Francis James Grimke and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918

One of my hobbies is collecting and reprinting the writings of and about 18th and 19th century American Presbyterians (I was a history and mathematics major at LSU, and have enjoyed studying history for as long as I can remember; combine that with my love for the Presbyterian Church and books, and I guess it was only a matter of time before Log College Press happened). Preserving and reading old books is important for many reasons (if you’ve never read C. S. Lewis’ essay “On the Reading of Old Books,” do it as soon as you can), but one of my favorite reasons is that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). The trials and issues we face today have already been faced by Christians in generations past, and their writings continue to minister powerfully to us.

One example is immediately obvious: a recent precursor to today’s coronavirus pandemic was the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Between October 1, 1918, and November 1, 1919, nearly 3,000 citizens of our nation’s capital died from the virus. During October 1918, as we’re experiencing somewhat today, public gatherings were banned. Francis James Grimke was an African American Presbyterian minister in Washington, D.C., who pastored Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church from 1878-1928. When his congregation was allowed to gather for corporate worship again on November 3, 1918, he preached a sermon entitled Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza That Afflicted Our City. In it he elaborates upon several lessons he learned during the worst season of the deadly flu. I encourage you to read all eleven pages of Grimke’s sermon, but I want to summarize a few of the things he learned in hopes that God might teach us similar lessons over the next few months.

1. In spite of all the resources of modern science and all the skill of trained professionals, it is easy for viruses to kill large numbers of people. Grimke soberly reminds us, “How easy it would be for God to wipe out the whole human race, in this way, if he wanted to; for these terrible epidemics, plagues, the mighty forces of nature, all are at His command, are all His agents. At any moment, if He willed it, in this way, vast populations or portions of populations could be destroyed.”

2. Why do some who get the virus die and others recover? Why do some get the virus and others do not? Certainly there are physical answers to those questions. But ultimately, the answer is that God has written all our days in His book, when as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:16). Grimke explains, “[The reason] is to be found in the will of God. For some, the time of their departure had come, the limit of their earthly existence had been reached, and this was God's way of removing them out of this world into the next. Some day we have all got to go, but how, or when, or where, we do not know; that is with God alone.”

3. Viruses are no respecter of persons, and certainly no respecter of skin color. In Grimke’s day, racial discrimination against African Americans in the United States was present to a large degree. He was struck by the way that white Americans were having to face the fact that white skin was no guarantee of a stronger constitution, as some in his day were claiming. “In this terrible epidemic, which has afflicted not only this city but the whole country, there is a great lesson for the white man to learn. It is the folly of his stupid color prejudice. It calls attention to the fact that he is acting on a pinciple that God utterly repudiates, as He has shown during this epidemic scourge, and, as He will show him when He comes to deal with him in the judgment of the great day of solemn account.”

4. Flu pandemics keep death and eternity before people in a way that only wars tend to do. Grimke puts it beautifully, and I quote him at length: “While it lasted, it kept the thought of death and of eternity constantly before the people. As the papers came out, day after day, among the first things that every one looked for, or asked about, was as to the number of deaths. And so the thought of death was never allowed to stay very long out of the consciousness of the living. And with the thought of death, the great thought also of eternity, for it is through death that the gates of eternity swing open. We don't as a general thing think very much about either death or eternity. They are not pleasant things to think about, and so we avoid thinking of them as much as possible. It is only when we are forced to that we give them any consideration, and even then only for the moment. They are both subjects of vital importance, however, involving the most momentous consequences. For after death is always the judgment. The grim messenger is God's summons to us to render up our account. That there is an account to be rendered up we are inclined to lose sight of, to forget; but it is to be rendered all the same. The books are to be opened, and we are to be judged out of the books. During the weeks of this epidemic—in the long list of deaths, in the large number of new made graves, in the unusual number of funeral processions along our streets, God has been reminding us of this account which we must soon render up; He has been projecting before us in away to startle us, the thought of eternity.”

5. Finally, it is only a living faith in Jesus Christ that can give a true sense of security in the midst of deadly perils. “While the plague was raging, while thousands were dying, what a comfort it was to feel that we were in the hands of a loving Father who was looking out for us, who had given us the great assurance that all things should work together for our good. And, therefore, that come what would—whether we were smitten with the epidemic or not, or whether being smitten, we survived or perished, we knew it would be well with us, that there was no reason to be alarmed.” For the Christian, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so while we live, we live for Christ and for the good of our neighbor, not for self. And if He chooses to take us home, then we rejoice that we will be with him forever.

May the Lord grant us protection and peace, as well as grace to use this trial for our spiritual growth and His glory!

Dear Christian, When The Pandemic Hits, This Is Our Time (TGC Article Excerpt)

Once again, I would like to provide another article that might aid your faith in our all-Sovereign God who is completely in control of every molecule and disease in this world. I have been greatly helped by several articles and blogs this week and I am only wanting to pass these along.

This is a season where the “rubber meets the road” for our faith. How big is our God? What are the demands of the gospel? Do we really love our neighbors? What an opportunity for us at Pear Orchard!

Here is another helpful excerpt from a good blog post from The Gospel Coalition:

And so we’re wondering: how bad is this crisis going to get? Is our society going to pull together, and get through it together? Or is the panic buying a sign of things to come?

Will we be praising the bravery of our medical staff, like we praised the RFS during the bushfire crisis? Or will many of the hospital staff go AWOL if the crisis picks up, like they did in the Matt Damon movie Contagion?

How bad will this crisis be?

The truth is, we don’t know for sure.

And so as a society, we’re increasingly anxious. Anxious for our loved ones. Anxious for ourselves. It’s a time of fear.

But whatever happens, dear Christian, know this: this is our time. God has raised us up for such a time as this. It’s no accident you’re here.

This is our time to think not about ourselves, but about our neighbours. Many of whom are scared, and will only grow more so as the virus spreads.

For the full article, click here.

How To Encourage Young Adults To Drop Out Of Church (Yes, You Read The Title Correctly)

The stats are nothing new. We’ve seen the numbers for several years now. But, we saw again recently that the numbers have remained the same. Young Adults are dropping out of church when they go to college or when they enter into the professional world.

In his VERY helpful blog, Jared Wilson gives us six ways how we can encourage this trend. Yes, you read that right. In other words, if you want to see these numbers stay the same rather than get better then here are six recommendations he has:

1. Attend church sporadically.

2. Complain about your church.

3. Insulate them from the rest of the body.

4. Ignore their crucial questions.

5. Church hop.

6. Marginalize or muzzle the gospel.

If I might be so bold, I would add a couple more that would encourage this trend:

1. Don’t talk to your children about the difference between going to church versus listening to a podcast or watching a YouTube video of a sermon.

2. Don’t model vulnerability with close friends at the church.

3. Treat Jesus as a means to an end rather than the end in Himself.

4. Only attend what is “absolutely necessary” in order to keep up your membership at the church.

5. Criticize the sermon every week in front of your kids.

6. Teach them that doctrine isn’t important as long as they just “love God and love others”.

7. Don’t prepare for Sunday worship like it’s an important day.

8. Don’t talk about how Sunday worship applies to the rest of the week.

For Jared Wilson’s full article, click here.

How Would C.S. Lewis Respond To The Coronavirus?

In this phenomenal excerpt from C.S. Lewis provided by Matt Smethurst from The Gospel Coalition, it is helpful to replace “atomic bomb” with “coronavirus”. The reason why I wanted to post this helpful except is to show us yet again another man who has a balanced response amidst a crisis. Here is a man who reacts with faith in a great God while also using common sense. In this, we see how C.S. Lewis might respond:

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

What Would Martin Luther Say About The Coronavirus?

As the tensions, panic, and severity of the coronavirus seem to be ramping up over the past 48 hours, Martin Luther is certainly someone who comes to mind in circumstances like this. Luther, the man who fired the theological shot that was heard about the world, was a man who also went through a legitimate plague.

In August of 1527, the infamous Black Plague visited Wittenberg where Luther lived. What was his take on the plague that had knocked out far more than our coronavirus? Was it to downplay the disease in light of God’s sovereign provision? Was it to overreact in fear and hysteria? No. As you might see, Luther has one of the most balanced responses in circumstances like ours.

In his helpful overview of how Luther responded, Marvin Olasky from World Magazine has shown how Luther might react were he to be alive today. Here is a helpful excerpt:

Luther’s step one was to follow Christ’s statement, “‘As much as you did to one of the least, you did to me’ (Matthew 25:40). If you wish to serve Christ and to wait on him, very well, you have your sick neighbor well at hand. … This is said as an admonition and encouragement against fear and a disgraceful flight to which the devil would tempt us so that we would disregard God’s command in our dealings with our neighbor and so we would fall into sin of the left hand.”

Luther went on to say: “Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. … They do not avoid persons and places infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are.”

Luther concluded, “It is even more shameful for a person to pay no heed to his own body and to fail to protect it against the plague the best he is able, and then to infect and poison others who might have remained alive if he had taken care of his body as he should have. He is thus responsible before God for his neighbor’s death and is a murderer many times over. My dear friends, that is no good. … Shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence.”

For the full article, click here.

Should Christians Feel Guilty All the Time? (Kevin DeYoung)

This article is one that was written in 2016 but the power of the gospel still speaks in this short blog. This blog greatly helped my own heart especially when feeling the guilt and shame of past mistakes that can go back as far as 10-15 years ago. So, for those of you who struggle with something similar, maybe this excerpt will help you too:

1. We don’t fully embrace the good news of the gospel. We forget that we have been made alive together with Christ. We have been raised with him. We have been saved through faith alone. And this is the gift of God, not a result of works (Eph. 2:4-8). Let us not be afraid to embrace the lavishness of God’s grace.

2. Christians tend to motivate each other by guilt rather than grace. Instead of urging our fellow believers to be who they are in Christ, we command them to do more for Christ (see Rom. 6:5-14). So we see Christlikeness as something we are royally screwing up, when we really should see it as something we already possess but need to grow into.

3. Most of our low-level guilt falls under the ambiguous category of “not doing enough.” Look at the list above. None one of the items is necessarily sinful. They all deal with possible infractions, perceptions, and ways in which we’d like to do more. These are the hardest areas to deal with because no Christian, for example, will ever confess to praying enough. So it is always easy to feel terrible about prayer (or evangelism or giving or any number of disciplines). We must be careful that we don’t insist on a certain standard of practice when the Bible merely insists on a general principle.

For example, every Christian must give generously and contribute to the needs of the saints (2 Cor. 9:6-11; Rom. 12:13). This we can insist on with absolute certainty. But what this generosity looks like–how much we give, how much we retain–is not bound by any formula, nor can it be exacted by compulsion (2 Cor. 9:7). So if we want people to be more generous we would do well to follow Paul’s example in 2 Corinthians and emphasize the blessings of generosity and the gospel-rooted motivation for generosity as opposed to shaming those who don’t give as much.

For the full blog, click here.

How to Raise Children in a ‘Be Yourself’ World (The Gospel Coalition)

Here is an interesting excerpt from an article that might bring parents some encouragement amidst the struggle to parent children today:

An advertising poster for vitamins was recently put up near our house. It has the singer Nicole Scherzinger telling me: “How you look and feel comes from within having that inner light. Whatever you do, give it your all and be amazing.”

What you make of that statement may well depend on your age. The older you are, the more likely you’ll smile and think, Uh, no matter how many vitamin supplements I take, I’m unlikely to ever look like a model and pop star. A younger audience, though, will tend to be less cynical and to cheer the sentiment.

We live in a world that tells us endlessly to look within, discover who you are, and be true to yourself. For parents, it can be bewildering how this message has been absorbed by our children. Let me therefore suggest five—admittedly broad-brush—thoughts on helping your teenage kids navigate the modern maze of messages.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Getting Ready for Supper - the Lord's Supper

Even as the apostles of Jesus made logistical preparations for the Passover meal at which Jesus would institute His Supper (Luke 22:7-13), so the apostle Paul reminds us of the spiritual preparations that are necessary before we come to the meal that memorializes Jesus’ death: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (I Corinthians 11:27-29).

As our preparation for earthly meals are informed by the purpose of those meals (is it a wedding? a family BBQ? a church crawfish boil? an anniversary date?), one way to get spiritually ready for this supper is to recall its purpose. The Lord’s Supper is at least three things:  commemoration, communion, and anticipation.

It is commemoration: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” This command has reference to the past. We remember the once-for-all, unrepeatable event of our Lord’s death. We show forth His death; we declare to all around us that the heart of the good news is a bloody cross. There Jesus bore our sins in His body, and our sins were forgiven. There God’s wrath was satiated, and He was reconciled to us. And not only do we remember that event, but we remember our Lord Himself. We remember that He who possessed all glory and riches became poor for our sake so that we through His poverty might be made rich in Him.

The Lord’s Supper is also communion. There is a present aspect to what we are doing at the Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ is present at the table; He is the host. We commune with our Savior in the here and now, in the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup. “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” (I Corinthians 10:16). By His Holy Spirit and by faith we partake of and feed on all the spiritual blessings that are ours in Him. The one whose death we commemorate is living and present with us as we gather around the communion table. Likewise, our brothers and sisters in Christ are present with us - together, we are the body of Christ, and we commune in one another’s gifts and graces. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (I Corinthians 10:17).

Finally, the Lord’s Supper is anticipation. We “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” We must not forget the future aspect to what we are doing as we eat and drink the Lord’s Supper. There will one day be a presence of Jesus bodily and visibly, and seeing Him we will be made like Him! The sacrament of the Lord’s supper will be no more, and the marriage supper of the Lamb will be at hand (Revelation 19:9). We anticipate that day every time we partake of the Lord’s supper.

So as you prepare your heart for this Sunday’s worship service, and in particular for the Lord’s Supper, remember what you come to do. Put on clothes fit for the occasion: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:12-13).

[1] Based on John Murray, Collected Writings

A Few of The Things God Taught Us At Our Missions Festival

Last week we enjoyed a rich spread of gospel truth and missional encouragement at our 2020 Missions Festival. If you weren’t able to hear Nate Bonham on 2/9, John Snyder on 2/12, or Dave Garner on 2/16 - or even if you were - here are some of the highlights from their sermons.

1. Nate Bonham preached from John 17, and reminded us that missions is for the glory of God and our joy. Remembering that God’s glory is the goal of missions redefines the battlefield, redefines the weapons, and redefines victory. That is, a focus on God’s glory reminds us that the battlefield is actually the heart of man; that the word of God is the weapon, as is our money, which we sacrifice for His glory and for the sake of others knowing God; and that success in missions is guaranteed, for it is based on God’s sovereign grace alone. The purpose of missions is also the joy of those who are saved. God sanctifies His people and aligns our joys with His, and sends us out together with other believers to share the gospel so that we might rejoice as others come to know His joy.

2. John Snyder preached from the life of Ahaz in II Chronicles 28. He challenged us to ask ourselves if we are the kind of people with whom God can entrust new believers. Ahaz’s view of God was so small that it led him toward pragmatism, idolatry, unfaithfulness, and a disbelief of God’s promises. When we walk in the way of Ahaz, when our view of God is tiny, then our evangelism will be affected dramatically. Not only will we cease to evangelize but God will not want unbelievers to be in our midst, lest we infect them with the same view of God that we have.

3. Dave Garner preached from Matthew 28:18-20 and III John 1-8. In Matthew 28 he showed us what makes the Great Commission so great: its comprehensive scope (all nations gathered into the church); its depth (demands a complete life change); its source (the triune God); its authority (the authority of the incarnate Son of God); its accompanying promise (that Jesus will be with us by His Spirit). In light of these realities, we go forth to bring the message of salvation to all the earth. From III John 1-8, he were called to walk in gospel truth, to abound in gospel love, and the breath a gospel mission. Our mission must be marked by a priority (Jesus Christ), a fidelity (to the word of God), an accountability (to the church that sends us), a hospitality (to strangers), a generosity (to those who are sent), an intentionality (to see ourselves as fellow workers), and a mutuality (we are all called to send and to receive, to go and to send).

These notes are just a summary of the truth and exhortation we heard this past week. As we point others to the hope of the gospel, may the Lord continue to spread the fame of His name through us, both around the corner and around the world.

Wednesday Night Preview

Tomorrow night, I will be leading us in our next talk in our series on “Through the Trembling Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Anxiety and Depression”. We will be talking about “The Fear of God vs The Fear of Man” and how this affects our understanding of anxiety and depression. We will be seeking to answer questions such as:

1. How does the fear of man actually show up in real-life?

2. What happens in our hearts whenever the fear of man takes over?

3. What does it mean to fear God?

4. How can I grow in the fear of God?

5. How does fearing man affect my anxiety and depression?

A Sermon For Those Who Struggle With Depression

How Do We Put Anxiety to Death by the Spirit's Help?

Two nights ago at our Wednesday evening Bible study on anxiety and depression, we thought about the Biblical distinction between anxiety/worry and concern. There is an appropriate and legitimate concern and regard and care that we are to have as good stewards of the life and circumstances the Lord in His providence gives us. But to be anxious and worried is to act and think and feel in a manner contrary and displeasing to the holy will of God. This truth is established primarily by the fact that God commands us not to be anxious in Philippians 4:4-7; I Peter 5:6-7; Matthew 6:25-34; and Psalm 37:1, 8, among other passages. Jesus died on the cross to bear God’s punishment against our sin of worry and anxiety, and He died to redeem us from this lawlessness (I Peter 2:24; Titus 2:14). Therefore we are to confess our anxiety to God as sin, repent of it, and put it to death by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:13). But how do we put to death something that perhaps seems to us so natural, a state to which our hearts are oft inclined? Here are some of the things we considered Wednesday night:

1. Take your requests to the Lord. Paul is explicit in Philippians 4:6, as is Peter in I Peter 5:7 - we are to replace anxiety and worry (self-focused responses) with prayer (a God-centered response). Every request represents a legitimate concern, some distressing, troubling, and just plain hard circumstance that overwhelms us, typically something that we are called as stewards to have regard for and pay attention to and care about. We are to cast these cares upon the Lord with all our might, with thanksgiving for God’s provision even in the midst of them, and with submission to God’s sovereign and good plan. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was greatly distressed and trouble (Mark 14:33) - but He was not anxious, He did not worry. He was not sinning in the Garden, though He was suffering. His distress and trouble were an appropriate response to the agony of the cross that lay before Him, and His fervent prayer and submission was a righteous act of dependence that models for us what we are to do with our cares and concerns. So often, worry replaces prayer, even counterfeits prayer. But God calls us to replace worry with genuine and heartfelt prayer - to throw ourselves upon and into His everlasting arms - for He is the God who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19).

2. Meditate on God’s word and promises. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad” (Proverbs 12:25). What word is better than the word of God? God consoles us through His word and promises, and as Psalm 94:19 reminds us, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” When overwhelmed and attacked by anxiety and panic, speak to yourself the truth of God’s word: that He is near (Philippians 4:5); that He cares for you (I Peter 5:7); that you are of more value than the birds of the sky, whom your heavenly Father feeds (Matthew 6:26); that He has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32); that He knows what we need (Matthew 6:32); that He will freely and sovereignly add to us all things that we need in His perfect timing (Matthew 6:33); that He is wise, sovereign, and good, and can be trusted implicitly.

   D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has stated our desperate need memorably: “The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression [and anxiety] in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problem of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself, ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been repressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you’. Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have but little experience. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’–what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’–instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet priase Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’.” (Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures, 20-21).

   Not only must we speak the truth to our heart, but we need to put ourselves around people who will speak this truth to us, who will do for and say to us according to Isaiah 35:3-4, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

3. Search your heart for the sin beneath the sin. Lurking beneath the sin of anxiety is a host of other, deeper sins. The sin of fear (of man, of death, of losing a loved one, of sickness, of suffering, of being poor, of being alone, etc.) is so often a root sin of anxiety. Likewise pride - we seek to control what only God can control, and when we are unable to control it, when we are out of control, our heart grows anxious. We assume that we know what is best for us, and when it is best for us. Anxiety flows from a trust in ourselves and our own strength or wisdom rather than the Lord. Is it any wonder then that Peter tells us to humble ourselves just before telling us to cast our cares upon the Lord? Often an idol of comfort lies at the root of our anxiety, or a joyless discontentment or envy that is upset the Lord is not giving us what we we think we deserve, or what others have. Most of all, anxiety flows from an unbelief in the goodness, power, wisdom, and love of God. All these root sins bear the sinful fruit of anxiety, and anxiety feeds and strengthens those roots. As God searches our hearts and knows our anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23-24), He will till up these deep roots and by His Spirit will enable us to put the Roundup of grace upon them as well.

4. Focus on what you can and should be concerned with, and leave the rest with God. The opposite extreme from anxiety is apathy, laziness, carelessness. In calling us to put off worry, God is not calling us to put on indifference. Rather, He wants us to be free from the care that is anxiety, so that we can have the care that is righteous and appropriate stewardship. We must pray for our daily bread, but if we do not work, if we do not sow, reap, gather, toil, and spin, then we will not eat (Matthew 6:11, 26, 28; II Thessalonians 3:10-12). We are not to make genuine concerns ultimate concerns, but we are to be concerned with the things God calls us to be concerned with. Whether with regard to our finances, our health, our house, our family, our job, our education, our vehicles, our futures - it it right to do what we need to do, always attending to these things in submission to our chief aim: the kingdom of God, the glory of God, and our glorious Savior Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:33; I Corinthians 10:31; Luke 10:41). Nehemiah 4:9 shows the beautiful twin graces of dependence and diligence: “But we prayed to our God, and because of [our adversaries] we set up a guard against them day and night.” Trust God and keep your powder dry. Be anxious for nothing, but be concerned for all that God calls you to be concerned for. Trust Him, wait on Him, submit to His will. And know that He will cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Wednesday Night Preview (Anxiety vs Concern)

Tonight, Pastor Caleb will be leading us in talking about “Anxiety vs Concern”. This is for everyone college-age and up. Youth will go to Large Group and Kids will go to Catechism.

Preparing for the Lord's Supper This Coming Lord's Day

This Sunday, we are celebrating the Lord’s Supper at Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church. Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 11:27-29, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” This passage requires us to prepare for this covenant meal - to think about what we are doing when we come to the Lord’s table - so that we do not eat and drink in an unworthy manner. Each one of us is to examine himself/herself individually. But in regards to what should we be examining ourselves?

Our Westminster Larger Catechism gives a helpful summary of what this self-examination entails in question 171:

How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it? They that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves of their being in Christ, of their sins and wants; of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these graces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer. [I’ve omitted the Scripture references for each phrase in this answer, but I encourage you to locate and study them in your own copy of the Larger Catechism or online]

The Westminster divines are not teaching “preparationism,” as if by examining ourselves we make ourselves well-deserving of a seat at Christ’s table. Quite the opposite: as we spend time in the days leading up to this ordinance examining our hearts, we see more deeply the reality that by nature we do not deserve a seat at the table, and that our hope for acceptance is in Christ alone. Coming to the table - and making preparation for this supper ahead of time - is an opportunity to survey your soul, to take stock of where things stand spiritually, to ensure not only that you are indeed a believer, but that you are growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus, and that your love for Jesus is overflowing into a love for others. It’s an opportunity to fan into flames dimly burning wicks, to add fuel to the fire, so that come Sunday you have already been meditating on the wonder of the death of Christ for a sinner such as you, and your heart is tuned to sing His praise all the more.

So take some time this weekend to reflect prayerfully on the state of your own heart. If you are looking for helpful meditations on the Lord’s Supper, check out The Communicant's Manual (1848) by Jacob Jones Janeway, or Plain Words to a Young Communicant (1854) by James Waddell Alexander. Both men are 19th century American Presbyterians who thought deeply on the cross of Jesus and the bread and the cup that He appointed for us to eat and drink to our growth in grace.

Preview for Tonight's Teaching: God And the World We Live In

Here is a preview video of what we’ll be talking about tonight. Bring your kids to catechism and bring your 7th-12th grade children to the Youth Large Group. Dinner starts at 5:30 and the teaching starts at 6:30. There will be a teaching session for half the time and discussion in groups for the other half.

Old Testament Help in Confessing Your Sins

Last Sunday night in my sermon at our officer ordination/installation service, we saw from Mark 10:32-45 that the church is filled with sinners. Each one of us struggles with pride, selfishness, a condescending dismissive heart, sinful anger, envy, self-righteousness, self-centeredness, slowness to learn the lessons God is teaching us. Yet Christ has come to serve us, and to give Himself as a ransom for us, paying the price our sins deserved and dying in our place (Mark 10:45). Our sins are completely and absolutely forgiven - past, present, and future. Yet we are still commanded, even as Christians, to confess our sins to God, and when we have sinned against someone, to confess those sins to one another (I John 1:9; James 5:16). As our Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us, “God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified; and, although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance” (WCF 11.5).

So confession of sin ought to be a part of our regular prayer life. Sadly, it often is not. Yet God’s Word is filled with helps toward confession. We are usually familiar with the Psalms that express contrition and sorrow over sin (i.e., Psalm 32, 51, 130, etc.). But a lesser-known aid toward confession is found in the exilic and post-exilic books by Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Providentially, in chapter 9 of each one of these books, we have extended prayers of confession, written in response to Israel’s sin that led them to be removed from the land of Canaan. They show us beautifully what God-centered, grace-based, self-examining, hopeful, honest confession looks like. If you’ve never read these prayers, take time this weekend to do so. Meditate on them, mark them, make use of them. Though the name of Jesus is not mentioned, yet these saints looked forward to redemption to come through the Messiah. Thus we can learn from them how to approach God in confession, knowing that because Jesus has already become incarnate and died, we bring all our confession to our heavenly Father through the Son explicitly and with even greater confidence than Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah knew.

Let us remember that a broken spirit and a contrite heart God will not despise (Psalm 51:17)!

A Preview of Wednesday Nights This Spring At POPC

The following video is a preview of what we will be doing with the Men and Women combined on Wednesday nights this Spring at POPC.

Uploaded by Wilson Van Hooser on 2020-01-21.

"Thy Will" - A Poem by Patsy Futvoye

Many of you know that Patsy Futvoye (the mother of Dr. Matt Futvoye, one of our members here at Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church) passed into the arms of King Jesus last week. At her funeral service Tuesday morning, Mr. Wiley Lowry, Minister of Pastoral Care at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, mentioned that Patsy had been writing poetry in the months preceding her death. Like so many disciples of Jesus in church history who have suffered long, her piety flowed out in written prayer and praise to the God who had saved her and sustained her by grace.

This past October Patsy penned the following words, read at her funeral and printed here with permission of her family. They beautifully display what I pray will be mine in ever-increasing measure through all my days: a keen awareness of her own fearful, doubting, sinful heart; a faith and confidence in our sovereign God in the midst of suffering; a hope in the gracious gospel of Jesus’ cross; and a Spirit-wrought longing for holiness that was satisfied in every way when she joined the ranks of the “spirits…made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23). May these stanzas be a source of comfort and strength for you as you endure the many tribulations through which we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).  

Thy Will

Walking the verge of death’s dark vale,
My doubts and fears do me assail.
Like dawn, your promises are clear 
That you will be forever near.
”Do not fear,” I hear you say.
You guide each minute of the day.
Sovereign are you in every way.
Align me with thy will, I pray. 

I know you have a special plan.
You sent a Savior, the Son of Man,
To bear the sin and take the blame,
Who carried the guilt and bore the shame.
Forgive me, Lord, the pain I brought,
The times my efforts came to naught.
The commandments you gave I did not heed,
Shunned and ignored my brother’s need. 

Thank you, Lord, for your precious Son.
Through faith in Him, my victory’s won.
He has paid my price and made a place
Through His measureless love and grace. 
Holy Spirit, warm my cold heart.
Let me ne’er from thee depart. 
Sovereign are you in every way.
Align me with thy will, I pray.

— Patsy Futvoye, October 2019

Don't Forget to Remember that God Remembers and God Forgets

Tomorrow is the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath. God commands us in the fourth commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Every time we gather around the Lord’s table we hear the same language: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). Indeed, a large swath of Christian practice can be summed up under the word “remember.” We are to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to Paul’s gospel (II Timothy 2:8). At the Lord’s supper we remember that He is the Son of God and the son of Abraham and David. We remember that He died for our sins and rose again for our justification and sits at God’s right hand as the King of kings ruling over all things for the good of His church, even sicknesses, wars, persecution, economic struggles. We are to remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them (Numbers 15:39-40). We are to remember our former state in slavery to sin (Deuteronomy 5:15; Ephesians 2:11-12). We are to remember the Lord our God and all the way the Lord has led us (Deuteronomy 8:2, 18). We are to remember the marvelous works that He has done (Psalm 105:5). We are to remember Lot’s wife and avoid her worldliness (Luke 17:32). Psalm 103:2 tells us not to forget all God’s benefits. We’re eleven days into a new year, but it’s still not too late to remember how God was with us in 2019, through the easy times and the hard times, and bless Him with all that is within us.

But if we’re honest, we know how prone we are to forgetting. So how do we remember to remember? One way is by remembering that the Bible teaches that God remembers and that God forgets. Psalm 103:14 tells us that God “knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” Obviously, when the Bible speaks of God remembering or not remembering, it’s accommodating itself to human speech and human modes of being. There is no past or future with the great I AM, only an ever-present now. When the Psalmist tells us that God remembers that we are dust, he means that God takes notice of our mortality and is mindful of our infirmities, and deals gently with us. How easy it is for us to forget that we are but dust, or to not keep in mind the infirmities of others as we deal with them! But God remembers our frailty and hears our cries for help. Indeed, if He did so before the incarnation, how much more after it, when the Son of God took to Himself human frailty and weakness, and knows intimately what it is to be dust.

God remembers, and He also forgets. Jeremiah 31:34 tells us that in the new covenant, because of the blood of Jesus, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more – that is, He forgets them all, when we believe in Jesus Christ. Again, it’s not that God has dementia – but He deliberately does not bring our sins to remembrance when He deals with us. Psalm 103 puts it this way: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (103:12). Isaiah 38:17 tells us that He casts all our sins behind His back. Isaiah 44:22 says He has wiped out our transgressions like the sun burning away the thick fog. Micah 7:19 says that He has cast them into the depths of the sea. And He has done this through the cross of Jesus Christ. In Jesus God remembered our sins. In Jesus east and west meet. In Jesus our sins are right in God’s face. In Jesus our sins are the thickest cloud you’ve ever seen. In Jesus our sins are the heaviest anchor, and He bears them all upon His back, suffering the punishment that we deserve. Salvation is free for us, but only because Jesus paid for it at the cost of His life. I love how our Westminster Larger Catechism puts it in question 71: “Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.”

And so as this new year begins, don’t forget to remember that God remembers and that God forgets. He remembers that you are dust. And He forgets all our sins. He does both supremely in the person and work of His Son. As you remember these two things, you’ll be enabled more and more to remember everything else that God calls you to remember.  

The Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church Pulpit in 2020

As Pastor Carl and I anticipate our pastoral transitions at the end of March, one of the things that he has handed off to me is the 2020 preaching calendar. At the beginning of each year he has given us a calendar of what will be preached at our morning and evening services, who will be preaching, when we will do the Lord’s Supper and have Baptisms, and all the other calendar related items that are known at the start of a new year. This calendar is a huge help to us as staff, so it is definitely something I plan on continuing to do - although it was a bit overwhelming when I started working on it a couple months ago, since in my previous senior pastorates I was the only or primary preacher, and so didn’t need to plan out everything a whole year at a time. But God has been gracious, and I’m looking forward to what 2020 will hold in terms of the preaching of the word.

On Lord’s Day mornings, we will begin the year by continuing to work our way through Genesis. By the time March 22 rolls around (the date of my installation as Senior Pastor), we will have finished the Jacob narratives. Soon after the transition we will begin a new series in I Peter. This letter is one of my favorite books in the Bible because of its emphasis on how Christians are to live as resident aliens in the world, and the way it grounds our holiness and our witness in the character of God and the gospel of Jesus. Filled with rich theology and practical instructions, particularly regarding how to walk through trials, my prayer is that this this book will be a great encouragement to our souls and will set the course of my ministry among you. Following I Peter, we will pick back up in Genesis at chapter 37, the story of Joseph. This last section of Genesis will take us into 2021, with a break in December to sing along with Dr. Luke’s carols (the songs of Mary, Zacharias, the angels, and Simeon at the birth of Jesus). Throughout the year I have also planned a handful of topical sermons to fit the need of the particular moment.

On Lord’s Day evenings, we have just started a series on Proverbs 1-9, seeking to learn the wisdom of Solomon for our daily lives. When that is completed we will begin a series on idolatry entitled “Broken Cisterns” (taken from Jeremiah 2:11-13). We will be preaching topically through a number of common idols of the heart with which Satan and the world seduce us. Following that series, we will preach our way through several of the shortest books of the Bible: 2 John, 3 John, Philemon, Jude, Obadiah, and Ruth.

This is the plan. And like all plans, we hold it with an open palm, knowing that “the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Would you pray with us that the Lord would use these sermons to build up His people in faith, hope, and love, and to convert His elect from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation? As ministers of the gospel, our primary calling is to preach God’s word to feed Christ’s sheep. It is our chief delight and highest privilege. Thank you for calling us to open up the Scriptures to you, and for your readiness to hear it, your encouragement, and your prayers.