On Mine Arm Shall They Trust

HT Dan Orr:

The following comes from Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning (per Aug. 31st):

“On mine arm shall they trust.” – Isaiah 49:5

…..

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God, and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless, that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles, so pressing and so peculiar that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in Him. Dishonor not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; But be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness and when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you rest in Jesus this day.

....

Thanks D.O. Needed these words today.

He Will Deliver Us

"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessings granted us through the prayers of many."

2 Corinthians 1: 8-11

He delivered us...

He will deliver us...

He will deliver us again...

This is the ultimate assurance and hope of a Christian. God has delivered in the past, he is delivering us now, and he will surely deliver us again. That's my only hope. Thanks be to God!

A Psalm of Confidence

"God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble. 

Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling.....

The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Psalm 46: 1-3,7

What are your troubles today? What is it that bears down on your soul, threatening to crush you? Where are you weak? Come what may, this psalm tells us that God's people dwell secure. Our hope is not in our own ability to lift our own burdens, or that in our own strength we can withstand the devastating blows of this life. In times of trouble, we are not strong enough.

But, God tells his people that He himself is there strength. He is an unshakable, impenetrable refuge. With the Lord as our refuge, the troubles of this life are as raindrops falling onto a concrete shelter. We dwell in the only shelter that is able to protect us from the storm. More so, our God is a very present help. Our hope doesn't rest in a distant, theoretical God. Our hope is in the God who is there and who is not silent. His strength becomes our strength. He actively protects His people. The thoughts of his children are many. 

Martin Luther said of this psalm,

"We sing this psalm to the praise of God because God is with us and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends His church and His Word against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin."

Lay 'Em Down

The Importance of Tradition

"Tradition is the greatest expression of democracy." --G.K. Chesterton

One of the reasons why tradition is so important is because it opens the doors to opinions and thoughts that are from a different context than our own. It gives a voice to people from other time periods that may not have the same biases as us. In terms of theology, it helps us see the whole. When we are zeroed in, and only understand theology in our own context or setting, our understanding is very limited. However, when we open up our understanding of God to those who are of different current contexts than our own, and also those from different time periods, we are enriched.

This quote reminds me that I have much to learn from both those who have gone before me, as well as those who are living today who  come from completely different contexts and backgrounds than I do. 

As a Deer Pants For Flowing Streams

"As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

for the the living God."

Psalm 42:1-2

What is your souls foremost desire? What is it that you seek above all? What is your principle necessity for life? 

With these words from the psalmists, we see that the Living God is both his chief desire and enjoyment, and also his primary necessity in order to go on in life. The psalmist did not desire respect, nor power, nor worldly comfort. His only comfort comes from communion with His God. And we see that communion with His God is his foremost enjoyment, and foremost necessity. 

Yesterday was a blistering day in St. Louis. The high temperature got up to 100 degrees. You can imagine how hot it feels during football practice @ 3:00, on the field turf, with absolutely no cover from the sun. During the course of a 2.5 hour practice, the players are obviously going to build up quite a thirst. You should see the scene when a water break is called. Pure relief. To someone who is thirsty, there is no greater luxury that cold water. To a parched man, there is nothing sweeter than tasting the refreshing waters upon his tongue. He desires that water above all else. He will seek that water.

Furthermore, as Charles Spurgeon says about this verse, "He (the psalmist) viewed it (water) not merely as the sweetest of all luxuries but as an absolute necessity, like water to a stag." We all need water to live. The psalmist pants after God because it is a necessity in order for him to live. A day without God and he is destitute, gasping for life, lost. With God, his heart is content, his life is full, his soul satisfied. In the absence of God, life is not true life.

 God is not a genie in a bottle where we come to him every once in a while when we have pressing supplications. God is the principle necessity of day to day life. Our life desire should be to be in communion with Him. Without communion with God, this entire life is worthless. The whole point of creation, both God creating us, and God creating the world, is for us to be in communion with Him, not as a mystical guy in the sky, but as the Living God. Our very life should be found in him. We need God as a deer needs water to survive. Likewise, we should desire and pant after him as such. 

Have we experienced this kind of feeling? Does your soul pant for God, as a deer pants after water? Is communion with God your foremost enjoyment, and also you primary necessity to live? It's easy to become distracted in this world, putting God on the back burners. But, these verses remind us that God is the sweetest of all enjoyments. He is better than the enjoyments of the world. He gives true life. Further, God is what our hearts need. Without him, we are walking dead men. 

Lastly, the good news is that God has sent a Savior, Jesus, in order that our thirsts may be quenched. God sent Jesus, who referred to himself as the Bread of Life, and as the water that will quench our thirsts. This water is free and for all. Jesus invites all who are thirsty, to come and taste, to come and be restored to life. He came to sinners, in order to give them the sweetest enjoyment, and the principle necessity. Why wait?

For myself, I pray that God gives me this thirst, that I would desire communion with Him above all else, and that God would become increasingly sweet to me.

God All-Sufficient

O Lord of Grace...

Accept His worthiness for my unworthiness,
his sinlessness for my transgressions,
his purity for my uncleanliness,
his sincerity for my guile,
his truth for my deceits,
his meekness for my pride,
his constancy for my backslidings,
his love for my enmity,
his fullness for my emptiness,
his faithfulness for my treachery,
his obedience for my lawlessness,
his glory for my shame,
his devotedness for my waywardness,
his holy life for my unchaste ways,
his righteousness for my dead works,
his death for my life.

-Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Grace

An amazing scene from Les Miserables which displays the type of grace God shows his children.

A Fish Out Of Water

"When a fish leaves the water, which he was built for, he is not free, but dead."--Tim Keller

As humans, we all seek freedom. We seek true life. The Bible's is God's Word to us, that this inner longing we have for true life and true freedom exists because we were created by God, to know God. True life and true freedom are only found when we are found in him. It is what we are made for. That is why the idols of this world, (power, success, respect, fame, wealth, security, comfort, love), never REALLY satisfy. We seek them, in hopes of gaining freedom and life, yet they always disappoint. All those things point us to the only thing which can truly satisfy our hearts. Just as Keller says, when we seek freedom in these other things, we think they will give us just that, freedom, but rather, they lead to death. 

Busyness and Prayer

"Tomorrow I plan to work, work from early until late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."

-Martin Luther

..........................................................

"Sometimes we think we are too busy to pray. That is a great mistake, for praying is a saving of time."

-Charles H. Spurgeon

Patience and Steadfastness in Suffering

"As an example of suffering and patience, brothers,

take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. 

You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, 

and have seen the purpose of the Lord,

how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.....

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray."

James 3: 10-13

The idea of patience and steadfastness in God's compassion and mercy amidst suffering is truly a foreign idea in our western culture today. In fact, most people spend their lives, striving everyday towards the goal of comfort and security. Suffering is something to be avoided at all costs. Amidst suffering, people may exhibit patience and steadfastness, but it is the hope that if they keep holding on, eventually the suffering will be gone, and they will return to their 'good life'. However, we see in these verses from James that our patience and steadfastness in suffering should be in God's glory. We should be patient and steadfast in suffering, not because we are consumed with ourselves, in the hope of a cushy life again, but because we are consumed with our God, and know that through our suffering, his purposes are being revealed, and his mercy and compassion are being displayed to us. The glory of our Creator is primary. This is the difference between worldly patience in suffering and Christian suffering. Suffering is not to be sought, yet it is to be expected, and embraced when encountered. James gives us every reason to embrace suffering with a steadfast hope in God. In verse 13, he exhorts his readers to look to the example of the prophets which came before. 

Throughout the Scriptures, most of the major players in the Bible story encounter some form of suffering. Why does this happen? Isn't suffering just a punishment for our mistakes? In Tullian Tchividjian's 'Surprised By Grace', the author dissects the story of the prophet Jonah, certainly someone from whom we could learn a thing or two about suffering. One thing that is clear from reading the book of Jonah, along with Tullian's book, is that God is sovereign over our situations, especially our sufferings. But this begs the question, why? Why does God allow suffering? Further, the even tells Christians that they in fact will suffer, not might suffer. 

Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and spent three days in the whales belly. What was it like in there? Well, I've  never been inside a fish, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine it was terrifying. Surrounded by darkness, and filled with uncertainty, Jonah indeed was suffering. But this brings us back to the question of 'why?'. 

Taking heed from James, as we look back at the prophets, it is clear that suffering has a purpose. Suffering brings us to a posture of desperation. Desperation leads us to turn our eyes to God. Desperation shatters all of our false hopes. When we are stripped of everything, we are left only to cling to God. Through our suffering, we are able to taste God's compassion and mercy in a fresh new way. We are able to know God's grace, and to trust in his purposes in ways in which we would not have otherwise. Suffering leads to desperation, and desperation leads to us crying out to God. Take a look at these examples. (these are taken from Tchividjian's 'Surprised By Grace')

In desperation, Jonah prayed. "I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me" (Jonah 2:1)

In desperation, David prayed. "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6)

In desperation, Hannah prayed. "She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly" (1 Samuel 1:10)

In desperation, Jeremiah prayed. "Water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.' I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help!'" (Lamentations 3: 54-56)

And with Job. "My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. The guests of my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes....My breath is strange to my wife and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me......For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God." Job 19: 14-25

And lastly, with Jesus, who like Jonah, faced three days and nights in the darkest of places. "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22: 44). 

In sum, in our times of suffering and affliction, we are to be patient and steadfast. We are to trust God. We can trust God because we have seen throughout history his faithfulness to his children. He may bring times of suffering, but it is not the end of the story. Our present suffering and afflictions reveal God's glory. In our desperation, we are able to see God's goodness, and plentiful redemption that is in Christ. 

Like James says, those who are steadfast and patient in their sufferings are blessed. They are blessed because through their situations, they come out knowing God's grace in a radical new way. Through our sufferings we are made more acutely aware of our sonship

The Spirit of the Mind

"and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 

and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God

in true righteousness and holiness"

Ephesians 4:23-24

A few observations about these two verses....

1: Our mind has a Spirit

• As humans, we are quite unique in our thought life. We are not merely robots, acting off of chemical reactions, but we are created after the likeness of God, made with a mind that is able to think, know, feel, and love. This verse refers to this as the spirit of the mind. 
• The spirit of our minds is deceitful. Something I notice about myself, is that I can sit down for hours and watch my favorite sports team. I can memorize every fact about the Chicago Bulls, or have the Bears 53 man roster memorized. I can tell you the Florida Gator's football recruiting stats for the last 5 years. But the second I sit down and try to focus on the Bible, it's like my mind is at war with me. I instantly start thinking of other things I need to do. When I try to meditate on Christ, my mind instantly wants to be elsewhere. I imagine I'm not the only one like this. This is because our mind by nature is depraved. We crave to put ourselves as primary, and God as secondary. It has been this way since Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. And because of this.....

2: Our mind needs to be renewed

• As stated earlier, we are made unique in regards to our thought life. We have an amazing ability to think, feel, know, love, and be loved. Further, our minds were ultimately created to know Christ, to love him, to be loved by him, to feel him. Given the depravity of our minds, where we constantly want to do things our way, rather than God's way, our minds need to be renewed. We need to be renewed to what they were created for. We were created to know and enjoy God. This is what is best for us. This is for our flourishing, for our good. It is for our joy. 
• Renewal is not a matter of information. The right information is everywhere. You can find it on the internet in a second. It is not a matter of merely knowing gospel facts, or knowing the information that God is the creator, and his Son Jesus is savior. There are countless millions in the world today who are informative Christians (which are no Christians at all). Being a Christian is transformative. Our minds must be transformed by the gospel. The Spirit of our mind must be renewed. And we are transformed not by mere information, but through the power of the gospel. 

3. Renewed in Christ:

• These verses tell us to be 'renewed in our minds, putting on the new self'. This new self is referring to our new life. The only way to have new life is through Christ. Being renewed in the spirit of the mind is not a matter of effort, it is a matter of surrender. We can only be renewed, we can only put on the new self, when we've surrendered the old self to Christ.
• Being renewed in Christ doesn't come when we try really really really hard to start thinking the right things, and being extra moral, or extra environmental, or extra nice. No. It comes when we realize that our minds are depraved, and that they never could renew themselves, no matter how hard we try, and that they are constantly putting our way as primary and God as secondary. And renewal comes when we realize this, and surrender our minds to Jesus, who was the only One who had a perfect mind. Jesus was everything we were supposed to be. Where we blew it, Jesus overcame. His mind was perfectly righteous and holy. Ours are not. 
• Let us look to the Jesus, who had the perfect mind in the likeness of God, that our minds may be renewed in Him. 

          

At Every Point, In Every Way

From Tullian Tchividjian's 'Surprised By Grace',

"Do you know what would  happen if every human being concluded that God's way was the right way and God's call the right call? Every human problem would come to an end. The root of every human problem is our desire to be our own god and to carry out justice in the way we ourselves are sure is best.

In all human history, there has only been One who concluded, at every point, and in every way, that God's way is always best and God's call is always right. Because of him, every human problem will someday come to an end. In the meantime, we'll never see the end of our own misery if we do not recognize Jesus, this one who so perfectly submitted to God's way and God's call."

Who is This Mediator?

From the Heidelberg Catechism:

15. Q. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?

      A. One who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

16. Q. Why must he be truly human and truly righteous?

      A. God's justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must for its sin; but a sinner could never pay for others.

17. Q. Why must he also be true God?

      A. So that, but the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

18. Q. And who is this mediator, true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous?

      A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God.

"For there is one God, and there is one  mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all." 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Amen for that!

Lending Generously

"I have been young, and now am old, 

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children begging for bread.

He is ever lending generously,

and his children become a blessing."

Psalm 37:25-26

Do I view God as a stingy task-master, who at my mistakes will withhold himself from me? Or, do I rightly view him as a loving Father, who is ever generous, and who delights to lavish his gifts upon his children out of sheer grace and benevolence? This is something that I daily struggle to understand. I tend to view God as an exacting judge, who views me based on my performance. When I'm doing well spiritually, he is happy. But when I am not doing well, he is disgusted. 

But the good news of Jesus Christ, is that Jesus lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died, so that if we trust in him, and are in him, God is well pleased with us. Period. If you are indeed, God now views you with the same satisfaction as he does his own Son, Jesus. God delights in you because of what Jesus did on your behalf. 

I pray God continues to give his children a deeper awareness that He is ever generous, and that he does not leave his children begging for bread, but that He graciously lavishes Himself upon his children. He loves them, not because of their performance, but because of the performance of His Son, Jesus, in whom His children are united to. 

Positioning

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 18:9-14

....

This passage gets me every time. I am so similar to the Pharisee Jesus describes. I often find myself too concerned with the spiritual resume I'm building in my heart. If I only really grasped my appropriate position before my Almighty and Holy Lord, like the tax collector. He had nothing of his own to claim. He knew he was scum. He was ashamed to enter fully into the temple, as he stood far off, and he knew he was far from worthy to even raise his eyes to heaven. His only words in prayer were a simple plea, claiming God's mercy! The text is clear. Jesus welcomes this plea. In fact, that is exactly what He desires for us. Period.

My prayer for renewal in this comes from an excerpt from Whiter than Snow by Paul Tripp:

"So I am hoping for wise eyes that are able to see through the cloud of self-righteousness and see myself as I actually am. I am praying for wise ears that are able to hear through the background noise of well-used platitudes and hear myself with clarity. And I am longing for a humble spirit that is willing to accept and confess what you reveal as You break through my defenses and show me to me. I am hoping for a broken heart."

Psalm 51:17 "A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Praise the Lord for His love for prodigal love for sinners!

The Finished Work of Christ: Past, Present and Future

This past week, I've been extremely blessed and encouraged through Francis Schaeffer's book, 'True Spirituality'. Throughout the book, Schaeffer expounds on the spiritual realities of a Christian. Mainly, Schaeffer points out that true spirituality is living in a conscious reality of the finished work of Christ. For many Christians, this may be a foreign concept; the finished work of Christ. However, this very concept should be the center of the Christian life, past, present and future.

By the finished work of Christ, I am referring to the completed substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, in which he bore the sins of His people by absorbing God's just wrath that was rightly reserved for sinners, thus redeeming His people from sin and restoring them unto himself, adopting us as children of God.

Most Christians are able to rightly apply this concept to their past and future. However, as Schaeffer points out, most of us fail to live by the finished work of Christ moment by moment. Think about it. Most Christians know that because of Christ's death, their past sins are forgiven. They are justified. Likewise, they know that Christ's finished work secures their eternal future with Christ. Yet, what does the finished work of Christ mean for me in my day to day life? Schaeffer spends a great deal talking about how our moment by moment reality must be based on Christ's finished work. In other words, we know our justification is based on Christ's finished work, yet we fail to see how the finished work of Christ applies to our sanctification, or our Christian life.

Schaeffer writes:

"Now just as in the conscious area of sanctification as a whole, so here in restoration everything rests upon the reality of the fact that the blood of Christ has meaning in our present life, and restoration takes place as we, in faith, act upon the face that in specific cases of sin.....It is learning the reality of the meaning of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, in our present life, and consciously beginning to act upon it"


and....


"the blood of Christ has meaning for me in my present life when I have fallen and my peace is gone. Restoration must be first upon understanding of what Christ has done for us in this area, and then beginning to practice this moment by moment."

In our day to day struggle, living the Christian life is living in light of Christ's finished work. It is living in the reality of what Christ has already accomplished. It is living with a deep awareness that Christ's finished work is the only thing sufficient for our forgiveness. It is living with a deep awareness that because of what Christ did, we are fully adopted as children of God. It is drawing upon the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us, because of what Christ has done. All of this is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. We must see Christ's finished work as not only the grounds for our justification (past life), but also our sanctification (present life). 

Jesus: The Full Manifestation of Psalm 36

"Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,

you faithfulness to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you save, O LORD.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life; 

in your light do we see light."

Psalm 36: 5-9

Time and time again I am amazed at the continuity of the Bible. In these verses from Psalm 36, David is exclaiming the marvelous characteristics of his God. God's love, his righteousness, judgment, how he quenches thirst, his light, etc... We see David using metaphors in order to paint a picture of the just how deep and infinite God's perfections are. In a sense, in this life we will never fully understand just how deep God's love is, or how perfect his faithfulness is. Yet, God has revealed this things to his people in history. Specifically, Jesus Christ, who is the full embodiment of God in human flesh, fully displayed these characteristics. In Jesus, we see God's true and perfect love. In Jesus, we see God's faithfulness on display. We see the fulfillment of the promise of salvation. By Jesus, will people be judged, whether they rejected the Son of God, or whether they have repented of themselves, and turned to believe in the gospel. Jesus provides the true Lord's Supper, a feast for God's people, by providing himself as the lamb of God. Jesus provides the rivers of living water, so that those who are spiritual thirsty may come to him and drink, and be satisfied. Jesus is the light of the world, so that in him, we may no loner walk in darkness. 

Jesus is the embodiment, fulfillment, and manifestation of God's steadfast love, his faithfulness, his judgement, his abundant provisions, and satisfying presence. 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

"Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." Hebrews 9:15

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith" Romans 1:16-17

"the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." Romans 3:22

"The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.....whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life." John 5:22-24

"....whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14

" I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

Glimpses of Grace: Identity, Idolatry, and the Gospel (part 2)

A great write up on idolatry by my good friend Erik Most. I highly recommend following his blog at: Glimpses of Grace

So put bluntly, in modern terms, Herod was a tool. Cocky. He thought he was the man, and wanted everyone to know it. He was that guy in the clubs with the popped collar, stunner shades on, hair gelled stiff, using money like napkins. Think Jersey Shore.

As Jeremiah and I considered this individual, we asked ourselves an important question. What about the human heart leads to action such as this? Herod’s behavior certainly isn’t anachronistic. We’ve seen power trips like this all throughout history, and we still see them today. Trump. Where’s the commonality? That common denominator is idolatry. The sin of idolatry subtly ravages the human heart. Idolatry can be defined as looking to other things to provide the comfort, satisfaction, joy, peace, security, and rest that only God can provide. Ask yourself the question, “If only I had _______, then I would be OK.” Or, “As long as _________ continues to happen, then I’m OK.” Fill in the blank. For Herod it was power. It was control. As long as he was in control, and could CLEARLY demonstrate it, he was ok. Herod was defined by lavishness and opulence. It could be different for you. Financial security? Family? Job? Marriage? Social status? Car? House? Education? Sex? Influence? What is the one thing in your life that if you lost it, you would be utterly devastated? An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.

Now keep in mind Jeremiah’s last sentence. “We met Jesus.” We’re going there. I want to be clear on why we are going there before we do.

Jeremiah and I looked at Herod’s idolatrous situation, and ultimately ours, in terms of a two-fold identity. After a particular lecture in Caesarea, Jeremiah came up to me and applied these concepts of passive identity and active identity. Passive identity includes the factors you are defined by that are outside of your control. For example, your parents. Your neighborhood. Basically, the culture you were born into. This is very formative, and provides foundational nourishment through adolescence. Yet there comes a point where the individual delves deeper into personal autonomy.

We’ll call this active identity. From Jeremiah’s and my experience, we’ve seen this happen somewhere in the teens. At this point, the individual has had sufficient experience in the world, and starts making moves. Affections are stirred in particular directions, toward different things. Individuals start deciding who they want to be. What they want to be known for. This life long process of active identity and personal autonomy is an idolatrous incubator. You, me, and Herod place our identity and affections in these things that allure our hearts so effectively.

So what does Jesus have to do with this? In accordance with our trip, I want to demonstrate the character of God and idolatry through the Old Testament. This will help us make sense of Jesus. We are led to 1 Kings 18, where Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. This was a site we were blessed to visit a few weeks back.

The purpose for Elijah’s contest was to directly confront the idol of the Israelites. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were promoting a pluralistic society in Israel. They saw no problem with worshipping Baal one day, and the Lord on the Sabbath. The case is no different in our present day. We live in a society that is absolutely deistically pluralistic. In the text, Baal was not a concrete god as we see with other ancient gods like Zeus. Baal was understood in more of a generic sense. There was a Baal for everything, such as water, food, and land. In our culture, these Baals still exist. Everything can be a Baal, and everything has been a Baal. How many times in our culture do we see success on TV, and think, “if only I had that, I would be ok?” When we see perfect women on billboards and think “if only I looked like that” or “if only I could date a girl that looked like her.” The possibilities are endless. There are Baals all around us. We undoubtedly live in Elijah’s pluralistic society.

With idols all around us, it is imperative to identify these idols. In the text we see the NIV translation say “they danced around the altar they had made…so they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.” In their calling to Baal, we see the prophets do three things. They danced, they shouted louder, and finally they slashed themselves until their blood flowed. These are perfect characteristics and demonstrations of how we act with our Baals. Our Baals need appeasement. They are demanding. They require performance. We dance for them. When something has captured our hearts so intently that we will do anything to acquire them, we have been enticed by a Baal.

In recent years Madonna has expressed that the only reason she keeps going, the only reason she keeps writing new songs is because she can only stay on the top of the charts for so long. She needs the feeling of that number one spot. It’s the same with athletes who cannot bring themselves to retire despite an age that screams laz-e-boy (Jordan with the Wizards?). After the economic crisis hit in 2008, a string of suicides followed among the formerly wealthy. These included David Kellerman, the chief financial officer of Freddie Mac. Another suicide following the crisis was Cristen Schnor, a Danish banker who hanged himself in a London hotel. Their Baals were their identity. Their Baals demanded performance. When we do not appease our idols, or get what we want from them, we shout louder. We try harder. When our idols ultimately leave us empty, when we call out and get no response, our worlds crumble. Our idols demand our blood, and it gushes out in pursuit of them.

In the midst of our despair, we have a more beautiful remedy than we could ever imagine, and it lies within the place in which the fire came down. “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” The fire did not fall on the Israelites watching, or further off into the mountains, but the fire fell on the sacrifice. The sacrifice on the mount defeated the idol, and was the means by which people believed.” The character of God as seen through the Old Testament is to save idolatrous sinners by means of sacrifice. Familiar, huh? Enter Jesus.

In the same way, Jesus sacrificed Himself on Mount Calvary to eliminate our idols. He took the fire of God’s judgment on our behalf, so that we may experience the fire of God’s love. Contrary to our false gods who say “slash yourself for me,” Jesus, out of adoration, slashed Himself for us. His blood flowed in our place. Not due to our performance, not because we deserve it, but because He already loved us-because of His pure, satisfactory delight in us as we are now. The remedy from our idols, the cure for our Baals, is not an increase in performance or effort, but instead resting in Christ’s finished work on the cross. “For He was pierced for our transgression, He was crushed for our iniquity. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

Facing the Cross

"I am to face the cross of Christ in every part of life and with my whole man. The cross of Christ is to be a reality to me not only once for all at my conversion, but all through my life as a Christian."

A timely reminder from our friend Francis Schaeffer as we begin this day.