The Right Path

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25).

In my 14 January sermon, we spoke of this way that seems right to us as the way of taking – taking rather than giving. God is a Giver – when we display His image, we too are givers rather than takers.

Let’s now think more broadly about the image in this proverb:

You are on a lengthy walk. You come to a point where numerous paths come together. How can you choose the right one?

Jesus tells us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

That is: “The right path is ME! Every other path has its attractions – but they all lead AWAY from the Father and thus TOWARDS death!”

Note that our Lord tells us to choose the right GOAL, and then to choose the right PATH TO REACH THE GOAL.

The right goal is the Father – our Creator, our Redeemer, who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). He is the source of “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17); in the end He will wipe every tear from your eyes (Revelation 21:4) and will provide you with fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11).

Other goals tempt us. We pursue instead recognition or approval or money or accomplishment or security or friendship and joy in this life. None of those are bad in and of themselves; all can be among the good gifts that God grants. But when we choose a path because it seems to lead to one or more of these goals, we end up on the path to death.

So we must pursue the right GOAL: The Father.

That’s a necessary requirement for choosing the right path.

But many have the right goal in mind but still are on the wrong path – because they choose a path other than Jesus:

  • Some choose the path of self-improvement: “I can make myself acceptable to God! I’ll live a better life than most people!”
  • Others choose the path of appeasement: “If I sacrifice this or that, if I worship Him in this way, if I perform that ritual, then God will accept me!”
  • Others choose a path that sort of looks like Jesus but isn’t: “I made a profession of faith when I was 15;” “I attend a Bible-believing church every Sunday;” “I read my Bible daily;” “I accepted Jesus into my heart.”

Again, none of these are bad in and of themselves – many are often part of a genuine Christian life. But they cannot be THE PATH; they cannot be WHAT WE DEPEND ON.

Jesus says there is no path to the Father other than Himself. He is not ONE source of truth or ONE alternative way to pursue life. He ALONE is the source of Truth; He ALONE is the source of Life. Every other path that seems right to us leads not to Life, not to the Father, but to death and destruction.

Furthermore, note one vital difference between Jesus as the path and those alternatives that just look a bit like Jesus. The alternatives depend either on a ritual – church attendance, Bible reading – or on a past act. In contrast, when Jesus is the path, WE PUT OUR WEIGHT ON HIM EVERY STEP. That is, we are tempted, and turn quickly to Him asking for grace to help in time of need. We sin, and we seek forgiveness from the Father through Jesus. We have a decision to make – and we ask for wisdom and grace through Jesus. To be on Jesus as the path is to live a life of active dependence on Him.

So the Father is THE ONLY GOAL WORTH PURSUING. And Jesus is THE WAY. There is no other path to the Father. Every other path leads to death.

Take Jesus as the path – and thereby find the truth and the life.

The Image of God: Unity in Diversity

Preface

For the month of January at DGCC, we are considering together as a family the wonderful reality of man being made in God’s image. This glorious doctrine makes clear who God created us to be as humans. Humanity is the crown of God’s creation meant to reflect and represent God. Since man, then, is made in God’s image, it follows that man cannot properly reflect and represent God unless his also knows God. Therefore, essential to man being made in God’s image is the reality that God made man alone to be in special covenant relationship with him. Being made in God’s image, then, means that man alone reflects God, represents God, and remains in loving relationship with God. So, again, man cannot properly know himself and be himself if he does know God. To know God is to know who he created us to be, namely whole-hearted, lovers and worshipers of him as beneficiaries of his boundless love.[1]

This past Sunday, Coty’s sermon made clear that to reflect God’s character, to be the image of God, means that we should be givers, not takers. Namely, we should be givers of life to ourselves and others. This reality especially comes to bear in (1) our giving life to ourselves through availing ourselves of the grace found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and (2) our giving life to others by giving this same gospel to the lost. Giving life reflects God. We are the image of God when we give life. That was last week. This week, we gaze at and consider another facet of the image of God in man—unity in diversity.

 

The Triune God: Unity in Diversity

As stated above, to know what it means to be made in God’s image, we must first know God himself. And God is a God of unity in diversity. God is triune. That is, he is one God eternally existent in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The eternally unbegotten Father, eternally begets the Son, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son (John 1:1–2, 18; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5; John 15:26). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished in their personhood specifically by these distinct eternal relations of origin—the Father is eternally unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten from the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.[2] And yet, though the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are truly distinct, they are truly one. He is the one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) eternally existing in three distinct persons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons with one divine nature, one divine essence. God is three in one. The Triune God defines unity in diversity. And God created man to reflect this.

 

Made in God’s Image: Unity in Diversity

God created humanity to reflect his divine unity in diversity. When God created man, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27). First, God created man in his image. God created man to be his representative to all creation. God created man to live in his (God’s) presence, in union with him (God), and through that relationship, man would rightly reflect and represent him (God). This is unity in diversity of the most astounding order—creature man in loving union with his Creator God. Second, God created man male and female. God created humanity to reflect his unity in diversity by created humanity male and female. God created man and woman, who are united in their common origin of creation, their common creatureliness, their common union with God, and in their one flesh union with one another in marriage (Genesis 2:18–24). God created man in his image in that humanity, as male and female, reflects God’s unity in diversity.

So, God created man in his image, to reflect unity in diversity in man’s union with God and man’s union with his fellow man as male and female. However, the fall would mar both of these realities.

 

Sin: Disunity in Diversity

When sin entered the world at the Fall, man effectively severed the most essential component of his image of God nature—his relationship with God himself. Man cannot fully be the image of God without being in relationship with God. And, because of sin, God cursed man and sent him away from his presence (Genesis 3:22–24). Where there once was unity and peace with man and God, now there is disunity and hostility. Furthermore, sin broke the unity between man and man. First, sin damaged the unity in diversity exemplified by the husband and wife relationship (Genesis 3:16). And second, Scripture makes clear that sin also impaired the unity in diversity exemplified by human relationships in general. Sinful man is bent on not uniting with his fellow man but fighting and killing his fellow man. Brother kills brother (Genesis 4:1–16), violence fills the earth, and man sheds his fellow man’s blood (Genesis 6:9–13; 9:5–6). Sin broke unity in diversity and spawned disunity in diversity. But God promised to bring life through a promised offspring where Satan and man had brought death through sin (Genesis 3:15, 20).

 

Abrahamic Covenant: Blessing for All

As disunity and diversity increased upon the earth, God situated his promise to restore unity in diversity in the man Abram, through whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3). God promises a unifying blessing for all the diverse families of the earth. And God promised that this blessing would come through Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 22:18). The gospel makes clear that this promised offspring of Abraham who would bring this blessing to man is Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God (Galatians 3:16).

 

Jesus, the Perfect Image of God

Jesus is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15). In Jesus’ dual nature, we behold the undoing of man and God’s hostility. God made man in his image, that is, to be in perfect, covenant relationship with him (God). But man rebelled and lost that essential piece of his image-of-God nature. But in Jesus, we see the perfect union between man and God. Jesus is fully God, and Jesus is fully man, unmixed and distinct with regard to his divinity and humanity, but one person. Jesus, the God-man, is the image of God par excellence, man united with God, and Jesus in his life and walk remained perfectly united to God the Father through his obedience (John 1:1; 5:19; 10:25–30; 12:49–50). The Son, by the incarnation, undid the broken union of God and man, and we, the church, are the beneficiaries.

 

The Church: Unity in Diversity

In the global and the local church, we see the miracle of restored unity in diversity that comes through the gospel of Jesus. First, in Christ, man’s union with God is restored—we are made his sons once again (Galatians 3:26). And second, in Christ our union with our fellow man is restored. Paul heralds this reality in Galatians 3:27–29,

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Paul is not heralding the reversal of diversity in this passage. Rather, he is heralding the reversal of hostility and injustices that exist due to sinful man’s skewed perception of diversity. First, Paul makes this clear by the scope of human relationships he mentions here, which includes not only diversity of the sexes (male and female) and cultural, ethnic, and/or racial diversity (Jew and Greek), but unnatural and unjust human relationships due to economic diversity (master and slave) as well. Sin has led to disunity, inequality, and injustices based solely on differences in sex, race, culture, and socioeconomic status. Second, Paul makes clear he is not talking about the flattening of diversity but the reversal of disunity based on diversity in a second way. He does so by his reasoning: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, etc…for you are all one in Christ.” Diversity is not done away with, rather disunity is eliminated when all are made one, undivided, in Christ. Where there was once hostility in diversity, in Christ there is now unity in diversity once again. Thus, in the global church and especially in the local church we see the image of God displayed in a way that is unique. In the local church, we see the image of God displayed by its unity in diversity in the fellowship of diverse saints from all walks of life.

 

The Image of God Fully Restored: Unity in Diversity in Revelation 7:9–10

There is perhaps no greater picture of this unity in diversity in Scripture than in Revelation 7:9–10,

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!

Here we see the end goal—the telos—of the perfect image of God, Jesus’, great gospel work: man displaying God’s image perfectly once again. Here, man stands in the Triune God’s presence, united to him once more. And man is not a singular, monolithic, uniform people devoid of variety. Rather, man stands in God’s presence in all of his unified diversity—every tribe, every people, and every language. There in the new heaven and new earth we will be man in God’s image, unified with God and unified with our fellow man in common praise and worship of our king. There we will participate in perfect unity in diversity. In Christ, in the new heavens and new earth, we will be the image of God he created us to be.

 

[1] See Hoekema’s robust discussion of being man made in God’s image meaning to reflect, represent, and be in loving, covenantal relationship with God. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, 1st ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

[2] See Scott Swain, The Trinity: An Introduction (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020).

The Image of God: Undivided Love

For the month of January at DGCC, we are considering together as a family the wonderful reality of man being made in God’s image. This glorious doctrine makes clear who God created us to be as humans. Humanity is the crown of God’s creation meant to reflect and represent God. Since man, then, is made in God’s image, it follows that man cannot properly reflect and represent God unless his also knows God. Therefore, essential to man being made in God’s image is the reality that God made man alone to be in special relationship with him. Being made in God’s image means that man alone reflects God, represents God, and is in loving relationship with God. So, again, man cannot properly know himself and be himself if he does know God. To know God is to know who he created us to be, namely whole-hearted, lovers and worshipers of him as beneficiaries of his boundless love.[1] We can see this image of God in Mark 12:28–34.

 

In Mark 12:28–34, a scribe asks Jesus what the most important commandment is. Jesus responds in Mark 12:29–30 saying, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus points to Deuteronomy 6:4–5 which Moses proclaimed to Israel when they were on the cusp of the Promised Land. In this command, God calls on his people to love him. Why? Well, if we look closely at the text, we can discern two reasons: (1) God is one, and (2) God is their God.

 

God Is One: Love God Only and Wholly

First, they should love God because of who he is, namely, he is one. In the original context in Deuteronomy, God’s people are about to enter into the land of Canaan, which is a land of many “gods,” who are really not gods at all. God alone is God. He says so himself, “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5). So God makes clear in this command to his people that he is the only God, therefore he should be the only God they love. They should not give their affections and love to the many idols and false gods they will encounter in the Promised Land. They should love God alone because he is the only God. To love God in this way is to reflect and represent God. But there is more to God being one than just his uniqueness.

 

Notice the entire command. According to Jesus in Mark 12:29–30, God commands his people to love him [the Lord your God] “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all you strength. You could translate this “love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from your whole mind, and from your whole strength.” The command is to not simply love God only but to love God wholly, with your whole being. The command is to be completely undivided in your love for God. Why? Because he is one. Because God is undivided in himself. God, the only and the one God, is perfectly united in his affection for himself. He is completely satisfied in himself and has no need of anyone or anything. He loves himself with a whole, undivided love. Indeed, if he needed another he would not be God. And, if he were to love another more than himself he would either not be God or he would be an idolater. We are to love God wholly because God is one, undivided in himself. Therefore, to love God in this way is to reflect and represent God. We often don’t do either of these (loving God only and wholly) very well, though.

 

Sinful man expertly divides his love. In our sinfulness we don’t want to give our love only and wholly to God. We’d rather divide our loves between God and other gods whether it is work, a hobby, a relationship, a particular vice, or any other idol we make in our image. Indeed, all of our divided loves have one thing in common: they serve the god of self. We divide our love amongst other things because we want to love ourselves only and wholly. In truth, then, divided love for God is not love for God at all. It is love for self, and God simply becomes another self-serving idol that we recreate in our image to meet our desires. What we ultimately find when we divide our loves in this way, is that nothing we set our affections on gives us any life or love in return. Rather, all of these things ultimately steal our life from us. Indeed, we can only rightly love and enjoy the things of earth when our loves are ordered correctly. Only when God alone receives our whole love can we truly begin to enjoy and love his gifts in creation. This is because we were made not to be loved by and love ourselves. Rather, we were made to be loved by and love God. This leads to the second reason we should love God in this command.

 

God Is Their God: Love the God Who Loved You

The second reason built into the command to love God in Deuteronomy 6:4–5 that Jesus quotes is this: God is their God. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). These pronouns, our and your are important. Recall again, this command was first given to Israel after God had saved them. God is their God because he redeemed Israel out of slavery in Egypt, covenanted with them, made them his own, and loved them. God is their God because he invited their pagan forefather, Abram, into loving covenant with him (Genesis 12:1–3). They are to love God because he has first loved them and brought them into relationship with him by his grace. This OT reality points to what we celebrate in the new covenant. God redeemed us through the gospel of Jesus while we were his enemies. Through Jesus, God showers his love on us and brings us into loving relationship with himself. And the proper response is to be who he made us to be, lovers and worshipers of him wholly and only—ones who reflect, represent, and are in loving relationship with him.

 

The Image of God: Loved By and Loving God

God made us in his image to reflect and represent him. But we cannot do this until we realize that we were made to be loved by and to love God only and wholly. We are the beneficiaries of the one, undivided, self-sufficient, needless God’s love. In Christ, God loves us first so that we can wholly love him once again. We not only reflect and represent God, but we are in loving relationship with him. God made us to be whole-hearted lovers and worshipers of him, the one God, as beneficiaries of his boundless, undivided love. This is man, made in the image of God.

[1] See Hoekema’s robust discussion of man being made in God’s image in order to reflect, represent, and be in loving, covenantal relationship with God. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, 1st ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

How to Keep a New Year’s Resolution: Be Empowered by God

One of the joys of a new year is the hope it generates that our lives can improve or our flaws can be overcome. The power of this hope often results in a New Year’s resolution. While there is disagreement about the usefulness of these resolutions or what makes a good resolution the one thing that we can all agree is we aren’t very good at keeping them. The average New Year’s resolution lasts about 10 days so by the time you read this post you will likely be more than halfway through a typical New Year’s resolution lifetime. So Instead of providing insight on what your New Year resolution should be or if you should have one at all (if you are interested in this topic see Jacob Smith’s post from December 2022), the focus of this post is how to keep a resolution (New Year’s or otherwise) to begin with. Put another way how do we develop a godly resolve to keep our commitments?

 

We should not rely on the power of our own will to complete the commitments God has set in our hearts.

 

First we should see that our conversion itself is a kind of resolution, empowered by God, to follow him. We have been saved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and are now slaves to righteousness (Colossians 1:13, Romans 6:15-23). Upon conversion our life is now marked by a commitment to follow the ways of Christ. This commitment comes with great power to obey him. We should not rely on the power of our own will to complete the commitments God has set in our hearts. Instead we must trust that he will provide the power and encouragement to us. Knowing that he has rescued us and that he now empowers us reminds us that we should actively depend on him to keep the “resolves for good” that we have (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12).

 

Our failures are an opportunity to depend on God even more to restore the path he has set for us and keep our commitments.

 

Another key to keeping a godly commitment is knowing how to respond to failure. Failure of some kind is inevitable with a year long (or life long) commitment, so it is critical that we train ourselves to persevere and overcome them.  Godly resolutions don’t die because we fail to keep a commitment perfectly, they die because we simply quit. Often times our failures are so demoralizing and debilitating that we are tempted to give up our commitments altogether. Because of our sin, we should expect to fail at some point. This fact shouldn’t provide us comfort but rather it should encourage us to prepare ourselves to respond to our failures in a godly way. The prophet Micah is great example and encouragement in this regard. His response to failure is not to run away from God but to acknowledge the results of his sin and put his trust in the same God he has sinned against to “bring him out to the light” (Micah 7:8-9). So even our failures are an opportunity to depend on God even more to restore the path he has set for us and keep our commitments.

If despair is the disease that weakens our godly resolve, then joy is the tonic.

If despair is the disease that weakens our godly resolve, then joy is the tonic. Paul describes his ministry to the church in Corinth as a work “with you for your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24). He goes on to give them many godly commitments that make for good resolutions. There are encouragements to give (2 Corinthians 9:6-15), to reconcile both to God and man (2 Corinthians 5:18), and to not tamper with God’s Word (2 Corinthians 4:2). We should see our godly commitments as a way to increase our joy in Christ, remove our despair, and keep our godly resolve. Our New Year’s resolutions and how we keep them (or not keep them) show us what we put our hope in. As we make these commitments, let us trust in God’s power to fulfill them, fight against our despair, and work toward joy in Christ.

Advent: Of the Father’s Love Begotten

“Jesus is born!”

Every December we raise our voices in song proclaiming this event. We sing together carols written in the last few centuries; we rightly compose and sing new songs of praise.

But what songs did our brothers and sisters in Christ sing 1500 years ago?

In his introduction to a 1946 translation of Athanasius’ On the Incarnation of the Word of God,  C.S. Lewis writes:

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.

As with books, so with carols. We do well to interact with hymn texts not only from our century, not only from the previous three centuries, but also from the early years of the church. Such texts may state biblical truths in a different form from what we are used to; they may emphasize truths that we ignore; they may err in ways that are obvious to us – and so remind us that we most likely err in ways that would be obvious to believers of that era.

In our Advent services this year we have sung a carol written in Greek in the fourth century, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.”  Here is another text of that era that is well worth your contemplation: “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” written by the poet Aurelius Prudentius and translated in the 19th century by John Mason Neale and Henry Baker. Emphasizing the eternal nature of God’s plan of redemption through His Son, each verse ends with the line, “Evermore and evermore” (saeculorum saeculis in Latin). Let’s consider the nine verses one by one, highlighting how each spurs our praise.

Stanza 1:

Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

The second person of the Trinity is begotten of the Father’s love. While we today do not often speak in those terms, consider that first line in light of Luke 3:22 and John 3:16. The author goes on to call Jesus both the source of all creation and the end for which all exists, including all humanity (Colossians 1:16).

Stanza 2:

At His Word the worlds were framèd;
He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean
In their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun,
Evermore and evermore!

He speaks – and, as at the tomb of Lazarus, His word has instant life-giving power. Furthermore, He gives not only life but order, with all parts of creation harmoniously working to praise Him, as pictured in Psalm 104.

Stanza 3:

He is found in human fashion,
Death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children
Doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below,
Evermore and evermore!

The author of life becomes man to know death experientially so that we the redeemed might not face death evermore and evermore! See Hebrews 2:14-15 as well as – once again – John 3:16.

Stanza 4:

O that birth forever blessèd,
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bore the Saviour of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face,
evermore and evermore!

The birth of Jesus – “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary” as stated in the Apostles’ Creed – is both a historical event, indeed, the hinge of history, and the eternal truth through which we must understand and interpret all that we see.

Stanza 5:

O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing,
Evermore and evermore!

Given what we have seen, all must praise Him – heavens, angels, powers, and all humans. Understand “concert” not as a performance, but rather as every voice perfectly harmonizing with every other. We all must praise “in concert” for Jesus to receive the praise He deserves.

Stanza 6:

This is He Whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord,
Evermore and evermore!

Just as in the previous stanza we sing His praises differently yet harmoniously, just so the prophets foretold His coming differently yet “with one accord.” The promise to Abraham, the promise to David, the promise “unto you a child is born, unto you a son is given,” the promise “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” – each brings out a different facet of the person and work of Jesus, yet all are in accord, and together they describe in significant detail the coming Messiah. And now, says the poet, He shines with glory, as He fulfills all those prophecies.

Stanza 7:

Righteous Judge of souls departed,
Righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted
None in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive,
Evermore and evermore!

The Creator of all things, the Baby in the manger, the dying Redeemer on the cross, will return as the almighty King and Judge, against Whom no power can stand. He will overwhelm and rightly condemn all who oppose Him. See Revelation 11:15, 19:11-21, and 20:7-10.

Stanza 8:

Thee let old men, Thee let young men,
Thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens,
With glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring,
Evermore and evermore!

The poet here expands on Stanza 5: Every person of whatever earthly status has a role to play in praising Jesus from the heart, so that He gets all the glory He deserves. Consider Mark 11:14, John 4:23-24, and Revelation 7:9-12 in this regard.

Stanza 9:

Christ, to Thee with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be:
Honour, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory,
Evermore and evermore!

The hymn closes with “unwearied” praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why “unwearied”? The four living creatures in Revelation 4:8 “day and night … never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy!’” We too in the eternal state will never weary of worshiping our God in spirit and truth – and thus will fulfill the purpose of our creation, the purpose of our redemption.

Thank you, Father God, for preserving such ancient texts to help us worship You this Christmas season. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you this season – then evermore and evermore.

(The Latin text and a second English translation of this hymn are available here. I encourage you to listen to a lovely a cappella recording of five of these verses here.)

Advent: Jesus Came to Be Your Curse and Your Cleansing

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons… As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.  And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” (Mark 11:15, 20)

 

Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth over two-thousand years ago, his first advent? And what awaits us at his return, his second advent? As we’ve seen in this series, these are questions we should always ask, but they are especially fresh on our minds in the Advent season. And there are a myriad of ways to answer these questions from Scripture. We saw last week that according to Mark 10:46–11:11, Jesus came in order to reign as your king. He reigns now on the throne in heaven and on the throne of our hearts. And at his return, he will reign on earth, and we will reign with him forever. We saw in that passage, that Jesus’ path to the throne was through the cross. And because of the cross, he is a king who gives boundless mercy. This is because, at the cross Jesus reversed the curse and cleansed his sinful people. Here, then, we arrive at another answer to the question of why Jesus came: Jesus came to be your curse and your cleansing.

 

A Curse and A Cleansing in Mark 11:12–25

In Mark 10:46–52, Jesus proves to be the promised Son of David who gives his people mercy in the healing of blind Bartimaeus. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, complete with him riding a donkey (see Zechariah 9:9) and the people singing a song of God’s salvation (see Psalm 118:25–26) caps off the miracle, pointing to Jesus as the promised king who brings salvation to God’s people through mercy. Right after all of this, we see Jesus’ “first act as king” if you will: he cleanses the temple (Mark 11:15–19). However, Mark sandwiches Jesus’ temple cleansing in between Jesus’ cursing of a fig tree (Mark 11:12–14, 20–25). Taken together, this reveals Jesus purpose to take the curse from and cleanse his people.

 

Of Figs, Fig Trees, and God’s People

A few times in the Old Testament, God compares his people to figs or fig trees (Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 8:13; 24:1–5). Jesus himself will use agrarian imagery to describe Israel in Mark 12:1–12 where he uses a vineyard to symbolize them in his parable of the unfaithful tenants. And here in Mark 11:12–25, Mark parallels a fruitless fig tree with Israel, the house of God, and the temple, which is in need of cleansing. Israel has failed to bear fruit. They have not loved God with all of their heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). They have not loved their neighbor as themselves (Leviticus 19:18). They have not kept covenant with God and have not been his treasured possession out of all peoples on the earth (Exodus 6:7; 19:5). Moreover, not only have they not borne good fruit, they have actually borne bad fruit.

 

God’s People and His Temple: Cleansed

In the OT, Israel was distinct from all other peoples. Their distinct identity was rooted in the reality that God dwelled in their midst in the temple (Exodus 29:45; 33:14–16; Leviticus 26:12). God’s people and the place of their identity, the temple where God dwelled, should have been a house for all peoples (Mark 11:17; see Isaiah 56:7) no matter their social status or ethnicity. If foreigners “join themselves to the LORD, to love the name of the LORD” they are welcomed by God (Isaiah 56:6–7). And God “gathers the outcasts” to himself (Isaiah 56:8). But, as Jesus’ actions and words make clear in Mark 11:15–19, the people by their sin have turned the house of Israel and the temple “into a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17; see Jeremiah 7:10). This is a sweeping condemnation that speaks to more than extortion. In context, the term for “robbers” in Jeremiah 7:10, which Jesus quotes, speaks of sinful violence and evil of all manner directed not only at neighbor but at God and his covenant (Jeremiah 7:8–12). Israel has borne the fruit of sin and evil. And now their king has come and, in an act of authoritative judgment, cleaned house. The parallel is clear, Israel has failed to bear good fruit, and just like the fruitless fig tree, they receive judgment. However, they receive a judgment that results in a cleansing.

 

Curse and Forgiveness

We see in Mark 11:20–21, when Jesus and his disciples pass by the fig tree again the next morning after Jesus’ temple cleansing, that the fig tree Jesus cursed has withered away. The consequence of breaking covenant with God is covenant curse resulting in death and destruction (Deuteronomy 28:45). But surprisingly, when the disciples point out the fig tree, Jesus does not begin to teach them about the breaking of covenants and the curse and death that results nor how all of this with the tree is meant to illustrate what Jesus did in the temple the day before. Rather, Jesus begins to teach them about faith. He responds with, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). And then Jesus goes on to teach that the prayer of faith can do miraculous, earth-moving things. He teaches that if one prays with faith devoid of doubt, they will receive what they ask. This can seem disconnected until we see Jesus begin to speak about praying for forgiveness in verse 25. The greatest miracle that the prayer of faith brings about is the miracle of forgiveness from sins. This is the gospel thread that binds these two episodes, the cursed fig tree and the temple cleansing, together.

 

Gospel: Jesus Becomes Your Curse and Your Cleansing

The sins of God’s people demand judgment, curse, and destruction of the offenders. However, Jesus makes clear in his temple actions that with this judgment will come a cleansing away of the sin. Here is the twist. The gospel tells us that this judgment, the curse of sin and the destruction of death, did not ultimately fall on God’s people. Rather, the judgment fell on their representative, their rightful, sinless king, Jesus, at the cross. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). Through becoming our curse, the king “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his possession” once again (Titus 2:14). Jesus purifies us, that is he “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The prayer of faith will take hold of Jesus and this gospel—trusting that God has cast into the sea the mountain of sin and violence that we’ve committed against others and against him—, and the one who prays it will receive not curse but forgiveness. Jesus came to become our curse and our cleansing. All other prayers of faith will flow from this reality.

 

Jesus’ Second Advent

Because Jesus became our curse and our cleansing, our identity is restored. We truly are God’s treasured possession (Titus 2:14; cf. Exodus 6:7; 19:5). God in Christ dwells with us now and we with him through the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:20; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 13:14; cf. Exodus 29:45; 33:14–16; Leviticus 26:12). However, we still long for our heavenly dwelling in the new heavens and new earth (2 Corinthians 5:2). At that time, all the clinging remnants of sin and death will perish forever (1 Corinthians 15:53–54). In that place, it will be said “ ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3–4).

 

Remembering Jesus’ First Advent, Looking to Jesus’ Second Advent

Jesus came to be your curse and your cleansing so that God dwells with us again right now by the Holy Spirit. And Jesus will come again so that we may dwell with God forever in the new heavens and new earth, where sin, sadness, pain, and death shall never tread again. This is why Jesus came. This is what we remember and this is what we look forward to this Advent season.

 

Advent: Jesus Came To Reign as Your King

And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46–47).

 

Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth over two-thousand years ago—his first advent? And what awaits us at his return—his second advent? As we noted last week, these are the questions we should always ask, but they are especially fresh on our minds in the Advent season. And there are a myriad of ways to answer this question from Scripture. We saw last week that according to Mark 10:45, Jesus came to serve and to give his life as a ransom. And at his return, he will welcome us home into the kingdom of God. This reality of Jesus bringing the kingdom of God to us and bringing us into the kingdom of God dovetails with this week’s devotion that looks at another answer to the same question of why Jesus came. That answer: Jesus came in order to reign as your king.

 

Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46–52

Immediately following Jesus’ proclamation that the Son of Man came to serve and give his life as a ransom, we see Jesus pass through Jericho. And as he is leaving a blind beggar named Bartimaeus called out to Jesus, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (10:46). He immediately faced stiff rebuke from many people who told him to be silent, but Mark tells us, “he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:47). We can learn something from Bartimaeus both regarding our human condition and our faith. And we learn something about the object of our faith as well.

 

Condition: Blind Beggar

Nothing is coincidence in God’s redemptive narrative. Bartimaeus’s condition, then, is not merely circumstantial. It is rather a gracious picture that God gives us for our instruction. We are all Bartimaeus. Apart from Christ, in our sin we are all blind. We are blind to our depravity and blind to our need for God’s mercy. And we are all wretched beggars. However, in our blindness we actually think that we are rich as we hold close the sinful treasures we’ve collected not realizing that those sinful treasures are sucking the very life and wealth that God promises to give us from his repository of riches in glory. In our sinfulness, we are like the Laodiceans, over whom Jesus makes this pronouncement, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). We are blind beggars in need of God’s mercy. But here’s where we learn about something else from Bartimaeus. We learn about saving faith.

 

Saving Faith

Bartimaeus may be blind, but he has eyes to not only see his condition but to see the cure, or rather ears to hear his cure pass by. And true to his description, Bartimaeus begs. And what does he beg for? He begs for mercy to receive his sight. This is a picture of saving faith. Saving faith recognizes one’s helpless, wretched condition. Thus, saving faith recognizes the need for mercy and begs for it. And saving faith finds the object of their faith in Jesus, who happens to be the Son of David.

 

The Object of Our Faith: The Son of David

Why did Bartimaeus call Jesus the Son of David? What do we learn from that title? Bartimaeus called Jesus the Son of David because he recognized Jesus as the promised King, the promised Messiah. Jesus is the promised Son of David who would reign on God’s throne over God’s kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12–13; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14). He is the promised just and righteous Davidic king of Isaiah 9:6–7:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

His is the promised son of David who is also the Son of God, whom God will establish as king on his holy mountain, over all the nations (Psalm 2:6–8). When Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus calling him the Son of David, this is who he cries out to, God’s promised king—even if he doesn’t realize all the implications of that title. He is the servant king who opens blind eyes and sets the captive free (Isaiah 42:1–7). And Bartimaeus receives the blessing of this king, restored sight, and he runs after him (Mark 10:52).

 

Jesus Came to Reign as Your King

Just to confirm everything we’ve just seen, the biblical narrative in Mark immediately moves to one of the most iconic scenes in all of Scripture. Jesus enters into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey’s colt as the people sing for joy. The picture clearly fulfills Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The people’s song of choice is Psalm 118:25–26, which speaks of God’s salvation. The scene is clear: Jesus is the promised, long awaited Son of David who has come to save his people and reign over them as king. And reign Jesus does. However, the path was not what we’d expect.

Remarkably, such fanfare would not mark Jesus’ final path to the throne. Rather, it is through the cross that Jesus worked the salvation Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118 prophesy. And it is through the cross that Jesus the Son of David ascended to the throne of heaven to reign forever (Acts 1:6–11; 2:22–36; Hebrews 1:3). Indeed, Jesus came to reign as king and he does reign as king right now on the throne at the right hand of God. But Jesus also came to reign as your king on the throne of your heart. The cross, salvation, and Jesus’ kingdom is for you.

 

Jesus’ Second Advent: Jesus Reigns as King, the Root and the Descendant of David

Jesus is the promised, long-awaited Son of David who came to reign as king. And Jesus is the promised, long-awaited for Son of David who came to reign as your king. We see ourselves in blind, begging Bartimaeus. And we see that King Jesus, the promised Son of David, came to save those who cry out to him for mercy. We also see ourselves in the people of Jerusalem, rejoicing at the arrival of this promised Son of David, the long-awaited king. And we see that through the cross, King Jesus, the promised Son of David does indeed reign on the throne right now in heaven. But he will come again to reign on earth as well. Is it any wonder why the last time Jesus ever describes himself in Scripture, he chooses to say, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star…Surely I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:16, 20). Jesus will come again to earth to reign on David’s throne forever.

 

Remembering Jesus’ First Advent, Looking to Jesus’ Second Advent

Jesus came to reign as King. Jesus reigns on the throne in heaven now and on the throne of our hearts now. And Jesus will come again to reign on earth with his people forever. This is why Jesus came. This is what we remember and this is what we look forward to this Advent season.

 

 

Advent: Jesus Came to Ransom You

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

 

Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth over two-thousand years ago? That is the question we should always ask, but it is especially fresh on our minds in the Advent season. And we also can’t ask about Jesus’ first advent without also looking ahead to his second advent. Nevertheless, we must first ask, “Why did Jesus come, the first time? What did he come to do?” According Mark 10:45, Jesus came to serve and to give his life as a ransom. That answer should shock us and move us to worship.

 

What Jesus Did Not Come To Do

In this Mark 10:45, Jesus first notes what he did not come to do. Jesus says he did not come “to be served,” or we could translate it, “to be ministered to.” His ultimate purpose in coming was not for himself. It was not for his receiving of anything—any act of service, any act of generosity, any meeting of a particular need, any honor—from us. This is shocking considering who he is.

 

The Shock Factor

In this verse, Jesus’ self-proclaimed identity makes his not being served all the more jarring. Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man. Jesus’ chosen moniker refers to the “one like a son of man” who comes to YHWH, the Ancient of Days, and receives from him all “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples should serve him” (Daniel 7:13–14). Jesus is the promised divine king. And yet, according to the king himself, Jesus, he did not come to us in his first advent to be served. Why then did he come? What did he come to do?

 

What Jesus Did Come To Do: Serve and Die

Jesus says he did not come to be served. Rather, he came to do just the opposite. He came to serve, to minister, to give. Notice Jesus does not separate his serving from his giving. His giving is what defines the nature of his serving. What does he give? He gives his life. He came to die. Again, given who he is, this too should shock us. And it should shock us even more than his not serving.

 

The Greater Shock Factor

Jesus the divine king of Daniel 7:13–14 will have an everlasting kingdom—“his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” How can the kingdom be everlasting if the king himself is not everlasting? How can the kingdom not be destroyed if the king himself is seemingly destroyed in death? Nevertheless, Jesus, the supposed everlasting divine king of an everlasting kingdom, says that he came to die. More specifically, he came to die as a ransom for many. The nature of this ransom should move us to worship and will ultimately culminate in our worship.

 

Jesus Came to Ransom You

Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many. If Jesus is the divine king, then he must have a kingdom made up of people—“And to him was given…a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.” What is it that holds his people captive that Jesus the king would need to give his life as a ransom? Exodus 30:11–16 notes that every individual in God’s kingdom of Israel had to give a ransom to make atonement for his life. They did this so “that there be no plague among them” (Exodus 30:12). God’s people are enslaved to and under the curse of sin and death and the object of God’s just wrath. The only way God’s people can be in his kingdom with him is if a ransom is paid so that their sin is atoned. Jesus says that he, the divine king, came to pay this ransom. And he came to pay it not with coin or animal offering, but with the inestimable value of his infinitely, perfectly righteous life. Jesus became the curse of sin, wore the plague fully on the cross, and died his peoples’ death to satisfy God’s wrath completely—to pay the ransom of your life in order to deliver you from the curse of sin. And then Jesus by virtue of his perfect sinless life, rose from the grave, defeating death and thereby purchasing his people not only from sin but also snatching them from the jaws of death. He is the divine king who is everlasting, who is not destroyed by death but is rather the destroyer of death. He lives forever, and his people will live forever in his presence worshiping and enjoying him in all his beauty and glory.

 

Jesus’ Second Advent

Jesus came to serve by giving his life as a ransom for many, including you. He traded his perfectly righteous life for your completely sinful life. He paid the price of your debt and subsequently becomes your only viable asset. He is your ransom. This is why Jesus came the first time. So if this is the reason for Jesus’ first advent, what does his second advent look like? I think it looks something like what we see in Isaiah 35 and Revelation 22.

“They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God…Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the reward of God. He will come and save you…And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away…They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their lights, and they will reign forever and ever” (Isaiah 35:2, 4, 10; Revelation 22:4–5).

 

Remembering Jesus’ First Advent, Looking to Jesus’ Second Advent

Jesus the divine king came the first time to ransom you by giving his life. Jesus the divine king will come again to reign with you as your king forever. This is why Jesus came. This is what we remember and this is what we look forward to this Advent season.

A Method to Remain Unstained from the World – Ephesians 1:15-23

How are you with cleaning or replacing filters? I do not mean so much your personal skillset to do it, but more your consistent initiative to get it done. When you think about it, cleaning or replacing filters has some place in all of our lives, whether we are the ones directly doing it or not.

Filters are everywhere. You have oil filters and air cabin filters for our cars, water filters, home air filters, even lint filters for our dryers. You have vacuum filters, coffee filters, and furnace filters. Even for those tea drinkers among us, the tea bag itself is a filter. Depending on the type of filter and its use, filters need cleaning or replacing often because they capture dust and debris, used grounds or leaves, chemicals and compounds, gunk and grease harmful for engines, lungs, or stomachs.

But, in addition to physical filters, there are also spiritual filters. If James expresses that alongside visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, part of a pure and undefiled religion before God is to keep oneself unstained from the world, then there is certainly a need of a clean spiritual filter. The LORD has given us what we need in this by uniting us by grace through faith to Jesus and declaring us forgiven and cleansed in Him. He has also given us His Holy Spirit. But there is a relational sense of walking in step with the Spirit, of growing in the likeness of Christ, of walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which we’ve been called by God. In light of this, how do we keep our spiritual filters cleansed and renewed from the worldly, toxic grime?

First, let’s identify a few deadly ways the world can infect us without utilizing God’s means of keeping us spiritually filtered and clean.

  • Fatalism- Focusing on the world as the hopeless mess it is and us as hopeless sinners, and believing no good or change will ever come to it or us.
  • Cynicism- Thinking that everyone is in it for themselves and motivated by greed and power. No one can be trusted.
  • Overtly focusing on entertainment and distraction, consuming and wasting our lives with things that are eternally worthless.
  • Idolatry in all forms, but especially to self, tribe, and sex.

How do we resemble Christ more and more, and this present form of the world that is passing away less and less?

This, and the question before, are big questions of sanctification and perseverance that the Bible speaks to in many places. I believe Paul has a helpful part of the answer for us today in Ephesians 1, starting in verse 15.

To give some brief background, Ephesians was written to the group of believers in the major city of Ephesus and likely other groups of believers in nearby towns and cities as well. Ephesus was a port city on the western coast of what is now modern-day Turkey. Paul wrote this letter while in prison for Christ in Rome towards the end of his life (likely AD 60-62), and sent it by his faithful minister and brother-in-Christ Tychicus. So far in the letter, he has briefly greeted believers and then pens an astounding section of praise to God for His sovereign election and adoption of His people in Christ and the sealing by the Spirit- all to the praise of His glory. This is where our section begins in verse 15.

So getting back to the issue at hand, what does Paul model for us as he’s locked up in prison that would help us keep our spiritual filters unstained from the world’s toxic grime? Not surprisingly for us in this prayer-themed year, the answer Paul models is a prayer. And this prayer starts, fittingly for this time of year, as a prayer of thanksgiving.

“15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might 20 that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Notice, Paul’s thanksgiving is not over his imminent release from imprisonment or worldly comforts. His prayer of thanksgiving from prison for the Ephesian people is for two specific reasons:

    1. Their faith in the LORD Jesus
    2. Their love toward all the saints

Two quick observations.

  1. In the midst of Paul’s personal suffering, he is thankful to God for evidence of Christ’s saving work in other’s lives. He is Christ and kingdom-centered and others-focused.
  2. He’s not ceasing in prayers of thanks to God for them, continually remembering them. Most of us know seasons of prayer for others, but sometimes people in my own life people fall off my radar. I’m not suggesting we have a prayer list that only grows and involves every person on it getting daily prayers. I do gently ask though- who are those people (specifically believers) we know God has placed personally in our lives and called us to pray consistently for whom we haven’t prayed for in quite a while? I’d encourage you to pause even now, or as you finish reading this, to lift that person up to God and consciously bring them back into your regular time of prayer.

At this point, in verse 17, Paul gets specific in what prayer for those for whom he is so thankful looks like. He asks 3 things. Now, I don’t know about you, but the content of these prayers are much different than the healing, comfort, safety I’m used to running through for people. These things aren’t wrong to pray, but consider the 3 prayer points Paul mentions:

  1. That God the Father would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in their knowledge of Him.
  2. So that with their hearts now enlightened they would know 3 things:
    1. The hope to which He has called them
    2. The riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints
    3. The immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe
  3. A focus on the Gospel and who God has made Christ Jesus to be.
    1. Jesus is the One the Father has raised from the dead and seated alone at His right hand.
    2. Christ Jesus is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named in this present age, and the age to come.
    3. All things have been put under Jesus’ feet and He has been made the Head over all the Church, His body, and He fills all things everywhere.

So what is Paul’s help for us to keep our spiritual filters unstained from the world?

  • To put your focus on Christ and give thanks to God for how you’re clearly seeing the Spirit of Jesus at work in believer’s lives.
  • To continually lift up believers like this in prayer and share openly with them the way you’re encouraged by God’s work in them and work in others.
  • To pray specifically that God would grant believers to experience a spirit of wisdom and revelation of their knowledge of God
  • That through this greater understanding they’d experience hope and they’d ponder more with joy the inheritance we’re running to that nothing in this world can touch or compare
  • To have a better understanding and knowledge of God’s great power- the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, seating Him above all others for all-time, who is now directing His church to expand

This is a model of prayer by Paul that we can use as a filter to remain unstained from the world. Prayer like this transforms our perspective from worldly to eternal.

When we were in Turkey, just before seeing Matthew, Kailie, and the boys, we stayed a night in Istanbul and visited the Hagia Sophia. This building was built in 537 AD. At the time it was not only the largest cathedral in the world, but the largest building as well. It became one of the centers for the Christian faith for hundreds of years. Great sadness welled up in me going inside the building with Katie and the boys though. In the 1400s, Istanbul was taken over by the Ottoman Turks. So for the better part of the last 500 years, Hagia Sophia has served as a mosque. Within 15 minutes of entering the building, everyone was quickly forced to exit and the Muslim cry for prayer soon followed. With all the building had symbolized, it just felt like such a loss. There was a thought of “this is what it is to be conquered”.

Though I was there to be an encouragement for Matthew, I shared what I’d felt being in that place with him the next day. Not only does God use prayer and his Word to clean and replace our world-contaminated filters, He uses His people as well. Matthew reminded me that night that we’re not to the end of the story yet. He also said, if you’d told Christians who worshipped the LORD in that great building long ago that another religion would spring up and overtake the church for hundreds of years. And then you explained the Gospel would go out to the ends of the earth. It would even go out to a New World they didn’t even know existed. Then you explained believers from there would return with the same unconquerable message of Jesus in order to share it back in this city–they’d be in disbelief and wonder. Thinking about it now, hopefully they’d say, “take the city and the building, we have Christ, the conquering King, who is returning to set up a city, Church, and temple of God not made with hands, that will never end.”

That’s where our focus and hope must remain. That’s the filter through which we keep the world’s lies at bay, and also through which we also see the world around us and where it’s all headed.

Humility and Love

Some of you probably know by now of my affinity for John Newton.

One of the reasons I appreciate him so much is because of his letters. He was prolific in his letter writing. He wrote to all sorts and all comers. What I find so wonderful about his letters is that in them you truly see how his rich theology and experiential knowledge of God’s love in the gospel both come to bear in his pastoral care. His letters exquisitely exhibit theology applied. He truly was a shepherd to admire.

Recently, I was reading one of Newton’s letters to the Reverend Mr. Whitford, his friend and a fellow minister. In this letter, Newton was encouraging Mr. Whitford in his cooperative gospel ministry, and there was one sentence that stood out to me: “I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ, and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master.”[1]

I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ, and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master. — John Newton

What an assessment of the distinguishing marks of the Christian! Are these the characteristics that first come to mind when we think of what should mark a Christian? Perhaps we think of holiness or joy or one of the many other characteristics that distinguish the Christian life. But Newton hangs spiritual maturity on these two marks, humility and love. This sent me running to the Scriptures to find what humility and love for the Christian look like.

 

Christian Humility and Love

In Ephesians 4:1–3, Paul urges the Ephesians to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [they] have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Here, humility and love go hand-in-hand with gentleness or meekness and patience. Let’s take a closer look at these fruits.

 

Gentleness

Paul makes clear in 2 Corinthians 10:1 that gentleness and meekness are distinguishing marks of Jesus himself writing, “I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…”. These are Christlike characteristics. To get an idea of what a gentle and meek person looks like, it’s helpful to consider what Scripture sets gentleness and meekness over against. Paul encourages Titus to remind the flock “to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2), as opposed to not being submissive to authorities, speaking evil of others, and being quarrelsome. Likewise, in 1 Timothy 3:3, Paul calls for gentleness rather than violence. Indeed, it is this type of gentleness and meekness that marks reasonableness as opposed to divisiveness (Philippians 4:1–5).

So, gentleness and meekness do not look like: speaking evil of others, a quarrelsome spirit, a lack of appropriate submissiveness, violence, and/or divisiveness—the distinguishing marks of sinful man. Rather, Scripture tells us that gentleness and meekness are the hallmarks of godly wisdom (James 3:13, 17).

 

Patience

Humility and love also go hand-in-hand with patience. The patience referred to here does not speak to the type of perishable patience we typically exercise when we are waiting for our food order to come to the table or when we are standing in a long line. Rather, it speaks to the enduring, unwavering patience that God exercised toward us in order to save us (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:15).

 

Gentleness and Patience Mark Christian Humility and Love

So, if you are seeking the fruits of Christian humility and love, they can be found in the same garden row as their closely related counterparts of gentleness and patience. Christian humility and love run counter to divisiveness, quarreling, and violence. And Christian humility and love exercise the same long-suffering that God graciously showed and shows toward us. Indeed, Christian humility and love fight for the very unity that human sinfulness would undo (Ephesians 4:3). Let’s look more closely at both humility and love.

 

Humility

Paul sets humility over against selfish ambition when he addresses the Philippians, writing, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3). Selfish ambition is not an internal, victimless characteristic. Rather, selfish ambition by nature works itself out externally in hostility and contentiousness toward others, inflicting harm on others (2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20; Philippians 1:17; James 3:16). Christian humility, on the other hand, considers others more significant—of a surpassing worth—when compared to self (Philippians 2:3). Moreover, Christian humility is not kept to oneself but has natural outward effects. Taking into account the gentleness and patience that mark humility, Christian humility, like a rock thrown into water, sends out ripples of gentleness and patience toward others that promote fellowship and unity (Ephesians 4:3).

Christian humility, like a rock thrown into water, sends out ripples of gentleness and patience toward others that promote fellowship and unity.

 

Love

In like manner, Christian love bears with others in a spirit of gentleness and patience. This love “is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:1). This is the very bearing with love that binds together all godly qualities that foster a culture of forgiveness. Christian love is love that bears with others, loving and forgiving them in the same way that God loved and forgave us in Christ. (Colossians 3:12–13). This forgiving love, then, fans the flames of fellowship and unity (Ephesians 4:3).

Christian love is love that bears with others, forgiving them in the same way that God loved and forgave us in Christ.

 

The Gospel: Jesus’ Humility and Love Saves Us

Surely, we can begin to see that John Newton was very much on the right track. Indeed, it was these very qualities, humility and love, that, as Paul notes, mean salvation for you and me. Jesus exercised perfect humility and perfect love toward us in order to save us when we were unsubmissive, speakers of evil, divisive, violent, quarrelsome—completely arrogant and completely hateful. Yet Jesus counted us as more significant than himself in humility and extended the comfort of his forgiving love toward us by dying in our place on the cross (Philippians 2:1–8).

If the Christian life is to look like Jesus, then Newton’s assessment is beautifully accurate. It is the humility and love of Christ that saves us, and it is our Christlike humility and love coupled with our gospel proclamation that God will continue to use to save and unite his people. So, in the spirit of John Newton, we must ask ourselves: Do Christlike humility and love mark our lives? Let’s strive in God’s power to ensure they do.

[1] John Newton, Letters of John Newton, ed. Josiah Bull (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018), 39.