September 6, 2013

• For my rejoicing & boasting is this: blogging in simplicity & godly sincerity...

  Zechariah 1:8  "I saw that night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtles in the valley..."

  He sees a grove of myrtles, a beautiful shrub, with glossy, dark green leaves, and white, star-like clusters of fragrant flowers, whose leaves exhaled their richest odor only when bruised. This was a symbol of the theocracy, the Jewish Church and nation. The Church is not a cedar, in its queenly pride, or an oak in its giant strength, but a lowly myrtle, humble, unpretending, and exhaling its sweetest graces when bruised by the weight of affliction. Such was the existing state of theocracy, and hence the despondency of the people, who thought that so lowly a thing must be wholly overshadowed and destroyed by the proud and godless powers of this world.

  But in the midst of these myrtles he sees a man on a red horse, whom we afterwards discover to be the angel of Jehovah, that divine person whom we trace all along the history of the Old Testament, in every manifestation of God to man, in visible form, until in the New Testament we find him manifest in the flesh. It is the second person of the mysterious Trinity, the great head of the Church. The fact is thus symbolized that he is in the midst of the Church, unseen and hence though seemingly so feeble and lowly, she has this inhabitation as her glory and defence.

  ~ from "Zechariah" by Thomas V. Moore (orig. published New York: Robert Carter, 1856; reprinted London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1958, 1961, 1968), 46. The Scripture translation is Moore's own rending.

  In the midst of the Xanga 2.0 transition, I've found myself annoyed and upset over the current appearance of my blog – the fact that it is currently so very bare bones. But then I read those words of Thomas V. Moore, after which came the conviction of the Holy Spirit. To explain...

  Lately, I've been grieving and mourning over the mass of Western Christianity that has been deceived and is all too readily discarding the simplicity that is in Christ – congregation after congregation and denomination after denomination lapsing...  and, as a result, scores of professing Christians are laboring fervently – not according to the Spirit, but according to the flesh – and unequally yoking themselves with the spirit and wisdom and might of this age, striving to appeal to and attract the natural man, and seeking to appear wise, powerful, and noble in the eyes of the world.

  II Corinthians 11:1  Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (KJV)

  I Corinthians 1:26  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30  He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31  Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (ESV)

  As we look at the Church in comparison to the world, it's far too easy for us to be tempted to think, as Moore wrote, that

  so lowly a thing must be wholly overshadowed and destroyed by the proud and godless powers of this world.

  And I found myself sliding into that very same temptation regarding my blog! (I Cor. 10:12-13)

  I do want my blog to be helpful to those who are reading. And it's not that I want my blog to look crummy. Yet I don't want it to look good or to serve others at the expense of diminishing or concealing the glory and the simplicity of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel in any way at all ~ II Corinthians 4:1-7; I Corinthians 2:1-5; Romans 1:16-17. (And yes, in case you're wondering, I do realize some of the quotation marks are displaying incorrectly in this post... and I have no idea why... Quite fitting indeed!)

  As pilgrims in this fallen world, Christians are in a constant warfare – we are engaged in battle against our flesh, the world and the devil. It has always been a challenge for God's people to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not to love the world or the things in the world (including the acclaim of the world), but rather to remain unspotted, as "a lowly myrtle, humble, unpretending," and to stay on the narrow path and to shine as lights amidst the lure of the fleshly aroma of pretentiousness and self-promotion exuding from the world.

  I am thankful for one word in particular in that Scripture from Zechariah:  "I saw that night..." – what a wonderful reminder that even in dark, gloomy and benighted days of Christianity such as we are in today, Jesus Christ is still in our midst. But as soon as we begin to lose sight of the truths that our Lord is in the midst of His people, and He is building His Church in spite of all appearances, we will begin to resort to relying on earthly means and jockeying for popularity and position in the world as if we were never born again, and as if we were seeking to please men and not the living God. Instead of continuing to walk in the Spirit, we begin to walk in the flesh. Instead of relying on Jesus Christ as our defense and instead of lifting Him up as our glory, we rely on ourselves, and in the process, we rob our God of the glory due His name. We travel down Asa's foolish path:  our hearts are no longer loyal to our God, and we no longer rely on the LORD as we ought. (See 2 Chronicles 16.)

  * * *

  "Now 'dove's eyes' set out not only the Bride's affection, and love to Christ, but also the nature of her love, which is the thing here mainly commended, as simplicity, chastity, and singleness, for which the creature is commended, Matt. x. 'Be simple as doves.' And this is the commendation of the love that true believers have to Christ, that it is chaste, single and sincere love: singleness is the special thing Christ commends in his people."

  ~ from "An Exposition of the Song of Solomon" by James Durham (originally published 1840, reprinted Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1982), 118.

  * * *

  Lord Jesus Christ, baptize me afresh with Your Holy Spirit, that I might take Your easy yoke upon me, learn from You, and become more like You. May Your grace abound to me so I might rest and rejoice in being a lowly myrtle, humble and unpretending, for You are a Savior who is meek and humble in heart. Yes, You are the Lion of Judah, but You became a Lamb, and You humbled Yourself and You were crucified in weakness and raised to life again by the power of God. Help me to learn to delight to be weak as You were weak, that the power of God might be made perfect in my weakness.

  Merciful and gracious LORD of hosts, transform my deceitful, desperately wicked, and covetous heart into a dove-like heart that loves, relishes, guards and glorifies the simplicity that is in the heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His glorious Gospel. Incline my heart to Your holy and heavenly ways, and disincline my heart from corrupt and worldly ways. May the love of Christ so fill my heart that my love for You might be single, and I might be constrained by Your love to put no confidence in my flesh or in earthly wisdom, but rather by Your grace, may I labor in the Spirit with simplicity and godly sincerity in all I do, including blogging. For there is no true rejoicing and no true boasting apart from having such a heart!

  II Corinthians 1:12  For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. (KJV)

  II Corinthians 1:12  For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. (ESV)

   

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  Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myrtus_communis11.jpg / CC-by-SA 3.0

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