Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
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Usually we use this saying somewhat negatively, you’re not doing anything and you receive an invite and respond, ‘Sure, I don’t have anything better to do!’ (i.e. if you did you might not go!). However, we could also use it less facetiously and in a positive sense to mean, I’m doing such and such because I really don’t have anything better to do—this is the very best and highest thing I could be doing and so I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
In this latter sense we may use the phrase to speak of the Lord’s Day. Here at MBC we believe it is ‘the divinely appointed day of worship’ by Christ’s command (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:22; c.f. Gen 2:1-4; Ex 20:8–11). As our greatest weekly appointment with the greatest of all Beings we really oughtn’t have anything better to do! I always remind people that I’m attend worship every Lord’s Day, not because I am the pastor, but because I’m a Christian. This has been the case throughout my life and will always remain so. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.[1] Gathering each Lord’s Day is part of mere Christianity and a basic expression of Christian discipleship. I love John the apostle for many reasons. One was that he loved Jesus so much that he worshipped the Lord on His Day and in His way (as he wants to be worshipped). John even gave us the term ‘the Lord’s Day.’ It is a possessive phrase, it’s Jesus’ day, and it’s definitive (‘the’)—it is actually a one in seven appointment. What is fascinating is that, like Daniel who though in exile was still thinking on God-time (Dan 9:21), John, though he was exiled in the island of Patmos by Emperor Domitian and physically couldn’t attend worship in Ephesus because of intense persecution, still measured the time of his vision by ‘the Lord’s Day’ and what other believers were doing (Rev 1:10). If he could have been with them he would have been. Does your time revolve around God’s time or pleasure, work, family and friends? While not in the Bible I love a story of John told by Jerome (AD c.347–420). In John’s extreme old age, he was carried into church so as to be there, such was His love for the Lord’s Day and people![2] I could tell other similar stories of faithfulness by God’s people throughout history and in my own experience, like Muriel who still came to morning and evening worship in her late 90s or Sylvia who came to church as the best place for her soul the day after her husband died. I’ve always sought to be that faithful leading example to God’s people too, evening coming on crutches the day after knee surgery as a teenager. My prayer is that, like John, we’d all have nothing better to do each and every Lord’s Day. [1] Grave illness and great emergencies excepted. When I’m not at my church I’m either preaching or visiting another. [2] The original says, “The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples could barely carry him to church and he could not muster the voice to speak many words.” (Andrew Cain (translator), ‘Commentary on Galatians 6:10,’ The Fathers of the Church, St. Jerome, Commentary on Galatians. [Catholic University of America, 2010], p. 260). Cain suggests the source of the story was possibly Hegesippus's Memoirs via either Clement of Alexandria or Origen. Life 100.3 interviewed Pastor Chris, interested in our evening service. It aired several times in late June, 2024.
Many themes are traced throughout the book of Acts. There is the Spirit, Word, witness, courage, encouragement and care, perseverance, etc. One commonly overlooked area is God’s sovereignty (i.e. the doctrines of grace or predestination, election and providence, from here on simply ‘election’). This shouldn’t surprise us as Paul, Luke’s travelling companion, wrote a great deal on these doctrines in his epistles. Yet, election and evangelism are often seen as being in contradiction rather than complimentary. Examining this theme in Acts reveals this as untrue. Election undergirds evangelism, recognizing that this doctrine is not the content of our witness.
Acts, like most New Testament letters, is not written to a general unbelieving audience but a Christian one. Acts is written by Dr. Luke to Theophilus, “to have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Lk 1). We teach election, not preach it. As such, in Acts, the Gospel is always what is proclaimed to unbelievers even while Luke’s narrative is seasoned with election for the teaching of believers. Election in Acts
We also see this from a simple review of history from recent centuries. History The following all upheld election and are all likewise famous examples of evangelism.
Specifically, it teaches a humble dependence upon the Lord to fulfil such a Great Commission; it grounds us that we preach grace through faith in Christ; it assures us that our mission or fishing for men isn’t in vain, that some will indeed believe the Gospel (2 Ti 2:10- “I endure everything for the sake of the elect”; Tit 1:1); it produces comfort in affliction; and inspires worship for in the end God alone is glorified. (We recently heard of Paul's biography and testimony in Philippians 1 and were also encouraged by a visiting evangelist to use our testimony as a means of sharing the Gospel with others. This is my testimony. What is yours?).
I was born and raised in a nominal Christian family. Such nominalism, however, did not prevent the Holy Spirit preparing my heart and from hearing and responding to the Gospel. From as young as I remember I cannot recall not knowing that God existed (c.f. Ps 22:10b). Likewise, I knew that we should do what was right in His eyes. For example, around 5 years of age, my parents stopped going to church one summer. I knew this was morally wrong and so we began going to church again in the fall because I insisted. Going to church and Sunday School established many of the basics of the Faith in my life. I even stopped going to Sunday School at a very young age so that I could stay up and listen to the sermon. But belief in God, worship and good morals is not the same as believing in the Gospel; that’s a lesson that a paper clip taught me. Yes, a paperclip! One day I accompanied my father to Sketchley’s Dry Cleaners to pick up his uniform. At the counter there was small container of paper clips. When no one was looking I stole one. I broke the 9th commandment. As we walked back to the truck I felt so miserable for what I had done that I tossed that paper clip into the grass along the sidewalk. Yet, my conscience continued to convict me that I had not only sinned but was a sinner. Then Pastor Fehr, who was converted wonderfully during WWII, invited anyone from the church who might be interested in Baptism to attend a series of classes on what it meant to become a Christian and how Baptism was the ordinance to express this. You didn’t have to be a Christian to attend but could attend to explore these matters. Very simply in those classes Pastor Fehr shared from the Bible of how Jesus was sent to die for sinners and that if we repent and trust in Him Jesus would forgive our sins and grant us new life. That was enough, I did not need much convincing. I believed. Upon profession of faith I was baptized at an evening service on the Lord’s Day, December 11, 1994. I was 9 years old. Since that time God’s persevering grace kept me from straying too far from following Jesus, even during my teenage years. I wasn’t perfect but was spared many youthful sins. I continued to grow in the Faith, in a knowledge of the Scriptures, in a reliance on the Holy Spirit, all while humbly proclaiming, “I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour.”
My testimony is that simple and all of this took place when I was very young. Many Christians consider it a great privilege to be led to Christ through some type of “Damascus road experience” after having blatantly pursued a life of sin. Certainly there is great grace in these conversions, but God’s grace also works in other ways, including my experience. In the parable about of the vineyard workers from Matthew 20 these ‘Damascus road’ conversions would be those perhaps hired at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Responding to God’s providential care and grace at a young age you might say that I was a worker called “early in the morning.” Though the attitude of the early workers is portrayed negatively, in practicality it is a blessing to be called early and it is a privilege to know Jesus from a young age and have longer to get to know Him. I count it as God’s wonderful grace that I was positioned in a place where I could respond to the Gospel early to know and follow Jesus. |
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