Author Archives: ivanjamestruman

“I am Not the Christ” – A needed confession for those who try to do it all.

Posted on by
2

I am enjoying an easy advance reader copy of “Crazy Busy” by Kevin DeYoung. I plan to use his forthcoming book due out late September to lead a small group discussion. For today, let’s take Kevin’s advice and confess with John the Baptist:

“And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” (John 1:19, 20)

There is a big difference between caring and doing. We should care about many things in the world, but caring does not mean that I must do something about it. I can do some things, but not all things. Not even Jesus did everything that could have been done. This is not a call for indifference or negligence but rather a call for resting in Christ and not in your own strength.

What area in your life at this very moment needs this confession? Besides, it’s Friday!

The Law drives Lawbreakers to Mercy

Posted on by
Reply

At our church over the summer we’ve been taking each Lord’s Day to examine our hearts with one of the ten commandments, each in their own order. The goal is to feel in our hearts the same way David felt in his heart for the Law. Psalm 119:77 says, “Let your mercy come to me that I may live; for your law is my delight.” David saw that the fulfillment of the Law was beyond him. He also saw that the Man behind the Law was none other than the one who would show mercy to anyone who asked for it. When David saw the Law he saw the Righteous Character of God in Christ, which included a merciful Savior.

One for each Sunday, here are some of our corporate prayers:

Our Confession as Law-Breakers

I am a murderer because I have used angry, soul-killing words. Murder is ultimately an offense against God because humans are made in the image of God. To assault a human is to assault God. Through Christ, God forgive Me!

I am a whore (Exodus 34:11-16; Ezekiel 6:8-10; Revelation 17:1-6) because I have been unfaithful in my devotion and covenant with God. I agreed to love him and no other god. But anytime that I affectionately put my trust, hope, refuge, or identity in anything else than God, it is spiritual adultery and a betrayal against God. Through Christ, God forgive Me!

 I am a thief, a glory-stealer, a reputation-robber, a tare-trickster who tips the scale to my advantage. I am discontent with what God has allotted to me. I cannot be patient and wait and work and trust and prayerfully ask for my needs and desires. I steal what does not belong to me because at times, I do not trust God to provide, and I do not love others as I ought. Through Christ, God forgive Me!

I am a liar, an information tweeker, a smooth talking lexicon of disinformation: I add or omit to make myself look good and my neighbor bad. I’ll say anything or say nothing at all to create a false-positive perception of myself and a false-negative perception of a certain other. Even when I do tell the truth, I do not do it in love, for the edification of another. I am rash with my words, causing division and discord. I gossip and slander. With my tongue I set the world on fire because I covet:  I want what is not mine, and I don’t want what is God’s: His Glory. Through Christ, God forgive Me!

And for this coming Sunday, August 18: 

Our heavenly Father, at the heart of it all is a coveting heart; a heart that is driven with discontent and unbelief. We covet because we want what you will not give. So we take what we think we have a right to – we believe we are entitled to whatever we believe we have earned, or whatever we believe you have failed to provide. We covet things and reputation because we feel insecure or defenseless or lonely or ugly or poor or helpless. Coveting breeds Jealousy and Envy in the heart. O that our longing for safety, self-worth, value, and identity, would find Jesus Christ to be everything that we need. Would that our hearts be cleansed of worthless and unsatisfying idols.

Through Christ, God forgive Me!

 

10 Things What Submission is Not

Posted on by
Reply

Since Jesus submitted himself to his Father and to the cross, submission can’t be a bad thing unless someone is lying or someone has abused their position of loving authority; but even then that does not make submission bad it just makes the experience of submission a bad one. But principally, submission is a good thing and is best for both husband and wife. A husband submits by lovingly taking the lead to lay down his life for his wife (Eph. 5:21, 25-31). And a wife submits by lovingly following and supporting her husband’s leadership to Christ (Eph. 5:21-24).

Therefore, for a wife, submission is not . . . Let Jennifer Smidt speak to this:

1. Simply or singularly a marriage issue

Submission is God’s design. It is a reflection of the interaction within the Trinity. Whether single or married, submission is a core heart issue revealing one’s dependence upon God. For a wife, it demonstrates her willingness to yield to her husband’s lead in obedience and belief of God’s covenant to her.

2. Degrading

Women have been lured into believing that submission is somehow humiliating. It does not bestow second-class status. It was Christ’s glory to submit to his father’s plan of redemption for his children; it is a wife’s glory to submit to God’s plan of provision and protection for her life.

3. Silent

When submission is depicted as voiceless oppression, both men and women lose. God declared that men need help and to leave them without our prayerful input is to deny them help – the very thing God declared they need. Submission uses her voice to speak words of grace and life into her husband’s life.

4. Fearful

A fearful woman will have a very hard time submitting to her husband. A fearful woman isn’t actively trusting God with her life which makes entrusting a man with your future nearly impossible. Submission to Christ frees a woman from fear as she rests in God’s character and provision for her delivered through her husband.

5. Joyless

A joyless wife is an ungrateful wife. Submission says, as Jesus did, “Not my will but yours be done.”  There is great joy found in doing the will of God. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, joy bubbles out of a heart that is thankful to God for who he is and what he gives.

6. Stifling

When submissive women are portrayed as stunted or limited in their freedom, they are being lied about. Submission is a safe place of protection where we are able to express our gifts and creativity for the glory of God and benefit of our marriages.

7. Dumb

It is not a dumb thing to do, nor does it make you dumb. There is no “I get to check my brain at the door because he is in charge” thinking as the world often portrays. Submission is the response of an intelligent woman who knows her Bible and believes that God’s design is best.

8. Weak

Submissive women are not mousy. They will not settle for doormat status. The posture of submission  is strength willingly placed under the authority of another. Our husbands need our best. Our best is the power that comes from Christ alone as we depend on him to embody Christ-likeness to our men.

9. Automatic

A submissive spirit does not kick in the moment you say, “I do”. It is a heart response that all women begin to cultivate as we submit to Christ first. Wives will have their hearts exposed in the area of submission to God. A wife who submits cheerfully and graciously to her husband will always have at her core a heart knelt in submission to Christ.

10. Self-Focused

A truly submissive heart doesn’t need to be concerned with taking care of herself. The submitted heart does not ask, “What’s in it for me?” but rather, “How can I serve God and my husband with my life?”

Keeping An Appointment to Not Be Busy

Posted on by
Reply

Quoting Mark 4:19 where Jesus says that it’s the cares of the world that is killing my faith, today, I will not care about the cares of this world. Kevin DeYoung, in his forthcoming book, “Crazy Busy,” says,

“For most of us, it isn’t heresy or rank apostasy that will derail our profession of faith. It’s all the worries of life. You’ve got car repairs. Then your water heater goes out. The kids need to see a doctor. You haven’t done your taxes yet. Your checkbook isn’t balanced. You’re behind on thank you notes. You promised your mother you’d come over and fix a faucet. You’re behind on wedding planning. Your boards are coming up. You have more applications to send out. Your dissertation is due. Your refrigerator is empty. Your lawn needs mowing. Your curtains don’t look right. Your washing machine keeps rattling. This is life for most of us, and it’s choking the spiritual life out of us.” (pg. 29).

So today I leave my cares behind and spend the day with Cheryl in Chicago, walking, talking, picnicking, riding our bikes, napping, and going to one of Cheryl’s favorite places to eat:

It’s not careless to not care so much, it’s trusting and resting in Christ’s finished work. I don’t have to do it all.

I’m out-a here!

Dear Bathsheba,

Posted on by
2

“Dear Bathsheba,

It was a blessing to see you in the assembly – I’ve missed you so much. But I understand, well, not really, but you know what I mean, how difficult it was for you to come and worship. When the choirmaster announced the first hymn, I was nearly floored – in fact, I was speechless when he called us all to sing, “To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David, When Nathan The Prophet Went To Him, After He Had Gone In To Bathsheba” (Psalm 51: verse one in the Hebrew Bible). My heart sunk for you, and I’ll have to admit, I was a little embarrassed for you to say the least. Given that this was our song for worship, I’m glad that we had our recent conversations together; they have been used of the Lord to help heal both of our hearts and prepare us for singing. I still have hope for more healing time with you, but I want to speak to the conversation that I overheard after worship between Simeon and David, as you stood by hearing what seemed to be an unfair benefit in the lives of so many at your expense.

When Simeon the Choirmaster expressed his own brokenness, as he prepared the choir to lead that hymn, I saw the expression on your face and remembered what you shared with me. Now I get it. It does seem painfully awkward to hear people express ‘thanks’ to David for writing that hymn, even if it was from the Lord. And Yes, it helped even me to confess my sins to God and feel the joy of my salvation again. But it does seem so unfair when such mercy flows to others at such personal cost. I mean, so many in Israel this week, men and women, have started to repent because the king, your new husband, publicly repented. But you’re still bearing the scars of rape, the murder of your husband, public humiliation, the grief of family members on both sides, the loss of some of your friends who now ignore you, and most painfully, the death of your baby. I almost want to say with you, “Who cares if anyone repents and gets right with God – not at the expense of such personal grief and pain.” But you are more like David’s future Son than you realize, whom David calls Lord. He will bear such pain and anguish like no man ever has so that sinners like your king and husband, and yes, you and me, can repent and be cleansed of our sins and have eternal joy with God. It’s a sweet truth that David’s Lord would suffer so deeply so that we become the beneficiary. At his expense – we get to sing.

Yes, I know that it hurts so bad that you could kill him for murdering your husband – I too have wanted to take justice into my own hands – literally, around his neck and avenge you. And yes, when it’s personal suffering that benefits the lives of others, it just doesn’t seem worth it to wait on God’s unfolding plan to exalt his mercy and love.

But my dear Bathsheba, I want to share with you what I believe will help our hearts as we wrestle with the pain and loss of the past year, and our desire to be happy again in our salvation.

1. Let’s believe that time does not heal all wounds, but the timeless presence of the Lord does. Scars never go away, but neither does the Lord!

2. Let’s believe that when David’s Lord comes, he will lead us beside the still waters and restore our souls – he will lead us into everlasting joy.

3. Let’s believe that if we want pure, unmitigated justice for David, then we are inviting the full wrath of God on ourselves.

4. Let’s believe that God is Just, that whatever wrath is poured out on David’s Lord for David’s sin, that God is also Just for us as well. God’s Justice is so perfect that there is nothing left to punish, not in David, not in us.

5. Let’s enjoy the forgiveness of our sins as much as David enjoys forgiveness. I know it creeps up on you, the bitterness and rage when you see David happy as a lark, but if he can’t be happy in his forgiveness then neither can we. Please don’t hear these words as static and void of empathy for your suffering, rather, hear them with stretching hard to see a happy God who delights in showing mercy to us all.

6. Let’s believe that it is worth it to suffer and consequently others are drawn closer to God for it. This is perhaps the most painful thing to contemplate and accept at this moment, but let’s fix our eyes upon this Week’s unblemished lambs, who will bleed-out their lives so that we may go free.

7. And most tenderly, I want you to know that you are not alone, you do not have to suffer in silence, and I will weep with you as long as it takes.

Let’s keep praying to God as David instructed us, “Do good to Zion [your people] in your good pleasure” (Psalm 51:18).

Daddy loves you so much,                                                                                                       Eliam

p.s.                                                                                                                                 Thanks for last night’s supper – the fig and pomegranate salad was delicious. We’ll babysit Solomon for you tomorrow evening so that you and David can have a date. See you soon sweetie.

Have you ever said to someone, “How Could You!?”

Posted on by
Reply

All of us have had our expectations crushed by some deviant behavior committed by someone we care about. We believe that with the right amount of teaching and influence, that a certain someone is beyond the ability to stumble and fall. The judgment, “That’s so beneath you,” is one way of saying, “You’re better than that.”

But consider two presumptions that you would have to believe:

1. That humans are capable of excelling beyond the ability to fall and fail.

2. That you have never done anything yourself to warrant the same response.

Sure, we are disappointed, even saddened and grieved when someone we care about has broken our hearts with a trespass of some sort. We cry in their presence and do not hide our pain. This is good and normal. It means we really do want to see excellence and safe passage for another. But this is where rightful longings for good behavior and wrongful beliefs in the ability of man collide. This is where you can either bring hope into someone’s brokenness, or add insult to injury.

When God approached the first couple that failed the first failure, what did he say? I can tell you that he did not say,

“HOW COULD YOU? After all that I have done for you, after all the hard work I went through to provide such a cushy setting, after I have invested money, time, and energy into you two – how could you just throw it all away? This is so beneath you .  . . I’m speechless . . . I’m at a loss for words to describe my disappointment with you . . . you beat everything.”

Whew! Can you imagine hearing that? Sounds self-centered and ego driven doesn’t it? It sounds like someone is a little too obsessed with entitlement. Invest – expect a certain return. No return – are you ready for this?

“You were a bad investment – I should never have stuck my neck out for you. Had I known in advance that this would have been my return, you would not have gotten a dimes’ worth of love from me – you have turned out to be a waste of my hard work.”

I thank God that though I grieve him with my failures, my sins, my wasteful moments and episodes (for I do believe that when we sin and fail, we fail to “redeem the time” that we were given, and did not make the most of a good opportunity [Eph. 5:16]), he does not pour salt into an open wound, causing me to feel rejected and dismissed. No, he calls me to confess my sin and failure. He instructs my heart to consider the path of repeated missteps of unbelief that led to the inevitable fall. He beckons me to approach his throne of grace and forgiveness. He promises new mercies for another morning, new beginnings for another day. He does not sulk with self-righteous indignation. He is not surprised. He is not self-deceived. He knows that without him I can do nothing right. He knows that in a moment of blind stupidity, I can do the unthinkable. He is not self-deluded with grandiose aspirations that does not take into account my wandering heart that is prone to leave the God I love. My God is wide-awake to what he has invested in: The Everlasting Glory of His Grace that will be enjoyed and praised by broken sinners. “O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.”

Yes, God calls me to holiness, without which, I will not see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). But he knows who he’s dealing with, and he knows how much I need him – thank God! This is why he sent is son, Jesus Christ. When by faith Christ stands in my place, the Father is able to say to me, “How Could I Not Love You!?”

Adultery and Coveting – there’s a little bit of Hugh Hefner in my heart, sadly.

Posted on by
Reply

Come on guys – let’s visit the good news at Sinai: God says to not commit adultery and to not covet our neighbor’s wife (Exodus 20:14, 17). Why does God command me to be content with the wife that he gave me? Because God knows the propensity of my heart – he knows that I will not be content with the wife that he gave me. And God knows that if I allow discontent to swallow my heart, not only will I be discontent with Him, but my heart will grow and grow to become a selfish beast that will exploit women, turning them into toys for personal pleasure. To be truthful, as a man I can feel the temporal pleasure of what it would be like, as much as lies within me, to never allow my heart to feel discontent sexually. Like a hundred options for toothpaste at the department store: get tired of one, switch to another! Or better yet: buy them all!!

Hugh Hefner is famous, wealthy, and dripping with gorgeous seductive women all over him because this is the personification of a lustful heart that has been set free to be as covetousness as it pleases. It’s where your heart and mine would be but for the grace and peace of God that satisfies the discontented, coveting heart. God told me for my good not to covet my neighbor’s wife. In lovingly commanding me to obey him, he tells me that he sees what, I am at times unwilling to admit: and that is that there is a little bit of Hugh Hefner in my heart, sadly. Apart from restraining grace, there is an idol factory in the heart that is active enough to manufacture the ugly icon that this man has become. And at the same time, the lust of the flesh wants to know what it would be like to be an aging man with all the playmates that money can buy.

But do I believe, trust in Jesus more than my flesh? Do you believe that Jesus is dead-serious when he says that it would be better for you to go through life as a one-eyed, one-armed man and enter his eternal pleasures whole, than to live this life like Hugh Hefner and lose your soul? (Matthew 5:27-30). I trust Jesus. I not only trust Jesus, I turn to him for the righteousness that I am not capable of producing. On my own, I’ll never be able to live as I ought – so I need forgiveness of sins and I need his Spirit to produce godly affections that are in line with his.

BTW – if you don’t trust Jesus then you have to believe that Jesus is lying. Are you willing to bet your eternal soul on that? Dear Mr. Hefner, if I can be forgiven so can you. There’s more than enough grace at the cross for those who turn away from their sin and by faith turn to Christ for all the righteousness that is required. Turn away from coveting and taking what is not yours and believe that Christ is better than unbridled sexual fantasies. “At his right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

One of my most favorite quotes

Posted on by
2

Charles Spurgeon – 1834-1892

He was the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for thirty years,  the most famous pastor of his day – and a Reformed Baptist.  His preaching was powerful to the winning of souls to Christ.  What was the gospel that he preached that brought thousands to Christ?  What was his life-long confession? Read what Spurgeon describes as his salvation at the age of 16.

When I was coming to Christ,  I thought I was doing it all myself,  and though I sought the Lord earnestly,  I had no idea the Lord was seeking me.  I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul – when they were,  as John Bunyan says,  burnt into my heart as with a hot iron.  One week-night,  when I was sitting in the house of God,  I was not thinking much about the preacher’s sermon,  for I did not believe it.  The thought struck me,  “How did you come to be a Christian?”  I sought the Lord.  “But how did you come to seek the Lord?”  The truth flashed across my mind in a moment – I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him.  I prayed,  thought I,  but then asked myself,  “How came I to pray?”  I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures.  “How came I to read the Scriptures?  I did read them,  but what led me to do so?”  Then,  in a moment,  I saw that God was at the bottom of it all,  and that He was the Author of my faith,  and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me,  and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day,  and I desire to make this my constant confession,

I ascribe my change wholly to God . . . I know nothing,  nothing again that is more humbling than this doctrine of election.  I have sometimes fallen prostrate before it when endeavoring to understand it.  But,  when I came near it,  and the one thought possessed me – ‘God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation’ – I was staggered with the mighty thought;  and from the dizzy elevation down came my soul,  prostrate and broken,  saying,  ‘Lord,  I am nothing,  I am less than nothing.  Why me?  Why me?

 

 

 

You Have Got to be Kidding Me?!

Posted on by
3

A few years ago as I was reflecting upon, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church,” (Eph. 5:22ff) I thought about Christ’s owning my guilt as an act of love. And then it hit me: “Ivan, if you are to love Cheryl, you are to own her guilt, in some part.” Astonished, I blurted, “You have got to be kidding me?!”

There is something unique that the husband bears that the wife doesn’t. In his headship, he is to so love his wife as Christ did/does the church, that he is willing to own her brokenness as his own. ”He bore our sins in his own body” – the innocent voluntarily became guilty so that the guilty may become innocent by faith = this is the gospel. How then does a husband fulfill his headship in this way, modeled after Christ?

1. With discernment and patience, he will assume the role of “guilty” so that through his voluntary self-humbling (Phil. 2:7ff), his wife will go free. It means owning her failures as your own. It means saying sorry for something that you believe you didn’t do. It means taking full responsibility for the broken condition or impasse that is in the marriage. It means to lay down your Lawyer License of Self-Defense and accept insult and injury – Jesus did all this and more for his wife! How many husbands have ever thought to apply 1 Peter 2:23 or Mt. 5:10, 11 to his marriage? Or Romans 12:14-21? The wife is called to this as well but not as head – which means the husband is to initiate – he is to lead the way so that his family follows Christ in owning the brokenness of the church.

2. Secondly, since they are one flesh and no man ever hated, rejected, turned away from his own flesh (Eph. 5), he will believe that he is not a healthy man unless his wife is healthy and whole, spiritually and emotionally. If she is sick and worn, then he is too. If she is hurting then he should be too. If she is weak and down-trodden, then he is too. If she believes that their marriage is in trouble, then he must believe it too. He cannot cut off his arm without bleeding to death. The husband simply cannot separate her pain, her brokenness from his own and then blame her for making their marriage a paraplegic. His must learn to either rise up with his wife or go down with her.

When he loves his wife this way by grace, and not perfectly of course, this love “sanctifies” her through the washing of the Word, cleansing her from the stains of the Fall. In the end, he gets the wife that he wanted all along, like Christ. Paul did not say, Husbands, “rule your wife,” he said to love her. Love sacrifices if it does anything at all. When husbands learn and apply the paradox to their marriage, “You lose your life, you keep it. You keep your life, you lose it” – they will find that what they wanted in a wife is right there. A man wants respect and admiration – he wants to feel like he is saving his wife from a wild beast that would harm her. He wants to know in his heart that his wife would follow him no matter what – but he can’t get this by lording over her. He has to pick up a cross and die for her. What Glorious Mystery!?

7 Steps to Murder Someone without Pulling the Trigger?

Posted on by
2

Have you ever got up in the morning and pondered,

“Who am I going to murder today with my tongue?” Of course not. But oh how often we slay fellow humans because we did not begin the day with pre-meditated love. To be sure, if our hearts are not set on love, they will nestle down into a justified bunker where we launch murderous words like grenades over a wall.

After reading Exodus 2:11-14 and Matthew 5:21-26, I come up with this:

7 Steps to Murder Someone without Pulling the Trigger?

1.     See or Perceive an Injustice. (like Moses did)

2.     Feel indignation and anger. (like Moses did)

(So far, you have not murdered. But here comes the cocking of the trigger in the heart and on the tongue. Anger can either go godly at this point or ungodly, depending on what one believes about the future justice of God, the humility of the heart, and the slowness to anger that tempers words and attitudes)

3.     Believe that you are innocent of what you judge. (like Moses did)

4.     Believe that you have a unique right to engage any wrong that you see or perceive. (like Moses did)

5.     Don’t Look Up at the one who sees and hears everything. Forget that Christ is Judge of all. (like Moses did not)

6.     Feel that your life, or the life of someone important to you, is more valuable than the life of others. (like Moses valued the life of his kindred over the life of the Egyptian. If Moses were consistent, he would not have verbally engaged his Hebrew brothers, he would have murdered the one who was guilty of picking the fight)

7.     Use speech that communicates that someone’s life is worthless. (Moses used his hands but Jesus saw the emotion that caused the hands to murder – that’s why the emotion itself is just as wrong as the act).

In his opening sermon, Jesus aims at the heart. The real intention of the Law was the pre-murderous emotions and dispositions that lie behind the act of murder. Sinful anger can be white-hot rage or cool and passive contempt. The kind of anger that Jesus is talking about here is the kind that ends up screaming at the referee who makes a judgment call that is harmful to our team and then with contempt we call him a name and treat his existence as a human as worthless or good for nothing. Then, when the same ref makes a bad call that actually turns good for our team, we celebrate his stupidity that adds to our score. God sees that kind of double-minded wickedness.

Still again, sinful anger can be silent, passive, and smug in its contempt towards others, seeing others as worthless rubbish because of wealth, education, race, gender, or anything that you use to feel superior over others.

We become offended at minor snubs, and minor acts of disrespect. We rage at people who cut us off in traffic and then hurl words that imply worthlessness.  Anger and contempt are interior states of the heart that can lead to murder. John says, Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). Behind murder lies the judgment, the conviction that someone who has failed us or wronged us deserves to die. (oops! I just convicted myself, for I have wronged God and deserve to die. Will I now extend the same mercy that I want?)

Sinful anger, that emotion gone wild and apart from God’s restraining grace would have led to physical murder, often pivots on the hearts belief about justice. It is not sinful to be angry over real sin. We’re commanded to be angry over falsehood and anything that is contrary to godliness (Psalm 4:4, 5; Eph. 5:25-27). But godly anger becomes murderous sinful anger when we feel justified to use words or actions that convey contempt and hatred because we refuse to wait for God’s justice upon the transgressor.

But see what God has done for us as the apostle Peter preaches the gospel:

Acts 2:22-24, 36-41

A.   God executes his son in our place

B.   And men murdered Jesus Christ

B`So that Murderers (Moses, Paul, you, and me)

A` May not be executed

Now that’s good news indeed!