Fix Your Mind

In the tradition of John Bunyan and his Pilgrim’s Progress, permit me to introduce you to Mr. Legalist.

In this case, Mr. Legalist is indeed a true Christian, but he’s a Christian constantly tempted by bondage.  Mr. Legalist’s flesh (meaning his mind and heart, abetted by the rest of his body) tempts this man to fixate on a false righteousness apart from grace, apart from Christ; a righteousness earned according to Law.  What Law?  Not the Law of Moses.  As a Western Christian, Mr. Legalist is educated enough by Scripture and culture not to think himself a Jew living under the former covenants.  His Law is something else, something more nebulous and thus quite nefarious.  Mr. Legalist’s Law is whatever standards or authorities exist before whom he thinks he must be right in order to be good.  On one occasion, the standards might be other church folk.  Other times they’re secular legal codes (quite literally, the law).  Occasionally they’re a set of regulations pertinent to his work.  They can even be something as simple as the set of rules in his housing association.  All these authorities are likely good in a certain sphere, but Mr. Legalist exalts them and makes them a tool to earn his salvation.  Mind you, he wouldn’t think of himself as doing such a rebellious thing, but truthfully, sadly, he’s quite guilty.  Mr. Legalist labors to keep these standards, not driven by love, but by self-keeping self-preservation, with a healthy dose of anxious fear.

In order to accomplish this unattainable perfection, Mr. Legalist carries around in his head a full staff of legal professionals.  His law court comes complete with judge, jury, a prosecutor who’s quite fearsome, a defense attorney who’s rather unimpressive, and a bailiff.  This court is almost always in session, sometimes sitting even when Mr. Legalist sleeps.  He tries to rule the court like God but fails…over-and-over again.  He finds the players unruly.  He labors to ensure the prosecutor is thorough, the judge exacting, the defense attorney competent, and the bailiff prompt.  The court must function well so that if it convicts Mr. Legalist at any point, the result isn’t too disastrous, and if it exonerates him, the result is defensible.

Needless to say, Mr. Legalist’s internal court burdens him and even crushes him at times.  As he grows in real holiness, real Christlikeness, he’ll realize as much.  As time goes on and he grows in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, Mr. Legalist discovers that his mental judge is corrupt.  The prosecutor is a scrupulous fraud.  The defense attorney is worse than incompetent, and the bailiff is downright vicious.  No wonder Mr. Legalist lives burdened with anxiety, given to self-centered fastidiousness, and tempted to extend his imperious regime into the lives of others around him.  He doesn’t realize, not at first, the corrupt bondage in which he so often wallows.

Mr. Legalist also doesn’t realize, not at first, that he’s a proud man.  That’s because his pride masquerades with an oddly self-deprecating disguise.  He knows he can’t measure up to the Law he worships, and so his legalism sours into a strange species of noxious narcissistic victimhood or martyrdom.  It’s all pride, all the idolatrous worship of self.

Mr. Legalist needs the Gospel.  He needs freedom from oppressive laws by liberation into the Law of Love, the Law of Christ.  He needs to learn the true nature of biblical law and biblical Gospel.  He needs to experientially learn the depth of these words spoken by him who is both Savior and Judge: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV).  Mr. Legalist needs to hear from the former Legalist Pharisee made apostle: “…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified…I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose…For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 2:16, 20-21; 5:1, ESV).  As he slowly changes, Mr. Legalist will cherish the experience of his fellow pilgrim, the one of whom John Bunyan wrote years ago: “…as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.”

Fellow Pilgrim, please help Mr. Legalist.  You need not fear him becoming an antinomian Christian, a lawless man (though even he needs guarding against ungodly license).  Rather, be gentle with him.  Guard his conscience as a weaker brother while also not pandering to his sin and feeding his idolatry of self.  Live the Gospel in front of him.  Preach it to him.  Press its truth home to him and help him learn wisdom instead of scrupulous fear.  As he is refined by the indwelling Spirit, you will probably find Mr. Legalist to be a Christian gifted with a sharp mind and a man well-tuned to sound doctrine.  Such is part of the glorious beauty of his capacities redeemed by Christ.  The corrupt and prideful legal activity of his soul must end so that the godly scribe can thrive instead.

Jesus Christ is Yahweh incarnate.  Jesus Christ is the covenant God of Israel – the one true God of heaven and earth – become man.  He is the divine Creator who, to Moses, named himself “I Am”, or “Yahweh” (Exodus 3:14).  In order to demonstrate this, I offer you all the biblical evidence, both explicit and implicit, concerning the deity of Jesus Christ.  Let me cite just one example.  When Judas Iscariot came with the temple guard to arrest Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane, John records Jesus asking, “Whom do you seek?” (Jn. 18:4, LSB).  When they answer, “Jesus the Nazarene,” Jesus responds, “I am He” (Jn. 18:5, 6).  In Greek, Jesus’ response is simply two words: “I am.”  John tells us that when Jesus utters this statement, his arrestors, “…drew back and fell to the ground” (Jn. 18:6).  John doesn’t specify why they do this.  He doesn’t need to.  Anyone who knows the Old Testament, anyone who’s read John’s gospel up to chapter 18, can’t miss the point: This Jesus is Yahweh incarnate!  How could these men not fall on their faces when he answers, “I am”?  

Because Jesus Christ is Yahweh incarnate, it’s important to read the Old Testament with an awareness of Christ.  Now, to be sure, we must be careful in doing so.  It’s also important to let the Old Testament speak on its own terms, as it did to its original audience.  We can’t replace Yahweh of Genesis-Malachi with Jesus Christ alone, and thereby forget Scripture’s doctrine of the Trinity.  But, with these cautions in place, we must let Scripture – Scripture in its totality – be what it is, a testimony to Christ (Luke 24:27).  Accordingly then, let’s consider something of a devotional move with Psalm 34.  Consider this Psalm with Jesus Christ explicitly present as Yahweh incarnate (Note: I’ve used the English Standard Bible’s translation of Psalm 34, and substituted JESUS for LORD, which translates Yahweh, whenever LORD appears): 

I will bless JESUS at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 

My soul makes its boast in JESUS; let the humble hear and be glad. 

Oh, magnify JESUS with me, and let us exalt his name together. 

I sought JESUS, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 

This poor man cried, and JESUS heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 

The angel of JESUS encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 

Oh, taste and see that JESUS is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh, fear JESUS, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek JESUS lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of JESUS. 

What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 

The eyes of JESUS are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 

The face of JESUS is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 

When the righteous cry for help, JESUS hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

JESUS is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but JESUS delivers him out of them all. 

He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 

Affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.  

JESUS redeems the life of his servants; 

None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.  

Should we always read Psalm 34 like this?  No.  There’s a reason the Holy Spirit inspired David to write in days before the incarnation of the Son of God.  Psalm 34 testifies to God’s work in his triunity – Father, Son, and Spirit.  But, it is the privilege and joy of Christians to find in Psalm 34 what’s really there; namely Jesus Christ glorified.  

(Note: I’m indebted here to John Piper for spurring my thoughts through recent reading in his book: Expository Exultation.) 

In his letter to Christians in Galatia, the Apostle Paul describes God’s law given to Israel through Moses as a “guardian.”  The Law serves to guard God’s people until the day of Christ, to the end that they “…might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24, ESV).  The Law, per Paul, prepares the human heart to receive Jesus Christ.  

Consider this truth on display with a striking passage in Deuteronomy 21.  In verses 18-21 of this chapter, we read the following: 

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’  Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear” (ESV).”

In Jesus’ case, these words of the Law unfolded as prescribed, yet in reverse and via crucifixion.  In Christ, this prescription of parental discipline occurred not against the stubborn and rebellious son, but against the gracious (Lk. 2:52) and submissive (Lk. 2:51, Phil. 2:8) son.  It was the will of the Heavenly Father to crush his divine Son (Is. 53:5, 10), and it was the sin of Israel’s elders that their hands did the crushing (Lk. 23:1-2, 20-25).  Jesus died like the son of Deuteronomy 21:18-21, and yet he lived as the only wholly righteous son ever to grace the earth. 

Now, interestingly, consider where Deuteronomy goes immediately after this passage.  In verses 22-23 we read this: 

“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance” (ESV).” 

These words stand in the background of John 19, when the Jewish leaders want Jesus dead and buried before the Sabbath begins (vs. 31).  Paul, in Galatians 3, applies them to Jesus when he writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’…” (vs. 13, ESV). 

The person who hears the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy, and then sees it fulfilled, in reverse, in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, faces the inescapable question: “Why?”  Why did this righteous son unjustly suffer the penalty of a rebellious son?  The answer is first, “For you,” and then second, “He didn’t.”  Let me explain… 

Jesus suffered unjustly for you.  If you’re asking the above question, then I trust it’s because the Spirit of God has stirred your heart to hear and believe the Gospel.  Jesus died the death of Deuteronomy 21:18-21, and suffered the curse of Deuteronomy 21:22-23, so that you won’t.  You’re the rebellious son (so was I) or daughter, and yet God, in love, ordained that the gracious and obedient divine Son should die in your place.  Jesus lived Deuteronomy 21:18-23 for you.  

Now for that second answer, “He didn’t.”  What I mean is this: Ultimately Jesus’ death on a cross wasn’t unjust.  From a human perspective the righteous Jesus died at the hands of unjust, unrighteous persecutors.  That’s true.  But it’s not the whole picture.  From God’s perspective, according to the Father’s good plan – the one established before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8) – Jesus’ death occurred to fulfill God’s justice, not to violate it.  Jesus died for sin, and therefore his death was good and just. 

A part of me struggles to type those words, but they’re true.  Here it is from the Holy Spirit, through Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (ESV).  There’s deep mystery in that statement, every bit as deep, and perhaps deeper, than the divine Son becoming human (Phil. 2:5-7).  The mystery of Christ’s incarnation prepared for the mystery of sin’s imputation to this righteous God-Man (Phil. 2:8).  It was right that Jesus died, and just that Jesus died, because God the Father placed on him – he imputed to Christ – the iniquities of all God’s children (Isaiah 53:6).  In one breath we must say two things: 1) Jesus’ death was the greatest travesty of justice that ever occurred, or ever will occur; 2) Jesus’ death was the greatest act of wrath-quenching justice that ever occurred, or ever will occur.  Both statements are true! 

Brothers and sisters, the Law of God in Deuteronomy prepares us for Jesus Christ.  In the end, the question of God’s Law is simply this: “Will you receive God’s Son?”  

The Psalms are wonderful. Psalm 103 is particularly wonderful. Among the wonderful things David says in this poem are these words (verses 15-18, NASB):

(15) “As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

(16) When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.

(17) But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,

(18) To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.”

Here’s a curious question: How can God’s eternal lovingkindness extend to man who is temporal? How can God’s lovingkindness be from everlasting (eternity past) to everlasting (eternity future) on those who fear him, if those who fear him are like grass that dies and is forgotten (vs. 15)? How is it that God loved me in eternity past before I existed? How will he love me in eternity future when my place in this world is like that of a dead and rotted flower?

In answer to these questions, let’s go two places in God’s Word, both with the Apostle Paul:

Ephesians 1:3-6 (Legacy Standard Bible) – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

Romans 8:28-30 (LSB) – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom he foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.”

God loved his people, he loved me, from everlasting (eternity past) in his work of election and predestination. From before the foundation of the world – from everlasting – God determined to save me, and not because of anything commendatory in me; quite the opposite (Ephesians 1). This determination of God brought me to a willing, and I pray growing, holy fear of him.

God will love his people, he will love me, to everlasting (eternity future) in his work of glorification. He’s promised to make me like his glorified Son, Jesus Christ. How? By uniting me to Christ through faith, and then transforming my heart into one that loves God even as Jesus loves his Father. Between this work of election and its end in glorification lie God’s acts of calling, justification, and sanctification, all the stuff of adoption.

Psalm 103:17-18 is a poetic rendition of saving grace. It is the doctrines of grace in song. It is the sovereignty of God in salvation rendered in the songs of Israel. Sovereignty pervades these words. It’s no surprise then that we have this statement in verse 19 (NASB): “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And his sovereignty rules over all.” The word translated here as “sovereignty” is a Hebrew term that refers to the ruling authority of a king. One source defines the word as, “sovereign power” (1). God is sovereign over all, and in that sovereignty he exercises his lovingkindness.

What happens when the song of Psalm 103 takes hold in a heart? David leaves us in no doubt: “Bless the LORD, O my soul…bless his holy name…Bless the LORD, O my soul…Bless the LORD, O you his angels…Bless the LORD, all his hosts…Bless the LORD, all his works…Bless the LORD, O my soul” (vs. 1, 2, 20, 21, 22, ESV). Seven times, bless the Lord! Notice that Paul agrees with David: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). When the song of Psalm 103 takes hold, God’s people bless his name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul! May you too bless him today…


1. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 1199.

Last night I, along with others, supported by still others, had the opportunity to address the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District (SLVUSD) Board of Trustees, in protest.  We spoke in protest of the board’s unconscionable action to violate the religious conscience of students and families by inappropriately flying the so-called Pride Flag over our public-school campuses.  This is not a new issue.  My last post addressed the matter, as did many over the past four years.

My purpose in today’s post isn’t so much to focus on the experience of last night.  If you’re interested, you can read my statement to the SLVUSD Board here.  Rather, in this post I want to note how the Holy Spirit has framed the issue for me; and done so in what I expect is my last year addressing this particular board on this particular matter.  To do this, I need to give you a little context regarding my regular time in the Bible.  One of the things I imperfectly do with God’s Word is to continually and systematically read through the Psalms.  I won’t elaborate on how for the moment, I’ll just point you to where this practice took me, both yesterday and today.

Yesterday’s song was Psalm 75 (NASB):

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks, for your name is near; Men declare your wondrous works.  “When I select an appointed time, it is I who judge with equity.  The earth and all who dwell in it melt; It is I who have firmly set its pillars.  Selah.  I said to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn; Do not lift up your horn on high, do not speak with insolent pride.’”  For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation; But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.  For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine foams; It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.  But as for me, I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.  And all the horns of the wicked He will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

That was yesterday morning, as I contemplated going again to this board that has proved so hard-heartedly deaf to God’s people for four years.  Do they know the foaming cup of God’s wrath that’s steadily filling against them?  I want that question to land on me with holy trembling and holy thanks.  The fact that I can receive Psalm 75:9 for myself owes nothing to me and everything to Christ.  The men and women on the SLVUSD Board of Trustees need a Savior; one who’s already drunk God’s cup for them!

This morning’s song was Psalm 76.  Here again is the text in its entirety (from the NASB):

God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel.  His tabernacle is in Salem; His dwelling place also is in Zion.  There He broke the flaming arrows, the shield and the sword and the weapons of war.  Selah.  You are resplendent, more majestic than the mountains of prey.  The stouthearted were plundered, they sank into sleep; And none of the warriors could use his hands.  At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep.  You, even You, are to be feared; And who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry?  You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment, to save all the humble of the earth.  Selah.  For the wrath of man shall praise You; with a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself.  Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared.  He will cut off the spirit of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.

Notice the theme of judgment, just as in Psalm 75.  Notice the four times repetition of “feared.”  The SLVUSD Board members don’t, seemingly, fear God.  They fear man, not God.  That’s a true but terrible thing to say.  It’s terrible to say because God will arise in judgment, and on that day the whole earth will fear and be still.  What will people do then who haven’t learned a holy fear of God – fear born of love – through Jesus Christ our Lord?  In the day when God arises for judgment, you can either fear him in love, or you can fear him in terror.  Which will it be for the six members (five elected, plus the district superintendent) of the SLVUSD Board of Trustees?

For four years I, and others, have labored to get the Board’s attention over the issue of the so-called Pride Flag.  They’ve chosen to ignore us, repeatedly.  Therefore, I think it’s time we obey the words of Jesus.  Lord help me, I quote your words solemnly, not flippantly, sadly, not in triumphalism: “And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them” (Mark 6:11).

Consider this post a shaking of the foot.   

Today (May 6th) the so-called Pride Flag again went up over the public school campuses of the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District (SLVUSD).  The district took this action despite the fact that doing so once again violates the conscience of students in their care.  There’s a history to this egregious, callous disregard for people of religious conviction, one that reaches back at least to 2021.  If you’re new to the saga, please review the posts and associated material available here, here, here, here, and here (from most recent to oldest).  As you do, know the immediate issue is not that of whose worldview wins – one shaped by biblical convictions, or one driven by the LGBTQ+ sexual revolution.  Rather, the issue turns on what’s appropriate for educational authorities in a public-school setting.

Before I address Christian parents and educators in Santa Cruz County, let me note a few important points:

1. I first addressed the SLVUSD Board of Trustees on this matter in 2021, at which time I expressed my willingness for extended dialogue. In 2022 and 2023, I explicitly asked for such dialogue. The Board has refused.  Why?  I think they’re afraid.  They’re afraid to engage the questions asked and the arguments raised.  Why are they afraid?  Maybe because they know it’s wrong to violate the convictions and conscience of students in pursuit of their agenda.  I repeat my request to the SLVUSD Board of Trustees for a substantive dialogue over an important matter.  I challenge them to prove their courage.

2. Today’s action came as something of a surprise. Not totally, because I expected the flags to go up at some point. This week of nonsensical disregard comes like clockwork each May since 2021.  It was a surprise because in past years the Board always passed a resolution to fly the flag; one typically taken in April.  A recent review of official documents showed nothing indicating the Board’s adoption of a similar resolution for 2024.  When the flags went up today, I took a brief field trip to the SLVUSD District Office.  There I discovered that a resolution was indeed passed, one to fly the flag annually “during the week leading up to the Annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards” (see SLVUSD Board Resolution 2023-24-04).  The Board took this action on August 2, 2023.  Why August 2^nd?  I don’t know.  I’m inclined to think August was convenient for passing a controversial resolution.  Who would see and notice something passed in August?  Perhaps I’m wrong, but this looks like cowardice.

Now, let me address you reading this who follow Jesus Christ, fellowship in his church, and still have children in the Santa Cruz public school systems.  If that’s you, I’m with you in the struggle of trying to faithfully educate your kids in the public schools.  It’s no easy task.  We need God’s help to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).  That said, let me ask you this: Will you keep your children at school this week?  Will you willingly let your kids walk onto their campus beneath a flag that makes a tyrannical, unholy demand on their allegiance?  Don’t deceive yourself into thinking that isn’t happening.  Did you know the Pride Flag is the creation of a man who openly mocked Jesus Christ by parading through the streets of San Francisco in his Pink Jesus costume (see here)?  Will you, with evident protest, remove your children from school until next Monday?

Finally, to Christian educators in Santa Cruz’s public systems: Thank you for seeking to honor Christ in an amazingly difficult vocational context.  You’re a breath of fresh air in a world that’s often stifling.  But, for you too I have questions.  Will you let a week like this pass unchallenged?  Are you comfortable submitting quietly to the Pride Flag when you walk into work each day?  Isn’t your conscience violated?  Please stand up and open your mouth with courage.  Go to your administration and make this an issue.  Go to your Board and publicly object to this obvious disregard and disrespect.  Do it to glorify Christ and do it as an act of loving service to the kids you teach.  If you need an ally, let me know.  I’d like to help in any way I can.

Nonsense prevails when people refuse to stand up and speak up.

It’s a breathtaking, almost infuriating moment.  The people of Israel were there, in Kadesh-barnea, on the cusp of blessing.  A little more than a year after leaving 400 hundred years of slavery in Egypt, they were on the doorstep of Canaan.  They were about to receive the next step in God’s covenant promise to Abraham.  At God’s command, Moses sent spies into the land.  The spies’ report was good, yet fearsome: “The land is rich, but it’s full of warriors whom we can’t face” (Num. 13:27-29).  So said ten of the twelve men who spied out Canaan.  Two said, “Let’s go!  Yahweh is with us!” (Num. 13:30, 14:6-9).  Rather than hear the two, Israel listened to the ten:

“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.  And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!  Or would that we had died in this wilderness!  Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?  Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.  Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’  And they said to one another, ‘Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt’” (Num. 14:1-4).

This is Israel’s response after the plagues in Egypt…after deliverance across the sea…after the glory and terror of Sinai…after the manna…after the quail…and so on.  They don’t doubt God’s reality (in a sense), but they doubt his goodness.  They rebel against his rule.

As it was with Israel, so it always is in the fight of faith when sinful flesh rears its head.  When faith requires that which seems risky en route to God’s blessing, fleshly faithlessness attacks the goodness of God.  In anxiety, it catastrophizes (“They’ll kill us!”), reasoning as if God does not exist and is not faithful to his promises.

Ever found yourself on the brink of faith in your battles with the world, the flesh, and the devil?

Ever found yourself pining for the good old days of bondage; bondage to sinful patterns, to an easy life, to immature faith, to childish ways of thinking and living, etc.?

Ever found yourself wanting a return to Egypt because you’re not willing to risk everything on the premise that God is good?

Ever found yourself forgetting God’s track record of faithfulness in your life, not to mention across history itself?

“[We have not received] the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but [we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba!  Father!’” (Rom. 8:15).  When you find yourself standing on the brink of faith, take care against the temptation to doubt the goodness of God.  Take refuge in God’s Word, and let your heart and your mouth cry, “Abba!”  After that, press forward into the land of promise.  Will God who began a good work in you, and for you, fail to finish his work (Phil. 1:6)?  “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do [according to his promise]” (1 Thess. 5:24).

Do you know Mrs. Hutchings?  I don’t, but I praise God for her!  Did you know that decades ago she rendered an invaluable service to Jesus’ church?  She exercised a simple gift that has, for almost sixty years now, blessed tens of thousands.

Perhaps you know of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  MLJ (as I’ll call him) preached and pastored in Wales, and then England, from the late 1920’s through to the late 1960’s.  In God’s gracious providence, the Holy Spirit used his faithful, powerful preaching in mighty ways.  MLJ’s ministry continues to resonate, not only through recordings of his sermons (which you can listen to via the MLJ trust), but also through his written works, which are largely his preached sermons put into books.

Among MLJ’s writings is one sermon-series-turned-book titled Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures.  This book is a precious work of pastoral counsel.  I read it, very slowly, some years back.  Time-after-time as I read MLJ’s words, it felt like I was sitting in the pew of Westminster Chapel, hearing him preach, and finding the Holy Spirit dealing with my soul.

This morning I picked up Spiritual Depression again and opened to the “Forward.”  There I found the following statement written by MLJ in 1964: “All who may derive some help from them [the sermons that form the book] will want to join with me in thanking Mrs. Hutchings who originally took down the sermons in shorthand…” Who is Mrs. Hutchings?  She was, I suppose, a simple, relatively unknown saint, who exercised a gift of shorthand to record the words MLJ preached that eventually became Spiritual Depression.  How many thousands of Christians have been helped by her “simple” labor?  Would anyone have thought her ability with shorthand a “spiritual gift” set to bless tens of thousands over decades?  Probably not.  But, in the sovereign purpose of God, that’s exactly what it was, and what it became.  Praise God!

Brother or sister, what simple gift has God given to you?  What abilities and opportunities has he entrusted to you, with which to serve and love others in Jesus’ name?  Do those abilities and opportunities seem small and insignificant in your eyes or the eyes of others?  Perhaps they are.  But, doesn’t the God who fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21) multiply simple gifts and small opportunities?  Doesn’t he make them mighty in the kingdom of God?

Praise God for Mrs. Hutchings!

How should Christians respond to the political world in which we live, especially when that world trends toward evil?  Recent discussion – for better and for worse – around “Christian nationalism” make this a fraught question.  It will only become more fraught in 2024.  Our national elections will ensure as much, helped by things like the dubious documentary slated for release this year.  If you want to read a helpful article on Christian nationalism, consider this summary at American Reformer.  If you want more, consider Dietrich Von Hildebrand.

Dietrich Von Hildebrand was a German Catholic philosopher of the mid-20^th century.  Von Hildebrand is known to history as one of the earliest, most public, and most vocal opponents of Adolph Hitler and Nazism.  I learned of Von Hildebrand first from Eric Metaxas, and then from John Henry Crosby in My Battle Against Hitler: Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich.  I’m going to quote at length from one of Von Hildebrand’s essays, published on March 10, 1935, during his several years living and writing in Austria (prior to the 1938 German takeover of that country, known as the Anschluss).  I find his words, so relevant at the time, both prescient and helpful for Christians living some 90 years later.  Of note, please don’t construe my quoting Von Hildebrand as a commendation of Catholic theology, the Roman Catholic Church, or the pope.  When Von Hildebrand refers specifically to Catholics, insert “Christian,” and the relevance remains for a Protestant like me.  Here then are words of Dietrich Von Hildebrand, as translated in My Battle Against Hitler (with my occasional editorial note in brackets):

In many Catholic circles…one encounters the view that the lesson to be learned from the defeat of political Catholicism in Germany is that Catholics should turn away from politics in order to concern themselves exclusively with religious matters and adopt a passive attitude toward political events.  Indeed, one may sometimes hear even the clergy in Austria voice the opinion that one must already mentally adjust now to the possibility of a National Socialist [Nazi] regime and should be on one’s guard against cultivating excessively intimate ties with the present regime.

However, there is clearly something ambiguous about this call to depoliticize Catholicism and to concentrate solely on religious matters.  When it entails a due regard for the primacy of the purely religious sphere, disavows an excessively intimate relationship between religion and party politics, and aims to put an end to the politicizing of religion, it is undoubtedly good and justified.  The bankruptcy of political Catholicism in Germany does indeed teach us this lesson.  But it is utterly impossible to expect Catholics to be indifferent to politics at a time when the debates in the political sphere concern not just political issues but…fundamental beliefs about the meaning of existence [like, for instance, life in the womb, or gender and sexuality, to name just a few].

When today the Antichrist is rearing his head in Bolshevism and National Socialism [or wokist Marxism and kinist protectionism], when Christ is persecuted with unprecedented hatred, and a revolt is raging not only against the sphere of the supernatural but even of the person in general [tell me again, what is a woman?], all Catholics must fight for Christ in the political sphere with full personal commitment, representing importune opportune (in season and out of season) the claims of the kingdom of God and thus, implicitly, those of morality and the natural law.  They will feel called to this commitment to the extent that they live in Christ and see everything in the light of the supernatural, to the extent that they have interiorized their religious existence and are conscious of the primacy of the properly religious sphere as the unum necessarium (the one thing needful). 

In a time when the state expressly advocates totalitarian claims and incessantly seeks to overstep its divinely ordained sphere of competence [2020 and COVID anyone?], indifference to the political sphere on the part of Catholics constitutes an outright desertion of duty.  It is precisely the rootedness of genuine Catholics in a realm that transcends politics, their freedom from the inner dynamism of political practice, and their consideration of all things in conspectu Dei (before the face of God) that requires them to erect a dam against every encroachment of the state. 

In point of fact, the real lesson to be learned from the bankruptcy of politicizing Catholicism is this: rather than politicizing Catholicism, one must instead Catholicize politics.  For the human being is an integral whole, and true religiosity will inevitably induce him to regard all areas of life in their orientation to God and to work, always and everywhere, for the kingdom of Christ…This begins in one’s own person, in the induere Christum (putting on Christ)…it requires a commitment to Christ in the earthly public sphere and in political activity, in order that there, too, everything may be formed in the spirit of the natural law and of Christian teaching. 

Naturally, the principal contribution of the Christian in this sphere is his personal transformation in Christ.  But that must not be his only contribution.  It is of course true that, for the Christian, the transformation of the face of the earth does not proceed primarily from without by means of laws of the state, but rather from within by means of the conversion of the person.  Naturally, the Christian rejects every form of earthly messianism and remains ever aware of “how great is heaven and how small the earth.”  Nevertheless, he makes use of all legitimate earthly means in order to shape the polis (the political community) in such a way that the kingdom of Christ may be built up within it.

Thus “Catholic Action”…is indeed apolitical in the sense that it must not be understood as a political party or engage in party politics itself; but it certainly extends into the political sphere, since Catholics who are active politically have the same obligation to carry the spirit of Christ into this domain that they have with regard to any other sphere of life.  Anyone who does not admit this is not thinking as a Catholic but in the manner of pietistic quietism.  This is undoubtedly a danger today…

Bolshevism and National Socialism are primarily worldviews [so also wokist Marxism and kinist protectionism].  They neither are, nor wish to be, mere political systems.  Apathy toward the political sphere on the part of Catholics easily leads, therefore, to apathy toward National Socialism as a whole.  Many say, “Why should we always simply attack and criticize?  Let us depart from the political sphere; let us search out and convert those who have gone astray.  Let us, who stand aloof from politics, spread the spirit of love and reconciliation.”

This is, at bottom, a cowardly flight from the battle to which God is calling us.  It is our obligation as soldiers of Christ to wage war against the Antichrist and to rip the mask from his face.  The “apolitical” disposition cultivated by certain Catholics, which induces others to refrain from exposing and relentlessly fighting against National Socialism, is an evil sophism.  What is at stake in the position one adopts toward National Socialism as a whole…is nothing less than the question: Are you for Christ, or against Him? 

Here too, Christ’s words hold true: “He who is not with me is against me” (Mt 12:30).  The soldier of Christ is obligated to fight against sin and error.  His battle against the Antichrist is prompted by his love for Christ and for the salvation of souls; he fights this battle for the salvation of those who have gone astray.  His attitude is one of true love.  But those who flee from the inevitable battle and treat irenically those who have gone astray, obfuscating their error and playing down their revolt against God are, fundamentally, victims of egoism and complacency. 

Are these not challenging words for American Christians facing 2024?  We’re not battling National Socialism, but let’s not forget that National Socialism had its beginnings, as did every political evil across time.  How should we hear and apply Von Hildebrand’s exhortation in days to come?  Therein lies important and fruitful discussion for people who love Jesus and love their neighbor.

 

The picture you see here is significant.  Let me explain why.  This is the view you’ll have if you sit at the foot of the table in the Honor Board Room at the United States Air Force Academy and look up.  To be clear, as a cadet you don’t ever want to experience this view.  If you do, it’s because your integrity’s being questioned.  It’s because you’re suspected of having violated the Honor Code, which says, “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.”  The code is a bastion of cadet life.  Its violation is the fastest way to find oneself dismissed from the Cadet Wing.  Regrettably, there’s a deep irony to this picture, which I’ll get to in a moment.

The Honor Board Room resides within USAFA’s Polaris Hall, which houses the Academy’s Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD).  Maybe you remember that Polaris is another name for the North Star.  Polaris Hall is oriented toward the North Star.  If you sit in the seat at the foot of the Honor Board conference table and look up, the building intentionally funnels your view toward the North Star.  The symbolism is purposeful.  If you’re here, it’s because your integrity is on trial.  What’s your moral compass in this moment?  What’s your moral north star?

Now, why is this ironic?  It’s ironic because, like much of the moral fabric of American culture today, USAFA’s Honor Code is slowly eroding, and it’s doing so with official sanction.  In today’s Air Force, you can don the uniform of a USAFA cadet, having taken the honor oath, and all the while deny your fundamental identity as a human being (see here).  You can lie about your gender – man or woman – and your lie will receive not censure, but official sanction.  A male cadet can deceitfully claim a female identity (or vice versa) and never have to answer for that lie with a view like the one here.  Cheat on your math test…you’ll face this view.  Lie about who you are as a person, and you’ll be congratulated for your authenticity.

What does this rumination tell us?  It tells us the North Star isn’t a faithful moral compass.  It’s not sturdy enough, permanent enough, or true enough.  The North Star as a symbol helps us down the road of thinking that truth is objective; that there are moral absolutes which span time, space, and cultures, and thus bind all people everywhere.  But, as USAFA so aptly demonstrates, the North Star can’t define the content of that truth, or the nature of these absolutes.  We need not the North Star, but the Morning Star.  We need the one who said, “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16b, ESV).  We need, “…the prophetic word…to which [we] will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in [our] hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, ESV).  We need Jesus.  Moral relativism makes foolish liars of all its adherents.  It degrades a culture and weakens a nation.  It takes honorable (if fearsome) words like, “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does,” and turns them vacuous.

There’s a better table than the conference table in the Polaris Hall Honor Board Room.  It’s a table of perfect integrity where redeemed liars sit clothed in truth.  It is the banqueting table of the “…marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9, ESV).  It is a table, not of judgment, but of grace.  This table points, not north, but toward the Morning.  Do you have a seat at this better table?