sin – Page 3 – Christ the Truth

As we've noted, the temptations of the wilderness were a battle, not the whole war. Luke 4:13 states, the devil left only to return at an opportune time.

What times were opportune?

Well in Matthew 16 we have another heavenly declaration of Jesus' identity. This time it comes through the lips of Peter - "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v16). But as with the baptismal declaration, this would be immediately tested by the question, What sort of Christ? What sort of Son of God will Jesus be?

Verse 21: From this time on Jesus begins to show His disciples that He must suffer and die. As soon as His divine identity becomes clear like this, Jesus immediately seeks to combat our natural theology of glory. He 'shows' them that He must suffer. That's interesting isn't it? He doesn't simply tell them, He shows them - obviously from Scripture. For the bible has never revealed a theology of glory - it has always revealed the theology of the cross. Jesus makes this plain. And Peter, who one minute previously has been a mouthpiece of heaven (v17), is now a mouthpiece of hell.

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."

Immediately Jesus recognizes the devil's assault:

"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Peter thought the things of God were the things of power, prestige, safety and comfort. Jesus says, No, those things are the things of men. And, shockingly, the things of men are the things of Satan.

It couldn't be clearer could it? Satan's way is the way of all men - the way of comfort, the way of self, the way of safety. Christ's way (which is God's way) is the way of the cross, and He calls every follower to it (v24ff).

The next time 'temptation' is mentioned in Matthew is in the garden of Gethsemane (26:41). Here again the way of the cross was brought into an agonizing contrast with the way of all flesh. Would Jesus let the cup pass (v39)? Would He save Himself or save us? Again He resolved to let His Father's will be done. This is not something different from His resolve to save us - it is precisely the same thing.

At His arrest, again the chance came for the angels to rescue Him (v53), but the Scriptures must be fulfilled (v54). Both the Father and the Scriptures speak with one voice - the Christ, the Son of God must suffer and must die. And Christ submits.

So as He pours out His life on that cross, here is the final 'opportune time'. The religious leaders called out to Him:

Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, `I am the Son of God.'" (Matt 27:40-43)

Do you recognize those words? "If you are the Son of God" began each of the wilderness temptations. Here is Satan again using his mouthpieces to offer Jesus a way out. Contrary to Martin Scorcese's imagination, the last temptation of Christ was not some lustful fantasy. It was the much more seductive, much more truly carnal, temptation to save Himself. Thank God He resisted. For He did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

And when He died, the most unlikely man of all suddenly got it. A Roman centurion declares: "Truly this was the Son of God!" (v54)

That's been the issue ever since the baptism. What does it mean to be the Son of God? Satan threw everything at Jesus to make Him live like Adam, like Israel, like every other son in the history of the world. But Jesus refuses to live for self. Instead He dies for others and in this astonishing reversal a power is unleashed. There's life from the dead (v51-53) and the man most likely to love vainglory and flesh and the way of Satan is turned around. Even in the eyes of this Gentile, the wonder of the cross becomes the definition of true Sonship. This is a power to overturn the world.

Satan is crushed.

Part 5

Christ in the Wilderness 3

GlenJanuary 27, 2010Leave a comment

source

As we've seen, Satan's three temptations concern Christ's identity as Son of God.

Round 1:

³ The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." ⁴ Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matt 4:3-4)

The devil assumes that Jesus is able to produce miraculous bread in the wilderness. That’s what the Son of God has always done (e.g. Exodus 16). And it's what He would do again (Matthew 14 and 15). But in those cases the Son of God provides bread for others and in so doing proves Himself to be the true Bread, torn apart to feed the world (John 6:48-51).

But Jesus will not feed Himself. He has come to die – and a death far worse than starvation – to feed others. And so He says: I entrust Myself utterly to My Father, knowing I can abandon everything to My Father and live. That’s round 1.

Round 2 is fought along similar lines:

⁵ Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.'" ⁷ Jesus answered him, "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

The devil, like so many of his servants, is a preacher. And he knows enough of the bible to know that the Psalms proclaim the Son of God. So he says to Jesus – “Psalm 91, as everyone knows, concerns the Son of God. Well then if you are the One of Psalm 91, you’ll be able to do this celestial bunjee jump and the angels will catch you.”

In a future post we'll consider Christ's rejection of this kind of PR stunt.

But the bottom line is, Jesus won’t cave. He has come to hurl Himself down, and not simply to be dashed on the stones of the temple courts. He had come to hurl Himself into the great Abyss for us. And explicitly at His arrest He refuses the help of angels to prevent it (Matthew 26:53-54). As Son of God He must die on that cross and though 12 legions of angels are on 24 hour stand-by, the Scriptures must be fulfilled. The Son of Man must go as it is written of Him - He must be the One who dies. Jesus will not test His Father but obey Him, even to the point of death.

Round 2 resisted.

Round 3:

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ⁹ "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) - not by right but by popular choice. The world does indeed follow the devil and his lying, self-serving, death-dealing ways. So Satan offers Jesus the chance to form a coalition government. Satan says, "Let’s not be enemies here. You know what it will cost you to dethrone me (Gen 3:15) – it will cost your life. Let me offer you another way. Let’s rule the world together. Forget the painful business of eradicating evil, compromise with it and you can avoid the whole way of the cross."

But Jesus will receive the Kingdom from His Father, not the devil. He will not bow to Satan, He will crush Him. Though it cost Him His life, Jesus will not compromise with evil. His heart is wholly for God His Father and so His heart is wholly for the cross.

Christ proves Himself to be exactly who the Father had declared. He is the beloved Son of God because through every temptation to the contrary He resolves not to serve Himself but others. He will not save Himself but save others. This is the only power to defeat the ultimate Egotist. Everyone else in the history of the world has failed Satan's tests. No-one has ever walked the way of the cross like this. But the True Son of God did. And Satan must depart.

But as Luke says, Satan limps off only to regather his strength for future assaults (Luke 4:13). We'll consider these in the next post (here).

Born neutral or born in sin?

GlenJanuary 21, 2010Leave a comment

I was recently discussing original sin with some people who disagreed with it. It seemed to them something like the doctrine that 'God hates babies'. Fumbling around for what to say, I eventually settled on this.

If you buy into the 'born neutral' position, you're living in a world in which performance is everything. God's waiting with a clip-board to assess how you develop the 'blank slate' He's given you.

If you go for the 'born in sin' position, you're living in a world in which God's grace to sinners is everything. It's all about His forgiveness, not our good behaviour.

The bible says "God has bound all people over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all." (Romans 11:32) Original sin is actually all about the mercy of God.

Initially original sin may sound like the harsh option. Actually the 'born neutral' position is the really harsh doctrine. Especially once you become aware of your own sin.

If I've failed to convince you that 'original sin' is what the bible teaches, can I at least convince you that ongoing sin is true in your own life? And if you realize that ongoing sin is a problem for you, let me ask you which world you'd rather live in - the world of performance or the world of grace?

A third way to pastor

GlenDecember 5, 2009January 20, 2014Leave a comment

As soon as I posted Two Ways to Pastor I thought - I'm missing a third way.

And I can do no better in describing it than to show you this clip from the film "Friends with Money." The movie feels like it was written by a 1st year psychology student. And while there are a few interesting examples of relationship dysfunctionality, the denoument to which the whole slushy mess has been heading is this heart-to-heart between Jennifer Aniston and her new man. Previously, when she'd worked as his maid, he had scrooged her out of full payment and now it's revealed that he's actually stinking rich. The cad.

No doubt interrogation units are using this film to extract information from suspects around the globe. The simultaneous urge to laugh, shriek and vomit is wildly disorienting don't you think?

Here is the third way to pastor. We say to each other, "I've got issues. (Commitment trouble. Sex addiction. Difficulty getting close. Need for control.) Don't dig too deep. Not here. Just admire the complicated splendour. Don't confront. There's no need, I'm seeing a therapist. We're working it out far away from the actual relationships my sins are destroying. You have 'issues' too? Aren't we interesting!"

What's wrong with this model? Well, cutting to the chase, Jesus didn't die for 'issues'. He didn't die for your commitment trouble. He didn't die for your weirdness around women/men/money/authority/food. He died for your sin.

Therefore, cross-centred pastoral care is not about diving into the dark and alluring waters of Lake You. We don't plumb the depths to generate labels for our dysfunctions. No, we uncover depths of feeling, thinking and acting because we're exposing sin to the Light. In the therapeutic world the 'inward look' actually serves to obscure. It's these labels that justify my sin, not Christ. In the gospel we aim to diagnose the problem so radically that Christ alone is the solution. In this way 'the look within' is only meant to serve 'the look up'. (See the cross diagram of the last post)

If you hear me reacting against Pharasaical pastoral care and think I'm capitulating to therapeutic wallowing, rest assured. I am not interested in 'sharing' for sharing's sake. I want to flag up here and now that looking beneath surface behaviour is not good in and of itself. There is an 'inward look' that is pure introspection. And in the end it serves to hide sin and deny Christ.

But there is another kind of 'inward look' which serves to drive us to Jesus as beggars. That's what I am arguing for. My dyfunction (if you want to call it that) is not that 'social situations make me anxious' - my problem is that I'm a sinner and in myself the wrath of God is against me. Rightfully so - I have developed and nurtured complex, chosen, self-protective, self-promoting, Christ-denying matrices of sin. And it's not mysterious or brave or profound - it's ugly. Wrath-deservingly ugly. And I can't hide it, I can't justify it, I can't atone for it. All I can do is, in fellowship with you, come into the Light, 'and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.' (1 John 1:7).

This is what a look 'below the waterline' is about. It's not about nodding sagely to each other's 'issues'. It's confessing our sins to each other. We'll be thinking more about this soon.

But for now I just wanted to throw into the mix this therapeutic way to pastor.

So... there's the Pharasaical world, the therapeutic world and the gospel world.

More to follow...

Two Ways to Pastor

GlenDecember 3, 2009Leave a comment

In the last post I thought a bit about the dangers of Pharasaism re-producing itself.

If you pastor out of the Pharisee's mindset, here is how you will conceive the Christian life.

Here the Christian life is about minimizing sins and maximizing performance. You will keep your sins private and your righteousness public. Of course Jesus tells us to do the exact opposite. He is the Doctor only for those who own the public label 'sinner' (Mark 2:17). And He commands us not to perform our righteousness 'to be seen by men' (Matt 6:1ff).

But in this world performance is everything. Life works because we've learnt the ropes, tried hard and never given up. Things go wrong because of bad performance. This holds for suffering too. We might not be so crass as the disciples when they looked at the blind man and asked 'Who sinned?!' (John 9:2). But actually the Pharisee will find themselves asking those same questions internally and will, in the long run, find it impossible to love an inveterately suffering person. 'If only they'd take my advice, live right, try harder, keep going they'd be well by now.' Sustained suffering (not to mention on-going sin) will force the Pharisee to either abandon their Pharisaism or abandon the struggler. But if they hold onto their works mentality they must eventually abandon the struggler.

Pastoring in this world will not be a long-term journey alongside people. It will be an impatient 'fixing' of people. It's all about whitewashing our tombs (Matt 23:27). The pastors will be the experts, dispensing advice from on high. The pastored will be those who progress outwardly through pressure.

The community might seem to be very judgemental. And on one level, it is. But in fact, while the accusations will be brutally harsh and backed by intense self-righteousness, they will be hopelessly superficial judgements. The outside of the cup will be addressed in scathing attacks. But the insides of all will remain full of every kind of uncleanness. (Matt 23:25ff)

And, in collusion with one another, this community will consistently fail to address sin on any meaningful level. Life will exist within a very narrow band. No one will be very bad (or at least admit to it). And no-one will be particularly good either. They'll tithe their spices for sure. But because of the self-centredness of works-righteousness, no-one will actually go out of themselves into the kind of 'justice, mercy and faithfulness' that Jesus identifies as 'the weightier matters of the law'. (Matt 23:23)

So the Pharisee will show a very shallow gradient of Christian growth and level out early on. They find the level of their Pharisaical community and stick there.

The world Jesus asks us to inhabit is completely different:

This diagram is ripped off from World Harvest Mission. I learnt it from a friend who learnt it from a friend who got it from WHM. Any good and profitable insight is entirely due to WHM, any misunderstandings or unwarranted developments are mine alone.

On this understanding, we begin the Christian life when we see Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification. (Rom 4:25) He has bridged the gap between ourselves and our Holy Father and He has bridged it entirely in Himself. Christ crucified becomes precious to us - He is our wisdom; our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (1 Cor 1:30)

However as we continue in the Christian life, we realize that we are actually much more sinful than we'd ever realized. The Lord begins to show us more and more features of our lives that need addressing. And He reveals greater and greater heights to His redeeming love. In this sense, the cross gets bigger and bigger in our understanding as we realize "Ah, the Lord shed His blood even for that; He justifies me even in that wickedness."

And so in the gospel world, our knowledge of sin increases not decreases. But, correspondingly, our knowledge of Christ's gracious atonement increases. Thus our love for Christ grows.

Except that... we are a strange hybrid of Christian and Pharisee. The default state of our hearts is always to hide our sins and justify ourselves. From the very beginning we've hidden our nakedness and sewed together fig-leaves. Therefore my Pharisaical tendency will always be towards self-deception - 'I'm not really that bad. There are plenty who are worse. The Lord's more interested in X, Y, Z - the really bad sins.' And I'll self-justify - I'll draw my sense of peace, joy, OK-ness from self and world and not from Christ crucified.

In doing this, I keep the cross small. After all I'm not that bad and in fact I am quite good, all things considered.

The work of gospel pastoring will be to continually confront my self-justifying, self-deceiving heart with the grace and truth of Jesus. In my right mind, I should welcome this pastoring because its goal is to reveal to me Christ in all His grace and wonder.

A community that seeks after this magnification of Christ and Him crucified will be radically different to the Pharisaical one. Here I can never be shocked by my sin or by yours. If I've seen anything of the cross then I'm convinced that my sins demanded the blood of God. Not a moral pep-talk, not a 12 step programme or rigourous accountability structure - only God's blood spilt in wrath averting sacrifice can ever atone. I'm so much worse than I'd ever imagined. And when you point this out, you are my friend, because you are showing me fresh depths to the love of Christ.

Here, community is about coming out from our hiding places, standing naked before the Lord, peeling off our fig-leaves and being clothed in the sacrifice He has made.

It will be a life-long journey, not a quick fix. And it won't be one expert dispensing advice from on high, but one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread.

More to follow...

Christianity Explored – week 3 – Why did Jesus come?

GlenOctober 22, 2009Leave a comment

My talk from last night. (I'll publish text and other talks later)

Anthropogenic?

GlenSeptember 25, 2009Leave a comment

There's a mouthful of a word.

Perhaps we're aware of the term 'anthropogenic' to describe climate change? The climate is changing - climate always does - the question remains, is man (anthropos) the cause (genesis)?

A lot of people say yes. Some say no.

This guy says "maybe... some... but that's not really the issue."

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgaeyMa3jyU&feature=player_embedded]

h/t The Old Adam

I'm entirely unqualified to make any scientific adjudication, but I make two observations. One is that the Kiwi presenter seems a really lovely guy. Just lovely. The other is that something like Professor Carter's position sounds psychologically and theologically very plausible. It sounds like the kind of explanation in which fear and pride play the kind of role we know they do in people and in societies.

Well how might fear and pride lead to a view on anthropogenic climate change?

On the fear point - we love to conceive of our problems as anthropogenic because we find it intolerable that things just happen. If the economy goes down, show me the banker and let's make him pay. If we get sick, show me the diet, exercise, medicine regime and I'll take back control. Don't whatever you do tell me that economies just fail, or illness just happens, or volcanoes just erupt or climate just changes - that's way too frightening. We'd even rather that the blame fell on us if it meant taking back some measure of control over this scary world.

And as technologies and affluence advance in certain parts of the world we become increasingly used to comfort and control. And, ironically but demonstrably, we become increasingly fearful and so demanding of such comfort and control. Fearful hearts need control - we need to be in charge of things, even things as impossible as the future!

On the pride point - we'd love our problems to be anthropogenic because then our solutions must, almost by definition, be similarly man focused. We take back control of our destiny when we cast the problems of the world as lying in man's power. And with renewed vigour we set off on our own salvation project. The is the 'feel good factor' that Professor Carter speaks of. There's the feel good factor of a works righteousness based on reducing my carbon footprint. There's the solidarity of a global movement mobilising for change. There's the sense of significance that comes from saving the planet - taking charge of our destiny. These can legitimately be described as religious affections and they have a massive effect.

Now you may ask: Would fear and pride play so significant a role that the assured findings of the scientific community would be affected? Well, again such mis-perception and mis-interpretation sounds theologically plausible to me. If you've hung around this blog for long enough you'll know something of my deep suspicion of the fallen mind!

I raise this as a little thought on our human nature in the context of a debate that is, admittedly, way above my pay grade. I'm sure you can shoot me down as a red-necked, anti-science, conspiracy theorist. I'm just saying that I see Professor Carter's position as theologically very credible. And I hope that counts for a lot among my reader here.

The desire to see our problems as anthropogenic is as old as Adam. He thought nakedness and shame were the problem. So he thought sewing fig leaves was the solution - simple human problem with an attainable human solution. All the while his Real Problem was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. But he didn't want to face his Real Problem (who was also his Only Solution). So he hid.

And ever since, the race of Adam has continued to put ourselves at the centre. We would love to be this world's problem, we really would. But this world's problem is not us - it's Jesus who is coming on a day set by the Father and subject to nothing but His own gospel patience. Be advised, our problem (and solution!) is in the highest heaven.

What's the Problem?

GlenSeptember 24, 2009Leave a comment

This is a Thawed-out Thursday Re-post. There a reason why I've chosen this one, but I'll let you in on it later...

Once I was in a preaching seminar with 15 other young guns. We were being taught by someone you might call a living legend. One session was on how to preach Romans 3:21-30. The point came when the living legend asked us what we thought the application should be. Now aside from my various misgivings about application I reasoned to myself that if an application was there in the passage it was probably worth flagging that up. I looked down and sure enough I saw what I thought was a pretty clear “”application”" of Paul’s teaching:

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. (v27)

So I stuck up my hand and suggested that the application might be humility. More particularly it seemed that, since Christ had taken the work of salvation entirely into His own hands, it was out of ours and therefore we ought gladly to shut up about ourselves, our morality, religious pedigree etc etc.

“Wrong!” said the preacher. “The application should be ‘Repent!’”

“Oh”, I said. “Why?”

I immediately regretted asking ‘why.’ Dagnammit we’re evangelicals, we’re supposed to preach repentance, it’s union rules. Besides, I don’t want to appear soft in front of the 15 other young guns and this living legend. The living legend was more than a little irked by my question and replied: “Because, dear boy, verse 23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is the problem, therefore I would have thought that repentance would be a very good idea!!”

Those who know me may be surprised to learn that I didn’t answer back to this one. Oh I wanted to. How I did want to! But judging by the alarm in the preacher’s voice and the mood of the room it felt wise not to imperil my standing any further among such sound folk.

But sometimes I fantasize about what would have happened if I’d said what I really thought. The fantasy goes something like this:

I stand slowly, deliberately, with all the solemnity of the lone, faithful prophet. All eyes are upon me as I bellow with righteous ardour:

“Sin is not the problem! S i n i s n o t t h e p r o b l e m !!!“

All hell breaks loose. Outrage. Pained howls. Torn garments. Hurled stones. I am immovable in the midst of the storm.

“… Sin is not the problem… God’s wrath at sin is the problem! Nay… moreover… God’s wrath at us in our sin – this! this is the problem!”

At once they are felled by Truth as by lightning. Cut to the heart, the stones drop to the floor first. Then the men. One by one they slump to the ground, the hand of the LORD heavy upon them. In breathless awe they ask: “Brave herald, what is this teaching you bring us? It resounds from the very heights of Zion against our presumption and folly.”

Sporting a fresh cut across my chiselled jawline, I am otherwise unruffled. Ever magnanimous I continue:

“Dear friends” (the dust in the air has now leant a husky tone to my rich, commanding voice). ”Dear friends, let us not define our predicament so anthropocentrically.”

I leave this dread word hanging in the air. The mere mention of ‘anthropocentric’ elicits groans from the already contrite gathering. Here was their shibboleth used against them. It stung. Yet they could not deny that they were indeed guilty of this greatest of liberalisms.

“I commend you friends…” They look up nervously – could there yet be grace for them? “…While many have merely scratched the itch of modern ears, you have refused to pander to felt needs. You have proclaimed the problem of sin and for this I commend you.” I pause. “And yet… and yet… you have defined the problem so poorly, so slightly. You have defined the problem from below. You have told them that the problem lies in their own hands. How can they not then imagine that the solution also lies in their hands? Should you not have told them that our problem is above us - as indeed is the solution. The problem is not fundamentally our sin, the problem is the Lord’s wrath upon us.”

“What’s the difference?!” cries out one of the younger preachers, “Our sin, God’s wrath, it’s all the same…” He is hushed by the living legend who slowly shakes his head. It is clear now how wrong he has been.

He stands, still shaking his head, unable to look at me or the others. Eventually he speaks, “Glen’s right. He’s always been right!” It looks as though the living legend has been hung from the ceiling on meat hooks. In great anguish he exclaims, “You must understand… We faced such terrible dangers in preaching. We still face such dangers. I wanted - we all wanted - to resist the me-centred pulpit. I was so sick of hearing about ‘filling the Jesus-shaped hole in your life’. I couldn’t stand the invitations to ‘let Jesus into the passenger seat of your life’. I wanted people to turn. I still want people to turn.”

I put a re-assuring hand on his shoulder. He meets my eye for the first time and continues. “I just thought, if we can show them that ‘fulfilment’ isn’t the issue – that sin is the issue, well then maybe they’d come to their senses. Maybe they’d see their errors and turn from them.” I give a look to the living legend, he nods, “I know, I know, that’s the problem.”

“What’s the problem?” asks one of the young guns.

The living legend sighs deeply and turns to the others. "It puts the focus on us. If we just preach sin and repentance the whole focus is on us.”

“It’s anthropocentric” mutters a young gun, latching onto his favourite word. He looks around to see if anyone else has noticed his firm grasp of the issues.

“I don’t get it” pipes up another, “I thought sin and repentance was God-centred preaching? Isn’t that what you taught us??”

The living legend is speechless. I break the silence. Crouching down to their level, I ask, “If we simply preach sin and repentance how exactly is God at the centre? He may well be over and above our conceptions of sin and repentance – but how is He in the middle? In such a sermon isn’t God actually on the periphery? He’s hardly the principal Actor!” At this stage the one who muttered ‘anthropocentric’ is nodding the way failed quiz show contestants nod when they’re told the right answer.

I go on, “It’s like our passage from Romans 3. Sin is certainly there! Sin is certainly a problem. From verse 9, have we not been told that all are under sin? And has not verse 20 proclaimed that observing the law can never redeem us. But since this is so, would it not be strange if Paul then told us that ‘repentance’ was some new work that was better than the old Mosaic works? And yet Paul does not mention our works in this passage, not our obedience, not our repentance. No, what does Paul point us to? Verse 25, the blood of Jesus – a propitiation for our sins. Now we all know what propitiation means...”

Young noddy blurts out “A sacrifice turning away God’s wrath!!” I gesture with my hands, trying to calm his wild-eyed enthusiasm.

“Ok, yes. Well done. It turns away God’s wrath. Because that’s the real problem. The problem is, chapter 1 verse 18, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against us. It will culminate in, chapter 2 verse 5, a day of wrath. And Paul is at pains to say we all deserve it, we are all unrighteous and there’s nothing moral and nothing religious we can do to turn aside this wrath. We are helpless. BUT, a righteousness beyond us has come. And He is the sacrifice who turns away God’s wrath. Through His redemption we are justified freely. That is the gospel. That’s what we preach. And who is at the centre of this story? Not us. Him.”

“So we shouldn’t preach sin and repentance?” asks another.

“Of course we should. But those are comprehended within a much more profound perspective. Wrath and redemption are the deeper truths. Let us leave behind the moralistic sermons regarding committed sin and sanctification. Instead let us preach original sin and justification! Let us plunge them to the depths and then take them to the heights! Enough of this middle of the road preaching that puts us at the centre!”

A couple of young guns knowingly mouthe ‘anthropocentric’ to one another.

I continue “Take Islam. It’s a classic religion of repentance. God remains far above, it’s down to us to clean up our act. In fact all human religion is man justifying man before a watching god. But the Gospel is God justifying God before a watching humanity. He takes centre-stage and we need to move off into the audience to watch Him work salvation for us. Christianity is not a religion of repentance, it’s a religion of redemption. And that’s quite a difference don’t you see?”

As I speak, the young guns have been picking themselves off the floor one by one. The room has been won to the side of Truth. I look upon them with fatherly benevolence.

“So now friends – now that you know these things: What would be a good application of Romans 3?”

In unison they reply “Humility!” And for a moment all is right with the world.

Until, that is, one of the young guns speaks up:

“Hey, if humility is so important, how come you’re so proud?”

Harmony is shattered. Another piles in “And how come you’ve been dreaming us up for the last 10 minutes to feed your ego.” Here’s where the fantasy turns pretty nasty.

“What kind of egotist spends his time winning theological debates in his head??”

“Yeah, debates he never actually won in the real world!”

Another pipes up: “I think I know ‘Where then is boasting?’ – he’s standing over there with a fatuous, smug face!!”

From here on the fantasy is basically unsalvagable. So then, I hate to do it, but sometimes you just have to pull rank.

“Quiet all of you! This is my fantasy. Either you submit adoringly to my theological genius or you can get out now.”

Faced with those options they instantly choose non-existence. One by one they vanish, though somehow their looks of betrayal and disgust seem to linger on.

“You’ll be back” I say to the departed phantasms. “Pretty soon I’ll need to feel right about something else and you’ll be right back in my imagination, bowing to my unquestioned brilliance.

“Ha!” I say. The laughter echoes around my empty head.

What’s the Problem?

glenscrivSeptember 24, 2009Leave a comment

This is a Thawed-out Thursday Re-post. There a reason why I've chosen this one, but I'll let you in on it later...

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. (v27)

“Wrong!” said the preacher. “The application should be ‘Repent!’”

“Oh”, I said. “Why?”

But sometimes I fantasize about what would have happened if I’d said what I really thought. The fantasy goes something like this:

I stand slowly, deliberately, with all the solemnity of the lone, faithful prophet. All eyes are upon me as I bellow with righteous ardour:

“Sin is not the problem! S i n i s n o t t h e p r o b l e m !!!“

All hell breaks loose. Outrage. Pained howls. Torn garments. Hurled stones. I am immovable in the midst of the storm.

“… Sin is not the problem… God’s wrath at sin is the problem! Nay… moreover… God’s wrath at us in our sin – this! this is the problem!”

Sporting a fresh cut across my chiselled jawline, I am otherwise unruffled. Ever magnanimous I continue:

“Dear friends” (the dust in the air has now leant a husky tone to my rich, commanding voice). ”Dear friends, let us not define our predicament so anthropocentrically.”

“What’s the problem?” asks one of the young guns.

The living legend sighs deeply and turns to the others. "It puts the focus on us. If we just preach sin and repentance the whole focus is on us.”

“It’s anthropocentric” mutters a young gun, latching onto his favourite word. He looks around to see if anyone else has noticed his firm grasp of the issues.

“I don’t get it” pipes up another, “I thought sin and repentance was God-centred preaching? Isn’t that what you taught us??”

Young noddy blurts out “A sacrifice turning away God’s wrath!!” I gesture with my hands, trying to calm his wild-eyed enthusiasm.

“So we shouldn’t preach sin and repentance?” asks another.

A couple of young guns knowingly mouthe ‘anthropocentric’ to one another.

As I speak, the young guns have been picking themselves off the floor one by one. The room has been won to the side of Truth. I look upon them with fatherly benevolence.

“So now friends – now that you know these things: What would be a good application of Romans 3?”

In unison they reply “Humility!” And for a moment all is right with the world.

Until, that is, one of the young guns speaks up:

“Hey, if humility is so important, how come you’re so proud?”

Harmony is shattered. Another piles in “And how come you’ve been dreaming us up for the last 10 minutes to feed your ego.” Here’s where the fantasy turns pretty nasty.

“What kind of egotist spends his time winning theological debates in his head??”

“Yeah, debates he never actually won in the real world!”

Another pipes up: “I think I know ‘Where then is boasting?’ – he’s standing over there with a fatuous, smug face!!”

From here on the fantasy is basically unsalvagable. So then, I hate to do it, but sometimes you just have to pull rank.

“Quiet all of you! This is my fantasy. Either you submit adoringly to my theological genius or you can get out now.”

Faced with those options they instantly choose non-existence. One by one they vanish, though somehow their looks of betrayal and disgust seem to linger on.

“Ha!” I say. The laughter echoes around my empty head.

Some thoughts on your 'personal problems' 19

GlenSeptember 8, 200919 Comments

This is a long one but I won't be posting for a while so read at your leisure...

1) This is the occasion for change not the reason for change.

It's great if you've come to some sort of crisis moment. It's good that you want to change. But you ought to know that this is the struggle of your life.

I don't mean: This is the struggle of your life. I mean: This is the struggle of your life. Welcome.

2) If you're not struggling, you're losing. Or worse, you're not even a Christian.

Christians struggle. We are the product of two births. Our flesh is from Adam, our Spirit from Christ. If you're not struggling then you're simply gratifying the cravings of your flesh (however respectable you may look). And perhaps you don't even have the Spirit. Let the comfortable be disturbed. And let the strugglers be comforted - your battle is a sign of the Spirit's work.

3) If you are struggling, you have a Power within you to live new creation life.

If Christ is in you, you have the power that called forth the universe and He is determined to bring supernatural change. Mark 4 comes to mind - the power of Christ's word can and will produce 30, 60, 100-fold growth but of course it will be as gradual and organic as the growth of a seed. Nonetheless this is what you are aiming for - not simply the correction of some annoying habits but the transformation of your character through Christ's word. Be encouraged by your struggle - it means that an other-worldly Power is at work and will transform you in ways you can only begin to imagine.

4) Your righteousness is entirely outside and above you.

These problems do not define you. Your success at handling these problems does not define you. Christ defines you. We don't say 'My name's Glen and I'm an alcoholic' (or insert your problem of choice). We say 'My name's Glen and I'm a saint clothed in Christ... I also happen to struggle with...' We don't struggle for but struggle from freedom.

5) You must deal with this struggle in community

All the real action happens outside of you. You need the word of life to come from outside. As Bonhoeffer says 'The Christ in the word of a brother is stronger than the Christ in my heart.' At the same time you need to put words to your darkness and, again, bring it outside. Sin thrives in the dark, you must bring it into the light. 1 John 1:5-10. James 5:16. Find someone.

6) The person you reveal yourself to be in the midst of these sins is the person you've always been.

We tend to think that we're generally righteous and these problems have been a blip. David knew better. When he committed adultery and murder he realised that this was the person he'd been 'from birth - sinful from the time my mother conceived me.' (Ps 51:5) These problems are just you with the hand-brake off. Ugly huh?

But know also...

7) The person you reveal yourself to be in the midst of these sins is the person Jesus loves and has forgiven.

Jesus did not die for 'me-on-my-best-behaviour'. 'While we were still sinners Christ died for us' (Rom 5:8). 'God justifies the wicked' (Rom 4:5). Which 'me' does Jesus love? The cleaned up me? No. Jesus loves the me I showed myself to be in my worst moments. When we grasp that Jesus is committed to us even and especially as we stink of sin it's a hundred times worse but a thousand times better. We must grasp the depths of this love for me the sinner - this is fundamental to real change.

8) With 4-7 in place - you can learn to hate and hope appropriately.

Focussed in on ourselves we tend either to lose hatred or hope. Either we don't really hate our sin because we're too attached to the 'me' who committed it. Or we don't really hope for transformation because we can't imagine such a 'me' changing. The problem is that we're too attached to 'me'. Number 4) is the truth that releases us from that attachment and number 5) is the practice of it. We then learn how to address this 'me' the way we'd address a brother or sister in sin. As another addresses you in your sin with appropriate hatred and hope, learn to see things from this much healthier perspective.

9) Your problems are really your 'solutions'.

You'll be tempted to think...

"I have a recurring personal problem with X."

Don't be so sure. Probably the truth is something much closer to...

"X is my solution to its insufferable alternative - Y"

X is a chosen strategy to avoid what you consistently reckon to be an even worse state of affairs. You need to be thinking about what is Y, and why Y is so unbearable that you'd choose X. Your deep fears (of Y) may be completely irrational and out of control. But your chosen strategy, X, is not.

Therefore...

10) Even the most seemingly compulsive and irrational 'personal problems' (non-organically caused) are, on deeper examination, chosen and intended strategies.

It might take some digging (Prov 20:5), but you will find volition at play. This ought to reinforce the hope and hatred mix. Hope because you're not bound to sin like this. Hatred because you've consistently and deliberately chosen these sins in defiance of Jesus and His way.

11) Until you've diagnosed your problem as one for which Christ is necessary, you haven't defined your real problem.

Your problem is not low self esteem or negative thoughts or panic attacks or over-eating or self-harm etc etc. None of those require the blood of God. Until you do the hard work on 4-7 and get to the heart issues - your angry defiance of your Father, your petrified mistrust of Christ, your obdurate resistance of the Spirit - you're treating your wound lightly.

Jesus had to die. Divine wisdom and heavenly encouragement have never been enough to address the human problem. You don't just need a bible study and a pep talk. You need bloody, wrath-bearing atonement on your behalf, while all you can do is watch aghast. Until you see your problems in that light you won't be appropriately humbled and all your efforts at change will be a re-arranging of the flesh.

12) Until you've set your hopes on a change for which Christ is necessary, you're not aiming for Christian growth.

It's tempting to aim for a re-arranging of the flesh. For instance, you may struggle with pornography and therefore make your resolution to be porn free from now on. Well, ok. But Ephesians 3 tells you that resurrection power is available to effect in you far above all you can ask or imagine (Eph 1:19-20; 3:20). To aim for a clean internet history is not really to aim for Christian growth. To aim for a pure heart that knows God and a burning zeal for Christ that takes you out of yourself and into the world - that's your prayer. And it's impossible. You can't do it. Only resurrection Power can. But that's where you aim if you want Christian growth. And kicking pornography is just a little part of that.

Putting 11) and 12) together you get this:

Christ's cross tells you to dig deeper,

Christ's resurrection tells you to reach higher.

Therefore

13) Pray

The cross drives us down so that we call out in desperation, the resurrection lifts us up so that we ask for that which is humanly impossible. There is therefore a gospel shape as well as a gospel power to our prayers. Perhaps use the Lord's Prayer as your guide. Every line of the prayer calls us to change. Don't move on in the prayer until you've prayed through the issues that each line is raising. Here is the really hard work of change, but only because it's so powerful.

14) In your desire to change there will be both flesh and Spirit at work.

Your flesh wants you to change to gain control, look better, escape guilt feelings, avoid the need for dependence, achieve a righteousness of your own, etc, etc. Bring these false motives before the Lord and repent of your repentance strategies. True repentance comes from a brokenness that realizes even our tears of regret need washing in Christ's blood.

At the same time be aware that there is a true yearning from your new nature - a deeper desire to know Christ and be conformed to His image. Get in touch with the Spirit's stirrings here through prayer and conversation with others. Figuring out why you want to change and having this answer come from the right place is priceless.

14) Address your entitlement spirit?

The flesh is ever desiring to establish its own righteousness. How, specifically, are you seeking to make a name for yourself? According to your flesh - what are you trying to earn? What do you feel you are owed? What do you have to do to earn this? What has blocked your goals? Having thought about this, try to articulate the shape of your entitlement spirit. How does the gospel address your entitlement spirit in general? Specifically, how does the gospel address the specifics of your entitlement spirit? Real change is happening when the Gospel demolishes your flesh-strategies.

15) You already have the solution

Not within you! In Christ.

⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:4-9)

Allow these words to live in you and allow yourself to live in Christ.

16) Some or all of these things are true of you: