Month: May 2017

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the name of the only Redeemer of God’s elect, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart oh take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

These final words from the well-known hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” have resonated with Christians for many decades as they reflect the Christian’s life-long war against sin. These words are a confession of our current state. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, praise be to God – and yet we still find ourselves prone to sin.

Paul writes in Romans of the same reality. He confesses that he does those things that he hates and he does not do those things which he loves. And he cries out for deliverance before confessing the salvation he and we have in Jesus Christ.

Similarly, the psalmist writes in many psalms of being in a dry and thirsty land (Psalm 63:1), panting after God as a deer pants for the water (Psalm 42:1) , feeling the enemies without and within drawing nearer to him (Psalm 22:16), the troubles of his heart being enlarged (Psalm 22:17, and even wondering if the Lord’s favor is gone forever (Psalm 77:7). And in every case the deliverance, protection, salvation, forgiveness, and life is found in the Lord his God.

The reality of sin and our tendency toward it is very obvious with just minor reflection on our lives. When we look at the world around us we see the same thing, perhaps even more. Sin is celebrated today as much as or more than ever before in history. Those sins which God hates are celebrated with parades in the biggest cities of the world. Sin and lies are promoted all around us, righteousness and truth are suppressed and mocked. This is the way of the fallen world today.

It has been said before that the world is getting worse and worse and will continue getting worse until the end of the world. When asked for the reasoning behind this conclusion, abortion and homosexuality are often cited as primary examples. And yet, we read in Kings and Chronicles that the kings of Israel and Judah were offering their own children as burnt sacrifices to false gods. We read of whole cities in Genesis and Judges given over to homosexuality. Is there anything new under the sun? The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us definitively that there is not.

The writer of Ecclesiastes concludes the book by saying, “Fear  God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.” The giver of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus Christ, tells us when we pray to say, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

Day by day we feel the weight and burden of sin and temptation. We fall into sin. We see sin abounding around us. And in the midst of this, the Lord tells us to pray. Pray that His will would be done on earth even as it is in heaven.

Some interpreters of this petition will teach a perspective that in prayer we should always acknowledge that the Lord’s will would be done with our requests. Like Jesus praying in the garden, “Nevertheless not what I will but what Thou wilt (Mark 14:36),” this third petition is teaching us to submit to the sovereignty and order of God.

However, this petition exhorts us more directly to pray that we and all the world would do that which God has revealed in His Word. When we pray, Thy will be done, we are praying and petitioning God that He would enable us and all men to glorify Him.

The children’s catechism asks, “How can you glorify God?” The answer, “By loving Him and doing what He commands.” The follow-up question is, “Where do you learn how to love and obey God?” And the answer, “In the Bible alone.” How to glorify God is not a mystery. God has given us His revealed will. He has given us His commandments, statutes, and judgments that we may walk in them and glorify Him. Those who walk in the counsel of the Lord are like trees planted by rivers of living water. They shall flourish whose mind is steadfast in the God.

In Psalm 119, the psalmist confesses over and over again his love for the law (Examples: Psalm 119:97, 111, 113, 174). And his love of the law comes from a hiding of the law in his heart (Psalm 119:11). As we pray to the Lord for His will to be done, we are also praying that God would remind us of His will. We cannot do His will if we do not know His will and so we hide His will in our hearts.
As the angels do God’s will in heaven, so we pray that God’s will would be done here on earth. We pray in this petition that righteousness would prosper, that wickedness would be diminished, and that in everything that comes to pass, God’s glory would be revealed to all men.

Prone to wander, Lord, we feel it, prone to leave the God we love. God has told us that we must pray to Him for the grace to make us “willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things… (WLC #192).” So many times in the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is easy to forget to ask for help from our God who gives it. So often as we look at the world around us it is easy to complain or ridicule rather than pray. God has given us a duty – He has told His people to pray that His will would be done.

May we find grace from God to help us in the time of need as we pray to Him, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” He who has told us to pray this will surely do it.

Almighty and most merciful Father
We are a sinful people living among a sinful nation
Prone to wander from Your statutes, so often we not only do not keep Your law
But we also forget it.
In Your mercy and for the sake of Jesus Christ the giver of all
Forgive us of our sin and enable us and all men to do Your will
As the prophet Ezra made the law his meditation and practice
As the angels obey Your commands and carry out Your will in heaven
So Lord help us to study and practice Your revealed will
To know, obey, and submit to You in all things
We pray likewise for all the world, that all men would delight in Your statutes and judgments
As You have instructed, so we ask that You would cause it to be done.
You are the God who is faithful from generation to generation and from age to age.
So we ask that You would show forth Your faithfulness to us in these our petitions
We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

Greetings to you in the name of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

In 2008, country music singer Kenny Chesney released a song where the refrain went like this: “Everybody wants to go to heaven, Have a mansion high above the clouds, Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now.” Such is the attitude of the world we  live in, and so this song reached #1 on the Billboard charts for several weeks in 2008 when it was released. Everybody wants to or expects to go to heaven but nobody wants to go now. Why? Well, according to  the words of the Kenny Chesney song, it’s because they are having too  much fun in the present evil world. Far different is the attitude of the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21 when he says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

This is the contrast between the one who is heavenly minded and the one whose mind is of the earth. The former desires freedom from the present evil age while the latter desires more of this world’s vain promises. But what does Paul mean by “to live is Christ”? Paul continues in the chapter to explain that by living he will be preaching the gospel. He will be building up the precious faith of Christians in Phillip. Many more lost will be brought to salvation. If Paul lives, Paul will advance the Kingdom of Grace through the Spirit and the preaching of the Word. Paul desires for this kingdom of grace to advance and grow. And Paul’s desire is a righteous and necessary desire.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray he told them to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” There are two senses to this prayer: the already (here and now/present) and the not yet (future). In II Peter 3:15, Peter writes, “The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…” Similarly, Paul in Romans 2:4 writes of the goodness, forbearing, and longsuffering of God leading to repentance.

These verses are telling us that the delay of Christ’s return is to show forth His mercy and glory in longsuffering so that more will be saved. And this is to be our prayer. May God bring all His elect to salvation soon. May the Word of God be proclaimed boldly  and powerfully, applied mightily by the Spirit, to the saving of many. God’s tarrying is leading to salvation – Because today is the day of salvation. When Christ returns there will be no more salvation. It’s appointed for men once to die and then the judgment. And more than salvation of sinners, Peter prays for the growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In this prayer for growth of Christ’s kingdom of grace, there is a related prayer, and that is the shrinking, diminishing, and destruction of  Satan’s kingdom. Naturally, when Christ’s kingdom grows by one soul, Satan’s kingdom is diminished by one soul. And so while we pray for the kingdom of grace to be advanced we should also pray that Satan’s kingdom would be utterly and completely destroyed. Here is the present tense of this second petition, the salvation of the world, the sanctification of the church, and the destruction of Satan’s kingdom.

And yet, there is more. For we are to desire and  pray for more in this petition. Peter says II Peter 3 “look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Consider briefly the last chapter of scripture, Revelation 22, the climatic close to the whole of scripture. God has spoken in sundry times and in diverse manners for all of human history. In these last days since He came in the flesh He has spoken to us through His Son Jesus Christ, and in the last chapter of scripture Jesus tells His sheep what to long for, look for, and pray for. But first, He reminds just who He is.

This Jesus, speaking in scripture, is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God. And He who testifieth these things says, “Surely I come quickly.” And the apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, draws scripture towards a close with a short prayer of response to Christ. His prayer must be our prayer, “Amen, Even so come Lord Jesus.”

In Christ is life and joy unspeakable so we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We look for the eternal kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth and so we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” As Simeon and Anna looked for the incarnation and first coming of Christ and were blessed to see His day, so we pray that we would see the second coming of Christ, when Jesus will descend on the clouds with great glory, with the voice of the archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of the LORD, when the dead shall be raised, when corruption shall put on incorruption, when the faith shall be sight! So we pray for this kingdom of glory to be hastened.

As we pray the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, may we be mindful of the present hope, the advancement of God’s grace, the ever shrinking
kingdom of Satan, and the future hope, perhaps even this very day, of the coming of the kingdom of glory. Even so, come Lord Jesus, quickly come!

Almighty and ever-­?living God

What God is there in Heaven or in Earth

As Great as our God?

Among all the  nations of the Earth

Where else can salvation be found but in You?

For You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

We praise You for Your mercy and steadfastness.

We exalt Your longsuffering,

Tarrying even for our salvation.

We pray o Lord, that You would advance Your kingdom of grace

Regenerate the souls of men through Your means

Sanctify Your people through Your truth

And, o Lord, gather all Your elect into Your fold.

Destroy the kingdom of Satan

And we plead with You o Lord

Come quickly!

The Spirit and the bride say “Come”

Jesus who testifies of these things says, “Surely I come quickly”

Even so, come Lord Jesus

We pray this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Ben Stahl, Elder