Keep it on Christ, Chris... keep it on Christ.

God has certainly taught me much in the past year... it has been a difficult year, to be sure... but I've understood lately just how much this difficulty was necessary for God to grow me just a bit more.

As many who might read this may already know, my relationship with my ex-girlfriend was ended a little over a year ago. This has been incredibly difficult for me to deal with, because I was moving towards making the relationship a bit more... ehh... permanent, if you will. Yah. Almost bought the ring, yo. Almost bought it.

Having that kind of relationship taken from me rocked me to the core, I have to admit (mostly because she was yet another one of the idols of my idol-factory heart). I was shaken and beaten, and didn't know what to do with myself. I was so sure that marriage was where that relationship was supposed to go. But God has taught me a good thing lately, a thing which - among other things - I'm not sure I would have been able to learn without being shaken so thoroughly (coffee, anyone?).

I have been thinking about my pastor's view on evangelism, which is that the fruit of his ministry isn't really his concern, it's God's. He's always said that, as he preaches the Gospel, if God decides to fill the church with 1000 people, he will praise God. If God decides to fill the church with 10 people, he will praise God. Whatever fruit God decides to bear from his ministry should have no effect on his calling to preach the Gospel and nothing but the Gospel. He keeps it on Christ.

In meditating on this, I have realized that I was focusing so intently on the fruit that I thought would be reaped from being in a Christ-glorifying relationship with a godly woman (namely, marriage), that I completely lost sight of the fact that I had been in a Christ-glorifying relationship with a godly woman. I was part of something which brought glory to the name of the Son of God, and seemed to have forgotten how much of a blessing this was, and how both of us can now glorify Christ more fully and deeply in our separate lives, having been a part of that relationship for a time, than if it had never happened.

Praise God for His faithfulness and goodness, and for His glory! Lamentations 3:37-38, Job 1:21, 2:10.

So, my prayer is that God would continue to remind me of this as He grows me. No matter what the fruit may be that He decides to bring about in my life, that is His business to deal with, not mine. My business is to bring glory to the name of Jesus, by the power of God's Spirit, and to lead others to the foot of the Cross in any and all ways that God will choose to use me to do so. As I do that, I pray that I would remember that anything that comes about in my life as a result is simply God's will unfolding, and that His will is good.

Keep it on Christ, Chris... let God take care of the rest.

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.

A Radical View of Marriage

I was hanging out last night with a family from church, sitting around a campfire, roasting hot dogs, drinking hot chocolate, and talking about whatever we wanted. Fun times.

I forgot how we got on the subject, but we started talking about marriage, and its role in creation. I mentioned the sermon series that I listened to last year by Voddie Baucham entitled "Love & Marriage" (available to download here if you would like to listen to them!). Baucham mentioned something that I've never thought of before, but I think is very important to realize. He reminded his congregation that marriage was an institution that was created by God before the fall of mankind. This means that marriage is not a result of the Fall, not a byproduct of man's weakness, not a shameful enterprise left to be pursued by only the weakest of Christians. It is holy and good at its very foundation, and the desire for marriage is not a base and creaturely drive. If the want is there, it is probably God-given.

But then Adam (I'm referring to the man whom I was talking to last night... not the "one-man-through-whom-sin-entered-the-world" guy...) brought up the point that marriage is not an eternal institution: there will be no marriage in heaven (Matthew 22:30). In light of this, many (including Voddie Baucham) have commented that marriage exists to fulfill two purposes. The first purpose is to serve as a means of procreation, that man might multiply the earth and raise up children in the fear and admonition of the LORD. The second purpose is that it might serve as an illustration for Christ's love for His Church (which is even referred to in Scripture as His spotless Bride).

So here is where things possibly start to get a bit philosophical (if you will)... but oh so amazing!

Both of these purposes of marriage are ultimately used to give God glory. Man filling the world with children who are brought up in the fear of the LORD is a way to proclaim His holy name in all the earth. And when husbands love their wives in ways that they are called to love them - namely, unconditionally and sacrificially, as Christ loved the Church - marriage serves as an illustration which God may use to turn witnesses of that marriage to the source of its love: His Son.

So, since marriage is God's idea, not some hare-brained scheme that Man came up with (being that it was established by God before sin entered the world), since its purposes are ultimately for God's glory, and since it will not exist in heaven, one view of marriage is reached by following these points out to their logical summary: God established the institution of marriage in order that He might glorify Himself on this earth.

Now let's go further with this tomorrow in looking at how this ties into an even more radical view of Creation itself... more blessings to be had here!

(I want to add that marriage also fulfills the role of giving joy to the members of its covenant, as does raising children, but I will discuss that idea more in the next post)

Oh, I have GOTS to find me a woman like this!

Dwayne and I were listening the other day to the latest installments of the online round table discussion group The White Horse Inn. They included in their discussion some views of modern evangelicals on the Five Solas by playing clips of answers that the producer had received when asking questions to attendees of a pastors' convention.

We heard these two answers from what seems to be the same girl, and were floored by her responses:


How important in your life is the doctrine of imputation?

To me personally? That’s very important! Because that’s the basis for my righteousness. There’s no other… I mean, my deeds, or anything that I do, doesn’t ever add up to anything!


Are you familiar with the doctrine of justification?

Justification is a legal term that essentially says that because God is a just god He requires absolute perfection and holiness. Because we failed that there was a need for punishment, and that punishment was brought upon Jesus Christ. And by embracing the Gospel - that He died for us, He lived the life we should have lived and died what we should have died - we now are justified, or we were declared innocent when we were once declared guilty, because all of the guilt was put upon Jesus. So, His innocence has been replaced with our guilt, and our guilt has been replaced with [His] innocence.


Whoa nelly! Be still, my beating heart! Lord, I have no clue what You have in store for my future, but if it includes marrying a girl like this... I'm fairly certain that You would hear no complaints from my end!