8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 1 Kings 10
The Queen of Sheba was amazed at Solomon’s wisdom and wished she could hear it all the time. How blessed his court members were. But did they notice it?
The Greater Solomon amazed many with His teaching. Not all were so taken up. They gnashed their teeth and plotted for His death.
In 1 Cor 14 Paul advocates for prophecy over tongues so outsiders (non-Christians) could hear God’s wisdom for our circumstances and know God was there. Presumably we should be happy to hear God’s wisdom each week. Are we? Or do we plan the pastor’s “demise”?
Has it become so commonplace, routine or mundane that we don’t see it for what it is? Do we fail to stop and enjoy the beauty already around us? Does that mean we must travel to behold different beauty?
Joy apprehends the wisdom and beauty there around us. Mason, by the end of his experiment in joy saw joy everywhere.
It’s like when you embrace the doctrinal truths called Calvinism, the truth of election unto salvation by grace thru Christ is everywhere. Reject it and these truths are seemingly nowhere.
Lately I’ve been surprised to see how often the Scriptures speak about joy. Once your eyes are opened, by the Father’s grace, you see and want more.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Psalm 90
Cry to be satisfied with His steadfast love. Begin the day seeking to be satisfied in Him and His character. Then we will sing for joy and be glad.
God’s steadfast love produces joy in us. Sustainable joy. Mason records the shift he experienced in his experiment in joy. From self-confidence to confidence in Christ. From “Will I be happy?” to “What form will my happiness take?”. His anxiety was replaced with joyful confidence.
I added the next verse for context. It is the afflictions that strip us of our self-confidence. The afflictions show us that living for our kingdom doesn’t work. There ultimately is no joy to be found there.
I feel like I’ve been living in evil days for some time now. Many Christians have it far worse than me. The evil of my life has been “unfruitfulness” in the face of apparent faithfulness. Days of ‘plenty’ were followed by days of “pestilence, plague and drought”. My joy can’t be in successful ministry. That is death.
That switch is part of my re-discovery of joy. But it is a battle to walk by faith, not sight each day. Faith that my labor is not in vain because at times it sure looks like it.
I cry for the days of joy to exceed these days of “evil”, in the here and now, not only in the forever days of joy to come.
“A life of joy depends upon approaching each day not in fear or worry but in the confidence of faith.” Mason
Again.
“Joy springs from a deep, settled confidence that God’s life in us is incorruptible and inalienable.” Mason
I’m not precisely sure where or how my mindset shifted. The “lousy” parts of life remain “lousy” but don’t occupy my landscape, dominate my thinking. He is my portion in a more conscious way. The dread dissipates more quickly.
Just witnessed a “successful” man flush it all for the fleeting pleasures of sin. Under the great veneer there was a moral rot that had not yet come to light. A rot that would cause an implosion with debris striking his family, church, friends, and more.
I’ll take my lowly life if that means I don’t shipwreck. Success is not enough if God is not our portion and our cup. We’ll go looking for all the wrong things in all the wrong places, or they will find us ready and willing.
“The depths of misery are never beyond the depths of mercy.” Richard Sibbes
The other day was a day of silence and solitude. A local ministry to pastors provides the opportunity to get away to spend time with God. I will often spend time in a Psalm which also prompts prayer. Last week I spent time in Psalm 34.
This Psalm was written during David’s time running from Saul, who wanted to kill him. Saul’s envy of David drove him mad. But David pretended to be mad to receive protection from Abimelech, one of the Philistine kings. When the kings were going to war against Saul, David was driven out for fear of turning against the Philistines to gain Saul’s favor.
David’s experiences anticipate those of Christ for us and our salvation. We can see Jesus as the protagonist of this Psalm, the One for whom this is perfectly true as the Righteous One. This is also true for us if we are found in Jesus by faith. We are declared righteous.
The First Stanza
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
Praise, persistent praise is on David’s lips. It ought to be on ours as well. We are to boast in You, not ourselves. This means that praise necessarily includes the humbling of one’s self. Praise is focused on God’s goodness, not ours.
Praise is not a solo venture. It starts there but seeks to include others. We want to share the joy. Those who are humble will rejoice with me/us. They are glad to hear of God and grace. Your mercy is greater than all my sins. Your faithfulness is greater than all my unfaithfulness.
Your grace has been sufficient to me.
The Second Stanza
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
What did God do?
He answered David’s prayers. He rescued David from his fears. This means David brought those fears to God in prayer. We are to do so as well. We are not to hang on to them or hide them. Bring them to God in prayer.
Perceived problems and outcomes create fear in us. Life was crumbling for David. His earthly sanctuary was being removed. Fears make us cower and downcast.
When our eyes are fixed on God it’s different- radiant and joyful! We glow with gladness.
We cry out and He delivers us from troubles. Fear Him more than our troubles. His agenda is greater than my fears and troubles. His agenda is greater than my sinfulness as well.
The Third Stanza
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Taste and see for yourself. Like Edwards’ said, it is one thing to know that honey is sweet but altogether another to taste (and enjoy)the sweetness of the honey. Taste the goodness of the Lord for yourself. See how good. Experience His goodness.
Since Eve we taste sin instead. We want to experience it. We are consumed with sinful curiosity- oh, what will that be like? We are spiritual rubberneckers both drawn to and repulsed by sin. We think God as less than good at times because He keeps us from perceived pleasures.
Those taking refuge, active refuge, are happy, blessed, and content. They have what they need. David knew this in running from Saul and Abimelech. Seeking God and all these necessary things are given to you. He supplies!
The Fourth Stanza
11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
He turns his attention to the children, younger people, the next generation. He wants their attention because he wants to instruct them in the fear of the Lord so they have a good and long life.
Just as praise is not a solo sport, the fear of the Lord wants others to join in.
Sins of speech are up there. We don’t think of them nearly as much but we see them in Proverbs, and James 2. The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart so these sins of speech reveal the cesspool within.
Lies rob us (and others) of life. Lies rob us of good things instead of giving us more good things like we hope. We are to actively choose to do good. We are to help people, not hurt them. We are to choose to please God instead of our clamoring sinful desires.
Seek peace, not conflict. Pursue peace in conflict with others. This speaks of expended energy. We are responsible to put effort into it. Peace, in other words, is not accidental. We don’t drift into it or fall into it. It is hard won. Peace is not normal in this world. It requires effort: forgiveness, patience, generosity, admission of guilt, and sacrifice.
That is what it means to fear the Lord.
The Fifth Stanza
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
God keeps His eyes on the righteous, not the wicked. They have His full attention. His ears strain to hear their cries. He is ready and willing to help.
He opposes the wicked. He is against them, not for them. They will be forgotten because He erases them. He doesn’t look for them or strain to listen.
The righteous cry to the Lord, the wicked curse Him or cry out against Him. He hears and rescues the righteous. Their troubles are no match for Him.
He is close to the brokenhearted. He is not ashamed of them, troubled by them or frightened by their pain like we can be. He’s not swallowed up or diminished by their pain.
He is near to save. Their spirits are crushed. Pancaked. Squished. Flattened. Yet He is still able to save, and does!
The Sixth Stanza
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
It ain’t easy being righteous. You accumulate enemies (one of the harder parts of gospel ministry). And adversities. Trouble finds us (and we are called the source of trouble).
Righteousness does not mean a smooth ride but more refining. God has not abandoned them, forgotten them or abused them. He rescues, protects.
Even down to our bones (we see this in Christ’s sacrifice for us). Death comes to the wicked, not merely adversities. God punished them for the righteous. The wicked hate God and the righteous. God keeps His covenant promise. The righteous are His servants. They take refuge in Him. Union with God. They are pardoned, not punished.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4
This was an odd chapter as he related the story of his mother’s death. He’d been away at a conference when he woke up (8 am- not the middle of the night) and experienced “an extra-ordinary, other worldly joy.”
When he arrived home he received a call from his father that his mother had died about the time he had experienced that inexplicable joy.
He and his mother never talked about her faith. He interpreted this joy as “solid evidence” of her salvation.
This seemed a bridge too far for me. The Lord may simply have comforted him before he learned of this loss. It was his joy, not hers.
We want to believe our loved ones are saved. Much of my initial sorrow at my mother’s death was about her likely not being saved. God could have done something I didn’t know about but there was no profession of faith- no evident love for Jesus in her conversation.
God may have regenerated her post-Alzheimers. He is able. All this to say- joy isn’t evidence about someone else.
Sibbes this morning (8/1) wrote of faith and prayer. Those with true faith turn to prayer in trouble. Faith leads them to the Rock of Safety (because He loves me, He will save me). This will mark a person out. They won’t scheme in fear. They won’t grieve without hope. They will run to Jesus. There they will discover joy in the hope we have in Him.
Paul, there, is writing about the dead in Christ. All is not lost. But we can’t confuse joy for evidence of their salvation. It’s like putting the cart before the horse. Run to Jesus in prayer! See things as clearly as you can. Trust Hm in the confusion to glorify Himself, not simply fulfill your fantasies/desires. True joy isn’t about a thumb suck (Charlie Peacock), the avoidance of reality.
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. Habakkuk 3
Life can totally fall apart yet we can rejoice in the God of our salvation, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 51
This speaks not to an earthly millennium but the new age inaugurated in Christ’s ascension and consummated at His return. Everlasting joy and sorrows & sighing flee.
This joy is everlasting because it is rooted in Him. We are united to the Source of joy who fills us with joy. We need to step into this river.
The Enemy still lies to us. He still stirs up discontentment in our hearts to rob us of joy. Jesus asked how long we’d entertain lies (Jn. 8:44).
I am reminded of Andy and Red’s discussion of hope. Red saw it as dangerous. Andy internal, the one thing they couldn’t take away from him- the music being an echo of it. Hope is dangerous to the captor, not the captive.
Mason progressively learned how illusory unhappiness is for the Christian. We’ve passed from death to life. From mourning to dancing. Unbelievers remain in death, and unhappiness. Their happiness is the illusion.
Joy is like a beautiful place, that, once seen, can never be forgotten. At times we seem to have strayed from this place, and we wonder how to get back. Eventually, however, we realize that this place is not out there somewhere but here, inside of us, a permanent place in our heart. The clearer our grasp of this truth, the more we may taste of everlasting joy now.
3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. Psalm 126
Mason relates a particular struggle for joy. He was at a concert and preoccupied with unhappy thoughts. And introspection. God brushed it all aside with a joy that sustained him for days. It touches on the mystery.
Sibbes touches on this in terms of assurance. God works first. Yet we are to walk by faith and forsake sin. In Philippians 2 God works in us so we will will and work according to His good purpose. This is the way.
Joy (assurance, sanctification) is God’s work. Faith is ours. Faith receives. Faith rejoices in these great things. God not only works for us, but in us.
Joy is God’s work. As his experiment progressed, more of his joy was in God. Keep moving, keep trusting.
Let’s think about this verse from the Psalm a bit more.
It is quite simple: we are glad because God has done great things for us.
If you want joy recall the great things God has done. More fuel for joy. Yes, count your blessings, one by one.
Even if you are poor and in poor health there are the many spiritual blessing you have received. There are people who love you. There are some avenues of pleasure. Pray about these instead of what you don’t have, what you inordinately desire.
27 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. 1 Chronicles 16
Mason moves toward mystery here. I’m not sure why. But our unanswered questions can be frustrating or a source of joy. If we demand, like Job, we will be unhappy until the answer comes (or God shows up to silence us). If we trust Him, we can be happy eve in the unanswered areas.
I am one who long for the answers most of the time. I need things to make sense. I long for cognitive rest rather than the dissonance. I am happier when I can just let them be. I can’t change them and those circumstances may never arise again.
“Joy will not dance to our tune; we must dance to His.” Mason
The joy come from His splendor, majesty and strength. Not having the answers.
Mason ponders that if we had all the answers our joy would diminish. God’s doesn’t! But we must feed our joy on His splendor and strength. Being infinite, there is no lack of fuel for our joy.
In a similar vein is what I read in the Jack Miller devotional this evening. I’m behind since I was on vacation. But for 1/3, one reads this:
“One of the reasons we are joyless is that we’re afraid of what might happen, or we’re disappointed by what did happen. … As we persevere (in trial) we begin to let go of the baggage we carry. Sometimes our baggage has to be almost ripped from our hands, but as we release it, joy comes because there are fewer things acting as a barrier between God and ourselves.” Jack Miller
Baggage keeps us from joy. It fills our hands so we can’t hold on to joy. We can try but our hands are full with the baggage and we must release one or the other. What is the baggage that currently keeps you from joy? We all have baggage: guilt, shame, sin we committed, sin committed against us, bad choices and unplanned trials.
God often has to pull our hands open and take them away. We are like children who won’t hand over a toy, or something we treat as a toy. As parents we’ve been there. God wants us to have joy and is committed to dealing with our baggage. He wants us to trust Him and lay it at His feet. When we don’t He works to make us willing through trial.
Often it is the trial that helps us see that we actually have baggage that weighs us down, robs us of joy. Let down some baggage today so you can grab ahold of joy.
43 And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. Nehemiah 12 (ESV)
God gave joy ==> they gave sacrifices joyfully.
This is 2 Cor. 5- no longer living for themselves but for Him who died for them.
C.S. Lewis pursued joy without success until he realized he needed to pursue the Source of joy to find joy. Joy that doesn’t lead to rejoicing in Jesus is wasted joy.
It’s like a financial windfall spent on soda and chips.
Mason saw joy empower him to work harder- but was that its purpose?
“Yes, joy is of great practical value, yet it can also easily deteriorate into frivolity and be frittered away on nothing.” Mason
It can dissipate and lead to dissipation if we aren’t careful. To sustain it, we must be self-controlled.
Sounds almost stoic- not too much now. But not quite.
“Those who are joyful make great sacrifices, where as the unhappy have little to give.” Mason
Similar to what I read in Stalled. We are a discouraged, unhappy church. They have little to nothing to give in service. Fault-finding reigns. Joyful people serve/sacrifice, bring others, share. Jesus, restore joy so they no longer live for themselves. When any church loses this, it dies.
Yes, I’m a little late on the book review year in review. Sometimes life is like that.
As I looked at my reviews I noticed that I read fewer books this year. I didn’t use vacations as a time to grind through books (except novels). I also journaled more and had less time to read. In the Spring I coached my son’s basketball team. I just had less free time on my hands. That is not an altogether bad thing.
Theology
Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter.by Tim Keller. Keller put together a great book on the resurrection interacting with the best of thinkers on this subject and pressing it home in our cultural and historical circumstances. No one did this better than Keller. This is no dry, academic look at a core Christian doctrine. It is a warm, inviting and hopeful look at Christ’s resurrection and its implications for how we live today.
Knowing Christ by Mark Jones is not a Modern English version of The Glory of Christ. Owen’s books is certainly an inspiration and model for his book. Jones, with tons of quotes from both Scripture and the Puritans, provides a thorough but accessible Christology. The chapters are short, and there are questions to help process the information. This is a book that should help you worship the One who made Himself poor to enrich us.
A Christian’s Guide to Being Made Right with God: Understanding Justification by Guy Waters is a very concise but reasonably thorough treatment of the doctrine of justification. He defines it, applies it, and says how it is undermined particularly in the new perspectives on Paul. It is an accessible treatment that helps highlight things through the use of particular symbols to identify points of interests, warnings, things to think about etc..
Christian Living
Saints, Sufferers and Sinners: Loving Others as God Loves Us by Michael Emlet is a book that is not just for counselors. As Christians we are all saints, sufferers and sinners in different ways. Everyone we meet is a sufferer and sinner, as well as possibly a saint. It covers some of the ground I hope to in a future book. This will likely be a reference in many places. What he says is very helpful, though at times I wish he wasn’t quite so succinct. I could certainly learn to say less. This book’s one weakness is that I wish he’d said more. This did mean I could read the book in 2-3 days as part of sermon prep.
Depression: A Stubborn Darkness by Ed Welch is a book that has been revised. In short chapters he describes depression and how many experience it. This is important if you don’t but have loved ones who do. Depression, like sin, turns us inward. It is debilitating at times. We forget both who we are and Whose we are. Depression “speaks” to us, and we need to speak back instead of listening to it. This is a very helpful book to understand depression and how to fight depression. It is a stubborn darkness that is not put aside by a tiny match.
Facing Grief: Counsel for Mourners by John Flavel. All of us experience grief, and struggle to navigate those waters. Flavel does provide some helpful material here though it does seem greatly influenced by stoicsim’s call to moderation. Inordinate desire is a sin, and inordinate grief is as well because we lose sight of the God of all comfort and the comfort He provides.
The 10 Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them by Kevin DeYoung. During my sermon series on the law this was the most helpful book. It is not big. It is not exhaustive. It is clear. It is concise. He frames them in the context of being recipients of redemption, not trying to gain redemption. Godliness follows justification. He provides some moral clarity to a culture that severely lacks it.
Ministry
The Politics of Ministry: Navigating Power Dynamics and Negotiating Interests by Burns, Chapman and Guthrie is a book I wish I had read decades ago. God deemed it not needful, but it should would have made ministry “easier” and the traps more obvious. They did research, plundered general revelational wisdom and interviewed leaders. This book addresses the dynamics and use of power, conflicting interests and how leaders can best navigate these issues. I found this profoundly helpful and recommend it to elders of all types to best understand and wisely interact with the dynamics of power in congregations.
Stalled: Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There by Now by Dale Sellers. As pastors we want our congregations to get “there”. We struggle with impatience, and the process. Seller provides some helpful guidance for us in this process (not how to get there faster). It is not very theological in the sense that it can be appreciated by a broad range of theological traditions. He provides warning signs of burnout as well as steps in the right direction to take. He speaks to the “sweet spot” and the “sour spot”, the realities of mult-generational ministry and more. I’m not convinced that hard times mean it is time to leave. He seems to say so. It can be a period of maturity for leaders and people. So, not a perfect book but one still worth reading.
Cultural Issues
Being the Bad Guys: How to Live for Jesus in a World that Says You Shouldn’t by Stephen McAlpine is a good book, not a great book. It covers territory found in Trueman’s The Triumph of the Modern Self and Live Not By Lies. It functions as a shorter, easier to understand version of these books. He refers to many of the same philosophers, and encourages many of the same antidotes in addressing these cultural issues. He is from Australia so some of this examples may not be as obvious to the American reader.
The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims by Rebecca McLaughlin is another short book on cultural issues. The five cultural claims are about race, sex, and gender. She explains each of these claims and then examines how those claims are parasites upon Christianity. They make no sense apart from the realities Christianity “created” but also corrupt the world created by Christianity. She returns often to the idea that there can be no grasp of justice, identity etc. apart from the dependence of western civilization upon Christianity.
Biographies
Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen is the result of 3 years of interviews for his recent death from pancreatic cancer. This book isn’t simply about Tim Keller but also about the many people who made a deep impact on him and his ministry. Hansen recognizes some of Keller’s faults and weaknesses, so this is not intended to be hagiography. You get the picture of a very human person who was gifted and used greatly. God doesn’t just use people like Tim Keller. Not all of the people who influenced him were “great” people but were greatly used. Few of those people, upon meeting Keller (or more appropriately, the Kellers) thought this person is going to do great things. They were faithful to God’s call on their lives and that work was magnified through the ministry of another. Most of us have no idea about the impact our ministry (including lay ministry) has on the kingdom.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass is not a lengthy book but it has great historical significance. This book helped the abolitionist movement gain momentum, power and influence in America. The reason is its painful portrayal of slavery in America, Douglass’ personal experience of slavery in Maryland. This is a painful book to read. It is also an important book to read. Douglass did not simply report what happened but reflected upon it. He records his internal thought process in seeking freedom. He used some of what he learned as a slave against slavery. He found dignity as a human being despite being a slave, a dignity that lead him to flee the bonds of slavery.
Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon by Greg Laurie. The best part of this book is Steve McQueen. The weakest is Greg Laurie. They are many common points in their lives but it came across as a bit self-indulgent at times (especially all the references to the car). A series of trips to places and meet people that were significant to McQueen’s life shapes the book. It tells his story with an eye to his conversion experience. I enjoyed learning about McQueen’s life and the people God used to bring him to Jesus.
Laptop from Hell by Miranda Devine. I wasn’t sure where to put this. In many ways it is a biography of the Biden family, and a history of their corruption. She is an investigative reporter from the NY Post whose work on this issue was initially squashed as “Russian disinformation” by the administrative state. This, despite the laptop having already been verified. There is plenty of proof of the Bidens’ corruption. So much of that evidence and his policy decisions will make sense after reading this book.
Cinderella Man is one of my favorite movies. Not just boxing movies but movies. It recently returned to Netflix and I decided it was time to watch it with the boys.
One reason was about its portrayal of masculinity, marriage and fatherhood.
Russell Crowe provides a good performance as the generally charming James J. Braddock. Paul Giamatti is excellent as Joe Gould, his friend and manager.
The movie is based on the book of the same name. It is “inspired” by Braddock’s life and conveys the big picture. Some license is taken at points in this dramatic retelling. One particular area seems to be its portrayal of Max Baer. Exaggerating the real differences between them helps us to see good masculinity at work, as well as a “toxic” masculinity through the characterization of Baer.
Life Falls Apart
The movie begins with Braddock winning a fight to continue his climb in the rankings. He has a home, a wife and two boys. Life is good!
Fast forward to 1933. Life was very different for the Braddock family. They have added a daughter but are now living in a basement apartment. You don’t find out why right away. The stock market crash in 1929 took all his savings. Injuries stalled his career. He’s going to fight for $50 and while he wins Braddock breaks his hand for the third time. He loses his boxing license and doesn’t get paid because the fight was so bad.
Mae is relieved. She fears for his safety, noting that each punch he takes, she takes too.
James J. Braddock: “I fight for milk.”
Braddock is obviously a very tough and determined man. But he’s gentle. Gentle with his wife, children and a drunk friend. He’s struggling to keep them fed but you never see him take it out of the family. You see other men abandoning their families due to the Great Depression but Braddock remains committed to his family.
Every day he hopes he gets a job on the docks. It is harder because of that broken right hand. We see a number of crises. His older son, Jay, steals a salami from the butcher. They could use the food, but he tells his son to grab the salami and go with him to the butcher to return it and apologize. When Jay hesitates he says, “Don’t test me.”He remained under control. He wants his son to have integrity, not mere pragmatism. After they leave the butchers, he says “We never steal.”
But that is not the end of the conversation. His son confides that a friend was sent away because his family couldn’t afford to clothe and feed him. Braddock promises his son that will never happen to their family. He provides the security his son needs, even though life is insecure. Not matter what, Jim is going to keep the family together.
Life gets harder. Howard is sick, the electricity is cut due to lack of payment. While he is out trying to get work, Mae brings the kids to her parents so little Howard can get healthy and the rest stay healthy. James will have none of that. Humbled he goes to get government aid. He humbles himself further by going to Madison Square Garden where the boxing big wigs hang out. He begs them for the rest of the money he needs to get the power turned back on.
Braddock is embarrassed to have come to this state. Paul is there as well. Braddock approaches him last with his hat out. “I’m sorry.” Joe will have none of it, “You have nothing to feel sorry for.” Braddock humbles himself in order to keep his promise to his son. Real men keep promises.
As you might imagine, all this tried his faith. He and Mae are Catholic. One night he doesn’t pray with her. “I’m all prayed out.” He feels like a fighter battling an invisible foe. These unseen forces have been destroying so many lives, including the unending destitution he experiences. But he keeps fighting. He doesn’t give up hope.
Soon Uncle Joe shows up and leaves as Mae is arriving home. A fighter got cut and they needed someone to fill in. A one off. He’s been approved for the one fight. Mae is not happy, but that is just one fight consoles her sufficiently. He wants to use the gifts he has to provide all he can for his family.
No one expects him to survive more than a round or two. He was a has-been who hasn’t fought in some time. His opponent is nearing a title shot. Braddock hasn’t even eaten because the soup line ran out. Joe is concerned, as he should be.
After a slow start, Braddock begins to be the aggressor. His previously soft left has become a weapon, which he’d later attribute to being forced to use it on the docks when the right hand was broken. His body has healed and he proceeds to knock the man out. Joe is shocked, pleasantly, because Braddock looked like the Braddock of old, just a bit rusty.
Joe then takes all he has to pay Jim $175 so he can train. He convinces the promoter to give Jim the fight the other man was going to have. But Mae is not happy and she goes to Joe’s “fancy” apartment to confront him. The apartment is empty aside from a card table and a few chairs. He’d been keeping up appearances but has sold nearly everything. He needs this as much as the Braddocks. His wife wants a word with Mae alone. The crux of it was a word about their husbands, “They feel like they are failing us.” Mae gets insight into what is driving her husband. It’s not about him, it is about them. He’s going to take calculated risks to provide.
He takes his prize money and repays the federal assistance he received. He wants others to have the help they need. He could now provide for them.
Baer with Primo Carnera in the Prize Fighter and the Lady
Again he does the unthinkable and knocks out the number one contender. Joe has to argue with the promoter again. People will pay to see this fight. The problem is that the champ is Madcap Max Baer (father of the actor who played Jethro in The Beverly Hillbillies) known for killing two men in the ring (in reality it was just Frankie Campbell). The promoter shows them film of the champ, including one of the man he killed in the ring. Braddock sees something important rather than taking the chance to bow out.
Max is portrayed as a beast of a man. He’s out of control, and continually tries to taunt Braddock at the press conference and then at a restaurant. He questions Braddock’s masculinity. Baer is a parody of masculinity, a corruption of our calling to multiply, subdue and rule. Self-effacing and controlled, Braddock refuses to take the bait. He is not insecure, he doesn’t need to attack Baer. He waits until they meet in the ring.
“I’m training for a fight, not a boxing contest or a clownin’ contest or a dance,” he said. “Whether it goes one round or three rounds or ten rounds, it will be a fight and a fight all the way. When you’ve been through what I’ve had to face in the last two years, a Max Baer or a Bengal tiger looks like a house pet. He might come at me with a cannon and a blackjack and he would still be a picnic compared to what I’ve had to face.” (source Wikipedia, Max Baer)
His son, Max Jr. had a different take on his father:
“My father cried about what happened to Frankie Campbell. He had nightmares. In reality, my father was one of the kindest, gentlest men you would ever hope to meet. He treated boxing the way today’s professional wrestlers do wrestling: part sport, mostly showmanship. He never deliberately hurt anyone. (source Wikipedia, Max Baer)
In the June 13, 1935 fight Braddock takes a beating but also dishes out one. Baer uses cheap shots to throw him off. The man they thought wouldn’t last 2 rounds makes it to the final round. Baer is fighting for his ego, Braddock for him family. Braddock’s moment comes as he’s on the ropes and Baer winds up like when he killed the other man. The trap is laid and Braddock strikes the over-confident champ. He continues his barrage to seal a unanimous victory. Baer seems to take it like a man, and Braddock continues to show him respect.
Braddock is a well-centered man. He’s confident in himself but not arrogant. He loves his family and sacrifices for them. It is his commitment to them that drives his actions. He treats others with respect and models integrity to his sons. Life had him on the ropes but he took his shot when the opening came. He persevered through personal and national hardship. While he struggled with doubts at times, he didn’t turn his back on his faith.
Just a movie. Based on a real man and his story. I’m sure not all of it is factual. Baer’s protrayal was exaggerated. But it resonates with me.
Being a man is not about being able to sire children. It’s not about freedom to do what you want.
Being a man is difficult. A godly man doesn’t abandon those who depend on him. He’s willing to humble himself. Manhood is revealed when life is hard. Here’s why Cinderella Man resonates with me.
I was in the middle of a pastoral transition as the bubble burst in 2008. I don’t know how we made it. After 6 months as stated supply, I worked two jobs and did pulpit supply. A friend helped with health insurance for 6 months enabling us to get needed surgery for #1 Son. We adopted him without debt. It was humiliating for my wife to get WIC funds. I experienced numerous rejections (I applied to over 100 churches). )One morning our daughter asked me how work was. I cried in the shower. I was ill-suited for my work in the hardware store and hospital. I was miserable, but they needed me to do it. I prayed: “I’m trying to provide for my family, like You call me to do. Help me!”
8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5
He was faithful. It was the hardest stretch of life I’d been through. Three people depended on me. I’ve seen many men just walk away (I used to work in a rescue mission). Hopefully I grew in character, as Paul says in Romans 5.
I also had a wife who loved me, encouraged me and reminded me who I was.
Real men make and keep commitments. Real men don’t get swallowed by self-pity but keep fighting because someone is depending on them.
Scripture includes God call for adult males to become men. Leave the games and toys that keep you from fulfilling your responsibilities, or preparing to take on responsibilities. See how the Father loves, nurtures and cares for His children, including you. Experiencing the Father’s care enables you to become a man, made in God’s image to reflect His glory as we subdue & rule, tend and keep watch over others.
A few months ago I got an unsolicited book in the mail. It was from a PCA church in Alabama about its founder, Alton Hardy.
Who in the world is Alton Hardy? That’s the point of this book. It is about his life and how God has prepared him to lead Urban Hope. It is called Long Is the Way.
This is not a very happy book. Alton has lead a very difficult life. He is a year younger than me but grew up in an America I have little to no first hand knowledge of.
His story is marked by racism, poverty, fatherlessness, violence, abandonment and neglect and the hopelessness and despair they produce. His story is also about how God found him and used him in a way shaped by those negative forces. Urban Hope addresses these core issues of racism, calling men to faithfulness and families, and restoring hope in the poorest portions of our nation.
He tells his story, with the help of Billy Ivey, in a very simple, straight-forward way. This reflects the life he has lived thus far.
Life in Alabama
Alton was born in Sardis, AL (adjacent to Selma)to an incredibly poor sharecropper and his wife. Alton was one of 12 kids who bore the scars of neglect and heart-breaking poverty. He developed late and had a stutter. They lived in a small shack, sharing mattresses on the floor. His father beat his mother until an older brother pulled a gun on him. After this his father left and they sunk even deeper into poverty (if at all possible).
The first time he was called the “N-word” it saved his life. Alton would wander through the woods and came upon a pond and decided to enjoy the water. The man who owned the land came running up and warned him of the snakes in the water. Sadly, it wouldn’t be the last time he’d be called that word and other racial slurs.
His older brothers stole pallets of food from a school in Selma. While they hid, angry white men came to threaten the family. They tied a noose around his younger brother Andre’s neck, placed him in the bed of a pick up and kept pulling away, torturing them for information about the location of the others.
Kentucky
Hearing this, brother Eddie, living in Louisville, rented a U-Haul, drove down to AL and picked up the family to save their lives. He went from rural poor to suburban/urban poor in the black neighborhood of Newburg. It was a crowded house before they showed up. They would move into their own place as his mother worked too many hours for not enough money. The power and water would be cut at times. There were no new clothes. Nothing.
There were visits from social workers, turning the place upside down looking for his father. State payments would cease if he was there.
“Newburg was all so remarkably new, yet somehow familiar. The gravel roads, dirt paths and cotton fields of Alabama has simply been replaced with black asphalt, sidewalks, and parking lots…”
But there was indoor plumbing. A move to another house There were also neighborhood kids who became friends. Here he learned there were more than just black or white folks. There were poor people, middle class, upper middle class, lower middle class, working class, upper class …. . He was at the bottom. He couldn’t go out with his friends for a burger kind of poor. He still felt different.
“All of us were poor, but just like everything else, there are levels to poverty, and I was at the very bottom.”
With forced integration, white kids ended up in Newburg Middle School his second year there. These experiences with white kids were less than positive. For high school it got worse as they were bused to Moore High School, in a well-off white neighborhood. He began to hate school due to the racism.
One summer he got a job through a youth initiative and bought himself a bike. He learned to ride this Schwinn. It was the first new thing he’d ever owned. Life was looking up. He’d go to a nearby church for the donuts. He was baptized, again, but this time did feel different. And then his mother suffered a heart attack. They all had to move back to AL. Alton didn’t want to go since he’d eked out a life in Louisville.
Michigan
His sister Toni lived in Grand Rapids, and he was sent there to begin again. Without his bike. Without his friends. Without a father figure. Without the church people. He was mad at God.
“This Madison Avenue is where dreams go to die- in the dark, yet wide-awake reality of poverty, hopelessness, and despair.”
Toni was a baby factory as she went through numerous boyfriends. There in Grand Rapids he was given a pair of sneakers two sizes too small and learned how to play basketball. He went to another integrating school where he was unwelcome, until the basketball coach noticed him. With the acceptance of the star player meaning other accepted him, Alton learned something about being welcome. He’d get free burgers each night. All was looking up.
But Toni tried to kill herself and Mama showed up. It didn’t last for long and once again they would be returning to AL, where he didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to start again. Every time he got something good, it all fell apart and he had to leave.
His brother Ronald lived in Des Moines and planned to move to Grand Rapids to finish raising Alton. That too fell apart, but after the rest of the family had left. Alton lived alone in that house, without power for 10 weeks, during the winter. Finally, his assistant coach noticed and brought him home. The coach’s sister Lucille took him in, becoming more of a mother figure than his own mother. He was part of a family that acted like a family.
Until he graduated.
He had no plan. He had no real parents. Elmo and Lucille had a plan for him to go to community college and play for an old friend of Elmo’s. It was 4 hours’ drive north in Alpena. He was not prepared to take care of himself. The paperwork put him in a tailspin.
“My entire life had been about reacting to circumstance. Before that moment, I don’t recall every making an informed decision or a proactive choice about anything, every. Life was something to be survived, not planned.”
He survived two fear-filled years. He played well for a bad team. There was no next step. There was no place to go.
Anger and Bitterness
Until this point, the focus is on the sins of others and afflictions. These are real and shouldn’t be ignored. There is a shift when he returns to Grand Rapids. His hopelessness bears the fruit of sin.
Ronald finally moved to Grand Rapids like he said he would. Alton returned and stayed in his unfinished basement. Lucille was busy caring for others. No car. No job. No license. Nothing but the clothes on his back. No sense of purpose. No direction.
Ronald told him to start acting like a man. He had few pictures of what a man actually was. He was drinking 2 40 oz. bottles of malt liquor each night. He got his license. He got a job at Northwestern Beer Company for $8/hr. He began to learn that racism was alive and well in Grand Rapids, not just in the schools. Ronald helped him find an apartment while Lucille helped him open a bank account. But the racist attacks of Newhart at work led to him drinking more and more.
Alton met Marilyn at the Elks club (odd since it was formed as a racist organization) and married her three months later. It was a dehumanizing relationship. It produced two children (one that might not have been his) and a boatload of heartache as she berated and verbally abused him.
His anger grew. To escape Marilyn, Alton would lock himself into a room and listen to angry rap and hip hop. He began to listen to Louis Farrakhan. Now a driver for the beer company he had a fender bender and was fired. The boss was tired of the anger his presence provoked in the racists there.
The lone bright spot was running into Bobby. He had a stable family life, good job and kept inviting Alton to church. Alton got a new job at a dairy company. He began to go to church which only angered Marilyn. He worked 14-16 hours/day, then 6 and 7 days a week. Hearing messages about faithful fathers led him to realize he couldn’t lead his family if he wasn’t there. He quit and she mocked him as a stuttering idiot no one would ever listen to.
He got a new job for even less money crushing bottles. He lasted 60 days and was fired. The man firing him kept using racial slurs. Needing the keep the job he begged to know what he had to do. He began to understand that racism wasn’t about him and what he’d done, it was about hatred in the other man’s heart. When he told Marilyn, he was out there too.
“Son,” he said (a repairman), abruptly, “you gots to get up out of here. That woman ain’t no good for you. Go on from this place …” He softened and said, “God’s got something else planned for you, brother.”
Redemption
A few months later at church, a guest speaker asked him to come up. The man “prophesied” over Alton that God was going to use all that pain to use him as a reconciler of men. It seemed crazy: no job, no home, no direction, stuttering etc. How could God ever use such a man?
One of his friends at church offered him a room in his apartment after discovering his new wife with another man. He got a $6/hr job at Martin Luther King Park. One day at work he saw a woman and heard a “voice”: she’s going to be your wife.
A scandal emerged at church when the pastor was discovered to be having an affair. Many left. Alton followed a mentor, Arthur Bailey, to found a new church. Arthur asked Alton to pray. He slowly became more comfortable speaking in front of others.
His friend ended up moving in with his mother. There was an unfinished basement with a bath and tiny kitchen for Alton to use. He was able to have his kids over for the weekend. One of those weekends he went out to the car to grab something for one of the kids and there she was- the woman from the park. She went into the house across the street.
A few days later he talked to Sandra, who also had two kids from a previous marriage. They dated for 18 months before getting married. She began going to church with him and God got to work.
Arthur who had been giving more responsibility to Alton told him it was time to preach. His sermon on Matthew 14 was well-received. He preached more. Alton was getting restless when he was approached to meet with the pastor of Madison Square Christian Reformed Church. He wanted Alton to preach, believing he had a message the people needed to hear. He was confused by this white man who hugged him. But he preached the Matthew 14 sermon on a Sunday night.
They offered him a staff position as part of the preaching team (not sure how this fit their polity). His ministry there focused on racial reconciliation. His life was part of his message that helped people connect with the truth. The down side was the more of his life he explored, the more pain he experienced.
He returned to Alabama for his mother’s funeral. He realized that she did the best she could even though it wasn’t much. He talked to his father for the first time in 30+ years. His father also did the best he could. Hopelessness had robbed them both of so much. Alton began to see the connection between being fatherless and the poverty and hopelessness in the black community. He began to preach on the difference between gospel justice and social justice. He found it easy to fall into social justice.
“I was developing a deep love for my people- Black people- during this time. I was starting to understand at a deep level that my life of loneliness and heartache, fatherlessness and my desperate search for love and community, was leading me to empathy. I felt the plight of the people around me at a deep, agonizing level.”
Madison Square had big plans for Alton. He planted a daughter church at Ford Elementary School focused on his message of reconciliation. Or supposed to be. His focus on fatherlessness and the Fatherhood of God rocked some of those white boats. As an egalitarian denomination, his call to men and male leadership was seen as a threat.
“God is using you, Pastor Alton. And He is going to continue to use you to do great things for His Kingdom. But He is going to move you far, far away from here. When that time comes, don’t argue it. Don’t resist it. God has a plan for you, but it’s not here.”
Alton was devastated by this godly woman’s words. Things weren’t going well. Urban Hope, the focus on his sermons was about to find a home. Ed DeVries offered them a building to build an urban transformation center. People were excited, and giving the money needed to fund it all. They had it, but …
“We just need to figure out how to marry your agenda with our philosophy; and we’ll be off to the races. …. You just need to stop with the men-only talk. You just stick to the race stuff and reconciliation and all that, and everything will be great.”
Alton believed it was God’s agenda, not his. Three days later Alton resigned. He was villainized in Madison. Alton was heartbroken. And depressed. Six months later he got a call from a guy he’d met at a conference years earlier. He wanted Alton to move to Birmingham to plant the church he wanted to plant in Madison. It was a long road, but he was going home.
The mother church was Briarwood PCA. Alton would have to take the ordination exams, and struggled. Here I found a statement that made my stomach turn.
“Don’t worry about it, son. I think this is why the PCA doesn’t have very many Black pastors. These tests are really hard.”
There are lots of reasons there aren’t many. Hard tests isn’t really one. Racially insensitive statements like that are. Past racism is a reason (we’ve had some public repentance on that). Sociological differences. Theological differences. There are good and bad reasons, but the difficulty of the exams, as this elder said, is not a reason.
One prominent African-American pastor left loud a few years back to join an anti-racism think tank. One of his complaints was the ordination exam since he had already been a pastor. I was a pastor for over a decade in the ARP when I joined the PCA to take my current call. I had a full ordination exam. Assuming and/or asserting those exams were given because he was black is 100% wrong. It is in our Book of Church Order for all such men, not just men of color.
Alton passed his exams, planted the church and is building a movement to plant like-minded churches.
God redeems our pain. He works all things for good even the ways we have been sinned against, have sinned ourselves, and the afflictions we’ve experienced. We see this often in biographies as well as accounts in Scripture (like Joseph). It shaped the emphasis of his message- it was the wounds he brings the gospel to bear on for people who have similar wounds.
Cavman Considers 