, a verse often quoted but, much like Romans 8:28, usually quoted out of context:

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…”

The context of this is temptation. When we are faced with trials and temptations and endurance is doing its work within us we need wisdom to traverse the treacherous landscape. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that when we are tempted, God will “make a way of escape so, so that you will be able to endure it.” We need wisdom, and often common sense, to identify and utilize the “way of escape”. We cannot endure temptation in our own strength or in our own wisdom – we need the life and strength and wisdom of Jesus Christ.

This brings us to a curious thought in James 1:6 - 8:

“But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (NASB)

If we are to honor the context of these verses, then we must ask, “What does this have to do with temptation?”

I suggest that, at least in part, what we have here is the question of whether we really want to be delivered from temptation. Are we single-minded in our belief that God wants to deliver us, and do we really want to be delivered – or are we going back and forth in deciding what we really want? Are we singled-minded in our belief that God wants to deliver us, that giving into temptation results in sin, and that sin results in death – or are we attempting to justify giving into temptation? Do we believe that God is holy and hates sin, and that we are to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:14 – 16), or do we think that somehow God will make an exception for us if we dance with temptation and consummate it with sin?

A promiscuous church is a double-minded church, teaching double-mindedness to its people; teaching its people to give into temptation, to accommodate sin, to live outside the holiness of the holy God of the Bible. A promiscuous church teaches people strategies and tactics to embrace temptation and sin, to rationalize it. Such a church, and such a people, ought not to think that it will receive anything of the Lord without repentance.

But, let us leave that thought and remind ourselves that God desires to use temptation to perfect us and complete us in our Lord Jesus Christ, that He desires that we be conformed to the image of His Son, so that Jesus will be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

No matter what our trials, Jesus says, “Come to me. I will perfect you through them. Allow Me to work within you, producing endurance, completeness, and giving you My wisdom.”

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NASB.

“For whoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” 1 John 5:4 NASB.

Our Souls Married to Christ

Reflections on Isaac Ambrose in his book, Looking Unto Jesus:

“Worldly honour keeps many back from Christ. But why must we look off [look away from] everything that diverts our looking unto Jesus?” (Ambrose).

As I ponder this I’m reminded that Jesus says (Mark 4:18 – 19), “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

John writes concerning those in positions of power (John 12:42 – 43), “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

We have a fundamental choice to make, and by the grace of God we will make it in favor of Jesus Christ. Peer pressure is great. The fear of man can be paralyzing, if we do not seek the grace of Christ, if we do not submit to Christ, if we do not, by His grace, obey the Word of Christ. We can live in the prison of peer pressure, of pleasure, of temporal safety – or we can live as captives of Jesus Christ. Captivity to Christ is a greater freedom than the freest of the free outside of Christ – for the freest of the free outside of Christ is a prisoner of himself, while those who are captive to Christ have eternal and vibrant freedom in Him.

“Because whilst we look on these things, we cannot see the beauty that is in Christ.” (Ambrose).

This is such a fundamental principle that I don’t understand why we don’t understand it. If our eye is single our body will be filled with light (Matthew 6:22).

“Because all other things, in comparison of Christ, are not worthy a look... "I count all things but loss,” saith St. Paul, “For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord – I count them but dung that I may win Christ.” (Ambrose).

Shouldn’t we live on earth as we will live in heaven? Shouldn’t we desire and yearn for greater dimensions in our relationship with Jesus Christ? Deeper love? Higher delight? Greater wonder? (Ephesians 3:14 – 21).

“Because it is according to the very law of marriage: “Therefore shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife.” The Lord Christ marries himself to the souls of his saints; and for this cause the soul must forsake all, and cleave unto Christ. [Italics mine]. (Ambrose).

“Because Christ is a jealous God. Now jealousy is a passion in the soul, that will not endure any sharing in the object beloved.” (Ambrose).

Paul writes (2 Corinthians 11:2 – 3), “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

Do we live as if our souls are married to Christ? Or are we promiscuous in our affections? Do we put our wedding rings to Christ on for an hour or two on Sunday, and take them off as we leave our weekly gatherings? Do those who watch us, who live with us, who work with us, know by our words and actions and decisions that we are married to Jesus Christ, that we are devoted to Him, that we love Him with all that we have and all that we are?

What about our churches?

“Because all other things can never satisfy the eye. “All things are full of labour,” saith Solomon, “man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing”: it is but wearied with looking on divers objects, and yet still desires new ones; but once admit it to that glorious sight of Christ, and then it rests fully satisfied.” (Ambrose).

We live in a culture of seduction. We are seduced into thinking that Christ is not enough for us. We are seduced into thinking that our churches must reflect the world in order to attract the world. We are seduced into watering-down the Gospel. We are seduced into thinking that God will lower the glory of His holiness to accommodate our hedonism. We are seduced to believe that “just a little bit more” of this world will be enough to satisfy us.

O Lord Jesus, by Your grace, teach us to see You, desire You, pant after You as the deer pants for the water brooks, to be faithful to You, to live our lives looking unto You and only unto You.

May we live as those whose souls are married to Jesus Christ.

The Bride or the Whore?

From Isaac Ambrose in his book, Looking Unto Jesus:

“Just so much as the world prevails in us, so much is God’s love abated both in us and towards us. ‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses,’ saith St. James, ‘know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?’ When we have [had] enough of God and Christ, and yet desire to make up our happiness in the creature [the things of fallen humanity, the things of this age which is passing away], this is plain spiritual whoredom.

“We must look off [away from] the world in respect of its honours. What is this desire to be well thought of, or well spoken of? As if a man should run up and down after a feather flying in the air. It is a question whether ever he get it; but if he do, it is but a feather: such is honour, it is hard to obtain it, but, if obtained, it is but the breath of a few men’s mouths but what is worst of all, it hinders our sight of Christ.”

The language and syntax may be archaic, but the truth of what Isaac Ambrose writes remains with us today. Jesus teaches us that we cannot serve two masters, and that if our eye is single that our entire body [being] will be full of light. Paul teaches that we are to fix our minds on that which is above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.

(I think the idea that God’s love towards us is “abated” is perhaps problematic. Is the shepherd’s love for the lost sheep abated? Does the shepherd not leave the ninety-nine sheep and go after the one lost sheep? As for whether God’s love “in us” is also abated, as Ambrose writes above, I’m not certain what he means by “in us”. If Ambrose means God’s love expressed in us and through us towards Him in worship and obedience, and through us to others, then he is right – the spirit of this age cannot worship Him nor can it truly love others).

Over the past year I’ve been downsizing; included in the downsizing are awards and mementos of recognition I received during my business career in the form of plaques and framed documents. I also had some issues of a publication that had articles I’d written, a speech I’d made, and photos of yours truly. While they meant a lot to me at the time, and while I hope I used my career as a platform to witness for Jesus and to help others – the fact is that that season of life has passed and were all of these things to be found in an attic by someone decades from now they would mean nothing. I’ve saved a future someone the trouble of disposing of these items by placing them in the trash can. Do not misunderstand, I am thankful for God’s blessing on my career, and I am thankful that I had positions where I could help people – but the platform I had was given to me by our Lord Jesus for His glory, not mine – and the lasting elements of my career will only be known in eternity, they will not be found in publications, on plaques, or written on framed certificates.

Perhaps Ambrose offends our religious sensibilities when he points out that when we look for fulfillment and meaning and satisfaction beyond our Lord Jesus; that when we say, “I’ve had quite enough of Jesus for the moment, let me put Jesus on hold and seek additional sources of fulfillment,” that we engage in “plain spiritual whoredom.” Should Isaac Ambrose offend us, how would we react to what God says through Ezekiel (Ez. Chapter 23)?

Jesus says, concerning His followers, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16). “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

Is Jesus enough? Is He truly our Bread from heaven? Are we looking for more than Jesus when we gather on Sundays? Have we imported the world into our churches? Are we seeking the honor and approbation of the world? Am I? Are you?

In eternity we shall see the face of Jesus Christ, we will be in His Presence, and we will know the glory of the Trinity in such a fashion as is beyond our comprehension. Isaiah had a glimpse and taste of this glory when he saw, “…the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple,” (Isaiah 6:1).

In the Day when we see the fulness of Him (Christ) who fills all in all we will wonder how we could have ever desired anything other than Jesus Christ, anything in addition to Jesus Christ, any honor but the honor and glory that belong to Jesus alone. We will wonder (I speak with human speculation) how we could have been so foolish as to desire and value the approval of this world, which is passing away.

Should we not live now, as we shall live on that Great Day? Should we not be married to Jesus Christ now, as we shall be married to Him on that Great Day? Should we not speak of Him now, glorify Him now, as we shall do on that Great Day? Should we not see “plain spiritual whoredom” for what it is now, as we shall see it on that Great Day? Shall we be ashamed of Jesus on that Great Day? No! A thousand times No! Then why are we ashamed of Him now? If we will fall on our faces on that Great Day, then how can we resist falling on our faces now?

“But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life; and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:4 – 5).

“Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” (Revelation 19:6b – 9).

Temptation - A Triad

There is a triad of Scripture passages that may help us to better understand temptation; 1 Corinthians 10:1 – 22 (note verses 12 -13); James 1:2 – 8 (note verse 4); 2 Peter 2:4 – 10 (note verse 9). We’ll consider these passages in the next few meditations.

In 2 Peter Chapter 2, Peter is warning his readers about false prophets and assuring them that God will judge false prophets and those in rebellion against Him. In 2 Peter 2:4 Peter reaches back into ancient times to write of an angelic rebellion that God judged and will judge. In 2:5 Peter writes of God judging Noah’s generation and preserving Noah and his family, note that Peter styles Noah “a preacher of righteousness.” If we will, by God’s grace, live and preach righteousness we will certainly be tempted, but we will also be equipped in Christ to endure temptation – for obedient and consistent living and speaking in Jesus Christ, by the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, is a foundational element in the life that overcomes temptation, and the world, the flesh, and the devil.

In 2 Peter 2:6 – 8, Peter focuses on Sodom and Gomorrah and on God’s deliverance of Lot, who lived in Sodom. Peter tells us that Lot’s righteous soul was oppressed and tormented day after day by the sensual and rebellious conduct around him. Lot lived among a people who were in rebellion against the Holy God; in the midst of the trials and temptations that were a daily part of Lot’s life – God protected Lot and delivered him. This provides us with a link to 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 and to the point of this reflection.

1 Corinthians was written to a church which had significant sin and rebellion in its midst. 0In this context Paul turns to ancient Israel to illustrate the consequences of succumbing to temptation and rebelling against the Holy God. Consider 1 Corinthians 10:5:

“Nevertheless, with most of them [the Israelites in the Wilderness] God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the Wilderness.”

An entire generation perished in the Wilderness, with the exceptions of Joshua and Caleb, due to its rebellion against God and its failure to believe God’s Word and obey it. It was a generation which sold-out to temptation, which produced sin, which in turn produced death.

While there were disciples in the Corinthian church who were faithfully living for Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 16:15 – 18), considering the overall corrective nature of Paul’s letter and the number of areas of sin and disobedience that Paul addressed, we might not be too far off the mark to think that the ethos of the church in Corinth contained a broad and deep element of sin and rebellion – not unlike that of Israel in the Wilderness.

Looking at 2 Peter Chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 we see the following: Noah was faithful in a wicked generation; Lot was faithful in the midst of a wicked people: and with “most” of the generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt “God was not well – pleased”; with the word “most” pointing us to Joshua and Caleb who were faithful.

God delivered Noah, He delivered Lot, and He delivered Joshua and Caleb; God delivered these men from the temptations and wickedness that surrounded them. Peter is telling his readers that God will also deliver them from the temptations surrounding them; Paul is telling his readers the very same thing. Noah and Lot lived in generations whose wickedness multiplied day after day. Caleb and Joshua lived in a generation that was called to be a holy people unto the True and Living God, and yet which was judged and died in the Wilderness. Whether we live in a hostile world, or in a hostile apostate church, God knows how to deliver us from temptation.

Our environments are hostile and opposed to obedience to the True and Living God and His Son Jesus Christ. If we are members of a local congregation which is betrothed in faithful holiness to Christ (2 Cor. 11:1-3) we have much to be thankful for – but let those congregations live in the awareness that they are living in the midst of the hostility of both the world and of Satan.

A failure to obey God’s holy and righteous Word leads to a failure to see the present age for what it is – hostile to God and under His judgment. John writes (1 John 5:19), “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

If we are going to resist temptation then we are going to go against the grain of the world and often against the grain of the professing church. As John writes (1 John 2:15), “…If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father in not in him.” Consider what James writes (James 4:4), “You adulteresses [an unfaithful church is styled an adulteress], do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

If we are not willing to go against the grain of the world and an unfaithful church (when we encounter it) then we will succumb to temptation rather than resist it. We must be willing to go it alone with Christ if that is what is required to be obedient to God’s Word.

We cannot be chameleons, blending in with the world and thinking that we are being faithful to Jesus Christ; to blend in with the world is to deny Jesus Christ and therefore to succumb to the temptation to deny the Lord who purchased us with His blood.

The temptation to question the Word of God regarding the world around us, this present age, is akin to the temptation that Eve succumbed to – we don’t really think we’ll die if we eat its fruit, we’ll just eat the pretty fruit, not the ugly fruit. Once we buy into that temptation we quickly lose our discernment regarding the holy and the unclean, righteousness and unrighteousness, obedience and disobedience.

Noah was not a chameleon, nor was Lot; nor were Caleb and Joshua. What about me? What about you? What about our churches?