Bill Smith, Author at Kuyperian Commentary

On September 26, 2024 By Bill Smith In Church, Men, Theology, Worship 2

Ordination

Ordination changes a man, not in a way that changes his liver into a lung, nor in a way that gives him magical powers to do sacramental tricks, but he is changed nevertheless. The change is more like when a degree is conferred upon a graduate or when a man marries a woman. In neither case is the man physically transformed, nor does he receive special powers. However, he is a changed man. No longer is the man a student. He is a graduate, possibly with a title attached to his name and all the clout that comes with his new status. No longer is the man a bachelor, but he is a husband who now has the privileges and duties of marriage. The molecular structure in his body may be the same pre- and post-ceremony; however, in many ways, he is not the same person. He stands in new relationships, and those new relationships, with all of their attendant responsibilities, make him a new man.

So it is with a man who is ordained to the gospel ministry. He is put into a new relationship before God and to the church. This new relationship with all of its attendant responsibilities makes him a new man.

The changes are an addition rather than a physical or even mystical metamorphosis. Ordination gives a new “weight” to the person. In biblical terms, this weight is “glory.” (The word “glory” in Hebrew literally means “heavy.”) Ordination glorifies a man in a unique way.

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On September 25, 2024 By Bill Smith In Theology, Wisdom, Work 2

Vocational Harmony

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called….” ~Ephesians 4:1

We have a calling. Within that calling, we have callings or vocations. (“Vocation” is derived from the Latin, voco, “I call,” so “calling” and “vocation” are the same thing.) Paul has a focus for what he says in Ephesians 4:1: he is aiming for the unity of the church, especially with regards to the Jew and Gentile being united into the one body of Christ. Consequently, he aims at character qualities that promote unity: humility, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, and eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He then focuses on the seven ones (“one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” etc.). The calling of which he speaks is God’s call upon us as Christians.

What is “a call” or “a calling?” Marcus Barth describes Paul’s use of calling as “an act of creation and election; through this act non-being becomes being, not-beloved becomes beloved (Ephesians, ABC, 1:151) … further, it is “an appointment to a position of honor” describing the honorary place and function with which God has entrusted the saints. (Ibid., 2:427). God’s callings are what he has appointed you to do.

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On September 19, 2024 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Prayer, Theology, Worship Like

Praying In The Spirit: What is Prayer?

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to God. ~Romans 8:26-27

At this time, in the created order, a hauntingly bright symphony is being performed. The creation is groaning and travailing in the pains of childbirth like the deep, resonating, sad tones of a cello. The groans of the cello are joined in the same melodic progression by the violins of Christians’ groaning. As Christians, we find ourselves in harmony with the creation, giving it further voice because we share in the same pain, waiting with the rest of creation for the redemption of our bodies. But there is a third voice, a voice deeper and more fundamental in this symphony that controls it and moves it toward its conclusion. It is the double bass of the Spirit, groaning out wordless music to the Father. We and the rest of creation with us have joined with him so that we are taking up his groans, and he is taking up our groans in this symphony of prayer.

This is praying in the Spirit.

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On September 12, 2024 By Bill Smith In Church, Discipleship, Theology Like

The Church’s People

Tychicus. Onesimus. Aristarchus. Mark. Justus. Epaphras. Luke. Demas. Nymphas. Archippus. If you know your Scriptures really well, several of these names are familiar to you. Mark and Luke wrote two of the Gospels. Onesimus is a focus of Paul’s brief letter to Philemon. The others are not so well known. Tychicus is mentioned several times in the New Testament as Paul’s companion. Epaphras is highlighted in the opening of the letter to the Colossians. If you know Demas at all, it is probably because he is infamous for abandoning Paul “having loved this present world” (2 Tim 4:10). What they all hold in common is that they are all mentioned at the end of Colossians either sending greetings, being exhorted, or receiving praise.

It’s often tempting to skim over Paul’s greetings at the end of his letters. The main body of the letter is complete, so we tend to tune out as we continue reading or listening just to check off our daily Bible reading. However, if God has included these greetings in the letter, there must be a significant reason why the church needs them. These greetings are not mere formalities, but they carry a deeper message that we should not overlook.

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On September 5, 2024 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Work Like

The Worldly Church

For the past two hundred-plus years, the Western Church has been in the grips of a dualism that pits the material world against the non-material world (which they unadvisedly call “spiritual”). This is nothing new in the church. We have been fighting this for almost two millennia in one form or another. Material things are intrinsically evil and must be shed. The great salvation will come when I die and shed this mortal coil to live in a disembodied bliss in heaven. When Jesus comes again, he will destroy this mortal world, putting an end to its evil.

This dualistic view of reality affects the way we understand Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28:19-20. Whatever Jesus tells us, he is not telling us our mission has anything to do with this material world. Fighting culture wars with the gospel is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic … or entering into a theological debate on social media: a waste of time. Jesus’ Commission is all about snatching souls out of the world so that they can leave this world behind along with us.

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On August 29, 2024 By Bill Smith In Culture, Discipleship Like

Salty Grace

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. ~Colossians 4:6

If you think about it from the perspective of many unbelieving Americans, faithful Christians come off as weird. The message we believe is strange. One man from a backwater province in the Roman Empire who lived almost two thousand years ago died on a cross, rose again, and now sits on the throne in heaven, ruling the world to save the world from sin. How does that make sense? It is foolishness to them. We speak in odd ways to one another. We take membership in the church with utmost seriousness. We live in ways that are out of step with the mainstream. This message has been foolishness to them from our earliest days (see 1 Cor 1:18).

The message we believe and proclaim is weird. We don’t need to make it weirder by being unable to interact with the world around us with basic social skills or being unnecessarily off-putting in the name of “boldness.” While never compromising the gospel at any point, we need to live among unbelievers in attractive ways, even if they are ultimately repulsed by beauty. To accomplish the kingdom mission God gave us, we must strive to live this way.

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On August 22, 2024 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Family and Children, Work 1

Slaves & Masters

Over the past 160 years in the West, we have experienced something rare in the history of the world: Chattel slavery has not only been formally abolished but has become culturally abhorrent. When Americans think of slavery, we think of Africans being sold by their kinsmen to people in the West and that slavery was only of those who had dark skin. But light-skinned eastern European Slavs were enslaved by Muslims. The Irish were slaves in the 1600s in Western lands. Slavery reaches back to the time before Abraham, who himself owned slaves. Even today, throughout the world, it is estimated that somewhere around 40 million people are enslaved. The twentieth and twenty-first-century Christian West is an anomaly in the world.

Because of our relatively sheltered place in history, many Christians are embarrassed about what the Scriptures say and do not say about slavery. We expect there to be an absolute prohibition of slavery throughout Scripture and especially in the New Testament, but there isn’t. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Paul and Peter direct slaves to obey their masters, and masters are not commanded to free their slaves. The relationship between master and slave is regulated but not eliminated.

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On August 19, 2024 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Family and Children, Worship 1

The Discipline of Paedocommunion

One danger of any ritual is thinking it works for blessing standing alone. The water of baptism magically grants eternal salvation apart from faith. The bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper convey blessings no matter how you live outside of the church or if you participate in the worship service. The “sinner’s prayer” saves apart from participation in the body of Christ and without perseverance. No matter the ritual, there are always dangers of isolating them from a full life of faith, treating them as if they are magic spells.

Those of us who have the privilege of practicing full covenant communion (that is, welcoming our baptized children to the Table) are not immune from the danger. Just as some treat baptism as something of a finish line, so some parents and churches treat paedocommunion (child communion) as if eating the bread and drinking the wine of communion are all that matters for the children. They don’t have to participate in the rest of the service. They can be in a nursery or some other room in the building, cutting themselves off entirely from the rest of the congregation, but when it comes time for communion, they expect to be a part.

With the privilege of paedocommunion comes responsibilities. Communion is the apex of the worship service, a piece of the whole, the end of the journey up God’s holy mountain. Participating in communion assumes that you have heard God’s call to worship, confessed and been cleansed of sin, and been consecrated by his Word. In other words, communion assumes that you have participated in the rest of the worship service. Bread and wine declare peace with God, and peace with God assumes you have received all God’s gifts that precede the gift of peace. Communion can’t be separated from the rest of the service. You can’t just walk in at the end of the service, receive the bread and wine, walk out, and expect that you have received God’s blessing. You haven’t. Indeed, you may be receiving the opposite.

Worship that culminates in the Lord’s Supper is covenant renewal. Covenant renewal is the time that God comes to declare his loving loyalty to his people and we, in response, declare our loving allegiance to him. Throughout history, God has included children in these covenant renewal ceremonies. “Little ones” are gathered around Moses on the mountain when the covenant is renewed (Deut 29:1-15). This is the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that was fulfilled in the Passover, Exodus, and formation of the children of Israel into a nation at Mt Sinai. This covenant was renewed in all the worship rites and rituals at the Tabernacle in the various offerings and feasts. Children participated in these covenant renewals (see Deut 31:9-13; Josh 8:35). When Paul wrote to the churches in the first century and expected his letters to be read to the congregation, he expected children to be present (see Eph 6:1; Col 3:20). We know from 1 Corinthians and Acts that when the church gathered, the Lord’s Supper was eaten. Children were to be present in the worship or covenant renewal of the church.

We know that children can’t understand everything in the worship service. So, why should they be there? They are covenant members, and as covenant members God is renewing the covenant with them too. They have privileges and responsibilities. The worship service is not all about intellectual ability (much to the chagrin of many a Reformed pastor and layman). God wants them there because he makes commitments to them, has commands for them, and expects them to be in his presence.

Their presence and participation in communion require something of the parents and the rest of the church. First, when the parents presented these children for baptism, Jesus took them and declared them to belong to him. Then he gave them back to the parents as members of his church to be good stewards of them, to train them to be the worshipers the Father seeks (John 4:23). Training children to participate in the worship service at various levels of maturity is vital to their discipleship.

Participating in worship in the younger years will be getting children to the place where they can be with the congregation without making a spectacle of themselves. We gather for worship as a unified body, speaking with one voice (Rom 15:6). It is not a time for children or adults to show off. We are an army that walks in lockstep with cadences. According to 1 Corinthians 14, worship ought to be intelligible. Not even the prophets were to be speaking at the same time but showing deference to one another so that everyone could understand what God was saying to the congregation. If people are speaking in languages that can’t be understood, speaking all at once, or creating a cacophony with noise so that others can’t understand, that is disordered worship.

Our children need to learn this. It will take time and effort. Christian parenting is not for the lazy. You may have to take that little one out of the sanctuary several times during the worship service for some directed instruction, but you need to bring him back in. If he knows he can act up and go to a playroom like he wants, he will play you like a cheap fiddle every time. If he knows that there is nothing pleasant outside the doors of the sanctuary and that he will inevitably be returning, it may take a while, but he will get the picture.

The disciplines of worship begin at home. Parents must have a disciplined household, one in which children are trained to understand that there are times to work and there are times to play, there are times to speak and there are times to be quiet. Fathers should direct the family this way, especially if you have little ones. Family worship is a time when children can learn that they must sit still and defer to others, controlling their impulses to blurt out. The instruction in family worship may not be making sure they understand the hypostatic union of Christ. Instruction may be that they learn to control themselves for the sake of the body of Christ.

Communion comes with responsibilities. When our children are young, the primary responsibility is on the parents to train them to participate in worship. The bread and wine aren’t magically conveying blessing apart from the rest of the worship service. Don’t teach your children that they are by excluding them from the worship service.

On August 15, 2024 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Family and Children, Men, Wisdom Like

Encouraging Fathers

Fatherlessness is at epidemic proportions in our nation and wreaking havoc on the health of our society. There are many reasons for fathers’ absence, some legitimate and many illegitimate consequences of sin. The absence is felt. Based on the US Census Bureau statistics, 43% of children in the US live in fatherless homes. Their absence is devastating. Ninety percent of runaway and homeless children are from fatherless homes. Seventy percent of minors housed in state facilities are from fatherless homes. Thirty-nine percent of inmates in jail are from fatherless homes. The rate of abuse in single-parent homes is almost double that in two-parent homes.[1] There is more than a superficial correlation in those numbers. Lack of fathers is the cause of many of these societal maladies.

Being present as fathers is only half the battle. The other half is being proactive in nurturing and disciplining children. God’s command to Israel in Deuteronomy 6 assumes the father’s presence with his children and commands his diligence in their instruction. Fathers must teach God’s law to their children “when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Dt 6:7). As a father, you are involved in your children’s lives.

When addressing the new creation family, Paul addresses fathers directly in Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, do not provoke your children so that they do not become discouraged.” While the mother is to receive due honor from children and has responsibility for raising children, Paul homes in on fathers. The word “parents” was available to Paul because he used it in 3:20. The fathers are ultimately responsible for how the children are disciplined. (Three of the commands in the section are focused on men as heads of their house: husbands, fathers, and masters. Men have the greatest responsibility for the health of the home.)

Discipline must never be undertaken to “ break the spirit” of children. The word translated as “discouraged” has at its root the idea of a child’s vital force, spirit, desire, drive, or passion. His drives, corrupted by sin, are to be corrected and redirected toward that which is good, true, and beautiful. He is not to be squashed but shaped.

How can fathers discourage their children?

1. Never praise your child. Always tell him what he could have done better without praising his effort or accomplishments.

2. Lead only by command and not by example. Demand discipline and obedience from your children while you are undisciplined and refuse to submit to your authorities.

3. Be inconsistent in discipline. Don’t enforce rules one day and come down on your children like a ton of bricks the next for breaking the rules. They will never know where the boundaries are and will be living in a psychological earthquake.

4. Refuse to discipline your children. Teach them by lack of discipline that there are no boundaries, that they can do anything without consequence, and that they should be able to have whatever they want when they want it. They will have a lousy relationship with reality and be anxious, angry children who grow to be anxious, angry adults.

5. Make unreasonable demands. Expect more of them than they are capable of doing for their age and skill level. Don’t take into consideration their unique personalities and desires, forcing them to become something that they aren’t. Be a perfectionist, always chasing the elusive standard that not even you can attain.

6. Don’t allow your child to mature. As he grows older, tighten your grip on him, never giving him any freedom to fail or succeed. Never let him take risks. Micromanage his life so that he doesn’t learn how to make decisions for himself and becomes a helpless adult (who you are probably hoping will depend on you to fulfill your need to be needed).

7. Never show affection, laugh with, or play with your children. Teach him that God never allows you to lighten up but that you must carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. You must take yourself with utmost seriousness at all times.

If you do these things, you will break the spirit of your children. Your goal is to shape your child into a joyful child. A joyful child is one who knows that he is loved, has learned contentment through accepting his and others’ limitations, is freed to be all that God created him to be, and matures so that he can make decisions without being unhealthily dependent upon others.

Fathers, don’t discourage your children.

[1] https://parentspluskids.com/blog/fatherhood-statistics-trends-and-analysis

On August 8, 2024 By Bill Smith In Church, Discipleship, Family and Children Like

Children, Obey Your Parents

“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” ~Colossians 3:2

Every several years, new approaches to parenting are presented by the experts. (I often wonder how many children these experts have reared successfully.) Over the past several years, “gentle parenting” has been the latest experiment in child-rearing. Obedience is not demanded from the parent. Punishments and rewards are discouraged as incentives. Instead, the parent is to empathize with and validate a child’s feelings. The parent negotiates with the child, trying to convince the child to do what he thinks the child ought to do. Instead of expecting immediate obedience and emotional control, the child must come to a place of self-awareness. Gentle-parenters will probably be outraged by my lack of nuance. I’ve seen their children. The proof is in the pudding. Gentle parenting techniques don’t produce obedient children. They produce children who are self-consumed, discontent, emotionally fragile, and unhappy. Abigail Shier, in her book Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren’t Growing Up, rightly judges gentle parenting as “child abuse.”
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