Being Clean

"It's not what goes into your body that defiles you; 

you are defiled by what comes from your heart."

Mark 7:15

One of the many reasons I love Mark's account of Jesus' life is the way Mark depicts Jesus as confrontational. From the very beginning of Mark, Jesus comes proclaiming the Kingdom of God. In doing so, he confronts our tendency to make ourselves the king of our own little kingdom. He challenges our reality by confronting our misconceptions of who we are, and who we think God is. 

One passage in which Jesus does this is in Mark 7:1-23. You see, going all the way back in the Old Testament, there is a big problem. Because humankind fell into sin, we cannot come into the presence of God unless we are clean (spotless, without blemish, blameless, without sin). In fact, this is a very big deal to God. That is why in Leviticus there are extensive rules about cleanliness and purity. That is why  there was a day of atonement once a year, and the high priest who was to go before God and atone for the sins of the people had to spend a week preparing himself, washing himself, making sure he was clean. 

This may seem odd, but think of it this way. When we go to meet an important person or have an important event, we also prepare for it. We will take a shower, get a haircut, put on make up, wear our nicest clothes, etc... The same goes for how we are supposed to approach God.

Imagine you own a house. It is perfectly white. It is painted white on the outside, the carpet is white, all the couches are white, the walls are white, the tables are white; everything is bright shining white. Now imagine a person covered in mud comes to your door and wants to come in. It's not going to happen. This is also a reality between us and God. This is why there were the Old Testament purity laws. 

And this is where Mark 7 comes in. Jesus, interacting with the pharisees, confronts their misconceptions. In this passage, the Pharisees had a problem because Jesus' disciples weren't following the traditional purity laws. For example, they weren't washing their hands before they ate, they don't wash their cups and plates the proper way. For the pharisees, this was how we maintained our purity before God. 

I love how Jesus challenges the Pharisees. He doesn't come at them attacking their zeal to be pure. Rather, he gets at the heart of the problem (literally and figuratively). Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah and says to them, 

"These people honor me with their lips, 

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is farce, 

for they teach man-made ideas as the commands from God" Mark 7:6-7

The problem was that the pharisees thought they could make themselves clean by their own actions. They thought they could be pure before God through religious acts. Jesus confronts this by stating the real problem. The real problem isn't that on the outside they are unclean or impure, it's that their hearts are jacked up. The real problem is a heart problem. The pharisees may have performed religious acts of cleanliness, but their hearts were filthy. 

At this point, it's easy to point at the pharisees and jeer at their ignorance. However, we are not any different. We may not look to Old Testament laws to save face before God, but in some way, shape, form, or fashion, we are all trying to become clean before God. We all look to 'DO" something in order to make us right, to give us worth, or to give our existence significance. 

And this is is where Jesus speaks to us. By confronting the Pharisees, Jesus is telling us that the thing that really makes us unclean is our heart. The problem isn't the externals as much as it is the internal. Further, this is a problem we ALL have. It isn't just the Pharisees. It is us! And as long as we are looking to "DO" something to fix it, it will never work. We could never possibly clean ourselves up enough to be perfectly pure before the eyes of God. 

Back to the white house example (not the presidents home, but a house that is purely white). What Jesus is saying is that while we are standing outside the house that is sparkling white, we could never scrub hard enough to make ourselves worthy for entrance. It doesn't matter what we try to use (religion included), it won't work. What we need is a heart transplant from the inside out. 

This is where the good news of the gospel comes in. When Jesus came to earth and died, he essentially came and lived the pure, clean life that we should have lived, and he died the death of someone who was impure. He did this is substitution for our uncleanliness. Further, because he was the only one who lived a truly pure life, he offers to us his very life. He sees us sitting outside the white house, scrubbing hard, and says to us, "That will never work. But receive me. I will make you clean from the inside out. I can get you on the VIP guest list into the white house." And with one touch, we are made clean. Further, he stays by our side, continuing to transform our hearts from those of stone, to those who desire to walk with and worship the living God. 

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

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

What is Biblical Justice?

An article from Relevant Magazine written by Tim Keller. This is pure gold. I'm pretty sure it is part of a chapter from Keller's Generous Justice. 

Here is the link to the original article.

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Piper and Keller on Justification, Sanctification, and the Dynamics of Faith

Great stuff from two guys who have had a huge influence on my life. This was originally posted on Desiring God.

John Piper and Tim Keller: The Gospel and Race

I seriously can't wait for this! Two of my biggest heroes (Piper and Keller) talking about a subject very close to my heart. Also, Anthony Bradley (Covenant Theological Seminary grad and former professor) will be moderating. Tune in Wednesday, March 28th 6-8pm (central time).


Invitation to Piper and Keller on Race & the Christian from Desiring God on Vimeo.

What is the Kingdom of God?

"The kingdom is the renewal of the whole world through the entrance of supernatural forces. As things are brought back under Christ's rule and authority, they are restored to health, beauty, and freedom."
Tim Keller

Think Big Ideas About God

I was watching the movie "All the President's Men" (film about Watergate break-in) last night with my family, and this story popped into my memory. It was too good not to share. The following is an illustration by Tim Keller from a sermon titled "Does God Control Everything?" Listen from about 24:00 - 29:00. This story is straight cool. Below is a summary I found of this section from a blog by Andy Naselli. I don't know you Andy, but thanks for typing this up...

1. Tim Keller planted Redeemer Church because he entered a Presbyterian denomination that encouraged church planting.
2. Keller entered that denomination because in his last semester at seminary he took two courses with a professor who convinced him to adopt Presbyterian theology.
3. Keller sat under that professor because at the very last minute the professor arrived at the seminary after having bureaucratic visa problems. (The professor was British.)
4. While that professor was having visa problems, the seminary dean prayed one day about how he didn’t know how they were going to get the professor to arrive, and his prayer partner happened to be a seminary student named Mike Ford.
5. Mike Ford happened to have some clout to get them through the bureaucratic snag because he was the son of Gerald Ford, the sitting President of the United States.
6. Gerald Ford was President of the United States because Richard Nixon resigned.
7. Nixon resigned because a bunch of burglars broke into Watergate and were caught.
8. The burglars were caught because one of them happened to leave a door unlatched to an office they had just bugged, and then a night watchman just happened to walk by and notice the unlatched door.
9. So “if that [burglar] had latched the door,” Keller half jokes, “if that door had been closed just two more inches, we wouldn’t be here tonight. Even Watergate happened for you.”

...

I love this story. There are no coincidences in life, though we often attribute many occasions to them. This serves as a reminder to me to think big ideas about God. This sequence of events was so easy for God to orchestrate, yet it still blows my small mind away. Imagine the orchestration it required for each of us to be saved. Every person we encountered, every conversation we had and every feeling involved, which in perfect sequential order the Lord use to bring us to himself; each a miraculous story. Should that be attributed to chance or human effort? It seems only possible that was God chasing after each of us, to write us into His Story.

Gospel: The End of Arrogance

I've been looking forward to starting John Piper's new book, 'Bloodlines: Race, Cross, And The Christian'. Thus far, I've had the pleasure of diving into the forward by Tim Keller and Piper's preface. Here's a quote from the preface.

"God has spoken. And he has acted. He has entered our world in the person of his Son. His word, his action, and his incarnation are the end of ethnic arrogance for those who embrace him as the Treasure of their lives."

What a great reminder that the Gospel is the end of all pride, whether it be pride in social, academic, monetary, or ethnic status. At the cross, I see how truly sinful I am. I see that Mike Berttucci is so jacked up that this (a bloody crucifixion) was the necessary ramification for my sin. I'm so bad that Christ had to die for me. Yet, I am so loved by God that he was pleased rescue me. Jesus went to the cross for the joy set before him. From this perspective, it seems pretty silly to think that I am, in any way, better than another human. I am saved solely by the grace of God. Christ died for me when I was yet a sinner (Romans 8:5). This is the end of arrogance, whether it is ethnic arrogance, or simply arrogance in personal relationships. The Gospel ends arrogance. 

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. 

Tim Keller at Columbia University

Here's a 15 min video clip from Tim Keller at an open forum interview at Columbia University. I've never seen anyone who is able to answer hard philosophical/theological secular questions with such grace, truth and intellect. In particular, I think Keller does an outstanding job at addressing the homosexual question (2:30-8:00) by taking it back to the Gospel. 

Martin Lloyd-Jones on Preaching and the Gospel

A few lessons Tim Keller has learned from Martin Lloyd-Jones.

"The lesson I eventually learned from him was—don't preach to your congregation for spiritual growth thinking everyone there is a Christian—and don't preach the gospel evangelistically thinking that Christians cannot grow from it. In other words—evangelize as you edify, and edify as you evangelize. These are two different by intimately related ideas, and we will tackle one in each of the next two posts."

You can read the rest of the article here.

Caution About Preaching Christ In All the Scriptures

A post from Justin Taylor's blog.

A helpful TGC Asks with answers from Tim Keller, Don Carson, and David Murray to the question, “How would you caution teachers intent on preaching Christ in the Old Testament?”

Here is Keller’s answer:

1. Don’t “get to Christ” so soon in the sermon that you don’t unfold the meaning and application of the text to the original hearers. If you “jump to Christ” too soon that often means you inspire people but you don’t give them concrete application for how they are supposed to live.

2. Don’t “get to Christ” so late in the sermon that he seems like an add-on, a mere devotional appendix. If you wait too long to get to Christ listeners won’t see how Jesus’ work is crucial if the listeners are going to obey or heed the text.

3. Don’t get to Christ artificially. This is a big subject of course, but I believe two of the best ways are (a) by identifying in your text one of the many inner-canonical themes that all climax in Christ (Don Carson’s language), and (b) identifying in your text some “Fallen Condition Focus,” some lack in humanity that only Christ can fill (Bryan Chapell’s language).

Two Opposing Paradigms

"Imagine two people, both trying to obey the law of God, yet they operate from these two opposing paradigms. Both want to keep the Sabbath day, but in one case the obedience is a burden, an enslavement; while in the other it's a delight, a gift. How can that be? One paradigm is religion, which - as we observed before - is fundamentally advice. The other is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which begins and ends with news. These are two completely different things."

- Tim Keller, King's Cross

....

When I think of advice, I think of something I need to do or not do in the future. When I think news, I think of the newspaper. You are reading about what is already done. The Scriptures are revealing to us NEWS about what Jesus has already done for us what we could never do. That is awesome.

Tim Keller interview

Tim Keller interviewed on Fox News about his new book King's Cross.

What Do You Rejoice In?

"What you rejoice in is the thing that is your central sweetness and consolation in life. To rejoice is to treasure a thing, to assess its value to you, to reflect on its beauty and importance until your heart rests in it and tastes the sweetness of it."

Tim Keller

What do you rejoice in? The Bible says we are to 'rejoice' and 'delight' in God. Sometimes I wonder why it often so hard for me to do this. It is far easier for me to get excited, and treasure watching my favorites athlete (Derrick Rose) take over a game in the 4th quarter and lead his team to victory. I have no problem delighting in earning good grades, or having a good time with friends. This sunday, I will be quick to rejoice when the Bears score. But why is it so hard for me to delight in God? Why is reading the Bible more like pulling teeth than it is a joyful delight. Why am I more drawn and enamored with stuff instead of God and His Word. Why do I often times delight in trivial 'things' more than God.

At a fundamental level, it is because I do not fully believe the Gospel. I think Tim Keller's quote hits the nail on the head. We delight in something because it is valuable to us, because we have assessed it's beauty and treasure it. If this is true, the reason I don't delight in God is that I have failed to properly assess God's value and the true treasure that He is. I have failed to see the beauty of the Gospel. In my few moments of Gospel sanity, when for a moment, I taste the overwhelming goodness of the Father expressed through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on my behalf, in those moments, I am apt to delight in God. During those glimpses of grace (shout out Erik Most), I experience the fullness of joy that is in Christ.

However, in order to do this, we must properly assess the value of the Gospel. Tim Keller defines the Gospel as the fact that we are far worse, and far more hopeless than we could ever imagine, yet, in Christ, we are more loved and accepted than we could ever hope. In order to assess the value of the Gospel, we must understand both sides. If we don't see ourselves as utterly sinful, naked, blind, poor, lost, miserable souls, who if it weren't for the sheer grace of God, would be justly consumed by His wrath, the Gospel will never be valuable to us. It will never be good news. There is a reason Jesus said, "He who is forgiven little, loves little. But he who is forgiven much, loves much". Grace won't be amazing to us unless we realize what we've been saved from. A shackled slave who is redeemed rejoices. A beggar who has been adopted by the King and made into a Son rejoices. Someone who thinks they are a generally good person and deserves salvation on their merit does not rejoice.

More so, we will only be able to rightly rejoice in God when we realize God's absolute benevolence towards His children. If you are in Christ, you are beloved. You are more loved than you can imagine. Christians should rejoice in God because they have been saved from their utter state of sin and brought into the glorious light. We were unlovely, but we have been loved by the most lovely. Love to the loveless shown, that we might lovely be. When I dwell on this, I treasure God above all else. Knowing both ends, that we are utterly sinful and hopeless, yet completely loved and secure in Christ's finished work, will cause us to rightly assess the Gospel's value, to rightly treasure it, and to see its pure beauty. And when this happens, we will rejoice and delight in God.

I pray God will continue to illuminate my heart to the true treasure that Christ is, and the absolute beauty of the Gospel; that God saves messed up sinners.

How Far was He willing to Go?

Just finished reading Tim Keller's 'Generous Justice'. Here is some pure 24k gold from the last chapter. And by the way, the k stands for Keller :)

"Many people say, 'I can't believe in God when I see all the injustice in the world.' But here is Jesus, the Son of God, who knows what it's like to be the victim of injustice, to stand up to power, to face a corrupt system and be killed for it. He knows what it is like to be lynched. I'm not sure how you believe in a God remote from injustice and oppression, but Christianity doesn't ask you to believe in that. That is why the Christian write John Stott is able to say, 'I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?'

And what does this mean....

There (on the cross) we see how far God was willing to go to identify with the oppressed of the world. And he was doing it all for us! There Jesus, who deserved acquittal and freedom, got condemnation, so that we who deserve condemnation for our sins can receive acquittal. This was the ultimate instance of God's identification with the poor. He not only became one of the actually poor and marginalized, he stood in the place of all those of us in spiritual poverty and bankruptcy and paid our debt.

Now that is a thing of beauty. To take that into the center of your life and heart will make you one of the just."

The True Motivation for Justice

Tim Keller in his new book, 'Generous Justice', talking about the Gospel being the ultimate motivation for justice.

"I believe, however, when justice for the poor is connected not to guilt, but to grace and to the gospel, this 'pushes the button' down deep in believers' souls, and they begin to wake up. Here is an example of the kind of argument that accomplishes this. It comes from a sermon by a young Scottish minister early in the nineteenth century, preaching on the text, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35):

'Now, dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true Vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving....'Though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.'

Objection 1. 'My money is my own.' Answer: Christ might have said, 'My blood is my own, my life is my own'....then where should we have been?

Objection 2. 'The poor are undeserving.' Answer: Christ might have said, 'they are wicked rebels, shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels.' But no, Christ left the 99 and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving.

Objection 3. 'The poor may abuse it.' Answer: Christ might have said the same; yea with far greater truth. Christ knew thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood. Oh, my dear Christians! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'"

What is the Bible Basically About?

Repentance

"The repentance that really changes your heart and your relationship with God begins when you recognize that your main sin, the sin under the rest of your sins, is your self-salvation project...We try to prove ourselves by our moral goodness and through achievement or family or career. Even diligent involvement in the church and religion may need to be repented of once we understand that it was all a way to put God and others in our debt. Repentance, then, is confessing the things beside God himself that you have been relying on for your hope, significance and security. That means we should repent not only for things we have done wrong (like cheating or lying), but also for the motivations beneath our good works."

- Tim Keller, The Reason for God