MENU

Resurrection
Tag Archive

On April 25, 2024 By In Culture

Liturgy, Weirdness, and Hospitality

We must shift our focus on liturgical efforts towards hospitality. This may seem straightforward, but implementing it on a large scale is no easy task. Some congregations may express a desire to embrace this approach, but they find themselves hindered by self-inflicted wounds. Their priority is often showcasing their distinctiveness rather than demonstrating it through tangible actions.

In our inquirer’s class, we use a saying that goes something like this: “We need to bathe our weirdness with a deep sense of commonness.” Internally and behind the scenes, we don’t view ourselves as weird, but we are quite aware that the perception exists in a thoroughly de-liturgized culture.

This came across in an observation from a mother who raised her daughter in a Reformed context and saw her daughter go into a different tradition altogether. Now, mind you, the daughter was not antagonistic towards Reformed Theology, but she found the practices of this broadly evangelical environment more friendly and inviting. For the record, I am the last person to give much credence to an impressionable young adult. Still, I do want to take the opportunity to offer some general thoughts on the art of commonness and why black coffee Calvinists like myself think our churches need more than mere liturgism.

The first observation is that our Reformational theology/liturgy should be inviting. However worship is communicated–paraments or stripped tables–it must carry on the gravitas of joy from beginning to end. We live in a culture that craves the normalcy of joy. If we invite younger generations to taste and see Geneva’s God, we must also ensure that we don’t portray Geneva as some ogre attempting to tyrannize conscience. Geneva needs to show up with smiles and greetings, not five points of inquiry.

The second point is that liturgical worship should evoke a sense of the holy. Our liturgy should guide people to see God’s sovereignty permeating every aspect of worship, every line, and every response.

Once, a visitor told one of our congregants that even though the liturgy was foreign to her, it was incredibly joyful. But even if the impression is oppositional–and it has happened–we should still communicate a culture where the holy is a common ritual of the people. You cannot control reactions, but you can manage interactions. You can control a sweet disposition towards a visitor. You can sit next to them when they walk in alone and guide them through the order of worship.

Third, and finally, if the liturgy is a living liturgy–contrary to modernistic ritualization experiences in mainline churches with alternating “Mother God” lines–then that liturgy must breathe life into the home. It needs to be perpetuated with food and drink for those strangers who visit. If they are not invited to see your lived-out liturgy, it is unlikely they will find pleasure in your acted-out liturgy on Sunday mornings. It will continue to be strange and foreign rather than warm and inviting.

Our liturgical efforts must move into hospitable efforts. In fact, liturgy necessarily moves into homes. Ultimately, we may still appear strange, and our songs may still give a Victorian vibe, but at the very least, we will have given visitors a sense of the holy and an invitation to joy.

Our Reformed churches should contemplate that model in our day.

Read more

On March 28, 2023 By In Theology

A.D. 70 or the Future: Which Passages Are Which?

Eschatology has been at the forefront of recent debates within the Reformed world. The debate is particularly between partial-preterists and full-preterists. A partial-preterist is someone who believes that many — but not all — of the apocalyptic prophecies in the New Testament were fulfilled in the first century, by the year A.D. 70. A full-preterist is someone who believes that all of the apocalyptic prophecies were fulfilled in the first century. For example, partial-preterists believe that a bodily return of Jesus, a final judgment, and a resurrection of the dead are in our future. Full-preterists deny that these things are in our future.

These views are in contrast to what we might call “full-futurism.” A full-futurist believes that all of the apocalyptic passages are yet to be fulfilled. This is the most popular position among Christians today. I was raised in a full-futurist home, but I have adhered to partial-preterism for nearly 20 years. I believe it is the most biblical and balanced position. Partial-preterism (and therefore partial-futurism) avoids the opposite extremes of full-futurism and full-preterism.

Having come from a full-futurist upbringing, I can attest to the excitement of learning deeper truths of scripture. There is perhaps no greater paradigm shift than an eschatological paradigm shift. Consequently, once you dive into the preterist perspective, you’ll find yourself asking, “Which passages are still future?” That’s the question this essay attempts to answer.

(more…)

Read more

On April 23, 2022 By In Culture

The Resurrection of Christ in Four-Part Harmony

Since the earliest centuries, Christians have been interested in the question of how to reconcile what seem to be discrepancies in the four Gospels. Especially around Holy Week and Easter, Christians are keen to understand on which day each event of the Passion took place. Was the Last Supper on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? Could it be considered a Passover meal or a prequel to the Passover proper? But often, once our Easter feasts have been digested and the world moves on, these questions withdraw to foreign pastures where we forget them.

The Resurrection, however, was not the last event of Christ’s earthly life, and more events followed it. And so, while the chronology of the Passion is a fascinating question in and of itself, and one I’ve devoted time to over the last years, I’ve recently been especially interested in the Resurrection and post-Resurrection events, and how they fit together. 

This “alignment” of the four Gospels has often been called “harmonization,” and RT France comments that this is a helpful and fitting designation. For, harmony “is what is created when a number of voices sing their own different parts at the same time. It is not the same as unison, where all sing the same notes. Because the voices are different there is a greater richness than in unison, but because they sing together under the direction of a single composer, what we hear is not a collection of discordant notes, but a richly satisfying harmony.”a Indeed, each Evangelist highlights different things he is interested to communicate, while passing over other things that the others deem more important. And in reading them together, these themes ought to come together so that they can be read in one key, time signature, and tempo.

(more…)
  1. R.T. France, “Chronological Aspects of ‘Gospel Harmony’,” Vox Evangelica 16 (1986): 57.  (back)

Read more

On April 18, 2020 By In Culture, Family and Children

A Response to Social Distancing

Contrary to cults, Jesus did not rise ghostly on the third day. He was raised in the flesh. The Easter season brings with it an essential topic for conversation at the COVID-19 table. One of the most painful reminders that we still live in a fallen world is that we are–for good order and prudence–inhibited from hugging, kissing, and shaking the hands of our neighbors. The terminology “social/physical distancing” pushes back against the Christian faith. We are the most embodied religion on planet earth because of an embodied risen Lord, and yet, at this stage, we are urged to avoid resurrection affection to the saints. But the Christian faith receives God in a journey of social nearing to his people. We may rightly say it is contrary to our religion to avoid physical connection with others. But alas, we find ourselves in this pitiful state.

This entire affair is one element of God’s judgment on his people that we too rarely consider. The Apostle’s life is one where he longed to be with God’s people and greet them with a kiss. Paul was not content suffering for the cause of Christ in a prison cell away from God’s people. He did not appreciate his isolation from church life. While the Gospel prospered even in Paul’s imprisonment, he longed to see the people of God (Rom. 1:11).

The apostolic model calls us to use this time to meditate on how little we show physical affection to those nearest to us. If anything, we need to consider how few tangible acts of love we offered before the pandemic kept us away from the presence of others. It is a scientific affirmation that hugs between fathers and sons, for instance, improve physical and psychological well-being.a There is too much at stake in this conversation beyond economics. Easter comes with tangible consequences.

It is common to think that the Pauline imperatives belong to an ancient culture where physical affection was time-bound, but we now live in a more personalized western environment where our interactions do not require physicality. But it’s important to note that this is not the Western perspective. While some may feel this way in this country, Latinized countries and the vast majority of European nations practice some physical form of greeting one another.b It is entirely possible and likely that our germaphobia is linked to our dismay of what the Bible and the vast majority of cultures consider normal.

(more…)
  1. The humble hug represents security, reassurance and love – and as well as emotional benefits there is well-documented scientific evidence that regular hugging improves physical and psychological well-being. Researchers at the University of North Carolina found that the bonding hormone oxytocin rises substantially the more hugs a person receives. https://www.menshealth.com/uk/health/a754361/why-hugs-are-good-for-father-son-bonding/   (back)
  2. https://jetfarer.com/brazilian-kissing-culture-greetings/  (back)

Read more

On April 26, 2019 By In Politics

Easter: The ABC of our Faith

We need to continually return to the root of our faith, to those first historical events that propel us to move forward as a people. The Church Calendar helps us to never outgrow the life of our Lord from his birth to his Ascension.

The Resurrection is the foundation of our faith. In modern evangelicalism, we tend to view the Resurrection of Jesus merely as validation or proof that the crucifixion accomplished what it was supposed to. In other words, the Resurrection is lovely because now the death of Jesus means something, and we get to spend eternity in heaven. But the Bible ascribes more significant value to the empty tomb.

The Four Gospels navigate us through the life of Jesus and give us a glimpse into the meaning of the Resurrection. But if we simply build our thinking around the Four Gospels, we will have an incomplete view of who we are and who Jesus is. The Four Gospels are not enough. We need the entirety of God’s Revelation. In other words, “If our gospel begins and ends on Good Friday, it is impoverished.”a 

Though we glory in the cross, though we preach the cross, though we love the old rugged cross, the cross is not enough! And I make that statement very carefully. As one scholar stated, “If the story of the prodigal son was only based on cross-theology, there would have been only forgiveness, but no joy and feast.” The message of the cross is incomplete without the Resurrection. The cross and the Resurrection can never be separated.

The Resurrection not only validates the cross, but it is a sure sign that we are shadows of our future selves. We are now partly what we shall be. This reality is apparent as we enter into the Acts of the Apostles: the early Church began to live out their Resurrection among the nations. In fact, “the preaching of Jesus’ Resurrection is arguably more pervasive than the cross in the book of Acts (Acts 2:31; 3:26; 4:2; 33; 10:41). The Psalms most quoted in the New Covenant are Psalms 2 and 110, which speak directly of Jesus’ Resurrection and exaltation. Cyprian once wrote: “I confess the Cross, because I know of the Resurrection…since the Resurrection has followed the Cross, I am not ashamed to declare it.” This is back to basics! We are a cruciform people, but if we overemphasize the cross, our identity is incomplete.

So, let us consider a few implications of the Resurrection, keeping in mind that the Resurrection is more than a confirmation of the cross, but it is the foundation of our faith. Paul makes this point when he says that without the Resurrection, we are of all people most to be pitied. He does not say this about any other event in the life of Jesus.

First, the Resurrection is the objective grounds of salvation. We often look at the cross as the grounds of our salvation, but God saves us by, in, and through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul makes this explicit when he says in Romans 4:25: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” In I Corinthians 15:17, Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” But aren’t we justified and forgiven on account of Jesus’ death? Of course! Romans makes that clear! For the Apostle Paul, the Resurrection is the vindication of Jesus as the Faithful Son and as the righteous sin-bearer.

It is “the creative power of God that imparts life to soul and body.” This is who we are. We are nothing more, nothing less than saints united to the Resurrected Christ. This is the objective ground of our salvation.

Secondly, the Resurrection is not only the source of our justification, our right-standing before God, but the Resurrection is also the power that drives our sanctification; that is our growth in King Jesus. Some theologians have referred to this as anastasity, from the Greek anastasio, meaning Resurrection. Anastasity is the way the Resurrection flows into our lives. I confess this is in many ways is revolutionary to Christians who have never considered the Resurrection in this light. What the cross of Jesus does for us is to bankrupt our pride, it sobers our minds when we become full of ourselves, and it pulls the plug on any naïve triumphalism. When we are tempted to be proud of any accomplishment, we need to look no further than the cross of Jesus to give us an enlightened view of what Jesus had to suffer to take our sins.

But the Resurrection is the other necessary and prominent part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and part of God’s people. We cannot only have a theology of the cross because a spirituality that meditates only on the cross could potentially reduce us to self-loathing, spiritual insecurity. The impression, then, is that we remain, pathetic, lowly sinners, miserable wretches, unable to do one good thing for God even though we are justified by the event of the empty tomb.

I suggest this is a pietistic simplification of the Christian life? Anglican scholar Michael Bird summarizes best our status:

Some Christians might feel humble when they tell everyone how pathetic they are; a form of self-deprecation. Rightly so, we should be the first ones to share our struggles with others, but let us not think less of ourselves that how God thinks of us. “If God thinks well of his Son, He thinks well of you. If God loves His Son, He loves you, for you are partakes not just of his sufferings, but also of his glory.b

Finally, the Resurrection calls us to a new way of living. Paul says in Colossians: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, not on earthly things.” Some have interpreted this to mean that we are to be so heavenly minded, that we ought to abandon our earthly concerns. After all, this world is merely passing by. But I think this interpretation lacks a fundamental understanding of the role of the Resurrection in the mind of Paul. Who are we? We are resurrected saints. This is the most basic foundation of our humanity as Christians. And if we are resurrected saints, where does the resurrected Christ now abide? He abides at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Where Christ is we are. We are to act and live as if we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are to have a heavenly perspective on our earthly life. This reality is to have an impact on our present. Our status in Jesus Christ calls us toward the goal of faithfulness.

Easter is the most basic fact of our humanity. It is who we are. It is because of the bodily Resurrection that we live, breathe, and have our being in a Christ who shows mercy, rather than a Christ who condemns us. The Resurrection of Jesus vindicated Jesus as the bearer of the ugliness of sin, so when he looks at our Lord sees beautified saints. We can never take that for granted. Our standing before the Father causes us to love one another more fully, to serve one another more sincerely, to embrace a more robust view of hope, to feast more abundantly, and to worship the Risen Christ with greater passion. Easter is the abc of our faith. If it is anything less, we are most to be pitied, but thanks be to God, Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

  1. Michael Bird, Evangelical Theology, 436.  (back)
  2. Michael Bird, Evangelical Theology, pg. 445  (back)

Read more

On April 23, 2019 By In Worship

10 Ways to Keep Easter Enthusiastically

Is Easter over?

Theologically, we know that the earthquake of Easter will reverberate until the Second Coming of Messiah. And liturgically, Easter is in no way over. In fact, Easter has just begun. The joy of Easter carries on until June 3rd, which means we still have 49 days of Eastertide. Easter is far from over and there is much more rejoicing to do in the next seven weeks.

The difficulty for many of us is keeping this Easter enthusiasm for such a lengthy period. The reason many evangelicals are ready to get to the next thing is because they lack a sense of liturgical rhythm. Lent took us through a 40-day journey, but the Easter joy takes us through a 50-day journey. Easter is superior to Lent not only in length of days but also in the quality of its mood. Lent prepares us to a journey towards Calvary, while Easter takes us through a victory march. Through Easter, we are reminded to put away our sadness and embrace the heavenly trumpet sound to all the corners of the earth. “He is risen!, He is risen!, He is risen!” The devil trembles, the enemies fear, the forces of evil shake, the sound of sin is silenced when death was defeated.

What does this mean? It means we must be busy in the business of celebrating. For dads and moms, young and old, we have much to do to preserve and pervade this season with jubilance. I want to offer ten ways we can do that in the remaining 49 days of Easter. a

10 Ways to Keep Easter this Easter Season!

First, we can invest time in our dinner table by reading the Resurrection narratives before each meal (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21.) These narratives will remind us and our children of the details of that monumental occasion in history. After reading these passages for a couple of weeks, you may wish to read the I Corinthians 15 text focusing on the centrality of the resurrection in the Gospel proclamation.

Second, begin each morning with the Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!” Response: “He is risen indeed!” Keep the rhythm of Easter fresh and vibrant in the home by opening the day with the liturgical responses of a resurrection people.

Third, keep fresh flowers in the home. Fresh flowers remind us of the re-birth of Jesus as he was birthed glorified from the tomb.

Fourth, add Easter hymns to the daily repertoire of family songs. Here is an easy to sing Easter hymn to the familiar tune of Ode to Joy.

(more…)

Read more

On April 21, 2019 By In Scribblings, Worship

Seeing is Becoming

A Meditation for this Easter Lord’s Day:

The old saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” And in many cases that is certainly true. However, in the Christian life seeing holds a far greater purpose than simply believing.  Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” a

The Triune God gathers His church this and every Lord’s Day around the Word and the Table that we might see our risen Lord.  We see Him in the songs we sing; we see Him in the love and grace we extend to one another; we see Him as we gather as one people where “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus” b; we see Him in all the Scriptures as they are read and preached; and we see Him in the bread and wine.

For us today, seeing is not just believing. Seeing is becoming! John the Beloved writes in 1 John 3:1-3:

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”

The more clearly and affectionately we are able to see Jesus today and in the week ahead, the more we will be conformed into His likeness. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus encountered the risen Lord; their eyes were opened as they broke bread with Him, and their hearts burned within them as they listened to His Word. c

Therefore, “let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” d

On this Easter Sunday, taste and see that the Lord is good. And in the process we also will be transformed, sent out to flavor the world around us with His life and truth. AMEN!

  1. John 20:29  (back)
  2. Galatians 3:28  (back)
  3. Luke 24:30-32  (back)
  4. Hebrews 12:2-3  (back)

Read more

Ascension Of Jesus Ascension Day

On May 25, 2017 By In Theology

The Unlikely Ascension of Jesus

Ascension Of Jesus Ascension Day

The Ascension of Jesus can be a confusing scene. It is to be counted among the high holy days of the church calendar. Events on the church calendar are limited to items of theological significance, which is why the nativity (Christmas), passion (Good Friday), and resurrection (Easter) of Christ are memorialized with such pomp. Yet the Ascension is easily the least understood of the great feast days. This is to the detriment of the modern church which desperately needs to recover the meaning of the Christ ascended on high.

A Textual Confusion

Part of the problem is that the Biblical authors have offered limited descriptions of what actually happened at the Ascension. Our Scriptural references to the event are limited to a few quotations. One such description comes from St. Matthew’s Gospel following the words of the Great Commission.a Where Christ gathers his disciples at the mountain where he will presumably ascend. The Ascension in this account can only be inferred by its correlation with the descriptions offered by St. Luke in his Gospel and in the Book of Acts. St. Luke’s Gospel gives us a description of Jesus taking his disciples to Bethany, blessing them, and then, “He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.” b Later in the first chapter of Acts, St. Luke describes the scene as Jesus boarding a cloud rising up through the sky. c

So that the general picture we get from the text is that the resurrected Christ gathers his disciples, gives them a sort of farewell speech, and then zephyrs his way into Heaven.

Why does it matter that Jesus ascended and why does the Church calendar mark this event as significant in the theological history of the Church?

Sorrow in Separation

Perhaps the Apostles were expected to understand the Ascension in the context of the Old Testament? How often is Christ compared to the Prophet Elijah, who himself was taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire? d But is this event similar the Ascension of Christ? Do the disciples of Christ rend their garments in grief and anguish as did Elisha? No.

Christ’s words seem to imply the reverse. Rather than separation, Christ teaches that his presence has penetrated the two planes of existence by the reality of the Incarnation and by the work of the Holy Spirit. Where Elijah was taken away from Earth, Jesus teaches that in the Ascension the Kingdom of Heaven is coming into contact with Earth in a way that is only comparable to how his own divinity took on human flesh. (more…)

  1. The Holy Gospel of St. Matthew Ch. XXVIII:16-20  (back)
  2. The Holy Gospel of St. Luke Ch. XXIV:51  (back)
  3. The Acts of the Holy Apostles Ch. I:9  (back)
  4. Fourth Book of Kings Ch. II  (back)

Read more

On December 23, 2016 By In Theology

Two Births of Jesus

One night in Nazareth, God became man in the virgin womb of Mary, a young lady betrothed to Joseph. Three trimesters later, Jesus was born on Christmas day. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes (Lk. 2:7). Gentile worshipers brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Mt. 2:11). The infant’s life was threatened by an evil king, but he escaped death (Mt. 2:13-15).

Thirty-three years later, Jesus had his life threatened again by evil rulers (Mt. 26:65-68). Instead of escaping, he volunteered to die (Jn. 10:18). At his death in Jerusalem, Israelite worshipers prepared spices and oils for him (Lk. 23:55-56; Jn. 19:39-40). He was wrapped in fine linens and buried in a virgin tomb, a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea (Mt. 27:57-60; Lk. 23:53). Three days later, he was reborn on Easter Sunday.

As we celebrate the nativity of our Lord, let us recall the glorious providence of God. Let us remember that not only does Christ’s first coming look forward to his second coming, but that his birth out of the womb foreshadows his birth out of the tomb. King Jesus conquered death and now sits on heaven’s throne. We join his mother in singing these words from the Magnificat: (more…)

Read more

On December 20, 2016 By In Theology, Worship

10 Questions Preachers Should Ask Before Sunday Morning

I have been a pastor for almost a decade. I spend between 12-15 hours each week thinking, researching, and writing before I deliver the first words in my Sunday sermon.a The process of writing my sermon goes through a lengthy journey each week. I contemplate several questions from Monday to Friday which force me to edit and re-edit my manuscript. There is no perfect sermon, but a sermon that goes through revisions and asks import questions has a much better chance of communicating with clarity than the self-assured preacher who engages the sermonic task with nothing more than academic lenses.

I have compiled a list of ten questions I ask myself each week at some point or another.

Question #1: Is this language clear? When you write a manuscript ( as I do) you have an opportunity to carefully consider the language you use. I make a habit of reading my sermon out loud which leads me to realize that certain phrases do not convey the idea clearly. A well-written sermon does not necessarily mean a well-delivered sermon. Reading my sermons out loud causes me to re-write and look for other ways to explain a concept or application more clearly.

Question #2: Is there a need to use high theological language in this sermon? Seminary graduates are often tempted to use the best of their training in the wrong environment. People are not listening to you to hear your theological acumen. I am well aware that some in the congregation would be entirely comfortable with words like perichoresis and Arianism. I am not opposed to using high theological discourse. Words like atonement, justification, sanctification are biblical and need to be defined. But extra-biblical terms and ideologies should be employed sparingly. Much of this can be dealt in a Sunday School class or other environments. High theological language needs to be used with great care, and I think it needs to be avoided as much as possible in the Sunday sermon.

Question #3: Can I make this sermon even shorter? As I read my sermons each week, I find that I can cut a paragraph or two easily, or depending on how long you preach, perhaps an entire page. This is an important lesson for new preachers: not everything needs to be said. Shorter sermons–which I strongly advocateb–force you to say what’s important and keep some of your research in the footnotes where it belongs. Preachers need to learn what to prioritize in a sermon so as not to unload unnecessary information on their parishioners. (more…)

  1. Thankful for great interactions before this article was published. It helped sharpen my points  (back)
  2. By this I mean sermons no longer than 30 minutes  (back)

Read more