Saturday, August 01, 2026
Pride and Power by Steven Willing (shortened version)
Every generation produces its version of the holy tyrant. The names change but not the pattern. Even the titles can vary: senior pastor, ruling elder, or influential layman with the loudest voice in the room. What they share is a widening circle of personal authority and the slow accumulation of wreckage that follows them: broken relationships, silenced dissent, fleeing members, shattered congregations.
This pattern should not surprise us. Augustine identified this impulse 16 centuries ago and gave it a name: the libido dominandi — the lust to dominate.
In “The City of God” (14:28), Augustine drew the defining contrast between two cities, two loves, two images of self. The earthly city is built on love of self and contempt for God. The heavenly city, on the other hand, is built on love of God and contempt for self. In the earthly city, men are ruled by libido dominandi. In the heavenly city, by the love of serving.
Augustine added a twist that every church leader should read slowly: the proud are made subject to their own desire. The lust to dominate becomes the lust thatdominates. The man who sets out to control others ends up enslaved to the need.
Where does this lust come from? How do people entrusted with authority in the church end up bullying the people they were called to serve?
Jonathan Edwards defined pride as a man “having too high a thought of himself” – something imperceptible to someone so afflicted. That interior miscalibration is where the libido dominandi germinates. Before the tyrant fires anyone, rewrites the bylaws, or silences the first dissenter, he has already concluded in the unexamined recesses of his own heart that his judgment is superior to other people’s.
The lust to dominate rarely begins with naked ambition; it usually begins with real competence. The leader who can preach, cast vision, manage a budget, or simply outwork everyone in the room comes to a reasonable-sounding conclusion: I know what I’m doing. These people don’t. My judgment is better than theirs. I need to take charge of the situation.
This conclusion may even be true in some cases, but pride always demands more. I’m smarter than they are. I see what they can’t see. I have a better grasp of the mission, theology, and the future of this church. And because I know better, my authority to direct them is righteous. And opposing me obstructs God’s work.
Scripture tells a different story:
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3–4).
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring… Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13–16).
The hubris described by James is one of control, specifically over the future. But James warns us that the future rests solely in God’s divine providence; to think otherwise is evil boasting.
The man convinced he alone knows God’s plan for his congregation has started down the road that James describes. His plans feel like faith, but they’re born of pride.
What makes libido dominandi so insidious in church settings is that it can wear the face of sacrifice.
The domineering pastor is often genuinely hardworking, passionate about the mission, and willing to absorb personal cost in service of the vision. He may honestly believe that the people resisting him are spiritually immature, self-interested, or deceived, and that the loving thing is to override them. (It’s not always the pastor. Sometimes, the pastor is the victim.)
This sincere motivation is what makes the lust to dominate so difficult to see from the inside, and so devastating when it finally becomes visible from the outside.
Augustine, and later Edwards, saw this too. The lust to dominate masquerades as care. He is not controlling them for his benefit; he is controlling them for theirs. He is the only one who understands the stakes. The only one willing to do what needs to be done.
It is important to follow how this plays out, and name it plainly.
When someone finally objects, or just declines to submit to an unreasonable demand, the domineering leader rarely responds with self-examination. He goes on the attack, and the person raising concerns becomes the problem. The dissenting elder is divisive. The pastor who won’t go along is insubordinate. Resistance to control gets relabeled as rebellion against God’s appointed authority. Questioning the leader becomes questioning God. Protecting oneself becomes pride. Principled objection is contumacy.
Psychologists call this gaslighting — after the 1938 stage play (and 1944 film) in which a psychopathic husband systematically works to make his wife doubt her own perceptions. The victim ends up defending herself against charges that are actually descriptions of her abuser. In church settings, it is particularly insidious because the gaslighting comes packaged in terms of spiritual authority.
Gaslighting is a predictable feature of any organization where authority is concentrated, decisions are made behind closed doors, and accountability flows in only one direction.
Which brings us to transparency — not as a corporate virtue, but as an ecclesiastical one.
Bullying thrives in secrecy. Decisions handed down without explanation, personnel actions taken without congregational knowledge, finances managed without scrutiny — these are not marks of strong, confident leadership. They are the fruits of libido dominandigrowing unchecked. When leaders diffuse power, normalize transparency, and are genuinely accountable to one another and to the congregation, domination becomes much harder to sustain.
Conducting business in the open, welcoming hard questions, and being open to correction — these are wise practices, not weak ones. They reflect a doctrine of human nature that Reformed Christians have long embraced.
Calvin, writing in the “Institutes,” put it plainly: “If we concede unreservedly to men all the power which they think proper to assume, it is easy to see how soon it will degenerate into a tyranny which is altogether alien from the Church of Christ.” (4.8.1)
The power of church office, Calvin argued, belongs to the office, not the person. The authority they exercise is not theirs; it is Christ’s, mediated through his Word. Any officer who demands submission to his personal authority rather than to Scripture has stepped outside his commission entirely. Paul himself disclaimed dominion over the faith of the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 1:24). If the apostle renounced that authority, Calvin asks, who would dare claim it?
Peter called elders to shepherd the flock “eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2–3). Peter knew the temptation to domineer was real so he named it directly. He never assumed godly men would be immune to it.
There is a governance principle here that PCA (Presbyterian Churches of America) churches in particular should prioritize.
The Presbyterian model exists, in part, precisely because no individual can be trusted with unchecked authority. The session, presbytery, General Assembly — these structures are not bureaucratic inconveniences. They are safeguards built the doctrine of total depravity. We confess that the heart is deceitful above all things. And that truth does not just apply to those outside the church.
When a congregation or a session allows those structures to erode, the machinery for correction is gone before anyone realizes it was needed.
The antidote for the lust to dominate is not better leadership training, stronger bylaws, or formal codes of conduct. The cure is the virtue that Augustine, Calvin, Edwards, and the entire tradition of Christian ethics would name first: humility.
Not performative humility wherein the leader prefaces every decision with “I’m just a sinner saved by grace,” and then punishes anyone who disagrees with him. Real humility actually changes how a man thinks, wields power, and responds when he’s challenged.
The domineering leader and the humble servant are not distinguished by their competence, vision, or gifts. They are distinguished by what they believe about themselves. One believes his judgment is the most reliable thing in the room. The other admits it might not be.
Christians can disagree sharply over polity, governance, and management style. Those debates have their place. But no one can honestly claim to have attained perfect humility. No theologically informed Christian disputes that pride is sinful or that humility is a virtue. Whatever else divides us, this is ground we all can share — and ground the church desperately needs to move toward.
Edwards saw pride as “the main door by which the Devil comes into the hearts of those that are zealous for the advancement of religion,” but pointed clearly to our surest defense: “nothing sets a person so much out of the Devil’s reach as humility.” With the humble man, Satan’s most effective lies – “You are smarter than them; you are better than them; you should be in charge” – gain no traction.
Better governance fixes governance. Clearer bylaws fix processes. Removing one domineering leader creates an opening for the next. Humility, cultivated seriously across a congregation, fixes marriages, heals divisions, softens theological and political tribalism, leads to better thinking, and makes the church the kind of community a watching world might actually want to join.
Augustine’s two cities are not hypothetical. They are the competing realms chosen by every leader, elder, session, and every one of us. The earthly city runs on the lust to dominate. The heavenly city runs on the love of serving.
Which city are you choosing today?
Steven J. Willing
It has been said that what we are in private is what we really are. C. S. Lewis noted if that if you have rats in your cellar, “You are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding.” When worrying circumstances disturb our peace they are like the rats in the cellar. When something surprises us such as an unwelcome circumstance, then the problem of worry and anxiety suddenly surfaces. The issue is whether we view the Lord as near or the crisis as near. Here we find one of the ways Christianity is unique among the world’s religions: It claims that Jesus lives inside us by his Spirit and remakes us into his character (Romans 8:29). When he promises peace that is “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), he means that his peace transforms us despite our circumstances. Philippians 4:1-7 ESV Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. [2] I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. [3] Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. [4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 is about forgetting the intense distress in the immensity of the divinity. F W Boreham writes “Immensity is magnificent medicine. That is one reason—if we may let the cat out of the bag—why the doctors send us to the seaside. We forget the tiddley-winking in the contemplation of the tremendous. We lose life's shallow worries in the vision of unplumbed depths. … The tendency of life is to drift among small things—small anxieties, small pleasures, small ideas, and small talk. He is a very wise physician indeed who can prescribe for us a tonic of big things. F W Boreham, ‘A Tonic of Big Things,’ The Luggage of Life Euodia and Syntyche may be arguing over teacups creating their storms at the church at Philippi but the Lord is near. If you say their names slowly you get the idea of the divisions that Australia’s churches experience: you Odia. You stink! Sin touchey! But that may be eisagesis reading into the text something that isn’t really there. But these ladies were creating storms in teacups. Similar storms once produced such anxiety in me that I felt a great need to resign from one church as pastor. I forgot that the Lord is at hand! Near! Perhaps the term “near” is eschatological? In the previous section of scripture Paul had reminded the Philippians and us that the second coming of Christ was always near. Philippians 3:20-21 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. But yet whether His coming is close in time or far off in time, the Lord is always near He is able to subject all things to Himself anyway, although we await the final subjection of all things to Himself at His return. The Psalm that best expresses the nearness of God to His people is Psalm 46:1-11 ESV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. [2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, [3] though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah [4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. [5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. [6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. [7] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah [8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. [9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. [10] "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Warren Wiersbe has commented on this psalm Verses 2–3: God is our refuge, meaning we do not need to fear. Verses 4–7: God is our strength, meaning we do not need to faint. Verses 8–11: God is our help, meaning we do not need to fret. He is a Refuge He is like the River that supplies our needs constantly (the Holy Spirit indwells us). Be still and know that He is God. The apostle Paul wants you to know the same thing: the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious about anything, pray about everything ! The Lord is near. As Martin Luther in his extreme danger at the commencement of the Reformation in Europe turned these words of Psalm 46 into the beautiful hymn God is our Refuge and Strength Let goods and kindreds go This mortal life also the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever! The little troubles should fade when compared to the greatness of our God who is near. The Lord is near. He is at hand.
Accreditation questions for ministers
- Believer’s Baptism: How do you biblically defend believer's baptism over infant baptism?
- Autonomy & Interdependence: How do you balance the autonomy of the local church with a commitment to the wider Association
- Priesthood of all Believers: How does this doctrine practically shape your leadership and empowerment of volunteers?
- Scriptural Authority: In what ways do you protect the supremacy of Scripture in your preaching and teaching amidst modern cultural pressures?
- Discerning the Call: Can you walk us through your current sense of call to pastoral ministry?
- Spiritual Rhythms: What specific spiritual disciplines and self-care practices do you use to prevent pastoral burnout?
- Conflict Resolution: Tell us about a time you faced personal or professional criticism in ministry and how you responded.
- Marriage and Family: If applicable, how do you manage the boundary lines between family life and demanding ministry expectations?
- Code of Conduct: How do you proactively maintain clear, healthy emotional and physical boundaries with congregants?
- Safe Church Compliance: What actions will you take if a volunteer or staff member fails to follow child safety policies?
- Power Dynamics: How do you ensure you are not misusing spiritual or institutional authority over vulnerable individuals?
- Training Application: How has your study at theological College or equivalent institutions shaped your hands-on approach to pastoral care?
- Evangelism and Mission: What strategies do you use to lead a local church in winning people to Christ in a secular context?
- Leadership Style: How do you lead through a congregational governance model where decisions require church-wide consensus?
When all is said and done do you know God
Dr. Lewis A. Drummond (1927-2004) stated, “When everything else is over and said and done, only one thing ultimately matters: Do you know God? Can you face eternity with Him?” Lewis A. Drummond, Pulpit Digest, 60 (March -April, 1983)
Divided by truth
The following is an excerpt from an address by Dr. Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention (1996) in Indianapolis, Indiana: “It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It's better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better ultimately to succeed with truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie.”
Friday, July 31, 2026
With Thee
Psalm 23:4 The nearness of God is my good "Nevertheless I am continually with thee." — Psalms 73:23 "Nevertheless,"-As if, notwithstanding all the foolishness and ignorance which David had just been confessing to God, not one atom the less was it true and certain that David was saved and accepted, and that the blessing of being constantly in God's presence was undoubtedly his. Fully conscious of his own lost estate, and of the deceitfulness and vileness of his nature, yet, by a glorious outburst of faith, he sings "nevertheless I am continually with thee." Believer, you are forced to enter into Asaph's confession and acknowledgment, endeavour in like spirit to say "nevertheless, since I belong to Christ I am continually with God!" By this is meant continually upon his mind, he is always thinking of me for my good. -- C. H. Spurgeon ( excerpt)
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Can’t park here
The Lord is Near
Devotional thoughts Thursday, July 30, 2026 Philippians 4 the Lord is near. It has been said that what we are in private is what we really are. C. S. Lewis noted if that if you have rats in your cellar, “You are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding.” When worrying circumstances disturb our peace they are like the rats in the cellar. When something surprises us such as an unwelcome circumstance, then the problem of worry and anxiety suddenly surfaces. The issue is whether we view the Lord as near or the crisis as nearer. Lorelle and I went to bed. Very soon after there was unmistakable shotgun shots. Two of them. To me it sounded like they were from our front driveway. Very close. I looked out the front windows carefully but couldn’t see anyone. Five cars went past in a close convoy. But still nothing. I expected police but there were none. No strange cars parked 🚗 in the street. On Sunday 19 July I texted the neighbours whether they had heard anything; “ Yes we did. Not sure where it was coming from but seemed close out the back I think.” It is surprising how quickly one can move from faith in God and yet so quickly have our peace unsettled by an unexpected, sudden, momentary circumstance. However frightening it may be. Here we find one of the ways Christianity is unique among the world’s religions: It claims that Jesus lives inside us by his Spirit and remakes us into his character (Romans 8:29). When he promises peace that is “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), he means that his peace transforms us despite our circumstances. Philippians 4:1-7 ESV Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. [2] I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. [3] Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. [4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 is about forgetting the intense distress in the immensity of the divinity. F W Boreham writes “Immensity is magnificent medicine. That is one reason—if we may let the cat out of the bag—why the doctors send us to the seaside. We forget the tiddley-winking in the contemplation of the tremendous. We lose life's shallow worries in the vision of unplumbed depths. … The tendency of life is to drift among small things—small anxieties, small pleasures, small ideas, and small talk. He is a very wise physician indeed who can prescribe for us a tonic of big things. F W Boreham, ‘A Tonic of Big Things,’ The Luggage of Life. Euodia and Syntyche may be arguing over teacups creating their storms at the church at Philippi but the Lord is near. If you say their names slowly you get the idea of the divisions that Australia’s churches experience: you Odia. You stink! Sin touchey! But that may be eisagesis reading into the text something that isn’t really there. But these ladies were creating storms in teacups. Similar storms once produced such anxiety in me that I felt a great need to resign from one church as pastor. I forgot that the Lord is at hand! He is Near! Perhaps the term “near” is eschatological referring to the second coming of Christ? In the previous section of scripture Paul had reminded the Philippians and us that the second coming of Christ was always near. Philippians 3:20-21 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. But yet whether His coming is close in time or far off in time, the Lord is always near. He is able to subject all things to Himself anyway, although we await the final subjection of all things to Himself at His return. The Psalm that best expresses the nearness of God to His people is Psalm 46:1-11 ESV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. [2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, [3] though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah [4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. [5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. [6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. [7] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah [8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. [9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. [10] "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Warren Wiersbe has commented on this psalm Verses 2–3: God is our refuge, meaning we do not need to fear. Verses 4–7: God is our strength, meaning we do not need to faint. Verses 8–11: God is our help, meaning we do not need to fret. He is a Refuge He is like the River that supplies our needs constantly (the Holy Spirit indwells us). Be still and know that He is God. The apostle Paul wants you to know the same thing: the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious about anything, pray about everything ! The Lord is near. As Martin Luther in his extreme danger at the commencement of the Reformation in Europe turned these words of Psalm 46 into the beautiful hymn God is our Refuge and Strength Let goods and kindreds go This mortal life also the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever! The little troubles should fade when compared to the greatness of our God who is near. The Lord is near. He is at hand.
Philippians 4 the Lord is near.
It has been said that what we are in private is what we really are. C. S. Lewis noted if that if you have rats in your cellar, “You are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding.” When worrying circumstances disturb our peace they are like the rats in the cellar. When something surprises us such as an unwelcome circumstance, then the problem of worry and anxiety suddenly surfaces. The issue is whether we view the Lord as near or the crisis as near. Here we find one of the ways Christianity is unique among the world’s religions: It claims that Jesus lives inside us by his Spirit and remakes us into his character (Romans 8:29). When he promises peace that is “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), he means that his peace transforms us despite our circumstances. Philippians 4:1-7 ESV Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. [2] I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. [3] Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. [4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 is about forgetting the intense distress in the immensity of the divinity. F W Boreham writes “Immensity is magnificent medicine. That is one reason—if we may let the cat out of the bag—why the doctors send us to the seaside. We forget the tiddley-winking in the contemplation of the tremendous. We lose life's shallow worries in the vision of unplumbed depths. … The tendency of life is to drift among small things—small anxieties, small pleasures, small ideas, and small talk. He is a very wise physician indeed who can prescribe for us a tonic of big things. F W Boreham, ‘A Tonic of Big Things,’ The Luggage of Life Euodia and Syntyche may be arguing over teacups creating their storms at the church at Philippi but the Lord is near. If you say their names slowly you get the idea of the divisions that Australia’s churches experience: you Odia. You stink! Sin touchey! But that may be eisagesis reading into the text something that isn’t really there. But these ladies were creating storms in teacups. Similar storms once produced such anxiety in me that I felt a great need to resign from one church as pastor. I forgot that the Lord is at hand! Near! Perhaps the term “near” is eschatological? In the previous section of scripture Paul had reminded the Philippians and us that the second coming of Christ was always near. Philippians 3:20-21 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. But yet whether His coming is close in time or far off in time, the Lord is always near He is able to subject all things to Himself anyway, although we await the final subjection of all things to Himself at His return. The Psalm that best expresses the nearness of God to His people is Psalm 46:1-11 ESV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. [2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, [3] though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah [4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. [5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. [6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. [7] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah [8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. [9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. [10] "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Warren Wiersbe has commented on this psalm Verses 2–3: God is our refuge, meaning we do not need to fear. Verses 4–7: God is our strength, meaning we do not need to faint. Verses 8–11: God is our help, meaning we do not need to fret. He is a Refuge He is like the River that supplies our needs constantly (the Holy Spirit indwells us). Be still and know that He is God. The apostle Paul wants you to know the same thing: the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious about anything, pray about everything ! The Lord is near. As Martin Luther in his extreme danger at the commencement of the Reformation in Europe turned these words of Psalm 46 into the beautiful hymn God is our Refuge and Strength Let goods and kindreds go This mortal life also the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever! The little troubles should fade when compared to the greatness of our God who is near. The Lord is near. He is at hand.
Philippians 4 the Lord is near.
It has been said that what we are in private is what we really are. C. S. Lewis noted if that if you have rats in your cellar, “You are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding.” When worrying circumstances disturb our peace they are like the rats in the cellar. When something surprises us such as an unwelcome circumstance, then the problem of worry and anxiety suddenly surfaces. The issue is whether we view the Lord as near or the crisis as near. Here we find one of the ways Christianity is unique among the world’s religions: It claims that Jesus lives inside us by his Spirit and remakes us into his character (Romans 8:29). When he promises peace that is “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), he means that his peace transforms us despite our circumstances. Philippians 4:1-7 ESV Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. [2] I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. [3] Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. [4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 is about forgetting the intense distress in the immensity of the divinity. F W Boreham writes “Immensity is magnificent medicine. That is one reason—if we may let the cat out of the bag—why the doctors send us to the seaside. We forget the tiddley-winking in the contemplation of the tremendous. We lose life's shallow worries in the vision of unplumbed depths. … The tendency of life is to drift among small things—small anxieties, small pleasures, small ideas, and small talk. He is a very wise physician indeed who can prescribe for us a tonic of big things. F W Boreham, ‘A Tonic of Big Things,’ The Luggage of Life Euodia and Syntyche may be arguing over teacups creating their storms at the church at Philippi but the Lord is near. If you say their names slowly you get the idea of the divisions that Australia’s churches experience: you Odia. You stink! Sin touchey! But that may be eisagesis reading into the text something that isn’t really there. But these ladies were creating storms in teacups. Similar storms once produced such anxiety in me that I felt a great need to resign from one church as pastor. I forgot that the Lord is at hand! Near! Perhaps the term “near” is eschatological? In the previous section of scripture Paul had reminded the Philippians and us that the second coming of Christ was always near. Philippians 3:20-21 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. But yet whether His coming is close in time or far off in time, the Lord is always near He is able to subject all things to Himself anyway, although we await the final subjection of all things to Himself at His return. The Psalm that best expresses the nearness of God to His people is Psalm 46:1-11 ESV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. [2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, [3] though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah [4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. [5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. [6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. [7] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah [8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. [9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. [10] "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Warren Wiersbe has commented on this psalm Verses 2–3: God is our refuge, meaning we do not need to fear. Verses 4–7: God is our strength, meaning we do not need to faint. Verses 8–11: God is our help, meaning we do not need to fret. He is a Refuge He is like the River that supplies our needs constantly (the Holy Spirit indwells us). Be still and know that He is God. The apostle Paul wants you to know the same thing: the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious about anything, pray about everything ! The Lord is near. As Martin Luther in his extreme danger at the commencement of the Reformation in Europe turned these words of Psalm 46 into the beautiful hymn God is our Refuge and Strength Let goods and kindreds go This mortal life also the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever! The little troubles should fade when compared to the greatness of our God who is near. The Lord is near. He is at hand.
Philippians 4 the Lord is near.
It has been said that what we are in private is what we really are. C. S. Lewis noted if that if you have rats in your cellar, “You are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding.” When worrying circumstances disturb our peace they are like the rats in the cellar. When something surprises us such as an unwelcome circumstance, then the problem of worry and anxiety suddenly surfaces. The issue is whether we view the Lord as near or the crisis as near. Here we find one of the ways Christianity is unique among the world’s religions: It claims that Jesus lives inside us by his Spirit and remakes us into his character (Romans 8:29). When he promises peace that is “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), he means that his peace transforms us despite our circumstances. Philippians 4:1-7 ESV Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. [2] I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. [3] Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. [4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 is about forgetting the intense distress in the immensity of the divinity. F W Boreham writes “Immensity is magnificent medicine. That is one reason—if we may let the cat out of the bag—why the doctors send us to the seaside. We forget the tiddley-winking in the contemplation of the tremendous. We lose life's shallow worries in the vision of unplumbed depths. … The tendency of life is to drift among small things—small anxieties, small pleasures, small ideas, and small talk. He is a very wise physician indeed who can prescribe for us a tonic of big things. F W Boreham, ‘A Tonic of Big Things,’ The Luggage of Life Euodia and Syntyche may be arguing over teacups creating their storms at the church at Philippi but the Lord is near. If you say their names slowly you get the idea of the divisions that Australia’s churches experience: you Odia. You stink! Sin touchey! But that may be eisagesis reading into the text something that isn’t really there. But these ladies were creating storms in teacups. Similar storms once produced such anxiety in me that I felt a great need to resign from one church as pastor. I forgot that the Lord is at hand! Near! Perhaps the term “near” is eschatological? In the previous section of scripture Paul had reminded the Philippians and us that the second coming of Christ was always near. Philippians 3:20-21 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. But yet whether His coming is close in time or far off in time, the Lord is always near He is able to subject all things to Himself anyway, although we await the final subjection of all things to Himself at His return. The Psalm that best expresses the nearness of God to His people is Psalm 46:1-11 ESV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. [2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, [3] though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah [4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. [5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. [6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. [7] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah [8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. [9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. [10] "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Warren Wiersbe has commented on this psalm Verses 2–3: God is our refuge, meaning we do not need to fear. Verses 4–7: God is our strength, meaning we do not need to faint. Verses 8–11: God is our help, meaning we do not need to fret. He is a Refuge He is like the River that supplies our needs constantly (the Holy Spirit indwells us). Be still and know that He is God. The apostle Paul wants you to know the same thing: the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious about anything, pray about everything ! The Lord is near. As Martin Luther in his extreme danger at the commencement of the Reformation in Europe turned these words of Psalm 46 into the beautiful hymn God is our Refuge and Strength Let goods and kindreds go This mortal life also the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever! The little troubles should fade when compared to the greatness of our God who is near. The Lord is near. He is at hand.
