Bill Smith, Author at Kuyperian Commentary

On August 19, 2020 By Bill Smith In Counseling/Piety, Culture, Discipleship, Men, Wisdom 2

Letters To Young Men: The Man & His Mission

Dear Young Man,

In my first letter, I talked to you about the state of masculinity in our culture; what you are facing and will have to face in the future. It’s bad out there, and you face many challenges. However, as we will see as we proceed through these letters, challenges should be right up your alley. The purpose of these letters is not merely to curse the darkness, but to give you light by which to walk as men. Consequently, in this second letter, I begin focusing positively on what it means to be a man.

First and foremost, man is created a worshiper. As the image of God, man is created to reflect and participate in the family life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are to join in the family conversation—prayer—talking to one another about needs, praising one another for good works, asking for forgiveness where we have sinned (us, not God, of course), eating with one another (the Supper), talking about the situations in our families, churches, nations, and the world, and suggesting things that might be done about it. We are to listen to our God, the one who created us, redeemed us, and defines who we are and what we are to do in this world. We are to respond in allegiance to him, loving him with all of our being and joyfully obeying what he commands. You are created, first and foremost, as a worshiper.

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On August 16, 2020 By Bill Smith In Worship 1

Bring. The. Noise. (Psalm 47)

Sports and their fans are an interesting phenomenon. They are mock wars; our forces against your forces. The forces have specific colors, banners, chants, music, shouts, and sometimes just a great amount of noise around them.

In a war, when your side is winning or has won, you are encircled with joyful noise. The noise is used to intimidate the enemy, celebrate victory, and energize the warriors as it spirals ever upward and energy creates more energy.

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On August 9, 2020 By Bill Smith In Culture, Wisdom 1

Friending

Social media are changing the way we relate to one, and not all of it is bad. Through various social media we can receive information that we would not have had in the past. We can now maintain contact with people whom we have come to know through the years. Technology has afforded us privileges that former generations could have never even imagined. But there are dangers as well; dangers of which we need to be aware and with which we need to engage as we are saturated with this culture that is shaping our lives. Our ability to stay connected at a distance feeds a sinful temptation to salve our desire not to remain lonely yet at the same time remain hidden from others by not allowing anyone to know us too intimately.

Our eternal, triune God created us in relationship and to pursue relationships. Sin destroys our relationships because now we want to hide from God and others just as Adam and Eve did after they sinned. Since we are created in the image of God, we always have this yearning for friendship; to know and be known by others. But we are, many times, afraid. We are afraid that if we allow someone to continually dig into our lives, he will eventually find something there that will repulse him. The converse is also true: if we continue to grow in intimacy with someone, we may be afraid that we will eventually be disappointed and hurt. So, we shield ourselves, keeping people at a safe distance through various means. Superficiality and creating images of ourselves for people online that make it look as if our lives are fantastic all the time make us virtually (pun intended) unknowable. Replacing the pearls of deep friendship with the paste pearls of six hundred “friends” or “followers” online will cost us deeply if we, as the church, don’t recognize the trends and stand against the rising tide that threatens to overwhelm us in its shallowness.

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On August 5, 2020 By Bill Smith In Culture 1

Letters To Young Men: The State of Masculinity

Young men, you face challenges. That is nothing new. From the beginning of time, men have had battles to fight. Some have cowered in sloth. Some have fought valiantly. Though there are common themes in the war, each generational battle has had its unique variation on the themes. As with previous generations, you are being called to act like men, steeling yourselves for the battles in which God in his providence has placed you.

I have been a young man. Now I am older. I have raised four sons. I was not perfect. I made many mistakes. But I always did what I believed was right with the wisdom I had at the time. I hope you can say the same when you are older. I have been around the block a few times, you might say, and I have learned some wisdom along the way. I’m still learning. This series of letters aims to pass this wisdom on to you so that you will be better men than I am. The focus of these letters is masculinity, what it means to be a man in God’s world.

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On August 2, 2020 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom Like

Hell?

Hell is like that bit of family history that the whole family knows about but tries to avoid in polite conversation. The only family member who talks about it is the crazy uncle who has no couth. Some family members do their best to deny that piece of the family story altogether. We can focus on the pleasant things and not deal with that nasty bit.

But it just will not do. That part of the family story turns up time and again. It simply cannot be buried.

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On July 26, 2020 By Bill Smith In Church, Culture, Theology, Wisdom 1

A Wedding Song: Psalm 45

In the beginning, there was an infant king, naked and alone. From his side God created his bride and brought her to him, blessed them, and commanded them to take dominion over the creation, shaping the earth after the image of heaven. They were placed in a garden on a mountain that had a river running through it that flowed from the top of the mountain, through the garden, and then split into four, symbolically flowing to the four corners of the earth. Downriver were all sorts of treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones waiting to be unearthed, purified, and shaped into beautiful adornments for the garden, the woman, and the man himself.

When the man and the woman fell into sin, they were exiled from the garden. They were restored by God and reissued the dominion mandate, but they would now have to fight the curse of sin. They would have to get back into the garden bringing with them the glories of creation. Reentrance required that the man take the lead, enduring the flaming swords of the cherubim, die, be resurrected, and then retrieve his bride from exile along with all of the treasures of creation. There creation’s king and queen would be united in a new, resurrection marriage, adorned with the splendors of creation.

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On July 19, 2020 By Bill Smith In Theology, Wisdom Like

Shrewd Stewardship

Whenever we discover that a government official is corrupt, that he has been using his office to become wealthy off of the back of taxpayers or misusing his power in unethical or illegal ways, we become angry. Not so long ago, a Republican Senator from North Carolina, Richard Burr, used information he received in private coronavirus briefings to sell a number of stocks before the public announcements of the lockdowns. He made off like a bandit. But that is just the scandal du jour. News such as this is pretty standard.

When we see pastors or TV evangelists fleecing people in the name of God to line their own pockets with great amounts of wealth, we are understandably disgusted.

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On July 12, 2020 By Bill Smith In Counseling/Piety, Theology 1

Prodigal Grace

I’m standing outside of our family house. You wouldn’t believe what is going on in there. My father is throwing this big party for his wayward son. I refuse to call him “my brother” after what he did.

He has always had a wild streak. Looking back, I can see how it was there his entire childhood. Father never dealt with him the way that he should have, in my opinion. If he had been stricter and not let him have so much freedom, things would have been different. That child got everything he wanted while I slaved away in the house, never receiving anything. Father never gave me as much as a goat so that I could have a good time with my friends, but he is now throwing a party for this profligate son of his with Wagyu beef! The shame of it all.

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On July 5, 2020 By Bill Smith In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Family and Children Like

Count The Cost

We are rapidly approaching the intense campaign season. (It seems that we never leave campaign season anymore. We only have less and more intense seasons of it.) Big elections will be happening soon. Debates will occur and stump speeches will be given. Each candidate will be telling you why he or she should be elected (or at least why the other guy should not be).

Most of these candidates will be telling you all that they are going to do for you. One side is going to give you all this free stuff. The other side is going to reduce your taxes. Everyone is concerned about sweetening the pot to entice you to sign on with his agenda.

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On June 28, 2020 By Bill Smith In Theology, Worship Like

Healing Hospitality

David owed him nothing. He was the grandson of an enemy who tried to kill him several times. Now David’s enemy has been put down. Saul, the king of Israel, is dead, and David has acceded the throne as he was promised through the anointing hand of the prophet Samuel years ago. Most of Saul’s house was dead as well, including his son, Jonathan, who was David’s friend. But there was one member of the house remaining: Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth.

Though lame in both of his feet (2Sm 9.3, 13) and living in “Nowhere” or “Nothing” (Lo-debar; 2Sm 9.5), the blood of Saul still ran through his veins, and there were still some in Israel who might be loyal to the house of Saul. Because of this, Mephibosheth was a rival to the throne. Among the kings of the nations, it would have been common practice and completely understandable to eliminate the last vestiges of Saul’s house so that the potential for a coup would be stopped before it was started. David could even justify this by saying that he was creating peace.

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