I Don't Know Him from Adam

Sorry for being off-line. I'm back.

I have been recently studying my bible and considering the importance of Gen 1-3. So often we breeze over these passages as almost trivial information best suited for children's Sunday school. At least I've kinda thought like that. I am beginning to see how important these three chapters are in determining the whole storyline of the bible. Understanding the Covenant with Adam (also known as the Covenant of Works) is key to understanding Christ, Christianity, Life and ultimately the trajectory of all creation.

Check out what Meredith Kline has to say on this: Two Adams, Two Covenants of Works. It may make you dizzy at first but invest the time - it will be worth it.

Let me know what you think.

A Return to Greatness

American evangelicals seem very interested in revival. I live in New England and you can't go long around here without hearing from somebody about revival. Maybe it's our heritage of revival here that drives us to long for revival - Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, the Second Great Awakening, D.L. Moody etc., or maybe it is the sad awareness that every evangelical Christian in New England has of being a culturally non-existant minority. Regardless, I for one think there is nothing wrong with longing for revival. The only question I have is, "What are we longing for when we say, 'revival'" ? Are we longing for merely an intensified and more populous version of what we already experience in 21st American evangelicalism? More passionate worship? More relevant sermons? More fruit in evangelism? Greater impact on the culture? Growing churches? Political reform? Are these at the core of what we want or is it something deeper and closer to the heart of true revival? I submit that at the core of revival is the glory of God. Revival is a renewed knowledge, desire for and experience of the glory of God - the glory of God manifest in and through Jesus Christ and known by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Listen to what our forefather Jonathan Edwards reported of those thus affected in the Great Awakening:

"They speak much of their sense of excellency in the way of salvation by free and sovereign grace, through the righteousness of Christ alone; and how it is with delight that they renounce their own righteousness, and rejoice in having no account made of it....The supreme attention of their minds is to the glorious excellencies of God and Christ; and there is very often a ravishing sense of God's love accompanying a sense of His excellency. They rejoice in a sense of the faithfulness of God's promises, as they respect the future eternal enjoyment of Him....The unparalleled joy that many of them speak of, is what they find when they are lowest in the dust, emptied most of themselves, and as it were annihilating themselves before God; when they are nothing, and God is all; seeing their own unworthiness, depending not at all on themselves, but alone on Christ, and ascribing all glory to God."
Jonathan Edwards , A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God

May God bring such revival. May we long for this, pray for it and live for it. Let us return to the core of revival - God himself in all his glory as shown in awesome Son, Jesus Christ. Bring this sort of revival O Lord! Start with me. Start with my family, my church. Whatever the cost. More of You and less of me!

Islam and the Glory of God

Recent reading of the Oxford History of Islam by John L. Esposito has made me realize that Islam gets at least one thing right - the majesty of God. At the heart of Islam is the sense of "submission" to the will of the majestic One - God. "Muslim" means "submitted one" and "Islam" means "submission." While there are numerous areas where Islam veers from the truth significantly, this is one area where Christians should take heed. So often we focus on the nearness (immanence) of God to the neglect of His greatness (transcendence.) We mustn't neglect His immanence; but how often have we reduced Him to a sort of cosmic Santa Clause who will gladly let us climb up on His lap and give us a hug to make us feel better. Nothing against feeling better, nothing against God's tender mercy and love, but I think we can miss His incredible and unfathomable glory and greatness in our conceptions of His kindness and nearness .

It is not ultimately about us, it is about Him.

He alone is "I AM" - He is the source of all - He has created all things and He sustains all things, all for His glory. Yes, His mercy and love and tenderness is part of that glory but we mustn't domesticate God. His glory is unfathomable, His purposes are deeper than we can probe, His worth is endless. His holiness and wisdom are perfection itself. We can not know Him fully. Yet, He invites us to know and enjoy Him in His glory.

Let our lives be swallowed up, not in the pursuit of feeling good about ourselves but in the pursuit of glorying in that which is most worthy – God Himself. And let no Muslim outdo us in our sense and worship and submission to the transcendent One!

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:33-36, ESV)

Laughter

Laughter is a sign of a joyful heart.

It can also be a sign of a humble heart.

If we really understand how amazing grace is, how amazing it is that God loves us in Christ, how He fully and freely forgives us and owns us forever, we should be able to laugh.

If we realize that we have nothing in ourselves to defend, that the cross has already fully condemned us and then fully released us from our condemnation, we should be able to laugh. We should be able to laugh at ourselves and all the idoisyncrasies and quirks so common to us all! There is much about life that is funny.

A constantly somber Christian is a contradiction.

Check out some funny stuff and laugh! http://www.savethewheel.com/melville/

A Blog Worth Reading

I don't think I could possibly say it better than Mark Lauterbach. Mark pastors a sister church in San Diego and does an excellent job of communicating the biblical values that have shaped my life.

Check out his blog: http://mrlauterbach.typepad.com/gospeldrivenlife/

Enjoy,
Paul

Love and the Christian

We are going through a series from 1 Corinthians 13. It is striking to hear Paul's loving rebuke of the Corinthians for their lack of love. They are indeed believers but seemed to have totally missed the command of John 13:34-15. I've been considering how we resemble them in falsely measuring our Christian maturity by many things but our love. May God radically change me (and us) to measure our success by grace empowered love - the one thing that does last! It is the difference between ultimate emptiness and the fullness of God (see 1 Cor. 13:2b and Eph. 3:19).

Check out these helpful resources:

Charity and Its Fruits
Jonathan Edwards
Love One Another for Love Is of God
John Piper
Love Thy Neighbour
CH Spurgeon
Gospel Charity
John Owen


The Church:
The Dearest Place on Earth
C.J. Mahaney et al
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
Mark Dever
The Giver & The Gifts
CJ Mahaney, Dave Harvey & Jeff Purswell
The Non-Spectacular Gifts: Unimpressive or Unappreciated?
Jeff Purswell

True Spirituality.

The other week we focused on 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 where Paul begins his discourse on spiritual gifts and spirituality with the following:

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (ESV)
¹ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

There is a very important lesson in this text for all Christians: There is no higher spiritual experience or state than that of being one who, by the power of the Holy Spirit alone, proclaims, affirms and delights from the heart in the absolute, fully divine, all wise, all-glorious, all-sufficient, saving, Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Simply put:

True Spirituality is a pure gift from the Holy Spirit, it is to confess Jesus is Lord.

Check out what our friend Gordon Fee says about this passage:

The ultimate criterion of the Spirit’s activity is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord. Whatever takes away from that, even if they be legitimate expressions of the Spirit, begins to move away from Christ to a more pagan fascination with spiritual activity as an end in itself.

Gordon Fee

How does this truth change what you think about spirituality? Do you measure spirituality by other things, like whether you speak in tongues or not, whether you understand and agree with reformed theology or not, whether you know church history well, even whether you lead a Christlike life or struggle? True spirituality is to confess Jesus is Lord from the heart. There is no greater spiritual miracle than to do so.

Christian Leisure

“Human life is incomplete if it does not follow the lead of God in balancing work with leisure." - Leland Ryken

Are you convinced? What does God's word teach? Check out these verses:

Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV)

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Psalm 127:1-2 (ESV)
¹ Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. ² It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Mark 6:31 (ESV)
³¹ And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

How are you practicing Godward leisure?


Check out these resources:

Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy
John Piper

Sanctifying the Ordinary: A Biblical Understanding of Leisure
Jeff Purswell

Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work and Leisure
Leland Ryken

A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life
J.I. Packer

Knowing and Being.

So often we struggle with the relationship of knowing and being. Sadly, these two qualities are seen as enemies rather than the closest friends. I understand why, I think. Just look around - so much of our experience seems to point this way. We see that some of the most apparently Christ-like, loving people have a simple and very basic faith while some of the most knowledgeable people are too often arrogant and love-less. But experience does not determine truth, it only tests it. I would submit that the deepest lovers are the deepest knowers and the deepest knowers are the deepest lovers.

Check out Paul's approach in Philippians:

Philippians 3:10 "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Notice that Paul wants to know Him and become like Him. These two must go together. How do we become like Him? - by knowing Him. How do we know Him? - by understanding the word of God's teaching on who He is and what He has done. What is the objective? Christlikeness, not mere knowledge. But in order to get to Christlikeness there must be knowledge. You can not be without knowing. That is just as dangerous as thinking that academically knowing is enough. The measure of the knowing is in the being! The path to the being is in the knowing.

Check out Philippians 1:9-11
" And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so by pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

And finally, James:

"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. "
James 3:13 (ESV)

So the word would teach us that knowledge and Christlikeness go hand in hand. I would submit the pre-eminent quality of Christlikeness is love. So put another way, love and knowledge go hand in hand, you can't have one without the other.

Check out this link courtesy of monergism.com: Love and Knowledge: Living in Balance By Patrick Ramsey

Do You Know the Game Plan?

Thoughts from the Word– We have spent the past four Sundays springing from 1 Corinthians 10 and probing the topics of idolatry, our struggle with sin and Christ-centered holiness. So many times we can find ourselves on the playing field of Christianity and not really having any clue what we are supposed to do. The result often is that the opposing team runs roughshod over us (picture a gruesome threesome of the fallen world, the devil and our own sinful nature– the chief player and enemy coming straight at us). It is so important for us to grasp what the scripture teaches us about our life in Christ. This past series has been an attempt to give us “the game plan”. It can be summed up as follows:

1. OUR GREATEST ENEMY IS THE SIN THAT DWELLS WITHIN US.

2. OUR GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST SIN AND TEMPTATION IS THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

3. WE MUST BELIEVE AND APPLY THE GOSPEL IN ORDER TO SLAY INDWELLING SIN.

Consider the following passage (one among many like it.)

2 Peter 1:3-11 (ESV)
³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter calls his readers to progressive holiness in this passage. But note something very critical here. Verse 9 says that if someone is not walking in holiness the problem is they have forgotten they have been cleansed from their sins. They have forgotten the gospel. Additionally, it is the promise of the gospel, received, that gives us all the power we need for life and godliness – verse 1-4. Because of the sure promise in the gospel that we are already cleansed and already new creations in Christ we are totally free from the penalty and power of sin. And, because of the sure promise of the gospel we can effectively battle the presence of sin that dwells within (until we see Him face to face). Because God has already decisively and irrevocably acted for us in Christ (before we had any say!) we can now walk out the realities of our salvation in Him. Listen to how John Piper sums this truth up as taught in Romans 6-8.

What we have learned from Romans 6 and 7 is that when we trusted in Christ as our Savior and Lord (as our Treasure!), we were united to Christ (Romans 6:5; 7:4). In this union with Christ we died (Romans 6:8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3) and rose again (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:6). Therefore a decisive and irrevocable new creation came into being (2 Corinthians 5:17), and a decisive and irrevocable liberation happened (Romans 6:14, 18). We passed from death to (eternal!) life. Our decisive judgment is behind us - at Golgotha (John 5:24). We have moved from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son (Colossians 1:13).

But we also learned that our liberation from sin is not yet final and perfect. Decisive and irrevocable, Yes! But final and perfect, No! Sin still dwells within us (Romans 7:17, 20). Evil is present in us (Romans 7:21). The "flesh" is a daily troubler of our souls (Romans 7:25). We are not yet perfect nor have we already obtained our crown and prize (Philippians 3:12). We are liars if we say we have no sin (1 John 1:8, 10).

How then does the apostle Paul teach us to live? Will he say: "You are decisively and irrevocably new, so you can coast through life with no fight to become new"? Or will he say: "You are not decisively and irrevocably new and must fight to get to that place in Christ"? No, neither of these. He will say: "By faith, embrace all that God is for your good in Christ and all you are for his glory in Christ. Believe that. And now, with that confidence, fight to take possession of the territory that Christ has conquered for you. Fight to become in practice what you are in Christ."

John Piper, Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free, Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free, August 28, 2001

Because we have a Savior and Lord who has won us a decisive and irrevocable victory let us fight with great joy and faith to gain the territory that is rightly his. Let us believe and apply the gospel! Let us use all the means He gives us (faith, the word, prayer, church and trials) to walk in His glorious ways, becoming more and more like our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ – until we see Him face to face and receive our reward.

Got a clearer idea of what it is all about and what you are called to do? Ready to resist the opposing team and experience victory? I hope so. May the Lord bless you as you grapple with these life-transforming truths!

Check out these links:
Gospel-Driven Sanctification
Jerry Bridges


Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free, Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free
John Piper


Christ and Him Crucified
C.J.Mahaney