The Pastor’s Pen

Lincoln writes to encourage and build up God’s people with God’s Word.

Trustworthy God – Part 1

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Trust is a beautiful quality in any relationship, yet it tends to be fragile even though it can be so strengthening. Trust is spoken of often in the Bible, from human relationships to God’s trustworthiness and mankind’s need to trust Him. As with earthly friendships, trust is foundational to the health of our spiritual relationship with the Lord.

While it’s all very well to tell someone to trust others, or trust God, actioning trust can prove to be difficult, especially when trust has been violated or disappointed in the past. If left unresolved, trust damaging hurts can rob God and us of this treasure. The complexity of the human heart means we may fail to trust God while at the same time being untrustworthy ourselves. This is the devastating nature of sin; it shrewdly assaults the heart from within and without, until it doesn’t know what to think of life. Paralyzed often by fear and pain, the damaged heart simply does nothing, and in so doing, further victimizes itself. Knowing that the heart needs to trust to survive, the world instructs us to trust in anything other than God. Money, possessions, good health, politics, conspiracy, popularity, job security, pleasures, experiences, and philosophy, are all promoted as being worthy of your ultimate trust, even though every one of these will fail you.

And it’s far too easy for God’s children to unwittingly get caught in the deception of trusting these earthly things. Therefore, evaluating our trust in the Lord, or the lack of it, is worthy of our attention. Jeremiah 17:5 sounds a loud caution; cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Trust is believing with confidence in the certainty of another. Trust, therefore, looks to the trusted person as a refuge, a safe and dependable place of sanctuary. From its very definition, ultimate trust that survives past the grave cannot be found in anything this world offers due to the pervasive infiltration of sin at all levels. And if a person realises this without a healthy response, paranoia can escalate to a fearful level with devastating consequences. Therefore, trusting the Lord, who is governor overall, is extremely important. The believer trusts God to oversee and maintain all facets of earthly, spiritual, and eternal life. As a result, the Lord promises to keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on YOU, because he trusts in YOU. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock (Isaiah 26:3-4). Unlike the constantly changing world, which sooner or later fails to deliver on it’s promises, God does not change, and He never fails to fulfill His promises.

For the Christian, trust is central to all areas of belief and living. Trust is the epicenter of faith and therefore needs to grow and mature for the believer to experience it’s many blessings. For the child of God, trust is not about things or systems. It’s not about getting our way. And it’s not about fighting the things we disagree with. Trust acknowledges the futility of complaining about or resisting the things God has ordained. Authentic trust in God abandons personal heart rebellion, which is always against creator God, whether directly or indirectly.

With that said, we shall explore over the coming weeks a little of the nature of trusting God as exhorted by Solomon in Proverbs 3:5-7. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

To be continued…

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God who suffers well – Part 3

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

There is no denying the suffering that exists throughout the world. From personal abuses to a nation’s poverty due to war, disaster, or disease. The world has proven its inability to eliminate human suffering, despite great humanitarian efforts. Yet, much of society is so obsessed with ease, comfort, and pleasure, that they fail to deal with ugly human suffering. In this world Christians are not spared from the pains of suffering either. No amount of denial or speaking it out of existence can change the painful realities of life.

Apart from the daily frustrations Christians experience, some believers endure terrible health, financial, or relational struggles by the will of God. There also exists many thousands of God’s people worldwide who suffer for no other reason than for their faith in Christ. From harassment, to excommunication, to loss of employment or housing, to violence and death, more Christians than ever suffer persecution for Christ. Regardless of what the world may tell us, God exists within the sufferings of His children. To this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21). As Christ suffered well, so believers are equipped to follow Christ’s gracious and faithful responses in suffering.

It’s fair to be nervous at the possibility of extreme suffering. And it’s good to learn in advance of God’s presence and comfort in sufferings.

Peter explains a key component of Christ’s suffering, which, if we apply, serves us well in our sufferings. When he (Jesus) was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). Jesus did not respond to suffering in a typical human manner. He didn’t retaliate or lash out at others. He didn’t hide from it, or deny it, or try to pass it on to someone else. Yes, He received the sour wine on the cross (John 19:29-30) which was meant to dull his physical pain. Receiving assistance and pain relief of all kinds are graces of God during suffering, for which we are thankful.

Jesus’ example is both spiritual and practical. As He was experiencing the various degrees of suffering leading up to and including crucifixion, He continuously entrusted Himself to His Heavenly Father. Jesus didn’t wait until He thought He was at breaking point. From Judas’ betrayal to the nails driven through His wrists and ankle bones, Jesus entrusted. This was deliberate and continuous prayer. Open, honest, and unrestrained in its expression of suffering and dependence upon the Heavenly Father for strength, determination, and faithfulness.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking… (1 Peter 4:1). From minor irritations to life threatening assaults for the name of Jesus, Christ suffers well through His believers. Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 1:5, that as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. Before suffering begins, we can’t imagine how Christ will supply comfort. Only pain triggers the release of Christ’s comforting resources. When we suffer, the indwelling Holy Spirit participates in our suffering. We are never abandoned by God, as the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26). God suffers well within His beloved children, providing security, hope, and even joy that transcends the pains of this life.

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God who suffers well – Part 2

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Humanity remains consistent and creative in their rebellion and indifference to God. Being the source of grief to God is not unique to any single people group, with all of mankind sharing in this role. Equally true, is God’s consistent grace. While His holiness and all other aspects of His character remain true, the day is coming when grace will step aside to allow justice to do its work. Jesus’ younger brother speaks about this coming day in Jude 1:14-15. Behold, the Lord comes… to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him (See also Romans 2:5-8). But for now, grace is dominant, and we should be very thankful for it.

The writer of Hebrews highlights the fact that Jesus Christ is the radiance of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3a) and has always existed in the splendour of heavenly glory. Yet He did not hesitate to surrender His privilege; He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). For a time, Jesus willingly exchanged His place of glory to become despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not (Isaiah 53:3).

As justified sinners, when we Christians look at Christ, we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he (Jesus) might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). Although He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22), He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).

In a world fixated on comfort, ease, and self-vindication, the sufferings of Christ are of no interest. The world continuously reasons away the reality of sin, despite the overwhelming evidence against itself. Yet, on the cross of Jesus, we see the greatest suffering purchased the greatest blessing for sinners who are willing to believe. Suffering was the inescapable path for the Son of God to appease the Father’s wrath (1 John 4:10). Suffering was the only mechanism through which the sacrificial Lamb of God could make atonement for sinners (John 1:29). Suffering was the only path capable of delivering the sanctification we sinners were incapable of (1 Corinthians 1:30). Indeed, the Saviour Jesus Christ suffered well.

Peter clearly understood the relationship between Christ’s suffering and believers’ salvation. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3:18). While we struggle to understand how, it was Jesus alone, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus’ joy was in obeying His Father’s will for Him to go to the cross, in appeasing the Father’s wrath for man’s sin, and in making it possible for sinners to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18).

God’s greatest expression of love towards mankind caused His greatest suffering. And from His suffering repentant sinners can receive the greatest blessings, forgiveness, rebirth, imputed righteousness, adoption, and eternal life in Christ.

To be continued…

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God who suffers well – Part 1

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Watching others suffer is a distasteful part of life, and sadly, it’s possible to become insensitive to it. However, when suffering is personal, it usually brings our innermost character to the surface; for better, or for worse. And although we may not think of it often, if at all, the same is true of God.

Officially, the teaching about God suffering is called the doctrine of Impassibility. This doctrine does NOT teach that God is changeable, has mood swings, or cannot control His responses, because God is never the victim of circumstance. The doctrine of passibility does teach however, that God is emotionally invested in His creation; that He is involved because He cares, and because He cares, He feels pain when His creation suffers.

For humankind, it began in Genesis 1:27-28, God created man in his own image… male and female he created them. And God blessed them saying… “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Humanity was the most spectacular and privileged of all God created, unparalleled in design and capacity for glorifying their creator.

Genesis 1:31 summarizes, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. As Yahweh microscopically examined everything, particularly volitional humanity, His conclusion was that it all surpassed being good. It was very good! Tragically, it wasn’t long before the first two people bought into the lies of God’s enemy, and they sinned, introducing death and suffering into the world. Before long, human rebellion was so rampant, that the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart (Genesis 6:6). The original word for “grieved” carries the idea of pain that carves its way into the heart. Although sin causes God the deepest pain, He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10).

Stepping forward in time, we see unfaithful Israel becoming the source of great suffering for God. They rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 78:40-41). In the New Testament, it was Peter who publicly explained Israel’s ultimate wound to God’s heart. Men of Israel…  Jesus of Nazareth… attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst… this Jesus, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:22-23). Yet, despite the pain suffered by the Father at the murderous rejection of His Son, God has not rejected his people Israel (Romans 11:2). Such mountainous grace displays God’s holiness through His suffering.

The Lord’s mercy towers above the immense suffering caused by mankind, especially Israel. His integrity shines brightest when upholding His many covenantal promises to Israel, and especially through the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 10:10-18). His grace prevails over His suffering, seen by only a partial hardening which has temporarily been brought upon Israel. As stated by Paul, it remains God’s firm intension for all Israel to eventually be saved (Romans 11:25-26). Such is God’s integrity, who suffers well for His glory and the ultimate blessing of His covenant people.

When this world suffers, grace is often among the first qualities to get dropped. But not so with Yahweh, His suffering only highlights His incalculable grace. God’s innermost character is seen best through His sufferings, may the same be true of us.

To be continued…

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God of Patience

By / The Pastor's Pen / 3 minutes of reading

Looking over humanity’s brief history, we see an extraordinary degree of God’s patience with mankind. After all, humanity alone was created in the image of God (Gen 1:27), and it was humanity who reasoned through the serpent’s arguments against God and decided disobedience was the pathway to greater Godlikeness. So it was, that sin and death was introduced by humanity (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-19).

God would have been justified in executing the promised death penalty upon Adam and Eve right there in the garden of Eden. Yet, that’s not what we see. Instead, we see God’s mercy patiently working with independent humanity. Yes, immediate judgement was enacted upon Adam and Eve. And yes, death was initiated immediately, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12). But the Lord restrained the extremity of His justice, displaying mercy that would work through His patience, leading to Christ’s substitutional death on the cross.

Nowhere in Scripture is this explained more clearly than in Romans 9:22-23. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. Even though we feel the tensions created by sin, human will, judgment, and God’s purposes, the Holy Spirit states that these all work for God’s glory. Therefore, mankind are both vessels of wrath and of mercy. The Lord’s indomitable will employs the worst of man’s rebellion to exercise patience that endures long after a defiant person passes away. God continues broadcasting His grace to the very sinners who live under His wrath, waiting for their response of repentance.

As believers who can look back at our salvation, the Lord patiently spoke into our lives through others, through God’s Word, through life’s events, and through Holy Spirit conviction. God’s patient grace was investing in His glory through our lives, and we didn’t realise it. We thought the gospel was all about us. Therefore, Paul told Timothy, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16). The patience of Jesus Christ is gospel mercy in action towards the unsaved for the purpose of bringing them to eternal life. Just as Christ patiently brings sinners to repentant faith, so we must be patient in prayer, then engage with the lost. Every interaction with the unsaved which exposes them to the loving gospel is God glorifying.

Although grace is patient, we need to be careful not to presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (Romans 2:4). Divine patience has purpose and destination in mind. Even unwilling sinners are drawn by grace under the Lord Jesus Christ for God’s glory through repentance. Although repentance seems to have fallen on hard times lately, God intends repentance of sin to remain a key expression of faith in Christ, for God’s glory.

As we mature in Christ, the unsaved should be able to observe Christ continuously changing us; again, this takes time and gracious patience by the Lord. As always, Christ is our template, patiently leading us through the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit to greater Christlikeness. May we be increasingly grateful for the Lord’s gracious patience with us, and quick to tells others of it.

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