Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. (Zechariah 3:1-5)
Yeah, this passage made my mind go *pop* when I read it.
As a believer in the Gospel this is your judgement day. Your iniquity has been taken away, you've been clothed in pure vestments, you've been plucked from the fire. Though you may be 'weary of earth, yourself, and sin.' your earth will be made new, yourself will be resurrected perfectly, and your sin was nailed to a cross two-thousand years ago.
Jesus. His name is power. His work is complete. And, you, the benefactor of his propitiatory punishment and resurrection are redeemed. Therefore rejoice for freedom has come. You are free to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. You are free to be profoundly enthralled with the God who created you. You are free to glorify your Redeeming King in your being satisfied by who. He. Is.
You are free to glorify God because he saved you for his namesake.
"For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another." (Isaiah 48:9-11)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
God Demanded Change
“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy I cannot find in my heart, and it keeps the fire burning to melt this heart of stone… keeps me glad to have been caught in the reckless raging furry that they call the ‘love of God. (Rich Mullins ‘The Love of God’)”
“I will gladly lay down my sword for the joy of seeing your country. (Reepicheep ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ movie)”
“…To die is gain. (Paul Phil 1:21)”
The quotes are numerous. The thoughts are beautiful, the ideas oddly, and providentially similar to one another. Christian theological writings are replete with these themes of the mercy of God and the joy of the believer in going ‘home’.
Most would call this a morbid obsession with death, but as believers we call it the beginning. I read on Facebook yesterday, “Death is the best thing that can happen to a Christian.” Not only do I wholeheartedly agree but also I often catch myself daydreaming of what it will be like to die. Not so much the manner in which it will happen, but what it will feel like and what my soul, that living part of me, will be feeling.
However, I have a fear in all of our looking’s to the end we will overpass, forget, or simply step out of the present. Don’t get me wrong; I’m right beside Moses looking to the reward because the reward surpasses all the treasures of America (Heb. 11:23-28). But we cannot, must not, nor ever should forget the first half of Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ…”
To live-to take breath, to see creation, to feel emotion, to love, to read, to write, to speak-is Christ! Believer you are to be being made into the image of Jesus, therefore for you to live it is Christ. Every moment of every day of all of your gifted undeserved life is to be as Christ A.K.A to the glory of God. For Jesus is, “the radiance of the glory of God… (Heb 1:3)” Thus to live as Christ is to live as the glory of God.
It is a high calling (Ehp 4:1) and as such demands from God (it’s not what he wants from your life, he demands it) your entirety. It demands your thoughts to be made new. It demands your intentions to change completely. It demands your movie choices to change. It demands your heart to love God-honoring things rather than the mire.
“To live is Christ to die is gain.”
“I will gladly lay down my sword for the joy of seeing your country. (Reepicheep ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ movie)”
“…To die is gain. (Paul Phil 1:21)”
The quotes are numerous. The thoughts are beautiful, the ideas oddly, and providentially similar to one another. Christian theological writings are replete with these themes of the mercy of God and the joy of the believer in going ‘home’.
Most would call this a morbid obsession with death, but as believers we call it the beginning. I read on Facebook yesterday, “Death is the best thing that can happen to a Christian.” Not only do I wholeheartedly agree but also I often catch myself daydreaming of what it will be like to die. Not so much the manner in which it will happen, but what it will feel like and what my soul, that living part of me, will be feeling.
However, I have a fear in all of our looking’s to the end we will overpass, forget, or simply step out of the present. Don’t get me wrong; I’m right beside Moses looking to the reward because the reward surpasses all the treasures of America (Heb. 11:23-28). But we cannot, must not, nor ever should forget the first half of Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ…”
To live-to take breath, to see creation, to feel emotion, to love, to read, to write, to speak-is Christ! Believer you are to be being made into the image of Jesus, therefore for you to live it is Christ. Every moment of every day of all of your gifted undeserved life is to be as Christ A.K.A to the glory of God. For Jesus is, “the radiance of the glory of God… (Heb 1:3)” Thus to live as Christ is to live as the glory of God.
It is a high calling (Ehp 4:1) and as such demands from God (it’s not what he wants from your life, he demands it) your entirety. It demands your thoughts to be made new. It demands your intentions to change completely. It demands your movie choices to change. It demands your heart to love God-honoring things rather than the mire.
“To live is Christ to die is gain.”
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Read
Reading is important. If you had told me this 8 years ago I would’ve said, “Uh-huh, whatever.” If you had told me this even 5 years ago the answer would remain the same. But reading is important.
Classic novels are fantastic, a good piece of fiction is a happy read, autobiography insightful, and textbooks… well they’re textbooks what do you want me to say. But there is one type of book, which stands above all others, namely Theology. (Let me add a qualifier, *good* Theology.)
Theology-the study of God- must be the most important type of reading we can partake in; for, reasonably speaking, if all the world is created by God then all the studies and disciplines contained within creation (engineering, medicine, philosophy, anthropology, etc.) are studies in creation. However, the study of God would be the study of the maker of all other disciplines (the maker of all creation). Therefore, “The highest and most excellent knowledge we may possess is that of God… (John Calvin)”
“It is a thing infinitely good in itself that God’s glory should be known by a glorious society of created beings. And that there should be in them an increasing knowledge of God to all eternity, is worthy to be regarded by him, to whom it belongs to order what is fittest and best. If existence is more worthy than defect and non-entity, and if any created existence is in itself worthy to be, then knowledge is; and if any knowledge, then the most excellent sort of knowledge, viz. that of God and his glory. This knowledge is one of the highest, most real, and substantial parts of all created existence, most remote from non-entity and defect. (Jonathan Edwards ‘The End for which God Created the World’)”
All this to say, you exist, you live and move and have breath therefore strive to know that which is ‘highest, most real, and substantial’ namely God and his glory, for it is furthest from non-existence. But how is this possible, to know God and his glory?
1) Revelation, it is impossible to know God and his glory unless you be apart of that ‘glorious society’ the Church (capital ‘C’ means those redeemed by the finished work of Jesus, not merely on a membership role).
2) Reading. Reading good biblical theological books. Books like John Piper’s “Desiring God” or Charles Spurgeon’s “The Treasury of David” or Jonathan Edwards “Religious Affections” books that make you grab a dictionary and look up a word. Books that move your soul to humility. Books that make you weep from realization that your ‘god’ is not the God.
“This knowledge [of God and his glory] is one of the highest, most real, and substantial parts of all created existence, most remote from non-entity and defect.” Read. Theological. Books.
Classic novels are fantastic, a good piece of fiction is a happy read, autobiography insightful, and textbooks… well they’re textbooks what do you want me to say. But there is one type of book, which stands above all others, namely Theology. (Let me add a qualifier, *good* Theology.)
Theology-the study of God- must be the most important type of reading we can partake in; for, reasonably speaking, if all the world is created by God then all the studies and disciplines contained within creation (engineering, medicine, philosophy, anthropology, etc.) are studies in creation. However, the study of God would be the study of the maker of all other disciplines (the maker of all creation). Therefore, “The highest and most excellent knowledge we may possess is that of God… (John Calvin)”
“It is a thing infinitely good in itself that God’s glory should be known by a glorious society of created beings. And that there should be in them an increasing knowledge of God to all eternity, is worthy to be regarded by him, to whom it belongs to order what is fittest and best. If existence is more worthy than defect and non-entity, and if any created existence is in itself worthy to be, then knowledge is; and if any knowledge, then the most excellent sort of knowledge, viz. that of God and his glory. This knowledge is one of the highest, most real, and substantial parts of all created existence, most remote from non-entity and defect. (Jonathan Edwards ‘The End for which God Created the World’)”
All this to say, you exist, you live and move and have breath therefore strive to know that which is ‘highest, most real, and substantial’ namely God and his glory, for it is furthest from non-existence. But how is this possible, to know God and his glory?
1) Revelation, it is impossible to know God and his glory unless you be apart of that ‘glorious society’ the Church (capital ‘C’ means those redeemed by the finished work of Jesus, not merely on a membership role).
2) Reading. Reading good biblical theological books. Books like John Piper’s “Desiring God” or Charles Spurgeon’s “The Treasury of David” or Jonathan Edwards “Religious Affections” books that make you grab a dictionary and look up a word. Books that move your soul to humility. Books that make you weep from realization that your ‘god’ is not the God.
“This knowledge [of God and his glory] is one of the highest, most real, and substantial parts of all created existence, most remote from non-entity and defect.” Read. Theological. Books.
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