We are at season three of John Flavel’s book, Keeping the Heart. We have just finished the seasons of prosperity and adversity, looking at some great biblical helps for those times. Season three is called Zion’s Troubles, and it refers to when the church goes through hardship and persecution. Because of how easy it can be to lose sight of the biblical understanding of keeping the heart, here it is again: Our whole will and understanding is to be loyally conformed and directed to God according to His commandments and Word, which is to manifest itself in every decision we make. That is how we love God, and that is our chief Christian duty to Him. Flavel’s book goes over the many situations and seasons in life to help us in this supreme duty. Yes, the whole Bible is designed to lead us in doing this, as the heart is what God sees and not how we appear to others. The heart is the measure of the Christian’s walk with God, so the heart is what we must focus on. And it is God who empowers us to undertake this great work. It is His power alone that we grow in keeping it fixed firmly on Him, as we grow in diligence and discipline in His ways. Now, here is Flavel on season three:
The third season calling for more than ordinary diligence to keep the heart is the time of Zion’s troubles. When the Church, like the ship in which Christ and his disciples were, is oppressed and ready to perish in the waves of persecution, then good souls are ready to be shipwrecked too, upon the billows of their own fears. It is true, most men need the spur rather than the reins in this case; yet some men sit down discouraged under a sense of the Church’s troubles. The loss of the ark cost Eli his life; the sad posture in which Jerusalem lay made good Nehemiah’s countenance change in the midst of all the pleasures and accommodations of the court. But though God allows, yea, commands the most awakened apprehensions of these calamities, and in “such a day calls to mourning, weeping, and girding with sackcloth,” and severely threatens the insensible; yet it will not please him to see you sit like pensive Elijah under the juniper tree. “Ah, Lord God! it is enough, take away my life also.” No: a mourner in Zion you may and ought to be, but a self-tormentor you must not be; complain to God you may, but complain of God (though but by the language of your actions) you must not.
What is our response when the church comes under persecution? Do we, as the church, become shy and move to a more private expression of our faith, or are we emboldened and exhort one another to share it with the world? Are we among those more apt to complain about the state of the church in the world, as if its state is an excuse for retreat? More still, are you ready to suffer and die for your faith? Or are personal comforts what rule the day? Yet, even if we were to answer these questions well, we would still be far off if we did not also work at encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ to godly service. Yes, encouraging, exhorting, and strengthening the church begins with you, Christian. Regardless of who you are, if you are a Christian, your job is first to serve the church, not to be served. In keeping the heart, the local church plays a significant role. Christianity is in no way a solitary religion. God designed the church with the functioning of each individual part in mind. This is why it is called the “body of Christ.” Awaken, Christian, to the place and role you have in the church! Be not like those who, when persecution comes, neglect their duty to pour their heart in service to Christ’s bride! Are we not family? Do we not have a much stronger and inseparable bond than mere blood? Why, then, as so many of us do, pretend that we have higher allegiances? When trouble comes, do we abandon our own children, letting the world have their way with them, or are we all the more diligent in protecting and keeping them on the right path? And, yes, they too can be of the church. When we abandon our roles in the church when persecution or hardship comes, do we not show ourselves to be mere fair-weather Christians? And that is what we are if we abandon, if we withdraw ourselves from service to the body of Christ. So, Christian, gird up thy loins and be ready. Be always ready to serve your King, and serve in His kingdom with diligence. Or do you not know that loving your neighbour begins principally with the members of your local church? Yes, the church is the proving ground of your faith (and not just the home).
Season three will serve to encourage you who desire to see the church grow and be strengthened; you who identify with her through thick and thin, life and death. If fear still buffets you, or you are apprehensive in taking your position for godly service, then season three is meant to encourage you. And even if you regularly serve the church from your heart after God, this can help to strengthen your perspective, that you can serve with greater diligence and courage. We need each other. And we can strive to be exemplars of loving God and neighbor. We, the church, are our own nearest neighbors. We are known by our love for one another. Peter said,
By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever (1 Pet. 1:22-25a HCSB).
May we lead by love and godly example.
Now let us inquire how tender hearts may be relieved and supported, when they are even overwhelmed with the burdensome sense of Zion's troubles? I grant it is hard for him who preferreth Zion to his chief joy, to keep his heart that it sink not below the due sense of its troubles; yet this ought to, and may be done, by the use of such heart-establishing directions as these:
1.) Settle this great truth in your heart, that no trouble befalls Zion but by the permission of Zion’s God and he permits nothing out of which he will not ultimately bring much good to his people. Comfort may be derived from reflections on the permitting as well as on the commanding will of God. “Let him alone, it may be God hath bidden him.” “Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above.” It should much calm our spirits, that it is the will of God to suffer it; and that, had he not suffered it, it could never have been as it is. This very consideration quieted Job, Eli, David, and Hezekiah. That the Lord did it was enough to them: and why should it not be so to us? If the Lord will have Zion ploughed as a field, and her goodly stones lie in the dust; if it be his pleasure that Anti-Christ shall rage yet longer and wear out the saints of the Most High; if it be his will that a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts, shall be upon the valley of vision, that the wicked shall devour the man that is more righteous than he; what are we that we should contend with God? It is fit that we should be resigned to that Will whence we proceeded, and that He that made us should dispose of us as he pleases: he may do what seemeth him good without our consent. Doth poor man stand upon equal ground, that he may capitulate with his Creator; or that God should render him an account of any of his matters? That we be content, however God may dispose of us, is as reasonable as that we be obedient, whatever he may require of us. But if we pursue this argument farther, and consider that God’s permissions all meet at last in the real good of his people, this will much more quiet our spirits. Do the enemies carry away the best among the people into captivity? This looks like a distressing providence; but God sends them thither for their good. Does God take the Assyrian as a staff in his hand to beat his people with? The end of his so doing is, “that he may accomplish his whole work upon Mount Zion.” If God can bring much good out of the greatest evil of sin, much more out of temporal afflictions; and that he will, is as evident as that he can do so. For it is inconsistent with the wisdom of a common agent to permit any thing (which he might prevent if he pleased) to cross his great design; and can it be imagined that the most wise God should do so? As, then, Luther said to Melancthon, so say I to you: “Let infinite wisdom, power and love alone;” for by these all creatures are swayed, and all actions guided, in reference to the church. It is not our work to rule the world, but to submit to Him that does. The motions of Providence are all judicious, the wheels are full of eyes: it is enough that the affairs of Zion are in a good hand.
God is in control. He gives and takes life. Regardless what the enemy throws at us, God’s purposes are advanced. So, we can say that the church, in Christ, is strong beyond any opposition. What an honour it would be to die for Christ! And in death, His church goes on. Despair is removed from consideration. In Christ, despair is replaced with hope. Hope is our lot, and love is our action. Having a firm foundation, then, we can continue on loving one another despite whatever storm we see raging around us. The Roman church too was facing persecution (likely much worse than in the West). Here is what Paul urged of the church:
Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head [bring him blessing]. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good (Rom. 12:9-21; italics added).
Perseverance in serving the church with a heart kept after God and rejoicing in our hope is what Paul taught. We do not need to take matters into our own hands (like vengeance or evil), but can rely on God. He is taking care of His church: those who obey Him with their hearts.
Next time we will be looking at three more helps for the season of Zion’s trouble.