Category Archives: Jesus

Advent… A Different Kind of Waiting (Week 3)

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It’s week three of Advent.  A week to focus on joy. The joy  that comes from anticipating the arrival of Christ’s birth.

But ironically finding joy in Christ during the Christmas season, is often hard. Especially when there is so much competition for our affections.

So how do we find our joy in Christ,  even in the midst of our market-driven society?

Here’ s three steps that I think can help:

1. WE START BY FORGETTING ABOUT OURSELVES

John Piper writes,

“The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.”

2.  THEN WE TRUST THAT JESUS IS THE BETTER JOY

St. Augustine, speaking of Jesus, wrote in his Confessions,

“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure.”

 3.  FINALLY WE WORSHIP

As Bishop N.T. Wright put it,

“When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him. Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure sign that we haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done.”

So this Christmas season don’t let the commercials, and the stress of buying stuff, steal your joy. Instead give yourself permission to lose yourself in the person of Jesus Christ, thinking about who he is and all  he has done. Allow Jesus to take away your affections for lesser pleasures, and begin to fill your heart with deeper affections for himself. Then worship. Wherever you are, even if you must begin with whispers, praise him for everything you can think of.

Then you will find joy.

 

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Further resources:

Reader Question: What’s Up With Jesus Being In Hell?

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Jenna (a very bright middle school student) asked,

Where does the statement “he descended into hell”  come from? Is it in the Bible?

Great questions Jenna!

The phrase comes from the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,  and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
 
Is it in the Bible? Well, sorta.

Most Christians would cite the following Bible passages, Acts 2:31; Ephesians 4:8-10; 1Peter 4:6; and 1 Peter 3:18-20. However, none of these passages use the exact phrase “he descended into hell”. And over the years Christians have differed on exactly what these passages mean. [1]

So why then do we recite it in the Apostles’ Creed?
What is clear in the Bible, is that when Jesus died on the cross, He took upon Himself all of our sin and all of our punishment (2 Corinthians 5:21, Colossians 2:13-15, 1 John 4:10). This likely would include the punishment of Hell. As John Calvin put it, Jesus underwent, “the severity of God’s vengeance” and “the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man”.[2] Another way of thinking about it is, on the cross Jesus took upon Himself the fullness of our sin. And in Hell Jesus took upon Himself the fullness of our punishment.
 
What does this phrase means for us today?

The song In Christ Alone sums it up perfectly:

 In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
 
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
 
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the World by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
 
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

 

Because Jesus conquered sin, death, and Hell, now all who trust in Him have nothing to fear, for it is in the power of Christ we stand!

 

 

 

 

Advent… A Different Kind of Waiting

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Once, as a Boy Scout traveling to a campground many hours away, I purchased a bucket of Coke at a pit stop (66 ounces to be exact) and drank it all in the following thirty minutes. At which point all 66 ounces of soda decided that they wanted to come out—the only problem was we were still two hours away from our destination and our driver was not going to stop. And so I waited. And waited. And waited.  I waited as we drove up thousands of feet on mountain roads. I waited as my friends enjoyed watching me squirm as they told jokes about waterfalls. And I waited as I literally felt my insides expand to their breaking point.  It was the first time I thought my bladder was actually going to burst, and truthfully, in that moment, if it had happened I would have been happy.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we came to a stop in front of a rustic, public restroom. I jumped out of the van, ran/waddled, to the door of beckoning freedom. With each step I fumbled with my my scout belt, trying to get it off before I entered the stall. Then terror ensued. My scout belt was stuck.

The belt was not your typical belt. It was the kind that had a square box with a metal pin in it to keep the belt cord from moving. And that two-inch pin was stuck—jammed sideways and not moving. I started to panic, my legs went numb, and my mind raced for a solution, as all the while I tugged for dear life on that little metal pin that stood between me and ethereal relief.

I stared at the white porcelain seat that had once been my hope and refuge, but now only seemed to mock me in my plight. So close, yet so far away. The pressure mounted, my hand started to shake, and sweat like dew covered my flushed face. I thought, it’s over. I began to resign myself to the inevitable end that I was going to have to let all 66 ounces out into my pine green scout shorts and onto the grey wood floor. But then it happened. By sheer miracle, that little brass pin moved and my scout belt flung open. And there, in a wooden shelter of a bathroom, I stood in victory… for at least ten minutes.

The season of Advent is about waiting, but thankfully it is a different kind of waiting.

In God’s kingdom, waiting isn’t meant to be an excruciating, painful, no-end-in-sight delayed experience, like a liquid-filled Boy Scout waiting for relief. Rather, waiting, for God’s children, is meant to be something entirely different, something of a blessing.

How can that be? Over the next four Mondays I’ll share what I consider to be some of the best Advent post from around the Web, all addressing the blessing of waiting.  My hope is that it will change the way you and I think about waiting and about the season of Advent.

First up, a fantastic article by Rob Bell.  Now, I definitely do not agree with everything Rob Bell has written in recent years. But back before he kissed evangelical theology goodbye, he wrote a very good article about Advent and the Church Calendar. It is Rob Bell at his best, and, for every Christian, an article worth reading.  So click on the link below and read the article, then come back and share your thoughts in the comment section. Enjoy!

 

Why Should We Care About Advent? By Rob Bell November 29, 2010

 

 

 

Next week, a post from  Marc Cortez (Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College)

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For those looking for some good Advent resources, here are a couple of inexpensive, but helpful books:

(Download this one for free at www.desiringgod.org)

Evil and Grace

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Jesus on cross black and white

Why did God let a madman shoot up a school? Better yet, why did He let Adam sin? Better yet, why did He let Satan into the garden? Better yet, why did He let evil into Satan’s heart?

Why is there evil at all?

Sure it’s true that God Himself through Jesus Christ came to rescue sinners from evil and to redeem the world. But why should the world and the people in it need rescuing in the first place? Is God like a man who built a house, rented it out to tenants and then set it on fire so that He could later rescue them? And even if we say that, in God’s case, He did not actively set the house on fire, He just allowed it to happen, He is still the one that had the power to stop it and chose not to. Why?

Some say God did not stop evil because He could not; others say He did not stop evil because He chose not to. Among those who say He chose not to stop evil, there are those who say it is because God is evil, and then there are others who say it is because God wants to work good from the evil.  In either case, God still appears evil. Because even a God who allows the ends to justify the means appears to be a God who is simply a manipulator of creation, like someone just doing the best He can with what He has to work with.

But the God of the Bible is none of these things. So why then did YHWH allow evil into the world?

Imagine evil never existed. Imagine Adam and Eve never sinned. And not only did they never sin they never had the option to sin, because evil was nowhere in existence. What then could we know of God? We could know His power.  We could know His intelligence. But we could never know His Grace.

Grace–unmerited favor–cannot be known in a world without evil.  Grace does not exist in a perfect world because in a perfect world everything is merited.  Every reward is the natural consequence of the perfect action that preceded it. But in a world where there is evil, there are many actions that merit condemnation, judgment, and even wrath. And in that world there is now space for Grace.

In an evil world there is now an open place for favor to be poured out where it should not be. In an evil world Grace shines brightly against the just consequence of condemnation.

Grace…an unknowable quality of God in a world without evil. Could it be that the great I AM is interested in displaying all of who He IS?

In Grace we see a characteristic of God that is wholly unlike any other conceived divine being. In Grace we see the holiness of God (His otherness). In Grace we see the beauty of God. In Grace we see the love of God in a way that otherwise would not be possible.

The Cross, the great symbol of Grace, is not just about salvation from evil, nor is it just about Jesus conquering evil. It is even more: it is a glorious beacon brightly shining in the darkness of night, displaying who God IS.

Evil is necessary for Grace. Grace is an essential attribute of God. God desires to fully display His attributes. Therefore evil exists.

What are your thoughts?

Why pursue Jesus now?

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Why not enjoy life now, do whatever I want and then pursue Jesus later…after I’ve had all my fun? This was the question we discussed last night at our high school group. It’s is a good question, one I  thought about in high school and have since thought about as an adult.  For most of us if we’re honest we’d admit that there are times when we see others “enjoying” life apart from God and we can’t help but think— why can’t I do that and then ask for forgiveness later?

But the question is usually asked when we’re not thinking about three things…

1.  I am not in control of when I die.

God says in James 4:13-14

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

No one has control over their tomorrow.  We can make plans but ultimately our life is in God’s hands.  My family became painfully aware of this truth last fall when my wife’s mother died unexpectedly of a brain aneurism.  She was healthy, full of life, and we should have had many more years with her. But instead our lives were turned upside and we were forced to come to terms with a new reality.

Medical emergencies, car accidents, and even school shootings are everyday reminders that we are not in complete control of our mortality.  So when we assume that we’ll have many tomorrows in order to turn our lives around we’re making a pretty foolish assumption.

2.  God has good things for me to do now

Ephesians 2:10  says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This is one of the greatest promises of God.  If I have given my life to Jesus, then I can know that Jesus has prepared good things for me do. I can literally wake up every morning and say to God, “Would you lead me to the good things you have for me today”. My job, then, is simply to be faithful to where God’s leads me.  The reason I pursue Jesus isn’t just to avoid negative consequences, but rather to enjoy watching God do good things through me.

3.  In Jesus I have access to joy–all the time

This leads to the third truth, in Jesus there is joy—all the time.

Psalm 16:11- You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

In the presence of Jesus there is joy.  Now what I didn’t know in high school was that this verse does not mean that Jesus will fill my life with joyful things.  Instead it means, despite the suffering that may come from external circumstances, there is joy when I acknowledge the presence of Jesus over all my life and chose to praise Him–no matter the situation.

This is actually an amazing experiment to try sometime. Wait till you’re angry, frustrated, sad, depressed, anxious, or stressed out of your mind…and then start worshiping Jesus. Seriously.  Start with the simple stuff, like “Jesus I thank you for giving me a mind, and thoughts, and the ability to think. Jesus I praise you for color and giving me eyes to see it. Jesus I praise for creating good flavors and the ability to enjoy food. Jesus I praise you for the trees outside that look like they are lifting their arms to worship you” …whatever comes to your mind.  As you do this you will literally feel your heart soften, and the beginnings of joy enter in. It is this secret of life that led the Apostle Paul to exclaim, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4), while suffering in prison. Jesus is worth pursing now, because He offers joy now.

Life maybe short and unpredictable, but in Jesus we know that there are good things planned for us and joy in His presence–now and forever.

When have you been tempted to ask, why can’t I sin now and then ask for forgiveness later? How have you experienced the joy of Jesus’ presence? What has motivated you to pursue Jesus?

What’s your nut?

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What’s your nut? What is the thing in your life that you try to protect or hold onto at all cost? What is the thing in your life that you are most of afraid of losing?

The good news of Jesus is that you are his “nut”:) I know that sounds weird, but the truth is, Jesus has taken great pains to hold on to you, to protect you and ensure that you are with him always. He is not afraid to lose you because, because if you belong to him then no one and nothing can take you away from him (Romans 8:39)

So relax and know, that no matter what craziness comes, Jesus will never lose his nut.

Jesus is not fragile

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Sometimes I think we approach Jesus as if we could break Him.  As if we could vent too much to Him, to the point where He would respond, “no more, that’s too much…quit it, you’re stressing me out.”

Of course we think that, because we have those moments…those moments when someone’s confession of pain or trouble starts to overwhelm us.  Sure we listen and sympathetically nod, but inside we’re thinking “no more, that’s too much…”

But thank God, Jesus is not like us. He is never stressed out by other people’s stress. Rather, He tells us to give Him all we’ve got.  Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mathew 11:28-30)

Only Jesus is able to turn stress into rest. We cannot break Him, because He has already been broken for us. On the cross He felt the weight of all our pain, but now He has overcome. So now we can come to Jesus-the Mighty One, our Refuge, and our Rock. And now we who are fragile can lead others to the One who will not cower and will not break.

Thank God, Jesus is not fragile.

Jesus and guns

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jesus-with-gunIn all the talk about guns there seems to be a perspective that is missing– that of Jesus. Sure there are a lot of Christians who have provided their opinions, but often they sound the same as one political party or another. There is nothing revolutionary or edgy enough about their opinion  to  makes it sound like it would come from the mouth of Jesus.

So in a move that could sound incredibly arrogant, I give you my brief take on Jesus’ perspective on gun control.

  1. Weapons of all kinds existed in Jesus day.
  2. Jesus never spoke out against personal ownership of weapons.
  3. He did tell Peter, “all who draw the sword will die by the sword”(Mt. 26: 52)
    1. This seems to be more about Peter’s desire take things into his own hands, rather than trust that Jesus is in control.
    2. Jesus is clear that His followers are not to attack others, but instead give up their life for others. (John 15:13)
  4. Jesus speaking through New Testament writers, calls all His followers to be at peace with all people (Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14)
  5. Jesus also calls His followers to care for the needs of others not by destroying the oppressors (because that His job) but instead by using their resources to care for those in need. (Luke 10:24-37)