Monday, October 31, 2011

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

Sunday, October 30, 2011

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!

Friday, October 28, 2011

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

Thursday, October 27, 2011

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

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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

Monday, October 24, 2011

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

Thursday, October 20, 2011

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

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

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.

Monday, October 17, 2011

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

Thursday, October 13, 2011

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

Monday, October 10, 2011

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

Friday, October 7, 2011

Better by Far

"I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." Phil 1:23

Back in May I posted a blog entry reflecting on Phil 1:21 (living-and-dying-for-christ). However, as I read Phil 1 this morning, v 23 resonated with me. Paul makes a simple, yet bold statement. "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for it is far better." What Christian, if pressed, would not say the same thing? And yet our lives, well at least my life, don't seem reflect that attitude. What proportion of time, energy, resources, brain power, prayer focus do we put toward departing and being with Christ? Likewise what portion of these things go toward good, yet transient things? I stand before you indited. I am the chief of hypocrites.

Two words in this verse have captured me: desire and far better (I know that's 3). Desire speaks of something more than preference, more than familiarity, more than a contractual bond. The clearest example in my own experience is my desire for my wife. In this world, nothing is more compelling. Yet as we look toward our eternal home, there should be something even more compelling. The love of Christ, overwhelms and over shadows and love between and husband and wife, no matter how pure. And, his beauty, his grace, his compassion, his strength, his devotion far exceed our spouse's greatest attributes. Which of course means being with Christ is far better.

So, my challenge and my prayer, is that we can see the reality of Phil 1:23 and live differently in the light of that reality. Maybe we would dare to pray like this today: "Father, I really want to be home with you, to see you face to face and walk with you in the cool of the garden. But since you have chosen to leave me here one more day, please allow me serve you and your family for our collective progress and joy in the faith."

To God Alone be the Glory

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

A Verse For The Rest Of Our Lives

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called," Eph 4:1 


I was once asked "What do you do when you're done reading the Bible?" The questioner didn't want to know procedurally what I did each day after reading the Bible. Instead, they wanted to know what comes after the Bible. Once you have it "figured out", what's next? Like Algebra to Calculus. I can't remember my exact answer back then, but Eph 4:1 strikes me as a good answer today. You keep plumbing the depths.

As I prayerfully read Eph 4 this morning, verse 1 struck me (again) as a verse that deserves to be emblazoned on our hearts and minds for the remainder of our lives. And not simply as some sort of neo-legalism, as if our walk gains us points with God. Rather it is a form of reverent worship, a form of grateful service, a form of humble proclamation that Christ alone has given us everything and we owe him all that we are.

In a very real sense, the gospel is at stake in this verse. Have you been called? That's grace! Are you worthy of it? That's mercy. Can you walk in it? That's the Holy Spirit. Do you feel Paul's urgency? That's is the compelling love of Christ.

Perhaps, by the grace of God, today Eph 4:1 will become a banner over our lives and each of us will walk in manner worthy of the calling we have received in Christ.

To God Alone be the Glory

Monday, October 3, 2011

To know the Love of God that surpasses knowledge

"to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Eph 3:19 

Sometimes I think there is superlative language in the Bible to catch us when we get into a rut or a routine. Eph 3 is a great example, at least for me. How easily and quickly and unaffectedly I read it today. There was barely a speed bump at verse 8, which is one of my main "mission statement" verses. So as I prayed and reflected on the sections of Scripture I read this morning, this thought rose up: "how huge a prayer is it to ask to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge and to be filled with all the fullness of God?"

In other words, to know the unknowable and to experience the unexperiencable.

And yet, as we sit at our coffee tables or couches, we need to remember Paul is praying a serious prayer for one of the foundational churches in the NT. He seriously believed that God could deliver on this promise. So can we know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge? Can we be filled with all the fullness of God? In one sense the answers have to be no, God must always, even in the new heavens and the new earth, be beyond us. God must always be God. We will be worshiping before the throne in Rev 4, but only the lamb slain from the foundation of the world can approach the throne, take the scroll and open its seals.

But, there is another, very real sense in which we can know the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God.  Think about it. What is the Bible, if not a love story. The love of a Father for his Son. The love of a Man for his Bride. The love of a true Friend and Brother that would give his life for his lost and estranged friend. As we are gripped by the gospel, as we are transformed by the Spirit, as we grow in grace, we see more and more the height and the depth and the length and the breadth of the love of Christ.

And as we "get" this love, as it moves from our heads to our hearts, we really do begin to be filled with all the fullness of God. We understand that all things (even evil things and depressing things and tragic things) work together for the ultimate good of those who love God. We understand that this world (as beautiful and seductive as it is) is not our ultimate home. This body is a tent, a jar of clay. This life is a vapor, a moment. This nation, any nation, every nation, is simply dust of the scales.

And there is one message that must be proclaimed: outside of Christ people are dying without hope and that only the blood of Christ can cover their sin and debt and rebellion. But that God through Jesus, in His mercy continues to welcome lost children (no matter what their age) back to the family. By grace we are saved.

Finally, all of this is just the hem of God's garment, the outskirts of His holy city. (Job 26:14)

To God Alone be the Glory

Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Gospel in Ezekiel?

"I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice." Ezk 34:16

Can my blog post simply say: Reflectively read Ezk 34? What can I really say beyond what God said to Ezekiel?
  • I will rescue my sheep
  • I will search for my sheep and seek them out
  • I will bring them out and I will feed them
  • I myself will be their shepherd
  • I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. 
  • I will feed them in justice.
  • I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey
  • I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
  • I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them
How many gospel themes are referenced in just this one chapter in one book of the Hebrew scriptures? No wonder Jesus could say to Nicodemus, "You are Israel's teacher and you don't know these things?" How much stronger is the indictment for those of us live on this side of the cross, who have the Holy Spirit and the testimony of the saints?
How quickly and easily does the gospel become an event or a commodity rather than a profound, unending, continually life-altering love affair between a very personal God and his lost, wayward, rebellious children? Why am I not profoundly affected by the reality of Ezk 34 (or Eph 1 or Rom 8) every hour of every day of my life.  Why are we not slammed to worship or tears or both when we consider not just the one time sacrifice of Christ, but the on going grace giving, life sustaining, holiness producing love that the Father pours forth through His Son?

The bottom-line, thankfully, is found right in Ezk 34.

"They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD." Ezk 34:28-31