The Purchase and the Prize

In this supper we remember the cost of redemption and the result of our redemption. Jesus gave us bread and wine to remember His body was torn and His blood shed at the cross. This was covenant curse carried out against the Christ. Jesus calls the cup the covenant. He links this supper with His cross. This way we always remember, the coming of the king led Him to a cross. Discern His body hung there. We are to take up our cross and follow Him. So as we lift the cup to our lips, we remember our calling – to lay down our life for others, as He did. This was the cost of redemption.

We also see the result of redemption. As we lift the cup, we are feasting and taking our ease at table with the King, looking ahead to the marriage supper of the lamb. We look around and see those He has redeemed with us. Like everything else we do in worship, we do this together. Discern His body, the body of Christ, the Church, around you, and give thanks. From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride. This is covenant mercy and relationship extended to His people.

12/15/13

Free Hearts, Crowding Close

Heavenly Father, we praise You for calling us forth from dark dungeons and into Your marvelous light. Our chains have fallen off, our hearts are free. Give us grace now to worship and follow thee. Prepare the way, prepare our hearts. You give food and freedom, you open blind eyes, you lift up the discouraged, you will reign forever. Lord, let us enter into the joy of Your great deeds for us. Don’t let us hold back, remain at a distance. We crowd close to consider the Christ, His healing, His cross, His resurrection life, His sovereign rule now for our growth, His consummate joys in glory.

Gracious Father, we come to You in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, who live and reign with You, 1 God without beginning or end - Amen.

12/15/13

The Point of Light

Jesus is the light of the world. As darkness more in this season, shining lights help us remember Him. The Psalmist sings, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” The point of lights isn’t so much to dazzle and wow, it is to see so we can walk rightly. When one burning candle touches another, it comes alight, too. This is communion, and the reason Jesus can tell us, “You are the light of the world.” We are to live in His light, shine it for others to see in our good works, and not go back to the darkness.

The light we have is not our own. We do not speak or live on our own authority. We cannot live on our own. God’s command for us is life, and that is what Jesus speaks over us and gives us. Here at this table we remember every week that we don’t live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God. HE sustains us. This is why I tell you to live when we eat and drink. God communicates life and forgiveness, peace and purity to us, as He unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit.

12/8/13

From Disheartened to Bitter

Numbers 21:4-7
"Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people."

Discouraged souls can become embittered souls.

Circumstances discourage us sometimes. But the heart is active, not just passive. We decide whether to turn to God in faith, or to speak against Him or against others. We come to despise the very gifts God sustains us with.

God may send pain and difficulty to wake you up. Israel listened and repented. Now is the time to consider and come with contrite hearts.

12/8/13

Anything Can Happen

Douglas Wilson, on NT Wright's "Surprised by Scripture" chapter 3 on the resurrection:

"someone asked why we should even bother to read Wright. This chapter is why....

[Wright] is healthy in ways that the contemporary Reformed church is unhealthy. On this point, on this particular, there are many conservative believers who need to come to grips with the fact that Wright is way more orthodox than they are, meaning that he is more biblical than they are, and that he gets the ramifications of the gospel better than they do. Note, I do not say that he gets justification-by-faith better than John Piper does, because he doesn’t, but I am saying that he gets what the impact of justification by faith is supposed to be, and he gets it better than the faculties of every Reformed seminary in North America put together.

"The resurrection is the transformation of history, and not just a weird event contained within ordinary history, which ordinary history then continues on the way it always did, wandering aimlessly down an amillennial road. And this is something he gets from the Bible, and lots of conservatives don’t. And this, incidentally, is why these conservatives keep getting their hineys kicked in our culture wars. American Christians are to be commended for actually fighting the culture war, contra Wright, but they are to be admonished for not fighting with the kind of exuberant and necessary optimism that Scripture provides for us in the fact of a man coming back from the dead right in the middle of history."

Vacation memories, part three

We played the board game "Sorry" while on vacation.  It was a fun change of pace, but now that I'm back to work, here's some theological ruminations about it.

"Sorry" teaches counterfeit apology.  True repentance would involve undoing the wrong act.  But when you knock an opponent’s piece off the board, and say “Sorry,” you never take it back!  If you cut in line ahead of your brother, and say you're sorry, but you stay ahead of him, you make a mockery of your apology.

There are several elements to full repentance.  Going to everyone you wronged.  Describing the offense to the offended.  Asking for forgiveness.  Avoiding excuses.  Making it right as best you can shouldn't be forgotten.

Hope at the Table

Hope and purity go together. Those who long for Jesus to come, also long for purity in heart and in the world. Partaking of this supper is an expression of both. We are proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes again. When we eat and drink weekly here, we are saying the Savior sustains us until His second advent. We long to see Him, for we will be like Him.

And one thing Jesus is that we are not, is pure. We long for this. And Jesus is taking us there. our union with Him is the main way He does it, by the Spirit. And that is what is happening here in a special way. It isn’t called communion for nothing. Here you have a unique communication, a special union with Christ. 

Advent One

12/1/13

Are You Ready?

Mark 13:32-37

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. 34 It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 35 Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—36 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

We considered last week the harvest at the end of the age, when Christ comes and gathers His elect to Himself. As the season of Advent begins, we stick with that theme, in a way. Advent means coming, or arrival. It doesn’t matter if the calendar is BC or AD, God’s people were and are awaiting the arrival of Jesus Christ. He has now come once and accomplished our redemption. But He left our complete sanctification and our glorification for His next advent. So still we wait and hope.

The thing is, as we wait, there is watching and waking. We aren’t waiting passively, but preparing. Let every heart prepare Him room. What preparation do you need to make? What changes? What part of your daily routine needs adjusting? Your thought habits? Entertainment choices?

Jesus is coming. This shouldn’t be a foreboding and gloomy thought. We aren’t headed for a funeral. But we should be sobered to be completely ready for the party.

Advent One
12/1/13

Thanksgiving and Future Victory

Revelation 19:6-9

"And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

On this last Sunday in the church year, at Thanksgiving time, we remember that harvests lead to laden tables. Our national story is one of hardship, Pilgrims trusting Providence, then prosperous harvests. This is a pale but true shadow of God’s big story of His church in the world. Revelation tells the story well: the serpent has it in for us, and gets helpers like the beast to help him. Historically this has been popular opinion hostile to Christianity and tyrannical governments trying to stamp us out. But every week, God invites us to look ahead to the end of the story, to the marriage supper of the lamb. We sit here acting out how it’s going to be. God’s enemies overthrown, His friends sitting in peace, triumph, and joy at a feast because the Lamb has conquered.

We often look back at the Lord’s Supper in solemn reminder of the cross and what Jesus did to atone for our sins before God. We ought also to look forward at the Lord’s Supper to the coming triumph, even to taste a bit of it now. As we sang earlier, he will bring the fruitful ear  to store in his garner evermore. Even so, Lord, quickly come, to thy final harvest home, gather your people in, free from sorrow, free from sin, there forever purified, in thy presence to abide.

11/24/13

Harvesting the Earth

Revelation 14:14-19

"Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

"17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” 19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God."

Harvest is not always a positive image in Scripture. For those outside of Christ, it is a time of awakening to the horrific truth that they are guilty before God, subject and sent to His deserved judgment. He will separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats. You are the harvest, gathered into God’s barns for the feast. Not to be eaten, but to feast Yourself on God’s goodness. The way to that feast is through repentance.

11/24/13

Review: Dryden's Aeneid: The English Virgil

Dryden's Aeneid: The English Virgil by Taylor Corse

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Virgil’s Aeneid viewed cynically is propaganda. He was legitimizing the government of Caesar Augustus, following the defeat of Marc Antony at Actium.

Virgil appeals to the gods whenever Aeneas or his men do something questionable, like kill a man on his homeland over an animal hunt, or attack and take over land that isn't theirs. Oh, the gods helped them? Then it must be okay. The irony is, this is a counterfeit of the time when this happened legitimately, when God gave Israel the promised land. I wonder where they got that idea from?

The big idea is also a counterfeit of the Gospel story - the founding of Rome after the fall of Troy is a death and resurrection story. The glory of Troy is reborn in Aeneas, the founding father of Rome, like the west is reborn in Pilgrims and founding fathers like George Washington, founding fathers of America; or like Israel is reborn in Jesus Christ as the Church.

Even with all the gory battle depicted, the Aeneid also presents too rosy a view of humanity. Aeneas and the Latins would have made peace, but the gods’ capricious infighting spoiled it.

Still, Virgil writes glorious literature. I recommend especially the Dryden translation (versified and rhymed throughout!).

At the end Aeneas is angry, just like Achilles was angry in the Iliad. We can assess this two different ways. Perhaps there has been no progress from Homer to Virgil. Both were angered by deaths or insults on the battlefield, and Rome has learned nothing from history. Or perhaps Aeneas’ rage is more judicial, paying back death to Turnus for his unnecessary killing of others. Do we see here the beginning of a better society of Roman justice and law, or the continuation of barbarism dressed up with piety, death-or-glory charges, and suffering founders?

Most interesting to me is the way God writes Aeneas into the Bible.
“And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately” (Acts 9:33–34).

I don’t think this could be a coincidence. The Aeneid was published 30-50 years before this incident with Peter. Glorious Rome was now “sick of the palsy,” paralyzed and desperately in need of a Savior. Even heroes, founding fathers, and great empires need the King of kings.



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Review: Music in the Bible, Music on the Radio, and Music in the Church

Music in the Bible, Music on the Radio, and Music in the Church by Gregg Strawbridge

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Strawbridge urges Christians to engage with and transform all the music on the radio, rather than reject certain genres. Here is a summary of the 30 page booklet.

The Bible urges music and singing as a form of speaking and praise in a variety of contexts.

Contra Bill Gothard, including a certain beat in music does not make it immoral. Gothard says putting the element Copernicium in water yields poison, but he is begging the question whether a certain beat is analogous to poison. Strawbridge: “what is poison in large quantities, may be medicine in small quantities” (10).

The problem isn’t that hatred is present in rock music, by itself. If the hatred is directed at something God call us to hate, what is the problem? Of course there is rock music that glorifies hatred and calls us to hate what is good, but the problem isn’t the beat or music style itself.

When the music is so rhythmic it promotes a physical response Gothard and others see a problem. But this implies a physical response is bad – that sin is always involved when some physical aspect becomes prominent, which is untrue. Flesh in the Bible isn’t always sinful or negative (Romans 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:11). The Bible encourages the use of rhythmic instruments (Psalm 150:4). Music moves us, and it is meant to. This can be dangerous but is also a gift.

One particularly ugly line of reasoning here is that the origin of the demonic beat is African, and came over with the slaves. This is just untrue, “quite dubious and probably racist” (14). And even if true it would still commit the genetic fallacy, that a bad origin of something makes the thing itself bad.

We can’t take what we call good music in Western culture and say it’s the Biblical standard. Christ transforms cultures, and a new song will arise from every nation. This is preferred to imposing Western music as the superior style. Musical language of praise should be in the vernacular, like the Scriptures should. What we consider “the sacredness sounds is quite culturally conditioned” (21).

“Art without utility was ordained by God in worship” (24). Strawbridge cites Exodus 28; 35:30ff. Evangelicals don't like to admit this, but it is true. Every element of art doesn't have to teach something, everywhere. God wanted some things just "for glory and for beauty." He Himself is not only pure, but beautiful (Ps 50:2; 27:4).

Just because no musical style is inherently sinful, doesn’t mean they should all be used in worship. There is a time and place for everything. Some genres and instruments for praising God individually aren't conducive to corporate reverent worship.

Pop culture music has its roots in church music. Elvis Presley himself said he stole his music from the black gospel church he grew up in (30). This point may be overstated, but at the same time the truth of it is too much ignored today. Strawbridge encourages us to listen more to these roots of pop music, and listen less to the fruit coming out today.

This summarizes Strawbridges points. I have not proven or supported these much, but he does. So if this provokes you to disagree, or spurs you to persuade others of these truths, pick up a copy today at
www.wordmp3.com/details.aspx?id=222



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Go All In

Acts 2:38

"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

True repentance involves being cut to the heart over our sin.

More than that, it calls for us to throw our lot all in with Jesus. This is the idea behind our baptism. We join with Jesus, and take him for our King and Lord. Trust him to remove the guilt of our sin.

So when we confess our sins, we admit who we have offended: the Lord Jesus.  We confess TO him because of that. And we look to him for relief and for cleansing.

11/17/13

Frogmarched to 1984

Al Mohler tells me the Colorado baker who was told he has to bake a cake for a homosexual couple, is now being ordered by the judge not only to do it but to go to sensitivity training as well.

Wow.

The Soviet state has arrived.

This is not like a restaurant refusing to serve a person of African descent.  I can understand laws that disallow refusal of service on the basis of race.  But we are dealing with a lifestyle and a behavior, not an ethnicity.  It's more like being required as a marketing consultant to take on as a client an adult video store and to produce an ad for it.  I have freedom of conscience to refuse such work/service based on a behavior I oppose morally.

At least I used to.

I will show a great deal of compassion to the homosexually attracted person who is fighting the urge to act on it, knowing it is a sin.  I will not endorse the behavior by offering a service to them like officiating, baking or photographing at their mirage - what they want to call a marriage.

Our government has called abortion a legitimate choice for 40 years, though it’s murder in God’s eyes.  Now our government wants to celebrate homosexual perversion, though it’s an abomination in God’s eyes.

Not only that, but they will frog-march to the propaganda room any citizen who refuses to burn incense to the emperor, who refuses to celebrate a homosexual mirage with his work, and who says things like I just said.

He's Got Us Covered

God points us to the cross, ever and always. Paul resolved to know nothing but Christ, and Him crucified, to boast only in the cross. All 4 gospels climax at the cross. It is the crux of history, where God kept His covenant to be faithful to His people. 

From the very beginning of history, God was pointing to the cross. Clothing Adam and Eve with the skins of animals that had to die for their covering. Adam and Eve had to leave God’s presence, but they left covered. 

We do not know God’s presence like Adam and Eve did before they sinned. Even now, after Jesus has paid it all, there is still separation. But we are covered, like they were, not just with animal skins, but with the blood of Jesus. 

We have this saying, “I’ve got you covered.” It works quite well for this. Look to this bread, this wine, to remember to see again Jesus at the cross. Look to the cross to see Jesus telling you, “I’ve got you covered.”

11/3/13