Frederick the Pius

In February 1559 Otto Henry, Elector of Palatinate died, and with his death the world would change. Otto Henry was a devout Roman Catholic, but his brother, Frederick III had become a protestant and supporter of the Reformation. Frederick had married Maria of Brandenberg who was protestant from age 17, and she asked him to read the Bible as a condition of their marriage. As always happens when people read the Bible without preconceptions, Frederick came to embrace the Reformed Faith. After his brother Otto’s death, Frederick became the Elector of Palatinate, and he quickly used his position to build a solidly Reformed University and attracted Reformed teachers and preachers from all over Europe. Frederick (later known as Frederick the Pius) commissioned the writing of the Heidelberg Catechism which was subsequently adopted by the Synod of Heidelberg. It has since become the defining document of the Reformed Faith.

The entire Heidelberg Catechism can be summed up in the Lord’s Day 23, Question 60:

Question 60. How are thou righteous before God?

Answer: Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.

My faith can be summed up in this statement. I am humbled. I am thankful. I am totally dependent upon the Lord. I praise the Lord for so graciously giving me a believing heart.

The Daydreamer

There comes a point in everyone's life when they realize that the hopes and dreams that they once had are not realistic. This is when the man realizes that he doesn't know who he is. His dreams have clouded his vision and have become his progress. In order to mature, he must realize that his dreams have been worthless, and he must begin making reality.

Too many men spend their whole life dreaming of their great deeds to come. Too many dream of making it in business or in the arts or some other area...they never put one foot in front of the other and start actually making something. Could Tolkien have ever written the Lord of the Rings without actually sitting down and writing?

I’m not writing about suppressing our dreams, visions and ambitions, but I am writing about doing something about them. The Proverbs are full of statements about lazy people…and this is what we’re talking about aren’t we? Men who daydream and don’t put hard work to the idea.

Proverbs says that the lazy man thinks he’s wiser than seven men who give a sensible answer. He has an incredible desire for wealth, fame or notoriety, but he’s unwilling to focus and pursue this with tenacious devotion. He has a myriad of reasons for his never ending failure to achieve, but they never involve his own laziness. Proverbs says that a hard working man will gain wealth, but a lazy man destroys it.

The point is that I’ve had a lot of things that I’ve done, and a lot of things that I’d like to do. I need to pursue and focus on exactly what I am to pursue with tenacity. We need to examine ourselves under a hard eye. I am the daydreamer….

Who You Following?

I’ve had several people in the last couple of weeks express their disappointment in people who leave a church after a certain pastor leaves. We’ve all seen it, and it’s happened in numerous churches. But, I have a problem with the comments against these people. The comments tend to actually adroitly and underhandedly question their salvation. Things like, “It concerns me when people follow a man rather than Christ” are disappointing to me.

The truth is that God works through men. Paul told the people, “follow me as I follow Christ.” And, the Bible is full of God raising up men as leaders of the people and the people as sheep following them. Elijah, Samuel, Moses, Joshua, Peter, Paul, and on and on and on. God doesn’t anoint an institution or a system. He anoints men, and His sheep follow then.

The institutions that we build (or rather that the Lord builds through us) mean nothing to Him. He will care for His sheep by anointing the man he wishes. And, He raises up and lowers men and institutions as he wills.

I guess the bottom line is that I’m less willing to create the either/or straw man of either following Christ or following man. I’m seeing more and more that we follow Christ and follow men.

I should note that part of this understanding comes from the Lords clear direction to me to come to the Three Rivers CRC and follow Pastor Tim Raakman. I’ve no idea what would happen if Tim left, but right now I’m to follow him as he follows Christ.

Pupose of Life [or Ownership]

The purpose of anything must be determined by the owner of the thing. In America we tend to accept the philosophy of self ownership. This immediately leads to us defining our own purpose for life.

Sunday school today was about how the purpose of our lives is not determined by ourselves, but rather it is determined by God who created us for himself...He owns us. The Bible says that the Earth is the Lord's and all who dwell therein. It is completely up to him to appoint some as vessles of honor and some as humble vessles. He owns each and every moment of our lives...lives which themselves belong to Him.

The bedrock value of the modern America is self determination. We are dedicated to preserving our right to self determination. We want to choose everything and we want to be whatever we decide. We train children early that they can be whatever they determine they want. Our consumer mentality of choices and making the choices we prefer solely because we prefer it is key to understanding modern America.

This carries over into the church. I am not Roman Catholic for one reason. With the Council of Trent, the Roman church no longer preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. The question at Trent was whether good works were necessary for salvation or whether they followed salvation. The Roman church said they were necessary for salvation.

The problem today is that the vast majority of evangelical church preach that same false gospel. They preach that we must weigh the information in our non-prejudiced minds and make a choice. One Missionary Church I often pass recently had a sign reading,"Christians aren't born...they choose." The evangelical churches are preaching that we are saved by grace through faith and enacted by our choice. Everything rides on our doing something.

The Bible is clear that the Lord chooses whom He wills. It isn't our choice or our acceptance...He chooses effectually. His choices are without denial. He is God, and it must be so.

I guess I'm saying that if I wasn't in a Reformed Church then I'd just become Roman Catholic instead of all the other Romanized, Americanized nonsense out there.

The Funeral [or "Family Time"]

On Friday I attended the funeral for Tina, the lady mentioned a couple of posts ago. I was amazed at how many people showed up, but that's often the case when a younger person passes away.

I thought the service was exactly what was needed at that time. Pastor Tim is growing in his own, and he seems to be finding his particular voice. Truth be told, I feel like every sermon I hear seems to propel him down that road. He'll continue to grow in confidence as he gains experience.

Sorry. I didn't mean to write this about the pastor. I was actually impressed by the way the church came out almost in total to support these people. For the very first time I actually felt like I was part of a body. As is the case in most churches, we could stand to increase that "bodiness" at the Three Rivers CRC . I want to make clear that I'm writing this as a positive thing. I'm saying,"Hey, let's do more to increase our fellowship and our love for one another."

It felt good to sit in the middle of a rather large group from TRCRC, and I'd like to feel like that more often. Probably it'll take time and interaction on my part. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm a member of the church. I just long for a church "family." There were times in the past when I'd rather celebrate holidays with my church family than with my blood family, and I want to feel that way again.

I'm really beginning to feel that love for one another that the body of Christ is all about. I really appreciate that.

ADDITION: I just want to note that today I felt like a family at church. We participated in Sunday School, and we had a great time of fellowship afterwards. I really appreciate the church family...I thought the service was excellent today as well.

Welfare Mentality

Have you observed the subtle shift in public opinion that’s taking place right now?

We’re shifting from compassion and openhearted handouts to the New Orleans area victims of the hurricane to a resenting and a harder questioning and analytical evaluative temperament.

Why is this happening? I believe the “Gimmee! Gimmee, now!” attitude of many of the people from New Orleans that I’ve seen on the news has been a contributing factor. Eventually, everyone gets tired of the demands made on their charity and goodwill. I think Ray Nagen, the half-wit mayor of New Orleans, and the man who has done more than any other to contribute to the problems experienced there, has exemplified this more than any other. His criticisms of everyone else and his dismissals of criticism of his own role in the catastrophe has done much to polarize the country.

I should note that it was Ray Nagen who disregarded all the plans and told people to head to the Superdome while he left the buses parked. Now the Superdome will probably be demolished not for structural problems but because it’s a massive manure and trash pit. He also sent people to the convention center. FEMA and the other agencies had no idea that this was going to happen because it was contrary to all plans, and it turns out that Nagen never even called anyone for almost two days after the hurricane.

Another factor? My father just returned from Mississippi (he took time off to transport a camper for FEMA) where the people initially turned FEMA out and took care of things themselves. FEMA’s first action in Mississippi was to shut down the private contractors in case they’d try to price gouge. The people rebelled and actually threw the FEMA reps out of certain communities. There is certainly a difference of mindset between the two areas.

As one person told me:

“The problem I have with the people in New Orleans sitting around waiting for the government and for handouts to give them what they want is that the day before the hurricane they were sitting on their porches doing the same thing.”

I’m not saying that this is right or wrong, but I am saying the shift is going on. It’ll be interesting to see the end result of all this. It will also be interesting to see the reports of fraud in the coming years.

I Wanna Be a Good Man

The world seems to be full of gray. Black and white is a long lost ideal that can never be recovered. The world is now a pragmatist’s world, and the mascot for mankind is Bill Clinton. There are those who would have us believe that every situation is governed by nuance and we should just do whatever seems most advantageous at the time in whatever situation we find ourselves in.

Sometimes the decisions and situations that seem as though they'd be the hardest end up being rather simple when we boil everything down to the basics. Last week, I wrote the five principles that I wanted to guide my life from here on out. I want to have these 5 characteristics be the five things people will remember about me at my funeral. The principles are listed below...but the point is that I've taken actions and made decisions that I never imagined I could. And it was simple and easy. Some things still are black and white. You just need to boil it down and ignore the distractions.

The world today isn’t full of gray. It’s full of distractions. It isn’t the intellectuals that the forces of evil fear. It’s us simpletons who boil everything down to the basics and see the truth for what it is.

Live your life simple, and examine it on a regular basis.

I want to live life:
1. Honestly
2. Sveltely
3. Faithfully
4. Financially soudly
5. Loving my neighbor as myself
Note: I abbreviated these for public consumption

The Sovereign God

"Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”
(Mat 10:29)

My faith in a sovereign being who rules and reigns over the whole earth and everything in it was strengthened these last couple days.

Our church welcomed six new believers as they professed their faith in Jesus Christ before the church. After the service the entire church retired to a park and had baptisms in the river.

The next day one of the women, who I hadn't met before Sunday, was sitting on a picnic table in front of her apartment when she was hit in the head by a random, stray bullet. She went home to be with her savior.

Our God reigns. He is sovereign even over you and I, and He has no need whatsoever...even for my consent in anything. He knows the end of each thing even from the beginning of time. Calling Him my master isn't an assertion, a profession or a expression of faith...it is simply a confession that all men should make.

News article: http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-15/112671126428470.xml&coll=7

Love Stinks

I don't love God.

That's the realization I had tonight as I was going through a sort of personal evaluation of my life. Oh, I want to be faithful. I am truly grateful for all He's done, but I'm don't think I've ever had a real love for Him. I'm not in some kind of self-loathing funk right now. I'm just thinking about my relationship with Jehovah.

The greatest command is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..." and I don't think that I've ever kept that commandment. Thank God it's christ's righteousness and not our own that saves us.

For starters on this God says that if we love Him we'll keep His commandments. I have greviously sinned, and I continue to sin daily. My flesh condemns me. Secondly, I don't feel like I love the Lord. I fear Him. I stand in awe. I respect Him and his power. I'm not saying that I don't emotionally love him. I don't unemotionally love him. I guess if I loved Him it wouldn't be such a struggle to find the time and the will to pray and read His word to us. If I loved Him I'd be more apt to go around bragging on Him and making others feel jealous.

I guess I feel more like an indentured servant than a child. I know that's wrong, but how does one change something like that? I'll need to work on that this week.

Food for thought: the opposite of love is not hate...it's apathy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On another note. About 2 weeks ago I injured my back, and it's been getting nothing but worse. I was in continual and progressively worse pain. Several days ago, I finally prayed for the Lord to heal whatever the problem was, and since that point it has gradually yet rapidly decreased to the point where I no longer even notice. I give credit to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever!

Expectations: An Unfocused Post

The anticipation of the thing is often greater than the thing itself.

I wanted an HP Jornada hand held for years, and I finally bought a remanufactured one from Tiger Direct for $99. Every day of the 12 that it took to get the handheld computer was an additional piquing of my anticipation until I was frothing for it on the day it arrived. The poor UPS man must have thought I was nuts.

Now I'm typing on my new Jornada 680e, and it's ok. Not thrilling. Not exciting. It's just ok.

That's great compared to some situations. I've bought 2 steering shafts now for my jeep (a 1977 CJ5), and I awaited each one with a growing eagerness. Each time I went straight home to put it on after work, and each time I was sorely disappointed. Neither shaft fit.

I guess everything is that way. Sin participated is usually more mundane than sin anticipated. Even the positives are usually letdowns. The special church service last week at the Three Rivers CRC was everything it was billed as, but it just wasn't quite what I'd anticipated.

Roy Williams, a marketing consultant, says that the key to growing a successful business is exceeding the expectations on the customer. If we pay for a $10 meal and got $30 service we'll be back with friends. Of course, expectations go up very easily and come down with great difficulty. Expectations for others that is!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: I realized later that part of this post could be taken wrong. To clarify, I was disappointed at the CRC anniversary not because the service didn't go well or because of anything anyone did or didn't do. I was disappointed because I looked forward to making better friends and meeting people. I invited my parents and ended up spending time with them instead of mingling with others. So I was my own undoing....

Motivation

Comedian Emo Phillips once said, “I used to believe that the brain was the most magnificent part of the human body…then I realized…Well, look who’s telling me that!”

God says something similar to Emo in Jeremiah 17.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jer 17:9)

Lately I’ve contemplated the heart and the motivations of the heart. Why do I do the things I do? Actually, the real question that I’ve wrestled with is, “Is it possible for me to do anything with a pure heart?”

Seemingly without exception, I eventually find hedonistic reasons behind my preferences, my actions, my passions and even my loves. Even while I may start out thinking my actions are altruistic and pure, I eventually discover the hidden personal ambition or personal desire.

The harder I try to be pure, the deeper I find my baseness. Why do make the choices that I do with my life? Why do I spend time with the people I choose to? Why do I love my wife? Why do I serve the Lord?

I don’t have any purity in me. My only purity is the same as my only righteousness. It is Jesus Christ. God chose me. Christ died for me. I was imputed with faith in Christ. I was imputed with his righteousness and his purity. For that I am forever grateful.

Sometimes I think that I can be too introspective. Martin Luther suffered from intense introspection until the revelation of Romans 1:17 was fully manifest to him. The just shall live by faith. They don’t live by what they do or how good they are. They don’t live by how pure they are. They live by faith, and Ephesians says that that faith is simply a gift from God.

Martin Luther once said that a Christian should, “sin boldly, yet more boldly still believe.” I pray that I can live boldly and believe more boldly still.