Judgment

It’s a word that people like to stay away from, but as much negative though as there is surrounding it, judgment is a righteous, holy thing that is to be celebrated. It is difficult for the post-modern (or even the modern) mind to view judgment in a positive light, yet somehow justice seems to be an overwhelmingly popular notion for my peers, and even myself. The truth is that justice can never come without judgment; those who are worthy must be distinguished from those who are not in order for justice to be…well…justly administered. What does justice mean? Well, my friends, it means restoration. There is something very wrong with this world, I would like to posit that this wrongness is an outcome of the fall, but I think that, regardless o the causation, any thinking person would readily agree with the statement that something has gone awry.

The idea of restoration is exactly what would come to the mind of an ancient Jew when presented with the idea of judgment. First, Adam and Eve caused the fall, then a lot of kings did a lot of stupid things involving Baals, and asherah poles, and foreign women, but all along there was a promise of restoration for Israel. From David’s line there was to be a child who would restore Israel, and the Jews held tightly to this promise. Judgment, to them, was the condemnation of the wicked, by judgment things would be put right with God, and with God’s people. Jews would rejoice in this and await it eagerly. To them, it meant the expulsion of foreign leaders and the end of oppression because this child was to become a king and liberator to God’s chosen people.

The child was born, and His name is Jesus. He has been around since the beginning, but He spent a brief amount of time on earth. While He did not come in the way that many expected, He came with a reign of justice. So what does this mean to the modern human? Well, it still means a lot. There is still a final judgment to come (whether this will come in my life or through my death I do not know) where the world will end and all who are in it will bow before God in the necessary worship that happens in His presence. Every soul will bow, and all of them will confess the Lordship of the Godhead. In this there will be no refutation of God’s judgment because all things will be made clear in His presence. Some will go to heaven, others to hell; this is the judgment that concerns every person. Paul tells us that those who are justified through faith in Jesus Christ have been grafted into the line of Abraham, and therefore we, being the chosen people of God just as the Jews are/were, should see judgment in the same way as an ancient Jew. Judgment sets right the things that are wrong, restores God’s place in His creation, and restores the fullness of communion between God’s people and Himself. This is just, far more just than anything carried out by the heart or hands of man, and that is the most important thing of all and the reason we rejoice. This is not justice carried out by the mind or judgment of humanity, instead it is justice carried out by a loving, good, and perfect God. WE recognize that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), but we cheer louder for the glory of God than we do for the glory of man. The victory is God’s, and it is God who will be praised ceaselessly into eternity.

This is very important to remember because justice is carried out by God and to God. Salvation, and any other gift, is a product of God’s grace, but His goodness does not rest upon His grace. It is important that grace does not become an expectation because grace is beyond goodness. It would be good of God to condemn all, for all have sinned and fallen short of perfection, the fact that He does not makes this victory even greater. Let us always remember to praise God for His goodness, and thank Him for His grace as we wait patiently and expectantly for the day of judgment.

What Does Jesus Christ Mean to you?

First of all, the answer to that question is meaningless in regards to who he actually is. Who did he say he was? He said, “I am.” He is self-existing and unchanging, he is from everlasting to everlasting. If his existence is not dependent upon the actions of others, his character is certainly not dependent upon my opinion, or anyone’s else’s. he is who he is, regardless of whether or not anyone likes it. Now, why should I serve Christ? The overwhelming answer to this question is a s follows: because he will save me from eternal damnation, bring me into eternal life in heaven, and provide for me in this life. Really? Is that it?! I should serve Christ because I loce myself?!! Let me present this fact, the church is the bride of Christ. Think about that for a while. If a groom was to ask his bride why she chose to be devoted to him, he would not expect a utilitarian response, that is to say, if her answer involved, “because I can get something from you,” the verity of the romance in this relationship, and the prospect of the bride’s faithfulness would undoubtedly be called into question.

So, why should I love Christ if it is not primarily for my own benefit? Could it be possible that he is simply worthy of my praise and service? What sort of love only exists to serve itself? 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter, I know) says that love is not self-seeking, and honestly, that seems fairly obvious to me. So what does it mean to truly love something? It means that I will love the object of my love for its own sake. It means that I believe Christ is worthy of my life simply because of who he is, that I delight in his character and his work. Let us rethink our relationship to Christ, and let us love him for the sake of who he is, not because of what he can do for us.

Human Effectiveness Requires Submission

I wrote this in my journal a few weeks back after having a very busy week and, consequently, spending nearly no time in prayer...enjoy!

This week has been in stark contrast to the preceding couple months; I have been distant from the Lord. This distance was entirely my fault, but I certainly felt it. Coming out of a busy, disconnected state, I am thinking a lot about prayer and what it means to truly know God. The most important part of knowing God (which is the part that I most often see myself and other failing at) is believing in Him literally and actively. I need to believe that God moves through my prayers. I need to believe in the power and authority that I have been given through Christ, who’s spirit lives in me. Prayer is not a rite or a ritual; it is a battle. The difference between me when I am close to God and me when I am distant is the submission to this fact, and the trust that it is true. Faith and trust both require action in order to be real. If I truly believe in God as a living being, I and if I truly trust that He will not break His promises, then I will act accordingly. If I believe in God, I will pray intercessory prayers, if I believe in God, I will pray for healing, if I truly believe in God, even my own prayers will not be my own, but they will be a practice of His spirit interceding and preaching to me and through me things that are true. Miracles happen through those who have faith and trust, because part of what we trust in is our own incapability to accomplish goodness aside from the Lord’s power. It is in this humble recognition that our hope of glory is only through Christ’s spirit in us, that it is by the acceptance of His spirit of sonship that we cry “Abba, father,” and that we do not rejoice in our power over anything, but rather that our names are written in the book of life, that true faith, glory, power, and active redemption are carried out in the life of a human being.

May the Grace of God Be Strong, Perfecting our Hearts Along With our Actions

My good friend asked me a question in response to my previous post. i was obliged to answer. i tried commenting back on his blog, but it turned into this...so i just decided to make a blogpost for it.

Question:
Do you think it is possible to serve God and not worship Him? Does your heart have to be set on praising and worshiping Him to also truly serve Him?
Answer: Yes, to both. My heart does not need to be in the right place for God to be glorified; that is part of His nature, and He will forever be glorious. But as for the question of whether or not i have to be intending to worship God to worship him: yes! absolutely, 100%. If this was not the case, everything would be worship because, by grace, everything is perfected (even the darkest of sin) and turned to something that is A)beneficial to those who love God, and B) (here's the kicker) brings God to glory. The beauty of our Lord is that He has chosen to fuse a and b together so that He is glorified when we are brought to glory along with Him. He has chosen to glorify Himself by loving us, and us by loving Him. This is why we call it a romance, it is reciprocal. Not to say that our love for God could ever equal His for us, or that we could ever be as glorious as Him, or that the end purpose of anything has ever been that we should be glorified. My point is quite the opposite. None of this is necessary, God could cause us to serve Him without love or benefit to us, and He would still be worthy. But our God is gracious, our God is loving, our God has compassion on us while we are still sinners, and He chooses to make us like Himself. We are promised this in 1 John 3:2, which i have posted on before. So, is God glorified when our intention is not praise? yes. Could a selfish act, with no consideration of God be considered an act of worship? no. It is by grace that every sin is brought to perfection, but it must be brought there, it must be perfected and by this logic we recognize that it did not start at such a state. May the prayer of our hearts be that we could grow closer to the purity of a soul that longs only to please the loving and glorious maker who was gracious enough to call us while we were still lost, and to one day make us into the likeness of Himself.

for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

What a gift we have in knowing God! My God, who is holy, and just in all His actions, has chosen to make Himself known to my heart. This is gracious, this is romantic, this is the very personification of love. And yet, I choose to refuse the fullness of such a gift, to be satisfied with mere knowledge when I have the opportunity to experience intimate acquaintance. I don’t understand this. It’s as if I think that I can have either one or the other, that I could either know God, or know about God. This is so ludicrous. I know that the only true understanding I can have comes by way of the Holy Spirit’s revelation. I must submit my knowledge and opinion to Him for discernment and completion. May I seek God in a way that indicates that I believe that He is still alive.

Sometimes I read the Bible as if it is a eulogy, as if I am reading about a great historical figure who once was. God is real and he is here! I know Him!! He has revealed himself to me in ways that are altogether unnatural and unimaginable. Throughout history, people have worshipped stone images and engraving, but I worship a God who sits in His holy temple at this very moment. This is a God who has made a temple for His Spirit in my own body. He is alive and He is speaking to me right now. He is revealing Himself constantly, graciously revealing to me the secret wisdom that can only be known through acquaintance with His Spirit. I am weak, and I am unwilling, but He is so strong. He overcomes my distant and unwilling heart and turns it to praise. I have never been righteous, and I have never sought holiness, but holiness sought me and he has raised me up with Himself that I might become like Him! He has given me power that I might glorify the name which has saved me, and all this when I was satisfied in my sin. May he continue to pour out His grace. May He continue to save me from the reckless comfort that I have found in unrighteousness, that I might know Him better.

Luke 1:53

“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” This verse is as beautiful as it is subtle. It seems to be a theme that God blesses the needy and rejects those who are satisfied in themselves. The interesting part of this passage is that He fills the hungry with “good things,” not food, while he sends the rich away empty, not penniless. I say that I do not believe money to be of much importance, and yet I wait upon blessings that are of the world. Perhaps “good things” are such things as faithfulness and the Holy Spirit. Perhaps being sent away empty has nothing to do with finances. After all, it seems that the rich are still rich and the hungry are still hungry. Do we really believe that man does not live on bread alone? Do we believe that someone with a belly full of food and a wallet full of money could be empty? By the looks of it, God does.

In Response to a Yahoo! News Article:

The headline aks the following question: The women's field for March Madness is officially set. Any surprises?

answer: yes, who gave march madness to women's basketball?!

Read 1 John

“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him”—
but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2.9&10

The idea of sharing glory with God is exciting, convicting, empowering, terrifying. 1 Corinthians says that God’s secret wisdom is a wisdom that God has destined for our glory. 1 John says that when God appears we will be like Him! With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are no longer in the dark regarding God’s wisdom, it has been revealed to us by His Spirit. Still, we are not yet like God because we have not yet seen Him as He is in completion. We are in limbo. Even so, we are not clueless, for we know his secret wisdom; may we live accordingly. How can I do this? By living in the Spirit. Romans 8:5 “…but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” 1 Corinthians 2:11 “…no one knows the thoughts of God except by the Spirit of God.” And verse 12, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” It is God’s desire to bring us to glory alongside himself through the Spirit. This can only be accomplished through prayer and devotion. This era has a difficult time acknowledging the idea of a romance between man and God, but there is no greater love story. WE are His bride, and prayer is the mode by which we are able to pursue our love. May I recognize God’s pursuit of me and be compelled to pursue Him in return, and one day be like Him.

"To please God... to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son--it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is."

-C.S. Lewis

Pairs Well With Hebrews 2

I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to figure things out that are of no consequence to my life. God honors, and is pleased by, my pursuit of truth, but only when it is rooted in pure motivation. Oftentimes I am ensnared by deviations that pose as truth seeking questions. I feel like I need to know everything when that is simply not my place. In fact, an attempt to know all things is an attempt to make myself God, which is what got us into this sinful state in the first place. I do not see everything, I do not need to see everything, I should not see everything, I cannot see everything; I do see Jesus. This is what matters: that I see Jesus, that I fix my eyes, my heart, my mind, my intentions on Him and His glory. I must seek knowledge and understanding, but I must seek it for and through Christ. If my understanding is to be true, it cannot be my own, because my heart begets selfishness and lies. Therefore, in order to know truth, I must learn through my transformed heart, which only exists through Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Am I capable of explaining truth on my own? To an extent, I can parrot phrases and ideas that describe truth. Am I capable of understanding truth on my own? No! It is the Spirit that gives us understanding and discernment, and all reason or logic should not be abandoned, but rather it should be submitted to Him for fullness, completion, and refinement. No matter how sound my reason or how strong my argument; if it does not come from God, it is nothing because everything exists for Him and through Him.

Freedom

What is freedom? Is it the lack of constraints, the opportunity to do whatever we want, or the opportunity to do that which is most beneficial to us? When people are told that the gospel is freedom, they are often puzzled by the fact that it comes with many regulations on how they should live. If I am free, why am I not free to engage in debauchery? This question is valid because, on the surface, it seems that freedom is merely the absence of rules or constraints. The only problem with applying this definition to our lives is that it is a simple definition and it cannot be applied to a complex situation. If I am given the freedom to do anything I please, I may do something that will cause me to be incarcerated, or otherwise constrained. Therefore, freedom is not merely permission; it comes with a set of rules, which show us the way toward a life that is free of harmful constraints.

With this view toward freedom, many circular questions are avoided. “Why doesn’t God want me to get drunk?” “Why does it matter whether or not I give glory to God, if His glory is not subject to my actions?”…. I could go on. When we realize that part of freedom is rules that set us free from many things (things that we call sin), we see joy in the rules and cease to follow them without meaning or personality. This is why many Pharisees offended Jesus, they demeaned the rules that were created for freedom by making them into constraints; the very thing they were meant to destroy.

So, we see that there are two extremes when viewing moral law, and that neither is true. First we have the view of the anarchist: rules cannot beget freedom. Second we have the view of the legalist: rules should be followed for their own sake. Both of our characters have fallen into deadly traps of slavery. The anarchist is a slave to himself, while the legalist is a slave to rules. One has bastardized freedom, while the other has bastardized order. If only we could see that the two are not separate, I believe we would be on the road to the freedom that is promised through the gospel of Christ.