Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sitting Before Beauty

Much of my time in the Word this week has been spent in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. As I have grown in the gospel over the past few months, I have sense a corresponding desire to grow in personal holiness (which I think is fitting). As such, I spent time with both Ezekiel and Isaiah. These were two men who were deeply transformed by the visions of God that they had. As a matter of fact, I am willing to venture (not just from an existential viewpoint but also from the standpoint of biblical theology) that their entire ministries were shaped by their experiences in these chapters.
As God has me in a holding pattern (for full time ministry and seminary) for the next 6 months or so, I have found it to be extremely beneficial to gaze intently at the beauty and holiness of God. I would also be willing to say that no man or woman (myself included) is ready to go out and serve the Lord until they have seriously considered the holiness of God; and not just the holiness of God but the corresponding responses to such consideration. Yet consideration, seems like a strictly theological exercise. This is not what I mean when I speak of consideration. Consideration as I see it is a sitting before the throne of God who is utterly holy and utterly beautiful. This meditation on the holiness and beauty of God should not just stir theologies (thought it should do that) but it should be the fuel for life. The fuel for Godly living. Sitting before the holiness of God, should make us strive to be more like him... or more holy. It should fuel a heartfelt appreciation for gazing at our Lord. When the holiness of God is apprehended at the heart level, it recognizes that God is beautiful and the glory of his holiness is valuable. There is perhaps no better antidote to fighting off idols than to produce a heart that daily longs to see the beauty of the Lord and not just in quiet times but at all times. When you consider God to be the most beeautiful being/thing to be looked at, pursued or considered, the pursuit of anything that gets in the way can be more easily jettisoned. The heart will always pursue what it finds to be most valuable or most beeautiful. The Christians who have most impacted this world had a vision for God as the only one worth living for.
I don't think true Christianity is possible without a vision for God like this. No... I don't think, I know that it is impossible to sustain true Christianity without the holiness of God mixed in at nearly every aspect. I make no distinction between "world impacting Christianity" and other types of Christiniaty. The only type of Christianity is world impacting Christianity. And without the holiness of God, Christianity will cease to look decidedly Christian.
I want to close with a passage from Ezekiel that has sat with me all week. I don't know if there is a better picture in the entire bible of the beauty and wonder of God. This is Ezekiel (1:26-28) describing God as he sees him in his vision:

And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the flory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Powerful! In the next few blogs, I plan on talking about two things. First, I want to talk about Ezekiel and Isaiah's repsonse to their visions. Next, I want to talk about how these visions shaped their ministry. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Let Us Make a Trade

The following is a prayer of repentance that I wrote after reflecting upon Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and the idols in my own heart. I hope some of you may find it helpful as you seek to follow God in your life.

Dear Triune Father,

Fairest Lord Jesus,
Let us make a trade,
My rubbish for your beauty,
Your glory for my filth,
The divine nature for my idols,
Long have I sought peace and joy from the pleasures of sin,
And long has my soul withered.
My soul is now withered because of my wicked idolatry,
But you do not forsake your children,
Even as I walk away to the poison of sin,
You plead with me to return,
Warning me of the danger ahead,
But as I idolize myself I tell you,
"I know best, away with you."
And now I am at my wits end
As sin has brought me to ruin.
The only hope for me now is your Son.
So let us make a trade,
My rubbish for your cross,
His blood for my filth,
The holiness of Christ for my idols.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Thoughts from Sabbath Sunday...Criticism in Light of the Gospel

I wasn't able to post last night because I was at a Sunday night sermon/discussion/dinner group wtih people from church. Just for the record... I absolutely love my Sunday School class here in Colorado. Last night felt like I was hanging out with an enormous part of my family. So comfortable, loving and thought provoking. I thank God for the people at church who are a part of my life.
Anyhow, I thought I would post this morning and then try again tonight, although I am going to an Al Mohler dinner later on. My thoughts for this morning actually come from the sermon that I heard on Sabbath Sunday. My pastor has been taking a break from his expositions in Luke and going through a series on being peacemakers. Much of his material comes from a book by Ken Sande called "The Peacemaking Church."
Anyways, the thought that struck me this yesterday was how the gospel relates to our taking criticism from others. You see, the cross of Christ is in fact extremely critical of us. Take a look at Romans 3 as it speaks of all manking in verses 11-12, "'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'" Did you hear that? The gospel has just blatantly said that we don't understand, we don't seek God, we don't do good and perhaps the most stinging of all is that we are worthless. There is such a mix up in today's Christian culture and it robs the gospel of it's force. God did not save us because we were worth it! I am emphatic on that point and I am willing to die on that hill in theological discussion. The heart of the gospel and the heart of God's love is rooted in the fact that we were not worth it. Or as Paul puts it we were worthless. He died for sinners. In order to get to God through Christ, you must let go of the fact that you have something to offer God or some worth to offer God. You have nothing and I have nothing. To know God, you must accept this criticism as true or else you will continue to live out of a self-righteous heart.
Now how does this criticism relate to the criticism of others? In the sermon yesterday, Bob pointed out that if we have accepted the criticism of the cross, we should be able to accept the criticism of others. This is because the cross' criticism of us is as pointed and as exact as it can possibly get. Nothing that anyone else can criticize us over could be any more truthful or painful or stinging than the criticism that the cross levies against us. It is when we humbly accept the criticism of the cross (the worst possible kind) that we can then accept the criticism of others in a humble and joyful manner.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Persecuted for Righteousness Sake

Hey all... Sorry it has been a few days. My entire days, from waking till pretty late at night have been filled for the past few days. God has been good and I am enjoying the ministry roles that he has put me into.
I have been preaching the Sermon on the Mount (SM) to the high school youth group and it has been a beneficial experience, both in the sense of having the opportunity to teach/preach and in the fact that the SM has been truly shaping my heart as a Christian.
I just have some brief thoughts on Mattew 5:10-12 tonight. To be honest, they aren't all that original. It's just a matter of looking for them in the right places. In sum... I want to expound or at least suggest the correctness of Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones view on persecution. Lloyd Jones has said with regard to these verses:

I say there is a difference between being persecuted for righteousness sake' and being persecuted for a cause. I know that the two things often become one, and many of the great martyrs and confessors were at one and the same time suffering for righteousness' sake and for a cause. But it does not follow that the two are identical.

Jesus is not here talking about being persecuted for following the cause of Christianity. What do I mean by this? Here is an example. Say I am at work (at the bank) and people there know that I am a Christian and therefore they persecute me. They work me extra hard and are especially unforgiving when I make mistakes (thankfully this isn't the case). Let's just say that all of this treatment was because I wore the label "Christian." This would not be what Jesus was talking about. This would not classify as being persecuted for righteousness sake. There are a great many Christians who are "persecuted"--or more accurately, mistreated--for this reason. But this is not being persecuted for righteousness sake. Rather, to be persecuted for righteousness sake is to so completely reflect the character Christ, that you are persecuted. It is when the radiance and beauty of God is so channeled through your life that the unbelieving world cannot help but have a desire to make your miserable and snuff out your witness. It is because the Christ likeness in your heart is so penetrating the darkness of this world and the darkness of unbelieving heart that they want you removed, obliterated and silenced. This is the type of persecution that Jesus is referring too here in Matthew 5:10-12 and this is the type of persecution that will make an impact on eternity. Many today are persecuted for following Christianity but o how few are perseuted for righteousness sake.
May this be an exhortation, to continually be before our Lord in prayer, the word. May our souls come to love him in such a way that we are in fact persecuted for righteousness sake.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Hymns, The Psalms and International Identification

A few nights ago, I found myself coming home from work and singing a song that was originally penned by William Cowper called, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way." As I processed the lyrics in my mind and reflected on how much this song has meant to me in times of despair, I couldn't but help think of my Christian brothers and sisters who are abroad. Many of them facing persecution at the moment I am driving home and some of them likely starving to death. As I pondered the lyrics of the song, I could only imagine how much a song like this might mean to my brothers and sisters abroad and in that moment as I walked through the brisk Denver air, a part of me felt like I identified with them in their pain. My soul grimmaced at their persecution, hunger, sickness and suffering.
In regard to both this emotion and practice, I found considerable gudiance from William Dryness, who ultimately rests his own thoughts on the shoulders of Bonhoeffer. In his essay Diversity in Mission and Theology, Dryness forges whate he calls a theology of access. It is through Christ that we have access to the experiences of our brothers and sisters even though we may not partake of them directly. In one paragraph Dryness writes:

For most of my life, many of the psalms have seemed foreign to me. The experiences related in them have seemed alien to me. So I have focused on those that best reflect my own experience with God. But in hearing Bonhoeffers' elaboration of Paul's theology of access, I have to coem to realize, with a start, that these other experience--of grief, loneliess, persecution, thirst, hunger--are not foreign to many of my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Believers, in the Sudan, Colombia, Kosovo and Timor are praying these other Psalms, and as I read them, I pray their prayers, even as they pray mine.

It is in the Psalms, that we are able to echo the cries of God's people abroad. We have access to their suffering and the emotions that they are feeling. Through this the Psalms (and hymns in my estimation) become lively. They are no longer static emotions from a distant historical event but they are in fact the present cries of our brothers and sisters. In Life Together Bonhoeffer writes:

A psalm, we cannot utter as a prayer, that makes us falter and horrifies us, is a hint to us that there Someone else is praying, not we; that the One who is protesting his innocence, who is invoking God's judgemnt, who has come to such infinite depths of suffering, in none other than Jesus Christ himself. He is is who is praying here, and not only here but in the whole Psalter.

At the center of Bonhoeffer's understanding of the Gospel was that his access to God through Christ, implies an access to others whom Christ died for. We all partake of the same gospel, atoned for by the same savior and will one day share at the same banquet table. But there is some degree to which we "share" now. We share in one anothers pain because we share in a common Savior.
It is with this theology of access that we should pray the Psalms where we can't readily identify with the emotions. Pray the Psalms you can't understand on behalf of your brothers and sisters around the world. These Psalms and emotions are accessible because we share a common savior, not because we necessarily personally identify with the emotions.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Bonhoeffer, the Gospel and The Current State of American Preaching

There is no doubt that at present time, there is a tremendous famine in the land. Not a famine of food but a famine of cross centered expositional preaching. When I think of the current state of American preaching, I recall the words of the prophet Amos who once prophesied, "'Behold the days are coming,' declares the Lord God, 'when I will send a famine on the land--not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." Make no mistake, I am not attempting to link this prophecy to a direct fulfillment in the current lack of American preaching. Nonetheless, a parrallel between this prophecy and the current state of affairs is on the face, inevitable.
Perhaps even more perplexing is that God himself has not gone silent but his own "ministers" have suffocated him. This is not a death of God de facto of his own silence but by the simple fact that is own ministers have effectively imposed a gag order upon him. What is this gag order you may ask? Or, "How have we gagged God?" The answer is that many American (and others abroad) have gagged God by shirking their responsibility to preach the the cost of true discipleship, the narrow path and the way of self denial. And as a direct result of this gagging, the gospel is ultimately skewed, potentially even lost; and the glory of God is besmudged.
In contrast to all of this stands ultimately stands Christ but by way of historical saintly example, I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer is most known for his quote, "When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die." While this may be a cute and compelling phrase that we like to inscribe on church walls or marvel at momentarily, Bonhoeffer meant it with an utmost seriousness. In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer also writes , "The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who left all to follow Christ." Bonhoeffer knew something of the cost of discipleship but more importantly he did not come up with such ideas on his own. How readily are the words of Christ reflected in Bonhoeffer when Christ says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple... So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:25-33). Or, "No one who puts his had to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
Let me briefly establish something before I conclude. This is not legalism! There are many who will read Bonhoeffer's words or more importantly, Christ's words and immediately think legalism. The devil is a great deceiver. The words of Christ strike not at legalism but at the greatness of the reality of the cross. God has gone to never ending extent to save humanity. He has offered up his own son who has spilt his blood for our salvation and to think that his blood buys nothing more than half hearted Christianity is beyond an absurdity. The very nature of grace is what commands the extent of our own sacrifice.
I want to conclude with an exhortation to all preachers or will be preachers. Preach the hard road to unbelievers. We need to stop trying to woo unbelievers with their own flesh. Promises of ease when they come to Christ are misleading because to truly follow Christ is to lose your life. Tell them that when they come to the Cross, they will in effect be asked to lose everything that they now cherish. Tell them that the calvary road is not easy, that they will face persecution, maybe the loss of jobs and maybe even the loss of their own life. Don't promise ease and the fulfillment of all their earthly dreams. Promise Godliness, coslty discipleship and joyful sacrifice. O that God may raise up such a generation of men who preach the true cost of discipleship.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Growing in the Gospel... Becoming More Cross Centered

The following is just a brief thought from my meditations on the Psalms. I have been going through the Psalms in the morning and they are truly helping me to become more cross centered... more of a Christian and less of a Pharisee.
The verse that has meant so much to me in the past week is Psalm 65:3. Here David writes, "When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions." Of all the verses in the Psalms this one sticks out to me as one that continually points me to the cross in the midst of daily living. It makes the gospel real and tangible. How, you ask? It is tangible and applicable to daily life because to some degree we all struggle with sin. I do, you do... everyone does. No one escapes the snares of sin so long as we are on this earth. What this verse does is show the triumph of Christ in spite of our struggles. Even when our sins swallow us up and we lose the battle for personal holiness, Christ atones for our sins all the same.
The essence of the Gospel is the destruction of self righteousness and the establishment of Christ's righteousness. And in this verse, the Gospel can be lived out on a day to day basis. When we fail with this sin or that sin, we must remember that though we may be convicted, we should not stay in a state of self wallowing. If we choose to do so, it is ultimately because we fail to remember the gospel. We suddenly become Pharisee's and think that our failures have changed our standing with God or the fact that he loves us. But this could not be furter from the truth. God's love is established based on the work of his Son (death, burial and resurrection). So as we battle sin on a daily basis may we remember that though "iniquities prevail against us, he atones for our transgressions." And as we remember this, may we flee to the foot of the cross for sweet joy, comfort and satisfaction in Christ.