Now I lay me down to sleep

Ecclesiastes 5:12

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

People who are hungry tend to be highly motivated to work.  Work = food.

Those who are rich, full, puffed up, self-sufficient, and satisfied in themselves will never find solace.  I think the philosopher P. Diddy said it best when he said, "Mo money, mo problems."  Although I believe when he said it he was going by Puff Daddy.

People clamor after the luxury of full stomachs and then find restlessness at night.  In our sinfulness, we always desire by nature that which cannot satisfy.  We wish for rest while chasing anxiety.  We invite our stomachs to be our god and then curse our god for robbing us of sleep.  We ask of the creation that which only the Creator can provide and get frustrated when it falls short.  We create the environment of our own dissatisfaction by requesting divinity of banality.

1 Corinthians 6:13a

“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other.

Thoughts from the "Heidelberg Catechism, Question #84"

Question 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel?

Answer: Thus: when according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that, whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits; and on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted: according to which testimony of the gospel, God will judge them, both in this, and in the life to come.

The Gospel will divide any and every one.  I have heard it said that there are two types of people in the world: those that believe that the world is divided into two types of people and those who don't.

I am of the first variety.  There are bad people and bad people who are forgiven their badness because of Christ's goodness.  That's it.  The Gospel divides the world into two groups of people.  Those who accept the Good News and repent of their sin in joyous response to the grace bestowed upon them and those who reject the Good News and pursue sin in the form of vigor: religious or irreligious. 

I love this question from the catechism.  It succinctly nails down the watershed event that is the preaching of the Gospel of God in Christ.  It is utterly foolish to those who are perishing.  It is despised and hated.  Do not forget that Jesus was murdered.  Not just murdered in the privacy of His own home, but publicly tortured and crucified.  People hated Jesus.  The Gospel leaves no room for "liking" Jesus.  You either love Him or hate Him.  I know it seems necessary to back fill all that black and whiteness with shades of gray, but they do not exist.  They are allusions/illusions created by the blackness constructed to allow one to live in darkness while wearing a white t-shirt.  That is to say if gray does exist, it is simply less black, but not white and the two categories remain the only options available.

I love the Gospel. I love that it pierced my black heart and called a spade a "spade" rather than letting bygones be bygones.  I love that the Gospel speaks with such urgency and seriousness that which really is.  You want someone to scream "Fire! Get out! The window is our only hope! All the other exits are blocked!  Jump! Please, jump!" if the house is on fire.  If it's not really on fire or it is only on fire in a sense, but not really being consumed by flame, then it is a cruel joke or the snobbish preaching of one's preference. 

But.... 

If the house is really on fire, what would you expect somone who knows that to say?  The Gospel does not preach to you that the house is on fire.  The Law reveals to you that fire is bad and that the house is on fire.  You agree with the Law that fire is bad and do not want to be burned, but you disagree that you have lit your home ablaze by your own actions.  For all the Law tells you,  it does not tell you how to escape the flames.  By God's grace, the Law shows you that the place you rest your head is merely an expensive coffin. 

The Gospel, however, screams and pleads, "Get out!  There is a way out!" 

I love that God has entrusted the election and calling of his saints to the receiving of an eternal Gospel that is consistently proclaimed over and over.  The Good News is broadcast and by a miracle of God for the sake of Christ, some people actually believe it.  They really do.  It is absolutely crazy.  And I love it.  I adore it.  I love God's wisdom in using such foolish people like us to preach such a perfect propitiation.

"Repent and believe the Good News." ~ Jesus Christ

The Co$t of Di$ciple$hip

Ecclesiastes 5:10

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Love is an all-consuming thing.  If you love something or someone, you cannot get enough of it or them.  There is always a desire for more.   This is a great gift of God and one implanted within us to draw us to Him, the never-ending source of all things.  It is precisely this feature God created in our spiritual DNA that will make an eternity with Him full of joy and expectation.  When we love Him, we cannot get enough of Him and He is the only Person or thing of which there will eternally be an abundance.

If you love money, you will always want more of it and do whatever it takes to protect the sum of it you have already obtained.  Money is finite.  There is only so much one can possess. There is only so much one can own and you never own all of it, despite your best efforts to the contrary. 

This craving for more and more has led many to wander from the faith and pierce themselves with many troubles.  They do it to themselves.  They come near the throne of grace and in the cost/benefit analysis of their life opt for money as a source of security rather than the Author of all currency.  If you choose the creation over the Creator, you will bring upon yourself much grief and anxiety unnecessarily.

Money is not evil.  The love of money is evil. 

No one can love two masters.  You will either love one and hate the other, or vice versa.  Two masters will have two different ideas of what is best and you will have to choose which master masters the other.  Ecclesiastes says it clearly:  those who love money will never be satisfied with money (no matter how much they have). 

Those who love God however will ever be satisfied in Him.  An infinte desire is met in an infinite Source.  The Giver of a insatiable appetite becomes Himself the eternal bread of life for us.  We are ever nourished and sated only by He who created our desire. 

P.S. If you cannot live off of $25,000/year, the problem is not that you need to make $40,000/year.  You need to learn to live within your means of $25,000/year.  The person who does not tithe off of $50,000/year will not tithe off of $100,000/year.  Do not deceive yourself.  If you have a hard time giving God $5,000/year, you will have a harder time giving $10,000/year, not an easier time.  Everyone is more saintly in the hypothetical future.  Don't justify today's rebellion by telling me about the obedience you will have when the sitation hopefully better suits you tomorrow.

Thoughts from "The Gospel is Good News, Not Good Advice" by Tulllian Tchividjian

Read the full post HERE.

This blog post by Pastor Tullian is from Michael Horton's "The Gospel-Driven Life."

I love good advice.  I love smart people who are able to tell me how to be smart.  I hate being dumb.  I hate failure.

The Good News tells me that God's foolishness is wiser than my wisdom.  The Good News announces a triumphant Christ that has conquered my failure.

I hate my sin.  I hate that I'm not perfect.  God hates that about me as well.  The Good News in Christ is that God accepts me not just as I am, but just as I am in Christ.

Why knot?

Ecclesiastes 5:5

It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

Why is the divorce rate so high?  Is an elevated view of self to blame?  Or is it a deceptive self-interest that should take the brunt of the liability?

Do we believe ourselves more capable than we are like Peter?  Is that why so many do not keep their marital vows? Or is it that we know we will not keep our promise, but know that it is required to get what we want in the interim?

People do not have to get married.  Especially in a shack up, break up, shake up culture like ours.  There is no necessity in it.  Society does not demand it of you.  You can have your cake and eat it too and all without the old, new, borrowed, blue bologna.

I don't understand why so many do.  So many, that is, fully intending not to stay married.  So many committing to "as long as love lasts" instead of "until death do us part."  Some still promising until death with their tongue while actually intending only "as long as love lasts" in their hearts.  At least when the "love lasting" promise is made it is up front about the likelihood that I am going to leave you when  my self-interested love in you grows dim.  I will love you as long as I like loving you.  That is grotesque, but more honest than the promises many make without a thought given to the words they are saying. I'm not sure which is worse: promising to be faithful and falling short or forecasting fickleness and following through with it.

It is better not to get married than to play marriage with no intention of making every effort to being and staying married.  Do not promise things to anyone about anything, no matter how little, if you do not intend to honor them.  I know, "a man plans his steps, but the Lord directs his paths."  However, the man in the proverb still plans.  The point of this proverb is not that men should not plan.  It is that they should in all humility recognize that God may intervene and interrupt said plans.  You will plan on something.  So plan to keep your promises dummy.

God can forgive unfulfilled vows, but do not neglect the fact that these broken commitments require forgiveness.  It is sin to commit to and fall short from a vow.  It is a lie, an error in judgment, a mistake.  All of those things it is, but only after it is primarily defined as sin.

The grace of God can wash us clean of these transgressions if to it we appeal.  I am worried that too often too many fail to offer to God in humility the failure of their broken promises.  Because we have a faithful God we are infused with love and ambition to be faithful.  We love because He first loved us.  We strive be faithful and honorable in our vows and promises because He is faithful and honorable in His vows and promises made to us.  We want to be like the One we worship, not to attempt to take His place, but to honor Him by imitation the way children pretend to be grown-ups.

A Long in the Tooth Lament

Ecclesiastes 5:2

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

We demonstrate the degree to which we respect another by the amount of time we allow them to talk to us without our need to interrupt or interject our take on the subject matter.

This is why your pastor is afforded 30 minutes (at least I hope) without a discussion (unless you go to a crap church where no one preaches so that everyone can pipe in their 2 cents).

As a result we do not talk much in the presence of those in whom we awe.  We tend to listen to them.  We talk more amoung peers and even more around people we determine need to know and be instructed in what we have to say.

What is your ratio of words spoken to God versus time spent reading His Words?

What is your ratio of words lobbed up to God versus the time spent in prayer listening and waiting?

Your answer says a lot about what you think of God and a lot abot what you think of yourself.

Thoughts from the "Heidelberg Catechism, Questions #56 & #60"

Question 56. What believest thou concerning "the forgiveness of sins"?

Answer: That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long;  but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God.

Question 60. How are thou righteous before God?

Answer: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me;  inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.

What a beautiful word: notwithstanding.

[not-with-stan-ding]
preposition
1. in spite of; without being opposed or prevented by

I am a wicked, waivering, waste of life and grace; but God can, will, and has saved me by faith in Christ. 

There is only one righteousness before God: Christ's.  All self-righteousness will be exposed as counterfeit, fraudulant, insufficient, and sardonic (not to mention Satanic).  The approval of other men on whose shoulders one arrives before God will shrivel in His presence.  Those who have elevated themselves either in their inner eye or in the eyes of others will find themselves being asked to move down from their assumed seats of honor unto their shame.

I love the simplicity and the complexity of this confession.  It is so clear and clean.  So easy to articulate and preach, yet so difficult to believe.  It is only by the grace of the Spirit of God that it finds any of us receptive.  It is then in the knowledge and belief of this Gospel that we struggle and strive the rest of our lives against the world's alternatives, the old man's desires, and the Devil's lies.  We do not ascertain perfection through exertion, but imputation.  It is not something to be grasped, but to be granted.  It is not our pursuit of Him that saves us, but His pursuit and preservation of us.

Our only hope is to be seen as we are not by Him Who ever is.  Though we have broken the entire Law, we can be seen as innocent of its charges.  Furthermore, we are not only seen as innocent of evil, but as doers of good.  Double imputation.  Christ takes our sin.  We take Christ's righteousness.  He not only absorbs that sin that is not His, but clothes us in a righteouness that was not ours.  Both of us end up looking silly wearing clothes that do not belong to us.  We both take on humiliation to wear the other's clothes.  Jesus on the Cross and us by our faithful abandonment of all else.  Jesus looked ridiculous hanging on a tree.  He did not belong there.  It was not His Cross.  We look ridiculous abandoning what used to produce our comfort.  We claim a righteousness that is not ours.  It is not our righteosness.  Jesus by grace wore my despicable shame on the Cross.  We by faith wear His robe of righteousness before the Father.

We are sinners by nature and by choice; notwithstanding, God sees us saints by grace through faith in Christ.