Saved for Community

I've heard it many times: “I don’t need to go to church. Jesus and I are alright!” Right now I am reading, for the third time, through Scot McKnight’s amazing book on the atonement titled A Community Called Atonement. One of the things I love about this book is how he reminds us of the many purposes the atonement accomplishes.

For McKnight the Kingdom of God is a society where the will of God is established. I think that Jesus’ proclamation is all about him becoming King and that through this all the ancient promises made to Israel are coming true. However, this kingdom is realized in the context of a society. It is good news that Jesus is becoming King because that means true peace and justice for all its subjects. What the atonement is intended to do then is create this society where Jesus reigns, where God’s will is established.

This isn’t the only reason for the atonement that McKnight provides (i.e. the save us from the wrath of God, to restore cracked eikons, etc.) but I think that it is a helpful one. Salvation, to be sure, is something that happens to individuals but it is never individualistic. Our sins are atoned for so that we may be part of something bigger. We are to participate in God’s grand redemption of the whole kosmos (i.e. Ephesians 1) within God’s new humanity, the church. The church is the foretaste of what is to come and the atonement brings us into this community. The next time you want to sleep in on Sunday morning remember this: “This is what you are saved for!”

10 Things Part 4: Jesus Christ Gives Marriage It's True Meaning

I love my wife. But I’m convinced the reason I love her the way I do is because of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ alone is what gives our marriage its true meaning. The book of Ephesians has been fundamental to shaping the way we think about marriage and relationship between husband and wife. The goal of our marriage isn’t simply that people may look at us and say, “They look happy.” Yes we want people to think that about us, but more importantly we want people to look at our relationship and see a parable of Jesus Christ and his people, the church. Marriage isn’t ultimately about my wife and I, it is a pointer away from us to a greater reality. When I lead and humbly serve my wife it demonstrates the work that Christ accomplished on the cross on behalf of his people. When Alicia submits to my leadership it pictures how Christ’s church submits to him as Lord. We are both equal in that we are made in the image of God but God has designed the roles of husband and wife in a way that will magnify his grace and bring him glory. I love Christianity because it brings true meaning to marriage and enables my wife and I to live for God’s glory.

I thought that I would post the vows that my wife and I made to each other on our wedding day in August. We formed ours vows from reading Richard Baxter’s memoirs of his wife.

Nick’s Vows

Alicia, I know that God has ordained marriage to be a picture of Christ and his bride, the church. On that basis I give you these promises:

I will love you fully and will strive to avoid all things that could quench our love.
I will seek to enjoy you above all of God’s creation.
I will respect you and be the defender of your name.
I will lead you in all things pertaining to godliness through the instruction of God’s Word.
I will aim to put sin to death in my life and humbly serve you just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
I reserve my body for you and you alone.
I will stand by you in all times, good or bad, and will help you bear your burdens.
I will never leave you but will forever be your delightful companion in Holy Love and heavenly hopes and duties when all other outward comforts fail.

I pledge you all these things before God.

Alicia’s Vows

Nick, I know that God has ordained marriage to be a picture of Christ and his bride, the church. On that basis I give you these promises:

I will love you fully and will strive to avoid all things that could quench our love.
I will seek to cherish you above all God’s creation, tending each day to our relationship so that the flame of our love does not diminish.
I will place myself under your leadership as your helper, as the church submits herself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ who redeemed her with His blood.
I will reserve my body for you and you alone, and seek to make you the happiest man on earth.
I will stand by you in all times, good or bad, and will help you bear your burdens.
I will never leave you but will forever be your delightful companion in Holy Love and heavenly hopes and duties when all other outward comforts fail.

I pledge you all these things before God.

10 Things Part 3: God Creates a New Family Through Jesus Christ

In a sermon on the fulfilled family John MacArthur says, “[Family] is the place of intimacy. It is the place of joy. It is the place of memories that build the foundation of life. It is the place of love. It is the place of socialization. It is the place of morality. It is the place of security. It is where you build confidence.” Family is important. Humans were created not to live in isolation but to live in communion with fellow human beings.

When sin entered into the world the entire creation was put under a curse. God’s response? He creates a family. God would bring the nations to himself through the family of Abraham. But when this family fell into idolatry they went into exile and experienced God’s judgment firsthand. God promised his people that he would not utterly forsake them but they would one day return from exile, God would draw near to his people, he would forgive their sins and the nations would come to know the one and true living God.

When Jesus came on the scene summoning people to repent and believe in the gospel he was challenging them to become the new people of God, the returned from exiles ones. However, Jesus’ kingdom plans were different than other kingdom plans. Jesus’ way was the way of welcome. We see this clearly in Luke 15, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” (Luke 15.1-2). Jesus was welcoming the lowest of the low to be part of the reconstituted people, or family, of God and the Pharisees didn’t like it. Jesus responds by telling three parables. All of them speak of God’s grace in welcoming repentant sinner’s to himself.

The prodigal son, in particular, also contains hints that the return-from-exile is happening right under the Pharisees noses and they are missing out on it. Jesus tells a story about a rebellious son going into a far country and returning to his father. In Jesus’ welcoming of repentant sinner’s to himself, the ‘great return’ was taking place. He was building a family around himself.

All those who see their need of Jesus are welcomed to come. Christ builds the true family of God. So here we find true intimacy, love, socialization, morality, security, and confidence. Yet another reason why I love Christianity!

God’s Righteousness Creates God’s Renewed People

I was just reading a review of Michael Bird’s The Saving Righteousness of God and it gave me enough of a sneak peak to whet my appetite. Here is a quote from the review:

The phrase “righteousness of God” is no technical apocalyptic term (against Käsemann) but must be seen against the background of Judg 5:11; 1 Sam 12:7; Pss 51:14; 71:15–16; Isa 46:13; 56:1; CD 20:20 (14–15) as “denot[ing] the saving action of God now revealed and now manifested in the gospel of Jesus Christ” (15), whereas the verb “is strictly forensic” (17). Paul’s apocalyptic theology is based on his narrative world, that is, on the concept of God’s relationship with Abraham and Israel mediated through the covenantal promises, including the hope for the restoration of Israel and the salvation of the Gentiles (31). The unity of Jews and Christians in the body of Christ is not only an illustration of the effects of salvation but is constitutive in that God’s saving righteousness creates a new people (33).

Go here if you would like to read the rest of the review.

What I Asked For For Christmas

I think the books I am looking forward to the most are by Michael Bird. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite scholars. If you have the chance, search 'Michael F. Bird' on google and read some of his articles online. I greatly benefited from his article on the New Perspective.

The Gospel According to Acts 4

Jesus, Our Leader and Savior (Acts. 5.27-32)

- The apostles are questioned before the council (vv.27, 28).
- Peter declares his faithfulness to God rather than men (v.29).
- Although these men put Jesus to death God has raised him to his right hand. Jesus is identified as Leader and Savior and Israel is now given the opportunity to repent to receive the forgiveness of sins (vv. 30, 31).
- Both the apostles and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to these things. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God’s message of the gospel (v. 32).

This section of Acts, again, confirms that the apostolic proclamation of the gospel centers on the fact that God raised Jesus after he was killed and exalted him to his right hand. Jesus is also identified as Leader and Savior. With his resurrection he leads his people into the new age. He is the one man who was raised in the middle of history before the general resurrection of all God’s people. He is also the Savior, delivering his people from this present evil age through the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is offered because the gospel is a message ‘about Christ’ that is ‘for us’ (although in this case it should be noted that the offer is given specifically to Israel). The apostles and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to all that has happened to Jesus. Those who obey the message of the gospel will receive the Holy Spirit; the gift of the new age.

Patiently Reading the Bible

Sometime as we read our Bibles we can bring our culture’s attitude of wanting things quick and easy. This manifest’s itself in different ways. First, we can start a Bible reading plan and soon enough it can become systematic. Although it is sometimes beneficial just to read quickly through the text we live in a world quite removed from the biblical authors and it can take time to place ourselves into the world they were writing in. Second, when we do finally get to the point where we are struggling with the text we can settle for easy answers. We can rush around trying to find immediate solutions to our problems; all the while forgetting that we need the Holy Spirit’s guidance if we are going to get to the true meaning of Scripture. In my own life, if I run into a difficult portion of Scripture I can actually lose sleep over it. My mind goes back and forth wondering which reading is correct; I even get anxious.

The Bible is a great book. There are simple truths that children can easily understand and yet the books that have been written to explain the Bible are too numerous to count. We need to keep this in mind as we come to the Scriptures. We need to be humble, recognizing that we are going to die, we will never exhaust the truth that can be found in this book, and we are not called to know ‘everything’. As long as we are human we will ‘know some’ but will never ‘know all’. We need to approach the word of God with patience.