-Douglas Wilson, Future Men, Canon Press, 2001, p. 100, emphasis original

-James Jordan, Creation in Six Days, Canon Press, 1999, p. 71, emphasis original

Note: Chapter 4 “Gnosticism Versus History” should be required reading for every Protestant.  Protestantism went dangerously gnostic in the nineteenth century, and we’re still trying to recover.  See my earlier comments from my review of Holiness by Ryle.

Well, what did my Master do?  What did His servants do during the early days of the church that are recorded in inspired history?  When Lazarus died, Jesus wept.  Jesus, who understands the Father’s glorious plan better than anybody, wept.  Jesus, who knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead just a few moments later, wept.  Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, wept.  What about Paul, the hero of reformed and Calvinistic churches?  Did he always preach (or write, for that matter) in a calm, cool, collected manner?  Did he lecture?  Nay, he often preached with tears.  He even provided an apologetic for them: “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. (2 Cor 2:4).”

Indeed, God is sovereign.  If he decrees that I shall break down in tears, no passage or illustration is safe.  He can use the leprosy passages in Leviticus to bring me to my knees.  He is sovereign over my emotions; I am not.  I am but a servant; the Lord will feed his sheep as He sees fit.  I must seek to be a faithful servant of Christ.  If I maintain my composure–if I am in my right mind–let it be for the glory of Christ and His gospel!  If I am to be a fool and choke back tears in public, let me be a fool for the sake of Christ and His gospel!  If He sends tears, let them be a drink offering and a thank offering, poured out before his throne.  Only let Him feed His sheep.  He must increase; I must decrease.  Here I am, Lord, send me.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

But I am an American evangelical.  I have seen tears abused for wicked and manipulative pretexts by peddlers of the gospel.  Ginning up crocodile tears to pad your wallet or to make a name for yourself is an abomination.  God is not mocked; He will judge, and then the tears of those hucksters will be real.  But should the counterfeit tears of the televangelist cause us to fall into the other ditch?  There is good reason to oppose the syrupy, squishy, evangellyfishy, Jesus-is-my-boyfriend treacle that we see around us, but we need to follow scripture rather than reacting against the prevailing error.  There is a certain aspect of American reformed and Calvinist culture that operates as if our bodies only exist to take our brains to and from church.  I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t been influenced in some way by this.  We are Christians, not Vulcans.  Christianity is incarnational.  Both of these ditches have latent Gnostic assumptions and both of them are inconsistent with the Incarnation.  If you think you can do theology without it erupting into doxology, your theology is wrong.  Period.  I don’t care how many fat books with small type you’ve read.

It’s still a few weeks until I preach.  I may find as I write the sermon that the illustration doesn’t fit with my overall theme, or that it distracts from it.  The Lord may take me in another direction.  That would be a valid reason to exclude it.  A fear of looking foolish is not valid.  As for now, it stays in.  I’ll just make sure to wear my glasses instead of my contact lenses when I preach.

Our Father, we thank You for wondrous love that raised us out of the very dust of death.  You did not withhold Your Son, Your only Son Jesus, whom You love, but sent our great Redeemer to rescue us and turn Your well-deserved wrath away from us .  We praise you for the obedience of our Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for us, the sheep of His pasture.  No one took it from Him, but He laid it down of His own accord.  We rejoice that the grave could not hold Him, and that in Him neither will it be able to hold us.

Let us come and behold the works that have been wrought by you!  You have made great desolations in the earth.  You make wars cease to the ends of the earth; You break the bow and cut the spear in two; You burn the chariot in the fire.  You smote Pharaoh and Sennacherib with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.  You shattered Sihon and Og with a rod of iron.  You crushed the serpentine heads of Sisera and Abimelech under Your foot, using godly women to accomplish the feat for Your glory.  You avenged the betrayals of Ahithophel and Judas.  You outwitted Ahab, and hanged Haman on his own gallows.  So shall all Your enemies perish!

You are a consuming fire.  You broke out against the sacrilege of Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah.  You struck down Ananias and Sapphira and caused Simon Magus to perish with his money, but You did not consume the bush when you spoke to Moses, neither did you consume your servants Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were cast into the fiery furnace.  In your mercy, you rescued Joseph out of the miry depths of the dungeon and delivered Daniel out of the den of the lions.  Who is like you, O Lord?  You alone are worthy of our praise, which we offer to you in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit, both now and forevermore, world without end.  Amen.

Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your abundant provisions for us.  We, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, but how much more do You give good things to us who ask you!

Thank you Father, for our King Jesus whose rule extends to the ends of the earth and whose reign is eternal.  Of the increase of His government on earth there will be no end. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.  This was the LORD’s doing, accomplished by the zeal of the Lord of Hosts; it is marvelous in our eyes.

We thank You for this Sabbath Day, the Lord’s Day, in which we rest from our labors in thanksgiving and jubilee; You have given us one-seventh of our lives for free.  Especially, we thank You for worship on this day when we ascend into Your throne room in Christ.  It is our highest duty and our greatest joy.

We thank You for the privilege of prayer and the work of Christ that makes our prayers efficacious as they ascend like incense, a sweet savor unto the Lord.

We thank You for our marriages, where we are able to model and reflect the bond between Christ and the church.  May we become ever more faithful in preaching the gospel in this manner.

Thank you Father, for the ministry of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, LA and their pastor Steve Wilkins.  Grant them strength, according to the riches of Your glory, with might through Your Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may increasingly dwell in their hearts through faith; that they, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that they may be filled with all the fullness of God.

To You who are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to You be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people, according to all that He promised. Our Heavenly Father, there has not failed one word of all Your good promises, which You promised through Your servants Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and your prophets. May You be with us, as You were with our fathers. May You not leave us nor forsake us, that You may incline our hearts to Yourself, to walk in all Your ways, and to keep Your commandments and Your statutes and Your judgments, which You commanded our fathers and fulfilled in Christ.  May you graciously continue to build Your temple of living stones, bringing reformation, unity, and faithfulness to the churches in our land and to the ends of the earth where [name deleted] is proclaiming the gospel to the lost in a Russian prison.  May your church worship You in reverence and godly fear as living sacrifices, being transformed by the faithful preaching of Your word (which is sharper than a two-edged sword) and by the sacraments that all of us may be one, Father, just as You are in Christ and He is in You.  May we also be in You so that the world may believe that You have sent Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, He has given us the glory that You gave Him, that we may be one as You are one: Christ in us and You in Him. May we be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Jesus Christ and have loved us even as you have loved Christ.

Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. We ask that You would reform Your ministers of justice even as You reform Your church.  We ask that they would be a terror to the lawless rather than the lawful and protect Your saints around the world.  Let Your deacons of the sword in Indonesia use it justly to judge between Your people and those who persecute them.  At home we ask that You would conform all civil magistrates to the image of Your Son, from President Obama and Governor Perdue down to local mayors, city councils, and policemen.

The cords of death entangle [names deleted], the anguish of the grave comes upon them; We are overcome by trouble and sorrow.  May they called upon Your name and cry out, “O LORD, save me!”

You, O Lord, are our strength and our song; You have become our salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”  Knowing Your Grace and Mercy toward us, we can boldly request that You heal the sick and wounded among us.  Pour out your healing grace upon  [names deleted].  Provide buyers for the [names deleted] homes.

We will give you thanks, for You answered us; You have become our salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success in Jesus’ name through the Holy Spirit.  Amen.