'"Fear" in the Bible means to be overwhelmed' (p.68, Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage)
Why have I not heard that before?!
I've struggled to work out what fear of the Lord looks like. The Bible makes clear that it is not simply being scared which is too negative, but neither is it simply reverence which is too safe. Overwhelmed/overcome seems to capture it well.
"And he died for us all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Cor 5:15)
Jesus died to save us from self-centredness to Jesus-centredness.
Probably not new to you, but struck me afresh yesterday.
When Jesus Christ went to the cross, he was simply acting in character. As C. S. Lewis, wrote, when Jesus sacrificed himself for us, he did "in the wild weather of his outlying provinces" that which from all eternity "he had done at home in glory and gladness."
(p. 59, Tim Keller quoting CS Lewis who was quoting George MacDonald, The Meaning of Marriage)
The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us.
(p. 48, Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage)
John Piper reminded me powerfully of the stress the NT puts on self-control.
[Self-control] is so essential in Christian living that Paul made it part of his one-time sermon to Felix (“he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment,” Acts 24:25); he made it part of the fruit of the Spirit (“faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” Galatians 5:23); he made it part of the qualifications for overseers (“self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined,” Titus 1:8).
...It’s the sort of thing that athletes do. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Paul had very little trust in the desires his body threw at him daily: “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). That’s an innocuous translation. Literally: “I give my body a black eye (hupopiazō) and make it a slave (doulagōgō).”
...Is this Christian Hedonism? Yes. Why does Paul live like a self-disciplined athlete? Simple: Greater joy. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25).
I've been thinking about self-control a lot recently because I feel I have very little. It's all over the Bible and nowhere in our culture. But, how do we hold self-control together with grace?
I have quite a few thoughts, but find Martin Luther helpful (as so often). He was quite strong on the importance of fasting and self-discipline (at least in the early days - his later girth suggests things changed). But, he placed it firmly within the doctrine of two kinds of righteousness. Disciplines such as fasting that build self-control have no effect on our righteousness coram deo because only God's creative Word can change our hearts. However, they have benefit for our neighbour (coram mundo) if they train us in righteous acts of giving, patience, etc.
My lack of self-control is a destructive force in my life and in other people. I want to control my selfish desires, and fasting in lent maybe a way to do that. But God already sees me as his Son who was so in control of his selfish desires that he refused the devil's invitation to bread in the desert and died on a tree because he was a Christian Hedonist who found his joy set before him in the redemption of a people and the pleasure of his Father.
When our prayers are ascend to the Father through the intercession of the Son, the intercession of the Son represents nothing but the Father’s greatest desires in the first place, so guarantees the beautiful success of the Son’s prayers.
(Carl Trueman, 26:00, The Trinity and Preaching: Talk 1)
I was sad to read of Tom Smail's death. I've only read a little of what he has written, but he had found a soft spot in my heart.
Some random fragments:
David, Goliath and Jesus
Jesus is the greater David, who defeated the enemies of God, even though he was weak.
Jesus is the greater Goliath, who represented not just one nation opposed to God but the whole world and was brutally killed by the power of God.
David, Goliath and me
In Jesus, though weak, I am more than a conqueror over all that seeks to enslave and kill me.
In Jesus my old self is put to death never to rise again.
In Jesus, the true Israel, I find myself on the sidelines watching my hero kill my greatest fear.
PS our church youth group enjoyed this video the other day.
If God's glory, sovereignty and power is Jesus' death, then:
Would it be better to say that God's glory, sovereignty and power are found "in" and "through" Jesus' death?
In place of my normal blogging, here is some wonderful stuff to get your teeth into.
Dostoevsky peoples his novels with “characters that speak in their own voices, not merely as mouthpieces for their author.” Zosima speaks his own point of view, which may be right or wrong; Ivan Karamazov argues the devil’s point of view so forcefully that the author seems helpless to silence him. If Dostoevsky were a director of a war movie, one gets the sense he would equip the actors with live ammunition. “What Dostoevsky projects into the world of his works is not a finished plot but unfinished voice ideas.” (p. 330) [incidentally, in my more heretical moments I have pondered whether God writes like Kierkegaard... ask me about it sometime]
I change, He changes not,
The Christ can never die;
His love, not mine, the resting-place,
His truth, not mine, the tie.
logizomai [imputation], is logos - in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And it's the verb form of logos. And it's not merely that by his action Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to have mercy, but that it's because of what the Logos did - it was the verb, the action of the Logos. I am imputed as righteous even though I am not righteous, and by that wording of me as righteous, I begin to become that kind of righteousness that we see in the second person of the Trinity.
the Archbishop’s theological reflections sound quasi-masochistic. For example, he returns again and again in his work to the idea that the ‘inner readiness to come to judgment’ (OCT, p. 32) is the mark of the true disciple... I would argue, however, that it belongs to a complex of other readinesses that together constitute the form of faithfulness. In other words, openness to judgment is genuinely Christian only insofar as it is wedded to the humble audacity—to take up the S. Bulgakov’s idiom—also to receive blessings and to offer judgments in Christ’s name.
Both [Penal Substitution and Christus Victor] actually include dimensions of personal guilt and victimhood, but as I listen to the discussion today, it seems that Christus Victor highlights our state as victims. Substitutionary atonement focuses on our guilt. In Christus Victor, we are liberated from hostile powers out there. In substitution, we are forgiven, and liberation is from ourselves and our addiction to our sin. Naturally, both models speak to truths of the human condition! And both have nuances worth exploring. But I'm concerned at the rising popularity of Christus Victor when it comes at the expense of substitution.
I've also been think a lot about Luke 7:47:
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.
If I want to love God more the answer is not to dwell on his essence, but on his action. I say that not because his essence is not essentially important (intentional pun ;-)), but because the way to his essence is his action.
"to know Christ means to know his benefits, and not as they teach to reflect upon his natures" (p. 21f, Philip Melanchthon, Loci Communes 1521 in Melanchthon and Bucer)
Interesting to see what Rowan Williams has been reading:
The American Presbyterian writer Timothy Keller has recently published a book on Mark’s gospel, entitled King’s Cross. It is a vividly written and often very moving presentation of the great themes of the gospel (and incidentally offers a forceful defence of substitutionary language for the atonement that might give second thoughts to some who find this difficult); but perhaps its simplest and most dominant insight is that Christianity is not advice but news. The world has changed; humanity is not what it was. We are still working out, often in floundering and stumbling ways, what this means, but the one thing to beware of is reducing the news to exhortation, sound moral or even spiritual teaching, alone. We must always be beginning again with the news that God has shown himself to be a God who does not abandon – even when all the evidence has pointed to his absence, he recovers himself and us in the great act of vindication, homecoming and transfiguration that is the resurrection; a moment so alarmingly beyond all expectation that Mark can only present it with the silence, the fear and trembling, of his famous ending at 16.8. And I suppose that what I am pleading for in our discussion today is a revitalised sense of the news we have, the event we celebrate as having changed everything.
(General Synod Presidential Address, July 2011, HT Todd Brewer in his tasty selection of Christian books in 2011)
Interesting, but more importantly truths to celebrate.
Famine
Hitler invaded and occupied France and exploited it and its people. But most collaborated with their new master and many welcomed him. The French were both victims and perpetrators of sin.
The Devil invaded God's creation and exploited it its people. Everyone collaborated with their new masters and welcomed him. We are both victims and perpetrators of sin.
Firstfruits
The Allies landed at Normandy and at great cost liberated its people. Victory and freedom the rest of France was certain once that bridgehead was established.
Christ landed in a manger in Bethlehem and at the ultimate cost saw the first fruits of New Creation when his Father raised him from the dead by his Spirit. Victory and freedom for the rest of creation was certain once that bridgehead was established. But even as he was dying to establish that bridgehead he pronounced forgiveness to all collaborators with the Devil.
Full harvest
The collaborators with Nazis were full of fear. The French resistance grew in strength and those who had collaborated were persecuted by those now full of hope for freedom.
Christ's proclamation of forgiveness for those who collaborated with the Devil in crucifying him means that there is no fear from the completion of his victory. Past guilt is no reason to fear only love for the present order. Living out of the promise of the Resurrection we take up arms and join the resistance.
[with thanks to Oscar Cullmann and Steven Paulson]
To know each friend will fall away, And heaven’s voice be still, For hell to have its vengeful day Upon Golgotha’s hill. No words describe the Savior’s plight - To be by God forsaken Till wrath and love are satisfied And every sin is paid And every sin is paid
What took Him to this wretched place, What kept Him on this road? His love for Adam’s curséd race, For every broken soul. No sin too slight to overlook, No crime too great to carry, All mingled in this poisoned cup – And yet He drank it all, The Savior drank it all, The Savior drank it all. Stuart Townend & Keith Getty Copyright © 2009 Thankyou Music
Generally, I'm a little sceptical about stories that say "I've been in the same boat" because that's not sufficient.
If Christ is in the boat then it's just fine. But if it's just the two of us then it is likely it is going to go down.
(1 hr, 14min, Lecture 1, James Nestingen)
...or our heart is a factory of idols.
Two hot things to say in my circles these days are:
I agree with both statements, but I'm afraid I have to admit that to a large degree I still trust and promote both the first and second set of idols.
We are not in the habit of disbelieving monster gods, we're in the habit of making them!
And that applies to non-Christians as well. My non-Christian friends and family do not disbelieve in the God of Jesus Christ because they perceive him to be a distant bully, whatever they may say. And the reason I don't believe them when they tell me that is because the gods they do believe in are just as monstrous as anything I have heard preached by someone who calls them Christian. Their gods are killing them and giving them nothing in return - but they love them anyway.
Only God by his Spirit and through his Word, which kills the old heart and creates a new one ex nihilo, will we see change in the God we love so that we love beauty.
"Behold, your king is coming to you"
Luther, from his sermon on Matthew 21:1-9 on the first Sunday in Advent, 1521:
This is what is meant by "Thy king cometh." You do not seek him, but he seeks you. You do not find him, he finds you. For the preachers come from him, not from you; their sermons come from him, not from you; your faith comes from him, not from you; everything that faith works in you comes from him, not from you; and where he does not come, you remain outside; and where there is no Gospel there is no God, but only sin and damnation, free will may do, suffer, work and live as it may and can. Therefore you should not ask, where to begin to be godly; there is no beginning, except where the king enters and is proclaimed.
Sixthly, he cometh "unto thee." Thee, thee, what does this mean? Is it not enough that he is your king? If he is yours how can he say, he comes to you? All this is stated by the prophet to present Christ in an endearing way and invite to faith. It is not enough that Christ saves us from the rule and tyranny of sin, death and hell, and becomes our king, but he offers himself to us for our possession, that whatever he is and has may be ours, as St. Paul writes, Rom. 8, 32: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?"...
Behold, this means that he comes to you, for your welfare, as your own; in that he is your king, you receive grace from him into your heart, so that he delivers you from sin and death, and thus becomes your king and you his subject. In coming to you he becomes your own, so that you partake of his treasures, as a bride, by the jewelry the bridegroom puts on her, becomes partner of his possessions. Oh, this is a joyful, comforting form of speech! Who would despair and be afraid of death and hell, if he believes in these words and wins Christ as his own?
To the Samaritan woman:
"the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him" (4:23)
To the Jews:
"an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (4:23)
To the Disciples:
"the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone." (16:32)
So "the hour" in John seems to be Christ's death and resurrection and the breaking in of that Old Creation death and New Creation life into our present.
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men" ([Rom] 1.18). When we ask how that wrath comes to expression, we have a threefold expression that God's wrath is God's abandonment. "Therefore God gave them over (paredoken) to the sinful desires of their hearts" (v.24), "God gave them over (paredoken) to shameful lusts" (v.26), "He gave them over (paredoken) to a depraved mind" (v.28). It is no coincidence that it is this key verb paradidomi (=to abandon, to give up), which is used again in Romans 8.32, He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up (paredoken) for us all" etc... In order to do anything for those who because of sin have been given up to sin's destructive power, and lethal consequences (Romans 6.23a), the Son of God had to identify himself with them, by himself being treated as one who is abandoned and given up by God.
(p. 116, Thomas Smail, The Forgotten Father)
I never get tired of that. The punishment that belonged to us, fell on him!
While I'm here, a few thoughts on the idea often taught from Romans 1 that the wrath of God being God passively stepping back and giving us what we want:
One of my favourite blogs these days is Martin Yee, a Singaporean Lutheran. Here is something to put in your theological pipe from his recent digest of a Philip Cary article:
Augustine gives us the gist of the prayer for grace in a famous formulation that irked Pelagius: “Give what you command, and command what you will.” To bring the difference between Luther and Augustine into focus, we can contrast this prayer with a formulation in Luther’s treatise, The Freedom of a Christian (1520): “The promises of God give what the commandments of God demand”. This formulation both echoes Augustine’s prayer for grace and replaces it with something new. Instead of human words of prayer, it draws our attention to the divine word of promise, which Luther elsewhere calls by the name “Gospel.” The distinction he draws in this treatise between commandments and promises as the two types of the Word of God is clearly the same as the distinction he draws elsewhere between Law and Gospel. The crucial point about the Gospel promise is always that it gives what it promises to those who believe it. So for Luther faith does not mean praying for grace and righteousness, but obtaining them by taking hold of Christ in the Gospel.
Amongst a load of classroom posters explaining various attributes of God/gods.
Just goes to show that even when you say something like 'God is love' you cannot assume people know what you mean...
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us" (1 John 3:16)
My life has just changed quite a lot over recent months and weeks.
I miss blogging but life is good and God is good to me.
Read Glen's blogs instead.
PS Mike Horton's Systematic Theology is worth a read.
The biggest difference made by responses to the Word is the difference they make to us, for us, and in us. They decide not whether the Word will achieve his purposes but whether we will enjoy his achievement - or find ourselves in opposition to it.
(p. 73, kingdom, grace, judgment: paradox, outrage, and vindication in the parables of Jesus)
The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (1 Thes 5:2).
People sleep during the night or stay up getting drunk. Either way they are not alert (v.7).
Christians live in the daytime (v.4), even though for the world it is still dark. They are experiencing the already even though it is not-yet. Therefore, they should be alert for Christ's appearing and doing the things of the day. That doesn't mean having your head in the clouds and being idle, but working (v.12-14)
Tomorrow's Monday, so unglamorous as it sounds, I'll be at the office as a child of the day. Today was the Lord's day, but so is Monday.
Halloween approaches when people make a mockery of the devil, demons and all sorts of evil. Personally, I tend to think it would be a good thing for Christians to participate in, but not non-Christians (much like the Lord's Supper).
For Christians the devil and demons are no kind of threat because they have been 'disarmed' (Col 2:15). The devil's only power is because he is Satan (trans. "the accuser"), and his only weapon is the law with which stands against us. But the debt to the law has been nailed to the cross and cannot be taken down and used again on those in Christ (2:14). So death and the devil have lost their sting because Christ takes the victory that would otherwise be theirs.
So when the devil, or those who join in his game of judging us or accusing us (even our own consciences) need never be taken seriously (Col 2:16). We are free from all judgment of sin and measurement of performance. That message is why Halloween and Reformation Day actually belong together.
[Not quite the same, but do check out Peter Dray and Jim Jordan's thoughts on Halloween, or Justin Holcomb].
