Keep Speaking, Please

The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. (Psalm 50:1)

… that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deut. 8:3)

… and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Heb. 1:3)


Feel what it means to be entirely derivative. What is your life? –the consequence of divine causation and utter sufficiency.  Feel what it means that the earth’s orbit and our heartbeat all hangs on the One who must not stop speaking.

Even the prayer for Him to keep speaking is the effect of Him speaking. The prayer for Him to not stop speaking is itself the effect of Him not stopping. Grace, grace, grace.

2010
03/17
CATEGORY
Hebrews
Pentateuch
Psalms
TAGS



Write comment

Circumcision and Baptism: Not So Much the Same

Concerning the continuity between circumcision and baptism: although both signs serve as an initiatory rite, there is a core difference in their significance. Circumcision had more than a spiritual purpose in the Abrahamic covenant.  Its primary purpose was to “mark out a physical seed in preparation for the coming of the Messiah” (155). Stephen Wellum aptly summarizes:

In this new era, a new covenantal sign, baptism, has been established to testify to the gospel and to identify one as having become the spiritual seed of Abraham, through faith in Messiah Jesus. But unlike circumcision, baptism is not a sign of physical descent, nor is it a sign that anticipates gospel realities. Rather it is a sign that signifies a believer’s union with Christ and all the benefits that are entailed by that union (157).

For a wonderful essay, see Stephen J. Wellum, “Baptism and the Relationship Between the Covenants,” Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright, NAC Studies in Bible & Theology, ed. E. Ray Clendenen. (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2006), 97-161.

2010
03/16
CATEGORY
Biblical Theology
Quotable
TAGS



1 comment

Narrative Chain: Centurions in Luke-Acts

Daniel Marguerat in The First Christian Historian highlights a unifying mechanism within narratives called a “narrative chain” (p. 52 ff). He points out the chain of centurions in Luke-Acts and comments on their significance.

  1. centurion of Capernaum (Luke 7:1-10)
  2. centurion that confesses faith at Jesus’ crucifixion (Luke 23:47)
  3. centurion named Cornelius who believes (Acts 10-11; 15:7-11)

Marguerat notes that these centurions all have exemplary faith that is underlined in the text (see Luke 7:9b; 23:47; Acts 10:2). He writes, “The narrator has linked these three soldiers together by the common theme of the astonishing grace accorded to faith” (53).

For its significance on the level of narrative, he writes:

(a) it creates the continuity between the meeting of Peter and Cornelius and an action of Jesus

(b) it legitimizes the favour of God towards Cornelius by the positive construction of the character of the ‘centurion’

(c) it prepares for the shock of the opening up of salvation to the Gentiles

2010
03/15
CATEGORY
Luke-Acts
Missions
Quotable
TAGS



Write comment

Evangelizing my Childrens’ Hearts

In all of our attempts to “shepherd” Elizabeth’s heart, I realize that God did no such thing to my own. He just created a new one.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”  – Ezekiel 36:26-27

If our “shepherding” is to have any good effect then God has to do the same thing in her. In a truer sense, our work is soil-tilling and seed-sowing.

There are some fundamental differences that we tend to overlook when considering my favorite book on parenting. The padeobaptist understanding of the children of believers is a little different than that of credobaptists. Covenant theology would consider children of believers to be new covenant members. The new covenant is clearly contrasted with the old specifically at this heart issue– in the new covenant God will create a new heart.

My daughters do not get a new heart because their daddy and mommy believe in Jesus. And therefore my parenting of them is not so much a “shepherding” as it is an evangelizing–an evangelizing and praying that the Father would one day work that miracle in them.

2010
03/14
CATEGORY
Parenting
TAGS






5 comments

Arcing Through the Book of Philippians

I am enjoying the sweet privilege of arc-blogging through the Book of Philippians over at Biblearc.com.

Philippians: Omnicircumstantial Grace

Yearning to see the glory of Christ in Him being the all-satisfying, rock-solid treasure in the ‘this and that’ of life.

2010
03/13
CATEGORY
Personal
Philippians
TAGS


Write comment

Don’t Loiter in that Ditch

It is true, religion in the souls of men is the immediate work of God, and all our natural endeavors can neither produce it alone, nor merit those supernatural aids by which it must be wrought: the Holy Ghost must come upon us, and the power of the Highest must overshadow us, before that holy thing can be begotten, and Christ be formed in us: but yet we must not expect that this whole work should be done without any concurring endeavours of our own: we must not lie loitering in the ditch, and wait till Omnipotence pull us from thence; no, no! we must bestir ourselves to our utmost capacities, and then we may hope that, ‘our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord ‘ (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, 97ff.

And then looking back on the “bestirring of ourselves” we will say that it was all of grace.

2010
03/13
CATEGORY
Quotable
TAGS






Write comment

The Holy Church in a Dirty World

In reflection on this.

The Church’s holiness is a certain kind of derivative holiness in that because its reality is completely outside of itself, the manner of holiness is expressed in humble gratitude. This humble gratitude is a stark contrast to demeaning separatism. The Church’s calling to be separate is a gift given by God in His grace, not an achieved title in demonstration of human virtue. If this is not understood then the glory of the gospel is severely diminished and Church’s witness in the world is handicapped.

This naturally leads to implications for the Church’s relation to the world. God’s holiness is a communicated holiness. His being is expressed in His works. Holiness is perceived and confessed. In a similar way, the holiness of the Church is expressed not in its separation or mere moral transcendence over the world, but it its activity in the world. Light does not shine if it is tucked away in parochial seclusion. Light shines by being present. Light’s activity is the reality of its essence (Matt. 5:14-16).


2010
03/11
CATEGORY
The Uncategorizable
TAGS




1 comment

What Being A Man Has To Do With Phineas And His Spear

Numbers 25:1-13. The narrative is short but it is one of my favorites… it starts following the LORD’s determination to bless Israel (despite Balak). The people of Israel apostatize. The men whore with the daughters of Moab. The men who were supposed to be leading their families in the worship of the true God have instead  been seduced to go to bed with Baal. The picture in verse 6 seems odd. What that guy did in bringing the Midianite woman along was evil. The text implies that he was flaunting his idolatry.

Then comes Phineas. He rises up to play the man. He chased the couple down and slays them both with a spear. It is a gruesome scene. But Phineas doesn’t waste time. He goes straight for the problem. It is a sober rage. It is a logical fury with the glory of God at stake, and the good of the people (vv. 10-11). The idolatry was putting the previous oracles in jeopardy. They were up to thwarting God’s promise. And where there were no men, Phineas was a man. I want to be like Phineas.

I don’t want a spear and I hate ultimate fighting (it is nonredeemable), but I want to be a man like Phineas. That means, I want to lead my family well in the worship of the triune God. And that means that sometimes you have to slay the inhibitions, you have to put to death those things that contradict the reality of the gospel.

Our situation is not like Numbers 25. But what is it in your camp that is impeding your worship of GOD? What is it in your tribe that is derailing your family from living in light of the gospel? Is it your TV addiction? Is it your disproportionate affection for sports? Is it your preoccupation with Twitter and Facebook? Maybe your lazy? Whatever it is, we all have something in our lives, in the life of our family, that needs to be impelled (metaphorically, of course). We are surrounded by things that aim to knock us off track. Be a man and get rid of those things, for the glory of God and your family’s good.

2010
03/10
CATEGORY
Parenting
Pentateuch
TAGS






3 comments

When Criticizing Coolness is Cool: An Inescapable Problem and a Plea for Gospel Transcendence

There is a severe irony at work in all our blog posts about uncool people needing Jesus and paragraphs that aim to describe what hip Christians like and dislike. The problem that we can’t get away from is that all this talk of coolness, with all its sarcasm, is itself, well, cool.

Anyone can sound cool and make something else look stupid if they are creative enough with their words. Who is cool becomes the one who can make fun of everything else. It is the battle of sarcasm. And I am afraid that we are all infected. We can make fun of door-to-door evangelism. No. Wait. Let’s make fun of people who make fun of door-to-door evangelism. And then let me write a post about people who make fun of people who make fun of door-to-door evangelism.

It is important to evaluate, to become aware, to step outside a get a good look at things. It is good to write about it. To show how silly that thing is, how silly we can be. But, we shouldn’t get lost in this. We have to keep our eyes on the cross. Watch out that we don’t buy into the sport of criticizing the critical, of getting the upper hand in situating everything in its respective realm, influenced by this or that cultural trend, and on and on. Let us get lost in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us have tunnel-vision in that. Let that transcend and overpower everything else. Everything else.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

2010
03/09
CATEGORY
The Uncategorizable
TAGS



1 comment

Day 13: The Church At Every Moment…

The holy people of God is a form of common life which owes it origin to a decision and act beyond itself, utterly gratuitous, excluding from consideration ‘everything which men have of themselves.’ Neither in its origin nor in its continuation is the sanctified community an autonomous gathering; it is–at every moment of its existence–a creature of grace.

John Webster, Holiness, 40.

2010
03/08
CATEGORY
20 Days
Quotable
TAGS




1 comment