Lights of the World

Continuing through the letter of Paul to the Phillipians, we come to the result of the atonement, the effect on the world and what we learn from it. The human nature of Christ, being perfectly obedient to the Father, results in Christ being exalted above all, and the command that all should confess that Jesus is Lord:

Php 2:9  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Php 2:10  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Php 2:11  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There are some that suggest that confessing Jesus as Lord is not necessary to be saved. But the next few verses put a big dent in that assertion. Connected by the word "Therefore", following on the from the command above, we are told that it is directly related to our salvation, and specifically the sanctification part of salvation (1 Cor 6:11). We also see that it is God who works in us, to do His will, for His good pleasure.

Php 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Php 2:13  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Php 2:14  Do all things without grumbling or questioning,
Php 2:15  that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

The ultimate result is that we stand as lights in the world, acting differently to those who are not children of God. So many people want to be seen as being good, making a difference, getting some recognition for contributions to society, which is all good. But to truly stand as a light in the dark and twisted world, obeying and submitting to God is the only way. Resisting ("grumbling and questioning") takes away from the reverence we should have for God, the utmost respect and recognition of Jesus as Lord, before we should bow and confess His name.

Recognizing the will of God at work in us, and acting on His will is what makes the light shine, not that which we may see as important. This willingness and desire to do the will of God is not only proof that we are indeed children of God, but the continued replacement of our will with the will of God so that we become more holy is a part of our final salvation. This "being made holy" is often times missed when salvation is mentioned, with justification taking a more prominent role. But if we are justified (blameless and innocent), we will also be sanctified by the work of God in us. There will be parts of us that want to resist, but ultimately God will complete the good work in us (Php 1:6). That is not a possibility, but a fact. That is why, while we may not always have an easy or straight road, we can be assured that once we are children of God, He will keep His promise to us to complete what He has started.

Therefore, do not resist, do not question, do not grumble. Let God work through you so that you may stand as a light in the world, not for your own sake, but for the sake of Jesus, our Lord.

Change of Focus

For the rest of the year, it may become a bit more academic on the blog. I have been working on several longer papers and posts will start publishing those soon. The topics include a longer treatment of responsible human freedom, the attirbutes of God in the context of human freedom, and then some more scholarly responses to the increased attacks agains the reformed faith, which seem to be increasing in volume and shrillness.

There will also still be apologetics, Biblical exposition and general observations mixed in, but the major focus will be to provide some pre-emptive arguments to objectors againts the Doctrines of Grace.

The blog remaisn unashamedly Christian, Calvinistic and conservative in its purpose and messaging.

To God goes ALL the glory, not just that which humans decide to give Him.

Happy Easter?

Why do we say "Happy Easter"? Yes, we commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ, but is right to celebrate the death of an innocent man, and call it "Happy"? Especially when the only reason He died was because of us? Easter should be a solemn remembrance of blood on our hands, and humble thankfulness that our Father in heaven was gracious enough to recognize our utter inability to do anything to help ourselves.

Easter should be a time of shame and disgust for ourselves, and sadness for Christ, amongst our incrdedible gratitude. Who of us will sacrifice our own innocent child for people who did us grievously wrong, who insult, disobey, ignore and disregard us every day? Yet we deem it fit to say this is a  "happy" occasion, and have our kids run around in the garden after colored plastic eggs and gorge themselves on choclate bunnies.

How easy it is to forget the extent of this sacrifice on our behalf, and just to carry on with our arrogant expectations that God bless us. It is shameful, to say the least.

This is what God did for us, and what He tells us to remember and do:

Php 2:5  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7  but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Php 2:9  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Php 2:10  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Php 2:11  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Php 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Php 2:13  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Php 2:14  Do all things without grumbling or questioning,
Php 2:15  that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

The death of Christ is not for our glory, but that of God. We get the benefit to the glory of God. And that is the only reason to be happy, as we commemorate the most atrocious crime in the history of mankind.

Life, Death and Tragedy

The one sure thing we all face is death. During this last week, it became all the more apparent, as the possibility of death once again made an appearance in the lives of people we know. Firstly, it is an emotionally draining and sad experience for everyone involved, and we pray for those affected, their families and those who care for them.

There is a vivid contrast though. Two of the people affected are from our church, and there has been a massive upwelling of prayer, praise, community and support for and from these families, amidst the sorrow and concern. Two of the other people are from an atheist family. The reaction there, in the face of two people with terminal cancer, has been one of despair, hopelessness, feeling lost and resigned to the inevitable termination of all that is, even though there is support for the family.

Everyone grieves for lost family members, believer and non-believer alike. But for the believer, they grieve differently, because they are sad for their own loss, they also have hope for the dead, as they have hope for themselves. The non-believer is quick to define death and the way in which people die, as evil, and therefore proof  that God does not exist, for a loving God would not allow such a thing.

For me, this has always been a peculiar argument. This much is clear, Christians expect suffering, the result of the evil and broken world we live in, and Christians view death as a blessed relief from that, and the gateway to eternal life in the presence of God. Does it make it any less sad when a loved one passes? Of course not, but it is most assuredly not an evil event either.

In fact, Paul writes the following in Phillipians, where he is imprisoned for preaching the Gospel:

Php 1:18  What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,
Php 1:19  for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,
Php 1:20  as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
Php 1:21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Php 1:22  If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
Php 1:23  I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
Php 1:24  But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

It is notable that he considers death not as something lost for himself, but as something that he desires, because that will put him in the presense of Christ. Yet he also recognizes that he is needed in the physical realm, for the sake of others. The bottom line though, is that live or die, he brings honor to Christ. As long as Christ is proclaimed, then Paul is happy to live or die.

We all need to be reminded from time to time that it is Christ that must be honored, not ourselves. If that means that we die, then so be it. If that means that the way in which God decreed we die is not a simple, clean and sudden process, then we realize all the more how precious and valuable the life after this one is, where we will never die nor suffer again. That is our hope, and that of our fellow Christians.

We grieve for our own loss, yet we are glad for our deceased fellow Christians. For the non-believer though, there is nothing but regret and emptiness, and a reinforced belief in the evil of death. All of the evidence and arguments don't matter in the face of death.
 

Hope In the New Year

As we enter the new year, we all hope to put the past year behind us, and hope that the new year will be better. I can honestly say that this was another tough year, the fourth such year in a row for me and my family. Yet we are also blessed, and we continue to have hope. On what basis can we even have hope?

Hope is pretty empty if it is not accompanied by trust. Because to hope is to trust. Many people hope to lose weight, for example, and trust in a diet and workout program to do so, along with their own ability to stick with it. From personal experience, I can say that to hope in such an ability is rather optimistic, even if we trust ourselves.

For our hope to be worth something then, we should trust in something greater than ourselves. Some people trust in community, some in their wealth, or fame. But for Christians, we can only put our hope in God. We trust God, and that is where our hope is.

Psa 71:5  For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

Our trust and hope in God is not arbitrary, for we read:

Psa 33:22  Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

Rom 15:13  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

We see that we should hope because God loves us. The hope in God fills us with all joy, and all peace, as we believe in that hope. The Holy Spirit of God gives us the power to hope. There can be no greater in which to place our hope. There can be nothing more to hope for than what God may grant us through His grace.

No matter what lies behind us, we trust God, and in that trust is our hope for joy and peace. We believe, trust and hope through the Spirit, so that we may know that our hope is not in vain, and that God's love will be manifest in our lives, even when it is tough.

May your hopes in the new year for joy and peace be fulfilled through God's great love.

1 John 2:2 – Is Everyone Saved?

We have been told repeatedly that this passage, 1 John 2:2 proves universal atonement.

1Jn 2:2  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (ESV)

You may or may not agree with my exegesis below, and accuse me of misreading, or making it too complicated. So be it. We cannot just make assertions about Scripture, we have to study and meditate and pray on it, and try to understand the full meaning of it in the context of the whole counsel of Scripture. If that means going past a superficial reading, then we must do so, since we are to handle the Word of God with care and reverence, and not as some newspaper comic strip.

There are a few things at work here, and Arminians want to continuously appeal to a "simple reading" of the text. We believe we are rendering a simple reading of the text, and we should also agree that it cannot say something different or contradictory to what is mentioned in the direct context, the context of NT soteriology, the work and offices of Christ and what John says elsewhere.

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Why Is There Evil and Condemnation?

So often do we hear this…why is there evil in the world? Why does God condemn people if He is love? Why is there hate, and darkness, and  bad people and sin? we then see manipulations and mental gymnastics to try and explain things away. All too complicated, if you ask me.

The answer is right there, staring us in the face, right at the beginning of the Bible.

How do we know love, except in the context of love versus hate? Or salvation, except if it is contrasted with damnation? Or how about goodness, if not set against the bad? If the negative does not exist, we have no possible way of grasping the positive, and vice versa.

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Thankful for the Gospel

Around this time of the year, there is a lot of talk about thankfulness. We hear how people are thankful for many things, like family, abundance, good friends, prosperity and many other blessings. We should rightfully live a life of thanks for our earthly blessings.

But the biggest thankfulness should be reserved for the Gospel. In the letter to the Colossians, we get both a succinct description of the Gospel, and the effect of the Gospel which results in thankfulness.

First, the apostle summarizes the gospel:

Col 2:13  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Col 2:14  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Sinners, who are dead in their sins and unchanged in their hearts as a result of it, are changed by God. The debt owed to the righteousness of the just God is canceled. The trespasses we knowingly and unknowingly commit before God, which create a debt that can only be negated by judgment and punishment is forgiven, written off and set aside. Those debts, all of them, past, present and future, were nailed to the cross with the atonement and sacrifice of Christ, so that we may stand before God, innocent upon the appeal to the cross.

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Join the Thanksgiving Parade – Micheal Horton

"We need not wallow in our unworthiness, but join the thanksgiving parade that is already in progress, until one day we join our voices with the rest of redeemed creation. The vision of the heavenly kingdom in Revelation is a restored liturgy, with every part of creation performing its ordained role. It is a universal city without man-made walls or a man-made temple, for the Lord surrounds it in safety and the Lamb is its temple. At last, the symphony resounds throughout the empire: “Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars!…Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord” (Ps 148:3, 12-13)."

Read here: Join the Thanksgiving Parade

Is Ignorance an Excuse?

Any time schools of theological thought come up, there is a lot of back and forth. Iron sharpens iron, and we all learn from each other, so discussion is a good thing. However, what normally happens is that each side accuses the other of misrepresenting the others position, definitions get mixed up and then insults and going in circles commence.

As a reformed believer, a so-called "Calvinist", I have seen that a lot. I want to be clear, it surely happens with Roman Catholicism, Arminianism, Wesleyanism, molinism etc too, and I will be the first to admit that I am sometimes guilty of misunderstanding or misrepresenting other schools of thought. However, I am often on the receiving end of some really aggressive and outright degrading attacks against reformed beliefs. And again, I have also seen that against other schools of theology, and to be frank, it all annoys the heck out of me.

There is simply no excuse for dong that. Calling Calvinism "from Satan", "an insult to God" etc demonstrates a profound ignorance of what reformed theology is. While all schools claim to want to glorify God, none of them can rationally and honestly argue for the complete and outright sovereignty of God in salvation. They all add something to grace. Whether the reformed position is necessarily correct is not the question, but the outrageous insults leveled at a theology that starts with the sovereignty of God from theologies that don't should point to the lack of discernment in these types of discussions.

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