Against Nature

Too often the Christian life is approached on the basis of the way things seem to work in the natural order. This is not entirely incorrect in that we do in fact live in this world and are subject the laws and maxims of the natural order...at least as far as the perishable aspects of our lives are concerned.

Therefore, if you jump off a high enough building, you will die. No matter how much you believe that you will not get hurt-no matter how much 'faith' you muster up thinking that you will rise above it all...you will die. Because, having faith, walking by faith, and believing, is not about overthrowing the physical order of things. It is not the primary faculty by which we interface with the natural order.

This is not to say that faith does not inform the way we interface with the natural order, nor that it will not actually affect our behavior in relation to the natural order. It is simply a statement that faith is about, and engages us in, the unseen, spiritual realities of life. It concerns our souls much more directly than it does our bodies (although our bodies will often manifest the results of our faith).

This is why "faith healings" and the whole "Faith Movement" is so wrong. It takes the instrument of faith-which God grants for believing upon Jesus Christ for the salvation of our souls-and makes it primarily an instruments for gaining success or longevity for our bodies. This is not only a miss use of a precious gift, it is the denial and downplaying of a glorious future hope...that hope being the resurrection and transformation of our bodies.

Walking by faith is essentially living (in this life and in our bodies now) in light of the realities of our new identity in Jesus Christ and the blessing promised to us "in Him". That against what we might see around us-that the wicked prosper, people live and then die...never to live again, that to gain you must trample over others, etc.-there is another order, another "kingdom" that this present age will give way to. It is living like we are part of that order-because in Christ we are-and thus living "against nature" in the present evil age.

Faith then is our ability-God given-to reach up into the unseen realm and grasp hold of the realities of the coming age. It is the instrument by which we lay hold of Christ-our Savior, Lord, and life. It is that grace which enables us to live "against nature", but while within it. Not "against" it in the sense of hovering instead of walking, claiming instead of working, believing instead of going to a doctor. But "against" it in the sense of-because of our union with Jesus Christ-we have died to sin and no longer can live in it, valuing now God's glory instead of our own well-being, and seeing death as the doorway into closer union with Jesus Christ because once we die, we will then receive the outcome of our faith...the redemption of our bodies.

Ephesians 2:1-10

I came to saving faith in Jesus Christ, by way of a sermon by Dr. Martin Llyod-Jones on this glorious text, and each time I preach from it I get emotional. Those who know me know I am not an emotional person. I usually have cold hands, which I kiddingly say, comes from having a cold heart. But each time I think about the plight of man (and being a man myself), and then the power of God to save, I am brought back to that time of awe and wonder when my eyes were finally opened. Paul strips us of our individualism in this passage, first noting that this is a universal problem (not just Dave's problem), but also showing that we are condemned in Adam...not ultimately upon what we have or haven't done. It is in light of this wrath-deserving state, that we read in 2:4, "But God..." His rich mercy and great love sent His Son to secure redemption for sinners like me.

I preached this message to my congregation this morning, and I got choked-up, again...

Imputation & Adoption

I am beginning to study the connection between the imputation of Christ's righteousness (His "active" obedience), and our own adoption as sons and daughters of God. Last Lord's Day I preached on this theme from Luke 23:46-48 saying:

There is a theme that runs through the NT, and it is particularly seen in a careful study of the Gospels, and that is the theme of righteousness and sonship. We see it as Jesus cries out, “Father” implying that He is the Son, but, it might be that that connection is in no other place made more clearly than right here at the place of the declaration of this centurion. For you see, both Matthew and Mark tells us that when the centurion saw these things he declared, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54; Mk. 15:39).

That is, to declare that Jesus is innocent or righteous—which again, we need to remember, is justification language...this is the word dikaos—is to declare Him to be the Son of God. Another place that we can see this connection is at Jesus' baptism when the Father declared from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” (Lk. 3:22)—that again, is the pairing of righteousness and sonship.

This connection between righteousness and sonship is further tied to that theme found throughout the Scriptures that to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22; cf. Heb. 10:5-10). You see, God delights in obedience to His will. When He created Adam as His Son (Lk. 3:38), He delighted in him as long as he was obedient to Him. Thus, sometimes we refer to the Covenant of Works as the Covenant of Sonship. But Sonship and the demand for obedience are not mutually exclusive...rather they are necessitated by each other.

And now that mankind has fallen into sin, God is still looking for positive, active obedience, as well as the sin-necessitated, passive obedience of sacrifice. And therefore, He sent His Son—the righteous One—to live and die in the place of His people, so that they too might take part in this sonship again—that is, that they too might now receive that adopted status of “children of God”. Because, that status is entirely tied to innocence and righteousness.

Now, why this is important to us is because our salvation—in the full scope and picture of it— depends upon the obedience of Jesus Christ as well as His sin-bearing. You see Adam was to inherit eternal life by His filial or sonship obedience. That is, he would confirm himself and his posterity in the glorious state of unlosable sonship if he would image his Father—simply be who he was. Because, in God's economy, inheritance is based upon sonship, and sonship is based upon resemblance. Therefore, it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ—His innocence—that gives us the right to our heavenly reward—eternal life—and the title of sonship.

I was asked by some folks after the service about where they could go to find more on this connection. I turned one young man to John L. Girardeau's Discussions on Theological Topics and the final chapter entitled "The Doctrine of Adoption". But then, look what I found in Calvin's Of The Necessity of Reforming The Church Book II:

First, we maintain, that of what description soever any man's works may be, he is regarded as righteous before God, simply on the footing of gratuitous mercy; because God, without any respect to works, freely adopts him in Christ, by imputing the righteousness of Christ to him, as if it were his own. This we call the righteousness of faith, viz., when a man, made void and empty of all confidence in works, feels convinced that the only ground of his acceptance with God is a righteousness which is wanting to himself, and is borrowed from Christ. The point on which the world always goes astray, (for this error has prevailed in almost every age,) is in imagining that man, however partially defective he may be, still in some degree merits the favour of God by works. But Scripture declares, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." Under this curse must necessarily lie all who are judged by works—none being exempted save those who entirely renounce all confidence in works, and put on Christ, that they may be justified in Him, by the gratuitous acceptance of God. The ground of our justification, therefore, is, that God reconciles us to himself, from regard not to our works, but to Christ alone, and, by gratuitous adoption, makes us, instead of children of wrath, to be his own children. So long as God looks to our works, he perceives no reason why he ought to love us. Wherefore, it is necessary to bury our sins, and impute to us the obedience of Christ, (because the only obedience which can stand his scrutiny,) and adopt us as righteous through His merits. This is the clear and uniform doctrine of Scripture, "witnessed," as Paul says, "by the law and the prophets," (Rom. iii. 21;) and so explained by the gospel, that a clearer law cannot be desired. Paul contrasts the righteousness of the law with the righteousness of the gospel, placing the former in works, and the latter in the grace of Christ, (Rom. x. 5, &c.) he does not divide it into two halves, giving works the one, and Christ the other; but he ascribes it to Christ entirely, that we are judged righteous in the sight of God.

Well...I will be writing more on this in future posts, but I think that this is an underdeveloped aspect of the work of Christ, and an underdeveloped connection between righteousness and sonship...

Thoughts on Backsliding

Luke chapter 22 is an interesting study in the phenomena of backsliding. Backsliding is when a Christian moves backwards instead of forwards in their walk of faith. In this chapter we see some particular actions and heart attitudes that are typically found in those who grow cold and fall into sin. These are seen in the disciples words and actions, and particularly in Peter's life.

To begin with, we want to notice the pride that was shown to be in the disciples' hearts back in verse 24. Jesus had just revealed that He would give His life for them—that His body would be torn and His blood would be shed—and instead of being deeply moved and humbled by this revelation, they begin to argue about who is the greatest among them.

Following this, Jesus tells Peter that he will be attacked by the devil but not to fret because He will be praying for him and will restore him after he falls. Instead of being humbled by this revelation Peter swells with pride and asserts that he will never deny the Lord, but is ready to die for Him. Jesus tells him that before the rooster will crow that very day, Peter will have denied Him 3 times...before the end of this chapter, self-assured Peter will deny Christ rather than be honest with a slave girl.

The next thing we see is the Apostles hearing the Word of Christ, as pertaining to only their earthly lives. Jesus has spoken about the coming change of situation and the spiritual trials that they will face, but all they can think about—as has been the case throughout Christ's ministry—are things that concern the immediate issues of life. They are not hearing the spiritual message—things which concern the eternal—rather they are only hearing an earthly lesson—things which pertain merely to the temporal.

In the section which records Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see their lack of prayer. Jesus had warned them that hard trials are coming and therefore they needed to be in prayer, and yet they did not heed His warning. They show no spiritual discipline in their lives—no willingness to forgo their own comfort for Kingdom concerns—and thus instead of praying we find them sleeping.

Next, as the mob comes to arrest Jesus we observe them pull swords and cut off the servant’s ear. What we are see here is that they resort to earthly measures in the midst of trial. The hour has come and instead of relaying on the power of God, they put their trust in their own strength and seek to bring deliverance by their own measures.

And finally, as we read in verse 54 as the case was with Peter, he was following Him at a distance. Although this is a factual description of Peter's proximity to Christ as He is being led away, it is also descriptive of the backslider's method of operation. They comfort themselves with the thought that they are following Christ, but they are really far from Him, only following Him, as it were, at a distance. And when one follows Christ only at a distance, they fall into the practice that we see Peter engaged in here—hanging out with bad company—and then eventually falling from Christ.

Again, in review, the process of backsliding as we see it presented in this chapter is:

1.Pride in the heart—thinking we are better than we really are—an inflated view of our own greatness and superiority to others.

2.Not believing and heeding the Word of God as it speaks to our weakness—this flows out of a heart of pride, and disregards or does not take deadly serious what the Bible says about our sinfulness and weakness.

3.Using the Word of God as a self-help manual for our earthly concerns—this too flows from the first 2, for when you think highly of yourself and disregard the Bible's teaching about your sinfulness and need of salvation, you will not be looking for a Savior, but instead you will be looking for tips on self-improvement, life motivation, or psychological insights.

4.Neglecting the means of grace and spiritual disciplines like prayer—you see, when you misunderstand your real need, you will most likely employ and elevate the wrong measures to help yourself. Prayer makes no sense if your real need, as you perceive it, is self-improvement. You don't need time alone with God, you need time in front of a mirror. And a 'mirror' can come in many forms.

5.Resorting to worldly ways and methods and helps in trials—you see, this too flows out of what has come previously, because if you do not perceive your problem to be radical, to the core, sin and alienation from God—if you think you're pretty good and that all you need is to simply clean yourself up, then you will seek some superficial measure to help your problem. Normally this involves resorting to totally worldly methods of self-improvement or 'mirrors' in some form or another. It might be a small group therapy session, it might be devotional methodology, it might be a specific person—other than Christ—that you look to, to help you improve.

6.Following Christ only at a distance and hanging out with bad company—this too follows what has come before. Whether by outright worldliness or by putting your stock in a human measure or method—versus the ordained means of grace—we drift away from Christ. We pull back and away from Him and He gets further and further away from our view. Our tastes change, our habits morph, and the company we keep shows where our hearts really are. And do not fool yourself, bad company comes in various forms—movies, music, friends, magazines, books, websites, etc.

This is the recipe for spiritual disaster. This is the path that the disciples walked down in this chapter. These are the practices that led to Peter's denial.

Now, the means of avoiding backsliding, and the way to continue to move forward in your growth in grace, is exactly the opposite of each of these:

1.Humble yourself before God
2.Heed what the Word says about your weakness
3.Look to the Word as a revelation of your true need: Christ and His salvation
4.Attend yourself to the means of the grace—those which God calls you to, not those you think you need—and specifically, and especially, private prayer
5.Walk by faith, and not by sight—you will have to trust God and His promises...not your own intuition and wisdom
6.Draw near to Christ, seek to follow Him closely, and avoid bad company

The Protestant Reformation (Part 2)

There were two main products, or recoveries that come from the Reformation:  The Gospel and pure Worship.  And while most RIGHTLY look back to the Reformation as a time when the Church recovered a clear articulation of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, it is in fact, John Calvin in his, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, who argues that even as important as justification by faith alone is, it is still the pure worship of God that is the most important.

Rome had polluted both the Gospel and the Worship of God by adding to what God had given.  In the Gospel, they made the fatal error of putting sanctification (i.e. the process of becoming more righteous) before justification (i.e. the declaration of the verdict 'not guilty').  This effectively turned justification, which biblically is a singular, one-time, ACT, into a PROCESS.  And particularly a process that conditioned justification upon a persons righteousness.  That is, we must first be sanctified in order to be justified.

But the glorious truth of the Gospel is that God justifies the UNGOLDY.  It is "good news" to sinners...not to saints.  People who are well do not need a physician...but those who are sick do.  Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  But Rome had said that salvation is something that you must work out and attain to.  The Reformation recovered the free grace of the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And, as with the Gospel, the Reformation recovered pure worship, meaning, that they took away all the additions that had been added to what God had given.  The smells and bells, the new inovations that sought to make the worshipper feel like he or she was in the presence of God, etc.  The rule of worship that the Reformers found in Scripture is that we should only do what God commmands.  That is, whatever is not commanded is forbidden to be added to our worship.

This was a great relief to those who desired to draw near to God on His terms, but were greatly hindered by Romes props, etc.  Jesus called for worship that was in Spirit and Truth, and this is what the Reformation sought to return to.

The Protestant Reformation

The Reformation was an amazing time in the history of the Christian Church.  All at the same time it was a rebuke, a recovery, and a rupture.  Rome had blown it and needed rebuking.  The Gospel had been buried and needed recovering.  But, neither of these necessities could happen without struggle, pain, and consequences...a rupture.  On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany, and never again would the world be the same.  From that hammer blow came Calvin, Zwingli, and Knox; the clearest articulation of the Gospel of free grace ever formulated by the Church; the purest manner of worship after the Apostles.  But today, as we sit back and ponder the finer points of theology, we forget that the Reformation struggle, which America owes its' existance from, was one to the death.  These were not the days of endless and meaningless Ph.D.s, prolific self-publishing and self-promotion, or internet chat groups.  When you came to a conviction, it would most likely mean your life.  This is why I tend to trust the Reformers more than today's psuedo-scholars.

More to come...