Page 27 of 76

Gifts + No Love=Nothing

March 7, 2017 / Allan Babcock

Commentator Leon Morris writes: “The commentator cannot finish writing on this chapter (13) without a sense that soiled and clumsy hands have touched a thing of exquisite beauty and holiness” (The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians).

Indeed, the “love chapter” stands incomparably above any passage on the subject in Scripture. But its position between 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 means it’s not a chapter about love per se, but love in the context of spiritual gifts and the Corinthian misuse of them.

Let’s first dispense with the mistaken notion that Paul is setting love against spiritual gifts. As is clear from 12:31(“But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.”) and 14:1 (“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.”) Paul is admonishing the Corinthians to seek spiritual gifts in love. The “way” is the manner in which the church should exercise gifts.

Second, let’s note that Paul urges upon the Corinthians “the way of love” because (as chapter 14 will make clear) they have self-interest in the gift of tongues instead of a “common good” interest.

Third, let’s realize that for Paul love is an act. Not an ethical concept or motivation for certain behavior. It is behavior.

Finally, “love” is the Greek agapayn—not romantic or friendship love, but love that wills the best for the unlovable. This is especially pertinent for the Corinthians where some are parading their gifts as marking their spiritual superiority over those “less” gifted.

This isn’t soft language. Though beautiful in its cadence, Paul means it to cut the Corinthians down to size. He mentions tongues first, because that’s where the Corinthian abuse lies. And this abuse affects the person (“I am a noisy gong . . . I am nothing . . . I gain nothing . . . “) Without love these activities are merely performance, and performance is an act of pride and God opposes the proud (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).

Clearly, the Corinthians and Paul were at odds about the meaning of being “spiritual”. To the Corinthians it meant spiritual gifts. To Paul it meant holiness (the Holy Spirit) with love as its primary expression. Without love the Corinthians’ gifts were nothing more than irritating noise, made them nothing and profited them nothing . . .

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).

” . . . [T]ongues of mortals” refers to unknown human speech inspired by the Spirit. “Tongues of angels” refers to a heavenly language. Do the Corinthians (and Paul) believe that some messages in tongues are languages of angels or is Paul saying, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and even of angels . . . “? Either way, if they don’t speak in love, they are just irritating noise.

To “have love” is to treat others the way God in Christ has treated us . . .

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

In this second sentence Paul includes three gifts from 12:8-10–prophecy, knowledge and faith. Dr. Gordon Fee (Professor Emeritus at Regent College) says Paul means “understand all mysteries and all knowledge” to refer to ” God’s revelation of his ways, especially in the form of special revelation by means of the eschatological Spirit”. Even with this great revelation, if it’s not used in love, the speaking is “nothing”. The

Paul’s third reproof reaches far beyond spiritual gifts . . .

“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).

To give all possession is to make the ultimate possessions-sacrifice. How could such a sacrifice for the poors’ sake not be love? If it’s done to impress others.

An alternative reading in the Greek is ” . . .if I hand over my body so that I may boast . . . “. I mention this only because your Bible version may translate it that way. Though good reasons support this reading, I go with the NIV, ESV and NKJ among others.

Paul here names the ultimate sacrifice in which he gives his body to the flames for someone else. If not done in love, he profits nothing.

This statement makes it plain Paul isn’t pitting love against spiritual gifts. Even the greatest personal sacrifice gains nothing if not done in love.

* * * * *

The question is obvious: do I love the people among whom I offer my spiritual gifts? Do I offer my gifts in love?

It seems to me that offering gifts in love requires two changes. First, a change in the church. We need to know one another to truly love one another. Sunday-morning-whole-church-gathering isn’t enough, even if the church is only 50 or so people. Our solution in the last several decades has been small groups. But we banged our heads against a wall: so many people want only Sunday morning. Therefore, maybe we have to change how we “do” Sunday morning church. (I know: easy for me to say; I’m not pastoring any more!) Maybe we have to lengthen the service a little and make time for small groups within the service. Obstacles to that too, I know. But, if we’re going to really love one another and offer our gifts in love, we have to develop meaningful relationships with one another . . .

Second, a change in our hearts. All the outward changes accomplish nothing, if we’re not changed inwardly. That, of course, takes time, because the Spirit’s fruit is love–and fruit takes time to grow. But, in this case, it also takes prayer . . .

“Lord, even after all these years, my heart still bends toward myself. Too often I’m more concerned about how I look and sound, how I feel, what I need or want. Change my heart. Fill it with love, so I really care about what others need. As impossible as it sounds, baptize me in love so I can love as you do . . . “.

Free Will or Predestined?

March 7, 2017 / Allan Babcock

You have to listen to this. I did, and I recommend it. It’s not how-many-angels-on-a-pinhead theology. It’s personal. It impacts our lives. It helps ground us in God’s love in Christ. And it leaves us rejoicing.

It did me.

Though You Slay Me

March 6, 2017 / Allan Babcock

So I was feeling pretty discouraged today. I know. How can that be when I’m for the second time reading through Tim Keller’s book, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, and getting great grace from the Lord through it.

And, not only that, I’m blogging an overview of it. So I’m forced to think deeply about the book’s message. And, not only that, I’m often writing my response, which means I’m personalizing the message.

Recently, one of my daughters said, “Dad always was a half-glass-empty kind of person.” Ouch! And true. Many years ago I took a personality test that confirmed it. Besides, like Paul I sometimes feel like the chief of sinners whose sin-nature easily gains the upper hand. (I’m earnestly hoping you’re saying, “I relate. I, too, often fall under the dominion of discouragement.” I hope you’re saying it because I don’t want to feel like some kind of freak.

Here’s how bad I am: just about every day I allow thoughts of what I can’t do anymore due to my disability. Today for instance, lurking there in my subconscious playing over and over was the thought (complete with subconscious image) that I’ll never even walk again. Do you know how many things you can’t do because you can’t walk? I could easily list a dozen; but that would only deepen my discouragement.

So a cloud hangs over me. It’s so dark my wife, Lois, asked why I was mad at her.

Then I found an email from my daughter–an email with a song her husband and she had found and thought of me. (My two daughters do that all the time–hear a Youtube song and email it to me, hoping the Lord will use it to bear me up.)

Invariably when I listen, tears stream down my face, because the song, given in love by my daughters, becomes a gift of God’s grace to me. The song below is one of those.

First, it convicted me. I know its message. So I should have filled my mind with it. Instead, I let Satan control my subconscious. But, then, I let the song speak to me. My discouragement lifted. The cloud drifted away. God’s gift of grace filled me again.

Maybe the song will do the same for you. Or, maybe it will ready you for the next time the dark discouragement cloud drifts near. Listen to God’s grace . . .

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (14)

March 5, 2017 / Allan Babcock

About the Book of Job, Rabbi Abraham Heschel observed: “God is not nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake.” So begins Chapter 14 of Tim Keller’s book, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering.

https://www.amazon.com/Walking-God-through-Pain-Suffering/dp/
1594634408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488568000&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+with+god+through+pain+and+suffering+by
+timothy+keller

In this final section Keller suggests how we can actually get through suffering–weeping, trusting and now, with Job’s help.

THE UNIQUENESS OF JOB

Why do so many people suffer affliction when “bad” people live in comfort? The Book of Job examines the problem through this good man’s agony.

The traditional answer to “Why suffering?” is: the sufferer must have done something wrong. The secular answer: No good reason. God doesn’t exist or, if he does, he’s cruel. Job’s response: both answers are wrong. Keller says, “Job’s difficulties came upon him not despite his goodness but because of it” (p. 271).

MY SERVANT JOB

In his book, Job is introduced as “blameless and upright” (Job 1:1). Suddenly he loses everything–wealth, family, health. Why? Readers are shown what Job isn’t. Satan approaches God, who calls Job his most faithful servant. Satan replies, “God worships you only for the benefits. Take them away and he’ll curse you.” “Do it,” God answers.

BECOMING FREE LOVERS OF GOD

Why does God allow Satan to test Job? Keller answers that, though Job truly loved God, his love had to be refined “in a way that would do enormous good down through the ages” (p. 273). That raises the question, “What would it take for us to love God for himself, not for the benefits received?” Answer: suffering, hardship, affliction.

GOD AND EVIL

We mustn’t miss the philosophy here. Job doesn’t give us a worldview where good and evil are equal competing forces. Rather, God has complete control over evil personified in Satan. God allows evil, to be sure. Be he doesn’t delight in it. After Job loses his wealth and family, he loses his health. That suffering moves him to blame God (3:23). Though he doesn’t “curse God and die”, he feels like God has treated him unjustly.

THE SPEECHES OF JOB AND HIS FRIENDS

Three long speeches comprise the book’s middle. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar wound Job with their “comfort”. Eliphaz: Think back now. Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster. I have seen people plow fields of evil and plant wickedness like seed; now they harvest wickedness and evil. Like a storm, God destroys them in his anger (Job 4:7-9).

Eliphaz’s words carry much truth. Moral order does rule the universe. Painful consequences do follow bad behavior. We shouldn’t assume we’re always in the right. But, as Old Testament commentator Francis I. Anderson writes, “True words can be thin medicine for a man in the depths” (p. 277).

Eliphaz observes, “Hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground” (Job 5:6). True. But, as Keller observes, Eliphaz “shows an ignorance of the teaching of Genesis 3:16 (“And [God] said to the woman, ‘I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him'”) which implies “the world is broken by sin, and bad things do happen to people regardless of how well they live” (p. 277).

Job is not being punished or corrected. Francis Anderson writes that the purpose of Job’s suffering is “enlarged life with God” (p. 279).

THE LORD APPEARS AND JOB LIVES

When God appears he thunders:

“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set; or who laid its cornerstone–
while the morning stars sang together and the angels shouted for joy?”
(Job 38:2-7)

Despite his thunder, God has come with grace. God is reaching out to a relationship with Job. God comes “in a storm”, an overwhelming force, but at the same time in grace as a personal God. How can God be both? “Only in Jesus Christ do we see how the untamable, infinite God can become a baby and a loving Savior . . . The gospel, then, explains how God can be both the God of love and of fury that Job meets on the dark and stormy day” (Keller, p. 282).

THE LORD DOES NOT ANSWER–AND YET DOES

“Answering” Job, God doesn’t really answer. He doesn’t explain Satan’s role and his own purpose in the “contest”. Instead he discourses about the wonderful natural world. Again, Francis Anderson comments: “God thrusts Job into an experience of dereliction to make it possible for Job to enter into a life of naked faith, to learn to love God for himself alone. God does not seem to give this privilege to many people, for they pay a terrible price of suffering for their discoveries” (p. 283).

Keller comments: “We do not find our hearts fully satisfied with God unless other things are also going well, and therefore we are without sufficient roots, blown and beaten by the winds of changing circumstances. But to grow into a true ‘free lover’ of God, who has the depth of joy unknown to the mercenary, conditional religious observer–we must ordinarily go through a stripping. We must feel that to obey God will bring us no benefits at all. It is at that point that seeking, praying to, and obeying God begin to change us.” (p. 283).

So, never being told the “why” of his sufferings, never being shown “the big picture”, Job comes to love God simply because he is God. Satan want to discredit Job; “God allows evil just enough space so it will defeat itself” (p. 284).

THE LORD IS GOD–AND YOU ARE NOT

God gives his wonders-of-the-natural-world discourses at the end of Job to remind humans we have only an infinitesimal knowledge of God. We are not God. “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him (Job 40:2)? Job can’t run the universe better than God. Only God is God.

Anderson says: “There is a rebuke in [Job} for any person who, by complaining about any particular events in his life, implies that he could propose to God better ways of running the universe . . . ” (p. 286).

JOB IS IN THE RIGHT–AND YOU ARE IN WRONG

Job’s friends expected God to condemn him as a sinner. Instead, God vindicated him. Why?

God is gracious and forgiving. Through all his complaints and yelling, Job never stopped praying, never turned away from God. Instead, he allowed his suffering to draw him near God. Because he persistently sought God, Job triumphed.

Thus, writes Keller, the lesson for us. Even if we don’t feel him, God is there. God is near “to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18). “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Keller urges, “Read, pray, study, fellowship, witness, serve, obey” (p. 288). Psalm 42 is one of the most helpful texts. Read especially Psalm 42. “Then end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil, and defy the whole world, and say to yourself with the [psalmist}, ‘I shall yet praise him . . . for he is my God'” (Keller, p. 290).

MY SERVANT JOB–AGAIN

“I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want. You ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so very ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know. You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions. In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2-6).

All Job’s concepts of God have now come to grip his heart. Job repents. The word in Hebrew can also mean “retract”, which seems to better fit the context. Job “takes back” his self-justification, his demands, and bows to love and serve God alone.

THE OTHER INNOCENT SUFFERER

God never condemns Job. God’s silence is an assurance of his love. How can we have that assurance? We don’t need a voice out of the storm, Keller asserts. We need to remember how Jesus Christ bowed his head into the storm of God’s justice. Jesus is the greater Job who lost everything,–even God–for us.

” . . . when you suffer without relief, when you feel absolutely alone you can know that, because he bore your sin, he will be with you. You can know you are walking the same path Jesus walked, so you are not alone–and that path is only taking you to him” (Keller, p. 293).

MY RESPONSE

I’m not sure I’d call God an earthquake; but I would say he’s untameable. Despite my desires and prayers I can’t keep him boxed in the box of my making. He’s got his own agenda into which I must fit, not him into mine.

For one thing, as I learn from Job, God wants me to love him, not for his benefits, but for himself. That’s rather selfish of him. (My first thought.) But then I think, No, it’s not selfish at all. Don’t we all want to be loved for ourselves, not what we can give?

What of the son who loves his father mainly for the car he buys him? Or the daughter who loves her father mainly for the wardrobe of clothes he provides. Intuitively we find that love at best lacking, at worst not true love at all. Such “love” hurts, not only the father, but the child. Both are left without the deep joy of real love.

So with us and God. He wants us to freely love him–not for what he gives but who he is. He deserves real love, because he’s God. And we need such love, because we can’t enjoy what we were created for without it.

I just loathe the suffering process it takes to get me there.

I Don’t Have It All

March 3, 2017 / Allan Babcock

Many professing Christians don’t “go to church”. I don’t have poll numbers; I’m just guessing. But, based on people I know (including me!), it’s educated guessing. Why don’t they/we go?

Well, I don’t, because my disability makes it difficult. If we asked around, we’d hear “hypocrites” or “the preaching” or “the music” or “time” or a dozen other reasons. But lurking beneath them all lies that notion that church isn’t really necessary. Or to say it another way, I can do fine, just Jesus and me.

With that in mind, here’s today’s text . . .

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:27-31).

WHO WE ARE

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (12:27).

A stunning statement this. The church is the earthly, visible expression of the heavenly, unseen Christ. Paul’s not painting an idealized, romantic view of the church. He’s proclaiming what the church actually is. The Spirit lives in every believer who comprises the church. He literally “connects” the church to Christ. We can even dare to say the church is the “incarnation” of Christ.

GOD’S APPOINTMENTS

“And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues” (12:28).

“Appointed” translates the Greek etheto, which means “put in place”. Paul uses it of money he wants the Corinthians to “put aside” as part of his collection for the poor (16:2). Thus God has “put in place” particular persons with particular gifts for the good of church, Christ’s body.

So now we see the church not only as the body of Christ (his visible “incarnation” on earth “connected” to him by the Holy Spirit. But we see the church as the “body” in which God has put in place persons with particular spiritual gifts for the common good (“To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good”–12:7).

For the first time he names persons as gifts: apostles, prophets, and teachers. Then he reverts to gifts (despite the NIV making them all persons): miracles, gifts of healing, helping, administration and various kinds of tongues. These represent a wide range of ministries of the body of Christ.

ARE ALL ALL?

“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?” (12:29,30).

Literally the Greek asks, “All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? (Etc . . .) ” Grammatically his questions expect a “No” answer. And Paul wants them to apply this to themselves and to their enthusiasm for tongues (chapter 14).

All are not all. Christ’s body has been given a diversity of gifts. No one member has them all.

GREATER GIFTS, EXCELLENT WAY

“But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way” (12:31).

If we understand Paul to be previously ranking gifts, then “eagerly desire the greater gifts” makes sense. But, except for “first, second, third” in 12:28 which may be ranking, Paul continually points, not to the ranking of gifts, but to their diversity. If so, how are we to understand this imperative about desiring (Greek zayloute–to set one’s heart on, to eagerly seek) the greater gifts?

Again, Paul is confronting the Corinthians’ abuse of tongues. “Greater gifts” are intelligible gifts, not a gift no one can understand (tongues without interpretation). Paul will make that clear in chapter 14.

Since his second exhortation in 14:1 is “eagerly desire the spiritual gifts”, chapter 13 is something of a self-interruption. However, Paul isn’t showing them a better gift, but a better way to use those gifts. This he will do in chapter 13.

In 12:27-31, then, Paul mostly repeats himself by way of concluding what he wants to tell the Corinthians in this part of his letter. The church is the one body of Christ. Each of them belongs. And not all have all gifts. Desire gifts, yes. But let it be the greater ones.

TAKE-AWAY

Earlier this morning I read the news and commentaries–plenty of politics, too much about transgenderism, woeful reports about Middle East wars and global terrorism and so on. The jump to spiritual-gifts-talk feels like a jump to irrelevance. An escape to religious talk that has little to do with life in today’s world.

Then I think: not so. While we can wander into the weeds of spiritual minutiae, spiritual gifts are very much relevant–not just to the church, but the church in the world. One might argue that the church in America has little influence on public life (such as in the universities). And how are we doing making converts? The church needs to be stronger, more robust in getting out the gospel and in living it before a watching world.

And God gives spiritual gifts for the strengthening of the church. (“ . . . since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church”–14:12).

But, as noted in the opening paragraph above, many of us aren’t part of the church. This not only weakens the church, it weakens us. Of course we can study the Scripture and worship alone. But we can’t have all the Spirit’s gifts alone. Many of those gifts reside in my fellow believers. I have mine, but I don’t have theirs. I don’t have it all.

Paul is reminding Corinthians within the church: “The Spirit gives a diversity of gifts. No one believer has them all.” Implication: we need one another to enjoy the benefits of all the Spirit’s gifts.

I’m extending that to say, “Believers who exclude church miss much of what the Spirit gives for our common good.” For the church to be strongest for Christ in world, we all need to participate, because we each bring our giftedness. And for the single believer to be strongest for Christ, he/she needs to participate, because we can receive others’ giftedness.

Otherwise, the church is like a body missing a foot or a finger. And the believer is like a foot or a finger floating alone against the world.

29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (13)

March 2, 2017 / Allan Babcock

Tim Keller titles Chapter 13 “Trusting”–one of the ways to get through suffering, but a difficult assignment.

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by [Keller, Timothy]

https://www.amazon.com/Walking-God-through-Pain-Suffering/dp/
1594634408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488472584&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+with+god+through+pain+and+suffering
+by+timothy+keller

JOSEPH’S STORY (Genesis 37,39-47).

Jealous of Joseph, his eleven brothers threw him into a pit far from home. Eventually he was pulled from the pit by traders who sold him into slavery in Egypt. There he became a household slave to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. He served his master well. But, when he refused his master’s wife’s sexual advances, she accused him and Joseph was thrown into prison. Years passed. After correctly interpreting Pharaoh’s cupbearer’s dream, Joseph was brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dream. Consequently, Pharaoh made Joseph Prince of Egypt. And from that position, Joseph saved his whole family from famine. God used Joseph’s mistreatment and years of suffering for great good.

THE HIDDEN GOD

For what must have seemed like endless years, God apparently abandoned Joseph. On the contrary, writes Keller, “[God] was hidden, but he also was in complete control” (p. 260).

TRUSTING THE HIDDEN GOD

Keller argues, “God was hearing and responding to Joseph’s prayers for deliverance, rescue and salvation, but not in the ways or forms or times Joseph asked for it” (p. 262). At the end, Joseph realized that God was at work for good. Most of us never get to see that. We’re left in the dark, like Job. And when we are, we’re apt to say, “If God is going to shut the door in my face every time I pray, year in and year out, then I give up” (Keller, p. 262).

But Joseph’s story, Keller observes, ” . . . tells us that very often God does not give us exactly what we ask for. Instead he gives us what we would have asked for if we had known everything he knows” (p. 264).

EVERYTHING HANGS TOGETHER

Keller illustrates this principle with an intriguing story . . .

Redeemer (Presbyterian Church, which Keller pastors) exists to a great degree because my wife, Kathy, and I were sent to New York City to start this as a new church. Why were we sent? It was because we joined a Presbyterian denomination that encouraged church planting and that sent us out. But why did we join a Presbyterian denomination? We joined it because in the very last semester of my last year at seminary, I had two courses under a particular professor who convinced me to adopt the doctrines and belief of Presbyterianism. But why was that professor at the seminary at that time? He was there only because, after a long period of waiting, he was finally able to get his visa as a citizen of Great Britain to come and teach in the the United States.

The professor had been hired by my U.S. seminary but had been having a great deal of trouble getting a visa. For various reasons at the time the process was very clogged and there was an enormous backlog of applications. What was it that broke through all the red tape so he could get his visa and come in time to teach me that last semester? I was told that his visa process was facilitated because one of the students at our seminary at the time was able to give the school administration an unusually high-level form of help. The student was the son of the sitting president of the United States at the time. Why was his father president? It was because the former president, Richard Nixon, had to resign as a result of the Watergate scandal. But why did the Watergate scandal even occur? I understand that it was because a nigh watchman noticed an unlatched door.

What if the security guard had not noticed that door? What if he had simply looked in a different direction? In that case–nothing else in that long string of “coincidences” would have ever occurred. And there would be no Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the city . . . I like to say to people at Redeemer: If you are glad for this church, then even Watergate happened for you” (p. 265,266).

(Five thousand attend three campuses in Manhattan. Additionally, Redeemer has started over 100 smaller churches in the New York metropolitan area.)

Author John Newton wrote, “When you cannot see your way, be satisfied that he is your leader . . . ” . . . everything is needful (necessary) that [the Lord] sends, nothing can be needful (necessary) that he withholds” p. 267).

THE ULTIMATE JOSEPH

Imagine you’ve followed Jesus. You’ve seen his power heal the sick and raise the dead. You’ve heard his teachings. You believe he is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. But now he’s praying for the cup of suffering to be taken from him. Now he’s betrayed into the hands of his enemies. Now he’s nailed to a Roman cross. You hear his cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” How, you wonder, could any good possibly come from this?

“And yet,” Keller writes, “you are standing there looking at the greatest, most brilliant thing God could ever do for the human race” (p. 268).

You fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds you so much dread,
Are big with mercy and shall break
With blessings on your head.
–“God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

” . . . because you cannot fit [something] into your own limited understanding, you [may be] in danger of walking away from God” ( p. 269).

MY THOUGHTS

Keller started this chapter admitting trusting the Lord in suffering is “a difficult assignment.” I’m asked to believe God is working this suffering for my good. I have the biblical record of Joseph and Job and Jesus–the accounts of how God used their suffering for great good. I have Keller’s account of the many “coincidences” that led to Redeemer and its impact on NYC. All should move me to trust God in my suffering.

It does, actually. But not automatically. Not consistently. And not without a fight. I have to read and reread this “evidence”. I have to think it through and write it, as I am here. Left to itself, my mind drifts to what I can’t do any longer, to all the prayers for healing the Lord hasn’t answered, to a future of persistent disability and maybe worse symptoms.

So I have to fuel my faith. I have to fill my mind with his Word and books like these. I have to use them as weapons against despair and anger and unbelief. I thank God for the resources he’s given. I thank him for the Holy Spirit who is changing me from the inside out. And I thank him that by his grace I’m mostly winning the fight. And that someday from heaven’s mountaintop, I’ll be able to look back and see how “everything hung together”.

Made By the Spirit

March 1, 2017 / Allan Babcock

Cultivating a sense of community in the church has probably never been a greater challenge. Even greater is cultivating an environment where every member contributes to the spiritual health of the whole. And, the bigger the church the higher the challenge.

Should the church even be a community with each member giving something to it? The question underscores the challenge. Despite what I see as gains in recent years, the church is still largely viewed as a meeting to attend. The Bible (read “God”) sees it differently: the church is what believers in Christ together are. More radically, the church is the body of Christ.

Before I run on pontificating, let’s get to today’s text in our journey through 1 Corinthians (which, more extensively, is a journey through the New Testament).

ONE BODY, MANY MEMBERS

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).

With “[f]or”, Paul compares the diversity of spiritual gifts in the one church with the human body. The many-membered human body is one body. “ . . . so it is with Christ”; that is, with the church, the body of Christ.

How do diverse people–“Jews or Greeks, slaves or free”–become members of one church? Well, by completing a membership application and being approved by the elders. Right? Not really. Churches do that for legal reasons, but it’s not how people spiritually become members.

Well, then, by agreeing to the church’s doctrine? That’s crucial, but not according to Paul.

” . . . in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . and all were made to drink of the one Spirit.”

By”baptism”–not in water, but “in one Spirit”. By “drinking” (or being filled with) that one Spirit. These are not two different experiences, but one, and refers to conversion or being born again.

God the Holy Spirit is the dynamic force of conversion. He “immerses” converts into the one body of Christ and is the one Spirit who fills (“drink”) all converts. For Paul, the unity of many members doesn’t center in doctrinal agreement (as important as that is) but in their common experience in the Holy Spirit. Yet, it is the same Holy Spirit who creates diversity: “For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”

DIVERSITY

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? (1 Corinthians 12:15-19).

Paul uses the diversity of the human body to point to the diversity of the body of Christ. Foot, hand, ear, eye–each has its different function, but all belong. Nor is the whole body composed of one member. Members differ, arranged as God willed.

Implication: so the body of Christ isn’t all tongues (the Corinthians exalted that gift above all others–see Chapter 14). Members of the body of Christ have diverse gifts as God chooses.

Sadly, talk like this seems irrelevant to many churches today. If they don’t deny spiritual gifts altogether, little time or place exists for them to be expressed. Thus the church is weakened, as is the human body if the legs are paralyzed or eyes blind. Or if, like the Corinthians, the church majors in one or two gifts to the exclusion of the others.

UNITY

As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together (1 Corinthians 12:20-26).

The human body–with diverse parts, each necessary, including unpresentable parts treated with modesty–is a unity. Diversity (which Paul has just stressed) isn’t an end in itself; diversity must function in essential unity.

Paul personifies body-members. They “talk”! But none can say, “I don’t need you.” Perhaps certain church members with certain gifts oozed that attitude. “But God has so composed the body . . . ” He’s made no hierarchy of persons or of gifts.

Such hierarchy divides. “But God has so composed the body” so that there be no division. Here is where Paul draws the net tighter around the Corinthians. While it’s true a bad toothache makes you hurt all over or headache-relief makes you feel better all over, Paul is clearly implying that this should be true of the body of Christ–that ” . . . the members may have the same care for one another.”

SOUND-DOCTRINE CHURCHES

Sadly, what Paul appeals to as the church’s source of unity (namely, members’ common experience in the Holy Spirit) has become a source of division. The gulf between “charismatic” churches and non-charismatic churches is wide, with each largely caracituring the other.

That being said, I think it’s safe to observe that typically, “sound-doctrine churches” minimize the role of the Spirit. As if the Spirit only “gifts” intellectually, they “center-stage” preaching to the exclusion of Spirit-led worship and the expression of spiritual gifts. They find unity in doctrinal agreement, not experience in the Spirit (as Paul did).

So they often pass over an astounding miracle to be celebrated: God the Holy Spirit actually lives inside Christ’s converts to express himself through those converts for their common strengthening.

That upbuilding–that unity–can’t be programmed. Not by “professional” worship teams. Not by doctrinal statements. Certainly not by ecumenical movements. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. It’s up to us, then, to pray for the Spirit to sovereignly move upon us . . .

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (12)

February 28, 2017 / Allan Babcock

Keller is ready to discuss “ . . . the individual ways or strategies that the Bible lays out for walking through suffering” (p. 240). The first: “Weeping”.

https://www.amazon.com/Walking-God-through-Pain-Suffering/dp/
1594634408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488306024&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+with+god+through+pain+and+suffering+
by+timothy+keller

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LAMENT

Early Reformers frowned on Christians weeping. They should trust God through “unflinching, joyful acceptance of his will” in suffering (p. 241).

But, Keller notes, their teaching doesn’t square with Scripture. Many Psalms are called “Lament Psalms”—prayers which express frustration with or sorrow before God.

“Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” (Psalm 44:23).

“Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?” (Psalm 89:49).

Jeremiah prays . . .

“Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive book, like a spring that fails” (Jeremiah 15:18).

In Job’s last chapter he admits his faith wasn’t what it should have been, yet the text says, “In all this Job sinned not” (Job 1:22).

By the book’s middle, Job curses the day he was born and almost angrily charges God with injustice. Yet hear God’s verdict on Job . . .

“I will accept [my servant Job’s] prayer . . . You (Job’s ‘friends’) have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7-9).

This despite, as Keller writes, “Job’s grief was expressed with powerful emotion and soaring rhetoric. He did not ‘make nice’ with God, praying politely” (p. 242).

Surely, then, we are allowed to grieve.

A BRUISED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK

Isaiah speaks of the Suffering Servant, who is Jesus (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20; Acts 8:32,33). Applied to a person, Keller says, “ . . . ‘bruised’ means an injury that doesn’t show on the surface, but that is nonetheless fatal . . . Jesus Christ is attracted to hopeless cases. He cares for the fragile” (p. 243).

Elijah was a mighty prophet against whom the people turned. Despondent, he travels to the wilderness and prays, “Take my life. I don’t even want to live” (1 Kings 19:4). Does God condemn him? No. He sends an angel who cooks him a meal. “Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:4-8). Eventually God talks with Elijah, questions and challenges him. God, says Keller, know we are complex creatures. In this case, to have challenged Elijah first would have been breaking a bruised reed.

In The Bruised Reed and a Smoking Flax, the 27 century British Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote, “Never fear to go to God, since [we have] a mediator with him [who] “died that he might heal our souls with the medicine of his own blood . . . Let this keep us up when we feel ourselves bruised” (p. 245).

“The point,” Keller says is this—suffering people need to be able to weep and pour out their hearts, and not to immediately be shut down by being told what to do. Nor should we do that to ourselves . . . “ (p. 245).

WEEPING IN THE DARK

Psalm 88, writes commentator Derek Kidner of Psalm 88, “There is no sadder prayer in the Psalter” (p. 246). Unlike all other lament psalms (except 39), Psalm 88 end without a glimmer of hope. (No space to quote it here; grab a Bible and read it!). From the psalm, Keller draws three lessons.

One, as the psalm’s word implies, “believer can stay in darkness for a long time” (p. 247).

Two, “times of darkness . . . can reveal God’s grace in new depths” (p. 248). God’s treatment of Job “shows that God remains this man’s God not because the man puts on a happy face and controls all his emotions, but because of grace.

Third, “it is perhaps when we are still in unrelenting darkness that we have the greatest opportunity to defeat the forces of evil. In the darkness we have a choice that is not really there in better times. We can choose to serve God just because he is God” (p. 248).

THE DARKNESS OF JESUS

How can we be sure God is present with us and working our suffering for good?

Jesus, writes Keller, experienced the ultimate darkness: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 24:45,46). He was truly God-abandoned; we believers only feel as if we are. Keller says . . .

“[Jesus] went into suffering for us. He did not abandon us despite all his own suffering. Do you think he will abandon you now in the midst of yours?” (p. 251).

GRIEVING AND REJOICING

What does it mean to “rejoice in suffering”? Keller argues it can’t mean to have happy emotions or keep a stiff upper lip or defiantly claim this suffering won’t defeat us (p. 252).

Peter writes, “in [God’s] salvation you greatly rejoice though now . . . you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6,7). They’re rejoicing and suffering simultaneously. So can we.

Keller explains to “rejoice in God” means to “ dwell on and remind ourselves of who God is, who we are, and what he has done for us . . . Here is how it works. The grief and sorrow drive you more into God . . . and show you the resources you never had . . . The weeping drives you into the joy . . . and then the joy enables you to actually feel your grief without its sinking you” (p. 253).

D. M. Lloyd-Jones writes . . .

“What we are really saying . . . is that the Christian is one who has become immune to what is happening around him . . . [He] has something that enables him to rise above these things, but the glory of the Christian life is that you rise above them through you feel them” (p. 254).

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I’m reminded of Psalm 30:5b—“ . . . weeping my remain for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” David is celebrating deliverance from his enemies. Suffering is over. The Lord has turned his wailing into dancing (30:11).

On the other hand, Keller is writing not about joy after rescue from suffering, but about joy in the midst of suffering.

It occurs to me, though, we might apply Psalm 30:5b in line with Keller’s thoughts. That is, in the midst of nighttime weeping, we may experience tastes of morning-like joy.

Joy is an emotion that runs deep and high. Far more than a broad, bright smile. More than rumbling laughter or giddy happiness. The Hebrew word here bears that out. It implies a “shout of joy” or a “ringing cry”. It connotes a victory celebration after the war is won. To say, then, we may taste morning-like joy while weeping in the night is to proclaim a weighty statement.

I think we might apply Psalm 30:5b, because I think I may have tasted little morsels of morning-like joy in night-like suffering. Not a shout of joy or ringing cry. More an assurance, an inner sense, that the Lord is with me. That he’s using this for good. That his grace is enough. That with his strength in my weakness I can endure in faith. That, even when I feel as if God has become a stranger, I’m coming to know him more deeply.

It’s okay to cry. No need to put on a happy false face. Go ahead and weep. But know this: before that glorious morning of eternal joy dawns, we can taste bits of its joy even when we hurt.

Different Gifts, Same Spirit, Common Good

February 27, 2017 / Allan Babcock

Without openness to the Holy Spirit, gathered worship becomes a pep rally (the worship team as cheerleaders) or a classroom (the pastor as professor). Expectations center almost entirely on the “up-front” people. Welcome to today’s typical evangelical church.

Different scenario with the Corinthians. Spiritual gifts fascinated them to the point that Paul wrote to rein them in. He writes 1 Corinthians 12-14, not to offer comprehensive spiritual-gifts-theology, but to pastorally correct the church’s abuse of them.

Paul had reminded them that all spiritual utterances do not come from the Holy Spirit, only those that acknowledge Jesus as Lord (12:1-3). Now, in 12:4-11, he lists a variety of gifts, so the church will learn that the one Holy Spirit gives a diversity of gifts (not just tongues–the Corinthians’ gift of choice) for the good of all.

GOD-ROOTED DIVERSITY (12:4-6)

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Gifts (charismaton), service (diakoniown), and working (energown) are different ways of expressing what Paul in 12:7 calls the “manifestation” (phanerosis) or “expression, demonstration” or “display” of the Spirit. The distributions of the Spirit are many, but all come from the same Spirit, Lord and God.

Thus Paul pictures the Trinity. But “Lord” (Jesus) has special significance since the Corinthians exuded spiritual pride over certain spiritual gifts. “Lord” and “service” remind them that the spiritually-gifted are servants of all.

DIVERSE GIFTS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE FOR THE GOOD OF ALL (12:7)

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

By one sentence Paul captures the heart of chapter 12. Each one can participate. What are called “gifts” Paul here calls “the manifestation of the Spirit”–an expression of the Spirit’s presence among them. And these Spirit-manifestations to each one are given, not for the good of the recipient, but for the good of all.

DIVERSE GIFT-LIST (12:8-10)

To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

Other gifts in other lists (1 Corinthians 12:28,29, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:8-14 and 1 Peter 4:10,11) show that this list isn’t exhaustive. And who know how many more ways the Holy Spirit might manifest himself not identified in Scripture?

Looking at Paul’s list here, we want a technical explanation for what each gift is. Paul doesn’t explain, so we’re left to deduce from what he does say elsewhere about some gifts and just plain guess about others.

The message of wisdom and the message of knowledge. These are mentioned nowhere else, so welcome to educated-guessing! Wayne Grudem (theologian, professor, author) suggests the first may be the ability to speak the right word at the right time, the second the ability to impart timely insight, both to others for their sake (Systematic Theology).

Faith. Not saving faith (Ephesians 2:8,9), this is probably a supernatural “certainty” that God will reveal his power in a special way for a particular circumstance.

Gifts of healing(s). Even a quick-read of the New Testament reveals that Jesus, Paul and first century Christians regularly expected God would heal physical bodies. These gifts are Holy Spirit-manifestations to do just that. The plural probably implies a variety of gifts and healings for a variety of illness.

Miraculous powers. This probably refers to other kinds of miraculous workings apart from healing.

Prophecy. “ . . . the evidence in [1 Corinthians 14) indicates that it consists of spontaneous, Spirit-inspired, intelligible messages, orally delivered in the gathered assembly, intended for the edification or encouragement of the people” (Gordon Fee, theologian and Professor Emeritus at Regent College). It is not telling the future!

Distinguishing between spirits. In 14:29, Paul writes, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” Perhaps this (the ability to discern the spirit/Spirit source of a prophetic utterance is what Paul means by this gift. On the other hand, Grudem defines it as “the ability to recognize the influence of the Holy Spirit or of demonic spirits in a person” (Systematic Theology, p. 1082).

Different kinds of tongues. The Greek word, glosa, means the physical tongue or language. Unfortunately, translators have stuck with “tongues” when “languages” might have been more appropriate. Grudem defines: “ . . . a prayer or praise spoken (spontaneously) in syllables not understood by the speaker.” Thus it is speech directed to God,whereas prophecy is directed to the people.

The interpretation of tongues. Hermayneea can mean “translation” or “interpretation”. The latter is better here, since we have no indication that the “interpreter” is giving a word-for-word translation of the message in tongues. Rather he is explaining what the tongues-speaker has said. Together with interpretation, the gift of tongues “builds up” the church (14:5), functioning similar to prophecy. Without interpretation, the message in tongues is unintelligible and useless for the church (14:28).

Sovereign Distribution (12:11)

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

Giftedness doesn’t depend on the recipient. The Spirit is sovereign and he gives gifts/manifestations as he chooses. But, whatever the gift, it is the work of the same Spirit. Thus, Paul puts the spiritually-proud Corinthians in their “place”, humbled under the sovereign Spirit.

* * * *

Most of our churches today don’t share the Corinthians’ problem. We don’t need to be told, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good . . . All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines”(12:7,11).

Why? Because most of our worship gatherings are packed with singing, preaching, maybe praying, announcements and offerings. The focus is “up front” and there’s no quiet time to “reach out” for what the Spirit may choose to do. How sad when he has so much to give for the good of the church and the glory of the Lord Jesus!

So my conclusion today is a prayer-worship song. What might the Spirit do if the church (even some members) faithfully prayed it? And if we made time for the Spirit to “rain down”?

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (11)

February 26, 2017 / Allan Babcock

“Walking with God in the Furnace”–Part Three of Keller’s book. He titles Chapter 11 simply “Walking”.

https://www.amazon.com/Walking-God-through-Pain-Suffering/dp/
1594634408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488122671&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+with+god+through+pain+and+suffering+by+
timothy+keller

Here’s his opening question: “How can we actually, practically, face and get through the suffering that has come upon us?” (p. 225).

Resources today generally tell us how to manage suffering and how to cope with its stress. But Christianity offers a deeper response.

WALKING WITH GOD IN SUFFERING

Crown Him the Son of God, before the worlds began,
And ye who tread where He hath trod, crown Him the Son of Man;
That every grief hath known that wrings the human breast,
And takes and bears them for His own, that all in Him may rest
–Crown Him with Many Crowns

Walking is a biblical metaphor for facing affliction. The familiar hymn above speaks of treading where the Son of God had trod. David writes of walking in this well-known verse: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

Walking implies progress. Keller observes: “We are to meet and move through suffering without shock and surprise, without denial of our sorrow and weakness, without resentment or paralyzing fear, yet also without acquiescence or capitulation, without surrender or despair” (p. 226).

Flood and fire are also biblical metaphors, but of extreme hardship. However we have this biblical promise, not of suffering’s removal, but in suffering God with us . . .

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . Do not be afraid, for I am with you (Isaiah 43:2,3,5).

Peter tells us that trials come to prove the genuineness of our faith. Keller comments: “ . . . adversity is like a fire that, rather than destroying you, can refine, strengthen, and beautify you, as a fire does with metal ore” (p. 228).

But not automatically. “We must recognize, depend on, speak with, and believe in God while in the fire . . . Knowing him personally . . . in our affliction is the key to becoming stronger rather than weaker” (p. 22(0.

THREE IN THE FURNACE

Three Hebrews, among the captives in Babylon, refused to bow down to the self-image King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. The penalty: the fiery furnace. They replied . . .

“If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17,18, NRS).

God might not deliver them. Their faith wasn’t in rescue but in God himself, whom they would serve no matter what.

FOUR IN THE FURNACE

Of course, the king threw the three into the flames. But when he looked inside . . .

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:24,25, NIV).

The Old Testament speaks of “the angel of the Lord” (Exodus 3:2-6; Judges 13:16-20). Perhaps that’s who the “fourth” was. And who is he? Old Testament scholar Alec Motyer explains . . .

There is only one other in the Bible who is both identical with and yet distinct from the Lord. One who, without abandoning the full essence and prerogatives of deity . . . is able to accommodate himself to the company of sinners . . . Jesus Christ.

FURNACE LESSONS

One, God is with us in the fire. We find the supreme example at the cross where Jesus came to die to save us from a “fiery” hell.

Two, the fires of suffering refine our faith, if we relate to God as God and as being with us. Otherwise, fire hardens our hearts in unbelief and despair.

Three, we can recall the words of the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” . . .

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

“The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

WAYS TO WALK WITH GOD

“A walk”, writes Keller, “is a day in and day out praying; day in and day out Bible and Psalms reading; day in and day out obeying, talking to Christian friends and going to corporate worship, committing yourself to and fully participating in the life of a church . . . To walk with God is a metaphor that symbolizes slow and steady progress” (p. 236).

In other words, God walking with us in fiery sufferings doesn’t begin with our crying out to him from the furnace, but our walking with God in the “nondramatic, rhythmic . . . steady repeated actions” of everyday, ordinary life (Keller, p. 237).

A PERSONAL TESTIMONY

As my Primary Lateral Sclerosis worsened, my faith-test got harder. God seemed gone. The disability was senseless. I became angry at God. But I couldn’t turn away from him. Where would I go? To whom would I go? So: I held on. One reason I could . . .

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13, NRS).

My second reason for being able to hold on doesn’t diminish the first. Both, in fact, are from God and of grace. God was bending me, but he wouldn’t let me break. He was feeding my anger, but he wouldn’t let me storm out the door. He was testing me, but not beyond my strength.

That second reason is this: my life had been “walking with God in the ‘nondramatic, rhythmic’ . . . . steady repeated actions” of everyday, ordinary life.” When PLS hit without a cure, I kept on with God (though sometimes with just a whisper of faith), because I had walked with him in everyday life for years before. “With him” became a way of walking, a way of living. So, when I was confined to a wheelchair, I kept “walking”. I can’t imagine what I would have done without the “steady, repeated actions of everyday, ordinary life with God.”

That’s my lesson take-away from Keller’s chapter. But my image take-away is this: the fourth man in the furnace.