The Exaltation of God is the Hope of the Christian

This is an encouraging sermon by David Mathis, pastor of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, entitled: God Can Handle Your Crisis. The message is an exposition of Psalm 46.

It can be viewed on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/qAD-Z2rq_ss

 

Here are some quotable quotes from Mathis:

 

“If God’s people can be without panic when the ground shifts, and the seas rage, and the nations rage, then we can face any crisis with confidence.”

 

“Whatever trouble comes, Psalm 46 tells us, with its first word, where to turn. Not to a change in circumstances. Not to our best efforts to fix the problem. Not to our anxious strategies to avoid pain and loss. But rather, to God.”

 

“One of the overwhelming effects of Psalm 46 — perhaps the chief effect of the psalm — is that it communicates to our souls: ‘Your God is strong, with infinite strength.’”

 

“He is not only strong, with infinite strength, but he’s present to help in trouble. And not just present, but ‘very present,’ attentively present.”

 

“For every crisis we face in Christ, and all its darkness, God has a dawn designed. He will help when morning dawns. Your dawn will come. God’s help does not mean that his people are kept from crisis, but that he keeps us through crisis. In his perfect timing, when the appointed morning dawns, he rescues his people from their trouble, having preserved them through the long night.”

 

“And he speaks into the chaos, into the raging and tottering, “Be still.” Lay down your weapons. Cease your warring and deconstruction. Cease your rage and disorder. Be still, which is first a rebuke to the raging nations, to our turbulent world . . . However, it is also a word to God’s people, who hear him say it to their foes, and read it in their Bibles. Be still, church.”

 

“For God’s covenant people in Israel back then, and for his covenant people today in Christ, our God’s exaltation is our salvation. His exaltation is our refuge and strength — and very present help in trouble.”

 

 

 

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David Mathis is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus (2022).

 

Guess the date?

 

To what generation was this written?

"There is an amazing ignorance of Scripture among many, and a consequent want of established, solid religion. In no other way can I account for the ease with which people are, like children, “tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad, and a morbid distaste for anything old and regular and in the beaten path of our forefathers. Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice and a new doctrine without considering for a moment whether what they hear is true. There is an incessant craving after any teaching which is sensational and exciting and rousing to the feelings. There is an unhealthy appetite for a sort of spasmodic and hysterical Christianity. The religious life of many is little better than spiritual dram–drinking, and the “meek and quiet spirit” which St. Peter commends is clean forgotten (1 Pet. 3:4). Crowds and crying and hot rooms and high–flown singing and an incessant rousing of the emotions are the only things which many care for. Inability to distinguish differences in doctrine is spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is “clever” and “earnest,” hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully “narrow and uncharitable” if you hint that he is unsound! [1]

This book on Holiness was written in 1877.  It could have been written in 2022.

John Charles Ryle (10 May 1816 – 10 June 1900) was an English evangelical Anglican bishop. "Bishop Ryle, as he is still affectionately known even by many who would not share his love of the Church of England, was essentially a lover and teacher of biblical truth. His uncompromising stand for evangelical doctrine and scriptural holiness often made him unpopular with those who favored new ideas and superficial practices." - Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones.

"And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5, ESV)"

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4, ESV)  

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1. Ryle, J. C. (1999). Holiness: it’s nature, hinderances, difficulties and roots (electronic ed. based on the Evangelical Press reprinting, with new forward, 1995.). Christian Classics Foundation.

The headline read: Elisabeth Hasselbeck returns to 'The View' and debates abortion with Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. Admittedly I don’t know anything about these ladies.  The name Whoopi Goldberg is familiar, and I have heard about this show called “The View”.  My comments therefore are not grounded in a lot of knowledge or backstory.  The article showed up in my Google news feed and it was the title that grabbed my attention.  I can’t write about anything beyond what is in the article.

Apparently, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, was a previous co-host and returned to the Show and the topic of the Kansas’ debate on whether to keep pro abortion rights in light of the recent dismantling of the Roe vs Wade decision by the US Supreme Court.

If the reporting is accurate, the author, Suzy Byrne, wrote: “Using religion in her response, Goldberg said, "As you know, God doesn't make mistakes. God made us smart enough to know when it wasn't going to work for us. That's the beauty of giving us freedom of choice."”

I have no desire to defame Hasselbeck.  In fact, I admire her courage and I applaud her use of adoption as an alternative to abortion.  My focus is on the phrase, “Using religion in her response.” My point is that although religion could be a response to the abortion debate, it is not the best nor is it the necessary response.  Prolife is not simply a religious conviction.

Scott Klusendorf writes, “The abortion controversy is not a debate between those who are pro-choice and those who are anti-choice. It’s not about privacy. It’s not about trusting women to decide. It’s not about forcing one’s morality. It’s about one question that trumps all others.”[1]

The question is, Is the unborn a human being or not?  That is not a religious question.  At its core that is a scientific question. I don’t think there is any reason to debate the issue with someone who admits the unborn to be human and is willing to take its life.  One would hope that this approach is fundamentally wrong on any level. So the real debate between so-called pro-choice and so-called pro-life is WHAT IS THE UNBORN?

Klussendorf has written a very compelling book entitled The Case for Life.  I think someone seriously committed to do what is morally right ought to read his book. It argues extensively, this point:

“The science of embryology is clear. From the earliest stages of development, the unborn are distinct, living, and whole human beings. Therefore, every “successful” abortion ends the life of a living human being.”[2]

“Leading embryology textbooks affirm this. Keith Moore and T. V. N. Persaud, in The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, a widely used embryology text, write that “human development begins at fertilization when a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoon) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to form a single cell— a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.”[3]

He goes on to quote T.W. Sdler’s Langman’s Embryology text that affirms that human life begins at fertilization.  He points the reader to a 1981, a U.S. Senate judiciary subcommittee that heard expert testimony on when human life begins. Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth of Harvard University Medical School told the subcommittee, “It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive. . . . It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.” Other expert citations are offered by Klussendorf and are important sources for the reader to examine.

“Embryology textbooks uniformly state that new human life comes into existence upon completion of fertilization.” [4] The scientific, embryonic research supports the conclusion that life begins at conception and human beings didn’t come from a fetus but are fetuses. So, the question of enquiry is clear: what is the unborn.  The scientific (not religious) response is that the unborn at every stage are human – not mature, but a complete, whole human being in its essence.   

“From conception onward, the human embryo is fully programmed, and has the active disposition, to develop himself or herself to the next mature stage of a human being,”[5] write Robert George and Patrick Lee.

So, as much as I admire and in principle will agree with Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s argument on The View, the pro-life position is not founded on religion, but on science.  “Pro-lifers don’t look to theology to tell them these things but to the science of embryology.”[6]  Where religion comes into the discussion is what follows when one has properly heard the science.  My question is, by what code of ethics or morality is it right to kill a defenseless human being without justification?  This is where Hasselbeck is correct. “"I believe our Creator assigns value to life, and that those lives have plan and purpose over them as designed by God that are not limited to the circumstances of conception, nor the situations they're born into."

If someone properly answers the question, “What is the unborn”, the morality is clear.  And this is where Hasselbeck’s solution is totally appropriate: adoption is a better pro-choice argument.

 

 

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[1] Scott Klusendorf. The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture (Kindle Locations 201-203). Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid, (Kindle Locations 555-557).

[3] Ibid, (Kindle Locations 565-568).

[4] Ibid,(Kindle Location 863).

[5] Robert P. George and Patrick Lee, “Acorns and Embryos,” The New Atlantis, No. 7, Fall 2004/ Winter 2005, 90-100; http:// www.thenewatlantis.com/ publications/ acorns-and-embryos.

[6] Scott Klusendorf. The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture (Kindle Locations 856-857). Kindle Edition.

Faking It With, “I’m Fine!”

It was the title that got my attention: No More Faking Fine – Ending the Pretending.  As it turned out the book was the life story of Esther Fleece, an autobiography, and it was a practical guide through the biblical practice of lament.  “Lament is how Christians grieve. It is how to help hurting people. Lament is how we learn important truths about God and our world. My personal and pastoral experience has convinced me that biblical lament is not only a gift but also a neglected dimension of the Christian life for many twenty-first-century Christians.”[1]

Esther begins No More Faking Fine with a story from her childhood—a moment which deeply impacted her. It was the day she began pretending. Over and over through the Bible, we read stories of lament. Stories where God’s people cried out to Him, demanding to know why. From the Israelites in Egypt to Job at Satan’s hands, God’s people lament. Some of the best laments are recorded in the Psalms. And it is these stories and laments that taught Esther to face her own pain and walk through it to help others.

The second and third part of the book, Esther looks at examples of lament prayers and then how lament moves forward to healing, respectively.  Jim Daly from Focus on the Family writes, “For many of us, when someone asks how we’re doing, our automatic response is “fine”—even when we aren’t. Esther Fleece transparently shares her story of “faking fine” until she couldn’t anymore—and how God has brought emotional healing as she learned to stop pretending. This is an encouraging and helpful book.”

Here are my quotations from the book that I think is impressive:

“Without lament, there is no joy.” (p. 15).

“Of course, the last thing I wanted was for anyone to know I felt this way. My busy days were spent performing and producing, keeping up appearances, praising God in public while wondering in private if He even cared.” (p. 18).

“The pressure to keep up is sometimes so significant that we default to everything being fine—even our unhappy lives . . ..”  (p. 31).

“I have learned through the years that God does not want just our happy; He also really wants our sad. Everything is not fine, and God wants to hear about it. He is drawn to us when we’re mourning and blesses us in a special way. God is not up there minimizing our pain and comparing it to others who have it worse than we do. God wants all pain to be surrendered to Him, and He has the capacity to respond to it all with infinite compassion.” (p. 35).

“Think of the people who say everything is “fine” all the time. How many times is “how are you?” asked in our church hallways and coffee times only to be responded with an automatic “good!”—even if it’s not true?” (p. 36).

“Laments don’t need to be carefully crafted prayers. Lament is the language that God has given us to use when we are hurting. It’s a language that sometimes means tears or groans or simply feeling an emotion.” (p. 76).

“Even though the psalmist was feeling despair, he chose to remember God’s goodness and His wonderful deeds. Could I try the same thing? Could I find something to praise God about? The enemy wants us to stay stuck in despair, but God wants our laments to lead into a deeper recognition and understanding of Him.” (p. 95).

“Far from a complaint, this lament is a bold declaration that God is present, hears, and is powerful to act on our behalf. “How long?” is an expression in Scripture of staking one’s hope in the only One who is able to save.” (p. 127).

“I was so used to sucking it up and making it on my own, and it became a gift when God made it clear that He no longer wanted me to live this way. God severs our “faking fine” tactics in order to show us a better way. I just didn’t see it at the time. We rarely do. (p. 178).

“You will know you are coming through a lament when you begin to hear a new song of praise.” (p. 206).

Esther Fleece Allan’s book, No More Faking Fine, Ending the Pretending is available on Amazon.  I’ve listened to several good sermons on Lamenting, both from my own Church and elsewhere.  A great series by the author of Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy Discovering the Grace of Lament, Mark Vroegop has a series online that can be found HERE.  A really helpful and moving book is, Lament for a Son, by Nicholas Wolterstorff. For students, Dr. Bruce Waltke’s, James M. Houston, and Erika Moore wrote a book, The Psalms as Christian Lament A Historical Commentary, which is an excellent commentary on Lament Psalms.    

“For to have a genuine human existence as God intended us to enjoy is to exercise lament before him. This is expressive of his sovereign grace, of our trust in his good purposes, and of our final destiny, to be transformed to the image of his Son.”[2]

 

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[1] Vroegop, Mark. Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy (p. 21). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

[2] Waltke, Bruce K.; Houston, James M.; Moore, Erika. The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary (p. 10). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.