For a Global Awakening

All About Jesus

I love listening to good music. My wife and I enjoy occasionally listening to an artist who wrote such good words as:

You are the sun shining down on everyone
Light of the world giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can't be a light unless I turn my face to you

That's some good stuff. However, lately I've been thinking about the lyrics of another one of her songs, and I must say that although this is a "Christian" artist, these particular words are not altogether Christ-centered. Can you discern the critical flaw? Here are some of the words:

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

It comes in loving community
It comes in helping a soul find it's worth

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful
This is grace, an invitation

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out our best

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside

I feel the need to address some of the things this artist is saying because she's defining vitally important things such as grace and redemption in ways that are unbiblical and man-centered. This is a really pretty song, musically speaking. It's really catchy, and I find myself singing it. And I'm weak enough that I could easily begin to believe these words unless God helps me to see the reality that these words are fallacious in the light of God's word.

Concerning redemption, she says it's about "calling out the best of who we are." Is that what redemption is? Let's see what the Bible says. The Apostle Paul says that those who trust in Jesus "have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7, ESV; see also Colossians 1:14). Redemption has nothing to do with calling out our best. It calls out our worst! We're sinners who need "the forgiveness of our trespasses." It doesn't call out our best; it calls out God's best! He's our Redeemer! He forgives trespasses through Christ's blood! Redemption puts the spotlight on God as he opens up the treasure chest of "the riches of his grace" for all who are Christ's to cherish!

Concerning grace, she says it's "an invitation to be beautiful." Is that what grace is? Paul again helps us understand this. He says that sinners who trust in Jesus "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24, ESV). Grace is a gift. It comes from the Greek word, χάρις which means unmerited favor. So it's God's gift to sinners to freely give them a favorable relationship with himself through Christ. It's nothing we deserve, nothing we can earn, nothing we're worthy of, nothing we can work for, because we're sinners who deserve God's wrath, not his favor. So there is some truth in this artist's definition. She implies that we are ugly since we are invited "to be beautiful." We indeed are ugly to God in our sin, for apart from his grace we do not reflect his beauty. But this is much, MUCH more than a mere invitation.

Grace is not like receiving a card in the mail inviting us to a favorable relationship with God, an invitation that we can accept or deny if we feel like it. His grace is irresistible. God is not a wimp. If he wants to save you, nothing can stop him from doing it. He will open your heart to cause you to believe in him (see Acts 16:14). You see, we cannot accept or deny any invitation of God's in our sin, because we are spiritually dead. A dead person can't do anything to help himself. No matter how much you invite him to come to a party, he'll never RSVP, he can't respond. He'll never come unless God raises him from the dead. And that's exactly what he does! Paul says that "even when we were dead in our trespasses," God "made us alive together with Christ." That's what God does through the good news of Jesus! He makes us alive so that we can believe and celebrate God in Christ forever and ever!

The critical flaw in these lyrics is that they are entirely egocentric. She's singing about the "best of who we are," and "helping a soul find it's worth." This is diametrically opposed to the way the writers of God's word speak. They say, "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh," and "all have turned aside; together they have become worthless" (Romans 7:8; 3:12 - citing Psalm 53:1-3, ESV).

This is a problem that we in the West all have to deal with. We are in an incredibly egocentric culture, and unfortunately this man-centeredness is even in the church as the above song exemplifies. This self-centeredness does not come from the Bible, it comes from us. It's all over our culture. I see it nearly every morning I put sweetener in my coffee. Check it out on this packet. "Find your inner sweetness." Oh, isn't that cute. It's the same as the public service announcement I saw earlier this year, where the lady from Law & Order SVU, adds to our megalomania saying, "If you like you, everyone else will too." This is just so out of touch with reality it's pathetic. But that's the way we in this culture are apart from Christ. We really are crazy about ourselves. That's how the company, Loreal motivates people to buy its products, "because," they say, "we're worth it." Apart from the truth about Jesus in the Bible, this is what we do: We obsess about our own value and sweetness and likeableness and "the best of who we are," all the while ignoring, belittling, and even scoffing at what's truly sweet and valuable, the infinite worth of our Creator.

This man diagnoses our situation well. Check out this video

We have no inner sweetness. We're bitter inside. We have an inner problem, and we need a solution that comes from outside us. We need the gospel of Christ. The good news of Jesus shines an incomparable glory. We can't, as the aforementioned artist sings, "add to the beauty, to tell a better story." God's glorious beauty is perfect and unchangeable. He is perfect, he need not change. And his message of grace and redemption in Christ in the Bible is the best story ever told. It is the story everyone needs to hear over and over again. It's the story of Christ's death for sins and his resurrection from the dead to justify all who trust in him as their Lord and God and Savior and Treasure. If you haven't yet, I urge you to trust in him as your own Master. You are a sinner, and unless you call on him you will not get to enjoy God forever. If you don't treasure him as yours, you will spend an eternity in hell without him. But if you trust in him, you'll be enabled to turn from your sins to follow Christ. Repent and believe the good news of Jesus!

What in the?

Is this picture showing:
A. Why not to use superglue when affixing a toupee?
B. Men enjoying the weightlessness of space?
C. The man with the strongest index finger in the world?
D. All of the above?
E. Fill in the blank _______.

You decide.

The LORD is my Deliverer

"It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt." (Exodus 13:16, ESV)

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." -Jesus Christ

"Bring on the fire, bring on the cross, bring on the hordes of wild animals! Let them wrench my bones out of socket and mangle my limbs and grind up my whole body! Bring on all the hideous tortures from the Devil! Just let me get to Jesus Christ. Nothing on this wide earth matters to me anymore. The kingdoms of this world are entirely meaningless. I am at the point where I would rather die for Jesus Christ than rule over the whole earth. He alone is the one I seek--the one who died for us! It is Jesus that I long for--the one who for our sake rose again from the dead!"
-Ignatius of Antioch, in about 115 AD on his way to be killed for the sake of Christ's name
(Qtd. in "Getting to Know the Church Fathers," by Bryan M. Litfin, page 51)

Marvel at Christ's Power and Glory

"I have looked upon you...beholding your power and glory" (Psalm 63:2)

I'm not much of a baseball fan. But I'm beginning to understand why it's so appealing. I was sitting on my futon a couple days ago watching a little of the Sox, or maybe it was the Cubs, I don't remember which (I could get in trouble for saying that). And I was remarking to Sara about the futility of our culture throwing millions of dollars at this meaningless sport. These guys are paid so decadently just to be really good at hitting and catching a ball and scoring points.

But then it occurred to me that a big reason for their bloated salaries is that millions of people pay to see them play. Why? Power and glory. It's really awesome to behold these feats of athleticism: The power of a pitcher hurling a ball with tremendous control, speed, and accuracy; The glory of a batter's hand-eye coordination working with his well-developed muscles so that his bat connects with the ball, sending it soaring like a comet over the field to be either plucked from the air with one hand by a well-trained outfielder or welcomed by happy fans. The more I watch sports now, the more I see the reason millions of people are okay with these athletes being paid millions of dollars. They love to see strength and beauty, power and glory.

This is the common thread woven through the fabric of humanity, we love to see and marvel at power and glory. Whether it's athleticism, movies, good books, good music, good food, history, going for walks or hikes, scuba-diving, astronomy, philosophy, theology... people have an innate longing for greatness, for action, adventure, beauty, harmony, strength, splendor, power and glory. Why? This common craving is due to the Creator we all have in common.

Since we know that there is power and glory to be beheld in the creation, then how much more is there to see in our Creator? For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:20) This common yearning in our hearts for strength and beauty has been sown into our fabric by an all-powerful, infinitely glorious tailor, Almighty God. Ultimately, we all want to see greatness because we were made to see it in God.

Where's the best place to look for greatness, to find your hunger for God's power and glory satisfied? God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. He is the perfect, eternal self-expression of God, the Word of God. The Bible says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14) That's why the story of Christ's life and death and resurrection is called "good news," or "the gospel," - in it we see the power and glory of God.

If you trust Christ to be your own Lord and Savior and Treasure it's because he has opened your eyes to see his glory in the gospel. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) If you don't yet trust in Christ, or aren't sure about all this, I plead with you to just ask God to show you his power and glory in Christ, and then look for it in the Bible. The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ is more powerful and beautiful than anything in this world. You haven't seen beauty until you've seen God's steadfast love for sinners demonstrated on Christ's cross. You really haven't lived until you've admired Christ coming to life again victorious over death. That's why the Apostle Paul says this is of utmost importance. He says:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-- unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures... (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

We all want to see greatness. We were made for it. But we can't even live to see it until we see the power and glory of Christ in the gospel. Look to Christ today, friend. Turn from your sins and believe this marvelously good news.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:2)

David found life-giving pleasure in looking upon God, and we can do the same by looking at Christ. But where can I find Christ? We can find Christ where David found God, in the sanctuary.

We can find Christ in the sanctuary. Where is that? Psalm 27:4 says the house of the LORD is where David wanted to always dwell. He wanted nothing more than to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD...in his temple. But the tabernacle God had Moses build and the temple Solomon built and the one Herod built have been destroyed. Certainly, this doesn't mean we can't find a sanctuary to see God in, does it? Well, let's see what Jesus has to say about that.

He said to a Samaritan woman a couple thousand years ago, Believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. (John 4:21) The Samaritans had constructed a temple on Mount Gerizim and argued that theirs, not the Jews' temple was the true temple. But Jesus told this lady that this contraversy would be obsolete soon, because, he goes on to say, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. (John 4:23). So someone could rightly say now that our worship is not confined to a geographical location; we who trust in Christ can see God in a different kind of temple, in spirit and truth.

What does Jesus mean when he says true worshipers will worship the Father in...truth? I believe he unfolded the meaning of that in a previous statement to this Samaritan woman, You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22) Samaritans did not know what they worshiped, that is, they did not worship in truth. They rejected all of the Old Testament Scriptures except for the first five books. So their knowledge of God was sorely limited. Worshiping God in truth has to do with knowing God as he has fully revealed himself in all the Scriptures. And Jesus says that means knowing that salvation is from the Jews. The Savior of the world is the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. Only if you trust in Jesus can you be saved from your wrath-deserving sins to worhip the Father in truth. Jesus is our sanctuary, the truth in which we can look upon God.

Jesus says, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. What does it mean to worship God in spirit? First God takes the Scriptures that he breathed out and shows Jesus to us in them (Jesus said ...the Scriptures...bear witness about me - John 5:39). And God then miraculously causes our spirit to live by his Spirit (It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life - John 6:63). Therefore we can commune with him, worshiping him spirit to Spirit. Then he makes our spirits live more and more vibrantly, joyously, abundantly through the truth of his word.

"The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God; the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit; the funace made alive and warm by the flame of truth is our renewed spirit; and the resulting heat of our affections is powerful worship, pushing its way out in confessions, longing, acclamations, tears, songs, shouts, bowed heads, lifted hands and obedient lives" (John Piper, "Desiring God" p. 77).

This "true vision of the greatness of God" is what David saw in the sanctuary. I've said that our worship is not now confined geographically, for we worship in spirit and truth. But does that mean that we can be individualistic worshipers who say that the invisible, universal church of the spirit is sufficient as our sanctuary? No. Although God's church is universal, it necessarily manifests itself in visible, local assemblies. Practically speaking, if you want to look upon God in the sanctuary, you need to gather with other believers who worship in spirit and truth. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together... (Hebrews 10:24-25). You need to gather with a church who worships God in Christ as he has revealed himself in the Bible. Then you will resonate with David's prayer, So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.