God of Promise
We have this three letter word, God. And we all think we know what we mean by it. Jonah described him best to the sailors who were trying to figure out what sort of God would send such a storm upon them: "I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land" So if we take that definition then Muslims, Native Americans, etc. do indeed seek the true God. Of course they have some wrong ideas about him but if we were to analyze our understanding of God then likely we would find anomalies or errors; this does not mean we don't know God. So what's the difference?
To know God in the general sense is to be condemned by him. Any sinner who knows a stitch about the true God knows that they are not good enough for him. That is why every human religion is a set of rules on how be good enough for God, how to serve him, how to please him, how to atone for sin. These are the concerns of humans before a righteous God
The Enfleshed Christ
The Incarnation is at the root of all of Christian belief, practice, and hope. Often, however, its emphasis is lost. When Christians speak of the incarnation they are often referring primarily to the Virgin Birth; they are thinking of the moment in time when the Word of God became man. Indeed, this is the Incarnation, but to restrict our discussion of the Incarnation to this event would be to miss the whole point and application of the Incarnation.
Incarnation means "enfleshment", it means that the eternal Word of God became and still is in human flesh. To the apostles, this enfleshment described Jesus' entire work and ministry, death and resurrection.
The faith of the Apostles, and especially Peter, was expressed in a new way when they could affirm, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, that the man standing in front of them, Jesus, was the Son of the living and eternal God. At the time of Peter's confession "you are the Christ" they presumably knew nothing of the Virgin Birth. They observed the relationship that Jesus had with the Father; they observed the way he related to the people, the words that came from his mouth, the "words of life", and they said "to whom else shall we go?" They said "yes" to God in the flesh. In this affirmation is the recognition of God's power to make us into a new community in the Divine.
There are two tenants of belief in Christian cosmology:
1) God created all things out of nothing.
2) God created a new creation in Christ out of the emptiness of sin.
Both of these creations were in the proceeding of the power of his Word with the result of life in the flesh
Daddy’s Shoes
Right love and faithfulness meet each other
Both peace and righteousness kiss each other
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground
Righteousness from above look down
The Lord will give what is good
And our land will give it's food
Righteous will be before him
And will set his feet on the road
-Psalm 85
It is said that Christian virtues have been divorced from each other. Righteousness, love, faithfulness, peace, have been set against each other. The one who advocates love does so at the expense of justice. For the sake of peace the assertion of right and wrong are sacrificed. Love knows nothing of faithfulness, and faithfulness has nothing to do with love.
Who hopes in the life to come? Hope in this my friend: that Right love and faithfulness will meet each other, and peace and righteousness will kiss each other. How hard it is to be faithful; in that day, faithfulness will spring from the ground!
For Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps. For he committed no sin, nor was there deceit in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile back. When he suffered he did not threaten, but continually gave himself up to the one who judges the righteous. He himself took up our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to our sins and live to righteousness; by his wounds you are healed.
-I Peter 2:21- 25
There is yet one who was faithful and is faithful; him in whom all is at peace, and whose righteousness is love
Worship’s Harmonious Tension
The human is insignificant in one respect. Lives are born and destroyed every day. A human is literally a speck of cosmic dust in the vast universal expanse.
The human is the center of creation in some respects. Both physical and spiritual, uniquely able to reflect not only on itself, but even upon its own act of reflection (according to Kierkegaard). It names and defines all of nature, observable phenomenon, exploits its properties and governs its use.
The humans psyche can in one moment be at the height of ecstasy in its accomplishments and the joys of its discoveries and in the next be beaten down with the despair of helpless anxiety at its insignificance in the face of the external forces in this world.
So what is the human's call; to be a humanist or an ascetic? How can one be both? And how can one be neither? In worship only is it possible to live in the tension.
In worship the individual is encompassed by God himself and his glory and the very words and thoughts which God has given are proceeding from the worshiper. He is humbled by the work of Jesus his Son who accomplished what no other human could. In worship also the soul is lifted up to the very throne of God and given its full worth as a son and daughter of God himself, one who's value was appraised in the death of God's own Son. Here alone is the human properly nothing and everything in perfect harmony.
The Law’s Gospel
The following has been attributed to Karl Barth:
"The law is the form of which the gospel is the content."
To some this would rub against certain theological sensitivities. After all, the law condemns and shows us our sin, whereas the gospel brings grace. How can the law contain the gospel?
I do not know the context of the above quote, but allow me to us it for my own purposes.
We are separated from God by our sin. Even the one who has received new life from Christ, often times misses many of the blessings in Christ because of his sin. The purpose of the law is indeed to show that sin. It also is to instruct on the right path.
It is like the instructor that teaches the elementary student to read. The process is painful, and it may seem to the student that all the discipline and rules and memorization is quite a burden. Why should it matter that "I is before E except after C"? What a bore! Yet in that work itself is the gift of reading that will open up to the student so many thousands of wonders during the course of his life.
So it is with the law. True, seeing our sin drives us to grace. This is one use of the law. Another is to see that in the law itself is the gift of the gospel, that we might abide in Christ, our savoir and the lover of our souls. Jesus said that if anyone loved him he would keep his commands.
Our problem is that we think we've already passed the first grade, we think ourselves to be adults. No my friend, you have only just enrolled. This burden of obedience and faithfulness to the work of God's calling to you is itself the administration of the gospel to you. To set aside the passions of human nature, the desires of human ambition, to be quietly and faithfully obedient to the simple commands of God to serve him and love your neighbor is the gift of the power of Christ and the gospel to your life, to enable the resurrected life to be lived through you and bless those around you.
I Peter 2
"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
I'm just a stone; all I know is the stone to right of me and the stone on my left; they are good stones, ones I grow to love. God knows I feel the weight of the stones on top of me. But the most blessed stone is the one I feel beneath my feet, for:
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
I wish so much that I could see the blueprint, the master plan, to know why I am where I am
Owned by the Gospel
"You have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his beloved Son--in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
You have been bought with a price. You are not your own. You have not been delivered unto your own wiles, but into the kingdom of Christ. Your price of slavery was the blood of the Son of God so that you may be owned, not by this world, nor by your own self, but that you may be a servant of righteousness--delivered into the blessed slavery of the kingdom of the risen Son of God.
The gospel is not your self-improvement project.
The gospel is your beautiful, gracious, taskmaster. It is your master because you have been adopted by its Author, our loving heavenly father; its task is to deliver others from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son.
I Peter 1:13-16
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy."
To set your minds fully on the grace that will be brought to you in Jesus Christ; what a perspective! How our minds are drawn in every direction but the grace of God in Christ. How can we possibly keep this focus in the midst of all the good and necessary occupations and pursuits of life?
The power rests in the promise: "you shall be holy for I am holy." We are to be made like God. This is his work, he is in the business of making holy people.
We are reminded that we do not belong to oursleves; we have been bought with the price of Jesus' blood. We are hidden in God with Christ, to appear in glory only when Christ appears. This is true knowledge: to be sure of who God is, being revealed in Christ, and to be a partaker in the mystery, hidden for ages and generations past, that is Christ in you, and that is the hope of glory.
When the promise of making us holy is spoken into our lives, we are reminded of our true identity; it's not just about doing holy things, it's about being holy, being made a part of the holy relationship between the Father and the Son. Here lies the power to keep our thoughts focused: we are not what we do; we are what Jesus has done. What Jesus does is sacrifice himself to give us his life that he shares with the father. Now we have this life, though often we don't live it. But this is part of what wets our appetite for the hope to come; that Christ will be revealed, and in his revelation, grace will come. he is being revealed to us in his work of sanctification, and he will be revealed to us further all the way to ultimate consumation in eternity at the ressurection. This is a hope that was fulfilled at his ressurection, is being fulfilled in each and ever moment as his grace is seen in our lives, and will be revealed completely in the age to come.
As our own loneliness and helplessnes and failures cause us to depend on him all the more and seek him in his word, his promise is heard: "You will be holy for I am holy." Holiness assumes a cross, for the process of becoming set a part is a death to sin, and is painful.
As we experience his blessings, undeservedly and bountifully, when we are encouraged by the fellow members of the body of Christ, we rejoice at this foretaste of eternity, this dispensation of grace as he is revealed among us.
You see, preparing our minds for action is not a removal of our minds from the world, but a transformation of our perspective, brought about by the realization of our identity, to see that the happenings of this world are in fact the very process that is fufilling our hope of being holy as he is holy, and the very experience of his grace, the coming of Christ.
Proverbs 14: 9-10
"Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance. The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy"
We don't like the word guilt. We avoid it like the plague. We are told that guilt is an attachment to the past and that we must 'let go and move on.' We sometimes succeed in this for a time, sometimes a long time, but it often has a way of creeping up again later in life when another situation or relationship reminds us that we are still sinners and still struggle with the same faults.
It is only the fool who would have us disregard this guilt, try to stifle it and put on the front of all-togetherness. Because the burden doesn't go away, it only restricts our freedom in other relationships.
But it is not only the guilt that the fool mocks, but even more so the offering. We like to feel on top of the situation, like we're in control. Even if we do recognize the guilt and get down to the messy and painful business of self-examination, our pride would tell us that it's up to us to fix the emotions, to get our self straightened out. But this is not God's way.
God is far more compassionate than we are. He knows our weakness and is more honest about it than we are. He knows that when we strive to work through our guilt and fix ourselves it is fact subtle pride that is holding on to the guilt and not allowing God to take it over. Jesus died to take away all guilt and shame of sin and fault. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death."
And what is this law of the Spirit that sets us free? It is this: that we are accepted. What cruel twist of the psyche is this that we do not want to hear that we are accepted? Why is it that we often want to hold on to the guilt, telling ourselves that we don't deserve acceptance, that we are not worthy of the gifts of God, namely, forgiveness of our own self, freedom from slavery to our sin and the enjoyment of relationships? "But the upright enjoy acceptance." This means that those who are in Christ, the "righteous one," are accepted, no matter what you've done, where you've been, who you've hurt, how far you've fallen short, how stubborn your faults.
But to allow this to be true in us, even though Christ has already taken the guilt and accepted us, we must be willing to make the offering; for only the fool mocks the offering. What is the offering? It is the open hands that say "God my father, I can't."
That's it, we can't, but our pride would have us stop there so that we remain enslaved to the "I can't." The offering is not complete until we move on to say "God, you can, and you did, and you will, in me." This is true offering, because it is acceptance. God knows that we are killing our self by our guilt, and that we are estranging our self from those close to us through that guilt. This is the offering that the Israelites were to bring to God. They were to offer a lamb from their own flock, signifying that what they have was only meant to be given up, and the forgiveness was promised when it was given up, for the lamb pointed to the Lamb Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world. The Israelite who offered the guilt offering was recognizing the guilt and his inability to solve it and giving up the guilt to the God who loves and takes it away.
This is why the Proverb says "but the upright enjoy acceptance;" for after recognizing and confessing the guilt they let God take it away so that their lives are not stunted from loving and living to the fullest in the relationships that God has given. Look at the sufferings of Jesus for our sake. He did all that to take the guilt away; would we withhold our guilt from him after all he has done for us? He desires to take it and make it his own, nailing it to the cross; he was the offering. His resurrection is given when we allow our guilt to be taken. This is the gospel: That we have failed, that we are inadequate and incapable, that we are guilty, but that Jesus takes it all on himself so that we might live freely for him loving one another, not according to the guilt that was ours and now his, but according to the forgiveness that is his in us to the glory of his father.
"The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy."
Some things must certainly be worked through alone. No one can tell you what your bitterness is; you know it all too keenly. Only Christ knows the bitterness that is in your heart, the sour grapes you have eaten, whether by your fault or the fault of another. These things are worked through in the heart but let it not be held onto by the heart. Sometimes we are so used to pain and guilt that it becomes our security, part of our identity and we don't even know how to be any different. That is why it must come back to the offering; we don't have to 'change our self,' rather, the heart knows its own bitterness, and Christ who dwells in you, knows it even better than yourself. He knows you and knew you before you were made, and his death was for you, that the guilt in your heart that he is intimately acquainted with might be his own, and you, the freed one.
Then is your joy full. This is not the joy of the world, the life of a party, but the well which springs up from the same heart who has known bitterness. This is God's marvelous creation; that the truest of joy is shared with only the most intimate of loves. "No stranger shares its joy," but within the body of Christ we are no strangers. Let the guilt offering be your acceptance, that the acceptance of God might be the joy of your heart.
Wisdom and Knowledge
In Proverbs 3 it is written that the Lord founded the earth by his wisdom, that he established the heavens by his understanding and by his knowledge the deeps broke open and the clouds dropped down the dew. Is this mere rhetorical devise to poetically speak of the power of God's Word? I think not. There is certainly wisdom, knowledge and understanding that go into creating such a massively powerful and yet perfectly functioning and altogether beautiful and beneficial creation.
The writer of this proverb is telling his son that if wisdom, knowledge and understanding were what God employed to create all things good, then certainly it was sufficient to guide his life. This wisdom, certainly, is not of man but of God's Word, his commandments that are referred to at the beginning of the Proverb.
In Colossians 2 it is written that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. "Hidden" would imply that they are not to be confused with what the world produces under the title of knowledge; this Paul refers to as philosophy and empty deciet following human tradition and the elemental spirits of this world.
What then should the Christian look for in seeking the wisdom from God? If it is hidden in Christ, then how is it revealed? And how does the son of the Proverbs find it? Is it not also said in Colossians that the mystery concerning Christ, though hidden for ages and generations past, is now revealed the saints, that is, those who believe? This mystery is that Christ is in us.
We are indeed the beloved children of God, and he does indeed desire for us to share in this same wisdom, knowledge and understanding that founded this very earth. Though hidden previously, it is now revealed to us by faith; that Christ through whom all things were made, and for whom we ourselves were created, indeed died in and for his creation, then rising to life that it might dwell in him. This is wisdom: Christ suffered, died, and lives, and we are in him.
Let us distinguish that which differs. In the first creation we see all physical things were made from God's Word, and they were given to man to sustain him. In this is also earthly knowledge and wisdom, which is good insofar as it causes the knower to lean all the more on its author and sustainor. But we did not recognize God's merciful providence in this and, leaning on our own understanding, grabbed hold of the creation for sustenance rather than trusting in the Creator with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding. So we were lost without the pure wisdom of God, which is simply: "trust in me." In the new creation, God himself must be revealed among men so that we might know what is true wisdom and knowledge--and it looks nothing like human knowledge.
But now it is in us, not just as a knowledge of wisdom, but a life of truth, that is, complete faith in God's sovereign provision, giving our minds to the transformation of the new self being renewed according to the maker of the new creation, and abiding in the love of the Son, the Word, God's Wisdom, as he abides in the Father.
Where then is angst? Why do we worry? Will he indeed make our paths straight or won't he? Is the instruction of the Proverbs inticing and beautiful to you so that your soul longs for such a blessed life? Find it then in the Son, for there is no other. The one who made heaven and earth is the one who is transforming you to his likeness by giving himself to you by complete, chilklike faith in the heavenly Father.