John 4 and Worship

^{John 4:20} Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." ²¹Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

The discussion Jesus had with the Samaritan woman was so full of amazing truth it could be commented on for an entire book (and it has been). I want to talk about one aspect of what was said. The woman brought up the argument between Jews and Samaritans about where the acceptable place of worship is. This was a very important question because God defines not only Who we worship (Him alone) but also how we worship. Interestingly, Jesus shifts the focus from the answer to that Old Covenant question to a New Covenant truth. Jesus does answer it by saying the Jews worship what they know while the Samaritans worship ignorantly, but He then makes the point that a new type of worship has come. He says the hour is now here when worship will not be bound by the laws of the Old Covenant. The New Covenant had brought forth a worship that could not be performed by mere ritual or action. The Jews of the Old Covenant could technically perform the proper rituals but could still be far from God in their hearts (Isaiah 29:13). The New Covenant would be a covenant of the heart, not outward but inward. This is again preached by the apostle Paul when he says "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice...this is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1) Similarly Paul said "I die daily" in 1 Corinthians 15. The New Covenant has taken worship out of the realm of a ritual that can be done hypocritically, to a surrender of the heart; a death to self for the glory of God. This requires a regenerate heart to be preformed. As I've studied John's gospel the theme seems to be the transition from the Old Covenant of outward action which could be faked and forsaken to the New Covenant of God's regenerative power which is brought about by God's grace. John says this right at the beginning of his gospel.

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John Piper and Rick Warren

When I heard Dr. Piper invited Rick Warren to this year's desiring God conference I felt like many reformed Christians; confused. I asked "why would Dr. Piper do that? There can't be a lot of agreement between them! Dr. Piper is clear on his theology and methodology and Warren is at least clear on his methodology and they don't line up". I then thought, "this is not a good idea". My opinion hasn't changed. I believe it was a bad idea for Dr. Piper to invite him.

The problem I have now is not with John Piper or even Rick Warren. Warren is who he is and I do not support the way he does ministry. Dr. Piper made a bad choice in my opinion but its happened and is over with. What I do have a problem with is the ridiculously harsh criticism that John Piper has taken from some reformed Christians. Most of the well known pastors and theologians have politely disagreed but cleared affirmed their respect for Dr. Piper (as they should). Many other less well knowns throw around cruel insults and disrespect with little thought or care about 1. if its at all fair or just for this issue, 2. how it hurts and divides other Christians, 3. how it looks to non believers. I think a call to repentance is in order here. To call someone a false teacher because they invite a guy like Warren to their conference is sinful. Dr. Piper consistently invites people he doesn't agree with to his conference. Every year he has paedo-baptists speak there and he certainly doesn't agree with them on all the issues. I pray this won't fall on deaf ears and we can realize that we can disapprove of something someone does and still not demonize them.

Is like; is

Love is like weight, heavy on my chest
ever increasing gravity; painfully sublime.
Shoving me, pushing me down to the center,
a crushing preponderance, its hard to inhale!

Love is like dizziness, reeling and dangerous,
a vertiginous toil; a labor that swoons,
leaving me woozy, in disorientation,
an emotive inhalent that crosses my eyes.

Love is like panic, overwhelming my reason;
I act without cogitation, a nocturnal sprint,
myopic and running (maybe to darker things),
no time for deliberation, off the overhang I dive.

Love is an earnestness, a pervading passion,
a coal, even a fire that burns in the heart.
It pursues us with joy and invades with desire.
A conquering King, crushing His foes.

Prayer

May I love you above all things;
certainly things that are evil and insulting to Your holy Name,
but also things that are good and wholesome,
things that are truly gifts from You.
All good gifts come from You
but to love them more than You or apart from gratefulness to You
is idolatry and turns Your good gifts into garbage.
Let my eyes see all things as under Your decree and absolute control
and so worthy of praise even during the most terrible pain.
They will be for Your glory and so are for my good because
I am being conformed into the image of Your Son.
I thank you for sending Your holy Son to die for me.
Apart from His death I could never approach you
without being righteously judged.
Knowing this keep me humble and never thinking I am better than anyone.
Let my heart be flooded with mercy for the lost
and filled with love for my brethren.
I pray in the name of my Master, Savior and God, Jesus Christ.

Wisdom is Lacking

Though wisdom is lacking
the mouth is not but is
constantly opening without restraint.
Making noises that pass for communication
but really shouts with constant echo.

If wisdom were full we would
never fail to shout Your
praises or proclaim Your word.
Our throats would resonate
with passion for Your truth.

Particular Redemption - Husbands love your wives...

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

This is certainly one of God's most important commands regarding the marriage relationship and its purpose. It is clear that the husband is a symbol of Christ in the marriage relationship and is to display Christ's amazing love for His church through the way he loves his wife. The love to be put on display is the greatest love; the love shown in Christ's death.

I believe this beautiful command for husbands to love their wives does more than benefit marriage relationships. I believe it even does more than giving men a greater motive for loving their wives by showing them God's glory is at stake. This passage also proves particular redemption.

If God is commanding men to love their wives in this passage and is saying that the love is to reflect Christ's sacrificial love at the cross, then Christ must have only savingly atoned for His church at the cross. If he atoned for all people, then this passage advocates adultery. Lets say general atonement were true. Christ loves those who will be damned in the same way he loves His church. He died for them just as He died for His church. This passage would only be exhorting men to love their wives in the same way they love other women. Of course the scripture is not advocating “free love” or anything like that. The passage is commanding us to love our wives in the unique way Christ loved His church. What is this unique way He loved the church? He died on the cross “for her” displaying a love for His bride that is not shared with the world. Likewise, husbands should love their wives with that unique sacrificial love. Apart from belief in particular redemption the analogy Paul uses is absurd.

Is a heart so still?

Is a heart so still
that doesn't beat for You?
Who's rhythm won't shudder to Your glory
and by Your word be moved?

Are there eyes as blind
that cannot see Your grace?
That will not weep to know Your mercy
or gaze upon Your face?

Are there hands as weak
that won't obey Your word?
That refuse to cling to Your precious Son
but grasp this wretched world?

Good Friday

Darkness fell, like darkest night
the sinless life cursed and scorned,
the King who shines the perfect light
His broken skin now death adorned.

His tortured flesh is torn by wrath,
the fury for sin has been revealed.
Violence has opened a Narrow Path,
on it criminals are cleansed and sealed.

Years after the youth ministry

The real difficulty in youth ministry is seeing young people you knew change...and not for the better. You lose touch at some point and then reconnect to find an atheist, buddhist, or some other blasphemous "ist". It can be disheartening no matter how many of the kids you taught that grew up to be followers of Christ. I know that sounds bad but its true. It's certainly not a devaluing of those who are real Christians but a real struggle with seeing people dishonor Christ when they've been blessed to be taught God's word. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, this falling away is good for the church (in that it removes a false believer) and helps mature God's minister but its still a shock when you get hit in the face with it. Its also infuriating to see them fall to such foolish philosophies and ideas; ideas that you and every other Christian has dealt with for years.

Synergists take note: The only comfort through this sort of thing is God's sovereignty. Feeling beaten up by worldly philosophies  has only one antidote and its not "human free will". My God is having His way and will always have His way! Soli Deo gloria!

I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; ⁶That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, ⁷The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these. --Isaiah 45:5-7

The Moon

The moon reflects the beam of the sun,
the particles and waves are not its own,
yet even in the blackness of night
the radiance of the sun perpetuates light.

Men in darkness, have no fire,
no heat and light can be acquired,
but like the orbital sphere in space,
rebound the Son's glory by His grace.

Onyx

Have mercy my God, my heart is onyx;
a mendacious "friend" who soothes with whispers
of right motives and good intent,
a mortal deception caressing my pride.
Leading my ego away to the junket;
a poisonous game of gluttony
that leaves me voracious the more I devour;
a spiritual hypoglycemia.

Reflections on Demas

Demas was a companion of the Apostle Paul and was mentioned in both Colossians and Philemon. Certainly we would think of him in a positive light if it weren't for the last epistle Paul wrote. In 2 Timothy Paul drops a bomb shell about the one who had been referred to as a "fellow worker" in Paul's letter to Philemon.

9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. --2 Timothy 4


I think I can sense the pain in Paul when he says this. He uses the accusation "in love with this present world" which is very serious. He also says Demas had "deserted" him. Paul had been abandoned close to the time of his execution. It was likely only a short time after he wrote this letter that he was beheaded by the Godless pagan emperor of Rome. Paul knew that one whom he had considered a brother and fellow worker loved the world and abandoned the faith. Some may say there isn't conclusive evidence that Demas wasn't regenerate but the words God inspired Paul to use are very telling. James chapter 4 tells us,

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 

That being said, those who pour their lives into ministering to the brethren have to some extent encountered a Demas. Someone who they have taught, ministered to, and cared for, who end up denying the faith and glory of God. There is very little that can tear a servant of God's soul more than the Demases who depart. This vexing experience is necessary for several reasons.

1. The truth is always better than a lie. Demases are living in the church even though they are not a part of it. It is better for God's church that they are removed. 1 John 2 tells us,

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

2. The trial teaches the minister to abandon pride and see his love and obedience to Christ as the measure of his ministry. It is easy to feel like the spiritual growth of those in our flocks are our success. This is a lie and is sinful pride. In 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 Paul says,

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

God saves and gives growth and we are His servants in His field. Our joy is in Him and His glory, not the success of our ministry. In the pain of the departing of a Demas we must seek our joy in our God and His glorification. We must learn to love Him more than our ministry and praise Him that even in these painful events He is lovingly protecting His church and training His servants. We must enjoy Him and His glory to such a degree that we will endure loss like one who truly has no loss but has been blessed above all others. Soli Deo gloria!

That we are slaves...

That we are slaves is in dispute,
autonomy the bitter root,
that grows into a putrid fruit,
inedible and sick.

The cultural philosophy,
the tainted lens through which we see,
unexamined, just believed,
an old illusionist's trick.

I am in chains; I know its true,
fettered desire is nothing new,
once shackled to sin and now to You!
Who brought fire to this lifeless wick.

The End of Folly

Can the dead man raise himself,
pull the sky into his lungs,
reach beyond the dark abyss
and bathe himself in rising sun?

Is the dead man conscious of
his frigid hands and unconscious mind,
the worms that twist beneath his skin,
the stench of rotting, carnal rind?

"Raise yourself!", Folly shouts
"Breath the sky into your lungs!"
The rigid corpse with vacant stare
is silent. Folly is undone.

The Glory of God

What is the glory of God? The phrase is commonly used in protestant evangelical circles but many would have a hard time defining it. The glory of God is the weight of the perfectness of His attributes. His attributes transcend humanities' ability to fully comprehend them. Isaiah 40 says,

25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.

The "weight" is too heavy for us to bear. This is true of EVERY aspect of His nature. His love and mercy are certainly His glory and worthy of our praise but so is God's wrath and justice. He is perfect in all of His attributes and therefore deserving of 1. our inward adoration for all of His attributes and 2. our outward adulation for all of His attributes. To deny Him of either of these is the very core and heart of humanities' corruption and sin. Isaiah 29 says,

13-The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."

The unregenerate man has no desire to honor God and no admiration for His attributes. Though he may be religious by the world's standards and claim to love a god, he proves this is not the God of scripture under examination. The man finds no joy in the glorification of God revealed in the Bible. The very grace of God is what changes a man's desire, will, and thinking to such an extent that every part of God's nature is beautiful, glorious, and praiseworthy to him. He no longer hates God and loves his own sin; he hates and mourns his sin and loves God. God is his joy! God's honor is the very heart of his happiness. By God's grace the regenerate man endures hardship and trial, and these difficulties teach him to find his joy in Christ; not the temporary pleasures of the world. This joy explodes through his mouth in praise and adulation and is demonstrated by obedience to God's holy commands. Doing so is a pleasure, not a burden.

1 John 5:3- For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Protestant Sacramentalism

In recent years I've become cautious making sweeping statements about the times we now live in comparison to the “good old days”. I believe every generation of Christians has spiritual battles to fight defending the truth given by God in His holy word. It's easy to point back to yesteryear because its possible they weren't fighting the same battle we are so their grass looks greener. With further study of history we find they were fighting battles themselves; just not on the area of lawn we examined. Regardless, we must fight for truth in our own generation where we see it attacked.

Nearly 500 years ago we protestants denied that works contribute to the justification of man before God in protest of the false teaching presented by Romanism. Man's justification was only by grace through faith in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, taught by the authority of Scripture alone. This radical belief in dependence upon Christ to be our propitiation and righteousness before God brought about a violent reaction from the Romish dictatorship. They taught that acceptance into the Roman “church” by adhering to a set of sacraments brought about a progressive justification. The reformers shook the earth with a resounding “no!” to this blasphemous false gospel and many paid with their lives.

I posit that we protestants have partially embraced this sacramental system that our forefathers worked so hard to destroy. We have invented works that produce a false assurance of salvation to many who biblically should have none. These works are proclaimed by many who sincerely believe in salvation by grace through faith alone! These works do nothing to inhibit God's elect from coming to faith but certainly do assure people of salvation either before they have it, or although they never have it. It has filled the churches with unbelievers and therefore populated hell with church goers. We should desist from using these methods purely because they are not scriptural whether or not there is any “practical” reasons we can think of to persuade us to stop. I will address 3 observed works of the modern day that we have placed in the path of sinners who should only hear the pure gospel exhortation.

“Ask Jesus into your heart.”
This commonly used phrase is touted as gospel by many evangelists. This phrase is found nowhere in scripture. Not only is the phrase found nowhere, but nothing in concept is found like it in scripture in reference to the call of the gospel. It is a work! To tell someone that they can be saved by asking Jesus to come into their heart is allowing them to think that the action of asking Him to come in will make it happen. Scripture NEVER says this. A person can ask, beg and plead for Jesus to come into their heart and that will get them nowhere.

“Praying a prayer”
This is very similar to asking Jesus into your heart though the person leading the prayer may not use that phrase at all. Many times the sinner is asked to repeat a prayer after someone leading them. Again, this is a work. The sinner is convinced that the action of repeating the prayer will save them; it won't. Many times the words of the prayer may even be correct. The one leading it may say the right things that if believed would mean true salvation, but the fact is the person repeating the prayer is placing confidence in the prayer to save them.

“Walking down the Isle”
Many are told to walk down to the front during an invitation time to receive Christ. This, like the other two already discussed is a work. The sinner believes God will save them if they do what the pastor says and go down. This action will cause God to act on their behalf. No action causes God to save; salvation is by faith alone. I am not saying that an invitation is always bad. It can be used to help those who want counsel. It can be useful for those who want to join the local church or need to be baptized. I'm saying it is not a biblical way to salvation and we must stop confusing people into thinking it has anything to do with whether they are saved by God's grace or not.

All of these mentioned are works that give people false confidence in salvation. The scripture is clear that faith is the only way a person is to be saved. That means a person is saved when they place their trust and dependence on Christ alone to make them right with God. Christ lived the perfect life in obedience to God's holy law. He took our iniquities upon Himself and suffered under God's wrath. We deserved to be cursed and yet he was cursed in our place. When we realize our wickedness and see that we deserve to be under God's judgment we can only be saved by depending on Christ. He paid for sins and He lived a holy life. His righteousness is placed to our account and my sin was placed to His. We must believe, trust and depend on Him alone! It is not an invitation, prayer, or walk down an isle that can save me but only a desperate dependence on Christ alone that is evidenced by an open confession and repentance. Soli Deo Gloria.

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3, ESV)


4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2, ESV)

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2, ESV)