day no. 17,402: the beginning and the end of all days

"The best way to shorten winter is to prolong Christmas." — G. K. Chesterton

Christmas will someday conquer the world. Christendom will do for June what it has already done for December, which is to say, deliver it from darkness.

The summer months flooded with sun will someday be eclipsed by the Son.

The postmillennial leaven spreads through the lump of January. Twelfth night is punctuated by Epiphany.

The calendar belongs to Christ. 

Every day is the day of the Lord. We set aside some days for special purposes, like one in seven being recognized as the Lord's Day, but we do so as part of seeing all days bow their knees to their Lord and King.

day no. 17,399: the day everything became something

"God is not bound down and limited by being merely everything. He is also at liberty to be something." — G.K. Chesterton, The Uses of Diversity (1920)

Christmas is the celebration of everything becoming something. In the beginning, God made everything from nothing. Everything, that is, except for Himself. He was not made. He is the Maker. He is the everything who made something, all things that have been made as it turns out. So, there existed a distinction. The Creator and His creation. The one thing that He was not was a created thing. But even that did not prove too difficult an obstacle for Him to overcome.

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Word that was God became like the words He spoke. He became like a created thing in order to dwell among His creation. All things were created by Him in the beginning and in the incarnation He made Himself a created thing.

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The incarnation is the miracle of the One who made everything from nothing becoming something in particular. The incarnation does not destroy the distinction between Creator and creation, but it does bridge the distinction. Jesus is Jacob's ladder. He is the mediator between heaven and earth and there is no other safe way to approach the Father but through Him.

day no. 17,389: free to give and costly to get back

"Freedom is already being lost in a network of police prohibition... English liberty may well be entirely lost. I should not write this if I did not think that it may also be saved. But I could not write it without recording my own conviction that there is only one way of saving it." ― G.K. Chesterton, The Illustrated London News (1920)

Freedom can be freely given away, but it cannot be taken back that way. 

Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

If you have been set free, you must resist the temptation to use your freedom to enslave yourself. Freedom is full of responsibility and that can be a heavy burden to carry, so heavy that some opt for the weight of chains. They prefer bondage and endless bureaucracy to the weight of personal responsibility and endless liberty.

John 10:9

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

When attempt to break yourself free from the kingdom of Christ, you break away from the kingdom of freedom. You do not find open prairie beyond the fence, you find the abyss. Inside the fence through the narrow gate, there is space to play, but outside the gate and beyond the fence is only the void.

"We have lost our national instincts because we have lost the idea of that Christendom from which the nations came. In freeing ourselves from Christianity, we have only freed ourselves from freedom. We shall not now return to a merely heathen hilarity, for the new heathenism is anything but hilarious." ― G.K. Chesterton, The Illustrated London News (1920)

There is no heathen hilarity waiting to embrace those who adopt a libertarian pipe dream. There is no freedom at the end of the road of every man doing what is right in his own eyes. You do not get Heaven on earth like that, you get the book of Judges. If we are to be free, we must return to Freedom. He is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father or to freedom but through Him. Getting back to Christ will cost us a lot. Not just something, but everything. And if we are not willing to give up whatever gains we imagine we have found without Him, we will never get back to the font of freedom that gave us the freedom in the first place.

day no. 17,378: unendurable vices (and their remedies)

In Douglas Wilson's recent post titled, Christians, Gerrymandering, and the Legitimate Uses of Political Power, he referenced the following quotation:

"These present times, in which we can endure neither our vices nor their remedies." — Livy, Ab Urbe Condita Praefatio 9

One of the worst consequences of being caught in sin for a long time is that you get used to it and prefer the pains of staying in the chains to the pains of learning to walk again. Good muscles atrophy from lack of use and any attempt to use them again is painful. Like the lame man by the pool of Bethseda, you get used to where you are and are not particularly motivated to move. The difficulties of moving only then reinforce a desire to stay put.

Sin is not a long-term strategy and anything that can't go on forever, won't. And so we have reached the point where we can no longer sleep in the bed we have made. It is too uncomfortable. But we are also too weak and to tired to carry our old mattress out. We can no longer get rest from the things we used to and we do not have the energy or ability to do the work real rest requires.

We cannot continue to drink poison without dying, but we cannot stand the taste of the medicine. And so, we waste away... unless God, by His grace, should intervene.

day no. 17,372: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

"While the case itself was heartening, the thing that appears to be really heartening is that Republicans seem to be rejecting their tried and true historical tactic of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory." — Douglas Wilson, Christians, Gerrymandering, and the Legitimate Uses of Political Power

Conservatism has a grand tradition of conserving nothing more than the last liberal victory. It seeks to keep the liberals from advancing any faster or further down the road by keeping them at the same speed and going the same direction as they have been going. In other words, it doesn't conserve much of anything and when it actually has the opportunity to, it usually blushes.

"American conservatism is a party which never conserves anything... it is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader." — R.L. Dabney

Conservatism is either too shy or too coy to win. It either means it, but it too bashful to do it or it doesn't really mean it and that is why it never actually wins. It isn't playing to win against the liberals, it is playing a different game. Its livelihood depends on the existence of liberals. It wouldn't know what to do with itself if it won. It needs something to fight so that it can be re-elected. In other words, it wants to stay in office, not advance its platform.

day no. 17,204: the definition of chalcedon (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Advent: The Definition of Chalcedon

November 30, 2025

The Definition of Chalcedon

THE TEXT

The text for this morning’s exhortation is John 1:1, 14, these are the words of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

THE CHURCH CALENDAR AND THE CHRISTMAS CREED

Good morning and Happy New Year! And no, I am not getting ahead of myself, it is the world and its calendar that has fallen behind. You see, today is the first Sunday of Advent and as such it marks the beginning of the Christian liturgical calendar. So, one could say that today is the Christian New Year. And since it marks a change in season, the session thought it might also be a good opportunity to change the confession we recite after our sermon. As a church in the CREC, CCL has three options: the Apostles’ Creed, the NIcene Creed, or the Definition of Chalcedon. These are three ecumenical creeds that the CREC affirms. Typically at CCL, we recite the Apostles’ Creed, but it has become our custom to recite the Nicene Creed beginning on the first Sunday of Advent before changing back to the Apostles’ Creed on the first Sunday of Lent. This year, however, the session decided we should take the four weeks of Advent to familiarize ourselves with what is likely the least familiar of these: The Definition of Chalcedon. It is, after all, the most Christmasy of the creeds… and that is saying something. After all, Santa Claus himself attended the Council of Nicea. So, what could be more Christmasy than that? The incarnation. That is what Christmas is all about and that is the central focus of the Definition of Chalcedonian. And since we will be reciting it together after the sermon today, it only seemed fair to give you a chance to read it beforehand so that you are not confessing something you have never considered.

So, please open your bulletin to the inside top of the third page where you will see the Definition of Chalcedon printed out for you. As you do that, let me remind you that the clear teaching of Scripture is that Jesus is God and that Jesus is man. We saw that in our text from John. The Word was God and the Word became flesh. But how does that work? That is what the creed of Chalcedon works out for us.

THE DEFINITION OF CHALCEDON

So, let’s walk through it and I’ll provide some brief commentary as we go: “Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body;” So, first off, this is not something the council of Chalcedon made up. This is based on the common faith they received from their fathers and now seek to deliver to us. The truth of this creed was not invented in the year of our Lord, 451. This is a reiteration of what the one true, holy and apostolic church has always and with one accord taught: there is only one Son of God, and He is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is truly and fully God and truly and fully man; not half and half, like a centaur, nor a diluted version of either, like an Arnold Palmer. He was and is God to nth degree and He was and is man to the nth degree. He was not fully God and only kinda man, like God in a man costume. No, His flesh and body were real and if you pricked Him, He bled. Nor was He fully man and only kinda God-like, like a superhero. He was not a man with super powers nor the uber-mench. He was God and He was man.

“of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin;” Jesus was not schizophrenic. He did not have dissociative identity disorder or multiple personalities. He was not a two-spirit. He was not a man with a God-complex or a God from the Greek Pantheon with man-envy. He was one person with two natures. He had the same nature as His Father (Heb 1:3) and the same nature as His brothers (Heb 2:17), the only difference being that He was without sin.

“as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten,” 

The origin of Jesus’ divinity was His Father who is in Heaven, not His mother who was from Nazareth. The origin of His humanity, however, was from her. So, Mary carried Jesus and His divinity in her person, but that was because divinity was in His person, not from hers. Jesus was God from the moment of conception, but His divinity came from being conceived by the Holy Ghost. So, Jesus was the true Son of God and the promised Seed of the woman.

“recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ;” Jesus is one person with two natures. This reality is often referred to as “the hypostatic union.” His divinity and His humanity can be discussed separately, but they cannot be separated. Jesus was also not one person who was sometimes in God mode and sometimes in Adam mode. He did not have to toggle between being a God one moment and a man the next at the flip of a switch. He was always one person who was always simultaneously fully God and fully man.

So, let there be no confusion of categories. That which is predicated of one nature can be faithfully predicated of the person, and that which is predicated of the other nature can be predicated of the person, but that which is predicated of one of the natures cannot be predicated of the other nature. For example: Jesus, in the nature of His humanity, was a certain height, let’s say, 5’9”. But that does not mean that the nature of divinity is 5’9”. If it was, people like me would rule the world. We still would not be able to dunk a basketball, but we wouldn’t care, because those who could would have to dunk for us. For an example that runs the other direction, Jesus in the nature of His divinity was omnipotent. But that does not mean that the nature of humanity is to grow up into all-powerful gods. 

“even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.” And so the creed ends where it began. Jesus is who the prophets predicted, He is who He said He was, and He is who the apostles observed with their own eyes and testified to. Consider 1 John 1:1-3 which are the words of God and also the testimony of John, the beloved apostle: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

So, why does any of this matter for us here today and why should we not only confess it together later in the service, but carry it with us especially throughout this season of Advent and Christmas? Because Jesus assumed the full nature of what it means to be human, real men and women, like you and me, have been fully redeemed and forgiven in Him. And because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He lives even now to intercede on our behalf, and He always will, even for our children and our children’s children, until He returns.

So, if you find yourself, like Charlie Brown, tempted to think that Christmas is too materialistic, remember that the Word became flesh. You might say, “Ok, but people should still remember the reason for the season, right?” Agreed. The Word became flesh. That is the reason for the season. God likes stuff. Let the stuff rejoice. Despite all the stuff that the stuff has gotten itself into, God still loves the stuff. In fact, He so loved the stuff that He sent His one and only Son to become stuff like us, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. So, be the kind of stuff that buys stuff and wraps it in other stuff before giving it to your beloved stuffs. And if you are tempted to be Grinchy, remember the Definition of Chalcedon and celebrate the reconciliation of the spiritual and the material and enjoy the fudge, the fireplace, the mulled wine, the movies, the candy, the lights, the snow, the egg nog, and the songs on the radio. For God is with us and He loves us.

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we are so often grouchy about all the stuff one day and greedy for all of it the next, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, whether they be these or others. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Gracious Father, if You were to mark iniquities, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness, that You may be feared. Called by You to the throne of grace, and confident in our great High Priest, we bow before You and confess that we have sinned against You and been unfaithful to Your holy covenant. Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick, so that we often do what we hate, and neglect what we love. Out of our mouths we both praise You and curse our fellow men. You promised mercy to our fathers through the seed of the woman. Turn our hearts again, Father, to consider Jesus, who crushed the serpent’s head, and saved His people from their sins. Forgive, cleanse, and restore us for His sake. Amen.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from 1 John 1:8-9, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He bore our nature so that He could bear our sins. If we say we have no sin, we call Christmas unnecessary and Calvary a lie. But if we confess our sins, as we all just did, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father right now, and in Him, your sins are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now, let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise!

day no 17,197: God with us is God for us

“There is one political maxim which comforts me. ‘The Lord reigns!’” — John Newton

Christ is King and the increase of His government will know no end. 

Isaiah 9:7

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Emmanuel is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and He will remain sitting there until every last one of His enemies has been added to His footstool, save death. At that point, He will stand up and return to look death in the face before putting an end to it forever. Jesus tasted death for us all and He will one day vanquish death once and for all. Jesus escaped the clutches of death when He rose from the dead on the third day. He will provide the death blow to the grave on that final day. Until then, death is on death row awaiting its sentence and Christ is crowned in Heaven as He will be on earth. 

God with us is God for us. 

day no. 17,194: full tilt

“God is going to sweep the whole world with His saints.” — Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

The leaven will make its way through the lump. The whole loaf will be leavened. The leaven is not going to get lumpy. The progress is not going that direction. The progressives will not make it to the end. 

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

How wet is water? That is how Christian the world will one day be. 

Numbers 14:21

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.

The world will be flooded with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

Psalm 22:27

All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

The whole world will face the Lord. No nation will turn its face away. All peoples everywhere will one day worship together before the Lord.

Isaiah 11:9

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

All the destroyers will be destroyed. No demonic stronghold will survive. Every thought will be taken captive to obey Christ.

Isaiah 40:5

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The kingdom is not a secret. It is not something someone sees and someone else does not. In the end, everyone will see it together and those who have believed will bow and cheerfully confess that Christ is King while those who held out by refusing to believe will bow and begrudgingly admit that Christ is Lord.

day no. 17,002: tippie toes tip over

“Satan will not win because he has abandoned God’s tool of dominion, biblical law.” — Gary North

Submission is the engine of dominion. 

You can begin building a tower to Heaven by defiance, but you cannot finish it that way.

Psalm 119:97-100

O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

Only submission can stand before God. 

Only humility can reach Heaven.

Tippie toes cannot touch it.

 “We become taller when we bow.” — G.K. Chesterton

You will never get a glimpse of glory until you have bent your knee in humility.

day no. 16,973: the good life

“Life is rarely easy, but, with Christ our King, it is always good.” — R.J. Rushdoony

Christ is King and He is kind.

John 16:33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Life is often not as easy as we wish it was, but it is never harder than it has to be.

Sometimes a hardship is the only way to reach a safe harbor.

Acts 14:22

We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Whatever tribulations we must endure, they are not too many, nor are they too few to ensure that we get to where God would have us go.

day no. 16,968: pulling deep heaven down

“They have pulled down deep heaven on their heads.” — C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (The Space Trilogy, #3)

When you mess with the spirit world, you often get more than you bargained for... especially if you are a materialist.

Ephesians 6:12

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Those who play with demons end up being played by them. 

2 Corinthians 11:14

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

When you try to tap into supernatural powers, you end up powerless and unnatural. When you strike a deal with the world above your head, you end up getting yourself in over your head. The only solution at that point is to be saved by Someone outside your situation, Someone who is over what is over your head.

Colossians 2:15

And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Christ mocked the minions of Satan in broad daylight as He hung on the Cross. They drove the nails into their own coffins as they drove them into His hands. They sealed their fate when they tried to seal His tomb.

They called deep heaven down upon themselves and invited the vengeance of God to come down for a visit.

day no. 16,959: along came the Rock

And the face of the tyrant is darkened,
His spirit is torn,
For a new King is throned of a nation—

A child is born.

— G.K. Chesterton, The Nativity

Herod hated the idea of another king. His cowardice feared the foretold Christ and his countenance fell at the tales of His fruition. So, he had the sons of Bethlehem slain. He cast a wide net in order to catch the Christ and killed more kids than he needed to in order to make sure he could accommodate the mystical math of the prophets. 

Yet, for all of Herod’s froth and bubble, the King escaped his impotent rage and was born. He reigned in His mother's womb before He reigned in the manger. He reigned in the caravan as a kid before He reigned in Cana as the barkeep. He took on the tent of human flesh in order to camp among us. He set up shop and got to work. And the temper tantrums of a tinpot tyrant could not stop the Son of God as He went forth to war.

Herod was deposed and his throne was exposed. He was sitting on sand when along came the Rock.

day no. 16,883: the dead man who haunted Hitler

"Hitler was obsessed with Kuyper, a man who had been dead for twenty years when Hitler launched his attack on the Netherlands. What high praise for this man whose chief desire was to bring true praise and honor to the Lord Jesus." — George Grant, The Kuyperian Vision of Christ's Lordship

Kuyper was a dead man who haunted Hitler. Kuperian categorical distinction, commonly referred to as sphere sovereignty, and the kingdom of Christ were the bane of Hitler's existence. Kuyper brought the Name of Jesus to bear everywhere and that meant that anyone hellbent on treading anywhere in Christendom would break their own ankles.

"Why did Hitler fear a man that had been dead for twenty years? Hitler feared Kuyper’s view on the role of God in everyday life. For Kuyper believed that God continually influenced the life of believers, and daily events could show his workings. As Kuyper famously said, 'Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!''” — George Grant, The Kuyperian Vision of Christ's Lordship

All of Christ for all of life is a tough nut to crack and people who live that way are not easy to bribe or battle. A people who push Christ to the corner of everything will have a place that is defended from top to bottom, side to side, front to back by the Word of God. A pillar of fire by night and a cloud of smoke by daybreak makes for timid neighbors.

"Kuyper lived out this notion and helped create a culture completely juxtaposed to the world order that Hitler had hoped to impose." — George Grant, The Kuyperian Vision of Christ's Lordship

A culture consumed by Christ is ordered according to His Word. Chaos cannot stand against Christ. Tyranny preys upon disordered people, but well-ordered, free-spirited slaves of Christ cannot be bought or beaten.

"One desire has been the ruling passion of my life. One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul. and sooner than that I should seek escape from the sacred necessity that is laid upon me, let the breath of life fail me. It is this: That in spite of all worldly opposition, God's holy ordinances shall be established again in the home, in the school and in the State for the good of the people; to carve as it were into the conscience of the nation the ordinances of the Lord, to which Bible and Creation bear witness, until the nation pays homage again to God." — Abraham Kuyper

day no. 16,881: Christ or Christless?

"When a comprehensive Christian worldview is applied to the whole of life even those who protest the claims of the Gospel must live in accordance with its categories." — George Grant

When a person condemns Christianity for stirring up strife, causing wars, supporting slavery, reinforcing racism, sustaining sexism, or cultural conquest, they can only do so using Christian categories of sin. They can only condemn Christianity under the authority of Christ. Without Christendom, there is no foundation from which to declare any of those things to be wrong. Why should a Christian be ashamed of racism? Because Christ is Lord. If Christ is not Lord, why is racism wrong? Says who?

The fact that warmongering, kidnapping, race baiting, misogyny, and brutality are considered wrong (i.e. sinful) is because Christendom has come to bear heavily upon the individual and collective conscience of the world. Because Christ is King, His categories are codified throughout His Kingdom; and that is an everlasting kingdom without earthen borders.

Daniel 7:14

And to Him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve Him;

His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and His kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

Deplorable acts are only considered to be so because they are Christless. There is no other standard that can be consistently brought to bear upon any thought, word, or deed.