Confession of Sin

Our Father, we have sinned by often letting our worship, service and evangelism become man-centered.  Many times we have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for mere trinkets prized on earth.  We have insulted your majesty by focusing our attention on personalities, eloquence, abilities as well as worldly riches and success.  With relative indifference we have treated the unrivaled gift of your Son, even Jesus whom you sent to be the propitiation for our sins.  We have failed to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in all conditions.  Frequently we have quenched your Spirit. Please forgive us in Christ.

Why Do Christians Die?

In his correspondence with the Roman Christians the apostle Paul makes a statement that helps explain an important issue regarding the death of Christians. He says, For one who has died has been set free from sin (Rom 6:7). It is through death that liberation from sin’s power and dominion is achieved. Now of course that has to do primarily with the death of Christ, who died for us that we might be freed from sin’s clutches and might live in Him for God. But it also helps clarify the reason why believers, now forgiven and accepted by God, must still experience physical death as sin’s wages.

The Westminster Divines dealt with this question and codified it in the Larger Catechism. They asked, Death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ? (Q 85) Their answer echoes the apostle and is very illuminating: The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God’s love, to free them perfectly from sin and misery, and to make them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon (A 85). While the death of Christians seems to be an inconsistency, it is really a severe mercy by which our loving Father frees us from sin and introduces us into glory. So in Christ’s death we are freed from sin legally, morally, spiritually, and in our own death we are freed from sin perfectly. What a glorious gospel! God in Christ has overruled the curse so that the very punishment for sin itself is now a means of tremendous blessing. What a glorious God! Is death an enemy? On one level, yes it is. On another level, it is not at all. It comes out of God’s love to free us perfectly from sin and misery. This is why Christians may look forward even to death itself. It is why we need not fear the valley of the shadow. For the one who dies has been set free from sin!

Hurricanes

The recent hurricanes in New Orleans and Texas have been described as “natural disasters.” Implying the destructive activity of some impersonal force, this explanation contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture. It ascribes to these tempests meaning and purpose arising from the infinite wisdom and power of a personal God. “They saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For He commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea” (Ps 107:24f). As a king directs his army so the Lord raises and commands all the forces of nature. With only a word He wisely orders both winds and waves to mount up and accomplish His sacred aim. “I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Is 45:7).

This of course leads one to ask, “Why did He do it?” Ultimately it is the outworking of His good pleasure. He was pleased so to do. More specifically, according to Elihu, He causes it to happen “for correction or for his land or for love” (Job 37:13). That is, the recent hurricanes were sent for either punishment, mercy, or geographical improvement – or some combination thereof. The U.S.A. has enjoyed generations of God’s mercy, yet today more than ever its moral compass is out of kilter and its sense of gratitude is fast eroding. As a people it seems we have refused to listen, hated knowledge, and forsaken the fear of the Lord. Thus terror has struck “like a storm” and calamity has come “like a whirlwind” (Prv 1:27). This is a critical time. Let us not miss what these disasters are designed to teach. Indeed, as Jesus Himself so solemnly said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Lk 13:5).

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