Good Friday and the Lord of Glory

“O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory
What bliss ’til now was Thine
Yet though despised and gory
I joy to call Thee mine”

“I joy to call Thee mine” because “He joyed to call me His.”  How sweet is our gospel.  It is unmatched suffering out of unmatched love that provides unmatched grace.  A lifetime is nowhere near long enough to explore such matters, but we these words by Herman Bavinck can help us along the way, opening for us the grimness of Friday’s crucifixion, but also the glory of Sunday’s resurrection:

“The purpose of his condemnation, not only by the [Jewish] Sanhedrin but also by the secular Roman judge Pontius Pilate, was that he would not die in secret as a result of an assassination or in an insurrection but that he would be publicly and legally killed, after being properly examined, in accordance with a verdict from the then best and most thorough system of justice, and that in the process his personal innocence (Matt 27:18-24) as well as the basis for his condemnation, namely, his confession that he as the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah (Matt 26:63; 27:11), as well as the will of God (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28) and the character of his death as a dying for others (Matt 20:28) would be clearly and incontrovertibly made manifest before the eyes of all….

“The sum and substance of the original gospel, therefore, was the Christ who died and rose again.  The cross was an immense offense–also for the disciples (Matt 26:31).  But for them that offense was removed by the resurrection.  Then they perceived that Jesus had to die and did die in accordance with the counsel of the Father (Acts 2:23; 3:18; 4:28), and that by his resurrection God had made him a cornerstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:6), Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), a Leader and a Savior (5:31), the Lord of all (10:36), the Lord of glory (James 2:1), in order by him to give repentance, forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 10:43; 1 Pe 1:3ff., 21), outside of whom there is no salvation (Acts 4:12)” (RD, III:409, 423).

May those words by Bavinck help provide you words of gratitude this weekend.  My last word, however, will go to Bernard of Clairvaux:

“What language shall I borrow
To praise Thee, heavenly friend,
For this my dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
Lord make me Thine forever,
Nor let me faithless prove
Oh let me never, never
Abuse such dying love”

Loved infinitely more than I love,

DJB

Legalism: a poor substitute

This is a quick take from John Piper’s book, Brothers, We are Not Professionals:

“Wherever happy confidence in the sovereign power of God for our own lives and the lives of others grows weak, legalism creeps in.  We inevitably try to compensate for loss of dynamic faith by increased moral resolve and the addition of man-made regulations.  But wherever joyful confidence in the power of God is waning, the flesh is waxing.  Which means that the morality we had hoped would save ourselves and the regulations we hoped would purify our church fall victim to the massive power of the flesh and become its instruments of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.”

May our lives and churches be filled with “dynamic faith” and not the poor and short-lived and bankrupt substitute of rules and regulations.

DJB

The Lord’s Supper as Fatherly Love – Calvin and the Lord’s Supper (Part 1)

“The knowledge of this high mystery is very necessary, and in view of its very greatness it demands a careful explanation.”

So John Calvin writes of the Lord’s Supper. And then he continues for page after page after page to unpack this “high mystery,” explaining its significance, defending it against its corrupters, all the while trying to open the eyes of Christians to this God-ordained means of grace and what it can be for hearts of faith. The energy and bite of his writing sounds foreign to our modern ears where this Supper can so easily be “one of those things we do” that we never quite understand–though we know it’s important. We will take a handful of entries to walk through Calvin’s writing on the subject, found in Book IV, chapter 17, of his Institutes. He isn’t the final word on the subject–that belongs to God alone in his word–yet, Calvin’s writing is rich and inspiring.

As he proceeds in the first section (“Sign and Thing”) he uses two terms that help us start to unpack the Lord’s Supper. Firstly, it is “nourishment.”  This “nourishment” is the loving response of our heavenly Father who has adopted us as children: ”God has received us, once for all, into his family, to hold us not only as servants but as sons.”  God our heavenly Father has brought us from death to life (Jn 1:12-13; Eph 2:1-5). But then, having brought us to life, he now “nourishes us throughout the course of our life.” And so, “just as bread and wine sustain physical life, so are souls fed by Christ.” In the Lord’s Supper our souls find the nourishment they need to continue encouraged in our walk of faith, that we “may repeatedly gather strength until we shall have reached heavenly immortality.”

Secondly, he calls the Supper a “pledge,” or “guarantee and token,” or later, “confirmation.” It is a “pledge, to assure us of this continuing liberality.” In other words, the Lord’s Supper isn’t a new work that we do, or even that God does, but a “pledge” to remind our hearts of what has already taken place. It is like when we make a major purchase, and pay it completely, and the seller takes a big red stamp that says, “paid,” and puts it across the bill. The Lord’s Supper does that for us, announcing to our souls and the world, that our debts are “paid,” that our sins are “punished,” that we now belong to God.

Several times in this opening section the phrase “once for all” is used to describe “the fact that the Lord’s body was once for all so sacrificed for us that we may now feed upon it,” or, “that his blood was once for all so shed for us in order to be our perpetual drink,” or, the fact that he, “once for all ratified with his blood” the new covenant. The Lord’s Supper is a “confirmation” of this fact, not a re-enactment or re-sacrificing of this fact. The only new sacrifice in this Supper is the “sacrifice of praise” (eucharist) that we offer as in all acts of obedience and worship. Our lives are filled with struggles and temptations and failures. Surely Calvin is right that we need “nourishment” in this walk of faith.

The Lord’s Supper meets us in our hunger and directs us toward true food, toward Jesus Christ himself. But, our challenges are more than simply weaknesses, they are also sins, intentional acts of rebellion against our Creator. Here the Lord’s Supper meets us again, reminding us of that blessed “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God being crucified for just those very sins. We are reminded of the complete salvation we have been given, and then we can again lift our heads toward our heavenly Father in glad worship.

May the Lord’s Supper be just this to us-—nourishment for hungry souls, and comfort for wandering hearts.

DJB

The God who stoops…to us

“This certainly is an inestimable pledge of special love, that God should so greatly condescend for our sake.”  — John Calvin

Scott Oliphint wrestles with this term, “condescension,” in his book, Reasons for Faith: Philosophy in the Service of Theology, in a chapter he titles, “Christian Covenantal Condescension.”  The syllable count is daunting, but the truth delightful.  Here is an extended quotation:

“But just what does this voluntary divine condescension entail?  We should note that, as far as God’s relationship to that which he creates, it entails everything that he does, says, and as we will see, is with respect to that relationship.  For example, the very fact that God brings something into existence to which he himself is in some way related entails, automatically, an act of condescension.

“It entails condescension because of who God is essentially [in his essence].  Given that God is supremely perfect and without need or constraint, to begin to relate himself tgo that which islimited, constrained, and not perfect is, in sum, to condescend.  for example, the very fact that Scripture tells us that ‘the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters’ (Gen 1:2) is evidence of God’s own condescension; he had to ‘come down’ to hover over the waters.  God, as infinite Spirit, has no need to constrain himself by hovering over the face of the waters.  he is altogether infinite, without constraint.  But he does however, and he condescends to do so.

“Or, to use another example, the very fact that Scripture tells us that ‘God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light’ (Gen 1:3) is evidence of condescension.  God did not have to speak at all.  he is not in need of language in order to communicate (especially since, in this case, there was no one with whom to communicate except himself) or to create.  Neither does he need to speak in order to create.  he could create without saying a word.  But he spoke, and it was.  He condescended to speak, and it was.  His word is evidence of his condescension to us.

“Not only so, but just after Adam and Eve sinned, ‘they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ (Gen 3:8).  God condescended to his creation in order to begin and maintain a relationship with that creation, more specifically, with those whom he had made in his image.  Evidence of (something of) the extent of that condescension is found in the next verse as well: ‘But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (v. 9).  In condescending to relate to Adam and Eve, he is, like them, (not essentially, but covenantally) restricted in his knowledge of where they might be hiding in that garden.

“It is for this reason that the [Westminster] confession wants to summarize God’s condescension in the word covenant.  That is, the condescension itself includes a contract that God makes with his human creatures, a contract that requires, first, God’s relating himself to us, and, second, an understanding of our relationship to him” (232-234).

This word, “condescension,” captures a beautiful nugget of Reformed theology, for it preserves for us a sense of God being infinite in his essence and yet engaged with his creation.  All of his dealings with his creation represent a lowering (condescending) of himself to us, a catering of his own infinitude to us who are finite: he speaks to us, sustains us, disciplines us, extends common grace to us, redeems us, empowers us, and will ultimately glorify us.  The God who was alone in himself in the radiant perfection of the Trinity, created.  With that creation he would forever condescend to that creation in mercy.    Preeminently that condescension meant the cross: 

“How marvelous!  How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be,
How marvelous!  How wonderful,
Is my Savior’s love for me!”May we rest in the infinite splendor of the God who stoops…to us in Jesus Christ.

DJB

Conviction and the cure

Our pastors have just finished preaching through the ten commandments. They have done an incredible job of helping us to feel the weight and glory of God’s holiness; but without letting us forget that the law sits on the bedrock foundation of the gospel (“I am the Lord your God, who brought you . . . out of the house of slavery”), and that our reading of the law absolutely must be infused with gospel hope.

Yet it is still so tempting for me to hear such a message and nurse my conviction, without really going any farther. Perhaps I resolve to change some things, but in reality my ears are tuning out the very gospel hope and power that are the only way I can possibly move beyond conviction. Mark Lauterbach critiques his sermons on this point, but we should also critique our listening — are our ears tuned in to savor conviction, or savor the gospel:

Is conviction of sin the measure of a sermon? … I used to notice that people would give me the most response to a sermon that was the most demanding. “Oh Pastor, that was such a wonderful sermon, I was so very convicted.” Should I have found this encouraging?

[But] while conviction is a gift to us, it is always conviction to lead people to the cross. I know the arguments about people needing to be slain by the law — and agree that awareness of need of forgiveness is crucial. But if I leave them there, I have not been faithful to the Savior. Conviction should drive people to the cross — and they should leave with hope toward the Savior.

We want to welcome the Holy Spirit’s conviction, and repent, but we shouldn’t get off the bus there. Our conviction should drive us to look upward to our Savior rather than inward on our sin; the gospel is our only hope and power for forgiveness and for real change.

How do we make that something more than a mantra? How can we practically seize this gospel power to change? Here are some regular practices that can strengthen our faith and empower our obedience; please comment to add more:

1. Regularly recount the gospel to ourselves, thanking God that our sins are completely forgiven and that we approach him clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
2. Regularly acknowledge that whatever success we have in obedience is a gift from God.
3. Regularly pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to change, knowing that this grace and help will surely be given to us because of the cross.
4. Remind ourselves of the reasons that we should obey. Regularly feed our souls with these truths as a way of provoking joyful, grateful, faith-filled obedience:
   1. God is my creator, and he is good; he knows what is best for me.
   2. True and lasting joy are only found in God and in pleasing him; these idols that I cling to cannot compare to God’s glory and beauty and goodness and joy.
   3. God has saved me from condemnation and wrath, and my gratitude at this precious gift should overflow in obedience.
   4. God is my loving father and I should reflect his character.
   5. Christ has purchased my very life with his blood and I should reflect his character.
   6. The Holy Spirit indwells me and empowers me to reflect Christ’s character.
5. Read books that fuel our appreciation for the gospel and our love for God, such as Jerry Bridges’ The Gospel For Real Life, C. J. Mahaney’s Living the Cross Centered Life, and John Piper’s When I Don’t Desire God (download, purchase).

Scott
Crossposted to truth, adorned

Lust Part 9: Media and the Internet

Susannah Wesley told her son in a letter:

“Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself” (cited in Sex is not the problem (lust is), 120).

As we bring this series to a close, these words seem a fitting opening to a topic so crucial to battling this issue: the media.  Whether our particular temptation is the internet, movies, YouTube, iTunes, books, magazines, music, or all the above, we will have to be victorious in the arena of the media if we are to be victorious in the area of lust.  Or any sin for that matter.  Media is so pervasive and so driven by sensuality that we are doomed to defeat if we do not establish our convictions and our battle plan in this area.  Firstly, let’s look at: 

                    1.      The big picture of the media

Paul exhorted his churches, ”But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Eph 5:3).  These sins– “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness”–capture so much of what we find in the media.  The Lord’s command is that these “must not even be named among you,” and so filling our eyes, ears, and minds with these is out of the question.  At times it is obvious that the material we are taking in is sinful and serves only to inflame our sinful desires.  Here our obligation is to eliminate them from our lives. 

Yet, what about the music, the magazine, the tv show, that isn’t sinful in itself, how do we evaluate these?  Perhaps these questions can help to evaluate these less obvious choices:

• Does this__web-site, movie, song, style of music, etc.__ tempt you to sin?
• Does this _____ deaden you to God and his kingdom?
• Does this _____ constitute a good use of my time?
• Does this _____ fall into the category of recreation, refreshing, good fun?
• Does this _____ make other priorities in your life harder?  E.g., late night movies can make church the next day more difficult.

The key to questions like these is honesty.  We can so easily justify a practice because so-and-so does it, and they don’t seem to stumble with it.  And yet, “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom 14:12).  I won’t be judged according to the standards God has laid on your heart; you won’t be judged for the standards God has laid on my heart.  Instead, to paraphrase Paul, ”whoever has doubts is condemned if he watches that, listens to that, does that, because it is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Rom 14:23).  What is it that you are doing that your conscience condemns?  That is what God is calling us to stop.

Secondly, because it is so powerful and seductive, we need to reflect on: 

                   2.   Slaying the dragon of the internet

Philip Ryken has written:

“Being careful what we see has never been more important than it is today, when there are sexual images almost everywhere we look.  Porn has become the norm, and the greatest danger of all is the Internet, which is the most powerful purveyor of pornography in the history of the world.  What makes the Internet so dangerous is that it is anonymous, accessible, and affordable.  Anyone with a computer can download pornography in complete privacy.”

When it comes to temptation, these are frightening words: “anonymous, accessible, and affordable.”  This is a recipe for disaster if we are not careful.  Here are some thoughts to consider:

1. Covenant Eyes (www.covenanteyes.com).  There are other products like this, but start with the obvious: install a filter or a program that creates a “log” of all the sites you visit (like Covenant Eyes) and then sends it to a partner.  Our church office has these on all our computers so that we can eliminate just a bit the “anonymous” part of the internet.   
2. Identify what’s leading up to lustful indulgence on the internet.  This tip, and the rest, are from Josh’s book, Sex is not the problem (lust is).  Here the help is in trying to specifically see if our mood, time of day, schedule, lifestyle, computer usage, place of use, something along a practical or emotional line seems to (typically) precede our sin in this area.
3. Resolve that no technological convenience is worth sinning against God.  In the end, our holiness is far more precious than our connectedness.  We must realize this, and see that virtually any price is to be paid to maintain our integrity, even cutting out our eye, or chopping off our hand (Mar 9:47).
4. Examine your mind-set when browsing and the amount of time spent on-line.  Do you see your time on the internet as a chance to “release some tension” and so see it as, “just some me-time,” a little “sanctification vacation,” perhaps?  If so, then tighten the reigns and realize that we are not our own (1 Cor 6:19).
5. Have an accountability partner that consistently asks about your internet activity.  We need someone that can periodically, honestly ask about our computer habits.
6. Redefine ‘over the line’ (it’s not the edge of the cliff).  Don’t make the X-rated site the one that represents the “off-limits” part of the internet, but any site that leads you into temptation.  Maybe it’s a sports or news site.  Whatever it is, make “the line” in a place that will actually help to defeat temptation, not merely you bait you into more.
7. Use web-site filters, blockers, and accountability software as a final line of defense, not the first.  These ultimately will serve us only as long as we desire to be free in this area, but we shouldn’t overlook these very practical and useful helps.
8. Fight the sin hardest when you’re feeling strong.  Long-term obedience, holiness, righteousness is our calling before God.  Ultimately, there are no vacations from temptation.  We are always just a moment from a major stumble.  The more we live with that awareness, the more watchful and humble and holy we will be.  This is why grace must be the bedrock of our holiness.  The road is too long and the obstacles too great if we are not walking the grace of Jesus Christ.  His power and righteousness alone must be our confidence, boast, and glory.

There are no shortcuts to holiness or victory in this area.  Start small, but take consistent steps.  God will give you victory and grace and a renewed desire for holiness as you seek him, cry out to him, look to his word, rely on his church, pray fervently, and trust in his promises.  He is for us, with us, in us, and drawing us to him.  “And if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).  Amen.

DJB

Adoption and obedience

We have considered in recent weeks how the ten commandments reflect Christ’s lordship over our lives. The law and lordship of Jesus Christ cover every area of life. But as we considered during worship yesterday, this is an incomplete picture. Christ is our lord and we are his servants; yet his lordship is not exercised in severity but rather in love and compassion, and self-sacrifice unto death. And more than that, our very life consists in Christ himself, and through his death we are not merely servants, but adopted children!

This life and adoption are the sweetest comforts we enjoy as Christians. And it changes the whole posture of our obedience. In his book Knowing God, J. I. Packer has this to say of our obedience to God:

While it is certainly true that justification frees one forever from the need to keep the law, or try to, as the means of earning life, it is equally true that adoption lays on one the abiding obligation to keep the law, as the means of pleasing one’s newfound Father. Law-keeping is the family likeness of God’s children; Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, and God calls us to do likewise. Adoption puts law-keeping on a new footing: as children of God, we acknowledge the law’s authority as a rule for our lives, because we know that this is what our Father wants. If we sin, we confess our fault and ask our Father’s forgiveness on the basis of the family relationship, as Jesus taught us to do — “Father . . . forgive us our sins” (Lk 11:2, 4). The sins of God’s children do not destroy their justification or nullify their adoption, but they mar the children’s fellowship with their Father. “Be holy, for I am holy” is our Father’s word to us, and it is no part of justifying faith to lose sight of the fact that God, the King, wants his royal children to live lives worthy of their paternity and position. (223)

We obey God not as mere servants and slaves, but as children loved by him and loving him.

Scott

Christ is Lord of our money

God forbids stealing in the eighth commandment, and in the tenth commandment he forbids even coveting. All of this connects to how we see the money and possessions that God has given to us. If we clutch them tightly as ours, or if we are discontent with what we are given, then our hearts are walking along the same road that is home to stealing.

One of the graces God has given to train our hearts in gratitude and away from selfishness is giving, whether it is almsgiving, tithing, voluntary offerings, etc. We love to give out of gratitude to our Savior, but at the same time God uses our giving to provoke still greater affections for him, releasing the hold that possessions have on our affections! Randy Alcorn describes how God uses giving to do this in his book The Treasure Principle:

Another benefit of giving is freedom. It’s a matter of basic physics. The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own–the greater their total mass the more they grip us, setting us in orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in.

Giving changes all that. It breaks us out of orbit around our possessions. We escape their gravity, entering a new orbit around our treasures in heaven. . . .

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). . . . Suppose you buy shares of General Motors. What happens? You suddenly develop interest in GM. . . . Suppose you’re giving to help African children with AIDS. When you see an article on the subject, you’re hooked. . . . As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. Money leads; hearts follow.

Scott
Crossposted to truth, adorned

Lust Part 3: Christ is Lord of our leisure

God gives us rest and leisure as a gift to be enjoyed. Since it is a gift from him and since we belong to him, the way we receive and enjoy this gift is an important part of how we worship and honor God. There are some principles we can draw from this:

1. We ought to see leisure as a gift and enjoy it with gratitude to God. We routinely thank God for providing our food; do we thank him equally for our leisure?
2. Leisure is a gift and not a right; we should not make an idol out of it. Do we selfishly demand it and spend it? How do we respond when God allows it to be interrupted or taken away? What are the things we value enough that we are glad to give up our rest and leisure for them?
3. Christ is our Lord; our very lives are purchased by his blood. We should spend our God-given leisure time in ways pleasing and honoring to him. We need to do more than ask “is it sin?” We need to ask whether our general pattern is to stir up fleshly appetites or to enjoy Christ-honoring refreshment.

This last point doesn’t mean that we necessarily avoid most movies, TV shows and secular music; nor does it mean that the books we read are always theology books. God is honored even in the eating of ice cream, after all, if it is done with a heart of gratitude. Since it is our heart that is on center stage, two different people may be enjoying the same good gift, but only one might be doing it in a way that acknowledges, enjoys, and honors our Lord. In general, our question should be, what appetite are we feeding: our appetite for the world or for God? Are we generally growing in our appreciation of God’s greatness and glory and beauty as revealed in creation and in his gifts to men? Are we generally refreshing, stimulating and stewarding our God-given minds, souls, bodies, families and friendships? Or are these things beginning to waste away as we enjoy our leisure just because it feels good and because we think we deserve it?

Often we will be able to see a connection between our approach to leisure and the sins we struggle with such as lust, greed, jealousy and envy. As we grow in seeing leisure, sex, wealth and possessions as good gifts from God, we will grow in a faith and gratitude that loves to please him with our enjoyment of these gifts.

Scott
Crossposted to truth, adorned

Lust Part 1: Craving what God has forbidden

The desire to have what is not ours comes in an almost infinite variety of ways in our lives. We look at others and want they have and we (think we) do not: their computers, cars, iPods, looks, talent, intelligence, house, job, 401K, discipline, spiritual power, Bible knowledge, shoes, books, happiness, marriage, kids, grandchildren…every heart in every culture has its own endless list of cravings.

Yet, lust, which Josh Harris calls “craving sexually what God has forbidden,” is one of the most powerful, universal, and destructive of these cravings. It can take a peaceful home and turn it into a nightmare, a fruitful and growing ministry and turn it into a shadow of itself, and it can take a person’s joy and confidence and turn these into shame, guilt, anger, despair, and depression. Solomon spoke of it as “fire next to his chest” (Prov 6:27) and “walking on hot coals” (6:28), implying that lusts consumes and destroys unavoidably.

Lust is deadly, and lust is common to all. That’s why we’ll be taking some time to look at it.

Daniel Baker