Saturday, September 24, 2011

Where Is Our Heart in Worship?


In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:3-7)

What is our attitude in worship? Is it something we 'must' do as in an obligation? Do we worship out of convenience when it suits our plans? Or do we worship God because we are in love with Him alone and cannot do anything but worship Him who gives us life?

The story of Cain and Abel is about two men from the same family. One labored the ground bearing fruit and the other tended sheep. The text only tells us that God had regard for Abel’s offering and not for Cain’s. It really does not say why. Mosaic law did require grain offerings so we cannot say God does not desire the fruit of the land. (Lev. 2) The clue maybe in the description of the offerings themselves. Abel brought forth the ‘firstborn’ and fat portions whereas Cain brought ‘an offering’ perhaps as an afterthought. And Cain did not take his rejection likely. Jealously ensued, murder and lying followed. In other words, we saw the true heart of Cain. (1 John 3:10) It is our true heart that God sees. (1 Sam. 16:7) Even a warning from God could not keep Cain from killing. So, when we gather for worship, let us ask ourselves, where is my heart in relation to my Maker? Is it centered on me and what I‘m doing, or is it totally centered on God alone and what He has done for me through His Blood upon the Cross?

The heart is the part of man which God chiefly notices in religion. The bowed head, and the bended knee–the grave face and the rigid posture–the ritual response, and the formal amen–all these together do not make up a spiritual worshiper. The eyes of God look further and deeper. He requires the worship of the heart. “My son,” he says to every one of us, “Give me your heart.” ~ J.C. Ryle

Monday, September 19, 2011

Does God Let His Children Commit Suicide?

I am often amazed at the attitudes Christian have toward suicide. I have known rabid anti-abortionists somehow excuse suicide under the heading of 'Once saved always saved'. I have heard clergy rationalize that people who kill themselves go to heaven because God is merciful. Both of these sentiments confront the commandment. "Thou Shalt not Kill!" Why would infanticide and homicide be against God's Law but suicide is not. Our bodies no more belong to us than we can own another person's body. Another way of stating this is, "Who is the Lord of my body, Jesus or me?" (1 Cor. 6:15)


Now before you conclude I am a callous person, there was a day in my life when I actually thought I would be better off dead than alive. I imagined myself walking into the woods with water and poison to take my life. Before I could carry out that plan, my physician who had suspected I was depressed, confronted me about my symptoms and set me on the road to recovery. Not only did I begin to see a therapist, and take an anti-depressant, I sought help from a friend in my congregation who tried to kill herself as well a few years earlier. She failed at that but became one of the most faithful Christians I ever knew. When I disclosed my depression to my congregation, another parishioner came forward to tell me how she tried to take her life as a young adult. She wasn't very successful at that either. But she, too, became a person of great faith giving me comfort in my journey. All of this is to say, that each and everyone of us has an appointed time that we die. But that appointment is set by God. For the Elect, those whom God has called before time, (Eph. 2:1-10) suicide may be attempted but can never succeed as it is a violation of God's Law. Below are two stories of men who tried to kill themselves and failed. Their failure resulted in changed lives for the glory of God. If God is our Father, can He really sit idly by allowing the children He loves to destroy themselves? Please read the following stories and ask yourself, "Does God Let His Children Commit Suicide."


By Cal Samra
Editor, The Joyful Noiseletter
© Copyright 2010 The Joyful Noiseletter
The Joyful Noiseletter and the Fellowship of Merry Christians may have started, ironically, under a giant saguaro cactus in Carefree, Arizona, 27 years ago.
I was in the depths of depression and despair. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong in my life. My health had greatly deteriorated, forcing me to resign my job in Michigan as a newspaper reporter and, on my doctor’s advice, to go to the warmer climate of Arizona.
I was jobless, looked like skin and bones, weighing barely 103 pounds, and in great physical and emotional pain. I was full of bitterness, anger, self-hatred, fear, and doubt, and considered myself the most miserable of men.
An urge to be finished with the pain overwhelmed me one sunny, beautiful morning. I bought some sturdy clothesline rope at a hardware store and drove all over Phoenix looking for a suitable tree to hang myself from.
But the palm trees were much too tall to climb, so I finally drove into the desert near the elegant town of Carefree, sat in the sun next to a giant cactus, with its excruciatingly prickly spine, and for a couple of hours tried to figure out how to hang myself from it. How do you hang yourself from a cactus? Could I go down in history as the first person to hang himself from a tall cactus?
Finally, I decided that it was all very ridiculous, and that there was no way it could be done – not from a giant cactus, and I began laughing at my ineptness.
Then I got into my car and drove over to Scottsdale where I happened to pass by a Franciscan retreat center. Though my family roots had been in the Greek Orthodox faith, I was attracted to the beauty of the retreat center. I stopped by and entered the chapel, where I found myself down on my knees, praying for the strength to endure my pain and to go on in spite of it.
A warm-hearted Franciscan priest, Father Gavin Griffith, an Irish wit who could have made a living as a stand-up comedian, invited me to share a meal with him. At dinner, Fr. Griffith had me laughing again with his whimsical remarks and jokes.
I remember seeing on a kitchen wall a drawing of Jesus with a big smile on his face, the first such portrayal I had ever seen.
Another Franciscan gave me a gift of a print of a smiling Christ. The print of a smiling Christ gave me a different perspective on Jesus and cast him in a new light.
The effervescent and good-humored friars and sisters at the Franciscan retreat center, as well as Fr. Tom Walsh, a Scottsdale humorist and counselor who taught seminars on “stinkin’ thinkin’,” showed me how to reach out again to other people, and to laugh again. They helped reignite my faith and my sense of humor.
I discovered that when you are down-and-out and you pray for help, the Lord never fails to send people to you who will help you in one way or another, people who will cheer and lift you up, people who will encourage you, people with a variety of different healing gifts, people from a host of different faith traditions.

Cal's complete story can be found here The Joyful Newsletter

From the Desiring God Blog, we find the biography of William Cowper, poet and hymn writer a portion of which follows: 


In the week before his examination (October 1763) he (Cowper) bought laudanum to use as a poison. He pondered escaping to France to enter a monastery. He had illusions of seeing himself slandered in the newspaper anonymously. He was losing his hold on reality almost entirely.

The day before the Parliamentary examination he set out to drown himself and took a cab to Tower Wharf. But at Custom House Quay he found the water too low and "a porter seated upon some goods" as if "a message to prevent" him (see note 5).
When he got home that evening he tried to take the laudanum but found his fingers "closely contracted" and "entirely useless." The next morning he tried three times to hang himself with a garter. The third time he became unconscious, but the garter broke. The laundress found him in bed and called his uncle who canceled the examination immediately. And that was the end of Cowper's brush with public life—but not the end of his brush with death.
Conviction of sin took place, especially of that just committed; the meanness of it, as well as its atrocity, were exhibited to me in colours so inconceivably strong that I despised myself, with a contempt not to be imagined or expressed ... This sense of it secured me from the repetition of a crime which I could not now reflect on without abhorrence ... A sense of God's wrath, and a deep despair of escaping it, instantly succeeded (see note 6).
Now everything he read condemned him. Sleep would not come, and, when it did, it brought him terrifying dreams. When he awoke he "reeled and staggered like a drunken man."
So in December 1763, he was committed to St. Albans Insane Asylum where the 58 year old Dr. Nathaniel Cotton tended the patients. He was somewhat of a poet, but most of all, by God's wonderful design, an evangelical believer and lover of God and the gospel.
He loved Cowper and held out hope to him repeatedly in spite of his insistence that he was damned and beyond hope. Six months into his stay Cowper found a Bible lying (not by accident) on a bench in the garden.
Having found a Bible on the bench in the garden, I opened upon the 11th of St. John, where Lazarus is raised from the dead; and saw so much benevolence, mercy, goodness, and sympathy with miserable men, in our Saviour's conduct, that I almost shed tears upon the relation; little thinking that it was an exact type of the mercy which Jesus was on the point of extending towards myself. I sighed, and said, "Oh, that I had not rejected so good a Redeemer, that I had not forfeited all his favours." Thus was my heart softened, though not yet enlightened (see note 7).
Increasingly he felt he was not utterly doomed. There came another revelation and he turned again to the Bible and the first verse he saw was Romans 3:25: "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."
Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification. In a moment I believed, and received the gospel ... Whatever my friend Madan had said to me, long before, revived in all its clearness, with demonstration of the spirit and power. Unless the Almighty arm had been under me, I think I should have died with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport; I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder (see note 8).
The entire story can be read here Insanity and Spiritual Songs 

William Cowper wrote poetry many of which became Christian hymns. He even collaborated with John Newton of "Amazing Grace" fame. He coined the phrase, "God moves in mysterious ways." Below is his hymn acknowledging God's providence and protection.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

An Open Letter to The Rev. Pat Robertson from a Man Who Once Was Dead

Dear Mr. Roberston,

I am writing to you as a fellow pastor and as a divorced man. I take umbrage at your remarks suggesting that since Alzheimer's is a 'kind of death' and that as such it is reasonable to divorce the spouse provided there is custodial care. Enough has been said about the vows we make in sickness and health til death do us part. So the part I find troubling is when do we die? I am divorced because a few years ago I was diagnosed with depression. My now ex-wife told me all the cliches from "snap out of it" to "You choose to be depressed." Anyone who has suffered from clinical depression knows no one chooses it. And before you say there is a difference between Alzheimer's and depression, let me remind you, that not only does the body hurt in depression, but suicidal ideologies come with the mix. So, with my desire to kill myself, am I dead already?

The good news about my depression is that by the grace of God I came out of the darkness that I was in. God put faithful people in my life to confront me and help me. Unfortunately, my wife was not one of them. My wife sued me for divorce as I was too broken. I did not counter sue as I see divorce as a sin. God hates divorce. (Malachi 2:15-17) Jesus only gave sexual immorality as grounds to divorce (Mt. 5:32) and St. Paul said that only an unbelieving spouse can divorce a believing spouse, not the other way around. ( 1 Cor. 7:10-16) This all may sound legalistic, but Jesus reminds the Pharisees that letters of divorce were permissible because of the hardness of our hearts. (Mt. 19:8) It is for this hardness of heart that Jesus died on the cross.

On your program, watched by millions I image, you had an opportunity to teach what the sacramental nature of marriage is, as well as Christ's teaching and the nature of sinful man, a nature that is impatient, selfish, and in need to have a heart regenerated by God Himself. This is what pastors do! We are not called to make excuses for man's sin.

I do not know the circumstances of this man who is 'dating' while his wife suffers. But a financial trust cannot offer affection to a person whose body is broken and in need of a human's touch. Alzheimer patients respond to external stimuli and the presence of another would remind the suffering that Jesus is there, too. When my mother's cancer went into her brain causing her to be unresponsive, I did not stop my visits to the hospice, but came regularly, reading Scripture, saying prayers, saying to her all that she meant to me. I know what it is like to be left alone broken and suffering. Where were the disciples when Jesus was left alone broken and suffering in the Garden and on the Cross. Is it no wonder that it was the women, powerless in their day totally dependent on men for their welfare (see The Book of Ruth) could watch as He suffered. But He suffered because we all need a redeemer. Our hearts need to be pierced. (Acts 2:37-41)

Mr. Robertson, please think upon the responsibilities God has given you and understand that we all need to see our self-serving, sinful nature. Please remember that as pastors we are to shepherd people to the cross to understand why Jesus died there. And if you have forgotten, then I will remind you. He died so that we may have life eternal. Not because we deserve it but because we cannot due to the hardness of our heart! When we can see Jesus bleeding where we should be, we understand what grace is all about and are freed from a life of sin becoming slaves of righteousness. (Rom. 6:15-23)

Your brother in Christ

Allen Peyton+


Monday, September 5, 2011

A Prayer for the Unemployed

Heavenly Father, You labored for six days and gave us Paradise and today we labor in our fallen nature yet there are many who do not for lack of work: Remember those who are unemployed. Provide for them from your bounty. Open doors to jobs that use their skills. Remind them that their worth can only come from You and not determined by a salary.  And take away all your children's anxiety for tomorrow as we trust in Your divine providence. All this we ask in Jesus Name in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Saturday, September 3, 2011

A Labor Day Meditation



Jacob de Backer - Garden of Eden


And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1: 28-31)

For the first six days of history, God did all the work. On the seventh He rested. Man was to enjoy God's labor. All man had to do was to reap what the earth yielded along with the animals. But Adam and Eve ruined this gift by trying to usurp God's place in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:5) Henceforth, man was to labor in order to feed oneself and woman was go into labor in childbirth. (Gen. 3:16-19) But this did not mean God abandoned us. While we must live with our consequences, He still provides for us. Although Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, they were given clothes far superior to the ones they tried to make.

When God led Israel out of the bondage of slavery, He gave them the Law stating, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates." (Exodus 20:8-10) Since we had wanted to be like God, we can work His land for Him. But it is God who still provides. In the wilderness manna rained from Heaven and God provided for them never taking away their rest. But not all understood this, "On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day." (Exodus 16:27-30)

Today we labor for our food. But it is still God who provides. Is it no wonder then that Jesus reminds us to pray, "Give us this day, our daily bread"? (Mt. 6:11) We labor because all of creation is fallen. But we are not abandoned as God will give us what we need, not what we want!