God With Us

Advent: God With Us from The Village Church on Vimeo.

My Neighbor Needs Help

Recently, I've started reading Wayne Gordon's, "Who is My Neighbor". First of all, if you don't know who Wayne Gordon is, read a biography of him right here. The guy is an inspiration to me and certainly someone I am trying to learn from. Reflecting on his years of  ministry in North Lawndale, Wayne's book takes a look at the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) and asks the question: Who is my neighbor?

The book is organized into short (2-3 pages) chapters meant to be read daily, in which Gordon points out different aspects of "Who is my neighbor?" and "What does it look like to love my neighbor?" The second days title was, "My Neighbor Needs Help". Here's what Gordon writes:

"A second obvious characteristic of a neighbor is somebody who needs help....The parables of the Good Samaritan revolves around a person who needs help-who has been left naked and half dead and is unable to help himself.

On the surface, helping others seems like a very simple concept. It's not. Of course, if all we mean by helping is opening the door for someone whose hands are full, that's one thing. But it's another thing if helping means that we have to get involved in another person's life, as the Good Samaritan did. 

These days, people don't want to get involved. Perhaps they are afraid to get involved. After all, helping others can be a risky proposition."

I love this excerpt from Gordon because I think it points out the very nature of what it means to love someone. Actually helping someone, or as I would say, loving someone, is never convenient or efficient (as quoted by Nick Theobald). It means putting aside your own ambitions and laying yourself down in the service of another. I think as people, and as Christians, we love to conveniently help people. We love being nice. We love walking around with a smile on our face while we do some really nice things (like opening the door for someone). I'm not saying these are bad. But I am saying, this is not truly loving your neighbor. That is soothing your religious conscious. Big difference. Actually helping, or loving, means getting involved with a person. It means entering into their brokenness and messiness. It means giving up your perfect schedule, emotional energy, and comfortability for the sake of another. I think Wayne Gordon touches on an important truth: that helping others (or loving) is not a simple concept. Loving your neighbor is to risk yourself for you neighbor. This doesn't always play out in the extreme example of risking your own life. But it is risking your time, energy, money, stability, comfort, cleanliness, etc...

How did Jesus love us? He risked all of those things. He risked them to the max. He put everything on the line for us. He did it so he could save us from our brokenness and give us new life. And now, for those who have this new life, he asks us to prodigally do the same. 

Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty might become rich." 2 Corinthians 8:9

The only response to such love is worship. Here is a moving hymn we sung at church  (New City South) this past Sunday: "Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour"

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,

All for love's sake becamest poor;

Thrones for a manger didst surrender,

Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,

All for love's sake becomes poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man;

Stooping so low, but sinners raising

Heavenwards by thine eternal plan.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Saviour and King, we worship thee.

Emmanuel, within us dwelling,

Make us what thou wouldst have us be.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Saviour and King, we worship thee.

Unless We Had Been United

"The Word of God was made man, and he who was the Son of God

became the Son of Man, that man, having been taken into the Word, 

and receiving adoption, might become the son of God. For by no other means

could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality,

unless we had been united to incorruptibility and immortality"

Irenaeus of Lyons writing on the Christians' participation in God

This quote is kind of a mouthful. It doesn't help that it was written around the year 180 A.D. But, Irenaeus  so beautifully captures such a central tenant to the gospel. The wonderful news of the gospel is this (and this is slight translation of what Irenaeus wrote above):

The 2nd person of the trinity, who had existed from all eternity, became man. The Son of God became the Son of Man. This is who Jesus Christ is. He did this, so that man (us), might be united to the Son of God (Jesus Christ), so that we could receive the same sonship that he has. We can be adopted as sons of God because we are directly united to the Son of God. We can only be restored to spotless perfection and eternal life by being united to the very one who himself is spotless, perfect, and from eternity. 

The Christian life is not a bunch of rules to follow or information to believe. It is living in this union with Christ. It is sharing in this life. 

Advent: Waiting For God

From Son to Curse

Another excerpt from Donald MaCleod's, 'The Person of Christ'. 

"He felt forsaken and he was forsaken….In the moment of dereliction, there is no sense of his own sonship. Even in Gethsemane, Jesus had been able to say, ‘Abba!’ (meaning Father). But now the cry is, ‘Eloi, Eloi’ (God). He is aware only of the god-ness and power and holiness and otherness of God. In his self image, he is no longer Son, but Sin; no longer the beloved with whom God is well pleased, but the cursed one: vile, foul and repulsive….

…But now, in the hour of his greatest need, God is not there. When he most needs encouragement, there is no voice to cry, ‘This is my beloved Son.’ When he most needs reassurance, there is no-one to say, ‘I am well pleased.’ No grace was extended to him, no favor shown, no comfort administered, no concession made. God was present only as displeased, expressing that displeasure with overwhelming force in all the circumstances of Calvary. Every detail in a drama which walked a fine line between chaos and liturgy declared, ‘This is what God thinks of you and of the sin you bear!’ He was cursed, because he became the greatest thief, murderer, adulterer, robber, desecrateor, blasphemer, etc., there has ever been anywhere in the world."

A somber reminder of the reality of calvary. At the cross, Jesus Christ, the 2nd person of the trinity, very God of very God, became a curse, and experienced absolute abandonment, taking upon himself the shame and consequence of sin; the consequence that we deserved. This is love. The Son of God stood condemned in our place. The cross wasn't some abstract event were the Son merely suffered theoretically, or only appeared to take on our sins. It is a concrete reality. The Son was really forsaken. He actually became a curse. He actually suffered the physical, spiritual and emotional effects of being under God's wrath. This is amazing love!

Certain Victory

From Valley of Vision,

"O LORD,

I bless thee that the issue of the battle between thyself and Satan

has never been uncertain,

and will end in victory.

Calvary broke the dragon's head, 

and I contend with a vanquished foe,

who with all his subtlety and strength

has already overcome.

When I feel the serpent at my heel

may I remember him whose heel was bruised,

but who, when bruised, broke the devil's head. 

My soul with inward joy extols the mighty conqueror."

This morning I praise God for decisively defeating Sin at calvary. My mind cannot understand the kind of faithfulness God has demonstrated. Though I cannot comprehend, my heart rejoices that God was faithful to His promise in Genesis 3:15. In this life, I will never fully understand the depth of grace that was displayed in fulfilling Genesis 3:15. I do not realize how truly undeserving I am, and what it meant for the infinitely holy, good, perfect, creator God, to die for hateful sinners who consistently choose to malign His name rather than rejoice in their Creator. Yet, in what my finite mind can comprehend, I rejoice and glory in the grace of God. My mind cannot comprehend the intricacy of God's providential sovereignty. From the beginning of time, God has been bringing His plans to pass. I rejoice that God has sovereignly chosen to reveal His glory by granting salvation to a People. I rejoice that before the foundations of the earth, God predestined me to be a vessel of mercy, to be adopted into His family, and not to be a rightful vessel of His wrath. Lastly, I cannot comprehend a love of this kind. In this life I will never truly understand the profundity of the Son becoming man and suffering on the Cross. I am amazed how a God infinite in wealth, put aside His fame and limited himself to a human body, experiencing life in a broken world. The One who deserves ultimate praise, the One who is the highest, emptied himself of everything, and became the lowest. All of this to fulfill His promise in Genesis 3:15. The only way for God to crush the head of Sin was for himself to be bruised. This is love, that God became man, took upon the himself the shame, burden and punishment for Sin that His people rightfully deserve, and finished it once and for all at the Cross. I pray that I will be 'strengthened with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.' (Ephesians 4:18-19)

Through the Abundance of God's Steadfast Love

"For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

   evil may not dwell with you.

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;

   you hate all evildoers.

You destroy those who speak lies;

   the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

   will enter your house."

Psalm 5:4-7

Only through the steadfast love of God is man able to enter His house. Not by works or good conscious. If evil may not dwell with God, and He destroys those who lie, that leaves every man completely dependent upon an act of God's grace. Because we have all rebelled, we deserve to be outsiders. But this is where it gets interesting. Jesus Christ, the 2nd person of the trinity came to earth, became an outsider, took upon himself the just punishment for all of God's people, for their evil and rebellious hearts, and for every lie spoke. Now, those who trust in Christ may enter His house. Only through the abundance of God's steadfast love can we enter His house. The Apostle John captures how the Cross is the manifestation of this steadfast love. God has ultimately made a way for wrath deserving sinners to come to Him and dwell in His house. 

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

1 John 4:9-10

The Humility of Christ

What other motivation do we need? Look at what the Savior has done.

Truly Human

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" Genesis 1:27

God is the creator of all life. All of creation is a masterpiece made by God. As Genesis reads, everything that God had made was 'very good'. But of all creation, Man was the only thing that God made in his image. We were created with God's stamp imprinted on our soul. We are made to know God in a unique way. We were formed with the intent of being infinitely intimate with Him.  Being made in God's image, we were created to reflect His glory in all of creation. We were called to be image bearers. This is what it is to be truly human.

Yet, even though God is the glorious maker and giver of life. Though He graciously entered into relationship with His creation, Man went his own way. We rebelled. We failed to be His image bearers. We chose the path of autonomy and rebellion over intimacy with our Creator. What was the result of this? The intimacy was lost. The purpose for which we were created was thwarted. Instead of experiencing the perfect delight of knowing and cherishing our Creator, as we were created for, our hearts are restless, insecure. We feel shame (Genesis 3: 8-12). Because we are separated from God, because we don't properly live as His image bearers, our relationships are broken. Because we were created with God's image stamped in our souls, our lives are broken unless that image is restored, unless God is at the absolute center. What's the solution?


"He is the image of the invisible God" Colossians 1:15

In Genesis, God identifies this problem as sin. Sin is what thwarts our image bearing. Sin dehumanizes. To be human is to know and enjoy God as we, as humans, were created to. But Sin is a cancer that derails the true essence of our humanity. So what's the solution? How is our relationship restored? How is our image bearing renewed?

One of the most beautiful verses in the Bible is Genesis 3:15. Right after Adam and Eve fall, condemning themselves, along with all their descendants (us), God makes a marvelous promise. Even though they have turned their backs on Him, God so loved us that He promised that one day He would make things right again. He promises that He will crush Sin. Even more amazing is the way in which God does this. God sends the True Image Bearer. God sent His Son Jesus, not as someone made 'in the image' of God, but as 'THE image of God'. The Son himself was God, but became man, living in human flesh. His mission was to defeat Sin, thus redeeming Man from its curse, and restoring them to that which they were created for, knowing and enjoying God. Jesus defeated Sin by absorbing the full weight of its curse, death and shame on the cross, and then resurrecting, thus displaying His victory over the power of Sin.

The Bible says that those who truly believe in Jesus have been 'born again' or 'given new life'. That's because we are given life in 'THE image bearer'. Before we were under Adam, who failed to be an image bearer, who was under sin. Now we are under Christ, who redeems from Sin, in order to restore us to a relationship with God. Through our union with Christ, we are being conformed to His image. We are being restored. Where Adam failed, and Sin crept in, Christ's victory and grace abounded. The only way to be truly human is to be given new life through faith in Christ. And as Jesus said, He came to give abundant life.

No More Shame

"Those who look to Him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed."

Psalm 34:5

Eradicate: 1. To remove or do away with completely 2. to pull up by the roots

At the Cross, Jesus eradicates all our sin and shame. Those who are in Him shine radiantly. There is no more shame. It has been completely removed by Christ.

The Light of the World (John 9:5) has stepped down to earth. He has come to those living in darkness. He has come to the lifeless, dirty, sin stained, and shameful and has shown His great light to them, that they may look to Him and be radiant, that they may have true life. In Him there is no darkness at all(1 John 1:5), and everything He touches, is made glorious. That's why when Jesus touches the heart of a sinner, they are forever changed. This glorious light changes everything. Reality (Truth) is seen for the first time. More so, the Light of the World carried all our darkness and dirt, all our shame on His back, so that we might be able to see the True Light. He became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, taking the full burden of shame, so that those who look to Him would have NO MORE SHAME, but shine radiantly.

The Word Became Flesh

Genesis 3:15

"And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

Leviticus 26:11-12

"I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people."

John 1:14

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Who was Jesus?

As Christmas approaches, I am reminded that the Gospel is a historical message. Jesus was a real person. The Gospel is a true story taken from real events. Jesus, the 2nd person of the trinity, the One by whom everything was created, entered His own creation by taking on human flesh in order to redeem a broken and sinful world. Sometimes I forget that this REALLY happened. His life, death and resurrection were actual events.

As reported by Jewish historian Josephus in his 'Antiquities of the Jews',

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and the many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."