I've been reading a very informative book called Honor and Shame*, written by Roland Muller, a missionary in Yemen and Jordan for about thirty years. It's about communicating the essence of the gospel in shame-based cultures. The cross of Christ has purchased more than just freedom from the guilt of our sin, but there Christ also bore our shame (Isa 53.3-4; Heb 13.12-13) and has lifted us up into God's honor as a child of his. We no longer need to cower away from him, as if our continuing sin makes us unfit as objects of his love and blessing.
Through this, I'm realizing how even we in the West need this gospel truth. Don't we so often want to run from God in fear and shame at our unworthiness to come into his presence? Yes, we are unworthy, but to still live that way is to make the cross null and void. We are elect in the Elect One, holy (already!) in the Holy One, adopted and joint-heirs in the Son, redeemed in the Redeemer, and loved in the Beloved (Eph 1.3-14). What reason have we to run from God and join in the songs of his people? None! Of course Satan will tempt us to despair and want us to hide from God and feel bad about ourselves--this keeps our eyes off of Jesus and his sufficiency.
"Almost all [Arabs] agree that someone can honor you but you cannot honor yourself. However, people with honor seldom honor others without cause.
"This is where we must be bold in proclaiming the gospel. The gospel that Jesus brought, is simply this: God wants to lift man from a position of shame to a position of honor. When Jesus said, 'I am the way,' this is what he was referring to. Jesus is the only one who can bring us into the presence of God the Father. This is why Jesus had to be God. No one else would do. Only God could reach down to mankind [and lift us from our shame into his honor]" (pp. 98-99). What a beautiful truth! (Muller does write further that what he means is that this is the essence of the gospel for the Eastern world, or a starting point perhaps, from which we can work toward the fuller picture of Christ's redemption from guilt, fear, and shame.)
Muller also writes: "It was not by mere chance that Jesus was born into a stable in Bethlehem, and that his death on the cross took place in the city of Jerusalem. The cross of Christ stands firmly at the crossroads of history. To the west are the guilt-based cultures of the world. To the south are the fear-based cultures, and to the east are the shame-based cultures.** And in the midst of all of them, the cross of Christ stands as a strong, bold message of peace on earth and good will to all mankind" (p. 110).
[And for Ryan: I do not deny in the least that our sanctification is accomplished by the imputed righteousness of Christ. In heaven it is a finished deal, signed, sealed, and delivered. But God in his grace works within us as well even now to lead us into following our Shepherd (Php 2.13; Heb 13.20-21). The good transformation is not from us, but all of God, and therefore inseparable from his graces and redemptive work through the Spirit purchased by the blood of the cross. What a blessing it is that God works to cleanse us even now and purify our faculties so that we can apprehend small glimpses of him even now while on earth!]
*Roland Muller, Honor and Shame: Unlocking the Door (Xlibris Corporation, 2000).
** Keep in mind that many cultures don't operate strictly within one of these worldviews, but often have aspects of two or all three. The Semitic (Abrahamic) peoples of the Near and Middle East have largely been in shame-based cultures since OT times, including first-century Palestine.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
A lesson from tree swallows
It's funny how God can take opportunities in which I'm supposed to be ministering to someone else and instead turn them around to minister to my own needs and to teach me. I've been reading a book called Honor and Shame, which is about communicating the gospel message from a shame-based worldview. (In the Western world, which was largely influenced by Roman law and Plato's The Republic, we operate from a strongly guilt-based worldview, which is why we find so much connection to Paul's letter to the Roman believers.) In one chapter the author writes about the greater whole of the gospel beyond merely legal redemption and removal of guilt, including how in Christ God moves us from a state of failure to that of completion.
I've become keenly aware of how strongly my sinful nature is still active, and how I allow myself to dance like an idiot at its every beck and call. To think that I not only will be perfected and made whole, but that it's currently happening within me, is hard for me to see right now. Yet it's true: "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Php 1.6 NIV). The healing Breath of God won't merely make us whole at the final day, but he's doing it even now, carrying us on until the day Jesus appears in glory to judge the living and the dead.*
My mind quickly went to Romans 5.12—6.23, telling the glory of how the second Adam brings abundant life beyond all the death that my sin can muster and how it frees me to live in true freedom that honors God, the freedom of living in the way we humans were created to live. In his book Run With the Horses, Eugene Peterson writes about a young bird learning to fly. The bird refuses to take the risk of leaving what he's used to, namely, the nest in which he's spent his whole life so far. But the parent bird persistently pecked at its desperately clinging talons until it was more painful to hang onto the branch than to risk flying. The parent knew what the chick did not: that there was no danger, but only joy, in making its child do what it was designed to do. "Birds have feet and can walk. Birds have talons and can grasp a branch securely. They can walk; they can cling. But flying is their characteristic action, and not until they fly are they living at their best, gracefully and beautifully" (pp. 42-43).
Baby birds will eventually outgrow their nests and starve without leaving their old, comfortable ways. They will die. So it is with us. "You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as your live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything, for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end" (Rom 6.19-21, The Message).
*I know that the ESV says "at the day" instead of "until the day", but most translations, including the NIV and NASB, render the latter. While this verse is difficult to interpret and likely a reference to final salvation, with its eschatological focus, earthly sanctification is inseparable from final salvation (cf. 2 Thess 2.13).
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Moda gunler iki (Day two in Moda)
Ahh, day two of our apartment adventures in Moda. After sleeping in until 11:00, we got lunch with the girls at a restaurant near the Bosphorus. Et doner pide, a shaved lamb sandwich with potato salad ("American salad") and French fries—not as side dishes, but on the sandwich—was most of our lunch of choice, accompanied by Fanta. Much of the day's remainder was comprised of purchasing items for our apartment. From now on, I will refer to the apartment as our house, because that's what everyone calls them here, because no one owns separate homes in this city.
Some things of note: (1) Because it's not really safe for us as foreigners to drink the local tap water, we have to pay for a water service, where large jugs of water are brought to our house. It's cheap: $3.75 for two 15-gallon jugs plus delivery. (2) Carrefour. This is a like a French version of a Super Walmart here in Kadiköy. It was great because we were able to speak almost no Turkish and yet purchase everything we needed for our apartment. (3) The Rice
Monday, September 12, 2005
Moda hos geldiniz! (Welcome to Moda)
I have surfaced! Yes, folks, I am alive and well and living in Moda, Kadiköy, İstanbul. Well, today was an adventure: we moved out of the Taşlık Hotel this afternoon and into our apartments in Moda, Kadiköy. After taking a bus 45 minutes across the beautiful Bosphorus from Beşiktaş to Kadiköy, the driver refused to take us right to our apartments because he didn't want to block traffic for ten minutes while unloading our mountains of luggage. So we unloaded near a fountain in Moda and had to carry our luggage in waves to the four different apartments.
This brings me not to my first, but certainly my least favorable, experience with the "spirals of death", that is, Turkish staircases. Because of the incredibly space-starved nature of the sprawling megalopolis of İstanbul, staircases must occupy as little space as possible and thus take on a tight corkscrew configuration. The problem this creates is that near the center of the spiral the stairs are as little as two inches deep, leaving absolutely no space for your feet. Enter the five of us guys, carrying multiple fifty-pound suitcases up five flights of such stairs for multiple apartments. Oh, joy—not!
After hauling all our luggage up to our the fifth floor atop our landing-less staircase, we pulled out the keys to our new apartment, Pınar. After five minutes of frustrated attempts, we hit the sad realization that neither of our keys even remotely fit the keyhole. A series of phone calls in broken Turkish informed us that the butcher across the street had a key. What on earth?! But, hey, we got in and were mildly pleased to discover a rather large, Victorian America-themed apartment, replete with smoked-glass table lamps, a large buffet, and lace doilies. (They have all been since hidden or pitched, as they don't complement the 1960s plush yellow couches or our desired décor. See #3 below.) We also were greeted by a cruel experiment of Mother Nature: a deranged jackalope with walrus tusks and black wings.
Other joys of our apartment, which is actually the nicest of all STINT apartments: (1) We have a dishwasher!—but no oven. Can you believe that? And our fridge is little more than a glorified version of what many of us had in our college dorm rooms. (2) None of the lamps work, and there are no sheets or pillows. We had to remedy this at 23:00. (3) We have an inflatable moose head to adorn the walls of our hunting den. (4) Our balcony came with the gift of a four-foot-tall birdcage, which would make a perfect home for the jackalope. However, it instead contains two dead birds. Hmm…I can smell a prank coming on in one of the women's apartments.
Okay, this isn't apartment-related, but I'm really irked that getting change here is next to impossible. I've already been denied the ability to purchase a 2.00 YTL beverage because I only had a 10- or 20 YTL note. For this reason, believe it or not, a 5 YTL note is worth nearly as much as a 20 YTL note, because it's actually usable for most everyday purchases. Oh, well, at least inflation is finally in single digits, and some miracle of economic reform has brought about the Yeni Türk Lirası (YTL), the New Turkish Lira. This eliminated the old pricing system which, thanks to inflation, had an exchange rate of 1.5 million lira to the U.S. dollar!
The long day has finally come to an end. What adventures will tomorrow hold as we inventory what we need for our apartment, which is pretty much everything imaginable? We'll also need to move a full-size bed out of our apartment and move some desks and a bunk bed into it. Keep in mind that we have to carry all of this stuff a ten-minute walk down the packed streets of Kadiköy. But God is with us at every moment, and we're laughing together with him through this all. Remember, "It's not bad; it's just different!"
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
A revealing Saturday
I am a prideful man. While I was at MSU, the Spirit (the Holy one, not Johnny) showed me this in several ways:
(1) First of all, while I was talking with one Ryan Hover about our summers, somehow we ended up on the topic of regeneration, namely, does it effect faith, or does faith effect it? Naturally, after spending two years reading Piper, Edwards, Owen, Luther, and others, there was no question: rebirth by the Holy Spirit precedes and effects repentance and faith. But after a lengthy conversation about this, I learned that, while I still hold my position, I am (a) very self-assured that I know it all and cannot possibly be wrong, and (b) that I really don't know the Bible as well as I thought I did.
In a similar vein, I found myself quite openly critical of Rob Bell's new book, Velvet Elvis. (No, I don't know where the title comes from, either.) From the little I've read--and that's the problem, I just skimmed it and made some rather incisive remarks--he is fairly wacked in his theology at some points. (Sorry, Rob. You're not Jesus nor a reformer a la Martin Luther, and Jesus is indeed making exclusive statements of himself in John 8.24 and 14.6 that have reference to eternal destinies, not just "unlocking deeper realities.") But once again I saw that I think I know it all and that I can confidently pass judgment on something or someone without actually knowing a whole lot about my own convictions nor those that seemingly stand contrary to mine.
(2) Instead of humbly accepting that I deserved the $30 ticket for parking in a one-hour zone for fourteen hours, I got really ticked off and vowed to never pay the ticket. How could I possibly deserve a ticket? Romans 13.1-7, anyone?
(3) I went back to Riverview, the church I had attended for two years while at MSU. I have openly criticized this church for trying too hard to be catchy and attractive through coffee, rock music, and entertaining sermons. Some of that may hold true. But after hearing Noel, a pastor there, speak on the parable of the shrewd manager recorded in Luke 16.1-13, my views began to change. What I saw as a cowardly, worldly way of enticing people to come to their church is actually their honest efforts at being shrewd and wise in the way they manage the resources entrusted to them. I don't agree with everything they're doing, but what I learned is that they're not out to be catchy; they're out to bring people to Jesus Christ. Just because someone's philosophy isn't mine doesn't automatically make it wrong. I thought I had this church thing all figured out. Guess again.
(4) The night wrapped up with a long talk with some of the men whom I love. In the process, I came to the realization that in this life, the fact is that people are going to come and go in and out of our lives. Mike's in Texas. Cassie's in Washington. Ryan's in Thailand. Greg's married and in seminary. Erin's in GR. I'm in Asia Minor. Things on Earth don't stay the same, so what am I to do? I absolutely dread being lonely; it's one of my greatest fears and tempts me often to pity myself rather than to do something about it. It struck me that because a given person may only be directly in my life for a period of months or years, the question I should ask myself each day is, How can I bless this person so that he will be better off for having had me in his life?
As soon as this clicked in my head, I said this to everyone--and promptly realized that what I said I should be thinking and doing is the furthest thing from what actually happens in my life. Instead, I get upset when people don't make an effort to seek me out and care about me. Then I just get grumpy and spiteful or mopey and despairing, neither of which are honoring to God's omnipresence and call to give myself away. "If anyone is thirsty . . . out of his innermost being will flow . . ."
By the way, after a series of awesome sermons on the "I am" statements of Jesus, it's really cool to see how Jesus uses the Feast of Tabernacles to illustrate that all things Israel celebrated about Yahweh in the feast (Exodus 13 - 17), in actuality, find their truest essence in him.
(1) First of all, while I was talking with one Ryan Hover about our summers, somehow we ended up on the topic of regeneration, namely, does it effect faith, or does faith effect it? Naturally, after spending two years reading Piper, Edwards, Owen, Luther, and others, there was no question: rebirth by the Holy Spirit precedes and effects repentance and faith. But after a lengthy conversation about this, I learned that, while I still hold my position, I am (a) very self-assured that I know it all and cannot possibly be wrong, and (b) that I really don't know the Bible as well as I thought I did.
In a similar vein, I found myself quite openly critical of Rob Bell's new book, Velvet Elvis. (No, I don't know where the title comes from, either.) From the little I've read--and that's the problem, I just skimmed it and made some rather incisive remarks--he is fairly wacked in his theology at some points. (Sorry, Rob. You're not Jesus nor a reformer a la Martin Luther, and Jesus is indeed making exclusive statements of himself in John 8.24 and 14.6 that have reference to eternal destinies, not just "unlocking deeper realities.") But once again I saw that I think I know it all and that I can confidently pass judgment on something or someone without actually knowing a whole lot about my own convictions nor those that seemingly stand contrary to mine.
(2) Instead of humbly accepting that I deserved the $30 ticket for parking in a one-hour zone for fourteen hours, I got really ticked off and vowed to never pay the ticket. How could I possibly deserve a ticket? Romans 13.1-7, anyone?
(3) I went back to Riverview, the church I had attended for two years while at MSU. I have openly criticized this church for trying too hard to be catchy and attractive through coffee, rock music, and entertaining sermons. Some of that may hold true. But after hearing Noel, a pastor there, speak on the parable of the shrewd manager recorded in Luke 16.1-13, my views began to change. What I saw as a cowardly, worldly way of enticing people to come to their church is actually their honest efforts at being shrewd and wise in the way they manage the resources entrusted to them. I don't agree with everything they're doing, but what I learned is that they're not out to be catchy; they're out to bring people to Jesus Christ. Just because someone's philosophy isn't mine doesn't automatically make it wrong. I thought I had this church thing all figured out. Guess again.
(4) The night wrapped up with a long talk with some of the men whom I love. In the process, I came to the realization that in this life, the fact is that people are going to come and go in and out of our lives. Mike's in Texas. Cassie's in Washington. Ryan's in Thailand. Greg's married and in seminary. Erin's in GR. I'm in Asia Minor. Things on Earth don't stay the same, so what am I to do? I absolutely dread being lonely; it's one of my greatest fears and tempts me often to pity myself rather than to do something about it. It struck me that because a given person may only be directly in my life for a period of months or years, the question I should ask myself each day is, How can I bless this person so that he will be better off for having had me in his life?
As soon as this clicked in my head, I said this to everyone--and promptly realized that what I said I should be thinking and doing is the furthest thing from what actually happens in my life. Instead, I get upset when people don't make an effort to seek me out and care about me. Then I just get grumpy and spiteful or mopey and despairing, neither of which are honoring to God's omnipresence and call to give myself away. "If anyone is thirsty . . . out of his innermost being will flow . . ."
By the way, after a series of awesome sermons on the "I am" statements of Jesus, it's really cool to see how Jesus uses the Feast of Tabernacles to illustrate that all things Israel celebrated about Yahweh in the feast (Exodus 13 - 17), in actuality, find their truest essence in him.
Friday, September 2, 2005
Of irony and woven carpets
As I knelt last night to pray while listening to musical Sufi prayers* (Sufi is a mystical branch of Islam; you may be familiar with the dancing trance-prayers of the whirling dervishes), I felt burdened by two things: (1) the eerie supernatural aura created by these prayers, giving a very apparent (but not true) sense of the divine presence; (2) the incredible power wielded against the kingdom of God through Islam in the country to which I'll be moving in one week.
The music is stunningly beautiful, but I had to shut it off and remind myself that Jesus Christ is the road, the reality, and the life. He is preeminent, and he alone is God. It was discomforting to realize how even I, a Christian, felt drawn by the music to some false ideal. There are so many things in this world that offer cheap and enticing imitations of the true God but are only husks and ashes. The divine is not found in a trance, in incense, or in beautiful icons; instead it wore sandals and ate dates and was left to hang on a tree on a barren hillside in view of the supposed entrance to Hades, the netherworld. Our flesh will always flee from this.
I recall the haunting eeriness of the first time I heard the confession and call to prayer: "Allah is most great. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." I got to walk among the "city of a thousand mosques" and stand next to tombs of men who lived and died in opposition to the deity of Jesus Christ. It made me nauseous with that feeling you get when you're all alone in the house and you think someone is watching you. Satan is real, my friends.
Yet I find a comfort in God's omnipresence and complete sovereignty, even in the Near East. As the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper once said, "In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, 'That is mine!'" Even in the face of a history of God-belittling lies promoted through men named Kemal, Suleyman, and Beyazit, God is at work to redeem and protect his people for the sake of his great name. Take, for example, Mao Ze Dong. He earnestly believed that through communism, man had the power to create a true utopia on earth, free of the aid or necessity of any presumed deity. Patrick Johnstone of Operation World once remarked, "Mao Ze Dong was utterly opposed to all religions, and built a cult around his own personality. What an unlikely man to become the person who, by his actions, has possibly contributed to more people coming into the kingdom [of God] than any other person in all of history!"
Believe it or not, indirectly, without the spread of Islam into northern Africa, we would not have had the Reformation. (For the reason why, e-mail me at drew@aderes.net and I can send you a sermon explaining it.) God, I thank you and am encouraged that even in the Near East, you have set up history, religion, geography, and culture exactly so that men and women can seek you and reach out and find you, though you are not far from anyone (Acts 17.26-27).
*To download some mind-blowing Sufi electronica, check out Mercan Dede (pronounced mair-jon day-day) at www.mercandede.com. Click on "media" and then "music."
The music is stunningly beautiful, but I had to shut it off and remind myself that Jesus Christ is the road, the reality, and the life. He is preeminent, and he alone is God. It was discomforting to realize how even I, a Christian, felt drawn by the music to some false ideal. There are so many things in this world that offer cheap and enticing imitations of the true God but are only husks and ashes. The divine is not found in a trance, in incense, or in beautiful icons; instead it wore sandals and ate dates and was left to hang on a tree on a barren hillside in view of the supposed entrance to Hades, the netherworld. Our flesh will always flee from this.
I recall the haunting eeriness of the first time I heard the confession and call to prayer: "Allah is most great. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." I got to walk among the "city of a thousand mosques" and stand next to tombs of men who lived and died in opposition to the deity of Jesus Christ. It made me nauseous with that feeling you get when you're all alone in the house and you think someone is watching you. Satan is real, my friends.
Yet I find a comfort in God's omnipresence and complete sovereignty, even in the Near East. As the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper once said, "In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, 'That is mine!'" Even in the face of a history of God-belittling lies promoted through men named Kemal, Suleyman, and Beyazit, God is at work to redeem and protect his people for the sake of his great name. Take, for example, Mao Ze Dong. He earnestly believed that through communism, man had the power to create a true utopia on earth, free of the aid or necessity of any presumed deity. Patrick Johnstone of Operation World once remarked, "Mao Ze Dong was utterly opposed to all religions, and built a cult around his own personality. What an unlikely man to become the person who, by his actions, has possibly contributed to more people coming into the kingdom [of God] than any other person in all of history!"
Believe it or not, indirectly, without the spread of Islam into northern Africa, we would not have had the Reformation. (For the reason why, e-mail me at drew@aderes.net and I can send you a sermon explaining it.) God, I thank you and am encouraged that even in the Near East, you have set up history, religion, geography, and culture exactly so that men and women can seek you and reach out and find you, though you are not far from anyone (Acts 17.26-27).
*To download some mind-blowing Sufi electronica, check out Mercan Dede (pronounced mair-jon day-day) at www.mercandede.com. Click on "media" and then "music."
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Be the seed...
I can almost hear some coach chanting to his athletes before the big game: "Be the seed. Be the seed." Well, maybe not. This morning while at the gorgeous Keystone resort in Colorado, Keith Bubalo shared his thoughts on 2 Corinthians 4.4-12. In a time of prayer and reflection afterward, the Wind of God directed me to these words of Jesus recorded in John 12.23-33:
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." . . .
"Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
Jesus said that it was his death that cast down Satan (see also Rev 12.9; 20.1-3 if you're an amillenialist like me) and would draw all people to himself. And as his servants and followers whose goal is to live for and continue his purposes, we also are to carry around in our bodies the death of Jesus, in order that his life may be manifested within us (2 Cor 4.10-12).
Jesus teaches here that bearing fruit for God is contingent upon "death". A few days later after celebrating the Sedir he said, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. . . . These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15.8-11). In other words, it is by our dying that we glorify our Father. Willingly surrendering all rights to our selfish comfort, ease, and painlessness is necessary, for our weakness allows God to display his power through us so that there's no fooling anyone as to our source of strength and competence.*
But Jesus says all of this out of love for all of his followers: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you". What did his Father's love look like? God's love sent his only Son through suffering, blows, lacerations, nails, mocking, and asphyxiation--but ultimately to the place of incomparable blessing, joy, and adoration at his right hand (Heb 1.8-9; 12.2). It was truly through the cross that the Son of Man was glorified (John 12.23). It is always his love that motivates Jesus to call us to the cross and to denial of our selves and the worldly desires that would otherwise be fully legit if the Resurrection weren't true (see Mark 10.21).
But by God's power Jesus did triumph over the grave and is reigning from heaven (Eph 1.19-23). In our dying he calls us to join him in these same unblushing rewards as he received. "Where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." We will be with him at home forever, accepted, approved, and beloved in him by our holy Creator and Sovereign, who calls out the stars by name and is storing up great wrath to crush the skulls of those who set themselves up against his reign (Rev 6.15-17).
Jesu, may we know and believe that in his love your Father didn't spare you the cup of suffering on your path toward joy's eternal increase. With that very same love you call us to die to ourselves and share in your pains and sacrifices for the gospel and bringing all men to yourself. We must know and feel the unsearchable riches of your hesed, your loyal covenant love that surpasses all comprehension (Eph 3.8,16-19). And may our hearts' experience of it compel us to be fools for your sake in bringing the gospel to the people of Turkey, Bangkok, Michigan, or wherever else you've called us, with boldness and clarity. Amen!
*On a side note, another insight I gained from 2 Cor 4.5-7 this morning is that it is not we who have adequacy or effectiveness, but our message does! For it is the power of God for salvation for all peoples, bringing the truth of God as seen in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus.
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." . . .
"Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
Jesus said that it was his death that cast down Satan (see also Rev 12.9; 20.1-3 if you're an amillenialist like me) and would draw all people to himself. And as his servants and followers whose goal is to live for and continue his purposes, we also are to carry around in our bodies the death of Jesus, in order that his life may be manifested within us (2 Cor 4.10-12).
Jesus teaches here that bearing fruit for God is contingent upon "death". A few days later after celebrating the Sedir he said, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. . . . These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15.8-11). In other words, it is by our dying that we glorify our Father. Willingly surrendering all rights to our selfish comfort, ease, and painlessness is necessary, for our weakness allows God to display his power through us so that there's no fooling anyone as to our source of strength and competence.*
But Jesus says all of this out of love for all of his followers: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you". What did his Father's love look like? God's love sent his only Son through suffering, blows, lacerations, nails, mocking, and asphyxiation--but ultimately to the place of incomparable blessing, joy, and adoration at his right hand (Heb 1.8-9; 12.2). It was truly through the cross that the Son of Man was glorified (John 12.23). It is always his love that motivates Jesus to call us to the cross and to denial of our selves and the worldly desires that would otherwise be fully legit if the Resurrection weren't true (see Mark 10.21).
But by God's power Jesus did triumph over the grave and is reigning from heaven (Eph 1.19-23). In our dying he calls us to join him in these same unblushing rewards as he received. "Where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." We will be with him at home forever, accepted, approved, and beloved in him by our holy Creator and Sovereign, who calls out the stars by name and is storing up great wrath to crush the skulls of those who set themselves up against his reign (Rev 6.15-17).
Jesu, may we know and believe that in his love your Father didn't spare you the cup of suffering on your path toward joy's eternal increase. With that very same love you call us to die to ourselves and share in your pains and sacrifices for the gospel and bringing all men to yourself. We must know and feel the unsearchable riches of your hesed, your loyal covenant love that surpasses all comprehension (Eph 3.8,16-19). And may our hearts' experience of it compel us to be fools for your sake in bringing the gospel to the people of Turkey, Bangkok, Michigan, or wherever else you've called us, with boldness and clarity. Amen!
*On a side note, another insight I gained from 2 Cor 4.5-7 this morning is that it is not we who have adequacy or effectiveness, but our message does! For it is the power of God for salvation for all peoples, bringing the truth of God as seen in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Definitely not a theological post -- but whatever
I've never been in the mindset that we should only listen to "Christian" CD's. Frankly, I've never been much for the CCM scene. Prompted by R. T., here are the top discs in my collection:
The Beatles, Abbey Road - I don't know if this qualifies as a theme album, but it just fits. It's incredibly innovative, with the final several songs all blending together into one long track.
The Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness - The Victorian artwork fits this double album perfectly. There is more summertime sweetness, more raw vocals, more textured guitars on this album than any other. A beautiful work. Their previous work, Siamese Dream, is close behind.
Anathallo, Holiday at the Sea EP and Sparrows - No one, and I mean no one, tops Anathallo (Greek for "renewal"). Guitar, xylophone, drums galore, clapping, horns, piano, and even scissors and chains--ya just can't ask for more. Only you do get more, like tremendous builds and crescendoes, songs in Japanese, and perceptive my-deceptive-heart-is-cut-open-and-my-sin-is-bleeding-out-so-I-surrender lyrics make these guys the best. Their live shows must be witnessed. Props to having lyrics based upon the greatest essay of all time, C. S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory. These guys know the Old Testament.
Radiohead, OK Computer - This is when they made it out of their already-good Brit rock days and into the bigtime with their innovate, post-apocalyptic tones.
Dispatch, Silent Steeples and Who Are We Living For? - These New Englanders redefine musical talent. Beautiful harmonies, rich hand percussion, and haunting lyrics make these two the most listened-to discs in my collection. Pick the former for their older, acoustic sound, and the latter for something electrified.
Guster, Goldfly - Forget Pedro the Lion; these are the guys who first took downcast lyrics and merged them with upbeat, poppy music. Songs about consciously manipulating others and the like create an odd lyrical content that makes up the Somerville, Mass., trio's first two discs. Plus Brian "Thundergod" Rosenworcel is the best hand percussionist around, hands-down.
Jars of Clay, Who We Are Instead - I would've said their self-titled debut was their best, but there is a something about their fifth studio album that leaves me in tears. Dan Haseltine sings from the perspective--an honest and personal one, from what I believe--of a man who's seen his sin, lived low in it, but has found hope in the faithfulness and bloody grace of his Savior. "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" cannot help but move someone -- it was based on an audio recording they heard of a homeless man singing this simple line to himself for hours as he fell asleep on the streets. This disc echoes of Johnny Cash. Their second LP, Much Afraid, is well worth a listen if you want to be broken of your sin and be left weeping before God.
Honorable mention: Pearl Jam, Vitalogy; Weezer, Weezer (blue album); R. E. M., Document; U2, The Best of 1980-1990; Blue Merle, Blue Merle; anything by Dan Tyminski.
The Beatles, Abbey Road - I don't know if this qualifies as a theme album, but it just fits. It's incredibly innovative, with the final several songs all blending together into one long track.
The Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness - The Victorian artwork fits this double album perfectly. There is more summertime sweetness, more raw vocals, more textured guitars on this album than any other. A beautiful work. Their previous work, Siamese Dream, is close behind.
Anathallo, Holiday at the Sea EP and Sparrows - No one, and I mean no one, tops Anathallo (Greek for "renewal"). Guitar, xylophone, drums galore, clapping, horns, piano, and even scissors and chains--ya just can't ask for more. Only you do get more, like tremendous builds and crescendoes, songs in Japanese, and perceptive my-deceptive-heart-is-cut-open-and-my-sin-is-bleeding-out-so-I-surrender lyrics make these guys the best. Their live shows must be witnessed. Props to having lyrics based upon the greatest essay of all time, C. S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory. These guys know the Old Testament.
Radiohead, OK Computer - This is when they made it out of their already-good Brit rock days and into the bigtime with their innovate, post-apocalyptic tones.
Dispatch, Silent Steeples and Who Are We Living For? - These New Englanders redefine musical talent. Beautiful harmonies, rich hand percussion, and haunting lyrics make these two the most listened-to discs in my collection. Pick the former for their older, acoustic sound, and the latter for something electrified.
Guster, Goldfly - Forget Pedro the Lion; these are the guys who first took downcast lyrics and merged them with upbeat, poppy music. Songs about consciously manipulating others and the like create an odd lyrical content that makes up the Somerville, Mass., trio's first two discs. Plus Brian "Thundergod" Rosenworcel is the best hand percussionist around, hands-down.
Jars of Clay, Who We Are Instead - I would've said their self-titled debut was their best, but there is a something about their fifth studio album that leaves me in tears. Dan Haseltine sings from the perspective--an honest and personal one, from what I believe--of a man who's seen his sin, lived low in it, but has found hope in the faithfulness and bloody grace of his Savior. "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" cannot help but move someone -- it was based on an audio recording they heard of a homeless man singing this simple line to himself for hours as he fell asleep on the streets. This disc echoes of Johnny Cash. Their second LP, Much Afraid, is well worth a listen if you want to be broken of your sin and be left weeping before God.
Honorable mention: Pearl Jam, Vitalogy; Weezer, Weezer (blue album); R. E. M., Document; U2, The Best of 1980-1990; Blue Merle, Blue Merle; anything by Dan Tyminski.
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Monergism I: The human condition
Okay, as promised, here's my first installment into the biblical truth known as monergism, that is, the fact that salvation is 100% God's decision and work, and we have no part of it. I will not argue that the word "grace" means that we are blessed apart from meeting some set of conditions. Indeed, Scripture says there is a condition that must be met for salvation: belief in the gospel. But just because there are terms involved does not mean that the recipient deserves the blessing he is receiving. With that said, hear me out…
Watch any of today's popular movies, and what's a main theme? Isn't it that, in the end, despite some evil character's ploys and schemes, the inherent good of man triumphs and wins the day. Pick a movie--Armageddon, Braveheart, Happy Gilmore--somehow a person is able to dig within himself and pull out a measure of altruism or self-sacrifice or golf skill and save the world. We want earnestly to believe in, though often hidden, the goodness of mankind. Call me a pessimist, a skeptic, or what you will, but I don't buy it one bit.
What we really need are more books that expose true human nature, such as William Golding's Lord of the Flies. This novel exposes what happens when people are left to themselves rather than being subject to social law's restraints: young boys riot, insult each other, and finally slaughter their friends.
Enter many of today's megachurches and sit through a sermon or praise songs, and some things might strike you as they did me: the sermons are mostly based on self-help or self-betterment or how to live more holy. Not only is this a bastardization of the gospel of grace, but there's often an underlying current of how we're really able to make these things happen. We want earnestly to buy that we aren't so bad, so we fill bestseller lists with fecal pop psychology that says "You can do it!" Jesus becomes only a teacher on how to live well rather than also a prophet of divine fury (Luke 19.41-44) and the One who makes the dead come to life.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sins is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8.34-36). The first thing we simply must know in order to get the gospel right--and all of life and eternity beyond--is that we are by nature slaves to sin, period. Part of the Fall of man was that all humans have inherited a corrupt nature (Rom 5.18), Mother Theresa and Mohandes Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., included.
This therefore renders us not only evil in heart—just look at Gen 6.5—but also unable to desire and choose God. The whole question over whether or not we can choose God by free will is moot; how can one's will be "free" while a "slave" to sin and corruption? Let me briefly cover a few texts that back this up more fully:
Romans 8.7-8: "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Here Paul is speaking of flesh (sarx; NIV "sinful nature") as our existence and way of living apart from the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit of God, we are hostile and unsubmissive to God. Man in this state is not just rebellious; he wants mutiny! He is hostile to God (see also Rom 1.30; Col 1.21).
Moreover, he cannot possibly have saving faith in this state. Why, do you ask? I've got two reasons. (1) Fulfilling God's true law has always required faith and a God-honoring spirit (Rom 3.27; 4.1-12). How can someone do this when he is hostile and unsubmissive to God? No, he cannot, for "the mind that is set on the flesh…does not submit to God's law." In other words, it cannot have faith. (2) The writer of the letter to the Hebrews (Apollos?) instructs us that without faith it is impossible to please God (11.6). In other words, the only way to please God is through faith. Pleasing God once again presupposes faith, yet those in the flesh not only do not, but cannot please God. If you have faith, maybe you don't always please God, but you are able. But "those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
Ephesians 2.1-3: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." Here is the complete fallenness of all of mankind, every man, woman, and child. All of mankind, by nature (apart from the Holy Spirit), walks in transgression (not merely unknowing error, but deliberate crossing of God's boundaries). To emphasize the universality of this, note that Paul says that Satan (the "prince") is of the air: he is everywhere. "We all once lived in the passions of our flesh"—no one is exempt.
In the middle ages many philosopher used to have humans divided into two separate faculties, the body and the mind. "We may succumb to bodily appetites such as disordered sexual lusts, laziness, overeating, covetousness, greed, and so forth," they would say, but they believed their reasoning and ability to grasp true goodness with their minds lay intact. However, note that both the desires of the body and mind are associated with evil and are separate from God's Spirit. Even the reasoning and ability to appropriate and embrace truth is corrupt in natural man (see Eph 4.17-24!). Clearly the mind of natural man is unable to understand the proper weight and gravity of our sinfulness and the weight and gravity of the person of Jesus Christ. Our mental abilities ("the mind set on the flesh"; Rom 8.7) are even so enslaved to the lies of Satan that we have all failed to perceive God's communication to us through his created works (Rom 1.19-20). Does this leave us an excuse? No! It only furthers condemns us for our blindness.
Perhaps the most obvious thing pertaining to our utter inability to know God and believe in him is that Paul twice (2.1,5) says that we are dead in our sins. Not wheezing or weak, not feeble and maimed, but stone-cold dead. Our bodies have grown cold, our skin is ashen and waxy, and our joints have gone stiff. Some like to soften this teaching by saying that we are like drowning people to whom God throws a life preserver, but we need to take hold of it. Au contrere, mon frere. Corpses floating in the ocean cannot grab life presevers!
What are we to do? "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved" (Eph 2.4-5; cf Col 2.13). It is God who makes us alive, entirely by his own decision and calling, for dead men cannot resuscitate themselves. Praise the Son, because he is the only one who can set us free from sin and death (John 8.36; Rom 7.24 - 8:4)!
[Dig deeper: Ezekiel 37.1-14; The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther; The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, John Calvin; The Freedom of the Will, Jonathan Edwards; The Canons of Dordt]
Thursday, August 4, 2005
You know you're a Lutheran if . . .
Serious support-raising mania has begun. Tonight I really needed a diversion from it, so I came up with the following based upon my own wonderful heritage:
You know you're Lutheran if…
1. … you celebrate both your natural birthday and your baptismal birthday.
2. … the only things the woman of the household can make are Jell-O, casseroles, bratwurst, or lutefisk.
3. … you own Lederhosen.
4. … you've got your Bible in one hand and a beer in the other.
5. … your children are named Martin, Philip, and Katherine.
6. … you believe the real problem with the local courthouse is not that there isn't a monument to the Ten Commandments, but that there isn't an equally prominent monument to the Gospel on the other end of the building.
7. … you end all of your stories with "This is most certainly true."
8. … you receive roses from your boyfriend/husband but complain that they're not white with red hearts in the center.
9. … you live in
10. … you know what the words Bier, Scheisse, and Schnitzelbank mean.
11. … instead of trick-or-treating on October 31, you nail complaints against your neighbor onto his front door.
Sola gratia. Sola fide. Sola Scriptura.Friday, July 22, 2005
Flatliners
Today I found out that my friend Niki's mom has gone into a coma as a result of anesthesia from yesterday's surgery. Upon receiving the anesthesia she immediately flatlined. Although they were able to resuscitate her, and it appears that she has no brain detectable brain damage, she is totally unresponsive to anything. If you're reading this, please pray for Niki, her mom, and her family. They're all believers in the hope of the redemption of all creation, including our bodies (Rom 8.18-25).
Comas: a weird thing, to say the least. Yes, the person is alive in a very real sense but can't respond to the world around or move about. The thought came to me how very much this is like each and every one of us humans, the living dead. Try as you wish to deny it, but we are all conceived as dead to God by mere virtue (or lack thereof) of being human, just dry bones (Ezek 37.1-14). "You were dead in your trespasses and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" (Eph 2.1,3).
I don't quite have the time right now, but the beautiful truth theologians call monergism (mono = one, erg = work; one person's work) gripped me in a strange way a year ago and has become one of the rocks upon which I stand, the rock from which the cross of Jesus was raised up. Essentially, it is this: man is totally dead to God and under his just condemnation and eternal shame. We have no ability or desire to reach for him apart from his calling and grace. Therefore all of salvation, all of faith, must come from him and be accomplished by him alone (Eph 2.8-9). Our only choice comes in our condemnation and sinfulness, not our rebirth and justification. Monergism stands over and against synergism (working together), which says that salvation involves some component of our own choice and doing--a key tenet of Wesleyan, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian traditions. Hopefully I'll have time to flesh out what this means, why I believe it, and why it has become a joy to me.
Comas: a weird thing, to say the least. Yes, the person is alive in a very real sense but can't respond to the world around or move about. The thought came to me how very much this is like each and every one of us humans, the living dead. Try as you wish to deny it, but we are all conceived as dead to God by mere virtue (or lack thereof) of being human, just dry bones (Ezek 37.1-14). "You were dead in your trespasses and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" (Eph 2.1,3).
I don't quite have the time right now, but the beautiful truth theologians call monergism (mono = one, erg = work; one person's work) gripped me in a strange way a year ago and has become one of the rocks upon which I stand, the rock from which the cross of Jesus was raised up. Essentially, it is this: man is totally dead to God and under his just condemnation and eternal shame. We have no ability or desire to reach for him apart from his calling and grace. Therefore all of salvation, all of faith, must come from him and be accomplished by him alone (Eph 2.8-9). Our only choice comes in our condemnation and sinfulness, not our rebirth and justification. Monergism stands over and against synergism (working together), which says that salvation involves some component of our own choice and doing--a key tenet of Wesleyan, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian traditions. Hopefully I'll have time to flesh out what this means, why I believe it, and why it has become a joy to me.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
"Have it your way."
Over the past year, I've been through a bit of a roller coaster ride regarding my affections for many modern churches. I grew up a very conservative and traditional Lutheran church (Missouri Synod), where the norm was baking having bake sales, wearing ties, and reading a liturgy based on the Authorized Version (that's the King James Version, for all you newbies). Amid many shortcomings, lots of things were/are good about it: daily memorization of Scripture (RSV) and Luther's small catechism; the place actually looks like it's sacred and not just my living room; hymns chock-full of solid, heart-warming doctrine. (Ah, for the days of singing Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott, #262 in the Lutheran Hymnal!)
When I went to college and Jesus drew me into a much deeper, truer relationship with himself, I wanted everything new and exciting. Consequently, I chose a church that was hip: everyone was young, the praise music was loud and electrified, and the sermons were entertaining. And I must say, they contributed to my growth as a follower of Jesus.
Yet something was missing: Christ Jesus himself. I found the preaching began to lack substance because it stayed too surfactory in order to be seeker-friendly. I got annoyed at the pastors' attempts to entertain rather than teach. I began to miss hymns and people older than thirty. And I got ticked that I couldn't express my newfound joy in monergism with others who viewed it as cold and unloving.
It was at this time I was introduced to a far smaller but, in my opinion, more passionate church last summer. I quickly became involved and became a member of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, MI, whose desire is to be a "Christ-centered, Bible-based, mission-minded, burden-bearing, pilgrim people who are passionately committed to making much of God in all of life." Worship is lively and absolutely centered on glorious truths like Christ's propitiation and his making truly dead and blind men live and see. Pastor Kevin DeYoung is a solid expositional preacher who's not afraid to call a spade a spade. I've been able to build relationships with men of all ages. Twenty percent of the budget supports global missions and evangelistic efforts. I'll be the tenth member in recent years to serve the Lord in Turkey. It's sweet.
But I do know that people are coming to know the God and grow in his Spirit at all kinds of churches, even the "cool" ones. Part of my skin crawls when, like this past weekend, the first twenty minutes of the "message" were about the youth pastor's fishing escapades, enhanced by the ridiculous fisherman's outfit and tackle that he wasted the church's money on. I really do desire pastors to stop entertaining and selling the gospel as if it were a plan for improving your life, giving you purpose, and bringing out the best in you. It is, but it's not. Churches need to stop singing stupid stuff like "You alone are worthy of my praise" (as if I my praise were something extra special needed by God and that I'd be justified to withhold it from him, should I deem him not worthy of it). Honestly, church should bring out the worst in us instead, but heal us with the "best" of God if they are to be faithful in building disciples.
Anyway, after my brief autobiography and perplexed rant, please read two articles that express my feelings and concerns well. Actually, my previous writing was more of a lead-in to these, which have the real meat I wish to communicate.
1. Eugene Peterson on today's evangelical "spirituality"
2. Killing the Buddha's post on the church growth movement, or some perils of it.
When I went to college and Jesus drew me into a much deeper, truer relationship with himself, I wanted everything new and exciting. Consequently, I chose a church that was hip: everyone was young, the praise music was loud and electrified, and the sermons were entertaining. And I must say, they contributed to my growth as a follower of Jesus.
Yet something was missing: Christ Jesus himself. I found the preaching began to lack substance because it stayed too surfactory in order to be seeker-friendly. I got annoyed at the pastors' attempts to entertain rather than teach. I began to miss hymns and people older than thirty. And I got ticked that I couldn't express my newfound joy in monergism with others who viewed it as cold and unloving.
It was at this time I was introduced to a far smaller but, in my opinion, more passionate church last summer. I quickly became involved and became a member of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, MI, whose desire is to be a "Christ-centered, Bible-based, mission-minded, burden-bearing, pilgrim people who are passionately committed to making much of God in all of life." Worship is lively and absolutely centered on glorious truths like Christ's propitiation and his making truly dead and blind men live and see. Pastor Kevin DeYoung is a solid expositional preacher who's not afraid to call a spade a spade. I've been able to build relationships with men of all ages. Twenty percent of the budget supports global missions and evangelistic efforts. I'll be the tenth member in recent years to serve the Lord in Turkey. It's sweet.
But I do know that people are coming to know the God and grow in his Spirit at all kinds of churches, even the "cool" ones. Part of my skin crawls when, like this past weekend, the first twenty minutes of the "message" were about the youth pastor's fishing escapades, enhanced by the ridiculous fisherman's outfit and tackle that he wasted the church's money on. I really do desire pastors to stop entertaining and selling the gospel as if it were a plan for improving your life, giving you purpose, and bringing out the best in you. It is, but it's not. Churches need to stop singing stupid stuff like "You alone are worthy of my praise" (as if I my praise were something extra special needed by God and that I'd be justified to withhold it from him, should I deem him not worthy of it). Honestly, church should bring out the worst in us instead, but heal us with the "best" of God if they are to be faithful in building disciples.
Anyway, after my brief autobiography and perplexed rant, please read two articles that express my feelings and concerns well. Actually, my previous writing was more of a lead-in to these, which have the real meat I wish to communicate.
1. Eugene Peterson on today's evangelical "spirituality"
2. Killing the Buddha's post on the church growth movement, or some perils of it.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Thursday, July 7, 2005
In due time their foot shall slip...
Ah, I see there's a new page up at Christian CounterCulture. CCC is normally pretty sound, and is in fact written by a number of fellow Reformed/Presbyterian contributors. And even when I do disagree, we ought not disagree for disagreement's or philosophy's sake, but for Scripture's. But how the crap did this get in there? Obviously someone has taken the "highlighter approach" to God's word:
This simple but life- transforming truth [of God's love] has been kept hidden by some of the most famous sermons in the history of the Church. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was delivered by the renowned preacher, theologian and revivalist, Jonathan Edwards at Enfield, Connecticut in 1741:
Commentating on Edward's sermon, the academic Ola Winslow reflects, "Two centuries and more later, this is still a grim sermon on the printed page and delivered to a packed auditory under the strain of 1741, it would have been almost unbearable!"
Preaching like Edwards' has been all too representative of the portrayal of the gospel by the Church over the last few hundred years, and, by implication, of any popular understanding of the message of Jesus. And though today, for the most part, the worst of this ferocious rhetoric is a thing of the past, the residue of such portrayals of the gospel still echo across the world. People still believe that the Christian God is primarily a God of power, law, judgment, hell-fire and damnation. A God whose strapline is probably, "Get in line fast or I'll squash you!"
Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Web sites worth your while
If you share my theological sympathies (Reformational Christianity), then you might enjoy what's posted on the following sites:
Monergism - Essays and books related to the fact that our wills are captive to sin and the devil (2 Tim 2.25) and that God's sovereign grace is our only hope. Salvation by works (synergism) is futile.
Jonathan Edwards - Entire essays, treatises, and sermons from perhaps America's greatest theologican. Dedicated to God's passion for making much of himself.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - The belief & practice page has enough reading material to keep one occupied for a year, especially with the entire Book of Concord online.
Christian Counterculture - Monthly topical essays from a grace- and Scripture-saturated perspective. From The Discerning Reader.
Desiring God - The online resources of pastor John Piper. Contains the text of every sermon since 1981 or so, along with recent audio sermons and lots of other stuff.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version - Site dedicated to informing you about the way the Bible should be: faithful to the original texts in both thought and word, readable, and elegant. (Although I still use my NASB '95 study Bible)
Monergism - Essays and books related to the fact that our wills are captive to sin and the devil (2 Tim 2.25) and that God's sovereign grace is our only hope. Salvation by works (synergism) is futile.
Jonathan Edwards - Entire essays, treatises, and sermons from perhaps America's greatest theologican. Dedicated to God's passion for making much of himself.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - The belief & practice page has enough reading material to keep one occupied for a year, especially with the entire Book of Concord online.
Christian Counterculture - Monthly topical essays from a grace- and Scripture-saturated perspective. From The Discerning Reader.
Desiring God - The online resources of pastor John Piper. Contains the text of every sermon since 1981 or so, along with recent audio sermons and lots of other stuff.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version - Site dedicated to informing you about the way the Bible should be: faithful to the original texts in both thought and word, readable, and elegant. (Although I still use my NASB '95 study Bible)
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Simul iustus et peccator
[Please note: This may be somewhat rambling and Faulkneresque in its stream-of-consciousness style, but I merely want to put some thoughts down. My apologies up front.]
"At the same time righteous and a sinner." These words are sweet and true, but, oh, how often they sound like blasphemy to my ears! Lately there have been some sins from my past that have come to life, frustrating me to no end. While I sin, I am sometimes strangely complacent; yet afterwards, I freak out so much as to shrink back from a holy God, forgetting entirely that he is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
I crave assurance that I belong to Christ both now and eternally and that I am indeed in his hands, never to fall. Consequently, in my natural state, I want something concrete, something I've done or am doing, to point to as proof of my salvation. I want to look at the killing of some sin (Rom 8.13) and my sanctification as a source of relief--and indeed they ought to be. But I'm not like that; secretly I want more of myself. It's like looking to when "I received Christ into my life" or when "I said a prayer" or when "I made a confession of faith." Yet Scripturally this is a total bastardization of grace. The right way is saying and believing in when God breathed new life into me. "The Sacramentarians [Anabaptists] usually denied infant baptism and instead practiced believer's baptism. Adults made their own pledges to God and were then baptized in response to those pledges. Luther rightly objected that that turned God's action of giving grace in baptism into a man-made ritual centering on human declaration" (from the introduction to Galatians in the Concordia Reference Bible). Isn't this what we want? Confirmation from something we've done?
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" (Matt 7.21-24)
This teaching is known to many, understood to precious few. Until recently, I thought this passage is law, i. e., what we must do to enter the kingdom ("he who does the will of My Father"). But this cannot be so. For these men pointed to what they did in fact do in the name of Christ as their grounds of assurance, but they were utterly rejected. It simply cannot be that anything we can do will stand to give us hope. This does not give the glory to God. Everything commanded us in sacred Scripture only kills, brings death, and condems (2 Cor 3.6-9). But the gospel brings life!
Oh, how quick I am to neglect Christ and his merits before God and trade my Christianhood for wishing to be a Jew! I trade the purpose of the law of Christ (Gal 6.2), which is identification with God and his character, thus worshiping him (indeed, this was also the purpose of the Mosaic law under the old covenant), and twist it into a way of becoming right before God. "Not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end [telos: culmination, fulfillment] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom 10.3-4; cf 2 Cor 5.21). Jesus of Nazareth perfectly met every one of God's covenant demands in both letter and spirit, thereby doing away with the old covenant.
"To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly [that's me, ungodly!], his faith is credited as righteousness" (Rom 4.5). Is it really this simple, that I only need believe--and that with a faith given me entirely from God before ever I asked for it (Eph 2.8-9)? Yes, for only this can be true, Christ-centered and -exalting grace! Soli Christo gloria!
"If by the transgression of the one [Adam], death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. . . . For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners [aorist passive indicative], even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous [future passive indicative]" (Rom 5.17,19). Ah, the beauty of grammar! Note that our righteousness is not from ourselves; we are made (or declared) righteous by God (passive voice). The indicative mood indicates certainty or actuality; this is guaranteed! Because of Christ's perfect obedience to God's covenant stipulations, God has counted Christ's very right standing as our very own right standing, all in one declaration, one fell swoop! Christ's righteousness has been given to us as a gift--given to me!--and it is in him and his work alone can we rest or find hope. This is the gospel, and I won't even pretend to know it well or embrace its depths. But God's Spirit is doing something, and I know that Christ is our hope, our firm rock. He has obtained for us all that we could never attain, and it is to this we can point before God and say, "Behold the Man! He is my righteousness, my holiness, and he alone. On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand."
"At the same time righteous and a sinner." These words are sweet and true, but, oh, how often they sound like blasphemy to my ears! Lately there have been some sins from my past that have come to life, frustrating me to no end. While I sin, I am sometimes strangely complacent; yet afterwards, I freak out so much as to shrink back from a holy God, forgetting entirely that he is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
I crave assurance that I belong to Christ both now and eternally and that I am indeed in his hands, never to fall. Consequently, in my natural state, I want something concrete, something I've done or am doing, to point to as proof of my salvation. I want to look at the killing of some sin (Rom 8.13) and my sanctification as a source of relief--and indeed they ought to be. But I'm not like that; secretly I want more of myself. It's like looking to when "I received Christ into my life" or when "I said a prayer" or when "I made a confession of faith." Yet Scripturally this is a total bastardization of grace. The right way is saying and believing in when God breathed new life into me. "The Sacramentarians [Anabaptists] usually denied infant baptism and instead practiced believer's baptism. Adults made their own pledges to God and were then baptized in response to those pledges. Luther rightly objected that that turned God's action of giving grace in baptism into a man-made ritual centering on human declaration" (from the introduction to Galatians in the Concordia Reference Bible). Isn't this what we want? Confirmation from something we've done?
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" (Matt 7.21-24)
This teaching is known to many, understood to precious few. Until recently, I thought this passage is law, i. e., what we must do to enter the kingdom ("he who does the will of My Father"). But this cannot be so. For these men pointed to what they did in fact do in the name of Christ as their grounds of assurance, but they were utterly rejected. It simply cannot be that anything we can do will stand to give us hope. This does not give the glory to God. Everything commanded us in sacred Scripture only kills, brings death, and condems (2 Cor 3.6-9). But the gospel brings life!
Oh, how quick I am to neglect Christ and his merits before God and trade my Christianhood for wishing to be a Jew! I trade the purpose of the law of Christ (Gal 6.2), which is identification with God and his character, thus worshiping him (indeed, this was also the purpose of the Mosaic law under the old covenant), and twist it into a way of becoming right before God. "Not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end [telos: culmination, fulfillment] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom 10.3-4; cf 2 Cor 5.21). Jesus of Nazareth perfectly met every one of God's covenant demands in both letter and spirit, thereby doing away with the old covenant.
"To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly [that's me, ungodly!], his faith is credited as righteousness" (Rom 4.5). Is it really this simple, that I only need believe--and that with a faith given me entirely from God before ever I asked for it (Eph 2.8-9)? Yes, for only this can be true, Christ-centered and -exalting grace! Soli Christo gloria!
"If by the transgression of the one [Adam], death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. . . . For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners [aorist passive indicative], even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous [future passive indicative]" (Rom 5.17,19). Ah, the beauty of grammar! Note that our righteousness is not from ourselves; we are made (or declared) righteous by God (passive voice). The indicative mood indicates certainty or actuality; this is guaranteed! Because of Christ's perfect obedience to God's covenant stipulations, God has counted Christ's very right standing as our very own right standing, all in one declaration, one fell swoop! Christ's righteousness has been given to us as a gift--given to me!--and it is in him and his work alone can we rest or find hope. This is the gospel, and I won't even pretend to know it well or embrace its depths. But God's Spirit is doing something, and I know that Christ is our hope, our firm rock. He has obtained for us all that we could never attain, and it is to this we can point before God and say, "Behold the Man! He is my righteousness, my holiness, and he alone. On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand."
Saturday, June 25, 2005
"Morning, Midday, and Evening Sacrifice" - Gerard Manley Hopkins
The dappled die-away
Cheek and the wimpled lip,
The gold-wisp, the airy-grey
Eye, all in fellowship--
This, all this beauty blooming,
This, all this freshness fuming,
Give God while worth consuming.
Both thought and thew now bolder
And told by Nature: Tower;
Head, heart, hand, heel, and shoulder
That beat and breathe in power--
This pride of prime's enjoyment
Take as for tool, not toy meant
And hold at Christ's employment.
The vault and scope and schooling
And mastery of the mind,
In silk-ash kept from cooling
And ripest under rind--
What death half lifts the latch of,
What hell hopes soon the snatch of,
Your offering, with despatch, of!
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what Gods does for you is the best thing you can do for him." (Romans 12.1, The Message)
Cheek and the wimpled lip,
The gold-wisp, the airy-grey
Eye, all in fellowship--
This, all this beauty blooming,
This, all this freshness fuming,
Give God while worth consuming.
Both thought and thew now bolder
And told by Nature: Tower;
Head, heart, hand, heel, and shoulder
That beat and breathe in power--
This pride of prime's enjoyment
Take as for tool, not toy meant
And hold at Christ's employment.
The vault and scope and schooling
And mastery of the mind,
In silk-ash kept from cooling
And ripest under rind--
What death half lifts the latch of,
What hell hopes soon the snatch of,
Your offering, with despatch, of!
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what Gods does for you is the best thing you can do for him." (Romans 12.1, The Message)
Thursday, June 23, 2005
War of the world(s)
Watching the Pistons' playoff games, there have been several commercials for a new television series called Invasion. I think it's about aliens, or at least some girl whose mother smells strange, from what I can gather. But in his introduction to his translation of the NT epistles, J. B. Phillips writes of a different invasion:
The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us it is primarily a performance, to them it was a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether. They do not hesitate to describe this as Christ "living in" them. (Letters to Young Churches).
Whole people, true people, live with consistency. We can recognize our friends, coworkers, and family by how they act. We recognize people by how they walk or their handwriting or how they respond in certain situations. This is possible because it is the same person each time: you know what person X is like because he is one person.
The problem comes when it's the Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde situation, when it's suddenly two people living in one body. I once dated a girl who suffered somewhat from bipolar disorder, and this wreaked havoc on our relationship. The thing I find scariest is that so often I am Mr. Hyde living in Dr. Jekyll's body (all the more made true by my new job working in a genetic research laboratory!). The point is, I find myself torn between listening to my old self and to Jesus. Most of the time I speak louder. It wrecks my life, even if only by causing strange tensions in me because I don't (want to) believe the fullness of my forgiveness by God.
The early Christians, according to Phillips, knew Christ was living in them--or, as poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once penned, Christ was "playing" in men. When we learn to live this out, the ascended Son's Spirit living within us, we can live whole again. When it's not Drew-over-Christ or Drew-and-Christ, but only Christ himself, then I can begin to live true shalom: wholeness with God, with community, with myself, and with creation. Only his voice, his actions, his choices will come through. People will recognize me. And maybe then I'll be able to recognize myself in the mirror once again, but this time I'll see someone else's face.
The way I see it, he said, you can do one of two things. One of them, not both. Nobody can do both of two things without straining themselves. You can do one or you can do the opposite.
Jesus or the devil, the boy said.
No no no, the stranger said, there ain't no such thing as a devil. I can tell you that from my own self-experience. I know that for a fact. It ain't Jesus or the devil. It's Jesus or you. (Flannery O'Connor, The Violent Bear it Away)
The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us it is primarily a performance, to them it was a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether. They do not hesitate to describe this as Christ "living in" them. (Letters to Young Churches).
Whole people, true people, live with consistency. We can recognize our friends, coworkers, and family by how they act. We recognize people by how they walk or their handwriting or how they respond in certain situations. This is possible because it is the same person each time: you know what person X is like because he is one person.
The problem comes when it's the Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde situation, when it's suddenly two people living in one body. I once dated a girl who suffered somewhat from bipolar disorder, and this wreaked havoc on our relationship. The thing I find scariest is that so often I am Mr. Hyde living in Dr. Jekyll's body (all the more made true by my new job working in a genetic research laboratory!). The point is, I find myself torn between listening to my old self and to Jesus. Most of the time I speak louder. It wrecks my life, even if only by causing strange tensions in me because I don't (want to) believe the fullness of my forgiveness by God.
The early Christians, according to Phillips, knew Christ was living in them--or, as poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once penned, Christ was "playing" in men. When we learn to live this out, the ascended Son's Spirit living within us, we can live whole again. When it's not Drew-over-Christ or Drew-and-Christ, but only Christ himself, then I can begin to live true shalom: wholeness with God, with community, with myself, and with creation. Only his voice, his actions, his choices will come through. People will recognize me. And maybe then I'll be able to recognize myself in the mirror once again, but this time I'll see someone else's face.
The way I see it, he said, you can do one of two things. One of them, not both. Nobody can do both of two things without straining themselves. You can do one or you can do the opposite.
Jesus or the devil, the boy said.
No no no, the stranger said, there ain't no such thing as a devil. I can tell you that from my own self-experience. I know that for a fact. It ain't Jesus or the devil. It's Jesus or you. (Flannery O'Connor, The Violent Bear it Away)
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