Life's Most Important Question

"And on the way, he (Jesus) asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?'

And they told him, 'John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.'

And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?'

Peter answered, 'You are the Christ.'"

Mark 8:27-29

This is the most important question of life. Who do you say Jesus is? Who do you actually claim him to be? Many say he's a good teacher. Many say he's a wise man. Many think he's their 'homeboy'. Many think he is a nice religious figure.

But is He your Christ? Can you say that He is your Savior? Does the deepest conviction of your heart scream out that He is the one and only Savior who is the Son of God? What does your life show? How does the life you live answer this question? Does it proclaim that Jesus is your Christ? That He is your everything. Or does it reveal that Jesus is really just a percentage on a pie chart called your 'life'?

Questions worth considering. 

Man in the Mirror

Here is a song by an artist by the name of Canon. In my opinion, he is one of the most talented, creative, and innovative rappers I've ever heard (and yes, I consider myself a well informed rap fan). In this song, called "Man in the Mirror", Canon does an exceptional job at uncovering the radical insecurities we all face. The song is a conversation Canon is having with 'the man in the mirror'. Through his own testimony, he captures the ways in which we all try to cover up our deep brokenness and insecurities with superficial masks. Further, this song exposes just how exhausting this constant battle for inner significance can be.

Whether we cover up our insecurities with make up, new shoes, fashionable clothes, a new car, success at our job, being 'cool', humor, or being trendy, when we honestly look at the man (or woman) in the mirror, we can't escape our constant  quest to be somebody. The question is, are you going to cover your insecurities with a superficial mask, or look to the One who can give true security and true life. Are you going to run on the treadmill of insecurity, or find rest and purpose in God.

I know many of you might pass this over because its rap, but at least read the lyrics if you can. The last verse is where he goes off.



Chorus:
I guess We wasnt suppose to see 
The things from underneath 
we wasn't suppose to find 
What lies beneath the sheets 
I guess We wasnt suppose to see 
The things from underneath 
we wasn't suppose to find 
What lies beneath the sheets 

He hopped up out the bed 
Cuz he was so afraid 
He remember what that man behind the mirror had said 

He saw behind the smoke 
He saw behind the shades
The man in the mirror spoke to him and then he said then he said 

I guess We wasnt suppose to see 
The things from underneath 
we wasn't suppose to find 
What lies beneath the sheets 

Can I ask you something?
Can I have your thoughts?
Do you like my chain?
Do you like my watch?
What about my shoes?
Take a look at this hat I bought
Just tryna be a little up with culture 
So It's a couple things I had to cop 

Man I know they like them 
You Better not start frontin 
You think im fly 
I call it stuntin 
Imma call your bluff 
Im on my parachute status 
You Can't touch this, oops!
Chorus
Look at em now ( look at em)
Hes so immature, always gotta a lot to say
Man he must be insecure, Plus I can prove it 
Look at how he dress, Tryna be that cool brotha 
But he just that hot mess

Easy target, don't get me started
Steady Driving craes car, When really he takes the Marta
What he trying to prove? 
Who ya trying to impress?
When an act gets old to the crowd you perform in front of what happens next 

I can see past the clothes and the jokes now 
Yous a fake yous a fraud oh we know now 
Every gimmick you put up, we will throw down 
Yea we gone shatter every tower in yo town 
Chorus


Man I know that I'm insecure, Do really You think I wanna walking around like this 
I'm tired and I'm sick and tired man I'm sick and tired of tryna please everybody I'm tired this tired of this 
From the morning when I'm picking out my clothes 
To the moment when I walk up out that door
My pride is shooting up to the roof top
While the self esteem finds its way to floor 
Man I know I got problems, And I ain't Finna sit and try to hide em 
So I am take this beat and just ride it 
And tell the world what I've been finding 
You done seen my issues, Insecure but I'm not gonna sit through 
Another day where I cant break The habit where I try to please anybody 
Now I gotta break loose 

Growing is so hostile its seeming freaking impossible, you trying to TAKE the time to mature but satan a rob you,
Facebook it listen Im done spread it on twitter, im taking back my life im a growing indian giver cuz one day canon will get up
Say goodbye to dat picture, personally separate the simpleton split up, personality changing the old canon I trashed that, this a monster who's trashing his sin and wrapped it dads bag so the bomb over bagdad no it isn't as bad as, the bomb ima drop on the last nerve I just had,
Im tryna grow to be Godly before I pass out, I started out spazing but skip it im getting spazed out

Im sick of this beast, I need a leash no more sitting, as I get murdered under the sheets cuz this struggle is undercover and its giving me grief, bloody painful Cane I feel so un Able to cease it believe that

Every accessorie that I put on, is like holloween its just a tool to cover what's wrong. Insecurity sits up under like cob is under corn, I just want to break its teeth and be free to see where im goin

So ashamed of this naked revelation kinda like its porn, if the problem gets any deeper then inside itl get torn,
but im already torn I just try to hide the issue, I got so much crap in my heart Im a need more than tissue (tissue)

But im like a pistol getting ready kill the problem,
my adrenaline rush gotta little bit of buz from lookin into the closet of problems and I got options well really one option is to be honest and see how God has been glorified with myself as the target.
My struggle is pride its so deep down inside and im tired of_ the entire way im inclined, I just wanna see such perfection I know im just a bride im the opposite of my husband he's perfect, he's a lion

King lion and I aint lying really im sick of trying, I know I aint perfect at being perfect cuz im blind, I notice my instincts knowing that yes yall my end stinks my entire fesaud is my account, its empty.

So lord build me higher than what bob was building
Raise me, to the bar higher than all ceilings
Sky is never my limit since my fathers the real thing
So im burning this mask so can you witness the real me.

Justification by Faith and Justice

"Justification by faith alone and working for justice in this broken world have EVERYTHING to do with one another. Faith working itself out in love is what matters most."

Tim Keller

The Pattern of Worship

"Through the ages, the common pattern of the order of worship in the church reflects the pattern of the progress of the gospel in the heart. The gospel first affects the heart by enabling us to recognize who God is. When we truly understand the glory of his holiness, then we also recognize who we really are and confess our need of him. The gospel then assures us of the grace the he provides, and our hearts respond in both thanksgiving and humble petition for his aid so that we an give proper devotion to him. In response to our desire for his aid, God provides his Word. We heed his instruction, knowing that we live for him. The common liturgy of the church through the ages reflects this sequential flow of the gospel in our hearts."


Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice. Grand 

Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2009.

Like One of the King's Own Son's

"And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly at David's table,

like one of the king's own sons."

2 Samuel 9:11

Who is this Mephibosheth guy? A little background on this verse. Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul. Yes, this is the same Saul who tried to kill King David. Because Mephibosheth was from the household of Saul, David, by law, legally had the right to kill him. So, first of all, Mephibosheth was a man who deserved death. Some more background; Mephibosheth was crippled in both feet. In other words, he was completely helpless and useless. He was an outcast. So here is Mephibosheth, who by law deserves a traitors death, and who by his own recognition in 2 Samuel 9:8, describes himself as a "dead dog". 

As the story goes, David, rather than killing Mephibosheth, rather than bypassing him as a social outcast, actively seeks to show him mercy and kindness. 2 Samuel 9 begins, "One day David asked, 'Is anyone in Saul's family still alive-anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?'" (2 Samuel 9:1). Where nothing but judgement was deserved, David delighted in, and sought to show mercy and kindness. 

The reason I love this passage (and am doing a Bible study on it tomorrow night, Wednesday) is not that it shows how great of a guy David is. It is because what David did for Mephibosheth is strikingly similar to what God does for us. David takes a dead dog, and brings him to the King's table, and adopts him as a beloved son. God takes us, sinners, who rightfully deserve death,  who are crippled and unable to help ourselves, who are outcasts, and offers us mercy and kindness. He takes dead dogs and makes us into true sons and daughters of the King. That is too good to be true! But the good news is that, yes, it is true. We are Mephibosheth. We are poor, crippled, broken, sinful people. But God's love and mercy are greater. Only the power of the gospel can take us from dead dogs to those who are "like one of the King's own sons." (2 Samuel 9:11)

What is a Disciple?

What is a disciple? I think Dallas Willard offers a helpful definition. 

"A person who by the power of the Spirit has arranged their life under the life and teachings of Jesus"

A couple quick things that I like about this definition. 

1. A person does not become a disciple by their own power. It is God's gracious initiative. It is by the Spirit's power that we grow. 
2. Discipleship is arranges your LIFE. We have tendency to compartmentalize our spiritual life and our normal life, or our church life and our during the week life. Discipleship flows into all areas of life. It is all encompassing. It is an overarching identity. 
3. At the heart of discipleship is being under the life of Jesus. We are disciples by virtue of our union with Christ. As a disciple, our new life is found in Christ.  We are united to his death, wherein our old self is dead, and united in his resurrection, where we now have new life. If you want to see this. Read Paul's letters (especially Ephesians). 

Two Things Jesus Knew

"Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisee's fast, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day." Mark 2:18-20

Some people like to think that Jesus was just a good moral teacher; a really nice guy who was a great leader. This passage reveals a couple things that Jesus thought about himself. He knew who he was, and that he was going to die. 

Figuratively, Jesus knew he was the bridegroom. He was the Son of God and the awaited Savior. He also knew the reason why he came. He came to die. The culmination of his mission was to defeat death by dying a substitutionary death for his people. When you read the gospel's this way, listening to what Jesus thought and knew about himself, the stories make much more sense. His whole life,  his eyes must have been fixed on his mission. He wasn't aimlessly living life trying to help people when he could. He was on a mission; he had a purpose. He was much more than a moral teacher. He was and is the Savior of the world. 

Comfort in the Valley

Most recent Bible study from Rebirth: East St. Louis (ministry I work with).

Check it out: "Comfort in the Valley"

Brian Regan On Grace

Not sure if there are any Brian Regan fans who read this, but I randomly came across this post from Barnabas Piper (yes, that is the son of John Piper) where he expounds on a Brian Regan comedy bit. First off, the clip from Brian Regan is absolutely hilarious and is a stunningly accurate picture of our self centeredness. Second, Piper does a fantastic job of using this video to expound on gospel truths. For your entertainment and edification, I encourage you to check it out.

Brian Regan On Grace

Hallelujah, What A Savior!

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior

The Gospel Drama in Worship

"In worship, we are invited into God’s holy presence as adopted sons and daughters of whom he is not ashamed because of Christ’s work on our behalf. We come adoring and praising him for his goodness, greatness, and grace. We come confessing our sins and looking to him for forgiveness and strength. We come making requests on behalf of ourselves and others in prayer. We praise and admonish and pray through song. We rejoice in the work of God’s grace in one another as we hear the gospel story expressed through the lives of fellow believers. We profess enthusiastically together what we believe. We listen to God’s Word read, proclaimed, and applied. We offer our lives and our substance to him. We baptize new converts and children of believers as he adds to our number. We gather in table fellowship remembering what Christ has done in his atoning, sacrificial death in our place. We receive his good word in the benediction as he sends us forth to live as salt and light for his glory in every area of life. We are captured and transformed into greater Christ-likeness by the gospel drama represented in a carefully planned worship service that proclaims that gospel story afresh each week."

Mark Dalbey, "Gospel-Centered Worship." 171-172. 

What is the Bible?

"The Bible is an organic, progressive, unfolding, dramatic story of God creating and then redeeming a people who have intimate fellowship with him and with one another."

Mark Dalbey in "Gospel-Centered Worship and Regulative Principle"

Bad News From God

A couple nights ago my professor made the statement that "it is better to hear bad news from God than good news that is untrue."

This got me thinking to the common trend of our culture verses God's revelation of himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The trend of the culture is to mask our sin with relativism. Its mantras are: There is no real right or wrong, true and untrue. No one has the right to tell you you're wrong. Do what what feels good to you. Experience and feeling is more important than reality. You are your own god. Your own personal freedom of choice is more valuable than truth.

Compare this to what God reveals in Jesus Christ. The gospel (good news) is that Jesus did come, and with that comes bad news first. In fact, there is no good news without the bad news. The bad news is that we are wrong. There is One True God, and our entire beings are prone to wander. The bad news is that we are not god, and that one day, we will bow down before the King, whether willingly out of joy, or begrudgingly out of mandate. The bad news, as Romans put it, is that:

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools." Romans 1:21-22

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." Romans 3:10-11

Just a reminder, this bad news is talking about us, not some other group of people. This is us.

But, this is a preface to the good news; the good news that Jesus Christ, who is the unique Son of God, has come to reverse this bad news. He has come to change it. Jesus bore our bad news, so that we could repent and receive the good news. Jesus took all of our unrighteousness, all of our evil, all of our foolishness and wickedness upon himself, so that we could receive his righteousness.

However, this is only possible when we accept the bad news. Receiving Christ means acknowledging the truth (often the ugly truth) about ourselves (as told in Romans 1 and 3). It is here that true freedom is found, true love experienced, and true life lived. 

We Become What We Worship

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see. 

They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them. 

O Israel, trust in the LORD!"

Psalm 115: 4-9

"It is a fundamental truth of Scripture that we become like whatever or whomever we worship. When Israel worshipped the gods of the nations, she became like the nations-bloodthirsty, oppressive, full of deceit and violence. Romans 1 confirms this principle by showing how idolaters are delivered over to sexual deviations and eventually to social and moral chaos. The same dynamic is at work today. Muslims worship Allah, a power rather than a person, and their politics reflect this commitment. Western humanists worship man with the result of degrading every whim of the human heart is honored and exalted and disseminated through the organs of mass media. Along these lines, Psalm 115:4-8 throws brilliant light on Old Covenant history and the significance of jesus' ministry. After describing idols as figures that have every organ of sense but not sense, the Psalmist writes, 'Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them.' By worshipping idols, human beings become speechless, blind, deaf, unfeeling, and crippled-but then these are precisely the afflictions that Jesus, in the Gospels, came to heal!"

Peter Leithart, "Transforming Worship," Foundations 38 (Spring 1997): 27. 

Adoration and Action

"There is something profoundly hypocritical about praising God for God's might deeds of salvation and cooperating at the same time with the demons of destruction, whether by neglecting to do good or by actively doing evil. Only those who help the Jews may sing the Gregorian chant, Dietrich Bonhoeffer rightly said, in the context of Nazi Germany...Without action in the world, the adoration of God is empty and hypocritical, and degenerates into irresponsible and godless quietism."

Miroslav Volf, "Reflections on a Christian Way of Being-in-the-World," in Worship: Adoration and Action, 211. 

Sins of the Age

Cornelius Plantinga touches on some of the sins of our present age.

"If we know the characteristic sins of the age, we can guess its foolish and fashionable assumptions- that morality is simply a matter of personal taste, that all silences need to be filled up with human chatter or background music, that 760% of the American people are victims, that it is better to feel than to think, that rights are more important than responsibilities, that even for children the right to choose supersedes all other rights, that real liberty can be enjoyed without virtue, that self-reproach is for fogies, that God is a chum or even a gofer whose job it is to make us rich, or happy, or religiously excited, that is it more satisfying to be envied than respected, that is is better for politicians and preachers to be cheerful than truthful, that Christian worship fails unless it is fun."

Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids: Edrdmans, 1995), 126-127. 

Do Not Presume

"Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 

'we have Abraham as our Father,' for I tell you, 

God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."

Matthew 3:9

In this passage, John the Baptist is speaking to the Pharisees and Sadducees as they came to him to be baptized. John's message to the religious leaders was clear (like it was clear to the other people he preached to in Matthew 3:1-2). They needed to repent. In this case, it meant repenting from their presuming upon God. What exactly was their presumption ?

According to the passage, the Pharisees and Scribes assumed their position with God based on their religious heritage. They presumed that they were children of God because they were from the same bloodline as Abraham. They were good with God because of their tradition.

I love the gospel because it speaks to each of us in our self-inflated efforts to gain God's acceptance. It bids us to repent; to literally turn from trusting ourselves, to trusting in Christ. To those who think they are good with God because they are moral people, the message of repentance is that we could never be good enough to earn God's acceptance. In fact, the only one who did that was Jesus. Therefore, we must turn from our own moral record and trust Christ's moral record on our behalf. To those who try to be their own god, the message is repent. Turn from trusting yourself as god and turn to the one true and living God. To those who think they are good with God because they come from a rich religious tradition, God's message is repent. Your religious heritage cannot save you; only I can. So, stop trusting in yourself and turn to trust in me. Don't assume you are a true child of Abraham and thus a child of God because of your families religious tradition.

This makes me ask, in what ways do I presume upon God? In what ways do I think my self-efforts earn my acceptance with God. To me, I can imagine this passage saying something like, "Do not presume to yourself that you are a child of God just because you go to seminary, or because you are an active member at a church, or because you are in ministry."None of those are bad things. However, when we trust in these 'things' to give us acceptance before God, they are wrong. The gospel is that we are only accepted by God by grace through faith. It is Christ's finish work that gains our acceptance. There is nothing we could ever do to earn it. To attempt to do so, is to minimize Jesus Christ as our Savior. This is what this passage demands we repent of. Join me in doing so. 

To Be Fully Known and Truly Loved

Tim Keller strikes again. Came across this a couple days ago.

"To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial.

To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. 

But to be fully known and truly loved, is, well, 

a lot like being loved by God. 

It is what we need more than anything. 

It liberates us from pretenses, 

humbles us out of our self-righteousness, 

and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us."

Tim Keller

Gift vs. Giver

"When you love the answer from God more than you love God, the answer will actually take you away from God." --Darrin Patrick

Think about it. When we desire something God can give us over and above God himself, getting what we want can actually be the worst thing for us. This is idolatry; cherishing the gift above the giver, the creature over the Creator. We think that getting what we want is good, but in reality, it separates from God.

"Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, 

to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 

because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie

and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator"

Romans 1:24-25

What Are You Gripped By?

"People that make a difference in the world are not people who have mastered a lot of things. They are people who have been mastered by a very few things, that are very, very great." ~John Piper

I love listening to this 1998 sermon by John Piper in which he delivers this quote. I listen to it before every football game. It gets me pumped up to live a life passionately following Jesus. It always makes me ask the questions, "What am I gripped by? What am I mastered by?" As Piper points out, the greatest thing we can be mastered or gripped by is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's what we were made for.

There are a million things that compete for our hearts affections. Every second of everyday they pry us away, promising a false sense of satisfaction, joy and rest. I see in my own life how easily my heart is gripped by things other than Christ.

I need to be reminded of the ultimate glory that we were made for as humans. We were made for the glory of God. My prayer is that my life vividly shows that I am gripped solely by Jesus Christ. He is my life. He is my only boast. My life doesn't count for anything, if only I can finish my course and display the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:24).

When it's all said and done, it won't matter how much you have or know. What will matter is whose you are. What will matter is what you spent your life gripped by.