Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday: On this day four events are commemorated: the washing of the Disciples' Feet by Jesus Christ, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains

Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day
And there may I, though vile as he
Wash all my sins away

Away
Away
Wash all my sins away

E'er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be till I die

And shall be till I die
And shall be till I die
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be till I die

Wash all my sins away
Wash all my sins away
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be till I die

Song originally written by William Cowper

And here are two stanzas from the original not included in this modern version:

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power
’Til all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.

Thank You, Father, for the gift of music and those who are able by Your grace to compose it and write it. For many of us who You were pleased to give other gifts to, we rejoice to express with these words and these songs the truths that You enabled these dear men and women to articulate in ways that we long to but probably never could. Thank You for the diversity of the body of Christ in which we are all united because of the body of Christ broken. In His precious name, Amen.

Dwell

HT: Between Two Worlds

Heart Searching Words

From the blog of a brother and shepherd in Toronto (who I had the great privilege to meet last April at Together for the Gospel):

I am re-reading Dallimore’s masterpiece, George Whitefield: The Live and Times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th Century Revival. The first time I read this work, it was almost too much for me. My takes on evangelism, godliness, sacrifice, endurance, ministry, work and faith were all shattered.

Half way through volume one I am newly impressed with the godliness of Whitefield and those who laboured with him. Page after page speaks of nights spent in prayer, seasons of almost tangible closeness to God and their hard striving after true fellowship with the real God. They trained for godliness and perhaps none so much as George Whitefield.

I get the feeling he would not have watched a lot of television.

I watched some DVD’s the other night. I was excited to do so. I was “ready” for a break and some entertainment. (I generally only “get” to watch something 2 or 3 nights a week.) But the day after brought a tough realization. Not only had I wasted a lot of time, but I had trained my mind for sensuality.

Maybe nobody else experiences this when they watch television, but I find that its promise of smooth, effortless happiness is deceptive. Rarely does TV keep its promise. And if it does, it tends to add two other things.

First, there is the obvious slipping in of sin that almost without exception accompanies anything good we might watch. Adultery is justified, immorality exalted, the Lord’s name used vainly and a host of other sins all nicely packaged in humour or mystery or a great story. Rarely does the devil force-feed sin.

Secondly, the promise of pleasure orients my heart to look for the same from the rest of life. My TV may turn off, but my desires for effortless happiness have been awakened. I want the rest of life to be like TV – flip the channel or switch the DVD if it’s boring or not satisfying and keep on doing so until I find that happiness.

So, I brought the DVD’s back to my friend and didn’t watch the TV last night.

And I am praying that my gracious God would not only forgive me for hours of life wasted in front of that box, but would enable me to train for godliness like never before.

Keep us, O God, from forgetting that it's always a slow fade. Almost everything we watch on television trains us to desire ease and think that this is our home. But remind us again and again that we are pilgrims in conflict and grant us the diligence to constantly train for godliness, knowing that this is not our home. In Jesus' name, Amen.

From A Seasoned Pilgrim To A New Pilgrim

It was while I was taking J.I. Packer's class on Puritan theology in the summer of 2007 that I got the name of my blog. Let us learn from one who has walked the walk and is far ahead of most all of us on this side of glory.

My conclusion: a joyful, passionate (for his age you must say! He turns 83 this year!) guide who has walked the narrow path for as long as he has and is soon to meet his Lord would be a good one to follow.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Yes, The Gospel Does Change People

It changes those who are victims of murder just as much as it changes those who commit murder. Let's pray that in the same way that it changed Raymond Guay (previous post), it would change the man who murdered Fred Winters.


HT: Between Two Worlds

Thank You, Jesus, for the beautiful and indescribable display of Your gospel in and through Cindy Winters. Please continue to sustain her and her daughters that You love so dearly in and through the loss of their husband and father who served You so faithfully. And please grant us the grace to follow her example in taking any and every opportunity You supply, especially in our deepest pain or loss, to testify before the world that You and You alone are our Treasure of infinite worth and the only hope for every person in this perishing world. For Your name's sake I pray, Amen.

Real Life Gospel Test

Pastor Takes In Convict

How does watching this news clip make you feel?

Either the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners who really are wretched is glorious. Or it's not. Period.

What would the apostle Paul say?

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (emphasis added)

Verse 11 is for ex-con murderers as much as it's for me and you. If not, then why did Jesus have to die? I mean, what else would He possibly have come for other than to receive the scorn that Raymond Guay is now receiving and to wash him with His precious blood so that he would be white as snow?

That's the gospel.

Because of this gospel, and only this gospel, murderers really do change.

Otherwise this is all a big fairy tale and I quit.

Memorize (And Meditate On) More Bible

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 3:36

We all know how fruitful Bible memorization can be when we do it. But the doing it is the hard part that keeps us from being disciplined in memorizing more and more Bible. That's why I really appreciated the blog post over at DG this morning that pointed to another post with 18 tricks for memorizing Scripture. And many of them I have used myself as I try to memorize as much Bible as I can.

I wanted to share a tip that is very helpful for me in memorizing verses. That tip is this: Let the verses you are memorizing become a theological framework for you. Let them define your theology. This is helpful because when you memorize in this way, it forces you to be thinking about what you are reciting rather than just parrot memorization where we are trying to visualize words in the right place. And Psalm 1 does say that we are to meditate on the word (think about it!) and not just memorize it. If memorization isn't for the purpose of meditation, then it is in vain.

One of the best examples of how I use this theological framework idea to help me memorize is John 3:36, which is above. There are two if/then statements:

Believe in the Son --> have eternal life
Fail to obey the Son --> shall not see life, wrath of God remains

In trying to memorize this verse, it would be really easy to confuse the two if clauses. Whoever obeys the Son has life? Whoever does not believe in the Son shall not see life? Well, yes, the answer to both of these questions is yes. But that's not what the verse says. So how might I avoid making this blunder? The way I avoid making this blunder is that I look at these verses through a theological framework. I let them define my theology.

In systematic theology, which I've been teaching this school year, you have two terms that are central to our salvation: justification and sanctification. And the order of these two is essential. We are justified first (declared righteous in God's sight) and then only after we are justified are we sanctified (made more and more righteous as we are conformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Righteous Jesus Christ). To confuse these two is heresy. The way we are justified is by faith (Romans 3:26, 5:1) and the way we are sanctified is by obedience (Romans 6:17-19). The faith comes first, not the obedience.

So look back at John 3:36. And notice that John speaks of faith (believing) and obedience. In other words, John seems to be talking about justification and sanctification even though I don't think this apostle ever uses these words (though another one does). And if you understand the colossal error in theology it is to confuse the order of these two parts of our salvation, you will never again forget which if clause comes first in John 3:36. Believing in the Son comes first because justification comes first in the process of our salvation and justification happens through believing in Christ as your wrath-absorbing sacrifice. And obeying the Son comes second because sanctification comes after justification and sanctification happens through obeying Christ in all that He commands.

Do you see what I've just done? In just one verse, I've created a theological framework by which I understand that both justification (through ongoing faith) and sanctification (through ongoing obedience) are indispensable if I will escape from the wrath that is to come. And the faith precedes (and empowers) the obedience. And more than just memorize the verse, I've meditated on the verse.

Another couple of verses this works great for is Romans 8:29, 30. Try it over there. But if it's going to work, it's going to require that you know your theology, which requires that you know your Bible. Anyone see a Cacth 22 here? Boy am I glad to be teaching systematic theology. =)

HT: DG Blog

By the way, I do highly recommend watching (yes, watch not listen or read) the Piper sermon that is pointed to by the post I referenced at the beginning, which inspired me to write this post in the first place. In God's providence, I just watched the mentioned sermon yesterday and read this article today even though Piper preached the message in January. You'll be blessed by doing so. Here it is just so you don't have to go anywhere:

My Portion

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:23-26

Cool Looking Flick Coming This Summer

In A Class By Himself

God's Not A Fan Of Our Self-Esteem

He's a fan of our Christ-esteem. There is a way that our self-esteem and our Christ-esteem are mutually exclusive. But, as Piper explains so well, there is a way that they are not. The only way that they are not mutually exclusive is if our hearts sing in tandem with John the Baptist when he cries out "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3

In choosing faith as the measure of the new self, Paul is choosing an absolutely unique act of the new mind. What is the essence of faith? Faith is looking away from ourselves to another. Faith is total dependence on another. When faith stands in front of a mirror, the mirror becomes a window with the glory of Christ on the other side. Faith looks to Christ and enjoys him as the sum and judge of all that is true and good and right and beautiful and valuable and satisfying.

So what Paul is saying is that the essence of the new Christian mind is that we see and savor—we behold and we embrace—Jesus Christ and not ourselves as the supreme truth and supreme treasure in the universe.

Do you see the astonishing thing that Paul is doing here? As he watches people puff themselves up, thinking of themselves too highly, he says, Here is how to think soberly about yourself: Make faith the measure of your mind. Make faith the measure of your heart, your life. And so he turns self-exaltation upside down. He says, Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as infinitely significant. Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as worthy of infinite esteem.

Don’t make mistake here. I am not saying what so much contemporary Christian Popular Psychology says. I am not saying: Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as a means to your significance. I am not saying: Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as the one who gives you value. I am not saying: Do you want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as the means of your esteem. I am not saying that in the renewed mind Christ is a means to the goal of your significance and esteem and value. I am saying: you were made to embrace him as infinitely significant and infinitely valuable and infinitely worthy of esteem. That is what the renewed mind does and loves to do. That is the deepest identity of the new mind.

I’ll say it again: Do you want to have significance? Then embrace Christ as the one who is infinitely significant to you. Do you want to have value? Then embrace Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then embrace Christ as worthy of infinite esteem.

Our faith in Christ is the measure of our significance and value and esteem, because faith means looking away from ourselves to Christ and embracing him as the all-satisfying embodiment of all that is significant and valuable and worthy of esteem. The measure of our new self in Christ—the renewed mind—is the degree to which we look away from ourselves to Christ as our truth and treasure.

If Christ is more to you, you are more. If Christ is less to you, you are less. Your measure rises and falls with your measure of him. Your valuing him is the value that you have. Your esteeming him is the esteem that you have. Your treasuring him is the treasure that you are.

Read/watch/listen to the entire sermon.

Oh the wonders of being "in Christ"! I am learning more and more by experience why the apostle Paul could never grow weary of meditating on this glorious truth. We're one with Him: Sinless! Crucified! Resurrected! Righteous! Beloved! Heirs! Oh that He would be more to us for the sake of our own eternal joy and His everlasting glory! What an irony there is in our quest for self-esteem! The way up is for us to go down.

John Piper Confesses His Heart ...

... and mine.

I love John Piper. I don't say that lightly like "I love apple pie." There is no other preacher I've ever heard that speaks to my heart more than him. Not even close. And I'm coming to realize that it's because God has built us in so many of the same ways. Intense, earnest, sober, dogmatic, black and white, introverted, introspective, hedonistic, emotional, serious thinker. Just to name a few. So almost every time I read something he writes or hear something he says, my heart is so closely in tune with his. We're on almost exactly the same wavelength. So many of his struggles are exactly my struggles. From the 2009 Desiring God Conference for Pastors, this is perhaps the best ten minutes of Piper I've ever heard. But it's not for any of the reasons you would probably think if I were to tell you that without saying anything else.



Watch or listen to the entire session.

Thank You, Father, for this deeply flawed saint who has been my surest guide, under Jesus, on the narrow path to glory.

Coming Soon: Resolved 2009

Desiring God Conference For Pastors 2009

Last week I had the sweet privilege of attending the Desiring God Conference for Pastors in Minneapolis. I loved every minute of it except for the single degree (and at times sub zero) temperatures. And that's in Fahrenheit! I lived in Massachusetts for two years when I was in high school and it snowed alot there but I don't remember it ever being that cold! Bless your soul, John Piper, and all you Minnesota natives.

In any case, I had hoped to blog each of the sessions but I was only able to do a recap of the first one because, well, I decided not to bring my computer to the sessions and I was too tired on the second day to recap all the messages in any detail. This conference was encouraging and challenging at the same time. I highly recommend Mark Dever's (the keynote speaker, pictured below) first and second messages. Though this was a pastors conference and all the other messages were specifically directed at pastors, I think these messages are highly helpful and relevant for every believer who wants to grow in faithful gospel witness.

I think perhaps the best moment of the conference for me was the Q&A to conclude the conference, which included questions directed at all the speakers. The last question, answered by John Piper, was perhaps the best five minutes of John Piper I've ever heard. But I promise you that it's not for any of the reasons you would think. If I find the footage, I'll post it. Until then, you're going to have to wait. Otherwise go watch the whole Q&A for yourself. =)

Thank you for your prayers!

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Session 1: Mark Dever

This conference is about evangelism, which means it’s about sharing the gospel. But before we can talk about sharing the gospel, Dever wants to make sure that we all mean the same thing when we say gospel. So instead of making any assumptions, he began by defining what the gospel is from the Scriptures. We’ve probably all heard it before but if we have been saved by this gospel then we should ever be delighted to be reminded of what God has done for us in Christ. In fact, part of the way that we become more effective in sharing the gospel is by meditating on it again and again, telling ourselves this great story again and again, so that we are increasingly able to draw out how it applies to all the situations of our lives, so that we are increasingly able to relate any conversation we have with non-believers to this glorious gospel of our salvation.

The gospel begins with God as Creator with rights to all of His creation. And we have rebelled against our Creator. When God created us, He had pleasure in us and it was right for Him to have pleasure in us. When we rebelled against Him, God condemned us and it was right for Him to condemn us. God is righteous and holy and everything He does is right.

The gospel is a storyline that’s unfolding in four phases: creation, fall, redemption, consummation. It is global and all-encompassing in its scope. When Adam fell, the whole creation was cursed and subjected to futility. But God is making all things new and when He completes this renewal, there will be a new heaven and earth that has been completely redeemed from the Fall.

But this big picture storyline by itself doesn’t do anyone any good. To tell someone the gospel in that way is to leave them as a small child with his face pressed up against the glass of a candy store. This big picture doesn’t do anyone any good if we don’t tell individuals how it applies to them. We must tell individuals why this gospel is good news for them as individual, and this good news for individuals is that Jesus has come to save individual sinners from the wrath of God that is rightly against them.

We must remember that there is no way to tell the gospel without offending the person we are evangelizing. If there is nothing offensive in what we say, we are doing something wrong. There is no pain-free way to share the gospel, though we aren’t to go around needlessly offending (and there are many ways we can do this). We must emphasize that the gospel isn’t mainly about how there is something wrong with the way they see the world but rather the gospel is mainly about how there is something wrong with the way God sees them and they need to be made right with Him, in His eyes! We are sent as heralds to proclaim a message!

Dever shared three reasons why we should evangelize:

1) We are commanded to. This is clear in the New Testament. This is what the Great Commission is about. It doesn’t matter whether we feel like doing it or not. If we don’t feel like doing it, we should work on our affections. But we shouldn’t wait until we feel like doing evangelism to start doing it. We should obey God, and work on our feelings as we do so.

2) We should do it out of love for the lost. Dever dwelt on this point for a while. Do we really understand what it means that people are lost? I think this was the part of his message that I appreciated most. He spoke at length about hell and how horrible it is, how he can’t even find the words to describe the torment that non-believers will be subjected to apart from embracing Christ in the gospel. We don’t make the gospel more attractive to non-believers by diminishing the painful reality of hell. All we are doing is giving them every reason to persist in their unbelief because we are taking away the very thing that the gospel rescues them from, the very thing that is meant to cause them to flee to the gospel! If we really believe in the God who has saved us through the gospel, then we must believe what His Word teaches about hell and that everyone who doesn’t embrace Christ is going to perish there forever! And if we love people, we will labor tirelessly to rescue them from this end.

3) We should do it out of love for God. Above all, we do evangelism for the glory of God. We do it because we love God and we love to tell the truth about who He truly is so that others can see Him and love Him for who He truly is. This is the one way that we are able to glorify God in this life that we will not be able to glorify God in heaven.

Why I'm Flying To Minnesota On Monday

Please pray that the Holy Spirit would transform us.

Total Depravity, The U.S. President, And The Grace Of God

Yesterday I taught my systematic theology class about God's common grace: the grace of God by which He gives countless blessings to all people, blessings that are not a part of salvation. One sphere of God's common grace is the social realm, which includes government and societal norms. The following was my conclusion to that section.

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I can’t end this section without giving praise to God for the testimony to His common grace that our new president is. There was a time before any of us were alive when I probably wouldn’t be allowed to be in the same classroom as you guys let alone be your teacher because of the color of my skin. There was a time when I wouldn’t have dared to be in the same church as you because of the color of my skin. Total depravity expressed itself in the malice and slander (Romans 1:29) that whites expressed towards blacks and vice-versa. Total depravity expressed itself when lynching reared its ugly head as the latest invention of evil (Romans 1:30) meant primarily for black people. In those days, it was unthinkable that whites and blacks could sit down at the same table, use the same bath rooms, drink from the same water fountains let alone love one another as brothers and sisters. It was a time of great despair. Listen to Martin Luther King Jr. at one of these times:

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

I don’t agree with everything Martin Luther King Jr. said in his speech. And I certainly don’t agree with everything that President Obama wants to do. The truth is, I didn’t even vote for him. But I was humbled the day after the inauguration and then especially after I read Dr. King’s speech when I realized that we live in the generation that Dr. King dreamed of. And we definitely don’t deserve to. I know I don’t especially because of how much I take it for granted. I wonder how many years away he thought his dream was when he made that speech in 1963? 20? 30? 40? 50? 100? 200? 500? I am living in the answer to his prayer. You are living in the answer to his prayer. Non-believers and believers in this generation are living in the answer to his prayer. Consider this. A black man, at one time treated as less than human, is the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. And how did it start? It started with people whose consciences wouldn’t let them rest as long as slavery was legal and then the government instituting laws to make slavery illegal and then racial discrimination illegal so that now we live in a day when, though racism definitely has by no means completely disappeared, God has restrained it so that society isn’t anywhere near as manifestly racist as it once was. Our depravity is greater than we realize. The manifest racism that once existed in our society is a testimony to that. But God’s grace is greater than our depravity. Our new president is a testimony to that.

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There is a great irony in this, at least from our weak and feeble human perspective through which we now see only through a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 12:12). Last Sunday was Sanctity of Life Sunday, the annual commemoration of Roe vs. Wade in which the trumpet is sounded to protect the lives of the unborn. Here is what our president wrote two days ago in light of this year's Roe vs. Wade anniversary:

On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose.

For our president, abortion is about human rights, a woman's right to choose. If we look back to the institution of slavery, the roots of which are the very reason why the election of an African-American as U.S. president is so revolutionary, it was also about human rights. William Wilberforce and other men were fighting against slavery because they believed in a black person's right to be seen as one who is created in the image of God. But slavery as a human rights issue had two sides of the coin. In opposition to a black person's right to equal treatment as a human being was a white person's right to choose to own and keep slaves and do whatever they wanted with them. And in the same way, abortion as a human rights issue has two sides of the coin. In opposition to a woman's right to choose to end another's life is a baby's right to equal treatment as a human being (equal to humans outside of the womb for whom murder is illegal).

The irony in this all is that Barack Obama would not be president (and that would be the least of his losses) if the side of the coin that prevailed when the slavery coin landed, as it were, was the same side of the abortion coin he so strongly desires to see prevail in today's generation. Could it be any clearer? And in the same way that slavery was a testimony to total depravity (would anyone disagree with this?), abortion is a testimony to total depravity (murder: Mark 7:21, Romans 1:29).

You see, neither abortion nor slavery is ultimately about human rights. They are about Creator rights, Creator rights to create human beings that fully reflect His image in the world. These are rights that man has no business messing with.

And so we grieve and we celebrate because of our new president. We celebrate because of our new president because the Creator's rights that were opposed in the days of slavery are now being exalted because a black man, created in the image of God, can share in the mandate to have dominion over all (Genesis 1:27). And we grieve because of our new president because he today opposes the Creator's rights to wonderfully make little ones in His own image whenever He pleases (Psalm 139:13, Psalm 127:3). And the only reason his word can count in doing so is because the Creator's rights have been exalted for his benefit.

Though this is a great irony to us, one thing is for sure. It isn't an irony to God. This is by His infinitely wise design, a design through which no man can see. May our confidence be rooted in the fact that His grace always prevails, as can be seen today, to the praise of His glorious grace.

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

Related to this, the article John Piper wrote earlier this week after the inauguration is a must-read: The President, the Passengers, and the Patience of God.

Of First Importance

Amen, brother Piper. God is the gospel. Lord willing, I'll see you in Chicago.

Near Unto God

The fellowship of being near unto God must become reality, in the full and rigorous prosecution of life. It must permeate and give color to our feeling, our perceptions, our sensations, our thinking, our imagining, our willing, our acting, our speaking. It must not stand as a foreign factor in our life, but it must be the passion that breathes through our whole existence.

-Abraham Kuyper, To Be Near Unto God

The Lamb

We are never done with the cross nor ever shall be. Its wonders will be always new and always fraught with joy. "The Lamb as it had been slain" will be the theme of our praise above. Why should such a name be given to him in such a book as the Revelation, which in one sense carried us far past the cross, were it not that we shall always realize our connection with its one salvation; we shall always be looking to it even in the midst of the glory; and we shall always be learning from it some new lesson regarding the work of him "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace"? What will they who here speak of themselves as being so advanced as to be done with the cross say to being brought face to face with the slain Lamb, in the age of absolute perfection, the age of the heavenly glory?

You fool! Do you not know that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ endures forever and that you shall eternally glory in it, if you are saved by it at all?

You fool! Will you not join in the song below, "To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood"? Will you not join in the song above, "You were slain, and here redeemed us to God by your blood"? And do you not remember that it is "the Lamb as it had been slain" that "the seven spirits of God are sent forth into all the Earth"? (Rev. 5:6)

It is the Lamb who stands in the midst of the elders (Rev. 5:6) and before whom they fall down. "Worthy is the Lamb" is the theme of celestial song. It is the Lamb that opens the seals (6:1). It is before the Lamb that the great multitude stand clothed in white (7:9). It is the blood of the Lamb that washes the raiment white (7:14). It is by the blood of the Lamb that the victory is won (12:11). The book of life belongs to the Lamb slain (13:8). It was the Lamb that stood on the glorious Mount (14:1). It is the Lamb that the redeemed multitude are seen following (14:4), and that multitude is the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb (14:4). It is the song of the Lamb that is sung in heaven (15:3). It is the Lamb that wars and overcomes (17:14). It is the marriage of the Lamb that is celebrated, and it is to the marriage supper of the Lamb that we are called (19:7, 9). The church is the Lamb's wife (21:9). On the foundations of the heavenly city are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (21:14). Of this city the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (21:27, 22:1, 3) sum up this wondrous list of honours and dignities belonging to the Lord Jesus as the crucified Son of God.

Thus the glory of Heaven revolves around the cross, and every object on which the eye lights in the celestial city will remind us of the cross and carry us back to Golgotha. Never shall we get beyond it, or turn our backs on it, or cease to draw from it the divine virtue which it contains.

The tree--be it palm, cedar, or olive--can never be independent on its roots, however stately its growth and however plentiful its fruit. The building--be it palace or temple--can never be separated from its foundation, however spacious or ornate its structure may be. So, never shall the redeemed be independent of the cross or cease to draw from its fullness.

In what ways our looking to the cross hereafter will benefit us; what the shadow of that tree will do for us in the eternal kingdom, I know not, nor do I venture to say. But it would seem as if the cross and the glory were so inseparably bound together that there cannot be the enjoyment of the one without the remembrance of the other. The completeness of the sacrificial work on Calvary will be matter for eternal contemplation and rejoicing long after every sin has been, by its cleansing efficacy, washed out of our being forever.

Shall we ever exhaust the fullness of the cross? Is it a mere stepping-stone to something beyond itself? Shall we ever cease to glory in it (as the apostle gloried), not only because of past, but because of present and eternal blessing? The forgiveness of sin is one thing, but is that all? The crucifixion of the world is another, but is that all? Is the cross to be a relic, useless though venerable, like the serpent of brass laud up in the tabernacle to be destroyed perhaps at some future time and called Nehushtan? (2 Kings 18:4). Or is it not rather like the tree of life which bears twelve manner of fruits and yields its fruit every month by the banks of the celestial river? Its influence here on Earth is transforming. But even after the transformation has been completed and the whole church perfected, shall there not be a rising higher and higher, a taking on of greater and yet greater comeliness, a passing from glory to glory--all in connection with the cross and through the never-ending vision of its wonders?

Of the new Jerusalem it is said, "The Lamb is the light [or lamp] thereof" (Rev. 21:23). The Lamb is only another name for Christ crucified. Thus it is the cross that is the lamp of the holy city; and with its light the gates of pearl, the jasper wall, the golden streets, the brilliant foundations, and the crystal river are all lighted up. The glow of the cross is everywhere, penetrating every part, reflected from every gem; and by its peculiar radiance transporting the dwellers of the city back to Golgotha as the fountainhead of all this splendor.

It is light from Calvary that fills the Heavens of heavens. Yet it is no dim religious light, for the glory of God is to lighten to it (Rev. 21:23). Its light is "like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal... and there is no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light" (Rev. 21:11; 22:5). Yes, we shall never be done with the cross and the blood; though, where all are clean and perfect in every sense, these will not be used for purging the conscience or justifying the ungodly.

It is the symbol both of a dying and of a risen Christ that we find in the Revelation. The "Lamb as it had been slain" indicates both. But the prominence is given to the former. It is the slain Lamb that has the power and authority to open the seals; implying that it was in his sin bearing or sacrificial character that he exercised his right, and that it was his finished work on which this right rested and by which it was acquired. It is as the Lamb that he is possessed with all wisdom and strength--"the seven horns and the seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God" (Rev. 5:6); the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of omniscience and omnipotence.

The Lamb is one of his special and eternal titles; the name by which he is best known in Heaven. As such, we obey and honor and worship him; never being allowed to lose sight of the cross amid all the glories of the kingdom. As such we follow him, and shall follow him eternally. As it is written, "There are they that follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (Rev. 14:4).

--Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness (p.33-36)

HT: Pure Church

I've never read this book. But I know it's worth the buy, for that quote alone.

Who's Bad?

Remember the Michael Jackson song?

The Best Definition Of A Pastor...

...that I've ever heard outside of the Bible:

A pastor is a convalescing cripple that the Doctor has assigned to teach others how to use the crutches of grace.

Read the whole description of a hospital known as Bethlehem Baptist Church. Is there any doubt that this is one hospital where smiles and glad hearts abound? This desperate, recovering cripple couldn't help but smile as he read. =)

How Often Are You Intoxicated?

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:18-21

Think about what Paul is saying here. He commands the believers at Ephesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And as we read it, he is no less commanding us. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To not be filled with the Spirit is disobedience. And then he tells us what the effects are of being filled with Spirit: we’ll be addressing each other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all our hearts, giving thanks always and for everything and submitting to one another. But what amazes me so much about what Paul writes here is that he compares being filled with the Spirit to being drunk with alcohol. He says, “Don’t get drunk with wine! Don’t fill yourself with wine! Fill yourself with the Holy Spirit!” In other words, “Get drunk with the Holy Spirit!” Think about this. Before I got saved, I had a few experiences of being drunk with alcohol. It causes you to act in ways that cause you to stand out from people who are sober. People usually know when you are drunk if they see you. You can’t usually be drunk and keep it a secret. Now apply that understanding of what it means to be drunk to how Paul wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The parallel is stunningly clear. He’s telling us to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that it causes us to act in ways that cause us to stand out from people who aren’t filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that it will be clear to all who see us that we are under the influence of something (though they may not know it’s a Someone). Our being filled with the Holy Spirit shouldn’t be something that only we as individuals are aware of. Others should be able to see it in the same way that they would be able to tell if we were drunk. It should spill forth in unrestrained encouraging and singing to the Lord and thanksgiving and humble service in the same way that drunkenness spills forth in uncontrolled, rude behavior. The sad thing is that many of us would probably view such public Spirit-filled behavior to be in some sense shameful (I know I often do) when it’s the drunken behavior that we should be ashamed of. We should be putting restraints on our drinking, not on singing to the Lord in front of others and submitting to them, even when it makes us foolish in the eyes of the world. In fact, hopefully I would be especially inclined to submit in that case so that it would be plain to those watching that I am not in control because they can't think of any good explanation for why I would behave in that way if I really was in control.

So, how often are you intoxicated?

How often am I intoxicated? Not nearly enough.

A Prayer Of Mine For 2009

So you, by the help of your God, return,
Hold fast to love and justice,
And wait continually for your God.
Hosea 12:6

Father in heaven, thank You for these words spoken to Your covenant people Israel through Your prophet Hosea. Though they were first spoken hundreds of years ago, they have rung loud and clear in my heart on this last day of 2008. And as I stand on the horizon of the new year that we will welcome in just a few short hours, I would like to lift them up as the banner by which I pray You would carry me into and through this new year.

Father, You are my God. You are my help. There are no greater realities to me in the world than this. It seems like just yesterday that 2008 began. And if either of these realities ceased to be true for even one second, I wouldn’t be on the eve of welcoming a new year. So, I thank You for Your constancy. I ask with the psalmist, “What shall I render to You for all Your benefits to me?” And I answer with him, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD!” In response to all the help that You have been to me in 2008, O my God, I ask that You would be even more help to me in 2009. For surely as the measure of my days on this earth increase, Father, I don’t feel that I need Your help less and less. On the contrary, I feel the need for it more and more. I feel the need for You more and more. So be my help, I ask, to the praise of the glory of Your grace.

Of the many things You have taught me in 2008, I think I have grasped perhaps for the first time the bottomless depths of my sin. Redeemed I am because of the grace offered through the sacrifice of Your Son! And I praise You for Jesus, my wisdom and my righteousness and sanctification and redemption, with all that I am! But oh to be free from this body of death! Perhaps the reason Your apostle soared so high in the epistles that You inspired him to write is because he had sunk so low into depths that were dark and inescapable apart from Your grace. Our sin runs deep. Much deeper than we know. It’s so deceptive that it can convince us that we are doing Your will and even cause us to twist Your word to make it mean what You never meant for it to mean. Until the light of Your help shines on our path to show us the impending destruction we are headed for. Apart from You, Father, there is no repentance. Apart from You, Father, there is no returning. So please grant me more repentance, deeper repentance in 2009, Father. Grant me a greater suspicion of my heart. Against all the impulses of our society to dismiss and diminish the outrage and pervasiveness of sin, grant me to remember that there is nothing good that lives in me, that is in my flesh. Help me to be more concerned with the log in my own eye than the speck in my brother’s. Let me point the finger at myself rather than point the finger at others. And let the sinful behavior that I do see outside of myself cause me to recognize the sin that remains in my own heart so that I would grieve both their sins and my own. Humble me, O God, under Your mighty right hand.

Please do so by strengthening my grip of the old rugged cross that Your Son bore. Oh how weak my grip is! And so, by Your help, I sing: Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. May this be what it means for me to hold fast to love and justice in 2009. Father, I know not the meeting place of love and justice apart from the cross of Your Son. So when I hear those two words in the same sentence, may I see Him hanging on that tree for my sins. Thank You that You so loved the world that You sent Your only begotten Son to be put forward as a propitiation for our sins in order that You might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Your gospel is summed up in love and justice. Forbid that I would lose either in a day when one is so much more widely embraced than the other. Spare me from trivializing Your gospel in compromising either, for the sake of my soul. Few things scare me more than singing about this love and justice demonstrated at the cross without any movement in my affections. So grant me the grace, I pray, to fight the familiarity with Your glorious gospel that daily aims to settle into my heart, destroying my joy and killing my soul. Rather unleash in my heart new wonders of Calvary that would daily thrill my soul and confirm that I am now living life eternal.

And finally, I pray that You would increase my faith in Your infinite reservoirs of future grace by making me one who continually waits for You. Thank You for opening my eyes to see how these two go together: faith and waiting. Where there is no waiting, there is no faith. And where there is no faith, there is no waiting. From cover to cover in the Bible You have given us, I cannot escape the innumerable exhortations You have given Your people to wait on You. So often in my life, I have applied these exhortations to specific requests that I desire for You to fulfill. But I am coming to learn that this is not what You intend when You charge us again and again to be a people who wait. Rather You call me to wait because this is what it means to live a life of faith, which is what my relationship has been with You from conversion and will be until Jesus comes or calls me home. In this life, I will always be waiting as long as my faith is in Jesus. No matter how many desires are fulfilled. How easily and often I forget this! Please remind me of this daily throughout 2009, for You know how weary I grow of waiting. Enable, empower, and energize me to keep on waiting by holding fast to the love and justice that You demonstrated 2000 years ago. Please grant me this grace to continually wait for You, that in and through every desire to be finished waiting for something would be the longing to be done waiting for the return of Your Son. You are the One we wait for, Lord Jesus. So more than any other desire that could be fulfilled in 2009, I pray with my whole heart that You would come. Even so, come Lord Jesus! In Your holy name I pray, Amen.

Gifts Come In Unexpected Packages

Isn't that usually the way it is with the Father of lights up above from whom every good and perfect gift comes (James 1:17)?

But how often do we recognize this to be the case? God, in His grace, opened my eyes to recognize a sweet gift from Him in an unexpected package that I received last night (or rather, early this morning).

I left Morgan Hill (the city where I live) to come to my mom's house in Antioch last night later than I should have. It was around 10:30pm. And sure enough, I began to feel sleepy on the road only about half way to my mom's house. About 20 miles away from my mom's house, I was abruptly roused out of my drowsiness when I began to hear a sound from my car that I was certain it shouldn't be making. So immediately I pulled over to try to see what the problem was. My first thought was to check my tires. Front left? Fine. Back left? Fine. Back right? Fine. Front right? Flat.

I had stopped at a strange location (I wasn't in a traffic lane but to the right of me was a freeway entrance so I had cars on both sides of me) so I got back in my car to move my car forward to where I would be completely off the road and as I did I could smell what seemed to be burning rubber. Not good. I knew I couldn't move any further in my car.

So here I am just after 12am on Christmas day with a flat tire about 20 miles from my house and no clue what to do. I could call home to have someone pick me up but then what would I do with my car, especially since it was Christmas day? Looking up the road, I noticed what seemed to be the bright lights of a gas station. So for some reason, it entered into my mind to walk to the gas station to see if I might be able to find someone there to help me. A tow truck perhaps? I didn't think it was a good idea to drive my car there considering what I was hearing and smelling from it so, seeing that the nearest road sign said that the next exit was only half a mile away, I decided I would walk to the gas station.

That walk was more unpleasant than I ever thought it would be. With cars zooming past me on my left, not only was there a slight rain but there was a strong, chilling wind coming from my right. The wind combined with the rain made it feel like it was alot colder than it really was. It was dark, rainy, and cold and I had no clue what would transpire over the next couple of hours. How long would I be out here? What would happen to my car if I left it out here? This wasn't helpful so I began to call Scripture to mind...

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me...

Then I began to recite Romans 8, which I have been trying to memorize over the past month, which begins with: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...

No condemnation. That's a sweet truth to hear when it's dark, rainy, and cold and you find yourself in undesirable circumstances.

I only have about half the chapter memorized so I came to an end with: For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us...

And it was as if God was asking me right then: Do you really believe that?

Yes, Lord, I believe you. I have been reading for the second time (and not the last, Lord willing) Future Grace by John Piper so I began to pray: I put my faith in your future grace, Father. Please give me grace. I am completely dependent on your grace and I trust You to help me. Thank You that You are my God, that You are ruling over all and that You are for me.

I began to wonder how cold it must have been for those shepherds who were traveling to see the newborn baby Jesus on that first Christmas morning. No matter how cold it was, their reward was still greater.

When I got to the gas station, there wasn't really anyone there. So I walked around for a couple of minutes, checked to see if there was an air machine, and then began the walk back to my car. The chill really began to pick up on the way back and I felt so cold that for a few seconds I didn't know if I would make it back to my car. I'm not kidding. Then I remembered this promise God gave to the psalmist: Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me (Psalm 50:15). And I began to pray: I bank on that promise, Father. I know that Your Son came so that this specific promise among many others would be Yes to me because of His life, death, and resurrection. So I call upon You. Please come and deliver me so that I may glorify You!

What if I went back to my car and found the tire just fine and no longer flat? Did I believe God could do that? Yes Lord, I believe You can. So I prayed for that to be the case. And then I found myself wavering back and forth: for a few moments I would feel confidently certain that the tire would be fine once I got back to my car and then I would see in my mind that flat tire. Oh Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief! While this battle was going on in my mind and heart, I noticed a car that had pulled over onto the shoulder as I was walking back to my car. Then it started to move towards me (I was walking along the same path I came) with its hazard lights on. As it passed by me, I noticed that this car also had a flat tire.

But as my car was coming into sight, all I could think about was that tire. As I came closer and closer, my eyes were locked on my front right tire. Would it be the same as when I left it? When I finally got back to my car, my heart sank as I saw that the tire was completely flat. All I could do was climb into my car and thank God that I was no longer in the cold. Just being in the car was truly a blessing.

I decided that my best bet would be to drive my car as slowly as I could up to the gas station. It had occurred to me that this was probably what the other car did. I thought to myself that if they could make it, I probably could. But I wasn't going to move if I again smelled that burning rubber. So, turning on my hazard lights, I began to drive no faster than five miles an hour. No strange sounds or smells. Good news.

It only took me a couple of minutes (I should have just done this in the first place. It was a whole lot faster than walking) to get back to the gas station. I pulled in to the spot right next to the air machine. Looking at my tire, I realized that putting air into it would have accomplished nothing because it was almost completely displaced from the rim. What was I going to do now?

When I had pulled into that spot in the gas station, I noticed that the car with a flat tire that I had seen driving towards me when I was walking was also at the gas station (as I had suspected). After I had checked my tire, I noticed that they now had a spare tire in the place of the flat one and were pulling out of the gas station. As they were getting ready to drive past me, they rolled down the passenger window and inside was a Hispanic man and what I assume to be his wife in the passenger seat and children in the back.

You need help? The woman asked me.

My tire is flat and I don't know what to do.

You have extra? The man asked me (referring to the tire).

I wasn't sure so I went to open my trunk to see if there was a spare there. And, sure enough, I discovered for the first time (I probably should have known this) that there was a spare tire in my trunk. So I told him that I did have an extra.

They parked their car and the man pulled out of his car a jack and wrench of sorts. Within 10 minutes, he had replaced my tire.

We had talked for a few of those minutes and I learned that he was on a visit from Washington to see family in the area. When he got up from the ground, I asked him his name and told him mine. I asked Jaime if I could give him something for his help. He smiled at me and refused. All I remember him saying was something like, "It's for Christmas. Merry Christmas." I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ, if he was a Christian. I'm not sure if he understood me because at first he said something like, "It's different." But then he told me that, yes, he did. I didn't know what else to say so I thanked Jaime again and told him, "God bless you." I got back into my car and felt so thankful for Jaime and his family that just before they had pulled out I got out of my car with a plate of sweet goodies I had received for Christmas and I asked them if I could give it to them. Jaime took it from me and said: thank you Chris. As I got back into my car, I waved at them one last time as they drove off.

Looking back, I wish I had told Jaime about how I had prayed to God and that he and his family were the answer to my prayer. As a side note, whenever I have encounters with people with an opportunity to share the gospel, I am always reflecting afterward on how I could have directed the conversation so as to have given a more effective witness for Christ. But I'm pretty sure that this interaction wasn't so that God could give something to them through me. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it was so that God could give something to me through them.

As I watched them drive off, for some reason the direction they went was a direction that was away from and not back towards the highway. Were they lost? Or were they simply going back from the way they came? Only God knows.

I drove home from the gas station last night at 1:30am in complete silence. I was driving so slow that it felt like the whole world was passing me by. But my reason for going so slow didn't have to do with my tire. I was in awe of the grace of God. Here I was not just back in my car and out of the cold. I was driving. I had called upon God in my day of trouble. He had delivered me. How was I to glorify Him?

When I was walking to my car, I had an idea in my mind of what God's deliverance would look like. And it was at that very time that Jaime and his family had driven by me with their flat tire. The answer to my prayer was right before my eyes in the very moment that I was praying! I just didn't know it. And you know what? This answer to my prayer is no less miraculous than the one I had envisioned.

It "just so happened" that I was only a half mile away from a gas station when I pulled over with a flat tire? It "just so happened" that I would get the idea to walk to the gas station and then see Jaime and his family as I walked back? It "just so happened" that it was only lightly raining and so that the rubber was no longer burning yet I didn't get completely drenched? It "just so happened" that Jaime and his family were just leaving the gas station as I got there? It "just so happened" that I had a spare tire in my trunk and Jaime had the exact tools that were needed to replace it? No way in the world. Yahweh was ruling and reigning over every detail, every thought, and every movement last night as He always is. When we consider the wonder of God's providence in governing all things at all times down to the smallest detail to fulfill His every purpose, is this not just as miraculous--if not more so--than a single miraculous event such as a flat tire magically becoming fixed? My answer to that question is that I'm glad God does it His way and not mine.

I've thanked the Lord many times upon arriving at my mom's house for bringing me home safely. But it has never felt the way it did last night. As I got into my warm bed last night, all I could think about was how cold it was when I was walking. When I got home, everyone was sound asleep. Who would have come to pick me up? I couldn't get out of my mind that the only reason I was lying there rather than sitting in my car or standing outside was because God had kept His promise. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify me.

I went to bed asking God why He let me get a flat tire. As I woke up this morning, I think I know the answer why. It was His Christmas gift to me (just on time to start Christmas day at 12am!). What do I mean by that?

The greatest gift in the world that God has given us is His Son. Jesus Christ was born into the world 2,000 years ago. And that's what we celebrate every December 25. But Christmas can easily get saddled with tradition and familiarity. And in the midst of Christmas, whether we realize it or not, we have lost God's Son. Yes, even us Christians. So this morning I found myself wondering what it would have felt like to wake up on this Christmas morning if the events of last night had not taken place. Yes, I would have been thinking that today is about Jesus like every Christian should. But good thoughts aren't mainly what God wants to give us.

This Christmas morning, I have felt the preciousness of knowing that the Shepherd is with me even as I walk in dark, cold, rainy valleys (Psalm 23:4).

This Christmas morning, I have enjoyed the comfort of knowing that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) when my circumstances seem fitting for one who should be condemned.

This Christmas morning, I have drawn confidently to the throne of grace to find grace for a well-timed help because I have a Great High Priest who has passed before me into the heavens (Hebrews 4:14-16).

This Christmas morning, I have been heard by the Father because I have made requests to Him in Jesus' name (John 16:23).

This Christmas morning, I have cashed in on promises that God has made to me because I know that all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).

So, do you see what God was giving me when He gave me a flat tire? I think I now do. He was giving me Jesus. And, in so doing, He was giving me a truly merry Christmas because I couldn't have asked for a sweeter gift!

May your Christmas truly be merry!

So from the bottom of my heart, I thank You again Father for the Christmas gift of Your Son coming to me on this occasion in the package of a flat tire. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Where Was The Son Of God ... ?

... on that first Christmas night two thousand years ago?

... on that first Easter morning roughly 33 years later?

The essence of Christianity (and no less its wonder) is in the answer to those questions: The manger wasn't empty two thousand years ago. And today, the tomb is.

No, I know this isn't original. But that doesn't make it any less worth saying and celebrating.

Merry Christmas!

And, no, I'm not six days early (or four months early for that matter because Jesus is risen indeed!). We celebrate Christmas only because of Easter. And Easter is only possible because of Christmas.

Thankful For Sanctifying Crosses (And Dead Saints)

Oh! sanctified adversity carries the richest pearl in its mouth; it makes sin odious to us, and the return of the Saviour's presence doubly sweet! By it we are made meet for the Master's use. Shall we not kiss the rod which scares away our sins, and whips our corruptions to death? God separates thee by afflictions from thy idols, that they may not be as fuel to inflame thy corruptions, or as thieves to steal thy heart from Him. If thou hast been taught of God to distrust thine own heart, to be vile in thine own eyes, and to take no idolatrous delight in creature comforts, thou hast received ten thousand better answer to thy prayers than if thou hadst been lifted up by joyful frames, or hadst obtained thy fond wish in every prayer. The lowly graces of the Spirit thrive best under crosses.

-Daniel Rowland, as quoted in Daniel Rowland and the Great Evangelical Awakening in Wales by Eifion Evans, p.150

Thankful For My Pastor

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
1 Timothy 5:17

There is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and every day. So as a way of honoring my pastor in his labors of preaching and teaching (and to try to win him free registration for the Desiring God Pastors Conference this February), here are a few reasons why I am thankful for him (in no particular order):

1) His preaching is marked by urgency. "I preached as never sure to preach again; as a dying man to dying men." These were the words of the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter. He understood the weight of preaching and that eternity hung in the balance every time he took the pulpit to address the people before him, saved and unsaved. I get this sense from my pastor every time he stands in the pulpit. There is a way in which he is a different man inside the pulpit than he is outside of it. Resting on him is a greater measure of authority, gravity, seriousness, and urgency that blow away any trivializing of the things of God. And you begin to feel that eternal life and death really do hang in the balance.

2) He brings us into the presence of God. I can't recall one time he has attempted to preach the Word of God without first bringing the entire congregation before the throne of grace in order that both we and he might find help in our time of need. And our greatest need is to be brought into God's presence. His pulpit prayers are the kind that push aside preoccupations with ourselves and our problems and make us to be preoccupied with God and what He's done for us in Jesus Christ. They give me a greater sense of God and His nearness in preparing me to be addressed by God.

3) His blood is "Bibline." Charles Spurgeon said this about the Puritan John Bunyan: "Prick him anywhere and he bleeds the Bible." I feel this way about my pastor. He is saturated with the word of God. His prayers are filled with biblical truth. His speech overflows with the truth of God's Word. His sermons are laden with biblical references (both Old Testament and New) that support whatever biblical text he is expositing on that particular Sunday, many of which I would bet he didn't even write into his sermon manuscript. You can see by his life that he feeds on the Word of God and only feeds us that which he himself has eaten.

4) He's faithful. It's easy to belittle the meaning of this word. In the Old Testament, God's faithfulness is spoken of interchangeably with His steadfast love. The Hebrew term is hesed. Because of God's hesed, we know that no matter how much we mess up today, He will still be there as our God tomorrow. He's not going anywhere. My pastor has led this same flock in Morgan Hill for over two decades. Our average Sunday attendance hasn't always been what it now is. Even though we last year moved to three services per weekend in order to accommodate for a growing congregation, I've heard my pastor speak of how there were times when he would preach to a sanctuary of many empty seats. Yet in the face of temptation to change his ministry philosophy in order to attract more people or even to leave the church just like many of the staff did when he first took over, he has stayed. He hasn't gone anywhere. And he has resolved to preach the Word of God and trust Jesus to do what He said He would. And Jesus has indeed built this church. I have heard that the average stay of a pastor in any one church today is less than five years before moving on to the next place that God has called him to. If this is true, then faithfulness--or steadfastness--is more difficult to find than we might imagine.

5) He is driven by a passion to rescue the perishing. Though he preaches to several hundred people every Sunday, my pastor knows very well that many who sit before him are under the wrath of God even though many of them may not themselves realize it. He acknowledges this in every prayer before his sermons when he asks God to open the eyes of the blind and raise the dead to life. Through his sermons he pleads with non-believers to be reconciled to God through Christ. And he does the work of an evangelist outside of the pulpit by, as only one example, making Peet's Coffee a second church office so that he can build relationships with the workers and regulars there so as to share the gospel with them. In doing such things, he makes it hard for us who do believe to settle into a mentality that is indifferent to the plight of the people we are daily rubbing shoulders with who are outside of Christ. A pastor, because of the nature of his calling, usually is unable to do as much evangelism as the rest of his congregation. But I would bet that, as much labor as he already does with his flock, my pastor does more evangelism than most of us. He challenges and inspires me by his example.

These are only five reasons (of many more I could give you) why I am thankful for my pastor, Mike Burchfield. I hope that as a result he gets to go to the Desiring God Pastors Conference for free. But even if this post doesn't accomplish that, I couldn't think of a better way to have spent this time. I love you brother.

What about you? Why are you thankful for your pastor?

And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:15

Thank You, Father, for the man that You have set over this part of Your flock, who we will indeed boast in for Your glory when we stand before Your throne on that great and glorious Day. May it come quickly. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Sweet And Tender Care From Heaven

He spread his blanket on the sand,
kneeled and arranged his bowls and tools:
hook, mallet, clamp, chisel, rasp, razor.

His smile glinted in the rongeur’s claws,
and upside down in the curette’s spoon.
Light shone out of the needle’s eye.

“Hoosh,” he said and began plucking hairs,
paring calluses, shearing wool, shaving
to the follicles, cutting to the quick.

He sorted these, trimming skin with skin,
hair with hair, into rows of clay bowls,
and set a large basin to catch each sour drip

as he sliced the hide and used both fists
to yank back the whole stubbled, gray pelt,
as wet and red on its underside as afterbirth.

He piled this heavily away, draping it
in clean linen, and turned to the meat and bone
heaving under sheer, tight membrane.

Sawteeth chewed into femur, rib and shoulder.
Pliers twisted and wrenched away tendons
until everything softened, canted, and collapsed—

yet not one sliver dies. Each ribbon and shard
bawls for the horror and hurt of their missing,
wishing for the old braying wholeness.

Pain bloodies evening and morning,
stabbing day after day from even the first cuts,
like the slow light of far stars.

Eyeballs and heart float alone in the last bowl,
dark and defenseless, quavering when he leans down
and they recognize in his eyes how little is left.

“Easy now, Camel,” he says and lifts me
in his fingertips, one quivering strand at a time,
through the eye of the needle.

-Luke 18.25, by Karsten Piper (son of John Piper)

For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
Luke 18:25

If we're not rich in possessions, we're rich in pride. So how else could God get sinners like me and you into heaven?

Our Hearts Post-Election

Exactly two weeks ago just prior to the U.S. election, I posted a video that talked about John Piper's heart in the 2008 election (or at least that's what the YouTube video is called).

Just a couple of minutes ago, I read the following blog post by my brother in the Lord, Thabiti Anyabwile, who pastors a church out in the Grand Cayman Islands.

Regardless of who we voted for and what our initial response was to the result of the election, the question we must now ask ourselves as believers is: Where are our hearts post election? May Thabiti's heart post-election be our hearts post-election for Jesus' sake.

This Changes Everything, Doesn't It?

Amen, brother. Amen.

Listening For The Whispers

And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. And he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily need, until the day of his death as long as he lived.
Jeremiah 52:31-34

This morning I finished the book of Jeremiah. These are the last verses of the last chapter. An interesting way to end the book, especially considering how the last couple of chapters (long ones at that) spoke of the judgment that God intended to bring on Babylon and other nations. But before God brings this exceedingly terrible judgment on Babylon (chapter 51), He plans to use them to bring judgment upon the southern kingdom of Judah. Babylon will be His tool to bring about His judgment on His people but then He will bring a full end to Babylon in judging them. But these last few verses of Jeremiah provide us with foreshadowing that shows us the difference between Babylon and Judah. While God plans to bring a full end to Babylon in the judgment He brings on them, He does not plan to bring a full end to the people of Israel in the judgment He brings on them. The mercy shown to King Jehoiachin in these verses points us to the mercy God shows to His covenant people Israel.

King Jehoiachin was one of the many evil kings to reign in Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:9, 2 Chronicles 36:9). This would seem to be one of the reasons that the Lord allows him to be carried off in exile to Babylon along with the rest of the Israelites (2 Chronicles 36:10).

And then all of a sudden here at the end of Jeremiah (as well as the end of 2 Kings) we're told that Jehoiachin receives pardon. He is released from imprisonment. But not only that. He is exalted above the other kings who are in Babylon. He's given royal treatment. The king speaks kindly to him. The king allows him to dine at the king's table. The king gives him daily allowance for whatever he needs. Every day until the day he drops. Consider this. It makes no sense. Why?

Perhaps one reason is to point us to the outrage of the gospel. And the Savior who is the reason for it.

In the case of Jehoiachin, we aren't told what happens to cause the king to show him favor but the same isn't true of those of us in Christ who, like Jehoiachin, are shown outrageous grace.

Speaking to His disicples, Jesus tells them plainly that they are evil (Luke 11:13). Evil means evil. I'm no better than Jehoiachin or any of the other Israelites who were sent into exile in Babylon. My idolatry simply looks different and isn't so outwardly manifest. Similarly to Jehoiachin, I am under imprisonment. I am imprisoned under the law that I cannot keep, sin, Satan, and the curse of death (Galatians 3:22, 23).

But then something happened to change that.

And just like Jehoiachin, my fortunes are instantaneously changed. Not only am I lifted from my prison cell but I'm granted royal treatment. I put off my prison garments and am now clothed with the righteousness of Another (Isaiah 61:10). The King speaks kindly to me through His Word (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) as often as I will listen. I am now seated in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion (Ephesians 2:6, 1:20,21). I have more than my daily bread to eat every day and await the great feast that this King will one day prepare for His people (Isaiah 25:6). I have more than my daily allowance as the King now provides me with more than I could ever need (Philippians 4:19) until the day I drop (and even more then).

What happened to make this possible?

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45

Jesus gave His life as a ransom to purchase me from the prison I was in so that I could receive pardon and be made an heir of the King (Galatians 4:7). Do you hear the whispers of Jesus in these last few verses of Jeremiah? King Jehoiachin represents the tree of God's covenant people Israel that Gentiles like me have been grafted into (Romans 11:17-19).

So what ultimately is the difference between the Babylonians and the Israelites? Jesus pays a ransom for one and not for the other. God pours the fullness of His judgment out on Jesus on the cross so that He could give the true Israelites royal treatment instead of making a full end of us like He does to Babylon. This is the reason behind all outrageous grace.

I love hearing these whispers of the Savior. They are there all over the Old Testament. Are you listening for them?

And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16

The Man Who Truly Fears The LORD

Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Luke 6:26

A dear brother from my church recently wrote the following poem. I was tremendously blessed by it so I am posting it here with his permission.

The Man Who Truly Fears the LORD
Is the Man Whose Eye is Set
On Approval from the LORD Alone
And All Other Approval Forgets

Approval from GOD Alone Does He Court
And Not From Any Person
Regarding Neither the Sinners’ Report
Nor That from Religious Persons

10 Indictments

Warning: This is 2 hours long. That being said, it's probably worth watching more than once.

God's Love And Our Circumstances

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
John 11:1-6

A couple of months ago while reading a book by Jerry Bridges called Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts, I came across the following quote:

We must see our circumstances through God’s love instead of, as we are prone to do, seeing God’s love through our circumstances (p.160).

This is one of those one liners that five years after you have read a book you remember even though you've forgotten everything else. It's the kind of line that can change your life if burned into your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit.

What does it look like to see God's love through our circumstances? And what does it look like to instead see our circumstances through God's love as we should? What is the difference between the two? And why does it matter?

From these verses in John, the translation of one word determines, I believe, whether we see Jesus's love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus through their circumstances or whether we see their circumstances through Jesus's love for them.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are facing agonizing circumstances. Lazarus is sick and on the verge of death. So they send messengers to tell Jesus about these circumstances so that Jesus can change them, right? In verse 5, John tells us of Jesus' love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And then verse 6 shows us the connection between God the Son's love for them and their circumstances.

If you are reading in the NIV, verses 5 and 6 are as follows (emphasis added):

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

If you are reading in the ESV, verses 5 and 6 are as follows (emphasis added):

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

In the NIV's rendering, I can't help but see Jesus's love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus through the lens of their circumstances. And if I put myself in the shoes of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, my heart is saying: Even though God loves me, these are my circumstances. Which takes higher precedence in my heart: God's love or my circumstances?

In the ESV's rendering, I can't help but see the circumstances of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus through the lens of Jesus's love for them. And now when I put myself in the shoes of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, my heart says: Because God loves me, these are my circumstances. Which takes higher precedence in my heart in this case: God's love or my circumstances?

What's the difference between the two? Does it even matter? Is there anything at stake here?

What do you think?