10 Things Part 7: The Scriptures part 1

With so many ideas floating around in our world today how are we to know truth? Some would say that there is no such thing as objective truth and we ought to make up our own reality. Others think that there is ‘truth’ out there but we certainly can’t know it ourselves. Christians, on the other hand, claim that there is truth and it can be known (however, they certainly are not the only ‘group’ who believes this). But how is it to be known? The answer is ‘through the scriptures’.

The Scriptures function like a diamond. It gives us theology, instruction, and story. In other words, it tells us what God is like, how we are to live in relation to this God and answers the question, “what is God doing?” The Bible has all of these which is part of the reason why it is such an awesome book. Today one aspect of the diamond.

Theology:

Where would we be if we were not told what God is truly like? How does the Bible tell us what God is like? Example: For all we know he could be an angry tyrant who punishes people just because he gets pleasure out of it. Or perhaps he doesn’t give a hoot about all the sin, evil and injustice in the world and just watches to see how we might get by on our own. No, the Bible tells us that God is a loving creator who is wrathful when we settle for less than him and is justly angry when his creation commits all sorts of injustice, sin and evil. We find in the Bible, then, a theology of the wrath of God. It is not set out in point form but it is there. The same is true of the love of God. Throughout the Bible God acts towards humanity, and his chosen people in particular, in a loving way. He does not choose to leave us to ourselves and our own destructive sinful ways but has set out to rescue humanity from its plight. The Bible tells us what God is like. So another reason why I love Christianity is because we are given the Bible which tells us the truth about God. Yea I realize this whole 10 things is a bit silly now that I am including a part 1 and part 2. Oh well.

Jesus, the Pharisees, and Michael Bird on 'Reformed' Christianity

This morning I was reading through Mark 7 where you will come across a story about Jesus, Pharisees and Purity Regulations. The question that hangs over this story seems to be, "What makes a good Jew?" The Pharisees thought that they were the ones who were 'righteous' and that Jesus and his disciples were 'un-righteous'. But as Jesus points out, they defined themselves with man made rules and ignored parts of the revealed will of God. They were hypocrites. God's plan for Israel was coming true right before their eyes; but they were so committed to their 'rules' that they were failing to see that scripture was being fulfilled in and through Jesus. I wonder how much of a danger this is today. What makes a good Christian in our minds? Is it according to tradition or according to scripture?

I consider myself to be a Calvinistic Baptist. Many people today are using the term 'reformed' to refer to people who believe in the 'doctrines of grace'. But I find Michael Bird's words sobering:

"But in all the recent talk about "evangelicals" and the "reformed" I am noticing another trend. To use the same analogy, there is a group of the "reformed" out there who have basically decided to go and sit in their room, lock the door, and do nothing but than rant and moan about how everybody in the evangelical hallway is a theologically defficient turnip and only those in the room with them are among the doctrinally righteous elect. This group is typified by several traits: (1) They are more excited about all the things that they are against than anything that they are for; (2) They preach justification by faith, but in actuality practice justification by polemics; (3) They appear to believe in the inerrancy of a confession over the suffiency of the gospel; (4) They believe in the doctrines of grace, but do not treat others with grace; (5) They believe that unity is overrated; (6) They like doctrines about Jesus more than Jesus himself (and always defer to the Epistles over the Gospels); (7) mission means importing their debates and factions to other churches; and (8) The word "adiaphora" is considered an almost expletive.

Read the whole thing here

Trevin Wax: Favorite Books of the Year Giveaway

Blogger Trevin Wax is giving away his favorite reads of the year plus an ESV Study Bible. There are three ways to win.

#1. THE REASON FOR GOD - Tim Keller
#2. CULTURE MAKING - Andy Crouch
#3. SURPRISED BY HOPE - N.T. Wright
#4. WHY WE’RE NOT EMERGENT - Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck
#5. HOW PEOPLE CHANGE - Timothy Lane & Paul David Tripp
#6. THE BIG PICTURE STORY BIBLE -David Helm & Gail Schoonmaker
#7. JESUS MADE IN AMERICA - Stephen Nichols
#8. RESIDENT ALIENS - Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon
#9. WORSHIP MATTERS - Bob Kauflin
#10. The Sermon on the Mount through the Centuries - Jeffrey Greenman, Timothy Larsen, and Stephen Spencer

10 Things Part 6: Christ Delivers His People from Slavery

In the book of Exodus we read of God’s people, the Israelites, and the terrible slavery they are facing by the Egyptians: “…The Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor…they made their lives bitter” (Exodus 1.11a, 14a). God had made a promise to Abraham that he would build a family and that through them the nations would be blessed (Genesis 12). God would remain faithful to his promises. So when the Israelites cried out to God, he heard them: “But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act” (Exodus 2.23-25).

So what did God do next? He sent them Moses, a redeemer of sorts. The Jews were promised that God would give them a land and Moses was the one who was to deliver them from slavery and lead them to the promise. They were delivered from their slavery as they passed through the waters of the Red Sea.

The story of the exodus is really a picture of an even greater act of God, a greater exodus. Baptism isn’t just a meaningless ritual (see Romans 6), on the contrary, it is a ‘symbol’ packed with rich theological truth. When a Christian passes through the water of baptism they stand parallel to the Jews, who in Moses’ day, passed through the Red Sea and were delivered from their slavery. All of humanity faces a greater enemy, an enemy greater than the Egyptians or the Romans; the enemy of evil, sin, and death. Now Jesus, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit (think the cloud in the wilderness), is leading his people to the true land of promise, the new earth. Jesus delivers his people from the ugliest slavery of all.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

My wife and I are singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel at my parents church this sunday. This version has got really great words:

1. O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears

Chorus:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel

2. O come, Thou Rod of Jesse free
Thine own from Satan’s tyrrany
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave

3. O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease
And be Thyself our King of Peace

10 Things Part 5: Jesus Conquers Evil

D.A. Carson soberingly (I don’t think that’s a word) says that if you have not yet suffered then you will. Although people suffer in different capacities, as long as we are living in the present form of the world we will experience the hardship this fallen world brings. I myself have not suffered greatly in my life but I have seen others around me experience horrible things. As I read through the opening chapters of the gospel of Mark I am comforted as we are given a ‘sneak peak’ as to the identity of Jesus. He is the true Son of God with whom God the Father is well pleased. He will accomplish what this dying world truly needs, namely, rescue!

The term ‘Son of God’ can refer to a few different things but one idea is that which is found in the Old Testament in reference to God’s people. Sometimes Israel as a nation is referred to as ‘the son of God’. In Exodus we read, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Israel is my firstborn son’ (Ex. 4.22) or, “You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. The Lord saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters” (Deut. 32. 18-19). By referring the Jesus as the Son of God, Mark is pointing to Jesus as the one who will accomplish redemption. He will be faithful where Israel was unfaithful. Jesus can be trusted.

‘Son of God’ can also refer to Israel’s king. In 2 Sam we read, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men…” (2 Sam. 7.14) or, “I will tell you the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you” (Ps. 2.7). Jesus, in other words, is Israel’s true king. He is the one to whom the Law and the Prophets pointed. He will bring to fruition all the promises that God made to his people including the defeat of evil.

Jesus is the faithful Israelite and Israel’s, and thus the worlds, true King. After Jesus is declared to be the Father’s Son with whom he is well pleased, Jesus is sent into the wilderness to battle evil. Whereas Israel succumbed to the temptation in the wilderness in the 40 year period, Jesus is faithful and does not give in during the 40 day period. Jesus assures us that evil has been defeated when he goes to the cross. When evil thought that it was doing its worst, when it was all heaped onto Jesus as he hung pinned to the cross, it was actually, as John Piper says, committing suicide. It’s as if evil gave all that it had, invested all its energy, and focused it all on Christ. But then the tomb was empty. I love Christianity because Jesus conquers evil!

The Gospel According to Acts 5

Philip Proclaims the Gospel (Acts 8.4-8, 12)

Today I will be skipping ahead a little bit in Acts to discuss the proclamation of Philip.

- The scattered church preaches the word (v. 4).
- Philip proclaims the Christ (v. 5).
- The crowd listens to Philip and is filled with joy because of the miracles beings performed (vv. 6-8).
- Philip proclaims the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (v.12).

The promise that the gospel would be preached to the ends of the earth is being fulfilled through the dispersion of the disciples due to persecution. Although to many the Samaritans were not considered real Jews, the gospel is proclaimed to them. The gospel is for all people. The message that Philip proclaims concerns the Christ. The gospel is a message about Jesus. The gospel is that Jesus is the messiah. Evidence is given for this (i.e. that Jesus is now reigning) through miraculous healings and exorcisms. The language of the Kingdom has not been lost in the early church. Preaching that Jesus is the Christ is preaching the Kingdom. Jesus is the true King of the world! The proper response to this message is baptism.