Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
In a previous blog, “the Plague of Cyprian”, we considered how Covid-19 is teaching us about our own mortality and fear. In this blog we’ll consider how it is reminding us that we’re not in charge.
In by-gone days there was an old and wise Christian man out tending his front garden by the road when a farmer passed by with his flock of sheep. The old man hailed, “Friend, where are you off to today.” The farmer replied, “I’m taking my sheep to market, they are going to fetch a handsome price. Then I’m going to go and buy a new implement and a fancy dress for my wife.” The old man replied, “God-willing!” Not too long afterwards the farmer walked past the old wise Christian man’s garden, this time by himself, and looking dishevelled and beaten up. The old man asked, “Friend, what happened to you?” The farmer replied, “When I was on the way to the market I was attacked by sheep thieves. They stole my sheep and beat me up and left me for dead.” The old man asked, “What are you going to do now?” The farmer replied, “I’m going to go home and secure my sheep and farm, and breed more sheep, and sell others at the market on this date, and return to this market next year, etc.” The old man cut him off, “God-willing!” In a passage which warns against boasting about tomorrow, James 5:13–16 says this: 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”-- 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. From this passage comes the Christian saying, “God-willing” or DV (Latin. Deo volente, if God wills it). While this saying can be over used its sentiment can also be underappreciated. Truly, nothing can happen unless God wills it. We need to remember that He is on the throne and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven—not ours! Corona Virus is teaching us, not only of our mortality, but how little we actually have control over our lives. We must depend upon the Lord and seek His will. We all have had plans change, trips cancelled, meetings postponed, because of Covid-19. May this be a reminder to us of the wisdom of James 5 and teach us to humbly say, in our heart of hearts, DV! Whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Ro 14:8b) In AD 252 there was a mysterious illness that broke out in Carthage, North Africa. It, indeed, swept the entire Roman Empire. Some have likened it to small pox or the measles. It was called the Plague of Cyprian after the North African bishop who had so graphically recounted its effects.[1] (The previous century had also witnessed the Antonine Plague, which equally ravage the Empire.[2]). Those who contracted the disease were cut off from society, alienated, left to die. Indeed, in Rome 5000 people a day were said to have perished. The population in Alexandria, Egypt, declined some 62%. Out of compassion for the sick, out of an intense desire to offer a cup of water to those in need, Christians came to help those abandoned by the culture, to care for them, to sit with the dying. As a result many Christians died. This plague also coincided with a renewed persecution of Christians under Decius (Cyprian himself was martyred under the Emperor Valerian in AD 258). Together their simple humble acts and their witness to their faith led to a great revival which saw Christianity further spread to become a major religion in the Empire. I tell that story to remind us that disease is nothing new to the human existence since the Fall, and as the last enemy to be defeated is physical/bodily death, disease makes no differentiation between Christians and non-Christians. Our response as Christians can also bear witness to our faith. Cyprian reminded his listeners of the first point: It disturbs some that this mortality is common to us with others; and yet what is there in this world which is not common to us with others, so long as this flesh of ours still remains, according to the law of our first birth, common to us with them? So long as we are here in the world, we are associated with the human race in fleshly equality, but are separated in spirit. (Cyprian, On Mortality, 8[3]). Today the number one news item is the Corona Virus, or Covid-19, a respiratory disease initially picked up from animals. Authorities, media and specialists are all noting it is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent times, not since the Spanish Influenza after WWI, have we seen a pandemic quite like this (though it remains to be seen how severe its spread and effect will be). With globalization and modern media we’re witnessing its spread, and this in turn is stoking fear and concern. As such we need to be diligent to know the medical facts. If public gatherings are suspended we may have to worship at home and I’ll preach through the internet and we’ll encourage one another through email or telephone or text. For now we can thank the Lord that this is not the case. We wait upon the Lord with each new day. What should the Christian response be? · respect the communications of the government and medical authorities · though there were no such authorities in Roman days and so Christians bridged the gap in offering aid; today we must respect the authorities’ public restraints, yet also still find ways in which to minister compassionately in a crisis, perhaps by bringing food to quarantined homes; perhaps by joining Health Unit emergency teams and bringing Christ’s light this way, and certainly through prayer. o We must not test the Lord by presuming that we, simply because we are Christians, will be exempt from the disease. We must still take reasonable precautions, like washing our hands, etc. But the biggest way we can make a difference is not to worry, not to fear; it is by setting the example of faith. Fear reigns in the world, it has since the Fall. We are slaves to fear because we are slaves to sin and sin is to distrust God and be under His just sentence. In his address Cyprian spoke to his congregation many helpful words on the subject of trust and assurance in the face of the plague, yet these words stand out: Who, in the midst of these things, is trembling and sad, except he who is without hope and faith? For it is for him to fear death who is not willing to go to Christ. (Cyprian, On Mortality, 2). He recognized the truth of passages like Romans 14:8. That if we are in Christ we have nothing to fear, not even death, because we have a proper biblical perspective of the subject and of the hope of the Gospel. As a result, even in the midst of the Cyprian Plague or Covid-19 we can bear witness to our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and the assurance that comes through believing in the Gospel and lead others to faith in Him by example of our resolute hope in the face of adversity and worldwide fear. May the Lord increase our faith, for our good and His glory! [1] https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/the-cyprian-plague/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/solving-the-mystery-of-an-ancient-roman-plague/543528/ [2] https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/43/2/18 [3] Cyprian, On Mortality, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5., Treatise 7, p. 469. Online access: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050707.htm Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!
There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, they compassions they fail not: As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. God Never Changes So opens the hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” It declares a central truth about God that He is the unchanging One, and as such He is dependable. Hebrews 13:10 says, Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Humans Are Always Changing While humans are created in the image of God and reflect His likeness in many ways, God’s unchanging nature is a characteristic that we do not share. Benjamin Franklin once said, “two things always stay the same, death and taxes!” Aside from these points in jest, we change and our circumstances change. Nothing stays the same. Our bodies change as we grow. Our circumstances change as we journey through life. We are always changing. While the rate and amount of change may be something we can or cannot easily process, or sometimes is necessary for survival, to deny change itself is to deny reality. Change is a Normal Part of a Believer’s Life Not only do we change as humans, if we are a follower of Jesus, change is the name of the game. The Gospel message itself is the power to change. The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to sanctify us, to transform us, to make us more like Jesus. Following Jesus then is one big process of change. If we are not changing or are resistant to healthy and appropriate change, and willing to follow our Lord in faith into the future, then something is amiss. A Tale of Two Seas The Jordan River bubbles up at the foot of Mt. Hermon in the north of Israel. Tens of thousands of gallons of water burst to the surface every day. These waters flow south into the Sea of Galilee and then on to the Dead Sea. These two seas are complete opposites. One is filled with fish and life. That is because water is always entering and exiting it, it is changing, it is alive and vibrant. The other only ever receives and never gives and as a result of that and evaporation by the sun, it salinity is so high that nothing can live in it. That is why it is called the Dead Sea. May these two seas be a reminder to us: change is needed if we want to thrive as Christians and an unwillingness to embrace the change of the Gospel can spell only certain death. May the Lord’s grace enable us to change, for our good and His glory. *Many Christians have different views on this subject so please read with care and a charitable eye.
What is the Church? Most people answer that question through the lens of the New Covenant initiated by Jesus, so they would speak of the New Covenant Church. This naturally raises the question of “what about Israel”? Many have sought to answer this in different ways[1] but I’ll answer it covenantally and seek to offer what I believe to be the argument of Paul found in Rom 9–11. In the blog series on “What is the Church” this is the highest level of answering that question, taking much more of a bird’s eye view than is usually taken. The question was anticipated by Paul after he had shared about the promises of the New Covenant, or Gospel, and the in-grafting of the Gentiles—had the promises to Israel failed and if so could the New Covenant be trusted? I’ll define covenantalism as: That there is one chosen people of God (the elect) represented throughout history under different covenants. The Bible is a record of God’s one continuous plan of salvation under different covenants involving one spiritual people. What does that look like? Paul uses the imagery of grafting and an olive tree. We all, as sinners, are by nature a wild olive tree. God, in His grace, chose one man’s family—Abraham—through whom He’d rescue a lost world through providing a Saviour. Thus arises ethnic Israel, the physical offspring of Israel (Abraham’s grand-son) to whom God’s covenantal promises are passed down. He chooses this family and turns them into a cultivated olive tree through which He will bless all nations in His plan of salvation (Gen 3:15 and Gen 12). They were the means to the Saviour. We also know that not all of Abraham’s offspring were spiritual descendants for though the promises of the Covenant came to them they needed to trust, exercise faith, to be the recipients of its blessing (Ro 4:11–2; Gal 3:7). Thus there was always a visible and invisible Israel. And the Old Covenant, or Testament/will as the division in our Bible declares, was not a permanent covenant. It was the guardian until Christ came (Gal 3:4), when the prophesied New Covenant (Jer 31:31–4) fulfilled the Old (Mt 5:17; Ro 10:4b; 2 Cor 1:20a; Heb 8:6). At this time the veil in the Temple was torn and later Jesus prophecy against the Temple was fulfilled with its destruction in AD 70. Thus Covenantalism speaks of fulfilment and recognizes the grand sweeping story of God’s plan across the covenants. The Bible says that Christ is the root of all of the elect, His sheep, those He died to save (Ro 11:16b; c.f. Rev 22:16). Ethnic Israel was the trunk of the cultivated Olive tree through which the promises of God (Christ) came. The problem is, like many orchard trees, that there arose dead [unbelieving] branches in visible Israel. At the time of Christ most visible Israelites were spiritually dead and trusting in works rather than the Covenantal promises. Few were looking for the Messiah. These were broken off by the master pruner (God) (Ro 11:17) from the visible covenantal people of God. Those who are described by the prophets of the OT as the “faithful remnant” where the ones who believed in their Messiah. They were the living branches built upon the trunk of their spiritual heritage, these remained faithful. Paul himself was part of this group. This was the beginning of the New Covenant Church as all early followers of Jesus were ethnic Jews (Pentecost; Acts 11:19). All along, however, it had been part of God’s plan to bring about a blessing to the nations and thus the Gentile (non-Jew) inclusion into the people of God had been prophesied through the OT and foreshadowed in Jesus’ ministry. These Gentiles could be grafted into the Covenant community of God through faith in the Messiah, not only for the ethnic Jews, but the whole world. Thus the New Covenant people of God is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles (Ro 1:17). In fact Old Testament terms are applied to this people (1 Pet 2:9–10) and many older hymns apply the term Israel and Jerusalem to the New Covenant Church. Israel is the Church and the Church is Israel, the true spiritual covenantal people of God, elect through the ages, continued in time under the New Covenant. It is therefore right to speak of myself as a spiritual Jew and the Church as Israel (The Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Septuagint/LXX, used the word “church” to speak of God’s people before Christ). So when we speak of Israel (modern state, geographic area, ethnic Jews), they are actually not Jews at all, in the spiritual sense, but false Jews. The Church, comprised of ethnic Jews and Gentiles, one people (Eph 2:11–22), is the true Israel, the New Covenant community of God’s elect, carrying on the story of God’s people through time. It is the culmination of the cultivated olive tree. But what of those dead branches pruned from the tree, unbelieving ethnic Israel? Paul says there is still hope insofar as they come to believe their Messiah. Many Jews since the time of Christ have trusted in Him as their Messiah and be engrafted themselves. So too, Paul seems to expect a time in the future when there will be a great ingathering of ethnic Jews into the Church/Israel. All of this causes Paul to break forth into praise. Why? Because no one is deserving to be God’s, yet in His grace He has called many men, women and children to Himself through faith in the covenant promises of God throughout the ages, which find their fulfilment in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. So what is the Church? At the highest level it is the chosen, elect, people of God throughout all ages who have been redeemed from sin through faith in Jesus Christ. One day, we’ll all be together as one people, one Church, one Israel, in the New Heavens and New Earth. What a glorious plan of salvation our God has! Footnote 1- Other views:
Below is a visual representation of what has been presented above: As we yield to and are filled by the Spirit in the Christian life (sanctification), each Christian is to progressively bear all of the fruit of the Spirit as a witness to the saving reality of our faith (are we who we really profess to be). Such fruit is not limited to the description found in Gal 5. Many other fruit can be found listed throughout the New Testament. James 3:17 is one such place. Speaking of the fruit that comes from the wisdom from above it lists:
Pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. I’d like to zero in on one fruit: open to reason, or the fruit of “reasoning”, or being reasonable. There is a reason why the Bible speaks so much about good communication and that is because we are so bad at it. Most church conflicts are not about doctrine, or wrong doing, or even personality differences, they’re communication issues that usually arise from a wrong disposition, a want of sanctification. Immediately after James speaks of taming the tongue he shows what someone being transformed by the Spirit will look like in their communications: be open to reasoning. The word here can mean well-persuaded, already inclined, already willing, easy to come to terms with because already willing, etc. It conveys the notion of someone willing to go to great lengths to come to terms with someone, foster understanding, get to the bottom of the situation, be level headed, committed to working something through, labouring to this great end. This is not being quick tempered, which short circuits the intellect, but restrained, mentally engaged and charitable. It is a clarity of the mind and a calmness of our affections. It is a rare quality today, to be patient, peaceable, and restrained, enough to work through a difficulty. It is a key Spiritual fruit that enables us to truly submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21). So the next time you are presented with a difficult situation, in or outside of the Church, as a believer, would you pray that the Lord would enable you to be open to reason, for everyone’s good and His glory. To God all glory, praise, and love be now and ever given by saints below and saints above, the Church in earth and heaven. (Charles Wesley, “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”) It can get lonely thinking you are all alone. That is why a big perspective on what the Church is vitally essential. It reminds us that if we are in Christ we are part of a great cloud of witnesses. The Church militant describes believers who are still alive and still battling on for the Lord in this life. The Church triumphant describes those who’ve won the battle, fought the fight and finished the race, those whose spirits have gone to be in the presence of the Lord and who await the final Resurrection. Here are all of those whose faith was in the promises of God, which point to Christ and are Christ: Abel, Noah, the Patriarchs, Gideon, David, the disciples and all believers since. We pick up this distinction from places such as Rev 7 where John witnesses fellow believers worshiping the Lord in heaven. How encouraging a thought it is to know that we are not alone. Not only is Christ with us in Word and Spirit, but what is more, we are part of a great company of believers, far greater than our isolated geographic distribution allows us to fathom, not only here on earth, but in heaven above. In the words of Heb 12:1 the Church triumphant grace the side-lines of our race and cheer us on as it were. May we be encouraged that as a Christian we are part of the Church militant and triumphant! It can get lonely thinking you are all alone. That is why a big perspective on what the Church is vitally essential. It reminds us that if we are in Christ we are part of a great cloud of witnesses. The Church militant describes believers who are still alive and still battling on for the Lord in this life. The Church triumphant describes those who’ve won the battle, fought the fight and finished the race, those whose spirits have gone to be in the presence of the Lord and who await the final Resurrection. Here are all of those whose faith was in the promises of God, which point to Christ and are Christ: Abel, Noah, the Patriarchs, Gideon, David, the disciples and all believers since. We pick up this distinction from places such as Rev 7 where John witnesses fellow believers worshiping the Lord in heaven. How encouraging a thought it is to know that we are not alone. Not only is Christ with us in Word and Spirit, but what is more, we are part of a great company of believers, far greater than our isolated geographic distribution allows us to fathom, not only here on earth, but in heaven above. In the words of Heb 12:1 the Church triumphant grace the side-lines of our race and cheer us on as it were. May we be encouraged that as a Christian we are part of the Church militant and triumphant! This might sound like a very perplexing statement but I believe it is true; allow me to explain.
The Church, made up of baptized believers in Jesus Christ, ought to be an inclusive welcoming community, yet it is at the same time an exclusive, or distinct, body. Too often Christians fail to appreciate this paradox and opt for one extreme (inclusivity) or the other (exclusivity). Let’s see how this paradox is true, and ought to naturally flow from who we are, taking as our example the teachings of Jesus: INCLUSIVE Jesus was inclusive, if by that definition we mean welcoming or not embracing a judgementalism. He didn’t care if the person was the vilest sinner, He sought to be inclusive of everyone, for He had come as the Saviour of the world (in fact He said that He came to save not the “self-righteous” but sinners, Lk 5:32):
EXCLUSIVE Yet, just as Jesus met people where they were, He didn’t desire them to stay there. In fact in the same breadth in which He displayed an inclusive spirit He made some very exclusive statements. His inclusivity serves to build trust for He wants us to exclusively trust in and follow him and there find true inclusion in the exclusive body of Christ, an entry that can only come through trusting in Him alone:
In an age that champion’s unbridled inclusivity this paradox is a paradox indeed. In an age where Christian writers speak of people needing to “belong before they believe” the call to “believe before you belong” sounds harsh. Yet when it is matched by the inclusive spirit Jesus displayed, the latter loses much of its apparent harshness. We do need to help people feel like they belong, but through that honest welcome, to help them see they must believe if they are to truly belong, belong to Christ and be members of the local body. That is the paradox of the Church and it is the paradox of her Lord. Someone recently told my wife how someone had said this to her. “I’ll see for coffee on Wednesday so long as something better doesn’t come along.” It warms your heart to know people value and are committed to you so much they’ll still keep their appointment with you so long as “something better” doesn’t come along!
Sadly, we are living in a “something better” culture, a culture wanting in commitment and a knowledge of those things that are truly excellent and valuable:
Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Jos 21:45; c.f. 1 Ki 8:56). God in His very being keeps His promises and is true to His word. Thankfully that means His promise of salvation and forgiveness to our “something better” culture is certain and true (and praise the Lord that this is the case otherwise our falsehoods would utterly condemn us, leaving us with no hope). But not only do the Lord’s promises in the Gospel mean He will forgive the repentant who come to Jesus in faith, He will also transform them. In Lev 19 He says, “Be holy as I am holy.” In the vein of this blog’s subject He could have equally said, “Be faithful and true as I am faithful and true.” By God’s Spirit He transforms and enables and calls us to be vastly different from the “something better” culture we live in. He calls us to be faithful and true and share in His likeness. My prayer is that as Christians are transformed by the renewing of their mind through the Word and Spirit and become less like culture and more like Christ that the world will take notice when we keep our appointments, place value on commitments and people and the Lord, His worship and ways, and that He will be glorified through us as we offer something better. While we may not all be preachers or elders, the following word is directly applicable to those who are and indirectly to those that are not as they seek out and seek to cultivate genuine ministers of the Gospel. The Chapel I served in England was not structurally fancy. It was built in 1819 of plain stone. Its expansions over the years were practical and yet of good quality. Thankfully the building was not a designated historical building which enabled us to make any changes without hassle. We sought to modernize the building yet not without compromising its heritage. One change we made when we introduced A/V was to move the historic plaques on the front wall in the Chapel. There is a certain theology of architecture and this said that we worshipped our past. Valueing our past we moved these marble plaques to the rear of the Chapel and put an elegant and yet simple cross on the front wall. In this way we not only made space for a blank area on which the lyrics of songs could be projected, but fixed our eyes on Jesus with the cloud of witnesses behind us (Heb 12:1–2a).
Though our Chapel had few unique features it did have one, one rich in theology and one that we kept. It was so unique that no one, including visiting preachers or even myself, had ever seen the likes of it anywhere else. On the wood panelling of the balcony facing the pulpit was a Georgian (pre-1837) plaque noted in the picture above. In old KJV English it read: Thou therefore gird up they loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command these; be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. (Jeremiah Chap. 1 Ver.17) In contemporary English it is translated: But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. (Jer 1:17, ESV) At first glance this appeared rather an odd text. Why not something more along the lines of “woe is me if I preach not the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16) or “preach the word in season and out of season” (2 Ti 4:2). Yet on a closer inspection this verse is of great relevance for it reminds the preacher, and any interested in truth, to fear God above pleasing man. Jeremiah had a very difficult ministry. He had to speak God’s truth into the deteriorating covenant relationship between God and Judah just before the Babylonian invasion. Yet it was only this biting ointment that could be a balm for their wounds. The Lord gave Jeremiah four commands:
[1] James Culross, The Three Rylands (1897), 73. On May 15, 2019, I was fresh off the plane in the UK from having travelled to Ontario to preach for a call at Markdale Baptist Church. It was a whirlwind of a trip, I was tired among other things. We returned to our home church, Cromhall Chapel, and I attended the Wednesday Area Bible Study, where once a month we would host a guest preacher. Roger Page, pastor of Phillip St. Baptist Church, Bristol, was the speaker. His sermon was on Job and suffering and comfort and could not have been more timely. In fact it was providential for during our trip back to Ontario we had suffered a miscarriage. Since we are presently studying through the book of Job at MBC in our Cover to Cover series I thought reposting it here would enable others to benefit from his excellent sermon.
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