day no. 15,208: was Jesus breakable?

John 19:33-37
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

God promised that none of His Son's bones would be broken. He fulfilled this promise by keeping his legs from being broken while He hung dying on the cross. In other words, Jesus surrendered His spirit without having it forcibly removed from Him. God could have kept His Son's legs unbroken by making them out of adamantium. He could have simply made Him unbreakable. But God did not keep His promise by making a stainless steel Jesus, but by making Jesus completely human... breakable and yet, not broken. 

John 10:35
Scripture cannot be broken

Jesus' legs were breakable. They could have been broken by clubs, but in another sense they could not have been broken, because God's Word promised that they wouldn't be. The Bible cannot be broken. God's Word is unbreakable. It is impossible to successfully thwart. God kept His Word by keeping His Son safe, not making Him indestructible. The Word cannot be broken in its office as the Word, but the Word made flesh was breakable in its office as the incarnate.

While Jesus' bones were protected by God's promises, His soul was crushed according to that same promise. His body could be pierced and it was promised beforehand that this quality is what makes for our peace.

Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

There is no salvation in a stainless steel Jesus. There is salvation because God keeps His Word, Jesus kept His bones in tact by keeping His Word, though the Word made flesh received many blows.

day no. 15,207: covenant as a literary structuring device

This morning (12/3/19), I was reading Doug Wilson's Tuesday letters to the editor posts (HERE) and came across THIS interesting resource on Leviticus and Deuteronomy discussing the Decalogue and covenant as a literary structuring device of Leviticus in its lay out and Deuteronomy in its sermon-esque commentary.

This pointed out the importance of 5 in covenant making.

1. God’s transcendence 
2. New order and hierarchy 
3. Stipulations 
4. Sanctions (blessings and curses) 
5. Succession arrangements 

The Decalogue can be broken into 2 sets of 5 with the each complementing the other.

I.     God is transcendant
II .   God is immanent
III.   God's name should not be taken lightly
IV.   God's rest should not be forsaken
V.    God's authorities are good

VI.   Do not play God and murder
VII.  Do not forsake the one immediate to you (spouse) and commit adultery
VIII. Do not take lightly that which does not belong to you
IX.   Do not witness falsely against God's provision
X.    Do not disinherit or despise your neighbor

Here is how the author framed it:
1. Initiation, announcement, transcendence, life and death, covenantal idolatry.
2. Restructuring, order, hierarchy, liturgical idolatry, protection of the bride.
3. Distribution of a grant, incorporation, property, law, generally, as maintenance of the grant
4. Implementation, blessings and curses, witnesses, sabbath judgments.
5. Succession, artistic enhancements, respect for stewards, covetousness.

Outlining the sermon structure of Deuteronomy as such:

Covenant/Re-creation Pattern in Deuteronomy
Taking Hold–Transcendence – Initiation, 1:1-5
Historical Overview – Breakdown and Renewal of Order, 1:6-4:43
Stipulations – Given with view to the coming Distribution of the Land, 4:44-26:19
Sanctions – Witnesses, 27-30
Succession – Rest – Enhancements– Continuity, 31-34

day no. 15,206: preaching according to its kind

“The kind of God we believe in determines the kind of sermons we preach.” - John Stott, The Challenge of Preaching

Who we think we're talking about affects how we talk about them. It affects the words we choose, the tone we use, the urgency we stress, the volume we flex, the pace we provide, the tempo we employ, the tenacity by which we insist and the ferocity in which we persist.

For example, the way a man talks about the woman he loves is different than the way he talks about a lady he knows. The kind of relationship he has affects the kind of words he uses... things he would never say and things he makes sure to say, etc...

Like any good principle, it also works in the other direction. Math equations work both ways: i.e. 2 + 2 =4 and 4 = 2 + 2. In this case, the kind of sermons we preach tells us what kind of God we think we're talking about. It is not just that our vision of God informs our preaching, but that our preaching reveals what kind of God we have envisioned.

day no. 15,205: unspeakable

"We have somehow got hold of the idea that error is only that which is outrageously wrong; and we do not seem to understand that the most dangerous person of all is the one who does not emphasize the right things." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The most dangerous heretic is not the one publishing books promoting unorthodox belief, it is the one refusing to publish books promoting orthodox belief. It is the heretic hiding under the banner of creeds and doctrinal statements signed years ago who has ceased to speak them boldly now. Failing to emphasize what is right and true is an error far more dangerous than emphasizing falsehood. Those heretics show themselves for what they are while the others conceal the fact that they have drifted away from their confession. This is observed in their reluctance to confess it openly. It takes longer to note the data points of omission than it does to note one dramatic point of commission.

In other words, emphasis is inescapable. If someone is not openly emphasizing anything, they are secretly emphasizing something unspeakable. This does not mean that all silence is violence. Not speaking is not necessarily speaking. I am referring to those who have spoken before, signalling their allegiance to the creeds, but now seem shy in associating with what they say they believe.

day no. 15,204: mute-opia

Isaiah 56:10
His watchmen are blind;
they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs;
they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber.

The wrath of God is revealed in leaders who refuse to speak, guardians who have a gag order placed upon them, watchmen who do not watch, lookouts who do not look, sentries who are silent and basset hounds who cannot bark.

Some see this as a mute-opia: a land where no one raises their voice, no one shouts, no one barks, no one argues or gets in a huff and everyone lies down (and stays down) and sleeps.

But the Kingdom of God is ushered in by heralds shouting from the rooftops what God has done, is doing and has yet to do. It is characterized by warnings to turn to Jesus before secret deeds are articulated clearly from those same rooftops -- the ones under which we'd prefer to spend our days silently in slumber.

Pastors who refuse to proclaim are dumb dogs lazily losing their days drifting in and out of sleep as they drift downstream wherever the current dumps them.

day no. 15,203: when we try to do everything, we wear out and others never grow up

Leading in the Christian world is not about doing everything. You do not lead by doing the brunt of the work. You lead by getting other people involved. You call on other jersey numbers and entrust real ministry to them.

Remember that and you'll be fine.

Ephesians 4:11-13
God gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

When we try to do everything, others do not grow up and we wear ourselves out.
When we all do our own parts, everyone grows in maturity as we bear each other up.

day no. 15,202: better to be accused with Him by culture than acquitted by culture and condemned by Him

"Then there are Christians who are acutely sensitive to any charges the world might level at them, however absurd. The last thing in the world they would ever want to be called is a racist, and so the world steers these Christians where they “ought to be” by threatening to call them racists. They tremble at the thought of being called homophobic, so the world draws itself up to full height and calls them homophobic. These Christians are full of cowardice. The fear flows over the lip of their emotional cup, and they are standing in the slop. They have ceded complete authority to the world to define righteousness and unrighteousness for them. This is how it can come to pass that after Jesus picks a fight with the respected religious leaders of the day in John 8, the response of the contempo-Christian is to call such behavior un-Christlike. Fine. Folly is identified by her children, and all of them are pretty ugly and really stupid." - Douglas Wilson, Same-Sex Mirage: Phantasmagoria at the Altar & Some Biblical Responses

There are good reasons to be called a racist, a homophobe, sexist, etc... There are obviously bad reasons to be labeled or accused of being any of these, but it isn't necessarily a statement on your standing before God to be called any of these. It all depends on who is calling you that and why.

If you declare the God grants dignity to all men regardless of their color, this may land you labeled a racist by those who insist that whiteness be included in Paul's laundry list of sins in Romans 1:29-32.

If you declare that God defines morality and marriage, including which parts go where, with whom and how often, you may be called homophobic by those who insist that two screws can turn into each other without turning into something else and that two nuts, if rubbed together, can become one mechanism.

If you declare that God made men and women in His image, but made one from the ground for the ground and one from the man for the man, this may get you shrieked down as a toxic masculinity mongering sexist by those who insist man made himself out of the muck and can become whatever he so determines by might.

In those circumstances, deal me in with the racist, homophobic misogynists. If by those definitions, God is declared racist, homophobic, and chauvinistic, then count me in His company. Better to be found in Him accused of that than acquitted by a culture under His condemnation.