Fix Your Mind

Over the years, I’ve had the amazing privilege to preside over memorial services for saints who’ve fallen asleep in Jesus; people who’ve awakened from the burden of life in a world marked by sin into the total freedom of Jesus’ immediate presence.  During such services, it often happens that we remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (ESV):

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

                  ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’

                  ‘O death, where is your victory?

                                    O death, where is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These words of promise belong to those who, by grace through faith, trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  They are powerful words of comfort amidst the profoundly disorienting fact of death.

Now, while it’s entirely appropriate to use 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 in any Christian memorial service, it’s also possible that in the past I’ve stopped the text one verse too early.  Let me explain.

Paul’s point in this passage isn’t primarily to comfort those who grieve or to calm anxious hearts (he does that in 1 Thessalonians 4).  Rather, the Apostle Paul writes 1 Corinthians 15:12-57 in order to instruct living people, confessing Christians, who are tempted to justify themselves in sin.  The Corinthian church apparently included some in its ranks who denied the reality of resurrection so as to justify to themselves and others a libertine and lawless life: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32).  “But wait!” says Paul.  “I preached to you the gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and risen again (1 Cor. 15:1-11).  That’s the gospel you believed.  Now if Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Cor. 15:12).  Accordingly, Paul exhorts these wayward “believers” in verse 34: “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.  For some have no knowledge of God.  I say this to your shame.”

All this leads Paul, in verse 35, to address the insincere objection raised by these self-justifying skeptics: “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised?  With what kind of body do they come?’”  Answer that, Paul!  Paul has an answer, and in giving it he pens the words of promise quoted above from verses 50-57.

I said that in using 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 during memorial services I’ve perhaps stopped one step too early.  Why?  Well, consider where Paul actually ends, in verse 58, as he corrects those who twist doctrine to justify self: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”  Because the dead in Christ will rise, therefore we who live should be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord.  We have good works at hand, works “…which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10, ESV).  In Christ, it is our joyful lot to “…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Matt. 6:33).  The promise of resurrection ought to bring not merely comfort but resolve!  It ought to strengthen our hearts in courage not merely to face death but also to live life; to live life full-tilt after Jesus – “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” (Heb. 12:2).  A Christian memorial service should be a bracing event when it comes to living for the kingdom of God.

Christian, when you contemplate death do you remember resurrection?  Does the reality of death bring you to despair or to determination?  Does it tempt you to a self-indulgent, self-pitying, and fleshly pursuit of your “bucket list,” or does the promise of resurrection steel your resolve to labor in Jesus?  How has God gifted you and opened opportunity to you for fruitful labor that advances Jesus’ kingdom by building his church?  Your coming resurrection calls you to present faithfulness.  Let’s remember this next time we grieve a brother or sister who’s gone on ahead.

It is the privilege of Jesus’ church to pursue excellence: excellence in holiness¹; excellence in stewardship²; excellence in fruitfulness³; excellence in labor⁴; excellence in endurance⁵, and so much more.  Why is this our privilege?  It’s our privilege because we, the church, are the bride of Jesus Christ⁶, and Proverbs 12:4a says, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband…” (NASB).  We pursue excellence not to become Christ’s bride, but rather because we’re already irrevocably betrothed to him, and God has equipped us by the Holy Spirit to live with excellence.

What does it look like for the church to be excellent?

It looks like Psalm 45:9b-11, 13-14b (NASB): “At Your right hand [oh divine King] stands the queen in gold from Ophir.  Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; Then the King will desire your beauty…The King’s daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold.  She will be led to the King in embroidered work…”

It looks like Ephesians 2:10 (NASB): “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

It looks like Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB): “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

It looks like Revelation 19:7-8 (NASB): “‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.’  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Know that in the church’s pursuit of excellence, our head, Jesus himself, leads and helps us.  Jesus is not aloof from his bride in her pursuit, but instead intimately involved.  Though he is the groom, Jesus is also the firstborn among many brethren and will not leave his siblings to labor alone.⁷  It is the covering of his blood, spilled at the cross, that makes us excellent before God, and thus able to pursue excellence.  Indeed, Jesus has taken on himself the final responsibility for our excellence.⁸  In this we can rejoice because Jesus will not fail to finish what he’s begun.⁹  Our final excellence has already been secured in Christ.

It is the privilege of the church to pursue excellence for the glory of her bridegroom in all she does.  Why would we settle for anything less?  Why would we ever be content with mediocrity?

1. Rom. 12:1, Eph. 4:24, Heb. 12:14, 1 Pet. 1:15-16
2. Matt. 25:19-30
3. John 15:8, 16
4. 1 Cor. 15:58
5. Heb. 12:1-2, Rev. 3:10
6. Eph. 5:25, 32; Rev. 19:7-8, 21:1-2
7. Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:18
8. Eph. 5:25-27
9. Phil. 1:6

Human beings are made to conform.  We’re created in an image – the image of God – to be conformed to that same image (Rom. 8:29, Heb. 1:3).  Sinfully, we rebel against God and against his image, exchanging his glory for the supposed glory of creatures (Rom. 1:22-23).  Nonetheless, our rebellion doesn’t change our created purpose of conformity.  Instead, rather than be rightly conformed to the glory of God, as his children, rather than be molded to the form of ultimate reality and joy, we choose instead conformity to corrupted idols, to false gods of our own making.  They look like us and they reflect us, but we become like them – blind, deaf, unable to smell, unable to feel, lame, and dumb (Ps. 115:4-8).  In conformity to idols, we mimic life while lacking the essence of life.

We need a savior who brings living flesh from dead stone (Ezek. 11:19, 36:26).  We need a savior in whose image we are reborn, recreated, and to which image we are infallibly and inevitably conformed (Jn. 3:3, 2 Cor. 5:17, Phil. 1:6).  We need Jesus.

“The dead do not praise the LORD,

Nor do any who go down into silence;

But as for us, we will bless the LORD

From this time forth and forever.

Praise the LORD!” (Ps. 115:17-18, NASB)

Language matters, and it never matters more than when God’s Word uses words to reveal God to us.  The way God uses language in the Bible defines our understanding of who he is.

Consider how this happens in Hebrews chapter five as the book’s author describes Jesus Christ.  In Hebrews 5:5, the author quotes from the Septuagint (LXX) translation of Psalm 2:7, where Yahweh says to his “Anointed” one: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you” (ESV).  In both Hebrews 5 and the LXX translation of Psalm 2, the word “begotten” appears in the perfect tense.  In Greek grammar, the perfect tense fundamentally denotes something already accomplished in the past, or already true in the past, the effects of which (or the reality of which) persist in the present.  On any day called “today,” Yahweh says to his Anointed, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”  The begetting didn’t start happening in the moment of “today.”  Rather, it is something true from the undefined past, the reality of which continues today, so that the begetting and its consequences are always present and relevant, day-by-day.

Hebrews’ employment of Psalm 2, especially in its LXX translation, is one of Scripture’s many testimonies, both subtle and explicit, concerning the eternality, and thus the divinity, of Jesus Christ.  For now, I’ll assert without demonstrating that it’s the Anointed one who’s addressed in Psalm 2:7, and that this Anointed one is Jesus Christ.  Properly understood, Psalm 2:7 is God the Father addressing his Son, saying, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”  The fact that “begotten” appears in the perfect tense means that whenever the Father speaks thus to the Son, he always refers to something already true in the past and relevant in the moment.  On any given “today,” Jesus Christ is the one already begotten of the Father, with the weight, the effects, of that begotten-ness definitive for the moment, for every moment.  The language of Psalm 2:7, quoted in Hebrews 5:5, is one of many biblical data points that bring us to this awesome conclusion: Jesus Christ is the eternal and divine Son of God.  His begotten-ness is essential to his nature as Son and to the Father’s nature as Father.  There was never a time, never a moment, when the Father has not been saying to the Son, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”  Thus, the decree of Psalm 2:7 (“I will tell of the decree…”) is an eternal decree, one without beginning or end (ESV).

Let no one believe the deceit that Jesus Christ is a created being with a beginning in time.  He has always been, and always will be, the Anointed one to whom Yahweh says, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

In God’s providence, it has been necessary of late for my wife and me to wrestle with the question of forgiveness. If you would like to join us in pondering forgiveness, please click here for a document I’ve titled, “In Order to Forgive.”

Count this post a form of public service announcement.  For those interested, I’ve begun a new YouTube channel and shared OneDrive folder.  Together, the channel and folder serve as a repository for video and audio recordings of most of the sermons and teaching I’ve had the privilege to speak since 2017.

The OneDrive folder has most of the material from 2017-November 2023. The YouTube channel runs from November 2023 on.

Over time, I hope to add to these as the Lord is pleased to give me opportunity.  The shared folder link is also available via the channel description on the YouTube page.

Patrick, son of Calpornius, and messenger of grace to the Irish, is one of my favorite figures in the history of Jesus’ church. For those interested, here’s a link to a biography talk concerning Patrick that I gave back in 2019 (Note: Please forgive the background noise in the first 30 seconds or so).

Desperation is often a marker of God’s people.  It marks us because it’s often the point God brings us to.  God brings his people to desperation for many reasons: to break us of idolatrous self-sufficiency; to end our trust in anything that we trust apart from God himself; for his glory in demonstrating his loving power to save; as a judgment on his enemies, whom he crushes; in awesome defeat of the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Scripture is replete with examples of desperation: Job; Israel beside the Sea of Reeds, hemmed in by Pharaoh’s army; Israel in the wilderness without food or water; David pursued by Saul; Elijah running from Jezebel; Jehoshaphat and Judah facing invasion; Hezekiah, with Assyria at the gates of Jerusalem; Daniel in a den with lions; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego thrown into a superheated furnace; the disciples in a boat about to be swamped; Jesus praying three times in a garden and then hanging on a cross, and we could go on.  God’s people often face circumstances that seem, that feel, that are desperate. 

In desperate circumstances, there is nowhere to turn except to God himself.  The question becomes, in what manner do we turn to him, cynically or joyfully?  It seems to me there are two primary types of desperation – cynical desperation and joyful desperation.  

Cynical desperation is a fundamental heart attitude of disbelief.  According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the cynic is a “faultfinding, captious critic.”  The cynic demands control and independence, and he bitterly resents anyone who threatens his autonomy.  The cynical man is “contemptuously distrustful of [God’s] nature and motives” (Merriam-Webster).  Why would God do this to me?  It must be that he’s glorified in my pain, in my struggle, and thus there’s nothing to do but take it!  Who can answer the unanswerable Almighty, the one who does just as he pleases?  Such is the cynic.  This man was present in the wilderness of sin when, “The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.  The sons of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger’” (Exodus 16:2-3, NASB).  

Cynical desperation happens when, in consternation and maybe even pain, marked by unbelief, God’s people lose sight of God and fix their eyes on self.  The result is disobedience and a corresponding loss of blessing when God provides (Exodus 16:18-20, 27-28).  God has bound himself to care for his people, so how could he not do so?  Sadly, the cynically desperate person misses the blessing of being cared for by the Father.  Their desperation is the desperation of unbelief, and thus they have no eyes for the true beauty and purpose of provision.  Rather than joyfully receive from God, the cynically desperate person quarrels with God; they test him (Exodus 17:7).  The fruit of cynical desperation is rebellious restlessness where the one provided for hoards and grasps in a self-protective bid to avoid being desperate again.  Ironically, with such an attitude of the heart, the cynically desperate person simply invites the Lord’s ongoing discipline through the rod of desperate circumstances!  

Joyful desperation is something altogether different.  Joyful desperation doesn’t try and hide from God the fear, difficulty, pain, and dismay of desperate circumstances.  It’s honest with the Lord and others about what’s hard, what hurts, and yet it’s honest from a place of faith and trust.  Thus, joyful desperation turns complaint into supplication.  Joyful desperation doesn’t enjoy desperate circumstances, but it fights to enjoy God in the circumstances.  Joyful desperation sees an invincible, invading army and says to God, “…we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (2 Chronicles 20:12b, NASB).  It brings the terrifying, threatening missive of a brutal king and “…[spreads] it out before the LORD” in prayer (1 Kings 19:14).  Joyful desperation faces the worst possible outcome and prays, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42, NASB).  It prays this way, not from angry, cynical resignation, but from faithful expectation; expectation that God will prove Romans 8:28 true: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (NASB). 

In all things, the joyfully desperate person fixes their eyes on God, in Christ, and takes the next step forward according to his providential orchestration of life (Hebrews 12:1-2).  They do so, not as fatalist, but faithful.  The result of such living is fundamentally peace (Philippians 4:6-7); peace marked by humble courage to do the next thing that is both faithful and wise, come what may.  The joyfully desperate person doesn’t wear desperation on their sleeve.  Instead, what emanates from them is a love for others that remains present even when things seem desperate.  

In our sin, we’re hardwired for the former and not the latter.  Cynical desperation is dangerously easy.  Joyful desperation is wonderfully hard.  It comes only by the Spirit, and only where the righteousness of Christ has been applied to a heart through faith.  Thus, joyful desperation is fruit of the fight of faith.  It comes as part of the promise given to Jesus’ people in James 1:2-3: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (NASB).  When the desperate moment arrives, kill the cynic!  Kill him, or her, and instead, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12, NASB).  You may not be less desperate for doing so, but you will be marked by the joy of the Lord that is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).  

Let’s dwell for a few minutes on one of the Old Testament’s less than stellar moments.  By “less than stellar,” I mean borderline disastrous.  The moment I have in mind happens between 1 Samuel 8-11 when Saul is anointed and recognized as Israel’s first king.  I won’t rehearse the events of these chapters in full, but it’s clear this development isn’t good.  Because of God’s grace, 1 Samuel 8-11 isn’t an unmitigated disaster, but still, Saul’s selection to the kingship happens fundamentally because of sin.  God’s people demand of their last judge, the prophet Samuel, a king to lead them in Samuel’s stead.  The request comes in part because Samuel’s unscrupulous sons aren’t following in their father’s footsteps.  While Samuel balks at the request, God directs him otherwise: “‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them” (1 Sam. 8:7, NASB).  As the account unfolds in chapters 8-11, God brings Saul to Samuel and tells Samuel to anoint Saul as “…prince over My people Israel…” (1 Sam. 9:16, NASB).  Ominously, God’s choice of Saul in this case comports with, it illuminates, the foolishness of human wisdom.  Saul’s exactly the sort of man others might choose for king; tall and handsome.  If looks can kill, then Saul will have no problem defending Israel against its enemies!  Of course, if you know the rest of the story, then you know Saul’s reign happens like a slowly unfolding train wreck.  He starts out running strong, but, by the end, he’s a wayward, law-breaking, hopeless man.

The point of dwelling on 1 Samuel 8-11 isn’t merely for the story itself.  If all we do is just remark on the events of these chapters, then what we find isn’t encouraging.  Instead, let’s contemplate how much God is doing in this less-than-stellar, borderline-disastrous moment.  Look at all the levels on which God works to accomplish his many purposes as part of his one great purpose:

He’s judging Samuel’s sons for their corruption, and in the process protecting Samuel’s family from becoming like the family of Eli before him (see 1 Sam. 2:12-17, 22-25; 1 Sam. 8:1-5).

He’s disciplining Israel for their rejection of him as king, thus exposing their faithless pride (1 Sam. 8:7, 19-20; 10:17-19).

He’s letting Samuel taste suffering and rejection in the way of faithfulness, thereby sanctifying Samuel in humility (1 Sam. 8:9).

He’s demonstrating the vanity of human standards for success, thereby making foolish the wisdom of man (1 Sam. 9:1-2, 21; 10:23-24).

He’s displaying his sovereign authority, election, and providence, which isn’t overturned even by the sin of his people (1 Sam. 9:1-17; 10:6-7, 9-10, 20-24).

He’s calling Saul to the obedience of faith, thereby preparing the ground to later expose the man’s sinful heart (1 Sam. 10:1-13, 24-26).

He’s preparing to rescue his people from the oppression of their enemies (1 Sam. 9:16).

He’s preparing the way for godly King David and ultimately for David’s greater son, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

All this and more happens interwoven together as 1 Samuel 8-11 unfolds!  Truly, God is incredible.  As he says in Isaiah, “…‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Why is all this worth meditating on for a few minutes?  Well, don’t we all walk into less than stellar moments in life, even moments that are borderline disastrous?  Sometimes these moments come due to circumstances beyond our control.  Sometimes they happen because of someone else’s sin, our sin, or a combination thereof.  Sometimes they happen in our family, our church, our workplace, or in a circle of friends.  It’s encouraging, and comforting, and exhorting to recall that even in such moments God is working.  He’s doing far above and beyond anything we can conceive.  We know that God is good, and that he “…causes all things to work together for good to those who love [Him], to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NASB).  God’s many works displayed in 1 Samuel 8-11 help us to believe that truth and, in believing, to trust him.