My Hope For Bryant Christopher Reed
Bryant, my newest nephew, you were born in relative obscurity a few weeks ago. At your birth, you were known only to your family, friends, hospital staff, and God. Even the Vital Statistics Office was not informed of your arrival until a few days thereafter. But my prayer is that your seemingly obscure birth is part of God’s plan to bring about a reformation in our churches.
My hope rests in the Lord’s faithfulness toward his remnant, as evidenced through the life of my favorite, non-divine Old Testament biblical personality, Phinehas. (It will be some years before you are able to understand why Phinehas and my other favorite non-divine personality, Titus, have fueled my passion to see reform in our churches for the last two decades. It is a passion, tempered by the reality faced in trying to implement reforms, which itself brings feelings more appropriately associated with the burning-bush Moses or Timothy.)
In the earliest record of his life, Phinehas is mentioned in a passing note about one child born among many. “Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites by their clans,� (Ex. 6:25). Yet he makes a name for himself by jamming a spear through an Israelite man and his female companion while they were in an act of immorality—an act being committed even after the Lord had begun to pour out his wrath upon the Israelites for their sins! Phinehas’ no-shame, zealous act for the Lord upon the shameful act of the couple stopped the judgment of the Lord against Israel for her whoredom with the Moabites. The full account can be found in Numbers 25.
A later record states that Phinehas eventually became chief of the gatekeepers in Israel: “And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the chief officer over [the gatekeepers] in time past; the Lord was with him,� (I Chron. 9:20). In reflecting on this, it seems very plausible to me that Phinehas was elevated to this position because it was certain that he would not allow something unwarranted or suspicious to pass through the gates of Jerusalem under his watch. He earned his position by having his senses trained to recognize things that deny God and the law of God, in spite of the ideals of popular Israelite culture. He could detect anything contraband before God because he did not fudge when obvious contraband was presented, even when other members of society were not as quick to respond. His conviction to do what is right according to the revelation of God helped to protect the purity of Israel before God.
On a recent trip through the airport, as one of my bags ran through a TSA scanner, something liquid caught the eye of the main observer. Instead of saying, “that’s just a bottle of Listerine,� which could be seen on the screen, he applied the Homeland Security codes and ordered a thorough examination of my bag. He did not desensitize himself to the TSA standards because he had seen thousands of such bottles. For it would take only one Listerine-like bottle filled with a bio- or chemical-weapon to take down an airplane. Phinehas appears to have been one with senses similarly trained to identify potential harm to the people of God, being knowledgeable of the law of God. He recognized that one act of sinfulness – one act of blatant disregard for God’s law – could take down the people of God.
I’m sure others stood by. I’m sure that Phinehas could have attempted diplomacy, or simply wrestled the man down. There was probably a second for him to have given thought to his own personal defilement. More than likely there was an option besides the spear. Yet, at the risk of being unpopular, (couldn’t you just hear another Israelite saying, “brother, who gave you the right to spear anybody?�), Phinehas goes down in history as the one who stopped the plague (cf. Ps. 106:30). Thankfully there are people who recognize that certain acts and situations of lawlessness need a very fast and hard spear.
Through his one act, Phinehas gained the right kind of popularity—popularity with God. Moreover, he was not ostracized for being the one to stand for holiness. Instead, he was hailed as a leader, as seen in being chosen by Israel to head the delegation against the two and one-half tribes suspected of spiritual defection (cf. Josh. 22:10-34). Who better to put out front if you detect idolatry among the people of God? You find the man who would not be afraid to jam a spear through every apostate to the glory of God.
Bryant, I hope you, your brother Brandon, and my sons will be like Phinehas. I hope that when you see things in the church that are contraband with respect to the Gospel that you will not simply accept these as cultural norms of the church. Instead, I hope you will stop the judgment of God in our churches—judgment he is pouring out on those who have disregarded Him in the distortion of the created order, participated in similar acts, and approved of those who do the same (cf. Rom. 1:18-32). I hope you will not be afraid to hold up standards for marriage and singleness, to keep your pulpit full of men only, to preach that homosexuality is an abomination, to correct rampant immaturity among Christ’s bride, to pour your life into men who are Biblically qualified to lead God’s people, and to challenge anything that threatens to corrupt the Gospel message in our churches. I hope that you will grab the spear of the word of truth and boldly take it to many pulpits. I hope you will grow into a gatekeeper for the glory of God in Christ through the Gospel for God’s people among us.
Bryant Christopher Reed, I am so glad you safely made it into the world! Two weeks ago, you were just another birth to a family among the people of God. Maybe, however, you will be the one to help put the spear of a reformation through the tryst of sub-Christian living and teaching in our churches. The redemption of our churches and community depends on God sovereignly working through men like you.
Others of us have grabbed spears. As soon as you are able to handle yours, catch up with us. We’re marching to the East side of the Jordan.
Comments
May 07, 2007
hot
June 27, 2007