Letters to My Grandchildren: Discontent and Complaining

My Dear Grandchildren,

Well, time for another letter. This time the topic will be two related problems: being discontent and complaining about it. And, of course, we start with some definitions.

Discontent: thinking that something is not okay

Complaining: saying that something is not okay

So, is it okay to be discontent and to complain about it? Well, it’s just a fact that there are more than a few things that really are not okay. After all, it was God who said,

It is not good for the man to be alone… Genesis 2:18

There are times when it is very appropriate to think that something is not okay and even to say so.

But, as you know, there are other times when it isn’t right to think or say such things.

Do all things without grumbling… Philippians 2:14

(While the word ‘complaining’ isn’t in that verse, I think that ‘grumbling’ comes close enough. And that grumbling reflects being discontent with the situation.)

All of this leads to an obvious question. When is it right to be discontent and complain, and when is it wrong? You will be able to know right and wrong here by answering these two questions. What are you complaining about (whether just to yourself or to someone else)? Whom are you complaining to?

So, consider this from the time that Israel was in the desert after the Exodus.

And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Numbers 11:4–6

Now, what was ‘not okay’? It was the food, the manna that God had provided. Let’s be honest. Was the food they ate in Egypt more enjoyable? Yes, it was. In terms of things like taste and variety, that food had it all over the manna. But what was the manna? It was God’s gift to the people in the desert. Without it they would most certainly have died. He could have provided meat and fish and all the rest. But He didn’t. He sent manna for them to eat every day.

So, are there times when we can say that life could be better than what it is now? Sure. But then, we need to ask why it is the way that it is now. Sometimes we need to accept a situation that is obviously not okay because it is clear that it is God’s will for us.

I’ll give you a personal example. It is not okay that my wife, your grandmother, has died. Remember, it was God who said,

It is not good for the man to be alone...

I can tell you that that is so very true. So, it’s okay for me to think that this aspect of my life is not okay, that life would be so much better if I still had my wife. However, I also need to accept this difficult part of my life as God’s will for me because it obviously is His will for me since He caused her death. And that is what I do.

But what can I say about it? Can I complain about it? Is it ever right to complain about something that isn’t okay, something that is God’s will? Well, actually, yes, it is. But again, it depends on some things. Consider this from the Psalms.

With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. Psalm 142:1–2

David is complaining about something isn’t he. Later in the Psalm he explains what it is.

Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Psalm 142:6

What is not okay? David is being hounded by those who are persecuting him. And David complains about that. But here is the difference between David in his situation and Israel in the desert. Israel complained about God, about His failure to feed them in the way that they demanded. David, on the other hand, complained to God. That is, He appealed to God. He wanted God to act, to deliver him from the evil of his persecutors. He was not annoyed at God and complaining about Him like Israel did but was looking to Him to change the situation. It is this kind of complaining that is good and right, complaining to God.

And that is how I also complain as I deal with being alone. I appeal to God to give me the ability to deal with my very ‘not okay’ situation and to wait for the day when He will deliver me from it.

Now, why is all of this important? The answer to that is simple. Life is hard. Oh, to be sure, there are many things to enjoy and to be happy about. And I hope that your lives are full of those things. However, there are also problems, frustrations, disappointments and things to be sad about. It is far too easy to fall into the trap of allowing yourself to feel annoyed at what’s not okay (discontent) and then to grumble about it (complain). That’s just wrong because it’s being annoyed at God and complaining about Him. Now, it’s important to acknowledge what is not okay about life. After all, there is much sin all around you, sin that afflicts you. But then, what you need to do is to appeal to God for the ability to accept His plan and to wait for deliverance. That’s how we, as disciples of Jesus, are to live.

With my love,

Letters to My Grandchildren: Wholehearted

My Dear Grandchildren,

 

A little birdie told me that while watching the lectures on the Puritans you encountered the idea of loving and obeying God wholeheartedly and that my writing something on this topic just might be helpful. So, always wanting to be helpful, I’ll share a few thoughts on this with you in this letter.

 

Now, you know where I will begin. Definitions! (So many difficulties can be completely avoided just by being clear on exactly what you’re talking about!) So, what’s the definition of ‘wholehearted’? Well, if you were to look it up in a dictionary, you’d find something like this.

 

fully or completely sincere, enthusiastic, energetic, etc.; hearty; earnest

 

And that’s okay. But I want to approach this in a different way, a way that I think will be more helpful to you.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Submission

My Dear Grandchildren,

Today, we’re going to take a look at a word that so many people these days just hate. And the word is submission. People hate that word because they have been taught to be independent individuals. Such people submit to no one. But the fact of the matter is that God made all of creation with submission, and therefore authority, in mind.

Consider how God established our world. When He created Adam and Eve, one of the first things that He did was to give them authority over it.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule[!] the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” Genesis 1:28

So, right off the bat, there is authority. And this authority that God gave to Adam and Eve wasn’t to be exercised in a vacuum. Adam and Eve were to rule as those who are in submission to God. 

Letters to My Grandchildren: Anxiety

My Dear Grandchildren,

Well, another letter. But I need to warn you. This one is going to be long, and I suspect that it will stretch you a bit. But I have read or been told things that didn’t make much sense to me only to find that later they made a lot of sense. Let’s see if that describes you too.

The topic that I want to write about is anxiety or being worried. And, of course, the place that we’ll start is by offering a definition. Anxiety or worry are just different words for fear. 

Letters to My Grandchildren: Assurance

My Dear Grandchildren,

Time for another letter, or as your mother has labeled them, another epistle. And this time I’m, again, writing about something that she thought would be helpful. The topic is assurance.

So, do we start with a definition? Well, not exactly. One reason that I stress the need for good definitions is because so much depends on clarity. This time I’m not going to offer a definition of assurance but rather a different way of talking about it, a way that will clear up some things.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Enjoying God

My Dear Grandchildren,

Recently, your mother sent me some topics that she thought would be good for me to write about to you. Here’s is one that stood out to me. What does it mean to enjoy God? One reason that it stood out is that recently someone else also asked me about that. So, I’ve been thinking about it already.

Leters to My Grandchildren: The Church's Mission

My Dear Grandchildren,

We’re still taking a look at the Church and what it is to be doing. We’ve considered the Church in terms of its worship as well as the Church as the communion of the saints. Today, we look at the third aspect of what it is to be doing, its mission.

So, what’s a mission? (Definitions!) Here’s a simple definition that works well. A mission is an assignment that is given to a person or group. Well, the Church has been given an assignment. And it’s so very important to remember that. The Church doesn’t exist for itself. There is something that we need to do out in the world. We have a mission.

Next question. What’s the mission? Here’s one place where the mission is made quite clear.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Church Community

My Dear Grandchildren,

Today, we’re going to take another look at the Church to see a bit more of what the Scriptures have to say about it. This time we’re going to look at the Church as a community.

I think that you can guess where I’m going to start. Definitions! So, what’s the definition of ‘community’? How’s this: a community is a group of people who have something in common, something that brings them together. Now, that’s an okay definition, but it doesn’t quite work when applied to the Church. It’s true but incomplete. There are many groups of people that we might call a community. There’s the Boy Scouts and different clubs, like photography clubs and gamer clubs. These groups of people can be considered a community. They have something in common that brings them together. However, there is something missing when you apply that definition to the Church. And what’s missing is understanding what it is that the people of the Church have in common, what it is that not only brings them together but also holds them together. What is missing is a good understanding of the nature of bond that makes the people of the Church the kind of community that it is. (This is where you need to remember that the Church is a magical place.)

Letters to My Grandchildren Church: Worship

My Dear Grandchildren,

Last time, I wrote to you about what the Church is. This time, I’m going to write you about what the Church does. According to Scripture, there are three things that the Church is to do. Today, we’ll look at one of them, the one that I think is the most important of the three. Today, we’ll look at worship.

So, when I mention worship, what do you think of? What is worship? I think that it’s fair to say that most people will think of things that are done during worship, you know, singing hymns and hearing sermons and such. I really think that it’s a mistake to start there. If the Church is going to worship in a way that is worthy of the God it is worshiping, the people doing that worship will need to have a particular attitude, an attitude that goes deep into the soul. And that attitude can be summarized quite simply. Worship is acknowledging that God is God and then responding appropriately.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Church: A Place of Magic

My Dear Grandchildren,

Time for another letter. I hope you’re ready. This one is going to be about the Church.

So, definitions, right? What’s the Church? We could say that it’s a group of people with some common goals. That would be true, but that’s also true of a bunch of gamers at Gencon. (Right, Malachi?) What if we add the word ‘religious’, a group of people with some common religious goals? That would also be true. But that would include Mormons. We could get more precise and say that the Church is a group of people with common Christian goals. That would be true and would exclude lots of other kinds of groups. But, believe it or not, it would still be misleading. And that’s because that definition isn’t focusing on the heart of what the Church actually is. All of those definitions are simply ways to look at some external fact about the Church. It’s considering the Church merely as a social institution. And that would be an incomplete definition. And incomplete definitions can be as dangerous as incorrect definitions.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Dying to Sin

My Dear Grandchildren,

Well, time for another letter. I hope that these are helpful to you. Let me know if you have any questions. I would be happy to do my best to answer them.

In another letter, I had raised this question. ‘How is a Christian, someone whom Jesus has rescued, to live?’ This is how I answered it. ‘There are many good answers to that question. Here’s one: the obedience of faith.’ Well, here is another good answer to that question. A Christian is to work at dying to sin and living to righteousness.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Satan

My Dear Grandchildren,

I’ve already written you about one of our big problems, our sin, and how Jesus has dealt with that for us. This time I want to write to you about another of our big problems: Satan.

The Bible makes it clear that Satan really is a serious problem for us. Here’s one image the Bible uses to remind us about how evil he is.

Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5.8

Here’s another Scripture that uses the imagery of a wrestling match.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6.11–12

We are all in a real battle. If we are going to fight well, we need to understand some things about this enemy of ours.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Some Basics About the Bible

My Dear Grandchildren,

Time for another letter. And this time I would like to help you take a look at the Bible. It makes sense to do this because without the Bible we are completely lost. We would have no hope of understanding the important issues of life. The Bible is critical to our ability to live. So, what I’m going to do is explain a few basic aspects of the Bible. And the way that I’m going to do that is by answering three questions.

First question: What is it?

Letters to My Grandchildnen: God, What and Who

My Dear Grandchildren,

Well, it’s time for another letter and another topic. As I’ve thought about my options, it seems right to talk about God. But talking about God is a huge topic. Books upon books have been written about Him. But don’t get nervous. I’m not going to write anything very long. But I do want to write something about this critically important topic. Understanding God is the most important goal that any person could ever have. So, what I’ve decided to do is to try to answer two questions about God. Just two. 'What is God?' and 'Who is God?'

Letters to My Grandchildren: The Obedience of Faith

My Dear Grandchildren,

Well, we’ve taken a look at two basic elements of the Gospel, the problem, God’s justice showing as His hatred of us because of our sin, and the solution, believing in Jesus who, as our Savior, has experienced, in our place, all of that hatred.

So, far so good. But now what? How is a Christian, someone whom Jesus has rescued, to live?

There are many good answers to that question. Here’s one: the obedience of faith. I get this phrase from the Apostle Paul.

…we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations… Romans 1.5

Let’s take a look at this. The first thing to do is to define what the words mean.

First, there’s obedience. What’s that? Real obedience (not just going through the motions) is submitting from the heart to another person in order to do what he commands. This is how we are to live, submission to God leading to doing what He commands.

Now, I hope that you noticed that I didn’t describe obedience in terms of following some rules. I didn’t even write that we are to do what the Bible says. Christians are to obey a Person, God, and not a book. To be sure, God uses the Bible. It is absolutely indispensable! (More on this at another time.) But merely obeying a book will not result in experiencing the life of eternity that God promised in John 3.16. Life, real life, comes by obeying a Person, by obeying God (who speaks through that book). There is a big difference between the two, and it would be good if you spent some time thinking about that: obeying a Person versus obeying a book. (How are you doing at this?)

Then, there’s the other word in that phrase, faith. Faith is just a noun form of the verb to believe. And you already know that believing in Jesus is entrusting yourself Him based on what you know about Him. So, the obedience of a Christian is related to the faith of a Christian. It’s the obedience that comes from faith. We obey not because we’re just supposed to but because we trust Jesus.

Now, we can pull these things together. The obedience that is to be the hallmark of every Christian is the obedience that comes from trusting Jesus as He commands us.

There are plenty of times that obedience to Him makes perfect sense. That makes obedience easy. But there are also plenty of times when doing what Jesus calls you to do will be thoroughly confusing. It won’t make any sense. It will be like God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. What loving father wouldn’t be confused by that kind of command? And yet, Abraham obeyed. Based on what he knew about God, he trusted God and obeyed Him. That’s the obedience of faith. There will be times when you will need to obey God not because you understand what He is up to, but because you trust Him.

Now, a question. Why should Christian’s do this? Why should we express this obedience of faith? Paul tells us. Look at the verse again. It’s for ‘the sake of his name among all the nations’. All right, let’s take a look at this.

First and foremost, we obey God for His sake. There will certainly be benefits for us if we obey, but that is not to be the most important reason for us to do this. The point of a Christian’s life is to make God look as good as He really is, or to say the same using church words, to glorify Him. That’s living ‘for the sake of His name’. So, when you are confronted with some difficult command that God puts before you, this is what you tell yourself. ‘I am to do this for God’s benefit, to glorify Him, to make Him look as good as He really is.’ Glorifying God is always the most important thing.

But did you notice how Paul adds,

…among all the nations…

The people around us, ‘the nations’, are watching us. And they should be watching us. We Christians make some very large claims about the Gospel and how life actually works. What good is it to talk about that but not to live it. So, we pursue the obedience of faith so that the people around us who aren’t Christian can see the power of the Gospel of Jesus in action in our lives. And when they see that in us, and how living in this way makes life worth living, they will come to us, asking us how we do it. ‘How is it that your life works while mine doesn’t?’ When that happens, be ready to tell them about Jesus and His Gospel.

You see, it’s as we obey God in the way that Paul has described that we become whole people. Sin does terrible things to us. It messes us up and makes life so confusing. But as we follow Jesus, as we respond to Him with the obedience of faith, He changes things. Bit by bit, He removes the mess that sin creates in us. We, slowly but surely, become what God intended but what we are not now, fully human people. That’s the benefit to us. And our being changed in this way is what makes God look as good as He is. It’s what will make people come to us wondering how it happens. It’s what will give us lots of opportunities to tell them about Jesus.

There are many good ways to answer our question, ‘How is someone whom Jesus has rescued to live?’ This is just one of them. I’m sure that you will encounter other good answers as you continue to follow Jesus.

I think that this is a good place to stop. And I also think that this does it for the topic of the basics of the Gospel. Next time I’ll write you about some other topic.

I love you all.

   Grandpa B

PS Let me know if you have any questions about what I’ve written.

Letters to My Grandchildren: Belief in Jesus

My Dear Grandchildren,

In my last letter I wrote to you about God's attitude toward our sin. I used words like hate, destroy and abhor. Those are some very strong words. But we don't have to give up hope. Jesus has come, and He has brought us the Gospel. This what I would like to write about in this letter.

One passage of Scripture that gives a good summary of the Gospel basic that I want to write about is the familiar John 3.16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

So, the sinful world that God abhors is also the sinful world that He loves. (That touches on the mystery that is God.) As a result of that love, He gave Jesus. In giving His Son, God is telling the world that there is a way to avoid His wrath for sin - which is what death or ‘perishing’ is - and instead to thrive and flourish - which is what ‘life’ is. The key to gaining this life is captured by the words 'believes in him'. It's important to be clear about what that means so that we can be sure to gain the life that God offers.

There are two elements to this believing. Here’s the first. There are things that we need to know. Who, exactly, is this Jesus? What is it that He offers to do? A common word used here is to say that Jesus is the Savior, and, of course, that's true. But it's one of those church words that people use but don't really understand. So, let's use some different words to describe what it means that Jesus is a savior. He is a protector, a comforter, a provider, a consoler, a leader, a friend. There are more words that could be added to the list, but I think that these make the point clearly enough. So, if someone is going to believe in Jesus, he needs to know about the words that describe Him. And when you hear someone say that Jesus is our Savior, connect that to our list of words and any other appropriate words that you want to add to it.

Now, knowing these things about Jesus is important, but it isn't enough. A person needs to do something with what he knows about Jesus. A person needs to entrust himself to Jesus as Savior, with all that that means. This is the second element to believing.

Now, this entrusting yourself isn't all that strange. Actually, it's something that you do quite a bit with your parents. When your dad told you to do something, you trusted him that he knew what he was doing in telling you what to do. You trusted him as your leader. And those times when you were hurt, you went to your mother. You entrusted yourself to her care so that she could be your comforter. As you were confronted by different situations, you entrusted yourselves to your parents.

It's the same with Jesus. As you are confronted by different situations you are to entrust yourselves to Him as your Savior. (Remember our list of words.) So, there are times when you entrust yourselves to Him as your leader. 'Lord Jesus, what do You want me to do now?' Or times when you entrusted yourselves to Him as your comforter. 'Lord, help me deal with this disappointment.' And, of course, you entrust yourselves to Him when it comes to your rebellious sin. 'Lord Jesus, forgive me.' As you can tell, believing in Jesus isn't a once in a lifetime act. It isn't even a once every so often act. Believing in Jesus, entrusting yourselves to Him as you deal with life, is an everyday act.

Now, what are the results of believing in Jesus? The verse refers to 'eternal life'. The word ‘eternal’, at least here, isn't about how long but about what kind. God promises a kind of life, one where you flourish and thrive. That starts now, but it grows as your believing in Jesus grows. And it is made perfect after Jesus returns. So, entrusting yourselves to Jesus as your protector will result in great peace. What could anyone do to harm you if Jesus is right there protecting you? Entrusting yourself to Jesus as your leader means that your future is bright. What could happen that would ruin things if Jesus is leading you each day? It is as we learn more and more how to believe in Jesus that we really live; we flourish and thrive. There is great peace in this.

There is one particular about what Jesus has done that needs some special attention. It lies behind Jesus as protector and provider and all the rest. As our Savior, Jesus deals with God's just anger at our sin. For all who believe in Jesus, God no longer hates, destroys or abhors. God isn't angry at us for our sin. Now, His anger doesn't just disappear. No, all that abhorring and all the rest, that each one of us deserves, was directed at Jesus when He was on the Cross. All of God's anger for all of our sins, even the sins we haven't even committed yet, is gone. We will never experience even the least of it. And that's because Jesus experienced it all. That is a great comfort to us, especially as we come to see how much we actually sin. God's anger is completely gone. (I think that a lifetime of gratitude toward Jesus who made that happen makes a lot of sense.)

So, believing in Jesus is about knowing some things about who He is and then, entrusting yourselves to Him accordingly.

I hope that this is helpful to you. Next time I think that I'll write about what it means to be Jesus’ disciple.

With my love,

Grandpa B

Letters to My Grandchildren: Sin

These are some letters that I sent to my grandchildren.

My Dear Grandkids,

Your mother asked me to consider writing down some of the things that God has taught me over the years and passing it on to you. After thinking and praying about this, it seems a good thing to do. Thus, this little missive.

One thing that I have learned is that the Gospel is the key to life, to living well. So, it only makes sense for me to write to you about some basics of the Gospel. At this point, it looks like I will be writing about three different elements of the Gospel. This is the first of those. It's about sin.

I want to be clear about what I am aiming at, about the goal that I have in mind as I write to you about sin. I think that it is very important for every Christian to feel the weight of his sinfulness, to see something of how ugly it is. Bit by bit, as that happens, he will become increasingly amazed that Jesus has rescued him from that sin. It is out of this amazement at Jesus that Christians grow as wholehearted disciples. This is what I want for each of you.

Let's begin. The first thing is to do is nail down a definition. (Clear definitions are so important.) What is sin? Don't be fooled into thinking that sin is just about doing wrong things. It's much worse than that. Sin is hating God. It is rejecting Him and His ways. This hostility to God is an attitude of the heart long before it shows as some behavior. Here's some Bible that you can look up about this: Romans 8.7; Genesis 6.5.

That's the definition. Next, you need to see what God's response to sin is.

Here is a passage from a Psalm that has stood out to me for a long time.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. Psalm 5:4–6

In this Psalm, David uses various words to refer to sin and the people who commit it: wickedness, evil, boastful, evildoers, liars, bloodthirsty, deceitful. There are many more ways to describe sin and sinners, but these are clear enough.

Now, notice the words that David uses to describe God's response to sin and sinners. There are things that God won't do: delight in wickedness, let such people either dwell with Him or stand before Him. But now notice the things that God will do: hate, destroy, abhor.

I was spending some time meditating on the word 'abhor' recently. I looked up its definition: to regard with extreme repugnance, to feel hatred or loathing for

You should look up the word 'repugnance' and the word 'loathing'. The word 'hatred' is clear enough. These are very strong words and they describe God's attitude to sinners.

David used another word in that Psalm to describe what God will do to those who sin: destroy. Take a moment to understand what David is saying by using that word in this Psalm.

Now for what I want each of you to understand. This Psalm describes what God would do to each of you if Jesus had not rescued you from your sinfulness. Remember the words: hate, destroy, abhor.

Hers's something I'd like you to think about. What would this look like and feel like in your lives if Jesus weren't your Savior?

This is where the Gospel starts.

Next time I will be writing something about what it means to believe in Jesus.

Grandpa B