Love the Lord your God

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

-Mark 12:30

So much could be said concerning this verse and others like it; but a simple question is this: do I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? Is my desire that everything I do be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:12)? This ties in closely with 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.

As children of God, we are a people who have been redeemed. We are not our own, for we have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our hearts are now God’s. Our souls now belong to the Lord. Our minds are now His possession. Our strength is now for His purposes. All of who we are is now to be used by our Maker for His glory.

We are to present all of our desires, affections, imagination, and might in love to the One who has loved us from eternity past. Our worship is to submit all of who we are to the service of the King to be used for His glory. This is only done through the power and love that He bestows upon us.

If only we could fully understand the beauty of this!

If only we could fully understand the joy and freedom of this!

Praise be to God that He offers forgiveness for when we foolishly lose sight of how worthy and wonderful He is. I am so quick to set my affections and my joy too heavily upon lesser things! I am so quick to lose focus on the highest of joys: our Savior! It is, sadly, too easy to let my mind wander into worthless pursuits. I am so quick to pour my strength and passion into that which is not of the Lord.

God has demonstrated a love beyond measure to us; how could we not strive to give Him all that we are? The Father sent his only Son to die and rise again so that we could be forgiven. How could we not willingly and freely give ourselves to Him in love?

The Purpose and Centrality of the Church Part 4

The Centrality of the Church can be seen in that the Bible gives instructions as to how the church should function.

In systematic theology the doctrine of the church is called "Ecclesiology." Though this seems unimportant to most Christians, the fact that a doctrine of the church exists is extremely relevant to the Christian life. Consider that when the most precise students of theology seek to break down the contents of the bible into branches of theology they spell out doctrines such as:

Theology Proper (the doctrine of God)

Pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit)

Anthropology (the doctrine of man)

Christology (the doctrine of God the Son)

Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation)

and many others...

But we never find a doctrine of the lonely saved individual or a doctrine of parachurch ministry (though there are biblical principles that can apply to such subjects).

My point? The Bible invests a lot of its space prescribing the church's role in the world. This isn't only relevant to the pastor who wants to know how to lead his flock, but also to the Christian who wants to see what God's priorities are in His revelation to man.

Paul described his reason for writing 1 Timothy as "so that... you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth" (3:14-15).

You might say, "isn't the Scripture the pillar and buttress?" And that is a good question to ask. Scripture is the very Word of God by which He sustains His church.

The church is where one goes to hear the Word preach, see the Word lived out in a community, and worship God in a way that is informed by the Word. So the Bible and the church are not at odds as pillars of truth; rather, they work together. The Word creates and sustains the church and the church proclaims the Word. This is the way we find God working in Scripture.

Praise God that He has sustained His church and is purifying her even this day.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

God Incarnate (Part 2)

Last week, I posted some excerpts from J.I. Packer's book "Knowing God." The point that I showed was that "The baby born in Bethlehem was God." J. I. Packer used text from John to back up his statements, giving 7 seven points that the baby was God.

This week I would like to share his second point, which is actually just a more in depth version of the first. Point two is as follows:

2. The baby born in Bethlehem was God made man.

This truth is so important and precious. Have you ever felt that God, though he knows us better than we know ourselves, did not understand you? The fact that Jesus, who is God, came to earth as a man, is very comforting. He suffered the weaknesses of a human body and mind.

J. I. Packer writes:

"He who made man was now learning what it felt like to be man. He who made the angel who became the devil was now in a state in which He could be tempted - could not, indeed, avoid being tempted - by the devil; and the perfection of his human life was achieved only by conflict with the devil."

Hebrews 2:18; 4:15 - "Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted...For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin."

When you feel like sin is pushing in all around you, remember that Jesus has been where we are. He knows what it is like to been tempted; He knows how hard it is. He endured it, then He died so that we might be free of it. Ask Him for strength and praise Him for His gift of killing the sins that are so hard to overcome.

Psalm 32:1 - "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit."

Psalm 32:5 - "I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Psalm 32:8 - "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you."

Everything is perfect in His plan.

Today my assignment at work was to read some scholarly articles about marriage and cohabitation and how children fare between the two. I had to read 10 and i got through about 4. What i loved most as i turned page after page was that each article came to the same conclusion...that children in married couples had fewer problems (emotionally and behavioral), were closer to their parents, were more likely to excel financially, and less likely to have their marriages end in divorce once adults. It was also great to read that married couples fare better as well when it comes to caring for one another, sympathizing with one another, taking responsibility, sharing, and intimacy. The funny thing about the authors of these articles is that they would all most likely argue that cohabitation is ok. Pretty strange when hard evidence points to the contrary.

I didn't want to write about marriage versus cohabitation, but more so on God's created order of things. In Genesis 2:24 we see that "A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh." In our society today there is a widely popular idea that before you get married you should "test the waters" and move in with your boyfriend/girlfriend. The problem with that is that God has ordained this becoming one flesh and living under one roof thing for marriage because that's how it works best and is the most glorify to Him. (I don't feel the need to give examples of why it works best, because of the above mentioned reasons, and there are more beyond those.)

What naturally follows getting married and living under one roof in a new established "one flesh" household?...babies! And once again we see that its perfect this way, just as God designed. Children need to grow up in the security ( and i don't mean financial) of having a mother and father who love each other and who love them, not with mom and mom's new boyfriend who may be around for just a few years at maximum. Where's the stability in that?

God's plan is absolutely perfect and needs no reinvention, even in this post modern age.
Grace and Peace

Just a little Babel

What power do words really hold. I have figured out recently that words have more impact than I ever thought when growing up in a home of 3 boys. In my family words bounced off as though meaningless. But now I'm married for less than a year and realizing that words have impact... sometimes even when I don't mean to put anything behind them.
Recently through some conversations I've had and through blogs that I have read it is very clear that the dialogue of words and their meaning are constantly being challenged. I do not mean the words themselves and definition is being challenged as much as the impact.
The next couple blogs I post will be on words and the impact. I hope to learn through this. Please post opinions if you have any.

In the old testament we see many instances where God does some pretty human life altering things. I wont place this as #1 but very high on the list is the separation of language at the tower of babel. Its very tough to imagine a world where people all had one single dialect and people group. When I first read this it made me think about how cool that would be, mostly because I naturally think positively about it. However then I began to think about the story and what human nature did with it. Sure it might be cool if everyone agreed on wholesome things but I look at the tower and the acts that went on surrounding Genesis 11:1-9 and I realize that once it starts going in a direction it doesn't stop. There are no barriers.

God dispersed these people all over the world into different people groups which actually made the humans do what we were told to do in Genesis 1:28 and fill the earth. He made it so they could not work together for evil. If we look all over the nations today it seems that the closer we get to being unified in dialect the further we seem to be going from the morals of God (not that I think we were ever collectively very close). Even more than that, we seem to have a task on our hands when it comes to the gospel... or do we. The task at hand may seem like a bad thing, but God has a plan. I don't believe there are accidents with God. God will be glorified when all tongues praise God in unison Revelation 5:9-10 and Revelation 7:9-10.

Dialogue is very important, it can destroy a nation when its lost. Think of what it will be like when it is restored. I know I feel a certain distance from people who don't speak english but the second I find a english speaker in a foreign country that I visit then that person is my new best friend. How beautiful is it to hear others praising God in their native tongue. Its the sound of the gospel being bigger than all words.

Has the spreading of the gospel been hindered or spurred on by the dispersing of language?

The Forgiveness of Sins

The reality of forgiveness of sins because of Christ is something that the child of God is affected by every day. There is such wonder in the fact that
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Our best works on our best days are not enough to earn God's grace for a single day. Salvation is a free gift of God. We are not saved because of our holiness, but rather we are saved for holiness. This passage from the "Valley of Vision" was helpful for me to meditate on these truths.

"Heavenly Father,
Thou hast led me singing to the cross
where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish,
where my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain,
where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist,
and are more in number than the grains of fine sand;

For there is power in the blood of Calvary
to destroy sins more than can be counted
even by one from the choir of heaven.
Thou hast given me a hill-side spring
that washes clear and white,
and I go as a sinner to its waters,
bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.

At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones,
and ample blessings that last for ever;
The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace
with never any diminshing of its fullness
as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live
that was gained on the mount of blood;

In the midst of a world of pain
it is a subject for praise in every place
a song on earth, an anthem in heaven,
its love and virtue knowing no end.

I have a longing for the world above
where multitudes sing the great song,
for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth.
Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor,
I shall go on singing Calvary's anthem.

May I always know
that a clean heart full of goodness
is more beautiful than the lily,
that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day,
that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary."

- "Calvary's Anthem" pg. 173 from "The Valley of Vision"

Creation and the Gospel

This past weekend I was supposed to preach at a local juvenile detention center. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances involving a fire alarm and multiple Sham Wow's our group wasn't able to go inside and talk to the young men and women. However, my preparation left an impression on me that I would like to share with you.

Every time I get the opportunity to preach the gospel I feel the weight of a new truth that I should try to press on the lost person. This time was no different. For the greater part of this year I have been thinking about the importance of God's role as Creator and how that should play a big role in my presentation of the gospel. It flies in the face of the secular worldview to tell a person that they must do anything in order to please someone they have never seen.

My intention last Friday was to go to one of my favorite passages- especially lately- Colossians 1:15-17, 19-20:

[The Son] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together...For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

It is one thing to tell a person that they were created by intelligent design, therefore they should believe in a god, and while they're at it they might as well go for Christianity. It is quite another thing to tell that person that Jesus Christ created them with a purpose for himself. It doesn't matter if you think you are a great person or the lowest of the low, if the rulers and authorities (demons) were created for Christ, you are no worse than they.

This is what is so offensive to a Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. This is the truth they want to suppress. If they were created with a purpose, rather than haphazardly, they have no rights over their own life, whatever they do that is not for Christ is rebellion against him and fully deserving of the appropriate response for cosmic treason.

But this passage doesn't stop there! It doesn't only tell us that we were created for Christ, allowing us to realize how far short we have fallen, it also tells us how this is accomplished despite our rebellion. Verse 20 tells us that Christ reconciled all things through his death on the cross. This is how rebellious sinners become the adopted children of God. This is where all things find their purpose, including those who are infinitely and eternally evil, never to find repentance. They find their purpose in being shamed by the cross (Colossians 2:14-15).

This is a wonderful passage for reflecting on the gospel and sharing it to those who don't know Christ. I encourage you to give it a read today and thank Christ for creating, redeeming, and ultimitely restoring you. If you don't yet believe in him I plead with you to trust in the only Savior of the world.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen