Edwards' Resolutions - week 10

My I intention, by God's grace, to post one of Jonathan Edward's 73 resolutions each Monday. As I read the list, it is convicting to me that I can only handle them in small doses, while Edwards reviewed the whole list each week The entire list of Edward's resolutions can be found here: the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards

To God Alone be the Glory

Preamble:

Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Resolution 10:

Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

Jars of Clay or Swallowed up by Life?

What does one do with 2 Cor 4-5? I've realized this weekend that I've highlighted and underlined virtually every verse in these two profound chapters. I almost wrote a blog post at the end of chapter 4, but hesitated since, these two chapters are intimately connected. How could I simply write about half of the picture? But now, with chapter 5 under my belt, I have the opposite problem. How do I highlight or summarize these two chapters? I'm not sure I have a good approach, but I'm going to try.

As I looked back over the verses, one thing that struck me was the images of the two conditions of believers. One condition is summed up in 4:7 "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." How true is that? But there is another condition portrayed in 5:4b "so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." Isn't this the hope that all of us have?

Re-reading these two chapters, I see Paul painting pictures around these two conditions. Our current condition: frail, fallen and broken, yet not ultimately defeated, disowned or destroyed. He never says this is simply our fallen state and that we should despair. Instead he encourages us to see our current circumstances, as bad as they may be, as a testimony to the grace and mercy of God. Because through what we are currently enduring, God is glorified and we look forward to our ultimate deliverance. And that is the second image he paints for us. A glorified, resurrected existence that will be in the very presence of God. He then connects these two conditions by saying we are waiting, some days with groans, in the former condition. But we have the Spirit as a guarantee, a promise that one day soon we will make the trade. We will move from our jar of clay and be swallowed up by life.

To God Alone be the Glory

An Open Letter to Seekers

I am sharing the following thoughts for two reasons. First, I pray that anyone who is seeking the truth about Christ or, more importantly, is being sought by God, and stumbles on to this post may take the time to read it.  And, God through the power of the Holy Spirit may breathe new life into the person who reads it. I also pray for those reading who have already found or, more precisely, have been found by God, that they may read here profound gospel truth. As I read the blog that I've linked to, I kept asking (and continue to ask) how can I get this message out? How can You use me to reform how we view and interact with those who are earnestly seeking Christ. Below is a snippet to whet your appetite. What follows was taken from a blog post by Justin Taylor. He referencing a book by David Clotfelter.

Let’s begin by trying to determine whether you are already a Christian. Many people are deceived about their standing with God, supposing themselves to be Christians when, in fact, they are not. Others are simply uncertain and perhaps feel anxious and worried about how God views them. The Bible tells us that we are to make every effort to make our calling and election sure, and so it is only reasonable to try to determine how we can be certain of our spiritual state. I will first mention some things that do not indicate that we are genuinely converted, and then some that do.

Sad to say, the gospel is often presented in terms such as these: “Are you lonely? Christ can become your best friend. Are you fearful? Christ can take away your fears. Do you want power to overcome your bad habits? Christ can give you power. Now, don’t you want Christ?” A person may listen to that type of message and make a public response to it without, perhaps, ever understanding anything at all about his or her own sin, the meaning of Christ’s death, and the nature of true faith.

Your decision to go forward and “give your life to Christ” may have been based on a completely inadequate understanding of the commitment you were being asked to make, with the result that you have lived for years in a condition of disappointment, feeling that promises were made to you that have never been fulfilled. Perhaps the problem is that you are not yet a Christian.

You may think of yourself as a “spiritual” person, but beware: The only spirituality the Bible recognizes as genuine is one that is focused on Jesus Christ and guided by His teaching and that of His apostles. If you put your confidence in your supposed experiences, those experiences may wind up costing you your soul.

Let’s assume you have answered the question in the negative—either you recognize that you plainly are not a Christian or else you see that you have insufficient evidence to prove that you are a Christian.

Please bear with me as I give you a word of warning.

You are in very great danger. You are a sinner, and God is angry with you for your sin. God holds you responsible for your every violation of His Law throughout your life, and He has stated plainly and solemnly that unless your sins are forgiven through Christ, you will pay the penalty for them through an eternity of suffering in hell. God will accept no excuses. You will not get away with blaming your sins on your parents, on Satan, or on God Himself. The sincerity of your false beliefs and wrong way of life will not purchase your forgiveness.

If you do not repent and believe in Christ, you will die in your sins and be lost forever.

What then? If you are in a lost condition and are unable to believe in Christ as your Savior, what are you to do? Should you give up hope of being saved? Should you reason that if it all depends on the action of God, you might as well be passive? By no means! You cannot save yourself, but that does not mean that there is nothing you can do. You can look to Christ, confess to Him your depravity, admit your inability to love Him or even rightly believe in Him, and ask Him to mercifully change your bad heart to a good one.

You could pray such words of humble petition as these:

“Lord Jesus! I am not capable of loving You. I dread the loss of control involved in giving up my life to You. I hate the honesty involved in confessing that I am a sinner who cannot be saved other than by Your death on the cross. I do not want to submit my will to Yours. I do not want the shame of being known as Your follower.

“And yet, I also do not want to perish! I do not want to face an eternity of suffering for my sins. I do not want to experience the implacable and everlasting wrath of almighty God. I do not want to have lived in vain. I do not want to be lost, separated from You forever.

“And so, Lord Jesus, help me! Take away my heart of stone and give me a new heart, a good heart, one that will love You and love God. Change me from within; make me a new person; enable me to believe; cause me to love. If You leave me alone, I will damn myself. If You stand back and do not help me, I will use my free will to make a wreck of my existence. Do not abandon me! Have mercy on me, for the sake of Your own glorious grace. Amen.”

So take heart! Perhaps this is the very day of your salvation. But do not rest until you are sure. Ask until you know you have received the power to trust Christ. Seek until you have found peace with God. Knock until you know that the door has been opened and you have entered in.

This is just the teaser. I plead with each of you read the whole blog entry here.

To God Alone be the Glory

A father's prayer

Today my son leaves on an 11 day missions trip to Bolivia. This is a good thing on many levels. But, it struck me this morning as I prayed for him and the team that whether it Bolivia or Boston, whether its Santa Cruz or Santa Monica, whether it is ministering to teenagers thousands of miles away or ministering to teens right in our church and school, our prayer, our dependence, our trust, our mission, vision and values all must come from God, orient people to Christ and be empowered by the Spirit. So...

Father, I'm putting Andrew into your hands again today. You know that his commute is longer today and that he will be encountering many firsts of his young life. But I ask and trust that You will be with him as you are with him in school and youth group and that You will work in every situation he encounters, good or bad, to Your glory. And just as I would ask that You would give him opportunities to express and share the love of Christ to his friends, his classmates and his teachers, now I would ask the same for people on the plane, fellow teammates, the mission team he will be working with and the youths themselves. As I should pray each day, I would plead that You would keep his mind and heart focused on Christ, and allow him to speak and to act as an overflow of what You have graciously placed in his heart. You know my desire today, as it is everyday, is for safety. But, as risky as it is, I ask "not my will, but Yours be done". My real desire is that You would use Andrew and the entire team for Your glory and for the further in-breaking of the kingdom of your Son. May Jesus be exalted by whatever means You deem best. I offer these humble requests to You knowing that you do not give stones to children who ask for bread. In the holy, powerful, awesome name of Jesus my Savior and Lord, Redeemer and King,

Orthodoxy in the midst of Controversy

I, for one, hate conflict. I may engage in it more than I ought, but I have never enjoyed it. And, as a Christian, it is doubly troubling. Now I have my internal dislike/distaste combined with the external command: "Love your enemies" However, with that being said, there are times and seasons when conflict is the God-honoring, Christ-exalting, gospel-proclaiming thing to do.

It seems we are near (or approaching, or well into) one of those times. Over the past few days there has been a debate centered around a forthcoming book by a prominent church leader that calls into question not only the reality of hell, but also the eternal destination of those who reject Christ and his gospel. My point here is not to weigh-in, although my primary question would be "If there is no bad news (ie no hell, no eternal conscious torment) why is the good news good? Why can't I just live according to my own morals, rationalize my own 'small, respectable' sins and just not worry about God or Christ or church?" If you want to dive in, here is the initial response from Justin Taylor. Also, follow the links, especially Kevin DeYoung's 2 thoughtful responses. Additionally, watch the promo video from the book. The style is very good and one can see how a distorted, heretical message can be delivered in a way that people simply consume it and in turn believe it.

My purpose here, however is tied to Kevin DeYoung's second response. You can read the full entry here, but I wanted to share the crux of it because 1) its core Christianity and 2) it is an awesome reminder that often conflict and controversy, rightly handled, can be the best way of proclaiming the truth of the gospel.

"Will God save everyone? Does everyone go to heaven no matter how bad they were and no matter what they believed? Is Hitler there next to Bonhoeffer enjoying the same eternal bliss? What kind of God would that be? How would we make sense of Jesus’ strong language about hell or the chilling scenes in Revelation? Would that God still be holy and just? 

And what would that do to our understanding of the gospel? Would Jesus’ death still be necessary? Would faith in him really be that important? Why would we still send out missionaries and evangelists? What would be so good about the good news if, in the end, there is no bad news? And if there is no hell, or we can’t really be sure anyone is there, why have almost all Christians in all of history believed there was such a place of eternal suffering? Have we found something that historic orthodoxy has missed all these centuries? 

What if the things you’ve heard recently are not the truth about Christianity? What if the warnings in Scripture are real warnings? What if God is purer than we thought, we’re worse than we imagined, and hell is as real as the nose on your face? What if the “only way” means the only way? What if God is glorified in salvation and judgment? What if the God of love and the Father of mercies is also a righteous Judge, a holy Sovereign, and a conquering King?"

To God Alone be the Glory

Last Day?

There may be a follow up entry, if the Lord allows, but I felt like simply recording some of my disparate thoughts as they tumble around in my brain. Edwards got me going two Mondays ago when he said

"Resolved, Never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life"

Since then I periodically ask "What if this were the last...?

• Last good bye with my wife
• Last time I take my kids to school
• Last blog I write
• Last lesson I teach
• Last conversation I have with an individual

These last things could be because my earthly days have ended or the others with whom I interact have died. Trust me when I say that my thoughts are not morbid, but rather they are Spirit convicted to ask ""are those really the last words or thoughts you want to leave on that persons heart?" Or, because I watch too many movies, is that the way you would want your earthly movie to end?

Unfortunately, I don't have any strong, profound answers other than what Edwards wrote and Jesus, Paul and the rest of the NT church lived.

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  Phil 1:20-21

To God Alone be the Glory.

Tuesdays with Clyde Kilby

On Tuesdays I am sharing one of the 10 resolutions of Clyde Kilby that are referenced in The Pleasures of God by John Piper. They are profound. While I plan on sharing one per week, Kilby reflected on these 10 items each day! The entire list can be found here: 10-resolutions-for-mental-health

To God Alone be the Glory

Clyde Kilby's Resolutions for Mental Health:

9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.