Irish Hills

At first I was rather sorry to hear that today, July 4th, fell on a Sunday this year. But now I am rather glad, for it highlights a few things I strive to remember most every Independence Day.

First: My allegiance and fear always and only belong to one sovereign, King Jesus. Sappy patriotism and Godly fear and righteousness to the King of Kings do not mix, and should not be considered as being on the same level with one another.

Second: While I need to render Godly obedience to those authorities over me, it is only Godly so long as that obedience is not in direct transgression to God’s laws. When and where I can I will peacefully resist and undo such laws that require me to render disobedience, slavery, and state worship.

Third: I will strive to peacefully build up and restore this country, and unshackle the bonds of tyranny that we lay under; and I will raise my children to do the same in Godly obedience and wisdom.

Fourth: Reformation and restoration of the heart of this country will never occur until reformation and restoration occurs first in the hearts of individual men, families, and local churches and communities. Don’t look to the highest courts for serious change in the morality of our country until our own hearts, families, and church governments are found steadfast and faithful in Christ and His law.

Fifth: I despise and abhor the depravity of all the preemptive warfare our country has engaged in over the past 150 years; and I pray that the wars in which we are now engaged in numerous countries around the world, and slaughter of innocent men, women, and children may cease soon. War is rarely, rarely justified, and that is why our Founding Fathers tried all other means of reconciliation before they engaged in war.

Sixth: I take pleasure in the joy and love present in gathering together in cheerful celebration with fellow Christian families in my community. In a culture that is sadly fragmented and individualistic, and where strong, Christian communities are almost nonexistent, it gladdens me to celebrate with a community of Christian brethren that rejoices in God’s grace, and heartily enjoys the good gifts He has given us on this earth. Today is a felicitous opportunity to relish good food, good, thought-provoking conversation, and good fellowship.

Seventh: I celebrate hope on the 4th of July, and trust in the promises of God. His kingdom will grow to fill the earth, and is furthered every day by our common, humble, and faithful living. What He requires is hard work, perseverance, and faith in trials; nevertheless, we according to His promise, look for for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Stand firm in your faith despite the faithlessness that rages around you; blessed are those who put their trust in God.

Coram Deo!

Here are some quotes to chew on from Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the cost of grace:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing…

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian ‘conception’ of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins… In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.’ Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin…

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Coram Deo~

These things I command you, that you love one another. — John 15:17

The clock reads 3:30 a.m. Hmm, this beginning line sounds familiar, like I just used it recently. Oh, wait, I did.

My point still stands. The clock reads 3:30 a.m. Why then art thou awake, O Sleeper, at this hour?

The decrees of God, and His commanding, loving, providential hands can pierce the foggiest sleeping veil of the morning hours, and are worked out regardless of men’s frail dreams, and tenacious clinging to life… the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. And no one can stop babies from coming at 3:30 a.m. in the morning, if the Lord wills it.

The basic question as we groggily wake and stand with sleep-muddled heads is: How do we fit awkwardly into the pattern of this grand design? God gives us the summons to be His Kingdom workers as the hands and feet of the body of Christ; and the call is to community — imperfect, wearying, and fragmented as it may be week to week, and even at the times we feel most like polydactyls. But our love is not love if it fluctuates with our fickle feelings, and our commitment is not a concrete commitment if we refuse to rise at 3:30 a.m. for those fellow members of Christ’s body who are in need.

Love one another. Like a little child who discovers a garnet or crystal that sparkles brightly in their grasp, once I grasped for the first time a basic theological principle when I was younger, it delighted me; fresh and clear as it was to me, I treasured it, talking about it with my parents, and seeing its golden thread running through verse after verse on the pages of my Bible. But, as can easily happen, the golden thread started to fade after I grew a little older. “Love one another?” How rudimentary. How mundane. How unsophisticated. That’s so elementary and basic, I don’t need to review that! Besides “love” is so squishy and touchy-feely, how could I possibly feel that way all the time about just anybody, especially those frustrating brothers and sisters, and exasperating people at church? This betrayed (and betrays ever yet) a creeping misconception of my view of love; for love is not anchored to feelings, though feelings may follow love, and through enduring we may “grow fond of old so-and-so.” But our loving is tested through the washing of wounds, the serving of bread, and the cleaning of floors, time after time after time; the beauty of God will shine through even the mundane things and people as we joyfully embrace our calling.

It’s easy to seek to love those outside of our circumference of family and friends, because without the close contact and rubbing of elbows no one else can as easily see our own spots and wrinkles, short temper, and capricious feelings for those who are hurting, suffering, or just plain, old exasperating. And it’s easy to lose that sense of commitment, fervent as it may have been in the beginning, to those same old faces at home and at church. A truly ideal situation would be one where we were able to surround ourselves by people who think and act just like us, right? C.S. Lewis addressed this, however, in the following quote:

The truly wide taste in reading is that which enables a man to find something for his needs on the sixpenny tray outside any secondhand bookshop. The truly wide taste in humanity will similarly find something to appreciate in the cross-section of humanity whom one has to meet every day. In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then to smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who “happen to be there.” Made for use? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed.

I’ve learned to a degree as I’ve grown older, that it is through loving, sharing, and using these “jewels” that they shine more brightly — if we set them, and leave them to be displayed in our pride as wall hangings and books, then they grow dull and gray. “Love one another;” it’s there hanging on my wall, can’t you see? It is through patient instructing, and the taking up of such humble objects as the basin and the towel that we grow in our sanctification, and in our sanctifying, cleanse the bride of Christ from spots and blemishes. We need to teach with patience. Love with tenderness. And free our humility from pride. “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on me.’ For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” — Romans 15:1-4

So what is the will of God for my serving and ministry where He has me right now? I might find the first trail of clues as to that calling by looking at the surrounding familiar faces that greet me day in and day out and at my local church. And I am called with my hands and feet to serve them with the basin and towel. Even if they are odder than I could have believed and worth far more than I guessed.

Coram Deo!