| Beloved, I was pacing back-and-forth in the kitchen as usual, deep in prayer. The sun had yet to rise, but Vos had already risen. He was in the back room strumming away on the acoustic guitar he had recently gotten for his birthday. The guitar was terribly out of tune. The strumming was terribly off-beat. But as I prayed, the music of my boy gave me pleasure. And that pleasure only increased when Vos began to belt out as he strummed, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity.” My heart filled with joy. My eyes swelled with tears. My lips immediately gave thanks to God, blessing His thrice holy glory and praying that my boy would come to know it in the depths of his soul. Vos’s rendition of “Holy, Holy, Holy” would never secure a record label or a captivated audience in a city concert hall. He didn’t even get the stanza right (skipping the middle half!), and he wasn’t on key. For all the musicians out there, Vos’s song was a disaster. And yet it brought me the deepest and profoundest of delight. Why? Because Vos is my boy! That song has served as a parable for me over the past week as a son of God. I’ve been set apart from sin to serve my Father. Piety! But even my best works are woefully imperfect, shot through with impure motives and insufficient love and zeal. I sensed that, as I often do, when I stepped off the pulpit last Sunday morning. My lips were singing the Doxology, but internally I was apologizing to God, repenting, and thinking to myself, “Whatever that just was, it wasn’t God-exulting preaching!” I was discouraged at the poorness of my service and the coldness of my heart. But in the midst of it, God brought little Vossy to my mind, strumming away and singing on his guitar. I realized, “That is me!” I had just sincerely sought to worship and serve God, but I had done it with such terrible imperfection. Yet in spite of that imperfection, my sincere worship and service brought God pleasure. Why? Because I am His adopted son in Jesus Christ! Here is how the Westminster Confession puts it: “Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God’s sight; but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections” (16.6). God looks upon our terribly deficient good works, carried out with terribly impure motives, and He accepts them. Even more than that, He is pleased with them. They bring Him pleasure. How can that be? Only because of the blood and righteousness of Jesus. As blameworthy and reprovable as our good works are in themselves, God delightfully receives them as from His adopted, justified children in Christ. Here is how the author of Hebrews puts it: “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” It is “by the blood of the eternal covenant” and “through Jesus Christ” that we are equipped to do His will unto His pleasure as He is “working in us” by the Spirit. Is that not good news, friends? We have a Father who, through His Son and by His Spirit, works in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure, so that as we feebly work out our salvation, it brings Him fatherly delight. In the midst of your imperfections, dear Christian, don’t forget the perfection of Christ and the efficacy of His blood that enables your Heavenly Father to take pleasure in the service and obedience you render from a heart of sincere faith. Yours in Christ, Pastor Nick |
