18 words: world and sin

The World:

When I saw the two words 'world' and 'sin' next to each other I immediately assumed that the majority of the 'world' chapter would focus on the idea of flesh, worldly desires and the wickedness of living a carnal lifestyle. Then, in the first page, Packer hits me with this statement "In our thoughts of the world, man is always at the centre." Yikes. He had me pinned.

He goes on to talk about the awesome creation that is the world (and the universe.) One of the most challenging parts for me was when he talked about renouncing things of this world: money, career, business, sport, marriage, home, etc... he said that we must remember that "what is given up in such cases is something good, not something evil."

He continues this thought later by stating "Whether a man is worldly thus depends, not on how much enjoyment he takes from the good and pleasant things of this life, but on the spirit in which he takes it."

The latter half of the chapter then talks about the effects of sin on the beautiful world and how Christ has come to redeem it in every way. As Christians, this will be a day of rejoicing, when the world will be as it was and should be; a world without sin and death, pain and suffering, a world that is beautiful and awesome and magnifies God in every way.

Sin:

Packer rightly states that "our first need in life is to learn about sin..." If we don't know the state we are in and the consequences of it, the good news of Christ will seem overdone and un-needed. But if we know what sin is in our lives, it will come as the greatest news we could ever possibly hear.

My friend, Alex Costa, recently gave a mini-seminar on the holiness of God and then blogged a few notes about the idea. And, in this chapter on sin, it is pointed out that sin must start with an understanding of God's holiness. His complete perfection, magnificence, terribleness and holiness. We must know God as God before we can know ourselves as sinners.

(As an encouragement on getting to know our Holy God, I encourage you to read and meditate on Isaiah 6. Think of the awesome terror that fell on Isaiah as he entered into the temple of heaven and the fiery seraph voices shook the temple entrance. God created those amazing creatures and Isaiah fears this God and cries "Woe is ME!" God's holiness demands an awareness of sin.)

Something else that will help in understanding our sin, because we are quick to justify ourselves as "not that bad" in comparison with others, "man is not depraved and sinful "in the sense that everything in man is as bad as it could be, but that nothing in man is as good as it should be." This comes through an awareness of who God is and what he demands. When we look at ourselves in light of perfection then we realize that nothing we have ever done can stand up to that scrutinizing test.

And so, through the knowledge of the Holy God comes the knowledge of sin. With this knowledge comes a fear of retribution. And so, now, the grace of God through the death of His Son becomes eternally good news. Hebrews 9 and 10 now stand as great testimonies to the love of God.

So, be aware of your sin and repent today. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

-joe

issues with my computer

A thousand apologies for not posting on Sin and the World from 18 Words. My computer at the church decided to really go nuts this week and no longer works for more than a minute or so (long enough to click on "new post" but not enough time to type anything.)

And, unfortunately, I keep forgetting the book at the office and I can't very well right my notes from memory. So, I promise you that the post will come around noon tomorrow (after my morning meeting and before I head to work at the store.) Until then, I leave you with some Scripture. Read the whole thing and then just read the bolded sections:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

-Ephesians 1:3-14

Amen? Yes. Amen!

-joe

short sermon

Today I preached what was easily my shortest sermon. It lasted less than 10 minutes and contained several different remembrances of Ashley. Interwoven was the Gospel, as seen in John 14:1-7. There is only one hope, and it is Christ. He has promised that if we believe in Him, that he died for our sins and rose the third day to save us, we will be with him in paradise.

Despite its brevity, this sermon affected me more than any other time I have talked about the Gospel. As I looked out at the faces in the room, I became acutely aware of the fact that some of these people would never concede to the grace of God and would instead, choose hell because of the hardness of their hearts.

Fresh in the eyes of death, I saw the finality of the Gospel. That, at some point, we will no longer have the ability to teach them the Gospel. How horrible a thought. So horrible, that my whole body feels weak. How terrible the grace of God can be, when it is denied by the very people he came to save.

This brings the idea of evangelism (a topic that I'm teaching in a Wednesday evening class) to a new height. Oh, that my complacency towards those who don't believe would be kindled.

-joe

(18 Words will be posted tomorrow: the World and Sin)

giving

I've often spent time in prayer and conversation about my convictions on giving. It is a sensitive topic, but it should be discussed.

Personally, my views have changed fairly drastically since my early Christian days. These past couple of years I've tried to figure out when and where to give and when to withhold.

I've become increasingly convinced that giving to those who are outside the body of Christ (those who do not consider themselves Christians, not just those outside our immediate church) should not cease for any reason other than a loss of means to give. Basically, that we should give until we can't to those who are without Christ. The reason is simple: Christ gave to us while we were still sinners and saved us...and hopefully that will be true of us on earth, that through our continual giving, Christ might show himself and save them. (To note, I think it is necessary and good that we share the actual words of Christ, the Gospel, with those whom we give to, as well.)

To those within the church, it gets stickier. For those who call Christ Lord, it seems we should not give to excess if we are enabling sin. That could be the sin of laziness or the sin of irresponsibility or some addiction. There should be rebuke in those instances. However, if the family of the person is in need (if there are kids or a spouse) then you must give despite their sin, because others are dependent on the giving.

I think the latest essay in Themelios sums it up nicely. It's long, but worth the read.

-joe

a freebie

I forgot to post this yesterday.

Desiring God is giving away all sorts of good stuff (if you win).

1st prize: Logos Scholars Library (that would be sweet), tickets to the upcoming conference (already going, but it'd be nice to go for free), and John Piper's sermon index.

2nd prize: tickets to the conference and the sermon index

3rd prize (98! of these): the sermon index

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1576_Logos_and_Conference_Giveaway/

-joe

tuesday martyr: john hooper

In the wake of Zwingli, John Hooper came up and began making himself "obnoxious" in the eyes of the Queen and others.

He did, however, find some favor in the King who wished him to become bishop of Gloucester. The presiding bishop disagree and, at one point, imprisoned him for over a year for not wearing the proper clothing to be consecrated. Hooper finally decided to give over to the demands and wore what he claimed were "useless garments."

After the death of King Edward, things took a quick downturn because Queen Mary despised the reformed church and quickly had Hooper (and others) imprisoned. Hooper was held from 1553 to 1555, at which point he was burned at the stake.

During his time in prison he wrote 24 books and numerous short articles and treatises. At the time of his death he continued to pray and preach as he was being burned. The flames blew sideways much of the time, so he lived for nearly an hour amidst the flames and not once called out in pain, but continually shouted praises until his tongue became too swollen to talk.

It is these men that have continued to build on the foundation of the prophets and apostles...hopefully we'll continue to add to the gold and jewels of the building in our lifetime.

-joe

a funeral

Tonight I got the call I've been dreading from one of my best friends. His sister, Ashley, died this afternoon after years of battling cancer.

I've known her for practically my entire life and grew up with her a year behind me in school (in the same grade as one of her brothers and a year behind my friend.) She hung out with us in high school and we went to the same youth group.

After I'd left for college she got into some trouble, got pregnant, moved out of the house, in with a boyfriend. It was not a pretty time. Now, her little boy Brandon, is a favorite at her parents house and with all of his adopted uncles (including me.)

And now, I'll be preparing for my first funeral. It feels very surreal, that the first person whom I preach over will have been someone I grew up with for 20+ years. I always thought it would be some stranger from the church who I barely knew. This funeral seems to close to my heart and part of me wants to bail.

So, keep the family in prayers as they grieve the loss of their daughter. It has been a difficult number of years and even harder in these last weeks. May God receive the glory due him in the giving and taking of life.

in Him who sustains,

-joe

18 words: LORD

If you've ever wanted a good, short and informative defense of the Trinity, then turn to the chapter on "LORD" in 18 Words. In just 11 pages Packer does a good job of verbalizing the truth of the Trinity from Scripture and the reason it is important.

He traces the use of the word Lord through the Old and New Testaments and shows, convincingly, that Trinitarian theology was not developed 400 years after the Scriptures were written, but was known and believed by the very writers of the New Testament.

Specifically interesting to me was his defense of the Holy Spirit's distinction as a "he" and not an "it." I think he is right to say that understanding the relationship between the Father, Son and Spirit are essential to understanding the Gospel.

I end with a quote from the last page of the chapter:

To put it the other way round: the gospel says that there was in God from eternity mutuality of love and joy (John 1:1f.; 17:5,24); that men were made to share this fellowship; that when sin had made this impossible, God came in person--the second Person, sent by the first Person and empowered by the third Person--to save us; that God-made-flesh died for us, lives for us, united us to Himself, brings us to God the Father now and will take us one day to share His glory; that a divine Guest, the Holy Spirit, indwells each Christian (there are over 800 million of us alive today, leaving aside the faithful departed) to prompt prayer and transform our fallen nature; and that Jesus Christ is companion and friend to every single believer, giving him or her constant and undistracted attention. It is surely obvious that one of these marvelous, almost fantastic things could be said save on the supposition that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God--in other words, that God is Father, Son and Holy spirit. Those who deny the Trinity have to scale down the gospel--and do.

And so, I leave you with the Gospel in hopes that you spend the night thinking, talking and believing in Christ the Lord and Savior, so that perhaps you can spend the rest of the year doing so, as well.

-joe

tuesday martyr: john huss

One hundred years before the 95 theses came a man from Bohemia, on whose shoulders stood Martin Luther. That man was John Huss.

Huss relied heavily on the teachings of John Wycliffe and for it, was imprisoned and finally burned at the stake.

He fought against the idea that the Pope is the final authority of the church and when asked to recant this idea, he demanded that he be shown from Scripture his error.

He was charged formally on 40 accounts (taken from his writings) and he responded to every one of those charges that he had indeed said them and still defended them...continually demanding to be shown from Scripture his errors in the matter.

At one point he was urged by King Wenceslas (nope, not the one the song is about, though he was from Bohemia as well) and another duke to recant and to stop his arrogance of going against the entire council (for at the time there were 3 popes...that's right...3) Huss responded that if even the weakest of the men of the council were to show him his error that he would immediately withdraw whatever statement was in error and recant of his sin...and yet none were able to do so.

Since it was against the papal law to have a defense if you were being tried as a heretic, Huss was condemned without ever having stood trial. His charges were read aloud and he had the opportunity to recant, but not the opportunity to defend.

Just before his execution he was reported to have said, (quoted from CCEL copy of Foxe's book of Martyrs):

"You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil." If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.

is it necessary?

Is it necessary to be able to articulate the Gospel in order to be saved? Do you have to be able to say "this is the Gospel and by it I am saved"? Do you need to be able to communicate what you are saved from?

My thought is that you do, at least in a simple way (I don't mean you have to explain what justification by faith alone through the imputation of Christ's righteousness and the expiation of sin...) but I do think you need to be able to tell someone what the Gospel is: that God came to earth as the man Jesus in order to die in our place for our sins and that He was raised again to life and that now He sits in heaven to await His return.

I also think you should be able to say what you are saved from: sin, death, wrath of God, hell...something.

And, if you can't tell me what the Gospel is and what it saved you from...can you really say you are saved? Saved from what? for what?

Based on the discussion tonight, I worry for the salvation of many who walk amongst my church.

May God grant them saving knowledge of the truth of the Gospel so that they know why they can be saved and what they are saved from (and hopefully, that they know that they are also saved to life...but I'm not sure it is necessary to know that.)

Do you know the Gospel? Do you believe it?

-joe

revelation and scripture

First, I must say that Packer writes in a very readable style. He's easy to follow and, though he probably knows more than a few, he doesn't use a huge vocabulary. In fact, in the intro he makes a point to say that he is trying to make these words as knowable as possible without getting technical.

In dealing with revelation he glosses over several aspects including: past, present and future revelation from God and general and specific revelation. I think his basic message is that God has been, is and will continue to reveal himself in a general way to all mankind and in a more specific way to those who hear the Gospel (through the teaching and preaching of Scripture.)

The most interesting point was his summary of what "God was revealing in the biblical period."
1. He was revealing Himself (general revelation, Romans 1 idea)
2. He was revealing His kingdom (through general and specific revelation that he is and was and forever will be the only king and ruler of this world)
3. He was revealing His covenant (I will be your God and you will be my people...and the blessing which flow form that. God is faithful)
4. He was revealing His law (so that we could look and like him)
5. He was revealing His salvation (rescuing his people from Egyptians, Babylonians, foes and troubles and finally from his own wrath through Christ.)

Notice what is not explicitly stated, but is implicit throughout, is that he was never revealing "his love." Does it seem odd that we maintain God's love first and foremost and Packer ascribes only these 5 things and not love to his revelation package?

Perhaps a better way to understand the Gospel would be to view it through these lenses so that God maintains his proper seat on the throne in the midst of salvation.


And then revelation leads, quite easily, into Scripture. He points out that the Scriptures are "the written record of the drama of redemption. The historical books relate it; the sermons of the prophets and apostles explain and apply it, and point to the climax of Christ's coming again; the Psalms meditate on it; the wisdom writings look at life in light of it."

He goes on to discuss, briefly, the reliability of their testimony by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In it he also talks of the holiness of Scripture and that regarding it as holy does not mean we are committing idolatry (I think Piper had a small paper out on this subject, but I can't locate it. If you know what it might be, let me know.)

He ends with a quote from J.C. Ryle and I will do the same.

You live in a world where your soul is in constant danger. Enemies are round you on every side. Your own heart is deceitful. Bad examples are numerous. Satan is always laboring to lead you astray. Above all false doctrine and false teachers of every kind abound. This is your great danger.

To be safe you must be well armed. You must provide yourself with the weapons which God has given you for your help. You must store your mind with Holy Scripture. This is to be well armed.

Arm yourself with a thorough knowledge of the written Word of God. Read your Bible regularly. Become familiar with your Bible...Neglect your Bible and nothing that I know of can prevent you from error if a plausible advocate of false teaching shall happen to meet you. Make it a rule to believe nothing except it can be proved from Scripture. The Bible alone is infallible..Do you really use your Bible as much as you ought?

There are many today, who believe the Bible, yet read it very little. does your conscience tell you that you are one of these person?

If so, you are the man that is likely to get little help from the Bible in time of need. trial is a sifting experience...Your store of Bible consolations may one day run very low.

If so, you are the man that is unlikely to become established in the truth. I shall not be surprised to hear that you are troubled with doubts and questioned about assurance, grace, faith, perseverance, etc. The devil is an old and cunning enemy. He can quote Scripture readily enough when he pleases. Now you are not sufficiently ready with your weapons to fight a good fight with him...Your sword is held loosely in your hand.

If so, you are the man that is likely to make mistakes in life. I shall not wonder if I am told that you have problems in your marriage, problems with your children, problems about the conduct of your family and about he company you keep. The world you steer through is full of rocks, shoals an sandbanks. You are not sufficiently familiar either with lighthouses or charts.

If so, you are the man who is likely to be carried away by some false teacher for a time. It will not surprise me if I hear that one of these clever eloquent men who can make a convincing presentation is leading you into error. You are in need of ballast (truth); no wonder if you are tossed to and fro like a cork on the waves.

All these are uncomfortable situations. I want you to escape them all. Take the advice I offer you today. Do not merely read your Bible a little--but read it a great deal... Remember your many enemies. Be armed!

-joe

tuesday martyr: nicholas burton

I apologize for being a day late, I simply forgot that it was Tuesday.

Nicholas Burton was falsely accused of a crime (in fact, there was no formal accusation and when he demanded them to charge him they told him to quiet himself and sent him to prison.) While in prison for 14 days he preached the Word and several came to faith in Christ.

Soon after, he was taken to the prison in Seville where he was tortured in ways that are not recorded because it was never revealed who his inquisitors were and he was never allowed to speak or write during that time.

To give you an idea of how awful these tortures were, here is a quote from Foxe on the matter:

At the first time of torturing, six executioners entered, stripped him naked to his drawers, and laid him upon his back on a kind of stand, elevated a few feet from the floor. The operation commenced by putting an iron collar round his neck, and a ring to each foot, which fastened him to the stand. His limbs being thus stretched out, they wound two ropes round each thigh; which ropes being passed under the scaffold, through holes made for that purpose, were all drawn tight at the same instant of time, by four of the men, on a given signal.

After he had been tortured for some time, he was brought out with several others and ordered to be burned. It was said that during the burning he had such a cheerful countenance that they deemed that his soul had been received by the devil and that he could feel no pain. It is unbelievable how much these people believed in the lies of the Roman Church of the time.

You can read more about the inquisition here.

-joe

evangelism

HT: Vitamin Z

-joe

18 words

I recently picked up a book by JI Packer entitled 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know. I'm pretty excited to read it, because I have never read anything by Packer (the only contact I've had is through articles, people talking about him and youtube.)

So, I've decided to blog through the book. Don't worry, it is fairly short, with an average of about 10 pages per chapter. I'll probably hit a few chapters a week.

Reasons for doing so:
1. Accountability. I won't be able to skip out on reading it.
2. Familiarity. I'd like to become more familiar with Packer.
3. Your Benefit. It's always good to learn, so why not learn from a dude like Packer?

Next week (Thursday or Friday) I'll put up my first post.

Just so you know, the words (in chapter order) are:
1. Revelation
2. Scripture
3. The Lord
4. The World
5. Sin
6. The Devil
7. Grace
8. The Mediator
9. Reconciliation
10. Faith
11. Justification
12. Regeneration
13. Election
14. Holiness and Sanctification
15. Mortification
16. Fellowship
17. Death

-joe