Come! Join the mighty chorus!

I'm in a café (surprise, surprise). I should be working on a speech production research scholarship proposal (surprise, surprise). Instead, I'm hyped-up on caffeine (surprise, surprise) and distracted by the music I'm listening to (surprise, surprise), which is currently Charlie Hall's rendition of "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" (awesome, awesome). I'm listening to it on repeat, and I keep smiling every time the song comes to these two lines:

Mortals, join the mighty chorus
Which the morning stars began

It's beautiful to me to think about how the whole of creation is glorifying God even before I wake up, and that I get to have the blessing of joining that worship during the day. It's beautiful because it makes me realize that God doesn't need me to worship Him. All He has to do is be God and make cool stuff (like the entire universe), and everything that He has ever made explodes with worship just by being in existence! But God gives me the mind-blowing blessing of joining in that worship, an act which I wouldn't even be able to do if God hadn't first turned my heart of stone into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), and the result of which (i.e. giving God glory) is the source of the only true joy I can ever experience in this mortal world, and beyond.

So, when you wake up tomorrow, join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began! And be blessed by doing so.

Wanna share the Gospel? Then pray.

Very often, we spend so much time trying to figure out how to pray for God's will in certain situations, because we don't know what His will is concerning the matter. And yet we seek Him anyway, asking that His will be done.

However, there's at least one thing in which we can be absolutely certain of His will... but so seldom do we (or, at least, do I) actually pray for it: personal evangelism.

God has been teaching me in the last couple of years the importance of praying for very specific, providentially ordained situations which God would use to allow opportunity to point others to the cross. I started doing this, praying for specific people, that God would use me that month, that week, even that very day to speak to them about Christ.

And you know what? He has.

He's been answering those prayers... in a fury of humbling, awe-inspiring blessing to others and to me.

But the funny thing is that I've actually been kind of surprised by how readily He answers these prayers (literally within hours, in some cases)... yet, I shouldn't be. I know that God wants me to preach the Gospel, because it brings glory to His Son, His very Self. It's not as if He's going to have something better for me to do than to give Him glory, after all... because spreading the glory of God is the greatest activity that we could ever hope to be involved in.

Consider this as an encouragement. Are you feeling stuck? apathetic? discouraged? The atoning sacrifice of Christ at the Cross is the answer to these ails, and telling others of this glorious news will bless you as it blesses them.

So pray for opportunities to proclaim of Christ's work, remembering that it is not of your power to reap the growth, only to sow the seed. But remember as well that God wants to give you opportunities to sow the seed... so just ask Him to give you what He already wants to give, and be blessed, brothers and sisters. Be blessed.

Blessed Jesus!

Blessed Jesus!

We can add nothing to you, nothing to your glory; but it is a joy of heart to us that you are what you are, that you are so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God; and we do long more fully and clearly to behold that glory, according to your prayer and promise.


- John Owen, "The Glory of Christ: His office and grace"

The Ultimate Christian Hedonist!

"Christian hedonism"?!

Sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, huh? The word hedonism certainly doesn't naturally bring to one's mind the word Christian... and most Christians I know are hardly ever accused of being hedonists!

Well, hang on with me here for a bit; let's break it down. American Heritage Dictionary gives the following definition for hedonism:

he·don·ism (hēd'n-ĭz'əm)
n.

1. Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses.
2. Philosophy The ethical doctrine holding that only what is pleasant or has pleasant consequences is intrinsically good.
3. Psychology The doctrine holding that behavior is motivated by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

And - at the risk of being labeled naive - let's assume that whoever is reading this has formed an appropriate definition for the word Christian*. So, then, what is this Christian hedonism?

The first question/response of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is as follows:

1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever.

This is what man was created for. Period. Nothing else will satisfy, nothing else will do. God created us that we might glorify Him, and experience our greatest enjoyment when we do so. Or, as John Piper puts it: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

So, then, hedonism, in this light, can be defined as the pursuit of pleasure, as it is ultimately found in the satisfaction of doing that which one is created for. If we believe that, as men and women who were created in the image of the holy Godhead, we were created for the glorification of our Creator, then Christian hedonism can further be defined as the pursuit of pleasure, as it is ultimately found in the glorification of Christ.

Christian hedonism. Wow. Yeah... that sits right with my soul.

What brought up the idea of posting on this was reading through Psalm 104 a couple of times tonight while in a bar, of all places (Psalm 104:15 is also pertinent here for Christian hedonism... but for different reasons! ;) ). Here are the verses that hit me:


This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great. There the ships sail about; there is that Leviathan which You have made to play there.
-Psalm 104:25-26

I think I remember my pastor preaching on these verses sometime this summer, but I don't have my notes with me here in the bar, and I can't for the life of me remember exactly what he said off the top of my head (sorry, Mike!), so much of what I'm going to say about this passage may or may not be a repetition of what he already said. But hey... nothing new under the sun, right?

As far as I understand it, the Leviathan was a beast of unknown identity that was really, really big. And I don't think that it is mere coincidence that we don't know exactly what species of animal this creature was. In fact, it seems that those who lived during this time didn't even know exactly what the Leviathan was. There's a reason for this: God made it to play in the great and wide sea.

Do you see where I'm going with this? The Leviathan, one of the largest creatures recorded in the holy Scriptures, was unknown to man, and yet still gave God glory. How? How could this creature possibly glorify God if nobody was around to witness the glorification?! By playing in the sea; by simply doing that which it was created to do.

You see? God's own self-glorification is not all about us: we don't even have to be around for it to happen. God was glorifying Himself, His Son, and His Holy Spirit since before the creation of all known worlds! That we even get to participate in this glorification is, in itself, an act and manifestation of pure grace!

For the Leviathan, it's as if God was saying, "Go forth, my creation: play in the deep. No one will ever see you, yet you will glorify Me simply by being you, as you are meant to be, as I have created you."

For us, we have the same divine calling. However, our playground is not the depths of the sea, but the depths of Christ. When we swim in these depths, and find our deepest satisfaction therein, God is glorified in the highest way that we humans can possibly glorify Him!


*This word is often misrepresented/misused. All kidding aside, if you are unsure of what a "Christian" truly is, please shoot me an email... I would be more than happy to talk about it!

More happy... but not more secure!

I love, love, love, love, love...

...love hymns!!

There's nothing like the solid meaty truths threaded into the lyrics of a good hymn to get the blood pumping! Whew!

During this morning's service, we sung the hymn "A Debtor to Mercy Alone", by Augustus Toplady, author of the famous "Rock of Ages". My favorite line from this hymn comes at the end of the last verse:

Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified spirits in heaven.

Why is this my favorite line? Assurance, baby!! Those who are already in heaven may be more happy than we on earth, for they now exist in the eternal glory of God, but the fact that they are already there does not make their eternal security any more sure than our own! Some may disagree with the idea of the "perseverance of the saints", but I believe that it is well supported in Scripture, and is a source of great joy for us who are redeemed sons and daughters of the LORD!

The apostle Paul wrote about this security in the eighth chapter of his epistle to the Roman believers, verses 28-30:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Notice something very important in the "golden chain" of glorification here: Paul wrote about it in the past tense! Sure, there have been, and continue to be, various debates surrounding the different translations of the Bible, but however you slice it... the past is the past, and it is finished! Paul wrote about the future glorification of those "who are loved by God and called to be saints" (Romans 1:7) as if it had already happened!

At the risk of being deemed a Scripture-meddling heretic, I would like to try something with this golden chain; I would like to put it into the perfected past tense, and add the word already to highlight this perfected action, just to put emphasis on this chain having already been completed:

And those whom he has already predestined he has also already called, and those whom he has already called he has also already justified, and those whom he has already justified he has also already glorified.

Wow. What? Really?! It's as good as done?!?! You've got to be kidding me!!

Nope. Not kidding. God's calling is surely effectual, and He will perfect His own:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
-Philipians 1:6

Wow. Wow. Wow. Assurance of salvation? How is this possible?! Because God is just, that's how:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
-1 John 1:9

How is glorification of the redeemed a necessary reaction of a just God? Because our LORD is not a God of double jeopardy: we can't be tried twice for the same crime in the courts of the Almighty Judge! The wages of sin is surely death (Romans 6:23), and God demands payment for offense to His holiness. But I don't believe that Jesus paid for the mere possibility of forgiveness at the cross... I believe that He actually satisfied the payment for the specific sins of specific people at the cross! If my debt has already been paid by Another, how can God, who is just, ever demand that I pay for that debt a second time by my own blood? He can't: for Him to do so would make Him unjust, which He is not. And furthermore, once a judgment of righteous status has been truly rendered by the LORD, how can it possibly be revoked?

But this doesn't mean that we get to continue sinning like we did before our spiritual rebirth! This objection to absolute justification and effectual perseverance was foreseen by Paul, and was therefore addressed in the sixth chapter of Romans, verses 1-11:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We would do well to consider ourselves already glorified even in our present state, for our justification has already been purchased for us by Christ, and "we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." However, because of this holy transaction - this imputation of Christ's justification and righteousness - we should first consider ourselves dead to sin... to live in it no longer... and to then rejoice with the glorified spirits in heaven that we also, being dead to sin, are already alive in Christ! Truly, truly: a new creation!!

Sweet mercy.

It is good for a man to remain as he is? -Part 2

Yesterday, I started an idea about Biblical marriage and it's benefits. I began with Paul's... ummm... confusing views of celibacy. I don't think that I have much to comment on that other than what I wrote yesterday.

Today, however, I would like to look at a verse from Song of Solomon (a.k.a. Song of Songs, in some translations). Some people may shy away from this book of the Bible, and might think that it is not much more than an excuse for middle school boys to giggle excitedly over the thought of breasts as two grazing fawns. Others think that the book is not about marriage at all, but is rather a description of Christ, and His love for his Church (the popular worship song "His Banner Over Me" seems to take this stance).

I do indeed believe that it foreshadows the coming Messiah...

...but I also believe that it is about two lovers... and the joys of marriage and of... well... sex.

That's right: sex. I said it. So sue me. :o)

Anyway, the text I would like to look at here is from the fifth chapter, verse 1. These are the words of "The Beloved", the male lover:

I have come to my garden,
my sister, my spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh
with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb
with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with
my milk.

(To His Friends)
Eat, O friends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply,
O beloved ones!

No one can read these words and deny that this man finds utter joy in his wife! He has drunk deeply and found that the well is absolutely blessed! And not only that... but he encourages his friends to seek after their own wells that they might find joy in drinking as well.

Now, I also mentioned yesterday that I believe that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are not somehow different in character, as it seems that some tend to think. Rather, I believe that God is never-changing, and manifests Himself in similar ways throughout the whole of the Scriptures... if we are willing to dig deep enough to see it. This is important, because it means that the God who lovingly blesses marriages today is the same unchanging God who inspired Solomon to write these words.

We can even see this if we go back to the beginning of the institution of marriage: the creation of man... and of woman. Every day of Creation, God said two things: "Let there be," and "It is good." The only time that God says that something is not good is when He sees man alone (Genesis 2:18). And note that the reason why this is not good is not because sin has somehow defiled the sanctity of man, because this is before the Fall of mankind, before sin has even entered the Garden of Eden. God looked at Adam, in his perfect, sinless state... and declared that it was not good for him to be alone. Marriage was God's idea. And it was a good idea.

So how is all of this compatible with the idea that marriage was established by God first, and foremost, for His own glory? Well, to answer that, I'm going to have to pull (yes... once again!) from the writings of a certain pastor Piper. John Piper gives a very interesting definition of God's love:

"The reason God seeks our praise is not because he won't be complete until he gets it. He is seeking our praise because we won't be happy until we give it. This is not arrogance. It is love."

The reason why Piper says this is because we were created to serve God and to give Him glory. When God glorifies Himself, it is not arrogance; it is, in fact, drawing us to the very thing which will give us true joy. To Piper, God's love for His children is an outpouring of the everlasting action of God declaring His own glory. When we experience this glory... we find our joy.

So it is with marriage, I believe. As I posted in October, I believe that God created the marriage union in order to give Himself glory, to declare the perfect worth of His Son. For those who enter into a Biblical representation of this union... they see this glory, and they bask in the joy that they find there!

I hope you can see now that my personal view of marriage is not a cold-hearted idea, devoid of emotion. But, rather, I believe that marriage can be a source of extreme joy, in that, being a representation of Christ's love for His spotless bride, it points man to the source of its joy: the very God who created it.

It is good for a man to remain as he is? -Part 1

Okay, I'm back.

And Washington was awesome... as always.

I've got a couple of ideas that I wanted to flesh out on here. This first one will be a bit shorter (2 posts), and the next one quite a bit longer, I imagine (it will probably take me a few days to get it all out and on here).

I wrote a post in October about a "radical" view of marriage. Basically, it was about the idea that God established the institute of marriage first, and foremost, for His Name's sake. I still agree with this view, but I'm afraid that, in reading the post, some of you might have had the idea that I'm a cold-hearted you-know-what... that I view marriage as something which God created only for His glory; that the proclamation of His Name is the only benefit of the marriage union.

Not true. I believe that it fulfills first, and foremost, this role. However, I also believe that God, by choosing to give glory to Himself in this way, also gives joy to His creation... which, in turn, also gives Him glory.

I've got a text from Song of Solomon that I want to meditate on for a bit tomorrow, but I think I'd like to first take a look at some excerpts from the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, which may seem at first to cause a bit of a problem for my view. It starts with verse 20:

Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

Now, it seems that Paul talks here first of the futility of circumcision as a way of pleasing God (verse 19). However, he then extends his admonition to status of slaves, and then to marriage. Starting in verse 25, he says:

Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy.

I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress - that it is good for a man to remain as he is:

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

Paul says that his reasoning here is that those who are married split their energies between the Lord and their spouse (verses 32-33), and he adds that this counsel of his is given to the brethren not so that they may "have a leash put on them," but so that they may "serve the Lord without distraction" (verse 35).

Now, I have to admit something about my interactions with Paul's writings. Paul seems to have been one hard dude to get. I used to actually get mad when I would read his letters: I thought he was a pompous jerk. But, like many things that are found in Scripture, I started with a default position of acceptance, because I believe that, being in the Bible, they are the divinely inspired Word of the Lord Almighty. However, accepting Scripture and liking what Scripture has to say are often two very different things. But then, after more and more study... I began to find a source of immense joy in discovering their hidden truths. I'm now seeing that Paul's letters contain some of the most blessing-infused words I've ever read in Scripture. A detailed study of Paul's epistle to the church at Rome is rocking my world right now...

Anyway, I still agree with Peter when he says that some of Paul's writings are "hard to understand" (2 Peter 3:16), and I would like to just say a couple of quick things before I move on to the Song of Solomon text (tomorrow).

Firstly, I think it is interesting that Paul goes to the trouble of specifically stating twice (verses 25 and 40) that this council is not a direct commandment from God, but rather a personal judgment. He even says back in verses 7-8 that he wishes that all men and women might remain single, as he is. However, he adds the words "But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that" (verse 7). It is clear that Paul recognizes that his personal calling for celibacy may not be the same for everyone.

Secondly, in anticipation of the next post, I would like to say that I would be tempted to disagree with the argument that says that what is written in Song of Solomon and what is written in 1 Corinthians are somehow at odds with one another, one book being from the Old Testament, the other being from the New Testament. I don't believe that there is any Scriptural support for the idea that God changes... that the God of the O.T. and the God of the N.T. are two different Beings in character and in deed. That being said, I would like anyone who is reading this post, and will read the post tomorrow, to share with me the mindset that the same God breathed the words found in both of these books.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
-Psalm 34:8

I once heard a wonderful analogy that was an extension of this verse. It was a comparison of the knowledge of God's goodness to the tasting of a cake. If you have tasted a cake, and found that it is wonderfully sweet on your tongue, you may try to explain the experience to others. You may try to explain the taste using the most descriptive words that you can find; you may tell of all of the ingredients that are used to make the cake and that give it its taste; you may even write down the recipe so that someone might be able to understand how the cake is made. However, until another person actually tastes the cake for their self... it is impossible that they will fully understand how good the cake actually is.

God continually allows me to taste more and more of Himself as He grows my faith. He is most certainly good, I can assure of you that. But I can also assure you that He faithfully remains good... even when the particular piece of cake that you are about to eat may not look very appetizing...

Predestined Pumpkins?

I hope she doesn't mind, but I snagged a quote from a post on my friend's new blog. I think it is a beautiful image of some ideas that she seems to be working through on the doctrines of grace.

I enjoy going out to the deep of the [pumpkin] patch, to the center where people have not traveled yet, and allowing my eyes to wander from pumpkin to pumpkin wondering which one will find a home with me. Is this an analogy for the Father? Does he wonder, or does he already know which of us pumpkins will find a home in Him? I believe that touches on some deeper Calivinistic tendencies that I don't have the time to dissect currently. But I like the idea of me on a vine, ripening, certainly not the perfect shaped or colored pumpkin, perhaps I'm still green. The Father comes to me and says, Yes, you are perfect for my home, and takes me back with him. That's peaceful. That's why I love the farm.

This is great. I believe, however, that the image that God has given us through Scripture is not so much one of Him already knowing which pumpkins He is going to choose when He arrives at the patch... but, rather, I believe that God has revealed to us that He, Himself, planted the entire patch of pumpkins, and had already chosen - even before tilling the soil - which ones He would take home with Him!

Beautiful, Jenn... simply beautiful. Thank you. And never stop searching for the immense joy to be found in the beauty of truth.

Break Time

So, instead of finishing my post on Creation today, I'm going to... well... not finish it today.

I just met with my pastor this morning, and one of the things we talked about was everything that God has been teaching me lately: it has been very encouraging to learn, but a bit discouraging to share.

I've been learning a lot about God in the past year or so, and much of that learning has included understanding certain doctrines as they are laid out in Scripture. This has been a great source of blessing for me, and has led to much joy, because it helps me to focus on who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised that He will do. This causes me to worship Him more, and is a way for me to see more of His glory.

However, as I have shared what I have been learning with other brothers and sisters, I have sometimes been confronted with responses such as, "You're not approaching God with enough of your heart."

At first, I accepted this as being true, and tried to change how I approached God's Word. But the more I think about it, the more I'm not so sure that this is right. I can certainly understand the genuine concern that these people have shown, and I thank them for it. However, I believe that God has made me a certain way, and I believe that He wants to speak to me through these means. He has given me an academic mind, and He continues to give me great blessings as I study His Word as a student. And my heart, in turn, is filled with joy in response to what I learn about God and His acts of grace.

I can appreciate a beautiful sunset as much as the next guy, and I can recognize the creative majesty of God's glory displayed in that sunset. Creation is one of the evidences that we are given of God's existence, and I pray that I will never take any of it for granted. It seems, however, that I don't learn as much about God through these times as when I am searching His Word for truths, be they new and eye-opening, or previously-learned truths that continue to instill more and more joy the longer I contemplate on them.

But that does not mean that learning about God in ways like this (such as through meditation on Creation, for example) cannot happen. Nor does it mean that these ways are not as valid as how I learn about God. There are many people for whom God chooses to speak to them through these means who might not learn as well through approaching Scripture with an academic mind... and that is just fine.

I think what has happened is a mixture of two things. As I try to share the amazing blessings that God has given me, it is hard for me - having been created the way I am - to understand how others cannot have the same level of excitement for these truths as God has been gracious enough to give me, and it may be hard for others - having been created the way they are - to believe that I truly have received the blessings that I believe God has granted me through such academic means.

I think another thing that has happened is that God has recently brought me out of a long period of spiritual depression and darkness. Being brought out of that valley has given me such an intense excitement, that it may come across to others as unhealthy zeal. The truth is that I am just very grateful for what God has been doing, and I am trying to "soak up" as much as possible while I am at the top of the hill, that I might have solid truths of God's faithfulness to take with me when I enter the next valley, whenever that may be... and it is sure that it will be.

I pray that these truths may be an encouragement, rather than a discouragement, to others who may be being lead through their own valleys. And I pray that I would not forget that God is teaching others in different ways than He chooses to teach me, and that these very real testimonies should be encouragement for the rest of us academic types!

For God, the Just, is satisfied

Hey, fancy that... we sang a song about imputed righteousness during this morning's service. This is an excerpt from "Before the Throne of God Above":

My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav'n He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Oh, and Happy Reformation Sunday to you all! This Sunday we celebrate the 490th anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing of his 95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Hold up a pint for brother Luther this week!

Doctrine of Amputation?

Quick on the heels of yesterday's post, here's some great encouragement in the form of a reminder from the Heidelberg Catechism (1562):

60.
Q: How are you righteous before God?

A: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.1 Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them,2 and am still inclined to all evil,3 yet God, without any merit of my own,4 out of mere grace,5 imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ.6 He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me,7 if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.8

1 Rom 3:21-28; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8, 9; Phil 3:8-11. 2 Rom 3:9, 10. 3 Rom 7:23. 4 Deut 9:6; Ezek 36:22; Tit 3:4, 5. 5 Rom 3:24; Eph 2:8. 6 Rom 4:3-5; 2 Cor 5:17-19; 1 Jn 2:1, 2. 7 Rom 4:24, 25; 2 Cor 5:21. 8 Jn 3:18; Acts 16:30, 31; Rom 3:22.

This is the beauty of the one true gospel, that our righteousness is not our own, but is a gift from God. And beyond that, it does not claim - as, it seems, many tend to believe - that this gift gives us the ability to be righteous, our own selves working in conjunction with the sanctifying work of the Spirit to produce a semblance of righteousness, and upon these grounds we are declared innocent.

No!

This is again confusing justification with sanctification. Our justification is not given to us on the basis of our sanctification; rather it is, itself, the basis of our righteous standing with God. And this standing is not based on our own work, but on the perfect work of Christ, which has been imputed to us, and now belongs to us as part of the holy "transaction" which was purchased at the cross. The righteousness by which we are to be judged in the last day is truly not our own. It never was, is not now, and will never be had with any merit of our own!

And this, my brothers and sisters, is the unsurpassed JOY of the true gospel of Jesus Christ!

In Christ Alone

There are times during worship through music when I am brought to silence in contemplation of the words that I am singing, and how amazingly powerful their truths are. This morning was one of those times.

I would encourage you to read through the following lyrics, which you may have sung many times in the past, and carefully ponder over the meaning of each verse, each line, each word... and may the understanding you receive be a source of great joy for you.


In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I stand!
Here in the power of Christ I stand!


Surely, surely, brothers and sisters, in Christ alone our hope is found! May we stand in the love of this Cornerstone, and not lean on anything else.

Is God's Demand for Worship Vain?

Well, I may not have much time lately to be writing posts, but at least I can regurgitate what I am reading! The following is a letter from John Piper in his book entitled "Life as a Vapor" (my current bathroom time-killer, if you must know....). It is an open letter to Michael Prowse. My prayer for all of you who read this is the same as Piper's for Prowse: that you will see and savor the beauty of your Maker and your Redeemer.

Dear Mr. Prowse,

It would be my great joy to persuade you that God's demand for worship is beautiful love, not ugly pride. On March 30, 2003 you wrote in the London Financial Times:

Worship is an aspect of religion that I always found difficult to understand. Suppose we postulate an omnipotent being who, for reasons inscrutable to us, decided to create something other than himself. Why should he . . . expect us to worship him? We didn't ask to be created. Our lives are often troubled. We know that human tyrants, puffed up with pride, crave adulation and homage. But a morally perfect God would surely have no character defects. So why are all those people on their knees every Sunday?

I don't understand why you assume that the only incentive for God to demand praise is that he is needy and defective. This is true for humans. But with God there is another possibility.

What if, as the atheist Ayn Rand once said, admiration is the rarest and best of pleasures? And what if, as I wish Ayn Rand could have seen, God really is the most admirable being in the universe? Would this not imply that God's summons for our praise is the summons for our highest joy? And if the success of that summons cost him the life of his Son, would that not be love (instead of arrogance)?

The reason the Bible gives why God should be greatly praised is that he is great. "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised" (Psalm 96:4). He is more admirable than anything he has made. That is what it means to be God.

Moreover, the Bible says that praise - overflowing, heartfelt admiration - is a pleasure. "Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant" (Psalm 147:1). And this pleasure is the best there is, and lasts forever. "In [God's] presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).

The upshot of this is that God's demand for supreme praise is his demand for our supreme happiness. Deep in our hearts we know that we are not made to be made much of. We are made to make much of something great. The best joys are when we forget ourselves, enthralled with greatness. The greatest greatness is God's. Every good that ever thrilled the heart of man is amplified ten thousand times in God. God is in a class by himself. He is the only being for whom self-exaltation is essential to love. If he "humbly" sent us away from his beauty, suggesting we find our joy in another, we would be ruined.

Great thinkers have said this long before I did. For example, Jonathan Edwards said:

It is easy to conceive how God should seek the good of the creature . . . even his happiness, from a supreme regard to himself; as his happiness arises from . . . the creature's exercising a supreme regard to God . . .in loving it, and rejoicing in it. . . . God's respect to the creature's good, and his respect to himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one, as the happiness of the creature aimed at is happiness in union with himself. (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World, in John Piper, God's Passion for His Glory, p. 248f.)

C. S. Lewis broke through to the beauty of God's self-exaltation (thinking at first that the Psalms sounded like an old woman craving compliments). He finally saw the obvious:

My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms [New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1958, pp. 93-95])

Both Edwards and Lewis saw that praising God is the consummation of joy in God. This joy flows from the infinite beauty and greatness of God. There is no one who surpasses him in any truly admirable trait. He is absolutely enjoyable. But we are sinners and do not see it, and do not want it. We want ourselves at the center. But Jesus Christ taught us to be human in another way, and then died for our sin, absorbed God's wrath against it, and opened the way to see and savor God. "Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

Therefore, the reason God seeks our praise is not because he won't be complete until he gets it. He is seeking our praise because we won't be happy until we give it. This is not arrogance. It is love.

I pray that you will see and savor the beauty of your Maker and your Redeemer.

John Piper

God's Irony

Well, one thing that I can't say about God is that He doesn't possess a sense of irony.

If you didn't already know this, I would encourage you to never try to put the Creator of the Universe in a box that you have made for Him... It's completely futile!

It's like trying to secure a bull with a length of dental floss, or trying to contain the fury of a tornado inside a paper bag. It will only break... and with power like you wouldn't believe!

And God's irony is often humbling. He thinks outside my boxes when I fall short of doing so. Praise be to our Lord and Creator, for He is sovereign! And He is good.

Some nighttime encouragement from the Maker of the stars

I am a thinker. I think a lot. Perhaps I think too much. Or perhaps I just think I think too much.

Regardless, last night I was thinking about my life and my future, as I often do. I have been troubled with this lately, and have been crying out to God for help. Last night was one of those times: I was on my knees, reading through, and praying through, the holy scriptures. It was a sweet time, even though I was troubled. God loves to hear His children's prayers, even if they come to Him out of distress.

When I finished reading and spending time speaking with my Father, I thought to myself, "I'm not done here. God has more for me."

So I did the same thing that I do from time to time after a long period in the Word and in prayer: I took a walk. I walked down to a nearby park, to sit on a bench. I wasn't sure what I was expecting out of this time; I was only sure that I wasn't done with God... or rather that He wasn't done with me.

I sat on a bench, and watched people talking in the distance for awhile. I examined cars driving by. I listened to the insects in the trees, and water splashing in the nearby fountain. Then I looked up into the sky, and saw a single, solitary star...

In an instant, upon seeing this star, my memories were brought back to a similar night from four or five years ago:

It was another night when I was thinking, perhaps too much, and filled with pain about a specific situation and the uncertainty of my future. I spent time hearing from God in His Word, as well as time crying out to Him in prayer. When I was done, I went for a walk. A long walk. I ended up down at the bay, at a local park, and I sat on a rock and watched the stars. I said to God, "Father, I do not want to test You; forgive me if I am. But I will stay here on this rock until I hear from You. Anything, Lord. Any word at all. I need to know that You are listening."

I do not recommend that you test the Lord in this way; for we are man, and He is God. He is the Potter, and we are His clay. However, God was most gracious in responding to me that night...

After sitting on that rock for about half an hour, late at night, in a park far from my house, my silence was broken by an audible voice which came from behind me. No, it was not the voice of God. It was the voice of friend who was in the Bible study that I was leading that year:

"Hey, it's our Corefa!"

This was the name given to the study leaders. He was with another friend from the study, as well as some other friends of mine. The two young men sat down near me, and were genuinely excited to come across their study leader out so late in this random park.

Immediately, I was filled with peace (which truly did surpass all of my own understanding!), and it was as if God was saying to me, "Chris, do not worry about tomorrow. For today, I have given you this work to do. Feed My sheep. Strengthen your brethren. The plans I have for you are plans to give you hope and a future. I am a most faithful God: lean on Me, and not on your own understanding."

It was such an amazing outpouring of grace in my life, and yet it took another walk to remember it. I am grateful to God for not only speaking into my life once to give me peace, but again years later to speak the same message. My faith is like shifting sand, but I serve a God who is a sure foundation, a strong cornerstone. He is perfectly loving, and is faithful to fulfill His promises... and He has promised to give me hope and a future. I will wait on Him in faith.

Are we but very old sons and daughters?

(This post has much to do with the previous one, but again, I wanted to split them up so as to not make the reading seem too daunting.)

Just as we, as adults, often take for granted the beauty of the created things that fill our lives, things that we brush by everyday without thinking of the completely astounding nature of their very existence, we also often ignore the beauty of monotony.

Again, I quote here G.K. Chesterton, from his work Orthodoxy:

[Children] always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

I often hear of children who are said to possess short attention spans, but maybe we should ask ourselves if it is, in fact, adults who have this problem. I am apt to wonder if the reason why I took for granted the breathtaking loveliness of the ocean that was so much a part of my daily life was simply that very fact: it was so much a part of my daily life.

I have an addictive nature. Much of this may stem from the fact that there is alcoholism in my family. My grandparents were alcoholics, and my mom, in a wise attempt to break the cycle which is so common to many families, decided to be extremely judicious in her use of alcohol while I was growing up. Nevertheless, I still struggle with alcoholism from time to time, and occasionally need to abstain for a period of time from any alcoholic beverage so that I can judge whether I am experiencing any difficulty with its absence.

That being said, this causes addictive tendencies which I believe stretch to other areas of my life. When I am fixated on something, there is scarcely anything else that I can think of. I have watched stereo equipment, video games, art, photography, relationships, and even theological study (for the sake of knowledge), take over much of my life at one point in time. And yet, no matter how much I get of any one thing, I can never have enough of it (this, by the way, can be a mark of an idol). I cannot seem to find joy in any particular source, and am constantly jumping from one addiction to another.

This is because I have misplaced my source of joy.

God finds joy in the day in, day out, subtleties of controlling the universe. To put it another way, God finds joy in just being God. Have we grown so very much older than our Father, that we can no longer find joy in the things that bring Him joy? Have we lost our child-like nature which allows us to jump up and down at the sight of an amazing act of creation... simply because we've "seen it all before"? Do we look at a sunrise, and say to ourselves, "Oh great... another day to get through"? Or are we rather, in looking at a sunrise, filled with praises for the joy of creation, and say to God, "O Lord! Thank you for this new day that have You given us!"

I pray that our Creator would once again fill us with the "appetite of infancy".

A Child's Heart

(So, this topic will be split into two posts, because I thought that one post would be too long, and that nobody would want to read it!)

This post is not intended to stray from more serious theological matters, to dip into the pool of touchy and feely and cutesy and warm and cuddly (for, though it looks cuddly on the surface, it is of utmost importance); but since I'm looking forward very much to beginning to teach Sunday school for some of the little ones at my church, reading the excerpt for this post struck me more than I think it would otherwise.

Our Lord has revealed in three of the four written gospels (Matthew 18:3-4, 19:14; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:16-17) that we are to enter the kingdom of God as children. But what exactly does this mean? It is clear that this includes, at the least, humbling ourselves as children, not looking to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:4). But is there more than this that we can gain from looking at the lives of children, and at their response to the world around them?

G.K. Chesteron, in his book Orthodoxy, begins, I believe, to uncover the wonders of the simplicity of a child's world view:

When we are very young children we don't need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough. A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door. Boys like romantic tales; but babies like realistic tales - because they find them romantic.... This proves that even nursery tales only echo an almost pre-natal leap of interest and amazement. These tales say that apples are golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water.

How sad it is when we realize that we, as adults (or even as older children), take for granted all of the things that once sparked joy in our young souls!

I have had some small experience of this in my short life. Growing up in Washington state, I was always surrounded by vast mountain ranges, endless valleys and hills blanketed by the green of trees, and more water than I could ever imagine swimming in. These were all aspects which helped make up the whole of my life: they were what I knew of the world. Then a few years ago, I studied in France for a semester; it was the first time that I had ever lived away from water. During spring break, I traveled with a friend throughout Italy. On one of the first nights, we had unloaded our stuff in the hostel room in Sorrento, and decided to take a walk down at the docks.

I will never forget that night.

I could not see the water, because of the dark of night. However, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves gently lapping up against the rocks sent a feeling through me that made me stop to rejoice in the grand artistry of God's creation.

Since that night, I always try to remember the beauty of water whenever I look at it. Why must I try to remember? Because the feeling that I had in Sorrento that night was a feeling that I had never experienced before, even though I had lived my entire life around water. I try to remember the beauty of the water because if I don't I will take it for granted.

I am making a new resolution. I will try to do the same for all of God's creation as I have chosen to do with water: namely, I will not take it for granted. When I walk by a tree on my way to school, I will think not only of the sovereign process that the Creator has set in place to nourish and grow and sustain this tree, but also of all of the ways that it helps sustain the life of other creatures in this world. When I see a squirrel cross my path as I walk to my office, I will think upon the complex nature of the makeup of this little organism, and of all of the care that God has put into making something so small, a creature that is not even made after His own image.

I pray that God might change not only my heart, that I might have the humbleness of a child, but my eyes as well, that I might be able to be fascinated once again by the marvelous creation that surrounds me every day.

Talking to yourself is healthy

I recently received four new Piper books from the $5 sale at Desiring God Ministries. Of all of these books, the one that I started reading a couple of days ago is called "When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy".

Now, I'm not completely certain why I chose this one to read. I'm not particularly lacking in this gift right now: God has been staggeringly gracious in granting me the desire to seek after Him lately, and for that I am utterly grateful, for this has given me a glimpse of the joy that I was created to have in praising His name and being found in His glory. However, I have found it difficult lately to allow God to let that joy overcome other areas of my life which seem to be lacking joy. In other words: Chris ain't feelin' too hot right now.

Well, even though a loss of desire for God does not seem to be one of my current ails, I am beginning to see how this book will bless me. Here's a look at what I've been reading today (quoted from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures, in reference to Psalm 42, especially verse 5):

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you."

It was a very encouraging moment when I read this. God has given us promises in His word, and we (read: I) need to speak these promises to our (read: my) own souls, otherwise our souls will continue to speak to us... and the Creator of our souls is certainly wiser than our souls themselves!

Brethren, please pray for me, that God would grant me the strength to do this. My joy has been robbed once again by the anxieties of this world, and after having tasted and seen that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:8), I long to be overcome again by the deluge of joy which was meant to flood my life, the joy that can only be found in taking refuge in the LORD.

Huh... that's funny...

Believe it or not, I did not write the previous post in response to the one before it. I didn't even have the first one in mind when I posted tonight, but I just re-read it after I posted my last one.

I was just blessed by my own blog post!

God is good.