The Perfect Gift

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor 9:15).    That’s how Paul finishes that chapter to the Corinthians concerning their generosity and willingness to participate in meeting the needs of the church by their financial gift.

Paul is grateful to the Christians in the church for seeing the real need that existed and responding to it in a way that confirms the Gospel and glorifies God. But his final sentence in this chapter is a reminder to them and to us, about what we are celebrating at Thanksgiving and at Christmas. Our thanks to God is prompted by the free grace-gift of his Son Jesus Christ. To say that he was given to us as a gift is to communicate that it was for our benefit, and apart from any payment on our part.

The gift is inexpressible because it is beyond human capability to describe the riches of the glory that are contained in Christ. And yet we are called to express our thanks, praise, and faith in Christ by our lives and testimony and by our own giving.

In all of the presents that we share at Christmas, may we be reminded of the inexpressible gift of Christ. In all of the sparkling lights, may we be reminded of the shining star that led the wisemen to come and worship Christ and to offer him their gifts. And when we admire our beautiful Christmas tree with all of its decorations, may we remember the cross which is called a tree in the Scriptures and which was decorated by Christ himself the perfect expression of God’s holiness and love. 

        As we come to the end of the year and meditate upon his inexpressible gift in Christ, let us all pray for grace and wisdom to express our gratitude and praise by meeting the financial needs that exist in our church as the Corinthians did, for the praise of his glory, and the good of his church.

Rebuilding

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind…Job 38:1 

Job had questions about all that was happening to him. God shows up, hidden in the image of a whirlwind, and speaks to Job about the wisdom of his ways with us which does not require an explanation from him, but rather our faith in his perfect wisdom, love and power.

This is what we must remember as we deal with the aftermath of hurricane Irma. We sustained damages to our facilities that have been estimated to be around $50,000. We would like to raise $20,000 of that over the next three months (Nov-Jan).

We have some reserve funds for this kind of disaster and our people are doing as much of the work as we can. The work being done includes: water damage and bacterial control which was done by Erickson; roof repairs on the two-story educational building. re-carpeting of the bottom and tops floors; repainting walls and ceilings on both floors, repair of water damaged drywall, air-conditioner unit repair; replacement of smoke detectors and emergency lighting units as needed; and other miscellaneous repairs or upgrades.

We hope to have the bottom floor operational again in the next few weeks, and the top floor finished by the end of this year (only two months left with the holidays).

So there it is. Mamie and I are giving $1,000 to get things started, and are praying that God will give you a generous heart and love for him and his church so that we can meet or exceed our goal of $20,000 as soon as possible.

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. (2 Cor 9:11-12)

Taking a Knee

     Many NFL Football players have tried to make a political statement by taking a knee during the presentation of our flag and National Anthem. It has caused quite a stir among people. People love football, but most people also love their country and the symbols of our freedom as expressed by our flag and national anthem. To stand, and even hold one’s hand over the heart is to show respect and gratitude for the freedom and human rights that we enjoy. This is the common practice of Americans who love their country. To disrespect those symbols which give you the right and freedom to protest any injustice that may occur within our great country seems wrong-headed.  It is a strategic protest designed to maximize its impact by capitalizing on the large audience and by despising the values that should be honored. But the argument of those protesting is that it is not a protest against our country, but against police brutality, especially among blacks. Is it right then to protest the very symbols that give you the right to protest? Would it not make more sense (if less sensational), to protest in a way that makes clear what it is that you are protesting. Politics and power hungry people are always looking to seize the moment, opportunity, and felt need of people to trumpet their cause. You can be sure there is much of that going on in this display of dishonoring the symbols of our country. The sad thing is that many of the players participating do not realize that they are being used as pawns of the powerful to further their political agenda and ideologies. Everyone should acknowledge that actions should be taken to address the issues of injustice, inequality or abuse of our country’s freedoms. These actions should be carried out in a responsible and peaceful way that reflects our commitment to the values and the symbols that represent those values. It is possible to love your country and its symbols, while recognizing that we are far from being perfect and that there is still much work to be done in continuing to make our country a place where every life matters, and our liberties are cherished. Paul addresses our attitude as Christians toward those who are in power in Romans 13:1-7. This perspective must be guided by Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men.”

Are you an ant?

     The Bible exhorts us to “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” Now you might not think this exhortation applies to you because you don’t consider yourself to be a sluggard. The root meaning of the word is idle, sluggish, lazy. “Aha!” you say, “that’s not me, I work hard and am very busy”. My  question would be: “What do you work hard at?” Do you busy yourself with things that please yourself, or do you take into consideration the needs of others? And do you find yourself energetic and motivated by the grace that God supplies to practice the spiritual disciplines that you have been called to. Are you helpfully encouraging others in Gospel growth?

     Listen to Paul’s words in Colossians which I think are a great description of a Christian vision for a life of active grace:

“Him (Christ) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”Col 1:28-29)

     Paul was no sluggard, he was as wise and active as the ant toiling and struggling not in his own strength, but with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. That power and energy is supplied for the work he has called us to in making disciples who make disciples. By ourselves, we are just one ant (if you remember the illustration from Hopper in A Bugs Life), but imagine what we can do together as we are empowered by God. There is wisdom in that!

The Glory of God in the Scriptures

       The Bible says that God’s righteousness is revealed in the Gospel (Rom 1:16-17). Paul goes on in this same chapter to show how God’s attributes are revealed in creation (Rom 1:18-20). The Apostle John opens his Gospel by showing how Christ is the revelation of God’s glory, grace and truth (John 1:1, 18).

All of these examples are Scriptural statements about the Gospel, creation and Christ. The Bible is the lens through which we see the glory of God. But as John Piper makes clear in his book on God’s Peculiar Glory, it is not the text itself that reveals the glory (though it is inherent in it), it is the meaning of the text that reveals God in his Word. Piper illustrates this connection of God’s glory with his written Word by comparing it to the relationship of the body to the soul. The rational actions of a physical being not only infer a mind and soul but give immediate evidence of that fact. In a similar way, God is embodied within his Word. The Scriptures are like a body for God, which, when rightly understood brings an immediate glimpse of God’s otherwise invisible glory.

      This is why understanding Christ as the key to understanding the Scriptures becomes so important. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:4: 

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

      The light of God’s Word that shines into our hearts is described as being “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Paul seems to be saying that an immediate glimpse of the glory of God may be found in his Word as it communicates to us the meaning of the Gospel truths concerning Jesus Christ. 

      This transforms our Bible study into more than an exercise in acquiring knowledge about God. Our study of the Scriptures becomes the way we experience God’s glory as mediated by Christ by the power of his Spirit in the light of the Gospel.

Salt, Gospel & The Law

       Salt is also known by its chemical name sodium-chloride. When properly mixed together, these two elements make a useful product that has been used to preserve the decay of foods and to provide flavor as well. But if you separate these two elements — sodium alone, or chloride alone, they would be a poison to our bodies.

       In the same way, if we separate the law from the Gospel we will get a distorted and unhelpful result. By law, we mean the moral law of God, better known as The Ten Commandments. Most people understand that the Gospel is about the grace of God that delivers us from the judgement of the law. But this judgement is the judgement of God’s own righteousness, since the law is an extension of his own holy character. God’s holy character is not a bad thing, it is a good thing, and so is the law which is intended to spell out what God’s righteousness looks like in our relationship with him and with others as we bear his image. 

       As Paul says: Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law (Rom 3:31). Our faith in the Gospel and our delight in God’s law are compatible with a proper view of God’s good law which is intended to expose sin so that we might appeal to the Gospel, and to explain how it is that we are to live righteously before God. The moral qualities of God find expression in our lives by the Gospel ministry of his Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). 

       Jesus was the perfect embodiment of this as he was the law of God incarnate. In him we see the fulfillment (not abolishing) of God’s civil, ceremonial and moral law. Understanding this delivers us from the many subtle forms of legalism and antinomianism that are at work in the church today. 

      The only way to delight in God’s law and be faithful in seeing his righteousness expressed in your life is by experiencing the truth of the Gospel which brings us into living union with Christ providing the provision of his forgiveness, righteousness and power for life. The law is good, the Gospel is good, because God is good. May that goodness be seen and enjoyed in our lives for his glory.

The Image of God

     What if it were possible to link your thoughts with a computer, so that the information and thoughts that flow through the electronic impulses from the 80 billion neurons firing in your brain could be downloaded or enhanced and educated by means of a wireless computer network. This is the avant-garde thinking in the artificial intelligence (AI) computing world. The well known Ellon Musk ( founder of Tesla and Space X), is actually starting a company called Neuralink which he hopes will be the start of developing a helpful use of this technology that will ultimately prevent humans from becoming obsolete with the inevitable advance of robotics and artificial intelligence. His fear is that humans will not be able to keep pace with the abilities of artificial intelligence unless we can find a way to network mentally with that information. Musk says that if we can’t find a  way to do this, human’s risk the possibility of becoming “house cats” to artificial intelligence, meaning,  nice to have around, but not necessary. His idea is to create a “neuroprosthetics” that would work as a kind of mental telepathy by designing an injectable mesh-like “neural lace” on your brain allowing you to access abilities (night vision for example), and the ability to compute and gain knowledge by means of this symbiosis between man and machine.

   While all of this is quite fascinating, it is an example of a wrong path that scientism takes when it ignores the realities of man’s soul and the qualities of the human being who is made in the image of God.  We were made for communion with God. To know God and to enjoy him is the highest use of our minds and human faculties.  It is by the perfect Gospel work of Jesus Christ that we can be brought into a relationship with the living God who illuminates our minds to grasp the realities of his grace, presence, wisdom and power for our lives. Never will a machine or human mind achieve for us what Christ has achieved in opening up the way to God. Both now and through all eternity we enjoy an ever deepening and glorious knowledge and love for Christ and his eternal glorious purposes.

Do You Believe This?

   The popularity of Jesus was at a high point as he entered Jerusalem on the first Sunday of what we call now call “Holy Week.” It is called the triumphal entry. John’s Gospel tells us that the reason the crowd was gathered to greet him as he entered Jerusalem was because they had heard that he had raised Lazarus from the dead: The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign (Jn 12:18). The Pharisees commentary on the event was, “look the world has gone after him” (Jn 12:19). 

     The raising of Lazarus was the seventh sign in the Gospel of John and was an important indicator of his own impending death and resurrection. Jesus had made an amazing claim in John 11:25-26 before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? 

     He proved the veracity of his claim by raising Lazarus from the dead by means of prayer and his word. In response to Jesus’ prayer and his spoken word the dead man was raised to life. 

     But before he raised him to life he asked an important question that we must all personally answer: “Do you believe this?” The reality of our own resurrection hangs on our answer to this question. The promise Jesus makes is that whoever believes in me, though he die, (and we will all die physically at some point), yet shall he live. This is a reference to our resurrection on the last day and lies in the future. But then he includes a promise that may be realized in our lives today. He says, “everyone who lives and believes in me, (lives in the sense of having received eternal life by faith in Christ who is the resurrection and the life), shall never die (has already found the life and joy in me that will never be taken from them, not even by physical death). 

     Jesus’ claim was further confirmed by his own resurrection from the dead. This is the central truth of the Gospel upon which everything else rests. Not because the resurrection accomplished everything, (his perfect life and death for our sins on the cross was the accomplishment of our redemption), but the resurrection is the confirmation and consequence of his accomplished work. Do you believe this?

God is Real

     There is a glorious revelation of God that is present in the created world around us.

       For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  (Rom 1:19-20)

     When we go the Scriptures, we discover that our observations in nature are confirmed and clarified by Scripture. God is the creator and sustainer of creation and it testifies to his glory. A man asked me the other day, “Why do so many people deny God, and the Bible?” The answer that the Bible gives to this question is that people love their sin more than God.

       And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19)

        

     As Thomas Nagel, a well known atheist put it: 

       I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. 

     How does God break through such obstinate sin and blindness? He does so by revealing the glory of his Son through the Scriptures: 

       “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”            (2 Cor 4:6)

The Cornerstone

A giant asteroid the size of a ten story skyscraper passed between the moon and the earth earlier this month on January 10th. That was a very close call. If the asteroid had hit the earth, it would have triggered an energy explosion equal in force to about thirty-five of the kind of nuclear bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki. What is especially unsettling is that we did not even notice the asteroid until a few days before the passing. Apparently, this size asteroid is not big enough to be detected by NASA’s NEO (near earth orbit) telescopes that are trained on the sky. 

This is like the proverbial “Shot across the bow”. It should serve as a reminder that in spite of all of our technology and knowledge, we are a vulnerable race, living in a hostile and unfriendly fallen universe where life is rare and fragile, but also very precious. 

               Why precious? Because the Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We need not fear any rock from space, if our lives are built upon Christ the rock. But if we refuse to trust him, there is a perishing.  Peter puts it this way, quoting the Prophet Isaiah,  “So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1 Pet 2:7-8).

Strange New Year

     Mark Twain wrote: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.” His statement might seem unclear, even confusing because we naturally think of truth as being based on facts, and fiction as being based on whatever our human mind wants to make up. But the idea of strangeness, that which is surprising unanticipated and unfamiliar, is truth that comes to us from beyond ourselves, and outside of our own human limitations.

     This is the point that G. K. Chesterton makes when he says: “Truth must necessarily be stranger than fiction; for fiction is the creation of the human mind and therefore congenial to it.” So when it comes to recognizing reality and truth, we must be aware that what is true might be stranger than anything we could have imagined.

     The truth that we discover in natural revelation (the universe and reality in which we live), and the truth that we discover in special revelation (that which God has revealed to us in his Word), are both accurate and consistent with each other but definitely stranger than any fiction produced by the limitations of the human mind.

     One example from creation is that we are living in an expanding universe. This is undeniable incontrovertible observable fact. Putting aside the question of time frame that seems to be involved in this expansion (which makes people nervous for a variety of good reasons), the strangeness of this expanding universe is that it does not seem to be expanding from some particular point. Wherever you are in space, everything is moving away from you. The reason for this is that space itself is expanding. It is something like a small balloon with dots all over it. As you blow the balloon up, all of the dots are moving away from each other in perfect symmetry. The distances between galaxies and stars is increasing because space itself is expanding.

     That is a pretty strange concept. But no stranger than the fact that the God who created this expanding universe has come into it in the person of Jesus Christ as the God/man, in order to reveal and share his life and love with the people on this planet. From the manger to the cross, this was a strange way for God to behave towards his rebellious creation.

     This new year will filled with many strange, surprising and unanticipated things. And what God intends to do is unbounded because of the limitless possibilities of who he is. What will be most important as we move into the unknown strangeness of a new year is that we are knowing him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3).