for wilma

I know a great lady in this little town. I saw her a few weeks ago and promised her a post. So, Wilma, this one's for you.

I thought a small update was in order.

First, I am seriously considering applying for a small pastor's college in Bloomington, IN. (Thanks to Alex for telling me about it.) I visited this last weekend and am nearly positive that I'll be throwing my hat into the pool of applicants. Lord willing, I'll get some much needed discipleship and training.

Second, I'm loving my new church, CCC. So are my parents. It's fantastic. Christ-exalting fellowship is always a good thing.

Third, I'll be back to regular blogging next Monday. I've been slowly working on some posts for the last month, hoping to get enough ready that I won't have to physically think of and write something every day. With that will come, sporadically, the rest of my series on Grounding Election.

And now, on to more excellent matters.

I've been reading and studying Hebrews for years now. I love that book. And, I think it has officially passed Ephesians as my favorite. That's saying a lot. Ephesians held that place for over 6 years.

Here's a taste (from chapter 2):

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus HAD to be made like us. Had to. Think about that. It was a necessary part of the Gospel. God could not save us without this. Jesus had to become a man. He had to have bones and blood. He had to experience pain. Physical and emotional. He had to know what it meant to cry. He had to feel the tempting spirit of Satan. He had to get calluses and skin his knees. He had to grow up from an infant, needing his mother to feed him and change him. He had to.

What else though? Just before that portion we read:

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

It fits that Jesus, FOR whom and BY whom all things exist, should have to do those things. It makes sense that the God of the universe had to humble himself to the point of death, even death on a cross, for his creation. The majestic Word of God that spoke into creation all things and that still holds them together. That God. The one that is eternal. All-powerful. All-wise. All-knowing. All-loving. Perfectly Holy. That Lord.

Meditate on that for awhile today.

How good is our Heavenly Father?

So good that He sent his Son.

Amen.

-joe

a winner. and

First, the winner of Compelled by Love is Justin Lunsford. I wrote down everyone's name and used random.org to get a number. I'll give it to him Sunday at church.

Second, does anyone know anything about Native American spiritual thought or life? The reason I ask is because I ran across a very, very interesting statement in one of the texts I'm reading for my lit. class.

"But these four spirits are only one Spirit after all, and this eagle feather here is for that One, which is like a father..."

It's not Trinitarian (because there are four and they are all spirits) but it has the idea of 3 in 1. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of any other religion having a concept like the Trinity.

The statement is made as commentary to an interview with an Indian named Black Elk. It was written in 1932 so there is the possibility that this is later theology influenced by Christianity...but it's still pretty interesting.

-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

Commnion with the Triune God

If you get the chance, pick up Communion with the Triune God by John Owen. (edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor). It just came out from Crossway.

The book is weighty and moving. Owen splits up the Trinity and talks about how to commune with each person. (I found it to be highly educational on for my theology on the Trinity. It was great to have someone expound on the many aspects of each person so fully and with such care.) The purpose of the book is best summed up by this quote:

"both he that writes, and they that read the words of his mercy, may have such a taste of his sweetness and excellencies therein, as to be stirred up to a further longing after the fullness of his salvation and the eternal fruition of him in glory." (pg 94)

This was my first big book by Owen (I've only read a few bits and pieces). The updated language by Kapic and Taylor was a huge help. I easily got into a rhythm while reading it because I wasn't bothered by hard to decipher language.

Speaking of the editors, Kapic did a great job in the introduction. I could see that section becoming a small tract on its own. For someone, like me, who is only somewhat familiar with Owen, it was a good min-biography and a great detailing of the work at hand.

One of the best features of the book is the outline, which is over 30 pages long. I had my doubts at first...30 page outline?!? But it really did come in handy. I found myself glancing back to it many times to find the flow of Owen's thought.


My very brief thoughts on the substance of the book:

His chapters on the Father were good for me. I often think of Jesus as the love of God, when it was the Father who "predestined us in love."

During his talk on Christ, I couldn't help but be brought back to the Derek Webb song "Lover." "I am my beloved, and my beloved is mine." The greatness of Christ, the fullness of His grace was made clear.

The efficacy of the Holy Spirit because he comes with the authority of the Father and the Son was made real to me. The last quote on here really stopped me and made me think.

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Here's some quotes that hit me:

not "holding immediate communion with the Father in love...makes us go heavily, when we might rejoice; and to be weak, where we might be strong in the Lord." (pg 123)

"This is the first act of communion, as to the personal grace
of Christ. Christ makes himself over to the soul, to be his, as to all the
love, care, and tenderness of a husband; and the soul gives up itself
wholly unto the Lord Christ, to be his, as to all loving, tender obedience.
And herein is the main of Christ’s and the saints’ espousals. This,
in the prophet, is set out under a parable of himself and a harlot: “You
shall abide for me,” says he unto her, “you shall not be for another, and
I will be for you” (Hos. 3:3)—“Poor harlot,” says the Lord Christ, “I
have bought you unto myself with the price of mine own blood; and now, this is that which we will consent unto—I will be for you, and you
shall be for me, and not for another.” (pg 156)

"Our universal obedience and good works are indispensably necessary,
from the sovereign appointment and will of God; Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost." (pg 304)

"The conversion of others. “Having your conversation honest among
the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evildoers, they
may, by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the
day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:12; Matt. 5:16). Even revilers, persecutors,
evil-speakers have been overcome by the constant holy walking of professors;
and when their day of visitation has come, have glorified God
on that account (1 Pet. 3:1–2)." (pg 308)

"Hence is the sin against the Holy Ghost (what it is I do not now
dispute) unpardonable, and has that adjunct of rebellion put upon it
that no other sin has—namely, because he comes not, he acts not, in his
own name only, though in his own also, but in the name and authority
of the Father and Son, from and by whom he is sent; and therefore, to
sin against him is to sin against all the authority of God, all the love of
the Trinity, and the utmost condescension of each person to the work
of our salvation." (pg 363)
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-joe