Filled with devils

And, though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim — we tremble not for him! His rage we can endure, for look! his doom is sure: One little word shall fell him! That word, above all earthly powers, (no thanks to them) abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go — this mortal life also. The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever!

Fish & forgiveness

This is the lesson from February 23. Amazingly, I think I remember getting through all of it.

Fish

• SAY Peter decided to go fishing, and 6 other disciples went with him.
• READ 21:4–5
• READ 21:6–7
• ASK Why didn’t they catch any fish all night, and then caught almost more than they could handle?
• ASK How did John recognize Jesus? (He remembered the experience in Luke 5:1–11, when Peter fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!”)
• SAY They pulled the fish up on the shore, and Jesus had breakfast ready for them.
• READ 21:12b–13
• What did this remind them of? (Feeding of the 5,000)

Forgiveness

• READ 21:15
• ASK What did Jesus mean by “more than these”?
  • More than the other disciples?
  • More than the living he could make fishing?
• READ 21:16
• READ 21:17
• READ 21:18
• Some people think there’s something in the way the differentiation of the Greek words for “love,” others think there’s no essential difference in the way John uses these words when he writes.
  • We use love to mean different things as well:
    • “We say we love Coca-Cola, and we love mother’s hot apple pie. We say we love Captain Kangaroo — we say we do, but we lie!”
• It’s also not much use to try to differentiate between Jesus saying “sheep” & “lambs” or “tend” and “feed”.
  • SAY The point is to match up forgiveness for Peter with Peter’s denial of Jesus: 3 times around a charcoal fire.
  • Also, Peter took this as Jesus giving him advice for pastoring. And he passed this along to the pastors who came after him. READ 1 Peter 5:1–4
• SAY We sin. If you have sinned, and you think or feel you’re up against the limit of what God is willing to forgive, remember Peter. Jesus took forgiveness to Peter in a way he couldn’t mistake, and he has the same forgiveness for you and me when we sin.

Oh! to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be.
Let thy goodness like a fetter
bind my wand’ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it —
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart. Oh, take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Hail!

Crown him the Lord of love. Behold his hands and side! Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified. All hail, Redeemer, hail! For thou hast died for me. Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.

Jesus’s birth

This is the outline of the lesson from 2013-12-22. Note that one of the references in the table under “Rant” is incorrect, and I have been too lazy to correct it. There was some discussion about what Mary’s “character” must have been like to submit to God’s command; I found myself in the minority here, but I let it go.

Rant

We look at Christmas too sweetly. When we consider the brutality of the whole thing we should be in awe of just how far the creator of the universe stooped to save us.

Why did he do this?

John 1:14	Galatians 4:4–5	Matthew 5:17	Galatians 3:24
1 Timothy 1:15	John 9:39	Matthew 20:28	Mark 10:45
Luke 19:10	1 John 3:5,8	Hebrews 9:26

It was not ultimately about the baby. To paraphrase Fozzy Bear in the Muppet Movie, there’s a hundred babies around. From exaltation of being God the Son in the presence of the God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, he came and was born in a borrowed stable and slept in a hay trough wrapped up in rags.

Foretold

• READ Luke 1:26–33
• SAY In verse 30, the angel describes Mary finding “favor” with God. The word for favor is also the word for grace. This phrase echoes Genesis 6:8: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” But if it’s grace, then it’s nothing Mary could deserve intrisically, and it’s nothing she could earn. That’s the whole point of grace.
• Sometimes we concentrate on Mary, or the baby, or even the hardship, or Joseph, or a hundred things. What does the angel concentrate on?
  • The greatness of the Savior
  • The fulfillment of prophecy
• READ 1:34
• What is Mary’s point? (As delicately as I know how to say it: This is a natural law she understands.)
• READ 1:35–38
• Mary understood the humiliation she was in for, and she somehow decided that she could stand the reproach.
  • We aren’t going to have a new Messiah any time soon. But are we willing to bear the scorn of our neighbors for the sake of Christ?
  • SAY Hebrews 11:24–25: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”
• ASK Do you consider Mary blessed? Why? (v. 45, what Elizabeth says)

Praise

• READ Luke 1:46–55
• ASK What phrase shows up over and over in Mary’s song: (He has)
• ASK What has he done:
  • looked on Mary’s humble situation
  • done great things for her
  • shown strength
  • scattered the proud
  • reversed the situations of the weak and the powerful
  • reversed the situations of the hungry and the full
  • helped his servant Israel.
• ASK What does Mary think she has done? (Nothing)

Birth

• READ Luke 2:1–7
• ASK What strikes you here?
  • My main thing: Even though Mary & Josephe lived in the wrong place, God made arrangements for them to be in the right place.

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;

Christ the everlasting Lord;

Late in time, behold Him come,

Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

Hail th’incarnate Deity,

Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn king!”

And lives that death may die

I know Easter has passed by for the year, but I can’t help posting these lyrics, the words to one of my favorite hymns. I don’t think it has a match anywhere for the simplicity, directness, power of the worship it expresses.

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne,
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing,
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Crown him the Lord of peace,
whose power a scepter sways
from pole to pole, that wars may cease,
and all be prayer and praise.
His reign shall know no end,
and round his pierced feet
fair flowers of paradise extend
their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
those wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
For thou hast died for me;
thy praise and glory shall not fail
throughout eternity.

This is big

I know this is late for the “official” Christmas season, but I offer it to you anyhow. This is not so much about a baby (to paraphrase Fozzie Bear: There's a hundred babies around) as it is about the enormity of the incarnation.

You should notice that we almost never hear the last two verses. Does anyone know why? I mean, come on, don't we want the serpent's head bruised in us, i.e., in our own personal walking-around lives? Don't we want Adam's image replaced with Jesus’ image? Are these not the purpose of the incarnation?

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Not Scrooge

The hardest thing about the hymn verse below is the word “Ebenezer”. That word comes from I Samuel 7:12. In that chapter, the people of Israel came together and repented, and while they were together — well, here, read it for yourself:

As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines, and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, for he said, “Till now, the Lord has helped us.”

So “Ebenezer” means “stone of help” and it refers to a particular memorial set up to help the people remember that the Lord has helped them, and he is the source of all their help. (For a closely related reference, see Psalm 121.)

Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by thy help I've come,
And I hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger wand'ring from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood.

Eternity

When I was considering beginning blogging, but before I chose the (in my opinion) whimsical name and theme now found here, I very nearly settled on the name Verge of Jordan, based on this verse of the old hymn, “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.” The point was that because life in this world is short — especially compared to eternity — we are all on the “verge of Jordan,” i.e., near death, and all our actions, all our words, all our thoughts, all our desires, when rightly oriented in this life, always have eternity in view.

As it stands, what this verse expresses is reliance through Jesus on our Heavenly Father's grace and mercy to see us through this life.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to Thee;
I will ever give to Thee.

Frail

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail;
thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

Be Thou my Shield and hiding Place,
That, sheltered by Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died!

— John Newton