How Much Do You Need?

So it's Christmas time again. Last Christmas was a frustrating experience for me. At the same time we were trying to plant a missional church by engaging with the truly needy people in our city (homeless, addicts, refugees), my family was knee-deep in the "normal" American (materialistic) Christmas. Seeing my kids get so many gifts that their eyes began to glaze over confirmed to me that something needed to change.

My wife affirms that gift-giving is a way of expressing love, and so the answer is not to bar my relatives from giving (or my kids from receiving) gifts. I'm still wrestling with the right thing to do as far as my kids go. But this year, I figured I could at least start by changing my own habits. After all, what do I really need? Sure, I could come up with a list of 4 or 5 luxury items that I would enjoy having. But would I feel any better the day after Christmas for having them? Do I feel okay adding another Gap shirt to my closet when my Burundi friends don't even have winter coats?

So this year, my Christmas gift will be clean water for Africa. My family does the whole gift-exchange thing: put some names in a hat, draw one, and buy that person a gift. So I asked my sister-in-law to make a contribution in my name to blood:water mission, a humanitarian aid agency that funds well-digging projects in Africa. Instead of gorging myself on American materialism, I'm shooting for a missional Christmas. I'm only one person. But I wonder: what might the impact be if many of us in Coram Deo decided to do something similar this Christmas?

Now you at least have to think/pray about it. Sorry if you were hoping for a new iPod or something. But maybe people living longer in Africa is more important than your technological hip-ness.

The Cross Chart

God Is The Gospel

This morning, I quoted extensively from an essay by John Piper entitled "God is the Gospel." A longer quote is below, along with a link to the full essay.

Have you ever asked why God’s forgiveness is of any value? Or what about eternal life? Have you ever asked why a person would want to have eternal life? Why should we want to live forever? These questions matter because it is possible to want forgiveness and eternal life for reasons that prove you don’t have them.

Take forgiveness, for example. You might want God’s forgiveness because you are so miserable with guilt feelings. You just want relief. If you can believe that he forgives you, then you will have some relief, but not necessarily salvation. If you only want forgiveness because of emotional relief, you won’t have God’s forgiveness. He does not give it to those who use it only to get his gifts and not himself.

Or you might want to be healed from a disease or get a good job or find a spouse. Then you hear that God can help you get these things, but that first your sins would have to be forgiven. Someone tells you to believe that Christ died for your sins, and that if you believe this, your sins will be forgiven. So you believe it in order to remove the obstacle to health and job and spouse. Is that gospel salvation? I don’t think so.

In other words, it matters what you are hoping for through forgiveness. It matters why you want it. If you want forgiveness only for the sake of savoring the creation, then the Creator is not honored and you are not saved. Forgiveness is precious for one final reason: it enables you to enjoy fellowship with God. If you don’t want forgiveness for that reason, you won’t have it at all. God will not be used as currency for the purchase of idols.

Similarly, we ask: why do we want eternal life? One might say: because hell is the alternative and that’s painful. Another might say: because there will be no sadness there. Another might say: my loved ones have gone there and I want to be with them. Others might dream of endless sex or food. Or more noble fortunes. In all these aims one thing is missing: God.

The saving motive for wanting eternal life is given in John 17:3: "This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." If we do not want eternal life because it means joy in God, then we won’t have eternal life. We simply kid ourselves that we are Christians, if we use the glorious gospel of Christ to get what we love more than Christ.

Read the full essay here. Piper has also released a book by the same name that contains a fuller exposition of the same concepts.

"Our Movement Has Been Used"

I have refrained from commenting on the whole Ted Haggard debacle because... well... what exactly does one say? Or maybe it's because I knew that someone would say what I was thinking better than I could. Gordon MacDonald has done so. Here is an excerpt from his recent op-ed piece for Christianity Today:

...We are now part of an evangelical movement that is greatly compromised—identified in the eyes of the public as deep in the hip pockets of the Republican party and administration. My own belief? Our movement has been used.

...[Evangelicalism] is beginning to fragment because it is more identified by a political agenda that seems to be failing and less identified by a commitment to Jesus and his kingdom. Like it or not, we are pictured as those who support war, torture, and a go-it-alone (bullying) posture in international relationships... Our movement may have its Supreme Court appointments, but it may also have compromised its historic center of Biblical faith. Is it time to let the larger public know that some larger-than-life evangelical personalities with radio and TV shows do not speak for all of us?

Read the full text here.

Luther on Faith

In past weeks we have used Martin Luther's definition of faith as "the ground drinking the rain that God sends." Such a description of faith, in a culture that has made faith into a "work" that we do, seems passive, and leads people to ask, "What, then, is the role of obedience?"

Luther suggests that the question itself betrays an utter misunderstanding of true faith. From Luther's "Preface to Romans:"

Faith is not that human notion and dream that some hold for faith... [Some people], when they hear the Gospel... make for themselves, by their own powers, an idea in their hearts, which says, 'I believe.' This they hold for true faith. But it is a human imagination and idea that never reaches the depths of the heart, and so nothing comes of it and no betterment follows it.

Faith, however, is a divine work in us. It changes us and makes us to be born anew of God (John 1); it kills the old Adam and makes altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers, and it brings with it the Holy Spirit. Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is impossible for it not to do good works incessantly. It does not ask whether there are good works to do, but before the question rises, it has already done them, and is always at the doing of them. He who does not these works is a faithless man...

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times. This confidence in God's grace and knowledge of it makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all His creatures; and this is the work of the Holy Spirit in faith. Hence a man is ready and glad, without compulsion, to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, in love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace; and thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light in fires. Beware, therefore, of your own false notions and of the idle talkers, who would be wise enough to make decisions about faith and good works, and yet are the greatest fools. Pray God to work faith in you; else you will remain forever without faith, whatever you think or do.

Jesus Was Not Effeminate

In an email to the men of Coram Deo this past week, I wrote: "Many of you guys are more feminine in your spirituality than masculine." This rubbed some guys the wrong way. They felt that I was being harsh and provocative.

Actually, I was just stating the facts. My source is the book Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow (Nelson Books, 2005). Consider some of Murrow's sprightly observations:

Women comprise more than 60 percent of the typical adult congregation on any given Sunday. At least one-fifth of married women regularly worship without their husbands... Although males have not completely abandoned the church, manly men... have all but disappeared. Tough, earthy, working guys rarely come to church. High achievers, alpha males, risk takers, and visionaries are in short supply... These rough-and-tumble men don't fit in with the quiet, introspective gentlemen who populate the church today... Today's churchgoing man is humble, tidy, dutiful, and above all, nice.

What a contrast to the men of the Bible! Think of Moses and Elijah, David and Daniel, Peter and Paul... They fought valiantly and spilled blood. They spoke their minds and stepped on the toes of religious people. They were true leaders, tough guys who were feared and respected by the community. All of these men had two things in common: they had an intense commitment to God, and they weren't what you'd call saintly.

Such men seldom go to church today.

...No man wants to follow a feminized man. Men are looking for a real man to follow: dynamic, outspoken, bold, sharp-edged. They want a leader who is decisive, tough, and fair. They respect a man who tells it like it is and doesn't mince words, even when it makes them mad. Men most respect a leader who doesn't care what others think of him... The Jesus of Scripture was exactly this kind of man... the most courageous, masculine man ever to walk the earth.

On the first weekend in December, men, we'll gather to discover what it means to be masculine like Jesus. I hope you'll join us. And if you're looking for some preliminary reading, check out Murrow's book.

Jesus: Truer and Better

A basic principle of Christian theology is that the whole Bible is about Jesus. Jesus himself taught his disciples this: "Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27). Paul also spoke of "the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son..." (Romans 1:2).

But many of us are less than adept at seeing and savoring Jesus in the whole Bible. Tim Keller has been a big help to Will and me in this area. Keller preaches Jesus as the "true and better" of every character in the Bible. Here's a sampling:

Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.
Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.
Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar, and go out into the void, not knowing whither he went, to create a new people of God.
Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by his Father on the mount,but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, "now I know you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me, now we can look at God, taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing Him, and say," now we know that you love us, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from us."
Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His new power to save them.
Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.
Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who was struck with the rod of God's justice, and now gives us water in the desert.
Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.
Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people's victory though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn't just risk losing an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn't just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.
Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so we could be brought in.
Jesus is the real rock of Moses.
He is the real passover lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so that the angel of death would pass over us.

He is the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread... The Bible's really not about you, it's about Him.

Justification: Not A Bottom-Shelf Doctrine

Will and I have both had the privilege of studying under a godly saint of a man named John Hannah, professor of church history at Dallas Seminary. Dr. Hannah is known both for his deep love for Jesus and his sardonic sense of humor. Will relates an experience during a class discussion on Jonathan Edwards, whom Dr. Hannah has studied quite extensively. As Hannah was urging students to read The Religious Affections to get a taste of Edwards' theology, an over-eager student raised his hand and said, "Dr. Hannah, there's a simplified, contemporary version of that book out now. It's called Seeing God." Hannah paused, looked intently at the student, and said, "Son, I don't know what to say... the cookies just aren't on the bottom shelf." Then, without missing a beat, he continued his lecture.

Justification, as taught in Romans 3:21-31, is definitely one of those doctrines for which "the cookies aren't on the bottom shelf." We scratched the surface in this morning's sermon. For more, I recommend at least two resources. First, read and digest Chapter 11 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Second, ponder John Wesley's account of his own conversion, reproduced here from the pages of his own diary (which has been preserved and reprinted by the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship... irony of ironies... but that's another post...):

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had continual sorrow and heaviness in my heart; something of which I had described, in the broken manner I was able, in the following letter to a friend:

“I see that the whole law of God is holy, just, and good. I know every thought, every temper of my soul, ought to bear God's image and superscription. But how am I fallen from the glory of God! I feel that I am sold under sin. I know that I, too, deserve nothing but wrath, being full of all abominations; and having no good thing in me, to atone for them, or to remove the wrath of God. All my works, my righteousness, my prayers, need an atonement for themselves. So that my mouth is stopped. I have nothing to plead. God is holy; I am unholy. God is a consuming fire; I am altogether a sinner, meet to be consumed.”

…[Three of my friends had] testified of their own personal experience that a true living faith in Christ is inseparable from a sense of pardon for all past, and freedom from all present sins. They added with one mouth, that this faith was the gift, the free gift of God, and that he would surely bestow it upon every soul who earnestly and perseveringly sought it. I was not thoroughly convinced, and by the grace of God I resolved to seek it unto the end… I continued thus to seek it… till Wednesday, May 24th [1738]. [On that] evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Make An Informed Vote

Please exercise your right to vote tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7. In the interest of making an informed decision, you may consult the League of Women Voters' voter guide here.

Total Depravity

If the doctrine of total depravity (see Romans 3:9-20) seems strange to modern ears, it is only because we have been shaped by the (largely) a-theological milieu of the evangelical American church. Doctrines like this were standard fare for earlier generations of saints. This morning, in preparation for my sermon, I was using an old Puritan prayer book to help me call on God. The specific prayer I was reading is titled "A Minister's Praises." Notice the things the Puritans considered "normal" in a MINISTER'S struggle against sin:

O God,
Thou art in Jesus the object of inexpressible joy, and I take exceeding pleasure in the thought of thee.
But Lord, I am sometimes thy enemy; my nature revolts and wanders from thee.
Though thou hast renewed me, yet evil corruptions urge me still to oppose thee.
Help me to extol thee with entire heart-submission, to be diligent in self-examination, to ask myself whether I am truly born again, whether my spirit is the spirit of thy children, whether my griefs are those that tear repenting hearts, whether my joys are the joys of faith, whether my confidence in Christ works by love and purifies the soul.
Give me the sweet results of faith, in my secret character, and in my public life.
Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go...
Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all, that I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;
There is much unconquered territory in my nature: scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul's temple, and give me in return pure desires, and longings after perfect holiness.

For some additional reading on depravity and why it is "the hinge on which the gospel turns," check out this (very) abridged version of Luther's Bondage of the Will. May it whet your appetite for the whole book - it is Luther at his very best.

Covenant Diagrams

Pictures and diagrams can be helpful in teaching theological concepts. These are two pictures I used a few weeks ago in preaching through Romans 2; some of you guys have asked to see them again so you can process them more fully. Unfortunately I'm booked up right now with lots of art and design projects, so I won't be able to answer requests for additional graphics that mirror the sublime excellence of these ones. I mean, we artists need time to devote to our craft. You can't make art like this overnight. Well, actually, you can. These diagrams are blatantly stolen from Dr. Richard Pratt of Reformed Theological Seminary. And to his credit, I think he was using Powerpoint 97 or something back when he made them, so he's probably a better artist than they suggest.

The point is to show that we commonly think in only two categories: believer and unbeliever, saved and unsaved, Christian and non-Christian. But actually, the Bible knows 3 categories of people: those outside of God's covenant; the visible covenant community (those who profess to follow Christ); and the true covenant community (those who are actually regenerate). Covenant is the grid that ties together Old Testament and New and makes sense of the entire Bible.

This distinction between the visible and invisible church is simply the only way to make sense of Jesus' teaching that the kingdom of heaven is like a field that grows both wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24-30), or of Paul's contention that "they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel" (Rom 9:6), or of John's statement that anti-Christian people "went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us" (1 John 2:19). Read your Bible carefully and you'll start seeing these three categories everywhere. Not all who profess faith actually possess it. (This should be intuitively obvious to most of you.)

The most common question is: what is the difference between the people in the yellow box and the people in the red box? And it's a good question. From the outside, they look very much the same. They both attend church. They both profess faith in Jesus. They both engage in various religious exercises. The difference is that the people in the red box have truly experienced the internal transformation wrought by the Spirit of God, in fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:33: "I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it." For truly regenerate people, obedience to Jesus and love for Jesus and service to Jesus are internally driven, motivated by the Spirit of God who indwells them. For the people in the yellow box, obedience and love and service are externally driven, motivated by tradition or peer pressure or religious guilt.

This is the heart of the contrast mentioned by Paul in Romans 7:6: "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter." If you are still serving Jesus in the "oldness of the letter" (i.e. driven by external pressure and not by the internal propulsion of the Spirit), you might be in the yellow box. May God use this discussion, by His grace, to grab your heart and move you into the red box.

I am sure questions will be forthcoming. Don't be shy, ask away. I'll do my best.

Happy Reformation Day

October 31, 1517, is the day Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Said action launched the Reformation, freed believers from the tyrrany of the papacy (which was especially corrupt during the medieval years) , and gave us some of the richest theological writings in history - including Luther's commentary on Romans.

Nice job, Marty. Happy Reformation day to all. Follow the link and read the 95 Theses if you never have... this is your heritage, you should know about it!