Weaknesses

Weaknesses

O spirit of God,

Help my infirmities;
When I am pressed down with a load of sorrow,
perplexed and knowing not what to do,
slandered and persecuted,
made to feel the weight of the cross,
 help me, I pray thee.
If thou seest in me
any wrong thing encouraged,
any evil desire cherished,
any delight that is not thy delight,
any habit that grieves thee,
any nest of sin in my heart,
 then grant me the kiss of they forgiveness,
and teach my feet to walk the way of 
thy commandments. 
Deliver me from carking care,
 and make me a happy, holy person;
Help me to walk the separated life with
 firm and brave step,
and to wrestle successfully against weakness;
Teach me to laud, adore and magnify thee,
with the music of heaven,
And make me a perfume of praiseful gratitude 
to thee.
I do not crouch at they feet as a slave before a tyrant,
 but exult before thee as a son with a father.
Give me power to live as thy child in all my actions,
and to exercise sonship by conquering self.
Preserve me from the intoxication that comes
 of prosperity;
Sober me within I am glad with a joy that comes not from thee.
Lead me safely on to the eternal kingdom,
 not asking whether the road be rough or smooth.
I request only to see the face of him I love,
 to be content with bread to eat,
 with rainment to put on,
 if I can be brought to thy house in peace.


The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions, p.188

Pastor Russ Moyer

News-Record Obituary for Pastor Russ Moyer

See the audio player on the right for "Meditations for Pastor Russ Moyer" from Rolling Roads Baptist Church on Sunday March 15, 2015.

The Faulty Default

Jesus cannot be properly known apart from the saving work of God in the Passion (suffering, crucifixion, death, resurrection).  Why is this important?  Does anyone actually assume to know Jesus while simultaneously ignoring the passion?  I believe this is much more common than you'd think; I believe it is not only the easy thing to do, it is the "default" view of Jesus.

In Matthew 16:13-23 the main point is that Jesus "began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." This point is common to the synoptics.  We may read this and *yawn* because everyone knows this, silly. 

Yet Peter became Satan over this.  Some early versions of Christianity tried hard to explain this away.  The Epistle of Barnabas denies the whole scenario for Islam's sake.  People have claimed Jesus' goodness, virtue, and divinity while jettisoning the miraculous from the NT texts.  Many great & good call Jesus the good man who said great things we all should follow.  Even Sam Harris points to the Jesus "as revealed in the Sermon on the Mount" and urges all to follow him. 

But Jesus is clear in Matthew 16:21, and He understood this was God's agenda (23) that would not be popular for his disciples.  So we may agree with Peterson on the point, "Jesus is not a god of our own making and He is certainly not a god designed to win popularity contests."

Do we embrace Jesus' suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection as the saving work of God?  Or do we agree with Peter who said, "God forbid it"?  May we pause, consider, and believe that Jesus' life was as he said, that his sacrificial work was the work of God, and so realize that to truly know Jesus we must know his sufferings on behalf of the world.  And that is the beginning.