The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
"Before Abraham was, I am" says the Word, and in the beginning, by His word, all things were called into being. The Word spoke a word, and there was light. Another divine word was spoken, and a firmament divided the waters below from the waters above. So it went for six marvelous days, the last of which this Wonderful Word took some clay and fashioned a man, a vessel for honor after His own image.
Perhaps the most fantastic aspect of all this speaking and creating is not so much what happened, how it happened or even that it happened, but Him who made it all happen. Elohim, our triune God, was at once the spectacle and the audience. He was, or rather, "I am" before ever He created a thing, and boy was He sornethin'. In R.C., Jr.'s words, creation is simply a "bigger canvas on which to paint His glory." God sovereignly chose to bring into being all that is, and every bit of it was good and redounded to His everlasting glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork," (Psalm I 9: 1). Rather than existing for its own sake, creation points to Him who created and reigns over it.
When you read Genesis 1, do you ever wonder just how it is we are like this almighty Creator and King of the Cosmos? Why, even Scripture seems to beg the question. "Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord ... glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:1 1). In the latter sense, the answer is obviously no one. If you have any doubts, see Romans 3. But in the former sense, the in-Our-image sense, perhaps we have failed to notice the answer despite having read it countless times. "Let us make man ... after Our likeness: and lot them have dominion..." Having created that first couple He reiterated the first command by commanding them to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it" (Genesis 1:26).
The first Highlands Study Center Couples Conference began one recent Thursday with a look at God's sovereignty. R.C. Sproul, Jr. challenged us to consider what God was doing before the creation and why He made anything in the first place. We looked at various ways the hand of our Lord has shaped history and reflected on the significance, for God's people here and now, of His plan for the future. If there was an overarching theme, it was that God is sovereign, He has dominion over everything, and He created us to glorify Him, in part at least, by exercising dominion over all that He has entrusted to us. Sadly, though God has not abrogated the command, we have tried to abdicate our responsibilities.
The manifestations of our abdication are myriad, and I am quite sure that I have only scratched the surface in my considerations of them. For example, when I look to the Scriptures, I find that I am not only to provide for my wife but also to instruct, sanctify and love her, among other things. All thanks be to God, I have handled the provision part fairly well thus far. Of instructing and sanctifying her, I can say that I have only just started down that path. To love her would seem to be an obvious necessity, but when judged by Ephesians 6, I fall woefully short. During the conference, we looked at how the worldly definition of love is an emotional and fundamentally permissive one. Biblically defined, however, marital love is covenantal and relational, each spouse having certain obligations, both bound together in the joyous cause of glorifying our King and, you guessed it, exercising dominion.
In describing the qualifications for elders, Paul upholds a standard of integrity to which every man, including those of us who do not hold the office, should aspire. In so doing, he reveals yet another arena over which we should exercise dominion: our homes. "One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity" (I Timothy 3:4). In regard to disciplining our children, why is it that we try every culturally acceptable method before
turning to the biblical last resort? Apparently we think we know better how to go about such things than does our omniscient, sovereign Lord. Think again. Here's another question: Are our homes places where our children are brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord or where they are trained up in the ways of the world? If we think, as is so tempting to do, that an hour or two every Lord's day is sufficient, we are kidding ourselves. "And these words ... shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up," (Deuteronomy 6.6, 7).
Have we conformed to the pattern of the world or have we been transformed in all our thinking and doing by the word of God? Have we built our marriages upon shifting cultural sands or solid biblical foundations? Are our homes secular temples or sanctuaries in which Christ is exalted? Our problem is manifold: we neither fear nor love God as we ought, and we fear and love the world as we ought not. We wrongly fear men and the possibility of "suffering" their disapproval more than we rightly fear our heavenly King. We wrongly love the dark things of this dark land more than we rightly love our gracious God who works all things together for the good of His people. Our Father does indeed know best. Why should we settle for anything less?
Of the conference, I can only tell you that I enjoyed and profited from the couple of days I spent at the Sproul home. The group was small and intimate, the teaching pointed and personal. Unfortunately, it ended a day early as a stomach virus of the brutally vicious variety wiped out half of the troops. The details are best left unexpounded. As the chances of the same happening again are probably small, I hope to see you next time. While R.C. and Laurence can't guarantee that things will work out as they plan, I can guarantee that they will work out as God plans. Until then, the Lord will continue to make history as He continues to fit us for His kingdom. Be of good courage for His grace is truly sufficient.