Looking Back, Looking Ahead, Pressing On: Giving Thanks for 10 Years of DGCC

Ten years ago we held our first public service as Desiring God Community Church. This weekend, we celebrate God’s faithfulness over this decade under the theme, “Looking Back, Looking Ahead, Pressing On: Gospel Ministry for the Joy of our City and the Nations.”

As we prepare for the weekend activities, give thanks together with me:

  • To John Piper for bringing in to sharp focus the biblical command to pursue our greatest joy in God;
  • To Kenny Stokes, for friendship and prayers, humble service and effective leadership;
  • To Amanda Knoke for her initial boldness in suggesting a Charlotte church plant, and for dedicated, enthusiastic service to realize that dream;
  • To Matt and Michelle, Jacob and Karen, Scotty and Lisa, Jim and Michele, and Erica, for following God’s call to go out from DGCC long term for the joy of the nations and the glory of our Savior;
  • To Vijay Sastry, Paul Chintada, P. Swamy, Caleb Rayapati, Johnson and Babu, Shadrach, Thomas, Stephen, and Elijah for partnership in Gospel ministry for the joy of the peoples of India;
  • To Rio, Renata, Alicia, Ali, and Rosemary, for partnership in Gospel ministry for the joy of the peoples of Indonesia;
  • To Steve and Paula Rumsey, for ten years of friendship and quiet, faithful, God-glorifying service to our King;
  • To Fred Balbuena, for seven years of co-laboring for the Gospel, always faithful, exemplifying a servant heart;
  • To Ed Conrad for his willingness to move hundreds of miles to help fulfill a biblical vision, and for the deep love that he constantly displays for God’s people as he helps all the rest of us fulfill that vision;
  • To Karl Dauber for his friendship and wise counsel;
  • To my parents and Beth’s parents for constant support, love, and prayers through the risks and uncertainties of church planting;
  • To Kevin and May, Sunil and Jerlin, Johnson and Vimala, Mike and Lily, George, Bruno, and many others over the years who have crossed language and ethnic boundaries to become a part of DGCC, fulfilling what we wrote on the front of our first Sunday morning bulletin in March, 2003:

God is calling us to establish a church that builds true, joyful community among believers from the many people-groups God has brought to the Charlotte area. We thus aim to be a church of the nations, with ministries to the nations, both those in Charlotte and around the world.

  • To present members of DGCC who today are living out this biblical vision more and more fully month by month, year by year;
  • To past members of DGCC who labored diligently, prayed wholeheartedly, gave sacrificially, and served faithfully over this last decade;
  • To Beth, for standing beside me and supporting me, for correcting me and calling me to account, for constant love and faithful partnership, for wisdom and grace, firmness and gentleness, in all circumstances of our life together: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, by God’s grace and in constant dependence on Him;
  • To God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son: For the great privilege of being part of a body of believers – a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession – brought together to proclaim with great joy the excellencies of the One Who called us out of the darkness we deserved into His marvelous light. Continue to use us, O Father, over this next decade, to spread that Gospel for the joy of the undeserving and the glory of Your Name, here in Charlotte and around the world.

What Has Straw in Common With Wheat?

Are you hungry? Why don’t you go collect grass clippings from your lawn, pile them up on your plate, and sit down to a sumptuous feast?

Doesn’t that sound appealing?

Which would you choose: That plate of grass clippings, or a loaf of piping hot bread, right from the oven?

Jeremiah tells us that the Word of God is like wheat, and any other words of advice, of counsel, of experience, are like grass, like straw. The Word of God is that much more valuable than all other words.

Does that image reflect the relative value you give the Word of God compared to other voices?

The image comes from the prophet Jeremiah. God gave him a difficult message to deliver to the nation: The Babylonians would come and destroy Jerusalem. The Lord God would bring about this punishment because of centuries of rebellion against Him.

Jeremiah faithfully delivered the message.

But many other false prophets were telling the people that all would be fine: They said the attacking Babylonian army would depart, the exiles who had been taken away to Babylon a few years earlier would return, and the kingdom would be secure. They claimed to have received dreams from God revealing these truths.

In response to these false dreams of the false prophets, God says through Jeremiah:

Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:28-29)

The prophets’ dreams were like straw, like grass – like that plateful of grass clippings. Those dreams provided no nourishment. As God says a few verses later, “They do not profit this people at all” (Jeremiah 23:32).

In contrast, God’s Word is like wheat: Nourishing; satisfying; filling; sustaining.

And no one would mistake straw for wheat! No one would pick up grass clippings and think, “Oh, let me grind this up to make fresh flour!”

Just so – if we have eyes to see – there is a stark difference in value between the Word of God and other writings that claim authority.

Daily, hourly, minute by minute, words pound against our ears and messages present themselves to our eyes, saying: Buy this! Vote for that! Advocate this! Write a letter about that! Heal your relationships via this technique! Get your life together through that miracle cure! Make a million through this investment! Become attractive through these clothes! Become healthy via this exercise regime!

Among all those messages, some are totally false. Some are harmful. Some, on the other hand, are useful in one way or another.

But in comparison to the truths God graciously provides us in His Word, all of those are straw. All are a pile of grass clippings, compared to the satisfying, fragrant, filling bread of His Word.

And the bread is not just for our personal consumption! His Word, says the Lord, is like “a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.” Picture a sledgehammer, shattering the concrete barriers we have erected between us and God. God’s Word breaks through those barriers, leaving us “exposed to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Exposed, we can only fall on our faces before Him, humbly seeking the forgiveness He offers through Jesus Christ.

So we must proclaim that Word, so that it might have its intended, shattering effect.

Now, the effect of that proclamation is often not pleasant. Indeed, when the sledgehammer is at work, hearers may oppose the Word harshly. This was the case with Jeremiah. He was thrown in prison more than once for speaking God’s Word. He was even tempted to quit speaking. But God would not let him. Jeremiah writes,

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot (Jeremiah 20:9).

God’s Word is like a fire. It burns within us. Like the Yosemite wildfire, it spreads and spreads. We can’t hold it in. We can’t contain it. We must speak it.

Many pastors have applied these verses to the preaching ministry. Indeed, my prayers prior to preaching almost always echo Jeremiah 23:29.

But the Word should be a fire in every one of God’s people. The Word is a hammer, breaking the rock into pieces, whenever any Christian faithfully speaks that Word to others.

So, first: value God’s Word above all the other voices you hear – consider it like a hot loaf of fresh bread compared to grass clippings. Second, remember that it is like a sledgehammer, which will break down the barriers we erect between ourselves and God. Finally: that Word is a fire within us – it must come out!

May we speak that Word faithfully and fully – so that all might know the difference between straw and wheat.

Reflections on Parenthood and Letting Go

On Saturday, Beth and I left Joel at Chapel Hill. We have now sent six children off to college. Our once rarely-quiet home has become mostly-quiet. Years of always being asked to read a book or rub a back or play “Dangerous Criminals” (or Uno or Quiddler or Knockout or Superfluous Ball or Friscup) have ended. We miss all our children – though at this point, we especially miss Joel. Oh, we miss what we would do with him; but we also miss just knowing he is in the house – knowing that at any moment we might smell his coffee or see him reading or hear him walk in the door. Yes, we can always call (and thankfully phone calls and Skype are so much easier than only a few years ago), but what we miss is not only talking, but, in part, just being. Being together.

For those of you who have not yet said goodbye to a child: It doesn’t get any easier. Daughters, perhaps, are harder than sons, but the fifth boy was as hard as the first.

Eleven years on from leaving our eldest at college, we see more clearly than ever the joys of having adult children: The continued partnership in life, the sharing of what we each learn about marriage and jobs and family, and especially the sweetness of a granddaughter asking, “Will you read Piggy in a Puddle to me, Papa?”

So we know that leaving Joel at Chapel Hill is a necessary and important step toward that future, deep relationship.

Nevertheless, no matter how much you tell yourself that this is a step you have been preparing your child for all his life, no matter how much you know that she is the Lord’s not yours, no matter how confident you are in his relative wisdom and solid faith, no matter how happy you are about her choice of college – sending a child off surprisingly feels like Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart – your abdomen is open and someone is cutting away at your guts.

But as Michael Gerson recently wrote, one of the very best things about life is having “a short stage in another’s story:” The great privilege of watching elbows and feet poke against Mommy’s abdomen; the responsibility of feeding, protecting, and providing for a helpless infant; the joy of watching a toddler take a few steps, stumble and try again; the warmth of a sleepy child cuddling in your arms; the laughter of family gatherings; the mischievous smiles of boys, covered in mud, running toward their mother; the times day after day reading God’s Word, as well as reading One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and The Narnian Chronicles and The Lord of the Rings and The Tempest and David Copperfield. The struggle of disciplining in love; the confessions when discipline is too harsh; the long discussions with a teen struggling with the opening act of adulthood; the look of accomplishment the first time a boy beats his daddy (without handicaps!) in ping pong, or HORSE or running; the sweetness of porch time on a summers evening; the hours and hours over the years spent together in prayer.

We long for such days to continue. To never come to end. To be permanent.

C.S. Lewis suggests that this longing for permanence indicates that we are made for another existence: An existence which, indeed, will last forever and ever – where there will be no more time limits, no rush to go on to the next pressing responsibility.

Perhaps he’s right. But this week I’ve focused on a different possible parallel – a parallel between the parent’s pain of separation and God the Father’s pain. Is there a reflection, at least slight, in the parent’s pain of the pain the Father experienced at the cross? The Apostle John tells us, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.” He loved – and so He gave. He gave up. He lost something.

We sometimes think that, while Jesus experienced pain at the cross, God the Father did not. He planned the event; He knew clearly the outcome of this mission. But as we’ve noted, parents often know that leaving home is the right decision, with all sorts of future joys conditional on that step – and yet we feel great pain. Is God the Father’s pain somewhat similar? Did He feel pain, seeing His Son suffer, seeing His Son take on Himself the wrath appropriate for punishing all the sins of all those who would ever believe in Him, seeing the mysterious separation between the Son and Himself – even though He knew this was His perfect plan to redeem a people for Himself?

I don’t know. But I do know that I am incredibly grateful to God – and to Beth, my superb partner in parenting – for the privilege of 30 years of raising children in our home. It does, at this point, seem a short stage in their lives. We say to them what Paul said to the Ephesian elders when he never expected to see them again: “Now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

I look forward to those brief, future times when we can once again come together as a family. And I long all the more for the Final Day, when all God’s lost and separated children will be brought together to rejoice in Him, to delight in God’s work in one another, and to live out for eternity the joys of life in an intimate family – the true joy that was reflected in our intimate earthly family for a few, short decades.

Die to Self to Gain True Life

[In this Sunday’s sermon we’ll consider a key turning point in the Gospel of Mattew: Jesus tells His disciples for the first time that He will be put to death, and will rise again. He then commands His disciples similarly to take up the cross, to die to self, so that they might find true life. This devotion is taken from a sermon preached in 1999 on the parallel passage in Mark 8. Ponder and pray over our Lord’s words, and petition Him so to work on Sunday that we might follow Him wholeheartedly, and thereby become what He created us to be – Coty]

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mark 8:27-33)

Think about what Peter and Jesus are saying here: Peter says: “Jesus is the Messiah; He can’t be killed by the Jewish leaders.” But Jesus says: “Because I am the Messiah, I must be killed by the Jewish leaders. The role of the Messiah is not what you think. The Messiah comes into the world to die.” . . .

34 And He summoned the multitude with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. 36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 “For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:34-37)

Jesus here extends that principle to all of his disciples. What is true of the master is true of the disciples also. Jesus must die in order to become what God intended; his followers must die also, they too must take up a cross, they too must lose themselves in order to become what God intends them to be.

What does Jesus mean by these expressions: “deny himself. . . take up his cross . . . lose his life for My sake and the gospel’s . . . forfeit his soul”?

Through the last two millennia these expressions have been misunderstood time and again. Some have interpreted them to mean we should inflict pain on ourselves, and thus become more righteous. Living in a culture that goes to great lengths to avoid all types of pain, our particular temptation is rather different. We are tempted to interpret this in such a way that it applies to other people, but not ourselves. We might say that this means, “You must be willing to die physically for me, rather than deny me, when your life is threatened.” So theoretically we’re all willing to make the good confession like Cassie Bernall at Columbine High; but probably none of us here this morning will ever be in that particular position. So that’s a nice, safe way to interpret the verse.

But Jesus here is saying something that affects all of us, not only those who face intense persecution. And he certainly is not telling us to inflict pain on ourselves purposefully. What is he saying?

One key to understanding this passage is to recognize (as noted in the NIV textual footnote) that the same Greek word is used for both “life” and “soul” in verses 35-37. This is the word which is more commonly translated “soul;” it is not the usual word for “life,” for life in contrast to death. Instead, this word emphasizes your individual life, your particular needs and wants, what makes you you. The difference between these two words comes out in John 10:10-11, where Jesus says:

I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

In verse 10, “life” is the usual word; Jesus came to make alive those who are spiritually dead. He contrasts life with death. But in verse 11, Jesus says the good shepherd lays down his life — that is, his “soul,” all that he is, his personal self, his wants and desires — he lays down all this for his sheep. That is the idea in Mark 8.

So in Mark 8:34-37 Jesus says:

“If you want to follow Me, you must first deny yourself, and take up your cross — you must die to yourself; only then can you truly follow Me. 35 “For if you want to hold on to what makes you you in this world, you shall never become what God intends you to be; but if you give up what you think makes you you for My sake and the gospel’s, you shall become what God intends you to be. 36 “For what does it profit you to gain everything the world has to offer and to actualize what you think you should be, if you then forfeit what your Creator intends you to be? For what shall you give in exchange for the very thing that truly makes you you, the essence of who you are?

Jesus himself is headed toward a physical death – and then a resurrection to a glorious new life in a new body. Just so, He tells us to die to self – so that we can become what God intends us to be, perfect in Him.

The Great Love With Which He Loved Me

[This is an excerpt from a post by John Piper on the DG Blog on July 30. I encourage you to follow the link to read the post in its entirety. To explore this issue further, I highly recommend Don Carson’s book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. Note that Pastor John will preach at the DGCC 10th Anniversary Service on September 8 – Coty]

I want believers in Christ to enjoy being loved by God to the greatest degree possible. And I want God to be magnified to the greatest degree possible for loving us the way he does. This is why it matters to me what Jesus really accomplished for us when he died.

There is a common way of thinking about Christ’s death that diminishes our experience of his love. It involves thinking that the death of Christ expressed no more love for me than for anyone else in the human race. If that’s the way you think about God’s love for you in the death of Jesus, you will not enjoy being loved by God as greatly as you really are.

Feeling Specially Loved by God

I wonder if you have ever felt especially loved by God because of Ephesians 2:4–5? “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

Six things stand out here in Ephesians 2:4–5.

1. The phrase “great love.”

“Because of the great love with which he loved us.” That phrase is used only here in the New Testament. Let it sink in. . . .

2. The peculiar greatness of this love that moves God to “make us alive.” . . .

3. Before he made us alive, we were “dead.”

“Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive.” There is such a thing as the living dead. Jesus said, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). Before God made us alive, we were the living dead.

We could breathe and think and feel and will. But we were spiritually dead. We were blind to the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3–4); we were stone-hearted to his law and could not submit to him (Ephesians 4:18; Romans 8:7–8); and we were not able to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only God could overcome this deadness so that we could see the glory of Christ and believe (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s what he did when he “made us alive” (Ephesians 2:5).

4. God does not make everyone alive.

What happened to you, to bring you to faith, has not happened to everyone. And remember, you don’t deserve to be made alive. You were dead. You were “by nature a child of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). You did not do anything to move God to make you alive. That’s what it means to be dead.

5. Therefore, God’s great love for you is really for you, particularly for you.

It is not a general love for everyone. Otherwise, everyone would be spiritually alive. He chose specifically to make you alive. You did not deserve this any more than anyone else. But for unfathomable reasons, he set his great love particularly on you.

6. He has wronged no one. For no one deserves to be saved. . . .

The Special Love of the New Covenant

Now here is the connection with the death of Christ. When Jesus died, he secured for us the removal of our deadness, and purchased for us the gift of life and faith. In other words, God’s “great love” could make us alive, because in Christ that same great love had provided the punishment of all our sins and the provision of all our righteousness.

We know this because Jesus said at the Last Supper, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). . . .

Jesus Purchased the Activation

This is what Jesus bought for us when he died. And this is what the great love of God did for us when he made us alive in Christ Jesus. Therefore, God’s specific purpose in the death of Jesus was not the same for everyone. The great love of God, shown for you in the death of Jesus, was the purchase of your faith when you were dead.

He did not merely purchase the possibility of your life that you then would activate. Dead people don’t activate. What he purchased was the activation. . . . Because of a great love for you in particular.

Feel the Greatness of His Love for You . . .

This is what I want every believer to enjoy. The great love of God for you is not the same as the love he has for the whole human race. The love God has for you moved him to make you alive when you could do nothing to make yourself alive. And that same love moved him to purchase your life by the death of his Son.

So when you say with the apostle Paul, “He loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), feel the greatness of the words, “He loved me.” He loved me.

Jesus Our High Priest

Ed Conrad, Kevin Wang and I have had the privilege this week of studying the book of Hebrews under Dr D.A. Carson. Among other great themes, Hebrews pictures Jesus as our great High Priest. Meditate on these ideas, summarized in the first section, fleshed out in selections from Hebrews in the second, and versified by Michael Bruce in the third.

Summary:

In becoming man Jesus took on our frailty, and faced weakness and temptation like us. A person suffering from cancer knows that a cancer survivor can identify with his or her pain; just so, we can know that Jesus identifies with our temptations, our weaknesses, our frailty. And He, as our High Priest, by one sacrifice of His own body, makes perfect forever those who come to Him by faith. Furthermore, He always lives to make intercession for us when we fail. So may we hold fast to the confession of our certain hope – and boldly approach God the Father, knowing that because of our High Priest, He will receive us with mercy and grace, enabling us to endure to the end and thus to be saved.

Scripture:

Hebrews 7:23 – 8:2   23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,  24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.  25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.  26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.  8:1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,  2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

Hebrews 10:11-18  And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.  12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,  13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.  14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.  15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,  16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”  17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”  18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Hebrews 4:14-16   14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Verse:

By Michael Bruce (1764) – written at the age of 18

Where high the heavenly temple stands,
the house of God not made with hands,
a great High Priest our nature wears,
the Guardian of mankind appears.

He, who for men their surety stood,
and poured on earth his precious blood,
pursues in heaven his mighty plan,
the Savior and the Friend of man.

Though now ascended up on high,
he bends on earth a brother’s eye;
partaker of the human name,
he knows the frailty of our frame.

Our fellow-sufferer yet retains
a fellow feeling of our pains;
and still remembers in the skies
his tears, his agonies and cries.

In every pang that rends the heart
the Man of Sorrows had a part;
he sympathizes with our grief,
and to the sufferer sends relief.

With boldness therefore at the throne
let us make all our sorrows known;
and ask the aid of heavenly power
to help us in the evil hour.

Upon A Life I Have Not Lived

Sunday we sang the Indelible Grace version of “Upon a Life I Have Not Lived.” The original version was written by Horatius Bonar in 1881 as a communion hymn. The entire poem, containing a number of additional stanzas, is below. You can see the complete volume of his richly theological communion hymns at this link.

On merit not my own I stand;
On doings which I have not done,
Merit beyond what I can claim,
Doings more perfect than my own.

Upon a life I have not lived,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another’s life, Another’s death,
I stake my whole eternity.

Not on the tears which I have shed:
Not on the sorrows I have known,
Another’s tears, Another’s griefs,
On them I rest, on them alone.

Jesus, O Son of God, I build
On what Thy cross has done for me;
There both my death and life I read,
My guilt, my pardon there I see.

Lord, I believe; oh deal with me
As one who has Thy word believed!
I take the gift, Lord look on me
As one who has Thy gift received.

I taste the love the gift contains,
I clasp the pardon which it brings,
And pass up to the living source
Above, whence all this fullness springs.

Here at Thy feast, I grasp the pledge
Which life eternal to me seals,
Here in the bread and wine I read
The grace and peace Thy death reveals.

O fullness of the eternal grace,
O wonders past all wondering!
Here in the hall of love and song,
We sing the praises of our King.

 

Admit Your Need

Who is God? What is man? What is the relationship of man to God?

These are questions of worldview. The answers we give to those questions shape how we perceive and interpret the world around us.

Time and again, Jesus warns us that the attitude we assume in answering such questions, and the presuppositions we are often unaware of, can twist our thought processes and keep us from seeing the truth God has revealed.

Let’s look at three of Jesus’ statements in this regard.

First, Luke 18:24. A wealthy man who desires eternal life has just walked away sorrowful because Jesus has told him to sell all he has, give it all to the poor, and follow Him. Jesus then says: “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

Why is it difficult for the wealthy to enter the kingdom? One reason: Many rich people, like this man, think they are in control. They think that their wealth protects them from the vagaries of life. If they believe in God, they furthermore think that they have something to offer Him – that God needs them, that God even should be thankful to have them on His side.

Jesus offered this rich man eternal joy – the very life the man said he wanted! But he walked away, because he assumed that Jesus asked him to give up more than he was to gain. He assumed that he just needed to tweak his life in some way to make himself acceptable to God, worthy of eternal life. He assumed that his wealth was either a sign of God’s favor or in and of itself useful to God. Instead, Jesus revealed that it was a barrier between him and God. The rich man’s assumptions were deadly.

We’ll consider the second and third statements together:

Matthew 18:3:   “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 11:25-26: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Jesus says that some truth – indeed, the most important truth – cannot be known apart from God revealing it. Although this statement is perfectly reasonable once we admit the possibility of a Creator God, many today begin with the assumption that Jesus’ statement is false. They assume that (a) we are rational beings and (b) we can come to know all important truths through reasoning and experimentation. With those assumptions, there obviously is no role for revelation.

But children know they need revelation. Children know they don’t know many things, and they need others to teach them. So they ask question after question – sometimes to the point of driving their parents crazy!

Children also know they are dependent creatures, who need the shelter and protection that others provide. Children thus know they are not self-sufficient – either intellectually or physically.

Note that this attitude is the opposite to that of the rich man in the earlier story. Jesus, in effect, told the rich man to become dependent on Him. And the rich man went away, sorrowful in his self-sufficiency.

Jesus tells us that all of us must assume the dependent attitude of a child. We must cease assuming that we can know all that is important apart from His revelation. If we continue to believe we are self-sufficient, we will never know what is of greatest importance. We will never see the revealed truth that is right before our eyes – the truth that the Father has revealed to little children – to both literal little children, as well as to those who have become like little children and so entered the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus tells you, He tells me: “You are needy people. Admit it! You need revelation; you need guidance; you need empowering. Acknowledge it! You need forgiveness. Confess it! Quit assuming that your intelligence, your riches, your education, your accomplishments, your position, your reading, or your moral life qualify you to come into God’s presence, or to stand as judge over Him, His Word, and His actions. Instead: Come to Me – humbly, broken, and contrite, like a little child – and I will give you exactly what you need! Come to Me – repentant, seeking, asking – and I will choose to reveal the Father to you.”

This is Jesus’ challenge: Quit trying to establish your own righteousness, your own brilliance, your own status. Quit assuming it’s even possible to do that. Instead, like a child, acknowledge your neediness. Come to Him. He promises to you rest, peace, and fulfillment.

Who is God? What is man? What is the relationship of man to God? Jesus reveals these answers – to those who become like little children.

What Christ Has Done for Us

(by Kevin Wang)

My wife recently has been sharing the Gospel with a Muslim coworker. He raises many questions about Christianity. One of these is: If God is loving and merciful, if God is almighty and in charge of the entire universe, why would He need to send a Son to earth? And why would that Son have to die? This coworker thinks God can simply forgive any sin for any man. In fact, this man said he knows a Christian who raised the same question in his church, and no one in the church could give him a satisfactory answer – so this Christian converted to Islam!

People love to hear about God’s love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. But what exactly did Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, do for us? Why did Jesus have to become man? Why did He have to die? I will not give a comprehensive answer today; rather, let’s look primarily at one verse: 1 Peter 3:18.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)

The verse begins: “Christ also suffered once for sins.” The NASB translates this as, “Christ died for sins once for all.” Jesus suffered physical and emotional pain when he was mocked and flogged; then He suffered physical death. But why? Why did Jesus die? Peter says he “died for sins.” Whose sins? Certainly not his own. The Bible tells us Jesus lived a perfect life – a life no other human ever lived. So who else does the verse refer to? The only others mentioned are referred to by the pronoun “us” in the middle of the verse. Yes, us. You and me. Jesus suffered death in the flesh for us. He, the “righteous,” died for us, the “unrighteous.” The book of Romans tells us “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And “the wages of sin is death.” We often hear there are two things guaranteed, death and taxes. Well, some smart people could potentially evade taxes, but no man on earth can evade death. The entirety of human history testifies to this verdict: “the wages of sin is death.”

But Christ died for our sins, He paid the penalty of God’s judgment against sins, so that God can be wholly just – for He sees to it that no sin goes unpunished. Indeed, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). God had to send His Son to die if He was to forgive anyone, and remain just. But He did send that Son. That Son did die – and He offers us forgiveness through that death. That’s why we call the Gospel the Good News. Christ died once for all, on our behalf, in our place, for the sake of our sins. His death is sufficient to reconcile us to God, since He is the perfect sacrifice to cleanse our sins. He is like bleach that cleanses our dirty clothes from all the muddy stains; He is like antivirus software that wipes out all the harmful viruses on your computer. No antivirus software is perfect, because it is written by imperfect humans; you need to update the program periodically and rescan your computer. But – praise God! – Christ is perfect. His sacrifice is perfect and permanent. That’s why Peter says, “He died for our sins once for all.” There is no need for reinstallation or weekly updates like Microsoft Windows. It is once for all. It is everlasting. That’s why we only need to be baptized once, once for all, to signify our salvation in Christ, through His death and resurrection.

But Christ did far more for us than die for our sins. Just like a coin has two sides, what Christ did for us also has two sides. The end of this verse says, “being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” On the negative side, Jesus was put to death in the flesh for our sins to satisfy the justice of God; on the positive side, he was made alive in the spirit, “that he might bring us to God.” That is, that He might show us the love of God. Just like his death in the flesh is once for all, his resurrection in the spirit is also once for all and everlasting.

God doesn’t just patch over sin, covering us for a little while, until sin breaks out again. God doesn’t just trim the weeds; God roots them out. God doesn’t offer bypass surgery; He gives us a new heart. Not a new heart of flesh, but a new heart in the spirit, because Christ was made alive in the spirit. With the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have this intimate, infinite and permanent connection with God. The Holy Spirit is our power source that will never have a blackout, that will never short circuit. It is as if we are plugged into the power source of the entire universe. Furthermore, this power source is wireless, and has infinite range, with no areas of poor reception –because it is from the infinitely powerful Holy Spirit. So when Christ dies for us, the righteous for the unrighteous, he takes away sin from us – and He gives us new life, so that we become children of God. That’s why the Apostle Paul says, “but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

For those among us who have never accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, who have never believed in His death and resurrection, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to receive what Christ has done for you: He died on your behalf; He was raised by the Holy Spirit to give you the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters of God, by whom you may cry, “Abba! Father!”

For those among us who have already received Jesus as Savior and Lord: May we give thanks and praise to God for what Christ has done for us. May the precious Word of God soak into our minds and hearts, through the work of the Holy Spirit, so that we treasure Christ above everything else in our lives – and so that we may declare what the Apostle Paul declared:

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 (Galatians 2:20).

Amen.

Hope in God and Argument with God

Is Christian hope wishful thinking, a fantasy, a pollyannish belief that against all evidence things will turn out well for me?

As we have recently considered (first, second, and third blog posts), Christian confidence rests not on our desires, nor on our intellectual investigations, nor even on our beliefs, but on God’s Word, the revelation that He has spoken, telling us truths we could never discover on our own. We are dependent on Him, and thereby on His revelation, given to us in His Word.

So how do we react when all around us is falling apart?

Such was Job’s situation. In a short time, he lost his wealth, his children, and his health. And his friends – supposedly come to comfort him – just made matters worse.

Job 13:15 summarizes his reaction:

Though he slay me, I will hope in Him; yet I will argue my ways to His face.

Job has a rock solid faith in God’s goodness, in His promises, in His faithfulness to every word He has proclaimed. David expressed the same hope when he was attacked by men:

My hope is from him.  He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.  On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. (Psalm 62:5b-8)

Yet this hope is consistent with more pain coming upon him in the future. Note that Job acknowledges that he might well die from this affliction. His hope does not consist of a naïve belief that the worst is over. Rather, he says that even if the worst is not over – even if God slays him – he will continue to hope in Him. He does not know the outcome of his suffering; nevertheless, his hope in God does not waver.

Consider now the second half of the verse: In addition to his solid hope in God, Job states, “I will argue my ways to his face.” Indeed, a large portion of the rest of the book consists of Job addressing God directly, asking Him to come and let Job argue his case before Him (see, for example, Job 23:4-7).

Once we have read to the end of the book, we might think such arguments from Job are wrong. For when God does appear, Job is unable to argue. Confronted with God Himself, he sees that he has no case. God overwhelms him with His majesty, power, and authority. So Job is left to say,

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. . . . I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . . .  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2,3,5,6)

Nevertheless, I suggest that Job’s arguing with God earlier in the book is not wrong, in and of itself. Indeed, Job 13:15 well summarizes the condition of limited, hurting humanity before Him. He is far beyond our ability to understand; He will often act in ways that seem to us inconsistent with His revelation of His character. When He does so, it is right and good for us to cry out in our pain, to express our lack of understanding, to lay before Him the seeming inconsistency of His revelation and what we see around us.

We see men and women of God cry out like this time and again in Scripture. Examples include Psalms 39, 42, 77, and 88, Jeremiah 20, Habakkuk 1, 2 Corinthians 1, and the entire book of Lamentations. Let’s look briefly at selections from chapter 3 of that last book.

Lamentations was written after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. During a long siege, the city suffered starvation, leading even to cannibalism. Then there was great slaughter when the Judean army tried to escape the siege and the Babylonians swept into the city. The author writes:

He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.  He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.”  Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!  My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. (Lamentations 3:15-20)

The author seems now to be without hope. God Himself is sovereign – the author knows this, and so sees God as the source of his bitterness. He can’t get the images of horror out of his mind.

Yet keep reading:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.  It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;  let him put his mouth in the dust– there may yet be hope;  let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.  For the Lord will not cast off forever,  but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. (Lamentations 3:22-33)

In the midst of the horror, in the midst of the grief which the sovereign Lord has caused (v32), the author reflects on the revealed character of God – the revelation over the centuries of God speaking and acting: the revelation of God at work in the Garden of Eden and at Mt Sinai; the revelation through David and Solomon, through Elijah and Elisha, through Micah and Isaiah. The author’s hope has perished (v18); yet he will hope in Him (v24).  This hope springs not from a Buddhist-like belief that the sorrow he has seen is an illusion, nor from a naive optimism that things have a way of working out for the good, but because “the LORD is my portion.” That is, the author continues to hope in God – as Job continues to hope in God even while he argues with Him – because God has promised an inheritance – He Himself. And He is worth more than all the world has to offer.

With that in mind, consider Job’s arguments with God – and your own arguments. If God Himself is our portion, our inheritance, which, as Peter tells us, is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4), then our inheritance is in and of itself to know Him. So as we struggle to know Him in this life, to understand His ways, we should come to Him with questions, with seeming inconsistencies, with our struggles. We should come humbly, yes; we must come submissively, by all means; we must come knowing, like Job, that in the end we will see God and shut our mouths.  At this moment, in this life, in this age, we see “as in a mirror dimly;’ it is good and right to bring Him our questions and our struggles to understand. But He has told us that the time is coming when we will “see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). And we will know Him, and have Him as our inheritance.

So may we all say with Job, “Though he slay me, I will hope in Him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.”