In many modern worship songs there is a lack of theology. It is truly heartbreaking to see so much music with so little theological depth. I think this lack of depth is what draws me to the hymns of old. They are lyrically beautiful and focused on theology. Few hymns communicate like the hymn “Amazing Grace” by John Newton. Most of us have sung this legendary hymn but have we all considered the deep theological words we sing?
I have heard it said that the greatest sin we commit is ingratitude. If you think about it, when we stop being thankful for what God has done for us, we become discontent and wanton. John Flavel preached a rather reproving sermon on ingratitude. Below is an excerpt.
Your ingratitude is the ready way to deprive you of the mercies you have, and to withhold from you the mercies you might have in your future distresses and wants. He that is ungrateful for mercies received, provokes God to remove them… If you are weary of your mercies, and willing to be rid of them, you cannot take a more effectual course than to forget from whom you had them, and withhold His praise for them.
Sure I am, there are some among you who have quickly forgotten the God that delivered you. Some that have abused him to his face, by ascribing his mercies to good luck, chance , and fortune: not once owning him as your deliverer. And some that have made his mercies weapons of sin, to wound him withal, wasting your estates by prodigality, which were given to refresh your families, and God’s poor; yea, abusing them to drunkenness and luxury. And is this the thanks you return to him? For which of all my good works (saith Christ to the Jews) do you stone me? So say I, for which of all God’s kindnesses to you, do you thus dishonour, and abuse him?
O let shame cover your faces this day! Go, reader, fold down this leaf, and get thee to thy knees, and say, I am the man to whom this reproof is sent. I have abused the God of my mercies, I have turned his grace into wantonness.
God forgive me!
The Christian is enabled to rejoice greatly, even when he is grieved by manifold trials. He rejoices and grieves at the same time. He is a mass of contradictions. He is weak, yet strong; has no righteousness, yet is divinely righteous; has no strength, yet is invincible; a worm, yet threshes mountains (Isaiah 41: 14-15); poor, yet making many rich; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Joy and grief fill his heart at the same time, so that it is possible that he may ‘receive the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost’ (1 Thess. 1:6).
~Robert Murray M’Cheyne
In the controversy surrounding the British Government’s initiative to redefine marriage, there has been surprisingly little mention of what God has said about it. This is surprising because a number of senior figures from the main churches have already taken part in the debate [1, 2 & 3]. Indeed, this becomes all the more surprising when it is realised that marriage features prominently in the Bible.
The First Marriage
The first reference to marriage appears as early as the second chapter of the first book in the Bible – the Book of Genesis. Whilst the word ‘marriage’ does not appear itself, verse 24 is well known amongst churchgoers: ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’ (ESV [4]). This is one of the verses of Scripture that brings Christians into dispute with Evolutionists – the reason referred to by the word ‘therefore’ being that woman was taken out of man so as to provide a helper suitable for him (verses 20 to 23).
A Surprising Marriage
Not so readily recognised as relevant is another important event in the Bible – the time when God appeared before the Israelites at Mount Sinai and thundered out the Ten Commandments to all of them.
When Moses later told the people all God’s words and laws, the people responded with one voice: “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Exodus 24:3, ESV). Observant readers will notice two key words in that reply ‘we will’.
The Israelites were entering into a binding covenant with God. Those two words may remind you of the promise made in a marriage ceremony, and you would be right!
An Almighty Husband
When God later spoke to the nation through the prophet Jeremiah, he spoke of renewing the covenant that he had made with their forefathers: “… my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband …” (Jeremiah 31:32, ESV). God thus confirmedthat, in his own view, he had married the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. He also spoke to them in similar terms through the prophet Isaiah when he said: “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name …” (Isaiah 54:5, ESV). So not only did God initiate marriage between man and woman, he also married the nation of Israel, placing himself in the role of husband.
A Divine JoinerAs one continues to explore the concept of marriage in the Bible, the surprises keep coming. For example, when some Pharisees came to test Jesus on the subject of divorce, not only did he refer back to the passage in the Book of Genesis about the two becoming one flesh, but he went on to say: “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew19:6, ESV). Thus Christ made it very clear who it is that does the joining of a man and a woman in marriage; and that this joining is so important that it should not be undone.
An Unlikely Bride
Later still the Apostle Paul unleashed another surprise in his letter to the Ephesians. When he came to the subject of marriage, he quoted that same passage from Genesis and then wrote: ‘This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church’ (Ephesians 5:32, ESV). Paul’s use of the word ‘mystery’ here is his way of referring to something that was previously hidden, but that had now been revealed. What had been revealed? That Christ is entering into a marriage relationship with the church; he the bridegroom, she the bride. Paul states that this is a profound matter. It is of great importance and not to be taken lightly.
A Ready BrideThen in the last book of the Bible comes mention of a very special wedding when a great multitude shouts: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” (Revelation 19:6-8, ESV).
This describes the wedding of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God; and his bride has made herself ready, being dressed in fine linen, which is then described as being the righteous acts of the saints.
A Godly Relationship
Even from these few quotes, marriage can be seen to appear throughout the Bible, and to play a very important role. It appears both as marriage between a man and a woman, and marriage between God and his people. Thus it becomes clear that God has defined marriage. Therefore, it is not for men and women to redefine it. Redefining marriage in the way the British Government intends will lead to a slow change in attitudes as each generation succeeds their parents. Thus people will drift further away from a godly attitude towards marriage, and this will bring more of God’s wrath upon the people of Britain (Romans 1:18, ESV). Consequently, Christians in Britain have good reasons to enter into discussion with the Government and seek to dissuade it from proceeding with its plan – for the sake of everyone who lives in this country!
References
[1] Archbishop attacks Cameron’s ‘gay marriage’ plan
The Telegraph Online, 05 Oct 2011
[2] Speech: Leadership for a better Britain
Rt Hon David Cameron, Wednesday, October 5 2011
[3] Archbishop’s Interview with the Daily Telegraph
Tuesday 31st January 2012
[4] The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), 2001, Crossway.
It is not enough that we go to Church and hear sermons. We may do so for fifty years, and be nothing better, but rather worse. “Take heed,” says our Lord, “how you hear.” Would any one know how to hear properly? Then let them lay to heart three simple rules.
1) We must hear with FAITH, believing implicitly that every word of God is true, and shall stand.
“Oh Lord our God, how can we thank thee sufficiently for this new and living way?
Oh forgive us for our folly in so constantly looking back, being tied by traditions and customs and habits that never satisfied anybody and are but a hindrance and a confusion.
Lord, deliver us from this and grant that with the apostle, thy servant of old, we may say: forgetting the things that are behind, looking forward, we may press forward together, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might …”
A prayer by the late D.M. Lloyd-Jones
We do not have an exhaustive list of gifts of the the Spirit in the Bible, but we do have a lot of them. These gifts are sovereignly distributed by the Spirit for the common good and edification of the church. When each member is working properly, the body grows and is built up in love.
In the wisdom of God, He has designed that we are all ministers to one another in various ways through a variety of gifts.
Main Passage: 2 Chronicles 33:10-16
10 And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylo
n. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
14 After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. 16 He also repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.
The New King James Version
Introduction:
Out Line:
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
Close by quoting Psalm One and Prayer
