We also must not be reckless or foolish in putting ourselves in danger. As is so often the case, it is a matter of seeking what it is that God wants us to do, and then doing it. But it must be done in God’s way. When Moses killed the Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, he meant well, but he was acting in the flesh. But many years later when he stood before Pharaoh and defied him to his face, he was acting according to God’s express command. Both actions were very risky, and both had consequences, but only one was done in God’s way, in God’s time, and with God’s enabling.

Lately I have been speaking about the issue of risk and how life is always about trade-offs: getting the right balance between sensibly being safe and secure, yet not becoming a virtual slave with no freedoms to achieve such safety. Governments have to weigh up the pros and cons on such matters as do individuals.
So too do Christians. We do not want to be reckless and foolish when it comes to putting ourselves or others in danger, but we do not want to be paralysed by fear and never take any risks. Biblical balance is needed here, along with some common sense.
All this has especially come to the fore over the past 18 months as we have dealt with Covid. I have written often about the issues of fear, risk, freedom and safety. An early piece on this is found here: billmuehlenberg.com/2020/04/18/corona-and-the-elimination-of-risk/
And a much more recent piece is this: billmuehlenberg.com/2021/09/11/fear-safety-and-slavery/
I revisit this set of topics again because I was recently asked by someone how I might reconcile various biblical themes. He wrote:
I’ve been praying a bit about whether I should fight for the helpless or not. I see things of Evil everywhere and only desire to honour God in His ways. I’ve made many wrong choices by thinking I was doing things Gods way, then realised later it was not His will. I came across this proverb 27:12 today and even though it seems wrong to hide, yet it’s seems clear to me, it’s His way. I was reminded of Gideon hiding in the wine press from his enemies. What’s your thoughts in this please?
A fair question, and an important one. I did offer him a short reply at the time, and I trust he does not mind if I speak to this matter further here. What follows then is a much larger version of the response that I gave to him:
As to this proverb, it is actually repeated twice. The ESV rendering of Proverbs 22:3 and 27:12 puts it this way: “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” The HCSB renders the verses this way: “A sensible person sees danger and takes cover; the inexperienced keep going and are punished.”
These two proverbs speak to the matter of being wise in the face of danger, and of not putting ourselves in harm’s way unnecessarily. As such they offer good, sound advice to all of us. We always need to take care, to be cautious, and to avoid recklessly endangering ourselves and those around us.
But that is not the end of the matter of course. Sometimes we must do risky things – things that may well result in harm to ourselves – even death. That too can simply be a matter of common sense. Most people, if they hear a child screaming as a stray dog is attacking him or her will rush in to try to rescue the child. They know full well that this can be risky, and they may well get hurt in the process.
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To prepare is not to build a boat in the backyard, but to eat and drink, speak and marry all while looking and waiting for Christ’s promised coming. We live mindful of eternal souls. We live expecting rain. We live in reverent fear of God. What does the world see you building? Is there anything in your life that can only be explained by Christ and his return?

Life as usual, many will come to realize, was never life as usual.
When Christ returns, many will discover too late that they lived within a dream. Years came and years went. Spring turned to autumn, autumn to winter. They grew and grew old but never awoke. “Normal life” lied to them. So, Jesus foretells,
As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37–39)
The world-ending return of Jesus will be as the world-ending days of Noah. Of what did Noah’s days consist? Busy people unaware — eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, going about life “as usual.” The very morning of the flood, people simply concerned themselves with whatever laid before them. The immediate seemed most urgent, most real. Planning meals, changing diapers, preparing weddings, working, buying, and selling — these seemed to them the greatest verities of life. Until the rain began to fall.
Texture of Days
Like many today, the people of Noah’s day abstracted the meaning of life from the texture of their average days.
They touched Wednesday and it felt like every other Wednesday. They began work and finished work. They ate, ate again, and finished their work to eat. They played with kids on the floor. Busied with homework and house projects. They talked and listened, laughed and yawned, rose from sleep and slept — nothing extraordinary. Each day didn’t feel like it held eternal significance. Nothing otherworldly felt at stake. Today didn’t feel like anything but today.
God, demons, souls, eternity didn’t grow before their eyes like grass that needs mowing. They did not stir to consider the unseen. And when they did, the unreality of it seemed as implausible as rain drowning a dry land days away from sea. They intuited what is ultimate about life from the ordinary experiences of life. A fatal mistake. And as the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Man and His Boat
While they considered their daily planners, anxious about what they considered the real contents of Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, Noah worked with his sons on the unlikely, the unthinkable. While the world ate and drank, he labored. While they went on with things as usual, he and his sons prepared a stadium-sized boat to shelter the family. “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household” (Hebrews 11:7).
Imagine the scene. Decade after decade, children were born, diapers were changed, houses were built, adults looked out their window and saw what they had seen since childhood: Noah and his sons laboring on the ship. And Noah spoke a message as strange as the boat he was building: he warned of divine judgment. Perhaps some listened the first week. But eventually, the listeners needed to get back to real life.
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David’s great psalm employs the simplest of images—that of a shepherd and his sheep—and assures of the greatest of truths—that God is forever present with his people. “The LORD is my shepherd” he says so simply, “I shall not want.”

No work of art is more beautiful, more valuable, more irreplaceable, than the twenty-third psalm. It has stood through the ages as a work of art more exquisite than The Night Watch, more faultless than Mona Lisa, more thought-provoking than Starry Night. The lines of the greatest poets cannot match its imagery, the words of the greatest theologians its profundity. Credentialed academics may wrestle with it, yet young children can understand it. It is read over cradles and cribs, over coffins and crypts, at births and deaths, at weddings and funerals. It is prayed in closets, sung in churches, and chanted in cathedrals.
This psalm dries more crying eyes, raises more drooping hands, and strengthens more weakened knees than any man or angel. It tends to every kind of wound and ministers to every kind of sorrow. To trade it for all the wealth of all the worlds would be the worst of bargains. I’d have rather penned the twenty-third psalm than written Hamlet, than painted Sunflowers, than sculpted The Thinker, for when Shakespeare’s play has been forgotten, when Van Gogh’s painting has faded, when Rodin’s sculpture has been destroyed, David’s song will remain. We impoverish ourselves if we do not read it, do not meditate upon it, and do not treasure it. We weaken ourselves if we do not drink deeply of it in our deepest sorrows.
David’s great psalm employs the simplest of images—that of a shepherd and his sheep—and assures of the greatest of truths—that God is forever present with his people. “The LORD is my shepherd” he says so simply, “I shall not want.” Because the LORD is his shepherd, this sheep can have confidence that he will never lack for any necessity, for the shepherd loves his flock and will faithfully attend to their every need. When they are tired he will make them lie down in green pastures, when they are thirsty he will lead them beside still waters, when they are downtrodden he will restore them, when they are lost or uncertain he will lead them in the right paths. The sheep can rest in peace under the shepherd’s watchful eye, they can be assured of every comfort under his tender care.
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Written by Guy M. Richard |
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Prayer is not preparation for the real work that leaders do. It is the real work. Prayer gives us access to God and to every help that we need to live the Christian life and to minister where God has placed us. For, as Paul said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
Prayer Is Our Lifeline on the Battlefront
Paul teaches us in Ephesians 6:10–20 that our lives will be characterized by war—not war against earthly powers and armies but war against “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, [and] against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (v. 12). The devil and all who do his bidding, Paul says, are seeking to thwart the Lord’s work in the world by destroying his people, leading us astray, and rendering us ineffective.
But the Lord has not left us alone in our struggle. He has given everything we need to take our stand and fight. He has given us the “belt of truth,” the “breastplate of righteousness,” the “readiness” that comes from the “gospel of peace,” the “shield of faith,” the “helmet of salvation,” and the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (vv. 14–17). What is more, he has also given us access to him in prayer. That is why Paul encourages us to give ourselves to “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (v. 18). He knows that we are at war, and because we are, we need to be able to call in to our commanding General for help at every moment.
John Piper has helpfully referred to prayer as “a war- time walkie-talkie” that connects us to our commanding General and enables us to “call in firepower for conflict with a mortal enemy.”8 In speaking this way, Piper reminds us that we are not alone in our fight. It’s not that God has given us everything we need to make our stand and then left us to fend for ourselves. God has given us every- thing we need, and he has also given us ongoing access to himself. We have access to his limitless supplies of wisdom, power, and grace. We have access to all that he is, in and of himself, whenever and wherever we may need it. And that is a tremendous blessing!
Prayer is necessary precisely because you and I are at war. God has given us prayer so that we can survive. It is our lifeline that connects us to him. When we realize that, we will be more motivated to give ourselves to prayer and, specifically, to kingdom-focused prayer. Praying for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (see Matt. 6:10) is not simply an optional luxury when we are at war. It is an absolute necessity. It is life itself.
Given the importance of prayer as a lifeline to secure the help of our commanding General in our fight against Satan and his armies, it should be no surprise that the apostles give pride of place to the role of prayer in their exercise of leadership. They see that their primary responsibility is to “devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Note the order—first prayer, then the ministry of the Word. Since the apostles were also elders in the church (see 1 Peter 5:1), what they say about the place of prayer in their own ministries applies to all those who serve as elders. In fact, I would apply it to every follower of Jesus, because we are all called to some kind of ministry, whether that takes place within our group of friends, our family, our workplace or community, or our church.
If everything we have said about the nature of the Christian life and the role of prayer in it is true, then it makes sense that those who take up the mantle of leadership would give first place to prayer. The degree to which we don’t is the degree to which we misunderstand what prayer is and why we should be doing it. Prayer is not preparation for the real work that leaders do. It is the real work. Prayer gives us access to God and to every help that we need to live the Christian life and to minister where God has placed us. For, as Paul said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
This is an excerpt from the chapter, “Prayer is Necessary” from Guy M. Richard’s book, “Persistent Prayer,” part of the Blessings of the Faith series. Pick up a copy of, “Persistent Prayer” for more gospel encouragement and practical tools for growing in prayer. Used with permission.

If you have the privilege of being a shepherd in one of Jesus’ churches, take these words to heart. Feed your sheep with the Word of Truth. Tend to and defend your sheep with the Word of Christ. Shield the flock from the fear of death with God’s promises of life.

Travel back in time with me to a quiet shore on the Sea of Tiberius. The sun’s rays have just begun chasing the gray dawn away, casting light upon a ragged band of disillusioned disciples rising and falling with the waves. John 21 hints that the small crew had caught about as much sleep that night as fish. And so, with empty nets in their hands and tired eyes in their heads, they turned and saw through the thinning haze the form of a Man standing on the sand, watching. After a divinely appointed déjà vu (see Lk 5:5-8), the weary group sat down to eat with that Man, Jesus. No one said a word. Why? Not too long before, all the disciples had scattered and fled, leaving Jesus utterly alone before those who would eventually crucify him. Earlier still, one of those disciples named Peter had vowed unyielding faithfulness to his Lord (Jn 13:37). As most of us know, and as all of us have experienced ourselves, his creed had far exceeded his deeds. Despite his bold promise to stand unto death, Peter wilted before a servant girl while warming himself around a charcoal fire (Jn 18:15-18).
Did a guilty silence hang in the air while those disciples, Peter included, gathered around yet another charcoal fire (Jn 21:9). Whatever the atmosphere only one voice cut through the relentless sound of the waves breaking upon the sand. The voice belonged to Jesus. The Savior interrupted the deafening silence and fell uniquely upon the ears and heart of a despondent Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” (Jn 21:15). While some hold that “these” refers to the fish, there is good reason to believe otherwise. That reason cut to Peter’s heart: he who had boldly promised courage above all the other disciples (Mt 26:33) had been humiliated and needed comfort more than all the other disciples.
Three times Peter had denied the Lord Jesus. Now that same Jesus gave Peter opportunities to reaffirm his love three times. What did Jesus require from Peter to demonstrate his love for the risen Savior? Not bloody-kneed penance. Not an earth shattering crusade. It was, in fact, gentle and faithful care for lambs and sheep. John gave us this passage not to argue about different Greek words for love, but rather to show the Great Shepherd restoring one of His under-shepherds in order to care for the flock. Take some time with me now to consider two aspects of this conversation: first, what Jesus reveals about His own character and concern, and second, what Jesus expects from those who enjoy the privilege of shepherding any part of God’s flock.
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If God has to expose our poverty to pursue our eternal joy, he will. But what he really wants for us is to experience “fullness of joy” in his presence and “pleasures forevermore” at his right hand (Psalm 16:11). And so it is a great mercy, even if at times devastating, that our pleasures never lie.

The soul is measured by its flights,Some low and others high,The heart is known by its delights,And pleasures never lie.
I was 25 years old when John Piper’s book The Pleasures of God was first released in 1991. My wife and I had been attending Bethlehem Baptist for two years and had read John’s book Desiring God, which unpacked what he called Christian Hedonism. His fresh emphasis on the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him was working its way into our spiritual bones.
But as I read the introduction to The Pleasures of God, the one-sentence poem above crystalized the truth of Christian Hedonism for me, opening my mind to the role delight plays in the Christian life.
One Sentence Begets Another

John wrote that life-changing sentence as a kind of exposition of another life-changing sentence he had read four years earlier. In fact, the whole sermon series that birthed the book was born of his meditation on that sentence written in the seventeenth century by a young Professor of Divinity in Scotland named Henry Scougal.
Scougal had actually penned the sentence in a personal letter of spiritual counsel to a friend, but it was so profound that others copied and passed it around. Eventually Scougal gave permission for it to be published in 1677 as The Life of God in the Soul of Man. A year later, Scougal died of tuberculosis before he had reached his twenty-eighth birthday.
John Piper describes what gripped him so powerfully:
One sentence riveted my attention. It took hold of my thought life in early 1987 and became the center of my meditation for about three months. What Scougal said in this sentence was the key that opened for me the treasure house of the pleasures of God. He said, “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” (18)
John realized that this statement is as true of God as it was of man. The worth and excellency of God’s soul is measured by the object of its love. This object must, then, be God himself, since nothing of greater value exists than God.
John previously devoted a whole chapter in Desiring God to God’s happiness in himself — the God-centeredness of God. Scougal’s sentence, however, opened glorious new dimensions of this truth for John as he contemplated how the excellency of God’s soul is measured. And John’s sentence opened glorious new dimensions for me as I began to contemplate that a heart, whether human or divine, is known by its delights.
Pleasures Never Lie

It was the last line of John’s poem that hit me hardest:
The heart is known by its delights,And pleasures never lie.
Pleasures never lie. This phrase cut through a lot of my confusion and self-deceit to the very heart of the matter: what really matters to my heart.
“Pleasures never lie” doesn’t mean things we find pleasurable are never deceitful. We all know, from personal experience as well as the testimony of Scripture, that many worldly pleasures lie to us (Hebrews 11:25). Rather, it means that pleasure is the whistle-blower of the heart. Pleasure is our heart’s way of telling us what we treasure (Matthew 6:21).
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In a world that excludes people because they are not fashionable, or because they are difficult, or because they struggle with mental health or messy relationships, Matthew 18 is refreshing. Jesus cares deeply for his people, whoever they might be.

Matthew 18 is a chapter with a theme: Jesus is speaking about what the Christian community should be like. And the fundamental thing we have to understand is that our stance should be one of humility. When we think of others in the Christian community, we are to realise that we are like little children. We are all dependant on God for our salvation. Even the most capable and respected among us are forgiven sinners, so we need to view others in the church as our brothers and sisters, our equals in God’s sight.
A little later on in the chapter we come across this verse:
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 18:10 ESV)
This verse is made up of a command and an explanation. The command bit is straight-forward: do not despise one of these little ones. By ‘little ones’, Jesus means any Christian, especially Christians who are weak and insignificant in the eyes of the world. We must not despise, or look down upon, any other Christian. There should be no ranking of importance or feelings of superiority in the church.
Well, you might wonder, why not? Are not some more gifted, or some more useful for the kingdom? Jesus’ explanation does not rank people based on their usefulness but on how God sees them.
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The First and Second Commandments to love God and love our neighbors serve as our life ethic. Regardless of whether we talk about abortion or pandemics, we seek to love God most and lovingly serve others well. Why? Because we respect God and respect the image of God.

You’ve heard it. “My Body, My Choice!” or “Follow the Science!”—we’ve all heard both of these statements many times over the years. I’ve only hung out on this planet for half a century; however, the theme of the pro-abortion crowd has been, “My Body, My Choice” for many of those years. Likewise, in the past eighteen months or so, any day of the week you might hear or read someone say to “Follow the science” related to the pandemic. People have told us to live by these mantras, slogans, or mottos—and continue—but don’t look too closely. Many of the people who say these things, as we have observed this week, do not live by them.
My Body, My Choice
Consider how historically the words “My Body, My Choice” stood for those arguing for women’s rights, as people in the 1970s fought for reproductive rights and accessible abortions. Individuals and groups who used this mantra argued for any woman to have a right to end a pregnancy anytime she wanted since it is was her body and her choice whether or not to have a baby. Over the past many months, however, individuals are making this claim against masks and vaccines. People using the same slogan argue against mandated vaccinations by the government and employers, as well as vaccination passports. Seemingly, it is the same crowd, who for years championed the slogan, who now oppose it related to vaccinations.
But, not so fast, this week’s SCOTUS decision to allow a new law in Texas related to abortion to stand brought out these same individuals arguing again with the same slogan for abortion rights. Protestors marched in Austin at the Texas State Capital this week again arguing for “My Body, My Choice.”
How can you argue both? Related to what I want (in this case, abortion), it is My Body, My Choice. However, if you do not want to get a vaccination, then the same argument does not apply.
Follow the Science

Anyone who has lived in the US over the past eighteen months and also followed the pandemic at any level has heard the mantra, “Follow the Science.” Both the Trump and Biden administrations nationally as well as many state and local governments have said ad nauseam to “Follow the Science.” Of course the statement gets more than a little confusing as we try to sort through the science on social media, YouTube, and government websites.
What happens though if the science changes? Related to the pandemic, again, the science tends to change each week. Vaccination efficacy, variants, breakthrough infections, and symptomatic positivity rates frustrate even the best observers trying to determine what is what. Certainly no one can say the science is settled. Yet, some employers, schools, elected and nonelected officials, and others continue to make policy based upon the argument, “Follow the science.”
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Written by Andy H. |
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Justification is not progressive, it is instantaneous. It doesn’t change our nature or our condition. It changes our status or our legal record. It is not something that we produce. It is something outside of us. It is not our own righteousness. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

As we’ve been surveying the various steps in the order of salvation (from Effectual Calling to Glorification), we have covered Effectual Calling, Regeneration, and Conversion in previous articles. In this article, we will be surveying Union with Christ and Justification.
As soon as a man believes in Christ, certain wonderful things immediately transpire as well. First of all, he is united to Jesus Christ personally, spiritually, and experientially. Second of all, he is immediately and instantaneously justified by the grace of God, through faith. Third of all, he is instantly and immediately definitely or positionally sanctified—free from the bondage of sin. And fourth of all, he is immediately, legally, spiritually, and experientially adopted into the family of God. All of those truths cluster around and are the immediate blessing and result of conversion. When a man repents and believes, he is immediately spiritually joined to Jesus Christ.
This is the big big subject. The Bible talks about our union with Christ, and directly or indirectly mentions our connection to Jesus Christ, over a hundred and fifty times in the New Testament. You know the term, “in Christ,” “in Jesus Christ,” “in him.” The vine is connected to the branches, the branches to the vine; the husband to the wife; the building to the foundation. These are some of the ways that the Bible illustrates our union with Christ. But when the Bible talks about union with Christ, it talks about it in four stages. Union with Christ is the deep subterranean truth and taproot of all blessings in the Christian life. All blessings in the Christian life come forth from our union with Christ. But when the Bible talks about union with Christ, it talks about it in four stages.
But, all blessings of the spiritual life flow out of our union with Jesus Christ. This verse (1 Corinthians 1:30) was one of Calvin’s favourite verses, and I encourage you to read Calvin. I believe it is volume two in regards to the issues of the application of salvation and justification and sanctification and union with Christ. “By his doing, not our own, by God’s doing, we are in Christ Jesus who became to us the wisdom from God and that wisdom produced righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” We have a twofold aspect of that union. One is legal by representation and the other is spiritual by regeneration. The former gives us a new position, the latter gives us a new condition. The former deals with the guilt of sin, the latter deals with the power and pollution of sin. The former is the source of our justification, our legal union. The latter is the source of our sanctification in our growth in Jesus Christ.Let me review them very quickly. First of all, We are united to Christ and in Christ in eternity past.
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Are we really settled with the idea that the authorities can mandate what we do as a church, who we meet with, what we wear, etc.? Is the plan to do what is commanded, or what is culturally popular, whatever the reason? Or are we making different plans to handle what may still lie ahead of us?  

There are few subjects as controversial as Covid-19.  Many churches are feeling the stretch of a full spectrum of views within the congregation. It certainly feels safer to not venture into writing about this subject, but I feel it is important that we evaluate what we do in church world—whatever our view of the actual issue may be.  Obviously, each context is different.  What my church was allowed to do will be different than the rules in your country or state.  What my church decided to do may have been inappropriate for another church in the same town because of different facilities, congregational demographic or local context.
At the beginning of the global crisis in early 2020, most churches saw the situation as a no-brainer.  We were confronted with a new virus and we did not know the extent of the risk (although early predictions were anticipating hundreds of millions of deaths globally).  What we did know was the importance of everyone pulling together to save lives. To illegally meet as a church during those early weeks could easily have been the talk of the town (and it would have made Jesus look very bad).  So for us, and probably for most churches, it was time to get creative and adapt to this unforeseen and temporary lockdown.
Now, 18 months later, we are in a better position to look back and do some evaluating.  In our context we had a long first lockdown, followed by a summer of restrictions, then a shorter lockdown in October/November.  The third lockdown, for the first half of 2021, did not apply to churches (although there were plenty of restrictions).
Our church experienced the sudden move to “meeting” online without a budget for setting up a high tech studio.  When we were allowed to meet again, we experienced meeting in different venues because our normal venue would not rent to us during the pandemic.  We met in a place where our numbers had to be limited way below our congregation size.  We met in a field, actually two different fields, a large English garden, and as guests of a very kind Anglican church in our town.
Every church will have its own story.  Every church situation is unique.  I am not writing to criticize anyone.  But we should all evaluate.  We are so thankful for the way our congregation responded with flexibility and enthusiasm to the constant changes. As leaders I am sure we made mistakes during these months.  We probably all did.  None of us ever took a seminary class in how to do lead a church during a never-before-seen global health crisis!
So as we look back at online church under various levels of lockdown, let’s take stock of both the costs and the benefits.
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