Tag Archives: grace

The Logic of God’s Love

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John Piper says it’s almost too good to believe. Hear Zephaniah’s words:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 is an absolutely magnificent promise that is meant to make us feel God’s joy. Like when the father ran to embrace his prodigal son, some scenes in Scripture are especially meant to astonish us with mercy.

But not everyone can bring themselves to believe God’s love for us is that powerful. Though, as Pastor John writes, Zephaniah wants to help us get it:

[Zephaniah] labors under the wonderful inspiration of God to overcome every obstacle that would keep a person from believing — really feeling and enjoying — the unspeakable news that God exults over us with singing. (178)

But there are many who struggle, and you might be one. In chapter seven of The Pleasures of God John Piper sketches a hypothetical dialogue between a one who struggles and the rationale of Zephaniah. He speaks for Zephaniah and interacts with the potential inhibitions that keep us from believing in God’s love. It goes like this:

A Dialogue with the Logic of Zephaniah1

“Can you feel the wonder of this today — that God is rejoicing over you with loud singing?”

“No, I can’t, because I am too guilty. I am unworthy. My sin is too great, and the judgments against me are too many. God could never rejoice over me.”

“But consider Zephaniah 3:15. God foresees your hesitancy. He understands. So his prophet says, ‘The Lord has taken away the judgments against you!’ Can you not feel the wonder that the Lord exults over you with loud singing today, even though you have sinned? Can you not feel that the condemnation has been lifted because he bruised his own Son in your place, if you will only believe?”

“No, I can’t, because I am surrounded by enemies. Obstacles press me in on every side. There are people who never let me believe this. There are people at work who would make my life miserable if God were my treasure. There are people in my family who would ostracize me. I have friends who would do everything to drag me down. I could never go on believing. I would have too many enemies. The oppression would be too much to bear, I could never do it.”

“But consider Zephaniah 3:17, ‘The Lord is a warrior who gives victory’; and verse 19, ‘Behold, at that time I will deal with your oppressors [says the Lord]’; and verse 15, ‘He has cast out your enemies.’ Can you feel the wonder that God is doing everything that needs to be done for you to enjoy his own enjoyment of you? Can you see that the enemies and the oppressors are not too strong for God? Nothing can stop him, when he exults over you with loud singing. Can you feel the wonder of it now? Can you believe that he rejoices over you?”

“No, still I can’t, because he is a great and holy God and I feel like he is far away from me. I am very small. I am a nobody. The world is a huge place with many important people. There are major movements and institutions that he is concerned with and happy about. I am too small. God is like the president. He is far away in Washington, busy with big things.”

“But consider Zephaniah 3:15, ‘The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst’; and verse 17: ‘The Lord, your God, is in your midst.’ He is not far from you. Yes, I admit that this staggers the imagination and stretches credibility almost to the breaking point — that God can be present personally to everyone who comes to him and believes on him. But say to yourself, again and again, He is God! He is God! What shall stop God from being close to me if he wants to be close to me? He is God! He is God! The very greatness that makes him seem too far to be near, is the greatness that enables him to do whatever he pleases, including being near to me. Has he not said, for this very reason, ‘I dwell in a high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit’ (Isaiah 57:15)? Can you not then feel the marvel that God makes merry over you — even with loud singing — when you come to him and believe him?”

“But no, you just don’t understand. I am the victim and the slave of shame. I have been endlessly belittled by my parents (see Zephaniah 2:8, 10). I have been scoffed at and threatened and manipulated and slandered. Inside this cocoon of shame even the singing of God sounds faint and far away and indecipherable. It is as though my shame has made me deaf to anyone’s happiness with me, especially God’s. I cannot feel it.”

“Now I am sure I do not feel all that you feel. I have not been through what you have been through. But God is no stranger to shame. Unbelievable shame was heaped on his Son (Hebrews 12:2), terrible slander, repeated belittling, even from his own townsfolk (Matthew 13:55–58). Therefore, ‘We do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses’ (Hebrews 4–15). I know I have never walked in your shoes. I did not have to live with the family you lived with. But Jesus knows. He feels it with you. And best of all, his Father says right here in Zephaniah 3:19, ‘I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.’ Is it not amazing how well God knows you? Can you not feel the warmth of his heart as he makes provision for every question you have? Do you not yet hear the singing of God as you draw near?”

________

1This is adapted from The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God, 1991, (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2012), 179–180.

Read the original post at the DG blog: How Zephaniah Helps Us Feel the Glad Love of God

Discipleship Makes You a Christian Hedonist

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Discipleship is about values. This could not be clearer in the Gospels. Jesus’ call is for a double action: leave and follow. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” he first said to Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:19. And “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Then to James and John. And “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Whether nets or family, the call to follow Jesus is the call to walk away from something else. It is the call to this, not that. Here, not there.

The disciples knew this. They knew they were forsaking one thing for another. And they knew pleasure was at the root. That’s why Peter asked what he did in Matthew 19:27. To be sure, he was still putting the pieces together, but he tipped his hand here. He was waiting for the pay off. Jesus had just taught on riches, which I imagine seemed out of the ballpark to Peter. Riches? Psssssst! (He had even walked away from his meager livelihood.) Ayhem, Jesus? Great lesson on riches, and about that, we, you know, we, uh, we left everything. So when do we get to cash the check?

Maybe more astonishing than Peter asking the question is that Jesus answers him.

Forsake the lesser pursuit in order to gain the greater pleasure. That’s why a man sells everything to buy a field (Matthew 13:44) or why the merchant considers all his goods mere commerce compared to one pearl (Matthew 13:45). There is something better out there and discipleship is the great calling to lay hold of it.

The human is a deep creature: “not just a body, but a soul. Not just a soul, but a soul with a passion and a desire. Not just a desire for being liked or for playing softball or collecting shells.” And Jesus says, “Follow me.” His call harmonizes with our inherent depth. Look, here’s the treasure. It’s me. Then we are awakened, muddy hands and all, wallowing in the slums this whole time but now testifying of a “desire for something infinitely great and beautiful and valuable and satisfying — the name and the glory of God” (Boasting Only in the Cross). So we leave and we follow. Goodbye broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13), hello my exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

We follow Jesus into a new world, not as pedagogy, but as fellowship. We come not as pupils, but as rebellious creatures made alive for the first time — rebellious creatures now reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Discipleship — following Jesus — is to live before God’s face, to dwell in his presence, to be satisfied in all that he is. We follow as creatures of grace, entering into the fellowship of the triune God in whose presence there is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

________

Read the original post at the DG blog: The Heart of Discipleship.

For some helpful reading on discipleship, see Jonathan Dodson’s most recent book, Gospel-Centered Discipleship; see also chapter 4 of Holiness by John Webster. And for sure, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Calvin’s Institutes, Book III.

At Least One Connection Between Baseball and Prayer

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Memorial Day weekend is the traditional welcome into summer. Long days, outside reading, baseball, iced tea, sunshine — ’tis the season of unparalleled displays of God’s common benevolence.

And it’s also full of exciting opportunities for us to grow in the grace of prayer.

God’s grace is immeasurable, not seasonal (Ephesians 2:7). There’s not more of him now than in January, but summer tends to open our eyes a little wider. We can see a little clearer. And this helps how we pray.

C. S. Lewis:

For what I call “myself” (for all practical, everyday purposes) is also a dramatic construction. . . Normally I call this construction “me,” and the stage set “the real world.” Now the moment of prayer is for me — or involves for me as its condition — the awareness, the re-awakened awareness, that this “real world” and “real self” are very far from being rock-bottom realities” (Letters to Malcom, 81).

In other words, prayer is when we snap out of it — out of the busyness, out of Facebook charades, out of our culture-imposed identities. Prayer is the most real thing we do, and if summer is when we are most awake, then let it teach us how to pray. Let it invite us into deeper fellowship.

Jonathan Dodson writes of prayer,

Prayer is about love not about lists. It is about drawing near to God, not about impressing God. It is about enjoying his grace not enduring guilt. In fact, our genuine guilt for loving something altogether more than we love the Father is gone in Christ. God so loved us that he sent his only Son to be cut off in death so that we might be wonderfully united with him in life. Prayer is a response to the Father and the Son; it is a warm reaction to what they have together done for us. Prayer is communion with God, a cementing of souls together in a common delight, in this case, a delight in God and his grace towards us in Christ. It begins and continues with honest words about our loveless lives, our guilt-ridden approaches to prayer, and a shameless embrace of God’s reckless love and grace. (What to Do with Prayerlessness)

May the next four months be the background of deeper discoveries in what this means.

________

Read the original post at the DG blog: How Summertime Helps Us Pray.

Theology in Baseball and Blockbusters

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My colleagues (and friends), Tony Reinke and David Mathis, have authored two posts this week I absolutely love. Now, I think it’s excellent content. But even more than that, it’s what’s under the hood that encourages me most. It’s the way these posts give us a model for seeing the world. Tony is drawing deep truths about God’s wrath from a movie about superheros. David connects John Frame on the Christian life to Major League Baseball’s league-leading homerun hitter.

Check them out: Tony’s The Avenger and David’s Josh Hamilton, Relapse, and the Means of Grace.

On Election and Faithfulness

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Deuteronomy 7:7–9,

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,  but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations

The theology of election leads to the exhortation to know the very character of God. He is sovereign: loving whom he loves, having mercy on whom he wills — and he is not arbitrary. He acts in accordance to a standard, namely, himself. He is a God of covenant faithfulness.

This passage is a remarkable blending together of YHWH’s utter sovereignty and condescending relation to his people. He is sovereign enough to choose whom he wills, according to his own good pleasure, and yet he is guided by his own character such that he never acts outside of who he is. He is sovereign, in that he does whatever he pleases, and he is bound, in that he doesn’t contradict his character.

This is deeply rooted in the essence of the triune God, whose election is in reference to the Son (Ephesians 1:4). And the root of his election — his unconditional, because-he-is-God election — and his mind-boggling, mouth-shutting faithfulness is intrinsic to himself. It is in himself, “for he is content with his own secret good pleasure.”

Jesus Crucified, Barrabas Released, and Luke’s Picture for Us

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From Barrabas and Me, by David Mathis —

So Luke, it appears, means for us to identify both with Jesus and Barabbas. Jesus in that by identifying with him, through being united with him by faith, his death is our death. His condemning of sin is our condemning of sin. And Barabbas in that we are sinners, criminals who have broken God’s law, guilty as charged, deserving death for our rebellion against our creator and the ruler of the universe. And Jesus, through the grace of giving himself for us at the cross, takes our place and we are released.

As we more greatly understand the depths of our sin, we see with Luke, “I am Barabbas.” I am the one so clearly guilty and deserving of condemnation but set free because of the willing substitution of the Son of God in my place.

Read the whole thing.

John Murray on Union with Christ

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John Murray:

There is no truth, therefore, more suited to impart confidence and strength, comfort and joy in the Lord than this one of union with Christ. It also promotes sanctification, not only because all sanctifying grace is derived from Christ as the crucified and exalted Redeemer, but also because the recognition of fellowship with Christ and of the high privilege it entails incites to gratitude, obedience, and devotion. Union means also communion and communion constrains a humble, reverent, loving walk with him who died and rose again that he might be our Lord

Redemption Accomplished and Applied, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955], 171.

Christian, Five Things to Do If You’re Struggling

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Jerome Weller was a theology student under Martin Luther’s direct influence, living in his home and tutoring his children for nearly a decade. In July 1530, Luther wrote a letter of advice to Weller who was in the midst of a depression.

. . . Excellent Jerome, You ought to rejoice in this temptation of the devil because it is a certain sign that God is propitious and merciful to you. You say that the temptation is heavier than you can bear, and that you fear that it will so break and beat you down as to drive you to despair and blasphemy. I know this wile of the devil. If he cannot break a person with his first attack, he tries by persevering to wear him out and weaken him until the person falls and confesses himself beaten.

Whenever this temptation comes to you, avoid entering upon a disputation with the devil and do not allow yourself to dwell on those deadly thoughts, for to do so is nothing short of yielding to the devil and letting him have his way. Try as hard as you can to despise those thoughts which are induced by the devil. In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking. By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. . .

When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also.”

Yours,
Martin Luther

Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, trans. and ed., Theodore G. Tappert, 1960, (Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2003), 85ff., paragraphing mine.

Five Actions Summarized

In review, Luther mentions five pieces of advice:

  1. Rejoice because temptation testifies of God’s mercy to you.
  2. Do not dwell on the deadly thoughts of the Devil.
  3. Laugh your adversary to scorn.
  4. Be around other believers.
  5. Proclaim the good news of Jesus for you and your salvation.

Read the original post.

What 1 Corinthians 1:7–9 Says

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1 Corinthians 1:7–9,

as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who will sustain you to the end,

guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful,

by whom you were called into

the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Do you know what Paul is saying here?

Waiting

“As you wait.” We’re waiting for something. So that’s what this is called. Waiting. More specifically, we’re waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not here right now, not in his person. I can’t see him or touch him or hear his voice. Jesus, the Messiah (to be clear), the Lord (to be clearer). Our Lord Jesus Christ (to say it best). He will be revealed. He will appear. Cue John: we shall “see him like he is” (1 John 3:2).

This is what we’re waiting for.

To the End

And Jesus will sustain you to the end. So this waiting is a sustained waiting and it’s not sustained by ourselves. Jesus, the one for whom we’re waiting is the one who is sustaining our waiting. He knows we’re waiting. He’s not out to lunch. He sees us. He knows. He knows it’s not easy. He knows that some waiting are starving because of famine, that others are persecuted because of their government, that others are tempted because of riches, that others don’t have the Old Testament in their language. He knows and he will sustain us.

And that’s to the end. The end, oh that’s explained in the next line: “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (there’s that best title again, “our Lord Jesus Christ”). The end is the “day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s the day when he will be revealed. Bring the OT in here, the great day of YHWH, the day of judgment and salvation. The wicked are put down and the righteous are saved. That’s the end. And it’s to this end that the Jesus of whom we’re waiting to be revealed will sustain us.

Guiltless

And this sustaining to the end will mean that he keeps us guiltless. We will be guiltless. Innocent. But we’re not. We’re sinners. We sin. We’ve got lots of guilt.

But he died for us. He bore our guilt. He took it upon himself. He suffered in our place. He went to the cross and absorbed the wrath of God that should have been blasted against us, forever. Our sins are forgiven. Removed. His rightousness, all the benefits of being in him are now ours. And he speaks our faith in this great work. He prays for our faith in this great work so that it won’t fail. And as guiltless as we are in him is as guiltless as we’ll be on that day.

God Is Faithful

Let me explain why. God is faithful.

This is the ground. God is faithful. That’s why it’s going to go this way. God the Father who elected us, the one by whom we have been effectually called, he is faithful. He doesn’t say things he doesn’t do. All his works, well, work. No mistakes. No hiccup. He called us and he meant it.

And this calling, this is into the fellowship of his Son. His Son, the one with whom he is well-pleased. The one of whom is also “Jesus Christ our Lord” (there it is again). The Father has called us into fellowship with him. Fellowship. You mean, like, communion? Participation? Union? Yes, yes. That’s it. Fellowship. The Father has called us into fellowship with his beloved Son. See, I told you we’d be guiltless. We’re in Christ. In him. Fellowshiping with him, sharing in his inheritance, delighted in by the Father as his own workmanship, created in Jesus. In Jesus the Messiah who is our Lord.

Jesus Christ Our Lord

We’re waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain us to the end, who will make us guiltless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom we’ve been called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the one for whom we’re waiting. The one who is sustaining the wait.

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.