Archives for August 2012

The Legacy of My God-Fearing Mother (II)

August 7, 2012 By

This blog continues my reflections on the piety of my mother, Johanna Beeke (d. July 23, 2012).

2. Lover of Scripture. Mother loved to read the Bible. That became all the more apparent in her declining years. Near the end, she would sleep twenty hours a day; her four hours awake were entirely devoted to eating and reading the Bible. What a witness she was to all who took care of her! Once I was thinking, “Why does the Lord still keep her alive?” Then, I heard one of the great-grandchildren said, “Grandma is such a witness to me. All she does is read her Bible.”

About a month before she passed on to her Savior and Lord, I said to her, “Mother, can you understand what you are reading?” “Oh yes, dear,” she said, with a knowing smile. “Do you still profit from it—does it still help you to read the Bible?” “Oh yes, dear,” she said with another knowing smile.

That same night, I read Revelation 21:1–9 to her. When I arrived at verse 6, I said to her, “Mother, do you know what Jesus means when He says, ‘I am Alpha and Omega’?” As soon as I asked this, I thought, “How foolish to ask her a question you know she can’t answer because of her memory loss,” but she responded immediately. “Doesn’t that mean,” she said, “that Jesus is both the first and the last in our lives?” “Yes, Mother; yes, that’s it—that’s everything!” I said.

Mother could not talk to us as freely as Dad could about the work of the Holy Spirit in her soul. But her love for the Word and her godly walk of life made that unnecessary. We all learned about experiential theology from Dad and about practical theology from Mother. Not until I was in the ministry did I realize what an extraordinary combination this was and what special parents we were blessed with.

Because Mother couldn’t talk as freely with us as Dad could, she would read Bible-based literature—especially Christ-exalting stories to us, every Sunday afternoon. Sometimes she would break down as she read these wonderful stories about how God exalts His own name in the hearts of sinners. Someone at the visiting hours yesterday told me that his oldest memory of Mother is when his family came from Ontario to stay with our family when he was six years old. “All I remember,” he said, “is that she read Christian stories to us so sincerely on Sunday afternoon.”

Mother’s love for the Word was also evident in her conscientious church attendance. We were raised with the understanding that hearing God’s Word in the house of God was life’s top priority. No matter how much homework we had, we never thought about asking if we could stay home when Rev. W. C. Lamain, pastor of the Grand Rapids NRC, would come to preach for us every Wednesday evening. When God’s Word was being expounded, we were there. Our parents believed that we were not only responsible for what we heard in God’s house, but if we chose to absent ourselves, we were also responsible for what we could have heard but chose not to hear.

Let us thank God that by His grace, He gave us a mother who loved the Word.

The Legacy of My God-Fearing Mother (I)

August 6, 2012 By

My dear mother, Johanna Beeke, aged 92, passed on into the presence of her Savior, at 3:45 a.m. on July 23, 2012. Though words seem hollow right now, I have tried to write a little of the tremendous legacy she left us five children and our spouses. Some of this material I used for leading her funeral on July 28. Afterwards, I preached on John 14:1–3, the text that the Lord used to grant her some spiritual liberty in the early years of her conversion. The following day, July 29, I preached a follow-up sermon to the flock I serve in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Psalm 17:15, which is available on sermonaudio.com.

Over the next several posts I will try to communicate the legacy of godliness my mother left behind.

1. Prayerful—that would have to be the first descriptive word. In terms of consistently coming to the throne of grace, pleading for God’s mercy, Mother was the best prayer warrior I have ever known. When our parents had their 50th anniversary, and we all decided to thank each of them for one thing without telling each other what we would say, that we all thanked Mother for praying for us. We all could feel as we grew up that she was praying earnestly for each of us. When we would get up in the morning, you would walk by the living room on the way to the kitchen to get breakfast, you would furtively glance into the living room, there to see through the shadows Mother on her knees. You felt that that prayer place was a sacred place of communion with God, where Mother did business with heaven on our behalf.

Once, as a young teenager, I recall vividly a certain occasion in which I was about to watch something with a friend that was not edifying. Just before I indulged in desensitizing my conscience, however, it was as if I saw Mother on her knees before me. The power of that image in my mind was such that, even though I was not saved, I told my friend I couldn’t watch what he wanted to watch.

Often Mother would pray at great length. Once I called Dad from Grand Rapids and said, “Do you mind if I come down to visit this evening, as I don’t have any obligations?” “That would be fine,” he said. “Can I just speak with Mother for a moment?” I said. “Well,” he hesitated, “she’s praying right now.” “Never mind then,” I said, “I will talk with her when I come.” When I arrived at our parents’ home 50 miles later, only my Dad greeted me. “Where’s Mother?” I asked. “She’s still praying,” he said.

I remember Dad telling me 26 years ago when I was still in New Jersey how Mother had prayed for us far more than we ever knew. Dad told me at that time in a very tender moment that she normally spent two hours on her knees every day. Most of that time was spent no doubt in praying for us as children. When she was in spiritual darkness, she once said to me, “Perhaps my soul would be in a better condition if I would have prayed as much for myself as I have prayed for you.”

I also remember overhearing a conversation at a church gathering, where an elder approached Dad to ask him, “What was the secret of your child-rearing since all of your children have come to know the Lord?” I will never forget his answer: “The grace of God and their mother’s prayers,” he said.

But you didn’t hear about that from Mother herself. When she turned 85 I asked her, “Mother, if you could live your life all over again, what would you do differently?” “Oh dear,” she said, “I would pray more.” That answer was so convicting—and enlightening. I have long noticed that the more we as believers are graced with God’s particular graces, the more we will feel how little we have of those very graces.

Mother’s prayers also encircled her dear grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great grandchild—all 128 of them. She loved them all, and prayed for them all. When she thought about how large our family had become, she was amazed at God’s grace. She would often say near the end when she was very forgetful and would seem surprised on every occasion when we told her how large the family as: “Can you beat that? And then to think that I was an only child!” Oh, how shall we ever realize the magnitude of the covenant mercies of our God that have been bequeathed to us through a praying mother!

I thank God that by His grace, He gave us a praying mother.

Reformed Presbyterian Conference

August 3, 2012 By

Saturday, July 21st, was a huge scramble to get all my ducks in a row to leave for Marion, Indiana, where I was to speak five times—once each day, from July 22 to July 26, on living the Christian life at the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America’s RP International Conference, which approximately 2,300 people attended. The RPCNA holds this conference every four years. More than 1/3 of the denomination attends, along with RPs from other countries, including Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Japan, and Australia. I know of nothing else quite like this in any other North American denomination.

Preaching at the RPCNA Conference

On Sunday, Rev. Rich Holdeman preached on keeping the heart as a matter of life and death (Prov. 4:23), Rev. Dave Reese preached on “The Sabbath: Creation, Covenant, and Christology” (Gen. 2:1–3), and I spoke on “Cultivating Holiness” (1 Pet. 1:16). It was a good day.

Early Monday morning, my sister called to tell us that my dear mother finally went to be with her Lord. Our loss is her gain, and ultimately, ours as well. (I will post some reflections about my mother’s life soon, D.V.) A few hours later, I received a call from a family in our church just five minutes before I was scheduled to speak that their mother also had passed away.

My heart was full when I began to speak, but the Lord upheld me. I told the audience that it was providential that I was about to speak on “Prayerful Prayer” because I had just lost a mother who was the best prayer warrior I had ever known. I then gave a few examples of what we children experienced of her prayer life. I can truly say that the Lord helped me through this unprepared part of my address in a humbling and comforting way, and from the response afterward, it became apparent that God’s leading in this address and these deaths left a deep impression upon many.

How good God is! His strength is perfected in our weakness. How many times I have experienced in my life that the best thing for me to do when I feel weak, burdened, and overwhelmed, is not to run from the pulpit but to run to it. There is no better place on earth to be.

When I finished speaking, a minister came quickly to the pulpit, and spontaneously asked all the ministers and elders in the audience to come up and surround me, as he wanted to pray for me and my family. About 75 men then joined me behind the pulpit, and this brother prayed movingly for me. It was truly a touching moment.

Since family would not gather for the visitation until Thursday, and the funeral for my mother wouldn’t be until Saturday, we decided prayerfully to continue to fulfill our obligations in Indiana, which were scheduled to be completed on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. We knew my mother would want it that way, and I also felt the Lord’s favor on this decision when He gave an unusual degree of freedom to speak for the remaining days. That was particularly true of the address on coping with affliction in a Christ-centered way. The people were absolutely wonderful; they lifted me up on the wings of prayer and we felt bonded to each other. I also thoroughly enjoyed a Q&A time with about 300 young people.

During those days the conference attendees also showed their desire and hunger by buying $16,600 worth of books—the most we have ever sold at a conference in the history of Reformation Heritage Books.

Flight Home on a Private Jet

After my last address on Thursday morning, we rushed to the airport amid an overwhelming display of love from the Reformed Presbyterians. The private jet whisked to Grand Rapids in 40 minutes (a four-hour drive), where I conducted the funeral, visited with the family, did the committal service, and then joined my own family for my own mother’s visitation service. God is truly amazing how He coordinates our lives.

How to Pray for Mozambique

August 1, 2012 By

As I visited with the people of Mozambique, I realized that ministering in a place like Nampula can be overwhelming. The needs are so great, the perils so many, the challenges so daunting, and the opportunities so abundant, that one scarcely knows where to begin.

How can we pray for our brothers and fellow soldiers of the Lord? Here are just a few of the issues in the Mozambican church:

1. Animism. It’s everywhere: in the mosque, in the church. Back country farmers and principled leaders in the government resort to the witch doctors for manipulation of the spirits believed to control everything. If a child gets sick, if the garden doesn’t produce, if one is fired from his job, he seeks out the witch doctor to find out who has cursed him or what spirit is displeased with him.

Animism runs rampant in the church, despite all the preaching against it. Members of the church are pressured by family members to participate in ceremonies honoring the dead. If a believer or one of his family members falls ill, the extended family “guilts” him into going to the witch doctor, accusing him of not caring for the well-being of his family. Worst of all is the pastor who preaches against witchcraft but whose words hold no more weight than the amulet he wears, given him by the witchdoctor to protect him from illness.

2. Crisis in the family. The African family is in shambles. (Americans have no cause to boast here either.) Men are not responsible for their own offspring but for their sisters’ children. City life has eroded traditional African morality. Immorality in the city is rampant. The church needs strong male leaders who exercise loving leadership. African wives frequently complain that their husbands abuse their authority over them. I am told that there are few, if any, sermons on a husband’s Christ-like love and care for the wife as the Savior cherishes the church.

3. The need for Christian wives. A Christian wife is hard to find here in northern Mozambique. Women are the guardians of tradition in the matriarchal Makua society. The older generation is very conservative of their African ways while the younger generation of “liberated” women doesn’t have time for Christ as they pursue the things of this world. The church needs biblical-grounded women who can read and understand the Word for themselves and can thus better support their husbands in their ministries.

4. The content of public worship. The beauty of African worship is its joy and celebration. But how much of it is directed to the Lord and how much is merely celebration for the sake of forgetting the hardships of life? The church service is comprised of session after session of congregational song and choral performances. Reading of Scripture, preaching of the Word, and instruction in the faith are neglected.

Moreover, the preaching of the gospel was suppressed for centuries under the Roman Catholic Portuguese colonial government then actively persecuted by decades of communist rule. The result is a weakened evangelical church that sometimes preaches a works-oriented salvation in keeping with Roman Catholic and Muslim influences that dominated the country for so long.

5. The supremacy of the Word as the rule of faith and life. Ignorance of Bible doctrine, and in particular, the requirements of God’s law, leaves many in darkness. Many profess to have turned to God but have not as yet turned away from idols. The church needs to promote faithful adherence to the standards of faith and holiness set forth in the scriptures without compromise. But, as with the rest of Christendom, African Christianity is often beset with compromise. Example: It is wrong to lie, but some lies are actually socially expected because it is not polite to contradict another person.

Pray for Mozambique! And hope that they are praying for us.

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