Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The
Reformer's Fire
Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones uses a passage from Genesis several times in his book on Revival. That passage is Genesis 26:18. "Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he gave them the same names which his father had given them." For that great evangelical Doctor in the English Church this verse had special merit to encourage us to measure our modern orthodoxy with that of the historic church.
The lessons of history may not always be welcome, but nevertheless if we are willing to listen and learn to the voices of the past, we may better keep ourselves on level ground. I think it was providential that I was led by poor eyesight into the intrigues of history and novelties of literature which could best be found in books. In 1962, when my local high school was closed by the State of Ohio, the only good thing in my mind was that the new school would have a different library. And after five years in Junior and Senior High at Huntsville, I can truthfully say that I had read most of the library at a rate of seven or eight books a week over that short five years.
When I got to college, I knew what the professors were talking about and was able to tell when they chose to distort materials for their own convenience. Like the pioneers who drug a rope behind the wagon as they headed west across the prairie, I could to look over my shoulder to see if the historic and literary course being steered was straight. Sadly, I began to come to the conclusion that the modern course was going more in circles than anything else. I began to learn that modern man feels he has come of age. God was supposedly dead, the past was irrelevant, and the future too dreadful to contemplate. Unfortunately, without a past, without a hopeful future, man is dreadfully alone, fully capable of doing what he will with whatever is at hand.
Faced with this pressure, many ignore the intellectual problem and worry only about eating, drinking and being merry. Many people spend their time, treasure and talents entertaining themselves so that they can avoid thinking about life and its meaning. In this circumstance, it would be well to learn of an old German term: "Zietgeist". This term comes from two German words meaning spirit and time. Together they mean: "Spirit of the Age". This term may then be applied to the trend of thinking of any time, place and culture.
It is this temporary worldly age spirit that Jesus, Paul and the other saints who revealed God's word in their testaments would have us forget. Instead we are to consider the God of heaven and earth who revealed Himself through the Law, the prophets, the wisdom, gospels and letters of His ancient saints.
How little do we appreciate the labors of the saints, or even of our grandparents. I have at home an antique butter church from early in this century. Into the glass bottle you would pour your day old butter-milk just on the verge of spoiling. Then you would turn the handle. Once when I was little I made butter with a quart jar. I think I shook that jar all afternoon to get a little pat of butter for some cinnamon toast. Today, we just go to the store and buy some bread spread concoction which may even include the cinnamon.
Isn't life ever so much easier? Why my grandmother lived a life closer to that of the time of Christ than to my own. She wrote letters every day of her life to her sisters and relatives. Once when I was in the Army, I received a thirteen page letter from her, all in flawless penmanship. She spent three pages taking me to task for the half page of scribbled print I had hurried off to her after several warnings from the family!
I think though, that she would have liked the computer age which makes writing ever so much easier. But, there are limits. Three weeks ago, halfway through my Saturday afternoon and evening sessions in preparation for Sunday, there was a Thunder and Lightning storm. I had to shut down everything. All of a sudden I realized that I was so dependent upon the modern equipment that I might not be able to do my work! Fortunately, the storm blew over and I better appreciate the labors of Calvin, Augustine, Paul and all the rest. I did come up with a penciled half page of notes which I might have used in desperation
But, can you imagine writing by candlelight with a goose feather pen. At least if you ran out of feather nibs you could slip out to the barn, creep up behind a sleeping fowl and pluck another pen or two.
Every job was once hard work before this century. And perhaps part of our problem today is that we do not really know what hard work is. Before people began a project in ancient times, they counted the cost and calculated the effort. This is why the people who were cleaning the Temple Mount in preparation for the new Temple were so discouraged. In verse seven of our text, do you know what it took to level ground without modern instruments?
Well, this is how the ancient Egyptians leveled the foundation of their pyramids. They dug a ditch, then carried hundreds of gallons of water to flood the bottom of the ditch. Once the water had risen to the level where their engineers wanted the top of the foundation, they pounded stakes to mark that level. Then they had to wait for the water to evaporate and the mud to dry. A few years ago before I hired a brick layer to finish our car port, a friend and I leveled the site by this Egyptian method. Today, some contractors even use a water system to level suspended ceilings.
Now consider the task on Mount Zion that faced Zerubbabel. Once the clearing of the rubbish was done, the leveling task was next, then the foundation and finally the building itself. It was a daunting task and through Zechariah God promised the Jews that Zerubbabel would fulfill the promised task of rebuilding God's Temple.
In our passage for today we are shown that that reconstruction was accomplished through two key ingredients: the Spirit of God and the labors of His people. In the symbolism of the oil we see the presence of the Spirit and in the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel we see the hard work of God's agent. In verse fourteen Zechariah summarizes this prophecy: "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth."
This holds true in our day and time as well, even as we labor to rebuild the true church in our appointed place. As then, there is much labor to be done. As then, we must realize the God's Spirit must enable us and bless the work done in His Name. But hard work there is aplenty. In order for us to find one family where the Spirit is at work, we must visit and encourage one hundred! Sometimes the Lord leads key people directly to us, but there are lost sheep that we must be willing to go look for.
A month ago one fourth of this congregation gathered to go visiting door to door. That took time, but do you know how rare it is for any congregation in this century to put 25% of its membership on the street! Well, we didn't see any immediate fruits of that labor, so we tried again yesterday. Three of us gathered together. I had chosen sixty names out of six hundred possibilities. We had to take some short cuts. As we went out, we looked for new neighborhoods. We found one and besides reaching some of those on our list, we blitzed that whole neighborhood of twenty-some homes.
There is so much more that we could do with more help! Who is anointed to serve the Lord of the earth? Yes, it is the Spirit, but what about the saints? What labors are you willing to invest in the building up of Christ's Kingdom? May the Lord lead you to consider the essential tasks of rebuilding His Church.
Resources Used:
Baldwin, Joyce G. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Zechariah.
Bently, Michael. Welwyn Commentary Series: Building for God's Glory.
Boice, James M. The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary.
Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. Revival.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213
Joel01a 18 October 92
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