Hidden in Plain Sight

It's pretty amazing what some artists are doing in 3D pavement art nowadays. Here's an example by Edgar Mueller.

In order for you to experience the effects of this art, though, you have to be standing in the right place. If you stand in the wrong place, it doesn't look anything like what it's supposed to look like. For example, here are two images of another piece of pavement art, one taken from the "correct" perspective, and the second from an "incorrect" one:

You see, the picture only makes sense when looked at the "right" way.

It occurs to me that in some cases, truth can be like that too. You can have the same collection of data, but if you don't look at it in the right way or from the right perspective, you can completely miss the point.

In fact, sometimes what we see or don't see can be a very accurate barometer of the state of our hearts.

I've been reading the book of Matthew this week. One thing that comes through over and over in the book of Matthew is the fact that when Jesus was physically here, he was not recognized because people had completely the wrong idea about the kind of Messiah that they were expecting.

When Jesus showed up, people had available to them the same books (of the Old Testament) that we read. They had the same data we have, but they were only seeing the parts about the conquering King. They generally overlooked the passages that talked about how Messiah was also a suffering Servant who would take away the sins of the people (as in Isaiah 53).

And the fact that they overlooked the complete picture of Jesus was not at all an accident. The reason that the people overlooked the prophecies of the suffering Servant was because they didn't want that kind of Messiah.

Even more than that, the complete concept of salvation that many had at the time that Jesus walked the earth was mistaken. People conceived of salvation as being primarily a matter of physical descent from Abraham combined with the doing of good deeds. And many thought of the blessings of salvation primarily in "this-worldly" terms - as being a matter of experiencing national sovereignty and freedom. In short, they had missed the entire point of the story of the Hebrew Bible: that God had promised to make Abraham the "father of many goyim; that Israel would be a light to the nations and that through her he would raise up a Deliverer for all of mankind; that the goal was ultimately to restore the right relationship between man and God.

Of this all the Law and the Prophets spoke. But no-one could see it. Because, although they had the same text, they were looking at it all wrong.

We see this even among Jesus' own followers. For example, in Matthew 11, John the Baptist, who had been thrown in prison by Herod sends his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the expected One or whether they should await another. It seems likely from this that even the Baptist was confused about what was going on. Jesus tells John's disciples to tell John the messianic signs that He was doing and to have faith. As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus turned to the crowd and asked them metaphorically whether they thought that John was a soft man, or one who was likely to be of weak opinions. The answer was a decided no. In fact, says Jesus, John is the greatest of all of the prophets up to that time. But, Jesus said, even the  least of the Kingdom would be greater than John.

A lot of people have different opinions about what Jesus meant by that. My own feeling, though, is that Jesus meant that the citizens of the Kingdom are greater than John in that they have a clearer revelation of the truth about God and about His Kingdom and His Messiah.

In contrast, Jesus shows that the people rejected both John and Jesus for opposite reasons, thus showing that they were not really open to the truth at all. They would reject the truth no matter what form it came in. Jesus then finishes the discourse by praising God that He has hidden Himself from the wise and learned but revealed Himself to children.

The same theme is there a couple of chapters later when Jesus tells a bunch of parables of the Kingdom, one of the common themes of which is the "hiddenness" of the Kingdom. He even says explicitly, quoting Isaiah, that He taught all things in parables so that

d“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,

and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

15 For this people's heart has grown dull,

and with their ears ethey can barely hear,

and ftheir eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and gunderstand with their heart

and hturn, and I would heal them.’

That is, he veiled the truth in such a way that only those who had been given hearts able to receive the truth would be able to receive it.

Today is Palm Sunday.

On Palm Sunday Jesus rode down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem as King. The crowds surrounding Him were shouting hosanna, but Jesus, when He drew near the city said the following (recorded in Luke 19):

41 rAnd when he drew near and saw the city, she wept over it, 42 saying, t“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now uthey are hidden from your eyes. 43 For vthe days will come upon you, when your enemies wwill set up a barricade around you and xsurround you and hem you in on every side 44 yand tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And zthey will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know athe time of your bvisitation.”

Ultimately, the people of that time were held accountable not only for the truth that they did know, but for the truth that they should have known but didn't want to see.


It wasn't like it was easy to see and that we're all so much smarter and better than those who missed it. Even after Jesus had been raised, we read in Luke 24,of how, on the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus chides the men He's walking with for being "foolish of heart and slow to believe" all that the Scripture said about Him. It wasn't until the Holy Spirit was poured out that people began to really understand Jesus, because the Holy Spirit is the One who enlightens our hearts to reveal the truth.

In short, the truth about Jesus is always there, "hidden in plain sight". But only those who have been given "eyes to see"will actually be able to perceive it.


As it says in 2 Cor 4:6:

6 For God, who said, m“Let light shine out of darkness,” nhas shone in our hearts to give othe light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is still the the hidden King. Hidden in plain sight.

Hebrews 4:7

t“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

Don't be mistaken about who Jesus is. Keep seeking to understand Him more. Don't miss Him on this your day because you did not know the time of your visitation.

True Religion

LORD GOD ALMIGHTY,

I ask not to be enrolled amongst the earthly great and rich,
but to be numbered with the spiritually blessed,.
Make it my present, supreme, persevering concern
to obtain those blessings which are
spiritual in their nature,
eternal in their continuance,
satisfying in their possession.

Preserve me from a false estimate of the whole
or a part of my character;
May I pay regard to
my principles as well as my conduct,
my motives as well as my actions,

Help me
never to mistake the excitement of my passions
for the renewing of the Holy Spirit,
never to judge my religion by occasional
impressions and impulses, but by my
constant and prevailing disposition.

May my heart be right with thee,
and my life as becometh the gospel.

May I maintain a supreme regard to another
and better world,
and feel and confess myself a stranger
and a pilgrim here.

Afford me all the direction, defense, support,
and consolation my journey hence requires,
and grant me a mind stayed upon thee.

Give me large abundance of the supply of
the Spirit of Jesus,
that I may be prepared for every duty,
love thee in all my mercies,
submit to thee in every trial,
trust thee when walking in darkness,
have peace in thee amidst life's changes.

Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief
and uncertainties.

- from The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Life, Life, Eternal Life!

So I saw in my dream that the Man began to run: Now he had not run far from his own door, but his Wife and Children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the Man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life! Life! Eternal Life!

(John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress)

Who Should I Support (cont.) - more on 2012 Republican nomination

A few weeks ago I wrote a long post on the Republican nomination process. In that post I concluded that, although I thought Rick Santorum came the closest to representing my views, I would probably support Mitt Romney because I thought he was the only candidate that had a chance of winning the national election. My reasoning was that it would be much better to have a watered-down, liberal Republican than another term of President Obama. I also said that I wanted Santorum to stay in the race long enough to pull Mitt clearly to the right and pin him down there.

In light of recent events my views have changed a little.

First, what hasn't changed:

I still think that *any* of the Republican candidates (with the possible exception of Ron Paul, who I think is dangerously naive in foreign policy - potentially disastrously so) would be hugely preferable to a second term of Barack Obama.  A second term would see him running even further to the left, possibly ensconcing a couple of liberal Supreme Court justices to continue to provide favorable votes for the destruction of most of what makes the United States distinctive and great.

I'm still a little worried that nomination of a Republican candidate who is a true conservative may condemn us nationally to what we've been experiencing here in California for the past 30 years or so, viz., that we put up candidates that the base likes but that can't be elected state-wide, and so end up ceding the government to the other party and end up living under their horrible policies.

But, ...

I'm feeling a little more confident about Rick Santorum.

Maybe it's just the momentum generated by his trouncing of Romney in three contests last night (Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado), but I listened to excerpts from some of his recent speeches and he is quite effective in articulating a political philosophy that I think many still hold: a political philosophy of freedom, limited government, and constitutionalism. Moreover, when he speaks of that philosophy I get the sense that he holds these beliefs genuinely and passionately, in contrast to the sense I get from Mitt Romney, who seems prone to changes in what should be core political convictions.

It may also be that some of the actions taken by the Obama administration in recent days (notably the announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that Christian institutions would be required to provide abortion coverage in their health insurance plans) have increased the likelihood that a number of Catholic voters who might otherwise vote as union Democrats might be induced to vote for a Republican alternative.

It may also be that during the Republican debates it's become clear just how much the nomination of Romney would play right into the Democrat's hands in that it would be hard for him to use the unpopular Obamacare legislation against him in that he enacted something very similar in Massachusetts with Romneycare. Moreover, he plays right into the "99%" class warfare rhetoric that they seem to want to run on.

And, perhaps most importantly, it may be that Santorum seems to have performed well in midwestern states that have been the battleground States (along with Florida) in the last few elections. If Santorum continues to dominate the more moderate Romney in states like Michigan, that might be a strong signal that he's able to draw enough voters from the center of the spectrum to prevail over President Obama in the general election.

In any case, I'm feeling more confident about Rick Santorum.

Who Should I Support? On the 2012 Elections ...

I don't do too many political posts, but given that there's been a lot of discussion over the past few months about the candidates for the Republican nomination for the U.S. 2012 presidential election, I thought I'd put in my two cents.

First, the background:

There are at least four major, somewhat overlapping segments within today's Republican party:

(1) the so-called "social conservatives" (some like to call them the "religious right"),

(2) the "fiscal and foreign-policy conservatives"

(3) the Establishment, country-club Republicans (sometimes derisively called RINOs)

(4) the libertarians. 

The Tea Party tends to overlap the first two groups, but I'd guess that about 70% of the Tea Party movement falls in the fiscal/foreign-policy conservative group.

These groups differ on which issues are most important to them:

The most important issues to the social conservatives at this point tend to be abortion and the defense of marriage.  Generally speaking, however, social conservatives are also very concerned about irresponsible spending and the debilitating effects that it will have on the country in the future. They have had a working alliance with the fiscal and foreign-policy conservatives since Reagan's '80's, but they deeply distrust Establishment Republicans (and they generally perceive Romney as belonging to this latter group).

The most important issues to the fiscal and foreign-policy conservatives tend to be restoring sanity to the budgeting and spending process, protecting our allies (especially Israel), and projecting military strength (particularly toward terrorism, and more generally toward ideological opponents in the Middle East, Russia/Central Asia, and the Far East). 

No-one wants to admit to being an Establishment, country-club (sometimes derisively called RINO) Republican nowadays. Indeed, to be labeled as one can send a candidate into fits of high dudgeon. But this group is somewhat philosophically similar to the neocon fiscal/foreign-policy conservatives in their diagnoses. It's just that they're much less aggressive in their prescriptions.  Indeed, they have proven to be not so very different Democrats in their tolerance for a growing national debt. They are also generally socially liberal.

The libertarians share the commitment to fiscal rectitude of the fiscal/foreign policy conservatives, but generally are not energized by either social issues or playing policeman to the world.

Of the major candidates:

Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachman, Rick Perry, and now Rick Santorum have successively been the candidates of the social conservatives. (Social conservatives were always uneasy with Herman Cain). They deeply distrust Romney and don't really like Gingrich. They also would never vote for Ron Paul based on his libertarian views on social issues. Moreover, many of the social conservatives are also strong supporters of Israel and don't trust Ron Paul to support Israel.

The fiscal/foreign policy conservatives don't really have a horse in the race. They liked Pawlenty till he dropped out. Lately they've been waffling between their own Gingrich (who's seen as unreliable) and Establishment candidate Mitt Romney. The favorite candidates of the fiscal/foreign policy conservatives (like Chris Christie or Mitch Daniels) didn't run this time. Santorum is generally acceptable to the fiscal/foreign policy conservatives, although they see him as not having been firm enough on budgetary issues during his time as a Senator.

Establishment Republicans prefer Huntsman and Romney. Romney has always governed as an Establishment Republican but is perceived to be masquerading as a fiscal/foreign policy conservative.

The libertarians, obviously, prefer Ron Paul. Their top issue at the moment is fiscal and budgetary discipline.

In terms of the calculus of winning (which is not necessarily the only or right way of choosing a candidate - see below), the Republicans must choose a candidate who can create sufficient consensus and excitement across all of these groups. In my opinion, the only one of the above factions of the party that can reasonably expect to field such a candidate is the fiscal/foreign policy conservatives. But a successful candidate would have to be seen as a true fiscal conservative in order to be accepted by the libertarians in sufficient numbers to prevent a quixotic 3rd party run by Ron Paul in the general election that would doom us to four more years of Barack Obama. Secondly, a successful candidate needs to be someone who will be accepted by the social conservatives as being a likely defender of their issues while still being perceived as sufficiently "mainstream" to prevail in the general election.

With respect to this profile of a winning candidate, the choice seems to fall (barring a last minute entry or re-entry into the race of someone like Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Chris Christie, or Bobbie Jindal) between Santorum, Gingrich, and Romney. Romney, of course, has the weaknesses that he is not perceived to be a real fiscal conservative and hasn't really been seen as much of a culture warrior either. Gingrich is a good debater but won't draw well from the social conservatives (as shown in the Iowa outcome). Santorum, on the other hand, is probably perceived as being somewhat more trustworthy than Romney and less trustworthy than Gingrich on fiscal issues, but much more so on social ones. The downside to a Santorum general election candidacy is that he's much more likely than Romney or Gingrich to be so tarred as a theocrat that it compromises his ability to draw votes from blue-dog Democrats and libertarians in the general election.

As I said above, though, winning isn't everything. That is, it's good to win if winning doesn't cause you to make unacceptable compromises. So which compromises are unacceptable?

Well, it's probably best to begin with an explicitly stated priority list of what I think's most important and then support a candidate in terms of their likely impact relative to others when assessed against the priority list.

At the top of the list I'd have to put issues bearing on the freedom to worship God and bear witness to Him publicly.  In the second place I'd put the responsibility of civil government to recognize and uphold (i.e., reward/punish) a non-relativistic code of moral behavior in its citizens - i.e., to ensure that persons (meaning person as the Bible defines it) are protected in their lives, persons, property, and contracts, as generally defined in the second tablet of the Ten Commandments). In the third place I'd put caring for the weak among us and creating opportunity for people to provide for themselves and others.

Contrary to some theonomists, I don't believe it is the charter of the church to impose theocracies over non-believers or believers of different stripes. The church has tried to play that game at too many points in its long history and it always results in corruption and tyranny. That will have to wait until Jesus Christ returns.

With regard to these principles, the best leader would be one who recognizes their own responsibility before God to uphold justice, and who recognizes that justice is a transcendent standard that they don't get to define but instead are responsible to uphold. More specifically, the list of things I seek in such a leader who seeks to uphold justice:

First, I would prefer a leader who shares my belief that the most urgent moral issue facing our nation today is the issue of abortion. Second, I think that it is a very pressing matter to find a leader who will seek to defend the foundational institutions of marriage and family, personally embodying a high regard for those institutions and using every reasonable means to encourage the citizenry to honor them as well. Third, we need to come up with long term solutions to the profligate spending and growth of the federal government. This growth in government spending compromises long-term stability and productivity of the nation and will ensure a poorer future for everyone.  We must shrink government, though, by recognizing the need to care for the most vulnerable among us while still creating incentive and opportunity for people to work. Fourth, we must find leaders who are likely to be wise in defending our nation against threats from enemies to our values and way of life (the most critical issues in this area are international terrorism and rogue states such as Iran and North Korea).

All this is to say that I fall in the category of a social conservative who believes that fiscal rectitude is also a moral issue. This is not to say that I don't believe that our government has a role in caring for the poor among us. I believe it does. But income/wealth equality is not the outcome that we ought to seek - rather we should seek to make the United States continue to be the land of opportunity, while ensuring that those of our citizens who are unable to care for themselves have adequate food, shelter, and clothing.

So, generally speaking, I want the candidate who is most likely to uphold these views. Where does this leave me personally?  Santorum's views are closest to mine, but I think he's less likely to prevail in the national election than are Romney or Gingrich.  Given Obama's abysmal approval ratings, I give Mitt Romney a 60-70% chance of beating Obama in the general election, Gingrich about the same, and Santorum only about a 40-50% chance to beat him.

If Romney or Gingrich win, their impact will be marginal on social issues, somewhat better on fiscal ones, but much better than the disaster that would ensue under a second term of Obama if Republicans voted for Santorum and that caused Obama to win. Moreover, even if Santorum won, it's quite unclear whether he'd actually have much more impact on the issue of abortion (via Supreme Court appointments) than Newt or Mitt would. All would probably be roughly the same in terms of their likely actions with respect to other marriage/family issues. So the risk of supporting Santorum (as against the other two candidates) seems to be high while the likely relative gain (again, relative to them) quite low.

So do I do what we tend to do in California and vote for a candidate in the primaries that's too conservative to win in the general election and then end up worse off than I would have been if I'd held my nose and voted in the primaries for a candidate who is likely to win but who isn't too obnoxious to what's important to me?

Tough questions.

I guess net-net, based on the admittedly somewhat defensive and defeatist calculus above, and despite the fact that Santorum is actually closer to my views, I come down on the side of supporting Romney, but I'd feel better if a bruising primary fight did its bit to ensure that he feels constrained to govern as a conservative and not as a RINO.

As always, I'm interested in your comments ...

The Word of God, Written and Incarnate: How Men Can Know God

How can men know God? Where should we look to find Him?

The answer, humbling as it is to finite and sinful humankind, is that, on our own, we can't. Without his revelation to us, he can't be found. We are dependent on Him to reveal Himself to us. This is for two reasons. First, that God is infinitely beyond us: He is infinite, and transcends the created order. Second, because He is holy, and we are sinful rebels whose ability to know and understand Him has been broken by our sin.

First, God is transcendent. That is, He is not part of the created order, but is the Personal Source of all other being. Since He is outside the created order, created things can only know Him in the ways He chooses to reveal Himself. Failure to grasp the truth of God's utter transcendence will result in the denial that there is a God at all (atheism); or the conception of God as being identical with the cosmos (pantheism); or the conception of God as being coextensive and coeternal with the cosmos but everywhere present within it (panentheism); or the conception of God as being only a part of the created order (paganism, idolatry).

In coming to understand that God is transcendent over creation, though, we must also know that God is immanent within His creation. That is, He is not an absentee Creator who does not interact with the created order, and about Whom nothing can be known except His existence. Rather, He is active in providential care for His creation: he enters freely into it, revealing Himself to His creatures in the ways that He chooses. Failure to grasp the truth of God's immanence will result in the concept of a God Who may exist, but Who cannot be known.

Because He is transcendent, it is only as He reveals Himself within the created order that those within can know Him. Because God is immanent, He has revealed Himself.


So where has God revealed Himself? God is not a natural object that we come to understand as we do with created things, through scientific or rational observation and investigation. We also do not learn to know Him by searching for Him within our own minds and hearts. He comes to us from outside our sin-darkened minds and speaks a revealing and redeeming Word. He is the speaking Subject Who speaks all created things into being, Whose Word comes to us from outside ourselves and effectively accomplishes the revealing and redeeming purpose for which It was spoken. And God's Word comes to us in three forms: the spoken creation, which testifies to God's eternal power and divine nature, the written record of His revelation to the prophets and apostles, and the Living Word who God spoke into history and who continues to reveal Himself through the written Word to God's people. That is, God has spoken in creation, Scripture and in Jesus.


In Creation:

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." Romans 1:18-20, ESV

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world." Psalm 19:1-4, ESV

In Scripture:

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:14-16

In Jesus Himself:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made ... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-3, 14 ESV

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." Colossians 1:15-20, ESV

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power." Hebrews 1:1-3, ESV

"He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is 'The Word of God.' Revelation 19:13, ESV

How do we know the Scripture as God's Word? And how do we recognize Jesus as God's living Word? Because God authenticates it to us. God's Word, when spoken, requires no authentication beyond itself. Since God is God, His speech is recognized as His speech by those to Whom it is directed. Moreover, there is no higher authority to appeal to if one were to ask God to authenticate that is in fact Him speaking. God Himself is the highest of all authorities. God's word is effective and is always recognized by those to whom it is spoken:

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:12-13, ESV

"For as the rain and the snow  come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."  Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." John 10:27-29, ESV

This Christmas, as you remember the birth of the Savior, take time to reflect on His identity as God's unique and final incarnate Word to His people. And, if you know Him, worship and thank Him for the indescribable gift He gave in taking on human nature, dying to reconcile us to God, being raised as the proof of God's acceptance of His sacrifice, continuing with us through the Spirit, and for the promise that the day will come when we will see Him face to face and be able to worship Him as He deserves.

A Prayer at the Beginning of a New Week

Eternal, Infinite, Transcendent God and My Father, You know all things.

You know past, present, and future exhaustively. From the statistical motions and state transitions of subatomic fields to the slow spinning of galactic clusters. You know every thought and every inclination of every person you have made. There is nothing that will happen in this week that will be a surprise to You.

Not only do You know all things, You rule all things. It is Your Will that governs and works all things together for good to those who love you.

For me, and for the rest of my fellow humanity, the events of the coming week (or day, hour, minute, or second!) are unpredictable and uncertain. But you already know what You have planned for me.

So in the face of this, where should I begin in my praying? What can I say to One knows what I will say before I even think it? To my infinite Father who is ordering all things for my good?

Let me begin by thanking You for the grace You've given me. And yet, please give me grace to love and trust You more each day. Teach me each day to hate sin more and to turn from it. When I fall, give me faith to rise again in the knowledge that You had already forgiven me. Help me to become increasingly consumed with the eternal treasure that You have given me in Jesus. Teach me to be wise in making use of the time. Show me those to whom you want me to extend Your grace. Teach me to see the world and my walk through it rightly and to be guided by the Holy Spirit and by Your Word.


In Jesus Name,

Amen

Online Bible and theology training - for FREE

One of the most acute problems facing the church at large today is the critical lack of biblically trained elders and leaders. This problem has a severe consequence in the church's being less than effective in confronting false teaching and beliefs of all kinds both inside and outside our congregations.

In light of this, I am very excited about http://www.biblicaltraining.org, which is a free website with a wealth of seminary level classes on a wide variety of subjects, including Bible, theology, and biblical languages.

I strongly urge all of you to take a look around the site, take some of the classes, and to consider supporting the ministry which is dedicated to training people prepared to "contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints."

A dead-on accurate warning of the dangers of watered-down evangelicalism

This evening I ran across this convocation sermon from Tim Tennent, given at Asbury Seminary.
http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture/2011/09/25/the-clarion-call-to-watered-down-evangelicalism/




A couple of key quotes to whet your interest:

"... brothers and sisters, we must recognize that our own kitchen is on fire and within one generation, the whole evangelical house will soon be engulfed in flames.  If liberalism is guilty of demythologizing the miraculous, we have surely been guilty of trivializing it. If liberalism is guilty of turning all theological statements into anthropological ones, surely we must be found guilty of making Christianity just another face of the multi-headed Hydra of American, market-driven consumerism.  "

"These examples all seem so small and insignificant.  Yet, that’s how all drift happens.  You see, liberal Protestants never woke up one morning and said to themselves, “Hey, let’s adopt an Arian Christology, shall we?”  No one said 'Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if we could devote the next 50 years to undermining the apostolic faith.'  No!  I’ve read their writings.  They were deeply concerned, as we are, to make the gospel relevant to modern people.  Evangelicals have not openly abandoned apostolic Christianity.  No one set out to cheapen the gospel, diminish God’s holiness or downplay the cost of discipleship.  It’s just happening." 

I sincerely and urgently recommend the whole article to your prayerful attention.

Reflections and resolutions on the occasion of another birthday

So it seems I blinked a couple of times and somehow another year flew by. And when I stopped and counted, I suddenly realized that without my being very aware of it happening, I've probably made it well past the midpoint of my life.


So it seems like a good time to thank God publicly for His grace in keeping me safe thus far, and to put in writing a few of the resolutions on which I'm focused on at this stage of my sojourning - and on which, by God's grace, I'm hoping to become still more focused.


So, without further ado, I offer the following notes to myself:


(1) Life goes by much faster than you think it's going to. Don't waste time with trivialities. Abandon yourself to the love of God. Live to know God's glory and to make it known.


(2) Life is not predictable or controllable. Stop trying to make it so. Seek to know and do God's will, and trust when things don't work out the way you think they should that He is good and is working all things for the good of those who love Him.


(3) Everything in this world is transient. Invest your transient possessions to build the eternal wealth of God's Kingdom.


(4) Life's too short to waste energy being different things to different people. Ask God to help you be the same person before God and all men.


(5) You will inevitably and constantly fail at doing these things. Remember that your eternal inheritance is secured not on the basis of your becoming all that you wish to be in this life, but on the basis of the perfect God-Man, Jesus the Messiah, who has already redeemed you from all your sin and will preserve you to the end.

Do We Really Believe What We Say We Believe?

I've been thinking this week about what I really, truly believe. Which is not at all the same thing as what I kinda sorta believe, or wish I believed.  I'd stake my life on what I really, truly believe, but probably wouldn't on the things I only kinda believe.

The martyrs of the early years of the Christian Church had to face this question in its starkest form (and many Christians in different parts of the world today still have to): they were told that they would be imprisoned, tortured, or killed if they confessed Jesus as Lord and Messiah, but could go free if they denied Him.

The consequences of confessing that we believe in Christ in the modern West may not be nearly as stark as those faced by persecuted Christians, but ultimately the question is the same: do we really believe what we say we believe? That is, that repentance and faith in Jesus as Savior from sin, and submission to Him as Lord and King, are the only way that people can be reconciled to the God against whom they've sinned? That unless people are reconciled to God before they die, that they face an eternity of suffering in separation from God?

If I really believe these things that I confess, wouldn't my life be ordered differently?

In short, my faith is too weak and my heart is too cold.

Thou God of all Grace,
Thou hast given me a Saviour,
produce in me a faith to live by Him,
to make Him all my desire,
all my hope,
all my glory.

May I enter Him as my refuge,
build on Him as my foundation,
walk in Him as my way,
follow Him as my guide,
conform to Him as my example,
receive His instructions as my Prophet,
rely on His intercession as my High Priest,
obey Him as my King. 

May I never be ashamed of Him or His words,
but joyfully bear His reproach,
never displease Him by unholy or imprudent conduct,
never count it a glory if I take it patiently
when buffeted for a fault,
never make the multitude my model,
never delay when Thy Word invites me to advance. 

May Thy dear Son preserve me from this present, evil world,
so that its smiles never allure,
nor its frowns terrify,
nor its vices defile,
nor its errors delude me. 

May I feel that I am a stranger and a pilgrim on earth,
declaring plainly that I seek a country,
my title to it becoming daily more clear,
my meetness for it more perfect,
my foretastes of it more abundant;
and whatsoever I do may it be done
in the Saviour's Name. 

- from "The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions", The Banner of Truth Trust

To understand the Bible you have to submit to it ...

There's an interesting piece in First Things arguing in favor of more literal Bible translations because more "interpretive" translations can distort the meaning of the text.


Part of the author's argument depends on the Protestant doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture. In doing so, he quotes Wycliffe as follows:

Likewise, Wycliffe, for all his faith in the power of boys who drive plows to know their Bibles, makes it clear that Scripture exhibits its clarity only to those who undergo the lengthy intellectual discipline of submitting to its authority: “The faithful whom he calls in meekness and humility of heart, whether they be clergy or laity, male or female, bending the neck of their inner man to the logic and style of Scripture will find in it the power to labour and the wisdom hidden from the proud.” 

The whole piece is worth reading. You can find it here.

Why baptism IS a big deal ...

Craig Blomberg posted a piece on why baptism is really important at Denver Seminary's blog. Here's a choice quote to whet your appetite:

"My concern here is rather the inordinate number of young adults (and a few older ones) I meet these days who seem to think baptism is just no big deal ...  What a striking contrast from believers out of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and other religions in various parts of the world today who are completely ostracized by their families, not if they show an interest in following Jesus but if they "seal the deal" by means of baptism! What a striking contrast from believers past and present who occasionally have become targets for martyrdom, not if they merely profess some kind of commitment to Christ, but only after their public testimony in baptism! What an insult it is to their sacrifices to take this ordinance of our Lord so lightly!"

The rest of the post is here: http://www.denverseminary.edu/craig-blombergs-blog-new-testament-musings/baptisms-no-big-deal-is-it/.

The Church's One Foundation

My most recent post got me to thinking ...

The foundations of human institutions are susceptible to erosion and collapse. But the church, which is the City of God, has eternal foundations and cannot be shaken (Heb 11:10, 12:27). In the words of the Apostle Paul, "For no-one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 3:11).






Or, in the words of the great hymn:

The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died.

She is from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.

The Church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish,
Is with her to the end:
Though there be those who hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against both foe or traitor
She ever shall prevail.

Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed:
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song!

’Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won,
With all her sons and daughters
Who, by the Master’s hand
Led through the deathly waters,
Repose in Eden land.

O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee:
There, past the border mountains,
Where in sweet vales the Bride
With Thee by living fountains
Forever shall abide!

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

I ran across this sad video today ...


Emerging Spiritualities in the American Church from Fuller Seminary on Vimeo.

The thing that saddened me was not the principals in the video, from whom I have learned to expect nothing more. Rather, the thing that disturbed me was the fact that the session was sponsored by Fuller Seminary.

It hasn't been so long since Fuller was a solidly evangelical seminary. It's a little shocking that things have so declined in the last 40ish years that this shallow, man-centered gabfest is supposed to pass for serious theological discussion.

Fuller's decline is testament to the fact that the church's most destructive enemies are always the enemies within. When the institutions in which we train our pastors loosen their grip on the faith once delivered to the saints in order to seek the approval of the wise of this present age, this is the inevitable result ...

A verse that comes to mind is "A little leaven leavens the whole lump ..." It's good to remember that the invisible church is still the Lord's and that He will preserve her until His coming despite all of the machinations of the Enemy.

Compelling evidence that the gospels were written by eyewitnesses

I ran across these videos on Justin Taylor's blog last weekend. Dr. Peter Williams presents some really interesting analysis of details like the names and geography in the canonical gospels as compared with non-canonical gospels. And presents a very compelling case for the gospels being (as Christians contend) written by eyewitnesses, as opposed to (as critics such as Bart Ehrman allege) being written decades after the fact by non-eyewitnesses in far-flung locations.

I highly recommend them to your viewing ...

Sanctification is inevitable ... but how is it experienced?

This is a follow-up to this post, made this past Sunday.

When the theological statement is made that the truly justified are being sanctified, it's fairly common for people to react in one of the two following ways:

(1) I continually fall into sin "X", therefore I'm not being sanctified, therefore I must not be justified.
(2) I'm a Christian, therefore I'm justified, and if it's inevitable that I'll be sanctified, then I won't make any effort - I'll just wait until it happens.

Both of these reactions have in common that they reason invalidly from a true theological statement to untrue experiential conclusions. Let's unpack that more slowly:

For reaction (1) above, the person is looking at their present state of imperfection and trying to conclude something about their state of justification on the basis of that state of imperfection. But this reasoning is invalid, because justification is by faith in Christ alone, independent of works (Romans 3:28). In this life we will always be in a state of imperfection, so if we were to reason solely from the fact that we still see ourselves sinning we could conclude that no-one is justified. We do need to be a little careful here, though, because we're told in many places (e.g., 1 John 2:3-6, 3:3-6) that the one who is born of God does not continue to sin. Doesn't this mean that we should use our works to assess our state of salvation? Well, yes and no. When we sin (which we will do often - some might say continually), we will have one of two reactions: either to excuse ourselves or to judge ourselves, repent, and to cling to Jesus in faith that His sacrifice covers all sin. The process of sanctification is principally the process of becoming increasingly dependent on Jesus in faith and love.

Reaction (2) above makes the invalid assumption that because sanctification is inevitable that it therefore requires no effort. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are to make every effort (2 Peter 1:5-10) to "make our calling and election sure". But to what end should we be directing our effort? Is our sanctification a matter of works but our justification a matter of faith? God forbid! Our salvation is a matter of faith in Christ from beginning to end. We must look to Jesus and away from our radical self-dependency and our addiction to self-justification. As we place Jesus always before our eyes in faith and love (this is where our effort should be spent -- but paradoxically, true faith and love can only be produced by God!) and renounce ourselves and our desires, the Holy Spirit will bring forth the fruit of holiness and obedience to God.

May the Lord sanctify our hearts to pursue Him and His righteousness alone, forgetting what lies behind and pressing on for the prize of the upward call.

Perfected For All Time ...

"For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." Heb 10:14


The doctrine of justification and sanctification are brought together in this remarkable verse. 


First, "He has perfected for all time ...". A single, definite, historical act has accomplished an eternal perfection.


But this act has accomplished this for "those who are being sanctified".  The verb tense here is present continual. Being sanctified is an ongoing process.


So, those who are being sanctified have been perfected for all time. This might appear at first to be a kind of contradiction. How can one be simultaneously perfected and still "being sanctified"?


A couple of possible answers:


(1) The end state is certain for those who are being sanctified. That is, Jesus initiated an inevitable process for those who are being sanctified. Said another way, "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified." (Rom 8:29-30). Jesus will ensure that all of His people will persevere until the end.


(2) In this life, the fact of justification (i.e., the fact that a person has been made perfect) is made evident through the ongoing process of sanctification. That is, only those who are being sanctified are justified. That is, "if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23). The process of sanctification is the daily process of self-denial and the setting apart or dedication of the entire self to the use of our Lord.


In fact, these two explanations are related. The daily act of will that denies the self is rooted in a real faith that it's inevitable that God will complete the process that He's already begun. "And I am sure of this, that He Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6).

Outside the Camp

"Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.  For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come."  Hebrews 13:13-14


We are to go to Jesus outside the camp.  Why?  


To be with Jesus.   


We don't seek to avoid reproach by staying inside the camp.  But we also don't seek out reproach for its own sake.  We bear the reproach for the sake of being with Christ.  


"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ" Philippians 3:8


The first sign of the new birth, and the first step of discipleship is the recognition of the infinite value of gaining Christ.  When we see that Jesus is the pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in the field (Matt 13:44,46), we will willingly surrender everything we have for the sake of the surpassing value of knowing Him and being His.

"So therefore any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."  Luke 14:33

Yes we renounce all that we have -- but we renounce it for the sake of Christ!  

The desire to be with Christ is very direct.  We don't pursue Jesus in order to gain salvation as something separate.  We pursue Jesus because knowing Him is salvation.  We don't pursue Jesus in order to gain eternal life.  We pursue Him because He is eternal Life.


Jesus is not a means to attain other goals.  He is the goal.  When we are asked to bear reproach for the sake of Jesus it strips away our self-deception and allows us to see any ways in which we are still seeking to use Jesus to attain other goals.


We also don't bear reproach as a means of paying for the privilege of knowing Christ.  The value of Christ is so high that no sacrifice or reproach can even weigh in the balances.  Rather, it's the height of foolishness to seek to avoid reproach if doing so will keep us from Christ.

What is this, Lord Jesus, that Thou shouldst make an endOf all that I possess, and give Thyself to me?So that there is nothing now to call my ownSave Thee; Thyself alone my Treasure.Taking all, Thou givest full measure of ThyselfWith all things else eternal --Things unlike the mouldy pelf by earth possessed.But as to Life and godliness, all things are mine,And in God's garments dressed I am;With Thee an heir to riches in the spheres divine.Strange, I say, that suffering loss,I have so gained everything in gettingMe a friend who bore a Cross."-- Jim Elliott's Diaries, Oct 9, 1948 

Lord, give us this day eyes to see your surpassing greatness and goodness.

Does the Kingdom Grow? – Kevin DeYoung

Great post from Kevin DeYoung on misconceptions we have about God's Kingdom ...

Does the Kingdom Grow? – Kevin DeYoung

Thabiti Anyabwile nails it ...

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2011/02/03/wickedness-warring-against-women-and-the-womb/

Completely Clean!

Christian, have you been reminded today that God has forgiven all of your sin? 

If you're anything like me, it's easy in the daily battle against sin to forget that despite your constant failures and rebellions, you've been forgiven.  

And not just "kind-of" forgiven.  

Jesus has carried the penalty for all sin from those who trust Him for salvation.  "All" is a really big word, and there's a messed-up part of my thinking that refuses to completely accept the fact that I've been completely forgiven.  Not just barely forgiven, or grudgingly forgiven, or "You're-off-the-hook-for-outer-darkness-but-you-don't-really-belong-with-me" forgiven, but completely and joyfully accepted by God as clean.

And not only am I clean, but because I'm united by faith to Jesus, I was crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20) and so the penalty of my sin has been paid and I stand before God not only free from the penalty of my sin but also accepted as beloved!  

So even in the ongoing grief at offending God that I experience as part of this life of repentance that I now lead, I am stirred to ever deeper humility and gratitude that He would have done such a thing for me.

May God bless you today, Christian, as you continue to trust in Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on your behalf for the forgiveness of your past and future sins.  And may God give you joy as you look forward eagerly to the day when He will complete the work He started, removing not only the penalty of sin but also the ongoing presence of sin in our lives.