A New Year's Resolution Worth Keeping

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Pt 3:18)

I think New Year's resolutions get a bad rap. There is something intrinsically healthy about about setting new goals and actually taking steps to accomplish them. So, what is a better point in our collective lives to do this, than at the start of the New Year?

The bad rap, of course, comes either from the triviality of the resolutions "I will stop yelling at my dog when he barks" or from our inability or unwillingness to carry them out "I will go to the gym every day and only eat food that's healthy for me". The problem isn't with the resolution. The problem is with the resolver.

Last year, I set out to track through Jonathan Edwards resolutions, 1 per week. That lasted twenty some weeks and blessed me while I made the effort.  Now, Desiring God has taken these resolutions and put them into seven categories. One of my goals this year is to review one category per week, thus cycling through all 70 in seven weeks (or maybe eight, since the Spiritual Life category maybe too big to digest in one week).  As things stand now, this will probably be a Sunday afternoon reflection.

However, the real point of this post is to say, apart from devices such as reflecting on Edwards' resolutions or reading our devotional books or following our favorite Bible reading plan, we really need a spiritual objective to make our resolutions meaningful. None of these means will achieve their end if there is no end to achieve. Why read through the Bible in a year? Why pray more or give more or serve more? Why limit our TV or Facebook or Netflix time? Why seek to do something that only the Holy Spirit could empower you to do? (all great resolutions, by the way)

I do not pretend to have the answer to the why questions for you. That's your business with God. But here is something I read this summer by J.C. Ryle that I bookmarked for today.

Believers, if you would have an increase of happiness in Christ’s service, labor every year to grow in grace. Beware of standing still. The holiest men are always the happiest. Let your aim be every year to be more holy–to know more, to feel more, to see more of the fullness of Christ. Do not rest on old grace: do not be content with the degree of Christianity which you have attained. Search the Scriptures more earnestly; pray more fervently; hate sin more; mortify self-will more; become more humble the nearer you draw to your end; seek more direct personal communion with the Lord Jesus; strive to be more like Enoch– daily walking with God; keep your conscience clear of little sins; grieve not the Spirit; avoid arguments and disputes about the lesser matters of religion: lay more firm hold upon those great truths, without which no man can be saved. Remember and practice these things, and you will be more happy.

Have a grace-filled, gospel-centered New Year!

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

The Faith of the Wisemen

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (Jn 20:29)

I recently read a blog post (read it here) that challenged by thinking about the wisemen, the magi from the east. Before a few days ago, I hadn't really considered their role in Matthew's gospel. Sure, they were a key part of the Christmas story. Sure they were integral to Matthew's overarching message to proclaim Jesus as King. But what about the wisemen themselves? Isn't there anything we can learn from them and how they approached the King of kings?

Enter J.C. Ryle. When I read some of his thoughts about the wisemen from his commentary on Matthew, I was stunned. Why hadn't I seen this before? Here's an excerpt:

The conduct of the wise men is a striking example of faith. They believed in Christ when they had never seen Him – but that was not all. They believed in Him when the Scribes and Pharisees were unbelieving – but that again was not all. They believed in Him when they saw Him a little infant on Mary’s knee, and worshiped Him as a king. This was the crowning point of their faith. They saw no miracles to convince them. They heard no teaching to persuade them. They saw no signs of divinity and greatness to overawe them. They saw nothing but a new-born infant, helpless and weak, and needing a mother’s care like any one of ourselves. And yet when they saw that infant, they believed that they saw the divine Savior of the world. ‘They fell down and worshiped Him.’

Faith without evidence? Believing in one you've never seen? As Ryle says, this is an incredible display of faith. Yet, as I reflected on this a little, what struck me is not so much their example of faith, as great as it is, but rather the object of their faith. How great is the King, if he is worshiped while he is still an infant? How great is the One who has all authority who is submitted to before he exercises any of it? How great is the Savior who is trusted before he has shed one drop of blood?

So, the question before us today is this: What is your estimation of Jesus? Is your vision limited to what you can see? If so, you may be stuck with a baby in a manger or teacher who needs to convince you of the truth or a savior who must demonstrate his authority and ability to save. Yet, if our vision can go beyond what's in front of us we will see that the baby is the king, and the truth and the one with all authority and the one who has saved all who will believe in Him.

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

The role of religion

In his Dec 20 devotional entry in For the Love of God vol 2, D.A. Carson asks the following three questions regarding our religion:

1) Is our religion for us or for God?

2) Does our religion elevate ritual above morality?

3) Does our religion prompt us to passionately follow God's words or pursue our own religious agendas?

You can read the full entry here.

I share these questions for two reasons.  First is that they resonate in me as questions we each should be asking about whatever our religious activity. Preaching, singing, leading, giving, encouraging, serving or anything else done in the name of Christ should periodically be run through some version of these three questions.

In addition to this, I see embedded in these questions the religious heritage of my youth. Religion may have ultimately been about God, but it was more about how to make myself right before him or how to keep myself "synced up". Morality have have been the stated goal, but it was lost in the method of getting there. Truly the forest was lost for the trees. The result was that there was no passion, there was no relationship, there was no devotion. Religion was a machine, not unlike the IRS. Do it right, you get your refund. Do it wrong and you get an audit and you may even have to pay back taxes or go to jail.

My prayer and my hope is that our personal and corporate religion does revert back to that. Unfortunately, I think that is the direction of the human heart apart from the intervening grace of God. So examine your approach to religion. Apply the three tests that come out of Zec 7 and ask God to do a reformation in own personal religious world. And while your at it, pray for our churches as well. Atrophy is only one generation away.

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

The Day After Christmas

I toyed with the idea of crafting a poem imitating Twas the Night Before Christmas, but quickly realized God did not give me a creativity gene. So instead I will simply share some of the thoughts that are rattling around in my mind following Christmas 2011.

After 40+ years of Christmas', its pretty clear that the best measure of how commercial your Christmas was is how big your let down is on the day after. The unfortunate reality is that we all are immersed in the commercialized Christmas to some degree. Praise God if it is only slightly. In a weird (or maybe prophetic) way, it is similar to the nation of Judah in the Old Testament. There were moments of complete failure and moments of tremendous revival (2 Chr29-30) but in the end, they were never completely freed from effects of the world around them. Until Christ came.

Another after Christmas observation is that "point in time celebrations" are good but insufficient. Once again the Old Testament gives us a great illustration. Israel had the Passover, the Day of Atonement and several other feasts. All of them were glorious. All of them had a God-ordained purpose. All of them were woven into the fabric of their culture. And yet these awesome mountain-top events only had limited impact in the days and months that followed. This again a profound reminder that as important as any single event may be in our lives, it is the Spirit's day to day walk with us that enables us to live out the salvation we have graciously received from Jesus.

A final post Christmas thought, which I'm sure is well worn, is that the joy and hope and peace and expectancy of Christmas should really mark every day of our lives. Why do we need a special day to give to the poor? Why do we need a special day to be nice to people we tend to not even notice (waitstaff, checkout clerks, custodians, etc)? Why do we need a special day to get excited  about the incredible, awesome, indescribable miracle of the incarnation? Why do we need a special day to recognize that the King has come and he has begun his mission of establishing his kingdom and that we are called to be part of that eternal plan?

The gospel of Jesus to all,
And to all - God's grace.


I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

Mary, Did you know?

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am.

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

Grace driven effort

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Phil 2:12-13)

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. (Heb 2:1)

It is fairly clear in Scripture that there are two concepts that run from beginning to end and would, at least at the surface, appear to contradict each other. The two concepts are grace and effort. Now, it almost goes without saying that grace is what underpins the whole biblical storyline. From the creation account, through the flood, the selection of Abraham and his line, the deliverance of Moses and the people, the provision of the land, the provision of a king, the faithful discipline of the exile and the gracious restoration to the land. Of course then there's Jesus, his incarnation beginning with conception, followed by birth, childhood, youth and finally adulthood, his preaching and teaching and miracles and simple relationship building, This is followed by his betrayal, his torture, his mocking rejection, his physical death and his spiritual sin bearing, his resurrection and his ascension. Then there is the giving of the Spirit and the birth of the Church. The message of grace proclaimed faithfully for thousands of years continues to redeem, continues to save, continues to bring glory to God.

But weaved within this theme of grace, is the thread of effort. How are we saved? By grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. How are we perfected? By that same grace utilizing that same faith in the same Christ, but we must step into that grace, we must lean on that faith, we must pursue that Christ. If it were not so, too much of the Bible would be nonsense "Rend your hearts, not your garments", "I strain toward what is ahead", "Seek first His kingdom" "Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands" This concept of pressing into Christ, of leaning into faith, of stepping into grace has been described by DA Carson as "grace driven effort" (See For the Love of God vol 2, Jan 23)

"ONE OF THE MOST STRIKING EVIDENCES of sinful human nature lies in the universal propensity for downward drift. In other words, it takes thought, resolve, energy, and effort to bring about reform. In the grace of God, sometimes human beings display such virtues. But where such virtues are absent, the drift is invariably toward compromise, comfort, indiscipline, sliding disobedience, and decay that advances, sometimes at a crawl and sometimes at a gallop, across generations.

People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated."

My prayer for myself, and any who may read this post is that God will give us the strength to make the effort. I know that in me I do not have the strength or the determination to carry out what God expects of me. This reminds me of a prayer from Augustine: "God, command what you will. but grant what you command" May that be our prayer and our hope as well.

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

The Incomparable Sufferings of Christ

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, 
and by night, but I find no rest  (Ps 22:1-2)

A few weeks ago, I ran across the following prayer by John Piper in his book Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. (pg 72) As I re-read it last night, I was struck by two things (at least). One was being in awe of the shear magnitude of Jesus' suffering and dying on my behalf. I don't think any of us really comprehend the depth of our sin what it cost Jesus to pay for that sin. The second was an internal question as to how I can even read God's Word or pray or even write this blog post and not weep with joy over the immensity of the gift and grace and forgiveness I have been given in Christ?

Father, what can we say? We feel utterly unworthy in
the face of Christ’s unspeakable sufferings. We are
sorry. It was our sin that brought this to pass. It was
we who struck him and spit on him and mocked him.
O Father, we are so sorry. We bow ourselves to the dirt
and shut the mouths of our small, dark, petty, sinful
souls. O Father, touch us with fresh faith that we might
believe the incredible. The very pain of Christ that
makes us despair is our salvation. Open our fearful
hearts to receive the Gospel. Waken dead parts of our
hearts that cannot feel what must be felt—that we are
loved with the deepest, strongest, purest love in the
universe. Oh, grant us to have the power to comprehend
with all the saints the height and depth and length
and breadth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
and may we be filled with all the fullness of God.
Fight for us, O God, that we not drift numb and blind
and foolish into vain and empty excitements. Life is
too short, too precious, too painful to waste on
worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is
too horrible, eternity is too long that we should putter
around on the porch of eternity. O God, open our eyes
to the vastness of the sufferings of Christ and what they
mean for sin and holiness and hope and heaven. We
fear our bent to trifling. Make us awake to the weight
of glory—the glory of Christ’s incomparable sufferings.
In his great and wonderful name, amen.

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (Ryle, J. C. (2011-06-16). Old Paths (Kindle Location 116). Heritage Bible Fellowship. Kindle Edition. Note: I have added to my tag-line at the end. I read this at the end of an intro to a book by JC Ryle and felt it captures exactly what I think each time I submit a post.)


To God Alone be the Glory

What Child is this?

(Note: I've been captured for some time by the profound truth contained within the music of the church. Old or new, I think we sometimes miss the God-honoring, Christ-exalting nature of some of these songs as we sing them or listen to them, but don't really hear what they have to say. So, it is my hope on Sunday mornings to simply share a song that has either encouraged or strengthened or provoked me in my fight of faith. SDG)

What Child is this?

1. What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom Angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

2. Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

3. So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
Come peasant, king to own Him;
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

Raise, raise a song on high,
The virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

What are these for so many?

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” (Jn 6:9)

Have you ever been captivated by a single verse? Admittedly, there are verses that seem worthy of captivating us. Verses like Rom 6:23 or Rom 8:1 or Phil 1:21 or Mk 10:45 or Jn 6:35 and several others. But what about the thousands of other verses that play important, but supportive roles to these "keynote" verses? Have you ever been captivated by a verse that would never make it on a coffee cup or as the caption on a Thomas Kinkade calendar?

The other day as I was reading Jn 6, the disciple Andrew's question in verse 9 shot like an arrow into my stomach. It was not so much his concern about the feeding of the 5,000 or his lack of perception of the problem in front of him that grabbed me. Instead it was the very sinking realization that his short-sighted assessment of his situation is often my short-sighted assessment of my own situation. How often do I ask, in my own words and in my own way. "What are these for so many?"

Clearly my gifts and abilities are limited. Clearly my circle of influence is small. Clearly my shortcomings and blind spots provide excellent opportunities for the enemy. Clearly the needs of Christ's kingdom are as great as ever. Clearly the gospel is still desperately needed both here and around the world. Clearly Satan, while ultimately defeated, still prowls around like an angry lion. So, how can I not ask "What are these for so many?"

Can I pause here and say that today is one of those days when I am so grateful that God has given us the entire Bible and not just a book on systematic theology or an instruction manual on how to live a good Christian life. We have all of that and so much more. And all of it is integrated, empowered and exposed by the Holy Spirit. As a case in point you can have someone read Jn 6 one day and be provoked by the question in verse 9. He sees Jesus' then and there answer the question by providing both the physical but also the spiritual solutions to the dilemma, yet not having that truth sink in. Then, on the following day while reading in 2 Chr 20 about Jehoshaphat's approach to the invading hoard of Moabites by praying "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." God responds by saying "the battle is not yours but God's." and providing the deliverance. All of this while using a Bible reading plan established over 200 years ago.

My point in all of this is to say I can easily adopt the attitude of the disciple Andrew and become fixed either on the smallness and limitations that I see in myself and the situation in which I find myself or in the bigness of the task in front of me (or both!) Instead, the call of the gospel is to adopt the faith of Jehoshaphat and say "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." And isn't that really the point of Jn 6. When we need something physically, we look everywhere but to the only one who can provide it. And, when He does provide it, we fixate on the provision and seek more of it rather than seeking the One who can give us what we really need: eternal life.

Father forgive me. Help me to remain dependent on and committed to your Son, the One who is the Bread of Life.

To God Alone be the Glory

Too much to say...about Jesus

(Note: This is from one morning of reading)

"Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” (Zec 3:3-4)

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (Jn 6:63)

"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Rev 7:10)

"They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev 7:14)

Where does one start with a buffet like this? Perhaps the sequence laid out here is as good as any other ordering.

In Zechariah, as the people are returning from their exile in Babylon, God is giving them assurance that He is still in the midst of all that is happening. Yet in chapter 3, and throughout the book, Zechariah's prophecies transcend the current context and point to something yet to come. So here is God's promise to us made well before Christ died, made well before Jesus was even born (or conceived) that He would take away our iniquity. The thing that would keep Joshua the high priest from entering God's presence is the same thing that would keep us from ever entering God's presence. That is our sin, our iniquity, our broken, rebellious, idolatrous heart. And God doesn't limit himself to sin removal. He also clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. So, the promise stands "I have taken away your iniquity and I will clothe you with pure vestments"

What can I say about John 6 that hasn't already been said by better men than me?  I really have two different tracks, one of which I may pick up tomorrow. Today, however, I simply want to bask in the God-centeredness and Christ-centeredness of the gospel. Of course, to be the true gospel, it has to be God-centered and Christ-centered, but it so easily slides into something less. Just read from verse 25 to verse 45 and observe the references to Christ's activity or God's activity. On my quick count there are 24 references in those 21 verses to either Christ's activity or God's activity (plus one reference to the Spirit). Even the dreaded vs 37 is both God-centered and Christ-centered, with God giving and Jesus not casting out. The point? Worship, of course. And a call to simple, yet profound faith. And confidence that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are in control of this thing called salvation and we are graciously swept up in it, nourished by it, restored through it and preserved because of it.

I have come to love the book of Revelation as a poetic, picturesque way of painting the truths of the other 65 books of the Bible. That doesn't make it less true, just like Psalms is not less true than Romans. One just needs to read them differently. The image in the second half the Rev 7 is always encouraging. There will be a multitude in heaven that no one can count. God's saving work is ultimately successful. Even in our driest fruit bearing seasons, we can look here and say the gospel still saves, Christ still saves, God still saves. And this salvation always leads back to worship of the One who sits on the throne and of the Lamb. Interestingly, the image in chapter 7 ends by stating that those of us who are in the great multitude will receive pure white robes (i.e. vestments) that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now there is a Bible connection worthy of an Amen!

To God Alone be the Glory

Am I Really Praying?

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. (1 Pt 4:7)

As some who read this may know, God has had me on a 20+ year quest to "peel the onion" on prayer. Sometimes I will realize something profound. At other times God will remind me of something I learned years ago and have forgotten. Yet my understanding of prayer rarely stays static. In part I think this is because prayer is not static and the whole thing, while simple in its basic premise, is amazingly intricate and gloriously mysterious.

Today, I write as one who has realized (again) that my praying falls woefully short. I'm not referring to the "pray at all times" measure that Paul lays out for us, although I miss that mark too. I am not thinking about balance between praising God for who He is and petitioning Him for his blessings, although my balance is quite often tilted towards the blessings. While my praying is indeed lacking both of these categories, the aspect that the Spirit is challenging me on today comes from 1 Pt 4:7. I am too busy, too distracted and too short-sighed to really pray as I ought.

Unfortunately, I have no real antidote to my diagnosis other than to simply take God's word seriously. How does Peter phrase it? Be sober minded in your prayers. That means prayer is serious, prayer is significant and prayer is absolutely necessary. As I write this, God has brought to my mind passages like Ezk 22:30 "And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." and Zec 2:14 & 17 "Cry out for I..." And of course there's Jesus' words in Mt 9:38 "therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest"

So today, by God's grace, I want to start taking prayer seriously. I want to be sober minded as I approach the throne of grace. I want the incense of my prayers to be a sweet smelling aroma to God. And while I want to always have a childlike faith, I can't escape the sense that I need to "man up" in my prayers. Even as I write these words, I see the challenges and pitfalls that are ahead, not least among them is this blog. (You have no idea how much easier it is to type than it is to pray) But, in the attitude of grace-driven effort, I want to start today. I may need to start this journey a thousand times, but I am compelled to do so despite the challenges.

I pray that you may do the same.

To God Alone be the Glory

Christian forgetfulness

"I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it" (Jude 5)

"But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God" (Rom 15:15)

"Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have." (2 Pt 1:12)

In reading Jude this morning, it became clear to me that we are a forgetful lot. Whether you want to call it spiritual alzheimers or whether its better described as inattention and distraction, the result is the same. We too easily lose track of the core of our faith and we forget the primary call God places on our lives when He redeems us.

I have two brief thoughts that the Spirit has welled up in me as I have considered this reality in me and in the believers around me. The first is that since we are easily distracted and really do need the reminders that Paul and Peter and Jude call for, what is it the we reminding of and where can we find these reminders? The second item is a little more personal, because even as I write this I'm asking "How can I help  in this apparently ongoing problem that all Christians have?" So, I would like to share where God may use me to provide the reminder by the grace He has given me.

As I read the New Testament, the authors clearly thought we needed reminders of everything related to our relationship with Christ. Paul reminds us of the reality and the significance of Christ's death and resurrection. He also reminds  us that everything we have comes from God and the all of it, including our lives, belong to him. Peter reminds us the what Christ purchased by his glorious sacrifice was something beautiful and powerful and that whatever happens to us in this life, Christ has secured for us an eternal redemption. And, of course, Jude reminds us that being owned by Christ makes a difference in how we live and even in how we view the world.

Sadly, these eternal truths easily slip through our fingers. Its like playing with dry sand on the beach. But God has graciously given us his Word, his Spirit and brothers and sisters to bring these truths back to us as reminders. It is the only way we can stay on the course God has laid out for us.

At this point, the question in my mind becomes: so what will you do about this? The first step seems obvious. I need to keep availing myself of God's Word, the Spirit and brothers and sisters in Christ in order to be continually reminded of the greatness and the glory of what Christ has accomplished. Because it is only when I can see Christ and his work clearly that I can clearly see its implications for me.

And what are those implications? Here is the list as it stands today:

1. Continue to plumb the depths of God's Word.
2. Always ask, what are the implications of the Word for me and for the church?
3. Continue to seek ways to take the truth and the implications of God's Word to God's people for God's glory.
4. Imitate Christ (1 Cor 11:1), including teaching, serving, exhorting and sacrificing.
5. Don't waste time or opportunities. Today may be my last chance to do any of this.

To God Alone be the Glory

The Reason for the Season

I know its a cliche, but even cliches are born in truth. And, I think we often need the reminder that Jesus is "the reason for the season". Of course, the danger with cliches is that they quickly touch our lips and then are gone. No connection with what they originally meant. No thought of what they might actually be trying to communicate. I think that is especially true of those who would most heartily agree with the cliche. It very easily becomes meaningless shorthand.

But Jesus is "the reason for the season". In fact I would say He is more than that. He is the reason for every season. Christmas is special because it celebrates a one time event where God became man, when he humbled himself to dwell (literally tabernacle) among us. But as the one who creates and sustains all things and as the one who owns all things, every yearly season, every season of life, every era of history belongs to Him, points to Him and gives glory to Him. Pick anything you want and you will see God's hand in it driving people to His beloved Son.

Yet, there is one moment, one season in history that outshines all of the others. As Christmas is known for the manger and the angels and the shepherds and joy and peace, this event is known for suffering and isolation and ridicule and humiliation. Blood and torture, rejection and death are not usually joyously celebrated. Yet at the cross, the real beauty and purpose of Christmas shines forth. In all reality Christmas without Good Friday and Easter is like a novel with only half the chapters.

Here is a new cliche to add to our repertoire: "Jesus was born to die". Or how about "Christmas without the Cross is only half the story" Or maybe this one (although it is a bit long) "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Gal 4:4-5)

To God Alone be the Glory

The Reality of Hell

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit - 1 Pt 3:18

In a recent conversation with a dear friend and brother in Christ, we touched on various interpretations of 1 Pt 3:18-22. My point here isn't to debate those interpretations. Instead, I want share some of the thoughts that have sprung up and solidified in my mind since that discussion.

The first thing that the Spirit has anchored even more firmly in my mind is that there is a literal hell and apart from Christ I belong there. This may seem like an orthodox statement yet I find that the truth of it and the reality of it often get separated. Think of the forgiven woman in Luke 7. Do we weep (really weep) over the depth of God's grace and forgiveness in our lives? Read the parable and seriously ask which side of the coin you fall.

Another thing that God has established more strongly in my heart and mind is that there will be real people spending eternity in hell. This isn't a game. This isn't an accounting spreadsheet. In a small way, its like layoffs you hear about in the news, until you're the one doing the laying off (or the one being laid off!) Real people suffering real wrath from a real God. Where are my tears for this? Why am I not ready to go to war over this?

A final reality that Christ has cemented in my thinking about him and my conception of him is that he really did go to hell. Maybe not in the sense some interpretations of 1 Pt 3:18-22 would describe it. But I would ask you to consider this: How offensive is your sin to God? Apart from Christ, how offensive are you to God? Do you and your sin deserve hell? Isn't hell the just and equitable "wages of sin"? If all this is true, how can I possibly receive heaven if my sin and I are not completely paid for? Christ had to experience and endure the full and complete reality of the punishment for sin that I justly deserved in order for God to be able to declare me not guilty and allow me to enter into His presence. Oh where are the tears of joy and amazement and abject poverty of spirit?

As I finish this, a fleeting thought has entered my mind. I really know very little about the depth of the grace and mercy of God. I have absorbed a very small aspect of Christ's love and devotion. I have experienced a very small portion of the Spirit's wisdom and power. Along with Job I cry "Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

To God Alone be the Glory

When a disciple is fully trained

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Lk 6:40)

I'm not sure I like the implications of this verse.

Actually, I can fully agree with the first phrase. None of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus will ever surpass him. Of that fact, there is no doubt. I can even weasel my way out of the second phrase. None will ever be fully trained, at least in this life. Right? Ah, the pressure is off.

Or is it?

It struck me this morning, maybe for the first time, how much lip service we (or at least I) pay to the concept of growing in Christlikeness. There is a great picture of this growth in Eph 4, but it is really spread throughout the New Testament, both explicitly (the whole book of James!) and implicitly (Paul's attitude in prison). I would dare say it is woven through out the Old Testament too (rend your hearts, not your garments). But do we really believe it? And, perhaps more tellingly, do we really pursue it?

Here's my big concern. I think we (or at least I) have lost track of the biblical concept of discipleship. The whole point, back in the day, was to commit your entire life to following, listening, learning, absorbing everything possible about your master so that one day the disciple would become his own master and do the same with others. This is the plan (the only plan) that Christ had for building the church. Read the Great Commission with this perspective in view.

So, what has happened? First, we've lost sight of the goal to be like our Master. Salvation has become the end game, instead of a glorious part of the entire discipleship process. Somehow, we've componentized Christianity so we can be saved and just live life for 40-50 years then go to heaven. And, if we get a little better along the way, praise God. Yet this is so far from the expectations of Jesus and the apostles that I have to ask, is it even biblical?

Second, we've lost the goal to be a master. No disciple is greater than his or her master. We established that fact earlier. Yet, in true biblical discipleship, being a disciple was not the final objective. It was a means to an end. Like college in a way. College set me up wonderfully for a successful career, but I never thought, "Wow this is so much fun. I want to stay in college forever" Our attitude toward discipleship should be the same. Now, every illustration breaks down at some point, as mine does here. We never graduate from being a disciple of Christ. We must always be learning from Him, because there is always more to know. But we must not think of ourselves as perpetual students. Instead, we should see ourselves as either masters-in-training or as masters-in-service. Either way, we need to be soaking in all that God has to teach us and pouring out all that He has taught us.

Well, where do we (or at least I) go from here. In the words of a church kids program I just participated in, I need an attitude adjustment. Or more precisely a perspective adjustment. I need to see that being a master is not just an o.k. goal, its expected (maybe I can use a better term, but it is biblical). I need to see that all Jesus is pouring into me by the Spirit is not just for me but for all who would follow me. And I need to not be afraid to embrace 1 Cor 11:1 with a confidence that is resting completely in Christ: "Follow me, as I follow Christ."

To God Alone be the Glory

Producing thankfulness to God

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. (2 Cor 9:11)

Honesty alert: These words have been hard to craft and harder to write. I don't know where God, by His Spirit, is pressing you, but my guess is these thoughts may strike close to home. Please know, I mean no offense. I am writing these thoughts as a challenge primarily to myself. If however, God chooses to use my words to probe your heart, I make no apologies for Him.

It did not begin this past Wednesday, but that was definitely a crescendo of sorts for me. A couple of brothers and I are working through Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. The week's chapter was on unthankfulness. Entering our study time, my mind was on the myriad of ways that we (I) presume on God. We are thankful for the obvious stuff (new job, good doctor report, repairing a relationship) and even some times for difficult stuff (walking with us through loss or tragedy, closing a door that may have let to seriously poor choices, spiritually disciplining us so we can grow in Christ). But my mind was filled with the hundreds of things we get each day and simply assume they are ours, almost by right (life, food, electricity, heat, health, any job, educational opportunity, freedom to worship, freedom to pray, police and fire protection, loving families, loving friends, strong churches, huge amounts of Christian literature, the Bible in English and on and on)

This where our discussion started, but God lead us to ask the question: If I really presume on some (or all) of these things, if I don't spend as much time thanking God after He answers my prayer as I do pleading with Him in desperate need, where is my real trust in the provision of these things? To make this extremely personal, God has recently given me two opportunities to preach His Word to His people. I have desperately pleaded with Him to give me the right words to say and that He would use those words to affect His people. Weeks of prayers like that. Yet when the sermons were done, didn't God deserve more than a token thank you? Where was my overwhelming gratitude that He delivered on His promises? Where was the shear humility knowing you've done something way above your own ability?

The sad reality that dawned on me Wednesday was that maybe I wasn't as God dependent as I thought I was. Oh, the prayers were real, and I knew (and know) that my sermons are useless without God's gracious intervention. At best I can convert dry bones to corpses, which isn't much of an improvement (see Ezk 37) Yet my unthankfulness showed that at my core, I crafted the sermon, I got to the church, I spoke the words, I demonstrated proper emotions, I responded in appropriate humility and I took in constructive feedback. What broke my heart was that I was at the core of it all. Not God, not Christ, not the Spirit.

Now, sitting here five days later, I'm still asking God what this all means. In one way, the Holy Spirit has pulled back the curtain for me to show me how black my soul really is.Any illusions I may have had about any intrinsic goodness in and of myself has been washed away. Yet, in that same glimpse behind the curtain stands the gospel. The love and grace and mercy of Christ has covered, removed and daily helps eradicate these core sin issues. Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!

One other question that has been rolling around since Wednesday is what do we do with 2 Cor 9:10-15. In six precious verses, Paul lays out the reality that the gospel and all other gifts He provides do not terminate on us. We are part of God's process, part of His economy. We are to see that everything He has given us not merely as ends, but as means to a better, more glorious end.

To God Alone be the Glory

Our faith needs the right Object

I've wrestled to articulate what Oswald Chambers says quite succinctly, yet quite eloquently regrading our faith. He captures at least two strong threads about faith that are continually weaving through my mind. The first is that our faith must terminate on Jesus, not on facts about Him or things that get us to Him or even on our faith in Him. The second is that because our faith is so often in these secondary things, we lose the the majesty and the power of what our faith should really produce. Feel free to read the whole devotional at Faith or Experience. I have provided some lengthy excerpts below.

Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit. Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

To God Alone be the Glory

To Save Those Who Are Eagerly Waiting for Him

So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. - Heb 9:28

For the record, there is a risk in taking Ps 63:1 seriously. It may lead you to honestly pray something like Ps 25:4. And that may lead you to being undone by verses like Amos 3:8 and Heb 9:28.

As I've reflected and prayed through these verses, Heb 9:28 struck me as an indictment of how complacent my walk with Christ has become. The question in my mind and in my heart is not, "is Christ returning?" nor is it "is He coming back to save/deliver me?" Rather the question raised in me today was, "why am I not eager for His return?"

Do I want Christ to return? Absolutely! Do I expect and hope that He will return soon? Without a doubt. But where is that dimension of eagerness. Like little kids on Christmas eve. Like a young couple on the morning of their wedding. Like a parent and child separated by years of military service. Have I become so intoxicated with this life that I am no longer hungry or thirsty for the next?

It was helpful and convicting to realize the creation is eagerly waiting for Christ's return (Rom 8:19). If rocks and trees and rivers somehow know that the futility which binds them will be released and relived when Christ returns, why I can't grasp the deeper more profound truth that the consummation and fulfillment of my salvation will occur at Jesus return. And all that He intends to accomplish, all of God's plans for the new heavens and the new earth will gloriously unfold. Where is my groaning for that day?

To God Alone be the Glory

I read the following quote from D.A. Carson in For The Love of God Vol 2. It was a refreshing reminder that the gospel does not terminate on us but rather terminates on God's saving work in Christ.

We must always remember that: The Gospel is not admired in Scripture primarily because of the social transformation it effects, but because it reconciles men and women to a holy God. Its purpose is not that we might feel fulfilled, but that we might be reconciled to the living and holy God. The consummation is delightful to the transformed people of God, not simply because the environment of the new heaven and the new earth is pleasing, but because we forever live and work and worship in the unshielded radiance of the presence of our holy Maker and Redeemer. That prospect must shape how the church lives and serves, and determine the pulse of its ministry. The only alternative is high-sounding but self-serving idolatry.

To God Alone be the Glory

Rend your hearts and not your garments

          For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; 
               who can endure it?
          “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, 
               “return to me with all your heart, 
          with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 
               and rend your hearts and not your garments.” 
          Return to the LORD your God, 
               for he is gracious and merciful, 
          slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; 
               and he relents over disaster. 
          Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, 
               and leave a blessing behind him, 
           a grain offering and a drink offering 
               for the LORD your God?  --  Joel 2:11c-14

I'm not sure why, but I am always amazed and excited when I see the gospel in the Old Testament. Perhaps I've bought into the incorrect notion that Israel had the Law, but we get the gospel. Maybe I've gotten sucked into the wrong headed idea that the God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath, but in the New Testament He is a God of love. Or there is the possibility that I've slid into the misguided school of thought that proposes that God's first plan was for Israel, but when they messed up, He sent His Son with the gospel.

Well, whatever the case, passages like the one above from Joel, strongly remind me (and all of us) that God had (and has) a singular plan of redemption. Starting in Gen 3 and culminating in Rev 22, God's plan has always been to rescue and restore His people and His creation through the redemptive power of the Cross.

What is interesting to me about the passage from Joel is there is no plea for action other than heartfelt repentance. Even here in the midst of the post exile disaster, God is saying "I want your heart". I don't know about you, but I can begin to feel the of the passion God has to be reunited with his children. To borrow from another post exile prophet, Ezekiel writes, "Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ezk 33:11)

At the end of the day, these two Old Testament passages sum up our singular response to the gospel. We must turn to God. By grace? Absolutely. In the power of the Spirit? Without a doubt. Yet there must be a turn. Our lives must somehow be different. And we must rend our hearts, not our garments. External grief and surface level responses do not cut it with God (check out Mt 7:21-23).

          The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
                        a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  --  Ps 51:17
God wants your heart.

To God Alone be the Glory

A sermon

Humbly offered by your affectionate, though unworthy brother and servant in Christ.

Sermon

To God Alone be the Glory

The Paradox of God

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest (Heb 4:11)

There are so many things about God that are paradoxical. For example

• God is the creator and sustainer of all things, yet He calls us to be stewards of His creation
• God is the holy and perfect judge, yet is gracious and merciful
• To God, the nations are dust on His scales, yet he cares about the smallest insect and the least of his children
• God's grace is free, yet it must be clung to tenaciously

Each time I read through the book of Hebrews, I become more convinced that its human author had a bigger view of God than most of us will ever have. And he felt this compulsion to push the envelope for the sake of his flock (and by extension, us) so that they would hold fast under persecution and temptation. Heb 4:11 is but one example in a book that really exalts Christ of how we must hold on, even as we are being held on to.

I will not delve into the nuances of the word strive. Rather, I would like us each of us to consider how we (each of us personally today) should be striving to enter God's rest? Will it be different for each of us? Sure, since the things that cause us unrest, the sins that so easily entangle and distract and allow us to drift away from our Savior are different. But the reality is that the author of Hebrews loved is church so much that in the power of the Spirit he commanded them (and us) to strive to enter God's rest.

Can we do that today? Can we begin to see and respond to the reality that God's economy is multi-dimensional and that we each have roles and responsibilities and expectations that go way beyond simply praying a prayer, acknowledging and creed and coasting for 50-60 years waiting for our eventual rest? The author of Hebrews sees this as a recipe for disaster.

To God Alone be the Glory

The Edge of a Knife

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Heb 2:1

I imagine most of us, if we're honest, would admit that there are times, spiritually speaking, when we feel like we are standing on the edge of a knife.

• It could be the allure of a new job with the increased pay and prestige but yet will cost ministry opportunities and family & marital time. 
• It could be the young man (or woman) at the gym who really listens to you and genuinely cares about your opinions and feelings yet could cost you the devotion and love you've pledged to your husband (or wife). 
• It could be the praise and gratitude offered to you for a service rendered to God which causes you to rejoice in praise but may also draw you down the path of pride and may subvert the very service you intended to render to God

I am confident the list could go on, just based on my own experience. But my point is not to beat myself to a pulp or to have anyone reading this beat themselves up either. Instead, it is my meager attempt to take Heb 3:13 seriously. The author of the book of Hebrews challenges his church to exhort one another each day so that none them will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

I plead with you, as a fellow pilgrim on the journey to the Celestial City, do not be afraid to examine your lives in light of God's holy Word. The reason sin has so much power, the reason Satan has so much success is that we somehow think we can live the Christian life on our own. God has given us His Word and His Spirit to go before us, to come behind us and to walk along side of us on this very perilous journey of faith.

As an encouragement, there are two verses the press into my soul, whenever I find myself on the edge of the knife. The first is in John 10 where Jesus emphatically states that nothing can snatch his sheep out of his hands (Jn 10:28) Since Jesus gave us the salvation we are resting in, doesn't it make sense that he will complete what he started?

The second verse is really a set of verses from Rom 8. Rom 8:1 bookended with Rom 8:38-39, communicate an amazing truth. Since there is now no (zero, zilch, nada) condemnation for those who are in Jesus, I am convinced that nothing (no one, no event, no power) can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus.

To God Alone be the Glory

The Desolate Agony of the Cross

“My God , my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mt 27:34, Ps 22:1

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. Isa 53:10, 11

Last week I posted a quote by John Stott (read it here).  I used this same quote this weekend to close out a sermon. But as I read it out loud, one phrase stuck hard in my mind: the desolate agony of the cross. What hit me is that in one simple phrase Stott captured the real scandal, the real tragedy and the real beauty of the cross.

Think about it. Sure Christ had to go through intense physical suffering. It was part of bearing our griefs and our sorrows. And yes He had to endure humiliation and rejection, since those are exactly the crimes we are most guilty of before God's holy throne. But neither the physical torture nor the psychological abuse solved our ultimate dilemma. We are a sinful, rebellious people. We are broken to the very core of who we are. We are the servant who owes his master over 5,000 lifetime salaries.(Mt 18:23-27)

Think about the garden of Gethsemane. What could possibly cause the Son of God, the one who could raise the dead, heal the sick and feed the multitudes to sweat drops of blood? What was it about the upcoming 24 hours that caused the eternal second person of the Trinity, the one who created and sustains all things, the one who was infinitely loved by the Father to say "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death"? (Mk 14:34)

The simple yet astounding reality is this. As Jesus bore our sins, God, who dwells in unapproachable light, could no longer look upon Him. The desolate agony of the cross is that in the majesty and mystery of the Trinity, the Father and the Son were ripped apart. Christ needed to endure the effects of hell, the despair, the total isolation, the unquenchable anguish and the absolute separation from God. Trust me when I say as alone as any of us may feel, we have never been as alone as Jesus was on the cross.

So today, can we bow (or kneel, or lay prostrate) before the savior who humbled himself to endure the desolate agony of the cross for us? Remember, Jesus did not do this for the fun of it or because he had to. He willingly and purposefully endured all of God's just wrath to rescue and redeem save you and me specifically. We have been on His mind and in his heart a long, long time.

To God Alone be the Glory

Let my words be filled with His grace

As I step before God's people today, I re-posting these song lyrics. My desperate prayer is that "if I can speak, let my words be filled with His grace"

SDG

This song was released by Steven Curtis Chapman in 2004. Download here.

What can I do?
How can I live?
To show my world
The treasure of Jesus

What will it take?
What could I give?
So they can know
The treasure He is

Chorus:
And if I can sing
Let my songs be full of His glory
If I can speak
Let my words be full of His grace

And if I should live or die
Let me be found pursuing this prize
The One that alone satisfies

The treasure of Jesus

To God Alone be the Glory

A desperate prayer

(Author's note: What follows is simply a compilation of various prayers that I have offered to God this week. My goal is not to engender your pity or your sympathy or even your empathy. Instead, my hope is that we can all be real with God and abandon ourselves in our desperate need of Him)

Father, Abba, Daddy,

Why do I so often come to you wearing a mask? You know all things. You've created all things. You control all things. You know me. You've created me. You are sovereignly at work in my life. Who do I think I am to try to hide from you or pretend that I am someone other than who I am? Perhaps this is just another reminder of how deep my rebellion and arrogance go. And it reveals how desperately bankrupt I am.

But, I need to thank you for the infinite grace and mercy that you have shown me in Christ. I am only now, 20 years into this journey with you, beginning to realize the immensity of the ocean of the love of Christ. I am incredibly grateful for all that Christ has accomplished on the Cross and that you have applied his finished work to my traitorous, treacherous life. And yet I am still standing on the shore holding all I know about you and your Son and the Spirit in a thimble. I desperately need to dive into the ocean of your grace and majesty, power and holiness. I desperately need to drink deeply from your fountain of patience, humility, compassion and forgiveness.

As I consider Christ's promise on your behalf that you would give good things to your children, I want so much to ask and seek and knock in childlike faith not childish pride or selfishness. I regret that too many of my prayers are one dimensional and treat you as a genie or a vending machine and have a view that this life is our ultimate objective. Forgive me, please. How often do I forget Jesus' very words "Your Father knows that we need them all (life's necessities). But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added onto you"?

So here I am, open and exposed. The more I look at myself, the more I see leprosy and gangrene, rotting teeth and cancer to the bone. There is nothing I have to offer you and nothing I can do on your behalf without you. Quite frankly, I'm desperate. If you will, take this rebellious, traitorous, willful, arrogant coward and use him in a way that brings you the most glory and impacts Christ's kingdom in a way that only you can. And empower me to turn any success or setback into an opportunity for your praise and testimony of your great grace and mercy and love and power. Please take my values, my priorities, everything that drives me and reorient them in way that is radically aligned with your values, priorities and what drove (and drives) Christ.

I can only lay this before your throne humbly and with tears because of and through and in alignment with your Son, my savior, Jesus.  Amen.

To God Alone be the Glory

How desperate are you?

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jn 6:68-69

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3::5-6

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mk 9:24

I could easily add a dozen verses to the list above, but I think these are sufficient to make the point: Our christian life, beginning to end, must be built on desperation.

• Desperation over our sin.
• Desperation over our growth in Christ
• Desperation over the depth and the breadth of our prayers
• Desperation over our attempts at true worship
• Desperation over out abilities to serve Christ and glorify God
• Desperation over the state of our hearts, and by extension, our churches 
• Desperation over our lack of zeal and the ever present lure of lukewarmness

There is only one antidote for this malaise and it comes in three parts. First, we must see God for who is He is.  Loving Father? Yes. Sovereign King? Absolutely. Holy! Holy! Holy! ?  What do we do with that? The One who holds the nations as dust on the scales? How do we approach Him? The one who cannot stand sin and abhors those who commit it? (Ps 5:6) Not pretty. And it leaves us...desperate.

But, we must also see Christ for who He is. Sustainer of the creator and universe. The author and perfecter of our salvation. The only begotten of the Father.The one, true Israel. Our great High Priest  All true. But, the only giver of faith? The only one who draws us to salvation? The one in whom all our spiritual nourishment will always flow? The only one worthy to stand in the immediate presence of God the Father? The one who, even now is interceding for us?  These thoughts simply leave me...desperate.

Finally, we cannot neglect the Holy Spirit. Where would our salvation be without Him? Where would our growth in Christ be without Him? Where would our family or our church be without Him? How much of the Bible would make sense, much less connect at a heart level without the Spirit. Which talent or gift would bring glory to God and further the kingdom of Christ apart from the Spirit? All this buries me and drives me to a deeper sense of desperation.

I'm writing, as usual, with twin motives. First, I am simply sharing what God is pressing upon my heart. And, it is becoming clearer to me, that my confidence is more in me than it should be and that my desperation for God is way too low.  Second, what I see in myself, I see around me. Maybe not with the same clarity or in the same degree. But, if we are honest, most of us are not desperate enough.

To God Alone be the Glory

Halloween 2011

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be ... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 2 Tim 3:1-2,4-5

My opinion and approach to Halloween, as a believer in Christ, has been one of distant tolerance and simple avoidance. This has stemmed the tide, for the most part and has allowed our family to navigate the school years without incident.

However, over the last few years, I have sensed a growing cultural push toward "legitimizing" Halloween as a holiday. It may never achieve legal status, but culturally it is certainly on an ascending path. And, as I was recently talking to someone about the sadness of Hinduism, with its multiplicity of gods, I began to realize, that is what Halloween is becoming to us.

So, without writing a full blown critique, I wanted to share two concerns thoughtful disciples of Christ may want to consider as they evaluate Halloween and what they teach their children about it. And, as I enter into these comments, please know I am a firm, robust supporter of our freedoms in Christ. But as Paul told the Corinthian church, "Everything is lawful to me, but not everything is helpful".

My first concern is that Halloween is transparently evil. This, of course, is not new. I remember haunted houses back in my high school days. But what used to be portrayed as extreme or gruesome is now being portrayed as normative and even worshipful. There are lawn displays that could easily evoke a Christmas spirit were it not for the blood and disembodied heads laying on the ground. And all of this leads not to Christ, not to our creator God, but to the one who is leading the rebellion against them both.

My second concern is that Halloween is not, and probably never was, a frontal assault on the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Instead it is the synchrotistic, back-door approach that seems to work so well, especially in our 21st, undiscerning culture. For a church or a person who is not locked in on the truth of God's Word, Halloween can cause a very slow and subtle, yet very deliberate erosion of our complete and utter devotion to Christ.

So, what do we do? First (and always!) pray, then observe, then respond. Think of Paul in Athens. (Acts 17) How did he know the city was full of idols? How did he know what cultural message to address when given the chance. He was soaked in who Christ was, so when he saw how much Jesus was not part of the Athenian culture, his heart broke. Yet when given the chance to speak he turned the very thing that grieved his spirit into an opportunity to proclaim the truth.

To God Alone be the Glory

Three Lessons from the Cross

From the pen of John Stott:

“There are three lessons which I have learned from the cross.

1) I learned that my sin is foul beyond words. If there were no way for our sins to be cleansed and forgiven but that the Son of God should die for them, then our sins must be sinful indeed.

2) I learned that God’s love is great beyond all understanding. He could have abandoned us to perish in our sins. But He didn’t. He loved us and He pursued us even to the desolate agony of the cross.

3) I learned that salvation is a free gift. I do not deserve it. I cannot earn it. I do not need to attempt to procure it by my own merit or effort. Jesus on the cross had done everything that was necessary for us to be forgiven. He has borne our sin and curse.

What, then, must we do? Nothing! Nothing but fall on our knees in penitence and faith, and stretch out an open, empty hand to receive salvation as a gift that is entirely free”

To God Alone be the Glory

The Word of God is not Bound!

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! (2 Tim 2:8-9)

Whether you are reading this before or after (or in lieu of) church today, consider the awesome reality that God's Word is not bound!

• It is not bound by prison walls. That is the immediate context of 2 Tim. In this same vein, God's Word is not bound by any human institution. Let us remember that when fretting over U.S. elections or a foreign country's power struggles. The Word of God is not bound!
• It is not bound by the length of our lives. This is also part of the setting of 2 Tim. Paul is at the end of his life. He has "finished the race". Yet he knows the One whom he serves and the message he proclaims will continue long after his part in the story is over. The Word of God is not bound!
• It is not bound by our abilities. Nothing in the Bible indicates that God's success is dependent on the skills and talents of his messengers. In fact, God usually goes out of His way to pick messengers who are lacking in some way. And, if we're honest, we wouldn't have it any other way. This is God's message to God's people for God's glory. The Word of God is not bound!
• It is not bound by opposition. This is not just human opposition, but spiritual opposition. God's message of grace and forgiveness is not the only message in the universe, but it is the only one that saves and satisfies all who trust in it. But the authors of the other messages cannot tolerate the purity and the simplicity and God-exalting nature of the gospel. But they are powerless to stop it. The Word of God is not bound!
• It is not bound by time. This may be the most glorious reality of all that I've considered. The same message proclaimed to Adam, the same message proclaimed to Moses and Isaiah. The same message proclaimed to Nicodemus and the demon possessed man. The same message proclaimed to Jews and Gentiles, to rich and to poor, to men and to women, is the same message proclaimed to us. And one day soon, either by Christ's return or our own deaths, we will see God face to face. And, as we fall in true worship for the first time, we will finally, fully realize that the Word of God is not Bound!

To God Alone be the Glory!

A Fire In My Bones

"If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." Jer 20:9

What do you do if a verse like Jer 20:9 attaches itself to your mind and heart like an insatiable animal and any thought that turns Godward is filtered and framed by this thought?

What do you do when verses like Rom 8:18 & 23 or 2 Cor 5:2-4 press on you and ask you "why are you so content?"

What do you do if a verse like Ezk 22:30 cuts to your heart and the Spirit asks where were you?

What do you say when your Savior says “Do you want to go away as well?” (Jn 6:67)

I ask these questions not from a place of despair, but from a place of hope and promise. God is pressing on me (isn't He always) to ask these and other reformational questions. Not the Luther, Calvin, et. al. reformation, but the personal, don't drift away, always be growing in Christ reformation. I am finding more and more that my soul is a wasteland and yet the oasis of the gospel is slowly and steadily irrigating and cultivating it for the glory of God.

By the way, these may be your questions, but you may have others. Don't run from them. Embrace them in the power of the Spirit. God is not afraid of your questions and His Word, if we choose to hear what it says, has the answers that will bring us closer to Him.

I do have one warning though. If there are no questions, if God is not drawing you closer by challenging you in your walk with Christ, if you don't see the thousand ways you fall short each day, you should be concerned. Stop and pray and ask God to peel back the scales that have formed over your eyes. Ask Christ to show you again the beauty and the majesty of His grace and mercy and love. Ask the Spirit to push and to prod so that your life, both internally and externally grows in conformity with Christ. And hang on!

To God Alone be the Glory

Immerse Yourself

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Tim 4:15-16

Why is it so easy to forget that Christianity isn't something we possess or something we do and that the Church isn't something we attend or even join?  Instead Christianity is an identity; its who we are, and the Church is truly a body created by God from those whose identities are now bound up in Christ.

So much of my distraction and lukewarmness can be attributed to not fully grasping these two realities. Think about it. If you are married, that is an identity that affects how you communicate with one special person. There is a deeper, fuller, more personal, more frequent, more intuitive communication with your spouse than with the person at the mall. The same is true of God. If you are a believer in Christ, your identity has changed. Your relationship with God is different, deeper, fuller, more personal. God is no longer "out there". He is "in here". His presence changes everything.

For most life threatening illnesses, the treatment usually includes medicine and / or surgery. Both of those remedies involve deep, internal changes. So it is with Christ. He is not a figurine to put on a shelf. Nor is He a figurehead to followed at a distance. Instead, He is the surgeon and the surgery and the medicine and the healing balm. But what was taken out, has been replaced by something new and it changes who we are.

As we gather, men and women with new identities, we do not gather as a collection of people who could just as easily meet at the cafe or at the game. Rather we meet because we cannot fully do what God has called us to do alone. We all are called to do amazing, radical things for Christ, but few of them can be done fully without the body of Christ. Think about the hand. It can do some incredible things, but nourishing itself is not one of them. Consider the eye. It is truly amazing yet it cannot transport itself very well. How about the heart and lungs. Indispensable to life, yet they cannot protect themselves, actively or even passively. All of this is that same for the body of Christ. Read through 1 Cor 12. All gifts are not given to all people. We need each other. Christ has set up His kingdom to be an interdependent, Spirit dependent kingdom. Alone, we might accomplish a little, but it will probably be surface level, and localized. Together, God will use us to change the world.

I read all of this into Paul's words to Timothy. We need to immerse ourselves, not just wash, not just bathe. We need to be soaked to the bone in the truth of the gospel and be ready to do what God is calling us to do both individually and corporately.

To God Alone be the Glory

Open our eyes

“Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 2 Kings 6:16

In very brief snippet from the life of Elisha, 2 Kings 6 recounts Elisha being surrounded by a contingent from the Syrian army. When they arrived Elisha had no fear, although the younger prophets did. The reason for Elisha's confidence? He could see that "those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Maybe our prayer today should be Elisha's prayer for his fellow prophets: "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." There is so much in that prayer.

• For adversity, can we see God's loving hand? 
• For direction, can we see God's sovereign will? 
• For faith, can we see God's steadfast goodness? 
• For provision, can we see God's fatherly care?
• For salvation, can we see God's merciful sacrifice?

I could (and probably should for my own soul) go on. My ache today, in reading 2 Kings 6 is that we are very 1 dimensional in our hearts and minds. Sometimes, we break through and see things in 2 dimensions. But God, according to Eph 3:10 is multifaceted. He has more dimensions than we can count. Oh, that we could just get glimpse of that today.

To God Alone be the Glory

Then I turned my face to the Lord God

O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name. - Dan 9:19

Daniel (the man, not the book) always blows me away.  Here is a man thousands of miles away from home, a captive in a foreign culture and yet he takes his faith and lives it out in a transparent and obvious way. Yet, with each success, he gives glory to God and dives in for more.

The witness of Daniel's life and the prayer recorded in chapter 9, prompt in me two questions:

1) What would my prayers be like if I could honestly, openly pray like Daniel out of the overflow of my heart?

2) What would my life be like if I could live in the same dependent, trusting, reverent-fear driven faith that Daniel had?

I have don't have the answers. Maybe God, by his grace, will reveal a portion to me in due course. I do have some Scripture based musings that may lead me back to praying more deeply and depending more fully.

Daniel's prayer is borne out of a life of devotion to God and to his word. Daniel candidly admits when he and his people failed God. Yet in spite of that reality, he pleads with God to continue to be faithful and fulfill His promises. I think this is where I often drop the ball, somehow thinking God knows what I need, so He will just do what is best. Yet, He commands us to pray and has given us tremendous models, both inside and outside of Scripture. God will act, but He often chooses to act in response to prayer.

If Daniel's prayers are the pinnacles that draw us to him and point us beyond him to God, how much more does his life of faithfulness show us what true devotion and reverent fear look like in the life of the believer? Please don't hear me say that we all need to live like Daniel. Rather, hear me say: look to Daniel's faith. Look to the awe he had for God. And most importantly look to God himself. See what Daniel saw. Hear what Daniel heard. Trust completely in the One Daniel trusted in completely.

To God Alone be the Glory

Our Marvelous Savior

"when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed." (2 Th 1:10)

This probably goes without saying, but I really can't grasp heaven.

I recently heard a sermon where the preacher was reminding all who heard that one of the aspects of heaven would the total absence of sin. Not just put away. Not just conquered and forgiven. Totally eradicated. Its effects removed and all the resulting issues completely gone.We won't simply be super sanctified; we will be glorified. We will be different. And, we don't have a clue what that's like, because sin is intrinsic to each of us.

Likewise, there will be the absence of death and pain and grief. Everything in creation will be restored to its rightful state and we will enjoy it all without greed or lust or selfishness or pride. But this is so different than what we experience now that it stretches our minds to think of what heaven must be like.

However, the truth is that as great as all this is and as great as everything I didn't list may be, they are all the result of one main thing. The triune God will be there. We will be with Him and we will see Him and we will worship Him.

But, just like we cannot grasp what a sinless heaven is like because we are all still sinners at the core, we cannot grasp the extent and the profoundness of our heavenly worship. As just one facet of this, consider 2 Th 1:10. Paul says when Jesus returns (i.e. when he sets up the new heavens and the new earth) he will be marveled at by all who believe. Marveled at? Really? Not worshiped? Not adored? Not proclaimed from the roof tops? Each of those probably will occur as well, but I have 2 questions? Why marveling? and Why not start now?

Why marveling? As I think about it, the whole salvation message is foolishness. A holy God so loving an unholy people that he would orchestrate the death of his perfect, beloved Son in order to redeem the rebellious, traitorous people that He had determined to love. Even in writing that, I can feel the foolishness. Yet its true. And it is marvelous. And yet I think because we over value ourselves and under value God, we don't really see the true marvel, the true glory. The real depth of God's mercy and grace escape us. But once we see Christ face to face...

So, why don't we start marveling now? Can't we risk praying for God to open our eyes today to see more of what Christ has really done on our behalf? Won't we strive to bask in a love that is really too wide and long and tall and deep for us to ever grasp? Don't we somehow owe it to Jesus to lay all of our self-righteous religion at His feet and simply say with Thomas "My Lord and my God!"?

To God Alone be the Glory

Growing Old With Grace

I read the following in For the Love of God Vol 2 by D.A. Carson. As age creeps up on me, I pray that I can strive for the godliness and for the kingdom focus that Carson describes and David seeks. There are too many characters, Biblical and otherwise, who end their lives poorly for me to have much hope except for the grace of God.

David’s vision is more comprehensive than mere protection. He wants so to live in old age that he passes on his witness to the next generation. His aim is not to live comfortably in retirement, but to use his senior years “to declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” That is a prayer eminently worth praying. Should not senior saints be praying for grace to pass on what they have learned to a new generation? Perhaps this will be one on one, or in small groups. Perhaps one of them will take under his or her wing some young Christian or abandoned waif. Perhaps some experienced prayer warrior will teach a young Christian leader how to pray. And when there is too little strength even for these things, we shall pray that God’s grace will so operate in our weakness that God will be glorified in us: perhaps we shall teach younger Christians how to persevere under suffering, how to trust in the midst of pain, and how to die in the grace of God.

Read the full blog entry here

To God Alone be the Glory.

The Tsunami of Grace

I've been searching for a word picture to help capture the powerfulness and the radicalness and the all encompassingness of the grace of God. As you can probably imagine the choices for such word pictures are slim. However the image that became stuck in my mind last night was that of a tsunami.

Think about it with me for a minute. Tsunamis rise out of the depths of the ocean, seemingly without cause. Isn't God's saving & sanctifying grace very similar. He reaches out and touches (or grabs) us when we least expect it. In addition to this, tsunamis proceed unaffected by any human efforts to slow them down. Like hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanoes, people never try to stop a tsunami. So it is with the grace and mercy of Christ. It proceeds like the bow wave and nothing can keep it from reaching its goal.

A third parallel image between and tsunami and the grace of God is in the destruction a tsunami can cause. This comparison may be harder to accept and may seem callous to those affected by tsunamis, especially the most recent one in Japan. My intent is not to minimize or make light of their suffering or to imply that the Japanese people somehow deserved a tsunami any more than I do. Rather, my point is to compare the total and radical affects of a tsunami with the total and radical affects of the gospel of grace.

I'm sure if you simply close your eyes for a minute, images of the complete and total devastation left by a tsunami would quickly come to mind. Nothing is left unaffected. Nothing is left the way it was. Everything has changed, And because everything has been affected to the ground level, everything must be rebuilt. Everything must be made new. So it is with the grace that God himself provides in Christ. It is not just a new set of clothes. It is not just a new work ethic, It is not just a better way to parent or to relate to your spouse. It is not a different way to vote or spend your money or think about leisure or retirement. It affects these things, to be sure, but cannot be summed up in any or all of them.

Instead, the tsunami of grace destroys us, as we are, so that we can be made new in Christ. There is no better way to say it than the way scripture says it "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Cor 5:17

To God Alone be the Glory

The substance is Christ

"These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." Col 2:17

Why is it so difficult to embrace this life altering reality?

I have no doubt that most be who read this blog would believe the statement Paul makes in Colossians 2. But I don't think we really "get it". We really don't understand or apply what this means. Everything in this life, in some way, is just a pointer to a greater reality. That is to Christ and his kingdom.

Think of a blueprint. Is it real? Yes. Is it useful, helpful, even necessary? Yes, yes, yes! And yet it is simply a picture, a pointer, a "shadow" of the fuller reality, which is the finished building. And that's what this life, this world, our lives, our faith, our service, is all about. We are pictures and pointers to the deeper realities of Christ.

Shouldn't that affect our views on everything? Our marriages, our children, our parents, our jobs, our ministries, our devotions, our free time, our planning for the future (i.e. retirement).  If these things (and everything not listed as well) are not ends in themselves, but rather blueprints and road maps to get to the end, then we should be reframing our questions.  For example, we should not be asking "how do I make my marriage better?" but instead asking "how do my spouse & I make our marriage a clearer pointer to the ultimate reality of Christ?"

There is much here for reflection and prayer. And a lot of Holy Spirit work to be done, at least in me.

To God Alone be the Glory

How Much Grace?

"..the immeasurable riches of his grace..." Eph 2:7

Have you ever wondered how much grace was required to save you? This probably not a question we consider everyday, but while studying Eph 2, I've begun to grasp the shear expansiveness of the grace and mercy of God. I do not pretend to know all the dimensions, all the facets of the grace that has been shown to those who are in Christ. But, for a few moments, I think would be worthwhile to consider at least the boundaries of the ocean that we call grace.

First, consider that we have rebelled against a perfectly holy God. It is not that He is slightly more pure than we are or that we owe Him some of our allegiance. His pureness is complete; His authority beyond dispute.So any thought, any action, any thing that diverts us from Him pours into the accounting of our debt before Him. Add to this the reality that we don't start with a balance of zero, but rather we are in debt before we are born and our need for grace grows even higher.

Next consider that any means we have to pay off our debt, our offense, our treason before God is in non-negotiable currency. Its like trying to payoff a credit card bill with Confederate money. We can't do it. Because we are broken and the whole universe is fractured, nothing we posses could ever put even a single drop into chasm that separates us from God.

Finally (for this blog, not for listing the deep well of our need for grace) consider the fact that we really don't care. This what could easily be called the "death spiral"of comfortable Christianity. (And I'm a charter member!) When we lose track of how offensive our sins are, when we forget that our rebellion isn't just against a nation or a president, when we begin to think that somehow we are, in a small way, indispensable to God, our focus shifts off of Christ, off of grace, off of the power of the Spirit and on to us and our abilities and our techniques and our plans and agendas. And, this is danger of Heb 2:1 and Gal 3:3.

So everyday even those of us who have walked with Christ for years need more grace, because we keep digging a deeper hole.

Consider the height and the length and the depth and the breadth of your sin and rebellion (or indifference and self righteousness and hypocrisy and lovelessness) Consider that you have nothing to offer Christ and the you are (at best) a lost sheep or the prodigal child (Lk 15) And consider that while you are all of this and more, Christ died not in spite of who you were (and are) but because of you were (and are), And, consider the fact that when Christ died, all your sins were future sins. Nothing we do is beyond his loving, immeasurable grace.

To God Alone be the Glory