Common Question’s: Existence of God? Problem of Evil? Loving God & Hell?
Hands down, the top three questions non-Christians and Christians alike ask about God are these:
a) How do I know God exists?
b) How can God allow suffering and evil in the world?
c) How can God be loving and yet send people to Hell?
Click here to watch D.A. Carson answer’s these questions.
What’s Up With Your Fruit?
John 15:2 says, “Every branch in Me that does not bring forward fruit He destroys, and every branch that brings forward fruit He prunes, in order that it may bring forward more fruit.“
I saw two things here this morning:
a) No Fruit: Jesus is the true Vine, so those who believe in Him are grafted into to Himself as living branches (Rom. 11:17). Therefore we branches find all our life, support, and sustenance in Jesus. We’re to look nowhere else to find these things, for if we do, we will dry up and become a dead branch (Rom. 11:18). The branches in Jesus who fail to produce fruit are destroyed by God, for He is the vine dresser, or gardener. Fault for the lack of fruit bearing does not fall on Jesus, but on the branches themselves. By producing no fruit, these branches show themselves to be dead, that they were never true branches to start with (1 John 2:18-19). They may have appeared to be living branches on the exterior, but the life giving sustenance of the Vine was not flowing into them. Just as we look for grapes on the branches of the vine, we look for Christianity on Christians. We look for evidence, we look for the fruit of the Spirit. If it’s there, even to the smallest degree with can say the branch is true. If it’s not there, we say, in despair, this one’s dead. If no fruit shows, God takes those branches off the vine and destroys them. This is speaking of final judgment for all those who are not in Christ.
b) Fruit: If fruit does show, God prunes it, for the purpose of making more fruit. This means the only way to produce more fruit is by the pruning of the Father. This is speaking of sanctification, and it shows that santification is always a painful process. Pruning involves a cutting off of certain things in our lives that are keeping us from bearing more fruit. A habit, an addiction, a temper, a lust, a greed, etc. When those are gone, pruned away, we are free to bear more fruit than we did before!
Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where life seems to be painful, you should not despair, for the Father is at work in you! He is doing what only He can do! He is pruning you so that you can bear more fruit at a future time. This will most likely be very painful because they are things you love too much. But O’ how great it is to become more holy as He is! It is a kind of pleasing pain to me, and I hope it is for you as well.
Common Question: “What Happens To ‘Good’ People?”
Question: “What happens to “good” people like the Dalai Lama and Ghandi?”
Answer: I am going to assume the person who asked this question meant: “What happens to ‘good’ people, like the two mentioned, when they die, WHILE not believing in Jesus?” So I’ll answer this latter question in two ways.
1) There is a misunderstanding from this question about the idea of ‘goodness’. The Bible says no one is good (Rom. 3:10-18, Eph. 2:1-3, Psalm 14, Isaiah 64:6, etc). All humans are under the curse of the first Adam (Romans 5:12-21). There is no man who does not sin (1 Kings 8:46). This means Ghandi was a sinner and the Dalai Lama is a sinner, deserving death and hell for their sin because that is the due punishment from God. Now, once we see this, we immediately think of those people we know or have known who were relatively “good” people during their life. Were they really as bad as the Bible says they were? Are they really sinners even though they did so much good in this world? Yes. Romans 14:23 explains and says, ”…whatever is not from faith is sin.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 also tells us, “Whether you eat or whether you drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Therefore any action done by any human being on the planet, apart from faith IN CHRIST, is an evil action. More so, any action done, by any human being on the planet, not to the glory of God, is an evil action.
What does this mean for ‘good’ people like the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Ghandi,etc.? The answer is simple, but to hear it we must take off our current cultural lense. Our culture teaches us that no one has the right to tell anyone that their going to hell, or that they’re on the wrong path if such a path seems right to the person. But, the Bible clearly states that Buddha, the Dalai Lama, and Ghandi could have done much good, but if their actions were not done with faith in Christ, or to the glory of the God of the Bible, all their actions were evil and sinful.
2) The Bible says Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus said it Himself in John 6:46, 14:6, 17:3, and many other places. The apostles believed this and preached it as well (Acts 4:12, 1 Tim 2:5-6). Therefore if any person does not believe in Jesus before death, they will enter into judgment (Hebrews 9:27) and be cast into hell (Luke 13:3, 5).
This should move your soul to evangelism because you know the way God has provided to escape His wrath. The most loving thing you can do on earth is to help save someone from certain death, whether they recognize it or not. Also, if your a Christian, you must believe these things. We do not have a buffet style faith where you believe as you please. If we come to Christ, we come on His terms, not our own. Whose terms do you come on?
Common Question: “Is It Christian to Rely on Medicine?”
Question: “Is it Christian to rely on medicine?”
Answer: I am assuming that we agree that it is not sin to take medicine. God has given the world great minds who have created wonderful medicines that relieve all kinds of pain, pressure, etc. The question I am getting to in asking this question is: Is it Christian to have to rely on a medicine in order function properly in daily society; so that if they were to stop taking the medication it would prohibit them from functioning in everyday life with everyday people. Is that sinful?
You may think this is a foolish question, but Christians who are on these meds struggle with this issue. Does it mean that they do not trust God to get them through the day? Are they sinning by relying on medicine rather than God’s sustaining grace to make it in life? Some teachers have answered “yes” to this question and miserably vexed the consciences of faithful Christians. I think one thing about meds like this.
a) It is not sin for Christians to rely on medicine for their daily mental or physical health. In fact, I think the thing that drives those on these meds to stop taking them is pride. They may want to be off of the meds, to show they don’t need them. They may want to be off the meds to show their powerful trust in God over their fallen body. But these pressures are built on pride and unrealistic expectations. These people are NOT failing to trust God in life, God has given them specific needs that must be met with these meds. THEREFORE, TO NOT TAKE THE MEDS YOU NEED WOULD BE SIN FOR YOU. Perhaps, God is keeping you humble by causing you to need these meds.
Whatever the case may be, it is not sinful to take these meds and those on them should not think any less of themselves for having to do so. Do not believe anyone who tells you that you are not living in faith by taking meds like this. Don’t believe the lie that your not whole until your med-free. God has made you the way you are for a purpose, embrace that purpose.
Common Questions: “Do Babies Go To Heaven?”
A friend sent me a list of questions that came up in a small group recently, and asked me to comment on them. So I have decided to answer their questions here for your benefit as well as the small group’s. These questions will be put in the category “Common ?’s”
Common Question #1: “Do babies go to heaven?”
Yes, babies go to heaven. You can see this prove true in two of David’s sons: Absalom and Bathsheba’s baby. Absalom was not the son a father would want to have. He was sinful, rebellious, and hateful toward David his father. He even stole the kingdom away from David at one point in time. The relationship between David and Absalom was not ideal, to put it mildly. After a while, Absalom died a horrible death. Do you recall how David grieved for his son? He did not jump for joy over losing this awful son of his. Rather David groaned over the loss of his rebellious son saying, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom…my son, my son!” David was heart broken, because he knew he would never see his wicked son again (see 2 Samuel 18:31-33).
Now think of David and Bathsheba’s baby boy. This boy did not grow up like Absalom did, rather on account of David and Bathsheba’s adultery this baby boy was struck sick from the Lord. How did David respond? He fasted and prayed all night long for 7 days asking the Lord to heal and save his boy. His servants labored to get him to eat, but he would not take any food while his boy was sick. Then the boy died, and when the servants told David the news of his son’s death David responds in an unusual manner. He gets up from fasting, washes, anointes himself, changes clothes, and worships the Lord! The servants were confused and asked David what he was doing, and David replied, “Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (see 2 Samuel 12:15-23)
You see the difference in David’s reaction with Absalom’s death and his baby boy’s death? Why did David act so differently? Because David expected a personal future reunion with his dead baby boy. That is why he said “…I shall go to him…” Whereas David did not expect to see Absalom ever again. ”This is just one indicator of the confidence David had in the goodness and grace of God upon the innocent and the hopelessness of David, knowing the judgment and the justice of God upon the guilty.” (John MacArthur)
Do babies go to heaven? Yes.
Wake Up From Your Kantian Coma’s!
A few weeks ago I wrote about the Philosopher Immanuel Kant. In it I stated how Kant’s categorical imperative (his rule that an act can only be moral if you gain nothing from it) is not useful for anyone, especially Christians. This morning in my devotion, I pondered over two verses that blasted Kant out of my soul once again! The two verses were Philippians 3:7-8, which state, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Before I tell you why this was so refreshing to my soul this morning, let me first say that most people already think in Kantian terms with regards to their faith. Too many of us think that religion is only about doing our duty to God. We think that in order to do our duty to God we must put pleasure aside because obedience to God is always unpleasant. We think sin is always pleasurable and obedience to God is always unpleasurable. To put it another way, we think this: “If it’s enjoyable, it’s wrong!” Therefore an implication which comes from this is that we have embraced the idea that going to church is not about having fun, going to church is about putting fun aside to do our duty! We must put fun and pleasure aside in order to serve and worship God! O’ how wrong this is! Let us wake up from our Kantian coma’s!
Phil. 3:7-8 blasts Kant out of my soul because those two verses say everything which is gain to us (health, money, cars, computers, houses, wives, husbands, families, children, books, status, riches extraordanaire, etc) should be counted as loss. If we stop here we may prove Kant more than disproving him, but thankfully the verse keeps going. We’re to count those things that are gain as loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Why? Because His worth and His value far surpasses all other things! So, if we pursue those things only, we do not pursue our joy rightly! We only pursue our joy rightly by leaving what is less pleasing and going after that which gives us the most pleasure, JESUS!
According to Kant I cannot pursue my joy in Jesus, because that would not be a moral action for me to do. BUT according to the Bible, I am called to pursue my joy in Jesus with all my might! That is why I read my Bible, that is why I pray, and that is why I go to church, to be satisfied in Jesus above all things! Is that why you do those things?
Why Were You Saved?
If you were saved by Christ, do you know why your salvation took place? Ephesians 1 has the answer:
YOU WERE predestined, chosen, SAVED…
Verse 6: “…to the praise of the glory of His grace…”
Verse 12: “…to the praise of His glory.”
Verse 14: “…to the praise of His glory.”
You were not saved for your sake, your fame, or your own glory. You were saved for the glory of God’s grace.
“You Must Earn the Right to Share the Gospel” – WHAT?
It is almost a fact that most Christians now believe that the right to share the gospel must be earned. Therefore most Christians think of evangelism as starting friendships where the aim is to cultivate trust to the point where a conversation about the gospel would be natural and comfortbale. Is this a Biblical way to think about evangelism? NO.
This belief comes from J.I. Packer’s book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (1961). This book is a foundational document on evangelism, divine sovereignty, and human responsibility. Besides this one belief it produces, the book is great. On page 90 Packer says the following:
The right to talk intimately with another person about the Lord Jesus Christ has to be earned, and you earn it by convincing him that you are his friend, and that you really care about him…we must be justified in choosing to talk to them about Christ and in speaking to them about their own spiritual needs…
I know that many who may read this will instantly think that I’m the one who is wrong to say Packer is wrong here, but hear me out. This line of thinking that we must ‘earn’ the right to share the gospel, and be ‘justified’ in bringing up the gospel with people makes one error. It makes the error of being more cultural then Biblical. Do you see Jesus or any of the apostles earning the right to share the gospel in the Bible? Did Philip earn the right to intrude on the Egyptian eunuchs reading time to ask him “What are you reading?” (Acts 8) Did Stephen earn the right to share with the people before they stoned him? (Acts 7) Did Paul earn the right to preach to those cities?
The answer to this question, from the Bible, is always no. Everyone who shared the gospel was more concerned with getting the message of Jesus out than the person’s feelings about being offended by the gospel. If the Jesus or the apostles were concerned with ‘earning’ the right to share the gospel before they shared, I think the growth of the Church would have been drastically different! This is where I think Packer, and the many who agree with him on this issue, have uncritically accepted a cultural rule over the Bible.
I am not saying that friendships are not a great way to share the gospel, they are and should be used and sought after diligently! I am not saying that we ought to just go out banging people in the head with our Bibles, screaming at them to repent. I am not saying that evangelism should be done without love, it ought to! I am saying that I think Packer is wrong to say that sharing the gospel with someone has to be earned. It does not. Would it be loving to let a blind man keep walking toward to edge of a cliff? No, it wouldn’t. No one in their right mind would ever think upon seeing this, “I cannot go up and tell him he’s going in the wrong direction, I don’t want to intrude on his choices, and besides, we don’t even know each other, how could I tell him to change the path he has chosen to walk on?” That is absurd to the highest degree, and just like that, today too many Christians view evangelism in the same manner. “We cannot just go up to people and say their wrong, and that they should repent and turn to Jesus, that would be foolish and offensive!”
We must see that Jesus never earned the right to share Himself with others, and the apostles never earned the right to share the gospel. Christians must take up the gospel, as it is, and share it with those around them, in love. We know their end is hell if they do not repent, and that should move us to share with them and plead with them, IN LOVE, to turn to Jesus while there is still time. May we never withhold sharing the gospel because we think we have not earned the right to do so! No messenger of a king bearing the king’s message ever waited to earn his right to share the word from his king. He shared it, because that was his duty! So too, all Christians are ambassadors for Christ, and it is our joy to share the gospel with as many as we can. If Christ has given us approval to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations, we need not earn another’s approval to share the gospel, the message of our king.
This is one place where J.I. Packer has uncritically accepted part of his own culture as Biblical. Have you done the same?
Luther Puts a Nail in the Heart of Bad Religion – And 3 Other Holidays
(This blog by Justin Holcomb, the Academic Dean of Re:Train, was originally written and posted at Resurgence)
Why did Martin Luther nail his famous 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door on October 31, 1517? He was confronting two religious observances that promoted false saintliness and exploited people’s fear of judgment and purgatory. There’s a curious connection between Halloween and Reformation Day, and it’s more than just proximity on the calendar.
Halloween – Halloween (October 31) is celebrated by millions each year with costumes and candy. Halloween’s deepest roots are decidedly pagan, despite its Christianized name. Its origin is Celtic and has to do with summer sacrifices to appease Samhain, the lord of death, and evil spirits. Those doing the pagan rituals believed that Samhain sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. Christians tried to confront these pagan rites by offering a Christian alternative (All Hallows’ Day) that celebrated the lives of faithful Christian saints on November 1. In medieval England the festival was known as All Hallows, hence the name Halloween (All Hallows’ eve) for the preceding evening.
All Saints’ Day – All Hallows’ Day or All Saints’ Day (November 1) was first celebrated on May 13, 609, when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary. The date was later changed to November 1 by Pope Gregory III, who dedicated a chapel in honor of all saints in the Vatican Basilica. In 837, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) ordered its church-wide observance. Its origin lies earlier in the common commemorations of Christian martyrs. Over time these celebrations came to include not only the martyrs, but all saints. During the Reformation the Protestant churches came to understand “saints” in its New Testament usage as including all believers and reinterpreted the feast of All Saints as a celebration of the unity of the entire Church.
All Souls’ Day – All Souls’ Day or the Day of the Dead is normally celebrated, primarily by Roman Catholics, on November 2. This is a day dedicated to prayer and almsgiving in memory of ancestors who have died. People pray for the souls of the dead, in an effort to hasten their transition from purgatory to heaven by being purged and cleansed from their sins.
Reformation Day – Reformation Day (October 31) commemorates Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. This act triggered the Reformation, as they were immediately translated and distributed across Germany in a matter of weeks. The Protestant Reformation was the rediscovery of the doctrine of justification—salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone—and the protest against the corruption within the Roman Catholic Church. The century before the Reformation was marked by widespread dismay with the venality of the leaders in the Roman Catholic Church and with its false doctrines, biblical illiteracy, superstition, and corruption. Monks, priests, bishops, and popes in Rome taught unbiblical doctrines like the selling of indulgences, the treasury of merit, purgatory, and salvation through good works.
Treasury of Merit – Spiritually earnest people were told to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions. They were encouraged to acquire this “merit,” which was at the disposal of the church, by purchasing certificates of indulgence. This left them wondering if they had done or paid enough to appease God’s righteous anger and escape his judgment. This was the context that prompted Luther’s desire to refocus the church on salvation by grace through faith on account of Christ by imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. To those spiritually oppressed by indulgences and not given assurance of God’s grace, Luther proclaimed free grace to God’s true saints:
God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace. Therefore no arrogant saint, or just or wise man can be material for God, neither can he do the work of God, but he remains confined within his own work and makes of himself a fictitious, ostensible, false, and deceitful saint, that is, a hypocrite (Luther W.A. 1.183ff).
Instead of the treasury of merit that was for sale, Luther protested, “The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God” (Thesis 62). In celebration of Reformation Day, you should seriously read all 95 theses—they’re really good.
Penal Substitutionary Atonement, Mice, & Olives
The function of a mouse-trap is to catch mice. But have you thought of a mouse trap from the perspective of the mouse? I’m not sure exactly how much knowledge a mouse has of a mouse trap and there workings, but I can imagine a mouse sneaking up to the trap trying to get the cheese, while at the same time trying to avoid being crushed and killed by the bar. But we know what happens 9 out of 10 times don’t we? The mouse sneaks up, grabs the cheese and BAM! Their dead. Keep that picture in your minds.
I want to give you some thoughts on the atonement. But before I do, I should say that some people (who may even call themselves Christians) say, “Why do you evangelicals always talk about the death of Jesus? Why all the blood talk? There is more to Christianity than that. The cross is nothing more than Divine child abuse.” We evangelicals talk of the cross so much because the Bible says mankind’s biggest problem in life is God’s righteous anger and wrath against sin. We are sinners and therefore this is a big problem for us because it means we‘re in danger of eternal punishment. BUT, praise God that He gave us an answer to this problem in PENAL SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT. What is that? Read on:
ATONEMENT: regulations for atonement are laid out in the book of Exodus. It says for an atonement to occur there must be a blood sacrifice. Sin has a penalty and the sacrifice must bear the penalty itself. The priest was to sacrifice a lamb before God. This lamb was the atoning sacrifice because it bore the penalty of the people’s sins. The people of Israel did not bear their own sins, the lamb did. They did this sacrifice every year. But there was a problem with these animal sacrifices; God said “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Heb. 10:4) The sacrifices had to be repeated because the cleansing it brought did not last! Against that background God said, “…I will make atonement for all you have done!” (Ezek. 16:63)
SUBSTITUTIONARY: This word means what it sounds like, substitute. Because God knew the animal sacrifices would not last, He provided a substitute whose sacrifice would last, forever! Hebrews 2:17 says, “For this reason Jesus had to be made like us in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high Priest in service to God, that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.” 1 Peter 3:18 says, “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous…” Did you see that? Christ, the righteous One, suffered for the unrighteous. He took our place! He was our substitute on the cross! He made atonement for us by being that spotless lamb! Our sin should have put us there on the cross, He did nothing to earn that death, but He took it as our substitute!
PENAL: This word also means what it sounds like, penalty. Not only was Jesus our substitute on the cross, He bore the penalty that we deserved. Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that brought us peace, by His stripes we are healed.” Jesus was wounded, crushed, ground to a pulp, destroyed, and killed on the cross. But His death brought us peace! How can it do that? Earlier I said that mankind’s main problem in life is that God is angry and wrathful at us for our sin, and that put us in danger of being punished under eternal torment. Jesus’ death brought us peace, because His death on the cross, as our substitute, satisfied the wrath of God that was coming toward us for our sin!
So why do we evangelicals talk about the death and blood of Jesus so much? Why do we believe that God did not commit divine child abuse by sending His Son to die? We talk about the cross so much, because it is only the cross that gives us hope! If it weren’t for the cross we would receive nothing but wrath from God! We would have to bear our punishment ourselves! We would have no substitute to bear our penalty! We would have to do it on our own and suffer eternal torment for it! We will never get over this, we will never move onto something else, the cross is the center of our faith, the cross is the center of our lives! Because without the cross we would not have life!
Now, let me ask you a question: Do you think it was a coicidence that the garden Jesus was in when He began to sweat drops of blood was called Gethsemane? Gethsemane means “oil press”, because in that garden there were olive groves and a big olive press that crushed olives in order to get pure olive oil to be used in the temple. The big olive press took the olives and crushed them down to a pulp, and once they were crushed, they produced the pure oil. Do you see now why Jesus was in that place when He began to bleed? Perhaps it was because He was beginning to be crushed for our sins in that garden! He felt the weight of what He was going to have to go through! It was no coincidence that Jesus was near the olive press that night! Just as the olives only produced pure oil when they’re crushed, so too the Son of Man must be crushed under the weight of sin to set those under God’s wrath FREE FOR ALL TIME!
Remember the Mouse Trap? Remember how I said the mouse tries to avoid being crushed in it? Jesus did not try to avoid His crushing! God had set the stage for the Son of God to come and die, and the Son willingly walked into the trap, to bring us to God (1 Pet. 3:18). AMEN!
Which Came First: the Bible or the Church?
Which came first: the Bible or the Church? Another way to ask this is, did the Church create the Bible or did the Bible create the Church? I believe the following verses help us see the answer and why this is a really important question:
John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
John 15:26-27, “When the Helper comes, whom I send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
John 16:13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you (apostles) into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
John 17:20-21, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their (the apostles, including Paul, the last apostle) word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
What do these teach us about our question? The Holy Spirit will be sent to the apostles, from the Father, in the name of Jesus. Next, the Holy Spirit will bear witness to, testify, and cause the apostles to remember the Words of Jesus. The Spirit will also lead the apostles into all truth and declare to them the things that are to come. Then as a result of the testimony of the Holy Spirit, the apostles will testify and proclaim about Jesus (PREACHING). Jesus then, prays for us, asking specifically that through the words of the apostles (PREACHING) we who believe may be one, as the Father and Jesus are one. SO THAT the world would believe Jesus came from the Father. Did you follow that?
Why does that matter and how does that answer our question?
We learn from this that the Spirit who is going to inspire the apostles with truth, specifically “all truth”, only speaks what He hears from Jesus and from the Father. So, in turn when the apostles go out to preach, teach, and write letters to all the churches, those writings are God’s Words, because they are being inspired by the Spirit, and Spirit only speaks what He hears. Thus, the apostles preaching and writing should not be thought of as their own, but rather as God’s Words through the power of the Spirit, about Jesus! This is why the apostles oral and written words have power, and why they are the New Testament Canon. Their Words, have the same authority as the Words of Jesus, because their Words are God’s Words, through the power of the Spirit!
So, Christians today have believed through the Words of the apostles, spoken and written. And since we cannot hear them orally now, we read their words. This New Testament canon, which because is being powered by the Spirit, is authoritative! This brings to light the correct interpretation of Matthew 16:18 doesn’t it? “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Is it Peter who is the rock? No. The Rock Jesus is referring to are the Words (Scripture) that will come from Peter and the rest of the apostles. That is the foundation of the Church! Therefore, the Church did not create the Bible at some point in time. The Bible, the spoken Words of the Spirit empowered apostles created the Church. It is this Scripture that Jesus will use to build His church. Not popes, or rulers, or councils, but the Word of God!
Can you see now why Martin Luther and the rest of the reformers felt as if they must act? They saw this, and tried as hard as they could to restore the Rock to its rightful place, above all men!
Christ is not only Himself the canon in which God comes to the world, and in which He hallows Himself before the world, but Christ also establishes the canon and gives it a concrete historical form. Christ establishes the canon first of all in His own word and work but then also in transfer of authority (exousia) to His authorized representatives, in the Holy Spirit witnessing with them and through them, and in the apostolic tradition. And Christ is also the canon because He establishes and maintains the bond between that canon and the church. It is this rock (petra) on which He builds His church…Christ establishes the canon in the ascertainable character of apostolic preaching and in the legibility of apostolic writings, in the preservation of the apostolic witness and doctrine…On that word and according to that canon, Christ will establish and build His church by causing the church to accept just this canon and, by means of the assistance and witness of the Holy Spirit, to recognize it as His…The canon of Christ will persist because there will continue to be a church of Christ, and the church of Christ will persist because the canon of Christ will continue to exist and because Christ through His Spirit will build His church on that canon.
(Herman Ridderbos, Redemptive History and the New Testament Scriptures, pages 37-38)
Thank you Jim Elliot!
This day, October 28, in 1949 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot (22 at the time) penned in his journal the quote we would remember him most by, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
What did he mean? “He is no fool…” means the person who does what I am about to say is not a foolish person! Rather he is a most wise person! He is doing the most moral, most good, most praiseworthy, most honorable act he can do ever in all of his life! “…who gives what he cannot keep…” means the most moral and honorable act a man can do in his life is to give away what he cannot keep. What can we not keep? Our lives! Every second all men come closer to death, science will never be able to fix this. If we cannot keep our lives, the most honorable thing to do with them is to give them away. But we ought not to give away our lives for any purpose or any reason, so what purpose is worthy is giving our lives to? Jim finishes “…to gain that which he cannot lose!” There we have it! The most moral and honorable act men can do is give their lives away (because they cannot keep them) for the reason of gaining that which we can never lose! What can we never lose? Jesus. We give up our lives to gain Christ! This is the most moral and honorable act any man can set his life to!
This quote from Jim Elliot was his way of saying, “He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will save it!” (Matthew 16:25)
Have you found a way to say it yourself?
Collision: Is Christianity Good For the World?
I’m sure many of you have heard of Collision, the DVD where atheist Christopher Hitchens and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson mull over the question of whether Christianity is good for the world or not. It is now a DVD! (See Westminster Bookstore link on the top right of the page)
“(Christianity) is a wicked cult, and it’s high time we left it behind.” -Christopher Hitchens
“There are two tenets of atheism: One, there is no God. Two, I hate him.” -Pastor Douglas Wilson
Here is what the Publisher had to say about it: In May 2007, leading atheist Christopher Hitchens and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson began to argue the topic “Is Christianity Good for the World?” in a series of written exchanges published in Christianity Today. The rowdy literary bout piqued the interest of filmmaker Darren Doane, who sought out Hitchens and Wilson to pitch the idea of making a film around the debate. In Fall 2008, Doane and crew accompanied Hitchens and Wilson on an east coast tour to promote the book compiled from their written debate titled creatively enough, Is Christianity Good for the World?. “I loved the idea of putting one of the beltway’s most respected public intellectuals together with an ultra-conservative pastor from Idaho that looks like a lumberjack”, says Doane. “You couldn’t write two characters more contrary. What’s more real and punk rock than a fight between two guys who are on complete opposite sides of the fence on the most divisive issue in the world? We were ready to make a movie about two intellectual warriors at the top of their game going one-on-one. I knew it would make an amazing film.”
In Christopher Hitchens, Doane found a celebrated prophet of atheism. Loud. Funny. Angry. Smart. Quick. An intimidating intellectual Goliath. Well-known for bullying and mocking believers into doubt and doubters into outright unbelief. In Douglas Wilson, Doane found the man who could provide a perfect intellectual, philosophical, and cinematic counterpoint to Hitchens’ position and style. A trained philosopher and and deft debater. Big, bearded, and jolly. A pastor, a contrarian, a humorist–an unintimidated outsider, impossible to bully, capable of calling Hitchens a puritan (over a beer). It was a collision of lives. What Doane didn’t expect was how much Hitchens and Wilson would have in common and the respectful bond the new friend/foes would build through the course of the book tour. “These guys ended up at the bar laughing, joking, drinking. There were so many things that they had in common”, according to Doane. “Opinions on history and politics. Literature and poetry. They agreed on so many things. Except on the existence of God.”
How Can God Be Loving If God Loves Himself Over All Things?
A while ago, I posted a blog called, What Does God-Centered Mean? In it I briefly wrote on how God could be a God of love and yet be uppermost in His own affections. Read below to see how John Piper answered this question:
If God is to love you what must He give you? He must give you what is best for you. The best thing for you in all the universe is God. If He were to give you all health, best job, best spouse, best computer, best vacations, best success in any realm, and withhold Himself, He would hate you. And If He gives you Himself and nothing besides He loves you infinitely! The only eternal happiness for man is a happiness focused on the riches of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Therefore, in order for God to take me to that happiness He must uphold and preserve that which makes me most happy, His glory! So, am I excited about the cross because there God made much of me? MAY IT NEVER BE! I am excited about the cross because there God freed me to make much of Him forever!
3 Implications of Romans 5:12-21
Romans 5:12-21 says,
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned – for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What does this mean? It means two things and does not mean one thing:
a) Universal sinfulness shows universal corruption.
b) Universal mortality shows universal penalty.
c) Universal sinfulness in Adam made righteous in Christ, does not promise universal salvation.
