Raised to Life

this Jesus, as delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.  ~Acts 2:23-24

Praise the Lord, He is risen indeed!

Today is Good

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath-
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God-slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Jesus weeps

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.  ~Luke 19:41-44

Luke records this immediately after the Triumphal Entry which most churches celebrated two days ago. In it, I am again amazed by Jesus.

The Gospels are clear that Jesus knew what going into Jerusalem during the Passover week meant. He was embarking upon His death march to Calvary.This death would take place at the hands of the Romans, but also Jesus' own people. He had every right to be angry because of what He was about to endure for the sake of the very people who were going to kill Him. He could have spit on the ground in disgust.

And yet, He wept over them.

He wept because they wanted peace, but had no clue where to find it. He wept because they were blind. He wept because the object of all of their hope in, the Temple, would one day be destroyed. He wept because they missed the long-awaited visit from the LORD Himself.

union and communion

When you break it down, the primary benefit of the gospel is union with Christ. And union with Christ means momentary communion with Him.

This is not an exact quote, but it's close. It was made by a Philadelphia pastor who visited my church planting class on Thursday.

I love it!

First up is the notion of our union with Christ. I am pretty sure I will be taking an entire class (or at least half a semester) diving into this. Union with Christ what the gospel boils down to. Reading Ephesians 1:3-14 reveals this reality.

It repeats the phrase "in him" or "in Christ" a total of eight times in those verses. And the following reveal what is involved with being "in Christ:"

• blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (v.3)
• chosen to be blameless and holy (v.4)
• redemption and forgiveness by His blood (v.7)
• knowledge of the mystery of the will of God (v.8)
• the union of all things in heaven and earth (v.10)
• an inheritance (v.11)
• hope which brings God glory (v.12)
• seal of the Holy Spirit (v.13)

That sounds like a concise picture of the gospel.

Next is the notion of momentary communion with God. By communion, we are talking about the language of prayer. Through our union with Christ we have access to God every single moment of every single day. Reading Hebrews 4:14-16 helps us see this.

Christ is our high priest. Reading Hebrews reveals how Christ as high priest means forgiveness (reference back to Ephesians 1). And because we have forgiveness through union with our Great High Priest we can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

We can pray because we are united to Christ. Our prayers are an expression of that union. It is something we can take advantage daily, and hopefully more. Prayer is not a burden. It is a wonderful blessing of our union with Christ. 

March Madness

I am in two pools for the Madness this year. One is with family, and the other is with college friends. As of right now, some damage has been done but nothing catastrophic.

In the spirit of the season, I share this little treat I happened to stumble upon yesterday. 

Kids are hilarious.

chapel notes

This morning Dr. David Wells (from Gordon Conwell) was the keynote speaker for our spring chapel on theology, culture, and missions.

He talked about far too many things for me to detail in one post. But there were two things which he said that were worth noting.

First, he described the great paradox of western culture. Never have we had so much, and yet never have we had so little. With all the technological advances, everything has been made available to us. There is really nothing outside of our grasp. And yet, statistically speaking, western culture is as lonely, depressed, anxious, violent, and fearful as ever. Social progress has not really helped us progress at all.

Second, he detailed the movement in society as a result of the Enlightenment. Prior to it, salvation was held as man's greatest need, but it has since been replaced with psychology. External and internal evil are not the problems, but weakness and insecurity. And this because morality has been made relative and even disregarded completely.

As Dr. Wells stated  it, in a psychological world we want therapy, but in a moral world we want redemption. In a psychological world we want to be happy, but in a moral world we want to be holy.

Preaching (the main topic of Dr. Wells lecture) addresses the moral world because preaching addresses the real problem. It proclaims Christ crucified and resurrected to redeem us from sin and death.

Sadly, much preaching today addresses the psychological. In an attempt to stay relevant to the changing culture, Sunday sermons are turned into therapy sessions. People listen to find a prized nugget to help them cope with life. They want to leave feeling good about themselves. They want to be happy.

This is why Paul in 1 Corinthians called preaching folly (or stupid) in the eyes of the world. It is not entertaining. It does not scream of skill in the areas of public speaking and rhetoric. It proclaims a message of weakness through the crucified Jesus Christ.

And yet that is what God calls His church to proclaim. We are not called to be relevant. We are called to be faithful. And faithful preaching means preaching Christ, sin, wrath, grace, mercy, justice, holiness, and everything else revealed to us in the pages of Scripture.

beloved and pleasing

Rants can be a wonderful thing. One of the more enjoyable aspects of seminary has been the various rants one of my professors may embark upon at any given moment.

Today's rant came at the end of my Church Planting and Church Growth class. After moving through the actual material, my professor spent the last ten or so minutes pulling us back to the basics of our salvation and what it means.

And he did so in light of Matthew 3, the baptism of Jesus.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Here is a synopsis in bullet form:

• heavens were opened: Through Jesus access to heaven, which had been closed because of sin, now stands open
• the Spirit of God descending: Just as Jesus lived by the anointing and power of the Spirit, so do all who are united to Him through faith.
• This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased: This is the benediction upon all who are united to Christ through faith.

The last one hit me like a ton of bricks. It is easy to look at my life and wonder why God would be pleased, let alone call me His beloved.

And yet that is exactly what He does. It's not because of me. It's not because of what I do. It's because when He looks at me He sees His Son. And there is no one who pleases and is loved by the Father more than Christ.

This is my identity.

I am a beloved son of God in whom He is well pleased.

This is the message I am called to proclaim. And why wouldn't I want to proclaim it?

Through Christ, God takes wretched sinners, and by the power of His Spirit makes them beloved sons in whom He takes pleasure.

o to be an uncle...

...and always feel loved.

Sorry I never made it over, Keiper.

Hopefully I can take a rain check.