Redeemer Bible Church Blog

Fundamentals of a Healthy Christian Marriage: LOVE

Love God and Love your Spouse

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, Hopes all things, endures all things.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Christian marriage was designed by God as a basic part of how men and women should relate to each other. We were created by God for relationships, and Christian marriage is at the center of this design. This enduring relationship was instituted by God before sin entered the world. It was put in place for our good and God’s glory. It was designed to press us toward godliness and to make society possible. I say Christian marriage to be specific in my biblical definition – marriage between one biological man and one biological woman. Any other definition departs from God’s intention and purpose. This will be the first in a series of articles reminding us of the foundations of a strong Christian marriage and practical ways that we can strengthen the joy and endurance of our marriages.

There are three basic foundations to a healthy, joyful, and life-giving Christian marriage. These foundations are love, service, and forgiveness. If you keep these fundamentals in focus, your marriage can maintain a strong even keel throughout the decades. But we all know that pressures, tragedy, and sin enter in to undermine our marriages. I strongly encourage you to return to fundamentals when you or your spouse know something has been lost in the joyful step of your marriage. Begin with these three fundamentals. This week I’ll start with love.

Love is the foundation of Christian marriage because love is the master virtue of the Christian life and the first fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We’ve all seen loveless marriages. Couples sitting at dinner on their phones, totally disengaged from each other. Couples that sit together with obvious distance from each other and seem to never touch each other. Couples that always make sure to have the kids between them when taking pictures. Couples that intentionally live separated lives by workplace or schedule. Couples that constantly take shots at each other to undermine and accuse. Marriages that have deteriorated into business relationships that revolve around raising children or preserving pensions. The love has gone out. Marriage without love is a tragedy, but sadly there are zombie marriages all around us – marriages that died long ago but go on in a state of active death. 

If any of these things describe your marriage the world will tell you that divorce is the answer. You should go find someone else that will better meet your needs. But God hates divorce and selfishness. Instead, there must be a return to the foundations of Christian marriage to assess what has gone wrong and labor by God’s grace to restore what has been lost. This is possible, will turn your heart toward the Lord, and result in joy the world cannot know. 

Let’s begin with the origin of love. Love is the first and primary fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This means that in Christ the Holy Spirit gives us love. He teaches us how to love and by His sanctifying work strengthens us to love when we ordinarily would not. This means that you cannot love your spouse in the beautiful and life-giving way that you should without the work of the Holy Spirit. Foundationally this means two things. First, if you have not put your faith and trust in Christ Jesus for salvation you are not a Christian and do not have the power of God’s Spirit indwelling your life. You are instead attempting to live the Christian life without the power of God to enable you. You will fail in this moralistic attempt. No man or woman can walk in the glorious and good ways of Jesus with out the strength of the Holy Spirit. Second, the path to love in marriage is not directly through action toward your spouse. The primary step is toward abiding in Christ (John 15). Only when you learn to love Jesus will you learn to love your spouse in the perfect way of Jesus. 

The primary way that a husband and wife walk in love together is by going in the same direction. When husband and wife are both seeking hard after Jesus this aligns their lives. They are both pulling in the same direction under an authority higher than themselves. This is never an equal pull. One spouse or the other will seek harder after Jesus at various times over the years of marriage, but this is where two are better than one. This is where you pray for, encourage, and point each other toward Jesus. When one is weak the other will be strong, but together you seek Jesus and in seeking Jesus your hearts become united in love. Be humble before Jesus in His word. Be together in church more. Be in small group more often with your spouse. Simply walking in these habits consistently over years will do more for the love and joy of your marriage than intervention counseling. These are healthy habits that cultivate love through spiritual formation and togetherness. 

After committing to these basic spiritual steps, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives the practical map for how you ought to demonstrate Christian love toward your spouse. These steps are self-sacrificing and will require you to call out to Jesus for change in your life, but we also know that these ways are good and beautiful. We know that Jesus is right to call us to these ways. God help us! I strongly urge you to look carefully at this passage and labor over how to practically act in these ways toward your spouse. By practically and authentically living these ways out toward your spouse you ARE loving your spouse.

Patient / not irritable: Bear with your spouse and do not lose your temper – no matter what! Pray for self-control to tame your impatient, angry, and irritable tongue. 

Kindness: Whereas patience may be the absence of anger, kindness turns this to the positive. By kindness you actively work to bless your spouse through actions that show love. This is also directly spoken of as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Does not envy: In love you rejoice in every success and advancement of your spouse. You genuinely want to see their life blossom and grow. You never ever want to advance yourself at their expense. Their success is as your own success. Instead of envy, you should be your spouse’s biggest fan!

Does not boast / is not arrogant: Boasting consists of exalting yourself at the expense of others. You raise up yourself by putting others down. This can never happen in marriage. In marriage you should instead be ever-praising your spouse. You should go out of your way to publicly and privately speak highly of your spouse.

Is not rude: When you are rude, you are not putting others first. Rudeness displays a lack of self-control and specifically demonstrates that you don’t care about embarrassing or offending your spouse. 

Does not insist on its own way: It’s one thing to express your desire about an issue of taste or conviction, but in love you should never insist that such decisions go your way. This is selfishness and shows a lack of respect for your spouse and their preferences. In love, there should be a give and take that shows respectful deference to each spouse at different times.

Not resentful: Love does not bear grudges. In Christ we forgive sins. I’ll address that at length in a few weeks.

Rejoicing in truth: You should rejoice with your spouse in every victory, in every achievement, and in every step forward in their life. Look for ways to celebrate growth and progress in their life. Never relish failure or sin in their life, pressing them down further into the ditch when they are already low.

Bear, believe, hope, endure: When you vow “for better or worse” to love and honor your spouse, you are pledging yourself to this last section concerning love. Hard times will come. Storms will batter the house, but when your foundation is on Jesus the house will not fall. Always give your spouse the benefit of the doubt. Believe what they tell you. Hope in the future, setting your hope fully on Christ Jesus (1 Peter 1:13). Endure hardship together with your spouse. Face the trouble of the day as the two of you against the world – not the two of you against each other.

If you are walking with Jesus and actively living these things out, the Holy Spirit will bear a beautiful love in your marriage. If you refuse these ways, and turn away from Christ, love will dry up in your marriage. Let’s focus this week on the fundamental of love in our marriages!

Church Foundations
“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as it is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.”
2 Thessalonians 1: 3-4
 

When I read these verses from Paul, I think of Redeemer Bible Church. It is such a privilege to play a part in leading this church. I give thanks daily for what God is doing in our midst, and I pray that the Lord will continue His beautiful work of salvation and sanctification in our hearts. Throughout 2023, I have seen powerful evidence of people growing abundantly in faithful obedience to Jesus and in loving service toward one another. As we move into our fifth year together, I love to tell the story to others about what God is doing in our midst! As the work increases, it is important that we all be reminded of our foundations – the distinctive traits that make us who we are as a church.
 
Expository Bible Preaching and Teaching: We understand who God is through the revelation of His word in the Bible. We are not ashamed of the Bible. The word of the Lord is eternal, while the words of people are quickly passing away. The best way to study and preach the Bible is to study and preach it as it is written – chapter by chapter and verse by verse. The Bible remains a mystery to many people because they have been taught by ministry leaders to bounce around the Bible from one “meaningful verse” to another.

Expository Bible teaching keeps Redeemer focused on the Bible, studying the Bible, talking about / discussing the Bible, and living according to what we find there. What we primarily find in the Bible is teaching about Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God and the revelation of His works teach us the gospel! As we learn about Jesus we learn about God’s sovereign and saving work in the world. Expository Bible teaching practically helps the congregation to understand what the Bible is teaching and how they can understand the Bible for themselves. It brings the balance God intended to doctrinal teaching. Expository Bible teaching always bears fruit in our hearts as we relish the word of God, instead of the insights of men.
 
Elder-Led / Congregationally-Ruled: We accept the clear teaching of Scripture that the church should be led by a plurality of spiritually qualified overseers (elders). However, we also take seriously the necessity of accountability against sin (Matthew 18:17), the wisdom of many Christians together, and the practical necessities of church governance through meaningful membership. For these reasons, our church is led by an eldership that is affirmed by the believing membership. The elders direct the daily aspects of the church, but decisions affecting the entire church in a significant way are hashed out with all the membership having a voice. This biblical church model has encouraged significant spiritual growth in the lives of leaders and brought the church a deep sense of real unity in an age of terrible societal division.
 
Congregational Singing: We believe the Bible teaches that Christians should sing in joyful musical worship when gathered together (Colossians 3:16). This should not translate this into a concert of professional musicians performing for an audience of Christians. The local church gathered together is not the same as a performance concert. When the church gathers, every voice should personally sing, and personally worship our Savior Jesus with a full and true heart. There are certain important elements that need to be present for this to effectively occur. The music selected needs to be biblically true and written to be sung by an average person. Most Christian music sung by professional singers does not translate well to congregational singing. The sound volume inside the church needs to be turned down low enough for people to be able to hear their voices as they sing. This low volume also creates an open and welcoming environment for all ages. The musicians on the stage become leaders not performers.
 
Emphasis on Discipleship and Personal Holiness: The focal point of the apostles after the ascension of Jesus was to make disciples – to raise up people that believe in Jesus and obey Him fully in their lives. Disciples of Jesus are known as Christians and live in a holy (separated) way. As people grow in understanding who Jesus is and grow in believing the words of Jesus, their character changes and their actions change. This is called salvation leading into sanctification. To be sanctified means to be set apart from worldliness and sin by living in a righteous way that obeys Jesus. This is not pride but godliness. The sanctification journey of the Christian is a journey of self-denial and self-sacrifice – dying to self and living in the new ways of Jesus. This is not a minor change, but a life-altering new direction of truth and joy.
 
In All Things Love: The master virtue of the Christian life is love. It is first fruit of the Holy Spirit and the hub virtue around which all other virtues turn. If we have no love in our lives, we are not living the Christian life. If we are void of love and our church does not display genuine Christian love, then others have a right to declare that we are apostate (fallen away from the faith / forsaken by God). However, when the love of God overflows in our care, our words, our prayers, our tenderness and mercy toward each other and strangers – all will know that we are Christians. The world cannot fake the genuine love of Jesus. As we draw near to God in His word, and prayer, and obedience, He will bear in us the fruit of His love. In this way the Christian life becomes a way of joy instead of a way of duty.
 
Spiritual Giftedness and Real Service in the Church: At Redeemer we believe every Christian is gifted by the Holy Spirit to play a real role of service in the church. When the membership of the church is sacrificially serving according to their spiritual gifts, the church will have no lack or gaps. This is the opposite of the common church model of a large paid professional staff providing services to a consuming church. That is an American business model, not a New Testament church model. Redeemer has zero full-time paid staff. The only way this church works is through its members sacrificially serving each other because of the love of Jesus. Those devoted to Christ giving of themselves to serve as an elder, serve as a deacon, teach small groups, host small groups, play an instrument, welcome visitors, watch a child in nursery, teach a children’s class, teach a youth class, host young adults, set up the baptismal, help keep the church clean and looking nice, run the sound, counsel a person in need, make a meal for a person in need, and on and on. This is what is means to live together as the body of Christ.
 
It is a true joy to serve as your pastor! May the Lord Jesus continue His work in our midst,
Pastor Vic

Jesus

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:30-33
 
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like the son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13-14
 
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forever more. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.”
Isaiah 9:6-7

 
Merry Christmas to you all! This is a special year in that Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday morning! A special time to gather, worship Jesus our Lord, and see new Christians come for baptism. Let’s be reminded that Christmas is about the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the inauguration of the coming of the Kingdom of God. These are important Christian realities that we need to understand. Incarnation means “in flesh.” At Christmas we don’t celebrate the beginning of Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbling Himself and being born as a baby. The prophet Isaiah proclaims this coming of Jesus with the name Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” Jesus Christ is the eternally existing second person of the trinity. He does not begin with His divine conception in Mary. By His mercy, great love, and according to the determined will of God the Father, Jesus is born in flesh to live amongst us and begin His Kingdom that will never end.
             
The Christmas season is filled with wonderful family gatherings, feasting, lights, and gift-giving, but we must strive to keep our focus on Jesus. As Christians we must press to keep our focus on the glorious salvation by grace alone that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. Jesus must never be reduced to one of the pantheon of Christmas season characters, but ever be exalted in our hearts as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We must see Immanuel – God with us – as the fulfillment of the promise of God to send His Son as the Savior of the world. It is Jesus who has begun a work that will never end.

People often struggle with the sin, death, brokenness, and corruption of this world. It is through the salvation of Jesus that people are being saved out of this world. It is through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that new birth comes to our hearts, and we are made new passing from death to life. It is this salvation that began to be accomplished when Jesus was born into this world. This salvation was announced by angels at its beginning and at its completion. A salvation that proclaims Jesus as King. He who was born in complete humility is now exalted in heavenly glory! His name is great and the work He has begun with His first coming, He will certainly complete in His second coming.

This Christmas exalt Jesus to the first and highest place in your heart. He is a merciful Savior and a mighty King. He is a Wonderful Counselor, and He is coming on the clouds to call His people to Himself. Make this a practical reality through prayer and scripture reading at family gatherings. Pile the family in the car and join others to worship Jesus our Savior on this Christmas Eve!
 
May joy, peace, and hope overflow in your home this Christmas,
Pastor Vic

Suicide


“O God, from my youth you have taught me, and still I proclaim your wonderous deeds.
So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, Your power to all those to come.”
Psalm 71: 17-18

 
This week the National Center for Health Statistics reported suicide numbers for 2022. Nearly 50,000 Americans killed themselves in 2022, marking the highest suicide count in one year ever recorded. This should be a grim and sobering reality to all of us. Within these statistics certain markers jumped out to me. Men are more likely to actually commit suicide, but women more often report suicidal thoughts. Of the various age brackets, the age category of over 75 reported the highest number of suicides in 2022. This is such a tragedy.

I want to spend some time asking and attempting to answer the question, “How can the most affluent and stable senior group in the world lead the way in record-breaking suicide numbers?” Though there is no clean or simple answer to this question, we must ask and strive to understand what has gone wrong. If all too often the heritage being passed down to younger generations is one of death and despair, in short order this malignancy will begin to multiply in younger generations.

I believe the right place to start is to focus on the general ungodliness of seniors in the US. The Bible tells us that for those truly in Christ, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). This speaks to the reality we should see in truly Christian seniors. We should see people who are growing physically older through gradually failing health, but whose souls are growing more beautiful in godliness as they make progress in the faith and grow closer to heaven. When you are around this type of Christian senior, you know it! Though they still struggle with sin (as we all do!), there is a powerful sense of godliness that transcends their aging and broken body. Their hope in Christ and desire to convey the gospel to younger generations is overt and inspiring.

Sadly, there are far more seniors that were nominal Christians in their middle age, going through the motions and saying the right words, but never earnestly believing in Jesus as Lord. Who we really are is revealed when the fire of pressure is turned up in our lives. For millions of nominally Christian Americans, as the body grows old so does the care to keep up any pretense of false religion. As the body fades so does the soul of the unbelieving. Instead of “partaking in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) through holding fast to the promises of God, unbelieving seniors grow in all forms of ungodliness: selfishness, anger, pride, despair, jealousy, strife, drunkenness, and sexual immorality. (The last category may surprise you, but it’s for good reason the largest US retirement community – The Villages, FL -is infamously known as the STD capital of America.) Combining the factors I’ll mention below, this leads countless seniors to a place of despair, from which some act to end their lives.

Though the root of despair is a rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are many contributing factors to the hopelessness of many American seniors. I would like to challenge our thinking as a church. First, the prevailing US fixation on retirement. What retirement means for many people is the ceasing of meaningful work. It’s a vision of endlessly, selfishly entertaining yourself with no obligations. It’s like a perverted version of heaven on earth. This is not a Christian ideal and will lead to all kinds of despair and dysfunction, rather than the happiness one expects. God created human beings to be involved in meaningful work six days a week and worship one day a week. This does not mean that seniors need to be working the same full days as in their youth, but it does mean that their lives should revolve around regular meaningful work instead of endless entertainment. This work may earn income, or it may not. It may be volunteer charitable work, work in the church, or work in the home actively helping the next generation. To this, relaxation is appropriately added for refreshment. This type of life brings meaning through Christ-centered service. A life of Christ-centered service builds relationships and treasured friendships. A life of Christ-centered service works to sanctify the soul and deepen our relationship with Jesus. All this, brings joy! American self-absorbed and self-entertaining retirement contributes to despair.

Second, family isolation. We are more spread out than ever before through transient job culture. As family members we need each other. What it looks like to be near each other is a difficult answer. However, we need to meaningfully live life together as family. Consider how to make necessary sacrifices to live closer together as parents and children. This is very common in other cultures but growing less common in America. Part of this involves bearing with one another in patience. This patience comes through Christian sanctification. The two play into each other as we work out our God-given obligations to care for family members.

Third, end of life medical decisions. Ever-advancing medical technology is widening the gap between what is possible and what ought to happen. Again, this relates to godliness and spiritual wisdom. The unbelieving are often terrified of death and will go to any length to put off the inevitable. The Christian seeks always to live a full life unto the Lord but is not afraid to die and enter into eternal life. Before extreme old age, senior Christians would be wise to have frank and prayerful conversations with their spouse and children concerning what extent of medical care they wish to receive. A type of tortured existence can be sustained by machines long after a person a few generations ago would have died a natural death. What can happen and what ought to happen, are not always the same thing concerning end of life medical decisions.

Fourth, we would be wise to learn contentment from joyful Christian seniors. Christian seniors from just a few generations ago did not live lavishly like we do now. Their houses were smaller, their cars and clothes were simpler, and their schedules were less crowded – and on the whole – they were happier. The “American Dream” of unending material gain and entertainment is not satisfying our souls. Let us go back to simpler times and take seriously the claims of Jesus Christ. Hear the words of JC Ryle, “To have a place and a title and a position in society is not nearly so important as people think. It is a great sin to be covetous and worldly and proud: but it is no sin to be poor. It matters not so much what money we have, and where we live, as what we are in the sight of God. Where are we going when we die? Shall we live forever in heaven? These are the main things to which we should attend.”
 
Let us grow old and die well in the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Pastor Vic

Provision

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
Psalm 81:10 

             
What an amazing verse! This verse points to the absolute dependence of Israel on the Lord when they were brought out of slavery in Egypt. The Lord delivered them from slavery into complete dependence upon Himself in the desert. Most of Israel hated this condition and complained against it constantly. The purpose of this dependence was for the Lord to glorify Himself through providing for the people in a way they knew it was the action of God in their midst. The picture is of a hungry person standing and looking up, opening their mouth, and waiting for the Lord to fill it. That’s dependence! The way the Lord met this need for a generation in the desert was by providing daily bread – manna (Exodus 16, Numbers 11, Deuteronomy 8, John 6).
             
This verse was the lifetime theme verse of a passionate Christian named George Muller. The life and ministry of George Muller has had a profound impact on my life. Muller ministered in Bristol, England during the mid to late 19^th century. He is most well known for his orphan care ministry. Bristol was an industrial town struggling through the late industrial revolution period. There were an abundance of orphans and few social ways to care for them. Muller, and his wife Mary, felt moved to do something about this problem, but did not have the resources to help. The short of it is that they prayed and started to take in orphans one at a time. They specifically did not solicit people for funding but took their needs to the Lord in prayer. They took the posture of Psalm 81:10, for the purpose of seeing God glorified through answered prayer and provision. Muller expressly wanted the hard-hearted non-Christian culture of late industrial England to experience provision that could only be explained through the actions of God. The hope was that provision for these orphans would glorify God by God providing for their needs in a profound way.
             
Over his long ministry, more than 10,000 orphans passed through the ever-growing orphan ministry at Bristol. The stories and fame of the Lord miraculously providing for needs also spread. Over time, through walking by faith, every need was provided for and God was greatly glorified. To quote Muller, “Now if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained without asking any individual, for the means for establishing and carrying on an orphan house: there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted of the reality of the things of God. This then was the primary reason for establishing the orphan house. I certainly did from my heart desire to be used by God to benefit the bodies of poor children…with the help of God to do them good for this life.” So, by not soliciting funds, while creating real need, Muller wanted to magnify the glory of God through real provision from a real God.
             
At Redeemer Bible Church, the elders have long ago adopted this same stance. As we together pursue local church ministry, we do not solicit funds for the work of the church. We take our needs to the Lord in prayer and ask for the Lord to provide. We actively want the secular unbelieving world of our time to see something radically different and God-glorifying through the financial provision of our church. We open our “mouths” and ask the Lord to supply. This posture requires walking by faith but continues to be the most incredible display of God’s reality.
             
This Sunday (during the member meeting) we will vote on the church budget for 2024. It is only a work of the Lord that all of what is contained in that budget could possibly have come to pass in just over four years! It is an amazing joy to know that over the past year we have taken our needs to the Living God and He has abundantly provided!! It’s also a joy to know that every dollar that has been given has been given freely and from a cheerful heart. Over the past year – by faith and through prayer – all the needs of two churches (Redeemer Spotsy Village and Redeemer Stafford) have been abundantly provided for. We have always run a major budget surplus as a result of generous giving. This abundance has allowed us:

• To fund the adoption of multiple orphans
• To underwrite most of the expense of many people going on foreign mission trips
• To expand into and renovate a new children’s ministry area
• To cover the benevolence needs of those in and around the church (major medical bills, needed home repairs, mortgage help in tight times, etc …)
• To give substantial funding to the Cooperative Program to help fund the International Mission Board, NAMB church planting, the SBC seminaries, and SBC disaster relief
• To expand our part-time staff to expand ministry offerings
• To pay for the design planning of a new church building and save $1.5 million toward building the new building!!
• To carry zero debt as a church

 
This is the provision of the Lord!
 
To close out, let me remind you all clearly that the Lord doesn’t want or need your money. Purely by the word of His power, the Lord Jesus can accomplish anything He chooses. The Lord instead calls for you to worship and love Him with all your heart. It is a far more meaningful action to love a person from the heart, than to give them a few dollars when they know you don’t care about them. Millions of people take this posture with God. He is not fooled. To love the Lord with all your heart, will displace your love of this world. May the Lord be glorified in Redeemer Bible Church. May we overflow with a love of God and the keeping of His commands. May we long first to reach the world with the gospel and sacrificially meet real needs. May we not love the world nor the things of this world.
             
Let’s go forward into 2024 continuing to attempt great things for God, while expecting great things from God! Let’s live in complete dependence on the Lord, and yet without fear or complaint. Only the Lord knows what next year will hold.
 
May the Lord Jesus be glorified in His church,
Pastor Vic

Thanksgiving
 

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His steadfast love endures forever.”
Psalm 118:1
 
“Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Make melody to our God on the lyre.”
Psalm 147:7
 
“When He had given thanks …”
(The pattern of Jesus giving thanks to God before eating a meal.)
Matthew 26:27 / Matthew 15:36 / John 6:11
 
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
 
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
Revelation 7:12 

             
Thanksgiving is such an important virtue, expressed constantly in Scripture. Thanksgiving is a gateway to joy and hopefulness. Thanksgiving is the antidote to despair, covetousness, and anger. Thanksgiving is directly related to contentment. Contentment is the virtue of being satisfied in your heart with what you have. A content person gives thanks, a discontent person is not truly thankful and has a heart slipping toward covetousness.
             
As a Christian, we recognize that Jesus is the object of our thankfulness. When we give thanks, we give thanks to God for His gracious providential supply of our needs. God knows what we really need. God knows, even more than we do, that our greatest need is spiritual life and spiritual development in the soul. If a person has every material thing this world can offer, but dies in rebellion to God, they will be judged forever for their sins. In giving thanks to God, we first give thanks for what God has done to send Jesus as Savior, and that we have heard and believed the good news of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
             
The steadfast love of the Lord is not seasonal or regional. Let us give thanks to the Lord Jesus, for His steadfast love endures forever – through every season of life and region of the world. We are to give thanks in all circumstances. It is God’s will that we focus on thankfulness no matter the circumstances of life. Thankfulness does not begin only when a person enters a certain economic status of life. The world is full of unthankful and discontent wealthy people. The world is also full of discontent ungrateful economically poor people. What makes the difference is the salvation of Jesus Christ. Our hearts will only ever be at rest in Jesus. When we come to believe in the salvation of Jesus, we begin to understand the personal love of God toward us, and our faith begins to increase that God will supply what we need, as we need it. As we learn to rest in the good providence of God, our heart of thankfulness increases.
             
As we grow in Christ, we also grow to value what God cares about more than what this world cares about. Our modern world is consumed with advertising. This advertising works into every nook and cranny of our lives to create discontent with everything we have. Advertising uses every personalized metric available to cause you to feel ungrateful and discontent with the car you drive, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the shoes you walk in, even the way you appear as a person. The fix, of course, is to buy their product. We know in our heart that this will not fix the problem. The solution to this cycle is to, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” Matthew 6:33. This speaks to giving Jesus the priority in all aspects of your life. As you do, thanksgiving will grow in your heart and the things of this world will dim into their proper place.
             
Last, Jesus walked in the habit of giving thanks before meals. Over and over in the Gospels we have recorded examples of Jesus giving thanks before meals. This has become a basic pattern of Christian living, but one that is often taken for granted. I encourage you to walk in this pattern, but with intention. Give thanks in prayer before every meal, but take a deep breath, slow the frantic pace of life, and truly be thankful to God for His provision. This pattern works to ingrain thankfulness into the daily pattens of life.
 
Giving thanks in all circumstances,
Pastor Vic

The Chosen
 

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures …” 1 Corinthians 15:3
 

             
I am often asked my opinion of “The Chosen” video series. Now in its fourth season, I feel it’s time for a response to the church.
             
My overall response to this series is that it represents historical fiction. What is historical fiction? One of my favorite books is the historical fiction, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. It’s a brilliant book that follows the civil war battle at Gettysburg from both sides, however, it does so by recounting the events as a narrative story. It reads like a novel. It makes the historical characters come alive. It creates anxiety at critical junctures of the battle, sympathy with the hard decisions, and tears over all the death. It takes a major historic event in the life of our country and makes it very personal. Shaara helps the reader connect with individuals in this enormous battle. When you finish the book, you feel like you lived the battle. It’s powerful. However, when it was written in 1974 it did not win any prizes for history – it won the Pulitzer Prize for FICTION.
             
Killer Angels was a work of fiction, because the words written about Lee, Grant, Longstreet, etc. were not really spoken by them. The events mostly took place as they are written, but the details of the planning, movements, and fighting are made up by the author as an interpretation of what happened. The book was well received because it is accurate to the facts and seems to be very close to what happened – but is not what actually happened. There is no problem with historical fiction when it comes to bringing alive everyday history, but this is more complicated when applied to the Bible.
             
The Bible is God’s word. At Redeemer we believe in the plenary verbal inspiration of the original manuscripts of the Bible, and that Scripture has been faithfully preserved to our day. ‘Plenary verbal’ means that all the particular words of the Bible were written with divine intended purpose. The Bible does not generally convey God’s works, purposes, and will – it specifically conveys God’s works, purposes, and will. The Bible is made up of books long recognized as revelation from God, written by human authors, but inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Bible has authority in our lives, given by God to progressively reveal the character, nature, commands, and works of God in the world. These things culminate in the Gospels -four accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ. It is very important to recognize that there is no deficiency in the Bible or the gospels. It’s wrong to say, “If only these had been written differently, we could know God better!” They are written perfectly to convey a maximum understanding of both the person and works of Jesus Christ.
             
Our day is almost completely video oriented, believing that more can be conveyed by video than the written word. I do not agree with this for many reasons and would encourage you to read the powerfully convincing work “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman on this subject. What must be recognized is that Jesus could have come during this age of YouTube and iPhone. If He had come during our day, the internet would be covered over with millions of videos of His miracles, His teaching, and His face full of grace and truth. But Jesus choose not to come to us in this age. Instead, Jesus was born in a time when the most particular language that ever existed was in use – Greek. This language was highly developed, highly specific, and used to convey very specific truth to us about Jesus and the Gospel. There is no substitute for the written word in conveying clear truth. There is no substitute for Scripture when teaching truth about God – and the truth is what we must care about in the end.
             
Video is great for entertainment, but Jesus did not come to entertain. The authors of The Chosen, like the author of Killer Angles, must take liberties with the characters (including Jesus) to have the stories connect in an unbroken, entertaining, emotionally compelling movie narrative. The positive here relates to how the writers and staff have really done a great job in casting most of The Chosen characters, and the presentation brings them alive and makes them real. For people who have never been exposed to the Bible these depictions help them grasp the reality of the Gospel stories. The casting of Jesus is masterful. The actor who plays Jesus is powerful and compassionate, well-spoken and yet an everyday man. He’s seems to me very close to what Jesus may have been like during His ministry. These are the positives of historical fiction.

However, we must recognize that this is still a fiction. Great liberty has been taken as the seasons progress to create a narrative flow that links the sometimes unrelated stories in the Gospels. These liberties create events, words, and character representations that are from the creative mind of the staff, not the Bible. One that particularly concerns me is the “autistic” (?) presentation of Matthew. I’m not sure where this came from, but it has the power to shape an entire generation’s view of Matthew, and it has no bearing in the Bible narrative.

My concluding thoughts. If watching this series helps you connect better with the reality of the Bible characters, then I believe it can be helpful. It is good and helpful to think about how Bible events worked out in the lives of real people, because they were real events. I believe this series helps people with that visualization. This is the role of historical fiction. However, you must not think that watching an episode of The Chosen is equivalent to reading a chapter of the Bible. The Chosen is fiction, the Bible is Scripture.
We must not encourage the lost to watch fiction and expect them to come to salvation. We ourselves, and those we are evangelizing, must read and come in contact with Scripture. There is no substitute for reading and studying the Bible to understand God and draw near to the real presence of Jesus. The Chosen, as entertainment, will lift you up to an emotional place that is reached through the production purposes of the producers. But the Scripture will take you to a real place of salvation, to the place of truly partaking in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).

We have precious little time in this life. This series will come and go, as did the Jesus Film. It will be helpful to many, but it will never substitute for the Word of the Lord in Scripture which will carry on forever in truth and power. I press you to spend your time in the Scripture. Be excited about God’s word more than a mini-series. Love the Lord with all your mind by training your mind away from the entertainment culture we live in. Love the Lord by seeking Him as He has revealed Himself to us – through Jesus, the Logos, the word of God made flesh (John 1).
 
May the word of the Lord work powerfully in our hearts,
Pastor Vic

The Evil of Abortion
 

“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13

 
I have been deeply disturbed this week by the political outcome of campaigns run most passionately on a platform of ensuring the “right” to kill unborn children up to the point of full-term pregnancy. Let me remind you of a few very important realities that often are lost in the noise. First, we never have the “right” to do what God has declared is wrong. The taking of innocent life for the sake of personal convenience, shame, career enhancement, or embarrassment is murder – and murder is a basic foundation of morality. This is not a political issue, it is a moral issue. Murder is a condition of corruption in the heart that flows out to destroy others (Example of Cain – Genesis 4).
             
Second, Christians must never stop bearing witness to the world that life begins at conception. Life is sacred to God. The conceived child is the beginning of a separate life. This process of conception through the sexual joining of a man and a woman, is how God designed new life to come into the world. Through medical technology we can see the tiny formation of a child in the womb, hear the heartbeat, and extensive prenatal care is given to support the health of unborn and prematurely born children. The narrative that an unborn child is a part of the body of a woman is both medically and morally absurd. A growing child is not medically equivalent to a tonsil or appendix or gall bladder, to be removed as the woman may see fit. The child has a heartbeat because it is a distinct human being. The “my body, my choice” narratives have one purpose, which is to dehumanize unborn children. It’s easier, morally, to kill someone you see as less than human.
             
This past week in Ohio, and for less direct reasons in other states, multitudes flocked to the polls to vote to ensure the right to kill their unborn children up to the point of full-term pregnancy. Various “week” bans were proposed in other states, but the new attitude in America is a sense of panic that laws will be passed that will prevent them from being able to kill their unborn children. Much could be said here. Let me focus on three points:

First, people do not spontaneously become pregnant. Often these narratives begin with a woman who “became” pregnant. What this means in all cases outside of rape, which is the vast majority of all pregnancies, is that the woman chooses to have sex. That sexual encounter led to a pregnancy. Abortion is the final enabler of pure sexual freedom. Abortion is the backstop of people being able to act as they please sexually without the consequence of a child. Sexuality is a moral issue not a political issue, spoken to with abundant clarity in the Bible. Sex was designed by God to produce children, and that design cannot be short-circuited without life altering consequences. Don’t be fooled. People that are passionate about abortion, are first passionate about complete non-Christian sexual freedom.

Second, the birth canal does not make a child become a child. Tens of millions of Americans seem to be at peace living with complete scientific and moral contradiction. In all states where late-term abortion is legal, hospitals exist that have neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) that work passionately to save the lives of premature babies, and other locations in the hospital where they intentionally kill pre-term babies. In our current situation, the mother holds this authority of life or death. It is a clear Christian doctrine, held as orthodoxy throughout the ages, that God holds the authority to take life. We are commanded not to murder. The child is a living being from the time of conception, and the intentional dismemberment of a child that could be taken to a different part of the hospital and be born to live a full life – is unquestionably murder. As Christians, we must never equivocate on the reality that the mother is not in place of God to determine life or death over her child. All who murder carry deep emotional and psychological scars. We live in a culture of death in modern America, and we wonder why there is so much deep anxiety and mental illness.

Third, children are a blessing from the Lord. As Christians we must never stop reminding ourselves of this reality. Children are a part of God’s purposes within marriage and work toward our sanctification. Children work powerfully in our lives to teach us patience, kindness, and unselfishness. Children teach us to sacrifice our own desires for the needs of others and to pray! All of this is the opposite of the modern secular American mindset of selfishness, pleasure seeking, immediate gratification, self-focused materialism, personal career building as most important, and self-sufficiency. Children are often seen as a drag to all these things, and such an impediment that by the millions, people make the choice to kill the child rather than submit themselves to God’s will for family and blessing.

In conclusion, we must stay focused on this issue first as an issue of the heart before God – not first as a political issue. Politics reflect the moral heart of the nation. Politics do not shape the heart of the nation. As the church, it is up to us to preach the gospel, teach the Bible, and by the work of the Holy Spirit, seek true heart change. As Christians we must maintain our passion never to kill our unborn children. As Christians we must love our children and embrace the sanctification and self-sacrifice necessary to raise them well. When we are faced with, or encounter others with unplanned pregnancies, we must have faith for the future and choose life. If it is truly not tenable to raise the child, there is no moral wrong in placing a child for adoption. As the church we must be willing to adopt children as needed. We must never let shame or fear of the future cause us to choose evil. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about forgiveness and grace. If you have chosen abortion in the past, do not choose it again. In Christ your shame can be forgiven and healed. By confessing your sin to others, you can come out from under the weight of guilt and walk in Christian freedom, forgiveness, and hope.

Lastly, as Christians we must be personally passionate about sexual purity and raise our children in these ways. We must celebrate and encourage self-control, celebrate and encourage appropriately young marriage, and passionately pursue intergenerational family support of younger generations by older generations. These things flourish in the family and are further strengthened in the local church. Let us not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
 
May the Lord preserve His church,
Pastor Vic