AFFECTIONS

Hosea 5: 1-15

The Reformer's Fire
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Exposition by Max A Forsythe

Question 47:
What is forbidden in the first commandment?

Answer 47:
The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying, the true God, as God, and our God; and the giving the worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone.

A few years ago a group of people decided to create what they called a "misery index". Now this was intended to imitate the governmental measure of the consumer price index but instead meant to focus on less wholesome activity that supposedly made people's lives far worse By contrast there are in this country fond memories of better times. One news writer wrote this week about the America celebrated in Jimmy Stewart's classic movie It's A Wonderful Life. In it he observed that this movie only became popular after the advent of television. In his argument he claims that the older movies focused on a local, down home America where every problem focused on the community at hand.

By contrast he supposes that with the advent of television, we have begun to focus more on "empire" or global concerns which makes people nostalgic for a more simple time where local problems could indeed be addressed without the interference by big brother, big government or big business. We all know that I have been known to be sympathetic for a less corporate America and have used many preaching examples of small town and farmstead experience. As I come to the text of Hosea today I am reminded that in the history of Israel, they too had their local communities and their several kingdoms before they were swallowed up in the empire building of Middle Eastern politics. If we consider their true condition before and after the submersion of their politics to the providential march of history, we see that when they controlled their lives and their communities, they were not in any better shape then when they did not.

Always the challenge was to maintain the integrity of their covenant relationship with the God of heaven. They failed miserably in this endeavor. While the American experience seems to have been an improvement we must still consider that almost every single church founded in America since the Pilgrims has gone through a similar Israel experience. Left to our ownsome inworking out the meaning of the gospel of grace, we have failed just as much as these ancient Israelites condemned by Hosea. Our affections are directed towards other objects that we would raise to the status of gods. Consider baseball, apple pie, hot dogs and all the other symbols of the American dream. We too like the citizens of Ephraim turn to the worldly powers. Just as all the still independent states in the world today turn to the Almighty American dollar, so the people of Hosea's time counted on the strength of Assyria!

As worldly affections go, our Larger Catechism considers a long list of

"inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things, and taking them off from him in whole or in part."
In the prooftexting of eighteen common theological temptations, the confession well proves the total failure of human affections to the loving, caring and saving God of heaven who would admonish us to turn from the vain things that would charm us most and to focus our love, adoration, praise and honor and glory on Him alone. I have taken the liberty of grouping these eighteen theological temptations into four simple headings as we continue our four week mini-series on mankind's complete and utter failure to even keep the reasonable constraints of the First Commandment. Well should we learn that even this minimal commandment shows us the necessity of God's keeping us and saving us from all that we really could be!

The first problem this morning involves our group theologies as we gather into churches to worship the Lord God of heaven. The catechism mentions: vain credulity, unbelief, heresy and misbelief in this regard. Well does the Apostle John write in his first letter to the churches:

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
Well did P.T. Barnum observe that you could fool all of the people part of the time, and part of the people all of the time. The vain credulity mentioned in the catechism is nothing more than mere gullibility.

By this we mean that most people will believe almost anything if people they respect propose it. I remember when I first tried to be ordained into the gospel ministry. The most popular theological books were: I'm Okay, You're Okay and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. My parents didn't raise just any fool, they had early agreed to train their children not to follow the crowd. So we were always admonished to think things through for ourselves. In my first congregation I preached the then mandatory sermon on the foibles of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. My working title only served to deepen my problems with the liberals of that ear. I called my polemic: "Jonathan Livingston Gullible" and argued that the humanistic perfection imagined by the pagan philosopher who wrote the book was impossible. I also pointed out that the pursuit of perfection could only lead to the Devil's precincts since the then popular theologies held little regard to the necessary saving graces of our triune God.

Vain credulity, unbelief, heresy and misbelief are all related and if you consider the doctrinal stance of most churches today their teachings belie any familiarity of the doctrines of grace which we are obligated to preach if we intend to be faithful to our God and King. Now please understand, I have known many kind and caring liberals and I am certain that very many of these heretics will probably end up in heaven, just as the early church fathers who all seemed to have their own particular heresy. However, the second and third generation of liberals have little or no chance of hearing the gospel of grace and as the New Age dusks more and more widely, the Dark Pagan Age that is coming has less and less affinity for the Light of Christ.

Our second set of problems relates to the pessimistic premillennialism which permeates much of the charismatic and evangelical edge of the Christian Church. Well do our confessional words of:

"distrust, despair, incorrigibleness and insensibleness under judgments, hardness of heart, pride and presumption"
describe the incredible material witness of the popular Christian community. Last summer, I was sent by mail a printed expose of the fundamentalist christian right wing in politics and media machinations. I felt the unidentified author was very much on the mark in his evaluation of the twin Jimmy's style of fleecing the flock and building secular financial empires at the expense of Christ's own Church. My only regret was that he has not provided a similar treatment of the humanistic control of the liberal left wing community. How the world conquered and controls the church could be a best seller by any media standards. The simple fact that much of the conservative edge of the Christian community supports the reestablishment of mid-eastern Zionism is sad beyond belief. Even worse is their abject refusal to consider any biblical challenge to the most common beliefs, teachings and hypocritical lifestyles.

A third area of problems exists in our Christian understanding of "carnal security", the tempting of God and our using unlawful means and trusting in lawful means. In this week's World magazine there is compelling story about a Pastor Lamb who leads a congregation inside non-capitalistic China. In a land where Christ's true church has no property, no legality and must suffer regular persecution to the point of death, there is little carnal security so the focus of the house churches must be spiritual.

In the same issue, the editor Joel Belz describes his growing up in a believing congregation where the common treasures of church buildings, schools and Christian community had to be reconstructed in much the same manner as we are endeavoring. Even as we attempt to recreate a loving, caring Christian fellowship we are faced with temptations to rush God's timetable. So far we have held back from tempting God and we have tried to use means and methods of building up Christ's Church which He would encourage us to use.

By tempting God I would understand this phrase to mean that we have not irresponsibly challenged those institutions who could easily crush a small church. We have also been financially responsible. I know of one church start where it was rare for the treasurer to even have a $150.00 in the church account and the group always lived from hand to mouth. You all know that if you have a bad month, the church will still be here if you cannot providentially pay your tithe! I well remember the crash of another upwardly mobile evangelical congregation where the whole structure and organization came crashing down suddenly, lives, careers and reputations were lost amidst public embarrassment.

Yes, I know that the assets we have accumulated do not define us as a Christian Church and has been prayed publicly on several occasions we do not know sometimes if we will be here another year. But thus far, the Lord has cared for us and guided us carefully through the many temptations to grow an organization that once successful by the world's standards may not look like a church in God's eyes.

Our last area of concern involves the character of God's own people, you and me. What is the focus of our lives, are we guilty of the

"carnal delights and joys or a corrupt, blind and indiscreet zeal, have we shown lukewarmness and deadness in the things of God".
Certainly you know your hearts and having known many of you for more than two years I know things that I would rather not know even as you know me well enough not to brag about the saintliness of your pastor. We all have our failings and at some point in this catalog of affections we must all fall short of fulfilling this first commandment to have no other gods before the Lord of heaven.

The carnality of human existence guarantees our taking of pleasure in places where we ought not to have it. I know that I have spoken too often of getting published and hope that this year's attempt has not put you off. Once I have succeeded, you don't have to take a free copy if you don't want to! I know that I enjoy the internet ministry more than I ought and like too many computer geeks have not taken to time to be a friend and confidant. Forgive me for that and many other failings to put the things of heaven at a higher priority. Of course we well know that fools rush in where angels fear to tread as one popular proverb goes. And so, our zeal must be measured, regular and constant so that we might not be found lukewarm or dead to the things of God if He should suddenly return. May the Lord our God bless us in helping and allowing us to keep the constraints and demands of loving Him above all else.

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