Don't Waste a Minute

        Here we go again — another year finished, and a new year before us. But we’re not just passing the time. God has revealed himself to us in his Word as the eternal and unchanging God, three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existing together in one being. 

I am amazed at how his “diversity of persons” in “unity of being” is reflected in things like marriage, family, the church, and the universe itself with all of its variety and yet shared unity. God reveals himself as a trinity, reflecting relationships within that trinity that are complimentary, subordinate, and independent of the need for outside help (Rom 11:33-36).

Our creation by God, and re-creation by the Gospel allows us to participate in his life. The purpose of our life together is to know him and to find the meaning and motive of all of our moments and years in relationship with him and one another. 

It is God’s relational differentiation within the singular being of God that has reached out to us and included us in his eternal plan and purposes. This reaching out involved the Father’s gift of his Son, and the Son’s giving his life for us, and the Spirit’s sealing us for the day of redemption.

So this year will not be exactly like last year, or like the year after this one. This year will have its own unique challenges and opportunities. We will live it one minute at a time. That means we will have 525,960 minute-sized opportunities to enjoy and honor Jesus Christ this year. I’m looking forward to it!

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Good News, Great Joy

         We celebrate the birth of Jesus at the end of the last month of the year. It is a good time to reflect upon the year in a way that leads us to repentance and joyful faith as we meditate on the great reality of Christ who has come into our world.

The message of the angel who declared the birth of Jesus to the shepherds was: “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.”

(Lk 2:10-11)

The first words of the angel, fear not, addressed the fear we would all feel if enveloped in the shekinah glory of the divine presence of God in the middle of the night. It is a fear that we would feel not only because of the mystery and intensity of such an experience, but because of an innate sense of our own sinfulness in the presence of our holy God. Just think about this last year. Our hearts are moved to fear by a meditative reflection in the dark night of our sins by the revealing light of his holy Word and Spirit 

And yet, we are commanded not to fear because of the good news of great joy that will be for all people, even us. The more clearly we see our sin, the more precious the good news becomes. It is not just a word of pronouncement, but the promise of a person: for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Consider how this makes the good news of the Gospel, personal, datable, geographical, pardonable, and theological.

Enjoy your Christmas this year in the light of God’s unspeakable gift to us in his Son.

Rebuilding

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?…“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Ps 2:1,6)

     The temperature of the political rhetoric has been escalating for quite a while from both democrats and republicans. We have just learned about the bombs sent in the mail to several prominent democratic leaders. At this point we do not know who is behind this, but I’m sure we will find out very soon. Like the shooting of Republican House Majority Whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana on June 14, 2017, (and several others), this was the action of an individual or group of individuals who violated the law by threatening or harming human life because of political rage.

Why this rage? God raises the question in Psalm 2 not because he does not know why, but to show the futility and danger of violating God’s rule. We are one country under God, however divided we might be about the best paths for moving our country forward. Healthy and respectable debate is a necessary and helpful part of the process in our democracy. Freedom of speech is no license for the verbal assassination of character or of resorting to violence. 

When Paul speaks to a divided church, his counsel is much like Psalm 2. Christ, God’s king, has lived and died for sinners and is seated upon his throne offering grace and mercy and love to all who will receive it. Our calling as Christians is to share that good news with others in a way that displays a more excellent way (I Corinthians 13).

Meditation

      There is a familiar discomfort in the ear that is experienced by anyone who has flown in an airplane or descended under the water for more than about 6 feet. The explanation has to do with atmospheric pressure. It changes as we ascend into the air, or descend under the water. The experience under the water creates a greater pressure because water is of course heavier than air. At sea level, the atmospheric pressure is about 14.7pounds per square inch. That means that the 1’x1’  column of air that extends from the top of your head into the clouds weights 14.7 lbs. at sea level. In every square inch of your body this pressure is being exerted. You are literally under pressure. Why don’t you collapse? Because the pressure inside your body (i.e. nose, ears, lungs), is the same as the pressure outside. So as we ascend or descend, we must equalize the pressure inside our body with the pressure outside our body in order to remain comfortable. This is usually done by holding your nose and blowing it so that equalization may occur through your eustachian tube in your ears. It feels like a “pop” or a “squeak” as the air equalizes.

      I think this process might illustrate the connection between Bible intake, meditation and application. When we read God’s Word there is a spiritual pressure that we are exposed to. The pressure may be like an exhilarating dive into crystal clear water, exposing us to the depths  of the beauty and mercy of Christ and his great work. Or it might be like ascending the hill of the Lord and standing in his holy place. Whenever we encounter God in his Word there is a kind of pressure upon our soul to respond in repentance, faith, and worship. This response is what I’m calling meditation and it is something like the equalizing of the pressure within our hearts to the truth of God’s word that comes to us from without. When our hearts have rightly responded to God’s word, then we find a new level of trust and obedience that we can joyfully walk in. If we fail to meditate upon God’s Word we experience the pain and disruption in our lives that always comes when we are resisting the Holy Spirit.

      We must hear God’s word, meditate upon it, and walk in it. The missing element, too often, is meditation. Without meditation upon God’s Gospel provision in Christ for our life, the Word of God is experienced as pressure and seems painful instead of profitable and prosperous.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8

Sharing

 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” Mt 14:16

In the feeding of the five-thousand, the disciples express their concern to Jesus for the crowds by suggesting that the crowds go into the village and get something to eat. It is a no doubt a heart-felt and pragmatic solution. But Jesus surprises them by commanding them, “You give them something to eat”. 

But the reason that the disciples were suggesting that the multitude find food in the villages is because they themselves did not have any to share. Why then, would Jesus ask them to feed five to ten thousand people, when all they had among themselves was five loaves and two fish? 

They therefore question his command by reminding him of their inability to meet the need with what they had. Jesus addresses their confusion by instructing them to bring all that they have to him. He then blesses the bread and the fish and breaks it and gives it to the disciples with instructions to distribute it to the crowd and all were fed and satisfied, resulting in a surplus of twelve baskets of leftovers. 

It has been said, “love is like two fish and five loaves of bread, it’s never enough until it’s given away”. But it is only enough if what is given away is first given to Jesus and has his blessing upon it. We must bring our busy schedules, homes, food and kind intentions to Jesus and ask him to so bless them that they might be multiplied in reaching out to others. 

He is the true bread that has come down from heaven that we must share with others. But he often chooses to share himself through our expressions of hospitality and serving in his name. If we can’t get our neighbors into our homes as friends, we can hardly expect them to come into the church and become family. I think Jesus hears all of our objections to his call to hospitality, and would have us bring it all to him. Would you ask him to bless you, break you, and send you out to invite others into your home and into your church to share the bread of life.

We Need Worship

      There is nothing that defines or develops our lives like our worship of God. We attend worship services and participate in worship each week. Some of our worship is done individually before God in our private times, and some of it is done publicly in worshipping God with others. In both private and public worship, the more important aspect of it is what God does in us, more than what we are doing for God.

God delights to reveal himself as the glorious triune God that he is, presenting himself to us as the Father who is worthy of our worship, and the Son who has made us worthy to worship, and the Spirit who points us to the Father through the Son by his indwelling and enlightening ministry of the Word. In other words, worship begins with God’s revelation of himself to us and in us and through us.

But our worship also requires our response and participation. Our liturgy, whether old-form or new-form, or somewhere in-between must be faithful to the Scriptures and move us to a Spirit wrought and Scripturally taught experience of God. As the Bible says: …true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him (John 4:23).

Imagine that! God is looking forward to our worship of him, not because he needs it, but because we need it. In worship we are transformed by him, and he gets the glory.

Our Unity In Christ

               The Bible says, And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev 5:9).

The Song of heaven is a song declaring the sufficiency, and worthiness of Christ. And it is a song being sung by people who are different in culture, language and geographical location. We could add the fact that they would be different socially, politically, economically, etc. But the point is that Christ is no respecter of persons (verse), and that his redeemed community as seen before the throne in heaven has left all differences aside except their allegiance and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That they are different is not to be ignored, or tolerated, but celebrated. What a wonderful display of the Gospel when all of the differences in humanity are overcome and replaced with a wonderful unity in the Spirit through the work of Christ, as Paul wonderfully explains in Ephesians 2. 

The confusion in what is being called racialization, argues on social grounds for recognition, acknowledgment, and fair treatment for all. This is an appropriate desire, but a sinful demand. The Gospel provides the only way forward in the complicated process of cultural and social interaction, assimilation and social equality of people who are different from one another. And all sincere  Christians desire to see the perfect expression of this equality. But until we get to heaven, the closest we will get to it is in our life together in the church, which should be a foretaste of the heavenly assembly with all of its rich diversity.

In Acts 6 Luke records the fact that racial tensions was one of Satan’s earliest tactics to disrupt the Gospel ministry of the church: Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution (Acts 6:1). But the church dealt with the issue with wisdom and insight so that the ministry of the Word was not hindered. The danger of social issues is that they take center stage and move us away from the centrality of the proclamation of the Gospel as our priority which is the life of the church.

I commend our Haitian members who meet with us in worship and have become a part of our church, even though it means worshipping and participating in their second language. What a wonderful display of grace in their lives, and how enriched we all are as we share our lives in Christ together. We can even now begin to sing in the church this new song that will be heard around the throne of heaven.

A Resurrection Meditation

        Every Lord’s day, and every day the Lord has made, should be a rejoicing in him as our resurrected Lord. To grasp the significance of his resurrection we must understand what his sinless life accomplished when he came to earth as a human being in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3). We must also take into account that he carries out his mission in the world as the perfect God/man, who shares both our nature, and the divine nature without any mixture of the two natures, in one person. This sinless life lived out as a man before God as our representative means that all the righteousness that we need to stand before God is found in Christ’s perfect obedience.

That he was resurrected assumes not only that he lived as a man, but that he also died. And his death was also for us. He did not just die, but he was delivered up for us as Paul says, “Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25). Our problem is our trespasses. It is our sins that make us guilty before God and defiled in our hearts so that anything we do good or bad (in human terms) is stained by our sin. God punished this sin which separated us from him, by judging his own Son in our place on the cross. God's justice was satisfied, so that everyone that he calls to himself and who places their faith in Christ alone, may stand before him without condemnation (Rom 8:1), but also, eternally loved and accepted through Christ (Rom 8:38-39).

If he lived in our place, and died in our place, he was also resurrected in our place. In the words of Rom 4:25, he was “raised for our justification.” This is God affirming the person and work of his Son whom the world had rejected and condemned. But it is also God affirming and confirming all who trust in him as being raised together with him — free from sin, death, and condemnation and alive to God in joyful fellowship with him through Christ. We are called to live in participation with the risen Christ as spiritually resurrected people looking forward to the day of our bodily resurrection which has been guaranteed by Christ’s bodily resurrection. That’s why every Lord’s day, and every day the Lord has made should be a rejoicing in him as our resurrected Lord!

God's Gift of Time

                  Time is a gift that is given to us by God. Most of us think about time in terms of a clock or a calendar.  But clocks and calendars are only a measure of time, they are not the essence of it. Time is the opportunity that God gives us in life to experience and to express his mercy in our lives.  

The timeless Christ was outside of time and creation, but entered into time and creation by becoming a part of it, so that he could take away the curse that had fallen upon it. His life, death and resurrection were a perfect expression of God’s law and mercy. Indeed, God’s law and mercy found their meaning, interpretation and definition in him.

Sabbath rest has been opened up to us in a new way that goes beyond anything we find after the fall in the Old Testament. The veil of the temple has been rent, there is no longer a need for temple, alter, or Sabbath ceremony. Christ has called us to come to him and enter his rest by taking his yoke upon us and we will find (not earn) rest (Mt 11:28-30).

Is this rest to be experienced in one particular day out of seven? I think the answer is “Yes” and “No.” The rest we experience in Christ is surely a daily rest — and yet, the New Testament clearly establishes Sunday as “The Lord’s Day” a new day commemorating Christ’s resurrection which seems clearly to correspond to the 4th commandment in the Moral law.

The principles of refreshing ourselves in God by experiencing and expressing his mercy in Christ on the Lord’s day is what our hearts should prepare for, hunger for, and prioritize. These things will find expression on other days as well, as God gives us time and opportunity. But the Lord’s day was designed to be a day to celebrate Christ. A key question we  need to ask ourselves is: How is what I’m doing on the Lord’s Day a meaningful and purposeful experience and expression of God’s mercy in Christ?

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Heb 4:9-10)

Faithful Servant

        I always look forward to February as a wonderful month of celebration. The first Sunday is Homecoming Sunday which is the birthday of our church. Our church will be 36 years old this month. On the 25th of February, we celebrate Mamie’s birthday. And a week later, is my birthday (March 1). The church has also designated the first Sunday in March as “Pastor Appreciation Sunday” (March 4th). So we come into the month and finish out the month celebrating the Lord for his goodness and mercy towards us.

This month, we have an unexpected event to celebrate. Bob Chase, one of God’s choicest servants has entered his rest and reward in Christ, at the end of January. Bob came to our church a few years ago, and began to serve as soon as he was given the opportunity. He was one of our go-to-guys whenever we needed anything done around the church because he was single, retired and made himself available for the Lord’s work.

Bob was an active deacon, a substitute teacher for our Senior Adults and children’s classes, the Servant Leader of our Care Team, a regular teacher for our Children’s Church, and an active participant in our T² groups. To say that he will be missed by his church family is an understatement. He not only served the Lord faithfully in all of these ways, but he enjoyed it in a way that was obvious to everyone. His is a life to celebrate, because he so clearly displayed the grace of God at work in his life by his manner and ministry.

What was said of the Apostle Paul, might be said of him: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (1 Cor 15:10).

        The thing that I would point out about Bob’s life as a Senior Adult is that these are not things Bob “used to do” in the past — this was Bob’s active life and ministry in the present. His death to us was surprising and unexpected, because he seemed to be in excellent health, but it was of course, no surprise to God. He left this world as Christ’s faithful servant and I’m sure he heard those words from our Lord to his faithful saints: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:21)

Living By Grace

     David Murray has written a helpful little book entitled, Reset: Living a Grace Paced Life in a Burnout Culture. I would commend his reset approach as you begin the new year. We enjoy learning about the grace of God, and singing about the grace of God, but when it comes to living by grace, we are, as Robert Robinson’s well known hymn puts it, “prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love”.

     And yet, we must be careful that we do not try to “repay God’s grace”, by a life of self-commitment, but rather realize that grace has paid all debts, and is itself the energizing life of God in Christ that empowers us to live for his glory (Gal 2:20).

     Murray identifies five areas where grace often seems lacking in our lives, and then shows how to address these “grace deficiencies” in the rest of the book. The five areas include:

1. The motivating power of grace is missing so that we find ourselves absorbed and exhausted by self-effort instead of (to cite John Piper), “living by faith in future grace”.

2. The moderating power of grace is missing which results in our failure to deal realistically with the limitations of our sinful humanity and misses the necessary dependency upon Christ’s sufficiency.

3. The multiplying power of grace is missing, so that we drive ourselves into the barrenness of a busy life, without resting in Christ and finding the necessary balance that living by grace brings to our life.

4. The releasing power of grace is missing, which causes us to become controlling people and angry people (anger is almost always an indicator that we are trying to control others or life itself). Grace allows us to pray for what we desire in others and in life, and to take responsibility for trusting God to do what only he can do in this life.

5. The receiving power of grace is missing, so that we ignore the ordinary means of God’s enabling grace such as good food, exercise, healthy sleep patterns, and all of the spiritual disciplines which are designed for our progress in godliness.

      Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2) 

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)