Introduction
Peter’s exhortations to submit to authorities and to bless all men is unpacking Peter’s conviction that the Church is the new priesthood, called to be the new “spiritual house” of God (2:4-5). This new house necessarily competes with the old one, but Jesus has promised to “visit” them soon (2:12, Lk. 19:44).
Defending the Sanctuary
The apostle has explained that the Church is the new temple of God by battling sin and doing good works (2:11-12). Peter continues explaining this task by asking who will harm “zealots of good” (3:13). Being zealous for good would seem harmless enough, but Peter also knows that zealots are persecuted as trouble makers. But if they suffer for justice, they are “blessed.” Jesus says this kind of treatment is reason for rejoicing because we know our reward is great in heaven and because we join the ranks of the prophets (Mt. 5:10-12 cf. Js. 1:12). Peter says not to fear “their fear” nor be disturbed (3:14). This is a quotation from Isaiah 8:12, and Peter may be urging Christians not to fear the Romans like the Jews do. The opposite of “their fear” is to consecrate the Lord God in their hearts and to be always ready to give a defense to those who ask about their hope (3:15, cf. Mt. 13:10-13). The command to “sanctify” God is strange since almost never do we sanctify God. Rather it is we who need to be sanctified by Him. How do we sanctify God? In the Isaiah passage Peter has already quoted, Yahweh says that not only should they not be afraid of the “fears” of their enemies, they should also “hallow” Yahweh of Hosts, let Him be their fear (Is. 8:13). Given how the OT usually uses this language for sanctuary, people, and furniture, it’s almost not surprising for Isaiah to continue and say that Yahweh “will be as a sanctuary” (Is. 8:14). However, he will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the houses of Israel (Is. 8:14, cf. 1 Pet. 2:8, Is. 29:23). Ezekiel uses similar language: “Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore” (Ez. 37:28). Elsewhere, God promises to vindicate His holiness among the nations (Ez. 38:23, 39:27). When we hallow/fear God, He hallows us in the midst of the nations (e.g. Mt. 6:9). As we are faithful to our calling to be and build the house of God, God defends His house, He promises to be our sanctuary.
A Living Hope
This hope is the “living hope” they received when they were begotten again through the resurrection of Jesus (1:3). Elsewhere Paul says that “hope” is the ultimate result of suffering (Rom. 5:1-5). If we are zealous for good, sanctifying God in our hearts, then we may have a good conscience when we are defamed as evil doers (3:16). And this incongruity will ultimately result in shame and conversion (3:16, cf. 2:12, 15, 3:1). Peter repeats that it is better to suffer for doing good because this is what Jesus did (3:17-18, cf. 2:20-25). But even here Peter reminds his audience that Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Peter makes what may seem like a strange digression here, but the context helps. First, the point is the vindication of Jesus who was made alive by the Spirit. His victory was proclaimed specifically to the disobedient spirits in prison (3:19) who witnessed God’s patience while Noah was building the ark (3:20). Why does Peter think this fits with this context? Here is a situation where God’s reputation was on the line and His faithful servants were severely tested. And not only that, this testing takes place in the context of building a house. And Peter knows that numbers can sometimes seem daunting, but God has saved as few as eight souls before when the whole world had gone mad. Finally, water is the clear and obvious sign of vindication. When did it become clear that God was right? That Noah was right? That the ark was the place to be? When it started raining. And Peter says it’s the same for us. The water is the sign that now saves us, that appeals to God as a good conscience (cf. Heb. 10:22). Here, Peter comes full circle by referencing the resurrection of Jesus. We are to strive for a good conscience before God and man, zealous for good, blessing those who persecute us, but our hope is grounded in the resurrection (1:3, 21). The water appeals to God on the basis of the resurrection.
Conclusion & Application
We are called to do good and expect persecution in full assurance of faith. This is just a fact we have to get down in our bones. If we follow Jesus, we must expect to suffer.
The way Peter continues to draw off of these Isaiah texts should impress how analogous he sees the first century Church situation to Israel’s context at the end of the era of the kings. The house of Israel was destroyed, but a new house emerged from the ark of exile because God is faithful. The first century church endured great persecution at the hands of unbelieving Jews, but God vindicated His people in 70 AD when the real zealots were revealed.
All of the judgments of God throughout Scripture and down through history all point to the resurrection of Jesus which is our living hope. This hope is living because Jesus is alive. And every baptism is a reminder to us and to God of His promises of resurrection both now and at the end. He is at the right hand of God and all powers have been made subject to Him, including every power in our lives (3:22). If that’s true, hope must be spilling out of us, and we must be always ready to given an answer to those who ask us about the house we’re building. And our answer is baptism: Look, it’s already started raining.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Third Sunday after Epiphany: 1 Peter 3:13-22
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Falling and Singing
"When I fall into the abyss, I go straight into it, head down and heels up, and I’m even pleased that I’m falling in just such a humiliating position, and for me I find it beautiful. And so in that very shame I suddenly begin a hymn."
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
HT: Remy Wilkins
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Again?
"The sure mark of an unliterary man is that he considers 'I've read it already' to be a conclusive argument against reading a work." (C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism, 2)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Second Sunday in Epiphany: 1 Pet. 3:1-12
Introduction
Last week we considered the fact that the Christian community embodies the life of the Trinity through submission. As the Son entrusts Himself to the Father, so we are to entrust ourselves to the Son, and this submission manifests itself in submission to human authorities, just as Jesus did. As we cling to Jesus in this, our submission and suffering is taken up into Christ’s and becomes part of Christ’s reconciliation of all things.
Submissive Wives
Peter continues with the theme of this submission with an exhortation to wives. While Christ is the central example that we are to follow, Peter implies that submissive slaves and wives are models of faith as well. Notice that this means an efficacy is tied to this submission. As Christ’s example accomplishes the replication of His life in us, so too, submissive wives do so with the aim of “winning” their husbands (3:1). Peter says this is true of disobedient husbands (3:1) just as it was true of “harsh masters” (2:18). Notice that this “submission” ought to be done in fear for both slaves and wives (2:18, 3:2). While there may be a faithful sort of fear of human authorities, Peter’s introduction grounds this fear ultimately in God (1:17, 2:17). How much more so ought this pattern to hold true for generally more faithful husbands/masters? Notice that submissive wives strive to imitate Jesus by their actions and without words (3:1, cf. 2:12, 22-23), and all of this is in order to silence the foolishness of ignorant men (even ignorant husbands) (2:12, 15). These actions cannot be merely outward beauty, but must imitate the Trinity in incarnating the “hidden person,” manifesting that “incorruptible” inheritance we have in Christ (1:4), but there is also something efficacious about suffering for others that mimics Christ (cf. 1:18-19, 23). God the judge, who judges righteously, intervenes for those who act commendably, for those who are “precious” in His sight (3:4). This submissive spirit imitates Sarah and the other holy women who trusted in God and did not fear (3:5-6).
Husbands Who Know
Peter urges husbands to dwell with their wives according to knowledge (3:7). Given that we have an exhortation for husbands to “know” their wives, it is difficult not to think of the first marriage and the role of “knowledge.” God planted the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” in the midst of the garden, and this tree tested the loyalty of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:9). It is the lie of the dragon that when they eat their eyes will be opened, “knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). After eating, their eyes are opened and they “know” that they are naked (Gen. 3:7), and God recognizes that now they do know good and evil (Gen. 3:22). The very next use of the word “know” occurs when the text describes Adam knowing his wife sexually (Gen. 4:1). Given Adam’s blessing/response to God’s curses, we are to believe that Adam repented (Gen. 3:20-21) and God forgave them (Gen. 3:21). “Knowing” is bound up with loyalty, glory, and God-likeness. And sexual love is no different. Peter says that husbands are to live with their wives like the repentant Adam. Rather than abdicating, they are to honor their wives as “fellow heirs” of the promises of God (1 Pet. 3:7). This kind of love results in answered prayers (3:7, cf. 3:12).
Applications & Conclusions
Peter closes these particular exhortations by calling upon all Christians to be of “one mind,” sharing burdens, loving one another like family (3:8). This all goes back to an imitation of Christ, particularly with our tongues (3:9-10). Full repentance is always a “turning” away from evil and running after what is good (3:11).
Our ability to submit and suffer injustice rests upon knowledge, knowing Jesus and the Judge who vindicated Him. Husbands must know Jesus so that they may know their wives. Wives must prioritize their love and submission with Jesus at the center so that they may submit to their husbands.
Most marital sins are disobedience to the basic gospel. Jesus did not revile when He was reviled (2:23) so neither should we (3:8-9). We are called to bless those who persecute us and run after peace (3:9-11), trusting that God’s ears are open to our prayers and He will judge those who do evil (3:12).
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Proverbs 28:9-11 Notes
“One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” (28:9)
This continues a section on the Torah (cf. 28:4, 7). The Torah was to be heard and obeyed (Dt. 6), and failure to “listen” was failure to obey. The task of faithful Israelites was to “hear” so that they might have the words of the law in their hearts (Dt. 6:6). This “hearing” was to take place through putting the law all over their lives and talking about them with their children constantly. Hearing means loving God with all that we are, and that love flows out and fills the lives of those hearers.
Turning away from hearing is a sin of omission, a lapse of obedience which is disobedience, but the proverb says that when this occurs it affects everything, even acts of piety. An abomination is something detested by God, and perhaps a parallel we might imagine in human life are the articles of a loved one who has betrayed us. All memories and reminders of someone who has committed treachery become reminders of the treachery. Likewise, God says that those who do not listen to Him, those who neglect His Word, and fail to love it with all that they are commit treason and adultery, and when we speak to Him, it only reminds Him of the fact. An adulterous husband who refuses to repent of His sin cannot protest that at least he called home every once in a while.
Notice too that the one who refuses to listen gets the same treatment. God promises to turn His ear from hearing that one who has turned away from hearing. At some point, justice becomes an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth affair.
The structure of the proverb:
Turns away
His ear
From hearing
Torah
Also his prayers
Abomination
The structure emphasizes these basic parallels. He who turns away his ear will become detestable to God. God’s ear will turn away from the one who has turned away from Him, and He will not hear his prayers. The center is the necessity of hearing the Torah.
Jesus and the prophets emphasize the fact that God’s people frequently have ears but do not hear. Isaiah’s ministry is explicitly for the purpose of lulling God’s people into presumption and Jesus says that His parables have the same effect. Those who have hard hearts will compliment themselves on hearing and understanding because they have heard with their ears, but God says they have not really heard or understood and therefore they cannot turn and be forgiven. This seems to be how the prayers of these traitors are abominations. God lulls them into a deeper, self-righteous sleep so that they cannot turn and be forgiven.
1 Pet. 3:7 exhorts husbands to dwell with their wives in understanding, honoring them, so that their prayers are not hindered. This seems to be a parallel idea to this proverb. Listening to Torah means knowing and honoring your wife, but refusal to do so will result in hindered prayers.
Refusing to hear is a kind of arrogance and pride, but humility listens and obeys.
“Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, He himself will fall into his own pit; but the blameless will inherit good.” (28:10)
This proverb promises what others also predict, namely, that those who do evil will eat the fruit of their labors (Pr. 26:27, Eccl. 10:8). They will fall into the pit they have dug for others. But this proverb specifically targets leaders, and even more specifically, leaders who lead the “upright” astray. Thus, this proverb includes a promise of hope for blameless followers. Those who follow the “evil way” ignorantly will be rescued by God and inherit good.
Peter Leithart notes: “A form of the verb “lead astray” (shagah) is used in Leviticus 4:13 to describe sins of wandering or ignorance. This is not a high-handed sin, but a sin of deception, ignorance, confusion. The proverb gives us a specific scenario involving such a sin: A sin of ignorance or wandering may be one that is “caused” by another, that is, one in which we are encouraged by someone we think trustworthy to sin. Sins of ignorance are removed in sacrifice. They are not counted as defiant, high-handed sins. Scripture, in short, recognizes degrees and varieties of sin. Sins are always sins, but sometimes sinners are victims as well as perpetrators.”
This proverb acts as a great warning to leaders. Obviously those who knowingly lead their people in an evil way should be warned, but even those unintentionally lead in an evil way. This places great responsibility on leaders in general. While the promise to the “blameless” seems to run most directly parallel to the “upright” who are led astray, we might also recognize the possibility that a leader might also be blameless and also rescued from the pit.
The word for “blameless” is the same for “perfect” or “spotless.” Noah was blameless (Gen. 6:9), as was Jacob (Gen. 25:27) and Job (Job 1:1). The same word used in this proverb describes the quality required of sacrifices (e.g. Ex. 12:5, Lev. 1:3ff). This sacrificial theme fits with the proverb’s point: though the “blameless” may endure persecution or hardship, they may trust the Lord to use these trials providentially, to draw them near to Him – the ultimate “good inheritance.” The sacrificial knife may not be pleasant, but the promise is that we will ascend into the Lord’s presence.
Of course the ultimate “human sacrifice” is Jesus, the truly blameless and perfect man. Peter Leithart points out that Jesus is the “blameless” one who committed no sins either willfully or ignorantly, but he was still cast into the pit. Our sins and transgressions were placed upon Him, and He suffered for our evil ways, but God raised Jesus out of the pit and vindicated Him. Jesus was granted a good inheritance, and it is through Christ that we are also offered the status of “blameless” and the same good inheritance through the Spirit. If Jesus was vindicated, those who cling to Him in faith will also be vindicated and raised from every pit.
“The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding searches him out.” (28:11)
This economic proverb addresses the connection between riches and wisdom. Here riches can act as confusion and blindness. Riches are a great temptation for self-justification. Earlier in Proverbs the wise father instructed his son to trust in the Lord with all his heart and lean not on his own understanding. This included a commitment to not be wise in his own eyes but to fear the Lord. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. Riches always tempt those who have them to believe in some measure of self sufficiency. “And you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” (Dt. 8:17)
The opposite of this arrogance is fearing Yahweh and trusting Him. This is doubly hard since Yahweh is perfect and just, and we are not. Allowing God’s word to judge us and be our eyes (Js. 1:22-25) means allowing God to mess with us according to His wisdom. It doesn’t seem accidental that James goes directly from a discussion of what the Word of God should be for us to the description of pure religion, caring for orphans and widows and then directly into a discussion of poor and rich in Church. Riches easily distort our understanding.
On the other hand, the poor man may have understanding that is very great. He may have understanding that is able to truly search matters out. Here the Hebrew is ambiguous enough to admit several possible objects. A direct contrast to the first half of the proverb, suggests that the poor man is able to search himself, unlike his rich counterpart. The poor man may not know much, but at least he knows himself honestly. But since the rich man is only wise in his own eyes (and therefore blind), it may also mean that the poor man may be able to understand the rich man better than the rich man can understand himself, underlining the blindness. The poor man may be a better judge of the rich man than the rich man is of himself. A third possible meaning is that a poor man who has understanding is merely one who searches matters out. He is not satisfied with his own opinion. He knows enough to know that his own eyes are not enough. He recognizes that in the presence of many counselors there is wisdom. A poor man knows that he is dependent and not self sufficient, and this is the beginning of wisdom too.
Peter Leithart points out that this pattern fits with the incarnation since Jesus became poor for us in order that He might be the wisdom of God (2 Cor. 8:9). Like the poor man who understands and searches out even the rich man who is wise in his own eyes, Jesus understands us and our self-sufficiency. And His knowing and understanding of us is effectual for our salvation.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Magistrates: Servants and Condemned
"Peter does not go as far as Paul does, for the latter argues in Rom. 13:3-4 that public order is God's will and therefore the ruler is in that respect God's 'servant.' In this area our author is far more schematized, simply citing the basics of the tradition. Neither of them, of course, necessarily approves of the methods of the rulers, nor argues that Christians should participate in their activities. According to the OT both the Assyrians and Babylonians were the "servants of God to execute His wrath" and "punished those doing evil," but both in turn were condemned by God for their means and motives in doing it. Jeremiah could argue that one should not resist Babylon; he never argued that one should join her." - Peter Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, 101.
Pangram
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is an English language pangram. It's a sentence that uses every letter of the English alphabet once. Heh. That's pretty nifty. I just learned this from Edmund Clowney's BST commentary on 1 Peter.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
First Sunday of Epiphany: 1 Peter 2:13-25
Introduction
1 Peter insists that the Christian Church is the new Israel (1:2, 19, 2:9-10), the new temple (1:7, 18, 2:4), the new priesthood (1:16, 2:4, 9), and as such is God’s heavenly colony in the world (1:1, 17, 2:11). They are the new “house” of God, and therefore, they are called to be this priestly people for all.
Submission for the Lord’s Sake
Peter says that Christians ought to submit to “every human creature” (2:13). These “creatures” may include kings (like Caesar Augustus or Nero) and governors (like Pilot) who render “justice” (2:13-14) as well as masters (2:18), and husbands (3:1), and ultimately this submissive honor applies to everyone (2:17, 3:8). The center of this section is the example of Christ (2:21-25) with particularly weak members of society highlighted as role models (slaves and wives). Peter says that we ought to submit “because of the Lord” (2:13, cf. Mt. 17:26). This is the will of God so that we might be free “servants of God” (2:15-16). Priests are the servants of God (cf. 2:5, 9), and therefore disobedience is a form of slavery to some Pharaoh. Thus, this kind of submission is also subversive. Obedience to the Lord, as slaves of God implies that all human authorities are not absolute. They are “creatures,” and Peter says that “doing good” is a kind of weapon. It silences foolish men (2:15, cf. 2:12). Therefore, we seek to honor all people with the love of the brothers and the fear of God at the center (2:17).
Submission for Christ’s Sake
This means that household servants should submit to their masters, and Peter says that this requirement holds whether the master is good or harsh (2:18). The closest analogy we have to this in our day is the employer/employee relationship, parents and kids would also fit here. So how much more so ought we to submit? We are to submit because our obedience is before God, and this means that we may also resist with a good conscience when the Lord requires it (2:19). But this is different than disobeying because we disagree or feel mistreated. Suffering for faults is not special, but suffering for doing good commends you to the Master of all masters (2:20). And Peter says that we are called to suffer for doing good (2:21).
The Example of Christ
Peter says this calling is grounded in the person and work of Christ (2:21). He left us an example, an example that accomplishes its own replication in us. Notice the parallels: His submissive suffering (and silence) for doing good (before Pilot, cf. 2:14) and bearing our sins in His body (2:22-24) accomplishes our dying to sin and living to righteousness (2:24). What is living to righteousness? Suffering for doing good; for by His stripes we are healed (2:24). “His stripes” heal us in two ways: they heal us by taking our sins away at the cross, but the implication is also that as we suffer for doing good, our wounds are identified with His wounds (2 Cor. 1:5, Col. 1:24). This is how suffering for doing good is a weapon. In the care of our Shepherd and Overseer, the Judge who judges justly, our Christ-like silence silences fools (2:23, 25, cf. 2:12). And notice Peter’s qualification of the notion of justice (compare 2:22-25 with 2:14).
Conclusion and Applications
We frequently want an evangelism that is sexy. Maybe we don’t go in for movie screens and strobe lights and whatever else is hip and trendy, but we can wish for our own form of cool with robes or kneeling or by simple negation (we’re so not like that). But Peter says our Master is the Lord Jesus and to Him we must answer. Do our lives manifest that kind of freedom and confidence? Do our families? Does our church? Jesus was able to submit because he came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. The submissiveness that Peter calls us to is for the fulfillment of the mission of Jesus.
Throw Your Sin Down and Come
It can feel rather awkward and challenging to come to the Table of the Lord joyfully after an announcement of excommunication. When this kind of action becomes necessary, we have to recognize that God is disciplining not only the offender but all of us, the entire congregation. He is teaching us wisdom collectively. But this should not cause us to have vague feelings of guilt. If these words have convicted you of a specific sin that needs confessing, then by all means confess it and forsake it at the soonest possible moment. But this sort of chastening ought to yield in us the “peaceable fruit of righteousness.” Hebrews says that no chastening seems joyful for the present, but painful; however, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness. He goes on to say that we must watch carefully that there be no root of bitterness springing up to cause trouble and by this many become defiled. But the great antidote to bitterness is thankfulness, the great weapon against discouragement is Eucharist. The heart that receives and is trained by discipline is fundamentally thankful. It hurts for the present, it is not pleasant or fun, but thankfulness sees a Faithful Father at work. So do not be discouraged when the Lord rebukes you. For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. The tangible proof that you are a son and that He receives you is the fact that He invites you now to His table, to fellowship with Him, to receive His strength and life and blessing. So be assured, God your Father rejoices over you, He loves you, and you are welcome here. So come, throw your sins down, and come eat, drink, and give thanks.
Blessed be God
One of the ways that Paul frequently opens his letters is in thanksgiving for the church he is addressing: I thank my God always in every remembrance of you; we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you; we give thanks to God always for you; we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brethren, as it is fitting because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other. Paul loves his people, is thankful for them, and nearly every one of his letters begins with that sentiment, overflowing thankfulness and recognition of the growing grace of Jesus in their lives. And I want to do the same right now: people of Trinity, on behalf of your elders, I want to express to you how thankful we are for you. We regularly hear about your obedience, about your sacrifices for the kingdom, we see your growth in grace, we see your faithfulness in countless ways with your children, in your employment, in the community, in hospitality, in mercy, in evangelism, in joy, and you make us proud. And thank God for you regularly. Many of you know that we meet on Thursday mornings, and you should know that we regularly thank God for you, for the blessings that God is pouring on you and upon all of us here at Trinity. Your love for one another is readily evident; the fact that it takes several verses from the pianist to call you back to your seats during the passing of the peace is glorious. You obviously love one another. And more than that, you should know that Trinity has a growing reputation for this very thing in this community. God is blessing us, and this is of course no reason for pride or arrogance, but it is every reason for thankfulness and praise. Of course, God has only just begun to work His goodness in our lives, and as far as churches go, Trinity is still a toddler congregation, still learning to walk in many ways. But well done, thanks for your faithfulness; you are a testimony of God’s grace. Blessed be God for His goodness toward us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And this goodness of God calls us further up and further in. So “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2)
Saturday, January 09, 2010
No, You're Not
"Some of the neo-Puritans have apparently determined that the purpose and essence of Christian preaching is to persuade people that they do not in fact, believe. The subtitle of each of their sermons could accurately be: 'I Know You Think You Are a Christian, but You Are Not.' This brand of preaching constantly suggests that if a person does not always love attending church, always look forward to reading the Bible, or family worship, or prayer, then the person is probably not a believer." - T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can't Preach, 83.
Friday, January 08, 2010
As Unqualified as a Lesbian
"There will be no reformation and no revival until those pastors who do not meet the child-rearing qualifications of their office step down, in repentance, from their office. Men who have a household in disarray are just as unqualified for church office as a lesbian is. It is way past time for conservative Christians to cease being outraged with the disobedience of others. Why do we remove the beam from their radical eye when we have a telephone pole in our own conservative eye?" - Douglas Wilson, Standing on the Promises, 167.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
A Thought
You have heard it said, "consumerism is evil" and you despise he who says, "whatever is newer is better," but verily, verily, I say unto you, what about technology and medicine? For with my Blackberry I work miracles and even many doctors work by the Spirit to grant me good health.
The God Who Breaks Through
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says that the children and spouse of a believing man or woman are sanctified, "holy" because of the faith of the one. I think frequently we over-spiritualize this, or understood rightly, we under-spiritualize this. We think "spiritual" means immaterial, invisible, and only just barely felt in the recesses of the warm tinglies in my belly. Spiritual happens when my eyes are closed.
And so we mystify Paul's words, we think some kind of covenantal voodoo is going on, magic vibes flowing through the house like some kind of karma.
But what if holiness is more like living well before God? If sin thrashes the lives of those it enslaves, and it does, then righteousness restores, justice sets free.
Anyone who's done much counseling or evangelism or missions work knows that those individuals, saved out of families and cultures where the sin and darkness is deep, frequently have significant sanctification battles to fight. And in one sense this is true of everyone of us. We're all sons and daughters of Adam.
But on the other hand, it is simply not true that we all start from the same point. Dead in sin, yes, but history really is the story of God's knowledge and mercy flooding the earth. This means that sinners come to life in different places at different times where the flood of God's grace is deeper or shallower depending on many details.
Coming back to life in a puddle of grace is still coming back to life. It's still true; it's still miraculous and the final resurrection is coming. But that puddle may be surrounded with mental illness, poverty, abuse, ignorance, physical handicaps, and any number of other effects of the Fall. And conversion doesn't magically make them all go away. Families and cultures in darkness do not have the blessings of faith surrounding them like families and cultures that have more generally embraced the Light. Coming back to life on Lake Erie is better than coming back to life in a puddle.
Many middle class Americans may have rejected the faith, but it's more than likely that they rejected the faith. It was the faith of their parents or their grandparents most likely. They are "holy" because they are still tasting the benefits, the blessings of the faith of their parents or grandparents. And of course at the end of history, these blessings will all testify against them for their rebellion against the God who gave them. These blessings will end up being millstones around the necks of thousands who spit in the face of God's mercy. But those whom God is pleased to save will repent and wake up to find a number of tools and benefits already all around them, an inheritance from faithful forebears. As God works in their lives, in some ways, sanctification will come more naturally given the blessings of faith from previous generations.
We must not reduce holiness to material circumstances, but we must not reduce holiness to ethereal circumstances either. The good news of Jesus is for people who need good news, for people enslaved, for people with broken hearts, for people buried beneath their sorrow's load. And that load comes in the form of children out of wedlock, emotional disorders, imprisonment, castigation, and all manner of broken relationships. Of course, of course, of course, the central enslavement, the fundamental emotional disorder, the most important broken relationship is the great chasm between an individual and God. Of course. And apart from the grace of God there, the rest will just be like dressing up a corpse. But if God is planning to resurrect the graveyard of humanity, it is not faith to sit around just whistling and waiting. This is about as helpful as Christopher Robin walking around with an umbrella saying rather loudly, 'tut-tut, it looks like rain.'
I do insist that we start with the message of Jesus. I do insist that we preach Jesus Christ crucified to the dry bones of humanity. Always lead with the gospel proclaimed, but the fabulous, mind-blowing point is that this will work. The declaration that Jesus is King will miraculously work! And you will find teeming hordes of recently resurrected corpses wandering around in your sanctuary. And they will smell and look like recently resurrected corpses. And some of them will be fakes. But some of them will come back to life in a part of the graveyard where the Spirit has already been at work, sanctifying a family and a culture. Those individuals still have the battle of sanctification ahead of them, but they do so with a number of blessings already piled up around them. Others will come back to life as the first fruits of a family, the first fruits of a culture. This is why the Church as the community of Jesus gathered around the Word and Sacraments is so central. This body of Christ is to be the family and culture, especially for those who wake up in a part of the graveyard where most of the tombs are still sealed. Those people need grace not only in the form of Lord's Day worship, the sacraments, Bible studies, Psalm Sings, and prayer, they also need grace in the form of childcare assistance, job training, help learning to read, maybe housing, clothing, and health care assistance as well as legal advice and bail money. Because practically speaking, all of these and many others are barriers to individuals growing in grace, they are just as much part of the spiritual battle as overcoming selfishness and bitterness and hate.
The fact that most people reading this are sitting at a computer in a warm, comfortable office or home, or glancing at their iPhone or Blackberry is part of the blessing of God to us. The fact that we have free time to even think about this is the blessing of God; you're also probably well clothed and not terribly concerned about where your next meal will come from. I think that's at least part of what Paul means when he says that believing individuals share holiness with their family members. Throughout the Bible, holiness means access to God, holiness breaks through the barriers, and while God always breaks through wherever He pleases, these material circumstances do matter and are part of the blessings and curses that follow generations.
One last important point: our material, physical circumstances must not be our rock or our fortress. They do not define us. Some men trust in chariots and horses, but we rely on the Lord our God who is strong to save. God's Word defines us. Like Paul, we must be content in every circumstance, whether rich or poor, whether slave or free, whether healthy or diseased, whether raised in a loving, Christian family or raised in an abusive hellhole. God is in heaven and He does what He pleases, and He is good and wise. We can and must trust Him. But in so far as God has given us freedom from sin, freedom of speech, free time, hearts full of joy, and plenty to share, we want to mimic the God of freedom, the God who is our rock and fortress. As the body of Christ, we are the hands and feet and face of the God who breaks through.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Job, Elihu, and Becoming like Children
If the book of Job is in part the record of one man growing up from immaturity to maturity, going from the glory of a priest to the glory of a prophet, going from outside the assembly of the sons of God to being ushered into the whirlwind presence of God, I wonder if Elihu comes at the end of the debates, as the youthful counselor, to indicate two things:
First, I take Elihu to be a fool who is not explicitly condemned by God because of his youthfulness. He is not a political threat to Job like the three court advisers are. Elihu does not appear to be vying for Job's throne like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. But Elihu does help to underline the fact that the story is centered around a kind of generational tension. The "older" advisers are "younger" in stature, since they are apparently nobles or lesser magistrates of some sort. Job is the "older" King. But in another sense, Job is still "young" in so far as he is contrasted at the beginning of the book with the "sons of God." The sons of God who assemble before the face of Yahweh are "older" than Job, they have been granted even greater glory, greater authority as advisers to the King of Kings.
Second, Elihu though a fool, signifies something true about what Job must become. Elihu is a foolish, ignorant child, but Job must also become a child. In order for Job to grow up into maturity, he must become young. Thus, Elihu is the transition from Job's "old," foolish counselors to the youthfulness of the Lord of the whirlwind, the King who plays with dragons. Elihu is wrong and foolish like the others, but he is a lesser fool in so far as he is a young fool. But in order for Job to grow up into glory, he must become a child. Elihu is the wrong sort of child, but Elihu, like every child, points to the truth. We must be young again. For unless we are born again, we will not see the kingdom of God.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
I Blame Squanto
Ok, a few more thoughts on Food Inc.
First, this discussion, this movie, etc. are only possible in a civilization that is rolling in material blessing from God. This doesn't mean the blessings are being handled correctly, but it is still a tremendous blessing to be so well fed. Secondly, and related to this first point is the movie portrays how ubiquitous corn is in our food and follows the money trail back to Monsanto, the evil Corn Seed gods. And maybe they are evil; the patent law they are apparently using to mug decent, hardworking farmers with certainly seems bad. But at least one thought that should occur to us -- while all the products are flashing on the screen that are made out of corn stuff -- is: Wow. Isn't corn cool? Since watching the movie, my wife has been checking all the ingredients lists on the food we eat, and sure enough: it's everywhere. And for this horror, I blame Squanto. That's where we should trace this evil, right back to the Pilgrims. They should have seen the corporate greed in that Native American's eyes. Now look at us. Corn everywhere.
And that doesn't mean this much corn is good for us, I'm just saying Wow. Look at all the cool stuff we can do with corn. And seeds that are impervious to insecticides and herbacides and whatever? That's pretty cool. Again, that doesn't mean all those insecticides are good for us, and it doesn't mean our genetic engineering of the seeds is good for us. That remains to be seen, and people who are skeptical are free to be skeptical and do something different. And maybe we'll find that genetic engineering of seeds is the equivalent of medieval bloodletting. Seemed like a good idea at the time. But, while recognizing the need for proper care and due caution, fact of the matter is that as Christians we don't think this world comes prepackaged and ready to serve. This creation has the curse of sin wound through it; it groans for our redemption. But even prior to sin, Adam was given the task of tilling the earth, exploring, taking dominion. Adam was called to work at glorifying creation, and I take this to mean inventing x-rays and cell phones, space stations and engineering food to the glory of God. Am I skeptical of modern hubris? You bet. Do I think this means we should shrink back from every attempt at taking dominion of this world because it "might be bad for you?" Absolutely not. Life is dangerous. And life leads inevitably to death. But Christ is born, and He is taking back the world. So Happy 12th Day of Christmas and have some corn.
Two other complaints:
First, the sentimental story about the mother who lost her son to e coli. Certainly, I'm sorry for her loss, but this heart tugging by the producers of Food Inc. was unfortunate. In fact in many ways, I came away not thinking that our food industry was dangerous, rather, I came away thinking that it's pretty impressive how few poisonings have actually occurred. And lobbying for more protective laws in DC? That just seemed like more of the same sort of governmental oppression they are complaining about.
And this leads to the second complaint: if you head over to the Food Inc. official website, you'll see a link to a blog that I only just glanced at, and it appears that these people are swimming in statism: passing laws, lobbying for change, and all buddy-buddy with Al Gore. So definitely not impressed, but a few interesting bits of information along the way.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Food Inc.
We watched Food Inc. over the weekend, and while I was fairly braced for most of what we saw, I was slightly surprised (Ok, not really -- but it was still enlightening) to see the money trail in the food industry.
Big Beef/Poultry/Pork in bed with the ginormous corn industry and mass produced fast food, and this threesome marriage bed jealously guarded by trade and patent regulations and generously pampered with federal subsidies.
Why is it that a cheeseburger is frequently cheaper than a head of lettuce? Because the government pays part of the bill for us. They pay farmers to plant and sell certain products at below market values, seed patents protect the source of pesticide resistant seeds, and beef/poultry/pork companies lobbying in DC for more protections and help.
At the same time, what the movie did not emphasize much is the fact that there is a free market element to all of this. The fast food industry was not forced on America. As the film notes, we do vote three times a day for what sort of food we'd like. And at least when the McDonalds brothers were first getting started, lots of people voted for that kind of food. And lots still do (like my kids for instance, who view Happy Meals are glorious gifts from God).
I know some of my readers are probably more attuned to this than others, but if the money trail is correct, for all these free market choices and blessings of inexpensive mass produced food (and there have been some), it seems like we have Uncle Sam helping the blessing along a fair bit. And depending on how much propping up is going on, at what point could we legitimately conclude that it hasn't been worth it? Would people continue to vote the same way without the Feds keeping it so cheap?
And I might add that I'm guessing there might be an interesting documentary done on the booming organice/free range/all natural/whatever industry as well. There's money in them hills too, and as the film showed, even Walmart knows this.
Second Sunday after Christmas: Is. 42:1-13, Matt. 3:1-17, Acts 10:22-48
Opening Prayer: O Christ our God, give us Your wisdom and Your Spirit that we might know you and follow and believe in You. Amen.
Introduction
This is the Second Sunday after Christmas, and so we continue to meditate on what Christmas means. Last week, Pastor Leithart preached on God’s long standing promise to Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in his seed. That seed is Christ, but that seed is to be understood corporately, as all those in Christ. Our lessons point to something similar this week, only this time, they emphasize particularly the work of the Spirit in accomplishing this task.
Is. 42:1-13
Isaiah describes God’s promise to send His Elect One who will be anointed with God’s Spirit (42:1). He will bring justice to the gentiles (42:2-4). The same God who fashioned the worlds will call His Elect One in righteousness (42:5); He will be a covenant to the people and a light to the gentiles (42:6). This light and covenant for the gentiles will be for their deliverance (42:7); this deliverance is the justice that God promised. He will do this for His own glory (42:8). Just as God’s Spirit led Israel out of bondage in the Exodus, so too the same Spirit-Light will come for the whole world, and remake it (42:9), and the whole earth will rejoice (42:10-12). Yahweh will be like a Samson, a warrior filled with the Spirit going to battle for His people (42:13)
Matt. 3:1-17
We looked at Luke’s parallel passage a couple of weeks ago and noted all the Exodus themes. This time, note particularly the promise of the Holy Spirit (3:11). While there is some sense in which the Spirit is the mode of baptism, following the parallel with water, we shouldn’t miss the fact that the Spirit is also the means of baptism. The One who is coming after John will judge with justice and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire precisely because He has the Spirit (3:12). John hesitates to baptize Jesus, but Isaiah has foretold that God will anoint His Elect One with His Spirit in order to bring justice to the gentiles. This seems to be what Jesus is referring to when He says that it is fitting for John to baptize Him to “fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). John’s baptism of Jesus is how God is planning to anoint Him with the Spirit to bring His righteousness to the gentiles (3:16). And this anointing is the occasion for God’s declaration that this is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased (3:17). We know that Jesus is now driven by the Spirit, because immediately after this, He is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit for battle with the devil (4:1).
Acts 10: 22-48
The main character of Acts is the Holy Spirit. When Jesus leaves the disciples, He promises the Spirit, and it is the Spirit and His messengers that drive the plot of Acts filling and driving His people (2:4, 4:8, 31, 8:29). The conflict is between those who receive the Spirit-fire (the wheat) (2:38, 9:31) and those who reject Him (the chaff) (5:3, 32, 7:51). In our text, Peter receives word from messengers that Cornelius would like to hear Peter speak to him (10:22-23). The Spirit has instructed Peter to go with them (10:19). Cornelius is a God-fearer, but Peter has been prepared before hand to speak with an “unclean” man (10:24-29), and Cornelius explains how an angel appeared to him instructing him to call for Peter (10:30-33). Peter’s sermon explains that he now understands that God shows no partiality (10:34), but every nationality that “works justice is accepted by Him.” Peter’s sermon might be troubling to good Reformed types. It sure sounds like God is responding to Cornelius’s good works (10:4, 10:31). If Paul were a good Reformed preacher, he’d make sure that point got cleared up rather than seeming to agree with him (10:35)! But the fact that Cornelius has heard all about the gospel of Jesus (10:37) means that Cornelius is already a disciple of Jesus in some sense. Peter says that Jesus Christ was God’s word of peace to the nations (10:36), and that as a result of his death and resurrection (10:37-41), Jesus has been appointed “judge of the living and the dead” (10:42). This means that whoever believes in Jesus will receive remission of sins (10:43). Proof of their forgiveness is that the Spirit is poured out on them (10:44-48).
Applications & Conclusions
The gospels present the coming of Jesus and His ministry as entirely empowered and driven by the Holy Spirit, and this same Spirit drives and fills His people.
Christmas is as much about the coming of the Spirit as it is about the coming of Christ. The Spirit overshadows Mary, fills Elizabeth and Zacharias and Simeon. The Spirit came upon Jesus in His baptism and then drove Him into the wilderness. The same Spirit led Jesus through Galilee bringing justice to God’s people, proclaiming the year of release, setting captives free, and forgiving sins. The same Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, and ushered Him up to the throne of God. And then the Spirit came rushing down on the disciples who were praying in the upper room.
In one sense, we might say that the Spirit is the forgiveness of sins; the Spirit is our proof, our seal, our evidence of forgiveness from God. The Spirit is our comforter, our guarantee that God is well pleased with us.
The justice of God is His forgiveness, His deliverance from sin and darkness and death. The justice that is for the gentiles and the ends of the earth is the declaration that Jesus is the Judge. Like Samson, He has come filled with the Spirit to fight our enemies and deliver us from sin and death.
Our mission is to walk in the Spirit and to flee everything that grieves Him (Eph. 4:30-32): all bitterness, wrath, anger, and evil speaking, and putting on kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness because God has forgiven us in Christ. Forgiveness is the justice of God in Christ.
“Merry Christmas” means that the Spirit has come and overshadowed this world. The Spirit has led the Son to become our salvation, and now whoever believes in His name receives remission of sins.
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Closing Prayer: Gracious Father we thank you for sending Your Spirit here to overshadow Mary that she might bear our Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you, O Holy Spirit, for filling the Lord Jesus and leading Him to bring forgiveness and justice to the world through His life, death, and resurrection. O, Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for pouring out Your Spirit on your Church that we might know forgiveness and extend that justice the ends of the earth. And we pray these things filled with the same Spirit calling to you, O Father, as your Son taught us to pray, singing…
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Yahweh the Mighty
Isaiah 41:13 is a nifty little chiasm:
YHWH
Like a mighty man
>shall go forth
>>like a man
>>>for battles
>>>>rouses himself
>>>>zealously
>>>He will shout
>>Yes, He will roar
>at His enemies
He will show himself a mighty man.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Avatar
I have joined the masses and donned my 3D glasses. Last night, my wife and I watched Avatar on our 6th Day of Christmas Date.
Several thoughts and observations:
1. The 3D is definitely fun. I had a strange sensation a number of times where I couldn't quite remember the difference between seeing 2D and 3D on screen. My wife said she regularly pulled the glasses off to compare, but I stuck with the glasses just to enjoy it for what it was. Maybe next time, I'll compare more on the visual side of things.
2. One of the reviews I read said that Avatar is sort of a combination of a number of famous movies: Braveheart, The Matrix, King Kong, Jurassic Park, Dances with Wolves, The Lord of the Rings, and several other films. This is a very fair observation. Avatar takes some of the best elements of those films, those stories and effects and pushes them further.
3. The firsts half of the movie or so I allowed myself to be enchanted. There were a number of little hiccups along the way where the pantheism got thick, the script ached for dialog, and I wondered how certain elements fit together. But I suspended disbelief like a good member of the audience. I wasn't really bothered at all by the politics. The particular jabs taken at George W. and American foreign policy in general seemed general enough to me to work as parabolic stand-ins, representing "bad guys" as generic, greedy, cold-hearted imperialists. And in so far as America has aided or perpetrated this sort of evil in the world, we completely deserve it. But more to my point about enchantment and parable, I would add another movie to the list above: Planet Earth.
While it was clunky and cheesy in places, the thing I found fun was that I repeatedly felt like I wasn't being introduced to an alien planet and alien creatures and alien culture. No, I repeatedly thought to myself, "hey, that's just like humans, that's just like our (fill in the blank)..." In other words, I have no idea what James Cameron was going for exactly, but in so far as the movie was meant as an elaborate parable of earth, I thought it worked. The Navi were so human it was funny (and a little corny). They were obviously just natives of some newly discovered continent (probably America). But they weren't savage, inhuman natives. They were virtuous, noble savages. Maybe I should have expected this, but I guess I was expecting something more foreign, more alien, more E.T. maybe?
But back to the Planet Earth bit. All the coolest stuff on Planet Pandora is from Earth. Just watch a pile of National Geographic videos or Planet Earth or the Discovery Channel, and you'll see all the parallels. Sure, it's bigger, wilder, Hollywood stylized, and perhaps a little too tidy and symmetrical for our God. But really, it's a nice elementary attempt at imitating Creation. Plants that light up and glow in the dark, giant fan-shaped plants that collapse into tiny buds at a slight touch, giant rhinos with hammers on their heads, flying dragon-pterodactyls, jelly fish. Good work, James Cameron, you get an Excellent on your kindergarten report card for tracing creation.
So all that to say that I allowed myself to be enchanted. I enjoyed the first half of the movie a great deal. The scenes where Jake Sully and his female Navi companion are running through the forest, leaping from great heights, climbing up floating islands, and of course riding their chosen dragons, I had fun. Call this the Last of the Mohicans and Dances Wolves part of the story. Again, caveats aside, I enjoyed it. The Navi are a redeemed race; they rule creation with wisdom and understanding. They take dominion like a new race of Adam and Eve. Distorted at points sure, but that's what my imagination is for, right?
4. But the spell was broken. The spell was broken, and here come the spoilers (although if you've seen the above mentioned movies, you already know what's coming). So the bad guys come to bulldoze the giant Navi tree, it goes up in two giant pillars of smoke: Right. Was it just me or did it look momentarily like the 9/11 Trade Towers with smoke billowing out of the foundations as the roots crumble beneath the tree? But then in the gloom of this seeming defeat, Jake Sully (now fully Navi) rises up as the Aragorn/William Wallace figure and reappears on the scene having tamed the biggest, baddest dragon of them all. And with Jake's scientist friend (Sigourney Weaver) dead, we have all the elements in place for revenge and the big battle showdown. And that's where the spell was broken. These Navi are so completely human. They're not really different. We were led to believe that they were more noble (nobles savages and all that), more enlightened, more graceful. But it turns out that they can get ticked off too. They're justified of course. Their towers, er, I mean their tree just got nuked. What else is there to do but shoot back? I mean, that's what I teach my kids: if someone hits you, you hit them back. That's nobility.
And the movie intentionally draws an explicit parallel here. Watching the wicked human general calling his dufus comrades to arms against the "blue monkeys," you realize that the "blue monkeys" are just like the stupid earthlings. They are a couple of two year olds fighting. One pushes the other, the other slaps back. Next we will have 45 minutes of multi million dollar, CGI hair pulling, pinching, and screaming. The final scene in the movie depicts these Blue Toddlers as the victors, the new imperialists lined up, watching the humans walk slowly back to their ships like so many POWs. I couldn't help but think that the roles had been completely reversed. I thought this movie was critiquing greedy imperialists, but it reminded me of watching movie clips of American soldiers being escorted to prison camps by Japanese soldiers in World War II. And why is that OK? I guess because they got what they deserve. I guess retribution is OK afterall. Shock and awe and all that. I didn't get the impression that the high ideals of the Enlightened Blue People would include honorable burials for all the humans they killed in the battle either. So much for a redeemed humanity.
In the end it felt like a clunky tragedy, like an unintentional story of the Fall, a lost Eden, with Cain and Abel duking it out in God's front yard. And yes, I know Abel was an innocent victim. And that's the point. Abel's victory comes through death. Abel's blood cries out, and God vindicates. But Eywa is not the Trinity, and so we're left with a random/blind deity whose sole dedication to "balance" leaves us empty and hopeless in a world that churns away really no differently than the "evil" machines that get expelled from the planet. Eywa is just a mythological name for survival of the fittest, Darwin's tyrannical creed of might makes right.
O well, it was still a fun fireworks display. And I know that's all it was really meant to be anyway.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas for the Dying
Here are some thoughts on Christmas, children, and dying over at the Credenda site.
Eucharist as Redemption of Vocation
“The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength: "Surely I will no longer give your grain as food for your enemies; and the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored. But those who have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; those who have brought it together shall drink it in My holy courts.” (Is. 62:8-9)
Remember after our first parents’ sinned, God cursed their various labors in the field and in childbearing. Creation would fight against them because of sin, and it did. And because of Israel’s sin, the land was given over to their enemies. But one of the great promises of Scripture is that this will not always be. God coming in the flesh of Jesus was the firstfruits of making creation fruitful again. God embracing our nature in the incarnation and bursting out of death in the resurrection is the future that all of creation has. In Jesus, God is reconciling all things to Himself. In Jesus, God is making this world fruitful again that it might display His glory, from glory to glory. And this is why the offertory is actually a very important part of our service. The offertory leads us from the elders and deacons bring your tithes and offerings down and placing them on the table and then we join our voices together in prayer in thanksgiving and praise and making supplication and requests, and then we are here at the table and God feeds us with blessing and grace. In many traditions, to make the connection even more clear, the elements of bread and wine are also brought forward during the offertory. But the point is that in the offertory and in the prayers of the people, we offer up to God all that we are: our labors, our work, our hurts, our failures, our weakness, our strength, our sickness, our trials, our victories, and we lay it before Him. And all of these things, all that we are, even our best is all so small, so puny, so insufficient. But the curse is being turned back, and so instead of laboring and toiling in this world and watching the fruit of our labors fade away, God gives it all back and then a whole lot more. Here at this table, God enacts what He is doing in the world. He is making this world a fruitful garden again, a garden where we eat of our labors. And so God takes our offerings, our tithes, our prayers, all that we are, and then in a wonderful gracious act gives them back to us. He takes us up into Himself, and then He gives Himself to us. He doesn’t give our grain to our enemies; He doesn’t give our wine to the sons of foreigners. No, the Lord graciously invites you into His courts, and invites you to eat of your labors. Here, He says, watch me turn your little, insufficient efforts into wonderful grace for you and for many, through the new covenant in the blood of Jesus.
Incarnation, Ritual, and Parenting
We have rightly emphasized over the years that the incarnation is God’s embrace of creation and the human body, and this means that part of salvation is our learning to embrace creation and our bodies in right ways. This has meant for many of us growing into deep thankfulness for food and sex, symbols and liturgy, as well as seeing human vocation and mercy ministry as part of God’s plan to renovate this world completely with His grace, turning this world into a glorified paradise. In other words, God does big things with our little bodies. God in His grace is using our tiny lives, our miniature motions and actions and words to bring about His glorious purposes in this world.
And this is why we have sought to restore a higher view of rituals and symbols. Central in this is the Lord’s Supper and the Word preached and read, but kneeling and raising hands, singing vigorously, musical instruments, clapping, hugging, and kissing would also be part of this. We do these things not only because they are commanded in Scripture, but because we know that God uses these things in ways that we do not fully understand. God uses little means toward his greater, unimaginable ends. God coming to us in the form of a baby was just the beginning of the revelation of God’s grace. If sharing bites of bread and sips of wine with one another in thankfulness is another way in which the Lord Jesus meets us through the power of the Spirit, what else might we expect the Spirit to be up to?
And let me push this in one particular direction for parents of young children. On the one hand this means that we must not underestimate all the rituals we have with our children in our homes. From conversations, to wrestling on the floor, to tone of voice, to telling jokes, to sharing food, to spanking, to hugging, to kissing, to blessing, and to teaching. If we are getting the lessons of the incarnation which we are seeking to obey here in our worship, they must also be evident in our lives together in our homes. All of those actions and words are used by the Spirit to either minister grace or not. And on the other hand the mysterious working of the Spirit is a reminder that parenting is by faith. We obey because we believe the promises of God not because we understand how God ministers His grace to the one year old in the high chair. But God was a one year old at one time, and this means He knows how to do it and we can trust Him.
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:15)
Friday, December 25, 2009
On the First Day of Christmas...
Merry Christmas and Happy First Day of Christmas for those of you just getting started.
One of my fondest memories of Christmas growing up is my dad sitting in a cozy, overstuffed chair in his pajamas. All day. While there's such great blessing in having family nearby, we rarely did growing up, and so we'd occasionally have a dinner on Christmas Eve with friends from church. But Christmas Day was wonderful and glorious because not only were there piles of presents and new toys and books and games, but Dad was home and we did nothing all day long. But it was particularly exciting to watch Dad do nothing. What a gift. This was a glorious picture to the family of Sabbath rest. Like God on the seventh day, doing nothing. Having worked hard, having piled up gifts all around his children, he sat down and rested, and that is a gift. It was all the more amazing because Dad never did that. He always got up early to work on something, frequent meetings in the evenings, and an all around busy schedule. And on Christmas, he just sat there in his chair. He'd look at books, snack on whatever little tidbits of food were making the rounds, maybe peak at a few minutes of a new movie, but just sit there mostly and probably doze off in the late afternoon sun.
We're still trying to figure out how to handle extended feasting. What should 12 days of Christmas look like all grown up? Or how about 7 weeks of Easter for that matter? In some ways, I don't think the 12 Days is so far off. Many already take a full week off from Christmas Eve through New Years which is a good start. Seems to me that a couple weeks of feasting does not require Thanksgiving style meals every single day. I have one friend who makes a list of the family's favorite foods and drinks (with input from the kids) and picks one or two things for each day. Those favorite foods and drinks are out on the table (or counter) all day long. But just resting is a kind of feasting. Sitting around enjoying friends and family, playing games, taking naps, reading together, trying out new toys, snacking on the favorite foods, singing, all of this is feasting.
Of course we might try to extend some of the gift giving. One cool benefit to doing a few more gifts after Christmas Day is the ensuing post-Christmas sales. So far, we've gone with giving one more gift on Epiphany (the 13th day after Christmas). And we've tended to theme our gifting on Epiphany. One year we did a music theme (several new CD's). The last couple of years we've done games: card games, board games, etc. The last couple of years my wife has also baked a Kings' Cake which is a traditional Epiphany activity. We go down to the bank and get a gold dollar coin and a silver half dollar and bake them in a cake. Later that night, we serve up the cake and whoever comes up with a coin in their slice gets to keep the coin. I suppose this is just a fun way of remembering the Magi and their gifts as well as the Epiphany celebration of Jesus being light to the nations and our confident hope that they will all bring their riches into the Kingdom.
I've got another friend who says they're starting a new tradition of burning the Christmas tree on Epiphany, which I must admit sounds fantastic. We have made a point to keep the tree up through Epiphany for a number of years, though the tree is dried to a crisp by that point, every slight vibration in the room causing an avalanche of needles to fall. And this is all the more compounded by the fact that we usually get our tree for the First Sunday of Advent. Some Christian needs to figure out how to make *live* trees last for 6 weeks. But at this point, I'm convinced that our Christmas Tree Fire (should we have one) would be fairly short lived.
At the very least, we've planned the next 12 days as days of rest with activities interspersed. In addition to two Lord's Days with worship, we have a couple of family get-togethers, an ice skating outing one day, bowling another day, and probably a trip to the movies somewhere in there as well. We've also got a babysitter for a date one evening. I plan to emulate my father as much as possible in between the activities, holding down one of the couches with a cup of coffee in hand and a short stack of books nearby. There will likely be small people climbing around me here and there and toys and books and food, and don't be surprised if you find me dozing off in the late afternoon sun. I've got traditions to keep.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Help Report
Well, I wanted to give a report on my recent request for music suggestions. My 15 credits ran out last Thursday sometime in the afternoon, and thus I made my choices before a few last suggestions came in (sorry, Jason and Bill).
So here's what I went with. Even though Bruce called a foul on Brendan for recommending an entire album, and Brendan never came back to suggest a few more tracks specifically, I did go with number of tracks from that album and another by the same artist: Roadside Graves, who incidentally, I really have been enjoying.
I should also note that some of your recommendations led me to (or reminded me of) others that ended up being chosen as well. There were also at least one maybe two tracks that Lala just didn't have available.
So here they are:
1. Anthony's Gate by Roadside Graves (My Son's Home)
2. No One Will Know Where You've been by Roadside Graves (No One Will Know Where You've Been)
3. Ruby by Roadside Graves (My Son's Home)
4. Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez (Veneer) -- BTW, Josh, Lala didn't have the Flaming Lips title.
5. Family and Friends by Roadside Graves (No One Will Know...)
6. West Coast by Roadside Graves (No One Will Know...)
7. I Love You Sweet Baby by Kimya Dawson (Alphabutt) -- this is quirky but it led me to numbers 14 and 15.
8. Angel From Montgomery by Susan Tedeschi (Live from Austin TX) -- This one pushes my tastes a bit, but I promise to give it several more honest listens.
9. Far and Wide by Roadside Graves (My Son's Home)
10. Take A Train by Roadside Graves (My Son's Home)
11. Valley by Roadside Graves (My Son's Home)
12. Lucky by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz (We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.)
13. The Outsiders by Needtobreathe (The Outsiders)
14. Anyone Else but You by The Moldy Peaches (The Moldy Peaches)
15. All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar (Juno Soundtrack) -- which reminds me that I really enjoyed the film Juno. It's quirky, offensive, and yet wonderfully simple and subversive on a number of levels.
Fourth Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 7, Rom. 1, Matt. 1
Introduction
As we look forward to our celebration of the birth of Jesus, this last Sunday of Advent celebrates the faithfulness and justice of God in coming to His people as the basis for our faith today.
Immanuel: With or Without Us
Isaiah 7 has several similarities to Isaiah 36-38. In this case Ahaz is the king of Judah who is threatened by the Assyrians. This is prior to the final fall of Israel, and Pekah King of Israel has teamed up with Rezin king of Syria to threaten Judah (7:1-2). God promises deliverance (7:3-9) and says that the only requirement is for Ahaz to believe this (7:9). God asks Ahaz to ask for a sign presumably to demonstrate his faith, but Ahaz refuses (7:10-13). Recall that Hezekiah is the son of Ahaz of the line of David. Hezekiah does better than his father since when he is threatened, he repeatedly looks to Yahweh and when his life is threatened, he asks for a sign in the heavens above and is saved (38:7, cf. 2 Kgs. 20:8). Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, and so God gives one Himself: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel (7:14). He will eat “curds and honey” apparently because he is part of the remnant left from the Assyrian conquest (7:15-17, cf. 7:22). Notice that the name “Immanuel” is used twice more in the following verses: once apparently referring to the land of Israel/Judah (8:8) and once the reason why no counsel will stand against God’s determined purposes (8:10).
Romans: Justice by Faith
Paul begins by emphasizing what he means by the “gospel” – it is what he was separated to (1:1), what was promised (1:2), the birth of Jesus from the seed of David (1:3), the declaration that Jesus is the Son of God by the resurrection (1:4), and through all of this comes the authorization to call all nations to obedience to the faith (1:5), even the Romans (1:6), and so Paul addresses them with the grace and peace of King Jesus (1:7). Paul knows he is addressing Christians from the empire that currently runs the world, and yet it is their “faith” that is known throughout the world (1:8). And Paul prays for them (1:9-10). Paul hopes to come to them that they might be part of his harvest among all the gentiles (1:11-14). Paul says that this gospel is for all nations, and he is not ashamed of it (1:14-16). It is here that Paul gives his reason: the gospel is the display, the revelation of the justice of God (1:17).
Matthew: The Righteousness of God
Jesus is identified as the “Son of David, the Son of Abraham” and so begins Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ (1:1), recounting the 14 generations between Abraham and David, David to the Exile, and from the captivity to Christ (1:17). Matthew’s genealogy is striking for its inclusion of several women: Tamar (1:3), Rahab (1:5), and Bathsheba (1:6), all oppressed in various ways by faithless men. Joseph is a just man and unwilling to see Mary shamed, and determined to divorce her quietly (1:19). Notice that Joseph is also called “son of David” by the angel of the Lord (1:20). The prophecy of this son includes a name linking the extraordinary son with His mission (1:21), and Joseph signifies his faith by giving the name to the Son (1:25).
Conclusion & Applications
The same God who turns back armies weaves all of history together. It is the power of God to take failures and injustice and weave it into his righteous purposes. The gospel of Jesus, His Advent, is the great display of God’s justice, His justice in coming for His people, His justice in healing our diseases, atoning for our sins, and rising from the dead. Jesus is the faithful one, and God’s powerful justice is displayed in our stories as we live by faith in the sign that God gave Ahaz.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Surpassing the Love of Women
A friend came by yesterday and pointed me to 2 Samuel 1:26 as a verse that recently caught his attention and caught him off guard a bit. He said it also made for some lively family conversation.
David is lamenting the death of Saul and Jonathan, and he sings: "I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me; your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women."
My friend pointed out that some people might really make hay with that sort of description. And they do. Isn't this evidence of David's homosexual proclivities? Um, no.
But it did get me thinking about the importance of male friendship and companionship for men. And I don't mean this in a sappy, sentimental, let's-all-have-a-group-hug-and-cry-on-each-others'-shoulders sort of male friendship. I don't think David and Jonathan stared into each others' eyes and nodded silently as they shared their "struggles" with one another. Gehk.
I think it means broadly that they fought next to each other. They laid down their lives for each other, and sought peace, justice, and goodness together and for one another and their families. And yes they did embrace one another, kissed one another, and laughed, cried, and suffered together and for one another. God *commands* men to exchange the kiss of peace and love with one another. So even though their friendship wasn't sappy, it was obviously warm and genuine.
But here's the point, and actually it's really a question. Sometimes I talk to men who have a particular sort of string of problems: parents, girls, and frequently theological instability. And often it's in that order. And it makes good sense to me to drawn the line back to the father-son relationship in particular but then expand that broadly to include other significant men in his life. Often, there is a significant breakdown or deficiency there and then they start having these other problems with mom, girlfriends, church life, school, etc.
And this get's back to David's lament: I wonder if David is not merely describing in a poetic way the close friendship he shared with Jonathan. I wonder if there is some sense in which the love of a brother is a foundational sort of love. Obviously, a wife becomes the most important love, the greatest duty of a man, but is there some sense in which the love of a father/brother/friend/pastor/teacher surpasses the love of women in so far as it has a particular way of training a man, grounding a man, establishing a man as a man, preparing him to be a husband?
Writing this makes me want to go back and look at Lewis's Four Loves because it sort of sounds like something he would say or talk about.
Last thought: another way of defending this idea would be to look at the Trinity. There we have the love of the Father and the Son as foundational and prior to the love of the Son for the world, the Church, His bride. The love of the Father and the Son "surpasses" in some sense the love of Christ for His bride, the Church, in so far as we mean that it was prior to it. But it was that love between the Father and the Son that flowed out into the world in creation and redemption. It was that love that enabled the Son to die for His bride.
So my thesis is that a good husband is a man who knows and has been trained by other good men, fathers and older brothers. That kind of love surpasses the love of women, but that kind of love is also the kind of love that overflows to the love of a woman, a bride.
Ultimately, this love that surpasses the love of women is the love of Christ, the Man. Men must know and love and be known and be loved by that Man in order to love their wives and children faithfully. That love most certainly does surpass the love of women, and without it there can be no faithful love of women. And it cannot come as a surprise that a man who does not know this love would also have difficulties loving all the women in his life: mom, girlfriends, wife, daughters, and the Church.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
John Frame
Here's a helpful summary and review of the new festschrift in honor of John Frame (HT: Justin Taylor). And the book can be found here.
My earliest memories of Church and worship are full of John Frame. From about six months to a little before my ninth birthday, we worshiped at New Life Presbyterian Church. It was an OPC congregation until just shortly before we left in 1989, I believe, when it moved into the PCA. During many of those years, John Frame was the worship leader on Sunday mornings. He lead from the piano, and my Dad accompanied on the guitar. One of my favorite memories is when on at least one occasion, Pastor Frame instructed us to clap during one particular hymn, and when we weren't getting the rhythm quite right, he stopped us in the middle of the song (in the middle of the service) and gave us a quick lesson on rhythm. Then when we were all clapping correctly, we continued the song and the rest of the service. I remember Dad saying that Professor Frame was very into movies as well. I seem to remember hearing that he regularly watched a number of current movies and put out reviews. I always thought that was very cool.
I remember first loving, then disagreeing with, and finally coming to an overly appreciative but still somewhat critical relationship with his books on worship. I love his biblicism, his evangelical catholicity, and his willingness to critique friends and people in his own camp. But the title of the festschrift "Speaking the Truth in Love" is obviously a very fitting summary of Frame's ministry and academic contributions.
I also remember, as I worked on my senior thesis for New St. Andrews College, contacting Frame. I asked some questions (probably fairly convoluted ones) about his perspective on a particular theology of worship I was tracing. I emailed him, and I remember fondly how he addressed his response to me: "Little Toby!" I was gratified that he remembered me as fondly as I remembered him.
Anyway, there's no doubt that God has used John Frame in extremely significant ways over the last half century, and I look forward to reading this volume in celebration of his contributions. And may God grant Professor Frame many more years of faithful service to the Body of Christ.
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Wisdom of Eating and Drinking with Sinners
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” (Mt. 11:19)
We have said before that in one sense Advent occurs every Lord’s Day. Every Lord’s Day the Lord comes to His people in worship. One of the ways that God reminds us of this fact is through this meal. Jesus came the first time eating and drinking and fellowshipping with outcasts, and every week Jesus still comes through the power of the Spirit, eating and drinking and fellowshipping with sinners. This is how God came into the world in Jesus, and through the Spirit this is how Jesus continues His Advent among us. Our collective list of sins is very long and embarrassing. We are not respectable society.
And perhaps this gathering looks a little dangerous. A bunch of sinners and tax collectors eating and drinking together: like that’s a good idea. Or maybe it just looks really silly, a bunch of sinners gathered around drinking wine from thimbles and sharing little bits of bread. How is that potent or powerful? But wisdom is justified by her children.
Here is the feast of Wisdom, and as we eat in faith and joy, and as we live this Eucharistic thankfulness in our lives, God promises to justify this wisdom through us. We are the children of Wisdom, as we feast on Jesus, as we cling to Jesus, as He is our strength, our security, our identity, our everything. Then as the children of Jesus, the Wisdom of God is justified to the watching world. This silly feast is for us the glory of God because here we enact the justice and the mercy and the peace of God for the world. And God promises to use this little feast to draw us and all of history up to great and final Feast. So come in faith and with rejoicing.
Help
So here I am asking for your advice, my dear readers. Having dutifully signed up for lala.com (in order to be as hip as possible), I am now notified that I have 15 song credits that will expire in 3 days. So my question to you is: what fifteen songs should I acquire with said song credits?
If you only recommend one song, that's fine. Unless you recommend something I already know I don't want, I'll take the first 15 songs recommended.
And remember I only have three days to decide.
Ready, go.
Apology
My apologies to anyone who happened into the comments section of the post on the "Menopausal Militia." A scary comment was left with an even scarier link. Since I'd like to avoid this in the future, I've set my comments to now require moderation, meaning that I'll have to manually approve the comments as they come in. Sorry if that causes any inconvenience, but you'll just have to behave yourselves that's all.
Advent Cheers!
Advent Means Diversity
In some sense, the very first Advent was the creation of the world. Father, Son, and Spirit “came out” in some way when the first “when” occurred. When history began, God had come, speaking the Word with the Spirit hovering over the waters. And this original Advent could not be construed in any way as being an act of tyranny or suppression or legalism. The original creation was perfect, but the act of singing the galaxies into existence was not legalistic. Piling up the seas into one place, and calling the grass and animals out of the dirt reveals God’s power but it’s a powerful joy, not moody tyranny. When God came that first time, He came to play, He came to sing, He came to diversify. In this sense, sin is really the great reducer. Sin lies and advertises to be different, new, exciting, but it is in fact a return to the nothingness, a return to uniformity, a return to the legalism and perfectionism and the tyranny of monism: all is one. And difference becomes heresy. But we serve the God who comes and creates, the God who comes and multiplies and divides, the God who comes and re-creates and diversifies: more color, more shapes and sizes, more glory, more life, more joy, more. And this is what Jesus came for, to re-create the worlds, to rejuvenate the diversity of creation. Our culture embraces a false version of this gospel. Be you. Be yourself. You can be anything. Celebrate diversity. Multiculturalism. Relativism, etc. But the Christian gospel is the truth which our culture only apes. But we cannot merely critique and criticize. If Advent means the glory of difference, the glory of a creation that spans butterflies, peanut butter, waterfalls, and babies – if Advent means that, it also means the glory of all men and women and children everywhere worshiping the Lord Jesus and loving one another in the differences. While we must always hate and fight sin, we ought to expect the blessing of difference because Jesus has come. But too frequently because of sin, we suspect difference and we fear those who are unlike us. Or we think that when Jesus comes again he’ll make us all exactly the same, billions of little robots that repeat the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And so we resent difference. Do you wish your husband was more like that man? Or that your wife was more like her? Or why can’t our children be like theirs? But God came and sung the galaxies into existence, and God came again in Jesus to renew this symphony of creation. God comes and meets with us week after week to renew us all into the new creation that we already are by faith in Jesus. And when God comes at the end, the whole thing will burst out like a grand fireworks display.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Dwindling of the Menopausal Militia
The article here in New York Magazine is hard to read straight through without wincing or tears. It's not really new information for us, but I'd say it's striking coming from the pro-choice camp. It's honest, terribly honest. And therefore it's also hopeful.
My favorite part is where the pro-choice movement is recognized as growing old compared to the current generation of younger Americans that the article describes as perhaps the most pro-life generation ever, due to technological advances like ultrasound. And one NARAL representative referred to the dwindling pro-choice ranks as the "menopausal militia."
HT: Albert Mohler
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
God is Killing our Children
As Douglas Wilson has pointed out from time to time, we often think that it is only sin that may have serious consequences rather than seeing sin as consequences. Sin is bad, and the consequences may be worse, but sometimes God gives us over to our sins. Sin itself is a judgment from God. In Romans 1, God gives men and women over to sexual perversity because they were sinfully confused prior to that. Sodomy is not merely a bad sin which will have horrific consequences. Sodomy is a judgment from God on a people who have turned away from Him, who have confused the creation with the Creator, who have lied and cheated and oppressed the weak and disobeyed their parents (see Rom. 1:28-32).
Similarly, adultery is a sin which God gives unfaithful husbands over to. It is not the sin of adultery that makes a man unfaithful. Adultery itself is God's judgment on a man whom God is already angry with (Pr. 22:14).
Hosea says that abortion is also the judgment of God. When God was angry with Israel for her sins, He said that He would remember all her past sins and give her miscarrying wombs and dry breasts (Hos. 9:14). But God's anger with Ephraim extends to the point that He says He will "kill the darlings of their womb." (Hos. 9:16) Abortion is not merely a great sin that will lead to the judgment of God (though that is true enough). Abortion is itself a judgment of God; He is killing our little ones because of our wickedness. He is angry with us and He is causing our sins to be visited on us and on our children.
So what shall we do? Hosea says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy; break up the fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you." (10:12) And, "say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity; receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips... [God says] 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him.'" (14:2, 4)
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Second Sunday of Advent: Is. 40:1-11, Phil. 1:1-11, Lk. 3:1-18
Introduction
We continue our Advent series this morning looking at our three readings, meditating on what it means that our God is the God who comes to His people.
Isaiah 40:1-11
The prophet begins by declaring God’s word to His people, crying, “comfort, comfort!” God says to “speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry out to her that her “armies are full” and that her “iniquity is satisfied,” and she has taken from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins (40:1-2). This comfort is bound up in the fact that a new Exodus is coming. The voice issues a command to turn to the “way of Yahweh” and to make straight a “highway for our God” (40:3, cf. Is. 11:16). The “way” goes back to the first sin after which God guarded the “way” to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24), and the story continues in the Exodus where God led Israel in the “way” out of Egypt arrayed for battle (Ex. 13:17-18). Like the original Exodus, Isaiah foretells great upheaval: the topography of the world is going to dramatically change (40:4-5). And in the context of the Exodus we should not miss the fact that the “topography” is primarily people. The “voice” says to cry out that all flesh is grass, it fades and withers, and only the word of God stands forever (40:6-8). This reminds us of the “voice” that thundered at Sinai and how the people cowered in fear and asked that they might not hear the voice any more. But that word is a good word, good news that God Himself will come and rule in righteousness and truth (40:9-11).
Luke 3:1-18
Luke says that John fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy when he began preaching a baptism of repentance at the Jordan River. Notice the seven rulers listed in the opening verses of this passage: From Caesar to the high priests (3:1-2). But it is not to any of those seven that the “word of God” comes. The word of God comes to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness (3:2). John is the beginning of the new week, the new creation, a new conquest of the world. He is like Moses and the seven powers are set up as various sorts of Pharaohs. John is also like Moses on the far side of the Jordan promising that Joshua is coming to lead them across the Jordan into the new Canaan. John may appear to be a nobody, but the Word he has received is designed to seriously mess with the landscape (3:4-6). John calls his followers the “children of snakes” and calls them to bear fruit worthy of repentance (3:7). His baptism is also a baptism of “repentance” (3:3). Given the Exodus imagery, John is calling the multitudes to embrace the calling to be the second generation in the wilderness that went in to possess the land. The baptism for repentance is a crossing of the Jordan into Canaan. And if they are baptized, they must take the land though bearing the fruit of repentance which is justice and mercy (3:10-14). This is why they must wait for the Christ who will lead them into the land in the power of the Spirit (3:15-17, cf. Josh 3). This is the good news that Isaiah foretold.
Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy identify themselves as “slaves of King Jesus” and address the “holy ones” in Philippi with the grace and peace of God (1:1-2). They rejoice in the fellowship they share in the “good news” from the “first day,” knowing that God will complete the good work in them that He has begun. Paul may have several thoughts in mind as He writes, including the beginning of the gospel in John’s ministry as the “first day” of the new creation, the new good work that God has begun in the world and in us (1:3-6). In that sense, “the day of Jesus Christ” may refer to the coming judgment in 70 AD, and it may also look forward to the final seventh day, the final Sabbath. Paul emphasizes that fellowship by describing how the Philippians are “partakers of grace” with him in defense and confirmation of the good news (1:7). And Paul’s prayer is for this to increase and abound, that their love and knowledge may overflow with the fruits of righteousness (1:9-11).
Conclusions and Applications
One of the great messages of Advent is “repent!” And the challenge is getting this command right. God calls all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30), and this still applies, whether you are an unbeliever, a new believer, or an old believer. The command is to repent because the conquest is not yet finished. And the lessons of Joshua continue to be lessons for us. That second generation was faithful in beginning the conquest, but they grew weary and relaxed as time went on. Their great failure to drive out the enemies from the land left their children to pick up the pieces (e.g. Judges). Repentance is the call to continue the work of the new creation by the Spirit, turning the old crooked world into the new heavens and new earth, and this conquest comes through the fruits of justice and mercy and love. And God gently leads us in this way by speaking comfort and grace and peace to us in Jesus, assuring us that He will complete the good work He has begun in us.
These Stones
John the Forerunner famously says that his listeners cannot claim their Abrahamic lineage as protection against judgment. John says, "... and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." (Lk. 3:8)
What are "these stones" that Jesus is referring to?
Frequently I believe it is assumed that "these stones" is just a generic reference to the power of God. He can make sons of Abraham out of trees, rocks, geese, whatever. Don't be so arrogant, O Israel.
But remember where John is. John is at the Jordan. And all the indicators are that John is inviting his listeners to join him in a new conquest, to cross the Jordan in baptism and join the new Joshua (Jesus) in His conquest of the land.
That being so, is it possible that "these stones" are the very stones that Joshua had the people set up on the shore of the Jordan River centuries before? Or even if John isn't pointing at a literal pile of stones, could he be referring to "those stones"?
If that is the case, John's point could still be partially concerned with the arrogance of Israel and God's power, but it makes it more pointed referring to the previous Jordan crossing and conquest.
First, it's a reference to the fact that God has performed this sort of thing before. Refusal to follow the example of that second generation of Israel across the Jordan means that they are really more like the first generation in the wilderness, whose bodies were scattered in the desert.
Second, "those stones" clearly represented Israel. There were twelve of them for the twelve tribes, and therefore, perhaps the "power of God" is not so much that God can turn anything into sons but rather specifically resurrection power. God is able to raise the dead; He is able to even raise that ancient and faithful generation of Israel from the dead. If God needs an Israel with enough faith to take this Canaan, He can raise "these stones" from dead.
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