Sunday's Sermon: Following Jesus

In this, our last look at John's Gospel for a while, we conclude our series by seeing what it means to listen to Jesus voice and follow Him - as all His true disciples (or 'sheep') will do. We learn that the problem with "Christs", those who will save the world, is that they mess around with your life. We far prefer to have Christs who will turn the world rightside up, but who in doing so will leave us alone. Jesus, is not that type of Christ. And those who listen to him must expect to have their lives and agenda and theology rearranged as they follow Him. This was a price too much for the religious leaders to pay. But, as this passage shows, there are glorious promises to hold onto along the way...
Outline slides below, you can listen or download the sermon from here.

I gratefully acknowledge the seed-thought from Ray Ortlund who got me up and thinking along these lines.

Helen Roseveare: Jesus intercedes for me to make his love real to me

“I had never deserved to be forgiven in the first place when I was converted. I could do nothing to merit God's favour, His grace, His love. If all I had ever known was unmerited and undeserved grace, how could I then forfeit that which I never earned?... Was I too proud, in some strange, inverted way to humble myself to accept an unmerited forgiveness? I know that it was all of grace, yet my inner being wanted to right to do something to merit it. I was trying to work out my own salvation, to earn God's forgiveness, to prove the sincerity of my repentance...At last I knew that it was true. It was not based on my feeling or on my emotions. It was no dependent on my faith or my obedience. In no way could I merit or deserve it. He loved me. He knew me through and through, better than I knew myself, and yet still, He loved me. Christ died on Calvary to tell me that. Christ lives in Heaven, an unceasing intercessor on my behalf to make that love real to me in my experience.” 
Helen Roseveare, Living Sacrifice: Willing to Be Whittled as an Arrow

One of the great privileges of my time here in Macosquin was to have this small giant of faith speak to our congregation.  Still so memorable after so many years.

HT: Scotty Smith

The Great (human) Conumdrum

“‘If I knew I were one of God’s elect, I would come to Christ; but I fear I am not.’  To you I answer: nobody ever came to Christ because he knew himself to be one of the elect. It is quite true that God has of His mere good pleasure elected some to everlasting life, but they never knew it until they believed in Christ.
Christ nowhere commands the elect to come to him. He commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. The question for you is not, ‘Am I one of the elect?’ but ‘Am I a sinner?’ Christ came to save sinners.”

Robert Murray M’Cheyne

HT: Jared Wilson

Scotty Smith's Prayer: Longing for deeper intimacy with Jesus

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. Phil. 3:12-15

Dear Lord Jesus,  I don’t know how old Paul was when he was when he wrote these remarkable words—maybe in his sixties or seventies—but it’s obvious, that with an increase in age came an increase in gospel astonishment. He never grew bored exploring the unsearchable riches of Jesus; and he never seemed to tire of wrestling with the kingdom implications of the gospel—for the world in which you placed him, and for the heart that beat within his breast

Jesus, make me that kind of man. Give me this kind of passion, joy and maturity in the gospel. I’m thankful that it’s your grasp of me, and not my grasp of you, that defines this way of life; for sometimes I lift my hands in awe and gratitude for the way you love me. Sometimes I shake my fists at heaven like a pouting, demanding child. Sometimes I wring my hands in anxious unbelief, like a hapless orphan or spoiled toddler. But I live, and I will die, secure in your palms—confident that I am written upon your heart—beloved and betrothed to you.

Lord Jesus, I praise you that, as with Paul, you’ve given me a prize to win, not a wage to earn. Your finished work forever finished any notion of performance-based spirituality. I never earned my way into a relationship with you, and I don’t maintain a relationship with you by my striving, earnestness or works either. But as the gospel is the end of earning, it’s not the end of effort; so intensify my zeal for laying hold of that free and glorious prize in front of me—the fullness of life in the new heaven and new earth…

So what do I want for the rest of my days, Jesus? I cannot say it any better than Paul, Lord: I want to know you better and better and better—more intimately than ever (Phil. 3:10-11). This is the one thing I want, more than anything else, because it effects everything else. Renew and refresh, deepen and expand, stretch and broaden my relationship with you.

And I want to experience more of the power of your resurrection—power to know more of your love (Eph. 3:14-21); power to love others as you love us (Jn. 13:34-35); power to live in your story, to your glory with the joy you alone can give.

And I want to enter more fully into the fellowship of sharing in your sufferings—living with the birth pangs of new-creation life in this broken world—a world which groans for its release from the bondage to decay, a release that is sure to come (Rom. 8:18-25). I am so thankful to know that our labors in you are not in vain, Lord Jesus (1 cor. 15:58).

This is what I long for the gospel to effect in my heart. Help me to have way done with lesser things and be more taken up with the things which matter most to your heart. So very Amen I pray, in your most glorious and loving name.

HT: Heavenward

What is Christianity?

From the good people at 'Christianity Explored' ...

My Peace I leave with you, but not as the world gives...

HT: BW

It's a painful truth, but we all want to be the King of the Jungle, the Master of the Universe, and the Captain of our souls. We want the world, and everyone in it, to revolve around us. We want peace on our terms, but it will never come.

Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

True peace in life is found in submitting our lives to Christ, not in trying to be our own gods (Genesis 3). Jesus' peace comes, not despite of the horror of the cross, but because of His victory won on the cross over our sinful rebellion and self-assertion. 
It's the only way.

A Good Friday Meditation: becoming a curse for us

RC Sproul on "The curse motif of the atonement".

HT: KdY

Sunday sermon: 'The road to Bethlehem'

This morning the children and young people led the service with the theme, "The Road to Bethlehem" - highlighting some of the OT prophecies and promises about the coming Messiah.
I showed this clip...

Most of my comments afterwards were culled from Tim Keller's famous piece:  'Jesus, the true and better...' (text available here).

Sunday's sermon: Great Expectations (Matthew 24)

You can listen to the sermon here.

A Social Network Christmas

This is doing the cybernetic rounds.  I think it's quite good ...

Glen Scrivener's 'Anti Santy Ranty'

Some seasonally provocative thinking by one darned good Aussie ...

More food for thought here.

Coming to Christ - leaving our badness and goodness

Some helpful insights from Dane Ortlund as to the paradox of sinful behaviours that are rooted in each of our hearts:

. . . the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived [anestraphemen pote] in the passions of our flesh . . . (Eph. 2:2-3)
For you have heard of my former life [anastrophen pote] in Judaism . . . I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I . . . (Gal. 1:13-14) 

These are the only two places where Paul uses these two words together. Anastrepho: Conduct, walking, living. And pote: former, once, at that time.In Ephesians 2, he speaks of his former conduct as immorality. In Galatians 1, he speaks of his former conduct as morality. Rule-breaking, rule-keeping. Which was it?

Both. And not swiveling from one to the other--rather, at the same time. His Jewish zeal was wicked. His goodness was bad. In coming to Christ, we leave behind both our bad and our good. We don't leave badness and come to goodness. 'Goodness,' if considered strictly as conforming to a norm, may be done in pure evil, utter Self. We leave both our badness and our goodness and come to Christ. Being good can be just as resistant to the gospel as being bad, the only difference being that goodness doesn't know it's resisting the gospel.

Jesus: "If anyone would come after me ..."

“Consider Christ. He was of a meek and quiet spirit, and of a most long-suffering behaviour…He was very much the object of bitter contempt and reproach, and slights and despised as a of but little account. Though he was the Lord of glory, yet he was set at naught, and rejected…He was the object of the spit and malice and bitter reviling of the very ones he came to save…He was called a deceiver of people, and oftentimes he was said to be mad, and possessed with the devil…He was charged with being a wicked blasphemer, and one that deserved death on that account. They hated him with morbid hatred, and wished he was dead, and from time to time tried to murder him…His life was an annoyance to them, and they hated him so they could not bear that he should live… Yet Christ meekly bored all these injuries without resentment or one word of reproach, and with heavenly quietness of spirit pass through them all…On the contrary, he prayed for his murderers, that they might be forgiven, even when they were nailing him to the cross; and not only prayed for them, but pleaded in their behalf with His Father, that they knew not what they did.”  

(Jonathan Edwards, Charity and its Fruits, 1738)

HT: Graced Again

321: The story of God, the world and you

HT: Dave Bish and 321

"What would George do?"

Former US President GW Bush, along with his wife Laura, was back at the White House recently to unveil the officially commissioned portraits of the former President and First Lady that will hang alongside paintings of previous occupants of the White House, including, said Bush, that of "the first George W"!
The former President has clearly lost none of his humour (and charm!) while out of Office.  He suggested that, while contemplating great affairs of State, President Obama, in seeking inspiration for the right decision, might profitably gaze upon the Bush portrait and ask himself, "What would George do?"  You can watch the ceremony highlights here.
Anyway - and here's the relevance of this - it is now commonplace among Christian believers, in seeking to act righteously in ethically complex, grey situations, to find clarity by surmising the answer to the question "What would Jesus do?"  In fact, a whole WWJD? cottage industry has grown up around this notion that we can determine what our own behaviour should be in any given situation by 'simply' imitating what we might reasonably expect to be the practical outworking of Jesus' own inner thoughts and feelings.
This, however, was not the Apostle Paul's way. Paul's behaviour in every situation was governed by principles and convictions honed from a deep theological reflection of the significance of Jesus (and the Cross) within God's plan of redemptive history.  In other words, Paul's reasoning was not What would Jesus do?, but rather 'As a redeemed child of God, what should we do in light of what Jesus has done?'  So, rather than trying to imagine what Jesus might do in any given situation, it is the practical outworking of the Gospel in our lives that itself should determine our life and lifestyle.  Tim Keller has helpfully highlighted that Paul's rebuke of Peter (Gal. 2) when the latter was beginning to withdraw from table fellowship with converted Gentiles under pressure from the Judaizers, was because Peter was "not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel" (v14).  
Let's learn to live not by second guessing the mind of Jesus, but live as those who, by God's amazing grace, stand before him in covenant relationship - justified, adopted, and indwelt by the sanctifying Spirit of God - and who are learning to live in line with Gospel truth.

Jesus' cross: the opening and the emptying of the full heart of God

"But for a crucified Saviour, there could be no possible return to God; in no other way could He, consistently with the holiness and rectitude of the Divine government, with what He owes to Himself as a just and holy God, receive a poor, wandering, returning sinner. Mere repentance and humiliation for and confession of sin could entitle the soul to no act of pardon. The obedience and death of the Lord Jesus laid the foundation and opened the way for the exercise of this great and sovereign act of grace. 

"The cross of Jesus displays the most awful exhibition of God’s hatred of sin, and at the same time the most august manifestation of His readiness to pardon it. Pardon, full and free, is written out in every drop of blood that is seen, is proclaimed in every groan that is heard, and shines in the very prodigy of mercy that closes the solemn scene upon the cross. Oh blessed door of return, open and never shut to the wanderer from God! how glorious, how free, how accessible! 

"Here the sinful, the vile, the guilty, the unworthy, the poor, the penniless may come. Here, too, the weary spirit may bring its burden, the broken spirit its sorrow, the guilty spirit its sin, the backsliding spirit its wandering. All are welcome here. The death of Jesus was the opening and the emptying of the full heart of God; it was the outgushing of that ocean of infinite mercy that heaved, and panted, and longed for an outlet; it was God showing how He could love a poor guilty sinner. What more could He have done than this? what stronger proof, what richer gift, what costlier boon could He have given in attestation of that love? 

"Now, it is the simple belief of this that brings the tide of joy down into the soul; it is faith’s view of this that dissolves the adamant, rends asunder the flinty rock, smites down the pyramid of self-righteousness, lays the rebellious will in the dust, and enfolds the repenting, believing soul in the very arms of free, rich, and sovereign love."

Octavius Winslow: Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul 

We need practical theism

Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri
c. 1971

When, back in the 1950's, Francis and Edith Schaeffer began to think through the foundational principles of L'Abri in Switzerland as a Biblical/Christian apologetic community, they stated their purpose as:  "To show forth by demonstration, in our life and work, the existence of God."

Josh Moody, Senior Pastor of College Church, Wheaton, has been similarly writing about the necessity of the apologetic character of the local church to be clearly and purposefully manifest.  In his recent book on Galatians, No Other Gospel he says (p.19):

"It seems to me that the great difference between practical theism and practical atheism is the church of the living God. Jesus is alive, and we can’t keep that a secret. It is not okay to think, When they get to know us, they’ll realize that Jesus is alive. It has to be front and center in our worship, our smiles, our greetings, our interaction, our preaching — in everything we do, Jesus is alive. Church is not an evangelical golf club. It is the church of the living God, and we need to indicate that. We don’t want to give the impression that Jesus died and went to heaven in 1950. He’s still alive and doing things today. A church that decides it has ‘arrived’ is a breath away from dying. Pride comes before a fall. We need practical theism, a resurrection theology, the power of the Spirit through the Word of God."

HT:  OFI

Gaugin: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

 HT: BW
Young Calvin is right.  French post-impressionist painter, Paul Gaugin, did raise these fundamental world-view questions in a famous painting you can view here. As the Wikipedia article (yeah, I know ...) demonstrates, it is important to begin to get young people thinking about these foundational life issues early.
Which brings me nicely to the recent talk I gave at the Reality 3:16 seminar, where we looked at Paul's letter to the Colossians as a plea for the Christians there not to become distracted through faulty self-indulgent spirituality, nor to become monastically introverted by being intimidated or dismissive of the prevailing pluralistic imperial cult.  Instead, they should have confidence in "this [Christ-centred worldview] Gospel" that has already fruitfully impacted their own lives (Col. 1: 4-6) and, following the example of Epaphras and Paul and others (1:7; 4:2-4, 7-14), live wisely - with paradoxical humble boldness - by sharing this message with others (4:5-6). 
 Adapted from some insights from Voddie Baucham, at the heart of the message was an encouragement to see how Paul highlights the glory of the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ (1: 13-21) as the answer to humanity's deepest questions.  This can provide a framework for Gospel Worldview evangelism:

• Who am I?  My identity is intimately bound to my relationship the Creator of all things, Jesus Christ.  My life has significance since I am the crowning glory of the creative activity of God, both bearing God's image and with a capacity to know Him
• Why am I here? My life has purpose and meaning, because God, in His grace, has made me with the intention that I should bring glory to Him.  God has created us that we might experience, delight, spread and ultimately share in the glory of God.
• What's wrong with the world? "I am" (GK Chesterton).  We are alienated from God, enemies with Him through evil behaviour, God-glory denying and defying sinners, who need to be forgiven and rescued from this kingdom of darkness (Col 1).
• How can it be put right?  Not more education, not more governance. Jesus! (Col 1: 13-14, 20, 22)
• How will it all end?  The antithesis of our culture's sense of meaningless and despair is the certain "hope of glory" that is held out for all those who embrace this Gospel of Christ (1: 23, 27).
• What time is it?  It's time to believe and persevere in "this" Gospel (1: 23, 28-29), and make the most of every opportunity to prayerfully and lovingly share this life changing truth with those who hold to a different, and therefore wrong, view of reality (4: 2-6).  

Christian, do you dread death because of the prospect of eternal boredom? Think again...

Here's a quotation from a longish article by Russell Moore, who writes "For too long, we've called unbelievers to 'invite Jesus into your life.' Jesus doesn't want to be in your life. Your life's a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life."

He continues ...

We tend either to ignore the future, because we are so consumed in the drama of the here and now, or to see it as simply a continuation of our present lives, with our loved ones there and sickness and death gone. But in Jesus we see a future that has continuity and discontinuity. In his resurrected life, Jesus has gone before us as a pioneer of the new creation.
Perhaps we dread death less from fear than from boredom, thinking the life to come will be an endless postlude to where the action really happens. This is betrayed in how we speak about the "afterlife": it happens after we've lived our lives. The kingdom, then, is like a high-school reunion in which middle-aged people stand around and remember the "good old days." But Jesus doesn't promise an "afterlife." He promises us life—and that everlasting. Your eternity is no more about looking back to this span of time than your life now is about reflecting on kindergarten. The moment you burst through the mud above your grave, you will begin an exciting new mission—one you couldn't comprehend if someone told you. And those things that seem so important now—whether you're attractive or wealthy or famous or cancer-free—will be utterly irrelevant.

With many thanks to Dane Ortlund, you can read the whole article here.

A Prayer about the Good of Good Friday

From Scotty Smith

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matt. 27:46

     Dear Lord Jesus, it’s the painfully glorious day in Holy Week we call “Good Friday.” I’ve always felt somewhat conflicted about calling the day of your crucifixion “good.” On one hand, it seems quite insensitive and self-serving. That there had to be a day when you, the God who made us for yourself, would be made sin for us is not good at all. The necessity of your cross underscores the crisis of our condition, the “badness” of our brokenness, the darkness of the day.

     But on the other hand—the bigger hand, that you freely and fully give yourself for us on the cross is quintessential, archetypal, never-to-be surpassed goodness. There never has been and there never will be anything more deserving of the appellation “good” than your death for us, Lord Jesus.

     For out of the same heart and the same mouth came these two cries from the cross: “Father forgive them” (Luke 23:34) and “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The first required the second. The second secured the first. Taken together, both of them buckle my knees, still my heart, and loose my tongue for proclaiming the greatness of your glory and grace.

     How can I begin to offer you worthy worship in response to what you’ve accomplished for us on the cross? It’s like wanting to paint the most magnificent landscape I’ve ever seen, but with a palate of three colors and both of my arms in a cast. It’s like having a passion to write a great symphony in honor of you but knowing I’m just a kazoo player who doesn’t read music. It’s like desiring to cook you a great banquet with my microwave oven, a loaf of white bread, and a can of processed cheese.

     There’s no way any of us can possibly offer a response congruent to the magnificence of your mercy and the measure of your grace for us at Calvary. So like everything else we have to offer you, Jesus, take our humble praise and purify it, magnify it, and cause it to be a sweet aroma in your heart. “This, the pow’r of the cross: Son of God—slain for us. What a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross.”

     No one could ever take your life from you, and we could never find life on our own. Because you were fully forsaken, we are forever forgiven. Because you exhausted God’s judgment against our foul sin, we now live by the gift of your perfect righteousness. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So very Amen we pray, in your all-glorious, all-gracious name.