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Friends,

I have just added the "Follow by Email" option to the blog. Now you can get email notification of new posts right to your Inbox. Simply enter the email address you want notifications to come to and, voila, you will receive timely notice of future postings. Thanks for your interest and support by reading these little ramblings.

God bless you all,
Steve L.

Preaching – Protestant or Not?

The “worship” of the Church of Rome focuses on the mass in which the priest magically turns a wafer and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The participant then partakes in a fairly passive way of what the priest has prepared for him. The central feature of the service is the priest. The “worshipper” goes home basically unchanged and none the better for having been at “worship.”

The Protestant Reformation rescued the Word of God from the obscurity it suffered at the hands of Rome and made it once again the central feature of true Christian worship and life. However, we Protestants are in danger of returning to the centrality of a man, in this case, the preacher, at the expense of neglecting the Word of God. How so?

Part of the problem stems from the philosophy both of preacher and congregation as to what constitutes a “message” from God’s Word. When you hear a preacher talking about “getting a message” for the Lord’s Day it can reflect the mentality that borders on the prophetic, in the biblical sense of the word. It can be common to refer to someone’s preaching ministry as “prophetic.” People expect to hear messages that are not only timely, but also speak powerfully to the things around them. They want messages that confound their enemies and speak to their needy nation, as did the prophets of old.

However, the prophets of Scripture “got messages” from God because He newly revealed them to them. Their messages were revelation in the strict sense of the word. They did not so much “get” messages; rather God “gave” them to them. However, the New Testament preacher (which we all are since the ascension of Christ) is in a different situation. The canon of Scripture is closed. There is no more new revelation. There is no ministry that is “prophetic” in the strict sense of the word. The office of prophet ceased with the last of the apostles. This means that God has said all He wanted to. This also means that the Scriptures themselves are God’s message. God preaches to us in His Word.

So far, so good. But how does a preacher obscure God’s message and make himself the central feature of Christian worship? It comes back to “getting a message” for the Lord’s Day. Preacher, you already have your message – it is Scripture. You don’t have to “get” it; rather you have to study it in order to pass on what God has already said to us in the text you will preach. The text is the message; God preaches it to us. Your mission is to understand the text to the best of your ability and to “repeat” it, or to explain it to the congregation. That is all the “getting” there is (apart from the Holy Spirit’s leading as to which text to preach).

The text is the message. You don’t have to traipsing all over the Bible to pull together various threads to make a garment. The garment is fully made in the text. It may be illustrated in various biblical passages, but the thought of God is the text itself. You may need to bring in instruction from other passages and explain theological concepts used in the text, but the message itself is the text itself.

The problem comes in with the expectation of preacher and congregation. What is a “message” as far as they are concerned? Is it what God has already said in His Word, or is it what the preacher puts together from often disparate sources on a “timely” theme? Is it the plain meaning of the text or is it a compilation of timely thoughts or even good doctrinal statements that “spring” from the text? I say “spring” because a text is often a “springboard” that a preacher uses to get to the “timely thoughts” he already has in mind for his congregation. He might as well use Luke 7:40 as his text, “I have somewhat to say unto thee.”

When a preacher concocts a message from various texts or uses a passage for a purpose other than what it was inspired by the Holy Spirit to fulfill, the congregation is entirely dependent on that preacher for whatever he is going to impart. The message reflects the preacher’s own mind and not the text. There is no way the congregation could ever reread the message in the text because the message did not reflect the text. They must depend on note taking (which is not a bad practice in itself) and perhaps on a catchy alliterated outline to remember anything that is said. However, when they read the text again in their regular Bible reading what the preacher said is only a distant memory at best.

The worst thing about all this is that the congregation did not hear from God. They heard from the preacher. They might have heard truth and they might have heard some sort of helpful “ought to” for their Christian life. However, they did not hear God speak from His Word. They may have heard God speak in spite of the sermon, but they did not hear His voice through the sermon. The logic of the sermon came from the preacher’s mind, not from God’s mind.

The result of such an approach to preaching is that the central feature of the worship service is not the Word of God, but the preacher. The participant listens in a fairly passive way to what the preacher has prepared for him. The central feature of the service is the preacher. The worshipper goes home basically unchanged and perhaps none the better for having been at worship.

Never Read the Bible...

            Have you ever read a novel, or at least a short story? In a novel the author creates a world in our imagination that may more or less resemble the real world. The world he creates is one that fits his story line and characters to produce a somewhat believable whole, at least in the context of his story. When we read the story we are transported to the made-up world, and to some degree we live out what his characters experience. For the duration of our reading we are living a different life, in our imagination. However, when we close the book, we immediately move back into the real world. We might carry some residue of feeling around with us for a while and we might remember some of the lines of dialog or description. But for the most part, that “other life” is over.

            The same is true of movies, and even TV series. The world of the movie is our world, and the lives of the leading characters, or heroes, are our lives for as long we watch. But when the movie credits come on, the lights come up and we step out of the air-conditioned comfort of the theater into the steamy, hot parking lot and get in our stuffy car, the alternate reality is over and “real” reality kicks back in. We go and get a pizza and get back to the humdrum of everyday life. [For those who do not frequent movie theaters, the same experience of a return to “real” reality occurs, except perhaps for the pizza, when the DVD is over and the children are sent off to bed.]

            One of the elemental features of reading fiction is that when we close the book, life in that unreal world is over. We entered that world for a time to understand the author’s point, if there was one worth understanding. But once we finished the book, we finished life in that world. It’s over. However, one of the problems with fiction is that people can think that the imaginary world is the real one, and it can be lived out in this world. Star Trek comes to mind as one example where people adopted the identities and characteristics of fictional beings and attempted to live life as a “Trekkie.” Thankfully, most people recognize that this is not the secret to a fulfilling life. Once the story is over, life in that world is over, too. Then, it is “back to porridge,” as the British say.

            Christians generally like to read. One popular genre is the Christian biography. We all have our heroes of the faith. Reading the lives of those who have gone before us can be encouraging and edifying. It is heartening to read how God met simple people who had a great and faithful God working on their behalf. We can receive hope for our difficult times and strength of heart for the long nights of suffering as we see God meet others with similar needs. However, in reading Christian biographies there is a danger similar to the one faced by novel readers and movie watchers. As we read the dramatic accounts of the lives of others, we can imagine that we ourselves are actually experiencing what they went through. We can identify with these heroes of the faith to the point of assuming something of their path in life. Their experience becomes our experience, at least in our imagination.

This is especially true of 19^th Century missionary biographies. Although the stories of those heroic characters are largely true, they are often recounted in a “larger-than-life” way that approaches fiction. Such books border on praising men for the work of God. If a reader has any sensitivity to the “greatness” of the call to the mission field, or any other kind of “full-time service,” he can begin to see himself in that same “larger-than-life” way. If the reader is to any degree idealistic, then what he has read of others must also become true of himself. He becomes like the Trekkie who lives out the imagined “Spock” or “Kirk,”, but the name has been changed to “Hudson Taylor,” “C. H. Spurgeon,” or “Amy Carmichael.” What the hero of faith did and experienced must be seen again in the reader’s life. They did certain things that God blessed, so to have the same blessing, I must do the same things, or live with the same convictions. Then I will see the great blessing of God as they did.

I hope we can see the fallacy in such thinking. God creates everyone to be different, to live in different circumstances and times, and to do different things in the kingdom of God. I can learn much from the lives of others, perhaps mostly from their mistakes. But to think that my feeble efforts of imitation, even my best efforts as a Christian can guarantee the blessing of God is to treat God as a giant candy machine. If I put the same money in the machine that my hero did, then I will get the same candy as he did. This might sound a little harsh to those who believe that the greatest benefit of historic examples comes from imitating them. As far as I understand from Scripture, God is the Hero of history, not man. We have only to ask our heroes, with the apostle Paul, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor.4:7). Furthermore, as far as our heroes were truly men and women of God, they certainly did not attribute the blessing of God to their efforts. “God did not bless us,” they would say, “because we were good. He blessed us because HE is good.” God is the real Hero of history.

To take this thought to a higher level, such a man-centered “candy machine” mentality can bleed over from reading biographies to reading the Bible. Bible characters can assume a heroic status and become examples for us to imitate. Of course they were not perfect, it is reasoned, but they must be in the Bible to show us what God expects from us. That conclusion is built upon the assumption that man is the most important person in the universe. Man, it is wrongly supposed, must be the center of attention. After all, look what God did for him at Calvary. However, the Scripture is clear that what God did at Calvary was first of all “To the praise of the glory of His grace… to the praise of His glory…(and) unto the praise of His glory” (Eph.1:6, 12, 14). However much God may value those He purchased at the cost of the substitutionary death of His Son, the primary beneficiary of the cross was not man, but God Himself. If, however, we read the Bible with man in the forefront of our thinking, then the not-always-implicit supposition is that if we do imitate them, we will get the same blessing they did. In fact, it can even be communicated that unless we do imitate them we will get no blessing at all.

The God who is the Hero of history is first and foremost the Hero of the Bible. God is the central Figure in the Bible, which makes Him the central Figure in every book of the Bible, which makes Him the central Figure in every chapter of every book. His role might be only implicit in some places, but we must NEVER read the Bible without God foremost in our mind. The book is not about great believers, but about the Great God they believed in. They, too, would rebuke us with, “What did we have that we did not receive?” To be sure, they performed great exploits. But “they were what they were by the grace of God” (1 Cor.15:10). They only performed those exploits because God was gracious in turning their hearts to Himself, and faithful in doing what He promised to perform, usually in spite of their unbelief and disobedience. (That, by the way, is the whole point of Hebrews 11. It is not “The Hall of Fame of Faith” but “The Hall of Fame of the Faithful One” who is worthy of our continued trust in Him.)

The point of this long ramble is this: when we read Scripture, especially the stories (narratives), our question must NOT be, “How can I do what they did for God?” but “How can God do for me what He did for them?” NOT, “What does God expect from me?” but “What can I expect from God?” After all, He is the Savior, not me.

The Process of Change – 4: Correction

            If the second step of biblical change outlined in 2 Timothy 3:16 is seeing what I am doing wrong (in thought, speech, and action), then the next step must be to see what I need to do in order to live correctly. What is “right?” The answer to that question should not be too difficult, since the Scripture that convicted me also spells out how to act in a way pleasing to God. In fact, the correction may be little more than making the negative statement, “Stop doing this” into “Start doing the opposite.” To use Paul’s language (Eph.4:22-24) the second step shows me what I need to “put off” (like dirty clothes) and the third step shows me what to “put on” (clean clothes).

What I do that displeases God needs to be repented of. Often people misunderstand the word “repent” to mean, “be sorry for.” However, that is only one element of true repentance. Sin has been defined as “any want (lack) of conformity unto or transgression of the Law of God” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 14). Sin is not only a failure to obey God (want of conformity), but it is also active rebellion  (transgression) against God. Repenting is therefore not only desisting from the active rebellion, it also involves active conformity (obedience) to God’s revealed will. Stopping a sinful action is only the beginning. True repentance moves us on to loving obedience to our Heavenly Father.

So, the liar, for example, has not repented when he stops telling lies. Repentance takes him on to speaking the truth. Correction is the goal of repentance. Doing right is what the child of God aims at. However, much of our problem stems from the fact that it is easy to be complacent in the Christian life. If we are not conscious of flagrant sin in our life, then it easy to go through our busy days on “auto-pilot,” much as a jetliner does on long flights. The captain sets certain instruments to automatically guide the plane along its route, and than he relaxes and more or less keeps his eye on things. If only living a fruitful Christian life were as easy as flying a plane! I am afraid we have very low expectations when it comes to bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

We all have many relationships to look after, many responsibilities to take care of, and many shortcomings and failures that need attention. God has something to say about all those things, and more besides. If we were to take inventory of the various connections we have with people and simply aim at loving each one as we love ourselves, it would take more study than earning a PhD! Add to that all the complications created by our own sin and theirs, as well as the lost world that needs to hear and see the gospel, and a lifetime is not long enough to take care of it all. Correction will keep us busy for the rest of our lives. How can people ever think they do not need more biblical input, that they have somehow "matured" or "arrived?"

The Process of Change – 3: Conviction

           According to 2 Timothy 3:16, when we come face to face with God’s righteous will we begin to see how unrighteous we are. Just take a look at the “practical” sections of Paul’s epistles to see not only how much we still fail to obey, but also how much we continue to disobey. Some of the things written to Christians make one wonder just how sinful we really are. 

           People can be forgiven it they think that conversion makes such a dramatic change in our lives that sin is not much of a problem any more. Although it may not be directly stated in evangelistic presentations, much of modern evangelism is focused on “getting saved” and on missing Hell.

The fact that the repentance that begins at conversion must continue and grow throughout the Christian life is often ignored. Some may think that salvation by grace excludes the idea of a changed life. They want to become believers but not disciples. While we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, yet that saving grace comes “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Tit.2:12). The idea that once we are saved we are done dealing with sin is absolutely foreign to Scripture. Christians should be the most sin-conscious people in the world. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

Therefore, when we read the Bible, we should not be surprised to see our own faults and shortcomings. On the contrary, we should look for them. We should look for the specific commands of Scripture to see that “there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed” (Joshua 13:1).

However, do not let Satan burden you with vague accusations and condemnation. When the Holy Spirit shows you your sin His work is precise and specific. He shows you the very definite, and usually obvious ways you still miss the mark of love for God and for your neighbor. This work of conviction is not for the purpose of making your life miserable. The aim of the Bible’s conviction is to save you from a path of sin that you habitually walk on. The aim of this second step is biblical change. The only path of joy in the Lord is the path of obedience (John 14:21-23).

The first step of biblical change leads us to say, “I know the will of God.” This second step brings us to say, “I see my sin and I repent.” What will the third step show us?

The Process of Change – 2: Doctrine

In 2 Timothy 3:16 the word translated “doctrine” in our Bible speaks of instruction by means of giving information. The emphasis of the word is on the content of what is taught. The Bible is our source of information about God and His saving work and will. Without Scripture we would have no redeeming knowledge that would “make us wise unto salvation” either in our conversion or in our daily progress in holiness. Without Scripture we would be ignorant of these things.

Moreover, apart from God’s revelation of Himself in the “sacred writings,” we would have many wrong ideas about Him. We are not born as a “tabula rasa” (blank slate), as unbelieving psychologists claim. We are born as sin-darkened rebels who hold many wrong concepts about God and salvation. We need the Bible not only to inform our ignorance, but also to expose and rectify our native idolatry.

So, the first reason we read Scripture daily is to grow in our knowledge of God as He informs us via the inspired page. God’s Word is our “instruction book” for life. In the OT the Hebrew word often translated “law” is the word “torah,” which speaks of instruction. The “law” is far more than only the Ten Commandments, or even all the commandments. Everything God says is “law,” in that whatever He speaks is authoritative instruction for man. And is that is just what we need – authoritative instruction for life and godliness.

We need to know God’s will for everything that touches our eternal destiny as well as our temporary stay in this world. In fact, from our present perspective, the eternal destiny part is pretty simple: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” It is the daily slog that we need daily light for. We have so many relationships, responsibilities and opportunities that we need a personal coach all along the way. And that is just what we have for daily Christlikeness – our gracious Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, enlightening and enabling us by the Holy Spirit to conform to His loving will as revealed in His infallible Word.

Is that why you read the Bible? I am sure that often we have read it in order to “get a blessing,” which may mean nothing more than a good feeling or a sense of God’s love. However, God’s aim is far higher – he wants to understand His will for our daily lives in this world. And that means far more than just what He wants us to do. It includes the multitude of ways that we need to change in order to stop reflecting our own egocentric lives and instead to reflect His love and holiness. It takes in all that there is of Christlikeness. Not a small topic! You think you studied in school! Christian, you are just beginning to get the picture! That Bible could be a lot bigger than it is, but what we have will take a lifetime to learn. Your assignment: know the Lord.

Next: think about what the second step might be. What will happen to us when we learn God’s will? 

The Process of Change – 1

2 Timothy 3:16

I thought I’d give you a few extra days to look for it. This verse outlines the four-step process of biblical change. This is how “progress in holiness” takes place. This is how we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2  Pt.3:18).

            In 2 Timothy Paul is seeking to fortify Timothy’s courage and faith. Paul himself is on the way to glory and this, of course, gives Timothy cause for concern. The young minister had leaned heavily on the old apostle and would miss him greatly. What’s worse, the outlook on the horizon is not any brighter, and the battle for the church is heating up considerably. Younger Timothy feels some trepidation over the prospects. Paul senses this concern and writes to help his younger protégé buck up for the coming battles. One of his themes throughout this epistle is the sufficiency of the gospel and the Word of God for all Timothy has to face.

            Paul reminded Timothy of the sacred writings he already knew in what we call the Old Testament. These Scriptures were used of God to make him “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (3:15). [Note: the OT is about “salvation through faith in Christ {Messiah} Jesus.” It is not a catalog of examples and precepts for us to follow. More on that in another post.] Moreover, the apostle urges him to “continue in the things” he had learned from Paul. Paul lets him know several times in this epistle that the apostolic teaching of the gospel is as authoritative as the sacred writings of the OT. In other words, they are the NT of God’s Word. Both OT and NT were “breathed by God” to be authoritative and reliable communication to us of God’s saving work and will.

            It is the same Word that was instrumental is Timothy’s faith in Christ that would be instrumental in both his work as a minister and his personal growth in grace as a believer. Christ our Prophet makes known to us by His Word and Spirit “what we must do to be saved” as well as “what we must do to be sanctified.” So, what must I do to be sanctified? Read 2 Timothy 3:16 and see what you can come up with before my next post, Lord willing.

Change: Sanctification

In our last post we thought about the three changes that occur in the Christian: conversion, sanctification, and being “made perfect in holiness” at death. The change that happens at death is obviously out of our hands. But the first two, conversion and sanctification, involve human activity. No one is converted who does not repent and believe the gospel. While only the Holy Spirit can enable someone to do that, no one is saved who does not do that. In the same way, our progress in holiness is both enabled by the Spirit and advanced by our obedience. This is what Paul says in Phil.2:12-13 – “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you (enabling) both to will and to do (obeying) of his good pleasure.” That is the lifelong change we call sanctification. The Holy Spirit is at work in you to lead you into a life of obedience. He directs that obedience through His Word.

Some people have said that this work of sanctification is a mystery. They don’t know how it happens. And as far as God’s part is concerned it is unseen, mysterious, and something that is beyond our comprehension. However, sanctification has two sides to it. From our side of things, there is no mystery about it at all. The Bible is perfectly clear about the process of our continual progress and growth in grace. God’s Word outlines our contribution to this process of change we call sanctification. That outline is found in – see if you can find it before tomorrow’s post.

Change is what Sanctification is all about.

The Need for Change - 2

The gospel tells us that saving changes are made:

1. FOR US on the basis of the sacrificial death of Christ. He purchased our eternal redemption, that is, our salvation from the guilt of our sins, from our slavery to sin, and from our well-deserved condemnation.

2. IN US by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. His works in us are regeneration, initially, and sanctification, continually.

3. THROUGH the instrumentality of the Word of God. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom.10:17).

The Christian life in this world is a life that:

·        Begins with a change – conversion

·        Grows through lifelong change – sanctification

·        And ends with a change – “made perfect in holiness”

Change is what the Christian Life is all about.

The Need for Change

        “In a world of sin everything goes to pot” (Jay Adams). Scientists tell us that the created world is characterized by atrophy – everything is running out of energy. Furthermore, the history of civilizations also reveals a pattern of decline. Our own country is a case in point. However high the moral standard of our founding fathers may have been, the last two hundred years have brought us to the brink of moral collapse. Things that were abominable to previous generations are now the goals of political and social action. Societies made up of sinners never get better. The best we can hope for is a temporary arrest of the moral slide and a temporary stay of execution. In addition, the Bible tells us that this moral downgrade is true of individuals. Sin is never satisfied. And the outcome of a life of unremitting sin is judgment.

        In this world of sin the creation is deteriorating, societies are falling apart and individuals are steadily going downhill. Unless there is a change in the nature of these things, there is no hope of escaping the expected judgment.

        But, thank God, there is the hope of change, because there is a God who changes things. One day He will change the creation. Its present groaning under the curse of sin will be changed into psalms of praise. There will also be a new society of changed people on that new earth who will reflect an atmosphere of God’s holiness and love. But, both of these longed-for changes are yet in the future. However, individuals can know God’s changing grace here and now. That is the hope in the gospel – God changes sinners into people who:

·        Are no longer under the cloud of God’s coming judgment;

·        Are no longer under the curse and control of sin; and

·        Are THEREFORE no longer known for their progress in sin, but rather for their progress in holiness.

        These changes are true for every one of God’s children. These are changes that each and every Christian experiences.

Change is what the Gospel is all about.

Two Extremes: Head and Heart

Throughout the history of the church the pendulum of Christian experience has swung between the extremes of Scholasticism and Pietism – between an emphasis on the head and a focus on the heart. Scholasticism was prevalent in the generation after the Reformation. The followers of the Reformers turned heartfelt faith into a matter of the intellect. They had not had the heart-rending experiences of their spiritual predecessors. The faith they inherited was a new system of understanding Christianity that had put them outside the Roman Church and had founded new churches in their respective countries. The ground was fertile for the development of the great cardinal truths that had been so recently unearthed. However, their enthusiasm often carried these new theologians far into the realm of the speculative. The warmth of a personal knowledge of God faded into the background as unity based upon creeds came to the fore. Along with an intellectual focus came a stress on church attendance, reception of the sacraments and learning the catechism. All this was done to educate the masses, but the effect was to produce a sterile state church.

The most notable movement of Pietism (from which we its name) came as a reaction to the dead orthodoxy of German Lutheranism. This view of Christianity took its beginning with the individual. The Pietists focused on personal conversion and faith. Personal experience of God’s saving grace led to baptisms of adults and the gathering of believers into fellowships. The gospel spread from these groups and people from all classes of society were converted. There is much to cheer about with Pietism.

However, the important point to note with Pietism is the individualistic nature of this version of Christianity. Pietism can easily lead one into thinking that life is all about himself. The Bible becomes a book of personal feelings and experiences. It becomes a book that is full of “examples” to imitate. The pietist goes to the Bible looking for himself. The words of Scripture are taken to point us to the thoughts and “lessons” of the authors, not to the message of God. The key hermeneutical (interpretative) questions are, “What did this person feel, experience or think?” and “Why did he do what he did?” not “What does God say?”  Of course, the authors were inspired to write the thoughts of God and were themselves learners of these thoughts. However, the Bible is a message that comes from God, not from men and their inward (e)motions.

Dr. Michael Barrett has well said, “all study is devotional.” That statement is a balanced perspective between the two extremes outlined above. We who are dead in our trespasses and sins definitely need a life-giving experience to become Christians at all. Dead orthodoxy never raised any sinner to newness of life in Christ. The regenerating ministry of the Holy Spirit is irreplaceable. However, the Book that God inspired is not “all about us.” It is all about Him. It is God preaching and revealing His thoughts to us, which are higher than our thoughts. The words, the grammar, the syntax (how words are put together to form sentences and paragraphs), the genre (type of literature a particular text is), and the historical background are all parts of God’s “sermon.” These elements require serious and strenuous study. If we are to hear God speaking in His Word, then the literary elements listed above must all be taken into consideration by those who would teach us and preach to us. The Bible is not about what I “feel” it is, about some warm fuzzy feeling I get from it, or about the “message” I might “get” as an experience in prayer. God has already spoken. The message is already there. The role of the teacher and preacher is to let God speak through His already-given message. Teaching and preaching will simply pass on to others what God has already said. That is the only message that will bear fruit. That is the only message that God will use to change peoples’ lives. 

Preaching: Restoration in Christ

God graciously restores sinners to Himself through Jesus Christ.

            Some theologians draw the plan of salvation in three broad strokes: Creation, Fall, and Restoration (or Redemption). If we think of salvation as simply “gettin’ saved,” we can miss out on a lot of the work of Christ as He restores the image of God in His people. When Adam sinned, the image of God in him was terribly marred. Moreover, all Adam’s children are born with the same “birth defect.” By “ordinary generation” we are born not only with a bad record (guilt), but also with a bad heart (depravity), with sins continually flowing from it. God’s saving work in Christ not only answers to our guilt, but also to the issue of our sin-sick heart. God not only restores us to a right relationship with Himself, but also restores in us the family likeness – His love and holiness. Restoration begins with the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and continues with His work of sanctification. This wonderful process will continue to advance until the grace that began it is swallowed up by the glory that completes it.

            This truth of restoration has momentous application when it comes to Bible interpretation and preaching. If God’s work in the believer is that of restoration, then the aim of Bible interpretation and proclamation should be the same. Mere information, theological disquisitions, or sentimental musings fall far short of the target. Rehearsing the same doctrines and pet applications ad infinitum does the hungry sheep no good. Neither does it help the as-of-yet fully unrestored sheep. As Bryan Chapell explains in his book Christ-Centered Preaching, the Scriptures are given to us to restore us from our fallen condition. They address those areas that are still unrenewed in us and show us the restoration in Christ that He purchased for us in His redeeming death. While it can be pleasant to sort out theological knots, or to get a “warm fuzzy” from Scripture, the sheep need to have their issues diagnosed and exposed, and their diseases treated.

            Let us approach the Word of God to see Christ and His saving work. Anything short of this is a waste of time. Among other things, this will mean detailed exposition of those “practical” parts of Scripture that tell us in no uncertain terms how we are to live – how we are to express our love God and to others. There are no clearer diagnostic tests than the plain statements of exhortation applied to every heart – our own first of all.

            God help us be good “medics” on the battlefield! 

Real Christianity: God is Light (1 John 1:5)

The Bible is a theocentric (God-centered) book, because God is the main Character in it. Christianity, therefore, is a theocentric religion and fellowship with God is theocentric, too, for the same reason – it is all about God. Whether men realize it or not the universe and all of life is theocentric. Therefore, our fellowship with God depends on who and what God is, not on what we are. In fact, as we shall see, what we are is a hindrance to fellowship with God.

John’s message that he declares to us simple folk who hold to the apostolic teaching of the New Testament is that “God is Light, and darkness is not in Him at all.” (1 John 1:5). John defines the basis of fellowship with God in terms of light and darkness. Under the figure of light John presents to us the absolute and undiluted holiness of God. God is holy, righteous and true. Therefore, God Himself is the standard by which we enjoy fellowship with Him. God expressed this to Abraham when He said, “Walk in My presence and be complete in your conformity to Me” (Gen.17:1). In order to walk acceptably in God’s presence one must conform to Him and to His will. This only makes sense. God is our Creator and Provider. He has every right to tell us how to live. He told Adam and Eve, and He tells everyone else. God has not surrendered His right to sovereign mastery of men.

If I am to walk in fellowship with God I must conform to His light and reflect it back to Him as well as to those around me. Obviously this will mean dramatic change in me, in my thoughts and in my actions. But cheer up. There is Light on my path to lead the way and to make the changes I need.

More to come, with God’s help…

The Bible: What it’s all about (4)

God graciously saves sinners through Jesus Christ.

Because the Scriptures are Christocentric in their focus, they are therefore redemptive in their focus. They are about God SAVING sinners. In fact, the Bible is the revelation of this saving work as God developed it and worked it out through history. Scripture unfolds what one man called the “Drama of Redemption.” This is the grand theme of all of Scripture. Given that man is fallen and not able to rescue himself from the wrath of God, it is up to God to save him, if he is to be saved. That is what the Bible is all about. Any other story is useless to fallen man. Any story about morality or human performance does nothing for someone who is spiritually dead and, therefore, totally dependent on the good will of God to make him right with God.

The believer is also totally dependent on the grace of God. If we are to live out the Christian life we need God to be continually “at work in (us) both for the willing and the doing of what pleases Him.” Only then can we “work out (our) own salvation” in the form of a fruitful and God-glorifying life (Phil.2:12-13). Therefore, when we read Scripture, we need to look for God’s saving work, either as explained in teaching portions, or as demonstrated in the stories of God’s dealings with individuals. Focusing on the individuals will keep us from seeing the grander work of God. Remember, the Bible is about God and His dealings with men, not about men and their dealings with God. The Gospels, for example, are not about the disciples, the Pharisees, or those who were spoken to by Christ. THE GOSPELS ARE ABOUT CHRIST! To speak of anyone else as the main character of a passage is to ignore the most important Person in the story. What kind of blessing can we expect from ignoring Christ? A man-centered “blessing,” that’s what kind. Any other story is useless to fallen man, believer or unbeliever. Brethren, we have such little time to read and think about God’s Word as it is.  Let’s not waste it.

More to come, God willing…

The Bible: What it’s all about (3)

God graciously saves sinners through Jesus Christ.

Graciously. God makes known to us early in Scripture (Gen.3) that the work of salvation is a work of sovereign grace. He does it because He wants to. He is not bound by anything in man, by any sense of obligation to man, or by any sense of need on His won part. He saves guilty, sinful, rebellious man of His own free will (and good will).

            Moreover, the word graciously signifies that God saves man without any help from man or any merit in man. The Bible is not the story of how men worked their way into God’s favor, or how they helped God out or earned His blessing by obeying Him. That is true both of unbeliever and believer. We are what we are by the grace of God (1 Cor.15:10). Even in those who “labor abundantly” for the Lord, what they do is thanks to the grace of God working abundantly in them. No one can boast of his accomplishments, only of God’s accomplishments in and through him.

            Grace means that God comes to a fallen, guilty, rebellious friend of Satan and reverses all the disastrous effects of sin in him. When Adam and Eve sinned, they rejected God’s counsel and submitted to Satan’s. They became buddies with that Arch Deceiver and Rebel against God. However, God said in Genesis 3 that He would reverse Adam and Eve’s friendship with Satan and put enmity in its place. In other words, their hearts would be changed to hate Satan and the sin they had chosen; and once again love God and His will. That is grace!

            This last truth is most important for our understanding of Scripture. When we read of someone doing God’s will or pleasing Him we must understand that it is God Himself who made the difference. God is the One who gave them heart-changing grace and enabled them to obey Him. Such people are not in Scripture because they earned a place in God’s story, but because God dug them out of the miry clay, gave them a new heart, and worked in them to obey Him. “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil.2:13). Such people are not examples of what man can do, but examples of what God’s grace can do in us, too.

Remember, it is God who makes the difference.

More to come, with God’s help…

Real Christianity: By the Book (1 John 1:4)

Today people are enamored with personal experiences. The New Age movement is all about experiencing super-human spirit forces that can give meaning to life. The basic hedonist is all about experiencing pleasure and fulfillment from the joys offered by the creation. The bias of the “Me” generation (which is really every person still dead in transgressions and sins) is like a black hole that pulls everything in life into the vortex of self. But this self-centered perspective on life is not peculiar to unbelievers. It can infect Christians, too. We can be so involved with the “me-my-and-mine” in this world that our time, energies and resources are exhausted by “just living.” Yet, at the end of the day we have to confess that what we have been occupied with isn’t really “living” at all, but only maintaining our existence. For the Christian, life is not defined by personal experiences, but by fellowship with God. Personal experiences are just that, personal, and therefore different for everyone. Fellowship with God is the constant of Christianity – basically the same for every child of God.

If we are to avoid that selfish pre-occupation with the things of the present life, one thing we will have to do is make sure we have “God” time whether we have our own personal “me” time or not. In other words, the face of God comes before Facebook.

John says, “we are writing these things (about Christ and about fellowship with God) to you so that your joy may be completely filled up.” In verse 3 John says his purpose in declaring these things to us was our having fellowship with God. However, John has not only “declared” these things to us, he has written them down as well. In fact, the testimony of John and the other apostles was very carefully written down in the Gospels and Epistles. These books were written, Jesus said, “for those who will believe in Me through their word” (Jn.17:20), that is, in the New Testament. The apostolic testimony declares, explains and applies the Person and work of Christ in redeeming us. God gave us that revelation so that we might have fellowship with Him – that we might know Him through Christ, be accepted by Him, love Him, trust Him, follow Him and enjoy Him.

At the end of the day, fellowship with God is an experience, one that will last forever. But it is entered into and enjoyed only as we read, study, meditate on, believe and follow His revealed Word in the Bible. The measure of your joyful fellowship with God’s Book will be the measure of your joyful fellowship with God.

More to come, God willing…

Preaching: Text or Theology?

If the Bible is not a theology Book (see previous post), then what is it? The Bible is God preaching. It is not just information; it is proclamation. The aim is to address sinners about what God has done in Christ, and to call them to “repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Whether Old Testament or New, we read about God’s salvation through Christ. Therefore the grand theme that is controlling all the revelation in the Bible is “God’s gracious salvation of sinners through Christ.” That could really be the subtitle on the title page of your Bible. It is the controlling factor for all that the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of Scripture to include in their texts.

All of the Bible is what can be called “occasional” literature. That does not mean that we can read it once in a while. It means that it was written for a specific occasion to address particular people about particular needs. So then, when it comes to a particular book of the Bible, we first ask what part the book plays in developing the grand theme of redemption. That is why it was written in the first place. It was not written to give 21^st Century man “lessons” or “principles” about life. It was written to address sinners who are in need of a Savior, and to call them to repentance and faith in Christ.

Furthermore, when it comes to a particular book, we ask what God’s message was to those people in the context of His redeeming work. The Old Testament is not simply a history of God’s dealings with Israel. It is the story (sermon) of God’s unfolding work of redemption as seen in His dealings with Israel. When we read a particular text in the OT we need to keep in mind what God was doing at that particular time so we can understand what contribution the particular book or even passage of the book made to the overall picture. That sounds like a lot of work! It is. It is a lot harder than just getting “lessons” out of an ancient text to apply to modern hearers. But it is also a lot truer to God’s original intention in the Book.

More to come, God willing…

The Bible: What it’s all about (2)

God graciously saves sinners through Jesus Christ.

Somewhere in the margin of my Bible I have noted a statement made by our pastor emeritus to the effect that the Bible is theocentric in scope and Christocentric in focus. This is right in line with the previous post on this topic: the Bible is all about God. Our pastor simply used bigger words, as he was wont to do, to say the same thing. The Bible is theocentric – God is the central character of the Bible. In fact, every other character simply plays a supporting role in the story. Every other person in Scripture has meaning only because of his place in the story of God’s redeeming work. They are not there for us to imitate them, but because they have some meaning or task in relation to God’s activity in salvation. The Bible is all about what God does, not about what we do. Of course, we experience what God does, but it is God who gives the experience to us. We do not somehow get it from God because of our actions. It is all of grace.

Being Reformed in perspective I believe that I am saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, as revealed in Scripture alone. By the grace of God we are what we are (1 Cor. 15:10). God’s saving work is a gracious work. That work is done through Christ. Therefore, the Bible is not only all about God, but also all about His work of redeeming us through Christ – it is Christocentric in focus. If we read the Bible with any other controlling thought in view, we will miss the message. If we preach the Bible with any other controlling thought in view we will fail to communicate the message.

In all our reading and study of God’s Book we need to keep His central theme in mind: He is graciously saving sinners through Christ.

More to come, God willing…

The Bible: What it’s all about (1)

Here it is. What the Bible is all about:

God graciously saves sinners through Jesus Christ.

That’s it. That is the theme of the Bible. Many subordinate themes support this foundational idea, but they are only supporting it, not supplanting it. I will seek to develop each element in this sentence to give you the beginning of an idea of how this theme provides the interpretational framework for all the information of Scripture.

God. First of all, the Bible is about God. In English grammar we would say that “God” is the subject of the sentence above. That means that He is the “doer” of the action (verb – saves) in the sentence. “Sinners” is the object receiving the action, not the doer of the action. The Bible is all about what God does to save guilty, sinful men. [We abominate as heresy any attempt to make man his own savior, or even partial savior. The church has stood against those views since the early days (really since Genesis 3)].

Therefore, when we read the Bible we need to ask, “What is God doing in this passage?” Whatever man does in the text needs to be understood in the light (context) of what God is doing both in the specific passage and in the Bible overall. Man, in the text, is the object of the sentence – the recipient of God’s grace – not the subject of the sentence, the gracious source or the example to follow. As the Holy Spirit so pointedly puts it, “Who makes you better? And what do you have that you have not received?” (1 Cor.4:7). God makes the difference, not man (Gen. 3:15a). God makes the difference between unbeliever and believer, and between one believer and another. If there is anything in man to boast of, let him boast of God. Therefore, the Bible is not a book of examples to be imitated, but of God’s saving grace to be recognized, sought, and trusted.

More to come, God willing…

Real Christianity: Background to 1 John

Before we go much further into 1 John it might be helpful to look at the background of this epistle. Tradition (history) tells us that John wrote his epistles, his Gospel and the Book of the Revelation in the last decade of the first century (A.D. 90-99). This most likely made him the last surviving apostle. Thirty or forty years before this, the church saw the great Jewish controversies battled by the apostle Paul. The issues of justification by faith, of the status of Gentile believers, and of meat sacrificed to idols, etc. had all been resolved. By this time the Jewish connection with the church had largely disappeared for two reasons. Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed, and the gospel had been taken all over the Roman Empire and won numerous Gentile converts, thus taking root in the Hellenistic world. The growing number of Greek and Roman converts naturally resulted in an ever-increasing Hellenistic influence in the church. As the church had previously been infected by Jewish sentiments in its early years, it now felt the sway of Hellenistic thinking.

Scholars tell us that the more we learn about the first century, the more groups we find who were following mystical (mystery) religions. Just who had been troubling the believers in Ephesus and its environs is hard to say. However, their basic teachings are fairly clear both from historical studies in ancient religions and from John’s writings. The religions appealed basically to those who considered themselves intellectuals. Greeks were proud of their wisdom and considered the gospel “foolishness” (See 1 Cor. 1:22-23). The idea of a “crucified god” was preposterous to them. Therefore, in order to make the gospel more palatable to these erudite heathen, some felt they could “contextualize” the truth and modify certain distasteful notions. Furthermore, certain mystery religions held to the separation of the spiritual from the physical. The spiritual was good and the physical was viewed as evil. Therefore, the true God did not “become flesh,” He only appeared to do so. On top of that, they concluded that what one did in the physical realm really had not effect on the soul, and so they denied the possibility of committing sins with the body. The result was false gods and false lives. Those who adopted these ideas left the church and caused great trouble for those “simple” folk who clung to the teaching of the apostles.

Much of what John wrote was to counteract these pagan influences. Among other things he insists on both the humanity and propitiatory death of Christ, the necessity of obedience to God’s commands, the impossibility of the regenerate believer continuing in sin, and the fact that every believer has true knowledge of God. John refers to those who left the church and teach heresy as “they/them,” and identifies himself with the other apostles as “we/us.” John wants his readers to fellowship with “us,” the apostles, who teach the truth about God and Christ. Therefore he wrote this epistle to expose the falsity of the claims of the departed intellectuals and to strengthen the assurance of those who had Real Christianity. 

The Bible is God Preaching (1)

Theology or the Bible?

            This idea was solidified for me while reading a book by Sidney Greidanus entitled Sola Scriptura: Problems and Principles in Preaching Historical Texts. I believe this was Greidanus’ doctoral dissertation and the first of a number of stimulating books on preaching the content of Scripture. I say “the content” to distinguish it from preaching the doctrines of Scripture. Greidanus’ thesis is that to truly preach the Word of God according to the Reformed doctrine of sola scriptura (which means that Scripture alone is our authority in things pertaining to God) one must preach the message of the biblical text and not just a compilation of ideas that come from various texts on a certain theme. A discourse explaining a particular topic of theology is not preaching the Word of God. The discourse may be orthodox and helpful, but the topic, or even an outline of the topic is not the message that is contained in the text one has selected for preaching. The text is a message from God to us.

This is not to say that theology has no role in preaching. It has a very important role: that of the guardrail that keeps us from going off the road. However, theology is not the road itself, to continue the metaphor. The road itself is the text of Scripture. The message of Scripture is the message of the inspired biblical text, not the message of theological treatises. This is because theology, however good, is still the work of man. The categories are selected by man, however well they may fit the data of Scripture, and the definitions are man-made syntheses of various texts from Scripture. Again, this is not to say the theology has no place in the life of the Christian. It is a helpful fence to keep us from going too far afield. But it is not the Word of God. Only the Bible is God’s message to us. Theology analyzes that Book and gives us helpful information about the truths found in that Book, but it is not the Book itself. The Book itself is God’s message to us.

Perhaps an illustration would be helpful here. When we are eating fish, we have to be very careful to remove all the bones so that we do not choke. When we are eating filet mignon, we simply cut and eat. Reading theology, as is true for any book written by man, is like eating fish: eat the meat and throw away the bones. The Bible, however, has no bones. But you cannot eat it without chewing (thinking, studying, meditating, etc.). You must work at understanding Scripture, not just read it for a blessing.

God’s Message

            The biblical text is God’s message to us. The character of the Bible is more than just information; it is proclamation. The text addresses us and charges us to believe and obey not only the gospel, but also the whole revelation of God for our lives as Christians. This is true not only of those portions that are easier to apply, such as the epistles, but equally true of all of Scripture. Through the length and breadth of the Bible God is preaching to us. We can understand this very easily from 2 Timothy 3:16. Paul tells us that the aim of the Scriptures is to “equip” the “man of God” for his work of “teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness.” These God-breathed Scriptures aim not only to inform us, but to reprove us, correct us, and transform us into people who have learned to walk with God according to His Word. God is preaching to us. That is something not theology book can do. 

More to come, God willing...

Real Christianity: Fellowship with God Through Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-2)

John begins his epistle with a long and convoluted sentence. Grammatically the subject and main verb of the sentence do not appear until verse 3. “We [subject] declare [verb] to you [indirect object] what we have seen and heard [direct object].” Sorry for the grammar lesson, but grammar can help sometimes (!). Verse 1 is an expanded explanation of the direct object and verse 2 is an aside to identify “the Word of Life.” Clear as mud? {This is what an advanced degree can do for you.} If so, read it again looking at your Bible. If you still have trouble leave a comment below.

Verse 1, then, tells us the content of John’s declaration to us. The content is what the apostles witnessed as they followed Jesus through His ministry “from the beginning” to end. They are bearing witness to us what God revealed to them (verse 2). And they are identifying this “Word of life” that they witnessed. Of course we know that John is talking about the incarnate Second Person of the Trinity. The apostles heard, saw, beheld (looked upon, viewed attentively, contemplated) and handled (remember the loaves and fish?) what Jesus did. His point here is that they were physically involved with a physical Jesus who is also the “Eternal Life” who “was with the Father.” [More on that later.]

Everything that the apostles witnessed of Jesus revealed the Father. What Jesus did included securing our salvation. Everything Jesus did in revealing the Father and securing our salvation was so that we might have fellowship with God. This tells us what God thinks of our having fellowship with Him. This is our purpose in life. We exist, are saved, and live out our days here to have fellowship with Him, not just to miss Hell and land in Heaven. Of course, Heaven will be more and better fellowship.

More to come, God willing…

(Here is a diagram of verses 1-3a:

We are declaring to you what we have seen and heard.

                what was from the beginning

                what we have heard

                what we have seen with our eyes àconcerning the Word of Life

                what we beheld                                (This prepositional phrase

                and our hands handled                       can modify each clause.)

[And

             The Life was manifested (this is why we could witness Him), and

             We have seen and

    bear witness and

    declare to you the Eternal Life

                                                            Who was with the Father,

                                                            And was manifested to us.])

Two Worldviews: The Biblical

There are ONLY two worldviews.

The biblical worldview can be summarized in Romans 11:36 – “Because from Him (as the Source) and through Him (as the Doer) and unto Him (as the Great Aim) are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” [All verses are my own translation.] This worldview says that God is everything. He is the Creator, Sustainer, Governor, Redeemer, and Judge of the universe.  Everything that happens in this world takes place under God’s overarching providence. Man does not help Him in any of these areas in any way. This is especially true when is comes to raising sinners from their death in trespasses and sins. Any doctrine that says that man makes a contribution to this work of regeneration denies what we have just quoted above. When it comes to repentance from sin and faith in Christ, no one “decides for Christ” unless God has “decided” for him. Men love the darkness and do not want to come to the light (Jn.3:19-20) unless God does something to their “wanter” (Jn.6:44).

             But perhaps most surprising of all (judging by a lot of preaching that goes on) is the fact that after a person is born again, he is just as dependent on God’s grace as before. No sinner can make himself come to Christ and no Christian can make himself holy. We are still absolutely dependent on God to be the Source, Agent and Aim of the Christian life. Paul put this succinctly in 1 Cor. 15:10 – “By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace towards me was not without result; on the contrary, I labored more than all of them; but it was not I, but rather it was the grace of God with me.” No one labored like Paul, yet Paul tells us that God did the real work, whether in motivating him, enabling him, guiding him, teaching him, protecting him or blessing his labors and making them fruitful. The grace of God is the entire explanation for Paul’s life and ministry. And it is the same for every Christian. The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Without Me you are not able to do anything (with regard to bearing fruit).” (Jn.15:5) This statement is emphatic in the original. It should be emphatic in our thinking. When it is we will be a lot less man-centered and a lot more God-centered in our doctrine and practice.

More to come, God willing…

The Bible Among the Myths

John N. Oswalt, The Bible Among the Myths. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008. [http://www.amazon.com/Bible-among-Myths-Revelation-Literature/dp/0310285097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301585526&sr=1-1]

This book was recommended to me by my Hebrew professor at GPTS, Dr. Shaw. Thank you, Dr. Shaw [read his excellent review at the Amazon link above]. This was an exciting book! It was written in answer to those so-called scholars who say that the religion of ancient Israel was really like the other ancient religions around them. The Israelites simply borrowed from the myths of their pagan neighbors and produced just another syncretistic myth of the day. Never mind that the OT itself says that God had strictly forbidden it! What do they do with that? Some scholars just don’t read their Bible.

In answer to these pundits Oswalt gives us a brilliant discussion of the characteristics of the pagan mythical worldview and the features of the religion it produces. Then he contrasts it with the biblical worldview and the revealed religion of the Lord, which, of course, is the complete opposite of Israel’s neighbors. In explaining the paganism of the ancient world the author does us two services. First, he helps us to see many important points in the OT that we probably just pass over in our ignorance. His clarification of ancient idolatry goes a long way in showing us how abhorrent it is to God and why He so consistently condemned and punished it among His people. Secondly, Oswalt makes comparisons with the pagan worldview of today. Wow! The similarities are scary. Knowing this is crucial for understanding where postmodern unbelievers are, and helpful in our approach to them. Taken far enough, an understanding of the pagan worldview can uncover idols both in church and believer.

Such a pitiful book review! It does not begin to do justice to the book. Just click on the link and order it NOW. [No, I do not get a commission on the sale. Just trying to make it easy for you to get this great book.] You won’t be disappointed. You might even get as excited about it as I did, and still am. I hope to develop this theme in future posts because it has been so enlightening to me. There ARE only two worldviews…

Real Christianity: Fellowship with God (1 John 1:3)

What is real Christianity? You will get different answers to this question, depending on whom you ask. Charismatic Christians might say that speaking in tongues and the display of supernatural gifts were essential elements to real Christianity. Others might insist that keeping their rules and conforming to their standards was critical. Yet others might say that social action and outreach were of the essence of true faith in Christ. Some would put traditional forms at the center and others would promote contemporary expression. Messianic Christians hold that all things Jewish are essential to faith and worship. If that is not enough, to add more variables to the pot, simply go to other countries and study the churches there. In the end, whoever answers this question is probably describing himself and then pronouncing his form of Christianity as the “real thing.” And although they would never say it, what they imply is that to be a real Christian, you have to be like them. While each of us believes that all his positions are right, the almost endless variety in the Church on earth suggests that many of the differences among us are not really all that essential to Christianity. At least that is what the Scriptures seem to suggest. When all is said and done, the real answer to the question must be sought in God’s Word. Christianity is His “religion” after all.

Among other portions of Scripture, the First Epistle of John was written in answer to our question. Believers in John’s day were being distressed by massive defections from their churches. Former teachers in the church had left because they had rejected apostolic doctrine and were teaching “another Jesus.” Simple folk in the churches were asking how they could know they had real Christianity. John answers them by giving infallible proofs of the possession of faith in Christ, eternal life, and sonship with God. He tells them what real Christianity is.

John’s ultimate purpose in writing the letter is found in verse 3:“What we have heard and seen we declare to you so that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” [My own translation]. From man’s perspective God’s aim in sending Christ to be our Savior was that we might enjoy fellowship with Him. This is His aim for every one of His children, regardless how we might differ from one another on other matters. This is the reason both for my existence and my redemption. This is why I get up in the morning – to have fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ my Lord. Real Christianity is fellowship with God. Now that is something worth living for!

More to come, in the will of God…