Rivers in the Desert

The Trail of Terror

2009-10-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last night Nathan Edwards and I went to the “Trail of Terror”—a haunted house and hayride in Shakopee. It was fun to go back to something like that, as I have great memories of going to haunted houses with my dad and other friends that local police departments used to put on when I was a kid, but it’s been years since I’ve been to one of these things.

After this latest experience I got to thinking: What's the draw to things like this for people? They’re super cheesy, almost more funny than scary, and cost way too much money. So what brings people back to stuff like this?

Though there's likely a number of reasons, a couple things came to mind:

First of all, on the simplest and most universal level, I think people enjoy haunted houses for the adrenaline rush and because they know there’s a “back door,” an end to the maze. They can scream, jump, and wince through it because they know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. They also know that none of the actors can touch them, but only surprise them. So no matter what the haunted house-goer sees, he knows going in that though he’ll likely get scared, no harm will befall him.

Secondly, and building on this from a Christian perspective, it’s hard for me not to think of spiritual matters when I’m at an event like that. On one level then, it reminds me that there is a real evil in the world that’s much scarier than anything put on by a bunch of dudes dressed up like zombies. And it leads me to thanksgiving and worship, for though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil, for God is with me as my guide and my salvation (Psalm 23:4). Though I walk through a dark haunted warehouse, no one can touch me, and I come out “saved” from darkness on the other side, covered by the blood of the Lamb. As the Scriptures say elsewhere:

Romans 8:38, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers...nor powers...will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luke 22:31, [Jesus speaking] “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

So part of me wonders if this is why other people (especially non-believers) like these things so much too: they’re human beings who were created with a God-shaped hole in their hearts too (like any Christian), and going to haunted houses is a way to--in a very small way--experience a shadowy form of salvation. The victory of Christ over sin, death, darkness, and Satan is reflected in the passing through of the haunted house unscathed. Or again, the experience of death in passing through a dark maze points to the experience of the believer dying with Christ on the cross and being raised with him again into new, eternal life on the third day.

The sad and (truly) scary thing, then, is that many people going to haunted houses, though by God’s grace “seeing” the gospel in their trail-of-terror-experiences never truly believe the real gospel--in deliverance from the eschatological haunted house of sin--and without Christ never have hope of passing through darkness alive.

May the Christian laughing at and mocking of evil that occurs on Halloween point the unbelieving world to the good news that Christ has died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, and insodoing destroyed darkness and evil forever for all who believe in him!

Happy Halloween everyone! As the Scriptures say, may perfect love cast out fear in our lives (1 John 4:18).

Chris

Mountains and Covenants

2009-09-29T13:08:00.001-07:00

Hebrews 12:18-24 paints a graphic picture of the relationship between the covenants (testaments) of Scripture by using the metaphor of mountains. The first mountain of Scripture is Mt Sinai, where God covenanted with Israel after calling them out of Egypt, gave them the law, drew near to them (sort of), yet commanded them to not touch the mountain lest they die. The mountain itself was engulfed in fire, darkness, whirlwinds, clouds, lightning, gloom, and loud trumpet calls. Even Moses, the “friend of God” physically trembled he was so afraid. And the people begged that God not speak to them anymore otherwise they would die (Ex 19:12; 20:18-19). This historical experience of Israel before God, underneath a covenant based on their own acts of righteousness to maintain God’s blessing, showed us what it’s like to draw near to God without a mediator, still in our sin.

Peter Carlson sent me this picture today which is way cooler than the lame illustration I showed on Sunday. It’s a picture of a lightning storm generated by a Chilean volcano. I think this gives us a better idea of what Mt Sinai would have looked like during the establishing of the first covenant.

It also helps us freshly appreciate the fact that Christians haven’t come to that kind of "mountain!" (Heb 12:18). They have come to the mountain of the new covenant: Mt Zion, a heavenly Jerusalem, “to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:22b-24).

Praise God that fear has given way to joy, gloom has given way to “festal gathering,” death has given way to life, and untouchability has given way to the one who came to touch lepers and dine with sinners. Praise God for establishing a new covenant with us that depends solely on his work on the cross alone, not ours! Praise God that we’ve been called to this “mountain” of the gospel!

Thanks for the picture Peter!

Chris

A Prayer from "The Valley of Vision"

2009-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

O GOD OF MY EXODUS,

Great was the joy of Israel’s sons, when Egypt died upon the shore, Far greater the joy when the Redeemer’s foe lay crushed in the dust.

Jesus strides forth as the victor, conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might; He bursts the bands of death, tramples the powers of darkness down, and lives for ever.

He, my gracious surety, apprehended for payment of my debt, comes forth from the prison house of the grave free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.

Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering is accepted, that the claims of justice are satisfied, that the devil’s sceptre is shivered, that his wrongful throne is leveled.

Grive the assurance that in Christ I died, in him I rose, in his life I live, in his victory I triumph, in his ascension I shall be glorified.

Adorable Redeemer, thou who wast lifted up upon a cross art ascended to highest heaven.

Thou, who Man of sorrows wast crowned with thorns, art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.

Once, no shame more deep than thine, no agony more bitter, no death more cruel.

Now, no exaltation more high, no life more glorious, no advocate more effective.

Thou art in the triumph car leading captive thine enemies behind thee.
What more could be done than thou hast done! Thy death is my life, thy resurrection my peace, thy ascension my hope, thy prayers my comfort.

Evan Almighty and Hebrews 11:7

2009-07-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

In Hebrews 11:7 it says, "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."

I mentioned today how funny (or sad?) it is at how often children’s books and movies get the point of Noah and the ark wrong. In the movie Evan Almighty, the God character (Morgan Freeman) has a short exchange towards the end of the movie with Evan’s wife that reveals “God’s perspective” on the matter, as they see it:

God: I love that story, Noah and the Ark. You know, a lot of people miss the point of that story. They think it’s about God’s wrath and anger. They love it when God gets angry.
Joan: What is the story about, then? The ark?
God: Well, I think it’s a love story about believing in each other. You know, the animals showed up in pairs. They stood by each other, side by side, just like Noah and his family. Everybody entered the ark side by side.

That "interpretation" might make it a little easier to swallow and a little less offensive, but nothing could be further from the biblical truth. God (not the Morgan Freeman “God”) shows us what the story is really about in Genesis 6:17-18, “Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark." Clearly, avoiding wrath and death is the point.

Furthermore, from a New Testament perspective, the story is a picture of judgment and salvation that typify things that surround New Testament realities, namely Christ and his gospel. Jesus says in Luke 17:26-27, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” This helps us make the connection between “the days of Noah” and “the days of Jesus” and, again, we see that wrath is in fact part of both stories after all. But not just wrath—salvation from wrath too. Jesus’ point? The gospel is the new eschatological "Ark" in which we must take refuge if we hope to survive the coming judgment, which will, by the way, be much worse that a worldwide flood, because it will have eternal and spiritual implications. (see also 2 Peter 3:1-7)

In this sense, love is also a part of the Noah story, but not in the overly-simplistic, interpersonal way Evan Almighty portrays it. Rather, "Noah and the flood" shows us that God’s love doesn’t leave us to destruction. Like he offered a way out to Noah and his family, he offers a way out—through his Son’s death and resurrection which atones for sins—to all who believe.

This is the faith we are supposed to emulate according to Hebrews 11:7: Noah’s faith in God’s salvation from his own wrath (not a faith in the “love of human beings” or something as sappy, and misguided, as that).

One of the challenges that I look forward to navigating, but don’t have all the answers for, is how to begin to teach this story to my kids in a right biblical way, and encourage faith in Jesus Christ through it. At this point I’m just trying to make connections between God saving Noah and his family and Jesus saving us, hoping that starts to stick, then we can work on more details later. But in the end, my prayer is that my children see the story for what it really is: a foretaste of the hope we have in Jesus Christ through the gospel.

Chris

The Matrix and Melchizedek

2009-05-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

In one of my favorite clips in the movie The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo in a training program that the sentient programs “live” in a world based on rules, and because of this, they will never be as strong or as fast as he can be. Neo’s somewhat sarcastic comment of, “What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?” would later find fulfillment when he literally changes the rules inside the matrix, bringing a new order and a new type of salvation with him to the world.

In Hebrews, Jesus is similarly shown to be a harbinger of a new order—a priestly order, to be exact—in the order of Melchizedek, and from the tribe of Judah. Without going into much detail about these complex matters here, his major point was to show scripturally how Jesus resembled someone greater than Levi (the “father” of old covenant priests), and actually descended from a tribe that Moses never associated with priestly activity. Because of this, not only does the priesthood change, but the law changes with it, for “when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well” (Heb 7:12).

So, just like ultimate deliverance in The Matrix did not come through the rules and laws that constituted the matrix, but rather through a man who brought new order and laws into it, so, biblically, does ultimate deliverance not come through adherence to laws, but through Christ, who has not come in the line and order of old covenant priests (who were associated with rules, and regulations), but on the basis of a divine oath (Psalm 110:4), “by the power of an indestructible life,” and in this, he fundamentally changes the way mankind is mediated with God. Christ fulfills the old law, and in so doing, surpasses it and establishes a new one. Christ is the law, hence Paul’s use of the phrases “law of Christ” and "obey the gospel" in the New Testament. The gospel serves as a much more effective means by which we are saved, for under the old system “nothing was made perfect” (Heb 7:19).

Or to put it another way, more simply: we’re saved by God’s grace, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, through faith, not by works (Eph 2:8-9).

Many times as Christians we are quick to believe that a change in the priesthood has come with Jesus Christ, but we are slow to believe (and practice) the fact that a change in the law has occurred as well. This connection between priesthood and law is somewhat foreign to us. We believe the gospel, but then quickly go back to the law as if it were still required to keep in order to please God.

The more we embrace this change-in-the-law-idea, and see it in the glory of gospel of Christ, the more gospel-motivated zealousness we will have to continue in belief, repentance, and good works. We have a perfect high priest who has fully atoned for sin, fully deterred the wrath of God, and ever lives to make intercession for those who seek to draw near to God through him.

Ask yourself this continually: in my efforts to pursue spiritual growth and maturity, am I striving to do things to please God, as if Jesus Christ were not a priest of a different order, but one who brings us right back to the old laws that could never make anything perfect? Or am I striving to know the gospel more—the new law—ushered in by a new kind of priest? Am I the source of my own good works (law), or is Jesus Christ the source of them (grace, Eph 2:10)? When people ask me how I'm doing spiritually, does the gist of my answer hang on what I am currently doing, or in whom I am currently believing.

Our answer to this last question speaks volumes about our present state of spiritual maturity.

May God help us to believe in a holistic gospel—one that not only saves, but empowers us for love and good deeds, and transforms us daily into the image of his Son...something the first covenant could never do!

Chris

“Set faith at work on Christ and his gospel!”

2008-06-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Chapter 14 is the “grand-daddy” of Owen’s entire book. Everything that precedes it, in various ways, looks ahead to it and anticipates it. All of our ponderings of the guilt of our sin, the mightiness of God, the “whys” behind the mortification of sin, etc., lead us to cling to Christ (the subject of chapter 14). If they don’t, they are simply empty religious meditations that—at best—lead us to a morality void of power. In this chapter, Owen urges us to live in the gospel, bringing it to mind thoroughly—even violently, and thus, renewing our minds (Romans 12:1-2) around the truths of the gospel.

“Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin sick souls. Live in this, and you will die a conqueror; yea, you will, through the good providence of God, live to see your lust dead at your feet.” (Owen, p. 132).

Neil Anderson, professor of Practical Theology at Talbot School of Theology, similarly argues that, “No person can consistently behave in a way that’s inconsistent with the way he perceives himself.” (Victory Over the Darkness, p. 43).

Reminding ourselves what’s true about us in Christ, now that we have died with Christ and together with him are alive forevermore, is essential to the killing of sin because it centers the power for change on God and not ourselves. If we don’t really think we’re saved (or if we don’t think about our salvation that much) we will likely not find much success in killing sin. But if we truly believe we’ve been called from the tombs through Christ’s death and resurrection (and if we bring these truths to mind regularly), we’ll much more likely be able to put off the old self.

But make no mistake: belief takes work! It’s not a passive thing at all, but rather something that takes time, energy, and regular Bible study. Believe! Then keep on believing! Run the race marked out for you! Fight the good fight! Keep the faith!

I really enjoyed going through this series with all of you guys. As I said on Sunday, I hope that you found some kernel—some nugget of truth—that you can cling to help you more effectively mortify sin in your lives from this day forward than ever before! It's been my prayer for you and will continue to be!

All for God’s glory,

Chris

“Behold, the man!” and Hebrews 2:5-9

2009-03-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

John 19:5, So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

“Behold, the man!” Kind of a strange phrase; one that I always wondered at. Why call Jesus “the man” and stop there? It seems misplaced, incomplete, or maybe too generic. But on closer inspection, this serves as one of those instances in Scripture and history where God sovereignly moves through the mouths of people to speak something into existence that the speaker may not intend or even fully understand, namely, in this case, declaring Jesus Christ to be the new man, the second Adam, the one through whom a new creation will be associated, and who will have true, full dominion over everything as King of the universe.

Gerald Borchert in the New American Commentary on John, says about this verse: When Pilate came out of the Praetorium again to face the crowd of Jews who did not want to defile themselves, he must have thought that the sight of the emaciated looking Jesus would have been sufficient to justify his desire to release Jesus. What problem could such a pathetic figure engender among these rebellious Jews? Surely he was harmless. Pilate’s forceful introduction of Jesus in “Here is the Man!” is therefore loaded with sarcasm toward the Jews. Undoubtedly, however, John found this statement to be a powerful, ironic theological announcement that Christianity has preserved in its Latin form of Ecce Homo. As such it is also a theological affirmation that Jesus was indeed “the man,” the second Adam, God’s Son, who dealt with the sin of the world introduced through the first Adam (cf. Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:22).

Connecting Adam and Jesus is not something unique to the rest of the New Testament. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:45, “The first Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

So how does this relate to Hebrews 2:5-9? Really, in every way. The author’s argument is that one like a son of man has come into history, fulfilling the “ideal” of Psalm 8, lowering himself below angels for a little while (incarnating himself into human flesh and “tasting death for everyone”), then being raised up from that state to a place of power, honor, and glory (resurrection, ascension). In short: Jesus is the ultimate human. And through his death and resurrection, humanity is renewed and re-created to a place of honor and glory. Sin is taken away, and righteousness is restored.

In this, “Behold the man!” is a wonderful gospel-saying that’s worthy of repeating in worship, instruction, and other forms of exhortation. As we sing in How Deep the Father’s Love For Us: “Behold the man upon the cross, our sin upon his shoulders!” And in exhortation: behold, the man, the instigator of eternal life, a new heavens and new earth—the one through whom we find refuge and salvation!

Thank you God for re-making, in the image of your Son, a wretch like me!

Chris

The Habits of Highly Effective Bible Readers

2009-03-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

Here’s a link to a CT article I was exposed to in a church history class in seminary a few years ago. It’s extremely relevant to our study of Hebrews which employs a robust gospel-centered reading of the Old Testament. I cited Irenaeus from this article a couple weeks ago, who said, about the whole of the Bible, in the second century: “If anyone reads the Scripture carefully, they will find some word, some hidden treasure in the field, which is Christ.” Enjoy it!

http://www.ctlibrary.com/print.html?id=7827

Chris

Hebrews 1:1-4 and the Transfiguration

2009-03-04T09:57:00.001-08:00

Here’s the full context of the “transfiguration” passage I referenced at the end of 2/22's sermon, which helped us see how the law (represented by Moses) and the prophets (represented by Elijah) have faded to the background now that the person they pointed to is here: Jesus Christ, God’s greatest and final Word to mankind, the fulfillment of all things.

Matthew 17:1-8 1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Note especially that although Peter acknowledges all three of them, God the Father acknowledges the Son as the one to, ultimately, listen to. May we live our lives as though the greatest thing God ever “spoke” into history was the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. May we listen to God through the gospel.

And what has Jesus said? Many things, one of which is: “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:13-15).

Chris

Hebrews: God’s Final Word

2009-02-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

As mentioned this past Sunday, one of my goals during our Hebrews series is to blog every week ('er, at least regularly) on the previous week’s material—in part to summarize, in part to include more content that we didn’t have time to look at in that week’s sermon, and in part to be a platform for interaction with you all throughout the week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book!

If you weren’t at our gathering on Sunday, we spent the morning looking at issues surrounding authorship, date, context, the use of the Old Testament in the New, and the overall rationale/purpose behind the book which is to remedy spiritual weariness and luke-warmness with a complex laying out of the whole council of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It served as a reminder for the original Jewish-Christian reader and it will serve as a reminder for us: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (12:1-2).

I’ll end this post with a reference to Thomas Long, who argues that the ultimate remedy to spiritual backsliding is the proclamation of the gospel itself. Hearing the gospel heals us. Hearing the gospel helps us kill our sin. Hearing the gospel is our warning against other false-saviors of the world. Hearing the gospel—and of course responding to it—changes our affections:

“What is most striking about Hebrews is that the Preacher, faced with the pastoral problem of spiritual weariness, is bold enough, maybe even brash enough, to think that Christology and preaching are the answers. The Preacher does not appeal to improved group dynamics, conflict management techniques, reorganization of the mission structures, or snappy worship services. Rather, he preaches—preaches to the congregation in complex theological terms about the nature and meaning of Jesus Christ.” –Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Hebrews, p.3

Through this 8-month study, may we be encouraged and emboldened to share the good news not just with those who haven't heard, but with the church itself, who needs to keep hearing,

Chris

“Ask the Pastors” – We need your help!

2008-08-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
As mentioned this past Sunday, seven weeks from now we are starting a fall sermon series in a few weeks yet untitled (probably something like “Ask the Pastors” or “Big Questions”) that will address questions from you! Ask us anything on your mind and heart, related to the Bible, Christian theology, the vision of Hiawatha Church, or something else! It can be the simplest of things or the most complex, the broadest or the most specific.

We will try and address as many questions as possible, though we have to reserve the right to not preach on some things that just might not be preach-able.

There’s a bowl and slips of paper at the front of the sanctuary that you can use to get us your questions (especially if you want it to remain anonymous), or just email one of us, or even use this blog to post it. Overall, we would like to get at least 6 solid questions by the end of September, but we’re hoping to get enough to take this series all the way to Christmas! We need your help! Send those questions our way!

We’re excited for this and hope it presents an opportunity for us to address some of the big questions of Hiawatha, to worshipful ends!

Have a great week Hiawatha! Remember our Lord this week, who promised the cross from afar through the prophet Hosea in saying, "And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Children of the living God.'" (1:10b)

Chris

Who Am I in Christ?

2008-09-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This is long overdue, but some of you asked for a "Who Am I in Christ?" list I referenced (in part) several weeks ago to end our John Owen/Mortification of Sin series. Well, here it is! This is the second of two lists he has in his book Victory Over the Darkness (p. 57-59).

Since I am in Christ, by the grace of God…

• I have been justified—completely forgiven and made righteous (Rom 5:1).
• I died with Christ and died to the power of sin’s rule over my life (Rom 6:1-6).
• I am free forever from condemnation (Rom 8:1).
• I have been placed into Christ by God’s doing (1 Cor 1:30).
• I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God (1 Cor 2:12).
• I have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).
• I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God (1 Cor 6:19-20).
• I have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come (2 Cor 1:21; Eph 1:13-14).
• Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ (2 Cor 5:14-15).
• I have been made righteous (2 Cor 5:21).
• I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ’s life (Gal 2:20-21).
• I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3).
• I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and am without blame before Him (Eph 1:4).
• I was predestined to be adopted as God’s son (Eph 1:5).
• I have been redeemed and forgiven, and I am a recipient of his lavish grace
• I have been made alive together with Christ (Eph 2:5).
• I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven (Eph 2:6).
• I have direct access to God through the Spirit (Eph 2:18).
• I may approach God with boldness, freedom and confidence (Eph 3:12).
• I have been rescued form the domain of Satan’s rule and transferred to the kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13).
• I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been cancelled (Col 1:14).
• Christ himself is in me (Col 1:27).
• I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built in him (Col 2:7).
• I have been spiritually circumcised, My old unregenerate nature has been removed (Col 2:11).
• I have been made complete in Christ (Col 2:10).
• I have been buried, raised and made alive with Christ (Col 2:12-13).
• I died with Christ and I have been raised up with Christ. My life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ is now my life (Col 3:14).
• I have been given a spirit of power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7).
• I have been saved and set apart according to God’s doing (2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:5).
• Because I am sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, he is not ashamed to call me brother (Heb 2:11).
• I have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need (Heb 4:16).
• I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I am a partaker of God’s divine nature (2 Pet 1:4).

Chris

“Think Greatly of the Greatness of God”

2008-06-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

In chapters 12 and 13 Owen discusses how having a big, holy, transcendent, mighty, and even “terrible” picture of God in our minds helps us kill sin, as it relates to the gospel; i.e., the same God who dwells in unapproachable light, whose glory causes people to despise themselves upon seeing it (Job 42:6), is the same God who lowered himself to become a man in order to redeem the lost by dying on a cross for the sins of the many. With the dual-thoughts of “fearful God” and “loving Savior” on our mind, it becomes increasingly less likely that we will entertain sinful thoughts, for our heart and our treasure will be in the same place: with Jesus. We will say with Joseph, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). “Would I yet sin against him?”

“Be much in thoughtfulness of the excellency of the majesty of God and your infinite, inconceivable distance from him. Many thoughts of it cannot but fill you with a sense of your own vileness, which strikes deep at the root of any indwelling sin. When Job comes to a clear discovery of the greatness and the excellency of God, he is filled with self-abhorrence and is pressed to humiliation (Job 42:5-6)… ‘With God,’ says Job, ‘is terrible majesty’ [Job 37:22]. Hence were the thoughts of them of old, that when they had seen God they should die. The Scripture abounds in this self-abasing consideration, comparing the men of the earth to ‘grasshoppers,’ to ‘vanity,’ the ‘dust of the balance,’ in respect of God [Isaiah 40:12-25]. Be much in thoughts of this nature, to abase the pride of your heart, and to keep your soul humble within you. There is nothing [that] will render you a greater unwillingness to be imposed on by the deceits of sin than such a frame of heart. Think greatly of the greatness of God” (Owen, p. 110)

Revelation 1:12-18, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Chris

The guilt of our sin; the “pre-gospel”

2008-06-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Owen begins chapter 10 with these words: “It is one of the deceits of a prevailing lust to extenuate its own guilt. ‘Is it not a little one?’ ‘When I go and bow myself in the house of Rimmon, God be merciful to me in this thing’ [2 Kgs 5:18]. ‘Though this be bad, yet it is not so bad as such and such an evil; others of the people of God have had such a frame; yea, what dreadful actual sins have some of them fallen into!’ Innumerable ways there are whereby sin diverts the mind from a right and due apprehension of its guilt. (Owen, p. 97)

And to help us comprehend the sheer weight of our sin and the magnitude with which we must continually view it, we considered Sufjan Steven’s song lyrics about comparing ourselves to John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (the serial killer who raped and murdered 33 young boys):

““In my best behavior, I am really just like him.
Look beneath the floor boards for the secrets I have hid.”

The more we believe this (and especially the scripture it accompanies; e.g. Romans 3:9-18, Matthew 5:27-28) the more we’ll be driven to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and cleansing, which in turn will be the very thing that will enable us to kill sin! Conversely, the less we think of our sin, the less we’ll continue to rely on Jesus Christ, which—if not addressed—will eventually lead us away from the gospel.

Kill sin by meditating on your sin—even trembling at its guilt, danger, and present evils—so that you’ll all the more worship, celebrate, be thankful for, and rely on Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Chris

Dangerous Symptoms

2008-05-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm pasting one of Owen's six "dangerous symptoms that accompany a sin" below for further reflection:

Dangerous symptom #3: Correcting sin only because of punishment due unto it (i.e, reverting to a law-based system of morality as opposed to a gospel-centered mortification of sin).

Owen: “If a man be so under the power of his lust that he has nothing but law to oppose it with, if he cannot fight against it with gospel weapons, but deals with it altogether with hell and judgment, which are the proper arms of the law, it is most evident that sin has possessed itself of his will and affections to a very great prevalency and conquest.” (Owen, p. 94)

Owen: "If your contendings against sin be all on legal accounts, from legal principles and motives, what assurance can you attain unto that sin shall not have dominion over you, which will be your ruin?...If your lust has driven you from stronger gospel forts, it will speedily prevail against this also. Do not suppose that such considerations will deliver you, when you have voluntarily given up to your enemy those helps and means of preservation which have a thousand times their strength. Rest assuredly in this, that unless you recover yourself with speed from this condition, the thing that you fear will come upon you.” (Owen, p. 94)

Fight with gospel-weapons and stay strong in gospel-forts! Don’t give up such a great weapon we have “in Christ” to fight sin with! If you find that you have slipped into a law-based way of thinking and are trying in your own strength to stop sinning through fear of judgment/hell, come back to Jesus and the gospel that formerly freed you, and re-embrace that freedom!

"Arm yourselves" (1 Peter 4:1) with a gospel-way of thinking!

Chris

Mortification is a part of our salvation!

2008-05-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

In beginning to address the question of why mortification is critical for the believer we talked today about how it’s not optional for the believer, but a necessary part of every Christian’s salvation experience. One is saved through belief in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, but usually we tend to leave our definition of salvation there and not fill it out biblically to include the fact that we’re being saved as well. Part of God’s continuing work of salvation in our lives comes with our sharing in Christ’s sufferings—i.e., putting off the old self, killing sin, etc. As Christians we must seek a true gospel that encompasses the whole of life. It’s the only kind of gospel! Anything short of it is a cheap unbiblical grace, at best. So Owen comments,

“He that is appointed to kill an enemy, if he leave striking before the other ceases living, does but half his work.” (Owen, p. 51)

And Paul:

Romans 8:13-14: 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

There’s freedom in this message in that it’s the Spirit who is the sovereign cause of mortification in our lives. Christ has set us free and re-created us in his image to do good works…and those works are a gift from him, not from us, lest we should boast. The challenge, however, is that we must continually believe this to the point of action, keeping in step with what the Spirit is doing in us daily (Gal 5:25), and heeding the warnings of scripture that tell of a hardening of heart and disbelief if we neglect mortification of sin (e.g. Heb 3:12-14).

Chris

John Owen

2008-04-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Hiawatha Church, and others,
For those of you who weren’t aware, we’re about to embark on an 8-week study on the Puritan John Owen’s “The Mortification of Sin”! We're calling the series "Be Killing Sin or it will be Killing You!" Michael led us off with some introductory information on John Owen himself, plus a biblical theology of sin, last week. And this Sunday we’re going to dive right in to the book itself, and especially the scripture it points us to! Woo hoo!

We’d love for as many of you as possible to buy the book so you can read along with us, or at least have it as a reference to look at after the sermons. You can buy it online at amazon.com for pretty cheap. The book we’re using is actually called “Overcoming Sin and Temptation” as it’s a collection of three of Owen’s works, one of which is “Mortification" (see picture). *We highly recommend getting this version, mostly because it’s been translated from “old English” and is much easier to read than other versions out there. If you’d like the book, but can’t afford it, let us know—we’d be happy to buy it for you!

Our plan right now is to cover the book in this order, though this is subject to change:

4.27.08, chapters, 7 & 8 The Mortification of Sin in Believers
5.4.08, chapters, 5 & 6 What is the Mortification of Sin?
5.11.08, chapters 2 & 3 Why is the Mortification of Sin critical? Part I
5.18.08, chapters 1 & 4 Why is the Mortification of Sin critical? Part II
5.25.08, chapter 9 How to mortify sin, Part I
6.1.08, chapters 10 & 11 How to mortify sin, Part II
6.8.08, chapters 12 & 13, How to mortify sin, Part III
6.15.08, chapter 14, How to mortify sin, Part IV

So if you want to follow along, that’d be great! Be prepared for some “tough sleddin’” as you read it. It’s one of those books you need to read slowly and even over and over a few times before it sinks in. So enjoy the ride!

Also, we’ll be posting an Owen “passage” every week—something we will have looked at together on that previous Sunday—for the sake of further reflection and to ask you guys your thoughts on that particular idea. So check back weekly. We’d love to hear from you!

May the Lord lead us all to a greater grounding in the gospel of Jesus Christ through these next 8 weeks, to the end that we’d find more success in the killing of sin through the Spirit in our lives!

Romans 8:13-14, "...for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

Chris

A lazy diverting versus an intentional killing

2008-05-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Chapters 5 & 6 deal with the question of "What is Mortification?" Though we looked at several of Owen's points on this issue, here are a couple that stand out:

Killing sin is not simply diverting sin:

“A sin is not mortified when it is only diverted…A man may be sensible of a lust, set himself against the eruptions of it, take care that it shall not break forth as it has done, but in the meantime suffer the same corrupted habit to vent itself some other way; as he who heals and skins a running sore thinks himself cured, but in the meantime the flesh festers by the corruption of the same bodily fluid and breaks out in another place.” (Owen, p. 71)

But rather, it’s a constant fighting and contending against sin:

“Such a one never thinks his lust is dead because it is quiet, but labors still to give it new wounds, new blows every day.” (Owen, p. 77)

Colossians 3:5, Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Matthew 16:18, (Jesus speaking) “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Galatians 5:24, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Chris

A gospel-centered mortification of sin

2008-04-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

Chapters 7 & 8 lay out "general directions" for the mortification (killing) of sin, most important of which is the distinction between believer and non-believer, mortification and conversion. Christianity is not a system of morality. It's the good news that Jesus Christ has wrought a great salvation for us on the cross...something we couldn't do on our own. Christ, then, is our righteousness and he gives us good works through the Spirit. We used the example of a bird in flight to help illustrate this: birds don't fly in order to become birds, but because they're birds. In the same way believers mortify sin because they're believers and because God is at work in them, not in order to be made right before God (as is the case for every other world religion, philosophy, or worldview). Owen used another analogy that helps us see how belief in the gospel is the great predecessor to killing sin:

“He that has a running sore upon him, arising from an ill habit of body, contracted by indulgence and ill diet, let him apply himself with what diligence and skill he can to the cure of his sore, if he leave the general habit of his body under distempers, his labor and travail will be in vain. So will his attempts be that shall endeavor to stop a bloody issue of sin and filth in his soul, and is not equally careful of his universal spiritual temperature and health.” (Owen, p. 87)

Striking at the core issue of inner corruption in our lives through belief in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (as opposed to just trying harder to not sin by our own strength) is central to everything we'll be talking about in this series. Mortification of sin is only achievable by those who have been spiritually healed by Christ. Conversion is the first necessary work of the non-believer. After that, mortification of sin will ensue, by God's grace. Without Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Like I said in my last post, we'd love to hear from you guys...any thoughts you have about the current week's material, this posting, or any experiences/scripture that it makes you think of!

Chris

The Underdog

2008-02-06T13:15:00.001-08:00

Go Giants! I love cheering for underdogs and watching the mighty fall (unless the mighty are a Minnesota team)! And I’ve found that many people are with me on that too. One sports survey I came across recently said that over 78% of the nation wanted the Patriots to lose Superbowl XLII. Which in some ways is weird, because they were pursuing a perfect season and why wouldn’t people want to witness the culmination of “history” in the making? Part of it was likely due to issues surrounding a spying/cheating scandal that seemed to catch up with Bill Belichick (many people have been calling the Pats “evil” for several weeks now), but that aside, what is it in a person that makes him want to witness an upset in sports?

I wonder if part of it has to do with the “David and Goliath syndrome” that we all share in to some degree. In other words, just as David—a peasant shepherd—slew a giant, and just as Jesus Christ bound the strongman on the cross (though he wasn’t an underdog per se, yet he did become weak in order to overcome the seemingly impossible task of saving a rebellious people, enslaved to sin, under the wrath of God), so we see this “gospel” typified in the day-to-day of sporting events and the unlikely “victories” of life.

In any case, the joy we get when watching the weak defeat the strong is multiplied a hundred-fold in a true understanding of what Jesus did through his suffering, death, and resurrection. For then those of us in Christ can say to our enemy: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)

Bring on the upset-ridden March Madness!

Chris

Jesus Christ--The Undeniable One

2007-12-25T09:39:00.001-08:00

"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." --H.G. Wells

It’s sad that many people come this far—seeing Jesus Christ as the very one towards whom all things are oriented—and still don’t believe. Yet I thought this was an interesting quote in light of the Christmas season to ponder.

The birth of Christ changed everything; it was the beginning of the gospel. God became a man in order to save us from our sin! Though many would not receive him, few could deny that something world-altering had entered history…something that even secular historians would not be able to get around.

All things are to him, for him, and through him (Romans 11:35-36)!

Merry Christmas Hiawatha!

Chris

Cool Skit

2007-12-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

A friend showed me this a few months ago and I haven't gotten around to posting it until now. It can be found here as well. Praise God for the love he has for us in Christ!

Chris

Perennials

2007-09-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

Growing up with a horticulturist for a Dad I sometimes say that I was “overexposed” to plants, gardens, and trees as a kid. And maybe it led me to take for granted the wonderful work my Dad did year in and year out in our back yard. But I used to joke that when I grew up I’d pour concrete in my entire backyard to avoid maintaining any kind of plant life, or at the very least, I’d suffer for one tree, but that’s it! A little bit of an overreaction, but whatever.

So having a house now for the past two years and a wife who likes plants more than I do, I’ve been breaking down here and there and planting stuff, including a vegetable garden, even though I know that I’ll be the one maintaining it at times. This past spring we even planted a perennial garden on the south side of our house, which I justified by telling myself that it’s low maintenance. Just mow it off in the fall and it grows back in the spring. I can handle that.

But I must admit that this past summer of watching my perennials grow has grown on me…no pun intended. Maybe it’s in my blood…who knows. But watering and maintaining my perennials has actually been somewhat of a joy. The picture above is the recent bloomer of the bunch…an Aster…probably my favorite so far. Part of it, I think, is the spiritual reality that it embodies. Recently I was reminded of this passage: “I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who grows is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

It was a worshipful thought to think that if God makes all of the plant life of his creation grow, how much more will he make his newly-created people grow through the gospel? It says elsewhere, “the whole body, through the Head, grows with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19). Or you could think about it in more explicitly Christ-centered terms: each time a plant grows from the dust of the earth and blooms a flower it reflects the greater gospel-reality of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins, being buried, then being resurrected to glory three days later, the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20). And when we believe in Christ, we grow into this resurrection as well—we share in it!

All creation—even perennials—scream God’s glory in the gospel each and every season!

Chris

35W

2007-08-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a summary of my message on August 5 in the wake of the 35W bridge collapse tragedy. Let’s be in prayer, people of Hiawatha. God delights in answering prayer; may he bring peace and comfort to those suffering—and even point people all the way to the true gospel in their sorrow.

First, when addressing things like this as Christians it’s healthy to start with an “I don’t know why this happened.” The Bible is full of mystery as Paul even declares, “Who can know the mind of the Lord?” in Romans 11:34.

Yet, with this said, the Bible also claims to make sense of such sufferings and calamities. And it makes sense of it through the gospel of Jesus Christ, as if the gospel were the red-tinted glasses that we view world events through to understand God’s message to us in it.

Jesus says in Luke 13:1-5, 1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

He challenges the belief of the people that those murdered must have sinned specially. Jesus’ response: it’s not so much that they deserved to be murdered or crushed as that we all deserved it! Jesus sees this historical event as a picture of judgment that anticipates the greater Judgment that is still coming, a judgment that Jesus is associated with.

Peter picks up on this in his second epistle, 2:4-10: 4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

In this passage Peter argues that the biblical-historical events of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the flood were types of judgment that serve as “examples” (v.6) as to what will happen to the ungodly.

In the same way we see the 35W incident as an example of judgment that anticipates the greater Judgment that awaits the world, as if it were a “sharp contraction” before the labor of a child or a distant thunder before the storm hits.

However…the full gospel is in these things, not a half-gospel. Judgment and grace, not just judgment. Consider this…

Lot, the remaining righteous man in Sodom and Gomorrah, was saved from the city before it was destroyed! Noah and his family were saved from the flood before it struck the ancient world! And many on that bridge were miraculously delivered, even as it sunk 60 feet into a turbulent Mississippi river! If these people were saved from these “mini-judgments”, how much more are we saved from Judgment through Jesus Christ, the great deliverer! In him we have life eternal, cleansing from guilt, renewal in his Spirit, freedom from sin, reconciliation with God!

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you" (Isaiah 43:2).

And Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25).

God is patient with us, wishing that none perish, but all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Many will look at an event like the bridge collapse and think nothing of it: “it’s just chance,” “God has nothing to do with it,” “we’ll be fine, etc.” and they miss it! They miss what God is telling the world through it! They miss a chance to cling for dear life to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They miss a chance at salvation!

God is patient, but his patience will not last forever: “like when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water” (1 Peter 3:20).

Let us cling to the cross in light of this event and thank Jesus for his abounding grace!

And may God continue to move through the prayers and acts of compassion of the church to help those in need, for his glory in all things. "Father, lift the heads of the downtrodden; restore the souls of the weary, and let this city see and experience your grace like never before."

Rejoicing amidst suffering,
Chris

Confession

2007-07-26T19:26:00.001-07:00

Ran across a great quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the practice of confession:

“Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation… This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron (Ps. 107:16)…”

“The root of all sin is pride… I want to be my own law, I have a right to my self, my hatred and my desires, my life and my death. The mind and flesh of man are set on fire by pride; for it is precisely in his wickedness that man wants to be as God … In the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard we continually scheme to evade confessing to a brother. Our eyes are so blinded that they no longer see the promise and the glory in such abasement.”

“Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother… Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God in the Cross of Jesus Christ.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Chris