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By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

From Death-to-Death to Glory-to-Glory

The demoniac that Jesus met after crossing the sea was in a state of perpetual, growing death. Luke represents this for us in several ways in his descriptions. This man abides among the tombs with the dead. He is possessed by an unclean spirit; the breath of Satan animates him. He is naked, stripped of all glory. He is separated from home and community, being driven in the desert. He is a walking dead man.

This death, as mentioned, is not static. It is growing. In the beginning, when God created the man in his image, the intention was that man would progress in a fruitful life. Life would move from one stage of glory to another. But when death came into the world through sin, that process was reversed. Instead of growing in life, man initially dies and then continually dies unless God moves him from death to life through resurrection. This demoniac was dead and was growing in death. Satan and his minions were destroying him day by day as he roamed and cried among the tombs. This is Satan’s glorious plan for man’s life under his control: to move you from death to death.

What this man needed at this time was not a little helping hand. He needed resurrection. He needed to be cleansed and delivered or, in short, given new life. So it is with all of us who are sons of Adam, born into this world dead in our trespasses and sins. Our need goes far beyond just a little help. We need resurrection. Jesus came to provide for this need through taking on our death and subsequently being raised from the dead. In him we are cleansed. In him we are given life instantly and that life grows and grows until it comes to full flower in the resurrection of our bodies on the last day.

This is glorious news, but it is news that is difficult to accept for some and out-right rejected by others. Each of us knows that he is guilty. But instead of turning and submitting to the one who forgives and, through that forgiveness, gives life, we would rather find other ways to justify ourselves; that is, we want to find ways to deal with our guilt and the guilty feelings that are the consequence of that actual guilt. People will bury their guilt through abuse of substances or even resorting to self-mutilation in one form or another. We must deal with our incessant uncleanness.

This attempt at self-cleansing also dresses up in more respectable ways. We can bury ourselves in work, lose ourselves in material possessions, or even dedicate our lives to causes that make us feel good about ourselves. We long to be clean.

Many times, however, we love our death. It is familiar. It is a friend. It is destroying my life and eventually carrying me on dragon wings to hell, but it is what I like; it is what I know. Besides all of that, I hate God. Submitting to him is the last thing I want to do. So, we continue to try to justify ourselves, and, like this demoniac, we continue on the road of death.

This is seen all around us every day in the world. But this problem is not exclusive to those outside the church. There is something that remains in all of us while we are progressing in life that nags at us that we aren’t clean and that we must find a way to pay for our sins ourselves. There is enough uncleanness left in us that, at times, we still want to do this for ourselves.

As always and with everybody, these attempts fail. The only answer is what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. The answer to your guilt and the guilty feelings that follow is to hear the declaration of God in Christ over you: “You are forgiven and righteous before me.” The only way to quiet the tumultuous mind that tortures you in condemnation is to believe what your God has declared about you. You are cleansed in Christ. Having been justified by faith, you are at peace with God. Believe that and be free. Believe that and live.

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By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

The Courage of Faith

Most (if not all) of us can identify with the disciples in the boat with Jesus during that big storm recorded in Luke 8. We would love to identify more with Jesus: resting so confidently in his Father’s protection that he can sleep through the middle of a hurricane. But we don’t. At least not normally. We identify with the disciples and their fear. We know that Jesus plans to take us to the other side of the sea, but it looks like somewhere along the way he may have changed his plans. So we, logically (at least in our minds) begin to worry. We’re afraid like they are.

Because we think we are being sensible, the waking words of Jesus to the disciples—to us!– sting a bit when we hear them: “Where is your faith?” That hurts. I’m just being rational and looking at the very real situation that is around me at this time, analyzing the situation in my great wisdom, and coming to a very logical, well-reasoned conclusion. A little boat in the midst of a hurricane-like storm doesn’t stand a chance. “Jesus, if you were a fisherman and fished this sea as much as us, you’d understand that. You need to know that it is time to be afraid.” Sounds perfectly logical, yet Jesus, knowing what normally happens to boats in storms on the sea, still questions the faith of his closest companions and the ones who will be the foundation of the church.

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By In Theology

Kuyperian Sabbatarianism

A man is walking home on Friday night near midnight. He lives on the fourth floor of a large apartment complex. As he arrives at his apartment complex, he realizes that it’s midnight; it’s the Sabbath. He needs to get in an elevator to take him to the fourth floor, but he pauses and realizes he can’t use the elevator because it would require him to push the #4 button, which is considered work. And this simple work would violate the Sabbath. This man is a practicing Jew and using the elevator broke one of the 39 Shabbat Laws.

When we think about the Sabbath, it’s possible that these kinds of laws come to mind. In fact, conversations about the fourth commandment are rare in evangelical environments. Any talk about the Sabbath is quickly greeted with the retort that we don’t live in the Old Testament. The more astute will mention that in Mark 2 Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for adding hundreds of regulations to the Sabbath that “robbed the day of its joy.”a Or some will reply with Jesus’ statement that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). But what precisely did Jesus mean with that statement? It seems clear that he did not mean that we can do whatever we want on the Sabbath, or that the Sabbath is somehow abrogated (see Matt. 5:17), but it does mean that the Sabbath is a gift and blessing to man.

Therefore, making a list of dos and don’ts would be unwise, because the Sabbath is to be commemorated as a blessing and without burdensome hindrances. That much is clear. Jesus comes into the scene and dusts off the fourth commandment to “its original beauty and luster.”b.

Sabbath Controversy

There is no more controversial topic than the application of the Fourth Commandment in the life of the Church. More pages have been written discussing this commandment than probably all the other commandments combined (perhaps with the exception of the second). The reason it’s so controversial is that the Bible does talk about the Sabbath and it speaks of it in positive ways in the Old Covenant. It’s a day of refreshment in Exodus 23; it’s to be treated as a day of delight in Isaiah 58; and there is even a song dedicated to the Sabbath, called “A Song for the Sabbath Day,” which is Psalm 92.

The reality is that everything modern Christians have thought about the Sabbath is probably wrong in the Old Testament. The Jews didn’t look at the Sabbath and say, “Oh no, here it comes again; the day of boredom and silence.” No, in fact, our forefathers treasured the Sabbath which is why our God declares it a Holy Day.

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  1. Douma 113  (back)
  2. Ibid. 114  (back)

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By In Theology, Wisdom

The Mystery of Marriage

This is a homily delivered on the occasion of the wedding of my son, Joshua, and his wife, Naomi.

Paul, quoting Genesis 2.24 and then commenting on it says to the Ephesian church, “’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

This is a great mystery. Our word “mystery” is brought over directly from Greek, but in its trek through history, it has picked up some connotations in English that Paul did not intend. When we hear the word “mystery,” we tend to think of that which is unknowable or incomprehensible; something shrouded behind an impenetrable veil that we could never hope to get our minds wrapped around. Though there are enigmatic elements in what Paul means when he speaks of mystery, that is not the totality of what he means.

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By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

Plowing In Hope

The whole story of man can be told from the perspective of farming. We see these images popping up everywhere at the beginning of our history. God makes a world in which the land that emerges from the water becomes lush with vegetation. Then, after creating the man, he creates a special Garden for the man to work and to protect. Farming was man’s original task. These images were even evident in the relationship between the man and the woman. God told them to be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth. Man’s relationship with his wife would be like farming; it would be like tending and guarding the Garden. After the fall of man, God promises a seed who will come. God will make a new Garden that will be fruitful and will overcome the seed of the serpent, who are the thorns and thistles.

Creation and redemption can both be explained in terms of man’s vocation as a farmer. In giving man this vocation, God was also teaching man something about himself as well as leading him to meditate on how the entirety of his life is reflected in the world of agriculture. Man learns truths about himself and his relationships with God and others as he observes what goes on with land, seed, plants, and cultivation. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Remember, man was created out of the dust of the ground (Gen 2.7). This means that man, though distinct from the ground, nevertheless, corresponds to the ground in many ways. Man is the ground formed and filled with the breath of God. We are living, breathing plots of ground who are called to be farmers. This is why, not so incidentally, these parables of Jesus about seeds, soils, and sowers aren’t “far out-there” analogies. They are as natural as they can be. How much more basic can you get than going back to our original creation and understanding the correspondence between us and the ground from which we were birthed, so to speak? Jesus teases out the implications of this relationship in all of these agricultural parables, calling us to reflect upon our lives in light of what God is doing in this world in and through Christ Jesus and by the Spirit.

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By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

Healing Forgiveness

The scene must have been shocking because of the reckless display of love. Simon, the Pharisee, invited Jesus along with many other guests to come and feast with him at his house. While reclining at the table, a nameless, well-known woman comes in to express her loving gratitude to Jesus who has forgiven her many sins. She is most likely a prostitute. The words that Luke records along with her actions all point to this. The “uncovering” and caressing of a man’s feet in that culture would have been considered a sexual advance. Simon indicates this when he speaks of the woman “touching” Jesus, a word that can have sexual connotations. Add to this the fact that she lets her hair down in public, an act that would have been reserved for a husband and wife in private—or a prostitute and a client—and we can be fairly certain that this “sinner” is a prostitute.

She has many sins. Jesus says so. She knows it. That’s why she came to Jesus for forgiveness. And she received it. The loving grace of forgiveness that she received drove her to reciprocate in expressions of love for her Lord. Jesus tells her in front of everyone that her sins are forgiven. He adds, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Lk 7.50).

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By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

Stumbling Over Mercy

Jesus follows John the Baptizer as substance follows shadow, as antitype follows type. Jesus is the glorious fulfillment of John’s prophetic ministry in every way. John’s miraculous conception to a barren woman is announced by an angel. Jesus’ more glorious conception in the womb of a virgin is also announced by an angel. John’s birth is followed by the prophetic singing of his father, Zechariah. Jesus’ birth is followed by the angelic singing of the heavenly armies. Everything that happens in the life of John typifies what is to come in the life of Jesus. The difference is that what is fulfilled in Jesus will have greater glory than in the life of John.

This makes sense when you consider whose relationship John and Jesus reflect from the story of Scripture. John comes in the “spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk 1.17). Jesus says unequivocally that John is “Elijah who is to come,” that is, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi (cf. Mal 4.5; Mt 11.14). If John is Elijah, then who is Jesus? Elisha, the prophet anointed by Elijah who receives a double portion of Elijah’s spirit (2Kg 2.9). Jesus’ ministry is a continuation and glorious fulfillment of John’s life and ministry.

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By In Theology

The Compassion of Jesus

What was left of her world was lying lifeless on a bier being carried out of the city to its resting place. She already lost her husband. Now her only son was dead. Besides the fact that she loved her son dearly, he was her means of protection and provision in her old age. Death had stolen from her everything but her own existence; all the joys of marriage and motherhood. She was left vulnerable to a leadership in Israel, who, even though they were supposed to help widows, devoured their houses (Lk 20.47).

As this widow moves with a great crowd through the city of Nain, mourning and carrying her son to his resting place with his father, Jesus and his entourage are drawing near the city gates. “Drawing near” certainly speaks of Jesus closing the geographical gap between himself and the city, but, with an understanding that later comes out that “God has visited his people” (Lk 7.16), the connotations of Luke have deep Scriptural echoes. “Drawing near” is what happens at the Temple through offerings. The worshiper draws near to God and God draws near to the worshiper. God comes to save and destroy; save his faithful people and destroy his and our enemies. God is drawing near to this city and, more specifically to this widow and her dead son, to do precisely that.

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By In Family and Children, Theology, Worship

A Baptism Exhortation

But why do you call Me `Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6.43-49)

Prayer: Almighty God, who formed the earth out of water and through water by your word, who saved Noah and his family through water while destroying the wicked, who delivered your people Israel through the Sea while defeating Pharaoh and his armies, all of which are types of baptism into Christ Jesus, we pray that you will look mercifully upon Diana, saving her with your people while destroying sin and death. May she, throughout her life, relying upon the grace you give to her this day, continue to mortify sin so that at the last day she may participate in the resurrection of the just and reign with Christ Jesus eternally. Amen

At the end of what is commonly called “the Sermon on the Plain,” Jesus speaks a parable to the great crowd of disciples. This parable is a contrast between two different people. These people aren’t different in what they hear or in the fact that they will face floods in their lives. Both hear, and both will be assaulted by floods. The only difference between these two people is what they do with the words of Jesus. One person lives according to Jesus’ words, and the other one doesn’t.

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By In Theology

Mark Driscoll’s Fall from the Doctrines of Grace

Mark Driscoll was once a respected pastor in Seattle where he commanded a massive church with his charismatic and calvinistic appeal. He once referred to himself as a five-point Calvinist and was often associated with Calvinists of every variety like John Piper, Matt Chandler, Doug Wilson and a host of others. His network of churches, Acts 29, was known for its grace emphasis drawn from the Canons of Dort as the five points of Calvinism.

Driscoll’s success was great and so also was his fall. Charges of plagiarism and abusive behavior took the bold Mark Driscoll to a sea of despair in a short period. Driscoll’s labors drew heavy criticism from many evangelical pastors but his unique skills in communicating to a largely pagan culture in Seattle provided him an invisibility cloak for some time. But that didn’t last forever. Driscoll fell from grace.

It took him some time to put himself together, and the ideal scenario, in my estimation, would have been for Driscoll to set his eyes upon Jesus, repent fully and find restoration to a local church to serve as a faithful layman and perhaps some form of role that would use his gifts under strong and capable leadership. But as in most cases, a man of Driscoll’s caliber are rarely content with regular church life unless they are in the spotlight of the church.

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