deTheos

The precious privilege of adopted sons and daughters before our “Abba, Father”

C.J. Mahaney preaches:

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God shares

“God did not create us to get the cosmic, infinite joy of mutual love and glorification, but to share it. We were to join in the dance. If we center our lives on him, serving him not out of self-interest, but for the sake of who he is, for the sake of his beauty and glory, we will enter the dance and share in the joy and love he lives in. We were designed, then, not just for belief in God in some general way, nor for a vague kind of inspiration or spirituality. We were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting, and resembling him. This growth in happiness will go on eternally, increasing unimaginably (1 Corinthians 2:7-10 ).”
- Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 219.

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I am His, in more ways than one

“I am His by purchase and I am His by conquest; I am His by donation and I am His by election; I am His by covenant and I am His by marriage; I am wholly His; I am peculiarly His; I am universally His; I am eternally His.”
- Thomas Brooks, Heaven on Earth

[HT: Of First Importance ]

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Compellingly beautiful

A couple weeks ago in our Theology Colloquium class we discussed Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). I was on the ad hoc panel for asking questions of the three making defense of their doctrinal statements. It is a somewhat nerve-racking experience for those giving defense, and all in the room need humility, especially those asking questions. Afterward we are able to amend and revise our written doctrinal statements (after they are graded and returned to us). I see this time as part of the process of helping us “land” doctrinally and leading to convictions about the most essential things, more than mere opinions.

Near the end of our Q&A time another panel member asked a question to the effect, “What does an unbeliever need to know to be saved?” (In contrast to our detailed and structured doctrinal statements. Obviously a person need not exhaustively and logically think through all of these points in order to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

One of the students gave the short response, “They have to like Jesus.” That may seem like (and is) an insufficient answer. A whole lot of people “like Jesus.” In fact, I would say that many people want Jesus but don’t want God, in that they want a Jesus after their own liking. Thus they don’t want their Creator at all. (The question could be restated: What must a person believe about Jesus in order to be saved?)

A little bit of argument (constructive and helpful) ensued and during the break I had a discussion with my fellow classmate about his response. Knowing my fellow student as well as the rapid-fire nature of our questions and how their heads might have been spinning at the moment, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but ask him to think it through. We were talking previous to that question about affections and how the inner desires of the heart are changed so that Jesus becomes compellingly beautiful. So, when sharing the Gospel we realize there is a change that is not merely cognitive. His answer related to the fact that we cannot simply present bare facts as if there are neutral. A person will be awakened by the beauty of Jesus, but as I contend, it is not apart from knowledge about Christ. Knowledge and belief are good friends, and serve one another. Knowing about God has always served to lead me to worshiping Him…

“To love God we must know him. God would not be honored by groundless love. In fact, there is no such thing. If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. If love does not come from knowing God, there is no point in calling it love for God. There may be some vague attraction in our heart or some unfocused gratitude in our souls, but if they do not arise from knowing God, they are not love for God.”
—John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, p. 76.

Later on, in a smaller group, we got to a discussion of the role of the affections in seeing the compelling beauty of Christ. That is a key phrase in John Piper’s (and my) theology (see 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 for the biblical context). The following quote relates to our experience of Christ as the fountain of our joy, and not merely the basis and example for our renewed moralistic behavior.

“The reason I use the phrase ‘compellingly beautiful’ is to stress two things. One is that loving God is not a mere decision. You cannot merely decide to love classical music or country western music, much less God. The music must become compelling. If you don’t love it, something must change inside you. That change makes it possible for the mind to experience the music with a compelling sense of its attractiveness. So it is with God. You do not merely decide to love him. Something changes inside you, and as a result he becomes compellingly attractive. His glory—his beauty—compels your admiration and delight.

The other thing I am emphasizing in the phrase ‘compellingly beautiful’ is that love for God is not essentially behavior but affection—not deeds but delight. God’s glory becomes our supreme pleasure. We begin to prefer above all else to know him and see him and be with him and be like him. There are several important reasons for believing that love for God is most essentially an experience of the affections, not behavior.”
—John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, pp. 77-78.

If we love God something else will happen, living for Him.

One of my students at Cornerstone SOM in Corvallis gave a summary and response to those paragraphs in a recent assignment:

“The first [reason we must see God as 'compellingly beautiful'] is to realize that love for God isn’t some hypothetical decision that you do just cause you do it. It isn’t simply a decision you make. In order for us to love God, we must be attracted to Him. And if we aren’t, something has to change. Once this change occurs, we experience the second reason He emphasizes that we see God as compellingly beautiful: He is our desire. We are in love with Him, and we don’t obey His laws and walk in His light just because it is the right thing to, but because we take delight in living with Him. This is such a pivotal point in a believer’s life. It is this reality, the desire and affection for our God, which makes Christianity more than just a religion. It gives richness, fervency, and meaning behind what we do… not to mention motivation. Out of our affection for Him, our behavior will change. It is automatic, and we need not be concerned with that. We are commanded to love God.”

I noted to her that our behavior may not be “automatic” as in passive, but rather as a response and participation. It will naturally flow from a regenerate person who sees God as all, as compellingly beautiful in Christ. As we love God, our character will transform and we will be living for Him. (Simple, but not easy!)

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Fully satisfied in God?

“Sin is what we do when you are not fully satisfied in God.”
—John Piper, Future Grace, p. 9.

“If we are not fulfilled and secure in God, we will inevitably seek other sources of happiness and security.”
—Ken Sande, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, p. 112.

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Source of all joy

“It is radically humbling to confess that the source of all our joy resides outside ourselves.”
—John Piper, Future Grace, p. 88.

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Returning and knowing

There are unique lessons learned in making mistakes. So often we learn by doing wrong, from a simple error in math, to a project gone wrong, to sinning (im)morally. If we are paying attention those experiences are opportunities that can be invested for our benefit.

When it comes to our relationship with God, we must strive to remain in thriving fellowship with Him. (We are not alone, for He is in fact seeking us, so our seeking Him is a response to His initiation, and certainly not the other way around. By way of analogy, when we run to him we then realize that the treadmill is already on, and He has been drawing us.)

Perhaps some Christians struggle with feelings of condemnation when they sin. Okay, perhaps most Christians struggle with feeling inept and worthless and condemned. This is in fact a healthy thing, for conviction is from God and for our good. What would it be like if we never felt bad, never had remorse, and were not able to will to do better next time? But condemnation is different than conviction. Condemnation is a legal guilt before God where His wrath justly abides. For us in Christ there is no longer any condemnation (Romans 8:1). Period.

But what about conviction? Ah, there is the needed thing, for our loving Father convicts and comforts. He seeks after us by His Spirit and reveals the false motives and depraved thinking and actions in our life. His conviction is with a purpose in mind: our growth and His glory. The more we yield to His convicting touch and are aware of our need of Him, the more grace He pours out. This motivates us to life holy lives, for grace motivates far better than fear. And a holy life magnifies God, for we reflect His character in all of life (inwardly and outwardly) in a more increasing measure.

So, then, how do we get from sin to glory? Apart from Christ, there is no way, for we have each in our depraved state exchanged God’s glory for (and preferred) the glory of our own lives and creation around us (Romans 1). Trust Christ and He will make you new! God will exchange your sin and shame and His wrath for the perfect righteousness of His Son Jesus, credited to your account. Washed, renewed, forgiven, redeemed, saved. (The list of our benefits goes on and on.) The key: in coming to Christ, we get GOD. He is the Gospel.

A new relationship with God at the center and us absorbed into Him becomes the living, dynamic reality of our lives. We are His. He opens His life to us, and we can now enjoy God. In fact, this enjoyment becomes a primary way of glorifying Him, for our entire heart, mind, soul and strength is doing that which we were created to do, namely, love and enjoy God.

So sin for the believer in Jesus does not destroy this relationship (as in reverse all that God has done). Rather, it negatively impacts fellowship. Something must be done, and the wrong has been wrought by us and not God. He has open hands, but we must confess our sins to Him.

First John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is not mere theological nor theoretical jargon. Re-read it, in parts:

• If we confess our sins –
• … He (God) is faithful –
• … and just –
• … to forgive us our sins –
• ... and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness – in case we think of our “sins” as merely outward (doing bad things) and not the inward reality of ourselves, we are assured of a cleansing that washes away the impurities our our hearts.

Is this once-and-for-all? Believing in Jesus is a first-time event, but what is written about here in 1st John is for believers who sin. It is a continual reality, not just a one time event; one of repentance (turning), confessing (agreeing) and walking in this new cleansed life. (Repeat.) More than just “daily” and certainly more than just recited as a prayer at church on Sunday. This is the very lifeblood of a living and dynamic relationship with God in Christ — we can be near to Him and must endeavor to rid our lives of any obstacle that does not gain us the most possible enjoyment in God. Do you feel conviction from sin? Agree with God on your current state, press in to seek His forgiveness, know it will be given on the grounds of God’s own promises in His Son who died in our place. That is the faithfulness and the justice. God is not soft on sin and has not turned a blind eye. Every sin, evil and selfish and wicked, has been meted out to its depths. Just that the wrath for it is no longer on me, but Jesus took it instead (in my stead).

Hosea 6:1 “Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”

Notice the third verse: “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.”

Return and be actively knowing Him.

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The gospel opens a source of purer, sweeter, and more substantial pleasures

“The time is short; eternity is at the door; was there no other evil in these vain amusements than the loss of precious time, we have not leisure in our circumstances to regard them. And, blessed be God, we need them not. The gospel opens a source of purer, sweeter, and more substantial pleasures: we are invited to communion with God: we are called to share in the theme of angels, the songs of heaven; and the wonders of redeeming love are laid open to our view. The Lord himself is waiting to be gracious, waiting with promises and pardons in his hands. Well then may we bid adieu to the perishing pleasures of sin; well may we pity those who can find pleasures in those places and parties where he is shut out; where his name is only mentioned to be profaned; where his commandments are not only broken, but insulted; where sinners proclaim their shame, as in Sodom, and attempt not to hide it; where at best wickedness is wrapt up in a disguise of delicacy, to make it more insinuating; and nothing is more offensive that is not grossly and unpolitely indecent.”

- John Newton, to Miss Thorpe (HT)

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Thankful for good books

Monday night I arrive home from class to find a box awaiting me. It was books the books I bought from the DesiringGod special $5/book sale back in late June. I was among 11,000 orders than day (they normally get about 100 daily), so I understand the delay. It was worth the wait.

(And by the way, a disclaimer: I looked at the box of books and then to Kari and said, “You are worth more than all my books; I’m not opening these tonight. I’d rather be with you.” We were able to catch up from our days and the books waited until today to be sorted out.)

Now the books of John Piper take up almost two feet on one shelf:

In the midst of my other studies and teaching commitments reading through each of these will take some time — and enjoying the God-exalting, Christ-magnifying, Bible-saturated truths will take eternity to explore. Thank God we can know Him!

The first one up for my consumption: God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself. (Amen!)

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Three pastoral concerns

Justin Buzzard (normally found here) has written a piece, “Three Pastoral Concerns in 800 Words” on the New Attitude Blog, dedicated to raising up a God-centered, Gospel-living, Bible-saturated generation of men and women who display Jesus Christ is in all their lives.

Good stuff, especially the reminder that the Gospel is not just the entrance to the Christian life, it is also the imperative of all the Christian life, to be related to Christ and live in Him, at all times, in the Gospel. (Or, to use a metaphor I came up with, the Gospel is not merely the diving board into the pool, it is the pool. We need to swim in all its fullness, plunging into the deep end daily.)

Here are a few highlights of Justin’s article:

Issue #1: Gospel-Driven Living

As a pastor I’ve noticed that many of the Christians I come into contact with inadequately appreciate and apply the gospel. Each week I encounter many believers who don’t appear to grasp how radical, how good, the good news is. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension are reduced to the long forgotten starting line of the Christian life, rather than appreciated as the message, the oxygen, that enables each new stride, all progress forward, in the Christian life.

About one year ago I asked some Christians to grab a pen and paper and answer the question, “What is the gospel?” One answer read: “The gospel is what Jesus did for sinners on the cross. It’s how you become a Christian.” This answer is true, but it’s not true enough. There’s more to it. I could speak to the incomplete content of this answer, but here I’ll speak to the incomplete application of this answer: “It’s how you become a Christian.” If you view the gospel merely as what makes you a Christian, rather than also what matures you as a Christian, you minimize the Savior and maximize yourself.

That’s dangerous.

The nitty-gritty consequences of this, of holding to a mere starting-line gospel, a mere starting-line Savior, are severe. The negative affects I’ve observed are: legalism, joylessness, pursuit of self-glory rather than God’s glory, fear, prayerlessness, pride, and loss of concern for the lost.

I’m seeking to lead people to the comprehensive, robust gospel presented in the Scriptures which teaches that each step forward in the Christian life is made only through reliance upon our Savior. Our sin is that bad and our Savior is that great. I’m seeking to do this both by preaching this gospel to myself as often as possible and by talking about and applying this gospel in any and every preaching, teaching, counseling, and evangelism opportunity I’m presented with.

…

Issue #2: Discipling Godly Men
(read it)

…

Issue #3: Local Church Commitment

The local church stands at the center of God’s design to redeem the world. Jesus died for the church (Matthew 16:16-18). You can’t obey Hebrews 13:17 unless you’re part of a local church: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” And yet many among this generation of Christians view commitment to a local church as a peripheral concern.

For me this is a central issue, especially as I regularly encounter Christian twentysomethings who find their way into our twenties ministry, operating under the unbiblical conviction that this ministry can be a substitute for involvement in a local church. I’ve sought to respond to this concern by talking loudly week in and week out about the importance of the local church.

Six “core commitments” underlie what my ministry to San Francisco Peninsula twentysomethings is all about. The sixth of these commitments, the local church commitment, is a value that I stress as I encounter non-Christians, Christians from other churches, and Christians who claim no home church who visit our ministry for single and married twentysomethings. This commitment reads as follows:

The local church stands at the center of God’s design to redeem the world. Every Christian is called to be involved in a church (not a twenties ministry), a body of people of all ages who travel through life together and meet regularly to worship God, hear the gospel preached, practice the sacraments of baptism and communion, and submit to the leadership of elders. We love our church—being a part of it and serving it.

I’m responding to this third issue by championing this commitment, by seeking to infect young adult Christians with a love for the local church, the church that Jesus died to create.

Okay, that was almost all of it. Just trying to keep it under the 800 words, even though he wasn’t able to. Thanks for the encouragement, Justin.

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