Newtown

He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found

The curse was found on Friday morning at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The aftermath weighs heavy three days later, and will continue for the many families, colleagues, and friends over countless years.

I cannot begin to fathom what the people of Newtown, CT are wrestling through. They have tasted a grief and sorrow I have not experienced. And I pray I never will.

Unlike tragedies in previous years, this one has lingered for me. Friday was difficult. I wrestled in prayer all through my work day. I cried when I got home. Then I tried my best to coach swimming. (And in His grace, God made that time with those kids a much-needed blessing)

Sunday was the same. Singing was nearly impossible. The tears continued. Prayer felt more like a wrestling match (And again God's grace flowed through His word and His people). Even this morning brought grief as I drove past school buses and/or students waiting at their bus stops. Everything kept pointing to Newtown and the immense pain of that community.

I grieve as a member of a family. I grieve as a member of a small community. I grieve a future minister seeking to help people grow in the Gospel. But it's my former life, which has added to my sense of grief. Despite only lasting two years, I cannot escape the grief I feel as a teacher.

I grieve for the teachers who felt helpless to protect the little ones placed under their care. I grieve for them losing close friends they worked alongside for years. I grieve as they attempt to teach in front of hurting students while they themselves are hurting. I grieve thinking about what they saw and trying to comfort their students in ways they never expected.

I grieve for the students who lost siblings and friends in a place where their safety should never be in doubt. I grieve as they will no longer see some of the same smiling faces welcoming them every morning. I grieve as kids as young as five or six try to sleep at night after watching the horror unfold before their eyes. I grieve as they go back into the school which has lost its feeling of comfort.

But through all of this, that simple line from Joy to the World has come back to me again and again,

He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

Christ came to undue the awful curse of sin. He did it through His life, death, and resurrection. Even in this curse-filled world we taste those blessings now. And we will receive them in full upon His 2nd Advent. At that moment, all His blessings will flow as far as the curse is found. Revelation 21:1-4 gives us the beautiful picture. He will remove all remnants of the curse. He will heal all wounds. God Himself will wipe away every tear.

This is the hope for all those who grieve. In Christ, all grief will not be in vain. It will lead to greater glory according to Romans 8:18. It will certainly hurt. It will hurt like hell as I am sure all those in Newtown know far too well. But even in the face of this grief and mourning, Christ is at work making His blessings flow as far as the curse is found.

"the perfect ten"

One more final stands in front of me before I am off from school for a month and a half and on for full-time work.

This morning I took my Old Testament final. As part of my preparations, I had to read the portion of Peter Enns' commentary  dealing with the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-21. I found his thoughts on the significance of the Ten Commandments in today's world to be fascinating, and possibly a bit controversial (emphases from Enns, pp.432-433).

We should never wonder when God's law is broken by people who were never intended to keep it in the first place. Moreover, by chiding these individuals for doing so, are we not sending the wrong gospel message, that being right with God is primarily a matter of proper conduct?...We are saying to them that God demands a high moral standard apart from the work of Christ, that proper behavior is what makes us right with God. But the opposite is true. Apart from being in Christ first we are incapable of good works that please God.

Expecting unbelievers to keep God's law, or even to respect it, blurs the sharp divide between those who are God's people and those who are not...To single out the Ten Commandments and set them up as a standard of conduct for unbelievers or American society in general indicates not only a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Ten Commandments, but of the good news itself.

What do we hope to accomplish by imposing God's law on those who do not know him? To make better citizens? To make better-behaved children? Neither of these goals is wrong. In fact, they are important. They are not, however, the goal of the gospel, which is to change those who are not God's people into those who are. Better people and citizens, these things are byproducts (again, important ones) of the spread of the gospel.

I really like Enns' argument. Christians are quick to jump on the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in courthouses and schools. While the Commandments present an ethic valuable for society, they will not change it. They cannot, because they were never given such a task.

What if Christians were quicker to jump on board with spreading the good news of Jesus Christ?

For with the Gospel comes the law of God written on hearts of flesh given through the power of the Holy Spirit.

a hero

I watched the last of the Batman trilogy last night as a study break (which also serves as my excuse for this post). I must admit I am a superhero junkie. I used to read/watch the comics as a kid. And now they have become a fairly consistent source of entertainment through film, particularly Christopher Nolan's Batman.

One of the reasons I enjoy the superhero genre is because of the sacrificial aspect of the hero revealed in dialogues such as the following:

Catwoman: You don't owe these people anymore. You've given them everything.
Batman: Not everything. Not yet.

(For those who have not yet seen the film, I have not spoiled anything. The story of Batman up to this point is his willingness to sacrifice for the people of Gotham. Sometimes it is justified while other times it is sheer foolishness.)

I think this is why nearly everyone loves stories about sacrificial heroes. We love stories of rescue, especially when the heroes give of themselves in order to do so. It speaks to something we value and inwardly desire. In fact, it speaks (unintentionally and in limited fashion) to the story of God in history, the rescue of His people.

Jesus is the hero who owed His people nothing. And yet, Jesus is the hero who gave them everything.

Paul lays it out beautifully in Romans 5:6-11,
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

redemptive-historical preaching

My semester is almost over. I have two weeks of finals left before a month and a half break. This means my two (maybe three) regular readers should have more than six posts in three months (ouch!) to read.

Part of what I have enjoyed the most about my preaching class at Westminster has been the emphasis on "redemptive-historical preaching." For those unfamiliar with the label, here is how Dennis Johnson describes it in his book Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ From All The Scriptures (please excuse the use of some fancy terms).

Redemptive-historical preaching ties homiletics closely to hermeneutic considerations. It emphasizes the organic unity of the history of redemption-the enactment of God's plan for the rescue, reconciliation, and re-creation of his people, climaxing in the person, obedience, sacrifice, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus Christ, and reaching consummation at his return in glory. ~p. 48-49

Christians needs to be shown how to read each Scripture, first in the context of its original redemptive-historical epoch, and then in terms of the focal point and climatic "horizon" toward which the partiuclars of God's plan always pointed, namely Jesus the Messiah, who is the second and last Adam, seed of Abraham, true Israel, royal descendant of David, and obedient and suffering Servant of the Lord. Redemptive-historical hermeneutics, therefore, offer a framework for preaching Christ from all the Scriptures in a way that treats each text's and epoch's distinctiveness with integrity and at the same time does justice to the progressively unfolding clarity by which God sustained his people's hopes for the redemption that has now arrived in Jesus.~p. 49

The Christian preacher must never preach an Old Testament text (narrative or other genre) in such a way that his sermon could have been acceptable in a synagogue whose members do not recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. The purpose of the Old Testament historical narrative is not to teach moral lessons, but to trace the work of God, the Savior of his people, whose redeeming presence among them reaches its climatic expression in Christ's incarnation. ~p.51

the Gospels

Since Christmas advertising seems to start earlier each and every year, I thought I would get in on some of the fun. (Actually I need a quick reading/paper-writing break.)

Below is a summary from one of my larger readings regarding the Gospels.

The story in the Synoptics, then, emphasizes that from the outset Jesus' purpose in coming to earth was to go to the cross. The Synoptics truly are passion narratives with extended introductions. The cross is viewed neither as a terrible accident nor as a deranged attempt by Jesus to bring in the kingdom of God. Jesus' suffering and death were the very means by which the promises of salvation in the OT were obtained, and his resurrection from the dead indicates the securing of the promise. The resurrection, after all, signified the arrival of the age to come-the promised age of salvation and new creation that God had pledged. The new exodus and the new creation have arrived through the suffering and resurrection of Jesus. He has taken upon himself the guilt and sin of his people so that they can enjoy freedom and joy as human beings made in God's image. ~Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology, 275-276

There is more than enough "meat" in that summary to satisfy me throughout the celebration of Christ's First Advent. And in the context of this week, that summary is a cornucopia overflowing with items worthy of thanksgiving.

the only thing

Pandora (Shane and Shane radio station) has flooded my speakers on multiple occasions with the song I've posted below. I do not know anything about Ronnie Freeman, but I like this song. I need to hear it every day. And it fits nicely with a sermon I am crafting for class on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.

I heard someone say the other day
They'd seen in me true love displayed
Blessed by something I had done for them
No sooner had they said these words
I found myself somehow disturbed
Uneasy as I took their compliment
Cause I know the heart inside this man
I know the truth of who I am...

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

If you could walk the hallways of my heart
And see things as they really are
I wonder if you might be surprised
Seeing faded walls of pride and fear
Rooms I've filled with faithless tears
And corners where I've stood in compromise
But you'd see the work His grace has done
You'd know just how far I've come

In a thousand years
When the dust of this world clears
And I look back on my life
And see in perfect light

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

restless

You are great, Lord, and highly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is immeasurable. Man, a little piece of your creation, desires to praise you, a human being 'bearing his mortality with him,' carrying with him the witness of his sin and the witness that you 'resist the proud.' Nevertheless, to praise you is the desire of man, a little piece of your creation. You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. 
~St. Augustine, Confessions, pp.3

The more I read the "old guys" the more I wish I could write like them.

But since I cannot, I will simply soak in what they have to offer.

I have tasted the pleasure found in praising God. I have experienced God stirring the affections of my heart. I have relished in my standing before Him as creature. I have known rest.

And yet more often than not my heart is restless. It seeks something to praise. It longs for something pleasurable. It looks for meaning.

In those moments I fail to remember why I have been made. I fail to remember where the restlessness of my heart is pointing.

It all points back to my position as creator and God as Creator. It all points back to my being created for the purpose of praising Him. It all points back to finding rest only in Him.