The King of Glory

Edwards Hall - guest rooms where I'm staying, and student lounge/eating areas

From Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO:

In November, I posted a journal entry from my day of solitude called Who Shall Ascend?.  It was the reflection of my thoughts on Psalm 24:

The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?  And who shall stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!  Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD of hosts, he is the King of Glory!

 This morning I happened to pray through this Psalm.  As I was reading through it, I noticed that when I wrestled with this Psalm several months ago I really focused in on verses 3-6 (the second paragraph above) and separated them from the Psalm as a whole.  I realized today that the overarching theme of this Psalm is clearly God as the King of Glory.  So I went back and reinterpreted this passage looking at my previous conclusions.

Previously, I was wrestling with how to ascend the hill.  I noted that apart from Christ I can do nothing, but that Scripture calls me to strive for personal holiness and through such I come closer and closer to the Almighty.  I am not minimizing the call of a Christian to pursue holiness.  After all, in 1 Timothy 4:7 Paul (the master of justification by faith alone) says "train yourself for godliness."  Rather, what I have realized this morning is that I tend to read scripture always thinking "What does this mean for me?"  Certainly looking for personal application in Scripture is good, but the Bible is not about each of us individually.  The Bible is about God and man (corporately).  It is a beautiful story from Genesis to Revelation of God's redemption of all Creation to bring glory to Himself.  It is easy to put blinders on and read Scripture only seeking personal application when our culture (and our messed up hearts) tell us constantly that the world revolves around us.

As I read this Psalm again with this individual perspective, I struggled as to understand what v. 1-2 and 7-10 meant.  All this talk about the King of Glory, what does that have to do with my personal pursuit of holiness?  As I prayed through the portion about ascending the hill through clean hands and a pure heart, without lifting your soul up to what is false I could not stop thinking,

'This is impossible!  Every step I take towards God the next step seems to be away from Him, chasing some false idea down a dead-end alley.  If clean hands and a pure heart and never lifting my soul up to what is false is how to ascend the hill to see the face of God, I will never get one foot above sea-level!'

That is the point at which the LORD gently confirmed my conclusion, yet opened my eyes to realize that is why all this talk about the King of Glory means everything in this Psalm.  "Who is this King of glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty...mighty in battle!"

The only way we can ascend the holy hill and see the face of God is through perfect obedience, by never stepping astray, and never once lifting our souls up to anything other than Him.  If I ever think I could do that for one second, I am fooling myself.  But I have not need for despair, because the King of glory, strong and mighty, picks me up and carries me up the hill Himself!  The King of glory, mighty in battle, fights my battles for me.  That is why this Psalm is saturated with talk about how mighty God is, and how He has established the earth!

This Psalm is first and foremost about God; about His incredible dominion over all things, and His immense desire to fight our battles for us.  He has already won the war over death.  He has already defeated our enemy, and the way to ascend the hill and see the beautiful face of the God of Jacob is to lay hold of the victory won through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Who is this King of Glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!

Rayburn Chapel (named after Robert Rayburn, founder and brother of Jim Rayburn - founder of Young Life) and Founders Hall - home of the majority of classes, recently built in 2008 (built on a hillside, so it is actually 3 stories)

How Do You Respond When Your 12-Year-Old Dies? "Everybody Dies, But Not Everybody Lives"

Check out this powerful testimony over at the Gospel Coalition.  It is worth five minutes to read the entire thing.

Currently I am visiting Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO.  Besides being awake since 3:30am it has been an amazing first day.  I will post about my trip next week after I return.

Love you all,
Jason

Wisdom from Above

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom (James 3:13).

In January I joined a Community Group here at Christ Community Church.  Community Groups are co-ed small groups.  They vary in how they are run, but ours meets just about every week to share a meal, discuss Scripture, and pray for each other.  It has probably been the sweetest addition to my life this new year.  I get to witness God's grace working in other people's lives through all of our struggles and triumphs.  My favorite part of being together is serving each other.  Whether it is preparing the meal, praying for someone's need, or just listening to their life, Christ is truly present in our interaction as we labor to love one another.

We have begun making our way through the book of James every week, and the Lord has been using these words to open my eyes.  The book of James is such a practical outworking of our faith in Christ that it is incredibly helpful to helping the Christian know how to live, but it is also incredibly difficult as you are faced with your failures before God.

The monotony of my part-time internship at a local retailer (not my CCC internship) has begun to erode my attitude while I'm there.  I have definitely noticed how my attitude has gone from being purposely engaged in trying to relationally win people to the Lord to chugging along to my next paycheck.  I still work just as hard and well, but instead of stepping out to serve and love my coworkers I tend to grow in resentment and bitterness towards them.

James speaks directly to this when he says:

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (James 3:14-18).

It has been blatantly obvious to me that I am relying on earthly wisdom through my days at work and in many areas of my life.  My reliance on my own natural wisdom instead of God's wisdom has resulted in a general selfishness and pride within my heart.  It is painful when the Lord really lays your sin before you, but I am so thankful as I grow in my understanding of my brokenness as it leads to a greater understanding of how great God's mercy and grace is that has given my life and continues to sustain me.

I am thankful that my trials are producing steadfastness in my faith, and that out of that faith will increasingly come good works for the LORD!  Praise Him who gave me faith to believe in the redeeming work of Christ, and praise Him who continues to give me faith which refines my soul and brings me ever so closer to the Mighty King, Suffering Servant, and Great High Priest!

Life Update

I have officially accepted that I will never be an avid blogger...let me try to catch you up as briefly as I can:


Fall semester ended pretty well (yes, I work with high schoolers so I still think in terms of semesters), but I was definitely ready to go visit home.  I went up to PA to be with my family for a couple weeks.  It was so good to see them all and spend lots of time.  I'm so thankful for my parents and my brother.  Although I'm not the best at talking on the phone with them, my heart wells up with affection for them that makes the distance between us frustrating at times.  It was also a great time to see a good bit of my extended family that I have not seen in at least a year (some much longer!).  Most memorable experience while home: lacing up my skates with my Pop and playing some pickup pond hockey with about 20 Amish kids in the middle of nowhere.  All in all, great and restful time with family and friends while home!

From January 3-7 I was staying in Charlotte with Stewart Neely and his family.  Stewart and I, as well as Margaret Lee, all took a week intensive seminary course at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte.  The class was Acts/Romans, and was definitely one of my favorite experiences thus far in my internship.  It was so overwhelmingly fruitful to spend a week studying and learning the books of Acts and Romans with a handful of brothers and sisters!  I love learning, and I especially love learning when the subject is the word of God and how we can know Him!  Outside of class I got to know Stewart and his seminary buddies pretty well and really get a feel for the culture at RTS Charlotte.  I also had the opportunity to grab lunch with our professor and fire loads of questions at him as well as grab lunch with the Dean of Student Development Rod Culbertson.  What a sweet time it was in Charlotte to soak up the Word as well as wisdom from many men and women around me.  I left Charlotte really feeling like I squeezed every ounce I could out of my time there, and the Lord has been using it to teach and guide me since then.

Things in Wilmington have been interesting since then.  Although the lectures for the Acts/Romans class ended when I left Charlotte, I still had an exam to take and paper to write.  Add this to two jobs and things begin feeling a little overwhelming.  I am thankful for the grace I was given by Christ Community staff in allowing me to really focus on this monster of an exam/paper.  If you know anyone who is taking seminary classes in their "spare time," slowly working toward a degree while holding a job and managing a household, stop and encourage them.  I had a hard enough time, and one of my jobs basically allowed me to forego all responsibilities but working on my coursework.

The content of this class has really been continuously reverberating in my life.  We started up the small group I lead for high school guys again, and we are going through the book of Acts with a focus on what Acts teaches us about evangelism and the importance of the word of God within it.  In my community group and other conversations, I continuously find understanding of Scripture and life by recalling what Romans has taught me about my need for God, and how He has met my need for Him through His Son, and how He continues to meet my needs through His Spirit.  I will also be teaching the Adult Sunday School Class for the month of June, likely on the topic of evangelism in Acts (so pumped for this learning experience!).

Finally, my experience in Charlotte really felt like the Lord was prompting me to move forward in pursuing seminary.  I have applied to several seminaries, and am in the process of visiting them to decide where I feel called.  In two weeks I will visit Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO.  That will be wonderful both to see and meet many people connected to that seminary, and to see my friends the Gayle's who are currently living there!  Hopefully I will have the opportunity to visit Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando sometime in March or April.

Although I feel the call, a big question is how I will financially make it through seminary.  Part of my visits is to practically sit down with a financial aid counselor and see what kind of aid I am eligible for.  Because of my educational debt, I will postpone attending seminary until I can gain enough financial support from seminaries, the church, and elsewhere to responsibly make such a big financial decision.  I do sense the call to ministry, and trust God will provide for His will to be done.  Whether that is at a seminary, in Wilmington, in international missions, or anywhere else come Fall 2011, only He knows for now!

I will continue to update you on my coming plans.  Please be praying for these finances to come through to enable me to attend seminary, but above all that God's will would be done in my life.

Thanks for supporting me in many different ways!  I am so thankful for you all, and would love to hear from you!  Feel free to email me updates on your life, questions, concerns, prayer requests to jason.m.pogue@gmail.com.

Just in case you were wondering what I do when my host family is out of the house.

Things Coming Up:

February
Visit Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis
Discussing possible international missions work for this summer

March
Visit RTS Orlando?
High School Jr/Sr Backpacking Trip

April
Gospel Coalition National Conference - Chicago
High School Spiritual Disciplines Retreat - teaching meditation