According to Romans 14:7-9, not one of us--us being Christians, professing Christians who have a penitent faith in Christ--lives for himself, and not one of us dies for himself. Those without a penitent faith in Christ do live for themselves, or they live for an idol or idols, but such cannot die for themselves, for they cannot save themselves. Christians live for the Lord. Everything we do, we filter through the lens of God's will. Christians die for the Lord, we die to preserve his holy name, and we die satisfied that we are his, and that to die is not eternal death but the start of an eternal life in which we know God forever. So, there is no living for the Lord with the idea that our relationship with the Lord ends at death. We are the Lord's in both life and death. And we aren't just living for the Lord in order to achieve some kind of benefit after death. We love the Lord, and our relationship with him begins in life and that same relationship continues into death and life after death. The Lord owns us now, and he will continue to own us forever. Otherwise, why are you willing to be the Lord's if not forever?
This is the reason for the resurrection. Christ is Lord. He is Lord of the living and the dead. His resurrection showed us--irrefutably--that death was not the end. He rose again from the dead to show us that we, too, will rise from the dead. That all who have faith in him will rise from the dead. When we have faith in him, it means that he owns us. We are Christ's and he owns us, because he paid for us with his blood. We cannot buy ourselves back, because we cannot afford it, and why would we want to buy ourselves back? Being owned by Christ is the ultimate state of being. God put the Christ--the messiah--in place to be our Lord and Savior, to not only save our souls from destruction but to be our Lord and Master, sanctifying us by his Spirit, and changing us into his likeness. Only a Lord and Master has the authority to do that with those whom he owns.
In John 20, the gentiles begin to seek Jesus, and he knows that the time has come for his death and resurrection. All the world needed to see what eternal life looked like, even though many would--and still do--reject the offer. Jesus told his disciples that anyone who does not die to himself is isolated from God. This is hell--eternity without God. However, if we die to ourselves, if we give up all the pleasures of worldly living and begin to live for God, we will bear much fruit for the Lord, fruit that carries over into the next life. Jesus said, "he who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal." Since Christ owns us, we must serve him, and that means following him: living for him and following his path. We are talking about a literal following of him, so that where he is, there we be also. This is not a head-only acknowledgement of Christ's Lordship. He is our master, and so where he tells us to go, we go, and that means following him to the grave. We die to ourselves. No man can serve two masters. Only master Jesus is possible. The result is the Father honoring that servant with everlasting life.
Are you living for Christ? Are you ready to die for Christ? Are you following Christ's rule? Are you being a citizen of his kingdom by obeying his every command? Are you bearing his fruit? Have you killed the worldly life in you? Have you disowned all but Christ? Are you serving him and him alone?
Friday, June 29, 2018
Saturday, June 16, 2018
God's Works
Plenty of evidence points to God's existence, especially creation itself, but so many do not believe in God at all (even though he has placed knowledge of his existence in the hearts of all people). With all the obvious evidence, still many do not believe. We try all kinds of proofs, all kinds of brain exercises to logically infer God, and yet those techniques still do not work. I read CS Lewis' Mere Christianity and was convinced of the truth of the Christian God, but I know of many who have read the same book and were not convinced at all. What we need is not a brain-knowledge of God but a heart-knowledge. Striving to understand God's essence is not effective, but contemplating him in his works is very effective. God will seem true and near to us when we study his deeds. This is why the Bible is mostly about what God DOES in history, and even what he SAYS is about what he DOES.
David tells us that we should meditate on his works in Psalm 145. God is too vast to adequately grasp, but if we look upon his works, we will grasp him sufficiently for salvation. We can look at creation itself, the impossibility of all this happening by accident. We can look at the miracles of the Old Testament: the flood and rescue of Noah, the Tower of Babel, the providence of Joseph, the exodus from Egypt, the preservation in the wilderness. We can look at the miracles of the New Testament: the incarnation and wonders of Christ, the resurrection, the salvation of Paul. We can look at the deeds of God in history, like the reformation. Finally, we can look at the wonders of God in our own lives, like the healing of my daughter's eyes, or his saving even me from destruction.
What does such knowledge do? This heart knowledge of God's works leads us to worship and hope of the future life. All of his works on earth point to something greater to come after this world passes away. The persecution and suffering of the pious and the success and prosperity of the wicked also points to an afterlife of perfect justice, where the pious are rewarded and the wicked get their just desserts. So, in the end, we cannot look at each of God's works individually and then stop looking. We must look at ALL of his works as a whole, as if looking at a massive painting, to see where they all fit together. When we focus on one thing, like say the conquest of the promised land, we tend to get mired down in God's essence again: who is God at his core? When we look at all of his works together, we see God's work in the salvation of his people, the righteousness, goodness, justice, and mercy for his people. We see an heroic epic.
In Psalm 40, David says that evils beyond number surround him, and even his own sins have gotten the better of him, and he is unable to see his savior clearly. The heart love that he has for his Lord seems empty and insufficient. God is far away. But he looks at the big picture. He looks at the way God has saved his church from destruction. He has saved the bride of Christ by saving Christ from destruction. His church is wed to him, and so the church gets saved, too. We are in Christ and Christ in us.
See the big picture. See the salvation of the Lord. Are you hung up on trying to understand a presence more vast than all of humanity put together? Are you nitpicking God's individual deeds in order to find fault with him? Or are you looking at the big picture, seeing the face of the Son who died to save us all? Are you looking at the fullness of time and seeing God's intercession in history through Christ the savior, who saves his people from their sins by his death on the cross? Do you see in all the Old Testament the foreshadowing of the big picture? Do you see in the New Testament the description of the big picture itself? Is knowledge of the Lord present in your heart by meditation on his mighty works?
David tells us that we should meditate on his works in Psalm 145. God is too vast to adequately grasp, but if we look upon his works, we will grasp him sufficiently for salvation. We can look at creation itself, the impossibility of all this happening by accident. We can look at the miracles of the Old Testament: the flood and rescue of Noah, the Tower of Babel, the providence of Joseph, the exodus from Egypt, the preservation in the wilderness. We can look at the miracles of the New Testament: the incarnation and wonders of Christ, the resurrection, the salvation of Paul. We can look at the deeds of God in history, like the reformation. Finally, we can look at the wonders of God in our own lives, like the healing of my daughter's eyes, or his saving even me from destruction.
What does such knowledge do? This heart knowledge of God's works leads us to worship and hope of the future life. All of his works on earth point to something greater to come after this world passes away. The persecution and suffering of the pious and the success and prosperity of the wicked also points to an afterlife of perfect justice, where the pious are rewarded and the wicked get their just desserts. So, in the end, we cannot look at each of God's works individually and then stop looking. We must look at ALL of his works as a whole, as if looking at a massive painting, to see where they all fit together. When we focus on one thing, like say the conquest of the promised land, we tend to get mired down in God's essence again: who is God at his core? When we look at all of his works together, we see God's work in the salvation of his people, the righteousness, goodness, justice, and mercy for his people. We see an heroic epic.
In Psalm 40, David says that evils beyond number surround him, and even his own sins have gotten the better of him, and he is unable to see his savior clearly. The heart love that he has for his Lord seems empty and insufficient. God is far away. But he looks at the big picture. He looks at the way God has saved his church from destruction. He has saved the bride of Christ by saving Christ from destruction. His church is wed to him, and so the church gets saved, too. We are in Christ and Christ in us.
See the big picture. See the salvation of the Lord. Are you hung up on trying to understand a presence more vast than all of humanity put together? Are you nitpicking God's individual deeds in order to find fault with him? Or are you looking at the big picture, seeing the face of the Son who died to save us all? Are you looking at the fullness of time and seeing God's intercession in history through Christ the savior, who saves his people from their sins by his death on the cross? Do you see in all the Old Testament the foreshadowing of the big picture? Do you see in the New Testament the description of the big picture itself? Is knowledge of the Lord present in your heart by meditation on his mighty works?
Saturday, June 9, 2018
Three Psalms on God's Glory
I want to look at three Psalms on God's glory. One is about how we can experience God's glory from creation itself. The second one is how we can discern God's glory from man's stewardship over nature. Finally, the last one is on how we see God's glory in his sovereignty over man's salvation. What we have is an increasing pull-back from nature to man's place in nature to God's rule over all things, all of which glorify God.
Psalm 104
What we have here is a description of what mankind has been doing since the beginning: assigning physical attributes to the invisible God using nature as descriptors. God clothes himself in light, stretches out the sky like a tent, and uses the waters as a housing structure. He rides on the clouds like a chariot (do you see how man corrupted these images into false gods like Zeus?), stands upon the wind, and uses the elements to communicate with humanity. No true Christian thinks of God as an old man in the sky, despite what the ungodly tell us what we believe, but when we know that God is sovereign over all of nature--even the unpredictable elements--it's hard not to imagine the power of the almighty God behind a chaotic thunderstorm and realize that he is communicating his glory to us. In fact, this is what we should do. We should think of God as all-powerful and potentially destructive to the evil that man has brought about. If we live in awe and fear of God, we will respect him and put our faith in him. Read the rest of the Psalm and know that God is in control over all the seemingly random things in nature:
He established the earth upon its foundations,
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.
At Your rebuke they fled,
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.
He sends forth springs in the valleys;
He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the place of its setting.
You appoint darkness and it becomes night,
O Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.
There is the sea, great and broad,
And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.
They all wait for You
To give them their food in due season.
You give to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their spirit, they expire
And return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
Psalm 8
Here is where we see the glory of God through mankind. He made man's mouth for singing his praises, even from infancy. The Psalmist tells us that with all the works of nature that we read about in Psalm 104, there is no need for God to even create man in the first place. So much glory of God lies in nature, that it almost seems that mankind is an afterthought. But no! Man is God's crowning achievement, and God has made him to be a steward over majestic creation, representing God as like a regent, taking care of the kingdom until the true king can step into the role. All of creation is put under the dominion of man, and our job is to glorify God by taking care of such. Do we succeed? No, which is why we need to read the 107th Psalm.
Psalm 107
Finally, we have the ultimate Psalm of God's glory--God being glorified through the redemption of mankind. He put us in charge and we botched it. We let the enemy in through the gates, and we have no life in ourselves. God created nature, then he created a reasoning creature to take care of it--both for his glory. Then the reasoning creature fell into sin and death, and now God gets to be glorified by recreating all things, beginning with the reasoning creature.
Man has starved himself by cutting himself off from God's life. He cries out to the Lord who delivers him. Man is in the desert. God steers his way to a majestic city of eternal life. Mankind consists of rebels in chains, prisoners in misery, lost laborers. Mankind cries out to the Lord who saves them. God sets man free from his bonds and brings him out from under the shadow of death. Man lives under a self-imposed plague, and the Lord heals man with his word. Mankind has made shipwreck of our faith. We plunge deeper and deeper in misery. The very nature we were commissioned to subdue has overtaken us. We failed in our stewardship and nature has ruined us. But the Lord stills the storm and hushes the waves. He guides us to the desired haven.
God created everything. He sustains all things. He controls all things. He will recreate all things. He has already begun recreating all things, beginning with you. You dwelt in desert places, because of your sin. God delivered you from sin though Jesus Christ's death on the cross. Your faith in this particular deliverance determines your re-creation. Are you being recreated into the likeness of his son? Are you being recreated for the new heavens and the new earth? Are you being recreated for everlasting life? Or are you still under the shadow of death? Are you still sinking into the dark of the deep, drowning in sin and misery? Have you embraced the son? Or are you to wander in the desert for eternity?
Psalm 104
What we have here is a description of what mankind has been doing since the beginning: assigning physical attributes to the invisible God using nature as descriptors. God clothes himself in light, stretches out the sky like a tent, and uses the waters as a housing structure. He rides on the clouds like a chariot (do you see how man corrupted these images into false gods like Zeus?), stands upon the wind, and uses the elements to communicate with humanity. No true Christian thinks of God as an old man in the sky, despite what the ungodly tell us what we believe, but when we know that God is sovereign over all of nature--even the unpredictable elements--it's hard not to imagine the power of the almighty God behind a chaotic thunderstorm and realize that he is communicating his glory to us. In fact, this is what we should do. We should think of God as all-powerful and potentially destructive to the evil that man has brought about. If we live in awe and fear of God, we will respect him and put our faith in him. Read the rest of the Psalm and know that God is in control over all the seemingly random things in nature:
He established the earth upon its foundations,
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.
At Your rebuke they fled,
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.
He sends forth springs in the valleys;
He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the place of its setting.
You appoint darkness and it becomes night,
O Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.
There is the sea, great and broad,
And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.
They all wait for You
To give them their food in due season.
You give to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their spirit, they expire
And return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
Psalm 8
Here is where we see the glory of God through mankind. He made man's mouth for singing his praises, even from infancy. The Psalmist tells us that with all the works of nature that we read about in Psalm 104, there is no need for God to even create man in the first place. So much glory of God lies in nature, that it almost seems that mankind is an afterthought. But no! Man is God's crowning achievement, and God has made him to be a steward over majestic creation, representing God as like a regent, taking care of the kingdom until the true king can step into the role. All of creation is put under the dominion of man, and our job is to glorify God by taking care of such. Do we succeed? No, which is why we need to read the 107th Psalm.
Psalm 107
Finally, we have the ultimate Psalm of God's glory--God being glorified through the redemption of mankind. He put us in charge and we botched it. We let the enemy in through the gates, and we have no life in ourselves. God created nature, then he created a reasoning creature to take care of it--both for his glory. Then the reasoning creature fell into sin and death, and now God gets to be glorified by recreating all things, beginning with the reasoning creature.
Man has starved himself by cutting himself off from God's life. He cries out to the Lord who delivers him. Man is in the desert. God steers his way to a majestic city of eternal life. Mankind consists of rebels in chains, prisoners in misery, lost laborers. Mankind cries out to the Lord who saves them. God sets man free from his bonds and brings him out from under the shadow of death. Man lives under a self-imposed plague, and the Lord heals man with his word. Mankind has made shipwreck of our faith. We plunge deeper and deeper in misery. The very nature we were commissioned to subdue has overtaken us. We failed in our stewardship and nature has ruined us. But the Lord stills the storm and hushes the waves. He guides us to the desired haven.
God created everything. He sustains all things. He controls all things. He will recreate all things. He has already begun recreating all things, beginning with you. You dwelt in desert places, because of your sin. God delivered you from sin though Jesus Christ's death on the cross. Your faith in this particular deliverance determines your re-creation. Are you being recreated into the likeness of his son? Are you being recreated for the new heavens and the new earth? Are you being recreated for everlasting life? Or are you still under the shadow of death? Are you still sinking into the dark of the deep, drowning in sin and misery? Have you embraced the son? Or are you to wander in the desert for eternity?
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