I was driving back from lunch today thinking of why I still find myself in the struggle of a battle of refuges. Let me explain. Typically when I am tired, weary, worn out, discouraged, or just plain feeling leisurely my mind takes me through a list of things I can use to find rest and happiness in.
For example: I can take a dip in our new pool, I can go buy a Sonic Route 44oz. drink, I can get on the internet and surf articles, I can go buy a Playstation 3, etc. I am amazed at how fast my mind and heart build up so many replacements for Jesus. He is THE one true refuge and rest. He alone is the one who gives us happiness and pleasure in finding rest. He is a rock of refuge in time of need.
So I pondered, “If I know this about Jesus (but obviously don’t believe it as true or I would embrace it), then why do I still replace Him for refuge idols?”
“Ah”, I though, “Because He is the Only refuge with divine authority!” That’s it! He is the only place of rest that actually requires something of me. And not just a little something, but hard things. Like self-sacrifice, worship, self-denial, study, discipline, service, selfless love and more.
Jesus was right when He said…
Matthew 11:28-30 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
But out of that same mouth came “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me” and “you will be hated for my name’s sake” and “humble yourself” and “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” and more and more. Jesus has been given all authority on heaven and on earth. Our typical human hearts rebel against authority non-stop. Even in our need for rest we rebel against authority.
So what kind of rest and refuge do we look for? A peaceful one? Yes of course. But only a peace we want; a peace requiring no action, no hardness, no work, no sweat, no thinking or feeling. A numb, apathetic, selfish peace that is ruled by ME.
What I need is a refuge I can rest in AND submit to. I need a refuge who is Sovereign and Gracious. I need a rest that is peaceful and fruitful. One that is easy and light but also hard and heavy to point me to sanctification. It is only by jumping through the briars that one reaches the other side of the bushes. Cuts and scrapes must come to get to the healing hand on the other side.
So saint, be honest with yourself. Stop running away from the authoritative rest found in Jesus Christ and run towards Him. Stop creating your own world of rest and refuge where YOU are the authority and you make the rules and you sit on your throne. But humble yourself, repent, and flee to the throne of the Savior.
You can find refuge at His feet in peace and rest, but remember that He sits on His throne with power and authority in your rest. The Rock is our refuge!
Christian: work while you rest and rest while you work.
Transcendence – the state of being beyond and outside of the ordinary range of human experience.
Paul David Tripp puts it this way in his new book, Quest for More:
“The bottom line: You were created to be part of something big.”
What Christian would ever argue that God is big, huge, massive, greater than what we can imagine? And what Christian would also deny that they pale in comparison to this BIG God, that they are small, tiny, and puny? But do you ever notice a common disconnect between the two? Sure they are polar opposites: small vs. BIG! But how are they related?
Whether you like the quote from Tripp or not, the point is, it’s true! Humans were not made for small things. We were not made to do little diddly things. Be born, play, grow up, start a family and career, retire, and start a rare seashell collection while travelling in a a motorhome across the country living off of roadside lemonades and old Quincy’s buffets!
No! We were made for HUGE, MASSIVE, WEIGHTY, OTHER, ETERNAL, ALIEN-LIKE purposes in this one life. This is the story behind songs like Meant to Live by Switchfoot and Don’t Waste Your Life by Lecrae and John Piper’s book “Dont Waste Your Life”, which now has a huge movement behind it. These artists and authors are pleading with Christians and non-believers to live their life for real. To live and die for things that last. To treasure that which truly satisfies.
Enter: the Gospel!
The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Holy and Righteous Son of God, came to die and live for sinners to make them clean and bring them before God. In other words, this BIG God who created everything, sent His Son to this little planet, to die for little puny worthless sinners (like you and me), and calls us to live and die for Him and His MASSIVE glory doing BIG, GIGANTIC things that will matter after we die. It is this Good News that transforms our nature and hearts from puny to BIG and our life from insignificant to ETERNALLY CRUCIAL.
This transformation is what I call the Transcendence of the Gospel.
The origin of this transformation is God. At the heart of this transformation is therefore an alien righteousness and power that is not our own; it does not come from within. The world says that man’s problem comes from without himself, outside of himself and therefore his answer lies within. He must find himself. God says, through the Gospel, that man’s problem lies within and therefore his answer or hope lies outside of himself; an alien or foreign solution. So the world’s idea of transcendence will be in stark contrast to God’s idea of it.
This is why people feel compelled to stand on the edge of a cliff at sunset in the middle of the Grand Canyon; to feel overwhelmed with the HUGENESS of it all. Or why men climb Mt. Everest to death-defying heights. Or why divers brave the deep caverns of the ocean blue. Or why a young teenager feels called to travel the world solo in his own sailboat, alone. Or why people jump on the latest social networking group like Twitter; to be a part of a MASSIVE online community of people rather obsessed with publicly displaying their every action by the second (i.e., “Just found my missing toilet paper, it’s used though, no worries”).
Why do we seek these things that are so BIG, BOLD, and GREATER than ourselves? It’s because, like Tripp says, we were made for something BIGGER. We were designed to live for GREATNESS. We were created to seek and display MIGHT.
The problem is we are trying to fulfill our desires for GRANDEUR in the wrong thing. The object of our affections is wrong. Our aim is a way skewed and misdirected.
This is where the Transcendence of the Gospel not only redeems but eradicates and replaces our targets of affections and hones them in on the one true aim that will give us the greatest grandeur our hearts can worship: Jesus Christ! He is the massive Son that our planets are to revolve around. He is the blazing center our hearts are to be set ablaze by.
In this age we live everyone seems to always breathe and move for more, more, give me more. But it’s the people who breathe and move for more of Jesus, more of Jesus, give me more of Jesus that will be satisfied and found worthy before God their creator. What treasure are you seeking? You can be sure that where your treasure is, that’s where you’ll find your heart. (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34)
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
There is a promise we can bank on and place our full hope in. If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, namely for Jesus Himself, then we will be satisfied. Our hunger and thirst will be fulfilled. And if we come to Jesus, we will not hunger; if we believe in Jesus, we will not thirst.
Run to Jesus Christ the sinners’ Savior and find your lust for GRANDEUR in the GRATIFYING GRANDEUR OF HIS GLORY AND GRACE! Your little heart will explode with affections for this BIG God!
My prime motive for this blog is always two-fold:
- let the biblical Gospel inform everything I think, say, and do and therefore
- let the biblical Gospel transform my mind, heart, and will.
If the Gospel informs my life then it will by necessity transform my life. You see the Gospel is not just the “good news” that is only needed at the moment of conversion or salvation. But it is the ongoing “good news” that we need for every moment of our sanctification. In other words, we need the Gospel now just as much, if not more, than we needed it when we first heard it.
It is with these personal assumptions that I write every post on this blog.
All of life preaches a message (If you don’t like the word preach then substitute speaks or translates). Let’s face it, whether we like it or can help it, our life (words and actions) preach a message about something to somebody. It’s not a question of if we have an influence on people around us but when we do and what impact that influence is making.
This brings me then to my topic today: “What message does your LIFE preach about the Church?”
I was deeply convicted of this sometime last week. I was getting up one Saturday morning and, as typically occurs, my mind was evaluating and pondering my life. I was considering my roles as man, son, brother, friend, co-worker, and more importantly child of God, husband and father. All of a sudden it occurred to me, “Jonathan, how does your life play a role in your family’s view of the church of Jesus Christ (the local church specifically)?” I found myself arrested by this question, especially because I knew it came from God Himself, from His Spirit.
Now that I have taken on role of daddy for the last 15 months, my responsibilities have become bigger and more awesome than ever before. One of those God-given responsibilities is to shepherd my wife and my daugther. To spiritually care for my family. For whatever reason, God led me first and foremost to how I was shepherding my family in the area of serving and interacting in our local church.
These questions came to my mind in a whirlwind of urgency:
- What is my definition of the church? What is my understanding of the church?
- How important, in my view, did I see the role of the church? How important did I see my role in the church?
- Is my view/belief of the church biblical? Am I honestly sure it really is biblical? Am I seeking to know more intimately and accurately God’s view of the church?
- What is my wife’s view of the church? What is her view of her role in the church? Does she see it as significant? Does she see it as necessary?
- What is my daughter’s view of the church? (even at 15 months she is observing much)
- What are my words about the church preaching to my family? What are my actions in and among the church preaching to my family? Do my words and actions line up?
All of these questions came flooding to my mind. They were piercing me because I knew deep down that I was not only in need of much fine tuning but even repentance and rediscovery. Repentance for my sins of omitting out truth and grace about the church. Rediscovery to seek out God’s view of the church and my role in it.
However repentance and rediscovery only take me half way. The other half is being renewed and revived by this rediscovery, reiterating it to myself, and then reproducing it to people in my life.
So again, here is what I realize I need when it comes to the message my life preaches about the church (in 5 R’s to make it easy):
- Repentance – changing my heart about how I used to live
- Rediscovery – searching out and finding the truth
- Renewal and Revival – being changed and affected by this truth
- Reiteration – preaching this to myself over and over again
- Reproduction – taking what I’ve found and been affected by and living it to others so the same can happen to them
Ultimately, my wife will get her most influential view of the church from me, her husband. I say this not out of pride but from what I have observed as truth. Sure she has the right to her own opinion and the freedom to form it. But what she hears from me and sees in me will ultimately inform and supercede her belief about the church. The same applies to my daughter and even my friends, my co-workers, my boss, my extended family, etc. It’s amazing and scary the influence we can have on the sphere of people in our lives. Some of those people we only encounter one time. This makes every moment of our lives significant and crucial in spreading God’s kingdom.
So I challenge you reader. Because this question, “What message does your LIFE preach about the church?”, is not exclusive to husbands, fathers, or even men. But to every Christian out there, regardless of your background or belief.
What message are you sending? What is it exactly that you are preaching with your life? When others see your life, and believe it they are watching and taking mental notes, what are they hearing and seeing about the church? Grant it, I know that people will always misconstrue, misconceive, and misinterpret truth into their own reality. But overall, what does your life show?
Does it show you hate the church? Be honest. You can say all day long, “no no no, I would never hate the church. I love the church”. Yes I’m sure your professed love is as strong as anyone out there. The questions is what do your actions show? Actions always supercede words. Does your life show you have a small view of the church? Do you think it’s not that important? Does it show you have a selfish view? Does your view of the church only involve building up your own reputation, needs, desires, and interests? Or are you more others oriented? Is your view of the church man-centered or God-centered? Be honest.
I leave you with these points to self-examination:
What message does your life preach about the church to…
- God – He is the supreme judge and observer of all things. So what would God say about your view and lifestyle message of His church? Is He honored or dishonored by your life? Is He exalted or debased by your view of the church? Would He receive all of the glory for your life’s message on the church or none at all?
- Self – believe it or not the most subtle problem is what message our life preaches to yourself? Are you deceiving yourself into believing something that simply isn’t true about the church? Are you being honest with yourself or confusing yourself for your own convenience and freedom to do what you want and believe what you’re comfortable with?
- Family – the people who are influenced the most by your life; the people who are the most intimately connected by your life, immediate or extended. What message does your life preach to your father? Mother? Siblings? Spouse? Children? Cousins? Grandparents? Is your family left to think of the church as a Sunday social club, a cool life support group, a needs-based group, a psychiatrist’s couch, a hospital, a lifespring of truth and grace, or something else?
- Co-Workers - (the reason I place this group before church is because we spend the majority of our day and lives with those we work with) What would you co-workers, Christian and non-Christian, say you believe and feel about the church? Would they view it as genuine or made-up? Legalistic or balanced in Christ?
- Friends - (the reason I place this group before the church is because, sadly, friends know our real self better than anyone else, even the church) it is often said that our friends know more truth about us than our family or co-workers ever will. According to your friends, how intimate is your belief about the church? They probably know you the best, the real you.
- Church – your brothers and sisters in Christ. What would your pastor and your church family say about your passion for the church? Is it genuine or fabricated? Is it daily or Sunday only? Is it rooted in Christ Jesus or self? Is it really biblical or professed as biblical to continue appearing spiritual and disciplined?
- the world and unbelievers – last but not least, what does the world see and hear from your life? First of all, does what you say about the church line up with how you act about the church? If it does not then the world is receiving a double message, a contradictory truth. Now they are confused. Actually, now it’s crystal clear to them, something isn’t right. You say one thing but do another. Now your life on the church is simple hypocrisy and falsehood.
The awesome and scary privilege we have is displaying the worth and value of Jesus Christ to the world. The primary way we do this is by being the church! The primary way they see this worth and value is by seeing the church be who it is! If we are misrepresenting who God designed us to be then the church is left with a powerless and dishonest view of God’s bride.
Yes God is Sovereign and is sanctifying and purifying His bride to be holy and blameless. However He is also doing this through our obedience by His Spirit and our enjoyment of His Son.
I conclude with Paul’s exhortation to pastor Timothy in his first letter to him:
“Keep a close watch
on yourself and on the teaching.
Persist in this,
for by so doing you will save
both yourself and your hearers.”
1 Timothy 4:16
Together let’s actively pursue a close watch on our lives and our doctrine. Seek out others and ask them to tell you what they see. Pray to God to reveal your heart in these matters. Draw others in to evaluate you.
You will not regret it.
Introduction
The music world today has shifted and changed nearly more than the technology world has. Music is the beat of the soul of man. It doesn’t matter who the person or what the situation, music effects and affects every single living person from the gang bangers who love hip-hop, to the homeless who sing their own, to the church lady who hums old hymns, to the cowboy who loves Clint Black, to the German who sings old pub songs to the tribesman who sings his forefather’s songs of deliverance and seasonal blessing. Music is at the heart and soul of every human.
Humans seem to most deeply express themselves through music. And for the Christian, music is one of the deepest emotional outlets for worshipping God the Creator. In fact, God is the first musician ever; afterall He did create music, sound, notes, words, and the creativity behind the brains of every instrument pioneer and musical style pioneer from jazz to hip hop to Gospel to blues to country to R&B.
God is the ultimate musician, lyricist, and poet. The supreme lyrical being!
If that’s the case, then how come Christians are so divided sometimes on this base human issue of music? I mean apart from personal friendly preference but hostile division of hatred and legalistic judgmentalism. I’m sure you’ve noticed the debate largely between old time Fundamental Baptists and mainstream Christian denominations. Even between mainstream Christian denominations and the new Emergent church movement. As if there was one more thing left for us to disagree on, now music? Seriously?
Narrowing Down the Debate & Philosophy
I consider myself fundamental in theology, as in holding to the fundamentals of the Christian faith: scripture is inspired and inerrant, Christ Jesus is God’s Only Son and THE way of righteousness before a holy God, man is inherently sinful and evil, the Gospel is our only hope, faith in Christ is what saves us, the cross calls us to lives of holiness, etc.
However I am not necessarily fundamental in methodology. I will use any method or means so long as its biblical or not unbiblical to preach the Gospel and live the Gospel.
Quite possibly the strongest lines of division can be found BETWEEN Fundamental circles of Christianity, mostly Independent Baptists, old-school Baptists, or Primitive Baptists AND any Christian denominations that embrace contemporary Christian music. That is, music that involves a beat, sound, or music style that sounds like “the world”. The philosophical argument goes something like this: “If it sounds “worldly” then it must be “of the world”. If it is a style of music similar to a style of music used in the world then it must be evil.” It’s simply a guilt by association philosophy. Which is inherently misguided and misapplied. It says that because an unbeliever is singing it, and an ubeliever wrote lyrics that probably don’t honor God, therefore the musical style he is using must be ungodly. Guilt by association.
The philosophy of most fundamental circles of Christianity is one that functions foundationally on traditions and faithfulness to a certain system of theology and methodology. The only problem is that they are preaching that their theology and methodology are solely supreme and authoritative. And it is often preached from the pulpit on Sunday and the members’ mouths Monday-Saturday in a divisive, prideful, arrogant, judmental, and close-minded way that results in bitterness, hatred, division, and great hostile destruction to the ministry of the Gospel. It becomes a system of works-righteousness and Galatians legalism that at its core says “one must repent and trust Christ AND look like us to be holy”. And this mindset is not simply reserved for Fundamentalists but also any denomination or belief system that preaches their way, arrogantly.
I am not aruging against absolute standards or a one-way view but rather an orthodoxy steeped in pride and judgmentalism. We must embrace a humble orthodoxy.
Let me say this at the outset: I dearly love my fundamentalist brothers. Especially the ones I personally am friends with and work with. However they and I must repent from ourjudgmental divisive and prideful ways of thinking and believing in the Gospel and trust in divine scripture, the word of God, rather than their denomination’s historical interpretation of the word of God. Reformed men and Fundamental men alike.
Whether it comes to music, dress, style of worship, bible translations, habits and hobbies, church building aesthetics, etc. they apply their same basic philosophy: our way or the highway! But the real way is God’s way or the highway. The problem is that they think their way is God’s way. So like most prideful narrow-minded Christians, they end up deceiving themselves by their own pride.
Musical Bias – Practical Implications
In my experiences with this prideful philosophy of thought, in its most practical outworkings, the fundamental inconsistentcy begins to label anything associated with “worldly” music as evil and of the devil.
For example, inanimate objects become evil. Regardless of how many times the Psalmist, King David, King Solomon, or even Jesus show that musical instruments and “singing new songs” is not only permissible but required joyful worship, the fundamentalist blindly clings to their traditional philosophy that drums, electric guitars, synthesized pianos, a beat faster than 4/4 or 60 beats per minute, any overuse of “canned music” and worldly sounding music are evil and not honoring to God. Why? Because they are used by the world. In other words, if the world uses pianos, electric guitars, synthesizers, trumpets, or fast beats then we can’t because we will then look like the world?
This thought process preaches that inanimate objects can be evil. It’s the same implications with “shorts or pants on women are evil”. When it comes down to where the rubber meets the road, the fundamentalist is stating that pants and shorts are evil. Likewise with music he is stating that drums and electric guitars and fast beats are evil.
Backwards Thinking – Reactionary standards based on the World
So the world ends up becoming our reverse standard as to how we are not supposed to act. If the world does this, then we don’t do this. If the world likes this, then we dislike it. If the world listens to this then we don’t listen to it. If the world dresses like this, then we don’t dress like this. If the world eats and drinks this, then we must not eat or drink this. If the world goes here, we must not go there. And so instead of pulling our standard from scripture, we watch the world so intently as to copy them in the opposite. We shift our focus from what scripture says do to what the world says do to get our “dont’ do”. Make sense?
By doing this our standards become more reactionary instead of intentionally actionary. The world can’t define our actions and beliefs and behavior, scripture must dictate and define us. Then we live in the world and will not look like the world naturally.
Biblical Examples
However this view is not supported by scripture and is actually warned against as “the evil doctrines of men” labeled by Jesus to the Pharisees in Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23.
Even Peter in Acts 11:1-18 was attempting to call clean things unclean. God offered him food from heaven and Peter, instead of being grateful, despised God’s gift labeling it as unclean. Peter was quickly corrected in his thinking by God that what God calls clean no man can label as unclean. Of course contextually God was speaking of Gentiles receiving the Gospel, but applicably this is a similar philosophy that man prideful authoritates what is or isn’t honorable to God where as God is the one who rightfully decides this. In the end, Peter’s humility and willingness to obey God led to the conversion of a whole household.
Paul in Romans 14 tackles the issue of division due to personal judgments and preferences. Specifically in verse 14, 18, and 20 he says,
14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
18Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
Here Paul lays out three principles:
- Nothing is unclean in and of itself, but only for the one who thinks so;
- The one who serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men;
- Everything is indeed clean, but don’t use the clean if it causes another to stumble in his faith.
That’s simple freedom for the purpose of upbuilding and peace between saints. Contextually Paul is speaking of food. But overall this can also apply to one’s personal preference for music styles.
Fundamentalists call certain musical styles evil or worldly simply because the world uses them too. Well who used it first? If a Christian creates a new musical style and the world copies it with secular lyrics, does the Christian then have the duty to cease and desist and give it over to the world? The lines are too fuzzy and confusing to know what is or isn’t right or wrong.
The Real Problem
Text and Context. That is, the Word of God and the World of God. How does God’s Word properly apply and display itself to and in the world? The Biblical Christian says the text is God’s inerrant word interpreted properly. The Biblical Christian says the context is God’s fallible world applied properly. The fundamentalist says the text is God’s inerrant word interpreted my way. The fundamentalist says the context is God’s fallible world seen through my eyes in my way.
Can you see the stark contrast of views? This worldview of the fundamentalist ends up distorting his every thought and word. Applied to music then would be this:
Fundamentalist View
Text = the words or lyrics of a song, rooted in scripture
Context = only Fundamentalist musical style of choice, i.e. hymns or other denominational ordained music
This view is limited, bound up, and enslaved to a legalistic mindset.
Biblical View
Text = the words or lyrics of a song, rooted in scripture
Context = any musical style of choice so long as its not prohibited by scripture
This view is unlimited, bound only to scripture, and enslaved only to the individual’s liberty of heart to worship God freely.
Case Example – Rap/Hip-Hop
The fundamentalist therefore would hate the musical style called Rap, or Hip-Hop. Why? Well, remember? It’s because Rap is worldly music because the world uses it, has lyrics that don’t honor Jesus, and apparently because the world created this musical style (who knows if that is true for sure?). Therefore the musical style of Rap is evil and dishonoring to God.
What about Christian Rap, you might ask? Oh now that is the utmost form of hypocrisy and blasphemy. The fundamentalist would say “there is no such thing.” How can Rap be Christian? The Biblical Christian responds, “because a man who loves Jesus wrote the lyrics out of his heart to sing a new song to his Savior”. To which the Fundamentalist responds, “oh no sir, if he was truly a Christian, he would leave behind that music of Satan and not conform to the image of this world but be transformed by the renewing of his mind, he would sing old fashioned baptist hymns of faith and repent of that evil beat”.
You see what just happened? The fundamentalist attacked the person because of the person’s musical style. With no thought to the lyrics that honor God (TEXT) and instead attacking the musical style (CONTEXT). The fundamentalist then errs and moves quickly to a prideful jugdmentalism and legalism. The Christian rapper is left confused, judged, hurt, and left to himself with no true biblical explanation for his apparent sin before God.
I leave you with this until next time:
The fundamentalist therefore does just what Jesus warned would happen: Man looks at the outward appearance but God judges the heart (1 Sam 6:7). So the fundamentalist judges the surface, the style of music (rap), and has no clue as to the heart of the matter, the lyrics or text of the song (heart of the rapper).
Don’t all Christians do the same in some manner? Examine your heart.
To all who are interested in the spread of the Gospel as pertains to redeeming the races and cultures for Christ, consider joining the Colorless Gospel Coalition. It is a new project birthed from myself and others under the authority of our local church (church in the ‘Boro). We exist to fulfill the Gospel proclamation of Revelation 5:9 which says,
9And they sang(N) a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
The Gospel redeems out of every tribe, tongue, and nation a people for God purchased by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
Using Facebook is just one tiny way we desire to see that acheived. May God be honored and glorified through it all.
“Pro-Choice? This carefully devised phrase was contrived to provoke our inward zeal for freedom and the civil right to make choices freely. I am all for freedom of choice, except when it comes at the expense of innocent lives. Women who have been deceived into wrong choices and children who were never given any choice at all are the victims of pro-choice America.”
-Clenard H. Childress Jr., Norteast Director and Founder of BlackGenocide.org
The first place my mind goes when I think of the power of God’s Word and the Word of His Power is the Creation account in Genesis:
Genesis 1:1-9 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse [1] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made [2] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. [3] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, [4] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.“
Notice the connection here between “God created” and then “And God said…” This shows clearly that the means by which God created was by speaking.
Also we see perhaps one of the first and greatest evidences of the nature of God: His Absolute Sovereignty, Power and Faithfulness, and Self-Pleasure. Sovereignty because God speaks things into existence. Power and Faithfulness because when God speaks, His Word is accomplished exactly how He spoke. And Self-Pleasure, not in the sense of sick and twisted prideful arrogant man, but in the sense that when God Sovereignly declares His Word, then Powerfully and Faithfully establishes it, He finally takes pleasure in what He sees.
So, first God speaks. Then His Word is accomplished. Finally, He takes great pleasure in seeing the goodness of what He has done. This begs the question: Does God see it as good because it is good in and of itself or because He is good in and of itself. The answer lies in Psalm 100:5
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
And Psalm 119:68
68 You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
Since God is by nature, Good, all that He does must be good too. Its a simple principle that brings clear understanding of who God is and how He functions.
God’s next powerful and faithful spoken Word is when He creates Man:
Genesis 2:5-7 5 When no bush of the field [9] was yet in the land [10] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist [11] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Now we are not told just how God “formed the man of dust from the ground”, but we already know God has been creating thus far by speaking. However, we know textually that God then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” thereby making the man a “living creature”. This speaks volumes. God takes dust and earth and forms a man; as if that were not astounding enough. Then God breathes into his nostrils. God uses His mouth to exhale His breath of life into the nostrils of man. What a glorious picture of God’s powerful mouth.
The same mouth that spoke everything into existence is now breathing man into existence. Without God speaking, nothing would be. And likewise without God breathing, no man would be. This should quickly humble us when we ponder on just what this must have been like.
We speak thousands of words every day. How many of those words are used to create things into existence? Or rather how many of those words are used to breathe life into others? While we don’t share this quality exactly with God, because He is God and there is no other like Him, we do however share a similar quality with Him: the power of mouth through word and breath. Men can either create or destroy with their words. Men can “breathe” (metaphorically) into others life or suck out of others any ounce of life. Our words can help strive and can also kill.
We are made in the image of our Creator. Think about it, the Creator God’s main means of interacting, relating, and contacting His Creation is by speaking. Praise God! God spoke Creation into existence. God breathed man into existence. God spoke His Holy Word (the Bible) into existence. God spoke to His Son and His people through Words. God spoke to His Daughter (His Son’s Bride, Christ’s Church) by way of His Good News and His Spirit. God respeaks (recreates, regenerates) His children into a new existence.
God’s word is indeed full of power. His power is indeed displayed by His words, when He speaks He creates. He also tears down when He speaks because He is God. And no matter what God says, how He says it, what happens when He speaks, or why He says it, it is always good. Why? Because He is good.
And what a humbling joy to know that when He created man in His image, He saw that it was good.
Today’s Quote:
“It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible.” – John Piper, The Morning I Heard the Voice of God
Today’s Video:
So I just got back from out of town with my wife and daughter. We took our first family trip and our daughter’s first beach trip together. We had a blast! We went to Mrtyle Beach, South Carolina. The resort we stayed at was very nice. The vacation has put my wife and I behind a day on our weekly Theological Mediations. Last week we covered (loosely) a necessary result of the Cross: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This week I hope to cover a necessary initiator of the Cross: God’s spoken Word, namely in the regeneration of human hearts from children of wrath to children of grace.
I have always been fascinated at language (specifically words); especially its complexities, intricacies, origins, meanings, and usages. But specifically, I have been blown away by the power of language. Language is not powerful in and of itself unless it contains words of truth, especially words of transforming life-altering truth. No other language or words in the history of the universe hold such power than the word (s) of God Himself.
For God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, Creator of language. He spoke the first words. He spoke the Heavens into existence. He spoke the Earth and its lands and seas into existence. He spoke the animals and birds and plants into existence. And like this creation account reveals in Genesis 1:1-2:3, when God spoke, things happened. And they didn’t just happen any old way, they happened just as He spoke them. And when they happened, God saw that it was good. Why? Because God is good and all that He does is therefore good too!
This week I want to tackle different aspects of the power of the spoken word of God including but not excluding:
- Creation: God Speaking Man into Existence
- Interaction: God Speaking With Man
- Prophets & Prophecy: God’s Speaking for Man
- (*NEW) Jesus Christ: God’s Word Becoming Flesh (NEW*)
- ReCreation: God Speaking the Gospel to Man
- The Holy Spirit: God Speaking through Men.
Here are some texts to help you feel the weight of what I feel when I meditate on the power of the spoken word of God:
Hebrews 1:1-3
1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Wow! Jesus Christ, God’s Son, “upholds the universe by the word of his power”. Notice it doesn’t say “by the power of his word” but the reverse. What a powerfully strange phrase: “the word of his power”. God’s power is displayed in his word. When God speaks, His power is displayed.
Psalm 29:3-9
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth [3]
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
Again, how majestic and beautifully aweful is God’s voice! It powerfully affects His creation.
Genesis 1:3-5
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
This classic verse is so often skipped over. But read it again when it says “And God said…” Just the idea that this supreme all powerful being speaks. And He chooses to create and act through speaking. This makes one’s view of words and language much bigger, loftier, weightier, and more significant!
2 Corinthians 4:6
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the greatest example of what regeneration looks like in the whole bible and my personal favorite Gospel verse, the same Creator God who spoke light into existence has shined his light into hearts to save them; to reCreate them. This is breathtaking!
So reflect on these verses and prepare to meet with me and God through His mighty voice and the power of His spoken word.
Audio for the Day: The Voice of the Lord by Philips, Craig, and Dean (Below in player)
Today’s Resurrection Quote from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Ephesians 1:19 -
“3. The exceeding greatness of God’s power towards those who believe, Eph_1:19. The practical belief of the all-sufficiency of God, and of the omnipotence of divine grace, is absolutely necessary to a close and steady walking with him. It is a desirable thing to know experimentally the mighty power of that grace beginning and carrying on the work of faith in our souls. It is a difficult thing to bring a soul to believe in Christ, and to venture its all upon his righteousness, and upon the hope of eternal life. It is nothing less than an almighty power that will work this in us. The apostle speaks here with a mighty fluency and copiousness of expression, and yet, at the same time, as if he wanted words to express the exceeding greatness of God’s almighty power, that power which God exerts towards his people, and by which he raised Christ from the dead, Eph_1:20. That indeed was the great proof of the truth of the gospel to the world: but the transcript of that in ourselves (our sanctification, and rising from the death of sin, in conformity to Christ’s resurrection) is the great proof to us. Though this cannot prove the truth of the gospel to another who knows nothing of the matter (there the resurrection of Christ is the proof), yet to be able to speak experimentally, as the Samaritans, “We have heard him ourselves, we have felt a mighty change in our hearts,” will make us able to say, with the fullest satisfaction, Now we believe, and are sure, that this is the Christ, the Son of God. Many understand the apostle here as speaking of that exceeding greatness of power which God will exert for raising the bodies of believers to eternal life, even the same mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him, etc. And how desirable a thing must it be to become at length acquainted with that power, by being raised out of the grave thereby unto eternal life!”
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I met with my brother for our weekly breakfast this morning. As usual, we meet more for the spiritual food than the physical food. We meet to exhort, encourage, and give grace to one another to press on to know and love Jesus and His Supremacy.
So I can’t think of a better way to close out this week’s Theological Mediation on the Resurrection than what my brother suggested, Ephesians 1:15-23 (specifically verses 16-20):
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love [6] toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
This week we have looked at many aspects of the Resurrection:
- The History and Necessity of the Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15
- The Gospels and the Resurrection accounts – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
- Believing that Jesus IS the Resurrection and the Life for those who believe He is – John 11
- Being Crucified, Buried, and Risen with Christ Jesus in His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection so that we may walk in newness of life killing our sin and living to righteousness by faith in Christ – Romans 6:1-14
Today I want to tackle this:
- Having the Eyes of our Hearts Enlightened that We May Know His Resurrection Power toward us who believe – Ephesians 1:14-23
Paul opens his letter to the church at Ephesus with a prayer thanking God for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for one another. They were joyfully obeying the two great commandments of Jesus: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Paul is encouraging them in their obedience.
But his prayer goes much deeper than just a heartfelt gratitude for their faith in love; it moves from gratitude and encouragement to an intimate prayer and desire for them to receive a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”. Paul knows that what the Ephesian church needs is not just encouragement to press on in their faith in love, but a spirit of wisdom and revelation to intimately know this Jesus that has called them and saved them and to know who they are now because of that calling.
How will they know they have received this spirit of wisdom and revelation? Paul answers this with his next phrase: “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened”. What an interesting phrase “the eyes of your hearts”. So apparently there are not just physical eyes but spiritual eyes too. We know this also from Jesus when he spoke of people as being “blind guides” and Pharisees as “seeing but not seeing” or “having eyes and ears but not seeing or hearing”. And when Jesus often says, “he who has an ear let him hear” or “he that has eyes let him see”. Was Jesus always talking to physically blind and deaf people? I don’t think so. The text says otherwise and suggests that Jesus was speaking of spiritual eyes and ears. Here in Ephesians, Paul captures this same truth asking that God may open the “eyes of their hearts” by enlightening them with the light of the knowledge of Him.
We must also not forget that it is God who gives this spirit of wisdom and revelation. The word “gives” implies that there is a Giver and that there is a gift. We do not attain it somehow by our working. But it must be given or granted to us by God. Interestingly here this happens through Paul’s interceding on our behalf.
So Paul prays for the believers that God may do something (give a spirit of wisdom and revelation) to cause something else to happen (the eyes of their hearts enlightened or illumined or go open) so that believers may do something (know three great things of Him). A powerful picture of God’s Sovereign Grace!
What does Paul ask that they know? I see three main things in the text, one of which is the topic of our discussion today:
- “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you”,
- “what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”,
- “and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”
These aren’t just small bits of intellectual information and spiritual facts. These are weighty glorious truths that Paul is praying these Ephesians have their hearts’ eyes enlightened to through this spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing Him.
Even though their faith in Christ Jesus and love for another was worthy of being thankful for, Paul still prays that they would truly “know” these truths. First that they would know the “hope to which he has called you”. Knowing this hope, that we have an eternal home of rest and joy in Christ Jesus, to which he has called us will give us strength and renew our faith in His faithfulness to keep His word. Second Paul asks that they may know “what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”. Wow, what a prayer! Paul wants these Ephesians to know just how rich and glorious it is to be a saint of God in Jesus Christ. That the treasure of being His and knowing Him is glorious. That what we inherit, namely the glory of God in Christ, is rich and glorious. That Jesus’ glorious inheritance in his saints is rich and full of splendor, majesty, and beauty. All other things are rubbish in comparison. Paul wants them and us to know that we are inheriting a wealthy glory of knowing and worshiping Jesus forever!
And finally Paul asks that they may know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe”. What power? The power that is “according the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come”. Now that’s a power to seek to know! And what’s really mind-blowing is not only is the greatness of his power “immeasurable”, but it is “toward us who believe”. This power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at God’s right hand in heaven, Supreme over all authorities and power, is the same power that is toward us “who believe”! Wow, how humbling and awesome this is!
The same immeasurably great power that raised Christ from death and placed Him next to God, reigning Sovereign, is the same power that is directed to us and in us if we believe! That’s the glorious, rich, and mysterious power of the resurrection in the life of the believer.
And Paul wants to reminds us that we possess this power and that we need to press on to know the immeasurable greatness of it. Its not enough to just receive this resurrection power through faith, but we must seek to know it, to truly and passionately know it. Like a husband knows his wife sexually, we must seek to know this power very intimately and passionately.
Paul prays that they may know the hope, inheritance, and power of being in the resurrected Christ! And to know that its not by us, but by “the working of His great might that He worked in Christ Jesus”. God is the one who did the work. His power did the work and now we receive that power and work through faith!
So today, saint, live and move in this resurrection power by faith. Trust that God is who He says He is; that He did what He said He would; and that He’ll do what He said He’ll do! Trust that the resurrection was not only a historic event but an eternally, spiritually significant foreordained plan. See the uniqueness of this event in the pages of the Gospels. Study them and know them intimately. Trust that Jesus was not only resurrected to life but IS the resurrection and the life. That means His work was resurrection and His person is resurrection. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). In Him we have hope of never dying, no fear of death. But of knowing that by faith we will see life when He returns. We are victorious over the grave by faith because He was victorious. Trust that by faith we have been already crucified, buried, and risen with Christ so that we can now walk in newness of life. That means we leave behind the old life of sin and death and now embrace who we are in Christ, alive to God living in submission to His righteousness. We must consider ourselves now dead to sin because we died to sin with Christ on the cross and now alive to God because we were risen with Him by God through faith!
And finally saint, seek to know intimately and have the eyes of your heart enlightened in the knowledge of Him and the hope of his calling, the inheritance of being his saint, and the immeasurable greatness of his resurrection power. Press on to know these great truths because they are true. Pray that your head and heart would be joined together in thinking and feeling and studying and burning these truths into your soul.
May God graciously grant you the grace to meditate on the truth and power of the resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ so that you will truly know this power and how immeasurably great it really is. May God grant you faith to believe these things and embrace them as your treasure! May God grant you wisdom to see that the resurrection power is what sustains you daily through faith in God and His Spirit working in us.
In light of this glorious resurrection of Christ Jesus that we trust in for past regeneration, present justification, and hope in for future glorification, how does it now effect us? How does it apply to us? What effects come from our faith in this resurrection of Jesus? How shall we now live in light of this truth?
Chiefly, the greatest effect of believing in the resurrection of Christ Jesus and God’s promise to therefore resurrect us in light of that belief, is that we “might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
How does this happen? If we were baptized by faith into Christ Jesus, then, as Romans 6:1-4 says, we “were baptized into his death”. Which means we were also “buried therefore with him”. How? The text says “by baptism into his death”. This means that when Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him like Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
So what does this mean? This means that through our faith, we were there at Calvary 2000 years ago. When Christ was crucified, we were too, that is our flesh. When he died, we died with Him and so did our sin. When He was buried, we were too through our baptism into Him by faith.
But thank God we are not left there dead and in the grave, when we deserved to be. No! God rose Christ from death, defeating the grave and conquering the enemy, graciously raising us with Him through our faith. But why? Why were we crucified and buried with Christ into His death and burial through our faith in Him? Why was our crucifixion and burial and death also necessary?
The text tells us: “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” (Romans 6:4).
Just like the old saying: He died that we might live! But now we are required to dig deeper into that truth with this: He died that we might die that He might live that we might live! His death —> our death (flesh). His burial —> our burial (through baptism). His resurrection and life —> our newness of life.
Now the question is, what does “walk in newness of life” really mean? Does it just mean we are now able to do spiritual things or think spiritually or simply just call ourselves “Christians”?
Again, the text tells us:
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
That’s our death from being crucified with Jesus!
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
That’s our baptism into His death through our faith.
4 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.
That’s our resurrection with Him.
5 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. 6 We know that our old self [1] 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. 7 For one who has died has been set free [2] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
That’s a Gospel Truth in action right there! Since our old self was crucified with Him so that our body of sin might be made rubbish, so that we are no longer the slaves of sin, therefore we are set free from sin. And if we have indeed died with Him, we will also live with Him. Since He died to sin and now lives to God, so we also must realized we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What is Paul telling us then as the reason as to why we had to be crucified, buried, and risen with Christ by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection? The answer is simple: to seek, kill, and destroy our sin! To stop living in our sin! That’s why we were crucified with Christ, so that “we may walk in newness of life”. That’s what it means. Because we are new: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. [6] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). To no longer live enslaved to sin obeying the lust of our flesh and indulging in fleshly things. Now that we have been given new life through Christ’s resurrection by our faith, we can and will now live for Christ and obey Him.
So ultimately our old self, our flesh, died with Christ at the cross. Then our old self was buried with Him through baptism by faith in His name. Then we were graciously given new life and the ability and desire to walk in this new life after His righteous grace and no longer after our sinful fleshly nature that wants to only sin and please sinfulness.
So the great effect of our resurrection with Christ by faith is that we no longer live a life of sin but are now dead to sin and alive to God, enabled to live unto righteousness obeying Him and pleasing Him.
Today’s Resurrection Quote from John Piper’s message, United with Christ in Death and Life, Part 1:
“If you are a Christian, God created a union between you and Christ, as verse 5 says. Because of this union, you died with Christ, when he died. Because you died, you are now free from the guilt and power of sin in your fullest and truest identity, that is, in your union with Christ. And because of this unshakable position and identity, you are already justified, and you are most certainly being sanctified, but you are not yet perfected. Therefore, confirm this great transaction by reckoning yourself to be what you really are in Christ.”
Today’s Resurrection Scripture: Romans 6:1-14
6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.
5 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. 6 We know that our old self [1] 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. 7 For one who has died has been set free [2] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
