Category Archives: Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (Ecclesiastes 3:8)

Morning Thoughts,

This subject is by request.

Ecclesiastes 3:8, "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

This morning, we feel impressed to write a very different type of segment than usual.  Due to a subject request and hearing a wonderful sermon last night on "Balance," we would like to focus this morning on the subject of "War and Peace."  Normally, people are geared one of two ways.  Either someone tends more towards war, or they tend more toward peace.  Due to personality makeup and general disposition, an individual will have a predilection towards one in particular.  However, no matter what the "bent" of someone's personality is, the real question is, "Is war better than peace or vice versa?"  We could find countless Scriptures that describe the virtues of peace (Matthew 5:9 for example), but we could equally find countless Scriptures that extol the honour of warfare (Ephesians 6:10-20 for example).  This coupling of honourable war and blessed peace should teach us that one is only better than the other in the proper season.

In our study passage, Solomon has been showing the seasons of life.  There is a time for everything under heaven.  However, when Solomon gets to war and peace, he describes them differently than he does all the rest.  In every other pairing, Solomon says there is a time "to" do this and a time "to" do that.  When describing war and peace, he describes a time "of" war and a time "of" peace.  Why the change in verbiage?  Simply put, the other pairings (like laughing and weeping) are actions.  These actions may not be engaged in at all.  In the example of laughing and weeping, someone could be doing neither.  The actions are not perpetual states but rather actions that we engage at different times and seasons.  However, war and peace are not simple actions, but rather we perform actions within these states.  One is either in the state (position) of war, or they are in the state of peace. 

Since these two things are states rather than simple actions, it behooves us to properly consider how to approach them since we are always in one state or the other.  To properly scope this, we intend to do something that we normally do not do – draw out certain historical examples by name.  When considering war and peace, one can easily see from history that certain wars were honourable while others were not.  Likewise, we can conclude that certain "truces" to make peace were really compromises while other peace treaties were noble and good.  Therefore, let us consider some honourable and dishonorable wars and peace in our church history.

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, certain ideologies began to rear up within the church that disturbed the peace of Zion.  From the teachings of certain preachers, ideas like mission boards, Sunday schools, and other auxiliaries to the church began to be promoted as the right way to go.  Coupled with these auxiliaries was the errant teaching that the preaching of the gospel was instrumental in saving God's children to heaven.  Doubtless over the 30 years or so that the ideas were growing and festering, many people in the church abhorred the idea of going to war over these things.  However, by 1832 when the split became official through the work of things like the Blackrock Address, no thinking mind could doubt that war over these principles was necessary to preserve the purity – and peace – of the Lord's church.

Another war that came a half century or so later came over the absolute predestination question.  Some of the same men that had stood steadfastly during the war against the new school ideas became involved in theology that went against the core of Scripture.  They promoted ideas such as God predestinated everything that comes to pass, man is completely passive in his actions, and even some espoused the doctrine that God's children were eternal in their existence.  By the early 1900s, sound brethren could no longer bear these ideas and openly warred against them – again to preserve the peace and purity of Zion.

The last war we will consider from recent history came another few decades after the absoluter controversy.  This conflict became known by many as the Peace/Trumpet/Cayce/Richards division.  Certain factional lines were drawn in different areas of the country, and many groups of people were known by the preachers that they had among them (such as Cayce or Richards).  While we will forego many of the details of that conflict and strife, the root cause of the war was jealousy among preachers and worshipping of preachers among the hearers.  People became more interested in the man than the One who the man was supposed to promote.  Preachers became interested in their own legacies and reputations than the One who they were supposed to be extolling.

In the three brief synopses above, we can draw the conclusion that the first two wars were honourable, but the last was quite dishonorable.  Flipping the coin, we can say that seeking peace to avoid the war in the first two was dishonorable, but that seeking peace in the face of the third war was honourable.  As Solomon so wisely noted by the usage of the word "of" in our study verse, we can only have one or the other.  Not only do they not go together concurrently, one is always in season.  So, why would we bring to bear those three examples today?  What is the relevance of that history for us today?

If someone has the predilection to be a warmonger, they will insistently point to the first two cases to say that war is always the proper course.  If someone has the predilection to be a pacifist, they will point to the last case to say that peace is always the proper course.  Whether someone's bent is war or peace, the simple point is that we should base the issues of the day on whether they are essential or not, regardless of how we feel personally.  If something disturbs the essential points of Scripture (things that cannot be crossed without doing damage to the tenor of the Bible), then it behooves us to war against those ideas lest Zion be overrun in our area with error.  If something is simply a matter of non-essential material (or in the case of the last division mentioned a matter of personality or prejudice), then we should devote our energies to promoting peace to the welfare of Zion and the benefit of her inhabitants.

Too many times, we can point to the wrong historical example to seek to prove our point.  If we are peace-minded, we might too often point to bad wars and say that we should not go to war.  If we are war-minded, we might point to good wars and say that we should go to war.  Balance is needed.  Our personal bent should not govern our thinking.  We should seek to objectively look at the issue before us.  Does it pose a legitimate threat to what the church stands for?  If it does, honourably war against it.  If it does not, honourably seek to teach and live peace. 

One final point is this: just as personality bent should not govern how we look at a situation so should circumstances of the day likewise not govern how we look at an issue.  Since times change but God's principles do not, our course does not change (or it should not) based on how modern thinking sways at the moment.  Looking at the natural world, thinking is swaying towards pro-homosexuality, pro-divorce, pro-abortion, etc.  None of that modern thinking and its general sway today changes that God despises those things that are now openly promoted and touted.  Likewise, modern thinking in the religious world is Arminian, pro-auxiliaries to the church, etc.  None of that modern sway changes the fact that God despises rotten theology and a change to the pattern of the church that He established.

Friends, we cannot be in war and peace at the same time.  Nor is there a time when we do not have one or the other.  There is a time of war, and there is a time of peace.  May we seek to understand which is the proper state to be in, labour and acquit ourselves honourably in that endeavor and always put the cause of Christ and His people above our personal preference.  Whether we would prefer to "have a fight" or "just live and let live," let us renew our sight on the mark that He set.  He knows when to war and when not to.  He knows when not to open His mouth against His accusers yet also when to make a whip and drive people out of His Father's house.  May we ask and beseech Him for the wisdom and balance to know when to act likewise.

In Hope,

Bro Philip

Morning Thoughts (John 14:4)

Morning Thoughts,

John 14:4, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."

This morning, many tout the name of Christ without admitting and freely confessing His power and authority.  While they pay lip service to the person of Christ, their belief system and structure patently denies the power of God, sacrifice of Jesus Christ, etc. by removing the glory and power of it.  They do this by stripping the glory of grace by leaving the decision and power in the hand of the sinner.  Should any power for an "eternal decision" rest in the hand of any sinner, then the whole system of salvation would result in a 100% miserable failure.  Yet, the fact that man has no power to affect this glorious salvation, there are certain aspects of it that touch us quite deeply and profoundly while we live here in this world.  This "experiential religion" is an internal testimony to the rich grace and ultimate power of Almighty God.

Oftentimes, in my haste of reading and studying Scriptures, I miss – over and over – some principle or verse application with each and every pass through the lesson.  Sometimes, the verses surrounding a verse are so rich that one verse in a passage seems more neglected than others.  Our study verse is one such verse for me.  Even though it is rich in thought, I generally went through this portion of John in one of two ways: 1. I was so taken with the thoughts in verse 3 (second coming of Christ), that I never made it to verse 4, or 2.  I was in such a hurry to get to verse 6 with the wonderful truths there that I glossed over verse 4.  To see the beauty of verse 4, let us briefly consider some of the background to this verse.

Chapter 13 ends with Christ's perfect prophesy of Peter's thrice denial of Him before the night was over.  Such a proclamation by the Master would be enough to sorrow the boldest of hearts.  However, Christ – in His deep compassion for us – follows up that foreboding prophecy with the immediate command to not be troubled in heart.  Even though we have failures in life, just as the Saviour foretold for Peter in his life, He commands us not to wallow in the misery but rather look up and revive in spirit.  How does one revive in spirit, especially in the face of being faced with one's own shortcomings?  Christ lists 4 reasons not to be troubled in heart, and these 4 things do not change.  Ever.  Regardless of our sin-ridden lives, these 4 principles stand fast and sure forever.

The first principle is found in verse 1.  Christ commands them to believe in Him just as they believe in God.  The first and foremost reason to not be troubled is that Jesus is God and has all the power and authority of God.  His life is not just some good moral lesson, but rather it is a rich and beautiful display of grace that culminates in the salvation of His people.  However, Jesus being God is not the only unchanging reason to not be troubled.  He declares that His Father's house has many mansions, and He Himself is going to prepare a place for us.  So, there is an inheritance that is glorious, permanent, and eternal that is securely fixed and cemented in the work of Jesus Christ.  The third unchanging reason to not be troubled is that He is coming again to receive us to Himself: we will be where He is!

These three unchanging facts should be enough for us to remember and realize that everything is going to be all right.  No matter how wicked the world gets and no matter how wayward we get in thought or deed, these truths – glorious truths – will never be undone or shaken.  Yet, Jesus Christ – the Son of God and finisher of the glorious work of salvation – gives one more reason not to be troubled.  Just as the other three tenets are secure and sure for every child of grace, so is this one as well.  Even though Thomas shows in the succeeding verse that he lacks the intellectual knowledge as to what Christ is talking about, that does not change the fact that Christ's words were true and Thomas (as well as every other heir of grace) knows what Christ here says we know.

The two things we know are 1. where He is going, and 2. the way He is going.  Now this unqualified statement by the Lord seems somewhat bold (to the cursory examination) to declare that His family knows where He is going and the way He is going.  Certainly some heirs of grace never know His name or have ever heard a glorious gospel message.  Even moreso, they have no Bible to read these glorious statements.  So, how can all of God's children have this rich principle apply to them without exception?

The answer is found in the subject of "experiential religion."  What we mean by that statement is that Scripture teaches about the internal testimony of God's children.  Paul referenced this testimony at the opening of Romans 9.  His conscience bore witness to the same thing the Holy Ghost also testified, corroborated yet still by the truth of Christ.  Friends, many today like to talk about their own "personal spirituality" that they believe supersedes organized religion and church worship.  However, sound internal testimony never contradicts Scripture, and Paul's internal testimony (in his conscience) harmonized nicely with Scriptures as well as the leading and impression of the Holy Ghost.  Gentiles in Romans 2:14-15 that had no gospel knowledge or knowledge of the law and the prophets were said to become a law unto themselves when they did the things contained in the law.  How did they do that?  Internal testimony in their conscience showed the difference between right and wrong, and accused or excused them accordingly.

Furthermore, Paul declares in rich detail in Romans 8:18-24 that the new creature in every born again child of God yearns and longs for heaven.  Even though we have never seen it, our hearts, souls, etc. long for that place called heaven and home.  Even if someone is unchurched but still born again of the Spirit, they long inside for home.  Maybe without words to frame it or a name to call Him whom they have never seen but still they love (I Peter 1:8), they long for Him and the place where He dwells.  This internal testimony and longing for home is precisely the point that Christ is making in our study verse.

Yet another reason to not be troubled is because something inside us tells us, "This world is not your home."  Something reaches for a place beyond compare.  As an interesting aside, while I was thinking about this concept recently, it occurred to me that this verse is a rich defense of the free grace of God by His sovereign and mighty hand.  Should it be true that people could help others "get saved" to heaven and immortal glory, then it should equally stand to reason that those same "helpers" would be able to direct people to heaven.  If a preacher could save someone's soul, then it stands to reason, logically, that that same man could say, "These are your directions to heaven when you die."  Yet, no preacher (of any flavor) that I have ever heard of claimed such an impossible ability.  No preachers sit in hospital rooms whispering to dying people, "When you die, hang a left at the second star in the sky."

However, the same One that has saved us has imprinted the knowledge of Him, where He has gone, and the way He has gone upon us and in us.  He says we know where He is going (heaven), and we know the way (path or direction) He takes.  Paul tells us in Hebrews 6:16-20 that this knowledge is our hope.  It anchors our soul in heaven, and the forerunner is already gone before us.  The path is well-trodden by His glorious and triumphant steps.  No need to ask for directions to heaven, nor to ask where we are going.  Our inner man bears the image of Christ (Colossians 1:27), and it knows where to go at the moment of death's release.  The sweet path of Christ (the Way) will be richly illuminated as His voice (Life) speaks those sweet words (Truth) and ushers us into the heavenly portals.

Christ gives this as the fourth and profoundly intimate reason not to be troubled in heart while traversing this low ground of sin and sorrow.  Yes, He is God.  That never changes.  Heaven is real, permanent, and prepared for us.  That never changes.  He is coming again to take us home with Him.  That will not change.  Yet, for our personal, intimate comfort here daily, we have knowledge (intimately) of a rich nature.  Our souls have been stamped with the testimony that we are headed out of this world.  Our spirit has been subjected in hope that we are going away.  This longing and yearning is a daily proof that we are His, and such proof (especially when coupled with gospel knowledge for us who are so blessed to have it), should make us the most uplifted people in this world.  Just as those other principles will never change, so also will the imprint of God's hand on our soul never change.  What He has done will forever be upon us, and that longing of the creature will never cease.  May we continue this day and for whatever days we have left uplifted and rejoicing.  Yes, we will fail, deny Him, and let Him down, but nothing changes these glorious truths of who He is and what He has done.

In Hope,

Bro Philip