a different perspective

Thomas McCall has written a post on Justin Taylor's blog, on 'new Calvinism' from a Wesleyan perspective. it's well worth a full read, but a couple of things stood out at me:

They have a strong commitment to the authority of Scripture, and they want to know God as he reveals himself – and not as we might like him to be. They take seriously, and defend energetically, such doctrines as substitutionary atonement and the classic Protestant account of justification. Moreover, (to understate things drastically) they care about the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Ours is a context in which these doctrines are considered unimportant – ours is also a context in which these doctrines sometimes are charged with being sub-biblical and even non-Christian. What’s not to like about seeing so many people care so much about theology? And what’s not to appreciate about seeing so many people completely committed to worshiping God as he graciously reveals himself to us?

What indeed...amen! One of the things, if not the thing i love the most about my job is the chance to sit down and open up the Bible with people. There is definitely in my experience a deeper desire among students, at least, today to get to grips with and get under the Bible. To worship the God of scripture rather than the God of our imagination.

This brings me to my second cheer: these New Calvinists care about holiness. To know God is to know that God is holy. The New Calvinists get that, and they want their lives to be in step with him. They are anything but content with a soteriology that reduces redemption to a cosmic I-pass or “get out of hell free” card. No, they know that God is holy, and they know that to walk with the Holy One is to be transformed. Thus they know that the doctrine of sanctification matters, and they pursue holiness vigorously. Some of them offer testimonies in which they describe their “discovery of divine sovereignty” in language similar to the way some Christians in the Wesleyan tradition refer to a “second definite work of grace” or “second crisis experience.” And all of this for good reason: they read the Puritans and (especially) Edwards. They know that holiness matters. They get it. And I, for one, appreciate it.

Me too, the puritans are literally terrifying at times, i can't recommend them enough. Again i guess this links to the first point. if you spend time each day reading and studying and pondering the Bible you're going to be hit full on in the face with the fact that God is Holy. And that we need to deal with that. And fast.

Furthermore, it would be good if they would set themselves to the task of coming to a better understanding of the broader Christian tradition. I know that we all need this advice (well, at least I do), but it seems to me that the New Calvinists are far more interested in reading Edwards or Owen (worthy reads to be sure) than they are in mining the riches of patristic theology or grappling with the subtleties of medieval scholasticism. This is, I fear, to the detriment of the movement, and more development in this area might go some distance toward loosening the unhealthy reliance of some of these New Calvinists on what might be called the “Neo-Reformed Magisterium” (the small group of theologians and conference speakers who are sometimes quoted as the final word on any theological topic at issue... if you doubt what I say, consult Collin Hansen’s sobering observations about “Piper fiends” and those who “worship” John Piper, Young, Restless, Reformed, pp. 14, 46).

I don't understand...he seems to suggest this is a bad thing?!

No theological tradition has cornered the market on arrogance. I have been accused of it (sometimes, I fear, with very good reason). Yet there seems to be – though I’m sure that what I say here is highly fallible – an amazing quantity of it among the New Calvinists. I’ve been told that my resistance to “the doctrines of grace” (no hubris in that label?) is a sign of my probable reprobation. I’ve had the senior pastor of a fine evangelical church tell me that although we were welcome to attend, I could not expect to be involved in any way because I was not “Reformed” – even though this particular church was not confessionally Reformed at all (their official statement of faith was generically evangelical). A friend (who teaches theology in a seminary in the Methodist tradition) told me of helping an incoming student (at a seminary in the Reformed tradition) move into a neighboring house. When the incoming student – who, if memory serves, was about to begin an MDiv – discovered that my friend was a Wesleyan, he quickly said “you guys don’t think much about things, do you?” Another friend expressed doubts about aspects of Calvinism and then was rejected by a missions agency for perceived confusion about the gospel.

That is bonkers and presents us with the danger of pride. of course every flavour of Christianity needs to deal with that. So how are we to avoid pride? By discussing issues with a soft heart and an open Bible, by remembering that no one man has everything right and ultimately by rejoicing in what we share as Christians, faith in Christ, and Him crucified.

Alpha at Corinth

A funny old game sometimes evangelism, often times when i go into an alpha setting i feel ready and confident. Sometimes, sinfully because of me, sometimes genuinely because i have confidence in the Lord. Sometimes, however, it's a bit different. Today for example at Verizon, i don't think i've ever felt worse. Sick to my stomach with nerves as the hour to proclaim the Gospel approached, by heart aflame with despair as one by one people filed in. The Muslim convert, the people searching, the people treating the Gospel as just another way, the people just looking for something to do on their lunch hour.

I'm so thankful that we've got a weapon, a sword to wield to our own hearts in this situation, so thankful that the Lord reminded me of two great passages to douse the flames and calm my heart.

Not Wisdom. God's power.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

I love these verese, they are exhilerating. It feels good, it feels right, at the moment that salvation is not about wise sounding arguments, but rather about God's power. The Gospel needs to be proclaimed, fully, reasonably, gently, and then God's power is at work. Sometimes it'll feel like we're retreating, like we're on the back foot, like it did today at the end of Alpha, but i guess thats what Christ looked like on the cross. These verese thrill my heart, and fill me with evangelistic confidence. if it was up to my skills, no one would be saved, but praise God, it's not.

Not persuasion, God's light.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I really need to remember these verses are true! I need to cling to the command, the logic, that since this ministry comes from God's mercy, to not lose heart. I need to not get frustrated when a Christian gives one of the clearest presentations of the Gospel ever, and someone can still turn around and say 'i don't understand'. I need to cling to the truth that all we need to do is proclaim, to preach, the present, and God, who created the universe will shine light in hearts. Again, evangelism liberation. Again, freedom from feelings of fear and inadequacy. Again, God gets all the glory and i get none. Yes! Thats how it should be. Preach the Gospel, realkly present it clearly, and pray. Thats all we can do.

I'm so thankful for a sword.

Tickets and Treasures

Dance music will always remind me of the bus to Varna. As we rolled into the Black Seaside resort last summer, someone finally had enough of Bulgarian radio and put a CD in. Varna was great, the pirate ship fights, the late night walks to the Jazz Club, the 1950s Soviet block hotel, the beach, the salt and vinegar crisps. It's Varna i remember, not the bus. Varna is the treasure, certainly not the bus ride there. The bus was the means, Varna was the end. It was a tremendous end too.

Means and ends. Tickets and treasures. For too long my view of Christ was like this, too worldly, not Biblical enough. I've seen the cross, i've seen Jesus as the ticket, and Heaven as the treasure. I saw justification as the be all and end all, and the renewed relationship with God the Father as a nice added extra, icing on the cake of Christianity. It was as if my eyes had been closed when i'd been reading long passages of the Bible. I'd reduced Jesus, the eternal, immortal Son of God, in all His glory and majesty to a stepping stone, a ticket, a bus trip, a means, rather than the end. The Gospel was about me. My forgiveness, my eternal joy, my status as forgiven.

Isn't that plain awful? Seeing Christ as a means to an end, as someone who gets me somewhere? isn't Jesus much much more than that?

Yes He is, Christ, in His death on the cross is the ticket to Heaven, and Christ, the risen, exulted, glorious Christ is the end of Heaven. To see Him, enjoy Him and give glory to the Father through so doing is the end for which God created the world.

So yes, absolutly, Christ is the means, His is the ticket. 'No one comes to the Father except though me', '(Christ) died as a ransom for many.' Isaiah tells us that 'he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities...and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' There's no getting away from the fact that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. That Jesus, by removing all that stands in our way from a relationship with God the Father, is uniquely how we can face judgment with confidence. He is the way. Yes, He is the ticket.

But what makes Heaven so good? Jesus. In John 17 Jesus prays 'Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world' Now, that could sound to us like one of the most self centred prayers ever. Jesus wants us to be where He is so that we can see His glory. Unless there's something that makes seeing Jesus glory not a selfish thing for Him to pray but a loving thing. Psalm 16 tells us that there is a fullness of joy in His presence. So in fact seeing Jesus in His glory leads us to fullness of joy. And thats what makes Heaven Heaven. Jesus is there, and we get to walk and talk and eat and most importantly of all, worship Him forever. In this we find our joy, in the self forgetfulness that comes from seeing and worshipping Jesus for who He is.

John Piper at T4G 2008 couldn't find an analogy for a ticket that become a treasure, that is the treasure. So i don't feel bad about failing to do so. But this is the Gospel. God, is the Gopsel. It's not Heaven if Jesus isn't there. He is the ticket, and the glorious, overwhelming satisfying treasure.

'it is important, i'd like to give my life to it'

this is the woman i'm marrying

A couple of weeks agao i bought Rachel 'Marriage to a Difficult Man', a biography of Jonathan Edwards's wife, Sarah, partly as a joke due to the title, but also because i figured that if Sarah managed to be Jonathan's wife and raise 13 believing children she must be doing something right.

Imagine my surprise when this quote popped into my inbox from Rachel, saying it summed us up very nicely!

"... Edward(s) was totally unlike the girl who fatefully caught his eye. She was a vibrant brunette, with erect posture and burnished manners. She was skillfull at small talk; he had no talent for it at all."

1 John 1:1-4 (3)

John wants his readers to know these things, as we see in the start of verse 3. ‘that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you’. This is why I love John. I think Luke is probably my favourite Biblical author just because of the way he organises his material, but John comes a close second. He is so keen, desperate even, for his readers to know the truth about Jesus that he makes his point again. There is evidence to slam to Gnostic heresy, there is evidence to back up the claims about the incarnation. They are that John, once again, has seen and heard Jesus. Now it’s time to do something about it. John proclaims these things to be true. And why? Look at the rest of verse three with me ‘so that you too may have fellowship with us; indeed our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.’

Fellowship is an interesting word in Christian circles. We tend to do the same things with Christians as we do with non Christians and call it fellowship. We have fellowship talking about football before church starts, but when we’re talking about the same things with our non Christian friends we call it something different. We can sit on the sofas and Mondial with our Christians friends and its fine because it’s fellowship, but if we find ourselves with non Christians we need some other reason to justify it. Is that what John means here? No. Fellowship in the Biblical sense means people with a common goal with a purpose. It is a community of interest and feeling. People bound by a purpose and a partnership. When I drive to football matches with my friends, we’re in fellowship with one another. John is proclaiming for partnership.

This partnership is with each other but also with Father and Son. Isn’t that amazing? That through faith in the Biblical Gospel we can have fellowship with God. This is surely what John 17:3 means when it says: ‘and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.’ Eternal life isn’t simply about getting into Heaven, the apex of eternal life is fellowship with God. There’s much much more I want to say about this, but if I start, I may never stop!

Now, the reason the Holy Spirit is missing from this equation is that John’s opponents were focussed on denying the Godhood of the Son, and thereby forfeiting the Father. Notice how Father and Son are placed side by side here. One commentator has remarked that this sentence shows us the distinction and equality between Father and Son. It’s certainly no coincidence that John brings them together like this.

So what is being proclaimed is to increase fellowship with each other. A fellowship that exists only though faith in the Son, which brings us to fellowship with the Father, which is eternal life itself.

But why? Is it just so John has more people in his club than the Gnostics? Do we just have mission weeks and run lunch bars so that we can have the biggest society on campus? So that we have more people on our team? I guess that’s often how it looks to non Christians. Well look at verse four with me ‘and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete’ Some translations say ‘your joy’ instead of ‘our joy’ but it makes little difference to the meaning of the verse. Fellowship under and in the Godhead completes Christian joy. That’s why John writes all he’s about to write. So that his joy may be complete as this church grows in the truth of the Gospel, and so that their joy may also be complete as that happens.

This joy is inseparable from the salvation found in the Son. It’s a gift of the Father as the Son is a gift of the Father. And in the Son, in Jesus, our joy will eventually be complete. We’ll only see an echo of it now, as we learn from John 16:22-24 ‘now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.’

This letter exists for the joy of the Christian reader. This final verse sums up nicely the whole paragraph and sets up the rest of his letter well as we see the links between the strands: Johns proclamation was the historical manifestation of that which is from the beginning, the purpose of this manifestation was salvation leading to fellowship with one another, based of the fellowship with the Father and Son which leads to fullness of joy.

So no, it’s not about getting more people in our club. It’s about declaring the Kingship of Christ for the joy of people everywhere. Did you know that’s what evangelism and proclaiming the Gospel is in essence…Spreading joy? The great English pastor theologian John Stott says that we are cruel to ourselves if we go through life without knowing God. And I guess we’re cruel to our friends if we go through their life not helping them to know God. We can only do that because God has manifested Himself to us in the flesh in the man Jesus Christ. These are the things we must hold onto about the Christian faith, the things that mustn’t be obscured by exams and lazy summer afternoons. That Jesus Christ is God. That He came in the flesh. That these things are eternally important. That people must know about this for our joy and for theirs.

The Beatitude Man

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I've been slowly going through the Beatitudes recently, the mighty, beautiful, scary prologue to the Sermon on the Mount. As i've said before, the Lord is in the detail, and how! There is so much in these ten verses that i've missed before. Here's just some of it!

Scripture is made up of sixty-six different books. It's not a line of pearls strung together to make nice sayings or pithy catch phrases, but a story, a reality. The same is true of Jesus' teaching in the Gospels, and that was something i'd forgotten when i'd read these verses before. The Beatitudes aren't a string of pearls, they are a line of consistent teaching. So what do they teach? Whats the point?

I'd never seen this before, but they are all linked up, it's not ten different thoughts all placed side by side because it looks nice, but rather one stream of thought about what life, what people in the Kingdom of God look like. So what do these people look like?

They are poor in spirit. Why? Because they mourn. Not in the way that David mourned over his son, but more, i imagine in the way that Jesus mourned for Jerusalem. Kingdom people are those who are humble, because they know their sin and they mourn over it. They hate it. And this knowledge of the horror of their sin leads to meekness. How can anyone be proud when they consider their sin before a holy God? I know i'm missing out half of each verse but we'll come back to why...i know they're there!

What happens to people who are like this? Who are mournful and meek, who are broken for sin. They hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will be satisfied, all those who come to Jesus and drink will never thirst again. They will be merciful, all arrogance is excluded in the face of knowing your sin, humility and mercy are close friends. These people will seek purity of heart. The whole point of Jesus' teaching here is that no one is good enough, and certainly that no one is good enough because they are good enough on the outside. So in people's hearts purity will be sought. What a dazzling reward for those who are pure in heart.

When we see God everything changes. Peace will become our default preference. We will be called sons of God with God the Father as the ultimate peacemaker. When we're like this persecution is bound to follow. If the world couldn't stand Jesus, how will they treat us?

Look at the second half of the verses...somewhere between dazzling motivational reward and natural consequence. Isn't this exactly what we long for, inheritance, satisfaction, comfort? is that that what everyones longing for everywhere? Kingdom life is reward laden.

So is that what the Beatitudes are, a description of normal Christian living? I do very much hope not. I can't imagine anyone being a Christian for more than a week before something stops them mourning over sin, or longing for righteousness, or seeking purity in heart. Of course, on one level the unfulfilled version of these verses is exactly what Christian life is that...but what about the fulfillment? Who is the man who mourned over sin, who was meek and poor in spirit, who was pure in heart, who made peace? Who is man who said that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Scribes we will never see the Kingdom? Who can say these things without His lifestyle reproaching Him?

Jesus.

It's all about Jesus! Jesus is everything we could never be. he sets the standard impossibly high, as in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as here. He does not deny His Father, and so sets a high standard, but then wonderful, graciously, He meets that standard. Jesus is the perfect Son of God, He is the only one good enough for entrance into the Kingdom of God, the only one who met these demands...and He is our substitute.

New Word Alive 09

Huxley, who happily appears to have started blogging again, has created a wishlist for New Word Alive 2009 and challenged other bloggers to do the same.

Here's mine:

John MacArthur (morning readings in Matthew)

CJ Mahaney
Mark Driscoll
Mike Ovey
(evenings in Philippians)

Seminars:
Bible Overview
The law in the New Testament
Adoption: The end of the Gospel
Explorations in Biblical Theology
Genesis

Dissatisfied not discouraged

I found this video very helpful: (HT: Challies)

1 John 1:1-4 (2)

Let’s look at verses two and three together. ‘which we have heard, which have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-this life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us’. Its in these verses that we hit the crux of John’s argument in this prologue, and where he starts to strike the death knell for Gnosticism.

The Apostle claims that he has heard, seen, looked upon and touched that which was from the beginning. He is of course talking about what Christians call the incarnation, the truth that the man Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the eternal Son of God. Notice how in each of the clauses about Johns witness he ups the ante slightly. He has heard and seen that which was from the beginning. Well good, but Moses could say that, so could Isaiah, there’s nothing special or new about what John is talking about yet. Then he says he has looked upon Jesus. The phrase looked upon here has more weight in the original Greek than it does in English. Looked upon means something like to have thoughtfully observed or spent time looking at. It means to have visually examined something like an investigator at a crime scene rather than to have simply glanced at something. He’s not just seen Jesus. He’s looked at him, and he believed in him. There is weight to what John is saying about Jesus.

And what’s more they have touched it with their hands. Again a closer meaning of this phrase would be something like to have examined closely, to have investigated with your hands rather than simply to have touched. These last two clauses seem to refer to a time when the disciples would have had the time to gaze thoughtfully at Jesus and to handle Him in their seeking of the truth about Him. This time could well be post resurrection, and certainly the idea of Jesus being physically investigated reminds us of Thomas touching His wounds and believing at the end of the Gospel accounts.

These things concern the word of life. These things concern Christ. The Gospel announces and offers life in Christ. And this offer of life is only available because it was made manifest to us. That’s how John could say that he has seen and heard and handled the Christ…because He was made manifest to him and to the rest of the disciples.

This is a very important point. Hebrews 1:1 tells us ‘Long ago…God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son’. This God who we could never have imagined has made Himself manifest to us though His eternal, divine Son Jesus Christ. And Jesus was not a man who became God, or attained divine attributes at some point during His life. He was not half man and half God, there wasn’t some constant inner turmoil between the divine and the temporal. Jesus was, and is, the God-man. This is a huge problem for Christianity, but when we grasp it, a huge answer to many problems.

In summing up the incarnation the German Reformer Martin Luther says ‘we should point to the whole man Jesus and say ‘that is God’. We’ve become blasé about this as Christians but just for a moment look at the person nest to you. And imagine that instead of sitting next to matt, or Mandy or Ellie, you’re sitting next to God in all His fullness. But at the same time He’s a thirty something carpenter. It is amazing. Jim Packer says ‘the really staggering claim is that Jesus Christ was God made man… The more you think about it the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is as staggering as the truth of the incarnation.’

The life was made manifest, John says in verse two. And how? Though a baby born in the middle of nowhere who grew up and lived a desperately normal life while he worked as a carpenter for thirty years. It’s crazy isn’t it? No wonder so many people have tried to deal with it by separating the two, as was going on in this church. But the clear Biblical teaching is that Jesus was everything a man should be and everything God is in one man. And, just as an aside, he almost certainly did not look like a woman with a beard as so many contemporary portraits make him out to be.

This is how God has revealed Himself to us. And we must work under this truth. So many of our friends questions are misguided away from this point. If you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the God-man, then suddenly it becomes less of a problem to believe that He walked on water, healed the sick, fed the five thousand, died for our sins on the cross and rose again on the third day. If we can convince our friends of this then all their questions will fall into place. In Jesus the spiritual realm and the physical realm met. This is Christianity biggest problem, but its most glorious, life giving reality. Christ is Himself the life that John talks about in verse 2. This is the central confession of the Christian faith. And it’s wonderful.

What was John’s response to that in the rest of verse 2? The life that has been seen and testified to must be proclaimed. Jesus must be made known. He must be made known to combat heresy in the church, as here, and He must be made known to unbelievers, which we’ll come back to. The point that John makes in verse 1 is so important that he takes the time to restate it here, much like in the first two verses of his Gospel. The eternal life that has been with the Father since the beginning has can be testified to because it has been manifested in the historical life of Jesus.