Spurgeon Quote on Infant Baptism

Credit to Steve-o on this one.

"If we could find infant baptism in the word of God, we would adopt it. It would help us out of a great difficulty, for it would take away from us that reproach which is attached to us-- that we are odd and do not as other people do. But we have looked well through the Bible and cannot find it, and do not believe it is there, nor do we believe that others can find infant baptism in the Sriptures, unless they themselves first put it there."*

* Charles H. Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography (reprint ed., Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1962), 1:152.

Indianapolis Law

From the Indiana government's website: Hopefully I'll never be a victim of this grave offense.

Illegal Dumping

Illegal dumping is unfortunately common in Indianapolis and is a punishable offense. If you witness illegal dumping, please call the Mayor's Action Center (MAC) at 327-4MAC and report the incident.

Illegal dumping usually occurs in alleys, vacant lots, and in heavily wooded areas.

Sermon - Christians Need the Gospel

-Intro me and what I do (talk about holistic evangelism) (and define the gospel ASAP!!!)
-Be honest with hindrances – scary, rejection, naturally shy, I haven’t made it, I’d rather watch – or even talk about - a good movie

-Our task – evangelism (be specific about THEIR neighborhood and work throughout this whole thing!) – 1 Peter 2:9 (proclaim! We must do good works and show Jesus off – but we’re to speak about Jesus)

-What gets in our way? (Things I mentioned) – Question of values – if we loved the gospel more than other things, we’d talk about it (movie example). To love the gospel we need to experience it (dating). And to experience it, we need to HEAR it – over and over again – our memories are dull and the distractions are MANY (how many of you still celebrate the colts victory every day?)

-MBI – Christians need the gospel all the time. YOU need the gospel all the time. Only then will you participate in the joy that you should have in Jesus. And only then will you participate in God’s work in this world!

-Remind, read Romans 1:13-17,
-pray
-where we’re going:
-what’s going on this passage
-4 things that the gospel does
-leads to obedience(!)
-creates a debt (because of our sense of need)
-creates a boldness for the gospel
-it saves believers
-things you can do
(pray gospel; speak gospel; learn gospel)

I What’s going on…
-read v. 15
-how’d the church at Rome come to be?
-Paul longed to go
-wanted to preach the gospel to them!
-what it’s not (evangelistic crusade, special worship service with a juggler where the gospel is shared with a puppet show afterwards…)
-wanted to preach the gospel to CHRISTIANS
-shows us our need for hearing it –
-might say ‘ but I KNOW the gospel’ – (my example in youth group)
-really? If you believed it all the time you’d live out of such gratitude that you’d never sin. (house guest example)
-so again – the gospel is for Christians!

II - 4 things that the gospel does

1) leads to obedience – v. 13
-explain (w. Rom. 7:4)
-fruit = result – (ex: John 15)
-what that’s NOT! - self effort (Every Man’s Battle example)
-So stop believing that you can change your life – that you can make you a worshiper!
-And start believing that by hearing the gospel, the Holy Spirit will
-(repeat point)

2) creates a debt to everyone– v. 14
-what that’s NOT (debt to God)
-God owns everything (Acts 17)
-you have nothing to give him
-and makes a mockery of salvation/grace
- so do not act like you are a debtor to God – you’re not, you’re a child, who’s loved, and an heir of his Kingdom
-what that is – (verse again)
-why that debt exists…
-(I am Legend example)
-(my own story on the quad before graduation)
-they’re getting what I deserve
-elimnates prejudice! (race, income, education, age) – debt to everyone!
-(repeat point)

3) creates a boldness for the gospel – vv. 15, 16
-Why isn’t he ashamed? (v. 16b)
-(explain 16b – it’s the way God saves people!)
-So why would hearing the gospel motivate us to boldness? (reminds us of reality!) (talk about salvation here!)
-Polycarp example –

Then, the proconsul was urging him, and saying, "Swear, and I will set you at liberty, reproach Christ;" Polycarp declared, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?"
The proconsul then said to him, "I have wild beasts at hand; to these will I cast you, except you relent." But he answered, "Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil; [449] and it is well for me to be changed from what is evil to what is righteous." [450] But again the proconsul said to him, "I will cause you to be consumed by fire, seeing you don’t fear the wild beasts, if you wilt not repent." But Polycarp said, "You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but art ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But what are you waiting for? Bring forth what you will."

-Why wasn’t Polycarp afraid? He was dwelling – camping, in the Gospel
(repeat point)

4) saves believers – vv. 16-17
-(explain)
-(The life of Martin Luther)
-Why would the righteousness of God be good news??? (1:18; 2:5-11) (run King/treason analogy throughout)
-(Rom 5:16-19)
(explain all this!)
(repeat point…)

-(repeat all four observations about what the gospel does…)

III – Three things you can do in response

1) Pray the Gospel
-what’s that look like? (confession, thanksgiving, asking for Kingdom!)

2) Speak the gospel
-at every opportunity, speak about Jesus
-be honest about your sins to others – so you can talk about forgiveness

3) Learn the gospel
-church!
-memorize Scripture (Romans 5!)
-don’t fill yourselves with what is Christian – light. (Christian twinkies! Taste good, but end up killing you)
(but rather, what is teaching Scripture in light of Jesus saving us by his death – 1 Cor. 2) (short book – 70 pages – cross centered life)


Dream a little bit with me. What would it look like to change your community. To change your family. To change your workplace. To change this city. To change this country. To change this world – to bring all of it into obedience to Jesus Christ, Ruler, Owner, and Creator of every individual person on this planet.

Who doesn’t want that? The fact is – it has to start here – in your own soul. And it starts – and continues – and grows – by hearing the Gospel.

You’re not going to change this world. You’re not going to change you. But the good news is that Jesus already has. And he’s going to continue to. And he’s going to make himself known through you. Through this church.

People of God, hear the Gospel! Jesus died. He rose from the dead as Ruler of this world! He forgives all of the disobedience of everyone who believes in him! He’s coming back one day to judge – and to bring every believer into his presence forever!

Why I Wish I Could Be a Presbyterian... but Can't

So I wish I could be a Presbyterian and just say I subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith. Finding a home church would be so easy. Ministry and support raising would be so easy. Plus, I'd have the backing of an entire denomination in missions, not to speak of the tremendous history of the Westminster tradition.

Except I disagree with one question in the Westminster. Just one. Just a teeney one.

No way I can baptize infants.

What follows is a skeleton outline of why baptizing the infants of believers is wrong. It's just a skeleton; if you need warrants for these statements, that's the meat they're missing, and we can dialog through them.

And not one of these arguments is necessarily a 'magic bullet' that seals the argument. But I think the cumulative force of them all together is a debilitating blow to Reformed Paedobaptism. So without further ado, the reasons...

1) In Scripture, faith and baptism aren't just linked in terms of objective meaning, but in terms of subjective experience.

2) Infant baptism is never commanded. My Reformed Paedobaptist friends would do well to remember their own regulative principle, Deuteronomy 12:32, and need to show that not only would paedobaptism have to be assumed, but properly assumed by the earliest Christians.

3) People in the New Covenant are all regenerate. See Hebrews 8 and Jeremiah 31.

4) The Abrahamic Covenant was not just spiritual. It had both spiritual/eternal and physical/ethnic aspects.

5) Circumcision in the Old Testament is fulfilled in (and prophesied) regeneration, not baptism.

6) Circumcision and baptism are never talked about as if they were identical signs.

7) Baptism is never talked about as the simple solution to the problems of the Judaizers - which would've been the case had it been the replacement for circumcision.

8) New Covenant people are spiritual and defined by spiritual birth.

9) No where is there a promise that children of believers are elect - only set apart because they'll hear the word of God.

10) The covenantal paedobaptism position is nowhere in history until Zwingli. Baptism and faith were always linked in experience in theological writings until then (even if sometimes mistakenly so).

11) Nowhere is baptism ever talked about as the sign of entry into the visible church. It's always in terms of one's regeneration - being in the invisible church.

12) Paedobaptists assume that the Abrahamic covenant IS the covenant of grace - not merely a dispensation of it. They look at the fulfillment of the covenant of grace (the new covenant) in terms of the Abrahamic covenant, as opposed to the Abrahamic covenant as a downpayment for and in terms of how the New Covenant fulfills it. (That is to say, they look at the relationship between the two covenants as essentially merely repeats of each other as opposed to looking at them in terms of promise-fulfillment.)

That's what I got off the top of my head. I'll add more as I think of them, God willing!

DA Carson on Deeds of Mercy and The Gospel

Presbyterian post tomorrow, God willing, I'm tired.

But for now - DA Carson, NT professor of awesome, notes two things in answer to this question:

"Granted that we ought to be engaged in acts of mercy, what safeguards can be set in place so as to minimize the risk that the deeds of mercy will finally swamp the proclamation of the gospel and the passionate desire to see men and women reconciled to God by faith in Christ Jesus and his atoning death and resurrection?"

The two are...

"First, it is helpful to distinguish between the responsibilities of the church qua church and the responsibilities of Christians. Some writers flip back and forth between references to "Christians" and references to "church" as if there is no difference whatsoever. But many Christian thinkers, from Kuyperians to Baptists, have argued that if the church qua church is responsible for some of these substantial works of mercy, such works of mercy ought to come under the leaders of the church. It is very difficult to find any warrant for that step in the New Testament. Even before there were pastors/elders/overseers, the apostles themselves, according to Acts, recognized that they should not be diverted from the ministry of the Word and prayer, even by the inequities of food distribution among the faithful, so they saw to it that others were appointed to tackle the problem. Ministers of the gospel ought so to be teaching the Bible in all its comprehensiveness that they will be raising up believers with many different avenues of service, but they themselves must not become so embroiled in such multiplying ministries that their ministries of evangelism, Bible teaching, making disciples, instructing, baptizing, and the like, somehow get squeezed to the periphery and take on a purely formal veneer.

Second, one pastor astutely urged, "Preach hell." Two things follow from this. (1) By adopting this priority we remind ourselves that as Christians we desire to relieve all suffering, from the temporal to the eternal. If we do not maintain such a panoramic vision, the relief of immediate suffering, as important as it is, may so command our focus that we fail to remind ourselves of Jesus' rhetorical question, "What good will it be for you to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul?" Read the closing lines of Revelation 14 and Revelation 20 when your vision becomes myopic. (2) As long as you are prepared to plead with men and women to be reconciled to God and to flee the coming wrath, you are preserving something that is central in the Bible, something that is intimately and irrefragably tied to the gospel itself—and those who want to shunt such themes aside and focus only on the relief of present suffering will not want to have much to do with you. Thus you will be free to preach and teach the whole counsel of God and to relieve all suffering, temporal and eternal, without being drawn into endless alliances in which people never focus on anything beyond threescore years and ten."

Subscribe via email!

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That simple.


Coming soon


1) Why I wish I could be a Presbyterian - but can't.
2) More impressions of "The Shack" and "Blue Like Jazz"
3) Sermon Notes - "Why Christians Need the Gospel"
4) Christians and Vulgarity
5) Why Christians should drink (booze!)

Non Christians Not Gossiping?

Check out this article.

Very interesting. So hey kids, we struggle with gossip - let's face it. How do you fight it? Spill it!

John, Stick to Hunting and Fishing.

Eldredge has just released a new book.

It's about praying for guidance. He says stuff like, 'God, should I go fishing today?' And, according to him, God answers.

I for one, believe the Holy Scriptures are sufficient for every good work. And I don't see this sort of behavior or guidance in them. I see meditation on God's word, the Spirit applying it to our very core beings.

Blogger Tim Challies cites theologian Sinclair Ferguson:

"Christians in an earlier generation rarely thought of writing books on guidance. There is a reason for that (just as there is a reason why so many of us today are drawn to books that will tell us how to find God's will). Our forefathers in the faith were catechised, and they taught catechisms to their children. Often as much as half of the catechism would be devoted to an exposition of the answers to questions like the following: Question: Where do we find God's will? Answer: In the Scriptures. Question: Where in particular in the Scriptures? Answer: In the Commandments that God has given to us.

Why were these questions and answers so important? Because these Christians understood that God's law provides basic guidelines that cover the whole of life. Indeed, in the vast majority of instances, the answer to the question 'What does God want me to do?' will be found by answering the question: 'How does the law of God apply to this situation? What does the Lord require of me here in his word?'"

Here's an article about decision-making. Here. Click it. You know you wanna.

I KNOW you love readin' Chronicles!

Most of you probably don't read the Old Testament much. I understand that. It can feel really boring, full of inconsequential detail - and just plain hard to read.

But it is God's word, good for doctrine and life - and it's here for you.

So let me share with you a paradigm you can use to read through Kings and Chronicles - and all the narratives about kings in Israel.

Read the end of Judges - God's people kept rejecting God because they had no king. Then Israel wanted a king that would essentially act like the pagan kings instead of merely being God's spokesman.

But then God gave them a king - David - who executed God's Law, and God ushered in an era of peace and prosperity and obedience. Awesome. And promised David that his line would be forever.

Oh, and Jesus fulfills that. By the way. (2 Sam 7; Romans 1:3, 4)

So when you're reading about these kings, who show varied levels of obedience and disobedience, compare them to Jesus.

Look at how they sin. Look at how you share in their sin. And look at how Jesus is a better King. How he obeyed God perfectly. How he commanded us perfectly (as recorded in Scripture). How he actually causes our obedience (through the Spirit). How he died for our sins. How he rose and reigns at God's right hand - and how he's coming again to rescue his people from the ills of this world - and to usher us into his presence.

Why Do Good People Suffer?

Or in other words, why, if God is 'good,' does 'evil' exist?

This is the question "The Shack" seeks to answer. I don't know how it answers it yet. But I figured I'd give you four answers God gives.

1) Shut up. (That is, don't question God. He's God, and you're not.) (Job 38 through the end and Romans 9)

2) Evil exists to show the glory of God in his love (Romans 9, Romans 5:12-21, John 9:2-3, Matthew 11:25-26).

3) Wait - God's going to fix it! (Which is a good thing for those he's forgiven - bad for those he hasn't.) (ALL over the prophets, psalms, etc.)

4) Suffering exists as the beginning of punishment for unbelievers, and as holiness-producing discipline for believers (Luke 13:1 and following; 1 Peter 4:12 and following; Hebrews 12:1-10 ish).

If you want more ref's, I can grab 'em.

It's too bad that people aren't willing to just say - 'hey, what's the Bible say on this?' I shouldn't ask my pastor or someone to explain what the bible says - I should read some stupid book that denigrates God. But hey, it's written well and makes me feel good.

A friend of mine coined the term 'spiritual masturbation' to refer to such things. He's right. And I'd apologize for the ugliness of the term, except for the fact that what is being done in creating and worshiping an idol is worse.

More Shack-alicious and First Impressions of Blue Like Yazz...

I've taken it on myself to start reading pop-Christian literature. I usually don't because, well, there's a lot of really good Bible teaching stuff out there.

Take that as you will.

Anyway, I watched Driscoll on "The Shack" last night, and was pleasantly encouraged to see his analysis was very similar to my own. One verse he drew on that I forgot about was this:

God has said in Romans 1:22-23, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."

Whoops.

Whoops seems a light word when that 'mistake' results in the wrath of God, actually (from 1:18 and 2:1-11).

So I've started reading Blue Like Jazz. First impressions:
1) Miller has an amazing ability to write conversationally.
2) These conversations, so far, have done a great job pointing out the sin of man. He's done an excellent job showing how universal it is. He's done a great job showing how it's rooted in the self - in self-pleasure. He's done a great job showing that infects even the good things we do. He's done a great job in showing that everyone is sinful. Awesome.
3) He does a lot of needless ripping on nameless, descriptionless 'fundamentalists.' I'm not sure that's edifying or loving to certain people in the Church.
4) He makes a big deal out of being a political liberal. Eh, frustrating. I'd never say that being a Christian means you have to vote Republican (at least without some argument from Scripture), but at the same time, I don't like it. I think ALL Christians should have some sort of biblical political ethic - a biblical basis for what they think government should be and how we should interact with it - before engaging in such speech. Both Republicans and Democrats. Let's elevate God's words, not our unfounded opinions. Again, that goes for you all on both sides. Knock it off.

Legalism and "The Shack"

I love the Gospel. I love safeguarding the Gospel. And so when it comes to Gospel-attacking doctrines – those of Rome, some New Perspective on Paul ideas, the replacing of the Gospel with an experience of ‘personal relationship’ without doctrine in some of the emergent or seeker-oriented movements – I get mad.

And I think there’re two good reasons to get mad about that. First, those things are assaults on who the God of all glory has revealed himself to be. They’re attacks on God himself. Second, get the Gospel wrong, and you send people to hell. (Galatians 1:8, 9; Galatians 5:4; Romans 9:30-10:4; 1 John 4:1-3, etc.)

They just go a little more comfortably. And with a few more ‘spiritual experiences’ under their belt.

That said, people like me, including me, can often get really legalistic about doctrine. What I mean by that is this: we have a situation in which God has spoken into the world. We are to believe what he says. To refuse to believe what he has said is rebellion.

So wrong doctrine isn’t merely the result of poor exegesis – it’s the result of sin.

That said, some of us doctrine hounds expect the intensity and soundness of our arguments to change people . We want to shake their shoulders and shout, “Why don’t you GET it???”

We forget two things. 1) Assuming the person’s a Christian, they stand forgiven before God. 2) Again, assuming the person’s a Christian, we’re forgetting that the Holy Spirit is working on their hearts in varied degrees in different areas.

And so we can get legalistic. Expect perfection out of people, etc. That’s bad. We need to treat people in light of Jesus’ sovereignty. Sometimes I forget that.

So when I picked up the new book “The Shack,” having heard about it, I was ready to give it the benefit of the doubt. I was ready to find Scripturally sound, edifying ideas expressed in it. Did I?

If you don’t know the story, a man’s kid dies, and he gets an invitation from God to have a chat. And the first thing that we see is that this guy had gone to seminary, where he learned that God had stopped speaking with the Scriptures - which is CLEARLY wrong according to what the book says.

Now, I don’t know why that mention is even there. Why the need to rip on people who are trying to learn and teach God's word? Why is there a need to tear down those who know more about the Bible than we do?

And then why the need to take a pot-shot at people who believe the canon of Scripture is closed - and that it alone is authoritative and sufficient for Christian life? It’s not necessary in the plot. I’m confused.

Well, and mad. I do think the Bible is sufficient (2 Timothy 3:16-17). So does God, by the way.

So the dude goes to the shack and meets the Trinity. All three persons of which are manifested physically. God the Father’s a black woman, and the Holy Spirit is an Asian woman who reminds me of Lucy Liu.

So here’s the beginning of the big problem with the book – it’s an attack on the nature of God. John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12 both say “No one has ever seen God.” 1 Timothy 6:16 says that no one has ever seen – nor can they see – God the Father. That’s because, as Jesus said in John 4:24 – ‘God is Spirit.’

So first, The Shack represents God in a way that Scripture does not represent him. Not only does this strongly imply that the picture of God that Scripture gives isn’t good enough, it also paints a picture of God that isn’t Scriptural.

The second commandment of the ten is that there should be no images of God (Ex. 20:4). Paul preaches in Acts 17:29 that we should not think of God as something we could fashion or imagine. Remember: the ancient Israelites were punished in the desert not because they worshiped some random calf god – it was because they made an image and called it God – the LORD (Ex. 32:5). And God had not represented himself that way.

There were consequences from the hand of God the Almighty. How is creating a picture of God that Scripture does not give us not idolatry? This is serious business. Read Deuteronomy 4-5. Deuteronomy 9:12-14. Psalm 106:19-20 tells us why this is so significant – God has showed us how glorious he is by what he has spoken in his word (see also Deut 4) – to make an image is to rob him of his glory.

That’s kind of a ‘duh’ statement. Images exist to show off the things of which they are images!

So a false image results in false glory. And false glory is a false god, results in false worship, and is altogether a different religion.

And if God is physical, then we’re talking Mormonism - or a very similar heresy. Well, except for the Mormons’ (recently recanted) racism. And at least the Mormons get it right and refer to God as masculine since, well, the Bible does.

So yeah, there’s that. So then there was a discussion in the book of how limited human freedom really is – by circumstances, environment, experiences. Good insight. I was ready for good at this point...

And then – THEN – there was an orthodox definition of the Trinity in these pages! I was surprised! So pleasantly. I think I praised God.

And then the author proceeded to mock that definition as useless. I don’t know if he’s ignorant of the fact that my brothers and sisters in Christ of old died for that definition. I don’t know if he’s ignorant of the fact that that definition comes out of Scripture. And so he’s calling something Scripture teaches about who God is – useless.

I do hope this isn’t intentional.

Somewhere along the line, Jesus clumsily drops and ruins dinner. Whoops. Then the ‘Father’ and ‘Spirit’ make fun of him.

“And let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 10:28, 29)

Hm.

There’s something that’s really insidious that this book implies, though. Consider these Scriptures: John 1:14; John 1:18; John 14:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:1-3.

Jesus himself is the image of the Father. He is the full revelation of all of the glory of God. The New Testament is the record of his words and activities on earth, and as Hebrews says, the consummation of God revealing himself to humanity (until the end – 1 John 3:1-2).

To commend to us – to even suggest – another image of the Father – is an affront to the sufficiency of Jesus, an insult to the incarnation – and at the very least, a misunderstanding of who Jesus even is – and thus what knowing God is.

I’m sure the author didn’t intend this; but this book is destructive. It replaces the Father with an idol, true worship with false, and the sufficiency of Jesus with – the book "The Shack" itself. It is at best dangerous for our knowledge of God and true worship, and at worst, heresy.

I haven’t yet finished the book. My wife’s a little ahead of me in it. She tells me the author assaults the idea of hierarchy in the Trinity. No big surprise. Not heresy, but wrong.

I haven’t yet got to the author explaining the problem of evil, which is the purpose of the book. If his explanation is anything like his picture of God, then I fear it. Perhaps at a later date I’ll throw out there the Bible’s answers to the problem of evil.

This book raises the question – is Christian fiction okay? What about Pilgrim’s Progress? What about The Chronicles of Narnia?

There’s a big difference. Those two works are allegories. They do not purport to represent God as he actually is; but rather, give analogies for understanding things expressed explicitly in Scripture. They do not presume to speak for God.

Please, do not waste your time with this book. Spend your time with Scripture – and see how God reveals himself – and reveals himself fully – in the person, the man Jesus Christ. Know him thus, and worship him.

The Whole of History - Part II

Romans 1:3, 4

We’ve seen that God plucked Paul out of his own rebellion to appoint him to be a deliverer of God’s good news – even to us!

In these verses we begin to see the contents of that good news: The gospel is “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…”

First we see that the Gospel is about the Son of God – Jesus. The good news is good because of Jesus, who has a unique relationship with the Father: he is THE Son of God. Isn’t it easy to lose focus on Jesus? Even in spiritual things? Think about your own spiritual life. Do you sometimes forget him? When you sing, do you always remember Jesus? When you read? When you talk about spiritual things with other Christians?

But to forget Christ is certainly not Christian. This good news is about him, after all!

This Jesus was the Son of God – but he was also the son of David. He was a human, born into the world. And more – born into David’s kingly line. That’s important, because if you look at 2 Samuel chapter 7, you’ll see that God promised David that his kingly line would last forever. And David’s kingdom was characterized by peace, prosperity, and the pursuit of obedience to God!

But it was not perfect. It was certainly better than the political and natural strife that existed in the day, but it was just a little taste of something good.

Jesus is descended from David. He was born – a real human – into a broken world - with a promise that his Kingdom would last forever...

But what’s this ‘according to the flesh’ thing mean? And what does it mean that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection”?

Consider Isaiah 31:3 - The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.

And consider the Lord’s own words in John 3:6 and 6:63 - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

And

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."

And Romans 8:9 says this: "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."

There are countless verses about the flesh-Spirit contrast. But the key is this: The “Flesh” is the old world. It’s unsaved, unredeemed, and bears the curse of sin. It’s controlled by it.

THAT’S the world the Son of God was physically born into as the heir to David’s throne.

It’s good news that Jesus, very God(!), entered our evil, suffering world. But he didn’t just do that. He died and rose again in the ‘Spirit of holiness.’ Well, the Spirit in this whole contrast is the new world. It’s the world in which Jesus bears authority – or ‘power’ in this verse. It’s the world in which he’s acting as Lord. (The Holy Spirit - very God - came and marked out the beginning of this new world 2,000 years ago!)

And what does Jesus do with his authority? “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Mark 2:10)

Jesus, by rising from the dead, became King of a new world in the midst of an old world controlled by death. He is the acquitter of our many rebellions and the giver of eternal life. And if we’ve believed, he is indeed our Lord; he has given us entry into his new world.

Sometimes life sucks, doesn’t it? We’re still in this old world. But Jesus entered into it, and he began a new world by rising from the dead – a new world where he is King, forgiver of sins, and granter of eternal life with him.

Praise Him!

The Sabbath's for YOU, Christian!

Here are some observations about what the Scripture says about the Sabbath – the holy day of rest during the week. This isn’t a full out proof, per se, but is meant for a starting place for us to look at the Scriptures. I think the combined force of what follows shows us that the Sabbath is indeed for Christians. That said, some observations:

1) Jesus in talking about the Sabbath never canceled it.

2) The 10 commandments are viewed as a distinct unit and the unit that governs the rest of the Laws in the OT.

3) The 10 commandments are binding on our activity as believers, though we’re not judged by them.

4) The 10 commandments are what is written on the hearts of believers.

5) Keeping a day as separate for the Lord started with creation – not with the nation of Israel.

6) Sabbath worship is for worship of God (it’s holy), but it is also for the good of the people of God.

7) That’s because Sabbath worship is to entail communion with God through the means he’s established (preaching, worship, prayer, the sacraments, fellowship in the Church).

8) The Sabbath points to resting in Jesus. Though it’s true that this rest has entered history, it is a grave error to believe that it is fulfilled now in our world or experience. We look forward to a future rest, just as the Israelites did; we just view it as having begun in history.

9) The NT Church continued to meet together regularly on the first day of the week, putting worldly pursuits aside.

10) Though our whole lives are to be about worship, certain things are instituted so that we will worship apart from normal, daily activity – with all of who we are focused on God.

11) Nowhere in Scripture is the (weird!) notion that God removed the old commandments and completely put new commandments into effect. Jesus exposited the Law (itself an exposition of the first command ever given in Genesis 1) – he didn’t replace it!

Devotional - The Whole of History (Part I)

Devotional – The Whole of History - Romans 1:1-2

Paul's introduction in the book of Romans is not really about Paul; it's about God, and all that God has done and will do in the history of his creation.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

It’s so interesting that in the introductory part of the letter, Paul immediately takes the attention off of himself – and puts it squarely on God. And he does so as an apostle – one speaking God’s words; so we can conclude this: God is a very God-centered God. God cares most about God. Paul’s identity is as a bearer of God’s good news – not in boasting about what he’s done or who he is. And God has communicated to people through Paul. God chose to speak to us!

which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

And this identity isn’t totally even unique to Paul. Paul’s merely the bearer of God’s message. To us, that begs two questions. 1) Am I in submission to this message as I read God’s word? Really? 2) How do I think of myself? Do I make much of me? Do I seek good things outside of the gospel? Or do I celebrate what was promised –

“Thus says the LORD:
‘Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.” (Isaiah 56:1)

And this promise – the promise of the gospel that happened through the prophets before Jesus – this does a couple things. First, it confirms the message we now hear. The good news about salvation, forgiveness, and the Kingdom because of Jesus’ death and resurrection – is true. Oh let it sink into our hearts that this is reality!

Second, it shows us that the promise that had not been realized – but NOW, God has begun to fulfill his promises. We live in the era of world history in which God has revealed himself: Jesus has showed us the only God – our Creator – since he is our Creator – the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). This is cause for celebration!

Consider all the good news in these verses – God is about God. God has chosen to communicate his words to people. God brings us good news. God verifies this good news. God has revealed to us the fullness of the good news – in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah, the one who died, who lives, who reigns, and who is coming to judge and to gather his people to himself. Praise be to God!

Driscoll on Persecution

From my friend Matt's Facebook page - Driscoll on persecution - click.

Devotionals

What's right below this post is the first in a series of devotionals I hope to write daily. It's helpful for me - and I hope it's helpful for you! May God's grace, through his word and Spirit, show us his glory in Jesus for our good!

Let me know if this is helpful or not.

Also - I just found out you can subscribe to not only this blog - but to notes on Facebook. So if you're reading this on Facebook, just hit that little 'subscribe' button if you want.

Devotional - The End of Acts

I just finished reading Acts – the apostle Paul was shipwrecked at Malta and imprisoned at Rome for several years, waiting to appear before Caesar – the most powerful man in the world at the time. Paul – a former persecutor of God’s people, whom God converted at the right time (Galatians 1) in the same way that he created the world - by divine decree (2 Corinthians 4, Romans 4).

How does this apply to me, exactly?

1) God deserves the glory for Paul’s conversion and ministry from me. My response must be praising God for his actions.

2) Paul frequently, as in Colossians 2 and 3, uses his chains as a defense of his apostleship – for the sake of the faith of the people he wrote to – for their faith. Paul’s imprisonment, and the writings about it, therefore, are for increasing my faith.

3) Paul’s shipwreck, ministry, miracles, and imprisonment – and opportunities to preach the gospel – were by God’s divine decree. God said through Jeremiah, “Who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” (Lamentations 3:37, 38) And so is the spread of the gospel by divine decree – by the work of the Spirit, not some silly notion of human free will. God brings his children into his kingdom – and has done so through Paul. I should Praise God for how he has spread the gospel through the world.

4) Paul’s ministry is characterized by two activities – preaching about God’s kingdom and doing miracles. The response to those things is either acceptance of the gospel – of Jesus as King – or persecution. This should sound remarkably familiar – because it mirrors Jesus’ ministry. Paul, as an apostle, was showing off Jesus to the world in Jesus’ stead. These writings, then, to us, are a picture of Jesus. They’re a re-confirmation of Jesus’ work. Jesus has saved us who believe by his death and life – and the transmission of his message through the apostles, and thus through the Scriptures and those who preach them. This is all by his divine authority and decree. Thanks be to God!

5) Paul awaited his appearance before Caesar - the world's most powerful king - while in prison and proclaiming a different King - whose Kingdom was of a different realm - in which there is forgiveness for sins. The Kingdom we inherit is other worldly - thank God!

Wisdom from the world of sin… and how I fell prey to it

It’s amazing how things are bandied around among Christians as if they’re wise, even though they have no root in Scripture. Well, not really amazing. It happened in the Old Testament Church (Matt 15:1-9) and the New Testament Church (Col. 2:16-23).

One such thing – and since I’m in parachurch ministry I hear this all the time – is the need for multi-generational fellowship in the Church. The belief that we need the experience of people older than us to point us to wise living.

I’m willing to be proven wrong on this, but I don’t think the Bible teaches such a thing. What the Bible does teach is that the knowledge it imparts is sufficient for every good work – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

So knowing the Bible is the key to right living…

The Bible also teaches that wisdom flows from fearing the Lord: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” (Prov. 1:7)

Now, I admit that over time our knowledge of God’s word should grow – and so those with more time in God’s word should be wiser. But that’s not something that always happens. Our reliance must not be on the age or experience of one seeking to impart knowledge; but rather on this question: are they speaking and explaining God’s holy and sufficient word?

I am certainly not immune to the temptation to doubt the sufficiency of God’s word. I’d always heard that the big failure that people have in marriage is their failure to communicate. Now certainly, communication within a marriage is vital. But let me suggest something: what I’ve seen in my age old marriage (of 3 weeks) is that my big failure in our marriage (so far) is not my lack of communication – it’s my sin. It’s my idolatry. It’s my failure to worship God. It’s my refusal to consider my wife more significant than me. It’s my love of myself. (I hope you can see here that I’ve been paraphrasing Scripture! See Romans 1:18-32, Philippians 2, 2 Timothy 3 for starters.)

And the reality is this: my communication with my amazing wife is sometimes controlled by my sin. So sometimes when I communicate, I am sinning by communicating!

Whoops.

I have to return to what God has said – and God hasn’t given me a 10 step program to a healthy marriage. He’s given me his word, which is sufficient to please him, and he’s given me his Spirit, which is his power to accomplish all godly things (2 Peter 1:3, 4).

There’s no magic bullet for obedience. There’s not a secret in the success of others. There’s God word – his commandments – his Law telling me what I need to do to honor God. And there’s the Holy Spirit, present in me, conforming me to greater obedience to God’s Law.

You wanna help me? Don't tell me a story. Don't tell me what experience has taught you. Tell me what you've learned from God's word. And tell me that that I can only please God by the Spirit's working.