The Chief End of the Gospel

For Christ also suffered once for sins, 

the righteous for the unrighteous,

that he might bring us to God

1 Peter 3:18a (ESV)

Uncharted

The Captain 

forever untroubled 
in stormy waters.

The seafaring crew terror-stricken;

no longer fearful of the breakers or tempests,

yet rather at the uncharted nature of the Captain.

Who is this?  

Even the winds 

and the waves

    obey His voice... 

A meditation upon
Mark 4:41

Images

He is the 

Image of the Invisible 

God

Col. 1:15 ESV

Marveling...

Why loose Your majestic grace upon those who deserve it not?

Why should Infinity have anything to do with the temporary?

Why does the Holy One care so much for the sinful ones?

Why is righteousness given to those so unrighteous?

Why would Light come to live in such darkness?

Why are You so good to those who are so not?

Why lavish Your merciful kindness on us?

Why let the blind behold so much glory?

Why give what cannot be deserved?

Why make a way for such as us?

Why would You give Yourself?

Why such musical majesty?

Why love the unlovely?

Why the incarnation?

Why so concerned?

Why such grace?

Why Jesus?

Why God?

Why?

?

3 Gifts For You...

If I could give each of my children only 3 gifts; 

these would be identical to the gifts that 

I would give to my closest friends, 

and beloved family members alike.

These same gifts I would offer to a stranger.

Indeed these gifts I would hold out to an enemy.

First

First, I would give you Jesus.

Yet I cannot, for He alone gives the gift of Himself.

Yet I would tell you; Jesus is God (John 1:1, Col. 1:15).

He is the great treasure hidden in a field (Matt. 13:44).

Sooner or later you shall find that He is the King of Kings.

I pray that it may be sooner.

Second

I would give you a thorough knowledge of the Bible.

The church throughout history has held that this 

book contains the very words of God himself.

That this book is the self-revelation of God.

Those who have been found by Christ, have

dearly loved the words found in this book.

Our Declaration of Independence

was literally birthed of it's ideology.

Many people have died simply

for possessing one.

Multitudes have suffered for it,

in various ways throughout history.

So powerful are it's messages, that some 

governments even today outlaw it.

Yet sadly often it sits unread

and dusty upon so many shelves.

Third

I would give you the wisdom of a hunger to learn.

Countless inspiring and interesting people have lived and

innumerable books have been written either by them or about them.

History has devastatingly important lessons to teach us,

if only we are willing to sit at it's feet.

To peer into the past through literal pages 

as if through a lens. 

The unique thing about each of these gifts,

is that I cannot give any of them to you.

Yet you could have them if you desired.

The beginning of wisdom

is this; Get wisdom.

And whatever you get, 

get insight.

- Proverbs 4:7

"My Records are Jesus Christ"

“When he is challenged by some men (presumably Jews) who refuse to believe anything that is not to be found in “our ancient records” (the Old Testament?), Ignatius responds, “But for my part, my records are Jesus Christ, for the the sacred records are his cross and death and resurrection and the faith that comes through him.”

- An Introduction to the New Testament, Carson & Moo, p. 738

The Subordinacy of Wisdom

"The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom."
- Proverbs 4:7a ESV

Scripture indicates that Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived.  Yet his life turned out quite messy.  For all of his wisdom, he neglected to put God above all else.  His many wives turned his heart away from the Lord.

Solomon's book of Proverbs is full of illustrations of the tremendous value of wisdom.  His book also has a great number of illustrations of the tragedy of foolishness.  As providence would have it, Solomon's life, like his great writings also demonstrated the value of wisdom and the tragedy of foolishness.  Thus evidence that is possible to be at the same time both wise and foolish.

Wisdom is to be sought after, yet wisdom is not ultimate.  Christ is ultimate.

One may seek wisdom and find it, yet fail to find Christ.  Yet one may never find Christ and not also find wisdom, for He is wisdom incarnate.

The Primacy of the Holy Spirit

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The tragic reality is that the Holy Spirit is as unsettling and unwelcome in our day as Jesus was in his.  Jesus was scorned, mocked, ridiculed, belittled, he was the target of numerous assassination attempts, and ultimately killed.  Is it really any surprise that His Spirit is treated in like fashion today?    

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth:it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

John 16:7 ESV

Can you imagine the response of the disciples to these troubling words of Jesus?  How could it possibly good for Jesus to leave?  How could there be any advantage to such a predicament?  After all, Jesus was the one who healed the sick, raised the dead, confronted the power hungry religious leaders of the day, and who had, “the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Yet Jesus indicates that the more advantageous situation for the disciples is the one in which Jesus leaves and the Helper, the Holy Spirit, comes.  Jesus indicates that this would not happen unless Jesus were to leave.  This unknown territory to the disciples was not unknown to Jesus.  Jesus was the Immanuel, God with us (Mat. 1:23).  Yet when he left he sent the Holy Spirit to be God with us.  

Some theological schools have deplorably been referred to as teaching a new trinity, “The Father, The Son, and the Holy Scriptures.”  It is not a trite nor humorous thing to refer to another so called trinity, yet it rather painfully highlights a distressing problem in our focus.

The study of theology can be a wonderful thing, encouraging, and enlightening.  Yet it is not sufficient to define a relationship with God.  For a relationship with God does not consist in the reading of books.  Without a doubt books can be helpful, yet books permit us to remain in our comfort zone while the Holy Spirit would draw us further out of our comfort zones and into waters that are well over our heads.   

The tragic reality is that the Holy Spirit is as unsettling and unwelcome in our day as Jesus was in his.  Jesus was scorned, mocked, ridiculed, belittled, he was the target of numerous assassination attempts, and ultimately killed.  Is it really any surprise that His Spirit is treated in like fashion today?    

Opposition Equals Opportunity

Facing Opposition?  If so you're not alone.  Scripture is full of examples of God's people encountering opposition, as is the rest of history.

Opposition is not only par for the course in this life, it is the wind which fills the sails of faith.  

In Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus and several of his disciples were on a boat.  Their opposition that day was a great storm and apparently a boat that wasn't sufficient to handle the storm.  Not surprisingly fear was the response of the disciples.  

In the midst of the storm Jesus says, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?"       

A few implications of his words; 

A lack of faith, in the face of opposition, results in fear.

Genuine faith sees beyond the opposition, and is mindful that God is always aware of the storms in our lives and that he remains ever present with us in the midst of them?

Opposition equals opportunity to put faith into practice.

  

If you faint in the day of adversity,

your strength is small

- Proverbs 24:10

His Life in Me

Guest post by KG:

I have labored under the burden most of my life with not having reached a saints perfection. I am a practicing ‘imperfectionist’. Worse yet, I think of myself as an incompetent perfectionist. I am bothered by my many failures. I desire to be and do better but I, sadly, I am not. That very same annoyance is only magnified by my Christian walk.  I have been included ‘in Jesus’. Not only is my history literally littered with failed attempts at life lived in the horizontal, when I became a Christian I gladly included a vertical dimension which has Jesus Christ at the center. In light of that fact, the trail of littered failures only grew exponentially. When compared to Christ understandably the failure factor has not gotten any smaller.

Lest my moaning confessions sound like an all too public airing of my own dirty laundry I need to add something that in the end transforms the crisis. In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul says that God has illumined our dark hearts with the light of Jesus.  “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.” Vs. 6 He says it is not unlike placing a treasure inside a clay jar.  What appears to be a monumental waste of God’s good efforts, he goes on to clarify has the genius of God’s purpose in it.  His intention is to show that the goal of his project has little of us in it, save the storage space. His purpose is to point to himself as being our rescue—our savior. And then he says, what for the life all too familiar with failed attempts, the complicating words: “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Jesus’ life is shown to those around me through my mediocre life. It seems like a bit much.

I said before that all this is intended to add something that turns my failure rate into something entirely more than a mere moaning confession. Paul’s intention is to turn my eyes off of myself and onto another. He says so explicitly—“ to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”. It is the way God has of showing that it is his work and no one else’s, least of all our own. He first shows us it is so by saving our muddy lives and continues the project by living within us. The light that illumines my inner darkness is not somehow the light that I am somehow commanded to approximate. As Paul describes things, to show that “the surpassing power belongs to God” and not to us, he surrounds that sacred event with a veneer of failure and defeat, my failure and defeat. In fact our failure becomes a significant factor in the course of God’s plan. The first failure was the world’s response to Jesus which culminated in the cross. Since the world’s response was my first response to him, the burden to muster Christ’s life does not rest on me. After all I am the problem. My burden is to reflect not generate his light in me. I must decrease and he must increase. C.S. Lewis captures Paul’s thought in a way that only he can.

“'Originality' in the New Testament is quite plainly the prerogative of God alone … The duty and happiness of every other being is placed in being derivative, in reflecting like a mirror… If I have read the New Testament aright, … our whole destiny seems to lie in the opposite direction, in being as little as possible ourselves, in acquiring a fragrance that is not our own but borrowed; in becoming clean mirrors filled with the image of a face that is not ours. ….. I am saying only that the highest good of a creature must be creaturely—that is, derivative or reflective—good.”

Otherwise called grace, God’s labor in us is not to teach us new tricks but to let him shine through us, to point to Jesus by habits that express what God’s grace has done in us.

Oswald Chambers says it well:

“It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of "myself" apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me.”

I suppose this in part of the reason that so often in Paul’s letters all of the action of the life of a disciple of Jesus is said to take place “in Christ” or of Christ being “in us” (over 160 times in a variety of different contexts).

The whole idea raises a number of questions. But to side step the questions by ignoring the glory of such a remarkable event seems an odd and costly way to proceed. In fact, I suppose I may have ‘failed’ to get it right. If so, I will have to deal with that very familiar habit. Until then I motor on in the sobering and wonderful implication of his life in me.

- KG

Afraid to Fly

My gray haired friend and mentor, full of wisdom, shared with me what I perceived to be one of the most important lessons he had ever learned.  

The gravity of his words weighed heavily on me from the moment he spoke them, and they still do.  In fact I hope I always feel the weight of this lesson upon my shoulders.  

For years I was privileged to meet with this dear man one on one.  For hours at a time I endeavored to soak up his wisdom.  Yet it was more than wisdom alone that I was drawn to.  This friend bears a stunning Christ-likeness the likes of which I have not encountered elsewhere, ever.  

For years my silent prayer request was that I would be able to grab ahold of and incorporate the lessons that this man had learned through a lifetime of ministry.  For years I wanted ask him what is the most important thing you have ever learned, yet I didn’t, for every time I met with him I learned more than I could retain.  

What a painful moment it was for me when he advised that he would soon be moving away, out of state, in order that his wife and he could be closer to their kids and grandchildren.  I endeavored to meet with him more frequently until they moved.  

During one of these meetings over a poor quality Chinese buffet lunch, I first felt the weight of the lesson.  I was more nourished by the wisdom that he shared with me that day than I have been by a thousand meals.  He spoke from deep and personal pain.  Sometimes a tear would reveal itself and then slowly disappear down his face.  

He said something like, “I think I’ve got it wrong for all of those years.  In fact I wonder if I ever got it right.”  Referring to his multiple decades in ministry, he explained what he meant.  He had so combined the idea of ministry and his walk with God that the two had strangely morphed into one.  Once he retired due to significant physical ailment, and his involvement in ministry stopped, he looked around to find his relationship with God was also strangely absent.  

These words were particularly shocking coming from my mentor friend whom I held in such high esteem.  How could he say this?  Why would he say this?  I had to know.  I desperately wanted to stand in his shoes and know the reality of what he was saying yet it was slipping through my hands like oil.  

We talked about it for weeks.  I had to get to the bottom of this.  What follows is a portion of my efforts to boil the lesson down to it’s essential components:

One can substitute ministry for a walk with God, even a vibrant ministry.  Ministering to people is important, it is something that we are called to, yet it is not ultimate.  Christ is ultimate.  Therefore a genuine relationship with him is vital, and of dire importance.  

A genuine relationship involves two way communication.  Is he communicating, are you listening?  Are you communicating?  Is He leading and directing?  Are you following?  

We default to going our own way, doing things our own way, not listening, not communicating, and not following.  I think this is precisely what my wise friend meant when he said he thinks he got it wrong and wonders if he ever got it right.  

In John 16:7-15 Jesus comforts his disciples about his leaving, telling them it is good that he leaves in order that he would send the Holy Spirit.  Then in verse 13 he says, “whatever he (the Holy Spirit) hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”  Jesus clearly, explicitly tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit will communicate with them, with us.  “He will speak… He will declare…”  This is crystal clear teaching of a personal God who relates in a very personal way with his people.    

Now your feathers may ruffle a bit at this, and you might be thinking, “But God speaks to us through his word, the inspired Scriptures.”  With this point I would agree, yet I would ask you this; is it possible to have a relationship with the word of God, yet miss a genuine relationship with God himself?  Here is where my old friend would say something like this, “Ah, but we prefer a comfortable distance from God.”  

Scripture itself testifies that one can substitute a relationship with the Bible for a relationship with God.  This is evident in Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”  (John 5:39 ESV)  It is entirely possible to have deep knowledge of Scripture and yet completely miss the point.  And what a tragic thing it is to miss the point, especially this one.   

The professional religious people in Jesus’ day got it wrong.  They dedicated their entire lives to the topic and missed the central subject.  I suspect that today this is in large part also the case with many of our professionals.  I’m certain that this has been the case for the overwhelming majority of my life as well.  My heart breaks that it may not be this way any longer.  Yet it is not as if I can pick myself up by the bootstraps and take the reigns to steer myself back onto proper course.  This is in fact the most disconcerting issue about the whole matter.  I am not the head in this relationship.  And I am so used to being the head, the granite headed way maker.  The reality however, is quite the opposite; Christ is the head.  He is leading in this dance and I can only hope to be enabled to follow.  Oh, but this is precisely what the Holy Spirit does.  He both teaches and enables us to follow Jesus’ lead.  

My gray headed friend, who only walks with the assistance of a cane or a walker, may have just taught me what it is to fly.

I Am Second

 

IAMSECOND.COM/FILMS

 

The Making of a Champion

 

Check out this excellent video testimony of several people on the Seattle Seahawks team.

Driscoll: Jesus Shoots the Wolves

I had the opportunity to be present when this message was delivered at a DG National Conference.  It is one of the most memorable and most powerful messages I have ever heard.  The entire message is available for free on audio and video.

To You It Has Been Granted...

"Have you considered my servant Job?"
This single divine inquiry set ablaze an inferno of tribulation for Job. The searing flames of righteous Job's trial were ignited to highlight the glory of the All-Sovereign God. Though a severe cost was paid by Job and his family, their flaming circumstances have since served throughout the mellennia to display the glory of the Sovereign God who reigns over and above all circumstances.

Joseph too suffered great pains. This also served the very same purpose, God's glory put on display for all to see. Such displays of the glory of the Lord are costly. Joseph's painful and trying ordeal set in place both the divine provision for his family, and ultimately also four hundred years of the enslavement of the nation of Israel in Egypt. Tremendous suffering was endured by generations of God's people until the time was right for the Lord to unleash a magnificent display of His glory in the mighty and multi-miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

So also all of humanity is bound to endure an enormously vast array of sufferings. Yet these painful situations and trying circumstances serve to display the glory of our God who reveals Himself in and through them. Our sufferings are not in vain. There is purpose in the midst of this pain. One day all sufferings will cease, but until then we have an opportunity to glorify the Lord on our painful path. This opportunity is unique to this side of heaven, for on the other side the Lord will no longer be glorified through our pain, as it is there that He will be glorified in the eternal removal of it.

For it has been granted to you
that for the sake of Christ
you should not only believe in Him
but also suffer for His sake
- Philippians 1:29

Not only do we among humanity bear the burden of suffering. The Lord Himself also stooped very low to bend beneath the unimaginable weight of divine suffering granting the greatest display of His glory. This side of heaven the most clear revelation of the glory of the Lord is seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Divinity became humanity to deliver mankind from bondage to the insanity of worshipping everything but Him.

For in Him
all the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell,and through Him
to reconcile to Himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of His cross.- Colossians 1:19-20

One Day The Fog Will Lift

The other morning while returning home from work I was impressed at the thickness of the fog hanging in our neighborhood. Once inside I looked out my front window into the gray haze surrounding our home. The thick gray mist was almost blinding. I could barely see a nearby tree across the street from our house.  The fog caused me to be completely unable to see the house right behind that tree.

I was struck by the illustration of our temporal shortsightedness. Caught as we are in the midst of this temporary fog, we are amazingly shortsighted. Our present state of blindness regularly prohibits us from seeing the various dangers on our paths and often we run headlong into them.

Then it hit me. One day this temporal fog will be entirely dissipated as the light of the Son is unveiled and as it shines in its full strength illuminating everything. On that great day even the blindest among us will behold His glory. In the all encompassing light of His glory even our hidden sins will be illuminated as we will begin to behold the horror of the manifold atrocities of which we are all guilty. We will come face to face with the guilt of our continual exchanging His magnificent glory for many things infinitely less glorious.

It is also then that those who are in Christ will see more clearly than ever the glories in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. The gold mine that is the cross of Christ will be more thoroughly mined in that single moment than it has been by all of the theology books throughout history combined. We will stand in awe of the Lamb of God and of what He accomplished upon that cross. Thus the eternal worship of the great Christ will begin as His purchased people will be intensely satisfied by beholding the eternal magnificent light of the Lamb who was slain from the foundations of the earth.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- 1st Corinthians 13:12

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.- Revelation 21:23

Seeing Eye Friends

 
Ever appreciate the sight of a blind person being aided by a "seeing eye dog?"  I have not seen this often, but just this last week I saw a man in our local court house, who seemed to be working as an aid or an intern.  He appeared to be completely blind and clearly benefited from the eyes of his four legged friend.

Now for the punch-line, ever feel blind?

If so, have you ever benefitted from the vision of a friend who could see things more clearly than you?

I had just such an experience this week.  A friend was sharing with me about the wisdom of Jesus' words regarding eyes with logs or specks jammed into them.  As he spoke I felt quite like the man I had seen earlier in the week being led around by his seeing eye dog.  The stunning thing to me is that despite being very familiar with the scripture my friend was referring to, and having read this text more times than I know, I found myself seeing this text for what seemed to be the very first time - and that through the eyes of my seeing eye friend.

I'll do my best to share/paraphrase what has so profoundly been shared with me:

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"

- Jesus, Matthew 7:3

If I view the objects lodged in my own eye (my sin issues) rather carefully and closely then they will appear quite a bit larger and nastier than I thought at first.  For it is in our nature to give much grace to ourselves and to surround such blind spots with cushy excuses and vigilant nuancing.

Carefully considering this teaching regarding logs and specks and then applying it to my own life would actually result in a demonstration of obedience to some of Jesus' other massively important words, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  For if I love others as myself, then I would give them the same grace that I always give myself and minimize their blind-spots (sin issues).  At the very same time I would make every effort to get to the E.R. and get the telephone poles removed from my eyes.

Many problems arise because our blind-spots appear rather small and insignificant to ourselves, but these are no doubt blatantly obvious to those around us.  Yet if we would step into the shoes of the patient with eye issues, we may actually be able to see more clearly the seriousness of our own eye sight problems and look with grace upon those who share in our same ailment.

So this is a confession of sorts; I have some serious eye sight issues, and I am thankful for the additional vision of several seeing eye friends.
 

Death in His Grave

Death In His Grave (Performance Video) from john mark mcmillan on Vimeo.

Lyrics:

Though the Earth cried out for blood
Satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed on raging seas
for the souls on men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious Love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throes of death
And over turn his rule

Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke holding keys
To Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all


HT:JT
  

How He Loves: The Story Behind The Song

In case you didn't already know, John Mark McMillan wrote the song "How He Loves" which was made famous by the David Crowder Band. Here is the story behind that incredible song:

Easy or Hard?

Ever find that the narrow path is difficult?  Ever tempted to chose the easy route?

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
- Jesus