WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WORSHIP (Review)

 What Happens When We Worship Book Review.

Jonathan Landry Cruse’s What happens When We Worship is choc full of practical illustrations which help to make it an enjoyable as well as an instructive read. Cruse supplies his own definition of the book’s premise: “This book is written from a simple but important premise: something is happening when we worship. Something happens to us, something happens between us and the people we worship with, and, most importantly, something happens between us and God.” p. 1. He fulfills his book’s premise throughout with interesting elucidation.

I particularly liked that portion where he focusses on the “something happens between us and God.” Says Cruse, “Do you want to meet with God? Then go to worship. Don’t go on a hike. Don’t go searching for some thrilling, moving experience. Actually, God has promised to meet with us is some pretty ordinary ways: the preaching of the word, the administration of the sacraments, and prayer. The Westminster Confession of Faith 25.3 says that God has given these things to the church , and when they are rightly administered we are blessed ‘by [Jesus’s] own presence’ among us.” pgs, 43-44. Yes, God can meet with us anywhere at any time, but what’s wrong with the ordinary, such as Sunday congregational worship?

And I think it is apt for Cruse to remind us why we worship, “Perhaps the wonder of worship is that ordinary people like us could possibly give glory to such an extraordinary God. And this is the real reason we go to worship, after all. It is not primarily for what we can get out of it; that is a blessed consequence. Rather, it is what we give God: the glory that is due His name (Psa. 29:2).” p. 170. Yes, it’s all about God. And it’s when we make it all about God and His glory, then we are blessed and edified because we enjoy His presence.

Buy this book. You won’t be disappointed. And your sense of God and purpose for worship will increase.

BOOKS

                                                                 Books

The Bible is the Book of books! It contains the words of life, everlasting blissful life (John 3:16). It is the operating manual for humans and for whole nations (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Matt. 28:18-20).

My great uncle, died in the Somme mud as nation fought nation in WWI. PTE John Maley, 1st/8th Bn, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, died aged 21, 16^th May 1917. I searched for, and found, his name on the Christie Park Cenotaph in Alexandria, Scotland, our hometown. I can only hope that his name is also written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. For, ‘Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire’ Revelation 20:15. To be cast into God’s eternal hellfire immediately and directly from the midst of temporal hellfire does not bear thinking about. However, Scripture does say, ‘It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment’ Hebrews 9:27. But there is smidgen of comfort in the old optimistic adage, ‘There are no atheists in foxholes.’

PTE Maley, 18 or 19 years old, far left

As the old 70s hit by Edwin Starr put it, ‘War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!’ But where do wars come from? The Book of Books says that war first begins in the human heart: ‘Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war’ James 4:1-2a. Therefore, we should be thankful that the Book is also a recall notice for all to come to God through Jesus immediately, or suffer catastrophic failure and end up on the scrapheap, i.e., Hell (John 3:36).

The epitome of totalitarian censorship was seen in the Satanic flames of the Nazi book burning bonfires on 10^th May 1933. This picture has been burned indelibly into every peace-loving mind. Yet, we see the very same principle in our own day. It comes in many forms. One example is in the way that discussions that do not follow the ideology or political philosophy of the social media supplier are, at best, interrupted with a link to the facilitator’s opinion piece on the issue, or at worst, the opposer is ‘sin-binned’ and even banned from using the site. In other words, free speech is stifled by over-the-top Political Correctness.

The nation of Canada is precariously close to banning the Book of Books as so much ‘hate speech’! For example, Canada’s Supreme Court has banned Christians from practicing law. The freedoms that they fought to protect in both world wars are being lost to those who are still at war with God. The Book of Books contains the Law and the Gospel. The Law (summarized in the Ten Commandments, shows us up as sinners), and the Gospel (summarized in Jesus, the Saviour of sinners) shows us where to flee to for salvation from the coming day of wrath (Rom. 2:1-16).

How do we know that we are at war with God? If we were not at war with God, we would not need to be reconciled to Him. But the Book says, ‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.’ Romans 5:8-10. Search the Lamb’s Book of Life to see if your name is written there. How will you know? ‘For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’ Romans 10:13.

LAST CALL FOR LIBERTY (Review)

 LAST CALL FOR LIBERTY: How America’s Genius for Freedom has Become its Greatest Threat – Os Guinness, IVP Books, Illinois, 2018, 308 pgs.

This is a well-structured book which sets out to ask and answer a series of ten questions regarding freedom, where it comes from, what it means to you, how to sustain it, etc. It is well-written, well-reasoned, and well-presented albeit in academic fashion. However, this is no dry and dusty treatise. It is a call to identify and resolve America’s declension and deterioration under aggressive Progressivism.

Guinness points to the source of the toxic seeds of destruction: “For 1776 [American Revolution] and its heirs the focus was on truth, whereas for 1789 [French Revolution] its focus was on power. The former stresses inner freedom as well as outer freedom, and both negative and positive freedom, whereas 1789 stresses outer freedom over inner freedom, and negative freedom at the expense of positive freedom. For 1776, freedom is viewed as personal freedom from government control, whereas 1789 views freedom as progressive freedom through government control. The former is realistic about the potential for the abuse of power, and therefore takes “under God” seriously, whereas 1789 is utopian about human nature, and has no final accountability.” p. 90.

The main thesis of the book is about the initial establishment of American freedom, i.e., freedom through covenant: “The impact of the covenant and the notion of covenantalism can be seen in three periods of history. First, and most obviously, the Sinai covenant constituted the Jewish people and formed the Jewish nation… Second, the precedent and pattern of the Sinai covenant was rediscovered and developed by the Reformation. Along with the truths of calling and conscience, it became one of the three most decisive gifts of the Reformation that shaped the rise of the modern world. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Scotland, England, and the United States – each was powerfully shaped by the Reformation and in turn helped to shape the modern world … The third period of influence is the most recent … The US Constitution, which has been the pacesetter document for so many other countries and constitutions, is in essence a form of national and somewhat secularized covenant and a notion that goes back to Mount Sinai.” pgs. 35-37.

Guinness optimistically believes America can recapture her rapidly evaporating freedom: “As with other covenantal societies, the truth is that the United States goes forward best by going back first. It must return to its roots in constitutional or covenantal freedom, renewing the ideals that made it possible, and righting the wrongs where America has betrayed its founding promise. By recovenanting and going back first, the United States is in fact able to go forward.” p. 280.

Last Call for Liberty is worth taking the time to read, though this reviewer was left a bit confused with Guinness’s Arminian, and somewhat Dispensational theology. Guinness holds the view that God waits for sinners to take the initiative in their own salvation, and Guinness equates Old Testament believers with anti-Trinitarian Judaism. However, these views don’t seem to overly affect the main thesis of his book. But it will affect his understanding of God’s Covenant and its various administrations (including Sinai) throughout Scripture.

A STICK IN TIME

 A Stick in Time (an excerpt)

As Nundah guided the vehicle down the gravel road, trying to choose the least bumpy parts of the track, he noticed that the brakes felt funny, spongy. He began to pump them. No response! The 4x4 was getting faster. Bram was unsure of what was happening, but he sensed the danger.

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Nundah began to pray and to quote Scripture, loudly, ‘Lord, help Bram and me. “For he shall give his angels charge of thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”’

Faster and faster they went as trees and great boulders on either side of the road flashed by. Nundah frantically tried to stay on track and avoid crashing down the treacherous slopes and ravines. There was a sharpish bend coming up just ahead…

              Even though they do not yet exist, but if you had special glasses through which you could look and see us, you would witness rather formless blobs of white to bluish light, something like stars in a dark but hazy night sky, racing to the front and both sides of the vehicle.

But here is the picture in the situation we are dealing with: a) Nundah has prayed. b) The Master has given us (angels) instructions. c) We angels execute His instructions.

The result?

The wheels of the vehicle turned faster and faster, as it sped down the steep incline, spraying gravel behind it as it went. Cu was barking and Nundah and Bram were praying. Saplings at the side of the road were whacking the old Nissan as it ran the gauntlet of fear. The gears were grinding and the handbrake was smoking. Nundah’s attempts at slowing the vehicle proved futile. He was sure that the vehicle had become airborne a few times, but somehow he managed to keep it on the track. The steep precipice at the sharp bend was rushing to meet them.

The men’s prayers had become less eloquent. Like arrows from a bow, they shot the words, ‘Help! Lord, help!’ heavenward. The saplings were becoming thicker. The vehicle began to hit some of the thicker ones. They were not thick enough to stop the vehicle dead in its tracks. However, the wagon was solidly build and had a ‘roo-bar’ on the front, therefore, bending under the vehicle and running the whole length under it, the young trees seemed to serve to slow its momentum sufficiently. This enabled Nundah to manage to guide the free-wheeling 4x4 back onto the track just in time to round the sharp bend on two wheels. It then began to grind to a halt on the slight incline in the road just beyond the sharp bend.

‘That was a close one! Just as well I had the presence of mind to change down into the lowest gear and apply the handbrake! I was amazed that it all actually worked as well as it did! Praise God!’

Bram had no idea what Nundah was talking about, only that he, like Nundah, was happy that the vehicle had stopped before there had been a serious bone-shattering collision.

‘Yes,’ he concurred ‘Praise God indeed!’

Do you see now why we are referred to as ‘guardian’ angels? If we had not done what we did Bram and Nundah would have, well, I do not know what would have happened exactly, but, like you, I do know that it most probably would not have been good for either of them!

Nundah and Bram were out of the vehicle. They had come a fair distance down the hill. Like constantly shaking maracas, the cicadas were noisy in the gum trees as the heat of the sun increased and the day got established. Nundah could see an inky liquid dripping from a ruptured pipe along the chassis somewhere. They were in range. Nundah’s phone rang. It was Niamh. She had been trying to ring before.

‘Yes boss? No boss, I didn’t find anything, but…’

‘Nundah, would you please stop calling me “boss”! Niamh had been trying to get Nundah to call her by her first name for years, but Nundah had too much respect for her to call her that.

‘Boss, it’s the wagon. We nearly had an accident. The brakes…’

‘Nundah, are you okay? What happened? Are you injured? What do you mean “we”? Who’s with you?’

‘Well boss, I do have someone with me, and he looks just like Thomas! In fact he’s nearly dressed the same as Thomas was, them buckles and all! I thought he was Thomas when I met him at Dark Pool.’

‘Don’t try to drive. I’ll pick you up myself and we’ll get the boys to take care of the Nissan later.’ At that Niamh hung up.

‘Bram, do you mind if I give thanks to the Lord for delivering us? He heard and answered our prayers to save us. I’m sure it would have taken a legion of angels to slow down and stop our vehicle the rate we were travelling!’

If I did not know better, I would have to conclude that Nundah actually saw us keeping the vehicle from running off the road!

Nundah prayed, even quoting a portion of a Psalm, ‘“Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song I will praise him.”’

Bram also prayed, and following the precedent begun by Nundah, quoted from another Psalm, ‘Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in his holy name.” Amen.’

‘I respect a man who knows his Scriptures!’ said Nundah.

‘And I respect a man even more who lives by them, as I have seen you do!’ answered Bram.

‘Who are you?’ asked Nundah, ‘And who is Thomas?’

‘We are twins from Dublin. That must sound very strange to you. But this place is very strange to me! Where am I now and what is the year? From what I have witnessed already, I know it must be sometime in the future.’ Bram was obviously referring to the vehicle and the phone.

‘It is 2011 and we are near the town of Springsure in the Australian outback.’

‘Four hundred years in the future! And I have never even heard of, what did you call it?’

‘Australia, mate! The land Down Under. Down under from where you say you come from, that is, if it’s Dublin, Ireland that you’re talking about?’

‘Yes, that is the Dublin of which I speak, but it is the Dublin of four hundred years ago. Dublin 1611!’

THE TREE OF LIFE

                                                                        The Tree of Life

Trees are fascinating. After driving for ages on a road through a huge forest in southern Tasmania we pulled up to have a look at The Big Tree. It was the tallest and oldest swamp gum I’d ever seen. There was a noticeboard with comments, among other things, on the amount of water hydraulically pumped from its roots to its uppermost branches. What a magnificent piece of engineering!

Ben Lomond, from Inch Murrin

Trees figure prominently in the Bible from beginning to end. Indeed both Peter and Paul refer to the cross as a tree. Paul, quoting from the Older Testament says, ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree”).’ Galatians 3:13. And Peter speaks of Christ as bearing ‘our sins in His own body on the tree.’ 1 Peter 2:24.  A tree then, even Christ’s cross, is a central theme of the Bible.

‘And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ Genesis 2:9. Like the Tasmanian forest, trees and more trees! Adam and Eve stopped to have a look at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The rest is history! The serpent soon had Eve eating out of his hand and Eve had Adam eating out of her hand and they both partook of the forbidden fruit of that tree.

What about the other tree in the midst of the garden, the tree of life? ‘So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.’ Genesis 3:24. After eating of the tree which had the promise of death attached, they now were barred from approaching the tree having the promise of life attached. Why? ‘For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.’ 1 Timothy 2:5. The Word made flesh (John 1:14) alone is go-between between God and men (John 14:6). For, He is the Messenger or uncreated Angel of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1). The One coming to redeem His people by the shedding His own blood (Acts 20:28) and to destroy the works of the devil or serpent (1 John 3:8) also was called BRANCH (Zechariah 3:8).

Inch Murrin, Loch Lomond

Consider Moses who pulled up to have a look at a bush: ‘And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.’ Exodus 3:2a. Thus the same Jehovah who had appeared to Abraham ‘by the trees of Mamre’ (Genesis 18:1) appeared to Moses. The Angel in the burning bush is reminiscent of the cherubim and flaming sword that guarded the way to the tree of life: ‘Moses, Moses! … Do not draw near this place’ (Exodus 3:4-5). And, what of the BRANCH and the serpent? ‘So the LORD said to Him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand)…’ Exodus 4:2-4. Blood? ‘Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood.’ Exodus 7:17.

At a later time, ‘Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “we have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He would take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”’ Numbers 21:7-8. Thus, the BRANCH, as ‘a root out of dry ground’ (Isaiah 53:2), has become the Tree of Life. As Jesus says, ‘“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.’ John 12:32-33. ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:14-15. Thus, Christ and His cross are the Tree of Life that saves us from the Hellfire Judgment of God, i.e., from being run through body and soul by the flaming sword in the place where ‘Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9:48.

To escape the fire, you need to come to the Tree of Life and eat of its fruit. For Jesus says, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.’ John 6:53-55.

There is no tree more remarkable than Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life. Pull up, look at Him, and live.

THE IMAGE OF GOD

The Weeping Woman - Pablo Picasso

The Triune God is full of grace. He gave His own reflection five senses to appreciate His beautiful creation. And with His own finger He delicately wrote His law of love on His little mirror as He breathed life into him. As the three Persons love the eternal Godhead, so man was to image his Creator by loving God and his neighbour personally, perfectly, and perpetually.

God planted a garden. In it placed His compact mirror; graciously condescending to enter into a covenant relationship with him. With the threat of death for disobedience came also the promise of everlasting life for loving obedience. Thus the man, God’s little looking glass, was placed on probation in a walled orchard. The image was commanded to replicate itself and was graciously permitted to freely eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden bar one.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was set as the outward test of Adam’s obedience to God’s covenant. To eat of that tree was to bite the hand that graciously fed him. It was to shatter God’s image. Hence, the threatened death penalty for all mankind: immediate broken fellowship with God, subsequent temporary separation of soul from body, and ultimately everlasting separation from God.

God’s Word testifies, and history records that the world was plunged into darkness to the sound, as it were, of shattering glass, a Kristallnacht, when in Adam all mankind broke the covenant of works. Like mirrors falling on a ceramic floor, every single image of God throughout history was smashed, including you and me. By eating the forbidden fruit Adam overturned and smashed the tables of man’s heart. God chased the man and his wife out of His Garden. The righteous and holy God could not look upon fallen man. Adam had constructed a wall of broken glass separating himself and God. In Adam, our representative head, we violated our probation by miserably failing the outward test.

Yet God is gracious. He so loved the world that He immediately began to publish the good news to fallen man of a hidden insurance clause called the covenant of grace. The old covenant with Adam had included all his descendants; Adam’s own image and likenesses. As sin-buckled mirrors we distort the image of God. The way of attaining everlasting life through works of obedience was closed to us when Adam sinned. The old covenant, the covenant of works condemns us. However, God formed one last perfect image of Himself, Jesus Christ, the replacement representative. Unlike the first man who fell far short of God’s glory, He kept the covenant of works perfectly. He was like us in every way apart from our sin. However, like the first man the second Man too was on probation. He likewise had to undergo an outward test. There also was a tree…

The new Adam would restore what the first Adam had destroyed, i.e., God’s perfect reflection, even man. He also needed to pay the penalty owed. So Jesus Christ loved God and His neighbour personally, perfectly, and perpetually by keeping God’s Law even unto death. In this He demonstrated to the world that He alone is God’s perfect image. But when He hung on the tree to pay our penalty He showed us what man, the image of God, had become – blood stained - hardly recognizable – separated from God – dead!

His perfect obedience satisfied God’s justice. So God raised Jesus from the dead. God imputes the perfect covenant of works-righteousness of Jesus Christ to those who keep-on believing in Him alone for salvation. And by His Spirit, even today, God is at work progressively renewing His image in all true believers.

If you see yourself as a shattered image of God on your way to eternal separation from Him, then call on Jesus Christ to save you – today. 

The Christian's True Identity Book Review

Jonathan Landry Cruse’s The Christian’s True Identity: What it means to be in Christ is a pithy primer for the new Christian, and an easy-to-read reminder for the mature, of what it means to be united to Christ.

There are a myriad of explanations and applications throughout, serving to either deepen our knowledge and/or jog our memories about our unbreakable union with Christ.