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All Speaker Q&A
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Reformation 2020
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The Power of Sabbath-Driven Work
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INTRODUCTION
In the beginning God created everything as sheer gift, and He made the man and the woman at the tail end of that project and gave them work to do. But the first full day that Adam and Eve enjoyed together was the seventh day, the day God rested from all of His labors (Gen. 2:1-3). While Adam and Eve had no sins to be justified for on that first Sabbath day, it still functions as a type of what God is like, what His grace is like, and where Christian work always comes from.
THE TEXT
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it (Isaiah 58:13–14).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
The prophet rebukes the people for fasting and afflicting themselves in superstitious ways, trying to manipulate God (Is. 58:3-5). The fast that God actually loves is the one in which heavy burdens are lifted, prisoners are set free, the hungry are fed, and the naked are clothed (Is. 58:6-7). This is how light breaks forth in a land, and these are the people God loves to listen to (Is. 58:8-10). God will be with those who seek to meet real needs, and He will make their bones fat and they will be like watered gardens, like springs of water to their communities (Is. 58:11). This is where Reformation comes from, and they will be known for it (Is. 58:12). They call the Sabbath a delight and delight themselves in the Lord (Is. 58:13-14).
FROM THE RIVER TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
In Ezekiel 47, Ezekiel sees water running out over the threshold of the temple eastward (Ez. 47:1). That water runs out past the city gates, and after about a thousand cubits, it was ankle deep (Ez. 47:3). After another thousand cubits, it came up to a man’s waist (Ez. 47:4). And after another thousand, a man would have to swim through it (Ez. 47:5). Ezekiel is then told that those waters flow out to the desert and into the sea for the healing and life of the whole world (Ez. 47:6-12). Where does the water come from? And what is that water? The first question is easier to answer because the text tells us: the water is coming from the altar (Ez. 47:1). But the answer to the second question is available from the context: What does the water do? It heals everything it touches and gives life and fruitfulness (Ez. 47:8-9). And Jesus seems to give us a conclusive answer: “He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive…” (Jn. 7:38-39). Jesus (and His death and resurrection) is the altar of the New Covenant, and the living water is the Holy Spirit filling and spilling out of believers, like watered gardens.
WORK THAT IS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH
How does the Holy Spirit spill out of believers and refresh the land? Through joyful obedience and good works. But there is a massive difference between ascetic-driven good works and Sabbath-driven good works. One is a putrid pond; the other a life-giving stream. All people, but especially religious people, have a bad habit of trying to impress God and other people with “fasting” that is actually an elaborate charade of self-service (Is. 58:3, Mt. 6:16-18). There is a do-gooding spirit that wearies the doer and everyone around them and makes a spectacle that God completely ignores (Is. 58:4-5). This doesn’t mean God doesn’t want His people loosing bands of wickedness, lifting heavy burdens, setting captives free, feeding the hungry, or clothing the naked. But God wants that good work driven by delighting in Him and His rest (Is. 58:13-14). In fact, there is no other kind of good work. God only notices the work that is driven by delight in Him. And do not turn that delight into some grim duty.
Paul makes the same point in Titus, insisting that believers be ready for every good work, careful to maintain good works, learning to maintain good works that are needed to be fruitful in every way (Tit. 3:1, 8, 14). But right in the middle of those exhortations is the kindness and love of God our Savior Who, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, saved us, being justified by his grace, and made heirs of eternal life (Tit. 3:4-7). Justification by faith alone means that Christ’s obedience and death is received by God in our place as a free gift: our sins are imputed to Him and His righteous obedience is imputed to us, received by faith alone plus nothing (Gal. 3). Our job is to simply rest in it. But not only are we resting from our do-gooding to try to earn God’s favor or make up for our sins, we are actually resting in the fact that God has already accepted all of our works, our entire lives, for the sake of Christ alone (Eccl. 9:7, Tit. 3:5).
This means that all Christian work is done in joyful (restful) confidence since it is already accepted, already justified by His grace. This is why Christian work aims to loose burdens, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. And while this certainly can and does include various forms of emergency aid and sacrifice, it ordinarily includes infrastructures of labor, business, savings accounts, budgets, and free markets. When God made the world and welcomed the first people into it, they had nothing, but what God prepared for them was a world full of good and profitable work. Just because it’s organized and planned and thoughtful toward the long term, doesn’t make it any less sacrificial or generous. Frequently it is more sacrificial and generous.
TOO GLAD
One of the slanders of the Puritans is that they were grumpy Sabbatarians and fussy prudes. But the reality is almost entirely the opposite. C.S. Lewis writes: “Whatever they [puritans] were they were not sour, gloomy, or severe; nor did their enemies bring any such charge against them… For More, a Protestant was one ‘drunk on the new must of lewd lightness of mind and vain gladness of heart’. Luther, he said, had made converts precisely because ‘he spiced all the poison’ with ‘liberty’. Protestantism was not too grim, but too glad to be true… Even when we pass on… to Calvin himself we shall find an explicit rejection of that ‘uncivil and froward philosophy’ which ‘alloweth us in no use of creatures save that which is needful, and going about (as it were in envy) to take from us the lawful enjoyment of God’s blessings… When God created food, ‘He intended not only the supplying of our necessities but delight and merriment’ (hilaritas)” (English Literature in the 16th Century, 34-35). If Christians are to be accused of anything in their work it should be that we are excellent at everything we do but far too happy.
CONCLUSION
The center of Sabbath keeping is the glad worship of the Triune God on the Lord’s Day: remembering the New Creation and the Greater Exodus accomplished by Jesus. But that joy really should overflow into our homes and lives in joyful celebration of all His good gifts. Understood rightly and under God’s providential blessing, there is an ever-increasing cycle of gladness set off by regeneration. In Christ, we are ushered into a new creation, and whereas the Old Creation ended in a day of rest, the New Creation begins with rest. So we work out of our rest in Christ. Under God’s blessing, you can truly do more in six days than in seven. While grim fear, threats, and envy may make people scramble, only glad grace drives good work.
Wisdom Builds a House
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INTRODUCTION
It has become increasingly common to hear Christians refer to “wisdom” as though it were some esoteric, mystical quality, as though it were subjective, relative, or simply some kind of Zen power. But while the wisdom of God does confound the wisdom of men, it is not irrational or incoherent. Wisdom is the art of obedient building. In the beginning God built the world out of nothing with wisdom (Prov. 8:22ff). Wisdom builds her house (Prov. 9:1), and by wisdom a house is built (Prov. 24:3). The queen of Sheba was amazed by Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built (1 Kgs. 10:4, 2 Chron. 9:3). The wise man hears the words of Jesus and obeys and so builds his house on the rock (Mt. 7:24, Lk. 6:48).
THE TEXT
“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living…” (Job 28:12-29:2)
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
As Job’s great argument with his three accusers draws to a close, Job recites this meditation on the difficulty and value of wisdom. It is not found in the land of the living or even in the depths of the sea (28:12-14). It cannot be purchased or even compared to gold or sapphires or any precious stone (28:15-19). Destruction and death say they have heard of wisdom, but only God knows where wisdom dwells (28:20-23). God saw and declared and prepared wisdom when He measured every detail of the universe He made, including the winds, the waters, the rain, and the lightning – wisdom built the world (28:24-27). This is why the fear of the Lord is wisdom and departing from evil is understanding (28:28). Bookending this explanation of wisdom are two speeches by Job, which the narrator says are “parables,” wise meditations on his situation (27:1, 29:1), culminating in the end of Job’s argument (31:40).
WISDOM WEARS A HARD HAT
One of the first mentions of wisdom in the Old Testament is the skill given to those constructing the tabernacle. They are given wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and “all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (Ex. 31:3-5ff) as well as the making of fabrics, weaving, embroidering, dyeing, and engraving (Ex. 28:3-4, 35:26, 31, 35, 36:1-2). Clearly wisdom is an artistic skill. It is both creative and bound by the laws of nature and God’s word. Those who were filled with wisdom were given the artistic skills to “make all that I have commanded” (Ex. 31:6). Wisdom is the art of obeying God well in order to make and build whatever God has determined to make and build: families, cities, businesses, schools, churches, and a people and a Kingdom that will last forever. While some imagine wisdom as something to be found in a cave in the mountains, surrounded by silence and guttering candles, the Bible says that wisdom wears a hard hat. Wisdom operates a crane and backhoe. Wisdom wields a trowel. Wisdom wears an apron. Wisdom is found at work. Wisdom is found in obedience to God’s assignments for building His projects.
THE WISDOM OF JOB
The assignment given to Job was dealing with the severe providence of being a great king who lost most of his wealth, his children, his health, and then facing the shame of three so-called “friends” accusing him of having sinned and therefore being disqualified to rule. The book is largely taken up with three “cycles” of speeches with Job answering each accuser: Eliphaz-Job-Bildad-Job-Zophar-Job (repeat), with the final cycle falling apart in the middle of Bildad’s speech (Job 25). Some modern textual critics want to argue that we lost some material, but the far more straightforward explanation is that Job won the argument. The text suggests this in several ways: first, Job simply outlasts his accusers – they stopped accusing Job because he refused to admit his guilt (Job 32:1); second, at the end of the book, God says that the three accusers have sinned grievously by not speaking what was correct like Job did (Job 42:7-8); but third, even here, the narrator describes Job’s two final speeches as “parables” (Job 27:1, 29:1).
The word for “parable” is literally a “wise saying,” and it is derived from a verb that means to rule or reign as king. What did it look like Job was doing? Arguing for his life? Maybe struggling with a bad attitude? What was Job actually doing? He was rebuilding his household and kingdom. What were his materials? The metal and wood and stones of his shattered kingdom and shameless accusers. In other words: Almost nothing. His words were like hammer and tongs, hammer and nails, and God restored it all (Job 42). Wisdom is that patient skill that takes dominion of the raw materials in front of you. Wisdom is so valuable because it is the art of building something out of almost nothing. Wisdom builds and God restores all things.
THE PATIENCE OF JOB
James raises the example of the prophets, as standing firm in the midst of suffering affliction with patience, and he specifically mentions the “patience of Job,” as an example of God’s blessing and tender mercy on those who endure (Js. 5:10-11). This is striking because you might not think that “patience” is characterized by 28 chapters worth of a blog war. But patience is not stoic apathy; patience is prophetic. Patience is militant obedience, hungry for the blessing of God. And this is wisdom: patient, cheerful obedience at the task assigned: ruling wisely over the raw materials entrusted to you, using them to build and make something for the glory of God. What are the raw materials entrusted to you? A particular history, family background, sins, weaknesses, gifts, abilities, marital status, children, job, finances, health, and this historical, cultural moment. What are you building? Do you have almost nothing? Perfect.
CONCLUSION
The Spirit of wisdom that was given to Bezalel and Aholiab has been given without measure to every believer in Jesus. That Spirit of Wisdom is given for “all manner of workmanship.” And that Spirit is the One who hovered over the cross and grave and has begun to make all things new. God’s wisdom is most fully revealed in the cross of Jesus (1 Cor. 1-2). Christians look at everything through the cross-wisdom of God, where Jesus destroyed the old temple and rebuilt it in three days. What did it look like? It looked like a man dying, a failed movement. What was he actually doing? Building a house that will last forever.
Jesus is the Greater Job, the Great King, who freely lost everything and was falsely accused and cursed, but He endured the pain and shame of the cross in order to remake this God-forsaken world, in order to build a new world inside the old world. This is the wisdom of God: the grave has heard of it. But God was building a Kingdom that cannot be shaken inside that grave. And now that grave is empty, and the Kingdom is coming like a Great Spring that cannot be stopped.
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