Understanding our world through the lens of Scripture.
Purpose
My former systematic theology professor, Dr. Thomas Cragoe, would regularly say "think with me theologically." We students would chuckle because the class was Systematic Theology, but he taught us to think critically from a biblical worldview. This site seeks to emulate that, calling all of us to think theologically.
Today I was at a funeral of a woman who was a fully dedicated follower of Christ in the Cork area. The sermon given by the pastor of Lee Valley Bible Church in Ballincollig had an insight I thought was very good and wanted to share it here.
The pastor (I cannot remember his name) spoke on Psalm 23. Some of his insights I’ll repeat below.
Psalm 23 talks about going through the valley of the shadow of death. The pastor focused on the fact that the word used is “shadow.” Why shadow?
What is a shadow? It is imaginary, a projection and not something substantial. It is the result of two other things; substance and light. So when referring to the shadow of death, the substance is death and its shadow is caused by light – the light of the world. So why is the psalmist only going through the shadow? The answer is to focus on what happened to its substance. The substance, death, is discussed in the previous psalm; 22. This psalm is a clear, prophetic description of Christ’s death on the cross, which Christ fulfills just by exclaiming the first line as he hung there. Jesus experienced the full substance of death. But we do not. We only go through the shadow.
This is a beautiful picture. Jesus, who calls himself the light of the world, experienced the full weight and measure of death so we would not. He took our place. We only face a shadow.
This is emphasized in the Psalm even more by stating not that Christ sent us on ahead, but that he is with us. He went through death – its substance, so that as we now go through death, we only go through its shadow.
It is a parable we say quite often, and not without backing. Over and over we see it happening in our lives – someone experiences something great, glorifies himself for it, then is soon after found eating their share of humble pie.
I have been reading through the book of 2 Chronicles for my personal studies lately, and noticed something absolutely fascinating about what happened to at least two kings of Judah. The first that caught my attention was Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. This young man was brought into power at just the age of 16! Amazing to think that when we are just getting excited about getting our driver’s licenses, this man is inheriting the throne over Judah! He also held this power for one of the longer periods for the kings – 52 years. Then comes the description of him in verses 4 and 5. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Notice particularly what verse 5 says:
He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.
First, he had a good teacher. Zechariah the prophet had a proper focus on God and was able to convey that to Uzziah. It seems Zechariah was wise enough to point out to this young king that the king’s prosperity was dependant on on his seeking the Lord.
Uzziah seemed to listen, for even again in verse 8 he is noted as growing very strong, in verse 10 he is described as being very wealthy, and his army was continually growing and becoming more and more fortified. Then comes a bad omen in verse 15;
And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
Something is wrong. The focus is off. Rather than focus on the strength of his God, the camera is zeroed in on Uzziah. Verse 16 then describes his downfall;
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Pride got in the way. He thought he could do anything, even to the point of disregarding the prescriptions in the Law for how sacrifices were to be offered and by whom they were given.
I have to wonder what happened. He did what was right in God’s eyes, until his own pride got the best of him. How can we avoid that? Too often we become proud in our accomplishments, wanting to focus on the many things that we have done. It seems to me Uzziah like other kings did not do something that Scripture repeatedly encourages us to do: remember. In our Bible studies and in our preaching, we want to find the next greatest thing, we want to make new discoveries, plumbing the depths of Scripture. But in doing this we too easily forget the fundamentals. We forget.
So even in this Christmas season, maybe it is important that we take time to remember. Remember the message of the Gospel. Remember the baby born in Bethlehem, that he was born to die. Remember, as Paul states, who we once were and still are.
Remember.
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph. 2:11-13)
First I would like to apologize for my hiatus from this blog over the last number of weeks. I have been in Ireland performing a culture study as well as a missions internship for the last month. To read more on this trip go here.
We now come to a very difficult question. It is in answering this question that we teeter on the brink of reentering a legalistic sort of faith. A friend of mine, Jonathan Erdman, with whom I sometimes agree and sometimes disagree, raises a very interesting and valuable point in regards to this issue. He in fact plans to write a book about it! At one point in his leak blog post he writes;
Protestant Christianity of all stripes carries [reciprocity] into their idea of grace, albeit in a way that I consider to be somewhat disingenuous: God gives you the "free" gift of salvation.....therefore....you should should be grateful and do __________. Where many Christians differ is in the way they fill in the blank. But there always seems to be a blank. The result of this is that most Christians carry forward some brand of guilt--guilt for not being good enough or making enough "spiritual progress," moral failings, etc.
It is true that in nearly all, if not every, form of religion carries into its theology this idea of reciprocity, or as Erdman refers to it, an “economy of reciprocity.” Yet, even as we discussed before, salvation does come by grace. So what is the catch? Is there a catch? It would seem based on our previous discussions about the gospel, there is a catch; a call to holiness and the way of suffering.
Think carefully. Holiness is what was required of the people under the Law and they failed miserably. Christ comes after some time of living under the Law and does perfectly what man could not – fulfill the whole Law perfectly. The Law served as a teacher, showing man he could not do it (Galatians 3:24 – the Greek word translated guardian is the term for pedagogue). So salvation must come to us as a gift, and thus the term grace, because we cannot earn it.
Yet then we are called to live a certain way in light of that freely given, unmerited gracious gift. Has grace become something other than gracious? No. We talked before about the work of the Spirit in a person’s life which results in a radical change of view regarding sin and thus a change in how people live and respond to sin. We live and strive to be holy because he is holy, not because it is commanded only, but also because our love for him automatically results in our desire to obtain that holiness. This is why John is able to say in I John 3:3 “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” It is the natural reaction of the one who has been redeemed.
So back to Erdman’s statement. Many churches do say we “should be grateful and do __________.” But indeed this is the wrong emphasis and salvation is no longer truly received by grace through faith alone. Forcing holiness and creating this expectation on people can create a false sense of duty in the Christian life. We should be able to expect to see a life change in people’s lives, but if we have to ask for it or even worse, demand it, then we have indeed lost sight of the grace that brings salvation. It is a difficult position to maintain, but nevertheless does seem to be what Scripture teaches.
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
When is the last time we truly meditated on these words? We look at the cross, the suffering associated with it, the end result of it, and are humbled that Christ would go through such a great task for us. But then to think that Jesus turns it around and says we are to follow him – even to the cross!!! Are we prepared for such a task?
It seems that even Christ’s followers, when confronted with the reality of what he was saying in his calling, found themselves second-guessing their allegiance. At one point all but his closest disciples left him (John 6:66). Then when the going got really tough, even they would only follow… from a distance (Matthew 27:56-58). Indeed, the cost of following Christ is high. Consider these words;
Christ had no interest in gathering vast crowds of professed adherents who would melt away as soon as they found out what following Him actually demanded of them. In our own presentation of Christ’s gospel, therefore, we need to lay a similar stress on the cost of following Christ and make sinners face it soberly before we urge them to respond to the message of free forgiveness. In common honesty, we must not conceal the fact that free forgiveness in one sense will cost everything.– (J. I. Packer)
It will cost everything. Remember Paul? It was warned after his conversion that he would have to suffer greatly for the sake of Christ. Yet what does Paul say about his sufferings?
For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,… (2 Cor 4:15-17)
Did you catch that? He calls the sufferings he endured light, momentary affliction. Light as if to say they were easy, simple, like the man who brags about a minor scratch. But Paul says it was worth it, because following Christ, following him in to the cross brings an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. So yes, we are called to suffer, to suffer greatly. But we are not called to suffer for worthless reasons.
How do we do it? consider the remaining words of Paul from the passage quoted above;
as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18)
We endure suffering by looking not at the suffering, but at something much greater. We look unto Jesus, our hope and our joy, just as Jesus looked unto the hope and joy that was set before him as he endured the cross (Heb 12:2).
Curious isn’t it that the New Testament which is so focused on grace and not living under the law would include commands that are often more difficult to obey than the ones given in the Old Testament Law? This is important to realize when understanding the balance the Gospel creates between man’s and God’s responsibility. God is the one who saves as we stated before, but it does not leave man to do as he wishes. Man also has a responsibility.
Christ demanded obedience. Extreme obedience. On the one hand we must believe and it is God who grants us the faith to believe, so it is God’s responsibility to save man. But man is also expected to obey the calling of Christ. To follow him. To emulate him. To serve as his ambassadors. This is a high calling. Consider this; Peter writes in his letter to the churches; “Be holy in all manner of conversation.” Think deeply on this command. Is it even possible to be holy in every interaction we have with other people; Christian and non-Christian alike? No. Not on our own. But with Christ, because of the Gospel being lived out daily in our lives it is possible.
Another famed passage is Romans 12:1-2:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
This passage is a command colored with the language of “appeal.” The word carries the idea of a strong urging, begging, imploring someone to do the action stated afterward. Paul urges them, but then states that this action is not just a nice thing to do, but IS our worship. thus this is a command given in the language of an appeal.
Afterward is another command, first given negatively and then positively. First we are to not conform. Paul typically uses the term “world” to refer to the evil aspects of the world, the idea of conforming to a sinful condition. Instead, we are to “be transformed.” True, this is in the passive tense, which many think takes the emphasis off of what we must do. Thus, we can focus on not conforming, then let go and let God do the transforming. I think this is a faulty interpretation. Given all the other commands scattered frequently throughout the New Testament, we are not passive receptors of transformation, but active participants in the process. We transform ourselves and God transforms us. It is a dual relationship.
A reading through Paul’s letters will note the regularity which Paul attaches his commands to the Gospel. That is the beauty of the transformation. We participate with God in transforming ourselves. We work together with God. God does not do it all nor do we do it all. We do it together with him who gives us the power. But the point is we must still work towards being holy. We must still participate in the transformation process. We must obey.
Part 6 of this series will bring out another aspect of this Gospel calling: the way of suffering. Part 7 will answer the obedience question: What does God require of us to live out the Gospel?
As I've been thinking about the true Gospel message and what it entails, various thoughts on its connection to missions have arisen. I will discuss this further in a latter post, but for now I wanted to share this video by HistoryMakers and set to music by Lecrae. I'll post the lyrics after the video.
Lyrics to Send Me : Send me I'll go, send me I'll go, send me I'll go, lemme go lemme go! (repeat x4)
i seen it with my own two, there's no way i can show you a perfectly poverty stricken people with no view. And i bet you can't believe this, they never heard of jesus. Heard young butler, lil wayne, and young jeezy.
No one's signing up to go on missions this summa. Rather sit at home and watch exibit pimp in a humma while a nine year old is shot down. No one's screaming 'stop now!' no bridge illustrations for criminals who on lock down.
People deep in africa looking for an answer bra'. In china man, they're dieing man, until they know who died for sins. So look what grace did. Not for us to stay here inside our comfort zones at home in mama's basement.
Get out on the grind y'all. Ain't no better time doll. I know y'all read the great commission. Let me just remind y'all: make disciples of the nations. Teach'm to obey the lord. Have to lead someone to christ before i face the lord.
Send me I'll go, send me I'll go, send me I'll go, lemme go lemme go! (repeat x4)
hey! After, 1,000 years in the west and the churches get'n bigger daily without understand'n worship. (say what?) Some regenerate but a lot ain't saved. You walk outside and be surprised cuz the block ain't changed. And the numbers they be get'n me. Something just ain't hit'n them. America ain't christian they practice'n the ritual. That's why we should be mission though. Hey, what you think i'm spit'n for? The united states is die'n and in the east is looking pitiful.
Some places if they catch you they'll arrest you. They'll serve you, but they still need the word too. The gospel should be heard too. We claim we ain't ashamed, but we ain't hit the block up. Were in our christian bubble, while our brotha's get'n locked up. Lord i wanna stock up, pack a bag and walk up in a country where my faith may get me shot up anywhere i go, whether my city or far abroad, i just wanna show' christ the risen holy god.
Send me I'll go, send me I'll go, send me I'll go, lemme go lemme go! (repeat x4)
i know they're die'n in the streets over in the middle east. Some kids sink in piece others hold'n up a piece. If the violence doesn't cease, then at least the deceased might know jesus as their savior as their bodies hit the streets. And i know this is a graphic view. And i pray that it's attack'n you. Track'n you to act and do what you see in the back illusion. Mathew twenty-four and fourteen. We should read it twice before we think that life is just a battle see we free in christ! Look dawg! Life is more than church work and football! What if you were dead and seen that christians overlooked y'all! This is why we leave the couch and leave the comforts of our house to show a die'n world a god they'll probably never read about.
The great commission says make disciples of all nations. Have we even made them in our own nation? Come on christians! Missions exist because worship doesn't. People don't worship the god who made them. We're ambassadors. Let's go!
Send me I'll go, send me I'll go, send me I'll go, lemme go lemme go! (repeat x4)
It is ironic in my quest to move away from legalism and fundamentalism, that I am returning to a call for obedience embedded in the Gospel message. Usually there are two sides to this question. One is the legalist who while in their words will say salvation comes by faith in Christ’s atoning work alone will then expect people to live by a certain moral standard reminiscent of Pharisaical law. On the other side are those who question all forms of “duty” or commands expecting obedience in the Gospel and the Christian life, saying we are called to live holy but completely divorce it from the initial salvation experience as if regeneration and sanctification are two completely separate issues. These people have no problem agreeing with the legalists regarding regeneration, but take issue with them on issues surrounding sanctification—emphasizing grace. So which is it?
The answer is both are right and both are wrong. Salvation is by grace through faith alone. But embedded in the call of the Gospel is a call to obedient faithful living. Jesus tells his people to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him (Matt 16:24). Consider also what Paul says;
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Col 2:6-7)
It seems there is some connection between faithful living (obedient living) and accepting the Gospel. The two simply go together. LeRoy Eims states:
I have seen people “make decisions,” but when I tried to help them grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I discovered that they were still dead in their trespasses and sins. They had no spiritual life. I have learned the hard way that it is impossible to disciple a person who is spiritually dead.
Paul stated, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17). IN order to identify a genuine convert, you must see in him a change of attitude toward Jesus Christ and a change of attitude toward sin. (The Lost Art of Disciple Making, 62)
As Eims goes on to explain, the lordship of Christ may not be fully understood right away, but the desire for Christ and against sin can still be evident. Jesus expects obedience. He expects people to live lives that go against the way of sin, that despise sin and any appearance of it. This is a bigger call than simply accepting deliverance from future eternal judgment.
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