ROCK!

Around parts of Sydney harbor are lots of rocky outcroppings and places to climb and explore. Not that I am into that kind of profligate wastage of heartbeats, but it happened to be a nice winter day (which was one good reason to escape to Australia from Dallas in July!) with a sparkling blue unblemished sky, and I just felt I had to climb a rock. At least for a picture. So I did. That’s me. On a rock. In Sydney. Great view of the harbor from there, too.

I kinda felt like the Psalmist.

For in the day of trouble
He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent
He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up
above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy; …
I will sing praises to the LORD.
Psalm 27:5–6

Lifted high on a rock, above everything else. Great visibility. Easy defensibility. Stable on a rock, grounded, secure, fixed. Hidden in its clefts, protected. Solid, strong, and safe.

The LORD is my rock and
my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock,
in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the
horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2

The rock-motif is a recurrent one in the Bible. Apparently, actual and literal rocks are few and far between in the Bible! (Well, almost!) Most of the biblical rocks are places of solidity, strength, and safety.

He brought me up out of
the pit of destruction,
out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon
a rock making my footsteps firm.
Psalm 40:2

Not surprisingly, many of the biblical rocks are God Himself—solid, strong, and safe.

For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God,
Psalm 18:31

Solid, strong, and safe. Unshakeable, unsurpassable, and unassailable.

He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold;
I shall not be greatly shaken.
Psalm 62:2

Everywhere, shaken we are, and often. Everything around us shakes. Everything! This is indeed a tremulous world we live, quaking and quivering, threatening to undo us, daring to unseat us. Lagging economy, nagging health, sagging relationships. Everything is jell-O, affording no strength, no solidity, no safety. We need a Rock! Yes, we do!

Incline Your ear to me,
rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength,
A stronghold to save me.
For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name's sake
You will lead me and guide me.
Psalm 31:2–3

God alone can provide that strength, solidity, and safety in the shivering and shuddering world we live in.

From the end of the earth
I call to You when my heart is faint;
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I.
Psalm 61:2

Jesus talked about the strength and solidity and safety of living a life grounded upon God and His Word.

“Therefore everyone who hears
these words of Mine
and acts on them,
may be compared to a wise man
who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell,
and the floods came,
and the winds blew
and slammed against that house;
and yet it did not fall,
for it had been founded on the rock.”
Matthew 7:24–25

Ours is a living Rock—our God Himself. Solid, strong, and safe.

The LORD lives,
and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be
the God of my salvation,
Psalm 18:46

Rock climbing, anyone?

TOIL!

That’s the Pastoral Ministries team at Dallas Seminary during the annual Faculty Workshop before the new school year begins. And it begins tomorrow. Summer’s over!

Orientation for new students was last Thursday. During lunchtime that day, faculty members sat at various tables and were joined by incoming students. That’s a lot of fun. Free lunch and a chance to meet some of the eager beavers. I had a whole bunch of e.bs. where I was located. A couple, with the husband joining to do preliminary work before applying for the Ph.D. program; two students doing the counseling degree; another for the linguistics program. Lots of fun hearing the great stories of how they ended up here at DTS.

Joining us a bit later at our table was another e.b. who is in the Master of Theology program, likely to be in the Pastoral Leadership track. Quite an interesting fellow, this. Married with two kids. From one end of the country. And … disabled and wheelchair bound. His was a fascinating story, as you can expect. And an e.b. he sure was, ready to begin studies, enthusiastic to serve the Lord.

As I did the others, I asked him why he had chosen DTS. After three years of asking the same question to incoming students at my table on orientation day, I thought I’d heard all the possible answers to that query. Permutations and combinations of influence from friends, alumni, pastors; books published by faculty members; quality of education; etc. But his reason was a new one. And it warmed my heart no end!

“One of the reasons,” he said, pointing at me, “was you.”

Me? Chuck Swindoll, yes. Howard Hendricks, yes. (And he couldn’t be mistaking me for one of them—not by a long shot!) And many other luminaries on the faculty, yes. But, me?

Apparently the guy had listened to one of my sermons on the DTS website a year or so ago that had impacted him.

Yup, it warmed the cockles of my heart to hear that.

You know, as time goes by, one does begin to wonder if any of the stuff one does really matters. Is anyone being impacted? Is anyone being influenced? Sermons I preach galore. But is life change happening to any of my listeners? Is it worth the trouble? Should I continue? Hesitation builds. Uncertainty looms. Questions rise.

And then, this! Affirmation like this is truly a godsend. It encourages us to persist and persevere, to carry on and stay put, to hang in there and dig in … for the long haul. Even if we don’t see much tangible result to our endeavors.

My conclusion after our lunch that day? God can sure use anything! Me, inanimate objects, donkeys, nature …

The heavens are telling
of the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring
the work of His hands.
Psalm 19:1

God can use them all. And if He so deigns to use us, let’s consider ourselves blessed.

And so all of us believers work together as a team, in Pastoral Ministries and elsewhere, in seminaries and churches, in homes and offices, in schools and marketplaces, all over the world, and all across time. Persistently, perseveringly.

God is not unjust
so as to forget your work
and the love which you have
shown toward His name,
in having ministered and
in still ministering ….
Hebrews 6:10

No, He will not forget. Others might. Ignored we might be. Unsung and unappreciated. But God does not forget. No, He does not and never will. Let’s keep at it!

WARNING!

They do things differently here in Australia. No insipid statutory warnings on packs of cigarettes. No wimpy statements in tiny fonts. Nope! Instead, scary pictures and ominous words. You have been warned!

The Aussie Board in control of these matters mandates that 90% of the area of one side of a pack of cigarettes be taken with gory and graphic warnings, as well as 30% of the other side. In addition another warning on the deleterious effects of chemicals in tobacco smoke occurs on one full (lateral) side of the pack. Only the remaining areas may bear the name and logo of the cigarette manufacturer and the particular brand.

Fourteen gruesome warnings of tobacco-caused dire diseases are mandatorily rotated on packets, along with the national “Quitline” phone number and “Quitnow” website address. All ordained by the government to compel consumers to think twice before lighting up.

And apparently these warnings are beginning to have an effect. Annabel, the 6-year-old daughter of one of my friends here, Down Under, asserts, “They cut off your toes if you smoke!” Yup, folks give heed. Yup, warnings work.

Nothing wrong with scaring folks with the truth.

The Bible does that, too. In it, there is a stark and scary warning of discipline for those of God’s children who disobey.

… you have forgotten the exhortation
which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly
the discipline of the LORD,
nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
for those whom the LORD loves
He disciplines, and He scourges
every son whom He receives.”
Hebrews 12:5–6

Just as earthly fathers discipline their children.

God deals with you as with sons;
for what son is there
whom his father does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline,
of which all have become partakers,
then you are illegitimate children
and not sons.
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers
to discipline us, and we respected them;
shall we not much rather be
subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
Hebrews 12:7–9

Warnings are there for a purpose. They have a goal. Remedy. Reorientation. Restoration.

For they disciplined us
for a short time
as seemed best to them,
but He disciplines us for our good,
so that we may share His holiness.
Hebrews 12:10

For our good. For our transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ. For our sharing in God’s holiness. Therefore, these warnings exhort us, we must accept His discipline, and not reject it.

All discipline for the moment
seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful;
yet to those who have been trained by it,
afterwards it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Hebrews 12:10–11

We are not just to accept it, but we are to change our lives to return and conform to the standards of God’s holiness.

“Those whom I love,
I reprove and discipline;
therefore be zealous and repent.”
Revelation 3:19

Warnings to be taken seriously! Ours is a good God, a loving God, a holy God, and we are to both love and fear Him. His warnings we are to take to heart.

“You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your might. …
You shall fear only the LORD your God;
and you shall worship Him ….”
Deuternonomy 6:5, 13

We have been warned!

All things considered, it’s probably a better idea, then, for us to change before incurring the discipline of the Lord whom we both love and fear.

I, for one, want to keep my toes!

SECURITY!

Traipsing around Australia (preaching, teaching, and stuff) this past week was fun. Launceston (in Tasmania), Melbourne (in Victoria), Brisbane (in Queensland), and Sydney (in New South Wales). A whirlwind trip, flying into town one evening and out the next after a day of ministry with friends (old and new) in these parts of the world.

Of course, travel arrangements were made together. Greg made all the strategic planning moves. He had all the e-tickets and all the information pertaining to flights. So we all line up at a Qantas counter. He leads the way to the ticketing agent, presents the paperwork, we load our suitcases on to the dock and that’s it. Yup, that’s it. Nope, no ID checked. Nope, no passport demanded. Nope, no security questions asked. Not even Greg’s biodata were requested, let alone scrutinized. (Yes, they did have a security line through which we all strolled through, shoes and belts and all.)

I said to myself, “After the hassles of US airport travel, this is nice! Smooth and easy. ” Then I started worrying about safety!

A few days ago, three men were charged with (attempted) “terrorism offences” on an army base in Victoria. And we flew the very next day. But, nope, still no IDs, passports, or security questions. I almost thrust my passport at the lady at the counter, declaring, “Hey, I am who I am.” (We seminarians like to make these profound theological assertions!)

I guess Australians are pretty confident! We did get to wherever we wanted to go in one secure piece. I am thankful for that.

But in Christian life, no such laxity is permitted. For our enemy is powerful.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.
Your adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

All kinds of armamentarium is, therefore, enjoined upon us.

Put on the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil.
Stand firm therefore,
having girded your loins with truth,
and having put on the
breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace;
… taking up the shield of faith …
to extinguish all the flaming
arrows of the evil one.
And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:11, 14–17

Of course, victory against the nefarious plots of Satan is assured, for we have a stronger One indwelling us.

You are from God, little children,
and have overcome them;
because greater is He who is in you
than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4

And, needless to say, nothing—absolutely nothing!—can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ!

Who will separate us
from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
But in all these things
we overwhelmingly conquer
through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:35, 37

Safe, we are. Totally!

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
The righteous runs into it and is safe.
Proverbs 18:10

Security? We have the best: the name of the Lord—His Person. And His presence. And His power.

… He Himself has said,
“I will never desert you,
not will I ever forsake you,”
so that we confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper,
I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5–6

So let’s go conquer!