ResponsiveReiding

A 6 course meal for your brain.

February 18th, 2013

Treat your brain to a 6 course meal.

Of the two pastoral fellowships which have sprung up from ECF, the NCT group (New Covenant Theology) holds a unique place in my heart. One of the things this group does, is invest time in reading a wide range of theological writers and topics to enrich and enlarge our own thinking. It is a place of rapid, often animated discussion, and a safe place to float theories and ponderings. I love it.

In an act of indulgence toward me, the group undertook to read the 6 “Stone Lectures” given by Abraham Kuyper at Princeton in 1898. I had re-read these lectures (after several decades) during my sabbatical. A statesman, politician and theologian, Kuyper came to Princeton at the invitation of the giant B. B. Warfield, and gave these lectures in understanding “Calvinism” as a world-view, not a theological system. In other words, starting from an understanding of God as Creator and continuing ruler of the cosmos, how do we understand all of life through this lens?

Kuyper was a profound thinker and theologian. He was also a pastor, a newspaper man, seminary professor, a Parliamentarian and eventually became the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901-1905. I was introduced to him by reading his magisterial book on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit whilst still a lad. My Dad had an almost original copy of that work on the bookshelves which happened to also be in my bedroom growing up. I am forever grateful for that exposure.

Before Francis Schaeffer, Malcom Muggeridge, C. S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias, Carl F. H. Henry or others who follow in that mold, Kuyper spoke and taught in terms of world-view (a comprehensive understanding of existence) and sought to help people consider the “big picture” of life from a thoroughgoing Biblical perspective. In this, he excelled.

So let me recommend to you these lectures for your own consideration. In them, and in this order he investigates the following areas:

1. Calvinism as a Life System. (DO NOT read Calvinism here as T.U.L.I.P., or you will entirely miss his aim in all six lecture. It is Calvinism as a worldview simply having as its starting point, God’s active sovereignty in His created cosmos)

2. Calvinism and Religion.

3. Calvinism and Politics.

4. Calvinism and Science.

5. Calvinism and Art.

6. Calvinism and the Future.

Kuyper’s extraordinarily well developed understanding of common grace (I’ll let the readers get the full understanding of that from him) and how the Holy Spirit works even in the lost is paradigm shifting to say the least.

Warning: he is not easy reading. You will have to apply yourself. But do it. He will challenge your thinking every step of the way. He will make you examine why you hold the opinions you hold on the topics he addresses directly, and the implications of those conclusions in a host of other areas. Agree or disagree with him in any particular point, you will be forced to consider your own views and why you hold them. And this is invaluable.

For me, Kuyper is about the most intellectually satisfying author I’ve read. Every return to these pages is a treat for my mind as well as my soul.

As we’ve been discussing one lecture per meeting, and we meet only once a month, we have already invested 8 months into this book (yes, the math requires you know some lectures we’ve split up because there is so much to be examined – and even then we’ve fallen woefully short), we have yet to leave without being provoked (in the best sense of the word) in our own thoughts and formulations. I very highly recommend these lectures to you as a powerful tool in developing your spiritual thought process.

Now, to give you a taste of something to tease your brain – consider this quote from his lecture on Calvinism and Art, and think about it for a while.

“‎The world after the fall is no lost planet, only destined now to afford the church a place in which to continue her combats; and humanity is no aimless mass of people which only serves the purpose of giving birth to the elect. On the contrary the world now, as well as in the beginning, is the theatre for the mighty works of God, and humanity remains a creation of His hand, which, apart from salvation, completes under this present dispensation, here on earth, a mighty process, and in its historical development is to glorify the name of Almighty God.”

Have fun!

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Behold Our Sovereign God – a book recommendation.

January 31st, 2013

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty as it stands is not disputed by very many at all. The Bible clearly teaches it. Virtually all agree. The rub comes when we try to define what we mean by God being sovereign.

For some, saying that God is sovereign simply means He holds the office of being over all – but that He is not actually in some way connected to all that transpires on planet earth. Something like a king or “sovereign” over a nation having ultimate authority, but in reality everyone under his rule is really just doing their own thing – operating on their own.

To others, the idea of God being sovereign means He is so involved in everything, that He ends up being the direct cause of everything. Perhaps even bleeding over into a form of Christianized fatalism. So in fact, no one actually makes any decisions at all – and all that comes about (in the most uncomplicated way) is simply what God wants.

And then there is the whole spectrum that lies between these two points.

When we consider God’s sovereignty, our investigation also requires that we examine the nature of man’s autonomy (or lack thereof) and how human will relates to God’s sovereignty. Where are the cut off points? What are the limits of God’s sovereignty (if there are any) and what are the limits of the human will (if there are any) and how do these relate to one another or intersect ? If indeed they do. Is anyone truly responsible for what they do if in the end they are all just doing God’s sovereign will? How then are human beings morally responsible? If they in fact are. And where do things which seem to be direct contradictions to God’s expressed will in His Word fit into the picture?

Heavy stuff.

But every thinking man (not to mention every thinking Christian) has wrestled with these questions and those that surround it at one time or another, and to one degree or another.

Again, heavy stuff.

Without being overly reductionistic or dodging the questions, nor being dismissive of the weight of the questions involved, Mitchell L. Chase’s “Behold Our Sovereign God” deftly and sensitively tackles this massive topic, in amazingly manageable style. I highly recommend it.

Make no mistake, this is not an exhaustive theological treatise examining the minute facets of this important doctrine. But it is a very clear, concise and theologically sound attempt at wrestling with the key issues, in everyday language. Its accessibility to the average reader lends it to being a terrific introduction to the topic without being either overwhelming or overly simplistic. At a slim 134 pages, it can be read very quickly – and in my estimation with great profit.

Chase has a pastor’s heart. So his treatment of the questions that surround God’s sovereignty and human tragedy is laced with gentleness and concern for the suffering. This is not an exercise in telling the bewildered and injured “just buck up – God is sovereign! So everything’s OK.” Instead, he labors with us to both rest in God, and face the Biblical tensions that are inherent in asking some questions we cannot have as satisfactory-as-we-might-like answers to now.

Let me leave you with just a few quotes to whet your appetite for the book, and in order to grasp how he deals with some very difficult concepts.

“So what should we do if our fallen minds insist that God cannot ordain evil without being evil? The short answer is this: remind ourselves that our reasoning doesn’t always line up with the logic of God’s inspired Bible. If we see the Bible’s teaching and then make implications it clearly forbids, we should let it correct us. Our deductions aren’t inspired, but God’s are.” (p. 55). Lucid Books. Kindle Edition.

“But, according to his divine plan, “God ordains that what he hates will come to pass.” (p. 56). Lucid Books. Kindle Edition.

“if God ordained the worst evil to bring about the greatest good, then lesser evils are not beyond his decree or his ability to work good from them.” (p. 74). Lucid Books. Kindle Edition.

“That God cannot stop a germ or a car or a bullet or a demon is not good news; it is not the news of the Bible. God can. And ten thousand times he does. But when he doesn’t, he has his reasons.” (pp. 82-83). Lucid Books. Kindle Edition. Quoting John Piper.

The full title of the book is: Behold Our Sovereign God: All things from Him, Through Him and To Him”. Which subtitle you’ll no doubt recall comes from Romans 11:36.

A terrific volume for all Christians. Buy it and read it.

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Life of Pi – A Review

November 30th, 2012

Life of Pi

The film adaptation of Yann Martel’s 2001 fantasy adventure novel by the same name is interesting to say the least. No less a personage than President Barak Obama pronounced it “an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling” – in a personal letter to the author. And while both the book and the film have been met with broad critical acclaim, I must confess I was not as wowed as so many seem to be.

Life of Pi’s protagonist is a young Indian man by the name of Piscine Molitor Patel – Pi Patel for short. Growing up in Pondicherry India in the early 70’s, his “religionless” father runs a zoo. Living life with his older brother and mother as well, Pi is culturally raised as a Hindu in spite of his father’s bent against any religion, and notes that he first meets “god” through one of the 33,000,000 Hindu gods. At 14, he is introduced to Christianity, where he likes the figure of the Son of God, but thinks the idea that he would be punished for the sins of guilty men by The Father is nonsense. Later, he also delves into Islam, and tries to live a life with these 3 conflicting worldviews meshed into one.

As the story unfolds, the family is forced to close the zoo, and Pi’s father arranges to move the family and the animals to Canada. Once all are on the journey, the ship encounters some unknown trouble during a storm and sinks. The only survivors are Pi, a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra with a broken leg and a large Bengal tiger named Robert Parker. These 4 are adrift at sea together. It isn’t long before the hyena makes prey of the injured zebra, and then the orangutan. Richard Parker dispatches the hyena, and the balance of the story is Pi surviving for over 200 days adrift with Robert Parker. After plenty of harrowing circumstances (as one might expect with these dynamics) Pi & Robert Parker have a short reprieve on what turns out to be a “carnivorous” island. Realizing they cannot remain there, the two take to the sea in their lifeboat once more, finally washing up on the shore of Mexico. Robert Parker takes his leave into the jungle, and Pi is discovered by some men and taken to a hospital. Whilst recovering in the hospital, Pi is visited by investigators of the Japanese ship owners looking for answers as to why their ship sank. Pi recounts his unlikely tale which is met with appropriate incredulity. Finally he fesses that in fact, the “Zebra” was a sailor who broke his leg jumping in the boat. The “orangutan” was his mother who also got into the boat. The “hyena” was the vile ship’s cook, and the tiger, none other than Pi himself. And the bottom line for Pi, is not – which story is true – but rather, which one would you rather believe?

Ultimately, the reality is, there are unknown reasons behind much of life – especially great tragedies – and religion is our way of trying to make sense of those inexplicable things. In the end, we each simply pick the religious version we prefer most, to deal with the fact that there are no real answers.

Whether or not the movie stayed true to the original novel, I am not in a place to comment on having never read it. But in terms of reviewing the movie on its own, it seems best to examine it three ways: Cinema-graphically, Philosophically and Theologically.

Cinema-graphically, the film is a fine example of deft story telling. Reasonably developed characters, believable interactions, and a story to be told which unfolds naturally. But it was also slow. So far so good. I guess.

Unfortunately for me, while the visual effects are highly praised, I found them less compelling than most reviewers. Oddly (since this is most highly lauded by others I read) it failed most in the CGI tiger. Not because he didn’t look “real” enough as though physically there, but because he wasn’t real enough in his wildness (for lack of a better term). There was no real fierceness there. He was (as were all the animals) a bit too humanized. Given the pantheistic backdrop of Hinduism, I suppose this is to be expected. So, to be fair, this may have been on purpose. After all, the tiger is a metaphor for Pi himself. He is meant to be the “beast” in Pi, and thus part of the circle of life and thus also sharing human tameness. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. But it failed there for me. But there was never any “real” danger conveyed. Richard Parker wasn’t a wild beast, he was a big, somewhat testy cat.

Philosophically, make no mistake, this movie clearly communicates a pantheistic worldview, where individual meaning is found in our adoption of which “story” sounds most inviting to us, while we remain void of any real answers to life’s great mysteries. Life just is what it is. We live it, are exposed to it, and we invent various scaffoldings to give mystery a structure we can hang on to. Cycles of life and death, just are. Wildness and humanity are all just varying shades and manifestations of the same whatever “is”. As the movie version ends with Pi telling the two stories to an author who wants to write the story, Pi’s wife and children arrive. Surprised to find out he is married and has kids, the author says to Pi “then the story has a happy ending!”. Pi says the ending is really up to author, it is “his story” now. Truth is irrelevant. It is all how you want to see it. All of reality is just how you experience it, and choose to interpret it.

This pantheism is not only the philosophical worldview, it is also the movie’s theological base. Not only is reality simply what you experience in life and how you interpret it – God is as well. Hence the attempt to merge Hinduism, Christianity and Islam into one thing for Pi. Each is useful in providing a story to make dealing with the mysteries of life palatable. There is no real, objective “God” who created all things and imbues them with meaning by virtue of His creatorship. Things just are. And we supply a self-invented “god” to help us make sense of what is unfathomable. So “god” may be Vishnu, Krishna, Allah or the Son of God. Each is simply a useful framework wherever most needed and best suited.

In a telling family dinner conversation, Pi’s Dad challenges his acceptance of these three conflicting religions. He sees the incongruity and tells Pi he cannot cling to all three. Pi simply queries “why not?” His father has no answer, and we are to suppose that the question cannot be answered in a negative way. The idea that mutually exclusive concepts cannot all be true is simply dismissed out of hand as though it is silly to even think such a thing. If I want to believe 2+2 = 4, AND 2+2 = 13, AND 2+2 = 1394 – who’s to say I cannot believe that? Given any particular circumstances, it might be advantageous to hold one or the other as the situation calls for it. And so it is there is no “truth”. There is what works for me in a given circumstance. Whichever version pleases me most at any given time. Which, to put it simply, is just plain nonsense.

Let’s apply Pi’s (Martel’s) approach to language for instance. What if in telling the story, I prefer that P is really Q and I is L. In fact, let’s substitute letters or symbols at our individual pleasure to communicate any concept. And so write “I love you” with *mmqrs%$. Which of course I can also write kkkkkkkk. Maybe I can ever write it “I loathe you with every fiber of my being”. Who’s to say? Can any real communication ever take place like that? No. Without establishing forms which remain and are mutually agreed upon, communication of any kind is impossible. Now apply that idea to theology – let god be whatever we imagine him or it or her to be at any time under whatever circumstances we prefer at any given time, and all of us do that together, and there is no “god”, because all must be the same. Bingo! Theological pantheism at its rawest. Everything is god and god is everything, atomized or congealed. And thus, there is no god, there is just the story – which you can write or alter at will. No truth. No real reality. No God. No meaning. Just each individual’s imaginative attempt to give meaning where none exists.

It would be hard to think of a more anti-Christian worldview than the one espoused in Life of Pi. It certainly captures the current trend in world religion, to attempt unity in all religion – but it fails miserably, as it is ultimately incomprehensible drivel. It is nonsense. It is a lie.

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The Harbinger – a review, sort of.

October 27th, 2012

I just finished reading the hugely popular, best-selling book – The Harbinger – by Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. I will keep my comments exceedingly few, since others have already done much more thorough reviews than I am willing to spend the time on given the nature of the book. Two that I might recommend are Tim Challies’ short review HERE, and David James’ in-depth review HERE.

In short, following a long (seemingly never ending) line of attempts to make the United States of America a subject of Biblical prophecy, The Harbinger is more an exercise in super-vivid imagination than anything even approximating genuine scholarship. It is quite simply as fictional as anything ever penned by Isaac Asimov, Dan Brown or Rod Serling.

The entire book is based upon a single false premise – that somehow, the text of a few lines of prophecy in Isaiah 9:10, apply to the U.S. of A. And to state it as clearly as I can, there is NO exegetical reason whatsoever from the Bible itself to make this Israel/U.S.A. connection – none, nada, zilch, zero NOTHING! It does not exist.

Sadly, Cahn’s connections in arriving at his conclusions are identical to the method used by the ancients to construct the Zodiac. Given enough dots on a page (or stars in the sky) you can draw as many imaginary figures as you want. And in terms of Bible interpretation – this is precisely what was done here. It is a fabrication out of whole cloth. A figment of the imagination.

At best, it is a B-movie script with Biblical texts taken out of context. Mildly entertaining. At worst, (by barely mentioning Jesus or the Gospel, and then only oddly) it calls for a generic return to deism in order to preserve American prosperity.

My best advice in regard to it? don’t waste either your time or your money on it.

The only thing it is a possible harbinger of, is an increase in poor Christian literature.

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The Principles – #6

September 7th, 2012

Matthew 22:34-40 / “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

6. All sin is ultimately a defect in love – either toward God, or my neighbor. And one always includes the other. I cannot sin against God without it being bad for my neighbor, and I cannot sin against my neighbor without it also being a sin against God. Gal. 5:14-26. But it all begins with a defect in my perception of God’s love!

The human as the image bearer of God, is not a source, but only a responder.

God is love, but we are not.

Our love must and can only spring from His.

We cannot generate it on our own.

When we try, the perverse product is defective in every way.

We must and only can love as we know His love for us.

Had Adam and Eve suspected no defect in God’s love for them, they would have remained invincible against temptation and sin.

It was in their suspicion that His love kept back from them something good, some necessary or accordant blessing of love, that they then failed to love Him and one another in return.

We cannot fix our love in a vacuum or independently, for we cannot produce love – we can only reflect it.

In that we perceive anything at all defective in His love, that defect will be magnified in us as reflectors, and eclipse the whole of His love, seeing only the defect, and fearing the loss – we will angrily lash out in sin to obtain what we believe we are being deprived of.

We must study to know the love of God for us in Christ above all things.

Only by deep, rich, full, Spirit revealed beams of God’s love penetrating our hearts and minds, illumining our souls, can we ever come to love Him back, and those who too are made in His image.

Left to ourselves, love will be a tormenting fire, but never a liberating light.

Holy Spirit, make me to know Divine love.

I can pray nothing higher for myself, my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law, my grandchildren, my church or my enemies than this.

Do not leave me to myself, for my love is but a sullied and defective reflection, currently distorted by my sin.

Please send your Spirit to strengthen me/us in the inner man to – so that Christ has His manifest dwelling there.

So that we are enabled to know your love in purity and fullness.

That we might be filled with the fullness of God – for it is only found in knowing your love.

Fill me.

The faith that the just must live in – is the faith to believe God as He has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus, making an all sufficient sacrifice for sin, calling all to come and be reconciled, and overcoming in vast numbers the unwillingness that resides in us all.

Oh grand, divine, in fathomable mystery of God’s great love!

Who can know it?

Who can understand it?

Who dares to so revel and rely upon it as to live in its perpetual and limitless joy?

May I!

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The Principles – #5

September 4th, 2012

Without taking the time to re-establish the basis of series here (please go back to #1 if you need a full explanation) let me move on to the 5^th Principle I have found it necessary to load into my own mental RAM as a means of thinking Biblically about life.

Principle #5 – Providence limits our options.

Have you ever spent much time fretting over things you wish were different, but you have no power to actually change? I have. And I am here to tell you it is an exercise in futility. More, it is a waste of time, energy and emotion. IT is a trap which is horribly hard to extricate ourselves from. And it is a place which drives me back to reconsider this principle every time. In truth, no matter how we wish some things were different, the providential arrangement of much of our lives leaves us to cope only with what is, and does not give us all of the options we wish we had at our disposal.

No doubt, we rage against this reality at times. True, we CAN change some things. Others, we can plead with the Heavenly Father for, and He has power to change what we cannot. And then, there are those things which barring miraculous intervention cannot be changed at all. And we are forced to live within those boundaries. (See: Acts 17:26-28)

Birth defects may be tempered with science to some degree, but the victim of cerebral palsy will have limitations to his or her physical exploits. One with Down Syndrome will have different options in life than one without. One born blind may never see, and dreams of certain careers or other choices will simply be unavailable. How some wish we could reclaim that parent who was distant, or absent, or even abusive, and recreate the relationship we legitimately long for. But no amount of longing, pining, sighing, grieving or manipulating can change any of these.

In these few examples and countless more, we are forced to live within the boundaries of the providential circumstances of our lives. And the question is, will we submit to them, or will we try to move Heaven and earth in ways that are unhealthy and even dangerous? Will we dwell there? Or will we take the options we truly have?

Now let me be clear – I am not speaking of a failing resignation here. I am not advocating just giving up and languishing in our limitations. What I am advocating rather, is a faithful looking to the God and Father who loves us, and who in His infinite love and wisdom directs us for our eternal good, by closing off certain avenues. And while the concept is simple, it is seldom easy to walk this way. This requires an unusual trust in the loving hand of our unseen Father.

Trust in God this way does not negate the reality either of evil done to us, nor of legitimate disappointment. But it is a call to refuse to frame our lives by these things – and rather to frame them in the hope of our Heavenly Father’s sovereign hand. Even when we cannot understand it.

Especially when we cannot understand it.

Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr summarized his thoughts in understanding these issues in a prayer he wrote in 1943. No, it was not invented by Alcoholics Anonymous. Niebuhr wasn’t my kind of theologian. But he got this right. He closed a sermon of his with these words:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

What options HAS God placed before you? Seek those in His grace. And do not waste a second more on what He hasn’t . The day will come – when in His presence, you will see His wisdom in it. And you will worship.

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The Principles – #4

August 22nd, 2012
Some things we learn end up being major slices of the lens through which we see all of life. For me, there are certain truths which emerge from Scripture that do that same in terms of understanding the whole of the Bible and Scriptural Christianity. Some of these I’ve assembled over time and for lack of a better title, have called them “The Principles”. The list is not exhaustive, and continues to grow. But I am sharing what I have so far in hopes of them being and encouragement and as a means of perhaps bringing clarity to some things that might be a bit fuzzy.

Today’s Principle is #4 on my list, and it is: The Lord’s prayer is essential for tuning the heart in all things. It is God’s paradigm.

Every instrument needs tuned regularly. From pianos to tympani, violins to bass guitars, trumpets, tubas oboes and piccolos. Every musician tunes his or her instrument before they attempt to play anything on it. And if they do not, it isn’t long before they cannot play any melody consistently, recognizably or especially in concert with any other instrument. The tuning process is absolutely imperative. It is no less so with the human soul.

Christians are instruments. We were created to be joyfully and skillfully breathed through by the Spirit of God in producing praises of the highest order. Transcendent music of the heavenlies. Sometimes He strums us, and other times He uses the bow of circumstance to cause our heart string to resonate with the beauty of His touch. He will blow more softly or more forcefully as both the instrument and the particular passage in the piece being played requires. He will sometimes pluck strings, and other times elongate the slide, press the sustain pedal or use sticks on the snare.

Whether we are to be used as instruments of praise in a solo passage, or with the rest of the orchestra in concert – we need to be tuned. We need to have the same foundational starting note and be able to work within the same chord structure. And the 7 pronged tuning fork put before us for us to tune to – I would advance, is the Lord’s Prayer. Nothing so completely and sweetly orders the whole frame of heart and mind as to tune first and foremost to:
1. Our Father, is the God of Heaven. We are His dear children, and He has begotten us out of the depths of His eternal Triune love. He who rules and reigns over us, brought us forth to know Him who is the fountain of every blessing.
2. That He has made us to bear His image, and uniquely equipped us above every other creature in the universe to comprehend and stand in awed admiration at His revealed beauty in Christ Jesus. To hallow His name.
3. To live under His beneficent Lordship, wallowing in the lush oceans of His holiness, immensity, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient glory in mercy and grace untold. To bring the whole of our being under His loving hand, and to desire that Kingship to be extended everywhere.
4. To remain ever aware that nothing could be of higher blessing to Him and to us than for His will to be unopposed in even the slightest way in any place or by anything.
5. To look to Him in absolute confidence that our souls are to be fully sated on the Bread of Life He has sent down in the person of His Son. To feast afresh and anew on Him every day.
6. To walk in the most tender, intimate and wondrous fellowship – jealously guarding lest anything hinder or defile that closeness in any way – always keeping short accounts with Him in seeking forgiveness which is never denied for any offense.
7. And to recall that our own hearts are desperately wicked, and easily lured by the siren song of the Tempter. To look to Him then to lead us away from where our own erring feet may go, and deliver us from the snares the Wicked One has set for us.
To live always in this frame – is to be an instrument ready for the Master’s service, to delight Him and to be fitted for the song we were created to fill the universe with. And it is joy.

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The Principles – #3

August 21st, 2012

Continuing in our short series on The Principles, we take a moment here to consider #3 on my list. It is one which I have tried to articulate often the congregation here at ECF, and to keep at the forefront of my own thinking at all times – not always successfully.

Principle #3 The Christian life cannot be lived any other way than by conscious, constant, deliberate dependence upon the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Beloved, if you never learn anything from listening to or reading anything I have ever communicated, I pray this will drop down into the innermost recesses of your soul and find solid lodging there. So important was the giving of the Holy Spirit to us by Christ Jesus, that He raised it to the level of being a greater blessing than His incarnate presence with us before the cross.

Listen to the nature of Christ’s love for us, and the Father’s lavish giving Him to us with the Son in sending the 3^rd person of the Trinity to indwell us: John 16:7–8 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. “Aren’t those words staggering? That it is MORE advantageous that the incarnate Christ leave and the Spirit be poured out upon us, than if He remained? It is mind boggling. Certainly we remember that in His going, He will die on the cross in our place and be raised again for our justification – but even those glories are not independent of His going SO THAT He might send the Spirit to. Salvation is not complete without The Spirit. And this He bids us to consider of such infinite value as to be looked for in His place with us. Amazing.

Now it is just because this is true, that the Apostle Paul can tell us that therein lay the secret to the Christian walk: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” Galatians 5:16. Herein is power to overcome sin; The reality of fresh, vital, real communion with our God and Savior; gifts to bless the Church; illumination of God’s Word; power in prayer and ministering the Gospel – and countless other glories.

But note how we have put in in our principle. We must be CONSCIOUSLY looking to the Spirit as God’s indwelling presence. We must be cognizant on relying upon Him. And such reliance must be CONSTANT, not simply the fallback when things get rough. We must be DELIBERATE in our dependence – truly leaning upon Him, resting our weight upon Him, and not simply giving lip service to it. Running to Him 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 times a day. And it must be DEPENDENCE upon Him. He is not spiritual power steering, just giving us a boost to so that we can still do the job – but looking to Him to work righteousness in our hearts, to change desires and goals and ambitions and mindsets, opinions, attitudes and forging in us new likes and dislikes, loves and hatreds in accord with His own holy nature.

Consciously, constantly, deliberately depending upon Him to impart to us and work in us God’s own love. Love that manifests itself in joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, uprightness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Recognizing these are not human characteristics to be psychologically developed, but the very character of Christ to be lived.

Apart from this way of living, we will walk in constant defeat at the mercy (mercilessness) of our lusts. We will be exhausted in “trying” to be holy. We will be frustrated at every turn, living either in perpetual self-delusion that we are fine as is, or in perpetual guilt and dismay at our brokenness.

This world is toxic. Like a scuba diver who puts on his equipment so that he can operate in an environment that would otherwise kill him in minutes – we take up the “air” supply of the Breath of God, and cling to it and try to breathe no other way so that we might live, and thrive where no life can apart from it. And then, we can even enjoy the swim.

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Who should I vote for?

August 20th, 2012

Every time we enter the season of elections in this country, Christians are especially strained in considering who it is we ought to vote for. Each elected office carries with it its own sphere of responsibility. And each candidate and party puts forward a platform ostensibly addressing how they intend to use that office to accomplish what ends it deems most desirable. Then the fire-fight begins. Each side demonizes the other. Each makes claims that if the opposing persons and views are adopted, horrible outcomes are guaranteed. And who are we to believe most?

In truth, no “side” seems incapable of making poor decisions and using less than honorable tactics. All sides claim to lament negative campaigning, while indulging in the very negative campaigning they decry. Some who seem squeaky clean at first, later prove to have monstrous skeletons in their closets. Others, who have proved themselves terribly immoral in their personal lives, have nonetheless shown bravery in the face of great conflict and to make sound decisions in terms of laws enacted and enforced. And here and there, a man or woman of true moral uprightness, perhaps even genuine Christian experience and convictions arises and serves admirably. May God increase their tribe. But untangling the whole mess seems almost beyond the scope of human endeavor.

Another complicating factor is one that can be reduced to an extremely simple example for discussion’s sake. When my car is in need of mechanical repair, am I as much worried if the mechanic is sincere but perhaps inept, or would I rather he be gifted and skilled irrespective of his personal morals? Raise the ante and ask the question again when it comes to choosing a surgeon. Do I want the gal with the best hands, or the one I am sure is not sleeping around? We can dance that jig till the cows come home – with no lack of passion on either side of the debate.

OK then – who DO I vote for? That’s what I want to know. Maybe you do too. And while it may be no surprise to some, it may to be many, that the Bible doesn’t address that issue given the type of pluralistic society we live in – at least not directly. Yet, I do think it provides a certain measure of guidance that is profoundly helpful. That guidance comes to us in Paul’s 1^st letter to Timothy, when he addresses the issue of prayer for the then very pagan and anti-Christian government leaders of his day. Two verses especially invite our examination: 1 Timothy 2:1–2 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Given these instructions, what we can say with some reasonable certainty is that what we ought to expect of government at least are the 4 things we are told to entreat God for. I can only mention them in the briefest form here. Each could be expanded upon greatly.

1-That we may lead a PEACEFUL life. We are to ask that our leadership be peace-seeking, and not given to war and conflict without necessary cause. War is sometimes unavoidable when we are attacked, reasonable avenues of diplomacy to avoid conflict forced upon us fail, or the weak and helpless need defended.

2- That we may lead a QUIET life. Bound together with the first, we are to ask that our leadership be lacking in the stridency and pugnacious tendency that brings civil unrest as well. The quietude of domestic life lends itself to Christian enterprise to advance the Kingdom of God, rather than hampering the progress of the Gospel due to forcing people to live in constant turmoil.

3- That we may live GODLY lives. That our government and its officials would leave us free to seek a life of worship and service and influence for Christ in society. That it not be repressive and censorious toward the free pursuit serving Christ in every sphere of life.

4- That we may live DIGNIFIED lives. A government committed to protecting that dignity and sanctity of human life. Not enslaving its masses either overtly, nor through policies that strip men of their dignity through turning them into helpless dependents with no hope of progress. Valuing human life in every sphere.

What has this to do with voting? I suggest – this: We vote for those whom – as best as we can discern – espouse, will work for and will protect the four areas mentioned above.

Now each of us must do our homework to decide on who those persons will be. And to vote.

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The Principles – #2

August 18th, 2012

Yesterday I began a series touching on principles I have gleaned from Scripture over time that inform my overall view of things. As I said then, some of these are overtly put before us in the Bible, and others are gathered up from surveying the broader scope of the Word. But they stand as landmarks in my own thinking, and may prove to be beneficial to you as well.

I should add here that in some cases, the ideas discussed may be a bit controversial or will goad us into thinking more deeply about areas we may have previously viewed in a more surface manner. All along, what I am hoping for things that will be joggin’ the noggin.

Today, I would like to note as Principle #2 that: Forgiveness of sins is personal – even with God, while

First, we need to remember that God does not simply sweep sin under the carpet. Forgiveness language in the Bible often employs financial images to help us understand that in all forgiveness the one doing the forgiving, willingly takes a loss and does not seek restitution. Forgiveness costs something. It is free to the forgiven, but costly to the forgiver. In the case of God providing an atonement for our sin, He absorbed the losses of the honor we were due to pay Him, the obedience and the duty to reflect His holy image. More, in Christ’s death at Calvary, He even took on the punishment due us for those sins. This is the breathtaking wonder of the Cross. In Christ, God didn’t just say “I won’t punish the guilty” – but instead, punished the innocent One, that the guilty might be truly free!

Now all of this must touch on two different spheres. In human justice, people are punished for breaking the law, their offenses are against the state – it isn’t personal. But in God’s case, His holiness IS the law. When we sin, we do not sin against a code, impersonally – we sin against Him – very personally. He fully encompasses both the “judicial” and the personal in Himself. And as such, we continue to relate to Him in both ways. We relate to Him as the eternal Judge (Gen. 18:25) and, as the eternal Father. And this is where the rub comes for some – where a bit of confusion can arise.

Some, have confounded these two aspects in God, and as such have thought that because they are “justified” – judicially declared righteous by God through faith (Rom. 3:26, 30; 4:5; Gal. 2:16 etc.) – that they then no longer need to confess sin to Him and seek ongoing forgiveness. When in fact, the judicial act which has bestowed the righteousness of Christ upon us freely, does not remove the reality that our ongoing sins are still personal offenses which must be addressed if we are to retain a close, intimate relationship with Him.

This idea is brought home to us in the Teaching of Jesus as He gave us what is called “The Lord’s Prayer.” In it, while teaching His disciples to pray (and no doubt us by extension) He instructs us to pray “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Why? Aren’t we already justified? Isn’t Christ already our righteousness? Are we in right relationship with Him or not? And of course, all of that is true. But what is ALSO true, is that our relationship with and to Him is not ONLY judicial, it is personal. And in that respect, personal closeness requires dealing with sins against Him regularly, constantly, so as to preserve the sweetness of intimacy that belongs to a close personal relationship wherein offenses are always dealt with and the air always clear.

We are justified only once. But we seek and obtain forgiveness continually.

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