Hearing the Music

Dis-Interested

Well we have now had our first snowfall of the season! It is always nice to get that out of the way -- in October! I guess it is time to settle in, heat up some hot chocolate, put up those Christmas trees ... oh wait, not quite yet.

I wanted to think for just a moment about our interests or better yet our dis-interest. In our modern times it is quite common for people to pursue their own interests. I will look out what is best for me. You look out what is best for you. The problem is, with everyone looking to their own interests, there is the frequent butting of heads and no one to look after the common interests of families, churches, societies, etc... Something has to give or everything will explode. Who will look after the common interests?

According to Nancy Pearcy* that was what authority is for. Chronicling the colonial era, Pearcy says the following about the use of authority, “A person who occupied a position of authority was called to sacrifice his own ambition to advance the good of the whole. To use a favorite word from the colonial era, (they) were to be “disinterested”, which means not pursuing (their) own interests. “ This of course is right in line with the  call of the scripture to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3–4)”

Last week we got a whiff of how this is to work in a marriage patterned after Christ and the church. The husband lays down his life for the betterment of his wife. The wife in turn, submits herself out of love for her husband and for the glory of Christ.  This week the theme is taken up again with children and parents.  In the Lord, children are called to obey and honor their parents, while parents are to instruct and disciple their children in ways that honor and do not provoke them. The only way that we can do any of this is to have the mind of Christ. In Philippians 2 (quoted above) Paul urges believers to look to the interests of others by having “this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5).”  Note that what is demanded is also provided. In order to have a household (husbands, wives, parents, children) that is properly disinterested we will need the mind of Christ. But thanks be to God, that mind is ours in Christ Jesus!

I know this is a little high level and some may say not practical enough for the day-to-day, but we have to make a start somewhere. I do look forward to digging into Ephesians 6:1-4 with you more closely on Sunday. Also Sunday we will have in our fellowship Dr. Scott Jones, OT Professor from Covenant College. Dr. Jones is in town for another event, but has agreed to lead a combined adult institute for us on the constitution of the Psalter and what it might mean for us practically.

* I definitely recommend this latest book by Pearcy  The Toxic War on Masculinity, How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes

The Church's One Foundation

As we roll into Reformation weekend, we pause to celebrate that Christ alone is head of his church! This has been the preoccupation of the Apostle throughout the book of Ephesians - [God the Father] raised [Christ] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20–23).

That Christ is the head of the church (not popes or bishops, pastors or elders) is the source of so much confidence and comfort for the believer. It is Christ who has given himself over to death in order that we the church, his bride, may have life. It is Christ who gives gifts to his church. It is Christ who has placed his Spirit within the church.  

This Sunday we will sing from the hymn The Church's One Foundation that pictures the love that Christ has for his church in terms of Ephesians 5 -- From heav'n He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died. We will also take up that portion of Ephesians 5 (especially v. 22-33) that highlights Christ sacrificial headship as the model for our marriages. Church, home, and as we will see in a couple of weeks, our work as well; all of our life flows from the headship of Christ.

Don't forget about our extra opportunity to worship with our broader West MI PCA family this coming Sunday evening (5:30pm at Hudsonville Reformed). I am excited for us as a congregation to exercise these ecclesiastical muscles. Worshipping our great God together with these sisters and brothers is one of the ways that we show our unity before the watching world and prepare ourselves for joint acts of mission and service.

Photo by Josh Eckstein on Unsplash

A Wedding Charge to the Congregation

We are in the middle of an unplanned for convergence of marriage foci between our studies in Ephesians and the life of the church. Last Sunday in Ephesians 5 we looked at the ugliness of sexual immorality against the backdrop of the beauty of the love of Christ the Bridegroom for his bride. Next Sunday we will look more closely at the connections Paul draws in some specific teaching on marriage again from Ephesians 5, and we will start an Adult Institute class targeted at talking about marriage in community. Finally, today, as many of you know, Sarah Griffoen and Colin Helder will be married at Christ Church.  

In this marital convergence, one of the questions that I have been wrestling with is, "What does it mean for us as a community of God's people to embrace one another on our journeys?"

Marriage, as the scriptures lay out, paints us a picture of how Christ relates to his people, his Church.  He marries them.  He is the great Bridegroom, we, the church are his bride. Eternity, where there is neither marrying or giving in marriage to one another because we are all in union with Christ, is taken up with the wedding feast of the Lamb. We spend eternity with Christ as our Bridegroom-Head knowing purity, and intimacy, and joy. Jonathan Edwards put it like this: The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal son of God might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature, and to whom he might , as it were, open and air forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that was in his heart.

But this is precisely why marriage overall and our marriages specifically cannot be for us alone, nor can we think of going it alone along the way. Author Lauren Winner puts it this way, “Marriage is a gift God gives the church. He does not simply give it to the married people of the church, but to the whole church, just as marriage is designed not only for the benefit of the married couple. It is designed to tell a story to the entire church, a story about God’s own love and fidelity to us.”    

So what does this mean practically? First, this means that all married people in the church are charged with telling the story of Christ and his church through their marriages. One writer put it this way, "marriage consists not simply or even primarily of a personal relationship. Rather, it crystallizes the love of the larger church community. The couple is not just two-in-one, but two together within the whole, with specific responsibility for the whole. ...They must persevere in love, because the community needs to see God’s love actualized among God’s people.”  That is an incredibly tall order.  How are we going to do this as sinful, flawed people?  

One of the answers to that question is, and this is every wedding's charge to the congregation, we must help each other.  At the most practical level, it is our friends, our brothers and sisters in the church, our aunts and uncles and colleagues, who can remind us why we got married in the first place. It is this community that, when we lay our marriages bare before them with all their attendant strengths and struggles, are able to hold us accountable, and also celebrate with us. When we open our marriages up to our friends’ support, prayers, questions, and rebuke we open ourselves to the very resources God has placed in His world to help us tell His story to one another. This is why many older wedding liturgies prompt the pastor to ask the congregation if “all of you witnessing these promises [will] do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?” To which the congregation responds with a hearty “We will.” We need each other. Daily. Will we risk it? Will we be there for one another?  

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash