Category Archives: sin

Jesus, Mission, repentance, scripture, sin, textual interpretation, theology

Bible Study comments 1: Knowing that faith is a gift of God moves us (among other lesser things) to Glory in Christ.

The Bible Study I attend in St. John’s is continuing to look into the Word of God, guided by a John Piper book, “When I Don’t Desire God” (available online by clicking on he link). Last week, they went through Chapter 4 of the book, Joy in God is a Gift of God: Doing Ourselves What Must Be Done For Us. There are many things in the chapter to comment on, but besides sharing the point of the chapter, I’ll leave you all to read it yourselves.

The Chapter is about, simply, the fact that the Bible seems to say that it is commanded that we have joy in the Lord, but similarly, that joy in the Lord is a gift given by the Lord. It’s the problem of dead sinners (sinners here meaning people who ARE sinners, rather than simply people who sin, we are not just people who do bad stuff, we are the kind of people that do bad stuff). We are in a very bad position vis a vis God, not simply because we’re doers of bad stuff, but because we desire the wrong things and thus do the bad stuff. The problem is not simply our actions, but the desperately wicked heart that drives the actions (See Jeremiah 17:9-10 for the relation of God’s judgment on deeds and the relation to the heart).

It is that rebellious heart that must come to rejoice in the Lord, which is the Lord’s work.

Now, I hear that there were two very good questions asked at the study. I want to give a stab at an answer for both, one today, and one whenever I next get time. The first is “Why does it matter that believing God’s revealed word about Himself is a gift that He has given?” and the second is “Should we be concerned with those who have not received repentance, and can we blame them for not repenting?”.

Why Does It Matter?

I think there are many reasons why it matters that God’s gift of faith in Him is a gift He Himself is given. I’ll give three of my anwers here.

1) Such knowledge keeps us from thinking of ourselves too highly. Humans have a habit of turning good things that we have into a means of boasting. That is the point of 1 Corinthians 1:23-31. I know in my own mind that I sometimes think of those who reject Jesus as stupid or ignorant, when in fact only God’s grace keeps me in faith. I have no right to boast over others, but rather have a need to boast in the Lord that saves me….from me.

2) Knowing that it is only by the gift of God empowers us to speak openly of Jesus to those who do not believe. Faith in God comes from God, and as such it keeps us from two opinions that might cause us to be silent about His grace around others. In the first place, we could be silent because we believe people are too far beyond the pale.

Indeed they are. Everybody we speak to is as dead in sin as we were, but God saved us, loving us while we were still sinners (1 John 4:10), and calling us to salvation and righteousnes while we were slaves to sin (Romans 6:17).

Do you think that your unsaved family member is too far gone to be reached by your words? Darn skippy! Sin has them enslaved, and sin is a powerful master. They are enthralled by the desires of the world, AS WE WERE. God can save them as He saved us, because we were not saved by our superior intellect or spiritual ability, or a “God gene” but by the sovereign grace of God!

Similarly, we can believe that we should not witness to our friends and family because we do not have powerful convincing words to move them. Instead we should just live holy lives and hope they see it in our lives. This is half true, we should lead Holy lives, like a city on a hill (Matthew 5:14-16), but we should also openly rejoice in God, and tell others. Indeed, not with hugely practiced words and powerful arguments, as that will only stoke the desire to be self righteous (and prove you to be self righteous at the same time), but with the words in your heart.

God may have saved you through an argument, or through reading or through the Godly life of another, but it was God who saved you, not you. In essence, in evangelism, you are not asked to be effective beyond your means, you are only asked to be faithful.

This does not mean you don’t learn arguments for Christ if you can, but do not worry if that is not your forte, God is going to use your faithfulness to save people, and it will be God’s work, so you don’t get to boast in it, you get to be part of what God does.

3) It’s important because it moves us to glory in Christ, our redeemer. Knowing that it is God in Christ who gives us the gift of faith, to understand His word, and to come to Him rejoicing in Him makes the joy in Him far greater. All things, whether it be the truth in Scripture, or a heart that seeks after God, or a Godly spouse and family, or Godly friends, or even our repentance itself, become conduits to praising God alone, feeling Him sweet, and valuable above all else. Honestly, I wanna sing now.

I will glory in my Redeemer
Whose priceless blood has ransomed me
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails
And hung Him on that judgment tree
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who crushed the power of sin and death
My only Savior before the Holy Judge
The Lamb Who is my righteousness
The Lamb Who is my righteousness

I will glory in my Redeemer
My life He bought, my love He owns
I have no longings for another
I’m satisfied in Him alone
I will glory in my Redeemer
His faithfulness my standing place
Though foes are mighty and rush upon me
My feet are firm, held by His grace
My feet are firm, held by His grace

I will glory in my Redeemer
Who carries me on eagle’s wings
He crowns my life with lovingkindness
His triumph song I’ll ever sing
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who waits for me at gates of gold
And when He calls me it will be paradise
His face forever to behold
His face forever to behold
His face forever to behold

Words and Music by Steve and Vicki Cook
© 2001 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

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Ethics, Jesus, scripture, sin, theology

Heart Surgery in Baby Steps.

As anyone who has read my blog recently knows, I’ve been trying to keep to daily updates since I went through the trouble of changing the look here. You will also notice that I only managed to get my “online reading” segment up and running yesterday.

There’s a very simple reason, my job suddenly got crazy busy, with staff members calling in to say they couldn’t be in, me having to fill the shift here while simultaneously being on the airfield to pick up sandwiches that were already 3 days late (as well as being a major seller that we were then completely out of). By the time close came at midnight, I had no energy to do the books, compile the cashflow for the day, tabulate the movie rentals (which are not computerized here), let alone write another blog entry.

By 12 last evening, I was very rude, I was running in 6 different directions at once, and was getting a little sick of people coming in to ask if they could by .43 cents of jelly candy (which they wanted to select) while they had a lineup of people behind them a mile long, and drunk people wanting to return half used containers of milk in exchange for some mix for their drinks, all the while trying to keep people from going through the recently arrived sub sandwich boxes that had yet to be inventoried and priced to find their favorite snack.

This is where I came face to face with my sin. As with most people, I can coast along believing I’m a good person as long as I am not stressed, and when I am stressed, I excuse my bad behavior, as if the foul language coming from my own mouth was wholly because of someone else rather than the simple fact that I don’t value God enough to refrain from using his name as an expletive when angered.

Jesus says that it is not what comes into us that defiles us, but rather what comes out, because those things that come out of us (both in action and in speaking) come from the heart (Matthew 15:18-19). I don’t think he’s just saying that I am defiled because I actually said the words, but because my heart is wicked. The stress of the moment simply stripped away all the veneer of piety and humility and exposed for all to see that I am very definitely sinful.

The afternoon after, I take solace in the fact that God forgives those who repent, and that the righteousness that saves is in Christ, not in me. That I want to repent shows that Jesus is still working in me, working to perfect me. That justification is in Christ’s imputed righteousness, not in me somehow deserving to be saved,  gives me hope that the thoughts of my heart last night did not turn me away from Christ, and again damn me to a hell I so richly deserve.

Jesus died to take sins away so that we could love him and seek His glory. He did not wait for us to love him before he wooed us to him, and continues to. We are not saved because our hearts are in the right place, we are saved so that Christ can put our hearts into the right place.

Last night shows that that heart surgery is not complete in me.

Thanks for listening.

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Ethics, Jesus, marriage, men, repentance, sin, theology

Online Reading

Calvinism: Mark Dever continues to ask where all these Calvinists came from.

Geo-politics: Phillip Yancey, quoting eminent theolgian Lamin Sanneh, points out (no doubt contraversially) guilt and projection concerning Christian history.

Harry Potter: I’m almost glad I’m nowhere near a book store tonight.

Books: Here’s an interview with Dave Harvey, who wrote “When Sinners Say I Do”

Property: SOCAN believes that hairdressers should pay to play music in their salons. I wonder if I’m feeling good about that cause I’m balding?

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marriage, men, romance, sin, singles

Romance Can’t Fulfill (it’s good, but it’s not God)

So, today I was rolling pennies (ah the joys of working retail), and watching a Gill Deacon rerun on the CBC (Yay, Public Broadcasting). This episode seemed to be focussed on the relationship thing, and despite the fact I wrote a bit on  it recently, I figured I should react openly to it (though now people may rightly call me “obsessed”)Probably the most objectionable part I found was the segment on the dating service for people already married (yes, you’re reading that correctly, a site dedicated to empowering philandering), called Ashley Madison. I feel bad giving the link there…

But when the interviewer asked its creator about the reason for the morality of it, he simply started to talk about feeling “unfulfilled” in marriage. Now, I’m not married, but I can guarantee that in any earthly relationship, at some point you’re going to feel unfulfilled because both members of any relationship besides the one with God are sinners.

The second segment, I believe, was a little more enlightening. It was about the Canadian documentary, lovable, which consists of interviews of several people who remain single/never marrieds in their 30s, 40s and 50s. It chronicles the sense of loss, and in some cases failure of being single at these ages and not wanting to be.

What was interesting to me was that the director seemed to hit the nail on the head when he alluded to the need for romance in relationships. He pointed out that there were often other things at play in most instances of romantic love, that can lead older singles to discount great people from the dating circle because they don’t give you the hormone charged high that you got in your teens and 20s. It’s an unrealistic high (that if you keep, will probably have you on Ashley Madison 10 years after successfully marrying).

To put it in religious terms, one of the most prevalent idols in modern times (and especially in my own life) seems to be the desire for romance rather than love and family. Romance is good and noble in its proper place, but it is not going to fulfill you (that’s Jesus’ job), and it isn’t even the center of a good marriage (Jesus is that too).

This is not to say that I don’t seek romance. Quite the opposite, I am even using online dating services like Plenty of Fish (free, but I don’t recommend it, there are a lot of nuts there….. like bloggers who talk to themselves in public), Christian Cafe (pay service that at least limits to self-described Christians, if you ever join it, send me a message, it’ll make me feel less like I’ve wasted my money), and eharmony (the cadillac of singles sites, but too rich for my blood beyond the trial period).

But in the end, as a single in my 30s (33 in 2 weeks), who desires a family greatly, it’s clear that Christ has to be the center, or I’ll end up following the world in placing too much on my wife and kids if God ever blesses me with them. It’s a hard struggle, but a necessary one, as no false gods will fill the role only the one true God can. In the end they are worthless in comparison to Him.

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Jesus, Mission, Rant, scripture, sin, theology

Better off knowing God.

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Every once in a while, often without warning, I can be struck with the beauty of things around me. One of those experiences struck me today, and caused me to think immediately of a book I heard reviewed recently. It was called “Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existance“. I’ve never read the book (and doubt I ever will), but apparently the book’s thesis is that it is better to have never been born, and that it would be best for humanity to extinguish itself.

That thesis runs in complete opposition to my own experience. Now, to say that hauling freight from a coastal boat to my brother’s warehouse complex is a positive experience would simply be a lie. Myself, I was warm, stressed, and my muscles ached, yet for a moment I looked off into the lush green of the forest surrounding Nain, and just thought, “How beautiful”, and for a moment I worshipped God there in the truck. It was a moment that someone like Tony Campolo would say was a moment where I was “truly alive”.

Now I think there’s a clear lesson there, one that several Christian thinkers have mentioned. Life for humans is most fulfilled, not by love or acceptance, but primarilly by worship. As Ravi Zacharias said in a recently broadcasted podcast (info about the podcast can be found here), meaning is ultimately found in the act of worship. This is seemingly an echo of what we see in the Psalms (just give this passage a think, It’s Psalm 100, ESV)

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

The thing I notice most clearly about this passage is that it only has an implied audience, but that it focuses entirely on God. There is no sense in which it affirms the worshipper, or even says anything about the worshipper (save to further expand on God’s greatness), it focuses on God. The basis for the joy here is not personal affirmation or self esteem, but an overarching God-esteem, and a focus on God.

John Piper once pointed out that to ask a man in heaven if he is humble would come across as simple nonsense to the man, because he would be so enamoured of God, talking of himself would seem strange.

Each of these things points to something I believe our society has forgotten. In our elimination of God from the equation, we have raised ourselves to the level of existential foundation; the reason we exist is for ourselves. The result is that life becomes meaningless, because human life was never meant to be the basis of meaning (despite anything Ayn Rand would’ve said). And the children of such thought patterns are left believing they are better to have never been. The tragedy of it is that they believe it because they have never truly lived.

Salvation cannot be centrally about affirming who we are in God’s kingdom. That is a derivative, but necessary step to the real goal, and where we will truly find life. Salvation is ultimately about affirming who God is, because it is God that is truly valuable.

Jesus tells us to come to him that we may live and have life more abundantly. He wasn’t kidding. Our shortfall is that we’ve never quite believed Him on that one. Oh I pray that we might be convinced for more than a moment! I hope you will join me in that prayer.

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