Remember that repentance is not merely a legal necessity but a gift accompanying the true Gospel to all who believe. Rejoicing and gladness will come naturally to such a penitent at worship. Every Sabbath will become a delight instead of a burden and a cumbersome yoke of law. Then, you will know that the Lord alone restores the captivity and fortunes of his people (Ps. 68:18,19). A restored fortune gives one great cause to glory in God through the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, for then salvation has indeed come forth from Zion!

“Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restoresthe fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.” Psalm 14:7 ESV
As we delve into the rich history of God’s people, Israel, in the Old Testament, we uncover the profound significance of this psalm in the worship of the congregation. In verse seven, Jehovah’s faithful express a deep-seated hope for the restoration of their homeland and fortunes, a hope that resonates powerfully in this musical promise.
Israel’s years of faithfulness to their covenant God were few in number, sparse, and checkered with the Lord’s heavy discipline for idolatry. Israel’s recurring punishments began only fifty days after their exodus from Egypt. At the base of Mt. Sinai, after initiating the national covenant with Jehovah God under Moses, the newly formed theocracy first worshipped an idol, a golden calf. At this grievous sin and breach of covenant, Jehovah, acting through Moses, directed the Levites to execute 3,000 of their brethren in retribution for this crime. This punishment, severe as it may seem, serves as a cautionary tale of the destruction sin can initiate if left unchecked.
Jehovah is a patient and forgiving God, eager to pardon the iniquity and sin of his covenant people. His holiness, however, means that he will not overlook sin. This threat particularly applies to those who disregard the Second Commandment by making and worshipping graven images (Ex. 20:4,5).
In meeting out punishment, Jehovah would disperse his people out of their inheritance and scatter them among the heathen, most commonly for worshipping idols and for profaning his Sabbaths. The cold-hearted neglect of their own poor, widows, orphans, and foreigners was likewise a cause for discipline and wrath in Israel. Those who grew sensitive to their shame and owned their guilt pined for relief and a sign of Jehovah’s renewed favor to them. The best sign of God’s favor had always been his near presence and dwelling in the temple in Jerusalem, with a blessed restoration of the inheritance of the various tribes of Israel to their land, according to their ancient lots.
As mentioned above, the hope of restoring their fortunes was kept alive among a dispersed Israel in the worship ordinance of psalm-singing. But note that, though the reason for the dispersion of the people was sin, the instrumental cause was Jehovah himself – he hardens the hearts of the rebellious in just punishment for their sin, sin begetting more grievous sin (Rom 1:24-30). It is he who scatters the defiant to the wilderness places (Ps. 68:6). Accordingly, it is Jehovah God alone that can restore the fortunes of his people when their iniquity is pardoned, and he is pleased to renew his close communion with them in the great congregation (Ps. 35:18). Having every emblem of God’s covenant love restored, Israel could justly and freely rejoice and be glad! The time of returning to their lost fortunes was a year of jubilee and a cause of tremendous and year-long celebration! (see Lev. 27).
Covenant Presbyterian Church is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The precise date is next month, in October. It is humbling to consider that, although we celebrate this anniversary, Israel as a people of God never celebrated a designated 50-year jubilee year in their entire recorded history! The devotion of this impious nation quickly rose and just as quickly fell. There was little steadfastness and loyalty to their King, Jehovah. But the faithful remnant of Israel always longed for this sign of Jehovah’s approbation and love. God had promised and will undoubtedly restore their fortunes.
In our fifty years as a church, this congregation has seen many souls come, remain, and go. Many continue their pilgrimage with Jehovah and serve him faithfully in Christ in other gospel churches. Others have drifted to who knows where (Heb. 2:1). The critical question is whether one is dispersed from one’s fortunes due to sin. Are we a gathered and settled people as the inheritance of Christ our Shepherd?
Sin is both blinding and benumbing. It dulls our spiritual senses and leads us into bondage. Consider the Prodigal Son, who, after a time of discipline, returned home to his fortunes – to his father’s house – and the resulting jubilee celebrated at his return from the “dead” (Lk. 15:16ff). Yet it is a cause for lamentation today to note how many people who had been faithful churchgoers suddenly stopped attending public gatherings of worship during and after COVID-19. This is undoubtedly a modern-day diaspora!
Indeed, the Lord humbles his people for their idolatrous, Sabbath-breaking impiety and scandalous indifference to their needy and afflicted brothers in the faith (Matt 25:29,30)! With so many church closings since 2021, and so many churches being significantly reduced in number, we need to ask ourselves, “Is it me, Lord? Am I complicit in this act of rebellion through my long-established pattern and habit of sin and impiety in the church? Am I an idolator? Who or what do I chiefly serve, God or mammon (Matt. 6:24)? Am I a Sabbath-profaning hypocrite, one that is insensitive and indifferent to the presence of the Lord among his people at worship, and yet own the name “Christian” (Rev. 1:10)? Has the Lord’s Day become my day to do as I please?”
The good news is that if you discern his chastening hand upon you in your estrangement from church, take it as a sign that you are under his care. The Lord disciplines his sons that he loves (Heb. 12:6-9) and sends them such trials as they are dispersed, that they might seek him out of the abundance of misery and be delivered. Yet do not delay your repentance, for you only have this day to do so and no certainty of tomorrow.
Is God your great fortune? Indeed, have you any good in this life and the next beside him (Ps. 73:25)? You consider yourself a believer but are you reconciled to God through Jesus (2 Cor. 5:20)? Are you reconciled to your fellow believers in Christ? Do you enjoy your fortune, which is God, in holy communion with your fellow heirs of salvation in Christ (Heb. 10:25)? If not, you may return to your Father’s house by God’s grace and renew a close and humble walk with your Lord, who dwells with his people (Mic. 6:8).
Those dispersed even as far and low as a heathen pig sty may awaken from their sleep of death to long for their Father’s house and return. Remember that repentance is not merely a legal necessity but a gift accompanying the true Gospel to all who believe. Rejoicing and gladness will come naturally to such a penitent at worship. Every Sabbath will become a delight instead of a burden and a cumbersome yoke of law. Then, you will know that the Lord alone restores the captivity and fortunes of his people (Ps. 68:18,19). A restored fortune gives one great cause to glory in God through the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, for then salvation has indeed come forth from Zion!
Lou Veiga is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Pastor of Covenant PCA in Houston, Texas.

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Written by Bruce A. Little |
Monday, November 14, 2022
This is where accommodation leads; start down the path of cultural relevancy and one will soon be entangled by an accommodation to the spirit of the age.  In addition, it leads to a most catastrophic move by evangelicals to reimagine Christianity which follow a weakened view of Scripture. In the end, not only is the Christian witness compromised, but the true nature of the Christian calling is lost as it is not by might nor by power, but by God’s Spirit (Zech 4:6). The sacred is camouflaged so the world will not be offended as evangelicals accommodate the spirit of the age.

Francis Schaeffer in his concluding remarks of chapter one of the Great Evangelical Disaster, wrote: “Here is the great evangelical disaster—the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this—namely accommodation: the evangelical has accommodated to the world spirit of the age.” He goes on to say, “and let us understand that to accommodate to the world spirit about us in our age is nothing less than the most gross form of worldliness in the proper definition of that word.”
Accommodation was a logical conclusion of the growing evangelical commitment to sounding culturally relevant, which in time morphed into acting like the world while trying to maintain a moral difference. In the end this has proven neither to impress the world, nor maintain the moral distinction.
Furthermore, most evangelicals have little or no understanding of the philosophical scaffolding supporting the cultural response to which they attach themselves. Schaeffer calls accommodation the grossest form of worldliness. There was a time when worldliness (a word we seldom hear in sermons anymore) was when Christians engaged in activity such as playing cards, going to dances or to the cinema and so forth. If you did these things, you would be considered a worldly Christian thus confusing the distinction between Christianity and the world. The thought was by condemning such activity would keep the world out of the church. This was called legalism. Good intentions, just ineffective and wrong.
In fact, this thinking committed two mistakes. One: thinking that such activity was the main threat from the world against Christianity. Two: thinking that avoiding certain questionable activity would make a Christian spiritual.  However, the real threat of worldliness is thinking according to the spirit of the age. This was Schaeffer’s understanding of worldliness, and it is why he called accommodation the “most gross form of worldliness”.
He meant that evangelicals had brought the world into the church by their worldly thinking which came about because of a weakened view of Scripture and a softening on moral issues of the day. A little later, in the same chapter, Schaeffer noted that all of this led to some evangelicals (some in his day, but many more in our day) “to talk about a wider, richer Christianity and to become more deeply involved in culture, but at the same time to accommodate to the world spirit about us [evangelicals] at each crucial point.”
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The church is uniquely positioned to serve those who have a mental illness. If we look at the roles of those in the church as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:28, we read that three are “healing, helping, and guiding.” This is what those with mental illness need most from the church. They need fellow Christians to walk alongside them to guide them and help them through the healing process.

The church generally does not like to talk about mental illness. As a result, a stigma surrounds those who struggle with mental illness. Those with mental illness often prefer to suffer in silence rather than discuss it. Additionally, as I suspect, most people in our pews are simply unaware of the scope and depth of the problem of mental illness. Regardless of the reason for failure to minister to those with mental illness, the fact remains that the church has, for the most part, failed miserably in this area. After all, when was the last time your church brought up mental illness in the pastoral prayer?
One in five people in the United States has a mental illness. Depression alone accounts for half of that. Statistically, in a church of one hundred people, twenty will have a diagnosed mental illness, and fifteen more, such as friends and family, will be personally impacted by it. Depression and bipolar disorder are among the top ten most debilitating illnesses globally. Bipolar disorder and depressive diseases influence the lives of millions of people. They affect those diagnosed and their families, friends, coworkers, and people with whom they interact. Mental illness is not kind to those who suffer from it, nor to those who must live with those who have it. One-third of your church’s members are affected by mental illness.
We cannot imagine someone with cancer or heart disease going five to ten years without treatment, yet it happens all the time to those with mental illness. These folks suffer in our schools, workplaces, homes, and churches. Two-thirds of those with bipolar disorder remain untreated! The sad fact is that without adequate treatment, mental illnesses often worsen. Right now, people in our pews are suffering, many silently, from mental illness. If we, as the body of Christ, do not help them, we fail in Jesus’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The church has a poor track record when it comes to mental illness. We advise those who are depressed to “just be happy” or “just trust in Jesus.” Worse yet, are those churches that encourage their members to stop taking their psychotropic medications and ask God to heal them. And yet, those same churches would never tell someone with cancer to stop undergoing chemotherapy and just ask God to heal them. They would not tell someone with a broken leg to stop seeking medical treatment and “just walk on it.” And yet, this is what happens. Says Susan Gregg-Schroeder, coordinator of Mental Health Ministries, “I’ve gone to funerals of people who were told to just pray to Jesus and stop taking their medications.”
Mental illnesses bring various dangers to the individual, including personal problems such as unemployment, financial struggles, homelessness, and broken relationships. People with mental illnesses also have a considerably higher risk of substance abuse. While 13 percent of Americans struggle with alcohol addiction and another 10 percent struggle with drug addiction, 60 percent of those with depression or bipolar disorder struggle with some form of substance abuse. If your church has five individuals with bipolar disorder, three of those people struggle with alcohol or drug addiction. We do not like to consider this when we look around our churches on Sunday morning and see our fellow believers. By far, however, the most severe danger they face is suicide.
Those with mental illness also have a considerably higher rate of suicide than the general population and are more likely to commit suicide than individuals in any other psychiatric or medical risk group. Twenty to twenty-five percent of those diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder will die by suicide. The suicide rate is even higher for those who remain untreated. Seventy percent of all suicides are related to depression. According to Dr. Frederick Goodwin and Dr. Kay Jamison, the presence of depression and bipolar disorder is the most critical risk factor for completed suicide. I cannot overemphasize enough the lethal nature of these illnesses. Bipolar disorder and depression are the deadliest forms of mental illness. Says Dr. Jamison, “Suicide, for many who suffer from untreated manic-depressive illness, is as much “wired” into the disease as myocardial infarction is for those who have occluded coronary arteries.”
The good news is that bipolar disorder and depression are highly treatable. The most effective treatment is both medication and counseling. Utilizing only one of these may benefit those struggling with mental illness; however, combined therapy is preferential. Kay Jamison states, “Counseling alone, without medication, is considered to be malpractice.” Treatment of bipolar disorder and depression with a combination of medicine and counseling results in significantly better outcomes. This runs contrary to the beliefs of many in the church that all individuals with bipolar disorder and depression should be treated with counseling alone. Medications serve to treat genetic and biological factors. Counseling helps to treat lifestyle and spiritual elements. Therefore, counseling is a critical component in treating bipolar disorder and depression. This is where the church can enter the picture.
Why should we minister to those with mental illness? Studies show that those with mental illnesses fare considerably better if they are part of a religious community. According to a Duke University Medical Center study that examined one thousand patients who suffered from depression, those with a “strong, intrinsic, religious belief … do better.” A study by Lynda Powell showed that those involved in a religious community tend to live longer than those not. These facts alone should encourage those in the church to reach out to the mentally ill.
The church is uniquely positioned to serve those who have a mental illness. If we look at the roles of those in the church as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:28, we read that three are “healing, helping, and guiding.” This is what those with mental illness need most from the church. They need fellow Christians to walk alongside them to guide them and help them through the healing process. Jesus commands us to do this in Matthew 25:40, when He tells his disciples: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Serving our brothers and sisters with mental illness is the same as serving Jesus Christ. It is not optional; it is what Jesus commanded us to do.
Timothy Mulder serves in Southside Community Church (PCA) in Corpus Christi, TX. This article is used with permission. For a more in-depth look at ministering to those with mental illness, check out his book, Suffering in Silence.
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