Tag: The Gospel Coalition

Categories
Clint Gospel

The Radiance of Christmas Hope

This was a post I had up at The Gospel Coalition Canada. It is a relatively new network that resources Canadian Christians for gospel-centred ministry. If you would like to support this work, donate here.

Could we be any more stressed out? Probably. In the long view, we can’t be more troubled by crises in society than in Germany’s Weimar Republic, Quebec’s FLQ crisis, or the morning of September 11th in New York. There is no ‘turning back time to the good old days.’ But there is room for a lot more expectancy. We’re all looking for some hope, life, and light to dispel the gloom.

No doubt our situation is like the ancient lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, the land beyond the Jordan and even Galilee. They were described by the eighth century (BC) prophet Isaiah as “her who was in anguish” (Isaiah 9:1). There was even a sense of ‘gloom’ that had cast a shroud over the people. Isaiah had recorded that “they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness” (8:22). This is how you might feel after following a Twitter thread, reading a Facebook feed, or after a hard day’s work. Or worse: after a diagnosis, a death, or a disaster.

Gloom

No gloomy life lost in confusing times and a confusing mind can contemplate a life of light. That is why depression and melancholy can be so debilitating. The idea of a life of clarity, purpose, joy, and laughter remains unimaginable to the one stuck in the anguish of gloom. Gloom and anguish choke our desires for truth, beauty and goodness. Our sin-collapsed nature makes our desires for God crumble to dust. None seeks for God—not one (Romans 3:10-11; Psalm 14:1-3).

Only the inbreaking of dawn gives hope to the gloomy who walk in darkness. That kind of inbreaking is what Isaiah prophesied would come to “the nations” (9:1). If the wonder of conversion is inexplicable, then the description of this ‘dawn’ is close to it:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone; You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with the joy of the harvest, they are glad when they divide the spoil” (Isaiah 9:2-3).

Dawn

The great thing about the early light of dawn is its promise. Even though it can still be relatively dark out (especially on Canadian winter mornings), the inbreaking dawn assures us that the brightness of the day is coming.

Just as the Gentile nations were lifted from their gloom with the ministry of Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:15-16), we see God’s initiative to bring dawn to the darkened.

That is what our Advent celebrations should remind us about—the expectancy of the Light. John testified that “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:9).

From that first dawning of the incarnation of the Son, adding to himself a human nature, he brought the light of the gospel to be witnessed by those in anguish and gloom.

In our stressed-out society and harried holiday confusion, we can relish the fact that Christ’s brilliance and warmth bring infinite lumens to sinners’ shroud of darkness. His inbreaking kingdom—the already of the not-yet—is pushing back the darkness, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

This Christmas we don’t have to let the presence of darkness, smother our expectancy of Christ’s radiance. Instead let us luxuriate in his light, knowing our joy is to look upon him by faith now, and ultimately by sight. For it was truly said, “Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.”

Categories
Anxiety Christel Gospel Spiritual Growth

You Don’t Have to Be Anxious and Troubled

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her 

(Luke 10:41).

This story of two sisters resonates with me. Like Martha, I like things done well. I’m not a laid back, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl. I may wish I was, but I have a deep-seated compulsion to cross my t’s and dot my i’s. I like my house clean, my meals balanced and my calendar organized. (Although I don’t accomplish this often!) Like Martha, I am frequently, as Jesus diagnosed, “anxious and troubled about many things”.

In Martha’s defence, she does have Jesus sitting in her living room. Jesus. This is not your average house guest. I imagine that Martha is not merely a resentful sibling; but she is sincerely distressed. She wants to please Jesus. She longs to be the perfect hostess, as defined by her family and culture.

Meanwhile, her beloved sister, Mary, was not helping. The text says that while Martha “was distracted with much serving” Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet” (v.39).

It’s not hard to understand Martha’s frustration when she asks, “Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” (v.40).

Martha’s Malady

Jesus’ response to Martha is neither scathing nor placating. Instead, he cuts straight to the heart of the issue with both compassion and frankness; “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.”

When Jesus tells Martha that “one thing is necessary”, He doesn’t mean that food and shelter are superfluous. It was not that Mary had chosen a spiritual occupation (learning from Jesus) while Martha had chosen a carnal one (serving and hospitality). John 12 records how Jesus dined with them again, and again “Martha served” while Mary anointed Jesus feet with expensive oil. Jesus was not rebuking Martha for her role in the household—service and hospitality are Christian virtues–rather, Jesus was diagnosing a spiritual malady.

Those of us who resonate with Martha like to be able to control our environment. We trust in our own ability to make life comfortable, safe and sustainable. Jesus didn’t despise Martha’s servant heart; He loved her (Jn. 11:5). But Jesus loved Martha enough to tell her that her pursuit of perfection on earth was wrong-headed. Not only is it impossible for humans to control their circumstances with God-like ability, it’s also prideful and inherently unstable. There was a better way, and Mary had chosen it.

The Good Portion

Anyone who struggles with anxiety can tell you that it’s torturous and exhausting. Jesus’ rebuke cuts through the ropes that bind Martha to false obligations of perfection. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.”

The simplicity of Jesus direction is paradigm shifting. Martha is not the linchpin upon which all other moving pieces depend. She is a valued part, but not the centre. Martha’s problem was that she had an over-inflated view of both her ability and responsibility. She was limited by humanity, but expected her work to reflect the perfection of Divinity.

Perhaps Mary should have helped Martha, but Jesus said that Mary had chosen the “good portion”. These words bring to mind numerous Old Testament passages that speak of close communion with God as the believer’s “portion” or “inheritance” (e.g. Ps. 16:5-6, 73:26, Josh.18:7). Mary took the posture of disciple and servant. She chose close fellowship with Jesus as her priority.

The irony for Martha was that she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. meanwhile, the One who actually “upholds the universe” was sitting in her living room (Heb. 1:3)! She was tore up about food, drink and hospitality standards, while the Creator, Sustainer and Savior of humanity was sitting at her table. I can’t help feeling embarrassed for Martha when I read this passage, and yet how often do I choose to fixate on temporal things while matters of eternal value fade into the background?

We may not have Jesus at our table, but distance doesn’t make a difference. Only Jesus holds the universe together by the word of his power. He dwells in us by His Spirit (1 Jn 3:24) and strengthens us for the tasks ahead (Phil. 4:13). And yes, this is good news for the Marthas among us.

For those of us who resonate with Martha’s control-anxiety, we need to constantly choose the better portion; we must prioritize time at Jesus’ feet. We may have emails to send, people to feed and responsibilities to fulfill. But when we choose fellowship with God first, we acknowledged that He is the centre of our universe. He is the linchpin that holds it all together.

When the stuff of life pulls us in twenty different directions, the good news is this: only one thing is necessary. The rest is transient. Like Martha, our role may be to serve, but when we choose to prioritize close communion with the Lord first, it allows us to relinquish our control-anxiety to Him. The day ahead may be filled with responsibilities, deadlines and scheduled events, but our hearts are not frantic. “My flesh and my heart may fail,” says the Psalmist, “but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:26)

This article was originally published at The Gospel Coalition Canada as Good News For the Marthas Among Us

*affiliate links (Amazon.ca)

*photo credit

unsplash-logoPriscilla Du Preez

Categories
Canada Church Clint Gospel Spiritual Growth

Can You Cope With the Mixed Legacy of Your Movement?

Revival and renewals have been happening throughout history and across geography. God has given awakenings from Iraq’s Ninevite awakening in the eighth century (BC) to Korea’s Pyongyang Revival in the early twentieth century (AD). But can public sin undo a renewal like the YRR movement?

We have to start by remembering that with every awakening, like all visible professions of faith, our interpretation of events is limited. We do not see as God sees. Apparent visible success can be much more mixed than we anticipated. As well, fears of decline can be more highly exaggerated by us, while God has many who have not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18, Rom 11:4).

Jesus taught us that various spiritual states can show visibly potential spiritual life, but that only the lasting, fruit-bearing life reveals the “good soil” (Mt 13:1-23, Mk 4:1-20, Lk 8:4-15).

Jesus himself experienced the reversals of having people follow him visibly, but who “turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Of course, Jesus spoke about Judas, but he included all those who followed for a season but didn’t remain.

Paul understood this visible reversal. He had many people join and then abandon his Lord’s mission so that when Paul was put on trial nobody was there to stand up for him except, as Paul noted, the Lord himself (2 Ti 4:16-17).

Accepting the Mixed Legacy

So when renewals and revivals come, there will be seasons of delight and disillusionment. Such season ought to be anticipated. They have occurred since the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry and the early days of the church under the apostles care. There is a big difference between the disillusionment from seeing an end to visible successes and being brazenly disillusioned with God.

Should We Be Agnostic About Renewals?

Another approach always pops up in answer to the question of delight versus disillusionment. The alternative approach is to be sort of agnostic about seasons of renewal and revival. People who take on this approach refuse to acknowledge an awakening because they are a bit cynical and not wishing to be disappointed. With this approach, people may hear good reports, and they act like they don’t exist, or don’t matter.

Being agnostic about renewals tends to be fearfully passive and moribund, or suspiciously shrunk down to the safest unit possible– yourself. Like Elijah, there can be a lack of self-awareness with this approach since God is doing many unseen things all the time (cf. 1 Kings 19:18). This approach tends toward dead orthodoxy (that is therefore unorthodox), ‘the frozen chosen’, and the death of missions.

Productive Not Parasitical

In Michael Allen’s book, he contrasts the two ways that reform can take place. He says that reforms can take place productively or parasitically. I found this distinction very helpful. When we consider reformation, revival, and renewal, we always want to be seeking productive change, not parasitical change. A renewal is parasitical if it is merely feeding off of the spiritual productivity of a previous renewal. If the calls for change are parasitical then they are bound to bring serious spiritual decline. An example of this is how the Second Great Awakening was largely parasitical on the miraculous events of the First Great Awakening.

If the renewal we seek is productive we can hope for better. The good of a previous renewal can be built upon, while the errors and sins of the mixed legacy can be sifted, recanted and repented of.

An example of a productive renewal is what has been called the Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR) movement or the reformed renewal. The reformed renewal has had a productive growth for over half a century. It began after WWII, rose alongside of neo-evangelicalism, and took over the conservative wing of the evangelical movement. Now at a peak, the Young, Restless and Reformed are not so young anymore. All along, there has been a largely productive renewal that has occurred. Now the mixed nature of the renewal is starting to be recognized as visible success has not guaranteed enduring faithfulness. But on the whole, the stream represented by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, JI Packer, John Piper, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler and Mark Dever has been a productive renewal.

Gratitude for Renewals and Revivals

When we recognize the mixed legacy of renewals and revivals, we can give thanks to God for what they are, not what they are not. Revivals are not heaven on earth. We shouldn’t treat them like that. Revivals have not ushered in global Christianization, so we shouldn’t act as if they will.

But we can give thanks to God for the good soil and lasting fruit of those who are truly saved in the midst of renewals. We can be filled with gratitude for what God has done, and hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ as the abiding source of all good kingdom work.

With that kind of gratitude, we will be expectant of the Holy Spirit to bring new awakenings and new transformations as the ingathering of God’s people continues, awaiting the consummation of our renewal unhindered before the face of God for eternity. The affliction of reversals won’t even compare. Instead, we will come to realize that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17).

Suggested Book