Maybe you agree and maybe you will not; nevertheless, what D.A. Carson has to say will certainly make you think. This is an excerpt from the chapter "The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb: Revelation 12" from the book Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010).
"Do you ever have a day that runs something like this? You get up in the morning; it is drizzly and hot, and the air conditioner is broken. You reac hfor a clean, fresh pair of socks, and you can't find two that match. You stub your toe on that nail sticking out of the wall that you knew you shold have fixed about three years ago. You cut yourself while you are shaving. You stumble down to breakfast, and that day your wife is going out for a special meeting with her friends and has not done anything. You go out to the car, put your key in the ignition, and it will not start. You knew that you should have had the battery checked, and it is deader than a dodo. You get to work late, and people are saying rude things about you. Then your boss says, "Have you finished that report yet? You're stahying late tonight if you haven't." The whole day unfolds in one endless set of mini-irritants.
You have the opportunity to speak to some non-Christian friends--a neighbor, someone over the back fence, someone at the gas station--and you are already in such a sour frame that when they ask some dumb question about religion, you answer with a kind of curtness and condescending wit that leaves them shriveled up in a pile of embarrassment. You feel guilty, but you have done it now. Eventually you return home, and your wife has cooked the disgusting stew that your children like and that you detest. You cannot be civil to her, and she cannot be civil to you. The kids that night are not behaving particularly well. Your wife wants you to do a job, and you want to watch football.
Finally it is time for bed at the end of this long day, and your prayer runs something like this: "Dear God, this has been a rotten day. I'm not very proud of myself, I'm frankly ashamed. But I really don't have anything to say. I'm sorry I have not done better. Forgive my sin. Bless everybody in the world. Your will be done. In Jesus' name, Amen."
But then a few days later you wake up to find the air refreshingly cool. The sun is shining, the windows are open, the fresh air is wafting through the screen, and you hear the birds singing. You smell something delightful: "Bacon! I can't believe it! I wonder what the celebration is?" You get up and reach for clean socks and feel full of energy. You're whistling as you wash in the bathroom and then have a wonderful quiet time with your spouse. You eat a hearty breakfast and then go out to your car, put the key in the ignition, and VROOM!--the car starts right up and takes off. You get to work early. Everybody commends your industriousness and intelligence in the way you discharge your duties. Your boss says, "Wonderful to see you today! Did I tell you that you are going to get a raise? You did such a great job on that contract."
Now you come across that same person at the gas station, and wonder of wonders the poor brute actually asks you another question. This time, however, you respond with wisdom, tact, gentleness, understanding, courtesy, insight, and kindness. Lo and behold, he promises to come to church with you this coming Sunday. Then you arrive home, and there is a joyous family dinner. The kids are bhaving and you have intimate conversation with your wife while the two of you clean the dishes.
Finally, at the end of that day you get down to pray, and your prayer goes something like this: "Eternal and matchless God, we bow in your glorious presence with brokenness and gratitude. We bless you that in your infinite grace you have poured favor on us. We are not worthy of the least of your mercies. . ." And now you go on and on in flowery theological language. You thank God for all the things in the day, and then you pray for missionaries and their children and for cousins twice removed. Then you start praying for everyone you can think of in your church, and then you meditate on all the names of Christ that you can think of in Scripture. An hour goes by, and you go to bed and fall instantly asleep. Indeed, you go to sleep--justified.
On which of these two occasions have you fallen into the dreadful trap of pragmatism? God help us: the sad reality is that both approaches to God are abominations. How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil. This is works theology. It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing.
Do you not understand that we overcome the accuser on the ground of the blood of Christ? Nothing more, nothing less. That is how we win. It is the only way we win. This is the only ground of our acceptance before God. If you drift far from the cross you are done. You are defeated. We overcome the accuser of our brothers and sisters, we overcome our consciences, we overcome our bad tempers, we overcome our defeats, we overcome our lusts, we overcome our fears, we overcome our pettiness on the basis of the blood of the Lamb. We dare to approach a holy God praying in Jesus' name, appealing to the blood of the Lamb."
05 July, 2010
04 July, 2010
The Beautiful Exchange
The mechanism of my previous post is the exchange Christ made with on the cross. Good Friday is the real Independence Day for those who proclaim Jesus as Lord. Check out this video from the new Hillsong Album:
Yes You Can't
Perhaps the irony is not lost in the fact that the writer of a blog entitled "With Everything" would find "everything" competing for thinking and writing time. So I do apologize for not keeping up with the task set before me and being so divided. In this I would ask the prayer of those perusing this small nook of the internet for clarity of focus and dedication to the pursuit of Truth that the Holy Spirit has lain on my heart.
I have been meditating this week on a passage of Scripture found in the book of 2 Corinthians. This is what the Bible says, "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, ESV). The Apostle Paul concludes his thought a few verses by stating, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6, ESV).
Think about your past week in light of this Scriptural promise; no matter what your week was like, the Bible says that in the midst of it God in Christ was leading you in a triumphal procession and spreading the fragrant aroma of Christ to God to those around you! This is a stunning claim -- for me, this passage comes in the light of the unexpected and sudden diagnosis and subsequent death of a dear friend and man I deeply admired, John Miles. However, our own perception of reality does not negate the Truth of what the Bible says is our actual reality "In Christ."
The picture given here by the Apostle is that of a Roman triumphal procession given for the populace by a victorious general or emperor. The conquering official would lead a procession to the Senate consisting of the captured leader, captured men and women and children, animals, possessions, captured religious tokens, etc. This spectacle was designed to humiliate the defeated and to exalt the victorious. The surviving "Arch of Titus" in Rome depicts the victory procession of Hebrew captives and the objects from the temple including the great menorah and other temple treasures following the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. This is the idea stated to be a True fact by the Apostle Paul. The Bible says we are always led in triumph by God in Christ.
Furthermore the Bible says that "we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life . . ." Notice that the Bible does not give us a choice in the matter. If we take the name of Christ, this is what God will do with us. Much like one of those plug in air fresheners that is plugged into the wall and then diffuses a scent out of design, we have been plugged into Christ and diffuse a scent. We have no choice in the matter because this is the divine design for each and every human being fashioned in the image of Christ.
But how many of us have let our oil run out? I have an empty plug in air freshener that has been in the wall of my office for probably eight or ten months just cooking away empty. That is probably the picture of many of our lives and certainly my own many times. This is when you and I feel like a failure and are many times tempted to give up. Now here is why the Psalmist wrote, "the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:9-10, NIV)
The Bible simultaneously states that we are an aroma regardless of choice--it is the doing of God Himself--and also that actually are not sufficient for this task. The Apostle Paul asks, "and who is sufficient for these things?" Right now I'm thinking of the movie/cartoon Madagascar and the less than brilliant lemur, Mort, jumping up and down and saying, "Me, me, I'm steak, I'm steak!" (If you have no idea what I'm talking about go and rent Madagascar. You'll thank me for it.)
Even the great Apostle was forced to admit--many more times than just here--that no person is sufficient in and of themselves but that our sufficiency comes directly from God Himself. That should make every one of us jump up and down and shout "Amen!" This Truth is sweeter than the sweetest thing imaginable and more precious than the finest gold.
Yes, you and I can't. We really can't. And this is OK. It is the way things are. And there is nothing you or I can do about it because in and of ourselves we are totally insufficient. Jesus Himself said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) But in the same breath the Bible says, "our sufficiency is from God who has made us competent . . ." And we are not competent to be great business people, great fathers and mothers, great sons and daughters, great musicians and lay people, great car mechanics or anything else. We have been made competent ministers of a new covenant. Maybe this is why we feel like failures much of the time --- because we are trying to be competent at things God has not made us competent to be. Am I looking to be minister of the new covenant first, or a competent car mechanic first? This thought can be taken into any realm of life.
I am getting long-winded here so I will close with this thought from D.A. Carson's book Scandalous: The Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010). He writes,
"Christians today will understand that biblically authentic Christianity is never merely a matter of rules and regulations, of public liturgy and private morality. Biblical Christianity results in transformed men and women--men and women who, because of the power of the Spirit of God, enjoy regenerated natures. We want to please God, we want to be holy, we want to confess Jesus is Lord. In short, because of the grace secured by Christ's cross, we ourselves experience something of a transforming moral imperative: the sins we once loved we learn to fear and hate, the obedience and holiness we once despised we no hunger for. God help us, we are woefully inconsistent in all this, but we have already tasted enough of the powers of the age to come that we know what a transforming moral imperative feels like in our lives, and we long for its perfection at the final triumph of Christ."
Yes, you can't. And that is OK. But in Him, you can, and are! Praise be to God in and through Christ Jesus!
I have been meditating this week on a passage of Scripture found in the book of 2 Corinthians. This is what the Bible says, "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, ESV). The Apostle Paul concludes his thought a few verses by stating, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6, ESV).
Think about your past week in light of this Scriptural promise; no matter what your week was like, the Bible says that in the midst of it God in Christ was leading you in a triumphal procession and spreading the fragrant aroma of Christ to God to those around you! This is a stunning claim -- for me, this passage comes in the light of the unexpected and sudden diagnosis and subsequent death of a dear friend and man I deeply admired, John Miles. However, our own perception of reality does not negate the Truth of what the Bible says is our actual reality "In Christ."
The picture given here by the Apostle is that of a Roman triumphal procession given for the populace by a victorious general or emperor. The conquering official would lead a procession to the Senate consisting of the captured leader, captured men and women and children, animals, possessions, captured religious tokens, etc. This spectacle was designed to humiliate the defeated and to exalt the victorious. The surviving "Arch of Titus" in Rome depicts the victory procession of Hebrew captives and the objects from the temple including the great menorah and other temple treasures following the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. This is the idea stated to be a True fact by the Apostle Paul. The Bible says we are always led in triumph by God in Christ.
Furthermore the Bible says that "we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life . . ." Notice that the Bible does not give us a choice in the matter. If we take the name of Christ, this is what God will do with us. Much like one of those plug in air fresheners that is plugged into the wall and then diffuses a scent out of design, we have been plugged into Christ and diffuse a scent. We have no choice in the matter because this is the divine design for each and every human being fashioned in the image of Christ.
But how many of us have let our oil run out? I have an empty plug in air freshener that has been in the wall of my office for probably eight or ten months just cooking away empty. That is probably the picture of many of our lives and certainly my own many times. This is when you and I feel like a failure and are many times tempted to give up. Now here is why the Psalmist wrote, "the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:9-10, NIV)
The Bible simultaneously states that we are an aroma regardless of choice--it is the doing of God Himself--and also that actually are not sufficient for this task. The Apostle Paul asks, "and who is sufficient for these things?" Right now I'm thinking of the movie/cartoon Madagascar and the less than brilliant lemur, Mort, jumping up and down and saying, "Me, me, I'm steak, I'm steak!" (If you have no idea what I'm talking about go and rent Madagascar. You'll thank me for it.)
Even the great Apostle was forced to admit--many more times than just here--that no person is sufficient in and of themselves but that our sufficiency comes directly from God Himself. That should make every one of us jump up and down and shout "Amen!" This Truth is sweeter than the sweetest thing imaginable and more precious than the finest gold.
Yes, you and I can't. We really can't. And this is OK. It is the way things are. And there is nothing you or I can do about it because in and of ourselves we are totally insufficient. Jesus Himself said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) But in the same breath the Bible says, "our sufficiency is from God who has made us competent . . ." And we are not competent to be great business people, great fathers and mothers, great sons and daughters, great musicians and lay people, great car mechanics or anything else. We have been made competent ministers of a new covenant. Maybe this is why we feel like failures much of the time --- because we are trying to be competent at things God has not made us competent to be. Am I looking to be minister of the new covenant first, or a competent car mechanic first? This thought can be taken into any realm of life.
I am getting long-winded here so I will close with this thought from D.A. Carson's book Scandalous: The Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010). He writes,
"Christians today will understand that biblically authentic Christianity is never merely a matter of rules and regulations, of public liturgy and private morality. Biblical Christianity results in transformed men and women--men and women who, because of the power of the Spirit of God, enjoy regenerated natures. We want to please God, we want to be holy, we want to confess Jesus is Lord. In short, because of the grace secured by Christ's cross, we ourselves experience something of a transforming moral imperative: the sins we once loved we learn to fear and hate, the obedience and holiness we once despised we no hunger for. God help us, we are woefully inconsistent in all this, but we have already tasted enough of the powers of the age to come that we know what a transforming moral imperative feels like in our lives, and we long for its perfection at the final triumph of Christ."
Yes, you can't. And that is OK. But in Him, you can, and are! Praise be to God in and through Christ Jesus!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
