CONTENTMENT

From C.H. Spurgeon's "Morning" on this date. Words that are both encouraging and discouraging. Will it really take that long to learn contentment? "Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us. Paul says, "I have learned . . . to be content;" as much as to say, he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, 'I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,' he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave—a poor prisoner shut up in Nero's dungeon at Rome."

No Other Stream

My thoughts were provoked by a passage I was reading this morning, Psalm 46. It begins like this: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” Now, I did not deliberately plan to read this passage as the “Frankenstorm,” the “Perfect Storm 2,” or the “Storm of the Millennium” (pick your favorite title) bears down on the Northeast. Still, with a daughter living in Brooklyn and going to graduate school in Manhattan, and with a son and daughter-in-law in DC for graduate school, this is a good passage to cling to. After all, seems like the last few years have given us more roaring and foaming than I can remember. At times like this, it is good to remember that God is our refuge and strength.

As a Myers-Briggs INTJ (Google it!) I connect new data with other data—essentially with everything else (I am referencing only those data points stored in active, living brain cells!). My thoughts turned to another story I read about last night, about a nanny in New York who apparently snapped, mentally, and stabbed to death the two children she was caring for, a two year-old little boy and a six year-old little girl. I read about it last night after coming home from an afternoon with my two year-old grandson (the little boy pictured in the story could have been my grandson’s twin). How do you cope with something like that? How does a family begin to recover? Two little beds now empty, stuffed animals that will never receive another hug or a kiss, a copy of the Velveteen Rabbit that will never be opened again and read to one of these children. These thoughts are roaring waters and trembling mountains. Who is able to deal with such horror? My heart broke for this family’s loss. And, if this nanny is not completely insane or sociopathic, what a burden she will carry for the rest of her life—if she survives her self-inflicted wounds.

And so my thoughts return to the beginning of the Psalm. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” No denying that trouble will come. No questioning the potential severity of that trouble. It may involve roaring waters and trembling mountains. In fact, it probably will, at some point or another in one’s life. But God is “very present” to help in the time of trouble. The result? “Therefore we will not fear . . . .” Well, fear is not so much the problem. I am sure that those in the path of the Hurricane Sandy may rightly have some level of fear. However, I am looking at blue skies and bright sunshine. A little cool for my tastes, but it is late October and that is that nature of things. So, I am not afraid. But what about sorrow? What about grief? What about that family that just lost two precious little ones? They may be experiencing some fear—how do we get through the next few days? How will our marriage handle these losses (a high percentage don’t survive the loss of a child, you know). How do we explain this to our remaining three year-old daughter, and how will this affect her life and well-being? But more than fear, don’t you know they are overwhelmed with sorrow at so unexpected and horrific a loss.

The Psalmist says more: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” This is what we need when the waves of sorrow overwhelm the soul. There is a river of Living Water that flows from the risen Christ. The one who wept over Jerusalem, at the tomb of Lazarus, and cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane—this one understands our deepest hurts . . . and promises to be near. The God-Man is in the midst of the people of God and will bring their needed help. He will usher in the light of dawn after the darkness of the soul and calm that turbulence so that we can “be still, and know that he is God.”

Make no mistake. There are no easy answers to this family’s sorrow, or perhaps to yours, or mine. Throwing God-words at grieving hearts rarely does much good. Instead, it is the presence of Christ that can make a difference. The presence of Christ through his Spirit who is able to come alongside, not to remove our sorrow, but to share it. No, removal is not quite how this works; there is no promise that we can press the “Reset” button and make all the bad stuff go away. Instead, he is with us to bear our burdens and share our tears. After all, Jesus i a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”; he has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa 53:3,4). That is what this grieving family needs now more than anything. And along with the presence of God, the presence of God’s people to come alongside and share their grief with them. I do not know these folks. I do not know their hearts. I do know that I am not the one to come alongside. Even if I were, there are no flights in and out of New York (Hurricane Sandy- remember?) But I can pray for them. And you can pray for them. And ask that God will in his mercy, through Christ, flood these broken lives with the water of life, the only stream that can “make glad the city of God.”

There is only one source of healing. And whether our sorrows are completely healed in this life, or whether they wait for the final healing “when he will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 21:4), Jesus is the only “stream that makes glad the city of God,” the only stream that is sufficient to heal the brokenness of our lives. In C.S. Lewis’, The Silver Chair, the following conversation takes place between Jill, a young daughter of Eve, and the great Aslan, Son of the Emperor Beyond the Sea (the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia): “Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion. “I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill. “Then drink,” said the Lion. “May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill. The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. “Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill. “I make no promise,” said the Lion. Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. “Do you eat girls?” she said. “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. “I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill. “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion. “Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.” “There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

Indeed. There is no other stream.

C H Spurgeon for 6 May Evening

"All the days of my appointed time will I wait."—Job 14:14. little stay on earth will make heaven more heavenly. Nothing makes rest so sweet as toil; nothing renders security so pleasant as exposure to alarms. The bitter quassia cups of earth will give a relish to the new wine which sparkles in the golden bowls of glory. Our battered armor and scarred countenances will render more illustrious our victory above, when we are welcomed to the seats of those who have overcome the world. We should not have full fellowship with Christ if we did not for awhile sojourn below, for He was baptized with a baptism of suffering among men, and we must be baptized with the same if we would share his kingdom. Fellowship with Christ is so honorable that the sorest sorrow is a light price by which to procure it. Another reason for our lingering here is for the good of others. We would not wish to enter heaven till our work is done, and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister light to souls benighted in the wilderness of sin. Our prolonged stay here is doubtless for God's glory. A tried saint, like a well-cut diamond, glitters much in the King's crown. Nothing reflects so much honor on a workman as a protracted and severe trial of his work, and its triumphant endurance of the ordeal without giving way in any part. We are God's workmanship, in whom He will be glorified by our afflictions. It is for the honor of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith with sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus, and feel, "If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on earth for ever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven." Our time is fixed and settled by eternal decree. Let us not be anxious about it, but wait with patience till the gates of pearl shall open.

WE NEED SOLDIERS! WE NEED TO PRAY

Sermon preached at Pinecrest ARP Church on occasion of the promotion of ARP Chaplain, Juan Carlos Unda. Audio here: http://pinecrestchurch.com/uploads/sermon20110807.mp3

Today we are gathering to worship the Lord. We are also celebrating the promotion of one of our own, Juan Carlos Unda, to the rank of Captain in the United States Army Reserve. If you ponder that for a moment, you might feel a bit of tension. Some might say we are dangerously close to mingling God and Caesar. Others might point out the Army is an organization that exists to kill people and break things. And there is some tension here, is there not? We do not live in Eden, where God and his creation enjoy unfettered companionship. No, we live in a fallen world, and in this fallen world, there are two certainties that I want to address this morning: We need soldiers, and we need to pray!

Years ago, when I was yet a small child, I looked forward to watching television shows that glorified soldiers and their bravery under fire. Who among us, aged fifty or so, doesn’t remember “Combat” or “Twelve O’Clock High.” Both of these weekly serials glorified the heroism of the American Soldier— and I will use the word Soldier simply as shorthand for all uniformed military personnel; I mean no disrespect to those in other branches of service. In those days, when we thought of Soldiers, we thought of brave men who exemplified duty, honor, country, going into harm’s way to preserve our liberties and democratic values.

Once, the historian Stephen Ambrose was engaged in a group interview in preparation for one of his many volumes. He recounts the story of one speaker who summed up the significance of the great crusade of World War II. He said, “Imagine this. In the spring of 1945, around the world, the sight of a twelve-man squad of teenage boys, armed and in uniform, brought terror to people’s hearts. Whether it was a Red Army squad in Berlin, Leipzig, or Warsaw, or a German squad in Holland, or a Japanese squad in Manila, Seoul, or Beijing, that squad meant rape, pillage, looting, wanton destruction, senseless killing. But there was an exception: a squad of GIs, a sight that brought the biggest smiles you ever saw to people’s lips, and joy to their hearts. Around the world this was true, even in Germany, even—after September 1945— in Japan. This was because GIs meant candy, cigarettes, C-rations, and freedom. America had sent the best of her young men around the world, not to conquer but to liberate, not to terrorize but to help.”[1]

But times changed. The heroes of “Combat” and “Twelve O’Clock High” became the bumbling idiots of “McHale’s Navy,” the goofy “Gomer Pyle,” and finally the anti-military whackos of “M.A.S.H.,” purportedly about the Korean War, but more and more transparently a commentary on what was believed to be our misguided venture in Vietnam. And of course the movies followed suit. The heroes of the “Sands of Iwo Jima,” “The Longest Day,” and “A Bridge Too Far,” were replaced with the demented G.I.s of “Full Metal Jacket,” “Platoon,” and “Apocalypse Now.” Not even the incredible victory of Desert Storm, or the nearly ten years of sustained warfare in our current conflict has completely banished the ghosts of Vietnam and the image of the Soldier as social misfit.

Look at this from another angle. Once, most aspiring politicians believed military service was “a ticket they needed to punch on their way to a successful career. Not so any more, for today a shrinking minority in Congress has experience in the armed services. In the early 1970s as many as three out of four members of Congress were veterans.” In 2010, according to the Military Officers Association of America, only 25 of today's 100 U.S. senators are veterans, compared with 73 in 1981. The percentage of veterans in the House of Representatives fell from 62 percent in 1981 to 22 percent — or 94 members — today. “There used to be a veterans’ bonus in Congress,” said Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist who has studied the change. “Now there's a veterans' deficit. That's quite a remarkable turnaround.”[2]

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the percentage of veterans in Congress was 10 percent to 15 percent higher than among the same age group of men, generally, he said. But that changed with the 1994 election. “For the first time, there were fewer vets in Congress than in society as a whole,” he said. Another Duke professor noted that today, “not serving in the military is not a barrier to serving in politics.” Analysts cite several reasons for the change. The Vietnam War tarnished the idea that serving in the military was a civic duty. Many college students found ways to avoid it. With the creation of the all-volunteer military in 1973, service became more of a career goal than a widely shared temporary responsibility. As the military shrank, fewer people were needed to serve. Every post-World War II president until 1993 wore a uniform. But times have changed.[3]

Today is a different world. As Loyola political scientist, John Allen Williams stated, “Americans may love their military, but it is in the same way they might love their Rottweiler: They are happy enough for the protection, but do not want to become one themselves.” He added, for the average American, serving in the armed forces is “as unfathomable as life on another planet.”[4] Indeed, only four-tenths of one percent of the American people wear the uniform.[5] This has led Thom Shanker of the New York Times to observe that “America is not a nation at war, but a nation with only its military at war.”[6]

And at some level I can understand this. War is not something we want to think about. For the Christian, war is the absolute antithesis of what we are supposed to be about, for we are called to be peacemakers. Indeed, in our relations with other believers, we are told to “prefer one another,” to “forgive one another”; in fact, even in our relations with those outside the church, we are commanded, “as much as we are able, live at peace with all people.” And so the bar is raised high—and we are ambivalent about the warriors in our midst.

Yet even as we reflect on these Scriptures, there are other texts that come to mind. In Matthew 8, Jesus healed the centurion’s servant, commending the faith of the centurion, and saying nothing derogatory about his life’s calling. In Luke 3, when the soldiers came to Jesus and asked him what should they do, he instructed them to be content with their wages and not to extort money by threat or by force. Again, not a word of reproof for their chosen vocation.

Elsewhere, Jesus told his disciples, “to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22). This places upon us a burden to balance the responsibilities that we have as Christians with those which we have as citizens. As a Christian, the soldier is obligated to forgive those who would persecute, slander, or despitefully use him (Matt. 5). As a citizen, wearing the uniform of the duly-established magistrate, the soldier does not bear the sword in vain but is to use the force of arms as an instrument of righteousness (Rom. 13). There IS tension here, but it is a biblical tension.

Consider this also: the Bible itself is filled with warrior images. Indeed, the first promise of the gospel in Genesis 3:15 predicts a time when the seed of the woman will deal a deathblow to the serpent by crushing its head. In Exodus 23:24 the Lord promises to send his Angel ahead of the children of Israel to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies and to give victory as Israel wages war to “demolish” their enemies. In Joshua chapter 5, the pre-incarnate Son of God appears to Joshua with a drawn sword in his hand and identifies himself as the commander of the army of the Lord. And for those of you who think, well, those references to the Old Testament don’t apply to us today, hear these words from Revelation 19:11-21:

"Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, 'Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.' 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh."

Now, I would not try to argue that this is to be taken literally. I think the Book of Revelation is much more complicated and certainly more subtle than that. Regardless of the exact interpretation, is this one fact not crystal clear: God chooses to describe the final consummation in strikingly martial terms.
But, there is yet another side to the story. God is not only the ultimate warrior against wickedness, he is the ultimate peacemaker. For after the destruction of Satan and the Great White Throne judgment, God reveals the New Heavens and New Earth, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. It is then that God brings an end to all war-making and the sorrows that are the constant companions of Soldiers and civilians who experience the horrors of war. God wipes away all tears, for there “will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”

This passage echoes the message of the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. In Isaiah 9, the prophet speaks of a people who walked in darkness. He speaks of the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali, “the two northeastern tribes of the land west of the Jordan (later known as upper and lower Galilee), [which] were first devastated” by the Assyrian invaders.[7] There was the darkness of the invader, but more deadly was the darkness that characterized the “inward condition of the nation, the plight of sin and misery which it carried on its life.”[8]

The land of Galilee was a land on the frontier where the presence of Gentiles resulted in a mixed population, a land in which the laws of God were dishonored. “Being most remote from Judah it was nearest to the foreign countries and so subject to heathen influences.”[9] The darkness that fell upon this land, however, was not without remedy. For Isaiah prophesied, “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Matthew’s gospel tells us that this prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus returned to Capernaum from his wilderness testing and began to preach that “the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 3:12-17).

According to Isaiah 9:3, the fulfillment of this prophecy brings about great rejoicing AND the cessation of warfare. There is a shattering of the yoke that binds the people of God; they are delivered from the oppressor. And verse 5 bears the message that every soldier longs to hear—the war is over! Stack your arms and go home. The text says “every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for fire.” Such is not the case today though we all long for peace. When I left Active Duty in 1996, I packed away many articles of military clothing and equipment that I had used daily as an Active Duty soldier— all in the hope that I would never have to use them again. I tucked them away in the attic and forgot about them.

Until December 2003. And the phone call that reminded me that we need Soldiers. I dragged out my uniforms, boots, rucksack, and webgear—and used them to go to war. Today they are packed away again. What a joy it would be to drag them out one last time! Not to wear them off to war, but to pile them on the fire and burn them to ashes because they will never be needed again. Notice that Isaiah ties the cessation of war to the peace that comes from a child who will be born, a child who will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. This Prince of Peace will reign until all his enemies have been placed under his feet (I Cor. 15:25), “for of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9:7).

This blessing of peace, which began to be fulfilled in the first coming of the Messiah, will be completely fulfilled in his second coming. Isaiah says, “He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” How will this happen? Not through the miserable offices of the hopelessly corrupt United Nations. Not through the Armed Forces of the United States serving as the world’s “Nine-One-One” First Responder. No, “the zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” It is God’s own zeal for his honor and God’s own love for his people that will establish the kingdom and bring lasting peace.

Until that day, we will need Soldiers—to stand in the gap and to walk the dangerous paths. Until that day, we will need Soldiers to stand guard in the frigid cold and in the burning heat; to be vigilant during the dark hours of the night—that the rest of us may sleep soundly. We need Soldiers to go in harm’s way so that those who would harm our families will instead meet the doom they would gladly visit upon others who have done them no harm. And so we need Soldiers— and we need to pray. Until that day when peace reigns from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, we need Soldiers— and we need to pray. For those who serve, that they will fulfill their duty without becoming full of hate—we need to pray. We need to pray that the Angel of the Lord will camp round about our Soldiers and protect them, and that husbands and wives, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers who long for their Soldiers during their absence, will be lifted up by God’s Spirit and comforted by His presence. One day the “wolf will graze together with the lamb.” One day we will “beat our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks.” Until that day, we will need Soldiers— and we need to pray for them. Until that day when God “breaks the bow” and makes our warfare to cease— we need soldiers— and we need to pray for them.

________________________________________
[1] Stephen E. Ambrose, The Victors (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998), 352.
[2] “Fewer Veterans in Today’s Congress Than in the Past,” Veterans Against the Iraq War. http://www.vaiw.org/vet/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=43; accessed 3 April 2006.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Richard Kolb, “Society and the Soldier,” VFW (April, 2006): 14.
[5] Ibid., 14.
[6] Quoted in Kolb, “Society and the Soldier,” 15.
[7] E. J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 1:323.
[8] Ibid., 325.
[9] Ibid., 323.

DRAWING WATER . . . WITH JOY

Last night was one of those nights when I slept miserably, tossing and turning and just never fully falling asleep (10mg of Ambien notwithstanding). You know the kind of night I am describing- one filled with thoughts and concerns that range the spectrum of problems, but largely empty of solutions. By dawn, I finally gave up and acknowledged that sleep had escaped me this night.

I also found myself on my knees in prayer. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It's just that arthritis afflicts my knees making them work so poorly that the "getting up" part of the deal is not a foregone conclusion. Still, there are those times when physically bowing in prayer seems to be the only appropriate action to take. This was one of those times.

After some time I did manage to get upright again. The feelings of despair did not disappear with the change in elevation of heart and head. But, the change in posture did bring into sight my hard copy of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. I have a Daily Bible Reading program on my Droid that I use (most days!) and Spurgeon is usually my choice in devotional reading to accompany the daily Scriptures. Rather than going downstairs to fire up my Droid, I picked up the book and opened to today's reading. I believe that today's message was a timely word from the Lord. Here is Spurgeon's brief meditation for the morning of 31 May.

"The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron."—2 Samuel 15:23.

DAVID passed that gloomy brook when flying with his mourning company from his traitor son. The man after God's own heart was not exempt from trouble, nay, his life was full of it. He was both the Lord's Anointed, and the Lord's Afflicted. Why then should we expect to escape? At sorrow's gates the noblest of our race have waited with ashes on their heads, wherefore then should we complain as though some strange thing had happened unto us?

The KING of kings himself was not favoured with a more cheerful or royal road. He passed over the filthy ditch of Kidron, through which the filth of Jerusalem flowed. God had one Son without sin, but not a single child without the rod. It is a great joy to believe that Jesus has been tempted in all points like as we are. What is our Kidron this morning? Is it a faithless friend, a sad bereavement, a slanderous reproach, a dark foreboding? The King has passed over all these. Is it bodily pain, poverty, persecution, or contempt? Over each of these Kidrons the King has gone before us. "In all our afflictions He was afflicted." The idea of strangeness in our trials must be banished at once and for ever, for He who is the Head of all saints, knows by experience the grief which we think so peculiar. All the citizens of Zion must be free of the Honourable Company of Mourners, of which the Prince Immanuel is Head and Captain.

Notwithstanding the abasement of David, he yet returned in triumph to his city, and David's Lord arose victorious from the grave; let us then be of good courage, for we also shall win the day. We shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation, though now for a season we have to pass by the noxious streams of sin and sorrow. Courage, soldiers of the Cross, the King himself triumphed after going over Kidron, and so shall you.

CURRENT READING

Currently, my research and reading focus is on all things Millennial and POMO as I work towards a block of instruction for the Army. The target audience will be chaplains and chaplain assistants at their annual sustainment training. The goal is to provide them some tools for “nurturing a new generation.” However, I took a brief hiatus to read/re-read some other works that grabbed my interest.

First, I managed to get a replacement copy of Lefferts A. Loetscher’s The Broadening Church. Loetscher analyzes key trends in American Presbyterianism, beginning with the merger of the Old School- New School in 1869/1870. He traces the entrance of critical ideas into the church via Charles A. Briggs at Union Seminary and Henry P. Smith at Lane Seminary. These events were the background noise to what became the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy, resulting in the affirmation of the Five Fundamentals (including inerrancy) at the General Assemblies of the Northern Presbyterian Church in 1910, 1916, and 1923.
Also of consequence was the Harry Emerson Fosdick case at New York’s First Church. Other key events: the death of B. B. Warfield in 1921 (largely because his mantle as champion of biblical inerrancy and Old School Calvinism fell to J. Gresham Machen), the Auburn Affirmation in 1924, the reorganization of Princeton Seminary, 1929, and the trials/defrocking of Machen and others in 1936 over the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Loetscher is quite satisfied with the excision of the “extreme conservatives” who resisted the “moderate, mediating policies which had always finally triumphed in the Church’s crises” (155).
Loefferts was the apologist for the moderate liberalism of the reunited church. One wonders if he would recognize the church today. The one theme that runs through much of the book is how frequently good, orthodox men, either because of lack of discernment or backbone, became the standard-bearers for the “moderate, mediating policies” of those who despised the Old School Calvinism of Old Princeton. Men who might have made a difference instead became weary of the struggle and sought means of accommodating those whose legacy is now the theologically bankrupt Presbyterian Church of the 21st century. I believe there are pertinent lessons here for my own denomination.

The second volume I read was new to me, but apparently a classic. Joel Carpenter’s Revive Us Again examines Fundamentalism in the wake of the Scopes Trial. Carpenter contends that rather than become dispirited over its apparent defeats, Fundamentalism was a creative force that developed new strategies and new outlets for its evangelical commitments. Among these he includes the rise of: Fundamentalist radio ministries, Youth for Christ, World Vision, Fuller Seminary, the NAE, and Billy Graham. Carpenter is a sympathetic writer who understands the piety and ethos of Fundamentalism, recognizing its genuine accomplishments as well as its inherent drawbacks. I read this book in two evenings straight. I have a great interest in so many of the topics and issues Carpenter discusses. His writing is clear and draws the reader in through his mastery of detail and ability to weave together so many separate, but related strands of history and biography. A must read for anyone interested in this period.

The third volume was a novel by Shirley Nelson, The Last Year of the War. This is a story of a young woman, Jo, a recent convert to Christianity, who moves to Chicago for the 1944-45 school year at Chicago Bible Institute (a thinly disguised Moody Bible Institute). Her family is not Christian, though her grandfather had once been a preacher. Her brother is an Army Air Corps navigator, now missing in action in the European Theater of Operations. Nelson is masterful at capturing the flavor of Fundamentalist zeal, commitment . . . and inconsistency. There are a number of characters that play prominent roles, including a young man who straddles the line between fervor and fanaticism (until fanaticism wins out); Dr. Peckham, who is the quintessential forgetful scholar; and a coterie of young women in her dorm who run the gamut of the characters one would expect to find at a mid-1940s Bible Institute.
Nelson develops Jo’s struggles with her faith as she deals with illness, family opposition, the unstated fear that her brother is dead, and the existential struggle to validate that her faith is real and not illusory. Jo is a sympathetic flesh and blood figure, with real fears and anxieties, not some unalloyed mythical ideal. Nelson’s snapshot of Fundamentalism at this particular time in this particular place is vivid, engaging, and as far as I can tell, true to life, without excessive caricature. As a work of fiction, it is lifelike without falling becoming overly pedantic or formulaic. For anyone interested in the “feel” of Fundamentalism, I am unaware of anything that would do a better job.

GOD'S LOVE

“Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; being purged, a fire sparkling in lover’s eyes; being vexed a sea nourished with lovers’ tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet” or, so says Shakespeare through his tragic suitor Romeo. Erich Segal, in his much forgettable Love Story, had Jennifer say to Oliver, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” A few years ago, Tina Turner demonstrated our post-modern confusion with even the simplest of emotions by asking the pointed question, “What’s love got to do with it?”

Whatever we think of Shakespeare, Segal, and Turner, the fact remains that love is a subject that we cannot long ignore. Hallmark and American Greeting have made certain that no occasion passes without someone around you expecting a reminder of your undying love and affection. Just look at your calendar; there is some observation just around the bend and someone, somewhere is expecting a card from you affirming your unending love.

Perhaps our generation is more confused over the meaning of love than any in recent memory. Modern culture portrays love as something you catch like a disease. If you are in the right place at the right time- Zap! just like catching the common cold, you’re infected. Romantic notions of love-at-first-sight have polluted our cultural mythology. We no longer understand or feel the need for the natural progression from friendship to affection to love. Media portrayals of love teach us that we may very well be joined intimately- and then, as an afterthought, may consider the question of love and commitment, or the name of our partner. One of the hottest shows on HBO for a number of years was "Sex and the City" and the follow-on movie sequel is receiving extensive coverage in the newspapers and magazines currently. "Sex and the City" is a celebration of Eros, a show dedicated to confusing physical attraction with genuine love and tawdry love affairs with true commitment.

To further confuse matters, we are told contradictory things about the nature of love. Some say that love, if it is real, is always unconditional and makes no demand upon its object. Others tell us that love must be tough, must not facilitate self-destructive behavior but seek to change the object of its desires. How can we pick our way through this maze? Perhaps we would do well go the Scriptures and see what God has to say about love. As you have no doubt noticed, our text is devoted to that very subject.

As we look into the nature of love, one of the problems we encounter is the inadequacy of the English language. Although rich in many ways, our language is impoverished, offering only one word to do duty for that which the Greek language, the language of our New Testament, had four words. First, the Greeks had a word, Storge, that meant natural love, or family love. It was used to describe the love that binds parent and child. It could even be stretched to include the love for some larger body, such as patriotic love for one’s country. This is a love rooted in familiarity, not so much in the desirability of the object of love. Perhaps a close English gloss for storge would be our word affection. We might, then, talk about loving an old pair of slippers or a crusty old relative.

I have an old baseball glove that I have owned since I was twelve years old. It is called the “Sacred Mit” because no profane hands may touch it without my permission. It is really not worth much, as old and worn as it is. However, I love that mit; that is, I have a strong sentimental attachment to it. For what it is worth, the word that describes this love, storge, is not used in the New Testament.

A second Greek word for love, Eros, also fails to appear in the New Testament. Eros is romantic love. It is the name of the little Greek god with the bow and arrows, the figure we call Cupid. Now Eros is more than sexual love, although sexuality is deeply related to romantic love. Anyone who has read the Old Testament book Song of Solomon knows that erotic love is part of romantic love.

However, there are two peculiar facts about Eros that distinguish it: 1) It is love that is based on the worth of the beloved. And 2), it is love that desires to possess. You have heard, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” You and I may not understand romantic love, but if two people are in love, it is because they find something attractive in each other. Also, you will never hear a real man say, “I am in love with Mary, but I don’t care who marries her.” Eros desires to possess the one deemed attractive. This, however, is not the New Testament understanding of love.

There is a third Greek word for love, Philia. This is the love of friendship, of one man for another, or of a woman for her close friend. Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, that is, unless you’ve lived there as I have, and know better! Concerning Philia, C.S. Lewis said, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things which gives value to survival.” Friendship is a love that is built on common insight or shared tastes, something that two individuals experience together and not in common with the masses. Philia is used only once in the New Testament, although the verbal form is used on several occasions. D.A. Carson, noted New Testament scholar, says that one of the reasons for its infrequent use is the fact that by the first century, philia was used quite regularly as a synonym for kiss and thus would have limited appeal to the New Testament writers.

At last we come to the fourth Greek word for love, Agape. This is a word that was rarely used before the New Testament, but was used extensively by the writers of Scripture. Why would the Christians choose to use such an otherwise obscure word to express the meaning of love? It is not true that agape means “divine love,” per se. Nor is it entirely accurate to say that the writers of Scripture sought to portray a love that could not be expressed by any of the other words. However, Agape is used frequently in reference to divine love. When used to describe God’s love, it is fair to say that it represents love that is determined by the one who loves, not by something in the one who is loved. It is love that is “a free and decisive act determined by its subject.”

Agape is love that does not arise because of the worth of the object, nor is it love that selfishly seeks to possess for its own gain. We find that in our text. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

This is the essence of love, not only in the New Testament, but even in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 7, Moses explained to the people of Israel, “The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” This divine love is intentional, predicated on an act of the will that decides to engage in relationship. Moses went on in the passage to say this, “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you . . . that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery.” Did you get that? God loved Israel as a free act of his own will, not because there was anything lovely in them, anything commendable about them. That is the love that is Agape.

And we see such love displayed even more pointedly in the New Testament. Paul wrote to the church at Rome “that God demonstrated his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” My friends, this is unconditional love. Knowing full well that he was getting damaged goods, God chose to love us anyway. Fully aware that there is none righteous among us, that we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God- God nonetheless gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not die but have eternal life. He sees us as we are, warts and all- and loves us anyway. And, boy, do we have a hard time accepting this. As a rule, that is not how we love- so we have a terrible time believing that anyone, including our Heavenly Father, could love in that way.

Consider this further. The noted scholar Leon Morris reminds us that “God’s love is not some vague, theoretical thing, a woolly benevolence. It took the hard way: it meant the cross.” (Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, Morris, p. 133) As Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, “He has made him who knew no sin to become sin for us.” The spotless Son of God becomes the guilty, cursed bearer of our sin as a manifestation of the Father’s love for us!

That is tough love! Don’t you think- if there had been some other way to provide forgiveness, God would have used it? Don’t you suppose he would have avoided the cross if there were another way to overcome sin? There wasn’t. And, thankfully, the exorbitant price of this cross did not hinder his love for you and me.

Now a further thought. This love that arises out of an unconditional acceptance is nevertheless a love that is intentional and focused. God, who loves us in spite of our sin, desires that we do not remain in that sin. He paid an infinite price in the death of his son on the cross. This is history’s greatest display of love. But, he who paid such a great price to forgive our sins, to make us children of God, desires that we turn from those sins and bear the family image. We read in Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he welcomes.” In other words, the “writer is thus pointing out that God cares enough to do the unpleasant thing for the sake of his beloved.” Love is not incompatible with a desire for change in the beloved—and God desires that we all learn to look like Jesus.

So, then, what does this mean for us? Well, the implications are clear. God is love and we love him because he first loved us. Furthermore, by this, Jesus said, shall all men know you are my disciples— that you love one another. Let me confess something to you. For years I read our text, the love chapter, and marveled at the love of God. I wallowed in the depths of God’s love and stood amazed at its breadth. But there is one thing I did not do, not for years, at least. I never drew the conclusion that since God’s love was at work in my life, I was supposed to love that very same way! Today, I am astounded that I could have been so dense!

You and I are to be “patient and kind. We are not to envy, not to boast, not to be proud. We are not to be rude, or self-seeking, not easily angered. We are to keep no record of wrongs. We must not delight in evil, but rejoice with the truth. We are always to protect, always to trust, always to hope, always to persevere. Love never fails, and neither should we.” Say, that puts it all in a different light, doesn’t it!

Now for some application. If there is any place where we ought to exercise divine love, it is in our relationships with our spouses. Yet, this is the place where, I suspect, we are most likely to fail most miserably! Why? Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt. Perhaps we use up all our long-suffering in the workplace and have little left over when we get home. Whatever the reason, or the excuse, it is not good enough. Our text does not offer “exceptions to policy!” Look, too often what we do in our marriage relationships looks as though we consider everything apart from love. Our behavior does not believe all things, but instead keeps an exact record of all wrongs, perceived or actual; it is proud and boastful, envious, self-seeking and rude. Our attitudes and actions towards our husband or wife do not protect; it does not trust. It accuses, judges, and condemns; it has the sulfurous smell of hell about it.

Brothers and sisters, this will not do! Our text says we are to love even as God loves—and we make no mistake about it; this is not an easy thing for us to do. Yet, I would remind you, the cross was not an easy thing to do. The cross was tough love. It was tough for Jesus to bear our guilt. It was tough for the Father to turn his back on his son hanging on the cross. It was tough for God to love us while we were yet sinners. And it will be tough for you and for me to learn to live by the words of our text, to love that which is not always lovely; to be willing to seek the good of others, especially our spouse, above our own; and to think the best and to give the benefit when in doubt.

But learn to live by these words we must, if as married men and women, (or as those who one day plan to be married) we will honor God. If we will learn to live in peace, it will be because we prefer one another and do not seek our own way. Have you experienced the love of God shed abroad in your hearts? Are you seeking the well-being of your fellow Christians and, most importantly in light of this weekend, the best interests of the man or woman you have pledged to honor above all?

My dear brothers and sisters, “love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. . . . And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.” Today, we walk by faith, but one day by sight, for we shall see him as he is. Today, we hope in the Lord’s promise of redemption, but one day we shall be with him, and our hope will be fulfilled. But throughout endless ages, one thing will continue without interruption: we shall never cease to experience the ever-deepening love of God. That is why our text says so simply, and yet most eloquently, “the greatest of these is love.”