The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us (Pt 7)

It is hard to preserve just bounds of mercy and severity without a spirit above our own, by which we ought to desire to be led in all things.

How Those in Authority Should Act

In the censures of the church, it is more suitable to the spirit of Christ to incline to the milder part, and not to kill a fly on the forehead with a mallet, not shut men out of heaven for a trifle.  The very snuffers [wick trimmers] of the tabernacle were made of pure gold, to show the purity of those censures whereby the light of the church is kept bright. The power that is given to the church is given for edification, not destruction.

How careful was Paul that the incestuous Corinthian (2 Cor. 2:7), if he repented, should not be swallowed up with too much grief.  Civil magistrates, for civil exigencies and reasons of state, must let the law have its course; yet thus far they should imitate this mild king, as not to mingle bitterness and passion with authority derived from God.

Authority is a beam of God’s majesty, and prevails most where there is the least mixture of that which is man’s. It requires more than ordinary wisdom to manage it aright.  This string must not be too tight, nor too loose.  Justice is a harmonious thing.  Herbs hot or cold beyond a certain degree, kill.  We see even contrary elements preserved in one body by wisely tempering them together.  Justice in rigor is often extreme injustice, where some considerable circumstances should incline to moderation; and the reckoning will be easier for bending rather to moderation than rigor.

Insolent behavior toward miserable persons, if humbled, is unseemly in any who look for mercy themselves.  Misery should be a magnet for mercy, not a footstool for pride to trample on.  Sometimes it falls out that those who are under the government of others are most injurious by waywardness and harsh censures, so disparaging and discouraging the endeavors of their superiors for public good.

In so great weakness of man’s nature, and especially in this crazy age of the world, we ought to take in good part any moderate happiness we enjoy by government, and not be altogether as a nail in the wound, exasperating things by misconstruction.  Here love should have a mantle to cast upon lessor errors of those above us.  Oftentimes the poor man is the oppressor by unjust clamors.  We should labor to give the best interpretation to the actions of governments that the nature of the actions will possibly bear.

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us (Pt 6)

Preachers need to take heed therefore, how they deal with young believers.  Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high,

Sound Judgment

It is hard to preserve just bounds of mercy and severity without a spirit above our own, by which we ought to desire to be led in all things.  That wisdom which dwells with prudence (Prov. 8:12) will guide us in these particulars, without which virtue is not virtue, truth not truth.  The rule and the case must be laid together; for if there isn’t a keen insight, apparent likeness in conditions will give rise to errors in our opinions of them.

Those fiery, tempestuous and destructive spirits in popery that seek to promote their religion by cruelty show that they are strangers to that wisdom which is from above, which makes men gentle, peaceable and ready to show that mercy which they themselves have felt.  it is a way of prevailing agreeable both to Christ and to man’s nature to prevail by some forbearance and moderation.

And yet we often see a false spirit in those that call for moderation.  There doing so is but to carry their own projects with the greater strength; and if they prevail they will hardly show that moderation to others which they now call for from others.  And there is a proud kind of moderation likewise, when men will take upon themselves to censure both parties, as if they were wiser than both, although, if the spirit is right, an onlooker may see more than those that are in conflict.

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us (Pt 5)

Preachers need to take heed therefore, how they deal with young believers.  Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high,

Sound Judgment

And here likewise there needs to be a caveat.  Mercy does not rob us of our right judgment, so as to take stinking firebrands for smoking flax.  None will claim mercy more of others than those who deserve due severity.  This example does not countenance lukewarmness, nor too much indulgence to those that need quickening.  Cold diseases must have hot remedies

It made for the just commendation of the church of Ephesus that it could not bear with them which were evil (Rev. 2:2).  We should so bear with others as to manifest also a dislike of evil.  Our Savior Christ would not forbear sharp reproof where he saw dangerous infirmities in his most beloved disciples.  It brings us under a curse to do the work of the Lord deceitfully (Jer 48:10), even where it is a work of just severity, as when it is sheathing the sword in the bowels of the enemy.  And those whom we suffer to be betrayed by their worst enemies, their sins, will have just cause to curse us one day.

 

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us (Pt 4)

Preachers need to take heed therefore, how they deal with young believers.  Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high,

Simplicity and Humility

And likewise those are failing that, by too much austerity, drive back troubled souls from having comfort.  As a result of this, many smother their temptations, and burn inwardly, because they have none into whose bosom they may vent their grief and ease their souls

We must neither bind where God looses, nor loose where God binds, neither open where God shuts, nor shut where God opens.  The right use of the keys is always successful.  In personal application, there must be great heed taken: for a man may be a false prophet, and yet speak the truth.  If it isn’t a truth to the person to whom he speaks, if he grieves those whom God has not grieved by unseasonable truths, or by comforts in an ill way, the hearts of the wicked may be strengthened.  One man’s meat may be another’s poison.

If we look to the general temper of these times, rousing and waking scriptures are fittest, yet there are many broken spirits who need soft and comforting words.  Even in the worst time the prophets mingled sweet comfort for the hidden remnant of faithful people.  God has comfort.  The prophet is told, “Comfort ye my people” (Isa. 40:1), as well as, “Lift up thy voice as a trumpet” (Isa. 58:1)

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us (Pt 3)

Preachers need to take heed therefore, how they deal with young believers.  Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high,

Simplicity and Humility

Again, we should not rack their wits with curious or “doubtful disputations” (Rom. 14:1), for so we shall distract and tire them, and give occasion to make them cast off the care of all.  That age of the church which was most fertile in subtle questions was most barren in religion; for it makes people think religion to be only a matter of cleverness, in tying and untying knots.  The brains of men inclining that way are hotter usually than their hearts.

Yet notwithstanding, when we are cast into times and places wherein doubts are raised about principle points, here people ought to labor to be established. God suffers questions oftentimes to arise for trial of our love and exercise of our abilities.  Nothing is so certain as that which is certain after doubts.  Shaking settles and roots.

In a contentious age, it is a wise thing to be a Christian, and to know what to pitch our souls upon.  It is an office of love here to take away the stones, and to smooth the way to heaven.  Therefore, we must take heed that, under pretense of avoidance of disputes, we do not suffer an adverse party to get ground upon the truth; for thus may we easily betray both the truth of God and souls of men.

 

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us (Pt 2)

Preachers need to take heed therefore, how they deal with young believers.  Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high,

Simplicity and Humility

Preachers should take heed likewise that they don’t hide their meaning in dark speeches, speaking in the clouds.  Truth fears nothing so much as concealment, and desires nothing so much as clearly to be laid open to the view of all.  When it is most unadorned, it is most lovely and powerful.  Our blessed Savior, as he took our nature upon him, so he took upon him our familiar manner of speech, which was part of his voluntary abasement.  Paul was a profound man, yet he became as a nurse to the weaker sort (1 Thess. 2:7)

That spirit of mercy that was in Christ should move his servants to be content to abase themselves for the good of the meanest.  What made the kingdom of heaven “suffer violence” (Matt. 11:12) after John the Baptist’s time, but that comfortable truths were laid open with such plainness and evidence as to offer a holy violence to obtain them?

Christ chose those to preach mercy felt most mercy, as Peter and Paul, that they might be examples of what they taught.  Paul became all things to all men (1 Cor. 9:22), stooping unto them for their good.  Christ came down from heaven and emptied himself of majesty in tender love to souls.  Shall we not come down from our high conceits to do any poor soul good?  Shall man be proud after God has been humble?

We see the ministers of Satan turn themselves into all shapes to “make one proselyte” (Matt 23:15).  We see ambitious men study accommodation of themselves to the humors of those by whom they hope to be raised, and shall not we study application of ourselves to Christ, by whom we hope to be advanced, nay are already sitting with him in heavenly places?  After we are gained to Christ ourselves, we should labor to gain others to Christ.  Holy ambition and covetousness will move us to put upon ourselves the disposition of Christ.  But we must put off ourselves first.

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us

Preachers need to take heed therefore, how they deal with young believers.  Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high, and make things required evidences of grace which don’t agree with the experience of many good Christians.  Let them not lay salvation and damnation upon things that aren’t fit to bear that weight.  This is how men are needlessly cast down, and they aren’t soon raised up again by themselves or others.

The ambassadors of so gentle a Savior should not be overbearing, setting up themselves in the hearts of people where Christ alone should sit in his temple.  Too much respect to man was one of the inlets of popery. “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ” (1 Cor. 4:1), neither more nor less, just so much.  How careful was Paul in cases of conscience not to lay a snare upon any weak conscience?

 

Convictions vs. Caricature

I just came across this post by Chris Goforth, about how he’s “pushed away” by a certain kind of Christianity, “mostly people who practice religion and call it Christianity.”  It was a little bit surreal for me, because he sounds like he’s mad at me.  He lashes out at some things that are wrong, kind of obviously wrong, but also quite a bit like the things that I actually believe, like a bad caricature. Except that bit about trying to get people to say the sinner’s prayer.  That’s just dumb.

So:

  • I believe that if someone isn’t saved, they are wicked, and going to hell.  I don’t believe that every unsaved person is necessarily grossly immoral, in a noticeably public way, but I also doubt that they are living up to their own standards, let alone God’s.  I believe they think they can justify themselves.  I believe that if a person is saved, they are probably still wicked, but that their disposition toward God has changed, and that He doesn’t count their sins against them.  They probably aren’t living up to even their own standards, but by the grace of God, their standards are being corrected, and they are seeing long-term improvement.
  • I believe that men have a responsibility to lead in a way that women don’t have, particularly in regards to marriage and church government.  I believe that churches should have government.  I don’t understand 1 Timothy 2:12 very well, but it’s in my Bible and I want to obey God’s word.
  • I believe that homeschooling is a pretty good idea, and that every parent should take responsibility for their child’s education, no matter where they go to school.  I think that public schools are a good option for people who can’t afford other options, but that there’s a danger that the school will waste their child’s time, and teach values that might undermine Christian faith.
  • I believe that girls should dress modestly, but that no level of modesty can constrain another person’s heart, particularly in a world as saturated as we are with pornography.  I can’t imagine boys today being “comfortable in their bodies” enough to wear some of the things that they sell to 10 year old girls.
  • I believe that it’s important to watch what media comes into your home for a myriad of reasons.  There are some pretty insulting songs and TV shows out there, and we have a responsibility to think on things that are worthy, true, etc.
  • I believe that I can’t save anyone, not even my children.  I don’t think that people are my personal salvation projects, but I do believe that God has selected a number from every people group in the world to be drawn to him, and that they only means he’s established to do that is other people who believe the good news of Jesus Christ.
  • I believe that, in regards to my children, I have two distinct,but related duties: to civilize them and to evangelize them.  Sometimes people want to keep one and drop the other, but really, nobody wants their children to run around dirty, hunting their food with their bare hands, and nobody wants their children to go to hell.  The gospel gradually results civilization, but civilization doesn’t result in evangelism.  Making up new rules is the stuff of civilization.  Honestly, those rules can be helpful, unless they aren’t.
  • I believe that clip at the end of his post is pretty darn funny.

Like I said – these are not the convictions that Chris Goforth has a problem with.  At least, I don’t think they are.  But they’re pretty close.  And that makes me want to ask a lot of questions.

  • Which is more common, my convictions, or the caricature?
  • Can anyone tell the difference?
  • Was he taught the caricature from the pulpit, or was it just something he picked up off the street?
  • If he hears someone spouting a foolish bit of pharisaism, does he rebuff them, or cringe and turn away?
  • Is Mr. Goforth a member of a church?  What does his church leadership teach about these issues?
  • Would his church leadership be quick to correct the caricatures from the pulpit?
  • Do they set themselves up as something new and fresh and different, compared to people with my convictions?
  • Does anybody dialogue in the church anymore?  Or do we just should past each other while making church signs?