Mon, 14 May 2012 17:14:34 -0800WeeblyThu, 03 May 2012 10:55:46 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2012/05/is-going-to-church-important.html “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching”  Hebrews 10.24-25

We use the expression “going to church” to describe those occasions when we go to the church meetinghouse to participate in worship on the Lord’s Day.  But is “going to church” regularly on Sundays really that important?  If you don’t go regularly, are you potentially placing yourself in spiritual danger?

God, in His gracious care for His people has provided a number of what are called means of grace.  That is, God has provided a number of ways of calling, instructing, encouraging, and protecting His people.  These means serve to strengthen one’s faith and to make one useful in His kingdom.  They include the preaching and teaching of His word, prayer, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and fellowship with fellow believers.  These means chiefly find their expression in the context of the assembled church.

In America and especially here in New England, we are prone to elevate and admire “individualism”, you know, that independent Yankee spirit.  And yet, the Christian life which God describes in His word knows nothing of this “individualism”, which is really just a form of selfishness.  As Christians, we do indeed have a personal relationship with God through Christ, but we are part of a corporate whole, the very spiritual body of Jesus Christ.  As such, there is a God designed dependency that exists not only upon Christ, but with one another.

This dependency is worked out in the context of the assembling of God’s people as the church.  To neglect, treat lightly, or to be inconsistent in the use of this means of grace of the regular assembling of God’s people is to not only be disobedient to God’s command, but it’s to take the first steps towards real spiritual decline.  It’s the spiritual equivalent of going on a hunger strike.  To not be in regular attendance is to cut oneself off from not only regular commanded worship and instruction, but mutual encouragement as well, as our verses under consideration tell us.

In many cases, it really boils down to an issue of priority.  Too many professing Christians offer excuses for this neglect such as family outings, or a child’s sporting event, or some other activity considered to be more important.  Some simply don’t see the need for regular spiritual input from the preaching and teaching of the word.  They think its enough to read their Bible and pray at home.  They seem to forget that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).  That means that God’s ordinary way of working and building faith in His children is in the public preaching and teaching of His word when the church is assembled.  How can a professing Christian expect to be blessed in his private reading and praying when He neglects God’s chief means of feeding His flock?

The Psalmist experienced a tremendous sense of loss when he was prevented from assembling with God’s people.  He wrote, “As the deer pants for water brooks, so my soul pants for You O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?  …I pour out my soul within me.  For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast” (Psalm 42.1-2, 4).

Sometimes Christians will not attend church because they feel they just can’t while they’re going through a particular crisis of some sort.  They feel that everyone will be watching them and that they probably won’t get anything out the message anyway.  But that’s the absolute worst time to stay home alone.  God has designed the church to be a place where one can be encouraged by one’s brothers and sisters in Christ.  Many who have come to church on those occasions when all they wanted to do was to stay home, have found that afterwards, they felt encouraged by being around others who love them and are praying for them.  And besides, God’s word has a way of breaking through and reaching even the most downcast and discouraged Christian.

Is the assembling together of the church on the Lord’s Day the most important part of the week for you?  Do you see it only as one more activity in the week which can be set aside if something else comes up?  Does your soul thirst for God, for the living God?

Or do you see it as an opportunity to be obedient, to offer up to God thankful heartfelt worship, and to be a source of encouragement to your brothers and sisters, stirring them up to love and good works, and exhorting one another?  Watch out, don’t be one who treats this regular assembling together with God’s people carelessly and lightly.  If so, you’re not only engaging in thankless disobedience, but you may be on your way to spiritual decay and even ruin.

]]>Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:12:43 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/11/new-posting16.htmlIn 1886, William L. Chaffin, the minister of the Unity Church in North Easton, had his work, the “History of the Town of Easton Massachusetts”, published.  In this volume is contained an extensive account of what eventually became the present-day Evangelical Congregational Church of Easton on Depot Street where this writer is presently the pastor. Included in that history is the Rev. Archibald Campbell who in 1763 was ordained in what was then known as the Church of Christ in Easton.

Mr. Chaffin was able to procure a manuscript of one of Rev. Campbell’s sermons, and wrote regarding it, “Its theology is antiquated, for its doctrine of the atonement, which represents Christ as actually suffering under the wrath of an incensed God, long since gave way to a more rational and merciful theory”.

However, God’s proclamation of Christ’s atoning work is in no way deterred by any who reject it.  In spite of Mr. Chaffin’s relegating the Biblical doctrine of the atonement to the dustbin of history, Mr. Chaffin also wrote of the sermon, “It shows exceptional ability of composition and much rhetorical power… it shows a heart deeply affected by the love of Christ, and thoroughly permeated and possessed with a devout and adoring faith”.

As such, because of his admiration of Rev. Campbell’s zeal and abilities, a portion of this sermon is included in Chaffin’s history.  This portion of the sermon alone is well worth the price of purchasing a reprint copy of this book.

An excerpt of the sermon with its original spelling and expression reads, “Yes, the King of heaven and Controller of universal nature, when Dwelling in a tabernacle of Clay, was exposed to Chilling Damps and smitten by sultry beams ; the stars in their Midnight watches heard him Pray, and the sun in his Meridian fervors saw him toil : Hence are our frozen hearts Dissolved into a mingled flow of wonder, love, and joy, being Conscious of a Deliverance from those insufferable flames, which kindled by Divine indignation burn to the lowest hell. Our allglorious and everblessed Creator's head was encircled with the thorny wreath, his face was Defiled with Contemelous spitting, and his Body bathed in a bloody sweat, that we might wear the Crown of glory that fadeth not away. All the waves of vengeance and wrath, of tribulation and anguish passed over his crusified body and his agonizing soul, that we might emerge from those Depths of misery, from that abyss of guilt into which we were Plunged by Adam's fall and more erritreavbly sunk by our own transgressions”.

Clearly, Rev. Campbell embraced and freely proclaimed the marvelous truth that Jesus Christ indeed came to suffer the just penalty due for the sins of all who place their trust in him.  As such, Jesus Christ, God Himself in the flesh, stood in the place of believing sinners to receive the brunt of God’s wrath against sin.  In this way, and in this way only, God’s justice was satisfied.

God created man in his image, and to be in the image of God was to be a perfect reflection of God’s pristine moral character in every thought, word and deed.  However, man as represented by Adam chose to disobey God, and by this action placed himself and all mankind under condemnation.  The Apostle Paul put it this way, “Through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation…” (Romans 5:18).

 

But as Rev. Campbell put it, “For me the author of all blessings became a curse ; for me he hung with streaming veins upon the cross ; for me his bones were dislocated and his flesh was torn. O, may I in my little sphere, and amidst the scanty circle of my acquaintance, at least whisper these glad, transporting tidings”.

 

And almost 250 years later that “antiquated… doctrine of the atonement” is still preached by many, and I feel immensely privileged to be among those who continue in the line of Rev. Campbell in proclaiming this marvelous truth of reconciliation, pardon and everlasting life in “the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  And indeed, Jesus really did suffer the wrath of God, but it was so that I and other believers would be spared, for “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

]]>Sat, 08 Oct 2011 05:16:26 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/10/what-is-it-to-be-better-off.htmlIt’s that time again when we are being deluged with political pundit analysis, campaign rhetoric and promises from presidential candidates in preparation for a national election, each claiming to have the answers for the ills of America.  One question that has re-surfaced from time to time is, “Are you better off today than you were 3 (4, 8) years ago?”

Many Americans would answer “No!”  They would point to loss of jobs, shrinking 401K savings, devalued homes, and higher prices for gas, heating oil and other necessary goods.  To be “better off” for many would be to have a stable growing economy, good paying jobs, greater personal wealth, and the ability to buy new things like cars and vacation “getaways”.

But are these the real indicators of being “better off”?  Are our prosperity and security truly measured by our financial stability and growth?

In the last days of the ancient kingdom of Judah, God used the prophet Jeremiah to proclaim imminent judgment on them for their disobedience.  Outwardly the people still claimed their allegiance to God, but their hopes for safety and prosperity were placed in their political alliances with Egypt.  Jeremiah spoke, “the Lord has rejected your trusted allies, and you will not prosper by them” (2:37).  Further, the people had forsaken the one true God and gone after false idols, “saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘you gave birth to me.’  For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face” (2:27).

These people had adopted the values and false hopes of the surrounding culture.  Even the priests and prophets were not speaking the truth.  Instead of calling the people to repentance, they gave the people what they wanted to hear “saying ‘peace, peace!’ when there is no peace” (8:11).  God said to them, “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water” (2:13).

As a result, God stirred up the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar to invade Israel: “the destroyer of nations is on his way.  He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate” (4:7).  A terrible catastrophe awaited the people and it would be the very means by which God would judge the land for their many transgressions of His law.

And yet the people did not believe they could be defeated by this invading army.  In their minds there was no doubt that the Egyptians would help them fend off this invasion without any assistance from God.

But there would come a time when they would realize to their utter horror that the conquering Babylonian army could not be stopped.  All of Egypt’s promises would prove to be in vain.  The seasonable military campaigning time of summer would pass with no help from their supposed allies and the people would realize that, “the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (8:20).

In our day, people are looking to our present and potential leaders to bring a time of national prosperity and peace.  But that can be a terrible illusion if people remain in rebellion against God.  We can mouth “In God We Trust”, but if our hearts are not right and our real hope for safety and prosperity rests in financial good times and prosperity, then it’s a mere dream.

Think on it.  If economic prosperity were to return to this country, could we really say that we’d  be “better off” when the public posting of the Ten Commandments has been ruled an offense by one of the courts of this land?  “Better off” when a student is prevented from offering up a prayer at a public commencement?  “Better off” when God’s created order between male and female has been replaced by alternative lifestyles?  “Better off” with the rampant promiscuity among our young people?  “Better off” with a divorce rate greater than 50% in this country?  “Better off” when public opinion becomes the moral rule instead of God’s absolute laws?

As one preacher put it during an earlier time of economic prosperity, “The Dow Jones average may be at an all time high, but morality in America is at an all time low”.  Jeremiah wrote, “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward” (7:24).

God still “commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

The summer of the year 2011 has ended, but let it not be said of us, or of you, “the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”.

]]>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:38:31 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/07/when-sin-is-exposed.htmlOn one particular occasion when the Apostle Peter was preaching, he described Jesus as one “who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38).  And indeed Jesus did.  He healed the sick and lame, gave sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, cast out demons, fed multitudes and even raised the dead.  You would think He would have been regularly honored as citizen of the month and given the key to every city and village where He went.

But we read in the Bible of reactions by various groups of people which were very different.  At the very beginning of His public ministry, those in the synagogue of His own home town of Nazareth tried to hurl Him off a cliff.  On another occasion when Jesus cast out demons from a man, the people in the surrounding region collectively asked Jesus to go away.  Those He fed complained about Him.  The religious leaders, the Pharisees and scribes, plotted against Him, and sought to ultimately destroy Him.  This finally led to their having Him put to death on a cross as a common criminal by the Roman authorities.

Why were there such negative and even deadly responses to one who did so much good?  As it turns out, Jesus himself provided the answer when he said to His disciples, “The world… hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil” (John 7:7).  There’s the problem, and it’s still a problem that most people even today have with Jesus as he is presented to us in the Bible.

One example of Jesus exposing sinful behavior was in His confronting the Pharisees with their hypocritical use of tradition.  Jesus asked, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?  For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’… But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God” – ‘then he need not honor his father or mother’.  Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.  Hypocrites!” (Matthew 15:3-7).  Now tradition in and of itself is not wrong.  It has its place, but when it replaces God’s word, or is placed on the same level with God’s written word in the Bible, then man has presumptuously usurped God’s divine authority in giving revelation.

As you can imagine, what Jesus said was not well received by the Pharisees.  They outwardly looked very pious in this re-interpretation of God’s command, but their motive in receiving this gift, which should have been used to help one’s parents, was sinful greed, plain and simple.  They were lining their own pockets.

No one enjoys having their sinful thoughts, words and deeds exposed.  This is because we operate under the misguided idea that we’re fundamentally good people, and when one challenges that mindset, we become offended.  But whose standard do we use to judge ourselves to be good?  Jesus told the rich ruler that, “No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17).  And the Apostle Paul wrote, “There is none righteous, no, not one… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10,23).

As it turns out, the best thing that can happen to someone is to finally realize they’re not good, and in fact are sinners who have offended God.  Its then, and only then that someone will recognize that they need a Savior.  Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

Its one thing to admire and accept Jesus for His good deeds, but Jesus also spoke the truth about us.  His word is, “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).  And often those hidden “thoughts and intents” are sinfully self-serving and proud.

The ancient Israelite King David understood his sinful inclinations, but instead of being offended at being exposed, he prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart… see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).  Jesus came to do just that, and then to live, suffer, die and rise again for those exposed sinners who are trusting Him alone for a pardon and everlasting life.

]]>Tue, 24 May 2011 11:00:44 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/05/new-posting15.html At the time of creation, God placed a human couple, Adam and Eve, in the beautiful garden of Eden where they were given a very clear mandate; “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).  God had created them in His image such that they would be a perfect reflection of His moral perfections.  But this reflection must have as its basis, love for God.  It is this love that God put to the test in His command regarding the tree.  Would they out of love for God, obey Him?  That obedience would be rewarded with everlasting life.

But soon Satan appeared on the scene in the form of a serpent, and he asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1).  And with that question, the fall of man was set in motion.  It essentially began by bringing what God clearly said into doubt.  The devil was the first recorded being to question the validity of God’s word.

What’s changed?  Today we have the inspired, inerrant and infallible recorded word of God called the Bible and people still essentially ask, “Did God really say that?”  All kinds of arguments are offered up in an attempt to demonstrate that the Bible is only a book written by man, and is no more inspired than Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets.

Look very closely to how Eve responded to the serpent; “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (Genesis 3:2-3).  If you closely compare what she said with what God said above, you’ll notice that Eve left out the word “any” regarding the permitted trees which minimized God’s bounteous provision.  She added, “or touch it” regarding the forbidden tree which made the command sound even more restrictive, and she softened and undermined the certainty of God’s warning by leaving out the word “surely” regarding the punishment of death.  With this, the first step towards disobedience and the fall was taken.

Eve’s response helps us understand more fully what is really at the root of man’s rejection of God’s written word.  Man thinks that he, the creature, knows what’s best for himself, and that God is not good because He puts limits on what is right and wrong.  That’s like the teenager who thinks his parents are mean because they won’t always let him what he wants to do.  Man, like the teenager, is desirous of being autonomous, and resents being told what to do by God.  He finds God’s laws to be oppressive and restrictive.

And fallen man certainly doesn’t believe God’s threats of judgment.  If he did, he would rush to God and seek to be reconciled with Him on His terms.  Instead, he believes Satan who further said to the Eve, “You shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).  Apparently, it was the devil who first denied that God actually judges and punishes disobedience.  This denial finds expression today in the rejection of the existence of hell where God judges for all eternity those who remain unrepentant and un-reconciled.

But God who judges is also a merciful God.  We read that God provided garments for Adam and Eve by slaying an animal and using its skin as a covering for them.  This was very significant in that it outwardly put on display what Jesus Christ does for guilty breakers of God’s law.  Jesus Christ was slain in place of the sinner because of the believer’s sin.  Further, Christ’s righteous obedience to God’s law was given to the believing sinner, who is now clothed in it and thereby able to stand in God’s presence, innocent of all charges.  In this way, God’s righteous judgment is satisfied, and at the same time, He shows mercy and grace to believing and repentant sinners.

Look out for the “hiss” of the serpent in all its forms in its “Did God really say that?” approach to God’s revealed word.  The Bible tells us that God’s moral law exists, that man is guilty of breaking it, that he is therefore under condemnation, and that there really is a hell.  But it also tells us of a Savior who has met all of God’s requirements of the law.  And because of Jesus Christ, there’s a divine pardon and the sure hope of eternal life for those who believe.

Don’t give yourself any rest in this life until you know yourself to be in possession of this salvation, this gracious gift from God.

]]>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:15:10 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/04/new-posting14.html One attribute that most all of us humans seem to share is the desire to see that justice is done.  We hear cries of ‘unfair!’ when people with the same job are not paid the same, or when some don’t contribute their ‘fair’ share to a common cause, or there’s racial discrimination.  We demand justice in our courts.  We want it particularly when a heinous crime is committed.  Many when they hear or read that a vicious killer is to be put to death by lethal injection think it’s ‘unfair’.  They say, and maybe you agree, “Why should he die peacefully, let him suffer like his victims!  Let him rot in jail!”

And yet many of these same people recoil at the thought of a place called hell.  Some use the argument that a God who is love would never ‘send someone to hell’.  In the end He will lovingly and mercifully accept everyone into an afterlife called heaven where apparently we all will unselfishly get along and be happy forever.

If what they say is true, then what is God waiting for?  I don’t think anyone would disagree that there are injustices in this world.  And if that’s the case, why doesn’t God just end it all now by simply taking everyone to heaven regardless of how we’ve lived.  If God is love, shouldn’t He lovingly intervene and stop all the unfairness and injustices now?

Some get around this by saying that those who are doing wrong in this life end up making their own hell on earth, and in this way justice is served because they’re punished before they enter into the afterlife.  But in the example of the vicious killer I mentioned, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Some very wicked men leave this life defiantly and proudly.

Others concede that there must be some kind of place one goes where they suffer for a time in order to make up for their bad deeds.  Eventually, however, they’re free to move on to heaven.  But who decides how long and how much punishment there should be?  And if there’s any punishment at all, how does that harmonize with a God who is only loving and merciful?  And further, will anyone in heaven be different from the way they were in this life?  Will temporary punishment fundamentally change these people for the better?  We call our prisons ‘correctional’ institutions, but many hard core criminals simply return to a life of crime.  So what kind of heaven will that be if people are essentially the same?

I asked earlier why God, who is love, does not intervene in this world of unfairness and injustices.  As it turns out, the Bible, God’s word, tells us that He has.  When man decided to rebel against God and try to be independent of Him, God didn’t destroy what He had created.  In fact, He so much loved what He had brought into being that He did what was necessary in order to recover what was ruined because of sin.

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans we read, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Jesus not only died on the cross to pay the punishment for the sins of believing sinners, but He also procured new life for them in His resurrection from the dead.  That’s what being ‘born again’ (as Jesus Himself put it) is all about.

Being ‘born again’ means that God by grace gives one a new heart and a transformed mind such that the believing sinner is now desirous of coming to God on His terms and progressively striving to please Him in the way in which they live.  This process of renovation is begun in this life and is completed in the life to come.  This way by faith in Jesus Christ that God has provided as a path to heaven means that those who inhabit heaven will not only have been forgiven their sins, but they will be radically changed people.  In this way, God is merciful, but not in a way which puts aside His justice because justice has been satisfied in Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross for believers.

As regards hell, C.S. Lewis, the author of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, wrote, “There are only two kinds of people – those who say ‘Thy will be done’ to God or those to whom God in the end says, ‘Thy will be done.’  All that are in hell choose it.  Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell”.

What could be more fair and just than that?

]]>Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:53:21 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/03/new-posting13.html Recently an article appeared in the religion section of a paper in a town nearby where a minister related how his church had conducted a survey in their area.  It was used to determine how people perceived the value of the local church in their lives.  They discovered that many who responded indicated that they associated ‘guilt’ with churches.  As such, they saw church as irrelevant.

Some ministers in nationally well known churches have also recognized people’s sense of guilt.  They addressed this issue by deciding that the way to attract new members was to steer clear of issues that fostered guilt, and to work on building self esteem instead.  One of these ministers was quoted as saying, “They need self-esteem. They want to feel good about themselves”.

The apostle Paul warned the young minister Timothy, “Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).  One of those fables is that the remedy for feelings of guilt is to build one’s self-esteem.

The faithful preaching of God’s word, however, forces people to see and examine themselves in the perfect mirror of God’s law.  God doesn’t do this just for the sole purpose of making people feel bad about themselves.  It’s designed to demonstrate that something is wrong, radically wrong with us.  God created us to be perfect reflections of His perfect character which would be manifested in service, obedience and worship offered up to God for His glory.  Instead, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we chiefly serve ourselves.  Outwardly, we may look good, even pious, but inwardly our motives are often pride, looking for the favor of men, and sometimes using people for our personal gain.

The Apostle Paul discovered that about himself.  He was deeply religious and observant of every point of God’s law.  But he came to see that his motives were based around his coveting of people’s approval and his standing in the church.  He realized that he had not obeyed the law out of love for God, but out of what was essentially love for himself.  That produced guilt.

But the solution was not for Him to find ways to build up his self esteem.  God used guilt to bring him to his knees in humble confession, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  He saw Jesus and believed in Him as the One who lived the life of true obedience on his behalf that He never lived, and who paid the debt due to his sin.  His sense of worth then became not what he was in himself, but what he became in Jesus Christ, a new creature; justified, adopted, sanctified, a joint heir with Christ with the sure hope of eternal life.

That made him joyful, thankful, hopeful, at peace before God and in his conscience, and with real lasting purpose and meaning to his life, to be light and salt to a fallen world as Christ’s disciple.  No substitute for the true preaching of God’s word like self-help, self esteem building, feel better about yourself pep-talks can produce that.

If you feel guilt, the answer is not to suppress it, or avoid it, or to work on your self esteem.  It’s like when a doctor tells you that you have a fatal illness.  That’s not something you want to hear, but it motivates you to find the cure.  And the cure for guilt before God is Jesus, who came very specifically to save sinners like you and I.  And He said, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

I’ll take that over self esteem any day!

]]>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:29:23 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2011/02/new-posting12.html For a true believer, repentance, or the turning away from sin and seeking to obey God, is not a one-time event.  He knows and experiences the continued presence of the remnants of sin within, and therefore views his repentance as an ongoing and comprehensive characteristic of his Christian walk.

The Apostle Paul wrote about himself, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14-15).  Paul knew he was fully justified before God, having had the righteousness of Christ credited to his account and having had His sins put away at the cross.  But he was also anxious to enter into the fullness of his salvation in not only being declared righteous, but in truly being righteous.  That was the “prize” he labored to obtain, the working out of his own salvation in fear and trembling which consisted in his daily exercising of faith and repentance as God worked in him both to will and do for His good pleasure (2:12-13).

Just like Paul, every true penitent knows and takes delight in God’s intention for His children that they “be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).  Scottish minister John Colquhoun wrote that the true penitent “watches and strives against all the corruptions of his heart, and labors after increasing conformity to God, in all holy conversation and godliness.  He does not renounce one lust and retain another, nor content himself with devotional duties, in neglect of strict honesty and unfeigned benevolence; neither can he rest till this is his rejoicing, even the testimony of his conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, he has his conversation in the world.  All the actings of his mind, as well as his external conduct, fall under his cognizance and inspection; and his daily exercise and desire are to improve himself to Him who knows his thoughts afar off”.

The reformer John Calvin referred to this ongoing “desire to live in a holy and devoted manner, a desire arising from rebirth; as if it were said that man dies to himself that he may begin to live to God”.  This is entirely consistent with what the Apostle Paul testified concerning his experience of new life: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  The true penitent will settle for nothing less than full conformity to the Savior he loves.  The Puritan John Owen wrote, “There must be no end of repentance until there is a full end of sin.  All tears will not be wiped from our eyes until all sin is perfectly removed from our souls”.

By way of contrast, the Pharaoh of Moses’ day exhibited a repentance which was only temporary.  After the seventh plague of hail, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned this time” and after the eighth plague of locusts he said to them, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.  Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only” (Exodus 9:27; 10:16-17).

When the thunder was flashing, the lightening was striking the earth and very great hailstones were falling mixed with fire such as had never been seen before, and when swarms of locusts were devouring the trees left standing after the hail and filling their houses, Pharaoh confessed he had sinned.  But after Moses interceded for him with God to stop the hail and remove the locusts, his stubbornness returned as strong as ever, thus showing his repentance to be only temporary.  The influences of his hardened heart quickly re-emerged.  As Charles Spurgeon put it, “The repentance that was born in the storm died in the calm”.  It was a repentance that only wanted the removal of the catastrophic circumstances, not the removal of sin.  Bible commentator Adam Clarke wrote, “What a strange case!  And what a series of softening and hardening of sinning and repenting!  Had he not now another opportunity of returning to God?  But the love of gain, and the gratification of his own self-will and obstinacy prevailed”.

This principle of on-going and comprehensive repentance in the true penitent tends to increase as he spiritually matures.  God’s sanctifying dealings with His children are such that He progressively reveals more and more of their corruption as they progress.  In this way, they come to see and experience more clearly the great mercy they have been graciously given.  Jesus illustrated this on the occasion of the woman “who was a sinner” who washed Jesus’ feet.  He told his host, Simon the Pharisee, who was offended by the woman, the story of two debtors who were forgiven by their creditor.  Jesus asked, “Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”  Simon replied, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more” (Luke 7:37, 40-43).

The prophet Isaiah had a sight of God sitting on His throne with seraphim crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts”, and could only say, “Woe is me, for I am undone”.  He had experienced a complete spiritual unraveling which drove him to a new level of confession: “I am a man of unclean lips”.  After his lips were touched with a live coal and he was told his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged, the Lord asked, “Whom shall I send?” to which Isaiah displayed his true repentance in answering, “Here am I!  Send me” (Isaiah 6:1-8).  Isaiah had come to a new level of understanding of his sin and corruption.  He saw himself as unclean, vile and loathsome.  His past sins appeared as even more grievous to him.  In referring to his unclean lips, he seemed to more deeply comprehend what Jesus would say: “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Matthew 15:11).  Isaiah recognized that sin was pervasive, and when cleansed, he was more intensely desirous to serve God out of thanksgiving. 

Concerning this passage, R. C. Sproul wrote, “We are fortunate in one respect: God does not appear to us in the way He appeared to Isaiah.  Who could stand it?  God normally reveals our sinfulness to us a bit at a time.  We experience a gradual recognition of our own corruption.  God showed Isaiah his corruption all at once.  No wonder that he was ruined”.

This gradual uncovering of corruption is much like the gradual pealing back of the layers of an onion.  In this way, the true penitent progressively sees more clearly the loathsomeness of past sins and the tremendous degree of purifying that still needs to be brought about.  He then comes into a fuller and deeper comprehension of “what is the width and length and depth and height… the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19).

By God’s grace may our repentance be the true godly and on-going repentance of putting off the old man, and putting on the new man until that Day when we enter into the fullness of our being renewed into the image of Him who created us.

]]>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:43:05 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2010/11/new-posting11.html “Well after all, I’m only human!”  Have you ever heard that, or maybe even said it yourself?  This expression is one we humans sometimes use to explain why we have done something wrong.  It’s not only an attempt to explain our bad behavior, but is used on some occasions to even justify it.

Is that really the explanation for our wrongdoings, that we’re just human and therefore imperfect?  Some who believe in God as their Creator suggest that that is how God made them… imperfect.  But is God really the cause of our imperfection?

God’s word, the Bible, relates a very different truth.  We read that, “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).  And for these first humans, Adam and Eve, to have been truly created in God’s image implies that they were morally perfect as God Himself is.

Further, God placed them in a state of probation, promising them eternal life if they would obey Him by not eating from the forbidden tree.  However, Satan, in the form of a serpent lied to Eve regarding the consequences of eating the fruit of the tree.  The “You shall not surely die”, was followed with the deceitfully presented benefit of becoming like God (Genesis 3:4,5).

The sad irony of this temptation was that she and Adam were already like God, being created in His image.  But in their minds, they became convinced that their happiness and welfare was not in being like God in their perfect reflection of His moral character, but in their being like God in their presumptuous idea of moral autonomy.  Ultimately, we read that “when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6).

Man, thinking himself now to be self-sufficient and autonomous, turned against God and His claims for loving obedience and submission.  He no longer viewed his Creator as his greatest good.  He became spiritually blinded and unable to spiritually discern the things of God, thinking them to be foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14).  This distortion and corruption in man’s understanding, will, and affections became a permanent fixture in the makeup of man.  Adam, and all those bearing his fallen image became fallen man; morally corrupt and guilty of breaking God’s perfect law.  The Apostle Paul wrote concerning man’s present state that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

And so, the image of God in man became radically corrupted and marred.  Like the sunken Titanic under miles of ocean water, never to sail again, but still bearing the image of its former glory, so too man, buried under miles of sin and corruption still reflects something of his once glorious state.  But he is unable to be that perfect moral reflection of God’s image that he once was.

So what did God do?  Did He simply say, “Well, that whole thing in the garden didn’t work.  My expectations were too high for man.  I should just overlook all this and save everybody.  After all, they’re just human”?  Some imagine this kind of a God that they can get along with, who overlooks sin, who is indulgent in forgiveness… you know, the God who would never eternally punish man for his sin.  After all they say, God is love.

Indeed God is love (1 John 4:16), but the Bible also says that God is holy, that He hates evil, and that “the wages of sin is death” (1 Peter 1:16; Proverbs 8:13; Romans 6:23).  We also read, “Who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3-4).  But who can honestly say that in God’s eyes they have “clean hands and a pure heart”?

What God did do was to send His only begotten Son into the world to accomplish what Adam and all mankind didn’t do.  That is, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, obeyed God’s moral law perfectly, and that obedience is now credited to the moral account of the believer.  But there’s more!  Jesus, God in the flesh, paid on the cross the legal debt due to God for the believer’s disobedience.

And so God, Who is just, is now able to be “the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:26)!  In this way God shows Himself to be abundantly merciful, gracious, forbearing and forgiving to repentant and believing sinners.  But the genius of this way of salvation is that it does not come at the expense of God’s holy, righteous and just character. ]]>Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:09:48 -0800http://www.teccoe.org/2/post/2010/10/new-posting10.html This October 31st marks the 493rd anniversary of that day in 1517, when Martin Luther, out of an ever increasing concern for the corruption that existed in the Christian Church, compiled his 95 Theses.  These were a public call for the church to reform, and he nailed them to the church door at Wittenberg, Germany.  This was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

As a monk, Luther was greatly troubled by a deep sense of guilt from his sin.  He knew he fell far short of what God required in His moral law as set forth in the Ten Commandments.  He further discovered that neither confession, fasting, pilgrimage, nor the pursuit of piety gave him any relief.  It was only when he came across these words in the Bible written by the Apostle Paul, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), that he saw hope.

Through that verse, he finally came to understand and believe that his sins were forgiven by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, apart from any works of his own.  Luther came to see that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, had come to do for him what he could not do for himself.  But what does that mean?

Firstly, God requires absolute perfect obedience to His Law, but “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  Further, the Bible teaches that, “there is none righteous, no, not one… there is none who does good, no, not one” (verses 10, 12).

But Jesus Christ came to keep all the requirements of God’s Law on behalf of the believer.  Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).  Therefore, no good deeds or works need be or can be added to Christ’s completed obedience.

Further, God’s justice requires disobedience of His Law to be punished, but no man could ever pay the infinite debt due to God for His sins.  Jesus Christ took upon Himself all of the sins of believers as if they were His.  He then went to the cross and suffered the full penalty for those sins.  That sacrifice of Himself was once for all.  After His resurrection, He ascended bodily into heaven and will remain there until He returns bodily at His second coming.  He never needs to be sacrificed again, and the believer never needs to be punished for his sins because God’s demand for justice has been fully satisfied in Christ.

The Apostle Paul summed this all up when he wrote, “He (the Father) made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Luther came to see and believe this, and called it a “marvelous exchange”.  By faith alone, his debt for his sin was paid in full and the obedience of Christ was considered by God to be as if Luther had fully obeyed.  In this way, Luther became fully justified before God.

After God had used the verse, “The just shall live by faith” to bring about Luther’s conversion, Luther wrote, “Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by his faith’.  Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith.  Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors to paradise.  The whole Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love.  This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven…”

But if the believer is fully pardoned and therefore justified before God, what motivation is there for ongoing obedience to God and good works?  Luther saw his justification as the greatest motivation, not for earning any merit, but for obeying and doing good works out of profound gratitude, joy and love for God for saving him who was so undeserving and so helplessly lost in his sin.  It is no wonder that John Newton would later write, “Amazing grace! - How sweet the sound -  that saved a wretch like me!”

]]>