REMEMBER GOD

Remember God

When the Triune God made man He entered into a covenant with us (Gen. 2:16&17; Hos. 6:7; Rom. 5:12f.) giving us a great commission (Genesis 1:26-28; 9:1-7; Matt. 28:18-20) to do all things to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Assisted by our memory our conscience testifies that God has embedded His Moral Law within us (Rom. 2:14-16). His Cultural Mandate to us includes remembering God while at work or at rest. He has spelled it out for us in the 4^th Commandment: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath and hallowed it.’ Exodus  20:8-11. Thus, to remember the Lord’s Day is to remember God and the pattern He has set for that which He created. Remember Him in the six days of labour and remember Him in the one day of rest – a seven day progressive cycle.

Man (male and female) is the image of God and is to image God also in work and rest. But when we forget about God’s instructions and teach our children to reject our Creator and His revelation (whether written revelation or in the things He created), then humanity begins to lose its purpose. Eg, in order to image God properly man must remember what God is like. The philosophy of Evolution teaches our nation’s children to take their eyes off our Maker and to focus primarily on created things such as animals and DNA (Rom. 1:25). Because of this influence society now tends to reflect that which is substituted for our true Maker, and seeks behaviour patterns in animals in order to endorse aberrant behaviour in people. Genes are now used as an excuse to behave immorally, to the point that DNA, not God, sets the ethical standard!

Though we all began our rebellion against God when Adam broke the original covenant (Hos. 6:7), the Cultural Mandate given man by God still stands. Part of that mandate includes all the sciences such as biology, physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, medicine etc. Technology and its advances too are part of the Cultural Mandate. The LORD is to be remembered and given His due in all things – be they work or rest. God in His Word encourages us to remember Him: ‘Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them.”’ Ecclesiastes 12:1.

Old Darwinian Evolutionists have long forgotten their Creator. But surely their young may be rescued along with our own young! Amnesia about God is not genetic. It is a learned immoral behaviour (Rom. 1:18). ‘Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…’ Colossians 2:8&9.

Christ, is the supreme scientist, for ‘All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it’ John 1:3-5. Christ says, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’ Matthew 5:16. Therefore we are to remember God and His glory in everything we do. Thus there is pleasure to be had in conducting true science, ie, science done in obedience to the Cultural Mandate. Therefore study creation and its creatures, advancing all these things to the glory of God and not some or other theory. For the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

God knows every letter of our DNA, for He measured all the ingredients when He formed us. And the wonderful thing is that God remembers us. ‘For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a Father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers we are dust.’ Psalm 103:11-14.

Dear reader, remember God and try this scientific experiment: Seek His mercy and see if He doesn’t forgive you all your sins in Christ Jesus.

MOTHER'S DAY

Mother’s Day

My old professor would often quote the old adage, ‘Always love your mother because you will never get another.’ But why should I love my mother? The short answer is because God says I should. But how should I show this love? Well, I could buy her a card and some flowers once a year for Mother’s Day! Or, as well as that, I could treat her with respect every single day of the year. ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father.’ Leviticus 19:3a. This really is just the 5^th Commandment, ‘Honour your father and your mother…’ Exodus 20:12. Ordinarily, a mother’s bonding love is the first love we experience. So why not set a whole day aside specially to honour her?

Where did the idea of a Mother’s Day come from? Mother’s Day as we know it in its commercialised form is generally attributed to an American woman by the name of Anna Jarvis who held a memorial for her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis in 1908. From there it developed nationally, then, along with Mother’s Day cards, internationally.

Some churches observe something called Mothering Sunday. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday. The idea is that you attend your mother church or local parish on that day. Generally, this has been morphing into Mother’s Day by another name. Paul speaks of the mother church above, saying, ‘But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.’ Galatians 4:26.

Just before He went to the Jerusalem above, even as He was dying on the cross, Jesus honoured His mother: ‘Now there stood by the cross His mother… When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” From that hour that disciple took her to his own home.’ John 19:25-27.

The great societal benefit of honouring your mother is often missed, even among Christians. ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honour your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”’ One church document puts it thus: ‘[This] is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve God’s glory and their own good…’ 

It extends far beyond simply honouring one’s parents. It’s about showing respect to one’s superiors, inferiors and equals in all our dealings. From police officer to waiter, from teacher to student, from politician to reporter, from husband to wife, from prince to pauper, from plumber to bricklayer all are to be given the honour and respect they are due in their respective positions and roles in society regardless of your position. This is the picture of a prosperous society and it all begins in the home, by you as a growing child honouring your mother (and your father). Disrespect for parents translates into disrespect in society. Of course, there are some mothers (and fathers) who may disrespect their children which also results in disharmony in the wider community. 

Again, if all, whether parents or children, or butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, would simply honour each other there would be a lot less violence and murder in society. Therefore, ‘Always love your mother because you will never get another.’ And don’t forget the card and the flowers for her on Mother’s Day.

SWORDS TO PLOUGHSHARES

Swords To Ploughshares

Moist earth is the hazy memory of melted snow when summer spreads its picnic blanket across the prairie. The breadbasket is lined with all the colours of the Manitoba tartan. In shady groves monogamous grackles plot communal raids on fields of ripening golden nuggets while plump pigeons preen themselves in the shadows of grain silos overflowing on to eagerly awaiting trains. Too soon the patchwork quilt is ceremoniously folded up to a lament by a lone cricket: Farewell to Summer. As the echo of the last cricket fades away the five o’clock shadow is burned off and ploughed under. The land is laid bare and awaits renewal.

The LORD God formed Adam out of moist earth and planted him in His garden to till the ground (Gen. 2:5b). Sweat began to form on Adam’s face as he beat his ploughshare into a sword upon the anvil of a sin-hardened heart. Among the trees he plotted and rebelled against our Maker. He and Eve were laid bare when the LORD God came down to visit them in the cool of the day. For ‘They knew that they were naked.’ Genesis 3:7. But instead of burning them off and ploughing them under the moist earth from whence they had come the LORD God made them a promise and He clothed them.

Though the reminder of the desolation and curse Adam brought upon creation and mankind is never far away, the promise is repeated in various ways and elaborated on throughout the Bible. E.g., ‘The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.’ Isaiah 24:4-6. But Isaiah speaks also of a future time of renewal. ‘He shall judge between nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift of sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ Isaiah 2:4. Thus God graciously and progressively reverses mankind’s rebellion.

Because of our sins the whole earth has become, as it were, a field of burned off and ploughed under stubble But Isaiah says of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, ‘For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.’ Isaiah 53:2a. Paul says, ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.’ 1 Corinthians 15:22-26. Thus the bountiful blessings of summer return to creation and mankind only in Jesus Christ.

God is renewing the heavens and the earth – but, first the burning off and ploughing under: ‘But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.’ 2 Peter 3:10-13. ‘“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the LORD of hosts, “that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” says the LORD Of hosts.’ Malachi 4:1-3.

Dear reader, don’t get burned up and trampled underfoot as so much stubble and ashes. Start beating your sword into a ploughshare by seeking forgiveness for your sins in Jesus Christ.

A REAL EYE-OPENER

A Real Eye-Opener

            

In the shadow of the tree of the forbidden fruit the subtle serpent struck up a conversation with a woman. True, even in Eve’s day serpents couldn’t ordinarily talk. However, this particular snake was charmed by the master-illusionist himself. So the snake-handler said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?”’ Genesis 3:1. Then, as a boa constrictor tightens its coils on its victim’s every exhaled breath, so the serpent out-crafted Eve’s every breathed-out reply. Barred by God from eating fruit from one of the trees in His Garden? Can’t you see Eve? God’s Law is too restrictive! ‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked…’

              In the shadow of the tree of the fruit of grace the serpent’s head was crushed under the weight of the Saviour’s bleeding heel. Jesus, having paid by His life and death the price God’s justice demanded for Adam’s federal sin was laid in a tomb. Then, on the third day – to the sound of angels’ wings clapping – the tomb emptied itself of its solitary occupant. Thus, on the first day of the week the foundation stone was laid for the New Creation.  But who besides the angels would believe it?

              Late afternoon of the same day two of Jesus’ wider disciples, walking to Emmaus, talked about the crucifixion, the empty tomb, and the angels. In their sad wilderness, with bridled eyes they didn’t recognize that it was the Rock Himself who had drawn near and was walking with them. Chiding them for the gloom of not believing the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms their hearts burned within them as He showed them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

When Adam and Eve partook of the table of demons and ate that which the Lord had forbidden their hearts immediately froze within them. Their eyes were opened, and in the gloaming-gloom they saw their own nakedness. Thus the god of this age has blinded us all through his dialogue with Eve – who also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6b; 2 Corinthians 4:4). As those who tested Christ in the wilderness were destroyed by serpents, so we were destroyed when Adam covenanted with the serpent and with death. (Isaiah 28:15,18; Matthew 12:34; 23:33; John 8:44; I Corinthians 10:9). ‘But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.’ 2 Corinthians 3:14-16.

Christ alone lifts sin’s death-shroud from us and raises us, and we become part of His new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Having expounded the Scriptures to the two men on the road to Emmaus, ‘It came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”’ Luke 24:30-32.

Dear reader, has the Lord thawed-out your frozen heart through His opening the Scriptures to you? Has He opened your eyes for you to know Him? Or are you still living in darkness, so blind that you don’t even believe that there is a devil? If so, you can’t blame the devil for your unbelief because, a) You don’t even believe he exists. And b) God holds you responsible for your actions. But here’s the good news.

As the Lord said of John Baptizer – the last of the Old Testament prophets – ‘And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ Luke 1:76-79.

Don’t sit in the darkness and the shadow of death any longer. Come to the Light. And may the Dayspring lift the veil from your eyes so that you can know Him, and may He be pleased to guide your feet into the way of peace.

HEAVENLY THINGS

Heavenly Things

If you are a painter or an electrician it is good to be able to distinguish the three primary colours. Whereas the colour-blind painter might simply call his finished work ‘modern art’! the colour-blind electrician might get his wires crossed and be electrocuted! But surely all of us would rather be colour-blind than totally blind. But what about spiritually blind? The Bible has a lot to say about this type of blindness. The trouble is that the spiritually blind don’t care what the Bible has to say about spiritual blindness! Why? Because they can’t see what God has to do with the ‘real’ world!

              How do you teach a colour-blind person how to distinguish colours or a person totally blind from birth what colours are? And how to you teach the spiritually blind person about spiritual things? A man called Nicodemus came one dark night to speak to Jesus in private. Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ John 3:3. Then Jesus went on to say to him, ‘If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?’ John 3:12.

              Colour-blind and the totally blind persons are usually willing to admit that they are at a disadvantage. However, the spiritually blind person always refuses to admit that he is spiritually blind. He does this because he is spiritually blind! Therefore Jesus’ statement about being born again is a real ‘eye-opener’! Poor Nicodemus thought he had to enter into his mother’s womb again to be born again! But Jesus was talking to him about spiritual things, i.e., heavenly things.

              When Jesus spoke to the people in parables He was using everyday things to describe heavenly things. Those who were spiritually blind couldn’t distinguish the heavenly things, nor could they see them. Therefore they didn’t believe what Jesus was telling them. But those who were born again could see the heavenly things clearly. To be born the first time is to be born physically. To be born again is to be born spiritually. And, if we need to be born again we must be spiritually dead (i.e., dead to seeing heavenly things as related to us by Jesus Christ who is from Heaven).

              Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ John 3:7&8. Thus, to be born again simply means to have been given spiritual birth, i.e., to be made alive by the Spirit of God. The same New Testament Greek word pneuma is used here of wind and Spirit.

We know there’s a wind blowing when we hear the sound of it among the trees and buildings. Likewise we know the Spirit is at work when we hear people call Jesus ‘Lord.’ Speaking by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul says, ‘I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.’ 1 Corinthians 12:3. Thus, according to God’s Word, the ‘sound’ of the Spirit of God in a born again person is that they speak of Jesus as their Lord.

Observing a beautiful sunset the spiritually blind sees only red, especially when the born again person points him to the Artist who painted it! The spiritually blind wonder why the Christian has to bring God and Jesus into everything. He wonders this because he is spiritually blind. The spiritually blind wish to secularize all of society by removing all references to God and Jesus Christ from schools, from Law courts, from science labs, children’s story books etc. etc. But Jesus in a parable sums up the current Secularist Movement, ‘Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?’ Luke 6:39.

Colour-blind electricians run the risk of electrocution. Totally blind people run the risk of falling in a ditch. And the spiritually blind are on the broad way that leads to destruction. But dear reader, will you believe in Jesus Christ when you hear of heavenly things as found in the Bible? Will you be born again and become an adopted child of the Father? Scripture says, ‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ John 1:12&13. Hear again what the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘You must be born again.’

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media

Contemporary humanity has come a long way in the area of communications. Marathon running messengers, smoke signallers, galloping pony expressers, telegraphers, and even telephoners have all been left behind by the advent of social media. Now we have instant communication with people all over the globe via a computer keyboard. Who’d have thought? Yet what they call ‘Social Media’ may sometimes more accurately be named anti-social media. Without the benefit of facial cues, body language and/or voice tone, misunderstandings abound. And then there are those on the internet who just like to argue for argument’s sake. ‘Keyboard warriors’ are legion, keeping others straight on all things pertaining to Political Correctness. One unrestrained online rant or even one poor turn of phrase can destroy your social standing. As far as social media is concerned, getting behind a computer keyboard for some people is like getting behind the steering wheel of a car. Sometimes it can bring out the worst in you!

The internet can be seen as an extension of who you are. What you view, say and do on there is your reflection in a mirror. It’s your face in cyberspace. Some try to embellish that reflection of self. Whether behind the keyboard tilting at the windmills of politics and/or religion, whether portraying your life to friends as all rosy in the garden, you are expressing who you are to others. You are expressing your character.

Hypothetically, how would God express Himself were He on social media? Would He angrily thump out messages on His keyboard to correct people whose opinions He disagreed with? Would He portray Himself as someone better and more successful than He really is? Scripture says, ‘God is not human, that He should lie’ Numbers 23:19a. The idea here is that, unlike us, whether talking about Himself or talking to or about us, God always tells it like it is.

God already has expressed His own character, not on a computer keyboard, but on two tablets of stone. ‘He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.’ Exodus 31:18b. These, of course, are the famous Ten Commandments, the first four of which teach our duty towards God, and the last six our duty towards each other. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and we are to love our neighbour as our self. Why don’t we always behave this way when we’re on social media! For the sake of the following exercise substitute the word ‘computer keyboard’ for ‘tongue’ in the following: ‘With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.’ James 3:9-10.

If we were to add it all together we would see that, according to Scripture, a) We are the likeness of God. b) God’s likeness (or character) is expressed in the Decalogue. And c) We don’t always reflect God’s likeness (or character). This is what the Bible means by sin. ‘Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.’1 John 3:4. What law are we breaking? The one that was written by the finger of God.

Next time you’re about to engage on social media remember the Good News that, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ 

BAGPIPES & BREATHING

Bagpipes & Breathing

An English satirist once said that the definition of a Scottish gentleman is one who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn’t! To be sure, bagpipes in the wrong hands can become lethal weapons! But did the Scots invent the bagpipe? Some say the invading Romans brought them, having inherited them from the Greeks. However, we are sure the Scots were very capable of bringing them (along with the Stone of Destiny, a.k.a. ‘Jacob’s Pillow’) to Scotland for themselves without Roman help.

However, the origin of the Highland bagpipe, along with that other definitively Celtic instrument, the harp, can infallibly be traced to a man named Jubal. For “He was the father of all who play the harp and pipe” Genesis 4:21. Jubal, though a master craftsman of musical instruments, was of the wicked line of Cain.

When Job was going through his ‘troubles’ he reminisced of the wicked, saying, “They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.” Job 21:12. Then he says of himself, “My harp is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.” Job 30:31. Indeed, like an extension of man’s body, the harp and bagpipe can express joy, or war and sorrow; jigs and reels, or pibrochs and laments.

              The word translated ‘pipe,’ (sometimes as ‘flute,’ or ‘organ’) is derived from a Hebrew word for ‘breathing after’ as in ‘doting after.’ It is interesting to note that “… the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7. Christ, is ‘Wisdom Incarnate,’ and says of the time man was created, “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. Rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was the sons of men.” Proverbs 8:30&31. As a man breathes into a bagpipe so God breathes into man the breath of life.

But does God dote on the wicked? Does God love those who use their bodies as instruments to play tunes of hatred? Surely the Damascus road conversion of Saul/Paul testifies that God by His grace alone redeems wicked people. “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…” Acts 9:1. Indeed man is fallen, and like Saul needs God to breathe life anew into him. As a bagpipe needs to be brought out of its wooden case to be played, so a man needs to brought out of his coffin! The hymn-writer captures the thought: Breathe on me, Breath of God / Fill me with life anew / That I may love what Thou dost love / And do what Thou wouldst do.

The earth, like Ezekiel’s ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ needs the grace and Spirit of God before its dead will rise to dance the tune of life again. Thus the Master Craftsman Jesus needs to delight anew in the sons of men. After breathing His last upon the cross and then being placed in a tomb, He was raised from the dead. He appeared to His disciples. “…He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit….’” John 20:20-22.

Dear reader what tunes does your body play? God needs to savingly breathe His Holy Spirit into you before you will be able to play ‘The Sinner’s March to Heaven.’