Cup of Coffee Talk

Last Post (here)

2006-08-09T12:16:00.000-04:00

This is officially the final post for Cup of Coffee Talk on Blogger. We are moving to a new home, with some nice new features. You can now visit Cup of Coffee Talk's New Home. Please do not forget to change your bookmarks to the new address.

The Mission of the Church

2006-08-08T09:41:00.000-04:00

*this is an excerpt of a sermon preached at the GBCB Youth Camp this Summer*

Matthew 28:18-20

b. The World-Wide Mission

There is more to this mission than just making disciples of the people that are around you. Look ay what Christ says, “make disciples of all nations.” When Christ says go it applies to your everyday sphere of influence, but it also applies to “all nations.” Since Christ used the terms “nations” I think that it is appropriate to distinguish these two different areas of our mission as “foreign” and “domestic.” The goal of the foreign mission is to transport and adapt the domestic mission (which we already talked about) to people groups who are not disciples of Christ. This is what they are doing at The Master’s Mission. They have a passion to see disciples in every nation. I hope that this week some of that passion rubs of on us. John Piper said this about our Lord’s great commission to the Church: “There are three possibilities with the Great Commission. You can go. You can send. Or you can be disobedient. Ignoring the cause is not a Christian option.” Whether you go back to Brandon, FL and never leave again, or go to Kenya and plant churches there you are a part of the Church and you have a mission.

In Matthew 24:14 we see Christ talking about this mission. Our job is to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world so that the nations my know King Jesus and submit to Him, and honor Him. As we saw earlier this week God is committed to His own name, and His reputation in the world. We must have this same commitment to see God glorified world-wide through nations of people trusting Him with all their affections. Let me point out something to you about this Matthew 24:14 passage. Let me do so by starting with this question, “how many of you have looked at the Mission of the Church outlined in Matthew 24:14 and been overwhelmed.” Maybe you thought, “how can every person in the world hear the Gospel?” This is an understandable feeling, but it is unnecessary for two reasons. First, Christ promises that the “gospel… will be proclaimed,” and that “the end will come.” It is a done deal. We can be confident in the sovereignty of God to do what He has promised. Remember, “All authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Christ to complete this mission. If we are disobedient to Christ's command then it will not be the mission that looses. The mission is a done deal, Christ has accomplished it. Ultimately we will be the one’s who lose if we are disobedient to Christ’s command. God has given us an opportunity to be a part of his world-wide cause, and if we do not take advantage of that then God will still accomplish His purpose but we will not get to be a part of it. God will simply pass over us and do his supernatural work without us.
The Second reason that you should not feel overwhelmed with the mission of the Church is less obvious. Christ says that the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Look at that word “nations.” When the bible talks about nations it is not usually talking about nations as we might think (i.e. geo-political nations like the U.S., Argentina, China, etc.). Nations usually means ethnic groups with distinct cultures, and languages. It makes a lot of sense for Christ to command us to reach these different groups. The cultural, and language differences that exist between these groups makes it hard for the gospel to spread from group to group. When we think of the mission in these terms Revelation 5:9 becomes and important text, “And they sang a new song, saying, are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” This means that the mission is able to be finished. If the mission were to reach every single person in the entire work then how would we ever finish. Because the number of people groups, or nations, does not change all that much we can “see the finish line.”

With the finish line in sight I want to point one more aspect of this text out to you. Look at what v. 9 says. Here we see the price of the mission. We will have to suffer to complete the mission. The people that we are rubbing elbows with at the Master's Mission understand what this verse means. They understand the tribulation, and suffering, and even death is the price of the mission. The apostle Paul understood this when he penned Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” You have a choice. You can be radical about the mission that Christ has given the Church, or you can pursue a nice comfortable life. You cannot do both. The price of completing the mission will be suffering. The choice is yours. You can go; you can send; or you can be disobedient.

Do you smell smoke?

2006-08-02T18:55:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of fire alarms going off, and wondered how you are going to get you pregnant wife out of a burning building. I have; last night in fact. Come to find out we had some type of problem with the alarm system and so it went of continually for an hour and a half. It stoped when I ripped some wires out of a smoke detector. Anyways there is a pretty good conversation going on between myself and Christopher Cuddy in the comments section of the blog. If you want to ring in on RCC vs. Protestant issues jump in!

The Mission of the Church

2006-08-01T09:13:00.000-04:00

*this is an excerpt of a sermon preached at the GBCB Youth Camp this Summer*

Matthew 28:18-20

Introduction:
Yesterday we spoke quite a bit about what the Church is; today I want to talk about the work of the Church. You may think that the work of the Church is not all that important to you. You are not one of the pastors, you’re just one the youth. But the fact of the matter is that this is important for you. Remember, the Church is not a building, or localized to just one group of believers. The Church consists of everyone who is a follower of Jesus. If you would consider yourself a follower of Jesus then the work of the Church is important to you, because you are part of the Church.
There have been countless causes taken up those claiming to be the church. Some were noble, some were not so noble. Take for instance the Crusades. For those of you who are not brushed up on your history, the Crusades were a serious of wars fought between the Ottoman Muslims and the European Christians. These wars were fought over land in the Middle East, not the least of which was the city of Jerusalem. As is the case in war thousands died. What makes this relevant to our subject is that the claim that these wars were fought by the church for God. In fact, many soldiers were recruited through an appeal to religion. In some cases individuals were told that if they went and fought for the “Holy Land” and died they would receive penance and go straight to heaven. The question that we are left with as we look back at history is, “were the crusades a legitimate work of the church?” Are wars, political agendas, and social causes what the church has been called to labor at? As we look at what Scripture has to say I think that we can definitively answer, no. The Church has been called to a much higher purpose than this. The church, which is Christ body, has been left a mission. In His last words on this earth Christ left us with a mission, and He left us with the tools that we need to accomplish this mission. What is this Mission? We find the answer to that question in Matthew 28:18-20.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority
has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and bmake
disciples of call the nations, dbaptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, aI am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I. The Work of the Church.

a. The Local Mission

Do you see what the mission is? There is a lot there, but to begin lets boil down to one thing, make disciples. Our Lord’s mission for His people is to make disciples. I think that we can all agree that it is important for us, as the Church, to follow Christ command, but what does it mean to make disciples? The force of this command is for the believer, who is a disciple of Christ, to duplicate himself wherever he may be. The term disciple means pupil, or follower, or even apprentice. With all of these words in mind I think that it is best to think of a disciple of Christ as a student learner submitted to his Teacher. This is the work. I think that it is worth pointing out that to become a student learner of Christ takes more than just a profession of faith. Let me explain what I mean by this. In order to be faithful to this mission we must do the work of evangelism, but it does not stop there. Jesus is commanding his own disciples to invest their lives in others with the purpose of making others disciples. In other words, Jesus commanded His disciples to do what He had done for them. Are you fulfilling your commission? Are you living your life in such a way that disciples are being made? These are question that we must constantly be asking. Whether or not you tell someone, “hey I am discipling you” does not matter. The goal is to get to know them, and to love them in a distinctively Christian way by doing them good spiritually. This could mean sharing what Christ has done in your life with someone who has never known Christ. This could also mean helping your Christian friends understand why you choose not to do some of the things that they choose to do. This is all a part of being the one body, a community of believers helping each other to glorify God.

to be continued...

(by the way blogger has not been publishing my pictures and I cannot figure out why, if anyone has an answer I would love to see it)

The New Creation, Christ's Bride

2006-07-28T12:09:00.000-04:00

*This sermon was preached at the GBCB youth camp last month*

II. The New Community

a. Christ’s Bride

Yesterday we discussed regeneration and sanctification. All of this leads into our discussion of the Church because those who are regenerate and being sanctified make up the Church. There is a lot of confusion over what the church is, and how to define the church because the term church has been misused and redefined. In our culture people say they are “going to church on Sunday,” or they “belong to the church,” to most people the church is just a building. This is not the way that the NT defines the church. The NT defines the church as all of those individuals who have been reborn of God, and redeemed into the body of Christ. This is exactly what Ephesians 5:23 teaches us when it says “Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.” So the Church proper consists of all those people who have submitted to Christ as their head and Savior. Within this Universal Church there are local communities of believers. We would call this the local church. For example, Grace Bible Church is not the church, but rather a local church body within the universal church.
The NT uses several images to describe the Church that I would like to look at (This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a sampling of how the NT views the Church). First, the NT refers to the Church as the “people of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:16 says “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Again, the NT refers to the church as people not a building. The image of the Church being God’s people emphasizes God’s initiative in choosing a people for himself. The second image that I would like to look at is the Church as the body of Christ. I will only briefly discuss this now because I want to come back to it. We read in detail this image in 2 Corinthians 12:12ff. This image of the church as the body of Christ emphasizes the close connection of the church as group of believers to one another, and to Christ. The final image that I want to discuss is the image of the Church as the “Bride of Christ.” In Ephesians 5:31-33 we see that the church’s relationship with Christ can be compared to the relationship of a husband and wife. This again emphasizes the closeness of the believers who make up the church to one another, and to Christ. But there is more to this image than just this closeness. There is also an eschatological reference here. In Revelation 21:9 we see the bride of Christ, the Church, being given to Christ at the consummation of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Christ paid for this Bride with his own blood, and at the end of time Christ will receive His bride.

b. The One Body

Being the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ carries with it great responsibility. In Ephesians 4:1-6 the apostle Paul tells us that we must live lives that are worthy of this amazing calling. We do this, in part, by preserving the unity that God has provided for us in the Church. What is amazing about this passage is that Paul does not say that we need to create a unity, but rather we must maintain the unity that God has already provided for us. In verses 4-6 we see what that this unity is. There is one church body, one Spirit, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and finally one God and Father. This community of regenerated individuals is in itself an amazing work of God and the unity of the Church comes from this work of God. Joshua Harris, writing on this subject, said “The longer that I’m a Christian, the more aware I become that I cannot live the Christian life on my own. My individual and direct relationship with God through Jesus is the greatest privilege and He is truly all I need—and yet God in His wisdom has created all of us to need others, too.” John Piper went so far as to say that “sanctification is a community project.” This means that as we are working out our salvation we must do so together. God has made us one through Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

God has done an amazing work to create the church, and for us to not take that seriously is a sin. When we do not pursue peace, and lift one another up we are, by our actions, demonstrating that this work of God through Christ is unimportant to us. We must remember that God has done this amazing work in the Gospel not only to save us individually, but also to set apart for himself an entire group of people. We are a part of that group and we must remember that was we seek to live out our Christian lives.

P.S.
Yesterday Anonymous left a comment questioning my view on the Church. I hope this answers some of the questions that he left. Also, in light of the passages listed here I cannot imagine taking the RCC view of the Church (the Church refers to the hierarchy of the RCC). I would love to debate my constant commenter on this issue if he would drop the anonymous, and actually deal with me rather than secretly send me RCC dogma. Otherwise I will continue to delete his comments.

The New Creation, Christ’s Bride

2006-07-27T11:51:00.000-04:00

*This sermon was preached at the GBCB youth camp last month*

Introduction:

Over the last few weeks we have talked a lot about the how a man can be made right before a perfect and holy judge. This knowledge is foundational, and is required for what we are going to talk about. Today I want to talk about the church; and without the salvation we have already spoken of there could be no church. In Ephesians 5:25 we see just how important the church is to Christ, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This designation of “the Church” sets us apart. There are no other institutions or organizations like the church, because Christ has died only for the church. We are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, purchased by the blood flowing from His own veins. Even the term church has immense meaning. The Greek word that we have translated as church has the idea of a calling. This makes the Church a group of people summoned together by God. What an amazing thing! God has worked out his plan not only to save individuals, but also to create a world-wide community of these individuals. If the church is so important to God that He sent Christ to die for her, then it should be important to us as well. This is why I want to talk about the church this. Before we can get a discussion of the church body we must first talk about the individuals within that body. The church is a community that is made of “new creatures.” But what are these new creatures? To answer that question we need to start at the very beginning.

I. The New Creation

a. Regeneration

The place that we must begin when talking about the new creation is the doctrine of regeneration. If conversion refers to the response of man to God’s calling, then regenerations is the other side of conversion. Regeneration is God’s transformation of an individual so that they can accept Christ. In this act God, or more specifically the Spirit, renews a person so that they are no longer unable to seek God because of their sin. The most extensive explanation of this concept is found in John 3:1-8. Here the Lord Jesus Himself describes this concept of regeneration to Nicodemus. In this passage Jesus answers the question that Nicodemus didn’t even ask. Jesus knew Nicodemus’ heart, and that his true need was for spiritual regeneration. What we see here is that this regeneration is not something that can be achieved through human effort. In fact, the key to understanding this concept is understanding man’s need for transformation. The human being is spiritually dead and thus needs a new spiritual birth. We will find the origin to this spiritual death in Genesis 3. In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam that “in the day” that he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would “surely die.” In Genesis 3 we find that Adam did eat of that tree, but physical death did not occur. Instead, Adam died spiritually. Just as the second birth that Jesus spoke of was spiritual birth rather than a physical birth, so to the death of Adam was spiritual rather than physical. Christ understood this need completely when He said that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In short, regeneration is the work of the Spirit to take a person who is spiritually dead and makes them alive. The act of regeneration is no small thing. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul, describing this concept, said “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” By this supernatural work humans can be transformed, and spiritually brought back to life.

b. Sanctification

We would view regeneration as an instantaneously complete event, but it is not an end in itself. Regeneration is a beginning, but there is much more to come. In Philippians 1:6 the apostle Paul made this point clear when he wrote “And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Later Paul refers to the manifestation Christ’s work in your life as the “fruits of the Spirit.” These fruits of the Spirit are the direct opposite of the fruit of the old nature, the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23). This continuing work is what we would call sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God in the life of the believer, making him or her holy. The definition of holy can be complicated, but for our purposes I want to make it as simple as possible. Thus, our working definition of holy will be “bearing an actual likeness to God.” From here what we must understand is that sanctification takes place subsequent to justification. This means that when God is working out your sanctification He is causing your moral condition to catch up with your legal status before God. Let me explain. After regeneration we are able to repent and put our faith in Christ. At this time we are justified; that is to say God looks at us as being justified because of the work of Christ. However, even though God has declared us to be justified we still have sin in our lives. Our minds are stilled filled with the pollution caused by a sinful life. Here is where the doctrine of sanctification comes in. Sanctification is an actual transformation of the character and condition of a person. It is the cleaning out of the remaining pollution from sin. This does not happen all at one time; it a progressive work that is accomplished over the entirety of the believers life.
To this you may be thinking, “That’s great. I am glad that God is doing this work, and I am glad that I know the logical sequence of events that go into salvation. But how does this affect my life?” Let me tell you how it will affect your life. As we have already seen Scripture is very clear in teaching that this is a supernatural work of God in your lives. But Scripture also teaches us that we have a responsibility in our sanctification. Philippians 2:12 says “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” This verse does not refer to salvation by works (it can’t Ephesians 2:8-9), but rather the believers responsibility to pursue obedience to God in their sanctification. This is something that you should be actively working on everyday. The question that we are left with is, how? First of all, we must remember that it is the presence of the Spirit in our lives that works this sanctification out. And as we have said many times, it is the Spirit of God working through the Word of God that makes a lasting change in our lives. By this we mean that the chief tool that the Spirit of God uses in the process of your sanctification is the Bible. Thus, in order to work out your salvation and clear your mind of sinful pollution you must immerse yourself Scripture. This is exactly the picture that is painted for us in Romans 12:2. Our minds must be renewed by the Spirit through Scripture. In order for this to happen we must be in Scripture. If you want a radical change in your life to rid you of the evil stain that sin leaves in your life, then you must immerse yourself in God’s Word.
At this point you may be thinking about the times that you have fallen short of this, and even now the lack of time you spend in God’s word. Let me encourage you in two ways. First of all, you are so young. If you will develop habits in your life that are spiritually profitable, and responsible they can last you a life time. Learn to make time for God’s Word every day, just like you would make time for food. Second, know that if you are a true believer in Christ Jesus then you can be assured that He will complete the work that he began in you. We saw in Philippians 2:12 that we must work out our own salvation, and if we go on to verse 13 we read “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This is the new creature that has been created by God; these are the individual that make up the Church.

Keep your eye on the JE center

2006-07-26T10:02:00.000-04:00

Over the couple of years or so work has been going on to compile the many works of Jonathan Edwards online at the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. I was lucky enough to find this resource in its infancy, and be a part of the beta testing. In the beginning there was not much to test, however that has changed over the last few months. Currently there is no better place to find such an exhaustive compilation of the works of Edwards. What makes this site so useful in study, and devotions is the relative ease with which you can preform a search. I believe that you can still sign up as a beta tester and receive a free year of access to this resource. I would highly recommend it to all of my readers.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

2006-07-24T16:22:00.000-04:00

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

Here is where we last left off:
The question that we are now left with is, what should our response be to God’s glory in the Gospel?

The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about this question is humility. Honestly, it should be utter humiliation and this is exactly what we see in Ezekiel 36:22-32. In this passage God blessed the people with grace so that He would receive the glory. This is the Gospel. God does not save someone because of who they are. God saves people because of who He is.
Do you love the gospel because God has made much of you, or do you love the Gospel because it has freed you to make much of God forever? If you love the Gospel because God has made much of you then you need to humble yourself and remember that your joy should be rooted in the infinite value of God.

If you have great guilt in your life from sin your hope should not be in you, but rather your hope should be in the name of Christ. Do not get wrapped up in esteeming yourself highly and think that it is the Gospel. The whole point of the Gospel is not that we are so good that God saved us, but rather that we are so bad yet because God is so good He has saved us. At the thought of our salvation we should not say to ourselves “I must be something because Jesus died for me.” Ezekiel makes it very clear that the thought of God’s grace in light of our sin should leave us confounded and ashamed.

This leaves us with an interesting tension that is particularly highlighted in the NT. We are to remember our sins yet forget them. Ephesians 2:12-13 tells us that we must remember our sins, but Philippians 3:12-13 tells us that we must forget our sins. The key to understanding this is found in the beginning of Philippians 3:12. Paul understands that he has not already obtained perfection, and so he remembers his sin but forgets. I think that we can find this balance if we remember enough to be ashamed by our sin and satisfied with God’s grace; but don’t remember (or dwell on) your sin to the point that you are paralyzed by it. The Gospel should humble us, not make us proud. We should be ashamed and confounded by our sin so that we will be happy and satisfied with God’s grace.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

2006-07-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

Romans 3:25-26

Here is where we left off yesterday:

Someone might say well John 3:16 says that God saves men because of His love; and 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love is not self-seeking; so how can God be out for His own glory in the salvation of men?

To that I would answer this way. First of all, God does save men because He loves them. Because He loves them He wants what is best for them, and the best thing in the universe is God. If God were to give you all the riches of this world to enjoy, but withhold Himself then He would be demonstrating hatred toward you. But, if God were to withhold every earthly enjoyment from you but himself that would be the ultimate demonstration of love. John, in 1 John 3:1, says that the love of the Father is the reason that we can be called the children of God. Thus, we must say that God has saved men for His own glory, and because of His love. But how do those two ideas fit together, and how does God seek his own glory but Scripture says that love is not being self-seeking? Let me try to explain. To love you God must give you what is best for you. God is what is best for you. God has given Himself to us so that we can enjoy Him, and take pleasure in Him forever. He does not want us to take pleasure in anything above himself because He is jealous for His glory, and because it is not what is best for us. God wants us to have ultimate pleasure in Him, and if we are going to do that we must express that pleasure through praise. Think about you favorite hobby, or sport, or food, or even person. You love to talk about those things which you enjoy, right? When something great happens what is the first thing that you want to do? Tell someone! It is almost as if you cannot completely enjoy the moment until you tell someone else. The same is true about you enjoyment with God. You will not be able to enjoy God, and take pleasure in Him until you praise Him giving Him the glory. This is why God’s passion for His own glory is not self-serving it is for your benefit. The question that we are now left with is, what should our response be to God’s glory in the Gospel? We will discuss this tomorrow.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

2006-07-19T16:23:00.000-04:00

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

Romans 3:25-26

We find the answer to the question, why would God go to such great lengths to set apart for Himself a redeemed people, twice in vv. 25-26. Two times Paul states that God has done these great things in order to show His own righteousness. It was for His name’s sake, His own glory, that he sent Christ as a sacrifice. This may sound strange to you that God has saved you first and foremost because he loves His own glory, but this is what Scripture teaches us. I want to take the time to look at several passages to make this point clear. In 2 Samuel 12:6-25 we see this same principle at work. The people of Israel had sinfully asked for a human king. They had been living under a Theocracy, and God was their King. But they wanted to be like the other nations. They wanted to depend on a man to lead them into battle rather than God. So, they asked for a king. This was a great act of wickedness (v. 17) because it brought shame upon the name of God. The people of Israel disgraced God’s name in front the watching nations and in vv. 19-20 we see His response. “Do not be afraid.” This must be wrong; it should read “be afraid.” But, this was not God’s message and in v. 22 we see why. It was for “His name’s sake,” or His glory, that He spared Israel.
Look at Isaiah 48:9-11. Here, again, we see God deferring his anger. Six times in this passage God tells us why he deferred His anger. “For my name’s sake… for the sake of my praise… for my own sake, for my own sake… how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” We are, of course, the beneficiaries, but ultimately God saves us for His glory. John MacArthur put it this way, “The primary reason we are redeemed is not so that we may escape hell- that is a blessed benefit, but not the major purpose. The central objective for which we are redeemed is not even so that we might enjoy the manifold eternal blessings of God. In fact, the supreme motive in our redemption is not for us to receive anything. Rather, we have been redeemed so that God may receive worship- so that our lives might glorify Him.” Someone might say well John 3:16 says that God saves men because of His love; and 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love is not self-seeking; so how can God be out for His own glory in the salvation of men? I will speak to this issue in the next post.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

2006-07-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

“In His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” These are the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 3:25. This is a reference to God’s dealings with human beings before Christ. We spoke yesterday about the justification, redemption, and propitiation that are found in Christ, but what about those who were before Christ. Paul tells us that God passed over, or overlooked sin. God postponed the full penalty of sins previous to the cross allowing certain sinners to stand before Him without an adequate satisfaction for His holy justice. This poses a serious theological problem! Most people see Hell as a problem saying something to the effect of “How could a loving God send someone to Hell?” The problem is not Hell, the problem is forgiveness. How can a perfect and righteous God who is supposed to be the perfect and righteous judge of the universe just over look sin. If we had a judge letting rapists, and murders back onto the streets there would be a public uproar. However, this is exactly what God did in 2 Samuel 12:13. David looked upon another man’s wife, took that woman for himself, and sent her husband out to die. Yet, the Lord put away his sin, and he did not die. How can this be? How could God just overlook this sin? Not only is God just overlooking sins, He is also ignoring the dishonor showed to Him by men. In doing this it seems as though He is condoning men in their esteeming of themselves to be more trustworthy in their judgment than God. It is almost as if God is allowing Himself to be more lowly than His own creation. Basically, it is as if God is saying that it doesn’t matter. “But for God thus to deny the infinite value of his glory, to act persistently as if the disgrace of his holy name were a matter of indifference to him- this is the heart of unrighteousness. This if God is to be righteous e must repair the dishonor done to his name by the sins of those whom he blesses. He must magnify the divine glory man thought to deny Him.”1

To find the answer to our theological problem we must look carefully at vv. 25-26. The first thing that we must see in these verses is that the righteousness that Paul speak of here is different from the righteousness mentioned in v. 21. This righteousness does not refer to the righteousness that God has made available to men through Christ. Rather, this righteousness refers to the righteous character of God Himself. I would define this righteousness as God’s commitment to His glory, and absolute faithfulness to act for His name’s sake (More on this to come). In vv. 21-25a we saw the righteousness of God manifest through Christ, and made available to men. Here we see God’s righteousness displayed, but how? Basically, what we see here is God’s actions in passing over sins previously committed being justified. Here again, this justification is different from what we saw in v. 24. This justification is not man’s justification from sin, but God being justified in justifying. God showed that he was not unjust in his forgiveness of the OT saints when he sent Christ to be the sacrifice for all the saints. This public display of Christ’s sacrifice demonstrates that God was righteous all along in his forbearance. In fact, what we see is that God exercised his forbearance in light of the certainty of the sacrifice of Christ. It all began in Genesis 3:15 when, instead of killing Adam and Eve right there on the spot, God gave mankind the hope of salvation. As we saw yesterday all throughout the OT we can find the foreshadowing of Christ sacrifice. Look at v. 26. God sent Christ, at the perfect time, so that he might demonstrate His perfect righteous justice, and at the same time justify the ungodly through faith. This was the twofold purpose of Christ’s work. When we understand how truly amazing God’s purpose in Christ death was we are left with the question why would God go to such great lengths to set apart for Himself a redeemed people?

1. Piper, John. The Justification of God, 1993, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI.

Back to Business...

2006-07-12T07:57:00.000-04:00

After the short break to cover my father-in-laws story we will now return to the messages I preached at camp this year.

The Gospel:
Christ’s Righteousness & Man’s Sin (Part II)
Romans 3:21-25a

Beginning in verse 22 all the way down to verse 26 Paul explicitly defines what this godly, hope providing righteousness is. This righteousness has been made manifest through Christ. The only hope for us, who as Paul penned it “have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” is the righteousness of Christ. Because we have sinned and fell short we have to be justified before God. To be justified we must be redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ. This sacrifice is God’s public display of His righteous son as a propitiation. This idea of propitiation is slightly different from redemption and deserves our attention. Propitiation carries with it the idea of appeasement, or satisfaction. In many ancient pagan religions the idea of man appeasing his deity and pleasing him with a gift was common. However, in the NT the idea of propitiation is a work of God not of man. This means that when God justifies someone it is not as if their sins have been omitted as if they never happened. Rather, God justifies someone because their sins have been unjustly bore by another. The purpose of this substitution was that in Christ our sins may be covered. If you are paying attention then you should realize that more has to be done for us to be saved. We already saw that in order for humans to have a right relationship with God we too must be righteous. The problem that we are left with, even after our sins are forgiven, is that we do not have righteousness. This means that just as Christ had to become a substitute for our sin, he must also provide us with righteousness. This is what theologians have termed the imputation of Christ. Our sin imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. This is the great exchange that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 5:21. It is our sin imputed to Christ that gets us back to square one. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us that brings us into a righteous state before God. This ransoming propitiation was paid for in Christ’s own blood. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:18-19

“You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold… but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

We have seen that the righteousness of God has been manifest through Christ, and now the only question that we have left is, “how do we receive this righteousness?” This really is the most important question for anyone to answer. To avoid any possible misunderstanding Paul gives an explanation of what this righteousness of God is, and how it works in vv. 22-26. It is the righteousness that was revealed in Christ, and the righteousness that is acquired by faith in Christ. Paul does not leave us guessing on this question. We receive this righteousness by faith. It is not our gift to God to please him, but rather His gift for us to satisfy His wrath. Faith is the means by which we receive God’s grace. This has always been the case. In Hebrews 11 we see that the OT saints were saved by grace when they believed in faith. But what is this faith, and what is our faith in? Scripture makes it abundantly clear the faith is more that just making a verbal declaration. In James 2:17ff we see that faith can only be expressed by works. So it is through faith not works that we receive this righteousness from God; but that faith will only be identifiable by the kind of fruit it produces.

Saving faith is placing one’s self in total submission to the Lord Jesus, understanding that because of sin you are helpless. This act will come from a belief in Christ that is the result of the Holy Spirit. We need righteousness, but we cannot attain it by our own works. Our righteousness can only come through Christ. Not even our faith, which is required of us, is a work. If faith was a work then salvation would be by works. If faith were a work then God would owe us. God would be obliged to save because of what we have done, rather than for His glory.

A Day in the Life of Gordon Montoya

2006-07-08T00:57:00.000-04:00

You may or may not have seen the headlines coming out of Tampa today, but a man attempted to force his way into the cockpit of a Delta plane landing at Tampa International Airport. This made for an exciting day here at my house, mainly because my father-in-law was on the plane. In fact, he was on the second row of that plane. Gordon Montoya, my wife's father, was the first person on the plane to react to the situation. Here is how the St. Petersburg Times put it:

"Gordon Montoya, 52, of Brandon, was sitting in the second row in the first-class cabin and tackled the man after he raced by and grabbed the cockpit door.

It was like it wasn't real," Montoya said Friday. "Fortunately, my reaction was
pretty quick to grab him. I just got out of my seat, grabbed him and wrestled
him to the ground. It just happened. There was really not a lot of thought
process that went into it."

Montoya said he said four other passengers
restrained the man. He said there was never any chance the man would break into
the locked cockpit.

"They are heroes," airport executive director Louis
Miller said of the passengers. "In my mind, they are absolute heroes."

To add to that the Tampa Tribune wrote this:

The running man also startled first-class passengers Gordon Montoya, a Brandon
businessman, and Freitag. Freitag and his wife, Lorraine, had been bumped to
first class and were seated in the first row after missing a connecting flight
at LaGuardia.

"He hit that cockpit door, pounding on the door, trying to open it," Herb Freitag said.
Montoya said that without thinking, he rushed forward and grabbed the man's legs. "I tried to get him up off the ground so I could get him down," he said.

As the two wrestled, Freitag said, he grabbed at Laimendez as well. By this time, Montoya had pinned his legs, and Davisberg placed his foot on Laimendez's chest.

Here is the story from Bay News 9:

Passengers tackled a man who was rushing toward the cockpit as a flight
approached Tampa International Airport late Thursday...
Gordon Montoya, aboard Delta flight 1850 after a business trip to New
York, jumped from his seat and grabbed Liamendez. "I pushed him into the
galley against the exit door in the galley and got him down," Montoya said.
"That's when two or three others joined in and helped hold him on the ground."
Montoya and the others held Liamendez for about ten minutes until the
plane landed and authorities took over.
...Police said Gordon Montoya was the first passenger to jump Liamendez.
Montoya said he only did what his instincts told him to do. "I wouldn't call myself a hero,"
...Montoya said. "I just wanted to live and get home to my family."

This last one from the local CBS news is my favorite (you can find video here as well). This was written by Sara Dorsey:

Tampa, Florida - Gordon Montoya, a seasoned business traveler, says as his Delta flight was making its final approach into Tampa didn't have time to think let
alone be scared.

Gordon Montoya, Subdued Soldier:
“This young man came just running down the isle past me. I was in row two and he was immediately on the cockpit door grabbing it and trying to open it.” Authorities say that man was 24-year-old Neftali Liamendez, a military policeman. His family told airport authorities Liamendez was acting irrationally after his duty in Iraq. Officials say they were told he was headed from New York to Tampa with his
brother to get mental treatment. Montoya says all he knew was he had to act.

Gordon Montoya, Subdued Soldier:
“I tried to grab his legs and get him off the ground.” Montoya's quick moves resulted in bumps and bruises but were successful.

Gordon Montoya, Subdued Soldier:
“By the time I had him on the ground, there were four other passengers that really had us surrounded and holding him down.”

Louis Miller, Director of Tampa
International Airport:
“They are all heroes in mind, they are absolute
heroes.” Louis Miller, Director of Tampa International Airport, says this
shows passengers are more savvy and the post 9-11 system is working.

Louis Miller, Director of Tampa International Airport:
“Thank goodness the door had been reinforced and he couldn't get in there.”

My father-in-law travels quite a bit (he has a platinum status with Delta if that tells you anything). This has been the fear of the family since 9-11 and we are thankful to God that He used Gordon restore peace and safety on the plane. Look for Gordon's name this weekend, he has done interviews with almost every single media outlet that you can think of. Also, remember he and the family in your prayers. Gordon has to get right back on a plane next week. Needless to say his wife and girls will be worried about him.

Here are several links to the story (also see above links):

Fox News
CNN

Camp '06

2006-07-07T00:17:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed Youth Camp was last week. It was quite an experience to say that very least. I would have to say that Camp this year was the most positive experience that I have ever has, either as a student or a leader, with any camp. What made Camp amazing was the time spent with missionaries and missionaries in training. We spent our time at The Master's Mission this summer. We had the opportuntiy to work on several projects along with the crew there, and it was a wonderful time for all involved. Over the coming days I will be posting the notes from my morning sermons. The idea was to emphasize the gospel, then our response to the gospel. Pretty simple. You will have to excuse any typing mistakes. I was so pressed for time in all of this that I have taught through all these lessons and have not even gone through and edited them for mistakes (You can help edit these posts through the comments section of the bog).

The Gospel:
Christ’s Righteousness & Man’s Sin
Romans 3:21-25a

Introduction:
The first thing that we see in this passage is that a righteousness has been revealed. What makes this so significant is that righteousness is required for a relationship with God. We see the reason for this in Job 37:23. Here we see that, among other things, the Lord is righteous and He will not violate that righteousness. This means that in order for humans to have a right relationship with God we too must be righteous. Countless religions and systems have been formed for this very purpose, and yet here in this passage we have the answer. We see that God has revealed a righteousness whereby we can have a right relationship with Him. This is what makes the Gospel the good news.

I. A Righteousness Revealed

a. A Supernatural Righteousness (v. 21a)
As we search to understand this righteousness we see that it is a supernatural righteousness. In other words, this righteousness is unattainable to men. This is horrible news, because without this righteousness we face the wrath of God. We see that this righteousness is supernatural in three different ways in v. 21. First, look at how Paul begins this verse, “But now.” This means that the righteousness that has been manifest is in contrast to what was discussed in the previous verses. If we look back at the first three chapters of the book of Romans to see what this righteousness is in contrast to we will see an in depth description of the depravity of man. The first paragraph (1:18-23) and the concluding paragraph (3:9-20) do well in summarizing Paul’s description of the sinfulness of man. In the first paragraph we see that human beings, in their natural state, are unrighteous. Men have suppressed the truth about God, and boasting of their own wisdom they exchanged the glory of God for man made idols. So often we hear that people are basically good, and given the opportunity will do the right thing. Romans chapter 1 tells us something very different. This theme runs throughout the first three chapters of Roman until finally in 3:9-20 Paul concludes his prosecution of sinful man with a final and formal indictment against all men. From this we can clearly see that this righteousness that is being revealed is not from men.
The second indication that this righteousness is unattainable to men is the clear statement that this righteousness is from God. The source of this righteousness that has been made manifest is God. Psalm 71:19 says, “Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” The answer to that question is clearly, no one is like God! This righteousness that has been revealed must be God’s righteousness, rather than man’s righteousness.
The third indication that this righteousness is unattainable to men is found when Paul tells us that this righteousness “has been made manifest apart from the law.” Paul is not only referring to the law itself, but also man’s attempts to be righteous before God through the law. We can toil and work trying to keep every aspect of the law, but we will never attain the righteousness that God requires. To some people this seems unfair, and because of that, unbelievable. But really it makes sense. God is infinitely righteous and the judge of the world. This means that he must judge the world on the basis of his infinite righteousness. If God were to just let people get away with their sins he would cease to be righteous. But we will pick this topic up later. For now we need to understand the utter despair of this situation described here. Man needs righteousness and there is a righteousness that has been revealed, however that righteousness is unattainable to men.

b. Described by Scripture (v. 21b)
Paul continues to describe this righteousness as “being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (NASB) or “the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it” (ESV). Although we cannot attain this righteousness through the Law we can find it described in the Law as well as the rest of the OT. As you read through the book of Romans in particular you will see that one of the apostle Paul’s favorite prophets to quote was Isaiah. For this reason I think that it would most profitable to go to Isaiah and see how this righteousness was foretold. In Isaiah 11:1-5 we see there is someone coming, anointed by the Spirit, who will judge in righteousness. In fact, in verse 5 we see that he is characterized by righteousness. In Isaiah 32:15-17 we again find the prophet Isaiah speaking of a time when the Spirit of God would be poured out. This time we see that the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit will be righteousness. The effect of this righteousness will be peace, and the result of this righteousness will be quietness and trust forever. This result of this righteousness is sweet, and we are unable to attain it. Yet, in Isaiah 46:12-13 we find our hope. For you the stubborn hearted, who disobey your parents, who resent instruction, you who are far from far righteousness, you who have no hope, God has given you hope.

*I tried to post some great pictures but blogger was giving me some trouble.*

We are Home

2006-07-03T15:40:00.000-04:00

We are back from camp, and we are tired. It will be at least one more day before I dig myself back out, but here is a taste of Camp this year.

And on a lighter note:

It's Camp Time

2006-06-23T07:53:00.000-04:00

You will have to excuse my absence this past week, and plan on my absence this next week. This week I have been preparing to take our youth to Camp in N.C. We will be leaving this weekend, and we are praying for a productive trip. I will be preaching while we are there along with a missionary candidate. We are praying that God would do something radical while we are at camp. The theme of Camp this year is "Sowing the Seeds of the Gospel."

Your prayers will be greatly appreciated while we are gone. I hope to give a full report of our trip upon our arrival home, as well as post the series of sermons as well.

Wisdom From Above

2006-06-19T08:58:00.000-04:00

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In verse 15 James solidifies his point. Whatever wisdom these people thought they had it was not wisdom from above. It was clearly not God-given skill for living righteously, because they were not living righteously. God was not the source of their wisdom. Thankfully, James did not leave us to speculate as to what the source actually was. Here we see that the sources of the false wisdom in these people’s lives, and in our own lives today, were earthly, natural, and demonic. The meaning of all three of these terms together is clear; the source of this wisdom is the opposite of God. These three terms are however, slightly more nuanced and deserve our attention.
First, James says that this fake wisdom is “earthly.” We do not have to go far to see what earthly wisdom looks like. This type of so-called wisdom is limited to what man can discover, and theorize by himself. There is no place for God in this false earthly wisdom. It is this kind of thinking that has led to non-Christian worldviews such as evolution, and atheism. For the Christian the final authority is God, through His revealed word. For the earthly thinker the final authority is himself, and he is responsible for deciding right from wrong all by himself. Unfortunately, this type of individualism has dominates the culture that we live in. It is for this reason that we must be very careful to understand what James is teaching and apply it to our lives (1:12-22).
Second, James says that this fake wisdom is “natural.” This is a reference to humans in their unregenerate state apart from the renewing work of the Spirit. Of the handful of occurrences of this word in the NT there are two that are very helpful in understanding what James is talking about here. In 2 Corinthians 1:12 Paul described the exact same thing that James did. In 2 Corinthians the same word is translated “fleshly” and it refers to that fake wisdom which is the polar opposite of “holiness,” “godly sincerity,” and the “grace of God.” The second cross reference that I think will be helpful to look at is found in Jude 19. In this passage Jude again describes the exact same thing as James. Here that same word is translated as “worldly.” What we see is that the result of this kind of “worldly” thinking is division, and this “worldly” thinking is “devoid of the Spirit.” On a side note I think that it would be helpful to take a moment to determine what devoid of the Spirit means. It has been the regular teaching of our Church, and the Bible, that the Spirit of God works through the Word of God to make a lasting change in our lives. By this we mean the chief tool that Spirit of God uses in the process of your sanctification is the Bible. Thus, if you want to avoid being “worldly-minded” and “devoid of the Spirit” in your thinking, then you must immerse yourself Scripture.
The third source that James gives for this fake wisdom is “demonic.” James saves the most serious for last. In saying that this fake wisdom is demonic James is clearly highlighting that this wisdom is in no way related to God. This type of wisdom is what Paul warned Timothy of in 1 Timothy 4:1 when he said, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…” Wisdom apart from God is nothing more than the foolishness of demons. This is an astonishing foolishness. It was these demons, led by Satan, who rebelled against God. They were so foolish that they left the direct presence of God’s glory in order to pursue their own glory. If we fall into this demonic wisdom we too will eventually find ourselves pursuing our own glory rather than God’s and in verse 16 we see the result of this.

New Blog- Dr. Daniel Ebert

2006-06-16T09:47:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to throw out a brand new blog for your enjoyment. The "EbertBlog
A Place for Christ Centered Trinitarian Conversation" is a blog by an old Prof of mine, Dr. Daniel Ebert. I am very excited that Dr. Ebert has entered the blog world, and will be sharing his little nuggets of wisdom electronically. I sat under Dr. Ebert for most of my major Bible classes while I was in college, and to say the least he has influenced my life greatly. Check out the new blog, you will enjoy it.

Beholding God's Word II- Chris Pixley

2006-06-15T07:43:00.000-04:00

This week's podcast is, "Beholding God's Word Part II." This is a sermon preached by Chris Pixley here at GBCB. This audio sermon can also be accessed on the web by following the provided link above.

This sermon, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

Enjoy!

Wisdom From Above

2006-06-08T11:11:00.000-04:00

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In verses 14 through 18 James plays out for his readers the principle that he established in verse 13. That is, you demonstrate your wisdom by how you live. Here in verse 14 we see very simply that if your behavior is destructive you should not claim to be wise. Here the destructive behavior is “bitter jealousy” and “selfish ambition.” James has just finished saying that wisdom is, at least in part, demonstrated by gentleness/humility. In fact the direct source of this gentleness/humility that James speaks of is wisdom itself. So, to have jealousy and selfish ambition is to demonstrate a profound lack of wisdom.

Since wisdom is understanding the truth and applying it to our lives, then those who do not have wisdom will not have a proper view of themselves. The wise person understands that, because of the self-deceptive nature of sin, people are deceived into thinking higher of themselves than they should. It is from true wisdom, wisdom from God, that we understand our sinfulness and humiliation in light of God’s perfection. Those whose lives are based on ungodly, or false, wisdom will be motivated be self-centeredness, they will be jealous when good things happen to other people, they will look out for their own good, and seek to fulfill their own selfish ambitions. All because they do not have a proper understanding of who they are. This lack of humility is directly proportional to a lack of wisdom. This is the exact problem that the original readers of this letter were having. In 4:1-17 we see that a lack of wise humility had a very destructive result in this community. They fought (v. 1), spoke against one another (v. 11), they put their own ambition ahead of God’s will (v. 13), and all because they lacked the wisdom to see God at work. This goes right back 1:2-5. It was there that we saw that God was working in the midst of these people’s trials. We also learned that if they had faith that this was true but lacked the wisdom to see exactly how God was working, then they should have prayed for that wisdom. I think that we can deduce from chapter 4 that these people never did ask for that wisdom (vs3).
To those people who were acting this way James’ command was “do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” Let me paraphrase James, “All of you who claim to be wise and understanding, but live self-centered lives, do not boast of your great wisdom. Because when you boast of your wisdom you are lying against the truth. You do not have wisdom.” James’ point is crystal clear. If wisdom is skill in living righteously, which it is, and you are not living righteously then you are not wise.

06-06-06 Has A Different Significance For Me

2006-06-06T07:21:00.000-04:00

Much of todays news cycle includes something about today's date. That's right for those of you who may have forgotten, today is 06/06/06. The media is just so curious about this, and is trying to figure out what those silly Christians (they always find the "most silly" Christians to interview) are thinking. With this in mind, I want to talk about something totally different today.

Today is 06/06 which means that it is anniversary of D-Day. On this date 1944 the Allied Forces took part in the largest amphibious operation in military history. The Allied Forces landed in Normandy on the Northern coast of France. This was possibly the most important battle in the whole war (see also the Battle of the Bulge).

What makes today particularly important to me is the fact that my Great Grandfather, A.W. Whidden, was there on that day. I do not know a lot about his experience there, he didn't speak much of it. What I do know is that he was ready to make the ultimate temporal sacrifice for his country.

The history of this battle is of great interest. Eisenhower, and the Allied leadership, had originally planned an earlier date for the invasion. The weather through a monkey wrench in those plans! Finally, on June 6th 1944 the weather permited (barely) an invasion. On the word of Eisenhower an armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels—escorts and bombardment ships—began to leave English ports. That night 822 aircraft, carrying parachutists or towing gliders, roared overhead to the Normandy landing zones. They were a fraction of the air armada of 13,000 aircraft that would support D-Day.

On this day alone over 2,000 men lost their lives in a heroic fashion. What is sad to me is that I am certain that many of these men were were not followers of Christ. It is with this thought that I encourage you to use this day to remember those who made it possible to live the life you live in this country, as well as to pray for the men who are currently serving this country.

In light of today's political climate and the heroism of Eisenhower that we remember on this day, I think that "Ike's" prayer from his inauguration speech is appropriate.

"Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates in the Executive branch of Government join me in beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere.

Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race or calling.

May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy glory. Amen."

Wisdom From Above

2006-06-02T12:29:00.000-04:00

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In 13b we see how James tested wisdom. “Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.” Those who responded to James’ question would have quickly found themselves the object of James’ scrutiny. James did not assess their claim to wisdom on the basis of their IQ, but rather in practical terms. James’ command to us is to demonstrate our wisdom by what we do. We must give a practical proof of our wisdom from our life and our conduct. Our daily living is where our wisdom is played out. Wisdom then is concerned with how we live. I think that we can find a good example of how wisdom plays out in our lives by looking at how the word of God works in our life. In 1:21 we saw that it was through the Word of God that we are saved. In 1:22 we see that when we receive this word it will result in us be doers of the word. Like the word implanted by God in the heart of the believer , the wisdom from above gives birth to deeds, humility and a way of life that grows in understanding. James goes so far as to describe what these deeds are that typify wisdom. It is a life of good behavior with our deeds done in a spirit of gentleness. The good behavior is reference to godly behavior. It is God who is the ultimate judge of good because He is the ultimate standard of good. In order to test our wisdom we must test out actions to see if they conform to the image of God. The other quality that James mentions is gentleness. This is the very opposite of what we normally think about wisdom. Usually people who think of themselves as wise are arrogant about their self-proclaimed wisdom. But this should not be. The word translated here as gentleness could have just as easily been translated as meekness or humility. The Greek word has the idea of power under control. It is a word that was often used to describe a wild horse that was broken and made useful to its owner. If we are truly wise then we will understand our shortcomings and willingly submit to the sovereign control of God. Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23). As was just mentioned, James has earlier admonished believers, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility (prautēs) receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (1:21). Jesus, James’ half-brother, spoke about this same gentleness or humility. Gentleness or humility is to characterize everyone who is a part of God’s kingdom. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus said, “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.” Jesus used this same word, gentleness, to describe Himself saying, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29).

Wisdom From Above

2006-06-01T08:39:00.000-04:00

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James begins this section of his letter with a simple question. “Who among you is wise and understanding?” This seems like a simple enough question, in fact from the whole of this letter I think that we can even decipher how James’ original readers would have responded. In 1:19 we see that the Jews to whom James wrote had a problem with speaking to quickly. In other words, they were so sure that they had the right answer that they had to be the first person to speak. In 1:23-24 the recipients of this letter acted as if they were above the word of God by ignoring what it clearly taught. In 2:4 we see that they made themselves out to be judges, but their motives were evil. They considered themselves wise enough to judge a person by their clothing, or by how much money they had. These are just a few examples of how the recipients of James’ letter viewed themselves. Based on what James has written up to this point I think that we can say, quite confidently, that these people would have wholeheartedly claimed to be wise. At this point we might shake our heads in disapproval of these “wise fools” (which by the way is what sophomore means), but aren’t we guilty of the same things. How many of you have been so convinced of your own wisdom that you had to be the first one to talk? Or, how many of you have been ignoring what Scripture says about purity because you want to keep watching a TV show, or go to a certain movie, or listen to a particular band? How many times have you made yourself a judge of another person based on their appearance?
Maybe you said no to all of these sins that James’ readers fell prey to. If so, let me try to hit a little closer to home. How many of you have been so convinced of your wisdom and expertise- this is the meaning of the word translated understanding- that you just knew your parents/spouse/boss/elders/etc. were wrong and you were right? Let me ask you this, did you correct your parents/spouse/boss/elders/etc. as a favor to them, so that they would no longer be in the dark?
My point is not to make everyone reading this blog out to be the worst imaginable sinner possible. Although we are all closer to that than any of us would like to admit. My point is to show you that deep down we all have a terrible tendency to view ourselves as wiser than we are. Unfortunately, more often than not our wisdom is faulty and will only lead us into trouble. The question that we must ask, and that James answers, is how do we test our wisdom to determine if it is true wisdom?

Beholding God's Word- Chris Pixley

2006-05-31T12:09:00.000-04:00

This week's podcast is, "Beholding God's Word." This is a sermon preached by Chris Pixley here at GBCB. This audio sermon can also be accessed on the web by following the provided link above.

This sermon, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

Enjoy!

Wisdom From Above

2006-05-30T11:16:00.000-04:00

“ ‘Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.’ And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.”

King Solomon indulged himself in all kinds of experiences and in the end- while acknowledging the benefits of wisdom over folly- his conclusion was that both the wise man and the fool will eventually die.

In 2:24-26 we see that the only source of true, satisfying, enjoyment comes from God.

There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

Solomon knew, from experience, that all the human accomplishments in the world were nothing in comparison with the joy that comes from knowing God. James uses very similar language in his letter. In 1:17 James says that “every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above…” In our passage, James 3:13-18, we see that James carries this same principle into the realm of wisdom. Ultimately James’ conclusion is that the only true wisdom one can have is from God, and it is demonstrated in the way that you live.

1. MacArthur, J. (1998). James. Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press.

James 3:9-12

2006-05-26T08:06:00.000-04:00

The chief end of man, to borrow from the Westminster divines, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. One of the easiest ways that we can do that is through our speech. In verse 9 we see that James’ readers “blessed their Lord and Father.” This would have been very typical for the Jew to whom James was writing. They would have been accustomed to pronouncing a blessing on God at the end of every prayer, saying “Blessed be Thou, O God.” The problem that James had is that with the very same tongue that they blessed God they cursed men. If this is not bad enough we must remember that God has created man in His own Image. We see this back, again, in Genesis 1:26 (It is almost as if James had his Bible open to Genesis 1 when he was writing.) In a round about way James is calling this blasphemy. This should be convicting for all of us, because we are all guilty of this hypocrisy. Even the apostle Peter was guilty of this double-minded type of speech. It Matthew 16:16 we read a wonderful pronouncement of Jesus as “the Christ the Son of the Living God” come from the mouth of Peter. We only have to go as far as Matthew 26:69ff to see Peter denying any association with Christ. This should not be this way! We should not be inconsistent in what we say.

James makes one final observation from nature concerning the tongue. The observation is that like produces like. A fresh water spring will not produce salt water; fig tree will not produce olives; nor will a vine produce figs. What is James’ point is saying all of this? When we apply this same principle to the tongue we realize that what comes out of our mouth is what is in our hearts. To use James’ example from verse 9, when we speak hatefully to the people around us it reveals a lack of love for God. In 1 John 4:7-8 we see this same principle at work.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has
been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God,
because God is love.

If we love one another it reveals a heart filled with love for God.

In this final thought James, in a very simple fashion, profoundly sums up this entire section on the tongue. This point is this, from a godly (or to use the words from 1:17 “pure religious”) heart will come godly speech. This is a fitting theme for James to have covered here; particularly in light of the them of 2:14ff.

Isn’t it amazing to think that most of our hateful speech is directed at those with whom we have the closest relationship? We are often hateful, rather than loving, to those who we feel the most comfortable around. This should tell us something! It should tell us that when we are so nice to others it is an act and that our true heart is being revealed when we speak hatefully to those closest to us.
If after studying these verses you think that your speech is ok, you may want to think again. I hope that you realize that God is infinitely good, and deserves our infinite adoration. The funny thing about that is that we cannot do anything that is infinitely good. That means that no matter what we do it is not good enough for God, He deserves better. Even when we do what is right with good motives, God still deserves better. This is what makes the Gospel so great. God made an infinitely good sacrifice available through the death of His Son, Christ Jesus.
Sinful speech can set your life on fire, and wreak havoc that could take years to resolve. If you want to protect yourself from the dangers of evil speech then you must fill your heart with God’s word. When you do this God’s word will overflow from your heart out of your mouth.

It is a Girl

2006-05-25T08:02:00.000-04:00

You will have to excuse me for my absence yesterday. I had a very important appointment to keep. Yesterday I went with my wife for her 20 week sonogram (if you did not know, she is pregnant). The verdict is in, and yes we are smart enough to actually find out the sex of the baby, it is a Girl.

Apparently this picture to the right proves that it is a girl (notice the arrow).

My wife and I are so very pleased and thankful for what God has given us. It is our eager prayer that God would call our daughter into His Kingdom and make her one of His children.

It is far more important that our daughter has a heavenly Father, than her earthly father.

Galatians 4:4-6
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. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

I am very thankful at this point in my life to have the doctrinal convictions that I do. I am very thankful that my child's salvation is dependent 100% on God Himself. If my daughter is to become a child a God it will not depend upon myself, or my wife to "win her to the Lord." If my daughter is to become a child of God then it will take the renewing ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Even now as we are consumed with the thought of her natural birth, we know that it will take a supernatural re-birth before she can accept Christ.

John 3:5-8
Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

This is what is important to me.

Towards Living by Faith- Steve Jaeb

2006-05-23T07:52:00.000-04:00

This week's podcast is, "Towards Living By Faith." This is a sermon preached by Steve Jaeb here at GBCB. This audio sermon can also be accessed on the web by following the provided link above.

This sermon, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

Enjoy!

James 3:7-12

2006-05-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Here we see the previous verse illustrated. In other words this is the evidence of how evil the tongue can be when it is unaffected by God’s grace. The point that these verse make is simply that the tongue is uncontrollable. The tongue is wild, even wilder than the animals that we have dominion over. In verses 9-12 we see the manifestation of this uncontrollable nature of the tongue. We cannot tame the tongue and use it for its highest purpose; which is to glorify God with our speech. Rather, as James points out, we use the same tongue to glorify God and blaspheme Him. This is what we all do with our tongues every day. As I read what James has to say here in these verses I cannot help but think about how ridiculous it is that we cannot control what comes out of our own mouths. God created us in His own image and gave us dominion over His creation, yet because of sin we are unable to control our own tongues. At the though of this we should, to use the words of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:32, be ashamed and confounded by our ways.

The first thing that James notes is that all types of creatures are being and have been tamed by the human race. When we read this we should not think that James is saying that all creatures have been tamed and turned into pets. We, from our experience, know that a poodle has not been tamed in the same way that a tiger has. The domestication of every animal on earth is not what James is talking about. If we go back in our Bibles to Genesis 1:29 I think that we will see just what James is talking about.

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to
everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I
have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

There in Genesis we find a list that is very similar to James’ list; and we see that God has given human beings dominion over His creation. This is what James is talking about here in James 3.
James also does something very interesting in verse 7 when he describes the dominion that man has over animals. He says that the animals are tamed and have been tamed. By choosing to write it in such a way James is emphasizing that not only are people subduing animals, but this is the natural order (state) of how things work.

What is so ironic, and proves the evil nature of the tongue, is that despite the dominion that humans have over creation we can’t even control our own tongues. Because of sin we can control a gigantic elephant, but we cannot control the small tongue. It was in the fall that man lost dominion over the tongue.
Some English translations do not pick up exactly on what James is saying here, but literally he says that no one among men can tame the tongue. It is not so much that the tongue is so powerful that it is intrinsically impossible to tame it. The reality is that we, by our sinful nature, are so weak that we cannot control our tongues. In Ephesians 4:29 we see what the proper, controlled us of the tongue is. If we look back to Ephesians 4:23 we see that the source of this self-control is not self, but the Spirit. Through the Spirit our words can be edifying. Otherwise our words will be a restless evil full of deadly poison.
The word here that is translated as restless in this verse is translated as double-minded in 1:8. In verses 9-12 we see exactly why James would characterize the tongue as restless or double-minded. Some who is unable to control their tongue (with the help of the Spirit) is inconsistent and untrustworthy. On top of this, James says that their speech is full of deadly poison. Literally James says that the poison of the tongue, or evil words, is death-bearing. Whereas we saw in verse 6 that the source of the evil from the tongue was hell; here we see that its result is death. Our evil words carry death into our lives. In Romans 3:13 we see a similar reference to the speech of people. Later in that same chapter (vv. 23ff) we see that the only anti-venom for the poison of our tongues is Christ.

Do I need a doctor's note?

2006-05-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

You will have to be patient with me. This week the Lord has blessed me with a violent stomach bug to help be better understand what my wife is going through during her pregnancy. I should be back in full force next week, maybe weighing a few pounds less.

Chris Pixley - "Living in View of the Pre-eminence of Jesus Christ" Part 1

2006-05-16T08:30:00.000-04:00

This week's podcast is, "Living in View of the Pre-eminence of Jesus Christ Pt. 1." This is a sermon preached by Chris Pixley here at GBCB. This audio sermon can also be accessed on the web by following the provided link above.

This sermon, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

Enjoy!

For Moma

2006-05-12T07:56:00.000-04:00

Today I would like to dedicate my space to honoring my mom.

(My Mom & my little sister Grace)

I would like to provide to concrete examples of the honoring of mothers from the NT. The first example that I would like to highlight is found in 2 Timothy 3:14-15.

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through fait which is in Christ Jesus.

Here we see Paul's encouragement to his spiritual son. In short, Paul exhorts Timothy to continue what he has already excelled abundantly in doing. Timothy is to stay on the narrow path, and keep the gospel as the center of his ministry.

What is interesting, and pertains to motherhood, is from whom did Timothy learned the sacred writings? The answer is, his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. Here is why I say that. First, Paul says that Timothy learned these things from childhood. Second, chapter 1 and verse 5 sheds light on our question as well:

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

Third, in Acts 16:1 we see that Timothy's father was not a believer and thus it was his mother and grandmother who taught him the Scriptures. From these three observations I think that we can easily deduce that Paul, in 2 Tim 3:14-15, is honoring Eunice and encouraging Timothy to remain in the faith that his mother introduced him to.

The second example I would like to point out from the NT is found in John 19:25-28:

But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw his mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" The he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"

In these, some of the very last words of Christ, He honored His mother by ensuring that she would be cared for. The very son of God, honoring His earthly mother. He understood that she was not any sort of co-redemptrix to be glorified with Him, and that she would need to be cared for when he left. This should be a wonderful example for us as we look to honor our mothers on Mother's Day.

(Moma, Dad, & Grace)

The Mom in My Life
As I said at the top this is for my mother.

Moma,
You, like Eunice, have passed on your faith to me. You have taught me the Scriptures and always been there. I can only remember one baseball game that you missed, and that was because you were in the hospital. Even then you insisted that I played. That means a lot to me. From you I have observed how a house is to be run, and how children are to be raised. Through the years you have "fixed" enough food and sweet tea to fill an ocean, and you never complained about it. You are the very definition of hospitality. Our home was, and is, always open to anyone who want a meal. Our friends, and at times entire teams, where always at our house. In many ways you were a mom to most of the Clearwater Christian Baseball team. Moma, you hospitality has extended all the way to China. Now, little Grace will have the opportunity of having you pour your life into her as you did with Steve and I. I know that I speak from Elyse when I tell you that we are so excited about the prospect of raising a small child at the same time as you. Not only will we get the hand-me-downs, but we will also have the opportunity to see you doing what we will have to do soon. I love you.

P.S.

I have several things to say to honor my Wife, the future mom of our family, but they became to personal for this format.

The Luckiest Man at First

2006-05-11T08:06:00.000-04:00

While I was over here talking about humility and setting up podcasts of sermons Tim Ellsworth was doing something profitable with his time. At Tim's site they have been constructing the greatest baseball team ever one position at a time. This must be what Scripture means by a conversation seasoned with salt (joke). It has been very interesting, and they have only made it to second base at this point (still time to join in). Lou Gehrig took the starting spot at first (and as we all know when Gehrig gets a start he could be there a while). At this point it looks as though Rogers Hornsby is going take Second (as he should). Head over there it is a lot of fun.

Housekeeping

2006-05-10T08:23:00.000-04:00

This week has been filled with tech work for the blog, and I feel as though I have neglected the spiritual side of this blog. It is my hope, however, that the podcast that I have set up through this blog will prove to be an encouragement to you all (if you are having trouble following the directions let me know via a comment).

I would like to comment on two unrelated topics today.

It has been brought to my attention by a catholic observer of this blog (and self-proclaimed friend) that I need to be absolved so that I can go to heaven. In fact, "my friend" has gone so far as to ask "Why don't you want to be alive?" There are several difficulties with this dialogue that have forced me to address it in a public forum. First, "my friend" will not reveal his name (or even a blogger name), he insists on posting as anonymous. Second, "my friend" will not interact with me at all. It has been his "MO" to post incredibly long comments (usually articles that he has not written), and never respond to any criticism. Unfortunately this has forced me to screen all comments on this blog.

Before I respond to “my friends” latest attempt to comment on this blog I would like to say two things. 1) I am sure that “my friend” has the best of intentions. He earnestly believes something and thinks that unless I accept his RCC faith I will be damned. I appreciate his love for me, but I do not appreciate the immature manner in which he is demonstrating it. Because he has refused to identify himself I am only left to wonder who this person is. I have a few good ideas of who this is, and I wish that we could just get together over a real cup of coffee and discuss this matter. The manner in which “my friend” is trying to have this conversation leads me to think that he is afraid to dialogue with me (I a not sure why). Even if “my friend” is no more than a high-school student I would hope that we could just have an honest assessment of Scripture and go from there. 2) Due to the nature of his comment I will not devote anymore time to responding to him until he, at the very least, reveals his identity to me. I will briefly respond to a comment he sent me with only with a question for him to think about.

The text is John 6:53. Anonymous has used this text to show that only through the RCC Eucharist can I be saved. Before I deal with this matter I, again, would like to ask Anonymous how he would handle the rest of this chapter. To be specific I would like to know what he thinks (or the RCC thinks) about John 6:63.

“For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

For now I will leave the ball in his court.

HUMILITY

I am still doing a lot of reading on humility and I found this very convicting quote from Jonathan Edwards:

“The degree of humility is to be judged by the degree of abasement, and the degree of the cause for abasement: but he that is truly and eminently humble never thinks his humility great. The cause why he should be abased appears so great, and the abasement of the frame of his heart so greatly short of it, that he takes much more notice of his pride than his humility.”

(the grand prize goes to the first person to identify the source of this JE quote)

Podcasting: Finding Freedom in Forgiveness

2006-05-09T08:06:00.000-04:00

For those of you who are interested I am now podcasting the Sunday morning Sermons from Grace Bible Church of Brandon. These sermons, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

The title of today's podcast is, "Finding Freedom in Forgiveness." This is a sermon preached by Chris Pixley here at GBCB.

Enjoy!

Site Feed Subscription

2006-05-08T10:05:00.000-04:00

In my never ending pursuit to eat up even more time with this blog I have set up and RSS feed for the blog. You will notice the link on the lefthand sidebar. There is also the option to subscribe to this site feed. For those of you who are not so savvy when it come to the internet here is how it works: You type in your e-mail address and then every time I post you will receive the content of that post in e-mail form. It really isn't hard. I am currently working on the feasibility of doing a podcast of the messages from our youth group. This, however, is proving to be more difficult than I had originally planned.

Humility: Day Five

2006-05-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

Continuing on this theme of humility I would like to look at Ezekiel 36:26-32.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you
from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle
clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

At the thought of our salvation we should not say to ourselves “I must be something because Jesus died for me.” Ezekiel makes it very clear that the thought of God’s grace in light of our sin should leave us confounded and ashamed.

This leaves us with an interesting tension that is particularly highlighted in the NT. We are to remember our sins yet forget them.

Ephesians 2:12-13: Remember
Philippians 3:12-13: Forget

We need to remember enough to be ashamed by our sin and satisfied with God’s grace; but don’t remember (or dwell on) your sin to the point that you are paralyzed by it.

My Conclusion:
The Gospel should humble us, not make us proud. We should be ashamed and confounded by our sin so that we will be happy and satisfied with God’s grace. Humility, that is remembering our humble state, can be a great source of joy because it will cause God-glorifying gratitude.

Humility: Day Four

2006-05-04T08:28:00.000-04:00

The humiliation of the Gospel

To emphasize our humility in light of the Gospel let me point you to two passages that speak to this issue. First off , for today, Isaiah 48:1-11.

Isaiah 48:1
Hear this, O house of Jacob,who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name. "The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth and I announced them; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass. Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.' "You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.
They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been
opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel. "For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

Six times in the final six lines God, through the prophet Isaiah, makes it clear that it is for His name's sake that he defers His andger. It is very clear that
we are the beneficiaries, but ultimately God saves us for His name’s sake.
John MacArthur put it this way,

“The primary reason we are redeemed is not so that we may escape hell- that is a blessed benefit, but not the major purpose. The central objective for which we are redeemed is not even so that we might enjoy the manifold eternal blessings of God. In fact, the supreme motive in our redemption is not for us to receive anything. Rather, we have been redeemed so that God may receive worship- so that our lives might glorify Him.”

We must be ashamed by the sin in our lives thar profanes the name of Christ. When we have this frame of mind then we will have a proper "Gospel Humiliation."

Humility: Day Three

2006-05-02T08:33:00.000-04:00

In order to be humble, and give God all the glory that He deserves we must do good deeds in such a way that we will not get the credit. We must live our lives for “His name sake.” If you are a believer, then this is what you have been called to do. In fact His name (and by that I mean His Glory) should be our number one priority. The WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM puts it this way,

"Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify
God,and to enjoy him forever."

This confessional document is not Scripture, however it does a wonderful job of capturing the teaching of Scripture in this matter. I can say this easily because Scripture makes it clear that God’s name (His glory) is His number one priority.

1 Samuel 12:19-25 (ESV)
And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants
to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king." And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.
And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD and serve him
faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king."

Samuel should not have said “do not be afraid,” he should have said be afraid! The basis for Samuel’s exhortation was God’s name. Here we see that God’s radical commitment to His glory is good news for sinners. He blessed the people with grace so that He would receive the glory. This is the Gospel. God has set apart for Himself a people, through the atoning work of Christ, so that they can glorify His name forever. Very rarely do we hear it put this way, but God blesses us for His sake. God does not save someone because of who they are. God saves people because of who He is. Do you love the gospel because God has made much of you? Or, do you love the Gospel because it has freed you to make much of God forever?

Our joy should be rooted in the infinite value of God.

If you have great guilt in your life from sin your hope should not be in you, but rather your hope should be in the name of Christ. Then you can take the words of Samuel (do not be afraid) and make them your own. Do not get wrapped into esteeming yourself highly and think that it is the Gospel. The whole point of the Gospel is not that we are so good that God saved us, but rather that we are so bad yet because God is so good He has saved us.

Humility: Day Two

2006-05-01T08:11:00.000-04:00

Because humility stems from a proper knowledge of God, conversely pride is a distortion of God. This makes pride one of the most serious sins. When we struggle with pride we are contending with God for supremacy. In our pride we have decided that our way is better than God’s way, and thus we sin. We are trying to usurp God’s position as King of the Universe, and place ourselves on His throne. God takes pride very serious because it is an abomination to Him.

Proverbs 16:5
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured he will not go unpunished.

Not only are we seeking to steal God’s supremacy in our pride, but we are also seeking to glorify ourselves rather than God in our pride. In the end the proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God. Whether it is intentional or not in our pride we are attempting to deprive God of the glory that only He is worthy to receive.

As you go through your day today make it a point to stop and figure out if what you are doing is for your own glory, or for God's glory.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of
glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my
pride

Forbid it Lord, that I should boast
Save in the death of
Christ my God
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to
His blood

See, from His head, His hands, His feet
Sorrow and love
flow mingled down
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose
so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were a
present far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my
life, my all

Humility Day One

2006-04-28T11:38:00.000-04:00

Over the next few days I am planning to post on the subject of humility. My eventual focus will be man's humiliation in light of the Gospel. One of the reasons that I am doing this series of post is because pride is an issue that I deal with daily, and what better cure for pride than a study on humility in light of the Gospel. Today I would simply like to start by giving a working definition of humility.

Humility is practical, and it is useful. At times humility even attracts attention from the world. There is an even bigger reason to promote humility; humility gets God’s attention.

Isaiah 66:2
But this is the one to whom I will look to; he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Not only does God “look to” the humble, but He goes so far as to help the humble.

James 4:6
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Jonathan Edwards, with reference to this subject, said “The pleasures of humility are really the most refined, inward, and exquisite delights in the world.” But why is this so? Why does God look to, and give grace to the humble? For an answer to that I think it would be profitable to define humility.

A good starting point on the definition of humility can be found in C.J. Mahaney’s book Humility: True Greatness. In this book Mahaney uses this as his working definition of humility: “Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.” To paraphrase Mahaney, humility is seeing things as they truly are. It is a self-evaluation judged by the highest of standards, God himself.

Calvin wrote, “It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look at himself.”

In a real sense, our level of humility is proportional to our knowledge of God.

The Destructive Tongue

2006-04-26T13:50:00.000-04:00

In verse 6 James gives us an explicate description of what the tongue, which is set among our members, looks like when it is ungoverned by the by God’s grace. James says that “the tongue is a fire.” As we have already seen our speech, no matter how insignificant it may seem, can have a disastrous outcome. James goes on to say that the tongue is “the very world of iniquity.” Within this context “world” is not referring to the entire earth, but rather the realm of iniquity. It is a system of iniquity, lawlessness, evil, and all kinds of sin. This word, iniquity, literally means not-righteous. It is a disregard for what is right. To have iniquity is to have sin; it is to be a lawbreaker. This iniquity is not something to take lightly because God does not take it lightly. In Exodus 34:6-7 God described himself to Moses and here is what he said:

Exodus 34:6-7 (NASB95):
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

In His own self-description God revealed to Moses that He would not “leave the guilty unpunished.” Here we see that iniquity is so reviling to God and powerfully destructive, that the results of iniquity will be felt for generations to come. Here is something scary to think about; the decision that you are making right now will have an affect on your children (maybe even your grandchildren). It takes years for a forest to grow back after a wildfire, and the iniquity that you commit with your tongue can be just as devastating.

Thankfully in this same self-description of God we see that He “forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin.” But this is no simple task since God leaves no guilt unpunished. He had to punish our sins. Isaiah picks up on this very theme in Isaiah 53:4-7.

Isaiah 53:3-7 (NASB95):
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.

Isn’t it interesting that while he was taking on the burden of our sins, which we commit with our tongue more often than not, he did not open His mouth? If we would use our tongues, as Paul put it in Romans 10:9-10, to confess Jesus as Lord then through this substitutionary work of Christ we will be saved.

The Destructive Tongue

2006-04-24T07:55:00.000-04:00

James 3:5b

Introduction:

In the previous verses James highlighted the power that the tongue can have over your life. In verse 2 we see that the proper use of the tongue is essential for spiritual maturity. In verses 3 and 4 James gives two illustration of the power of the tongue compared to the size of the tongue. In verse 5a James reminds his readers that men are prone to use the power of the tongue improperly, “boasting of great things.”
Did you know that the average person uses approximately 25,000 words every day? This is why controlling the tongue is so important. The question that we, as disciples of Jesus, need to be asking ourselves is does our speech fulfill God’s intended purpose for our lives? Going back to verse 5a we could ask ourselves the question how much of our speech reflects pride, and how much of our speech reflects a gospel-motivated humility? In Ephesians 4:29 the apostle Paul makes it clear that our speech either builds up or it corrupts. There is no middle ground. C.J. Mahaney defines corrupting talk as “any and all communication that deters growth in godliness; any speech that hinders the cultivation of godly relationships; [and] any words that have a deadening or dulling effect on the soul of another.” How many of your 25,000 words per day are corruptive?
This is exactly what James is talking about in James 3:5b-12. Here in these verses James’ focus is on the malicious and destructive nature of the tongue. James continues to use illustrations that highlight the small size of the tongue and the great power that it yields, however now the stress is on the often disastrous results produced by the tongue. Since the tongue has the ability to talk about anything, it has the ability to corrupt anything.
It is important, when studying this passage, to understand that James is describing the tongue as it is by nature, not what it can become through God’s grace. Apart from the grace of God our speech burns with the fire of hell, rebelling against God, and is double-minded in what it says. I don’t think that James would have agreed with “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

The Burning Tongue.

"A small fire can ignite an entire forest."

Again James illustrates how something small can have a great impact. Here it is a small fire igniting a large forest. This illustration should be particularly pertinent to us here in Hillsborough county. It has not rained here in months days. This kind of weather is wonderful for recreation; however the danger of wildfires increases every day that there is no rain. In weather that is this dry it literally takes just one spark to set an entire forest ablaze. In the United States an average of 106,400 wildfires break out each year. 4,083,347 acres are consumed. Most of these fires are started unintentionally by people trying to enjoy the outdoors. 1995 there were 9,974 wildfires caused by lightning and 120,045 wildfires caused by human error. Most of these were started by careless mistakes. I know that I sound like “Smokey the Bear,” but I want to illustrate how an incidental small spark can have a destructive outcome. So to your speech may seem like a small thing, but it can have an amazingly destructive outcome.
Another thing that is interesting about James’ illustration of the forest fire is how easily the fire spreads. Fire is truly an amazing thing. Fire has the ability to continually reproduce itself as long as it has fuel to burn. Unfortunately for firefighters that water that is needed to extinguish the fire does not have this ability. When the planes drop water on top of a wildfire it never becomes a flood even though it is thousands of gallons of water. But, the wildfire that the firefighters are battling was ignited by a small spark. The fire only needs to be fed by oxygen and fuel to continue burning.

In Proverbs we see similar language with reference to our speech in 26:20-21.

Proverbs 26:20-21 (NASB95):
For lack of wood the fire goes out,
And where there is no whisperer,
contention quiets down.
Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
So
is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Here we see that our whispers (or gossip) fuel the evil fire that can come from our speech. The subject matter of our speech is like the dry underbrush that continues to fuel the wildfire. If we take away the fuel we will take away the fire.

*Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Blogger would not upload my posts.*

Definitely the last post on the definite atonement

2006-04-20T09:53:00.000-04:00

This will be the final post I plan on doing in this current series on definite atonement. I would like to conclude my thoughts on this subject with a discussion of the practical imports of the doctrine of definite atonement. These are just a few of the things that have resonated in my mind as I have thought over this issue.

“It Is Finished”

The most significant implication of the doctrine of definite atonement is the reality of the completed work of Christ. To view Christ’s death as an actual atonement, rather than making atonement available, is to make Christ’s work on the cross completed. Or to use the word’s of the Messiah Himself:

John 19:30
“It Is Finished”

The work of Christ is in the state of completion. With respect to man’s salvation there is nothing left to do that has not been done by the Godhead. The Father has set apart for Himself a people through election (John 6:37-38); the Son has made an atonement for the sins of these people through His earthly ministry (2 Corinthians 5:21); and the Spirit has called (or will call) those people through the second birth (John 3:1-8). The work of Christ is complete and it is not waiting on the approval or cooperation of man to be so.

“Not Me, But God”

The second area that the doctrine of definite atonement resonates within me is evangelism. Ironically it is because of the inferred implications of this doctrine with respect to evangelism that so many reject this doctrine. I would submit that a proper view of definite atonement will make the work of evangelism easier and more effective. Within this theological perspective Christ has completed the work and desires to use you to implement it (He is using you as a “conduit to do it.”). Do you realize how liberating this is for someone sharing their faith with an unbeliever? This means that no matter how much you fumble and stumble over your words God will use the faithful proclamation of His word to change peoples lives (Romans 10:14-17).

The accusation has been made that the doctrine of definite atonement will discourage evangelism. Unfortunately, this accusation has been made because there are people who have ignored their biblical responsibility of evangelism because of a supposed knowledge of this doctrine. This is sin. If we are to understand the doctrine of definite atonement properly, and as it has been historically understood, then we must say that Christ’s work is sufficient to save all, but effective to save only the elect. From a human perspective we cannot know who the elect are. To paraphrase C.H. Spurgeon, if the elect had yellow stripes down their backs I would give up preaching and go about lifting up the back of peoples shirts looking for the elect. The bible teaches that from a human perspective whosoever will believe will be saved (I say from a human perspective because we see elsewhere in Scripture that God has chosen a group of people throughout history to be designated as His people.). Our responsibility is to 1) present the Gospel to everyone we can knowing that whosoever will believe will be saved; 2) be encouraged that no matter who we are talking to Christ’s death is sufficient to save them; 3) and do not be discouraged when we are rejected because ultimately it is the power of God not the eloquence of human speech that saves people (1 Corinthians 1:17-2:1ff).

“No Fear of Spiritual Terrorist”

In Jude’s short epistle we find some very interesting material. Jude desired to write a soteriological treatise, however through divinely inspired pragmatism Jude instead appealed to his readers to contend for the faith (vs. 3). In verse 4 we see exactly what the danger was.

Jude 4

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this
condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality
and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

(I will let you deal with the questions of reprobation brought up in this passage)

The danger was, as John MacArthur has put it, spiritual terrorists. They had crept in and now posed a threat to the church. Conventional logic would be to avoid these terrorists at all costs, but this was not Jude’s advice.

Jude 23
…save others by snatching them out of the fire; to
others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by their flesh.

Jude exhorted his readers to engage the spiritual terrorists! Look at the reason for Jude’s exhortation:

Jude 24-25
Now to him who is able to keep you from
stumbling and to present you
blameless before the presence of his glory with
great joy; to the only God,
our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, e glory,
majesty, dominion, and
authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Christ is the one who is able! It is “through Jesus our Lord” that we can engage in spiritual battles and fear not because “It Is Finished.”

Two Thoughts on Definite Atonement

2006-04-19T08:33:00.000-04:00

At the onset of this post I would like to admit that the two arguments that I plan to put forward in this post are more philosophical than exegetical. However, I would strongly contend that these arguments for definite atonement are rooted in Scripture. I have much that I would like to say concerning these two arguments, but brevity and introductory material have seemed to be more profitable (at least from the feedback that I am getting).

These two arguments/reasons/observations/thoughts are of a particular interest to me because they are two thoughts that I had to wrestle with as I worked through this topic.

First, the extent of the atonement had to be defined to the elect because the Godhead cannot be divided. The force of this argument is based on the presupposition that it is the Father who elects men unto salvation. This is a presupposition that I heartily accept, and without beginning a new series of posts here are a few reasons why:

Romans 8:29a
For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined…

Romans 9:16
So then it depends not on
human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Ephesians 1:4
…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world…

These are just to name a few.

The basic force behind this argument is that if the Father works to elect, and it is the Father who sent His son to atone for sins through the death of the son on the cross, then the Father has chosen for whom the death of Christ will atone for (At this point I will be brief with the hope of allowing you to think through this argument.). Within this doctrine we see the wonderful unity within the Godhead. It is the Father who has chosen us, the Son who has atoned for us, and the Spirit who calls us through the second-birth.

Second, the intent of the cross must be synonymous with the extent of the cross. In other words what God accomplished what He intended to accomplish. If we were to say that God intended (it is the intention of God that is at the very heart of this argument) for all to be saved through the death of Christ then, necessarily, we must also say that God was unable to accomplish what He had intended to accomplish. This must be true because it is clear both from Scripture and our experience that not all men are saved. Think about the implications of God not being able to accomplish what he intended to accomplish. If God intended to save all through the crucifixion and was unable to do so what assurance can anyone have that God will accomplish any other of His intentions. This argument is rooted in the character of God. The question that you have to ask, as you think through this argument, is how sovereign is God?

I think that one final post is in order. I would like to talk about the practicality of this doctrine, and the impact that it can have in your walk with the Lord.

Another short expositional look at the doctrine of limited/definite atonement

2006-04-18T12:17:00.000-04:00

In case you were not all that pleased with the way that I handled the “all” and “world” passages in my previous post I would like to take another short expositional look at a passage. I would like to reiterate that my goal is not to extensively exegete this passage, but rather to put the passage before you and let you work through it yourselves.

Romans 8:32 (ESV)
He did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all…

The reason that I have chosen this passage is because I have recently heard is used to oppose definite atonement. On the surface it may seem to be a good text to debunk all that I have been writing on over the past few days. However, as we take a closer look at this passage it seems to be doing quite the opposite.
The first question that pertains to our discussion is, who are they that God did not spare his son for? This is an easy question to answer because it is right here in the text, “for us all…” The next question is, who is “us all?” In order to find the answer to this question we have to go all the way back to verse 28.

Romans 8:28a (ESV)
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…

As we look at the first part of verse 28 we might say that this still fits a “universal atonement” (remember all views of the atonement limit it in some way) view. But look at the rest of the verse,

Romans 8:28b (ESV)
…for those who are called according to His purpose.

Paul goes to great lengths to specify who God is working for, and he says very clearly that God is working for those who are called according to His purpose. This means that the referent of verse 32 is the called. That would mean that “He did not spare His own Son but gave him up for” all of us the elect (notice the end of this sentence are my words not Scripture).

I hope to conclude some of my thoughts on this subject tomorrow. With two final thoughts.

1) The GodHead cannot be divided.
2) The intent of the cross is the extent of the cross.

A short expositional look and the doctrine of limited atonement

2006-04-17T10:51:00.000-04:00

I would like to continue to look at the doctrine of limited/definite atonement, and lest you accuse me of accepting a system rather than Scripture let me lead a short expositional look at the doctrine of limited/definite atonement from John chapter 10. At the outset I want to admit that my goal is not to “wax eloquent” on this passage. My intent is simply to put the Scripture before you, and let it speak for itself.

John 10:11 (ESV)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

This is an obvious reference to the crucifixion. Here Christ foreshadows the sacrifice that would be paid on the cross. Notice who Christ says the shepherd will lay down his for, it is the sheep. So the obvious question that pertains to our subject is who are the sheep?

John 10:27 (ESV)
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Here Christ answers are questions for us. The sheep are the ones who hear the voice of the shepherd, the shepherd knows the sheep, and the sheep follow the shepherd. These are the ones that the shepherd lays down his life for.

The obvious question that may be left in your mind is “what about the ‘all’ and ‘world’ passages in Scripture that seem to teach that Christ died for the sins of the world. This is a good question, because it comes from a desire to understand God’s word. I think that we can gain some insight into these passages with several thoughts. First is the use of hyperbolic language in Scripture. We should not have a hard time understanding hyperbole because we use it all the time (get it). Second, I think that we can be true to God’s word and interpret “world” and “all” to mean that the gospel is available to all people groups regardless of race. In other words, the gospel is available to the entire world not just the Jews. Again, lest you think that I am bowing to a system rather than Scripture look at John 10.

John 10:16 (ESV)
I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

I know that this has not been the most in-depth look at this doctrine, but that was never my goal. My prayer is that no matter what view you take on this doctrine you do so because your conviction of Scripture forces you to do so.

The Taboo topic: Limited Atonement

2006-04-14T09:50:00.000-04:00

The topic of limited atonement is one that has enticed many Christians into prolonged debate. In many cases it is a topic that has dragged many a Church through difficult times. The easiest thing to do would be to let the doctrine go; just don’t talk about it! The problem is that one way or the other the Bible addresses the issue, and that makes it our duty to understand it. This means that we are faced with the difficult task of tackling the doctrine of limited atonement. In doing this I know that I am opening up a can of worms, and so I would like to be transparent about a few things from the outset.

1. We all need to address this issue with humility seeking to honor our Savior in what we say and believe.
2. We need to seek to build up the church by understanding what the Bible teaches about the extent of the atonement.
3. We need to look beyond the buzz words and seek to understand if these doctrines match up with scripture.
4. I accept the doctrine historically known as limited atonement, but think that the term limited atonement has caused confusion as to the meaning of the doctrine (I would prefer definite atonement or even specific atonement.).
5. This is only a cursory look at the doctrine. Due to the nature of blogging, and my time constraints it is impossible to cover this issue as extensively as is possible.

Let’s Begin…

Upon some honest assessment we would have to agree that all views of the atonement are limited in some way. The Calvinistic (or traditional reformed) view of the atonement limits the atonement in scope. That is to say, Christ died for the elect guaranteeing their salvation. An Arminian (Or even in part those “Four point Calvinist”) view of the atonement limits the atonement in efficacy. That is to say, Christ died for everybody, but since everybody is not saved His death does not guarantee salvation for anybody. In the Calvinistic view Christ’s death saves the elect. In the Arminian view Christ’s death does not actually save anyone; rather Christ’s death makes it possible for God to save all those who freely believe.

Both of these views of the atonement are limited, or to put it a different way, defined to a specific group. There really is no way to accept an unlimited view of the atonement unless you are willing to accept universal salvation. If there are human beings who are not atoned for by the blood of Christ then the atonement is limited. At this point you may be “saying well I am still not willing to go all the way and accept limited atonement; all that I am willing to say is that Christ death is sufficient for all and effective only for the elect.” I am sorry to tell you this, but that is exactly what limited (or as I prefer definite) atonement is. Look back at how this view defines the atonement. Christ died for the elect, and guaranteed their salvation! Christ death was effective in the lives of the elect because God has called them. This doctrine does not teach that Christ death is not sufficient. As I covered in the last post, Christ is the infinitely good substitute that atones for our sin against an infinitely good God.

Romans 5:10
For if while we were enemies we wre reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

I think that is enough for today. I hope to continue this conversation in the days to come. Your input is welcome as I formulate my thoughts.

Why Infinite punishment for finite sin?

2006-04-12T09:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I presented two statements about Hell that I have been wrestling with over the past couple of day.

“Is Hell punishment that lasts forever because the guilt lasts forever? Or, Is Hell infinite punishment because God is a being of infinite worth, to whom we owe infinite obligation, and sin against Him requires infinite punishment?”

Let me look at each one of these separately.

Punishment lasts forever because guilt lasts forever.

This is a view that is proposed, most efficiently, by Shedd. Shedd illustrates his point by saying, “when a crime is condemned it is absurd to ask, how long is it condemned?” The thrust behind Shedd’s view is that once you have broken the law you are a criminal, and there is nothing that will ever change that. This seems logical enough, and seems to gain traction when viewed in light of James 2:10-11:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

Here we see that no matter how serious the law is that you break you are still a law breaker. To quote Shedd, “What, therefore, guilt legitimates this instant, it legitimates every instant, and forever.”

As appealing as this view seems it does have some problems with it. The greatest problem with this view is that in this view punishment has no capacity to expiate sin. If punishment cannot expiate sin one has to wonder how God is able to remit the sins of man on the basis of His outpouring of punishment on His Son at the cross.

Matthew 27:46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

How could Christ’s one time sacrifice atone for our eternal guilt?

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The implication of the view that guilt is inherently eternal would appear to be that even the death of the guiltless Messiah is not sufficient to take our guilt away from us. As appealing as this view seemed to me on the surface, the implications of this view do not adequately explain what Scripture teaches.

Hell is infinite punishment because God is a being of infinite worth, to whom we owe infinite obligation, and sin against Him requires infinite punishment.

This second view is most notable held by Anslem, and Edwards. The thrust of this view is that the true cause of sin is not so much the nature of the sin, but rather the nature of the one sinned against. In this case the one sinned against the infinite God. This explains how we, being punished according to what we have done, can be infinitely punished for a finite sin.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death…

Because we are punished according to what we have done we cannot be punished with infinite intensity; so it must be the case the Hell is infinite in duration. It seems reasonable to say that because God is infinitely holy no finite punishment could ever compensate for the evil of sinning against Him. I am more comfortable with this view for several reasons.

First, it explains why the finite sins of a human lifetime deserve an eternity of suffering. Second, the power of the atonement rests in the infinite nature of Christ. Edwards put it this way, “By reason of the infinite dignity of his person, his sufferings were looked upon as of infinite value, and equivalent to eternal sufferings of a finite creature.” (Works, vol. I, 640) Christ, an infinitely good being, removed our sin, which is infinitely evil, through His substitutionary work.

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I think that the words of John Piper best concluded these scattered thoughts, “The infinite horrors of hell are intended by God to be a vivid demonstration of the infinite value of the glory of God.” (John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, 22).

Romans 9:20-24
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Infinite Punishment

2006-04-11T09:07:00.000-04:00

posted by paul

Hell is not a very popular topic today, but it is a topic that has to be addressed. I know that in my own experience I have done little to understand God’s eternal wrath, or Hell. I know that in some ways God will withdraw His presence from those in Hell, but I also know that God will be present there through his outpouring of divine punishment. I know that apart from Christ we are all destined for Hell and that many will reject Christ and eternally be punished. Besides these rudimentary facts (along with a few others) I have not devoted much thought to Hell.

Over the last week, or so, I have spent so time looking at this often discarded subject. At this point I must confess that I do not have a lot to write about, but I have found myself faced with this question. Is Hell punishment that lasts forever because the guilt lasts forever? Or, Is Hell infinite punishment because God is a being of infinite worth, to whom we owe infinite obligation, and sin against Him requires infinite punishment?

Is there even a difference between the two? I think that I have an answer to this question, and maybe I will give it to you tomorrow. For now think about it.

You Reap What You Sow

2006-04-07T09:39:00.000-04:00

posted by Paul

Galatians 6:7-10

I. The principle: a man reaps what he sows.

a. Do not be fooled. Here is the principle behind Paul’s encouragement to share in the good and in the Bad with one another. Do not fool yourself by sowing little and expecting much. This is a principle that has always been true. We can go all the way back to Deuteronomy 28 to see this principle. Dt 28 lays out for us a list of blessings and curses which are dependent upon our actions. But this list should not be seen as God zapping everyone who makes a mistake. The list should show us that there are consequences to what we do. If we disobey God’s Word then we are doing things in a way that God would not do it. And frankly that can only lead to bad consequences. There is a direct correlation between sowing and reaping that has been established by God. We cannot just ignore the cause-and-effect relationships of this world. Studentds, do you realize that what you are sowing in your lives now as students you will reap your entire lives as adults? Do not think that you will grow up and then take things seriously. If you do not start now, you may never start. Guys if you have a problem with lust now you better nip it in the bud because it will not go away when you get older. And do not think that you can be a Christian and you can sin without any consequences. As I see it there are two problems with that. First, even as believers there are bad consequences for sin. There may not be eternal punishment for them, but there will be consequences for them. Second, remember what Jude says in verse four of his epistle. Things being what they are, the consequences will be what they will be.

b. God is not mocked. Why are there bad consequences for bad actions? Because God is the perfect and just judge of all the World. As we will see in the following verses one cannot expect to sow to the flesh and then reap eternal life, and so mock the justice of God, for God is not mocked. This phrase here literally means to turn your nose up at God. Those who claim to be Christians with their mouth, but deny him with their life cannot expect to sneak past God in the final judgment of the World. True conversion to Christ is not a mere human act of giving lip-service to Christ. Genuine conversion is a divine act by which the Spirit of Christ is made to dwell in our hearts giving us the ability to struggle with the flesh. There are attitudes that cannot coexist with true saving faith in Christ Jesus. This is why Jesus said that “many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord... but I will say depart from me. I never knew you (Matt 7:22-23).” In this passage Christ is not saying that they needed to be saved by what they did, instead he is saying that what they did (or did not do) proved that they did not believe. Some will look at this passage as a salvation by works passage; however that just does not “work.” Look at what their basis for Christ acceptance was: “did we not prophecy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” It never occurred to these men that their only basis for merit before the perfect and just judge of the world was Christ Jesus.

II. The application of the principle.

a. If you sow unto the flesh you will reap corruption. Having stated the general principle Paul now divides it into parts. Here we see the application of: “whatever a man sows he will also reap.” If you sow unto the flesh you will reap corruption. What is sowing unto the flesh? I think that sowing unto the flesh carries with it the idea of looking forward to the wants of this present life, without any regard to a future life. It is to be so entirely devoted to the flesh, as to direct all our thoughts to its interests or convenience. And when you sow unto the convenience of your own flesh you will reap corruption. Here Paul is alluding back to the end of chapter 5 and the works of the flesh. When we sow unto the flesh, it is clear that we will reap corruption outside of the kingdom of God.

b. If you sow unto the Spirit you will reap life. From two different fields one reaps a harvest that corresponds to the nature of the fields themselves: either corruption from the flesh, or eternal life from the Spirit. If you sow to the Spirit you will reap eternal life. To sow to the Spirit is have one’s views directed more to heaven than to earth, and to have one’s life regulated by the desire to reach the kingdom of God. From these spiritual seeds come incorruptible fruit. Here is a question that John Piper asks: “Do you get up in the morning and feel a need for the power of the Spirit in your life and so you seek his filling in the word (Bible) and prayer? Or when you get up do you feel like there is no time o seek his fullness and besides, this is a pretty normal day and I don’t need much help. A prayer on the stairs will do!” Every day I struggle to be the first one. Where are you? Do not forget, if you sow to the Spirit you will reap eternal life. Romans 6:20-23.

III. Do not grow weary in doing good.

a. We will reap in due time. Remember we are not to be fooled, God is not mocked and He will prevail. In due time we will reap the fruit of true labor. There are numerous biblical examples that we can look at and see how in due time they reaped the reward of Godly service. Think of Abraham. Look at the life of David. Even we do not see the fruit of our labors in this lifetime, as Paul said in the previous verse, we will have eternity to see the fruit. Missionary.

b. We will reap if we do not grow weary. We will reap in due time, and we will reap if we do not grow weary in reaping. Probably the worst enemy of enthusiasm is time. Human beings have a remarkable and sad capacity for getting tired of wonderful things. Vacation. Toys. Christians get tired of doing good. At first the excitement of teaching a Sunday school class was strong, but now you have grown weary of well-doing. The inner power and joy that comes from this well-doing slips away and it becomes a chore. You have lost heart. It is tiring to, and expensive to make an investment into the kingdom of God, but oh what a pay off.

IV. Work hard as doing good.

a. Now that you have opportunity. All that being said, now that we have the opportunity let us work hard at well-doing. When you get your paycheck (or just some money) look to see how to turn that money into the best advantage for God’s kingdom. Invest your time into where the Spirit aims to produce fruit for the glory of God. Just as there is a season for farming we have a season for well-doing. It is our whole life. God has set apart the whole of the present life for plowing and sowing. He has left us here to be salt and light. He has left us here so that we might bring Him glory in this earth. No that we have the time, in other words while we are alive, let us sow to the Spirit working hard to do good to all men.

b. To all, especially members of the divine household. We must work to do good to all men, but especially to those who are of the same house as we are. To those who are our brothers and sisters through Christ Jesus. There are duties which we owe to all men, but he tie of a more sacred relationship established by God himself, binds us to believers. What Paul is saying is that if you have limited resources then they should first go to the believers. If we as a church give all our money to the homeless people who come to the door how would we be able to do the things we need to do as a church?

originally posted on June 9th, 2005

A Word from Calvin on James 3:6

2006-04-05T12:27:00.000-04:00

"The fire sent by Satan is most easily caught by the tongue."

-Calvin

As Good As It Gets

2006-04-04T08:11:00.000-04:00

2006 National Champions

We Are The Boys From Old Florida

We are the boys from old Florida
F - L - O - R - I - D - A
Where the girls are the fairest,
the boys are the squarest
of any old state down our way. (hey)

We are all strong for old Florida,
down where the old Gators play.
In all kinds of weather,
we'll all stick together. for
F - L - O - R - I - D - A

Scattered thoughts on James 3:2-5a

2006-04-03T11:30:00.000-04:00

The Power of the Tongue
James 3:2-5a

Introduction:
-In verse 2 James continues to write about the importance of controlling the tongue.
-Here we see just how important it is for us to guard our speech.

Matthew 12:33-37:
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the
tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I. The proper use of the power of the tongue (vs. 2).

a. We all stumble in many ways.

-By saying this James’ exhorts us to meekness. It is so much easier to forgive other’s sin when we remember our own sin.
-Both in various ways, and very often.
-We are also less likely to put ourselves in a place of temptation when we understand our propensity towards sin. If we understand our problem with lust then we will not put ourselves in a situation where we will be alone with a girl. Or, if we understand our problem with using careless word we will not fill our minds with music, movies, or TV that is full of careless words.
-There is nothing that will help inhibit pride like a biblical anthropology.
-When James says that we all stumble he includes even himself; this problem of spiritual failure is common to all without exception.
-2:10. We are all guilty of the entire law.
-We are all sinners and to think differently is to deceive ourselves (I Jn 1:8; 10).
-Man’s problem is not a lack of self-esteem, but rather a view too high of himself.

b. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man… Able to bridle to the whole body as well.

-James is either speaking hyperbole when he says the perfect man, or he is speaking of the same result that he spoke of in 1:4.
-uses of teleios in James: 1:4a; 1:4b; 1:17; 1:25; 2:8; 2:22; 5:11. It is completeness and maturity, not the absence of sin.
-This is the goal of all Christians. We should all be working toward this end.
-“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” –Abraham Lincoln
-We must overcome the tendency of the mouth to stay closed when it would be more profitable for it to be closed.
-We must follow the example that Christ set for us when he controlled his tongue at the most crucial of moments: 1 Peter 2:21-23.
-If we can just control the tongue, which is prone to sin, then everything else will follow. If the Holy Spirit has control of the most volatile part of our being, how much more susceptible will the rest of our lives be to His control?
-This ability to restrain the tongue, and consequently the body, comes through the Spirit (who works through the word of God).
-Instead of sinning with our tongues we must, with James, admit our sins. It is when we can do this that we will find forgiveness through Christ (I John 1:9).

II. Illustrations of power of the tongue (vs. 3&4).

a. Horse.

-A horse can be controlled through the use of the bit. This comparatively small instrument, when placed in the mouth, enables the master to control its movements.
-Controlling the horse’s mouth controls the head which in turn controls the body.
-The bit lies on top of the horse’s tongue.
-Even the most gentle of horses, that have been rode for many years, are virtually uncontrollable without bits in their mouths

b. Ship.

-The largest ships in James’ day would have paled in comparison with the mega-ships that we have today. The ship that Paul sailed on when he was transported to Rome held 276 people on it.
-The point is not the size of the ship; the point is the size of the ship in comparison with the rudder.
- “Loose lips sink ships.”

IV. The danger of the power of the tongue (vs. 5a).

a. The tongue is a small part of the body… Yet it boasts of great things.

-Like the illustrations of the horse and the ship the tongue is small in comparison to the body, but it has great control over it.
-Like the WWII slogan looses lips can sink lives.
-Proverbs 18:6-7; 26:19
-Man’s natural tendency is to boast and to have too high a view of themselves. This is why James began these verses with an exhortation to humility.
-People will always talk about what is important to them. How many times do you use the word “I” in a conversation?

c. What our tongue should be saying: Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

-In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we get a great picture of what we should be talking about.
-Two of the most important resources in an army during NT times would have been the cavalry, and the navy. A cavalry with not bits and a navy with no rudders would have been useless.
-We must not be like a horse with no bit, or a ship with no rudder. We must let God’s word be the bit on our tongue and the rudder that guides our lives. When we are doing this our lives will be useful to God, and we will be mature and able to control our bodies.

Psalm 93:5b - The Application of God’s Word.

2006-03-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

posted by paul

In 5b we find the application of God’s Word. “Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore.” Spurgeon said, “No hangings, no tapestry become God’s house so well as holiness…” God is holy, and so his house must be holy. This idea of holiness is, in the truest sense of the word, is awesome. Holy is what God is. In Psalm 5:4-7 God’s holiness is described.

Psalm 5:4-7 (NASB95):
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your
eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The
Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by Your abundant
lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in
reverence for You.

God is holy because He does not take pleasure in wickedness, no evil dwells within Him, He is not fooled by the boastful, He hates all who do iniquity, he destroys liars, He abhors the man of violence and lies, and He is lovingly kind. This is what makes him holy. This is why His house, including those of His household, must be holy. God cannot tolerate unholiness. This is what God communicated through Moses in Leviticus 19:2.

Leviticus 19:2 (NASB95):
“Speak to all the congregation
of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your
God am holy.

Holiness is the highest aim that we can attain to, because God is holy. The problem is that we are not holy. The apostle Paul made is quite clear, in Romans 3:9-12, that no one is holy.

Romans 3:9-12 (NASB95):
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for
we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is
written,
“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who
understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside,
together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is
not even one.”

This is bad news for us. The Psalmist makes it clear that it is “holiness that befits” the house of the Lord, and we are not holy. We cannot be allowed in the door. But in His exceeding lovingkindness God had a plan. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we see exactly what that plan is.

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 (NASB95):
…God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them,
and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg
you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God has reconciled to Himself a people, and He has done it through Christ. He made Christ the bearer of our sin, and He made us the recipients of Christ righteousness. All this was done that “we might be holy as He is holy.” What a wonderful gift that God has made available to us. Not only has God made it possible, through Christ for us to enter into His house, but He has also made us ambassadors for Christ here on this earth. The apostle Paul, teaching this same point, uses slightly different language in Galatians 4:4-6.

Galatians 4:4-6 (NASB95):
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent
forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem
those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying, “Abba! Father!”

Through Christ we can be adopted into the family of God, and be made holy. If we will just repent and believe we will be saved (Mark 1:5). Remember, they only way that we can do this is through the rebirth of the Spirit by the imperishable seed of the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23; John 3:3, 5-8).

It is the confirmed testimonies of the King that make us holy, and consequently a part of His household. The Word of God is sufficient to save us, and effective in making us holy. God’s word, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, renews our mind so that we will not be conformed to the image of the world but rather be transformed into holy image of Christ. This is how powerful the word of God is, and it will be this powerful “forevermore.” Spurgeon illustrated this point well when he said, “Truth changed not its doctrines, which are sure, nor holiness its precepts, which are incorruptible.”

Conclusion:

There is but one fitting response the knowledge of the living and true God, submission. Submit to God, Believe in Christ, and be saved by the King of the Universe. When you do this the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:37-39 can be yours:

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through
Him who loved us. For
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other created thing, will be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 93: The Sufficiency of God's Word

2006-03-28T08:20:00.000-05:00

posted by paul

The Psalmist has established the reign of the King. The Lord reigns in majesty and strength eternally over all creation. His reign will continue to be threatened until the end of time, but He is too mighty and His throne too high for the waves of the rebellion. This is our King. He is a reliable King in whom we can trust. Because we can trust Him we can also trust His “testimonies.” Commonly God’s precepts are referred to as His testimony (see Psalm 119).

The Psalmist, having already spoken of God’s kingdom, now shows that the laws of that Kingdom are just and true and holy just like the King. If God is the majestic and strong King that we have been talking about then His word, or law, must be equally majestic and strong. Think about it! How else would a king rule besides through his decrees? Is there another way for a king to rule? No, a ruler of any kind has to use words- usually written words to rule. This is why our government has given us laws to follow. The government has established a legal limit for how fast we can drive, but we would not know what that limit was if it were not for signs on the side of the road. In fact, often times when we talk about state and federal officials we refer to them as lawmakers. This is because they govern us through the laws that they have passed. God rules over His creation in a similar way. He has given us “His Law” so that by it we will know the will of the King. The difference between God and human rulers is that God will perfectly enforce His law and He will judge all those who break it. If we want to know the will of the King then we must know His law, the Bible. The Bible is completely sufficient to guide conform our lives to the will of the King. We don’t have Senators calling us up individually on the phone to tell us what laws they would like each one of us to follow. There is one set of rules that is passed down through the law of the land. So too God has given us His law. He does not speak to us individually to give us special insight into His will because there is no need for Him to do so.

How often do we hear in our Christian culture about someone feeling the Spirit leading them to do something without having a clue what it means to be led by the Spirit? The Spirit works in a specific way. To be led by the Spirit is not to be led by your feelings; it is to be led by the Word of God. The Spirit of God works through the Word of God. In John 3 Jesus taught Nicodemus the importance of the Spirit of God in Salvation when He said:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God...” “
…Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be
amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it
wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and
where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (3:3,
5-8)

Before we can even accept the gospel message we first have to be reborn of the Spirit. In 1 Peter 1:23 we get an even clearer picture of what that looks like.

…for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable,
that is, through the living and enduring word of God. (1:23)

So it is the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, which brings us unto salvation. The testimonies of God are sufficient for our salvation. Based on these verses can we say that the Spirit leads us? Yes, but we must understand that the Spirit leads us through the ministry of the Word. Being led my the Spirit is not some special feeling that you have in you gut. Being led by the Spirit is having your mind renewed as the Spirit hides the word in our hearts.

What about when someone says, “God spoke to me.” Is that alright? Not, if they are talking about a voice they heard; or an emotional feeling that they had. If they mean that God has spoken to them through His written word, then great! God does not need to give us anything more than we already have. Would God reveal to us a Bible that was not sufficient? If we needed something that was not found in Scripture then why did God leave it out of Scripture? Why didn’t God provide for us what we needed when He gave us the Bible? The point that I am trying to make is that God has given us all that we need in the Bible, and when we add something to that we are taking away from the sufficiency of the Bible. Look at what John wrote about the testimonies of God:

1 John 5:9-12 (NASB95):
If we receive the testimony of men,
the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has
testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the
testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His
Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have the life.

The testimony of the King is greater than the testimony of any man because through the testimony of God we have been given eternal life. Look at what king David wrote about the testimonies of God:

Psalm 19:7-8 (NASB95):
The law of the Lord is perfect,
restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

In this Psalm the words “law,” “testimony,” “precepts,” and “commandment” are all synonymous. They are talking about God’s revealed word, the Bible. At the time this Psalm was written the Bible did not even contain all that it now does. But even then God’s word was perfect. Through the ministry of the Spirit, God’s word restores our souls; makes us wise; causes our hearts to rejoice; and enlightens our eyes to truth.

In Nehemiah 8:1-12 we see just how powerful God’s word is. Here we find all the people of Israel gathered together. They had recently returned from captivity, and had completed the rebuilding of the city walls just a few days earlier. They wanted Ezra to bring the book, and he did not disappoint. He preached the word of God for approximately six hours (vs3), the people mourned and wept over their sins (vs9), and then rejoiced at God’s grace (vs10) all because “they understood the words which had been made known to them (vs12).” These are the words of our King, and they are good.

The entirety of Psalm 119 speaks of God’s Word. We could pick any verse out of the 176 verses to display the sufficiency of God’s Word (Isn’t it telling that the longest chapter in the entire Bible is on the sufficiency of the Bible?). This one in particular is one of my favorites:

Psalm 119:144 (NASB95):
Your testimonies are righteous
forever; Give me understanding that I may live.

God’s testimonies are righteous forever. They are confirmed! All throughout Scripture we find God keeping His promises, and fulfilling prophesy. God’s word has never failed, and because His word is a part of His rule it will never fail.
God’s Word is all that we need. When Christ was being tempted in the wilderness by Satan (Luke 4:1-12) He did not call down His legions to defeat Satan; instead Christ used the word of God. Three times Christ answered Satan with the phrase “it is written.” If Christ, the very King Himself, did “not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” how much more do we need Scripture.

What are you reading?

2006-03-24T08:37:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

Are you reading right now? What are you reading right now? This is the constant conversation that we should be having with one another. There is no other book in all the world that displays the character and work of God better than the Bible. So, #1 on the list should be the Bible. We should be people of the book; this is what makes us the people of God.

The Bible is not all that we need to be reading it is important to read books. Specifically books that will further our knowledge of the Bible. But how do we choose what books to read? Here are the questions that Richard Baxter asked himself:

1. Could I spend this time no better?

2. Are there better books that would edify me more?

3. Are the lovers of such a book as this the greatest lovers of the Book of God and of a holy life?

4. Does this book increase my love to the Word of God, kill my sin, and prepare me for the life to come?

I dare say that if we would all take such care in what we read we would be better conduits of God's glory. When we are reading good books we are standing on the shoulders of giants. ON their shoulders we can have our heads in the clouds of biblical knowledge, and strive to attain an even higher knowledge of what God has revealed. When you pick up Calvin's commentary you and read it you know what Calvin knew! Calvin put in all the work, and you can reap the benefits.

Find good books by godly men, and read them.

Saturday Evening

2006-03-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

by John Newton

Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way;
Let us
now a blessing seek,
On th' approaching Sabbath-day:
Day of all the week
the best,
Emblem of eternal rest.

Mercies multiply'd each hour
Through the week our praise demand
Guarded by Almighty pow'r,
Fed
and guided by his hand:
Though ungrateful we have been,
Only made
returns of sin.

While we pray for pard'ning grace,
Through the
dear Redeemer's name,
Show thy reconciled face,
Shine away our sin and
shame:
From our worldly care set free,
May we rest this night with thee.

When the morn shall bid us rise,
May we feel thy presence near!
May thy glory meet our eyes
When we in thy house appear!
There
afford us, Lord, a taste
Of our everlasting feast.

May thy
Gospel's joyful sound
Conquer sinners, comfort saints;
Make the fruits
of grace abound,
Bring relief for all complaints:
Thus may all our
Sabbaths prove,
Till we join the church above!

For more poems from Newton, and plenty of other great puritan material, go to: puritansermons.com.

James 3:1

2006-03-22T08:10:00.000-05:00

posted by paul

James continues his letter in this next section, 3:1-12, by instructing his readers on the importance of controlling the tongue. Or, to put it another way, the importance of what you say. This may seem a like an unrelated topic that James rather arbitrarily jumps into, however, I think that we can see at least a couple of reasons why James would chooses this subject next. The most obvious reason is to prevent an over emphasis on the previous passage. Someone could have over reacted to James’ teaching in 2:14ff, and come to the conclusion that words don’t matter at all. Thus, it is James’ point in this next section that what you “do” includes what you “say.” Your words are a part of your actions. In fact, words in this section are connected with the works of the last section.
As is often the case with James we find that Jesus’ teaching on this subject is very similar to James. Look at Matthew 12:33-37:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its
fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can
you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which
fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and
the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that
every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in
the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words
you will be condemned.”

Christ’s point, as well as James point, is that your words reveal your character.

The second reason that I think that James introduces this subject of controlling the tongue is connected with 1:21-27. James’ command is to receive the word, and he continues to elaborate on what that means through vs. 27. In this section James first says that in order to receive the word on must do the word. Consequently, in is necessary for one to examine themselves with scripture like one would examine themselves in a mirror. This correlates with the section that we just finished in Chapter 2. The next step in receiving the word is found in vs. 26. “Bridle the tongue.” What we are about to cover correlates with this. So I think that we are justified in saying that this section of controlling the tongue goes hand in hand with receiving the word. The point is that if we want to be able to control the tongue we have to let scripture have its effect on our lives. Remember, it is the Spirit of God who works through the Word of God to make a lasting change in your life. If we want scripture to be effective in our lives we must follow James’ earlier command to be slow to speak, and quick to hear (1:19). Back in 1:21-27 James’ next step in receiving the word is to keep oneself unstained by the world. It may look like I am skipping a step because James first says “to visit orphans and widows in their distress.” Really this is a part of keeping oneself unstained by the world. In most of our English translations the word “and” had been added (notice italics). In the Greek there is no conjunction. I that we can reasonably say that the two (visiting and not staining) both represent pure undefiled religion, and are really a part of the same life change that will result form the Spirit of God working through the Word of God. This correlates with 3:13-5:6 (which we will discuss more in the coming months).
Now that we have introduced this new section on the tongue we need to introduce vs.1. The real question is “Why does James choose to start by warning those who wish to teach?” Or, “How does this verse fit into a section about controlling the tongue?” Putting this at the beginning of this section makes a lot of sense. The teacher fulfils his duties through the spoken word, the tongue; thus the importance of taming the tongue is magnified in the life of a teacher. James’ address to would be teachers shows that importance James placed on them. Churches were “houses of instruction” concerning spiritual matters, and thus the teacher played an important role. Communicating with words is one of the distinguishing marks of human life. Sure, all other creatures communicate in some way; but no animal communicated like we humans do. This is another wonderful show of God’s grace! God created us to communicate through words so that He could reveal himself to us in His word (the Bible). The job of the teacher, within the Church, is to understand to word of God and communicate that understanding in words to God’s people. This is a great responsibility, and James does not want anyone to take it lightly. James discourages many from teaching because it is dangerous, and exposes one to the possibility of a heavier judgment.

II. The Command

James commands that many should become teachers. Not everyone should be eager to get up and teach. The term teacher, in this context, should not be restricted to the office of teacher. James is talking to all who arise to instruct fellow members of the church; whether they are official teachers or not. This would have been a great temptation for a lot of people during this time. In some Jewish circles, rabbis were held in such high regard that a person’s duty to his rabbi was greater than his duty to his own parents. Many men relished the opportunity to get up and teach because the enjoyed the prestige. This was a society in which many people could not even read, and so to be the teacher was to hold a position of great status. Many would have wanted to teach, or even become teachers, just for this upward movement in status. Obviously too many of the new Jewish Christians aspired to teach. James worried about this problem because many men would have had the opportunity to teach. During synagogue services any respected man might be given the opportunity to speak. Frequently men from the congregation, or even visitors would be given the opportunity to read Scripture and give an interpretation. Even though Jesus was not an official rabbi he was given the opportunity to speak on at least one occasion (Luke 4:15-21) during the Sabbath day services. Frequently the Apostle Paul would be given the opportunity to speak in synagogues when visiting a new city (Acts 13:5, 14-15). Apparently it was also common for a mature Christian man to speak in a meeting during this early church time. James was leery of this practice, and commanded that “not many of you become teachers.” In this command James is obviously not attacking the office of teacher; in fact James identifies himself as a teacher in this passage. His aim was to restrain the rush on the part of those who were not qualified to teach. This command does not just apply to pastors. There are many people who teach in many different capacities. Most of you do some type of teaching every week. You may be teaching by the younger students looking up to you or by actually taking the time to talk with someone about spiritual things and scripture. The truth is that Jesus commanded that the whole church do the work of evangelism and discipleship. To fulfill these responsibilities we involve teaching on some level. There is a huge responsibility, and great accountability in teaching, and even interpreting the Word of God. No believer should begin to any form of teaching God’s Word without a deep sense of the responsibility that is involved. To sin with the tongue when alone or with one or two other persons is bad enough; but to sin with the tongue when acting as a speaker for God is immeasurably worse. Speaking for God carries with it great implications, both for good and ill. We have to be careful what we say. This is why it is so ridiculous to have newly converted celebrities or athletes speaking and teaching. Just because some guy hit fifty home runs and thanked Jesus does no mean he has the ability to teach. This is why Paul warned Timothy not to put a new believer in a position of authority (1 Tim 3:6). It took Paul three years in the desert under the direct training of the Lord before he was prepared for his ministry (Gal 1:17-18; Acts 9:19-22). We are all going to be put in positions to teach at some point; we must be careful and remember that the responsibility of teaching far outweighs the prestige of being a teacher.

II. The Reason
In the second half of this verse we find out the reason why the responsibility of teaching outweighs the prestige of being a teacher: “…as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” The teacher, whose privileges are greater, will be judged with a special strictness. Take me for example; one of my jobs here at the church is to lead the youth. As the youth leader I am responsible for the teaching that the youth receive in our youth classes. Because of that responsibility I spend many hours preparing to teach on the passage we will be studying. I get paid to study my bible, which is what all Christians are required to do, and so I have a greater responsibility to understand God’s word. Not only would I be failing to work diligently at my job if I didn’t work to understand Scripture, but I would also be held accountable for all the time that I could have been studying that I wasted. A person teaching also is held to a higher standard because that person has influence over many people. Look at what the Apostle Paul said about the false teachers plaguing the Galatians:

Galatians 1:8-9: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a
gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we
have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Galatians 5:10: I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no
other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he
is.

If you teach something incorrect to someone else not only are you leading yourself astray, but you are also leading those listening to you astray. The primary reason that teachers will incur a stricter judgment is because their ministry involves speech, which we will see to be the hardest of all parts of the body to control (vs. 8); this exposes them to greater danger of sin and thus greater danger of judgment. This should increase everyone’s desire to obey James’ command in 1:19 and be slow to speak.

Psalm 93: The Frustration of any Challenges

2006-03-21T10:22:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

“More than the sounds of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty.” The Psalmist is not worried about the challenges to the throne of God, because he knows that the world is firmly established in the strong hand of the majestic King. The Lord’s throne is “on high” and protected from the onslaught of the rebellious waves. This must have been reassuring to the nation of Israel; whether they were facing opposition or celebrating victory the Psalmist knew that God was the source of their strength.
Scripture consistently portrays God as a source of strength and refuge.

Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”

It should not be hard for us here in Florida to gain a mental image of a place of refuge in the midst of a storm. Here in Florida most of us have probably been through a Hurricane in our lives. Down here we know the drill. Get water, get gas, bring everything in that could turn into a missile, and most importantly hunker down. You have to find a safe place in your home, or the shelter, with no windows. Then you have to depend on the roof to hold. This is not all that different with God. He is our safest place of refuge in the midst of the most difficult storms of life. The strongest place to take refuge is His Word. When we are in His word we are receiving the full benefits of sanctification and are equipped with the tools to deal with trials (but more on this later).
As we have seen in vs. 2 the Lord will always reign. This means that there will never be a rebellion that succeeds. No one can usurp the throne of the Lord. We can be assured that ultimately God will defeat all rebellion. This should be frightening for all men because Romans 5:10 tells us that we were all at one point the enemies of God. Thankfully in this same verse we see that through Christ Jesus we can be reconciled to God. We can dessert our post on the side of the rebellion and be made a part of the people of God. Through Christ we can join the victorious army of God, and live to glorify God rather than fight against Him. This is no small thing. In Matthew 16:18 we see that upon the Rock, that is, Christ the Church will be built and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. So, even though we have rebelled against God through our sin God has sent His Son to die for us so that we can be reconciled to God. Through the Gospel God has chosen a people for Himself and taken them out of the rebellion.
But for those who continue to rebel against God judgment is coming. Revelation 12:8-12 makes it clear that in this last battle God will be victorious. God will win because he is God, and the rebellious will be eternally punished (Revelation 20:1-3, 7-10). When we recognize that the Lord reigns, and we submit to Him, we will enjoy the peace that comes from being in the place of refuge. As the Hymn writer put it:

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

Psalm 93:3: Challenges to God's Reign

2006-03-20T08:14:00.000-05:00

posted by paul

The Floods of Many Challenges

Napoleon Bonaparte was once asked, “Is God on the side of France?” Blinded by his own power and proud of his own success, this arrogant military leader replied, “God is on the side that has the heaviest artillery.” In saying this Napoleon meant that it did not matter what God willed, but only what he willed. Later on, Napoleon boasted, “I make circumstances.” For those of you who are history buffs you know that these quotes were before Waterloo. It was in 1815 that Napoleon’s French army (yes that did exist at one time) advanced across Europe into Belgium with the aim of destroying the armies of Britain and Russia. Despite having the heaviest artillery, this diminutive dictator, lost both the battle and his empire. In this defeat Napoleon was not only humbled, but was also unseated from his throne and exiled to the desolate island of St. Helena. I guess that you could say that Napoleon made this circumstance, but it did not come out quite like he envisioned.

As Napoleon had time to contemplate his military defeat, Napoleon changed his perspective about his power, history, and even God. Napoleon gave up the idea that God is on the side that possesses the greatest human strength. Quoting Kempis, this once proud ruler recognized that “Man purposes, but God disposes.” Napoleon had to learn the hard way that it is God not a circumstance that is sovereign. God has scripted history, He enthrones rulers, and he controls His Kingdom.

We can be sure of two things from vss. 3-4. First, there will be rebellions against God that seek to usurp His rule. Second, God will not be usurped.

The Psalmist writes,
“The floods have lifted up,
O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice,
The floods lift up their pounding waves.”

In the OT in particular the sea is seen as an emblem of hostility. In Isaiah 17:12-13 we see that “the uproar of the peoples” is like “roaring of the sea.” In Isaiah 57:20 we see that the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot be quieted. From this we can see that when the Psalmist writes of the floods lifting up he is referring to those who will rebel against God. At least two similar passages are found in Psalter.

114:3: The sea looked and fled; the Jordan turned back.

106:9: Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and dried it up, and He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.

In Psalm 106 we see that the Psalmist’s reference to the sea may also allude to the parting of the Red Sea. It is not surprising that we can find an allusion to the parting of the Red Sea in this Psalm since the Psalm opens with the conclusion of Moses after crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 15:18). Yahweh was the great warrior (Exodus 15:3) who defeated the so-called god Pharaoh and reigned as King over Israel. Also, the reference to the “voice” of the flood, or the noise has an interesting correlation to Jeremiah 46:17. In this passage we see that Pharaoh, as mighty as he was, was nothing but a noise to God. Pharaoh’s time to rule was appointed by God, and his “time to pass” was appointed by God (sounds a lot like Napoleon doesn’t it?).

God’s rule will be challenged by the rebellious; we can see this all throughout scripture. In Numbers 16 we find one of the most gruesome examples of men rebelling against God. He we find Korah and his band rebelling against God’s commands. In essence Korah sought to usurp Moses’ authority and wanted everyone to be priests (vss. 1-3) even though God had only chosen a few to perform the duties of the priest. God did not allow Korah to steal His authority, and not only did he not allow Korah to be a priest but he also justly punished Korah and his band (vss. 31-35). There is an example of rebellion that is even more severe than that of Korah; the rebellion of the fallen angels. In 2 Peter 2:4 we see that some of the angels rebelled against God by sinning. In Luke 10:18 Christ describes Satan as “[falling] from heaven like lightning.” Satan’s rebellion was the ultimate rebellion. Now Satan is the leader of the rebellion against God. In Romans 8:38 we see that Satan and his demons are working, in vain, to separate the people of God from the love of God. Daniel 10:12ff shows us that Satan and his demons are also working against God’s angels. In this sense we should picture two armies with two kings that are battling one another. In fact, this is exactly what we see in Revelation 12:7.

I think that it is accurate to say that the “floods” that the Psalmist writes about represent challenges to God’s reign as King of the Universe by the rebellious. However, even if we interpret “floods” and “waves” to mean literal “floods” and “waves” we still see the majesty of God portrayed in His strength. Scripture makes it clear that God is in control of nature. In Luke 8:22-25 the Lord’s control over the water is particularly seen. Here we find Christ and His disciples in a boat crossing the water. During this voyage a huge storm came up and threatened the safety of the men aboard the boat. The disciples panicked, but Christ proved that despite the disciples’ lack of faith and the despair of the situation He was still in control. The Lord Reigns.

Who is the Gospel for?

2006-03-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

My wife and I have lived in the same apartment building for about 15 months now. Quite frankly they are not the nicest apartments in town, nor are the in the nicest area of town. Frequently I arrive home from my night shift and find the police in our parking lot dealing with various illegal activities. We have had everything happen since we have been there from fires, to domestic disturbances, once we had a cow (literally), we have even had to call 911 about shot fired in our building. The nice thing about living in these apartments is that we do not get many salesmen knocking on our door. I haven’t seen one JW since we moved into this place! Since we have been there we have had three people come to our door 1) a guy selling news paper subscriptions 2) An elderly couple passing out Christian literature, 3) A couple of young men knocking on doors with their bibles. It is the last two of these that I am curious about.

The elderly couple that knocked on our door were a very sweet looking pair. They were both in their mid-sixties and spoke with a slight Spanish accent (which is not all that uncommon in the Tampa area). They were both carrying old warn copies of the Bible that they had obviously been poring over for years. I was delighted to see them, and hoped to have an encouraging conversation that would send them on their way to do their work. Before I was able to say anything they looked at me and asked “are there any Hispanics living in this apartment?” To which is answered “no.” Promptly, and without saying another word they turned and left. I wasn’t sure what to say, but all that came out was “have a nice day.”

The two young men that I mentioned did not actually knock on my door. I ran into them in the hallway outside my door while loading my truck with some things. I was making several trips back and forth when I noticed that they too were knocking on doors with their bibles. They knocked on my neighbors door spoke shortly with her and then left. They then began to knock on the door of a vacant unit. I let them know that there was no one home, and asked them what they were doing. They thanked me for the info, and said they were knocking on peoples doors. To that I thought “duh!” But before something kinder and more intellectual came out of my mouth they walked away from me. I noticed that they knocked on several people’s doors only to have a brief word then leave. Finally, they found someone to speak to and that they did for quite a while. As I thought about it later in the day I realized what I had seen. These two young black men were only stopping to talk to our black neighbors.

In both of these instances churches were racially focusing their evangelism. Neither one of these door to door campaigns were open to all people. The Hispanic church only wanted Hispanic people, and the Black church only wanted Black people. Obviously there are political and cultural questions that come to mind, but more importantly we should be asking who is the Gospel for? I know that these are extreme examples of evangelism, and by no means am I painting a picture of Hispanic Christians or Black Christians. I want to make it clear that this is not a problem stemming from race but it is a problem indicative of many churches today. Why do churches need to have a demographic? Why do churches look to Barna and try to figure out how to minister best to a certain group of people? The apostle Paul was all things to all people. He did not need to poll the people to see what they wanted, he knew that they needed the Word and that is what he gave them.

Before you leave this blog I want you to see an example of the Gospel going out to all people worldwide. My parents just returned from China. They were there on a one-on-one (actually two-on-one) evangelistic campaign.

They did not preach at any stadium; nor did they go knocking on doors. My parents went to China and adopted my new little sister. They gave the hope of the “power of God unto salvation” to a little girl in an orphanage that may have never heard the Gospel otherwise. We are praying that my parents’ missionary trip will yield much fruit! We are praying that God will adopt little Grace Elyse just like our family has adopted her.

Psalm 93: The Kingdom

2006-03-13T07:37:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

Part of God’s character is to reign over the earth with majesty and strength. Consequently, “the world is firmly established.” The fact that God spoke the world into existence demonstrates that He is sovereign over that creation. Free to create or not create, God spoke the universe into existence. The fact that God created what He wanted when He wanted is a strong statement of the absolute control of God. From creation God had this power, and he has not relinquished it. If it were not for God’s sovereign rule over creation then we could not be sure of anything. As it stands now we know that the sun will rise in the morning and set in the evening. Instinctively we breathe in and out without ever wondering if there will be air. It is God who holds all of these things together. This is exactly what Colossians 1:15-17 teaches. It is Christ who not only created the world, but also holds it together. This earth belongs to God, and it is his kingdom. The kingdom of God is a very common theme in the Bible both in OT and in the NT. In the OT the kingdom of God primarily refers to God’s special reign over Israel and a more general reign over the entire earth (Really, the only difference is the Israel acknowledge that God was in control.). But there is another aspect to the kingdom of God that is seen more clearly in the NT, particularly in the teachings of Christ in the gospels. It is in these teachings that Christ taught concerning an eschatological kingdom (Matthew 24:14). We could say that there are two aspects of the kingdom of God; there is the “already” and the “not yet.” The “already” we talked about; God is enthroned as King of the Universe and the whole world is under the control of His majestic strength. The “not yet,” which Christ spoke of, has only been initiated and it awaiting it final fulfillment at the return of Christ. Lets look at a couple of passages in the gospels to see if we can get an idea for what Christ is teaching:

Luke 17:21 (NASB95): “nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
-Here we see that the kingdom of God in some way had begun with the ministry of Christ.

Matthew 24:13-14 (NASB95): “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
-Here we see that the kingdom is part of the gospel.
-We also see that the kingdom will be consummated in the “end.”

Luke 12:32 (NASB95): “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.
-Here we see that the kingdom has been given to the flock (the Church).

Matthew 26:29 (NASB95): “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
-Here we see that Christ will return again in this kingdom.

So from just these few passages we can see that Christ initiated this kingdom through his earthly ministry. He did this by fulfilling the Scriptures and creating salvation through the gospel. Through this the father has given this kingdom to the sheep that are saved by the gospel of Christ. This kingdom already exists in the sense that Christ has completed his earthly ministry. However, this kingdom cannot be completely realized until God has called all of His sheep around the world. It is at that time that Christ will return and his sheep will have fellowship with their shepherd. During this time Christ will sit on a literal throne and visibly reign as king for one thousand years (Zechariah 14:9-16; Revelation 20:1-7; & 22:5). The Lord reigns over the earth now, and it is the hope of the Church and the promise of God that Christ will return as king and reign visibly for a thousand years. This will be the visible manifestation of the current invisible reign of God.

The Lord’s majestic and strong reign over the world is firmly established, and “is everlasting.” We can be assured that the Lord’s reign will never end because we know that it never begun. God’s reign is intrinsic in His character. As A.W. Pink put it, “Divine Sovereignty simply means that God is God.” Since God had no beginning, He just was, so too was his sovereignty. This is evidenced by the fact that He created the universe. This means that before the world began he had the authority to decide to create the world. This is no upstart sovereignty. Scripture tells us that God was there before the beginning (Genesis 1:1), and thus His existence is not dependent upon anything else. All other creatures depend on something to sustain their lives. With God, however, there is no such need. Here the Psalmist says that not only was God’s “throne…established from of old,” but also that “[He] is from everlasting.” God has always existed, and His existence is not dependent upon anything else. Just as He existed before anything else came into being, so he will continue to exist independent of everything else. As we are about to see in the following verse we never have to worry about an opposing king defeating our king and taking His throne. The Lord Reigns.

Psalm 93: The Lord Reigns

2006-03-10T08:29:00.000-05:00

posted by paul

Augustine, one of the great theologians in church history, was once walking along the beach greatly perplexed by the doctrine of the Trinity. He could not grasp the truth of the triune nature of God. Because he could not fully understand this doctrine he was tempted to reject it. As he continued to walk along the beach he came upon a little boy playing on the beach. As he watched the child, he saw him run to the water with a seashell, fill it with water, and then return and pour the water into a small hole that he had dug in the sand.
“What are you doing, my little man?” asked Augustine.
“Oh,” the boy replied, “I am trying to put the ocean into this hole.”
Augustine smiled at the little boy’s faith in the face of the impossibility of such a task. Then he suddenly realized that when it came to God he was guilty of trying to do the same thing. “That is what I am trying to do with God,” the saint later confessed. “I see it now. Standing on the shores of time, I am trying to get into this little finite mind things which are infinite.”
Augustine came to the conclusion that the nature of God is not dependant upon what Augustine thinks of Him. Rather, the nature of God is revealed to the mind of Augustine through Scripture.

We must be very careful about how we think about God. Our thoughts about God, our Theology Proper, must come from what God has said about Himself. This means that every thought we have about God must come from Scripture. A very good place to start when it comes to thinking about God is Psalm 93. In this Psalm we see the supremacy of God, and the sufficiency of His word outlined. We cannot be certain what the historical context of this Psalm is; we have no author, or heading for this Psalm. As we make our way through this passage I think that we will see that his Psalm was written in one of two contexts: 1) The nation of Israel was facing an immanent threat from an enemy, and they needed to be reassured to place their trust in the Lord. 2) The Lord delivered the nation of Israel from one of its enemies, and this Psalm was a song of praise. We cannot be sure of either of these, but we can be sure that a proper understanding of this passage will provided the child of God with great comfort and assurance.

The Lord reigns. It is His very nature, which included majesty and strength, to reign. And as we will see later in this passage no matter what challenges are brought against His rule the Lord remains unchanged. The Lord’s reign is a very important idea to understand. The word here that is translated as reigns has the idea of a king on His throne. This should not have been unfamiliar to Israel; this was the precise conclusion of Moses after crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 15:18). Yahweh was the great warrior (Exodus 15:3) who defeated the so-called god Pharaoh and reigned as King over Israel. What an assurance it must have been for Israel to know that Yahweh reigned over them. No matter what enemy they faced, and no matter what earthly king they had, Yahweh reigned. This is the very nature of God. Any idea of God that is less than Him reigning over the entire universe is wrong. When we do not attribute to God the power which belongs to Him, as we ought, we are rebelling against His authority. To view God as less sovereign than He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture is the source of much unnecessary fear and anxiety. This was the point that Jesus made in Matthew 6:25-34. Our God reigns and for us to think any differently is not only wrong, but it is the source of much anxiety and fear.

Not only does our God reign, but He does so with majesty and strength. The Psalmist writes “He is clothed with majesty.” He is not clothed with the emblems of majesty, but with majesty itself. Everything that surrounds Him is majestic. He does not need robes, or rings, or sashes, or even a crown to identify Himself as a King. His majesty does not flow from his outer clothing. His majesty flows from His very nature. Let me show you what I mean by contrasting two separate uses of this same Hebrew word (גֵּאוּת gē˒ût) for majesty taken from the book of Isaiah. First, In Isaiah 12:5 the same word for majesty is translated “excellent things.” So, one place that we can see God’s majesty is in the excellent things that He has done. Since the cross references for the excellent things that God has done include the whole Bible, I will let you just look around at this world that God has created to see an example of God’s majesty. The next use of this word that we will look at is found in Isaiah 28:1-3. Here the word is translated as “proud,” and signifies man’s imitation majesty represented by a crown. Man needs something to make himself appear majestic; however the Lord’s majesty is who He is. This is why He told Moses to tell the people that “I Am” had sent him (Exodus 3:14). If that had been an earthly king he would have had to send his insignia, or some proof of his authority. In contrast the Lord’s exhibition of majesty was Himself.

The Psalmist goes on to say that not only is the King known by His majesty, but also by His strength. C.H. Spurgeon put is this way, “His Garments of Glory are not his only array, He wears strength also as his girdle.” It is important at this point to say that the Lord is always strong and majestic, but at times He displays this power in a special way to His people and thus it is said that He is clothed in Majesty and strength. God’s sovereign strength is one of the fundamental truths of the Bible. Although from a human perspective it may appear to be otherwise, God is in control over all things. Unfortunately, there is another image of God that our culture has created. It is a god, as Steve Lawson puts it, that is "made in our own image." We seldom hear about the sovereign strength of God, and men live as if there is no God at all. Too often people talk about God as if he has been dethroned. Many speak of God as if he has put Himself in subordination to the will of His own creation. Is this codependent god, who is always trying to come up with solutions for earthly problems and all too often falling short, the God of the Bible? No, God is not limited by the will of man. God reigns in majesty and strength. This proper biblical view of God must be a constant theme for our lives, and especially for our prayers. We must pray to Him knowing that He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. If we do not view God properly then we will make Him out to be in our own image. Thankfully the God who reigns over the universe is not like me.

Don’t make God out to be that weak by your thoughts and actions. Run to Him in prayer, and in your deepest time of fear and anxiety remember that “the Lord Reigns.”

*Expect to see more on Psalm 93 in the coming days*

Plumbing the Depths with Carey Hardey

2006-03-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

Carey Hardey
Senior Associate Pastor
Grace Community Church

BIO:
In addition to his responsibilities as senior associate pastor, he shepherds a Sunday-morning fellowship group. He also teaches at our annual Shepherds’ Conference, as well as teaching on various issues related to biblical counseling, marriage, and the Christian life at other churches and Bible conferences. Carey is also an adjunct professor at The Master’s College and Seminary. Carey graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1977. In 1984 he sold his pharmacy to be on the staff of a church in Texas as Christian school principal and minister of music. Carey came to California in 1990 to study at The Master’s Seminary and graduated with a master of divinity degree. He and his wife, Pam, have four children.1

Last week Carey Hardey gave a seminar on counseling titled plumbing the depths. Here are the highlights:

Big Picture Issues to look for in counseling

1. Wrong Goals
2. Lust
3. Wrong Priotities
4. Fear of Man
5. Love of Self
6. Wrong View of God
7. Lack of Trust in God
8. Pride
9. Blameshifting

These are some major issues that will present themselves in actions like anger, depression, etc.
If you are anything like me you have repented about each and everyone of these issues.

Here are some steps to pick up on these issues:

1. Gather Data
2. Make a Biblical Interpretation
3. Be Familiar with Scripture
4. Give Biblical Answers

1. Bio taken from the Grace Community Church Web page.

A Thought From Machen

2006-03-07T11:20:00.000-05:00

Instead of notes from the Shepherd's Conference I would like to share this quote from J. Gresham Machen:

"The fellows are in my room now on the last Sunday night, smoking the cigars and eating the oranges which it has been the greatest delight I ever had to provide whenever possible. My idea of delight is a Princeton room full of fellows smoking. When I think what a wonderful aid tobacco is to friendship and Christian patience, I have sometimes regretted that I never began to smoke."1

I am sure that this was before modern medicine figured out the dangers of smoking. Was there even a "surgeon general" back then to let people know how dangerous everything is for them? Or, maybe the vitamin c in the oranges helps with the smoke inhalation.

*Thanks to Joel Kent for finding this quote and sending it my way.*

1. Ned. B. Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir
(Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987, originally published in 1954, 17 years after Machen's death), p. 506.

The Joy of God

2006-03-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

On Wednesday night of this Year’s Shepherd’s Conference John MacArthur preached in Luke 15. This sermon, on the Prodigal son, is one of the finest examples of expository preaching that I have ever encountered. Pastor MacArthur demonstrated exactly what Steve Lawson preached about from Nehemiah 8. The force behind MacArthur’s sermon was “The Joy of God in the Recovery of Sinners.” This is quite an amazing thought! God finds joy in our salvation. In fact, this is why he created the world; that we might be restored to him and bring him glory through His joy. As we read through this parable we must note that Jesus’ comments were directed at the Pharisees and Scribes who were grumbling at the presence of sinners and tax collectors.

“The Joy of God is in the Recovery of Sinners”
John MacArthur
Luke 15

vss. 11-12a A Shameful Request
-The younger son shames his father.
-In essence he told his father that he could not wait until he was dead.

vss. 12b A Shameful Response
-The father gave into his son’s ridiculous request.
-By giving his son this much freedom he is heaping shame onto himself.
(Notice that the older brother is nowhere to be found)

vs. 13 A Shameful Rebellion
-“gathered everything together” he turned his inheritance into cash fast
-It was a cheap fast sale at a discount price.
-He went into a Gentile land; an unclean place.
-For this boy they probably would have had a full fledged funeral.
-He squandered his money on prostitutes (vs. 30)
-He fed swine; this would have been an outrage. This was not his employment; the man in the field was just trying to get rid of him. No one even paid him.
-The lesson is that sin is this outrageously rebellious to God. Jesus invented the ultimate sinner for this story.

vs. 17 A Shameful Repentance
-The starting point of repentance is an accurate assessment of one’s position.
-He remembered his father’s goodness and faith in his father’s mercy.
-He understood that he had sinned as high as heaven.
-He was going to repay his father by working for him.
-The people of the town would have been obliged to publicly scorn the son upon his arrival into the town.

vs. 20 A Shameful Reconciliation
-Pharisees: “How weak is this guy?”
-He runs through the town, which would have been a disgrace because is would have revealed himself to the entire town, in order to take the shame that the son would have received from the town.
-The Pharisees could not understand this because they didn’t understand grace.
-The son didn’t even mention earning reconciliation because he had already received reconciliation.
-God finds joy in the recovery of one lost son just like the father found joy in the recovery of his son.

vs. 22 A Shameful Rejoicing
-The best robe was the father’s robe usually reserved from the oldest son’s wedding.
-The ring gave him the full authority of the father.
-The father held the party to celebrate his own joy.

vss. 25-26 A Shameful Reaction
-The fact that the older son was in field and had no idea what was going on showed that he had no relationship with the father, nor did he care about his father’s joy. This was probably the first person that the Pharisees understood.

vs. 28 A Shameful Reply
-Instead of making the son go into the party he pleaded with his son to go into the party.
-The older son had no interest in the father’s joy.
-He attacked his father’s grace, but his father still responded gently.

Even though we do not really have an ending to this story- the son’s reaction to the father is not recorded- we do know what would have happened. The oldest son would have taken a piece of fire wood and beat his father to death. The reason that we know this is because the oldest son represents that Pharisees, and the Father represents God. The Pharisees did not understand grace, and so the killed Jesus.

IT ALL ENDS AT THE CROSS

Steve Lawson on Preaching

2006-03-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

As promised today I will begin to post some of my notes from the Shepherd’s conference. This past week was an incredible week because the Word of God was proclaimed. There was a common theme that came up among the keynote speaker, particularly in the Q&A session. The theme was that they did not know anything that someone else had not taught them. Particularly they did not know anything except for what Scripture had taught them. This is an honorable goal, to never have an original thought. So many time men see the ministry as their ministry. They think that if they can just come up with a new dynamic approach, or reduplicate something that someone else has done they will be successful. The problem is that we never see this model in Scripture. Think of the life of Moses. His job was not to come up with inventive ways to motivate the people, and inspire them to follow God. Moses was the mouthpiece of God; his job was to proclaim the Word’s of God. Moses did not have a “dynamic” approach to ministry that focused on putting people in the pews. Think about what one of the most well attended services in Moses’ life was.

Exodus 32:1-10 (NASB95)

1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
2 Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
5 Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
6 So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom ayou brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8 “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ”
9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ban obstinate people.
10 “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

Aaron had a new idea!

The point of all this is that we need to give people the Word. Whether you’re a pastor, husband, father, wife, mother, or whatever your ministry your primary tool must be the Revealed Word of God. This is exactly what God has called us to do. Look at one of the greatest biblical examples of this type of expository ministry.

Nehemiah 8:1-12 (NASB95)

1 And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel.
2 Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
4 Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand.
5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.
6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place.
8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
9 Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
10 Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved."
12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.

Ezra preached the Word to the people. This is exactly what Steve Lawson did on Friday night. My recommendation would be to find the audio. I will, however, provide the notes.

Bring the Book
Nehemiah 8

vs. 1 The Call for Biblical Preaching
-Every reformation or awakening begins with the Word!
-Ezra was a man given to the study of the Word (See Ezra 7).

vss. 2-8 The Character of Biblical Preaching (5 Traits Every Sermon Should Have)
1. A Biblical Reading (vs. 3)
2. A Lengthy Treatment (vs. 4)
3. An Authoritative Posture (vss. 5-6)
4. A God Exalting Thrust (vs. 6)
5. An Explanation of the Text (vs. 7-8)

vss. 9-12 The Consequences of Biblical Preaching
-Their first reaction to Biblical Preaching was repentance, not fulfillment (etc.)!
- Once the recognized their sin they were able to understand God’s Grace.

Even if you are not a Preacher you can see the impact of this passage; call for the Word to be taught. If you are Preaching then Preach the Word!

If you are unfamiliar with Steve Lawson he is the Preaching Pastor at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, AL. He is a faithful brother who has been through a lot during his ministry. You can learn more about his ministry at the CFBC website.

Some Thoughts on God

2006-03-04T21:26:00.000-05:00

After a few days at the Shepherd's Confernce in Sun Valley California I am energized to for the work of the ministry. On the plane back to FL I had some time to just collect a few thoughts on God based on the lectures this week. Hopefully next week I will post some of my notes from some notable sermons. Look for:
-One of the greatest messages I have ever heard from Steve Lawson.

-Phil Johnson's second look at Fundamentalism.

-John MacArthur on the Prodigal son.

- R.C. Sproul on the Wrath of God.

- Al Mohler on the job description of a Preacher.

For now here are my thoughts:

The Knowledge of God is the leading cause of which everything else in ourl ives is the resulting affect. Who we believe God to be impacts every area of our lives. Our attitudes, actions, thoughts, relationships, and ultimate destiny will all be determined by our knowledge of who God is and what He has done. With som uch on the the line we need to be precise in our search of truth. To be precise we must acquire our knowledge of God through God's revelation. God has revealed to us every truth about himself that we need for salvation. God has allowed us to look in on the inner working of the Trinity, see His creative power, experience His grace, and so much more.

Despite this self revelation we don't understand God, and many times, we construct our view of God in our own image (Steve Lawson's book is very helpful in this matter). This sin of idolatry is the foundation for man's sin. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan because they lowered their view of God to something that they could attain. If they had had a proper view of the would have known that equality with God is unattainable (Unlike the first Adam, the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, understood who God was and lowered himself to the form of a man to die for men.) In light of this propensity towards idolatry the second commandment becomes vey important.

Exodus 20:4-6(NASB95)
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, cvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to athousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

When we dont's know who God is we try and replace His revealed plan for liturgy and rituals. Men take the infinite knowledge of God and trade is for the glory of a bird!

Shepherd's Conference

2006-03-01T23:58:00.000-05:00

posted by Paul

Today has been too full a day at the Shepherd's Conference at Grace Community Church (The Mother Ship) to do any posting. I have also been eagerly waiting an update from my parents who are in China (in the process of adopting our new sister Grace Elyse; see sidebar). Hopefully they will check in soon. We are praying fervently for them.

Busy Day

2006-02-28T06:10:00.000-05:00

Posted by Paul

Today is quite an unusual day. Today I will have made two trips to the airport. The first, which I have just returned from, was to take my parents to the airport.

My parent's story is quite an amazing one. It started well over a year ago when my parents told us (my brother, myself, and my wife to be) that they had decided to adopt a little girl from China. Our first reaction, to be frank, was shock. But it did not take long for the shock to subside, and the excitement to take over. This leads us to today. I have just returned from taking my parents to the airport where they will hop on a flight to California where they will then leace for China. In just over two weeks they will be home, and we will have our new sister Grace Elyse Shirley. We will not be able to talk on the phone with Moma and Dad so we have started a blog to stay in contact. We would love for you to participate in this process with us, and I sure under the circumstance you will enjoy a "where I am now post."

My second trip to the airport will be this afternoon for myself. I will be heading out to California myself for the Shepherd's Conference. I am very excited, but at the same time I will miss my wife. In fact, for a very special reason I feel bad leaving her at home; she is pregnant! She is almost 8 weeks along, and we could not be more excited. After losing a baby last year we are happy that this pregnancy seems to be so strong. Last Wednesday we weny for our first sonogram. My child is about 1.5 inches long and has a strong heart beat. We went straight from there to kinkos. I made 12 blown up copies of the sonogram; I am not sure what I am going to do with them but I have them. What a gift it is from God to be respobsible for a life.

This is a very exciting time for our family, and we praise God for the gifts that He has given us. I am so thankful for a new sister, and a new child of my own. We are fervently praying that just as my parents are adopting Grace into the Shirley family that God will adopt both Grace and our child into His family.

Don't forget to keep up with The Shirley's Adventure to Grace Elyse.

Grace

Hmm?

2006-02-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

I wonder if this passed the desk of Ken Mehlman.

Scattered thoughts on James 2:24

2006-02-22T08:54:00.000-05:00

James drives home the point of his first illustration of living faith by explaining God’s terms for salvation. Individuals are not justified by dead faith (faith alone that is without works). Here in this verse James answers the question raised in vs. 14, “can faith without works save?” The answer is no. Faith must be accompanied by works because of the very nature of faith. Abraham believed God’s promise of many descendants, and because of that belief he trusted God even when God asked him to sacrifice his only son. True faith will always make a difference in your life because of the nature of faith, and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. There is no other way to be saved besides uniting yourself with Christ through faith. And when you unite yourself with the body of Christ you will receive his Spirit which will change the way you live. No one can be saved without becoming a new creature, and by the power of the Holy Spirit the new creation will produce such righteous works as repentance, submission, obedience, and love for God and fellow believers. The faith of the individual in vs. 14 is not real because it has not united him with Christ, and brought about a change in his life through the work of the Spirit. Acts 8:18-22 is the perfect example of someone who only had a shallow conviction of the truth with no true faith. This man saw the obvious truth that there was power in the Gospel, but he did not understand that power or how it worked. He tried to receive the power of the Gospel on his own terms instead of on God’s terms. Isn’t it ironic that he tried to pay money for something that God offers for free.

Abraham's Living Faith: James 2:20-23

2006-02-20T23:18:00.000-05:00

James continues his discussion on faith by again pointing out that “Faith without works is useless” (vs. 20). In verse 18 James demanded that these people, who claimed that a profession without any works was enough to be saved, demonstrate their faith in some way. The problem was that they did not have genuine faith, and by demanding that they demonstrate their faith James proved that they did not really have faith. James pushes on in verse 20 and asks “since you were not able to demonstrate your faith can you at least recognize now that your faith is useless.” It is important to note that both pistij and evrgwn have the article making them the faith and works already mentioned. So, faith that is only a shallow conviction in the broad knowledge of God without a godly life is useless. avgh carries with it the idea of fruitlessness, or lack of production. In other words, “faith without works doesn’t work.” Matthew has some serious words for someone like this in Mt. 7:19. Unfortunately it is clear that these people with dead faith were not willing to admit that James was correct. This is why, through the use of a hypothetical man, he refers to them as foolish. Their inability to understand the truth was not due to an ambiguity to the truth, but rather a reluctance to accept the truth. They were not willing to be taught. What we will see in the verses to come is that the faith of James’ opponents grows even dimmer when compared to the living faith of Abraham, and Rahab.

James begins with one of the greatest example of faith recorded in the Scriptures, the faith of Abraham. What James shows his readers is that Abraham believed that God is one, and his works proved it. James also provides his readers with a question to ponder: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” In response to this question someone might say that James is teaching justification by works, however to hold this interpretation is to misunderstand James. Let me give you several reasons why I would say this. First, the word justify (dikaiow) in the NT can have several different meanings. It can mean to be declared righteous which is most commonly used by the apostle Paul. It can also mean to vindicate, prove right, or demonstrate. The second of these two meanings is less common in the NT, however there are examples of it.

Luke 7:35 (NASB95): “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

1 Timothy 3:16 (NASB95): By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

It is best to view this second meaning as the meaning intended by James. To paraphrase James we could say “was not Abraham’s faith vindicated/demonstrated/proven when he offered Isaac his son on the alter?” This meaning fits best into the overall teaching of James; particularly within the context of this passage. Remember, just three verses back James demanded that these people demonstrate (or vindicate/prove) their faith and they were unable to do so. These people had abused the beliefs of Abraham to the point where they thought their empty confession of the shema could save them. It is only natural for James to show that Abraham’s faith was not just a mere profession but an extremely active principle. Abraham trusted God so much that he was willing to kill his own son to obey God (Genesis 22:1-22). Another reason to translate dikaiow as vindicate/demonstrate/prove is the chronology of events recorded in Genesis. If we were to take the view that Abraham was pronounced righteous by God on the basis of his works when he offered Isaac then we would have a pretty serious problem trying to harmonize this passage with Genesis. James states that Abraham was justified by what he did in offering up Isaac. Compare that with Romans 4:10-11 in which Paul states that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised. If we go back to Genesis we will actually see that Abraham was circumcised before he offered up Isaac (Genesis 17). The point is that the outward works demonstrated what James opponents were not able to demonstrate that Abraham had saving faith. Look back at Romans 4:10-11. The outward works in Abraham’s life were not the foundation of his justification they were a “sign” and a “seal” of his justification. As James puts it “his faith was working with his works.” Abraham’s faith was not just a saying-only faith, but a saying and doing faith. He heard God’s word and humbly received it (1:21). “As a result of the works, faith was perfected” in the life of Abraham. It was not as if Abraham had a defective faith that needed to be completed by works, but rather his works brought his faith to a point of maturity. This word translated “perfected” (evteleiwqh) is another tough word to translate because it can have several different meanings. When you have a word that can mean many different things it is always good to look at how the author uses them. Here is a list of the different ways that James uses this word:

James 1:4 (NASB95): And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:17 (NASB95): Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

James 1:25 (NASB95): But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but 1an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James 2:8 (NASB95): If, however, you are fulfilling the 1royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

James 3:2 (NASB95): For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

There are a couple of different translations for this word including perfect, complete, and mature. If fact in John 19:30 this is word he used when He cried out “It is Finished.” So in the case of Abraham his faith was not only demonstrated by his works, but also brought to maturity by his works. Joseph Mayor put it this way, “as the tree is perfected by its fruits, so faith [is] by its works.” Further proof that works are the “seal” and “sign” of faith is found in vs. 23. By his good works Abraham fulfilled what the Scriptures said about him in Genesis 15:6. Going back to vs. 21 this is further proof that “justified” should be translated as vindicated/demonstrated/proven. In Genesis 15 Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness; in Genesis 22 Abraham was willing to offer Isaac on the alter and it proved that Abraham believed God. Therefore Genesis 22 proves what Genesis 15:6 said about Abraham to be true. The emphasis of James is on the amazing faith of Abraham, and what it enabled him to do. God made some amazing promises to Abraham about his descendants and in Genesis 15:6 Abraham believed in God and His promises. It was almost thirty years later, in Genesis 22, when Abraham’s faith was demonstrated when he was willing to offer up the fulfillment of God’s promise, Isaac, because God had commanded him to do so. Hebrews 11:17-19 gives us a glimpse into the thinking of Abraham. Here the writer of Hebrews tells us that “by faith Abraham…offered up Isaac” because “…he considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead…” Abraham had so much faith in God that he knew God would not take back his promise by taking away Isaac. As a result of Abraham’s faith cooperating with his works he was declared righteous by God, and he was called the friend of God. He endured through the trial and demonstrated his salvation (1:12). In John 15:14 Jesus said “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Is there anyone, except for Christ himself, who better demonstrated his friendship with God? Abraham’s faith was the foundation of his justification, and his works were the vindication/demonstration/proof.” Through this cooperation of faith and works Abraham had peace with God. This is something that we all need, because if we don’t get right with God we will be at enmity with Him. If there is going to be peace then there has to be justification by faith alone. This is the way that God chosen to make salvation available, and it is the only way to open salvation up to very people group in the whole world. Anyone can have faith. As we will see in the next example of living faith it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do you can have faith. The only hindrance to faith is, pride. We must come to God on his terms.

An Update on Dr. Morris

2006-02-20T15:06:00.000-05:00

Here is the latest update on Dr. Henry Morris from ICR:

"As of now, things are moving slowly in the rehab center. Dr. Morris is in good spirits and insists on doing as much work as ICR can provide him. He has very little control of his legs while standing, although in bed he can move, flex, and exercise them. He still has no sense of balance and gets nauseated when standing.

Thankfully, the treatment has shown less damage than at first thought and perhaps more improvement than usual in this short time. It seems your prayers are being answered! Dr. Morris has enjoyed all the visits and appreciates your concern. There is no radio or TV in the room, and he seems to like it that way. He mainly lies in bed and reflects on God’s goodness and occupies his time in prayer. He also has been witnessing to everyone who comes in, and has passed out Bibles to many of the staff."

You can read this update in its entirety at: ICR Update

Piper Recovering

2006-02-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

Tuesday John Piper had surgery for prostate cancer. Here is the lastest update from Desiring God Ministries:

Update on Surgery February 14, 2006

1:30 p.m.: We got word that John Piper is out of surgery. His wife, Noël, reported that the procedure went “beautifully.” So praise God with us and continue to pray with us for John’s recovery. We will keep you updated.

11:30 a.m.: The doctors reported to Noel that John’s prostate has been removed successfully and things are going well from what they can tell. They are now beginning reconstruction. After that, Pastor John will have about a 1-hour recovery period before he is taken to his room where Noel will be able to see him.

Prayer: Please pray for the recovery period and the coming days of healing.

For more information on this story, as well as the latest updates go to desiringgod.org.

A Discourse on Faith: James 2:18-19 (Pt II)

2006-02-15T08:57:00.000-05:00

Here in vs. 19 we find James’ response to those who have a shallow conviction with no expression of faith. The first thing that we see is that these individuals believed in the one true God. This is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 6:4. This was a very important confession. This passage is known as the “Shema” which is Hebrew for hear. This became the Jewish confession of faith, recited twice daily by the devout Jew. The purpose of these words was to give a declarative statement of the truth of monotheism in a polytheistic world. There is no doubt that James and his readers would have been very familiar with this passage. But as was the case in vs. 14 there is a verbal profession that never goes beyond words. It is interesting how James describes their belief. He does not say that they believe in (en) God, or (epi,) on God which are the normal preposition used in the NT. Instead, James says that they believed that (hoti) God was one. This was the problem, this individual believed in a creed but never had the distinctly Christian trust, and commitment (a commitment that would lead to obedience) in Christ. What this person believed was true, but it was not the “power of God unto salvation.” All that this person had was a shallow conviction about the common knowledge of God. “This common knowledge can no more connect a man with God that the sight of the sun can carry him up to heaven”

With a touch of sarcasm James commends a belief in the “shema.” The problem is that their belief in the one true God was no different than the belief that the demons have. The demons, particularly the devil, undoubtedly have a great degree of knowledge about God. As Jonathan Edwards put it “[the devil was] educated in the best divinity school in the universe, the heaven of heavens. He must…have such an extensive and accurate knowledge concerning the nature and attributes of God, as we, worms of the dust, in our present state, are not capable of. And he must have a far more extensive knowledge of the works of God, as of the work of creation in particular. For he was a spectator of the creation of the visible world.”

The Bible records many events for us in which the demons displayed a great knowledge of the character of God.

Mark 1:22-24 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

Acts 16:16-17 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”

In both of these cases the demons involved were correct in the assessment of who Jesus was. Their belief was orthodox (correct) but their character was evil. The fruit of their belief was the fear of immanent judgment rather than repentance. What is ironic is that the people claiming to have faith believed the same thing that the demons did, the only difference was that they did have any reaction at all. At least the demons shuddered in fear! These people, just like the demons, believed the truth of Deuteronomy 6:4 but did not obey the command of Deuteronomy 6:5. They believed in the one true God but did not love him with all their heart and soul. Belief like this is useless! It is the same kind of belief that the demons have, and it is the same dead faith that James has been talking about.

The lesson that we should all learn from this passage is that for a person to believe the doctrines of Christianity merely from the force of arguments, as discerned only by speculation, is no evidence of grace. You cannot choose the terms that you are going to come to God on. God has made salvation available to us, but we must be willing to submit to Him. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that going to church, memorizing Scripture (remember the shema), and saying the right things are going to make you right with God. God has a plan, and that plan is that men can only come the Father through Christ Jesus His Son.

A Discourse on Faith: James 2:18-19 (Pt I)

2006-02-14T08:13:00.000-05:00

This is a very difficult passage to dissect. There are quite a few interpretations on the specifics of this passage, however the main idea that James conveys is certain. A shallow conviction, recognition of certain facts that pertain to God, without submission is “of no profit.” In fact such a shallow conviction is exactly what James was talking about in verse 17. This shallow conviction is the same thing as dead faith. As we will see it is one thing to believe certain things about God, but it is something entirely different to be saved by “the power of God unto salvation.” One will change your life to result in holiness, and the other is nothing less than demonic.

Verse 18 is where the difficulty in this passage begins. The question is who is saying what? James only describes this individual as “someone” thus we are left to figure out who it is. The next question is does this someone agree with James or disagree with James? It really could go either way. This person could be saying something to the affect of: “This person has the gift of faith and I have the gift of works so it does not matter that the person with faith doesn’t have works.” There are a couple of problems with taking this position. First the pronouns do not seem to fit with this interpretation. Why would an opponent of James say “you have faith and I have works?” If it were someone opposing James’ position wouldn’t the pronouns be the opposite of what they are? The second problem with this interpretation is the context. If you will notice it is most likely that the quote of this someone includes all of verse 18. Why would an opponent of James demand that James show him his faith without works? The position that I am taking on this passage is that this someone who speaks up is a hypothetical person James uses to further his argument. This position has problems of its own, mainly the construction of the sentence. James begins the sentence with the word “but” (alla), and the question is why would James use such a strong adversative conjunction to transition into a thought that agrees with the previous thought? Despite this irregularity it seems best to me to view this someone as one who agrees with James (we will discuss this in further detail below). For now lets look at the person who claims to have faith alone. This person claims that your faith can stand alone before God, and that your life does not necessarily have to change at all. As long as you profess to believe in God you will be saved. This is the same person who had no compassion on his needy neighbor, and the also discriminated against the poor man in favor of the rich man. James has rightly accused this man’s faith of being dead when measured by its own claim, however he continues to hold that his profession will be enough.

The next individual is the “someone” that James introduces. More than likely this “someone” represents James himself, and his own position. James more than likely is speaking in this manner out of humility. He puts himself in the background by not claiming to be the perfect representative of faith, but by supposing another to be a good example instead. This “someone” represents an individual who agrees with what James has been teaching about faith. He is not saying that his works take the place of faith, but rather that they are the result of faith. We can take this position because of the context of the passage. Verse 17 teaches this view of faith and works, and so does the rest of verse 18. Clearly, from the context, James is not taking the position that works will gain him merit before God. Neither is James claiming faith to be deficient, but rather as he has already (and again will) pointed out that faith will find its expression in Christ-like actions. In fact, we will soon see that this “someone with work” also has faith.

This someone goes on. His demand is that those who claim to have faith alone demonstrate their faith in some way. They would have probably responded by saying that faith, not works, was their gift. Remember, they have already made the claim that they had faith without works (vs. 14), so now they must find some way to show their faith without works. In demanding that they make their faith visible without works James was demanding the impossible in order to prove that their faith did not exist. The question that James raises in the minds of his readers is: is there any way to demonstrate faith without works? The answer is no. Faith cannot be demonstrated apart from action. Faith is an attitude of the inner man, and it can only be seen when it influences the actions of the person who posses it. If I were to say that I posses an unbelievable ability to play the piano, then how would I prove that to you? I would have to demonstrate my ability by playing the piano for you. The same thing is true about faith. If I cannot make my faith visible then do I really have it? The design of James in all of this was to expose the foolish boasting of those who imagined that they had faith when their lives showed that they were unbelievers. Basically his point was that you cannot demonstrate your faith to me because you have nothing to demonstrate.

The “someone” with works is ready and willing to meet his own challenge. He is able to demonstrate his faith. Earlier we said that this person was someone who agreed with James, rather than someone who claimed to have works apart from faith. If indeed this is a continuation of the “someone’s” quote then this proves that he is a proponent of James; for in this verse he says that he has faith. This person can start with his works and point to them as a proof for something beyond his works. The good works are not the salvation of this someone. The good works are the good fruit that is produced by a living faith. This fruit is the very nature and purpose of faith. Look at what Scripture teaches about faith:

1 Corinthians 13:2b …and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

God’s word makes it very clear that our faith is not a work, but rather our faith results in good works. We did not have the ability to please God before we were called into his family, but now we are Christ’s workmanship re-created for his glory. In everything that this “someone” does, faith is the main ingredient. Just as a motor produces power because an electrical current flows into it, so a Christian produces good deeds because true faith empowers him. James’ opponents probably would have answered with a simple profession of faith, but as we will see that was not enough to convince James.

Every Thought Captive

2006-02-13T09:13:00.000-05:00

Today I will continue to outline the major ideas from the Pratt book "Every Thought Captive." Really all that I am posting are my own personal thoughts cultivated by reading this book.

CONCLUSION

In the model for biblical apologetics the Christian apologist should first admit his faith in God’s Word, and dependence upon it as revealed truth. Secondly he should actually use the Bible to defend his faith. In addition to this he can use external evidences, and personal experiences to present the truth of the Christian world view within the context of a biblical perspective. When showing the non-Christian his foolishness it is important first to show them that they are not neutral, but instead have rejected God to depend on their own autonomous reasoning. Pointing out the circular and biased reasoning of the non-Christian will be the goal of the Christian apologist no matter what the subject. The non-Christian always reasons based on his biases against God, and his faith in his own reasoning ability.

The method of biblical apologetics, presented by Pratt in Every Thought Captive, is aimed at destroying the speculations which are raised against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It would be unchristian to think that an apologist could accomplish this task apart from Scripture. The evidences, and arguments that a Christian apologist presents must be rooted in Scripture. Therefore key to biblical apologetics is to depend upon the presuppositions of Scripture, and point out the inferior presuppositions that the non-Christian thinker holds to. Other apologetic methods try to show that it is possible by means of reason to come the conclusion of the Christian God from a neutral perspective. However this fails in two ways. It fails to recognize the noetic effect that sin has had on the reasoning of men, and fails to recognize that there is no neutral perspective by which to reason things out. Not to mention, that makes human reasoning the judge of Scripture. Instead of relying on the faulty reasoning of man the Christian apologist should rely on God’s written and inspired word. The only way to be completely Christian in your method of apologetics is to depend on Scripture. If the Christian apologist does not depend on Scripture, God’s revelation of Himself, he is depending on his own independent reasoning just as the non-Christian would choose to do. It is important that the Christian apologist does not depend upon human reason to defend his faith. This is unbiblical, and as the post-modern era gains strength, reasoning will be of little use for the non-Christian thinker. Biblical apologetics is the only way to wholly depend upon God. And dependence upon God is the only way to destroy the speculations which are raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Our New Sister

2006-02-10T08:20:00.000-05:00

Today I spent my posting allotment on my new sister.

Tuesday Sports Short: Poison Ivy

2006-02-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

After a long hiatus Tuesday Sports Shorts are back.

The Cubs have a long and storied history, unfortunately for Cubs fans most of the stories are like this one.

Lou Novikoff, the mad Russian, played outfield for the Cubs from 1941 to 1944. Lou had only one problem playing for the Cubs, let me explain. Any time a fly ball was hit over his head in Wrigley Field Novikoff would back up only so far then stop. It did not matter how far the ball went he would only back up to a certain point, and then stop. Many times the ball sailed over Novikoff’s head hit the wall, and caromed past him back towards the infield.

Finally frustrated Cubs manager Charlie Grimm asked Novikoff why he constantly gave up on balls that seemed catchable. Novikoff’s went on to explain that he had a fear of vines (Which is a pretty big problem when playing in Wrigley!).

Grimm did everything he could to show Novikoff that there was nothing to fear. Grimm even ate part of the vine to show that it wasn’t poisonous. Despite Grimm’s efforts Novikoff never was able to overcome his fear, and many catchable fly balls fell into the ivy.

*I wonder if Manny Ramirez has ever thought of something like this?*

Every Thought Captive

2006-02-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

Today I will continue to outline the major ideas from the Pratt book "Every Though Captive." As was mentioned Friday this is not just a great book for teenagers, but for al ages. Really all that I am posting are my own personal thoughts cultivated by reading this book.

PART II

There are two opposing world views that exist in the world, a non-Christian and a Christian. In order to build a biblical apologetic one must recognize the difference between the two. There is no such thing as neutrality, or common ground, between the Christian world view and the non-Christian world view. The foundation for the non-Christian world view is the concept of human independence, while the foundation for the Christian world view is the concept of total human dependence upon God. Because both Christians and non-Christians share the same world, are created in the image of God, and have the offer of salvation through Christ there can be some dialogue, however the fundamental difference still remain. Ultimately the Christian apologist must faithfully depend on the Holy Spirit to soften the heart of the non-Christian and bring about faith in their lives. In order to accomplish this task the Christian apologist must live a consistently Christian life. One’s arguments will not affect someone unless their life also reflects those arguments. The Christian apologist must also be careful in his approach with non-Christians. There must be a certain amount of gentleness and reverence when challenging one holding a differing position. However, the Christian apologist must always lead the conversation in a way that Christ, and the need to accept Him, is discussed. In order to accomplish this it is necessary to follow the correct procedure by: depending wholly on Scripture, having complete faith in Christianity, remembering man’s dependence on God, and finally giving proper attention to the effects of sin.

There is some value in the methods of popular apologetics, however these methods have resulted in great failures because of an unbiblical view of human reason. The process of many of these popular apologists is to verify the claims of Christianity with human reasoning. This procedure creates a method that makes independent human reasoning the ultimate authority over God, and His revealed truth. Because this method completely denies man’s dependence upon God the Christian apologist should seek to build his defense upon the foundation of God’s Word. Based on the principles of Proverbs 26:4-5 the Christian apologist should justify what he believes by presenting the truths of Scripture, and by demonstrating the foolishness of the non-Christian worldview. Evidence from the external world, and personal experience both have their role in biblical apologetics, however one must look first to Scripture to defend Christianity. Great caution must be taken when using external evidences. External evidences must be viewed in light of Scripture instead of independent human reasoning. Personal experience can be an effective tool, particularly when conversing with a post-modern thinker, however this dialogue must lead back to the Gospel. In addition to presenting truth in his defense the Christian apologist should also highlight the foolishness of the non-Christian. Instead of thinking in the same manner as the non-Christian for the sake of argument the Christian apologist should point out the foolishness of non-Christian thinking. It is important to show the non-Christian thinker that he is reasoning circularly based on his own independent reasoning. In this too it is important that conversation eventually leads to the Gospel. For ultimately only the regenerate man saved by Christ can accept the truth of a Christian world view.

Every Thought Captive

2006-02-03T08:53:00.000-05:00

In working with youth I have found that one of the greatest resources for me, and for them is the book Every Thought Captive: A Study Manual for the Defense of Christian Truth written by Richard L. Pratt, Jr. Pratt wrote ETC while doing his grad work at Westminster Seminary. The purpose of the book is to give a proper explanation of presuppositional apologetic in popular language (for those of you who have tried to make any head-way in Van Till you will appreciate this). In fact, Pratt wrote this book with highschoolers in mind! Do not be fooled though, this is a valuable read for all ages. In a series of post over the next few days I would like to outline the basic ideas of the book for you.

PART I

As Christians we should work to destroy the speculations which are raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. This is the overarching goal of Christian apologetics. Specifically, Christian apologetics pertains to the development and use of a defense for the Christian worldview. The proper foundation for such a task can only be the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. It is true that the Bible must be defended by Christian apologetics however, that does not mean that this defense should be built upon human reasoning. Because the Bible is the ultimate authority for faith and practice it must be the foundation upon which Christian apologetics are built. It would be foolish to emphasize the reasoning of man over the inspired Word of God.

If Christian apologetics are to be built upon the foundation of Scripture it is necessary for the Christian apologist to look at the biblical concept of creation first. One of the many differences between a Christian and non-Christian worldview is creation. For the Christian there is a difference between God the creator, and His creation. This perspective is absolutely necessary for the Christian apologist. When arguing for God one cannot forget who God is. God is completely Independent from man, and man is wholly dependent on God. God does not have any need that can be filled by His creation. Conversely, creation is dependent on the sustaining power that God now exhibits in His creation. Additionally man is dependent upon God for all knowledge, and morality. There is no truth apart from God, and apart from God there would be no distinction between good and evil.

The type of apologetic method that the Christian apologist chooses to use will depend greatly on his anthropology, and how he distinguishes creation from its Creator. The Bible looks at the history of mankind from three different perspectives: creation, fall, and redemption. Therefore, there are three different aspects of anthropology that have to be examined: the character of man before sin, the character of man in sin, and the character of man redeemed by Christ. Man is created in the image of God, and is distinct from the rest of creation. Man is able to reason, has a soul that will never be destroyed, and has been made to rule over the rest of creation. Before sin, Adam and Eve had a true knowledge and never overlooked their dependence upon God as creatures within God’s creation. However, Eve decided that dependence upon God was optional, and she did not need him for true knowledge, thus she ate of the fruit. Sin has so affected the human race that the human race has lost any thought of dependence upon God, and because of this all human reasoning has been corrupted. However, through the redemptive work of Christ one is able to turn away from the sinful human thought of independence from God, and know the God which all of creation depends on. Consequently the whole life of this believer in Christ becomes experiencing the change of regeneration, and being restored according to the original character which God created in His own image.

Six more weeks of 75 and sunny

2006-02-02T08:32:00.000-05:00

This morning Punxsutawney Phil, one of only two groundhog weather men in the entire world, made his annual forecast. At 7:23 a.m. Phil came out of his burrow and saw his shadow; which means 6 more weeks of winter.

*Do you know which one of these weathermen is Phil?*

For those of you north of Yee-Haw junction (Which located in central Florida, and according to my Grandfather everyone north of this point is a Yankee.) I am sorry. What this means for us here in the sub-tropical central Florida climate is 6 more weeks of highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid 50s. In all seriousnes I did need a jacket yesterday morning so I think I feel your pain up in Minn. Anyways, HAPPY GROUNDHOGS DAY!

Sudoku?

2006-02-01T07:43:00.000-05:00

My first question was what the heck is sudoku? From then on out I was hooked. I guess you could say that it had me at hello. If you are anything like I was, at this point you may be wondering if I got myself into some eastern cult. Don't worry, sudoku is just a game (or possibly an obsession). Apparently sudoku is the latest puzzle craze. It is a numerical version of a crossword puzzle. If you are thinking about ckecking it out for the first time, BEWARE IT IS ADDICTIVE. I brought a couple of puzzles home the other day, and the only time that I have seen my wife since then is when she was printing up some new puzzles from the web.

Here is an example of an easy puzzle. The red numbers represent the numbers that you would begin the game with, and the gray numbers are the numbers that you must fill in. The goal is to get 1 thru 9 horizontally, vertically, and in the 3x3 square. Go try an easy one and see how you do. It may not be so easy the first time.

James 2:17: "Your Faith is Dead as a Door Nail!"

2006-01-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

What was seen in the individual in the example of vss. 15-16 is now applied to the specific faith that the individual in vs. 14 claimed to have. What we see is that faith without works is just like words without deeds. The words of the uncaring person who fails to act to help a person in need are as useless as a profession of faith from a person who does not have works. Again, we should not see works as an added extra to faith, but rather as the only expression of faith. This is very important to understand. Our works, if they are not a properly motivated expression of faith, are no good. This is why the writer of Hebrews twice, in 6:1 and 9:14, claims our works to be dead in light of the work of Christ. Our works do not add anything to what Christ did. Think about what the implication of a Christ plus works theology leads to. If our works are needed, even just a little bit, that means that Christ work was not completely sufficient to save. We had to add just a little bit more to what Christ did in order to be saved. This is not at all how the Bible portrays the death of Christ. Look at what Scripture tells us Christ did.

Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Galatians 1:3-4: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…

Titus 2:14: …who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Romans 3:24-25: being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed…

Galatians 3:13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us…

1 Corinthians 1:30: But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption…

(Our good works stem from the work of Christ, who is our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Paul clearly asserts
that Christ did not make these things available to us, but rather he is
these things for us.)

Scripture makes it clear that Christ’s work accomplished these things; it did not make these things possible. We cannot add to the accomplished work of Christ. Even if we were able to, how could we add anything to what has already been accomplished (Accomplished is exactly what Christ claims his work to be in John 19:30.)? By properly understanding the work of Christ, we can properly understand the working faith that James requires.
Works are not an added extra to faith anymore than breath is an added extra to a living body. If you take the breath from a living body it is no longer living. You can say whatever you would like about a corpse that you claim to be alive, but if it never moves, there is no heartbeat, no detectable pulse, and it is not breathing then it is dead. The false claim of life will prove to be silenced by the evidence. Just as the corpses without breath is dead, so too Faith without the breath of works is dead. The only thing that this faith has is the claim that is it is alive. There is no functioning, nor is there any sign of life. This kind of faith, which is mere talk, is void of all reality.

James has figured out why this faith is not producing fruit; because it is dead. It is dead in its roots as well as in its branches. Think about an apple tree. If you saw a tree that was supposed to be an apple tree, but it did not have apples or even leaves on it what would you think of that tree? If someone claims to have faith and yet his life does not produce the fruit of faith what are we to think of that? The absence of works, the natural fruit of faith, proves that this faith is lifeless in the same way that compassion which expends itself in words only is counterfeit. This saying only kind of faith is not merely outwardly inoperative, but inwardly dead as well. It is not a matter of adding works to such a faith. Rather, this is not faith. Faith is the grand principle which no man can be a Christian without; but it must be the kind of faith that God requires. It must be true faith in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ alone to save us from the great penalty of sin.

The faux faith of this person was “dead, being by itself.” There are several different translations of this verse that are represents in the English Bibles that we use. The KJV reads “being alone.” This is not really a good translation because it gives the wrong idea about what James is trying to convey. The KJV gives the impression that the faith is ok but it needs works also. This is not at all what James is saying. For James it is not a matter of adding works to this faith; the point is that this is not faith at all. Most modern English translations read something to the effect of “being by itself.” This is not a bad translation, but I think that “as measured by itself” would be a much better translation. The point is that when you measure this faith by its very own claims it proves to be dead. The claim of this faith is that you have submitted to Christ as your Lord and Savior; and that the loving mercy of God had made you a new creature through the work of Christ. This is what the claim of being a Christian is. If you were to measure this person’s life by this claim you would have to say that he is lying. Faith that does not contain within itself a readiness to help, and to show mercy cannot be a faith in the mercy of God. And so when we compare the claim to faith, with the life of this man we must conclude that what he has is not faith. According to its own showing it is dead. Such an unproductive showing cannot come from someone who has been made a new creature in Christ, can it?
The contrast is not between faith and works, but rather between dead faith and living faith. Look at what Galatians 5:6 says. Here Paul reminds us not that find any advantage in our good deeds by themselves; but that we will find our advantage in our faith. Our works do not count for anything, but our faith does. We must remember that or else we will get confused. In order for faith to be beneficial it cannot be a human work. Our faith must be directed towards Christ who then becomes our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The point of Paul in Galatians and James here is that faith without works is dead. In Galatians Paul says that faith will result in loving actions. Love is an action; it is purposing someone else’s good above our own good. But Paul is talking about the results of faith, not the substance of faith. The reason faith saves is because its substance (or the object of the faith) is God not us, and so if we say that faith is a work its substance becomes man instead of God. The point is quite practical. We cannot see, or measure faith, but we can see the results of it. We can see the proof of it. It would be quite illogical to say that the result or proof of something is the object itself wouldn’t it? Paul’s point, as well as James’, is that the only thing that counts in our life is the work that God does.

Concerning this subject John Calvin wrote, “it is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.” When we begin to realize just how powerful the Gospel of Grace is we will begin to understand that difference that it will make in our lives. If we are to measure faith by what it claims to be then it must have works to accompany it.

James has spent some time investigating this saying-only kind of faith. His conclusion is that when you measure the works of this man by the claims of this man his faith proves to be dead. What is the profit of dead faith? Dead faith is of no profit because it is unable to save anyone. Such a faith as this may recite the correct words, but unless there has been a true commitment to Christ as one’s Lord and Savior it is powerless to save. The power of the Gospel does not reside in faith by itself, or human achievement. The saving power of the Gospel resides in the Savior on whom our faith rests. For James faith is just shorthand for faith in Christ. It is when we have this true faith in Christ that we will experience “the power of God unto salvation.” (Romans 1:16)

Romans 10:9 teaches that if we confess Jesus as our Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead we will be saved. James is not contradicting this, but rather adding that your belief must be true belief or else it is of no profit. To steal the words of Rich Mullins “faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine.” What is sad is that God has made this wonderful plan of salvation available to mankind, yet so many people want to do it their own way instead. So many people would rather just show up to church and say the right things without having the power of the Gospel change their lives. They don’t want to give up their sins; they don’t even want to admit their sins. In doing this these people are missing out on the greatest joy they could ever have. They are forgoing the freedom that comes from God’s grace for the bondage of sin. They may think that they are making the choice to choose freedom, but they are really choosing slavery. They are choosing death.

Don't stop for a Cup of Coffee while the house is on fire

2006-01-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

If you are here reading this right now, you probably shouldn't be. I don't have too much to say today (I have too much to do though), besides all the real blog action is going on at the new pyromaniacS sight (see also the link on the sidebar).

In case you have not seen, Phil Johnson moved his blog, and made it a group blog. So far they are posting at an alarming rate. At this rate you would have to quit your job to keep up with all that is going on. It should be interesting to see how much damage multiple pyromaniacs can do...

A couple of new links

2006-01-25T09:19:00.000-05:00

Today I have invested my "blog time" into a little blog up-keep (which is different from blog up-chuck). I have included a couple of new links, and I have reformatted how my links appear on the sidebar. I just felt a little strange having the Late Show Top Ten right right under some more edifying reading material.

The new links that I have included are pretty useful tools for the Jonathan Edwards follower. The first is Yale's newer sight containing quite a few valuable resources. I have been on the "beta testing team" for about a year for this site, but unfortunately the resources are not being released at the pace originally hoped for. There is a pretty interesting video on the process of transcribing Edwards' manuscripts (I can understand why it takes so long ot put new resources out). Anyway, give it a look; see what you think.

I have also put jonathanedwards.com on the link list. I was going there so much that I just figured I would put it here. This is a very valuable sight for attaining some of Edwards' most popular sermons. The only thing weird about this site is the DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary) stuff near the bottom of the page. Apparently the author has some sort of vested interested in DTS.

Finally, I have updated my link to Phil Johnson's blog-Pyromaniac. It is now the Pyromaniacs, and my link now reflects that change.

What is up with this?

2006-01-24T08:17:00.000-05:00

I came across this Sermonvia James White, and his web-site. Let me give you the 411 on it before you just skip over the link. This is a sermon delivered in the Vatican before the pope on salvation by faith alone. Here is an excerpt of the message:

"Gratuitous justification through faith in Christ is the heart" of St. Paul's preaching "and it is a shame that this has been practically absent from the ordinary preaching of the church..."

I am not sure what to make of this. I would love to hear the opinion of a Catholic on what this message means. To be frank, I already know that the terms "faith" and "grace" mean something totally different to the Catholic church than to Reformed Christianity.

This message does not bridge the gap between Catholicism and Reformed Christianity! But it is interesting; I have never heard anything like this come out of the Vatican. The right charge has been made (see above quote), but I would like to hear the solution to the problem.

James 2:15-16: A Practical Test From a Practical Man

2006-01-23T08:59:00.000-05:00

What follows are some thoughts, and notes on James 2:15-16.

*James was well aware of the inadequacy of this profession of faith, but like a practical man he proposes a practical test to prove his point.*

In these verses James gives us a concrete example of the abstract principle we learned of in verse 14. This is an example of what faith without works looks like. It is almost as if we have a little parable here. But do not be fooled, this was a parable taken from real life. It is a hypothetical situation; however the fact that James again chooses an example of mistreatment of the poor in the Christian community should make it clear that the illustration represents a pattern of behavior that was all too common for James’ readers.

James’ realistic illustration begins with a brother or sister in need. It is clear that this person is not just someone off the street. This person is a fellow believer; part of the family of God; and part of the Christian community that James was writing to. This example is quite similar to the example of the poor man visiting the local church (2:1-13). James tells us that this person, whether it is a man or woman, is without clothes or food. Clearly this is no mild case of need. This is a desperate situation! The word that James uses for “without clothing” is literally naked. This does not mean that they would be completely naked but it does say a lot about their situation. This is the same word that John used in John 21:7. 1 Samuel 19:24 also uses this term in the same way. This does not mean absolutely without any clothing. A person was called naked whose outer garments were thrown aside, leaving nothing but the tunic and girdle (belt). Peter was also “naked” in the same way at the time he cast himself into the sea to meet the Lord (John 21:7). All they had were the under garments that they used to work in. And to add to their distress they did not have food. James’ words here also convey the dire situation that these people were in. Basically what James is saying is that these people do not have the food that they need for daily nourishment. Really the idea is that if they do not get food soon they will die!

This is really hard for us to imagine. We don’t have starving people in our church. We do not have situations like this one, but we do have people in our churches that are in need. Within the fellowship of believers there are those with needs. They may have monetary needs, or they may have other needs. Maybe the people around us don’t need food, but do they need our encouragement? Do they need to be rebuked for sin? Do they need someone to lead them? These are the needs that every church faces. Unfortunately it is often these needy members of the church that are overlooked because of their constant neediness. This situation is not limited to a particular community. What is to be done about this situation is the all important issue. John deals specifically with this in 1 John 3:17-18. The question that Scripture demands we answer is: do our actions reflect the love of God? It is not always easy to care for the needs of your neighbor, but this is God’s standard for his family. If we are not caring for each other then we need to ask what John asks, “Can the love of God be in [us]?”

We have seen what the need was, and now we see what the response was. “Go in peace. Be warmed and be filled.” These are goods words, are they not? This answer seems full of faith – God will provide for you. It is very religious, and it is even theologically sound. What it lacks is the going into the closet and into the pantry and getting out their own clothing and food to share with their unfortunate brother or sister. Without deeds, kind words are of little good to someone in need. Really, these kind words are just a religious cover for not doing anything. Without works their words really are a mockery. And to be honest, their words were not even really all that kind. The way it is worded in the Greek is quite interesting. You could take their responses and translate it to mean “Go in peace. Fill yourselves, and Warm yourselves.” To put it into today’s language: “Have a nice day. Go work for your own food, and work for your own clothes.”

Can you imagine saying this to one of your brothers or sisters? If you are like me then the answer is no. But sadly this is the response to many who are in true need of help. We can be a very cold society sometimes. Are emotions can very easily be moved by movies, or TV, or music; but when those around us are in need we fail to act. This is a dangerous attitude to have. Think about the logic behind what James is saying. The people say good things but treat their own family like dirt. This proved that they are really not a part of the family. And it proves that the faith they claimed to have is not real faith. This is the very point of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-41, 45. His point is not that you have to do good works to be saved. His point is that you will love those who are a part of your spiritual family, and if you do not then you may not be a true member of that family. These are sobering thoughts. How many times have we fought with our brothers and sisters over petty issues? How many times have we loved ourselves above our own family? These are hard things to think about, but if the consistent pattern of your life is to mistreat those in need around you then you may not be a part of the family God. If your life does not match you words (or your actions do not match your profession of faith) then you may be fooling yourselves.

James ends this example the same exact way that he began verse 14. If you are fooling yourself, then what is the use? Words without deeds are nothing. And faith without works is no better. The seeming concern for the poor person is just a façade to cover up a complete disregard for the person in need. Faith without works is fake faith covering up a true need for salvation.

There is a striking parallel between the needs of the poor for food and clothing and the need of a believer to acquire wisdom from God. The same word that is used for the poor person here is used in 1:4 to describe a person lacking wisdom. The man in 1:4 could say whatever he wanted in his prayers, but if he did not have the faith to back up his words then the words meant nothing. The poor need more than just words, and so does the man who wants to receive wisdom from God. We can say a lot of very good things, and truly fool ourselves into thinking that we are saved. But James makes it very clear that saying without doing does not accomplish anything. What you do proves what you believe.

James 2:14

2006-01-16T08:14:00.000-05:00

The Question: is faith without works of any profit?

There are some saying that they have faith but do not have works.

The first thing that we need to do to understand this passage is define exactly what kind of faith James is talking about. Notice that James says that this hypothetical person claims to have faith. James never says that this person actually has faith. The person making such a claim to faith would most likely believe in such things as the existence of God, the Bible as the Word of God, and probably even that Jesus was the Messiah. But it is not the theological claims of this person are not in question; the issue is that this person has no works. His religion has no place in his heart, or house, or conduct; all he has is his profession, and his religion is only to make noise. In 1 John 2:4 we read something very interesting about a person like this. A person who claims to have faith in Christ but does not keep Christ’s commandments is a liar.

What we do reveals what we really believe. Let’s say that you are walking down the road and you come upon a large fence. On that fence you see a sign that reads: “Electric Fence, DO NOT TOUCH.” As you are looking at the fence on of your friends comes up behind you. Quickly you warn him not to touch the fence because it is an electric fence. But he begins to question you, “how do you know for sure?” he asks. You hold to your guns and tell him that you read the sign. Eventually he leaves, but you stay at the fence. When he is out of sight you, and no one is around you decide to reach out and touch the fence. Here is the point, you may have said that you believed the sign but by reaching out to touch the fence you have proved that you did not really believe the sign. What you did proved what you believed. This is James’ point. James is not out to prove that faith is of no profit. James is merely pointing out that faith without works is of no profit because it is not real faith.

In these verses James teaches us the practicality of true Christian faith. Christianity is not about getting a few notions into our heads. Christianity is about a change of the heart. It is true that we must begin with head knowledge but that knowledge must travel to the heart and from the heart travel to the hands. True faith must make a difference in our lives. Unfortunately this was not the case with the individual in this verse. He boasted to others, and was conceited in his heart about a faith that he did not posses.

What is the profit in saying that you have faith but not works?

James challenges the readers of his letter to contemplate the value of this saying only kind of faith that does not have works. Instead of just making the statement that it is useless he asks “what is the use?” or literally “What is the profit of a faith that has no works?” Let’s answer James’ question. First off, what kind of works is James talking about? The works that James writes of in verse 14 parallel that mercy that he writes about in verse 13. Those who do not have works to go with their faith are like the ones who are guilty of discrimination against the poor in 2:1-13. This is illustrated even further in the next two verses when James gives us an example of someone who has words with no deeds. I want to make it very clear that the works that James is talking about are not an added extra on top of faith. Rather, these works are an essential expression of faith. In other words, James is not teaching that we need faith and works to be saved. James is teaching that if we have true saving faith then our lives will be changed as we submit to Christ as our Lord.

But back to the question, “what is the profit of a faith that has not works?” Is there any profit in saying that you have faith when you have none? The answer is no! In fact, this can be a very dangerous thing. A faithless profession in Christ may sometimes seem to be profitable – you will gain the good opinion of those who truly have faith, and it may make you fell better about yourself, you will even get to be a part of the community of believers – but ultimately any gain you will receive from this false profession of faith will be outweighed by the loss of your souls. Christ, in Matthew 16:26 asked a similar question. If you are here today without true faith then you are partially benefiting from the Christian community, but you cannot have the full benefits of a child of God. And this is James’ next point.

That kind of faith (saying only) cannot save you.

In case we missed the point, James adds, “[c]an that faith save him?’ This is really an interesting question, one that your English translation probably will not completely convey. You could, and probably should, translate this question “that particular faith is not able to save him, is it?” In James’ question he gives us the answer. No, that faith cannot save that man. This may seem strange to us because all through out Scripture we are taught that individuals are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). The apostle Paul, in particular, makes it clear that man cannot be saved by his own works instead he must be saved by faith in the Christ. In Romans 5:1 Paul writes: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is through the work of Christ that we can be saved, and we receive that work by identifying ourselves with Christ through faith. So, the fact that James says that this man’s faith cannot bring about salvation further proves that James is not speaking of faith in general, but rather of the faith of the individual referenced earlier. Speaking on this passage John Calvin said:

This is the same as though he had said, that we do not attain salvation by a
frigid and bare knowledge of God… for salvation comes to us through
faith for this reason, because it joins us with God. And this comes not it any
other way than being united to the body of Christ, so that, living through His
Spirit we are also governed by Him. There is no such ting as this in the
dead image of faith. There is then no wonder that James denies that salvation
is connected with it.

What Calvin is saying is that there is no other way to be saved besides uniting yourself with Christ through faith. And when you unite yourself with the body of Christ you will receive his Spirit which will change the way you live. No one can be saved without becoming a new creature, and by the power of the Holy Spirit the new creation will produce such righteous works as repentance, submission, obedience, and love for God and fellow believers. The faith of the individual that James writes about is not real because it has not united him with Christ, and brought about a change in his life through the work of the Spirit. Salvation does not produce immediate perfection, but rather a new direction.

Unfortunately there is absolutely zero evidence of any new directions in this person’s life. We can learn a lot from this individual. This person had the appearance of initial salvation. He claimed to be a follower of Christ, and he was probably even baptized. But in the final judgment his conversion will prove to have been a work of man rather than of God. When I think of this man’s plight my mind immediately turns to Matthew 7:21-23. These men claimed to have faith in Christ, but they did not have the life to match their claim. Instead of a true faith, which negates human pride by throwing itself on the mercy of God, these men were dependent upon their own works for salvation. Look at what their basis for salvation was: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?” Because they depended on their own works Christ judged them by their works. His judgment, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.” We may boast of our faith to others, and be conceited in our hearts of our claim to faith, but in actuality be destitute of any faith at all. This should lead us to a deep examination of our lives, and our faith.

As we can see from the context, and the greater teachings of Scripture James is not claiming faith to be deficient, but rather he points out that true faith will find its expression in Christ-like actions. James is opposing the idea that all claims to faith should be accepted. When we properly understand what James is teaching in this passage it is easy to see that he and Paul are not standing face-to-face confronting one another. James and Paul are really standing back-to-back fighting against two common enemies. Paul opposes the legalistic idea that in order to be saved we must add our own works to faith; James opposes the idea that all we need to do is say the right things and we will be spared from eternal damnation.

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