PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE #7

Here's an update for those who have been following the progress of my son's medical condition:

On Friday he took a fever and the lump in his neck swelled very quickly over the weekend. It is now sensitive and enlarged. It is not as protrusive as it was back in December, but it is no longer a harmless pea-sized lump.

My wife is very good with natural remedies. She has put him on her best infection-fighting regimen. I've seen this work to fight off smaller infections before, but never anything this severe.

We're praying, and considering having the surgery to remove the lump. However, we approach this with a great deal of caution. We're not too excited about the idea of putting him under general anasthesia, which would be required, and we're obviously not thrilled about the idea of cutting into his neck. Both are high risk procedures, no matter how routine the doctors make them sound. If the surgery truly has to be done, we will trust God and proceed with caution. If it can still be avoided without risk, we will trust God and proceed with caution. Either way, we need His wisdom desperately.

Oh, the heart-wrenching decisions a parent has to make! We're torn betwixt the two, wishing the Lord would make this easy for us by simply taking away the problem. We're attracted to the convenience of that solution, and it may indeed happen, but in the meantime there is the trial of having to choose.

These types of situations remind us that we are not in control, that we are dependent beings, that we are living in an uncertain world, and that God is sovereign over all. Fears can arise in an instant, nearly toppling us over - but sooner or later we find His hand nearby, and His grace sufficient. We find the God of all comfort doing His great work. Revealing His great mercy. Breaking into our terrifying world and pushing back the fright. Loving us and reassuring our hearts. We wish for the easy path through these times of struggle, but we could never experience the power of grace if we lived forever in the Garden of Eden. And so we pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done."

Paradox in Christian Theology, Part 1

I've been working on the next post in the "That's Impossible!" series, currently exploring the Sermon on the Mount. I'm also in the middle of buying a house, which is eating up a lot of time and messing up my blogging schedule. In the meantime, I ordered a copy of a book I've been looking forward to reading for quite some time. It arrived in the mail today.

The book is Paradox in Christian Theology: An Analysis of Its Presence, Character, and Epistemic Status, by James Anderson.

Anderson holds two PhD's from the University of Edinburgh, one in Computer Simulation and the other in Philosophical Theology. His book is an in-depth, scholarly defense of the paradox concept in Christianity. Anderson believes that philosophical paradox is not only present in Christian theology, but also to be expected - and nothing to be embarrassed about.

More information about James Anderson can be found here (Proginosko.com)

Over the next weeks or months (depending on how fast I can read and digest the material), I'll be reviewing and quoting from the book. Paul Manata has already written a thorough discussion of the book here (Triablogue).

Manata's review is about 1/10 the length of the 320-page book! Mine will be decidedly shorter, and divided into several parts.

Anderson opens the introduction with this quote from Soren Kierkegaard:

"One should not think slightingly of the paradoxical; for the paradox is the source of the thinker's passion, and the thinker without a paradox is like a lover without feeling: a paltry mediocrity."

Anderson quickly acknowledges the fact that many within and outside of the faith find the very idea of logical paradox to be totally unacceptable. He also notes that many others find it acceptable and even essential. He offers this definition of paradox:

"As I will be using the term, it is synonymous with apparent contradiction. A 'paradox' thus amounts to a set of claims which taken in conjunction appear to be logically inconsistent. Note that according to this definition, paradoxicality does not entail logical inconsistency per se, but merely the appearance of logical inconsistency. (pp. 5-6)

This is a great definition. I would only add that the appearance of logical inconsistency is owing to our creaturehood, our fallen nature, and the fact that God's self-revelation is not exhaustive. Therefore, some of the paradoxes will never be solved in the present age. We embrace them because we believe the Bible is the Word of God.

I'm looking forward to Anderson's defense of paradox in Christian theology from an apologetical and philosophical standpoint. I'll keep you posted as I read.

Three Dollars Worth of Gospel

I ran across this very convicting quote from D.A. Carson today . . .

“I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races – especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars worth of gospel, please."

Carson's satire implies what we too easily forget: the Gospel cannot be quantified, packaged and marketed. It cannot be taken buffet style, a la carte or piecemeal. It can never be reduced, diluted, enhanced, or altered without immediately becoming something else. The potency of the Gospel is in its purity. Its power is in its simplicity.

What is this pure and simple Gospel? It is nothing less than the message that God gave Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ to die for our sins, to die in our place, to die physically and spiritually in the experience of that eternal misery which we rightfully deserve. It is nothing less than the message that He took our place in death, and brought us back from destruction by His resurrected, eternal and indestructible life. It is nothing less than the message that God accepts us poor and wretched sinners based solely on the atoning death of Christ, Who as a man bore the holy wrath of God in our stead. It is nothing less than the message that we receive the benefits of His sacrifice by grace alone, through faith alone. It is nothing less than the message that in Him we died to sin, and in Him we live to God.

Our flesh is afraid of the Gospel taken straight, and rightly so. The Gospel means death to the self-centered, God-hating pride, the selfish ambition, and the idolatrous desires that infest our souls. For the natural man, it is unthinkable to lose these things. But to a heart awakened by grace, they are the vilest plague, and the thought of losing them is a delight. They are replaced by something (and someone) far greater. He becomes our joy in the midst of trouble, our comfort in sorrow, our hope in conflict. Once we have come to Him empty-handed and been embraced by His Gospel, we can't spend three dollars on a distortion of it. And we wouldn't trade it for a trillion.

Was God Invented?

"We invented god out of our inability to understand the complexity of the universe."

~James Lynne, in a written debate over the question, "Is God an invention of man's mind or a true being?"

This is a contemporary restatement of the classic "God of the gaps" argument. I have two responses:

1. Doesn't a universe so complex as to warrant "invented" explanations point to an intelligent Creator? This argument against God would seem to lead us right back to God.

2. This argument may work well if God is containable, fully definable, and ultimately controllable. But that's not the Biblical vision of God - a God Who is beyond our understanding, shrouded in mystery and yet self-revealing. Far from solving the mysteries of the universe, belief in this God introduces us to an entirely new set of mysteries. Finite man in search of answers would never arrive at a belief in a transcendent, all-knowing, perfectly righteous, totally sovereign, absolutely just, terrifyingly good, relentlessly kind, inexplicably merciful, unfathomably wise and unknowably pure deity if he wasn't made to.

I use the term, "made to" in three senses:

"made to" - meaning God surrounds us with so much evidence that His existence is self-attesting.

"made to" - meaning God is the active cause of our belief in Him.

"made to" - meaning God created us for this very purpose.

Later in his article, Mr. Lynne makes this statement:

"Since the beginning of history most cultures have conceived gods for themselves. We are a creative lot, we humans. Our ability to scheme, devise, and create is apparently boundless."

Several questions come to mind. Where did we get such amazing creativity? Doesn't the existence of vastly creative beings living in a complex universe lead us back again to the conclusion that we have been created by an intelligent Being? If one posits that we use this creativity for the purpose of self-deception (and I would strongly affirm that we do), doesn't that imply a core moral problem within us (i.e. total depravity)? Does the possibility of self-deception exist because there is no divine source of truth, as the atheist would argue - or because there is a Source, and we are disconnected from Him?

We can agree with Mr. Lynne that man is in the habit of self-deception. However, our belief in the Biblical God is not a result of this habit. Rather, it is the effect of God's merciful decision to lead us back into truth and rescue us from the lies we have told ourselves about the world, about others, about ourselves, and about Him.

We didn't invent God - He invented us!

Quote of the Day

Children are always listening to the conversations of adults. I was reminded of this tonight at dinner, when my 4 year old son looked up from his plate and said:

"If the economy collapses and I have more money than I need, I'll give you some."

I didn't know he even knew the word, "economy." What else is going on in that little brain?

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon on the Mount, Part 3

Let's continue our look at how the theme of “the righteousness of God” is woven into the text of the Sermon on the Mount. In the previous post we looked at the beatitudes. There are three other key texts where the theme of God's righteousness is mentioned.

It is in the sermon’s thesis statement:

Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The thesis is simple: to enter God's Kingdom, one must have the highest possible kind of righteousness. God’s righteousness is a surpassing righteousness. It abounds beyond the very best of human virtue. The Lord goes on to give examples of how the outward, Pharisaic ethic falls short of the real standard:

It condemns murder, but inwardly burns with the anger that leads to murder.
God’s righteousness condemns anger (the root of murder), and murder (the fruit of anger).
It brings sacrifices to God, but leaves relationships in a damaged condition.
God’s righteousness values relationships above religious rituals.
It seeks legal victories, but ignores the possibility of reconciliation
God’s righteousness seeks reconciliation and brings peace.
It carefully avoids adultery, but cannot avoid the adulterous desires of the heart.
God’s righteousness deals with sin at the heart level.
It justifies divorce as a legal option, and ignores the consequences brought on others.
God’s righteousness considers how our actions affect others..
It multiplies religious promises, but doesn’t bring integrity to everyday speech.
God’s righteousness produces words of truth that are backed up with action.
It commands a love that extends to friends only.
God’s righteousness employs boundless love to make friends out of enemies.

Note that every single example deals directly with relationships in everyday life. We may be able to put on a facade of moralistic spirituality when we are isolated, but in close proximity to other human beings we quickly find we have sinful hearts.

God’s righteousness can be seen again in the sermon’s hinge point of Matthew 5:48-6:1

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

Here Jesus identifies the problem with Pharisaic righteousness: impressive as it may be in the eyes and opinions of men, it falls short of the glory of God. The righteous standard is GOD HIMSELF, not the Pharisees (Mt. 5:20), not the tax collectors (Mt. 5:46), not the Gentiles (Mt. 5:47, 6:7-8, 6:32), not the hypocrites (Mt. 6:2, 5, 16), not the masses (Mt. 7:13-14), not the false prophets (Mt. 7:15-20). Two things are clear from this: first, righteousness is something to be practiced; second, it is to be practiced for God's sake and not for the approval of other people.

The theme gets a final mention at the sermon’s summary call to action found in Matthew 6:33

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness . . .”

Our Lord has been speaking about righteousness throughout the message, but here He defines the source of the righteousness He has been describing. It is from God; it is HIS righteousness. And how do we get it? By making it our first and primary pursuit, above our daily necessities, trusting God to provide the righteousness we need.

In essence, the sermon's opening thesis says, "Abandon your own righteousness - it's not good enough." The hinge point says, "Stop putting on a show - God is not impressed." The call to action says, "Seek the righteousness only God can give you - it's what you need most of all."

True righteousness is something we hunger and thirst for (Mt. 5:6). We don't come to God already possessing it. Instead we come with a need for it, and God fills us (Mt. 5:6). True righteousness is in Christ (Mt. 5:10-11), it is something that exceeds outward moral perfection (Mt. 5:20), it is something that imitates God and is practiced for His sake (Mt. 5:48-6:1), it is something that we must seek after and obtain from God (Mt. 6:33). This all sounds rather similar to the themes found in Romans, the Corinthian letters, Galatians, Philippians, Hebrews, etc. - really, it's laced through the entire New Testament, and even the Old (though less prominently). Do you see it? Far from a mere ethical teaching, the Sermon on the Mount is ultimately a denunciation of self-righteousness and an admonition to seek the higher, better, true righteousness of God – not merely as an active approach to life, but as that which we EAT, and DRINK, and as that which gives us life and FILLS US! The righteous ethic is a heart-level application of God’s Law. It’s an ethic that is tailor made to bash the living daylights out of the self-confident belief in our own ability to do good apart from the One Who IS our only righteousness. The phrase, “HIS righteousness,” summarizes both the ethic and the message of the Sermon on the Mount – and of the Gospel itself. It implies that there is a higher righteousness, that it isn't from us, and that we can get it only from Him Who is its origin and source.

Perhaps someone will ask, "where is faith in all of this? Where is regeneration? You've made a case for imputed righteousness, but what about the other pieces of the Gospel you preach? Are they in this sermon, too? And aren't there other important themes to talk about???" Stay tuned, the next post in this series will address some of these issues. Parts of the Sermon on the Mount which are virtually ignored by many of its most vocal "followers" are directly tied to the Gospel of God's sovereign grace, a Gospel which they have ironically rejected. What a joy to discover the true glory of God in this foundational text - a text which has been abused and misinterpreted to teach man-centered ideas of universalism, liberalism, political socialism and liberation theology! All of these are a result of overlooking (or ignoring) the obvious, as fallen men continue to suppress the truth in UNrighteousness . . . but may our Father reveal Himelf to our hearts as we study on.

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon on the Mount, Part 2

THEME AND PURPOSE: A PARADOX

What was Jesus’ motive in preaching the Sermon on the Mount? What was He aiming for? Was He giving us a set of rules to live by? Or was He trying to prove that we are sinners who can’t follow God’s rules? Or, was He trying to show us what our behavior can be when He changes our hearts?

What if He is doing all three - giving us a set of rules that will prove we are sinners, and will subsequently lead us to life-changing faith and spiritual conversion?

I would submit that the theme of the Sermon on the Mount is the righteousness of God. It is a righteousness that is from God, to God, and through God. It is above man's righteousness, and actually presupposes that our best righteousness is false and invalid. Read through Matthew 5-7 and you will see it plain as day.

THE BEATITUDES

This theme can be seen throughout the sermon, beginning with the beatitudes, which are at once a description of God’s own righteous character and the path by which we enter into that character.

For us, the beatitudes open with a bankruptcy called “poverty of spirit.” We come to God with nothing but our sins. We come empty of virtue, full of filth. We come depraved, and in desperate need of a goodness we do not possess. Here, in the very first verse, we’ve already departed miles away from the Gandhian ideal of a noble humanity full of divine potential.

Add mourning over sin and a meekness that willingly complies with God’s instructions, and you have a perfect formula for total spiritual surrender. We ACKNOWLEDGE our sin (spiritual poverty), BREAK UNDER THE WEIGHT of our sin (mourning), and WILLINGLY DO ANYTHING GOD SAYS to overcome our sin (meekness).

Central to the beatitudes is the “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” The first three beatitudes are a description of this spiritual hunger and thirst, while the fifth through seventh beatitudes are a description of what it means to be filled with God’s righteousness. To hunger and thirst is to be poor, broken-hearted and meek. To be filled with God’s righteousness is to be merciful, pure-hearted and peaceable (what a shock this definition must have been to the Pharisees!).

Blessed are the poor in spirit …
Blessed are those who mourn …
Blessed are the meek …
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
For they shall be filled
Blessed are the merciful …
Blessed are the pure in heart …
Blessed are the peacemakers …

The eighth beatitude describes the result: persecution from a world which rejects God’s righteousness. Note the parallel structure of verses 10 and 11, in which Jesus equates Himself with righteousness:

Matt. 5:10
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness
Matt. 5:11
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me

“For the sake of righteousness” = “because of Me”. Do you see what Jesus Christ is saying here? HE HIMSELF IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. He is the only righteousness that can save us from sin, change our hearts and make us merciful, pure, and peaceable. Can I get an “amen” from Gandhi? How about those Emergent folks who adhere to the Sermon on the Mount? Somehow this sermon's mere introduction has led us right back to the Gospel preached by Paul and the other apostles. Should we be surprised by this?

In the next post, we’ll examine some other places where the Lord weaves in this theme of God’s righteousness . . .

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon on the Mount, Part 1

Gandhi once said, “The message of Jesus as I understand it, is contained in the Sermon on the Mount unadulterated and taken as a whole... If then I had to face only the Sermon on the Mount and my own interpretation of it, I should not hesitate to say, 'Oh, yes, I am a Christian.'”

This seems to me the quintessential statement of man-made religion. It is raw self-righteousness. You see, as I face the Sermon on the Mount I find myself reaching the exact opposite conclusion. I say, “If this is what it means to be a Christian, I’m in big trouble.”

Liberal Christians from Tolstoy to MacLaren to Obama have persistently affirmed their allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. For them, the sermon’s morality is inspirational, its ideals grand, its effects potentially utopian. For me, it’s the other way. The morality is impossible, the ideals unattainable, the effects demolishing to everything I am - apart from Christ and grace and the Gospel. We’re not supposed to read the words of Jesus and say, “Oh, that’s nice.” His words are intended to devastate us. Anything short of that is evidence of a hardened heart.

In the view of Gandhi and many of today’s Christians, Jesus gives the world an ethical teaching that will help mankind to become better. But this is nothing more than an expanded re-packaging of the same old legalism that Jesus is preaching against. It is an error that confuses the ethic of the Gospel with the message of the Gospel. Christ’s teaching contains both ethic and message. The ethic He prescribes shocks us and prepares us to receive the message; and the message, once received, works in us to produce the ethic. In other words, the sermon contains both Law and Gospel in perfect balance.

Please join me as I examine the Sermon on the Mount in this series of posts. Let’s study it “unadulterated and taken as a whole” as Gandhi recommends– and see what we find . . .

What a Good Pastor Does

I had an interesting conversation with my pastor recently. We met for lunch, and I had a very pressing matter to discuss. It concerned my struggle with another person, in which it seemed quite clear to me that the other person was in the wrong. After I related my horrific tale of how I have been abused and mistreated by this person, my pastor asked me a few simple questions. I walked away from those questions very troubled. I walked away unsettled. I walked away more humbled and confronted than I have been in a long time. I suddenly found myself begging God to show me the ways I have sinned in the matter. Without being presumptuous or overbearing, my pastor had asked me if I was willing to take the big fat log out of my own eye.

It seems that we often need to be gently confronted with the reality of our sinfulness in specific situations - something we are oddly blind to, no matter how much we practice spiritual disciplines and try to serve God. I'm fairly good at developing the theology of my general depravity. But when it comes to the truly humbling aspect of this truth applied directly to myself on a daily basis, I am woefully inadequate. I can't self-pastor. This is one of the reasons God has established the Church. It's one of the reasons He has commanded us to exhort, encourage, rebuke, restore and forgive one another. In essence, He tells us to "be Jesus" to one another. And that's what a good pastor does. I wouldn't trade it for a thousand purpose-driven sermons. I'm convinced that God is much more pleased with a servant who preaches the Gospel and authentically disciples others than He is with a CEO-pastor building a mega-"church" for the masses or leading a social movement. I know I'm helped more by the servant.

IMPOSSIBLE - The Rich Young Ruler, Part 3

In Matthew's account, Jesus says "If you wish . . ." to the young man two times.

v. 17 If you WISH to enter into life . . . keep the commandments
v. 21 If you WISH to be complete . . . sell all you have, give to the poor, follow Me

The commandments of the Law (in general) and the commands of Christ (specifically) serve as a barometer by which man's desires can be discerned and measured. Jesus challenges us with this question: "What do you really want? Eternal life? Heavenly treasure? ME? Your stuff?"


Not every disciple is faced with this challenge right at the start, but eventually the worthiness of Jesus Christ will lay its rightful claim on everything else. Like Abraham, we will be asked to choose: God or His blessings? God or our dreams? God or self-will? A day is coming when we can have only God - or NOTHING - and on that day the thing we choose to put in His place will be separated away from us. In the grave we can no longer cling to earthly idols. Better to peel our greedy fingers off of them before death does it for us . . . but how?

In both cases, the Lord uses the Greek word, THELO.

THELO - To desire, be inclined toward; to delight in, have pleasure; to intend

What do we delight in the most? Our Creator may allow us to enjoy many things in and through Himself, but ultimately He will draw a dividing line and call us to choose. At this critical moment, rather than walking away grieved, the young man might better have admitted his sins of coveting and idolatry. Since he was already on his knees before the "good teacher," he might have considered asking for some good teaching on how to overcome his sin. If he had approached the Master weary and heavy laden, seeking rest for his soul, he would have found One who is willing to bear the yoke with him. To the lowly and weary-hearted, Jesus always said "Come." But to this man, the Lord's instruction was "Go."

If he had poured out his religious riches and declared himself spiritually bankrupt, he may have found it possible to give up worldly things in exchange for heavenly treasure. When we realize the eternal misery we deserve, and begin to comprehend the incredible mercy of God, temporal sacrifices become much easier to make. And they are then made for the right reasons. It's a matter of gratitude, worship, and love for a gracious God - not merits of self-righteousness. If the Almighty God demands pure devotion and complete surrender from little worms like us, we can be assured He will work in us to bring it about - providing we trust in Him.

"Give what You command, and command what You will."

"By the law of works God says: Do what I command! By the law of faith we say to God: Give what you command! After all, the law commands in order to remind us of what faith should do.”
-Augustine of Hippo

What the rich young man could never bring himself to do under law, he might well have done by grace. What he refused to do in the flesh, he could have accomplished through the Spirit. What his unredeemed heart would never do for Christ, his saved soul might gladly have done with Christ, and through Christ, and in Christ. But where there is no humility, there can be no divine strengthening. We are en-abled only when we admit we are un-able. When faith is absent, grace remains available but not availed. If Christ is not seen as the only possible good, other "goods" will always come between us and Him.

Oh, that this young man would not have walked away! Oh, that he would have brought a struggling heart to the Lord, instead of all his pretended perfections! If only he had surrendered as a sinner, he would have found grace to do all that God commanded. But, as it stands, he could not see beyond his own self-love, self-effort, and self-interest. The Lord gave this man a command that was quite impossible with his human self, but not at all impossible with God.

Why can't camels get through a needle? It's obvious: they're too large. But for every camel, there was a time when the needle's eye could easily have been navigated. All mammals begin their physical existence as a tiny group of life-packed cells (only one cell to begin with). To get back to such a place, a camel would have to be . . . born again. Dear friends, it is the same for you and me.

IMPOSSIBLE: The Rich Young Ruler, Part 2

Jesus initially responded to the rich young ruler by taking him to the Law of Moses. The young man should have become convicted of sin, and convinced that it is impossible for righteousness to be attained by keeping the Law. But he was not. The riches of a religious life were holding him in blindness. How easy it is for us to become blinded by our own righteousness, to forget that any good in us is God's work, to believe that we ourselves have brought something meritorious to the salvation equation. In the Gospel, God is dying to lead us to a different conclusion. And in the Law, God has engraved our unworthiness and guilt in stone.

It is interesting to note that Jesus did not always refer people to the Law. Nicodemus, for example, was merely given a baffling command to be "born again," something not particularly related to the Law. The woman at the well was told the damning and embarassing facts about her sad life, but not a list of specific transgressions. The disciples heard the simple invitation, "Follow me," rather than a list of rules they had broken. There are those today who would encourage us to preach the Law before we preach the Gospel, or at least to include Law as a key part of the presentation. There is certainly wisdom in this approach, but let us never get ourselves stuck in a system that is unable to flex and respond to each individual God brings our way. There is a time to preach the Law, and there is a time to proclaim free mercy. There is a time to go straight to the cross, and even a time to listen quietly and shed tears. It all depends on the needs of the one with whom we are speaking. Let us be Spirit-led and guided by love, not just committed to a good method.

When the young man responded to the Law by asserting his self-righteousness, our Lord looked at him, and He loved him. This fact is significant, because Jesus is about to ask a wealthy real estate tycoon to give up everything he has. What motivates this demand for complete surrender? Only love.

If this man chooses to leave all and follow Christ, he will be responding to divine love. If he walks away, he will be rejecting it. May this be the case when we share the Gospel with others. Let our hearers be confronted with God's truth as we speak to them, and enveloped in God's love as we look upon them.

PARADOX FILES, Vol. 4 - Charles Spurgeon

This fantabulous quote from C.H. Spurgeon was recently posted on the Pyromaniacs blog. It perfectly describes what THEOparadox is all about . . .

"You know, beloved friends, that the general custom is, with the various sects of Christians, to take up one part of the Bible and preach that part, and then it is the duty of all divines on that side of the question not to preach anything but that. Or if they find a text that looks in rather a different direction, these gentlemen are expected to twist it round to suit their creed, it being supposed that only one set of truths can possibly be worth defending, it never having entered into the heads of some people that there can be two apparently irreconcilable truths which nevertheless are equally valuable.Think not that I come here to defend the human side of salvation at the expense of the divine; nor am I desirous to magnify the divine side of it at the expense of the human; rather would I beseech you to look at the two texts which are together before us, and to be prepared to receive both sets of truths. I think it a very dangerous thing to say that the truth lies between the two extremes. It does not: the truth lies in the two, in the comprehension of both; not in taking a part from this and a part from that, toning down one and modulating the other, as is too much the custom, but in believing and giving full expression to everything that God reveals whether we can reconcile the things or not, opening our hearts as children open their understandings to their father's teaching, feeling that if the gospel were such that we could make it into a complete system, we might be quite sure it was not God's gospel, for any system that comes from God must be too grand for the human brain to grasp at one effort; and any path that he takes must extend too far beyond the line of our vision for us to make a nice little map of it, and mark it out in squares.This world, you know, we can readily enough map. Go and get charts, and you shall find that men of understanding have indicated almost every rock in the sea, almost every hamlet on the land; but they cannot map out the heavens in that way, for albeit that you can buy the celestial atlas, yet as you are well enough aware there is not one in ten thousand of the stars that can possibly be put there; when they are resolved by the telescope they become altogether innumerable, and so far exceed all count that it is impossible for us to reckon them up in order and say, that is the name of this, and this is the name of that. We must leave them: they are beyond us. There are deeps into which we cannot peer; even the strongest glass cannot show us much more than a mere corner of the starry worlds.Thus too is it with the doctrines of the gospel: they are too bright for our weak eyes, too sublime for our finite minds to scan, save at a humble distance. Be it ours to take all we can of their solemn import, to believe them heartily, accept them gratefully, and then fall down before the Lord, and pour out our very souls in worshipping him."

-C.H. Spurgeon (from a sermon on John chapter 6)

IMPOSSIBLE - The Rich Young Ruler, Part 1

This series examines some of the ways Jesus used the Law to bring conviction of sin and prove the impossibility of human perfection. Ultimately, Jesus' intention is to have us see our need and trustingly surrender to His sovereign Lordship.

We have seen this principle in Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus; now let's take a look at how our Lord responded to a very religious young man. The story is found in three of the four Gospels, in Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18.


Below you can read the three accounts merged into one harmonized story, which will help us to notice some interesting details . . .

As He was setting out on a journey, a man who was a ruler ran up to Him, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life, that I may obtain eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments. Then he said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus replied, "You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER. And YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth up; what am I still lacking?" When Jesus heard this, looking at him, He felt a love for him and said to him,"One thing you still lack; If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions, all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard this statement, he became very sad and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property and he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! For again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" But looking at them, Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but not with God; the things that are impossible with people are possible with God, for all things are possible with God."

As we move along, I'll be looking specifically at the phrases highlighted in light blue. Several months ago, we studied the beginning of this story in a 4-part series called "My Goodness, What a Paradox!"

Jesus begins by leading this man to the Law of Moses. This Law was the God-ordained path by which the Jewish people were to be led to Christ, as Paul explains here:

Galatians 3:19-25 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions ... Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.


The Law was not meant to be a means of salvation, but a means of exposing sin and proving the need for Christ's righteousness. It is not meant to save a person from sin and guilt. Rather, it proves us guilty and sinful. Jesus applied the Law with this purpose in mind.



The list of commandments given by our Lord is notable in three ways. First, he adds a commandment not directly given in the Old Testament: Do not defraud. Is it possible that the rich ruler had gained his wealth through a scheme of some sort? Or perhaps his money came from a father who had perpetrated such a scheme. Could it be that Jesus added this command to give the man an opporunity to question it - and thereby realize that he was guilty of breaking the spirit of the Law in this way? We can only speculate, but we have to address the obvious question, why did Jesus include this particular command in His list? Secondly, Jesus adds "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," which is not properly part of the ten commandments. Could it be the young man had not treated others with love, though he had lived a strictly moral life, outwardly? That, after all, was the plague of Pharisaism: a hyper religiosity with strict outward morality and supposed love for God - and all of it entirely discredited by a lack of compassion and an indifference to the needs of others. Thirdly, Jesus does not mention the first 4 commandments, which focus on our relationship with God. He also does not mention the last commandment, "Do not covet" - the only one of the 10 commandments that deals solely with the inward man. He gave the most tangible, obvious, outward commands dealing with our treatment of other human beings.

Jesus was applying the Law in a targeted way, aiming right at this man's most obvious sins. But the intended effect of the Law was not happening, and the elite ruler remained self-righteously blind to his need for a Savior. The Lord was not finished with him yet, however . . .

My Testimony

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

I Tim 1:12-15

What follows is a brief account of the path by which God has graciously brought me to Himself . . .

B.C.
From my earliest recollections, I grew up with the belief that I was a good person who did many good things and had a basically good heart. I thought God loved me because I was good, and any wrong I did was not really my fault. My family attended church and I made a commitment to Christ as a teenager. Afterward, for many years, I earnestly tried to follow God's commands as I understood them. But these efforts led to nagging frustration whenever I realized I was failing, and implacable self-deception whenever I managed to obey outwardly. No matter how much I tried to please God, my heart remained dead and cold. My actions proved that I was as proud, deceitful and self-centered as I was merciless, moralistic, legalistic, harsh, judgmental and condemning. The more determined I was to follow God's rules, the more troubled my soul became, and my sins multiplied. I was characterized by pride, anger, fear of man, hatred, lust, complaining, selfishness, unforgiveness, worry, criticism, and some sins too shameful to mention. My misery became unbearable. Nevertheless, I clung firmly to a strong trust in my own natural abilities and flawed wisdom.

At The CROSSROADS
Through hard circumstances, bitter failures, devastated relationships and a terrifying sense of hopelessness, I finally came to understand that I was a sinner, completely lost, darkened in my mind, foolish, justly condemned by a holy God, and desperately in need of His mercy. Gradually, through the light of Scripture, the counsel of caring friends and the Holy Spirit's persistent drawing, I began to see something utterly wonderful in God - a fact to which I had previously been inexplicably blind. Namely, that God loves sinners and desires to show mercy to them. That He is good, and His mercy is forever. That He is gracious, and ready to forgive, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness. That His mercy prevails over us and His kindness leads us to repentance. Captivated by these truths, I came to Christ as a poor sinner, trusting that He had the greatest love for me in spite of my wickedness. I cried out to Him to save me, holding fast to the promise that He had come to "seek and to save that which was lost." I trusted that the Friend of sinners would indeed "forgive all my iniquity" and "remember my sins no more," and that He would save me by His grace - for He had sacrificed His own life and blood FOR ME. I realized that these were merciful works of God, and that no man could do - or undo - what He had accomplished for me at the cross.

A.D.
From that time, in spite of an ever-growing awareness of the depth and extent of my sinfulness, I have found rest in the assurance that all my sins are forgiven. I have discovered heart-level transformation happens only by His grace, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit - not by my futile striving and straining under the law. Some of the first evidences of new life were seen when I found myself viewing other people through a merciful rather than judgmental lens. Instead of getting angry about the sins of others, I was now able to draw my attention back to my own sin. The Lord helped me to take responsibility and stop blaming others for my faults. I began to trust God's sovereign plan, discipline, and fatherly care for His children. My heart became truly thankful for the many undeserved kindnesses He gives each day. And I learned to be grateful under the painful circumstances which He has ordained for His glory and my good. In short, my stubborn self-righteousness faded before the glorious radiance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

I Timothy 1:17

Five Solas of the Reformation Conference

You've probably heard about the anti-Calvinistic John 3:16 Conference. Recently a very different conference was held in South Georgia, and I was blessed to be a part of it. Here's how it happened . . .

CHANGING CHURCHES
My family recently started attending a different church. For about 3 years, we were part of a wonderful group of churches known as Sovereign Grace Ministries. However, the Sovereign Grace church in our area is a long distance from where we live. Although the doctrine and core values are a nearly perfect match for us, we felt a nudge from the Lord to get connected with a church closer to our home. As a result, we recently joined ourselves to Lakeside Community Church, a small but vibrant Evangelical Free church. I could say many things about the blessings we have received in this body of believers, but I want to share about the church retreat that took place this past weekend.

FIVE SOLAS RETREAT

We gathered at Honey Creek Retreat Center in Waverly, Georgia - not far from where the John 3:16 Conference was held last year. Our guest speaker was Rick Bourque, pastor of East Side Community Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Rick has made a devoted study of the Reformation, Reformed theology, and Church History. He taught four great sessions on the 5 Solas of the Reformation:

SOLA SCRIPTURA - By the Word of God Alone

SOLA GRATIA - By Grace Alone

SOLA FIDE - Through Faith Alone

SOLUS CHRISTUS - In Christ Alone

SOLI DEO GLORIA - For the Glory of God Alone

Each session included teaching from the book of Romans, an explanation of one or two of the Solas, and a historical portrait of a person who embodied the doctrine. The historical figures were Martin Luther (Sola Scriptura), John Calvin (Sola Gratia & Sola Fide), John Owen (Solus Christus), and Jonathan Edwards (Soli Deo Gloria). All of this was encouraging, faith-building, and challenging.

THE FRUIT OF SUFFERING

We spent one evening singing hymns and learning the stories behind them. What came out clearly through the historical portraits and all of the hymn stories was this: God reveals His glory through our sufferings. John Owen had 11 children, ten of whom died in early childhood. The other child lived into her late teens, and then she too died. Owen's sparkling theological works were written in the midst of these tragedies, and this man who taught us what it means to "mortify sin" knew death up close. Jonathan Edwards wrote some of his best works after he was kicked out of his church and placed in an out-of-the-way pastorate. Calvin wrote the Institutes while he was being hunted down by the French government. Martin Luther translated the Bible into German while hiding from Catholic persecutors who were intent on killing him. And the lives of the hymn writers were similar: death, tragedy, poverty, pain, sickness. Every suffering led to to a greater glorification of the God who sustained them through it.

TESTIMONY TO GOD'S FAITHFULNESS
We also heard the testimony of retired Missionary, Al Larson, who attends Lakeside with his wife. Many years ago, they were part of a group of missionaries who were captured by rebels while serving in the Congo. After watching many of his friends and co-workers die at the hands of the rebels, Al managed to lead several prisoners to safety in a daring escape. Afterwards, he led a group of Cuban mercenaries to a house where the women and children were being held, and assisted in their rescue. Some years ago, all of this was recounted in a book called "Out of the Jaws of the Lion," by H. Dowdy. Missiologists believe that the sufferings of these missionaries planted the seeds for a revival that has come to the Congo in more recent years. The political instability and persecution continue, but God's glory shines in the darkness. I am grateful that my children can hear these firsthand accounts of God's faithfulness.

The photos in this post were taken at the retreat. Whether in the skies or in the fields, in the streams or in the trees, in our joys or in our sorrows - God paints a beautiful picture, revealing His exalted glory.