The fatal habit of considering Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrines insensibly gained strength. Thus the peculiar doctrines of Christianity went
more and more out of sight, and as might naturally have been expected,
the moral system itself also began to wither and decay,
being robbed of that which should have supplied it with life and nutriment.
– William Wilberforce
Tag: Christianity
Why We Work
Most of us spend much of lives working. So why do we work? The Bible gives us several reasons to work:
- To fulfill our purpose. God created us to work. God made Adam and gave him the task of working and keeping the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). Part of why we are here is to do the work God created for us to do. We work to fulfill our purpose.
- To provide for ourselves. II Thessalonians 3:10-12 says each of us should earn our own living, and that if we don’t work, we shouldn’t eat. So we work to provide for ourselves so we can live and eat and stay warm. By extension, we work to provide for our families so they too can live and eat and stay warm. We work to provide for ourselves.
- To help those in need. Ephesians 4:28 tells us to labor so that we may have something to share with those in need. Based on the passage under the last point, I don’t think it is talking about lazy people who won’t work (and hence shouldn’t eat). Rather, I take those in need to be people who can’t work due perhaps to a disability, health, or age. Or someone who has lost a job or a source of income, and though they are trying to provide for themselves, it isn’t currently enough. All that to say, we need discernment to know who is really in need. And we need to recognize that one reason God gives many of us the health and ability to work is so we can help those who can’t. We work to help those in need.
- To love God. Work is an important application of the Great Command. If I love God with all of my mind and strength, I will use the mind and strength God has given me to do the work he has given me to do. Wasting my mind and strength does not show love to God. We work to show our love for God.
- To love people. Work is also an important application to the second great command. If I love my family, I will work to provide for them. If I love those in need I will work to help them. If I love my employer, I will serve him faithfully. If I love the customers and clients, I will provide the products and services they need. If I love my family, I will do the necessary chores around the house. We work to show our love for people.
The Bible gives us many reasons to work. Why do you work? Are you working to fulfill your purpose, provide for yourself, help those in need, and show love to God and people?
Quotes to Ponder
Work is always healthier for us than idleness;
it is always better to wear out shoes than sheets.
— C.H. Spurgeon
If we are so impoverished that we have nothing to reveal but small talk,
then we need to struggle for more richness of soul.
– Frank Laubach
The time of every man’s death has been fixed by God.
We are safe from all risk until God is pleased to call us away.
— John Calvin
Every time you draw your breath, you suck in mercy.
—Thomas Watson
Passion Points
Tomorrow I am preaching about work and rest. Here are some good related posts for your weekend reading:
The Purpose of Work – Gene Edward Veith (via Gospel Coalition)
According to Luther, the purpose of every vocation is to love and serve one’s neighbor. The farmer tills the ground to provide food to sustain his neighbor’s life. The craftsman, the teacher, the lawyer—indeed, everyone who occupies a place in the division of labor—is providing goods and services that neighbors need. This is God’s providential ordering of society. But for a Christian, the service rendered can become animated with love.
Is the Sabbath Still Relevant – Ray Ortlund
If we did set apart one day each week for rejuvenation in God, we would immediately add to every year over seven weeks of vacation. And not for doing nothing but for worship, for friends, for mercy, for an afternoon nap, for reading and thinking, for lingering around the dinner table and sharing good jokes and tender words and personal prayers.
Helpless Sacks of Sand – Tim Challies
It came to me that the fundamental reality of sleep is that it assures us that we are not God. Apparently we all need the ongoing reminder. Psalm 127:2 says “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” We need sleep, and peaceful sleep is a good gift of a good God. Meanwhile, Psalm 121 says “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” We need sleep; God does not. Rather, the unsleeping God grants sleep to the people he loves, the people who need it so badly.
Enjoying Rest, Now and in the Life to Come – Randy Alcorn
What feels better than putting your head on the pillow after a hard day’s work? (How about what it will feel like after a hard life’s work?) It’s good to sit back and have a glass of iced tea, feel the sun on your face, or tilt back in your recliner and close your eyes. It’s good to have nothing to do but read a good book or take your dog for a walk or listen to your favorite music and tell God how grateful you are for his kindness. Rest is good. So good that God built it into his creation and his law.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day gathering with your local church to worship our Lord, and resting from a good week of work!
Embracing God’s Sexual Boundaries
In Genesis 2 and Matthew 19, God defines marriage as being between a man and a woman who leave their parents, join together, and become one flesh. This becoming one flesh is understood to be directly related to the act of sex. I Corinthians 6:15-16 make this clear. In this passage, Paul tells the Christians not to participate with a prostitute, because in doing so they become one flesh with her. Sex, or becoming one flesh with another, is to occur only in marriage. This is God’s sexual boundary.
Paul goes on in verse 18 to tell the Christians to flee sexual immorality; that is, any sex outside of God’s boundary. And he gives three reasons to flee: sexual immorality desecrates the body of Christ (v15-16), degrades one’s own body (v18), and in doing so desecrates God’s temple (v19-20). We need to take this seriously.
None of this should need to be said. But we need to be reminded because we live in a world where people hitch up for one night stands, dating couples sleep together, and unmarried couples live together. But God has called Christians to be different. We are to be holy as he is holy. We are to hold to his boundaries.
And that means more than just abstinence. Colossians 3:5 tells us:
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
God’s boundaries mean we don’t want to possess another person (covet them). It means we don’t lust after them (evil desires and passions). It means we don’t act on those lusts (impurity). All of these things, as well as sexual immorality, must be put to death.
That means single people must guard their minds and hearts from coveting and lust. They must say no to these temptations. Rather than see how close to the edge they can get without committing sexual immorality, they must put it to death long before it gets to that point. They must embrace God’s sexual boundaries. They must keep themselves pure.
That means people with homosexual tendencies must guard their minds and hearts from coveting and lust. They too must say no to these temptations, as well as temptations further down the path. They must embrace God’s sexual boundaries. They must keep themselves pure.
That means that married people must guard their minds and hearts. Should their eye or mind or heart start to drift toward someone other than their spouse, they must put that temptation to death. They too must embrace God’s sexual boundaries. They must keep themselves pure.
No matter what position in life we find ourselves, we must flee sexual immorality. We must embrace God’s sexual boundaries. We must be holy as God is holy.
Passion News
The debate on homosexuality is huge in our country today. Here are some helpful perspectives:
When Even Joel Osteen Is Treated as a Bigot – Justin Taylor
How I Wish the Homosexuality Debate Would Go – Trevin Wax
Homosexual Parents Study: Summary of Findings – Peter Sprigg
The New Sexual Identity Crisis – Jeff Buchanan
The Unique Struggle of Same-Sex Attraction – Haydn Sennitt
Vaughan Roberts on Same-Sex Attraction – Justin Taylor
Embrace God’s Definition of Marriage
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,
and they shall become one flesh.
– Genesis 2:24
At the very beginning, God the Creator defines marriage as one man and one woman who leave their parents, hold fast to each other, and become one flesh. In Matthew 19:5, Jesus reaffirms this definition.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you know that there is a growing movement to redefine marriage as being between any two people, including two men or two women. Other countries have legalized so called same sex marriage. Certain states in our own country have done so, and other states are considering it at the next election. Many believe the Supreme Court will take up the issue in their next term.
As we consider the possibility that our country may soon legally define marriage as between any two people, it is important for us to recognize three distinctions:
- Legal vs. Right – Our government determines what is legal, but God determines what is right…and wrong. So if our government should legalize so called same sex marriage, that still won’t make it right.
- Legal vs Real – Again our government determines what is legal, but God defines what is real. He created reality and he defines it. He defines reality so that if I hold my pen in the air and let it go, my pen will drop. I can reject the law of gravity, but it is still real, and I am still bound to it. He defined real marriage between a man and a woman. I can reject his definition, but it is still real, and I am still bound to it.
- Legal vs True – Our government determines what is legal, but God determines what is true – that which agrees with reality. I have a cat. I can call it a dog, but that doesn’t make it true, because it doesn’t agree with reality. We can call two men or two women married, but that doesn’t make it true, because it doesn’t agree with reality.
As Christians we need to hold to God’s definition of marriage. No matter what our culture or government thinks, we must hold to the teachings of our Savior. We must hold to the definition of our Creator. We must hold to Biblical truth. We must hold to what is right, real, and true. We must believe it and live it, no matter how unpopular it may be.
Some will say that this position is not loving. But we must remember that love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (I Corinthians 13:6). It is not loving to legalize something that is not right. It is not loving to create a legal fiction and tell people they are married when they really aren’t. If we love people, we must hold to the God’s definition of marriage, the only right, real, and true definition there is.
Family: Love or Disintegration?
We see the disintegration of the family all around us: divorcing couples, rebellious children, absent fathers, abusive parents, siblings who haven’t spoken to each other in years. As we look around, things are not what they should be.
And we all contribute to the disintegration of God’s design for the family. We do it with our words when they are unkind, hurtful, mean, and cutting. We do it with our attitudes when they are angry, bitter, resentful, or grumpy.
At the end of all this disintegration is simply a failure to love. We are too often selfish people living as though it is all about us. But God calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. And our closest neighbors are our own families. We need to truly love our families, and this love must be:
- Other-centered – Jesus came not to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28). And we are to look not only to our own interests, but to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4). And this includes our families. We need to look to the needs of our families instead of focusing on ourselves. We need to go beyond feeling (because sometimes we won’t feel like loving), and choose to love even when it is hard. Our love for our families must be other-centered.
- Faithful – Jesus came and loved his disciples until the very end (John 13:1). True love never ends (I Corinthians 13:8). Our love for our families must be faithful; it must be lasting. Husband for wife, wife for husband, parents for children, children for parents. Our love for our families must be faithful.
- Sacrificial – Jesus loved us so much he sacrificed himself for our us, and we are to have that same love for others (Ephesians 5:2). That means we must be willing to sacrifice our wants, our time, our agendas, our hopes, our dreams for the good of our families. Our love for our families must be sacrificial.
In the midst of all the disintegration, it is this other-centered, faithful, sacrificial love that will bind our families together.
Are you showing this kind of love for your family?
Quotes to Ponder
Before the next hurricane, tornado, or tsunami come, nail it down:
“Even the winds and the sea obey him” (Matt. 8:27).
– John Piper
To manage a life of pain, as a believer in Jesus,
remember: This is all the hell you will ever bear.
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne
The Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life,
by a constant proof of its miseries.
– John Calvin
There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained
only through the discipline of suffering.
– D.A. Carson
Passion Points
I’m preaching on love in the family tomorrow, so here are some good posts on family love:
22 Descriptions of Marital Love – Paul Tripp (via R. W. Glenn)
1. Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of your husband or wife without impatience or anger.
2. Love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward your spouse, while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
Leading in Love – Wayne Grudem (via Tim Challies)
Headship doesn’t mean selfishness. It means being willing to give of yourself for your wife and care for her as well.
Christian Husband’s Only Option: Love Your Wife – Jason Helopoulis
Every Christian husband knows that in Ephesians 5 the husband is exhorted to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. What many of us need to hear, especially in Western modern culture, is that an aspect of Christ’s love for the Church is that it endures. Christian husbands must take note that Christ’s love for the Church is not momentary or even for a season. It is a love that continues. It is steadfast and true. And these qualities are to mark a husband’s love for his wife. There is no other option.
When I Don’t Feel Love for My Spouse – Steve Cornell (via Gospel Coalition)
A woman once told me that she planned to leave her husband because she “just didn’t love him anymore.” I asked her to change the way she worded what she planned to do so that her decision could be understood accurately. I asked her to say it this way: “I am choosing to no longer value my husband and to break my commitment to remain faithful to him.”
If you are married, I hope these posts will help to strengthen your marriage. And as always, have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our Savior who loved his church and gave himself up for her.
