One of the things we learned on Sunday was that God gave David grace to overcome fear, anxiety, and worry by regularly prioritizing one thing: abiding in God's presence, beholding His beauty/seeking His face, and fellowshipping with Him in prayer. What did it mean for David to behold His beauty? And how does this apply to us?

Although the tabernacle in Jerusalem was of a different configuration than the tabernacle in the wilderness, we can get an idea as to why David would associate seeing the beauty of the Lord in the context of the tabernacle. Before a priest could ever go into the tabernacle, to behold the beauty within, he would always have to come by way of the blood of an innocent sacrifice. The first stop would be at the brazen altar were the innocent sacrifices atoned for the sins of the guilty. For us, that is a reminder that our access to God was made possible due to the beautiful, sacrificial, and sufficient sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Himself. Because of Christ's death, we can now draw near to behold the beauty of all that God is in His holy, loving, faithful, and missional character.

As you would leave the altar of sacrifice, you would next approach the brazen laver and wash your feet and hands. For us, that would translate into our beholding the beauty of God in Christ by devoting ourselves to "the washing of the water of God's Word." This is foundational for beholding the beauty of God in Christ.

From there, the priest would enter the Holy Place where he would see the light shining from the Golden Lampstand lighting up the beauty of all of the gold and colored tapestry that was in the room. It was a reminder that the Lord Himself is our beautiful light and our salvation, and we need not be afraid. The priest would smell the fragrance coming from the altar of incense, which was a reminder of the importance of prayer being regularly lifted up to the Lord by God's people. And even better for us, a reminder of the intercession that Jesus Himself is forever and always making for us to the Father. Praying and being prayed for is a means of grace to see the beauty of God in the face of Christ! And the priest would also see and smell the bread on the table of showbread. Twelve loaves were placed here and were a constant reminder of God's presence and provision for all of His people, which for us points us to the beauty of Christ's Words that He would never leave us or forsake us and would always provide for us and sustain us.

The High Priest, once a year, would bring the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies,  representing absolute intimacy with the Lord in the presence of the glory of the Lord. The blood would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, which sat above the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. Thanks to the blood, the punishment for breaking the law was satisfied, and now mercy could be extended. Also in the Ark of the Covenant was Aaron's rod that budded, which foreshadowed the coming day when life would conquer death through the resurrection. And, there was some manna placed there too, reminding us that between the death of the innocent sacrifice and our future resurrection, God will provide for all that we need because He provided what we most needed in the salvation Christ has given us and will be faithful to finish what He began.

The more we remember the beauty of God and His glory in the face of Christ and His sacrifice, in meditating on the Word of God, in being guided by the light of Christ, in fellowshipping with God through the prayer and having assurance from Christ in His prayers for us, in feeding upon God's covenant love and faithfulness, in remembering that Christ satisfied the demands of the law through both perfect obedience and perfect sacrifice for us, that He is with us every moment and that He is coming again...it is easy to see how God would give us grace through Christ to overcome our fears, anxieties and worries. Seeing God's glory in the face of Jesus means that we have full assurance that our sins are forgiven and that in Christ, God is smiling over us with the smile of perfect welcome and acceptance and joy because we have been counted righteous in the righteousness of Jesus!!

Let's be a ONE THING church! Let's help each other be a ONE THING church! The Lord bless you, keep you, guard you, and guide you with His peace!!!

I am also so grateful to be a part of a church family that listens to sermons, not merely for what we can get out of them personally, but also for how we can be better equipped to love and serve one another in our church family and beyond.  I love Ps. 68:6 which reminds us that God provides a home for those who feel alone.  And that home is found among brothers and sisters in the local church!

Jesus said, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  Matt. 12:48-50.  God has given both singles and marrieds our truest and most eternal family in the church that He shed His own blood to save.  It is pure joy to watch our church family love and care for each other in this way.

The Lord bless you and keep you in His peace!

pb

Isaiah's belief caused him to see the glory of God in Christ. He saw God high and lifted up, seated on His sovereign throne.  He saw God's train filling the temple to communicate there is no God but the Lord.  He saw the Seraphim crying Holy, Holy Holy in worship, adoration and submission to His authority.  For Isaiah, believing meant more than just acknowledging the existence of God or believing in Him to be what they wanted Him to be.  Believing meant beholding God!!  Believing meant beholding God and becoming more like Him in His character and mission.  And Isaiah so treasured the God he believed in that he was willing to die for His name to be glorified.

For at least some of the Jewish leaders, their belief had not seemed to open their eyes to behold and treasure Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  They may have acknowledged privately that only Jesus was sent by God to do and say what He did.  But their private "belief"  wasn't enough for them to confess publicly that Jesus Christ was their Messiah and that they were willing to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow Him.  Matthew 10 says that if we deny having a relationship with Jesus before men, He will deny having a relationship with us before His Father. 

Believing in Jesus is so much more than just believing a few facts about Him.  Christ's gospel is not just the answer to an accounting problem.  We had a debt we could not pay.  He paid our debt in full.  We become debt free.  Someone can believe in those facts and yet not behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus.  Someone can believe in those facts yet not cherish, treasure, adore and obey Jesus.  

By God's great grace, a saving belief in Jesus opens our eyes to see the King in all of His beauty!!!  To see Him worthy of worship, adoration and obedience.  As we study the last week of Jesus' life leading up to the cross, may God open our eyes ever wider to behold His glory!!!

The above lyric is from one of my favorite hymns, "How Deep the Father's Love for Us."  After our study of John 12:2-19 this past Sunday, I have thought about how Jesus heard people shouting "Hosanna" on Palm Sunday and then "Crucify Him" on Good Friday.  We typically think that the Palm Sunday crowd is the same group of people as the Good Friday crowd.  

I was intrigued by some thoughts that Kevin Deyoung shared about this.  

"It is almost certainly the case that these crowds were not made up of the same people. Notice that a large crowd had come to the feast, heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, and they went out to meet Him. We read later in vs. 17 that the crowd that had been with Him when He raised Lazarus from the dead, continued to bear witness of Jesus. These are people who had either seen Jesus and were at some stage enamored with Him, or these were Galilean pilgrims who had come and had followed Jesus ministry. By contrast, later when the crowd calls “crucify Him,” it’s not the pilgrims, but rather those in Jerusalem, and more specifically, John mentions the chief priests, the officers and other Jewish leaders.  The sin of this crowd then, was largely the sin of omission rather than commission.  It is not so much what they did but what they didn't do.  Many of the people likely stood in guilty silence, failing to confess Jesus as their King, rather than chanting with bloodthirsty cries to crucify Him." 

Which crowd do you think you would have been in? Sadly, I would have been a good candidate for both crowds. I have come to the conviction that every sin I commit is, in its essence, a non-verbal expression of "crucify Him".  Sin is a declaration of self-rule and when I sin, I am clearly wanting nothing to do with Jesus' Lordship over my life at that moment. I can very much identify with the lyric, "Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers."  But I am as guilty of the sin of omission as I am the sin of commission. How often I have had the opportunity to confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior and share the gospel with others, but I made a willful choice to remain silent because of the fear of man.  

I could not be more thankful that Christ's death paid the price for all of my sins and that I can joyfully sing the last verse of "How Deep the Father's Love for Us", 

"I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom. 
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection. 
Why should I gain from His reward? 
I cannot give an answer. 
But this I know with all my heart,
His wounds have paid my ransom." 

-pb

Since our study of John 12:1-11 last Sunday, I am still being affected about how influential Judas was in manipulating the opinions of the other disciples about whether someone can worship Jesus "too much".  On the heels of Mary's pouring out the entire contents of the perfume that was worth one year of salary as an expression of unconditional sacrifice, unlimited devotion and unashamed adoration of Jesus, Judas immediately protested about how wasteful Mary's sacrifice was. And it almost seemed the entire room erupted in angry agreement.

John 12:4-6
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it." 

Mark 14:4-5
4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her."   

Matthew 26:8-9
8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

The three accounts seem to indicate that Judas' opinion about when something was wasteful versus when it was worshipful was the loudest voice that informed and shaped the response of even the disciples. Are there ever times in our lives when we value the opinions of others about how we worship Jesus more than we value the Jesus we worship? It seems that our world has no problem with some form of worship of Christ as long as it is in moderation. But it is also a world that has no problem with too much wealth or power or sex. And it is a world that has a big problem with too much Christianity. You can be any kind of Christian you want, as long as you are not "too Christian".

Mary's sacrifice, devotion, and adoration was very much in proportion to the worth of Jesus as her Lord and Savior. It was Judas' idea of worship and waste that was way out of proportion to the infinite worth of Jesus. We cannot love, sacrifice for, be devoted to, or adore Jesus too much...not if we are worshipping Him for all He is worth! Lord, please give us the grace to know and worship you more like Mary!

This Sunday our text is John 12:12-19. 

The Lord bless you and keep you in His peace!!! 

I can't wait to see you and worship with you!

-pb

All of this while facing his own health challenges and trying to care for and protect his family. During most of this time, he was providing end of life care for his aging father, who just recently went to be with the Lord.In addition to large numbers of the population dying from COVID-19, we have been told over 130 pastors have died as well, creating an even greater void and need for pastoral leadership in the many growing churches across the country.

Throughout the last 18 months, Sovereign Grace has been able to come alongside our churches in Nepal and care for them, and our partner and his churches wish to say a big thank you to Sovereign Grace Churches for the financial support provided during this crisis. These funds have been used in his church directly, since giving has been significantly impacted, and have been able to provide food and medical care to those most affected by COVID-19, as well as temporary financial support to several pastors in remote areas. Thank you so much!!

In God's kindness, He is using this time in surprising ways. With travel in Nepal restricted, providing care and resources to pastors and churches in remote areas is a real challenge. This has meant that many have had to innovate and figure out the technical challenges of living in a virtual world, and so Pastors are learning to use Zoom or other virtual options for the first time.

This has allowed our primary partner pastor the ability to connect with some 50-60 pastors around the country for weekly Zoom meetings, where he can care for these pastors and equip them through focused Bible studies. We were recently invited to participate in these pastoral Zoom meetings and work through our 7 shared values. God is so kind to us and what a joy it is to share these things with these brothers! Getting used to using this medium has also enabled these pastors to provide care to their flocks while physical gatherings are prohibited.

The situation is still so difficult and the need for on-going prayer and support is still great. Here are some ways you can get involved:

• Pray for our church planting pastor and the churches he serves
• Take time on a Sunday morning to share about the situation in Nepal and pray corporately
• Adopt an unreached people group in Nepal and pray for that group (Joshua Project or Operation World are great resources for evaluating the opportunities)
• Give to the Sovereign Grace Missions Fund so that more of our partnering pastors and churches around the world can experience the benefit of partnering together in gospel ministry

Thank you, Sovereign Grace Churches, for the ways you have generously and graciously showed God’s love for the church in Nepal.

Every Sunday, we gather corporately and sing together in order to magnify the greatness of God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit (adapted from Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin).  There is no other moment in your schedule like gathering together with the people of God to sing together with the people of God the greatness of God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. In this unique moment God means to manifest His presence and power to us as we fix our attention on who He is, what He’s done, and what He promises to do. God does not intend for this time to be a cold calculation of facts and data about Him or mere intellectual analysis.  Nor does He intend for this time to be an emotion-driven, feel-good, mental-emptying time. Nor is it a time of getting lost in the music or swept up in something amorphous, ill-defined, or unclear. We don’t gather to sing, as someone once said, “prom songs to Jesus.” Nor do we elevate one particular musical style as the mark of true worship. We sing because we have something to sing about! That reality should move us to sing vibrantly and expressively. It should stir our affections for God.  It should build our faith and refocus our hearts.   

When this happens, God’s presence is manifested in our midst.  We know God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), but God is particularly present (manifestly present) when we gather to sing His greatness in Christ through the power of the Spirit. This is part of what God sent the Holy Spirit to do.  In our corporate worship, the Spirit comes to bring the very presence of God himself into an experienced reality on a wider scale.  This reality is something that’s unique to when we gather together as His people.  It cannot be experienced in the same way on our own in our bedroom. Praise God for private moments with Him, but God’s people are also meant to gather and experience Him being manifestly present with them.   

Christ makes this a reality. Worship leaders and pastors can point us in the right direction and show us where to fix our eyes. They can help us see things and understand things about God from His Word.  But only Jesus brings us into God’s presence.   

Heb. 10:19   Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 

By his sacrificial death for our sins and triumphant resurrection, he opened the way to God the Father.  We come to God on his merits, not our own.  He brings us in, not the swell of the music or the skill of the leader. If you’re feeling “dead” in worship, look to Jesus and remember what He has done.  You don’t have to wait for your favorite song or for the pastor to shout louder in the middle of the song.  Christ Instead, fix your attention on the truth about God in the songs we are singing and sing those out with all your heart despite how you feel. Because what’s true about God is true whether we’re feeling it to be true or not. We sing because we always have something to sing about.  

We don’t want to be a church where all we do is stand there and look, while the people on stage do the music and the singing. That makes church look more like a concert or a performance.  Col. 1:18 reminds us that Christ is our head and that He must be preeminent in all things. We long to be a church where Christ is so preeminent that our expression of his preeminence comes out in our worship of Him when we sing.  We don’t want to just give lip service to his preeminence. We want his preeminence to translate into real affection for God and expressive worship of Him.   

SINGING AND EMOTION 

God has made us emotional creatures and when he relates to us, he relates to our whole being.  Emotions are a part of that. God means for us to FEEL the realities of what we sing, not just remember them. Emotion and vivid expression are all over the book of Psalms. Our emotional engagement is not inherently bad or something to be stifled. We should also be aware that our sin nature pushes us to be led by our emotions instead of by truth and God’s word.  The Psalms teach us how to do that as well. What we see is that when we are led by truth from God’s word, right emotions should follow.  Truth, not how we feel at any given moment, is what compels us. We don’t want to be emotion-driven, we want to be word-driven. But being word-driven should still have some impact on our emotions. In the Bible, God’s victories and triumphs are celebrated with song.  As Bob Kauflin has said “Magnifying God’s greatness begins with the proclamation of objective, biblical truths about God, but it ends with the expression of deep and holy affections toward God.” (from Worship Matters) Likewise, John Piper writes, “The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of the feelings and emotions and affections of the heart . . . Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.” (from Desiring God) 

SINGING AND EXPRESSION 

Expressiveness in worship is not a cultural phenomenon that we learned from watching YouTube vides of a cool church or because it’s a tradition we grew up doing.  Physical expression in worship is a Biblical category.  In a concert, someone lifting their hands and closing their eyes means they’re really into the music.  That’s NOT why we do that in worship.  We are affirming truth and telling our hearts and God how much we need to know this and remember this and be stirred by it, not usually because we ARE, but because we are NOT. Again, Bob Kauflin writes, “When we experience a lack of desire for God or an inner dullness, our greatest need is to fill our minds with truths about God, especially as he’s revealed himself to us in the gospel. But our bodies are another way God has given us to stir up our hearts to respond rightly to his glory. Bowing my head, lifting my hands, or kneeling down can remind me of the humility, gratefulness, and awe I should feel that Jesus has redeemed me.” (from Worship Matters)   

WORSHIP TEAM INVOLVEMENT 

How can you get involved in helping God’s people do this?  Maybe God has given you a musical gift or a technical mind or a strong singing voice, consider serving the church with that gift.  Submit that gift humbly before the Lord and let’s talk about whether that gift might be a good fit for our worship team.   

We say in our worship team application “The worship team exists to magnify the greatness of God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit with our songs and with our lives.”  All our worship team members must be believers in Jesus Christ.  Their commitment to Jesus should be demonstrated and lived out in their commitment to and care for one local church.  This is expressed through church membership and a signing of the church covenant – our mutual commitment to love and care for one another as a body.  Worship team involvement in any capacity is a matter of service, stewardship and setting an example.  

From the audio-visual team to the worship leader, we do what we do to serve the people of God when we gather together. We want God and the gospel to pre-eminent.  On AV, we strive for excellence because we want to minimize anything that would distract God’s people from seeing and worshiping God and hearing the gospel.  We say “The best audio mix and lyric projection is the one no one notices.”  We are God’s servants for your sake (2 Cor. 4:5). On stage, we sing and lead as members of the body of Christ singing together with you. We say: “The most important voice in the room is the ONE voice out there.” Our singing, our playing, our harmonizing is a summons to the church to look to Jesus and worship him with us. Because this is our goal, we have musical and vocal standards that should be met. We want to avoid (as best we can) distracting the church with bad singing or bad playing. We are not expecting or even striving for perfection – only God is perfect! But in general, our skill level should serve and not be a distraction.  So we have and audition process for any new team members and require certain standards of commitment, like church membership, church involvement and church attendance. If you’re interested in learning more, you can email us at office@sgcmidland.org to talk to any of our worship leaders for more info.

Social media has given modern man an avenue to express himself on issues of global importance. For many, this is the only way to feel like you’re really doing something about the issue. Get on social media, tell everyone what you think, invite people in advance to unfriend you if they don’t like what you have to say, and then proceed to tell the world what you think. And once you’re done, especially if your post gets a lot of engagement, you can really feel like you made a difference. Taken a step further, we are told by the culture right now that if we don’t say something about important issues, we are not making a difference. We obviously don’t care. If we did, we would speak up. In fact, the fact that we didn’t speak up actually communicates that we agree with whatever wrong or injustice is currently happening, simply because we didn’t get on social media and speak our mind about it. “Silence IS complicity.”

Silence is Sometimes Complicity… 

There are times when silence may indeed be complicity. If someone is being mistreated right in front of us and we don’t speak up or say something, that is a problem. We should not be like those who “passed by on the other side” when they walked up to a man who was bloodied and beaten and lying in the street (Lk. 10:25-37). At some point and in some situations, NOT acting is sin. Silence may be complicity. I think Jesus might have added another character to the parable if he were speaking today: “Finally, a young social justice warrior came along. Seeing the man lying in the street, he was filled with pity and compassion. He took several pictures and went live with some video as tears filled his eyes, but he quickly passed by on the other side so he could write an emotionally charged FB post about all the unjust suffering happening in the world right now and how everyone needs to take a stand against it (like he is doing).” This person might’ve said in his post that “silence is complicity” but he would be mistaking social media “volume” for actual action. Despite a public rant about injustice, he was actually silent when given the chance to do something about it. And Jesus would hold him accountable for not being a neighbor to the man. Silence sometimes is complicity.

…But Not Always

But is silence always complicity? Is the only way to show you actually care about something is by speaking publicly about it on social media? More importantly, will God hold us accountable for what we didn’t say on social media about some injustice? This kind of thinking, which is pervasive especially among younger generations, is crushing and it’s not how the Bible calls us to walk out our faith.

It is what Kevin DeYoung calls “the terror of total obligation” (see his book Crazy Busy). Meaning, there’s a whole lot more that we can care about than we can actually do something about. (Bear in mind that “doing”, in most cases these days, just means “posting.”) Our capacity to care will always be greater than our capacity to do. Care is a heart thing that can expand or contract, that can grow and deepen, or shrink and close up. Christians can and should grow in their care for other people. But “Do” is a time thing. That means it is limited by 24 hours in a day. Time won’t grow or stretch to accommodate our caring hearts. There’s almost no limit to how much you can care, but there is a definite limit to how much you can do.

Don’t let people pressure you into thinking “if you really cared you’d do something about it.” That’s just not true. We can care about a whole lot and care deeply. But we won’t always be in a position to actually do something about the things and people we care about. That’s just a reflection of our human limitations. You can probably think of a number of things right now that you really care about. If I asked you which of those things are you actually doing something about, it would probably be a small percentage. But this should not lead you into guilt!

It is manipulative to say “you must not truly care about the other things because if you did, you’d be doing something about them.” The fact of the matter is that you may genuinely care, but for a number of (hopefully) legitimate reasons, you can’t always do something about it. If you’re faithfully fulfilling your priorities, as a mother for example, you’re doing what you should be doing. If you can do other things that you care about without hindering your ability to be faithful with the most important things, then more power to you! As the Lord gives you the position and opportunity and influence to “do” something, faithfulness may mean doing that something. But we should be careful about placing a higher value on our online “voice” than it actually has. We should be careful about neglecting the more important things to take on the things that merely look and sound more important, when judged by our actual influence and reach.

I fear that people often spend more time ranting on social media, engaging in arguments, posting about issues, etc. than they do loving and caring for the people right in front of them – the child who needs their undivided attention, the job task that requires your faithful and full mental engagement, the co-worker who’s hurting next to you, the spouse who’s grown weary of the hollow shell you’ve become from being absorbed with self-imposed social media “obligations” to “take a stand.” It’s often easier to escape into a virtual world and feel a greater, but false, sense of accomplishment than it is to engage with the real and actual people and issues that are right in front of us. The former feels epic; the latter feels mundane and hard. Fueled by the lie that silence is complicity, we rush past what’s right in front of us to do and say and take a stand, perhaps more to ease a guilty conscience than to actually make a substantial difference. The chance to make the actual, substantial, real difference was probably right there all along and we missed it. 

So if you or someone you know guilts you into doing something just to prove you really care, consider the primary areas of reach and influence in which God is calling you to be faithful. Make sure you’re being faithful there. It’s okay if you don’t speak up and speak out on every issue that surfaces. Silence does not always equal complicity. Care does not always mean do. Can does not always mean should.

In Romans 14, food and religious calendars are the focal illustration of Paul’s teaching on how to handle secondary matters. I suppose most people would agree when we say that secondary matters should not divide us or that they should not be exalted to a place of primary importance. But the real rub happens over what should be considered a secondary matter. People arguing over an issue can speak past each other because one of them believes the issue is primary and the other does not. The divide over the issue itself can feel much wider than it is because they have different starting points.

In the case of the Christians at Rome, the so-called secondary matter was something that came straight out of the Bible. The temptation to see that as primary was very real. Many of the issues that Christians divide over today (such as wearing a mask or practicing social distancing or gun control or homeschooling) are not issues that come straight out of the Bible! Biblical principle and Biblical teaching can certainly guide us into the best and most Biblically faithful positions on these matters. But the fact that the Bible does not directly tell us what to do on some things should help us keep our position in its proper place. When we do that, unity will be preserved and the gospel will enjoy a place at the center of Christian fellowship, where it belongs.

Here are a few thoughts that seem clear from Romans 14:

1. The Bible itself allows room for secondary issues to exist among believers. One does this…another does that (Rom. 14:2-6) But one should not “despise” the other or “pass judgment” on the other for his position. Paul made it very clear in these examples that, objectively speaking, both positions were biblically tenable. It is possible for people on opposite sides of an issue to be faithfully following God without sinning. Back to the original question: How do we know if something truly is a secondary matter? Whenever two positions are Biblically valid (do not violate the clear command of Scripture), the issue being debated is a secondary matter. The more passionately we may feel about an issue, the less secondary it feels to us. That’s when we must return to the authority of Scripture and not the authority of our feelings. Paul has a category for matters “of first importance” and he allows zero flexibility on those matters. But in this other category (secondary matters) he allows great flexibility, even allowing opposite views to coexist, precisely because the issue itself is secondary.
2. Anytime Christians in a local church divide over secondary issues, it is a primary problem. It is right and good to study Scripture and come to conclusions on secondary matters. “Each one should be convinced in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5). But what Paul is much more concerned about than the secondary issue itself is holding one’s objectively non-gospel “opinion” on a secondary issue in such a way that leads to sinning against one’s neighbor or in a way that causes division. We can hold our views in a way that allows certain sins to thrive: self-righteousness, showing favoritism to some, condemning others, burdening others with obligations that the Bible doesn’t burden them with, implying agreement with you is necessary for true fellowship, etc. When that happens, that person has elevated his position on a secondary matter to a place of primary importance. That’s a way bigger problem for Paul than what you think about the issue itself. If the issue is a secondary matter (or tertiary matter), Paul sees division caused by the issue as a primary problem. He says that doing this actually “destroys the work of God” (Rom. 14:20).
3. It is right and good to personally embrace and apply our position on a secondary matter without imposing that position on others. Even when the issue in question is secondary, that doesn’t mean it’s not important or what you believe doesn’t matter. In fact, he argues that it would actually be wrong for someone to violate his conscience or go against his personally held opinion on the secondary matter. That is, once you’re “fully convinced in your own mind” on a secondary matter, it’s important to stand on that personally and not go against that; and it’s equally important not to impose that on others. “The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.” Your position becomes a matter of faith for you personally - you have faith to take this position and you don’t have faith to take the opposite side. So if you go against your own position, it would actually be sin for you because “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23) and “whoever doubts is condemned already” (Rom. 14:23).

SUMMARY

Faith versus doubt on a secondary issue is a matter of conscience. The Bible has much to say on the role of conscience. (See Andy Naselli’s excellent book for a fuller treatment of this subject Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ.) Without using that particular word in this chapter, issues of conscience seems to be Paul’s focus. He affirms the positive role of conscience while warning about sin’s impact on conscience and our tendency to invest far too much authority in conscience, even to the point of imposing our conscience on others. The overruling guidelines are “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Ro. 14:5b) and “let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Ro. 14:19b).

Here are some passages that I pray could encourage your heart today:

“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.  Habakkuk 2:4

Your faithfulness is for all generations; You established the earth, and it stands firm.
91 They stand today in accordance with Your judgments, for all things (triumphs and trials) are Your servants.  Psalm 119:90-91

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.  Habakkuk 3:17-19

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  Hebrews 4:14-16

As I was praying for you yesterday, particularly for those whose vocation is in oil and gas, as well as for the rest of us who will be affected by the ripple effects of how this will impact our local economy, I sensed the Holy Spirit calling me to face my fears about the reality of unprecedented oil prices by fixing my eyes on an even greater reality.  We serve a God whose providence is His precedent even when our circumstances appear so uncertain.  Unprecedented oil prices may be uncharted territory for us, but we follow a Great Shepherd who has walked the path of sorrow and suffering before us, and who will forever and always guide us as we walk on that path and reminds us that He is the maker of the path!  Psalm 23:3b-4 says, “...He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  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.”  Sometimes the paths of righteousness Christ is taking us through includes paths through the valley of the shadow of death.  But let not your hearts be troubled…we will not fear because Christ is with us!

What does God’s providence mean to us?  The Heidelberg Catechism, Day 10 provides us with a rich blessing here!  Question 27:  What do you understand by the providence of God?  Answer: God's providence is his almighty and ever present power, whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.   Question 28:  What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by his providence?  Answer:  We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from his love; for all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move.

My precious SGC family, God was preparing our hearts for this.  I would encourage you to go back and listen again to the sermons between March 15 - April 19.  I think you will discover that God’s fatherly providence was at work through His Word to strengthen our faith and our confident assurance in His love and plan.  The sermon from March 29 from the book of Habakkuk is a wonderful example of God’s preparatory care for us.  It was called, “How God Uses a Crisis to Bring Clarity to the Christian Life”.  The main point was, ”God uses a crisis to clarify that the foundation of the Christian’s life is faith in Christ alone as our salvation, satisfaction and strength.”

  Circumstances may get worse before they get better…

• If you recall, one of the points God made to Habakkuk was that sometimes, in His providence, circumstances may get worse before they get better.  God was using Habakkuk’s current and future trials to bring clarity to what it meant to follow God.  “The righteous shall live by their faith."  Hab. 2:4.  Notice that it does not say, the righteous will live by their great faith!  I don’t know about you, but there are many days that my faith is not even close to great.  BUT…my little faith is in a GREAT AND FAITHFUL GOD!  Our God is working all things together for His glory, our godly good and the advancement of His unstoppable mission to seek and save the lost!!!

God’s character is our counselor…

• Habakkuk was facing circumstances that appeared to him to be unprecedented.  God was going to use the Babylonians, a very sinful and idolatrous people, to bring discipline to His beloved nation of Israel.  Instead of fixing his eyes on his unprecedented circumstances, God called Habakkuk to fix his eyes on the precedent of His fatherly and faithful providence.  From chapter 2:5 - 3:16, Habakkuk meditated on the character of God…God’s character was his counselor.  He reflected on how God ruled over creation and in His compassion, rescues sinners from the judgment they deserve.  And He prays…”Do it again God…bring a revival of righteousness…not merely a rescue from circumstances.”  Hab. 3:1-2     In the trial we are currently facing, let’s make sure we are placing our faith and hopes in God’s desire to make us more like Christ and not in our desired outcomes for how or when the trial should end.

When God is all you have…you discover that God is all you need…

• God uses a crisis to strip away all we thought we had to have in order to have a happy life.  He does this so that we can more deeply discover that true life, joy and purpose are found in Him alone.  Charles Spurgeon said, “The unbeliever blesses God if He gives him plenty.  But the Christian blesses Him when He smites him; he believes Him to be too wise to err and too good to be unkind.  He trusts Him where he cannot trace Him.  He looks up to Him in the darkest hour and believes that all is well.”  Habakkuk turns his waiting into worship when he declares, “though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls…YET…I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation!”   Don Carson encourages us with this, "Habakkuk resolves that, however great the privation he must suffer along with the covenant community, he will delight all the more in God.  It is almost as if the threatened loss of all material blessings and security drives him to enjoyment of God Himself:  there is nothing and no one else to rely on, and therefore nothing to mask the enjoyment of God that ought to be the believer’s focus.  Firm resolve this may be; grim resolution it is not.  It is the resolution of one who’s eyes have been opened to see where his delight should have been in the first place.”  Don Carson

God is our strength and our wisdom for this trial…

• ”God my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!”  Hab. 3:17  Let’s do all we can to help one another focus on the grace, mercy, strength and wisdom God wants to give us for today.  God has not given us grace for tomorrow.  As Ed Welch says, “Can you understand why you worry when you think about tomorrow? You worry because you don’t have what you need yet. If you imagine tomorrow’s misery without tomorrow’s manna, of course you are going to worry. Tomorrow’s manna isn’t on the ground yet. You have manna for today only. In his great wisdom, God doesn’t give you tomorrow’s manna today. Otherwise you would forget him and trust in yourself.” – Ed Welch  God does not provide us with grace for the “what ifs” of tomorrow but provides us with lavish grace, mercy, wisdom and strength for “what is” for today.

Draw near to the throne of grace…

• In Allen’s excellent sermon from April 19, 2020, he highlighted Hebrews 4:14-16:  "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”    

God’s fatherly providence is the precedent we stand upon when facing unprecedented trials.  God has been preparing us for today.  God is using today to prepare us for all we will face in all our tomorrows.  God never intended His people to walk through these trials by themselves.  He has provided His empowering presence through His Spirit.  He has provided His Word to comfort, encourage and equip us.  He has provided His church to help us bear one another’s burdens and to exhort one another to love and good deeds in making disciples.  Please don’t suffer in silence!  Hugh, Allen and I stand ready to do anything we can to serve, encourage, comfort and equip you.  Please contact us if you would like to talk.  Please contact us if you feel the need for some counseling to help you with both your circumstances and with your growth as a follower of Jesus.