An Aromatic Marriage
December 26, 2022 at 1:55 pm | Posted in Ephesians | 5 CommentsTags: 2 Corinthians 1, Biblical marriage, Christian marriage, commentary on Ephesians, Ecclesiastes 4, Ephesians 5, Psalm 139, Psalm 51, Romans 12, Sunday School lessons on Ephesians
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:2
How does your home smell? Enticing and pleasant like fried chicken or homemade rolls? Or foul and malignant like a possum died in the attic two weeks ago and his sweltering corpse is still up there permeating the air vents? In order for our marriages to be pleasing to God, they must smell good. They must have the aroma that Jesus’s life and sacrificial death had to God. Having a marriage that smells good to God means walking in love.
I. An aromatic marriage is a welcoming marriage.
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Romans 12:9
This means that our love must be real, genuine love – authentic love, not fake love or hypocritical love. Some unpleasant smells can be temporarily covered up or disguised by introducing stronger, more pleasant smells to override the bad smell, but usually this only emphasizes the stench. Pouring Chanel No. 5 into a jug of sour milk isn’t really going to help, and some smells just can’t be removed by Febreze or Plugins. The advertisements for most odor-eliminating products contrast their effectiveness with attempts to merely “mask” bad odors. Masking a bad odor: what an apt description of hypocrisy! Real Christian love is not putting on a mask to try to hide a lack of love.
Furthermore, we are not the best judges of the smell of our own homes. People who work or live in places where horrible smells are ubiquitous tend to become “nose-blind” or oblivious because they have simply gotten used to them. We don’t want to “get used to” the problems in our marriages. Sometimes deep-cleaning is the only solution for really removing bad odors and creating a sweet-smelling atmosphere. Deep-cleaning in our marriages must consist of spiritual cleansing.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
This is an important part of giving our marriages a welcoming, sweet-smelling aroma: asking God to search us and let us know how we really smell. Getting used to sin is not the way to deal with sin – which leads to the second part of deep-cleaning your marriage: searching your heart and REPENTING.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
If unkind words, harsh attitudes, unforgiveness, refusing to communicate, deceitfulness, or other areas of conflict or sin are removed, it won’t matter for long if the practices just start right up again. Repentance is more than just admitting wrong. It is turning around and changing. Repentant marriages will be aromatic because they will be welcoming, with organic, natural, real love.
II. An aromatic marriage is a warm marriage.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Ephesians 5:28-29 (emphasis added)
The Greek word translated as “cherisheth” here is thalpo, and it literally means to keep warm.
A marriage which smells good to the Lord is a warm marriage. Generally, pleasant smells are carried better on warm air currents than cold breezes. That’s one reason why scented candles are so popular, and why so many good smells emanate from the oven and the stove. If your freezer is the only appliance in your house giving off an odor, that’s probably a bad sign.
It is the husband’s responsibility to keep the marriage warm. He is primarily in charge of the temperature of the marriage (including the thermostat! – just kidding). Now, he has a much easier job if the wife is cooperative.
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
The husband, being the leader in the marriage (leadership roles are assigned by God) must do everything he can to make sure that neither spouse is lying down alone, but, of course, I’m not just talking about physical warmth here. I’m talking about the atmosphere of the marital home and the marriage itself. The atmosphere needs to be comforting as well as exciting.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
II Corinthians 1:3-4
A husband must take comfort himself in God, and let his wife see that He is right with God, and then he must lead and guide her into a right relationship with God. The kind of comfort that comes from a good job, a nice home, frequent vacation getaways, and those warmth-producing bed covers called “comforters” can be nice, but those are cold comfort compared to the warmth of knowing that you both know the Lord and are serving Him together and that you are under His care. An aromatic marriage consists of a relationship that is warm, where the wife knows she is cherished, and which is both exciting and comforting.
III. An aromatic marriage is a walking marriage.
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:2 (emphasis added)
The idea of “walking” is a prominent motif in the Book of Ephesians. In order to make our marriages smell good we need to be living consistently in certain ways, and these ways are not mysterious. They have been clearly shown to us by Christ. He is the One we are to imitate, but how does a married person imitate Christ in marriage, when He was never married? You will not find any vignettes in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John of Jesus coming home from work, greeting His spouse with a kiss, and sitting down at the table to help with homework or eat supper with the family. What you will see, though, is the ways in which Jesus loved His bride, the Church.
He was consistent and faithful in His walk as He loved, served, and ultimately saved His Church. Erratic love won’t comfort your spouse, and it will make your marriage stink. Conditional love won’t make your spouse feel cherished or respected, and it will make your marriage reek. Love based on emotions or mere professions, and not on action, will poison the air of your marriage. Convenient, non-sacrificial love will make your marriage smell like a skunk wearing a rearview-mirror pine tree ornament. An aromatic marriage is one in which the spouses are imitating Christ as they walk in love – loving consistently and faithfully.
IV. An aromatic marriage is a worshipful marriage.
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Revelation 21:9
Eventually and eternally in Heaven the Bride of Christ will be shown in glory. Our marriages should smell good, like a properly-prepared bride.
Not everyone agrees on exactly how a bride should prepare for her wedding. Some wear beautiful (and expensive) gowns. Some wear yoga pants and cowboy boots. Some dress up like Pokemons.
Regardless of some differences of opinion on what to wear at the wedding, though, I hope we can all agree that she ought to at least take a bath – to try to smell good. In order for us to smell good to God we must “smell” like Jesus. In order for our marriages to accurately depict the “marriage to the Lamb of God” we need to make sure that God is being worshiped in our marriages.
Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Psalm 100:2
When we are rejoicing in marriage, remember to worship (serve) God with that joy.
I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
Psalm 144:9-10
During a serious disagreement in your marriage, worship God with that disagreement.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Isaiah 61:3
In sadness and grief and mourning, worship God.
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
Psalm 27:10
In times of confusion or feeling misunderstood, worship God by acknowledging and appealing to Him.
S.W.I.M. with the Fish
December 22, 2022 at 4:17 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: creation, design in creation, diversity in creation, Romans 1, Stephen Charnock, Stephen Charnock quotes, swim quotes, swimming quotes
Add to this union of contrary qualities, and the subserviency of one thing to another the admirable variety and diversity of things in the world. What variety of metals, living creatures, plants! what variety and distinction in the shape of their leaves, flowers, smell, resulting from them! Who can number up the several sorts of beasts on the earth, birds in the air, fish in the sea? How various are their motions! Some creep, some go, some fly, some swim; and in all this variety each creature hath organs or members, fitted for their peculiar motion.
Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Romans 1:19-20
What Is the Gift of God?
December 19, 2022 at 3:40 pm | Posted in Ephesians | 8 CommentsTags: commentary on Ephesians, Ephesians 2, faith, gift of faith, gift of salvation, grace, Salvation, saved by grace, Sunday School lessons on Ephesians
God, in saving His people, has done the following:
1. He loved us.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Ephesians 2:4
His mercy and grace save us, but His mercy and grace flow from His intrinsic love.
2. He resurrected us.
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians 2:5
3. He shares His glory with us.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 2:6
4. He secures us.
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:7-8
There are different views as to what is being described in Ephesians 2:8 as being “not of ourselves,” and the “it” which is the gift of God. Some people believe it refers to the grace, although this seems redundant. Obviously, grace is not of ourselves; by definition it is a gift (although, to be fair, redundancy is sometimes use by the Holy Spirit for emphasis in the Bible).
A second view is that the “it” which is not of ourselves refers to the faith through which we are saved. This would mean that faith is a gift from God, which fits well with Ephesians Chapter One, where we were told that we were chosen by God, and with the beginning of Chapter 2, which tells us that we were spiritually dead, intimating that we had no faith of our own to bring to the equation. One possible problem with these views is that both grace and faith in this verse are in the feminine noun form in their original Greek, and “it” is in the neuter, which would mean that, grammatically, it is less likely that this verse on its own supports the idea that faith is the gift of God, although many other verses in the Bible strongly indicate that it is.
The best view seems to be that the “it” refers neither specifically to grace nor faith in this verse, but to the whole act of salvation. The “are ye saved” – the fact that you are saved – is the gift of God. That fits just as well with the whole theme of the epistle up to this point, and the next verse has to be read in conjunction with Verse 8 because it is part of the same thought:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:9
If you believe that faith is the gift of God, then obviously you don’t believe that faith is a “work.” However, even if you believe that faith is not the intended focus of the gift language, then you can still believe that faith is not a work. Faith – being belief in Holy Spirit-revealed truth about Jesus – is in a different category from baptism, communion, joining a church, doing good deeds, etc., and the concept of refuting works as playing any part in salvation segues nicely into Verse 10:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
Remember, the “we” is all Christians, and we are HIS workmanship. Ephesians is relentlessly God-centered, and our connection to God is never severed from “in Christ Jesus.” The word translated as “workmanship” is poiema, from which we get the English word “poem.” God’s salvation of us is a manufactured product that is meant to “work” (and to be read). We are CREATED – made to exist by someone else – not by ourselves. Works do not save, but God-glorifying works are the result of salvation and are produced by the Word and the Spirit, and, at times, by chastening and even suffering as they are transformed by Resurrection power.
Prophecy under Duress
December 6, 2022 at 4:44 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsTags: commentary on Psalms, King David, Messianic prophecies, Messianic Psalms, Psalm 22, Sunday School lessons on Psalms
In Psalm 22:9 David the psalmist continued to grapple with what he perceived as a disconnect between God’s faithful deliverance of His people in times past, and His seeming abandonment of David in his present distress. However, David did find reason to hope.
But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
Psalm 22:9-10
David was one of those believers who knew God almost from infancy.
Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Psalm 22:11
David’s plea was not for God to deliver him FROM trouble, but to be with him IN the trouble. He would have known that God is omniscient and omnipresent, yet in his distress he still went on to explain exactly how much trouble he faced.
Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Psalm 22:12
Bashan was known for especially healthy and robust cattle. The prophet Amos called the lazy idolatrous women of his day “ye kine of Bashan” (not the nicest thing to say about a lady), but we are reminded again of the viciousness of Jesus’s persecutors as they hounded him to the Cross, spitting out profanities and seeking to tear him limb from limb like a pride of angry lions.
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
Psalm 22:13
It was not in David’s nature to fearfully shy away from violent conflict, but even he had his breaking point.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
Psalm 22:14
Perhaps you have at some time in your life felt your legs turn to jelly or limp noodles, the contents of your stomach liquify, your heart melt like a wax candle set atop a searing furnace.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
Psalm 22:15
David felt like a discarded scrap of pottery, brittle and weak, his mouth dry from terror (a foreshadowing of Jesus’s thirst on the Cross).
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Psalm 22:16
Dogs were dangerous scavengers in Bible times, and while they could certainly bite people’s hands and feet and draw blood, this imagery seemed shrouded in mystery for at least 1000 years until crucifixion was developed by the Assyrians and later perfected by the Romans.
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
Psalm 22:17
The idea of “telling” is sort of a double-sided allusion. His bones could be counted because of their visibility due to emaciation, or they could be “told” as in counted and accounted for because they were all intact and unbroken (as in the case of Jesus on the Cross). The Romans normally broke the legs of crucified criminals, but made an unusual exception in the case of Jesus Who laid down His own life in His own timing.
They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Psalm 22:18
Taking the clothes of the vanquished was certainly not unheard of after a battle in Old Testament times, but here it is clearly meant as prophecy which would apply to Christ in an infinitesimally unlikely “coincidence.”
David has certainly SOUNDED hopeless up until this point in Psalm 22, but he is not. He is still praying to the Lord that he knows CAN hear, if even he is not sure He WILL hear.
But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Psalm 22:19
That is a key point to remember. We might have a tendency to ask the Lord to increase OUR strength, but David called the Lord his strength.
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Psalm 22:20
“Darling” is a synonym for his very life here. He believed he had lost everything left to lose except his actual life.
Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Psalm 22:21
The “unicorns” were not rainbow-maned sparkly magical ponies. The King James translators tried to literally describe whatever this beast was: maybe a wild ox with one very prominent horn, or such big horns that “horn” was its chief identifying – and intimidating – feature. If you were attacked by a bobcat, you might say he was “all claws,” or, in the case of a shark, “all teeth” or “jaws.”
Next comes a very clear transition. David was determined to praise God in the midst of His people, but also in the midst of this trial.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
Psalm 22:22-23
David would declare God’s name among his brethren and among the congregation. He would declare among God’s covenant people, or even among the enemies the of God.
For David, this would be the celebration of a votive or freewill offering, and it applied in his day primarily to the Jewish people, but it is also another prophetic feature, looking forward to Jesus’s Resurrection.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
Psalm 22:24-26
God would not despise the affliction of Jesus, even though, as shown back in Verse 1, there would be the sense of forsaking Him. The prophecy of Psalm 22 goes all the way to the time of the Apostles as they reached the gentiles, and even further to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The psalmist would share his freewill offering with the poor.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations.
Psalm 22:27-28
As Christians, we need to be doing our part to start fulfilling this prophecy today:
All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
Psalm 22:29-31
Ultimately, we must trust God with our eternal souls. “They… shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born…” is sort of the Old Testament version of the Great Commission.
The Deep End 
Past, Present, and Future: The Present
December 29, 2022 at 2:57 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 7 CommentsTags: Biblical lament, Biblical mercy, commentary on Psalms, mercy, Psalm 85, rejoicing, repentance, revival, Sunday School lessons on Psalms
After looking at the past as it relates to favor, forgiveness, and ferocity in Psalm 85:1-3, we now turn to the present.
A. Repentance
Psalm 85:4
We call this repentance, and, although we tend to think of it as an act of our own will, we see here that the “turning” from sin and to God must be the act of God upon us. The psalmist realized and recognized this: “’turn us,’ for we cannot turn ourselves.”
Both nationally (the Civil War and the Great Depression are two examples) and personally, we need to look at our past and see the times when God has delivered us, and we need to give Him glory for it. If you talk to people who belong to the older generation among us, they can tell you very personal stories of times when God delivered them. We don’t live in the past – and we shouldn’t try to – but the humility that comes from remembering the great undeserved things that God has done in the past glorifies Him. The Christian life is not smooth sailing from beginning to end. Our practical sanctification is not immediate, and our preparation for glory is not accomplished apart from trials, testing, tribulation, trouble, and even suffering.
In the middle part of Psalm 85 it is revealed that the references to the past were a prelude to the distress of the present.
Psalm 85:5
This is what is known as a “lament.” It can sound irreverent to those whose only experience of prayer is hearing public praying in church. The sincere questioning of God is not always sinful, though. When questions, fears, doubts, and even complaints arise in our hearts, the only correct arena for airing our grievances is before the Lord Himself in sincere prayer.
B. Revival
Psalm 85:6
God’s people do not enjoy anything about trials or suffering, but one of the most severe dangers in these times of struggling and hardship is forgetting about our truest source of joy: finding our contentment and our peace and our joy in God. This is why the psalmist speaks for God’s true children, and longs for new life (“revival”). This is not the type of pre-scheduled religious service manufactured by people wanting to win souls. It is something supernatural done by God Himself, which straightens us out – and straightens out our thinking – and reminds us that when we think about God correctly our attitude is one of:
C. Rejoicing
Psalm 85:7
Here is the hope for any person who feels separated from God during a time of personal crisis, and the hope for our nation: mercy – which is, irrefutably, by definition, help from God. The psalmist doesn’t say “teach us” how to be saved, nor “give us the tools or the means to save ourselves.” No, he says, “Even though we clearly don’t deserve it, please give us YOUR salvation.” Salvation belongs to Jesus and He is in charge of it. He delivers it, He administers it, and He secures it.
If God is interested in delivering America at this point, mercy is our only hope. This was the plea, and the lament, of the psalmist in the present. Now the people would have to pause and listen for what God would reveal about the future, which we will look at next time.