the NEW Calvinist Gadfly!

Where is the Calvinist Gadfly?

2012-01-30T00:01:00.000-06:00

All --

The real pleasure of blogging is having faithful reders who come back and savor the old posts as well as look forward to the new posts. The real pain of blogging is having to make the new posts as good or better than the old posts. And keeping one's full-time gig.

The team here at Calvinist Gadfly have been regrouping since Christmas, and loading up the queue for posts so that we can try to sustain a weekly volume of 3-5 posts per week. I know that doesn't sound like much really, but we try to make these posts a labor of love and not a tossed-off "read the whole thing" link to someone else who has done the heavy lifting.

The queue is getting ripe, and I think we'll re-launch next Monday, 6 Feb 2012. We'll continue through the Larger catechism and try to plan better for the key weeks of the year such as the week before Easter and Christmas as well at a few topical items.

From all of us, our thanks for coming back even when we're not twice-daily content pumps. We hope the quality make up for the lack of quantity, and we look forward to serving up the buzz in 2012.

...and a Happy New Year

2011-12-30T00:01:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago a friend said to me that he felt bad for our kids because the world is just getting so much worse.

Yeah, I get it. Economic opportunity is disappearing, liberty is in crisis, and war has ceased to be an occasional interruption and has become our nation’s status quo. Society’s morals have collapsed in ways we only recently thought impossible, and in this the church is complicit. For that matter, the church can’t even seem to agree any more on what the gospel is, and this includes some evangelical heroes.

But are these circumstances unparalleled in history? We just celebrated Christmas, a holiday which should be a reminder of a time when people “walked in darkness.” The religious leaders - at least, the influential ones with the big building at the center of town - were functional atheists who denied the most fundamental realities of Scripture. Popular religion had been overrun with rank legalism which denied the very character of God. The faithful remnant had never been weaker. They were subjects of a brutal regime and burdened with crushing taxation. Local authority was vested in the hands of a monster who thought nothing of slaughtering children in order to achieve his political ends.

And then one day, while a couple of the 99% were sitting on a hillside at night, an angel showed up and said to them - just imagine! - “Fear not!” Of course not! What was there to be afraid of?

And what a reason he gave! “Fear not, because there’s an infant lying in a filthy stall in an insignificant village that Caesar never even heard of, but he’s your Savior: Christ the Lord.” And that, in a nutshell, is Christmas: if God is with us in the Person of His Son, then fear not.

So, what about the holiday we are about to celebrate? As the New Year rings in, the Savior is no longer wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, but instead is wrapped in glory and seated at the right hand of the Father. He is no longer an infant, but is once more clothed in omnipotence. He is not walking among us, but has sent the Spirit of Truth that we might not be orphans.

It remains a rather obvious fact that many still walk in darkness. The collapsing economy, hopeless political strife, unending war, global poverty, abominable morals, and a church so full of elephants we can scarcely see the room any more - all this and much more is very, very true. But if the Angel were to appear to us just as the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, I have a pretty good idea what he’d say.

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all the people. For on your behalf there sits this day in the Heaven of Heavens a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign unto you: you shall receive His Spirit, and one day you shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Never a Bad Christmas

2011-12-27T00:01:00.000-06:00

Christmas this year in the Chantry family was, shall we say, memorable. My middle son was sick early on Thursday morning, just as we were set to go to my sister’s house. He seemed well when he got up, and we decided he did not have the stomach flu. Off we headed down the road for an overnight stay - not a wise decision.

By Saturday (after our return) I was sick, as was my nephew. By Saturday night my wife, my other two sons, and my three nieces had all succumbed. My mother and brother-in-law were coming down with it on Christmas morning, and on Christmas night it made a return appearance with the middle son.

So I spent Christmas Eve, while Karen and the kids celebrated at my parent’s house, cycling between my bed and the bathroom, lost in a fever-induced haze of misery. That night I was awake from one until three-thirty going back and forth between two sick children, Karen by this point being too ill herself to help. I started doing laundry at about two. On Christmas morning, only my middle son and I were healthy enough to attend church. Being far too weak to preach, I listened as my father pinch-hit for me.

As I write it is Monday, and as a precaution we are missing the Christmas celebration at my in-law’s house. All fevers are gone, and everyone is eating, but we remain weakened. Neither my wife nor I can recall a sickness so violent in many years.

But, perhaps because it was Christmas, I didn’t ever begin to feel too sorry for myself. I tried to overcome the loneliness of Saturday by listening to as much sacred Christmas music as I could, and my thoughts ran along these headings - the sermon which the stomach flu preached to me:

“First, the curse is found at least as far as Milwaukee. This wretched stomach flu is just a part of what has happened to this sin-cursed world, and, as one of the chief propagators of that sin, you, Tom, have no reasonable complaint. Sinners like you deserve the vomiting and the incontinence, the feverish shakes and delusions, the reduction to childishness which comes of being seriously ill. Truth be told, you deserve more than twenty-four hours of illness, and if the stomach flu went on interminably it would be only the merest fraction of a just reward for your sin. But of course, God doesn’t give you what you deserve. Since you know Christ, sickness isn’t even a warning of worse to come. That is only because…

“…the Lord is come. Sickness involves a reduction of the whole person. It can be humbling in the extreme. Mind and body revert to infancy at the touch of a tiny virus. Now, contemplate the incarnation of Christ while you are in the grip of this humbling illness. No sickness could possibly have touched Him, but He voluntarily entered into our sin-weakened condition, and no doubt He did so knowing that He would eventually get the stomach flu. Every small and great consequence of the curse, every sorrow and pain which we experience, Jesus took on willingly. That is what the Baby in the manger means. That amazing scene is testimony to the fact that God’s Son said, “Yes, I will take on this indignity, and a thousand more until I am beaten and stripped and nailed to a cross to die a public death.” And He did this because of…

“…the wonders of His love. Yes, Tom, child of God, He underwent all this because He loved you. He loved you before you were born - before even He was born. He loved you before the foundation of the world, because the Father loved you, and Christ, whose love for the Father is perfect, could not do other than to love you. His love for you was so immense, so giving, so absolute, that He entered not only this world but humanity itself, with all its sorrow and misery, in order to rescue you from it. Well might you wonder! And moreover, His love was effectual, accomplishing its intended end, so that you might sing…

“…no more let sins and sorrows grow. Yes, you’re a sinner, and yes, you’re suffering, but He came to put an end to that. The arrival of the Christ-Child at Bethlehem was the beginning of the end for Satan and all of his works. Your sin has been defeated, and its consequences are running out. This sickness is like a bad snow-storm in April; it’s no fun, but neither is it a harbinger of everlasting winter. Having come to you here, Christ prepares to take you to Him there. Wonder, yes, but also rejoice. And of course…

“…let every heart prepare Him room. Perhaps the world never so fully demonstrates its self-centered ignorance as at Christmas. The obsession with gifts and parties is obvious, but even the pseudo-religious talk of “Christmas Spirit” is generally pretty selfish. “We should all treat each other better, because we are so good and so worth it,” they sing. But little is said of Him, and what is said is as often as not inaccurate and misleading. The Child in the manger didn’t come with a dream that everyone should be nice one day a year. He came to rule, and rule He will. But what about you, Tom? Are your thoughts really superior? Do you not have your own ideal of a “good Christmas?” The family will be together, the children will enjoy their gifts, health and good spirits will reign - certainly Christmas is one day you can expect this! So was this Christmas ruined? Jesus still came. He still “makes His blessings flow.” He still demonstrates “the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.” Is there room in your heart for Him, or do you need a picture-book American Family Christmas first?”

That was the message my stomach flu preached to me, and it was a good one. The conclusion was obvious: If you know the Christ-child in the manger, if you know the Redeemer He came to be, then there can never be such a thing as a bad Christmas.

The Christmas Story (Luke 2:1-20)

2011-12-26T09:52:00.000-06:00

6-Part Harmony

2011-12-24T00:01:00.000-06:00

This ia a "best of" which I composed years ago for the Christmas day service at our church -- a harmony of the texts which directly speak to the birth of Christ. I think it's useful to get a more-robust picture of what we're talking about at Christmas, which is not just a historical event but the purpose of all of history: God's working out His plan to save sinners.

It still needs some work; there's more that could be said from Scripture. But this is what we are going to celebrate -- those of us who are Christians.

Good tidings of great joy to you as you prepare to make straight the way of the Lord.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

"You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"?And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

"Let all God's angels worship him."Of the angels he says,

"He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." But of the Son he says,

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to her. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But Mary was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"

And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God. … For nothing will be impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And at the end of eight days, when [the child] was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

(they said this because the prophet Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, and he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his discourse and said,

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;")After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

So This is Christmas

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-06:00

The angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

If you don't celebrate Christmas, just go on doing whatever it is you do this time of year and come back after the New Year starts. The rest of us have some serious theological self-improvement to consider.

You know: God spent millennia teaching Israel about himself and His plan for all things, and it's worth debating whether they got any of it or not. And during those millennia, God used all kinds of amazing stuff to spell it out for them -- like parting the sea for dry land for them to walk on, and free bread in the morning every morning until they were ready to enter the Promised Land, and fire burning up the priests to Baal. God's not one to spare the special effects when He has a purpose for them.

But here we are at the moment that the world was made for -- the moment when Christ the Lord would be born -- and angels appear to tell some shepherds that this is happening. And when they appear, they don't say, "This is pretty cool, huh? This is the sign for you, cowboys: a host of angels singing God's praises -- because you saw this sign, you can know that God is in it."

See: the angels were not the sign, were they? They were just the messengers. Seriously: they were just the guys with the telegram for the field hands who smelled like sheep. The sign, they said, was the baby in a feeding trough -- a baby in a manger. It wasn't a sign that ministers like a flame of fire had something to say: it was that there was a baby born in the city of David in a lowly place.

You see: at many times and in many ways, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.

The angels, in speaking to the farm boys in the field on the night Christ was born, pointed them to a sign that it was true that unto them was born a Savior who was Christ, the Lord. And the sign was not a double-rainbow in 3D made of fire and lollipops; it wasn't that their seed money was returned 1000-fold; it wasn't that somehow someone was speaking in the tongues of angels (since plainly: angels were speaking in the tongues of men).

The sign was that there was a baby laid in a manger, wrapped in "swaddling clothes".

I want to linger there a second, because the Greek word there rendered by Luke is "σπαργανόω", which comes from the word "σπαράσσω". It's rightly translated "swaddling clothes", but it means to wrap up in rags -- to wrap up in torn fabric as in to "swaddle" a baby.

You never looked that word up in a dictionary, I am sure, so here's what the dictionary says about it:

swad·dle [swod-l]
verb, -dled, -dling, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.to bind (an infant, esp. a newborn infant) with long, narrow strips of cloth to prevent free movement; wrap tightly with clothes.

2.to wrap (anything) round with bandages.

–noun
3.a long, narrow strip of cloth used for swaddling or bandaging.

So the sign the Angels point to is this baby placed in a feeding trough wrapped up in rags -- rags which might be for babies, or for the wounded. Maybe for the dead.

So that's the sign at Christmas -- the sign at the birth of Christ: there's a baby born not in a temple or a castle or some lofty estate, but born so low as to be born with the poorest of the poor, in a stable among animals. And his garments are not fine cloth or soft linens: they're rags that are only good enough for a baby's back-end business or to wrap the sick and dying in.

So what to think of this? Here are three things to think about as you get on with your Christmas:

1. In that sign, it is clear that God is with us.

Look: that's the ultimate promise YHVH makes to Israel -- when the savior is born, he will be "Emmanuel - God with us." And the Angels point out that the sign to the Shepherds is that this child is born of no account at all -- above no one in the world. This wouldn't be so true if Jesus had been born in Solomon's courts -- because as the Prince of the nation, he would be above so many and unreachable by them.

But here is the child in the manger -- who the writer of Hebrews says is our high priest who is like us in every way, and still did not sin. He's not just "for us" in some divine way: he is like us and is with us is a way which someone who is pandered to could never be.

2. In that sign, it is clear that God loves us.

I was talking to my son about this because I was thinking he didn't get it, and I asked him: "Dude, when Papa and Grandma come over to stay, what do you do?"

"I let them sleep in my room," he said.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Well, they need someplace to stay, and that's the best place for them to stay," he sort of shrugged.

"So it's just because it seems to make sense?" I asked.

"Well, no," he squirmed, "I give it up because I love them and I'm glad to be with them."

"Aha," I ahead. "So you give up your place in our home so that they can be with us. That's awesome. Now think about this: Jesus didn't just give up his bedroom to be with us. Jesus gave up heaven to be with us -- and he was willing to give up everything he deserved in Heaven to come and be born in a stable so that he could be with us."

You know: Jesus gave up Heaven for a stable so that, as he said to Peter and the boys, he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. For us.

That's actually how we know what love is: the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

3. In that sign, God clears up everything He has been saying for the past 2 or 3 millennia.

As I said last week, and the writer of Hebrews has said to you a jillion times, In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son -- the one who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

You know: God said a lot of things in the Old Testament. I know you know that because you probably haven't read them all because it's so much. It's more than War and Peace. It's more than The Stand. And you'd think after saying all that God would be like, "Dadgum! -- what more can I say than to you I have said?" But no: God instead makes everything He said come true in the birth of a child in a barn because there was no room at the Inn.

All the ideas of blessing: rolled up in swaddling clothes.

All the ideas about being chosen by God: laying in a manger.

All those judgments and warnings: now in the hands of a mother who admitted she didn't understand these things, but submitted to them and considered them in her heart.

All the promises: in poverty, to the least of these, with the least of these.

All the power: not considering equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, but rather, made nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.

Here in the manger is the very clarification of all God meant -- because he is here in this world as it is created.

You might have more than that which you considered -- and good on you. This only scratches the surface. You could probably consider the sign of the baby in the manger every day this year and come up with something new to rejoice over, but we only have 2 days until Christmas. All I'm saying is that the Angels didn't think that their appearance was as spectacular as that sign. Maybe we should consider it more deeply this season.

Ce n'est que fumee

2011-12-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

The angel opens by saying that he announces great joy; and next assigns the ground or matter of joy, that a Savior is born. These words show us, first, that, until men have peace with God, and are reconciled to him through the grace of Christ, all the joy that they experience is deceitful, only like smoke -- “Ce n'est que fumee.” Ungodly men frequently indulge in frantic and intoxicating mirth; but if there be none to make peace between them and God, the hidden stings of conscience must produce fearful torment. Besides, to whatever extent they may flatter themselves in luxurious indulgence, their own lusts are so many tormentors.

The commencement of solid joy is to perceive the fatherly love of God toward us, which alone gives tranquillity to our minds. And this “joy,” in which, Paul tells us, “the kingdom of God” consists, is “in the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 14:17.) By calling it great joy, he shows us, not only that we ought, above all things, to rejoice in the salvation brought us by Christ, but that this blessing is so great and boundless, as fully to compensate for all the pains, distresses, and anxieties of the present life. Let us learn to be so delighted with Christ alone, that the perception of his grace may overcome, and at length remove from us, all the distresses of the flesh.

-- John Calvin, Commentary on Luke 2:10

Who Is This So Weak and Helpless

2011-12-21T00:01:00.000-06:00

Who is this so weak and helpless, Child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable sheltered, coldly in a manger laid?
’Tis the Lord of all creation, who this wondrous path hath trod;
He is God from everlasting, and to everlasting God.

Who is this, a Man of sorrows, walking sadly life’s hard way,
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping, over sin and Satan’s sway?
’Tis our God, our glorious Savior, who above the starry sky
Now for us a place prepareth, where no tear can dim the eye.

Who is this? Behold Him shedding drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected, mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
’Tis our God, who gifts and graces on His church now poureth down;
Who shall smite in righteous judgment all His foes beneath His throne.

Who is this that hangeth dying while the rude world scoffs and scorns,
Numbered with the malefactors, torn with nails, and crowned with thorns?
’Tis the God Who ever liveth, ’mid the shining ones on high,
In the glorious golden city, reigning everlastingly.

Words by William W. How 1867
Music: Eifionydd by John A. Lloyd, Sr.
Arrangement by David P. Regier

Blockheads like Us

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Face it, if you were going to choose a character from the Old Testament to encourage suffering Christians with a reminder that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,” you wouldn’t pick Lot, would you? Lot?! Righteous Lot?!?!? The guy who spurned the Promised Land in order to move his tents down toward Sodom?

That is of course exactly who we need to hear about: inconsistent, weak-hearted, ethically compromised Lot. We like to pretend that our churches are saintly outposts in a world of sin, but all too often we are neck-deep in the its moral filth. We too easily abandon the green pastures of God’s word and set up shop in downtown Sodom. We don’t really belong - no more than did Lot - and so, like him, we are “tormenting [our] righteous souls” among the wicked. Yet there we sit in the gate of Sodom, giving tacit consent to its rejection of God.

But He knows how to rescue people like us. He sent His angels right into the heart of Sodom, much though Lot would be horrified to see them there. They were threatened with death and what is worse than death, but they persevered and gave Lot the needed warning. When he responded with less than full enthusiasm, they dragged him out of the city to safety. That’s Peter’s point, really. The Lord has experience with blockheads like us!

When the fullness of time had come, the Lord, purposing to rescue Peter and his readers (including you, and me) out of the Sodom of this world in which we are less than citizens but more, sadly, then thorough non-participants, He sent not His angels, but His Son. Perhaps our horror at this thought ought to equal that of Lot when he saw the angels approach the city gate. Christ approached our world, He entered it, and not only was He threatened, He was actually tortured and killed. And He did this to rescue us out of our trials - especially those we create for ourselves through our sin.

Do Not Be Blind

2011-12-19T00:01:00.000-06:00

"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, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. - Jude 24-25 [ESV]

I love this benediction. Who has come into the world? God has come into the world. So what? So He is able to keep His children from stumbling and to present them blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy.

In the wake of such a truth, it isn't merely fitting, but all righteousness demands that a believer so blessed ought to ascribe glory, majesty, dominion and authority to the One who not only offered such hope to men, but gave His own life to see that His promises are kept in full.

Let your meditation rest on what God sent Christ into the world to do for you. Don't stop there. Meditate on what Christ is doing right now for you, and then marvel over the fact that He has not left His love for you as some riddle, or invisible thing for you to find, but has laid it out open and evident in what He has done, and is presently doing, for you. Do not be blind, but see these things, and you will be blessed when you find yourself looking upon them.

5 Thoughts on Christmas

2011-12-18T00:01:00.000-06:00

This is a recycled post by me from 2007. It bears repeating.

[1] It is frankly bizarre to associate what happens these days on December 25th (and the 4-ish weeks prior to 12/25) in the English-speaking world with Roman Catholicism in the theological, ecclesiological, or worshipological senses. That is: there's nobody I know who's celebrating Christmas because the day itself turns out to be more holy – except, of course, some Catholics. The rest of us are considering that Christ, in order to die for our sins in accordance with Scripture, had to be born. Which leads me to ...

[2] ... the obvious objection that taking a day and setting it apart to reconsider the birth of Christ is making something holy which God does not – it's a sort of Regulative principle objection. But here's the problem: if one doesn’t read the whole Bible every day and think about the whole thing every day, one is doing by default what one is criticizing others for doing with intention.

You know: you can't mull over the whole of biblical and systematic theology in any kind of thorough or even careful way in the 14 hours you're awake one day and then repeat the process again tomorrow and (for example) hold down a job or take a bath. So breaking the particulars of Biblical and systematic theology up over time – for example, into 52 weeks like the Heidelberg Catechism, or into a "church year", or into a daily reading plan – makes practical sense.

Because you have a human brain with human constraints, you're going to cause each day to be different in some way because you really don’t have a choice. The question turns out to be whether or not you're going to have an intentional way of, as the Bible says, being transformed by the renewal of your mind, or if you're just going to sort of stumble through it.

[3] And then the question comes up, "well, are you saying I must celebrate Christmas? Isn’t that legalism and violating my Christian liberty?" I think the fair comparison – the clear-sighted comparison – is to evangelism, because ultimately that's what I am talking about here (which we will get to in a minute).
You know: when you're standing in the waiting line at the Olive Garden with your family or whatever, I have no qualms saying that you should talk to someone there and try to get the Gospel in as much as it is possible. You should. My guess – and you can argue about the statistics behind this guess if you're that kind of person – is that someone in that waiting line is a lost person who has a sin problem that ends up being a hell problem, and is someone the Gospel is given to be declared to. If you believe in hell and in the only savior of men, you should find a way to talk about the Gospel.

Should. Expresses obligation, propriety, or expediency. Disciples of Christ have an obligation to express the Gospel. Even at the Olive Garden, which may or may not have some historical association with the Roman Catholic church particularly by being an Italian restaurant [sic].

Now, if that's true – and I'd love to see the person who's willing to say that Christians do not have this kind of obligation – how much more obvious is this same obligation on a day which, in the English-speaking world, bears the name of Christ and the whole world is frankly stopped because of it. Last year I published a harmony of the Gospels here at the blog – what if we intentionally gathered as families with both the saved and the sinners and read something like that rather than treating the day as if it's just another day, just like every other day, even though Wall Street and the banks are closed and everyone is frankly looking for something to do?

Opportunities like that don’t just fall out of the sky, especially in a post-Christian culture.

[4] And to connect the dots here between [2] and [3], one might say, "well, cent, I actually do read the Heidelberg Catechism to my kids and we follow the three forms of unity, so my obligation to bringing up my children in the way they should go – evangelizing them, if you will – is taken care of, so your beat-down on me for not observing this day is uncalled for."

Yeah, no. And pay attention, because this is where you imaginary objectors really get my goat.

Paul said this:

"All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.and again:

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.I agree with you that one perfectly "lawful" means of doing your Christian life is the consideration (as in our example) of the Heidelberg Catechism. Where I part company with the imaginary objector is that you are straining out gnats and swallowing camels, and you have a really big problem if Rob Bell understands something which you do not.

I want you to imagine something: imagine that the whole English-speaking world stops for one day – and by "stops" I mean that there's not even any sports on the TV worth mentioning. Everybody stops working for one day. And for the most part, everyone has this yearning to be with family – even the most weird feel like this day bears some kind of meaning in that it would be good to be with family just this one day.

And on that day, the disciples of Christ get up in the morning, read Heidelberg Catechism Week 51 (ironically, "about the Lord's Day", speaking of holding one day above another), and wander off to work to show those idolatrous Catholics we don't bend a knee to the Pope, carn-sarn it.

Let me suggest to you that this is not only an avoidance of a right-minded "should" for a sort of smug and intellectually-selfish "ought", but it is completely tone-deaf to the real spirit of Christ who became flesh and took up residence among us, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, who has made God known.

Christmas is the opportunity to make God known, people – particularly, to make Christ known. You have the liberty to do that in an obscure or untranslatable way, and you have the liberty to do that in a public and sort of lavish and joyous way – one which reflects your personal response to this God who poured Himself out, took on the form of a servant, allowed himself to be laid in a feeding trough, and came to die for people who deserved themselves to be put to death.

You can play baseball when the sun is shining, or you can play your PSP in your basement and wonder why you don’t know any real people. What you can't do is pretend that your liberty is more valuable than spending your liberty on your responsibilities.

[5] And that leads to my last point (because this is page 3 in WORD), which is to make it clear that what's at stake here is the declaration of the Gospel of God to the lost by all means possible. That's the real "culture war". You have to consider what it means to have a public faith at some point in your travels through sanctification.

Some people want to tell you that the only meaningful way to have a public faith is by church-community and church-worship. That is: somehow the only way, or perhaps the most efficacious way, of demonstrating a public faith is in liturgy in community. And we have to grant something here: depending on what you mean by "liturgy" and "efficacious", and depending on how important you rate the Lord's table and baptism, they have a point.

But if our worship stops at the last pew in the chapel, so to speak, we're just fans. We're not playing the game: we're just watching it.

You are called to do more than watch the game, reader. You are called to run the race, and fight the good fight, and be someone who's not just shadow-boxing in vain. You are called to be a spectacle for the sake of the Gospel, and that doesn’t happened behind closed doors.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas, sort of - mystery of ages

2011-12-16T00:01:00.001-06:00

Glory shone 'round

The men made no sound

Quaking with terror

At the birth of the Saviour

And at a bright blazing seraph

And host that sang of the Fairest

They rushed down and found sweet tired Mary

Then they went from there

And told all they met about the baby

Mystery of ages

God takes my wages

Thank you Lord for what you've done

Blood gushed all 'round

The Lamb made no sound

He drank down my cup

That I'd filled to the top

With dark deeds and omissions

Selfish words and decisions

That poison broth scathed and bruised him

Yet he gulped as one

Who's fighting for his friend and kin

Mystery of ages

God takes my wages

Thank you Lord for what you've done

Glory shone 'round
The men made no sound
Frozen with terror at the rise of the Saviour
And at a bright blazing seraph
Who rolled the stone from the Fairest

He burst forth and found another tired Mary
She clung to him
Salvation's early harvest bearing

Mystery of ages

God takes my wages

Thank you Lord for what you've done

The gavel comes down

The judged make no sound

They drink from their cups

That they'd filled to the top

But they can't swallow much

And they rejected their Nonesuch

For biting and gnashing and fear

But the righteous

Will rest with Jesus, he holds them near

Mystery of ages

God takes my wages

Thank you Lord for what you've done

Thank you Father

Thank you Spirit

Thank you Jesus

For giving, illumining, dying and rising

The substitute blood washes all

Advent Day 17: As on the day of Midian

2011-12-13T00:01:00.001-06:00

Are you self-assured and financially secure? Are you a daddy? Are you safe? Looking forward to Christmas? In the little nook of your noggin that forges nightmares, substitute your confidence and western wealth with fear and debasement. Replace your happy homestead with a hidden hole in the ground, your wife with a sunken-eyed wraith, and your Skyrim playing kids with weeping malnourishment. It's not that you have no future. It's that your best case future involves decomposing alone under a bush. This is how low the Israelites fell in Judges 6:1-6. They were deer fleeing from the hunters during a long winter. And the most tragic part is that they brought it upon themselves.

From their gopher holes they could see the oppressing Midianites trampling their homes and eating their food. They must have raged with tearful impotence at the endless invasion. But they didn't turn to the One that could save them. Only after seven years (slow learners, they!), did the Israelites (well, a few of them) call upon YHWH. Would he save them in spite of themselves?

The rest of this story may be familiar. A reluctant young man named Gideon was cajoled into leading a raggedy force of 32,000 hole-dwellers against the Midianites' 135,000 well equipped fighters. It's unlikely that they could have won, but stranger things have happened. Think of the English victories at Agincourt or Crécy. It's always fun to use French military defeats as examples. The 32,000 would have been glorious heroes, revered and mythologized for generations as the men who saved Israel. But that's not what occurred.

We read on: the 32,000 were unremarkably whittled down to 300. I'm not military, but my recessive actuary genes tell me that 300 inferior fighters have 0.0000000% chance of displacing the Midianite hoard. If Midian were somehow defeated, then that would not be a military victory. Instead, it would be supernatural, a miracle of epic scale. Only God could have done it. It would be life from death, and restoration from damnation. Children would laugh. Grownups would dance. Crops would be harvested. The degraded walking dead would become a prospering people again, with the desire to serve the maker of the miracle.

A gazillion generations later, Isaiah 9:1-7 was written.

Advent: Day 16

2011-12-12T05:26:00.000-06:00

(2 Pet 1:1-11) Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

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, 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. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 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. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you san entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Advent Day 13: Psalms

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

Psalm 35 (ESV)

¹Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
    fight against those who fight against me!
²Take hold of shield and buckler
   and rise for my help!
³Draw the spear and javelin
   against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
   "I am your salvation!" ⁴ Let them be put to shame and dishonor
   who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
   who devise evil against me!
⁵Let them be like chaff before the wind,
   with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
⁶Let their way be dark and slippery,
   with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
⁷For without cause they hid their net for me;
   without cause they dug a pit for my life.
⁸Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
   let him fall into it—to his destruction!
⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
    exulting in his salvation.
¹⁰All my bones shall say,
   "O LORD, who is like you,
delivering the poor
   from him who is too strong for him,
   the poor and needy from him who robs him?"
¹¹ Malicious witnesses rise up;
   they ask me of things that I do not know.
¹² They repay me evil for good;
   my soul is bereft.
¹³But I, when they were sick—
   I wore sackcloth;
   I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
¹⁴I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
   I bowed down in mourning.
¹⁵But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
   they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
   tore at me without ceasing;
¹⁶like profane mockers at a feast,
   they gnash at me with their teeth.
¹⁷How long, O Lord, will you look on?
   Rescue me from their destruction,
    my precious life from the lions!
¹⁸I will thank you in the great congregation;
   in the mighty throng I will praise you.
¹⁹ Let not those rejoice over me
   who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
   who hate me without cause.
²⁰For they do not speak peace,
   but against those who are quiet in the land
   they devise words of deceit.
²¹They open wide their mouths against me;
   they say, "Aha, Aha!
   Our eyes have seen it!"
²² You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
   O Lord, be not far from me!
²³Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
   for my cause, my God and my Lord!
²⁴ Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
   according to your righteousness,
   and let them not rejoice over me!
²⁵Let them not say in their hearts,
    "Aha, our heart’s desire!"
Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up."
²⁶Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
   who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
   who magnify themselves against me!
²⁷Let those who delight in my righteousness
   shout for joy and be glad
    and say evermore,
"Great is the LORD,
   who delights in the welfare of his servant!"
²⁸Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
   and of your praise all the day long.

Advent Day 12 Psalm 37

2011-12-08T01:00:00.000-06:00

In the opening chapter of Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis talks about the two people quarreling, making the point that there is an external standard of justice or fairness that people innately recognize and appeal to. As kids, we knew it was wrong to take "cuts" in the line at the drinking fountain. As adults, when we are out driving, it's still wrong to take cuts, and when someone else doesn't seem to know that, we can go out of our way to make sure they are aware.

All of us, in some form or fashion, are yearning for justice. Often, this can be self-serving, like when one of my children complains that another one won't let him or her "have a turn". At other times, this desire may have a wider and more outward-directed focus, such as injustice in the world. And we can be tempted to despair, because whether personal or widespread, our appeals for justice can often appear to go unanswered.

For believers, a text like Psalm 37 vividly reminds us that God is aware. It's His testimony to us that He knows the works of the wicked and the righteous, and distinguishes between the two.

This isn't just happy head knowledge. We need to recognize that our own petty attempts to obtain justice from others are not merely pathetic, but they are unnecessary. We can rest in the comfort that the scales will be balanced in God's timing, and according to His plan.

For Yahweh loves justice;
He will not forsake his saints.

Advent day 12: Psalms

2011-12-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

Psalm 37 (ESV)

¹⁸The LORD knows the days of the blameless,

   and their heritage will remain forever;
¹⁹they are not put to shame in evil times;
   in the days of famine they have abundance.
²⁰But the wicked will perish;
   the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures;
   they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
²¹The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
   but the righteous is generous and gives;
²²for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,
   but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
²³The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
   when he delights in his way;
²⁴ though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
   for the LORD upholds his hand.
²⁵I have been young, and now am old,
   yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
   or his children begging for bread.
²⁶He is ever lending generously,
   and his children become a blessing.
²⁷ Turn away from evil and do good;
   so shall you dwell forever.
²⁸For the LORD loves justice;
   he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
   but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
²⁹The righteous shall inherit the land
   and dwell upon it forever.
³⁰The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
   and his tongue speaks justice.
³¹ The law of his God is in his heart;
   his steps do not slip.
³²The wicked watches for the righteous
   and seeks to put him to death.
³³The LORD will not abandon him to his power
   or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
³⁴ Wait for the LORD and keep his way,
   and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
   you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
³⁵ I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
   spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
³⁶But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
   though I sought him, he could not be found.
³⁷Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
   for there is a future for the man of peace.
³⁸But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
   the future of the wicked shall be cut off.
³⁹ The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
   he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
⁴⁰The LORD helps them and delivers them;
    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
   because they take refuge in him.

Advent Day 11: Isaiah

2011-12-07T00:01:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 6:1-13

¹In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one called to another and said:

    "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" ⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." ⁹And he said, "Go, and say to this people:

    "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull,
   and their ears heavy,
   and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
   and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
   and turn and be healed."
¹¹Then I said, "How long, O Lord?"And he said:"Until cities lie waste
   without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
   and the land is a desolate waste,
¹²and the LORD removes people far away,
   and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
¹³ And though a tenth remain in it,
   it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
   whose stump remains
   when it is felled."
The holy seed is its stump.

Advent Meditation - Day 11

2011-12-06T15:35:00.007-06:00

So YHWH tells his messenger to tell his people that they will not get the message. Listen as they might, look as they will, they will keep on going in their sin, their rejection of the Lord.

Dull them! Blind them! he tells Isaiah. Why? Lest they turn and be healed. How long? Until everything is dead.

This is the condition God prepares for his people to receive a Savior.

Advent Day 10: Luke

2011-12-06T00:01:00.000-06:00

Luke 21:29-38 (ESV)

²⁹And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. ³⁰As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³² Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³⁴"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. ³⁵For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

³⁷And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. ³⁸And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

Advent Day 9: Isaiah

2011-12-05T00:01:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 5:8-23 (ESV)

⁸Woe to those who join house to house,
   who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
   and you are made to dwell alone
   in the midst of the land.
⁹The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate,
   large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
   and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah." ¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
   that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
   as wine inflames them!
¹² They have lyre and harp,
   tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD,
   or see the work of his hands.
¹³Therefore my people go into exile
    for lack of knowledge;
their honored men go hungry,
   and their multitude is parched with thirst.
¹⁴Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
   and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
   her revelers and he who exults in her.
¹⁵ Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
   and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
¹⁶ But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice,
   and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
¹⁷Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
   and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
   who draw sin as with cart ropes,
¹⁹who say: "Let him be quick,
   let him speed his work
   that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
   and let it come, that we may know it!"
²⁰Woe to those who call evil good
   and good evil,
who put darkness for light
   and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
   and sweet for bitter!
²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
   and shrewd in their own sight!
²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
   and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
   and deprive the innocent of his right!

He Beat Down Death

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Q. 54. How is Christ exalted in his sitting at the right hand of God?
A. Christ is exalted in his sitting at the right hand of God, in that as God-man he is advanced to the highest favor with God the Father, with all fullness of joy, glory, and power over all things in heaven and earth; and doth gather and defend his church, and subdue their enemies; furnisheth his ministers and people with gifts and graces, and maketh intercession for them.

Q. 55. How doth Christ make intercession?
A. Christ maketh intercession, by his appearing in our nature continually before the Father in heaven, in the merit of his obedience and sacrifice on earth, declaring his will to have it applied to all believers; answering all accusations against them, and procuring for them quiet of conscience, notwithstanding daily failings, access with boldness to the throne of grace, and acceptance of their persons and services.

You were dead and without hope. You were a casualty of your own sins and the collective wickedness of men. You died because you joined the rebellion, and your corpse was stacked in the heap with the rest of the insurrectionists. You were rotting in your own filth.

But you woke up from death. The Holy Spirit, the God whom you spurned, breathed life into you again. Over His shoulder beamed the face of your Savior, Jesus Christ. You know now that Jesus died to save you, and that He beat down death to make you whole. The gentle Spirit smiles as He cleans you, happy that you are transfixed with the beauty of the Son of God.

In gratitude, you give yourself to God and vow that you will serve Him and love Him. Desperate to repay the kindness you have found, you seek to build His kingdom, to make disciples, to make a difference in this world for the glorious King. You try so hard; you really do. But you fail. Every time you try to do good, you find that evil is present in you. You still feel the stink of death at work in your body.

All your righteousness appears to you as filthy rags. You feel worthless. You realize you are not changing the world. Your strength is so small. You are so frail. You are still beset with sin, and sin still feels good. You feel the cold tentacles of despair sap the strength from your soul. You are not worthy, and you know it.

Patiently, the Spirit still tends you. He washes you with the warmth of His love. He sits you up so you can see Jesus better, and the light of His countenance stirs and comforts you. His love will not fail you. His resurrection power is flowing through your tired soul. He is interceding for you, and the Spirit who awakened you will not stop His work until you are whole. You are family now.

You were not awakened because you were good. He does not love you because you can build Him anything. He does not need your service. He is not washing you for any reason other than this: He loves you with an everlasting love, and He has redeemed you at a price that will never be ignored.

A Servant is not Greater

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000-06:00

There once was a man whom God gifted by granting him a deep hunger for, and understanding of, His word. As the man began to devour God's word, he simultaneously became aware that he was able to expound and explain what he was being made aware of in God's word, with clarity and conviction. Those around him in the church encouraged him to exercise this gift, which they understood to be the gift of a teacher of God's word.

In the years that followed this man began to exercise this gift, and though he earnestly guarded himself against taking credit for God's gift, yet some secret part of him quietly nursed the notion that he was special on account of his gifting.

As the years went on, he showed himself to be approved, filling the pulpit and feeding the flock God's word. But his zeal for God's word, as pure as it was at the outset, began to decay ever so slowly that he wasn't even aware of the cancer of self slowly uprooting and displacing the word the Lord had done. And so there came a day when he set pen to paper to write the next sermon, and found himself dry as a funeral drum.

The next day he delivered the pathetic, still-born sermon he had labored all that week to write. It was received with such yawning disinterest that each word seemed heavier and more burdensome than the last. After the service finally ended he fled home, shut himself in a closet, and wept his heart out to the Lord. How had he become such an empty, prancing peacock? He finally himself as he had become, and he loathed himself and was all but consumed by the shame of his sin, and the damage it undoubtedly had caused to others. He was like that man in scripture, who understood himself to be a wretch, and could only cry that God be merciful to him: the sinner.

In the days that followed, God answered that prayer and he found again a genuine humility. This the Lord used to tear down all that the man had exalted over the years, and through this the Lord taught him again to hate his own pride and praise. When the man stood in the pulpit the following Sunday, the Lord was exalted in Him. He came to God's word, trembling to handle it, and with utter reliance on the Lord, that gift shone anew, to the praise of God's glory, and the feeding of the flock.

Do you see that the Lord exalted this man in the end, by first humiliating him? God didn't begin in the middle somewhere, but brought the man to <>nothing in that every aspect of his exaltation was owed entirely to the Lord. Had God failed to bring this man to nothing, God could not have exalted him: you see God will not share His glory. When you can see this, you will understand, in some small way, what something more about how Christ was exalted by God the Father.

Christ humbled Himself to the point of emptiness when He took on human flesh so that when God exalted Christ, He didn't just raise Him up to the highest honor, but raised Him up from the lowest humiliation to that highest honor. Had Christ not been humbled first, His exaltation would have been diminished. It is one glory to leap over the highest hurdle, and another to do the same having made that leap from the deepest pit. The exaltation of Christ was magnified by and through His humiliation.

There is no higher honor than to sit at God's right hand. Yet this honor, by itself, was not sufficient an honor to justly exalt Christ. In order to honor Christ with that honor that an honor worthy of Him, Christ had to be exalted from the lowest humiliation. Thinking about how the Lord honored Christ is a good and worthy meditation; but it is also a truth that has application. If God exalts Christ in this way, He will continue to do so in Christ's servants. Do not be alarmed therefore when the Lord tears down a thing. It may be that the Lord is exalting Christ in building it up.

Utter Opposition

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000-06:00

Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. We read this over and over in the Bible. But is he really sitting? Is he sometimes standing? Does he stand up and sit down again, and then do it some more? Is his head continuously craned to the left so that he can continuously whisper in God's ear to make continuous intercession for us? And as Thomas Aquinas socratically mused, does that mean that God the Father is at the left hand of Jesus, and thus in a position of lesser honour? Does Jesus sometimes wander away from the Father's right hand for a little while to do some other odd bits of work?

The geometry of the throne room is irrelevant. Don't be so self-centered to think that God's throne is like your favourite armchair.

Once again, go back to Question 7: God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness and perfection, et cetera. No physical throne can seat him. He has a “right hand”, but not in any sense that a petty human such as you can imagine. But you protest: “Stephen saw Jesus literally standing at the right hand of God!”

Take another look (Acts 7:54-56). Stephen did not say that he saw “the right hand of God”. What Stephen saw was Jesus standing, and what Stephen comprehended was the position of power, might, authority and glory of the resurrected Son of God, the Christ. In utter opposition to the extent of the Son's many humiliations, Stephen saw this human Christ restored to the glory and honour that he had with the Father before he was human, in fact before there were humans, in fact before the world existed. Stephen saw the consummation of the astonishing journey of the Son from heaven to the depths, from Spirit to flesh, from unblemished to “sinful”, from life to death, from death to life, from earth to glory, and from subject to Judge.

Before the spit landed, before the rocks struck, before his body broke, and before his lifebreath thinned, Stephen saw that the weak carpenter who wouldn't defend himself from the Sanhedrin and the Romans had been exalted above all, with the royal authority to rule and welcome his sheep, and to judge and sentence his enemies.

Stephen didn't see a wistful pantywaist hoping to be asked into hearts. He didn't see a buddy or a conversationalist eager to have humans assign their preferred meaning of the moment to his sayings. No. Stephen saw God. Stephen saw Almighty God, and it brought him confidence and joy, and bring on the stoning. That terrifies me, in a good way.

How to Win a Perfect Kingdom

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000-06:00

As eager as our society is to make idols of our fellow man, we are equally ready to tear them down. Perhaps the famous have become too famous; we know too much about them to hold them in awe. Whatever the reason, we delight in seeing the mighty humbled.

This trend is particularly evident in conversation about our political leaders. Coarse jokes and rude insults are the currency not only of comedians, but of talk-show hosts, columnists, and (sadly) pastors. Who can be bothered with propriety when it seems that every politician has invited the slings and arrows of outrageous rhetoric?

Yet such irreverence is out of step with the Bible. We might have remembered the words of Solomon in Proverbs 16:14-15.

A king’s wrath is a messenger of death,
and a wise man will appease it.
In the light of a king’s face there is life,
and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain

But then, we wouldn’t want to be accused of pandering!

Worse, though, is the temptation to employ the same coarse familiarity towards our true King, the Lord Jesus.

He is no king like those of the nations. Rather than exalt himself with pomp and ceremony, he seized a kingdom through humiliation. He allowed himself to be degraded - to be dragged through the muck of our common, evil existence - in order that he might win a perfect kingdom in a world to come.

But we should stand in awe of his humiliation, not find in it an excuse to speak lightly of him. Let us never forget, even as we express his humiliation, where He is now! “…as God-man he is advanced to the highest favor with God the Father, with all fullness of joy, glory, and power over all things in heaven and earth…” And would we, who confess him to be Lord and Christ, speak coarsely or familiarly of his former humiliation?

Here is a King whose wrath is a messenger of eternal death, but whose favor brings the spring rain of God’s blessing. Let us not, whenever we speak of his humiliation, allow ourselves to drift into forgetfulness of who he now is or of where he now sits enthroned.

By His Own Power

2011-11-23T00:01:00.000-06:00

Q. 51. What was the estate of Christ's exaltation?
A. The estate of Christ's exaltation comprehendeth his resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and his coming again to judge the world.

Q. 52. How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?
A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having seen corruption in death, (of which it was not possible for him to be held,) and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof, (but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life,) really united to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.

Q. 53. How was Christ exalted in his ascension?
A. Christ was exalted in his ascension, in that having after his resurrection often appeared unto and conversed with his apostles, speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and giving them commission to preach the gospel to all nations, forty days after his resurrection, he, in our nature, and as our head, triumphing over enemies, visibly went up into the highest heavens, there to receive gifts for men, to raise up our affections thither, and to prepare a place for us, where himself is, and shall continue till his second coming at the end of the world.

Houdini was a master showman and an unparalleled escape artist. He would allow men to shackle him, put him into a locked chest, and then dump him into the water. He would then emerge unscathed from his ordeal, thrilling the gathered crowds at his ability to cheat death.

Nobody wanted to see a drowned Houdini. At least, not any person with a heart. They wanted to see him defy death. They would watch him plunge, bound in chains, into certain doom with bated breath, and then cheer as he rose victorious over his shackles. Houdini's fame lay in the fact that he escaped, not simply in the fact that he was bound, but that he escaped. But not even Houdini could escape the trap of death; he, like us, was bound by the cords of death like every other man.

Jesus of Nazareth was no Houdini. He did not challenge men to bind him in chains and throw him into the sea. He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). The shackles that Jesus wore were fashioned by man, but not out of iron or steel, they were fashioned from sin and held its prisoners fast in the depths of death. No one had ever escaped death. This was no parlor trick. Jesus was nailed to the cross, speared in the side, laid in the tomb, sealed with a rock, guarded by Roman soldiers, and mourned by his friends.

And on the third day, he cast off death. The angels rolled the stone away from his tomb, not so Jesus could get out, but so his disciples could get in and see that he was risen indeed. This is the exaltation of Jesus Christ; not that he cheated death, but that he defeated it. His resurrection from the dead is God's declaration that Jesus is both Lord and Christ, that he is the yes and amen of every promise of God, and that he is the man chosen by God to set the children free from the fear of death.

One day, you and I will feel the cold fetters of death fasten about our mortal coil. We will be put in a grave and mourned by our friends. In that day, we will join the rest of the witnesses of Christ and wait with bated breath for Christ to do what only he can do: free our bodies from the shackles that bind them, and glorify them as he himself is glorified. Death will flee from us with a shout from the one who has mastered him: Jesus the Christ, the man whom death could not hold.

Raised

2011-11-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

It is a stale theological fact, for some, that Christ was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. The bible says it, they believe it, and that settles it. But to allow this truth to sit as an unapplied fact is a tragic waste of this precious truth.

Listen: The exaltation of Christ is the lifeblood of assurance, and any Christian who acknowledges Christ's exaltation without applying it to the reality of his own faith is suffering needlessly.

Though I am redeemed, and my salvation certain, yet the body in which I now live has yet to be redeemed. In other words, as a believer the work of sanctification has begun in my life, but this isn't a work that will end in this life. The desire to do what I want, rather than what I ought, will always be with me. In Christ I am granted victory over that desire reckoning myself dead to it, and alive to Christ, but however mature I may become, my walk is not perfect, and I will fail at times to rest in Christ.

The guilt of some sin will assault me, and I shall examine myself in its wake: My flesh will gladly entertain the notion that God accepts me when I am obedient, but when my obedience wavers, and some long dead tendril of works-righteousness is revived by my guilt, it will surely begin to whisper anew that God is my secret Enemy until such time as I can make amends for my failure through even greater feats of obedience. In the slippery pit of this despair, for all my theology, I shall writhe until I remember that I am in Christ, and Christ is risen.

You see, when God raised Christ from the dead, the scriptures tell me that I was in Christ. When God raised Jesus, He raised me. If even one sin was able to separate me from God, then Christ could not have been raised, for I was in Him - united together with Him. In order to raise Christ, I had to be acceptable to God. The fact that Christ was raised is a declaration of my acceptance to God. His exaltation is God's undying declaration of my acceptance - the root and font of my assurance in times of trouble.

God has exalted Christ; it isn't an empty doctrine - it is the declaration of our acceptance - worthy of all praise and remembrance. Do you want your heart to swell today in love and adoration? Think on these things.

Lengths

2011-11-21T00:01:00.000-06:00

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8, ESV)

It was enough humility that Christ came to Earth as a human being, leaving behind heaven, and glory, and veiled His godhood so that, when he was looked upon, so that those around Him even gave him any thought (Is. 53:2-3). But His humility continued to the (very) bitter end, to accomplish the task His Father had set out for Him--the redemption of a people for himself. That redemption required something that Jesus couldn't do as only God, and that was die a sacrificial death.

His death was bitter in almost every way imaginable: he was betrayed by one of his own company, and abandoned by all the rest of them; his own people didn't recognize him; his execution was a complete travesty of justice; he was physically abused and executed in a manner that was horrific by any standards. Finally, this death signified the spiritual truth that Jesus died under God's curse.

All of this was driven by single-minded devotion to his earthly mission--to honor his father and complete the work that he was sent to accomplish.

The ugliness and shame of that obedient death on the cross stands as a stark reminder of the awfulness of sin, the cost of redemption, and the lengths God willingly undertook to save all those who would believe.

Bone Dry

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

Q. 49. How did Christ humble himself in his death?
A. Christ humbled himself in his death, in that having been betrayed by Judas, forsaken by his disciples, scorned and rejected by the world, condemned by Pilate, and tormented by his persecutors; having also conflicted with the terrors of death, and the powers of darkness, felt and borne the weight of God's wrath, he laid down his life an offering for sin, enduring the painful, shameful, and cursed death of the cross.

Q. 50. Wherein consisted Christ's humiliation after his death?
A. Christ's humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.

In Psalm 113 we learn that in order to acknowledge (ie. see) the heavens and the earth God has to humble Himself. Think about that for a second. Is that just poetry, or is God really that exalted? I believe He is. It follows that Paul was making a vast understatement when he writes to the believers at Philippi that Christ our Lord, though He existed in the form of God, emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being found in the likeness of men.

Not the kind of empty whereby we mean, mostly empty, as in an "empty" gas tank - which may have a few drops left in it, or the glass of milk that you "empty" which, once emptied, still has a little drop or two of milk in it that you couldn't be bothered to clean out. When the second Person in the Godhead emptied Himself in order to become a man, we are getting a description of exponential humility. If God must condescend just to look at men, how much more to empty Himself and become a man?

But God didn't stop there. He didn't leave a few drops of milk in the bottom on His emptied cup. When God the Son condescended to become a man, He didn't stop there, but lived this life in perfect obedience, even as His own creation in rejecting Him, abused Him, falsely accused Him, and jeered at Him as they took away that same life. I mean, His death was the death of a criminal - it was the cultural equivalent of putting down a rabid dog. Man's judgment against His maker was that the Author of Life was not fit to live.

Betrayed by His own, abandoned in the end, and dying an ignoble death -these things were nothing compared to being forsaken by God. Do you want to understand how Christ was humbled in His death? He drank the cup of humiliation bone dry, when our Lord said, "It is done!" it marked the completion of His humiliation. Chew on this: It meant that He had endured every humiliation possible. It meant that He had come from the highest high, and condescended to the lowest low. When He said "It is done!" it marked the place where there was no where lower to go.

Nakedness

2011-11-15T00:01:00.000-06:00

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, the first thing that they realized was that they were naked. Why hadn't they noticed this before? Was it because they, in their innocence, were completely naive? Or, is their realization connected to something else? Since I believe that the first couple were at least as smart, if not smarter, than the rest of their progeny, I highly doubt that it had previously escaped their notice that they were both in the buff. If that is the case, then their realization of nakedness means something else. But what?

The original sin of our ancestors brought death. The bodies of Adam and Eve began to decompose while they were still wearing them. It was slow, but it was steady. Like you and I, they became subject to disease, injury, and death. Old age crept up on them, just like us, and eventually they died, just like we will.

Being dead is kind of a bummer. I believe that to die is to depart and be with Christ. I also believe that being dead and with Christ is better than being alive in this rotting tent we call a body. However, 2 Corinthians 5 indicates that the time between being dead and being resurrected represents a time of longing. We are longing to be clothed with immortal bodies that are not subject to death. Part of being human is wearing flesh, its just that the flesh we wear now is a constant reminder of our original shame: we have sinned, and we are dying.

Did you know that Jesus the Lord experienced this shame? He had to wear a body that was subject to death, even though he never earned that sort of body by sinning. He wore that tent, he tabernacled with us, because he is gracious. And not only did Jesus wear a body ravaged by the effects of sin, he died in it. Not only did he die in that body, he remained separated from a body for three days. Is that a big deal? Yes, yes it is. Jesus is a man, and so for three days he felt the longing that I will feel when I die and am disembodied. He longed to put on his heavenly garment and be clothed in immortality, just like I do. I will do so even more keenly when this body finally wears out.

In every way, our Lord Jesus became one of us. He wore our filthy garments. He suffered in the same kind of flesh we suffer in as a reminder of our shame. He even suffered a death like ours, a disembodiment like we will suffer, and he groaned for the redemption of his body.

And on the third day, he clothed himself with immortality. Soon, he will rid us of all our shame, and he will cloth us as he has clothed himself.

Hallelujah.

A Last Look at Your Good Name

2011-11-14T00:01:00.001-06:00

Let us pause to briefly consider what it takes to get mentioned by name, like Judas and Pilate, in the Westminster Catechism.

I'll wait. . .

Even if you've never betrayed your spiritual mentor for modest gain, even if you've never pilfered from the coffers while spouting high-minded ideals about ministry, even if you've never sold out to the enemy because you saw which way the wind was blowing. . .

Even if you've never looked at what was going on, saw that it was all wrong, that everybody had the wrong idea, but man, they're loud. Even if you've never abdicated the authority that you rightfully had by letting the mob rule and then washing your hands. . .

Even if you didn't, at your best, make like brave, brave Sir Robin with the rest of the disciples. . .

Reflect on those names and understand that there will be a day when all history is revealed, and every name, every action recorded as scripture for the purpose of God's glory. Is your name any better than theirs?

Run to the name that is above them, and above all.

It Swallows Up

2011-11-10T00:01:00.000-06:00

The apostle had made all who are under the law subject to the curse; from which arose this great problem, that the Jews could not free themselves from the curse of the law. Having stated this problem, he meets it, by showing that Christ has made us free, which aids his purpose even more. If we are saved, because we have been freed from the curse of the law, then righteousness is not by the law.

He next points out the manner in which we are made free.It is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Now, Christ hung upon the cross, therefore he fell under that curse. But it is certain that he did not suffer that punishment on his own account. It follows, therefore, either that he was crucified in vain, or that our curse was laid upon him, in order that we might be delivered from it. Now, he does not say that Christ was cursed, but, which is still more, that he was a curse, — intimating, that the curse “of all men was laid upon him” (Isaiah 53:6.) If any man think this language harsh, let him be ashamed of the cross of Christ, in the confession of which we glory. It was not unknown to God what death his own Son would die, when he pronounced the law, “He that is hanged is accursed of God.” (Deuteronomy 21:23)

But how does it happen, it will be asked, that a beloved Son is cursed by his Father? We reply, there are two things which must be considered, not only in the person of Christ, but even in his human nature. The one is, that he was the unspotted Lamb of God, full of blessing and of grace; the other is, that he placed himself in our room, and thus became a sinner, and subject to the curse, not in himself indeed, but in us, yet in such a manner, that it became necessary for him to occupy our place. He could not cease to be the object of his Father’s love, and yet he endured his wrath. For how could he reconcile the Father to us, if he had incurred his hatred and displeasure? We conclude, that he “did always those things that pleased” (John 8:29) his Father.

Again, how would he have freed us from the wrath of God, if he had not transferred it from us to himself? Thus, “he was wounded for our transgressions,” (Isaiah 53:5,) and had to deal with God as an angry judge. This is the foolishness of the cross, (1 Corinthians 1:18,) and the admiration of angels, (1 Peter 1:12,) which not only exceeds, but swallows up, all the wisdom of the world.

-- John Calvin, Commentary on Gal 3:13

The Problem with Christ's Humility

2011-11-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

We are a cursed people. The stench of death hangs upon this world. It stalks us all. It lurks, like a specter, in the back of our minds from the time we become aware that we are persons to the time we breathe our last. It casts a shadow over all we do. Everything here rots. Everything here dies. Everything here turns to dust.

Nature itself feels the weight of death's oppression. The creation sighs, and it does not willingly suffer the sons of men to trample her underfoot. The earth longs for restoration, for the wicked to be put down, for death to crushed underfoot. If creation were not bidden by her Master to hold us up, she would gladly cast us off and be rid of our cursed ilk. The sons of men are cruel stewards.

Man is cursed to separation. He is separated from his God, and he is separated from the creation he was made to tend. He spends his life in fear of dying, wondering if there is something beyond this world of thorns and thistles. He sees the withering flower that dies and leaves no trace, he sees the oak tumble and burn, he watches his crops die for lack of rain, he hears his babies cry with hunger, he sees time etch her marks on his skin, and he knows he is headed for his doom. All of this, whether he knows it or not, is just recompense for his own wickedness.

It is a testament to the horror of sin and the depth of man's cursedness that the heinous thing we call death, the blight that permeates the world, is a mercy. Death is a mercy, though she is cloaked in terrible garments. For the Lord God said upon man's fall, "Behold, the man has become like on of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and live forever..." (Gen. 3:22). God drove the man out of paradise and into the clutches of death in order to save him from a fate worse than dying, a fate worse than a thousand generations of cancer, murder, rape, starvation, and war. A fate worse than a stillborn upon the lap of an inconsolable mother.

This brings us to the greatest shame of the sons of men and the source of our greatest misery. We are blinded to glory and goodness. We are utterly unable to see holiness. For if we could see glory, and if we knew holiness, we would never have to wonder if death were a mercy, whether our suffering is just, and how it could be that starving is preferable to God's displeasure.

Man is a cursed brute, and the world is full of his stench. No one knows this like a man who has been set free by that alien thing called grace, who has caught the scent of heaven, who has seen the glory of eternity, and who has been enveloped by the love of God that invades this wretched place. Only this kind of man, a man freed from the misery of sin, can see that God must kill us to save us, and that all our sufferings here, all of our miseries, are nothing in comparison to knowing the glory of God in the risen King, Jesus Christ. The cursed world thinks this man is insane, thus adding to the misery and the longing for the sons of God to be revealed.

To No Avail

2011-11-08T00:01:00.002-06:00

Q. 46. What was the estate of Christ's humiliation?
A. The estate of Christ's humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and after his death, until his resurrection.

Q. 47. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
A. Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased in the fullness of time to become the son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with divers circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.

Q. 48. How did Christ humble himself in his life?
A. Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin -- Hebrews 4:15

Yahweh was the very definition of wisdom, and Yahweh was all power: he constituted the space-time of the cosmos, and made all that would ever be into existence with his bare words. Yahweh was holy, and Yahweh was unchanging: he did not countenance sin, and he never would. Yahweh was Lord over all, in right and in position. Yahweh was unassailable. You'd be mad to try.

Yet, Yahweh's most powerful created being rebelled. Unwilling to submit, he wanted to take the place of Yahweh, the first of multitudes who still want the exact same thing. The rebel intended to win, but the battle went predictably. Shocked and enraged, the rebel was thrown from the heights, thrown from the very presence of Yahweh

But now... Yahweh had the brain of a man, and Yahweh was frail and forty-days hungry. He was part of creation instead of over creation, and he made tables and woodsheds instead of worlds and newborns. He was no longer the Lawgiver. Yahweh was under the Law, and was Lord over nothing. Yahweh had changed.

Yahweh was a thirty year old man called Jesus, and apparently he had stupidly made himself ripe for failure. The rebel saw a chance to win. Joyfully sauntering through his opening, he got in the face of the weak and starving man. He offered food. He offered power. He plucked Jesus up from one spot and plopped him down in another. He swarmed the senses and needs of the man like a furious hornet colony going after a hapless kid. He did his utmost. But Yahweh changes not, and this battle also went predictably: the rebel is the one who failed.

This wasn't the first time the rebel had tempted Jesus, and it wouldn't be his last opportunity either. Sometimes he would openly declare himself. Sometimes he would use Jesus' best-loved friends to do the dirty work. The rebel would work on Jesus for the rest of his life, but to no avail. Because even though Jesus is Yahweh, he is also one of us, yet without sin.

Humble for Hypocrites

2011-11-07T00:01:00.001-06:00

There's a guy who, in the effort to convince the world that its carbon use will destroy the planet, flies all over it in a private jet. There's a man who, having crusaded his entire life against income inequality, lives in the richest circumstances the world has ever known. There's a woman who, in the service of telling the nation about the immorality of its food choices, sets herself before feasts that would make Louis XIV blush.

There are people who campaign to restore ethics to Congress as they fund their campaigns with lobbyist cash. There are young people who rail against the idea of private property, but hey, gimme back my iPhone! There are preachers who rail against immorality, even in the midst of their affairs. There are teachers who bust kids for cheating even as they fudge the test scores. There are drunk mothers against drunk driving, and cops who text while pulling you over for texting while driving.

There are fat gym teachers, smoking doctors, friends who give the best advice but live ruinous lives. There are mothers who punish their kids for whining, then whine at the world online. There's a certain dad who berates his son for being distracted from his schoolwork as he goes back to the computer in his office - look what that funny cat said!

We all have a law. Jesus did too.

And then He subjected Himself to it.

The Greatest Missionary

2011-11-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

I love missions. By that, I mean that I love the spreading of the Gospel to the nations for the purpose of making disciples of Jesus Christ. I have friends who are overseas living in circumstances that would break most men and women I know; they have left kith and kin with only the dream of the Gospel to sustain them. They are in what look like God-forsaken lands, but they believe that the Gospel will bring their new people hope. So they labor in language, with loneliness, in danger, and among a strange people in a strange land. This world is not worthy of them. They are the sort of people who get embarrassed when you tell them how much you admire them, and they would be ashamed if they knew I had them in mind when I wrote these words. These brothers and sisters are ministers of Christ; they burn with His fire.

The greatest missionary who ever lived was not the Apostle Paul. The greatest missionary that ever lived was our Lord Jesus Christ. He left His country (heaven, where his throne is) surrounded by throngs of adoring angels, not counting His equality of God a thing to be clung to, and he emptied himself. He made himself of no reputation. He stepped out of glory and into the womb of a poor Jewish girl, took on on flesh and bone, and became the son of a blue collar laborer named Joseph.

His was more than the ordinary abasement. Jesus' mission required humiliations galore. He lived in the world he made, and his own people which he made rejected him; they cursed him with the air he gave them to breathe. Yet, he endured for the love of his bride. Jesus burned with a love for the nations, and no humiliation, torture, nor even the wrath of God would deter him from his zeal to rescue them.

What it Means

2011-10-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

Pause for a moment and consider this: What would it be like for God to be humiliated?

Become a creature
Start life as an infant
Experience growth
Undertake a ministry where you receive no recognition for your proper place
Continue in this ministry even though the wild animals have it better than you do
Be ridiculed and rejected by your own family
Pour your life into men whom society dismisses
Entrust your legacy to these men, although you know all of them will turn away, and one of them will betray you unto death
Experience death, and the wrath of the Father whom you have been one with since forever

What was the extent of Christ's humiliation? It was to every extent possible.

No mere human could ever endure with humility the type of debasement Jesus chose for Himself. He volunteered, in order to glorify His Father and save a people for himself.

Let This Mind (Phil. 2:5-13)

2011-10-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

Let this mind be among us now
Which was found in Christ Jesus
Who although in very nature God
Did not count equality with God
As a thing to be held, but denied Himself
As a servant He became a man

Being found in the form of man
Jesus bowed in obedience
He lay down His very life for us
Even died on the cross for us
Therefore God raised Him up
And exalted Him
As the name far above all names

That ev’ry knee should bow at His holy name
In the heavens, the earth and the grave
And ev’ry tongue confess that Jesus is Lord
To the glory of our Father’s name
To the glory of our God

So now, as beloved sons
Let us walk in obedience
As we labor forth in reverent fear
Toward salvation, which is drawing near
For our God is at work
Both to will and act
In our lives to His glorious praise

That ev’ry knee should bow at His holy name
In the heavens, the earth and the grave
And ev’ry tongue confess that Jesus is Lord
To the glory of our Father’s name
To the glory of our God

© 2010 by David P. Regier

The Reason Why

2011-10-20T05:14:00.000-05:00

In Christ’s human nature there are two things to be considered, the real flesh and the affections or feelings. The Apostle then teaches us, that he had not only put on the real flesh of man, but also all those feelings which belong to man, and he also shows the benefit that hence proceeds; and it is the true teaching of faith when we in our case find the reason why the Son of God undertook our infirmities; for all knowledge without feeling the need of this benefit is cold and lifeless. But he teaches us that Christ was made subject to human affections, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest; which words I thus explain, “that he might be a merciful, and therefore a faithful high priest.”

For in a priest, whose office it is to appease God’s wrath, to help the miserable, to raise up the fallen, to relieve the oppressed, mercy is especially required, and it is what experience produces in us; for it is a rare thing, for those who are always happy to sympathize with the sorrows of others. The following saying of Virgil was no doubt derived from daily examples found among men:

“Not ignorant of evil, I learn to aid the miserable.”

The Son of God had no need of experience that he might know the emotions of mercy; but we could not be persuaded that he is merciful and ready to help us, had he not become acquainted by experience with our miseries; but this, as other things, has been as a favor given to us. Therefore whenever any evils pass over us, let it ever occur to us, that nothing happens to us but what the Son of God has himself experienced in order that he might sympathize with us; nor let us doubt but that he is at present with us as though he suffered with us.

--John Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 2:17

On My Level

2011-10-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

Christ Jesus, … although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself … —Philippians 2:6–8

Once upon a time, a seminary professor, soon to be Dean, spent part of his summer teaching VBS in a small town in South Dakota. This man’s normal station was Professor of Systematic Theology. It was his privilege to spend his days in his office and classroom in suburban Minneapolis, studying Scripture and theology, teaching aspiring young pastors, and preaching as the opportunity arose. His was an ivory tower vocation, and he needed never to get his hands dirty. Yet there he was, in a town so small you could view it in toto on Google Maps large enough to recognize your old house and the trees you used to climb, had you lived there.

From teaching seminary level theology to teaching children in VBS — quite a descent, that was. But the children loved it, particularly when he brought out a dummy and engaged it in elementary-level theological discussions. I imagine that would have been quite a sight, had the Deans of other seminaries, particularly the larger, more prestigious ones, gathered to watch. It certainly wasn’t his most dignified moment. But he wasn’t thinking about them, or even himself. For the sake of those children, he humbled himself.

His descent didn’t end there. There was no fancy hotel for this distinguished guest. He was given a room in house where lived a boy who, I’m afraid, was something of a nuisance. With the boy’s coaxing, the professor found himself in the dirt in the back yard one afternoon, driving trucks and bulldozers, building roads and digging holes. Of course I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that was his preferred recreation. But he had something else in mind. While driving and digging, he talked to the boy about Jesus. He spoke of sin and the need for a savior. He asked the boy if he knew Jesus, and pressed him to look after the state of his soul. That was the one thing on his mind, and he was willing to bring his diplomas down into the dirt for the sake of the gospel.

It would be blasphemous to try to make a one-to-one correlation between any man and our Lord, but surely you can see the shadow of Christ in his humble service. And since I was that boy, I’ve often thought of it in the decades since when I read, “‘they shall call his name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” God with us: God in the dirt, God on our level. God on my level.

The Rest of the Trip

2011-10-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

In his commentary on John 16:28 Leon Morris spoke of “the great movement of salvation.” He did not mean the movement of sinners toward God, nor even the inexorable movement of God’s plan throughout history. Rather, he meant the movement of Christ through his humiliation and exaltation - His grand journey from heaven to earth to hell and back again.

We often think of Christ’s humiliation in his incarnation as having been a condescension for us, and this is true. He became one of us that He might represent us before the Father. We would do well to remember that in the rest of His humiliation He also came down to our level. In His death and burial Jesus was made like us - like me, like you, and like a multitude of other sinners. For make no mistake, the sufferings, death, and defeat which Jesus experienced were inevitable for us.

The greatness of His movement is in this: having arrived in our neighborhood, Jesus picked us up and took us along for the rest of the trip. If we are united together with Him, we are united together with His death. We underwent His remaining humiliation along with Him - the terror of death, the power of darkness, the wrath of God, and also the reality of being under the power of death - all this we have already experienced in Him!

We call this a wonderful salvation because we were going there anyway - our sins had assured us of death and hell. But of course there is more: having been united together with Him in His death, we are also united in His resurrection. Jesus picked us up on the way down, but because we died in Him rather than ourselves, we are taken back up as well. We follow Jesus in His resurrection, in His ascension, and even in His exaltation to the throne.

Because Jesus eternally possessed all the glory of the Godhead, we might well ask what He gained from this round-trip to perdition. The truth is that the benefit is all for the vagabonds he picked up along the way, sinners who would have undergone death and hell, but who never could have known resurrection and heaven.

He Lives (one Take)

2011-10-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

I know that my Redeemer lives;

What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, He lives, who once was dead;

He lives, my ever living Head.

He lives to bless me with His love,

He lives to plead for me above.

He lives my hungry soul to feed,

He lives to help in time of need.

He lives triumphant from the grave,

He lives eternally to save,

He lives all glorious in the sky,

He lives exalted there on high.

He lives to grant me rich supply,

He lives to guide me with His eye,

He lives to comfort me when faint,

He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.

He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly Friend,

He lives and loves me to the end;

He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing;

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

-- Samuel Medley - 1775

However Numerous

2011-10-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

By these words the prophet affirms that Christ would subdue all the opposition which his enemies in their tumultuous rage might employ for the subversion of his kingdom. At the same time, he intimates that the kingdom of Christ would never enjoy tranquillity until he had conquered his numerous and formidable enemies. And even should the whole world direct their machinations to the overthrow of Christ’s royal throne, David here declares that it would remain unmoved and unmoveable, while all they who rise up against it shall be ruined.

From this let us learn that, however numerous those enemies may be who conspire against the Son of God, and attempt the subversion of his kingdom, all will be unavailing, for they shall never prevail against God’s immutable purpose, but, on the contrary, they shall, by the greatness of his power, be laid prostrate at Christ’s feet. And as this prediction will not be accomplished before the last day, it must be that the kingdom of Christ will be assailed by many enemies from time to time until the end of the world; and thus by-and-bye it is said, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

-- John Calvin, Commentary of Psalm 110:1-2

He Cleans Us Up

2011-10-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Q. 43. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in his revealing to the church, in all ages, by his Spirit and Word, in divers ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edification and salvation.

Q. 44. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering himself a sacrifice without spot to God, to be a reconciliation for the sins of his people; and in making continual intercession for them.

Q. 45. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in calling out of the world a people to himself, and giving them officers, laws, and censures, by which he visibly governs them; in bestowing saving grace upon his elect, rewarding their obedience, and correcting them for their sins, preserving and supporting them under all their temptations and sufferings, restraining and overcoming all their enemies, and powerfully ordering all things for his own glory, and their good; and also in taking vengeance on the rest, who know not God, and obey not the gospel.

We know from Hebrews that "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son" (Heb. 1:1-2). The simplest definition of a prophet is found in that very verse: a prophet is someone through whom God speaks. Jesus, then, is not only a prophet but the greatest prophet who ever lived. When Jesus speaks and acts, he is telling us about God.

It is very easy to come to the table with the understanding that a prophet is someone who predicts the future. After all, the prophets did this very thing, and so did Jesus himself. However, they did not do this to be mere fortune tellers, but they did this to tell us something about God. If God told them of impending judgment, it was to teach the people about God's holiness and power. If He told them of good tidings to come, it was to teach the people about His mercy and grace. Prophecy reveals who God is.

If this is true, then who did Jesus say that God is? I have dedicated my life to attempt to teach people all that Jesus teaches us about God, so it is regrettably impossible for me to do that here. I will, instead, pick from one little incident in the life of Jesus that has blown my mind from the first day I read it. In Luke 17:11-19, we learn about ten lepers who were made clean by Jesus. We also learn that only one of them came back to thank Jesus.

What does this teach us about God? It teaches us about His kindness. He healed ten men, knowing that nine of them would never thank Him for it. These nine simply asked to be well, and Jesus said, "Sure, go show yourself to the priest and be well." God does this sort of thing all the time for people who show no gratitude. He feeds the ingrates; He gives them families; He gives them breath. They never say thanks to Him; they only complain. In His mercy, God simply continues to care for them.

Hopefully, that doesn't describe you and me. Instead, we ought to identify with the Samaritan ex-leper who got a clean bill of health from God through the prophet Jesus. It's Jesus' last prophetic words to the thankful man are, "Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well." I hope we both understand that the Samaritan's faith in Christ healed him of more than leprosy. We will spend an eternity giving gratitude for that, as well we should. But look at that first command, "Rise and go your way."

Wouldn't you have expected Jesus to say, "Come and follow me." Or, "Now that you believe, come join my crew." He does not say that. He says, "Go your way." This guy who Jesus saved from leprosy and sin; he didn't have to become an apostle. He didn't have to sell his house if he had one. He didn't have to join Jesus' roving band of friends. He got to "go his way." To be sure, the Samaritan took his testimony with him, and God only knows the good things this healed man did because of his faith in the Christ. But he got to go his own way, back to his little village, and back to the quiet life of normalcy. I love that so much.

My beloved, cleaned-up, child of God and fellow companion, isn't it marvelous that Jesus has made us well simply for us to be thankful? And that a life of gratitude, lived in the way God has made us to go, is sufficient to please His prophetic majesty? What does that teach you about God, I wonder?

Save to the Uttermost

2011-10-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

In his book Vintage Jesus, Mark Driscoll ¹ lays out the roles prophet, priest, and king against the backdrop of our modern society in a way that helps me get my arms around what is being said.

Driscoll makes an effective argument that to magnify some of these roles to the neglect of others throws the mission of Jesus out of balance. He uses three examples:

Prophet + King - Priest = Jesus of Shallow Fundamentalism

The strength of fundamentalism is its keen awareness of Jesus’ prophetic role as bold truth-teller and commander of repentance, along with his role as king who rules and reigns in all authority. However, they are also prone not to appreciate fully the priestly role of Jesus. As a result, God seems primarily cold, distant, stern, harsh, and even cruel.

Prophet + Priest - King = Jesus of Fluffy Evangelicalism

In this form of religion, people know that Jesus speaks the truth as their prophet and loves them as their priest. So when they sin, they know that Jesus will forgive them and still love them. But they still rule over their own life. When they need help, they read the Bible or ask Jesus to serve them. Practically, they don’t see Jesus ruling over them, but rather coming alongside them to help them to achieve their objectives.

Priest + King - Prophet = Jesus of Social Liberalism

Prone to understand Jesus as our priest, who is filled with grace, love, mercy, and tolerant patience, as well as our king, who rules over all peoples and seeks to extend to them grace, love, and mercy. However, the weakness of typical liberal Christianity is that it fails to fully appreciate the hard-edged role of Jesus as prophet. The sad result is that Jesus is seen as someone who would never offend us, raise his voice, hurt our feelings, speak harshly, or command individuals to repent with a sense of urgency because he is only infinitely patient, tolerant, and understanding.

I think Driscoll’s modern examples hammer home the point that the Catechism wants us to see: it isn’t just about believing in a Jesus, it is about believing in the Jesus—the one from the Bible; the one who takes care of all the things that are needed by us for life and godliness; the one who can save to the uttermost.

Live with it. He wrote a book that said something useful. That's why the comments are open - leave your comments there. ↩

Anointed

2011-10-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

When Samuel came to anoint David king over Israel, he looked at Eliab, David's older brother and thought that surely the LORD’S anointed was standing before Him (c.f. 1 Samuel 16:6). I want you to notice how, in that passage we see Samuel coming to physically anoint with oil the person whom God had already "anointed" as king. That is, David did not become God's anointed when Samuel poured the oil on him, he was already God's anointed, the pouring of the oil was symbolic of what was already a reality.

We understand the descending of the Holy Spirit upon our Lord in the Jordan in the same way. Jesus did not become God's anointed (The Christ) when the Holy Spirit anointed Him (i.e. descended upon Him and remained), rather when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, it testified to John the Baptist - the prophet the Lord had chosen to announce the Christ - that this man, Jesus, was the promised Messiah (the Christ).

Didn't God command Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons as priests, and again did He not command Samuel to anoint first Saul, and then David as king over Israel? We should see in this a common thread - God anoints those whom He intends to lead Israel - these two offices come together in the Christ, our High Priest and King.

Jesus is called the Christ because God has anointed Him, and no one else, to be the High Priest of His people - reconciling them to God through His finished, sacrificial work on Calvary. He now rules over God's people as their King. He was anointed by God to fulfill these offices, and came into the world to do (and has done!) just that.

In the Estate of Both

2011-10-07T00:01:00.004-05:00

Q. 42. Why was our mediator called Christ?

A. Our mediator was called Christ, because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure; and so set apart, and fully furnished with all authority and ability, to execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king of his church, in the estate both of his humiliation and exaltation.

"Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?"

With those words of invocation, Elisha opened a window into his own squeamishness at being rather suddenly thrust into the role of the head prophet. Anyone who has been asked to fill the shoes of a legend can relate to his discomfort; Elisha fully expected every Israelite to look him up and down skeptically and say, “You’re not Elijah!”

Elijah's departure illustrates what is, ultimately, the failing of every leader; no matter how effective, their time eventually comes. It was the failing of Israel’s leaders also - and not only of the prophets. The faithful of Israel must have watched with growing unease the onset of Eli’s old age, knowing as they did the wretchedness of his sons. And who envies the young man who had to follow in King David’s footsteps, with his melancholy plea: “And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.”

The greats of the earth have this in common with the rest of us: they die - each and every one. Except…

…our Mediator is “fully furnished with all authority and ability, to execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king of his church, in the estate both of his humiliation and exaltation.” We understand what that means, right? Christ also died, but having died, he rose. He also left, but having left, he sat down at the Father’s right hand - to do what? Simply to continue being our Mediator. He is the everlasting Prophet, the immortal Priest, and the eternal King. We will never need to say goodbye and sadly turn our attention to His less suitable replacement.

As the Psalmist wrote:

Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

But then:

The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

A Living and Walking Reminder

2011-10-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Quick now. What are the names of the twelve spies that Moses sent into the land of Canaan?

Hurry!

How many did you get? Only two, right? Caleb and Joshua.

WRONG!

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. 4 And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. --- Numbers 13:1-16a

There aren’t any fellows by the name of Joshua in this list. But there is a guy named Hoshea the son of Nun.

In the Hebrew language, Hoshea carried several flavours of meaning: avenger, the one who saves, protector, liberator, deliverer, helper, preserver, rescuer… you get the picture: Hoshea was your essential self-reliant human action hero.

Hoshea’s parents apparently had high hopes for him. And they may not have given him this name as a baby either. It may have been a name that was given to a strapping teenager, as a descriptor of his physical strength or character. It's almost comical when you consider that Hoshea was born in the land of Egypt, born as a slave to slaves. His one and only destiny was to carry bricks until his back gave out and he was no more use. His life could only be short and brutish.

But that name… Hoshea was the very spirit of defiance and hope for those who couldn’t dare to hope. He was the definitive strongman. Even if he wasn't strong, there would have been irresistible pressure to grow into the role that the name promised.

Moses didn’t like it.

These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua. --- Numbers 13:16

You were right after all, but you knew that.

Moses said "no way! you don't save. Only God saves."

Hoshea was no longer. Joshua took his place. In the Hebrew, all the meaning of Hoshea is preserved in Joshua, but something has been added. Joshua has these flavours of meaning: God saves, God avenges, God protects, God liberates, God delivers, God helps, God preserves, God rescues… you get the picture again. A somewhat different focus than Hoshea, eh? The slave-wannabe-strongman disappears, and is replaced by a living and walking reminder that man's strength is insufficient, and that salvation and rescue come only from God.

And what is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Joshua? Ἰησοῦς. Jesus. That's quite a coincidence, except God doesn't do coincidence.

Know His True Character

2011-10-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

We should keep in mind that the name “Christ” refers to 3 offices – because under the law the prophets, priests and kings were all anointed with holy oil. To be a “Messiah” is to be an “Anointed One”, so this title was give to the promised Mediator. And I admit (and talk about in other places) that being a “Messiah” was primarily a kingly calling for Jesus, there is a proper place for seeing these other anointed offices as rightly-anointed offices which are pointed to by this title.

We should not overlook them.

The title “Prophet” is explicitly mentioned by Isaiah when he says this: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," (Is 6:1-2) We see that the Spirit anoints him to be the one who comes and calls out to people and give them a personal, genuine account of his Father’s grace – and not in the usual way. He is different than others who have been made prophets. He was anointed not just for the sake of his own teaching, but for the sake of his whole Body, the Church, so that the Spirit might work through all of it at all times in order that the Gospel might be preached with divine effectiveness.

But this is also certain: Jesus did this so completely, so perfectly, that an end was put to all prophecies – and those who are not contented with the Gospel are therefore tacking on something unnecessary for it, and run down the real Gospel’s authority, when they do so.

Remember that the Voice which shook Heaven when it said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him" gave him a special privilege above all other teachers. But then this special privilege is passed down fom the head to all its members, as Joel foretold: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28). Paul said, he was "made unto us wisdom," (1 Cor. 1:30) and again, that in him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Col. 2:3) meaning that there is nothing not worth knowing about him or from him, and that when you have faith in him, you may know his true character and all the blessing which that brings to us. That’s why Paul says, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified," (1 Cor. 2:2).

And most importantly: it is a violation of God’s order to go beyond the simplicity of the Gospel. The purpose of dignity in the title “prophet” in Christ is to teach us that in the doctrine which he delivered is a wisdom which, in substance, is perfect in all its parts.

-- John Calvin, Institutes, Vol II, 15.2

Put Back in His Will - None are Lost

2011-10-04T00:01:00.003-05:00

My daddy has a will. He also had a Saint Bernard dog whom he loved with a great love, but alas, the dog passed away a couple years ago. I am therefore 80% certain that I and the rest of daddy's descendants have since been put back in his will. A will is prepared by a living person (well, duh), specifying how the particulars of the net assets and benefits associated with him will be distributed after his death. I say net, because any debts against the estate must first be cleared up. The will writer is called the testator.

Every will should name an Executor, and the choice is important. The Executor is someone whom the testator trusts, who hopefully thinks like the testator, in charge of proving that the outstanding bills have been paid, and then ensuring that the estate is distributed in accordance with the deceased testator's wishes. If there is no Executor, or a poorly chosen one, then the last will and testament won't be carried out as the dearly departed would have wished

Although there is a completely valid sense in which the new covenant is an agreement between the Father and the Son, there is another sense, just as valid, in which the new covenant (or at least part of it) is a soliloquy. When we listen in, we hear something like, “This is my last will and testament...”.

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. -- Hebrews 8:15-17 - ESV

For good measure, let's also read it in the version that Paul and Moses used:

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. -- Hebrews 8:15-17 - KJV

The writer of Hebrews is telling us very plainly that the new covenant (aka new testament) is a will. Repeating, the new covenant is the last will and testament of a living person, a person who expected to die, and in fact did die. Which person? There can be only one answer: Jesus Christ.

Well you know the next question. Who could Christ select as his trusted Executor, someone who would follow the specifications of the new covenant exactly, who had the power to distribute the benefits of Jesus' flawless life and sacrificial death, and who would prove that all outstanding debts had been paid? Rephrased, who could ensure that no sheep were snatched from Christ's hand? (John 10:27-30)

Very cool answer... Christ selected himself. After he died, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, ascended to heaven and took on the job of Executor (or, Mediator) of his own will, the new covenant. No one else could do it. Jesus Christ the Son of God ensured that the benefits of his life and death (i.e. imputed righteousness and an eternal inheritance) are given to all his sheep. None are lost.

What mere human ever had the power to live after dying in order to dispense eternal benefits as the Executor of his own will? The Mediator had to be God.

Your Sins

2011-10-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Q. 41. Why was our Mediator called Jesus?

A. Our Mediator was called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins.

I love how the Catechism gives this question a simple, exact answer with a single, exact Scripture reference. It is written so economically, it's easy to miss how much is packed into it.

Of course, there's a who: Jesus (He). He what? Saves. Saves whom? His people. From what?

And here, I want to stop for just a moment. Just so you (and I) grasp onto the truth. Jesus saves His people from their sins. If you are one of His people, He saves you from your sins. Your sins. Not somebody else's sins, but your sins. Not your wife's, not your husband's, not your boss's, not your dad's, not your mom's, not your kid's, and not your dog's.

Feel free to deal with Him on that level for a day or two until you look at why our Mediator is called Christ.

He should have killed me in seminary

2011-09-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

Q. 41. Why was our Mediator called Jesus?

A. Our Mediator was called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins.

One of the most wretched experiences that God can grant a man is to ordain that he should go through seminary single. I tell you the truth, there is hardly a more miserable man on the earth than a single seminary student. By the grace of God, they are as blissfully unaware of their miserable condition, but every sane person around them know, and can smell it a mile away. I'm afraid young seminarians reek of desperation and boredom like boys reek of cologne at the eighth grade dance. The only thing that smells worse is an internet troll.

I know a lot of guys, and I have some friends in seminary right now who are single -- so I know of what I speak. This is not meant to be a total slam against seminary guys and girls who are studying to serve in the ministry. I love these people. I pray for them. I was one of them, and the only reason I know of the trial they are in is because, by God's grace, I survived it, was given a wife, a pastorate, and two children by an all-loving God who should have killed me in seminary.

The poor, young, seminary student is often under the erroneous impression, like the internet troll, that what he really needs is more knowledge and a position from which to dispense it. Mixed up in this longing to tell people all the mysteries of God is the longing, wishing, and hoping that God will finally grant him a wife. On a seminary campus, the ration of guys to girls seems to be about 42:1. This means that any hapless, single, relatively attractive young lady on that campus is being circled by (self-ignorant) predatory seminarians from the time she leaves one class until the time she sits through another. Some of the guys are oblivious to the fact that they are doing this. Some are embarrassed by the awareness that they are but feel they have little choice. Some call their pastors and tell them that they believe God wants them to be single forever because the humiliation of becoming one of those circling sharks is too great to bear.

This is why these guys wind up excommunicating one another over where one lands on the question of whether Jesus was able not to sin or not able to sin. As if that answer is going to revolutionize the evangelical church and explains why evangelicals are in such a state of disrepair. They have too much knowledge, too much testosterone, and no outlet for any of it. God bless their hearts.

All of this is by design. God will let his man burn for awhile with the passions of his flesh. He will let his man cry out in despair, become despondent, and wonder whether or not anybody cares, if God will ever grant him a wife, and whether or not he will ever be called to a church. These questions will drive him to near madness, like some kind of crazed bull who gets a whiff of a herd of cows but finds himself on the other side of a 8 foot fence.

For what reason does God do these things, and a million more, to his own servants? The reason is simple: until a man feels the wicked, unruly fire in his own flesh he can never have sympathy for another man caught in the throes of his own. Young men, full of potential, talent, and love for God are put through the fire that they might learn to be gentle with God's precious flock. God isn't seeking zealous men who love to fuss and beat others about the head and shoulders for their nincompoopery. We have plenty of those guys already. He is looking for a shepherd who is patient with the flock, who is able to bear their sorrows, and who knows that deliverance is at hand for all the trouble that a bleating sheep will encounter. I truly hope that you serve with a church full of men and women that know exactly what I am talking about.

But above all, God is looking to make leaders who understand why He named His beloved son Jesus. God named Him Jesus "because he saveth his people from their sins." Pastors need to know that. Missionaries need to know that. Pastor's wives need to know that.

You need to know that.

To Do Everything

2011-09-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Q. 37. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her, yet without sin.

Q. 38. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God?
A. It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God, and the power of death; give worth and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession; and to satisfy God's justice, procure his favor, purchase a peculiar people, give his Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation.

Q. 39. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man?
A. It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that he might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer and make intercession for us in our nature, have a fellow feeling of our infirmities; that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.

Q. 40. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God and man in one person?
A. It was requisite that the Mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should himself be both God and man, and this in one person, that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us, and relied on by us, as the works of the whole person.

The Son of God became incarnate (i.e. human). Why did he become one of us? It seems radical. There must have been another way. Mustn't there?

The path to the answer tracks directly through Matthew 5:17-22, where Jesus tells us that the Mosaic Law, the covenant of works with all its constituent commands and penalties, remains operative and valid until past the world's end, and that it must be fulfilled and kept. Kept by man. Kept completely by man, not dropping the ball even once.

Yes, the Law was a tutor to inform us of our sin and to leave us without the pretense of excuse. No, none of us can keep it. Yes, that's a catch-22. We're toast. Baptists, Zoroastrians, Methodists, Tom Cruisians, Solomon Porchdwellers, Dawkins Disciples, mormons, and calvinist gadflies... we're all lost. None of those labels describe anyone that comes close to keeping the old covenant of works, and the consequences for breaching the covenant are fatal.

But, Jesus also tells us in Matthew 5:17-22 why he came to earth as a human: to do everything that the covenant of works demanded... to fulfill the Law. Jesus did this impossible thing as a man, the second Adam, on behalf of man, to qualify himself as a mediator for humans, in order to save humans. He would have accomplished nothing if he weren't God (see question 38), but because he was also 100% human, his lawful life and sacrificial death in their stead saved humans.

But not all humans (Luke 13:22-30). The raw fact is that Jesus himself plainly taught that most people will not enter into the kingdom of God. And the famous John 14:6 tells us that Christ is the only way. He's the only human that never dropped the ball. There is no one else that can save you (Acts 4:11-12), there is no one else that will judge you, and there is no one else that will decide whether you get to approach the Father. If your get-to-heaven plan relies even the teensiest bit on the merits of anyone other than the man Christ Jesus, then your afterlife will be icky.

Before Us

2011-09-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

We are in a sad, sorry state. Every last one of us is going to die. We all know this in a theoretical way, in the same way you know that passing a kidney stone hurts even if you've never passed one. But at some point in life, we all come to the startling realization that "middle-aged" means "halfway to dead", and once the birthdays start to click past 35 we begin to panic.

Maybe you looked in the mirror this morning and you saw more lines around your eyes. Maybe you've noticed more gray in your hair than you used to see. You've also noticed that your spouse isn't getting any more handsome or lovely. Both of you, frankly, are getting a little pudgy. You can't keep your original hair color, the vigor of your youth, or your silky smooth skin. It doesn't matter. (You really weren't as great as you think you used to be anyway) So before you reach for that Grecian hair formula, get in hock for that convertible, or God forbid, ditch the wife of your youth to troll for younger women, remember that Jesus turned death into a finish line, not oblivion. He ran this race before us, as a man just like us, and he beckons us to run well to win the prize.

Two years ago, I ran my first half-marathon. My wife took pictures of me along the way. At mile two, I looked happy. I was smiling and waving to the camera, and generally hamming it up. At mile eleven, I looked like I was running out of a concentration camp I had stayed at for too long. I had no smile. I didn't wave to the camera. It was agony. The wretched course designers decided that mile 11 to 12 would be uphill! But an amazing thing happened at mile 13. I had only a tenth of a mile to go. I began to run faster despite the pain. I wore a sort of grimace that could actually be mistaken for a smile. See, my wife was on the other side of that line, and she was cheering for me, as were my kids. There was free pizza on the other side of that line, and all the sports drinks I could consume.

Here is the best part of it all: the next year, my wife ran the half-marathon with me. We bought an obnoxious little "13.1" sticker to go on the back glass of our Jeep to commemorate our accomplishment.

Don't get stuck on the glories of mile 2, brothers and sisters. I know you were smiling back then, and you were waving to the camera. But it still hurt, and you had a long, long way to go. The point of the race is to finish it. Finish well. If you do, Jesus Himself will crown you victor.

Unquenchable Life

2011-09-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

When we speak of the Christ as being eternally the Son of God we are not saying God created the Son or that the Son was born in some way; what we are saying is that God who ordains commands God who obeys through the power of God who performs. To convey that notion to creation, God has described God who ordains as "God the Father", and God who obeys as "God the Son" and God who performs as "God the Holy Spirit". Though the language is imperfect, I think we have enough to understand that Christ was eternally God "the Son", equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, having no beginning, and no end.

The scriptures tell us, in perhaps the greatest recorded understatement ever written, that the Son of God emptied Himself, allowing Himself to be "made" in the likeness of man (cf. Philippians 2). Don't get confused by the language there either, the "likeness of man" does not imply that He looked like a man but wasn't - it means He was made, in every way, a man. In the moment that Mary conceived, the Son of God entered into creation as a living man with a living soul.

The Son of God had become the incarnate Christ. In doing so He did not stop being the Son of God. He became the second Adam: a man born into this sinful world who was free from Adam's curse. It follows therefore that all that was true of Adam before the fall would have been true of Christ in the incarnation, and this not because of the Christ's divinity, but because of His humanity; for God originally created man to be in fellowship with Him. So the Christ grew up in the presence of God, and aware of God, not because He was God the Son, but because He was a man who was not under Adam's curse.

But Jesus was not only a man, He was also God the Son. He had possessed as God (in eternity) an unquenchable life - and it was this same unquenchable life that those who were joined to Christ were baptized into when they were born again (i.e. from above). This creation was cursed and will be destroyed, but God is going to make a new heavens and a new earth after these are no more. To get from one to the other we need a boat capable of sailing between the two creations - an ark if you will; an ark made of materials that transcend this creation, lest it be undone, along with those in it, when this creation is likewise undone.

Christ, being the eternal Son of God, possessed the only life that capable of transcending the destruction of this present creation. His death satisfied God's wrath for our sin, but without His life - a life that transcends this creation, He could bring no one into the new creation. It was therefore necessary for the Christ to be both the Son of God and a man, for only in this way could He "mediate" our salvation.

Is this even possible?

2011-09-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

Editor's note: today, after many threats of violence and exposure to grief, beloved internet troublemaker Tom Chantry joins the rolls of Gadfly contributors. His wife and I are proud of him; he, on the other hand, is certain nothing good will come of it.

The doctrine of incarnation has seemed to some less than vital, but to suggest this is to misunderstand the interconnections of theology. Questions 38 through 40 of the WLC indicate that this misunderstanding is nothing new: “Why was it requisite…?” “Requisite” is a more precise word than “necessary”; its necessity relates to the accomplishment of a particular end. The Deity and Humanity of our Lord are requisite to the end of redemption; without them, we would not be saved.

To understand this, we need look no further than the doctrine of the atonement.

“Jesus is only one person; how could one person’s death pay the penalty for the sins of many?” That is a question I have been asked both by well-educated adults and by kids on their first pass through the "Catechism for Young Children." A number of other questions lurk behind this first and most obvious inquiry: Jesus was only dead for a few days; how is that a fair exchange for the sinner’s eternal death? Jesus' death was terrible, but then He knew that He was going to rise again; how is that a fair substitution for any “normal” death?

Indeed, the doctrine of the atonement is one which indirectly points to Christ's deity, insofar as the substitution of one for many requires the One to be extraordinary. The teaching of Scripture is that when Jesus had suffered for a few hours on the cross and expired, the Father’s wrath was propitiated - wrath which otherwise would have sent untold thousands of His people into eternal fire. Further, the atonement was sufficient for all the sins of the human race, from Adam forward.

This is so because His Deity “gave worth and efficacy to His suffering.” Were He not very God of very God, there is no way in which He could have redeemed the elect, unless the Father had been willing to accept a token sacrifice. The whole Old Testament points to the inefficacy of token sacrifices, though. Christ’s death was no token; His infinite worth lent efficacy to His terrible death.

Yet can God suffer and die for man? Is this even possible, let alone just?

Indeed, it was requisite, if the wrath of God against men was to be assuaged, that the sacrifice be a man. Thus God the Son became man that He might “suffer and make intercession for us in our nature.” So our advocate is a Man, but one possessed of the infinite worth and power of God.

The stated goal of redemption was the rescue of sinners from the wrath of a holy God. Certain conditions were necessarily met before that end could be accomplished without any rupture in the perfect justice of the Almighty Judge: namely that the Mediator be God, and that He be Man.

Try That, Tinker Bell

2011-09-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

This summer our family was able to do more than the usual amount of theme-parking around Southern California. All in all, I had a great time introducing the little ones to new gradients of fear and stomach churning. And if you want to understand how church works in Southern California, you would do well to visit the theme parks first.

That said, the various Lands and Worlds that grasp for our pocketbooks have a tremendous fascination with the number One. Wherever you go, it's unity. I mean, it's a small world, after all (aren't you glad I got that going through your head?). At Sea World after one of the big production numbers, my son said to me, "It seems like they want us all to worship the ocean." Because that's what connects us all, you see. One world, one people, one ocean.

But if I sin against the ocean (and who can fail to sin against the ocean), who's going to defend me? Shamu? It should be noted that even his gentle handlers may no longer swim with him. Not even their friendship can assuage his wrath against us all, no matter how many times we sing the mantras. And what happens in the small world to Cruella deVil, Captain Hook and Jafar? They are forgotten forever, and no amount of imagineering can revive them.

But God, our God, does not work in this way. He does not save by a mantra. He does not rescue with an idea. He instead gave us His Son, who took on flesh, laying aside His privileges, becoming like us and then dying on a cross. In doing this He was reconciling the world to Himself, not by our penance or a carbon offset, but by His own blood.

And somehow the result of this flesh and blood redemption is a unity born not of the will of man, but of the Spirit of God. And this unity is in Christ; fully God that we might be saved from His wrath, fully man that we might receive the adoption as sons. In Christ, our unity has been purchased for us.

a break from explaining every mystery

2011-09-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

So tell me, Christian, how exactly did the eternal Son of God become a man? No, really. How did the infinite God of the Universe stoop to become a real man? He did an all-knowing, all-powerful God wind up as a real baby who needed his diaper changed? How did it come to pass that he needed to learn obedience? Or to speak Aramaic? Did Joseph have to smack toddler Jesus on the hand to keep him from grabbing the razor sharp planer? Or did you think that Jesus instinctively knew not to touch dangerously sharp objects because he was and is God?

The Eternal God became man, really? The Greeks believed that Zeus was a god, and that he turned into a bull to chase women around the Parthenon, right? Isn't that ridiculous? Do you really think the Son of God came down from Heaven and became a cooing, diaper-wetting baby named Jesus? How is it that Christianity's wild claims about the God-man are any different that Zeus' ill-begotten offspring like Hercules?

I'm not trying to disturb you, brother or sister. I'm trying to rock you and me out of the doldrums of an unthinking and less-than-spectacular faith. You believe in a God-man. You believe in a God who is three persons and one being. You believe that your God made worlds and stars out of nothing. His speech flung stars into flight and made the "space" for them to stay in. You believe a Jewish man, born in a little hamlet in the Middle East with a population 300 or so, grew up to conquer death for you.

You believe in the fantastic! When the naturalist comes to you and tut-tuts because you say you believe in a "literal" Adam, and original sin, or sin at all for that matter, don't worry about it. You believe all kinds of things that would offend his little natural mind all sorts of ways -- and it doesn't cause you any trouble.

I can imagine someone asking me, "Brad, how did your wife come to love you?" I suppose if I were so inclined, I might talk to you about how the brain works, and how certain neurons fired, and I might pontificate about certain chemical reactions that took place at our first meetings and conversations. We might even look at real-time brain scans of people falling in love and say, "Behold the science of love!" But seriously, is that all there is? And would that answer the question of why it was me she loved and not her previous boyfriend? (God forbid!) See, I like that it was magic from God that made my wife desire me. I like to think that it was something other than a mere chemical reaction that made her want to kiss me. If the naturalist wants to say that's all it was, he can go hang for all I care. I know better.

There are lots of things that I don't know that I do not really feel all that compelled to explain. I don't know what it means for there to be nothing before there was something. I don't know how God can be three persons and one being. I don't know how it is that all of God became Jesus. I don't know how it is that toddler Jesus (if we may say this reverently) was potty trained. I don't understand how after the glory got out on the Mount of Transfiguration that Jesus managed to pull it all back in.

The catechism doesn't really explain how Jesus became a man. It simply says that 'he took to himself a true body, a reasonable soul, was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, and was born of her without sin'. There are more "how did he do that?" questions in the answer than there was in the original question, right? Sometimes, Christian, we ought to relax for bit. We ought to allow ourselves a break from explaining every mystery of God so people can "get it". We ought to sit back and say, "I know these things are true, and that they are lovely, and that they add up to a far, far better and more satisfying explanation for why I am here and what I am supposed to be doing while I'm here, and that's good enough for me."

The Little First Word

2011-09-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

Thirty-Seven is one of the hinge questions of salvation and redemption. It may actually be the hinge question of the entire Bible. But to illuminate this, we have to take another look at the little first word "how".

You know we be gittin' too erudite when we wanna poke the entrails of the first word of the question. But it is beneficial in this case. The sense of some of these anglo-saxon utility words has morphed since the Long Parliament of treasonous squires commissioned the Larger Catechism. Even today, "HOW" could mean a lot of things, at least according to dictionary.com:

how
1.in what way or manner; by what means?: How did the accident happen?
2.to what extent, degree, etc.?: How damaged is the car?
3.in what state or condition?: How are you?
4.for what reason; why?: How can you talk such nonsense?
5.to what effect; with what meaning?: How is one to interpret his action?
6.what?: How do you mean? If they don't have vanilla, how about chocolate?
7.(used as an intensifier): How seldom I go there!
8.by what title or name?: How does one address the president?
9.at what price: How are the new cars going, cheaper than last year's models?
10.by what amount or in what measure or quantity?: How do you sell these tomatoes?
11.in what form or shape?: How does the demon appear in the first act of the opera? How does the medication come?

And that's just the contemporary adverb form of the word. Let's plug a few of these definitions into question #37 and see what we might be asking.

In what way or manner and by what means did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
To what extent or degree did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
In what state or condition did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
Why? For what reason did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
To what effect and with what meaning did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
At what price did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
By what amount or in what measure or quantity did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
In what form or shape did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

The catechism writers certainly didn't have every one of these variants in mind, but they're good questions all, don't you think? We could do a lot worse in the 2 Timothy 2:15 part of our walk than to pursue their answers, even though the questions are mighty and difficult. Spirit-directed study of the Word should be our engine to tackle them. Yet, wise church councils were wrestling with the weightier ones seventeen hundred years ago and you may want to think about standing on their shoulders. But this side of the glass, the complete answers to some of these questions are simply beyond us... the full nature and implications of the incarnation are too marvelous.

But don't let that stop you. God became human flesh (John 1:14). God grieved, sorrowed and faced death as a human (Matthew 26:38). God put aspects of his exalted overeverythingness in his pocket, and instead set to serving his creation as the lowest of all of them (Philippians 2:7). God was an impossible zygote implanting in a virgin's uterus (Luke 1:27, 31, 35), and then he was a toothless newborn in a barn (Luke 2:7). God inhabited sinews and synapses, bones and glands, and a body full of arteries coursing with blood, for the sole purpose of spilling that same blood in order to free slaves (Hebrews 2:14-17). God did this. The Son of God became human, and he still is.

He Appoints Himself

2011-09-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

When God created human beings, we had a single representative in Adam. Scripture records his failure, and the result for us all. As time goes by, God deals with other individuals, in various means and in various ways. Then, when the time is right, God does something extraordinary: He appoints Himself as our representative.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians. After giving his wonderful Gospel summary in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul goes on to expand his theme of the resurrection of the dead, and compares the “first Adam” who brought death upon humanity to the “second Adam” who brings life to all who believe (1 Cor. 15:21–23).
Just as Adam’s death sealed our physical fate, Christ’s resurrection is the bloom of the promised redeemer and the hope of the future reconciliation. In Paul’s words, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will bear the image of the man of heaven. And all of this is made possible through God’s representative—the one and only mediator—the man Christ Jesus.

That He May Not Fail Us

2011-09-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

Jesus lays down three titles, as if he had said that he is the beginning, and the middle, and the end; and it follows that we ought to begin with him, to continue in him, and to end in him. We certainly ought not to look for higher wisdom than that which leads us to eternal life, and he testifies that this eternal life -- "the life" -- is to be found in him. Now the method of obtaining life is to become new creatures. He declares that we ought not to seek it anywhere else, and, at the same time, reminds us, that he is the way, by which alone we can arrive at it. For example, in order that he may not fail us in any respect, he stretches out a hand to those who are going astray, and stoops so low as to guide even babies. Presenting himself as a leader, he does not leave his people in the middle of the course, but makes them participants in the truth. And as they partake, he makes them enjoy the fruit of it, which is the most brilliant and wonderful thing that can be imagined.

As Christ is "the way", the weak and ignorant have no reason to complain that they are left out by him; and as he is "the truth" and "the life", he has in himself also what is fitted to satisfy perfectly. In short, Christ now affirms, concerning happiness, what I have also said concerning the object of faith: all believe and acknowledge that the happiness of man lies in God alone, but they afterwards go wrong in the same way. Seeking God somewhere other than in Christ, they take away his true and solid Dignity.

Regarding “The truth,” some believe it means the revelation from Heaven of salvation; others say it is the substance of all spiritual blessings as opposed to shadowy figures since John said, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, (John 1:17.) My opinion is that the truth here means the perfection of faith as “the way” means its beginning and first elements. The whole may be summed up thus: “If any man walks away from Christ, he will do nothing but be lost because he is off the way; if any man does not rest on him, he will toil forever as if vainly blown around by the wind because he is without the truth; and if any man is not satisfied with him alone, and wishes to go farther, he will find death instead of life.”

-- Commentary on John 14:6

Not that Kind of Mediator

2011-09-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Q. 36. Who is the Mediator of the covenant of grace?

A. The only Mediator of the covenant of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, of one substance and equal with the Father, in the fullness of time became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two entire distinct natures, and one person, forever.

Let us consider what a mediator is and why it is important to see that Jesus has two natures. A mediator is someone who gets between two parties in order to bring about reconciliation. The Lord Jesus Christ, as both God and man, is able to understand and represent men because he is himself a man. He is able to understand God because he himself is God. This is why Paul writes in Colossians, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:19-20).

Jesus, as the God-man, is and can be the only mediator. The Father gave to Adam's race a simple and just command: Do Not Eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or You Will Surely Die! Adam broke that command and all his progeny with him, and we have been clamoring for forbidden fruit ever since. We love sin so much that we have come to think that erring is human. It isn't. Sin is not an essential part of what it means to be human; sin is an aberration. It is a subtraction from humanity, and it makes us all less than we should be.

Far from being a mediator who overlooks and downplays our sins, Jesus is a mediator who has "in every respect been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). Jesus was tempted, as a man like me, and he said, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (Matt. 4:10). Jesus, the son of man, never bowed to sin. He never rose to the bait; no matter how sorely his flesh vexed him, he remained sinless. His humanity does not excuse our sin in the least; it makes our sin appear utterly sinful. Jesus can say, "Your humanity, your frailty, is no excuse. I, too, am a man." Jesus will not abide any excuse for sin; he is not that kind of mediator.

Jesus as mediator wasn't working on a compromise at Calvary whereby wretched men would give up a bit of their wretchedness in exchange for the favor of a justly angry God. He came to mediate in an earth destroying, family splitting, heart rending manner. He came to deliver a final ultimatum: repent or perish. He doesn't have to say that as God only; he can say it as a man who has no need of repentance.

The terms, then, are simple and very gracious. Jesus, as the representative of Adam's sinful race, has sacrificed himself to the just wrath of God for the justification and sanctification of wicked men. God has declared that anyone who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent from their sin, and love his darling Son will be justly and immediately reconciled to himself. To refuse him means facing the righteous indignation of both the Mediator and the God who sent him. In the end, whether one is a saint or reprobate, all will be reconciled to the fact that Jesus is Lord of All.

In Spite of 100,000 Seminarians

2011-09-07T06:07:00.000-05:00

In spite of being a blogger, with the reputation of being a little rabid, you'll be relieved to know that I suspect that most of you who are reading are Christians -- that is, like the people in Antioch who were first called by that name, you have heard the Gospel even if it's only the Gospel a guy like Barnabas would preach as opposed to an apostle like Paul, and you believed it, and you have been trained up in some way. And you're might be in something like ministry, right? Maybe it's not full time, but you're at least committed to your church and your elders or pastors to try to do what's right for people. And let me say that if you're not one of the people I just described, you should be.

But why? Why should you be anything in particular rather than someone who is doing what is right in his own eyes, and then calling that "Christian" or "Christian Ministry"? My opinion here is that it's not because I have a really clever argument, or that 100,000 Westminster seminarians and professors can't be wrong. It's because Jesus of Nazareth is a real person.

But hold on -- I know that sounds obvious, OK? But here's what I'm thinking: at some point, everything that we do which is clever or confessional has to get put in the same box as the man Jesus, who was crucified.

My brother-in-law David tells a story about the first time he visited Boston. David's ex-military, and he says that he can remember all through school people told him about American history -- about the events that happened that caused us to be a country, the list of facts. But in Boston, he found himself out in the harbor looking down into the water, and when he looked into the water and out at the harbor he realized: "Wow. This is were they dropped the tea into the harbor." And at that moment, all those men and all the stories about them weren't just facts or true statements anymore: the real people became obvious to him, and it changed the way he thought about our country and his part in it.

It reminds me of the end of the story of Job, after all the boils and marauders and donkeys and friends telling Job how it was all his fault, Job tells God, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, and I repent." For My brother-in-law David, American history became real when the facts weren't just facts; for Job, God stopped being a story when he finally saw YHVH with his own eyes.

That's why we have to see Jesus as a real person. I mean, Jesus is God, but he didn't try to remain equal with God. Instead he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us. Jesus was humble the way only God can be humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross. And when we say this, and we must say that Jesus died on a cross, when we tell people this, they should get it -- as if we said something like, "this is where they dropped the tea into the harbor."

Jesus is not just some icon of spiritual truth; his story is not just a story about truth: he's the one guy who understands our weaknesses because he has suffered through them, and then he died for them.

It wasn't just a game-changer when the angels sang, "Glory to God in the Highest! And on Earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests!" It was God becoming man. It was something bigger than we can ever imagine, but that we can in fact receive and rejoice in. And now it's our problem to catch up with that -- to live as if that really happened, so we can make much of this Jesus, and enjoy him forever.

If we forget that, the rest of this stuff is just a hobby that makes us look pathetic -- or worse, a way we make ourselves look good and feel good in spite of who we really are. But the people in Antioch, when they heard about the real Jesus according to Barnabas, they stuck with it. They wanted to know more, and Barnabas had to send for Paul -- a guy who knew the Scripture, and knew the real Jesus -- to teach about this real guy, and to live as if he really did walk out of the grave and now sits at the right hand of the father -- because the simple proclamation was not enough. They needed someone to teach them well, so that in Antioch the disciples could be first called Christian.

Those aren't just big words: that's the way God changed the game for the whole world, and now you and me have to do something about it -- because he's real.

-- Edited and republished from 2010, The Nines

(watch the original video here)

Pile Upon Pile

2011-09-01T22:31:00.001-05:00

1 Shortly after the beginning was the Idea, and the Idea was about WHWH(a), and the Idea was Weh-weh. 2 It was in the beginning, about Weh-weh. 3 Nothing really came into being through the Idea, but apart from it we really wouldn't have had Weh-weh. 4 In it was an explanation, and the explanation gave men something to do with their time. 5 The Idea flickers in the darkness, and the darkness is just fine with that.

6 There came a bunch of men throughout history who thought about Weh-weh, and their name was legion. 7 They came as deep thinkers, to proclaim the Idea, so that the Idea might have their names attached to it. 8 They were not the Idea, but they talked about it as if they were.

9 There was the Big Idea, which, hanging around in the world, captures the fancy of every man. 10 It was in the world, and though it didn't have anything to do with the making of the world, the world jumped all over it. 11 It popped into their heads, and they went for it. 12 And as many as thought about the Idea, they asserted the right to be little Weh-wehs themselves (though not by that name), 13 even though they were pretty much like everybody else, only more mystical-looking.

14 And the Idea rejected flesh as being unbecoming of an Idea, and we saw that it was special, as if it were an Idea straight from Weh-weh, full of sound and fury(b). 15 Everybody talked about the Idea and cried out, saying, "This is the Idea that is greater than me, but be sure you attach my name to whatever religion comes after me, for I thought of it first." 16 For to its fullness we have all contributed, pile upon pile. 17 For the world keeps on working the way it does, but the Idea promises us some kind of escape. 18 Positively everyone has entertained the Idea at some time; but Weh-weh, well, he pretty much explains everything.

(a) In all probability pronounced Weh-weh, with a nasal whine like a fussy baby’s cry. Some scholars prefer Wha-wha, in descending tones, similar to the sad trombone sound.
(b) Some manuscripts say, "Full of piss and vinegar."

One at a time

2011-08-31T22:01:00.002-05:00

Q. 33. Was the covenant of grace always administered after one and the same manner?
A. The covenant of grace was not always administered after the same manner, but the administrations of it under the old testament were different from those under the new.

Q. 34. How was the covenant of grace administered under the old testament?
A. The covenant of grace was administered under the old testament, by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover, and other types and ordinances, which did all foresignify Christ then to come, and were for that time sufficient to build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they then had full remission of sin, and eternal salvation.

Q. 35. How is the covenant of grace administered under the new testament?
A. Under the new testament, when Christ the substance was exhibited, the same covenant of grace was and still is to be administered in the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper; in which grace and salvation are held forth in more fullness, evidence, and efficacy, to all nations.

I believe in the sacraments. At least, I believe that grace is offered to us through the sacraments. I believe that this grace is offered to us to be feasted on by faith: whether by preaching, by communion, or by baptism. I believe this because the grace of God is always offered to us by means of the gospel, and the sacraments proclaim the gospel to us for our joy and edification.

I know that Baptists get nervous about talking like this, or even using the word 'sacrament' to describe the Lord's Supper and Baptism. That's okay. Baptists get nervous about dancing and drinking beer, too. Especially when someone else finds out that they have been doing both. So don't let Baptist hang ups keep you from thinking about the matter of grace in the sacraments.

Here's the truth: God is always gracious. Grace comes to us from God in all manner of ways: in kisses, in children, in breath, in rebuke, and even on the internet. No matter what we do or experience, we ought to see enough grace in it to glorify God for it. Should the Lord's Supper be any different?

I want you to consider how you think preaching works. We believe that God uses the means of preaching the Word of God to justify us and sanctify us, right? Well, how does preaching do that, exactly? Isn't it because the Spirit of God uses the preacher's words to impact our hearts and change our lives by agency of the Holy Spirit who works through those words. He justifies us through preaching, and He sanctifies us through preaching.

We are once and for all justified by faith the moment we believe. But sanctification is a life-long process, and it too is part of salvation. When we eat the Lord's Supper by faith, and remember that Christ was broken for us and is still offering Himself to us, we are being saved by that, and humbled by that, and changed by that. We learn to love our brother better because we know we need Jesus to make us clean and him clean, and both of us are happy that the other is willing to admit it. It makes me love Jesus more to know that he gave Himself not just for me, but that He also gave Himself for my beloved brother. This is grace, and this is a feast that God prepares for us.

If you think that Jesus isn't present "in the meal", I wonder where you think He is during it? Is He walking amongst the lampstands or not? Does He only show up for the singing and preaching? Or is He at the table again? Not that He is suffering again or is being eternally crucified. God forbid! Rather, it is more akin to him saying to Thomas, "Come here, and take a look at my hands. Put your finger in my side. Stop disbelieving and believe!" I confess that I have taken up the cup many times, as a believer, with this thought in my heart, "Lord, I do believe. Help me in my unbelief!" And He does help me. One sermon at a time. One meal at a time. One witnessed baptism at a time. One hymn at a time. He gives me grace.

The other day, my three year old daughter Zoe invited me for tea. I sat at a table too small for me with her and a stuffed rabbit named Blossom. We drank tea out of pink plastic cups. Mine was an Earl Gray with a bit of lemon. Zoe had sweet tea, and Blossom only likes carrot tea. I drank mine pinky out, and I told Zoe how wonderful her tea was, and that she looked splendid in her dress.

Of course, there was no tea, really. At least, there wasn't any tea in the cup. It was pretend. But the fellowship with my daughter was quite real. The bread of communion is not the "real" body of Jesus, but the fellowship with the Spirit and the saints in the meal is very real. By the word of God, we preach Christ, in communion we proclaim His death, and in baptism we proclaim our union in Christ and our resurrection with Him. These are means of grace to us, sacraments if we dare, and they ought to be treasured by us as the gifts that they are.

Even Only I am Left

2011-08-30T22:30:00.004-05:00

Grey, dull
All I see is pitiful
Don't talk
Don't eat
Sleep is incomplete

I've failed all around
Just a bumbling clown knocked down
God, where have you gone?
Why do things not work out?

Years, drinking in dust
Living on scraps from carrion birds
Faithful though you let the boy die
Harsh! Bitter is your will

All alone
Hated
God cares not that black's my word
Where are they?
Where are the fake few that
Think they can warm this hopeless chill?

I see earthquake, whirlwind, fire, slaughter
WHERE IS GOD?

You're near
Drifting, I left you with cheer
My eyes
Upon me
Why so surprised at what I see?

I am marred and scuffed
Please Potter, smooth out so much rough
Mold me as you wish
And that will be enough

(1 Kings 19)

He Obviously Did

2011-08-29T22:30:00.000-05:00

It's a bit of a mystery how folks were saved in the Old Testament. Oh, we know in part, and see in part, how God could have accomplished such a thing, but in light of all the revelation we have on this side of the cross, the other side at times seems a dim mirror. Those systematic theologians who want every question answered may wish for a bit more detail in regard to this, but they have an answer: the signs and symbols God provided for Israel in the Old Testament were "sufficient to build up the elect."

Now, the cynic in me might say that this phrase, "sufficient to build up the elect," is simply a Calvinist cop-out, playing the God-is-sovereign-over-all-things trump card with a shoulder-shrugging gesture of "I dunno, but He obviously did." But saying that God's provision in the Old Testament was sufficient for the elect is more than just a bunch of nice sounding weasel words; it is another verification of who is really in charge of salvation, and for those of us on the other side of the cross, it should provide great encouragement and hope.

God's active work in salvation is assumed throughout Scripture, and it is not my point here to write a lengthy treatise about it. For those interested, have a look at Ephesians 1, for example, and consider how each member of the Trinity works in harmony to bring about the fullness of salvation in the life of the believer.

The God who planned out salvation to the level of detail that Yahweh did--a God who can orchestrate all of history, including the sinful acts of men, in order to accomplish His purposes--a God like that can ensure that all the ingredients necessary for your salvation and my salvation are present.

The statement that the signs and symbols under the Old Testament administration of the covenant were "sufficient to build up the elect" doesn't tell us that God makes the rules so He can do what He wants; it declares to us that His revelation in all places and all times is adequate for those who are going to be saved. When combined with God being both just and the justifier (Rom. 3:26), the picture Scripture paints is one of a saving God who provides all we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).

Why Blogging is not a Sacrament

2011-08-28T22:01:00.000-05:00

I know a thing or two about golf. Literally. I mean, I took a college course to fulfill my PE requirement, so I learned the fundamentals. Head down, left arm straight, feet apart, knees bent. I know what a good swing looks like and feels like.

I've watched enough golf on TV to know how the pros make it look easy. If I watched you, I could probably even tell you what is wrong with your swing. And if you followed my advice, it just might actually help.

That said, I've golfed about three times in the past dozen years. If you asked me how my game is, I'd have to say that there really is no such thing. The last time I went out, I hit about three shots that felt good, a whole lot of mediocre ones, and an embarrassing amount of plain stinkers.

Because I don't really have the time, money, energy or desire to appropriate the means to becoming a better golfer myself, I'm considering starting up a blog where I analyze other people's golf games. I am sure someone will find it helpful.

The Rough Outline

2011-08-26T06:11:00.000-05:00

The difference which the Apostle makes between the Law and the Gospel is this: under the Law was a very rough outline versus what, under the Gospel, is very clear and colorful. So he says again that the Law was not useless, nor its ceremonies not worth anything. Because although the artist was not yet finished with the picture, so to speak, the picture sketched was still of great benefit to the fathers of our faith -- but our condition is better still. And remember: the things they only saw on the horizon, at a distance, are the things we get to see up close. The same righteousness, sanctification, and salvation of Christ is seen by both; and the difference only is in the manner of God's method of painting the picture.

I agree that the kingdom of Christ, which is now present with us, was then announced as the future; but the Apostle’s words mean that we still have a lively image of future blessings. He understands that the full harvest of that blessing is delayed until to the resurrection and the future world.

-- Commentary on Hebrews, 10:1

A Covenant Parable

2011-08-25T06:39:00.001-05:00

They had walked more than ten dusty leagues from Megiddo to get here, but this was not what he had imagined. Crowds surged. Irritating gadflies buzzed. Somewhere, a terrified animal screamed. Men with firewood sledges cursed their way past him. And the stink, it was way too interesting: a cocktail of sweat, tacky blood, roasting grain, rendered flesh, smoke, feces, perfume, and death. He retched. His father was sympathetic. Their town teemed with pagan Canaanites (Judges 1:27) and hardly anyone there even cared about the Law of Moses, but he and his wife had done their best to teach their son what they could. Yet this was so different from the heroic Passover stories that they had told the boy during the annual celebration feast, tales of burning bushes and parted waters and safety from wrath. Now, for the first time, the boy was in the middle of something really ugly.

Now, for the first time, he was in Shiloh (Joshua 18:1).

It had been a huge effort and cost to provision and transport their best stock, but here they were, and in good shape. They had brought two animals: a bull for a burnt offering (Leviticus 1:3-9), and a female goat for a peace offering (Leviticus 3:1, 12-16). They also had finely milled flour from their own fields, which they had just mixed with oil and frankincense to be presented as a grain offering (Leviticus 2:1-2). The boy had helped mill the flour and was looking forward to giving it to the priests. These weren't mandatory offerings but his family wanted to give them, and had worked hard to prepare.

The boy was a sponge; he wanted to know all about these sacrifices. His father had explained things the best he could, but had trouble answering his son's fundamental question of "Why?". Even though the father did not really understand it himself, he told the boy that something about these offerings pleased God, and that this was all necessary because of sin. He told his son that his sins were offensive to God, and that God wanted the best offering possible. It was clear to the boy that his father was determined to give it.

They reached the front of the queue. Without a thanks or a wink, the grim priest snatched the grain offering from the boy and handed his father a knife. The father placed his free hand on the forehead of the bull, held contact with its eyes, and slashed. Those eyes bulged wide in pain and terror as blood gushed from the carotid into the basin held ready by the priest's assistant. There is a lot of blood in a bull, and some got on the boy. His father set to dismembering the animal while the priests washed the innards and carried away body parts. Then the father instructed his son to lead the goat forward. Feeling woozy, the disheartened child had had quite enough of this whole affair, but he had no ruby slippers. This bloody day would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

Camping on the road that night, the boy wept for the bull and the goat, and he wept for himself. He recoiled from the abyss of his own sins and the death that flowed from them. He was at a complete loss: he did not know what to do. Even though he didn't have the whole Law of Moses memorized, he did know the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:1-33) and the Sh'ma (Deuteronomy 6:4-6). By these standards he could never please God, no matter how many bulls and goats he killed.

Broken and desolate, and he cried out for mercy to the awful I AM (John 8:58), the God of Abraham, Moses, and the Passover.

He recalled it all as his own son now milled the flour, and asked him why these things were necessary.

More thoughts on Covenants

2011-08-24T10:01:00.000-05:00

There are differences between the old and new covenants. These differences are important to our understanding of redemptive history, and the catechism offers valuable instruction in them. However, while we frequently talk about the distinctions between the covenants, we less often think of the continuity of God’s redemptive plan that runs through them. While we cannot deny the new covenant language of the New Testament, and should rejoice that we now have a “better covenant,” we should not lose sight of the fact that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” and so is his gospel. Old Testament saints were saved by the very same grace through the very same faith as we are. So, while not denying the newness of the new covenant, I prefer to think of it as completing the old, rather than replacing it.

When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. —Luke 22:14–20

Since the Exodus, every generation of God’s people had commemorated their release from the bondage of Egypt by repeating the sacrifice of a Passover lamb. On that first Passover, the Lord had gone through the land of Egypt and killed every firstborn of man and beast. But at every home where the blood of the lamb was on the door, he passed over, sparing the lives within. By the blood of the lamb, they were spared, and they were set free. And every year following, God’s people were commanded to repeat the sacrifice as a memorial to the day.

Now Jesus gathers his disciples with him in the upper room to celebrate another Passover, but this one will be different. This Passover will be the transitioning point from the old to the new covenant.

This will be the last time God requires a death. When Jesus institutes the new covenant, he doesn’t slice off a hunk of lamb and declare, “this is my body,” even though that lamb was a type of Christ, and as much a symbol of a saving sacrifice as the bread and wine of the new covenant. That lamb has no place in the new covenant; a new lamb has come, a perfect lamb, this one truly without blemish, not only physically, but spiritually. The blood of this lamb, unlike the countless Passover lambs slaughtered by generations of Israelites, can atone for sins, once and for all. So we kill nothing and eat no flesh, yet a symbol of flesh is present in the bread. And since we kill nothing, there is also no blood, yet the symbol of the blood remains in the cup.

Now I join old and new. As the blood of the lamb sprinkled around the doors of Israel caused death to pass over, so the blood of the Lamb applied to our hearts causes death to pass over us. It is the same thing. As we gather on the Lord’s Day and take the bread and wine together, we also share communion with all the Old Testament saints in a new Passover. We sprinkle the blood of the Lamb on our posts and lintels and are not separated by old and new covenants, but joined together in Christ in a fulfilled covenant.

Someone Else's Mail

2011-08-23T22:01:00.000-05:00

The more I read question 33 of this catechism, the more I like it. I like it because hardly any Baptist I know would even think to ask this question, much less have the theological acumen to begin an answer. I know about Baptists and theology; I am one. This isn't a crass remark coming from the outside, it is the sad confession of one with almost ten years experience in shepherding Baptist sheep.

Baptists, and perhaps other evangelicals as well, struggle with the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New. It is, for them, an uneasy marriage. For Baptists, it is because our theology of the Lord's Supper is about as deep as the thimbles we drink our juice from, and because we call everything a 'symbol' to the extent that we have forgotten the reality.

It's sort of like a guy named O'Reily who takes a vacation to Ireland. His family has lived in America for 200 years, but he has a longing to see the Emerald Isle and the land of his ancestors. While there, he picks up a cool keychain with the O'Reily crest on it. It is a 'symbol' for his family, but he has no idea what the raging lions mean or the bloody severed hand, and so he just buys it because he is an O'Reily. He shows his little trinket to his pals, along with the cool shillelagh he got at the gift shop, without bothering to figure out why this thing has symbolized his family for hundreds of years.

If Baptists know anything, they know that we are saved by faith alone and not by works. We beat one another over the head saying that baptism doesn't save, church membership doesn't save, and the Lord's Supper doesn't save; nothing but the blood of Jesus that can make the sinner clean. So Baptist hoorah salvation by grace alone through faith alone and regulate the Lord's Supper to once every fifth Sunday because, well, we are supposed to do that, not in a saving way, but in a "I got my keychain in Ireland" kind of way. (The shame!)

So Baptists could stand for a preacher of mettle to stand before them and ask, "Beloved, did an Israelite have to offer his little lamb in order to be right with God? And if he did, were people under the Old Covenant saved by grace or by works?" See, that little question right there would obliterate the average Baptist's apple cart. They are just legalist enough to say that the offering is required for salvation, but are able to grasp salvation by grace alone through faith alone enough to recoil at the thought of salvation by works. So they would sit there in gobsmacked silence, with only the sound of rustling bulletins and jangling key chains for comfort.

So allow me to be bold and speak as if insane: God did not justify a single man or woman or child under the Old Covenant by the gift of rams, bulls, or goats. Yet, if a man failed in this duty, it was a sure sign that he was not justified. We simply do not give the OT brethren enough credit: they knew and were looking for the Messiah to come. All the sacrifices and feast days that God called Israel to participate in were beacons that pointed to Jesus. If an Israelite loved God and believed in his promises, he was sanctified by sacrifices and feasts and the law of Moses because they taught him of his own wretchedness, of his need for the people of God, and of his desperate hope that God Himself would provide a sacrifice to save him from his sins.

This is why Jesus broke bread with his disciples. "Do this in remembrance of me" certainly means we ought to remember that Jesus was broken for us just like the broken bread. But that isn't the only thing we are to remember. We must remember where he came from, why he came, whose Son he is, how he treated his brothes, and how great his love for us must be. When we meditate on these things, we grow in grace, and our longing for the reminder that the Lord's Supper brings will also grow.

And how can we recount the glories of baptism? For the one undergoing this ordinance, it is a faith-building, sanctifying thing. That is, and I speak as a Baptist, as the new believer looks upon the sea of faces from the baptistry, he sees a family united by the death and resurrection of Christ. If he is taught to look hard enough, he can see down the corridors of time to those long since dead, entering this same baptism and this same family by grace through faith. This family, this wretched, happy family, is a family born of blood and water and fire. It is a family filled with people who have reached out to grab the gospel through preaching and sacrifices and lambs and fellowship and baptisms and communions, and who have hung onto every gospel promise for dear life.

If only we could begin to understand the various administrations of grace! We might find in them a door for our own sanctification in Christ, and we might start reading the Old Covenant, not as someone else's mail, but a book written by our family to our family and for our salvation.

Plan A, revisited

2011-08-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

There is a progression to the plan of salvation. The Bible isn’t fiction, but it has the feel of a literary narrative, driving forward toward its inevitable conclusion with all the drama of a novel. One of the things that contributes to this is the way Scripture reveals to us the plan of redemption.

The first hint, of course, is in Genesis 3:15, where the promise is made that the offspring will crush the serpent’s head. God makes promises to other Old Testament believers, including Abraham and David, and the Old Testament is packed with hints about the coming messiah and future redemption.

One of my favorite examples of this is found in both Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, which presents the idea of a new heart. These are both Old Testament promises to Israel which also find fulfillment in the New Testament for believers.

Paul augments this when he writes in Romans 9 that the true children of God are not those descended from Abraham by the flesh, but those who are children of the promise. Later in Romans, he tells us that there was a mystery that was “kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations,” to bring about the obedience of the faith. (Rom. 16:25)

Paul also speaks of the mystery of Christ “which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed.” The mystery is that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:4–6), part of God’s grace promised and given to us before time began (2 Tim 1:9, Titus 1:2). It was spoken about by God to us in bits and pieces through the prophets, but revealed fully through His Son (Heb. 1:1–2).

Whatever the wording of the Catechism, what’s presented here upholds the Biblical notion that God’s plan of salvation is the one plan He had from the beginning, not the backup plan because humanity messed up Plan A. At the same time, there is the parallel truth that God’s plan of redemption has been unfolding throughout recorded history and becomes more clear as time progresses. The pinnacle of that plan was the cross, but the climax is yet to come, when Jesus the future king returns, to judge and to reign.

Himself to Us

2011-08-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

This is a good time to point out the titles which the Scripture give us for the Spirit, because it teaches us about our salvation. First, he is called the “Spirit of adoption,” because he is witness to us of the free favor with which God the Father embraced us in his well-beloved and only-begotten Son, so as to become our Fathers and give us boldness of access to him; he dictates these very words, so that we can boldly cry, “Abba, Father.”

For the same reason, he is said to have “sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,” because, as pilgrims in the world, and persons in a manner dead, he so brings us to life from above as to assure us that our salvation is safe in the keeping of a faithful God.

Also, the Spirit is said to be “life because of righteousness.” But since it is his secret irrigation that makes us bud forth and produce the fruits of righteousness, he is repeatedly described as water. Thus in Isaiah “See! every one who is thirsty, come to the waters.” Again, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” Corresponding to this are the words of our Savior, to which I lately referred, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” Sometimes, indeed, he receives this name from his energy in cleansing and purifying, as in Ezekiel, where the Lord promises, “Then will I sprinkle you with clean water, and ye shall be clean.”

As those sprinkled with the Spirit are restored to the full vigor of life, he hence obtains the names of “Oil” and “Unction.”

On the other hand, as he is constantly employed in subduing and destroying the vices of our concupiscence, and inflaming our hearts with the love of God and piety, he hence receives the name of Fire.

In fine, he is described to us as a Fountain, whence all heavenly riches flow to us; or as the Hand by which God exerts his power, because by his divine inspiration he so breathes divine life into us, that we are no longer acted upon by ourselves, but ruled by his motion and agency, so that everything good in us is the fruit of his grace, while our own endowments without him are mere darkness of mind and perverseness of heart.

Already, indeed, it has been clearly shown, that until our minds are intent on the Spirit, Christ is in a manner unemployed, because we view him coldly without us, and so at a distance from us. Now we know that he is of no avail save only to those to whom he is a head and the first-born among the brethren, to those, in fine, who are clothed with him. To this union alone it is owing that, in regard to us, the Savior has not come in vain. To this is to be referred that sacred marriage, by which we become bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, and so one with him (Eph 5:30), for it is by the Spirit alone that he unites himself to us. By the same grace and energy of the Spirit we become his members, so that he keeps us under him, and we in our turn possess him.

-- Institutes III 1.3

It's not Jiggery-Pokery

2011-08-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

Q. 31. With whom was the covenant of grace made?
A. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.

Q. 32. How is the grace of God manifested in the second covenant?
A. The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in that he freely provides and offers to sinners a Mediator, and life and salvation by him; and requiring faith as the condition to interest them in him, promises and giveth his Holy Spirit to all his elect, to work in them that faith, with all other saving graces; and to enable them unto all holy obedience, as the evidence of the truth of their faith and thankfulness to God, and as the way which he has appointed them to salvation.

Nothing can contain God, so why would he condescend to actually dwell within you? There is a ready and sufficient answer: to give you access to great power that is not your own.

Now you're woefully harebrained if you think it's the kind of jiggery-pokery power that lets you pull rabbits out of hats or cancerous growths out of your sleeves, or gives you the chutzpah to slay dupes in Toronto and Florida with your cheeky fakery.

Or if you expect us to believe that it shows you replays of the sordid pasts of your hapless congregants in HDTV.

No, the power granted by the Holy Spirit is cleansing and pure. It's not deceptive. It's not prurient.

Perhaps you're now crying foul because you're not like that, but are sincerely a respectable continuationist... so sorry, but you're misguided and missing the point if you aspire to the kind of power that lets you accept or work unverifiable sign-miracles in a manner quite unlike how it happened in the New Testament.

The power of the Holy Spirit is loftier than that. It's more excellent than that (1 Corinthians 12:31).

What you look like

2011-08-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. -- Galatians 5:22-23

And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. -- Ezekiel 36:27

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. -- Ephesians 2:10

We've spent a lot of time dwelling on the utter turpitude of mankind. The catechism has harped on man's depravity, and so have we. The reason of course is that right out of the gate, we are lost sinners. The Bible tells me so. And so does observation. We're bad. We do bad things. Over and over. We can't stop. Even our "good" deeds are laced with poison.

That was before. But if you are something called “Christian”, then God has extended grace to you. There's plenty more to say about what a Christian is, but for now, let's describe what you look like, if you are truly a Christian.

You remember the Holy Spirit, right? You, Christian, are not alone. The Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, not once in a while or in wavering degrees, but full bore, all the time. You are always Spirit-filled. Knowing God's holy standards, that sobering thought might sound paralyzing, but it's actually the opposite: it's the most freeing and glorious thing you've yet experienced.

The Spirit gives you power, when you yield and submit, to finally do good things. By yielding and submitting to God, you are freed from the slavery of sin. And it's not haphazard; God's redemptive plan for you and for the world has always integrated a whole pre-planned suite of good things that you have done, are doing, and will do. God is not foolish, far from it: he knows that you cannot do even one truly good thing on your own. That's why he extended you the grace of dwelling within you, so that you can be...good!

Sound intimidating? Don't worry, you can't do it! But the Spirit can. Christian, when you yield with all your heart and mind and strength, then everything you do, say, think and desire will be rich in self-control, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, patience, peace, joy, and love. You will be a good man (or woman as the gender may be), just like Barnabas (Acts 11:22-25). There is no more amazing demonstration of the surpassing power of the Holy Spirit than the transformation of the wicked into the beautiful.

Now we're not being naive. While still on earth, you will still sin, just like Paul and Peter and Barnabas did (Romans 7:14-19, Galatians 2:11-13). Christian, you'll fall down, and you will temporarily lapse (Galatians 5:25-26). But just like Paul, you will no longer be characterized or mastered by sin (Romans 6:13-15). You won't wallow in the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). You, Christian, will recognize yourself as Christian by your fruit (Galatians 5:22-24, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

Enter the Mediator

2011-08-15T06:01:00.001-05:00

Recall Question 7, which asked “What is God?” The answer was something like God is a Spirit of infinite existence, glory, blessedness and perfection, all-sufficient, eternal, unchanging, too vast and deep to comprehend, consciously everywhere, all powerful, knower of all knowledge, the wisest, the most holy, and the most just....

These are scary descriptions. If we are thinking at all while we read them, then we shiver with terror, because:

God knows us, inside and out. Our actions, our inactions, our thoughts and desires. He knows our worst, and he knows our anaemic best. He knows that we are pustules of concentrated sin.
God is the most holy and just entity that there is, which means that he will punish sin.
God is definitively powerful, able to do what he decides to do.

The wrath of the holy and just God sits on the shoulders of people (Romans 2:4-6). Because of sin, we are at war with the God of the universe from day one. This is a war that we will not win. We are doomed. We're lost.

Yet. We didn't give the full answer to Question 7. We left out the end bit, which says that God is the most merciful and most gracious entity that there is, long-suffering and overflowing in goodness and truth. So maybe we're not lost. But God is holy and just, so yeah, we probably are -- unless we're not. But if we're not all doomed, then God isn't really very just, is he? If we're not all doomed, then God doesn't actually hate sin, he's just a little allergic to it... instead of most holy, he's somewhat holy. Well then so am I, let's have a debate...

How can God save anybody without being inconsistent with his own nature? How can God end the war graciously and mercifully without winking at sin?

Enter the Mediator.

A mediator is a go-between, someone in the middle, who can bring warring factions together and reconcile them, an active agent to bring about peace where there was conflict. In another sense, a mediator can be used to ensure that contracts are carried out in accordance with the original intent. (We'll be talking about that sense of the word on another day.) My employer frequently uses mediators, although only a few of them are any good at it. A successful mediator has to be as knowledgeable as each of the two sides. A successful mediator must be able to identify with both sides, and must have credibility with both sides.

A mediator will not succeed in bringing about reconciliation unless he is able to satisfy the parties. Don't know about you, but if there is a possibility of saving me from the maw of God's eternal wrath, then I'm not fussy. But I bring nothing to the table but sin, and if the other party is God, then the mediator will need to satisfy God's holiness and justness as well as his mercy and graciousness. The mediator will need to demonstrate fulfilment of all of God's requirements before peace can be made between God and man. This seems an insurmountable barrier.

Nonetheless, we do have a Mediator, the God-Man Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5), the Peace Offering. Mediator is only one of his roles. He was thoroughly righteous and sinless as a man, which established his credibility to mediate for men. Then, in the biggest surprise of history, he took our punishment upon himself (Hebrews 9:15) and actually became our sin, so that we could take credit for his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). This Mediator intercedes for us with God (Hebrews 7:25), brings our sin to the table, forcefully demonstrates that justice has already been meted out (Romans 5:9) and then presents us cleanly clothed in holy righteousness. Sin and death are defeated. Peace wins. The Mediator wins a ransom of many souls. God is satisfied.

Is God inconsistent? No way. God is wondrous.

Unilateral Grace

2011-08-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. —Galatians 3:16

Nineteen centuries (according to Ussher) before Christ, a covenant was made with Christ, and through Christ, with all who were chosen in him. There are two (that I see) directions we could go with this discussion. One is union with Christ, or what it means to be in Christ. The other is the unusual unilateral nature of the covenant. The latter will be the focus of this post. Look with me to Genesis 15:

9 [God] said to[Abram], “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. … 17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram …

Did you see what happened there? Under normal circumstances, both parties to a covenant would have bound themselves in the covenant by passing between the bifurcated beasts. In this case, however, only one party made a promise and made the symbolic gesture binding himself to his oath. God, in the form of a smoking oven and a flaming torch, passed between the pieces. Abram stood by and watched.

This was a unilateral covenant, a promise made by God alone. God was not working together with Abram. And this is the pattern for all of redemptive history. God makes the promises, and he keeps them, and we are the undeserving recipients of his grace. So it has always been, and so it will always be. Like Abram, we hear God’s promises, and we stand and watch him work. From the beginning, monergism has been at the core of God’s redemptive plan.

The Answer in Search of a Question

2011-08-10T00:01:00.005-05:00

Editor's Note:There are no presbyterians or hard-reformed guys on the blogging team here at the Calvinist Gadfly. So in that sense, there are no hard-core covenantal theologians on this team, and that may be a defect in our mix from one perspective. I am probably the closest thing we have to a covenantalist (as opposed to a dispensationalist), and I have already admitted that while I see serious limits to the covenantalism of confessional catechisms [holy cacophany, Gadfly!], I also would rather retreat there than to dispensationalist view(s).

Now, that said, David Kjos has always been one of my favorite bloggers (except on the subject of Santa Claus, which we will not get into), and he had a version of this post which I asked him to come at again in order to get this very post. It will fly into your covenantal ear and make the most horrific buzzing.

Enjoy.

I want to make one thing clear: I understand the importance of covenant in redemptive history. I have read Hebrews, and I know what Jesus did in the upper room. My only objection is to covenantal language applied to the pre-Fall command of God in Eden (the so-called “covenant of works”), and the post-Fall curse on Satan with the redemptive promise (the so-called “covenant of grace”). This will be explained below.

In preparing this post, I have referred to Berkhof’s Systematic Theology. I trust Berkhof will be an acceptable representative of Covenant theology.

Berkhof admits “that the term ‘covenant’ is not found in the first three chapters of Genesis,” but counters with the assertion “that this is not tantamount to saying that they do not contain the necessary data for the construction of a doctrine of the covenant.” He then cites the trinity as an example of an obvious biblical doctrine that stands without the word itself, or any equivalent, appearing anywhere in Scripture. I agree with Berkhof that the absence of a word does not necessarily equal the absence of a doctrine. However, I don’t think his comparison to the Trinity fits as well as he thinks it does, for these reasons:

Though the word is never used, the doctrine of the Trinity is explicit. The covenant of works is, at best, only implicit. The covenant of grace is somewhat more readily derived, but seems to me to be dependent on a previous covenant being in force.
The word “trinity” is never used, nor is any equivalent term. That is, God chose not to give his three-in-oneness a convenient theological title. “Covenant” is used many times in Scripture. It is, I think (correct me if I’m wrong), used in conjunction with every post-Edenic covenant. It seems odd that the word is omitted from the first covenants, especially in the case of the “covenant of grace,” which would presumably lay the foundation for every covenant to come.

You could argue that those reasons do not disprove the Edenic covenants, and you would be correct. I would answer that I am under no obligation to prove a negative. You must prove the positive. And if your proof depends upon the a priori assumption of a theological construct unknown (says Berkhof) to Calvin, Luther, and the Fathers, you should consider your question-begging ways.

Addressing each “covenant” individually, let’s look at the Scriptural foundation for each.

The covenant of works, Genesis 2:16–17

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

In the explicit covenants, God offers something to be fulfilled in the future that the second party does not already possess. He does not merely promise what is already given. In this case, nothing new is promised. A command is given, along with the threat of death for disobedience. Berkhof claims that eternal life as a reward for obedience “is clearly implied” in the threat of death for disobedience, but the threat of death is meaningless to someone who is already facing death. Life without the threat of death is eternal life. Adam already had life, without the threat of death, in perfect fellowship with God. In opposition to this view, Berkhof makes this rather odd assertion:

It has been objected that this would only mean a continuation of Adam’s natural life, and not what Scripture calls life eternal. But the Scriptural idea of life is life in communion with God; and this is the life which Adam possessed, though in this case it was still amissible [liable to be lost]. If Adam stood the test, this life would be retained not only, but would cease to be amissible, and would therefore be lifted to a higher plane.

Now, if that isn’t an answer looking for a question, I don’t know what is. Prior to the tree test, Adam’s life was liable to be lost. If he passed the test, the life he had would no longer be liable to be lost. This, of course, assumes that the test would, at some point in time, end. God would have to uproot, chop down, or render fruitless the tree. As long as the tree stands and produces, the situation continues in which Adam lives as long as he doesn’t eat the fruit. At what point has he obeyed long enough to be “lifted to a higher plane”? This is the invention of a theologian desperate to validate a shaky doctrine.

The covenant of grace, Genesis 3:15

I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.

I have, you’ll be happy to know, much less to say about this. You would think that, in a covenant, the first party would address the second. If this is a covenant with Adam, it is oddly formulated, addressed to Satan in the form of a curse. Contained therein is a cryptic messianic prophesy, a promise of redemption, but no word of a covenant. But even aside from the absence of the word, the language is unlike any of the other covenants.

I call this the promise of redemption, and am satisfied with that. If you want to call it a covenant of grace, that’s fine with me. Berkhof states that “the covenant of grace is simply the execution of the original agreement by Christ as our surety.” That is, Christ was obedient where Adam was disobedient, and he did it for us. Take away the covenant language, and I’ll agree with that to the letter.

You’ll have to excuse me, though, while I vehemently object to anything like a covenant of works. Some very non-Reformed folks I have known have held to a doctrine of “saved by grace, kept by works.” If this is any other than that, I’d like to know how. As I see it, life has been all of grace from the very beginning.

The next six questions in the catechism deal with the covenant of grace. How will I approach them? At first, I thought I would just sit them out and watch my covenantal brothers play with them. But looking closer, I saw that while Question 31 is on the covenant of grace, its answer clearly looks to the Abrahamic covenant. So it’s no sweat; I’ve even got a handy commentary on that, called Galatians.

Father to Son

2011-08-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

If we are not cowed by the cogitations of the catechizers concerning the covenants (commonly called), we will be struck (like a right hook) by the gobstopping force of the answer: This promise is to Christ. The promise of the Father is to His Son.

Who can doubt the promise of this Father to this Son?

His Heavy, Humid Breath

2011-08-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

The new covenant of grace is between God the Father and God the Son. The parties to this covenant don't have any points of contention and they don't misunderstand each other. They don't work at cross purposes. Their natures are the same, and they act on their covenant in harmony. They don't need a mediator to work out their differences because they don't have any.

But there is also an interested third party peering in through the shop window. He'd break the glass if he could, but he's not strong enough. Good thing too, because he would not like the outcome if he had to face God the Father directly. The third party is a good-for-nothing malcontent. He pawns his good stuff to buy bad stuff, and he spends most of his time and thought cavorting with the wrong sort of woman. He wants what the woman has, but it's lethal to him. He needs what God has, but he cannot afford it. He is an enemy of both the Father and the Son, and given half a chance he would kill the Son [note: in fact, he has and would do so again -- ed.]. This fellow could use a good mediator.

Amazingly, the new covenant has as its aim the welfare of this incorrigible indigent. The new covenant is magnificently simple in its requirements, but deep and layered in its execution. One of the several provisions of the new covenant is to provide a Mediator for that loser and his heavy, humid breath against the window. The Mediator's role will be to stand between God the Father and the third party, in order work out a good end for the poor guy.

And you must get this: The Son volunteers for the job.