Foundations of Faith

Where does faith begin? Some people exhort us to just believe in something. Others tell us to believe in ourselves. But where is our faith ultimately suppose to rest. The Word of God places a high emphasis on the need for faith. In fact, Hebrews 11:6, says that “without faith it is impossible to please him” – that is God. Romans14:23 tells us that “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Is it really that important then if we have faith or a right faith? It is crucial! For God has also told us that the “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). In fact, this verse begins by telling us that it is in the gospel that “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” Very literally, it is “from faith into faith.” The gospel of Jesus Christ calls each of us to depend on God at every point of our lives and in every circumstance.

Peter also picks up on the importance of faith in the 2 Peter 1:5-10. In verse 10, he challenges us “make your calling and election sure.” He says that we are to do this by holding fast to the “his precious and very great promises” (1:4) and then “to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge…” (1:5) Notice that his chain of progression beings with faith.

The Book of Proverbs also emphasizes the need for faith, but it does so in a different way when it says:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)

Therefore, to  have knowledge and wisdom, we must first “fear the LORD”. We must possess a reverential awe that leaves us trembling before the one with whom we will have to do. We must regard the LORD of hosts as HOLY!!!  We  must believe that God is who He has reveal Himself to be in His Word.

“But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” (Isaiah 8:13)

“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

Therefore, if our faith is to be in the proper place, it must be of a proper fear. If we have a right faith, we will recognize God as the supreme and sovereign being over all things. We will trust Him as He has reveal Himself to us in His Word – the Bible. Faith must begin with God not with us. Faith must begin with the Word of God and not with the wisdom of man. So may we all come to tremble at His Word.

Most Important Doctrine

Which doctrine, do you think is the most essential in determining proper understanding of God and His gospel? Some people might argue that our view of Scripture is most important, because it determines the reliability of what we know about God. Others might say that our view of Christ and the cross is the most crucial, because on Calvary we see the Son of God actually accomplish our redemption. Still others might argue that our view of human depravity is decisive, because it shapes our understanding of what (if anything) man can contribute to his own salvation.

However, I believe that the most pivotal doctrine in determining our understanding of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ is our understanding of the Holiness of God. Your understanding of the holiness of God will radically affect almost every other area of theology. Consider the following:

• If God is holy in the sense of being set apart from the rest of creation, then man cannot come to know God on his own effort. Rather God must in some way speak in terms that we can understand, and God has done this through the Scriptures.
• If God is holy. Then we must recognize, first and foremost, that God is God and we are not. He create us and we belong to Him. He has the right to demand from us as His creatures whatever He desires. We cannot demand anything from Him, because He is not indebted to us, but rather we are indebted to him for our life, our breathe and our being (Acts 17: 25).
• If God is holy. We must also recognize that humanity though it was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) has fallen from its original state. Thus all of us fall short of God’s standard of holiness. Before the Holy One of Israel, we are all evil and rebellious creatures. While there may be degrees of rebellion, everyone is a rebel.
• If God is holy, then there is no way man can satisfy the righteousness of God. God cannot compromise His standard of justice. The wages of sin is death, so those who sin must die.
• If Jesus is God and Jesus is Holy, then there is hope for sinners. Jesus as the only man who was perfectly holy has satisfied God’s high standard of holiness. Furthermore, Jesus as the God-man is able to offer up his holiness as the basis of approval before God for all who believe in Him.

I think Jonathan Edwards was right when he asserted that God’s holiness consisted “in a regard to to himself, infinitely above his regard to all other beings” (The End for Which God Created the World). The holiness of God is not simply the fact God is set apart from sin, but also that God is set apart from everything by the fact that He is God and nothing else is. So I whole-heartedly agree with exhortation made by John Piper in God’s Passion for His Glory:

“I would encourage the reader to wrestle earnestly with this truth…This is a continental divide in theology. If you really believe this, all rivers of your thinking run toward God. If you do not, all the rivers run toward man. The theological and practical implications are innumerable. Settling this issue is worth many nights of prayer and study. Edwards calls God’s regard to himself his “holiness.” It may be more proper to call it God’s righteousness.” Thus his “holiness” would be the infinite worth that God has in his own estimation, and his righteousness would be his valuing and respecting that worth without wavering and upholding it in all that he does.” (p. 141)

Why is Jesus so offensive?

I preparing for my School lesson this last week (click here for audio) I began to realize why it is so many people find Jesus so offensive, especially those who thing they are righteous enough for heaven. I taught on the parable of the Two Sons in Matthew 21 and the Lost (Prodigal) Son in Luke 15. As I studied the first parable regarding Christ’s authority I began to realize that everything Christ did on earth (teaching, preaching, healing, casting out demons) was meant to point to the fact that He had authority to forgive sins. Then as I continued to study Luke 15, I realize that was exactly the problem that the Pharisees had. They were angered at the fact that Jesus determined when a person was to be forgiven and not them. Just as the older son in the story of the prodigal son was angered at the father forgiving the younger son. In short, they were angry, because Jesus had mercy on whom He had mercy and compassion on whom he had compassion. They were mad, because as God, Jesus was the sovereign dispenser of mercy, grace, and compassion.

In Light of an Imminent Return

This last Sunday I had an opportunity to teach the Adult Sunday School at Omaha Bible Church.  We have currently been going through a series on the parables of Jesus. I was privileged to be able to teach the parables dealing with Christ’s imminent return, including the Rich Fool, the Watchful Servant, and the Faithful & Evil Servants in Luke 12. It was a great opportunity to remind myself and others to live in light of eternity. As Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” If you desire to be wise, you must begin by numbering your days. You must begin by recognizing that you will one day have to give an account for your life to your maker, Jesus Christ. So let each of us remember to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. (For the audio of the lesson, click here.)

How To Be Humble (Part 2)

A few days ago I began to consider where true humility is to be found. In so doing I assert that it is only in Jesus Christ that one can come to a true understanding of what humility is, particularly that it involves dying to self and living for God and for others. However, as I have continued to reflect on this issue, I realized that all I have so far done is shown in what way Christ was an example of humility. Therefore, I would like to show here that Christ not only establish an example of humility in his incarnation, his obedience, his sufferings, and his death, but that he also procured the believers humility as well. To say this another way, that the believer being humble and walking in away of humility before God and others was ultimately accomplished by Jesus Christ.

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Cor. 5:14-15)

First, notice that these verses indicate that “that one died for all, therefore all died”. Those “who live”, those who are no longer “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) have died with Christ. When Christ died, they died also. As Paul says in another place, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Rom. 6:6) or “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). Now recall that the essence of sin in to be a “lover of self ….lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2Tim. 3:2-4). At the heart of sin is to seek our interests before the interests of God and the interests of others. Therefore, when it says that “our old self was crucified with Him…so that we would no longer be slaves to sin”, it is the same as saying that “He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves”. Both of these passages declare to us that we are loosed from the bondage to sin, from the pursuit of self-love, from pride, by being crucified with Christ. No man may ever put to death his own pride, He is too proud to do so. No man can every set aside his love for himself, for he loves himself too much to do so. It is for that reason that Christ intervened to put to death the old man, the proud man, so that those who are in Christ might “no longer live for themselves”.

I hope the reader will heed these words, no man pursues interest other than his own, except for those who are. All men apart from Christ seek their own pleasure and their own desires. They live for themselves. Objection. Some may object at this point and say, “But I know atheists and members of other religions that do good to others. They give to the poor and help their neighbors. How can you say they only live for themselves?” Answer. Those who be not in Christ will meet the needs of others only as far as they see in them their own greater interests. How many do good to others in way of religion as a means of securing salvation for themselves? They do not do good to others out of love for them, but out of love for self. Their life is driven by a desire to secure their own eternal interest (i.e. their salvation) and they use others as a way of doing so. Yet Scripture tells us that those “but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.” (Rom. 2:8). For those who profess to be atheists and deny their maker, they also live in a way as only to themselves. They may seek the good of others and the good of society as a whole, but it will always be driven by a desire to maximize their own interests. For some this will be a desire to secure their own safety and protect from the evils of men. For others it will be a desire to have others think more highly of them, to maximize their glory in the eyes of men.
Why then is it that only Christians can be rightly said to “no longer live for themselves”? Why is it that the good that they do unto others cannot be rightly attributed as a “living for themselves”? The nature of man made religion is to think that man can do something in order to secure their salvation. The result is that men pursue interests of religion out of their own desire to better themselves, to improve their own lot before God. True Christians on the other hand under declares that man can do nothing to secure their lot before God, rather that God and God alone is able to save. They understand that all their righteous deeds are filthy rags before a holy God and that they stand unable to save themselves. Thus the cast themselves on the mercies of God, who sent for His Son to save them. They look to Christ who alone can save to the uttermost. They see that they do not need anything to secure their greatest good, as Christ has already done it on their behalf. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God,”(1Pe. 3:18). Therefore, all that they do in Christ is not done for their own good, but ultimately as 2 Cor. 5:15 says “for Him”. They actions and deeds are not done in a way of promoting themselves or their own interests or their own glory, but rather what they do is to be done in a way of promoting Jesus Christ and pursuing His interests and exulting His glory.
May those of us who have died with Him no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave Himself up for us.

How To Be Humble (Part 1)

I must confess that I have a propensity toward being a very proud person, which is not a good thing when it comes to standing before God. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jam. 4:6, 1Pe. 5:5) Even more, God testifies that “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished” (Pro. 16:5). Therefore, we are told that “pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Pro. 16:18). If pride is such a damnable thing, how is a man who by nature proud ever to be humbled? How is that someone who is proud can ever receive grace, if God only gives grace to the humble”

Some men have been humbled by providence, that is, God has arranged the events in their life in such a way that they cannot help but acknowledge that they do not have control over it. They understand that life is beyond their control and this produces a sense of humility regarding their circumstances. The question that this raises in my mind however is does such humility reflect a person who has received grace, or is this humility merely a facade or a pretense of what is genuinely called humility?

I am inclined to thing that such a sense of humility is inadequate for several reasons. First, a person who is humbled by the knowledge that life is outside of their control does not necessarily acknowledge that it is in God’s. Rather, they may ascribe the events of their life merely to ‘Chance’, to ‘Luck’, to ‘Fate’ or even to ‘Providence’. None of these however is the true God who has revealed Himself in the Scripture, but rather a god which has been made in their own minds. Second, this sense of humility does not have to recognize the true condition of man. A man may resolve that life is beyond his control and not argue against it, but all the while think that he deserves better. Therefore, even here they continue to place the blame for what happens in their life on God. Their misfortunes are never the result of their sin, but rather the result of bad luck or fate. It is under such persuasions that I fear many people continue to live in state of delusion. Having humbled themselves before a god who is production of their own imaginations and the speculations of their darkened minds, rather than before the true and living God.

So then where should we learn humility? My answer is simply this: “In Christ”. For God has told us that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). There can be no true knowledge of what it means to be humble, except that which is learned in Christ. Now here then is humility,

“Having this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Php. 2:5-8)

“In Christ Jesus” we see what humility truly is. I might lay it out under three heads for our consideration. First, true humility involves death, particularly death to self. So we see that Christ “emptied Himself”, that is, He denied His own rights and privileges as one who was “in the form of God” and who was “equal with God” and took to Himself also “the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in the appearance as a man”. Now this makes His humbling distinct from our own. For He who was like God became like man, and He who was equal with God also was made equal with men. But His death to self was not only figurative, but literal. For he was “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Now this dying was not for his own sake for He was already like God and equal with God, he was always without sin and was under no penalty of death. Yet, in humility He laid down His life of his own desire and out of his own obedience to God.

This then is the second consideration concerning his humbling himself, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.” His humility was in a way of obedience to God the Father. His humility was further manifest in His willingness to do only the Fathers will and to speak only what the Father had given him to say. “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment i just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (Joh. 5:30). “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (Joh. 6:38). This obedience was total and complete as is clear from having strove with sin even to the point of shedding His blood. He would rather obey His Father and suffer the pains of death. Though He sought from His Father way by His obedience might be completed other than the drinking the cup of His wrath, He entrusted Himself to His Father’s care and obeyed until He could say, “It is finished.”

Finally, not only was his humility demonstrated in a way of dying to self and obedience to the Father, but it was done for the sake of others. As previously mentioned, Christ was already God and equal to the Father, yet He chose to empty Himself, to Humble Himself. This then was not for His own sake, but for the sake of His people. First, His obedience was not for Himself for He was already perfect and was in no way in need of righteousness for by His being like God and equal to God, He was in Himself already righteous. So we read, “even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). His obedience was not for Himself, but so that “the many will be made righteous”. His obedience then was for those who would believe in Him and entrust their lives to Him. Second, His death was not for Himself, “even death on a cross”. He did not endure the wrath of God, because He was guilty of any sin or deserving of such a punishment, but rather for us who had sinned against Him and were by nature children of wrath – “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins” (1Jn. 2:2). He was in no way satisfying the wrath of God for His sins for He had none which need to be satisfied for, but rather was making satisfaction for the sins of His people and other their behalf.

So we see that Christ’s humility consisted in His denying (dying) Himself, in His obeying His Father, and in His doing so for the good of others. Here then is true humility seen – hating self, loving God, and loving others.

Forgiveness in No Other Name

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a co-worker who is Muslim. We were talking about matters of religion and the fact that we both recognize that we are bad people, or at least that we do bad things. She as well as I both recognize that we are in need of forgiveness. The problem is that her belief system does not provide a basis for a holy, righteous, and just God to forgive without compromising his character.

As I was thinking more about the nature of forgiveness and Christ as the exclusive basis for our forgiveness before God, I was reminding of Ephesians 4:32,

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

“Just as” – those words are strong and yet seem so vague. We are to forgive others “just as” God has forgiven us in Christ, but “just” how has God forgiven us in Christ? It is a question we every Christian must endeavor to answer, if they are to be able to forgive others in like manner. So if you will join me in considering the following ways in which God has forgiven us in Christ:

1. He forgave those who had offended Him. This may go without saying, but the very fact that forgiveness is need points to an offense. That we have in some way offended and wronged God, that we have sinned against Him.
2. He forgave in kindness not retribution. His forgiveness was done is such a way that we need not bear the retribution for the wrong that we have done to whom, rather He Himself has choose to bear the retribution do for the very offenses that were committed against Him. Even more He has done us good in giving us forgiveness. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (2Pet. 3:18)
3. He forgave in a way of tenderheartedness and sympathy. The securing of our forgiveness before God was secured in a way of compassion and piety. For Christ knowing from times past the depravity of man’s hearts and the desperate state of His peoples condition, set to deliver them from their helpless condition. Yet Christ compassion and sympathy for His people is not merely cognitive, but experiential as well, in that He partook of the same nature and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. As a man he endured those temptations and trials of heart which are common to all men. Yet as the Son of God, he endured them all to their fullest extent and yet was without sin. Thus their is no degree of temptation or trial with which the Lord Christ is not acquainted and has not overcome. Thus the author of Hebrews tells us, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (4:14-16, emphasis added)
4. He forgave them completely and finally. In saying that He forgave them completely, I mean that He forgave their sins once for all. He has already satisfied all the demands of justice regarding both that obedience or righteousness required by the law and that wrath or penalty that our disobedience to the law requires. In saying that He forgave them finally, I mean that the death He died and the life He lived shall always and ever more be the believers also by means of their union with Him. All whom God in Christ forgave, he forgave forever more and He shall remember their sins no more.

Yet there is no other person who has provided the grounds for forgiveness and at the same time upheld the requirements of divine justice. And who so so in such a way of love and grace, that He would bear their iniquities so that He might forgive them. That He would become under wrath of God, so that God might turn His wrath from them and grant them forgiveness.

So might find it odd that I would right so much about Christ’s life and death at time of year when many will remember His birth. But is that not another testimony to His kindness and tenderheartedness in forgiving us, that He who gives to each of us breath and life and being would stoop down and become a man. Furthermore, that he he would enter into His creation in a way of humility being born in stable to a poor Jewish peasant. That He would be a king who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life – to die – as a ransom for many. So that God might in Him forgive us.

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,” (Ephesians 4:20-21)

I have been thinking a lot about the nature of reality an how we attempt to make sense of the world. And the more I have considered the meaning of everything in life, the more convinced I have become that their must be one singular purpose that serves as the fountain from which everything else must flow. But what is that source that provides the basis for making sense of life. Ephesians 4 points us the Son of God as the source of all knowledge – all truth – upon which our lives must be founded.

I should first point to the failings of worldly philosophical systems or other religious systems, namely that they provide no basis for truth. Even in Ephesians 4:17-19, those who do not have Christ are seen as being “in the futility of their minds”, “darkened in their understanding”, “ignorant”, and living in “lusts of deceit. Why are they like this? Simple they have forsaken God who is the standard against all knowledge and truth were to be measured. He alone provides a basis for knowing anything. He is self-sufficient, so so His actions and thoughts are not dependent upon His creation. I do not have to be concerned about some else discovering something that God will need to learn from them. God is not taught by us, but we are to be taught by Him. He is eternal and unchanging, so truth has not and can not change, but will be the same yesterday today and forever. Therefore, I can rest assured that if it was right to tell the truth today it will be right to tell the truth tomorrow.

Yet here in Ephesians 4:21, we see that truth is does not reside in God as some simple abstract idea, but in the person of Jesus Christ. There can be know true knowledge of God, let alone any true understanding of life, without Jesus Christ. So if someone desires to know the truth, what must they do? They must run to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) Let me point out two quick observations that point to Christ’s sole position as the mediator of knowledge of the Father to those who are children of God.

1. All Truth is in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is not simply a man, but God clothed in human flesh, He is the standard against which all knowledge must be measured. Who His is, what He says, and what He does is not simply a reflect what truth is, but defines it. Thus every speculation of man must be tested against Jesus Christ for its validity. And when our assertions of “truth” conflict with His, it becomes abundantly clear that our so called “truths” are really lies.
2. Christ is the Sole Dispenser of Truth. Not only is He the source and definer of truth, but He alone is the dispenser of if. Thus we read that these Christians “have heard Him and have been taught in Him”. As the apostle Paul else where describes Christ a shepherd who calls his sheep and they follow Him, here Paul tells us that those who have heard the truth were not simply hear about Jesus but they “heard Him”. When Paul had appealed for them to reconciled to God, that had received not as a mans testimony, but has Christ Himself appealing through Paul for them to be reconciled. Thus those who refuse to listen to Christ – refuse to listen to truth. They may seek their “truth” or their “wisdom” from other sources, but they are only learning falsehood and folly.

So let us look to expose the folly that remains in our hearts, because of the ignorance that is in us by running to Christ to shed the light of truth in lives and teach us how to walk in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

Quote of the Week: John Owen

“While others have their fellowship with Satan and their lusts, making provision for them, and recieving pershing refreshments from them (“whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” [Phil. 3:19]), they (the saints) have this sweet communion with the Father. … Further; this will discover a main difference between the saints and empty professors.As to the performance of duties, and so the enjoyment of outward privileges, fruitless professors often walk hand in hand with them; but now come to their secret retirements, and what a difference is there! There the saints hold communion with God: hypocrites, for the most part, with the world and their lusts – with them they converse and communicate; they hearken what they will say to them, and make provision for them, when the saints are sweetly wrapped up in the bosom of their Father’s love.” (Communion with the Triune God, 130-131)

This quote by Owen was a great reminder that a man is never more than he is in private. I appreciate his description of the person who is conversing with his lusts, giving consideration and discussing with them how he might make opportunity to enjoy them. It reminds me that sin is seldom stumbled into, but is often the result of having not guarded his heart and allowed himself to be put in a situation where temptation is likely to occur.

It is a great reminder also to see sin as sin, and the pleasure of sin as “perishing refreshment”. At to remember that true pleasure and lasting refreshment are found in God. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Ps. 16:11b, emphasis added) 

Quote of the Week: John Owen

“By nature, since the entrance of sin, no man has any communion with God. He is light, we darkness; and what communion has light with darkness [2 Cor. 6:14]? He is life, we are dead – he is love, and we are enmity; and what agreement can there be between us? Men in such a condition have neither Christ, nor hope, nor God in the world (Eph. 2:12), “being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them” (Eph. 4:18). Now two cannot walk together unless they be agreed (Amos 3:3). While there is this distance between God and man, there is no walking together for them in any fellowship or communion. Our first interest in God was so lost by sin, as that there was left unto us (in ourselves) no possibility of recovery. As we had deprived ourselves of all power for a return, so God had not revealed any way of access unto himself, or that he could, under any consideration, be approached unto by sinners in peace. Not any work that God had made, not any attribute that he had revealed, could give the least light into such a dispensation.” (Communion with the Triune God, 90)

Here Owen reflects on the condition of man apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ. He reminds us that there was nothing good in man, and that it was on account of nothing that man did that the fellowship between God and man could be restored. Even more, Owen hints at the reality that the God’s work in creation and revelation of His attributes through it did not suffice to shed any light on the means of God’s restoring man to fellowship with Himself, but light of the gospel is shed through the gospel: God’s work of redemption in the person of Jesus Christ.