Bible

On the Incarnation: How Should We Talk About Christmas?

/ davidsschrock

Yesterday, I preached from John 1:1-5 on the eternal Son of God who came to be God with us.  One of my main points was the fact that while Jesus had a beginning, the Son of God did not. The Son takes on flesh to become fully human, but in no way does God the Son lose or set aside his deity.

Today, Matt Smethurst says something very similar in his post at The Gospel Coalition.  In his article, “God Plus or Bust: Lose the Incarnation, Lose It All,” he helpfully points to an article by J. I. Packer called “The Vital Question” which articulates two kinds of Christologies.  Matt’s synthesis of Packer’s article points out that “All Christologies . . . can be boiled down to two basic brands: “Man Plus” and “God Plus.”  He unpacks this saying,

“Man Plus” Christologies almost unanimously agree that Jesus was an utterly unique figure. He was no ordinary man. He was man plus a number of things—a unique sense of the divine, uncommon personal charisma, unfettered religious devotion, God-given insight, and so forth. Jesus of Nazareth was a godly man, perhaps even the godliest man ever to walk the earth. Nevertheless, the idea that Jesus was God is a myth. It doesn’t correspond to space-time fact, nor does it really need to.

“God Plus” Christology, on the other hand, is the orthodox position. It’s the view that Jesus of Nazareth was actually—that is, historically, publicly, objectively, necessarily—God incarnate. He was divinity plus humanity. Wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger was the eternal second person of the Trinity.

Understanding the nature of the Incarnation is vital–not just for the seminary lunchroom–but for all believers.  Knowing who God is and how he has come to rescue us is vital for our faith.  Celebrating Christmas as a holiday that commemorates a special child born in a manger who just happens to be divine–whatever that means–sets the believers faith in a vulnerable position. Such a belief is true as far as it goes, but it is little different than the “man plus deity” of liberal theology.  By contrast, knowing that God himself took on flesh–that he added something to his deity, namely a human nature–in order to save his people with the full power of Deity Incarnate, gives vitality and endurance to believe that what God started two millenia ago, he will finish at the end of the age.

Much praise is due to God for all that he is especially for the fact that Jesus is not just “man plus.”  He is “God plus,” “God with us!”

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Lottie Moon: Further Reading

/ davidsschrock

For Further Reading

Much of the information, anecdotes, and theological considerations in these blog posts about Lottie Moon have come from Tom Nettles eminently helpful chapter on Lottie Moon. Fuller treatments can be found in Catherine Allen’s book and Keith Harper’s edited volume of Lottie’s personal letters and memoirs.  Daniel Akin also preached a sermon on Lottie Moon at SEBTS, and it has been transcribed in his little book, Five Who Changed the World.

If you know of other good resources, please let me know.

Books

Catherine B. Allen, The New Lottie Moon Story, 2nd Ed. (Birmingham, AL: Women’s Missionary Union, 1980).

Lottie Moon, Send the Light: Lottie Moon’s Letters and Other Writings, ed. Keith Harper (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2002)

Chapters

Daniel L. Akin, “The Power of a Consecrated Life: The Ministry of Lottie Moon” in Five Who Changed the World (Wake Forest, NC: Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 57-80.

Tom Nettles, “Lottie Moon (1840-1912)” in The Baptists: Key People Involved In Forming a Baptist Identity, Vol. 2 (Ross-shire, UK: Mentor, 2005), 363-94.

 

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: In the Huddle with Tim Tebow

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Matthew 12:34 says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  Sadly, when professional athletes are mic’d it usually shows that their hearts are full of selfishness, pride, and anger.  Tim Tebow shows something else.  How many times have you heard an explicative when some broadcast listens in on the sidelines!

Not so with Tim Tebow. One more reason why my respect for Tebow continues to increase is listening to this 10 minute recording of his words on the field against the Chicago Bears.

Whatever you might say about his skills, his prospect as an NFL athlete, or the way he uses his platform to proclaim Christ, it seems evident that what comes out of his heart in the heat of battle is the heart of a Spirit-filled Christian, one who prays without ceasing and whose heart and mouth are filled with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Pray for this grid iron warrior to keep contending for the faith, as he presses for the end zone and uses his influence to tell others about Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Lottie Moon: Lessons From Lottie

/ davidsschrock

Lottie Moon was a changed woman, from the teenager who once told people her middle name was ‘devil.”  But her life in Christ also shows sanctification, for coming to China was racial superiority in her heart, she prepared for her next voyage to heaven consumed with seeing the Chinese come to Christ. In truth, she was a disciple of Christ that had left every thing in order to follow her Savior.  Like Jesus words in Mark 10:29-31, she embodied the call of discipleship, and she was rewarded handsomely for all that she left.

Consider Jesus words again, in light of Lottie’s life…

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel [Lottie had done all of those things], who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Lottie’s name lives on in missions history and in the Southern Baptist’s yearly Christmas offering which goes exclusively to fund missionaries all over the world.  Her life is filled with examples of God’s providence and favor, even as she endured many trying times.  Overall, she is an inspiration to missional living, one who gives us many lessons for following her faithful example.  Let us consider six of them.

  1. She was a constant student.  She loved learning about her master and how to reach others with the message of Christ.  While she was predisposed towards learning even before her salvation; it is evident that salvation fueled her love for knowing more about her Savior.  In this way, she was a true disciple.
  2. She accepted the tragedies of life as means of sanctification and guidance in her life.  It is easy to grow embittered by the things God’s brings into our life, but in Lottie we see how God turns the poisons of life into useful medicines to cure her of deadly heart diseases.
  3. She constantly inquired into how she might best use her life for the service of her king.  She teaches us to not grow satisfied with this life, but to improve our lives with a greater zeal for Christian service.  At all times, we ought to be willing to leave everything behind and follow Christ.  Lottie did, and she challenges us to do the same.
  4. She found her treasure in the unseen realities of life.  With such heavenly treasure in her heart, she exhausted her life for the sake of the Chinese and for the sake of the missionary endeavors of Southern Baptist.
  5. In Lottie Moon, we see an example of a genuine follower of Christ.  She did not arrive in China as the perfect specimen of missionary service.  She was disgusted by the culture and the primitive conditions of the Chinese, and yet, in time God grew her to be Christ-like in her service.  She became a living sacrifice, one that we do well to consider and imitate the faithfulness of her life.
  6. Finally, her life in comparison to Crawford Toy is striking modern-day parable.  Like the contrast between the rich young ruler and the children who sought Jesus presence, Toy and Moon reflect two kinds of people.  In Toy, we see someone who gained the whole world—he achieved academic success, he was Harvard professor beloved of students and acclaimed as a brilliant scholar—but who in the end forfeited his own soul.  He lost is luster for Christ and he died as a mere theist.   In Lottie Moon, however, we see someone who lost the whole world—she forsook her pedigree, received scorn for leaving US, suffered greatly, experienced innumerable hardships, and she died weighing less than 50 pounds—but gained an eternal reward in heaven.  She was or rather became the least, in order that Christ might be prized the most.  She left Toy, in order to pursue Christ and his church in China, and accordingly she is an example of someone who gladly counted her life as nothing compared with the exceeding joy of knowing and serving Jesus.

These are only a few of the lessons available from Lottie Moon. You can learn more about here life and ministry here. During this season of missions giving, may we consider Lottie’s life and imitate her faith.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Lottie Moon: Service and Solicitor for Missions Giving

/ davidsschrock

Service

When Lottie evaluated her ministry in China, she felt that the first 18 years of the work were just sowing with very little reaping.  From 1873-1890, she labored to learn the language, the customs, and the best ways to do evangelism.  And it was only after 2 decades that she began to see much fruit. Part of this was the way Lottie conceived of conversion.  She was not looking for numbers but transformed lives.  But also, it was the providence of God.  Sometimes in God’s perfect timing, the fruit takes much longer to form than we would want.  Yet, this should not have been a surprise to Lottie, for 18 years was the same amount of time it took for her own conversion.

As the years turned into decades, the focus of her ministry changed.  In 1873, Lottie began as a school teacher to young girls, but after ten years, she requested a permanent change to a ministry comprised of personal evangelism. She wrote to her supervisor, “Under no circumstances do I wish to continue in school work, but I long to go and talk to the thousands of women around me” (387).  This adamant statement was not a disgruntled complaint, but a heart that had traded in her intellectual pursuits for more personal ministry.  She continues, “If I am to devote myself to evangelistic work in the city and country I must be free from the school” (387).  This change would prepare the way for her most fruitful years of ministry, still eight years away.

It is worth noting the conditions that she endured in China. Her reports describe “long days of teaching, traveling, enduring poor weather and verbal abuse, uncomfortable accommodation, and nauseating food” all of which “had no romantic appeal for her.”  Remember, Lottie was a Southern Belle who used to skip church to eat heavy meals.

Like Jesus, she would often go days without personal times of quiet and solitude.  While she experienced a kind of loneliness in China, there were other times she could not be left alone.  When she would travel into the countryside, the Chinese women and children would badger her with questions, fondle her clothing, and interrogate her manners.  They had a childlike inquisitiveness that never failed to verbalize what they were thinking, and there would be times when she would nearly crack under the pressure of constant scrutiny.

For 30 years, this was the majority of her work.  Going house-to-house, village-to-village, introducing women and children to the gospel.  There were times when she would “preach” to mixed audiences (men and women), because she feared for their souls.  She did not want to miss the opportunity to tell the good news, but her standard ministry target was the women and children.

Missions Fund Raiser

Teaching and personal evangelism did not exhaust her duties, because she also served as a valuable reporter from China back to the United States.  A compelling writer, she held regular correspondence with the Foreign Mission Board back in Virginia, and her stories were widely circulated among the women’s missionary societies that were springing up in the late 1800’s.

This written correspondence is perhaps what has left the greatest legacy among Southern Baptists.  And among all her letters, her plea for funds during the Christmas season in 1887 is the one that has had the longest lasting effect.  Writing to Southern Baptist women, she says,

How many there are among our women, alas! Alas!  Who imagine that because ‘Jesus Paid It All” they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should following the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God, and so aid in bringing the answer to the petition our Lord taught his disciples: ‘Thy kingdom come”’ (383).

She would later say,

Should we not press it home upon our consciences,’ she asked, ‘that the sole object of our conversion was not the salvation of our own souls, but that we might become co-workers with our Lord and Master in the conversion of the world? (383)

Lottie Moon’s Enduring Legacy

Such was the boldness of Lottie Moon.  She picked up her cross and daily followed Jesus Christ, and she was glad to call others to do the same.  Indeed, she did so because of her love for her Savior and for the people of China.  Her joy was increased as she saw the Chinese come to faith, and she called others to increase their joy as well.

This is the reason why today Southern Baptists take up a missions offering in her name.  The goal is not to guilt people into giving, but out of the overflow of the heart, men and women might give funds so that more people might hear the gospel and the chorus of praise around the world might increase.

For a view on gospel-motivated giving, see my Gospel-Motivated Generosity is a Mark of True Obedience.

Check back tomorrow to consider a number of lessons from Lottie Moon’s life.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Between Darkness and Light: The Lord Who Ordained the Darkness

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

On Monday, we observed seven ways in which the setting for Christ’s birth was full of darkness.  Today, we will continue to look at the birth of Christ, but now from the angle that it was the Lord who creates light and darkness (Isa 45:7) that brought about the darkness so that the light of Christ might be ever more brilliant. Notice how in each of these instances, God is the sovereign author behind the darkness.

1. God is the only free person in the universe.  Our free will is limited and confined by innumerable factors; location, money, knowledge, and most importantly spiritual life effect our freedom. Not so God, nothing inhibits him.  He is in heaven and he does as he pleases (Ps 115:3).  Since Malachi, he chose to be silent.  No one muffled his voice. Conversely, God is never forced to speak, and so the spiritual darkness of the Intertestamental Period is a result of God’s free choice.

There is a lesson in this. God does not create darkness, so much as he pulls back the light.  In this case, the spiritual darkness is not something God speaks into existence; it is his intentional lack of speech.  This is often how God controls calamity and evil.  He never does evil, but he will permit evil men or evil spirits freedom to act according to their natures.  This is different from every aspect of goodness in the world—in that God is the active speaker.

2. God put Israel under Roman rule.  Israel’s captivity was in God’s full control.  As the one who raises exalts and humbles nations (cf. Ps 33:10-11; Isa 40:15, 17, 22-23), God placed Israel in the darkest period of their history.  This was in part due to his judgment upon their idolatry; this was in part to prepare the way for Jesus; and this was in part preparing the way for the gospel to travel along the Roman roads. Israel could not see it at the time.  Neither could the Roman Emperors.  But one major reason why Rome flourished as it did was because God himself was building the infrastructure necessary for the message of the gospel to travel.

I wonder if we think like that?  Do we think that giftedness of men like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates was only for their Silicon Valley companies? No, even though men like them may deny the Lord, God gifts them so that their innovations and productivity can be used for the advancement of the gospel.  This is how God works in history.  One way that advances in technology are being picked up and used for the gospel ministry is found in the ministry of Mark Overstreet and T4 Global ministries.

3. Even in the case of the false religions in Israel, it was God who permitted it.  His spiritual absence, created a vacuum where all kinds of Jewish religions rose up.  Many in Israel, instead of simply trusting God’s word—like Mary, Joseph, Anna, Simeon—came up with all kinds of contrived ways to gain God’s favor—Pharisees, Saducees, Essenes, Zealots were all human solutions to the spiritual and political problems of the day.

4. It was God’s eternal intention to bring Jesus into the world through a virgin.  In order for God to take on flesh, a natural union could not take place.  The virgin birth is necessary, because without it Jesus could in no way be divine and human.  So from Isaiah 7:14 on (maybe even before if you read Genesis 3:15 as promising a virgin birth), God’s word predicted that a virgin would give birth to a child.  Isaiah 9 explains the kind of child this would be—one born in darkness who would bring light, one that would bring peace, the kind that would never be taken away.  Thus, the near divorce of Mary, the isolation from her family, the insults from strangers, and the lifelong accusations that Jesus mother incurred was God’s doing!  God blessed Mary by afflicting Mary with this child.  He does the same in our lives, too (2 Cor 1:3-7).

5. In order to fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies, God moved Mary and Joseph by way of Caesar’s census.  There is great irony in God’s redemptive story.  In this case, it is a king who takes count of his kingdom, all the while the king of kings comes with no accounting from the world (John 1:9-11).  In Caesar’s census, this mighty king thought that he was proving his power to the world.  But really, he was taking a census because God wanted to move two people from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  The prophecy in Micah 5:2 needed to be fulfilled, and God used the mightiest man and the world as a pawn, in order to bring his scepter-wielding Son into the world in the right place.

There are so many lessons in this.  For one thing, what we think is important in our lives, may be the most meaningless thing that we do.  Likewise, what the world deems as important may not be.  The way God works in history should free us from the approval of men, and should recalibrate our lives to live for his purposes. After all history is His Story, and the only lasting part we have is what comes from him.

6. Mary and Joseph’s poverty was ordained by God, so that it would accentuate the gift of the wise men. Matthew 2:10-11 records the exceeding joy of the wise men, and how when they found the babe, they offered gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  But these are not just gifts like we give on Christmas morning, they are sacrifices of praise. Matthew records that these travelers came from a far to worship the king of kings.

And the gifts they give are significant.  For one, it is likely that the gifts would finance the travels that Jesus’ family would make to Egypt in the coming months.  But even more significant, they fulfill prophecy.  In Isaiah 60, the great prophet gives an oracle describing the nations coming to worship at God’s dwelling place, and it just so happens that Isaiah develops the them of light coming into the darkness–darkness ordained by God, so the light of the world would be perceived by all nations.  Listen to what Isaiah says in verses 1-6

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, young camels of Midian & Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold & frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.

The picture of light dawning on God’s Holy Dwelling Place includes men (and women) coming from the nations, bowing down before the Lord, and offering gifts.

7. Finally, even the killing of the infants was part of God’s plan.  Oh, don’t misunderstand.  God is not the cause of such evil.  He is never tempted to do evil, nor does he ever do evil.  However, that is to say that in his blameless holiness, he has not ordained evil to be done.  Just think of the murder of Jesus on the cross, Acts 2:23 and 4:27-28 records that this was God’s plan and purpose.  So, according to God’s inspired word, do we find that God blamelessly ordains the slaughter of infants, such that all that Herod does is according to the  Script that was given to him.

To say it another way: Herod is not acting outside of God’s jurisdiction.  Oh yes, he is breaking God’s commandment—thou shall not kill.  But in another way, he is fulfilling the will of God. Like Satan in the book of Job, Herod only does what God permits him to do. He is on God’s leash, and cannot extend his hand any further than God allows. Like the lying spirit in 1 Kings 22, the one that God sent out to deceive Ahab, king of Israel—God does not lie, but apparently he does send out lying spirits.  In the same way, Herod does what is in his nature to do—to deceive, manipulate, and kill.

Still unsure?  Consider the fact that Matthew shows us that Herod’s fanatical attack on the children in Bethlehem actually fulfills Scripture, and thus at the same time that Herod is breaking God’s will, he is in another sense fulfilling God’s unfailing Word. Matthew 2:16-18 records,

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

In the end, the fulfillment of this prophecy shows how dark the period was.  Israel’s sin brought God’s judgment, and thus they lived in gloomy darkness.  Yet, in his covenant love, he had not abandoned his elect people.  Rather, he was quietly working behind the scenes to bring his Son into the world.  The birth narrative of Jesus shows us this, and as we will see in our next installment how God’s light shines brightest when it is contrasted with the darkness.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Lottie Moon: Sovereign Suffering and Sanctification

/ davidsschrock

In China (1873-1912)

When Lottie arrived in China her attitude was not so Christ-like.  Raised in a home of great means and education, Lottie displayed great sophistication and intellect.  However, she also held a racial superiority over the Chinese, a way of thinking prevalent in the slaveholding South.  As a result, she entered China very prejudiced against the people she was going to reach.  Her own words reveal the darkness of her enlightened heart.  Reflecting upon a visit to Shanghai, she says, “Where the Caucasian goes he carries energy and an inferior race [the Chinese] is aroused by the contact” (368).

Yet, Lottie’s Darwinian view of the Chinese would soon be crushed in the hands of the great potter and reshaped for more useful service.  Like Peter and the other disciples, her four decades in China purified her for more useful service to the king.  For Lottie, and for us, discipleship is not a point in time, but a process of sanctification and greater obedience to God and His Word.  God certainly used his word to refine Lottie, but he also used painful circumstances.  There were at least 3 events that made her a more usable disciple.

Edmonia’s Return.  First, within five years, Lottie’s sister and partner in gospel ministry returned home.  After suffering severe ailment for two years in China, she would be afflicted in her health until the day of her death.  Despite her illness, she was a constant supporter of Lottie’s, maintaining a regular correspondence with her and the mission board.  Nonetheless, in time, her ailments became too severe and in January 1909, she put a gun to her head and committed suicide.  While the tragedy struck only 3 years before Lottie’s own death, assuredly the troubles Edmonia felt half-a-world apart would have grieved Lottie for years prior.  She missed her sister deeply and when her pen reflected about her personal struggles often she recounted the loneliness she felt after her departure.

Crawford Howell Toy.  Second, Lottie Moon’s relationship with C.H. Toy served as a severe disappointment for Lottie.  In 1877, when Lottie Moon returned with her sister to the States, she rekindled a relationship with her former teacher from the Albemarle Female Institute.  Like Lottie, C.H. Toy was educated, sophisticated, and a product of the Antebellum South.  He had received his masters from the University of Virginia.  After which he taught at Lottie’s school, before receiving his ordination in 1860 from John Broadus.

Toy himself for a season was a strong proponent of missions and even sought to go to Japan for missionary work.  Yet, his steadfast pursuit of missions would soon change towards a more academic route.  Toy’s personal testimony is a sad one, because when he went to Germany for doctoral studies, he returned steeped in the liberal influences of the day.  And it appears that he sought to influence Lottie Moon, as well.  After Lottie’s death, it was noted that she had quite a collection of books in her library devoted to the errors that Toy supported.

Still during all these doubtful seasons, Lottie remained hopeful.  While the Baptist papers disparaged Toy and Southern Seminary removed him from the faculty for his heretical views, somehow, Lottie Moon remained hopeful that some kind of marital union was still possible with Toy.  Alone on the mission field, without her sister, Moon surely fancied the idea of a partner in marriage and ministry.  However, in 1881, these hopes would be finally dashed.

In that fateful year, two of Toy’s students, T.P. Bell and John Stout, were rejected from missionary service because of the views they held concerning the Scriptures.  Under the influence of his teachers in Germany, Toy had developed a system of thought that denied the historicity of Genesis 1-11 and other portion Scripture that related to science, history, or geography.  In this way, Toy denied Scripture’s full inspiration and with it, he denied its truthfulness and ability to speak about all matters of life.

Such news caused a crisis in Lottie Moon’s life.  Her immediate reaction was to leave the mission field and to go to Harvard, the school to which Toy was now employed.  But shortly, she reconsidered.   Nettles again is helpful, “It was at best impracticable and at worst disloyal to her Redeemer.  The critical need for laborers in China, the fatigue and debility of her missionary colleagues, and the clarity of God’s prerogative over her life, as well as her increased love for the Chinese people, shoved aside this last shot at romantic and domestic fulfillment” (380-81).

Think about it: Here is an unwed women, whose intellectual gifts were shaped by Toy and who was deeply enamored with him.  Yet, she rejects the joys that she could attain in this marriage, because she counts faithfulness to Christ as more valuable.  And I think, it was this decision that God used to solidify Moon’s lifetime of service in China.  For her this decision to abandon the love of her life set a course for Lottie to abandon herself to the bride of Christ in China. This is how disciples are made.  What we affirm on paper means nothing until we are put into the trials of life—personal allegiances are often some of the most difficult trials.

Halcomb. A third development during this time was the defection of another missionary on theological grounds.  In 1886, N.W. Halcomb resigned his post because of a theological struggle with the Deity of Christ.  Lottie worked relentlessly to convince him from the Scriptures of Christ’s eternal and divine nature.  But despite her best intentions, prayers, and efforts, Halcomb left the field, depleting the number of laborers in China.  You can imagine the effect this had on Lottie Moon, both in regard to her spirits and in regards to her commitment to the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.

It seems that in these three trials, God showed Lottie Moon the folly of intellectual attainment and the radical need to simply follow him.  She had lost much to serve him in China, and yet she did not go unrewarded.  Despite the loss of a sister, the loss of a spouse, and the loss of a co-laborer, she never lost the one thing she must retain—her faith in God and passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We also see in her life the relationship between doctrine and missions.  There are many today who would want to minimize the importance of doctrinal precision, saying that: “All that matters is ministry or mission.  Do evangelism, preach, pray… don’t bother yourself with doctrine.”  Yet what we see in Lottie’s life is that in at least two instances doctrine destroyed missions—this was the case with Toy and Halcomb.

This is true at the level of churches and denominations, but it is also true individually.  If you are going to grow in Christ, you must rightly understand his Word.  Emotions, feelings, and experience can only carry you so far and for so long. No true disciple of Christ can sustain a lifetime pursuit without a growing knowledge of God in his word.

God’s Goodness and Mercy

Reflecting on the tragedies in Lottie’s life, it is evident that God was in control of them all.  Nothing happened to her that God himself did not ordain and use for her sanctification and greater service. As with Joseph in Genesis, what men and devils meant for evil, God meant for good.  Through pain, he purified Lottie.

This is a vital lesson for any Christian, but especially for those who are going onto the mission field.  Unless believers learn to see all things–good and evil–as sovereignly ordained by God and thus merciful provisions from the Father’s hand, it is unlikely that such ambassadors of Christ will endure the onslaught of afflictions that can easily overwhelm.

May Lottie’s experience steel those who are suffering to endure, and may we learn from her what she surely learned–to trust God’s goodness in good times and bad.  He is working all things for the good of those who are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Lottie Moon: Her Conversion and Call to China

/ davidsschrock

Conversion

Just before Christmas of 1858, Lottie Moon was converted.  And I say converted because it is evident that God acted upon her.  Like Romans 3 says, she was not seeking after God.  As she was pursuing vain things; God’s grace broke into her heart.  By God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, she was born again.

Still, while God converted Lottie, the sovereign Lord used means, and she was converted under the ministry of John Broadus. This is the same Broadus who would go on to become one of the four founders of Southern Seminary. Broadus was the pastor of Moon’s church and a principal at the school she attended.  In the fall of 1858, Broadus called for a series of evangelistic meetings and prayer services.  He called his congregation to come together to pray for the lost.  And certainly with family and friends in the church, they were praying for the proud skeptic, Lottie Moon.

During that week, there was a night in which Lottie Moon could not sleep.  A barking dog kept her awake, and her mind raced with thoughts of her eternal destiny and the state of her soul before God.  This sleepless night prompted her to go to the meeting the next evening.  While intending to scoff, she left that service to pray in her room all night.

She was baptized a few days later after professing faith in the God she had spent her life opposing.  And her profession was more than just a verbal testimony.  A family friend remarked about the immediate change in Lottie:  “She was different… in those details of the daily life which at last afforded the most delicate test of Christian character.” (W.E. Hatcher quoted by Nettles, 365).

Upon her conversion, she returned to school, to not only finish her degree.  While she had taken many courses in religion before, she now pursued them with a renewed vigor.  So passionate was she to study, she took every single course that the school offered!  And when she graduated in 1860, John Broadus remarked that Lottie Moon was the most educated woman in the South.

A Teaching Life (1860-1872)

Now if you are following along, you know that her graduation came one year before the Civil War.  During that time she participated in the life of the Confederate army, assisting where she could.  After all, she was a Virginia Belle.  But during the Civil War, she also served as a tutor for a family in Georgia.  This would lead her into a lifetime of teaching service.

In 1866 she moved to Kentucky to teach in the female academy operated by the First Baptist Church of Danville, Kentucky.  Four years later, she would move again to Cartersville, Georgia where she taught for less than a year.  Hearing the news that her mother’s health was failing, she returned home to care for her mother.

During the remaining days of her mother’s life, the two women spoke often about the call of God to use one’s short life in the service of the gospel (Nettles 367).  This burning question—How to best invest one’s life for Christ?—would have tremendous effect on Lottie, for in every future season of her life, she was always asking how she could best use her short life for advancement of the gospel.

And it seems that while her mother lay dying, God birthed in Lottie a desire to reach the nations for Christ.   In these maternal conversations her eyes were lifted from the women of the South, to the nations abroad.  Moved to action, Lottie began supporting two missionaries as she continued to teach in Georgia.  For the next two years she would support these gospel ministers while inquiring herself into service in China.

During this period, she was greatly influenced by her sister, Edmonia, because it was not Lottie’s initial idea to travel overseas. She had received great commendation for her work as a pioneering educator in the years after the Civil War, and she was content to stay.  In fact, most around her strongly discouraged Lottie from wasting her life upon the foreign mission field.  Thus, it took the strong pleading of her sister who had previously sailed to China and the prayers of the Chinese missionaries to dislodge her from her successful field of labors.  Yet, through it all, it was the Lord who was calling, and Lottie as a genuine disciple, simply followed his command.

The result of following Christ, for Lottie, meant that for the next 40 years, she would walk with the people of China, and in the end, she would literally sacrifice her life for the sake of their eternal souls.

If you are interested in learning more about Lottie, see yesterday’s post on her upbringing and education.  And check back tomorrow for her missionary career. 

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Lottie Moon: Her Upbringing and Education

/ davidsschrock

Each year at Christmas, Southern Baptists turn their attention to the nations and raise funds for the missionaries sent out by the International Mission Board.  The giving campaign is named after Lottie Moon, an inspirational missionary to China in the nineteenth century.  Many know the story of Lottie Moon, but many do not.  So for the next few days, I am going to recount a number of the key turning points in her exemplary life.  A life worth consideration and imitation (Hebrews 13:7).

Upbringing

Lottie Moon was born on December 12, 1840 to Edward Harris and Anna Maria Barclay. Raised in a large, wealthy family, Lottie Moon grew up as a child of the old South.  Her uncle had purchased the estate of Thomas Jefferson, and she grew up in a home built by a friend of George Washington.  As one biographer reports, “The Moons had money, children (11 born, 7 survived to adulthood), servants (52 in all), and kept a tutor in the home for languages and classical literature” (Tom Nettles, The Baptists, 2:363).

But there is one significant difference: Lottie Moon was not the least bit interested in religion as a child.  Despite all her earthly advantages, including a religious father, she was a devilish little girl.  And when I say little… she only grew to be 4’ 3”.

To give you a sense of the Christianity she rejected: Her father was originally a Presbyterian, but he became a Baptist when he studied the Scriptures to fight the growing Campbellite movement—this is the religious movement that resulted in the Christian Church, as we know it today.  In other words, to resist the teaching of baptismal regeneration, he searched the Scriptures in order to retain his views on infant baptism, and the result was a conversion to the Baptist faith.  Sounds a lot like Adoniram Judson.

With his change of theology on baptism, Edward Moon became a founding member of the Scottsville Baptist Church.  He was a faithful member and a lifelong deacon.  This would be the church where Lottie Moon would grow up.

Further aversion to her parent’s Christianity can be seen in Lottie’s Sunday habits. In the Moon household, in order to preserve the Sabbath, the Moon’s would prepare all their meals on Saturday.  However, this never suited Lottie.  Instead of attending church, she would sneak off, return to their large home and prepare a meal for herself before the family returned.   She was by her own admission a ‘naughty’ girl.  And as she aged this did not change.  It only worsened.

So for the first 18 years of Lottie’s life, she was an object of wrath and one who violently opposed the faith of her father.

Education

In 1853, at the age of 13, her father died on a business trip.  But instead of jarring her into faith, she kept aloof.  One year later, at age 14, Lottie was enrolled in the Virginia Female Institute (Albemarle, VA).  She proved to be a good student, especially in literature and foreign languages.  But she skipped chapel 26 times in the last two quarters.  While Lottie possessed a love for learning, she despised all sorts of religious instruction.

In an essay written on Grecian Literature, she wrote, “man’s intellectual powers have ever been the theme and study of the wise” (Nettles 364).  For the unconverted Lottie, wisdom was not found in Christ but in literature and classical studies. Tom Nettles writes about her,

For Lottie, “Sunday, unlike home, was not for sitting in a church pew hearing a sermon but for lying in a haystack reading Shakespeare.  Her friends, not unprovoked by Lottie’s attitudes, considered her a skeptic.  She even insisted that the ‘D’ in her name stood for ‘devil’ instead the family name ‘Digges’ (365).

In fact, Lottie would even sign off on her poetry with the pseudonym, “Deville.”  A play on words for the word ‘devil.’  All in all, no one would have suspected that Lottie Moon would be missionary hero that she is today.

Lottie’s life reinforces the truths outlined in the story of the Rich Young Ruler (Matt 19).

  • Discipleship is not based on what we bring to Christ, it is what he gives to us.
  • Discipleship is not based on our intellect or understanding.  It is based on our faith in Christ.  Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6), and without a daily life of faith it is impossible to be the disciple that God calls us to be.
  • In truth, God is not looking for attractive people.  He is looking for people who are simply Faithful, Available, and Teachable.  God gladly uses anyone who is sold out for him.

In the case of Lottie Moon, it would take a miracle of God to change her heart of stone, into a heart of flesh, and thankfully that is exactly what happened at the end of 1858.

More tomorrow.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Darkness: The World In Which Christ Was Born

/ davidsschrock / 9 Comments

The Darkness 

While we think of Christmas as a season of light, the truth is, the birth story of Jesus Christ is filled with darkness.  Anticipating the birth of the Christ child centuries before Mary was great with child, Isaiah writes that the light that was coming into the world, came to a people shrouded in darkness (9:1-7).  Gloom, anguish, and contempt were just some of the adjectives used to describe this darkness.

Thus, in order understand the full revelation of the light which came into the world when Christ was born, we need to recognize the darkness into which our Christ was born.  Today, we will consider seven aspects of the darkness, aspects not out of God’s control, but rather sovereignly ordained such that Christ’s light would radiate all the more brilliantly.

First, when Christ was born, the word of God had not been heard for four centuries.  Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament, written in the fifth century BC.  It concludes with the statement that God would send Elijah the prophet as a forerunner for the Messiah.  But since that last pregnant statement, which would eventually be fulfilled in John the Baptist, God had been silent.  And everyone knew it.  Listen to some of the Jewish writers of the day.

Babylonian Talmud, Yomah 9b: ‘After the latter prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi had died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel, but they still availed themselves of the voice from heaven’

Josephus, Against Apion: ‘From Artaxerxes to our own times a complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets’

1 Maccabees: ‘So they tore down the altar and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them.’

Without the word of God present among them, the people walked in spiritual darkness.

Second, the people of God were under the oppressive rule of Rome.  This is evident in the birth story of Jesus.  Luke 2:1 records the census taken up by Caesar Augustus.  It was a blatant reminder that the people of Israel were owned by another.  Likewise, Herod, a descedent of Edom, ruled in Jerusalem.  Long gone were the days of a Davidic king. Much like today, soldiers walked the streets of Jerusalem.  Only they were not 19-year old Israelis with M-16’s.  They were Roman guards, called to police the city of David.

In some ways, Israel had escaped exile.  No longer did they live in Babylon.  But in many ways, they were exiles in their own country.  Even their own temple was built by a foreigner—Herod the Great was a descendent of a rival nation.  Political darkness reigned!

Third, the nation of Israel was fracturing.  Four groups in Israel sought and fought to lead the people.  (1) The Pharisees resided in Jerusalem.  They attempted to shape religious life in Israel through their traditions.  Jesus had many run-ins with these legalistic Jews, who led astray the people of God (cf. Matt 23). (2) Sadducees opposed the strict legalism of the Pharisees, and only embraced Moses law (Gen-Deut).  They rejected the resurrection, belief in angels, but still had a influential place in the temple and law courts.  (3) The Essenes, who lived in a commune near Qumran–they were the scribes who penned and preserved theDead Sea Scrolls–lived an especially pure life.  They devoted themselves to God, and prayed for God’s overthrow of Rome. (4) The Zealots were a band of brothers who did not pray for change so much as they sought violent means of overthrowing Roman rule.

The result of these four competing sects in Judaism led to constant friction, only increased by the oppressive rule of Rome.  Riots were common.  Tension was unceasing. Darkness permeated Judaism.

Fourth, the birth of Jesus came through a virgin.  Now, in our day, we celebrate Mary as an example of devotion and faith.  We send Christmas cards with creche scenes on them and sing songs praising God for this humble servant.  But it was not so then.  Matthew 1 records that Joseph, who was a righteous man, one who loved Mary, sought to divorce her quietly.  Why?  Because everyone knows how a child is conceived!  Mary’s child would grow up ridiculed as the son of an unchaste women (cf John 8:41).  A virgin birth was not a celebrated event in ancient Israel.  Darkness surrounded it!

Fifth, the census was a considerable imposition.  Living in Nazareth, Mary and Joseph lived more than 100 miles North of Bethlehem.  Yet, there was no way around it.  They were forced by legal constraint to make the arduous trip.  Without a highway, a car, a cushioned seat, or a suspension system; the teenage couple were forced to walk over hills and through streams.  While we celebrate the pilgrimmage today with illumined festivity.  This was a dark walk.

Sixth, the poverty of Mary and Joseph did not fit the royal son they had.  Not only were the conditions leading up to Christ’s birth dark, so too was his birth.  Luke 2:7 records that there was “no place for them in the inn.”  This is probably because it was filled up with travelers coming for the census; but it may also be the case that Joseph, a carpenter by trade, did not have the means to pay for or to pay extra for a room.  Money talks, right?  But it is clear, that Joseph had no bargaining power.  Mary and Joseph went to the stable, where Jesus was born and laid in a manger.  Without family or hospitality, darkness surrounded them.  

Seventh, through the hostile forces of Herod, Satan tried to kill Jesus.  Poverty was not the only source of darkness; persecution followed Jesus’ birth, so that he was constantly under threat.  Matthew 2 records the details.

Matt 2:1-8. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

 Herod, so paranoid for his own position and power that he had multiple family members executed, attempts to use the wisemen to lead him to the Christ child—not to worship, but to exterminate. When he learns that the wisemen have not complied with his scheming, he orders the execution of all the children in and around Bethlehem.

Matt 2:16. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

The Good News of Great Darkness

Darkness is everywhere in Christ’s birth, which should not come as a surprise when we think of the prophecies in the Old Testament and the conditions of the world that God created.  As John 1 says, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world, . . . yet the world did not know him.”

The reality of Christ’s darkness is not in itself comforting, but when we consider that Christ came into the darkness in order to bring light, the truth is staggering beautiful.  For we all face seasons of darkness, and God in the flesh knows exactly what that looks like and feels like.

Remembering that the light of Christ came in the darkness of night gives us hope that God can still pour light into our hearts and shine light into our lives.  No matter how dark it may be, no matter where the darkness comes from, God is the light who enlightens everyone, and has come to take up residence in the lives of those who look to Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss