thoughts from "Grace Liberates" by Dr. Michael Horton‏

Listen HERE to the full presentation by Dr. Michael Horton from the White Horse Inn.

People often spend the majority of the lives wanting to know the purpose for their lives. We want to know why we're all here and what we specifically are supposed to be doing.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism answers this question this way:

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]

We think that knowing our purpose will finally satisfy us. We feel lonely or confused because we do not know what to do. However, what we discover is that we were meant for more. This seems hopeful at first, until we realize that we do not glorify God in all things or enjoy Him more than anything else always. We may do this sometimes or in some ways, but not always and certainly not as much as He deserves.

Abraham was told that his purpose was to have a child and father many nations. This was good news after waiting a long time to know what God wanted specifically from him. However, Abraham and his wife were barren. They got anxious. They had a purpose in life and they were falling short. So they made a plan to have a child. Abraham slept with Sarah's servant and voila, Ishmael was born. This was sin. Abraham could not bear the weight of the purpose.

Abraham needed a promise. The promise was that God was going to do this. It was not about Abraham's ability to fulfill his purpose on his own, but God's mercy in giving and fulfilling a purpose for Abraham.

Abraham believed God and this was credited to him as righteousness. Not Abraham's ability to fulfill his purpose, but his trust in receiving God's gift of fulfilling his purpose for him.

Romans 4:23-25

²³ Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, ²⁴ but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.²⁵ He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Yes you have a purpose. You were made to love God and your neighbor. Because we have a promise from God that in Christ we are forgiven our shortcomings, we can fulfill our purpose with joy. It is not our ability to be purposeful that makes us lovely in the sight of God, but our fragility in confessing our sin and leaning on His gracious gift on our behalf.

We have much for which to be thankful. May you believe the promise of God today and may it fuel your desire to fulfill your purpose: not because you have to do so in slavery to get back to God, but because reconciled to God you get to do so in freedom before Him.

This is not about you.
Not about your purpose.
Not about your failure.

This is about Jesus.

About His victory.
His love.
His gift.

If He has, you are.
If He is, you can.

Thoughts from "The Three Amigos" circa 1986

Paige and I decided to watch The Three Amigos the other night because we're awesome. At one point in the movie, Steve Martin's character (Lucky Day) utters the following statement:

“In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be *the actual* El Guapo!”

I absolutely adore the humor employed in exposing this nonsensicial sentiment often applied to preaching through Bible texts (particularly the Old Testament as though it were not about Jesus and were about us).

The ridiculousness of comparing shyness to imminent physical harm is absurd. That is the joke and Steve Martin expected you to laugh.. I love that the comedic value of this device was so apparent.  That is not to say this was a diatribe regarsding preaching, but rather that this principle of making everything about you is a skill set.  In principle, I have observed this phenomenon saturating a lot of what is passing for preaching.

Have you ever heard been asked, "What is your Goliath?" or "What is your Jordan?"  Now I get what some of these people often mean when they use these examples, but still it meets with resistance in my spirit at the suspicion of what could be meant by it. 

First of all:  David and Goliath is NOT a story about YOU!  You arrogant, self-absorbed, self-righteous jerk.  Everything should not have to be about you in order for you to care about it or to be relevant.  The Bible is relevant because it is, not because it appeals or applies to you in each and every circumstance in a "this for that" transaction. .

Second of all: The Bible is about Jesus.  David and Goliath is part of the metanarrative that is the revelation of the Messiah.  Some stories historically demonstrate God's preservation of the people through whom the Christ would arrive in fulfillment of His specific promise.  Some stories are documented as types and shadows of who the Christ will be.  Jesus is the Old Testament and the fulfillment thereof.

Lastly: Whatever your Goliath is, it is not "the actual" Goliath.  We all have difficulties to overcome and crosses to carry and none of them are Goliath or The Cross carried by Christ.  That is not to dismiss real pain and trial, but is to say that yours and David's were two different trials specific to you.

I know what people often mean when they employ this strategy of providing application points for the congregation.  I know the need to provide a "take home."  But sometimes the take home is pondering the glory of God in Christ and His faithfulness to fulfill His promises through unfaithful people.  Sometimes there is not a "to do" application for you. .

A story about Moses climbing Sinai may just be a historical event about which the relevance is mined in knowing how that event has shaped our present.  The task is not to discover or infer what our Sinai is, was, or will be.  Maybe for us, there is no Sinai.  And THAT'S OK!  it's not about you. If you have an hour and want to understand this better.  Click HERE.

Thoughts from "The Gospel for those broken by the church"

Listen to the message HERE.

I recently listened to this message by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt.  He is one of the contributors to the weekly podcast, The White Horse Inn.

Pastor Rod primarily speaks to two different groups of people in this message: the sad and the mad.

The sad are those who chronically despair that they are not saved because their lives fall so desperately short of being their best now. 

The mad are those who routinely are provoked to anger by the mention of the church as a result often of a negative experience at or in one.

Pastor Rod stresses the point that Christ crucified is enough to save our dark souls.  But do you we live and believe that?  Do we really believe that His work alone is enough for us?

Pastor Rod asked a very profound and piercing question: 

We all know that the Gospel can save sinners, but do we believe it can save Christians who regularly fail?

It is a tragedy that this question is to poignant.  But I have to admit:  It is legit to inquire. 

Do we believe and trust that God will really see us as He sees Jesus?  Even if we don't try as hard as we should?  Even if we fall further than we admit?  Even if we never reach our actualization? 

It is a piercing question that forces the issue back to our real, ultimate source of trust.  Is it in the finished work of Jesus?  To the exclusion of everything else?  Even our ability to earn it or pay it back after the fact?

Thoughts from "The Sermon on the Mount" & "The Beatitudes"

I recently began listening to a series by the White Horse Inn as they tackle the Sermont on the Mount.

The gentlemen discussed that the Sermon on the Mount is in many ways a retelling of the story of Moses.

Moses and the elders went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from the LORD. The Law's basic framework stated "...if you do these things, you will live and be blessed. If you do not do these things, you will die and be cursed."

Moses was the covenant mediator between Yahweh and Israel.

Jesus is a better Mediator of a better covenant.

Jesus begins speaking the Good News of the Kingdom by speaking blessing upon His hearers. He is not simply flattering them with platitudes about "the silver lining" and "look on the bright side." He is not commanding people to be meek, to be thirsty, to be persecuted, to be poor in spirit. These are not new marching orders. These are blessings bestowed by God to the people of His choosing, upon whom He shows faithful love.

Most people read the beatitudes and have heard them preached as "be" attitudes. These are the things you should be. It is not inaccurate to say that these are desirable states of being and that our hearts should long to be meek, thirsty for righteous, poor in spirit, etc... However, if it is on us to become these things, then it is simply a new Law. Meet the new Law, same as the old Law.

In the Good News God provides that which he commands. The prayer of St. Augustine has been answered and the ability to perform and be that which God demands is fulfilled in Jesus.

This is the Good News of the Gospel.

Thoughts from "For or Against Calvinism"

Recently I listened to For or Against Calvinism from the White Horse Inn.

There are two parts if you want to listen: HERE

This is a conversation between Roger Olson and Michael Horton. It is very interesting and worth your time.

The conversation regarded Arminianism and Calvinism. Roger Olson is an adamant Arminian and Michael Horton is a convinced Calvinist.

Admittedly, I went into this already having determined which side I was "cheering" for per se. Michael Horton carries the torch well for my worldview and Biblical theology. I am sure there are points on which we may differ and on which I could be convinced otherwise. For example, I know that Michael Horton is an apologist for infant baptism. Admittedly, his explanation of it is the best and most persuasive I have ever heard, yet I am not there yet, but understand and sympathize with it more as a result of having heard his attempt at a Biblical explanation for it.

I felt that this conversation consister of Roger Olson appealing to his ideas of what God should be and how those do not mesh well with Calvinism. He repeatedly said, "If I were to believe that about God, I would have to see Him as a monster. I am not saying that you (Michael Horton) think he is a monster. I am just saying that I would see Him that way if what you are saying is true."

Michael Horton mentioned his own difficulties in coming across Romans 9 in his Bible. He even threw it across the room. He knew it would have to shake his ideas about God to believe what the Bible was saying about him.

As John Wesley once said, "whatever it (Romans 9) means, it can't mean that! (what a plain reading implies)"

We all come to the Bible with our own ideas about God and find verses that challenge that. Calvinism and Arminianism both have verses in the Bible that cause difficulty to their position's infallibility. It is without a doubt that when we see Jesus we will see Him as He is and our theological systems will have to expand and burst in order to make room for the Messiah in His glory.

That said, it is well worth the effort of talking this through and debating and studying and thinking and loving and repenting (changing our minds) and submitting to who God reveals Himself to be.

Are there verses in the Bible that perhaps do not mean exactly what a cursory reading would seem to imply? Yes. Arminianism and Calvinism both agree on this matter. The Bible requires some context and study to understand some verses which are deeper than the surface reading.

Are there verses in the Bible that perhaps mean exactly what a cursory glance seems to imply? Yes. It is a matter of knowing which are which I suppose.

Horton and Olson have a lot in common. They differ, however, on "which are which."

Thoughts from "Faith & Experience"

I listened recently to a podcast from the White Horse Inn entitled "Faith & Experience."

The speakers spoke to the notion of experience being the ultimate arbitrator of reality and how many revivalistic and essentially gnostic (the term being used early in English to describe how the book of Revelation characterized the sin of Thyatira) presentations of the Gospel appeal primarily to a crisis moment or internal realization (self-actualization if you will).

The point being this: being reborn is not a process that begins by awaking something inside you, but is a process that comes from without and invades the person (reaching to the very core of said person).

It is not to say that being reborn does not also incorporate and envelop a set of experiences perceived and interpreted by the object. Being reborn and having Christ reside in you through the invasion of the Spirit may rightly be said to necessitate some experience. However, the faith and the facts and testimony of the early Apostles was not often that of their life experience, but of the fact of Jesus' deity as evidenced by His life, death, and resurrection. These are objective, historical facts. The Gospel was fulfilled one specific afternoon by a specific man who was God nailed to a specific cross by specific roman soldiers. This happened once for all.

Reality cannot be held hostage to experience. Experience can interpret reality, but it cannot define it.

The Truth and the Faith are not subject to your subjective feelings about it.

That leads to two very potent conclusions:

(1) Some people are not saved simply because they had a liver shiver back at summer camp in the 7th grade.

(2) Some people are held strong and safe in the hands of the Savior though their feelings ebb and flow daily and their love precipices, peaks, valleys, and falls short day to day.

Faith may be subjective only in that it is hard to define using concrete terms. It is difficult to assess using merely a checklist. Do you have faith? How much faith do you have? Do you have more or less faith than you had yesterday? These are not easy questions and we immediately jump to subjective means by which to gauge progress/regress/success. Experiences may be awesome or horrifying, but neither make Jesus' claim truer or falser.

At the end of the day the Christian does not merely fall back on "I know He lives because He lives in me" as proof that Jesus is alive.

Jesus is alive because the tomb is empty! Hallelujah! What a Savior! He is not alive because you believe Him to be.

He is alive despite many believing He is dead!

We are called to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. That exhortation is followed however with the reminder that we cannot do anything against the Truth. The Truth is outside of us. It enters into us by the Holy Spirit's testimony of Jesus Christ. Even in that event however, the Truth is a foreign agent regenerating us from without, not from within. What I mean by that is if the Spirit is to make us perfect and holy in the sight of God, it will be by using divine influence and hardware that comes from the outside of us and is imputed/placed to/into us -- not by using the natural machinery found already in us.

"We are so obsessed with our beautiful little inward selves" ~ Dr. Michael Horton

It is worthy of noting and meditating on how you felt during the first days of your relationship with Jesus. It is not the feelings, however, that make Jesus real or alive. It is not our feelings about Jesus that saved us then nor sustain us now. It is our belief and faith in Him as our  righteousness, our LORD and our devotion to Him in covenant love inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I am not less married to my wife when I am angry with her. I am not less committed to her. My marriage is not contingent on my feelings toward my wife. It certainly does influence my marriage with my wife and definitely is a part of its growth and experience. However, we are married because of the vows we made and the God before Whom we made them.

What the Gospel isn't

What is the Gospel? It is the ANSWER. What is the question? A wonderful, articulate, thorough, and helpful message delivered by Michael Horton will help codify the marching orders and solidify the basis on which we declare salvation in Christ.

Listen HERE.

I know that most people do not regularly take an hour out of their day to listen to a sermon (coincidentally most Christians would get rather uppity if their pastor went over the 35-40 minute message slot allotted on Sunday). But I am a sermon geek and as such love listening to sermons (even if they are closer to an hour long).

The Gospel is something. Because it is, it is also not other things, anything, or everything.

If we miss this, we risk turning the Message into the message. Both may be useful, but we lose something when we lose the categories into which these fall respectively. Christian culture often may lead one to lump everything together and create a great deal of confusion. The first generation recognizes the difference. The second one assumes the difference. The third assumes they're the same thing.

It's not a matter of pooping on your parade, it's a matter of distinguishing the importance of what is and what is not unique and special about the terms and their use.

I love the idea of a Gospel sports show if by that you mean a show that reviews sports news from a perspective and worldview that embraces and seeks to honor historical, orthodox, Christianity and tell people the Good News while telling them the sports news. However, what it often means is a show about sports by people who simply do not cuss or endorse unChristian behaviors (or run weekly series on the latest Tim Tebow updates). I am not against people promoting good language and good sportsmanship (or Tim Tebow - I like the guy). The problem is that those things are not the GOSPEL!

(and I am guessing Tim Tebow is the type of guy that would tell you he isn't the Good News).

Sin, Sinner, Sinnest?

I was reading Romans 7 in my Bible reading today and was reminded of a recent episode of the White Horse Inn (http://www.whitehorseinn.org/) where they asked this question:

If we sin after we become Christians, are we still saved?

What about if we perpetually sin after we are saved? Are we then still saved?

Take a moment and think about it.

ahem.

What would be your answer to one and then two. I half suspect I know what your answers will be.

Yes and then No. Am I right?

I perpetually sin. Not a day passes in which I do not fall short of the glory of God. But I am also perfect in Christ and being perfected in this life.

Break out the church words – sanctification

In my head, I just said "Break out the church words" to the tune of “Oh no they broke out the cardboard”

Romans 7:21-25

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Repentance is a changing of one’s mind. Here the Apostle Paul agrees in his mind that the Law is good and rightfully condemns him.

He agrees with God.

He agrees that his sin is sin and worthy of death. You cannot agree with God unless by His Spirit He gives you opportunity. The Apostle Paul has repented of his former way of thinking, however, and has embraced the Gospel of God in Jesus Christ.

Beware of anyone who tells you that you can become perfect and sinless in this life. Stay clear dear Christian of those who would entice you into thinking you can work hard enough to earn, deserve, keep, or maintain your salvation. It is not a halo, it is a sword of Damocles

Rest in Jesus alone. You are not saved because you stopped sinning. You were saved when you were sinning. John MacArthur once said, "If I could lose my salvation, I would."

This is not me saying your life and works do not matter. They do. So much so that Christ had to die for the sins you committed, commit and will commit tomorrow. Do not make light of what God paid to set you free by saying that grace makes your life irrelevant. Shameless man, do you accuse God of wrong?