Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
"I Don't Want Free Will" by Martin Luther
“I frankly confess that, for myself, even if it could be, I should not want ‘free-will’ to be given me, nor anything to be left in my own hands to enable me to endeavour after salvation; not merely because in face of so many dangers, and adversities and assaults of devils, I could not stand my ground …; but because even were there no dangers … I should still be forced to labour with no guarantee of success … But now that God has taken my salvation out of the control of my own will, and put it under the control of His, and promised to save me, not according to my working or running (Rom. 9:16), but according to His own grace and mercy, I have the comfortable certainty that He is faithful and will not lie to me, and that He is also great and powerful, so that no devils or opposition can break Him or pluck me from Him.
Furthermore, I have the certainty that I please God, not by reason of the merit of my works, but by reason of His merciful favour promised to me through Jesus; so that, if I work too little, or badly, He does not impute it to me, but with fatherly compassion pardons me and makes me better. This is the glorying of all the saints in their God”
- Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1957), 313-314.
HT
Monday, January 17, 2011
Christianity + Buddhism; thoughts on both.
The following is based on an email question I received.
Q: Do you have any quick thoughts about Christianity vs. Buddhism?
A: Buddhism was formed as a means of addressing personal suffering by the unnatural act of emptying oneself of all attachments to this world (relationships, possessions, etc.) For example, if loving someone could lead to a broken heart (suffering) then, perhaps it's best to empty oneself of this desire to love. Even though the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, were a worthy attempt to liberate oneself from the pain and misery, they fail to diagnose the real problem and thus discover the paradoxical solution.
Christianity, on the other hand encourages us to love deeply, give generously, enjoy completely, as this is what our Creator God, does. It also warns us to love the proper things, not by way of outward effort, rules or pure grit (religion) but by way of a renewed/regenerated heart (Jer. 31:31-33) which is gifted by a gracious God. Our suffering happens not because we love things, as Buddhism asserts, but by loving the wrong things inordinately. For example, we were made to love God & rule over His creation, instead we love what's made more than God (Rom. 1) and in turn are ruled by creation. The bible calls our reversal of God's order, "sin". So, instead of us dancing over creation, while enjoying God, creation dances over us while we lay under a curse (Eph. 2:3). Sin causes suffering.
The level of our suffering is attached proportionately to that which we lose and it's intrinsic value. God kindly tells us not to love the things of this world, because it's passing away (1 John 2:15-17), but He never tells us not to love...quite the opposite. He tells us to love Him, as He will never pass away. If we love that which will never rusts, breaks or dies, then our joy has the potential of lasting forever, which is exactly how the bible describes it -- "everlasting life". Jesus's mission was about bringing life to those who formerly lived in death (John 10:10)
One final thought -- perhaps this was why Jesus' suffering was so horrific. Certainly there was far more going on in Jesus's soul that lead him to sweat great drops of blood beyond the excruciating pain of the cross. Ultimately He would willingly subject himself to being crushed by (Is 53:5) and separated from God (Matt. 27:46), who is of immeasurable value and worth. Suffering for Jesus was on an infinitely eternal level. No one has ever suffered like Jesus, as no one has ever been that intimately close to something as valuable and worthy as God, and then torn away from it. Jesus willingly suffered what we deserve, "eternal death" so we could be benefactors of what He alone deserves, "eternal life". God did this because of His dual commitment to both His holiness + love. Jesus was God's solution whereby he could destroy sin w/o destroying the sinner.
peace
bryan
Q: Do you have any quick thoughts about Christianity vs. Buddhism?
A: Buddhism was formed as a means of addressing personal suffering by the unnatural act of emptying oneself of all attachments to this world (relationships, possessions, etc.) For example, if loving someone could lead to a broken heart (suffering) then, perhaps it's best to empty oneself of this desire to love. Even though the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, were a worthy attempt to liberate oneself from the pain and misery, they fail to diagnose the real problem and thus discover the paradoxical solution.
Christianity, on the other hand encourages us to love deeply, give generously, enjoy completely, as this is what our Creator God, does. It also warns us to love the proper things, not by way of outward effort, rules or pure grit (religion) but by way of a renewed/regenerated heart (Jer. 31:31-33) which is gifted by a gracious God. Our suffering happens not because we love things, as Buddhism asserts, but by loving the wrong things inordinately. For example, we were made to love God & rule over His creation, instead we love what's made more than God (Rom. 1) and in turn are ruled by creation. The bible calls our reversal of God's order, "sin". So, instead of us dancing over creation, while enjoying God, creation dances over us while we lay under a curse (Eph. 2:3). Sin causes suffering.
The level of our suffering is attached proportionately to that which we lose and it's intrinsic value. God kindly tells us not to love the things of this world, because it's passing away (1 John 2:15-17), but He never tells us not to love...quite the opposite. He tells us to love Him, as He will never pass away. If we love that which will never rusts, breaks or dies, then our joy has the potential of lasting forever, which is exactly how the bible describes it -- "everlasting life". Jesus's mission was about bringing life to those who formerly lived in death (John 10:10)
One final thought -- perhaps this was why Jesus' suffering was so horrific. Certainly there was far more going on in Jesus's soul that lead him to sweat great drops of blood beyond the excruciating pain of the cross. Ultimately He would willingly subject himself to being crushed by (Is 53:5) and separated from God (Matt. 27:46), who is of immeasurable value and worth. Suffering for Jesus was on an infinitely eternal level. No one has ever suffered like Jesus, as no one has ever been that intimately close to something as valuable and worthy as God, and then torn away from it. Jesus willingly suffered what we deserve, "eternal death" so we could be benefactors of what He alone deserves, "eternal life". God did this because of His dual commitment to both His holiness + love. Jesus was God's solution whereby he could destroy sin w/o destroying the sinner.
peace
bryan
Friday, November 26, 2010
7 Counterfeit Gospels
In his book "How People Change" (co-authored with Tim Lane), Paul Tripp identifies seven counterfeit gospels– ways we try and “justify” or “save” ourselves apart from the gospel of grace. I found these unbelievably helpful. Which one (or two, or three) of these do you tend to gravitate towards?
1.Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”
2.Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”
3.Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”
4.Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”
5.Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”
6.Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.”
7.Social-ism. “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”
As I said a few months ago in one of my sermons, there are outside-the-church idols and there are inside-the-church idols. It’s the idols inside the church that ought to concern Christians most. It’s easier for Christians to identify worldly idols such as money, power, selfish ambition, sex, and so on. It’s the idols inside the church that we have a harder time identifying.
For instance:
We know it’s wrong to bow to the god of power—but it’s also wrong to bow to the god of preferences.
We know it’s wrong to worship immorality—but it’s also wrong to worship morality.
We know it’s wrong to seek freedom by breaking the rules—but it’s also wrong to seek freedom by keeping them.
We know God hates unrighteousness—but he also hates self-righteousness.
We know crime is a sin—but so is control.
If people outside the church try to save themselves by being bad; people inside the church try to save themselves by being good.
The good news of the gospel is that both inside and outside the church, there is only One Savior and Lord, namely Jesus. And he came, not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so that we might become truly free!
1.Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”
2.Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”
3.Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”
4.Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”
5.Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”
6.Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.”
7.Social-ism. “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”
As I said a few months ago in one of my sermons, there are outside-the-church idols and there are inside-the-church idols. It’s the idols inside the church that ought to concern Christians most. It’s easier for Christians to identify worldly idols such as money, power, selfish ambition, sex, and so on. It’s the idols inside the church that we have a harder time identifying.
For instance:
We know it’s wrong to bow to the god of power—but it’s also wrong to bow to the god of preferences.
We know it’s wrong to worship immorality—but it’s also wrong to worship morality.
We know it’s wrong to seek freedom by breaking the rules—but it’s also wrong to seek freedom by keeping them.
We know God hates unrighteousness—but he also hates self-righteousness.
We know crime is a sin—but so is control.
If people outside the church try to save themselves by being bad; people inside the church try to save themselves by being good.
The good news of the gospel is that both inside and outside the church, there is only One Savior and Lord, namely Jesus. And he came, not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so that we might become truly free!
article by Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin). A Florida native, and pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Words of a fiery Scotsman
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| John Knox |
It is therefore essential for us to lay hold on Christ Jesus, in his righteousness and his atonement, since he is the end and summation of the Law and since it's by him we are set at liberty so that the curse of God may not fall upon us, even though we do not fulfill the Law in all points. For as God the Father beholds us in the body of his Son Christ Jesus, he accepts our imperfect obedience as if it were perfect, and covers our works, which are defiled with many stains, with the righteousness of his Son. We do not mean that we are so set at liberty that we owe no obedience to the Law--for we have already acknowledged its place--but we affirm that no man on earth, with the sole exception of Christ Jesus, has given, gives, or shall give in action that obedience to the Law which the Law requires.
When we have done all things we must fall down and confess that we are unprofitable servants. Therefore, whoever boasts of the merits of his own works or puts his trust in works or performance, boasts of what does not exist, and puts his trust in damned idolatry."
-John Knox (1505-1572)
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