The Great Exchange

Posted on December 31, 2020 by pottsvillearp

Big Tech is under the microscope. For years social media has been accused of allowing supposed foreign actors to shape public opinion. But, of late, it seems that Big Tech has cut out the middlemen – editing, crafting, and censoring public discourse and behavior directly. How many of your posts have been “reviewed by independent fact checkers” and found wanting. But this is nothing new. Traditional media and commerce have done this forever. Print media has always reported through political bias to offer you a predigested conclusion. And large retailers intend you to buy what they offer, rather than what you want.

While Big Tech’s motives are always in question, its effects are unquestionable. Technology changes behavior. It always seeks to automate and streamline, manual time-consuming tasks. This is what technology does. Years ago, as the internet moved from the world of academia to commerce, retailers tried to leverage this new access to consumers. But there were obstacles. Shipping costs and difficulty exchanging or returning items created trepidation for buyers. Enter Amazon Prime. However you feel about Amazon, their introduction of free-shipping and no-hassle returns, more than any other innovation, opened the floodgates of ecommerce.

We all want gift exchanges to be easy. No one wants to wait in line at Customer Service only to get store credit. No one wants to search endlessly to find the return right address for a mail-order purchase and then have to pay shipping equal to the item’s original price. Until Amazon, the cost of gift exchanges was high. But now online retailers have made this process virtually painless. Click, print, and take the return to the UPS Store and you are done. Ease of exchange has been revolutionary. None of us wants to endure the costs of a difficult gift exchange. Anymore we are shocked at a seller that expects us to pay return shipping. Forgotten are the days of difficult exchanges.

So perhaps it is extremely difficult grasp of the fullness of what it cost Jesus to make the greatest exchange. When we think of the Incarnation, we consider the poverty and obscurity of his coming or of the constant rejection he experienced – “He came to His own, but His own received Him not.” But our thinking about his humiliation never goes far enough. We think of his humility in terms of what would humble us. But the very act of the eternal God taking upon himself our nature is a humiliation of inconceivable magnitude. While grace is free to us, it is not cheap. All the brokenness and curse and wrath of God that our sin brings and deserves was placed upon him. And all the righteousness that he attained was accounted to us, when we give ourselves to him. The Apostle Paul pens this great mystery concisely when he wrote.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21

The incarnation was the costliest exchange in the history of gift giving. God’s grace and mercy toward us came at an unfathomable cost. Our forefathers expressed described this cost as Christ’s humiliation and described it this way in the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Q. 27. What did Christ’s humiliation consist of?
A. Christ’s humiliation consisted of his being born in a low condition, living under the Law, undergoing the miseries of this life, undergoing the wrath of God and the cursed death of the Cross, and in being buried and continuing under the power of death for a time.
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 27

Yet this costliest of exchanges brings about the most extraordinary exchanged lives in the recipients of God’s gracious gift. Paul describes this exchanged life in 2 Corinthians 5.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:14-17

Literature is filled with compelling stories of exchanged lives — The Prince and the Pauper, or A Tale of Two Cities. But there is no more compelling story than the “Son of God becoming man, so that men could become sons of God.” This week as we conclude our study of the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s teaching on the Incarnation by considering the costliest exchange in history — the humiliation of Christ. Join us as we examine 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 as we consider what this exchange meant for Jesus and what it means for us.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.

A Great Mystery

Posted on December 24, 2020 by pottsvillearp

We live in a world filled with mystery. We believe we live in an age of hard facts and scientific data. We pretend that with enough computing power and scientific inquiry, everything question can be answered, every mystery resolved. Indeed, we have accumulated much in the way of knowledge. But, ironically, as knowledge and mystery increase in direct proportion. The more we understand of the world in which we live, the less we understand about of how it works. The more we know, the more we know about what we do not know.

From our digital age, we look down with smug superiority upon our forebears, quibbling about with pens and paper. While we struggle to use our smart phones without consulting a small child. Our technology is a mystery to us. We think we have explored the earth — no new lands to discover and conquer, but we know less about the surface of the ocean, which covers two thirds of our planet, than we do about the surface of the moon.

We cannot explain even the simplest things we observe every day. The sun, moon, and constellations are large on the horizon, yet seem to diminish in size as they rise overhead. Yet if you hold out your thumb to the rising moon, then again when it is at its zenith, you will discover absolutely no difference. What accounts for this remarkable trick of perspective? Neither scientists nor psychologists can explain it. And when you go to your favorite drive-in and order a milk shake, why does it give you a brain freeze? Despite well-funded research, scientists have not determined the cause. Our world is awash in mystery.

Some of these mysteries involve great contradictions — irreconcilable, yet indispensable truths. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, as scientists observed sub-atomic matter, they realized that the physics of their day no longer explained the behavior of the nano-world. A new physic, quantum physics, was born to account for what Sir Isaac Newton never even knew existed. At the center of this new understanding was a radical new idea – that light acted but as a wave and as a particle. No one could explain it, but accepting this mystery was foundational in constructing a model of physics that explained the sub-atomic world. Seemingly irreconcilable, yet indispensable truths, that make the world go round.

This type of tension is no surprise to the Christian. For the Christian faith is filled with such paradox. Indispensable truths which seem to be in tension with one another. “Truths,” as one theologian quipped, “to be believed, not discovered.” Truths such as the absolute sovereignty of God and the undeniable reality of true human freedom. And an even more incomprehensible mystery. The truth of a Savior who is fully God and, at the same time, fully man – two natures, in one person, forever. Yet, the scripture does not discourage “faith seeking understanding.” God has given us minds that desire to know His truth, to seek and find what He has revealed. This is what we see in a remarkable way in Mary, the mother of Jesus.

In Luke 1:26-38, we have one of the most remarkable stories in scripture. The angel, Gabriel comes to Mary with a startling announcement — she will be the mother of her Savior. Unlike the fearful skepticism of Zechariah, Mary asks “how will these things be?” A question we all wrestle with as we consider a Savior who is fully God and fully man. But in the answer, scripture points us to one of the most precious truths of our faith. Because Mary asked this question, we, along with our forefathers, can turn to scripture ask.

Q22: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A22: Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her yet without sin.
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 22

Join us as we examine Luke 1:26-38 and consider this question and why it is important. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.

Who Is This?

Posted on December 17, 2020 by pottsvillearp

We live in a world awash with outrageous claims and inflammatory statements. Faced with the daunting challenge of distilling fact from fiction, we may be tempted to believe everything or nothing. But among all the outrageous claims, what if there is life giving truth? What if there is truth we cannot live without?

No man made more outrageous claims that Jesus Christ. He shocked the men of his hometown, by claiming to be the Messiah. He challenged the religious leaders to point out a single one of his sins. He pushed the limits with his disciples, commanding them to love enemies and offer unlimited forgiveness to offensive brothers.

Jesus’ own disciples struggled to understand who he was and what he came to do. From time to time, glimpses shone through their own preconceived notions of Him. In a poignant moment, as they were crossing the Sea of Galilee, a furious squall sprang up and threatened to sink their small fishing boat. Half of Jesus’ disciples grew up on these tempestuous waters, fishing with their families from their childhood, yet even they were convinced that they would not survive the trip. They woke Jesus, who was asleep in the back of the boat.

They did not ask him to save them – for what miracle working teacher was a match for a force-ten gale? They only asked, “don’t you care that we are about to die?” Jesus stood up in the boat and with a word, brought the waters from tempest to mirror. These seasoned seamen were almost speechless. The only thing they could say of Jesus was, “who is this?” They perceived that there was much more to Jesus than even their imaginations could anticipate.

What about you? When someone mentions Jesus, what comes to mind? Religious revolutionary? Social justice warrior? Ethical teacher? Failed Zionist leader? Founder of a yet another world religion? Who is this Jesus? For many it is a caricature, influenced by pictures you have seen or by clichés which permeate our cultural ideas of “the historical Jesus.” Or perhaps you remember him from a collection of anecdotes or parables you heard as a child in some Sunday School. Just who is Jesus?

No claim of Jesus was more outrageous than his claim that “I and the Father are one. He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus did not claim merely to be God’s servant, or God’s prophet. He did not claim to be “a son of God,” but “The Son of God.” Despite the best efforts of Arian heretics to erase Jesus’ claims to divinity, the Scriptures claim pervasively and decisively that Jesus is fully God and fully man. Men who seek some value in Jesus as a mere man and moral example, but disbelieve his outrageous claim to deity must face C. S. Lewis’ scathing critique.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Jesus did not come to point out the way, the truth, or the life, but to be the way, the truth and the life. This demands that he be fully human and fully divine.

Who is Jesus? Our seasonal displays of a baby Jesus in a lowly cattle stall have led us astray, thinking only of his humanity. But in the opening chapter of his gospel, John, the beloved disciple, pulls back the curtain to reveal “the rest of the story.” You think you know who Jesus is? Come and find out as we examine John 1:1-5, 9-14 and grapple with what our forefathers expressed in the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Q21: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A21: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 21

The Plan

Posted on December 10, 2020 by pottsvillearp

Two things my father was almost never without were pipe tobacco and yellow legal pads. He did nothing without an outline. In large, block script he detailed his plans to do anything he intended. Even after I moved out of the house, I would receive outlines of his travel itineraries in the mail. He was not an impulsive man. He carefully analyzed his intentions and all expected consequences. Only after putting the plan on paper did he act. And without a doubt, I am my father’s son. I outline my approach to everything. And attempt very little without a plan and analysis of contingencies.

In this, my earthly father strongly resembled my Heavenly Father. God is not a trouble shooter. He is not unaware of anything that comes to pass. In fact, He “foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, according the counsel of His own will, for His own glory.” He is the ultimate planner. Man’s fall was not an unexpected turn. God is never held captive or contingent to any of the free actions of his creatures. He not only knew all that would happen, but he purposed it.

Everything that happens contrary to God’s prescribed will is by no means contrary to his decreed will. He always intended to deal with the world according to grace. And the means by which he bestows that grace is not through an unfallen mankind in Adam, but through a redeemed mankind in Christ. Isaac Watt’s metrical paraphrase of Psalm 72 says it well.

Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.

In Christ, redeemed mankind can boast more blessings than Adam ever had. That is a remarkable statement. This is what God had always planned for us. Time and time again Scripture shows us that God purposed grace in Christ, “from before the foundation of the world.” Even in its fallenness, and sin, and sorrow, this world with its promise of redemption, regeneration, and renewal in Christ is the “best of all possible worlds.”

Nothing has gone amiss in God’s plan and purpose. There is no waste, no “gratuitous evil,” in God’s economy. The world is not “off the rails.” God’s perfect and gracious plan is unfolding, just as He intended. And in this we have hope. He is the God who does all He pleases, and all He promises.

The first chapter of Ephesians is a literary masterpiece. In one long breath, Paul extols the amazing beauty and richness of God’s grace to those who are ‘in Christ.’ The Ephesian church faced severe crises internally and externally. False teaching and persecution were leading many to ‘abandon their first love.’ So, God pulls back the curtain to show them the truth of their situation ‘in Christ.’ In a city that boasted one of the wonders of the ancient world in the Temple of Diana, it was actually that church that housed the great treasure of God’s grace – grace rooted in God’s sovereign and eternal plan to save.

And this is good news. Our sin and rebellion is nothing so novel, so unexpected, that it is outside God’s plan and power to save. There are no surprises or unexpected circumstances able to thwart God’s efficacious love for us in Christ. You are not beyond hope. Even if your situation seems hopeless. Our forefathers expressed this hope in a series of questions and answers called the Westminster Shorter Catechism. There we find this great promise.

Q. 19. What is the misery of that state into which mankind fell?
A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so are made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery?
A. Out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, God chose some for everlasting life, and he entered into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of their state of sin and misery and to bring them into a state of salvation by a redeemer
Westminster Shorter Catechism in Modern English

Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine Ephesians 1:3-10 and Galatians 4:4-7 and consider God’s eternal, unbreakable, and effective plan to deliver us from the power of our own sin by a Redeemer.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Posted on November 26, 2020 by pottsvillearp

My first mobile phone came in bag. The size of a lady’s purse, except with an antenna, it made me extremely self-conscious. Like a cross between a European tourist and a secret service agent, I felt sure everyone was staring. This phone was for emergencies only. No casual calling. No mobile internet. And coverage was as spotty as spotty could be. Only outbound calls made sense. After all, no one could reliably reach me. What about texts or voicemail, you ask? They were still in the future. My beeper is what alerted me to find for that rare place on earth with a signal.

In those heady days, the expectation of finding coverage was low. But today, we are indignant if we can’t get 5G at every remote Ozark swimming hole. We expect coverage and internet everywhere. And we expect it for free. Few and far between are those places which have ‘no service.’ And, between manned space launches, Elon Musk is working to drive those areas to near zero with Starlink. Perhaps one day concepts like ‘no service’ will be as foreign to our grandchildren as mobile phones that came in a bag.

But this is a distinctly human problem. God has no such limitations in his communication with his creation. God has always had a reliable network with coverage so vast there is no place where he must ask, “can you hear me now?” Problems hearing from God are never a network problem. God’s speaking is “living and active.” Always on. He is always speaking. He “speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting… he does not keep silence.” (Psalm 50:1, 3) And there is no place where you are out of coverage from his call. As Psalm 19 so memorably puts it.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4

God speaks – and not just to a few select creatures. His Word, his promises, his mercy are not just for a particular culture, tribe, or spot on the earth. He is no regional or racial deity. He is the Lord over all the earth. People from every “tribe and language and people and nation” are the objects of his steadfast love and care. This is one of the remarkable things about Christianity. Other religions import cultural distinctives such as forms of dress, dietary restrictions, and particular sacred languages which become prerequisites for piety. But Christianity permeates and transforms every tribe, language, people and nation through a unity that produces remarkable diversity.

The repeated error of the people of Israel was to believe that God was theirs alone — their private higher power. A God who loved only them and those like them. A God who blessed them and cursed their enemies. A God who served their interest. And ironically, this ‘pagan view’ of the true God caused them to abandon Him for all the false gods of the nations. God set his love upon them to display the beauty of the Covenant of Grace to the whole world. Their faith was intended to call nations, far and near, to abandon false gods. But in their unfaithfulness, they abandoned the true and living God. They were called to be a missionary people. But if they would not willingly testify to God’s grace through faithfulness, they would unwittingly testify to it through unfaithfulness and judgement.

The Apostle Paul makes this point in his letter to the Romans.

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
Romans 11:11-12

Jeremiah, the longest book of in the Old Testament, is filled with dire warnings of judgment. For four decades, the prophet called the people of Judah to turn back to God. He outlined their unfaithfulness in every area of life. He warned of the consequences of living with their backs to God. And he stayed with them in every descending step into God’s judgment of them as a nation.

But from the beginning, God called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations. And through his preaching, God’s Word to Judah becomes a word to the nations and to us. It shines through, time and time again. In every oracle of judgment, there is an offer of grace. So, it is fitting that Jeremiah ends with an extensive call to the nations to know the Lord and to walk in His ways. This book is no mere sordid history of an ancient kingdom’s demise. But it is a constant refrain of grace, sung out to men who are utterly undeserving. It is a reminder that God’s promises are not for some particular tribe, language, nation or people, but for “every creature under heaven.” And most importantly, for you.

You are not beyond God’s grace. You are not excluded from His offer. In John 6:37, Jesus says, “whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.” Jeremiah is filled with the threatened judgment, but more than that, with promised mercy. Are you headed toward judgment? God’s call is to turn back and find mercy. In Jeremiah 46-51, God calls the nations to turn back. In some of the Scripture’s most remarkable poetry, the Lord calls those who are far from him to return home.

Join us as we see that God calls us to return as well. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. You can also download the order of service.

Follow Through

Posted on November 18, 2020 by pottsvillearp

[Parent in a Store:] “I’m counting to three!”

[Child:] (feigning deafness) …

[Parent:] Don’t let me get to three! (getting louder) I mean it.”

[Onlookers:] (thinking… “No You don’t”)

[Child:] crickets…

We have all played the part of the onlooker – or perhaps the parent or the child. We know how this plays out. The parent gives the impression of parenting without actually doing any parenting. And no one is fooled. Not the onlookers. And certainly, not the child. No one ever really gets to “three.” Cardinally, perhaps, but consequentially, never. The fact that a parent employs this tactic indicates that he or she is in no way prepared to be inconvenienced enough to offer a consequence.

Every child knows that “counting the three” is a disciplinary free pass. And every consistent parent knows that obedience never counts past “one.” The oft-repeated role-play above is just that – role-play. The unwillingness of the child to obey and the unwillingness of the parent to require obedience is paradigmatic. Parenting experts call this “threatening-repeating” parenting. Lots of sound and fury, but no follow-through. We have all seen it — the threatening-repeating parent, warning of a judgement that never comes.

But our heavenly Father paints a very different picture. He is a perfectly consistent parent — no shadow of turning, no promise broken, no threat unrealized. Whatever He promises, He does. For hundreds of years, God sent prophets to warn the children of Israel and Judah of judgement for their sin. Persistently, He called them to repent, but unlike the threatening-repeating parent, God always follows through. Beginning in Jeremiah 39 we see the terrible picture of God’s judgement, a picture that warns us not to presume upon God’s grace.

Peter warns us not to confuse God’s patience with overlooking our sin.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
2 Peter 3:8-10

God always follows through, both in mercy and in judgment. His threats are not idle threats. His call to repent is urgent. The author of Hebrews expresses this urgency.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:12-13

And Paul echoes this urgency.

For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2

God’s judgement against Judah in the days of Jeremiah and Zedekiah is a glimpse of the final judgement we will all face.

Jeremiah 39 stands as a warning against every naïve hope of escaping the judgment to come…. The saddest thing about the final chapter in [King] Zedekiah’s tragic story is that the king could have written a happy ending. Right up until the very end, God gave him every opportunity to repent for his sins. Jeremiah repeatedly went to Zedekiah and pleaded with him to turn to God in faith and repentance. But the king rejected every last entreaty.
Phil Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations, From Sorrow to Hope.

Zedekiah, like Pilate, Judas, and the impenitent thief resisted call after call to turn back. Their stories could have been quite different. They did not believe that God would follow through. Like men today, they scoffed at divine justice and condemnation. But what about you? How urgently have you heeded God’s call to turn back to Him? Why are you waiting? Zedekiah was a waffler, always hesitating. Always on the verge of grace, but always procrastinating – turning away from turning to Christ. Until, finally, it was too late. What about you?

Join us as we examine Jeremiah 39-41 and consider the urgency of God’s call to turn back. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. You can also download the order of service here.

Eradication

Posted on November 11, 2020 by pottsvillearp

Ah! Remember those heady days when we shook hands and inwardly laughed at the Asian tourists who wore masks? It seems years ago, but it was only March 2020. How we long to return, to undo all that Covid has done. Some still look forward to the day when “all this is over.” But will it be? Will it ever really be ‘over?’

Epidemiologists define ‘over’ in two different ways. First there is disease elimination. Elimination means zero cases in a defined geographic area. Elimination is ‘over’ with a small ‘o.’ Elimination does not mean the disease is gone, just inactive in a particular region. Eradication is what we want. Eradication means zero cases world-wide following deliberate efforts to prevent and treat a disease. The only human disease considered eradicated is smallpox. And it was only declared to be eradicated in 1980. To be eradicated, a disease must be both preventable and treatable. But we currently have no proven strategies for either when it comes to Covid-19. As with smallpox, eradication, if it were to ever come, is a difficult and distant future reality. Will we every be ‘over’ Covid-19?

Eradication is unlikely. Elimination is probably a distant likelihood. But ‘over’ could come sooner in a different form factor. Most probably being ‘over’ Covid looks like learning to live with it through lifestyle adjustments that become a permanent part of our social intercourse. Practical eradication comes when, though still present, we by and large ignore it. This kind of practical eradication through a willful apathy is probably the best we can achieve in the near term. And while this may be a necessary coping strategy when it comes to Covid, it is deadly when it comes to Scripture.

Since the dawn of time, ungodly tyrants have sought to eradicate scripture. Yet, no matter how often it has been confiscated or burned, God’s Word will not be silenced. The Bible is eradication-proof and proves Newton’s third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every attempt to forcibly eradicate the Bible only caused it to proliferate. Though practical eradication does occur. Like Covid, learning to coexist with the Bible, while largely ignoring it, provides a kind of practical inoculation against its truths. Unfortunately, this is reflective of our society today.

In his article, The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy, Al Mohler concludes.

While America’s evangelical Christians are rightly concerned about the secular worldview’s rejection of biblical Christianity, we ought to give some urgent attention to a problem much closer to home–biblical illiteracy in the church. This scandalous problem is our own, and it’s up to us to fix it.
Researchers George Gallup and Jim Castelli put the problem squarely: “Americans revere the Bible–but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.”
Christians who lack biblical knowledge are the products of churches that marginalize biblical knowledge. Bible teaching now often accounts for only a diminishing fraction of the local congregation’s time and attention.
We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in our homes and churches.

In Jeremiah 36 we find the terrible picture of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, burning the words of the Prophet Jeremiah. He was not open to what God’s Word had to say. But he was not the only one. The people of his time neither listened, nor inclined their ears to hear God’s word through the prophets. “Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.” When God’s people have little concern for God’s Word, disaster cannot be far behind. The people of Jeremiah’s day only wanted positive messages. Words of sin, judgment, and wrath, were not what they wanted to hear. While Jehoiakim’s Bible burning shocks us, what should shock us more is that the people who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they think God’s Word applied to them.

It is easy to sit in judgement on Jeremiah’s generation, but how different are we? How careful are we to hear and heed God’s Word? We have more flavors of the Bible than Baskin-Robbins has ice-cream. God’s word has never been more accessible. Mao and Stalin and Voltaire tried their best to eradicate it, but could not. But what Mao, Stalin, and Voltaire could never accomplish, the Church effects through growing ignorance. We profess to be a ‘people of the book,’ but is the Bible authoritative and sufficient in our lives? The response of Judah’s king and Judah’s people to the word of God offer a warning and challenge – how careful have we been to love and live God’s Word?

Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine Jeremiah 36 and consider faithful and unfaithful responses to God’s Word. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP. Here is the order of service.

Cathedral Builders

Posted on November 5, 2020 by pottsvillearp

One of the biggest challenges to space exploration is the sheer amount of time required to travel from one place to the next. Given today’s propulsion technology, inter-stellar travel is, by necessity, multi-generational. Project management in our digital age focuses on compressing the schedule, getting it done faster and more efficiently. We roll out major technology platforms and build skyscrapers in months, not years. But how good are we at project management spanning generations? Can we maintain vision? Sustain design commitments? And keep our attention focused for three or four consecutive generations?

As we turn our eyes to the heavens to think about traveling to Mars and beyond, our greatest challenge is the shortness of our life-span. Here it is helpful to look back to our medieval past. Men in the middle ages also had their eyes to the heavens. But they planned to travel by building great cathedrals. Projects that, without hydraulics and power equipment, took hundreds of years to complete.

The cathedral in Rouen, France, took 735 years to complete and the great Münster in Cologne, 632 years. On average the great cathedrals of Western Europe required 275 years to complete, three or four generations of craftsmen. Andreas Hein has written a fascinating comparison between the challenges of space travel and cathedral building. He concludes that “the products of our space program are today’s cathedrals.”

The sheer faithfulness of multi-generational craftsmen, to commit generation after generation of their families to build something they would never see finished, brings to mind the great hall of faith in Hebrews 11.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for…. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Hebrews 11:1-2, 39-40

How steadfast is our faith? We often struggle to maintain “faith once for all delivered to the saints” in our own lifetimes. Do we have a vision to see that all the generations of our family, love the Lord with heart, mind, soul and strength? The promise annexed to the Second Commandment is that the Lord shows “love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Is that our vision? Do we have a multi-generational vision for faithfulness to Christ in our families? Are we Cathedral builders? Do we have our minds set upon things above? And do we desire this to be the vision that animates every generation of our progeny?

During the reign of King Jehoiakim, the prophet Jeremiah warned the people to turn back to the Lord. They were a faithless generation and they were training the next generation to be even more faithless. Time and time again, Jeremiah points out that even Judah’s young ones were caught up in their parent’s idolatry. They refused to listen to the words of the living God, or even incline their ear to what he had to say. But in their midst, God had placed a ready example to rebuke His people.

The Rechabites had been commanded by their forefather, Jonadab, not to drink wine or live in houses or cultivate fields or have vineyards. They were to live a simple, pastoral life, avoiding the settled comforts of contemporary culture. For over 250 years, they had carefully followed the instructions of their dead ancestor. God instructs Jeremiah to publicly challenge their convictions. Yet their commitment to Jonadab’s instruction was unshakable. While the Lord does not specifically commend their commitments, He does commend their commitment.

It is rare in scripture for God to commend men for their faithfulness. Jesus commends a centurion in Matthew 8:10, saying, “truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” And in Jeremiah 35, the Lord commends the example of the Rechabites. In faithless Judah, they are a remarkable example of steadfast commitment. They provide a powerful illustration of one generation discipling the next.

What do our lives illustrate? Can the Lord point to us in the midst of a faithless generation as an example worth nothing? What will the world know of our faith by observing our descendants in 250 years? Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine Jeremiah 35 and consider the power of multi-generational faithfulness.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP

New and Improved

Posted on October 21, 2020 by pottsvillearp

Novelty is a fickle temptress. We are all fascinated with new things. The promise of something new is alluring. A new restaurant, no matter what its offers, will boom for six months. Every new social media platform renders all others passé. And when Dr. Oz recommends a new product, demand skyrockets. But it doesn’t take long for the euphoria of fashionability to yield to a longing for the good old ways – the old places, the old platforms, and the tried and true products. Novelty is a fickle temptress. We love change, so long as it doesn’t actually change anything. As the excitement of discovery cools, we see that newer is not always better.

But novelty does offer an appeal. Businesses understand this. This is why beloved restaurants tinker with their menus and discount furniture stores are perpetually going out of business only to reopen under a new name. When market share stagnates, products become ‘new and improved’ and businesses go ‘under new management.’ The word ‘new’ pricks our attention. It arouses consumer desire, but often, not consumer discernment.

Just what is new? How is it improved? Why, if at all, did it need to be improved? Is the change an improvement? Some of us are old enough to remember the New Coke debacle of 1985, and it jaded us. The phrase ‘new and improved’ evokes suspicion. And ‘under new management’ is often an admission of serious problems — code for ‘we swept the floors and the staff out the door.’ When we hear ‘new and improved’ or ‘under new management,’ we would do well to ask some hard questions and exercise discernment.

But what is true of our economics is even more important for our theology. When we hear of new teaching or a new interpretation of scripture or a newly discovered ancient text, we must ask some hard questions. Just what is new? How new is it? Why is something new needed? Is this new thing contrary to the clear truth of the whole counsel of scripture? The easiest way to lead Christians astray is to provoke our fickle love of novelty – novelty in worship, in teaching, or in practical living. Ever since the Fall, God’s children have fallen prey to new teaching about God’s nature and His promises.

When we hear about something new, we would do well to ask hard questions and exercise discernment. Especially when we see that claim in scripture. Theological understanding demands it. God promises a new heart, new heavens and a new earth. He promises to do a ‘new thing’ in the lives of his people as he unfolds redemptive history. And in the midst of Jeremiah’s Book of Consolation in Jeremiah 31:31-34, God promises a New Covenant – a promise formative in the history and theology of the Church.

Jesus speaks of the New Covenant as he institutes the Lord’s Supper.

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Luke 22:19-20

And the author of the Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31 twice as he examines exactly what is and is not new about the New Covenant.

But theological heterodoxy over the nature, membership, and significance of the New Covenant has been divisive in the church, especially since the Reformation. For some it points to a new way, or dispensation, of salvation. For others it demotes the Old Testament to a lesser revelation, providing historical background but no continuing authority or relevance for Christian practice. And many believe it radically changes the nature of covenant membership and therefore the nature of the church.

With so much at stake, we would do well to ask hard questions when we hear the word ‘new’ in regards to God’s covenant of grace. Just what is ‘new’ about the New Covenant? How ‘new’ is it? And why was something ‘new’ needed? Jeremiah 31 is the only place in the Old Testament where the New Covenant is mentioned, but the prophet and the whole counsel of God’s Word give us sufficient context to understand just what is ‘new’ about the New Covenant. And why it is important.

Join us this week as we examine Jeremiah 31:31-40 and consider what is ‘new’ about the New Covenant and why it matters. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP

Taking Comfort

Posted on October 15, 2020 by pottsvillearp

Children can get comfortable in virtually any circumstance. Alone or in a crowd, stretched out on their bed or cramped in a car seat, circumstance seems to have little to do with their comfort. For children, comfort is rooted in assurance, not surfaces or society. If they trust that dad and mom have everything well in hand, they can sleep anywhere and everywhere. Parenting experts have long pointed out that when children have trouble going to sleep or staying in bed, they are often anxious that dad and mom don’t have it together. Without assurance, they take no comfort. With assurance they find comfort everywhere.

Adults are quite a different matter. We are good at crafting comfortable circumstances — softer fabrics, ergonomic chairs, and bags of meds and supplements that eclipse Santa’s pack. And spend our time, energy and brass seeking comfort, but little time being comfortable. If comfort could be acquired, we would have palliated long ago. Our lives are littered with the right pills and the right pillows. We have therapeutic socks and smart mattresses. We have more advanced and available health care than most of the world, but poorer health. And with 5% of the world’s population, the United States consumes 95% of the world’s opioids. We are comfortably numb, but devoid of comfort.

Perhaps what we know about our children, we have failed to learn about ourselves. Maybe comfort is derived more from assurance than circumstance. Children gain assurance easily. They have an unshakable faith in their parent’s wisdom and power. Even when that faith is misplaced and disproven time and time again. The willingness of children to rest in their parent’s word is remarkable.

But as adults we are leery of trusting anyone but ourselves. And often, we don’t trust ourselves. Experience has jaded us. We have been burned. We have learned never to be at ease. Even when our mattress is perfect, our medications potent, and our climate control pleasing, rest eludes us. Real rest. Soul rest. The best we can do is to become comfortably numb. If only we could trust that Our Father has it all together, that His promises and power could be trusted, that his love for us was real.

Jeremiah spent four decades warning of Judah of judgment and exile. Through warning after warning, God called the people to turn back to Him, but they would not. They sought comfort down every path except the path of faith and repentance. But God did not forsake them. When hope seemed lost, God gave the prophet Jeremiah a word of comfort. In the midst of the longest, and most sorrowful book in the Bible, we find bright promises of God’s grace. Jeremiah 30-33 is often called the ‘Book of Consolation.’

Last week we examined Jeremiah 30 and considered how God consoles us in the midst of judgement. But to take comfort from God’s promises, we must receive them. We must believe them by faith. We must turn back to Him. We must rest in the assurance that Our Father has it all together. The Heidelberg Catechism underscores this as it begins its summary of Christian doctrine with the question.

What is your only comfort in life and in death?
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.
Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1

With this assurance, we find comfort no matter what, whether in life or in death. Join us this week as we examine Jeremiah 31:1-30 and consider how God calls us to receive and experience the comfort He offers.