Tag Archives: Ben Stahl

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior who is coming again even as His disciples saw Him go!

No theology without doxology! Perhaps you have heard this statement before. What does it mean? Theology is the study of God. Doxology is the praise of God, the exultation of God, the splendor of God. We sing a doxology each Lord’s Day morning in the worship service that gives praise to the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Theology is of very little use to us if it does not have as its end and its purpose doxology. That is to say, theology that does not center on the praise, glory, and splendor of God does not help us at all.

Many people today are disenchanted with doctrine and theology because they have seen it presented in a way to win a debate or to demonstrate someone’s knowledge. But proper theology and doctrine that has as its goal the praise and glory of God is essential to the Christian life, for without the true knowledge of God no man can be saved. For how can we have faith in One we do not know?

We see this in the theology of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ did not faint on the cross and revive later; He was not moved and hidden by the disciples. It was not a different person three days later walking on the road to Emmaus, but it was the God-man Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. This doctrine should be used to fight against those that would deceive God’s people, and it is used properly in bringing glory and praise to God who raised Jesus from the dead. The doctrine of the resurrection should be used to give glory and praise to God who promises to raise us from the dead even as Christ rose. The doctrine of the Resurrection should give glory and praise to God who has all power to raise us from the dead and who loved us so much He promised to do so. This is why we sing of the Resurrection because it is a great doctrine and it brings glory to God.

Why is the theology of the end times so important? Is it so that we can win arguments with our dispensationalist friends? Or is it so that we might be comforted by the truth that Christ who went up into the clouds of His own power is coming again even as He went? Is Christ’s teaching on the end times so that we will dismiss it and say it does not matter, or rather that we might praise God who will reunite soul and body in the last day and reign over us in perfection and glory in the new heavens and the new earth forever? There is no useful theology without doxology.

The same is true of prayer. Over the last year we have had a series of letters on the Lord’s Prayer teaching us from Scripture how to pray properly using the Lord’s prayer as Jesus designed it when He gave it to His church. By God’s grace we have seen throughout that the focus has always been on the person and work of Christ, on the glory of God the Father, and on the fellowship that we have with the Holy Spirit. So there is certainly a doxology that runs through each of the petitions. But this doxology is most clearly seen in the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer which is, “for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.”

God is teaching us here at the end of the Lord’s Prayer that our prayer should have as its end, its purpose, and its goal the glory and praise of God. This conclusion is teaching us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only because it is God only who has the kingdom and all power and all glory forever and ever.

In Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7:13-14, Daniel sees the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, coming with the clouds of heaven. He comes before the Ancient of Days who gives Him an everlasting dominion that will never pass away and a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Brothers and sisters, this is the God to whom we pray, and so our prayers to Him must be to the end that His name would be honored and praised; that His name might be exalted; and that His name might be given much glory. So as we close our prayer we do so not with a request but with a doxology, with the praise of God. It is not a request for God’s praise, but rather a declaration of His praise; For He has the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever.

Some would suggest that our prayer should only be made up of petitions and that it should not have theology in it. Yet in the testimony of Scripture we see the Lord’s Prayer taught by Christ and the prayers of God’s people to Him rich in theology and rich in doxology. We see the elders in Revelation casting down their crowns before Him and confessing that God alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. We see the seraphim confessing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” Prayer, brothers and sisters, rightly exults and honors the name of Christ, for we are speaking to Christ. He calls us to make our requests and petitions known before Him. And He is the one who is all powerful, who has all authority in heaven and earth and brings all things to pass, so we must confess these things about Him with regularity. The Israelites did this in the Old Testament as they recounted His deeds in prayer with the refrain, “for His mercy endureth forever.”

God has given us means to testify that what we have prayed is heard and will be carried out in a manner that glorifies God. This testimony is very simple, in fact, it is just one word. The word is “Amen.” It is very common these days to hear prayers that do not end with this word. If this is our practice let us be encouraged to change our practice to ending our prayers with this word, Amen. What does it mean? The word simply means, “So be it”. That is to say, we are confessing with this word that what we have prayed we are fully confident that God is all powerful to accomplish, that what we have prayed is in the hands of the Almighty God and we rest assured He will do according to His will. So the Shorter Catechism teaches that in testimony of our desires and in testimony of our assurance that God will hear us, we say amen!

Brothers and sisters, may this series of letters increase our faith and help us to pray, and in our prayers to ascribe kingdom, power, and glory to our holy God, who came nearly 2000 years ago to live a perfect life on our behalf; who died on a tree on Calvary; who shed His blood to satisfy the wrath of God for our sins; who covered us with His own righteousness; who did not stay under the power of death but on the third day rose from the dead; who ascended to heaven; and who is coming again with great glory, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. Let us pray with all confidence to this great God for He is our God, forever and ever, and He surely hears us, amen!

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord who rules and reigns over all, is subduing us more and more to Himself, and is restraining and conquering all His and our enemies!

I remember reading an article not too long ago by a pastor counseling people tempted to various sins, including pornography and homosexuality. In this article the pastor explained how people in such sin, and pastors who counsel them, need to understand that these will be life-­long struggles and temptations for the individuals currently facing them.

Throughout the evangelical world, including in several Reformed denominations, bloggers and book authors are engaged in heated battle over the idea that sexual attraction to someone of the same sex is not a sin but rather an acceptable attraction within Christianity. The term often given to people with this attraction is the term “gay Christian.”

It is becoming more common for a Christian to be identified, not by their Savior, but by their sin. In all of Scripture and church history, one is hard pressed to find a time where a Christian, one who is a believer in and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, has found identity in a sin he or she is battling. There is likely a close connection between the sin of same sex attraction and the desire to be identified by it, but that is a discussion for another time. How should we as Christians think of the contrast between struggling against sin and our identity in Christ Jesus our Lord? Should Christians think of those particular sins, which they knowingly battle regularly, as sins that will be equally tempting for the rest of their life? Should Christians give in and stop wrestling against prevailing sins? What are we to do?

Our Lord Jesus Christ told us how we should think about these questions when He taught His disciples how to pray. The last petition of the Lord’s Prayer is, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This great petition answers and addresses so many of the issues that are perplexing so many churches and so many Christians today when it comes to sin. Jesus tells us to pray to God our Father that we would not be led into temptation but that we would be delivered from evil. How can we pray this when sin seems at times to rage so freely within us?

At least part of the reason we face such challenging questions about sin is because the truth of Christ and His work has been so weakened in the preaching of many churches around the country and around the world. If pastors are telling people to expect to be dealing with the same temptations all their lives, they are diminishing the power of the Holy Spirit in the gospel of Jesus Christ. What did Christ accomplish for His people? What did Jesus come to do?

Remember Christ’s earthly ministry. He did three primary things in His work: 1) He preached, calling all men to repent and believe; 2) He healed the sick and cast out demons; and 3) He performed great wonders showing that all creation is under His powerful hand. Why did Jesus heal the sick? Why did He perform great miracles such as calming a great storm and feeding 5,000 people? Was it not to show a great truth? “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home” (Luke 5:24). Jesus performed great signs and wonders so that all men might believe on Him as He truly is, the Christ, the Savior of His people, that all men might know that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. And what happens when Jesus saves sinners such as you and me?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (I Cor. 5:17).

“We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” (I John 5:18).

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:15-­?16).

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:4-­?5).

“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…” (Ephesians 5:8).

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Cor. 6:9-­?11).

Brothers and sisters, when we are saved, something happens to us. The old man is killed. We are not the old creation but a new creation. We are no longer of the darkness but we are of the light. We are no longer slaves but children of the living God. We are not members with sin but members of the body of Christ. So then, we can no longer be identified with sin, which is darkness, but we are identified with the light, which is Christ Jesus. There is no overlap. The terms “gay Christian”, “drunk Christian”, “swindling Christian”, and the like are oxymorons. That which is darkness cannot be the Christian’s identity. Christ has made us, who once were dead in sin, to be alive in Him.

And yet, we still wrestle with sin. The things of the world still tempt us. Some of you reading this may face that fact like I do and wonder at times if you can truly be a Christian. Perhaps you cry out like the apostle in Romans 6:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” And if you do, you must also cry out, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord…there is therefore now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Christ Jesus has destroyed these prevailing sins in our lives and has told us to pray to Him, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

There are many remedies against sin in our lives. Many good books have been written about these remedies. Primarily, God has given us His Word and Spirit and has told us to pray to Him for His help. This sixth and final petition of the Lord’s Prayer is teaching us to ask God to keep us from being tempted to sin. And it also teaches us to ask the Lord to support and deliver us from sin when we are tempted. He who has told us to pray this petition will answer it for His children.

Dear brothers and sisters, do not fall for the device of the devil that says, give in to sin, you cannot defeat it. Rather, pray to God your Father that He might deliver you from temptation and evil, that he might remove all sinful tendencies and temptations. Even the most scandalous temptation can be conquered through Jesus Christ who became sin for His people that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Those who are now called and identified by Christ’s name once were identified by very serious sins. But we were washed, justified, sanctified, cleansed by the washing of regeneration by the Spirit. So then, pray to God to deliver from temptation and He who is able to do abundantly more than we can ask or think can and will defeat the worst of sinful temptations within you. He who has called you to pray for deliverance from temptation will surely do it!

Almighty and ever-living God, our Father

Thank You for sending Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

Thank You for regenerating us by Your Holy Spirit.

Thank You for conquering sin and the darkness that we once were in

And bringing us into the glorious light of Jesus Christ

Our Father, we confess how prone we are to sin and temptation

At times we feel overwhelmed with the temptations that so easily beset us

But You, O God, are great and full of power and mercy

Have mercy upon us and lead us not into temptation to sin

May You make us to flee, even as Joseph, from every opportunity to sin

Cause us to hate that which is of the darkness and to love that which is of the light

We ask that You would deliver and support us when we are tempted

That we might not be given over to any sin

But rather delivered and freed from it

And brought to repentance and sorrow for our sin

Build us up in all holiness, righteousness, and truth

Even as we see the great day of the Lord approaching

We pray this trusting in You to fulfill this request

For it is in accordance with Your will

So we pray it in Jesus’ name Amen.

Ben Stahl, Elder