Wait Until Your Father Comes Home...

(yes, I am still alive...I often have things that cross my mind that I'd LIKE to blog about, but rarely have the coherence/time to put them down into a post such as this one. Now, back to your scheduled program...)

Have you ever been talking with a group of friends or even colleagues at work about your childhood and you get around to the subject of discipline? It might go something like this:

Person 1: "Boy my dad really put the fear of God in me."

Person 2: "Yeah, I'd back talk my mom and all she'd have to say was 'wait until your father gets home' and that would straighten me right up."

I've been reading a book called Grace Based Parenting by Tim Keller that has made me really analyze the traditions of discipline, even as it plays out in the Christian community. Even as Christians, we have the above conversation, even I admit to having it with other folks, even believers, and we almost during the conversation boast about a discipline that may not have been grace-filled or biblical.

I'm going to make a strong statement: discipline that is NOT based in Christ's love, His grace and His Gospel is abuse. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines abuse as a "corrupt practice or custom." Thus, abuse is the corrupting of a practice or custom that may be considered normal or acceptable. Another definition is the improper use of something, which could also be applied here.

Now, before certain parents (who would be against spanking) start pointing fingers at other parents (who would agree with the spanking of children), saying "see, you shouldn't spank your kids, that's abuse!" Please hear me. This abuse goes deeper than the method used; our motivations and our heart drive our parenting behavior and methods. In application, I could easily see one parent who combines love and discipline through the method of spanking and yet another who does not spank but abuses the child emotionally and verbally.

Our goal in discipline should ultimately be (after correction and discipline) restoration and the preaching of the Gospel to our children; God in His goodness provides access to Him through Christ to whom we can repent of our sins. Even though we are His, our sin creates a barrier to Him in that it builds up a wall in our relationship with Him. So too is it with our children; even if the act is not against us directly, the disobedience is ultimately against God and we must (as stewards of the blessings of children that God has given us), direct them to Christ and mend the wall that has built up between our children and us. We do so by showing them grace, love and mercy throughout the disciplinary process.

Lord, let us search our hearts and examine ourselves while being good stewards in leading and guiding our families!

Who Was Melchizedek, Part II

Last Sunday Pastor David explored verses 11-19 of Ch. 7, where the writer-preacher lays out the comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek, and which read as follows:

11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,


“You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Pastor David broke this section down into two parts, the first addressing the imperfections of the Levitical priesthood.

I. Imperfections of the Levitical Priesthood: vv. 11-14

1. The imperfect nature of the Levitical priesthood as established from Levi, the 3rd son of Jacob and Leah can be illustrated in two ways:
a. First, to give some background, Levi was one of the brothers who defended his sister's honor by going into the city to find the men that defiled her and killed all the males, not just some, but ALL. Does this sound like a priest?

It is important to note that the priesthood came from Levi because first, Moses, who was a to be a great deliverer of Israel (as Christ is the ultimate deliverer) was the son of a Levite. Thus, Aaron, as his brother and first of all priests was also a Levite. In addition, even though Jacob had essentially disinherited Jacob from any land when his other sons got land, God had a different plan. In Numbers 3, God sets the Levites apart as His, to be His servants and the Lord anointed them as priests. From that point on, the Levites were to be given 10 percent from the other tribes essentially in exchange (as a redemption price) for having ALL Levite sons being dedicated to the Lord, in place of dedicating all firstborn sons from all tribes in that fashion.

b. Second, the imperfections are quite evident and don't take long to show, as the most obvious would be when Aaron agrees to have a golden calf made from jewelry of the people while Moses is still on Mt. Sinai. Thus, the FIRST opportunity Aaron has to exert authority and minister to the people, he fails! But this should ever tell us that people are fallible, no matter their position, because they are sinners!

The most striking thing about the above example is what Moses says in response to Aaron and the Israelites when arriving and finding what they have done--he states that perhaps he can make atonement for their sins. He knows the God that He serves and His majesty, holiness and justice! He is a mere man and can only beg of God's mercy as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah--at that point there is no firm approaching of God as we have in Christ! So this is why the law needed to be changed--for while our disobedience can be radical, He pours out His grace even more to overcome it!

2. Changing the Mosaic Law (vv. 12-14)
As evidenced in the above example, the law could not save the Israelites--it only served to show God's standards, their sinfulness and their inability to keep that standard. Just as they could not do this, we cannot either--their faith in some ways was tied to their obedience because they had a law that could not be satisfied within themselves. Our faith is not predicated on a maybe or perhaps, but on a firm foundation.

II. Superiority of the New Priesthood
1. Jesus' priesthood is forever, and He is our Savior to the uttermost!
Christ lived the perfect life and became priest in this manner and not because
he descended from Levites.

2. Jesus is a better hope! Jesus, being perfect in every way, living the perfect
life, and being raised on the third day is a MUCH better hope than the
Israelites had in their priests (who made their own share of mistakes).

Pastor David concluded by looking to Isaiah 11 where it talks of Christ's coming and God speaks of what His priest will do and how peace will be illustrated by a lion laying down with a lamb. This is the work of Christ and the power of His salvation: that peace will reign in the hearts of men because He has saved them and has given them a new nature and new heart. This is the awesomeness and effectiveness of His priesthood. He is not a Levite priest who wails repentant prayers of atonement annually for the people hoping that a righteous and justly wrathful God will hopefully hear his prayers, but Jesus Christ, Word made flesh, who reigns on high with the Father in the Triune Godhead who was made sin for us that we might live and ever intercedes for us before the Father. Picture it, for this is your hope and salvation! Rest in the glorious grace of Christ.

Why No Christian is an Island

John Donne once said that "no man is an island" while it was Simon and Garfunkel who stated the opposite in one of their songs: "I am a rock, I am an island." I mentioned in my previous post about the importance of being involved in the local church and fellowshipping with other believers, and there are some who would say that they don't HAVE to belong to a local church (to which of course I would quickly point to Hebrews 10:25!)

Centurion over at ...and his ministers a flame of fire has a great post in a continuing conversation about why the local church was created and why it is no argument at all that we cannot find a "biblical" church and so thus we will be a church unto ourselves (***WARNING: reading the comments on the post may be confusing since it relates to previous posts on the topic).

A rationalization like that only leads to error and more error in theology and other spiritual thinking because we are not under the preaching of the Word and the sharpening of other Christians. No church is infallible (despite what the Roman folks say), but we are all fallen!

To modify a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet: get thee to a local church this Lord's Day! Bedside Baptist or the ever-favorite UMC (that's under my covers) church won't do! The church (worshiping, fellowshipping, hearing the Word, even GIVING) is a means of grace that God uses to pour His grace into your soul--not going is like having a buffet sitting before you but refusing to eat!